Am I Too Far Gone for God? | Acts 9:1-19 | Kevin Queen

That's right, you can stand, it's time to praise the Lord in his house. If you're worshiping online or at God behind bars, God bless you. You're part of our church, too. Hey, wave your hands if you got something to be grateful for this morning. Look at all the testimonies in the room, man. We got a lot of reasons to praise the Lord. And this is the house that we pray for. We pray for the people that you lead. We pray for those that you've lost. We pray for those that you need. We pray for those that you've lost. We pray for those that you're losing. We pray for those that you need. We want to praise the Lord. And this is the house that we praise him in. Hey, Scripture also says to sing a new song to the Lord. I want to teach you a new song today called, Then Sings My Soul. You've never heard it before, but it's okay. I'm going to sing it for you. I want you to join in as soon as you can. I'm going to praise and reference to our savior, Jesus Christ, who has done so much for us. Can we start off by saying, praise the Lord, everybody? Come on, say it loud, and say, praise the Lord! One more time, say, praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord! Come on, let's do it. Oh, we praise you, we praise you. The world you hold, the mountains and the sea How can it be, the maker of the heavens Would call my name and breathe new life in me And then sings my soul, how great, how great you are Then sings my soul, how great, how great you are Let's clap our hands like this, come on everybody. It's good to praise the Lord, come on. To think that God would make His home among us Rejected by no ones, He came to save How can it be, the great I am surrendered And by His blood, my sins are washed away Then sings my soul, how great, how great you are Then sings my soul, how great, how great you are To your name, the one who reigns beyond the glory And all the praise, then sings my soul, how great, how great you are I heard one day, the King is soon returning And we will rise with those who've gone before How can it be, we'll stand before His glory And praise His holy name forevermore Then sings my soul, how great, how great you are Then sings my soul, how great, how great you are To your name, the one who reigns beyond the glory And all the praise, to your name, the one who reigns beyond the glory And all the praise, then sings my soul, how great, how great you are Then sings my soul, how great, how great you are Somebody praise the Lord! ♪ Oh my soul, oh my soul, come on church, worship Him ♪

♪ Sing like never before, oh my soul, I'll worship your holy name ♪ ♪ Sing like never before, oh my soul, I'll worship your holy name ♪ ♪ The sun comes up, it's a new day dawned, it's time to sing your song again ♪ ♪ Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me, I'll worship your holy name ♪ ♪ Let me be seen when the evening comes, so bless the Lord, oh my soul, oh my soul, worship His name, worship His holy name ♪ ♪ Sing like never before, oh my soul, I'll worship your holy name ♪ ♪ Sing like never before, oh my soul, I'll worship your holy name ♪ ♪ You're rich in love and you're slow to wait, your name is great and your heart is kind ♪ ♪ For all your goodness I will keep on singing, 10,000 reasons for my life, 10,000 reasons for my life ♪ ♪ For all your goodness I will keep on singing, 10,000 reasons for my life, 10,000 reasons for my life ♪ ♪ For all your goodness I will keep on singing, 10,000 reasons for my life, 10,000 reasons for my life ♪ ♪ For all your goodness I will keep on singing 10,000 reasons for my life 10,000 reasons for my life 10,000 reasons for my life ♪ ♪ And sing like never before, oh my soul I worship your holy Name » ♪ And on that day when my strength is fair The end draws near and my time has come ♪ Still my soul will sing your praise unending 10,000 years and then forevermore So bless the Lord, come on Church! And bless the Lord, oh We worship your name now So sing like never before, oh my soul I worship your holy Name Let's lift it up! So bless the Lord, oh We worship your holy Name So sing like never before, oh my soul I worship your holy Name I will worship your holy Name I will worship your holy Name Yes Lord! Someone say bless the Lord Can someone say praise the Lord Let's keep doing it, He's worthy Oh for all that you've done for us

For all that you're doing right now For all that you're gonna do We praise you Lord Come on All the earth will shout your praise Our hearts will cry Are you Lord? That's it Church, come on, one big choir All right, let's sing, come on. ♪ All the earth will shout your praise ♪ ♪ Our hearts will cry, these bones will sing ♪ ♪ Singing great are you Lord ♪ Everybody sing, everybody sing, all the earth. ♪ All the earth will shout your praise ♪ ♪ Our hearts will cry, these bones will sing ♪ Sing it great. ♪ Great are you Lord ♪ All the earth, all the earth, all the earth will shout your praise. ♪ All the earth will shout your praise ♪ ♪ Our hearts will cry, these bones will sing ♪ Sing it great, great are you Lord. ♪ Great are you Lord ♪ Come on church, let's sing, it's your breath. ♪ It's your breath in our lungs ♪ ♪ So we pour out our praise, pour out our praise ♪ ♪ It's your breath in our lungs ♪ ♪ So we pour out our praise to you only ♪ ♪ It's your breath in our lungs ♪ ♪ So we pour out our praise, pour out our praise ♪

♪ It's your breath in our lungs ♪ ♪ So we pour out our praise to you only ♪ Oh you're great Jesus. ♪ Great are you Lord ♪ He's worthy to be praised, worthy to be praised. Oh you're great Lord. ♪ Great are you Lord ♪ He is worthy, he is worthy. Great are you Lord, come on. ♪ Great are you Lord ♪ Worthy, worthy, worthy. ♪ Great are you Lord, great are you Lord ♪ ♪ Great are you Lord, great are you Lord ♪ Come on church, come on church he's worthy. Can you shout hallelujah? ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ Can you shout praise the Lord? Can you shout hallelujah? Hallelujah, hallelujah. We magnify you, we glorify you. We praise you. Oh we praise you. ♪ Great are you Lord ♪ Come on lift your voice and sing it. ♪ Great are you Lord, great are you Lord ♪ Yeah he's worthy, come on. ♪ Great are you Lord, great are you Lord ♪ Sing it again, sing it again. Great are you Lord, come on. ♪ Great are you Lord, great are you Lord ♪

Church the breath in your lungs is borrowed property. We don't own the breath that we took five seconds ago. We don't own the one that's coming by God's grace. And how can we receive from God and not give back to him what he's given us? And so I wanna invite you, you don't have to have a big vocabulary or a big degree to praise God. All you have to do is use whatever small words you have to give credit back to him who gave you your breath this morning. You don't deserve your breath. I don't deserve my breath, but he gave it to you before you thought or asked for it. So how can we come in his house and not give him what belongs to him? We need to say, praise the Lord. Yeah, come on, if that breath belongs to him, can you say it again? Praise the Lord. Now I'm not gonna tell you what to say. I want you to find something in your heart, in your soul to give back to him. The band's gonna play and as they play, you praise him based on what he's done for you, church. He woke you up, he gave you clothes and food and shelter. In your right mind, he's worthy of your praise. Are you ready? Come on church, let's just praise him, let's do it. Come on.

Alleluia. Alleluia. We praise you. You're worthy of this praise. You're worthy of this praise. Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! We give you praise! We give you praise! We praise you! We glorify you! We magnify you! Worthy is the Lamb! Worthy is the King! Hey! It's your breath and our praise! Can you raise your hand? We'll sing it one more time. Come on. It's your breath, lift it high! And our loss, show me our praise. Great are you Lord! Great are you Lord! Great are you Lord! Great are you Lord! I will exalt you my God the King. I will praise your name forever and ever. Every day I will praise you and extol your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise. His greatness no one can fathom. One generation commends your works to another. They tell of your mighty acts. They speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty. And I will meditate on your wonderful works. They tell of the power of your awesome works.

And I will proclaim your great deeds. They celebrate your abundant goodness. And joyfully sing of your righteousness. The Lord is gracious and compassionate. Slow to anger and rich in love. Father we thank you for your love. Even right now with our hands open wide. We just, we receive. We receive your love that is without condition. We receive your grace that has been poured out. We thank you. As we look to the cross. We see what love looks like. Jesus thank you that you laid down your life for us. So that we could receive abundant life. And today we receive abundant life. Even right now. Holy Spirit we pray that you would speak. That you would say the words that our hearts long to hear. Even now I just sense that faith is rising. In your church that faith is rising in our hearts. Ready to not just hear the word but to receive the word. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. You can be seated. And can we just give God praise in the house today. So grateful for the team leading us in worship every week. And man just still, still fired up over what God did this past week. Over 90 people who were baptized last Sunday. Can we just give God praise for that again as well.

I love, love, love the pictures. And you see everybody who's baptized has on, they get a jersey. Anything's possible jersey. And you just see those words. And when you see those words it may be helpful for you to understand that we didn't make that up. That's not our brand promise that we came up with. That comes from Jesus. And because we believe that with Jesus anything's possible. Because Jesus said it. And we have the receipts. Like we've seen it to be true but Jesus said it. He was talking one time with a father who was struggling with faith. And he said everything is possible for the one who believes. Anything's possible. It's what Jesus said. For the one who believes. And when we go to what he's saying in Mark chapter 9. What Jesus is saying. He says it's not so much about your level of faith. It's about the opposite. object of your faith. In other words, it's not about the level of your belief, it's about the one that you're believing in. And Jesus said it this way, another time he was talking, he said, faith of a mustard seed can move mountains. And so a lot of times we think of like mountain moving faith. He said, we have a mountain moving God that we put our mustard seed faith.

So if you're here today and you feel like, all I've got is mustard seed faith, I want you to know you're in the right place. Because we bring that mustard seed faith to God and he is writing anything's possible stories. We're gonna see one today. It is a mountain moving story. There was a man that nobody thought would ever change, but he has an encounter with the living God and his life is radically changed. So much that God uses him to change the world. We're gonna look at his story in Acts chapter nine. And man, I will tell you, I love a good collision. Like that's why we watch sports. You're wondering why we watch sports? It's like we like, like that's the only reason anybody watches NASCAR. It's just a good, that's why we like hockey. That's why I like MMA. So I watch sports is to see a good collision. I mean, you know, in baseball when Brown and third coming home, relay throw is coming in. I mean, in that moment, like we're looking for that. That's the reason we get excited. Anybody excited college football's here? First game, somebody said, praise God had a spiritual experience on the front row. Like that's the reason, first game of the college football season coming up this week.

It is UNC versus TCU in Dublin, Ireland. I will even watch that game. I mean, we just, we love a good collision. There's something about two people just come right at each other and then boom, and then they collide and then something has to give. Well, we're gonna look today what I believe to be one of the greatest collisions of all time. And it's in Acts chapter nine. It is Saul's collision with the risen Christ. Saul has a collision with the risen Christ. Saul is going his way, doing his own thing. And he collides with Jesus on the Damascus road and it changes everything for him. In that moment, there's this collision with the grace and it changes his purpose. It changes his direction. It changes what he's living for. It changes his calling. It changes his sense of significance. It changes the church. It changes the trajectory of the book of Acts. It shapes the New Testament as we hold it. So 2,000 years later, the shock waves of the collision that we're gonna read about, we experience the shock waves even today. So Acts chapter nine, if you've got a Bible, you can turn there with me. Acts chapter nine, we're gonna pick up in verse one. And this passage today is gonna answer some questions

that we have. Questions like, can somebody ever be too far gone? Questions like, what are the true marks of a follower of Jesus? How do you know if somebody is a true follower of Jesus? Can God redeem my past, the brokenness of my past? And what happens to a life when a life collides with Jesus? We're gonna look at today. So what I wanna do is, you may have questions of your own. I believe that God can answer those questions. You may have mountains in your life, you're praying that God would move. My prayer is that you'd be encouraged and the Spirit of God would speak to you as we get in the text today. I'm gonna read a few verses and then we'll pray together. Verse one, meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. And he went to the high priest and he asked 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. And as he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for your word. Your word is truth. Your word is a lamp to our feet and light to our path. I pray that today you'd light it up.

Lord, would you reveal next steps for us? Holy Spirit, would you illuminate your truth? And I pray for an encounter, just like Saul had an encounter with Jesus, would we have an encounter with the risen Christ through your word? Pray in Jesus' name, amen, amen. So this, what we're about to read about, it is Saul's collision with grace. Saul has a collision with grace. And before we get into what happened in the collision, it might be helpful to just go back and run it back. And I want you to just think about how lost Saul is. Saul is, he is, he is lost, lost. Because he is in opposition of the movement of Jesus. Saul wants to, he wants to take out Christians. He is overseeing their deaths. Saul is, he is, he is wanting to terrorize the church for all intents and purposes. He is a religious terrorist. So when you think of Saul, I want you to think of like ISIS that's killing Christians in the Congo. Or Boko Haram murdering believers in Nigeria that's going on right now. Or Al-Shabaab attacking Christians in Kenya. He is wanting to destroy the movement of Jesus. And so the early believers, that early movement, they were called the way. And so he, Saul is going the other way

and he's trying to mow down followers of Christ. And so once you see, this is where he is. He is threatening Christians. He is supervising, he is overseeing their deaths. He is taking delight in the deaths of Christians. He has traveled all the way 150 miles from Jerusalem to Damascus to hunt down believers. That's like walking from Chattanooga to Nashville to find a few Christians, to take them back in chains and to jail them in Jerusalem. So, I mean, he is set on destroying, on terrorizing the church. And this is the man that Jesus is about to save. And so what I hope you see from this is there is nobody who is too far gone. Can you tell your neighbor there is nobody who is too far gone? Say even you, I'm just saying, say even me, right? There is nobody that is too far gone. Here's what you see. You can't out-sin the cross. It is impossible to out-sin the cross. You can't out-run the grace of God. You cannot, it's impossible to escape his mercy. Listen, you may have wrecked a marriage. You may have destroyed a career. You may be wracked by addiction. You may have burned more bridges than you can count. You may have blown opportunities. You may have left a trail of people that you've hurt.

You may have become somebody that you never imagined possible. But I want you to see what the apostle Paul, what he writes 30 years later after this, at 1 Timothy 1, verse 15, he says, here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the worst. You may have looked in the mirror and thought I'm the worst. Saul would say, no, no, no. He said, let me argue with you because I am. He's saying, I am the worst. But for that very reason, I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. He's saying, look at me, I am proof. Saul would say, I am exhibit A. I am a poster child for the patience of God. God should have wiped me out. He should have taken me out. When I was an enemy of Christ, when I was persecuting Christians. Listen, if God can save me, he can save all y'all. That's in the Greek, all y'all. He's saying, if God can save me, he can save anybody. So this brings hope to our hearts. This brings hope to our hearts. Maybe you've got a son who's a prodigal

or you got a daughter that's lost her way. Or maybe you've got a friend who's given up on faith or a spouse that's walked away from God. God hasn't walked away from them. If God can reach Saul of Tarsus, he can reach anybody. And what I want you to see is before Saul was ever looking for Jesus, Jesus was looking for Saul. If this was an amening kind of church, y'all would have done it just then. I'm just, I'm a, but because we're a place of grace, I'm gonna give you another chance. Before Saul was ever looking for Jesus, Jesus was looking for Saul. Golly, I might, better cancel your lunch plans. I might preach for a while, all right. So Saul has this encounter with Jesus. He has this encounter with Jesus in verse three. It says, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? Who are you, Lord, Saul asked. I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, he replied. Now notice that word suddenly. It wasn't on his calendar. It wasn't on his agenda. It wasn't on his plan. He gets ambushed by the grace of God. And so Jesus pursues him and in Acts 26, he says, there was this light.

He says, the light was brighter. He's talking about this moment, he's recalling. He says, the light was brighter than the midday sun. So he gets this vision of Jesus, this revelation of Jesus. Jesus appears to Saul. Now this is life-changing because he. He thought Jesus was dead. And so he has this encounter with the risen Christ. And so Jesus is actually alive and Jesus talks to him. He says, saw, saw. Now this lines up with other places in scripture when God talks to people and God says things like, Abraham, Abraham, Jacob, Jacob, Moses, Moses, Samuel, Samuel. Moses, Moses, Samuel, Samuel. Jesus said, Martha, Martha, Simon, Simon. I think when God says somebody's name two times, first, he wants to get their attention and second, it's a term of endearment. Saw, saw. Saw. There's a lot of other things Jesus could have said. He could have said, persecutor, persecutor. Killer, killer. Murderer, murderer. Hater, hater. Once you see Jesus didn't hold up his rap sheet. Jesus held out his heart. Saw, saw. And he extends this moment for him where he reveals who he is and he asked the question,

saw, saw, why do you persecute me? Now this is wild. What's wild about this is that he says, why do you persecute me? He didn't say, why do you persecute them? Talking about Christians, he said, why do you persecute me? Because what Jesus is saying is that, saw, how you treat my people is how you're treating me. Now many theologians would say this is where Paul gets his theology of the body of Christ. That as the church, as followers of Jesus, as Christians, we are the body of Christ. And so Jesus said, how you treat my people is how you treat me. Jesus takes it personally how we treat other believers. When we love them, we're loving Christ. When we serve them, we're serving Christ. When we serve one another, we're not just serving, we're not just, he's saying, we're not just an institution. I mean, we are an institution, but not an institution formed by man. We're the body of Christ. Not just like a nonprofit organization. I mean, I hope we have profits, but we're not just like a 501c3. We do have 501c3 status, but you know what I'm saying? Like, that's not the extent. We are the body of Christ. That as a church, as believers, we are the body of Christ. And so it doesn't mean that the body of Christ

can't be challenged and as the body of Christ, we can't be rebuked, but we need to know that it's impossible to say I love Jesus, but I hate the church. Because the church is the body of Christ. Jesus is the head. And so Paul would say, Paul was learning. He's learning in this moment that Jesus said he takes it personally how we love and serve one another as followers of Christ. And so Saul has this encounter with Jesus. He sees this light. He hears this voice. He asked the question, who are you? And Jesus says, he says, I am Jesus. Now in this moment, have you ever had a come to your senses kind of moment where you were heading one way and then you have a moment and you're like, I saw something I didn't see before. Some would call it hitting rock bottom. Saul is already on the ground. And he has this moment where he says, I am Jesus. Now, the reason this moment just blew his mind is because he thought Jesus was dead. He thought Jesus was a failed Messiah. He thought that Christianity is a myth. Maybe you have a similar story in that you once thought that, but then you had an encounter with truth and you saw, you saw what you didn't see before.

I love how Dallas Willard, philosopher Dallas Willard, how he wrote about this. Great quote. He said, truth reveals reality. And reality can be described as what we humans run into when we are wrong. We run into reality when we are wrong. He said, it's a collision in which we always lose. And so Saul has this moment where he has this collision with truth. And one of the ways we know is because his posture changes. I mean, just a minute ago, he was walking into Damascus. He was strutting into Damascus. About to pull a hamstring strutting because he had his letters ready to come arrest those Christians. He's got his entourage. He's got the group that's with him. He has a plan. He has an agenda. And in this moment, he goes from being large and in charge to now Jesus is calling the shots. That's how you know you've had a collision with grace. You go from you being the one calling the shots in your life to realizing that Jesus. He's calling the shots. And so he asked him, he asked him, what do I need to do? And verse six says, now go up, get up and go. Jesus is like, get up, go into the city

and you will be told what you must do. The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless. They heard the sound, but did not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes, he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. And for three days, he was blind and did not eat or drink anything. And just the contrast, he goes into the city wanting to seize Christians and now he can't even see any. This man who thought he could see everything clearly has had an encounter with the risen Christ and now he's blind and for three days, like he can't even get to the city by himself. He is helpless. He is being humbled because God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. It says, he's having to be led by the hand into the city. He gets there and for three days, he's in darkness. So for three days, I want you to, for three days, he's thinking. He's thinking about what just happened. For three days, he's thinking about the scriptures. He's thinking about what he's done. For three days, he's reflecting on the decisions that he's made in life and longing. Longing for and not knowing. He doesn't know that it's gonna be three days. He doesn't know how long it's going to last. And it's in that place that he begins to think

about the resurrection and he thinks about Jesus. And everything began to make sense. Starts clicking into place in three days. Now, if you've got a Bible, you might wanna circle those words three days because anytime you see three days in the Bible, you know God's about to do something good. Jonah and a fish. Esther fasting and praying before deliverance of the people. And now Saul, he's there fasting and praying for three days in Jesus and in the tomb. That's the best one. Three days usually means there's a setup coming. Three days means there's a resurrection that's about to take place. God is working behind the scenes. Verse 10, it says, in Damascus, there was a disciple named Ananias. Now, a certain disciple is what some versions say. This just means an ordinary disciple, an ordinary Christian. He's not a prophet, not a pastor, not an apostle, not an evangelist. He's a certain disciple. It says, the Lord called to him in a vision. Ananias, yes, Lord, he answered. The Lord told him, go to the house of Judas, which was a common name, on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying.

Stop right there. What's Saul doing for three days? He's praying. He's crying out to God. And God hears his prayer. And God gives Saul a vision. It says, in a vision, he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight. Lord, Ananias answered, I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priest to arrest all who call on your name. So God gives Ananias a pin location on the map. I mean, it's like GPS. He gives him the exact location of where Saul is. So now he knows. He knows the street that he's on, the house that he's in. He knows all this. And God says, Ananias, you're gonna find Saul of Tarsus. And I want you to go and lay hands on him and pray for him. And he's gonna be able to see, because he's blind. And I was like, I'll lay hands on him. I mean, do you know what he's done? Or maybe he's thinking, God, I'm gonna go there. But how about I don't go there? How about he just stays blind? God, if he would just stay blind, this would be better for all of us.

Man, imagine the courage that this took. God said to Ananias, he's praying and I've told him you're coming. I bet he's thinking, well, maybe there's another Ananias. God, I went to high school with a guy named Ananias Jones. Can you ask Ananias Jones? Verse 15. Thank you for laughing at that joke. I just see you laughed out loud and I just felt better about myself. I appreciate it. Dad joke, it was. Says, but the Lord said to Ananias, go. This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name. God says, Ananias, it's not just your calling, it's somebody else's calling to stay. So I want you to go. I want you to get up and I want you to go because Ananias, all he could see was Saul's past, but God could see his future. And this is the power of a prophetic word. This is the power of a word of strength, a word of encouragement, a word that we can offer one another because God uses words like this to help us see what he has in store. God has a calling.

God has a calling that's on his life. He says, he's gonna be a chosen instrument of mine. In other words, I haven't just done the work on Damascus road so that Saul would sit on the side. Hold up. God hasn't just done the work on your Damascus road so that you would sit on the sidelines or in the stands, but you are a chosen instrument. God chose you. God called you. And sometimes we need other people to come alongside and remind us of that, because we can forget that word chosen instrument. It means a vessel and it means to carry. He's like, he's gonna carry my name to the Jews. He's gonna carry my name to the Gentiles. He's gonna carry my name to kings. He's gonna stand before kings. He's gonna stand before royalty, before the VIPs of this world. He's gonna stand and proclaim my name. Oh yes. And also tell him how much he's gonna suffer. Tell him he must suffer for my name. And I was thinking about that. I was like, man, we want, like we read this, we're like stand before kings. That sounds incredible. But oh yeah, let him know he's gonna suffer. He said, we want the glory of standing before kings.

Ma'am, he said, he can't run from the suffering because there will be suffering. We all have, you have a call attached to your life, but there will be suffering. Anything's possible. But that doesn't mean everything's painless. There will be suffering attached, but tell brother Saul, tell Saul it's worth it. There will be suffering in our call, but it's worth it because it's not for our name. It's when we get to carry the name. We're chosen instruments to carry the name. And what happens next is one of the most beautiful moments of grace in all the Bible. It says, then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Now, I just want you to imagine you're Ananias. You're walking down straight street. You're walking down, you're going to Judah's house up here. Can you imagine how fast his heart was beating? I mean, what if we got this wrong? What if he's really not blind? What if he's just got something in his eye? I mean, it's like, what am I gonna expect? Imagine how fast his heart was beating. Listen, obedience. Obedience doesn't mean that your heart's not beating fast. It just means that you keep walking. And so he keeps walking to the house. He gets to the threshold of the house. He knocks on the door, door opens, he looks inside

and he sees a man that's sitting over in the corner covered in dust, cannot see, something like scales on his eyes. And as he sits there, he looks like he hasn't eaten in days. And he's thinking, this is Saul, the butcher. This is Saul, the killer. This is Saul, the murderer. This is Saul, the persecutor of the church. And Ananias, with compassion in his heart and such courage, imagine him just walking over, slowly walking over. And it says, placing his hands on Saul, he said, brother Saul, brother Saul. The persecutor, the one who was ripping families apart. Ananias says, you're my brother. Welcome to the family of God. Saul could not see. Before he ever heard the words, he felt the touch of kindness. He extended his hand. How much faith for Ananias to say, I'm welcoming you in. He said, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit. And immediately, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes and he could see again. He got up and was baptized. And after taking some food, regained his strength. Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. I mean, think about this.

In the making, this is the story of how Saul becomes Paul, how he goes from this great persecutor of the church to the greatest church planner that the church has ever known in the history of the church to this great missionary. And all of this hinges on this moment, this person Ananias who didn't have a book deal. He wasn't a famous Christian. Hardly anybody. He knew who he was, but God did. And God's like Ananias, I've got an assignment for you. Do you know that the living God has assignments? There are good works that he's prepared in advance for you. You are his masterpiece. You are a chosen instrument. And sometimes, sometimes it's just ordinary acts of obedience that release the next chosen instrument that God has. He said, will you step out in faith and compassion and courage? And trust me. And so what happens next, man? Saul is never the same again, and his life has changed. And I want you to see that right after his salvation, we just see this chain of events that I think are these, these marks of a New Testament follower of Jesus. I'm gonna put them up on the screen. I'm not gonna put them, the team's gonna put them on the screen behind me. And you're gonna say, I want you to see these.

And I want you to, if you're ever wondering, like, what does it look like? What does it look like to be a follower of Jesus? I mean, it is an act of grace. It's a collision with grace. But what happens, okay. Grace is how we're saved, by grace through faith. But if we're truly following Jesus, there is going to be a result in our lives. There will be evidence that we are followers of Jesus. And so these are some of the things that when we look at Saul's life, we just see instantly, this is what happens. First off, he sees Jesus clearly for who he is as the son of God. So he has revelation to see. He understands that Jesus is the son of God. Second is he's filled with the Holy Spirit. Do you realize the moment that you trust in Christ, the Spirit of God comes and dwells in that. God doesn't live in a temple out there. He lives in the hearts of his people. So Saul was going into Damascus full of himself, but now he's full of the Spirit of God. The next thing that happens is he's baptized. And so he's not baptized to become a Christian. He's baptized because he is one, because he's a follower of Jesus. He's like, I want everybody to know I'm following Jesus now. And then he obeys immediately.

He just does the next thing God calls him to do. There's a reason he calls him Lord Jesus, because if Jesus is Lord, it means he's calling the shots. It's a surrender of a life and obedience. And then he joins the community of believers. He doesn't go off on his own. No, he surrounds himself with disciples. Do you have intentional relationships in your life where you have surrounded yourself with Christ followers? Because you can do the Christian life 30 years and grow in faith, or you can do the first year of your Christian life 30 times. And the difference maker for that is God's word and relationship with other believers who help us grow in our faith. And so Saul, he surrounds himself with the community of believers, and then he becomes a witness. He just can't shut up about Jesus because he knows who he was before. Do you remember who you were before? And so Saul's like, I've got to tell my story of what God has done in my life. Now, I'm going to leave those up on the screen. And I want to invite you to something. I want to invite you. My prayer is that none of us would have to have scales on our eyes to see the truth about our own lives, but that we would intentionally maybe remove the screens from our eyes for a little while,

that we would fast, that we would pray, that we would maybe give up a meal or maybe just give up scrolling for a day and say, God, are there any of these marks of a New Testament follower of Jesus that I've treated as kind of optional add-ons of the Christian faith? And then if God reveals one, you know what we do? We just, we repent, we come back. It's his kindness that leads us to repentance. And so maybe sometime over the next three days, just let this be a conversation with God. Pull away from all the other noise. Say, God, I just, I don't want to be indifferent about something that is essential. Not essential for your salvation. Your salvation was purchased on the cross, but essential for following. Say, God, I just, I want to walk with you. And maybe, just maybe you're like Saul today in that you've, you see Jesus for who he is and it's time for a collision with grace. I pray that today would be that day for you. Or maybe you're like Ananias today and there's somebody who's close to you, who's new to faith. I want you to see Ananias didn't go, Saul, prove it. He said, brother. To be able to welcome them into relationship, welcome them into your small group,

welcome them into your family, welcome them into your home. Hospitality to open up your heart because the next chosen instrument. Their growth in faith might have everything to do with your choice to extend God's grace and to welcome them into your life. And as long as we, there's nothing like the local church because when we do that, it's the body of Christ, anything's possible stories happen. And I wanna close with an anything's possible story. And it's this beautiful convergence of dollar club where we all give $1 above and beyond what we normally give and God bring all that together and do something really special. See God do something really special. And those who have given to the marked generosity initiative to start and strengthen churches across middle Tennessee. Today, you're gonna see both of those come together with the story of a man who I don't know that people around him expected to change, but God did and God pursued him and the story of how he's making a difference. Check this out. I grew up in the middle of nowhere on a chicken farm with two amazing parents. One of my parents, my mom had a relationship with God. At best, my dad was probably indifferent to church growing up. I wasn't a non-Jesus person by no means. I just thought maybe it was some sort of gimmick to it

or something like that. Kim had more of a relationship than I did and I always thought it was her job. When you take them to church, you do that stuff. I'm going out there and make money. I'm gonna go out there and support the kids, build a life that they can have more things. We all played sports and that was the thing that we did. I obsessed over playing baseball in college. Honestly, my parents did too. They just laid their lives on the line for us to be able to go play baseball. Every weekend they were driving around all over the place. So I got to play baseball in college. The big dream was achieved, but when I got to college, really insecurity took over my life and I tried to fit in. I ended up doing a lot of drinking, a lot of partying, trying drugs and it led to me hitting rock bottom pretty quickly. I was embarrassed with where I was. I had a friend who I reached out to, one of the only true Jesus followers I knew. And she said, you really need to give this Jesus thing a try. And I just remember from that day forward saying, my ways aren't working. I'm going to do things God's way. When he said he was going to go to the church stuff, I kind of figured,

maybe he figured out something economically about this. You know, maybe that's what it was. And you start to see things. Him and Katie get together when they come to our house together. They're not even married at this point in time and they're praying together. And it's sort of an example for me and Kim at this point because we weren't doing that. And we're seeing the joy and the fun and their hearts while they're doing this and seeing that made me just get a little more intrigued. But when we moved here, I told my wife, let's find a church together. Let's find one together. She got here first. She went to Crosspoint. Then we meet people here at Crosspoint and we know they're going through some turmoil, but you see joy in their heart. And that's that joy that I seen Josh have, you know, and now I'm more curious. I remember my mom saying, hey, dad's been coming with me to church. Dad's been coming to church. And I'm just like, I pray that someone would show my dad that a full wife comes through a real relationship with Jesus. And then a few years ago,

my dad just went all in and to see the God that we serve show that he cared about me and my family enough to bring people into his life and give him the purpose that actually lasts an eternity and isn't temporal. That means everything to me. The man sitting next to me now is a different man than the one who raised me. He boldly shares the gospel with people on a daily basis. He's led multiple of his neighbors into a real relationship with Jesus. My dad may have not have opposed the church like Saul did, but that transformation of being indifferent to the church to actually living on mission as a part of the church with Jesus to reach one more person with the gospel every single day. And he's my hero for it. And it's just filled my heart with passion for doing the thing that we're doing right now. The end of last year, we moved from Colorado to Tennessee. So me and my family, my wife, Katie, and our four kids, my parents bought homes in Clarksville to start Man of Church. It's a church that I've been a part of through college. Man of Church is an intern. The pastor shared this vision of starting a life-giving church near every military base in the world. The Holy Spirit just spoke to me and said,

Josh, this is what you're called to do. Their lives are serving, and it comes with a significant cost. There are families coming to these different towns that are already in Clarksville that have. the families. We can be their spiritual family to them and we've seen people come to know Jesus just through the church family loving on them. So we've been fundraising because the gospel is free but spreading it isn't. We're having our grand opening on September 13th. That's the big date and we're going to be meeting in a middle school. We have a team of around 130 people who are committed to serve as a part of that church. It's not just going to reach the military but reach the whole city. We want to start strong so that we can be healthy and produce healthy disciples that produce healthy disciples for generations. Can I step in? Oh no, it's Ashley Eichardt. How are you? Oh good. Good, it's good to see you. How y'all doing? Good. We're good but I have to get a picture later to show my wife. Thank you all so much for sharing your story with us and about Manna Church and we are so grateful and so excited for you for all that God is going to do. As an organization we have committed to supporting churches that are planting and spreading the gospel and so we have a check for you for $10,000. Oh my goodness, wow. And as a church we also have this thing called the Dollar Club where once a month we ask everybody in the church to throw in an extra dollar, pull that money together, find a need in the community that needs to be filled, and go fill it. And so the Dollar Club has matched that $10,000 so this check is for $20,000. Oh my goodness, thank you so much. Oh my goodness. I knew it was going to cost a lot of money to start a church. We've been spending lots of money lately so the timing of this is really good. It shows like when you have one more pastor, one more church in your corner, it means everything. So thank you guys. We're going to do everything we can to be partnered together to make Tennessee look like heaven.