Pastor Mac v.6 "Jesus Met Me in My Mess!" Acts 9:1-9

words of encouragement and inspiration

"A Few Minutes with Pastor Mac"
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Transcript

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Whatever you need. Whatever you need. Whatever is broke. He's alive.

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Hello and good morning. Thank you for tuning in to another podcast of a few minutes with Pastor Matt. We hope God is blessing you thus well on this Sunday morning. And we hope God's power favour and strength be upon you for this new week. That is upon us. If you can't make service, don't forget. We have to give the five app that you can give your donations and first fruits and uh praise giving the right app. And um, if you can't make it to service, so don't forget about that. We always want to make sure we give opportunity to uh so seeds into God's ministry. And if you can't make it again, our website as well, uh give the website and on our app, uh Gibbilify. Thank you again for joining us on a few minutes with Pastor Mac podcast on this third Sunday of June, the sixth month of the year.

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We are rapidly approaching halfway point, I think it's in July somewhere. Uh 2026 is rapidly exiting quickly. I'm looking forward.

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I'm looking forward to the timeline, six months, eight, six months out, but uh moving very fast and quickly and expeditiously.

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But uh we want to make sure we utilize each day of our life to give God praise and thank him for what he's done and what he's doing for us, through us, and to us right now. We always give praise to God for his magnificent blessings. And if he don't do anything else, it's the same thing. So we should just praise him for what he's done, what he's done enough of, as we praise him all for what he's done enough.

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But we thank God for you tuning in. Let's pray. Oh great, gracious father, we thank you for another chance to hear a word from you. This is a few moments we have. Pastor Mac Podcast, broadcast. We as we utilize for the kingdom uplifting someone's heart and a head that's hung down. We ask you to live with those and that. That'll be all you can be for us in our life. We thank you for what you've done, what you're going to do in our life, going forward. And we love you. We thank you unconditionally. You have commanded us to do that. And Lord, we do that. We don't do, we disobey. But we love you, Lord. Unconditional what you've done, what you're doing. It doesn't matter what you're not blessing us with right now, and it does not affect our love. It prays for you unconditionally, Lord. We love you like you love us. I messed up, jacked upselves, or our messed up lives, and messed up. You helped us, or you brought us a mighty long way. We give you praise and glory for all of that. We love you, we praise you, we lift you up. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

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Um, last week I gave you the text of Acts 9, 1 through 6 at the beginning of the chapter. Uh next Sunday Lord's saying Acts 9, 10 through 16. But today, Acts 9, 1 through 6. Um actually uh number 1 through 9. Technically just the description is the cohesiveness and cohesion going to the next section for the next week, but uh I gave you one through six or one through uh nine should be uh for today. Yeah. So we'll make sure we're uh yeah, we'll say that one thing. I just I read the translation translation hell as you follow along. Dr. Luke writes, now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord and relentless in his search for believers, went to the high priest and he asked for letters of authority from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any men or women there belonging to the way believers, followers of Jesus the Christ, men and women alike, he could arrest them and bring them bound with chains to Jerusalem.

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As he traveling approached the demas Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven that flashed around him, displaying the glory and majesty of Christ, and he fell to the ground and heard a voice from heaven saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting and oppressing me? And Saul said, Who are you, Lord? And he answered, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do. The men who were travelling with him were terrified and stood up speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul got up from the ground, but through his eyes, though his eyes were open, excuse me, he could see nothing. So they laid led him by the hand and brought him into the master's, and he was unable to see for three days, and he neither ate nor did he drink.

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The word of God for the people of God for the edified of God.

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So I said, Who are you, Lord? He said, Who are you, Lord? As I am Jesus, only you are persecuted. Yeah, who it is. Uh I just want to tell you this few minutes with past the Meg broadcast. Uh Jesus met me in my mess. Jesus met me in my mess. Uh beloved brothers and sisters, one of the greatest mistakes we make is thinking that Jesus only meets people after they get themselves together. We think he meets us after we fix our attitude, clean up our past, or change our habitat, get back in church and learn how to act right. Acts 9 reminds us that Jesus does not just meet people in sanctuary. Sometimes Jesus meets people on the road while they are still wrong, still angry, still confused, still prideful, and still on their way to do damage. Saul was not on his way to a probation. Saul was not on his way to revival. Saul was not on his way to apologize to the church. Saul was on his way to persecute the church. The Bible says he was breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. That means hate was not just something he carried, hate had become the air he breathed. He had letters in his hand, religion in his mind, anger in his heart, and Damascus in his direction. But before Saul could get to Damascus, Jesus met him on the road. And that is the shout of the text right here. Jesus met Saul in his mess. Not after the mess, not around the mess, not once Saul explained the mess. Jesus met him right in the thick of it. And somebody here can testify, somebody on the sound of my voice. I was not looking for him like I should have been, but he came looking for me. I was on the wrong road, but he still knew my name. I was a mess, but thank God he still had mercy. I was running with the wrong spirit. He said, but Saul still breathing murder and threats against the disciples of the Lord. Saul is going the wrong way. He's going, but he's going with confidence. He's he's rightly wrong. He's wrongly right. He is not confused about his mission. He is not hesitant. He is not slowing down. He has permission from the high priest, letters in his hand, and a plan to arrest all of Jesus' followers. He's proof that you can be religious and still be wrong. Some folk in the church are thinking they are godly right, but they are godly wrong. You can have zeal and still not have the truth. You can think you are defending God while you are actually fighting against God. That's why the text is still breathing threats. This harkens back to Acts 7 and Acts 8. Saul was there when Stephen was stoned. Saul was there. He approved Stephen's death. Saul arrived at the church, and now in Acts 9, Saul is still going. That's one thing we ought to remember that uh those who are convicted for the purpose, sometimes Christians don't have the same zeal. Everybody else seems to go. I told you last week, everybody else got a fire in the bosom. But we should be more excited about everybody else because we following a man named Jesus. But here is the mercy. Jesus stops Saul before Saul gets to where he's going. That's grace. Sometimes grace does not look like an open door, sometimes grace looks like a blocked road. Sometimes grace does not feel like a blessing. Sometimes grace feels like some uh feels like an interruption because God knows that if he let us keep going in the wrong direction, we might destroy ourselves and hurt other people along the way. Here, here, lean in, lean in. Have you ever thanked God for the door he closed? Have you ever thanked God for the plant he interrupted? Have you ever thanked God that he did not let you get everything you were trying to get? Saul was going to Damascus to arrest believers, but Jesus arrested Saul before Saul could arrest anybody else. Anyone know when you got arrested by Jesus? Have you remember that time, that day, that hour, that Jesus came and arrested you? Jesus met him while he was going the wrong way. But secondly, I was stopped by the right Savior. I said, read verses three. Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Saul falls to the ground. Jesus asked him a question. Saul, why are you doing me wrong? Why are you treating me this way? That question is not because Jesus needs information. That question is because Saul needed revelation. Somebody, oh that preached pastor, I'm doing the best I can. I hope somebody got that. He didn't need the information. Saul needed revelation. Saul didn't know that he was persecuting Jesus. Saul thought he was fighting flesh and blood Christians, but Jesus said, You've been fighting me. Saul thought he was protecting the face. That's a problem with some of our churches. We stuck in protecting tradition. We stuck in protecting some rituals. We stuck in protecting what Big Mama used to do. Jesus came to change what you've been doing. I got something new. And you need to be in tune to what I got because what I got is better than what you're doing. You've been persecuting the Lord of the faith. Saul thought the problem was the church. Jesus shows Saul that the problem is in Saul. This is where real change begins, not when we explain ourselves, but when Jesus exposes us to the truth. Jesus shows Saul, Saul, what could he what he could not see about himself? Saul was educated but blind. Saul was religious but blind. Saul was passionate but blind. Saul had authority from men, but he was still blind to the truth of God. And then Saul asked the question that changes everything. Who are you, Lord? Jesus asked, I am Jesus whom you persecute. That means the Jesus Saul thought was dead is alive. See this is the revelation. See, Jesus asked him for him. He told this he asked him, uh, who you why are you persecuting me? Because he needed to be revealed in what he was doing. That's what some of us are lacking, right? Jesus saw this the Jesus Saul was fighting and speaking from heaven. And notice this, Jesus identified himself with his people. He does not say why you persecuting them. He says, Why are you persecuting me? Well, this was somebody lean, lean in. Somebody come here. That means that when Saul touched the church, he was touching what belonged to Christ. I told you the other Sunday, don't worry about your haters. Don't worry about folk who come against you. God gonna take care of them. When he attacked the people of God, he was attacking the heart of the Savior. Touch your neighbor, somebody touch somebody around him, say, I'm a child's king. I'm a king of the I'm a child of the king. And excuse me, and and and if you bother me, you messing with him. Uh that's good to know. Be careful how you handle God's people. Be careful how you treat the church. Be careful how you talk about the body of Christ. Be careful how you talk about the man of God. Jesus takes personally what happens to his people. Well, as long as you're doing right. Let me put that in for somebody. Somebody in the room right now, high five you high five, somebody in your house, in your room right now, and say, I'm right with God. So watch how you treat me. But even in this confrontation, there's mercy. Jesus does not expose Saul to destroy him. Jesus exposes Saul to deliver him. Jesus, Jesus met him in his mess, showed him the truth about himself. He put the spiritual mirror in front of Saul. He said, Saul, look, my brother, this is what you look like. You've been bothering my people, you've been persecuting the church. You've been doing wrong. You thought you were right. You thought you were doing what the church needed. You thought you were doing what they needed for the tradition. But no, no, you were bothering my folks. So therefore, you were bothering me. Isn't that good news to know that God got our back? In that good news to know that whatever we need, God can handle it. Well, first, I was running with the wrong spirit. And secondly, I was stopped by the right Savior. And then thirdly, finally, he raised me up for a new direction. What did he tell him? He said, Rise and enter the city. And you will be told what you are to do. Jesus knocks Saul down, but does not leave him down. That's a good thing about it. Can I put a parenthetical pause right there? A comma and say, God doesn't leave us where he met us. He's always trying to lift us up. You could have been down in the dumps, but God reaches down to get you up. Jesus met you where you were in your mess, but he didn't leave you in your mess. Can I put this in for somebody? Some of us got problems in the church because we Jesus met us in the mess, but we didn't leave the mess behind us. Uh-oh. That would preach all by itself. The knockdown was not the end. The blindness was not the end. The interruption was not the end. The confrontation was not the end. Jesus said, Rise and enter the city. In other words, Saul, your old direction is over. But your life is not over. Your old mission is over. But your assignment is not over. Your old identity is being broken. But I still have purpose for you. Aren't you glad God is in the recycle business? I remember looking at a bottle and it had recycle on it. And the bottle said, I used to have some stuff in me. But they poured it out, drank it up, whatever, and I was tossed in the trash. No good no more because I didn't have contents inside of me that was a value to somebody else. Well, the bottle went on and said that that that that they came along and they took him as this old self, put him in the fire, melted him down, created him again and put some new stuff in him, and now it says recycle. Because now I can be used again with a new purpose. Well, that's just like us saints. We're broken and old, busted and broke down. Jesus met us in our mess, but he brought us, cleaned us up, put us in the fire, got us new. We don't look like what we've been through, and we ought to have recycled on our forehead because Jesus has come in and made us brand new. I don't know. That's your old identity identity that was broken, but now Jesus has a new purpose for us. So Saul gets up from the ground, but he cannot see. The men with him have to lead him by the hand into Damascus. That is the a different Saul. He left Jerusalem with power, but now he enters Damascus helpless. He left Jerusalem with letters, but he enters Damascus needing instruction. He left Jerusalem breathing threats, but he entered Damascus silent and blind. He left Jerusalem trying to bind others, but he entered Damascus being led by others. Jesus humbled him before he used him. Well, good day, church, and all those under. That's all we need to know. Before God can use us, he's got to humble us. Well, I don't know. Hope y'all have a great Sunday out there, but that that may be the end of the sun. He's got to hum, he's got to take some stuff out of us. And I don't know who under the sound of my voice, Jesus had to work some stuff in us, get it out of us. And then he can you, we gotta be broken first. You gotta be put aside, you gotta be cast down, you gotta be stuck before God. Can you look at all the people God has used in the Bible, in in the history context of the word of God? He used a murderer, Moses, used a drunkard, Noah, used a philanderer, adulterer, David, used a uh uh uh a polygamous Solomon. Y'all, y'all, y'all missing, y'all, y'all missing. He used a uh a cussing knife total Peter. But then what he do to them, he he humbled them before he used them. That gives us some help in his help somebody because you need to know that you're not done in your mess. Jesus meets us in our mess, we could become our best. Well, that's a whole nother sermon. Preach, Pastor Mac. I'm doing the best I can. And get this, for three days Saul could not see. For three days he did not eat or drink. It's almost like Saul's old life had to die before his new life could begin. All right, this good news, people. My people, my beloved, my brothers and sisters, Jesus just stops you from your wrong direction, gives you a new direction. Grace does not just forgive your past, grace gives you a future. And oh, thank God for the future. Somebody ought to thank God that your mess did not cancel your ministry. Your failure did not cancel your future. Your wrong road did not cancel your calling. Your past did not have the final word. Jesus met Saul in his mess, but he did not leave Saul in the mess. Jesus raised him up for a new direction. And when God sends the word, it's just not for information, it's an invitation, it's just not history, it's the help, it's just not something to read, it's something that can reach you. Oh, Saul had an encounter with Jesus. And that's why we ought to have an encounter with Jesus. Once we meet Jesus, he told a woman at the world, go and sin no more. That's one once I meet Jesus, I'm changed. I don't go the same way. I I don't talk the same. I Paul said, as Saul, when he becomes Paul, said, when I met him, he cannot testify. The very verse he wrote, the scripture he wrote said, When I met Jesus, I became a new creature. Old things were passed away, but behold, all things are new. And thank God for his newness. Thank God for his presence. Thank God for all things being good. I didn't say they were good for me, I just said being good in Christ, because it might not be good to me. But it'll be good for me. Thank God that he lifted me out of my mess to make me my best, to give me new hope and a future, and that's all he wants to do for you. Just like Saul, he had to take some junk out of him. He had to humble him because he wasn't ready for the work. But now just like us, look at us now. I'm brand new in Christ, and I thank God for the opportunity to serve a risen Savior, and he's in the world today. You don't mind if I talk about him born in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth, baptized in the Jordan River, walked the streets of Jerusalem. He was healing the sick and raising the dead, but one Friday one Friday he marched up Calvary's hill, and they nailed him to an old rugged cross and he died. Yes he did. Died with the sins of man on him. So Saul could get right. Died for Billy Wayne to get right, and when he died he gave us a new name. Saul became Paul. We become the children of God. Look at me now. I once was in mess, but I now I'm at my best. I once was broken, but now he's made me new all the house of witness out there who can testify I used to be mine but now I see I used to cuss and fuss all the time, but now I'm praising him. Even when things look bad, I'm giving him all the glory. But they marched him up Calvary's hill, and he died but early early Sunday morning. Invitation is extended now. If you don't know Jesus and the pardon of your sins, if you would like to get to know him better and get saved, allow him to come into your life, simply say this prayer. Jesus, I need you in my life. I believe you died and rose again on the third day. I trust you to control my life and to enhance my future. If you said that prayer, uh it's as simple as ABC. Accept, believe, and commit. If you did that, we would love to hear from you. You may contact us through our email, get praiseon at house of praisepp.org. Or you may go simply to our website, www.houseofpraisepp.org, contact us, and someone from our discipleship team will get back with you with other information you need in order to begin this new life in Christ. We love you to life. We look forward to hearing from you. Thank you again for listening to our podcast. We hope something was said, it would be a blessing for you, be a blessing for you this week. We know that we are still in the hands of God, and we will trust Him to keep and deliver us. Bless you, God bless you. Caline, we love you to life, and you can't do anything about it. Look forward to next week. The Lord says we're saying, we hope that you are praying, reading the word, staying true, extending on the promises of the Lord. God bless you. And we'll see you next week.