The Power of Jesus

Hey everyone, this is Josh from Encounter Church

Henley and thanks so much for tuning into our

podcast. Our prayer is that through this podcast,

you can have an encounter with Jesus that'll

change your life. And now get ready for an inspiring

message from our preaching team. Hey everyone,

my name is Tex. If you don't know me, I'm one

of the pastors here at Encounter Henley. and

I have the privilege of kicking off our new series

so as people we love everybody may not agree

but the statistics which say we love big and

loud And we love stories. If you look at like

the top 10 grossing movies of all time, there

is like two Avengers, a Star Wars, a Jurassic

Park, like two avatars. I've never even seen

these two avatars. But we just like big and loud

stories seems to be like where the money is,

right? So we just seem to love these big and

loud stories. If you look at the highest rated

and the highest attended like music concerts

of the last year, it's always big and loud. It's

like... and like your mileage may vary with the

artist but we're talking like Metallica and Madonna

and Bruce Springsteen and these are not like

string quartets yeah so it's like big and loud

is where we seem to go and we love stories and

we love this kind of noise and uh and Christians

I know that we like to think sometimes that we

get to step a little bit out of society and like

not us nah we love a big story more than anyone

else in the world the Bible is chockers with

just these big stories about big people doing

big things and the stories that we kind of tend

to love most of all are a big juicy testimony.

One of my favorite testimonies comes from John

Newton and he starts with this quote he says,

I am not who I ought to be, I am not who I wish

to be, I am not what I one day will be, but by

the grace of God I am not who I once was. I love

this quote, I think it's glorious, kind of sums

up to me coming into a relationship with Jesus

in like one fell swoop. Now Newton's conversion

came when during a harrowing storm at sea, the

ship he was on began to sink. So this is in like

the 1700s, mid 1700s. I know, very current. Right,

so his ship began to sink and he prayed to God

for mercy out of sheer desperation. And stop

me if you've heard this one before, but the seas

began to settle, everything calmed down. And

then he was okay. Everything was okay. So he

was like, okay, I've been saved. I will begin

to turn my life towards Jesus. Now, Newton went

on to become an ordained Anglican minister. He

was an abolitionist, a proponent for the abolition

of slavery. And he also wrote a little song called

Amazing Grace. So this guy went on to have a

pretty incredible life with a lot of these big,

these big signposts that you can point to. Now

before he did any of that though, the ship that

he was actually on was a slavery ship, which

he was the captain of. So this guy went from

a perpetrator of slavery to a proponent for the

end of slavery. So when he wrote the words and

sang the words, I'm not going to sing it, amazing

grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch

like me. He knew what it meant to be a wretch

because he was one of the wretchedest of the

wretches. He had been just like Literally going

backwards and forwards just Continuing this cycle

of slavery He knew what it meant and much like

in today's reading This is one of those like

big and radical transformations This is someone

who goes from a pretty pretty bad place to a

pretty pretty good space pretty quickly Now the

problem I've got with that and I know I can see

the irony of me starting where I'm going with

what I'm about to say Which is that? When we

only talk about these big and loud stories, we

actually have a tendency to overlook kind of

the smaller and quieter stories that are just

as powerful and have just as much impact. And

I'll be honest, a lot of those stories are your

stories. They are testimonies of people who were

raised in a Christian home, have had a life of

steady and obedient discipleship, a life basically

lived entirely in relationship with Jesus. For

some reason, We just kind of always go for the

big and the bold and we forget to look at the

other side of that coin And I fear that by by

overlooking the power and faithfully inconsistent

Look, honestly, it's not really our fault. It's

just not as loud It's it can't be summed up as

cleanly in a one. Well, okay. How about this?

How does this sound one line tagline from slave

trader to abolitionist Sounds pretty good I've

been asked to share my testimony lots of times,

because for some people it's kind of, you know,

big and exciting, but it's effectively my tagline

is, from atheist to pastor. Oh, sounds good,

right? Title of a book I'm never going to write.

But both just sound a little bit more exciting

than, was born, raised in a Christian house,

faithful disciple of God, and then died at 90.

It's just, sorry, like it just doesn't sound

as exciting. But what we're doing when we say

it's not as exciting and what we're doing when

we kind of remove the power from that is we're

actually just ignoring the power that Jesus offers

in not just the big but also in the very, very

small. We are putting way too much emphasis on

the dramatic than we are from the small and the

faithful. And what I love about today's reading

and today's scripture that we're going to be

talking about is that we're actually offered

both sides of that coin in the one story. So

before today's scripture in Acts 9, in Acts 8...

We find Saul just kind of moseying along, dragging

followers of Jesus from their homes, imprisoning

them, having them stoned to death. He's a hell

of a guy. So, to start Acts 9, we find him continuing

on this path. He's gone and received permission

from the high priest to carry on this war against

followers of Jesus all the way in Damascus. Now,

Damascus is not a local town. He's going to pass

over a lot of other towns to get there. Damascus

is about 200 k's away. So, that's the equivalent

of like from here to Port Piri. he does not have

a Mitsubishi Outlander, right? So he's got to

get there pretty slow. He's gonna go with horse,

he's gonna go with people. So why is he going

that far? Why is he going all the way to Damascus?

Well, he's going there because Damascus is a

trading hub. And in these times, trading hubs

were not only where goods and services got exchanged,

but for Saul, more importantly, this is where

ideas got exchanged. And for him, it's in cities

like Damascus that a radical new view on religion

could be shared and then could spread quickly

and easily. Because Saul doesn't just want to

wipe out the followers of Jesus, he wants the

entire movement snuffed out. And it's here...

on this road to persecution surrounded by companions.

Again, what I love about this story is that there

are other people around to bear witness to this.

This is not something that happens in the deep

dark night in a private bedroom. This happens

on a road in the middle of the day and still

comes a blinding light from heaven. And it's

through this, through this moment that Jesus

chooses to speak to Paul, to Saul, sorry. We'll

get to that later. He chooses to speak to Saul.

Now Saul in this moment, this light is so bright,

the booming voice from the sky is so powerful

that he can do nothing but clench his eyes shut

and fall to the ground. The power of Jesus completely

overwhelming. And a voice speaks and says, Saul,

Saul, why are you persecuting me? Now Jesus uses

his name twice. Jesus does this. three times

in total in the Bible. One of which Kara talked

to us about just a couple of weeks ago when he

talks to Martha and another time here and what

he's really doing is he's making it personal.

He's ensuring that you know you need to stop,

I need you to hear me and I need you to pay attention

to me. So in this moment, again, we're on a road,

we're surrounded by other people. What he's saying

is, Saul, make no mistake about it, I am speaking

to you. He's taking a massive moment and a massive

statement and He's making it super personal.

And again, to make sure that He's aware of just

how personal this is, He says, Saul, you are

not just persecuting my followers, you're actually

persecuting me, revealing in that moment that

Jesus' followers are not just His followers,

they are a part of Him and He is a part of them.

So we are locking in and securing the important

covenant between these people. So Saul responds.

He says, who are you, Lord? Which is quite an

interesting response. Lord is this interesting

word in there. Saul is Jewish. He believes in

God. He's not waging a holy war because he doesn't

believe in God. He's persecuting followers of

Jesus because he doesn't believe that Jesus is

the Son of God. And as a result, he believes

that the followers of Jesus are actually spreading

a dangerous lie. He believes that the persecution

of followers of Jesus is actually in defense

of God. And Jesus knows this. He'd have to know

this. So Jesus directly answers Saul's question.

And I love this because sometimes Jesus talks

in parables and every now and again he's like,

question, answer, right now, coming hot and fast,

bang. I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting.

There's no room for interpretation with that

he's saying so who am I I'm Jesus Now this this

gets a little bit interesting because you can

make no mistake about it Saul absolutely knew

who Jesus was Some scholars believe that Saul

was actually a member of the Sanhedrin which

was the very group that That sentenced Jesus

to death Saul knew he Jesus was Jesus knew who

Saul was Well, he thought, he thought he knew

who Jesus was, because now in this moment, what

if Jesus is exactly who he says he is, and who

he had said he was, or who others said he was?

Then Saul's persecution of Jesus' followers,

when Jesus himself isn't a holy war waged in

the name of God, now it's an act of defiance

against God. So in that moment you can imagine

Saul's shock as everything that he thought he

knew, everything he felt justified in, is flipped

on its head, wiped out in a single moment, in

a single sentence, in a single interaction with

Jesus. That is the power of when Jesus speaks

to you directly. He has the ability to upturn

everything in your life immediately. Jesus just

says one other thing. He says, go and wait and

you'll be told what to do. So Saul's now been

called into action. And now Saul makes an incredible

choice, which is he goes from defiance to obedience.

This is a three sentence conversation with Jesus.

And he responds. So Saul stands. Keeping in mind,

he's had his eyes closed this entire time. Remember,

big light from the sky, big booming voice, very

overwhelming. He's had his eyes closed the entire

time. And when he stands and opens his eyes,

he finds that he can't see anything. He's completely

blind. In this moment, Jesus has caused Saul's

blindness, made him blind, to allow Saul to actually

be able to see for the first time in his life.

So Saul again, this is this big, scary... Like

if you've seen Inglorious Basterds, the Tarantino

film, like this is Hans Lander, like this guy

loved what he did. He was good at it, man. He

was this big, scary, intimidating guy and now

he is being raised to his feet and led by the

hand into a city because he's unable to do it

for himself. And for three days Saul doesn't

eat, he doesn't drink, he sits and waits and

prays. So far in this story, Jesus' power has

been pretty overwhelming. It's been that big

story we were talking about before. This was

the Avengers part of this story, right? And again

what I love now is that the perspective shifts.

We go to the other side of the coin and we get

to see how Jesus can be equally as powerful,

maybe more powerful, in the small and the quiet.

So introverts, this part's for you. In Damascus

there's a disciple named Ananias. Now it makes

it really clear again. We've got to remember

when we're reading the Bible, it doesn't make,

like there's not accidental words in there. They

don't kind of add or leave out details for no

reason. They make it really clear that Ananias

is a disciple. He's not a pastor, he's not a

teacher, he's not a rabbi, he's not, he's a disciple,

which effectively is like any of us in this room.

Ananias is a guy. He's a follower of Jesus, but

he's just a guy. So to Saul, when Jesus presents

himself, violent, abrasive, big, loud, spiritual

power, booming voice, light from the sky. With

Ananias a much more gentle approach is used.

He just presents, just, don't you love, he just,

the Lord presents himself in a vision. Small,

it's quiet, it's personal, and he asks him to

go and pray for Saul so that he can heal Saul.

And what I love is that Ananias doesn't, he doesn't

question God's authority at any stage. He doesn't

question really what he's been asked to do. He's

faithful, he's obedient, and the story plays

out to show how much power can be shown through

that. But the one thing is is that Ananias is

undoubtedly terrified. So he does kind of have

he's not he like he doesn't question like is

that you got it's just like bang Okay, cool talking

with God got it right, but he's terrified Because

remember Adonis is just a guy and what has happened

now is this is the equivalent of I don't even

know like one of the characters in Star Wars

It doesn't have a name imagine. I'm assuming

on a rebel base somewhere There was someone who

was responsible for making porridge, right? So

that person has now been told like hey if you

could just go have a cheeky sit down with Darth

Vader That would be sick. Don't worry, under

control. You can imagine they wouldn't be feeling,

they might have one more question, right? So

he's been asked, hey, I need you to go and pray

for him. I need you to go and pray for Darth

Vader. So man and I is just like, just quickly,

just so we're clear, the big, the black helmet

and the cape and the lightsaber and the choke.

Yeah, yep, that's the one. He's like, they were

pulling, he was pulling the man and the woman.

Yeah, yeah, that one. Ananias is being asked

to go and sit in audience with and pray for someone

that had been punishing people for the threat

of what Ananias was about to go and do. For the

very uttering of the idea of what Ananias was

about to live out. There's absolutely no way

he wasn't scared. The fear is understandable.

But Jesus and God through all this makes it really

clear that He's not doing it in His power, He's

doing it in the Lord's power. And the Lord says

you must go. and presents him with this really

small but really caring affirmation, which is

he's like, hey, I've given Saul a vision. He

knows your name, he's expecting you. So now what

he's saying to Ananias is, hey, I know this is

big and I know this is scary, but I've actually

already paved a way. I've actually already made

the way and the space and the how that you're

going to go in there to do this. So he's both

empowering Ananias and he's equipping him with

the confidence to go and do a really hard and

what no doubt in Ananias' brain is a potentially

very dangerous thing to do. Now this is when

you talk, Tim talked the other week during what

that mean about some of those expressions we

use all the time. One of the ones we use all

the time is God doesn't call the equipped, He

equips the called. And Ananias' story is the

living representation of that. Now in Luke 11

28, Jesus states, which is what Ananias does.

Ananias goes because he's been told to go. That's

it. So he goes. and he places his hands on Saul.

And again, I love all this because it's a long

passage, but all the bits of action are actually

quite short. And he prays this prayer. He says,

Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to

you on the road as you were coming here has sent

me so that you may see again and be filled with

the Holy Spirit. That's it. And immediately,

scales fall from Saul's eyes and he can see again.

and then he gets up and is immediately baptized.

This is Jesus' power playing out through three

simple actions, three simple stages, which are

call, obedience, and response. Anna and I are

opening two words of this prayer. Two words is

all it takes to start breaking down barriers.

Brother Saul. This becomes an immediate affirmation

of Saul's acceptance into a loving community

that mere days ago he was trying to completely

wipe out and eradicate. His healing becomes an

affirmation of Jesus' power and his baptism becomes

Saul's obedient response to an undeniable and

life -changing encounter with Jesus through Ananias.

And Saul goes forth from here, I love this, he's

got all this build up and then it just kind of

like the beats just happen so quickly. Saul goes

forth from here, he changes his life completely,

he even changes his name to Paul, who you may

have heard of. His life was once dedicated to

punishing followers of Jesus and all of a sudden

through this interaction, he changes it and goes

completely other way and dedicates his entire

life to spreading the power and saving grace

of Jesus. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound

that saved a wretch like me indeed. Now Jesus

had to break Saul down. He had to echo this spiritual

blindness with a physical blindness in that moment.

But what I love about this is that at no point

was it Jesus' intention to leave him in that

state. He immediately offers him a way out and

a way through. Now Jesus as well, using Ananias

to restore Saul's sight, becomes proof that Jesus

was alive in his people. And I love the one part

that Ananias adds to the prayer is that part

about via the Holy Spirit. Ananias has had this

one -to -one conversation with Jesus. Saul's

had this one -to -one conversation with Jesus,

but the power is coming through Jesus via the

Holy Spirit. And that is proof, again, these

promises fulfilled, prophecies fulfilled, that

Jesus is still alive in his people. And in turn,

that the power of God truly is still alive in

the people of God. And again, the message of

all of this is this life -changing huge that

we talked about before. But the execution is

a simple prayer by a simple man acting in obedience

to the call of God. And that church is powerful.

Now those three stages we talked about before,

call, obedience and response. They're the foundation

of everything that we should aspire to live out

as followers of Jesus. And it's funny as we go

through this church planning journey and I go

through this transition from where I was to the

man I am now to moving into ministry and all

these kind of things. I've had this realization.

We've been talking a lot about our plus ones

recently. And as I was writing this, I realized,

I mean shock horror, my natural personality type

is I am someone who likes the big. I am someone

who likes loud. I am someone who just loves a

big twisty story. That's my favorite thing. I

really do. I just love big. And the problem I

had in writing this sermon and reading this text

over the last week or two is that I know that

because that's my natural inclination I am really,

I'm super guilty of pursuing that methodology

of doing things. I respond to the big and I respond

to the dramatic, so that's what I'm driving for.

And I want to do powerful things, like I want

to see powerful movements of God and I want to

see powerful actions of God, but if I'm being

truthful, I don't want them the way that Ananias

did them. I think I've been trying to do them

the way that Jesus does, expecting these big

dramatic things. And as a result I've been ignoring

the small acts of power and in the process I've

been guilty of making Jesus power smaller. And

it was through unpacking the scripture the last

couple of weeks that I had this big realization.

Maybe this will resonate for some of you in the

room as well. Jesus didn't send Ananias to Saul

to convert him. That wasn't part of the conversation.

Jesus called him to go and to pray and to be

obedient and to respond to what was asked of

him. But at no point was there a conversation

about conversion. At no point was there a conversation

of, hey, baptize him. But that happened as a

result. Call from God. obedience from Ananias,

response from both Ananias and in turn Saul.

And I think I'm starting to realise that there

are people in my life that God has called me

to action with and I haven't taken it because

it doesn't look the way that I want it to look.

Because it feels scary to me. I was talking to

a few of the guys, was it last week we were praying

for plus ones? And I realized in that moment

that I've been a bit of a coward because I've

not been, my plus ones have not been the people

in my life that are the hardest plus ones in

my life. I've shot for like the middle ground.

I really have. I've shot for the people I'm like,

maybe if I squint a little bit, which I know

I squint a lot, right, but like if I squint a

little bit more, I can see how that person will

become a follower of Jesus. I can see how that,

I could see myself being at that person's baptism

one day. But there's part of me that's recognizing

I'm meant to be praying for the souls in my life

For the people that seem big and scary or distant.

It can be both. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying

all of you go and change your plus one to the

person you're most afraid of in the world But

the people that I'm most afraid of in the world

to have these conversations about Jesus with

or to have conversations with my faith We are

actually people who I should be closer with Their

family if I'm being honest and I'm avoiding living

it out in a way that might open the door to them

and that is where I am not being obedient to

God's call. This is beautiful quote from Sam

Chan in his book, Evangelism in a Skeptical World,

that kind of made me feel a tiny touch better.

And that's this, we need to know what our role

is. Our role is to communicate the gospel in

both word and action. But our role is not God's

or Jesus or the Holy Spirit's. Our role is not

to convert people. To hear the call of God. Call,

obedience and response. What I love about this

is that as he so typically does, this is one

that Jesus himself modeled. Jesus was called

to live out a human life with human temptation

and everything that met. Banj, you can come back

up if you would like. Now Jesus lived out that

calling in full active obedience of God's will

as the only sinless man to have ever lived. Now

Jesus continued in that obedience all the way

to the cross. His final earthly response being

that of suffering a painful crucifixion. Bless

you. Now to onlookers, this act would have looked

like an ordinary man suffering a painful but

ordinary death. But we, you and me, in this room,

we have the benefit of knowing that this was

anything but normal. This was anything but ordinary.

This was the most immensely powerful act of all

time. With Jesus' death taking atonement of our

sins and ensuring our own reconciliation with

God. He was called so He obediently responded.

But what... When I came back, we do all this,

we talk about this, when we come back to this

story, and this is the pit I couldn't shake,

so I'm just going to talk about it here. Why

does Jesus offer healing and kindness to Saul

at all? Why? Of all the people in the Bible,

this is a guy who was as anti -Jesus as you can

get. So why him? This is a broken and dangerous

man who doesn't deserve it. And there it is.

Deserve it. None of us deserve it. None of us

deserve forgiveness. None of us deserve the love

of Jesus, but that's exactly the point. Love,

salvation, grace, they're not hours to earn.

They're gifts to be received. Regardless of background,

regardless of where we find ourselves on the

road of persecution, be that internal or external,

regardless of how big or small we feel our actions

or our responses have been until now, this isn't

something that we earn. It is a gift. The power

of an encounter with Jesus is that we are all

the broken sinner, but we've all been fearfully

and wonderfully made by a loving God. and simply

that is enough. Thanks so much for tuning into

this week's message. If you felt challenged or

need prayer, we'd love to hear from you on Instagram

at encounterhenny or if you're interested in

how you can support this ministry please go to

our website encounteradelaide .com .au Thanks

again for listening. God bless you.