Saul Preaches the Gospel!
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Recap:
Last week we looked at what is to be willing to trust God’s leading in your life!
God was doing a work in Saul’s life
He had met Saul when he was on his way to persecute the church
But through his interaction Saul put his faith in Jesus as the risen Lord and Savior
For three days he was in Damascus blind from his encounter with Jesus
But God was also working in the life of another disciple, Annanias!
We know he was a faithul servant of Jesus
Who had a good testimony before men
And God wanted Annanias to go and pray over Saul of Tarsus, who was on the street called Straight in the house of Judas.
This all came to Annanias through a dream while he slept.
You can imagine the shock as he heard he was to go and pray of Saul, the persecuter and hater of the church, the one who consented to the death of Stephen.
But God wanted Annanias to do this!
Which we also noted was amazing grace in action since it wasnt the apostles, the leaders of the church, or even Philip that God called upon to do this
It was an ordinary guy, like each of us, whom God desired to use for his work, for his kingdom, for His name!
Yes Paul would preach to kings, and all over the known world, but God said it would be his will for Saul for him to suffer much for the kingdom of Christ.
Introduction:
Many of you this morning have heard my testimony of how I gave my life to Jesus.
I was 17 years old, and I had been going to church for about a year and half, hearing the truth of God taught by Pastor Dave Farmer at Community Baptist Church Lake Arrowhead.
That year, 1998, I decided with the nudging of some great friends to go to Bible camp at a place called Hume lake.
It was the second night there when a song were singing Got a hold of my heart and I realized that I didn’t want to live any longer without Jesus in my life
That Decision changed my life forever, and would change the trajectory of my life forever!
One of the things I remember most happened the next day!
I was asked to pray at lunch, with about 1500 hungry teenagers
Before I started praying I started talking, I guess the mark I was supposed to be a pastor, and for 20 minutes I shared about God’s love and grace that I had discovered last night at chapel!
It was like I couldn’t help but share the truth about Jesus, and what he had done for me in my life.
The question I have for us as we begin tonigt is, what is holding you back from being bold, being courageous, being on fire for Jesus?
Is it fear?
Of being rejected
Of being ostricized
Is it insecurities:
You feel inadequate
You feel unqualified
You feel unprepared to share your faith
Is it because you are still holding onto the past:
Even though you are forgiven you can’t forgive yourself
You are letting your past decisions affect your future minsitry
The point is there is a lot of reasons we use to try and justify a life that is not active in what Christ is calling us to!
But I want to say that any of the reasons we just listed have no bearing on what we are all called to!
We are called to preach the Gospel!
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.
As we saw last week, God wants to use each one of us, ordinary people who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ!
We all deserve condemnation, but we have recieved the free gift of salvation!
We are justified
We are eternally secure in Jesus
We have all the reasons to share Christ with others who don’t yet have him
This world needs us to lay aside our insecurities and doubts and proclaim the good news of Jesus to a world that facing eternity in Hell!
No Time To Waste:
No Time To Waste:
20 And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”
21 And all who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?”
22 But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ.
Immediately:
Greek: Eutheos - at one; immediately
Sense: without delay or hesitation; with no time interveining
You get the sense of the word here! Saul wasted no time!
He was a man of zeal remember!
Now that zeal was ramped up and geared toward sharing Christ!
He went into the synoguages and proclaimed the truth!
Jesus is the son of God!
It was as though the blinders had come off with the scales!
The prophecies concerning Christ were clear
The message of Christ himself made perfect sense now
The truth of Jesus’ resurrectiokn was undeniable
And Saul was going to tell everyone about it!
Important Note:
God used Saul where he was at with what he knew!
God wants to use each one of us in His kingdom work!
Right where we are, with what we know, and what our expereince has been!
You may only understand that you are a sinner who has been redeemed from the pit of Hell by the Gospel!
And if you share that alone with someone, your story, your testimony, then who can argue with the truth that is no evident in your life!
Who can argue with the chagne that has taken place in your heart and soul!
We never have to fear or feel shame because of what Christ has done for us!
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
The People’s Response:
The People’s Response:
21 And all who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?”
The people were dumbfounded by what they were hearing and seeing!
They knew who Saul was
They knew of his persecution of the church in Jerusalem
They knew that he had come here to imprison people for calling upon the name of Jesus!
And now this same man stood before them proclaiming that Jesus is the Son of God!
Was it a trick?
Was it a ploy?
Was it a trap to draw out the believers in Damascus?
I don’t think that this is what they thought becuase they were amazed
Amazed:
Greek: Existemi -amaze; astound; astonish
Sense: to become astounded to such a degree as to nearly lose ones mental composer!
This word tells us that the people nearly lost their mind at the transformatio of Saul!
They were beside themselvs knowing what he was there to do and the great work that had been done in His life!
You can see the passion!
You can see the fire in His heart!
You can see the church getting pumped because God was changing hearts and lives for His glory!
Do we get excited about Jesus like that today?
Are you excited to be apart of what he is doing?
Are you excited to see others come to the knowledge of the truth?
If not, maybe ask yourself why?
There was no stopping Saul!
There was no stopping Saul!
22 But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ.
I do love the chosing of these Words by Luke through the Holy Spirit
He increased in strength!
I think this was physically from his fasting
But also spiritually as he was strengthened by the Spirit of God for the work that God was calling him to!
He confounded the Jews by proving that Jesus was the Christ!
This is Apologetics at work
Saul put his theoligical training to good use!
His knoweldge of the Word as a Pharisee
His understanding of Prophecy!
There is much to be said about persuing scripture and understanding it!
It becomes a tool and resource that we have at our side for when we preach Christ!
It helps deepen our life with Jesus
It reveals God’s plan and will for our lives!
The Word of God cannot be asbsent in our lives!
Not everyone like Saul’s message:
Not everyone like Saul’s message:
23 When many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him,
24 but their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates day and night in order to kill him,
25 but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket.
So many days have gone by and Saul was a preaching machine!
However we must not ever assume that everyone is going to accept and like the message of Jesus
18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.
So the Jews were not happy with Saul!
In fact they took up his former posture towards the church
They sought to Kill Saul for his faith, for his passion and for his preaching!
So the jews came up with a plot to get rid of Saul!
32 At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me,
33 but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.
The Church had Saul’s back!
Even though the gate was being watched and guarded the disciples in Damascus lowered Saul down the wall to the city in a basket!
I love that!
God wasn’t done with Saul, and so he allowed Him to escape!
But not on his own
With the help of his brothers and sisters in Christ!
We are in this together, and we should all have each others backs!
Still a bit leary:
Still a bit leary:
26 And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple.
27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus.
28 So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord.
29 And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists. But they were seeking to kill him.
30 And when the brothers learned this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.
Barnabas was the one who sold his field and gave the money to the Apostles for the needs of the saits
36 Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus,
37 sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
You can’t really blame the Apostle in the Jerusalem church for being a bit hesitant to believe that Saul of Tarsus was now a believer
But it was Barnabas, the son of encouragement that went in and defended Saul to the Apostles sharing how the Lord had met him on the road to damascus and how now he was a believer
and now saul was going in and out preaching the Gospel
that is until it got a bit to dicey to do it any more
The Gospel
can redeem lost sinner to God
But not everyone is going to see their need of Christ and believe
Some may even becoem hostile
But still we will preach the truth!
Conclusion:
Never underestimate the power of Christ working in you
Preach the Gospel always
It’s ok if people don’t like you for the message you preach!