Saul has an Intervention | Elder Terence Atkinson

You're listening to a message to go from a church. We hope this message

will light up your day. Every time before I share on a Saturday night,

Saturday night, I usually get terrible asleep because most of the time I

get up and I'm praying. I'm praying for the service, you know.

And this morning I got up at two and the Lord wanted me to share

three scriptures with you that actually have a part to play in today's world.

The first one is Hebrews twelve one, which says, therefore we are surrounded,

we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses. Let us lay

aside every weight in the same which so easily and snares, and let us

run with the endurance the race that is set before us. I'm going to

be sharing with you from the life of Paul the Apostle, all right,

and there's some great things that we can learn from Paul. And Paul was

actually very influential in the Bible because he wrote more than half of the New

Testament. All right, this is the Paul that I am referring to,

and he says, we are in a race. We are in a race,

and the kind of race that we are in is not one of who

will finish first. It is a race of who will finish. Okay,

you want to win this race, finish it? And what is our tagline?

Says towards the finishing line. So this message ties in with that,

because there's a purpose we're around, and there's a purpose we're alive. Okay,

that's the first thing. The second thing is from Philippines one twenty one,

and what does Philippians one twenty one says? It says for me to

live is Christ and to die is Gain. So the first thing Paul is

saying is we are in an endurance rest. Then Paul says, if I'm

alive is Jesus. I wake up from my sleep is Jesus. I eat

lunch, Jesus, I meet my friend, Jesus, I go to work,

Jesus, I have my shower, Jesus, I drive my car,

Jesus, I go to funeral. Jesus. For me to live is Christ.

And then he says, and when I die, it's game. When

I die, it's game. You know, I find it hard to be

sad. Sorry, h I find it hard to be said at the funeral

of a believer. You know why, because they have gained. That's what

scriptures is for me. To live, it's Christ and to die is gain.

And then I like this one, now, Paula. This is Paul's

life, all right. And what does he say in Two Timothy chapter four

Versus seven to eight. It says, here, I have fought the good

fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. Your

race and my race, is not who finishes first. You see, in

that kind of race, who finished first, there can only be one winner.

But thank God, we are in a different kind of race. We

are in a race to make sure we finish, which means every one of

us can win. Every one of us can win. And what does he

say, hands fourth, There is lad up for me a crown of righteousness,

which the Lord, the Righteous Judge, shall give me on that day,

and not to me only, but unto all them that love His appearing,

unto all of them. So we are in a special kind of race.

It is the race of endurance. So praise the Lord. God has

given some people thirty years to live, some forty, some fifty, sixty,

seventy, eighty ninety, whatever time it is, it's a race to

endurance, to finish and that's not what I want to share with you today,

that it's just the appetizer. Now we get into the world and I'm

going to be sharing with you. Remember I said Paul right, I'm going

to share with you about his early life before Paul was Paul, he was

Soul. You get it. And I want to talk to you a little

bit about Saul. A lot of us forget that before Paul came into existence,

there was a Saul. How many of you have ever heard people really

preaching a lot about Saul. I'm not talking about Saul the King, but

how many of you have heard a lot of preaching about Saul before he was

Paul. Most of the time people talk about Paul. Right, paulis Paul

had Paul Paul? No before he was Paul, he was Saul. But

I want you to know something had to happen to him that changed the course

of his life, and that was Saul had an intervention. Saul had an

intervention. What is an intervention? You know what's an intervention? Let me

describe it to you. It is to come in between someone and their adverse

behavior, oh with a goal of correcting it through guidance and support being given

to that someone to come the problem. So an intervention is coming between a

person and they're bad behavior. How many of you know someone with bad behavior?

Oh? How many of you have come in between someone and bad behavior?

Okay, you know what? Another word for intervention is discipleship. But

there is also other kinds of intervention. How many of you have heard about

people who are addicted to alcohol and maybe the family come around and they get

involved and they try to intervene in the person's life. But before they can

do anything, what do they have to do? They have to get the

person to see that they are an alcoholic. What about wife beat us?

I hope they are no wife beat us in our church because um it said,

and sometimes people need to come in between and before that person can change

her, they need to see it first. We heard a testimony recently,

I believe it was. It was an x men. We heard about about

this this this Christian couple and the guy, shortly after marrying his wife started

to beat her. But you know why he did that because his father used

to beat his mother and he thought that was the way it was supposed to

be done. So when the church found out, they came in they did

an intervention, and you know what they did. They first explained and taught

him that that's not how to love your wife. And his words were,

oh, I didn't know. I thought that was the way because that was

my experience. So sometimes what is an intervention? Who gets you to see

what's not right? Okay, I'm getting somewhere. Don't fall off to sleep

on me, okay, X nine one, x nine one. Then Saul,

still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to

the high priest. Okay, that's what scripture says, right, saula before

Saul was a good guy who was a bad guy. You know Israel rotten

character. Let me explain to you what that word breathing threats mean. This

is actually what it means. Saul lived for the slaughter of Christians. Did

you know that. I mean, it shocked me when I read that one

is breathing murderous streaty, I kill you. There is this a puppetner that

that puppet and you know that the guy is a ventriloquious any and he talks.

When the people laugh, the puppet says, why are you laughing?

I kill you? That's that's what I thought. I thought it's just a

joke. But actually Scripture will saying that Saul actually lived for the slaughter of

Christians. Wow, you can be so bad and God can still make you

so good. He was genuinely believing that he was doing God or favor.

You know, there are many people who blow up things and they believe they're

doing God or favor. They believe that when they do that, they go

to heaven. I don't know who's heaven they're going to, but it sneers

in God's heaven. And I don't think it's a place where you'll see nice

trees and fruit and all that, but there will be a lot of light

where they go, different kind of light. It's called fire. Okay.

So the thing is this, That was what Saul was like. And scripture

tells me that Jesus intervened in his life. Why did Jesus intervene in the

life of Saul. I'll give you a few answers. Don't put up the

slider yet, Okay, let me finish all. Then. I don't know

why this is a joke. Every time I say, these people laugh,

it's okay, it's okay. Don't put up the slider, I tell you

when you can put it up. Okay, okay, because you know in

a test are you give all the answers? No point? So why did

Jesus intervene a little bit of suspense here? Jesus intervenes because we don't.

Jesus intervenes because you and I don't. So somebody had to get to Saul,

and since nobody was going to get to him, Jesus said, I'll

do it. You know that God has a purpose, and when God has

a purpose, nothing gets in the way. So you and I we can

think that somebody is bad, so we don't want to go and share with

that person. God has different ideas, you know, praise the Lord that

you know. We just sang a song amazing grace. You know who?

That song was written by? John Newton? Do you have any idea who?

John Newton us? He was a murderer, He was a rapist.

He was a slave trader, a very wicked and evil man who separated women

from their children and husbands from their wives and took them away into captivity or

slavery for profit. But God had a different plan, and God came and

saved him and praised the Lord God saved him because now we have probably the

most popular song in history, amazing Grace. So God's purpose will not be

twarted, will not be spoiled. God. You know when God says something,

it's going to happen. Do you know that God sees our potential even

when others don't? And you and I think we have a right to see

somebody else's potential or not. Oh, I'm not gonna share with that person's

such a bad person. You know what kind of a rotten character is now,

I'm just gonna not for you and me to say it. I have

one person in the beginning of my working career who was such a rotten fellow,

very rotten. Speak nine words ten you cannot repeat, Speak nine words

ten you cannot repeat. Tells you how bad lad okay, vulgar, bad

language all the time, you know. And when I left that company,

I prayed for all of them to find the Lord. Several years later I

almost fell off the chair. I found he accepted the Lord, and guess

what, he became a pastor. You and I don't get to choose who's

good and who's bad. We only get to choose what Jesus tells us to

choose, and what is that? Go and share. We are not supposed

to judge somebody, because Jesus came for the bad and for the good.

And I wanted to tell you that God stands up for us and he identifies

with these people. Let's read the word a little bit further and you will

get to know what it is. I mean reading from X chapter nine.

Let's just get there. I don't know where my scripture went, but I'll

find it again, I promise you. Okay, here we are X chapter

nine. Okay, in X chapter nine, verse two. Let's go on

to X chapter nine, verse two. Even with the glasses, I'm finding

it difficult to read. Nothing easier to read without my classes. Okay.

So Saul asked for letters to go to Damascus to do one to play scrabbler.

No, he asked for letters to go to Damascus to what get the

Christians out of the way. Okay. As he journeyed, he came near

to Damascus from heaven. Then he felt to the when he heard a Suddenly

was a light that shone around him for heaven. And then he fell to

the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why

are you persecuting me? Do you know that you're Jesus and mine identifies with

us as Christians? Do you know that he identifies with us? When somebody

comes against you, who are they coming against Jesus? You better believe it.

When somebody is good to you, who are they been good too?

Jesus? You had better believe it. You may find this hard to believe,

but this is the truth. Because when Saul came against the Christians,

did Jesus say, why are you coming against my believers? Did he say

that? Did he say why are you coming against the Christians? Did he

say that? What did he tell Saul? Why are you persecuting me?

I give you a little bit of mathematics, right, you know the equal

sign. If this is equal to death, I means this is the same

as that. So I give you a little bit of mathematics. The way

equals Jesus. Christian equals Jesus. Believer equals Jesus. So Jesus said,

why are you persecuting me? Hey? You and I we are never alone

in our good times and are not so good times. We are never alone

because Jesus identifies with us. This should give you a lot of encourage to

live your life. Somebody said, I've retired. This is what you call

the tail end of my life. Okay, But in the forty years that

I've known the Lord, the in between. There's a song something about the

middle. Right in the middle. God has been there. He was there

at the beginning before I knew him, and he will be there after this

middle period, and he will be there to greet me, to welcome me

home. That's my Lord. Reading from verse nine, verse five. Reading

from verse five, it says here then he said who are you? Lord?

Saul said, who are you? Lord? This is a very strange

question for me. And then the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom

you are persecuting. Jesus did not say, I am the one whom your

believers, whom the believers you are persecuting believing? Did he say that?

No, he says, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It

is hard for you to kick against the God. Who are you? Lord?

Saul asked him, who are you? Then he says, I am

Jesus, I am Jesus. You know what is a god? No,

it's a god. A god is a stick with a sharp point. All

right. So when you want the animal to move, you poke the animal.

You poke the animal than the animals. I remember I was just telling

the story this morning. Once I was going to Niela and I followed ways.

How many of you know waste doesn't always work. So anyway, I

was falling waste to kneeli right. I was driving, driving, driving on

the road. Huh tomc road. Suddenly here the road disappeared by there and

wait, so I might have follow. Then I noticed the grass on my

left and right started to grow taller. Next thing I knew they were taller

than my car. And then the tower roader disappeared. It was now a

muddy road. But we said go go go straight and you turn like,

okay, go straight followers, So I followed them. Then suddenly I found

the state trees all over the place. Hey, got the state trees.

And then I came to one junction and across this junction there was a cow,

big cow sitting quietly on the middle in the middle of the road.

How I wish I had a goat then to poke the cow to get the

cow to get up. The cow looked at me. I looked at the

cow at the mab testify this is true. Then the cow looked at me,

and I looked at the cow. Then the cow lazily got up and

moved to the side of the road. So killa, Hi, drove,

I drove, continue drive, So I drove mixt thing I know, no

muddy pat also in between one brain cannot crossma road. All disappeared. Muddy

road also disappeared on the right, tall grass solid in the car on the

left now got rubber state. Thank my goodness, where am I? So?

I had no choice, LA back out? Continue, I back out

the car, continue, drive across the road, drive, drive right,

right, and then the cow again, seated again in the middle of the

road. I look at the cow. Cow look at me. I look

at the cow. The cow look gave me find me. The cow again

lazily got up because it wants the matter with you. Law didn't say that,

but you know, animals can think also, you know, all right,

and then find me. I don't know how I got to church,

Law, but that is what God is, okay. God is something that

gets the animal to move. How that came into the story, I don't

know, Okay. So he trembling and astonished, he said, Lord,

what do you want me to do? I think even this question is a

funny question, because if I was that person, I wouldn't say, a

Lord, forgive me, God forgive me. I'm Jesus whom you're persecurity.

Forgive me a lot, forgive me a lot for me. But Saul did

not do that. Do you find it strange? I want you to know

that I had no idea that God intervene in my life exactly that same way,

and he only revealed it to me after I shared this message last week

in PJ. When I when my sister, my sister was the first to

come to the Lord, she came to the Lord seventy six, seventy five,

something like that. And when she became a Christiana, you know who

was her persecutor. I was the persecutor. I was the soul in her

life breathing murderous threats. No, no, I wasn't waiting to murder her

or anything like that, but that was how it seemed to her. I

was giving her really a hard time. And I said, you you think

you know the Bible, I studied the Bible. Improve your own. So

I studied the Bible four years. I read the Bible. Then This was

in seventy nine. In seventy nine, the Lord blessed me with a trip

to Singapore, but only one catch. I had to follow my sister and

her husband all right by car. But before that I would have had to

go to church. So killer, now mind, I'm going to Singapore.

For the first time, I go to church. So I went to church.

Church was a very small place. It was less than a hundred square

feet. It had wooden chairs, a few lights, and it was in

a compound a rubber sorry, a palm oil estate. So when I go

to church, I not driving in the car. You know, you have

to walk through muddy park and a lot of cow bombs everywhere. The whole

place smell a cowdown, all right. So going to that little church,

the only thing was a red curtain in a white cross and poor people.

They were poor people. All the people who came to that church was so

poor that when they offeredbet came around. Maybe they put in a few cents,

maybe one Sunday's offer tree was to ring it five ring it something like

that. All together, they were really really poor people. So I went

for that service. The first service I ever went to was six hours long.

Six hours. We grumble when these two hours cannot take it right.

Six hours started nine, finish at three, no time for lunch. Also

two hours of worship the messager you cannot take forty minutes right my first message.

I attended two hours after that, another two hours of worship. But

you know it was during that worship a column of light came down and it

and I was in the center, and this column of right light surrounded me.

So now all of you I could see you, but you were like

gold because I was seeing through seeing through this column, and I could see

all of you. But now you'd altern goal because I'm looking through like glass,

you know, like a gold glass. And a voice spoke in my

nsaid Terrence, you are not a Christian except me. Now I gave my

life to Christ that moment. Quietly, I did not realize that it was

an intervention. You know, God personally intervened in my life to get me

to become a Christian. What an amazing thing. Well, I was like

Sula, so bad and nobody want to come and share mea but it's okay.

In verse three year we catch a glimpse of his glory when he manifests

himself to us. I caught a glimpse of God's glory when he manifested himself

to me. And Scripture says that Saul fell to the ground. You know

what that means. Falling to a ground is coming back down to earth.

It is a situation where we are willing to listen. You know, people

who are very successful, you know when we use the term they are,

they're still grounded. You know what it means. They're still willing to listen.

But people who are no longer willing to listener cannot learn anything. Maybe

always be people who are willing to listen, because they can never be.

They can never come a time where we are so great that we don't listen.

Need to listen to anybody. Even Jesus can say, you don't praise

me, that the stones will praise me. Let us always listen. Okay,

response to intervention again, don't show this like okay, don't show this

like okay, secret secret response to intervention. In verse four, we are

forced to face our wrongs. When it happened to me, what was the

first thing Jesus said, you are not a Christian? Because I always thought

I was a Christian. But in order for me to change, the Lord

had to make me realize I wasn't what I thought I was. Face yourself.

You want to have God on your side each and every day of your

life. Face the Lord, face up to yourself every day. If others

cannot see it, be honest with yourself. God can work with that.

If you are not honest with your server, even God will not be able

to work with you. We are forced to face our wrong doings. And

Saul in verse five says, who are you? We want a connection.

We want an introduction to the intervener. Want to connect, be connected with

Jesus Christ. We want to And in verse six, what does world six

say? What do you want me to do? We are willing to change.

Okay, now you can show that slight and everybody can take picture.

Okay, are we learning something? The next thing we gotta do is we

gotta be blind to site. Blind to site we think we see, right,

we don't see. So Saul thought he was doing God a great favor.

Right. Scripture says that after the Lord appeared to him, he couldn't

see. He had to be blind to side. Okay, And so the

Lord said, arise and go into the city. And you will be told

what to do. What you must do. Arise and go. Do you

know God doesn't want us to be static? Get up, pieces, get

up, get off your chair. Go. Many of us always calle description

be still and know that I'm God. Once you know God, get up

and go. Because if you are standing still, when you already know God,

something is wrong with you. Because my Jesus said, arise, get

up and move it, move it moving, get up. You know I

will be I may be sharing this with the X men one day, very

soon. The three conditions of movement that God wants you to be in is

very exciting, very very exciting. Standing still is not one of them.

So what does it? It takes obedience, get up and go. So

what did Saul do? He got up, and he went obedience, And

what does it say? He went? Even the others here he heard the

voice, but no one saw anything. So Saul arose from the ground.

So that's obedience, your rose. And when his eyes were opened he saw

no one. That means blind to side. He was not blind, okay.

But they led him by the hand and brought him into the Mascus and

was there three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank. It takes

time. He was there for three days. Why you think just because you

obeyed a lot, He's got to give you the answer straight away. God

will give you the answer when he gives you the answer. And until he

gives you the answer, Wait, you are godder. I'm goder that we

can demand God to move when we want him to move. Let me tell

you something about the Okay, he moves when he wants to move. We

must move when he tells us to move. That's the way it's got to

be. Then the next thing, you know, is it takes prayer and

fasting. So we are in the time of U turn right, praying and

fasting. Let me tell you something. If you are fasting many, I'm

not gonna ask some. If you are fasting and you're not praying, it

as another word, you know what, it's called starvation. So if you

are fastinger and you're not praying her starvationer because one cannot go without the other

soul prayed. And the scripture says he neither ate nor drank. And it

also takes one more thing, It takes other people. If you think you're

an island and you can do it all alone, then you're better than God

because God doesn't behave that way. God wants to involve other people. Do

you realize that your situation, your trouble, your bad stuff, your praying

is affecting somebody else's life and you don't know it because what the scriptures say.

Further down, while Saul was praying, somebody else was just praying,

going about his business, just being whatever, and God tells him, I

want you to go and pray for Saul. He's waiting for you. What

SAULA, Hey, Lord, Lord, something wrong with you? Are?

You know this guy and he's bad? You know he's bad? Bone,

this is the guy you want me to for. It is not up to

us who to pray for. Okay, it is not up to us who

is good and who is bad. That is God's domain because God sees everyone

as a potential. I was telling you about John Newton. What if God

did not see the potential in John Newton? None of us would be singing

that song Amazing Race, one of the most beloved songs in the world today

among Christians and non Christians. Are like, do you know that even non

Christians know the song Amazing Race? You and I are not to be bothered

about whether a person is good or whether a person is bad. Let's leave

that up to God. But when you are going about your business, when

you are going about your life, God is using your situation. What my

situation, Yes, your situation. He's working with somebody else to build that

person's fate up because that person is going to come into your life, affect

your life, and your response is going to affect your life. So when

Anna and I have heard from the Lord, go and pray, he says,

But he's like this, he's like that, He's like this letter,

we know what God told him. Just do it. I will show this

man how much he must suffer for my namesake. That is not your call,

it's my call. How many of us are playing God today by not

talking to those people who need to hear about Jesus Christ because we feel the

bad people. Oh, I thank God. I prayed for that guy and

he became a believer. I thank God, and then I saw God act.

You know what they said when I left that company. One thing we

can say about Terrence. He's a good Christian. So whatever happened, they

may not have been wanting to hear what I had to say. But they

were watching what I had to say. They were seeing something and it and

it touched the heart. I'll tell you what blind to side does not take.

Okay, you can show that slider. They can. Okay, did

you show the slide before that? Did you show that one? Okay?

So what is what being blind to side does not take? It doesn't take.

Excuse us, man? Thank god Saul did not say, what's the

matter with you? You want me to go here? When I came,

I could see. Now I'm blind and you want me to go go on?

I want to go home. How many of us come to church because

I don't want to be yell, I'm gonna go home. How many of

us are like that? I mean truth, we are like that. That's

our need. Chet. I gonna go home. I don't want to be

here. Right, No excuse us, But God, I was doing your

work. What I was getting rid of these people who are talking about somebody

other than Jehovah. Thank god Saul did not do that. You know,

he did not make excuses. And also thank god he did not wine.

You know what, it's a winger. Uh, I'm blind. Now what

do you want to do with a blind man? Can I see he did

not grumble or moan and groan. Ah. You want me to to do

sound equipment, old system twenty five years old. You want me to work

with data like winging. That's what you call winging. You know what's a

winger? You know? Grumble, grumble, grumble. Oomi, oh my,

oomi, oh my. I'll tell you this. When we can get

off this winging bit and and feeling sorry for ourselves and making excuses, we

will begin to see great things happen in our life. Okay. The other

thing is thank God's soul did not go his own way, but went where

God told him to go. So you want to see something great? Change

took place for a few reasons. Number one, Saul was in prayer.

You want to see your situation change, Get to pray. We just our

homes just prayed for someone whom the doctor said, what two months to live?

After the homes prayed for her for her cancer. It is now two

years. Doctor said something has happened. Now your cancers regressed and now it's

gone to two years. So we are believing for complete healing. But our

first prayer has got to pass. Going to die to two years and then

this lady's brother was already not responsive. Organ failure. Is that all kinds

of failure about to die. The homes prayed and he came out of it.

You know, God's going to use your prayer. Oh okay, I'll

do my best. Fellowship with believers the next thing. You know, what

is he say? If you read verse nine, it says that Saul spent

in verse verse nineteen, Saul spent some days with the disciples in the Mascus

fellowship with believers. And you and I think it's not important to come to

church. If we feel it's not important to come to church to be with

believers, then we are telling Jesus that we know better than him, because

he said in scripture forsake not the gathering of the sayings, Hey, you

want to live life as a believer, then believe life as a believer.

Don't do it your own way. There isn't two ways. There's only one

way. Jesus is his name, and scripture says that by the power the

Holy Spirit, based on the anointing of the Holy Spirit. He read before

that the Holy Spirit came down when he was baptized into Saul's life in a

great way. Saul immediately got baptized by the power the Holy Spirit. Bible

says he did it immediately inverse eighty, as soon as he believed, as

soon as he could see, because now the scales fell from his eyes and

he could see. And the scripture says, immediately he was baptized and received

the Holy Spirit immediate obedience. I am getting somewhere exploits. Scripture says,

immediately he started preaching Jesus, you read Verst. Nine. He didn't wait.

He didn't wait till he got some Bible degree. He did not wait

till he got some paper behind his name. He immediately started preaching Jesus.

And I want you to know, you and I we are souls before we

are Pauls. How many of us have lived life as a soul and seeing

God work miracles so that one day we could become Pauls. Before I became

a Paul, before I became an elder Terrence, I was just Terrence Saul.

I want you to know that the greatest miracles and changes of life that

happened for me happened while I was still a Saul. I had just accepted

the Lord, and I started sharing, and I started praying for miracles to

happen, and people saw those miracles and say, I want to know these

Jesus, And out of that first one or two months is a Christian.

There are four pastors until today they are living their lives as pastors in the

church. And how old was I as a Christian? One month? Two

months? Why can't you share Jesus as the Lord? Believe him? And

he will say me, that's all. Now, after forty years, I

know so much more. I'm waiting to see what other person going to become

a pastor hasn't happened yet. Do you see you don't have to wait.

I told you this testimony long before I had just become a Christian. I

was praying for people to be delivered in church while I was studying in Singapore.

I come back home after studying. I get back home after you know,

at eight o'clock, I take the bus and then after doing my homework

doing everything, around ten o'clock the church was the neighbor. I go over

to the church and then I pray throughout the night for those needs in deliverance

cases. Then five o'clock in the morning, go and had shower, go

back to school. When I go to school. What do you think I

do with my friends? I tell him what we did the night before.

Oh God, scat scat. But you know what, fear's the beginning of

wisdom now, because then they realized who Jesus is. And I told you

this testimony where one of them, you know, a rich, rich guy.

I suddenly found out he was a pastor. Then I asked him,

how did this happen? He is you me? How can this be?

He said, Well, when you left school, you wrote in my autograph

book. Even if you run into any trouble, calling the name of Jesus,

he will come and help you. This guy is a rich guy.

He owned his own yacht. He was in the middle of the ocean.

Something happened. He was about to die, and he remembered what I wrote

in the autograph book. He called in the name of Jesus, says that

Jesus came to him and helped him. You know what he did, he

got to show. When he got to show, he gave up all these

riches and he went full time pastor. Today is a pastor. How does

this happen? Did I need to know theology? Did I need to know

the Bible? From Genesis to Revelation. No matter how good you are,

you can never know the Bible from generis Genesis to Revelation, because that's to

know God. And you know when will we will know God When we are

with Him and our minds have been renewed, then we will understand God as

he should be understood, really be understood. But right now is a journey.

As you begin to understand the Lord, he will use you more and

more and more. And we don't have to wait until we ap pause.

That's what the scripture is trying to tell you. Where you are now,

you can get people saved by sharing with them. Where you are now,

you can serve the Lord. You don't have to wait until something happens.

Scripture tells me. Saul, God saved immediately he started sharing Jesus, and

he became so good at it that even his name could not contain the power

of God working in him. That he had to become a paw. Don't

you get it? Don't I get it? We should? But Saul increased

all the more in strength x nine twenty three and confounded the Jews and dwelled

in the Mascus, proving that Jesus was the Christ, and after the Dessner

I'll run through very fast. After that, many people came up against it.

You know, when your life changes for the better, do you think

all the time it's going to be a bit of road. I'll tell you

this. The closer you get to the Lord, the more opposition comes against

you, because people generally don't understand what a good life is and they don't

like to see people living a good, happy life. So, you know

what, it confounds them. It scares them. And when it scares them,

what do they do? They come against you, They persecute you.

Hey, it's okay. It happened to Paul. What it happened to solve?

Why shouldn't it happen to you. Jesus himself said, persecutions will come,

but what happens next is very exciting. So they sought to kill him,

right. You know, when your life changes, it confounds people.

It confuses people. They might turn against you, some may even plot against

you. But you know what screen, she says, Jesus or God revealed

it to Paul to soul, God revealed it. God will reveal it to

you. And he doesn't only reveal a they coming against you, You know

what he does. He provides you with an escape. And if you think

that the escape will come in some big fashion, like a big chariot coming

down, you know and taking you up. So they see the chariots of

fire and they say, oh, this guy are touched by God. We

better leave him alone. No, it doesn't happen that way, because the

Bible tells me. And they let Paul down in a basket on a basket

are like some slab of pork y'a la basket law, whatever it takes.

But I want you to know this basket that let Paul down and was let

down by a rope. And that rope what is that kind of rope?

That rope is the faith that you have in God. And guess who is

holding your rope? The hand of God. The hand of God holds your

faith and lets you down safely. And never forget God makes a way through

walls. We sang that song just now. They let him down through the

wall to safety. If you forget everything that I've told you this morning,

and you can't remember all the other stuff, remember this. Let's not wait

till somebody calls us Paul. Let's not wait till somebody calls us elder.

Let's not wait till somebody calls us pastor. Whoever you are, and whatever

your name is, wherever you are, you can do great things. You

can change the world. Let the name changing come from God. Let the

life changing work through you, so then you can help change somebody else's life

even as you allow God to work through you. So this is the first

time that I've ever heard a message on Saul, because most of the time

we hear from the aspect of Paul, how great and all the many things

that he did. But they forget that before he got there, he was

still doing the work of the Lord. So let's do the work of the

Lord. We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more information on

our church, please visit as Church to RG. We are also active on

Facebook and Instagram. We're believing that this week is going to be a good

week. I hit for you. God bless