Sunday Morning Bible Study

August 9, 2009

The Power of Your Story

Our series is on evangelism, we’ve called it “Field Training”.

Our topic this week is “The Power of Your Story”.

(1 Tim 1:15-16 NKJV)  This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. {16} However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life.

Jesus came to save sinners.  Paul considered himself the “chief” of sinners.

pattern – hupotuposis – an outline, sketch, brief and summary exposition; an example, pattern

Paul saw that what God had done in his life was what God could do in the lives of others.

How was Paul a “pattern for others”?

He was an example by the way he lived his life.

(1 Cor 11:1 NKJV)  Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.

The Corinthians had seen how Paul lived his life.  His life was an example.

He was an example by telling his story.

You can read Luke’s actual account of when Paul became a Christian in Acts 9.  But this isn’t the only time you will hear about Paul’s story.

In Acts 22, Paul will be arrested in Jerusalem.  When he’s given a chance, he tells the crowd his story.  It didn’t go too well, the crowd literally “went wild” again and Paul was taken into the prison for safety.

Later in Acts 26, Paul would be given a chance to tell his story to King Agrippa.  This time it went a little bit better.

(Acts 26:27-29 NKJV)  "King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you do believe." {28} Then Agrippa said to Paul, "You almost persuade me to become a Christian." {29} And Paul said, "I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me today, might become both almost and altogether such as I am, except for these chains."

I think it’s very likely that when Paul was shipped to Rome for his trial before Caesar, that he told Nero his testimony about the Savior as well.  If we have the pieces of the story put together correctly, it was shortly after this that Nero went crazy and burnt down Rome … but that’s another story…

The Samaritan Woman – John 4

We will see how Jesus talked to people. We will see the power of a person’s story.

(John 4:1-42 NKJV)  Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John {2} (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), {3} He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. {4} But He needed to go through Samaria.

In Jesus’ day, the land of Israel was divided into three distinct regions.

The northern area was called the “Galilee”, after the lake.

The southern area was called “Judea”, after the tribe of Judah.

The area in the middle was called “Samaria”, not populated by Jews, but by a race of people known as Samaritans.

In Jesus’ day, like today, there were certain recommended routes to get from the north to the south.

You could take the “king’s highway” along the coast, or you could travel along the valley of the Jordan River.

You would not travel along through the center of Israel for a couple of reasons:

1.  It was full of hills and harder to travel.

2.  The hated Samaritans lived there. (like the Palestinians in the West Bank)

But Jesus travels through Samaria.  Someone needs to talk to Jesus’ travel agent.

Lesson

Intentional outreach

Jesus had an appointment with a woman.  She wasn’t going to come to Him, He was going to have to meet her.

Not everyone is going to be like Nicodemus who came to Jesus in the middle of the night to ask questions.

Some people need to be sought out.  Some people need you to reach out to them.

Illustration

In Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific by Raft, Thor Heyerdahl tells how he and a crew of five crossed the Pacific Ocean from South America to the South Pacific Islands on a crude raft of balsa logs bound together with hemp rope. During the three-month journey in 1947, they had little control of the direction of the raft and no way to stop its forward progress. They learned early in the voyage that anything dropped overboard was almost impossible to recover once it passed behind the raft. Two months into the voyage and thousands of miles from land, Herman Watzinger lost his footing and went overboard. The raft, driven by a strong wind in heavy seas, moved ahead faster than he could swim. The five remaining men were horrified for their friend. They tried to throw him a life belt on a rope, but the wind blew it back at them. In seconds, Herman was all but lost to their sight in the tumble of waves. Suddenly Knute Haugland grabbed the life belt and dove into the water. He swam back to Herman and wrapped his arm around him, holding his exhausted friend and the rope while the men on the boat drew them back to the boat.

-- David Denny. Leadership, Vol. 19, no. 3.

Sometimes evangelism requires that someone takes the risk and steps out to share the gospel with a person who is lost.

{5} So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. {6} Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. {7} A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink." {8} For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. {9} Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.

The Samaritans were a mixed up people.  Racially they were part Jew and part Gentile.  Religiously they had a perverted form of Judaism with their own laws and temple.

Jews hated Samaritans. 

This woman can tell that Jesus is Jewish.  And yet He is still talking to her.

Lesson

Kindness opens doors

Jesus surprised her by being kind and courteous.

Jesus cares for everyone, even outcasts.

I might be reluctant to share with some people, but Jesus isn’t.

Sometimes when we share the gospel, we lack simple courtesy and tact.

Illustration

I read about a barber who was a young Christian and had attended a meeting where the speaker stressed the need to share the gospel with others. He knew he was lacking in this area so he determined he would speak to the first person who came into his shop. The next morning, after the customer had been seated and the apron tucked around his neck, the barber began to sharpen his razor on the strap vigorously. Testing the edge, he turned to the man in the chair and asked, “Friend, are you ready to die and meet God?” The man looked at the razor and fled out the door, apron and all!   This barber lacked tact!

Sometimes just showing a little kindness gives you the opportunity to be heard.

Illustration

Doug Bothells writes, “While serving with Operation Mobilization in India in 1967, tuberculosis forced me into a sanitarium for several months. I did not yet speak the language, but I tried to give Christian literature written in their language to the patients, doctors, and nurses. Everyone politely refused. I sensed many weren't happy about a rich American (to them all Americans are rich) being in a free, government-run sanitarium. (They didn't know I was just as broke as they were!) The first few nights I woke around 2:00 A.M. coughing. One morning during my coughing spell, I noticed one of the older and sicker patients across the aisle trying to get out of bed. He would sit up on the edge of the bed and try to stand, but in weakness would fall back into bed. I didn't understand what he was trying to do. He finally fell back into bed exhausted. I heard him crying softly. The next morning I realized what the man had been trying to do. He had been trying to get up and walk to the bathroom! The stench in our ward was awful. Other patients yelled insults at the man. Angry nurses moved him roughly from side to side as they cleaned up the mess. One nurse even slapped him. The old man curled into a ball and wept. The next night I again woke up coughing. I noticed the man across the aisle sit up and again try to stand. Like the night before, he fell back whimpering. I don't like bad smells, and I didn't want to become involved, but I got out of bed and went over to him. When I touched his shoulder, his eyes opened wide with fear. I smiled, put my arms under him, and picked him up. He was very light due to old age and advanced TB. I carried him to the washroom, which was just a filthy, small room with a hole in the floor. I stood behind him with my arms under his armpits as he took care of himself. After he finished, I picked him up, and carried him back to his bed. As I laid him down, he kissed me on the cheek, smiled, and said something I couldn't understand. The next morning another patient woke me and handed me a steaming cup of tea. He motioned with his hands that he wanted a tract. As the sun rose, other patients approached and indicated they also wanted the booklets I had tried to distribute before. Throughout the day nurses, interns, and doctors asked for literature. Weeks later an evangelist who spoke the language visited me, and as he talked to others he discovered that several had put their trust in Christ as Savior as a result of reading the literature.

What did it take to reach these people with the gospel? It wasn't health, the ability to speak their language, or a persuasive talk. I simply took a trip to the bathroom.

-Doug Nichols Bothell, Washington

Tips on tact

1. Discussion, not monologue

You shouldn’t do all the talking. Listen.  Ask questions.

The goal is not winning an argument, but winning a soul.

2. Don’t overstay your welcome.

Some people seem oblivious that other people have places to go and things to do.

I know sharing the gospel is important, but if you make them late to their doctor’s appointment, or wherever they were heading, without their permission, they are going to resent you and not listen to you.

{10} Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water." {11} The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? {12} "Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?"

Water in Israel is usually gotten in one of two kinds of places.

Most water is collected in a “cistern”, water from rain.  You could probably call that “dead water”.  Pictures are from the Qumran cisterns near the Dead Sea.

Living water –comes bubbling up underground (like Jordan headwaters).

Hint:  Living water tastes much better than the other kind.

What’s Jesus doing?  Is He trying to confuse her?

Jesus is talking to this woman at a well in a language she understands.

Lesson

Clarity

Sometimes we Christians talk in a foreign language, “Christianese”

“Hey brother, have you been washed in the blood, redeemed, sanctified, and baptized with the Holy Ghost???”

Illustration

The Los Angeles Times printed a sampling of signs from around the world that attempted to communicate in English.

In a hotel elevator in Paris: “Please leave your values at the front desk.”

In a Soviet newspaper: “There will be a Moscow exhibition of arts by 15,000 Soviet Republic painters and sculptors. These were executed over the past two years.”

In a Bucharest hotel lobby: “The lift is being fixed for the next day. During that time we regret that you will be unbearable.”

When we are talking to a non-believer, we need to work at making sure we use language they understand.

That’s one of the things I love about the Harvest Crusade.  Greg Laurie does a great job of talking in a very simple, down-to-earth manner.

{13} Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, {14} "but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." {15} The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw."

Jesus is talking about something spiritual.

He is talking about salvation, about the work of the Holy Spirit inside a person.  He’s talking about how God and God alone can satisfy the thirst that’s inside of each person.

She doesn’t quite get it yet.  She thinks Jesus is talking about some kind of super water.  Note that Jesus doesn’t give up on her just because she doesn’t understand.

{16} Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here." {17} The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You have well said, 'I have no husband,' {18} "for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly." {19} The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.

How does this stranger know all about her?  How does he know all about her past?  How does he know about her current messy life?  He must be connected to God somehow. She goes on …

{20} "Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship."

She has made the connection with religious things.  She has some questions about the difference between her Samaritan worship and Jewish worship.

{21} Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. {22} "You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.

Jesus makes it clear that the Samaritan religion doesn’t know what it’s talking about.  True knowledge about God comes through Judaism.

{23} "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. {24} "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

We are living in that “hour”. We no longer need to go to Jerusalem to worship.  We can be just as close to God here in Fullerton as we would be in Jerusalem.

{25} The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When He comes, He will tell us all things."

She’s getting pretty close to the truth about Jesus.  She’s putting 2+2 together.

{26} Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."

On surface, we see that Jesus is simply pointing out that He is the Messiah.

Note to Bible students:

The Old Testament name of God, Yahweh, is roughly translated “I AM”.

In the New Testament, this is sometimes seen in the Greek phrase for “I am”, which is the two Greek words “ego eimi”.

Our New King James may be correct in it’s translation, but in the English you miss what is written in the Greek.  It might also be translated:

Jesus said to her, “I AM the one speaking to you”.

It’s my opinion that Jesus is not only claiming to be the Messiah, but He’s hinting that He is also God.

When Jesus used this same phrase with the Jews (John 8:58), they picked up stones to stone Him because they recognized that He was claiming to be God.

{27} And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why are You talking with her?"

Though the disciples don’t quite get what Jesus was doing, they are a bit embarrassed to admit they are clueless.

{28} The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, {29} "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" {30} Then they went out of the city and came to Him.

The woman tells her simple story.

She speaks to her audience – the men (women wouldn’t listen to her)

She has met a man who is different.

He knew all about her.

Come see – she invites the men to come and see Jesus for themselves.

{31} In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."

The disciples aren’t sure what just happened with this woman, but they were on a mission for burgers (or falafel), and they want to eat lunch.

{32} But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know." {33} Therefore the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?" {34} Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.

Before we were Christians, we were looking for love in all the wrong places.

We know that humans have a spiritual hole inside their hearts that only God can fill.

Before we met Christ, we were looking to fill that emptiness with all sorts of wrong things…

Drugs, alcohol, sex … friends, success, power …

Now as Christians we need to be careful what we do when we start getting “hungry”.

We can return to all the old ways.

Jesus found satisfaction in doing God’s work.

{35} "Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!

This has been the key verse for our series on Sunday mornings.

If the disciples would look around them, they would see the people coming out of the Samaritan village, eager to see Jesus.

{36} "And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. {37} "For in this the saying is true: 'One sows and another reaps.' {38} "I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors."

The harvest taking place in this Samaritan village happened in stages.

The woman believed and told her story.  She planted seeds.

Now the people are coming out to see Jesus, and the harvest is being reaped.

The harvest won’t even stop here.  A few years later Philip will go to Samaria to preach the gospel (Acts 8), and he will see an even bigger harvest.

{39} And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all that I ever did." {40} So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. {41} And many more believed because of His own word. {42} Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world."

The goal of sharing your story is not to focus on you, it’s to bring attention to Jesus.

Your story is merely a bridge to Jesus.

Illustration

In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, Alexander Whyte pastored a large church in Edinburgh.  During that time, a salesman by the name of Rigby would travel to Edinburgh regularly just to hear him preach. He would often invite other businessmen to accompany him to the services.  One Sunday morning he asked a fellow traveler to go to church with him.  Reluctantly, the man said yes.  When he heard Whyte’s message, he was so impressed that he returned with Rigby to the evening meeting.  As the preacher spoke, the man trusted Christ as his Savior.  The next morning, as Rigby walked by the home of Pastor Whyte, he felt impressed to stop and tell him how his message had affected the other man’s life.  When Whyte learned that his caller’s name was Rigby, he exclaimed, “You’re the man I’ve wanted to see for years!”  He went to his study and returned with a bundle of letters. Alexander Whyte read Rigby some excerpts—all telling of changed lives.  They were men Rigby had brought to hear the gospel.  Like the Samaritans who had been led to Jesus by the woman at the well, these men “believed in Him because of the word” of Rigby.

Lesson

Share Your Story (the whole point of our morning …)

1.  Tell the truth

Don’t fall into the trap of more exaggerating each time you tell the story.Some people’s testimonies get more dramatic each time they tell the story.

People need to hear the truth, not a great story.

Some of you haven’t had a “dramatic” story, but you’ve still got a story.

One of the things I struggled with for years was the lack of “drama” in my own story.

I’d hear about Greg Laurie and his messed up family, Mike McIntosh and how drugs fried his brain, Raul Ries and the violent life he lived.

I grew up as a nice kid who went to church.  Like “Richie Cunningham”

But I still had a need for a Savior.  And I met Jesus.

Jesus changed me – I didn’t give up drugs, I did throw away my Playboy magazines.  I also remember how I used to be afraid of the dark at night, and how I was no longer afraid (that one took time before I realized that it had happened).

And I’ve learned that people need to hear my story as well.

2.  Point to Jesus

Sometimes we can go into how we gave up so much for Jesus.

What you did for Jesus is nothing compared to what Jesus did for you – on the cross.  Billy Graham has said the power is in preaching the cross.

It’s good to share your story, but the whole point is to get to Jesus.

We can fall in love with people’s jaws dropping at our story.

We need people to fall in love with Jesus.

3.  Be patient

I like to make the most of my time…

I like to watch TV shows on the DVR so I can zip past all the commercials. I like to gauge the checkout lines at the supermarket to get out quickest …

It sometimes can take awhile for a seed to be planted, grow, and then reaped. This spring we had a new lawn put in … it takes a long time watching the grass grow…

Some things just don’t happen quickly.  Some things take patience.

(2 Tim 2:24-26 NLT)  The Lord's servants must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone. They must be able to teach effectively and be patient with difficult people. {25} They should gently teach those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people's hearts, and they will believe the truth. {26} Then they will come to their senses and escape from the Devil's trap. For they have been held captive by him to do whatever he wants.

Some people will respond immediately.  Praise God.

Some people take time.  Be patient.  You may not even see the results of the seeds you plant.

Illustration

Missionary George Smith may have thought his ministry was a failure. He had been in Africa only a short time when he was driven from the country, leaving behind only one convert—a poor woman. Smith died not long after that, on his knees praying for Africa. Years later, a group of men stumbled onto the place in Africa where George Smith had ministered. They also found a copy of the Scriptures he had left behind in Africa. Then they met the one convert of Smith’s ministry. She led them all to the Lord.

The result of the encounter of these men with the Bible and George Smith’s one convert was far reaching. A hundred years later, a mission agency discovered that more than 13,000 converts had emerged from the ministry George Smith began.Illustrations

 

Illustration

If I straighten the pictures on the walls of your home, I am committing no sin, am I?  But suppose that your house were afire, and I still went calmly about straightening pictures, what would you say? Would you think me merely stupid or very wicked?  The world today is on fire.  What are you doing to extinguish the fire?

-- Corrie ten Boom, Amazing Love, 101

 

Illustration

It was the seventh game of the 1962 World Series.  The San Francisco Giants had a man on second base, which put him near New York Yankee second baseman Bobby Richardson.  When the Yanks decided to change pitchers, Richardson, who was a Christian, saw a unique opportunity.  While the new pitcher was warming up, he walked over to the man on second and asked him if he knew Jesus as his Savior.

When the runner reached the dugout later, he asked teammate Felipe Alou, who was also a Christian, what was going on.  “Even in the seventh game of the World Series,” he said to Felipe, “you people are still talking about Jesus.”  That runner couldn’t understand what made Christians so eager to talk about Jesus Christ, even in highly unusual situations.

 

 

Paul sharing his testimony

Paul tells his story several times in different situations throughout the book of Acts.

A sort of riot breaks out, Roman soldiers show up to put quite the crowd down, and when Paul is being taken off to the Antionio Fortress under arrest, he asks for an opportunity to address the crowd.  And he tells his story.

(Acts 22:1-24 NKJV)  "Brethren and fathers, hear my defense before you now." {2} And when they heard that he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, they kept all the more silent. Then he said: {3} "I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the strictness of our fathers' law, and was zealous toward God as you all are today. {4} "I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women, {5} "as also the high priest bears me witness, and all the council of the elders, from whom I also received letters to the brethren, and went to Damascus to bring in chains even those who were there to Jerusalem to be punished. {6} "Now it happened, as I journeyed and came near Damascus at about noon, suddenly a great light from heaven shone around me. {7} "And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?' {8} "So I answered, 'Who are You, Lord?' And He said to me, 'I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.' {9} "And those who were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid, but they did not hear the voice of Him who spoke to me. {10} "So I said, 'What shall I do, Lord?' And the Lord said to me, 'Arise and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all things which are appointed for you to do.' {11} "And since I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of those who were with me, I came into Damascus. {12} "Then a certain Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good testimony with all the Jews who dwelt there, {13} "came to me; and he stood and said to me, 'Brother Saul, receive your sight.' And at that same hour I looked up at him. {14} "Then he said, 'The God of our fathers has chosen you that you should know His will, and see the Just One, and hear the voice of His mouth. {15} 'For you will be His witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. {16} 'And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.' {17} "Now it happened, when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I was in a trance {18} "and saw Him saying to me, 'Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, for they will not receive your testimony concerning Me.' {19} "So I said, 'Lord, they know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believe on You. {20} 'And when the blood of Your martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by consenting to his death, and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.' {21} "Then He said to me, 'Depart, for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles.'" {22} And they listened to him until this word, and then they raised their voices and said, "Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he is not fit to live!" {23} Then, as they cried out and tore off their clothes and threw dust into the air, {24} the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, and said that he should be examined under scourging, so that he might know why they shouted so against him.

Talk about performing in a “difficult room”!  This was one hostile crowd.

Paul’s story breaks down into several sections.

1.  Life before Christ (Acts 22:3-5).

He talks about what his life used to be like before he met Jesus Christ.

Paul grew up as a devout Jew.  He hated Christianity.

2.  Meeting Jesus (Acts 22:6-10).

A shining light knocked him off his high horse.

Paul’s story is certainly unique.  Not many people have such a dramatic encounter with Jesus.  Paul simply tells the truth.

3.  Following Jesus (Acts 22:11-21)

Jesus told him to go to Damascus and meet Ananias.

Ananias explained to him more about Jesus.  Paul was baptized.

Jesus told him to preach to the Gentiles.

Notice the crowd’s reaction to Paul’s story.

They weren’t impressed.  They didn’t like it.

Not everyone is going to respond favorably to your story.

But don’t think that it’s worthless to tell your story.

When Stephen was being killed by crowd, Paul was watching.  Seeds are planted.

During the next couple of chapters in Acts, Paul’s circumstances don’t get any better.  He actually spends several years in jail at Caesarea.  When there is a change of Roman governors, Paul presents his case once more, but the governor drags his feet and Paul makes his appeal to Caesar.  As a Roman citizen, Paul was allowed to make an appeal, be sent to Rome, and present his defense to Caesar himself.  But before he is sent, he is given one last interview with the Jewish puppet-king, Agrippa.

(Acts 26 NKJV)  Then Agrippa said to Paul, "You are permitted to speak for yourself." So Paul stretched out his hand and answered for himself: {2} "I think myself happy, King Agrippa, because today I shall answer for myself before you concerning all the things of which I am accused by the Jews, {3} "especially because you are expert in all customs and questions which have to do with the Jews. Therefore I beg you to hear me patiently. {4} "My manner of life from my youth, which was spent from the beginning among my own nation at Jerusalem, all the Jews know. {5} "They knew me from the first, if they were willing to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee. {6} "And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers. {7} "To this promise our twelve tribes, earnestly serving God night and day, hope to attain. For this hope's sake, King Agrippa, I am accused by the Jews. {8} "Why should it be thought incredible by you that God raises the dead? {9} "Indeed, I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. {10} "This I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. {11} "And I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities. {12} "While thus occupied, as I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, {13} "at midday, O king, along the road I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me. {14} "And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.' {15} "So I said, 'Who are You, Lord?' And He said, 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. {16} 'But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. {17} 'I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, {18} 'to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.' {19} "Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, {20} "but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance. {21} "For these reasons the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. {22} "Therefore, having obtained help from God, to this day I stand, witnessing both to small and great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come; {23} "that the Christ would suffer, that He would be the first to rise from the dead, and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles." {24} Now as he thus made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, "Paul, you are beside yourself! Much learning is driving you mad!" {25} But he said, "I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak the words of truth and reason. {26} "For the king, before whom I also speak freely, knows these things; for I am convinced that none of these things escapes his attention, since this thing was not done in a corner. {27} "King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you do believe." {28} Then Agrippa said to Paul, "You almost persuade me to become a Christian." {29} And Paul said, "I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me today, might become both almost and altogether such as I am, except for these chains." {30} When he had said these things, the king stood up, as well as the governor and Bernice and those who sat with them; {31} and when they had gone aside, they talked among themselves, saying, "This man is doing nothing deserving of death or chains." {32} Then Agrippa said to Festus, "This man might have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar."

His life before Jesus (Acts 26:1-12)

 

Sometimes we are a bit embarrassed with the kind of things we used to do.

Some of us are a bit embarrassed with the things we’ve done as Christians, but now we’ve been delivered.

Paul didn’t hide his ugly past.

People you share with need to know that God can rescue them from their mess.

How he met Jesus (Acts 26:13-18)

How he followed Jesus (Acts 26:19-23)

The response to his testimony (Acts 26:24-32)

Festus (the Roman governor) thought Paul was crazy.

Agrippa (the Jewish king) sounds close to opening his heart (some say that Agrippa is merely surprised that Paul is trying to convince him to be a Christian)

The Blind Man

(John 9 NKJV)  Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. {2} And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" {3} Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.

We caught a glimpse of this story last week when we talked about difficult questions that people ask, like, “If God is a God of love, how can there be suffering in the world”.

For this particular man, his suffering was going to bring glory to God.

{4} "I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. {5} "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." {6} When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay.

Sounds kind of messy and gross to me.  I guess the way that Jesus works in people’s lives aren’t always neat and clean.

{7} And He said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.

This fellow had been blind since birth.  And now he can see.

{8} Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, "Is not this he who sat and begged?" {9} Some said, "This is he." Others said, "He is like him." He said, "I am he." {10} Therefore they said to him, "How were your eyes opened?" {11} He answered and said, "A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, 'Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.' So I went and washed, and I received sight."

This man is technically not a believer in Jesus yet.  And he already has a story about an encounter with Jesus.  A simple story.

{12} Then they said to him, "Where is He?" He said, "I do not know." {13} They brought him who formerly was blind to the Pharisees.

The Pharisees were a strict, ultra-orthodox sect of Judaism.

{14} Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. {15} Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight. He said to them, "He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see." {16} Therefore some of the Pharisees said, "This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath." Others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?" And there was a division among them.

God set up the Sabbath to be a day of rest for man.  But the Pharisees took God’s law and added their own traditions to it to the point where you couldn’t even help another person on the Sabbath without breaking their traditions.

Jesus had not broken God’s Sabbath laws.  He had broken the Pharisee’s traditions.

{17} They said to the blind man again, "What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes?" He said, "He is a prophet." {18} But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight.

The man’s parents are going to be afraid to say too much because they don’t want to cause trouble with the Pharisees (vs. 19-23)

{19} And they asked them, saying, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?" {20} His parents answered them and said, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; {21} "but by what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know. He is of age; ask him. He will speak for himself." {22} His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue. {23} Therefore his parents said, "He is of age; ask him."

{24} So they again called the man who was blind, and said to him, "Give God the glory! We know that this Man is a sinner." {25} He answered and said, "Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see."

A very simple testimony.  I once was blind, but now I see.  Jesus has changed my life.

{26} Then they said to him again, "What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?" {27} He answered them, "I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?" {28} Then they reviled him and said, "You are His disciple, but we are Moses' disciples. {29} "We know that God spoke to Moses; as for this fellow, we do not know where He is from." {30} The man answered and said to them, "Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! {31} "Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. {32} "Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. {33} "If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing." {34} They answered and said to him, "You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?" And they cast him out.

He got “excommunicated” from the synagogue.

{35} Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, "Do you believe in the Son of God?"

Keep in mind, it’s possible that this man isn’t sure who is talking to him.  He has never “seen” Jesus yet.

{36} He answered and said, "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?" {37} And Jesus said to him, "You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you." {38} Then he said, "Lord, I believe!" And he worshiped Him.

The man has had a work of God in his life.  Now he becomes a believer.

{39} And Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind." {40} Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, "Are we blind also?" {41} Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, 'We see.' Therefore your sin remains.

Jesus has come to divide the world into two camps

1.  Those that know they need God.

These are the blind ones who can now see.

2.  Those that don’t think they need God.

These are the ones that think they can see, but are indeed blind.

 

Legion

(Mark 5:1-20 NKJV)  Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes. {2} And when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, {3} who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, {4} because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him. {5} And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones. {6} When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him. {7} And he cried out with a loud voice and said, "What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do not torment me." {8} For He said to him, "Come out of the man, unclean spirit!" {9} Then He asked him, "What is your name?" And he answered, saying, "My name is Legion; for we are many." {10} Also he begged Him earnestly that He would not send them out of the country. {11} Now a large herd of swine was feeding there near the mountains. {12} So all the demons begged Him, saying, "Send us to the swine, that we may enter them." {13} And at once Jesus gave them permission. Then the unclean spirits went out and entered the swine (there were about two thousand); and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and drowned in the sea. {14} So those who fed the swine fled, and they told it in the city and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that had happened. {15} Then they came to Jesus, and saw the one who had been demon-possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. {16} And those who saw it told them how it happened to him who had been demon-possessed, and about the swine. {17} Then they began to plead with Him to depart from their region. {18} And when He got into the boat, he who had been demon-possessed begged Him that he might be with Him. {19} However, Jesus did not permit him, but said to him, "Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you." {20} And he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him; and all marveled.