Draw in

Video of neighbors

I showed that video awhile ago.

But has a anyone ever had a nieghbor like that?

If you have you might feel anxoius when you see them, maybe your blood starts to boil, maybe you set up signs in your yard… Maybe you just ignore them.

But you know whether its a neighbor or someone who we clash with, and more realistically someone that has wronged us or have issues with, I imagine all of us have had to deal with someone who was really hard to deal with.

And the question becomes how does God deal with the people who are hard to deal with and how do we deal with the people that are hard to deal with.

Because today we are talking about a really familiar story if you grew up going to church and it is the story of Saul to Paul.

but before we get into that let me just paint a picture of where we are in this story.

Because the early just has started, the Holy Spirit has filled them, thousands have come to know Jesus, if you were here last week the story slowed down and focused on one man reminding us that we are seen.

And between last week and this week something has changed, because persecution has begun to break out in the early church,

And there is one man that we can tell is leading it named Saul.

And if you were someone in the early church this would have been someone where you went what are we going to do about this guy…

Because he was the one that oversaw the the very first stoning of a Christian, we are told he would go house to house, he would travel and we learn that even Christians who were not around him knew who he was, because he was such a big threat to the early church.

And you get to chapter 9 and we see this continue because look at the first two verses. It says this:

Acts 9:1–2 NIV

1 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

So we are told nothing has changed, and Saul is still breathing out murdurous threats.

I want you to think about breathing for a second, how often do you think about breathing?

Not very often, it kind of jusst happens right?

And for Saul hiom threatning Christians is kind of just something He is doing. It has become such a strong part of him, its kind of just ingrained on him.

And I want to pick it up and read verse 3-9, because this is a pretty dark place, I mean can we all agree Saul is a rough guy.

But look what happens because Saul looks pretty far from being a Christian, but something happens. It says:

Acts 9:3–9 (NIV)

3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

7 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.

So Saul is on his way to Damascus to perecute Christians and something happens.

but I want to work backwardss for a second, because what happens at the end of what we just read is Saul finds himself blind and he is so shaken up he actually does not eat or drink anything for 3 days.

And I just want to pause for a second because really what is happening here is Sauls outward state is matching his inward depravity.

Where he is blind spiritually, and now blind physically.

And I think God is almost trying to go Saul do you relize where you are?

And I just want to pause here, because a big part of our walk with is realizing where we are and where we have been.

And we might go well I have never murdered someone so I am doing pretty good, but the issue is that in our lives we deal with the fact that we are born into sin.

And this is a problem, because this means that our lives are set on the wrong thing.

I mean think with me for a second because if I have am using a map and a compasss to navigate and my compass is off, I can use the map, I can think I am in a good place, but ultimatly I can be way off of where I need to be.

And I think most of us have heard this verse but Romans 3:23 says:

Romans 3:23 NIV

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

And the issue is we can’t fix it. Its like how the other day Arika was baking something and one of the boys knocked it over and created this huge mess… the food was destroyed,

there was not a ton the kids could do in that moment to fix the situation, because there not that great of cleaners, and they definitly cannot bake yet.

And really the only person that could fix it was Arika or I.

And I know this sounds like kind of bad news because we have sinned and there is not really a ton we can do…

But here is the good news, because Saul is in this low place, and in this low place God meets Him.

And he does with this light from heaven and talks to Saul.

And I want us to notice something because what God has someone who is really hard to handle, and you are thinking whats God going to do about this?

A lightning bolt? a freak accident?

But something amazing about God is that if you look throughout the Bible, God does not typically push people out but He draws them in.

I know I have probably overused this illustration, but If you have young kids or older ones you have probably never had the thought I am done, your out of here…

Even if they are being terrible

But you probably have googled okay what do I do with this behavior, how do I handle this, because your not looking to push your kid out, but you want to draw them near.

And I think this is the amazing news, because I told you we were going the awnser the question of how does God handle people who are hard to deal with…

well heress the thing we are the hard people to deal with, but God draws us in and now out.

And this iss really good news because if you mess up or make some big mistakes, if you are questioning, or struggle with something.

If you are like Saul and you have a behavior that is litterly like breathing, it feels like its jusst who you are.

God wants to draw you in, because He loves you so much that he dies for you.

And I want to keep moving because this next part is neat. Look at the second half of this passage: verses 10-19. It says this:

Acts 9:10–19 NIV

10 In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!” “Yes, Lord,” he answered. 11 The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.” 13 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. 14 And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.” 15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” 17 Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength. Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus.

So the first half we read was how God deals with us, but heres this second half, because he is how we deal with others.

And the story shifts to this guy named Ananias, and Ananais was a Christ follower, and we do not know a ton about him, but God comes to him isn a vision and says I want you to go to this guy named Saul from Tarsus and place your hands on him and restore sight.

And Anias immediatly goes umm God I am not sure if you realize this or not, but Saul is is persecuting the church!

And you want me to minister to that guy?!

Do you know who he is?

And Gods responce in verse 15 is basically yeah I know exactly who he is and thats why I want him.

Because he is my chosen insturment to proclaim my name.

You know its amazing how God see’s things that we do not…

I am not sure if anyone has seen the movie money ball, but its basically a story of the Oakland As and they did not have the money that the big teams like the yankees

and so they looked at statistics and data that most teams did not

And because of this they were able to find these players that other teams wrote off because of how they looked or threw and they were able to build this amazing team of these guys who were really unlikely players at the time.

And I think in a way thats how God works, so often he uses the people that others have written off and uses them to accomplish His purpose.

And I want us to notice what happens becuase Saul is able to see again and he receves a new calling where instead of perssecuting Christians he furthers God’s kingdom.

And let me just finish up, because if I mentioned how God does not push us out, but he draws us in right?

And here here is what I want us to get, because the same is true with how we deal with others.

We are called to push others away but to draw them near.

And I just want to close on a story as the worship team comes forward.

Because when I first started pastoring there was a kid that was connected to this church, and he was from a little bit of a rough background

And I remember he would intentionally say inappropriate things, he would intentionally break things,

I think there were a couple times he wanted to fight others, He would disrupt service on purpose

And I was like what in the world are we doing with this kid, because he is wild.

But something beautiful about this church, is they did not see him as someone they had to push out, but someone they knew God was calling them to draw in.

And it was messy and sometimes unclear what every detail looked like, but something beautiful was this kid new he was loved by this church how God loved him.

And I remember there was this one point where we had baptisms and we used to have pewss up here and he was climbed up on one after church

And I am thinking he is getting read to dive into the baptismal

And I remember going I need you to get down and him going I wanted to talk with God by the cross,

And shortly after that he was placed in foster care, but in the weeks that followed he seemed different, and I believe its because of the fact that God people drew in rather then push out.

And as we close there are 2 places I imagine we might be in today.

On one hand you might be someone who you feel unloved and pushed out, can I just tell you, you have a God and church body that loves you and wantss to draw you in

But on the other hand you might be here and there is someone really hard to deal with and they are even pushing you away on purpose…

Can I just ask what if God rather then saying get this person away, is saying draw them in?

And if so what does that look like?

Because the truth is when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, God can call us to do hard things and it can be messy and its not always black and white, but its this beautiful story of God

And I just want to finish by reading Romans 3:23 and I want to add 24 it says:

Romans 3:23–24 NIV

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Will you pray with me?