Right, talk time. I'll ask you a question you've got on your feet now on whether people listen to God when God says surrender to God. This story is about a man called Paul. And he grew up in a fairly prestigious family, a Jewish family. And they would have worshipped God, they thought. They would have kept all the festivals. And just as we keep Christmas This is how Jesus performed. They used to keep the Passover. And they remembered the story of Moses and how Moses, the god-child, brought the Jews out of slavery and Egypt. Thorne and those stories are the same friends, how the gods made the world perfect without sin. how the enemy of God came, and he sinned. And then because they had sin in their hearts and in their thoughts all the time, they were separated from God because of their sins. And that's when God made a sacrifice to man. And so many years later, Paul was born. And Paul would have been very proud of being a Jew, very proud, that in a very wonderful way God sent Jews as God's people. But Saul, like a lot of the Jews, only listened to what they wanted to listen to God. And they didn't really listen to what God was saying, but it happened one day. You'll see why in a moment. So Saul went to study, he went to study, at a special school in Jerusalem, under a man called Philemon, who was a very, very clever Jew. the teacher of the law of Moses. And he would have been a very religious man. He would have honoured God and loved God. And Saul went there to learn. He didn't know any children, he was only taught in those days. So Saul was very privileged. And so Saul, as he learned, Mr Mabel, grew up to be very, very proud to be Jewish. And he believed that God only loved the Jews. He was really a believer. Silly belief of God and everybody else. Still, he found that the whole of the city of Jerusalem was bubbling. Things were happening. Things were changing. Something was happening. If they had television it would be on the news every night. Some Jesuit disciples had been preaching and thousands of Jews were believing in Jesus as the Lamb of God. They now said we don't need to offer sacrifices because Jesus is the sacrifice. God's love isn't just for the Jews. God's love is for everybody. Whether you're a Jew or not, whether you're in England, God's love is for everybody. And he became very angry. How dare these people be saying that God loves everyone! God loves Jews! So what's going to happen to our sacrifices if they say we don't need to make sacrifices anymore? He got very angry and very worried. What would happen to the Jews? They stopped being Jews. All these people that were becoming Christians, Saul wouldn't be Jews anymore. They became very angry and Saul decided that he needed to fight Christians. That was a very long time ago. He still didn't think they needed to fight Christians. Saul felt he had to fight Christians. That's the way it is. And a very wise man, he often warned people like Thorne, you be careful, if you don't one day find yourself fighting against God. Thorne described the people he described as Christians. Now you and I know that Thorne was in great danger, a great danger, because he was really fighting against God. He did that. You can't do anything about it, can you? You can't be against God. Because God spent a lot of time spying. He wasn't spying on the Russians. He was spying on Christians. He was listening to what they were saying. And when he found enough evidence that he thought he had them arrested, because he was a lead, he did that. He was a Pharisee. He was very proud of it. And he's had the Christians tortured and put on trial. They've been beaten. to say that Jesus was the Lamb of God. Maybe he's beaten to say that Jesus was God of sacrifice. And he was beaten to say that. And God was showing his love to all the world in sending Jesus into all the world. He was so in love with all the world that he sent his only son, who never believed in him to not perish, but have life. And one day, one of their leaders, one of the Christian preachers of the rest of this God has enabled people to do wonderful things. People have been able to do miracles. People that have been blind have been able to see, just like Jesus has done. Jesus has done wonderful miracles. But even the angel of God was determined to kill Christians. People have been able to do miracles. But people are arrested. Do you think that's why we keep on saying that to people? No, really. Because they've got people to tell lies, because it's a crime. It's terrible, isn't it? A man like Paul, who says, I'm very religious, I pray my prayers every day, actually arranged people to tell lies, so he'd have money to put to bed. God knows what that means. And so, Stephen was arrested. And Paul had actually heard Stephen telling them. Don't you know what you're doing? You're fighting against God. Don't you realise you're not believing in God? Don't you realise all your prophets, all the Jewish prophets, years ago said that Jesus was going to come to be the Lamb of God and He would sacrifice Himself to pay your punishments for your unbelief in God. Don't you believe that? They say, no, we don't believe that. Put Him to death! Kill Him! And so they let the people out, expose Him to death. And as Stephen the Biggest Boaster said, Thorne saw something he'll never ever forget. He saw Stephen's face glowing with the light. His glowing face had a great bright light inside it. It was glowing with the sun. And as Stephen was dying, he looked up to heaven and he said, Behold, I see Jesus standing on the right hand side of God. Jesus isn't a son of God. He isn't. He isn't. He isn't. We've got to fight him. But he couldn't get away from it. He even said that, in Jesus' name, that he wasn't a son of God. And he made it so that even more determined, he's got to kill these Christians. What was going to happen to the Jews if his teaching wasn't the way round? There'd be no more sacrifices. There'd be no more people. There'd be no more things for him to do. I don't mean to everybody, but Anthony Scott. So he has more work to do. But people should be Christians everywhere. What a lovely message. People were listening to this. It wasn't like parody. You've got to do this, and you've got to do that, and you've got to do this, and you've got to do that, and you've got to do this, and you've got to do this, and you've got to do that in the afternoon. Loads of rules, and they said, that will make God happy. The Christians were saying, ask God to forgive you for your sins, and believe that he has died on the cross for you, and you will be as safe as a star. That was much easier on them, much more wonderful. That was what Jesus had taught them. And those all got letters to go down to a city called Damascus, where there were a lot of Christians. And all were going to go down there to have them arrested, have them put to prison, or have them killed. Imagine what he looks like. He can't be very lonely because he's got a very angry face there. A very, very hard face. He's got letters on his arm. He's going to go down to Damascus to have him put in the letters and maybe get something killed. He's going to get some creature killed because he's very happy. He's going to protect the Jews. He's not going to have people thinking that God loves other people. God only loves the Jews, says Saul. Not everybody in the world. So the Lord set forth with his gang, and they were a bit of a gang. They were ruffians who were going to go and do the dirty work. The Christians heard. The man thought Christians were dead. He's coming, he's coming, what are we going to do? Run away? No. What do Christians do when they're in trouble? They pray. And those Christians in Damascus had family, and some of their family members were all white. And they prayed to God, O God, please save us from Saul coming. We want people to know about Jesus and about your love for them. Please save us from Saul. And some of the Christians were saying, God, please be kind to Saul. Please show him mercy. Please forgive him. Please help him to see that he's doing wrong. They had love in their hearts for Jesus' soul. Even though he wasn't an angry man. It was a big day at the cabin. It was very hot, and the sky was very bright, and the sun was very bright, so many little pies of ice came in the sun. It was so bright that Paul K. Seligman thought, this is very disappointing. The men standing around heard thunder. Paul heard a voice speaking. Paul! Paul! Why are you fighting against me? Why are you fighting against me? This will answer the question. He said, who are you, Lord? He said it, and here's the answer. Do you remember what he said he saw? Could it be? I am Jesus, and you're fighting against me. Strangely enough, he has been fighting against God. As you know, God has heard the prayers of the Christians of this land. He goes on to try to destroy Saul and punish him the way he deserves it. Paul said, what do you want me to do? And God said, he said to him, get up, go to the mantis, and I'll tell you what to do later. And so Paul was led into the mantis, but he was blind. God had blinded him. The name of this proud man who was going to come into the mantis, and the referees were puking, He's being led into the mattress by the hand of his wife. He's thinking, that's a Christian thing to do, that's what it's about. And he says, God, what's wrong? He's out there. He's doing what's happened. He didn't do anything. And so Sean was taken to a house in a street called Drake. You know that's a bit... And he sent me for three days. And that was it. He sent me for three days. I spent the time. What do you think he was doing then? Training. All the time training. He told them all the people he killed, all the Christians he killed. How could God ever forgive him for doing that? Killing Christians. Killing the people. While he was there, thinking of doing these terrible things, Christians have been praying to Jesus Christ, praying for him, praying that God would show him mercy, praying that God would forgive him. But God will never forgive him. Why? Because Jesus, the Lamb of God, has been punished for all sins. Jesus of all punishment for all sins. And one day, three days later, she saw her voice. She didn't hear her voice. She heard somebody coming in. She was Ananias. Ananias was in one of the people that Saul would have had to put to death. He was one of the preachers in the masses, telling people of the love of God and Jesus. And then Elias comes in, he comes across the pool, and he puts his hand on the pool's head, and he says, Brother, call me. He was never such a kind brother. He'd grown up in a very religious family, but he wasn't a very kind family. and a bag of booze and soap and this and that and the thought they were a kind God, a loving God. And here's this loving man, a Christian, that's got all of that stuff coming out of his rubber soul. The Lord Jesus, who appears to you on the road as you come, has said to me that you can receive your life and you can be full of God's power. God's going to give you His power, the Holy Spirit. And Saul got his eyes back like that, or gave his eyes back like that. And all of a sudden his whole heart was full of love for God, was full of joy, was full of happiness. Saul knew he was no longer guilty for all the bad things he'd done. He knew Jesus had borne the guilt for his sin at Calvary. Something that he did not say, nor that they, the animals of the sacrifice, could never do. The key to this Do you know what that thing was? Saul went and left all the Christians in the land, the very people that he would have had to possess, he went and left them. And they were amazed to see him. He'd become a Christian, he'd become, be one of them, trusting Lord Jesus. We all now realise this wouldn't mean he had to stop being a Jew. He could still be a Jew, but now he was trusting Lord Jesus Christ. Now he realised that God had been telling the Jews all through the years that Jesus was going to come. God had been telling the Jews for a long time that God was going to love everyone in the world and just not the Jews. He didn't want it. So he immediately started preaching. What? He started preaching that Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is the Man of God. He realised it. He realised he'd been put it all wrong. He hadn't listened to what God had said. He ate another birthday cake. Jesus said, I am the Lord. By me, if anyone enters in, they shall be saved." Paul found that Jesus is the only way to have your sins forgiven, to become a special friend to God again. And Paul learned that however many lambs they sacrificed, they would never have their sins washed away. And that's why they don't save themselves. But Paul eventually wrote, he said, Paul said, when he preached, that that of Jesus Christ changes us from all sin.