The conversion of Saul of Tarsus and you're just, I know you will show me so much grace and I appreciate all the grace that you show me. I will call him Paul all the time. even though in this text he's only Saul. I cannot keep that straight in my mind. I will try to refer to him as Saul of Tarsus, but just so you know, later on he becomes known as the Apostle Paul. And so if I say Paul and it should be Saul, I mean Saul. And if I say Saul and it should be Paul, I mean Paul. But it's the same guy, okay? So we're gonna be okay. We can get through this together. So the conversion of Saul of Tarsus in Acts chapter nine. And then verse 31 is sort of a transitional verse And I'll cover that at the end as like a separate sermon, almost like a homily looking towards the New Year. So this is somewhat of a New Year's message. So Acts chapter 9, I'm going to read just verses 1 through 9. But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues of Damascus. so that if he found any belonging to the way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he said, who are you, Lord? He said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do. The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. They led him by the hand and brought him to Damascus, and for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your good work of conversion. Many of us have We know a lot about Saul. We know the Apostle Paul. There's a lot in our minds when it comes to this man. But God, help us to look back and just give thanks for the fact that you saved him by your grace, and to do the same for each other. And for all that we are by your grace, help us to give thanks simply that you called us out of darkness into light, and you called us out of death and into life. And for that, we give you praise. In Jesus' name, amen. So Saul of Tarsus is a problem. As I mentioned, you better know him as the Apostle Paul, and he's a problem, as we'll see in many ways in the book of Acts. And I hope that for you, he's a welcome problem. Maybe you have people in your life that are like that, right? They confront you and comfort you and rebuke you and teach you and challenge your ways of thinking and refine your faith. Just kind of always agitating your life in a good way. That's what Saul of Tarsus is like in his best form. So I would say think of Acts chapter 9 as your first meeting with Saul. The first time you really met him and got to know him. And lock this whole chapter in as a bit of a memory as it will play out through the rest of the book of Acts. I don't know about you, I like to do that with people. I like to think back on when I first met you as I'm praying today or remembering like I met Casey at Christmastime. I can think back on on those interactions. Most of you I met for the first time in this building. And so I never knew if you'd be, like, just walk out the door and I'd never see you again. So I would probably not think of you ever again. Or we, as God would progress, that we'd grow into a family together. And so it's fun for me to think of people that I know now and look back on when we first met and think of how God has brought us along and the good that he has done. So maybe that's how you could kind of frame Acts chapter 9 in your relationship to the Apostle Paul, who at this time is known as Saul. Because if you're a Christian and you, with a Bible, Saul, who becomes Paul, is going to be your brother and friend and pastor and teacher and servant. God will do good in your life through Saul of Tarsus. And so we look at this chapter as where we first met. Yes, he appeared briefly in Acts chapter 7 and Acts chapter 8, but really this is where the story really begins. So, this is Paul, Saul at this time, and God's purpose for him is that he would change you forever. So pick it up again in Acts chapter 9 verse 1. Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem." So this is pure hatred. Remember, the last time we met Saul in Acts chapter 7, at the end of Acts chapter 7, the beginning of Acts chapter 8, He approved of Stephen's martyrdom, watching over the coats of everybody who was pelting Stephen with stones. And now Saul is taking his rage on the road. Damascus is a Roman city north and east of Jerusalem and actually outside of the region of Israel, but it's got a really large Jewish population. So Saul's going there with official documentation from Jerusalem to this foreign city to find all of those who profess to be Christians and bring them back to Jerusalem. It's as if Saul, as we've seen in the book of Acts, is anticipating the spread of Christianity outside of Israel and he's going to be the guy to suffocate it. Maybe his issue is the claim of these Christians that faith in Jesus is the way. See it referred to there in verse 2, the way. That is like they're saying that to follow Jesus is the right way, the only way, the proper expression of true religion, the new direction for Israel. So if that's what the Christians are saying, you can imagine Saul as a zealous, faithful Jew saying, there is no other way. We've got to squash this thing before it gets any further. Now, Verse three, as he went on his way, and he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him, and falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he said, who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. So the Lord Jesus Christ takes the persecution of his followers personally. To hate Christians or slander or abuse or marginalize or murder Christians is to do the same to Jesus. That's how he sees it. Why are you persecuting me? So for us as Christians, that phrase alone should encourage us in whatever opposition you may face for being a Christian. Just remember Jesus is on your side. Jesus actually told his disciples numerous times this is how things would be. I'm going to read one from John chapter 15. An example of Jesus anticipating his followers would be persecuted. This is what Jesus said would happen. It's happened since the first century. It happens today. And Jesus helps us to see persecution, opposition from his perspective. So this is John 15 verses 18 through 20. Jesus said, if the world hates you, speaking to his disciples, know that it has hated me before it hated you. And if you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they keep my word, they will keep yours also. And if you're in John 15, just look down at chapter 16, verse 2, Jesus continues saying, they will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father nor me. But I have said these things to you that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told them to you. And now in Acts chapter 9, the hour has come. Saul of Tarsus is the living fulfillment of these passages. And so Jesus confronts him directly. If you go back to Acts chapter 9, it's fascinating because the issue here is not Judaism versus Christianity. Maybe that's how Paul sees it. It's not this way versus that way. The real issue here is Saul versus Jesus. It's a very personal confrontation. So Acts chapter nine verse six, Saul finds himself at a crossroads, verse six, but rise and enter the city and you will be told what you are to do. There's a proposition here, Paul, Saul, you're gonna obey this Jesus who has confronted you or not. And the men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. So if you pause there, the emphasis again is on personal confrontation. Saul's traveling companions are completely, maybe not entirely, but in the dark. So later on in the book of Acts, I think it's chapter 22, Saul retells this story and he clarifies that they saw the light and they heard noise, but they didn't understand the voice. Maybe all they heard was Paul, or Saul speaking, and they didn't hear the voice of Jesus. All of this points to this reality, this is between Saul and Jesus. And I think that is a significant shift in the book of Acts, a very helpful balance. In the earlier chapters of Acts, all of Peter's sermons are demonstrating that Jesus is the Lord and Christ of Israel. So we've looked at these various speeches of Peter and they're richly historical and theological, hoping to show that Jesus is a fulfillment and the mission of Israel now or the command to Israel now is to worship Jesus. and submit to Him as Lord and Christ. And so you kind of see a nation, people, called to follow their King. It's very much how Acts has been up to this point. And this is a helpful balance because at the same time that we see Jesus in a historical and a theological lens, it's also very personal. Faith in Jesus is very personal. You and I are sinners and we answer individually to God. And our forgiveness that Jesus gives us is not applied to us in some vague way, but to us very personally directed to our own hearts. And so everybody, like Saul of Tarsus, is faced with a personal decision of whether or not you are going to follow Jesus. So Paul does, Saul does. Verse 8, Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus, and for three days he was without sight and neither ate nor drank. Now if you just peek down at verse 11, you'll see that Paul was probably praying. So three days of fasting and praying. That's a glimpse into the intense piety of Tarsus. So his religious zeal is unmatched. Look at this guy, he gets letters, he gathers a rabble, and he's going to chase down the Christians wherever he needs to go. That's somebody with fire in his bones. And when he's confronted by God, he immediately fasts and prays for days. So Saul is not only zealous on the outside, his zeal comes from the depths of his soul. And this is your warning. It's a good warning. But one of the problems that you're going to have with Saul of Tarsus is that when he becomes Paul, he's gonna call you to a zealous Christianity. Intense external religion and intense personal piety. If you want your Christianity to be safe and comfortable and easy, do not become friends with the Apostle Paul. That is to say, like, you want to become friends with the Apostle Paul, but he's gonna challenge you, he's gonna call you to a life that is difficult and glorious. And we just get a picture of it here. I love the, from the moment he's ready to go and kill all the Christians and the next moment he is going to devote himself to prayer to God because God is doing something and he's listening. All right, back to the story. We leave Paul praying in Damascus for a moment to meet another Christian who's in the same city in Acts chapter nine, verse 10. Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias. And he said, here I am, Lord. And the LORD said to him, Rise, and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. For behold, he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight." This is just an important glimpse into God orchestrating events, putting things together for His purposes. So Saul and Ananias have these corresponding visions. This marks out a significant work of God. And actually we get another one of these in chapter 10 with Peter and Cornelius who have corresponding visions. So just that raises our attention to see that God is doing something very unique here. But verse 13, Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard from many about this man. how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem, and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name. That's very natural, isn't it? God says, Ananias, go to meet Saul, and Ananias says, okay, he's here to kill Christians and arrest Christians. I don't see Ananias resisting God's command. He simply states the truth. Solves a problem. God's calling Ananias to go to his death. So I don't read this as like an argument back and forth between God and Ananias. It's just prayer. God says, Ananias, go. If I'm reading Ananias right, he's saying, OK, just help me, God, because this is going to be hard. You're calling me to something difficult. But, verse 15, the Lord said, go. For he, Saul, is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name. This is the whole key to the Apostle Paul's life. Saul, who did much evil to the saints in Jerusalem, is God's chosen instrument to carry the name of Jesus around the world. And Saul, who intended to bind and murder those who call on the name of Jesus, will himself suffer greatly for the name of Jesus. This is a most dramatic conversion. It's from the evilest of evils to the best of goods. It is from death to life and darkness to light. It's from Saul to Paul. Why does God do this? Why does God take Saul of Tarsus and make him his chosen instrument? Why does God take a murderer and persecutor and send him as a missionary and preacher? And honestly, God still does this sort of stuff all the time today. I was just listening to an interview this week with Lee Strobel. Some of you might be familiar with Lee Strobel. He wrote a famous book called The Case for Christ. I picked it up and started reading it this weekend. And his was a dramatic conversion. And there's many others. Why does God do this sort of thing? Well, actually, Saul gives us an answer. We have to turn over, though, into 1 Timothy, when he's known as the Apostle Paul, and he's writing to his protege, Timothy. In 1 Timothy chapter 1, this is decades later, after Saul has become Paul and has Taken the gospel of Jesus Christ around the world and has suffered greatly for the name of Jesus. Listen to how Saul understands his conversion. In 1st Timothy chapter 1 verse 12. He writes this, same guy from Acts chapter 9. 1 Timothy 1.12, I thank Him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because He judged me faithful, appointing me to His service. Though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent, but I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief. and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But, I received mercy for this reason. That's where we pause and we say, okay, we were asking, why does God do this? Paul says, I receive mercy for this reason that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display His perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in Him for eternal life. So here's the whole purpose in God doing dramatic conversions, taking Saul of Tarsus and making him the Apostle Paul. It's so that we would know and trust and understand God's patience and mercy and grace. That God has the power to give life to those who are on the fast track to death. And so in seeing that we would not give up on people. People that we think are beyond hope. And we ourselves would not look terribly on ourselves as disqualified, but rather remember that God shows perfect patience and grace to His people. So just think for a second about your own conversion. When you came to faith in Jesus. Think about who you were before you came to faith in Jesus. Now for some of you, that happened late enough in your life. that you have some pretty vivid, maybe disturbing memories of life before you were converted to Christ. So think about that for a moment. For others of you, because you've known Jesus since you were a child, and though you certainly have your own fair share of temptations and sins, you probably give thanks that God rescued you. I think it would be really helpful, if that's where you find yourself, to think about who you would be if it wasn't for Jesus rescuing you so early in life. That's really helpful to me because I came to faith as a child. And by God's grace, he spared me from many terrible things. But it's helpful for me to look at my own inclinations and my own heart and the temptations that I face and say, what if I face those temptations without Jesus? Man, I'd be just a miserable wretch of a person. So, okay, think about that. Think about where you were, okay? and marvel then that God has saved you. Either because of who you were or who you could have been. Think about the patience and mercy and grace that was required to take a sinner like Saul of Tarsus, like me, like you, and save us and give us life. That's what we focus on. God's grace is something that we don't deserve. Um, as a gift. But it's, that's no small gift. The more we think about how dramatic our conversion is, the more valuable we see the gift of salvation. And that's why Saul says, Paul, when he's in 1st Timothy, he says, that's why God saved him as the chief of sinners. So that he would be an example to those who believe for eternal life. So if you think that something of your past life, or maybe that potential past life, makes you a lesser Christian, Saul of Tarsus, who becomes Paul, says to you, no! Like, if anybody had a past life that would disqualify them from being a good Christian, it was Saul of Tarsus. So no, nothing from your past life makes you a lesser Christian. Or if you think because of who you were before Jesus makes you useless to God. Maybe you say, well, I'm so grateful that I'm at least saved. What about that? That's a fire. Thank you, Audrey. We almost had a Christmas wreath fire. All right. Well, I guess Advent has come and gone. The candles are getting too low. All right. Okay, back to the point. Okay, so if you think that something from your past life before Christ makes you useless to God, some people will think this way, right? Because of who I was before I became a Christian, I could never be somebody who would tell other people about Jesus. Or I could never become an elder in the church. I could never be a missionary to a foreign country. I could never be a godly husband or a godly wife. I could never actually be somebody that other people would look up to. Again, look at Saul of Tarsus. If anybody's past life would disqualify him from being useful to God, it's Saul of Tarsus. And yet, Saul holds one of the most prominent positions in all of Christian history. An apostle to the Gentiles. a preacher, a missionary, a pastor, a friend, a godly man worth following. God takes the worst of sinners and makes them his chosen instruments for his purposes. And he does that with Saul so that all of us would see and know that God can use us too. Now here in verses 15 and 16 of Acts 9, God says two things about Saul that set up the rest of his life. First, that Saul is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. And starting in Acts chapter 13, that's the rest of the story. Saul becomes known as Paul and he takes the gospel to the farthest reaches of the Roman Empire and does proclaim his name before Gentiles and kings, even Caesar himself. The rest of the book of Acts is the adventure story of Saul of Tarsus. And secondly, Jesus says in Acts 19.16 that Saul must suffer for the sake of my name. Now later in this chapter we're going to read actually of the first plot of many to have Saul killed. And over the course of his life, Saul of Tarsus will be beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, slandered, arrested, falsely accused, neglected, betrayed, and eventually sentenced to death. History teaches us that Saul was executed by Caesar Nero. And yet, Saul is known as the Apostle of Joy. He knows Jesus, and so he gladly suffers for the sake of the name. Christians, one of the ways that Saul is going to be a problem for you is that he pushes us to face suffering, to even embrace suffering, to rejoice in suffering, to expect suffering. See, for Saul, who becomes Paul, for him to live is Christ and to die is gain. And he writes that while under house arrest in Rome. So it's easy to love Saul of Tarsus as an example of conversion, and we should. We should praise God for that. God takes rotten sinners and makes them useful saints. It's harder for us to follow his example of living. To go and sacrifice and suffer to make Jesus known. I want to so love my conversion like Saul loved his conversion, then I would suffer greatly and abound in joy. That's hard. All right, back to the story. Acts chapter 9, verse 17. So Ananias departed and entered the house, and laying his hands on him, he said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came sent me to you so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized, and taking food he was strengthened. For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus." So Saul of Tarsus becomes a Christian. It's the really unique features of this story, I think, that initially grab our attention. Things that don't usually happen when you're converted. Light, the voice, the vision, the blindness, the healing, the scales, whatever that was, we really don't know. All of this is very miraculous. Most of our conversion stories do not come across so interesting. And that's okay. This is, as we see often in the Book of Acts, something very unique for a very particular purpose of God. But I also want you to notice how ordinary Saul's conversion is. The normal things that happen to all Christians, Saul was told the gospel by another person, he was baptized, he was filled with the Holy Spirit, and he had fellowship with other Christians. Those are things that all Christians share. Now, one of the questions that I think inevitably comes with Saul's story is whether other people would believe he's actually changed. That's really reasonable, right? And I would imagine some of you have experienced this at different points in your life. Like, you believe in Jesus, you start following him, and people who know you are skeptical. Sort of that, oh, you're a Christian now. We'll see. Like, we'll just see how this plays out. And man, as Christians, I find that we can grow so cynical about people when they profess faith in Christ. It's okay, we want to be wise and discerning. But at the same time, when someone says, like, I'm a Christian now, I'm gonna follow Jesus, like, we do guard our hearts that our first response should be rejoicing and not going, well, we'll just, we'll see about that, right? But there's something really natural about that when you're Saul of Tarsus. or me or you, right? That people are gonna be skeptical about your conversion. So let's just read these next section here and look for the evidence that shows that Saul is genuinely a disciple. The skepticism begins in Damascus, naturally, clearly everybody had heard the rumor about Saul of Tarsus. And immediately, verse 20, he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, that's where the Jewish people gathered, right? So in the synagogues 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 his 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. The persecutor had become the preacher and a powerful one, right? He's confounding his opponents. Now we know that Saul of Tarsus was both a religious zealot and a scholar. He knew his Bible, the Old Testament, the Hebrew scriptures. And so when he saw that it was fulfilled in Jesus, he runs to the Jewish people and says, Jesus is the son of God. And he proves that Jesus is the Christ. And so at least the first evidence that we have of Saul's genuine conversion is that he preaches Jesus from the Bible. His claim is not, I had a miraculous vision, I saw a light, I was blinded for three days. It was, look, look, you can see it too. Look where Jesus is. So the first evidence of genuine conversion is not his dramatic story, it is in preaching Christ from the Bible. Of course, this caused a problem. Verse 23, 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. This is where the adventure of Saul of Tarsus begins. He carries the name of Jesus and suffering for the name of Jesus for the rest of his life. Now, before we go to verse 26, you should know there's probably a pretty big time gap between verses 25 and 26, maybe years. Now, when we read Acts, we don't read it that way. We just kind of read the next paragraph, right? But if you look at Galatians chapter one, you don't need to go there now, but, and you'll read of Saul spending years before visiting Jerusalem. So there could be as many as 17 years between verses 25 and 26 of Acts 9. We just don't see that, right, in our Bible. What Luke is doing, the author here, is he's compressing the story. So he's giving Acts chapter 9 as an introduction to Saul of Tarsus, the apostle Paul. And so for Luke, it's no problem for him to condense a number of events over many, many years into a short story. Certainly any of the contemporaries reading it at the time would know more of the story of Paul, would understand the gap in the events. We just don't see that immediately, right? Because there's no little footnote that says there was a long period of time between verses 25 and 26. I'll also tell you this, the timeline of events in Acts chapter 9 is really difficult to reconcile with the rest of Paul's testimony, especially Galatians 1 and 2 and other passages in the New Testament. And that's a really fun rabbit to chase. I'm not going to chase it today. Some of you who love researching that sort of thing, this is my encouragement to go and do that. Try to understand the timeline of events in Paul's life. I'm hoping at some point to put together some sort of video or teaching or writing explaining that for the curious sometime before we finish the Book of Acts, but we're not going to chase it today. Just know that it's there. If you start reading a Bible commentary or something, it's going to chase that rabbit. Today, though, just focus on the main point. Luke highlights the skepticism that Saul was really a Christian. He did that in Damascus, and now when he leaves Damascus, in verse 25, he tells the next story of skepticism in verse 26, years later in Jerusalem. And when he'd come to Jerusalem, Saul, 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." Which, for reference, Tarsus is in the southeastern corner of modern Turkey, across the Mediterranean Sea. So they put Saul on a boat and sent him home, basically, at this point. Again, the evidence that Saul is genuinely a Christian is his proclaiming of Jesus at great risk to his life. Boldly, boldly, that word's used twice there. Now, the other factor though that testifies to the genuine conversion of Saul of Tarsus is Barnabas. It's another person who can look at his life, who has seen the work of God and can vouch for him. So we see that actually, we met Barnabas all the way back in Acts chapter 4. Remember, Barnabas was the guy who sold a piece of property and gave all the funds to the church. He's the one who's contrasted with Ananias and Sapphira. He became known to the apostles as a son of encouragement. So Barnabas, he holds some weight. The apostles know who he is and they will listen to what he has to say. Now if there was a long period of time between verses 25 and 26, which there was, then it's likely that not only had Barnabas heard about Saul, he had spent substantial time with Saul of Tarsus. And he saw both his preaching and his life and could testify to the fact that this was a genuine conversion. And so the evidence of genuine conversion here is both a dependence on the scripture and the testimony of other people. Those are going to give us good insights into conversion in general. One of the ways that we encourage people who are converted and we want to see evidence in our own life is one is that where there's a dependence on the scriptures, what God has said, and other people can tell us about the change in our own lives. If your only evidence of conversion is what you feel, that's just really, really shaky, right? Because most of us don't always feel great about ourselves. And that's okay, right? We have the scriptures, which tell us who Christ is, and we have other people who can testify to us about God's good work in our lives. And thus ends our first encounter with Saul. We really get to know him a lot more, and so as we preach through the rest of the book of Acts, we will get to know this man, as you read his letters in the New Testament. And I promise you, if you take time to get to know Saul of Tarsus, you will be changed by him. That's God's intention, to carry the name of Jesus to us. He was God's chosen instrument to carry and to suffer. So remember where Saul came from, a persecutor, made a preacher. And we're just gonna leave the life of Saul there for today, but I do want to look briefly at verse 31. Because verse 31 is a transition statement. We've seen this actually in the book of Acts a number of times. These little summary statements of where the church is at, telling us what God is doing, kind of moving us to the next scene. So if you just look at verse 32, we go now as Peter went from here to there, so we go from Saul to Peter, we're just moving in a completely different direction. We'll talk about why that is next week, but look at the transition in verse 31. 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. And as I read that passage, and since this is the last Sunday of 2024, I thought it would be helpful to take this as something of a New Year's passage for us. To think about our church family, what God is calling us to do in 2025. So, we can take this as a New Year's charge for the church. And I'll just briefly walk you through five characteristics in this passage that I would pray for, and I hope you would pray, that the Lord would work in our midst in 2025. How can we be like this? So the first characteristic is peace. One church in many places. The church, singular, throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria. So one of the things we learn about God's gathering of Christians is that there are many local bodies like Crossroads Bible Church. They all belong to one universal invisible church. And of course we're met with various degrees of opposition and yet united. So unity as Christians requires that we understand what a Christian is. Because there's lots of people who would claim the name of Christ who are not Christians. There are many faithful Christians and faithful Christian churches locally and globally with whom we would gladly find fellowship. So one of our goals is to have fellowship and peace with other churches. So 2025, I don't think this will be a major change for us in any way, but we will pursue sweet fellowship within our denomination with other local churches. So we belong to the Evangelical Free Church of America and the Inland Mountain District of the EFCA. We'll partner with them and have peace with them and can be of good use to them and through other local churches. We have some good relationships with other local churches and there's a couple other pastors that once a year, they'll come here and they'll preach at Crossroads and I'll preach at their churches and we do Good Friday with other churches and some of you are involved in ministries like BSF that are a gathering of a variety of local churches. Those are things we want to enjoy and cultivate. So again, nothing new or dramatic but just peace because that's what churches should have. Secondly, notice that the church in Acts 9.31 is being built up. Christians were taught and encouraged and helped. Faith was strengthened. So my goal in this regard is just faithfulness. As our church gathers each Lord's Day, we will be a people of God, sitting under the word of God, offering prayers to God, communing with God. It's what we do. And it's what we will keep doing. When I think about, like, a new year, and I'm the sort of person, like, I like to make goals, I like to, I don't, New Year's resolutions, like, whatever. But I like to think about, okay, new day, like, what am I going to do? How am I going to do it? Where am I going to grow? You know, and that's good. But another part of that is faithfulness. It's not change that we're always pursuing. It's strengthen what we're already doing. So when I think of the church being built up, that's what I want to be faithful in. I hope and think that's what we're already doing and hope that we would be faithful. So we can all do our part, right? By coming together on the Lord's day, by participating in our ministries, by singing together, by knowing each other, we can all build one another up in the next year. Third, the early church in Acts 9.31 says, was walking in the fear of the Lord. So in 2025, may we be a people filled with reverence and awe of God and zealous obedience to God as a church. One of my prayers right now that I try to focus on often is that just asking God, what do you want from Crossroads Bible Church? What do you want us to do? Who do you want us to be? And so I'm looking to the scripture. What does God say in his word? How is he directing us from his word? I think too, as we see in the book of Acts, we'll see later in the book of Acts especially, that God will work through his word and his people to specifically direct us. God has specific work for Crossroads Bible Church to do, good works that he has prepared beforehand for us. I want to discern what it is right now and to be faithful to it. And I hope that God would call us to new and difficult and life-giving work in 2025 together. I really love our church and the unity and the love that we have. I'm excited to walk together in the fear of the Lord wherever God would call us. Fourth, the church in Acts 9.31 is walking in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. That word comfort could also mean like everything from encouragement to exhortation. So think of the work of the Holy Spirit as everything from lifting up weak hands to pushing forward dragging feet. The Holy Spirit is both a balm for our griefs and fuel for our good deeds and correction for our laziness. So my hope in 2025 is that as a church, we would help each other walk in the Spirit. That we'd pray for each other, and visit each other, and teach each other, and encourage each other, and comfort each other, and correct each other. And that we would do it in love. That's God's design for the church. Not just that we come together, but being together, we would grow together. And fifth, the last two words of Acts 9.31, it multiplied. It being the church. The church multiplied throughout the world. I hope in 2025 that Crossroads Bible Church is part of the multiplication of Christians. And by that I mean that sinners like Saul, like you, like me, would be saved and made saints of Jesus Christ. I hope our church grows numerically. We want to grow spiritually, right? We want to grow in our relationship with the Lord. We're content to be faithful. But I long for friends and family of mine and yours Who don't know Jesus. That they would meet Him through our words. That we could help them to follow Christ. Maybe we'd find Christians who've wandered far from Christ and His church. And bring them back into fellowship. Right? And that as we see more people following Jesus. Faithfully we would be encouraged by God's work among us. Let's pray for that and labor for that. We will be pleased with whatever God gives us. Absolutely. We should long that more people would know Jesus. We will plant, we will water, and may God give the growth. Let's pray. So God help us in this regard in 2025. I want to be a church like Acts chapter 9. I want to be a church like the end of Acts chapter 2 and the end of Acts chapter 4. I want to be a church like the beginning of Acts chapter 6 and all of these beautiful, wonderful pictures of your work among your people. And God keep us from simply measuring that by earthly perspectives. God instead help us to see and discern the work of your spirit in our midst. Maybe that is by seeing people come to Christ, witnessing baptisms, seeing chairs filled up with Christians who love you. God, those are good things. I pray, too, we would see your work as we walk with one another in the fear of the Lord, as we walk with one another in the comfort of the Spirit. that we would grow both in our awe of You and our love for You and our love for one another. God, I pray that You would do that in this church this week and this next year. Strengthen us, God, for the task that You have before us. You have called us out of darkness into light. You've taken sinners and made them into saints and persecutors and made them into preachers. And so, God, for that we give You glory and we humble ourselves before You and we will go wherever You send us. God, we ask this all in Jesus' name, amen.