A Fresh Start Part 1 // Pastor Earl McClellan

you guys ready to jump in today we'll jump into the bible you guys ready okay the title of today's message is a fresh start a fresh start turn with me to the book of acts chapter 9. i want to encourage you to bring your bible bring your bible it's a good thing now if you have it on your phone that's cool too uh but there is something about i think hearing the pages turn something about it i don't think i don't know if it's holier i don't know totally but it's just good see the words feel the words hear the words acts chapter 9 we're going to begin reading in verse number one it says meanwhile saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the lord's people lord's disciples he went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in damascus so that if he found any there who belonged to the way whether men or women he might take them as prisoners to jerusalem go back with me to verse number one meanwhile saul was still breathing out what kind of threats were they murderous threats this guy is angry this is twitter before twitter this is facebook post before facebook post this guy he's like i can't stand anyone who's part of the way i i hope you die you know people write crazy stuff stuff they wouldn't say to your face but they'll post it i wish you would say that to my face right you i just wish you would wait earl come on pull it back in christ like christ like but he's just sending out these murderous threats this is consistent with what we see a chapter earlier in uh acts chapter eight verse number three look at this acts chapter eight verse number three but saul same guy that we just talked about in chapter 9 but saul began to look at the words here destroy the church going from house to house he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison this is how this guy is living in acting he's going from house to house terrorizing people dragging off both men and women now we read it it can feel a little innocuous like we don't have the emotion of it have you ever seen someone be drug against their will have you ever seen someone taken out of their home and and and taken through the streets have you ever seen someone fighting against someone grabbing them we've seen it on the movies but if you ever see this in person the emotion the atmosphere is totally different it's chaotic it is stressful and this man's soul is going from house to house doing this to person after person everyone who belongs to what he calls the way the way is what christians were called before we ever got the title christians the way maybe it's because jesus is the way the truth and the life maybe because it's a path that we've been called to walk on but but regardless paul or saul rather at this time is upset so he goes to the religious leaders and he says hey i want some letters give me some letters i want to go to damascus because i heard there's some people up in damascus that are following this new religion this new cult this new sect called the way and i want to put a stop to it before it ever gets off the ground so he's going to go to damascus i've got a map here can you go ahead and throw my map on there okay so this is this is the map here of a first century of the this particular part of the of the world you can see down below down below it says jerusalem okay that's where saul is you can look all the way up top upper right hand corner that's where damascus is it's about 150 miles 130 150 miles apart again saul's in jerusalem he goes to the religious leaders and he says hey give me letters so i can go to damascus i want to go all the way up north to shut down all these individuals who are a part of the way these people who are following jesus we find out that this guy is so angry he's so upset he's so filled with venom he is willing to get on some say at least a six-day journey if not a two-week journey there are no teslas you cannot get a first class flight southwest is not in existence at this point in time this brother has to pack up his stuff whether on horse or donkey or however he was going to get there travel through this terrible terrain 130 to 150 miles ju to to terrorize people he's never met this brother is committed okay he's more committed than some of us ought to go to work slept late dang i'm not feeling well today uh so he goes up the road he's going up damascus and again today i was telling you we're starting with a with a fresh start some of us we heard those few words and our hearts left because we need one you know right now you need one you can feel it matter of fact you're thinking about last night and you're like i know i need a fresh start today but lord you you know how i am when he texts me i can feel the room goes i can feel online just get real whoa what did he did he just does he know my business no the lord does lord you know how i get when i'm stressed you know how i get when i'm overwhelmed you know i get when i'm not sure which way is up you know how i get when i'm not feeling well you know that i can't help but click on pornhub you know i can't help but dm this girl you know i can't help when i drink too much gotta just end up flirting with people i shouldn't be flirting with god you know i heard i say things i shouldn't say when i'm feeling this way you know how i am when i get like this and some of us we are under the sound of my voice today and you know beyond a shot of a doubt you need a fresh start your marriage is broken your finances are broken maybe your mind is broken maybe you're incredibly overwhelmed maybe anxiety and depression is pushing you into the ground holding you down pinning you down trying to tell you you'll always be there you're like god would you please help me get out of this space the good news is today can be a fresh start for you i'm talking today i'm talking today i'm talking if you made the poorest of poor choices i'm talking if you went the wrong direction i'm talking if you've been going the wrong way for five years 15 years shoot i'll say 55 years i don't care how long you've been going the wrong way i don't care how broken your marriage is today can be a day of a fresh start if you're a teenager and you're like man i just keep stumbling today's a day you're standing up straight your back's going to be strong your shoulders will be back let us remind you that you're called by god for such a time as this to be the man or woman he called you to be in this generation i'm telling you if you've been drinking too much smoking too much notice i went like this you've been some of y'all know come on come on you know what i'm talk if you have been if it's been too long and you've been trying to get out of it today is your day for a fresh start in jesus name i got some great verses for you these are wonderful promises isaiah chapter 43 verse number 19 says see see i'm doing a new thing do you not perceive it i'm actually putting good stuff in random places and i'm making ways and wilderness i'm putting streams in wastelands when you don't think there can be any life you think you're in a food desert i'm gonna put kale i'm gonna put sweet potatoes right there in that food desert wherever you might where you feel incredibly lost you feel incredibly forgotten i'm telling you i can find you in your loneliest space i can find you in your darkest spot i can find you when you've got the weight of the world on your shoulders i've been thinking about you before you even thought about you and i'm telling you today i'm doing a new thing do you not perceive it revelation chapter 21 verse number five i love this verse too he he who was seated on the throne i like it he's just he's just sitting on the throne thinking like a game of thrones leaning think biggie biggie biggie small sitting there you see it on the phone said i'm making everything new matter of fact you had to write it write it down write it down write it down send it to the bank send it to the bank say you can i'm you know i'm tell everybody tell everybody i said it before the game is over tell everybody we're winning before the clock strikes zero tell everybody it's already fixed tell everybody i'm making everything new because i said it is trustworthy so you know you might need a fresh start but it's interesting here in this text saul does not know he needs one he thinks he's right he thinks he's fine he thinks i don't have to change anything some of y'all are married to this person they think i don't need to change anything i'm good i'm some of you'll work with this person i don't need to change you need to change this is some of your family members this is some of your roommates i don't need to change you need to change saul here thinks he's right and justified but when he is not seeking jesus jesus is seeking him the same thing that jesus did for saul is the same thing he did for you and i when you weren't even seeking him you're watching church today or at church today because there's somebody you like you're like i don't care about nobody bible i'm bringing my bible to church whatever i don't care about the bible but you didn't even know it was all a setup gotcha the grace of god has been pursuing you and put you in this moment for right now to say you weren't seeking me but i've been seeking you [Applause] look with me look with me acts chapter nine i'm gonna prove it to you prove to you some people don't believe me acts chapter nine verse number three as he neared damascus on his journey so now he's getting close to where he his destination suddenly from heaven flashed around him he fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him saul saul why do you persecute me he responds who are you lord saul asked i am jesus whom you are persecuting he replied now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do he's going about his life i can't i'm gonna tell these people who are part of the way i'm arrest them i'm gonna beat them i'm gonna throw them in prison these guys are wrong and jesus steps in saul saul now maybe you read this and you see like he kind of went yes lord i don't read it like that i read it he's walking like can you guys believe it can you believe saul saul like when i scare my kids i got parker good the other day i got i got him good i got him i got onika good the other day too i'm not allowed to scare onika but i couldn't it was just perfect it was perfect she was in the bathroom and i was just standing behind this door and i didn't say boo i just walked out you know like to pretend like i didn't know she was there but i knew it and she ah she screamed and i giggled inside she punched me in the face uh i deserved it though um but saul here he falls like he's just been he's been startled he's on the ground and he's like what's going on do me a quick favor uh get the name of the person next to you as the person actually asked her name come on ask her online too ask that's a chat you get in the chat what's your name what's your name ask ask you get the name of the other person come on don't forget their name either get the name of the other person to get your second choice name get your second choice name somebody i'm looking at some of y'all right now you ain't turned to one person yet i'm looking right at you okay so he he calls he calls him by his name so even when saul is fighting against jesus jesus still knows his name okay so he's now pursuing him saul saul and he calls him his name he says why why are you persecuting me why are you doing this why why are you doing this why are you carrying this bitterness why are you carrying this anger why are you carrying this frustration what's what's going on in your heart that you're carrying this why why and and if if saul was able to answer he would give a legitimate reason say hey i i've been following god my whole life and this random guy named jesus they're all saying he's risen from the dead now they're trying to take over something that i have held dear my whole life here's my reason why i'm trying to kill this thing and you probably have a good reason why you feel how you feel you probably have a good reason why you're angry jealous frustrated bitter probably have a good reason well well i feel this way because i i did this but they didn't do that like i held up my end of the bargain as a husband but she's not holding up her end of a bargain as a wife or maybe vice versa i said yes till death do us part and this guy is treating me like i'm leftovers i i thought we were supposed to have a relationship where we were going to be encouraging and speaking life to each other but i live in a home where i'm torn down all the time i'll tell you why i'm frustrated i'll tell you why i'm trying to kill i'll tell you why i'm disconnected i'll tell you why i'm sitting on the sidelines it's because i didn't sign up for this i thought it was going to look different and be different well jesus says something interesting he says saul you think what you're doing is to them but what you're actually doing is to me see we think when we are holding unforgiveness towards them that it's just about them we learn in this text that jesus says what you're doing to them you're doing to me so the converse is also true if i will honor and bless and encourage and lift them then i'm actually honoring and blessing and lifting him that if i treat you with respect i am actually also treating jesus with respect as well because how because this is how john says it how in the world can i love god whom i have not seen when i don't love my neighbor or my brother whom i have seen what you do to them you're doing to me so then jesus gives saul a gift gives him a significant gift a very important gift he gives him the gift of dependence he gives him the gift of you need me look at this verse number seven of chapter nine the men traveling with saul they stood there speechless uh uh they heard the sound but they did not see anyone saul got up from the ground but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing so they led him by the hand into damascus for three days he was blind it did not eat or drink anything the gift of dependence i don't want to make light at all of being blind that disability is legitimate and real maybe you are a family member or you are even in a space where your vision and things are not right so i don't want to make light of it at all in this moment god uses blindness to get saul's attention he uses it to say hey you thought you were going the right way but i'm going to take away what you see [Music] because i want to show you what i see like you think what you see is right but i need you to understand that i see things from a perspective that's different than the way you see things so i'm going to i'm going to put you in a spot where you can you won't know which way to go that you're going to need me in order to get to where you need to go you ever said anything like i feel lost i feel blind i feel frustrated you ever said anything like that i wonder if those are all slogans for i'm in the middle of a fresh start i wonder if maybe when you and i are feeling that way it was actually god giving us a gift of dependence i wonder if god was actually trying to get our attention to say son daughter you thought you were going the right way you thought you had everything mapped out you thought you knew which way was up you thought you could put everything in a system but i want you to know i'm greater than your system i'm greater than your future i'm even greater than your life and the plans i have for you are greater than anything you can even imagine so what i need to do is take all of this other stuff away so that you pause and sit there and you know that i am your sustainer i am your life i am your guard i am your god and i am your vision maybe just maybe when you and i are like what the heck is going on god's like i have you exactly where i want you to be it's the gift of dependence so he's sitting there saul sitting there and we're gonna read this in a second he's sitting there at this guy's house and he's praying he's praying he's in the middle of i can't see day one i can't see it it's gonna be forever day two is this gonna be forever it's gonna be forever day three he's sitting there he's like is this gonna be forever it's gonna be forever it's gonna be forever and he's praying and he's praying instead of complaining he's praying i wish we would do a better job of praying instead of complaining we do a great job of trying to talk to everybody i can't believe god made me blind i can't believe i'm in this situation i can't believe this he did this to me does he know how faithfully i've been you know how good i've been you know all the great decisions i've made and god's like i know all that you have done and i also know you've been putting your righteousness in your own works and you put in your energy in your own self so what i need you to do is pause for a second because son daughter i want to rearrange your value system i want you to be so dependent on me so he's sitting there and while he's sitting here god's over here talking to somebody else he's talking to this other dude about saul y'all don't believe me see you don't believe me you don't believe me i'm gonna prove it to you look at this look at this verse number 10 verse number 10. in damascus there was a disciple named ananias the lord called to him in a vision ananias notice he only has to say ananias his name once because ananias is listening how many times has god had to call your name i feel like he's had to call my name i'm earl earl earl earl and how many of y'all has yet to call your name so many times ananias no he's locked in he's locked he calls him one time yes lord he answered he doesn't know what's coming the lord told him go to the house of judas on the straight on on straight street and ask for a man from tarsus named saul for he is praying remember i told you saul's over there praying in a vision so god is giving saul visions even though saul can't see he has seen a man named ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight verse 13. ananias ain't dumb uh lord i've heard about your boy um i've heard about the harm he's done to your holy people in jerusalem he has come here i'm not sure if you know this i just want to let you know he has come here with like papers to drag us from where we are and to put us in prison in jerusalem but the lord said to ananias go this man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the gentiles and and their kings and to the people of israel i will show him how much he must suffer from my name ananias is doing his dishes yeah i love the lord i know he's doing i don't know i don't know what song he's listening to he's he's doing his dishes and a nice yes lord your servant i'm here these prayers we pray i'm here to do whatever you want me to do lord i'm your servant just show me where to go what you want me to do okay there's the guy that's here to kill you go see him lord i'm willing to do anything you want me to do except stuff i don't want to do i'm willing to do whatever you want me to do as long as i it doesn't inconvenience the plans that i already have lord i'll give what you want me to give go where you want me to go do what you want me to do as long as it's in alignment with the plans i have ananias he goes uh i appreciate his honesty i don't want to i i i i don't i don't want to um can you ask somebody else to do it can you ask somebody else to step up can you have somebody else to show up there can you have some nope you because i talked to him about you now i'm talking to you about him i'm making a connection here that's a divine connection notice that god could have healed saul's blindness all by saul's self but god is interested in saul understanding that your deliverance has not just come from you sitting in a room all by yourself it comes from you being connected in the community and the family that i put you in the church is the place where i want you to understand i'm going to bring the healing and deliverance that i have for you because we are interested in in me but god is interested in we our society says me me me but god's like no no you can't do me right without the right we around you you got to have the right connections so ananias gets up and he goes over there verse 17 look at this look at this verse 17. then ananias went to the house and he entered it placing his hands on saul feel this feel this placing his hands on saul he said i can't stand you saul so i know about your past no brother saul calls him brother not because saul has done anything right because all saul has done are things that are wrong he calls him brother because of how jesus saw saul and ananias said i'm going to call you what jesus calls you not how i see you brother saul his hands are on him remember saul is sitting here blind he cannot see but he can feel and he can hear so ananias puts his hands on him because he knows saul can feel and he calls him brother because he knows he can hear can i submit to you that our world is blind but they can feel and they can hear i pray that we would be the type of church that would lay hands on people not in anger but they would sense the love and the grace and the conviction that can only come from god and they would hear us calling them brother even before they had the opportunity to do anything right brother or sister i'm here because god sent me i'm in business because god sent me i'm in politics because god sent me i'm in the entertainment industry because god sent me i'm in social media because god sent me i'm in education because god sent me and i'm not better i didn't even want to come he just sent me brother saul the lord jesus who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here verse 17 he has sent me for two things he has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the holy i spirit here i'm putting my hands on you so that you can see again but not only so you can see again but so you can be filled with the holy spirit because saul you've been filled with jealousy you've been filled with anger how many of us come on online in the room san antonio up north uh shoot chicago wherever you might be watching from today colorado kenya michigan all of us have been filled with so much stuff shoot 2020 filled us up with a whole bunch of stuff resentment anger frustration debt doubt there's so much stuff that we're filled up with but today i'm praying today's a day that we get unfilled with all the jealousy and pride and perversion and insecurity and today's a day that we get filled up are fresh and anew with the holy spirit the church i grew up in may being filled with the holy spirit about tongues some of y'all heard about this like speaking in tongues and uh and i believe all and all we believe all all the gifts of the spirit they're all mapped out there i believe in all of them tongue interpretation of songs healings gift of faith all of it but it was like tongues uh it means you're filled with the spirit so you can like be mean and nasty but if you speak in tongues it's like yeah you speaking tongues don't look like jesus smell like jesus talk like jesus love like jesus serve like jesus give like jesus none of that but tongues then some of y'all heard about being filled with the spirit and it was weird the church never talked about it but the bible goes here it is and it's not weird and it's not minimized to some particular spiritual gift this is you and i being transformed and changed from the inside out by the power of god to live a life that reflects the character of christ that's what it means to be filled with the spirit don't let people make it weird don't let people try to take away what god has given us as a gift the holy spirit was there all the way in genesis chapter one and he's all the way through all of scripture and this is the promise that jesus said was coming he is it's not a it he's a he and the holy spirit wants to fill every single one of us up afresh and anew today i'm praying online in the room that we would see again and we would be filled with the spirit my last verse immediately something like scales fro from the eyes of saul and he could see again he got up and he even got baptized made some food was strengthened today i'm praying we would see again every one of us and be filled with the spirit if you don't mind bow your heads for just a moment i want you to bow your heads just so you can focus for just a second if you've never given your heart and your life to christ i want to make this really clear i'm not asking did you go to a church i'm not asking were you confirmed as a child i'm not asking do you have a bible am i asking even do you believe in god necessarily i'm asking have you surrendered your life to the way and the path and the person of jesus christ and he is the final authority in your life saying jesus i'm going your way not my way if you're under the sound of my voice you've never given your heart to christ or one point in time you did you slipped away and today you're saying i don't want to go my own way anymore i want to go his way on the count of three i want you to throw your hand in the air and say yes that's me i want to get my heart and my life to christ ready one two three just put your hand in the air you're saying yep that's we got hands going up all over the place friends online come on lift your hand right now left your hand you're saying yep that's me that's me i want to give my heart and my life to christ this is beautiful this is powerful this is holy i'm going to ask everyone do me a favor put your hand over your heart right now if you would not mind and i want everyone online in the room to repeat this prayer out loud after me say dear jesus i ask you to forgive me of all my sins i admit i made mistakes and today i give you my heart i give you my life give me the power to live for you in jesus name amen and amen can we lift our heads up come on church family clap our hands with celebration and joy [Music]

Channel: Shoreline City Church

Views: 5,134

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Id: Kj3Sx3eb-0Q

Length: 35min 54sec (2154 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 17 2022