September 22, 2024 • 36 mins
This sermon examines the life of Paul and looks at a solution to tell your story.
Timonium, Maryland, USA
September 2024
https://www.anushjohn.com/post/the-submissive-storyteller
#evangelism #story #paul #prayer #persecution #conversionstory #conversion
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning.
I'm worse at what I do best andfor this gift I feel blessed.
Our little group has alwaysbeen and always wait until the
end.
Hello, hello, hello.
How low With the lights out,it's less dangerous.
Here we are now.
(00:21):
Entertain us.
I feel stupid and contagious.
Here we are now.
Entertain us.
I feel stupid and contagious.
Here we are now.
Entertain us.
A mulatto, an albino, amosquito, a denial, a denial, a
denial, a denial.
That was Nirvana's classic hitfrom 1991, smells Like Teen
(00:43):
Spirit and it was a pivotal songthat marked a shift from the
glam rock and pop of the 1980sto the grunge music of the 1990s
.
And it was a song that had rawvocals and it was known for its
quiet, loud dynamics.
And what tied it all togetherwas the four-note riff that ran
(01:08):
throughout the song.
That brought cohesion to thesong, but the lyrics were
ambiguous and it reflected theculture in which Kurt Cobain
wrote this song.
And it was reflective of myculture, my generation, which
obviously is the greatestgeneration, and it reflected the
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angst-ridden, skeptical, yetpractical ideas of Generation X.
This morning we will look at apivotal person that lived in the
early part of the first centuryand after whom the Christian
faith would never be the sameagain.
This morning, in a sermonentitled the Submissive
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Storyteller, I want to look atthe life of Paul and I've
divided this sermon into threeparts.
In the three parts we will lookat different aspects of Paul's
life.
First, let's look at Paul theskeptic.
Paul the skeptic who was Paul?
I want to look at who Paul wasfrom his own words.
First, he was a Roman citizen.
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So in Acts, chapter 22, verses27 and 28, it says so.
The tribune came and said tohim Tell me, are you a Roman
citizen?
And he said yes.
The tribune answered I boughtthe citizenship for a large sum,
paul said but I am a citizen bybirth.
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A Roman citizenship at that timewas a huge deal, was a prized
possession.
It's like having a passporttoday that can take you places.
So the best passport to havetoday is a passport from
Singapore, because it can takeyou to 195 countries without a
prior visa.
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You can get a visa on arrival.
The second best passport tohave is if you have a passport
from France, germany, italy,japan or Spain.
You can go to 194 countrieswithout a prior visa.
There were multiple ways bywhich a person could become a
Roman citizen.
You could work in the Romanmilitary and become a citizen,
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or you could pay huge sums ofmoney and become a citizen or,
like Paul, be born as a citizen.
Paul was from Tarsus, and Tarsusis a city in Cilicia which is
about 900 kilometers away fromJerusalem.
So, if you know the geographyof that region, there is Israel,
which is on the east side ofthe Mediterranean Sea, north of
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that is Lebanon, north of thatis Syria and north of that is
Turkey, and Tarsus is, inpresent day, turkey, and so the
citizens of Tarsus had Romancitizenship.
Thirdly, paul was a Jewish man,and this is what it says in
Acts, chapter 22, verses threeand four.
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It says I am a Jew born inTarsus, in Cilicia.
It says I am a Jew born inTarsus, in Cilicia, but brought
up in this city, educated at thefeet of Gamaliel according to
the strict manner of the law ofour fathers, being zealous for
God, as all of you are this day.
I persecuted this way to thedeath, binding and delivering to
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prison both men and women,binding and delivering to prison
both men and women.
He was a Jew as much as he wasa Tarsian and a Roman citizen.
He was a Pharisee, which is oneof the most strict and
stringent sects of Judaism.
It says here that he waseducated under Gamaliel.
Who was Gamaliel?
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At that time there were two mainscholars in Judaism.
One was called Shammai and theother one was called Hillel the
Elder.
The grandson of Hillel theElder was Gamaliel, and Paul
studied Judaism under Gamaliel.
He studied Judaism under one ofthe biggest scholars at that
time and that explains when youread the letters of Paul.
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That explains why and how Paulhad such a powerful grasp of the
Old Testament which he was ableto bring into the new.
I did not talk about the familyor the status of Paul, but he
was from a well-to-do family.
Not anybody could study underGamaliel.
And fourth, paul was apersecutor.
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The verse that we just readsaid I persecuted this way to
the death, binding anddelivering to prison both men
and women.
What caused a skeptic and ahostile persecutor to turn
around and become the greatestmissionary of the first century?
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It was coming face to face withthe resurrected Jesus Christ.
Bertrand Russell, in his bookwhy I Am Not a Christian, gives
several reasons why he is not aChristian, but he misses on one
of the biggest parts of theChristian faith he doesn't talk
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anything about the resurrectionof Jesus Christ.
You cannot argue for or againstthe Christian faith without
mentioning the resurrection ofJesus Christ.
Christianity without theresurrection of Jesus is a dead
religion.
It is the resurrection thatmakes it alive.
Frank Morrison was an Englishadvertising agent and a
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freelance writer who wanted toprove that the resurrection of
Jesus did not happen.
So he started to write thispaper and started to accumulate
evidence that the resurrectionof Jesus did not happen.
So he started to write thispaper and started to accumulate
evidence that the resurrectionof Jesus did not happen.
He titled his book Jesus theLast Phase, and as he was
accumulating information aboutthe evidence of the resurrection
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, he realized to hisastonishment that there was
evidence of a resurrection, andso he changed his book and he
wrote another book that arguesin favor of a resurrection.
And so he changed his book andhe wrote another book that
argues in favor of theresurrection, called who Moved
the Stone, which is a powerfulbook to read that argues for the
resurrection.
There is substantial evidence ofthe resurrection of Jesus
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Christ, and one of the keypieces of the evidence is the
conversion of two Christ, andone of the key pieces of the
evidence is the conversion oftwo people.
One is a skeptic, james, whowas the younger brother of Jesus
, and second was a hostilepersecutor by the name of Paul.
How did James and Paulovernight become proponents of
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the gospel?
Become proponents of the gospel?
Because they met theresurrected Jesus Christ.
Second, let's look at Paul thestoryteller.
Paul's initial encounter withJesus was in Acts, in the book
of Acts, and if you have yourBibles, turn to Acts, chapter 9.
If you don't have your Bibles,use your phones to turn to Acts,
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chapter 9, and I'm going toread for us nine verses.
Okay, acts, chapter 9, verses 1through 9.
Let me read it for us.
But Saul, still breathingthreats and murder against the
disciples of the Lord, went tothe high priest and asked him
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for letters to the synagogues atDamascus so that if he found
any belonging to the way, men orwomen, he might bring them
bound to Jerusalem.
Now, as he went on his way, heapproached Damascus and suddenly
a light from heaven shonearound him and, falling to the
ground, he heard a voice sayingto him Saul, saul, why are you
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persecuting me?
And he said who are you, lord?
And he said I am Jesus, whomyou are persecuting, but rise
and enter the city and you willbe told what you are to do.
The men who were traveling withhim stood speechless, hearing
the voice but seeing no one.
Saul rose from the ground andthough his eyes were opened, he
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saw nothing.
So they led him by the hand andbrought him to Damascus and for
three days he was without sightand he neither ate nor drank.
That was Paul's dramaticconversion story.
Maybe there are some of youhere that have a dramatic
conversion story, but maybethere are many of us that don't
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have a dramatic conversion story.
My conversion story is I becamea believer when I was five or
six years old I don't even knowwhen it happened.
It was not what is called as apoint conversion, it was a
process conversion.
One of my instructors in FullerTheological Seminary during my
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studies on evangelism he taughtus evangelism.
He wrote a book for his PhDthesis and he compared the
conversion of Paul and theapostles and he said that the
other apostles had a processconversion right.
None of the other apostlesthere is a one point when they
became believers.
It was a process conversion.
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So many of us may have morethan a point dramatic conversion
story, may have a processconversion story.
Now in the book of Acts, in Acts, chapter 9, is the account of
Saul's conversion.
And yet two times later Paulgives an account of his
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conversion.
So in Acts, chapter 22, and inchapter 26, there is Paul giving
an account of his conversion.
The first time it's to Jews whowere trying to kill him in
Jerusalem and the second timewas to King Agrippa II.
Paul was a powerful missionarywho, if in the book of Acts
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there are two mentions of hisconversion story, it probably
means that he said hisconversion story numerous times
all over the place.
He did evangelism all over theknown world.
In AD 57, towards the end ofhis third missionary journey,
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paul finds himself in Corinthand from Corinth Paul finds
himself in Corinth and fromCorinth he writes the book of
Romans.
Look what he writes to theRomans in Romans, chapter 15 and
verse 23.
He says but now, since I nolonger have any room for work in
these regions, now, since Ihave no longer room for work in
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these regions and since I'velonged for many years to come to
you, I hope to see you inpassing as I go to Spain For 35
years, as I preached, I wouldcome to a topic like this on
evangelism, and my applicationwould be well, go and do
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evangelism.
And that is the rightapplication.
Paul did evangelism, go out anddo evangelism.
About three years ago I saw aproblem with that application
without a buffer in between.
The difficulty is how do Ishare the gospel in a secular
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setting?
Here it's a Christian setting.
Inside church, I can speak thegospel.
I mean, what do you expect meto say?
I'm gonna say the gospel, butwhen you go outside, in your
secular setting, how do you saythe gospel?
And if I said which I did for35 years, I said, well, go and
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preach.
And so the difficulty for mewas well, how do I go and speak
the gospel?
And so here's an idea.
I want to call it crossconnections.
I want us to make crossconnections and for cross
connections I want to talk abouttwo types of stories.
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There is an earth side story.
Earth side story includeseverything you would say
earthside.
You talk about your vacation,you talk about your weekend to
your coworkers, you complainabout your volleyball coach, or
you complain about your kid'spiano teacher, or you talk about
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the weather.
That is all earthside stories.
On the other side are heavenside stories.
The heaven side stories are thestory of the gospel, the
condition of humans, theinability to save ourselves, the
life, the ministry, the death,the resurrection of Jesus and
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his ascension and the promise ofeternal life and the afterlife.
Now most of us will know theheaven side story.
So if I asked you to turn toyour neighbor and tell the
gospel, most of you would beable to.
But the problem comes if I say,well, go to your colleague at
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work and turn around and sharethe gospel.
But that is a secular setting.
How are we to do it?
I suggest that we have a crossconnection, a cross connection.
Your earth side story, howeveramazing and powerful it is, it's
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not going to change the destinyof any person.
It is your heaven side storythat is going to change the
destiny of people.
How do you say your heaven sidestory, the gospel, in your
earth side situation?
I suggest that we take ourearth side story and make a
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heaven side cross connection sothat we can say our heaven side
story.
I suggest that we take ourearth side story and make a
heaven side cross connection sothat we can eventually say our
heaven side story.
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I'm sure you've been asked thisquestion before.
I mean there are many marriedcouples here and I'm sure you've
been asked how did you meetyour spouse?
And as you think about theanswer that you said numerous
times, let me tell you a storyof my own.
Can somebody ask me how I endedup moving to Maryland?
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Oh, thank you.
Thank you for asking.
Well, let me tell you the storythat I've told numerous times.
Okay, I lived in Boston for acouple of years and I loved the
East Coast.
And then I moved to New Orleansfor a one year of internship
and then I moved to Kansas Cityto finish out my medical school
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and my surgical residency.
Two years before everythingwould be completed in Kansas
City, I wanted to plan to aplace to move, and so what we
did was I didn't want to go toofar north of Kansas City because
it was colder.
I didn't want to go too farsouth of Kansas City because it
would be too warm, but I lovedthe East Coast.
So what did I do?
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We looked at a map and I wentall across to the other side, to
the East Coast, and my fingerfell on Northern Virginia.
I looked at it.
It was Leesburg Virginia.
I looked at a radius of 50miles around Leesburg, virginia,
and I found 220 surgeons.
I had two filters.
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One filter was that it had tobe a solo practice because I
didn't want anybody breathingdown my neck, and the second
filter was that I wanted to buya practice right off the bat.
I did not want to be anassociate and then be a partner
and then go down that route.
I wanted to be an owner rightoff the bat.
I did not want to be anassociate and then be a partner
and then go down that route.
I wanted to be an owner rightoff the bat.
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With these two filters, I wentthrough the websites of 220
surgeons.
I found 20 of them that wouldbe compatible.
I called them.
Ten of them responded to mycall.
Two of them agreed to interviewme.
I flew from Kansas City toWashington DC interviewed at one
practice.
I came up to Marylandinterviewed at a second practice
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.
I loved the second practice.
I bought the second practiceand we moved to Maryland.
What did I not say in that story?
I did not give any of theheaven side details.
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You see, I had said all theearth side details but
completely skipped the heavenside details that were part of
that story, completely skippedthe heaven side details that
were part of that story.
I should have said we pray alot with every decision we make
and we prayed a lot.
I asked our small group to pray, we asked our church to pray,
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we asked our parents to pray andwe pray that God would close
certain doors.
We pray that God would opencertain doors and in the midst
of that we did this search.
And in the midst of that we didthis search In the story that
you would have said about howyou met your spouse.
I am thinking that you wouldhave missed your heaven side
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details, isn't it?
The purpose of making the crossconnection is not just to make a
cross connection to heaven sidedetails, but is, at the end of
the day, to say the heaven sidestory, the gospel, need to be
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said.
At the end of the day, thepurpose of making the heaven
side cross connection is simplyto get to a point where you can
tell the heaven side storyitself and we all have our
outside story and we need tomake those heaven side cross
connections.
One of the most powerful waysto make a heaven side cross
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connection is by praying for aperson.
There are people with all kindsof problems and the next time
somebody tells you their problemand you have three minutes to
spare, you can easily ask themdo you mind if I pray for you?
How many are going to say no?
How many are going to say no?
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And when you pray, you areinviting the supernatural into
your natural situation, you areinviting the alive into your
dead situation, you are invitingthe infinite into your finite
situation and you are making aheaven side connection to your
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earth-side story.
I have a friend who's amissionary now in Mumbai, india,
and when he was a young Hinduboy, he went to his classmate's
home, who was a Christian, andhis classmate's dad prayed.
He wasn't praying for himparticularly, he was just
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praying, but that prayer stuckin his mind and years later he
became a Christian because heheard that prayer and wanted to
have a personal relationshipwith Jesus.
Your prayers, no matter howinsignificant they may seem, is
a direct connection to heavenand therefore it is very, very
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powerful.
We looked at Paul the skeptic.
We looked at Paul thestoryteller.
Third and finally, let's lookat Paul the sufferer.
Paul the sufferer the momentPaul switched sides, he had a
target on his back.
He had a target on his back.
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His life was always at riskfrom multiple sources.
In Acts, chapter 9, verse 23,it reads the Jews plotted to
kill him.
In Acts 9, 29, it says and hespoke and disputed against the
Hellenists, but they wereseeking to kill him.
Imagine having to look overyour shoulder to see if somebody
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is coming to hurt you for therest of your life.
Salman Rushdie is anIndian-British author who, in
1998, wrote the book called theSatanic Verses, and that book
was deemed unacceptable in theMuslim world, and so the supreme
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religious head in Iran, theAyatollah Khomeini, decreed a
death sentence against him, afatwa, and from that point on,
he is looking out behind hisback so that nobody kills him.
And if any Muslim kills himbecause they are obeying a fatwa
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, they get a direct access toheaven is what the belief is in
Islam.
And so he's always watchingbehind his back, and it's not
always easy to be successful,and in 2022, he was not
successful.
As he was giving a talk in NewYork City, a fanatic ran up from
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the audience and stabbed himnumerous times, including in his
eye.
He's still alive.
Of course, he can't see out ofthe right eye, but he is always
still looking behind his back.
Paul was looking behind his backthroughout his life.
I want to tell you four thingsabout the physical suffering of
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Paul.
First, he was destitute.
1 Corinthians, chapter 4 andverse 11 says To this very hour,
we go hungry and thirsty, weare in rags, we are brutally
treated, we are homeless.
He didn't have clothes to wear.
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He went hungry certain days.
He was homeless.
He was actually from awell-to-do family that had money
.
He didn't have to do this.
Anyone who thinks thatfollowing Jesus and obeying
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Jesus guarantees physicalblessings has not studied the
life of Paul.
In fact, they've not studiedthe life of any of the disciples
For that matter.
They've not studied the life ofJesus.
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Second, paul had shipwrecks.
In Acts, chapter 27, it detailsthe account of a shipwreck as
he was on his way to Rome as aprisoner, and for two weeks they
were adrift in theMediterranean Sea in the midst
of a tempest, going back andforth, not knowing when and
which breath would be their lastbreath.
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And finally the ship crashesand they swim to shore on an
island called Malta and once hegets there he now has to survive
a snake bite.
And that is just one of theshipwrecks.
He writes that he had threeshipwrecks.
How many of you have beenthrough a major car accident.
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Major car accident how many ofyou all have been through three
major car accidents?
One person, yeah, remind us notto drive behind or around you.
Around you, having a major caraccident has major repercussions
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, right, physical and emotionaland mental that stay with you
for the rest of your life.
Paul had three such shipwrecks.
Third, he was imprisonedThroughout his ministry.
Paul was imprisoned multipletimes.
In Acts, chapter 16, it talksabout how he was in prison in
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Philippi and then, after histhird missionary journey, after
he wrote the book of Romans, hecomes back to Jerusalem and he
was imprisoned in Jerusalem andthat's where he gave the talk to
those Jews, where he shared hisstory.
And then he was taken toCaesarea by the sea, where he
was imprisoned for two years andthat's where he gave his other
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story again to King Agrippa.
And then he was taken by shipto Rome, where he had the
shipwreck, and in Rome, wherethe book of Acts ends is when he
has two more years ofimprisonment.
Fourth, paul had physicalassaults.
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Paul wasn't trying to be beaten, he wasn't trying to score
points by physical suffering.
In fact, there's an accountwhen he was being stretched out
to be beaten.
He asked the officer is itlegal to beat a Roman citizen
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without a trial?
And so they backed off and theywere scared.
So Paul wasn't trying to getbeaten, but when you're looking
over your back with multipleenemies, it's just a matter of
time.
And those threats became areality.
Paul says that he was beatenwith rods three times.
If you look for persecution inother countries, there are
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YouTube videos of people gettingbeaten, pastors getting beaten
with rods, lots of persecutionin India and so many places.
Pastors surrounded by a mob andgetting beaten.
Paul was beaten three times andhe was scourged five times, and
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that scourge was 39 lashes,five times.
And the scourge at that timewere leather whips, multiple
leather whips with bone andmetal at the end of them so that
when they whipped it would pullout a part of your flesh as
well.
He was beaten 39 times, 39lashes, five times.
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And then he says that he wasstoned and left for dead.
And this is in Acts, chapter 14, where it happened in Lystra.
He was stoned and left for dead.
And this is in Acts, chapter 14, where it happened in Lystra he
was stoned and left for dead,and the way they did stoning at
that time, if they were not in ahurry is they would dig a hole
in the ground and put the victimin the hole so that just the
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feet were inside and theycouldn't run away.
And they stepped back and theystoned with small and large
stones, and the purpose of thestoning to their upper body was
to kill.
Paul was stoned, and when theystoned him they were trying to
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kill him.
In fact, he became motionlessonce the stoning stopped because
they thought he was dead.
And so in Galatians, chapter 6,verse 17, he writes I bear on
my body the marks of Jesus.
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Did Paul complain about hissufferings?
No.
In Philippians 1, verse 12, hewrites I want you to know,
brothers, that what has happenedto me has really served to
advance the gospel.
He knew that the suffering thathe was going through was for
the sake of the gospel and if hepersevered through this
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suffering, many more peoplewould be able to hear the gospel
story.
And in Colossians 1, verse 24,he writes Now I rejoice in my
sufferings for your sake.
He was imprisoned a second timein Rome that the Bible does not
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mention, and in AD 67 to 68.
He was beheaded under EmperorNero.
Let me ask you a question whydid Paul suffer so much?
Why was Paul killed?
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Paul suffered so much and hewas killed because he wanted to
tell his story.
Because he wanted to tell hisstory, the love of Jesus had
gripped him so much and hecouldn't understand how the
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grace of God could forgive aperson like him, that he could
not rest until he spread thegospel of the love of God to
every person that he could.
He was a storyteller thatsubmitted to the will of his
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Lord.
A couple of years ago, a friendof mine emailed me about a
missionary that he knows in Iranand he said a mob came to his
house, a group of fanatics cameto his house, dragged him and
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his wife outside their house,tied them up and burnt the house
down, and both the missionaryand his wife were screaming as
their house was getting burntdown because, ladies and
gentlemen, their littletwo-year-old was inside the
house.
Their little two-year-old wasinside the house.
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About a week later, my friendemailed me again and said that
one of the fanatics who had comethere came back to the
missionary and wanted to knowabout the gospel.
Let me ask you a question whydid that missionary and his wife
put themselves in that positionand why did that little
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two-year-old get burned to death?
Because they wanted to tell thegospel story.
The ultimate submissivestoryteller is the Lord Jesus
Christ, who submitted to thewill of his Father and came
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earthside to tell us theheavenside story so that we
could go heavenside.
And so, as the old chorus says,you came from heaven to earth
to show us the way From theearth to the cross, my debts to
pay From the cross to the grave,from the grave to the sky.
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Lord, I lift your name on high.
Let me ask you a question.
Then we will end.
At what cost will we tell ourstories?
At what cost will we tell ourstories?
I want to give the opportunityfor two groups of people to
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respond to this sermon.
If you've never invited Jesusinto your life, I'm going to ask
you to stand up and we can praytogether.
Second, if there's anyone herewho wants to tell their earth
side stories with a heaven sideconnection, so that you can tell
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your heaven side story, you canalso stand up.
But I want you all to thinkabout a person.
I don't want it to be just atheoretical sermon.
I want you to think of a person, one or two people, or two or
three people that you are goingto tell your heaven side
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connected story.
Think of some people that willcome to your mind right now so
that over the next few weeks youcan engage with them to tell if
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there's anyone here who's neverinvited Jesus into your life.
I'm going to ask you to pray aprayer with me.
This prayer is not a magicalprayer, but if it's a prayer
that comes from the bottom ofyour heart, god will answer it.
You can pray something likethis Dear Lord Jesus, I am a
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sinner and I cannot save myself.
Thank you for coming from heavento earth to show me the way.
Thank you for your perfect life.
Thank you for your death in myplace.
Thank you for your perfect life.
Thank you for your death in myplace.
Thank you for the resurrectionand the promise of eternal life.
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I ask you to come into my lifeand make me complete.
Heavenly Father, I pray for therest of us who have known about
the gospel for all these years,and we know that we need to
speak the gospel because that iswhat your heart is.
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You are not satisfied as longas there is one sheep outside
the fold and you want us to goand share our stories.
I pray for each person standingup who wants to tell their
story.
As we now try to makeheaven-side connections, give us
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the wisdom to say the rightthing at the right time.
I pray, lord, that you wouldhelp us to do two things Help us
to pray continuously for thepeople that we are thinking
about, and I pray that you wouldhelp us to seek opportunities
continuously for the people thatwe are thinking about, because
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there is an opportunity, lord,every single day.
Help us to make the heavensideconnection so that we can tell
the story of the gospel of JesusChrist.
In Jesus' name, I pray, amen.
Good morning.
I'm worse at what I do best andfor this gift I feel blessed.
Our little group has alwaysbeen and always wait until the
end.
Hello, hello, hello.
How low With the lights out,it's less dangerous.
Here we are now.
(00:21):
Entertain us.
I feel stupid and contagious.
Here we are now.
Entertain us.
I feel stupid and contagious.
Here we are now.
Entertain us.
A mulatto, an albino, amosquito, a denial, a denial, a
denial, a denial.
That was Nirvana's classic hitfrom 1991, smells Like Teen
(00:43):
Spirit and it was a pivotal songthat marked a shift from the
glam rock and pop of the 1980sto the grunge music of the 1990s
.
And it was a song that had rawvocals and it was known for its
quiet, loud dynamics.
And what tied it all togetherwas the four-note riff that ran
(01:08):
throughout the song.
That brought cohesion to thesong, but the lyrics were
ambiguous and it reflected theculture in which Kurt Cobain
wrote this song.
And it was reflective of myculture, my generation, which
obviously is the greatestgeneration, and it reflected the
(01:29):
angst-ridden, skeptical, yetpractical ideas of Generation X.
This morning we will look at apivotal person that lived in the
early part of the first centuryand after whom the Christian
faith would never be the sameagain.
This morning, in a sermonentitled the Submissive
(01:50):
Storyteller, I want to look atthe life of Paul and I've
divided this sermon into threeparts.
In the three parts we will lookat different aspects of Paul's
life.
First, let's look at Paul theskeptic.
Paul the skeptic who was Paul?
I want to look at who Paul wasfrom his own words.
First, he was a Roman citizen.
(02:11):
So in Acts, chapter 22, verses27 and 28, it says so.
The tribune came and said tohim Tell me, are you a Roman
citizen?
And he said yes.
The tribune answered I boughtthe citizenship for a large sum,
paul said but I am a citizen bybirth.
(02:31):
A Roman citizenship at that timewas a huge deal, was a prized
possession.
It's like having a passporttoday that can take you places.
So the best passport to havetoday is a passport from
Singapore, because it can takeyou to 195 countries without a
prior visa.
(02:51):
You can get a visa on arrival.
The second best passport tohave is if you have a passport
from France, germany, italy,japan or Spain.
You can go to 194 countrieswithout a prior visa.
There were multiple ways bywhich a person could become a
Roman citizen.
You could work in the Romanmilitary and become a citizen,
(03:15):
or you could pay huge sums ofmoney and become a citizen or,
like Paul, be born as a citizen.
Paul was from Tarsus, and Tarsusis a city in Cilicia which is
about 900 kilometers away fromJerusalem.
So, if you know the geographyof that region, there is Israel,
which is on the east side ofthe Mediterranean Sea, north of
(03:38):
that is Lebanon, north of thatis Syria and north of that is
Turkey, and Tarsus is, inpresent day, turkey, and so the
citizens of Tarsus had Romancitizenship.
Thirdly, paul was a Jewish man,and this is what it says in
Acts, chapter 22, verses threeand four.
(03:59):
It says I am a Jew born inTarsus, in Cilicia.
It says I am a Jew born inTarsus, in Cilicia, but brought
up in this city, educated at thefeet of Gamaliel according to
the strict manner of the law ofour fathers, being zealous for
God, as all of you are this day.
I persecuted this way to thedeath, binding and delivering to
(04:22):
prison both men and women,binding and delivering to prison
both men and women.
He was a Jew as much as he wasa Tarsian and a Roman citizen.
He was a Pharisee, which is oneof the most strict and
stringent sects of Judaism.
It says here that he waseducated under Gamaliel.
Who was Gamaliel?
(04:48):
At that time there were two mainscholars in Judaism.
One was called Shammai and theother one was called Hillel the
Elder.
The grandson of Hillel theElder was Gamaliel, and Paul
studied Judaism under Gamaliel.
He studied Judaism under one ofthe biggest scholars at that
time and that explains when youread the letters of Paul.
(05:08):
That explains why and how Paulhad such a powerful grasp of the
Old Testament which he was ableto bring into the new.
I did not talk about the familyor the status of Paul, but he
was from a well-to-do family.
Not anybody could study underGamaliel.
And fourth, paul was apersecutor.
(05:31):
The verse that we just readsaid I persecuted this way to
the death, binding anddelivering to prison both men
and women.
What caused a skeptic and ahostile persecutor to turn
around and become the greatestmissionary of the first century?
(05:52):
It was coming face to face withthe resurrected Jesus Christ.
Bertrand Russell, in his bookwhy I Am Not a Christian, gives
several reasons why he is not aChristian, but he misses on one
of the biggest parts of theChristian faith he doesn't talk
(06:13):
anything about the resurrectionof Jesus Christ.
You cannot argue for or againstthe Christian faith without
mentioning the resurrection ofJesus Christ.
Christianity without theresurrection of Jesus is a dead
religion.
It is the resurrection thatmakes it alive.
Frank Morrison was an Englishadvertising agent and a
(06:36):
freelance writer who wanted toprove that the resurrection of
Jesus did not happen.
So he started to write thispaper and started to accumulate
evidence that the resurrectionof Jesus did not happen.
So he started to write thispaper and started to accumulate
evidence that the resurrectionof Jesus did not happen.
He titled his book Jesus theLast Phase, and as he was
accumulating information aboutthe evidence of the resurrection
(06:57):
, he realized to hisastonishment that there was
evidence of a resurrection, andso he changed his book and he
wrote another book that arguesin favor of a resurrection.
And so he changed his book andhe wrote another book that
argues in favor of theresurrection, called who Moved
the Stone, which is a powerfulbook to read that argues for the
resurrection.
There is substantial evidence ofthe resurrection of Jesus
(07:20):
Christ, and one of the keypieces of the evidence is the
conversion of two Christ, andone of the key pieces of the
evidence is the conversion oftwo people.
One is a skeptic, james, whowas the younger brother of Jesus
, and second was a hostilepersecutor by the name of Paul.
How did James and Paulovernight become proponents of
(07:41):
the gospel?
Become proponents of the gospel?
Because they met theresurrected Jesus Christ.
Second, let's look at Paul thestoryteller.
Paul's initial encounter withJesus was in Acts, in the book
of Acts, and if you have yourBibles, turn to Acts, chapter 9.
If you don't have your Bibles,use your phones to turn to Acts,
(08:03):
chapter 9, and I'm going toread for us nine verses.
Okay, acts, chapter 9, verses 1through 9.
Let me read it for us.
But Saul, still breathingthreats and murder against the
disciples of the Lord, went tothe high priest and asked him
(08:25):
for letters to the synagogues atDamascus so that if he found
any belonging to the way, men orwomen, he might bring them
bound to Jerusalem.
Now, as he went on his way, heapproached Damascus and suddenly
a light from heaven shonearound him and, falling to the
ground, he heard a voice sayingto him Saul, saul, why are you
(08:47):
persecuting me?
And he said who are you, lord?
And he said I am Jesus, whomyou are persecuting, but rise
and enter the city and you willbe told what you are to do.
The men who were traveling withhim stood speechless, hearing
the voice but seeing no one.
Saul rose from the ground andthough his eyes were opened, he
(09:10):
saw nothing.
So they led him by the hand andbrought him to Damascus and for
three days he was without sightand he neither ate nor drank.
That was Paul's dramaticconversion story.
Maybe there are some of youhere that have a dramatic
conversion story, but maybethere are many of us that don't
(09:33):
have a dramatic conversion story.
My conversion story is I becamea believer when I was five or
six years old I don't even knowwhen it happened.
It was not what is called as apoint conversion, it was a
process conversion.
One of my instructors in FullerTheological Seminary during my
(09:55):
studies on evangelism he taughtus evangelism.
He wrote a book for his PhDthesis and he compared the
conversion of Paul and theapostles and he said that the
other apostles had a processconversion right.
None of the other apostlesthere is a one point when they
became believers.
It was a process conversion.
(10:17):
So many of us may have morethan a point dramatic conversion
story, may have a processconversion story.
Now in the book of Acts, in Acts, chapter 9, is the account of
Saul's conversion.
And yet two times later Paulgives an account of his
(10:37):
conversion.
So in Acts, chapter 22, and inchapter 26, there is Paul giving
an account of his conversion.
The first time it's to Jews whowere trying to kill him in
Jerusalem and the second timewas to King Agrippa II.
Paul was a powerful missionarywho, if in the book of Acts
(10:59):
there are two mentions of hisconversion story, it probably
means that he said hisconversion story numerous times
all over the place.
He did evangelism all over theknown world.
In AD 57, towards the end ofhis third missionary journey,
(11:19):
paul finds himself in Corinthand from Corinth Paul finds
himself in Corinth and fromCorinth he writes the book of
Romans.
Look what he writes to theRomans in Romans, chapter 15 and
verse 23.
He says but now, since I nolonger have any room for work in
these regions, now, since Ihave no longer room for work in
(11:44):
these regions and since I'velonged for many years to come to
you, I hope to see you inpassing as I go to Spain For 35
years, as I preached, I wouldcome to a topic like this on
evangelism, and my applicationwould be well, go and do
(12:04):
evangelism.
And that is the rightapplication.
Paul did evangelism, go out anddo evangelism.
About three years ago I saw aproblem with that application
without a buffer in between.
The difficulty is how do Ishare the gospel in a secular
(12:28):
setting?
Here it's a Christian setting.
Inside church, I can speak thegospel.
I mean, what do you expect meto say?
I'm gonna say the gospel, butwhen you go outside, in your
secular setting, how do you saythe gospel?
And if I said which I did for35 years, I said, well, go and
(12:48):
preach.
And so the difficulty for mewas well, how do I go and speak
the gospel?
And so here's an idea.
I want to call it crossconnections.
I want us to make crossconnections and for cross
connections I want to talk abouttwo types of stories.
(13:08):
There is an earth side story.
Earth side story includeseverything you would say
earthside.
You talk about your vacation,you talk about your weekend to
your coworkers, you complainabout your volleyball coach, or
you complain about your kid'spiano teacher, or you talk about
(13:29):
the weather.
That is all earthside stories.
On the other side are heavenside stories.
The heaven side stories are thestory of the gospel, the
condition of humans, theinability to save ourselves, the
life, the ministry, the death,the resurrection of Jesus and
(13:50):
his ascension and the promise ofeternal life and the afterlife.
Now most of us will know theheaven side story.
So if I asked you to turn toyour neighbor and tell the
gospel, most of you would beable to.
But the problem comes if I say,well, go to your colleague at
(14:10):
work and turn around and sharethe gospel.
But that is a secular setting.
How are we to do it?
I suggest that we have a crossconnection, a cross connection.
Your earth side story, howeveramazing and powerful it is, it's
(14:30):
not going to change the destinyof any person.
It is your heaven side storythat is going to change the
destiny of people.
How do you say your heaven sidestory, the gospel, in your
earth side situation?
I suggest that we take ourearth side story and make a
(14:52):
heaven side cross connection sothat we can say our heaven side
story.
I suggest that we take ourearth side story and make a
heaven side cross connection sothat we can eventually say our
heaven side story.
(15:13):
I'm sure you've been asked thisquestion before.
I mean there are many marriedcouples here and I'm sure you've
been asked how did you meetyour spouse?
And as you think about theanswer that you said numerous
times, let me tell you a storyof my own.
Can somebody ask me how I endedup moving to Maryland?
(15:35):
Oh, thank you.
Thank you for asking.
Well, let me tell you the storythat I've told numerous times.
Okay, I lived in Boston for acouple of years and I loved the
East Coast.
And then I moved to New Orleansfor a one year of internship
and then I moved to Kansas Cityto finish out my medical school
(15:57):
and my surgical residency.
Two years before everythingwould be completed in Kansas
City, I wanted to plan to aplace to move, and so what we
did was I didn't want to go toofar north of Kansas City because
it was colder.
I didn't want to go too farsouth of Kansas City because it
would be too warm, but I lovedthe East Coast.
So what did I do?
(16:18):
We looked at a map and I wentall across to the other side, to
the East Coast, and my fingerfell on Northern Virginia.
I looked at it.
It was Leesburg Virginia.
I looked at a radius of 50miles around Leesburg, virginia,
and I found 220 surgeons.
I had two filters.
(16:38):
One filter was that it had tobe a solo practice because I
didn't want anybody breathingdown my neck, and the second
filter was that I wanted to buya practice right off the bat.
I did not want to be anassociate and then be a partner
and then go down that route.
I wanted to be an owner rightoff the bat.
I did not want to be anassociate and then be a partner
and then go down that route.
I wanted to be an owner rightoff the bat.
(16:59):
With these two filters, I wentthrough the websites of 220
surgeons.
I found 20 of them that wouldbe compatible.
I called them.
Ten of them responded to mycall.
Two of them agreed to interviewme.
I flew from Kansas City toWashington DC interviewed at one
practice.
I came up to Marylandinterviewed at a second practice
(17:21):
.
I loved the second practice.
I bought the second practiceand we moved to Maryland.
What did I not say in that story?
I did not give any of theheaven side details.
(17:43):
You see, I had said all theearth side details but
completely skipped the heavenside details that were part of
that story, completely skippedthe heaven side details that
were part of that story.
I should have said we pray alot with every decision we make
and we prayed a lot.
I asked our small group to pray, we asked our church to pray,
(18:08):
we asked our parents to pray andwe pray that God would close
certain doors.
We pray that God would opencertain doors and in the midst
of that we did this search.
And in the midst of that we didthis search In the story that
you would have said about howyou met your spouse.
I am thinking that you wouldhave missed your heaven side
(18:28):
details, isn't it?
The purpose of making the crossconnection is not just to make a
cross connection to heaven sidedetails, but is, at the end of
the day, to say the heaven sidestory, the gospel, need to be
(18:48):
said.
At the end of the day, thepurpose of making the heaven
side cross connection is simplyto get to a point where you can
tell the heaven side storyitself and we all have our
outside story and we need tomake those heaven side cross
connections.
One of the most powerful waysto make a heaven side cross
(19:12):
connection is by praying for aperson.
There are people with all kindsof problems and the next time
somebody tells you their problemand you have three minutes to
spare, you can easily ask themdo you mind if I pray for you?
How many are going to say no?
How many are going to say no?
(19:32):
And when you pray, you areinviting the supernatural into
your natural situation, you areinviting the alive into your
dead situation, you are invitingthe infinite into your finite
situation and you are making aheaven side connection to your
(19:54):
earth-side story.
I have a friend who's amissionary now in Mumbai, india,
and when he was a young Hinduboy, he went to his classmate's
home, who was a Christian, andhis classmate's dad prayed.
He wasn't praying for himparticularly, he was just
(20:16):
praying, but that prayer stuckin his mind and years later he
became a Christian because heheard that prayer and wanted to
have a personal relationshipwith Jesus.
Your prayers, no matter howinsignificant they may seem, is
a direct connection to heavenand therefore it is very, very
(20:37):
powerful.
We looked at Paul the skeptic.
We looked at Paul thestoryteller.
Third and finally, let's lookat Paul the sufferer.
Paul the sufferer the momentPaul switched sides, he had a
target on his back.
He had a target on his back.
(20:58):
His life was always at riskfrom multiple sources.
In Acts, chapter 9, verse 23,it reads the Jews plotted to
kill him.
In Acts 9, 29, it says and hespoke and disputed against the
Hellenists, but they wereseeking to kill him.
Imagine having to look overyour shoulder to see if somebody
(21:24):
is coming to hurt you for therest of your life.
Salman Rushdie is anIndian-British author who, in
1998, wrote the book called theSatanic Verses, and that book
was deemed unacceptable in theMuslim world, and so the supreme
(21:46):
religious head in Iran, theAyatollah Khomeini, decreed a
death sentence against him, afatwa, and from that point on,
he is looking out behind hisback so that nobody kills him.
And if any Muslim kills himbecause they are obeying a fatwa
(22:06):
, they get a direct access toheaven is what the belief is in
Islam.
And so he's always watchingbehind his back, and it's not
always easy to be successful,and in 2022, he was not
successful.
As he was giving a talk in NewYork City, a fanatic ran up from
(22:28):
the audience and stabbed himnumerous times, including in his
eye.
He's still alive.
Of course, he can't see out ofthe right eye, but he is always
still looking behind his back.
Paul was looking behind his backthroughout his life.
I want to tell you four thingsabout the physical suffering of
(22:48):
Paul.
First, he was destitute.
1 Corinthians, chapter 4 andverse 11 says To this very hour,
we go hungry and thirsty, weare in rags, we are brutally
treated, we are homeless.
He didn't have clothes to wear.
(23:11):
He went hungry certain days.
He was homeless.
He was actually from awell-to-do family that had money
.
He didn't have to do this.
Anyone who thinks thatfollowing Jesus and obeying
(23:33):
Jesus guarantees physicalblessings has not studied the
life of Paul.
In fact, they've not studiedthe life of any of the disciples
For that matter.
They've not studied the life ofJesus.
(23:53):
Second, paul had shipwrecks.
In Acts, chapter 27, it detailsthe account of a shipwreck as
he was on his way to Rome as aprisoner, and for two weeks they
were adrift in theMediterranean Sea in the midst
of a tempest, going back andforth, not knowing when and
which breath would be their lastbreath.
(24:15):
And finally the ship crashesand they swim to shore on an
island called Malta and once hegets there he now has to survive
a snake bite.
And that is just one of theshipwrecks.
He writes that he had threeshipwrecks.
How many of you have beenthrough a major car accident.
(24:37):
Major car accident how many ofyou all have been through three
major car accidents?
One person, yeah, remind us notto drive behind or around you.
Around you, having a major caraccident has major repercussions
(25:00):
, right, physical and emotionaland mental that stay with you
for the rest of your life.
Paul had three such shipwrecks.
Third, he was imprisonedThroughout his ministry.
Paul was imprisoned multipletimes.
In Acts, chapter 16, it talksabout how he was in prison in
(25:23):
Philippi and then, after histhird missionary journey, after
he wrote the book of Romans, hecomes back to Jerusalem and he
was imprisoned in Jerusalem andthat's where he gave the talk to
those Jews, where he shared hisstory.
And then he was taken toCaesarea by the sea, where he
was imprisoned for two years andthat's where he gave his other
(25:45):
story again to King Agrippa.
And then he was taken by shipto Rome, where he had the
shipwreck, and in Rome, wherethe book of Acts ends is when he
has two more years ofimprisonment.
Fourth, paul had physicalassaults.
(26:06):
Paul wasn't trying to be beaten, he wasn't trying to score
points by physical suffering.
In fact, there's an accountwhen he was being stretched out
to be beaten.
He asked the officer is itlegal to beat a Roman citizen
(26:27):
without a trial?
And so they backed off and theywere scared.
So Paul wasn't trying to getbeaten, but when you're looking
over your back with multipleenemies, it's just a matter of
time.
And those threats became areality.
Paul says that he was beatenwith rods three times.
If you look for persecution inother countries, there are
(26:53):
YouTube videos of people gettingbeaten, pastors getting beaten
with rods, lots of persecutionin India and so many places.
Pastors surrounded by a mob andgetting beaten.
Paul was beaten three times andhe was scourged five times, and
(27:19):
that scourge was 39 lashes,five times.
And the scourge at that timewere leather whips, multiple
leather whips with bone andmetal at the end of them so that
when they whipped it would pullout a part of your flesh as
well.
He was beaten 39 times, 39lashes, five times.
(27:43):
And then he says that he wasstoned and left for dead.
And this is in Acts, chapter 14, where it happened in Lystra.
He was stoned and left for dead.
And this is in Acts, chapter 14, where it happened in Lystra he
was stoned and left for dead,and the way they did stoning at
that time, if they were not in ahurry is they would dig a hole
in the ground and put the victimin the hole so that just the
(28:03):
feet were inside and theycouldn't run away.
And they stepped back and theystoned with small and large
stones, and the purpose of thestoning to their upper body was
to kill.
Paul was stoned, and when theystoned him they were trying to
(28:24):
kill him.
In fact, he became motionlessonce the stoning stopped because
they thought he was dead.
And so in Galatians, chapter 6,verse 17, he writes I bear on
my body the marks of Jesus.
(28:49):
Did Paul complain about hissufferings?
No.
In Philippians 1, verse 12, hewrites I want you to know,
brothers, that what has happenedto me has really served to
advance the gospel.
He knew that the suffering thathe was going through was for
the sake of the gospel and if hepersevered through this
(29:12):
suffering, many more peoplewould be able to hear the gospel
story.
And in Colossians 1, verse 24,he writes Now I rejoice in my
sufferings for your sake.
He was imprisoned a second timein Rome that the Bible does not
(29:33):
mention, and in AD 67 to 68.
He was beheaded under EmperorNero.
Let me ask you a question whydid Paul suffer so much?
Why was Paul killed?
(29:57):
Paul suffered so much and hewas killed because he wanted to
tell his story.
Because he wanted to tell hisstory, the love of Jesus had
gripped him so much and hecouldn't understand how the
(30:22):
grace of God could forgive aperson like him, that he could
not rest until he spread thegospel of the love of God to
every person that he could.
He was a storyteller thatsubmitted to the will of his
(30:42):
Lord.
A couple of years ago, a friendof mine emailed me about a
missionary that he knows in Iranand he said a mob came to his
house, a group of fanatics cameto his house, dragged him and
(31:06):
his wife outside their house,tied them up and burnt the house
down, and both the missionaryand his wife were screaming as
their house was getting burntdown because, ladies and
gentlemen, their littletwo-year-old was inside the
house.
Their little two-year-old wasinside the house.
(31:32):
About a week later, my friendemailed me again and said that
one of the fanatics who had comethere came back to the
missionary and wanted to knowabout the gospel.
Let me ask you a question whydid that missionary and his wife
put themselves in that positionand why did that little
(31:54):
two-year-old get burned to death?
Because they wanted to tell thegospel story.
The ultimate submissivestoryteller is the Lord Jesus
Christ, who submitted to thewill of his Father and came
(32:15):
earthside to tell us theheavenside story so that we
could go heavenside.
And so, as the old chorus says,you came from heaven to earth
to show us the way From theearth to the cross, my debts to
pay From the cross to the grave,from the grave to the sky.
(32:37):
Lord, I lift your name on high.
Let me ask you a question.
Then we will end.
At what cost will we tell ourstories?
At what cost will we tell ourstories?
I want to give the opportunityfor two groups of people to
(32:57):
respond to this sermon.
If you've never invited Jesusinto your life, I'm going to ask
you to stand up and we can praytogether.
Second, if there's anyone herewho wants to tell their earth
side stories with a heaven sideconnection, so that you can tell
(33:23):
your heaven side story, you canalso stand up.
But I want you all to thinkabout a person.
I don't want it to be just atheoretical sermon.
I want you to think of a person, one or two people, or two or
three people that you are goingto tell your heaven side
(33:48):
connected story.
Think of some people that willcome to your mind right now so
that over the next few weeks youcan engage with them to tell if
(34:09):
there's anyone here who's neverinvited Jesus into your life.
I'm going to ask you to pray aprayer with me.
This prayer is not a magicalprayer, but if it's a prayer
that comes from the bottom ofyour heart, god will answer it.
You can pray something likethis Dear Lord Jesus, I am a
(34:32):
sinner and I cannot save myself.
Thank you for coming from heavento earth to show me the way.
Thank you for your perfect life.
Thank you for your death in myplace.
Thank you for your perfect life.
Thank you for your death in myplace.
Thank you for the resurrectionand the promise of eternal life.
(34:55):
I ask you to come into my lifeand make me complete.
Heavenly Father, I pray for therest of us who have known about
the gospel for all these years,and we know that we need to
speak the gospel because that iswhat your heart is.
(35:16):
You are not satisfied as longas there is one sheep outside
the fold and you want us to goand share our stories.
I pray for each person standingup who wants to tell their
story.
As we now try to makeheaven-side connections, give us
(35:41):
the wisdom to say the rightthing at the right time.
I pray, lord, that you wouldhelp us to do two things Help us
to pray continuously for thepeople that we are thinking
about, and I pray that you wouldhelp us to seek opportunities
continuously for the people thatwe are thinking about, because
(36:03):
there is an opportunity, lord,every single day.
Help us to make the heavensideconnection so that we can tell
the story of the gospel of JesusChrist.
In Jesus' name, I pray, amen.
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