Changed From Inside Out
"Before and after" pictures make very convincing proof of change.
The problem is that this kind of change is all on the surface.
Beauty is skin deep - Ugly goes all the way through!
Saul Changed From Inside Out
What happened is that Saul changed dramatically and completely.
But it wasn’t just a surface makeover.
It was a real change that started in the innermost parts of his heart - in the secret places where the little doubts lived and eventually began to grow into monsters of despair and uncertainty.
Saul’s "Before" Life:
With written warrants of arrest issued by the high priest, he set out for Damascus, a city 135 miles N.E. of Jerusalem.
But this is not bad. This is how real change takes place.
Saul’s "After Life"
In this message I want to consider the after picture
Let’s look at real change
The kind that works from Inside Out
Acts 9:17-22
(9:17) 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."
(9:18) Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized,
(9:19) and after taking some food, he regained his strength. Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. (9:20) At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.
(9:20) At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.
(9:21) All those who heard him were astonished and asked, "Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?"
(9:22) Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ.°
Real Change comes from the Inside
Let’s talk about Ananias a little.
Ananias a remarkable man
He was a really remarkable fellow. This had to be a bit scary for him. Saul’s movements were not in secret. His activities were well known. And Ananias was on the hit list!
Yet when God told him to go to Saul and to tell him about Jesus he went.
Listen folks if you are going to really follow God and really trust him with your life there is one thing you have to get and get it good...
It’s God’s world. It’s God’s church. It’s God’s people. He is in charge and He will prevail. Now, that is easy to say and hard to live by - especially if you live in Afganistan and you are a Christian with a Taliband govenment that says you can’t tell people about Jesus.
I want to encourage you with a simple truth.
God can change the heart of a person.
Change on the Inside is God’s work and He’s good at it!
In fact God specializes in this kind of change.
Trust God to do his work well
Tomatoes
This is about the time of year when some people who should know better start trying to give you their extra tomatoes. Tomatoes are an amazing fruit (they are a fruit by the way). I know people who put them out in the spring and always put out a few extra plants - just in case. They always end up with car loads of huge ripe tomatoes.
Here is the truth: You plant, you water, you fertilize - God causes it to grow! Not you. Not the farmers in California or Florida. God makes it grow and we really don’t understand it at all.
But it sure is exciting to watch God work!
I want to encourage you to Look for opportunities and Listen to his voice.
Don’t be surprised at who God works in and who he calls on to harvest the fruit.
It might be someone you’d never even dream would fall in love with Jesus and it may be you that God sends to talk to them about a real and authentic relationship with His son Jesus.
God’s word does not return void. It is powerful beyond belief
Isaiah 55:10-12
As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
Don’t ever be surprised at who God’s word touches.
I could tell you about Ken Bailey in St. Joseph or Mel Pellinen in Marquette. I could introduce to Gene Lett in Beavercreek or to any number of people here in Lansing.
Don ’t surprised - pray and be expectant.
Change From the Inside shows on the Outside
Saul was restored - physically
His eyes were healed.
In fact Ananias was part of that God used him with his gift of healing to minister to Saul.
One of the very simple facts of the church is that God has given - in us - the resources that those who God is changing from the inside out desperately need.
Most everyone I know comes to the Lord - broken. Blinded like Saul.
No one comes all glued together with no problems. They all come to the Lord with issues. Some are alcholics, some are workaholics, some have broken marriages, some have broken children. Some have terrible guilt for secret sins, some have terrible shame for public sins.
It matters not. Everyone comes to God - broken.
And the glue, the pieces needed for restoration are in the church - in you - in the gifts that God has given you to minister to others.
Some can heal - others can teach. Some can encourage - others can nurture.
For Saul - Ananias could heal. Baranabas could encourage. Silas could challenge. Luke could assist.
Ananias brought Saul food and his strength was renewed. But it was more than food. It was the love and the support of the body of Christ - that is another way of saying it was the church. You and I!
At MCC - May I dream a little with you? - I look forward to the day that we have a really powerful ministries to others - the women; the men; the families; the people who need a listening ear and a gently shove in the right direction. Who need to be healed.
Some day soon we will open up our new offices and Ministry Center.
A center of counseling and support and ministry.
Saul was reborn - spiritually
While God uses his people to heal his children physically his Holy Spirit works inside to change them completely by the filling. God himself is in them and they are changed forever - literally - forever.
We see in this passage that Saul is baptized into Jesus.
Baptism is like a beautiful ring worn by the bride on her wedding day.
It signifies so much.
Baptism is an appeal to God. Like the bride it is symbolic of the vow made - the pledge of faithfulness and purity of love.
Baptism is an image of the death burial and resurrection as it pictures the death of our old life and the birth of the new life.
Baptism is a new birth with a wonderful benefit: Do Over’s
I have taken up golf in the last two years.
It is a mixed blessing. I really enjoy getting out there in the countryside - but it is not an easy game.
That ball is awfully small and somehow what Tiger Woods makes look like a cakewalk is not very easy at all.
In particular I have had trouble dealing with my attitude when I skull a ball into the lake. I mean that was not what I planned. I had no intention for that to happen. Why should it count? I should get a "do over", a "mulligan", which is what baptism is!
Baptism is the birth of a new life - a fresh start - and here is the best part - every day. Wow.
Change From the Inside Can’t be Kept on the Inside
Wow! Saul went right out and started preaching Jesus as the Son of God with the same zeal and determination he had when he was persecuting the followers of Jesus before.
Trying to keep this kind of change inside is like trying to contain the explosion of a firecracker in your hands.
It won’t be contained and it hurts to try!
You are changed and it is evident.
Saul of Tarsus, later Paul the Apostle, would write these words as he reflected on his own conversion and the difference between what he was before and after:
"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God..."
Change From Inside Out
"Almost an Angel" Movie: Keeping it a secret.
In the movie Paul Hogan has a line where he observes of a church group "You guys know this? You sure have been keeping it a secret!
The problem is that most of us have been keeping the good news like it’s the secret news.
Or maybe we haven’t really changed from the inside???
Have you given up and turned from your self-absorbed lifestyle?
It’s time to give it up - your life.
