Transformation & Trust – June 28, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: From Persecutor to Preacher: The Immediate Cost of Transformation

Saul’s first act after encountering Jesus was to preach in the synagogues he once terrorized. His transformed words declared Christ as God’s Son, baffling those who knew him as a violent oppressor. Yet his boldness grew even as threats mounted, proving that radical transformation often invites immediate resistance. Trust isn’t automatic—even sincerity must weather the friction of old assumptions. The same lips that cursed now confessed, yet the road to credibility would demand more than zeal. [13:32]

“At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. All those who heard him were astonished and asked, ‘Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?’” (Acts 9:20–21, ESV)

Reflection: When have you witnessed a sudden change in someone that left you skeptical? How might God be inviting you to hold both hope and discernment in relationships?

Day 2: Trust’s Foundation: Being With and For One Another

Trust begins when we feel seen and fought for. Saul’s past violence made the disciples recoil, but Barnabas stepped into the gap—advocating for him by retelling Saul’s encounter with Jesus. Trust flourishes where someone leans in to say, “I’m with you,” and proves it through costly advocacy. Without Barnabas’ willingness to bridge the divide, Saul’s transformation might have stalled at the church’s door. [17:26]

“When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles.” (Acts 9:26–27, ESV)

Reflection: Who has been a “Barnabas” in your life, standing with you when others doubted? How can you actively listen today to show someone they’re understood?

Day 3: Skill and Character: The Twin Pillars of Trustworthiness

Saul’s training as a Pharisee equipped him to “prove” Jesus was the Messiah—a skill now redeemed. But skill alone couldn’t mend broken trust. His character, tested under persecution and refined in Arabia’s silence, became the backbone of his credibility. God cares as much about how we steward influence as the influence itself. Excellence without integrity builds towers that crumble. [20:24]

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22–23, ESV)

Reflection: Where might God be calling you to grow in character rather than competence? How do your daily choices reflect the Spirit’s fruit more than mere talent?

Day 4: The Three-Year Gap: Trust Built in Hidden Seasons

Between Damascus and Jerusalem lay three unrecorded years—Saul’s “Arabia” season of wrestling with Scripture and surrender. Trust isn’t microwaved; it simmers in unseen obedience. The church’s hesitation toward Saul wasn’t just fear—it was wisdom. Time tests whether transformation roots deeply or withers under pressure. God often works most profoundly in our hidden waiting. [24:18]

“I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus. Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem.” (Galatians 1:17–18, ESV)

Reflection: What “hidden” season are you navigating now? How might God be using this time to deepen your trustworthiness for what’s ahead?

Day 5: Nine-Second Faithfulness: Drops That Fill Trust’s Bucket

Trust isn’t built in grand gestures but in small, repeated acts of integrity. Saul’s credibility grew as he consistently chose faithfulness—even when lowered in a basket to escape death. Like moisturizing cracked hands in Colorado’s dryness, trust forms through daily, intentional care. What nine-second choices today could nourish trust in your relationships? [30:51]

“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.” (Luke 16:10, ESV)

Reflection: What mundane task or routine interaction holds an opportunity to cultivate trust? How does faithfulness in “small” moments shape your witness?

Sermon Summary

Acts nine slows down after Saul’s conversion and makes the church sit with a gritty question: does his transformation make him trustworthy? The risen Jesus has truly met Saul on the road, turned him around, opened his eyes, and changed his allegiance. Saul goes right back into the synagogues, same place as before, but now with a transformed mind, transformed mouth, and transformed motives. The old persecutor becomes the preacher, declaring that Jesus is God’s Son and proving that Jesus is the Christ.

Acts keeps that good news in full view: nobody is too far gone for the transforming power of God. Saul had been wreaking havoc among the believers, dragging people toward prison, and yet Christ reaches him, claims him, and redirects all that zeal into the kingdom. The change is real. The words are different. The direction is different. The Lord has done what only the Lord can do.

But Acts nine also refuses to make transformation equal instant trust. The disciples in Jerusalem are afraid of Saul, and that fear makes sense. Repentance and forgiveness do not automatically produce relational safety. The church is called to forgive, but not to forget in a way that becomes blind or foolish. Trust is the x factor that makes relationships work, the binding agent, the oil that keeps things from grinding against each other with suspicion, anxiety, and friction.

Trust asks more than one question. Trust asks, “Are you with me?” and “Are you for me?” Trust asks whether skill is present, whether character can carry that skill, and whether a track record has been built over time. Saul had skill already, trained in the law and able to reason from Scripture, but Acts and Galatians show that time also mattered. Three years pass before Jerusalem receives him, and Barnabas bears witness to Saul’s encounter with the Lord and his bold preaching in Jesus’ name.

The transformation of Saul therefore becomes a mirror for disciples of Jesus. The question is not only whether others are trustworthy, but whether Christ’s people are becoming trustworthy. Skill without character rots out the center, and whatever has been built eventually falls under its own weight. Faithfulness comes drop by drop, in repeated acts of care, carefulness, maturity, and integrity.

The table of communion brings the whole question back to Jesus. Christ is the trustworthy and transforming God. Jesus is with his people, for his people, excellent in all his ways, faithful even to the cross, and worthy of trust with an unknown future because he is the known God.

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Key Takeaways

1. Transformation does not instantly create trust [09:30] Trust takes seriously both the miracle of change and the wounds left behind by sin. Saul’s conversion was real, but the fear of the disciples was also real, and Acts does not shame them for needing wisdom. Forgiveness can be offered from the heart while trust is rebuilt through time, clarity, and faithful fruit. [09:30]
2. Trust binds relationships without abrasion [12:01] Trust works like the force that brings two hands together and lets them move without grinding. Low trust makes every word and action feel gritty, even when intentions are unclear rather than evil. High trust creates room for patience, hope, repair, and forward movement when relationships hit difficulty. [12:01]
3. Character must stand beside skill [20:24] Skill can build something impressive, but character determines whether it can stand. The church can be tempted to celebrate giftedness while neglecting the inner life that carries it. Christlikeness means doing what God does in the way God does it, with integrity, maturity, honesty, and the fruit of the Spirit. [20:24]
4. Faithfulness is built drop by drop [21:53] Trust usually grows slowly, one repeated act of reliability at a time. A bucket of trust can be poured out in a moment, so gained trust should be held with gratitude, humility, and fear and trembling. Small acts of faithfulness, even the “nine second” kind, form the track record that reveals trustworthy character. [21:53]
5. Jesus is the trustworthy one [32:47] Jesus never calls his people into a way he has not already fulfilled in himself. His faithfulness reaches all the way to the cross, and his transforming power reaches even into a past as violent as Saul’s. The unknown future can be trusted to the known God because Christ is with his people, for his people, and faithful to the end.

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Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[02:56] - Greeting and Ministry Update
[04:05] - Honoring Family Ministry Volunteers
[06:01] - Acts Nine in the Larger Story
[08:04] - Slowing Down With Saul’s Conversion
[09:08] - Does Transformation Make Saul Trustworthy?
[11:03] - Trust as the X Factor
[13:09] - Saul’s Mind, Mouth, and Motives
[15:14] - Jerusalem’s Fear of Saul
[17:01] - Five Questions That Build Trust
[20:24] - Skill, Character, and Track Record
[26:09] - Learning to Trust and Be Trustworthy
[31:13] - The Trustworthy and Transforming God

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Acts 9:19-31
“And taking food, he was strengthened. For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, ‘He is the Son of God.’ 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?’ But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ. When many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him, but their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates day and night in order to kill him, but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket. 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. 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. So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists. But they were seeking to kill him. And when the brothers learned this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus. So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.” [13:23]

Observation questions

What changed in Saul’s message after meeting Jesus, and what stayed the same about the place where he spoke? [13:29]
What details in Acts 9 show why the disciples in Jerusalem were afraid of Saul instead of welcoming him right away? [15:49]
What role did Barnabas play when Saul tried to join the disciples in Jerusalem?
What repeated pattern happens to Saul in this passage after he begins preaching Jesus boldly? [25:28]

Interpretation questions

Saul’s transformation was real, but the disciples’ fear was also real. What does this passage suggest about the difference between genuine repentance and rebuilt trust? [09:30]
Saul had strong ability to reason from Scripture, yet time still mattered before the church received him. Why might skill alone be an incomplete basis for trust? [20:24]
Barnabas helped bridge the gap between Saul and the apostles. What does that show about the importance of witness, community, and confirmation in restoring trust? [25:10]
Acts 9 ends with the church having peace, being built up, and walking in the fear of the Lord and comfort of the Holy Spirit. How might wise, patient trust-building contribute to that kind of church health?

Application questions

Is there a relationship in which forgiveness may be needed, but trust cannot be rushed? What would wisdom, honesty, and healthy boundaries look like there? [10:00]
Trust often asks, “Are you with me?” and “Are you for me?” In close relationships right now, where does it feel hard to answer those questions clearly? What would help bring clarity? [17:01]
Saul’s mind, mouth, and motives were changed by Jesus. Where is change most needed right now: in thought patterns, in speech, or in deeper motivations? [13:09]
Skill without character eventually collapses under its own weight. In what area of life might giftedness be outrunning maturity, integrity, or honesty? [21:12]
Trust is usually built drop by drop. What is one small act of reliability, care, or follow-through that could become part of a stronger track record this week? [21:53]
Some people need to grow in trusting again, and others need to grow in becoming trustworthy. Which of those feels more urgent right now, and why? [26:09]
Jesus is with his people, for his people, and faithful to the end. Where does an unknown future need to be handed over to the known God? [32:47]

Sermon Clips

43s

“``That his level of trust is so trustworthy that he will transform our futures, our pasts, and he is trustworthy with our futures. And that whatever whatever it is that we're doing, we can affirm that these things are true, That Jesus is trustworthy. That Jesus is the faithful one to the end even to the cross. That Jesus is with you. That Jesus is for you. That Jesus is excellent and faithful, that Jesus is trustworthy and the worthy one.”

55s

“But really, when we come to this table, when we look at Jesus and learn again, there's nothing that God commissions us to do that he doesn't do first and then then empower us to do. This is true of trust, but it's true of everything that he calls us to. There is nothing that he tells us, calls us to do that he isn't or doesn't do himself. Doesn't fulfill fulfill in himself and then empower us to walk in that way. It's why our trust with God is paramount that we are brought to him, our bounds to him. Trust in the Lord with all of ourselves. Lean not on our own intelligence because it makes this whole life work. And so we come again to this table and we behold again this trustworthy and transforming God.”

54s

“Instead of persecuting God's kingdom, he's preaching it. He's transformed from the persecutor to the preacher of the truth of God. And I love this because it gives us such a beautiful example that none of us are beyond the transformative power of God. That if Saul, the very one persecuting because I maybe someone in this room, but I would imagine most of us aren't in the habit of persecuting for our like other people. Right? And even if we were, the hope of this gospel is not too far gone. Still able to be reached, still able to be encountered, still able to be transformed in mind and in mouth and in motives by the very presence of God in our lives. And so it is a good news. But along with this transformation, we then come to this trickier question of trust.”

41s

“It is holding the tension and the strength of both the skill and the character. And too often, and may I say it of this beloved church, not just c o s, but, like, Christ's beloved church, we focus too much on building skill and neglect building of character. And what ends up happening is that skill gets so great, but at the core, the character starts rotting out the center, and it can't stand on its own weight, and whatever it is that we've been building falls. If they don't go hand in hand, whatever we're trying to do will fall or fail eventually. We need to have excellence in skill and character.”

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