The Greatest Hope for the Greatest Missionary

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Take your Bibles and turn them to Acts.

I know that's a left turn.

We started in 1 Thessalonians, and I think as you get into 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 next week, you'll understand why I wanted to go through the conversion of Paul this week.

1 Thessalonians 2 · chapter mention

It'll give some background because Paul begins in 2nd or 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 describing his work and who he was to the Thessalonians.

1 Thessalonians 2 · chapter mention

So I thought this was uh important.

Anyway, as you came in, you may have gotten a card like this.

And if you hadn't and you need one, this is mainly for covenant members.

If you're not a covenant member and you just want to support our ministry, great.

We will not turn that down.

But this is the deep and wide legacy campaign that we've been talking about with uh the idea of the pavilion being closed in.

We called today Commitment Sunday.

Have asked that you be prayerful about how God would help you or burden you about giving to that.

And so if you haven't got one of these cards and you would like one, there's some ushers, you can raise your hand up.

They'll get those.

And we'd like for you today during the offering time, if you would, if you fill that out, and you can put your name, not put your name.

We're not putting you on a list somewhere and going to come after you.

This is a commitment between you and the Lord, um, but we want to commit today, and we're hoping that by anniversary Sunday, that about half of that those funds could be raised.

And so pray over that.

Those cards are available, but if you have one, if you would turn that in during the offering, and uh that commitment, it will be something between you and God.

I'm not gonna take them, write them down, tally them.

It is just a commitment asking you prayerfully as a church how you can be involved in that.

So that's that.

One other thing that I just want to tell you in case you've missed it, uh, we do have next steps today, right after church.

If you're thinking about joining the church at Chelsea Westover, you want to know more about what that looks like, who we are, um, you can come.

You're not obligated to join if you sit through the class.

We're gonna do one class only today, and um, we got room for you.

So if you're interested in doing that afterward, we'll have lunch for you, and we have child care available.

So I would love for you to jump in.

All right.

Commercial's done, Acts chapter 9.

Acts 9 · chapter mention

Hope from the greatest missionary, the greatest hope from the greatest missionary.

Um you ever notice people trying to sort of reinvent themselves?

Rebranding, name changing.

An artist suddenly, somebody becomes popular in a music field and their name has to change.

They have to become something.

You know, it's like you remember Prince was Prince, but then he became whatever that was, the artist formerly known as Sign.

And so people have changes and rebrands.

If you watch fighting and all, they have big, every fighter, it seems like has to have a nickname.

Things like the Iceman, Chuck Ladell.

You know, it strikes fear into your heart before they walk out.

One time um we had intramurals.

Sign-ups came when I was at Tennessee Temple, and basketball was the sign-up, and they were posted on the wall.

And so I thought y'all would appreciate to strike fear in people's heart before we ever started.

I wrote my name, Rick, the stilt, right.

And then many people after that knew me as the stilt across campus.

I did not intend with that little joke to become the stilt.

All of that being said, at the time of the writing of Thessalonians, I don't think anybody had ever had a bigger name or brand change than Saul to Paul.

We call him Paul, but today we're going to meet Saul.

And he isn't having a bad day.

Paul is a bad day, or Saul was a bad day for the church.

He was breathing threats.

And this same man who was breathing threats in Thessalonians, he's the writer of the hope for the church.

Big conversion change.

Would you pray with me?

Father, we love you today, and it's good to be in your house.

It's good to worship you.

And Lord, help us as we seek to understand this epistle, this letter written to Thessalonians of hope, that understanding the writer today and God, just the personality of change that happens.

I pray, Lord, for someone today that needs a change.

Lord, that needs transformation.

Lord, whether big or small, I pray that their heart would be in line with the Holy Spirit.

Lord, visit us, or else we're here in vain.

We need your presence today in Jesus' name.

Amen.

First thing this morning is confronted by revelation.

Look at Acts chapter 9.

Acts 9 · chapter mention

Confronted by revelation.

Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the way, that's Christianity, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

As he journeyed, he came near Damascus.

And suddenly a light shone around him from heaven.

Then he fell to the ground, and he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

And he said, Who are you, Lord?

Then the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

It is hard for you to kick against the goats.

So he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what do you want me to do?

Then the Lord said to him, Arise and go into the city, and you'll be told what you must do.

Letter A this morning is this, stopped by the Savior.

You see, Saul here encounters this bright light, and you could say, Saul had to be blinded to see.

Sometimes God says, If you won't listen to my word, I'll adjust your vision.

And that's what happens here.

In heaven that day, I wonder what it looked like.

You ever think about this?

When this was about to occur in the heavens, did God say, Moses, Elijah, watch this fellow right here, chest puffed out, carrying letters.

He's got his diploma in mind as he walks.

And he's walking down this road, breathing threats, and God said, Turn on the heavenly high beams.

It comes on down, and Saul goes from I know everything, right?

Literally, chest out, I know everything, to who are you, Lord?

Loses his sight.

I've wondered what happened in that light.

It's a curious thought to consider.

What happened to Saul in that light?

1 Corinthians 1.18 is a verse that it parallels some of the things that I think are happening.

I don't know that happened here, but we could say.

1 Corinthians 1.18 says this that the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.

Saul, as he walked the road, the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.

But to us who are saved or are being saved, it is the power of God.

This is a transaction that is taking place in real time.

And I believe, maybe, you can believe what you want.

Maybe Saul was given a glimpse of the cross of Jesus Christ in this moment.

But in any regard, to those who are saved or being saved, it is the power of God.

We know this.

The power of God fell from the heavens that day.

And here, I made this up this week.

It's a nursery rhyme.

You can write it down, you're going to need it one day.

Okay, y'all remember in the vein of Peter Piper?

Okay, I'm not gonna say that one because that is childish, but I'm gonna say mine.

Saul saw the sun, and Saul never saw the same again.

Y'all say that five times fast.

Saul saw the sun and Saul never saw the same again.

You got it?

Benji, ready?

No, he's not ready.

Saul wasn't looking, he wasn't praying, he wasn't seemingly curious about his Christianity.

He was on the attack.

And church, all that aside, Jesus decided to reveal himself anyway.

Is that not a picture of God's grace?

When you were against it, when you were for your own self, when you were living your own way, and Jesus said, I'm still gonna breathe a little something.

I'm gonna give them something.

And one day Jesus' church is going to return.

But until he does return, here is the hope that comes.

He is looking, he is shining, he is giving glimpses.

That is hope.

That's the hope that we have.

And the church at Thessalonica, we learn from them.

They stopped and they turned.

You ever been stopped dead in your path?

You were headed away and you were faced with something.

You were stopped, you were turned.

Some today are still trying in this life to make God fit in their path.

Some people today will say, Here's my life, Lord, and when I need you, I'll be sure to call.

God, this is the plan that I have, and this is the ministry that I'm gonna do.

And God, what I need for you to do is just go ahead and bless it.

That's what I need.

I need you to fit my path.

And a lot of people today, you might be in the middle of your faith journey, and you might today be faced with a stop.

You may be at a point where you need to now make a decision again.

And I believe many times in my life I'll probably be faced with a stopping point, a time to make a decision again.

Is God stopping you today?

Now hear me, the stop sign is not punishment, it's the complete opposite.

It's mercy, it is hope.

For Saul, the stop sign was everything that he needed.

And if he continued on without it, it was everything he didn't need.

He was stopped by the Savior.

Letter B will see submission to sovereignty.

Again, let's read verse 6.

So he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what do you want me to do?

Then the Lord said to him, Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.

A lot of change in just a few words there, from someone breathing threats against people who believed in this Lord, to now, Lord, Lord L-O-R-D, which meets master, savior, Lord, you're it.

What do you want me to do?

What would you have me now?

God, why are you, he says, why are you persecuting me?

And he said, Who are you, Lord?

Look at what he says.

This is important for some doctrine.

From the heavens come this phrase, I am Jesus.

This is a rich statement on doctrine, so you don't want to miss it.

From the heavens, a voice says, I am Jesus.

If Jesus is just a prophet, if Jesus is just a good man, then Paul's conversion never happened.

It was Jesus who spoke to him and church bedrocked to who we are.

Jesus is God.

He is one part of the Trinity.

And so if you don't believe in that, if you're somewhere and a church does not preach that, they're missing it.

And here's one of your points.

From the heavens, what voice?

Jesus.

He says, Who are you, Lord?

Well, he says, You're kicking against the goads.

What does that mean?

Any farmers here kicking against the goats?

None.

Okay, good.

We'll learn something.

An ox goat is something used to prick an ox so that it would steer in the right direction.

He is saying, When you go against the steer, I've got a plan for your life, right?

Rick, I've got a plan for your life.

And when you go against my plan, over here is a little something that's.

You ever felt that?

You went against the plan?

Okay.

Guilty.

Right?

And he says, that is the ox go.

You're kicking against the goads.

And he says, you're going to feel that prick when, church, you rebel against God's plan for you.

It hurts.

Are you here today and you hurt?

Are you bending even slightly into an ox goad?

Are you bending into a way, in the way that you think, in the way that you talk, in the way that you chatter?

Are you bending towards a way that God doesn't have planned for your life?

It may hurt.

It may hurt relationships.

It may hurt your witness.

It may hurt your testimony.

An ox goat is something that pricks.

He's saying, don't do that.

God is steering you, and if you don't listen to that, you may get hurt.

He said, Don't get pricked, just change that direction.

Just adjust.

And Paul had been going against that direction with Saul his whole life.

I want you to look at Acts 26.

Important little phrase here.

In Acts 26, verse 18 and 19, Paul is describing his conversion and he's recounting some of his life.

Acts 26:18

Verse 18 and 19.

He says, To open their eyes in order to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God.

I'm reading the wrong verse.

It's verse 19.

I was there.

Man.

Y'all pray for me.

There it is.

Therefore, King Agrippin.

I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.

Okay, we're right.

This little micro phrase is important.

We can sum up submission with this little phrase.

I was not disobedient to the vision.

What happens when you're apprehended, church, by the Holy Spirit determines the direction of your path.

I'm gonna say it again.

What happens in church or in your quiet time or when you come across a believer or when you're listening to that worship?

What happens when you're apprehended by the Holy Spirit of God determines your direction.

Paul was apprehended by Jesus Christ.

What happens today at the end of church service?

What happens when God tells you something and what you do with it?

What would have happened to Saul if he would not have submitted?

What happens to his story?

What happens in your story?

Think about it in a literal term for you.

What if you were literally blinded today?

You were blinded, and a voice came to you and said, I've got a direction for you.

Do you think no matter what, no matter what, you would be willing to follow that voice?

This is what happens to Paul.

What if it said, what if it gave you a little extra?

If you listen to me, I'll give you back your vision.

Dangled the carrot.

You said, Oh, okay.

Do you think after you listen to that that you would continue to listen?

That's not what happens to Saul.

He's not told, I will give you back your vision.

Right?

He just tells him, you're going to find out what to do next.

And what we find of Saul is that he submitted.

And I believe today that there are many Christians who see Christianity, who are fans of Christianity, but submitted to Christ.

I'm not so certain.

Secondly, we see conversion by transformation.

Look at verse 7 through 9.

And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no one.

Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no one, but they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus, and he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

Three days blind, three days fasting, three days bewildered, rehearsing, I'm guessing, what just happened.

You are kicking against the goats.

What does this mean?

What will become of me?

I know what I was doing, and it appears that the person who I was persecuting is now coming after me.

What happened in those three days?

I bet that was a most intense fast.

Some of y'all are fasting for health reasons.

It wasn't like that.

Paul is like, I could see, and now I'm sitting here and I have no idea.

Letter A, I want you to see about this transformation.

He was changed in association.

I got two passages that I want to take us to there, just to see some of Paul's or Saul's background.

In Galatians chapter 1, verse 13 and 14, it says, For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God, listen to these words, beyond measure.

Galatians 1:13

And I tried to destroy it.

And I advanced in Judaism beyond all of my contemporaries.

So when Paul talks about his former self, you kind of get a picture of how bad it really was.

When you hear breathing threats, okay.

Now he's saying, I was at the top of my game doing this.

Let's read further in Philippians 3, 4 and 6, just to get a picture of who he was.

Though I also, Philippians chapter 3, verse 4 through 6, though I also might have confidence in the flesh, if anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, concerning the law, a Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameness.

Philippians 3:4–6

He goes on and on talking about who he used to be.

Did you see what he says?

I was a Judaizer.

I was a not just a rule keeper, I was a rule maker.

I was at the top of this list.

I tried to destroy.

He was zealous of traditions, right?

He'd come in today, and back when I was growing up, he'd say, Boy, you better tuck that shirt and you're not going into church like that.

Zealous of traditions, right?

No, that sideburns a little too long, right?

You need to be clean shaven.

Zealous.

He was eager, more, he says, than my peers.

He was taking all of these accolades of climbing in this system.

And he says, I was leading the way.

If that was enough, as a Judaizer, he tells us about his birth.

I was a tribe of Benjamin, not converted, but a born Jew.

I was a Hebrew of Hebrews, not only born, but I knew the language and I knew it well.

Raised according to Jewish customs, Saul was a Pharisee, so religiously he was at the top of this conservative group.

Pharisees then were known for strictly following Jewish laws and customs.

This was Saul.

This was a writer of Thessalonians who was going and sharing the hope of Christianity.

There was a time where he was nothing in that life direction.

2 Corinthians 5.17 happened.

It says, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation.

Old things are passed away.

Behold, all things became new.

And that happened on Damascus Road.

And that transformation, that 180 was so evident on Damascus Road.

And maybe today, as you're here, you think about your story and you go, Yeah, Pastor, I was here.

And I'm not.

And man, praise God that He loved you with a love like that.

That you would have a transformation story.

Saul was desperately trying to.

To revive and make man-made accolades the top rung of the ladder.

He had fought and fought to the top rung of every ladder and continued to climb, only to find out as he continued, he was only going to have to continue.

Another rung.

I was studying this week and thought about a baseball player.

Many of you would know the name, Daryl Strawberry.

Daryl Strawberry, let me tell you about the rungs that he climbed.

Daryl Strawberry was a high school superstar.

And that was a top rung, right?

Some of you are in high school sports, and being the best and the best of your high school would be a top rung type thing.

That was Daryl Strawberry.

He was drafted first round, right?

Next rung of the ladder.

When he got drafted and he made it onto a team, guess what?

Rookie of the year.

He made it to the next rung.

He went from rookie of the year to a multi-million dollar contract and fame, a beautiful wife, a luxury home, another level on the top of the rungs.

Then Daryl Strawberry, you're like, that's enough, right?

That's a good story.

World Series rings, yes.

Check the box.

Daryl Strawberry got World Series rings.

He had reached the pinnacle, right?

Everything the world has to give you, and he kept and found, he seemed like he made it to the top rung.

He somehow found another one and reached it.

He made it to the top.

So how then is this a part of Daryl Strawberry's story?

Addiction.

Suspension from sports.

Imprisonment.

How did all those things happen for the guy that climbed to the top of this rung?

Church, because money can buy a house, but it can't buy peace.

It can buy fame, but it can't buy freedom.

The ladder kept going up, but his soul kept falling down.

Hear me.

The danger today isn't climbing to reach success, it's gaining success in the wrong direction.

And that's what Daryl Strawberry's life had gotten to.

By the way, Daryl Strawberry has given his life to Jesus Christ.

He's a vibrant Christian and evangelizes all across this world.

None of those things that he was climbing are things that he's seeking anymore.

Paul's association changed.

Threatening Christian to, he's singing a song, I am a C.

I am a C H.

I am a C H R I S T.

I am.

And I have C-H-R-I-S-T and my A-E-A-R-T and I will L-I-V-E-T-E-R-N-A-L-L-Y.

You'll pick that up later if you never sang it out of camp.

He's a full-fledged Christian.

His association changed.

It's no longer a ladder, it's now a cross.

And that's what we have to come face to face with.

Many of you here today are, you come in, you're thinking about how do I get, what do I got to do this week to get to the next rung?

How do I get here with people?

It's the next rung.

And I'm telling you, Paul says, I'm crucified with Christ.

You got to pick up your cross and follow me, denying myself.

It's a whole different thing in association.

Well, let's continue there.

In Galatians, one more scripture.

We read 13 and 14 that talked about him being a Judaizer.

Letter B changed for an appeal.

Look at verse 15 and 16 of Galatians 1.

But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through his grace, that's Damascus road, to reveal his son in me.

Here it is, that I might preach him among the Gentiles.

I did not immediately confer with the flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before him, but I went to Arabia and returned again to Damascus.

God changed Saul for an appeal.

He says, God separated me.

The word holy means separated unto God.

You'll hear somebody preach and say, Be ye holy, for I am holy, separated unto God, or sanctified, set apart.

Now look there at Acts 9, 17 and 18.

And Ananias went his way and entered the house.

Laying his hands on him, he said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, and as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once, and he arose, and he was baptized.

So we see what's happening in Paul after those three days.

He's a Christian now, and now it says that he can see immediately.

Something like scales falls from his eyes.

And you know what he says next?

You'll see the word immediately throughout Acts a lot.

He says next, I need to be baptized.

I need to go be baptized.

We were having next steps, which we're having today, and we talk about, you know, in Southern Baptists, in this denomination, why is baptism a thing?

What does it even mean?

So we were talking about baptism, and uh I asked for permission, but John and Britney, Fancher, were sitting in the class with us, and we got through the whole thing on baptism, and we're done, and they were kind of hanging out at the end of class, and um, everybody was sort of finding their way out of our house, and they said, We need to be baptized.

I'm like, awesome.

And so I'm like, I began to tell them the next time that we have baptism, we do this once a month.

We'd be glad to baptize you.

And they were like, We need to be baptized, and we need to be baptized right now.

I said, Oh, okay.

And I started thinking, and I'm like, what do we do?

Um, it was raining outside, by the way, and John was like, I'll go down to the lake if I need to.

The lake in Chelsea Park.

I'm like, I don't know if I'm gonna go down to the lake.

You can go down to the lake.

Brittany will baptize you.

So I think one of them, I can't remember, but I started to think weird things.

I'm like, well, we got a tub in the house, you know?

And finally I'm like, I know.

They're still a church.

We'll go fill up the baptistry.

They left Wednesday night from my house.

We came here, we videoed it, we baptized them because they heard about what was going on with baptism.

They had Jesus in their heart and said, I need to do that and I need to do it now.

Amen, church.

Amen.

Immediately, Paul didn't say, I got to tend to my eyes.

He said, I need some salve.

You know, days before he'd killed Christians, and now he said, somebody get me to the water.

He entered the Holy Spirit life.

The separated life, we could call that, the distinguished life.

And the reason I'll bring that up to you, distinguished life.

I got a picture of my alma mater's logo that I want you to see for a moment.

After high school, I was the type of person, some of y'all were like this.

You could have gone either way with your spiritual walk, right?

So I went to a student camp.

So some of you, seniors, if you Eli's got some space.

Juniors, you need to go.

God did something in me at my last camp that I really can't explain.

But when that happened to me, this Tennessee Temple kept coming up.

And I gotta tell you about Tennessee Temple.

The logo, the theme was distinctively Christian.

And what I learned at that school for me has proven invaluable in my life.

I met Heather at Tennessee Temple.

I had my first full-fledged, like, without somebody looking at me in my house, quiet time where I met with the Lord and nobody else was there.

Um, I met with God in chapel, I met with God in my dorm, I met with God all over that campus.

But at Tennessee Temple, there's something interesting that I want you to see.

There's a second picture of Damascus Glade Spring.

My whole life, other than the beaches in Delaware, there was one other place we'd go to vacation.

We would go and we would hit this exit because it was the only way to circle the mountain to get to my grandparents' house in Mountain City, Tennessee.

I wish I could take all of you to Mountain City, Tennessee.

You'd see a whole different kind of living.

I wish you could go to one church in Mountain City, Tennessee.

I mean, I've seen things that it's another sermon, but it's a lot of fun for a teenager.

I'm gonna tell you that right now.

When I saw the preacher straddle a man and slap both sides of his cheeks, I said, this is church.

My whole life, I've been going through the road of Damascus.

Well, this spring break, senior year, we visited Tennessee Temple.

On the way, we stopped at my grandparents' house on the road to Damascus.

And I think about that, and you may say, Pastor, you're pulling a lot here.

I'm just saying where I had to go.

I didn't, God didn't blind me on Damascus Road, but I had to keep going through Damascus Road, and I my whole life, I believe, it was meant for me to go to Tennessee Temple.

I got home from that camp, and there's a postcard one sitting on the dresser, and I'm either going to go back to the moving company and make the money I was making because I was happy with that.

I thought about the army, and I'm looking at this one, nobody, look, y'all they get your letters and people are coming after you for college.

I had one.

Okay.

Tennessee temple was the one.

And I looked at it and I'm like, God, is this?

And I said, God, I do not want to study anymore.

I'm done with tests.

I'm ready to work and make money, God.

But God had a burden in my heart that if you want to make a spiritual step, this is the step.

So I went to Tennessee Temple, not to get an education.

I went there because I thought it would get me closer to God.

And it did.

And I learned and began to live in a different kind of life.

I was submitted to go.

And once I was there, God got my heart.

God and Heather.

And I began to look at life differently, a distinguished life, a separated life.

Paul was called on the road to Damascus, but it wasn't just he's blinded, he's going to become a Christian.

He was called to share the gospel.

God doesn't change you, church, just to save you from something.

He changes you to send you to someone.

My third year at Tennessee Temple, I went into an internship, and I had no plans of becoming a pastor.

It was not in the books.

My degree is in psychology.

I was taking youth ministry as a minor because I definitely wanted to play dodgeball at my church.

That's what I thought.

And that third year of that internship, I fell in love with this ministry.

And I said to God, I remember right after camp, I said, God, if you can find a way to use me in this, then I'll accept it.

And I was unsure all the way up to the week I was going to Connorsville, Indiana to be a pastor.

I said, God, I don't know.

I don't know if I'm the guy.

God, I don't.

God called you and changed you.

Not just to change you from something, but to someone.

You're working somewhere today?

It matters.

He didn't change you so that you wouldn't make an impact there.

You have a circle of people in your life.

God changed you not so that you wouldn't say something that might feel like it gets you some heat or rejection.

God changed you and called you to someone.

Let's look at the third thing.

Compelled by that commission.

Verse 15 and 16.

But the Lord said to him, Go, for he is a chosen vessel of mine to bear my name before Gentiles, kings, and children of Israel, for I will show him how many things he'll suffer for my name's sake.

Letter A is this a chosen valuable instrument.

You hear the word throughout the New Testament?

Vessel.

So think vessel, instrument, vessel.

In 2 Corinthians 4 7, it says, But we have this treasure in an earthen vessel, that the excellence of the power of God may be seen in us.

We're a vessel.

2 Timothy 2.20 says, if anyone cleanses himself, he will be a vessel fit for the master's use with honor and sanctification.

You're useful, you're a clean vessel.

God wants to use you as a vessel.

It's God's choice jar.

It's eclodge.

I can't even say the second word.

S-K-E-U-G-E.

God's choice jar.

God commissioned Paul in this moment.

He says, You, he is a chosen vessel.

God doesn't need you to be impressive.

Church.

He needs you to be usable.

He needs you to be available.

Paul had been extremely passionate.

He had been enthusiastic and zealous, and it was all in the wrong direction.

Paul in 1 Timothy even calls himself later.

He said, I was the chiefest of sinners.

And now God can take a Christian murderer, can take the chiefest of sinners, and make him an instrument of his grace.

What if your weakness is your assignment?

What if the thing you struggle with, the thing that's tense in your life right now, is actually your assignment?

God wants to take this thing and mold you through it?

What if it is?

That's what happened with Saul.

If it's difficult for you, sometimes we run from it.

What if it's what God wants to turn in you to use you?

I know you've been looking at my box here, wondering if I was going to kick it.

This is a beautiful donut box delivered by Walmart.

Purchased this morning.

Now, this box, there's not much value to it.

Maybe 17 cents.

What if you went to Krispy Kreme today?

And as you went in there, you ordered your steaming hot, hot now dozen donuts.

And the man there walked up to you with your hot now donuts, and he had them in his hand.

He said, Brooke, here you go.

And you're looking at him and you're seeing hot sugar and donuts.

See when it's fallen down his hands and onto your shoes, and you're looking at him, and you would probably have one question.

Where's the box?

Where is the container?

It's not that you care that much about the container.

Then you're looking at him, you're like, I don't know where the man's been.

This is disgusting.

There's nothing that special about the container.

The container doesn't uh it doesn't give any value to the donuts, right?

You don't go, you know, I actually like going to this place because their boxes are nicer.

Right?

The container doesn't give, it's not anything particular about the package that adds to the product, but can I tell you the product gives so much value to the package?

The product, when Jesus looks at you and me, you know what he's looking for?

A vessel.

A vessel sent to his world that's highly in need, much more than donuts, with a message of hope.

And you know what he needs of that product?

You know what you want of your box before your donuts go in it?

You want it to be empty and you want it to be clean.

That's what God needs of his vessel.

He wants it to be empty and clean of self.

And this is what happened to Saul.

Paul would go on to write to the church of Thessalonica and he would look at the commission.

Look at some comparisons.

Paul went from not down on the road in silence to in 1 Thessalonians 1.8, he says, the word is sounding forth from this commission.

The man who was blinded by the light, which I know is a song, told them, You now are children of light.

The man who said, who had to be turned, said, You, Thessalonians, have been turned from idols to the living God.

The man who suffered said, Stand firm, Thessalonica, in suffering.

The man who was called out began calling others out to that gospel.

That, church, is the hope for the hour.

That's the hope that you and I have.

Well, let her be, it's a costly vested interest.

Look at these final verses.

Verse 20, you need to hear that.

Here's one of them important immediately.

Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues that he is the Son of God.

Then all who heard were amazed and said, Is this not he who destroyed those who called on his this name in Jerusalem and has come here for that very purpose, so that he might bring them bound to the chief priest?

But Saul increased all the more in strength and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this Jesus is the Christ.

Now, after many days were passed, the Jews plotted to kill him, but their plot became known to Saul, and they watched the gates day and night to kill him.

Then the disciples took him by night and led him down through the wall in a large basket.

Christianity Church is not free.

I believe it is freedom, but freedom is never free.

When God got a hold of Saul on that road and changed him, things began to change and it happened quickly.

Paul began to debate and argue the theology that God had did in his heart.

We're not talking he went to seminary for three years.

God did a work of theology in his heart and changed him.

And he began to argue things that he used to fight against, and this cost came because it stirred up all these people that he was on the other side with, and now they're like, we can't let this go.

It says they wanted to kill him.

Paul came a certain way, and you see where how he left?

He left in a basket.

You'll see baskets a few times in scripture.

Just kind of fun to play on words, look them up.

Moses was placed in a basket and it saved him.

Rahab lowered the Israelites in a similar manner and it saved them.

Saul came into town and he fit with everyone in the crowd.

Chest held high, breathing threats.

He was somebody.

By the way, the way of the crowd is very often the wrong way.

When you're somebody with everybody, something is usually wrong.

If you've worked hard to fit in the crowd, let me ask you a question with that.

Is your Christianity growing?

You find yourself growing.

Saul went from that life, came into town.

Everybody knew him.

You know, I know everybody.

Paul was somebody, Saul was somebody, and now he's in a fish basket.

Being lowered secretly, hidden.

Yesterday, everybody was high-five of me.

Today I'm on the run.

It cost, and basically, it cost him for the rest of his life.

Christianity, hear me.

It's not without a vested interest.

There's not not, there's not non-radical Christians.

People will say things like, they're a radical Christian.

If you're a Christian, This message is radical.

It is life-changing.

If you're not a radical Christian, I'm not sure you're a Christian.

But this thing gets a person, they surrender, they look in the mirror of their sin, they face it, they say, I'm not going to be that anymore.

And I'm going to walk this life that is different from most of the world.

You see, commission creates a conviction that overshadows comfort.

A big idol today is comfort.

If your hope depends on how much comfort you're going to obtain for the next stage, that's the rung we live in in America.

The next rung of comfort.

Because when I hit this age, I need to have this much comfort ready for me.

And when I get to this age, I'm not telling you not to retire, not to make plans.

I'm just saying we idolize it so much.

When I get to this next vacation, then, oh, Pastor, I just gotta make it to that.

You gotta make it to the next person who needs the gospel.

That's what Paul's life was.

What are we doing?

Looking for another moment of comfort.

If your hope depends on comfort, it won't last and your calling won't endure.

The purpose of God does not come without pressure.

Until you're willing to embrace the cost of Christianity, you'll stay in the crowd in search of comfort.

Take the leap.

Take the step.

I want to close telling you about two Kyles.

One Kyle is my brother-in-law, and he was the best soldier that I've ever laid eyes on.

Kyle was an army ranger.

And long time ago, Kyle had a his path with God was like a roller coaster at times, but Kyle, I thought, I know how to kind of connect with him.

So I called him up, and I was doing a series called Soldiers and Enemies that I was doing with teenagers, and I said, Kyle, tell me about an army ranger.

So I know a little bit about army and military.

I said, but tell me about being a ranger.

What is different?

And he was, he told me things.

He said, every soldier is trained, but a ranger has to pass a battery test on PT and other things that are more difficult.

They were increased in almost every way.

And then they had to pass a test called the RASP test.

And that test had to do with being proven under extreme pressure.

He said to me one time, he said, Rick, a ranger has to be ready to deploy in hours.

We don't have days or weeks.

We have to be ready at a moment's call in hours.

He said, Rangers have had to sum it up.

Rangers are taught that they have to endure the cost of what they say they believe in.

I held on to that.

I want to tell you about this other Kyle, then I'm going to get back to the first.

I read this book early in ministry by Kyle Eidelman.

It's called Fake Follower and Fan.

Kyle Eidelman said, a fan will show up and root church on.

A fan will show up and watch as Jesus works.

A fan will show up and watch the worshipers and maybe cheer with the worshipers.

But will not do what it takes to get into the game.

Because a fan is content to cheer it on and say, go team Jesus.

I got news that Kyle, my brother-in-law, was coming on a winter retreat.

And y'all gotta understand, you know, family's family, right?

Carl was a lot.

Heather knew that.

So when Carl was coming to town, if he was visiting, Heather would plan things for him to do, like mount TVs and work on things.

Like she would have a list.

Now, sometimes I got drawn into that list.

I'm like, I'm a grown man, pull the bushes out of my yard.

I can't have another man out there, and I'm in my house, like, this is my brother-in-law, so.

I mean, he would wear me out.

And Heather's like, he's his girls are, we would do a lot to try to get his girls on retreats and camps and just be a blessing in some way and let them hear the word.

He's like, Kyle's gonna come with him.

And I'm like, what?

Kyle?

Like, I gotta watch 50 teens and Kyle?

That's like a hundred teens.

And so I'm like, okay, well, and I always had this thought in my head, it didn't matter if it was adults, kids.

I'm like, everybody needs the word of God.

It doesn't really matter who's coming, that everybody needs to go.

I would take kids to camp.

I'll take kids to camp.

Eli, I'm not telling you, but I take the kids to camp and it was illegal things I was doing.

Right?

We had a bus of 50, we took 60.

Okay.

Okay.

I'm just telling you, I would do what it took to get people to the word of God.

And so we get to camp and everything, and I'm like, I'm not really sure how this is gonna go.

Because the other thing is, Kyle's six foot two, 230 pounds, and he's not really gonna be led by me.

You know what I'm saying?

Now, Kyle, this is what I need you to do.

But I learned that Kyle was willing to endure the cost.

Kyle, when we got there, I was pleasantly surprised.

All the suitcases went in the room, and I'm like, Kyle got everything.

There was all this stuff that we took for games and all these essentials for stuff we were gonna do.

Kyle got him upstairs, had boys.

He had boys working, teen boys working.

It was beautiful.

Okay, he had them going.

They didn't even know who he was.

It was like a hurricane had happened.

He was organized, he had this truck that had everything the military had ever had in it.

And so we're gonna do capture the flag the first night, which I'd done for years.

And all of a sudden, I'm like, who is going to do capture the flag, Darren, better than me?

I had a megaphone, I had flag, had it all planned.

Kyle pulls stuff out of his truck, these neon glow in the dark.

I'm like, what is happening?

Capture the flag just got ten times better, and he's pulling stuff out.

Okay?

I would have never dreamed to ask any one of my other youth leaders this, but I was like, I wanted to get the kids on a little thing and believing there was something out in the woods, right?

And I was like, I'll just ask Kyle.

Kyle went out in the woods, the kids were talking all night, and you know, there was something out there.

We heard something.

The next day, we got a gorilla suit.

In the middle of the day, six o'clock, Kyle comes jumping, six foot two.

And I'm telling you, Renee Neely believed there was a real gorilla in that classroom.

She came back, held her chest, he was jumping and leaping, and the kids ran out of the room.

They hid in a bathroom.

This was what Kyle was willing to do.

Kyle's in heaven now.

But he came to the next four camps with us.

If I was going then, I thought I need to have Kyle with me.

If there was a hike, Kyle was last because no troop was gonna be left behind.

He was not on the bench, church.

He didn't know nothing about the game, but when he got there, he said, I'm in the game, coach.

Put me in the game.

I'm not just a fan of this.

I want to experience this.

God took the zeal, the enthusiasm and the fire of Saul, and Damascus rode, and that same enthusiasm and fire turned into the greatest missionary that ever lived.

Church Christianity is freedom, but it's not free.

It costs Paul his life.

Followship comes at a cost.

He bids us come and die.

He says, take up your cross.

By the way, it costs Jesus absolutely everything.

He gave up everything for you and for me.

That kind of love, it will cost you something.

But here's the hope for the hour.

Whatever it costs is nothing, the Bible says, compared with the glory that one day we gain.

One day there's gonna be a sound of a trumpet.

And Jesus, who will take everything and surrender on this earth, will give us everything in heaven.

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes this morning?

I'm gonna ask you to stand to your feet as the music continues.

Well, thank you again for tuning into today's message.

We wanted to give you an opportunity to accept Jesus as your Savior if you don't know him and don't have a relationship.

We're gonna say a short prayer together.

You can repeat after me, but remember the prayer doesn't save you.

It's the heart change and the life change that Jesus has taken over our life and we accept him.

Dear Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner and I can't save myself.

But with you, Jesus, you came, you died, you were buried, and you rose again so that I could accept you and one day know the Father.

Well, if you just said that prayer of salvation, would you just mind taking a moment texting CCW Connect?

CCW Connect94000.

Let us know that you accepted Jesus as an option.

We want to celebrate this great life change that you just accepted him that you're saved.

And we want to celebrate that with you.

So, uh, if you haven't attended CCW, we would love to see if you're on campus.

We hope to see you soon.

If you accepted Jesus today, we want to hear about it.

Take a moment and text CCWConnect to 94,000.

Thank you again for joining us on the CCW podcast.

We hope you'll make plans to join us in person on Sundays.