You'll See | Tyrone P. Jones | Book of Acts | Full Service

- So good morning church for the city. So good to be back in the house of the Lord this morning. My name's Will. If you're new here, it's your first time we'd like to get to know you. You can use your phone and tap the disc on the chair in front of you and check in with us or you can check in with the next steps, booth out in the lobby for watching online. You can click on the digital connect card or reach out to the online host there. The verse I wanna share with you this morning comes from the book of Romans. It's chapter eight, verse 38. And it says, "And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, not our fears for the day nor our worries about tomorrow. Not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love. And how reassuring is that? We all want love, right? And as we go through life, sometimes we'll do some pretty crazy things trying to get it. But here Paul's telling us that God's love is with us always, no matter what. It doesn't matter what season of life you're in, whether you feel lost or alone. It doesn't matter if you're sitting here right now and you're going through a time in your life where your whole world's just crashing down

and you feel completely unworthy of anyone's love. God says, "I love you." Or maybe we know God's love is available to us, but we choose to try to run and hide from it anyway. But the good news is that nothing we can do can ever make God stop loving us. No matter how high we climb or how far we fall, God's love remains the same. We just have to let it in. Let's pray. Dear Lord, thank you for this day. Thank you for being a God that loves us unconditionally no matter what. I pray that you open the hearts and the minds of every person in here today and watching online, Lord, that we may receive whatever word you have for us and apply it to our lives in a way that glorifies you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Let's worship. - Amen. - Can we watch yours? Can we have our hands put together as we celebrate the mighty name of Jesus in this place? (upbeat music) ♪ Who makes the mountains tremble ♪ ♪ Who brings dead things to life ♪ ♪ Who holds the power of heaven ♪ ♪ And brings blood at the sight ♪ ♪ Only one name has a glory ♪

♪ In order you did first ♪ ♪ Only one name brings the Spirit to me ♪ ♪ That connection hurts us from me ♪ ♪ Jesus, His name is Jesus ♪ ♪ Come on, believe it ♪ ♪ We serve a mountain, shake it ♪ ♪ Jesus, He brings freedom ♪ ♪ Never pleases, He's got a mountain, shake it ♪ ♪ Yes He does ♪ ♪ Like the woman leading her in the cold ♪ ♪ Through the crowd for just one touch ♪ ♪ The same power is in this place now ♪ Come on, do you believe it this morning? ♪ But His name is still in love ♪ ♪ Only one name has a glory ♪ ♪ In order you did first ♪ ♪ Only one name brings the Spirit to me ♪ ♪ That connection hurts us from me ♪ ♪ Jesus, His name is Jesus ♪ ♪ Come on, believe it ♪ ♪ We serve a mountain, shake it ♪ ♪ Jesus, He brings freedom ♪ ♪ Never pleases, He's got a mountain, shake it ♪ ♪ He is the earth ♪ - Come on, everyone, shut it up. ♪ Everything is gonna burn ♪ ♪ And proclaim Jesus Christ's love ♪ ♪ He has been told everything ♪ ♪ We'll confess everything ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ is the Lord ♪

♪ He's got a ball ♪ He gave us keys to the kingdom, the one name who's here to be host. It's it I'm so hungry. Jesus, His name is Jesus, oh that's a good voice. We serve a mountain shaking Jesus, He brings freedom, He brings freedom. He's got a mountain shaking Jesus, His name is Jesus. Come on, we'll be there. We serve a mountain shaking Jesus, He brings freedom, He brings freedom. He's got a mountain shaking, He's got a mountain shaking, He's got a mountain shaking, He's got a mountain shaking, He brings freedom. Come on, what's up with the name of Jesus in this place? Amen. Praise you Jesus. We serve a faithful, faithful God, amen church, He is faithful today as He was then. As we continue to worship, we worship in Jesus. I remember how you provided, how you held me through the night, and I remember how you sustained me when you stepped in to save my life. If I knew then what I know now, I would be still and let you work it out. Jesus, I was tossed in the water, but I never went under, you were always on time. Jesus, when I went through the fire, you were right there beside me, you were always on time. You were always, always, always on time, you were always, always, always on time. And I remember how you carried when I couldn't take a step, and I remember how you loved me when I couldn't love myself. Jesus, I was tossed in the water, but if you've been faithful and you're like never went under, you were always on time. Jesus, when I went through the fire, you were right there beside me, and you were always on time. You were always, always, always, always on time, you were always, always, always on time. You were always, always, always, always on time. Yes, you are. You were in long time, God has in every season, God. Oh Jesus, just never been a day, never been a minute, never been a moment that you weren't in it. I worship you There's never been a day Never been a minute, come on church That you weren't in it, yeah I worship you There's never been a day Never been a minute Never been a moment

That you weren't in it There's never been a time that you didn't see me through God I worship you There's never been a day Never been a minute Never been a moment That you weren't in it There's never been a time that you didn't see me through God I worship you Jesus I was lost in the water But I never went under And you were always on time Jesus When I went through the splire You were right beside me And you were always on time You were always on time You were always on time You were always, always, always on time You were always, always You were always on time You were always, always There's never been a day Never been a minute Never been a moment That you weren't in it There's never been a time that you didn't see me through God I worship you There's never been a day

Never been a minute Never been a moment That you weren't in it There's never been a time that you didn't see me through God I worship you You were always on time So I worship you You were always on time You were always on time I worship you Jesus I was tossed in the water But I never went under You were always on time Jesus When I went through the splire You were right there beside me You were always on time Oh, Jesus Wow, we give them praise Thank you, Jesus You remember your goodness You remember your face on this And I could sing your name for all my life And still find more to love each time Oh, Jesus, be the name of our own hearts It's sweeter every time that I call on Oh, there's just something 'bout your name Oh, there's just something 'bout your name Oh, there's just something 'bout your name

It makes me cry holy There is no other name There is no other name There is no other name Oh, Jesus, you're worthy You have been the friend who never left I won't forget When Jesus be the name of their own lives It's sweet of every time that I call Come on sing it this morning There's just something 'bout your name Oh there's just something 'bout your name There's just something 'bout your name That makes me cry holy There is no other name, no There is no other name There is no other name Oh Jesus, sing it out There's just something 'bout your name Oh no, there's just something 'bout your name There's just something 'bout your name That makes me cry holy There is no other name like yours There is no other name There is no other name Oh Jesus, sing it out Come on church, let's turn our attention to the screen As someone goes public with their faith My name is Ellen I've been raising the church my whole life

I've been raising, my name is Ellen I've been raising the church my whole life Church for the city has given me a chance to learn more about Jesus During summer jam I saw kids being baptized And giving their lives to follow Jesus I felt like a tug on my heart I knew I wanted to go out and follow Jesus all the days of my life Since running my life to Jesus, He helps me to listen and choose to pray before I read I have a desire to learn about the Bible and worship cup I want others to turn to Jesus He would help them to show love instead of marriage Again, I'm going public with my faith Ellen, hey Jesus said Every disciple should be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit And because of your confession of faith today I baptize you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins and according to Scripture You shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit [Music] We're hallelujah to the land We sing hallelujah to the land Don't press your favor [Music] Jesus, the only is like the morning light The one the darkness can't deny The resurrect, come on with every voice Jesus, oh Jesus, your name can save your name, can heal Your name can make the storm be sealed You never fail, you never will Jesus, Jesus the bread of life, broken for us Looting and the worthy one

The first and last is still to come Jesus, Jesus the King You woke a well, the great The Lord who will forever reign The name of all the Lord of life, Jesus Jesus, be the name Jesus, be the name Oh Jesus, be the name He gets all the glory Oh Jesus, be the name Jesus, be the name Oh Jesus, be the name He gets all the glory Oh Jesus, be the name Jesus, be the name Oh Jesus, be the name He gets all the glory Oh Jesus, be the name Jesus, be the name Oh Jesus, be the name He gets all the glory ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Oh, you can't live alone ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ The precious will never go ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Yes, Lord declare the name Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh Jesus, be the name ♪

♪ Jesus, be the name ♪ ♪ Oh Jesus, be the name ♪ ♪ That gets all the glory ♪ ♪ Oh Jesus, be the name ♪ ♪ Oh Jesus, be the name ♪ ♪ Jesus, be the name ♪ ♪ That gets all the glory ♪ ♪ Be the Lord ♪ ♪ You get the glory ♪ ♪ Oh the mighty Lord ♪ ♪ Oh Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh oh oh ♪ ♪ Oh oh oh ♪ ♪ Oh Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh Jesus, be the name ♪ ♪ Oh Jesus, be the name ♪ - Come on, just listen to that one name. - Come on, just listen to that one name. - Come on, just listen to that one name. - Come on, just listen to that one name. - Come on, just listen to that one name. - Come on, just listen to that one name. - Come on, just listen to that one name. - Come on, just listen to that one name. - Come on, just listen to that one name. - Come on, just listen to that one name. - Come on, just listen to that one name. - Come on, just listen to that one name. - Come on, just listen to that one name. - Come on, just listen to that one name.

- Come on, just listen to that one name. - Come on, just listen to that one name. - Come on, just listen to that one name. - Come on, just listen to that one name. - Come on, just listen to that one name. - Come on, just listen to that one name. - Come on, just listen to that one name. - Just give hallelujah once again. Give him the praise he deserves. He's so good, he's so worthy. We'll church before we transition to the next part of the service for the message. We're going to think what we do. We'll call the men it's a main goal. So if you've never met somebody before, if there's someone you did that's new, find one or two or three or four people. Tell them you're thankful that they're in the house today and they'll offer the message. [MUSIC] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] - All right, well, good morning to you. Welcome to church for the city where we'll teach the word of God, we'll encounter the presence of the Lord, and we will spread the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. How many are happy to be in the house of God? Yes, good to be here. I do want to say it's as a father. I don't see how you could watch that baptism and not get

some tears in your eyes as a father. I'm telling you that, that's a desire of any father's heart. Father's heart is the baptizer child in the faith of Christ. Beautiful, beautiful expression. Well, again, I'm so grateful to be here and just, yeah, good. It's good to be home. We enjoyed a great time, Lady V and I. It was a 30 day stretch. I don't know if I'll do that again because I just, I really do miss home and everything we enjoy and I've done some writing and we're gooning the gale. That was the first 10 days and when it's on my bucket list to go to every major league baseball park. And so I think I got like seven, seven to go, I think Virginia says, right? We got seven to go. She's, yeah. And so I, to be absolutely honest, these 30 days, I laid out what I wanted to do and said, come along wife, right? That kind of thing. So I'm sure that's going to come back on me. It's going to go reverse. I'm sure one of these, one of these days. Yes. So yes. No, I'll do whatever. Just, yeah. That's right. I love it. So five baseball parks, NASCAR race, horse racing at Churchill

Downs. I didn't gamble. But so we've done some horse racing at Churchill Downs and then went to the ark encounter for the second time. I'm telling you, I love it. And I really do encourage people to put that on your list. Now, of course, every lot comes to life in Israel. I'm telling you it really will speak volumes to you, but done a wedding and just a lot of different things, but it's good to be home. Now also, I want to thank the team while I was away, the work that they do, the staff, all of the preachers from Passertine and Ryan and Passerable all done a great job. We watched all of the services and loved every one of them. And even the women's conference we were able to see, and that was tremendous, so, so thankful for all of that. I also do want to thank everyone for all of the birthday cards, birthday gifts, birthday wishes, thank you so much, I won't be able to thank every one of you personally. But I read every one, and I'm grateful for every one of you, I really am, it meant a lot. It's wonderful to know that you're loved, right? And so I appreciate that. It was hard to say out of my mouth that I'm 63, but I actually feel great. I mean, I feel good. And so, I don't know if, man, I hope I can... I hope it's 73, I can say I feel great, and 83, I feel great, and 93, or whenever Jesus comes. But yeah, but I want to thank you, though, just for the love and it meant a lot. Well, I'm ready. I'm going to dive into this, so what I'd like you to do, well, first, I think I need to say a couple of things, the women's conference was fantastic. Men's conference is coming, October 16th and 17th, so if you're not registered for the

men's conference, I'm going to ask you to do so. Something happens when men get in the room. We got some great speakers coming. It's a great plan for that Friday night, that Saturday. It's going to be fantastic, so you can do it through the tap disc, you can do it on the website, you can do it at the connect table, but please get registered for the men's conference, October 16th and 17th, and also I want to thank you for your generosity. Everything that you do, you give, helps us to help what we can in our community, people in our house that have needs, the missions and the ministry work that we do, everything that's supported here is because of your generosity and just thank you for being faithful in your giving. Those of you that have been first-time givers, you've received a card from me or Lady V. I want to thank you for stepping up in faith and just saying, you know what, this is new to me, but I believe God, I believe in the church, and I want to give, and so I encourage you, if you haven't done that, just step out on faith. I'm telling you, God loves cheerful givers. You can't beat it. When I stand up here and tell you that I do not worry about finances, it's not because I'm not smart. I do have financial advisors, but it ain't because they're that smart. Sorry, Barry, I ain't trying to offend you, but it ain't because they're that smart. It's because God put out a principle that's right, that if you give to the kingdom of God, if you trust Him with your income to the kingdom of God, trust me. It's the only place in the Bible where He said, "Test me and see." I'm telling you He provides for you every single time. Do I got a witness? Got a witness. So thank you. Thank you for your giving. Thank you for your generosity.

All right, so there's a quite a few scriptures that I want to read, but I'm not going to have you stand for all of them. So I'm going to read out of chapter nine of the book of Acts. I'm going to read verses one through 19. I'm going to ask you to stand with your Bible, and while you're standing, I'm going to read through verse nine. Then I'll have you be seated and I'll complete it. Acts chapter one, we're going to read through one through 19, but while you're standing with me, we'll look at verses one through nine. Here it is, "But Saul, 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 from heaven flashed around him and failing to the ground, 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're persecuting, but rise and enter the city and you will be told what you are to do. men who were traveling with him. Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were open, he saw nothing. They let him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And for three days, he was without sight, and neither ate nor drink. Okay, you're welcome to be seated. Now there was a disciple of Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias, and he said, "Here I am, Lord." The Lord said to him, "Rise and go to the street called straight, and at the house of Judas,

look for a man of Tarsah's name, Saul, for behold, he's praying." And he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight. But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And there he has authority from the chief priests to bind, all who call on your name. 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 must suffer for the sake of my name." So Ananias departed and entered the house and laying his hands on him. He said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who has appeared to you on the road, by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight. Then he arose and was baptized and taken food. He was strengthened. So far, the reading of the word can you say, "Man." Well, Lord, I just thank you for this opportunity to be here and be in this house. And Lord, to minister the word of the Lord, I'm so, so grateful. I pray that what is ministered this morning

will really speak to everyone that's in the house, those that will be watching, those that will be even listening to it later, that it connects and helps people to draw closer to you. I pray that I will decrease, that you might increase. I pray, Lord God, that your spirit moves mightily, your anointing will come. Lord, also pray for every church in our county, every pastor, every leader. Lord, as they gathered, that they will preach the gospel. And Lord, that there will be more people in their communities, in their church, in their fellowships, that come to Christ, that we can continue to multiply in our county, the number of people who call on the name of Jesus. I pray for Pastor Bob Tolliver, and Lord as he begins to relaunch the ministry of Fortuna del Oro. And I actually pray, Lord, for as winter visitors begin to come, Lord, I pray that every pastor, every Christian leader that's ministering to them in the various parts, Lord God, that you will use them mightily. I'm thankful that the seniors that do come from these various places to human, they have a place they can call fellowship, a community and a home. And I pray, Lord, that the word of God will be spoken, that even in this season of their life, they can yet see the glory of God

and hear the word of God and continue to serve you. So I pray for every pastor, Christian leader, every speaker in these parts, these mobile home parts, that Christ will be exalted through the preaching of the gospel. And Lord, may you do your work that you do best here at CTC, that we may continue to go forth in such a manner, Lord God, that it just launches the works of revival in our community. Lord, that everywhere we walk into, we can declare the word of the Lord and see people's lives change. Father, we love and we thank you. In Christ's name we pray. Can you say amen? Amen, thank you, thank you so much, Phillip, thank you. You heard another new song by Phillip and Billy today about the team there. They'll be leaving for two months of a tour this week. So we'll be praying for them and we'll keep informed of how they're doing. And if we miss them too much, I'll just bring them back home. But thank you. Well, where'd he go? Oh, thank you. [LAUGHTER] Very good. All right, so Jedi tricks working already. So now we're in the book of Acts. And we've been kind of covering big chunks, as you well know,

everyone that spoke over the-- even while I was away, each one of them took a chapter and identified certain parts of that chapter. So it's not expository in the sense of where we go in verse by verse through a book, which we love to do to go verse by verse through books of the Bible. But through the book of Acts with these 28 chapters, we're going to be hitting some high points in each chapter. We're at chapter 9 now. And this probably records probably the most famous conversion story that's recorded in the Bible by this man named Saul, who will later become Paul. So oftentimes, when we talk about the Apostle Paul, And I'll get to when his name was used, where he started using name Paul instead of Saul and why he did that. Throughout the message though, I may say Saul, I may say Paul, but just know I'm talking about the same fellow. But who is this? Well, I think Philippians chapter three, verses five through six really defines him on the religious scale, that he was thoroughly a God believer, but so much steep into Judaism that he didn't really understand the holiness of God or the righteousness of God or the love of God. But he was just a serious man that wanted to bring the religion of Judaism to people. So here it is in Philippians three, five through six.

It says, I was circumcised when I was eight years old. I am pure blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin, a real Hebrew if there ever was one. I was a member of the Pharisees who demanded the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. Now, you ought to hear the tension there. I just told you he was a man that pursued God, but yet he said he persecuted the church. So right there you ought to hear the tension of his understanding of God versus who Christ is. As for righteousness, I obey the law without fault. At the time that Saul is introduced to us on the scene, Christianity is gaining a lot of attention, a lot of converts, but also a lot of persecution. We could say it in the words of Charles Dickens. It was the best of times, but also the worst of times. Saul was on assignment to arrest those of the way, which was what Christianity was called, and either to jail them, or in some cases, as we saw in chapter seven, even for them to be killed, until he had a collision course with God. Now again, he believed he knew God, but he had an encounter, he had a collision, as we read about in those first nine verses, with the God of heaven. It was a dramatic encounter, as you can recall. A light shined, the light was so strong that it knocked him down, sometimes you hear people say

he knocked him from his horse, we don't know if he was on a horse or not, but the light was so bright that it knocked him down, and he heard a voice calling from heaven. When he heard that voice, he immediately knew it was a voice from above. That's why in verse number five, he says, who are you Lord? And then the voice says, I am Jesus, who you are, the one who you're persecuting. That was the stunner, because remember everything that Saul was doing was going against the Jesus people. He had no love for Jesus. He thought Jesus was an imposter. He thought Jesus was just a flim flam, a sham. And so he celebrated the crucifixion of Jesus. It was a stunner that Jesus says the one you're persecuting, mind you, remember the question. He says, who are you Lord? And the Lord says, I am Jesus. And see, here's where the problem is. Paul had his own understanding of who God was. He lived this life based on who he believed God wanted it, who he believed God was, and who he wanted God to be. All of his duties, all of his responsibilities, everything fits into his sensibility about God. God fit all of his views. He believed in the God that he wanted to exist. So his life was established that way. Then he met the God who had a different reality.

He believed God was one way, and he met the real true God. And that's why he's asking, well, who are you? Because he believed he knew who God was, and it orchestrated his life based upon that. And I'm gonna tell you this, every one of us, before we have an encounter with the true and living God, every one of us have created our own God. We live with the God according to what we believe he is to be. Or she depends on where you come from, I don't know. But whatever we decide God is, or who God is, that's what we live with. And that's everyone. Even people who say that they're atheists know this. There is no such thing as a true atheist. Romans chapter one is real clear about that, that everyone who's born in this world has a knowledge that there is a God. Now, whether they choose to serve him, or whether they want to deny him, that's entirely up to them. But we all determine who God is, You may hear people say things like this. I believe in God who accepts everyone, no matter what they believe. That's the God they created. They created a God that's a God of tolerance. They created a God that accepts everything in all situations. They've created that God, why? Because that's a God that fits within their context.

And so when you tell them what God is like, they'll say, well, that's not what God is like to me. Why? Because they created, I just pray for you, Bob, and you're sitting right here. They created their own reality of who God is. There's some people who believe God is so angry and so rigid and so full of judgment that you lose your enjoyment with that God. That's the God they created. Or people have created, and a lot of us fall under this camp, a God who we really believe should always give us what we want and should do things the way we want it. We like that God, but the moment we run into trouble, the moment things don't go the way we want it, the minute we run into some tribulation, what do we say? God, how can you do that to me? Why? Because we've created a God in the manner that we want God to be. Every one of us have done that. We believe in a God of some sort, of what we created. But this is what draws the question. Why do you believe a God like that? Because that God fits what you want. That God fits your mindset, your worldview, your philosophy. I believe, I can believe in a God like that because that's what I want God to be like. You've designed that. You've created that on your own. That view of God fits perfectly in what you want him to be. But let me just tell you about that God.

That God may get rid of a few of your problems, but that God will never convert you. That God can never change you. That God can never take you from the unhappy person you are to a happy person. Or the restless person you are to a person that's content. That God can never change you at a deep level. That God will never make you different or better. Why? Because he's a product of you. So he's always going to be the God to you that you want him to be. Am I talking to the right church? So at the deepest need that you truly have, you don't have a God who'll do that for you. That's why we all need to have an encounter with him. That's why every one of us needs a soul experience. It may not be as dramatic as soul, but every one of us needs to have an encounter with the true and living God. We need the God of heaven to break through our mindset and our worldview. And honestly, this is where conversion starts. You may have believed in the God all of your life, but only until you have an encounter with the true and living God and experience conversion do you really experience the God who really wants to have a purpose and a calling for your life. The God who created you is the one that has the best design for your life. And this actually brings me to the first point

that I wanna know. Saul's unexpected encounter proves the sovereignty of God in our life points to and leads to salvation. The sovereignty of God that we encounter proves that God points us to and leads us to salvation. Now, just to give a short definition of sovereignty of God, it absolutely means that he has all right to do all things according to his good pleasure. God has the right to do that. If God is not able to do what he believes is best for your life, then he cannot be your God. He has to be, as a matter of fact, if you don't believe in the sovereignty of God, there is no way that you will accept him as Lord because you'll never surrender control. You'll always wanna control all things. You'll always wanna define circumstances. You'll wanna define situations. You'll wanna depict relationships based on what you want. But the sovereignty of God has all right, absolutely right to do all things according to his good pleasure. Now, listen to Daniel chapter four, verse 35. And I'm glad this says Daniel four, 35, and not Tyrone four, 35. All the people of the earth are nothing compared to him. Hear this, he does as he pleases among the angels of heaven and among the people of earth. Are you an earthly? He does what he wants.

No one can stop him or say to him, what do you mean by doing these things? That's the sovereignty of God. We can talk about your job, the way the sovereignty of God has worked, where you worked into the job that you have, even the person that you're married, even where you're born, what country you're born and what state you're born, and what city you're born in. All of that is by the sovereignty of God, how you might have worked into a business that you own, because sovereignty determines those things, Providence produces it. But I want to talk to you more so of how that works in the context of salvation. Because the sovereignty of God means this, that God absolutely works His eternal purpose in your life very graciously, by ruling over circumstances, by ruling over events, by ruling over relationships, working through the Holy Spirit so that you're confronted with the gospel and drawn to saving faith in Jesus Christ. Things that we experience in life where you think they have no meaning, God is working in that to draw you closer to Him, to confront you with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, to bring Scripture to life, events that take place, even situations that we consider very uncomfortable or not good to us at all. God sovereignly works in those things. He has a gracious purpose, he has a meaning in everything that He does, so that every one of us can come to the saving knowledge of Him. He does that. Here's Ephesians 1, 3 through 6, listen to this. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

Now follow this, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. If God chose you in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world, what process could you have done to make this stuff work? His Acts was done before you even knew you, the Lord in His love said, "I got a plan for Paul's life." He may not realize it when he's 6, he may not realize it when he's 16, but when he gets 26, he gonna see I was working in his life the whole time. Are y'all following me with the process of this? He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before Him. Now that's a simple one because you knew you can't get holy or blameless by yourself. I've been going too long. Y'all right? In love, He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of His will to the praise of His glorious grace which where He blessed us in the beloved. That's why salvation to me is such a beautiful thing. I can thank God for so many things I have in my life from my wife, my family, my children, the love of the church, so many things. But I'm telling you the most glorious things I've experienced is God working in my life to bring me to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. That brings the most joy of all joy. And there was not things that I had to control over. It was God's purpose, God's grace and God's love. There was of course situations in my life that was hurtful, that was painful, that I didn't understand, that I didn't have answers to. But then you land in that place before the Father and see His glorious face and you think whatever all that was that got me here, it was all worth it. Now that I got this eternal life in Jesus Christ, can you say, "Man." And so even the sovereignty of God doesn't mean that we're robots or puppets.

As a matter of fact, when you study the Scripture, you'll see how two truths line up together. God sovereignly works in these things. At the same time, He works in our heart that we genuinely respond. So God draws, God calls, God convicts, God opens our heart, God gives us life. And we hear, we repent, we believe, and we receive Christ. And not all are like souls, but God does it in ways that He so desires. I'm going to share with you about a few different people today. One, our son Norman wrote a book called "The Dead Jesus, Seeing Life in the Resurrection." And he wrote about a fellow by the name of Sadhu who lived in Punjab, India, where Norman's churches are. He talks about this crisis of faith that this young man has, actually, this is his story, of what Sadhu, they call him, Sundar, the crisis of faith that he had. It began when his mother died. His mother died when he was 14 years old. And he was actually in a Christian school at that time. But when his mother died, he just became, just, just so much spiritual emptiness. His mother was very much responsible for him learning scriptures and praying and all of those various things. But after she died, he began to have this real encounter-- sorry, this real response to God, where he thought Jesus was weak. He thought Jesus was just a colonial God. And he even dealt with the crucifixion and thought if he really was who he said he was, why do you allow himself to get killed? His hatred for Jesus got stronger and stronger while he was still in the school as a teenager. One day he gathered all of his classmates together and he wanted to make a statement. He took the Bible and started tearing pages out of Matthew,

Mark, Luke, and John pages that talked about Jesus and set them on fire, because he wanted to let everybody know, I reject this God that people call Jesus. What he found out, though, is it didn't give him any peace. He thought he was putting that to rest. If I burned this God that people believe in publicly, that it will give me this rest in my heart, well, actually, he just got more restless. He just experienced more anxiety. He started going through more emotional stuff to the point that he became suicidal. He made a decision that he was gonna kill himself. 5'17 a.m. is when the train went by his district where he lived. He had made a decision that he was going to just lay on that track, that particular morning at 5'17 a.m. He says, though, Sundar says at 3 a.m., he just couldn't settle. He didn't want to kill himself, but he just didn't believe God was who he was. So he said, even though I did not want to talk to him, I set out my out loud. If you really exist, reveal yourself to me, or I'm finished. 4'50 a.m. He said there was a light that came into his room. There was a vision that he saw that overwhelmed him in such a manner. Very similar, he said to the Apostle saw

where he hears this question. This question that came to him, I died for you, give your life to me. I died for you, give your life to me. At that moment, Sundar falls on his knees, gives his life to Christ, weeping, and said he felt overwhelming peace. That day, he tells his family that I've received Jesus. I know who the Lord is now. And his family, because they were primarily sick, said to him, which is a Hindu branch, said to him, if you accept this Jesus, you're dead to us. He told him about his experience. He told him about what he had went through. They said, you're dead to us if you do that. His father done some kind of seek ritual to try to break the Christian spell. They even offered him money to denounce Jesus. His father promised him more land if he would denounce Jesus. Greater roles in the family business. None of that worked. They even poisoned him right before his baptism, that particular day, trying to get him to denounce that. But he knew for sure. He heard and recognized and had an encounter with the true and living God. He spent the rest of his life going from village to village, telling people about this Jesus until he died. Why?

Because he had an encounter with the true and living God. I love what Norman wrote in his book about this. When they done this funeral for him, because they considered him dead, Norman writes to them, this was a funeral. Sundar sing, the boy they knew was dead, but Sundar knew something they different. He was more alive than he had ever been all of his life. An encounter with the Lord. An encounter with the Lord. God worked in circumstances, including him burning the gospel, including his mother's death to bring him to this place. He burned the gospel. He tried to put the death, the living Christ. He tried to reject Jesus, but it was an encounter with Jesus that absolutely changed his life. There's a young man that I actually mentor. I do a Zoom with him once a month. He doesn't live near any longer, but he grew up in our church. And even though he grew up in our church, you knew that there, yeah. He was taught all the right things, and he came to youth group and done various things, would be a church when his parents would bring him to church. But unexpectedly, his father died in 2022. Before his father died, though, he knew that he did not have a relationship with the Lord,

even with all of his Christian upbringing. He knew he didn't have a relationship with the Lord. But what he says that was interesting to me, he says, even though he, When his father died in 2022, the biggest concern he had was, I wonder if my father went to heaven. I wonder if my father had salvation in Christ, even though he didn't. But that was the thing that was on his heart and mind. Now I can tell you, and he now knows, that was a Lord that was starting to work in him right then, to bring him to a place to recognize who he was. He said he just wrestled with that, and that was on his mind. But when he got around to clean up his father's stuff, he put his various things together. He found his father's Bible, and it was bookmarked with two passages. One was Isaiah 40, 31, and the other one was 2 Timothy 4, 7. He said those pages was marked, they were bookmarked. The only pages his father had marked in his Bible. And as he's reading over these verses, he hears the Spirit of the Lord say to him, you don't know me, you don't know my gospel. But if you walk with me, you will know me for eternity. Right then he surrendered his life to the Lord 2000, 22. And I can honestly tell you that young man is on fire for Jesus, raising his family in the faith,

doing the things of the Lord. Here's what I know, God's sovereignty means this. Before we ever recognize that we needed God, God was already at work. God was already at work. Salvation may look like a whole bunch of coincidences in your life from your perspectives. But I'm telling you right now, from heaven's perspective is God providentially working in your life to bring you to a place where you have an encounter with the living God. Can you say, man, to that? And so now, here's the other thing that I want you to know, though, even though God works sovereignly to bring us to this encounter with him, that does not leave out the work of other believers to help us know him and understand him. Here's my second point. We're often unaware of how the Lord wants to use us for the salvation of another. Sometimes, honestly, we get our faith in Jesus and we roll along in our life and never consider, just like the Lord used somebody to bring you to him, that he might want to use you to help somebody come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. That you're just as much of a vessel to be used by the Lord as an alliance or as a preacher or anybody else. That God wants to use you. An alliance, this dude was so unsuspecting.

While he's at home in Damascus, the Lord is dealing with Saul on the road to Damascus. So he's doing his work with Saul at the same time, which I'm so glad we can serve a God who can be in more than one place at one time. Can you say, man? He's working in the life of an alliance. And he goes to an anise and he says to an anise, spoke to him in a vision. He called out an anise's name and an anise said yes, Lord. Now, this ain't part of the message, but just let me give you a tip. If the Lord ever does call your name, just say yes, Lord, just say yes, right? So he says yes, Lord, and the Lord said to him, I want you to go to straight street and I want you to go to the house of Judas and when you get there, you ask for a man from Tarsa's name, Saul. He's praying to me right now. I have shown him a vision of a man named anise coming and laying hands up on him so he can see again. So the Lord is saying to anise, he already knows you're coming. You haven't met him, he hasn't met you, but this is how the sovereign God works. I'm dealing with him already and he's already come to a place where he's recognising me as Lord. Now the rest of the story needs to be finished and I'm telling you, you're part of the rest of the story.

Y'all following on this connection? So anise though, he said this, man, come on, anise done like a lot of us. We're so willing to want to hear what God has to say until God says something you don't want to hear, right? So he's like, yes Lord, here I am, you're serving, whatever you want. Well, I want you to go deal with Saul. All of them, come on now, come on now. You going overboard there God, you know what I'm saying? So he said, listen, he said, I've heard people talk about this man, this dude is terrible. I know what he's done to believe is in Jerusalem. He's been authorized by the priest to arrest everyone who calls up on your name. But the Lord tells him what's happening with Saul. He says he's praying now which automatically identifies the intimacy that the Lord is bringing Saul into. He's seen a vision of me which means Saul now has some spiritual openness. He's got some spiritual awareness. He says he's a chosen vessel of mine. Meaning I got kingdom purposes for him. And he's going to suffer many things from my name which means he knows there's going to be a sacrifice to his life but he's willing for the cause of Christ. because God will lead us and direct us in people's life. Remember folks, our whole mission here is to help people far from God find life in Christ. That don't just happen with me preaching on Sunday morning.

That's all 2,500 of you in the community of Yuma, having an open heart and an open mind to be available so that people who are being drawn by the Lord, that you're somebody that can be helped, be used, sorry, to help them get to that place. And I get it. We all got inhibitions. God, man, I don't want to talk to Uncle Billy. The last time I did that went bad. God knows those inhibitions. Lord, I've tried with my brother and it always ends in the fight. God knows those inhibitions. I know, I know. The last time I met with this friend at lunch, I wanted to have a nice lunch, but they said something that I wanted to say, something about God and the lunch ended short. I get that. God knows all those inhibitions, but he's able to help you get to a place. If you trust him, he'll do the heavy lifting. He'll do the heavy lifting. Just have the mind said, "Yes, yes, Lord." So Ana Nines does it with obedience. He goes forth with confidence. And in verse number 17, he went and found Saul. He laid hands on him and said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appears you on the road has sent me so that you might regain your sight

and be filled with the Holy Spirit." Instantly, something like scales falls from Saul's eyes. He regained his sight, then he got up and he was back times. The Lord had done the sovereign work. Y'all coming up here a little soon. (congregation laughs) I guess okay, but it's all right. You disappeared on me and then you showed back up. But he noticed God is doing the sovereign work. But he uses Ana Nines to finish the work onto conversion. That's how the Lord works. He needs us. Hear me. Every one of us needs to be a John the Baptist in somebody's life. Every one of us needs to be that person and say, "I'll be the forerunner for Jesus. I'll be the one that helped you see Jesus, to know the Jesus of the Bible." I'm not talking to the right church. So he comes along and because Ana Nines was obedience, look at what happens. Saul believes. Why do we know he believes? Because he called him brother Saul. Saul believes. Why do we know he believes? Because he's baptized. He confesses Christ publicly and becomes part of the church. Why do we know Saul believes?

Because the Holy Spirit falls upon him and he's joined to the body of Christ. All those elements are tied together because God sovereignly worked and Ana Nines was willing to be someone that the Lord could use to help somebody far from God find life in Christ. Can you say amen to that? And so there's some things that we learned about this Saul's spiritual blind is certainly clear, cured his, cured his belief. Once that he was no longer blind, then he could see. I'm telling you, when you come to Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior, it opens up a whole new world. You see things totally different. When you come to Christ as Savior, I'm telling you, you see trials and tribulations differently because you know you got a God who's with you and a God that'll help you. When you come to Christ as Savior, you see your future differently because you're coming out of darkness, you're walking into the marvelous light. When you allow Christ to be the Lord of your life, I'm telling you, it's a whole new world because you got a God that's infinite who wants to infinitely bless your life beyond what you ever thought and imagined that you could ever experience. It's a whole new world. I feel like saying it's a whole new world.

I feel like singing that. I think it's a Disney song, but it's a whole new world. And this is what you'll see. This is what you'll see in the Word of God and in your journey with him. If you posture yourself before the sovereign God, this is what you'll see. You'll see that God can save anyone. There'll not be any person whose eyes you look in that next door neighbor who keeps throwing the trash into your yard. That swimming pool, the guy who cleans your swimming pool who comes for 10 minutes and you walk out there and it still looks dirty. Talking real. (congregation laughing) Yeah, yeah, yeah, you get it. The people that you look into eyes every day who can really jack you up. I'ma tell you, God can save 'em. He can save 'em. The person who's done you wrong. And hear me, and I know this is tough. The person who abused you. The father who walked out on you. The mother who never showed you care. The boss who treats you like. God can save them. He can save anybody.

If he can save you, he can save anyone. You'll see that because of the sovereignty of God. He's able to engage with people in such a manner and bring them to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. That's why 2 Corinthians 4-1 tells us, "Never to give up." We never give up. We stand firm. We pray. We seek God. We ask for opportunities. We look to make ourselves available, which let's the second thing I want to tell you on that, that God can use you in ways that you never imagine. You never imagine. Just by being a witness. Now, of course, witnessing is your mouth. But sometimes that witness is stronger when you're just living the life of Jesus in front of somebody. Just living the life of Jesus. Not being ashamed to live the life of Jesus. Not getting caught up with the crowd. And just doing things like, "Man, I'm a Christian." They know I'm a Christian, but I don't want them to exclude me out of this. So I'll just go along. No, no, just being a witness. Praying. Serving people, whether they're believers or unbelievers.

People treat you wrong. As the scripture says, guess what you do. You bless them. You bless them. People mistreat you. You find a way to do something good for them that you know they don't deserve. But God use you in those things. Being available to listen and to the voice of the Lord. And honestly, to hang in there with people. It's a process. None of us rolled off the delivery table speaking in tongues. We all had a process of salvation. We all had to went through a season where the Lord had to work on us. All of us had those moments and those times where somebody had to be patient with us through the process. But hanging in there with people. Because God can use you. I thought of a young man while we were traveling. That serves in the military. He got baptized here several years ago. And he's still serving in the military. But I wanted to get his testimony because I remember there was something that actually Nick told me something about him that I thought, man, that reminds me of something regarding his testimony. And so I asked him to send it to him. And in his testimony, he says,

I struggled with the reality of God. I was always angry as a young man. I didn't know why. Then eventually he went into the military. And of course then he was exposed to some things that were very evil, of course. And just real human suffering. Losing friends and losing brothers. Even some that committed suicide because of the things that they had experienced. So he said he became more rebellious against God. And he actually, he said that asking God for forgiveness was not for him because as a matter of fact, God needed to ask me to forgive him. That's where he had came to in his life. He had a hateful stance. He said he just intentionally made no kind of effort to have a regard for God at all. Said his marriage suffered. He talked about some things about his relationship with his daughters. But then his wife came to the Lord was a believer. And he said some things started affecting me on the inside. But I knew that I couldn't change. I couldn't change myself. Where I was is where I was. He says his wife was patient and loving. Actually became the spiritual leader of the home. And would always pray for him. Would pray with the daughters.

That he would come to the Lord. And then he said that they had an accident that the Lord really showed his awesome power. Even though he rejected God, he said this was a death-defined tragedy. But yet the Lord spared them. And even though he struggled with doubt, he realized that there was a God who really did love him. And he saw that through the devotion of his wife. So he desired Jesus more and more. But he had all of this stuff over his life and thoughts in his head and trauma that he experienced. Wounds that he had. All kinds of stuff that was messing with him that couldn't get him over the hump. And he said one day he was here at CTC and somebody came and spoke a word of knowledge over him. And just said these things to him. He says deep within your soul, I'm gonna touch old wounds. There's gonna be some radical release. Memories, memories that still haunt, still taunt and haunt you. I'm eradicating by my mighty hand. Even this day says the Lord, these taunting memories, these haunting memories, these tormenting memories. I'm bringing eradication. by my outstretched hand to heal you and to save you. That turned his heart. That was a catalyst of it. And then one of our elders, David Deanna,

approached him about entrance in one of our ministries called Finline, and Nick worked with him for hours and hours and hours until one day he said, "I'm surrendering my life to Jesus." Got baptized and now living strong for the Lord. (congregation applauding) God works sovereignly because he's got purpose for all of our lives. Every one of our lives, God got purpose. And here's the last thing I tell you, that your life and that of others have a God-determined purpose. God will work to bring these things about. He'll use you to do it, but Saul testifies of this. He thought what he was doing is what God wanted until he had an encounter with the Lord. And here's what he says in Galatians 1, 13 through 16. You know what I was like when I followed the Jewish religion, how I violently persecuted God's church. I did my best to destroy it. I was far ahead of my fellow Jews and my zeal for the traditions of my ancestors. But even before I was born, God chose me and called me by his marvelous grace, then it pleased him to reveal his son so that I may proclaim the good news about Jesus. It fits right into what we call the big four. That's our desire for everyone in this house, that you would know God, that you would find freedom,

that you would discover purpose, and your life would make a difference. The sovereignty of God works to bring you to salvation. And the sovereignty of God works in your life to help other people get to that place of salvation. And you'll find yourself living according to the purpose of God for you. Can you say amen to that? I'll close out with this, you can stand now, 2 Timothy 1-9, watch this. I love this what Tim Paul says in Timothy. Every one of us can put our name in this. He has saved me and called me with the holy calling, not according to my works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to me in Christ Jesus before time began. You'll see that God called you with a holy calling. He saved you with an eternal, for an eternal salvation, and he wants to use you for his glory, for his good pleasure. God wants to work in your life, sovereignly. You surrender yourself to him and you'll see. You'll see prayer team, you can come. Alters will be open, whatever you need, prayer for they'll be here for you. But I do, I want to say this though. Maybe you're here and you're still in a situation with any one of those stories I told you, where you know God is doing something, but you haven't got there yet.

You just haven't got there yet. You can be honest with that. You don't have to hide from that. You can be honest, as a matter of fact, these folks to pray for you can come up and say, "Man, I believe in God, I know Jesus died on the cross, but I just, I'm not there yet where I can just totally trust him. Let him pray for you, let him pray for you." And maybe you're one of those ones who you know God has placed somebody on your heart and put in your perspective, your periphery, that you know he wants you to use you to help that person come to Christ, but you got some fears, you got some inhibitions, you got some concerns. Let him pray for you. Let him pray for you and watch what God will do. Or maybe you're one who knows God knows Jesus, but you're just not sure what your purpose is. They'll pray for you. I'm telling you'll see what God will do, what God will do in your life. Father, I want to thank you now for this opportunity to share the word and share the gospel. I pray, Lord God, that everyone, there may be somebody in any one of those categories that I just talked about, someone who hasn't yet surrendered,

hasn't had that encounter yet. Lord, Lord, if they just seek you, if we pray Lord, if we stand together, I'm believing you. Lord, do you maybe have some among us here who really are designed to help somebody find life in Christ? Lord, I pray that you help us get over those inhibitions and be used by you. And Lord, there's some of us here, Lord, who don't yet know what our purpose is. You called us, you saved us, you've given us eternal purpose. And Lord, we want to align with that. Lord, I pray that they will align with your purpose. And in all things for all of us that you will be glorified. In Christ's saying, we pray, may the people of God say amen. God bless you, have a great day. (upbeat music) ♪ Jesus, He only is like the morning light ♪ ♪ The one, the darkness can't deny ♪ ♪ The resurrection and the light ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus, He only is like the morning light ♪ ♪ You made your name to make the storm be still ♪ ♪ You never felt, you never will ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus never had a life broken for us ♪ ♪ The world did have the worthy one ♪ ♪ The first and last and still to come ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus the King who overwhelmed the great ♪ ♪ The Lord who will forever reign ♪

♪ The name above all other names ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name to Jesus all the glory ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name to Jesus all the glory to you ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ He gets all the glory ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ He gets all the glory ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name ♪ - All right church, we love you so much and we'll see you next Sunday.