Thank you for listening to the Riverbend Church Podcast.
Riverbend Church exists to lead all people to know, love, and
live new life in Jesus Christ. We hope that you enjoy this
message. All right.
So this morning, if you're new here, my name is Preston.
I'm one of the pastors here. I just want to say welcome.
Thank you for coming to spend the first part of your week with
us. We're super excited that you are
here this morning. So listen, we are in week three
of a series called An Unfamiliar Road.
And So what we're doing in this series, we're actually looking
at the life of a man named Saul, also known later as the Apostle
Paul, and what we're doing when we're looking at his life.
We're actually looking in chapter nine of the book of
Acts. So if you have your Bible,
Bible, if you have the paper copy of God's Word, go ahead and
turn there. Acts in the New Testament, Acts,
Chapter 9 will be starting in verse 10.
But what I want to do this morning is kind of set us up
because last week we took a week away from this passage is Pastor
Greg and Oakwood. Thank you so much for an amazing
message through Matthew 7 talking about Christ being our
firm foundation and where we build.
Our house, our foundation of our life is on him.
So thank you, Greg. I listened to that this week and
it was an absolute blessing to me.
Thank you Pastor Greg and Oakwood, our campus pastor did
that if you listened or tuned in with us online.
So again, we're going to be looking at the life of of Saul.
And So what we're doing in this is we we see two weeks ago Jared
spoke on the 1st 9 verses. Again, we're going to be
starting in 10, going through 19.
And so to set this up, I'll kind of want to let us know where
we're at, right. So one thing we do know about
Saul, Saul was quite literally a hater.
Like Saul hated. And when we say hated, Saul
hated Christians, he didn't like them at all.
And we actually see the first time we meet this guy named
Saul, we see in Acts Chapter 7, later in those verses, in Acts
chapter seven, we see Saul actually at the place.
Standing very nearby, where the people that stoned Steven, the
first Christian martyr, they threw their coats at his feet.
This is where we were introduced to the man named Saul.
And something about Saul. He wasn't only there.
If we look on into Acts Chapter 8, verse one, you're going to
see this on the screen this morning, and you're going to see
it on the screen behind you, Oakwood.
Just see it on your screen there.
Saul was one of the witnesses. Yeah.
But he also what he agreed completely with the killing of
Stephen. He agreed with it.
We also see in Acts 9 we see in the early verses that he was
given written consent by the leading priest, the high priest,
to go and arrest and bring back to Jerusalem people of Damascus,
and on the way to Damascus Christians.
He was given that like, hey, you can do this, bring them back and
we'll persecute, we'll do whatever it means necessary to
persecute, You have the authority to do so.
So he was going to do that. If we also look, I'm going to
read this, not going to be on the screen, but Acts 9, verse
one, we see that Paul says or not Paul, but Saul says these
words. He says he was noted to be
uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the
Lord's followers. So I think it's safe to say that
Paul was or Saul was a hater, right?
Saul was an absolute hater of the Christians.
We also know if we read on into the story of Saul, Saul was on
the road to Damascus and on the road to Damascus to do these
evil things. He met a man by the name of
Jesus. He met Jesus.
And so the glory of Jesus shone down on Saul in this moment,
pushed him to the ground. And when he started to stand up,
he was he was blind. Anybody ever been on a road or
headed somewhere and on your way there?
You met something unexpected or maybe a person you're like,
well, that wasn't expecting this, but my wife Cassie and I
have. We were going to Mexico Beach a
few years ago to one of my friend's weddings, and on our
way there, just want to kind of fill you in.
We were not driving in the pretty hours of the day.
We were actually driving at night, probably left, I think at
like 10:00, o'clock. And we were getting there
roughly 3, maybe, and we were about 10 minutes out and no.
We were not just driving in a vehicle, we were pulling a 37
foot camper. And so to make this story go
upside down, the unexpected thing that we met, you know what
we found a roadblock on A2 Lane Rd. with ditches on both sides
pulling a 37 foot camper and it really messed our trip up.
We're like, Lord, we've been traveling.
For hours upon hours. We're tired.
We got two kids in the back, they're about to wake up and we
hit a roadblock at a bridge. All we had to do is go over this
bridge about two minutes and it was on the right and we got to
the bridge and the bridge was out and we're like, Oh no, this
ain't good. And again, to make matters
worse, we're pulling a 37 foot camper and there's ditches on
both sides of the road and we're in the two lane Rd.
And to make this really long story a lot shorter, we found a
little. 1 paved road that they were parking their equipment.
So by the grace of God we were able to turn around.
We were able to head back another way and just make the
story continually worse, like a snowball effect.
We didn't have service. So you if you know, if you try
to retype something in on your phone when you don't have
service, it ain't coming up. And so we're all right.
We're just going to turn around and drive straight.
We drive straight. It recalculates.
Finally once it gets service. And guess what we were on
another unfamiliar Rd. It was a dirt road and we were
pulling a 37 foot camper. And who would have thunk?
Who would have thunk this? You're driving on a twolane road
and you run into a cow pasture gate going to Florida.
In Florida, I'm like, the beach is right there.
I know it is. My G PS: says So.
I zoom out, I see the ocean and I run into a cow pasture gate
like, Lord, what are you trying to teach us?
And so fortunately, again, we were able to turn it around, go
hour out of our way, and we finally made it to our
destination. And I'll be honestly, I don't
know what the Lord was trying to teach us.
I have absolutely no clue. However, what I do know, I'm
happy to say my wife's sitting right here.
We're still married and we have three kids.
We not only have two, we have three kids now.
And it was, it was just, it was a thing.
And the Lord was like, I'm going to teach you through this to
continue to love each other and listen, people that have campers
come on, you know exactly what I'm talking about.
You back that camper into the site and you and your wife are
like, we're not getting divorced today, but it's as close we're
going to. It's just rough.
It's rough when you're back in the camper.
But anyways, we're we're still married, halfway married with
three kids now. So by the grace of God, thank
you, Jesus. So Saul here just met an
unexpected thing on the road. To Damascus.
And he met Jesus just as saw, or just as Cassie and I did when we
were heading to Mexico Beach. And not only did Saul meet Jesus
when he stood up, he was physically experiencing what he
had all along been spiritually. He was physically experiencing
what all along he had been spiritually, and it was blind.
He was blind and so he was led into Damascus for three days,
hadn't eaten anything, and was there praying.
And this is where we're going to be picking up and our story in
verse 10 church within the next few moments.
This is what I want to do on a pinpoint 3 truths that I really
feel we're all working towards as we're trying to be better
disciples of Jesus and to book in those truths, we're going to
look at 3 questions. That will help us respond,
reflect and to continue to ask ourselves as we go through this
life and this journey. So here we go.
Church, let's get on this road together. 1st 10 Now there was a
believer in Damascus name Ananias.
The Lord spoke to him in a vision calling Ananias.
Yes, Lord, he replied. The Lord said go over to
straight St. to the House of Judas.
When you get over there or when you get there, ask for a man
from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying to me right now.
I've shown him a vision of a man named Annanis coming in and
laying hands on him so he can see again.
Verse 13 But Lord exclaimed. Annanis, I have heard many
people talk about the terrible things this man has done to the
believers in Jerusalem, and he is authorized by the leading
priest to arrest everyone who calls upon your name.
But the Lord said, go, for Saul is my chosen instrument.
To take my message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well
as to the people of Israel, and I will show him how much he must
suffer for my name's sake. All right, so let's pause right
here for just a moment, because there's so much that we can pull
from this exchange between AN and IAS and Jesus.
From AN and IAS and Jesus. This conversation that they were
having with one another. One thing to note about AN and
IAS, this is the only time this AN and IAS is mentioned in the
Bible. No other time was he mentioned
Annanis. A lot of times we feel like when
God calls somebody to do something, he's calling a Billy
Graham to go speak to hundreds of thousands of people and see
thousands saved. We feel like Annanis a lot of
times we look at characters in the Bible and people in the
Bible, and we're like all these people.
We put them on a huge pedestal, right?
Annanis was a normal man, Absolutely normal every day, in
every way. He was normal.
The only thing that was abnormal about Ananias is he knew Jesus
and he loved the Lord. So the response that Ananias
gives versus the response that Saul gives earlier in Chapter 9
is the big difference that we see.
And I want to dive into these for just a moment.
Saul responds to Jesus in verse 5 in this way.
He says this. Who are you?
Lord, This is a this is a question.
It's not certain. He is uncertain of who this is.
This is a question that Saul asked when Jesus said his name
twice. A sign of importance.
Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?
He says. Who are you, Lord?
But Annanius responds in this way in verse 10, when Jesus says
Annanius one time, he says, yes, Lord.
Yes, Lord, the response from Annanius was personal.
This brings to our first truth today.
Annanius recognized the Lord's voice.
I remember shortly after we had our third child, Walton, my wife
was on maternity leave. She was at home.
And as she was at home. We had a friend that had just
had a baby a week earlier. However, my wife had more
maternity leave at the time and so she offered to watch our
friend's son and so his name was Crew.
And as she would watch him and I came back to work a few weeks
later, I called every once in a while to check in.
I mean, this is a woman is on maternity leave.
She's now watching two children. Thank the Lord our other amazing
children were at school because if not, it would have been
absolute chaos. However, I would call him that.
Hey baby. How's things going?
Are you doing good. And then I would hear a baby cry
and I'd be like, is Walton Okay? Is everything Okay?
That's not Walton. That's crew.
I go, oh Okay. And I'm a new new dad to this
third child. I'm don't really know his
bullshit and it's time continue to go on.
I would call, Hey, watch crew crying.
That's not crew. It's Walton.
I'm like, man, I'm really failing at this thing.
It's my third go around and I'm really failing at this thing.
However. I continued spending time with
my son. Intentional time on my son,
Walton and I would hear him cry over and over and over again.
And you want to know what I am certain.
You could put my son in a room with multiple other babies.
I would know his voice. And a nice knew the Lord's voice
because he had spent intentional time with the Lord.
Have you spent intentional time with the Lord?
Would you know the Lord's voice if he spoke to you?
When the Lord speaks to you? Do you know his voice?
Would you recognize the voice of God?
Would you recognize it? Have you spent enough time in
His word, knowing what it sounds like when the Lord responds?
Have you spent time on your knees in prayer?
Our communication with our Father?
Have you spent intentional time with Jesus?
Would you know His voice if he spoke to you?
Paul notes and his account of Ananias in chapter 22.
Of Acts verse 12 He notes An and I is like this and man named An
and I live there. He was a godly man, deeply
devoted. What would people say about us?
Are we deeply devoted? So when people talk about us,
they talk about Preston as a deeply devoted individual to the
Lord, somebody that trusts the Lord that follows him.
Deeply devoted praise. I want to be noted as a man that
prays. It's not afraid to pray that
prays all the time. What do we know, His voice, if
he spoke to us? Have you been spending
intentional time with the Lord, as Anne and I has had?
So as we get on into verse 13, what I'll do want us to do this
morning is give Anne and I some grace.
Let's give him some grace, because he was just.
In a vision, the Lord appeared and said, you're going to go to
Saul. And we all know because we just
read while ago and we've seen what Saul has done.
He's murdered Christians. He wants to arrest, prosecute.
He wants to kill more Christians, and he was just told
by the Lord to go. To Saul.
So we're going to give, we're going to give collectively,
we're going to give Saul or Annanius some grace this
morning. Let's look at what Annanius says
in verse 13 but Lord, exclaimed Annanius, I've heard many people
talk about the terrible things this man has done to the
believers in Jerusalem, and he is authorized by the leading
priest to arrest everyone who calls upon your name again.
And an ice is human here. He's human.
He knows what Saul's capable of, what he's done.
And so we're this morning going to show him some grace.
But I think a lot of us can relate to Anna Nice.
And what I mean by that is a lot of times the Lord will tell us
to go to go to a person and to do something or to say
something, and when we hear that person's name or that places
thing, we throw up a red flag. And we forget the rest of the
instructions that the Lord has already given us.
We're like, hey Lord, I know you're telling me to go to my
family and tell them about Jesus because they're lost and they're
going to go to hell. However, there's more people
that they're going to come in contact with, because if I do
it, it's just as if I am telling them that I'm better than them.
And Lord, I don't want that, right?
But Lord, I don't want them to feel like I'm better than them
when I go speak to them. Lord, that person on the side of
the road that has a sign or the person that's just standing
there. I feel impressed to go talk to
this says I need money for rent or for my children.
Lord, there's got to be somebody else because I truly believe all
they want is cigarettes. I feel all they want is more
alcohol. They're just feeding their
flesh. Lord, there's got to be somebody
else. We throw up a red flag, just as
Ann and I as had done. What I do want to do is look at
what all the directions that he missed in verse 11.
Jesus says this go over to straight St. to the House of
Judas. When you get there ask for a man
from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying to me right now.
I have shown him a vision of a man named Anne and I is coming
in and laying hands on him so he.
I can see again. Let's break this down for just a
minute, Cuzanne. And ICE is like, jeez, you want
me to go to Saul? I can't do that.
Like he is a murderer of Christians, and he has papers
that he can arrest me and I could possibly be murdered.
And if not, just go to jail. Jesus says I've already prepared
the way for you. I've told you exactly what to
do. Follow my commands.
Anybody in the room? Ever?
You don't have to raise your hand.
Have you ever been told to do something by the Lord?
And you're like Lord. I don't.
I can't do that. I'm not capable.
I don't know what to say. I don't even know where to go.
Sometimes you hear the Lord say go right.
He told Anne and Ice go over to straight St. 3 Doors Down to the
man named Judas. It's his house.
So he's been told where to go. When you get there, ask for a
man from Tarsus name Saul. He's been told exactly what to
say. He is praying to me right now.
He's been told what Saul will be doing.
I have shown him a vision of a man.
A man. And I is coming in and laying
hands on him so he can see again.
I've already told him you're coming.
I've already told him he's waiting on you.
Man wants to be healed. Go, go.
You ever heard the word go? You just asked a lot of
questions. A lot of times.
If we would just listen, we would hear.
What God has for us the exact directions that He has for us.
This brings us to our truth, #2. The Lord prepares the path.
We just have to walk in it. The Lord prepares the path.
We just have to walk in it. Now I want to go back to
Deuteronomy 31 eight and look at this.
This is Moses here. Do not be afraid or discouraged.
The Lord will personally go ahead of you, man.
This is good news, church. The Lord will personally go
ahead of you. Just as the Lord had went ahead
of Moses, just as the Lord had went ahead of Abraham as he was
taking his son Isaac oh to an altar to sacrifice him because
the Lord told him to, He prepared the way for them.
And you're telling me he won't prepare the way for you?
He already has. The Lord has prepared the way.
All you have to do is walk in it.
All you have to do is step in to the plans He has for your life.
Walk in the Lord's path. I remember my dad now.
My dad's here this morning. We would go hunting a lot when
we were when I was young, and my dad typically would walk in
front of me. And he would go ahead of me.
Because anybody ever been in the woods, you just get hit by
something in the face. And you're like, that was the
spider web. I didn't see that one coming.
Well, I have a lot as I've grown up.
But before I hadn't. You want to know why my dad went
in before me. Amen.
Thank you, Lord. My dad went before me, and he
would ensure that there was no spider webs where I could
possibly get bit by a spider. My dad would go before me to
ensure there was no briars that could cut me.
My dad would go before me to make sure there was no limbs or
anything on the ground that would trip me and make me fall
in the same way that my dad would go before me and still
would today. Your father has went before you
and paved the way to new life in him through his Son, Jesus
Christ. And he's paved the way for you
and I to walk in the path that he is already made for each and
every single one of us. So my question this morning,
second question is this, Do you trust the Lord?
Do you trust the Lord? When the Lord says go, Are you
ready to go when the Lord says move?
Maybe it's huge and he's like, pick up your family and move
here. He just did that to my
brotherinlaw, my sister. Pick up your family and move.
Are you ready? When he says jump.
When he says take that leap of faith.
Are you ready? Do you trust that the Lord has
went before you and prepared the path the way for you?
He's trimmed the trees. He's got rid of the webs.
The briars have been hedged, and all he wants for you to do is
walk in the path, walk in the path that he has for your life.
No, I'm not telling you. There's not going to be hills
and valleys to walk through and it's going to get tough.
I'm not saying it's not because it is, But I will tell you this,
that the Lord will protect you. The Lord will guide you.
The Lord will never leave you. He will never forsake you.
His love never changes. His steadfast love is so good.
All we have to do is walk in the path that He is already prepared
for us. Do you trust the Lord this
morning? Because we're getting ready to
wrap up this morning. Let's go ahead and look at 17
through 19 in Chapter 9. So Annanius went.
And found Saul. He laid his hands on him and
said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the
road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be
filled with the Holy Spirit instantly.
Something like scales fail from his eyes instantly, church
instantly, and he regained his sight.
Then he got up and was baptized after, where he ate some food
and regained his strength. So we see that Ann and I just
went. And we know there was two big
problems here. First was his physical
blindness. And Annanius went, and the Lord
used him as a vessel to carry healing to Saul.
Saul regained his sight. But Annanius knew that was not
the only reason why he went. There was a greater, a bigger
reason why he went. And Annanis knew that.
Why? Because he was close to the
Lord. Chapter 22, Paul's account
again. Annanis then says this after
he's already regained his physical site.
He says this. I think this is best said in
this account. What are you waiting for?
Get up and be baptized. Have your sins washed away by
calling on the name of the Lord. This is our last truth.
Today disciples of Jesus keep the main thing, the main thing.
Disciples of Jesus know why they go.
Yes, he was sent to heal his physical blindness, but moreover
he was sent for the spiritual blindness.
Can I tell you something this morning and and I didn't know
what he had just stepped into a man, Paul, that later discipled
a man named Timothy. A lot of the ways we do church
today was founded on what Paul did and what Paul said through
the Holy Spirit work in any man thousands, thousands have been
saved because of an act of obedience.
Through a man named Anna Knights.
And you know what? The Lord wants to work through
you. He wants to use you.
And Oakwood online this morning. He wants to use you as a vessel.
He wants to use you. Isn't it amazing that we serve a
God that doesn't need us for anything, however he chooses to
use? Filthy rags like myself to stand
up on a stage and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I'm telling you I'm no better than you.
He wants to use you too. Antonias is no better than me.
He wanted to use Ananias. He wants to use me and he wants
to use you. Do you know the Lord's voice?
Do you trust him? And the last question today is
this, what's the assignment? What's your assignment?
Riverbend Church this morning, Oakwood Pastor Greg's going to
take you through this time of response as we go back through
these questions. We love you this morning.
For everyone in the room online with us, ask yourself this
question. What's my assignment?
Riverbend Church What's our assignment?
Are we still existing to lead all people to know, love and
live new life in Jesus Christ? That's our assignment.
Collectively, let's look at what the Lord said in Matthew 2819.
Therefore, go. There's that word.
Go again and make disciples of all the nations.
Baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit Church, Are you ready to go?
And to the outermost, Are you ready to go where nobody else
wants to go? One of the most amazing
privileges I've had this past year was to go to a homeless
community. These were bad men.
They've done some bad things and I've never been there, so I
didn't really have the words to say.
I didn't know what to say to these men.
The Lord told me to go, so I went to broken men just like
myself that are imperfect and in need of a perfect savior.
And you know what I got to do at the end?
All together, about eight or nine of us, we got on her knees.
We got on her knees in front of the Lord that they probably
didn't know yet. I was wearing some pretty nice
clothes, but the Lord just told me to go.
He told me to get in the dirt in the woods with some men that
needed Jesus. And so I went and we all wound
up on our knees together, praying to a holy God that loves
us, that loves those men, no matter what they've done, He
died for. So River Vend Church, what are
we doing? Collectively, what are we doing?
Church. Are we still going and making
disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit?
This isn't just a collective church question.
What are you doing? What's your assignment?
A lot of times we feel like our assignment is so far out, like
we have to travel down a big road and go.
To another country to find our assignment.
You know where your assignment typically is?
Right in front of you. Where's God placed?
You. What room is He placed you in?
Teachers. We're about to go back to
school. Teachers.
What room is he placed you in? What kids has he placed you
over? What's our assignment?
He's prepared the path. We just have to walk in it.
He's a good father. Y'all never leave you.
He'll never forsake you. He's prepared the way you walk.
You trust the Lord. You listen.
You spend time with him daily in his word, and you hear his voice
and you notice and you recognize it just as Anne and I as did.
Let's review these three questions one more time because
this is going to be our response this morning.
Would you recognize the voice of God when he speaks to you?
Those that have placed their faith in Jesus when he speaks to
you, would you recognize His voice, those of you in the room
that haven't yet stepped into that new life?
There's a father that loves you and he calling you right now,
he's drawing you near to him. He says, Come all who are weary
and I will give you rest. Listen to him respond to the
Lord's goodness. The second question do you trust
the Lord? When he tells you what to do, do
you trust him? And you say I'm going, I don't
know where I'm going, but I'm going.
And last, what's the assignment? What's your assignment?
Church this morning is the band plays and sings.
I pray we respond in this way. That Father, I know now what my
assignment is. Maybe you don't and you come up
here and you pray, Father, reveal the assignment do you
have for me? And that we would trust Him.
We would trust in the Lord we not on our own understanding,
because we don't understand all things, but in always
acknowledge Him and He will keep your path straight.
Just walk in the path He has for you.
Church. Recognize His voice, getting His
word. Spend time and prayer this
morning up here. Spend time and prayer in your
seat as they play you. Respond to a Father that loves
you and has plans for you. Jesus, we love you this morning
as everyone stands, and we're getting ready to worship, and
we're getting ready to respond, Father, we respond to your
goodness. We respond to your plans.
You have plans for us, plans to prosper us, Plans for a whole
and a future for us. Father, we trust you this
morning. So, Lord, may we respond in that
way. We love you, Jesus.
It's in Your name. We pray.
Amen. Thank you for listening to the
Riverbend Church Podcast. To learn more about who we are
as a church and how to connect, you can head over to our website
Riverbendchurch dot Life.