Rise Up Session 4 | Pastor Adam

Let's go! I got some, I got some, I got some good news and some bad news. The bad news, I'm going to start with the bad news. We only have two sessions left of Rise Up. I know, I know, I know, I know. But the good news is we're still rolling, baby. Let's go! Can we put our hands together and thank our friends at Upper Room for leading us in worship? They'll be back in just a few minutes. But you guys go ahead, find your seat, find your seat, find your seat, find your seat, find your seat. While you find your seat, I just got to tell you, I am over the moon excited about who's speaking next. It is a privilege and an honor to get to watch how Pastor Adam and Miss Brenda lead. How they lead so well and how they love so well. Like, I mean, you won't meet a young adult who just doesn't love them to death, but that starts because of how they're loved to death by Pastor Adam and Brenda. It's incredible. And so it is with my honor, it is a privilege for you to hear, get to your feet and welcome Pastor Adam Simmons! Well, I'm going to get a little closer to you guys. Can you hear me? Come on. Can you hear me? All right. You can have a seat. Appreciate it. All right. Listen, let's get fired up today, man. Once again, before I get started, hey, let's give a huge shout out to Upper Room.

What a blessing it is not to only be up here today, but also to be here with fellow Christians, man. These are multiple churches that are here because guess what? When you get to heaven, God ain't going to say, oh, you went to Upper Room. You go over there. You went to Momentum. You go over here. No. Did you surrender to me? Did you serve me? And that's what matters. Did you accept me? Did you tell people about me? So listen. What a privilege. I don't know, man, if it's an honor or if it's a test for me to be up here. This is probably some of you using your nap times before you get ready to roll the streets, but stay with me. Give me about 30, 35 minutes, and we're going to have a good time right here. But before I go any further, I need to say this too. We're a generation of honor here at Momentum Church, and I wasn't on the main set list for this, and we're going to talk about this in a minute, but hey, when you're on the bench, you got to be ready. You never know when you're going to be called up to the big leagues. So for Pastor Tim, Pastor Steph to give me the opportunity, Pastor Steve to believe in me, to give me this opportunity, and most importantly for God to give me this opportunity. It is a privilege. Yeah, I appreciate you guys. And it's awesome, I was, as soon as I found this out, I actually found out that I was going to be speaking today the same time our young adults did Thursday.

When Steve told everybody, and I was like, Brenda's like, did you know you were speaking? I was like, no. I knew I was on the, I knew I was on the bench, right, in case something happened. But I figured, hey man, everybody's going, everything's going to work itself out, everybody's going to be here, and you're not even going to have to get up there and speak. You can just be in your, you know, the little breakout, you do the breakout, and it's all good. But hey, we're here, I got the opportunity, and I pray that God speaks to someone in this room today of this message that I have. So when I was planning this message, I was literally at the table, the kitchen table, and I'm sitting there, and I'm just like, what are you going to talk about, man? Like, I'm in a series in young adults right now at Next. Hey, side note, if you're 18 to 25 and you got nowhere to be on Thursday night, come join us. And so I'm sitting here thinking about things, and I'm like, I'm in school at Liberty, and I haven't, yeah, I hear you, it was in the Liberty student set. Yeah, let's go. I mean, going to college, I'm out for the summer, and so I'm thinking like, I'm trying to catch all this with a fire hydrant right now. Because unlike a lot of people in here, to include my wife, I didn't have a relationship with God a long time ago. Like mine was just really almost five years ago at Passion, when I felt the Holy Spirit the first time. So for me, it's like, Adam, what you going to talk about? You don't have 25 years of stuff in your belt to speak about. So I just lowered my head at the table and I was like, Lord, give me something. And we were in the living room together, or the kitchen, and she was like, what was you doing? I said, I'm praying for a message, man. Like I don't even know what I'm gonna do today. So here we go. I

Want to be as real and honest with you guys and gals tonight. I hate interruptions. I Hate being interrupted. I I'm the guy that's got a five-year plan to back up the five-year plan And so much so I brought my computer with my message and notes and in case it went out I got my iPad and then in case it went out. I got my phone and my glasses That's how much of a backup planner I am I've got goals. I've always had goals, right? I've got lists. I've got the calendars and Is there anybody else in here like that? Does anybody else plan? I see a few of you praise God that I'm not the only one Well, anywho, I'm 47. I know I look probably 32, but it's all good Joined the army when I was 17 and I outworked a lot of people around me. I fast-tracked in promotions I knew exactly where I was heading and I felt like the only thing that could stop me from where I was going was myself. I Was arrogant I'll own that There was one mission in Iraq. There was one convoy on one deployment one injury one MRI one doctor's A Surgery and then my whole life everything changed Have you ever noticed how it only takes one interruption to rewrite your whole story? Well Who I'm gonna talk about today is he knew exactly where he was going as well. We're gonna talk about Saul And let me give you 60 seconds of context of Saul so you know that who he actually was if you don't know who Saul was because if you don't know who Saul was then this Message ain't gonna hit like it should Saul was no random guy. He was no criminal lurking in the shadows He was one of the most credentialed most disciplined and most religiously elite men in the room of his time He was trained under a man who was considered the Billy Graham of that time frame And if you don't know who Billy Graham is and you got to go google it, but he was one of the the first century Teachers That taught Saul during initial Judaism So he was kind of the Pharisee among all Pharisees if there was a leaderboard at getting it, right? Saul was at the top and he knew it He was hunting down Christians not because he was just evil by his own standard

He was doing it because he genuinely believed he was doing God's work and that he was honoring God This new Jesus movement was heresy and Saul's like, hey, man, we got to shut this down So he goes and gets official letters from the high priest which would be like going now to court and getting a judge to sign off on some warrants and He goes and his goal is to drag Christians out of their homes and in Damascus and back to Jerusalem and change So this ain't some villain who was twirling his mustache in the mirror This is a man on mission with paperwork. He had to prove it and he was running full speed ahead Completely convinced that he was being obedient So point one I got four points for you tonight If you don't know my story after the military, I went into coaching I believe there's so many life skills in the game of football that you can relate life to and So as I was building this message, I was like, hey man, let's throw a little sauce in here It's almost football season War Eagle Yeah, I know I knew that it get a little y'all in here so anyway, we don't speak that that is blasphemy in the In the house tonight. No, no roll tide Brenda my wife Anyway first point tonight is God drafts differently So if you're a point taker write these down because these are good now not because I said I'm just because the Bible says them So we're gonna turn to Acts 9 Verses 1 through 9 right now. This is where we're gonna take this plane off But Saul still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord Went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus So that if he found any belonging to the way men or women he might bring them bound to Jerusalem now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus and suddenly a light of heaven shone around him and Falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him Saul Saul why are you persecuting me and he said who are you Lord and He said I am Jesus whom you are persecuting But rise and enter the city and you will be told what you are to do. The men who were traveling with him stood speechless Hearing the voice but seeing no one Saul rose from the ground and although his eyes were open. He saw nothing

So they led him by the hand and brought him to Damascus and for three days. He was without sight and neither ate nor drank. I Want you to slowly read that text Maybe not right now, but later and I don't want you to rush past the verse. He was still breathing threats and murder That's not a casual language. That's a man locked in on a mission He hits the road to Damascus gets knocked flat on his face by a light from heaven He hears a voice all Saul, why are you persecuting me? Then he asked who's talking to him and the answer levels him. I am Jesus who you are persecuting Then he's blind for three days. No food. No water. Just him in the dark and the wreckage of every plan he had ever made and When Jesus says this to the man named Ananias about Saul in verse 15 Go for he has chosen a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and children of Israel Now I need you to catch what happens right here in this verse when God tells Ananias go put hands on Saul Ananias does something that's remarkably incredible. He argues with God How many of y'all argue with God? How many are lying? If you know God and you got a relationship you've argued with him and if you ain't Then I need you to sign my Bible before we get us in the back. So just come see me so Acts 9 13 through 14, but Ananias answered Lord I have heard from many about this man how much evil he has done to your Saints at Jerusalem And here he has authority from the chief priest to bind all who call in your name And I love Ananias here because Ananias is every one of us right now God says go and Ananias says Ananias says man. Have you googled this guy? Have you did a background check on him? this man is killing folks and you want me to go put my hands on him and Even the man that God hand-picked to help Saul Had an old file on Saul Even the miracles delivery guy didn't even believe in the miracle yet and What's astonishing is God don't explain himself in this moment He doesn't defend Saul's record. He just says go for he is chosen

period Remember that because it's gonna come back up. So why Saul? That's the question we have to sit with here out of everyone on that road out of everyone in Damascus out of everyone in Jerusalem Why does Jesus interrupt the one guy whose entire life is dedicated to stopping the movement of Jesus? Well, it's simple because that's who God is and that's what God does He always has God has always delighted himself in using a person that nobody else would pick If heaven had a draft board it don't look like ours Moses had a speech problem Hmm and this was good because if you know the story Moses tells him go find somebody else God comes to him in a burning bush and he's like Yeah, you ain't got nobody else man, right? David was so overlooked that his daddy left him in the field When the when they're coming to pick a new king now, that's That's a whole vibe in itself and then you got Gideon who was hiding in a winepress Angel came and told him that he's a mighty man of valor This man ain't done nothing mighty or valorous and I don't know the valorous is a word, but it sounded good God called him while he was literally hiding So either this is the most encouraging thing in the Bible or God's got a sense of humor Maybe a little bit of both Then Rahab Rahab ran a business that nobody puts on the resume and God put her in the lineage of Jesus Let that one sit for a second Peter looked at Jesus in the eyes and denied ever knowing him three times in a row didn't break stride. No, I don't know that guy and Jesus made him the rock of the church was built on if that doesn't give you hope then you might not hear anything here to give you hope tonight and Then you had Saul who murdered Christians He just didn't disagree with him. He just didn't unfollow him. He just didn't take him off his snapchat He was taking them in killing them Not one name on that list walks in qualified Not one of them passes the combine if God only used people had it together. The list would be empty. The Bible would be empty

The common denominator was never talent Never your clean track record never somebody who has it all figured out it was always grace Showing up at the exact place everybody else had always written these people off. Here's why I got to be 100 with you. I love to be 100 because I stood up here and I told you I hate interruptions. When my career ended I just didn't lose my job. I lost my identity. I lost a version of who I'd spent over 10 years building. I knew who I was in uniform and I knew the rank on my chest. I didn't know who I was without it. PTSD became part of my story whether I wanted it or not. There were nights I genuinely, genuinely, I couldn't say that word the other night, questioned if life was worth living. And I'm not talking about philosophically, I'm talking about 3 a.m. in the morning, is this worth living for? And looking back I look at it and thought I'd lost my purpose. And I didn't have a foundation of God at this time so looking back now it's where it actually started. But just like Saul, God was not looking for the most qualified guy in the room. He was just looking for someone willing to surrender. And I need you to hear this clearly tonight. This isn't about what God did for Paul, Saul, excuse me right now, and that's not what God did for me. It's what God can do for anyone, any background, any record, any chapter, any mess, and anyone who's willing to let him interrupt them. The truth is God isn't looking for the most qualified person, he's looking for the most surrendered. Some of you walked in here today already convinced that you're the exception to the policy. Oh everybody in this room, sure, oh wait, God can use that person. God can use that person. But God can't use me. You don't know my story. God does. Doesn't matter what your story is, God can use you. Saul had a body count and Jesus still interrupted him on the road. And I love the speakers that have already spoken before me and I love how God lines up things. Because when I put this message together, it takes us through what they already talked about to you. So apparently God wants you to hear that today. And so Pastor Steph earlier talked about your friends. So let's talk about that for a second. Point number two is they still see your old jersey. Acts 9 20 through 22 says, and immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the

synagogue saying, he is the Son of God. And all who heard him were amazed and said, is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon his name? And has he not come here for this purpose and to bring them bound before the chief priest? But Saul increased all more in strength and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was Christ. Immediately after he encountered, he had an encounter with Jesus, Saul walked straight into the synagogue proclaiming that Jesus is the Son of God. And the crowd's reaction is priceless. Is this not the man who was wreaking havoc in Jerusalem? Now I love that verse because that's exactly word-for-word what happens when every single person who actually gets changed by Jesus. Ain't that the guy who did such and such? Ain't that the girl that she was, was such and such? Oh, she was an addict in school. But wasn't he the angry one? Oh, that one dropped out. Wasn't that the girl who always blank, blank, blank? Ain't that the guy who always blank, blank, blank? Fill in the blank, right? Any professional sports fans in here? Anybody love pro football, soccer, whatever? Good. You ever seen a player get traded to the rival team in sports? And he shows up in the colors, he's in the locker room, he's on your sideline. But some of the fans still can't cheer for him yet. Doesn't matter what he does right now. Doesn't matter how well he plays. Every time they look at him, all they still see is the old jersey. They remember all the years he torched them out on the field. They can't update the file yet. They won't update the file. That's Saul walking into a synagogue and later into a room full of disciples. He's brand new, completely different, wearing the right colors, and everybody who looks at him still sees the jersey he used to have on. And meanwhile, his old team, they didn't misunderstand anything. They knew exactly what had happened. That's why they wanted him dead. See, when you switch teams, the old crowd calls you a traitor. And the new crowd calls you a risk. And Saul was both at the same time. People love to freeze you in the worst moment of your life. Let me say that to you again. People love to freeze you in the worst... Moment of your life Not the worst year. I'm talking about the worst Tuesday, and then they'll reference that Tuesday for the next decade

Like that's your name tag now Well, let me tell you if you knew me at my worst you'd say the same thing about me. I Know what my old jersey looked like arrogant driven by the wrong things Wrapped up in rank and performance and always trying to prove something to everybody around me If somebody walked in this room that knew me at the age of 25 and saw me up here, they'd be like Didn't he used to do such-and-such and here's what I need you to understand Yeah, it is and no it ain't The pastor Steph said she's from from Tennessee to South. Well, I'm from LA. That's lower, Alabama That's where we use ain't right ain't can mean is not right So, yeah, it is and no it ain't both things are true, but only one of them matters Here's why I need you to understand that your reputation is just everybody's memory of the version that no longer exists That's the old file that they filled out on day one But it's already gone and some people are never gonna update it not because they're evil But because it's easier to keep an old file on you and pay it and then to pay attention to what God is actually doing in you right now but God has never ever once looked at you through that lens and Here's something else that nobody warns you about before you start actually following Jesus Not everybody's gonna celebrate who you're becoming Some of those friendships fade like pastor Steph said some people stop inviting you to things some people keep bringing up your past because honestly, it's just easier than dealing with your present and Here's the truth Your past is not bigger than what took place on the cross. I Don't care how bad it was. I don't care who still brings it up I don't care what people in your life are still hanging the old jersey framed on the wall Whatever happened on your worst day was already met with Jesus on the cross and it lost So it's finished so start walking like it Saul Lived this immediately The Jews questioned him the disciples of Jerusalem were flat-out afraid of him

His old friends wanted him dead. His new friends didn't trust him yet Acts 9 26 says and when he had come to Jerusalem Jerusalem He tried to join the disciples and they were afraid of him for they did not believe that he was a disciple He didn't fully belong anywhere This guy used to lead the charge against the church and He can't get anybody to sit with him in church now He was to change for his old crowd not trusted by the new crowd You want to talk about an awkward middle? Saul was in an awkward middle and he didn't earn this awkward middle by doing something wrong. He earned it by doing something, right? Yeah, guess what? He did. He just kept preaching Because let me tell you something a bee don't waste time trying to convince fly that honey's better than horse crap I'm gonna say that again a bee don't waste time trying to convince a fly that honey's better than horse crap So Saul didn't spend his energy trying to convince people who weren't ready to believe him He just kept walking with Jesus and let the fruit show up in its own timeline And it cost him almost immediately Acts 9 23 says the Jews plotted to kill him That's his old team the people he used to lead He watched the gates of Damascus. They watched the gates of Damascus day and night looking for him waiting on him So, you know how great and terrible the Saul of Tarsus was This man went got letters from the high priest. This man had legal authority and a Reputation to make churches tremble, you know how he left Damascus Well, let's see because the Bible tells us verse 23 through 25 said when many days had passed that Jews plotted to kill him But their plot became known to Saul They were watching the gates day and night in order to kill him But his disciples took him by night and let him down and opening in the wall luring him in a basket a A Basket the once most feared man in the region left at night hiding in a basket lured down like a bag of laundry Following Jesus took Saul from the most powerful man on the road to a guy in a basket and Here's the thing because Saul never said it was anything like a downgrade

Because status with people is nothing Compared to a purpose with God, he would have rather been in a basket with a calling than walking with a warrant. Here's the truth that I need you to know. Your reputation is everyone else's memory of a version that no longer exists. Stop living for a crowd that's still watching old tape on you. Don't spend your life trying to convince people you're changed. That's exhausting and it ain't going to work. Keep walking with Jesus. Eventually your fruit is going to speak so loudly that your past can't even whisper. So here's the question that you should be, that be bugging you right now. If Saul's old crowd wants him dead and his new crowd won't sit with him, what does he do? Where does a, where does a man and woman go when they belong nowhere? This is actually the best part of this story and almost nobody preaches on it. Takes me into point three, bench doesn't mean cut. If you only read Acts nine, it feels like Saul's story moves fast. He's converted, he's preaching, he's persecuting, he's escaping Damascus in a basket, he's off to Jerusalem, bang, bang, bang. Sounds like a highlight reel or some montage. Sounds like God saved him on Monday and he's on stage by Friday. Well that's not what happened. There was a gap, a big one. And Paul himself goes on to speak about it and tell us in later years, but he almost tells it like it's a footnote. Turn to Galatians 1, 15 through 18. But when he who had set me apart before I was born, speaks to what Pastor Tim was talking about. And who called me by His grace was pleased to reveal His Son to me in order that I might preach Him among the Gentiles.

I did not immediately consult with anyone, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me. But I went away into Arabia and I returned again to Damascus. Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remain with him 15 days. Three years, not three days, not three weeks, three years in Arabia. A place Scripture never fully explains to us, it never unpacks it, it never gives us the full story. He just went there for three years and then he came back. You know what we call that in sports? The bench. Now I've coached long enough to know there's just two types of people on the bench. There's the ones that the coaches lost vision for them. And then there's the ones that are being developed for something bigger than what they're ready for right now. Saul wasn't cut, Saul was being developed. And here's what I think happened in Arabia. And I need to step over and tell you that it's just my opinion. Scripture doesn't clearly tell us that. But, and I'm also not gonna sit here and tell you I got some secret Scripture in my back pocket. But there are some things that we can see that Scripture does tell us. Paul knew the Old Testament better than a lot of people alive. He had memorized Scripture. But he knew it through the wrong lens his entire life. He had read every promise, every sacrifice, every prophecy, every psalm as a Pharisee looking for performance and law. Now he had to go back and read every single thing through the lens of Jesus Christ. God just wasn't changing Saul's behavior, he was rebuilding his whole entire operating system. And you can't rush that.

You can't microwave it. That was a three-year process whether you like it or he liked it. And here's the other thing that happened on the bench. Saul's identity had become stronger than his reputation. Think about where he actually stood. He couldn't go back to the Pharisees. He couldn't go to the disciples because the Christians didn't trust him. He belonged nowhere. He had no crowd, no platform. There was no followers. No validation from either direction. But God put him there on purpose. Because God was far more interested in who Saul was becoming than how fast he was gonna get there. Now let me talk to the people in the waiting room right now. Some of you are in your own Arabia right now. And you don't even have a name for it. You just know nothing is moving in your life. Nothing has happened. You gave your life to Jesus, you expected things to change. And instead it feels like God hit pause and forgot to come back and check on you. Well can I tell you something? He didn't forget. I had my own Arabia. Mine didn't look like a desert. It looked like a home that I didn't want to leave. It looked like a phone I didn't want to answer. It looked like a version of myself that I didn't even recognize. When I looked in the mirror, no uniform, no rank, no mission, no plan, no backup plan. And for a guy who has a five-year backup plan for a five-year backup plan, that's his own

kind of blindness. Nobody was applauding me in this season. There was no highlight reel. There was nothing to post online. And looking back, that's exactly where God started rebuilding everything my career had taken away from me. I couldn't see it while I was in it. And a lot of times, we don't see it from the bench. But he didn't forget about you. And here's what I know in Acts 11, the reason he didn't forget. Because a guy named Barnabas comes looking for Saul. All the way to Tarsus. Tracks him down, comes and finds him and brings him into ministry. Saul didn't chase his platform. Barnabas came looking for him. If God gave you a calling, you ain't gotta force the door open. You ain't gotta manufacture a moment. You don't have to promote yourself into your purpose. If it's yours, it'll find you. Just like it found Saul in Tarsus after years of nobody applauding him. And by the way, let's do the actual math, because I love school right now because it takes me down some rabbit holes. Because it's a little worse than three years. Scripture gives a number in Arabia, three years. We find that in Galatians 118. But then in Acts 930, it sends him home to Tarsus. And then Acts 1135 is where Barnabas finally comes looking. And the Bible never tells us how long that gap was. It doesn't even bother to give us a number. But what we know is it was long enough when the dates lined up that most scholars, and

I'm not a scholar, they guesstimated somewhere close to a decade between the road to Damascus and Saul stepping into real ministry at Antioch. That's a whole decade. The man who would write half the New Testament spent guesstimate of a decade, give or take, in rooms where nobody was watching, being informed by God who was not in a hurry. So when you've been waiting 10 months and you're convinced God has lost your address, I need you to breathe, just take a breath. Because He develops on a different clock than we do. And He ain't never late. There's that word again, He ain't never late. The truth is salvation happens in a moment, growth happens over a lifetime. Your hidden season is not your forgotten season. The bench is not the end of your story. It might be exactly where God is building something in you that can't be built in any other way. Don't confuse His silence for absence. God often does His loudest work in the most quiet seasons. God prepares in private what He plans to use in public. The bench isn't punishment, it's preparation. And this is my last point, because this one's good right here. I love this one. The Bible's so great. The weight room. Who likes to work out? Let's go, I hear you. Who does not like to work out? Brenda, raise your hand. It's my wife, I can clown on her. She don't like it, I don't like it, it make me sore, she says. Well most messages stop in Saul's story at point three.

He got changed, he had to wait, he eventually got used. Great story, great lesson, everybody go home encouraged. But Acts 9 doesn't stop there and I'd be doing you a disservice if I stopped as well. Because right here before Saul even knows his future, before he's preached one sermon or planted one church or written one letter, Jesus pulls Ananias aside and tells him something Saul and nobody else asked for. Verse 15 and 16 says, but the Lord said to him, go for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he will suffer for the sake of my name. Have mercy. That's what he's told initially. And I got a little side note because I was supposed to lead relationships, so I had a good story that I was gonna tell you, but it applies to this. So while I'm up here, I'm gonna tell you guys and gals, it's probably never wise to tell your spouse that they, they think shallow. All right? So keep that in the, in your mind. When I first read this scripture, we had just came from the beach. We love going to the beach and it was at night, we'd been out at the beach. And I don't need science to tell me who the creator is. Because I can ride right out there and see. The gulf or the trees and you Guys and gals in here to know that there's a higher power and that God created so when I read this I was like, oh my goodness man, like He told him from Jump Street that he's gonna suffer in his name So I asked my wife I got to thanking man and these rabbit holes are going down my head and I was like, man I wonder what else Jesus told Saul that he didn't share with people. And so I asked my wife. I was like, babe, do you ever think about? Some of the things that Jesus told Saul that he didn't Share and she's like, nope, and I was like, I was kind of taken back. I was like, well, you know what you think shallow. I

Don't think shallow Then she's like, I don't care if you think I think shallow You Think I think shallow And so she goes back and forth with me for like five or ten minutes on the way home about she's offended But then she don't care if I think she she thinks shallow, right? But I say that to tell you two things. The wisdom is don't tell your significant other they think shallow, right? That's just a side note. It's got little to do with it. But the second part of it is What did Paul Convicted Saul Paul and I'll get to that in a moment in a moment and wrap that one up for you How and what did he had to have seen and heard from Jesus to be so convicted on? the front end For somebody to tell you you're gonna suffer in my name How many in here would just willingly say somebody walks up to you and say you're gonna suffer my name, which is that? Okay, I'm good He had to have encountered something so great That He was ready to go through suffering before he even started So read that again For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name So the very first thing Jesus says about Saul's future ministry is not he's gonna plant thriving churches He's gonna write letters that will change the world He's gonna be remembered as the greatest missionary who ever lived even though those are true the very first line in Saul's Job description is suffering Now that don't preach well in a culture of comfort that you live in It don't fit on a graduation card Nobody puts that on a motivational paper with the the beach sunset in the back But it's right there in text and I'd rather give you the true version of the story than a comfortable one So let's talk about the weight room Nobody gets stronger sitting on the couch

the room of A weight room in itself is uncomfortable by design The resistance is not an accident. It's the entire point You don't walk into the weight room and ask the trainer to take weights off the bar The weight is why you're there What God was building and Saul through suffering wasn't accidental It was intentional Every beating every prison cell every betrayal every false accusation every sleepless night God wasn't ignoring any of it. He was using all of it the very weight that could have crushed Saul was the exact weight God was using to build him into the man who would write half the New Testament and Here's the thing about scar tissue It's not the same as what was there before It's different it's permanent Your body doesn't erase the wound it marks it and it builds around it God doesn't hand you back the version of you that existed before the pain He builds something new and replace of it something that carries the evidence Jesus rose with the scars on his hand The resurrection did not erase them it repurposed them That is what God is doing with your suffering if you'll let him It came directly Saul came directly out of this pain He planted churches. He wrote letters The people he reached all was shaped by the suffering God refused to waste on him Saul would go on to experience beatings prison shipwrecks rejection hunger all the things but listen what he says after experiencing all of this Romans 8 18 says for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory that it is to be revealed to us and

in 2nd Corinthians 4 17 18 for this light momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison as we look not to the things that are seen but to to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. Notice who's writing this. This is not a theologian. This is not somebody who read about suffering in a book. This is a man that lived every single word of it out and still had the audacity to call it light compared to what was coming. Some of you are carrying something heavy right now, and it has nothing to do with anything you did wrong. You just live in a broken world. We live in a broken world. Maybe your family's falling apart. Maybe you're fighting something in your own head that nobody around you even knows about. Maybe you've buried somebody you love way too early. Maybe you've been betrayed by the one person that you were sure would never do that. What I need you to hear is falling Jesus was a never promise that you were gonna stop hurting. It was a promise that your hurt is never wasted. And I'm gonna be 100 with you one last time. I would have never chose PTSD. I would have never chosen the injury that ended my career. I would never chose the nights that I didn't wanna see morning,

but I have watched God take every single thing that would destroy me and use it to build something in me I couldn't have gotten any other way. The weight room is brutal, the scar tissue is real, and I'm standing here today stronger in the exact places I got hurt the worst. You know what Saul eventually did with his scars? He stopped hiding them and started listing them. Galatians 6.17 says, from now on let no one cause me trouble for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. That's not a complaint, that's a credential. Saul pulled out those scars and put it out like he was putting it on a diploma. The beatings, the stonings, the chains he wore, all of it was proof of who he belonged to and what he had been trusted to carry. See, your scars can become credentials too, not something you hide from your story. The part of your story that proves God finishes what he starts. God did not create evil, he did not author your pain, but God is so sovereign that even in a world completely broken by sin, he can take what's meant to destroy you and use it to build you into something that wouldn't exist without him. Your scars are the evidence that he hasn't abandoned you. They're not, I'm sorry, your scars are not evidence that he's abandoned you, they're proof that he was building something

in the exact place you got hit. Pain has an expiration date, God's promises don't. And I need you to hear this, don't judge God's faithfulness by today's pain, judge it by tomorrow's promise. Now let's land this plane and get out of here. What's in your hand? When Jesus stopped Saul on that road, Saul had something in his hand, right? There were letters, there were official documents, there were warrants, there were legal authority to destroy the church. That's what was in his hand when the light hit Saul. And here's what wrecks me about this story, God took the exact same skillset, the drive, the intellect, the boldness and the relentlessness, the willingness to travel anywhere and endure anything for a mission and just change what it was pointed at. Saul the persecutor and Paul the apostle were the same guy. Same intensity, same brain, same fire. And by the way, Jesus never renamed him. Go look, Saul and Paul were the same name in two languages. And he had both his whole life. God didn't delete him and start over because it was the same name, same guy, just a new direction. The thing you think that disqualifies you, God might just be waiting to point it in a direction somewhere else.

Where your stubbornness becomes your perseverance. Your big mouth becomes bold preaching. Your obsessive planning, and I'm preaching to myself, becomes shepherding. Your past becomes the exact testimony that somebody in your future needs to hear. God doesn't waste who you are, he redeems who you are. He doesn't need you to become somebody else, he just needs you to be the real you, surrendered, pointed in a new direction. So the question was never, can God use you? We settled that today with Saul. The question is what's in your hand and where is it pointed? I walked out here today and I told you that I hate interruptions. That I would never have chosen this interruption. But now I would never undo it. Because the interruption I hated is the only reason I'm standing here. Same drive, same intensity, same guy, I'm just pointed somewhere new. Have you ever noticed that it only takes one interruption to rewrite your whole story? He's pretty good at interruptions, so if you really want to rise up, then first let him interrupt you. Love you.