SPEAKER_01: Hello everyone, I'm Dr.
SPEAKER_01: Steve Holt.
SPEAKER_01: I want to welcome you to the Road Church Podcast.
SPEAKER_01: Each week we go into God's Word.
SPEAKER_01: We teach chapter by chapter and verse by verse.
SPEAKER_01: And we are here to build a kingdom of God revolution through empowering people to change the world.
SPEAKER_01: So we pray this will minister to you at your heart level and change your life.
SPEAKER_01: We are in Acts chapter 9.
SPEAKER_01: And what's exciting is we've looked at Saul getting knocked down by the power of the Holy Spirit and Jesus speaking to him.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus appearing to him as a translucent Messiah, not dissimilar.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, excuse me, in Revelation chapter 1, when John is on the island of Patmos, he sees this bright light.
SPEAKER_01: Chapter 4, chapter 1, chapter 4, chapter 5.
SPEAKER_01: So John is transported up into the heavenly rim and he sees this translucent Jesus on a throne.
SPEAKER_01: And I wonder if that's not what happened here with Saul.
SPEAKER_01: He says it was a bright light like the noonday sun.
SPEAKER_01: Just amazing.
SPEAKER_01: And so he gets radically saved.
SPEAKER_01: And this no-name guy, this person we have no real solid information on named Ananias gets called into action.
SPEAKER_01: And he doesn't even want to do it.
SPEAKER_01: And he kind of argues with God.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, Don't you know this is a guy that's got papers to come to all the synagogues and arrest the people of the way?
SPEAKER_01: And it's like, you know, the Lord says to him, I'm going to show him how much he will have to suffer.
SPEAKER_01: And that seems to give Ananias some comfort.
SPEAKER_01: And so then he comes and he prays over him and he sees again.
SPEAKER_01: He was blinded.
SPEAKER_01: He gets his sight back.
SPEAKER_01: He gets immediately baptized.
SPEAKER_01: And so we pick it up in verse 20 today.
SPEAKER_01: So that's the situation.
SPEAKER_01: Immediately he preached Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And I want you to notice that it's got an article there and it says, the Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.
SPEAKER_01: Then all who heard were amazed and said, Is this not he who destroyed those who were called on called on his name in Jerusalem?
SPEAKER_01: And has come here for that purpose, so that he might bring them bound to the chief priest.
SPEAKER_01: But Saul increased all the more, isn't that amazing?
SPEAKER_01: He increased all the more, confounding the Jews.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, this is just in a few days.
SPEAKER_01: He's confounding the Jews who dwelt in Damascus.
SPEAKER_01: Now look at this, proving that this Jesus is the Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Now, why is that important?
SPEAKER_01: It's really important to me.
SPEAKER_01: It should be real important to all of us, because the Christ means the anointed one, the Messiah, prophet, priest, and king.
SPEAKER_01: How many times is Jesus in America just our buddy?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I, you know, he's the man upstairs.
SPEAKER_01: And there's just this, there's this overemphasis on him almost being like us.
SPEAKER_01: Like Jesus, he'll forgive me like I would forgive someone.
SPEAKER_01: And we forget that he's holy, that he's reigning.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's got to be something that happened to Saul when he saw this translucent Jesus probably reigning, just as he saw Jesus in other testimonial passages, but it's like he saw the prophet, priest, and king Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: He saw the anointed one.
SPEAKER_01: He saw the triumphant king, the resurrected king.
SPEAKER_01: That's who he's preaching.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't say he preached Jesus here, it says he preached Jesus the Christ.
SPEAKER_01: I think I don't know, man.
SPEAKER_01: I just think that's significant.
SPEAKER_01: I think that's significant that Luke kept that in there, and that isn't that an instruction to us when you share your faith, don't just share about buddy buddy Jesus, but share that Jesus is the resurrected one.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is the King.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is the triumphant King.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is the triumphant Savior.
SPEAKER_01: Doesn't that change the conversation a little bit?
SPEAKER_01: Go like this if anybody understands what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: Does it not change the conversation?
SPEAKER_01: That's why I think I think sharing that we I believe, I'm a believer in Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I believe in the kingdom of God coming to earth.
SPEAKER_01: And that it came to earth through Jesus, the one who is crucified on the cross for all of my sins, rose again on the third day as triumphant king.
SPEAKER_01: And he is ruling in the heavenlies.
SPEAKER_01: He's not up for a vote, and you should join the team.
SPEAKER_01: Don't you want to join the team?
SPEAKER_01: Whatever happens in Washington, join the team.
SPEAKER_01: And if you're here today and you've never met the triumphant king, the resurrected Jesus, probably you should do that.
SPEAKER_01: It's really, really smart.
SPEAKER_01: And you're here because someone invited you or you heard about something, but you're here today and you're, or you're streaming online, and Jesus wants to be your king.
SPEAKER_01: And he really loves you, and he actually really care, he really poured his unique God image into you because you are a prophet, priest, and king on the earth representing Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I just think Saul got it.
SPEAKER_01: I think all the study and all the research and all of the stuff he got from Judaism and all the stuff that prepared him for that day when it was the right timing of God, where God wasn't silent anymore.
SPEAKER_01: He spoke, he came in a translucent light, he gets baptized.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe he thought of Isaiah 53, maybe he thought of Micah 6.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe he thought all these all these passages that he had memorized about the Messiah came together for him.
SPEAKER_01: And I think he saw Jesus as King, Lord, reigning.
SPEAKER_01: Because remember, he was at the stoning of Stephen.
SPEAKER_01: So he heard Stephen say what he said, I see him standing.
SPEAKER_01: And then in the same final words, he he extends forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: How radical is that?
SPEAKER_01: He's bloody, he's getting pummeled from that 50-foot tower.
SPEAKER_01: They're pummeling him with rocks, and they're laying their coats at Saul's feet at the synagogue of the Freeman, which we're going to see, he's going to visit again here in this passage.
SPEAKER_01: And he sees and he hears it.
SPEAKER_01: I think you heard what Stephen said.
SPEAKER_01: And that's the goes.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, he said, you can't quit kicking against the goads because I'm showing you again and again and again who I am and my nature.
SPEAKER_01: Men and women, if you know Christ in a personal way, that's the king that lives in you.
SPEAKER_01: And I believe we need revival.
SPEAKER_01: I believe we need God to come down in a fresh way in each of our lives.
SPEAKER_01: To cry out to God, Lord, would you come and show me in a deeper way what it means to love you with all of my heart.
SPEAKER_01: That's what we're gonna do at Whole Heart Advance.
SPEAKER_01: That's what we call it, Whole Heart Advance.
SPEAKER_01: Is to God wants our whole heart.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what's cool about all of you in this room.
SPEAKER_01: This is the one of the things I love the most about being a pastor, is that all of you are so unique.
SPEAKER_01: All of us are so unique.
SPEAKER_01: And how do we how do we become good at pulling out what that image of God is that was placed in you before you were born, that was put on this earth to do something significant with our lives?
SPEAKER_01: I'm not talking about being in full-time Christian work or something like some are called to that, but I'm just talking about in your job, in your marriage, in your neighborhood, in your relationships with your family, that you represent Jesus as the triumphant king.
SPEAKER_01: And it just makes you happy.
SPEAKER_01: You're just happier than everybody else.
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes your circumstances, to use a theological term, suck.
SPEAKER_01: And yet you come to him again and again and again, and you get your marching orders from him, he fills you afresh, you open God's word, he empowers and strengthens you as him as a king in your life.
SPEAKER_01: That's what I think is happening here, and so he is preaching Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Now look at this.
SPEAKER_01: Now, verse 22 to 23, let me give you, if you're taking notes or you write them on the side of your Bible, write three years.
SPEAKER_01: Between verses 22 and 23 is three years.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: So now after he, Luke just says, after many days were past.
SPEAKER_01: So we say, well, Steve, where are you getting that?
SPEAKER_01: So look at, just turn to the right to Galatians 1.
SPEAKER_01: You can put your, keep your finger in Acts 9, go to Galatians 1, and we get the insight of what happened.
SPEAKER_01: And I just want to follow, because I'm gonna help, hopefully, I'm gonna help us understand the fact that we're gonna not, we're gonna we're gonna lose touch with Saul now for the next seven years in the book of Acts.
SPEAKER_01: So I want you to see what's going on.
SPEAKER_01: So look at verse 11 of Galatians 1.
SPEAKER_01: He gives us a glimpse into what was happening right after he gets saved.
SPEAKER_01: But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man, for I neither received it from man nor was taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: For you've heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it.
SPEAKER_01: And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.
SPEAKER_01: But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through his grace to reveal his son in me that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood.
SPEAKER_01: Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who are apostles before me, but I went to Arabia.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I went to Arabia and returned again, look at this, to Damascus.
SPEAKER_01: So underline Damascus.
SPEAKER_01: So he he he leaves for three years, he's gonna come back, and this is how we know it's three years.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 18.
SPEAKER_01: Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter and remained with him for 15 days.
SPEAKER_01: So between 22 and 23, he goes up to Nabataean.
SPEAKER_01: Nabataean, have fun trying to spell that.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna spell it for you, but I had to look it up.
SPEAKER_01: But Nabataean Arabia for three years.
SPEAKER_01: Now, what was he doing in the desert for three years?
SPEAKER_01: We don't know.
SPEAKER_01: But what we sense from putting different passages together, coming alongside with the tradition of the church, I wonder, give you a little bit of my opinion, is if he didn't go to Mount Sinai.
SPEAKER_01: I wonder if he went to Mount Sinai where Moses received the law.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, he's a Pharisee of Pharisees, a Hebrew of Hebrews, and I wonder if he camped out for three years and just spent time in God's word saying, Lord, you've got to guide me.
SPEAKER_01: This is a massive paradigm shift, men and women, for Saul.
SPEAKER_01: Everything he's believed in, he's been 100% zealous.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, all in going for it, boom, he gets knocked down.
SPEAKER_01: There's this shift that occurs, and everything he's against, listen, he's now for.
SPEAKER_01: Everything he was against, he's now for.
SPEAKER_01: And for those three years, I wonder if he was at the base of Mount Sinai, there in the Nabataean Arabia area, and that would be the Sinai Desert, upper plateau of Jordan today, and lower Sinai Desert.
SPEAKER_01: He's there grappling with this paradigm shift.
SPEAKER_01: Well, what was the paradigm shift?
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna give you three things that I think were huge changes in Saul's thinking.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, law and grace.
SPEAKER_01: God was gonna teach him, and Ephesians, Galatians, and Romans especially show this transformation of law and grace.
SPEAKER_01: Number two, works.
SPEAKER_01: Works and faith.
SPEAKER_01: And then thirdly, religion versus relationship.
SPEAKER_01: Religion and relationship.
SPEAKER_01: So he grapples with that, and we're gonna see him show up again in chapter 13.
SPEAKER_01: So, so here's why I think the three-year gap.
SPEAKER_01: Look what's next.
SPEAKER_01: But their plot became known to Saul.
SPEAKER_01: They watched the gates day and night to kill him.
SPEAKER_01: Then the disciples took him by night and left and let him down through the wall in a large basket.
SPEAKER_01: So some private citizen somewhere had, and what they did, church, is they had waste, literal waste baskets that they had two particular ropes on, and they would drop the waste basket down along the wall, and then pull the other rope and dump out the escrement there and then pull it back up.
SPEAKER_01: That's what Saul gets lowered down into.
SPEAKER_01: He's in a basket with the remains of escrement to escape.
SPEAKER_01: Imagine this.
SPEAKER_01: Guys, imagine this that he's going to Damascus.
SPEAKER_01: He's a rock star of Judaism.
SPEAKER_01: He's the man.
SPEAKER_01: He's rising up, he's popular, he's well known.
SPEAKER_01: He met with Caiaphas.
SPEAKER_01: Not everybody got to meet with Caiaphas.
SPEAKER_01: He met with the high priest.
SPEAKER_01: He knew everybody by name on the Sanhedrin of the 70 leaders of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: And now he's gone from that to going out into desert for three years, comes back again to Damascus, immediately they're trying to kill him, and he's being lowered down in a basket with the remains of escrimen in it to escape for his life.
SPEAKER_01: Talk about getting hammered.
SPEAKER_01: Talk about getting crushed by God for the purpose that God has for him.
SPEAKER_01: Well, it doesn't end there.
SPEAKER_01: Now look at verse 26.
SPEAKER_01: And when Saul had come to where?
SPEAKER_01: Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: That's Galatians 1.
SPEAKER_01: Remember?
SPEAKER_01: He went to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: And he tried to join.
SPEAKER_01: And the Greek word here is he continually tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him and did not believe that he was a disciple.
SPEAKER_01: This is a man without a country.
SPEAKER_01: This is a man without any friends, without any family.
SPEAKER_01: He's been rejected by the Jews.
SPEAKER_01: He's been rejected by the synagogue.
SPEAKER_01: He's been rejected by the temple.
SPEAKER_01: He's obviously rejected by the Sanhedrin.
SPEAKER_01: And now he's even rejected by the church.
SPEAKER_01: Church doesn't do that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_01: Church doesn't reject people.
SPEAKER_01: How many got church hurt?
SPEAKER_01: Any got any church hurting around here?
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: You're living a charmed life if you haven't had church hurt.
SPEAKER_01: But listen, isn't this, I mean, let's let's dive in a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: No home, no family, no friends, nobody trusts him.
SPEAKER_01: He's been out in the desert for three years.
SPEAKER_01: Everything he tries to do ends up being someone wanting to kill him.
SPEAKER_01: He's been lowered down in a basket with the remains of escrement.
SPEAKER_01: And now he can't even find any friends in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: You know why?
SPEAKER_01: Because they remember him, don't they?
SPEAKER_01: They remember what he did, maybe to their family members.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna have anything to do with that guy.
SPEAKER_01: He killed my mom.
SPEAKER_01: He imprisoned my dad.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this is verse 27.
SPEAKER_01: The first bloodstained ally in the New Testament church.
SPEAKER_01: But Barnabas.
SPEAKER_01: But Barnabas took him.
SPEAKER_01: And I wrote on the side of my Bible, B.S.
SPEAKER_01: A, bloodstained ally.
SPEAKER_01: Brought him to the apostles, and he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Phenomenal.
SPEAKER_01: A true bloodstained ally here.
SPEAKER_01: We see what's happening because Barnabas comes along, and Barnabas, his name was Joseph.
SPEAKER_01: If you go back to Acts 4, that's when he's introduced.
SPEAKER_01: He evidently was a wealthy man who had land in Cyprus.
SPEAKER_01: He was a Greek-speaking Jew, and he had money, he had land, he sold it, he gave everything he had to the early church in Acts chapter 4.
SPEAKER_01: But what's parenthetically mentioned in Acts 4 is they changed his name to the Son of Encouragement.
SPEAKER_01: That's what Barnabas means.
SPEAKER_01: And he becomes a bloodstained ally.
SPEAKER_01: He comes along and he rescues, he literally rescues Saul from the church and says, listen, I've heard his testimony.
SPEAKER_01: I believe he's the real deal.
SPEAKER_01: Look what I want to tell you what he's done.
SPEAKER_01: He did this in Damascus.
SPEAKER_01: Accept him.
SPEAKER_01: Here's a definition of Barnabas.
SPEAKER_01: Here's a definition of blood-stained ally.
SPEAKER_01: A true blood-stained ally is the one who doesn't cast you out when everyone else does.
SPEAKER_01: And after, and permit me respectfully to say this to you that are new, because you don't know everything, which is really good, but with the hardship of the last year and a half at the road, you guys are blood-stained allies.
SPEAKER_01: When others are not here, you're here.
SPEAKER_01: And I just want to say thank you.
SPEAKER_01: We all need blood-stained allies.
SPEAKER_01: We all need each other.
SPEAKER_01: You need blood-stained allies in your life.
SPEAKER_01: Because you're going to come to times in your life where people cut and run.
SPEAKER_01: May happen in your family.
SPEAKER_01: And you'll be surprised who comes along and stands with you.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what happened with Barnabas.
SPEAKER_01: He's there.
SPEAKER_01: So he was with him at Jerusalem, coming and going, and he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, disputing against the Hellenists, but they attempted to kill him.
SPEAKER_01: When the brethren found out, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.
SPEAKER_01: If you read the rest of Galatians 1, you'll see the Saul, now called Paul, which is his Roman name, writing in Galatians about this particular part, but because of time we'll move past that.
SPEAKER_01: So he shipped out, he goes back to Tarsus.
SPEAKER_01: Now that area mentioned.
SPEAKER_01: And women is called Galatia.
SPEAKER_01: And so he's there for seven years.
SPEAKER_01: So listen, here's what's happening.
SPEAKER_01: This is important.
SPEAKER_01: Three plus seven equals ten.
SPEAKER_01: So it will be literally ten years before Saul, who becomes known as Paul, in Acts 13 comes on the scene again.
SPEAKER_01: And so for the rest, several chapters coming out, we're going to go back to Peter.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 31.
SPEAKER_01: Then the churches throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and were edified and walking in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied.
SPEAKER_01: Now it came to pass as Peter went through all parts of the country, so we're pivoting now to Peter, that he also came down to the saints who dwelt in Lidah.
SPEAKER_01: There he found a certain man named Anas who had been bedridden eight years and was paralyzed.
SPEAKER_01: And Peter said to him, Anas, Jesus Christ heals you.
SPEAKER_01: Arise and make your bed.
SPEAKER_01: Then he arose immediately.
SPEAKER_01: So all who dwelt in Lidda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: So it's this powerful healing.
SPEAKER_01: Now what's important here is that the healing of a body led to the healing of souls.
SPEAKER_01: So every power encounter as it relates to healing or deliverance is there to accent the mighty, triumphant king who gives us the greatest healing, which is our soul.
SPEAKER_01: And so probably thousands get saved in this region.
SPEAKER_01: At Joppa, there was a certain disciple named, I always say Tabitha, but I'm going to say it in the Aramaic way, Tabitha.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, Tabitha, which is translated Dorcas.
SPEAKER_01: Now, which name would you rather have?
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: Tabitha, which is translated Dorcas, but listen to what they say about her.
SPEAKER_01: This woman was full of good works and charitable deeds, which she did.
SPEAKER_01: But it happened in those days that she became sick and died.
SPEAKER_01: Now this is a beautiful picture of an entrepreneurial, giving, loving, caring person in a local church.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 38.
SPEAKER_01: But it happened in those days that she become sick and died.
SPEAKER_01: When they had washed her, they laid her in the upper room.
SPEAKER_01: Now they didn't embalm back then.
SPEAKER_01: But she's she's not mostly dead.
SPEAKER_01: She's really dead.
SPEAKER_01: And they're preparing for the wake.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, this is like probably it's been at least 24 hours.
SPEAKER_01: But but she's she's really dead.
SPEAKER_01: And this is gonna be the first time that we see a regular person, a regular disciple used by God the way Jesus did his ministry.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 38.
SPEAKER_01: And since Lydda was near Joppa and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent two men to him, imploring him not to delay in coming to them.
SPEAKER_01: Then Peter arose.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I just have so much to say here.
SPEAKER_01: I'm already out of time.
SPEAKER_01: Who's that person?
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that another like significant thing?
SPEAKER_01: I wish we could just camp there.
SPEAKER_01: Like, who's that person who she's dead?
SPEAKER_01: She's really dead, and they say, hey, you know what?
SPEAKER_01: I heard Peter's in the area.
SPEAKER_01: Let's go get see if Peter will come and lay hands on her and heal her.
SPEAKER_01: Nobody believes that, but someone did.
SPEAKER_01: And so Peter hears about it.
SPEAKER_01: Then Peter arose, verse 39, and he went with them, and when he had come, they brought him to the upper room, and all the widows stood by him weeping, showing the tunics and the garments which Dorcas had made while she was with them.
SPEAKER_01: So this lady is really beloved.
SPEAKER_01: She's got a heart for the poor, she's generous, she's loving, she's one of those people that brings, you know, um, pound cake like my mom used to do to the sick and the bereaved.
SPEAKER_01: She's always, and so everybody misses her and they love her, and they're telling them all this, but look what look what Peter does in verse 40.
SPEAKER_01: But Peter put them all out.
SPEAKER_01: And he knelt down and he prayed.
SPEAKER_01: What's happening here?
SPEAKER_01: Oh my goodness, this is just so good.
SPEAKER_01: It's from Mark 5.
SPEAKER_01: It's Mark 541.
SPEAKER_01: It's when Jesus walked in and the little girl was dead, remember?
SPEAKER_01: And everybody's talking about it, and everybody's frustrated, and everybody's weeping, and then guess who's probably with Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: Peter is.
SPEAKER_01: Probably Peter, James, and John come in and they see what Jesus does.
SPEAKER_01: He comes in, everybody get out of here.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't want a mixture of faith, he only wanted people of faith that would believe.
SPEAKER_01: So he casts them out.
SPEAKER_01: And then Jesus goes down to the little girl.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what it says in Mark 5.
SPEAKER_01: It's Talitha Kumi in Aramaic.
SPEAKER_01: Taluthi, Talitha Kumi, which means little girl arise.
SPEAKER_01: And you know what I think Peter said?
SPEAKER_01: He says, Tabitha kumi.
SPEAKER_01: Not Talitha kumi, Tabitha kumi, Tabitha arise.
SPEAKER_01: And then he gave her his hand, and he lifted her up, Tabitha arise, and she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up, and then he gave her his hand, and he lifted her up, and when he had called the saints and widows, he presented her alive, and it became known throughout all Joppa.
SPEAKER_01: Many believed on the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And so it was, he stayed many days in Joppa with Simon the Tanner, which is actually a significant verse, but I don't have time to go to it.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to the Road Church Podcast.
SPEAKER_00: We pray today's message has empowered you to make a difference in your world.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about the Road Church and to find more content like this, go to theroad.org.
SPEAKER_00: That's therode.org.