Revive Us Again | Week 8 | Acts 9

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December 17, 2023 Covenant Reformed Baptist Church Tullahoma, TN 37388 Pastor Jeff Rice

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Revive Us Again | Week 9 | Acts 10

Revive Us Again | Week 9 | Acts 10

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It's hard to follow those hymns, how so rich with theology.
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If you will, at this time, take your copy of the Scriptures and turn with me to Acts chapter 9.
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Acts chapter 9, we're going to consider verses 1 through 19.
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Acts chapter 9, 1 through 19. This is the eighth message in this series.
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Oh God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, God, we call upon the name of Jesus Christ.
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Again, Lord, we know you are here. Your Word tells us in the revelation of John, the revelation that Jesus gave to John to give to the churches, that you walk among the churches.
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Those who are truly yours, those who are faithfully yours,
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Lord, you walk among us. God, I ask in the name of Jesus, He who is here, that you use the
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Spirit that dwells in me today to speak to your people, Lord, that you will use my study.
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And Lord, where I lack through your Spirit, speak to your people, please, in the name of your beloved
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Son, Jesus the Christ. Amen. Again, it's hard to follow these great, rich, historical hymns.
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I think we as a church have, this church, have become spoiled to this great theology that we have given to us week after week through Pastor Cal's choosing of what we're going to sing.
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And I, in one sense, feel sorry, I feel bad for churches that do not take advantage of this rich theology given to us in the hymns.
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And that's not to downplay any new music, because I think that there's some groups who produce new music that's rich with theology, but oh, to stand on the shoulders of those hymns that we've heard all of our life, joy to the world, right?
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The Lord has come. We're not waiting for the arrival of the
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Messiah to come and to initiate something with us. He has already come. He has initiated.
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We are waiting for Him to return, for this great marriage supper of the
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Lamb to begin, to have true richness with Christ on earth and with our neighbors and true fellowship, right?
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Leonard, before I get to that, our overarching theme for this series that we're going through is
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Revive Us Again. Normally, we do exposition, and we're walking through John, and it's taken us over a year to get to chapter nine.
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And once we're done with Acts, not sure exactly how long it's going to take, we'll pick back up in nine and be in John for a year or better again.
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We want to know what revival is. I mentioned to someone, I had some ministers come to my house, and I was telling them that they know that we're a
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Reformed church, and I was telling them that we're going through a series, and we're talking about revival, and they said, a
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Reformed church talking about revival? I said, well, I used to be a Pentecostal, so think about that, a
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Reformed church talking about revival. If you were to be able to go back to the
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Puritans, go back to those Reformers and tell them there's going to come a time where people are going to be surprised that Reformed churches talk about revival.
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Say that to Jonathan Edwards, who led the first great awakening, when the revival came to the earth, the pity he would have on us.
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Leonard Ravenhill says this, in revival, God is not concerned about filling empty churches.
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He is concerned about filling empty hearts. If our hearts are not filled, guess what else is not going to be filled?
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The churches. If our hearts are not filled, our churches will not be filled.
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There is no need to fill empty churches if the heart is not in it.
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There's no need to get married if you do not love the one that you are going to marry.
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And a half -empty church will not be filled with the power of God if God's people are not preaching the gospel.
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The church is not going to be filled with the gospel if God's people are not preaching the gospel.
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Our theme for this Lord's Day is the power of the gospel to transform one's life.
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Is the gospel God's power for salvation? Yes or no,
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Baptists? Yes. Absolutely. If God's gospel is his power for salvation, the power of the gospel will transform one's life.
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You don't have to worry about you transforming someone's life, you convincing someone.
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Are we to compel people to come in? Yes. Come. Buy with no money.
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God is the one who grants salvation, and that's our theme. Once the gospel transforms someone into a new creation, they will experience new desires.
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Second Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17 says this, Therefore, this is Paul speaking, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
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The old has passed away. Behold, all things have come.
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The question that I want to bring to us today is, have new things come?
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Have the old things passed away and have new things come?
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Are you the same as you were before Christ today? Are you professing to be a
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Christian and nothing has changed in your life? Are you still the way you were when you were found by Christ?
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Have old things passed and have new things come? Because if you're in Christ, this new life is something you should be experiencing.
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This should be true of you. The new life should have come. There's no such thing as being halfway born again.
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You're either in Christ or you are not. There's no fence riding.
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There's no fence riding. You are either in him or you are not.
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In our outline today, we're going to see the conversion of Saul. We're going to see
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Saul go from a terrorist to Christians to being a Christian himself.
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We're going to see him going from terrorizing to imprisoning to killing to stoning
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Christians to being terrorized, to being hunted, to being killed as a
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Christian. We're going to see the mission of Saul as a terrorist, the calling of Saul to Jesus and the mission of Saul as a
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Christian. So point number one, the mission of Saul as a terrorist. Point number two, the calling to Saul, I mean the calling of Saul to Jesus.
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And point number three, the mission of Saul as a Christian. And as we transition, listen, this is,
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I am skeptical. Every time
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I hear someone in their testimony, speaking about their conversion, say something like I have never known a time that I have not believed in Jesus, that I have not believed
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God. There's never been a time in my life that I've never not believed. I'm skeptical every time
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I hear a testimony like that. I'm skeptical because there has never been a time in my life that I've not believed, ever.
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I've always known there's a God. I grew up in an America that talked about God, and my uncle was a preacher.
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We went to church. I knew that Jesus was the Son of God. There's never been a time that I did not believe.
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And yet, I needed to be converted. I had to have a conversion.
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I had to go from being an old creation to a new creation.
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Unless you are born again, the Bible says, Jesus says, you will not see nor enter the kingdom of heaven.
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This tells us that our first birth, our being born physically into the earth from our parents is not enough.
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It does not please God. You must be born again.
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You must be born of God. That's what the new creation is.
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There must be a time where you went from old creation, new natural birth in Adam, to being a new creation, spiritual birth in Christ, or you are not, listen, you are not a
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Christian. The new covenant is not a mixed covenant.
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You enter into the new covenant by the new birth. Old covenant you entered in by physical birth, and of course it's a mixed covenant.
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It's a physical birth. All you had to do was be born a Jew, and you were in the old covenant.
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In order to enter into the new covenant, your first birth doesn't get you there.
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You must be born again. You must be, you must hear the gospel proclaimed.
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You must see yourself as wicked, and God clothed you in a righteousness that is alien to you.
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You must be born again. Because listen, there is a difference between intellectual belief and a belief that causes you to follow
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Jesus. My whole life I believed. There's never been a time
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I had not believed, but that belief did not cause me to forsake all and follow
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Jesus. This new creation that we're called to when we're born again, the spirit in us that causes us to keep the law of God, causes us to follow
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Jesus. Because if you're not following Jesus, you're walking in darkness.
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Believe all you want and not follow Jesus, and you are walking in darkness.
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Jesus said that he is the liar of the world, and whoever follows him will never walk in darkness.
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Point number one, the mission of Saul as a terrorist. We're going to see this in verses one and two.
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Kind of proud I got through my introduction in 13 minutes. Let's do it. Verse number one, chapter nine, verse one.
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Now Saul, breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the
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Lord, went to the high priest and asked for letters from him to the synagogue at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
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Now by way of a reminder, this isn't the first time we've came across the man, this guy, this man named
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Saul, Saul of Tarsus. Saul was a Pharisee. He was first introduced to us in the stoning of Stephen, right?
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As they were stoning Stephen, this group, the synagogue that they were witnessing to that was trying to argue with Saul, this was the synagogue of the free man,
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Saul here would have been the Pharisee there, so he would have been someone in high regard. The congregation that was at this synagogue took their jackets off and they laid them at the feet of Saul, which
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I believe is kind of like by way of homage, we're doing this for God, and him being the
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Pharisee, someone that spoke for God, a teacher of the law, they lay this at his feet, they're paying homage to him, and they stone
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Stephen to death. For those of you who might not be aware,
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Saul is the Apostle Paul. Saul Paul gives to us in Philippians a little history of himself.
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Philippians chapter 3, we're going to look at verses 4 through 6.
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We're not going to talk about the context right now, just look at verse 4 through 6.
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Paul writes, although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh, if anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh,
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I far more circumcised the eighth day of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a
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Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law, a Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, and as to righteousness, which is in the law, found blameless.
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Saul Paul was rigorous in his work for God as a
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Pharisee. His teacher was Gamaliel. He was the one that all
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Pharisees would look up to when it came to the law. He knew the law backwards and forwards.
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In order to consider yourself good enough to ask a Pharisee if you could follow them, you had to know the whole
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Torah, memorize the five books of Moses in the Pentateuch, right?
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You had to know the 300 and something prophecies of the coming Messiah. There you go.
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Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. That's the first time. Okay, where were
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I? All right, Saul is both a
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Hebrew and a Roman citizen. Now, as far as I can tell,
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Saul would have been his Hebrew name, and him being from the tribe of Benjamin, he was most likely killed,
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I mean, he was most likely named after Israel's first king, which is King Saul.
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Paul would have been his Greek name, and some even believe that because it was
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Saul Paul and he was both Jew and Greek that Paul kind of worked as a middle name, so it wasn't uncommon for people to call him
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Saul Paul, but Saul being a
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Hebrew form of Paul. And as brilliant as we all know
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Paul was, right, he could not withstand the wisdom of Stephen simply because Stephen was filled with the
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Holy Spirit. We have in Acts chapter 6, right, verses 8 through 10 that tells us that the men here from this synagogue of the free men were unable to oppose the wisdom and the spirit by whom he was speaking.
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This would have been Paul. Paul was unable to oppose the wisdom of Stephen by the spirit which he was speaking.
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Just imagine that, right? Who in here, as you're reading the letters of Paul, has ever thought this guy's an idiot, right?
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The equivalent of his education, I heard, would be the equivalent of like six doctorates this man was very, very highly educated, very, very smart.
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Stephen, not as highly educated, not as smart, filled with the spirit, a common man,
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Paul could not oppose his wisdom. Saul most likely would have been the one in this debate with Stephen being that he was the
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Pharisees, which would also give more closer attention to why the synagogue of the free men were laying their jackets at Paul's feet.
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We're doing this for you. What's about to be done, we're doing it for you.
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During the stoning of Stephen, the crowd laid their coats at his feet. We're doing this for you.
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I truly believe that Saul's pride was hurt because of the wisdom of Stephen.
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That, and because of the growth of the church, he goes and he seeks the chief priest in order to receive letters to the synagogue that he might destroy the church.
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Saul was a terrorist, a persecutor of the church.
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Now, I want you to imagine if a persecutor of the church was to arise today, a terrorist who is putting
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Christians to death. Now, imagine if that man was born again.
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There was a time where you had people coming against the church, and this would happen.
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They would be born again. And that's what we're reading about today when it comes to Saul.
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This is Saul, Paul's story. He was a terrorist, and he was born again.
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And this kind of stuff is what happens when revival comes, when God's people take serious
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God's word and are obedient to preach the gospel. Because let me tell you, a terrorist that doesn't hear the gospel, what he'll never do, come to Christ.
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He'll never be born again. No one can be born again unless they hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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And who has been commissioned to preach this gospel of Jesus Christ? All of us.
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We have been commissioned to do so. He was looking for those who belonged to the way.
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Jesus, in John 14, 6, says this, that he says that he is the way, and the truth, and the life, and that no one comes through the
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Father except through him. You cannot get to the Father through the law.
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You cannot get to the Father through the temple. You cannot get to the Father through Old Testament ordinances.
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You have to go through him. They were talking about only Jesus is the way to the
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Father. And so by saying these words, people started calling them followers of the way.
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They was not saying that Jesus is the way. This was a way to make fun of people who believe that Jesus was the way.
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This is the first derogatory name given to us, and what comes from that is
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Christians. You are those people who follow Christ. You're Christ -like ones.
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You Christians. Like this is how the word originated and was first given to us in Antioch.
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It was a way to make fun of us. Paul is coming after those who follow this man who believes that he is the only way that temple ordinances and keeping the law cannot get you to Jesus, that it's only, cannot get you to the
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Father, but this Jesus. Hence why this persecution was coming down upon them.
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They were preaching this, and Jews who were worshipped at the temple, who were traveling for these feast days, started seeing what was going on.
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They started hearing the gospel. God starts giving regeneration. People are becoming born again, and they're walking away from the temple, and they're following after this
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Jesus. And so Paul wants to destroy the church, being a
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Pharisee, a teacher of the law. Point number two, the calling of Saul to Jesus.
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We see this in verse six through nine of Acts chapter nine. I'm sorry, three through nine of Acts chapter nine.
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And as he was traveling, it happened that, there we go, it happened that when he was approaching
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Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. And falling on the ground, he heard a voice saying to him,
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Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he said, who are you,
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Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you must do.
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And all the man who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice, but not seeing no one.
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And Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing.
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Leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus.
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And he was there three days without sight, neither ate nor drank.
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This terrorist, persecutor of the church, was on his way to arrest
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Christians and have them killed, and he was stopped in his tracks by the
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Lord Jesus Christ himself. He said that there was a light that from heaven that flashed around him, and look back at verse four, and falling to the ground.
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So this light comes upon him, and he falls to the ground, and he heard a voice saying to him,
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Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?
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And he said, who are you, Lord? He said,
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I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.
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Ladies and gentlemen, when did Saul ever persecute Jesus? We don't read this in the
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Gospels. When did Saul ever persecute Jesus? Saul was persecuting the church, followers of Jesus, followers of the way, and not
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Jesus, right? Turn with me to Matthew, the
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Gospel of Matthew, chapter 25. Yes, this gives us really good insight.
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Chapter 25, we'll begin in verse 31, speaking of the final judgment, when our
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Lord returns in his second advent to not inaugurate, but consummate the marriage.
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Jesus speaking, but when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all of his angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne, and all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them from one another, as a shepherd separates his sheep from his goats.
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And he will put the sheep on his right, and the goats on his left.
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Then the king will say to those on his right, come you who are blessed to my father, inherit the kingdom which has been prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
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For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat.
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I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me in naked, and you clothed me.
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I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me.
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Then the righteous will answer him saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed you, or thirsty, and give you something to drink?
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And when did we see you a stranger, and invite you or naked, and clothe you?
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And when did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you? Verse 40.
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And the king will answer and say to them, truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of mine, speaking about the sheep, even to the least of them, you did it to me.
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Verse 41. Then he will say to those on his left, the part for me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.
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For I was hungry, and you gave me nothing to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me nothing to drink.
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I was a stranger, and you did not visit me naked, and you did not clothe me sick, and in prison, and you did not visit me.
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Then they themselves will also will answer saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of you?
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Then he will answer them saying, truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, speaking about the sheep, you did not do it to me.
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And these will go away into an eternal punishment, but the righteous, the sheep, will enter eternal life.
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Doing good to a follower of Jesus is doing good to Jesus, and doing evil to a follower of Jesus is to do evil to Jesus.
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The church followers of the way are the body of Christ, and to persecute the church is to persecute
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Jesus himself, because we are the body of Christ.
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Paul, Paul, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he's going to destroy the church.
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This very well could be how Saul, Paul came to this understanding, right, in first Corinthians 12,
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Ephesians 3, and Colossians 1, where it talks about the church being the body of Christ.
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Let's just look at that one of those passages so you can see this with your eyes. Go to Colossians chapter 1.
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We'll look at verse 18a, and we'll look at verse 24. This should give us that interpretation.
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Colossians 1 verse 18, and he, speaking of Jesus, is the head of the body, the church.
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Look at verse 24. I rejoice in my suffering for the sake, for your sake, and I fill up what is lacking of Christ's affliction in my flesh on behalf of his body, which is the church.
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The church is the body of Christ, and if you mess with the church, you are attacking
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Jesus Christ himself. That's how Christ sees us.
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He does not see us separated from himself. Ephesians tells us that when this new birth comes, we are in him, and he is in us.
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The outside world shouldn't be able to tell where we begin and he ends, but to our shame, they cannot.
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To our shame, the outside world doesn't respect Christianity because Christians don't take serious their faith.
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Also notice Saul's confession. Look back at chapter 9 verses 4 and 5.
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And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?
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And he said, who are you, Lord?
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Lord, who are you,
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Lord? Paul calls Jesus Lord. Saul knew that whoever had come to him in this light was the
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Lord. And at that moment, he heard, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.
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Believe me when I tell you this. He knew that Jesus was Lord, that Jesus was the
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Christ, the son of the living God. This means that at that moment, Saul knew that Jesus was
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God, and everything that his followers were saying about Jesus, it was true.
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It was true. And he knew everything that he has done.
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He knew he's been persecuting the church. He knew that he was trying to attack, to terrorize, to kill the members of those who are followers of Jesus.
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And he knew at that moment, he was attacking Jesus Christ himself. He knew at the moment, whenever this homage was being paid to him and Stephen is being stoned to death, that they were stoning
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Jesus. So that's how Christ saw it, that Stephen was a part of his body.
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He knew that they were attacking God. And to this, I want to say that there's a understanding that we don't have when it comes to the human beings versus the divine being.
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To come to the understanding that that Jesus is the son of God is to understand that Jesus is
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God. How many gods are there? One God. One God.
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And if God has a son and there's only one God, then this son has to be a part of this one
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God, right? He is, Jesus is God. I have children. I'm a human being.
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If I have children, I don't have something that's not a human being. My child is a human being.
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You can have millions of human beings, but you can only have one divine being.
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And so that's why when we talk about Trinitarian doctrine, we speak about God being the one being, right?
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There's one being. This one being is God, but in this one being is three distinct personages, persons.
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The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And they don't share the being of God. They are the being of God.
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Everything that God is, Jesus is. Jesus is not lacking in deity.
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He is God. He sits on the throne. Angels worship
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Him. Isaiah saw Him. The seraphims hid from Him.
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He is God. And right then, He knew. And we all talk about Isaiah when
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Isaiah saw God, right? And then the thresholds were shaken, and the angels were hiding themselves, and they were calling to one another and talking about how holy this
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God is. We all talk about it. We talk about the fear that Isaiah must have felt.
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It cannot compare to the fear right now that Paul is feeling. This persecutor of the church sees this light.
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He hears a voice. He's gone blind after the light disappears.
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He sees Jesus Christ in the flesh. After this realization of who the church is and who it is that Jesus is,
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Saul is led away, unable to see. He's led away by the help of his companions to Damascus.
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Jesus had appeared to Saul by way of the light, and yes, I do believe it was in the flesh that He caused him.
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In order to be an apostle, you have to see the risen Christ. Look over to verse 27.
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It says, But when Barnabas took him, speaking of Saul, and brought him to the apostles, he recounted to them how he had seen the
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Lord on the road, and how he had talked to him, and how at Damascus he spoke out boldly in the name of Jesus.
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Immediately after he is converted, he is a witness for Jesus Christ.
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You might be thinking to yourself, yeah, but where's the gospel? We're going through this book, and we're trying to find the gospel presentations.
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Where was the gospel? Where was the gospel?
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And to that I say, Stephen? Stephen and other
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Christians had already been preaching this message in his hearing. He knew the gospel.
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He knew what was being preached, right? Stephen starts with Abraham, and he preaches
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Jesus all the way to the cross in chapter 7. Those seeds that Stephen and other faithful Christians sowed was water that day by Jesus Christ Himself, and the
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Lord gave it growth. Amen? This is such a pivotal point in the book of Acts, because if we don't talk about Saul becoming a
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Christian, then later on when he's witnessing, and the last thing we heard was almost was given to him, that's not going to make any sense.
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We cannot skip this. The gospel was given to him through Stephen. We know this.
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Point number three, the mission of Saul as a
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Christian. This is given to us in verses 10 through 19.
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Chapter 9 of the book of Acts, beginning in verse 10. We'll read verse 19.
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Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias, and the
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Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias, and he said, here I am,
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Lord. And the Lord said to him, rise up and go to a street called
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Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas a man from Tarsus named
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Saul, for behold he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named
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Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight.
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Listen, verse 13. But Ananias answered, Lord, I've heard from many about this man, and how much harm he did to your servants at your saints at Jerusalem.
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And hearing, and here he has authority from the chief priest to bind all who call upon your name.
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But the Lord said to him, go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to bear my name before the
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Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel, for I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.
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And then Ananias departed and entered the house and laid his hands on him and said, listen, brother
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Saul, he recognizes him as a brother, as a Christian, the
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Lord sent me that is Jesus, so there's a second witness that Jesus is
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Lord, who appeared to you, there's a witness that he admits that Jesus appeared to him,
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Jesus told him he appeared to him on the road by which you were coming, so that he may regain your sight and be filled with the
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Holy Spirit. And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight, and he rose and was baptized, and he took food and ate and was strengthened.
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The mission of Saul is found in verses 15 and 16, look back at that.
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But the Lord said to him, go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to bear my name before the
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Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel, and I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.
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His mission is to bear the name of Jesus. That's the mission of Paul, to bear the name of Jesus to the
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Gentiles, to kings, and to the sons of Israel.
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Now who's the
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Bible separates us in Jew and Gentile, but then we read that in the body, the church, the two, the
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Jew and the Gentile, become one. There is no Jew and there is no
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Gentile in Christ. God does not have a bride and a side chick. He's not waiting to rapture us so he can take care of the
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Jews. We are the true Jew, the true Israel, those of us who are in Christ.
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We are grafted into the olive tree, which is Israel. This nation in Israel right now, they're not followers of Yahweh, though we want them to be, which is why we pray for them, which is why we're called to bring them the gospel.
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It's everyone, it's red, it's yellow, it's black, and it's white. It's all ethnicities.
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The gospel is for everyone. It's for Gentiles and the sons of Israel, but it's also for the kings.
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It's for the rich and it's for the poor. It's for everyone. And another part of this mission, particularly for Saul, as we see here, it's in suffering.
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God's purpose for Saul, Paul, is to preach the gospel and to suffer for doing so.
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And Ananias, because of the wrath of Saul, did not want to go and lay hands on Saul for him to receive his sight.
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And I'm sure every one of us can understand why. But imagine that. Imagine that. You and I are timid about witnessing to someone one -on -one or in the open air.
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We're timid. We're scared. I am. I go out and do it, but guess what? I am terrified.
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We're timid. We're scared. I can't imagine if a great persecutor were to appear who were killing people, who were killing
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Christians for their faith, and God was to speak to you in this way, and He told you to go and witness to this man.
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Imagine the fear. That's what's happening here in our text.
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Ananias, a follower of Jesus, is told by Jesus to go and lay his hands on a man who was sent to destroy him.
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Saul's first stop was to Damascus to persecute followers of the way, and Ananias was a
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Christian in Damascus. He was coming to Damascus to get
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Ananias. Saul was coming for Ananias, and now
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Ananias is coming for Saul. To heal Saul, the hunter has become the hunted.
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The hunter, the terrorist, became the hunted, found by Jesus, blinded, and Jesus uses one of the ones who he was going to kill to give him sight.
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Oh, the mercy of God. He was coming to Damascus to arrest and to kill, and Jesus sends him the gift.
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Are you able to imagine that? Is that something that we can comprehend as Americans?
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I tell you what, if you were in another country, you'd be able to comprehend it. Right now, in other parts of the world,
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Christians are dying for their faith in Jesus Christ. They're dying. They're being put to death.
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They're being stung. They're being dragged. They're being thrown off buildings. They're being skinned. They're being burned.
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They're being decapitated. You can get on YouTube and see this. For their faith in Jesus Christ.
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They're being sent out on a lake that's covered with ice, and they have to stand there barefoot until hypothermia kills them.
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My feet are so tender. Right? If I spill salt on the ground,
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I can't walk over it. I couldn't imagine, could not imagine standing on a sheet of ice, and people are being forced to do so today for their faith in Jesus Christ.
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I tell you a story. This one man comes off of the ice. He says, I renounce
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Jesus. And the moment he did, one of the guards took his shoes off and walked out and took his place.
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Through his rejection, God gave new birth. The guard caught hypothermia and died through his feet.
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Can you imagine faith in Jesus Christ?
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Faith in Jesus can cause rejection by your family and friends, and sometimes even death by your family and friends.
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Ask yourself, do you want revival? Do you want revival?
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Because that's what comes with revival, persecution. We, I want revival.
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I don't want to read about it. I want to be about it. Right? Amen. I don't want to be persecuted, and yet I do not not want to be persecuted.
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Where are our priorities? Right? Where are our priorities? Ananias does what is asked of him, and we are to do what is asked of us, and what was asked of him is asked of us.
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Saul regains his sight, receives the Holy Spirit, and is baptized by Ananias. Ananias listened to Jesus, and now
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Ananias will forever be known as the man who baptized the apostle Paul.
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Glory. Right? Glory.
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What a great gift God gave Ananias. Again, we see in the book of Acts, immediately after belief, he was baptized.
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Immediately after belief, baptism. Listen, though. Let's make sure he's producing fruit.
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Let's make sure that as he's walking, he's dropping apples and oranges. Right? Let's make sure that what's coming forth from him is love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, so on and so forth.
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No, immediately he calls upon the name of the Lord, and he is baptized. Again, something else the church needs to pay attention to.
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Saul had always believed in God. There was never a time when
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Saul didn't believe in God, and Saul had to be born again in order to follow
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Jesus. Saul had to be born again in order to follow
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Jesus. He followed the strict regulations of the law. A persecutor of the church, given the gospel by Stephen, saw the light through Christ, was given conversion.
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Turn back to Philippians chapter 3. We'll read it in its context this time.
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Verse 1. Paul's speaking. Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the
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Lord. I write the same things again.
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There's no trouble to me, and it is sufficient for you.
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Beware of dogs. Beware of the evil workers.
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Beware of mutilation. He's speaking about the Judaizers, the
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Jews who professed Christ but still lived in the old covenant, still held on to it had to be children.
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It had to be, you had to convert to be a Jew. This is the Abrahamic covenant, and you had to keep the law of Moses in order to follow
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Jesus. He says, beware of these dogs. Beware of the evil workers.
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Beware of mutilation. And look what he says. He's speaking to Gentiles, for we are the circumcision.
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He's talking about Israel. We are the circumcision who worship in the
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Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.
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Verse 4, what I read earlier. Now, for that context, you understand why he says what he says.
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Although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh, if anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh,
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I far more. Circumcised the eighth day. So he's writing, he's going to label out his Judaism.
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Circumcised of the eighth day of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a
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Hebrew of Hebrews. As to the law, a Pharisee.
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As to zeal, how much he loved the law, he persecuted the church.
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And as to righteousness, which is in the law, found blameless.
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But whatever things were gained to me, those things
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I have counted as lost for the sake of Christ. More than that,
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I count all things to be lost because of the surpassing value and knowledge of Christ Jesus, my
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Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things.
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And I count them but rubbish so that I may gain
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Christ and to be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, which is from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ.
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The righteousness which is from God upon faith. Verse 10, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death in order that I may obtain the resurrection of the dead.
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In Acts chapter 26, verses 12 through 23, we have
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Paul giving his testimony of what takes place in Acts chapter 9 to a king he sent out to Gentiles, to kings, and to the children of Israel.
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Turn with me to Acts chapter 26. He says, verse 12, he says, while so engaged as I was journeying to Damascus with the authority and the commission from the chief priest at midday
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O king, think about he saw this light shining brighter than the sun in the midday.
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I saw on the way a light from heaven brighter than the sun shining all around me and those who were journeying with me.
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And when we had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice say to me in the
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Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?
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It is hard for you to kick against the goals, to go against God's will is what this is saying.
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Verse 15, and I said, who are you, Lord? And he, then the
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Lord said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but rise and stand on your feet for this purpose.
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I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and a witness, not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things which
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I will appear to you, rescuing you from the Jewish people and from the
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Gentiles to whom I am sending you to open, here it is, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and the inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith.
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So King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision, but kept declaring both to those in Damascus first and also at Jerusalem and then throughout the region of Judea and even to the
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Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God, practicing deeds appropriated to repentance.
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For this reason, some Jews seized me in the temple and were trying to put me to death.
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Therefore, having obtained help from God to this day, I stand here bearing witness, both small and great, stating nothing but what the prophets and Moses said was going to take place, verse 23 right here, that the
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Christ would suffer, and that as first of the resurrection from the dead, he was going to proclaim light to both the
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Jewish people and to the Gentiles. The story of Paul is the story of the power of God to change one's life.
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Paul went from a terrorist seeking the death of Christians to a
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Christian who dies for his faith. The life of Paul is an example of true revival in his life as well as in his ministry.
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Paul was a sinner saved by the grace of God. He listened to the voice and he stood before Gentiles, he stood before kings, and he stood before the
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Jews, the sons of Israel. This is telling us that he took serious his faith and he suffered for doing so.
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Do you want revival? Do you want to be used of God because you might suffer for his namesake?
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Do you want revival? And if you do, it starts by believing in Jesus and loving your neighbors.
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For Christian brothers and sisters, we are to love one another, listen, even when it sucks, even when it's hard to do so.
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When I disappoint you or when you disappoint me, we're to love one another.
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We are to forgive one another, even if it hurts, because this means something.
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Us being in the body means something. And we all know that people in our family can make mistakes.
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Sheep bite. We are to forgive one another.
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Again, Leonard Ravenhill, in revival, God is not concerned about filling empty churches.
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He is concerned about filling empty hearts, and that is with love.
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If our hearts are filled, our churches will be filled. If you love your neighbors, you're going to reach out to them.
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To the nonbeliever, we are called to love them so much that they have to jump over us to get to hell.
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That love is sacrificial. You ever go out and witness, it's flesh eating.
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First Corinthians chapter 13 tells us that love is patient and kind, and that is to the believer as well as unbeliever.
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The goal of Paul's life should be the goal of our life, and his goal was to preach Christ and Him crucified.
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The only gospel that has the power to save is the gospel of Jesus Christ that'll take someone from being an old creation to being a new creation.
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To take someone from being in Adam to making them in Christ, because you must be born again.
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You must be born again. The gospel is clear. God will save His people.
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How does He do so? He sent His Son, Jesus Christ. We could not keep the law.
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Jesus kept the law in our place. We deserve to die and go to hell, but through the punishment that was received upon Jesus, that punishment accounts to us if we repent and put our faith in Jesus Christ.
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He was buried, and on the third day He rose again, and listen to me, saints. In the first advent,
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He inaugurated the new covenant. When He comes back,
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He'll consummate it. We will be seen as we are by Him.
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You do not want to be found that day clothed in Adam. That day, you want to make sure you're clothed in Christ, the righteousness of Jesus Christ, which is only by faith in Christ.
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We are available to anyone who wants to talk. Let's pray. Oh God, Lord, I'm reminded of that hymn, "'Tis
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So Sweet to Trust in Jesus, Just to Take Him as My Own."
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Lord, I indeed need You. I know I showed
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You that this week. Lord, I do pray for Your forgiveness.
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Lord, we need You. We need Christ. This world,
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Tallahoma, all the surrounding counties, Lord, if You do not empower us to be
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Your witness, there's no hope for anyone. God, I pray that You will, as the day of Pentecost, send forth
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Your Spirit in such a mighty way that Your people stand up and proclaim the magnificent works of Your hand, that we will, from Abraham, preach
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Christ to the cross and not stop there, but that He rose from that grave, that He defeated death, and He's coming again.
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Empower Your people, Lord, we pray. And God, as we're about to approach this meal, we pray that You use it to conform us to the image of Your Son.
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We pray that there be any here today who are living in sin, that they will, at this time, confess their sins, knowing that You are righteous to forgive us, so that they may partake with a clean conscience.