When Jesus Makes It Clear, Will You Move? | Acts 22:12–21 | Alex Sands

Welcome to the Kingdom Life Podcast.

What happens after salvation?

Not just what do you believe, but what changes in Acts 22, 12 through 21, Paul continues telling the story of what Jesus did in his life.

And one of the clearest truths in this passage is that when salvation happens, something changes.

The question is no longer simply, what should I do?

It becomes, what shall I do, Lord?

In today's message, Pastor Alex says, faith does more than receive Jesus as Savior.

It bows to Jesus as Lord.

That means when Christ makes something clear, obedience should follow.

Paul had a plan for his life.

But Jesus had a bible.

Everything Paul had done to the church.

Paul heard that Christianity is deeply personal.

But it was never meant to remain private.

And Jesus closed one door and set him under the direction.

Paul had to learn that faithfulness sometimes means letting go of the plane.

This message challenges us not to do late.

But Jesus has made it clear.

Not to force doors, he has closed.

And not to do it.

So wherever you're listening from, lean in and ask yourself a simple life changing question.

What shall I do, Lord?

Here's Pastor Alex say with today's message from Acts 22.

12 through 21.

All right, as we uh we're going to continue today in our study in the book of Acts, we are in Acts chapter 22.

Acts 22 · chapter mention

And today's passage is Acts 22, verses 12 through 21.

Acts 22:12–21

And it's a beautiful thing that we've just done taking communion together.

And as I was referring, it's taking communion, it's a symbolic way of showing our unity in Christ.

We were saved into one body, and we partake of the same bread, the same body, the same blood.

We partake together.

We are one in Christ.

And so we get a chance to remember that it's bigger than us individually, right?

Our salvation is so much more than a personal thing.

My salvation.

No, he's God is our Father.

Jesus is our Savior.

And he saved us into one body.

And last time I was talking about every Christian has a before and an after.

A before, the life you used to live, before, and then after being a believer, being alive in Jesus, spiritually alive, before and after.

And in between, there was something that happened, but we discussed last time that it wasn't a something, it's a someone.

And what's his name?

Someone happened.

Someone intervened.

Jesus intervened.

We were going about our day, going about our business, and Jesus interrupted us like he interrupted Paul, Saul of Tarsus, on his way to Damascus.

Jesus found me.

He changed me.

It all starts with Jesus.

But the transformation before Jesus and after, when you think about it, every significant transformation, when you think of somebody who they used to be, and then you look to what they are, you know, today's some change, it usually has to do with a relationship, doesn't it?

Somebody comes into their life and and rocks their world.

Look, I want to spend my life with you.

I'll make adjustments to be with you.

We're gonna get married, everything just boom, changes.

There was somebody you used to be, and then she showed up.

And you're never the same after that.

Children can have that effect.

You were one way, but then the baby came, and you were never the same.

Bank account wasn't the same.

But you started to understand what unconditional love was like.

Anybody testify to that?

You understood unconditional love when you looked at a baby, looked at a child.

Then others say it was my grandchildren.

My grandbaby, my first grandchild, then everything changed.

I give my grandbaby everything.

I don't even care if my child shows up, just drop off the baby.

But a relationship.

Somehow this relationship comes in or shifts or transitions.

Here's the thing: most people we talk to, they have some type of knowledge or relationship with Jesus.

But that doesn't mean it's a saving relationship.

We knew about Jesus before we made him Lord.

We had heard about him, we knew of him, but we didn't know him as Lord.

That's what happens when you have the change of salvation.

There's a change where you see him differently.

Before I gave my life to Christ, Jesus was one of many counselors.

I called myself like in college, I called myself being, you know, educated, I want to learn from this person and that person, and Jesus was just one of many.

I went through that little period, you know, spiritual.

For many people, Jesus is just that counselor.

And so they they they're going through life and doing things they want to do, and then just kind of ask Jesus, Jesus, what do you think about this?

And if they don't like what Jesus has to say, well, I'm not doing that.

I'm doing my own thing.

Or just rewrite what he wrote.

Just say, ah, well, he really didn't mean that.

There are people who will ask Jesus, what should I do?

And then others who will say, What shall I do, Lord?

There is a difference.

Some who will say, What would you have me to do?

And I'm gonna weigh it versus what I want to do, and others who will say, What shall I do, Lord, because you are my master.

And saints, that happens at salvation.

The relationship where he becomes no more just counselor, but Lord and master.

That's when you have the before who you used to be.

Jesus becomes Lord, master, and then what do you want me to do, Lord?

And you put that on the table every day.

We've seen it as we looked in chapter 22, starting last week, and we're continuing on.

In Paul's transformation, his he he tells his salvation experience in front of a hostile audience of thousands who minutes earlier wanted to kill him.

He was spared by a Roman commander.

This is some 20-some years, you know, after the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Paul has been out, he's been establishing churches and everything else, but he has been viewed as public enemy number one.

To the Jews who were, you know, they were very strict on the law, and that they they had the only way in order to have access to God is to become a Jew.

And Paul was public enemy number one.

They wanted to kill him.

And they saw him at the temple.

And somebody said, He's he's he walked in here with a with a gentile, and there's a mob that came up.

They they tried to kill him.

Lord blessed him and protected him with some Roman officers that saved the day by putting him in chains and they got ready to lock him up.

But he said, Please let me say something to the crowd.

Let me give a defense.

And his defense, he didn't give a defense for his behavior, he gave his testimony.

And last week we saw the Paul giving the before life.

And in summary, basically what he said was whoever you are or want to be, this passionate, zealous person for the law and a defender for the law, I was all of that and then some.

I was all of that and more.

I was trying to exterminate the church.

And he had been given orders, papers from the council, Sanhedrin, to go to Damascus and to arrest any followers of the way, any Christians found in Damascus.

Arrest them and bring them to Jerusalem.

They could be imprisoned, flogged, maybe killed.

Lord, they murdered Stephen.

He'd been given authorization to do this, and he was, listen, an inquisitor.

He was passionate about exterminating the church to the point of the fact that he was violent and he was aggressive.

He wasn't trying to find Jesus.

He wasn't on his way to just trying to discover whether Jesus was the Messiah.

He was not on the hunt.

Whether Jesus was the Savior, he wanted to put an end to this heresy.

And traveling on the way to Damascus, 150 to 170 miles from Jerusalem, about five, six-day journey, as he gets near to Damascus.

The Lord intervened.

The Lord showed up and changed his life.

He saw the Lord differently in a new way.

First, let's talk about our kingdom truth for today.

It's the same one as last week.

Saving faith receives Jesus as Savior and bows to Jesus as Lord.

Notice in the text, as we covered last time, that Paul had, Paul, Saul of Tarsus, who became Paul, but Saul, a great light shone around him when he was on his way to Damascus, and it was it was so bright.

Even the noonday sun didn't compare to the brightness of this light.

A great light from heaven suddenly shone around me.

And verse seven, I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

And what was Saul's first question?

Where does it say there in verse 7?

What's his first question?

Who are you, Lord?

Who are you, Lord?

Oh, he knows this is a theopany.

Who are you, Lord?

He's saying, I'm persecuting.

Who are you, Lord?

I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.

Jesus is still Jesus of Nazareth.

Whom you are persecuting.

Now those verse 9, those who were with me, they saw the light but didn't understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me.

And I said, what was his second question?

Verse 10?

What shall I do, Lord?

Who are you, Lord?

Most important question someone can ask.

Who are you, Lord?

And once the Lord reveals Himself, Jesus, Messiah, Savior, all of that, the way, the truth, and the life?

The next question.

What do you want me to do?

You can encapsulate salvation in those two questions.

How someone answers those questions.

Who are you, Lord?

It's Lord Jesus.

Messiah.

And then what would you have me to do?

What shall I do, Lord?

Saving faith receives Jesus as Savior.

Savior.

We can't.

We need a savior.

We can't earn our righteousness.

We can't create, make ourselves acceptable to God.

We are saved by grace.

Jesus is our Savior, but He's also Lord, Master, Shepherd, meaning we follow Him.

So when He is the Master, we don't get to say, ah, I don't want to do that.

Ah, I'm going to do my own way.

Even when we struggle and we falter and we sin, we still say, Jesus, you are Lord.

I was wrong.

Forgive me.

Have mercy upon me.

We are gracious, we have a gracious Lord, Master, he was gracious to Paul.

Lord said to me, Rise and go into Damascus, and there you will be told what all that is appointed for you to do.

He was on his way to Damascus to arrest Christians and bring them bound to Jerusalem.

Jesus says, continue on to Damascus with a total different purpose.

There you will be told what to do.

And I couldn't see, he says.

Verse 11, I couldn't see because of the brightness of that light.

I had to be led by the hand by those who were with me and came into Damascus.

Now we pick up verse 12.

Paul is in Damascus, and there says verse 12, and one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there.

Now let's pause.

When Luke was telling the story in Acts chapter 9, he mentioned Ananias, but only called him a disciple.

Acts 9 · chapter mention

He just said, a disciple named Ananias, who was part of the church in Damascus.

Here, Paul adds that he was devout and he had a reputation.

He was well respected, devout, well spoken of by all the Jews that were there.

Why does he add that detail?

Because he is speaking before a crowd of Jews who believe that Christianity has pulled Paul away and pulled others away from following Judaism.

And so when Paul, when he goes up there and he talks about Ananias, he brings out the fact that Ananias was a devout Jew.

Ananias, he was well respected by all of the Jews.

It wasn't somebody who was a fringe zealot who was irreligious.

No, this was a believer who was devout and sincere in his faith.

Subtly saying, you can still be faithful as a Jew and be Christian, but just understand those the things that your uh practices, they don't save you.

It's grace that saves and not works.

Ananias, devout, well spoken of, came to me, verse 13, and standing by me said to me, Brother Saul.

Wow.

Receive your sight.

Now, here what um what Paul doesn't detail here is how Jesus appeared to Ananias in a vision and told him about Saul and how he would be with the house that he was going to be in.

Because Saul, he had to be led into Damascus, he's led to someone's home, and there for three days he doesn't eat.

He can't see, he doesn't eat, he's praying.

God gives him the vision of a man named Ananias laying hands on him and him being able to see.

But that was after he arrived at the house.

Before that, Jesus appeared to Ananias and said, Saul is there.

You need to go to such and such house.

Saul is praying.

And you just tell him all the things that he will endure, da da da.

And Ananias is like, hey, wait a minute.

Talking about this Saul.

That's Saul of Tarsus, the one who's been, yep, wreaking havoc.

Him.

Yes.

He told him about Saul.

And the funny thing is, again, Ananias was almost like, Lord, are you sure?

But the Lord was sure.

And Ananias comes into the house, and apparently, Saul, Paul, he's he's down on the ground, and he's blind.

And the first words out of Ananias's mouth is, Brother, Saul.

He didn't say, Boy, you got yourself into a mess, haven't you?

You a big time sinner.

Now you're gonna have to prove to me that you legit.

I I heard Jesus, but I need to see some fruit from you first before I lay hands on you.

I know about grace, but you're gonna have to prove yourself to me.

No, Jesus told Ananias that Paul in essence was saved and he was an instrument for his purpose.

And Ananias didn't need his own evidence.

If he saved by grace, if the Lord has had poured out grace upon him, who am I to withhold grace from him myself?

Brother Saul, receive your sight.

And at that very hour, I received my sight and saw him.

And he said, The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the righteous one, and to hear a voice from his mouth.

First, the God of our fathers appointed you, set you apart for a destiny, for plane.

He set you apart for he's appointed you for this.

To do what?

To know his will, to see the righteous one, and to hear a voice from his mouth.

He's appointed you to know his will.

Or to reveal knowledge to you.

To know his will.

To see the righteous one.

That was a title the Jews would use to describe the Messiah, the righteous one.

You see it previously in Acts, we've seen it, but it all points to the Messiah, God's righteous one.

That word would have resonated with the crowd that's listening to Paul.

Called Jesus the righteous one.

And to hear a voice from his mouth.

See him and to hear him.

To know his will for this purpose.

For you will be a witness.

You will be a witness for him, for Jesus, to every one of what you have seen and heard.

He's chosen you.

Saul, appointed you.

To know his will, see the righteous one, hear a voice from his mouth direction.

You'll be a witness of all of these things.

You know what, man?

Paul's world has been rocked upside down.

The Jesus, the Jesus, he he thought Jesus was dead, but now he's he knows that Jesus is alive.

He had thought that that Jesus' followers were opposing God, but now he finds out that they are the people of God.

And so no wonder, I mean, his heart must have been broken, but to hear all of this, the Lord has set you apart, Paul, for this.

The Lord has called you Saul for this.

And now look, look how the Lord gets practical.

Now, why do you wait?

Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.

So here is the next thing to do.

Right?

So Jesus, I mean, uh, Saul had said, Who are you, Lord?

I'm Jesus of Nazareth.

What would you have me to do?

Well, Lord, what shall I do?

Go into Damascus.

It'll be told you there what you need to do.

He gets there.

He has a vision to Ananias.

Ananias lays hands on him.

Scales fell down from his eyes, all of these things, and he reveals himself.

And then Ananias says, Look, why are you wasting time?

Get up, be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name.

So you're clear next steps.

Now, this passage, some believe that this passage teaches baptismal regeneration, that you have to be baptized in order to be saved.

And if you read that a certain way, I was caught up in a group that taught that years, years, years ago.

Think about that, is in the Greek, first of all, it's the what's really important in that whole section, that whole sentence there is calling on his name.

Everything else modifies that part, but it's calling on his name, calling on Jesus, calling on him as being Lord, being Messiah, calling on him, pleading with him for salvation, calling on his name, having called on his name, rise and be baptized, and be baptized as a way of symbolically showing that your sins have been washed away.

Some passages, some scriptures is kind of like to uh underscore that.

Romans chapter 10, verse 13, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Romans 10:13

In Acts chapter 3, after Paul had preached the sermon on the day of Pentecost, his next sermon, he doesn't say repent and be baptized, he says repent.

Acts 3 · chapter mention

Verse 3, excuse me, chapter 3, verse 18 and through 20, for what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets that his Christ would suffer, he has thus fulfilled.

Repent, therefore, and turn back that your sins may be blotted out, washed away, blotted out, done away with, and that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus.

Many other passages we can point to, but understand, water baptism does not save.

What it was significant for, it was significant for Paul, and it was significant for the church at Damascus.

It was significant for Paul because him being baptized, immersed, calling on the name of Jesus, being immersed, showed that although at one time he was part of a group that opposed Jesus, now he was in line with Jesus.

At one time he wanted to exterminate those who called on the name of the Lord, but now he is calling on the Lord himself.

He's identified himself through public, you know, public baptism.

He had publicly opposed Jesus.

Now he is publicly embracing, accepting Jesus.

That was important for him to do.

That's what baptism does.

It's an announcement to the world.

I am committed to Jesus.

It's your pledge of allegiance to Jesus as Lord and Savior.

But it was also important for the Church of Damascus.

Because they had all heard about Saul and they knew he was there.

Ananias knew that he had arrived in Damascus.

He was there for three days.

Saul had a reputation.

He's come to exterminate, he came to arrest and bring people back, and they knew all everybody knew that.

Can you imagine people being on their edge of their seat?

What is going to happen next?

Ananias says, Well, he's a brother.

Well, okay, it's good, Ananias, but what does Saul have to say?

I know what you're saying, Ananias, but look, my family may be in jeopardy.

This dude is violent.

Well, then, how it must have encouraged, built up the church to be able to see Saul of Tarsus, the one who had come with authority from the high priest to arrest them and take, to see him go down into the waters, professing Jesus as Lord.

The one who had been the persecutor of the brethren is now part of the brethren himself.

To be able to see that and to celebrate that, and how that must have built up their faith.

Oh, yeah, I knew Jesus was real, but man, Jesus is real.

Jesus met that dude.

I know it.

He ain't the same.

There was a before and there was an after.

I'm seeing the after, and the only way this could have happened is Jesus.

The only one who could have changed this man is Jesus.

It was important for Saul, it was important for the church.

Understand this.

This general principle, Christianity is personal, but it is not private.

It's personal.

No one can repent for you.

No one can call on the name of Jesus for you.

So it is personal.

You have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

But it is not private and something to be hid in the corner.

We are saved into the body of Christ.

We have brothers and sisters that we are accountable to, and they are accountable to us.

We're part of the family now.

There are no, like, you know, we we what if you're hiding because you're afraid of what people will say, it comes with the territory, and if Jesus could be cursed for you, you're afraid of what somebody else is going to say?

Don't be ashamed of Jesus.

He wasn't ashamed of you.

So it's private.

I mean, it's it's it's it's personal, but it's not something that's private.

You better you better go ahead and tell folk what's changed.

Somebody looks at the change in you, someone, well, you ain't drinking all that like you used to, you ain't partying.

Like, what's up with you?

Jesus.

What's his name?

Jesus.

You tell him, tell them, Jesus is the one who has made the difference.

My relationship with him has changed.

I knew him, but now I know him in a special way.

He's my Lord now.

He's not a confidant or buddy, he's not my pal, he's not my co-pilot.

He is the pilot, Lord, master, savior, redeemer, all of that.

And so, no, I am not going to hold back.

Calling on his name.

But again, the urgency is what I want us to kind of focus on here.

Our life principle first.

Number one, don't delay what Jesus has had has made clear to do.

Who are you, Lord?

What will you have me to do?

Jesus didn't give him a 20-year game plan for life.

You know, he didn't give him all that's gonna happen.

What he said was, go to Damascus.

And there will be told you what to do.

When he gets to Damascus, Ananias, laid hands on him, all these things happen.

Just do the next clear thing to do.

Every day we need to wake up with the, what would you have me to do, Lord?

And if it isn't the big, extravagant thing that you think it should be, maybe it's just to go across the street and check on your neighbor.

You want to go save all the nations.

That's great.

Will you go across the street?

Don't talk about going across the Atlantic or the Pacific or something, and you're not gonna go across the street.

You hadn't seen your neighbor in a couple weeks.

Is she okay?

Don't fight that off.

Don't think that that's such a small thing.

That can't be God.

God works in the small things.

You never know how far that witness will go.

Just do the next thing that He said that He is said to do.

And maybe for some it is baptism.

Maybe you delayed being baptized because you thought it's not necessary.

I'm already a believer.

I'm saved.

Well, Jesus commanded it, and the church did it, and the church expected it.

That's what we see throughout scripture.

Why delay?

Maybe you don't like being in front of people.

I get it.

The pool.

Look, we got everything.

Change of clothes, towels, everything just for you.

But there's a whole lot of people here.

Yeah, there are a lot of folks here, but they're gonna celebrate and proclaim, praise the name of Jesus along with you.

There's nothing to fear.

Maybe you're afraid of water.

I promise you, you won't be down there long.

It'll be quick.

But the Lord will give you the boldness.

You would be obedient in a small thing.

Watch how He opens up doors and all these other different areas of life.

Yeah, a lot of people will see you, but your faith isn't private.

It's personal, but it's not private.

Be willing, put it out there and get wet.

It's good.

Watch how it's symbolic, but it's profound, and it's healing for the body of Christ and individually for your soul.

Maybe that's the thing.

Maybe it's just to pick up the phone and reconcile a relationship.

Maybe it's to he'll just tell you to go and set start writing an email to someone.

Like, I don't even know what to say yet.

And that Jesus just say, go to the computer.

Well, what am I gonna say to them?

Just go and start.

Sometimes you just get started, and the Lord will get to give you ideas, concepts, words.

But what's the clear next thing to do?

Maybe it's just to set aside an afternoon and just sit and then let him pour in and pour through you.

Does that make sense, y'all?

I I know that is something for me to I I honestly struggle with just setting, pulling, pushing everything away, putting everything, all the devices, muting all of them, and just saying sit because the Lord said sit.

What's gonna happen?

But he never fails to show up.

He never fails.

And remember this too.

Your obedience rarely affects only you.

Your obedience, it's rarely just an effect on you.

Somebody has been affected by you being godly and making uh a choice to honor him.

Maybe it's your children, maybe spouse, church family, neighbors, co-workers.

Remember, there are ripple effects to obedience and to sin.

It's like throwing a pebble in a lake.

It can be little, but the ripple effects keep going.

There are ripple effects for obedience.

So we've had Saul, we have Saul's conversion story.

We've had his, you know, his uh before, and then he comes to faith in Jesus.

Jesus found him and saved him.

Now we're gonna get this picture of part of this call.

He's living out this call, and he returns to Jerusalem at some point.

We find in verse 17.

This is like one of my favorite parts of this whole story.

Paul's story, I mean, as a whole.

When I had returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, pause ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.

See, he's giving this, remember the context.

He is speaking before thousands of Jews who have accused him of shaming this place, being the temple, saying things against the temple.

Well, what Paul says is like he tells his testimony, he says, Look, I came to Jerusalem.

I came back to Jerusalem, I went to the temple to pray.

I am not opposed to the temple.

I went to pray like everybody else, all the other Jews.

He says that I fell into a trance.

It'd be like a a a uh prophetic, you know, time.

Yeah, he's he's he's caught up now.

And and so they would have recognized this as too.

God would do this in the old testament.

I fell into a trance and saw him, Jesus, saying to me, Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly.

I think Jesus wants him to leave.

What do you think?

Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly.

Because they will not accept your testimony about me.

Make haste, get out as quickly as possible.

Whatever ministry Paul had in mind doing there in Jerusalem, the door's closed.

It's a wrap.

And Jesus says, go quickly.

But Saul apparently thought the door should remain open a little while longer.

Listen to verse 19.

And I said, It even starts wrong, right?

And I said, Lord, they themselves know that in one synagogue after another I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you.

Everybody in Jerusalem, they know me.

All of them know.

That in one synagogue after the other, I imprisoned and I and I beat those uh who believed in you.

Read between the lines, what he's saying here is there's no one better to reach the Jews than me.

You want me to leave?

Everyone knows who I was.

They know I was I was a menace to the church.

No, I wanted to destroy the church.

If if anybody would be able to show how Jesus could transform a life, it would be me.

It's me.

I should stay here.

Like the Lord didn't know.

Like this is all news to Jesus.

Like Jesus, oh really?

I hadn't thought about that.

He says, they all know there's no one better than me to witness to the Jews here in Jerusalem.

No one better to lead them to faith.

They would have known I wouldn't have done this casually.

And then he pulls out the king of spades.

I said, Lord.

There he goes calling Lord again and didn't not do anything.

When the blood of Stephen, your witness, was being shed, I myself was standing by and approving.

Standing by, and not just standing by, but approving and watching over the garments.

The blood of Stephen, your witness, that has overtones like a sacrifice, Old Testament sacrifice.

Stephen sacrificing himself.

When the blood of Stephen, your witness, was being shed, I was standing by.

Now, Paul is not trying to say I wasn't one of the ones who threw the stones.

The one who guarded the cloaks, that was someone who represented the council and gave approval for the actions and the deeds, the stoning.

That person who would watch the cloaks was there to affirm the legality of what was happening.

This is legal, this is with our authority, and Saul was the one that was there saying, This needs to happen, this should happen.

He wasn't, he was complicit in this, he was guilty.

And his point is, everybody knows this.

Everybody knows that I collected this the cloaks were at my feet.

I was the representative for the Sanhedrin during this stoning.

Everybody knows that.

So they will know.

If they hear me talk about Jesus, they'll know Jesus is real.

Because no one would have no one was as uh zealous for for destroying the church as me.

Lord, I should be the one.

It makes all the logical sense in the world.

See, the thing is, Paul knew his story, but Jesus knew Jerusalem.

Paul knew how convincing his story would be, but Jesus knew the hearts of the people in Jerusalem.

Jesus knew how the people would respond.

Paul could see the arguments, but he couldn't see the minds of the people.

Jesus could.

Jesus never said that any of those things didn't have value.

Oh, yeah, they had value, but understand, your testimony isn't going to save people.

The Holy Spirit saves, and if someone's heart is hardened, there's nothing your story, your testimony is going to do.

And so it's uh it's go.

And he says, make haste.

But understand, it wasn't about Paul.

He says, they're not, Jesus says, they're not going to receive the testimony about me.

They're not rejecting you, Saul.

They're rejecting me.

But you need to get up and go.

You know, sometimes we just need to sometimes we just beat ourselves up so much about opportunities maybe that we missed, or times, things that we should have done differently, said it differently.

I should have shared the gospel here.

I should have added this piece of the argument.

I should have done that.

Look, it's no fine, uh fine-sounding arguments aren't going to save.

It's the Holy Spirit.

We should be prepared always to give an answer, but it's the Holy Spirit that redeems.

He's the one who does the work, he's the one who brings conviction.

He does the work.

We don't do the work, he does it all.

Maybe if I had just had one more scripture, I could have given them.

I'll call them up and I'm gonna give it their script, that scripture I forgot about.

God could take one verse, one scripture, and lead someone to faith.

In other cases, it could be 50 and someone still resist.

Paul's desires were good.

He wanted to see all of his people all of the Jews saved.

It was his heart's desire and prayer to God for them and that they would be saved.

He had a good plan.

It makes logical sense, but it's not what the Lord wanted him to do.

And when your logic confronts the purpose of God, let your logic go.

I've prepared my whole life for this.

Let it go.

Because part of saying, What shall I do?

Part of saying that is what I won't do.

Because oftentimes his will is just to shut a door, and a door you thought would be opened, a business opportunity you thought that's where he wanted you to stay for the next 20 years, a relationship you thought was the one, but you've been trying and struggling, and it's just not working.

Maybe they're not the one.

You're not edifying each other in the Lord.

It's just all kinds of things.

Sometimes we are so we can be so committed to our plan that even though Jesus is Lord, we still give him our option.

That's what I love about this.

Paul is so real.

He was committed to seeing his brothers and sisters, his Jewish brothers and sisters saved.

He was willing to die for that.

He was all in.

And Jesus told him to leave.

Sometimes that's the hardest thing about following Jesus.

When he closes the door on a good thing.

And he just says no.

Jesus still said, leave.

When this comes around, application number two, don't force doors Jesus has closed.

This is where you need this, you need a walk with the Lord, a personal walk, because there's no recipe to know when the Lord is saying the door is closed and stop trying to get through it.

Or he's saying it's going to take some extra perseverance, but I'm building up spiritual strength in you.

This is where walking with the Lord gives you that familiarity when you start to know, okay, God is saying to shake the dust from my feet and move on.

But then other times he'll say, keep going.

Sometimes he'll say, go through the door.

Sometimes he'll say, just walk away.

Or maybe just keep your hand on the doorknob.

You want me to open it, or what?

Or leave?

Just wait.

It's a door, Jesus.

We're supposed to go through it.

Or what am I supposed to do?

Just stay at the door.

You don't know who's going to be coming out.

Just stay.

That can be the hardest thing.

That's where we really get to the point where, okay, is Jesus Lord?

Because sometimes we have our story, we want Jesus to endorse.

We have our plan and we want Him to put a stamp of approval on our plan.

And the issue isn't that the plan isn't good, it's just not God's.

Don't baptize stubbornness and call it perseverance.

That's for me.

That's a personal one.

Because you're so set, I'm going to make it work.

And it's not what God wants.

You know, seek his will, even if it's a no.

His no is better than our yes.

Look at verse 21 and we're done.

He said to me, Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.

Go.

Oh my goodness.

This is somewhere, look, Paul thought he would be great in Jerusalem.

Paul said, nope.

And he tells him, I'm going to send you to the Gentiles.

That's 180 degrees different than what he had planned.

Total different.

It's not his culture.

It's not his thing.

I mean, it's not his jam.

His rabbi was Gamelel, the Maliel.

I mean, look, that's his dude.

He's a Pharisee.

You're going to the Gentiles.

And Jesus' plan for Saul was so much bigger than Saul's plan for himself.

Saul couldn't see all of this.

Saul, later Paul, he didn't see all of this.

But the Lord had a different, you know, different part of the harvest for him to work in.

And he told him, This is what you need to do, and I will send you.

And it's fulfillment of what the word had said would happen, Isaiah 49, 6.

Is it too light of a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel?

I will make you as a light for the nations that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.

This is, this was the Lord's redemptive plan from the beginning to reach Gentiles.

And Paul, this is now, this is your mission.

But it wasn't Paul's plan.

He had his plan.

God had his plan.

And you know, some members from the church had to go get Paul and take him to a ship to get out.

Because he would have been killed.

They were going to kill him.

So Jesus not only told Saul this, he also told members of the church, go get your brother before he gets killed.

But if he had stuck with his plan, he wouldn't have seen all these Gentile churches established.

In Galatia and Philippi and seen then others launched others into ministry and church established and Colossae, all of those other things.

And God had so much more for him.

God was doing reconciling Jew and Gentile.

The mystery is that Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body and partakers of the same promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

What had been hidden is now fully disclosed.

And Paul, he had front row seat.

He was appointed for it.

And he didn't see it right away.

Last application go wherever God sends you.

Understanding his plan is always bigger and better than yours.

Jesus gets to determine the field.

He gets to determine where we go, and he gets all the glory for it.

It may mean another country, may need going to folks that are totally different from us.

Thinks differently than you, talks differently from you, wherever he may lead.

Hey, that's where you say yes, Lord.

Because the gospel is not ours to keep to people just like ourselves.

It's for all people.

Jesus said, You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses.

Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.

And that is still going forward.

That word, that truth is still going forth.

When we say, What do you have?

What shall I do, Lord?

You're saying, My life is not my own.

Lord, it belongs to you.

Getting back to where we started.

We're going to see here next week.

Paul won't even have a chance to finish up.

That's going to be his last word.

That's all people needed to hear.

They're going to go into uproar.

But he has established his salvation story, his experience before Jesus.

Encounter with Jesus.

And then afterwards, you'll never be able to say I was against the Jews.

It was never against the Jews.

I was all, I went to the temple, I did all of these things still.

When I learned who Jesus was, when the question was answered, who are you, Lord?

Jesus of Nazareth, I gave him my yes.

What do you want me to do?

We give him our yes.

What would you have me to do, Lord?

Maybe it's a door that's going to be closed.

Maybe one's going to be opened.

Maybe it's to follow a plan he's already birthed in you long ago when you were a child, or maybe something you can't even fathom.

Just know you can't do it in your own strength.

We give him our yes, and we let go all of the overruling whatever.

Don't say, I want forgiveness and I want grace, but I want control.

We surrender control to Jesus.

Because that's what it means for him to be Lord, to be master.

But when you surrender the reins, you find out life is so much better when you just let it let him take control.

His plan is bigger and better than your plan.

So what shall I do, Lord?

I'm listening.

Your servant is waiting.

I will do what you call me to do.

Thank you, Lord, for this example that we've read today and studied.

Help us, Lord, to always be ready to do what you call us to do.

Help us, God, to quiet all of the noise in our minds and the expectations we've had for ourselves, or maybe what expectations others have, and just wait on you.

And do the clear thing that you told us to do.

And then, Lord, let you just take the rest.

Have your way, Lord.

We thank you, Lord.

We love you.

In the name of Jesus, we pray.

Amen.