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August 21st 2022
Series:The Book of Acts
Sermon Title:The Outcome of Obedience
Topic:Journey through the book of Acts.
Key Passages: Acts 9:1-31
Sermon Blurb: One faithful act of obedience could change the world.
We will look at the obedience of Ananias and how one faithful act of obedience changed Christianity and the world.
Sermon:
Welcome back as we continue our study of the Book of Acts.
If you’re new or newer to Family Church, we are so glad you are here…
Over the last several weeks, we have been studying the Book of Acts in the bible.
We’re walking through Acts
…verse by verse,
…chapter by chapter,
…story by story
to see what God wants to say to us.
PAUSE
And we parked for a couple of weeks, on one person in particular
BUT NOT just any person… we focused in on the most influential Christian to ever live.
Does anyone remember his name?
Saul of Tarsus …or as we know him, The Apostle Paul.
If you missed the message on how Saul became Paul through a personal encounter with Jesus… I encourage you to go to our website or app and listen to that message.
PAUSE
But let’s do a little recap on Saul so that no one feels left behind today.....
When Saul is introduced in the Bible, he steps onto the scene as a young leader, who is part of an anti-Jesus movement.
He’s presented as the guy who approved of the killing of Stephen.
We unpacked that episode in a previous message,
Stephen was the first Christian martyr...... the 1st Christian to die for his faith in Jesus.
And Saul is the ‘mob-boss’ who is watching and approving Stephen’s public execution....
PAUSE
From that episode, Saul goes around from town to town to persecute Christians all over the region.
I know this might sound controversial.... but it will get the point across....
You all know the marches we saw in 2021.......
The destruction....
All for what some would call “good causes.”
That is what Saul was doing.
Traveling from town to town.
To destroy what he saw as bad....
To get people to convert to his cause....
To push his agenda and destroy others' lives....
And Saul, just like the organizations that did it in our country through 2021 were affective with their message, Saul was affective and gained quite a reputation.
He becomes known as the ‘Hitman’ who is out to get all Jesus-followers.
Saul was so passionate about his cause to eradicate the Jesus-movement because Jesus’ movement called to question everything, he held dear in life!!!!
Saul thought Jesus’ movement directly undermined what Saul cherished and lived for.
Think the marches for the pro-choice groups....we saw when the Supreme Court leaked....
PASSION to destroy anything that does not support your world view....
That is nothing new...
That was Saul as well...
PAUSE
Saul even gets support, he gets official approval and sanction, from the religious leaders to go and crush Christianity.
PAUSE
Make no bones about it, Saul was a bad dude.
I mean, IF ANYONE is beyond saving, it’s this guy.
It’s Saul.
There’s no way God could get a hold of him
… he’s just too far gone,
… he’s too caught up in his movement,
… he’s a lost cause.
In fact, he’s the enemy of the Christians.
I’d imagine the Christians of his day, weren’t so much praying for Saul’s salvation….
but they were praying against Saul’s harmful agenda.
It’s sort of like the way some of us pray for people in our lives.
Those people who offend us, violate our principles, or mistreat our kids.....
Let’s just be honest, it’s hard to pray for certain political officials with a pure heart… and it’s even harder to believe that God could ever reach them.
No one in their wildest dreams would’ve imagined what would happen next with Saul.
PAUSE
Grab you Bible and open it to Acts 9 and let’s read this story.....
Verse 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.
3 As he (Saul) 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.
Pause right here
…WHOA!
You have got to be kidding me!
Is this a joke?
Are you telling me a story?
Am I dreaming?
There’s NO WAY that man could change!
And later in the book of Acts, we will see that many Christians had that same concern....
They questioned the sincerity of Saul’s conversion… whether it was genuine or a strategy so he could locate Christians.
PAUSE
But Saul has a personal encounter with the Resurrected Jesus… and EVERYTHING changes!
Saul’s ENTIRE life is flipped upside-down because of one genuine encounter with Jesus!
One moment in the presence of Jesus, one encounter with the power of God…
Saul is brought to his knees and his entire perspective changes, in just moments.
And his pursuits change as well!
He puts down his anti-Jesus badge and becomes a follower of Jesus!
write this down:
Jesus wants to shift our perspectives, our priorities, and our pursuits to align them with His.
*repeat
And he does that when we acknowledge Jesus’ lordship.
And we see this in Saul’s encounter… Look at verse 5,
5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
Lord was not a common term or title given anyone.
This word, Lord, indicates a positional understanding of Who Saul was talking to.
Saul recognized in that moment that he was directly speaking with God.
PAUSE
And this encounter impacts Saul so much so, that he’s going to move from being a religious bounty-hunter to redeemed by grace.
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