Let's all get our Bibles, turning to the book of Acts again this morning. Just back from where our New Testament reading was, we're back in Acts chapter 9, beginning our text reading this morning in verse 19. It is kind of a little overly detailed, verse 19b, so the second half of verse 19, going through to verse 31. Acts chapter 9 verse 19b through verse 31. Let's again this morning give our careful hearing to God's holy and life changing and infallible word. Let's hear this together. For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogue, saying, He is the Son of God. And all who heard him were amazed and said, Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests? But Saul increased all the more in strength and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus, by proving that Jesus was the Christ. When many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him, but their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates day and night in order to kill him, but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket. And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus. So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists, but they were seeking to kill him. And when the brothers learned this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus. So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied. Please bow with me very briefly in prayer. Our Father, we look to you now to feed us by your word. We are your sheep. You are our shepherd. And we look to you that you might nourish us and help us. You have told us that your word is for our admonition, even rebuke. instruction, and training in righteousness. And we pray that as we hear it today, that it wouldn't fall on deaf ears, nor would we be mere hearers of it, but that you might bless us and enable us by your spirit to become doers of your word. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen. Well, the short section that's before us this morning, if you've been either reading along with us or here at church when we've been reading through the New Testament readings or through the preaching that we've been doing through the Book of Acts, this could seem like something of an afterthought concerning Paul's conversion. In fact, right after this, what we might call this last part of a first look at the Apostle Paul, this first look at Saul of Tarsus becoming the Apostle Paul, having been confronted by Christ, Luke's going to turn our attention away, and we saw that this morning in Acts chapter 10 particularly, Luke's going to turn our attention away from the Apostle Paul and now focus on the ministry of the Apostle Peter. But in these final verses here, there are some very important truths to be learned and I think that we need to deal with as modern Christians because they particularly have to do with the church. In fact, as I have read this section and studied it this week, I'm very much struck with how different we think about the church today versus how Luke describes the church in the Book of Acts. And particularly how Paul, and I find this fascinating, how Paul as a fairly new convert viewed the church, thought of the church, and how different modern Christians think about the church in our day. That is to say, when we think about the church today, and I think generally in our culture, it's hard to distinguish our attitudes And the way we think about the church and the way we talk about the church from, say, a conversation about how you might pick a school for your children or even how you might pick a gym for your health. In other words, American consumerism. American consumerism affects our view of the church today far more than we would like to admit. Indeed, at the end of the section here before us, in fact, glance down there for a second. Look at verse 31. Luke describes the church in these terms. So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied. I want that description of the church to be in your mind as we consider some of the details of the passage before us this morning, looking first at, and it's really an easily divided section, it's Paul in Damascus and then Paul in Jerusalem. So let's first look at Paul in Damascus. And I don't want to spend a lot of time on this, but you should probably know that ever since Luke wrote the book of Acts, from the very earliest days of the church, and we have people commenting on the book of Acts, There has been some questions as to Luke's account of where Paul was in some of his early days and Paul's own account of where he was in some of these early days, particularly how he describes some of his early days in the book of Galatians. But rest assured, no one thinks that these are contradictory accounts. No one thinks that they are irreconcilable, but it's just that Luke chose to emphasize some things about Paul's early life, whereas Paul in Galatians particularly chose to emphasize certain things about his life. And particularly, it's interesting to see that there's no question of the details of what Paul was doing during this time. It's just sort of, where was he at any given time? In fact, Paul gives the exact same details that Luke does. I have that passage, I think, there in your outline in 2 Corinthians chapter 11, verses 30 through 33. This is Paul's own account of what happened to him. If I must boast, he says, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas, was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me, but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands." Again, complete harmony with Luke, so this really isn't a big deal to fret over. And indeed, I think this is what I want to call your attention to, far more important than possible questions of where Paul might have been during these early years of his Christian life is what Paul was doing. A highlight of this section, as far as Luke is concerned, is the force and the focal point of Paul's preaching. The force and the focal point of Paul's preaching. Look at verse 20. We read there, immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogue saying, He is the Son of God. Look at verse 22, that Paul, we read there that Paul increased all the more in strength and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus, proving that Jesus was the Christ. And then look further down, look at verse 27. We read of Barnabas' account of Paul to the rest of the apostles, bearing witness that he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus and Notice in verse 28, once Paul's received by the apostle, Luke tells us there in verse 28 that he continued preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. So in four verses of this short section, Paul's preaching is highlighted. And what is particularly highlighted is his boldness and his subject. As to his boldness, the early church father, John Chrysostom, said, this is what it means to be on fire. This is what it means to be fervent. And he goes on, from that day on, he knew, and what he means by that is he knew experientially. Paul knew experientially all the commands that the apostles had heard. like anyone who does not take up his cross and follow me. The very fact, this is John Chrysostom, goes on and says, the very fact that he had been slower to come than the rest made him more zealous. He goes on and says, he who has been loved much, who has been forgiven much, loves much. And that is so often the case, and I really want to speak in some ways, particularly to some of you young people this morning. It's so often the case as far as zeal for the faith is concerned. Those who have been raised in the faith sometimes actually take longer to come to a fervency for it than those who grew up outside of it. but then were somewhat dramatically saved out of a life of sin. It's kind of like, and I don't know if you've seen those videos that are going around, they're really beautiful videos of people who were born deaf, and it's these videos of the first time, because of the advancements in medical technology, they have, I think they're called cochlear implants and things like this, they're able to hear, and they've got these videos of the first time they flick this thing on, and these people hear for the very first time in their lives. When I watch those videos of people who hear for the first time, it actually makes me more thankful that I've heard for my whole life. I've never had one moment where I watched those videos and they're just beautiful. They'll bring tears to your eyes where someone who has never heard finally hears. But I've never had the impulse as I watched those videos to say, man, I wish I was born deaf and that I could now hear. I'm just thankful, wow, I've never been deaf. I've heard my whole life. That's how these dramatic testimonies of conversions should impact you. It shouldn't make you long for, I wish I had a life of sin, and I wish I had all kinds of scars from my past. It should make you thankful, you know, I've virtually been hearing the gospel my whole life. And here's the issue. We all have the same Savior. and we all have the same salvation. When you hear of a conversion that's very dramatic, that should make you absolutely grateful for the Savior that you have, the mercy and grace that God has upon sinners like us. In fact, the focal point of Paul's preaching makes this point perfectly clear. Notice, did you notice what Paul preached? or rather who he preached. You see, Paul didn't immediately get saved and then go on a crusade to end smoking or start preaching about the evils of the Roman Empire. No, Paul preached Jesus. He proclaimed Jesus as the Son of God. That is, he showed, and it tells us, he showed from the scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God. In other words, Jesus is the fulfillment of all of God's promises to bring salvation with his own arm, that somehow God would come and be the Savior of his people. And what an important lesson and reminder, frankly, for the church today. In fact, thinking of his boldness, thinking of Paul's boldness to preach and thinking of his radical testimony and thinking of the subject that he was all about in his preaching is frankly a great corrective to, this is not original with me, but it's a great corrective to what we often hear. They're not really testimonies. We hear a lot of boastimonies. You ever heard boastimonies? Those make me entirely uncomfortable when someone tells their testimony and it frankly is way more about them than it is about Jesus. It seems that they really want everyone to know how cool they were back in the day. But Paul immediately began to tell people about Jesus. The burden of his message, as we read here, was not, look at me, look at me. Look at who I was, and let's look at me for a long time right now, and then I'll tell you a little bit about how I got religion, and I'm even better now. No, Paul was saying from day one, look at him, look at him. I was the chief of sinners and he had mercy on me, and therefore he can have mercy on you. Paul pointed constantly to Christ. But let's also see here the radical and noticeable change in Paul's life. Look at verse 21. Luke tells us that some of the people there in Damascus were saying about Paul, is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And the answer is actually yes and no. I put a quote in your bulletins this morning because I think one commentator makes this great comment. Isn't he the man who raised havoc among those who called upon this name? Well, yes, he is. And no, he isn't. Yes, he is the same man, Saul from Tarsus, Hebrew of Hebrews, Gamaliel's prized student, Pharisee, Nazarene persecutor. But no, he isn't the same man. He is now a baptized Christian, a preacher of the gospel of Jesus. He's now a new man in Christ. The cash value congregation of this, the point to be felt is that Jesus Christ changed Paul. Jesus Christ changed Paul. And that should be the case with every one of us. The living God cannot come into a person's life and that person cannot claim that Jesus is their Lord and Savior and there not be a difference in that person. If you claim I mean, if your life is no different than those who do not know the triune God, then you do not know the triune God. No matter what your story is, no matter how radical or how mundane your conversion is Jesus Christ will make a difference in you. Now, that doesn't mean that every moment of your life you will only want to read the Bible and pray and go to church, that somehow that's what a real Christian would do, is they wouldn't even ever think of anything else, that all they'd want to ever do is just read and go to church or something like that. But what it does mean is that there will be a sort of compass deep in your being that keeps pointing you back to the triune God of Scripture. Look, you may be weak, and frankly, we all are. You may be weak, but you will know. And you will know even if because of your own inconsistencies, people around you don't know. You will know that you're different. Because your reality is different. You are not your own. You were bought with a price and therefore the aim and purpose of your life, even if it's buried for some time under your own selfishness. The ultimate aim of your life will be inescapably to glorify God with all that you are. There might be a time of, again, some selfishness, but you just can't go on living for yourself. You must seek him and live for him. Indeed, we see this with Paul even in the two attempts to kill him and his escape. Now, thankfully, most of us will not so irritate those who are in opposition to the faith that they're going to try to kill us for being followers of Christ. And what we're kind of seeing here in Paul's life is really the beginnings of the fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy of Paul. Do you remember where Jesus came and said, and I'm blanking the guy's name, who met with Paul, who was going to meet with him, and said to him, this one has been chosen and I'm going to show him how much he must suffer for my name. This though, Paul being threatened, his life being threatened on multiple occasions was though merely a symptom, if you might, if you could call it that, a symptom of something that should be true in every one of us. Every one of us is called to die daily to ourselves and to live for God. And sometimes that dying is much harder than physical dying. You see the problem with most of us is that we consider ourselves higher than others, and we consider ourselves higher than God. We do not put Him above us, and we do not seek to live our lives to His glory, we seek to live our lives to our own glory. And that self-first attitude displays itself in our attitudes and our approach to the church, but again, Paul's life is instructive for us here. And so secondly, and much more briefly, I want us to look at Paul in Jerusalem. Paul escaped from the frying pan, those seeking to kill him there in Damascus, and it seems that he jumps right into the fire, if you will. In this day, in this time, if you wanted to get away from persecution, Jerusalem was probably the last place you wanted to go. But that's where Paul ends up. And the first thing we learn of here is Paul's endeavor to join with the disciples. So what does Paul do? He gets to Jerusalem and his first thing, what he wants to do first off, is actually join with the church. And I think it's hard, actually, to find anything more telling about the difference between the approach of Christians to the church today, and how Christians approached the church back then than this account of Paul trying to join with the disciples there in Jerusalem. You see, we consider, and when we think about the church, we consider our individual self more important than the corporate body of Christ. And we evaluate a congregation based on things we like. So we visited church and we asked questions like, are they friendly enough? Did I get a good vibe when I was there? Do they have adequate opportunities for me? If those were Paul's criteria for joining a church, he would have never become part of one. I want you to think about this. How would you like to visit a church and they stop you at the door and they say, we don't believe that you're a Christian. You can't come. I mean, how likely do you think you would be to, how likely do you think you would be to go back to that church? So the approach of the church today and that of those back then are totally different. Now to be fair, there are some very different things about the church today than there were back then. There is not just one place that claims to be the Christian church anymore like it was then. And in fact, there are many choices that we have as modern Christians. But the early Christians, frankly, had a commitment to the church that puts ours to shame. Indeed, most of the martyrs, if you've ever read Fox's Book of Martyrs, something like that, most of the martyrs, do you realize that they were actually caught before they ended up being killed? They were caught at church. That's where they would get busted. They knew, and they valued, gathering together with the saints, coming into the presence of God according to His promise to them. They valued that more than they feared getting caught and martyred. How do you evaluate your approach to the church with that? And here Paul is attempting to join the church, but the church is not believing that he's really a Christian. And so the Lord provides him a friend that makes all the difference in the world as far as his coming into the church there in Jerusalem. The Lord brings Barnabas alongside him. So we see here And do you see it there? I hope you see it right in front of you that along with Paul's commitment to join, we also need to note Barnabas' encouragement to Paul. You know the word Barnabas, his name means son of encouragement, Luke tells us. And as one commentator has said, this man lived up to every inch of his name. You see, we can't talk of commitment to the church without also talking about encouragement within the church. Both are absolutely essential in the church. Barnabas was the human catalyst that helped smooth the way for Paul to come into the church and be accepted by the apostles. It was Barnabas's kindness. It was Barnabas's encouragement that was absolutely invaluable. His friendship and his advocacy was indispensable to Paul being accepted there in Jerusalem. And that encouragement, this man's encouragement of Paul there in Jerusalem, As Paul was seeking to join with the church there, that literally and frankly changed the face of Christianity from that day forward. I mean, it's hard to imagine, we know God's sovereign, but can you imagine if the Apostle Paul never did come into the church? What in the world would we, where would we be? What a different faith we would have. Some of you young people wonder at times, you want to be useful in the church and do meaningful work. You don't want to just have something given to you because, well, I'm young and they just always give young people that because it's really not important. And maybe you're too young to really serve in an office. I'm not going to be an elder or deacon next year or something like that. And you're in school during the week, and so you can't really help out during the week when there's needs. And maybe there's opportunities around, but none of those kind of are what you think your thing is. Maybe you just don't see yourself working in the nursery or something like that. So you wonder what you can do that has some real substance in the body of Christ. Let me tell you and let me direct your attention back to Barnabas. You want to do something that is very meaningful in the church? Show kindness. Everybody can do that. Encouragement. How about get out of your comfort zone? and actually look out and find someone who doesn't seem to be accepted in and actually pay attention to that one. Those are some of the most meaningful ministries. That was the catalyst that brought Paul into the church, was Barnabas's kindness, Barnabas having his back, Barnabas encouraging him. And so I think that there are two main things, two very practical points of application that come out of this brief mention of Paul in Jerusalem, two things that we actually need in the church today. The first is we need, and it is a vital ministry in the church, we need encouraging brothers and sisters that are welcoming. And we need committed Christians that are not overly sensitive. Both are absolutely vital to the church. You see, I doubt that Paul would have continued to endeavor to join the church there in Jerusalem if Barnabas hadn't reached out and actually befriended him and welcomed him in. And I doubt that Barnabas would have reached out and befriended and welcomed Paul if Paul wasn't so committed and desirous to join the church. Both are important. Both are absolutely vital. But as we're concluding here this morning, I think something very important needs to be underlined. Our welcoming and our encouragement needs to transcend the normal and the comfortable. Our welcoming and our encouragement needs to be something bigger than and transcend the normal and the comfortable. This is not, the Spirit is not putting before us a general kindness that you might find in any society or any kind of an institution. This is not a general kindness, but this is a gospel-driven kindness that Barnabas showed towards Paul. It's a kindness that recognizes that God in Christ welcomed me. That God in Christ welcomes us and it looks to others in the same way. We need to show kindness to the less than perfect. We need to show kindness to the outsider. We need to show kindness to the once very great sinner. Because that is exactly how God in Christ looked at and accepted us. You see, we can, every single day of our lives, every time we come in here as a congregation, we can make a difference. We can actually do meaningful service within the church. A simple showing of kindness that's driven by a gospel impulse is the means that God uses when people are coming into the church or staying out of it. So there's a lot to learn from Paul's experience here in these two cities of Damascus and Jerusalem. He was fully focused on Jesus, and so should we be. He showed forth in his life the effect that Jesus has upon a person, and those marks should be evident in our lives as well. He was fully committed to joining the church and being part of it in a significant way, even when the church made it hard for him to be there. And we should be committed to the church as well. And Barnabas is a great example of how important it is to have friends in the church. who are committed to you, who are welcoming to you, who, as it were, have your back. So brothers and sisters, we need to be more serious about the church than we are. We need to really drop the consumerism and the oversensitivity. I will tell you this right now, if this church likely already has, And it will let you down. It will disappoint you. We're a bunch of imperfect people. We don't always relate to one another in the right way. We don't do enough. We drop the ball regularly. But if that is the thin thread upon which your commitment to the body of Christ is predicated upon, You're not going to stay long in the church anywhere. I mean, the Apostle Paul was not believed. They said, you cannot join us. Get out of here. We do not believe you. I think we need to learn from Paul's persistence, no, I need to be in the church. I'm going to be there. I'm going to be there even if they don't want me there. The church is where God's people gather. The church is where we worship Him. And it needs to be recognized that when we gather as a congregation, God has promised to be present with us. He grants life and growth and grace. Why am I so up about the church? The New Testament says your growth and grace is dependent on being part of the body. Members don't grow. You can't cut your finger off, set it on a table, and think it's going to still, sorry, Anyway, it's not going to stay alive. Members are to be part of the body getting that life-giving sap. This is the body. When we gather together, we're to grow together as we hear the word together and as God's Spirit is here ministering among us all and together with us. This is quite a different view of the church than that which is common today, but it's a view that is biblical. It's a reality which will start when we take our eyes off of ourself. And we put them back on the Lord and say, Lord, what do you want of me, one of your people? How do you want me to be in the church? And we seek him and we seek to be edifying to everyone else. Yes, it is hard sometimes. I am a pastor. I'm one of the pastors of this church. I find it hard to come to church sometimes. That is an acknowledged thing. Sometimes it's hard to be here. But this is where we are to be. You need the church. And frankly, we need you. We're a family. When you're not here, we feel it. You might not think you're missed. You are. May Springs Reform become a much more tight-knit church together, that we grow together as a body. Let's prayerfully recommit ourselves again to Christ and His church today. Let's pray together. Oh Lord, thank you for loving us, taking us from being solitary and putting us within families. Thank you for taking us out of our individual lostness and putting us within a family of brothers and sisters with a like precious faith in Jesus. We pray that you would enable us to grow more together, that there would be greater bonds of love among us. That we would value the coming together as your people in your presence more than a thousand days without you. And so Lord, change our perspective. We need you to enable us to love to come and meet with you. And Father, we pray that that would happen because we know your presence. That as we gather, we experience your spirit's work, that your word gives life to us. that we're built up in our faith, that we go forth hopefully bearing fruit to your glory. And so, Lord, work in us, this small congregation of your people. Build us up so that we might be a church that truly has those characteristics. We walk in the fear of the Lord and we experience the comfort of your Holy Spirit. We ask these things now in Jesus' name, amen. Please get your psalm book and let's respond singing together.