Chris McCurley: Good evening. It is great to be here with you all. It is great to see you all this evening. I'm excited to have my family here with you with us this evening. it's always good when I get to see them. It has been a wonderful summer. If you do not know, I will be sadly leaving to go back to school next week. so I will not be here every Sunday, but I will be returning about once a month or so. I'll be here worshiping with you all. But I miss you all dearly when I am gone, and it's gonna be very difficult after The relationships that I have built this summer, especially with our wonderful youth group. And so just know that I'm going to be missing you all, and you have a very special place in my heart, and I look forward always to getting to come back and see you all whenever I get to make the trip back to Dixon. Tonight we're going to be talking about Acts chapter 9 and Saul on the road to Damascus and this very famous story. I think it's famous because we all love a transformation story. We all love transformation. I have a friend that at school, he oftentimes will maybe do schoolwork or work on he sells a lot of things on marketplace, so maybe he's working on that on his computer, but he will put something on the TV while he's working on whatever else it is. And oftentimes what he has playing is on YouTube just a transformation project. He likes, I don't I'm not sure what the guy's name is or what the YouTube is, but there's this guy he always has on, or maybe it's multiple guys that take a yard from a terrible way overgrown the house looks horrible and they fix it up and he puts it on like two times and it was already in two times so there's like a four times video of like this guy moving around real quick making this transformation of a yard and weeding it all and mowing it and by the end it looks so good and it's very satisfying to sit there and watch. Maybe you like watching HGT T V and you like watching how they take a house that is just terrible and run down and nobody could really even live there very well and turn it into your dream home and you wish you could go and live there in that house instead of the owners. my only problem is it costs way more than I would like to pay for that. A weight loss journey is also something that advertises a lot. And we see people that have their previous self and then they get into the gym and they start this new diet, they start a new workout plan, and you can look at the transformation of their bodies. My brother he l enjoys fixing up old equipment and old jet skis and old dirt bikes and it's awesome to see the transformation that he'll oftentimes just buy junk on marketplace and I'm like there's no way that's ever gonna run. And sometimes it doesn't, but most of the time he will get it started and get it running. And so transformation is something that we all enjoy, and so we all love a transformation story. All of these things, however, only change the outside. They really only change the appearance. The story that we're going to be talking about tonight goes a little bit deeper. Talks about changing the heart. Saul changed who he was. The gospel goes Deeper. You see, Jesus doesn't just renovate people. He doesn't just change the outside appearance of someone. He changes our hearts. And so I want us to study this evening the transformation of Saul and then put our own selves in the shoes of Saul and think: how can we be transformed and are we living that life like we are transformed? I think about a caterpillar and how a caterpillar goes under a great transformation process to become A butterfly, and how they are completely changed. You see, Jesus can change our heart like that. And so when we find Saul, we find him in Acts chapter 7. And we see that the church is being persecuted. Stephen is the first martyr of the early church, and we see in chapter 7, verse 58, that they stoned him and cast him out of the city, and witnesses later. Laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. Down in chapter 8, verse 1, the Bible says, And Saul approved of his execution. And so when we are first introduced to Saul, he is this man that is ravaging the church. Goes on there in verses 1 and 2, and in verse 2 it says, The Stephen was buried, and there was a great lamentation over him. And in verse 3, but Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them. To prison. And so when we first find Saul, he is this man that we would not expect to be of any value, really. He is someone that is going completely against the church. He's not going to be of value to Jesus at all. Why would Jesus really try to pursue after this man? Why would he not just want him to stop, maybe end his life, end with the negativity that he is doing? That's what I would think, anyways. There's no way that Saul would be the man that we later know him to become. Come. But Acts 9 isn't just about Saul's conversion. It's about what Jesus can do to all of us, how Jesus can change our hearts and transform us. The first action of the story that I want us to point out this evening is that Saul was a man running from Christ. He was a man that was running from Christ. In Acts chapter 9, verses 1 and 2, the Bible says, But Saul still breathing threats and Murder against the disciples of the Lord went to the high priests and asked him for letters to the synagogue at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Hatred had become his identity. It was what he was known for, it was what he filled his time with, it was his passion, is what he considered doing all the time. He was consumed with trying to destroy the church. He goes and wants to go on this journey to Damascus, and this road was probably about 130 to 150 miles long. It probably would have taken him about a five to seven-day trip. And he was asking for permission to go and do this from the high priest. And so he didn't have permission on his own. He wouldn't have had the authority to go to Damascus as it was out of his region. But if he went and asked basically for like a slip of paper or anything like that. What we would consider in our time today, he asked for this permission that he can go to Damascus, that he can go and has the legal power to arrest the people there. And so he was going to great lengths to destroy the church. He was asking for permission to go to this faraway city. I don't really like walking really more than like four or five miles. I'm about tired. Saul was willing to walk a road 150 miles and get permission for it to go and destroy the church. It's incredible how far against and how dedicated he was to destroying Christ. Saul wasn't an ilreligious person, though. He was brilliant, he was educated, he was passionate, he was sincere, and he was zealous, yet he was completely wrong. He was completely misguided, and he had a complete misunderstanding of what he was supposed to be doing. Whenever I was growing up we had a garden and we haven't talked about this story in a little bit, but we had a a pretty large garden and my dad would oftentimes go and till it and I had an attitude oftentimes that I would like to d do things outside, especially with my dad, and so when he would go and till the garden, I would walk behind him and kinda like this, I would just like kick the dirt right where he tilled it up. And I don't really know why I did that, but I thought that this was helping him Till the garden. I just thought the garden, and maybe so, maybe that's why our garden was so good. But I was passionate. I was passionate to help him. I was so willing that I'd go out and just kick the dirt back and forth for as long as he would go. I wasn't really doing anything good. Didn't help anything. My passion was misguided. Sometimes I think in our spiritual walks our passion can be misguided. Saul found himself very passionate, but yet he was misguided. There's people that are out in our communities that are very passionate, that we need to recognize their passion to do good, to serve others. Maybe they haven't been instructed yet. Maybe there's people that we can reach out to and say, Here, let me introduce you to the gospel. Let me introduce you to Christ. I know that you have the passion. And I want to teach you and instruct you in the right way to go. And so, Paul, Saul, excuse me, before Christ was running, chasing after Christians. And after Christ, he was running after Jesus and trying to chase them down for good. And so Saul changed his direction. He completely turned around from the way that he had lived, and he was running from Christ, but then he began chasing after Christ. The second movement of the story is that Saul was a man confronted by Christ. We see this in verses three through nine. 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? 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 in to Damascus. And for three days he was without sight and neither ate nor drank. And so suddenly this trip that Saul is on, he's traveling this road 150 miles long, going to persecute these Christians, this ordinary trip that he is on, probably has done this many times, traveling to a different city, is an extraordinary has an extraordinary interruption. There's this Light from heaven that shines down, and he falls to the ground, and Jesus speaks to him: Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? I think it's interesting that Jesus identifies here with his church. Jesus says, Why are you persecuting me? Consider that as Christians, that Jesus identifies with you. Whatever you're going through, whatever struggles you might face, if you feel like you are being persecuted or you are dealing with struggles, know that Jesus identifies with you. Jesus says, Why are you persecuting me? He says, I am Jesus. And everything that Saul believed, everything that he knew up to this point, collapsed. I think it would be funny and interesting to see the reactions of these people that were walking with him. Says they were confused. I think that might be an understatement. Can you imagine this guy that you're following, the guy that you've probably spent a lot of time with, the guy who has been leading you in this effort, is on the ground, says he's hearing something, and has this bright light, obviously is affected by it, and they they can't see or hear anything. I think that's an interesting spot to be. But the blindness that Saul receives from this, he thought he could see, he opened his eyes, and then he realized he was blind. And I think it's interesting that Jesus humbled him first. He first had to be humbled. He had to be blinded. He had to be brought to his knees on the road before he was open to change. Oftentimes in our own lives, it takes a bit of humbling. It takes a something to shake us up and be like, Why are you doing that? Jesus humbled him before he transformed him. One time I was on a mission trip to Panama, and while we were on the mission trip, we were putting dirt into a church building. It was going to be poured concrete over and he told us the guy had instructed us that we need to fill up some dirt to a certain amount and so we did that for about two or three hours all morning we worked filling up the dirt and then we saw the people talking over to the side. We were like, that's not good. they were speaking in Spanish so I couldn't understand what they were saying, but they were pointing at what we were doing and eventually one of the translators came over and was like hey we Think it's got about two to three inches too much dirt on that. so we're probably gonna have to take that out now. And so we went and we began taking out the dirt that we had put in. And so, just like how that was a difficult time and it was really confusing why we had to do all that. I imagine Saul was confused here. He's probably curious of like why am I going through this? But transformation. begins when Jesus changes the way that we see. For three days now Saul sat in darkness, and the man that who he thought he was Working for who he thought that he was doing right for God now has confronted him and said, Why are you persecuting me? And so Saul, the man who thought he had all the answers, now is humbled and is confronted by Christ and knows that he needs to change. And so Saul's vision is changed. The third act of the story, though, is that Saul is a man that surrendered to Christ. And this is in verses 10 through nineteen. In verse ten, now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias, 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 a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold he is praying. Verse twelve, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his 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 priests to bind all who call on your name. Verse fifteen, but the Lord said to him, Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel, for I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name. Verse seventeen So Ananias departed and entered the house and landed. Laying his hands on him, he said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you came, has sent me, so 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. In this section, Saul meets Ananias. Ananias is a very incredible character. He is someone to be commended especially from just the short little bit we read about here him here in this section. Imagine that you are Ananias, you are in this position, and he receives a a vision from God. Says, go and talk to this man. This man, Saul, who has been persecuting the church, who has done all this evil. Ananias probably hasn't been harmed directly by him, but maybe there's friends, maybe there's family, maybe there's just fellow Christians that he has known about, and now he knows that Saul has hurt them and harmed them. And God asked Ananias to go and talk to this man. And Ananias responds, like I think I would do, and probably some of you would do as well. God, you know who you're telling me to go talk to? I've heard all of the stuff that he's done in Jerusalem. God, there's no way that you're expecting me to go and talk to this man, the man that persecutes and kills Christians. Have you heard all the horrible things that he has done? And God answers Ananias, says, confirms his message, says, No, listen to me. And Ananias, in an incredible way, obeys. And he goes and follows God's command. He goes and talks to Saul. Are you willing to be like Ananias? I don't think we're really called to do anything probably as difficult as what he is asked to do here. Maybe you're just asked to go and talk to the person that has said some bad things about you, the person that didn't allow you to get that new job at work, the person that stole something from you, the person that has harmed you in some way. And now we're asked to go and treat them with kindness, share Jesus with them, and it's difficult. It's hard for me, I'm sure it's hard for you as well. But I think we can learn a lesson here from Ananias, and that he was willing to go and do it. He took on the risk. He didn't care what he was going to be facing. He still understood what he was called to do. He ends up calling him Brother Saul. And so the enemy that he had heard about, he knew about, he treated him as family. I think about a firefighter and how a firefighter w just waits for the call. And whenever they receive the call, they don't ask questions about what is what am I going to be asked to do? They don't think about all of the dangerous positions that they might be put into. They simply respond and go and act and act courageously. We as Christians should be similar to this. We should be willing to act courageously. We should be willing to go to great lengths to share the gospel with others. And so Ananias preaches to him, and we get a little bit more detail in Acts chapter 22, verse 16, when Paul retells his story, and he says, And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized, wash away your sins, calling on his name. In military, we often talk about the white flag and raising the white flag, surrendering to the other side, to the other group, whatever you it might be. And I think Saul here in this moment raised the white flag, if you will. He surrendered to Christ. He understood what he has done in the past is wrong, and he was willing to give his life to Christ. As Christians, we are called to surrender. We're called to surrender the things that we might enjoy doing, the people that we might not want to get along with. We are called to get along with them, the difficulties that we face. Christ calls us to surrender. We're to raise the white flag and do what God has called us to do. The final act of the story is that Saul was a man sent by Christ. This is in verses 20 and 20 through 22. And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogue, saying, He is the Son of God. Verse twenty one, and all who heard him were amazed and said, Is not this man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose to bring them bound before the chief priest? Verse twenty two but Saul increased all the more in strength and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was. was the Christ. Saul was transformed, he was saved, and it's interesting that immediately there was no delay, there was no hesitation. Saul was a very passionate individual. We talked about that earlier, and how he had so much passion that he was willing to travel 150 miles to do what he thought was right. And we see his passion carries over to Christ. Immediately he goes and preaches Christ, and the people are amazed. It's this great reversal that takes pre place. He was the enemy, but now he is the brother. He was the destroyer, but now he is the builder. He was the persecutor, but now he becomes the proclaimer. And so notice that Jesus didn't remove Saul's passion, he redeemed it. And so Saul carried his same courage, his same determination for his new purpose. I find it funny sometimes when some of my friends will get new shoes. And They maybe it's an expensive pair of shoes and maybe you've done this before. They get the new shoes and all of a sudden what you do get when you get new shoes is you don't want to crease them, you don't want to mess them up, you don't want anything to go wrong with them. I oftentimes lose sunglasses a lot. I just broke some the other day. And if I ever get new sunglasses, seems like I just won't even wear them. I just keep on the desk and keep in my house, keep safe, 'cause I don't want to lose them. We're not called to be that way. We're not called as Christians to save it for later, don't mess it up. What Saul did is he immediately went out and began preaching. His transformation called him to a new purpose, and he became someone that was sent by Christ. Saul had a changed purpose, and he allowed that to redirect his life. Tonight we talked about the wonderful story, the man who was changed, the man who had a great transformation. And so this road changed the world, not because of where it was, but because of who Saul met there. And really, what is the thing that changed the world was not what happened on the road, it was what happened after it. Christ called him to action and Saul continued. And so tonight I want you to answer the question of how is Jesus still changing you? Jesus should has had an opportunity to change us in our lives, and are you still showing that today? If you've been a Christian for a long time, you had that road to the Damascus moment, but are you still acting as transformed? Do you still have a changed direction? Do you still have a changed vision? Do you still have a changed heart? And you still have a changed purpose. And I hope that you are living for Christ passionately, just like Saul went on to do. This evening, if you would like to respond to the Lord's invitation, if you would like to put him on in baptism, or if you like the prayers of the church, we have that opportunity now. As together we stand and as we sing.