Make Room | Part 4: Tell Your Story | Chris Vaught

♪ The amazing grace ♪ ♪ How sweet the sound ♪ ♪ That saved a rich like me ♪ ♪ How once was lost ♪ ♪ But now I'm fine ♪ ♪ Was blind ♪ ♪ But now I see ♪ ♪ Come on, sing it out ♪ ♪ Sing it out ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ There's no change on day ♪ ♪ Thank you ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ You have sent me free ♪ ♪ You welcomed me here ♪ ♪ You called me by name ♪ ♪ Was dead in my sin ♪ ♪ Now I'm dancing on that grave ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ It really is amazing grace ♪ ♪ Here it is ♪ ♪ 'Cause grace ♪ ♪ They're toward my heart ♪ ♪ To fear ♪ ♪ And grace my fears ♪ ♪ Really ♪ ♪ How precious did ♪ ♪ That grace to do ♪ ♪ Beyond ♪ ♪ Our first feeling ♪

♪ Come on, sing it out ♪ ♪ Sing it out ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ There's no change on day ♪ ♪ Thank you ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ You have sent me free ♪ ♪ You welcomed me here ♪ ♪ You called me by name ♪ ♪ Was dead in my sin ♪ ♪ Now I'm dancing on that grave ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ It really is amazing grace ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Anybody wanna testify ♪ ♪ The slowest ♪ ♪ Hello ♪ ♪ I'll testify ♪ ♪ Of what he did ♪ ♪ He gave me lies ♪ ♪ I'm born again ♪ ♪ My heart is free ♪ ♪ My soul is saved ♪ ♪ It really is amazing grace ♪ ♪ I'll testify ♪ ♪ Of what he did ♪ ♪ He gave me lies ♪ ♪ I'm born again ♪ ♪ My heart is saving ♪ ♪ My soul is saved ♪

♪ It really is amazing grace ♪ ♪ It really is ♪ ♪ It really is ♪ ♪ It really is amazing grace ♪ ♪ It really is ♪ ♪ It really is ♪ ♪ Come on sing it out, let's sing it ♪ ♪ Sing it ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ There's no change on me ♪ ♪ They do ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ You have sent me free ♪ ♪ Welcome to the end ♪ ♪ You call me my name ♪ ♪ Who's dead in my sin ♪ ♪ Now I'm dancing ♪ ♪ On that grave ♪ ♪ I'm dead ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ It really is amazing grace ♪ ♪ You have ♪ ♪ Here it is ♪ ♪ Here it is ♪ ♪ It really is amazing grace ♪ ♪ Here it is ♪ ♪ Here it is ♪ ♪ Here it is amazing grace, yes ♪ (upbeat music)

- Wow, good morning. Good morning. What an incredible day in the house of the Lord. It has been so far and I am excited for what God is going to do and still to do. Amen. Wow, if you're a first time guest with us today, you came on the absolute best Sunday that you could possibly come. If you would be so kind, tap the seat in front of you with your phone. If you're a first time guest, we want to get you some information. Did you plugged in and what's happening? What's coming up next? What are the ways that you can partner with us and be the hands and feet of Jesus? This is one of the best Sundays. We're literally seeing lives change right here in this moment. And so we want to just continue in our worship today. [MUSIC PLAYING] celebrate we want to cheer them on we want to encourage them and we also want to give thanks to god for what is he's doing in their life amen today is the day of celebration come on let's celebrate let's go yeah yeah i'm praising the valley and i'm praising the mountain i'm praising on the shore and i'm praising when i'm down in i'll praise when i'm over it brings me surrounded

yeah it's my praises the waters the end of me's drowning and as long as i'm breathing i've got a reason to rise and all it's oh my soul i'll praise when i'm feeling and i'll praise when i know i'll praise because i know you're still in control because my praise is the weapon it's more than a time my day my praise is the shop that brings cheer and go down and as long as i'm breathing i've got a reason to rise i'll be crying my god it's a lot how could i keep it inside oh come on let's celebrate this morning god is good he's doing something today i'll praise because you're solving praise because you're a praise because you're roasting defeated today i'll praise because you're faithful praise because you're true praise because this storm i'd be greater than you i'd look praise because you're solving praise because you're a praise because you're roasting defeated today i'll praise because you're thankful praise because you're true praise oh my soul i will be quiet i won't be quiet my god is a lot how could i keep it i'll be quiet i won't be quiet my god is a lot how could i keep it inside i won't be quiet my god is a lot how could i keep it inside oh my soul yeah come on give them a shot of praise this morning come on let's put our hands back together here with us here real quick i was headed for hell until he rescued me i was stuck in my shame

now i've been set dreaming heavens my ♪ I once went blind ♪ ♪ But now I've been scared ♪ ♪ From heaven to heaven, excuse me ♪ ♪ I was stuck in my shame ♪ ♪ Now I've been set free ♪ ♪ Now heaven's my home for all eternity ♪ ♪ I once went blind ♪ ♪ Now I see ♪ ♪ I believe in Jesus' name ♪ ♪ I believe He died to save ♪ ♪ On the cross He cleared my name ♪ ♪ Isn't that amazing grace ♪ ♪ I believe in that third day ♪ ♪ That He walked right out to crave ♪ ♪ For life with Him I'm raised ♪ ♪ Isn't that amazing ♪ ♪ I was headed for hell ♪ ♪ And tell you, excuse me ♪ ♪ I was stuck in my shame ♪ ♪ Now I've been set free ♪ ♪ Now heaven's my home for all eternity ♪ ♪ I once went blind ♪ ♪ But now I see ♪ ♪ I believe in Jesus' name ♪ ♪ I believe He died to save ♪ ♪ On the cross He cleared my name ♪ ♪ Isn't that amazing grace ♪ ♪ Isn't that amazing grace ♪ ♪ Isn't that amazing grace ♪

♪ Isn't that amazing grace ♪ ♪ Isn't that amazing ♪ ♪ 'Cause we had two men on the middle cross ♪ ♪ 'Cause He didn't know the dead but He paid it all ♪ ♪ And He rolled away the stone ♪ ♪ Now I'm getting up ♪ ♪ Come on ♪ ♪ I'm getting up ♪ ♪ Hallelujah to the man on the middle cross ♪ ♪ 'Cause He didn't know the dead but He paid it all ♪ ♪ And He rolled away the stone ♪ ♪ I'm getting up ♪ ♪ I'm getting up ♪ ♪ I'm getting up ♪ ♪ Hallelujah to the man on the middle cross ♪ ♪ 'Cause He didn't know the dead but He paid it all ♪ ♪ And He rolled away the stone ♪ ♪ Now I'm getting up ♪ ♪ I'm getting up ♪ ♪ Come on, Troy ♪ ♪ I'm wasn't going to the man on the middle cross ♪ ♪ 'Cause He didn't know the dead but He paid it all ♪ ♪ And He rolled away the stone ♪ ♪ Now I'm getting up ♪ ♪ I'm getting up ♪ ♪ I'm getting up ♪ ♪ I was heading for hell until He rescued me ♪ ♪ I'm stuck in my shame ♪ ♪ Now I've been set free now ♪ ♪ Heaven's my home for all eternity ♪

♪ I once was blind ♪ ♪ But now I see ♪ ♪ I was heading for hell until He rescued me ♪ ♪ I was stuck in my shame ♪ ♪ Now I've been set free now ♪ ♪ Heaven's my home for all eternity ♪ ♪ I was ♪ ♪ Hallelujah to the man on the middle cross ♪ ♪ 'Cause He didn't know the dead but He paid it all ♪ ♪ And He rolled away the stone ♪ ♪ Now I'm getting up ♪ ck ♪ I'll enter the man on the new cross ♪ ♪ 'Cause he didn't know the dead, but he paid it all ♪ ♪ And he ruled the way the stone now ♪ ♪ I'm getting up ♪ ♪ I'm getting up ♪ ♪ I'm getting up ♪ ♪ I'm getting up ♪ ♪ I'm getting up ♪ ♪ I'm getting up ♪ ♪ I'm getting up ♪ ♪ I'm getting up ♪ ♪ I'm getting up ♪ ♪ I'm getting up ♪ ♪ I'm getting up ♪ ♪ I'm getting up ♪ ♪ I'm getting up ♪ ♪ I'm getting up ♪ ♪ I'm getting up ♪

♪ I'm getting up ♪ ♪ I'm getting up ♪ ♪ Whoa ♪ ♪ I'm getting in Jesus' name ♪ ♪ I believe he died to save ♪ ♪ On the cross he cleared my name ♪ ♪ Isn't that amazing grace ♪ ♪ I believe in that third day ♪ ♪ That he walks right out the grave ♪ ♪ Full of life in him my race ♪ ♪ Isn't that amazing ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ I love you Lord ♪ ♪ Oh you mercy never fails me ♪ ♪ And all my days ♪ ♪ I've been held in your hands ♪ ♪ From the moment that I wake up ♪ ♪ Until I lay my head ♪ ♪ Oh, I will see of the good ♪ ♪ 'Cause all my life you have been thankful ♪ ♪ 'Cause all my life you have been so ♪ ♪ So good ♪ ♪ With every breath that I am made ♪ ♪ So I will see of the goodness of God ♪ ♪ I love your voice ♪ ♪ You have led me through the fire ♪ ♪ In darkness' nights ♪

♪ You are closed like no other ♪ ♪ I've known you as a father ♪ ♪ I've known you as a friend ♪ ♪ And I have led in the goodness of God ♪ ♪ 'Cause all my life you have been thankful ♪ ♪ And all my life you have been so ♪ ♪ So good ♪ ♪ With every breath that I am labeled ♪ ♪ I will see of the goodness of God ♪ ♪ 'Cause your goodness is running after ♪ ♪ It's running after me ♪ ♪ 'Cause your goodness is running after ♪ ♪ It's running after me ♪ ♪ With my life laid down I surrender now ♪ ♪ I give you everything ♪ ♪ 'Cause your goodness is running after ♪ ♪ It's running after me ♪ ♪ 'Cause your goodness is running after ♪ ♪ It's running after me ♪ ♪ 'Cause your goodness is running after ♪ ♪ Running after me ♪ ♪ With my life laid down I surrender now ♪ ♪ I give you everything ♪ ♪ 'Cause your goodness is running after ♪ ♪ It's running after me ♪ ♪ So my life you have been faithful ♪ ♪ And all my life you have been so, so good ♪ ♪ With every breath that I am labeled ♪ ♪ Oh I will see of the goodness of God ♪ ♪ I'm gonna stay here ♪

♪ 'Cause all my life you have been faithful ♪ ♪ 'Cause all my life you have been so, so good ♪ ♪ With every breath that I am labeled ♪ ♪ Oh I'm gonna sing of the goodness of God ♪ ♪ Oh I'm gonna sing of the goodness of God ♪ - Amen, amen. (upbeat music) It's allergy season around here, right? Anybody else? Listen, dude, look at this full house in third service. Come on now. (audience cheering) Don't make us start a Ford service around here. Hey, stay standing with me for one key element of what I wanna do in just a second. You guys, I just wanna applaud you, those of you that have made third service a home. But your reward was getting to watch all of that right there. How awesome is that? Pastor Devin got to baptize this little guy today. That was awesome. He was like, "Y'all gonna have to let me baptize him last "or I won't be able to help with any other baptism." And I was like, "Man, I've been there. "I've been blessed to baptize four of my own "and learn awesome testimony." Hey, listen, I'm Josh, I'm the Family Life Pastor here and I just wanted to welcome you in to our house. We're so glad that you're here in God's house today, joining us as a family at CPC.

We've got people watching online and then right here is the part where you get really loud. You guys have heard us talking about the Pando app for a long time. Today we're launching it and there's people in prisons all over the US getting to watch us in this service. Make them feel at home, yeah. It's a, man, God is so good. So here's my pitch to you. Okay, you guys can have a seat if you want to. If you're looking for a place to plug in, you heard Pastor Kyle talk earlier about scanning that QR code or tapping the back of the chair and getting us to know some info about you. But if you want to learn more about us, next week is your opportunity during this service. All right, so listen, we've been asking you to come to this service and now you got to make a choice. But next week, if you want to go to starting point, right outside the doors in the cafe, during third service, starting point is going to be happening. We would love for you to come and see what the DNA CPC is all about, see what we're about, plug into some things that we have going on. We just love to partner with you in that way. Another way that we like to partner is through giving. Your generosity and your gifts that you give back to the Lord and to CBC for us to be able to go out and do missions are the way that we're able to do things like the PANDO app to reach people all over the US.

And so we have different ways to give. You can text where it gives to 573-282-6670 and go online to the website. Convenient drop boxes in the back. Or if you're the snail mail person still, you can put a stamp on that and send it our way. Just to be able to give back to what the Lord has given us, it's the way we look at partnership around here and we're just so grateful that you all have partnered with us and the Lord is doing some awesome things and we give him all of that glory and all of that credit, right? All right, Pastor Chris is about to bring the word. We've had awesome time in worship. We've seen people go death to life in baptism today, chance to partner in giving. I just wanna bless our time together. Lord, we love you so much. We're so grateful for the freedom we have to be able to come into this house and just worship you and lift your name high. God, I'll pray right now if there's anybody in this building that has not given you their life a major Lord of the life and surrendered living for you. Gotta pray that today is a day where they can stop checking the boxes of religion, stop checking off all of the things that just go, I give up and I surrender my life to you. Much like I got to baptize a brother just a second ago, watching him give those things up and surrender to you has been such an awesome testimony of his life.

Lord, I pray that there's somebody in here today that at the end of this service will say, man, that's me, Pastor Josh. I wanna give my life to Jesus and follow through with baptism and meet with one of our team. Lord, I pray that you would just take this offering, multiply it for your own kingdom, glory and efforts. Lord, I pray that you would help us to reach all kinds of people all over this great area, the United States and beyond Lord worldwide. We just love you and we thank you and Jesus and we pray. Everybody sit. - Hey, man. Well, how many's glad you came to church on baptism Sunday? Come on, man, goodness, look at this. Look at 1145 coming in here. God bless you guys. Hey, right now I just wanna say thank you to all of you for being here and especially for those of you who left the 10 o'clock service to make room by moving to 1145 and the cool thing about it is, is look at the room right now. I mean, it's like, it just keeps growing and we have people in overflow again today at 10 o'clock. Come on, somebody. Look what God is up to and so, hey, yeah. If you're in overflow right now, God bless you. So anyway, if you were one of those who did the scan of the QR code, 'cause we told you if you would move to 1145 and we'd give you a T-shirt and a bracelet

as appreciation for you making room, you can pick those up today with your, there's a bag with your name on it. It's at the kids check in area after the service go by there and pick that up. If you're our first time guests with us today, we're super excited you are here. Come on CPC people, let's give it up for all those who are new to CPC today. And I just wanna encourage you after the service, I'm gonna be right outside these doors. I'd love for you to come by and say hello I've met so many new people today. Come by and say hello. Super excited to see where God is bringing people to CPC from, and I love that chance to meet you. And let me just tell you what we're doing. We're reading through the New Testament in the book of Psalms as a church. In fact, we're reading five chapters a week, one day for five days during the week. And it's all here in a Bible reading plan, and you can download this off our website or pick up a hard copy at the next step station. Now, what's important about this is, is that we read these five chapters and a little bit of Psalms, and then every week when we come in here, I'm preaching from somewhere out of that reading plan. Today, we're in Acts, chapter 22,

because you've been reading the last part of the book of Acts this past week. And so today, once you get your Bibles, grab your message notes. You can download our message notes if you're online at any of our outlets right now. Grab your notes, your pen, your paper, your Bible, and together, we're gonna dive into this here in just a moment out of Acts, chapter 22. But let's go to the Lord in prayer first, and let's get our hearts ready for the word, amen? It's been a good day. And Father, we thank you because it has been an incredible day already this morning. God, we've been able to worship you through song, and we thank you for everyone who has just lifted up your name through song and worshiped you from their hearts. We've worshiped you, Lord, many have worshiped today through serving. We have hundreds of volunteers who are today are making room for people to meet you by using their gifts and talents to help create the atmosphere and serve the people who are coming in. And we thank you for all of those who served you today and worship. We thank you for those who've worshiped you through their ties and offerings, and they're supporting financially and giving back to continue this ministry. That's why today we're able to be in prisons

all across America and around the world on the internet. Thank you for the giving of your people. And God, we thank you for those who publicly worshiped you with their baptism today, who made the declaration that they are unashamed of the change you've made in their lives. God, may we all follow suit. And God, today, now as we open our Bibles, we're gonna worship you through your word. And we pray over the next few moments that God, you would give us ears to hear what the Holy Spirit has to say. Let our eyes behold, wonders, truths, that our minds comprehend them. And may our hearts be receptive to you by faith so that God, we can be transformed in your image and look more like you and less like us so we can go shine light in the darkness because that's where we must shine. There'll be salt and light in the world that desperately needs us. And so we need to be more like you and less like us. So give us a mind of truth and give us voices of hope and hearts full of compassion. Let our hands be hands of service and may we walk out with feet of purpose all for the glory and the honor of the name of Jesus. And we pray this in his name and everybody's shouted. Amen, amen. Well, listen, if you grew up in the generation that I did,

and I know some of you right now are already thinking that's pretty ancient, probably wasn't around then. But if you grew up in the time period that I did, in fact, I was like getting married and having kids at the start of this piece. But anyway, in the 1990s and going up into around 2000, one of the hottest rock bands on the planet was a group called corn. Now, I don't know why every time I say that in church, everybody laugh, I'm out here in this giggle. Like, you feel guilty and you didn't think I listened to that back in the day, right? Anyway, in the group corn, their get-torrest, Brian Welch had pretty much what everyone thought was the American dream. He's on a stage every night and packed out arenas with the lights. His face was on magazines. He's all over the internet. He's bringing an incredible amount of wealth from the albums and the touring. And he is famous. He's got the popularity. He's got everything people would say, man, if you can achieve that, you're successful in the music world. You have everything money could buy. But here's what Brian Welch would tell you. When the lights went out and the people went home, what everyone thought he was living as a dream

turned out to be his nightmare. He was hooked on methadine means. He's a drug addict. He was abusing alcohol. He was terribly depressed. And he was trying to raise his little daughter. And he felt like his whole world was crashing down around him while everyone was applauding him during the night shows. And then something happened in 2005, and I don't want you to miss this. We're in a series, a mini series, within this study of the book of Acts that we're calling make room. And we've done this because here's what we know. God wants to make room in his kingdom. But before, amen, come on, yeah, clap. You started it, I'm not gonna cut you off on that, amen. Okay, I love this, I love 1145, all right. Y'all preach back to me. Then for us to make room for others to meet Jesus, we first have got to make room in our own hearts for others to meet Jesus. We've got to be broken for people. We've got to have a desire for others to hear about Jesus and to meet the Lord. Then we must go out and work for the kingdom because God wants them to know He's making room for them. Amen? God wants to make room for you.

If you're here this morning or watching online and you've never made a decision to follow Jesus. We're in this little mini series called Make Room because God wants to make room for people to enter into the kingdom of heaven. And here's what I want us to look into today as we think about Brian Welch 'cause something happened to him. Someone in his life wanted to make room for him to meet Jesus and they invited him to go to church. The reason I'm a moment ago, you heard me telling some folks who signed up to come to this service that they're gonna get a T-shirt and a bracelet because they made room. Here's the reason why our other two services were standing room only and people are outflowing the overflow and this was the only service we had a few seats left. What I love is that the last three weeks this service continues to grow and there's not too many seats left. Can somebody shout amen? You're bringing them in, you're inviting them. 'Cause here's what happens when you do this. When you are openly inviting people to meet Jesus, people are gonna meet Jesus. And their lives are gonna be changed. Brian Welch in 2005 was invited to go to a church service when he went there, here's what happened. He heard the gospel, he was radically changed by Jesus.

He was saved, his whole life was turned around and then he did something that absolutely shocked the music world. He walked away from the band corn. And for the next eight years of his life, he traveled the country, going to any doors that would open for him to go in and share the gospel of how Jesus transformed his life. (congregation applauding) Then Jesus did something that even shocked people all over again, maybe even more than the first time when he walked away from corn, the music, the lights, the crowds, eight years into his walk with Christ, he went back to the band corn. He's now back on the same stage playing the same music in the same arenas and before you religious folks shout out the word backslider. I need to tell you the whole story, this time after eight years of walking with Christ, growing in his faith, maturing in the gospel, this time when he went back to corn, he didn't go back as the same person. He was in the same locations, but he was a different man. And now he uses that platform as an opportunity to tell those in the darkness how to find the light. 'Cause how many know light shines bright as when it's in the darkest places? Come on, y'all gonna be fun to preach to you today. I can see that right now. Light doesn't shine very bright

if it stays in a room with more light. For our light to shine, it's gotta go into dark places. Some of you, God has saved and rescued out of some dark places, but he's gonna put you in other dark places so your light will shine. Some of you may be like Brian Welch and go back into the same world you came out of, but you'll go back when you can go back as a different person. I don't know what that looks like for you, but here's what I know, congregation, lean in close in the room online and in prisons across America. Let me tell you something, if you've met Jesus, you have a God story. And here's a question I want you to ponder for a moment. What if the rooms that God has already placed you in are the places God wants you to let your little old light shine? What if, and I want you to think about the rooms God has already put you in? I want you to think about that break room at that factory where you work and the guys and the gals you work around that you eat lunch with on a daily basis. Think about that room, could that be a room that God would like you shine your light in? What about that classroom? Where you're studying, where you're with your friends, where you're hanging out and growing in your education or maybe it's a classroom you're leading.

What if it's the family room where your family's gathering and many of them don't know Christ, but it's an opportunity for you to let your light shine and maybe you become an influence. What if it's that area that you're burdened at that you keep finding your story? Could that be the room that God is placing in your life for you to let your light shine? What is the room? It could be an entertainment room. It may be where you and your buddies hang out on the weekend. It could be a sports room where you're going to the football games or a basketball game or your kids on a traveling sports and you find yourself in a hotel lobby. You know that hotel, you spend a lot of money on for your kid to play a sport and you're there with other parents who just spent a whole lot of money. So their kid could play a sport and you can strike up some car. What if that lobby becomes a divine appointment for you to tell a God's story? Here's what I want you to think through. It could be at the gym. I'm at the gym all the time, getting to have God's story talks with people. I don't know where it's at for you,

but what if the room you're in, you need to stop seeing it as perhaps an accident and start seeing it as a divine assignment? Right. When you opened your Bible this week and you began reading in the Bible reading plan and you read through the last parts of the book of Acts, you saw a thread. The apostle Paul found himself in many different kinds of rooms. And here's something I want you to think of. We actually said this a couple of weeks ago. God will open doors for gospel conversations. I want everybody in the house and online to read the next line with me, ready, go. You just have to be bold enough to walk through them. So what kind of rooms did Paul find himself in? Well, this week in Acts chapter 22, you found Paul in a room of crisis. This is where he was before an angry Jewish crowd who wanted to stone him because he converted from Judaism to following Christ. Acts 23, he's in a room of conflict. He's before the Sanhedrin. The best way I know to explain that to you is if you've ever on the news, saw someone who got called to testify before Congress. And they're standing there and being interrogated by Congress. This is the moment Paul is being interrogated

by the governmental Jewish leaders called the Sanhedrin. 70 members, half of the room were fundamentalist and half of the room were liberalists and all of us, it's just like Congress and they're interrogating Paul for coming to faith in Jesus. In Acts 24, he's in the room of delay. Here is where Paul is arrested and for two years, he's under house arrest. And the only people he can minister to is the imperial guard who's been stationed there by Nero and any visitor who were to come by his house. In Acts chapter 25 through 28, as you finished up, you found him in the room of influence. Here's where Paul stood before Roman officials like Festus and Felix. He even stood before King Agrippa and eventually he'll stand before Caesar Nero. And here's what I want you to capture, lean in close. Different locations, different rooms, same assignment. Different rooms, same testimony, same God's story. In every one of these cases, the room may change, but what God called him to do did not. So here's the question I want to ask you. You ready? When God gives you the room. When God gives you the moment and you know the Holy Spirit begins to prompt you. When God gives you the room and you feel the conviction, the anointing

of the Holy Spirit prompting you to take advantage of the moment, will you tell your God's story? And I know some of you will leave this building today, some of you are turning this off online and say, I don't know when God wants me to tell my God's story, I don't know. I say, well, one minute I think he does and the other minute I think he doesn't and I'm sitting there trying and I think of all these reasons why I shouldn't look at me. That's it. That's the moment you'll know because there's the battle between the flesh and the Spirit's gonna take off and the Holy Spirit's gonna prompt you. Now's the moment to share your God's story with this person or that one and while you're sitting there before you can get one word out of your mouth, the devil's gonna come in with doubts and excuses and if you find yourself with your heart racing and excuses running through your mind while you shouldn't, that is clear indication you probably should tell what God has done in your life. Can I get an amen from anybody? Anybody know what I'm talking about? You ever been there? So when God gives you the room, will you tell your story? I wanna help you with that today.

Here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna take the word story. We're gonna look at Paul's testimony, how he stood before the Jewish crowd in Acts 22 and you're gonna see five elements. It's gonna spell out the name story or the word story and you're gonna see Here's the first one. Where do we start? We start with the truth of who we were before Christ. This is what happens in Apostle Paul. Remember, he's talking to an angry Jewish crowd, and he says, "Brothers and fathers," that is very respectful in his culture. Listen now to my defense before you. Watch this, watch this. He's so intelligent. When they heard that he was addressing them in Aramaic. Now the Romans are in Jerusalem, they're in town, and they're forcing everyone to speak in Greek. But Paul goes back to the ancient Jewish language, and he has them to speak in Aramaic, which they all understood. In that moment, here's what Paul was doing. He was saying, "I'm not here to talk to the Romans, I'm here to talk to my family." Hey Jewish family, lean in close. We're going to get down on the same level, and he's finding common ground for those who are angry with him to lean in close and listen to what he says. He's intelligent. He's using wisdom here, and he's finding a common ground moment, and he speaks to him in Aramaic, so they became even quieter. Now of a sudden, they're listening. He continued. Watch this, he's so smart. "I'm a Jew, born in Tarsus of Solicia, brought up in this city." Watch this, watch this. "Educated at the feet of Gameliel." Now everyone in the crowd knew who Gameliel was. He's the most highly respected Pharisee of the Jewish people of his time. It's kind of like, "I'm being raised by, you know, this professor from Harvard who everybody knows and loves." And that's what it was like. Paul is saying, "Listen, I'm respected because I have been at the feet of Gameliel." I've learned from Gameliel, and everybody's like, "Oh, we need to listen to this man for a minute." He said, "I've been educated in the strictness of our ancestral law. I was zealous for God." Watch this, watch this. Look at wisdom, just like you are today. Now he is taking the heat out of the room. He's saying, "I know you're upset. I know you're angry. You're wanting to stone me." But he's finding common ground. He's saying, "Listen, let's talk for a moment. I understand why you're

angry. I used to think like you think. I used to be opposed to what you're opposed of. I used to feel the same way you feel." He's bringing in common ground, and he says, "I persecuted this way." The way here, if you don't know this, is speaking about following Jesus because Christianity, before it was called Christianity, was called people of the way. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. In early Christians, we're known as people of the way, the way of Jesus. Listen, in our modern culture, it's real easy for people to try to water down Christianity to make sure it looks like it fits with all the other religions and all religions lead to the same God. Look at them and tell you something about Christianity. We've always been known as a people who say, "There's one way to the Father, and it's through the Son, and Jesus is the only way, and it's always brought some heat and pressure." And here he is. He said, "I persecuted this way." Notice how bad Paul said, "I persecuted it. I persecuted Christians to the death, arresting and putting both men and women in jail. He would take parents and separate them." Can you imagine this? Separate husbands and wives from one another and taking them off the prison. He was consenting when they were executed for their faith. He says, "Both the high priests and the whole council of elders can testify about me." He's saying, "The men in this room right now know this to be true." And after I received letters from them to the brothers, he said, "I traveled to Damascus." Notice what he's going to Damascus to do, arrest Christians, and to those who were there, and I was going to bring them to Jerusalem to be punished. Here's where Paul starts. Paul starts, "I know, I understand. Here's who I used to be." And he begins to explain his life before he came to faith in Jesus Christ. Listen to me, every one of us who have a personal relationship with Christ, if you've had an encounter with the living God, you have a before Jesus moment. And you should be able to start right there. Because if you don't start right there, you make people believe you're so good is the reason why you're saved. And I need to tell you, and this may hurt your feelings. There's nobody in this room or watching online good enough to be saved all on your own. Can I get an amen from somebody? Can somebody look at your neighbor and tell them, "I knew you weren't that good." People say, "What about them people down at CPC?" They They bunch of sinners and hypocrites, you better believe we are. and to change their lives, amen? We've all fallen short of the glory of God. You can't start out with, look at me now,

you need to start out with, here's who I used to be. You got to get on common ground and you can't judge the people you're in the room with. You need to be able to look at them and say, "I thought just like you, I've been right where you are." There's no judgment here, I'm not gonna condemn you because I understand you. And that's where Paul is beginning. So the question is this, who were you before Christ changed your life? Can you identify it? Can you describe it? And here's a good challenge I wanna give you this week. I want you to pray about how you could describe your before Jesus in three words. You say, pastor, why the significance of three words? I don't know, it sounded good. Three words, who were you? If you can remember how to describe who you were before Jesus in three words, it's easy for you to have a gospel conversation with someone and I want you to share it with someone in the next seven days. You may say, well, I was angry, I was lonely, I was addicted, I was betrayed, I was frustrated, I was confused, I don't know how you'll describe it, but you need to be able to describe it. Who were you before Christ? Look at me, let me tell you something, ladies and gentlemen, you can't tell a resurrection story

until you first tell them you were first dead. And a moment ago, we baptized a whole lot of people. And when we baptized them, you know what I always say to them as I'm putting them down in the water? Buried in Christ, you know what I tell them when they're coming up out? Raised in newness of life. If you want to talk about resurrected lives, you first got to tell them you had to die. And listen to me, we all need to tell what Jesus has done because the second piece of this is this, what you do. You first tell them who you were without Christ, then you tell them what Jesus has done for you. You tell them what Jesus did, how he died, how he rose again. Here's what I really want you to capture. How did Jesus get your attention? Because there's some of you in this room watching the line, you've been in church your whole life. You've always heard about Jesus. But there's a difference between religion and truly being saved. And what happens is, is you can know that Jesus is real, that he's the Son of God, that he died and rose again and miss heaven. The devil believes Jesus lived, Jesus died, Jesus rose, but he's not saved. Can you identify the moment when God got your attention? That's what he does for Paul. Look at this, I love this is so good. Only guy could do this.

I tell you, Paul was the baddest dude on earth at his time. He was like the biggest religious terrorist you can imagine. You want the worst guy you can imagine, get his face in your brain and put Paul's face there because that's who Paul was. He is arresting Christians and having Christians killed. He's a religious zealot terrorist. And Paul says, I was traveling and approaching Damascus. Watch this, don't miss details in scripture. And about noon, an intense light from heaven suddenly flashed around me and how did it affect Paul? I failed to the ground and I heard a voice saying to me, soul, soul, why are you persecute me? And I answered quickest conversion in the whole Bible. You ready? Let's read it together. Who are you, Lord? Now listen, I told you Paul is the baddest man on the planet at this time, right against Christianity. How amazing is it that God had to at the, listen, God picked noon when the sun is the brightest and in the center of the sky to shine a light brighter than the sun to knock this man down to his knees? Amen? What did God do to you to knock you to your knees? When did he get your attention? It may not have been anything dramatic like what Paul had. Most of us didn't have a moment like that. Look at your neighbor and tell, whoo, thank God. That'd been scary, right?

But listen, if you're a Christian, you had a moment somewhere where God got your attention. How did God get your attention? Tell that to someone. And then quickly watch this, watch how it moves. Then he goes on and he says, Jesus says, I am Jesus of Nazareth, the one you're persecuting. Now those who were with me saw the light, but they did not hear the voice of the one who is speaking to me. All of a sudden, Paul realized God didn't. he's getting my attention. And when he gets your attention, the next piece to this, you're telling your God's story, is to own the moment the light came on. You gotta own this moment. And here's what happens to Paul, you remember the question he asked when God got his attention, who are you, Lord? Notice what happens next. Scripture says, and whoops, come back. I said, what should I do, Lord? You see the difference? Who are you two? What should I do? God got his attention and got Paul to realize who he was. And when he did, Paul knew he had a decision to make. I've gotta do something with this Jesus who just identified himself in my life. What am I gonna do with Jesus?

How many of you remember the moment where you had to wrestle with this question, what now will I do with Jesus? When he got your attention, are you going to listen to him and obey him? Are you gonna receive him? Are you gonna trust him? Are you gonna turn away from him? Are you going to somehow try to idolize him away, philosophize him away? What did you do with Jesus? And if you're a follower of Jesus, you had to wrestle with that moment. What am I gonna do now? And notice what God told Paul to do. He said, get up and go into Damascus, there you will be told everything that you have been assigned to do. See, you don't need a theology degree to tell someone about what Jesus has done. You just got to realize when he got your attention and own that moment and tell what the Lord has done. Here's what I wanna capture. I want you to capture this for a minute. Can you explain this moment? The moment when you realize Jesus is more than just real, he's missing in your life. He's more than just real. I'm not saying, did you come to the intellectual conception that he is real?

Many of you have done that, but have you realized he's missing in your life? That your good deeds isn't enough to earn you your salvation. He needs you, that you cannot save yourself. I wanna say this to you for just a moment. I want you to listen in close. If you could get to heaven by your own good deeds or good works, 'cause here's how the conversations usually happen, yeah, but I'm a good guy. I've always been a good guy. I was raised in church, always been a pretty good guy. I'm a good girl. I don't do what she does. I'm pretty good girl. And it kinda goes like, I think when I get there, I've earned some favor. Maybe I've got a little more good deeds and I've got bad deeds. Look at me and let me tell you something. If there's any other way other than you placing your faith in Jesus Christ, him dying on the cross, being buried and rising from the third day, simply saying, you cannot save yourself. You must come to me by faith. If there's any other way for you to receive the gift of eternal salvation, God making his son go to the cross and experiencing death and the burial and the resurrection was a cruel joke.

God played on his son and God's not joking around with your salvation. Amen? There is no other way. None of us are that good. There has to come a moment where we know who we were without Christ and God gets our attention. And then we start to own this moment when the light comes on and, and listen, we come to this moment. I can't say must I need Jesus or I'm hopeless. Have you came to that moment yet? Now look up here and let me tell you something. I didn't say, can you quote all 66 books in order? Or even can you quote the 10 commandments in order? Wouldn't that be fun to do one Sunday? You're not getting out of here and going to lunch until you quote them in order. Boy, you'd study that way you came in. Or you'd be, I'm on vacation. All right, we wouldn't have overflow that day. Here we go. (laughing) Think about this for a minute. Can you say you know the moment when Jesus changed your life and came in, made himself real to you. 'Cause watch this. People can argue with you on theology all day long.

You want to argue how to understand the sovereignty of God and free will of man? Theologians have been arguing about that for 2,000 years. We can argue it until Jesus comes back. And still not come to a consensus. But here's what I know. No one can argue with your testimony. You're the expert. You know who you were before Christ. You know how the light came on one day and you realize you needed a savior and you surrendered your life to the lordship of Jesus and you were pented of your sin. You know how he came in. You know what difference that's made and no one can tell you it didn't happen that way. You're the expert. I grew up in the Pentecostal church, a little one room Pentecostal church in Beach Creek, Kentucky. (laughs) Didn't even have running water. And listen, y'all get upset if I go 10 minutes over. Church services, when I was a little boy, would go three to four hours at a time. There's a lot of nights I laid underneath a pew looking up at the clocks and I think mama forgot, I got school tomorrow (laughs) This is no lie, this is my story. You can't argue with it.

I know I was 14 years old in the one room in Pentecostal church house down a gravel road in Beach Creek, Kentucky at 11 p.m. when they finally gave the altar call. And I'm sitting on the back row with the other teenagers and somehow this introverted teenager got up under the conviction of the Holy Spirit and I walked to the front and I knelt at an old wooden altar and I gave my heart to Jesus. They were so worried about me. They took me that night to the Drexborough Lake and baptized me at midnight. (audience applauds) We don't do that to you. We let you wait six weeks (audience applauds) marinate in it. They won't baptize you, we'll baptize you at the end of the service. But here's what I want you to know. No one can argue with that testimony. I love Blaze Pascale. He's, I love to read his saints. He's one of the brightest minds to ever come out of Europe. He lived in the 1600s. He was a mathematician, physicist and philosopher and one of his famous quotes that I love so much is there's a God shaped vacuum inside every human heart that only God can feel. I want you to think about that. How many of you come to the moment

where you realize there's a hole there and only Christ can fill it? But then watch this. How did he come to that conclusion? It's because of something that happened to him on November the 23rd, 1654. That night between 10 o'clock and 1230. He had a two hour experience with Christ that revolutionized his life. He had studied science and mathematics. He had already come to the conclusion that science pointed that there had to be a creator, there had to be a God, he did not doubt that. He called him the philosopher's God, the God of scholars. But on that night, he had a two hour experience with God that left him shaken. When he came up and he came out of this moment of prayer, his body was shaken and he tried to find anything in the room that he could write down on. They found a little scrap of paper and he grabbed it with a pen and he began to just write down as fast as he could. The moment he just had with God and it came out and it just kind of sounded kind of funny. It didn't matter. It was his moment. He's like trying to hurry up. Have you ever tried to write something before you forgot it? He's trying to write as fast as he could 'cause he's so caught up in the emotion.

And then he did something really strange. He didn't tell anybody about it. He took that piece of paper and he sewed it on the inside liner of his jacket. And it would not be found for eight more years. Eight years later, Blaze passed away and while they were preparing his body for burial, the person preparing his body found the note, written November 23rd, 1654. And it's the moment Blaise Pascal defined that he went from knowing the God of the philosopher and the scholar to knowing the God as a person. Would you like me to reach you what was written on the inside of his jacket? Here's what Blaise Pascal wrote. He summed up the event in one word and then a lot of fractured sentences after that. You ready? Here's how he called this moment. Fire, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not a philosopher's and scholars, certainty, certainty, heartfelt joy, peace, God of Jesus Christ, joy, joy, joy, tears of joy. How many doubt that Pascal had a moment with Christ? Nobody. And he kept that in the inside liner of his jacket and he never forgot it because listen to me, what happens when you have this moment with Christ is you then reveal the change that has happened. How many of you can say that Christ has made a difference

since you came to faith? If you were to ask the people around you, would they agree? Here's what Paul said, here's how the difference came for him, someone named Ananias, a devout man according to the law who had a good reputation with all the Jews, living there came and stood by me and said, "And here's what I want you to capture." Ananias has never met Paul, he's only heard about the Saul who persecutes Christians, but God told him to go because he just had an encounter of faith on the road to Damascus. This is salutation of Ananias, he called him, "Brother Saul, regain your sight." And in that very hour I looked up and I saw him and he said, "The God of our ancestors has appointed you to know his will and to see the righteous one and to hear the words from his mouth, since you will be a witness for him to all people what you have seen and heard. Paul, I love this question, why are you delaying? Why are you sitting here? You've had an encounter with Christ, why are you delaying? Get up and be baptized and wash away your sins calling on his name." Here's what I want you to capture, Paul had this encounter with Christ on the road. This is where his faith came alive and when Paul's faith came alive, the very next step was him to reveal to others what Christ has done in his life. And Ananias, look at him and says, "Brother Paul, why are you here? Brother Paul, quit sitting around, brother Paul, it's time for you to get up my friend and be baptized, calling on the name of Jesus, testify to what God has done." You see this morning what you saw happen is you saw men, women, boys and girls who have called on the name of the Lord and professed faith be in baptized and obedience to declaring to you, revealing to you that they are not who they used to be. They are brand new in Christ. See what we practice here in this church is called believer's baptism. Some of you may wonder, why do we not baptize infants and why do we not preach baptism as the form of salvation?

Why is it after a conversion of faith is because that's actually the model all through the New Testament. All through the New Testament what you have is people who make a profession, people who believe in Christ, they have this moment where God comes real and by faith they put their trust in Jesus and there's a change that happens on the inside and even in the Jewish culture of the first century, they were already baptizing before Christ and the Jewish community understood baptism to be a religious right or ceremony to display outwardly the change that has already happened in someone's life inwardly and so while we practice as believers baptism that we who make a decision, we who have had a moment with Christ, now our next step is to declare to family, friends and anyone who will listen and watch, we can declare the change Jesus has made through our baptism and there's some of you in this room today, you've never been baptized or you were baptized as a child and don't even didn't even know what it was about but today can be your moment and by the way we've got shirts and shorts and everything you need if you want today to be your day and we got staff who will stay around all afternoon if that's what we need to do, amen? Because here's what I want you to know that telling your story is not just soon who you were before Christ and how he got your attention and owning the moment the light came on but it's now revealing to others the difference he has made in your life and one of the beautiful ways to do that is symbolizing it in your baptism but it's even more than baptism, it is the life change that's happening in your life and you don't take credit for it, you give all the credit to him who's changing you, amen? We love that little song, he's still working on me, I mean no he is, God's still working on you to make you what he wants you to be and you get to tell this story of how God is changing your life. Lee Strobel was a chief editor for the Chicago Tribune, an investigative reporter and he was a confessed atheist. His wife came to faith in Jesus and instead of supporting her he got angry and he decided he was going to prove to her that Jesus was false, that the resurrection was a hoax and so he spent the next two years of his life as an investigative reporter studying everything he could find about the life, the death and the resurrection of Jesus.

on November the 8th, 1980. He couldn't prove Jesus didn't live. He couldn't prove he didn't die. And he couldn't prove he didn't rise from the grave. In fact, all the evidence pointed to the contrary. He said, "Now I have the facts that I know Jesus lived. Jesus died, Jesus rose again." And he said, "I got to the place where I've got the belief part down. Now I need the received part." And I wonder in this room and online in prisons across America, maybe you got the belief part down. You know Jesus is who he said he was. But I need to ask your friend, have you let it travel 18 inches to get down into the received part down in your heart? And if you have, that's part of your testimony is you need to share. This is the change Jesus made in my life. And if today that change needs to happen for you, it can. 'Cause he loves you. Before he became a Christian, Lee Strobel was often filled with anger and rage. He would come home frequently drunk. He was self-absorbed. In fact, testimony says his little daughter, his five-year-old daughter, when daddy would come home, she would grab her baby dolls in her toys and go to her bedroom and wait to find out which daddy came home.

But after he came to faith in Christ, a few months later, his little daughter, Alison, went up to her mother and said these words, "I want God to do for me what he's done for my dad." (congregation applauding) How many of you want that to be your story? You want people around you to see the difference Jesus has made? Look at me and let me tell you something. The reason you need to tell your story is because if you don't tell them who you were before you became who you are in Christ, they may think you're just that good. And you're the one on the throne getting all the credit. They need to hear your story. They need to hear who you were before Jesus, how Jesus opened your eyes to him, how you realized you needed him, what it was like when you trusted him for your savior and the difference he's made now in your life. This is Paul's story. This is our story. And when you tell your story, here's the final piece, the why, you yield the results to God. You lay it in God's hands from that moment on. You're not responsible for how people respond. You're only responsible for sharing your God's story, sharing your story, sharing your testimony. 'Cause people reject it, Paul.

Oh, how bad it would have been if he'd gotten discouraged. I'm thankful he didn't. Paul said after a return to Jerusalem and I was praying in the temple, I fell in a trance and the spirit was telling me, "Hurry, get out of this city. "Get out of Jerusalem quickly, why?" Because they will not accept your testimony about me. People in Jerusalem didn't accept Paul's story, they rejected it. The Sanhedrin rejected it. He said, "But I said, Lord, they know that in synagogue, "after synagogue I had those who believed in you "and prisoned and beaten. "And when the blood of your witness Stephen was shed, "I stood there giving approval, "guarding the clothes of those who killed him. "How many of you ever struggle with your past "and feel completely unworthy to talk about Jesus "to other people? "Do you ever struggle with that?" Paul did too. Praise God, it's in the Bible for you to read. Notice the words of Jesus. He said to me, "Ready, read, go, "because I will send you far away to the Gentiles." And here's what God was teaching Paul and I pray he teaches you. When God puts you in the room and it gives you the room, and you have the opportunity to tell your God's story,

tell it, leave the results to God. For Paul, he would have said, "I got rejected more than I got accepted. "But it only takes one to hear the gospel "and receive it for the kingdom of heaven "to be open to them. "And then they go share theirs, "and someone else goes share theirs. "And look here this morning church, "we're here in Southeast Missouri. "2,000 years later, you know why? "Because some of the people who heard Paul accepted. "And the gospel spread. "And it kept spreading. "And it kept spreading. "And here we are today as the spiritual descendants "of Paul being obedient and telling his God's story "and going where God told him to go. "Amen, who knows whose life could be changed "if you'll tell your story. "Here's what I know, your big takeaway. "Your story could be the doorway God uses "to make room for someone else to enter the kingdom." I want to ask you to bow your heads with me in this room and online, and I just want you to think about it for a moment. What kind of impact could God do if you're obedient the next time the Holy Spirit prompts you to tell your story? I know most of us would like to forget our past, but can I tell you, your past is part of your story. We'd like to jump to the end.

Don't jump to the end. Start at the beginning. Tell who you were, how God got your attention. Then own that moment when the light came on, and you realize you needed a Savior, and tell them the difference Jesus has made, and then pray for God to use that moment to impact their lives. You don't know this side of heaven who's going to be impacted when you share your story. Father, let us be a church that's unashamed to tell our gospel stories. Let us tell of how Jesus changed our lives and reached us with the good news of the gospel. Let us never be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. May we proclaim it, and may the Kingdom of Heaven be opened in room made for someone else to meet Jesus. God we pray this in your holy name. Head, stay bowed. God, I believe there's some people here in this room, and some watching online right now that's never trusted in Jesus Christ for your own salvation. Maybe you thought just being good or going to church was enough, and today the Holy Spirit's getting your attention and saying, "No, I need you to realize you need me to be your Savior." For me to be Lord over your life and to surrender to me by faith, to trust me and for your salvation. And if that's you right here in this room watching online, I want to give you that moment. If God is bringing you to that realization today, reach out. Paul said, "What do you want me to do, Lord?" And I say the Bible says, "Call upon the name of the Lord and you shall be saved." If you'd like to call on his name for salvation, I want you to pray this prayer with me. But remember, I can't do it for you, I can only guide you. You have to pray it from your own heart. But pray something like this. Pray, Lord Jesus, today I place my faith in you. I believe you're the Son of God that you died on the cross and rose from the grave.

Jesus, I ask you to forgive my sin. I trust you with my salvation. I pray now, you forgive me, adopt me into your family and fill me with your Holy Spirit. And I thank you for receiving me today. And I will live for you in Jesus' name. And all God's people said, "Amen, I just want you to bow your heads for a minute longer." If you just prayed that prayer right now, I want to pray a blessing over you. On the count of three, I want to ask you to raise your hand. If you just prayed to receive Christ in this room online, you can put it in the comments. Right now, I'm not going to embarrass you, I just want to pray over you. One, two, three, raise your hand all over this room. And let me pray over you. God bless you. God bless you. Let me just pray over you. Father, you see every hand in this room and everyone online who's saying yes to you today. And God, I pray you bless them. I pray you encourage them and I pray you strengthen them. I pray you help them, walk out their faith, begin to seek a personal relationship with you through prayer and the study of your Word and allowing Godly people to speak into their lives. I pray you encourage them and let them know today that they have been born again by faith in you and they have a spiritual birthday on this day and they're in the family of faith. Bless them, I pray in Jesus' name. Now come on church. Let's give God some praise for how He is moving in hearts today, amen. (audience applauding) [BLANK_AUDIO]