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Moments & Marathons:
The Moment a Murderer Became a Minister

Acts 9:1-19 CSB | Trey VanCamp | June 16, 2024

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OVERVIEW

In Acts 9 we meet Saul, a murderer and enemy of the new Christian movement. Saul has built his life around what he believes is the righteous way of God: zealously eradicating evil from the world. But then, in a moment, Saul is transformed. He meets the risen Jesus and learns that the righteousness of God doesn’t come by our earthly power, violence, or force. Instead, it comes through Christ. God in human flesh, coming to take our punishment and suffer violence on our behalf. We can learn from Saul by accepting our own brokenness and inability to achieve righteousness. Like Saul, we learn that to be a follower of Jesus is to let him be a warrior for us against sin and evil. Jesus is our only hope and confidence.

NOTES

You can take interactive notes here. At the end of the message, you can email the notes to yourself.

TRANSCRIPT

 Open your Bibles to Acts chapter 9. Uh, I’m so excited to keep going through Acts, and uh, this is one of my favorite passages in all of scripture.

All of the summer, we’re just going through this series called, titled, Moments and Marathons. And so we titled it that way because I think you really see throughout the narrative here in the book of Acts, God uses incredible moments. It’s like in a moment, your life completely changes in a moment. The church grows and expands, but also we’re, we’ll continue to see God uses the marathons.

Those are the ways that we don’t tend to think about, especially in American context, but God often his greatest work is often this slow process of transformation. But today is another fun day because we’re going to talk about a special moment. For many in this room, except Pastor Caleb, as he expressed last week, we can point to our moment of salvation.

Anybody know, like, the moment you prayed to receive Jesus? Raise your hand. Okay, five of us in this room, either we need to get you saved at the end of the service, which we’re super pumped about, or you’re like Caleb. And so, for me, I was six years old, I was actually playing basketball after a long day at church, because I’m Baptist, we were there from, like, sunrise to sunset, and I wasn’t even a pastor’s kid at this point.

And we were there and came home in my way of faith. Thinking was always shooting hoops in the front yard. And I just felt just this brokenness over my sin. Uh, it was a parable that the Sunday school teacher taught that day that I just couldn’t get out of my head. And so I started praying to God while shooting three pointers.

And, uh, I just realized I need to give my, my life to Jesus. And so I went inside, found my parents, they walked me through this little booklet. And that was, for me, the moment of salvation, and I got baptized soon thereafter. Some of us have those moments, uh, some of us don’t yet. But, while we all are kind of different, there’s really four ways we all come to Christ.

I want you to write this down. One way, the best way in my estimation, is a holy example. You meet a Christian, maybe you didn’t get raised in a Christian home, but you meet somebody who’s just there. different and you begin to ask questions and you learn that they follow the way of Jesus and you want to lean into everything that they’re doing and you learn about the gospel and you are saved.

This is my prayer by the grace of God that all of our children would be saved because of holy examples by our fathers and our mothers. On this Father’s Day, I have to just mention, Father, that the health of your family is very much up to you. Be the man of God that God’s called you to be. Be that example.

And admit when you’re not a good example to your children. And it’s amazing how God will use that, uh, just to bring people into the faith. So that’s the first one. Praise God for those examples. The second one is a holy exhaustion. So for some of us, we have a background where we’re super legalistic, grew up in a religious home.

And so we’re just, we’re doing the thing, trying to show up, read our Bibles and trying to earn God’s love. And one day we finally have had enough. We’re exhausted, trying to earn the faith. And that’s when Jesus comes with his love and grace and says you never had to earn it in the first place. That I am your salvation, come to me all who are weary.

But also the same goes for irreligious people. If you grew up not in a church environment, uh, maybe you were just like what most of the world is. You were running after every pleasure of this world and every enticing desire. And by the grace of God, maybe one day you wake up, And you kind of feel that what Jeremiah 9, 6 says, where it says, quote, They wore themselves out with all of their sinning.

And you just come to the end of yourself, like the prodigal son. realizing I don’t need to eat with the pigs, I have a father who loves me. Or like Saint Augustine, who ran after all the pleasures of this world, finally came to the end of himself and became an amazing father of the church. Or even just like Solomon in Ecclesiastes.

He’s just saying, man, what is the point of this life? I have tried to do everything the world has had to offer, and yet I feel empty, and it’s in that exhaustion. You meet the grace of Jesus. The third way some of us come to Christ is a holy embarrassment. God humbles the proud and he gives grace to the humble.

And so some of you, your story is you built a life, everything was about how great you were, and you really thought you were all that and a bag of chips. And then one day you realize you were living in a house of cards and something comes in and wrecks the whole thing. And you are embarrassed realizing, I am not all I thought I was.

And I need a savior. I think like King Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4, he was ruling the world and then brought to nothing. And he said in verse 37 of chapter 4, now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven for all his works are right and his ways are just. And those who walk in pride, he is able to humble.

But the fourth way, and I would say this is the rarest of them all, is you actually have a holy encounter. You feel as if you’ve actually heard the voice of God. Your life was just dramatically transformed in a moment. Maybe it was during a service or a Bible study, but you know you will never be the same ever again.

And this is how Saul came to Christ in Acts chapter 9. Read with me, we’re gonna read a lot of scripture today, verses 1 through 19. Holy Spirit come, give us wisdom. Now Saul was still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. He went to the high priest. By the way, when did we first hear about Saul?

It was at the end of Acts 7 when Stephen was stoned. Saul was there approving of it. Verse 2, And requested letters from him to the synagogue in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women who belonged to the way, He might bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem. Many believe he is being so successful in stopping Christianity.

Jerusalem he has under lock. Everybody’s afraid. But he hears that disciples are going to Damascus. So he goes there with a letter of approval. If I find anybody who’s a Christian, I’m going to lock them up. As he traveled and was nearing Damascus, which is about a 150 mile, uh, walk. A light from heaven suddenly flashed around him.

Falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Notice this language, me, who is speaking here? Jesus. Is Jesus here on earth at this point? No, he’s ascended to the right hand of the Father, but this shows the doctrine of the union with Christ. When we say that we are in Christ and Christ is in us, when anybody persecutes the church, a Christian, they are also persecuting Christ.

Who are you, Lord? Saul said. I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting, he replied. But get up. and go into the city and you will be told what you must do. And the men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the sound, but seeing no one. Saul got up from the ground and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing.

So they took him by the hand and led him into Damascus. He was unable to see for three days. And did not eat or drink. So talk about in a ultimate weak spot. Verse 10. There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. And the Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias, here I am Lord, he replied, get up and go to the street called straight.

The Lord asked, uh, said to him, to the house of Judas and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, since he is praying there. In a vision, he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and placing his hands on him so that he may regain his sight. Lord, Ananias answered, I love this reply. I have heard from many people about this man, how much harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem and And he has authority here from the chief priest to arrest all who call on your name.

Don’t you love how we just think we know more than God? Like, hey God, I know, uh, but did you recognize the last name Saul from Tarsus? This was the worst guy, not the best guy to hang out with. Imagine his fear. But the Lord said to him, go, for this man is my chosen instrument to take my name to Gentiles.

Who are Gentiles? Anybody who is not Jew. Kings and Israelites, he says, I will show him how much he must suffer. For my name, Ananias went and entered the house. He placed his hands on him and said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road you were traveling has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.

At once something like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized. And after taking some food, he regained his strength. And Saul was with the disciples in Damascus for some time. The title of my message today is The Moment a Murderer Became a Minister. Let’s pray.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, thank you for your mercy today. God, even right away, I’m just struck that nobody is too far from God as long as they have breath in their lungs. So if there’s somebody in this room who feels like they’re unsavable, may this passage open their eyes to see that Jesus, you have come to save them.

I pray for those in this room who have family members and friends and loved ones who feel as if they’re so far from God. Help us be encouraged today that God, you save the worst of us. Thank you for your salvation. May we sit under Acts 9 today. And not just be hearers of the word, deceiving ourselves, but being doers.

In Jesus name I pray. Everybody says? Amen. Amen. Alright, let’s talk about Saul. This is going to be teachy, not preachy for the next ten minutes. I like that line, Pastor Caleb, I’m taking it. Alright, who is Saul? By birth, Saul was a Jew. So, he cared about the Tanakh, which is what the Hebrews would call the Old Testament, and he was raised to memorize most, if not all, of the Hebrew Bible.

So, I’m gonna be honest, Saul, even when he’s breathing threats against the church, probably knows his Old Testament more than anybody else in this room. By citizenship, Saul was a Roman. And so his father was, uh, from Rome, and this grants him many rights and privileges. If you were not a Roman citizen, you would, uh, really be used by the system.

But, for example, Roman citizens were never crucified, so that was never a threat for Paul. Uh, because, uh, sorry, Saul, I just gave away a spoiler here. He’s later named, renamed Paul. And by education, Saul was a Greek. Because it says here that he is from Tarsus. Now, Tarsus is located at the corner where Asia Minor meets Syria, and it’s just north of Israel.

And this was a very distinguished city known for its education. Kind of view it, Tarsus is like a university, and it was one of the top three universities in that known world. So I know that it’s hard for us to figure out what the top three are today, but it used to be Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, right?

It was kind of within that kind of aura. If you’re from Tarsus, how, whoa, you are very highly educated. It’s also worth noting though, that he also studied, studied under Gamaliel, who was a famous Jewish scholar and rabbi. And we actually see Gamaliel in Acts chapter five, but also about Saul by profession.

Saul was a tent maker. and a Pharisee. So this is actually a really cool tradition. I think we should bring back here in America is that, uh, in the Jewish tradition, every boy. They can have an educational job, a, in our language, like a white collar job, but when they’re boys, they have to learn a trade. They have to know how to do something with their hands.

And Tarsus was well known, not just for education, but for making tents. It was really intense there. Okay, I’m done. Alright, so, dad joke number one. Keep the counter going. Uh, he was taught to weave cloth from the, uh, black hair of goats. And so they would weave the cloth into these strips, and then tie the strips together to make the tent.

Tense. I think then it would have been a better line. That must have been intense. I missed the moment. Second service. I’ll make it better. Spencer. Now, he was also a Pharisee. Pharisee cared deeply about the law and really wanted everybody to follow it perfectly. Here’s the thing about the Pharisees, uh, that I find quite fascinating.

They had this whole idea that if all the people of God, which were in Jerusalem and Israel, if they all followed every single law to the T for 24 hours, the Messiah would come, the kingdom would be established, and Israel would rule and reign over the world. So if you can imagine how stressed out Pharisees were when somebody sinned, because they thought, oh no, now we’re restarting the clock, now we have to wait a whole nother 24 hours.

They were very intense people trying to bring back the Messiah through their own righteousness. And that leads to the last point about Saul. By obsession, Saul’s aim was righteousness. Everything was about righteousness. being made right. Like every Pharisee, Saul was passionate about this Hebrew word, tzedakah.

Want to say that with me? Tzedakah. This just means righteousness in the Hebrew. Now, the Old Testament clearly portrays the people of Israel as disobedient, not righteous people, sinful people, who have been cut off from the fellowship of the Father since Genesis 3, right? Adam and Eve partook. And so now they’re no longer made right.

And so from Genesis 3 on, we all suffer because we are not righteous, right? We suffer from sin done by us. Anybody remember the rest? Sin done to us and sin done around us, right? And so what does that mean? Peace is broken between us and God? Peace is broken between me and you, right? Relationally. And also peace is broken between us and creation.

A lot of us forget that part. Gardening was supposed to be a fun thing that always worked. But Adam and Eve ruined it for us. And now we’re always struggling. This is what life is. And so the Pharisees, like Saul, were saying, okay, how do we bring back righteousness? How do we make everything right? Because sin brings destruction.

Let’s have an answer for sin so we can bring forth righteousness. This is why you’ll read in Deuteronomy over and over again, as I’ve been reading in my quiet time this past week. Often, the, uh, Moses says this line, You must purge the evil from among you. This must have been Saul’s life phrase. We must purge the evil from among us.

So, what is Saul’s solution to purging evil and attaining righteousness? Well, in the Old Testament, there are only two men, who were given the credit as credited to him as righteousness. You only see that phrase in the Old Testament twice. There’s two men who gained that kind of righteousness that Saul always wanted.

I want us to look at each one and then ask the simple question, which example is Saul trying to follow? I think you’ll pick it up pretty quickly. Anybody know the first person in the Bible who said it was credited to him as righteousness? Abraham. Good job. I don’t know if I heard it, but Abraham. Now, Abraham was credited righteousness in Genesis chapter 15.

You don’t have to turn there. We’ll have it on the screen, but here’s kind of the story of Genesis 15. Abraham, he’s actually called Abram at this point. Reminds God, hey, I know you gave me this promise that through my line, the whole world will be blessed. We read that in Genesis 12. I just want to remind you, I still don’t have children.

And you told me it has to be through Sarah. And she’s getting old. And I’m getting old. So Abraham was, uh, 100. Sarah was 90. Right? This probably wasn’t going to work out for them, but what does God do? In Genesis 15, God reminds Abraham, do you remember, I made you a promise and it’s going to be through Sarah.

You will have an heir and from that heir will save the world. And so look at Abraham’s response in Genesis 15, verse six, Abram believed the Lord and he, and it was credited to him as righteousness. He believed. In other words, though Abraham, Abram was too old, his wife’s womb was too old, he didn’t see how he had any of the strength within himself.

He says, well, God, you are faithful. I will take a stand on your promises. I believe. And because of that belief, it was credited to him as righteousness. He was, he can now be unified back with God. Okay, now that’s what most of us know is the person who is credited as righteousness. Does anybody know who the other person is?

If you get it right, I’ll give you a free shirt. Anybody? You can look ahead on the notes and maybe cheat online, but it is Phineas. I don’t call him Phineas because then you’ll think of Ferb. So it’s Phineas. Phinehas was credited righteousness and we see that in Psalm 106. Now, let me give you some background to him.

Again, this is hard for us. We don’t know these people. The Pharisees knew these people very well. Phinehas is the grandson of Aaron, right? So Aaron and Moses. Aaron was the first of the, uh, Priestly line. And so he was a priest. Now you read the story in Numbers 25. If it’s in the Torah, which is Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, you’ll know those books were written before them actually entering into the promised land.

When do we see him enter the promised land? What’s the next book of the Bible? Joshua. Okay. We’re learning a lot about the Bible today. Teachy, not preachy. All right. So Numbers 25, they’re still, they’re about to enter in, but they’re not yet to the promised land. And what’s happening is the Israelites are now commingling with the Moabites, which God said not to do.

Commingling, and here’s why they said not to commingle, it was, they were mixing their religions. They were now sacrificing, not just to the God of Israel, but to the God of Moab. And as a result, judgment was pronounced, and a plague broke out. Thousands were dying, and here’s how evil this moment was. Once there was a man who had no regard for Moses and his warnings, which by the way, so much of sin is rebellion and not giving into any authority.

And so he took a Moabite woman. He did it right in front of Moses. He said, Hey, look at me. Okay. I have this Moabite woman. And he goes into a tent to sleep with her just to spite Moses. Phineas is on the sidelines going now, wait a minute. You don’t dishonor Moses, but certainly you don’t disrespect and dishonor God.

So what does he do? Happy Father’s Day. He takes a spear, goes into the tent, two birds with one stone. He gets them both at the same time, the perfect angle, where he kills both of them. And now, what’s incredible about this story, and maybe this bothers you, but it’s kind of crazy. When he does this, he puts an end to the plague.

He puts an end to sin, and now the people are saved. Now you have Psalm 106 is recounting that. So much of the Psalms is recounting what happens in the first five books of the Bible. Look what is said about Phinehas. Verse 28. They aligned themselves with Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods.

They angered the Lord with their deeds and a plague broke out against them. But Phinehas stood up and intervened and the plague was stopped. And there’s the line, it was credited to him as righteousness throughout all generations to come. Okay, stay with me. Is there a difference between these two men and how they attained righteousness?

Yes. One is a young warrior who fights against evil with his own bare hands to the glory of God. The other Abraham is an older, weak man who is very well attuned to how inefficient he is, insufficient, but he trusts in God’s promises to fight on his behalf. Which person do you think Saul had as a poster in his room growing up?

Was it Abraham the weak or was it Phinehas the warrior? It’s likely Phinehas the warrior. Especially as we learn more about Saul as he later becomes Paul and shares his life story several times, it’s perfectly fitting because Saul’s aim was to be strong and to be brave. And boy, did he have a type A personality.

He accomplished everything he set his hand to. And now I want this to feel uncomfortable for us because Saul seems to have biblical support here. He isn’t, in his mind, evil by going to Damascus and eradicating these disciples. Why? In his mind, again, he’s simply walking in the way of Phineas with the spear in his hand to purge the evil among him.

What was he doing? He’s putting an end to this evil thing. called the way, which we love that language. We see that here that the Christians were called practicers of the way, which is a small group of people at this point who worshipped a man who claimed to be God, who claimed to die for the sins of the world and rose again on the third day.

What made this group even worse in Saul’s mind is they worshipped a man who was cursed by being, by hanging on a tree. Deuteronomy 21, 23 says, curse it as anybody who’s ever, who’s ever hung on a tree. And yet we’re the one worshiping that, which we say gospel real quick, yes, because he took the curse in our place, right?

So I want us to see what’s happening here. Saul was choosing the way of Phinehas for the sake of the people of Abraham. But all of this unravels when he encounters the resurrected Jesus. Okay? His mental maps of reality and how to attain righteousness are completely rewritten. Let’s look at Acts 9, a few of the verses again.

Verse 5. Who are you, Lord? Saul said. I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting, he replied. But get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do. The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the sound, but still Seeing no one. Saul got up from the ground and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing.

So they took him by the hand and led him into Damascus. He was unable to see for three days and did not eat or drink. Is this a picture of strength? No. Verse 15, but the Lord said to him, go for this man is my chosen instrument to take my name to Gentiles, Kings and Israelites, and I will show him how much he must suffer for my name Saul.

Saul goes to Damascus with the spear in his hand like Phinehas and he encounters Christ. And now he walks with assistance of others like Abraham. Saul was known as a warrior that people feared. Ananias said, are you sure it’s Saul? This mighty warrior like Phinehas, but he encounters Christ and now he is weak like Abraham.

Saul was known for his strength, like Phinehas, but now God is rewriting his story and saying his purpose will be to suffer for my name, just like Abraham. What does Saul learn when he encounters the person and work of Jesus? Write this down, righteousness isn’t achieved in battle like Phinehas, it is received in brokenness like Abraham.

Let me be clear. Phineas isn’t an evil character in the Bible. I was struggling with this all week. Are we saying Phineas is bad? Because Saul tried to be Phineas. That was not the right thing. But at the same time, what does the Bible say? It was credited to him as righteousness. We believe every word of the Lord.

So how do we hold this? It’s also good to know, though, in Numbers 25, verse 13, it says that he was given the Phinehas, the promise of perpetual priesthood. That is a hint. It’s a sign for you and me. What is it? Phinehas is a picture of Christ. Abraham is a picture for you and me. In other words, what does Christ do?

Like Phinehas, he comes and conquers and eradicates evil. He is the one, but notice this, Christ doesn’t come with the spear in his hand. No, he dies on a cross with the spear in his side. But when he said it is finished, sin, Satan, and death no longer had its sting. And he is ruling and reigning to this day.

He is the Phineas we’ve all been looking after. Phineas is an example of Christ. Abraham is an example for you. And an example for me and an example for Saul. Andrew Root in his wonderful book, Faith Formation in a Secular Age, says the following about Saul’s transformation, quote, righteousness has been central to Paul’s vision all along.

As a good Jew, Paul understood that the point of human existence was to live righteously within the covenant. Yet what upended Paul was the realization that this righteousness is never achieved through zeal of his own action, but through faith. Phinehas was reckoned as righteous through the power, uh, sorry, reckoned as righteous, um, here I am.

Phinehas was reckoned as righteous through the power of his own zealous action. But Abraham was reckoned righteous through the weakness of his death experience and his trust in the faithfulness of God to fulfill God’s word, transforming what is dead into new life. Okay? Okay. To put it another way. Since Christ achieved righteousness in battle, we receive righteousness in brokenness.

Okay, what’s your solution to all the sin done by you? Hopefully you’ve gotten to the point in your life you’re way too broken to battle your own sin, but we have a warrior who fought that battle on our behalf. What’s your solution to all the sin done to you? All it does is break us even more, but yet Jesus is the great high priest who sympathizes with us in our wounds and our weaknesses and brings healing to our souls over the course of a marathon.

What’s your solution to all the sin done around you? Sin, Satan, and death. Hear me will not have the last laugh. Jesus went into the tent on our behalf to eradicate and purge evil once and for all, and he will do that in his second coming. Listen, we are the broken like Abraham who need Christ, the one who is the warrior, but isn’t brokenness and weakness such a tough sale?

Do you buy it? Let’s be honest, many of us, we don’t blame Saul. Phinehas or Abraham, who do you want to be? This mighty warrior? And again, not to demean Abraham at all, he’s the father of the faith. But a man who’s known for being too old, and too weak. And I think this is why for Saul, he had to have a holy encounter to finally realize just how weak he was.

But the irony is when he was at his weakness, his weakest, he became strong. And that’s the beauty of the gospel. At some point, all of us, hopefully, have our road to Damascus moment. We just have to ask ourselves, Will this holy exhaustion finally lead to my confession and repentance? Or will this holy example Finally lead to my brokenness.

Will this holy embarrassment finally lead to the end of myself? Or will this holy encounter finally bid me to come and die so that I may find new life in Christ?

Brokenness is a moment and it’s a marathon in the Christian life. I think one of the biggest lies we believe is we think the encounter has to have this brokenness, but read the rest of Paul’s life. Weakness after weakness. after weakness. I’ve been praying as your pastor trying to figure out how can we really become people who follow the way?

How can we really become people, for example, who actually do the hard work of making peace? And I just come to the conclusion, none of this works if we don’t realize, first and foremost, we are broken people in need of a healing savior. Right? We have nothing in our own strength. How can we, people come up to me and say, I just don’t know how I can read my Bible every day.

Part of me wants to say, do you not know how broken you are? Because when you know how broken you are, you need the word that’s a lamp into your feet and a light into your path. You need the word of God to bring restorative. You need the water to your soul. Making peace, making peace, I’m convinced is impossible.

If we don’t recognize that we are broken people. You know, heart making pieces, forgiving others, being forgiven by others, learning I don’t have to win every battle, deciding, you know what, you’re, you’re right, I’m wrong. It could only happen because of brokenness. But that’s why Paul, look at this. That’s why Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12 9, but he said to me, Jesus said, my grace is sufficient for you for my power is perfected, which means made complete in weakness.

Therefore, I will be perfected. Most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses so that Christ’s power may reside in me. But here’s the warning. Some of you in this room still refuse to be broken. And I don’t know how else we can help you. Some in this room possibly are like Simon in Acts 8. Remember, we talked about how Simon was the first false convert.

Notice he was shown his sin and his wickedness. And how does he reply to Peter? Hey, talk to God for me to make sure this consequence doesn’t happen. Instead of just realizing I am broken, I am a sinner, I am in need of grace. Christ, I need you to do what I could never do on my own. There’s story after story of people never embracing brokenness, but friend, it’s in the breaking that leads to salvation.

to the blessing that leads to life in abundance. So how I want us to respond to today’s message is by receiving communion. We typically do communion. Uh, it’s the practice of breaking bread. We typically do this by having an usher or our deacons kind of pass it around. Uh, because it’s at the end of the service, what we’re going to do is actually, uh, during this first song, as we respond, I’m going to ask everybody to stand.

Not yet. But when I ask you to stand, I just invite you to start coming down and grabbing the elements. Let me encourage you. This is for everybody who has embraced their brokenness. This is for everybody who has said, nothing in my hands I bring, simply to Christ I cling. I bring no other argument, I bring no other plea but that Jesus died and he died for me.

So if you don’t follow the way of Jesus, we ask you just to remain in your seat. But I want us to recognize this tearing apart of bread. This breaking of bread represents Jesus being torn apart for us. See, on the cross, Jesus took all the sin done by us, all the sin done to us, and all the sin done around us, and he paid for it on the cross.

He purged the evil, and on the third day rose again in victory. But also, this breaking of bread should remind us that we are broken people. And that’s not something we hide. That’s not something we’re ashamed of. That is simply who we are. And if you refuse to be broken, then you refuse to be blessed. You refuse to be known.

You refuse to be loved. It’s in the breaking that comes the blessing because friends, you and I. We are not Phineas with the strength enough to hold a spear and get rid of evil in our own power. We are like Abraham who says, I have come to the end of my rope. I have no power in my own body, in my own strength.

My flesh is weak, but Christ you came and I believe your promise and you will do what only you can do. Nothing in my hands. It’s all you and your glory.

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