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From Prosecutor to Preacher - Blueprint Series
55 Plays4 months ago
In this sermon, Ridley Barron preached about the profound transformation that comes with conversion to Christianity. He shares the story of Saul’s radical change and its lasting impact on the church and history, emphasizing the need to surrender completely to God's guidance rather than trying to control one’s life. Barron illustrates the significance of obedience to Christ, supported by anecdotes about humility and community support. He stresses the importance of sincere faith placed in Jesus Christ, the empowering role of the Holy Spirit, and living out the new purpose received as believers. Listeners are encouraged to prioritize faith, share the gospel boldly, and foster supportive relationships within the church community, while also recognizing the immediate and complete nature of God’s healing and transformation.
Timestamps:
00:00 Saul's conversion to Christianity in Acts 9.
05:51 Embrace suffering as part of following Christ.
09:20 The church had peace, grew in numbers.
11:42 Saul's conversion brought radical, immediate change.
15:48 Admitting sins, need for instant forgiveness.
19:46 Solomon becomes wealthy, builds lavish house.
23:17 Importance of fully surrendering life to God.
25:53 Ananias tells Paul to receive the Holy Spirit.
27:21 Saul becomes Paul and completely transforms.
31:10 Living for God's purpose brings freedom.
36:13 Embrace your transformation through the Holy Spirit.
40:20 Father and son bonding over go-karting.
42:48 Believers need to surrender to God's guidance.
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Transcript
A Child's Sacrifice for a Nation
00:00:00
Speaker
Got your Bibles turned to Acts chapter 9 As you're doing that I want to share one quick story I just heard this morning in regards to our time of prayer for the state of Tennessee and for our country and everything I just thought this was really really cool, and I hope it challenges you the way it challenged me Just found out that one of our nine-year-olds this morning or this week told his mom He was giving up sugar for the month of July to pray for our nation I Don't know about you, but I'm not man enough to do that at least not so far ill I'll get to that point but yeah that's a that's pretty cool and I'm thankful for him hey we're finally to Saul I know some of you have been anticipating this because we're in the book of Acts you know a lot of it's about this guy named Saul who becomes Paul we're to his conversion last week
00:00:47
Speaker
we talked about Philip.
Philip's Mission to Ethiopia
00:00:49
Speaker
We talked about how Philip went 165 miles to find an Ethiopian eunuch in the middle of nowhere so that he could be introduced to the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so in that moment, we read about what was probably one of the most significant conversion stories in scripture to that point, and here's why. It opened up the continent of Africa to the gospel in a way that, not that Jesus couldn't have done it some other way, but that Jesus anticipated it ah sovereignly ordained it and so this guy goes and he does this and Africa is introduced to the
Saul's Impact and Personal Influence
00:01:22
Speaker
gospel. The conversion story we're about to read about today is the most significant conversion in the history of the church because this man's conversion literally changes the outcome of not only continents but even centuries of time. The church is blown wide open because of what happens with this man named Saul.
00:01:43
Speaker
Saul had such a significant impact on ah the life of the church that today we're still talking about who he was and what he did and much of the New Testament written by him as letters to people that he changed and challenged and encouraged in his own journeys. Now here's my question that I want you to kind of lay in the background of everything we're gonna say today. This is the personal challenge I have for every one of us. Will people a hundred years from now be talking about your conversion and the impact it had on the world?
Living an Impactful Christian Life
00:02:13
Speaker
Because what happens is that many of us take Christ, we accept Christ, and what we do in our head is, boom, we check the list. I'm covered. I got my fire insurance. Not going to hell. Got an attorney with Jesus settled. And then we just kind of sulk back and sit back and we just wait. We bide our time, we live out our existence, and we don't do one cotton picking thing that makes a difference for the kingdom of God.
00:02:38
Speaker
But I'm here to tell you today that if you are living your life submitted and surrendered to the power of Jesus Christ, you can't help but make a difference by your conversion. Your life begins to touch people around you and I would argue the closer you get to Jesus, the wider your sphere of influence goes. You know why? Because God's gonna put you in a place where you're gonna be seen when you're giving him glory. Because he wants you to draw men to him by lifting him up.
Saul's Spiritual Journey and Conversion
00:03:03
Speaker
And so that's what happens in the story with Saul. It's a beautiful story, it's an incredible story, it's a shocking story. But I wanna talk to you about it today because I believe that this story teaches us a lot about our own personal conversions. Because many of us ask the question, you know, how do how do I know my conversion's real? How do I know my my journey with Christ is real? How do I know my brother, my son, my coworker? How do I know that they're really following Jesus? And I think this answers a lot of questions for us. So Acts chapter nine, beginning in verse one.
00:03:32
Speaker
It says, now Saul was still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. He went to the high priest and requested letters from him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women who belonged to the way, he might bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he traveled and was nearing Damascus, a light from heaven suddenly flashed around him. Falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Who are you, Lord? Notice the way he phrases that. He's saying, who are you, Lord? Saul already knew who he was talking to. He already knew who this was. That's not a question of who is this talking to me. This is a question of can you show me more of who you are? Because you know why he already knew? Remember where Saul first shows up in scripture? He's in the congregation the day that Stephen's given his first sermon about the power of Jesus Christ. He knows who Jesus is.
00:04:23
Speaker
He's lived in Jerusalem, so this isn't a question of who are you like? I don't know who you are, it's a question of who are you? Show me who you are and let me be taught more about you. He says, I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting, he replied. But get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do. The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the sound but seeing no one. Saul got up from the ground and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing.
Ananias and Saul: A Risky Encounter
00:04:49
Speaker
So they took him by the hand and they led him into Damascus. He was unable to see for three days and did not eat or drink. There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias?
00:05:04
Speaker
"'Here I am, Lord,' he replied. "'Get up and go to the street called straight,' the Lord said to him, "'to the house of Judas, and ask for a man from Tarsus "'named Saul, since he is praying there. "'In a vision, he has seen a man named Ananias "'coming in and placing his hands on him, "'so that he may regain his sight.'" This is almost a little comical, this response, because you know that Ananias' lip is quivering. He knows who Saul is. Even though they are 130 miles from Jerusalem, his reputation has preceded him. Look what he says. He says, Lord, I have heard about this dude. He's bad news. He says, I've heard from him from many people about this man and what he's doing to your saints in Jerusalem. He has authority here from the chief priest to arrest all who call on your name.
00:05:49
Speaker
But the Lord said to him, Go, for this man is my chosen instrument to take my name to Gentiles, kings, and Israelites. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name." Can I just remind you that if you're a follower of Jesus Christ, it does not exempt you from suffering. In fact, it calls you into suffering with Christ Jesus. God uses suffering in a lot of different ways, not the least of which is to reshape your character into the image of Jesus Christ. He did not spare Saul, who was the greatest missionary in the history of the world from suffering. In fact, when he called him, he said, let me show you how much you're going to suffer because of me. And if he didn't spare his son Jesus Christ from suffering, then why do you think he would spare you from suffering? Do not buy into the lie that when you accept Jesus Christ, that everything becomes
00:06:41
Speaker
Rosie, that's a good word, Sharon, thank you.
Transformation through the Holy Spirit
00:06:44
Speaker
You can say you contributed to the sermon this morning. Let me keep going. Ananias went and entered the house. He placed his hands on him and said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road you were traveling has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Let me remind you there, Holy Spirit, we talked about this two weeks ago. At this point in time, because the church is so young and so small, people don't know who the Holy Spirit is and why he shows up, okay? Remember, they don't have the Bible like we do to teach them about the promise of the Holy Spirit, and the only thing they know about the Holy Spirit comes from the Old Testament, which was their Bible, and in that day and age the Holy Spirit did not come to indwell believers. It did not happen to the New Testament. So the Spirit didn't come until Ananias was there to explain to Paul what the Spirit was and what he was there for.
00:07:32
Speaker
okay Verse 18, it says that once something like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight, then he got up and was
Saul's Bold Preaching and Challenges
00:07:40
Speaker
baptized. Remember we talked about this last week, the first command that God gives to every new believer, get baptized. That's the first step of obedience for every new believer. That's why last week we baptized 21 people. Praise God. After taking some food, he regained his strength. Saul was with the disciples in Damascus for some time. Immediately, immediately, take your pen, underline it, highlight it, circle it, draw an arrow to it, because we're coming back to that. He began proclaiming Jesus in the synagogues. He is the Son of God. All who heard him were astounded and said, isn't this the man in Jerusalem who was causing havoc for those who called on this name and came here for the purpose of taking them as prisoners to the chief priests?
00:08:22
Speaker
but Saul grew stronger and kept confounding the Jews who lived in Damascus. by proving that Jesus is the Messiah. After many days had passed, the Jews conspired to kill him. But Saul learned of their plot, so they were watching the gates day and night intending to kill him, but his disciples took him by night and lowered him in a large basket through an opening in the wall. When he arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, since they had not they did not believe he was a disciple.
00:08:53
Speaker
Barnabas, however, took him and brought him to the apostles and explained to them how Saul had seen the Lord on the road and that the Lord had talked to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus. Saul was coming and going with them in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. He conversed and debated with the Hellenistic Jews, but they tried to kill him. When the brothers found out, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus. So the church throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.
00:09:31
Speaker
A significant thing I wanna point out to you, and then we're gonna jump into what are the miracles that happen as part of conversion? And it is indeed a miracle experience. But there's this significant moment there where it says that Jesus calls him by name and says, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? If you know anything about the Bible, specifically that culture in that day and age, but even all the way back into the Old Testament, and you know that calling somebody by name and changing that name was a sign of authority over them. So when Jesus or God called somebody by name and changed their name, it meant you belong to me now. Your future, your destiny, your purpose is mine. Think Abraham comes from Abram. Sarai, she later becomes Sarah. Jacob becomes Israel. In every one of those instances, it was because God spoke their name and said, I now am your God, and you will be used for my purposes. Follow me on that?
00:10:31
Speaker
because it's fixing to come back to you in just a minute. Make sure you make a note of that, alright? It's a significant thing. So I want to talk to you about conversion today because I do believe that many of us in the church today have done exactly what I described a minute ago. We have checked off the list, we think we've got our insurance, we're taken care of, but the truth is we aren't living a converted life.
The Nature of Conversion and Transformation
00:10:52
Speaker
And I believe that when you live a converted life, there is a noticeable radical difference in who you are. We got too many people on the church today saying, I used to be this way and now I've stepped over into salvation and now I'm going to bring this into the new world with me.
00:11:07
Speaker
I'm gonna hold on to this hurt, I'm gonna hold on to this pain, I'm gonna hold on to this nightmare that used to be my life, and I'm gonna bring it ahead with me. Notice what happened with Saul. The day god's Jesus spoke Saul's name, his entire worldview was smashed in a moment and was rebuilt into the image of what Jesus wanted it to be. Paul did not fall on his knees and say, Lord, Lord, who are you? You can have me, except for that 10 years that I spent in Tarsus. Just ignore that part. He didn't say, Lord, you can have me, but I need to bring this pain with me because I need a security blanket. I need an excuse. I need something to hold on to. In the moment of his conversion, Saul's life was changed radically. And you heard the word a minute ago immediately.
00:11:54
Speaker
Now one of the lies, follow me on this, okay? don't Don't immediately start arguing with me in your head before I get through what I'm saying, all right? One of the lies we have been fed into the church, and we've even got pastors who are preaching this, is that God cannot heal people immediately. You go back and you read the accounts of what happens in the scripture when God calls a man to stand up on feet that used to be handicapped, they don't slowly crawl to their feet, they jump up and dance. When a woman is laying there and she is in an illness or sickness that hurt her for years and she's got a fever, Jesus come and speak over her, it doesn't say he comes back to check on her a week later and see how she's doing. She gets up out of the bed and begins to prepare him a meal.
00:12:40
Speaker
And let me remind you, when Jesus shows up at the funeral and says the funeral is over, the funeral is over. People get up and walk out of tombs. They get up off of stretchers. They walk away because they have been healed immediately. We have people in the Church of Jesus Christ today who are arguing with God going, you can't heal me that way. Why? Because we want to hold on to our hurt. We want to hold on to our handicap, we want to hold on to our pain, and it's killing the church. It's killing the church. Why? Because you're not serving the God of Scripture, you're serving the God you've made over in your mind to be in your image.
00:13:22
Speaker
Now, we're gonna get onto that a little bit more, but I wanna talk about these miracles that come at conversion, these things that happen, the things that happen to Saul, we see it in the story, things that you and I are gonna get, and I promise you, before it's all over with, it's gonna get personal. Because God rewrote this sermon at 3.30 this morning, and I've had lots of caffeine, so.
00:13:43
Speaker
Number one, several lessons from the miracle conversion that we see and saw that that' apply to all of us. These aren't possibilities. This is if you accepted, you if you said, I'm gonna follow you, this is what happens. Number one, salvation is always by God's amazing grace. Ephesians chapter two, one through 10, go read it yourself later for the sake of time, but here's what it says. Salvation is by grace through faith, not by, Lest any man should? Y'all are doing better. They tried to do a Romans passage on me at chapter eight. it is It is not your work, it is whose work? God's work in us. Now here's where you need to hear this person. This is where you need to hear this this morning. You do not come to God after you've cleaned up your mess. That is salvation by works.
00:14:39
Speaker
Salvation by grace through faith says, I come to God to let him clean up my mess. You're sitting there today, some of you are going, man, you just don't understand. You don't know what my past is like. And you're right, I don't, he does. And he's the one who has called you by name. And when God calls you by name, he changes your identity. He says, you belong to me now. And when you belong to me, you can't put restrictions around the way I work. Now don't confuse what I'm saying with the process of sanctification. We know that justification means you're transformed instantly into the ownership of God. We know that sanctification means the rest of your life you're becoming more like his son Jesus Christ. But in the moment of that transformation, the authority that Satan had over you is removed.
00:15:29
Speaker
And so we bought into, and please don't misunderstand me, I am all in support of all of these things that help you get through your thing, but we've we've turned healing by God into a 12-step process. but we've We've turned it into, well, I can't quit cold turkey, I've gotta take my time and do this. Let me ask you something. If you came home tonight and confessed adultery to your wife, do you think she'd be okay with you going, I need 12 months to go through a 12-step process to get myself right with you? then why would a holy God expect you to come to him and say, give me 12 months to get my life together? And then we'll say that I'm done. Then we'll say that I'm healed. Then we'll say that I have been converted. You see, God works in that moment, calls you by name and says, you belong to me, and it's only by my grace that this is gonna work.
Diverse Conversion Experiences
00:16:17
Speaker
You gotta quit working so hard to heal yourself, because the power for healing is in me, not in you. Secondly,
00:16:29
Speaker
sorry i got skip over the verses i had in here oh Secondly, all conversions involve a life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ. You see, some people conversion happens dramatically in in a moment. You've heard the testimonies. I was there and I had this real, you know, i was bad fight with my wife and I went outside and suddenly it was just like God made it very clear I needed him, I changed my life. Or I'm driving down the road and, you know, something happened and I just could feel feel the spirit talking to me. Can I just tell you one of the things I hate about contemporary Christian music?
00:17:01
Speaker
Sometimes they sing about those things, like that's the way it always happens, and lost people get confused going, I've never had that happen. I've never heard God's voice. Let me ask you, how many of you actually have heard God's voice? That's what I expected. A couple of you. Not a common experience, right? Doesn't happen all the time. So you shouldn't be comparing your conversion to their conversion. And you shouldn't be comparing your conversion to my conversion. I didn't have a night and day experience where I got saved one moment and I mean, was lost one moment and the next moment I was like radically saved by some light out of the blue. I grew up the son of a Southern Baptist deacon and a Southern Baptist woman who was a piano player and both of them were in the choir and taught Sunday school and vacation Bible school. If the church was open, we were there.
00:17:46
Speaker
And we usually were the ones locking it up when it was over with. We ate with Baptist people. We lived next to the Baptist people. I played ball with Baptist people. And just in case I wasn't covered by the Southern Baptist, my grandfather was a Free Will Baptist minister. So I had that covered too. So when my conversion came, it wasn't like I woke up and suddenly there was this radical wow. It was like, oh, I need Jesus. And it happened at age eight in a vacation Bible school in church. And suddenly, in a moment, I became Paul. No. You know who I was the next day? I was a sinner redeemed by God's grace on a journey. My my attorney in heaven sealed in that moment. But what was gonna happen next? Long process. But it's a conversion that happens by the radical power of Jesus Christ. When when a Saul becomes a Paul, you know God's at work.
00:18:41
Speaker
when When a terrorist becomes an evangelist, you know God is at work. If you can't say, yesterday before Jesus, I was different and today I'm something new, then your conversion has to be questioned. It has to be questioned because the power of Jesus comes in, things change. Things change. and that's because you are submitting your life to the authority of Jesus Christ.
Lessons from Solomon's Mistakes
00:19:08
Speaker
um Thirdly, all conversions involve a full surrender to Jesus Christ, a full surrender to Jesus Christ. Again, we don't have the permission to negotiate with God when the conversion experience happens. We don't get to go to God and say, you can have this, this, and this, and this, and I'm gonna hold on to these couple things over here, all right? I wanna tell you about this really interesting thing. This is where I've been reading in the last few weeks the story. How many of you remember King Solomon?
00:19:33
Speaker
King Solomon was a cool dude, great Bible story, wisest man that ever lived, right? Y'all, he was a fool. He was wise for a season because he prayed for it and God said, I'm gonna give you wisdom. God gives him wisdom, he becomes king of Israel, he he starts to grow the kingdom, he gets such wealth that he doesn't even know what to do with it. If you go and read the menu for the castle every day when they ate, it was massive amounts of food that they literally were eating, okay? But you get over 2 Chronicles 8, it's just two verses and it's really easy to miss. It says that after Solomon finished building the temple of God,
00:20:09
Speaker
Which was really nice, but by the way, paled in comparison to his his own throne. It says that his own house, his own house was bigger and nicer than the temple. Can I just stop right there and tell you some of you are building your house more than you're building God's kingdom and your family? You're saying, I deserve this. I have a right to this. And that's real easy as American to talk about rights, but I can just tell you something. Your rights are God-given. They're not from the United States government. Your rights come from a God who are given. And when you surrender, submit, surrender your life to Christ, your rights no longer matter. Don't you dare look at God and say, I have a right to anything.
00:20:52
Speaker
I just made all of you real uncomfortable because you're going, wait a minute, what about the Constitution? What about the Declaration of Independence? You go look at both of those documents, Washington DC, God's signature isn't at the bottom of either one of them. But you know where his signature is? All over this book that you're reading this morning. Now I'm not downing the Declaration of Independence, I'm downing the Constitution. What I am saying is that if it weren't god for God giving you those rights, you would have no rights. So we don't dare dig in our heels, throw out our chests, look at God and say, this is what I have a right to. Okay? Now where was I going with that?
00:21:29
Speaker
Oh Solomon, yeah, oh Solomon. Second, thank you baby. Second Chronicles chapter, this is why she's so good for me. Second Chronicles chapter eight, two verses, it says that when Solomon finished his palace, he created a house for his wife in another town outside of Jerusalem and moved her to that house because she didn't belong near the holy things of God.
00:21:57
Speaker
Solomon built a separate house to hide his shame instead of dealing with it. Instead of coming to God, coming clean like John tried to lead us a minute ago and saying, man, I've done the wrong thing. I married the wrong woman. I married a pagan guy's daughter, and that's gonna lead me astray. And if you don't think he went astray, he had 700 wives and 300 concubines or whatever, something like that, thousand different women in his life. That screwed up. But if it wasn't before, he is after the thousand, right? So, that's why I just got one. So, in that moment, rather than getting his life right, Solomon builds a house to hide his shame. Guys, there's people in the church today that are building houses to hide their shame instead of getting their life right. And you think, somehow you have convinced yourself, maybe the culture's helped, you've convinced yourself that you can hide your shame from God.
00:22:56
Speaker
And God says, don't try to hide it, bring it to me. Bring it to me so I can take care of this for you. Because you keep going down the road, you're going, it's not surrender, it's not submission. It's a chaotic catastrophe that's about to happen in your life. Read the rest of the story of Solomon and see if it's not true. Something else that happens in the stories over there. I didn't say it's the first service. I think I've got time to say it this service. um You read the rest of the stories of the kings of Israel and kings of Judah. Every single one of them that started to get things right, it says they tore down this, tore down that, but they always left the high places. They always left the high places. For those of you who aren't familiar, the high places were the pagan worship was taking place with the other people.
00:23:39
Speaker
You see, God does not want you to mostly turn your life over to Him or mostly let Him cleanse your life. He wants it all taken care of. All of it. And if you leave the door open for the high places in your life, the high places are gonna bring you down to the low places. And that's what happened with Solomon and every other king after him. All right, gotta keep moving. Next thing, sincerity alone does not save you. I don't care how sincere you are, it's not how sincere you are, it's who your sincerity is based on. There are Muslims who give their lives to die for Muhammad. They're some of the most sincere believers in the world. Sadly, their life will wind up in a place where you and I don't want them to, where you and I don't want to. You can have sincere faith in Buddha, or you have sincere faith in your own dreams and wishes,
00:24:34
Speaker
But if you don't have sincere faith in Jesus Christ, your sincerity doesn't matter. It doesn't matter how pure your confidence, your faith, your trust in those things are.
Empowered by the Holy Spirit
00:24:44
Speaker
It's only if you put sincerity in the thing, okay? I can have the sincerest belief that I can jump off this roof and fly. Or I can have sincere faith that I can get on an airplane and fly. And as long as that's United Airlines, there's a real good chance that's probably gonna work really well for me, right?
00:25:04
Speaker
Some of y'all ain't been reading the headlines about what's happening with United Airlines. All the airlines, yeah, probably. ah The truth is, the truth is, I can put sincere hope in myself, I'm gonna crash. I can put sincere hope in a plane that was built to ride the skies, and I'm gonna have better results. You can place sincere hope in Jesus Christ, because he's always been faithful. He's always gotten it right. He's always followed through on his promises. um Conversion involves the receiving of the Holy Spirit, the receiving of the Holy Spirit. um Jesus shows up and he does some really cool stuff in his life. The most important thing at that moment is that he's given the Holy Spirit to Paul, something that is promised for every single believer, okay? A reminder,
00:25:53
Speaker
The reason that this guy has to show up, Ananias, to tell Paul and let Paul have the Holy Spirit is because Paul wouldn't have known what the Holy Spirit was or why he was coming on him at that point. So he he God waits until Ananias shows up to put the Spirit in Paul so that Paul can then become the man he's supposed to be for him. This happens for every believer, every single time, All of us, we get the spirit when we follow Jesus Christ. Which means if you believe you're a follower of Jesus Christ today, God has empowered you and indwelled you with certain gifts, certain talents, certain passions, certain personality traits. Every single one of them are to be used for the edification and equipment of the church. If you're not serving, you are sinning. I'm just gonna say that to you again. If you are not serving, you are sinning.
00:26:42
Speaker
See, again, that's another one of those areas. That's a high place for us. God, I'll give you everything except for my talents and skills. I'll give you everything except for my passions. My passions, that they'll drive me much further if if I'm in control of them. And what those do, those high places bring you down because you accommodate things that God does not want you to have in your life.
Redemption and New Purpose
00:27:07
Speaker
Or give you allowances to live life by your standards rather than his.
00:27:14
Speaker
You are awfully quiet. um God can save the worst of sinners. God can save the worst of sinners. To help you understand the power of what happens when Saul becomes Paul, the significance of this moment, imagine that if just a few years ago when Bin Laden was still around, he had come out with a broadcast and said, I have bowed my knee to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and have decided that Jesus was truly the Messiah of the world and that I am going to give my life and follow him, and I am imploring all of my Islamic brothers to do the same. That would have created quite a stir, wouldn't it? That's exactly what Paul did. Paul was the chief terrorist.
00:28:01
Speaker
He was the biggest thorn in the flesh of the new church. And in a moment's notice, he's literally, he he sincerely turns from one way to the next, and then looks at everybody around him, remember it said immediately, turns around and starts to going, hey guys, I was wrong. I was on the wrong team, headed in the wrong direction, doing all the wrong things, and God's turned me around, and I'm imploring you to do the same. This shook the Jewish world. This is one of their best best players saying i'm I'm defaulting and going to the other side. That's what God can do. What I don't need us to hear or to believe from the world is that God can't save you because you somehow are the exception. There is nothing about your life that can't be redeemed by God if you will surrender.
00:28:52
Speaker
I don't care about your divorces. I don't care about your past abuse. I don't care about the abortions you did 10 years ago. I don't care about the things that you did to your business that you destroyed years ago. I don't care about the lies, the deceit, the corruption, all of it absolutely 100% covered by the grace of God if you will trust him. You are not the exemption. And I promise you, I know this because Satan's and whispering in here, he's going, man, you you just don't understand. Had a conversation with a guy last week about another guy, a friend of his, who said, man, you you just don't know what my past is like. And rather coming and trusting his life to Jesus Christ, he's turned his life over to alcohol. And I'm like, why wouldn't you give Jesus a chance? Because alcohol is not going to do anything for you.
00:29:38
Speaker
Next, when you become a new person, you also receive a new purpose. You become a new person, you also receive a new person. You know all Christians are sent on a mission to preach good news. So let me make this real clear for all of you, okay? Real clear, because I like to clear up confusion for people, all right? It's one of the things I love to do. I was this way, Jesus converted me and transformed me. Today I have a new purpose, and all of you have the same purpose, to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. That's why you're left here.
00:30:11
Speaker
Now how you do that's different for all of us. Some of you do it as bankers, insurance people, teachers. Some of you do it on mission trips. Some of you do it teaching Sunday school here. You do it in all kinds of different dimensions, but your purpose is the same. Now here's where, this this is where there's some problems for us.
00:30:30
Speaker
In all my years of ministry, I've had lots of opportunities to sit with guys who came to me in tears and said, I am so, so depressed, so anxious, I'm having panic attacks, I'm frustrated, I'm discouraged. with ah Why? Because I've been unfaithful to my wife and I'm living two different lives. I'm going home and pretending that I love her and that I'm faithful to her and that I care for the kids and I'm over here seeing this woman.
00:31:00
Speaker
And because of that, because of those two different lives, I am totally a wreck inside and out.
00:31:10
Speaker
You see, when you have a purpose expressly given to you by the power of God, and you choose to live your own purpose over here, you're going to build depression, anxiety, frustration, discouragement, despair, addiction, bondage, all those things get built into your life.
Community Support in Faith
00:31:29
Speaker
So if you're sitting there a day and going, man, you you just don't know about my anxiety. No, I don't. But what I do know is that some of that could be relieved if you would just follow the purpose that God has given you and quit holding onto the things that Satan keeps using to hold you back. I think the Bible says something about that. It goes kind of like this. Let us throw off all the sin that so easily entangles us.
00:31:53
Speaker
and run with perseverance the race. Pursue the passion and purpose that God has given you.
00:32:05
Speaker
Lastly, conversion involves receiving a new family. And I'm just gonna tell you right here right now, y'all got the best family. Y'all got the best family. if you're part of this church If you're not part of this church, I can show you a good family. I love you guys because you love so well. We got one family in particular just this past week going through a lot of junk. I mean, just pain, sickness, suffering, things of that nature. Middle of the week, she texted me and said, and me and Lisa both said, I just got to, in the middle of all this, I just need to tell you this, our church is amazing.
00:32:37
Speaker
They have been there in so many ways, praying for us, visiting us, sitting in the hospital with us, loving on us. It's amazing what they do. As a pastor, I've told you this before, I i love it that I pick up the phone and call people and go, hey, I'm sorry I haven't gotten to you sooner. And they go, oh, no big deal. 15 deacons have been here already. My life group showing up, blah, blah. It's no joke. I've had people call me and say, can you call them off? Can you tell them to give me a break? I'm at home trying to rest and I can't get the doorbell on the phone to stop. They've brought me 4,000 casseroles and 10 buckets of chicken and we can't handle it all and I just, I need a break.
00:33:11
Speaker
And we we sometimes literally, don't we? The the staff has to send our message. Please give them a couple couple hours just to have a break. They're trying to rest. I love that about you. That's what's so beautiful, guys. But listen, some of you have followed Jesus Christ and are still bringing your buddies along with you. Not an attempt to introduce them to Jesus, but thinking somehow you can live in this world and follow Jesus Christ. And that's not gonna work. It's not gonna work. You can't have all that negativity headed in the other direction and think you're gonna beat it and go against the flow all the time. That's why you surround yourself with a cloud of witnesses who are cheering you on. there There's a people going on before you, but there's some people right here who can be your cloud of witnesses, your brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. If you're trying to follow Jesus, get some people on your side and run that race. Lean on those people. Hold down to to them for encouragement. Let them be, and guys, I love it that you call us and you go, Ridley and Lisa, can you pray for us? And we go, well, can we share this with anybody? No, we don't want to share it with anybody else.
00:34:08
Speaker
I gotta be honest with you, if I want prayer, I want prayer. I'm gonna put it all over Facebook. I need your prayers right now. I need you praying to Jesus for me. I mean, those two people I know are good, but I'd rather have 2,000 praying for me right now. You know why we do that? Because Satan's convinced us that if somebody else knew that they might look down on us. And guess what, if they look down on you, they weren't your friend to begin with. They weren't your brother in Christ, they
Being a Faithful Witness
00:34:36
Speaker
weren't your sister in Christ. If they looked down on you because the struggles you're in, they've purely gotten forgotten the struggles they've been in.
00:34:45
Speaker
All right, very quickly, like I gotta wrap this up, because i God said I need to end this sermon in a different way. So, um how can we how can we fulfill this call to give the witness that we're supposed to? How can we be faithful witnesses to the good news of Jesus Christ? That's our purpose as followers. Four different things, real quick.
00:35:06
Speaker
Everything you should do, Christ-centered. But we have a tendency that we want to talk about ourselves, right? but We love to talk about ourselves. You want to start a gospel conversation with somebody? Say, tell me about yourself. Be prepared to hang out there for about 10 or 15 minutes, but tell me about yourself. Suddenly you've got a door to their life and you can begin to have gospel conversations about things that they're going on with. But when we start talking, we should be talking about Jesus. We shouldn't be talking about programs at church. Programs at church never saved anybody. Jesus saves people. We shouldn't be talking about a pastor, good or bad.
00:35:42
Speaker
We shouldn't be talking about a pastor, we should be talking about what Jesus is doing in our lives and what he's doing in our church and what he's doing in the people around us. The more we elevate Jesus, the more people are drawn to Jesus instead of being brought to a church or a program or a ministry or a worship leader or some songwriter. And that's where we get our focus off. Elevate Jesus, all men will be drawn to him. Secondly, we are empowered, empowered by the Holy Spirit. Do not, do not, you people over here, look over here at these people and go, oh, they're more gifted than we are, they're more talented than we are, they've got the Holy Spirit more than we do. Your transformation is different from their transformation, but it's just as good. It's just the same Holy Spirit indwelling all of you.
00:36:24
Speaker
And so instead of looking over here and trying to make your conversion look like their conversion, pursue what God's done in your conversion and figure out what he wants you to do by the power of the Holy Spirit because that's how this works. God does not give you the Holy Spirit so that you can match up with somebody on the other side of the room. You have a unique calling on your life. Thirdly, you gotta be bold. I used to be not bold when I preached preached. Is that right? Preached, yeah, that's the word. I used to not be bold when I preached. Back in my first church, I would preach, and finally, this wise old man came up to me one day, and he looked at me, he said, who called you? And I thought I was gonna give him a very wise and astute answer for my young age, and I said, well, my church did. They voted on me, they called me on this kind of stuff. He goes, mm-mm, see, that's the problem.
00:37:07
Speaker
I said, what do you mean? He said, that church did not call you. Jesus called you by name. He said, when your time on this earth is over with, you're gonna stand before Jesus and answer for how you preached, not that church. Man, that that changed my changed my whole concept about preaching the word of God. rear Rearrange my whole priority there. That's why I will say to you lovingly sometimes, I don't care if I hurt your feelings as long as I'm preaching the word of God. Now if I start hurting your feelings and you come to me and you go, that was out of line with the word of God, then I need to do a soul check and I need to go back to Jesus and get that fixed. But if you come to me and say, you hurt my feelings by preaching the word of God to me, that's not my problem, that's yours between you and him. I've got to be bold and you've got to do the same.
00:37:57
Speaker
You gotta trust in that power to be bold. And lastly, you're gonna suffer. We already covered that. We talked about, you're gonna suffer, right? people People just don't like to talk about Jesus. They wanna hear about Jesus. They don't wanna know about Jesus many times. So a lot of times you're going to be suffering because of your willingness to talk about Jesus. Yesterday, for whatever reason, my wife and Kelly Hess decided they wanted to do a garage sale. They are the bane of my existence.
00:38:24
Speaker
Kyle and I literally said, hey, we'll pay you $50 a piece not to have the yard sale, and we'll just keep all the junk, okay? Anyway, we had this yard sale. It was really cool. It was a nice day, good weather, so we had the opportunity to sit out there together in our driveway and have some cool gospel conversations with people who came, had the opportunity to pray with a lady, but at one point Kyle looked at this lady and said, do you go to church anywhere? She, oh, when she, you could have, rigid, her back went rigid. She were she goes, I'm faith filled, I don't have religion. And I looked at Kyle, I was like, man, that's your chance. I thought you were going to jump, bro. Neither one of us did. Neither one of us did. But I wanted to go, man, it was like defensive. Man, she grabbed her stuff and she was out of there and down the driveway. I'm thankful she'd already paid because I was going to have to chase her down. She was gone in an instant. I looked at Kyle, I was like, man, did you? He was like, yeah, that was crazy. Not everybody likes Jesus. Not everybody's going to like Jesus.
00:39:21
Speaker
so you will suffer because of that.
Guidance and Letting Go
00:39:24
Speaker
So here's all I need to close real quick. This past week was what we call Papa Esa camp at our house. Okay, I'm Papa, she's Esa in case you're confused. um My grandson, six year old, came to spend like three or four days with us. So we had the opportunity to just enjoy some time with him. Monday we took him kayaking on the Muddy Duck River. That was a fun experience. First time he'd ever been on a kayak, really cool. And then Tuesday we took him and his cousin, our oldest granddaughter, and took them to Murfreesboro and let them ride go-karts together.
00:39:53
Speaker
And he was all fired about this. He'd never done a go-kart. He'd seen him, but he'd never driven a go-kart. And so we walk in the door, and you know what happened. The very first thing in the door is this little sign that says, you must be this tall to drive the go-kart. So Greg goes over, and he's like, staying as high as he can without, I mean, you know, trying to get up and I was like, buddy, he's just not gonna make it. I'm sorry. I said, but listen, we still ride the go cart. You and Papa getting in it together. It'd be cool. He's like, yeah. So if you've ever done this, you know that they have the two seat go carts. One of them is the real driver side where Papa sits. The other one's a little dummy wheel so they can pretend like they're driving, right?
00:40:30
Speaker
So trying to be a good papa and make him feel encouraged about this, we take off onto the course. He's steering and i'm I'm watching out the corner of my eye trying to steer the same way he does just to make him think he's really driving the car, all right? Well, I realize about 100 feet in, this ain't gonna work. All right? Because the first turn was a sharp left turn and he's doing this right here and I'm thinking, if I follow his lead, we're gonna wind up in that guardrail. Got some of you. are trying your best to steer your life.
00:41:03
Speaker
What you really want is not your control on your life, you want God steering your life. Because what happens when you're steering your life, you start begging God to turn the wheel the way you want him to, and you end up with a wreck. Your life is scattered all over the place. You got marriage problems. You got kid problems. You got financial problems. You got addiction problems. You got work problems. You got relationship problems. You got all kinds of problems. Your life is all over the track because you believe that you could steer that thing.
00:41:44
Speaker
You just can't do it. And nothing breaks my heart more than to sit in that office week after week. And for people to walk in and sit down and their lives would be a mess. And while they're doing this, all I'm hearing is, I can drive this thing. I can drive this thing. I know I can.
00:42:14
Speaker
And what I try to convince him is, you can't do this. You can't. I've seen it too many times. There's no exception. If he doesn't have the will, you will wind up with a mess on your hands.
00:42:33
Speaker
I pray this morning that you don't have so much pride that you don't realize that what God has for you is what you absolutely need.
00:42:43
Speaker
and that there's no shame in you coming this morning to receive it. And that some of you who already proclaim Jesus as your Savior and Lord are in the same place that Solomon was. You started believing too much in yourself, but you know there's things in your life that don't belong. So instead of bringing them to Jesus and saying, fix this, you're building houses elsewhere to hide your shame. Thinking you somehow can keep that from God.
00:43:14
Speaker
The same God who knows you better than anybody else. The same God who is calling you by name.
Conclusion and Prayer for Dedication
00:43:24
Speaker
Will you pray with me?
00:43:30
Speaker
Father, we thank you so much for Saul's story and what it shows us, what it teaches us about who we are and what we really need to be. God, we're so thankful, so thankful for the cross of Jesus Christ that gives us the permission to turn over ownership to you and know that your guidance, your direction, your sovereignty in our lives gives us hope, gives us peace, gives us purpose. Forgive us for every time we try to snatch that wheel away from you.
00:44:07
Speaker
Forgive us for every time we believe we can do it better than you can. Forgive us for all the high places we've left in our lives. Forgive us for the pride that helps us believe that we somehow have this figured out on our own.
00:44:27
Speaker
This morning, the only right next move is obedience.
00:44:34
Speaker
The only right next move is obedience. So I pray that we'd have the courage to do that. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.