Participants:
Series Code: ASIC
Program Code: ASIC180012A
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00:20 It's great to come back home.
00:21 You see, I was born in Orlando 00:24 a long time ago in the last century. 00:27 Actually the last millennium, right? 00:28 And anyway, it's great to come back 00:30 to this coast and be here 00:31 in a place that I love very much. 00:33 And it's a privilege 00:35 to be able to share with you this morning 00:38 our Sabbath School lesson. 00:40 And when they sent me the email and said, 00:42 "Would you teach the lesson?" 00:43 I'm thinking, "Oh, man, what's it going to be about?" 00:45 They said, it's going to be about Paul. 00:47 And I think you have that in your wheelhouse 00:49 a little bit about Paul, and I thought, 00:50 "Well, but what about Paul?" 00:52 You know, there's a lot of different aspects about Paul, 00:54 and so I kind of kept checking the website, 00:57 you know, to see what was going to be 00:58 the Sabbath School lesson, 00:59 and they just don't give 01:01 a lot of information out months ahead of time. 01:03 And finally, the church I attend 01:05 in Southern California, 01:07 I saw the lesson in book of Acts, 01:08 and I looked in, 01:10 and can you believe what it was? 01:12 The Conversion of Paul. 01:15 I said, "Wow, thank you, Lord. 01:17 I know something about that." 01:18 And there we have it, 01:19 that beautiful statue because, 18 years ago, 01:22 I had the privilege of actually 01:24 filming the life of Paul on location. 01:26 And I know some of you have seen that 01:28 around the world, 01:29 and we went to six different countries 01:31 filming, tracing the footsteps of Paul, 01:33 and that image you just saw 01:34 actually is from a church in Damascus, 01:38 and there was something about that image 01:39 that caught the ruggedness of Paul, you know? 01:42 I don't know if they can bring it back up 01:43 on the screen, but it's a... 01:45 You can just see the ruggedness of Paul, 01:47 and he's not a soft guy 'cause he's traveling, 01:51 and how far would he travel? 01:54 I want to just see if some of you 01:55 followed my Footsteps of Paul series 01:57 on 3ABN or Hope Channel. 01:58 Any idea how far he traveled? 02:01 Over... 02:02 He didn't do the small group, you see? 02:04 Over 13,000 miles, 02:07 and it wasn't in United or American, all right? 02:11 Mostly by foot, sometimes by steamship? 02:15 No. Sometimes by sailing ship. 02:18 And that was even rougher because multiple shipwrecks. 02:22 But we're getting ahead of our story, aren't we? 02:24 And so we want to go back 02:25 and look at the story of Paul's conversion. 02:30 And so we have a memory text, 02:31 let's see if we can have you memorize it. 02:34 Let's see if we memorized it. 02:35 "Go! 02:36 This man is My chosen instrument 02:39 to proclaim My name to the Gentiles 02:42 and their kings and to the people of Israel." 02:46 And so that's the words you're going to hear 02:47 in a little bit 02:48 as we trace his story from Ananias, 02:51 a disciple in Damascus. 02:52 "But go! 02:54 And you're going to proclaim My name to," who? 02:58 It was your memory text. 02:59 "To Gentiles." 03:01 And not only to Gentiles but to their... 03:03 "Their kings." 03:05 And would that happen? 03:06 Of course, it would. 03:08 He'll even go before Nero a couple of times, 03:11 and we think about people in Caesar's own household 03:14 being converted. 03:15 But did you notice, there's something 03:17 very interesting about the text? 03:18 It didn't end there. 03:19 Did you notice what the next phrase was? 03:22 "And to My people, Israel." 03:26 We think Paul's just the apostle to the Gentiles, 03:28 but no, no, no, he had a message 03:31 for God's people Israel as well. 03:34 And he brings and unfolds 03:35 the beautiful message of justification. 03:37 But we're getting ahead of ourselves 03:39 because we're going to talk about that 03:40 in just a moment. 03:41 So the question is, "Who was this man?" 03:44 God chose him from all the believers 03:47 to be His chosen instrument. 03:49 Who was he? 03:50 What prepared him for this position 03:53 that he would have? 03:55 What prepared him to evangelize both Gentiles and Jews? 03:59 And so let's explore that this morning. 04:04 As we were filming the Footsteps of Paul, 04:05 I had the privilege of going to all these places. 04:08 I'd been to most of them before, 04:09 but the year before I had pastors on tour, 04:13 and we were filming in Tarsus, and we have this... 04:17 When I get to Tarsus, 04:19 there's first century AD main street. 04:22 We'll pull that up on the screen. 04:24 1st century AD main street, can you imagine? 04:27 Saul walked on that street as a little boy. 04:31 Did he go to picnics with his mom and dad 04:33 down by the river? 04:35 I don't know, but he walked on that street. 04:37 And the text is so interesting. 04:38 I love the way that King James puts it, 04:40 "I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus in Cilicia, 04:43 a citizen of no mean city." 04:46 I was smiling, you know what? 04:47 They had a sign at the edge of town, 04:49 "Mean people, stop, you can't come in." 04:51 You got to check your meanness. 04:52 That'd be a nice city to live in, right? 04:54 No mean city. 04:56 But the other translations captured a little bit better. 05:00 No ordinary city. 05:02 "A Jew of Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no ordinary city." 05:07 What was so unusual about this city? 05:10 "No ordinary city," Saul would say maybe on trial. 05:14 What was so special? 05:15 Well, it's on the map 05:17 because of its unique geography. 05:20 Here we can see a map of the ancient world. 05:22 You see Tarsus, you see the little green area, 05:24 that's the low place. 05:25 And it's there because it's... 05:27 What was the province? 05:29 He said, "I'm a Jew of Tarsus in Cilicia." 05:33 And so there's upper Cilicia, and there's lower Cilicia. 05:36 The green area where Tarsus is is lower or smooth Cilicia, 05:39 and then there's upper Cilicia up in the mountains 05:41 and beyond the mountains and to the Anatolian plateau. 05:46 And here it was very special 05:47 because of its unique geography, 05:50 its unique geography. 05:52 The mountains are snow-capped most of the year there. 05:57 There's only one pass for 200 miles, 06:00 and it's carved by this river that we see on the screen, 06:04 the Cydnus or the cold river. 06:06 It was so cold that when Alexander the Great 06:08 marched through, he went swimming, 06:10 and caught pneumonia and nearly died. 06:13 And so I've been swimming in the river, 06:14 and it was pretty cold, I have to say. 06:15 But here we can see a Roman bridge 06:17 because this was the only pass for 200 miles. 06:21 So Alexander the Great marches through that pass, 06:24 Mark Antony marches through that pass, 06:26 everybody who was anybody 06:27 with an army had to march through there 06:29 because it's the only way for 200 miles. 06:32 Cilia... 06:34 Those of you in the medical field, 06:35 cilia, does that ring a bell? 06:38 I remember doing the five day plans years ago, 06:40 and we had super cilia in our throat and so on 06:43 that would catch the tars and so on. 06:45 And we'd tell people that's why you don't want to smoke, right? 06:48 It's not very good. 06:49 So it means hair. 06:50 It's the Roman province of hair. 06:52 How'd you like to be from that place, huh? 06:54 The Roman province of hair. 06:58 In the Anatolian plateau in Cilicia, 07:01 they developed a special breed of goat 07:04 grown nowhere else in the world. 07:06 And when you use that cilia or that goat hair 07:09 for making your tent, 07:10 it allowed smoke from your camp fire 07:12 to pass through, 07:13 sunshine to string through, and it repelled rain. 07:17 It was the Gore-Tex fabric of the day. 07:21 And there's one outlet for 200 miles, 07:23 and it's at Tarsus. 07:25 So I've often wondered, was Paul actually sewing tents 07:29 or was he a purveyor of Gore-Tex 07:32 because he'd have the best connection 07:34 in the world for the finest material 07:35 in the world for making goat hair tents. 07:39 And so Saul positioned from a cosmopolitan city, 07:46 a city that was a center of stoic philosophy, 07:49 and now he's positioned with an income 07:53 wherever he would travel, 07:55 a purveyor of cilia or goat hair. 07:59 And here we bring up one more slide. 08:00 You can see what I was talking about. 08:02 You see Tarsus, and you see Antalya. 08:04 You might remember Antalya is where Perga is? 08:07 You remember what happened in Perga? 08:09 Something very significant. 08:11 John Mark got nervous 08:13 about what Paul and Barnabas were preaching, 08:16 and he went back to Jerusalem to Peter and to the others. 08:20 You know what they were doing? 08:22 They were baptizing Gentiles 08:25 without making them become Jews. 08:29 And it created a huge controversy 08:30 in the church 08:32 because some said you have to be a Jew 08:34 to accept the Jewish Messiah. 08:36 Paul and Barnabas said, "No, no, no! 08:38 This is bigger than Judaism." 08:40 And so John Mark forsook them there at Antalya. 08:43 But it's over 200 miles from Tarsus back to Antalya. 08:47 And there's only one outlet for that goat hair, 08:50 and Paul had that connection. 08:51 And so as I said, 08:53 Alexander the Great marched through, 08:56 Mark Antony marches through, 08:58 Mark Antony actually makes it the headquarters 09:01 of the Eastern Roman Empire. 09:03 And it's here, you can see the mountains off 09:05 in the distance still with some snow in June. 09:08 And it's here that Mark Antony 09:10 first meets Cleopatra in that dramatic time 09:14 when she comes up sailing on her barge dressed as Venus. 09:18 So who was this man? 09:19 Well, we see he's a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia, 09:22 this cosmopolitan city. 09:25 He's familiar with stoic philosophy, 09:26 it's the center of stoic philosophy 09:28 at that time in the whole world. 09:31 He's trained as a businessman. 09:33 But if you're Jewish, 09:35 why would you name your kid Saul, right? 09:38 That guy... 09:40 Man! 09:42 Because he was from what tribe? 09:44 And who was from Benjamin? 09:46 Saul, the first king. 09:48 So it's the most illustrious person 09:51 to come out of Benjamin, 09:52 and so they named their son Saul. 09:56 However, 09:58 Saul was also a Roman citizen. 10:03 And later on in the story, 10:05 we'll find that he was not just a Roman citizen, 10:07 he was what? 10:09 He was born a citizen, remember? 10:14 The centurion says, "I paid a lot for my citizenship." 10:17 I was born a citizen. 10:20 How would a Jewish family 10:21 living so far away from Jerusalem 10:23 become Roman citizens 10:24 that their son would be born a citizen? 10:28 The local idea is that probably his family provided tents 10:32 for the Roman army of Mark Antony, 10:35 and they bequeathed on him citizenship. 10:37 All we know is... 10:38 We don't know for sure, but we know 10:39 he's born a citizen, 10:41 and he has special rights because, as a citizen, 10:42 he had a US passport, right? 10:44 He could go anywhere. 10:45 He could do anything. 10:48 And then, as a citizen, 10:49 you couldn't be beaten without a trial. 10:52 As a citizen, you couldn't be crucified. 10:56 Quicker form of death would be decapitation. 11:01 And so he had special privileges. 11:06 And so Acts 22:3 says, 11:08 "I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, 11:12 but brought up in this city." 11:13 This city of Jerusalem. 11:15 "I studied under Gamaliel 11:16 and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors. 11:20 I was just as zealous for God 11:23 as many of you are today." 11:25 And so now he's on trial, 11:27 and he says, "I was born in Cilicia, 11:30 but my father sent me here." 11:33 I have to be careful. 11:35 He was sent to a special college, right? 11:37 Where the top scholar of the day, 11:39 the top Pharisee, 11:40 his name is Gamaliel, where he taught, 11:43 and he was educated under his tutelage 11:46 there in Jerusalem. 11:49 And he says, "I was trained in the law of our ancestors." 11:53 Gamaliel, you might recall, 11:55 was very hesitant about passing judgment 11:59 on the Jesus movement. 12:00 But his pupil was not. 12:03 He didn't hesitate. 12:05 He saw the threat, 12:06 the heresy the Nazarene sect brought to Judaism, 12:10 and he was determined to root it out. 12:13 And so 12:15 he says that he was very zealous for God. 12:20 He was active in identifying 12:23 and ferreting out the Nazarene believers 12:26 and purifying Judaism. 12:27 What was his problem? 12:29 What was his problem with the Nazarene sect? 12:33 Well, it's very interesting. 12:35 Later when Paul will write to the church of Corinth, 12:38 he will explain what the problem is, 12:40 he says, "We preach Christ crucified, 12:44 a stumbling block to Jews 12:49 and foolishness to Greeks." 12:52 Why foolishness to Greeks? 12:53 Well, you see, the Greeks believed 12:55 that if God could be moved with empathy 12:57 because of the human condition, 12:59 then humans would have power over God. 13:01 Therefore they would be greater than God. 13:02 So God can't have any feelings towards humans. 13:05 So it's foolishness in philosophy to believe that. 13:08 But it's not foolishness for Jews, 13:10 it's a what? 13:12 What is it? Right. 13:14 What? It's a... 13:16 Why is it a stumbling block? 13:19 And so the cross is a stumbling block for Jews. 13:24 And so 13:26 we go back to Deuteronomy, 13:28 and we see that Deuteronomy has a precept. 13:33 Deuteronomy 21:23, "Anyone who is hung on a tree 13:38 is under a curse." 13:41 That's what the law says. 13:43 Now let's go back to the story of Jesus 13:46 and the authorities 13:48 that brought Jesus before Pilate. 13:49 And what does Pilate say? 13:52 Well, before that, he says, "You take Him and judge Him." 13:55 And what did they say? 13:58 "We have no right to execute a man." 14:00 Is that right? 14:02 The Jewish people have no right to execute a man. 14:04 What happened three and a half years later? 14:07 What happened with Stephen? 14:09 It took... 14:10 Saul engineers the deal, take him out, 14:14 they stone him and kill him. 14:16 But the authorities didn't want Jesus to be stoned, 14:19 the Jewish method? of capital punishment. 14:21 They wanted him to be hung on a tree 14:24 because the law said you will be cursed 14:27 if you're hung on a tree. 14:30 And so they went to the authorities 14:31 to have them pass it 14:33 because that's the Roman method of capital punishment. 14:36 And even to this day, 14:38 the cross is a stumbling block to Jewish people 14:41 because the law says you're cursed 14:44 if you're hung on a tree. 14:46 And so Saul is zealous for the teachings, 14:48 he's zealous for the scriptures. 14:51 And so he doesn't believe that. 14:53 As a matter of fact, he gives us his testimony 14:55 in Acts 26. 14:57 All of this, by the way, 14:59 was in your Sabbath School lesson. 15:00 So I hope that you've enjoyed the lesson. 15:02 And here we have it. 15:04 Acts 26:9, 15:05 "I too was convinced 15:07 that I ought to do all that was possible 15:09 to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 15:12 On the authority of the chief priests 15:14 I put many of the Lord's people in prison, 15:17 and when they were put to death, 15:18 I cast my vote against them." 15:24 Saul's personal testimony. 15:26 He was all-in for uprooting the Nazarene sect. 15:32 He recognized the threat it would bring to Judaism, 15:36 and he was all-in for purifying the sect 15:38 of this misguided and deluded belief. 15:41 He was zealous, he was a good man, 15:44 but he was misguided. 15:47 And so I want to pause and ask this question. 15:51 What are you zealous for this morning? 16:01 What are you zealous for? 16:04 He was zealous for purifying the church, 16:09 keeping the church pure 16:11 and had led him to eat up believers, 16:15 put some in prison, kill others. 16:19 Oh, but you would never do that, 16:20 would you? 16:23 Well, we may not do it physically, 16:24 but we can certainly do it with our words, our actions. 16:31 Be careful what you're zealous for. 16:35 When I was at Wildwood in the last century, 16:39 back in the early '70s, 16:40 Alderfer Z had a wonderful little saying 16:42 that I loved, 16:43 "Don't major in minors." Don't major. 16:49 You know, there's a lot of things 16:50 that we can be diverted into. 16:53 In little controversies, we can be diverted into. 16:56 Yesterday, in our class, yesterday afternoon, 16:58 we talked about witnessing in your neighborhood, 17:00 and we shared the verse that whatever the heart is full of, 17:05 the mouth speaketh. 17:07 Fill your heart with Jesus, right? 17:10 And then your heart's going to speak about that. 17:11 A lot of interesting diversions to get into. 17:16 Don't major in minors, major in sharing Jesus. 17:21 And so Saul says, 17:24 "I cast my vote against them." What does that mean? 17:29 Cast my vote. 17:30 At least some of us still believe 17:32 that Saul was actually a member of the Sanhedrin, 17:33 and he had a vote in what the outcome would be, 17:36 and he voted to have them executed. 17:40 Scripture doesn't say, 17:42 but it seems reasonable 17:43 that perhaps he was a member of the Sanhedrin. 17:45 And so he engineers this experience with Stephen, 17:48 that beautiful testimony of Stephen, Chapter 7. 17:50 And remember what happens when he comes down? 17:52 Stephen, 17:54 after they respond negatively to what he's sharing, 18:00 Stephen says something powerful in Acts 7:56, he says, 18:06 "Look, I see heaven open 18:10 and the Son of Man..." 18:14 Help me. 18:16 "Standing at the right hand." 18:17 Now what does scriptures say 18:18 when Jesus ascended into heaven? 18:20 What did He do? 18:21 He sat down at the right hand of the Father, is that right? 18:26 And so when He ascends into heaven, 18:27 He sits down at the right hand of the Father. 18:28 What's He doing now? 18:30 He's standing. 18:32 What's happening? 18:34 First believer in My name is about to give up His life. 18:38 Can you imagine? 18:40 And Stephen looks up. 18:41 But it's not just that, what is Stephen quoting? 18:45 Daniel 7:13, 18:49 "I see the Son of Man in the clouds of heaven." 18:54 And they flip out, they say, blasphemy, 18:56 they tear their robes because he's blaspheming. 19:01 We think about Stephen being stoned. 19:04 Can you imagine the magnitude of that moment? 19:06 First believer. 19:08 Later on, people are going to be martyred, 19:10 they look back at that 19:12 and they have courage from that. 19:14 But let me ask you a question. 19:16 You think there were any trumpets 19:17 blowing in Jerusalem when Stephen got stoned? 19:20 You think Stephen's family... 19:22 Let's just suppose he has a wife and kids. 19:23 Do you think that they thought it was a great thing 19:26 when he got stoned? 19:29 But we can see the other side of the story, can't we? 19:32 Do you know what our job is? 19:34 To trust whatever happens, right? 19:37 We're on a journey, 19:38 good things will happen, bad things will happen, 19:40 but we need to learn to trust whatever happens. 19:43 And Stephen did learn to trust. 19:46 His family might not have understood, 19:48 but he's standing. 19:50 How incredible! 19:51 And then Stephen prays, verse 59, 19:56 "While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, 19:59 'Lord, do not hold this sin against them.'" 20:07 Can you imagine resurrection morning? 20:12 Stephen comes up out of the grave, he says, 20:16 "What are you doing here, right?" 20:19 And Saul says, 20:20 "Hey, Steve, you'll never guess what happened. 20:22 After you died, you won't believe it." 20:24 While he died, Saul was holding the garments, 20:27 he's casting his vote, he's being executed. 20:29 You'll never believe. 20:31 That's when I say, grandmas, 20:33 you may never know 20:35 the influence on your grandchildren. 20:38 And, guys, you may never know the influence 20:40 on the people you work with. 20:42 You know what? 20:44 Our call is to be faithful, right? 20:46 Our call is to walk along the way. 20:48 Our call is to walk with joy with Jesus. 20:51 Our call is to be faithful and leave it to God. 20:56 Stephen will be shocked on resurrection morning. 20:58 What are you doing? 21:00 Can you imagine that conversation? 21:02 Because it was something about his face 21:04 lit up like an angel that he could never shake. 21:08 He could never shake. 21:10 I have to say, you know, 21:11 I had a lovely spiritual grandmother. 21:14 I was born here in Orlando, 21:16 but grew up in my teenage years in North Carolina, 21:18 and she was a Bible worker in a little tiny church 21:19 in Salisbury, North Carolina. 21:21 And if you've read that book of John Earnhardt, 21:25 she's the grace that gave Bible studies 21:27 to the young John Earnhardt, who was about 16, 21:30 and Chris' wife was much younger, 21:32 and they were about to have a baby. 21:33 And the Adventist doctor said, "You should take Bible studies 21:35 and have your life turned around." 21:37 So she was just this glowing witness 21:38 all the time. 21:40 And what an influence you can have, 21:42 grandmas and grandpas, 21:44 aunts and uncles, moms and dads, 21:46 you know, don't give up, don't give up. 21:49 I tell you, 21:51 if time lasts in our program, 21:52 I'll tell you my story 21:54 about what happened as a result of their prayers. 21:57 But we will now look at Acts 26 22:00 because he's so... 22:02 He's trying to stab his conscience 22:04 about what happened with Stephen 22:05 and so he says in Acts 26:11, 22:07 "I was so obsessed with persecuting them 22:10 that I even hunted them down in foreign cities. 22:12 On one of these journeys, I was going to Damascus 22:15 with the authority and commission 22:17 of the chief priests." 22:18 And so Damascus is 150 miles away. 22:20 We can see the road that he would go, 22:22 we're going to trace that road because he's obsessed, 22:24 he's trying to get out of his mind 22:25 what happened with Stephen, and now he's walking, 22:28 he's a Pharisee, 22:29 probably walking by himself from the guards 22:32 and not riding a horse by the way. 22:34 If he's riding a horse, 22:36 he's going to be unclean, right? 22:37 A horse is unclean. 22:39 Sorry, I know a lot of you have horses. 22:40 But if you're a Pharisee, 22:41 you don't want to be riding an unclean horse. 22:43 And so he's walking. 22:46 Now the direct route go right up through the mountains, 22:47 right up through Shechem and Samaria. 22:49 You can kind of see the mountains 22:51 there on the map, 22:52 Samaria, and then you kind of cut down, 22:54 but you got to go through the Samaritan area. 22:57 A Pharisee would not want to eat the food of Samaritans, 23:00 those despised people, 23:01 and so they would walk down to Jericho. 23:04 They'd go two to three days out of their way to go north 23:07 to avoid Samaria. 23:09 And so as he walks down to Jericho, he's obsessed, 23:12 but Holy Spirit's convicting him. 23:15 I wonder, do you think he had interrogated 23:17 that short guy down in Jericho? 23:19 What was the guy's name? Zacchaeus. 23:22 You think he didn't interrogate Zacchaeus? 23:25 And he's got to cross the river, 23:27 and he crosses the river there, 23:29 and that's where John the Baptist 23:30 was baptizing Bethany beyond the Jordan. 23:33 I'm seriously saying, how in the world 23:35 could this son of a priest 23:37 be taken in by this base heresy? 23:40 Can you see? 23:42 And what's the Holy Spirit doing? 23:44 Convicting, convicting, He's trying to shake it. 23:47 And he's got to walk up the Jordan River 23:48 and he comes to the Sea of Galilee. 23:50 And as he goes around the Sea of Galilee, 23:51 he's got to go right through the town of Magdala. 23:53 That's where Interstate 95 goes, 23:55 right through it, called the Great Trunk Road 23:56 of Via Maris. 23:58 He goes right through Magdala. 23:59 Had he interviewed her? 24:01 Does she still hold onto her crazy belief 24:03 that some guy named Jesus could be killed 24:05 and come back to life? 24:08 He's just shaking his head. 24:10 In my mind, I like to imagine 24:11 that he then comes around to Capernaum. 24:17 And there in Capernaum, 24:18 he made pause for the Sabbath. 24:21 And if he did, he'd teach in the synagogue. 24:24 Does he think about all those stories 24:26 that happened there? 24:27 Can you imagine the incredible stories? 24:30 Who was the pastor of this place? 24:34 Jairus. 24:35 What's happened to him? What's the story of Jairus? 24:37 His daughter died 24:40 and Jesus brought her back to life. 24:42 And by the way, who built the place? 24:46 A Roman centurion who said, 24:47 "Don't bother coming, Lord, just..." 24:49 What? 24:50 "Speak the word. 24:52 I'm a man of authority." 24:54 And can you imagine the first Sabbath 24:56 in the gospel story 24:58 that Jesus is presenting in the synagogue. 25:01 You know what happened? It was right there. 25:03 Remember what happened? 25:04 Something that I hope doesn't happen this morning. 25:07 A guy came running down the middle aisle, 25:09 Jesus Nazarene! 25:11 Satan throws a demon possessed man at Him. 25:14 He just speaks the word. 25:16 Is Saul familiar with the stories? 25:18 I just imagine as he shirks it all off, 25:20 and he's... 25:21 He leaves the Sea of Galilee 700 feet 25:22 feet below sea level, he starts going up the hills, 25:27 because he's on a mission to go to Damascus. 25:30 But as he walks, he ponders, he thinks, 25:34 "How could Stephen pray, 25:38 'Lord, forgive them for what they're doing.' 25:44 Wow. 25:46 What was it about Jesus that so transformed Stephen? 25:51 Was he aware that Jesus said the same thing 25:54 about His executioners? 25:59 He approaches the city. 26:01 Can you imagine his heart rate increasing? 26:03 A hundred and fifty mile walk. 26:05 Any one of you been on a 150-mile walk lately? 26:08 A hundred and fifty mile walk. 26:09 He gets there, he's on the hills 26:10 overlooking Damascus. 26:12 Now Damascus is the largest oasis 26:14 in the world. 26:15 It doesn't really rain there. 26:17 They have the water that comes from the snows 26:19 and from the mountains and so on 26:21 but doesn't rain very much there, 26:22 the largest oasis in the world. 26:23 He gets there, and he's excited 26:25 because he's zealous to root out the Nazarene sect 26:29 from the Jews 26:32 and get rid of this cancer that's spreading. 26:35 And as he gets there, he's overlooking the city, 26:37 what happens, remember what happens? 26:39 A light brighter 26:42 than the noonday sun flashes. 26:46 He says, "Oh, that was interesting," 26:48 right? 26:49 Now what does he do? 26:52 Falls to the ground. 26:54 He falls to the ground. 26:57 Holy Spirit has been pricking his conscience 27:01 for a 150-mile walk. 27:03 And now the Holy Spirit powerfully hits him. 27:06 It all comes together and he falls down. 27:10 And so we read the words there in Acts 26:12,, 27:13 "Saul, Saul why do you persecute Me? 27:18 It is hard for you to kick against the goads." 27:21 And so all religious art has him on a horse, 27:23 but I doubt he's on a horse. 27:25 Doesn't say he's on a horse, but he falls down, 27:27 and the other men, they see the light 27:30 or they hear the voice, 27:31 but they don't know what it says. 27:35 "Why do you persecute Me? 27:37 It's hard for you to kick against the goads." 27:39 Now as we were filming this series on Paul, 27:41 I'm thinking, 27:42 "Lord, this is a hard text to understand 27:44 because the King James is even a bit stranger. 27:50 Lord, we need to have an ox herder." 27:53 And so there's a little clip 27:54 I'm going to ask them to play right now. 27:56 There's a little bit of audio with this clip, 27:57 if we can pick up that audio, and it's about a road, 28:03 actually a Roman road that Paul walked on 28:07 in the second missionary journey. 28:08 Maybe it won't play, but there's a road. 28:12 And this road was very special. 28:14 And... 28:15 There we go. 28:17 This road is very, very special. 28:18 It's actually a Roman road 28:20 that Paul and Barnabas walked on. 28:22 Where we had seen this in a book 28:24 called Biblical Anatolia. 28:26 I went up and looked for it 25 miles north of Tarsus, 28:28 I found it in the foothills below this Cilician gates. 28:32 And we were filming, and then this guy came by, 28:34 and he walked off into the sunset. 28:35 I got back and said, 28:37 "Was that an actor that you had?" 28:38 No, I said, that's the guy who lives out there. 28:40 That became the signature shot 28:41 of our series in the Footsteps of Paul, 28:43 and he doesn't know how famous he is 28:44 because people see him around the world. 28:50 I've been praying, "Lord, 28:52 we need somebody to illustrate an ox herder for the series." 28:56 Would you believe after the guy walks that way... 28:58 And here he goes on the screen talking to me. 29:02 Nice guy, I tried to explain 29:03 where I was from and what I was doing 29:05 and he didn't speak any English. 29:07 And in Tarsus, can you see they wear their pants, 29:10 you know, it's kind of pre hip-hop, 29:13 you know, the crotch comes down to the knees. 29:16 Interesting stories about that. 29:17 But anyway, a very nice guy. 29:19 Didn't speak any English, and he walked off. 29:23 I was praying for an ox herder, 29:24 and you believe after he walked into the sunset, 29:26 look what came down the road the other direction. 29:30 Hadn't even told the camera crew about it, 29:31 but fortunately, the oxen came, 29:33 and, you know, they kind of made fun of me 29:35 getting surrounded by oxen in some of the outtakes. 29:38 But after they passed by, look what happened? 29:41 You see our guy? 29:42 What's he got in his hand? 29:45 He's got a goad, 29:47 and he's got a sharp point on it 29:48 called a prick, 29:49 and he's picking them, right? 29:51 He's guiding them, and so the Holy Spirit, 29:56 "Saul, Saul, 29:58 it's hard to kick against the pricks 30:00 or hard to kick against the goads." 30:03 Moms, hard for our children 30:08 to kick against the Holy Spirit. 30:09 You know, to be lost, 30:10 you got to fight the strongest power 30:12 in the universe, the Holy Spirit 30:14 'cause the Holy Spirit is trying to do, what? 30:17 To lead you to repentance. 30:20 But, you know, when we're praying for people, 30:22 just like Saul, they resist, right? 30:24 He's resisting, he's fighting it. 30:26 Don't give up, keep praying, all right? 30:29 Keep on praying. 30:31 And so our guy comes behind with the goads. 30:34 They had also put these little sharp points 30:35 on oxen carts, 30:37 and they put a young oxen in there, 30:38 and they'd put them into the harness. 30:39 And maybe he kicked that cart, and guess what. 30:43 He wouldn't kick it he second time 30:44 because he kicked that little sharp stick 30:45 with the point on it, right? 30:48 And so the Lord said, 30:52 "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? 30:53 It's hard for you to kick against the goads." 30:57 Holy Spirit's trying to lead him to repentance, 30:58 and he's struggling with that. 31:00 And so Saul cries out and says, "Who are You, Lord?" 31:05 He says, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting." 31:10 The Holy Spirit is leading into repentance. 31:12 Well, let's read the next verse. 31:14 "The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless. 31:16 They heard the sound but did not see anyone. 31:19 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes, 31:21 he was blind." 31:23 Can you imagine? 31:25 He gets up, 31:27 he's overwhelmed by the theophany, 31:29 and now he gets up and cannot see. 31:32 Can you imagine the fanfare 31:33 he must have left from Jerusalem? 31:35 He's on a mission from the chief priest, 31:37 going to Damascus, a prestigious city. 31:40 And now can you imagine, the next verse, 31:43 "As they led him by the hand, blind, into Damascus. 31:49 And for three days, 31:50 he did not eat or drink anything." 31:52 That's actually a Roman gate. 31:54 And that Roman gate opens on to the Via Recta, 31:56 the Straight Street. 31:57 He's led down there, 31:58 and he's put into an end on Straight Street 32:01 in the house of Judas, remember? 32:06 And there he sits in the darkness, blind. 32:10 Well, I was going to tell you a story 32:12 about my first time on that street. 32:14 Maybe I have a moment, I'll tell you that story. 32:15 It's an interesting story. 32:18 I was on a solo journey 32:19 from Athens to Damascus in 1988. 32:22 And I got to Damascus, 32:25 and I went to the Umayyad Mosque. 32:26 The Umayyad Mosque at one time 32:28 was the largest mosque in the world. 32:29 It was a church of Justinian, 32:30 and it was converted into a mosque 32:32 after the Muslims conquered Damascus, 32:34 and they had a very interesting minaret out there, 32:36 and I'll tell you about that in just a moment. 32:38 But inside of this church 32:39 was the head of John the Baptist. 32:41 And so when you go there today, guess what, 32:44 there's a shrine for John the Baptist's head. 32:46 And Muslims come from around the world. 32:48 We can see it on the screen. 32:49 They come from around the world 32:50 and they pray there at the shrine 32:53 that has the head of John the Baptist in it. 32:55 Very interesting. 32:56 Well, I'd hurry about the minaret 32:58 and we'll go to the next slide. 32:59 The minaret actually is the Southwest minaret. 33:02 And what's interesting is Muslims believe 33:04 that Jesus will return in the sky 33:07 and land on that minaret in Damascus 33:10 when He comes the second time. 33:12 Yeah, interesting, 150 miles from Jerusalem. 33:15 And so they believe He'll come there 33:17 and land on that minaret. 33:18 And so I was trying to get pictures of that. 33:19 When you go into a mosque, 33:21 you ought to take your shoes off now. 33:22 I had some Saucony running shoes, 33:24 and they'd been up Mount Olympus, 33:25 they'd been up Mount Sinai, 33:26 and they'd been then up the Mount of Olives, 33:28 and they'd been up the mountain over Damascus, 33:29 and I thought I'm going to bronze these shoes. 33:30 You know, These shoes have been everywhere. 33:32 I came back and guess what happened? 33:34 Shoes had been stolen. 33:38 So I said, "At least I have the memories, Lord." 33:39 Well, now I'm shoeless. 33:41 So the guy is giving... 33:43 He's speaking in English. 33:44 It's being translated into Russian to a tour group. 33:46 When he was done with this tour, 33:47 I went over and said, "I just want to make sure 33:48 I've got the right minaret out here, 33:50 the southwest minaret." 33:51 And so we became friends, 33:53 and he found out that my shoes had been stolen. 33:56 He said, "You must come to my house, 33:59 and I'll give you a pair of sandals 34:00 to fly back to New York in. 34:02 And guess what street he lived on? 34:05 Straight Street. 34:06 That's right, and so Saul is there 34:08 in the Straight Street, 34:09 and he is there, 34:12 and he's sitting inside in the darkness. 34:14 And so we look at our text here in Acts. 34:18 "In Damascus, there was a disciple named Ananias. 34:22 And the Lord called to him in a vision, 'Ananias!' 34:25 'Yes, Lord,' he answered. 34:28 "The Lord told him, 'Go to the house of Judas 34:30 on Straight Street and ask for a man 34:32 from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying...'" 34:34 What? 34:36 I know who that guy is. 34:38 He's come here to ferret out the believers, 34:40 he's coming, you know, right? 34:42 I can't go and do that. 34:44 He'll kill me, he'll harass me, take me back to Jerusalem. 34:47 What? 34:50 And so it goes on and says, "'Lord,' Ananias answered, 34:52 'I've heard many reports about this man 34:53 and all the harm he has done to Your people in Jerusalem. 34:56 And he has come here with authority 34:57 from the chief priests to arrest all 34:59 who call on Your name.' 35:00 But the Lord said to Ananias, 35:02 'Go! This man is My chosen instrument.'" 35:03 Here's our memory text. 35:05 "'My chosen instrument 35:06 to proclaim My name to the Gentiles 35:08 and their kings and to the people of Israel.'" 35:12 Ananias, what was Ananias... 35:13 What did it say in the very first part of the text? 35:15 He's a what? A disciple. 35:17 And what do disciples do? 35:19 They do what their Lord asks, right? 35:21 And so he goes. 35:22 And can you imagine? 35:26 We have the next verse, 35:28 "Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. 35:30 Placing his hands on Saul he said, 35:33 'Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road 35:36 as you were coming here has sent me 35:39 so that you may see again 35:41 and be filled with the Holy Spirit.'" 35:42 Can you imagine? 35:44 What do you think Ananias and the believers 35:45 had been praying in Damascus? 35:49 May his bus run off the road, right? 35:53 May pirates attack him and kill him? 35:57 Do you think they had the courage 35:58 to actually pray for what God had in mind? 36:01 I doubt it. 36:03 And when he comes in, they don't believe it. 36:08 They were bracing for the enforcer. 36:10 And so he goes and he prays. 36:12 And the next verse says, 36:13 "Immediately, 36:14 something like scales fell from Saul's eyes 36:18 and he could see again. 36:21 He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, 36:24 he regained his strength." 36:27 And by the way, it wasn't just physical scales, 36:29 they were spiritual scales, spiritual scales 36:32 of misunderstanding Bible verses, right? 36:38 He was misguided. 36:39 There was a zeal that had to fall away 36:41 because he was very zealous, 36:43 he was just misguided and misdirected. 36:47 Now he can see physically and spiritually, and he says, 36:51 "Now what are you waiting for? Get up and be baptized." 36:53 My first time in Damascus, I took that picture in 1988. 36:56 I had pastors there around 1999, 36:59 and I told our young tour guide that I wanted to go 37:02 on Sabbath afternoon by the river 37:04 and do teaching for my pastors, 37:06 you know, to get them reoriented 37:08 on what we've been seeing in Syria. 37:10 And the young guy said, "What river?" 37:12 I said, "You know, the river that flows down 37:13 to the middle of town, you know, 37:15 it goes right down." 37:16 He had never seen that river 37:17 because they now use all the water for drinking. 37:21 The city is so big. 37:23 But the next verse is so incredible. 37:25 Acts 9:20, "At once, he began to preach 37:28 in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God." 37:34 He is preaching. 37:35 Can you imagine, this is a guy 37:36 who was to root out the Nazarene, 37:38 and now he's preaching that Jesus is the Son of God! 37:41 The enforcer is now teaching this, 37:43 the people are perplexed. 37:44 Is that a trick? Is it a ruse? 37:45 Are they just trying to get our names 37:47 so he can arrest us later on? 37:48 what's going on? 37:50 And I love the next verse. 37:52 Verse 22, "Yet Saul grew more and more powerful 37:56 and baffled the Jews living in Damascus 37:58 by proving that Jesus is the..." 38:03 Now sometimes we say Christ like it's Jesus' last name. 38:06 Forgive me for saying this. 38:08 We say Jesus Christ like it's, 38:09 you know, first name, last name. 38:11 What does Christ mean? 38:13 Messiah. Messiah. 38:14 Jesus, He's proving that Jesus is a Messiah, how? 38:18 The scriptures. 38:20 What was He using? 38:22 Romans? 38:23 Matthew? 38:26 He was using the Hebrew scriptures 38:27 because there was no New Testament. 38:29 Let's fill our minds with the Hebrew scriptures 38:32 so that we too can share with Jewish people 38:37 that Jesus is a Messiah. 38:38 Well, it gets hot in Damascus. 38:40 He slips away, he goes down into Arabia. 38:42 He spends three years there pondering, pondering. 38:46 And now all the rabbinical training 38:47 that he has comes into focus 38:48 as he sees Jesus as the Messiah. 38:51 And so we'll skip over that verse. 38:52 Maybe he went to Petra, maybe went to Palmyra, 38:55 we don't know where he went, 38:56 but now all the rabbinical training 38:57 from Gamaliel focuses in on Jesus being the Messiah. 39:02 And then we're going to skip down, 39:03 Debbie, to, "After many days had gone by, 39:06 the Jews conspired to kill him, but Saul learned of their plan. 39:09 Day and night 39:10 they kept close watch on the city gates 39:12 in order to kill him. 39:14 But his followers took him by night 39:15 and lowered him in a basket 39:16 through an opening in the wall." 39:18 It gets so hot when he comes back. 39:19 He's preaching that Jesus is the Messiah. 39:21 The Jewish people are so baffled 39:23 that they go to King Herod and they say, 39:24 "Do away with this guy." 39:25 And they locked the city gates. 39:27 And can you believe the very people 39:28 he came to destroy, 39:31 their hands are now used to deliver Saul? 39:35 And he escapes and he goes to Jerusalem. 39:37 Can you imagine the Hallelujah moment 39:39 when it gets to the General Conference 39:41 in Jerusalem, right? 39:43 "You know, they sent me out to do this 39:44 and now I'm coming back..." 39:45 Can you imagine what he's expecting the welcome? 39:49 Is it the most significant event that's happened 39:51 since the resurrection of Jesus in the church? 39:53 You bet. 39:55 This rabbi trained by Gamaliel. 39:58 But notice what it says in the Bible, 39:59 "When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, 40:03 but they were all afraid of him, 40:07 not believing that he really was a disciple." 40:11 Imagine the shock. 40:13 Hadn't they heard the good news? 40:14 Wasn't the internet up? 40:18 Weren't there any phone calls? 40:19 But they shun him. 40:22 They don't believe his conversion is real. 40:24 Has that ever happened to you? 40:28 You know, folks, let's have our eyes open 40:31 to who is God bringing into our communities, right? 40:34 Don't shun them, reach out and love them. 40:38 Reach out and love them. 40:39 And so the next verse says, 40:42 "But Barnabas took him 40:44 and brought him to the apostles. 40:46 He told them how Saul 40:47 on his journey had seen the Lord 40:49 and that the Lord had spoken to him, 40:50 and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly 40:52 in the name of Jesus." 40:54 It must have hurt to be rejected 40:55 and shunned like that. 40:58 Who comes up? What's the guy's name? 41:01 Barnabas. What does Barnabas mean? 41:05 Son of encouragement because he was an ASI member. 41:09 He sold his property 41:11 and he gave everything to the believers, right? 41:13 And they divided, and there was there was stuff 41:14 to go around, and so... 41:16 And they nicknamed him. 41:18 No longer you're called Barnabas, 41:19 you're gonna be the son of... 41:21 His real name is Joseph, right? 41:23 He was from Levi family in Cyprus. 41:26 But no longer will you be called Joseph, 41:28 you'll be called son of encouragement. 41:31 Are you a son of encouragement? 41:34 Are you a daughter of encouragement? 41:36 So many discouraging words are spoken among us. 41:40 In our churches, 41:41 there's all little so many discouraging words. 41:43 I want to be a son of encouragement, 41:45 don't you? 41:46 You think back to people who encourages in your life. 41:51 You know, I had a grandma, 41:52 if I want to eat chocolate for breakfast, 41:54 she said, "That's great." 41:55 She had encouraged me, encouraged me, prayed for me, 41:59 try to tell me a better way, and it made a difference. 42:02 But our next verse says, "So Saul stayed with them 42:06 and moved about freely in Jerusalem, 42:07 speaking boldly in the name of the Lord." 42:10 And after Barnabas vouches for Saul, 42:15 Saul's brought into the community, 42:16 he's preaching there, and it's been 15 days, 42:19 and it's exciting, 42:20 and then he goes back up to Tarsus 42:22 where he stays 42:23 until his old friend Barnabas 42:26 comes up and gets them, 42:28 and then they go off on their first missionary journey. 42:30 Oh, they go down to Antioch, and then they all 42:32 might go on their first missionary journey. 42:34 And the church has revolutionized 42:36 by what they're doing. 42:37 And so he speaks boldly in the name of the Lord. 42:40 And so Saul would later write 42:41 to his son in the Gospel, Timothy, 42:43 he would write and say, 42:44 "Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves all acceptance. 42:49 Christ Jesus came into this world 42:51 to save sinners 42:53 of whom I am the worst or the chief." 42:57 No matter how good Saul was later, 43:00 no matter what he accomplished, he still remembered one thing, 43:02 his roots. 43:04 I'm the chief of sinners. 43:07 He wasn't majoring in minors, was he? 43:09 That's the issue. 43:11 We're all from the same cloth. 43:14 Now I love the story of Saul, 43:19 his dramatic conversion. 43:21 Some of you read in the program about my conversion. 43:26 And as I said earlier, 43:27 I kind of grew up around Adventism. 43:29 I had a grandmother who said, 43:30 "If you will finish pisgah' I'll buy you a Harley," 43:33 pretty good deal, right? 43:35 Unfortunately, I got a one-way ticket to jail, 43:38 busted for marijuana in 1970, 43:41 and couldn't get back 43:43 into my little school in North Carolina 43:44 because they didn't want drug offenders in the school 43:48 even though I was a young adult. 43:50 And so I started a whole different direction 43:52 down a different road and became very, very involved 43:56 in the counterculture, and the flow of drugs 43:58 for our small town in Salisbury, 44:00 which is where there are more millionaires 44:02 in that county than any county in North Carolina 44:03 because of Food Lion stock. 44:06 Interesting, there's a little funny story there. 44:08 And I was going a whole different direction, 44:12 but I had a grandma who was praying for me, right? 44:16 My grandma was praying for me. 44:17 And while I could reject the Christianity 44:19 and most Christians I knew, and say, us, in that day, 44:22 some of you are old, like I am, plastic society. 44:26 It's not really genuine, 44:28 not real, 44:29 I could reject that or I rejected it anyway. 44:32 But I couldn't reject... 44:33 I knew hers was genuine, and she was praying for me, 44:35 and I'll never forget, 44:38 went to a lot of rock'n'roll festivals. 44:39 It's amazing, what doesn't get out of your mind. 44:42 I did all kinds of things that I'm not proud of, 44:45 but I wouldn't open my eyes in prayer, 44:47 and I wouldn't eat pork. 44:49 Shoot drugs, but I wouldn't do that other. 44:53 And so I went to see 44:55 what I thought was a greatest show on earth, 44:56 The Rolling Stones tour in 1972. 44:58 It was in Charlotte, North Carolina, July the 6th. 45:00 And I'll never forget what happened 45:02 because Stevie Wonder played. 45:03 Now he's taking a lot of hallucinogenic drugs. 45:06 Stevie Wonder played, 45:07 and they moved the equipment, and I saw... 45:09 I don't know what was there, but I saw two serpents 45:10 playing on the floor. 45:12 Now, "Oh, no, 45:14 even Mick Jagger knows there's a devil." 45:18 And then I heard a voice saying, "Yes, I'm real, 45:20 and you sold your soul to me. 45:21 You've committed the sin against the Holy Spirit." 45:24 Heavy, well, they always clap for an encore, 45:28 and the roadie came and said, "Thank you, we're through." 45:30 And the devil said, "And you are through, 45:31 you have to die tonight for your sins." 45:32 I'm a sinner, no doubt about it. 45:34 Well, my whole group left, and I hate to say it, 45:36 I was driving, and so I drove our group 45:37 back out to the farm, 45:38 and they partied, and I pondered, 45:40 and the next day I went to my grandma's house. 45:41 She had those old Conflict of Ages series 45:43 with the pictures, 45:44 I was so spaced out, I couldn't... 45:46 All I could do is kind of thumb through the pictures. 45:47 And I ran across a picture 45:49 of Jesus speaking 45:51 to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. 45:52 Remember what He's doing? 45:54 He's stepping on the head of the serpent. 45:56 I got a little bit... 45:58 "Maybe He's stronger than the serpent." 46:03 Well, I kind of verbalized something 46:04 to grandma about what happened. 46:06 She gave me Desire of Ages. 46:07 I took it down to Atlanta and took a friend home. 46:08 And while I was there, I started reading. 46:10 I remember reading that beautiful quote, 46:12 "Jesus was treated as we deserved to be treated 46:15 that we might be treated as He deserved to be treated. 46:18 He was condemned for our sins which He had no share 46:19 that we might be justified by His righteousness 46:22 and by His stripes we are healed." 46:23 I said, "Wow." 46:25 If that's what You're like, I want to get to know You." 46:28 So I gave my heart to Jesus there, 46:30 and went back. 46:31 And anyway, went back and had one last party. 46:34 And my best friend, who was 40 years old, 46:36 an African American guy with a nose ring 46:38 in North Carolina, 1972, and he said, 46:41 "You can't get away from it, can you?" 46:42 I said, "Oh, Lord, please help me." 46:44 Last time I did that. 46:45 So I just want to say grandmas, grandpas, moms, dads, children, 46:50 praying for your parents, 46:53 don't give up, right? 46:55 God did an incredible thing on the road to Damascus 46:58 in the life of Saul. 47:00 He can do the same in your family. 47:01 He did in mine. 47:03 He did in my life, I know, 47:04 and He can do it in your family's life too, 47:05 don't give up. 47:07 Keep praying for them. Let's pray together. 47:08 Father in heaven, 47:10 thank You so much for the incredible miracle 47:12 that happened on the road to Damascus, 47:13 how You spoke to this Jewish rabbi 47:16 trained by Gamaliel 47:18 and how that his life was turned around. 47:20 Thank You for doing that in my life. 47:21 Give these folks courage, I pray. 47:23 As I pray for their children, and loved ones, and family 47:26 that they too might find that joy and peace in Jesus 47:29 that we have is my prayer. 47:31 In Jesus' name, amen. 47:33 So God bless you as you walk in 47:35 not only in the footsteps of Paul 47:36 but in the footsteps of the one 47:38 that Paul was following Jesus Himself, right? 47:40 And bless you in your journey. |
Revised 2019-02-18