Acts 22:17–20 KJV 1900

And it came to pass, that, when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance; And saw him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me. And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee: And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him.

What Will It Take to Bring You to God

INTRODUCTION:

I have given you cleanness of teeth, I have smitten your vineyards, I have slain your sons; yet you have not returned unto me. What will it take? Will it take a broken heart; a broken body; a broken circle? Note some things in the Bible:

IT TOOK A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN TO BRING NEBUCHADNEZZAR TO GOD—

Daniel 4:33 KJV 1900

The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like birds’ claws.

The sin of pride had kept him from God. It was the sin of pride that brought Lucifer down

Isaiah 14:12–14 KJV 1900

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

IT TOOK A FUNERAL TO BRING ISAIAH TO GOD—

Isaiah 6:1 KJV 1900

In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

Isaiah said, "In the year King Uzziah died I saw the Lord.." King Uzziah died the death of a leper

2 Chronicles 26:18–20 KJV 1900

And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the Lord, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast trespassed; neither shall it be for thine honour from the Lord God. Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense: and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the Lord, from beside the incense altar. And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence; yea, himself hasted also to go out, because the Lord had smitten him.

IT TOOK A STORM AND A FISH RIDE TO BRING JONAH TO GOD

Jonah paid the price for running from God

Jonah 1:3 KJV 1900

But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.

The Lord sent out a great wind

Jonah 1:4 KJV 1900

But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.

The Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah

Jonah 1:17 KJV 1900

Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

IT TOOK AN EARTHQUAKE TO BRING THE PHILIPPIAN JAILOR TO GOD

They rent off their (Paul and Silas) clothes, and beat them

Acts 16:22 KJV 1900

And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them.

They cast them into the prison Acts 16:24

There was a great earthquake

Acts 16:26 KJV 1900

And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.

IT TOOK RAGS, POVERTY AND BANKRUPTCY TO BRING THE PRODIGAL TO GOD

He wasted his substance

Luke 15:13 KJV 1900

And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.

He began to be in want

Luke 15:14 KJV 1900

And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.

He came to himself

Luke 15:17 KJV 1900

And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!

IT TOOK THE BITTER CUP OF SORROW TO BRING DAVID TO GOD

The death of the child and David's grief

2 Samuel 12:19 KJV 1900

But when David saw that his servants whispered, David perceived that the child was dead: therefore David said unto his servants, Is the child dead? And they said, He is dead.

Amnon forced Tamar to lay with him

2 Samuel 13:14 KJV 1900

Howbeit he would not hearken unto her voice: but, being stronger than she, forced her, and lay with her.