Paul. This is what you need

Introduction

There was a man who lived many years ago who hated everything that had anything to do with Jesus. This man thought that Jesus was at best, just a really good liar. This man heard about Jesus, that Jesus is the son of God and that He came to share God’s love with the world by giving His life to take the place of the punishment of the world and He thought It was all a lie. Even after Jesus was crucified for the sin of the world, even after Jesus was buried in the ground for 3 days. Dead. Even after Jesus rose from the grave,

even after Roman soldiers found His grave empty

Even after Jesus, risen from the grave, appeared to many people,

Paul did not believe the good news that Jesus really is the son of God. That Jesus really is the only way to know God. that Jesus really is the way, the truth, and the life and that NO ONE CAN KNOW GOD WITHOUT KNOWING JESUS.

maybe Paul was kind of like us...

Maybe He believed the rumors that He heard about Jesus.

Maybe He believed the lies that he heard about Jesus. The lies that the Roman government made the soldiers tell because Jesus really did raise Himself from the grave.

Maybe, like us, Paul had too much to lose. Maybe he knew that the life He built would change forever if He really followed God and maybe He was afraid of that.

Maybe He was afraid of what His family or friends would say if He became a Christian

Or maybe he just really didnt believe.

Or maybe he just really didn't believe.

WHATEVER THE REASON, ONE THING IS FOR SURE: PAUL WAS NOT INTERESTED IN GIVING HIS LIFE TO JESUS.

Even after hearing that Jesus rose from the grave, Paul was angry. He was on a mission to imprison or kill every Christian he could find.

Many Christians ran from Jerusalem, where Jesus was crucified to a town called Damascus. AND PAUL KNEW IT.

Paul marched to Damascus to attack these Christians. While He was waling, getting closer and closer to Damascus, He saw the flash of a bright light. He was knocked back. stopped right in his tracks and He heard a voice say to Him “why do you persecute me”

Confused and scared, Paul said “who are you?”

Then this voice responds and says “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting, now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do.”

This is the moment when everything changed for Paul. This is the moment when he actually decided to obey Jesus. This is when he realized that all that he heard about Jesus being the son of God who came to share God’s love with the world, is all true!

From then on Paul was in. Paul wanted to be used for God’s plan. He knew that God had a plan for Him and He wanted to follow God every step of the way.

God used Paul to preach the gospel all over the world and Paul was set on saying YES LORD to everything that God asked him to do.

God had Paul preach in prisons, homes, theatres, and everything in between. God had Paul start many churches all over the world too.

Paul would go into a city and preach the gospel. when people heard the good news that God had a plan for them to follow Jesus, they were baptised to show that they were believers, and then Paul would teach those people how to be a church and Paul would move on to another place and start the process all over again. (That same process is being followed all over the world. )

After Paul would move on, to another city, he would keep in contact with many of the people from the churches he helped start. Paul would write letters to them to help encourage them as they grew closer to God.

Tonight, I want to share some of one of those letters with you. We are going to look at a letter called Ephesians. it is called that because Paul write it to people called Ephesians.

When Paul wrote this letter, he had been a Christian, traveling the world to help people understand how to follow God’s plan for their lives for about 30 years.

The New International Version Chapter 3

14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Paul is sharing what a life with Jesus looks like. Over his many years of living for Jesus, he has been thorugh it all. He has had people say he’s a liar, try to stone him, whip him, beat him, lock him in prison, hes been ship wrecked, he’s been bitten by a snake, he has had demons try and torment Him and rulers try and get rid of Him.

Paul knows what it is like to feel like He needs help and God used him to write about how to get through it.

v.16 and 17

I pray that, out of His glorious riches, He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

After living a long life for God, Paul knows that we cannot live a life for Jesus if we do not live our lives WITH JESUS.

So the most important thing, Paul says, to live a life that matters is to live your life with Jesus. God wants you to know that that is actually what He planned for you. God planned for all of us to know Him closely and God planned it before the creation of the world as we read in .

So How do we live lives with Jesus? we have to have to know Him. You can get to know God through His word and we will be doing that every single week here! That means every single week you can be more and more a part of God’s plan for you by studying His word with us.

v.17b - 18

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, (18) may have power, together with all the Lord’s Holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ

As we meet together every week and begin to grasp a little bit more every time just how awesome God is and how intensely He loves us, we will all learn in a different way. some of it will make sense to some of us and some of it will make more sense to others. That is why it is so important to meet together. Did you know that it is part of God’s plan for you to grow in your faith WITH other people? That is the whole reason we have small groups. That is the whole reason that we gather together. so that we can be STRENGTHENED TOGETHER. That is why I wan yall in here every week so badly. Because I have seen over and over how God uses small groups and Bible study to changed people lives forever.

Challenge/Close

Im done, but I want to leave you with this dare. I dare you to be a part of what God is doing here. I dare you to get to know God. I dare you to lean in and see what its all about. I dare you to get to know your small group. I dare try to get to know God better than you ever have. I dare you to help the people in your small group do the same. I dare you, like Paul, to let God make your life one that lives for Him.

I dare you to say yes to God’s plan for you.

God promises us in His word that HE WILL ALWAYS SHOW HIMSELF TO US IF WE LOOK FOR HIM.

That is what CREW night is all about and I cant wait to watch God blow your minds!

We are going to go ahead and break into groups.