February 4, 2024 • 34 mins
Next Steps.
Join us for #dcnsunday as we talk about Next Steps.
and be sure to visit our website https://defiancenazarene.org/
& did you know you could give online? https://defiancenazarene.org/online-giving/
Join us for #dcnsunday as we talk about Next Steps.
and be sure to visit our website https://defiancenazarene.org/
& did you know you could give online? https://defiancenazarene.org/online-giving/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
There's a scripture in the Book of Ephesians, chapter four,
if you'll pull that up for me, Ephesians chapter four,
and it says, until we all reach unity in the
faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God,
and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of fullness
(00:21):
of Christ, then we will no longer be infants, tossed
back and forth by the waves, and blown here and
there by every wind of teaching, and by the cunning
and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, now
catch this, Instead speaking the truth and love, we will
(00:42):
grow to become in every aspect the mature body of
Him who is the head Christ, Jesus. And that's the goal,
that's the goal, that we will in all things grow
up into Him. The apostle Paul wrote those words words
last November. Pastor Scott and I kind of unveiled these
(01:06):
next steps, clear focused scriptural movements to keep us all
moving and growing, clearly defined steps that we take in
our lives to become more of who Christ wants us
to be, to draw closer to Him, and the goal
is to be more like Jesus, to move from that
(01:28):
infant bottle and just keep moving all the way up
to the mac and cheese and beyond. Haven't made any
of you hungry yet? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Sorry, Scott, the mac and cheese got taken.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
We were able to celebrate a wonderful Advent season together.
We celebrated the greatest story ever told in December. We
celebrated the hope and the peace, and the joy and
the love and how personal the story is. We brought
out some of the characters and the story so you
could simply put your name right there. So we went
from next steps into Advent and then we headed into
(02:02):
the New year. See if you can complete this sentenced kids,
you'll want to pay attention to this.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
We headed into a series called New Year Better You.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Well, we can strive and strive and try and try,
but we can only truly become better with Jesus Christ
and the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Living in us.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
We heard amazing testimonies last week. Didn't the testimony panel
just do a fantastic job.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
I want to thank each one of them again.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
You know, we sat down in staff meeting, we made
a list of names, I sent out the asks, I
sent out the questions, but talk about taking the message
of Christ, taking the Scripture and see it lived out
in someone's life. And I think they would all be
the first to tell you that was up here because
I know them well, that they haven't arrived yet. That
(02:57):
they're a process of God working and moving and taking
next steps, going from one to the other, of seeking
God first turning our relationships.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Over to God. That's hard, isn't it?
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Having God help us with our choices, and then becoming
a better witness because of Christ. You see, we don't
want to just be hearers of the word. Scripture calls
us to be doers of the Word. So today we
return to next steps, and as your pastors here, I
(03:30):
want you to know that we feel the spirit moving
in this place. We feel a stir, we sense and
we see on your faces, and we believe that there
is a seeking for Jesus Christ. We believe that every
person you meet, I say this a lot will be
better off with Jesus in their lives. Hearts are seeking
(03:55):
and we get to be the vessels that carry the
great commission of Christ. But as we talked about with
the kids, we need to be carefully nurturing our walk
with Christ. So the first step we want to talk
about it today, and we're going to talk about these
steps through the life of Paul, so you get a
clear image of what it looks like to take next
(04:17):
step scripturally.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
So number one is to know Jesus, right, just kidd it,
thanks Matt, No Jesus, That's why I picked him.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
What does it look like to know Jesus? Now, let's
talk about the apostle Paul. What does it look like
to know Jesus?
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Save me five? I like five with milk.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Paul, formerly known as Saul. We know through their scripture
that he was a Jew born in Tarsus, and he
had quite a resume. We read in scripture he learned
from the teachings of Gamalayo, an authority figure in the Sanhedrin.
I mean he was moving up the ranks. He was
a Pharisee of all pharisee. He was circumcised on the
(05:11):
eighth Day. He was of the people of Israel, God's
chosen people. He was from the tribe of Benjamin, the
chosen tribe, and he was a Hebrew of all Hebrews.
He held tightly to the law, and he was supposed
to protect all of Israel from false teachings, false religions
and sinful practices, because that law that was meant to
(05:32):
draw us closer to God. Well, let me tell you people,
Saul of Tarsus had gotten it all wrong. Unfortunately, he
found himself so wrapped up in the law on self
righteousness that at first he couldn't even see that the
Messiah had come. He was hunting down and imprisoning Christians.
(05:55):
Now that's a fart step. We can say we don't believe,
and we can stand outside. But he was hunting down Christians.
Not only did he not truly know who Jesus was,
he didn't like him, he didn't like what he saw.
He was on a mission, but he was far from
the mission of Christ. We see him first come on
the scene and Acts chapter seven, and he is present
(06:18):
at the stoning of Stephen, and then in the beginning
of Acts chapter eight it says that he even approves
of this.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
You see, he didn't know Jesus at all.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
He totally missed we just came through that advent season.
He totally missed that God incarnate had come.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
He was so far away from the heart of God.
He didn't know Jesus.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
But hold on, hold on that provenient grace that goes
before us, that pursues us, that puts hedges around our lives,
that convicts our souls, gives us a longing for something
that's missing in our lives, that says to us, don't
live on the turkey, because I've got more. That provenient
(07:08):
grace kept working and working, and it was about to
collide with Paul's agenda in a big way. You have
a space that was made for God Almighty, and he
will pursue you and pursue you, and he will go
to the ends of the earth for you. He talks
in the scripture about leaving the ninety nine for the one.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
I'm the one? Are you the one that's the God
we serve?
Speaker 1 (07:38):
So Paul was on his way to Damascus on his
own mission to imprison Christians, and suddenly a great heavenly
light appeared, that prevenient grace that gives an awakening to
our soul. Have you ever been in a place and
you're not thinking about God, and all of a sudden
you're thinking about God and something's happening.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
And you can't describe it.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Well, a light from heaven and it was so bright
that he fell to the ground. I mean Paul's experience
was an experience, but let me tell you today, we
all need an experience with the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Paul fell to the ground.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
The light was so bright that it blinded him, and
then he heard a voice. He heard a voice, Saul, Saul,
why are you persecuting me?
Speaker 2 (08:29):
You see?
Speaker 1 (08:29):
He thought he knew Jesus, but he was about to
truly know Jesus. The voice said to him, I am
Jesus of Nazareth, whom.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
You are persecuting.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Wow, right here, right then, he has a choice to make.
The light has come to all of us. He is here.
But when we see it, when we sense it, when
we feel it, God gives us free will, and we
(09:07):
have a choice to make. But in that moment, he
begins to truly know God. He knows the power, He
knows a God that is tracking him down. He opens
his heart to the truth. He begins to listen, learn, experience,
(09:27):
and connect. He begins to know that grace, that amazing
grace that we sing about.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
There's no other word for.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Grace, bood amazing. No other explanation will do unmerited favor
the song that I say, have you experienced it?
Speaker 2 (10:00):
No other word for grace let me, and he prepares
to take the next step.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
So Saul knew a lot. He knew all kinds of things.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
Pastor Tara just mentioned how educated he was and how
much information he had about God. And he was sincere
in his faith, completely sincere, so sincere that he was
going after people saying I'm protecting God. But the truth
is he was sincerely wrong about his faith, and so
(10:43):
he at this moment, we had an axe here, and
I'm going to pull it up here. I'm going to
read this passage here in Acts chapter nine.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
We've got that on their nine three.
Speaker 4 (10:58):
As he neared Damascus on his journe and he's suddenly
a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to
the ground and heard a voice say to him, Saul, Saul, why.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Do you persecute me? Who are you?
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Lord?
Speaker 4 (11:12):
Saul asked, I am Jesus who you're persecuting. He replied,
Now get up and go into the city and you'll
be told what you must do. The men traveling with
Saul stood there speechless. They heard the sound but did
not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, but
when he opened his eyes he could see nothing, so
he led him by the hand into Damascus. For three days,
(11:33):
he was blind and did not eat or drink anything.
And then I'm going to jump down to verses seventeen
and eighteen and read this. Then Anaias went to the
house and entered it, placing his hands on Saul. He said, brother, Saul,
the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road
as you were coming here, has sent me so that
(11:53):
you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Immediately,
something like scales fell from saul eyes and he could
see again.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
He got up and was baptized.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
So in our next steps, our next step is receive Jesus.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Who has that box ashure? Does my main man bring here?
Thanks buddy, appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
Receive Jesus and receive Jesus.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
Is more than just going yeah, I know who he is.
Speaker 4 (12:30):
I've heard of him. I go to church occasionally. But
it's a series of steps, and we hit these steps
a few months back, and step one is accept Jesus.
We have to accept Jesus into our lives. And in
these verses I just read when the light shone shone
down on Saul, it says, you know, he automatically goes, who.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Are you Lord?
Speaker 4 (13:00):
He was like, he didn't just stop it as and
who are you? Who are you talking to me? Who's
talking to me? Out of the he literally uses the
word who are you master? He recognized the power of God.
He he recognized the power of Jesus. In that moment,
the light shone all around him and he said, who
are you, Lord? Who are you? I am weak in
(13:24):
comparison to you. I am no longer master. He didn't
say I am your master. I'm the one going to
go and enforce things.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
He said to Jesus, who are you Lord?
Speaker 4 (13:36):
Who are you Master? And so he had to accept
Jesus as his lord. And then in the second is
b accept believe, believe in Jesus one, Timothy, I have
this on here fit one. Here's a trustworthy saying deserves
that deserves full acceptance. Christ Jesus came into the world
(13:58):
to save sinners. Of who I.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Am the worst. That's Paul writing, that's Paul riding.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
And he says, but for the very reason I was
shown mercy, so that in me, the worst of sinners,
Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example
for those who would believe in him.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
And receive eternal life.
Speaker 4 (14:22):
This guy who didn't believe that Jesus was the Messiah
later writes to Timothy and says, this is the only way.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
I believe in Jesus.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
I believe that Jesus is the way to God, the
God I was trying to protect. I've thrown that out
the door. God's got this. God's big enough. He doesn't
need me to protect him. I need him to protect me.
And you have to believe, and if you believe in him,
(14:56):
he will come into your life. See confess, yes, now
I read that there. In one Timothy it says that
Paul doesn't say it in this part where he first
meets Jesus. He doesn't say, you know, oh Jesus, I'm
a sinner. Please forgive me and save me. He doesn't
say that and acts right there. But later again he testifies.
(15:16):
At first Timothy, he goes he is that Jesus Christ
came into the world to save sinners, and he throws that.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Caveat of whom I am the worst.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
It's a confession that you know, though I was righteous
in the in the in the ways of the law,
though I adhere to the letter of the law. I
could never earn my righteousness with God. I was a sinner,
and of whom I was the worst. Though I thought
I was pursuing what God wanted me to do, I
(15:48):
was a sinner. And instead he says, I was the
worst of sinners. And I confess that, and then d
I think it's amazing. D is for declare, I think
it's amazing. At the end of he gets blinded, he
gets Annius, Annius prays for him, and he all of
(16:12):
a sudden, it says that he gets up and is baptized.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
It was like an immediate sign of I am with.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
Jesus now, which was a lot for him. If you
really think about the story. He'd made fun of all
the people who've been baptized by Jesus. He'd made fun
of those who have been baptized by John because they
were believing into what he thought was a false God,
and they were baptizing into that. And all of a
(16:41):
sudden he turns and it says, oh, I need to
be baptized. I need to declare to the world that
I am no longer against Jesus, but I'm fully in
with Jesus. And so he declares that out, and I
think it's interesting that when he's baptized, right before he
gets baptized, it says that that Anonize prays for him
(17:04):
and the scale something like scales false falls.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
From his eyes, and then he gets up and is baptized.
Speaker 4 (17:10):
And I find it interesting, and it's almost like a
metaphor that he was once blinded to what God had
for him, and the moment that he met Jesus, his
eyes were open and he could see.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
He literally was was physically blind.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
But then he was able to open his eyes and
see what Jesus and God had offered in him. And
then in Acts thirteen, Therefore, my friends, I want you
to know that through Jesus, the forgiveness of sins is
proclaimed to you. Through him, everyone who believes is set
free from every sin, a justification you were not able
to obtain under the law of Moses. And that's big.
(17:50):
Under the law of Moses, he points that out. It's
a justification that he couldn't learn. And then in Romans,
Tenant says, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus
is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised
him from the dead, you will be saved for what
the heart one believes and is justified, and with the
(18:10):
mouth one confesses and is saved.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
So Paul begins to know Jesus, and then he accepts Jesus.
And then comes the exciting part. He begins to follow Jesus.
We are all called, he says, follow me who has
followed Jesus.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Here's my girl, Thank you and me.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Matt has a cookie if you want another one.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Know Jesus, Accept Jesus, Follow Jesus. Paul goes all in
in a mighty way.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
First, Thessalonians five twenty three twenty four says, may God himself,
the God of peace.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
May He sanctify you through and through.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless
at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
The one who.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Calls you is faithful and he will do it. You say,
Pastor Tera, we talk a lot about sanctification around here.
We talk a lot about sanctification. Not only it is
the central to our doctrine in the Church of the Nazarene,
but it is the call of God and the privilege
(19:33):
of every believer to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Paul knew the law.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
He knew how to follow it, and he knew how
to call you out on it if you didn't. But
he's the first to say I knew nothing, and everything
that I had when I had the law I consider
rubbish compared to knowing Jesus Christ. You see, the Holy
Spirit came. What is sanctification? It is when the Holy
(20:06):
Spirit comes in and he cleanses us. Do you remember
that song, the Cleansing Wave. I think my first year
working here with Pastor Don twenty one years ago, he
preached this series and Pastor Scott he had me close
with a song, the Cleansing Wave, I think for twelve
weeks and I had never heard it. But by the
(20:27):
end of the twelve weeks, Yeah, yeah, it's a good one,
isn't it. By the end of the twelve weeks, I
had learned it and I begin to understand what it
meant to live it. The cleansing wave comes in, It
cleanses us, It empowers us to live this holy life.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Paul was the first to tell us.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
We can't do it on our own, and it said
he had tried to do it so well. We can't
do it on our own, and it dwells in us.
And what does it say in that scripture?
Speaker 2 (20:59):
He the work.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
I'm glad, thank you Jesus. We go in by faith
and we say you can have it all, Lord, and
we have faith to believe that he's gonna do it.
He's gonna do the work. We go through the growth.
We see a man named from Saul go from taking
down and imprisoning women and men proclaiming the Christian faith,
(21:26):
to becoming so captivated.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
By the grace of God that he even needs a
new name. Amen.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
He was lost in shame, couldn't get past his blame,
just like you saying this morning, Brienna. And isn't Caroline
beginning to really make an appearance, Baby Caroline a few
more weeks, honey, hold On.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Couldn't get past the blame till he called my name.
I'm so glad he saved me.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
And it says there is a new written down in
glory and it's mine, and yes, it's mine. And I
get excited when we sing that I met the author
of my story and he's mine.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Yes, he's mine.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
That's sanctification. That's asking him to go in. And then
what does he do? He begins to grow deep Acts
Chapter nine nineteen And I love this. Pastor Scott comes
right off the scripture that says he was baptized, and
it says after taking some food he regained his strength,
and saw spent several days with the disciples in Damascus.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
What did he do.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
He didn't just go out and say here I am,
let's do this. He spent several days growing deep. He
spent days with the disciples. You see, he had to
relearn everything that he thought he knew because he was
operating under the power of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Now, and I love this part. He takes hold of
this next.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Step, he surrenders. He surrenders his life to the bigger picture,
in the bigger plan, when we allow the Holy Spirit
to come in. He teaches us how to love God well.
He teaches us how to love others. Well, it's easy
(23:23):
to love people that are lovely.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
I can do that every day. But he teaches us
how to see people as He sees them.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
And once Paul went all in, nothing could stop him
from the call that Christ had placed on his life.
He preaches in season and out of season. The Gospel
of Christ took him places he never thought he would go.
He probably had to eat some canned turkey. But I
think one day, when we reach the gates of heaven,
(23:56):
I think we are gonna hear an ongoing echo.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Of it was worth at all.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
It was worth at all knowing Jesus, accepting Jesus, following Jesus,
it was worth at all. I want to close by
saying this. Paul has a lot of writings that we
can gain different things about what he went through, and
he has so much to teach us still today. And
he writes this letter to the Church in Galatia, and
(24:24):
the church in Galatia when he wrote this letter, they
were in crisis. You see, they had strayed from teaching
the truth and they were teaching. But for the gentiles
to be saved, they had to learn to follow Jewish
custom for salvation. And Paul says, no, no, no, it's
by faith, it's through grace. It's nothing that we can
(24:47):
do on ourselves. And then he spends time in that
Book of Galatians, if you have some time to read
it this week, explaining how we need the Holy Spirit
to live a life of obedience and to keep growing, learning, growing, connecting.
Jesus longs to sanctify you through and through and when
(25:12):
he does it, he does it completely, he does it wholly.
There is a new name written down in glory today.
It's mine and it can be yours.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
Amen.
Speaker 4 (25:32):
So I uh, I'm always in a dilemma when Terra
is preaching and I've got a mic on and she
starts singing.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
I thought you were going to stop right there. I'm
always in a dilemma when TERA's preaching.
Speaker 4 (25:44):
But I have a mic on and she starts singing,
and I'm thinking, do I sing? Probably not, but I
want to continue that. So she brought up that verse
in nineteen there, and we get to the next verse.
They're in Acts nine twenty, and it says at once
(26:06):
he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is
the son of God. So right after he had met
with the disciples, right after he had spent some time
with him, he just met Jesus. He's starting to figure
out his life and realizing that his life was completely wrong. Now,
does that mean that everything that he had gone through
(26:27):
in life was wasted?
Speaker 3 (26:30):
Absolutely?
Speaker 4 (26:30):
Not? All of his knowledge actually paid off for us today.
He was able to take all of the scriptures that
he knew, all of that he knew and then relearn
how that all applies to the Messiah who came. And
because he knew that, he was able to take that
and adjust that. And we have so much of the
(26:52):
New Testament because of his past. So I want to
start right there, just really quick. And this is a
side note. It doesn't matter where you've been, it's where
you're going. It's what God can take where what you've done,
and what he can do with it.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
And so today, as we go through that, we get
to this last one.
Speaker 4 (27:13):
It's served Jesus. So who has served right there? It
is no, don't throw it. I'll try to catch it
and I'll fall.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
Thank you. Serve Jesus. Serve Jesus.
Speaker 4 (27:27):
So we see, we see that Saul, after all of this,
he goes and spends some times with the disciples, and
then he begins to go out and immediately begins to
tell people about Jesus.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
Now, I want you to catch that.
Speaker 4 (27:41):
I want you to understand that he couldn't help it.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
He couldn't help it.
Speaker 4 (27:49):
He met Jesus and the first thing he could do
was go and tell somebody else about it. Today I
came in. We've already mentioned Connor I'm a proud dad.
I'm proud of him as a person, but he has
worked as pastor. Terror mentioned Don and I we're proud parents.
He had a knee surgery that he had two ligaments
(28:12):
and a torn tendon. All that was torn up, everything
was torn up a couple of.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
Years ago, and he just qualified for Nationals.
Speaker 4 (28:22):
The boys worked hard. We're proud of the way he's worked.
And so we got here and you.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
Know, immediately we're like sending text messages.
Speaker 4 (28:29):
He made it, he made it, he made it. And
then I got here and I'm like, hey, guess what
Connor did. And then you know, we told everybody and
we're telling more people.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
When we meet Jesus, we need to be that excited.
I met Jesus today. Let me tell you about my savior.
Speaker 4 (28:50):
Let me tell you about where I've been and what
He's done with me, and where I am today and
where I'm going. I don't know everything about the future,
but I know who's got that future. I know who's
taken me to that future. I know who I'm going
with into that future. And I've got that Jesus in
my life. It says in Acts eleven. Then when he
brought when he found him, he brought him the Antioch.
(29:13):
So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with
the church and taught great numbers of people, and the
disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
Did you catch that?
Speaker 4 (29:29):
I want you to grab the gravity of that. It
says that Saul meets Jesus, he begins to preach. A
couple chapter later, he goes to Antioch, they begin to preach,
They stay there a long time, and that's where we
get our name from. From his experience with Jesus. We're
(29:53):
called Christians. That has carried on for generations. That legacy
of meeting Jesus and telling somebody about Jesus has come
down to today where I get to stand before you.
We get to stand before you and tell you about
Jesus today. The one who came, the one who came
(30:13):
to save us, the one who did save us, the
one who wants to sanctify us, who wants to take us.
He wants us to follow him, he wants us to
serve him. That's the Jesus that Paul shared with us.
And we know again the legacy of Paul. As he
writes scripture, we know of the legacy as it's passed
(30:35):
down to us. And I find it interesting that when
he met Jesus and he met with Anonius, it says
it's said.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
There that.
Speaker 4 (30:48):
He met the Holy Spirit? Have you met the Holy Spirit?
Where are you in these steps? Today? We're gonna sing
a song here in a minute, and we're gonna sing
the whole song. Usually kind of just kind of shortened
(31:10):
up a song. We're gonna sing the whole song because
I believe, we believe that there are people in this
room today, maybe people even watching us online today who
know Jesus. Maybe they're getting to know Jesus. They may
know Jesus, they may think they know Jesus from some
(31:30):
stuff that they've there passed. They've got that information, and
they're somewhere down in here trying to just figure out
who just Jesus is. And then I think there's people
here and listening that maybe today they need to receive Jesus.
They've known about him, but they've never said.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
You are the Messiah. I'm a sinner, I need you
and I want you in my life. And then there's
some of us in the room who are following Jesus.
Speaker 4 (32:06):
We've been sanctified doesn't mean we get it all right
all the time. We know that going back to the
panel and the discussion there, we don't get it all
right all the time, but we know the Holy Spirit
has come into our life, has consumed our life. We've
(32:26):
allowed us to be sanctified holy. And then there's some
in the room who've never made that commitment level to
say I'm all in Jesus, thank you for saving me.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
But that's all I need. Some of us need to
get to this place we say I'm all yours Jesus.
I'll take all of you, but now have all of me.
Speaker 4 (32:57):
And then there's some who've done that, but maybe they
haven't quite got to this place where they're they're serving.
They're serving, they're they're doing something with what God's given them.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
I don't know where you all stand today.
Speaker 4 (33:11):
I have an idea of some of you because I
know you, you're my family, but I don't know where
you're at exactly.
Speaker 3 (33:19):
But this morning.
Speaker 4 (33:22):
We're going to pray at the altar and I don't
know where you're at, and I don't That's not my
goal is to you know, oh, well, that person's here,
and that person's here This is not a status race
in that respect. Our goal is to help you work
your way through where God wants you to go, take
(33:42):
you from where you are to where He wants you
to be.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
I don't care where you are in that status. I
just want you moving. Does that make sense?
Speaker 4 (33:50):
I just want you moving, don't stay where you're at.
So this morning, we're going to pray at the altar
if if you want to. While they're singing, I'm going
to step down here and I'm gonna be available to
pray with.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
Anybody who comes up to the altars. Won't you join
me at the altar this morning?
Speaker 4 (34:09):
I would love it if we saw where God wants
us to be and we decided to move in our
steps
There's a scripture in the Book of Ephesians, chapter four,
if you'll pull that up for me, Ephesians chapter four,
and it says, until we all reach unity in the
faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God,
and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of fullness
(00:21):
of Christ, then we will no longer be infants, tossed
back and forth by the waves, and blown here and
there by every wind of teaching, and by the cunning
and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, now
catch this, Instead speaking the truth and love, we will
(00:42):
grow to become in every aspect the mature body of
Him who is the head Christ, Jesus. And that's the goal,
that's the goal, that we will in all things grow
up into Him. The apostle Paul wrote those words words
last November. Pastor Scott and I kind of unveiled these
(01:06):
next steps, clear focused scriptural movements to keep us all
moving and growing, clearly defined steps that we take in
our lives to become more of who Christ wants us
to be, to draw closer to Him, and the goal
is to be more like Jesus, to move from that
(01:28):
infant bottle and just keep moving all the way up
to the mac and cheese and beyond. Haven't made any
of you hungry yet? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Sorry, Scott, the mac and cheese got taken.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
We were able to celebrate a wonderful Advent season together.
We celebrated the greatest story ever told in December. We
celebrated the hope and the peace, and the joy and
the love and how personal the story is. We brought
out some of the characters and the story so you
could simply put your name right there. So we went
from next steps into Advent and then we headed into
(02:02):
the New year. See if you can complete this sentenced kids,
you'll want to pay attention to this.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
We headed into a series called New Year Better You.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Well, we can strive and strive and try and try,
but we can only truly become better with Jesus Christ
and the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Living in us.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
We heard amazing testimonies last week. Didn't the testimony panel
just do a fantastic job.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
I want to thank each one of them again.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
You know, we sat down in staff meeting, we made
a list of names, I sent out the asks, I
sent out the questions, but talk about taking the message
of Christ, taking the Scripture and see it lived out
in someone's life. And I think they would all be
the first to tell you that was up here because
I know them well, that they haven't arrived yet. That
(02:57):
they're a process of God working and moving and taking
next steps, going from one to the other, of seeking
God first turning our relationships.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Over to God. That's hard, isn't it?
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Having God help us with our choices, and then becoming
a better witness because of Christ. You see, we don't
want to just be hearers of the word. Scripture calls
us to be doers of the Word. So today we
return to next steps, and as your pastors here, I
(03:30):
want you to know that we feel the spirit moving
in this place. We feel a stir, we sense and
we see on your faces, and we believe that there
is a seeking for Jesus Christ. We believe that every
person you meet, I say this a lot will be
better off with Jesus in their lives. Hearts are seeking
(03:55):
and we get to be the vessels that carry the
great commission of Christ. But as we talked about with
the kids, we need to be carefully nurturing our walk
with Christ. So the first step we want to talk
about it today, and we're going to talk about these
steps through the life of Paul, so you get a
clear image of what it looks like to take next
(04:17):
step scripturally.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
So number one is to know Jesus, right, just kidd it,
thanks Matt, No Jesus, That's why I picked him.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
What does it look like to know Jesus? Now, let's
talk about the apostle Paul. What does it look like
to know Jesus?
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Save me five? I like five with milk.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Paul, formerly known as Saul. We know through their scripture
that he was a Jew born in Tarsus, and he
had quite a resume. We read in scripture he learned
from the teachings of Gamalayo, an authority figure in the Sanhedrin.
I mean he was moving up the ranks. He was
a Pharisee of all pharisee. He was circumcised on the
(05:11):
eighth Day. He was of the people of Israel, God's
chosen people. He was from the tribe of Benjamin, the
chosen tribe, and he was a Hebrew of all Hebrews.
He held tightly to the law, and he was supposed
to protect all of Israel from false teachings, false religions
and sinful practices, because that law that was meant to
(05:32):
draw us closer to God. Well, let me tell you people,
Saul of Tarsus had gotten it all wrong. Unfortunately, he
found himself so wrapped up in the law on self
righteousness that at first he couldn't even see that the
Messiah had come. He was hunting down and imprisoning Christians.
(05:55):
Now that's a fart step. We can say we don't believe,
and we can stand outside. But he was hunting down Christians.
Not only did he not truly know who Jesus was,
he didn't like him, he didn't like what he saw.
He was on a mission, but he was far from
the mission of Christ. We see him first come on
the scene and Acts chapter seven, and he is present
(06:18):
at the stoning of Stephen, and then in the beginning
of Acts chapter eight it says that he even approves
of this.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
You see, he didn't know Jesus at all.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
He totally missed we just came through that advent season.
He totally missed that God incarnate had come.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
He was so far away from the heart of God.
He didn't know Jesus.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
But hold on, hold on that provenient grace that goes
before us, that pursues us, that puts hedges around our lives,
that convicts our souls, gives us a longing for something
that's missing in our lives, that says to us, don't
live on the turkey, because I've got more. That provenient
(07:08):
grace kept working and working, and it was about to
collide with Paul's agenda in a big way. You have
a space that was made for God Almighty, and he
will pursue you and pursue you, and he will go
to the ends of the earth for you. He talks
in the scripture about leaving the ninety nine for the one.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
I'm the one? Are you the one that's the God
we serve?
Speaker 1 (07:38):
So Paul was on his way to Damascus on his
own mission to imprison Christians, and suddenly a great heavenly
light appeared, that prevenient grace that gives an awakening to
our soul. Have you ever been in a place and
you're not thinking about God, and all of a sudden
you're thinking about God and something's happening.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
And you can't describe it.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Well, a light from heaven and it was so bright
that he fell to the ground. I mean Paul's experience
was an experience, but let me tell you today, we
all need an experience with the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Paul fell to the ground.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
The light was so bright that it blinded him, and
then he heard a voice. He heard a voice, Saul, Saul,
why are you persecuting me?
Speaker 2 (08:29):
You see?
Speaker 1 (08:29):
He thought he knew Jesus, but he was about to
truly know Jesus. The voice said to him, I am
Jesus of Nazareth, whom.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
You are persecuting.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Wow, right here, right then, he has a choice to make.
The light has come to all of us. He is here.
But when we see it, when we sense it, when
we feel it, God gives us free will, and we
(09:07):
have a choice to make. But in that moment, he
begins to truly know God. He knows the power, He
knows a God that is tracking him down. He opens
his heart to the truth. He begins to listen, learn, experience,
(09:27):
and connect. He begins to know that grace, that amazing
grace that we sing about.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
There's no other word for.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Grace, bood amazing. No other explanation will do unmerited favor
the song that I say, have you experienced it?
Speaker 2 (10:00):
No other word for grace let me, and he prepares
to take the next step.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
So Saul knew a lot. He knew all kinds of things.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
Pastor Tara just mentioned how educated he was and how
much information he had about God. And he was sincere
in his faith, completely sincere, so sincere that he was
going after people saying I'm protecting God. But the truth
is he was sincerely wrong about his faith, and so
(10:43):
he at this moment, we had an axe here, and
I'm going to pull it up here. I'm going to
read this passage here in Acts chapter nine.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
We've got that on their nine three.
Speaker 4 (10:58):
As he neared Damascus on his journe and he's suddenly
a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to
the ground and heard a voice say to him, Saul, Saul, why.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Do you persecute me? Who are you?
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Lord?
Speaker 4 (11:12):
Saul asked, I am Jesus who you're persecuting. He replied,
Now get up and go into the city and you'll
be told what you must do. The men traveling with
Saul stood there speechless. They heard the sound but did
not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, but
when he opened his eyes he could see nothing, so
he led him by the hand into Damascus. For three days,
(11:33):
he was blind and did not eat or drink anything.
And then I'm going to jump down to verses seventeen
and eighteen and read this. Then Anaias went to the
house and entered it, placing his hands on Saul. He said, brother, Saul,
the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road
as you were coming here, has sent me so that
(11:53):
you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Immediately,
something like scales fell from saul eyes and he could
see again.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
He got up and was baptized.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
So in our next steps, our next step is receive Jesus.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Who has that box ashure? Does my main man bring here?
Thanks buddy, appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
Receive Jesus and receive Jesus.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
Is more than just going yeah, I know who he is.
Speaker 4 (12:30):
I've heard of him. I go to church occasionally. But
it's a series of steps, and we hit these steps
a few months back, and step one is accept Jesus.
We have to accept Jesus into our lives. And in
these verses I just read when the light shone shone
down on Saul, it says, you know, he automatically goes, who.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Are you Lord?
Speaker 4 (13:00):
He was like, he didn't just stop it as and
who are you? Who are you talking to me? Who's
talking to me? Out of the he literally uses the
word who are you master? He recognized the power of God.
He he recognized the power of Jesus. In that moment,
the light shone all around him and he said, who
are you, Lord? Who are you? I am weak in
(13:24):
comparison to you. I am no longer master. He didn't
say I am your master. I'm the one going to
go and enforce things.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
He said to Jesus, who are you Lord?
Speaker 4 (13:36):
Who are you Master? And so he had to accept
Jesus as his lord. And then in the second is
b accept believe, believe in Jesus one, Timothy, I have
this on here fit one. Here's a trustworthy saying deserves
that deserves full acceptance. Christ Jesus came into the world
(13:58):
to save sinners. Of who I.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Am the worst. That's Paul writing, that's Paul riding.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
And he says, but for the very reason I was
shown mercy, so that in me, the worst of sinners,
Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example
for those who would believe in him.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
And receive eternal life.
Speaker 4 (14:22):
This guy who didn't believe that Jesus was the Messiah
later writes to Timothy and says, this is the only way.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
I believe in Jesus.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
I believe that Jesus is the way to God, the
God I was trying to protect. I've thrown that out
the door. God's got this. God's big enough. He doesn't
need me to protect him. I need him to protect me.
And you have to believe, and if you believe in him,
(14:56):
he will come into your life. See confess, yes, now
I read that there. In one Timothy it says that
Paul doesn't say it in this part where he first
meets Jesus. He doesn't say, you know, oh Jesus, I'm
a sinner. Please forgive me and save me. He doesn't
say that and acts right there. But later again he testifies.
(15:16):
At first Timothy, he goes he is that Jesus Christ
came into the world to save sinners, and he throws that.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Caveat of whom I am the worst.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
It's a confession that you know, though I was righteous
in the in the in the ways of the law,
though I adhere to the letter of the law. I
could never earn my righteousness with God. I was a sinner,
and of whom I was the worst. Though I thought
I was pursuing what God wanted me to do, I
(15:48):
was a sinner. And instead he says, I was the
worst of sinners. And I confess that, and then d
I think it's amazing. D is for declare, I think
it's amazing. At the end of he gets blinded, he
gets Annius, Annius prays for him, and he all of
(16:12):
a sudden, it says that he gets up and is baptized.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
It was like an immediate sign of I am with.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
Jesus now, which was a lot for him. If you
really think about the story. He'd made fun of all
the people who've been baptized by Jesus. He'd made fun
of those who have been baptized by John because they
were believing into what he thought was a false God,
and they were baptizing into that. And all of a
(16:41):
sudden he turns and it says, oh, I need to
be baptized. I need to declare to the world that
I am no longer against Jesus, but I'm fully in
with Jesus. And so he declares that out, and I
think it's interesting that when he's baptized, right before he
gets baptized, it says that that Anonize prays for him
(17:04):
and the scale something like scales false falls.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
From his eyes, and then he gets up and is baptized.
Speaker 4 (17:10):
And I find it interesting, and it's almost like a
metaphor that he was once blinded to what God had
for him, and the moment that he met Jesus, his
eyes were open and he could see.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
He literally was was physically blind.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
But then he was able to open his eyes and
see what Jesus and God had offered in him. And
then in Acts thirteen, Therefore, my friends, I want you
to know that through Jesus, the forgiveness of sins is
proclaimed to you. Through him, everyone who believes is set
free from every sin, a justification you were not able
to obtain under the law of Moses. And that's big.
(17:50):
Under the law of Moses, he points that out. It's
a justification that he couldn't learn. And then in Romans,
Tenant says, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus
is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised
him from the dead, you will be saved for what
the heart one believes and is justified, and with the
(18:10):
mouth one confesses and is saved.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
So Paul begins to know Jesus, and then he accepts Jesus.
And then comes the exciting part. He begins to follow Jesus.
We are all called, he says, follow me who has
followed Jesus.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Here's my girl, Thank you and me.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Matt has a cookie if you want another one.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Know Jesus, Accept Jesus, Follow Jesus. Paul goes all in
in a mighty way.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
First, Thessalonians five twenty three twenty four says, may God himself,
the God of peace.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
May He sanctify you through and through.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless
at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
The one who.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Calls you is faithful and he will do it. You say,
Pastor Tera, we talk a lot about sanctification around here.
We talk a lot about sanctification. Not only it is
the central to our doctrine in the Church of the Nazarene,
but it is the call of God and the privilege
(19:33):
of every believer to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Paul knew the law.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
He knew how to follow it, and he knew how
to call you out on it if you didn't. But
he's the first to say I knew nothing, and everything
that I had when I had the law I consider
rubbish compared to knowing Jesus Christ. You see, the Holy
Spirit came. What is sanctification? It is when the Holy
(20:06):
Spirit comes in and he cleanses us. Do you remember
that song, the Cleansing Wave. I think my first year
working here with Pastor Don twenty one years ago, he
preached this series and Pastor Scott he had me close
with a song, the Cleansing Wave, I think for twelve
weeks and I had never heard it. But by the
(20:27):
end of the twelve weeks, Yeah, yeah, it's a good one,
isn't it. By the end of the twelve weeks, I
had learned it and I begin to understand what it
meant to live it. The cleansing wave comes in, It
cleanses us, It empowers us to live this holy life.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Paul was the first to tell us.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
We can't do it on our own, and it said
he had tried to do it so well. We can't
do it on our own, and it dwells in us.
And what does it say in that scripture?
Speaker 2 (20:59):
He the work.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
I'm glad, thank you Jesus. We go in by faith
and we say you can have it all, Lord, and
we have faith to believe that he's gonna do it.
He's gonna do the work. We go through the growth.
We see a man named from Saul go from taking
down and imprisoning women and men proclaiming the Christian faith,
(21:26):
to becoming so captivated.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
By the grace of God that he even needs a
new name. Amen.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
He was lost in shame, couldn't get past his blame,
just like you saying this morning, Brienna. And isn't Caroline
beginning to really make an appearance, Baby Caroline a few
more weeks, honey, hold On.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Couldn't get past the blame till he called my name.
I'm so glad he saved me.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
And it says there is a new written down in
glory and it's mine, and yes, it's mine. And I
get excited when we sing that I met the author
of my story and he's mine.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Yes, he's mine.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
That's sanctification. That's asking him to go in. And then
what does he do? He begins to grow deep Acts
Chapter nine nineteen And I love this. Pastor Scott comes
right off the scripture that says he was baptized, and
it says after taking some food he regained his strength,
and saw spent several days with the disciples in Damascus.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
What did he do.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
He didn't just go out and say here I am,
let's do this. He spent several days growing deep. He
spent days with the disciples. You see, he had to
relearn everything that he thought he knew because he was
operating under the power of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Now, and I love this part. He takes hold of
this next.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Step, he surrenders. He surrenders his life to the bigger picture,
in the bigger plan, when we allow the Holy Spirit
to come in. He teaches us how to love God well.
He teaches us how to love others. Well, it's easy
(23:23):
to love people that are lovely.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
I can do that every day. But he teaches us
how to see people as He sees them.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
And once Paul went all in, nothing could stop him
from the call that Christ had placed on his life.
He preaches in season and out of season. The Gospel
of Christ took him places he never thought he would go.
He probably had to eat some canned turkey. But I
think one day, when we reach the gates of heaven,
(23:56):
I think we are gonna hear an ongoing echo.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Of it was worth at all.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
It was worth at all knowing Jesus, accepting Jesus, following Jesus,
it was worth at all. I want to close by
saying this. Paul has a lot of writings that we
can gain different things about what he went through, and
he has so much to teach us still today. And
he writes this letter to the Church in Galatia, and
(24:24):
the church in Galatia when he wrote this letter, they
were in crisis. You see, they had strayed from teaching
the truth and they were teaching. But for the gentiles
to be saved, they had to learn to follow Jewish
custom for salvation. And Paul says, no, no, no, it's
by faith, it's through grace. It's nothing that we can
(24:47):
do on ourselves. And then he spends time in that
Book of Galatians, if you have some time to read
it this week, explaining how we need the Holy Spirit
to live a life of obedience and to keep growing, learning, growing, connecting.
Jesus longs to sanctify you through and through and when
(25:12):
he does it, he does it completely, he does it wholly.
There is a new name written down in glory today.
It's mine and it can be yours.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
Amen.
Speaker 4 (25:32):
So I uh, I'm always in a dilemma when Terra
is preaching and I've got a mic on and she
starts singing.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
I thought you were going to stop right there. I'm
always in a dilemma when TERA's preaching.
Speaker 4 (25:44):
But I have a mic on and she starts singing,
and I'm thinking, do I sing? Probably not, but I
want to continue that. So she brought up that verse
in nineteen there, and we get to the next verse.
They're in Acts nine twenty, and it says at once
(26:06):
he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is
the son of God. So right after he had met
with the disciples, right after he had spent some time
with him, he just met Jesus. He's starting to figure
out his life and realizing that his life was completely wrong. Now,
does that mean that everything that he had gone through
(26:27):
in life was wasted?
Speaker 3 (26:30):
Absolutely?
Speaker 4 (26:30):
Not? All of his knowledge actually paid off for us today.
He was able to take all of the scriptures that
he knew, all of that he knew and then relearn
how that all applies to the Messiah who came. And
because he knew that, he was able to take that
and adjust that. And we have so much of the
(26:52):
New Testament because of his past. So I want to
start right there, just really quick. And this is a
side note. It doesn't matter where you've been, it's where
you're going. It's what God can take where what you've done,
and what he can do with it.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
And so today, as we go through that, we get
to this last one.
Speaker 4 (27:13):
It's served Jesus. So who has served right there? It
is no, don't throw it. I'll try to catch it
and I'll fall.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
Thank you. Serve Jesus. Serve Jesus.
Speaker 4 (27:27):
So we see, we see that Saul, after all of this,
he goes and spends some times with the disciples, and
then he begins to go out and immediately begins to
tell people about Jesus.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
Now, I want you to catch that.
Speaker 4 (27:41):
I want you to understand that he couldn't help it.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
He couldn't help it.
Speaker 4 (27:49):
He met Jesus and the first thing he could do
was go and tell somebody else about it. Today I
came in. We've already mentioned Connor I'm a proud dad.
I'm proud of him as a person, but he has
worked as pastor. Terror mentioned Don and I we're proud parents.
He had a knee surgery that he had two ligaments
(28:12):
and a torn tendon. All that was torn up, everything
was torn up a couple of.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
Years ago, and he just qualified for Nationals.
Speaker 4 (28:22):
The boys worked hard. We're proud of the way he's worked.
And so we got here and you.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
Know, immediately we're like sending text messages.
Speaker 4 (28:29):
He made it, he made it, he made it. And
then I got here and I'm like, hey, guess what
Connor did. And then you know, we told everybody and
we're telling more people.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
When we meet Jesus, we need to be that excited.
I met Jesus today. Let me tell you about my savior.
Speaker 4 (28:50):
Let me tell you about where I've been and what
He's done with me, and where I am today and
where I'm going. I don't know everything about the future,
but I know who's got that future. I know who's
taken me to that future. I know who I'm going
with into that future. And I've got that Jesus in
my life. It says in Acts eleven. Then when he
brought when he found him, he brought him the Antioch.
(29:13):
So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with
the church and taught great numbers of people, and the
disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
Did you catch that?
Speaker 4 (29:29):
I want you to grab the gravity of that. It
says that Saul meets Jesus, he begins to preach. A
couple chapter later, he goes to Antioch, they begin to preach,
They stay there a long time, and that's where we
get our name from. From his experience with Jesus. We're
(29:53):
called Christians. That has carried on for generations. That legacy
of meeting Jesus and telling somebody about Jesus has come
down to today where I get to stand before you.
We get to stand before you and tell you about
Jesus today. The one who came, the one who came
(30:13):
to save us, the one who did save us, the
one who wants to sanctify us, who wants to take us.
He wants us to follow him, he wants us to
serve him. That's the Jesus that Paul shared with us.
And we know again the legacy of Paul. As he
writes scripture, we know of the legacy as it's passed
(30:35):
down to us. And I find it interesting that when
he met Jesus and he met with Anonius, it says
it's said.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
There that.
Speaker 4 (30:48):
He met the Holy Spirit? Have you met the Holy Spirit?
Where are you in these steps? Today? We're gonna sing
a song here in a minute, and we're gonna sing
the whole song. Usually kind of just kind of shortened
(31:10):
up a song. We're gonna sing the whole song because
I believe, we believe that there are people in this
room today, maybe people even watching us online today who
know Jesus. Maybe they're getting to know Jesus. They may
know Jesus, they may think they know Jesus from some
(31:30):
stuff that they've there passed. They've got that information, and
they're somewhere down in here trying to just figure out
who just Jesus is. And then I think there's people
here and listening that maybe today they need to receive Jesus.
They've known about him, but they've never said.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
You are the Messiah. I'm a sinner, I need you
and I want you in my life. And then there's
some of us in the room who are following Jesus.
Speaker 4 (32:06):
We've been sanctified doesn't mean we get it all right
all the time. We know that going back to the
panel and the discussion there, we don't get it all
right all the time, but we know the Holy Spirit
has come into our life, has consumed our life. We've
(32:26):
allowed us to be sanctified holy. And then there's some
in the room who've never made that commitment level to
say I'm all in Jesus, thank you for saving me.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
But that's all I need. Some of us need to
get to this place we say I'm all yours Jesus.
I'll take all of you, but now have all of me.
Speaker 4 (32:57):
And then there's some who've done that, but maybe they
haven't quite got to this place where they're they're serving.
They're serving, they're they're doing something with what God's given them.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
I don't know where you all stand today.
Speaker 4 (33:11):
I have an idea of some of you because I
know you, you're my family, but I don't know where
you're at exactly.
Speaker 3 (33:19):
But this morning.
Speaker 4 (33:22):
We're going to pray at the altar and I don't
know where you're at, and I don't That's not my
goal is to you know, oh, well, that person's here,
and that person's here This is not a status race
in that respect. Our goal is to help you work
your way through where God wants you to go, take
(33:42):
you from where you are to where He wants you
to be.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
I don't care where you are in that status. I
just want you moving. Does that make sense?
Speaker 4 (33:50):
I just want you moving, don't stay where you're at.
So this morning, we're going to pray at the altar
if if you want to. While they're singing, I'm going
to step down here and I'm gonna be available to
pray with.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
Anybody who comes up to the altars. Won't you join
me at the altar this morning?
Speaker 4 (34:09):
I would love it if we saw where God wants
us to be and we decided to move in our
steps
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