From Persecutor to Proclaimer

when your Bibles with me to the book of Acts the book of Acts at chapter number nine verses one through verse number nine and I'm going to preach from the subjects from persecutor to proclaim on call Paul who was then soul becomes the saged the Apostle Paul he goes from a persecuted to a proclaimer and soul yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord went unto the high priest and desired of him led us to Damascus to the synagogue's that if he found any of this way whether they were men or women he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem and as he journeyed he came near Damascus and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven and he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto Him Saul Saul why persecutest thou me and he said who art thou Lord and the Lord said I am Jesus whom thou persecutest it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks and he trembling and astonished said Lord what wilt thou have me to do and the Lord said unto Him arise and go into the city and it shall be told thee what thou must do and the men which journeyed with him stood speechless hearing a voice but seeing no man and saw the rolls from the earth and when his eyes were opened he saw no man but they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus and he was three days without sight and neither did eat nor drink thank you you may have your seeds the grass withers and the flower fades but the Word of God shall stand forever from press acuter to proclaim the beginning chapters of book of the acts of the Holy Spirit through the Apostles is primarily spotlighting or highlighting the life and ministry of Peter Peter is the apostle to the Jews Peter is given much press in the opening chapters of the book of Acts it is Peter on the day of Pentecost who preaches and three thousand are added to the church it is Peter along with John who go in Acts chapter three up to the temple at the hour of prayer and that is this man on the outside of the gate begging and it is Peter who says to him silver and gold have I none but such as I have give I V in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk it is Peter when they are brought before the magistrates they abort before the Sanhedrin and they are instructed to preach no more in the name of Jesus Christ it is Peter who responds to the Sanhedrin Council and says to them we cannot but Speak the things that we have both seen and heard Peter is prominent in the opening chapters of the book of Acts because he is the apostle to the Jews but in Chapter 9 after Stephen is stoned in chapter 8 and that chapter closes with Paul holding the garments of Stephen as he is being stoned to death there is now a transition from Peter who is apostle to the Jew to Paul who is the apostle to the Gentiles peter is unlearned and ignorant paul is a student of Gamaliel peter is untrained paul is trained as a Pharisee peter is a rugged fisherman paul is a jew by birth a roman by citizenship a tent maker by trade and a lawyer by profession he's a Pharisee by religious training circumcised on the eighth day of the tribe of benjamin Paul is steeped in religious tradition while Peter is an itinerant preacher Peter is rough around the edges while Paul is trained in rhetoric Peter is an unlearned fisherman Paul is a trained theologian but just like Jesus saved Peter Jesus saves Paul now brothers and sisters saul who becomes paul was an intellectual giant farsighted enough to see that there could be no peaceful coexistence between militant Judaism and militant Christianity either Judaism was right and Christianity was apostasy or Christianity was right and Judaism was obsolete Saul's birth his beliefs and his background all drove him into a head-on confrontation with the religion of Jesus Christ his giant intellect his fierce emotions and his iron will all fused together in determined hatred of those people of the way and anytime a man is possessed of giant Italy fierce emotions iron will Jesus can transform him Missy if I can make that make sense that Ethiopian eunuch was easy to convert and Philip had no problem leading him to Christ because he was reading the prophecy of Isaiah I wish I had a Bible reader and the Holy Spirit joined Philip to his chariot and Philip asked them do you understand what you're reading he said how can i except some man guide me and philip instructs him about the ways of God and the man is instantly converted and he says to Philip here is some water what's keeping me from being baptized in Acts chapter 10 when the Holy Ghost came to the home of Cornelius by the time Peter got there to preach the Holy Ghost had already softened their hearts and when Peter preached the same Holy Ghost that failed on the day of Pentecost fell in the home of Cornelius and they were easily converted but soul had a giant intellect fierce emotion and an iron wheel and those three together make a man hard to convert so this is a job not fulfilling not for PETA at the home of Cornelius this is a job for Jesus himself brothers and sisters some of us in here this morning can testify then my sins were so bad I wish I had somebody to help me here I was so lost my mother had been praying for me my family I've been asking God to save me but I was on my way to hell and the preacher couldn't do it a deacon couldn't do it a choir couldn't do it Jesus himself had to arrest me on my way to hell mamas if if your if your reputation ain't that bad you can't shout on the gospel I wish I had a witness here if you haven't done stuff that you're ashamed to talk about you can't shout on the message of the gospel but if you got some sins that you don't want nobody to know about if you've got some skeletons in your closet and if the door would open you'd have to crawl out of here right now then the message of the gospel sets your heart on fire because God will forgive you no matter how low you sing listen when you sit in church with a giant Internet and a fierce emotion and an iron will saying preacher I don't care what you say I will not be moved I can't move you but I know somebody who can stop you in your tracks somebody ought to help me I know somebody who can take that smirk off your face I know somebody who knows how to put you back in your place is there anybody here I said is there anybody here know that you are no match for the power of God in the face of Jesus Christ the less sinner in here is no match for God I think ought to rush and tell you God has until right now to meet his match they're on their way to Damascus the oldest city in the world Paul who is then Seoul is on his way to Damascus with letters of authority from the Sanhedrin to arrest men are women people of the way because he has a bitter hatred for Jesus Christ and he hates Jesus for the same reason that he came to love him he hates him because he hung on a cross but he loves him because he hung on the cross somebody help me he hates him because the Bible says in the Old Testament Cassatt is he that hangs on a tree I wish I had a Bible reader but when you read the book of Ephesians we were dead in trespasses and sins that's Paul writing to the church at Ephesus and Paul says he died on the cross and then Colossians says he took their hand written ordinances that were against us and nailed them to the cross the same reason he hated him is the same reason he loved and some of us have here can testify to that we used to play church we used to act like we were shouting come on talk back to me here I'm talking I'm talking to folk who were raised in church used to watch the most people shouting and praising God and you laughed at fact you thought that was funny you thought that was foolish and then you go get you some Boone's Farm Strawberry Hill and go to the club or go to a dance and party and then go to church and sleep all during the service and then somebody will start shouting and you wake up and start laughing and then go home and act like what you saw them doing at church you hate it when your mama made you go to Sunday School made you go to BYOP you made you go to Baptist training Union mate no matter how late you stayed up at night they made you go to church on Sunday morning and you hated that but now the same reason you hated it it's the reason you love because if you had not had that experience you wouldn't have your salvation I'm no longer I'm no longer shouting like I saw somebody else shot I'm no longer raising my hands like I saw my mama doing I've been through enough on my own God's been good to me God has opened doors for me God has shown me some things that I would not have seen had God not been in my life and so I don't need nobody else to show me how to praise God I don't need nobody to teach me how to praise God when I think about the goodness of Jesus when I mused over where God has brought me from I don't need to be in church it doesn't have to be Sunday morning I don't need to cry to get me excited oh I love Jesus because he first loved me now the choir just got through telling us about Greece and there's something about God's grace and it's fortuitous that they sing that song because that falls right in line with what I want to tell you grace did in the life of the Apostle Paul the grace of God claimed him now listen to me sisters and brothers it's hard for God to miss you if he really wants to get his hands on you don't don't don't think you hiding in this crowd and God does not individually know your situation your curriculum vitae is no surprise to God he made you his numbered every hair on your hair he knows your thoughts even before you think then he knows you're down sitting he knows you're up rising and that's really no place you can go that he can't find you the psalmist says where can I go from your spirit where can I flee from your presence if I send into heaven you're there if I make my bed in hell you're there if I go to the utmost parts of the earth your van so you think God don't see you on the 3rd pew at Lilly grow you think God don't know you in the overflow you think God is surprised that you in the balcony he woke you up this morning he watched over you all last night he's been keeping you even when you wouldn't acknowledge he was keeping you and if he wants to claim you him that you can do about it he says so so watch this I want you to get this why are you persecuting me I want you to get this song is on the way to destroy the church but Jesus says why are you persecuting me you miss them Paul is threatening to slaughter the church but Jesus says why are you persecuting me a fiddle things got that over to Paul is on his way to destroy the church but Jesus calls the church me there is no church without Jesus upon this rock I wish I had a Bible reader I will build my church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it Paul is on his way to destroy the church but Jesus said on your way think about this when you get there you're gonna run into me and I want to tell somebody who's been talking bad about the church and talking bad about the pastor and talking bad about the members and some people ain't nothing but phone is and that's why I don't go there because they fake be careful cuz jesus said when you run into this church you're gonna bump into me and it's hard for you to kick against the preach the grace of God clean because when Jesus said Saul why are you persecuting me Paul says Lord who are you he never said that before but but his giant intellect his fierce emotion his iron wheel is on the ground cuz when the light shined on him it knocked him off his beach and let me tell you giant intellect let me tell you fierce emotional one let me tell you strong iron wield one in here God knows how to put that in the dust once he gains you he changes you Paul had never called Jesus no until he got knocked off his beast and God knows how to send something your way to put your pride in the dust somebody ought to help me preach it God knows how to humble you that you'll get up saying Lord what will you have me to do I wish I had a witness here just keep sitting here with your mouth closed just keep sitting here acting like you don't know who I'm talking about you're all dressed up in your face is all pretty and made up and you got money in the bank and you got keys to a nice house and you driving a fine car and you got a big paying job in the morning but God can put all of that in the dust somebody ought to help me preach it that's why you want to come on here and praise God with everything you have cuz if he decides to take it all from me in the morning I still got my salvation I still got my peace I still got my jolly coz Who I am is not wrapped up in what I had I'm trying to I'm trying to appeal to some stubborn person in here bigger than you have been knocked to the dust you gonna help me preach this won't you all it takes is a moment and life can change Kansas City was winning by 4 touchdown but then boys got the momentum somebody ought to help me preach it and it was all over with that was one second on the clock that Nick Saban insisted they put on the clock for Alabama but Auburn turn that thing around when he kicked that field goal and missed and that Auburn player caught it and ran all the way into the end zone to defeat Alabama the Crimson Tide in one second all it takes is a moment and life can change for you you walked in here this morning but all it takes is a moment and you can be in the intensive care unit you woke up on your own strength this morning but all it takes is a moment and you can have a brain aneurysm you fed yourself this morning but all it takes is a moment and somebody's got the baby the night God knows how to put it in the dust grace claimed his life grace changed his life but less I hold you're too long grace completed his life look what the text says Paul says Lord what do you want me to do and here is what Jesus told him he said go where you plan keep on going where you started you have to read the rest of the text to hear me he says and when you get there somebody that I have already appointed will show you what I want you to do now Jesus could have told him himself but he said I got a preacher on straight street named ananias who will tell you what I want you to do I wish I had somebody to help me I want to say to you folk who all get me revelation this Rhema word that that the Lord is speaking to you directly and you don't have to go to church and you don't have to hear no preacher that's a lie because the Lord Jesus could have told Paul himself what to do but he said go to straight street I got a preacher there who will give you instruction how shall they call on him in whom they have not believed wish I had a witness how shall they believe in him and whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a preacher but don't leave the verse right there it goes on to say but how shall they preach except they be sin anybody can't preach to me my spiritual antenna is too sensitive to let anybody preach to me if you're not preaching Jesus I don't want to hear nothing you got to sing because prosperity is not gonna get me to help naming it and claiming it is not going to save me I need to hear a preacher point me to Jesus I wish I wish I had time to stay right there but here's how the Holy Ghost completes it he's on his way to straight street but before he gets there the word tells us something that we ought not run over real quickly the men who were with him they were standing there gazing that were gazing in the text is the same word in the English for theatres they were watching as if looking at a play or a movie in a theatre their eyes were open but the scripture says they couldn't see anything their eyes were open but they couldn't see anything Paul was blind but he saw everything I wish I had some butter the hill that's the way to hold it goes completes the process of salvation first he gotta claim you then he has to change you and then he shows you some things blind that you couldn't see with your eyes oh let me see if I can make that make sense the gospel is preached to a hundred people one person will hear it and be saved the gospel preached to the same hundred only one heard it because God wanted only that one to be saved for reasons that only God knows in eternity past some people will hear it and be saved other folk will hear it and go to hell on the pew way you see the Word of God is being preached to everybody in this room some folks hearts are being warmed some people are getting man some people's spirits are being quickened other folks are getting upset because the Sun s UN shines on mud and clay it hardens one softens the other the Sun s o n shines on everybody in this church he will harden one and soften bill you want to know the hard ones from the soft ones I'm glad you asked because every time I said the name Jesus their eyes brightened every time I mentioned the name Christ their spirits came alive every time I talked about what God will do through the Holy Spirit in salvation they almost jumped out of their seats because they came here this morning under the life-changing influence of the Holy Spirit of God come I got a witness here and every time they had a name Jesus they almost jump out of their clothes because they know him and he knows them you go help me preach this watch it you've been sitting around some folk don't look at him now because they're gonna know you're looking at him but you've been sitting around some folk all the morning they haven't smiled they haven't clapped their hands they haven't gotten into the worship because they are hard-hearted stubborn and recalcitrant don't worry with them don't get mad at them they just don't know any better they don't have it like you had they haven't been cleaned like you've been clean they haven't been changed like you've been changed so you ought not be upset with folk when they dead cuz when you're dead you don't know anything you can't get mad with a dead person for not shouting because they are dead have a got a witness here for those of us who have been made alive by the spirit of the Living God you know when you hear the name Jesus something strange is about to happen when you have a name Jesus lives will be changed direction will be changed devotion will be changed defiance will be turned into gratitude unhappiness will be turned into joy because the choir told her there's something about God's grace His grace woke me up this morning His grace started me on my wings his grace given me peace in the midst of my storm his grace helps me to hold on when I don't have the answer His grace gives me understanding when I don't know what's going on around me His grace walks with me in my dark Valley his grace helps me shake hands with folk who can't speak to me his grace helps me to love members of my family who don't even know who Jesus here his grace helps with a shout on Sunday morning but it ain't got to be Sunday morning when I think about it on Thursday morning I get a happy on Friday morning because it was nobody but Jesus I wish I have some shouters there I wish I had some praises here whose been changed by the Holy Spirit if the Lord opened doors for you help me magnify me if the Lord arrested you on your Damascus Road help me magnified me if the Lord got you off of drugs took the case of alcohol from stop you from being out all night and made the Word of God alive in your life why would you grab somebody why don't you hug somebody tell him his word is a light to my feet his word is a light on my path would you know why give me real jaar jaar jaar jaar shake somebody's hand tell him this shot that I have the wild didn't give it the world can't take it away has he brought you has he saved you has he framed you has he changed you have he completed you can help me praising me Jesus the Son of God he died did me down but Bridal alla Sunday morning he got up from the grave with all power I'm Louisa I know I gotta leave it alone here I know we gotta move on in the server here but he walks with me he talks with me he tells me that I am his own and the joy the joy the joy we share as we tarry has ever known do you have John I'm not talking about stuff do you have joy I'm not talking about a bank account do you have joy I'm not talking about good health laughs do you have John if you got it and you're not embarrassed if you got it and you don't chose looking at you grab somebody tell them I got it I got it I got it I got it I got it I got it I got it cuz he gave it to me I got it and Ananias said after God told him to go down the street Street Paul is is waiting on you and Aniyah said Lord wait a minute I've heard a bad report I've heard about this man's reputation the Lord said don't be scared to go there now that's what he used to be he's no longer persecuting Seoul he's proclaiming home don't worry about it now I've turned him from a persecutor to a proclaimer you can talk to him now he got good sense now you can talk to him now he's praying now and when Ananias went in that house he put his hand on him and the Bible says the Holy Ghost came on soul and scales fell from his eyes and he couldn't see a minute ago but now he can see I was blind but since I met Jesus now I can see is it amazing what you can see with your eyes closed isn't it wonderful what God can show you when you can't see if I had had the sense in my 20s that I have in my 50s I would be almost superhuman with thank God I found Jesus or rather he found me and saved me cleaned me changed me and completed me

Channel: lillygrovembc

Views: 30,485

Rating: 4.8672986 out of 5

Keywords: Reverend Terry Anderson Pastor Lilly Grove Missionary Baptist Church Houston Texas

Id: 0_8P8pBe3Hs

Length: 43min 1sec (2581 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 30 2015