Sunday Worship

[Music] till i [Music] met [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] it was [Music] [Applause] out of the darkness into your glorious day [Music] he called my name and i ran [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] and [Applause] [Music] into your glorious day [Music] [Applause] into your glorious day [Music] come on sing a little [Music] a little louder [Music] yeah in the middle of the storm [Music] hope will arise death is defeated the king is alive [Applause] hope will arise [Applause] [Music] hallelujah [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] you call me a citizen of heaven [Music] [Music] when you call my way [Applause] out of the darkness into your glorious day [Music] [Applause] out of the darkness into your glorious day [Music] [Applause] hallelujah [Applause] what is going on wfr family welcome home we are so glad you are here we are a church that seeks to make disciples that love god love others and shares jesus i hope you all are doing good today i want to see this comment section blowing up and i'm just i'm blessed i feel like i haven't seen y'all in a while uh but i am so glad to be here i'm so glad to be back um one thing to know about wfr here is that we have a lot of move-in pieces and the awesome thing about serving is that you serve in so many different places and get to experience so many different things um so if you don't see me here i promise i'm not just like on the couch just like with my feet up i promise that i love i love being with y'all i love talking with y'all it's such a great time but i'm usually doing something else as well so speaking of just before this we have a special guest today i even have a mic for you i have a mic for you shelby it's you gotta hold it down boom there we go sorry i was so busy fellowshipping with the brothers and sisters inside i'm so sorry you that you took time away from fellowshipping with our online community this is no we get to do it twice because i get to do it online and in here too so double the fellowship how's your week been shelby a little busy uh we've had a big graduation at our house uh my baby boy judge graduated yeah from louisiana tech woohoo yes awesome you know it's amazing because like when you're i was telling my husband i said you know when you're sitting at your table with your uh you know elementary kid who is you know has ants in his pants and you're trying to like he's falling out of the floor and you're like okay is this boy going to make it through high school i mean like is there a trade school can you do some of them with his hands because the boy cannot sit in a chair he's going to make it 12 years to graduate he's done phenomenal and so he is on to mississippi state and so he's super pumped about that and got a really good program and so he's you know honest wise that's right judge is moving on up in the world if you don't know judge has a beautiful wife who is amazing um so i mean he's checking all the boxes he's doing some great stuff i know it i know and you know what it's funny because when he was dating lindsay we said do not mess this up we were like we have already prayed for this girl don't be stupid but so and and by the grace of god she's been so patient as he's been growing and uh they just love each other and have such a beautiful relationship and just love seeing where the lord has taken them and uh and that's the the blessing uh that you get to see uh you know the investment that you put in your children that's right you get to see the reward of that and uh so we're we're truly thankful and truly blessed so yeah well i'm just so blessed that i have so many wonderful families to look at who have had kids and i don't i personally don't have kids yet so that i can have a model to go off of so i appreciate good parents i love good parents um because when the when they are parenting well it's not they're not just parenting at home they parent out in public and i've seen some amazing parents here at wfr you included and so i'm just so blessed to have families that that can show me what it means to be a good father and a good husband and just a a good godly man so i just i appreciate wfr for that absolutely and it is a wonderful thing to be a part of and you know and i'm so thankful for that too because when i was a young um uh young married wife um i did not have the the most optimal upbringing and so when i came to white's ferry road i really watched other moms that mentored me and so that was such a huge blessing because i remember saying okay i like how they talk to their kids i like how they discipline their children i like how she was very intentional with her children and so those became my mentors and uh you know we built a community of people who were raising children right along with us and so that became our family is what we called and so um so we all had we were all very like-minded in how we parented and intentional parenting is is so so important especially in the life-long uh goal uh you know because you want them to be productive members of the body of christ but also a productive member in society and so you know we just we've loved that and we want to carry that that on down to the next generation as well so yeah and i think there's an important message in there that whether you know it or not you are being an influence for somebody um and that is that is a very powerful thing and it honestly it could be a very scary thing um but we have power in our being and we influence and and we encourage and all these things but if we do that actively if we're aware of that then we can reflect who god wants us to be um and be that beautiful picture of you know what jesus was for all of us for all of us broken people um he loved us he helped us he encouraged us he taught us he disciplined us and and we can be that for others and that's what it really means to be a a true brother or sister for christ absolutely absolutely well i don't know have you talked about i mean i'm a little late to the game but have you talked about the stage have you seen the stage where we're doing a few well i thought i thought it might be a little obvious but uh well you know let's just take a step back and see i mean we're still in the progress of uh doing some work but uh we've got some amazing things uh yeah i really like it i was like um okay i'm gonna be vulnerable a little bit i picked the color so uh if you don't like it find somebody else to tell so i thought i was like when i saw it this morning i was like okay what a relief it it looks good so it looks great yeah uh so anyway so we're still you know bear with us you know it's a work in progress and um you know we're excited about you know things coming we have some pews coming i got pews um chairs chairs i know i know i can't imagine when they start taking these pews out how many cheerios they're gonna find how many crayons and all kinds of stuff so uh so that'll be fun to see but um but yes we you know they're wearing down they are it's a nice way of saying it yes yes so it's time to refresh and uh put a little restart on that and so it's a good little thing that we're doing so i'm excited about it yeah for those of you that don't know uh my two favorite things in this world the two things i'm so passionate about right and i tell i told my wife this because she gets so frustrated with me is one of those things is the comfort of my feet and y'all know that that's why i get a lot of shoes yes and i want them to be comfortable and the other thing is stuff is for things to be visually appealing and i walked in uh to the offices and and josh told me he's like we got our new tv up and they they did stuff to the front of the uh worship center i was like no way so i walked down here and you know we're an older church so it's been it's i mean it happened sometimes but i walked in and i was like oh i was like the tv all the colors were crisp everything was just so nice and i was a big smile was on my face because i love tvs and i those are like greek letters to me i don't know what those are i'm like i'm overwhelmed when i see wires i just take my stuff to josh patrick and i'm like here how do you turn my computer on i mean like that i mean i feel like and and so thankful that he doesn't make me feel um you know stupid so right but i'm so thankful for that and everybody has a gift so i'm thankful for well i was just about to say everybody does have a gift so if your gift is with tech stuff setting up awesome tvs like that god wants to use that i promise he wants to use that if it's for decorating which shelby has is decorating this place up and it shows i mean this place is enlivened i think um and i mean you should see what she's done to the offices what she's starting to do with our youth center i mean she does such hard work and you do such a great job i want you to know that thank you um and and i see it and i know other people see it and it god uses that i mean just decoration and stuff like that god wants to use that as well to help others and to impact others and to bring people into a community and say look we're relatable hey we're here we're in the present you know we're not stuck 30 years in the past we're here to speak and to reach you and we love you so i appreciate your gift i know that it's a gift from god absolutely god wants to use you absolutely and i cannot wait for the lesson for today because we do talk about uh we got to get a little sneak preview of alan's lesson and so i'm really excited to see uh you know who got who who alan talks about today which is actually saul who becomes paul and how god uses him and what an instrument um that he uses him as you know uh which was a struggle for him in the past and now he's doing wonderful and what did wonderful um so anyway we're excited can't wait to get our worship started let's all worship together i'm super pumped about today so let's get started all right good morning good morning good morning everybody standing with us it looks a little bit different in here doesn't it wow it's bright up here the closer you are to it it's the brighter it gets so i'm glad i'm facing you guys out here let's start everybody out with a song and get everybody in here [Music] [Music] jesus she was so good [Music] jesus you were so good jesus you were so good there's nothing to fear cause i'm here in your presence jesus and i jesus want to thank you with the repeat of my heart alive [Music] cause i'm jesus in your presence jesus you were so good jesus you were so so good and i just want to thank you with every beat [Music] you surprised [Music] i'm here in your presence [Applause] [Music] jesus i just want to thank you with everyone oh man thanks john okay all right all right so we got it worked out there you figured i'd know how to do this by now but uh hey thank you so much john and to this incredible praise team for every uh every sunday morning they just bring us in and just get us you know into that mood and into that place and just ready that spiritual worship oh it's just so fantastic man it is a beautiful day here in westmond road today the sun is shining birds are chirping i couldn't think of a better place to be than with my forever family just like this so as you can see you know spring is coming our way and we're making some changes we're making some changes uh not only in our community but in our church as you can see there's uh so please pardon our construction as we uh as we just get better and better and ready to grow with you in your life and with other changes that we have we have new classes coming up right we have new small groups coming up we have great ways for you to get plugged in for you to come and help just increase the experience of your worship with us every week and to find those you can check out your app you can go to the the church's website those are all listed there so if you're looking for something that's like hey i want to get even more of an experience grow even closer to god and closer to my forever family then that's where you'll find that information we love you guys thank you so much for coming to celebrate with us and welcome home thanks tommy everybody let's be standing again [Music] my oh [Music] deep within me [Music] draw me deeper lord deeper lord [Music] [Music] oh [Music] deep within me deep within me [Music] draw me deeper lord [Music] deep within [Music] draw me deeply draw me deeper [Music] deeper [Music] foreign [Music] oh [Music] is me [Music] i am [Music] lord [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] far away [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] stay close to me my request today forever is that you keep christ with me christ before me cries behind me christ in me christ [Music] [Applause] [Music] christ on my right christ when i stand up christ when i fall down christ when i arrived heart that thinks of me christ in every mouth [Music] that speaks of me christ in every eye that sees me christ did me [Music] stay close to me my request today and forever is that you keep christ with me with me christ with me christ with me christ [Music] [Music] you're [Music] my [Music] about [Music] my [Music] ah [Music] [Music] you're the little [Music] i see [Music] my [Music] you're my glory you're the little [Music] [Music] [Music] hallelujah [Applause] my [Music] hallelujah [Music] is [Music] i [Music] my presence [Music] i [Music] oh [Music] my treasures [Music] [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] [Music] is lay your burdens down every care you carry and come to the table of grace for there is mercy [Music] to enter the presence of god for he is [Music] follow holy knees and pray for the kings and the love he breaks is here in this place we raise our voices raise our soul offer give our praise for the kingdom [Music] is and come to the table of grace [Music] presence of god for he is holy [Music] is here in this place we raise our [Music] he voices is here he is [Music] is [Music] is here [Music] is so uh we gather here as a as a body um as some of you are familiar with the communion uh message some of you are familiar with the communion story um some of you may not be some of you may have uh don't understand why that we think that this um juice and this bread are important but let me tell you something if you read the bible you understand one thing bread is extremely important it goes way back right so you go back to the first time when the passover feast actually happened the angel of death is coming and god said make bread you realize that like they're saying hey this god has told us that he's about to kill a bunch of people and his his instructions are make bread so then they go out to they they escape egypt they escape persecution they do all these amazing things and overcome all this stuff and somehow they get there and they start complaining is god just left us out here we're gonna be hungry and god makes bread you see um whenever the the passover feast was happening paul stephens did a great communion talk a while back about yeast and and why that's important but when jesus rode in these people are throwing yeast out to be trampled right yeast represents sin again another bread analogy but then when jesus is about to die he says look at this bread it spreads my body and what's funny is we always are like this is jesus's body broken for me 100 accurate 100 true but we are also called god's body which means we are to be broken we are to be beaten we are to give our lives so that others may see who god really is so um that's been i've been sitting this pews for as long as i can i've sat right over there when i was in the youth group i sat back there when i was in elementary school now i'm sitting over there occasionally sometimes i'm back over there i'm a part of this body and one of the things that gets me is i'm so blessed that god's done all these things for me that i start thinking i can pay him back right some of us have sat in the pew so long we forgot we're saved and that's for alan to figure out on his sermon but um but those of us who are taking communion we're saved we're part of the body and paul reminds us he says but by the grace of god i am what i am and his grace toward me was not in vain but i labored more abundantly than than all of them yet not i but the grace of god which was with me you see we think that because of grace we should work harder we should pay back god it's that's not how it works because of the grace of god you are compelled the grace is working itself out in you you know why because that sin that yeast that was trampled by our savior and king that's working itself out that's the labor grace is laboring all the good that you do is because of god being inside of you because it matters to be the body it matters to be the bread so as we take this cup i think the most important thing we can do is the body is say god i am an empty cup fill me up what shall i render to the lord for all of his benefits toward me i will take the cup of salvation and i will call upon the name of the lord so as you take this bread that's extremely important remember that god is turning you into an empty cup to do his will that's worth celebrating let's pray god you are the bread you are the cup and you've asked us to imitate you with all that we have and god we love you so much for that we pray that we build our lives around that love and that hope god i pray that we see each one of these things and help those emblems help those moments of your grace and love to remind us that you are god and you've called us to be your body you've given your grace for us to be in your body god made this meal that we share together as the body of jesus covered in the blood of jesus remind us to go and share that blood with other people and celebrate like people who have hope so you're wonderful and precious and we pray amen [Music] in [Music] as the wind [Music] over the place [Music] as the wind flows over the plains so are you to me so are you to me before the throne of god above [Music] satan tempts me to defend [Music] who made [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] righteousness one with himself [Music] my soul is [Music] god hey y'all my name is derek poole i'm a graphic designer for one kingdom and i play drums on the worship team this is my buddy jack and we're here to give you your announcements for the week saturday march 13th at 10 a.m we are having auditions for the instrumental worship team we are looking for drummers guitar players bass players piano players singers whatever you can do musically we need you to sign up go to the wfr app where we have some more details for you and some song charts we hope you'll join us and be a part of our team all right kids march 20th at camp chioka get ready for some big eggs the easter egg hunt starts at 10 o'clock this is a great event to invite your friends to and the horn for the hunt starts at 10 15. we're super glad that you're here with us today welcome home [Applause] what's up my favorite road family we're excited to bring a new ministry to you call d412 or deception 412 for our youth we're excited to bring this ministry because we want to invest in our youth this comes out of first timothy 4 12. first timothy chapter 4 verse 12 says do not let anyone look down on you because you are young but set an example for all the believers in speech in conduct in love in faith and in purity and that's our goal for this ministry is to help grow our children as followers of jesus or disciples and then moving into and growing into leaders and influencers for jesus we will be issuing specific this good morning church you ever just had something stuck in your throat you couldn't get it out poor brandon that's what happens when you're young and an intern you get cut off in mid-sentence i'm thinking about trying out for the band over there i wonder if they need more cowbell i think i might could do that welcome to the fellowship center we're glad you guys are with us today and our live stream audience welcome once again to wfr we know that audience is growing and we praise god for that one of the benefits and there aren't many that come from this came from this lockdown was that we were able to expand and enhance our live stream and a lot of people have come to know jesus have become a part of this church even though many of them have never been physically present they're with us and all you got to do is watch some time on facebook and see the interaction to know god is moving in powerful ways that's part of the reason we have this new screen up how about how about this brand new high definition screen what about that i think it's pretty good huh we are bringing this 60-plus year old complex into the 21st century it's taking a while we appreciate your help and your patience as we get there we need of course you guys to contribute to be a part of that as well we're going to put some chairs in here these pews have finally cracked for their last time hopefully hopefully and we're going to get some a little bit better seating here too we're excited about that where is jett hudnall where are you jeff here he is now jet's going to read our scripture for us today normally i get a little intel on my scripture reader all it says here is that jett is the good-looking twin so i don't know what that means but we'll go over that galatians chapter 1 verses 22-24 i was personally unknown to the churches of judea that are in christ they only heard the report the man who formally persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy and they praise god because of me thank you jeff i appreciate that [Applause] oh and i was just kidding i'm sure you're both good looking and talented i'm super excited about this text today because it's one of those game changer points in this story that we've been talking about in the book of acts we have called it an unstoppable adventure because that's exactly what it was and what it is and uh and today this conversion that we're going to see is really something that just kind of takes it to another level of course we're going to be talking about saul of tarsus and you've got to remember saul saul was the one who finally was able to implement what the early jewish leadership was not able to accomplish because they were timid and fearful remember they kept giving bringing the disciples in and they would chew them out maybe they'd have them flogged and they would say don't you can't speak anymore in his name but they just kept speaking and people just continued to spread so saul comes in and he's a hammer he's a ball-peen hammer and he's willing to do something and so for the first time he brings in murder of the lord's people into the equation and now he's got a taste for this it's wetted his appetite and so he's gonna as the gospel is spreading remember to judea and then samaria paul is gonna spread his terrorism with it because he thinks now he's got the church on the run what he doesn't realize is is god is just fanning the flames and what he's going to find out is today in acts chapter 9 is he's going to be part of the flame he just doesn't know it yet if you would follow along with us in acts chapter 9 verse 1 says meanwhile and we already realized that saul was there and they recognized him as the leader they were laying their clothes at his feet while stephen was being martyred you remember then it said he broke out of persecution against the church in jerusalem so now he's still breathing out murderous threats against the lord's disciple and we've talked about this a lot during this series once the violence begins it spreads because people think that that will shut things down but it won't not when something is so meaningful as the gospel of christ he went to the high priest and he asked him for letters to the synagogues in damascus so now he's going to go on the road take his act on the road so that he found this if he found any who belonged to the way i love that name the way whether men or women he might take them as prisoners to jerusalem so he's on his way he's going to read some havoc and terror in another place but he's going to find something interesting along the way one of the things i've loved about this series that we've been able to share with you is some stories from people here that have are still having their lives changed are still being impacted the way still growing and all the threats and evil one that's against them still there's triumph and we've been able to share in some of those stories throughout the series so today as we begin this text i wanted you to hear from one of our elders who has a lot in common with saul of tarsus run that video guys so we see a man and how he was changed forever it's quite the story in those days as the holy spirit had been poured out made available for anyone in the world the 12 disciples were going around performing miracles and people were being converted by the thousands beginning in jerusalem well they came together and they said look the widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food people were going hungry there were big crowds gathering up and they were having trouble finding enough men to look after them all it's like a fast-growing church in modern america well they put a bunch of men up for a proposal they they gave it to a guy named stephen stephen was full of faith and of the holy spirit this is the guy that's fixing to be stoned to death he did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people this guy was very gifted could perform miracles the jews didn't like what he was saying they couldn't stop him they couldn't stand up against his wisdom or spirit by which he spoke so stephen gets up and gives them a speech and tells them how the cow ate the cabbage the last thing stephen said in his speech was you stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears you're just like your fathers you always resist the holy spirit get this in your mind these people turned against god turned against jesus and they violated commandment number six do not murder when they had him murdered and strung up on a cross and philip has taught him that you've betrayed and murdered him you who have received the law when the people heard that someone was accusing them of murdering the savior of the world and by his death would even save them they were like in acts 2 a lot of them were just stunned and said what do we do well when these this bunch here heard this they were furious gnashed their teeth at stephen stephen full of the holy spirit looked up and said i see jesus standing at the right hand of god they covered their ears they rushed at him dragged him out of the city and began to stone him now there not only did they kill the author of life jesus they're killing his messengers too they used it by stoning him to death meanwhile listen this the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named saul they were putting the clothes in front of him he's one of the ones heading the killing up he's the one that's saying kill him kill him and they did on that day a great persecution broke out against the church stephen was killed and now they're on the hunt and the council culture is in the streets looking for revenge all of it against the god who made them they were scattered throughout judea and samaria everybody's going in every direction trying to stay alive godly men buried stephen and mourn deeply but saul there he is again this is the introduction of saul of tarsus who later on changed his name to paul [Music] saul began to destroy the church going from house to house he dragged off men and women and put them in prison murdering them put him in jail because they're simple trusting faith in jesus christ a light from heaven flashed around him he's on his way to damascus with a little troop of people to kill more christians all of a sudden boom like a big lightning strike god's going to get his attention pretty quickly flashed around him he fell to the ground and he heard a voice say to him saul saul why do you persecute me god's talking to him in person let's watch his response who are you lord it might have been who are you lord or it might have been who are you lord take your pick saul asked i am jesus came to reply whom you are persecuting now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do you say i wonder if he's going to carry out instructions always remember this if jesus ever runs upon you and you hear a big lightning flash and and you look up and you're blind you'll go into that in a minute you're blind you say oh it's going to get your attention you can bet on that saul got up from the ground but when he opened his eyes uh-oh he could see nothing he's blind as a bat so they led him by the hand into damascus for three days he was blind and did not eat or drink anything this dude is down and out in damascus there was a disciple named ananias places his hands on him on saul brother saul the lord jesus who appeared to you back there on the road as you were coming here has sent me that you may see again and be filled with the holy spirit what in the world he's murdering god's people and god comes down in person jesus in flesh but he's glorified jesus this is post-resurrection and ascension [Music] he got up paul did immediately something like scales fell from saul's eyes and he could see again he got up and was baptized and after taking some food regained his strength saul spent several days with the disciples in damascus at once he's been motivated at once he began to preach in the synagogue that jesus is the son of god wait a minute a week ago you were killing people who believed that and now say what well a lot of them do what he was doing and they're like what the well he said don't call me saul anymore i'm paul now i'm changing my name over this i'm enjoying the kindler gentler feel he's mellowing a little bit he but he still has a way doesn't he when it comes to scripture and he's a lot like saul he became a different man and the kingdom was impacted because of it i call that section that dad was reading in 9-3-6 the q a that saved the way i mean it was short and it was sweet but when you're jesus asking the questions and answering it doesn't take much and two things were happening at one time here one is there was this person who would later say in his writings that he was set apart from birth to be an instrument of god and he was and the second thing was happening is the greatest threat now to the early church is about to become a part of the early church and that's going to change everything the first question of course was why and you notice jesus called his name twice i don't know about you but someone says your name twice is usually not good right ow ow right you messed up now lisa's got it down to one name she just calls me by my first name marshall trouble saul saul why why i want you to think about that question in relationship to your own life you see why speaks to our conscience and we hope to always have one although we do read it in the bible there can come a period of time where you can sear that conscience where you won't even ask the question why anymore jesus said why why do i act the way i do why do i react the way that i do why do i think the way that i'm thinking why do i feel this way why did i think being addicted to something is a good idea why did i think having an affair was the right thing to do why did i let my anger get so out of control that i abused people around me why ask the question paul is at a point here as saul that everything he's thought was right everything he was zealous about and self-righteous about has now been called into question in one moment with one question why why are you doing this why would anybody think that terrorizing and killing people would be some sort of godly action and yet that's where he was so his answer to the why is who who are you who are you lord who you see that's when clarity has now come into the picture once the conscience is engaged then we have a moment of clarity right we're willing to look even if we can't see what's interesting about paul who is still saul is that he's down in the fetal position with his eyes squeezed shut because we know we don't get to verse eight till he opens his eyes to realize he's blind so he's he's laying there in this moment with this great flash this voice of jesus and he has a moment of clarity have you ever found yourself in a place like that i have i mean broken down who are you lord when lisa and i speak around the country we share our story she tells about laying out back behind our house we had in calhoun early morning dew on the ground wishing she could dig a hole to go lower because that's how bad she felt and in the fetal position with her eyes squeezed shut saying lord rescue me if you're real i need you because i got nothing sometimes for those of us it takes that moment i can promise you this you'll never find peace or purpose without asking who jesus is and asking him to apply that in you for my dad it was in the howard brothers parking lot according to mom head on the steering wheel tears down eyes closed saying miss k i need my family i'm miserable living the way i'm living who are you lord we didn't know that there was an ananias named william h smith that was ready to go changed us changed our culture it's changed thousands of lives because someone said who are you lord i love jesus answer and it's the best one i've told you this before in this series i am jesus it was jesus enough yes i am jesus this took me back to our john study from last year i am the messiah i am the bread of life i am from above i am the eternal one i am the light of the world i am the door i am the son of god i am the resurrection and the life i am the lord and the master i am the way the truth and the life i am the true vine i am jesus i am the alpha in the omega i and the beginning and the end i'm the first and the last i am the living one and before abraham was born i am and that's enough i am he gives him a second answer once you know who jesus is you know he tells him to get up go and be willing to be guided in truth telling people that today you got to get up you got to go i told you i was in a pig pen you already told me get up go and be willing to be guided in truth so what we're going to see in this text is that paul saul is going to get three guides the first guides are the guys that came with him verse 7 says the men traveling with saul they stood there speechless they heard the sound but did not see anyone it sounded like thunder to them and they didn't get blinded by the light so this was a laser beam focus for paul they led him by the hand into damascus to the house of judas on straight street was i thought was ironic because he's about to get straightened out right in some guy named judas's house said he stayed in a room there for three days can't see so he's in the dark no food no drink just waiting i find that ironic that it was three days in the dark with no food or no drink that was his own tomb wasn't it realizing what was about to happen and these guides they didn't know any more than he did all they could do was get into this house and say all right we're out of here because they came there to kill christians not to get the word of the lord see that's what happens jesus calls them blind guides you don't want to follow the people that you came to the party with unless they're willing to listen to the who those are blind guides blind guides lead us into dark places that's why there has to be separation from that so these first guides other than getting them to a house that's all they had no answers so god had a guy in damascus his name was ananias and in verse 10 it said in damascus there was a disciple named ananias the lord called to him in a vision ananias so here we got another call from jesus but now ananias remembers only one name so that's better and then also he answers correctly yes lord if jesus ever calls out to you the answer is yes lord just so you know yes lord the lord told him go to the house of judas on straight street and ask for a man from tarsus named saul for he is praying so now we know what saul was doing right he's praying in a vision he has seen a man named ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight so he's getting some visions from god i love this next two verses because ananias is so us so me like i get a clear thing to do okay i got it lord just spit on here lord i've heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in jerusalem now he's telling jesus this just in case you missed it you know on a news bulletin and he's come here with authority from the chief priest to arrest all who called his name in other words you sure about this lord because i hear this is a bad dude isn't that us to think about everything jesus says here's what i want you to do and you say yeah i got that but are you sure about this i love it that we're reporting to god who knows everything in the end of his kind of cognitive years my grandpa i was visiting where they were living and he didn't have much left without then dementia set in which is unfortunate because he was a sharp guy in the word of god but he had asked him to lead a prayer so he got up and he started into his prayer and he said in his prayer he said lord i'm not sure if you know this or not but and then he gave a report of something that he wanted to pray about and we were laughing because it's our grandpa you know you're in church and somebody said something funny in a prayer you know you're trying not to right because but we thought i thought that's what we do we report god i don't know that you know this so look what jesus answer was go same thing you told saul go this man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the gentiles and their kings and to the people of israel i will show him how much he must suffer for my name and paul will suffer the rest of the way for the name of christ so ananias guess what got up and went to the house and he entered it you see god puts people in our lives to help guide us to truth if we're willing to look for them if we're willing to wait for him to send them and you may be that instrument for someone else and you may never know that you are the one that god used which is why we have to make the most of every opportunity you see ananias led paul to the third guide and this would be the last one he would ever need 17. placing his hands on saul he said brother saul the lord jesus who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here has sent me so that you may see again so who brought some physical relief but much more importantly and be filled with the holy spirit there there's the guide that's the one you want that's the game changer immediately something like scales fell from saul's eyes he could see again he got up and was baptized and after taking some food he regained his strength ultimately the holy spirit would change paul in huge and amazing ways including his name he went from his jewish name saul to a roman name paul because he had a mission to help as many gentiles find the kingdom of god as possible and he knew he'd be more effective the name changer to the game changer he went from being a sectarian legalist to a lover of all men willing to do anything to save some that's what he said i mean this guy was rigid from a jewish terrorist to a joyful sufferer he would suffer mightily but every time he did he said praise be to god through jesus christ he went from the pharisee of pharisees to a peacemaker he went from self-righteous to self-control and the only way that can happen is by the power of the holy spirit and it's still happening today you've seen it we've seen it in this series some of the folks that have spoken to us saul spent several days with the disciples in damascus at once he began to preach in the synagogues that jesus is the son of god he grew more and more powerful and he baffled the jews living in damascus by proving that jesus is the messiah in this text in terms of the chronology of it he's going to take off according to what he said in galatians 1. he's going to spend three years in the desert in arabia just having some me time with jesus again is it is it just a coincidence that was three years the same time the other disciple spent with jesus being changed getting away from all this legalism and all this pharisee background and he spent three years just in the desert having some time with jesus and it changed it as we close i want to hear from dad just one more time if you'll run that other clip i ran upon jesus i found jesus rather he found me i read this account and i said if he can save saul of tarsus god in his mercy and forgiveness and a fellow acting like he was behaving like he was i said good night he was worse than i am he can save me too that's one of the reasons i came to jesus my friends found me a year after i had put my faith in jesus and was baptized i was hiding at first trying to get on my feet to find out what following jesus was all about so a year went by after my conversion just like saul of tarsus and i saw my friends coming my former associates they weren't my friends anymore because they were on one side of this thing the saul of tarsus side instead of the apostle paul's side so my friends said well you know how's it going pull up out my yard down on the river i'm hidden unlisted phone number they searched and searched until they found me and when they found me they the first question they asked was you want to go up the road i said the one you're looking for died and was buried this one is the one who was raised from the dead so his arabia was the ouachita river until god would strengthen him with what he needed to then be able to lead thousands to christ including many of those old buddies by the way before they passed away they asked the question who are you lord and now the almighty sent his anonymize to them that's what this is all about so as we close today my question to you is can you ask the why and can you ask the who if you're spinning your wheels you're not getting anywhere i can guarantee it's because the holy spirit is not being allowed to do what he does and guide us into truth so the question must be asked and i'm sure with as many people are watching online and even the folks here that someone probably is in that place of saying man i mean i'm asking the question because things are not going well and i thought i was right all this time so did saul and then the question is can you act on the question are you willing to get up and go and be willing to be guided because that's the submission part of this that's why it says that over and over get up and go laying on the ground the fetal position is not going to take you anywhere can you have the scales removed and then can you follow the guide can you accept him jesus came to this earth and died for us was raised for us and mediates for us at this very moment is waiting to come back when the number is right he's coming hopefully i'm saying sooner than later i'm down for it you want to be ready you want to be a spirit-filled believer that looks forward to that moment the one thing that has stood out to me in the last year in our culture is there are many people who are afraid to die i'm not one of them whether it's today or tomorrow or some point in the future because i have full assurance that the guide that i've been following is a deposit put in me to raise me from the dead to live forever and if you don't know that this morning i want you to know it embrace it accept it and obey it paul got he looked the situation said you know what i need to become a new man and he did and we read that he was baptized into christ that day name changer game changer if you need that today why don't you come forward while we stand and while we sing [Music] thank you al and phil what a lesson today father we are grateful for each person that's watching today and we uh know that many of you are struggling we know some of your needs we don't know all of them but this prayer is for you wherever you are and whatever you're struggling with let's pray father we're so grateful for your love and for opportunities like this to hear your word and to worship together here at white sphere road or around the world uh we're just thankful for that father and we ask you to be with all those that are uh listening today father and that are struggling we know people are having physical needs emotional needs spiritual needs financial needs and struggling with pain and problems with their health father we just ask you to be with each one of them and meet those needs father give them the strength and the hope in you that to know that uh this what will pass father and that uh there will be better days we know there's going to be one better day and we look forward to being with one another in heaven someday being in that course being at that banquet table all together worshiping you father thank you be with the people here father in christ and we pray amen thank you so much guys that was an amazing lesson yeah wow i was a little bit convicted about the when when uh when alan was talking about the uh ananias and so going and not fearing and i'm sure i would have probably done the same thing as ananias and said uh do you remember what paul i mean like this saw man just did he was persecuting us and you know the fear of that and and uh the repercussions of that so i thought that was uh you know for me kind of convicted me as well as not uh not being fearful and just doing what god asked me to do so um which that was really really hit home to me as well yeah and just paul's life i mean what an incredible like testament to the truth gospel um and a powerful message for everybody um i love what alan said is that and what phil said is that that you look at paul's life and what he did and the things that he committed to um and and jesus said i need that one um and and for him to to do that for paul to change his life and to to show him the truth of his mistakes and and for him to change his path uh to follow jesus i mean no one's left out right and you know i think it's interesting it's it's an unlikely person i mean like you know he was persecuting christians and god uses him to turn the tables and like to uh convert people to christ and so i think that's amazing so it really makes me see people in a different light as well because god can still use those people as well that i may think they're very unlikely right like i don't know about those people but you know what god sees more than what we see and uh so i think that's a great great lesson for us all i mean it's so true i mean and for a lot of us we look in the mirror and we're like god can't use this i don't know i don't know what god could do with this probably nothing but i promise you this god wants to use you he wants to give you a new name um the world has told you so many lies about yourself and who you are and they're all untrue and and god sees you for your true value for who he loves for who he created you to be and he wants to show you the truth about who you are and the truth about who he is and he's a good good father absolutely and you know and one thing that i was thinking about is is that righteous indignation that's you know that paul had uh because he thought he was doing the right thing and and how many times we've done that in our own lives is you know we've done things because we thought that was that was the right thing to do i mean like that was the that was right and so god god convicted him of that and so i love that you know allen said it's his persecution saul's person paul's persecution uh turned into being a peacemaker and um even though i'll never forget somebody told me one time just because you're right doesn't mean you always have to be right and that's a really big struggle for me because i like being right yeah me too i mean so i like to get the last word in every time so uh but i also need to learn to be a peacemaker just because i'm right doesn't necessarily mean i have to be right i mean it's okay to be a peacemaker and you know we are we in in a world that we live in we all want to be heard but we also all want to be loved and want to uh you know live at peace with each other as well so um i do want to give a shout out to jessica gary and kathy nolan i know they've had some health issues this week i know jessica gary just got home from the hospital yeah and praise god for that she's still got some things that she's still working on and just some you know some side effects and things like that so please please please keep her in your prayers and she's got sweet four i mean four sweet little babies at home too so you know it's a lot um right now and so she is being surrounded with some great help and support support as well but she's got she's got a road ahead of her so please keep her in your prayers as well and for kathy nolan we love you and i hope you're doing well um one other person i want to give a shout out to is um tommy no i'm sorry tony yelverton i was looking at your your feed and gosh yes yes i know right um yes this is such a great time for us to feel so close to each other and i love our church family and our love our live stream family and boy i just love our community and our live stream group as well um and also rich smart and jessie smart i love you guys and i hope you all are doing well so yeah and if you're not plugged into our wfr live stream community group on facebook please be involved we want to see you there we want to plug you in we want to cultivate this family atmosphere that is there and we want you to just be a part of it to know that you are loved because we love you and we care about you and we want to know what's going on in your life so join the wfr live stream community group and if you have prayer requests please send them at info wfrchurch.org absolutely and we will be sure to look at those we'll respond to you i promise we are working on that every day of the week we're checking those emails and we're having conversations with y'all we'd love y'all we want y'all to know that um and if you want to give absolutely please give on the wfr app it's real easy real simple and you can even set it up as a monthly payment as well so we make it as easy as possible um but we want people to be committed and to know that that we use uh what our resources to further the kingdom further the kingdom absolutely and we're doing great ministry work and so um so we praise god for that uh i also want to give a shout out to our live stream family that has been donating and sending candy to our easter egg hunt like it's so it's awesome it's like christmas every day and then i realized i can't eat the candy so i'm like no no still in a bag this is in y'all's room i know i know people do come by and like oh what kind of candy did y'all get today it's really for the children so uh but we are so thankful that y'all been so no no i don't eat the candy i can't so uh but just so thankful for your generosity on that and loving on our families and our kids and stuff like that and we're super super excited about that so um yeah so that's coming up in a couple weeks so that should be fun so um yeah that'll be great well we love you all so much and once again just thank you all for joining in absolutely peak of the week is on wednesdays and and make sure you plug into that and man we just hope you all have a great week we love you all so much and we'll see y'all later bye guys [Music] when all i see is the battle when all i see is the mountain you see and as i walk through the shadows your love surrounds me there's nothing to fear now for i am safe [Music] so when i fight i fight on my knees [Music] through the night oh god the battle belongs to you and if you are for me you can be against me for jesus there's nothing impossible for you thank you god [Music] belongs to you [Music] belongs to you almighty fortress you go before us nothing can stand against the power of our god you shine in the shadows [Music] you go before [Applause] [Music] nothing can stand [Music] with my hands [Music] oh belongs to you you

Channel: Whites Ferry Road Church

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Id: wF-a2zT0d1I

Length: 97min 35sec (5855 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 07 2021