Acts 22 Your Story in His Story

Paul’s Testimony as a Defense Before the Crowd

We're gonna get to hear how the Apostle Paul met Jesus Christ. He's gonna share that, and that's gonna be the the bulk of the the text, the message, and we're gonna read that here in a minute, but we're also gonna get a chance to hear how one of our own came to understand who Jesus Christ is.

Mike Rogers is gonna get up and share just in just a moment after our first song about how he encountered Christ, and we're gonna be seeing like Paul had this dramatic experience, right? Like he's on the way to Damascus, we're gonna see it, a bright light shines, he sees Jesus Christ, and he encounters the risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and and his life is transformed.

A radical change. So how many of you here have seen a bright light and had Jesus Christ appear to you on the road someplace? Okay, how many of you have met Jesus Christ here? Okay, a couple of you have met.

No, let me ask that again. How many of you have met Jesus Christ? You have a relationship with Jesus Christ? You met him. Okay, awesome. Now, so what I want to point out is that we're gonna be looking at two stories, two kind of different stories that have the same point to them, okay?

We're gonna be looking at Paul's testimony, we're gonna see Mike's testimony, we're gonna see that the difference is just the visible, the light, and all of that stuff, but when it really comes down to it, Christ has come in and transformed a life, and he's done that for me, he's done that for Mike, he's done that for many of you, and we're gonna be looking at the way that he turns us and changes us.

Paul is, in our text, gonna boldly declare the way that his story, that Paul's story, got tied in with the story of God. How many of you know that God has this huge story that goes beyond before you were born, that's gonna go on after you're gone?

Isn't that kind of, is that exciting that you have the opportunity to tap into and kind of like your tributary of life flows into the bigger river of what God is doing in history, and you have an opportunity to actually be a partaker, a participant in the history and the story of God.

It's an awesome, awesome opportunity. We're gonna be looking at the way that Paul's story got tied in with the story of God. Some people refer to that as a testimony, I've said that word a few times, and the fact of the matter is all who are in with Christ have a testimony, and a testimony can be a powerful tool for proclaiming truth, particularly truth in a culture that values personal stories.

Have you ever thought about, just think about our culture out there and the whole reality television thing, and how much real life and real life stories have an impact on our culture, right? Don't people like to hear, how many of you would raise your hand and say, I like to hear stories?

Okay, it's a part and parcel of our culture. We don't necessarily, sure we like information and we like facts and things like that to some degree, depends on your personality, some of you really like statistics, some of you could care less about numbers, you know, things like that, but we all have a penchant for stories in our culture.

So I want you to open your Bibles, we're gonna hear a story, Acts chapter 22, that's page 797 in the Bible that's in the seat back in front of you, so if you want to grab one of those Bibles, you can turn to 797, we're gonna read the entirety of Acts 22, go through this entire chapter.

If you don't own a Bible, I would encourage you to take that one that's in the seat back in front of you with you, we want everybody here to own a Bible, and we've got a box full of those, well we're getting a box full delivered to fill in what's lacking there.

So follow along as I read Acts 22. Brothers and fathers, this is Paul speaking. Brothers and fathers, hear the defense that I now make before you. And when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew language, they became even more quiet, and he said, I'm a Jew born in Tarsus and Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as all of you are this day.

I persecuted this way to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women. As the high priest and whole council of elders can bear me witness, from them I received letters to the brothers and a journey towards Damascus to take those also who were there and bring them in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished.

As I was on my way and drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from heaven suddenly shone around me, and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

And I answered, who are you, Lord? And he said to me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting. Now those who were with me saw the light, but did not understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me.

And I said, what shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me, rise and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do. And since I could not see because of the brightness of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me and came into Damascus.

And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well spoken of by all the Jews who live there, came to me and standing by me said to me, 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. For you will be my witness, be a witness for him to everyone of what you have seen and heard.

And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name. When I had returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance and saw him saying to me, make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.

And I said, Lord, they themselves know that in one synagogue after another I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you. And when the blood of Stephen, your witness, was being shed, I myself was standing by and approving and watching over the garments of those who killed him.

And he said to me, go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles. Up to this word they listened to him. Then they raised their voices and said, away with such a fellow from the earth, for he should not be allowed to live.

And as they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, the tribune ordered him to be brought into the barracks, saying that he should be examined by flogging to find out why they were shouting against him like this.

But when they had stretched him out for the whips, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, is it lawful for you to flog a man who is a Roman citizen and uncondemned? When the centurion heard this, he went to the tribune and said to him, what are you about to do?

For this man is a Roman citizen. So the tribune came and said to him, tell me, are you a Roman citizen? And he said, yes. The tribune answered, I bought this citizenship for a large sum. Paul said, but I am a citizen by birth.

So those who are about to examine him withdrew from him immediately. And the tribune also was afraid, for he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had bound him. Let's pray. Fathers, we have an opportunity to hear in this text the testimony of Paul, the way that you came into his life and changed him, what he was like before he came to understand who you were, how he came to understand who you are, and then what his life has been like afterwards.

Father, I pray that we would be able to reflect on your movement and work in our lives. And Father, I recognize that there are some here who are just in process, are coming to understand who they are without you, and they need you.

And then there are others who are in the process of crossing that line, and then there are others who are beyond that line and are growing up in you. Father, I pray that you would meet us here in this place and identify in our hearts where we are at in our relationship with you.

Father, as we get an opportunity to praise you and to worship you in singing, God would you be honored and glorified. And then as Mike even comes and shares his testimony, Father, I ask that you be with him and give him peace and clarity as he shares what you have done for him.

Thank you for salvation in the name of Jesus Christ and for the change that can be brought into our lives because of who you are and what you have done. I pray that we would be able to praise you in the name of Jesus Christ this morning, and it's in his name that we pray.

Amen.

Let's continue worship as we hear the story from Mike Rogers.

Good morning. See me around a little bit. I don't know if everybody knows me. I'm Mike. I just want to thank Don for letting me come up and tell you a little bit about myself here. I grew up in Portage, Michigan.

My dad was a hard-working guy. Provided a lot for us, did everything he could. I grew up fearing him. He was a tough guy, so if I got in trouble, if I did drugs, if I committed any crimes, did anything like that, I knew that we had to deal with him.

So I stayed clear of the bad side for the most part. But one thing that always kind of stuck out to me was our house never had a positive mention of God or Jesus Christ in it there. So it seemed that it was more expletive or something.

So I never had any of that upbringing. So I always believed in God, but I was so ignorant of the connection with Jesus, and I always felt that that was for other people. That had nothing to do with me.

So I ended up just turning my back on God and just doing whatever I could to avoid it. I don't know why. Just never felt it. I always thought that to be a man, it was to do things that served myself, to do whatever I did to basically to glorify me.

I mean, I didn't know any other way. I was pretty lost. And a couple summers ago, our friend Jay Weber, he's not here today, so I can say good things about him and not be embarrassed. I love Jay. He's a great guy.

He kept at it. He kept hounding us, and he found an inn to our house. A casual conversation that my wife Mary was going to Bible study, so he pounced on that and kept telling us about Recast, how great it was, and I need to go.

And I kept promising, oh yeah, I'll be there, I'll be there. My wife would come home and say how wonderful this place was and how beautiful the people are here and how much love there was here. And meanwhile, I kept just going to work and being myself.

Last December, I had a, during Christmas season, where it's just chaos, and I had one of my usual meltdowns, and I had my jumper there just watching me and just a string of terrible words. It was all about me.

I always thought that everybody was against me, and this was a vast conspiracy to bring me down. I really felt like I bottomed out that day, and I went home and I prayed that night, and I said, God, this isn't working out for me, so I need some help here.

It's way beyond me here, so I think two days later, Recast was having their Christmas party here early last December, and that was the one time I was going to show up and just kind of play along. I got here, and as soon as I walked in the door, it just, it felt like I was home.

It was incredible. Everyone here was so accepting, and it was just, you could just feel love in the room, and I heard Bill give his testimony, and it just really, just really struck me, and boy, I just knew there was something a lot better for me.

So I spent the next couple months coming here, and then I started meeting with Pastor Don every once a week, and he was kind of guiding me and leading me, you know, to Christ, and in February, I prayed, and I gave my life to Christ, and I accepted him, finally, you know, 45 and a half years, and I felt going up to that point, there was a couple months of, you know, wow, I have to give up a lot to do that, but all I was giving up was things that kept me from him, and you don't really realize that until afterwards, but you don't, I mean, you're gaining so much.

It's unreal how my life has changed. My heart's changed. I, so many desires I had before are gone. I, my desire is to, you know, to please God and to be more Christ-like and Christ-centered, and it's amazing.

I'm still in my rookie year here, but it's, it's working out pretty good. I just want to, I want to continue to grow. I want to continue to know more and just be closer to God, and I thank Recast. I think God's brought me to this point, and he's been patient with me for all these years, and this is my chance.

I think this is where I'm supposed to be, so thank you so much for listening. Make yourself at home, and feel free to get up and.

The Crowd’s Silence and Paul’s Respectful Defense

Top off your coffee or whatever you need to do just to kind of keep your focus on God's Word as we walk through it. I read the text, and I realized that where I started could be a little bit confusing if you weren't here last week, so let me catch you up a little bit.

Paul had gone into the temple to pray and to basically be purified to go through a ritual washing last week, and he got mobbed by a car beat out of him in the outer court of the temple. They drug him out of the inner courts, drug him into the outer courts, and started beating him, trying to literally take his life.

The Jews were so upset. There were all kinds of misunderstandings, and people were saying that he had taken Gentiles in and defiled the inner temple and done all of these bad things, and they were all lies, but he was basically being abused, and they were, again, they were trying to take his life, so Roman soldiers flooded down into the courtyard and brought him into protective custody.

While he's being led by the man who is in charge of over a thousand troops there in Jerusalem, a man by the title Tribune. He has over a thousand, according to the Roman military structure. He's leading Paul up the steps in chains, bound as a prisoner, and while he's going, Paul politely requests that he might address the crowd.

In the midst of discussion back and forth between Paul and the Tribune, he realizes Paul isn't the guy he thinks he is, doesn't have any clue what all of this wrangle has been about. He just saw a mob trying to kill somebody down in the temple, so that's all he knows.

So he's like, sure, you can address the crowd. I think probably because the Tribune is going, I have no clue why everybody's angry at you. Maybe if you open your mouth and speak, I will get some insight into why everybody's so upset right now.

He's just trying to keep peace. While Pentecost is going on, hundreds of thousands of people flooding Jerusalem at this time, big festival going on, and things could get dicey very quick for the Romans if the Jews have a revolt at this time.

So he's got to squash this really quick. So that's the setting of what was going on last week. And I asked you, okay, so the Tribune grants Paul permission to turn and address the crowd. He's standing on steps.

He's actually got a vantage point looking down over. If he's standing on the stairs getting ready to be taken up into the fortress of Antonia, he's got the courtyard laid out below him. The temple is the backdrop right behind the crowd that has just tried to kill him.

What would you say? You've just had a crowd try to take your life. You're beaten, you're bruised, probably got some separated ribs, some blood somewhere. He's probably already starting to swell. Okay, what would you say?

They have just beaten you for no good cause. You don't even necessarily understand fully why everybody, why the fists were falling, but you do know that they've accused you of some specific things. How many of you would actually admit that maybe the first thing that you want to do is set the record straight?

Like the very first thing that you want to do is defend yourself? Anybody willing to raise their hand and say that's probably the first thing that comes out of my mouth is, I did not take, they accused him of taking a specific man.

They said, Trophimus, this Ephesian Gentile, you took into the temple. We saw you with him earlier this week and you took him in. How many of you might say, I didn't take Trophimus into the temple. Maybe that would be something that you would want to say.

I didn't do this. I have not defiled the temple. Or he's being accused of hating Jews and hating their traditions. How many of you maybe say, I don't hate Jews. As a matter of fact, I am a Jew. Like maybe that would be what you would tend to say is like defend yourself.

Well, it is interesting because Paul is actually going to offer a defense and he's gonna actually use the word defense here in just a moment. But look at the first words that come out of Paul's mouth as he turns to address the crowd.

He says, brothers and fathers. He addresses this group of men that have been trying to take his life and he addresses them as brothers and fathers. How many of you, that's what's going on in your mind as this group, this mob has just beat you.

You're gonna, hey, hey kin, hey friends, hey family. That's what he says. Respectful terms of relationship and kinship. Identifies himself with his accusers and says, hey, we're in this together. And as verse two indicates, he speaks to them in the Hebrew language, which gets their attention.

I'd imagine it says that he got very quiet, even more quiet when he begins, when the crowd realizes, dude is speaking Hebrew, okay. And he can, he's very fluent. We see that Paul knew Greek very well.

He knows Hebrew very well. He probably also spoke some Latin as well as a Roman citizen. So he can get around and he's a very educated man. And he addresses them in the Hebrew language. How many of you think, it might have been a little bit eerie.

Have you ever been in a crowd that was silent? Have any of you ever been in a huge crowd and it was quiet? It's eerie to see that many people gathered together in silence would be just bizarre. Especially if you set it against the backdrop of the commotion, the shouting, the craziness that had just happened when they were trying to take his life.

The crowd is silent and he is addressing them in Hebrew. He indicates in verse one that what he is going to do is indeed give a defense. But it's really awesome what he chooses to do for his defense. His story, his testimony is going to be his defense.

He tells them a story. And how many of you know, like I said earlier, there's power in a story, isn't there? Nothing, I can share with you facts, I can share it with you statistics, or I can tell you a story.

And stories are what stick, right? That's what's gonna hang in there. And it gets their attention. It's interesting to note how educated Paul is. If you read the book, how many of you read the book of Romans?

Have you read the book of Romans? That's written from the pen of Paul. Extremely well organized and detailed description of the gospel and nuances that sometimes, I mean it takes scholars just their entire life to just pick apart a couple verses of the book of Romans.

How many of you would say Paul was very intelligent, very intellectual? He'd read his writings, read Colossians, beautiful poetry, beautiful ability to spell things out in detail. And what does he choose to do?

He sets the bar quite low for us. He says, I'm gonna do, I'm gonna demonstrate to all of you here at Recast exactly how to go about defending the faith. Share your story. How many of you would admit that you could probably share your story?

You could tell somebody about your life and your encounter with Jesus Christ. How many of you think that sometimes for yourself, you set the bar higher than that? You're like, I got to be able to answer every question about creation, this, that, and all of this stuff.

And I have to have all the answers before I'm gonna tell somebody about Jesus. How many of you have ever felt that way before? Being honest. Okay, sometimes we set the bar way high. Paul, this extremely intelligent, extremely academically gifted individual sets the bar way low.

And he says, anybody can do what I'm about to do. Any of you. If you're in Christ, you can do this. Tell your story. Just share what he has done for you. Where you were before, talk about your encounter with Jesus Christ, and where you've been since, where he's brought you.

Just like Mike did for us this morning to accurately just convey his story and the way that God has come into his life and changed him. It's pretty cool. He starts with his birth here. And after all, isn't that kind of where our story starts, right?

He starts right from the beginning. He says, you know, I was born in Tarsus, in the middle of Turkey, a Roman city up there in what's modern-day Turkey. He moved to Jerusalem, though, quickly. He was raised in the very place where they're standing.

As a young child, he ran around Jerusalem and the streets of Jerusalem. The words raised or brought up, depending on your translation there, imply that he moved to Jerusalem at an early age. We don't know.

Scholars debate back and forth whether his parents moved with him or whether they sent him to Jerusalem for an education. All of that is unclear. But the fact of the matter is, Paul was born in Tarsus.

Sometime at an early age, he moved to Jerusalem. And he didn't just move to Jerusalem, but he says he was educated under the very prominent Jewish scholar named Gamaliel. One of the most prominent scholars of the era.

And he was raised learning under the Jewish scholar. Which really, to be selected out for that high honor, to have been a student of Gamaliel, implies a very high religious aptitude that either his parents saw it in him or the Jewish leaders saw it in him.

Whatever it was, it was a high standing. Maybe his parents had some connections. We don't really know all the ins and outs of how he got to the place where he was studying under this eminent scholar, but he was.

And the fact of the matter is, he was being groomed to be a Jewish leader. Okay, so something about Paul and his young life, they identified it and they said, this guy is going to be a leader. As a matter of fact, we see him rubbing shoulders as a young boy, a young man, with the who's who of the leadership in Jerusalem.

When we're going to see in just a moment, he was there at the stoning of Stephen. And what was he doing? Does anybody remember what Paul did at the stoning of Stephen? He was guarding their coats. How many of you know, if you're going to let somebody guard something that's worth a lot of money to you, you're going to trust them?

And he's there and he's the one who was stationed there. So all of these who's who, the elite who are taking off their clothes for range of motion to kill Stephen, not just a horrible thing, but I mean, they're taking their cloaks off so that they can swing rocks faster and better.

And he's there guarding their coats at that event. So even back in history, he was there with them and he's being groomed to be a leader. He was a zealous adherent, he says, to the strict manner of the law.

In other words, he was a good law-abiding Jewish boy. Okay, he was following the law carefully even as a child. And it's amazing the intense clarity with which Paul sees his current situation. He's just been beaten by this crowd.

He's got now an opportunity to address them. He's addressing them in Hebrew. And if you look at the end of verse 3 and the beginning of verse 4, he acknowledges that their zeal for God expressed in beating him, their zeal for God is what has led them to beat him.

And it's almost implied that Paul sympathizes with them. He understands why they beat him. He gets it. He's like, I used to be there. Look at the end of verse 3. He says, I was educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as all of you are this day.

All of you are operating right now out of zeal for God. And then he goes on in verse 4, I persecuted this way to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women. What is Paul in essence saying?

I get it. I get it. I know why you're doing what you do. How many of you, you know, the bruises, the pain that you're experiencing would kind of maybe forego your ability to sympathize with those beating you?

Okay, I'm the only one. Oh, there's four of us. Okay, the rest of you are like, yeah, I'd be right there with Paul. I'd just totally be like, I get it. I know. I know. It's all good. I'm not where, I have a hard time putting myself in Paul's shoes in that situation because he's just getting the tar beat out of him.

And then he's like, and I know why you did it. I understand. I used to do the same thing to people. So I can just totally relate to where you're coming from on this. I was just like all of you, zealous for God.

And I even did what you've done, persecuting, he says, the way, the phrase that was used for Christianity back in the day. They called it the way. And he says, I didn't just persecute. You see, you were unsuccessful in the way that I would have gone about it because I persecuted the way to the death.

I was good at it. Does that ever hit you? What was Paul like before he encountered Jesus Christ? He was a rough guy. Paul even admits to having been an equal opportunity persecutor. He arrested both men and women, locking them away, sealing their doom.

Thank you. But he recognizes that some in the crowd know this from firsthand experience. He says, I was a persecutor and I persecuted, but I'm speaking to you and you all know it. We know that the crowd that was beating him knew him.

He was raised in that city. He was raised in Jewish circles. Who's beating him down here? Jews. They knew him. Many of them in the crowd that day knew Paul firsthand. He says, I had once run with you guys.

You used to be my people. And even the high priest in the Sanhedrin, he says, the whole council could testify that I had been, that Paul had been an emissary of their persecution. He says, you sent me with letters to the Jews in Damascus, asking them to turn over Christians to arrest and extradition to be imprisoned and eventually to be killed back in Jerusalem, to be removed from Damascus and brought back and put on trial and some to be killed.

So Paul has clearly indicated who he was before encountering Christ. A good testimony acknowledges our separation from God. Even if you were saved at an early age, you were no worse than, you were no less bad than a hardened criminal.

Did you know that? And some of us, some of us, the fact of the matter is, if you think about your own personal testimony, how many of you would say, I was saved. I gave my life over to Jesus. I encountered him.

I had that experience and I was under 10 years old when that happened in my life. Okay, a handful of you. How many of you would say it was over 10 years of age when that happened in your life and that transformation?

Those that, those of you who raised your hand first and said you were under 10, you might need a more theological understanding of where you were in Christ. Does that make sense? So I turned, I was saved when I was eight and I turned to scripture to see what was true of me, because how many of you know, I didn't do a lot of significant crazy off the wall.

I was never in prison before I was eight. I never, I mean, are you getting what I'm saying? I mean, some of you have to turn to scripture to see what is true of a person who is not a follower of Jesus Christ.

And I look back and I go, I, when I was eight, I don't know how much I had really sinned by that point, but I certainly was a sinner. I certainly was under the righteous condemnation of God, of a holy and righteous God, because I was a sinner.

Does that make sense? So some of you have to look back there. Some of you have a little bit more colorful past, right? Did you admit to that? I mean, don't raise your hand, but, but some of you had a more colorful past and you have some specific things.

And some people are like, oh, that's an awesome testimony. That's super cool because you did drugs. Do you know what I'm talking about? Have you ever been there and been like, man, why does he get that testimony?

I was saved in church in an Awana program, for goodness sake. You know, my parents went to church and that's boring. No, that is awesome. That is the glory of God. When a sinner repents and turns from their ways and comes to understand Christ and encounters the living Savior, that is an awesome story.

I want to hear it. Okay, if you're four years old, five years old, you're in a backyard Bible club, you went to vacation Bible school, or you were a pimp or a prostitute or a drug dealer, I love to hear stories of lives turned and changed because of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I want you to raise your hand and say amen to that. I love hearing stories of how people's lives have been changed. I love that. I live for that. Paul had changed. I'm sorry. Paul had openly declared what he was like before he was with Christ.

He hasn't changed yet. The fact of the matter is without Christ, you would spend eternity even with the vilest of sinners, regardless of what you have done. And often we forget just how black and dark our sin is in the face of a holy and righteous God.

The fact of the matter is, you know, when you talk about raising your hand before you were 10 or after you're 10 or what, Paul was a bad guy. Paul was bad. Now he says, he's going to say later in one of his letters that I was the chiefest of sinners.

I count myself the chiefest of sinners. I don't know if you've ever heard that Paul said that, called himself the chiefest, the highest ranking sinner in the world. Okay, a lot of us want to read exaggeration into that, and if you've heard that in Sunday school or you heard a sermon on that, you might tend to think, well, I'm supposed to say that about myself too.

Do you know what I'm saying? I mean, you're supposed to just, all good Christians are supposed to agree with that. I'm a really bad sinner. I'm the worst of sinners, and kind of say it patronizingly. Paul didn't say it patronizingly, and Paul was not exaggerating.

He meant it. He felt that in his heart and in his soul. He's like, I was the worst of sinners. He was a really bad guy. This is barely any exaggeration, okay? He had killed people. Did you know that? He says he persecuted them to what?

To death. He had blood on his hands. He was a murderer, and what did it take to get on his hit list? Be a Christian. That's it. Be a follower of Jesus Christ. You were on Paul's hit list. He separated fathers from their children.

Husbands and wives separated. Some killed. He confined women, think women like mothers and daughters, to dungeons where they died. By the way, a prison sentence in this time was a death sentence, okay?

This is not a, you know, it's not, they didn't have cable tv. They didn't have a courtyard time for good behavior or getting out early. This was, you were going to die of a disease if you had a 20-year sentence in one of these prisons.

You were going to die of a disease or malnourishment or just neglect, or another prisoner was going to get you, okay? It was just that bad in Roman times. So, I mean, you can look it up and verify that.

It was a basic death sentence to be imprisoned for any duration during this era. But verse 6 shows the turn. This is where the turn happens. I use the word turn because the word turn is an awesome picture of repentance.

It's a turn. That's what happens in people's lives. Every testimony of faith in Jesus Christ has a turn. I live as a pastor to see the turn. I've seen the turn in many of you. It's awesome. Have you ever witnessed the turn in somebody's life?

Do you know what I'm talking about? Where they turn the corner, they change. Nothing in life compares to the glory of seeing God bring about the turn in a person's life. Where the light of Christ shines into the darkness and a life is radically transformed.

And the picture of the turn is that Paul, with all of his zeal and passion for God, is running 100 this direction against God. And it's like he encounters Jesus Christ going full steam and knocks him off course 180 degrees the other way, and Paul is going 200 for Christ.

That's the kind of turn we see in this passage. He encounters the living Christ, the resurrected Messiah, and is completely altered. His life is never the same. That's the turn. A blinding light. He says, I was on the way to Damascus and a blinding light appeared that outshone the noonday sun.

Okay, it's noon. He identifies. It's noon. He's going into Damascus and a bright light shines and blinds him. Brighter than the sun. He fell to the ground and heard the voice of Jesus. And Luke thought this event so important in the life of the early church that he records it three times.

This is the second time we've heard this story. Early in the book of Acts, Luke recorded it in a historical context. Now Paul is going to share it here and then in a couple of chapters we're going to see him share it again.