From Persecutor to Apostle: Finding Purpose in Christ

``He's a man that later on goes to say like, hey, I was raised in the rabbinic school. He's he taught or was was taught by one of the great rabbi teachers of the first century. He would have known the old testament and boy did he misinterpret it. Because Jesus shows up on the scene, he rejects Jesus and he's trying to destroy all of his followers. So this guy that knew God's word really well wasn't really interpreting it or applying it very well to his life, And he had to have an encounter with Christ before a change happened. And then he was actually inspired by God's spirit to write more of scripture in the New Testament. [00:50:17] (36 seconds)  #EncounterChanged

If you grew up here in The States, maybe you were a part of the yearbook club and you had to vote senior year on certain individuals that you thought were, you know, the cutest couple, the most likely to succeed, the next United States president, the most musical. If you would have looked at Paul's yearbook from high school, he would not have been voted the most likely to surrender his life to Christ and be used as an instrument of his grace to change the nations. He wouldn't have been anywhere close, not even in the top 10. In fact, had you interviewed guys that would have gone to school with them, they would have said, wait a minute, that's Paul, this guy, he's the one out there planning churches and risking his life for Jesus Christ? No way. Not the guy I went to high school with. That guy hated Christians. He killed them. And yet, isn't it just like God to take the most unlikely candidate, transform his life, and then when you see what he does or anyone, you stand back and go, only God gets the glory. [00:45:50] (61 seconds)  #GodUsesUnlikely

He uses his church to build up his church to transform other people to become more like Christ. What a great God we serve. God is so good and so merciful and so gracious. Jesus could have said, Paul, I knocked you on your backside and I blinded you because you're persecuting my church versus persecuting my me. I hate it and your life is now over. Bam, and his life could have been done, but he said, no, I'm gonna take you and I'm gonna turn you into one of the best witnesses for me that the world has ever known. Because that's what God does. He redeems everybody's stories. It might not be easy, but God is in the business of redeeming folks. [01:09:40] (38 seconds)  #RedeemingGrace

It's like, Saul, I know exactly what you're doing. And what does Jesus say? He doesn't call him out for persecuting his followers. He says, Paul, listen, when you hurt my church, you're hurting me. Saul, you think you're just persecuting human beings, but you're actually hurting me. Jesus takes it very personally when people attack his church. Because the church in the New Testament, the followers of Jesus were described with terms like the actual body of Christ. We're his bride. Any groom gets upset if you start messing with his bride and Jesus is no exception. Saul, you're persecuting me and I wanted to stop. And yet, Jesus in his grace is gonna take this man, transform his life, and use him. [00:54:37] (49 seconds)  #HurtTheChurchHurtChrist

And Ananias is no dummy. He knows who this Saul character is. And Jesus says, listen, I want you to go pray for this man. Jesus wants to partner with his church. He wants to partner with other people to recruit people to be followers of him. Jesus could have just showed up to Paul on the road to Damascus, blinded him with the light and said, Paul, listen, here's who I am, here's what's gonna happen, here's what you're gonna do, and lay out his entire life for him. And yet Jesus doesn't do that. He partners with his church to bring about the conversion of Paul and to set him off on a new journey to help transform his life 180 degrees. God continues to partner with his people to bring about change. [01:04:01] (44 seconds)  #PartnerInConversion

Did you know you are God's masterpiece? You are his workmanship, and he has put you together and set aside some good works for you. Not because you have to earn his grace or favor, you've already got it. Salvation is a gift of God. But he's got a plan for your life, and he wants to partner with you to accomplish that. He wants you to live on adventure with him, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So believe it or not, there are good works that God has set aside for you that he has prepared as his masterpiece for you to walk out. And the best way to live, not the easiest, but the best way to live is a life of faith surrendered to God, so that you would fulfill his good works, and God would get the glory, and you would have some amazing stories to tell along the way. [00:44:01] (52 seconds)  #GodsMasterpiece

God's word then goes on to say that immediately he's gonna go to the synagogue in Damascus, but not to grab people and to bind them and to take them back to Jerusalem. He immediately starts preaching the son of God. While he was prepped and ready to go, God had spent his pre conversion. God was already working in his life. He'd been trained by the best rabbis. He knew the old testament. He's already got God's word inside of him. He's just interpreted it wrong most of his life, but now he has encountered the risen Christ, and he immediately goes into the synagogue and starts teaching from God's word, and he can be used. He's the definition of a 180 degree change in life, because of God's grace and an encounter with Christ, and another man that was faithful to go and pray. [01:08:55] (42 seconds)  #PreparedForPurpose

Jesus knows exactly where Saul is. Like it's no mystery, he's gone into Damascus, he's staying on Straight Street. Archaeologists have dug up Straight Street in Damascus. We know where it is. It's an East West Street. It is to no surprise straight. It's filled with colonnades, head shops. You can pull up pictures of this thing. I was looking at it on the internet the other day. This is kinda cool. So we know where this is. Jesus knows your address. He knows where you live. He knows what you're doing. And he recruits somebody else to go and pray for Paul. Now if Ananias says no, God surely can raise up somebody else. But if you're Ananias and you say no, you miss out on being a part of God's good work. [01:03:15] (46 seconds)  #JesusKnowsYou