Pastor Mac v.9 "Yes, I'm Guilty!" Acts 9:23-31

words of encouragement and inspiration

"A Few Minutes with Pastor Mac"
                       www.bdubjr.com

Transcript

Copy

unknown 1:19

Good day to everyone.

SPEAKER_01 1:21

Glad with you once again this morning for a few minutes with Pastor Mac Podcast. Thank God for keeping us as we're moving steadily forward. Almost toward the middle of July, but July 12th. And I'm so glad God has kept us and is keeping us thus far. Hope your family, you were doing well. Hope this podcast, broadcast finds you in good health and wellness. And may God be able, as he is able to, capable of keeping us. Even in the midst of storms and trials, God is there. So we thank God for Jesus and his salvific power and all he's doing and is doing right now and has done and will do for us in the future. So we uh hope you're enjoying being cool this summer. The heat has not even begun yet, I don't think. But uh we know how Texas is uh as we live here, many those who live many, many, many moons, uh know how Texas can get stay cool and hydrated, as they say. Keep keep yourself uh AC'd up, as they say. Protect yourself from the rays if you go outside. We thank God you God give us wisdom to take care of ourselves, even in the midst. Triple digit heat. Amen. Somebody can say, Won't he keep us? Uh we thank God to be here again. Uh uh podcast broadcast. Two minutes with Pastor Mag. Last night I gave you the text of Acts 9, 23, 31, and uh it's been the second Sunday of July. Uh next two Sundays we'll be out. And uh anniversary, second anniversary is coming up, and uh we got we'll be preaching, I'll have a podcast again until first Sunday in August. So Lord says the same praying for these activities and events we're having between now and the end of the month. So again, we uh Acts 9, 23, 31 today as I gave you last week. And uh that first Sunday, Lord says the same be Acts 10, 34 to through 43. Read the entirety of Acts 10. But we'll pick up at 34 uh through 43, first Sunday in August. So it says it's hard to bother me already toward fog and the summer fall. But um let's pray the Lord with that chance to hear a word from you. We pray that you use your word to bless someone, to be a blessing for someone, break through deliverance, reclaim your power now. Lord, give us your vision, your wisdom, us understanding, new set of eyes, Lord, new heart, new mind, Lord, and all our things give us detailed so that we can use you to make it through. Don't lean and depend on ourselves, but we're dependent on you. So we thank you, we love you. Ask you to be a blessing to someone under the sound of my voice. Somebody needs help, somebody needs uh assistance spiritually, it could be financially, emotionally, relationally, whatever it is, but we know you can do it. We know you can do anything but fail. We're praying for it to be done for your glory and our good. We know you can do anything but fail. We claim that power right now. In the name of Jesus. We love you, we thank you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Acts 9, 23 through 31. I'm reading the AMP translation. Whatever translation you have, ask you to follow along. After considerable time had passed, about three years or so, the Jews plotted together to kill him. But their plot became known to Saul. They were also watching the city's gates day and night, so they could kill him. But his disciples took him at night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a large basket. When he arrived at Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. However, Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and described to them how Saul had seen the Lord on the road to Damascus, and how he had spoken to him, and how at Damascus Saul had preached openly and spoken confidently in the name of Jesus. So he was with them, moving around freely as one of them in Jerusalem, speaking out boldly in the name of the Lord. He was talking and arguing with the Hellenists, the Greek-speaking Jews, but they were attempting to kill him. When the brothers found out about the plot, they brought him down to Caesarea, uh, Meritima, and sent him off to Tarsus, his hometown. So the church throughout Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace without persecution, being built up in wisdom, virtue, and faith, and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort and encouragement of the Holy Spirit. And it continued to grow in number, the word of God for the people of God, for the edifying of God. When he arrived, he tried to join the disciples. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. I just want to tag this few minutes with Pastor Mac this morning with yes, I'm guilty. Yes, I'm guilty. There are a lot of times when we um have not quite understood where God is leading and or directing us. So we can almost um liken ourselves to this man who had been in trouble before in time earlier, and everybody in town knew his name, but not always for the right reasons. People saw him coming, they did not just see the man, they saw his record, they remembered what he used to do, where he used to go, where he used to who he used to run with, the damage he had caused, and pain connected to his name. One day the same man walked into a church. He did not come in loud, he did not come in trying to explain everything, he did not come in acting like his past never happened. He just came in looking for a place to worship the God who had changed his life. When people saw him, some started whispering. Is that him? Is he serious? Do you think this is real after everything he did? Now he wants to be in church. And the truth is they were not completely wrong to remember, because he really had done some things. He really had hurt some people, he really did have a past. But when they did not know, what they did not know was that somewhere between who he used to be and where he was standing now, he had run into grace. That is the tension of Acts 9. This particular text. Saul is not innocent. He cannot stand before the church and say, Y'all got me wrong. No, they had him right. He was guilty, guilty persecuting the church, guilty, threatening believers, guilty, dragging people from their homes, guilty of standing in agreement with Stephen when he was killed, guilty of having a reputation that made the saints nervous. But the good news is this Saul was guilty, but he was not beyond grace. I came to preach to somebody who has ever had to live under the shadow of an old chapter. Many maybe people remember what you did. Maybe people remember how you acted. Maybe people remember what you said and remember the old version of you. But if Christ has changed your life, you do not have to deny your guilt in order to celebrate his grace. You can tell the truth and still testify. Yes, I'm guilty, but I'm also forgiven. Yes, I'm guilty, but I'm also changed. I'm guilty, but I'm also covered. I'm guilty, but I'm also called because Acts 9 teaches us that grace does not need a clean record to change a life. Grace can take a persecutor and make him a preacher, grace can take an enemy and make him an evangelist. Grace can take guilty men and make him a gospel witness. So today, this yes, I'm guilty fits us. And the church is the only place that we can go and have uh uh um uh fellowship with, and our past is actually a good thing to talk about because your past sometimes helps somebody in their present. Well, preach Pastor Mac, I'm doing the best I can. What you've gone through becomes a help to somebody who may be going through the same thing, and the church should be the only place, it is the only place to my recollection that every time you talk about how good God has been in your life previous, your past, it should be helping somebody because your past is now a benefit for somebody else. Everywhere else, people are gonna talk about they find about what you did, they may not want to associate with you again, but the church we come and say the Lord delivered me, He brought me through, He made a way. That's what it does for us. Well, first thing, uh, guilty of having a past. At verse 26, the disciples were afraid of Paul, saw Paul because they did not believe he was really a disciple. When he arrived, he tried to join them, but they were afraid of the Bible, so they were afraid of him. The first thing we see is that Paul is guilty of having a past. When Saul arrives in Jerusalem, he tries to join them, he wants to connect with the church, he wants to be received by the believers, he wants to be counted among the people he now belongs to. But the text says that they were all afraid of him. They did not believe he was really a disciple. Now, before we criticize the disciples, we need to understand their fear. They were not being petty, they were not being uh judgmental, they were not being trying to hold Saul back. They remembered what he had done. Acts 8 3 says Paul Saul made havoc of the church, entering into every house and dragging men and women to prison. And in Acts 9 1 said, Paul, Saul was still breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord. So when he showed up saying, I'm one of y'all. The disciples had a reason to be cautious because some of them may have had family that Saul arrested, some of them may have lost friends because of Saul. Some of them may have heard that Stephen preached and then watched see Stephen died while Saul was standing there consenting, consenting to his death. So they were not wrong to remember Saul really was guilty. That is an important word for the church this morning. Grace does not require us to lie about our past, about damage. But forgiveness does not mean the past never happened. Mercy does not mean the wound was not real. Redemption does not mean there was no consequence. Saul had a past and the church remembered it. But here's the good news Paul's past. Saul's past was not real, but it was not final. That will preach right there because some folk need know their past, but they do not know your encounter. They know your mistake, but they do not know your mercy. They know your failure, but they do not know your faith. They know your old walk, but they don't know your new witness. They know the chapter where you fail, but they do not know the chapter where Jesus picked you up. And Saul is guilty of having a past, but who in here does not have one? Maybe your past is not Saul's past, but everybody has a before grace story. Before grace, I was lost. Before grace, I was blind. I was proud. I was angry. Before grace, I was selfish. I was religious, but not surrendered. I had church language, but not a changed heart. And truth be told, some of us do not have to go back 20 years to find something God had to forgive. Some of us can go back 20 days, some of us can go back 20 hours, some of us go back 20 minutes ago to the last conversation we had with someone. That is why nobody in the church ought to act brand new when another guilty person walks in. The church is not a museum for people who have never been wrong. The church is a hospital for people who know they need mercy. The church is not for people who have no past, it's for people whose past met the blood of Jesus. So, yes, Saul, like us, is guilty. But before I point at Saul, I have to look at myself. Yes, I'm guilty of having a past. You guilty, guilty of needing mercy, guilty of falling short, needing patience, needing forgiveness, needing the Lord to work on us. But thanks be to God. My past, our past may explain where I've been, but it does not have the authority to decide where God is taking me. Touch somebody, tell somebody I'm guilty of having a past, but I'm also guilty of having a savior. That's good news for somebody out there under the sound of my voice. I'm guilty of having a savior. I'm guilty of a past, yeah, but I'm guilty of the Lord making a way for me. Well, number two, guilty of being changed. Um that that that that verse, well, if you look back 22, remember, go take a look at 22. It says that Paul increased in strength and boldly preached Jesus in his name. Then it said 27, but Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles, ascribed to him, to them, how he had been uh changed on the road uh to the massacre. The second thing we see that Paul did guilty of being changed is verse 26 opens, shows a suspicion of the disciples suspect. He sus. Young folks say he sus to them because he was just rendering all kind of mayhem and chaos in the church. But verse 27 says, with two words, they can't regret him, but Barnabas, oh you're trying to say, however, Barnabas a transition uh conjunct, however, but the disciples were afraid the church was unsure. Saul's reputation was heavy, but Barnabas stepped in, Barnabas took him, Barnabas brought him, Barnabas spoke up for him, testified about what God had done in him. And notice what Barnabas said. He does not say Saul never did anything wrong, he didn't say forget what he did. No, he no, he says Saul has seen the Lord. He says the Lord spoke to Saul. He says Saul preached boldly in Damascus in the name of Jesus. Barnabas not does not deny Saul's past, but Barnabas gives evidence of Saul's change. That is the difference between cheap grace and wise grace. Cheap grace says, don't worry about what happened. Wise grace says what happened was real, but look at the fruit of what Jesus has done. And why I say the church has to be the place where we talk about what is happening. Don't try to gloss over somebody's past. If you used to be a crackhead, just gonna own up. You're an alcoholic, own up to it. Used to be a prostitute, own up to it. You used to be a thief, a stealer, used to be a God, own up to it because the grace is not cheap. The grace is wise. He said, What we can take is God can use what you've done. Saul is not asking the church to trust words only. His life should is showing everything. That's what we have to show. We got the fruit. We got to show fruit of what the Spirit has done in our life. He saw the Lord, he heard the Lord, he obeyed the Lord, he preached the Lord. That is real change because the best evidence that Saul had met Jesus was not just he stopped persecuting the church, it was that he started preaching Jesus. Well, the mouth that once breathed threats is not proclaims truth. The hands that once held arrest papers are not belonging to Jesus. The feet that once ran toward persecution now walked in gospel purpose. The man who once tried to silence the church is now strengthening the church by preaching the name of Jesus. And that was that is what grace does. Grace does not just clean you up, grace turns you around. Grace does not just make you feel better, grace makes you new. Grace does not just give you a second chance, grace gives you a new Lord. Grace does not just change your behavior, grace changes your allegiance. Saul did not just become a better version of Saul. Saul became a servant of Jesus Christ. That's why we must be careful about calling everything change. Some people change locations, but they don't change lordship. They change clothes, but not character. They change language but not lifestyle. They change crowds but not convictions. But when Jesus changes you, there should be some evidence of a man called Jesus now in your life. No, you may not be perfect. You may not know everything. You may not have the church language down. You may not have every wound healed yet, but something ought to be different. Your direction changes, your desire changes, your confession changes, your priorities change, your witness changes, your relationship to Jesus changes everything. And Saul is guilty of being changed. And I like the way God uses barnabas here because sometimes change people still need, still need some help. Oh, they still need somebody to help others see the change. Everybody needs a barnabout. Somebody who can say, I know what you heard, but let me tell you what God done. Somebody who can say, I know where they come from, where they came from, but I can see where God is taking them. Somebody who can say, I'm not ignoring the past, but I'm I'm not also, I'm not ignoring God's grace. Somebody who can say there is fruit here, there's faith here, there is a witness here. Barnabas is not just being nice, Barnabas is being spiritually discerning. And this is a word for the church. We should be wise enough not to be fooled by fake change. But grace is enough to not reject real change. Let me say that again because some folk come to church, they're putting on. So you tell real folk they come here and want to get in the church, they don't last long. And you got to have a walk to in this thing. You that's fake change. You don't really want to change. You still trying to hold on to your old life. Can I just be real with you for a minute? You're trying to keep doing what you want to do. But real change is that Jesus, as he told the woman at the world, go and sin no more. We need to be wise enough. We get gracious enough not to reject real change. Because we, if the church can't make room for people, Jesus changed, and we have forgotten how we got here. I see us. Somebody had to be patient with us, somebody had to pray for us, somebody had to give us room to grow, had to believe God was working in us, had to see beyond our rough edges. So, yes, I'm guilty, guilty of being changed. I do not talk like I used to talk, I do not walk like I used to walk. I do not chase what I used to chase, I do not hate what I used to hate. I do not love sin like I used to love it. I do not fight Jesus like I used to fight him. I have not arrived, but I have been changed. And you can touch somebody around you in your in the house, somebody around you now and say, I'm guilty of being changed. Well, I could end my my my Easter speech right there. But um, I got one more to go. First, guilty of having a past, guilty of being changed, and then guilty of still being covered. That's what I like. I like I like we still we're still covered. 31st, 28 through 31st verse, he was with them coming in out of Jerusalem. Speak boldly in the name of Lord Jesus, disputed against the Greeks, but they went about to slay him. Brothers knew they brought him down to Caesarea, sent him forth to Tarsus, and churches throughout they grew, multiplied. And third thing that Saul is guilty of still being. Well, after Barnabas speaks up for him, Saul has received enough to move in and out among the believers in Jerusalem. What does Saul do? He preaches boldly in the name of Jesus Christ. That's important because Saul had already faced danger in Damascus. In Acts 23, 25, early in the verses, they plotted to kill him. Took him by night down through the wall in the basket. The Bible said Saul comes to Jerusalem, and he's preaching again. That's why you can't help it. Once you get Jesus, you can't help but do that. You can't help her do that. You can't help but tell somebody. Despite what folks say. Or they talk about you. You can't help yourself. Telling about Jesus and all he's done for you. Tell talking about Jesus is a natural thing. When you know Jesus. When you know Jesus, you like Saul, you can't help yourself. Endangerized. Verse 929 says he disputed against the Grecians. I mean he had argued. The Grecians, the Hellenist Jews. They went about to slay him because it's a theological concern. So Saul is changed. We're still under attack. He's just something real. Being in God's will does not mean you will never face opposition. Saul is not being attacked because he's disobedient. He's been attacked because he is preaching Jesus. You can preach a lot of other stuff. When you start preaching Jesus, a lot of folk are not happy. A lot of folk Jesus is the demarcation line for what you believe of certain folk that irritates. Because Jesus means you're either right or you're wrong. And I have to say this about my brethren out there who trying to be uh a Christian nationalist. That's not the Jesus we read about in the Bible. We read about Jesus was all about helping those fortune and the needy. So they not, they not, they not they not preaching Jesus. He's not outside of the purpose, he's right in the middle of the purpose. When you talk about Jesus, sometimes the fight is not prove that you miss God. Sometimes the fight is prove that you're finally walking with God. Folks get mad. The enemy gets mad when you start talking about Jesus. Those of you who don't have no problems, you ain't never had no problem. You may not be dealing with Jesus. You may be doing something on your own, and you're not a threat to the enemy. But before Saul met Jesus, he was dangerous to the church. And after he met Jesus, he became dangerous to the darkness. When you become dangerous to darkness, darkness will not always leave you alone. But the good news is this every time danger rises, God is covering it. In Damascus, God had disciples in a basket. In Jerusalem, God had Barnabas and the brothers when the plot form. God had a plan. When the enemy watched the gate, God had an opening in the wall. When Saul's life was threatened, God had people assigned to protect him. That is a word for somebody. God knows how to cover what he has called. The plot could not stop him. The suspicion could not stop him. The fear could not stop him. The threats could not stop him. The enemy could not stop him because Saul was just not guilty. He was covered. He was covered by grace, covered by mercy, covered by community, covered by purpose, covered by the providence of God. And look at verse 30. When the brothers found out about the plot, they brought Saul down to his hometown. Send him to torch. Somebody may look at that and say, That sounds like a setback. Saul was preaching boldly in Jerusalem. Now he's getting sent away. This is not fair. This is covering. Sometimes God covers you by moving you. Sometimes God covers you by shifting. You God covers you by hiding you. God covers you by sending you to a place that looks smaller, but it's actually safe. Tarsus was Saul's hometown. It may have looked like Saul was being pushed off the scene, but God was not finished with him. And later on, Barnabas would go to Tarsus and find Saul in Acts 11. Later on, Saul was serving Antioch. Later on, the Holy Ghost would say, separate me, Barnabas, and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. Later on, Saul become the Paul's apostle. Later on, he would plant churches, preachers to Gentile, suffer for Christ, and write letters that still strengthen the church today. But before the platform, that was protection. Before the mission field, that was a maturity. Before the public work, that was private preparation. Before Paul became wildly known, Saul had to be covered, shaped, and sent in God's timing. Do not despise your tarsen season. Just because God moves you out of one place does not mean he is done with you. Sometimes God is not rejecting you, he is directing, redirecting you. Sometimes God is not silencing you, he is saving you. Sometimes God is not keep burning your call, he is building your character. Sometimes God is not canceling your future, he's covering your life. And then verse 31 gives us a wider picture. The church throughout Judea, just Galilee and Samaria, had rest. It was being edified. It walked in the fear of the Lord. It walked in the coven of the Holy Ghost. It multiplied. That's powerful because Saul's story is not just about Saul, it's about what God is doing in the church. The same God who changed Saul is building the church. The same God who covered Saul is comforting the church. The same God who protected Saul is multiplying the church. The enemy tried to stop the church by killing Stephen. The church kept growing. The enemy tried to stop the church by scattering believers. The word kept spreading. The enemy tried to use Saul against the church. Jesus changed Saul. The enemy tried to kill Saul after Jesus changed him. God covered Saul. And after all that, the church still had rest, strength, reverence, comfort, and multiplication. And here's that's the shout. The church survived the season that was supposed to destroy. Just like some of you under the sound of my voice, you made it through a season. Well, you're supposed to have been knocked out, knocked down, trampled over, and put somewhere else, forgotten about, but you've been glorified, you've been maintained, you've been protected. The church was edified, the church feared the Lord, the church was comforted by the Holy Ghost, the church multiplied. So yes, Saul is guilty. Guilty of having a past, being chained, being covered, guilty and called, guilty and graced. I used to be lost, but now I'm found. Used to be blind, but now I see. Used to be bound, but now I'm free. Used to fight him, but now I followed him. And I used to run from him, but now I run for him. Yes, I was guilty. But thanks be to God, I'm not guilty like I used to be. I'm guilty of grace and I'm guilty of mercy and I'm guilty of a testimony. I'm guilty of a brand new life, guilty of a change walk. I'm guilty of a cover call. And if Jesus can change Saul, he can change anybody. If Jesus can cover Saul, he can cover anybody. If he can use Saul, he can use anybody. So don't play with me now. Tell your neighbor Yes, I'm guilty, I'm guilty and graced, but because the blind of what he did for me way back on Calvary, he handled my guilt because one Friday Jesus took the guilty place for guilty people. He was innocent, but he stood in the place of the guilty. He was holy, but he died for the unholy. He was righteous, but he suffered for the unrighteous, and he knew no sin, but he became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. They marched him up Galgotha's heel, stretched him wide, hung him high, nailed his hands, riveted his feet, put a crown of thorns on his head, and while guilty people mocked him, guilty people gambled for his clothes, guilty people watched him die. Jesus prayed, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. That is grace. He died until the sun stopped shining, died till the moon dripped away in blood, died till the earth started shaking, died to the veil in the temple was told. Invitation is extended now. If you don't know Jesus, 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, 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 houseofpraisepp.org. Or you may go simply to our website, www.houseofpraisepp.org. Contact us as someone from our discipleship team will get back with you with all the 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 will be a blessing for you. It will be a blessing for you this week. We know that we are still in the hands of God. We will trust him to keep and deliver us. Bless you. God bless you. Come on. We love you to life when you can't do anything. Look forward to the next week. The Lord says we're setting. We hope to read the word.