It's amazing how God works. That song has been very near and dear to my heart since a teenager. and surrendering to God's call in my life. Sang that song a number of times, and over the years, it continues to speak to my heart. So thank you. I had no idea that we were gonna sing that. I didn't look at the order of service very well, but I trust it's the prayer of your heart as well, that all of us would say, Lord, send me anywhere. Of course, as a teenager, surrendering to God's call in my life at age 16, 17, I had no idea what that would look like. had really no idea what the Lord would want me to do for him, but I did know that I only had one life, and that would soon be past. And even my own testimony in relationship to Baptist admissions is that as well, sensing that as a 50-year-old man, I only had a short period of time yet to give my life for Christ, and how could God get the most out of my life to make the greatest impact on a world for Christ? And so thank you for that. I think you're getting me a little emotional, but other than that, thank you for allowing us to sing that again, another song of consecration. And thank you again, our missionaries, for sharing. Like I said last night, it's worth it just to hear those testimonies and the need of the field, as well as your own testimonies of what God's doing in your heart, in your lives. So I'm very, very thankful for that. And I'm thankful that you're here tonight. I hear there's some other basketball game or something. going on, and this is way more important, amen? Way more important than what might happen on a basketball court tonight. So thank you for being a part of this missions conference and for allowing us to minister the word of God. We have, I trust, been challenged by this theme of mission critical, and by way of review, just a reminder to you that reaching the lost is critical to us accomplishing the great commission that the Lord has left with us. Also, counting the cost is vitally important as well. And I guess along the way you've also learned a couple things about me, that I lose things, that that's part of, I guess, how the Lord has wired me, and I don't like shopping. And maybe that's part of how the Lord has wired me as well. If you'll indulge me again a little bit as you learn a little bit more about me, another thing about me is this, that I, I remember once having a great memory. Can you identify with that? I remember once having a great memory. My wife hopefully would help me remember how I had a great memory. But once upon a time, I just naturally was really good at remembering faces and names. And as even my early years of being in pastoral ministry as a youth pastor, I would preach at camps and my goal would be to memorize the name of every kid at the camp. and by the end of the week, be able to walk through and say every name of every young person at that camp. I did it as, not as a gimmick, I did it as a way to get to know them. And so what I did is I said, you come up to me, and you gotta come up to me at least twice this week, and share your name, and share something about you that's memorable, so that I can get to know you, and by the end of the week, I promise you I'll know your name and be able to say your name. I quit doing that about five years ago. because for some reason the hard drive doesn't access the information quite as quickly as it once did. And I'm not blaming it on old age, it's maturity, not old age. But my memory isn't quite what it used to be. And tonight I want to talk about individuals, an individual in the Bible that probably most of us have forgotten. You know, you think about characters in the scripture that all of us remember and remember well in terms of, and I won't even go to the Old Testament, but even just the New Testament, obviously Jesus Christ is the most important person in all of the Bible. but especially the focus of the New Testament. But then you begin to think through other individuals, and I would guess if I asked you a question like, apart from Christ, when you think of men in the New Testament who accomplished great things in the work of the Lord, of whom do you think? I mean, who do you remember in terms of God using people greatly in the New Testament? You probably think of Peter, right? and many of the accounts in the Gospels of Peter. I would guess that right up there next to Peter, you would remember the Apostle Paul, right? Would be my guess as well, because they were significant individuals that God used greatly that none of us can forget if we know our Bibles at all, right? And the Apostle Paul is probably near the top of the list of people that we remember in the New Testament. After all, he wrote almost half of the books of the New Testament. He was instrumental in seeing thousands of people accept Christ as their Savior and instrumental in planting numerous churches. He lived for his faith and he also died for his faith. And so the Apostle Paul is one of those unforgettable characters in the New Testament. But we tend to forget that there were a lot of individuals around the Apostle Paul that we have forgotten in terms of the significance of their lives. The New Testament is filled with other men and women of faith who came in contact and maybe even served alongside of the Apostle Paul that I would guess we have forgotten. men and women that God used in many ways. Many of these people are overshadowed by Paul in our minds, and were it not for the record of Scripture, these men and women would be altogether forgotten by us. So thankfully, though, God's Word records their names, but also some accounts of what God did in and through their lives. So Scripture doesn't let us forget them. Aren't you thankful for that? The people that were just If I can put it this way, they were just ordinary people. They were just ordinary people whom God used to do some really extraordinary things. And the case could be made that they are the unsung heroes, really, of the first century, of first century Christianity. And though many of them may seem insignificant, in reality, their lives probably speak to us in maybe even greater ways than the lives of the Pauls and the Peters, because they were just regular people. They were just average, ordinary individuals like you and like me. And so tonight I want us to go to Acts chapter 9, if you're not already there, and turn to Acts chapter 9 with me because I want to look at an example in the New Testament of an individual who I'm going to describe as an ordinary person whom God used in an extraordinary way. And that individual is Ananias. And I want to go to Acts chapter 9 and verse 10, and just right at the beginning here, notice how the Bible describes Ananias. In Acts chapter 9, verse 10, it says this, and there was a certain disciple. That's really not a very grandiose description. It's really pretty vanilla, it's pretty bland, it's pretty plain, in that the Bible describes here an individual who is simply a certain disciple. And of course, we talked about that some last night in terms of the significance of being a follower of Christ, a dedicated follower of Christ, and being a true disciple. So it's not like it's completely unimportant, but the two terms that are used the most for followers of Christ in the New Testament are the terms believer and disciple. And so he was just a certain disciple, but we will read in this text that he was a certain disciple that God wanted to use in extraordinary ways because God loves to use ordinary people, like you and like me, in extraordinary ways. And I would suggest to you that that's mission critical. It's mission critical. See, we have this tendency, I think, to think that God only uses really special people. that God only uses really super gifted people, that God only uses really smart people, that God only uses really super talented people, but the reality of the matter is, is God uses ordinary people. And for every Apostle Peter or Apostle Paul, there are hundreds if not thousands of Ananiases that God is still using in great ways that may not make the headlines, but are so significant in the work of God around the globe. God wants to use ordinary people. He loves to use ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things. And that's mission critical because I think the tendency is for us to think, well, God can't use little old me. And I'm just a nobody. I don't have really that much to offer God. And I can't do public speaking. I can't do preaching. Or I can't do this. I'm not a guy that knows Hebrew and Greek, that kind of stuff. God wouldn't use me. Well, the reality of the matter is God can use you. And he wants to use you just like he used me. Ananias. Let's look tonight together at this passage of scripture that describes this man to us, this ordinary guy that God used in extraordinary ways. So notice five aspects from the Word of God tonight about the life and the ministry of Ananias and how God worked and used Ananias and how God wants to work and use you and use me in very similar ways. First of all, I want us to take a look at the person of Ananias, and we've already alluded to that, but again, go back to verse 10 where it says this, and there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias, and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias, and he said, behold, I am here, Lord. And so let me just explain a few things in relationship to Ananias, both in these verses and in other passages of Scripture. First of all, the designation that I alluded to earlier was that he's a disciple, he's a follower, he's a learner. Like we talked about last night, a committed follower of Christ. That with the term believer, those are the most common terms that are used in the New Testament to describe someone who was a follower of Christ. And so we don't know when he came to faith though. The scripture doesn't give us the account of his salvation testimony. Some think that perhaps he was one of those that was there in Acts chapter 2 in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost who heard the gospel and placed his faith in Christ. That is possible, we don't know those details. But we know he was a follower of Christ. He was a believer. Jesus Christ and so he's given that designation but also I want to point out his name because his name is significant although it's a common name both in the Old and the New Testament. It's interesting because it means Jehovah has been gracious. And what a beautiful picture that creates for a person in terms of the very meaning of that. The Jewish form of this name is found frequently in the Old Testament. And so Ananias had come to experience the meaning of his name in a very personal way. Think about that. Jehovah has been gracious. And that ought to be the response of every true believer in Christ is that they appreciate and understand the significance of the graciousness of God in sending his son to die on the cross for our sins and the fact that we are saved by grace. What a wonderful truth that is. Jehovah has been gracious. And so that was his name. But thirdly also, his reputation. We won't go there, but if you were to turn tonight, we won't do it tonight, but if you were to go to Acts chapter 22, there's the account in Acts chapter 22 where Paul is actually giving his testimony before the angry mob in Jerusalem, and he's sharing his conversion testimony, how he came to Christ, and then how he encountered this certain disciple, Ananias. So he's describing him in Acts 22 and verse 12, and Paul describes Ananias there, and by the way, this is 20 years later, 20 years after Acts chapter 9, and he says the following, that Ananias was a devout man, according to the law, having a good testimony with all the Jews who dwelt there. And so that was Ananias' reputation, a devout man, according to the law, having a good testimony with all the Jews who dwelt there. You understand that early Christians still attended the synagogue, the Jewish synagogue. And so that is where Saul was headed, according to Acts 9, verse 2. And Ananias was well known. as a participant in synagogue worship and instruction and specifically for his faithfulness to the Word of God and a lifestyle that was exemplary. That's what Paul was referring to there in Acts chapter 22. But as you think about all of that, I think it's important for us to understand that the only thing that might have been extraordinary about Ananias was his faithfulness. The only thing that might have really truly been extraordinary about Ananias was his faithfulness. And the great thing is this, the great thing about faithfulness is that any of us, that any ordinary person can be extraordinarily faithful. Isn't that wonderful? To realize that, that you don't have to be talented, you don't have to be super smart, that faithfulness takes no talent, it's just a matter of reliability and being faithful. All of us have an opportunity to be faithful. And so Ananias, I think, personifies that. And God loves it when ordinary people are faithful. He loves that. He loves to use those kinds of people. Notice then finally his response, because that's significant as well. He has this vision, verse 10. It says, and he said, behold, I am here, Lord. Or as some translations put it, hear my Lord. Hear my Lord. And I think what he's saying is he's recognizing God's voice in his life. He recognized the voice of God and he responded with availability. Someone has put it this way, that the greatest ability is availability. I think that's true, especially with the Lord, and Ann and I exemplified that. And there's a challenge in that for all of us in that, is that true of you? In other words, are you available to do anything that God would ask you to do? Are you truly available to the Lord, no matter how hard it might be? Because we're gonna find out here that God gives Ananias a really challenging assignment that probably most of us would not want to say, ooh, ooh, me, me, me, pick me, God. Most of us would want to go the other direction. And yet, he responds with availability, the person of Ananias. God could have, by the way, sent a Peter or a Philip to do this assignment, but he chose Ananias. Why did he do that? Because God loves to use ordinary people to do extraordinary things. And I would say to you tonight, don't sell yourself short in that God wants to use you as well. God wants to use all of us. I remember as a freshman in Bible college, my missions professor at Faith Baptist Bible College was Earl Dannenberg. And I don't know if that name is familiar at all. He did pastor here in Michigan before the Lord called him to Chad, Africa many, many years ago. But Mr. Dannenberg was one of those guys that was so passionate about missions that we got the impression as pastoral studies majors that he thought every pastoral studies guy ought to be a missionary. And he was a second class citizen for being a pastor instead of being a missionary. I mean, he was that passionate about it. And he told us all these stories about Africa. But part of what he did is he stoked the fire in every one of our hearts for missions. But I remember specifically Mr. Dannenberg saying though to us preacher boys, I remember him saying, you know what, some of you guys that grew up as farm boys, you make the best missionaries. Farm boys make the best missionaries. And he would go on to tell all the different things in terms of what you learn on the farm and how you can fix things and how you're hardworking and the work ethic that's a part of that and a lot of other things that were connected with growing up on a family farm. And he said, you make the best missionaries. You're just ordinary guys that'll get the job done in Africa. And I thought, how true. Ordinary guys that God would use in extraordinary ways. And so God wants all of us to just be available to do whatever He wants us to do. The person of Ananias. Notice then secondly, the plan of God. And there are a number of things that that involved. Verse 11 tells us of the place. as a part of the plan of God. Notice what verse 11 says. And so there's a place described here. Specifically, Judas' house on Straight Street. But then also notice the person. Because this is when it gets interesting. Verse 11 says that there's a man there named Saul. Saul of Tarsus. And just the mere mention of that name would have struck fear into the heart of every follower of Jesus Christ. Because they knew who Saul was. That's the guy that kills Christians. That's the guy that none of us want to meet face to face. And yet, what is God telling him to do? What was God telling Ananias to do? To just go and do that very thing. And so then notice, thirdly, the prophecy as it's described in verse 12, when it says this, and he hath seen a vision, referring to Saul, that Saul has seen a vision, in a vision a man named Ananias, namely you, coming in and putting his hand on him that he might receive his sight. And so in this prophecy, the Lord tells Ananias that I've already given a vision to Saul, and Saul knows you're coming, and Saul knows that this is what you're supposed to do, and so he's already seen a vision, it's as if it's already happened, and God has a plan, or I have a plan, the Lord would say to Ananias, I have a plan for your life, and here's what it looks like. You do realize that God has a plan for every one of our lives, right? I know there are those who would teach that that's not the case. I don't think that that's what scripture teaches. I think scripture is very clear that God has a plan for every one of our lives. This is an evidence of that. And he even describes it as good and perfect, right? The good and acceptable and perfect will of God, Romans 12. So God has a plan for our lives. But I want to ask you a question tonight in relationship to Ananias. Do you think that Ananias woke up that morning and planned to have a vision from God in which God would tell him to go lay hands on the guy that wanted to kill Christians? I mean, in his prayer time that morning, was he thinking, oh, I hope the Lord gives me really something really hard to do today, like something life-threatening? No. That wasn't the case at all. And I think it's important for us to understand that sometimes the Lord does, not that God gives us visions, but sometimes the Lord steps into our lives and quote-unquote interrupts our plans because he has plans that are far better than ours, that he wants to fulfill in us and through us. And it's always, it's always God's omniscient and sovereign right, it's his prerogative to interrupt our plans with his better ones. God's good at that, by the way. Sometimes I wonder if we aren't apt to think that all of our missionaries here, and all of our missionaries in that book that Pastor Dan was referring to, that all of them from birth knew they were gonna be missionaries. They were totally surrendered to the will of God. The second they got saved, they knew they were going to Africa, they knew they were going to France. Now, that might be an exception, because you were born and raised there, okay? They knew they were going to the UK. That's usually not the case. Usually it's the other way around. Quite often it's I was doing something altogether different and the Lord stepped in and said, this is what I want you to do. And perhaps even surprised them. So missionaries themselves have to surrender to God's will, and we as believers ought to all surrender to God's will. We have a tendency, I think, also to think, you know, well, God calls missionaries when they're teenagers, or when they're in Bible college, and maybe that's the case, and oftentimes that's the case, but sometimes God steps into local churches like Calvary Baptist Church, into the hearts and lives of middle-aged people, or maybe even retired people, and gives them a sense of his call, this is what I want you to do somewhere else. So it's not just MKs or kids in Bible college or Bible students. It could be any one of us. You know, one of the stories I loved to hear about was the story of one of our early missionaries. Dr. Vernon Rosenau was my predecessor at Baptism in Mission, served as the president for five years. I think he spoke here at the church as well. He went to be with the Lord on Christmas Day. stepped into the presence of God after telling his family that he was dying, he had struggled with cancer for some time, told them all goodbye, told them he was tired and needed rest, closed his eyes and went to heaven on Christmas morning. Well, one of the stories, though, I'd love to hear about was the story of his grandfather, because his grandfather was that initial team of about half a dozen missionaries that went into what was then French Equatorial Africa in 1920. And the story isn't so much about him serving in French Equatorial Africa. It's really the story of him listening to the call of God. Because Ferd Rosenau was a wheat farmer who farmed out in the middle of nowhere in North Dakota. If you've ever been to North Dakota, when you say, in the middle of nowhere, North Dakota, that's pretty much the whole state, OK? It's all the middle of nowhere, right? And so he's just farming. He's a wheat farmer and suddenly has this overwhelming sense of God calling him to be a missionary, to take the gospel. and realized that this is what the Lord wanted him to do and to quit farming and to go to Bible school and to train to be a missionary. And as the Lord would have it, he eventually realized where that was and ended up with that initial team with William Haas in Africa and was used of God in tremendous ways to bring many people to Christ. And really, there are tens, if not hundreds of thousands of believers in Africa today as a result of his ministry and the ministry of other missionaries under Baptist admissions in Africa. And he started out as a wheat farmer. in North Dakota. And all of a sudden God stepped in and said, I have something else for you to do. I have something else for you to do. That's what happened in the life of Ferd Rosenau, but it's also what happened in the life of Ananias, a certain disciple, whom God tapped on the shoulder and said, I have something very special I want you to do. And perhaps tonight there are people here that are sensing the very same thing. Where you are sitting there thinking, well, what could I do for the Lord? I'm just a regular person. Be available for God to ask you to do something extraordinary. Whatever your plans may be, God may have other plans. Are you willing to follow those plans? The plan of God. Thirdly, then notice the problem. The problem for Ananias, it would be your problem and my problem too if we were faced with this, right? Look at the way the text describes it, verse 13, it says, I can just hear it kind of quivering in his voice, right? I have heard by many of this man and how much evil he hath done to thy saints in Jerusalem, and there he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name." In other words, we've all heard about this guy. He's a killer of Christians, and you're telling me to go to this certain house on this certain street, and I'm supposed to lay hands on the guy that wants to chop my hands and my head off. That's a really loose paraphrase, okay? But you get it. I refer to that oftentimes as the OSV, okay, the Odal Standard Version. And a very loose paraphrase. But you understand what's going on here. And you notice that the reputation, verse 13, describes that reputation. Ananias would have heard of the account of Stephen's martyrdom and him being stoned in Acts chapter seven as that's detailed for us. And then them taking the clothes and laying those clothes at the feet of Saul in recognition of the fact that he was the one that was really orchestrating that entire scene there as it's described in Acts chapter seven. He also had heard what had happened in Acts chapter 8. And so he had all these different details that were coming together, and he knew that Saul was on his way to Damascus on a mission, and that was to kill Christians. Acts 9, 1 through 2 describes it in this way. It says that he was breathing out threats and murder. Threats and murder. And so his reputation was that of a Christian killer. Verse 14 expands on it in terms of his reason then for coming. Saul had come to Damascus specifically to capture and deport men like Ananias, to take them back to Jerusalem. It was his own personal vendetta. And while Ananias and Saul didn't know one another personally, Ananias hoped the day would never come that they would meet face to face. It struck fear in his heart. He knew that if he ever met Saul face to face, it would probably mean his own demise and death. To do what the Lord was asking Ananias to do was nothing less than a death wish. Think about that. There's nothing less than a death wish. I think of it like this. It would be like living in a Middle Eastern country, walking in into a terrorist cell and announcing to that terrorist cell as all the men around you stood there with their automatic weapons and saying, I'm an American Christian. How do you think that'd turn out? Right? And that's what the Lord was asking him to do. Suicidal, almost, from a human perspective. What Ananias didn't know was what had happened in Saul's heart. What Ananias didn't yet know was God's plan for Saul and what God wanted to do through Saul. And that's the challenge of following God's will, is we don't always get told the rest of the story as we'll have it here in this text. In terms of when we follow what God wants us to do, we don't know how it's gonna all turn out. I mean, our missionaries tonight, they wanna hope and believe that it's all gonna turn out wonderfully, but you don't know the details, you don't know the specifics, you don't know the faces of those that'll come to Christ and the lives that'll be changed and transformed, but you do know God's calling you to do that. And that's the walk of faith that all of us walk as we follow God and his plan, his will for our lives. And so notice, fourthly, the potential then of Saul, because God does give him kind of a peek behind the curtain, so to speak. He gives him some more of the details of what God had in terms of plans for Saul. Look at the potential. Verse 15, but the Lord said unto him, go thy way, for he is a, listen to this, chosen vessel. He's referring to Saul, okay? He's a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. Think about the significance of that. in terms of serving and what God wanted to do through Saul and his service to the Lord. Saul would become known, of course, as Paul, and the Lord would use him to make the gospel known to Gentiles, and he'd stand before kings, and he'd stand before Jewish people and proclaim the Messiah and the gospel of Jesus Christ. Of course, we know that most of the rest of the book of Acts records that. and the details of how God used Saul, Paul, in incredible ways. Do you think Ananias would have ever guessed that? I don't think Ananias would have ever guessed what God revealed to him there. Nor would have we, right? If we had been there. And the reality of the matter is this, that none of us fully grasps the potential of one soul None of us fully grasp the potential of one soul serving the Lord. We must never underestimate the potential of any person for Christ. I don't know how many of you are familiar with the name Edward Kimball. Maybe some of the pastors have heard or missionaries have heard of that name before. But Edward Kimball was an ordinary guy. He was a Sunday school teacher. And on April 21st, 1855, Edward Kimball was teaching a Sunday school class. Actually, I don't know that it was in the context of the Sunday school class itself, but he led one of his Sunday school students to Christ. What a joy it is to get to lead a boy, a young person, young man or woman to Christ. And so he had that opportunity. But I would guess, really, none of us really know the name Edward Kimball, but we know the name of the individual he led to Christ because on that day, he led D.L. Moody, Dwight L. Moody. his Sunday school kid to the Lord. And D.L. Moody was one of the greatest evangelists that this world has ever known, preaching to hundreds of thousands of people around the world. E.L. Moody was used of God in tremendous ways, I mean, in terms of people getting saved, but also the ripple effect of his ministry, the foundation or the beginning of Moody Bible Institute, the student missionary movement, which literally sent hundreds of people across the globe was sparked by his preaching. And who knows how many people came to Christ through those missionaries that spread out across the globe as a result of his preaching. But something that was of special interest to me was when Billy Graham passed away, Somebody did the spiritual tracing of the spiritual lineage of Billy Graham, and guess who they traced it back to? D.L. Moody. Actually, you could say Edward Kimball, right? So Edward Kimball led D.L. Moody to the Lord, and under D.L. Moody's preaching, Wilbur Chapman came to Christ, and under Wilbur Chapman's preaching, Billy Sunday came to Christ, and under Billy Sunday's preaching, Mordecai Hamm came to Christ, and under Mordecai Hamm's preaching, Billy Graham came to Christ. All because one guy reached one young person that was in his Sunday school. One guy was available. One ordinary Edward Kimball who just faithfully gave the gospel and led a kid to Christ. And heaven's gonna be full of people that are the result of that one ordinary person being used by God in an extraordinary way. Someone has said it this way, behind many well-known servants of God are lesser-known believers who have influenced them. And that's what God wants to do through all of us. Through all of us. You don't know the potential of the kids sitting in your Sunday school class or in your Christian school room, or the potential of that neighbor that right now rejects Christ that you've gotten frustrated with in terms of sharing the gospel with. You don't know the potential of that person. You don't know the potential of anybody. But the great news is that God does. And God could use you, God could use them in exponential ways to make an impact on this world for Christ. You may have people in your sphere of influence right now that God wants to do a great work in and a great work through. Be available and be faithful. His service, also the text refers to his suffering. I won't go into the specifics of this for sake of time, but verse 16 says this, for I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake. If you want to do further study in relationship to that, I would commend you not just to the book of Acts, but I'd commend you to 2 Corinthians 4. I commend you to 2 Corinthians 11, 22 through 33, because in those two passages of scripture, Paul kind of recounts a lot of the things that he went through. And I think there's an important lesson in that for us as well, even though we don't have time tonight to dwell on it. And that is this, that oftentimes those whom God uses mightily, oftentimes they suffer tremendously. And the great lesson about Paul, though, is that that didn't keep him from doing what God had called him to do. And so quite often God does those types of things, but uses us despite the challenges, potential of Saul. And then finally, I want us to also notice the power, and that's the power of God. Notice what happens, then Ananias goes. He does what God asks him to do. Verse 17, and Ananias went his way, and entered into the house, and putting his hands on him, said, Brothers, saw the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee on the way, as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately there fell from his eyes, as it had been scales, and he received sight, Wow. Who would have thought, right? Who would have thought? Only God could do what is described here in this portion of Scripture. Notice some of those details in reference to the power of God. The immediate obedience. And that Ananias quit with the, but Lord, do you know who this Saul guy is? When God said, I know who he is. As a matter of fact, I know who he is and I've got a great plan for his life. No more arguments. Immediate obedience. No more explaining, no more reluctance. There's a time to talk to God about your concerns, but there's also a time to put all those concerns behind and just say yes, sir. And just simply obey. Sadly, a lot of Christians never get there. We should never allow our concerns to outweigh the Lord's commands. Never allow your concerns to outweigh the Lord's commands. And so he obeyed. But then secondly, there's this beautiful, faithful affection that is described for us in verse 17 as well. Notice the way it's described. The middle of the verse, it says that he puts his hands on him, which in and of itself was a demonstration of affection and commanded by God. But I love the first words out of his mouth. Did you notice them? What does he say to Saul? He says, brother Saul. Can you imagine being Saul right at that moment? In all likelihood, he is the first person that calls Saul his Christian brother. This was a guy that was killing Christians, who was the enemy of Christians, and all of a sudden he's saying to him, brother Saul. What a beautiful picture of God's mercy and God's grace The sweet affection between two brothers in Christ that just not that long before that would have been completely at odds with one another. And remember, by the way, that Saul's only three days old in the Lord at this point. So he's this baby Christian and he hears those beautiful words, brother Saul. Faithful affection. Thirdly, the miraculous healing. Verse 18 goes on to describe the scales falling off. And all of a sudden he can see what had happened to his heart spiritually now happens to his eyes physically. The scales fall off. And then the text goes on to say that he follows the Lord in believers' baptism. It says that he rose and was baptized. Acts chapter 22 is Paul's giving that testimony in Jerusalem to the mob. Paul actually says that it was Ananias that told him to be baptized. and instructed him immediately in the believer's first step of obedience after conversion, and that is to follow the Lord in believer's baptism, picturing one's identification with the death and the burial and the resurrection of Christ. And then finally, I love the way verse 19 describes their precious fellowship. And when he had received meat or food, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus. Can you imagine what those days were like? Again, a little sanctified imagination because the text doesn't say what happened there, but I can imagine the theological Old Testament discussions that went on between this rabbinically trained Saul a former Pharisee, and his knowledge of the Old Testament scripture, which would have been an incredible knowledge in terms of database, so to speak, and then talking about that, and then how Jesus Christ had fulfilled all those Old Testament prophecies, and then discussing those ideas and interacting with those ideas, and just the bond that was immediately formed, not only between Ananias and Saul, but all the other believers there, as they realized, this guy's really saved. God has transformed his life. You see, the sweetest times of fellowship are often enjoyed with those whom you have had opportunity to impact for Christ. And I think about that as a former pastor. And I served the Lord and the pastor for about 26 years. And I look back at the different individuals that came to Christ under our ministry and the wonderful, amazing, especially when they were brand new Christians. Right? And they're just literally soaking up scripture like sponges. And that's what went on here. What an amazing thing this was. That is the beauty, by the way, of how God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things. The beauty of, you mean God can use me to lead a soul to Christ? Amen. You mean God can use me to disciple someone to maturity? Amen. You mean God can use me to come alongside of some struggling Christian and encourage them so that they'll walk with God more faithfully? Amen. That's the beauty of surrendering your life to the Lord and saying, Lord, just use me, I'm available. I'm just an ordinary person. But I want you to use me in extraordinary ways. That's what God wants to do in all of our lives. I confess to you tonight that this is not the first time I've preached this message. I preach this message to my people at First Baptist Church of Elyria, Ohio, after telling Baptist Admissions Search Committee no. So I was standing in a pulpit on a Sunday night in a setting much like this, preaching this message, trying to be an encouragement to our church family, just to remind them, God can use ordinary people to do extraordinary things. The Lord wants to use you here at First Baptist. And the whole time I'm preaching this message, guess what? The Holy Spirit was preaching it to me. I'm telling them, God can use you. And yet I had told the mission, the search committee of Baptism in Missions, but God doesn't want to use me. God can't use me. I had thought in terms of the immensity of the responsibility, I had thought in terms of my predecessors, the men of God in whose footsteps I would follow, and all that was involved in the potential of being the president of Baptist Admissions, and on top of it, I just wanted to keep pastoring First Baptist Church, Lord. No thanks. I'm not available is basically what I was telling God. And as I completed that message, I realized that to preach that message and to say no to God was to be a total hypocrite. Because how can you say to your congregation, your people, God wants to use regular people like you to do amazing things, and he can use you. And then say to God, God, you can't use me. I had all my, all kinds of excuses. I'm just a farm kid from rural Nebraska. Went to country school through eighth grade. I mean, I had all kinds of, I'm just a simple guy. And yet God made it clear that he didn't want, it didn't matter whether I was a simple guy, he wanted a surrendered guy. And that night, I sat down on the front pew, cried my eyes out, and said, Lord, if it's your will, I would be willing to follow that. And Lord, if you close the door, that'd be wonderful, too. But if it's your will, I would. What a coincidence. The chairman of the search committee called me. I don't remember if it was the next day or two days later. He always asked this question when calling me, he said, what's God doing? What's God doing in your heart? And I had to tell him, Jason, God's doing a work in my heart. And I won't go into the rest of the details, but God made it very clear that he wanted to use just a Nebraska farm kid to shepherd a mission agency and the wonderful servants of God. that you've gotten a little glimpse of. And if I can help the hands-on, not physically, but figuratively, on the next generation of missionaries, they may not stand before kings, as Saul did, but they'll make an impact for Christ in their little corner of the world. And there'll be people in heaven as a result of that. that I'm willing. God may not be calling you to be president of a mission agency, but he may be calling you to something different. It may just be in and through this local church. It may be across the planet. Don't sell yourself short. Don't say, God can't use me. Because, say it together with me, okay? It's on the screens. loves, say it, God loves to use ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things. Are you willing to let Him use you?