This recording is from Christ Kingdom Church in Avalon Park, Orlando. Visit us online at ChristKingdom.org for our calendar driving directions and more audio recordings. Good morning. He is risen. All right. That's pretty good for a hot Sunday morning. Let me let you know that we do apologize. The AC is not working correctly and Orange County is working on that. So I hope that it is better by the time the sermon is over here. But thank you for bearing with us and being patient with that as well. Let me ask you a question as we start off Easter Sunday morning and this has nothing to do with Easter directly initially. But how many of you like to watch reality TV? Raise your hand. Raise your hand if you like to watch reality TV. All right. I know some of you are lying out there. Because the ratings show the reality TV is just last ten years as has blown other stuff off the charts. But how many of you honestly though, even whether you watch it and you are afraid to admit it or even if you don't watch it, how many of you are a little sick of reality TV? All right. Come on. It gets a little bit extreme, a little bit too much. A little bit over the top. If we are honest and we think about it here sometimes. Sometimes you get a little bit too much information as we have seen in many cases on many different shows here. But I want to go back to the old type of reality TV shows. One of my favorite ones of all time was the one called Let's Make a Deal. Game shows. The original reality TV shows. These are real people out there getting a chance to win real money. Maybe previously recorded but pretty much close to live. There's not a bunch of stuff going on there. But look at this first picture of Let's Make a Deal. How many of you are old enough to remember Let's Make a Deal? All right. Most of you have or you've seen syndication or whatever. There he is. Monty Hall. Some of you are just a... Have a moment of silence for some of you to kind of go back and relive that and enjoy that moment for a second there. But this was a great TV show because it was fairly entertaining. People really did win cars, money and all kinds of different things. But the way the game was played, unlike many other games shows, the contestants for the most part were fully in control. If they had brought the right items in their purse, if they made the right selection of curtain number one, two or three, or switched it for the box, there was this sense they were completely in control of what was going on. But some of you know some of the recent studies about the show too. There were some things that were obscured to them that they were not aware of. So let me give you an example. An example would be this. Don't go to the next slide yet because I will show you too much. I said, don't go to the next slide yet. The example is this. A contestant is given a choice. Okay? There is something amazing behind either curtain number one, curtain number two or curtain number three. And you can take a pick of which one you think has maybe the car or the big deal of the day, whatever that would have been for the day. So the contestant who's picked will just say let's pick curtain number one or whatever. Then you know what happens next, right? Monte Hall does what? He reveals something behind curtain number two or three. Because one of the curtains only or one of the boxes only has the really good deal the other two has a goat or something, something like that, something that you don't want. So what he'll do, because obviously there's two other choices that are left and one of those has the goat, he will reveal one of those other two curtains. Curtain two or three, they'd pick curtain one. Now he comes back and this is where it kind of gets going. Your palms start to sweat a little bit for your contestant there because they say he asked them, all right, it's your chance to make a deal. You've selected curtain number one, but let's say he opened up curtain number two. I'm going to give you the choice of what? What's the choice? You can switch to curtain number three or you can stay with curtain number one, your original choice. All right, and the person quickly does some mathematical thinking their head and think, all right, what are my odds, what are my odds? And they come to the conclusion that their odds are what? Huh? 50-50, right? They had two curtains that are left. They picked one, one has been revealed, has the goat and there's another one. It seems like a 50-50 choice. More times than not, they stayed, statistically, with their original choice. And they cut themselves out of 33% chance, greater chance of guessing the right curtain. Let me show you why, look at the next screen. All right, this is the best way I saw it explained here as I looked at it. And if any of you saw the movie 21 that was out, this was talked about in that movie as part of the strategy with that. Look real quickly, choice number one. All right, one of the cups has the dime and whatever the valuable thing is underneath it, same kind of principle. You have a one-on-three chance of getting it right, correct? Go down to move number two here. All right, you pick the cup. Let's say in choice number one, you pick the right cup. You don't know it at the time, but then the other cup is shown that less of what the X-reference represents. An empty, unchosen cup is removed, and then you have a chance to switch the choice to their remaining cup or keep it where we are yet. The probability of success, two out of three, not 50-50, two out of three. And you can see, if you did choice number two, if you hadn't picked the cup number one or pick the cup number two, cup number three was revealed. And so on, choice number three. No matter which one you picked, you come to the conclusion at first glance thinking you have a 50-50 choice. But no, it was always in your best interest to always switch your pick. You were given one-third of the answer, but you still thought you had a 50-50 chance. Truth was obscured. Statistically, most of the time, people stayed with their original choice because it felt safe, and they were scared about what they were going to do. And part of the reason why this show was a success and made money is because they knew that two-thirds of the time they would be right, because you should have switched. It's just mathematics. But my point is this. Truth is easily obscured. And when you put truth in the context of a tense moment, intention, and emotion, and excitement, and opportunity, just think about life. You're going through life, and life is not just this flat line of emotion. There's challenges, there's exciting things, there's tough things, there's difficult times going on. Bombarded by things, and truth is easily, as a simple game show analogy, shows obscured. If you're not careful to look deeply, if you're not careful to think, if you're not careful to look outside the moment and outside the box and look at the possibilities. And I want to challenge, as we start here this morning, that some of you are here today, and I'm so glad you are. Maybe it's the one time of year you come to church. Maybe you don't usually come to church at all, even on Easter. But some friend of yours dragged you here, or you lost a bet, and you're here, for whatever reason. I'm so glad you're here because I want you. And we've been praying for you specifically to be here. To consider has truth been obscured. And is there something to this story of Jesus, and this person of Jesus, and this wild claim that he rose from the dead? Really true. And for those that you're a normal church, folks, would call yourselves a follower of Jesus Christ, I want to challenge you this morning as well too. Is there a level of truth that even for you has been obscured, that needs to be refreshed this morning, about the reality of who Jesus is, and what he's done. So as we look at that, we're not going to use a typical text this morning for Easter. In fact, it doesn't even mention directly the story of Easter in Jesus' rising from the dead. But it is all in the background, and in the margins, and in the undercurrent of this story of the Apostle Paul from Acts chapter 22, verses 1 through 16, of how he came to encounter the empty tomb in a very specific and real way for him. He had heard about the empty tomb. He was born and was alive during at least part of Jesus' life. We're not sure exactly how much younger he was from Jesus, probably some. But he had known he had heard the stories, even as we just read in the scripture that many had heard, and it was still being told that the body of Jesus had been stolen. He knew of an empty tomb. But on this day that we're going to read about, he encountered the empty tomb. And let's look and let's read that together here. I'm just going to read the first five verses here. If you have like to follow along, there's an outline in your bulletin on the back side of the scripture that's printed in your bulletin. I want to read the first five verses here, because there's three parts to Paul's story at least here. And as we look at the first part, part one, we see that he was a successful doer. That's what goes in the blank if you like to do that successful doer. And how do we know that? Let's read verses one through five. This is God's holy and inspired word. And the apostle Paul was speaking here himself as he writes. He says, brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense. And when they heard him speak to them in Aramaic, they became very quiet. Then Paul said, I am a Jew born in Tarsus of Celicia, but brought up in this city. Under Gamaliel, I was thoroughly trained in the law of our fathers and was just as zealous for God as many of you are today. I persecuted the followers of this way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison as also the high priest and all the council can testify. I even obtained letters from them to their brothers in Damascus and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished. We'll stop there for now. You've ever seen some of these TV shows that open up and start off with some kind of huge thing happening for about five minutes or so. Five minutes or so, and they stop and say 72 hours earlier. And then it goes back and it kind of picks up on what's happened leading to that point. Let me do that for a moment. Let's flash back a little bit for the apostle Paul. Where is he right now by the way when he's speaking here? He is right here. There's been this huge mob of people that have come across. He's been in Jerusalem and many are angry at Paul to the point that they want him stone. They want him killed like Jesus. They want him crucified because he's been proclaiming the truth that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. And he's got such a rowdy crowd going up the Romans have had to come in and just to keep peace in the city had to kind of take Paul off to the side and kind of say, all right, what's going on here? What's the deal when possible when they possible as hey, let me speak to the crowd. And this is what's happened here. He's getting up and he's speaking to this crowd. It's angry at him that wants to see him killed. That wants his message squashed. And he starts to tell his story here. He starts to simply talk about his life as a successful doer. And what do I mean by that? Because Paul's life as many there knew him specifically and how do they know him specifically because Paul at one time was also called Saul. In fact, that was his original name given at birth Saul and Saul had been once one of those as even makes reference here to them who had been zealous on the other side wanting to fight and wanting to squash anything that had anything to do with Jesus. To introduce them the leaders there would have known him specifically. Oh, he was well known. His reputation preceded him. What were some of the things about the possible Paul? Let me tell you this. He grew up and he was poised to do great things. He had a huge future in front of him. Let me tell you some of the reasons why. One, he was from Tarsus, which as he says here is an important commercial in university city. It was one of the top cities in the area where people would have automatically known on this guy from Tarsus. This guy is from a good spot here. This is where business was happening at his best. This was some of the finest academics could be learned for the time was right there. He was from a good spot in town. He was born, we were told in other places. That was a Roman citizen. Now think about that. He's Jewish. Most Jews did not have Roman citizenship. So here's a guy that not only is a Jew and the leaders will find out with the Jews, but he has Roman citizenship, which is a big deal because you see Israel is under the rain right now, the Roman Empire. They have been conquered by the Roman Empire. They are under there really in a situation of being vassals. They are here to serve the Roman Empire, to be in allegiance and obedience to the Roman Empire. Therefore the Roman Empire will protect them and will include them and won't squash them out completely. They'll let them have their temple and worship of God, they'll let them do their things, but they're very much under oppression in their mind. They're not free. It's not like the days of King David that they would remembered and their ancestors would have told them about. So Paul, can you imagine? He's got Roman citizenship and he's a leader in the Jewish community. He's got both things going form for the time. He's in an incredible position of influence with that. He's a successful doer. He says right here in this text that he was instructed under Gamaliel, who was a leader in the Sanhedrin. What's the Sanhedrin? Well, the Sanhedrin was a group of leaders made of a Pharisees and other people who were the top religious experts for the day. Had about 70 or so members in it, but these were the elite crowd of the Jewish people. There's no Jewish king at the time officially because you have Caesar in the Roman Empire, but as far as in the religious community, there were still lots of room for power and for influence and for leadership. So this elite group, one of the top leaders in that was this guy named Gamaliel and he had studied under him. Let me put that in perspective for you. This is sort of like somebody who comes up to you and says, you know, I have learned my techniques and understanding of software and business as a personal student of Bill Gates. You'd go, really? Or somebody else that comes up to you and says, you know, my golf game has really improved since I've had private lessons from Tiger Woods the last couple of years. You'd go, really? Or somebody else who might come up to you and say, you know, I'm a vocalist and not so well known now, but I've been studying under a guy named Pavarati for many years. It would have that kind of understanding that top person, in fact, he was Gamaliel was referred to as the master rabbi. If you had studied under somebody like that, if you were the protege, if you were the person who had worked closely, you would be giving so much credibility just for the fact that you were associated with somebody who's considered the best in their field. That's what the Apostle Paul's got going for. Man, he's a successful doer. He was thoroughly trained under the law, according to verse three here. He understood what the Jewish law in tail would have required. He understood that the scriptures spoke of a Messiah and spoke of a king that would come under the line of David who would establish the throne of David forever. He understood that better than anybody. We're told as well, too, that he spoke several languages. One, right here, he speaks Greek into the Roman soldiers, but then he addresses the crowd in Aramaic, which is the local dialect for the time. But we also know from other places he knew Hebrew. So here's a guy that knows three languages for that day and time is a huge thing. He was a successful doer. And listen to what the Apostle Paul writes himself in another letter he wrote in Philippians 3 verses 4 through 6. He says this. He says, if anyone else thinks he has reason to put confidence in the flesh, I have more. Circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews in regard to the law of Pharisee, which were the ones that were the most diligent keeping the law. As for zeal, persecuting the church, as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.
I mean, what things in your life would you describe yourself as being faultless in? What things do you know and feel so passionately that anybody that opposes you, you would persecute or you would do everything you could to bring them to justice? This is what the Apostle Paul was in a position of. He was a successful doer in what he said and what he did. But he wasn't just poised for great things because of all this stuff. He was also very passionate about doing good. He was extremely passionate. Everything he was doing here, he thought was right and was true and he was passionate about doing it. He says he was zealous for God as those who were wanting to kill him that day. He says that to the crowd. He says that was once just as zealous as you are about fighting the way or Jesus Christ and the teachings and his followers. He makes that claim to them. He's extremely passionate. He said he had seen Jesus Christ as a threat though to the very foundation of Israel's beliefs and because of that he was going to do everything he could to squash Jesus Christ and his teachings and his followers. The scripture tells us here in Acts, actually a few chapters earlier than this, that he was present at the first martyrdom after Jesus' death and resurrection. Stephen, the very first deacon, the one that is for his testimony, is stone to death, marking the very beginning of the church's span, the first martyr. And the apostle Paul, too important to be the one picking up the stones, held the jackets of those who were doing the dirty work, standing in approval according to Acts 8. That's how passionate he was about it. Acts 8.3 tells us that Saul began to destroy the church going from house to house. He dragged off men and women and put them in prison. Do you get that going from house to house? He dragged off men and women and put them in prison? This had become his vocation. It was no longer just speaking against it, it was no longer just being there for the judges, judges, places like for Stephen who was being accused. But now he made it his endeavor to go house to house, define those and dragged off men and women from their homes that were following what he thought was a false way. He thought he was doing good and he was passionate about it. He was successful at doing. Well, Paul did have a big future ahead of him, but not the one he anticipated. You see, Paul would have continued just fine as a successful doer if it hadn't been for one thing, an empty tomb encounter. But before we go into that part of the story, let me ask you this this morning. How about you? Let your own interior eyes scan your heart, your soul. Take a look at your life. What are you doing with your life? Now, you may not have the credentials like the Apostle Paul did here as we've mentioned here, but you are doing something that makes you feel successful in life. Is it the people you know that make you feel successful? Is it the opinions you hold that make you feel successful? Is it the career you're in? Is it the reputation you've earned? Is it the money you have? Is it the knowledge you've obtained? Something or some things make you feel like a successful doer this morning. On the Apostle Paul had his list, but let me promise you you have yours as well. And you'll continue to feel like a successful doer just like the Apostle Paul, unless you have an empty tomb encounter. Part two of the story. One was successful doer. Part two is divine rescue. Part two, divine rescue. You see, Paul was at the apex of his successful life at this point in the story. He was a mover. He was a shaker. He was respected by those he liked and he was feared by those he hated. I mean, is there anything better than that to be respected by those you like and feared by those you hate? Well, the Apostle Paul had arrived with that. He was successful doing what he wanted to do until, as we read in the story here today, that he took a road trip to Damascus. Let me read verses six through eleven, the middle part of the story. About noon as I came near Damascus, remember this, the Apostle Paul speaking himself, telling his own story. He says, suddenly, a bright light from heaven flashed around me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, Saul, Saul. Why do you persecute me? Who are you, Lord? I asked. Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting, he replied. My companions saw the light but they did not understand the voice of who was speaking to me. What shall I do, Lord? I asked. Get up, the Lord said, and go to Damascus. There you will be told, all of you have been assigned to do. My companions led me by the hand into Damascus because the brilliance of the light had blinded me. Again, we've already mentioned that the Apostle Paul had no doubt heard reports about the empty tomb. He was probably no doubt circulating the story of his disciples came and stole the body away. Oh yeah, there was a lieutenant of Roman soldiers and guards that were there that fell asleep on duty, all of them all at the same time. But, you know, it's a hard job and you get sleeping on the job sometimes. You know, he was perpetuating some story about it. He had made some conclusion that it wasn't true that it wasn't a reality. He had made it his profession to squash out any reports and teachings of Jesus Christ and to the point that he was leading people to death that were perpetuating it until the day he experienced divine rescue. We're told that his empty tomb encounter. Jesus says three things to him. Let's look at those three phrases. The very first thing that Jesus says, the resurrected Jesus says to the Apostle Paul is, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? Now, imagine yourself being Saul here in this situation here. Here is this voice that comes from heaven in an incredible supernatural way and it calls him by name twice. Whoever it is knows exactly who he is and isn't an ironic that Paul's reaction, his answer is, who are you, Lord? Who are you? I'm going to call you Lord because there was no doubt in the Apostle Paul's mind at the time that whoever this was, Lord was a fitting title and whoever it was knew him intimately. In fact, the fact that Saul has repeated there twice is not just some kind of emphasis, it's saying a personal encounter. How many times do you come up to your friend and say, hey, John, John, probably hardly ever do that, right? But you would if it was important if it was intimate if there was some important connection that needed to happen. You might do that. Jesus does that with Saul there. He knows him intimately by name. There has been a display of all power in this beam of light that comes and knocks him off the horse in midstream here. There's been a display of all knowing whoever this is knows who he is at the same time. It was a divine rescue. Well, look at the next thing Jesus says. Jesus says, after Paul says, who are you? He says, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting. Now, thank for a second here. You've got to think about this. You've got to put yourself in his shoes. Think about how poised his life has been to persecute Christians in the calling of Jesus. Think about how passionate he has been to kill everything and everyone associated with Jesus. And now, he's talking to him from heaven and a beam of light that will blind him after the encounter. Can you imagine? I mean, do you ever have that kind of a sinking feeling where you know, you've been kind of planning or doing something and all of a sudden you realize that, oh my goodness, everything I thought, everything I planned, they just feel like the rugs pulled out from under you. Well, this is the Apostle Paul's. If the Apostle Paul had a most embarrassing moment discussion, this would be probably one of them, if not it. Yeah, you know, I devoted my life to this one thing. There's one cause. I'm going to stake my name and reputation on it. And then I made him. And he is the son of God. That is what's happening here in this situation, this text. Any of you ever see the 1998 movie called You've Got Mail? Who saw that movie? You got mail. Well, most of the country did. It was one of the most successful movies by the time that thank you, Laura, for raising your hand. It's my wife back there. Great movie, good romantic comedy, you know, thing like that. But there's a point in that that's so ironic about the whole movie here that I thought about this. Tom Hanks character, right? The owner of this big, you know, bookstore chain franchise, where we want to call it, comes in and the Meg Ryan character who owns this little small mom and pop shop, you know, her own little bookstore. It's getting squashed out by the big chain that wants to come in and drive her out of business. Now, the ironic thing about it all right is that he meets her on the internet in a chat room or something like that. They begin to have a discussion. They strike at this relationship. They become great friends. They actually fall in love on the internet. But without knowing it, there are the strongest enemies on the outside. But there's a day, there's a moment when the Tom Hanks character figures it out first that, oh my goodness, the one I've hated is the one I love. This is this kind of a moment for the Paws of Paul. This is life changing and shattering. And he has it here. The dots are connected for the first time for him. Jesus is alive. And no, the disciples didn't come to steal his body because the Paws of Paul is talking to him. Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus is the fulfillment of the mosaic law that he has studied and diligently followed himself. Jesus is the Son of God and Master and Lord. It was worthy of that title that he gave him. It was a divine rescue. Jesus's third comment to the Paws of Paul says, get up and go into Damascus. There you'll be told all that you've been assigned to do. Now, think about that for a second. The Paws of Paul was already headed where? Thank you. He was headed to Damascus. So it's a little ironic. He's already going to Damascus. But God tells him go to Damascus. But everything is different about why he's going to Damascus. Everything is different about what he's going to do when he gets to Damascus on that. Jesus asked Paul in a roundabout way, follow me. And Jesus had used those terms over and over again to his disciples. Follow me. Paul was going the same direction. He had started out that morning but for a totally entirely different reason it would turn out. And even though he was going to pursue an attack and kill the followers of Christ, now he's going to follow Christ himself in the process. His role as a messenger didn't stop. That was the reason why he was going. He was giving a message to the leaders in Damascus about who are the people we need to be watching out for? Who are the ones that are followers of Christ that we need to squash out? Well, he was still carrying a message but it was going to be a very different message. However, his response, his purpose radically changed. Radically new reason for going. It was a divine rescue. But let me ask you this morning. How about you? Think about yourself. Look at your life here this morning. Do you like Paul totally? Clueless to the deep need for rescue that you have? He was totally clueless at the time. He was at the apex of his success. He thought he had arrived. There was an empty tune encounter that changed everything. Is Jesus voice intimately calling out to you this morning? In some direct way, some personal way. Okay, maybe it's not a physical life from heaven. Maybe it's not hearing an audible voice from heaven, which those that were with Paul didn't articulate and understand. It was this intimate thing between him and Paul. They heard something they didn't know what it was. Maybe it's not quite like that, but maybe it is just as real and penetrating in your heart as it was for the Apostle Paul that day. Do you have thoughts like this? Hey, there's got to be more to life than this. Do you ever have thoughts like, who am I and why am I here? I'm not talking about who I tell people I am, but really who am I? Who knows me? Who would like me if they really did know me? Do you ever have thoughts like, does anyone know the pain and loneliness that I'm feeling? And if they did, would they be scared of death and want to get away from me? Or they love me unconditionally? There's such a thing as unconditional love.
And we don't like to listen to those voices in our heart and our soul because they're unpleasant and they're uncomfortable because we don't always have good answers for those. But when you have an empty tomb encounter, you meet the answer. You hear that there is someone that has answers to those questions that fulfills those. Many of you probably have heard of a guy named St. Augustine. He was a fourth century famous theologian and philosopher. One of the best known at the time, the leader for centuries would have been the top one. If you were living anywhere near his time and being the centuries after that, you would have said he was the best, philosopher at theologian for his day and age. But he wasn't always that way. He was a drunkard. He was a womanizer. He was a very extremely worldly person. And if you had known him during those days, you would have thought, this is the last guy that's going to be a follower of Jesus Christ. In fact, everybody given up a hope on him except for one person for the most part. That was his mom. You're really bad off and mom gives up hope on you, aren't you? But mom will usually hold off to the very bitter end. And his mom did because she was a follower of Christ. She prayed for him diligently. It was one of these days that he was in his own story, his own testimony, where he had kind of reached the end, where he had been pursuing all the worldly pleasures he could and they weren't delivering what they had promised. They weren't really satisfying him deeply. They were leaving him emptier than he was before he pursued him. And he writes this. He says in his own words, he says, I was saying these things in weeping in the most bitter contrition of my heart. And suddenly I heard a voice of a boy or girl, I know not which, coming from a neighboring house chanting over and over again. Pick it up, read it. Pick it up, read it. Immediately I ceased weeping again, most earnestly to think whether it was usual for children of some kind of a game to sing such a song, but I could not remember ever having heard anything like it. So, damning the torrent of my tears, I got to my feet, for I could not but think this was the divine command to open the Bible and read the first passage I should light upon. I snatched it up and opened it. And in silence read the paragraph on which my eyes first felt, quote, not in rioting or drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. I wanted to read no further nor did I need to, for instantly as the sentence ended there was infused in my heart something like the light of full certainty in all the gloom of doubt vanished away. He had an empty tomb experience that day in his neighborhood. Do you hear Jesus gently calling in your heart this morning, calling you to follow him Easter Sunday, April 24, 387 AD. Augustine was a baptized and became a follower of Jesus Christ. Well, there's another important part to the story. Part one was the reality of a successful doer. Part two was the divine rescue. Part three is a changed being, changed being. You see a great proof of the empty tomb is the reality that it has the power to change people's lives. It has that kind of power. Let me read verses 11 through 16 that began in this story to unpack of that for him. Picking up verse 11, the apostle Paul telling his own story says, my companions led me by the hand into Damascus because the brilliance of light blinded me. A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there. He stood beside me and said, brother Saul, receive your sight. And at that very moment I was able to see him. Then he said, the God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will and to see the righteous one. And to hear words from his mouth, you will be his witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name. That's God's word and holy inspired. That was the beginning of a changed life for the apostle Paul. Why? Because he does it. He gets up. He is baptized. He dedicates his life to following Jesus Christ. Remember I read a section earlier about the apostle Paul from Philippians where he's talking about all his credentials. Let me read that section again. And the verse that I didn't read the first time that comes after it. I had one more verse to it. But remember he said, if anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, in regard to the law of Pharisee, as for zeal, persecuting the church, as for legalistic righteousness, faultless verse seven. But whatever it was to my prophet, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ, saying that it didn't matter. It didn't account for anything because I need to divine rescue. And when divine rescue came after me, it has changed everything for me. Paul was a changed being. He writes, too, in 1 Timothy 115, he says, here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am most. Let's compare. He was faultless in his own good efforts. And now Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am most. I don't know what you want to call that, but you've got to call it a change, a radical change, a perspective. From a successful doer to a changed being, and it was radical, Paul was changed. From persecuting and fighting against Jesus Christ to, let me read 2 Corinthians 11, 24 through 28. Remember he had been the persecutor? He had been the one that was dragging people out of their homes? But he says in 2 Corinthians 11, 5 times I received from the Jews the 40 lashes minus 1. 3 times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned, 3 times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and day in the open sea. I had been constantly moving on from here and there. I had been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles, in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea and in the danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep. I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food. I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily pressure by concern for all the churches. Now last phrase really catches me there. He talks about all these physical things that have happened in really bad. And now he's concerned for the churches. Oh yeah, those are the people that he was dragging out of their homes and throwing them into prison. Those are the people like Stephen that he was holding the cloaks of those that were doing the dirty work of stoning him. Now he's concerned. He stays up at night, concerned for the followers of Jesus Christ like himself that he feels responsibility to care and to shepherd. Paul was a changed being. The change was so great even that the apostle Paul changed his name from Saul to Paul. It was so radically different that to use the same name was a distraction was not appropriate because he was so completely different that a new name was the only fitting thing he could probably think to do. His name was changed. How about you? Think about your life. Do you live more like a successful doer? Or do you really live more like a changed being? Let me clarify here. According to the scriptures, if you're not a follower of Jesus Christ, that's all you're doing is trying to be a successful doer. Now you might have to find success in your own unique way, but you're trying to do what you think successful. And I'm willing to bet you're probably trying to do what you think is good. I think there's very few people, especially in this room, because there's a small percentage around the world even that would say, you know, I'm really out to really be a rotten person. I'm willing to bet you that pirates from Somalia are even thinking and have convinced themselves that what they're doing is really ultimately good somehow. That they're just resisting the oppression of the great free market countries around the world and taking advantage of them. And they're bringing prosperity back to their country. I bet they even think that they're doing something that's good in some way or distorted way or shape or form. And I'm willing to bet that there's some of you who are followers of Jesus Christ here this morning that your life is still resembling one of the successful doer, more than being a changed being. And there's need for renewal in your heart here this morning as well. A few examples in our generation have been as visible as that of a man named Chuck Colson. Chuck Colson was the chief counsel for President Richard Nixon from 1969 to 1973 during the Watergate scandal. Now I know here if any of you kids are of school age and up and all of us adults know who Richard Nixon was and we don't know much about him but everybody would probably say he was not the best president we ever had. In fact most of us were probably put in right at the bottom of the list. One of his top advisors was a man named Chuck Colson. Backing up to you a little bit more about Chuck Colson's life he attended Brown University, one of the most prestigious schools in our country under a scholarship. He graduated from that university with honors. He served as a Marine in the Korean War. After coming back from the Korean War he attended law school. After successfully graduating from law school he started his own successful law practice. In fact so successful that he became the youngest administrative assistant to the United States Senate. At age 39 became the chief counsel for President Nixon. Now let me quote from his own story. He says after talking with a friend who had been sharing with him about Jesus Christ and by the way this was right when the Watergate stuff was starting to really get going. Speculation was flying. He says as I quote, I found that evening after he was leaving the guys house that I couldn't drive the automobile out of the driveway of my friend's house because I couldn't get the keys into the ignition. I was crying too hard. Something I would never do. I sat there for a long time in that driveway thinking about my life. Thinking about what he had told me about Jesus and wanting more than anything else in the world to know God and be at peace with him. I cried out that night. I'm not even sure the words just take me God. Take me the way I am. What Chuck Coulson became a changed being that night. Unfortunately his political real life situation did not change like his heart did that night. He was still in a whole bunch of mess with the Watergate scandal. But something had changed so much to such a degree that when he was accused, although he was accused for a ton of different things, he took full responsibility for what he knew he was clearly guilty of. And he pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice which gave him I think was a two or three year prison sentence of which he actually served seven months actually in prison for his crimes. Interesting, he says this about being in prison at that time. He says I also discovered something else. You know all those years that I had striven to get to the top success, power, achievement, money, fame, all of those things, I found them empty, meaningless. But in prison with all those things gone, I found the only identity and security and meaning a person has and that's when you're at peace with God. He was a changed being. Today he leads a ministry called prison fellowship ministries which many of you have heard about. It's the largest prison outreach and criminal justice reform organization in the world serving and over currently at 112 different countries around the world. He's written over 15 books and continues to speak about the power of Jesus Christ to change lives around the world wherever he goes. Chuck Colson was a changed being. Well, maybe some of you are saying here tonight, all right, that's Chuck Colson or maybe some of you are saying, okay, you're giving example of the possible Paul. He wrote 13 books in the New Testament. Come on, that's a little extreme. I just can't identify with that. I don't feel like those people are anything like me Friday night or a good Friday service. I asked those that were gathered here from us, all of which are the people that are sitting around you that call Christ Kingdom Church home. To write out a card, what is the proof and evidence of the changed life in your life since you've come to know and follow Jesus Christ? Here's just a sample of those of what people have said. They're sitting right next to you right now this morning. Because of my relationship with Jesus, I don't need to feel condemned by the guilt of my sin anymore. I can now experience the freedom of living and his forgiveness. I didn't know what it was like to truly love another person. Now I'm filled with a deep love for others and a desire for them to know Jesus Christ. I'm no longer consumed by what others think of me, allowing me to live a life to the full without fear or doubt or guilt. From a cold, dark, vast, empty, never-ending darkness to light, warm fellowship, meaning purpose, safety, eternal life, of his joyful countenance. I began to believe that I am created with dignity, worth of purpose. I now know that I don't have to be perfect because he is. I was selfish, self-centered and full of pride. Now it is joy to be used by God to serve him and others. I was a person who was defined, swayed by constantly changing opinions of other people. After accepting Christ as my Lord and Savior, I know that I am in Christ accepted fully, pleasing and perfectly loved apart from my performance of what others think of me. I have an audience of one. Jesus has given me hope that is above any of the pain and difficulty of my life. I have hope, meaning and purpose in life. Jesus' death has allowed me to become part of a family that I had not had before. I have hope for the future when times are hard. I was concerned and consumed that whether people like me and who they thought I should be, since knowing Christ I am free to be authentic and real, the person Christ has made me. I was greedy, but now I love to be involved in Lord's work through His resources. I have spiritual peace with God. I am forgiven. I used to be afraid of others' opinions of me that I had a few deep relationships and struggled with depression, but when I learned of Christ's love for me, everyone else's opinions no longer mattered. As a result of His unconditional love for me, I was able to trust others, build deep Christ-like friendships and live a life of joy instead of despair. I was a slave to sexual sin and addict in every sense of that word, destroying my marriage, my family, and myself, and He has set me free in all caps. He is paid for my sin and the sin of others against me. I am free, free of shame and self-hatred, free to live with no more fear. Salvation in Christ has given me freedom from fear and worry. He has forgiven me of my jealousy, my pride, my arrogance. My life is not empty or aimless, but my life has a purpose. He has shown me over and over what I thought was worthless and unusable, me, and is really that which he values and uses into light sin. I found more joy, hope, and beauty in love in my life every day. I used to be scared, but now in Christ I have no fear. This is just some of the ones that came from Friday night. One of those could be mine too. I am no Chuck Colson, I am no Possible Paul. And those sitting here together would say, we are not either. But we are changed beings. Another thing I love about the TV show, let's make a deal, is that I loved it when he came out and he would say, this was usually the beginning of the show or certainly while the credits were running at the end of the show. He would come out with cash, Monty Hall, and he would say, who has got a tongue depressor in their pocket or pants, or purse or whatever? Everybody would be like, because everybody brought these random things. I will give 100 bucks to the person that pulls out a tongue depressor. You have people jumping all around to do it. He picked these random objects that you shouldn't normally have, but if you had it, you get paid big time for it. And it seemed like he always would come up and say, who has got a paperclip? I got $500. God invites you to bring your paperclip. He calls it Faith. He invites you to come and say, you can keep going the path of being a successful doer. I'm here to rescue you, because it only leads to despair. You only get tired and give up at the end. There's another six billion people around the planet that are trying to do the same thing. But I'll rescue you. I'll change you at the core of who you are, and make you from a doer to a beer, being loved by your father in heaven, being forgiven of all the sin you've done. If all the dark things in the back of your heart and mind that if were ever exposed, you would be ruined. And they hope nobody else ever figures out. I'll let you be a child of mine, God says. Well, not a slave. You're a slave to sin when you're a successful doer. I'll let you be a son, a daughter, in my kingdom. And I promise you this, that you, either when I come back here to earth or when I take you home to me, you will be with me forever. And in new heavens, in a new earth, with a new body. And the proof of that is because I rose 2000 years ago. So let me just close here this morning with giving those that are here an opportunity. One, if you already are a follower of Christ, be renewed in these thoughts. Re-focus your eyes. Reach trusting Christ fresh and new here today. Be brought more deeply into worshipping Him to transform you into that new creature. If you're not a follower of Jesus Christ, today is your day, or it could be. Today is your opportunity to be rescued. The Apostle Paul will tell you he's not going to promise that it's going to be easy. But it will be fulfilling. It will be satisfying. It won't answer the deep dark questions of your heart. And God's presence will go with you. And you will be changed in the core of who you are. Let's pray. Father, we come to you here this morning, each of us in our own unique way, indeed, follow your transforming power. And Father, for those who are already followers of yours that are being reminded of fresher this morning like myself, even as I prepared this sermon this week, we remind me of your power to change. And the reality of that comes in not being a successful doer, but in trusting in the rescue of Jesus Christ, trusting in that you satisfied and you have pleased the Father in our place, and we simply can trust and believe your forgiveness and let your spirit empower us. Will you minister to us during this time as well as we respond? And Father, for those that are here this morning that know they haven't truly been following you. Oh, they might have been religious. Oh, they might have been called themselves a Christian name before in the past, but they know deep down that they really haven't made a decision to follow you and to be rescued by you and to give up the successful doing life to become a changed being life. How would you give them the mercy and grace to respond here this morning and to pray or prayer like this or something similar to this in the quietness of their own heart? Lord Jesus Christ, I know that you created me for your glory and honor. I confess that I have rebelled against you and sinned by choosing to live my life for my own glory and honor. I now turn from myself and receive your free gift of righteousness through your perfect life and death on the cross. Thank you for forgiving my sin and cleansing me from all in righteousness. Sin your Holy Spirit and dwell my heart and take all that I am and use it for your glory as Lord of my life. Father, for those that pray to prayer like that or maybe more like St. Augustine's prayer, God, take me, use me, change me, God hear their cry, hear their prayer, God come and let your presence fill them and fill them with the hope of the promise that you will be their Lord and Savior. That their sins are forgiven, that you will strengthen them and Father, that you will never leave them or forsake them. And we pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Right now, let me just also remind you too that you had that...