{"id":472,"date":"2013-04-14T13:41:19","date_gmt":"2013-04-14T18:41:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/?p=472"},"modified":"2014-11-25T10:17:59","modified_gmt":"2014-11-25T16:17:59","slug":"god-uses-the-unlikely","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2013\/04\/14\/god-uses-the-unlikely\/","title":{"rendered":"God Uses the Unlikely"},"content":{"rendered":"

Follow this link for the audio version on this site.<\/a><\/p>\n

In our text today, you will hear about the encounter of Jesus, after His resurrection, with a man named Saul.\u00a0 His other name, which is not given because of his conversion but is another name that he goes by, is Paul.\u00a0 This may have been a Roman name that he took in addition to his Jewish name of Saul.<\/p>\n

Acts 9:1-20\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

9<\/b>\u00a0 <\/i>Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord\u2019s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 <\/sup>and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 <\/sup>As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 <\/sup>He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, \u201cSaul, Saul, why do you persecute me?\u201d<\/p>\n

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5 <\/sup>\u201cWho are you, Lord?\u201d Saul asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,\u201d he replied. 6 <\/sup>\u201cNow get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.\u201d<\/p>\n

7 <\/sup>The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8 <\/sup>Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 <\/sup>For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.<\/p>\n

10 <\/sup>In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, \u201cAnanias!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, Lord,\u201d he answered.<\/p>\n

11 <\/sup>The Lord told him, \u201cGo to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. 12 <\/sup>In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.\u201d<\/p>\n

13 <\/sup>\u201cLord,\u201d Ananias answered, \u201cI have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. 14 <\/sup>And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.\u201d<\/p>\n

15 <\/sup>But the Lord said to Ananias, \u201cGo! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. 16 <\/sup>I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.\u201d<\/p>\n

17 <\/sup>Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, \u201cBrother Saul, the Lord\u0097Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here\u0097has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.\u201d 18 <\/sup>Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul\u2019s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, 19 <\/sup>and after taking some food, he regained his strength.<\/p>\n

Saul in Damascus and Jerusalem<\/i><\/p>\n

Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. 20 <\/sup>At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. [1]<\/sup><\/b><\/sup><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

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When I think of Paul, I think of someone who is very Jewish, standing up for what is \u201cright\u201d.\u00a0 Doing what is right, following the law to its fullest extent.\u00a0 I to believe when I was younger I believed I was doing what was right.\u00a0 Following the laws down to the last letter.\u00a0 Now I was not following a religious law but secular law.\u00a0 When I was a police officer, I was rarely lenient to those I encountered.\u00a0 After all the law is black and white, you are right or wrong, guilty or not there is no grey in the law as I saw it.<\/p>\n

Some might say, just getting older softens people up.\u00a0 I have seen that with my own family.\u00a0 However, there is something else that brings about change.\u00a0 Anyone have an idea of what can change a person who sees everything as black and white, someone who hunts down, legally the people as followers of \u201cthe way\u201d and one who has people imprisoned and even stands by to watch the cloaks of those that are stoning a follower of \u201cthe way\u201d?<\/p>\n

There can only be one thing that can truly change someone.\u00a0 God makes changes to people all the time.\u00a0 However even with making changes, it is never done against our free will.\u00a0 God patiently keeps coming to us, prompting us, seeking us, asking us are you ready?<\/p>\n

When Paul was confronted by Jesus, he asks him why he is persecuting Him.\u00a0 This is very significant in how Jesus sees us as His followers even today.\u00a0 Whatever you do to the least of these you do to me.\u00a0 If a follower of Christ is persecuted so is Christ Jesus.\u00a0 Jesus stands with the people of God, in the good and the bad.\u00a0 What is done to His followers, is also done to Him.\u00a0 What is NOT done is also NOT done to Christ.\u00a0 Whatever happens to Jesus\u2019 followers happens to Jesus.\u00a0 So, when Christ confronts Paul, it is serious.\u00a0 Later in Acts, Paul admits to being the person who held the cloaks of those that stoned Stephan to death, which caused the disciples of Jesus to flee and spread out for fear of the same treatment.\u00a0 Did Paul stone Stephan?\u00a0 No..but did he stop it?\u00a0 He is as guilty for his failures as if he threw a stone himself.\u00a0 Paul hunts\u00a0 down and turns over any Jew that has become a follower of Christ.\u00a0 Paul is the lowest of low, helping others to imprison Jesus by virtue of imprisoning His followers, by persecuting the follower and thus persecuting Christ Himself!<\/p>\n

When Jesus appears to Paul, there is a blinding light.\u00a0 In later texts, Paul tells us that he was able to see Jesus but the light was blinding, which as we know from the text that for a time Paul unable to, neither see nor eat.\u00a0 This is not a punishment but the after effects most likely of the appearance of Jesus.<\/p>\n

Is Paul then one of the most unlikely characters to serve God?\u00a0 He did not kill anyone but sure either assisted in putting people in the position to be killed or failed to prevent it.<\/p>\n

What about someone like Noah, now there is a character used by God.\u00a0 Noah liked to drink wine an awful lot.\u00a0 So much so, one of the first things he does after getting onto dry land, he plants a vineyard and later he becomes so drunk that he lay naked in his tent.<\/p>\n

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When his son Ham sees this, Noah curses Ham\u2019s son Canaan, who becomes a slave.\u00a0 This may have even been reflective of some of the fate of the Canaanites population later in Israel.\u00a0 Yes another fine example of a person that God has chosen to do God\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

How about Moses, he was a murder on the run when God chose him to be the one to lead God\u2019s people out of Egypt.\u00a0 Yet, ……another unlikely choice.\u00a0 Later God chooses David to be king over the Israelites.\u00a0 David sleeps with a woman that is married to one of his soldiers.\u00a0 To help cover this up, he sends the solider off and makes sure that he is put on the front line and worse yet had the troops pull back so there was no protection for him.\u00a0 Yet God uses David to provide for God\u2019s people.<\/p>\n

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The Bible is full of unlikely characters that God uses to accomplish God\u2019s mission.\u00a0 God\u2019s mission is to restore humanity to how it is suppose to be, from this brokenness that we have lived in and continue to live in today.\u00a0 God comes down through the Holy Spirit and becomes incarnate in the form of a man known as Jesus.\u00a0 Jesus\u2019 mission was to carry out God\u2019s mission of restoring humanity.\u00a0 Jesus gives a mission as well.\u00a0 That mission is sometimes referred to as the great commission.\u00a0 Go and make disciples of the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.\u00a0\u00a0 Although this was said to the eleven disciples, it applies to all disciples.\u00a0 How, if you are a disciple of Jesus the Christ, can you NOT do this?\u00a0 Either you are a disciple or you are not.\u00a0 There is no, well, I am a disciple when it is comfortable, when it fits my needs.<\/p>\n

You, me all of us here have it easy.\u00a0 When we speak of what God does for others, the good news that is here and is to come, the worst that may happen to us is someone may say, no thanks, go away, I do not want to believe.\u00a0 At the worst, we are rejected because we live as a disciple of Christ and do not conform to this world and stand different from the world, in the name of Christ.\u00a0 We have it easy.\u00a0 No one is trying to kill us for our beliefs and because of that, I think this makes me sometimes a very complacent Christian and I do not live up to being a disciple of Christ.<\/p>\n

There are people all over this world, men, women, children, mothers and fathers all kinds of people who are reaching out in their discipleship to carry out what Christ Jesus asks us to do as the body of Christ in the mission of the church.\u00a0 They sacrifice everything for discipleship, for Jesus.\u00a0 Despite amazing odds, they profess their faith all day long.\u00a0 For it, they are beaten, imprisoned, and killed as martyrs.\u00a0 They die for Christ to be His disciple.<\/p>\n

The unlikely..you, me us.\u00a0 We too are the unlikely.\u00a0 I have a past, boy do I have a past.\u00a0 I have been shaped by it but it does not define me.\u00a0 God loves me in spite of my past and asks that I be a disciple of His Son.\u00a0 It is not the job of the Pastor, or the Deacon to carry out the mission in discipleship.\u00a0 It is all of our jobs.\u00a0 Your jobs, my job, all of our jobs.\u00a0 We all have a past and I bet there is more than just I that would be ashamed of some of the things we have done or failed to do.\u00a0 The Spirit is longing to reach you to help you to be with you in your journey on true discipleship.<\/p>\n

Look now at your neighbor, seriously look them in their eyes.\u00a0 Look deeply in there.\u00a0 There is hurt, there is sorrow but there is also joy, there is the Holy Spirit, do you see the Sprit?\u00a0 Do you see Christ wanting to be with you as you reach to God\u2019s people in carrying out the mission of Christ, the mission of God, to all of humanity?\u00a0\u00a0 God wants us to be part of this, Jesus calls us to be part of this, the Holy Spirit empowers us to be part of this.<\/p>\n

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How can we stay centered as disciples?……We are going to fail, no doubt about it.\u00a0 I have something that I have started and I offer it to you as well.<\/p>\n

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In the morning, begin your day with a prayer.\u00a0 It is fairly simple and centering.\u00a0 Just pray to God; \u201cLord, please be with me today and help to remember in all things.\u00a0 I am not you.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In the evening, after dinner, after you fill your tummy, fill you soul with a reflective prayer of the day of self-examination that St. Ignatius practiced.<\/p>\n

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1.\u00a0Become aware of God\u2019s presence.<\/b><\/p>\n

2.\u00a0Review the day with gratitude.<\/b><\/p>\n

3.\u00a0Pay attention to your emotions.<\/b><\/p>\n

4.\u00a0Choose one feature of the day and pray from it.<\/b><\/p>\n

5.\u00a0Look toward tomorrow.<\/b><\/p>\n

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It is not and will not be easy being a disciple of our Lord and Savior.\u00a0 People may make fun of us.\u00a0 They may reject us and we may not feel good at times.\u00a0 What people do to us because of Christ, they do also to He who calls us to be His disciples.\u00a0 Jesus is there, Jesus gives us the words, the confidence to speak boldly and to live out as disciples and be a community of believers that live in contrast to the world, as God intends us to be, different than others, attracting others to our community to also be disciples in Christ and thus reconciling the world back to the way…. God intends.<\/p>\n


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[1]<\/sup><\/sup><\/a> The Holy Bible: New International Version<\/i> (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1984), Ac 9:1\u009620.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Follow this link for the audio version on this site. In our text today, you will hear about the encounter of Jesus, after His resurrection, with a man named Saul.\u00a0 His other name, which is not given because of his conversion but is another name that he goes by, is Paul.\u00a0 This may have been … [Read more…]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[37,34,83,4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"entry","1":"post","2":"publish","3":"author-admin","4":"post-472","6":"format-standard","7":"category-discipleship","8":"category-mission","9":"category-sermon","10":"category-spirit"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2m6h5-7C","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2820,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2022\/05\/02\/what-is-your-passion\/","url_meta":{"origin":472,"position":0},"title":"What Is Your Passion?","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"May 2, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"May 1, 20223rd Sunday of Easter Acts 9:1-19a (NIV)Matthew 6:24 (NIV) \u00a0 \u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "Blindness"","block_context":{"text":"Blindness","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/category\/blindness\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":181,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2012\/02\/07\/what-is-the-top-news-today-dealing-with-grief\/","url_meta":{"origin":472,"position":1},"title":"What is the top news today dealing with grief?","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"February 7, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"For both CNN and Fox, one of the top news stories was one I spoke of in a previous post, Grief taken to the final point.\u00a0 Now it has been revealed that the man had hurt the children prior to the fire he set. \u00a0Do we need to live through\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Loss and Grief"","block_context":{"text":"Loss and Grief","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/category\/lossandgrief\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":492,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2013\/06\/15\/gospel-centered-change\/","url_meta":{"origin":472,"position":2},"title":"Gospel Centered Change?","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"June 15, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Audio Version Galatians 1:11-17 11\u00a0For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man\u2019s gospel. 12\u00a0For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. 13\u00a0For you have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Grace"","block_context":{"text":"Grace","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/category\/grace\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2027,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2018\/03\/02\/whats-in-a-name\/","url_meta":{"origin":472,"position":3},"title":"What’s in a name?","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"March 2, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Sunday, February 25, 2018 | Lent Second Sunday in Lent Year B Old Testament Genesis 17:1\u20137, 15\u201316 New Testament Romans 4:13\u201325 Gospel Mark 8:31\u201338 or Mark 9:2\u20139 \u00a0 https:\/\/youtu.be\/Vdxw7ng3KOc","rel":"","context":"In "Baptism"","block_context":{"text":"Baptism","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/category\/baptism\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/Vdxw7ng3KOc\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1699,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2017\/01\/19\/forgive-us-our-sins-as-we-forgive-others\/","url_meta":{"origin":472,"position":4},"title":"Forgive Us Our Sins as We Forgive Others","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"January 19, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Have you ever stopped and really thought about the Lord's Prayer? 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