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Number nine this evening and if I were to title this sermon or this chapter it would be kicking against the pricks, kicking against the pricks and we're going to see what that means in just a bit. Now this chapter deals primarily with Paul's conversion and basically his immediate service thereafter. I mean as soon as he gets saved he's ready to go out and preach the gospel and do great works for God and then we see his relationship with Barnabas, later on we see the miracle that is done by Peter to Tabitha and we probably won't hit so much on that story, we'll primarily focus on Paul's conversion and how that took place but look at verse number one we're going to look at business as usual with Saul. Now what do I mean by that? Well look at verse number one and Saul yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord went into the high priest and desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues that if he found any of this way whether they were men or women he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. Now this is very similar to what we see in chapter number eight right because in chapter eight it says and Saul was consenting unto his death referring to Stephen. Chapter nine he's still breathing out threatenings and slaughter I mean he wants to arrest the Christians bring them bound unto Jerusalem etc. and this is a pretty heavy statement made of Saul and it really shows us the gravity of his allegiance to his false religion right but it's also a testament to his zeal and in fact we can surmise that he had more zeal than even some of the apostles had if you think about it. He said well why do you say that well think about this you know when Jesus Christ commissioned his disciples the apostles he told them to go into Judea Samaria and the uttermost parts of the world to go preach the gospel right did they do that no and in fact it took Saul's persecution in chapter eight to kind of wake them up and then they started scattering abroad going into different areas but even then you have the apostles still staying back at Jerusalem so they're still disobeying whereas he's not the apostle yet but Saul he's not even saved and what is he doing he's not only arresting Christians in Jerusalem he's actually even willing to go further than that north to Damascus which is the capital of Syria to go and arrest Christians for his religion you know so it kind of shows that this guy's even willing to go out there and arrest people because he thinks that what he's doing is right now obviously it's not right and in fact later on he actually refers to his religion as the Jews religion now notice he doesn't call it God's religion he actually calls it the Jews religion because that's exactly what it is so he's willing to go all the way out there to Damascus the capital of Syria in order to arrest Christians and we can basically say that he was willing to go the extra mile right and this could be one of the reasons why God chose him to be an apostle because really if you think about the story of of Saul is a very unique story okay you know a lot of exceptions are actually made for Saul that were not made for anybody else and I think it's because you know God had a specific plan for him and you know this is one of the reasons I believe he chose them to be an apostle it was really the quality of zeal that he was exerting okay you know his and by the way it was misguided obviously you know he was zealous for his religion but he thought that what he was doing is right and in fact even after his salvation this is something that he constantly talks about in his letters you know he talks about how he was circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel the tribe of Benjamin he says a Hebrew of the Hebrews as touching the law a Pharisee then he says concerning zeal persecuting the church so even though he was zealous for the things of God he was zealous in the wrong way and that's why he says well things were gained to me those I kind of lost for Christ right go to Galatians chapter number one if you would Galatians chapter number one hold your place here in Acts chapter number eight so one thing that we can definitely learn about Saul is that he was a very zealous person even prior to his salvation it was definitely misguided it was definitely not you know going in the right direction but God saw that and he was able to turn that into something good because at the end of the day Saul labored more than they all right we see that he labored more abundantly than the apostles and when he got saved he basically redirected that same effort and zeal and passion you know for his religion to reaching people for Christ and that's why he was more effective than most of the apostles in his day look at Galatians chapter one verse 13 it says for you have heard of my conversation in times past in the Jews religion how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God and wasted it and profited in the Jews religion above many my equals in my no nation being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers so look he was even exceeding those in his own camp right he was probably one of those Pharisees that was more zealous a Pharisee than any of the Pharisees that were before him I mean this guy took his business seriously look at Galatians chapter number four Galatians chapter number four and look sometimes we'll go out sowing and you'll run into a Catholic who's pretty zealous about his religion right and it's almost admirable the fact that they would be willing look I mean how many times you run into a Catholic who actually knows what they believe right but you know every once in a while you will you know every once in a while I get reports like wow this Catholic knew his doctrine he knew the Catholic doctrine or she knew her her Catholic doctrine you know they know their doctrine well it's because they're actually taking it serious now obviously that person is gonna split hell wide open as soon as they die zeal doesn't get someone saved obviously right but it's a quality that's necessary in the Christian life in order to get a lot done and especially to enjoy the Christian life right zeal is actually something that's very much important to God okay look what says in Galatians chapter number four let me give you just a bit of a background in the book of Galatians we see that this letter is being written to the churches of Galatia and what it is is basically Paul defending or should I say he's fighting against the Judaizers of that day because you have these false brethren creeping in unawares these Jews who are trying to creep into the churches teach a false gospel and try to bring people back under the law and so Paul had to single handily deal with this and unfortunately a lot of people during that time were being affected by this right look at it says in Galatians 4 verse 17 they referring to these Judaizers zealously affect you but not well yea they would exclude you that you might affect them but it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing and not only when I am present with you so he's even saying look these people kind of remind me the way I was before I was saved because obviously they're compassing sea and land to make one proselyte and obviously they've influenced many of the churches in Galatia they're zealously affecting you but it's not in a good thing and he's saying look it's not bad to be zealous you just got to make sure you're zealous about the right things okay so you can kind of see why he would kind of empathize with the Jews sometimes right you know this is one of the reasons why he says in Romans chapter 10 brethren my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved for I bear them record that they have a zeal of God but not according to knowledge for they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God so he's like he's saying look these people are zealous but you know what it's it's misguided it's not according to knowledge they're not saved now let me just make myself very clear when it comes to this I don't believe the same you know the receptivity or what do you want to call that I even say that word right the receptiveness I don't know what receptivity is the receptiveness of the Jews back in these days is a lot greater than the receptiveness of the Jews today and I would even go as far as to say is the closer we get to the end times you're gonna run into a lot of people who just in other religions are not receptive towards the gospel but more so the Jews the closer we get to the second coming of Christ the least likely you're gonna run into a Jew who actually wants to hear the gospel okay you know who wants to get saved obviously this is somewhat the inauguration of the beginning of these churches where people are being saved even Jews are being saved but folks even in these days there are Jews that were just completely rejecting the gospel look if that took place 2,000 years ago how much less are they gonna be receptive today right you know it's the law of numbers folks did you know the longer we're in Omani the less receptive Omani will be initially we're gonna see a ton of people saved in Omani amen but you know what the more we go soul winning here as the years go by the less people are gonna get saved because that's just the way it works so if that happens over a span of five ten years how much more 2,000 years right when they've scattered into all the world they've had time to search these things out and they still reject Jesus Christ so he's basically telling them look they're zealous but they're zealous in the wicked way and there's people out there who are zealous about the wrong types of things and you know what luckily Paul got saved and he was able to redirect that zeal now I will say this man you know there's some Christians out there that need to get zealous about the things of God and it's unfortunate that you have these you know people who are in false religions who are more zealous than some Christians they're more zealous about their stupid doctrines than some Christians are about the Word of God about souls about holiness about preaching they're more concerned with fashion and music and their friends then about what the Bible what the Bible teaches you know and I've run into Christians like this we used to call them fire extinguishers because it's exactly what they were you couldn't talk about a biblical subject without oh you know you're trying to get all spiritual on those or something it's like oh isn't the Bible tell us we're supposed to be spiritual like what do you want to talk about carnal things what do you want to talk about worldly things what do you want to talk about sin you want to talk about the things that you've done in the weekend I'd rather talk about doctrine in the Word of God I'd rather be zealous about the things of God folks and look it's important that we as Christians are clothed with zeal like a cloak like as the Bible says you know because you know when we go out there we don't want to be like some Jehovah's Witnesses dragging their feet you know where they don't even lift up their feet to walk you know you can tell look folks no one ever confuses us for Jehovah's Witnesses and you get confused for a Jehovah's Witness you need to pick up the pace you need to take off the funny hat ditch the briefcase and pick up the pace because that's what they're known for they walk slow they stand on the corners you know they don't really get a lot done they don't even have zeal we as Christians we have something that we're striving for we have purpose in our life you know we actually have the truth you know we have this treasure and earth and vessels the Bible says it should be that we get excited about the things of God I'm not saying that you have to be emotionally enthusiastic as others are some people are more display that more readily than others but there should be some excitement about you when you come to church amen you should be excited when you sing the hymns when you're here preaching when you're serving God because it is an exciting thing and it should instill zeal in your life hey the Apostle Paul he just transferred that zeal and that's one of the reasons that in Romans chapter 6 he says I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to unrighteousness unto unrighteousness even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness he's basically saying look the way you would just go all in for sin all in for the world before you were saved well you know what now that you're saved you should just go all in for God you should go all in for righteousness you should go all in for holiness you should love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength it's important to be zealous look folks it's important for a church to be characterized by zeal there's some churches out there that are just dead as dead as last year's Christmas tree where the singing's lame it's boring the preaching is even more boring you know people aren't being saved they just kind of see church as a chore it's just something that they do you know they don't really care about what's going on they're thinking about what they're gonna eat after they after church they're thinking about what's going on in the news no folks the church should be an area where we're into what we get enthusiastic about the things of God well we're reminded about heaven we are reminded about the millennial reign we are reminded about Jesus Christ doctrine because this is what gets what gets us going amen and that's why I'm thankful that I'm in a church where after church when we fellowship we talk about the Bible all right we talk about the Bible she's excited right now you know she's you know we talk about the Bible we talk about doctrine we talk about current events in light of the Bible you know and we can talk about end times Bible prophecy and not have some self righteous holier-than-thou come on oh you want to be all spiritual something we do it let's talk about sports and basketball and football baseball fool you with that I could care less about those things well let's just let's talk about the elections instead who are you gonna vote for I'm not voting so let's just get back to the topic at hand which is the Bible and I'm for talking about I'm gonna talk about politics is this weekend I'm preaching against Joe Biden this weekend amen I'm talking about Joe Biden in light of the Bible talk about the wickedness of Joe Biden all right spoiler alert okay but you know it should be that when we come to church we speak about what spiritual things I get irritated when I try to bring up subjects to other Christians you know who are Bible believers they're part of Baptist churches and when we talk when I try to bring up spiritual matters then just the conversation just gets kind of weird and it's just like that I just like am I cussing and but did I offend does this offend you you know what I mean it has you've never heard this before what's the problem here that we're Christians the Bible says if any man speak let him speak as the oracles of God you're gonna talk about it if you have nothing to talk about then read your Bible and you'll have something to talk about because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speak it if the Bible's in your heart that's what you're gonna talk about amen now look I'm not saying you know you you got to put up this front and just only talk about the Bible so you can make yourself look spiritual but you know what when you're in the Bible and you're in the Word of God that's gonna come out in your conversations what you learn in the Bible is gonna come out of your heart and in your mouth out of your mouth okay I don't know what that had to do with the sermon but it was good look Paul the Apostle was zealous prior to salvation he's zealous after salvation and I think that's one of the main reasons why God chosen to be an apostle he's like this guy's going up to Damascus he's willing to go the extra mile and I can't even get my disciples my apostles to do that they stick around in Jerusalem this guy is zealous for his for his thing so I'm gonna personally win him to myself and let me just say this I believe that the Apostle Paul or saw at that time was personally won by Jesus Christ himself I don't believe he was won by Ananias and I preached that before and we're gonna get into that today I believe that Jesus Christ personally won him to the Lord and look some people may have a problem with that cuz they'll say well aren't you afraid that people might say that today no I'm not afraid of that I'll just label them a heretic if they say something like that this is a unique case here because a lot what a lot of what happened to the Apostle Paul was very unique it was the exception to the rule okay he even says himself I was one as one born out of due time all right go back to Acts chapter 9 if you would and look I believe the Apostle Paul which at this time was saw I think he was very close to becoming a reprobate very close and honestly look think about this if he would have had this Damascus experience and still not have gotten saved I believe for a fact he would have become a reprobate you know the Bible tells us that he was a blasphemer he was a persecutor he was injurious but he obtained mercy because he did it ignorantly in unbelief okay now look at verse number three he says and as he journeyed he came near Damascus and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven and he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him Saul Saul why persecutest thou me and he said who art thou Lord and the Lord said I am Jesus whom thou persecutest it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks and he trembling and astonished said Lord what wilt thou have me to do and the Lord said unto him arise go into the city and it shall be told thee what thou must do so there's a couple things I want to point out regarding this passage that we just read here first and foremost I want you to notice that when people persecute Christians they're actually persecuting Jesus you know he says Saul Saul why persecutest thou me but in the beginning of the chapter we see that he's breathing out threatenings against the disciples we see that he is consenting unto the death of Stephen in chapter number eight but yet one the way God sees it is that you're really persecuting him and look what does that teach us that teaches us that you know when people reject you at the door or they don't want to hear you talk to them don't take it personal they're not really I mean they are rejecting you but more so they're rejecting Jesus okay if they cuss you out and say all manner of evil against you just remember that you are a Christian which means that they don't like Christ that's the reason why we're called Christians we're little Christ's so to speak a representation of Jesus Christ and look you think of what Gamaliel said in Acts chapter 5 verse 39 says but if it be of God he cannot overthrow it less happily ye be found even to fight against God so when people fight our church or they revile our church that revile me that revile you you know obviously they don't like us but more so than that they're doing it because they don't like God they don't like Jesus they don't like the Bible okay so don't take it that personal all right now I'm with you I sometimes do take it personal I'm like these people are just a bunch of wretched wicked people and especially these reprobates you know and but at the end of the day we need to recognize that the one who's taking it far more personal is Jesus Christ okay you know Jesus said if the world hate you you know that it hated me before I hated you but the second thing I want you to notice is the phrase there where it states it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks now this is a phrase that's only used twice and both of them are in the book of Acts and both of them are in reference to the Apostle Paul and really the analogy that's being used here is that of an animal such as an ox that needs to be prodded in order to for them to go in the right direction okay you think of a farmer someone who is into agricultural work they have an ox and they're plowing a field the ox begins to go one way he's trying to keep that ox straight what he'll do is he'll prod it he'll prod it he'll prick it in order to correct it to correct its direction okay in order to steer it in the desired direction and what's gonna happen is if that ox does not give heed to the pricks you know it's he's basically gonna suffer the consequences of you know he's gonna suffer pain because of the prodding that the farmer is doing and really the Bible tells us in Ecclesiastes 12 verse 11 that the words of the wise are as goats and goats is like a prodding tool that's used for animals now why does Jesus say this to the Apostle Paul why is he saying it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks well we got to ask ourselves first and foremost how does God prick people because the the the insinuation there is that Jesus Christ is pricking the Apostle Paul go to Acts chapter 2 Acts chapter 2 how does God prick people look at verse 36 of Acts chapter number 2 Peter preaching here says in verse 36 therefore let it all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made the same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ now when they heard this they were what pricked in their heart and sent him to Peter and to the rest of the Apostles men and brethren what shall we do now when Jesus pricks people he doesn't use a rod or a goad he uses the Bible and he uses the man of God to prick the hearts of those who are the recipients of the Word of God you know they're pricked in their hearts you know and a couple examples of this is you know when you go out sowing when you're preaching the gospel there's times when you're preaching the gospel you know what people are pricked in their hearts and like sometimes people like visibly show that don't they you know whether they're mad or they're actually touched by what you're saying sometimes people just listen so intently they begin to tear up their eyes begin to water and they know I mean God is trying to get a hold of them what is that that's God pricking their heart you know what the scary thing is is that when you talk to someone like that and God is pricking their heart he's using the goad of the Word of God and they just say no not today it's a scary thing why because God's trying to get a hold of them God is trying to prick their hearts to help them recognize hey you need to be saved because you can die today it is appointed for a man once today but after this the judgment but you know there's other times when I've talked to people and the Word of God has pricked their hearts and they're just kind of like these people are like well what do I have to do to be saved people who are in a rush they had to leave but I got five minutes of their time and now they recognize forget what I have to do this is about eternity I want to know how to be saved and their lives are changed because of that right now how does this apply to the Apostle Paul well think about this when an ox is kicking against the pricks it's basically referring to the fact that the farmer is you know pricking that ox and the ox is just kicking back doesn't want to change that doesn't want to go in the direction that the farmer wants it to go in so it's kicking against the pricks well in like manner this is basically what the Apostle Paul is doing because the word we can't say that the Apostle Paul didn't know the Word of God he's a Pharisee and I know Pharisees were hypocrites but I'm sure there's Pharisees out there who actually believed in the Word of God they loved the law of Moses they knew what the law of Moses said but not only that I'm sure the tons of people that Christians that he was arresting they probably heard the Word of God from them but if we need a more clearer example what about Stephen wasn't saw there when Stephen was preaching I mean at the end of Acts chapter number 7 we see that they're laying their coats at the feet of Saul and what the insinuation there is that Saul was there listening to the preaching of Stephen and look Stephen preached a boss message right there that was a fiery sermon that he preached and that guy I mean he knew the Word of God he was just waxing eloquent and he was pricking those people at their hearts and you know what the vast majority of those Jews did they gnashed on them with their teeth and then they rushed them and they stoned them to death but who was there listening the Apostle Paul so what can we say we can say that God was pricking his heart during that time as well you know and I guarantee you there's people here where you can testify of a time even prior to salvation where maybe you heard the Word of God and you were prompted so to speak you were pricked in your heart and you knew you needed to be saved you know and God and his long suffering and his mercy allowed you to continue to live to go to the next you know a witness or the next believer who expound the Word of God into you and then finally you got saved maybe there's people in here you just got saved right off the bat soon as you heard the Word of God soon as someone gave you the gospel you got saved but I'm sure there's others here that weren't maybe it took a couple years maybe it took months you know and maybe it took a little bit of research and God was just pricking your heart and pricking your heart and finally you decided to get saved and so I believe when it's referring to that he's kicking against the pricks what he's referring to is he's resisting the Holy Ghost okay but the Bible says that he that being often reproved hardened at this neck shall suddenly be destroyed in that without remedy and you know what the one of the destructions that has no remedy whatsoever is when you go to hell hell has no remedy once you split hell wide open you never come out of that you're there forever okay and there's plenty of people in hell today that hardened their neck they hardened their hearts when they were given the gospel and it's a sad thing this is why the Bible tells us in Hebrews chapter 3 while it is said today if you hear his voice harden not your hearts as in the day of provocation now look this is definitely applicable to salvation but it's applicable to us as Christians as well because God even after salvation pricks our hearts does he not because he wants us to get right with God he wants us to keep you know to keep growing and adding to our faith virtue into virtue knowledge to knowledge temperance he wants us wants us to continue to grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ and you know what if you got your pet little sins he is pricking your heart about that pricking your heart trying to get your attention and you know what some people say well you know what I need to repent of this sin I need to get right with God I need to do what God wants me to do and go in the direction that God wants me to go in others are just stubborn and say well no I'm gonna keep doing it and what happens they shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy okay so it's important that you don't when you come to church you're ready to hear you know don't have this attitude of oh here we go again oh here's the same truth again or here's this no you should become you should come to church with the expectation to learn something new or to reinforce something that you already believe you know and recognize you know what God is speaking today to me and I'm not saying I'm God but because I'm preaching God's Word the message is from God okay and you should take it as thus that's why the preaching should be something that's respected amen and when you hear it you take it to heart you apply it to your life because it is God speaking to you and look you know if there's a time when I'm preaching the Word of God and God begins to prick your heart about a specific sin that you're involved in you know your wife didn't tell me your husband didn't tell me I don't even know about it it's God who knows about it right and it's God trying to get you to get right with him and that's why he's probably placing that thing in your in your heart helping you realize that that's what you need so that's what it means when it says that he's kicking against the pricks don't kick against the pricks here you know well you know that's for so-and-so but it's not for me no it's for you too okay you know we shouldn't by the way we should never come to church hoping to apply the sermon to our spouse right hoping to apply the sermon to another church oh yeah brother so seems to hear that that's for him right there that's for him it's for you too hey man you know the worst thing you did the worst thing you can do is hear a message and take the application and give it to someone else like oh yeah that's for so-and-so that's for you you should apply it you're like well I'm not guilty of that then this message is to help you reinforce what you're already doing is right and keep doing it because if not you're gonna suffer the consequences of it you know and look I do it sometimes you know I'm thinking to myself why everyone want to being in church I would hear a sermon like oh yeah that's for so-and-so yeah get him get a preacher get them you know but it would come around to me as well when I had to get a sermon and I'm like I know this is for me you know now now you know back in the day we're not like this today or maybe some of you guys are you know you know the pastor would preach a sermon or a specific message and like everyone knew who he was talking about and literally they would just like turn around look at that person like straight call him out like in front of the whole service you know or sometimes they would even say the name like you know my pastor would be preaching and he wasn't necessarily preaching on a specific individual maybe he'd even know about it but people in the church knew of someone who was guilty of that and let's just pick on Marcos okay let's say it was Marcos right people and it's a church it was a very large church okay we're talking about like a thousand people and then all you hear is a voice Marcos just calling him out Abel Marcos got right with God even he gave heed to that to that sermon so we should come to church to learn the Word of God to learn something new but also to keep ourselves right with God right shouldn't we come to church because we want to stay right with God we want to hear a sermon that has biblical doctrine that instills the fear of God in our lives where we say you know I need to stay right with God I don't want to get out of church I don't want to get out of my Bible I want to keep sin out of my life that's what it's about we want we always want to learn something new but sometimes we need something that is just reinforced to just keep you on the right path okay now I believe as I mentioned go to Galatians chapter 1 go back to Galatians chapter 1 so I believe this is actually when the Apostle Paul got saved on the road to Damascus and I believe the soul winner the one of the Lord was Jesus Christ himself this is a very unique situation and I believe it's the exception to the rule but Paul is an exceptional person okay I mean he sees the the resurrected Christ even after his ordination of the 12 apostles and all that he comes back and he reveals himself to the Apostle Paul you know so he can get the job done and I believe he wins him to the Lord and part of that look at Galatians chapter 1 and verse number 11 we can see it here says but I certify you brethren that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man for I neither received it of man neither was I taught it but by the revelation of Jesus Christ now let me say this is that today you need to be taught by man okay you can't pull this verse to me and say well you know the Apostle Paul learned it of Jesus yeah but here's the thing number one you're not the Apostle Paul well you're not Paul period number two you're not an apostle number three you're not in the Bible okay and number four even if you do believe that you're still wrong if you want to keep believing that okay people come up with some wild ideas sometimes folks some wild ideas and look people think that just because like you know we believe in an individual soul but Liberty which basically means like you can believe whatever you want according to the dictates of your own conscience that that's okay in our church you know we just threw out people from our church because they believe in this charismatic stupid teaching of tongues and this individual that I threw out on Sunday you know they wanted to basically come to the consensus well we could just agree to disagree I'm like no agree to disagree you're wrong I'm right we don't believe in speaking in tongues and I and I showed her what the Bible said her what the Bible said I showed her the verses and and she just did not want to adhere to it she won and I said do you speak in tongues because I had the feeling that she was part of that I said do you speak in tongues she said well not regularly oh okay it must be fine then as long as you don't do too much I showed her from the Bible what it is to speak in tongues what does it mean to speak with tongues that there are different languages and she just did not want to adhere to it and you know what the Bible says a heretic after this first and second admonition reject knowing that such as subverted what does that mean it means that when the pastor comes or any individual comes and shows that the Bible says hey you're wrong and let me show you where you're wrong and they say no I still believe it okay that means you've subverted the Bible you're completely undermining what the Bible says what the Word of God says you're a heretic oh that's the problem you're a heretic it's not that you're ignorant of God's Word you're just a heretic you see because a normal person gets the teaching of God's Word and says oh man I guess I was wrong about that time to change what I believe but the heretic says no I'm just gonna keep believing this and speaking in tongues by the way this person was a major flatterer major flatter because on Sunday I had already told the individual's friend that I was bringing down the axe I said I'm throwing her out and that person her friend basically said well should I just call her and tell her not to come I'm like yeah you should you know give her a call he's like to save her the embarrassment I said yeah absolutely well he called her he told her and she came anyways and as I was throwing her out she's like I just want to let you know I show your gospel presentation to so many people and I watch it so many times so beautiful just all buttery and I'm just like I don't care you're out of here I do not want you in my church you said man why are you so mean because I don't like heresy and I don't like heretics in my church and here's the thing you know she was messaging people in our church criticizing our church calling us a dead works church the word dead works church oh I'm so glad I didn't caught up in that church with quotations you guys are a dead works church and she has the audacity to come here and say well this is such a pharisaical church but she wants to stay here if Jesus were to walk in here you he would even be recognized oh but she wants to stay in our church it was like then why do you want to be here if you're claiming that we're such a bad church why do you even want to be here I'll tell you why cuz she's a psycho that's why she is psychotic she is a heretic she's psychotic it's garbage okay you know and they want to claim you know she wanted to claim that these weird visions and all these things about Jesus flush it down toilet I don't accept any of that garbage it's not true it's not real and look if you say you saw Jesus come tell me we'll have a long conversation about that and if you're subverted I want you out too oh that's just it's just a stupid belief that people have yeah well this is not a stupid church though we have intelligent people in our church amen why are you so proud no I'm just kidding I'm kidding we have intelligent people in our church and you want intelligent people do is that when they're confronted with the truth they're able to humble themselves and say that's right this is wrong I can discern between good and evil I know that if the Bible says this and it contradicts what I believe I'm gonna go with what the Bible says that's an intelligent decision that's a reasonable person an unreasonable person just completely disregards the teaching of God's Word and will believe stupidity even in the midst of the evidence that's being presented from God's Word I don't want people like that in my church well how are you gonna reach people like that well I'm just gonna reach normal people I'm just not gonna be able to reach psychos and stupid people who want to believe nonsense like that oh you shouldn't call them stupid stupid means they're without knowledge that's what it is and that's exactly what that person is stupid okay folks the last person that Jesus Christ revealed himself to is the Apostle Paul it's not gonna happen again until the second coming of Christ you know people want to claim that they see Jesus on a cookie on a piece of bread in the sky on a cloud folks the Bible tells us that they tell you Christ is here lo he's here believe it not isn't that what the Bible says that if if the Bible if someone says hey there's Jesus you say I don't believe it because Jesus told me not to believe it if people tell me that the only time that anybody's ever gonna see Jesus is when every eye shall see him when he comes in the clouds to rapture us and just completely decimate this world for the day of the Lord okay I chased the rabbit there but it's it's a worthy rabbit to be chased man because I hate Pentecostalism I hate the charismatic movement I know there's sincere people that have been deceived in those in those areas and I just want to make sure that we stand that I'm clear where I stand on that on that stuff okay so don't come at me talking about you want to see Jesus here's you want to see Jesus he's right here there he is anything outside of that don't bring to my attention and look isn't it funny that any time someone sees a vision of Jesus always this faggot II long-haired hippie with it with the dress on some Caucasian tall six-foot guy it's never what the Bible describes even in his resurrected state go back to Acts chapter 9 so anyways back to the matter at hand so he sees Jesus and I believe Jesus is the one who actually teaches him the gospel we actually see that in the book of Galatians okay and we'll go back so hold your place in Galatians chapter 1 we're gonna go back there in just a bit says in verse number seven and the men which journeyed with him stood speechless hearing a voice but seeing no man and Saul arose from the earth and when his eyes were open he saw no man but they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus and he was three days without sight neither did eat nor drink so we see that this event that takes place in his life leaves them blinded physically blinded the glory of Jesus was so bright that it just completely blinded him he needed to be guided into Damascus by the hands of these men it says in verse 10 and there was a certain disciple of Damascus named Ananias and to him said the Lord in a vision and Ananias and he said behold I am here Lord and the Lord sent him arise go into the street which is called straight and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus for behold he prayeth and at seen a vision a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him that he might receive his sight then Ananias answered Lord I have heard by many of this man how much evil he had done to that to thy Saints at Jerusalem and here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name so the Apostle Paul or Saul excuse me he's got a reputation Jesus is saying hey you need to go to this guy he's blind you gotta lay hands on him in order for him to receive his sight and he's just like I've heard about this guy are we talking about the same guy here because this guy is deputized to go arrest Christians he's making havoc of the church he's arresting disciples are you sure we got the right guy here he says in verse number 15 but the Lord said unto him go thy way in other words he just completely ignored everything he said he didn't even say no he's good now you know he's saved I got him say he's just like go thy way I love that it's like who Jesus doesn't need to give an explanation to anybody he just completely ignores him it's just like get out of here okay for he is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles and Kings and the children of Israel for I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake and Ananias went his way and entered into the house and putting his hands on him said brother Saul by the way which is an indication that what he saved because he's calling him brother Saul the Lord even Jesus that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest hath sent me that thou mightest receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost another indication that he was already saved why because he's not going to Ananias to be saved you know when people get saved like well I'm gonna give you the Holy Ghost what he's referring there is referring to the power of the Holy Ghost right because he's deputized by God to go and preach the gospel to the Gentiles therefore he's gonna need the power of God upon his life and that happens by the laying on of hands which is exactly what we see verse 18 immediately there fell from his eyes as it happened scales and he received sight for with and arose and was baptized now obviously the scales fallen from his eyes is somewhat symbolic of his salvation right you know when we as Christians before we were saved we can say that we were blind at one time and in fact the Bible says that the god of this world had blinded the minds of them which believed not lest they should be believe on the glorious gospel and so we were all blind at one time until someone gave us the gospel then we were able to see the famous song amazing grace I once was blind but now I see it's referring to that spiritual ability to be able to see so these events are actually later recounted go to Acts chapter 22 by the Apostle Paul again skip down to verse 13 it says verse 12 excuse me says one Ananias a devout man according to the law having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there came unto me and stood and said unto me brother Saul received thy sight and the same hour I looked up upon him and he said the God of our fathers had chosen thee that thou shouldst know his will and see the just one and shouldst hear the voice of his mouth for thou shalt be a witness unto all men of what thou has seen and heard and now why terriest thou arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins calling on the name of the Lord now this is a piece of information that was actually left out from Acts chapter number nine we see that he gets baptized but he's telling them wash away thy sins calling on the name of the Lord okay now people will try to use this to teach what baptismal regeneration right how many know a baptismal regeneration is basically it's this false teaching that in order to be saved you have to be physically baptized this is what the Church of Christ rejectors believe okay but an easy way to refute this would be what says wash away thy sins calling on the name of the Lord we understand that when we call upon the name of the Lord in other words we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ we wash away our sins but here's the thing I want to I want to submit to you that this is actually referring to the fact that Ananias is telling the Apostle Paul to after salvation to repent of his sins okay that's actually what he's referring to and why is that well because ideally this is actually what God wants ideally for every Christian you understand when someone gets saved what does he want them to do right after they get saved someone tell me baptized everyone's afraid to speak of them just like baptized folks don't worry I guess I got to work on I got to teach on this now so someone gets saved they get baptized great and what does God want him to do thereafter he wants them to get right with him to clean up their lives to repent of their sins to start living for God and ideally he wants that right away right you know obviously we lead a lot of people to the Lord who don't do that and they're in disobedience to God I mean we run into a lot of people that we get saved and they don't even get baptized at that there's people who come to our church sometimes as visitors they get saved and they still don't get baptized you know and that's not good obviously that's wrong because God tells them to get baptized but even thereafter God expects for you to start repenting of your sins to start getting right with him cleaning up your life cleaning up the sins of the flesh this is very important to God because we are a chosen generation now that you're a Christian you're a representative of Jesus Christ therefore you should live a holy life now look obviously you're not gonna have your ducks in order as soon as you get saved you know there's things you got to learn you got to add to your faith virtue and all these things but here's the thing anybody who gets saved and then they get baptized they know there's certain things they got to deal with right away do they not there's certain sins that they struggle with that they know I got to work on this I got to get this right I got to clean this part up in my life so what this is actually saying he's telling them be baptized and wash away thy sins referring to the sins of the flesh calling on the name of the Lord in other words confessing your sins because the Bible tells us in 1st John 1 9 that if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness now a lot of people get this confused because they you know a lot of people when you talk to people out sowing you ask them you know 100% sure if you die today you go to heaven they say yes and you ask them well how do you know well because I confess my sins every day right well that doesn't save anybody in order to be saved you need the remission of all sins past present and future so you need the forgiveness of the entire spectrum of your sins in order to be safe right your past sins your future sins that happens when you call upon the name of the Lord now if you remember in the Gospels remember when Jesus is washing the feet of the disciples he gets to he gets the Peter and he begins to wash his feet he's just like I shall never wash my feet and he's like well if I wash he not that has no part with me he's like well not my feet only but my hands in my head he's like this is the experience I just washed me off and Jesus basically tells them you know whosoever is washed needs not to be washed save his feet as clean every wit he says and the teaching there is this is that you know when we get saved we're completely washed but here's the thing is that our feet walk in this world I think of like the Israelites feet I mean good night they got those sandals and it's probably not doing very much you know they probably got some funky looking feet okay they probably they probably got some you know some Eagles toes and stuff like that some of you might have some Eagles so you guys know some of you can relate to that probably right yeah you know so they probably have some funky looking feet you know and they're walking from and by the way that's why they would have that custom to wash the feet when they would go to different houses they would wash their feet because their feet were just dirty right but the spiritual application there is that when we're in this world even though we're clean every whit we pick up the dirt of this world on a daily basis right so what do we have to do on a daily basis confess our sins daily not to keep or maintain our salvation but to stay clean so to speak while we're here on this earth because God's not just concerned with your salvation that's the most important part he's concerned with you just being clean right holy the Bible says be holy as God is holy and so it's important that we as Christians that's why we preach that's why I preach against sin why we preach against sin fornication drunkenness all these other sins because we want people to clean their feet you understand not literally though that would be a good idea for you to do we're talking about spiritually speaking okay so we have a foot washing ministry here you know every Sunday morning Sunday night Thursday where we're preaching the Word of God and you're just cleaning your sins as you're getting right with God but even then on a daily basis when you are by yourself reading the Bible you should be confessing your sins before the Lord understand and getting right with God okay so that's what he's telling them there I want to cover this last point we're done go to Galatians chapter number one Galatians chapter number one it's a very lengthy chapter so there's a lot to be said here and obviously I'm not going to cover the whole thing so one thing that you see in Acts chapter 9 in regards to the order of events is you see that the Apostle Paul is going to Damascus Jesus Christ comes he gets him saved he still goes to Damascus and then later on the Bible literally says you know when these days were fulfilled he goes back to Jerusalem you understand now look at Galatians chapter 1 and verse 15 it says in verse 15 but when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace to reveal his son in me that I may preach him among the heathen immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me but I went into Arabia and returned again into Damascus then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter and abode with him 15 days so when you look at both accounts Acts chapter 9 in Galatians chapter 1 referring to the same events the detail that is actually not present in Acts chapter 9 is the fact that he went to Arabia okay now why is that well first and foremost I want you to notice that as soon as he got saved he didn't go to Peter and John and the apostles and say hey guys can I be an apostle too can I be cool like you guys and do all these things he was already commissioned by Jesus right that's why he says he conferred not with flesh and blood he didn't go to Jerusalem but rather it says that he went into Arabia so this is what I believe is actually happening he went to Damascus and from Damascus he went into Arabia for a matter of a couple years and then he returned back to Damascus because it says here he says I went into Arabia and returned again into Damascus the implication being that he was already there at one point Damascus went into Arabia came back to Damascus and then went to Jerusalem now the question is why was he in Arabia well this is what I believe the answer is okay I believe because he was already commissioned to go into the Gentiles he's like let's go to Arabia then let's start preaching the gospel to those who are in Arabia all around you know the area here and then it wasn't until after that he came back to Damascus and eventually returned back to Jerusalem if you don't get that don't worry about it but I think that's important to note because some people can often say that there's a contradiction here you know because at the events of Acts chapter 9 don't match up with Galatians chapter 1 the account of the Apostle Paul's giving but what it simply is is that Arabia is mentioned in Galatians chapter number 1 and that's pretty much it so what we can learn from this chapter is this is that God can use anyone amen God can use anyone and in fact you know the Apostle Paul's an adult at this time so guys hey if you get saved later on in life you're in good company right because the Apostle Paul got saved later on night in life he didn't grow up in a Christian home in fact we could say he grew up in a Catholic home or something right or more specifically like a Jewish home you know and look folks he was part of the worst religion that this world has ever known the Jewish religion I mean you think you had a battle of being a Mormon you think you had a battle of being a Jehovah's Witness folks the Jews religion is the worst religion it's the most scumbag religion that this world has ever known in all of history but you know what the Apostle Paul came from that God saved and became a zealous Christian amen so that let that be a lesson to us all that God can use us no matter what background we have amen that's pretty much it let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer father we thank you so much for your word and thank you for the testimony of Paul I'm excited to get into the stories that we're gonna see hereafter with the Apostle Paul and the great exploits that he did and really that the New Testament is basically just spotlighting him and all the exploits that he's done because he was zealous for you and I pray that it could be said of us as individuals but us as a church that we would get so much more done