[ANNOUNCER] The following
program is brought to you
by the friends and
partners of Time of Grace.
[MUSIC]
[PASTOR JON ENTER]
Welcome to Time of Grace!
I'm Pastor Jon Enter.
I want to share with you a
unique story of coming to
faith that I had the
incredible opportunity to
witness firsthand.
There was a man who
avoided Jesus completely
his entire life.
He wouldn't go to
weddings, he wouldn't go
to funerals so he for sure
wouldn't be inside of a
church.
After he had been recently
retired, one of our
members invited him and
sadly, he said, "No
Christian's ever invited
me to church."
He came the next Sunday
and the Holy Spirit did
what the Holy Spirit so
often does and touched his
heart.
I invited this man to
attend my new believer's
Bible study that week and
he came.
In the class, I asked, "If
you died, do you know
where you would be?"
And he raised his hand and
said, "I'm not afraid to
die," and I was shocked
that he would think that;
that's normally the
response a Christian would
have.
He had no faith
background.
And this is what he said,
is that each and every one
of us, were a frequency;
we emit a frequency much
like a radio station.
And there's a master
recording device somewhere
out in the cosmos
recording all the stuff
that everyone does and one
day, the aliens - I kid
you not; this is what he
said - the aliens will
come back down here and
they'll teach humans in
the future how to tap into
that master recording
device.
So someone, some day, can
look up my frequency and
see all the good that I
have done and so, Pastor
Jon, that's why I'm not
afraid to die.
I looked at him and just
said, "I'm so glad that
you are here!"
I was so thrilled that he
was there to hear the
message of peace, the
transforming grace, that
is our Lord.
In Pastor Mark Jeske's
message, he's going to
celebrate with you an
amazing transformation
where God moved a man that
no one thought could ever
come to faith - Saul - and
brought him and moved him,
transformed him, into
Paul; a great story of
God's victory, the same
victory that God has given
to you.
[MUSIC]
[PASTOR MARK JESKE]
I'd like to invite
you to take your Bible and
turn to the end of Acts 21
and the beginning of Acts
22.
There are three accounts
of the conversion of Saul
in the book of Acts - one
when it actually happened
in Acts 9.
This one, this is actually
account number two, and
then near the end of the
book of Acts when he's
recounting his story to
the governor before he's
shipped off to Rome, we
get a third account of his
conversion experience.
This is the middle one
though and in some ways,
my favorite, so that's the
one we're going to read
today.
This is now many years
later.
It's after the third and
final missionary journey
and we're hearing Paul's
words on his last day as a
free man.
As far as we know, he
spent the rest of his life
as a prisoner.
Paul - though I'm going to
go back and forth calling
him that because he
changed names in Acts 13
and now he's referred to
as Paul; but he was known
as Saul back then - had
gone to the temple after
his third missionary
journey to complete and
register a vow.
But while he - and his
friends said, "Don't go to
Jerusalem and especially,
don't go to the temple.
That is the center of
hostility to Christ.
In fact, you might
remember a time when you
led that hostility."
But he went anyway.
He thought, "I'm going to
do this and we'll just see
what God's going to do.
I feel like the Spirit of
the Lord is leading me to
be right here."
So he went and a huge riot
erupted.
In fact, they jumped him
and started beating him
and would have done a
Stephen on him - would
have killed him - if the
commander of the Roman
military barracks, which
is right next door in the
Fortress Antonia, had not
heard the hubbub and
arrested him and ordered
him to be bound in chains.
So imagine Paul, now, with
chains hanging on his arms
and the commander asked
him who he was and what he
did.
He sees the rage of the
crowd, he's about to take
Paul into the Fortress
Antonia and Paul says,
"May I say something to
you?"
And he says, "You speak
Greek?"
In other words, you're
educated.
"Are you that Egyptian who
started a revolt and led
4,000 terrorists out into
the desert?"
Paul said, "Nope, I'm not
that guy.
I am a Jew from Tarsus in
Cilicia," southern Turkey,
"a citizen of no ordinary
city."
Citizen.
In other words, "Mr.
Commander, you better be
careful how you treat me.
I'm not just one of your
subject peoples; I am
actually a citizen with
rights.
So you better have a
charge to bring against
me.
You cannot just hold me on
a whim."
"Let me speak to the
people."
Let me talk to them.
And you might think why on
earth would this commander
let him talk?
That's just going to make
everything worse.
They're always paranoid
about riots developing
among these cranky Jewish
people who are always like
right on the edge.
But he did get the
commander's permission.
So Paul's stands there on
the steps, motions to the
crowd, and then he speaks
- he changes languages -
and speaks to them in
Aramaic, which is the next
generation of Hebrew.
It's like a later - it's
like a different dialect
of Hebrew; more in line
with what was spoken in
Syria and in the northern
part of that part of the
Fertile Crescent.
It had a bigger spread
that just Hebrew, which
was mostly centered around
the land of Israel.
And he speaks now as a
fellow Jew: "Brothers and
fathers, listen to my
defense."
And they heard him
speaking in Aramaic so
they became very quiet.
And now Paul is going to
emphasize his common
Jewishness and emphasize,
also, what he believed in
and was advocating was not
destroying the faith that
they had inherited.
In fact, the reverse: It
was reinforcing and
amplifying.
He said, "I'm a Jew born
in Tarsus of Cilicia,
brought up in this city.
Under Gamaliel, I was
thoroughly trained in the
law of our fathers.
Was just as zealous for
God as any of you are
today."
Like, I don't blame you -
essentially, he's saying -
I don't blame you for what
you're doing.
I'm not even - I don't
even hate you because
you're beating me, maybe
even trying to beat me to
death.
I don't hate you for that
because I get it because
that used to be me.
I did all those things to
other people.
I get it.
But you need to get
something, too.
"I used to persecute the
followers of this Way,"
with a capital "W," was
one of the first ways of
describing the network of
believers, the Christian
life and way.
"I persecuted the
followers of the Way to
their death.
I arrested both men and
women."
Imagine dragging off women
to prison, too, and
beating women?
What kind of courage does
it take for men to beat
women?
"And throwing them into
prison, as also the high
priest and all the Council
can testify."
You - some of the old
timers here remember me
from those days.
"I even obtained letters
from them to their
brothers in Damascus."
When the persecution after
Stephen broke out,
Jerusalem almost emptied
of believers and they
scattered in every
direction trying to find
sanctuary.
Some said, "We can't even
live in Israel anymore.
We have to move to Syria,"
and they hoped to hide in
that huge city.
Damascus is a major
crossroads town in the
highways heading up and
over the Fertile Crescent.
"And I went there to bring
these people as
prisoners," and drag them
back to "Jerusalem to be
punished."
Let me tell you, one day,
"About noon, as I came
near Damascus, suddenly a
bright light from heaven
flashed around me.
I fell to the ground and
heard a voice say to me,
'Saul!
Saul!
Why do you persecute me?'
'Who are you, Lord?'
I asked.
'I'm Jesus of Nazareth,
whom you are persecuting,'
he replied.
My companions saw the
light, but they did not
understand the voice of
him who was speaking to
me.
'What shall I do, Lord?'"
using this term that
could mean like "Sir" but
because he's now saying,
"You may command me," I
think it's dawning on him
that the person he'd been
persecuting, in fact, was
his God.
That he had actually
suicidally declared war on
God himself.
"What should I do?"
That wasn't him.
His life had just been
transformed.
He's now blind as a bat;
it's like his retinas had
been scorched by the
intensity of the light
that he saw.
And only he could
understand the words.
Everybody else just heard
an exceptionally loud
rumbling noise but Paul
was given the ability to
extract content from what
was said.
"What should I do?
'Get up,' the Lord said,
'and go into Damascus.'"
But not to beat or
imprison or confiscate
property or to stone and
kill or to drag back to
Jerusalem.
'There you will be told
all that you have been
assigned to do.'" So they,
"Led him by the hand,"
because he was blind now.
God let him sit in the
darkness for a while to
let him think.
It's like that line in
Star Wars that goes,
Qui-Gon Jinn goes up to a
guy smoking a death stick
in a bar - remember that
line?
And he goes, "You need to
rethink your life."
[Audience: Laughter]
Remember that?
And the guy says, "I need
to rethink my life."
[Audience: Laughter] It's
like a Jedi mind trick.
Paul needed to rethink his
life and darkness was a
good way.
He had to humble himself
and be waited on and led
around.
He's helpless now; alive
but helpless and given
time to think about what
he had been doing with his
life.
"A man," a Jewish man who
had become a believer, a
Christian, "came to see
me.
He was a devout observer
of the law; highly
respected by all the Jews
living there.
He stood beside me and
said, 'Brother, Saul,'" so
welcoming words, some
tenderness there, called
him his brother.
For all Ananias knew, Saul
was coming to Damascus to
arrest and kill him but he
decided to forgive Saul,
trust in the word he'd
been given, and embraced
this angry assassin.
He said, "Brother, receive
your sight.' That very
moment, I was able to see
him.'" And Paul said
later, "It was like scales
falling off my eyes.
I got my sight back.
I once was lost but now am
found," said Saul.
"'Twas blind but now I
see."
And he said, "The God of
our fathers has chosen
you."
In other words, following
the way of Jesus doesn't
destroy our Jewish
heritage; it completes it.
That's the main reason why
we were put together as a
nation.
That's our main mission is
to preserve the word,
believe the word, and
joyfully anticipate the
seed of the woman who is
going to be the Son of
Abraham, our Father.
It's happened!
Our destiny has been
fulfilled.
We're not destroying our
heritage; we're
celebrating its
fulfillment and we're
prouder than ever to be
Jewish.
We gave the world a Jewish
Savior.
"The God of our fathers
has chosen you."
Now here is this converted
assassin's four-fold
mission; pay attention:
"He's chosen you," number
one, "to know his will."
Dial into God's agenda.
Your agenda was all
screwed up because it was
your agenda.
Now how about paying
attention to God for a
change?
Dial into his will.
Second, "to see the
Righteous One."
Scripture tells us that
through the word we beheld
his glory.
We've seen him.
Through the power of the
word, Jesus our Savior is
before us.
Third, you've chosen to
"hear words from his
mouth."
And Paul, in some ways you
could argue, was the
twelfth resurrection
appearance of Christ;
happened a little bit
after the others but he
got to see the resurrected
Savior, a tremendous
personal gift.
Arguably, St. John got the
last of them much later
when he saw Jesus in his
revelation.
And fourth, the fourth
part of his charge: "You
will be his witness to all
people of what you've seen
and heard.
Now what are you waiting
for?
Get up, be baptized, and
wash your sins away, call
on his name."
And they hustled him out
of Jerusalem because he
very well could have been
assassinated by that same
angry group just as he had
once done to people and
so, Paul slipped away;
although he came back
later and was arrested
this time.
Hmm.
In some ways, you might
think, "Man, that has
nothing to do with my
life.
Holy cow, I do not share
any of that experience of
Saul," but what a
transformation for him.
First, his identity is
transformed.
He was converted to become
a Christian.
Then he was commissioned,
instead of killing
Christians, to
encouraging, gathering,
and making and encouraging
Christians.
So he had a life
transformation and a
missional transformation.
And here's my little joke
for you today: This isn't
so very different from you
at all.
In fact, I could argue
that though you may never
have had your eyeballs
burnt out like him and had
like a crust put on your
eyes so you couldn't see,
you yet have experienced
pretty much exactly what
Saul has experienced
because you were born a
sinner.
You were born outside of
God's love and mercy.
You were not born knowing
the word of God.
You were born knowing
nothing about Christ your
Savior.
You were born, in fact,
with a disease, a terminal
disease, and it's just as
bad as all of the babies
who are born in hospitals
today and cities that have
fetal alcohol syndrome or
have baby drug syndrome
because drugs from the
mother's bloodstream have
leached into the baby's
blood.
Some children are born
crippled up because of the
behaviors of their parents
and I'm here to tell you
that you and I,
spiritually, are in that
same boat.
All of us have fetal sin
syndrome.
We're born outside of
God's family.
We're born under his wrath
and anger.
We're born with a toe tag
for hell on our big toes.
And we're like zombies
with the appearance of
life but spiritually dead.
We're just - its - our
life is nothing but an
interval before
condemnation and hell.
And God intervened in your
life - maybe as an adult;
who knows how that may
have happened.
Maybe as an unbeliever you
married a Christian spouse
and that spouse helped to
connect you and became
your - through you, that
life preserver, and you
hung onto it because of
that testimony.
Maybe when you were in
college acting like a dumb
21-year old idiot and you
got hooked up with
somebody who befriended
you and maybe she, this
friend of yours, led you
to rethink who you were
and something she said
clicked and the lights
went on in your head at
that moment.
I had the experience of
baptizing a 74-year old
man who was an
industrialist.
He owned a steel company.
I baptized him in his
hospital room on his bed
and he died two days
later.
Whoa!
Don't do that - I mean,
that's like too close;
don't ever say, "I've got
plenty of time," because
you've got no idea how
much time is left ticking
on your personal clock
that God can see but you
can't.
That guy was baptized to
wash his sins away at age
seventy-four.
Imagine that.
He lived his whole life
without knowing the
comfort of the gospel and
all he knew was to develop
his business and chase
money.
But God caught up to him
at the end and got 'er
done at the end.
God does this at all
different times.
It may have been that the
splash of God's forgiving
water landed on your
little body when you were
really small, maybe even a
baby, and that mercy of
God, unconditional love,
coming to you through the
gospel, touching your
body, implanted the Holy
Spirit and so you may have
never known the despair
and confusion of living as
an unbeliever because your
earliest memory, as far
back as your memory goes,
you were a believer.
But the conversion still
happened and today, I want
to celebrate with you that
transformational moment.
Of all the other
transformative things that
have happened in your life
- whether it's motherhood
or marriage or adoption or
a serious chunk of money
coming into your life - or
maybe a bad
transformational moment.
You were in a car accident
and you got pretty banged
up and your back has never
been the same.
Something's twisted up and
busted about your back and
you always have pain now.
You walk with pain and you
walk a little crooked.
That accident was like the
most transformative day of
your life.
All those things are not
as important as the moment
when God touched your
life.
Second, you and Paul
actually aren't so very
different in the missional
part of your life either
because what God said to
Paul as he was being
visited by a kind and
gentle Damascite,
Damascene, named Ananias
could be said about you.
Are you ready?
Listen to the four-fold
agenda that God not only
says you might think about
doing this or not, you
have been drafted into his
army and you've been
commissioned, as well as
Paul, for these four
things.
You ready?
Here they are: God has
chosen you to know his
will.
Let go of your agenda and
stop being so obsessed
with what I want and build
your life and your wishes,
your goods and bads,
around me.
Know my will and let my
agenda come first in your
life.
Know his will.
Second, to see the
Righteous One.
The book of Hebrews urges
you: Fix your eyes on
Jesus.
I don't care what age you
are - if you're a high
school kid in a crazy and
corrupted adult world -
fix your eyes on Jesus to
help you navigate your
life.
If you're elderly and
frail and you see your
strength slipping away,
you have a dread hanging
on your heart as you see
one little bit of
independence taken away
from you every doggone
week of your life, you see
yourself getting weaker
and the panic is starting
to set in, fix your eyes
on Jesus.
If you're frustrated
because you want so badly
to have a home and a
spouse and kids and
nothing is happening, fix
your eyes on Jesus.
That's your most important
relationship.
If you have that,
everything else will fall
into place in time.
Number three, hear his
words from his mouth.
Let Jesus speak to you.
You don't just wait around
to see if God's going to
put a bright light in your
life and holler out of the
sky at you.
He only - that's a
miraculous event - he only
did that once in a
universe.
But he has - Christ has
put his words in the
gospels in your Bible and
the only way you're going
to hear his voice is if
you choose to hear it.
You have to choose to show
up in church.
You have to choose to
crack your Bible and put
your eyeballs on Matthew,
Mark, Luke and John.
And then you will hear the
voice of your Savior, your
shepherd, your friend,
your Redeemer.
Last, you will be his
witnesses to all people.
When you've heard the
call, when you've heard
the word, when you've seen
your Savior, you've got
something to say and
there's nothing of greater
significance that you can
do with your life than to
hold out to another
foolish sinner the good
news that there is
unconditional love for
that person, from that
person's creator.
Tell her that she has
unconditional forgiveness
fronted to her.
The gospel is
unconditional and 100
percent and all God's
doing.
You don't have to do what
God calls so tied up and
tangled up and twisted
around and backwards; had
him coming and going and
upside down and backwards,
forwards, where he thought
that basically religion is
a book of rules and it's
all about my performance
and performance, first.
Secondly, if I do mess up,
then I do a payoff, I
perform some religious
ritual or I offer some
sacrifice to buy my way
out of trouble and leading
me to the third killer
"P," which is pride.
So performance, payoff,
and pride; that is what
Paul thought was true
religion.
That's what he thought was
working for God.
And in fact, you and I
have a message of the
reverse - not your
performance; Christ's
performance.
Not your payoff; Christ's
payoff.
Not pride; instead the
joyful humility of saying
"Nothing in my hands I
bring.
Simply to your cross I
cling."
That is a message that you
got for free.
That is a message you can
share for free.
What foolish sinner in
your life needs to know
that I have love,
forgiveness, favor, and
immortality because of
what Jesus Christ has done
for me?
Whom do you know that
needs to know those
things?
Good.
Now you know what to do
with your week.
Amen.
[Audience: Amen]
[MUSIC]
One of the last points
that Pastor Jeske just
made in his message is
when you're transformed by
God, God wants us to share
his name, his message of
peace, out there with the
world.
I didn't perfectly do that
but my wife did.
I don't know why I tried
it; I wanted to have
another surprise birthday
party for my wife.
She sniffed every single
one of them out.
I had everything
organized; all I had to do
was get my wife out of the
house to the restaurant,
don't let her suspect
anything, and bring her
back.
So we're at the restaurant
and my wife strikes up a
conversation with the
husband and wife who had
two kids the same age of
our two daughters and
they're playing and having
fun together and my wife
is trying to witness to
them, to bring them to
church.
All I could think about
was the surprise party.
So I shut that down and
got her out of that, which
blew my cover.
We got back in the van and
my wife looked at me and
said, "This isn't like
you.
Is something up?"
Fortunately though, about
a week and a half later,
we ran into that same
couple at the South
Florida Fair and finally,
I got to witness to them,
invite them to church, and
they've become members and
really good friends.
God gives you opportunity
after opportunity to share
his message with others.
Are you looking?
I'm confident that God has
opportunity after
opportunity waiting for
you; for you to simply
share Jesus with others.
To tell others about the
peace that you have in God
that they so desperately
need and the beautiful
thing is, when you tell
others about Jesus, you
grow.
You grow yourself and your
trust in the Almighty.
I'll be back to pray with
you in just a moment.
[PROMOTION] God has placed
some incredible
opportunities before us to
reach even more people
with timeless truths that
are found in his word,
especially through our
video ministry.
That's why we've set a
$105,000 goal this month,
which will enable Time of
Grace to engage even more
viewers via TV, social
media, Roku, and Apple TV,
YouTube, and Your Time of
Grace, just to name a few.
Our prayer is that you
would help us reach this
vital goal by August 31st
so that more people can
start living in the
freedom of God's
incredible grace.
And when you give, we'll
say thanks by sending you
a captivating new book
from Pastor James Hein,
one of our Your Time of
Grace speakers, called
What Has Your Heart?
So be sure to request
yours when you give today!
Call 800-661-3311, text
TIME to 313131, or visit
timeofgrace.org/store.
[PASTOR JON ENTER] Thank
you for all of your
incredible support, all
your prayers, and all that
you do to encourage us to
continue this ministry to
share the love of Jesus
and the transforming grace
of his mercy out there
with the world.
Let us pray.
Lord God Almighty, Help
us.
Help us to seize every
opportunity that you place
in front of us; to see the
hurting hearts and the
wayward lives of others
around us and to go to
them and to share with
them how you have changed
us, how you've given us
peace and given us hope.
Lord, we ask for your
Spirit to then root into
their hearts faith so they
can join us in church,
join us in worship, to
grow in faith and to grow
in love of you.
Help us, Jesus, as we
serve you.
In Jesus' name we pray,
Amen.
For Time of Grace, I'm
Pastor Jon Enter.
It all starts now!
[MUSIC]
[ANNOUNCER] The
preceding program was
brought to you by the
friends and partners of
Time of Grace.
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