Acts 21_pt1 — Bill Gallatin

Acts 22: God’s Providence in Preparing Paul

Acts 22. I'm convinced, as you study the Bible, and you look at the lives of the people that God uses, that before they even realize that there's a call on their life, or before they even know the Lord personally, God begins to work in their lives in childhood, and uses the events and the circumstances and the experiences of our lives to prepare us for when He does reveal Himself and call us to put within us those things that are necessary that God may use us when He begins to work in our lives.

The wonderful thing about that in the providence of God, in the sovereignty of God, is that I don't have to wear black and mourn and call myself a victim my whole life after I meet Jesus Christ because of what happened to me as a child, what I might have gone through as a human being because of some depraved relative, or some crisis or some catastrophe in my life that's even maybe affected me physically.

But I don't have to spend the rest of my life now, oh, poor me, I'm a victim, it's just a horrible thing. God, in His providence and sovereignty, controls everything to work in our lives that when we meet Him, He's had a purpose in it.

And nothing declares it more clearly than the life of the Apostle Paul. Now you remember, he's in Jerusalem at the time of Pentecost. Jews from all the known world are required to be there, at least all male Jews, at least once in their lifetime according to the law of Moses.

Josephus records that at this time the population of Jerusalem swells to over 2 million people from the known world. Every culture, every language drawn there to worship God and be obedient to the law of Moses.

Now here's the Apostle Paul, a man who has been raised experiencing the extreme and the best of both cultures that rule the world. The Grecian culture, the Hellenist culture, and the Jewish culture. Born of Jewish parents in Tarsus, which was a free city under the Greek culture, but ruled by Rome.

And being a free city, it means that Rome, certain cities, because they would aid Rome whenever there was a war, they would allow them to rule themselves with their own laws and religion, but just answer to Rome, maintain the peace, and answer to the Roman Empire.

So they were allowed to rule themselves because of that allegiance to Rome. But it was a Greek culture, Greek education that Paul was raised in. So here's the common language of the world, the philosophy, the art of the world.

Raised in that, having godly parents, Orthodox Jews who want him to be a rabbi, and so they send him to Bible school, send him to Jerusalem. Now he's raised in the Jewish religion, the Jewish culture, but also the Greek, the Grecian culture.

So he's educated to be able to adapt to both levels of society in the known world. So they send him to Jerusalem as a young child, and he is taught by the greatest rabbi of the known day, Gamaliel. He sits at his feet.

He's trained to be a Pharisee. He reaches the elitism of his religion, a Pharisee of the Pharisees. You remember that when he was born again, personal revelation for three years in the Arabian desert, in wilderness, from none other than Jesus Christ himself, face to face, mouth to mouth.

He did not receive his revelation from man, Jesus Christ himself. So being steeped in Grecian thought, Grecian education to mix with the elite of the known world, and also the Jewish religion, knowing it better than anybody else, the Pharisee of the Pharisees, and then being taken by Jesus Christ himself into the Arabian desert for at least three years, personal revelation face to face, to see the transition and the purpose of law for the Jewish mind, and then make that transition from God's revelation from law to grace, and see how it's been set aside.

Just as Jesus Christ was buried, fulfilling the law, the law buried in the earth, rising with grace, Paul sees the reality of that and comes back to bring the message of grace and make the transition and to teach the Jews also the purpose of the law, that it was temporary, it's been disannulled by the Messiah, Jesus Christ himself, and at the same time offer salvation to the greatest minds of the Gentile world because of his Greek background, salvation is for the Gentile also through Jesus Christ.

Paul’s Suffering and Calling in God’s Providence

Now stop and think of this man. Before his life is over, the preparation of his life being raised in Greece, or this Grecian colony under Rome, Tarsus, which is today Turkey and Cilicia, not only did he meet Caesar, the greatest Gentile on earth, he met the greatest, most influential Jews of the world before he died.

So he had the opportunity to share his faith and the truth concerning Jesus Christ to the greatest people in the known world, Jew and Gentile alike. God having planned it all. He not knowing it. Now, you know, probably wondering why has God allowed Rome, Gentile Rome, to rule my people?

Why was I born in, you know, Cilicia rather than Jerusalem? Why are my parents, you know, willing to send me down instead of the feet of Gamaliel? You know, he probably had questions like that as a child.

Now it's interesting, he did not suffer before Christ, but God designed that he suffered after Christ to bring him glory, to identify with Christ. Some people suffer before they meet Christ and never suffer again.

Again, God in his sovereignty knows exactly what our personalities are. He's formed our personalities, our IQs, everything that we're going to be used for in his kingdom, and he knows what we have to experience before we meet him and after we meet him.

So you see, I don't have to say, oh Lord, why did this happen to me? I have met Jesus Christ, and that's all that matters. It doesn't matter anymore what happened in the past, or I don't have to worry about what's going to happen in the future.

God's designed it for his glory. And that's why Paul could say in Philippians chapter 3, his only purpose for living then, at that time when he wrote the Philippian letter, is that he might know Christ and the power of his resurrection.

What's the power of the resurrection? Now some churches think that, you know, they get into this power thing, and all they can, you know, power, and they've got to see things and feel things without. The power of the resurrection is the love that no natural human being, and even a Christian many times, will never apprehend until they get to that point where they know Christ and the power of his resurrection.

The resurrection love, to love and forgive the very people that crucified him after he came back from the dead, and he could have wiped them out. To forgive. To love and to forgive the very people that slandered him, betrayed him, tried to destroy him.

And it's interesting, unless you have the power of the resurrection, or apprehend that agape love of Jesus Christ, you can't go to the next stage, as Paul said, and the fellowship of his suffering. If you don't have love, you see, you don't want to identify with Christ.

I'm going to preserve my flesh. I'm never going to allow my feelings to be hurt again. I'm not going to associate with anybody. I'm not going to expose myself to anybody. I'm not going to serve Christ.

I've been hurt enough. Never again. When you have the power of the resurrection, you have a love of Christ that overcomes everything. So then you're not afraid to enter into the fellowship of his suffering.

You can identify with that, and you begin to be rejected by the very people you can love because they misapprehend it. You remember in, I think it's in the Song of Solomon, it says that, or no, it's Paul that says that, the more I love, the less I am loved because people don't understand it.

They don't trust it. They think you've got some kind of an agenda. And so then there's that fellowship of suffering, and then it's the other thing. He said, being made conformable unto his death, not his life.

That's all Paul lived for. You begin to experience the love of Jesus Christ. You go, Lord, there's nothing else. This is the most burning thing in my heart. I want to identify with you. I want to know you, the power of your resurrection, that kind of love, the fellowship of your suffering, being made conformable unto your death.

Pressing Forward Toward the Prize

And so then Paul finishes it by running, he talks about running the race. He says, this one thing I do, I don't care what Grandpa did to me or my uncle did to me or that God allowed me to get arrested unjustly or why I got in a car wreck and lost an eye or why I'm crippled.

This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, if I'm going to agonize, Paul says, I don't agonize of why this happened to me. I agonize or I press toward the mark. I'm running to the race now for the prize, the high calling in Christ Jesus.

That's all I live for. So you forget the past when there's positive. And see, then Satan's defeated. If you forget the past, Satan's defeated. You see, you can't get wiped out and get trapped in bitterness and resentment.

Oh, there they are again. I see them. Five years later, there she is. I'll never forgive her. There he is. This church, now I'm leaving this church. They start coming here. I'm going somewhere else. I can't stand this.

Satan's defeated. So here's Paul. And remember, he's created a riot. Remember, this is his sixth riot in this ministry. If he isn't in jail, he's creating riots. But here it's all God's design to bring him, eventually bring him to the elite of the religious leaders of Jerusalem, the high priest, the Roman governor, Felix, and before it's all over, Caesar.

And it all started in his childhood. Preparation as a child that he had no control over. Decisions that his parents made. And now who's arrested? Remember, as they thought he was a Greek. And remember, he spoke Greek.

And the Roman soldier, the head of the garrison, are thou that Egyptian, you know, that started that resurrection? He wasn't quite sure who he was because he spoke such perfect Greek. So there he relates to the Gentile.

Before it's over, he speaks Hebrew. And he's got the attention of the Jews. Now the sad thing about Jerusalem at this time, remember, Paul is bringing a love offering for the poor church in Jerusalem, the Jewish church in Jerusalem, from Gentiles of the known world.

The love gifts, because they knew that their brothers in Jerusalem were hurting, so they took up offerings and they sent the money with Paul. Now the tragedy is that the Jewish church compromised to try and maintain the Jewish traditions.

They allowed Jews to come in and they still maintained things that were absolutely unnecessary. And so it weakened the church. They wanted to maintain their Jewishness. When the Bible clearly states that once you meet Christ, there's neither Jew nor Gentile anymore.

Those things aren't necessary for righteousness. And so they compromised to swell the range with more Jewish converts, but they allowed them to continue to press forward in these Jewish ideas that had been set aside and disavowed.

And it weakened the church to such a degree that when Paul showed up, instead of welcoming with open arms, they were afraid Paul was going to stir up trouble with the Jewish converts because they'd compromised.

And Paul wouldn't compromise. In fact, he did try to become all things and take their advice, and it backfired. It still created a riot. You remember, there was this idea. Someone said, Oh, I saw him in the court of the Gentiles with some guy from Ephesus, a Gentile.

And it created the riot. And the church was so weak that they couldn't even come to the aid or protect Paul. God had to use the heathen to protect him, a Roman centurion from the Antonia fortress. And so he carries him and frees him from the mob trying to rip him apart.

Paul’s Defense Before the Jerusalem Crowd

And what's so amazing, he's standing in the very spot some 20 years earlier where Jesus Christ himself stood on trial, the very same spot. And you're going to hear some of the same words, away with him as he enters into the fellowship of suffering with his Lord.

And so he says, Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defense which I make now unto you. And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence. When they heard that, you remember, the mob's going crazy.

Some people are saying this and one faction's saying that. Just out of control. Just yelling and screaming and trying to get at him. Because at that time they didn't even know he was this Hebrew, this Jewish.

He said, I am verily a man which am a Jew born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, or Turkey. Just up by the Syrian border. Yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel. And taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers.

And was zealous toward God. Now notice the wisdom here of Paul. As ye all are this day. Now you remember in Romans chapter 10, Paul pours out his heart, his desire to see his brethren or the Jews saved.

He says, I say this. My heart's desire and my prayer is that all of Israel would come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ and be saved. You remember he said, But they go about trying to achieve righteousness with a zeal, but not according to knowledge.

Trying to earn their salvation. And we know that's one of the most difficult things. It's make my own righteousness by rules and regulations. And my own little code of ethics. Rather than just simply trusting in the Lord and allowing the Holy Spirit of God to lead me.

And to do that work in my life. A person that puts himself under his own little code of ethics and tries in his own right. Even though he's born again. Whether they admit it or not. You'll see that they immediately begin to lose their joy and they become rigid.

And reactionary. And very judgmental of others around them. That what it is you see is modern day Phariseeism. I've established my own little code of ethics and I'm going to keep these things. And I'm going to be holy.

I'm going to be righteous. And so they begin to perform in that area. Whatever it is they've set for themselves. Rather than just knowing and yielding to the Spirit of God. Allowing the righteousness of Christ to free them.

And then the Spirit of God to lead them. And give them victory and mortify the deeds of the flesh. And they become very rigid and lose their joy. And then when they see others that they think are not living that righteous life.

They become very judgmental. And they form attitudes toward them. Usually it's an attitude of superiority. It's tough to be around a Christian with a bad attitude. And God wants us to be free from those things.

You know we learned. You remember Jesus taught about the moat. Trying to remove the moat. The little sliver in someone's eye. Not knowing that we have a beam or a house timber in our own. And in the Greek, the little speck, the little sliver is from the very beam.

It's from the same material. It's from the beam that's in my eye. And I notice that little flaw in you. And I'm not aware of this gigantic thing in my own life. So Paul says, I know how you were. I was there.

I know how that was. I was there. I'm so thankful that we destroyed all the tapes of the first 15 years that I was a pastor. We destroyed them. I said, destroy them all. I mean, my gosh, my Marine Corps drill instructor was nicer than me.

And I was supposed to be a Christian? I mean, it was unbelievable. I'd never listen to myself. But every once in a while I'd hear something and I'd shudder. Jesus is so gracious, so loving, so long-suffering.

And these are terms from the Old Testament. The God of judgment and righteousness, loving-kindness. Remember last Sunday we touched on the Lord. He said, this is what I'd like you to glory in, that you know me, my judgment and my righteousness and my loving-kindness says, plural, the loving-kindness of the Lord.

I'd persecute it this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women. He could have cared less. If it was a Christian, whether it was a woman or a man, he would have them put to death.

How could God use a man like that? Now, again, it shows you how dangerous a devout religious person can be and how dangerous it is around someone who begins to defend their religion. And you have to be very sensitive to the Spirit, not to attack somebody's religion.

You don't accomplish anything attacking a religion to try and get them to acknowledge Jesus Christ. You can really get into a firestorm and it can get very hostile. Paul was a deeply religious, devout man.

And you remember, he had this Bible that you were all holding. I hope everyone here has a Bible tonight. If you don't, please, we'll give you one. That's the most important thing in this church is your Bible.

But he put people to death thinking he was doing God a service. As also the high priest of Bear Me Witness. They still, some of the high priests, even 20 years later, some of the Pharisees, you know, still knew of the Apostle Paul and his change, his transition, you know, to this Jesus sect.

You know, the man that once they'd send off with orders to kill Christians, to destroy churches as far as Damascus. See, we can't conceive that kind of a hatred, someone that would travel on foot 160 miles just to find Christians to put them to death.

Now that's hatred. That is religious hatred. And yet Paul did that. And so the high priest bears witness that I was like that. And all the estate of the elders, from whom also I received letters unto the brethren and went to Damascus to bring them, which were there bound unto Jerusalem for to be punished.

They would drag them behind their horses, drag them through the streets. Many times they'd die on the way to the jail, these people that made a profession for Jesus Christ in those days. Now, isn't it interesting?

If one of them got into a scriptural confrontation with Paul, they both had their Bibles, and the Christian would open up the Old Testament and start pointing out Isaiah 53. He'd point out Psalm 22. He'd point out things in Genesis.

He'd point out all these scriptures that all point, Zechariah, and then begin to show, and Paul would look at the very same scriptures and say, I don't see it that way. So it just shows you, you see, unless you're born again, that without the Spirit of God it's impossible to see it.

That's why you don't have to strain or strive and try and squeeze somebody into submission verbally. It's the work of the Spirit. So you can always be gentle. You can always be patient. They are spiritually discerned.

And without the Spirit of God, nobody can comprehend these things. So many times I think we as Christians, we go away angry and frustrated, ready to curse somebody because it's right before your eyes.

Can't you see that? Here, let me read the Psalm. Don't you understand the Hebrew? It's right there in your very own Bible, and they can't see it at all. You see, they're spiritually discerned, spiritually understood, and it's impossible for a person without the Spirit of God to apprehend it.

That's why it's so important to understand what Jesus is teaching, Nicodemus in John chapter 3. Nicodemus, art thou a father of Israel, and thou knowest not these things? You must be born again. Even Paul himself sometimes got so frustrated, so angry, because he wanted to see Israel saved.

He wanted his nation to see who the Messiah was, as he did. And it came to pass that as I made my journey and was come nigh unto Damascus, about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me, and an angel hit me across the head with a two-by-four and said, Paul, we're tired of this persecution.

God loves you, but He's going to deal with you. No grace for you. You've been too mean. I mean the grace of God, the love of God, the forgiveness of God. No matter how evil and vile and filthy and bitter we've been, God's love is so great.

And it's the most important thing to begin to apprehend. And, again, you can see why Paul in Ephesians said, I bow my knee to the Lord Jesus Christ. And his prayer for the church was that we might come to know the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus that passeth all knowledge.

And when you know this love, it is the fullness of God, the fullness of God, or the resurrection, the love of God, the love of Christ, the agape love of Jesus. It defeats Satan. It destroys the resentment, the bitterness, the attitude.

Paul’s Conversion and the Transforming Presence of Jesus

Oh, this light is so bright. It surpasses the noon sun. You go to the Mideast, and at noon it is bright. But, see, the light is the creator of the sun, the very sun that's in the heavens. And this shows you that we are going to need glorified bodies to be in the presence of the risen Lord in heaven because with our natural bodies, our natural eyes can't even look at the sun without destroying our retinas.

Now, stop and think of the glory of Jesus Christ, the creator of the sun, who outshined the sun at high noon. And it was so bright that it blotted out the physical sun of the universe. And Paul remembers clearly, And I fell into the ground, just overwhelmed, the presence of Jesus Christ, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? Every time I see this, oh, Lord, your love, your forgiveness. This text, this conversion, Paul's testimony is the clincher that, you know, you can't judge, oh, they're getting close.

I think they're getting close to their redemption. Or ever say, God will never save that person. No, God is so glorified that the uglier, the nastier we are. God says, I'm just going to turn things around here.

I'm just going to overwhelm them with my love. And he's going to go to Damascus, but he's not going to be the same person. I mean, we start off one way, and Jesus steps into our life, and oh, how he changed this thing.

The love of Christ changes everything, doesn't it? Who art thou, Lord? You don't know who I am? Well, another six months before you can get saved. You can't even say the sinner's prayer today. I'll see you later.

Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. Now, you see, there is the totality and the reality of the body of Christ even then. When Paul writes in Ephesians that when you accept Jesus Christ, you are totally baptized or immersed supernaturally into the body of Christ.

You become part of the body of Christ. And when someone persecutes you, they're persecuting Jesus Christ. So all these Christians that Paul was persecuting and wreaking havoc with the church, having them put to death, he was actually persecuting and striking out at the body of Jesus Christ.

And he's taking all that abuse, all that pain, and yet he's still willing to forgive because Paul's doing it in such ignorance. Remember that when someone lashes out at you and tells you to take your Jesus and get out of here.

Take your fanaticism and I hate you and resentment comes at you. Don't take it personal. Don't give up. Don't harden your heart. You see, Jesus loves that person. You remember when they wanted to stone Moses to death for his faithfulness and they resented Moses and they just got tired.

They wanted to form a congregational church. It shows you how weak a congregational church is where the people make the decisions and tell the shepherd what to do. And so they kept telling Moses, you know, we ought to do this, we ought to do that.

And Moses wouldn't listen to him because he was listening to God. God was directing them. And the failure of the congregation, and they wanted to stone Moses and get rid of him. Pick somebody else for their pastor because he wasn't doing what they wanted.

And so Moses got to the point and said, Lord, I don't know, you know, these people. He said, Moses, don't be discouraged. They're not angry with you. They're angry with me because I'm working through you and they don't like the way I'm doing things.

They're not angry at you. They're angry with me. And so when you attack a Christian, you see, you're attacking Jesus Christ. And yet he's willing to forgive you. Remember, the only thing, you can say all manner of evil, you can curse, you can blaspheme the name of Jesus.

Jesus said there's only one sin. You blaspheme the Holy Spirit, that's the unpardonable sin, no forgiveness. You get to the point so hardened that you reject Jesus Christ as your Savior. That's the only sin he can't forgive.

But all of the things that we can say in our attitude toward Christ, our secret dispositions toward Jesus before we meet him. And the Lord knows all about him and the Lord says, I'm willing to forgive you.

I want to forgive you. Paul didn't know he was persecuting Jesus Christ. He just hated the people that represented him. And see, it's the same today. Now you may get the brunt of it. It may be personal to you with a family member or a friend.

Don't be discouraged. Sure it hurts. Sure it hurts. But that's the fellowship of Christ's suffering. And Jesus said when this takes place, rejoice. For so persecuted the prophets before you. Great is your reward in heaven if you're persecuted for righteousness' sake.

Really all Satan is doing is trying to get you to the point where you won't share your faith anymore. To get you to the point where you're so afraid that you don't share your faith. And they that were with me saw indeed the light and were afraid, but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me.

Look, salvation is personal. Isn't that wonderful? It's personal. Even though there were other people there, God revealed himself in such a way to Paul that his salvation was personal. Now, he's already spoken personally to somebody here tonight in some way.

You've been spoken to somehow in the word. There's something that God has flashed on you that maybe you're the only one here tonight, but you're going to walk away tonight and you're going to remember something you heard already tonight.

That may have gone right over someone else. The Holy Spirit has taken to you personally something that God wants to encourage you with or convict or answer a question in your heart. How often people have gone to church.

I can recall going to church and even to this day many times having a question about something in the Bible and I have planned, you know, after the service I'm going to go out and I'm going to ask Pastor Chuck.

I've got to know this thing. There's something that I've been reading and I'm going to ask him. And I'll be sitting in the Bible study and don't you know it, at the very teaching night the Holy Spirit answers it.

That's the very thing I was going to ask the pastor tonight, just for you. Because, you see, God knows you personally. There's a song. Remember the song we sang the last night at the arena? He knows your name.

He knows my name. He knows my name. I hope we learn that. Where's Pastor John? John, he knows my name or he knows your name. That thing is awesome. He knows your name. And he's concerned. He's interested in your life.

He's got a plan for your life. He's got forgiveness for you that you can't comprehend. You don't have to be afraid of Jesus. No matter what you've done, how nasty or ugly or cantankerous or mania bent, he loves you and he has a plan for your life and he wants to forgive you.

True Conversion Produces Servanthood

Now, notice how quickly he is converted. I said, now notice this, what shall I do, Lord? Now, it tells us in 1 Corinthians 12 .3 that no man can call Jesus Lord except by the Holy Spirit. So, he's converted.

Here, the Holy Spirit's in him now. He's saved. He's been converted. Notice, and what's the very first thing he says? Lord, I'd like to, I'm a king's kid. I'm claiming a new car. By faith, I want a bigger house.

I demand it as your child. Notice what true conversion is, how when you really meet Jesus in a real way, notice what it does. He says, as soon as he's converted, what shall I do, Lord? Not telling the Lord to do something for him.

That's true conversion. Lord, what shall I do? That you would love me, that you would forgive me. Lord, what do you want me to do? The Lord said unto me, arise and go into Damascus, and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do.

Notice, Jesus didn't rail on him, didn't humiliate him, didn't frighten him, didn't berate him for the way he treated Christians in his ignorance. Because, you see, as Paul wrote later in Romans chapter 8, verse 1, there's therefore now no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus, which walk after the Spirit, not after the flesh.

Jesus doesn't condemn. He forgives. And he doesn't dig up the past and drag everything up and throw it in my face. He forgives. He says, now, I've got something for you to do, a wonderful life for you.

The past is over, it's forgotten. Let's go ahead now. I've got something for you in the future. You're not even there yet. You're on the way, though. I've got something for you in Damascus. Now, you had one thing planned in Damascus, but I've got something better for you.

And notice he would say, well, Lord, I don't know if I want to do it that way. I don't know, maybe I, you know, how about this, Lord? No, all he said was, Lord, what shall I do? You see, that's real servanthood.

I've met a lot of people who say they want to help and get involved, and then they try to tell you how to do everything. They don't want to really be a servant. They want to take over. They want to serve by taking over and doing it their way.

And then if they can't get it done that way, they quit serving. And yet they say they're a servant. Or if you do ask them to do something, they say, well, I don't see why you're asking me to do this. And then they grumble about what you ask them to do.

That's not being a servant. A slave doesn't question. A slave just responds to the master and says, I'm a slave. I'm a servant. What will you have me to do? Lord. He's converted. And, you see, that's freedom.

When I really make Jesus my Lord, that frees me from worrying and having to take care of everything and how to work it out. He'll work it out. I just need to respond to him. Lord, I'll respond to you.

Tell me what to do. And then, you see, the truth of the matter is when he tells you what to do, he enables you to do it by the power of his Holy Spirit. It's a horrible thing to see someone try to accomplish something in the name of Jesus, calling themselves a servant, when God's not enabling them to do it.

It is so frustrating to try and be something and accomplish something in the name of the Lord when God hasn't asked you to do it. But when God does ask you to do it and you do know, oh, man, God begins to work by his Spirit, and then there's accomplishment.

There's success. God's doing it. It's not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts. And then it's enjoyable. Then it is the easy yoke. My yoke is easy. My burden is light because our Lord's doing it.

He's accomplishing it. I'm just serving. Okay, Lord, tell me what to do. I'm not going to ask you why you want me to do it. Just tell me I'll do it. You're smarter than I am. The problem is, you see, I don't think God is smarter than me, so I'm always questioning.

Why are you asking me to do it this way? Why should I do it that way? Why do it today? Why can't I do it tomorrow? Why do I have to paint it that color? Why do I have to go here? That's not a servant.

And a person that's always constantly in that mode never has any joy. They're just always serving the Lord, working for Jesus. I've been around them. Arise, go into Damascus, and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do.

Humility Before Greater Usefulness

And when I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus. Oh, how humbling. It is tough. If you've been a leader all the time and God said, No, I want to use you, but you let yourself be led.

Well, there's the pride issue right there, man. Notice now, here's this mighty Paul. He's always going along with orders and papers to arrest people. Do this, do that. Taking an entourage with him, and he meets Jesus Christ, and all of a sudden now he's being led.

God says, I'm going to use you, but I'm going to have someone else lead you. And the amazing thing is, they're unsaved. Paul was the only one saved in that experience. So sometimes God begins to work in our lives to see if we're willing to yield and be prepared for greater things.

If we don't take care of these small things the way Christ designs it, He watches our attitudes, we never get to the greater things. And sometimes it says in the Bible, before honor there must be humility.

And I think too many times on myself and when I look back on my life, I try to skip some of the lessons. Jump right in and do greater, more, bigger. Now, you don't know, I've got so much zeal, you don't know what I can do, Jesus.

He says, no, you need to be led a little bit. Wait a minute, no, I'll lead. If you don't allow yourself to be led, you'll never lead. I need leaders. I need people who will allow me to lead, who will be led in humility.

Paul’s Testimony and the Evidence of Transformation

One Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which do out there, came unto me and stood and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight in the same hour I looked up upon him.

Now, this is what I find very interesting about Paul. Now remember, 20 years earlier, and again, as you look at the church today, I see things and sometimes the overemphasis of things that really aren't as important as they think they should be.

Now, you remember what really took place. Now here, Paul's giving his testimony. Now remember, he's before the Jews. He's got Gentiles in the crowd. He's got thousands of people captured. Now remember, he's chained, but he's got the crowd in the palm of his hand, speaking Greek, speaking Hebrew now, so he's got both camps listening.