Title: Personal-Who is Jesus?
Place: BLCC
Date: 10/8/17
Text: Acts 7-9
CT: Jesus is our personal savior.
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FAS: Kara Tippetts, an author, mother of four and co-worker with her pastor husband Jason, went home to Jesus on March 22, 2015, after a long battle with breast cancer. As the cancer spread, Kara courageously embraced her situation, trusting in a Sovereign God. She believed that cancer was not the point, but Jesus was.
As Kara and her family processed what God was calling them to live out, she invited her community to join her journey through this seemingly impossible ordeal—how would she trust God in the midst of sickness? And then, how would she trust God in the midst of dying?
In the fall of 2014, David C. Cook published her story, The Hardest Peace. She refused to be defined by cancer and considered every moment a gift and an opportunity to learn more about grace and trusting God; she believed suffering was not an absence of beauty, but an opportunity to understand God's love on a deeper level. Near the end of her life Kara wrote:
My little body has grown tired of the battle, and treatment is no longer helping. But what I see, what I know, what I have is Jesus. He has still given me breath, and with it I pray I would live well and fade well. By degrees doing both, living and dying, as I have moments left to live. I get to draw my people close, kiss them and tenderly speak love over their lives. I get to pray into eternity my hopes and fears for the moments of my loves. I get to laugh and cry and wonder over heaven. I do not feel like I have the courage for this journey, but I have Jesus—and he will provide. He has given me so much to be grateful for, and that gratitude, that wondering over his love, will cover us all. And it will carry us—carry us in ways we cannot comprehend.
Blythe Hunt, "Homecoming," Mundane Faithfulness blog (3-22-15)
LS: This is as personal as it gets.
Today is our final week in the series “It’s Personal”. Our heavenly father wants a personal relationship with us all. He wants us to love him more than we want the answers to our questions about Him. If God can be known we must know Him.
We also learned that we must trust Him and come to him as a little child.
And last week we learned that Jesus is undeniable. Yes there are many things about him that may be unexplainable but he is undeniable. He is who he says he is in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. We learned that to meet Jesus, you need to read and study the Gospels.
Today we are going to find out we don’t have to have all our questions answered about Jesus to follow him. And in no way am I saying your questions are not important.
They just aren’t as important as truly following Jesus is. Something that happened in your past in church or something that is going on now should not keep you from following Jesus. Something will happen or has already happened that will shrink all the questions you have about Christianity and Jesus.
Here are the questions you might ask me if we got together to talk about your future, your salvation. [Board]
What about?
Why would?
These are the questions you would ask me about if we sat down and talked about you wanting to be a Christian or follow Jesus. You would want to know all kinds of things about God and Jesus. The problem is I wouldn’t be able to answer these questions for you to suit you. There are all kinds of books you could read that would attempt to answer these two questions.
But you wouldn’t be any closer to following Jesus if you read them. These two questions are important but they are not the ones we need to ask. If you are looking to come back to Jesus or you are looking to follow him for the first time I would like for you to put aside these two questions and ask these. [Board]
Who is?
What happened?
If you wrestle with these two questions you will get closer to God.
Christianity is not based on ideas or theology; it is built on events that actually took place in history about 2000 years ago.
But the main question you have to answer to follow Jesus is who is Jesus.
Who is Jesus?
If you are at all serious about truly following Jesus you have to answer these two questions. These are the questions that are the foundation of Christianity.
They make it personal. [Screen 2]
Acts 7-9.
We are introduced to someone who always answered who is and what happened. Our story starts after Jesus’ resurrection and Rome thinks it is done with this movement but these people don’t want to quit. They claim this Jesus rose from the dead and is coming back. There was an explosion of thousands of people who believed this Jesus was who he said he was. They believed he was the messiah because there were hundreds of people who actually saw Jesus resurrected.
This was very bothersome to the people who had killed Jesus. They started an effort to put these people down. These people were not called Christians. They were just Jews in Jerusalem who decided to follow Jesus.
The person we are going to be introduced to is Stephen. He made Jesus look so good that more people started following Jesus every time he spoke. They got some people to claim he had done something wrong worth death. They captured him and then stoned him. He became the first Christian martyr.
At this moment in history we are introduced to a man who is well known today. He is there beside the coats of all the men stoning Stephen.
He will be the most unlikely man to do any good for Jesus. He is all about the stoning of Stephen. He likes it.
You are introduced to a fellow named Saul who would later be called Paul. Saul became the most famous church planter in the world, but this is how he started out. He was a zealot to stop Jesus and his movement in the first century. He was the most fanatical Pharisee chasing down the followers of Jesus.
Lets read about Saul/Paul. [screen 3] Acts 7. 58, At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. Here’s where we meet Saul soon to be Paul. [Screen 4]
Acts 8.1, And Saul approved of their killing him.
On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.
All the people left Jerusalem except the apostles.
Now lets go to where Saul meets Jesus. [Screen 5]
Acts 9.1, Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest [Screen 6] and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, (these were so he could hunt people down on these letters) so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.
Saul was all about getting the Lord’s disciples. He would capture Christians and torture them until they would recant on their belief in Jesus. Saul meant business and he was heading for Damascus to round up more people who were following this Jesus.
Now just suppose we were there at that time and someone asked us if we believed Saul would be the greatest proponent of Jesus and Christianity. What would be the chances we would believe that.
We would say less than zero chance. He was the most fervent person after these people who claimed to follow Jesus. Yet as Paul this man did more for the spreading of Jesus’s message than any other person on the planet. [Screen 7]
3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. [Screen 8] He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him,
“Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
If Saul could have answered he would have probably said I am not persecuting a “me”. I’m persecuting an it. I’m persecuting an ideology. There is nothing personal about this.
But Jesus stayed with “me”.
Saul, Saul why do you persecute “me”.
Then Saul asks the most important question anyone could ask. [Screen 9]
5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
Answering this question trumps all other questions.
It shrinks all the other questions. It is what we all need to know. [Screen 10]
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
Saul had to be thinking this is not me persecuting you. I’m persecuting all those people. But Jesus said you are not persecuting an idea or a church. You are persecuting me. Saul tried to make it not personal, but Jesus made it very clear it was personal.
The battle we fight when it comes to following Jesus is not about an idea, or the church or all the other people. It is about you and Jesus.
Do you want to follow Jesus?
You may feel really good when you tell the preacher no way am I going to give in or you tell your wife or family no way am I following Jesus.
But the truth is known you are struggling deep inside because there is a hole in us all that can only be filled by Jesus.
It is between you and the person of Jesus Christ. Because this is personal.
We need to answer the question, “Who are you Lord.”
Maybe that could make it personal for you.
Lets finish our story. The Lord is going to send Saul to Ananias. He is going to send the most awful persecutor of his people to him for him to help him. Yea that sounds real good.
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13 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. [Screen 12] 14 And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”
Yea Ananias was really happy about Saul showing up. He just couldn’t wait.
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15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. [Screen 14]
16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” [Screen 15]
17 Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” [Screen 16]
18 Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.
Whoa. Saul don’t you need to work through all the things you were persecuting these people for. Why did you go and get baptized.
Don’t you have some more questions needing answered?
This is awful fast.
What about. Why would.
Saul or Paul said,
“No. Let me tell you what the questions are:
Who is?
What happened?”
These questions tell it like it is. I am in. It got really [Screen 17] PERSONAL on the road to Damascus.
Who is ?
What happened?
What if God is your heavenly Father?
What if Jesus is His Son?
What if His Spirit is in this world?
What if He loves you so much he didn’t want to have a Q & A session?
He loves you so much he sent his Son to die for you.
What if he lets you decide for yourself and not force you to follow?
What if it gets so personal that you start to pray, [Screen 18]“Lord, who are you?”
If there is a who to know don’t you want to know that more than all your other questions?
Don’t you want to know Jesus?
Don’t you want to know that more than why your sister died so young, why you are so far from the church, why your marriage is falling apart, why, why, why! You put in your own question.
If Jesus is real isn’t he the real issue here.
Ok. I know what some of you are thinking.
If you were on your way to Walmart and Jesus knocks you over and says “Why are you persecuting “me”… you would believe. You would love getting a conversion directly from the Lord.
Yep you could handle that.
Actually He is asking that.
You are admitting this is real. When you ask Jesus, “Who are you?” ; you are asking him into your life.
Paul said something really big in the Bible. He said, As surely as I live, says the Lord, Every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.
He didn’t say someday every question will be answered, and every obstacle removed and we will all have a big universal “ahh”.
You may never totally understand but the whole world will be convinced.
If there is a “you” to know, I want to know you more than all my other questions.
Who are you Lord?
Cause if there is someone out there, that would be good to know.
Something happens so personal that you want to find out who He is.
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It’s personal and I am glad that is the way God wants it.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Stanley, Andy; It’s Personal; A New Approach; North Point Ministries, DVD
