The Change
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A Changed Man
A Changed Man
Last week, what did we see? We saw something pretty amazing happen, something that no one in the day of the apostles thought would or could happen…remember?
What was it?
Right....Saul became a believer in Jesus Christ
Pretty phenomenal.....
Because we saw proof that the good news of Jesus Christ is open to everyone, and no one is beyond the reach of Jesus.
Which is wonderful news....it’s wonderful news for us as redeemed people that that was the case…but it is also wonderful news for those people in your life who you maybe think are too far gone!
But Saul is now a believer
Think about what he gave up, and what he would possibly be facing now:
Give me some thoughts
Gave up:
Money
Power
Position
Friendships
Life Goal
Took on:
Persecution
Lack of security
Lack of power
Lack of money
Lack of position
His dreams and everything he had worked for
Why would he do that?
Because Saul was absolutely convinced that Jesus Christ was His Savior, and he was absolutely convinced that Jesus Christ was worth it
Are you?
Well tonight, hopefully by looking at what we’re jumping into, you will be answering that question with an emphatic yes.
Let’s start with this question....whenever somebody becomes a Christian....what is the next step?
Some of us may say:
Go to church
Read the Bible
Pray
Learn
Try to be a better person
All of these things good things....but not the next step.
Let’s read , starting in verse 19 through 22
Here’s the thing....Saul became a Christian either on the road to Damascus or in Damascus, we aren’t entirely sure, but he met Jesus on the road and so it’s probably safe to say that was when he became a Christian.
And for 3 days or so he was blind and wasn’t too sure of what was happening.
He was then baptized
And then look at verse 20 again…what word is at the beginning of verse 20?
Immediately, or straightaway
So Saul immediately starts to do something…but notice what he doesn’t do
it doesn’t say he immediately got plugged into a church (where the music was lit)
he didn’t even necessarily jump into reading the bible and learning all about the apostles and what they were doing (he already knew the OT, but he needed to understand it in the context of Jesus)
I’m sure he prayed
And he didn’t just try to be a better person
But he immediately did what?
Proclaimed Jesus!!!! - “He is the Son of God”
Wow…pretty amazing stuff right?
Here you have the chief opponent of Christianity proclaiming Jesus Christ!
What a powerful statement of the work of Jesus in someone’s life
Look back at verse 5, when Jesus confronts Saul....what does Saul say?
“Who are you, Lord?”
And then come back to verse 20 with me, and what is Saul saying?
“He is the Son of God!”
Do you see the work of Jesus there?
Jesus took him from not knowing who Jesus was to proclaiming who Jesus was
And as believers, whether we know a lot, or whether we know a little, we should all be proclaiming the same thing… “He is the Son of God!”
But We Aren’t
But We Aren’t
If I polled the room here tonight, and asked this question:
“Are born again Christians responsible for proclaiming Christ to non-believers?”
Most of you would say, emphatically even, “Yes!”
But if I then polled the room with another question:
“How many of you in this room have proclaimed Jesus Christ to a non-believer in the past year?”
The numbers would decreased drastically!
Barna research
100% of evangelicals agree that we are called to witness
Only 69% of those people actually witnessed to 1 person in the whole last year!
And so, me, being your pastor, I’m sitting in my office this week, and I’m looking at Saul’s conversion and his immediate call to witness, even as a “new believer”…and I’m trying to figure out where our disconnect is.
And I landed on a couple:
We’ve not been taught to evangelize
We don’t REALLY think it’s necessary
We hide behind lack of knowledge
Our churches have failed at setting the example
We aren’t saved
And I’m sure there are other reasons
But I’m going to be brutally honest with you tonight…as I always try to be
If I called on you right now....and I said (pick a couple of people), “Are you a Christian”.....and you respond with yes, and then I say, “Tell me about Jesus”......
Could you do that?
And I see the panic setting in
I want you to understand something, if you can’t explain who Jesus is or what he offers to sinners, then how is it even possible for you to be a believer?
I’ll answer for you....IT’S NOT!
Look at Paul’s life with me, here is a man who knew God, knew the OT, but adamantly denied that Jesus was God, that Jesus rose again, that Jesus ascended on High.
He, if anything, just believed Jesus was a good guy, or a prophet.
But in the space of a couple days he was telling everybody “He is the Son of God”, and he was telling them his story
He was telling them how Jesus showed up in his life when he was about to murder people
He was telling them how Jesus rescued him from his sin by dying on the cross for his sins
How Jesus lived a perfect sinless life and was crucified and rose again, defeating his sin and defeating death so that he could be made right with God
All of you as believers should be able to tell someone about what Jesus did for you and for your sins and for everybody’s sins.
You should be able to tell someone about the good news of Jesus Christ....that’s the gospel
But again, if you can’t, I find it hard to believe you are a Christian
High school - trying to fit in so you tell someone you’ve watched a movie/show they are talking about but then they ask you a question and you freeze
Anyone been there?
What becomes apparent very quickly?
You’re just playing the game, imo, and it’s a dangerous game to play
So that’s my first challenge to you.....if you are claiming Christ then you need to be able to tell me about Him
Romans Road
Romans Road
But then I’m sitting in my office, again, and I’m thinking, well maybe they do believe but they just don’t know how to say it, how to express it.....so I wanted to help you with that
And i’ve been trying to…that’s why we went through Multiply
That’s why last year we talked about evangelism, remember?
Who is God? Who is Jesus? What is mankinds biggest problem? Etc?
But I’m concerned still…because I’ve not seen too much of a response from a lot of you.
So let’s try another route....Romans Road
Ever heard of it?