9 chapter of the book of Acts verses 1 through 19, that's Acts chapter 9 verses 1 through 19. But Saul still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord went to the high priest and asked them for letters to the synagogues at Damascus so that if he found any belonging to the way men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him and falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? But excuse me, why are you persecuting me and he said, who are you Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting but rise and enter the city and you will be told what you are to do. The men who were traveling with him stood speechless hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul rose from the ground and although his eyes were opened he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus and for three days he was without sight and neither ate nor drink. Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision. Ananias and he said, here I am Lord and the Lord said to him rise and go to the street called straight and at the house of Judas look for man of Tarsus named Saul for behold he is praying. And he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay hands on him so that he might regain his sight. But Ananias answered, Lord I have heard from many about this man how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priest to bind all who call on your name. But the Lord said to him, go for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and the kings and the children of Israel for I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name. So Ananias departed and entered the house and laying his hands on him he said, brother Saul the Lord the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight then he rose and was baptized and taking food he was strengthened for some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. May God richly bless both the reading and the hearing of his holy word. I think it goes without saying that there are few conversion stories contained in the Bible that are as dramatic as that of the Apostle Paul. We or Saul of Tarsus we know this story backwards and forwards in fact this conversion experience is so well known and so dramatic that both Christians and non Christians alike are regular in using the phrase a Damascus road experience. And by that what is meant sometimes in religious circles it means a particularly dramatic encounter with the divine but even in non religious circles the term is used to describe anything that is spectacular and a supernatural intervention in life. It's a Damascus road experience so we are all familiar with the story of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. Now Saul has been introduced to us before and we know that he's no friend of Christ and he's no friend of the church. What I'd like to do this morning is just kind of look at the story of his conversion and look at it perhaps from a slightly different vantage point we will not focus so much on the details of the conversion itself. What I want to do is just kind of first give a three part premise. I want to make a brief premise and then draw five observations from that premise. As we look at the conversion of Saul of Tarsus and I believe it has ramifications and implications not only in our own mindset towards evangelism but also in our ongoing sanctification. So here's the premise, the three part premise that we want to begin with and we'll see it and connect it to five observations. The premise is this in the first place all men, all humans come into this world as enemies of Christ. That's the first part of the premise. Saul, we saw that last week and Paul makes that very clear in Ephesians chapter 2 when he says you who were dead and trespasses and sins that you were like the rest of the Gentiles, you were without God and you were children of wrath. So all humans are enemies of Christ. They are enemies of the Father, they are enemies of the Son, they are enemies of the Holy Spirit. That's the first part of the premise. Here's the second part of it. Christ will conquer all of his enemies. First part, all human beings are enemies of Christ. Secondly, Christ will conquer all of his enemies. Here's the third part of the premise. He will conquer some of his enemies by the grace of his cross and he will conquer others by the justice of his throne. In his wrath, he will conquer all but he conquer some by grace and some by wrath. So here's where we begin. Here's the premise. The premise is all humans stand in a position of enmity before God. All humans come here as enemies of Christ. Christ will conquer all of his enemies. He will conquer some by grace and some by wrath. So what I want to do is show you how he conquers by grace and therefore our observations that we see in this passage emanate from how Christ conquers by grace. Now clearly, clearly we will see that the subject of this portion of Scripture is the Apostles or is Saul of Tarsus who is clearly an enemy. He's been mentioned before, he's been mentioned in chapter 8 as consenting to those who put Stephen to death. And then we see here in verses 1 and 2 of chapter 9 we see that and I love the way the Bible records this but saw still. So here's what he was. He was still breathing threats and murder against the church. So he was what he was. He hadn't changed. It's important for us to see that the enemies that are conquered by Christ who conquer Christ conquers by grace. He doesn't do it because their heart changes. He doesn't do anything. The enemies that he conquers by grace are enemies when he conquers them. And so as it is said here that Saul was an enemy against Christ and yet Saul is conquered by Christ. And brothers and sisters, this very fact, this very fact that Christ conquers some of his enemies by grace ought to be a source of encouragement for Christians. It ought to be a source of encouragement for us for two reasons. One, even as we suffer in this world by the enemies of Christ, it is a reminder that Christ is not finished with them. See, even if our situations and we know brothers and sisters who will be martyred for the cause and Christ but don't get it twisted even if they lose their lives, Christ will be victorious over the ones who took their lives. So that gives us hope. See, that's why we sometimes stand as an endangeless place for the cause of Christ but even if we lose out temporarily or in time, even if our circumstances are reversed and we become worse and our lives might be indeed threatened, don't forget he will conquer all of his enemies. And the one who might, we see Christians even as we speak and we've gone over this especially since we've been preaching through the book of Acts that there are Christians even as we speak whose lives are threatened because of their faith. Don't worry, all of the enemies of Christ will be conquered. And so even in this temple setting, this is a benefit for the church. We know that persecutions are not going to stop because of the conversion of Saul but his will. See, whoever's name was on his paper, that becomes a move point because Christ confronts and conquers his enemies. But now, that's not only comfort for us when we consider the sufferings that we endure for the cause of the cross but it should comfort us as we understand the real spiritual state of our faith. Of our families and friends and people that we love, brothers and sisters, I know the way we speak and we don't always give, be as blunt as possible when you're talking about the spiritual state of an unbeliever. But when you say that your family member is an unbeliever, what you're saying is there an enemy that there an enemy of Christ. And so this brings us hope because they may have been an enemy for a long time but this is one of the reasons we don't stop praying for them. This is one of the reasons we don't stop getting the gospel to them because we know that Christ conquers his enemies. It comforts us to know that he will conquer some of his enemies who do us harm, he will conquer them with justice. They think they inflicted pain on us, the martyrs that they have taken out and we read in certain points in church history that martyrs were made living torches, lit on fire as torches burned at the stake, but then wait till Jesus comes. Wait till they get there, he will conquer the enemies that do harm to his church. But brothers and sisters, here's our comfort in as we labor over the souls of loved ones. That just as Paul was an enemy of Christ and he was conquered by grace, your family member, your loved one, the one who doesn't want to have anything to do with the Lord. Don't try to soften their stand because you saw them watching religious television if they are, they can be watching religious television and still not be in Christ. If they are not in Christ, they're an enemy of Christ, think that and know that the enemies of Christ can be conquered by grace. Sometimes it takes it to the very last minute, but here's our hope that even as they live, they may die no longer as an enemy. Isn't that good news? The premise we see, the three parts of the premise, that all men and women are naturally enemies of Christ and Christ will conquer all of his enemies and he will conquer some of his enemies by grace and he will conquer others by judgment and wrath. But here's the first observation that flows out of that premise. The first observation is that Jesus personally calls and confronts those that he conquers by grace. Jesus personally calls and personally confronts those that he conquers by grace. Now in this passage, Jesus confronts Saul of Tarsus directly. He gets in the road, shines brightly and stops the flow of progress, stops the traffic and he confronts him and calls him by name. And Saul doesn't see him and those who are standing around, it's interesting. The passage says that those who are standing around, they heard, they couldn't see anything and we also know they couldn't do anything. Everyone that Jesus conquers, he calls and he confronts and he does it personally but because he does it personally does not mean he does it directly. Now I'm not here to answer for those who say that Jesus spoke to you in a vision and he called you in and all of that, that's neither here nor there, that's not the point. Here's the point is this and we see it even throughout the book of Acts and throughout Scripture that what we see in Saul's conversion is extraordinary. It's interesting how many people have had a Damascus road experience outside of the Bible. You know, outside of the Bible, Woodstock was a rock concert that took place in I think 1970 or something it was in New York and about 60,000 young people came to hear all this great music. It was a few days long, great concerts, everybody from Richie Havens and Jimmy Hendricks and Janice Joplin, they all played. And over the years as people talk about Woodstock because it was such a monumental event, someone once said that if everyone who says they were at Woodstock, were at Woodstock? Boy, the whole state of New York would not be able to contain all of these people because everybody who says they were at Woodstock wasn't at Woodstock. And so it is with this Damascus road experience. Everybody wants to claim a Damascus road experience but it's interesting that the Bible only records one. Everybody wants life. But the Bible only knows one. I think there's a reason for that because Damascus road experience of Saul is not what's ordinary. But still Jesus personally calls everyone that he conquers. Notice what here's what I mean. In the Great Commission, Jesus says that go and I give you all authority has been put into my hands and so go there for and preach and teach and baptize notice what he says in my name. So when we baptize, we're baptizing into Christ and when we baptize Christ is active in the process personally. Also he tells Peter, accessory of Philippi in Matthew 16 that when Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the living God, he says I give you the keys to the kingdom. And so when the church exercises the keys to the kingdom is Jesus personally receiving people into the kingdom or excluding them from it. But here's where you see it even more directly that the ordinary ministry of the church through the evangelism through evangelism is Christ Himself confronting and calling sinners into the kingdom. Look in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and specifically verses 18 through 20, 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verses 18 through 20. And it reads as follows beginning in verse 18 it says all this is from God who through Christ reconciled us to Him. And gave us the ministry of reconciliation. That is in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ God making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ be reconciled to God. Now someone who would say well, I don't want to hear what the church has. I don't need to hear the preacher. God talks to me. Well Paul says that God is talking to the world through His appointed vessels, the church corporately and the ministers of the gospel in particular. So I don't know why we think we would be more reverent if God spoke to us directly if we're irreverent when He speaks to us through His appointed means. Jesus personally shows up. He personally confronts and personally calls people into the kingdom when the word goes forth. Brothers and sisters do you know that when you share the gospel, the gospel of grace with unbelievers, whether they respond properly or improperly, they are responding not to you, they are responding to God in the same way that when the children of Israel decided they wanted a king and Samuel was like what have I done? And he felt bad that they were misunderstanding him and the Lord said to Samuel, Sam, you don't worry about it. They're not rejecting you. Yes, you are the object. You're the visible one. They're rejecting me. And here's the first observation. Yes, those that Jesus conquers by grace, He calls them and He confronts them. Notice what He calls Saul personally, He calls them by His name, Saul, Saul. And then here's the confrontation. The confrontation is why are you persecuting me? Again, you see Jesus correlation with His church because Saul would say like many in the 25th chapter of Matthew, when Jesus says He gives the parable and He says when I was hungry, you didn't clothe me or you didn't give me food, when I was naked you didn't give me clothes. And some will say on that day they will say, Lord, when did we see you that way? And here's the implication, if we saw you, then we would have stopped being hard-hearted towards you. That's just for those folks. Not you. If it was you, we'd have better. And Jesus says you don't get it as you treat the least of these. That is you responding to me. You don't get that. And so here's what what Jesus is doing. He's so identifying with the body. He says, Paul, what you don't get, Saul, what you don't get is that when you, those papers in your hands, the names that of those papers, they are signed in blood, you're messing with me. And He's confronting Saul to let them know that you are an enemy of God. And He does it personally. And so it is an evangelism, brothers and sisters, we have not shared the gospel. We haven't shared the good news until we tell men the bad news. If the good news is that Jesus saves, then the bad news is you need to be saved. And what do you need to be saved from? You need to be saved from an omnipotent God who happens to be your enemy. You know, sometimes if you're dealing with some folk that are unpleasant, then you can move, you know, in elementary school, you grow up and maybe you guys go to different junior high school. You don't have to look at them anymore. Right? If they're in your junior high school, maybe their family will move away and they'll be in a different school district. You don't have to deal with them anymore. If they're in your neighborhood, maybe they'll move or you'll move. If they're in your family, well, we do go to funerals, right? Some enemies, even before you see them coming, your skin gets itchy. What can I do to avoid them? God is an enemy that doesn't move. Here's the context for the good news of the gospel. The context for that good news of the gospel is brothers and sisters. No, it's none of this. God has a wonderful plan for your life and I'm here to tell you about it. No, here's the gospel. You are an enemy of a God who doesn't move. You're an enemy of a God that you can't escape. You're his enemy and he doesn't forget. He doesn't change his mind. He doesn't forget and you're his enemy and it's until you recognize you can't claim him as your savior until you recognize your enemy. Saul, why are you persecuting me? You can hear Saul say, well, who are you? Jesus says, I'm the one you're messing with. Saul had enough Old Testament Jewish theology to know that he heard a voice and Saul liked but Saul no face. No, he was in the presence of God. Brothers and sisters, those that God conquers by grace, he personally calls and he personally confronts. You see, we don't confess for when we turn to Christ, we don't confess the sins of humanity when we come to Christ. You don't say, well, I was bad but I wasn't bad as my brother but forgive me anyway. No, when he calls us and he confronts us, he makes us see our sins and he makes us conscious of exactly who we are and who we're up against. Here's a second observation. Those that Jesus conquers by his grace, he connects to the care of others that he is conquered by his grace. He calls us through the church, he calls us through the ordinary means. Jesus personally calls saints to be saints through other saints but it's still him if we are as ambassadors then he is confronting and calling us through that message but not only does he call and confront. He connects us to others that have also been conquered by grace, looking verses 10 through 14. It's as if Jesus is preparing the way for Saul. See, Saul, notice what he does, he doesn't just call him, he lanes him, he renders him incapable of doing anything other than trust someone else. He's blind, he's been in the Scripture says that even though his eyes were open he couldn't see anything and so what God does is he, do you understand how precarious Saul's position is at this point. And so God is preparing a people to take care of Saul. And so in verses 10 through 14, once Saul is rendered blind we are given another camera angle and we see now God who confronts Saul on the road to Damascus. We see in verses 10 through 14 that he now speaks to Anonais and it says now in Damascus there was a disciple named Anonais and here's what the Lord says. Now I've got a man who's going to be coming to you. In fact I need you to go to him. He's located in this spot over here on straight street, great sermons on straight street, go to straight street. Remember childhood sermons on the corner of straight street. Well it's not the street that matters. Okay, here's what's important that Jesus the sovereign Lord that rendered Saul to be blind appoints someone to go and minister to him. So where does he get help for Saul from the ranks of those that Saul was seeking to conquer but Christ had already conquered. So he goes to the right. He goes to Anonais. He says Anonais I want you to go and now I'm telling you that this what I'm showing you what I showed him. I told Saul in a vision that a man from Anonais, a man in Damascus by the name of Anonais would come to him, lay hands on him and he'd receive his sight. Now go do it. Now brothers and sisters how many times has God taken someone who has been conquered by grace. And just for whatever reason attack you to someone else that's been attached by grace. You don't even know why you you don't even know at what point of the journey. That's why I love what Paul says in first Corinthians. He says one man plants on another man waters but it's God who gives the increase. We don't know when we're in a planting season. We don't know when we are in a watering season. Anonais is only given the information that Christ wants him to know for the good of Saul. But here's what he does. He's already prepared and will see how he prepares the heart of Anonais. He prepares the hearts of his people for others who he will conquer by his grace. See Anonais is no more and no less. He's no more of a saint and no less of a sinner than Saul. And the only reason that he is in the family is because he's been conquered by grace too. And so what God does is he prepares Saul to be left in the hands of another one who has been conquered by grace. Isn't that how God works? Brothers and sisters, sometimes we have to step beyond some of our ways of seeing things in terms of how God blesses us. He doesn't always bless us in the way and by blessing I don't mean physical stuff. I mean adding to our growth, adding to our conception of the wonders of his grace. He doesn't do it always in recognizable ways. Sometimes he will send people in your life for a single reason for a momentary season. He'll send them to just minister a word but they are as much under his control having been conquered by his grace as you are. So it's not always going to be someone in your age group. It's not always going to be someone in the same local church. It may not be someone in the same denomination. It may be someone that as you grow in your grace or in your knowledge of grace that you will even part ways from them on some secondary matters. God has a way of preparing to nurture his people that he conquers by his grace with other people who have been conquered by grace. Let's get Saul off the street. Put him in a house and let me call up another one of my servants. Notice God's networking. He's networking. Let me see, Saul is in danger here. If I leave him here blind, then the Pharisees might think he's a liability and get rid of him. And certainly some of my saints would see him as an easy target. We need to get him to safety. Here's a safe house. All of those that are conquered that Christ conquers by grace, he connects to others who have also been conquered by grace. He connects us to his body even sometimes as we are on our way to a church family. He connects us at the level of faith and at the level of a renewed heart. But here's a second observation that we see. Third, I'm sorry, and that is Christ changes the dignity and the destiny of those that he conquers by grace. He connects them. He calls them and confronts them personally even through his ambassadors. He connects them to others who have also been conquered by grace. He also changes their dignity and their destiny. Now in verses 13 and 14 here's what we are told. Ananias brings up something. God tells him. Jesus tells him. He says, Ananias, I've got somebody I need you to minister to. Ananias, what Ananias does is he brings up what Saul had done and he brings up what Saul was planning on doing. That's what he does. You see, he's cautious, he's concerned and he says, Saul, Saul of Tarsis. Oh, that's Saul? Look at what he says. He says, but Lord, I love when people have more insight than God and they want to help him out. He didn't consider all these contingencies, right? So in verses 10 through 12, when the Lord tells Ananias, I've got an assignment for you. I love the way Ananias tweaks it. Ananias kind of flips it back on the Lord as if he doesn't know what he's doing. He says, but Ananias answered Lord. Now I've heard about this man and he's not afraid to bring harm. So Ananias brings up what Saul had done and then he brings up what Saul is planning on doing. But notice how Jesus answers in verses 15 and 16. Jesus tells Ananias who Saul is now. See, Ananias tells Jesus who Saul was. Jesus tells Saul or tells Ananias who he is. He said, yeah, he was. I know that. I knew he was an enemy when I called him, but you don't get it now. Now, notice in verse 16, he says, but the Lord said to him, he is presently a chosen instrument. Oh, brothers and sisters, does it mean that Saul didn't do what Ananias accused him of? No, he did it, but he's now a chosen instrument. What Jesus does is he doesn't ignore Saul's past. He just doesn't allow Saul's past to define his future. So what Jesus does is he puts the brakes. Yeah, that story ended, Ananias. You weren't in the theater at that point, but the curtain went down on that Saul. You don't get it. So you weren't on that road. I was. And that's that was then. Now he's an instrument. He said before he was a problem, but he ain't a problem now. He's an instrument now. He's not only an instrument, but notice what Jesus says. He's a chosen instrument. I've chosen him. But then not only does he tell him what Saul is, he reminds him. He tells him what Saul will be. He's blind right now. He's still an instrument chosen by me, but here's what Saul will do. He will. He is my chosen instrument. He will carry my great name. Jesus is putting the words back at Ananias because Ananias says, but he has killed people for your name. But Jesus says, yeah, but now he's going to use my name. He's going to bring my name before Gentiles, before kings, and also before the children of Israel. And he's going to see what it is to suffer. But it's going to be a different kind of suffering. Here's what Jesus does. Everyone that he conquers by grace, he changes our dignity. We touched on that last week. We are changed from our status changes from aliens to citizens, from outcasts to those who are the dwelling place of God himself. He changes not only our dignity, he changes our destiny. We are not defined by what we did. But we will be defined by what he will do in us and what he will do for us and what he does through us. And so here's what Jesus is saying in effect. It's interesting how that works. It's like, okay, Saul, hit the erase button here. Ananias hit the erase button. All that he was, he is not. All that he will be is the way you are to look at him now. Isn't that amazing? Brothers and sisters, here's what Jesus does. He changes us. Here's what we see. We are told that Jesus is our advocate. Here he is advocating for Saul. Ananias, I'm not going to let you do that. I'm not going to let you scare the other saint because of what he was. I'm not going to let you do that. I'm telling you, he's my instrument. And here's what he's going to do. Brothers and sisters, those that Jesus conquers by his grace, he calls, and he connects, but he also changes. And what he changes is not always our attitudes and appetites first. What he changes first is our dignity and our destiny. But here's a fourth or the fifth thing that we see. The fifth and final thing or observation to make is that all that Jesus conquers by his grace, his or fourth, I should say, all that Jesus conquers by his grace, he claims within his family. The most tender words that we see in this whole scenario is in verse 17. And it really comes after God, after Jesus has kind of set ananias straight. And then ananias goes down to the house. And when he goes to the house where Saul is, the most tender words in this passage is that it says, and laying hands on him. He said, brother, Saul, oh, brothers and sisters, do you know who this Saul is? He doesn't say you murderer Saul. He doesn't say Mr. Saul, Saul who is vulnerable in the presence of those that he had been enemies of, is received as a brother. Brothers and sisters, here's what God does. As he conquers enemies by his grace, he connects them to his family. He puts them in with his family. We don't know where brothers and sisters have come from. We don't know what they have left. We don't know what they're going to. But when he brings them into our care, look at Saul, look at him. He was, he was vulnerable. He was blind. He was weak because he had eaten in three days. He was under the care of strangers. He was perplexed about his future. He had been confronted by his creator. Now here he is in the hands of strangers. But because Jesus has conquered the heart of Ananias, Ananias is a strange voice and a strange face, but he's family. So that now Saul could hear the voice of his shepherd in this unfamiliar voice of this man who lays hands on him. Remember Saul's or Ananias reluctance before? Lord, you're talking about Saul. I can just imagine, you know, if he's coming, I've got to go to him and he's blind. Can we push him a little bit first? Can we make him sweat? We're never hurting. But can we, you know, there are some brothers around here who had family members that were persecuted because of him. It just doesn't seem right that he gets full privileges to the body right away. But what God does, he conquers the heart of Ananias. And he puts vulnerable Saul into the care of these hands who recognize what he once was. Oh, brothers and sisters, that's how he does the church. I wish we could see. I wish we could see our relationship to others within the body of Christ as an expression of Christ towards them. In other words, you see, it ought to be in our thoughts, in our words, in our actions. What they ought to receive from us is the care of the Savior. I don't know if Ananias had gotten over his issues, but he knows that he had been assigned and in the mind of Jesus. You know what his responsibility is to make Saul feel like a brother. That's all he's supposed to do. I notice the way he tells him, he says that he puts hands on him and he says, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came, he sent me to you. He sent me and he has sent me so that you may regain your sight and to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Brothers and sisters, those that Jesus conquers by his grace, he claims within his family. Now, I know we have so much caution and so much care sometimes we're more cautious than Jesus is who's got the power. It's interesting and we don't think, well, they shouldn't do this until Jesus says, right now, Ananias, go get him. Here's what should take place. We shouldn't put people on trial as to whether or not they know the Lord. Here's the trial, do you believe? Go through the creed. Do you believe that? Do you love the Lord with all of your heart because the love will manifest itself. Sometimes we are reluctant in reflecting the heart and the love of the Savior and that's what we've been called to do. What Saul was supposed to receive from the hands of Ananias is the comfort that's been promised by the mouth of the Savior because brothers and sisters were the ones that are the manifestation of the mercy and the love of God. Saul is received, not as a hyphenated Christian. He's not received. It's interesting. He's never again identified with what he did. But he's identified based on who he is and who has claimed him. Here's the fifth and final observation that we see in this passage and that's in verses 18 and 19 and that is all that Jesus conquers by grace. He cares for and he cultivates within that covenant community. All that he conquers, he connects but he connects them to people that will cultivate them. As he Saul is supposed to be here for a number of days and notice that he is comforted both physically and spiritually in verse 18. Ananias says that what scripture says and immediately something like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight. In verse 17 we are told that Ananias tells him that I will lay hands on you. You will receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. And then in verse 19 it says he rose and he was baptized and taking food he was strengthened. And then we are given this one reminder for he was with the disciples for some days that he was with the disciples at Damascus. Now here's the interesting thing there. Now that he is with them and notice that he doesn't give us how many days but guess what's happened? He can see and they can see him. They knew remember and Ananias knew who he was. He already knew him by reputation and so he laid hands on him and when he lays hands on him Saul knew that he was in the hands of those that he was seeking to persecute but it's something about having to look eye to eye in the person that you were trying to kill. He's able to see them. Remember years ago I was teaching, I used to do a lot of teaching at a federal prison and it was a series of Bible studies that took place on Saturdays and I think it was once a month on Saturdays and during the time of the Bible study there were a series of studies that were going on at the same time. So I had the reform group, individuals who wanted to learn more about reform theology and so eventually at first mine was the smallest group and then it just started growing, the brothers started just coming out. And after a while when it was time for me to renew to be able to come in and teach and be certified I was getting, you know, mixed signals. And then I was given the dates that I was supposed to come for orientation. I go there and it was the wrong day and so forth and so finally because I wasn't able to make the orientation I was removed from the teaching list. Now while I was there the chaplain who was over it was an Islamic iman and he made it clear that he was tolerating these other Protestants basically because they were all pretty much the same and it didn't matter to him but he had a problem with me. He said I just don't think that the doctrine that you bring in is good and healthy for these inmates etc and so we talked and so I shared with him and I wrote some information down in his Bible, some stuff that I would suggest that he reads and he made it clear that I'm just not a fan of this stuff so eventually I was asked not to come back or was not allowed to come back into the prison. Years later I'm preaching at a conference somewhere and a brother comes up to me I don't recognize the name but he shows me his Bible and he turns to a page in his Bible with my handwriting in it and it has the name of a book and he says do you remember when you used to come into the terminal island prison I said yeah he said well I was the chaplain and he said I just want you to know you don't know why you didn't come back in. The reason you weren't allowed back in is because I didn't want you to come back in and he showed me he says I work to keep you out and he says but now in that time he says you wrote something in my Bible and I went and actually bought the book years later I went and bought the book and I read it and now I'm a believer. I'm a Christian. Brothers and sisters Jesus, all men and women are enemies of Christ and Christ will conquer all of his enemies. He will conquer some by grace and others by the sword but those that he conquers by grace he calls by name. Those that he calls by name he connects within his body. Those that he connects within the body he cultivates by the same grace those that he cultivates he changes their destiny and he then he brings them into the fellowship so that when the scales fall off what they saw what what see the scales just didn't just fall off of saws eyes. They had to fall off of ananias eyes as well so that he didn't see the persecutor of the church he saw another soul conquered by grace and brothers and sisters what will help us in our spiritual growth as we interact as we deal with as we nurture as we minister to others let us be those whose whose the scales have fallen off of our eyes and let others let us see others as Christ has seen them. So that when they see us they see the mercies of Christ saw his force to look face to face into the eyes of those that he was a threat to but they could do it because Jesus conquers by grace. Amen.