From a Persecutor to a Persecuted Evangelist (Acts 9:20-31)
Let us bless and greet one another, “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.” I bless you in the name of Jesus Christ that today may be the time of greatest blessing. The title of today’s message is, “From a Persecutor to a Persecuted Evangelist.” Today will be a good time, if you’re able to confirm through God’s Word through Apostle Paul the past, present, and future of your own life. Even right now, God is working with His Word, and God reveals Himself to us through His Word, through worship. Everything you are curious about, God is giving you the answer through the Word and worship. And, if that doesn’t align with my thoughts, I must let go of my thoughts and hold onto God’s Word, and that is faith. Only the Word of God is the Truth, and only the Word of God will be fulfilled.
1. Saul
1) Saul of the past
I’d like it if we look at our own past, present, and future while we look at the past, present, and future of Apostle Paul. In the past, Paul or Saul was part of the Jewish church.
(1) Born in Tarsus in Cilicia (Acts 22:3)
Saul was born and raised in a region called Cilicia, and Cilicia was a Roman territory with a very Hellenic culture.
(2) Student of Gamaliel – Received strict instruction in the law (Acts 22:3)
Not only that, but Paul also received very strict education under Gamaliel as a Pharisee.
(3) Zealous for God (Acts 22:3)
It says in the Bible that he was very zealous for God. It’s possible that we might be jealous of people who are very zealous or diligent; however, if our diligence and hard work are in the wrong direction, then we will go down the wrong path. On the other hand, people who have a zeal for God and God’s work will receive the correct answers. One day, Saul is on the road to Damascus to capture believers of Jesus Christ, and He meets Jesus Himself. And then, he receives a mission for which God has called him. As soon as Saul meets Jesus, his eyes are blinded, and as soon as Saul receives his mission from God, something like scales fall from his eyes, and his spiritual eyes open. So, living our lives diligently is not what’s important; what’s important is how you see things. You are educating your children in America and you’re teaching them to live diligently, but what are you teaching them to see? Their lives will change and their actions will be determined based on what they see. We see problems with different eyes.
2) Perspective of Saul of the past
In the past, Saul saw problems as problems and acted in the direction of solving them, and if a problem was not resolved, he would live with a heavy burden. But after he met Jesus, his spiritual eyes opened, and the eyes with which he saw problems changed. Now, the eyes with which he saw problems were looking for God’s plan because he acknowledged that the Lord allowed this to happen.
(1) Diligence/zeal – Persecuted the church (Phil. 3:6)
With what eyes do you look at your own problems and scars in your past? Until your eyes change, you are destined to live the same way Paul lived in the past while he was persecuting Christians. So, in the past, Saul’s eyes led him to persecute the church with zeal.
(2) Righteousness under the law – Blameless (Phil. 3:6)
Phil. 3:6, Paul said, “As for legalistic righteousness, he was faultless.”
(3) Confidence in the flesh (Phil. 3:4)
Phil. 3:4, Paul was boasting that there was no one who had more confidence in the flesh than he had. He said that he worked so hard to keep all of the laws of God and all of the traditions his ancestors had set perfectly, and at that time, he was under a misconception that, doing all of this perfectly meant he believed in God. Every religion has its own doctrines. In Buddhism, they have their own teachings, Buddha teaches not to kill things that are living. Everyone has their own teachings, and people think that following those teachings equates to faith, and that’s what happens in a religion that does not have the gospel. Saul was also under the impression that following the laws of God and the traditions that his ancestors had set equates to faith in God. He was under a misconception; rather than believing in God Himself, he believed in his own actions of keeping the laws, and even today, we might be under the misconception that coming to church and doing things for the church equals faith. In reality, we are believing in our own actions, and if we’re not able to keep those actions up, we get so oppressed. On the other hand, if we see other people who cannot do those actions, we judge them, so in reality, we are really believing in ourselves. “I keep the law to this extent.” Because of this, he succeeded, and people study so diligently, and they succeed in the world; then, whom do they really believe? They believe in themselves. The problem is that many Christians believe like this, but with those eyes, we can never change to see with God’s eyes.
3) Spiritual state of Saul of the past
(1) Original Sin – Separated from God (Eph. 2:1)
Why did Saul have no choice but to see that way? Because every single person is born in the spiritual state that is separated from God with Original Sin.
(2) Spirit – Death (Eph. 2:1)
Eph. 2:1-3 says we are dead in our sins and our transgressions. Our “sin,” meaning our Original Sin, and our “transgressions,” meaning our actions of sin, caused us to die. Every single person is born, not believing in God. That is Original Sin, meaning our spiritual state is dead; only our physical body is alive.
(3) Followed the ruler of the kingdom of the air (Eph. 2:2)
Eph. 2:2 says we followed the ways of the world and the ruler of the kingdom of the air. The ruler of the kingdom of the air, Satan, how does he rule the world? Satan makes us follow what our body and what our mind wants, and we are by nature objects of wrath; Satan makes us fall into that wrath. So, simply put, we are born in a spiritual state that cannot escape from ourselves, so even if we believe in a religion, we really are believing in our actions of keeping that religion.
2. Saul in the present
1) Saul’s perspective (Acts 9:18)
After Saul met Jesus, what changed? You must change. We cannot change just by trying to change. As we know and believe in Who Christ is, we begin to change. Our eyes change. In the past, we saw the entire world centered on ourselves, and now we change to see the world centered on Christ. All of the things in our past—our failures, our successes, our scars—were allowed so that we can see Christ. We realized, “Oh, God allowed this so that we can meet Christ,” this is how we can come to the conclusion, so the problems of our past are solved, and now, He is with me forever, so whatever problem I have, instead of looking at it as a problem, I look for God’s plan. The reason our walk of faith is so difficult is because our eyes have not changed. We keep looking at problems, centered on ourselves, thinking, “This is a problem,” and because we are centered on ourselves, we cannot escape the scars of our past. Either that person has not met Christ, or they do not know who Christ is.
Gal. 2:20 says, “I have died on the cross with Christ.” Who is the “me” that has died? The “me” that was trapped by Satan in Original Sin, has died. The “me” that lived my life, only thinking of myself. If we continue to live centered on “me, my things, our success,” it would result in disaster. That old “me” must die on the cross with Christ. How can I die? We die by faith. When Christ died on the cross, my old ego also died with Him, and now, Christ lives within me and I live my life in faith in Christ Who lives in me; that is a Christian.
(1) Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss (Phil. 3:7)
You can see that Paul changed because he said, “Everything I regarded as gain in my past, I now consider rubbish.” “Everything that was to my gain.” In the past, we thought holding onto and chasing after things that are to our benefit, would be good, but now, he realizes, “This is to my loss.” Why is that? Because I was holding onto all of the things that I thought were to my benefit in the past, I could not hold onto Christ. But after I met Christ, by God’s grace, I realized that knowing Christ is the greatest knowledge. Until that changes, you need to continuously pray about who Christ is. Not the Christ you think of, but the Christ the Bible tells us.
We must believe in Christ by God’s grace. But people are relentlessly centered on themselves, so they imagine their own Christ. Even when they pray, they pray to get what they want, centered on themselves. That’s exactly like any other religion, and we’re actually worse than Buddhists, because what is Buddhism? More so than Buddhism being a religion, it is a practice of self-purification. Buddhism is a practice of getting rid of your greed because your greed is the source of all of the problems and evil in the world, so they keep on discarding themselves, and this has come into America as Buddhist meditation, and they do transcendental meditation so they can get rid of all of the painful things in their past.
(2) Christ Jesus – Surpassing worth (Phil. 3:8)
But what about the church? Many churchgoers pray with so much greed, saying, “I need to get more from God for me, for my family.” That’s not Christianity, that’s religion. People like that have no faith. Believing in Christ is faith. I died on the cross with Christ and now I believe Christ is within me. That is faith. When we come out of our “me-centeredness,” then the darkness is broken. But there is a characteristic of a lot of working professionals. The characteristic of professionals is that, “My work and my studies are #1,” and for my business, I go worship. Then, still, that person’s spiritual state has not escaped from “me-centeredness.” I died on the cross with Christ and now I live for Christ. I race towards that for which Christ took hold of me, and I’ve come to worship so I can hold onto the Word that Christ wants to give me. Those are people who believe in Christ correctly. Whatever problems you may have will look like problems to you if your eyes do not change. I’m sure there are so many different problems: mental problems, addiction, financial problems, but it is because our eyes have not changed. If our eyes do change and Christ becomes our Lord and Savior, we will no longer see those things as problems. Instead of seeing it as a problem, we’ll instead look at God’s true will and plan. That is a person who believes in Christ.
(3) For Jesus, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish (Phil. 3:8)
So today, what time schedule and position are you and I in? Am I somebody who believes in Christ, or do I only believe in Christ for my own benefit? We must believe in Christ for Christ in order for this darkness and spiritual problems in our family line to be broken down. The reason why Paul said all of those things that were to his benefit are now to his loss is so that he can now gain the great knowledge of Christ. He says, “For Christ’s sake,” he considers them rubbish and he has lost all things. He lost all things, meaning, he let go of everything he held onto in the past. Why? Because it is all garbage.
Then, what does he hold onto instead? He holds onto Christ instead. Will you hold onto the world or will you hold onto Christ? You must choose one of the two. If you say you hold onto money and Christ, that is a lie. That person is actually holding onto money, because if you hold onto Christ, then you only hold onto Christ. Colossians 3:5 says that all treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden within Christ, and that is the person who will pray for God’s Kingdom. Matthew 6:33, Jesus Christ tells us to first seek God’s Kingdom and righteousness, then everything else, including your business, will follow.
You and I must become true Christians. If you are a fake Christian, but you claim to be a Christian, then you are spreading spiritual pollution out into the world because you don’t even believe in Christ, but you spread false Christianity into the world, so when people hear you, they don’t want to believe in Christ. So, nonbelievers should be able to see Christ through you and me. How can they see Christ? Instead of living for your own benefit, if you pray and talk about the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, then nonbelievers will see. Christians will say, “I received an answer from God,” and they say, “I received the answer of money,” or, “I received the answer of my child getting into a good school.” Those are not answers; those are things nonbelievers will get on their own, and other religions get those even more. There are movie stars who believe in Scientology and they are far more successful than you. There are many Jewish people in America who also practice Buddhist meditation, and they have so much money and they have success. So, what is really an answer?
The fact that God has given you the greatest knowledge of Christ, that is an answer. When the Word that Christ gave me is fulfilled, that is the true answer. Other people receiving the salvation of Christ through me, that is an answer. The eyes with which you see answers are wrong; the eyes with which you see problems are wrong. It’s not a problem, but we keep on seeing it as a problem; that person is not a true Christian. That person is just going to a church for their own benefit. All of their plans, their decisions, their judgments are for themselves. Then, that person says they believe in Jesus? They really don’t. Believing in Jesus Christ means that you believe Jesus Christ is your Lord, your Savior, and your God. But if I’m centered on myself, then I am god. You must believe in the Lord; that is faith. Then, what’s going to happen? The forces of darkness and curses that are working down your family line will break down. If the forces of darkness are not broken down, then you can live so diligently but they will not flee. I bless you so that this will be a time for your complete liberation.
2) Saul’s spiritual state
(1) Problems of the past, present, future – Resolved (Jn. 19:30, Gal. 2:20)
So now, Saul’s spiritual state is that the problems of his past, present, and future are finished. In John 19:30, Jesus said, “It is finished.” The problems of my past, present, and future are all finished. If it is not finished, it means I am believing in myself. You must believe that Christ has finished it, why? Because now, He is my Lord and Savior, and now, He is my Lord and He is my God. Then, what could be a problem? The very fact that you call this a problem means you do not believe in God as the absolute Lord, and that unbelief is sin. It is the sin of not believing in God. Whatever you do with your actions, morals, and ethics, that’s afterwards, and it’s possible that nonbelievers might live a more clean life than you, and it’s possible that Jehovah’s Witnesses live a more ethical life than you, they don’t even go into war because they cannot kill people. So, may you receive the grace of God to live as a true Christian.
(2) Disciple for the Gentiles (Acts 9:15)
When you meet Christ and you believe in Him, then you receive the mission for the rest of your life as a vision. Because you don’t have this, when you face a problem, you shake. When God called us, He already prepared the future. God called Saul as His chosen instrument to save the Gentiles. If you receive the solution in Christ, then God will give you the answer of what you must live the rest of your life for. If you don’t have this, you will continue to shake. If a marathon runner knows where the finish line is, then they will keep running without shaking. But what if there’s somebody who’s running just as diligently, but they don’t know where the finish line is? Just their own hard work, their own energy, their time; all of that has nothing to do with God. That is a religious life. Believing in Christ means I am racing exactly towards the goal for which God has given me. That has been given to you. If you have a goal and you face a problem, then that’s not really a problem because you know your goal. The one who fulfills that goal is not me; it is God. If you know who the enemy is in a war, is there any reason for you to be conflicted? Winning the battle is the goal, and if someone says, “It’s so hard to climb up this mountain,” then this person does not know what the goal is. “Oh, I don’t have food, I’m so hungry,” that person does not know. If there is a goal in a war, then you use whatever methods to reach that goal.
For us, we have a goal. “Go and make disciples of all nations,” that must come directly into you. My job, my studies will be used to make disciples of all nations, and it is to go and heal those people. Everyone is diseased, we are diseased mentally, and because we have diseases, we need our immune system, and that is Christ, the spiritual immune system. Only Christ overcomes sin, curses, and Satan. Give this medication to Christ to many people and save them. That’s why we are spiritual doctors, we are spiritual teachers, we are spiritual ambassadors, because we are representing the Kingdom of God. That is the spiritual identity we’ve been given.
We are the ones who will save the kings of the world because the Pharaoh does not have the answer. The leaders of the world have accomplished success without having the answer, so they are seized by mental and spiritual problems. Are you jealous of them? Then, that means your eyes have not changed. You must be able to see what is inside of them. They’ve succeeded without Christ. So, imagine how desperate and how in pain they are, internally. People who have never experienced this will say, “Pastor, why do you say that? It is a good thing to succeed.” Yes, you do have to succeed, but success must come inside of prayer, holding onto His covenant. That is how the doors of your studies and job will open as the answer within the spiritual summit. If you do not raise your children like this and only raise them to study diligently, then later on, they will suffer spiritually. Humans are spiritual beings, so we must receive spiritual strength from God, but people accomplish success with their own strength, without spiritual strength from God. These people believe in their own efforts and their own convictions; they do not believe in Christ. That was Saul in the past. If we have these eyes to see this as we look out in the world, we will feel so bad for it. We will have a heart of pity for them, and we will see what we must relay to them. That is a Christian.
(3) Person who lives by the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:17)
God tells us, “Do not do this with your own strength, do this with the power of the Holy Spirit,” because our background is the throne of heaven. When we pray here today, God sends out His heavenly armies of angels out into the field. Right now, I’m challenging spiritually towards the Hollywood region, and when I do a spiritual analysis of that area, there are almost no churches. There are scattered various other religions, like Scientology, or transcendental meditation, or Jewish synagogues, or the Sikh churches. Now, we must begin praying for that region of Samaria where none of the Christians will go, and that place has so many people in the LGBTQ community. They need the gospel as well. That means that somebody must open their mouths and pray to God for those people and region. Already, the people who are suffering with addictions and are so desperate for an answer have begun gathering there. The families of people who are suffering from addictions are also desperate to restore their families, and I took a picture of them; there’s about 110 Caucasian people. Nearby, there are elementary students who are suffering and afflicted, and nobody can give them the answer.
We must challenge. We cannot do it, but if that is God’s plan and will, then God will do it. We are going down a path that we’ve never gone before. That is the path the Apostle Paul walked. We do not go down the path of our past experiences. We go into the barren wasteland, the desert where no one has gone, and that is where God is focused on, and He is interested, waiting. Christians walk a path where others do not, and God has prepared that path for you. That is a path that can only be opened by the power of God. It is only possible by prayer in the power of the throne of God, and we must wait to see how God works. My heart is racing, how will God work over there? There are many young people who are dying there without the answer without the gospel; how will we give them the answer? That’s why God has made our church into such a multiethnic church. In the beginning, when we first started, there were mostly Korean people, and now God has changed it to be of all ethnicities. The Lord of the Church is Christ, and the Lord has changed us for American evangelization.
God has changed us because He wants us to spread the gospel to many nations gathered here. Maybe the number of people has decreased, but I’m happy because the number of people is just my greed, but when I see what God is doing, I can see it, so I’m so overflowing with joy. But do you think nonbelievers would look at this and understand? “The number of congregation members has decreased; why are you so happy?” That’s the difference between somebody who has Christ and somebody who doesn’t. If you see the work God is doing at your job and you confess that, then nonbelievers will be influenced by your confession. I believe that God has sent each and every one of you as the disciples, and He will raise you up. It doesn’t matter how powerless you may be. Look at me, I have no strength, I have no knowledge, but all I did was come to the answer of Christ, and now, I have all of the fuel for life, and God allowed me everything in my past to come to this understanding, and God has brought me here to fulfill this. For this, I will race forward.
3. Saul’s changed actions
(1) Synagogue – Proclaimed Jesus as the Son of God (Acts 9:20)
(2) Proved that Jesus is the Christ (Acts 9:22)
(3) Sought to go to Jerusalem – Dangerous region (Acts 9:26)
1) Arabian wilderness (Gal. 1:17)
(1) Period of 3 years (Gal. 1:18)
After Saul goes to Damascus, he stays in the wilderness for three years. In Gal., 1:17, Paul says that after he went to Damascus, he stayed in the wilderness of Arabia to train, because yes, he did receive the gospel by God’s grace, but he had the imprint, root, and nature of legalism from his previous life, so he had to change that.
(2) A time when Saul’s imprints changed
Because, if you’ve met with Christ and you received that imprint by being shocked by the gospel, then now, you must be rooted down in Christ; otherwise, you’ll be moved by what you already have roots in. That’s why, without a doubt, we must have our time in the wilderness.
(3) A time of taking root in the gospel instead of the Law
2) Tarsus (Acts 9:30) – Period of 7-8 years
(1) Roman-ruled region – Hellenistic cultural sphere
Not only did he have three years in Arabia to change his roots, but he went back to Jerusalem, received persecution, then went back to his hometown. Not only did he have a very deep time with God in his hometown of Tarsus, but he also proclaimed the gospel a lot there. What does this mean?
(2) Influences of education, culture – Reinterpret through the gospel
This means that he grew up in a certain region, he received that influence while he was developing, he received the gospel, then went back to his hometown, he sees the culture of the Gentiles and changes it with the gospel. Paul had two things inside of him, he had the Hellenic or the Roman culture of Tarsus, and he also had the legalistic training of the Pharisees, and God gave him all the time to change that with the gospel.
(3) Period of preparation to transform the Gentiles
So, Paul had about seven years where he was changing and seeing the culture of the Gentiles, so combining it with the 3 years he spent in Arabia and the 7-8 years in Tarsus, Paul was preparing for this ministry for 10 years. If something is not working out for you, you do not need to be discouraged, because even for Apostle Paul, God gave him the answer and then gave him a time of preparation. Then, Paul was changed from a persecutor into a persecuted evangelist.
In the past, I believed in myself, so if somebody wanted me to believe in Christ, I had no choice but to persecute them. I have to believe in myself, why should I believe in anyone else? So I didn’t like Christians. I didn’t like it when people talked to me about Christianity because they looked so weak. I looked at them and thought, “Oh they have to rely on a God because they don’t have enough power for themselves.” So, I actually persecuted my younger brother, “You should never go to church because that is a place where powerless people go. You have to gain your mental strength and raise yourself up.” I didn’t just persecute him, I beat him up, “You can never go to church,” but one day, I came to believe in Jesus, and the first thing I thought of was the time when I was persecuting my younger brother. I still am sorry for that, and he still doesn’t go to church now. I should have just let him go to church in our childhood. That was when he was in middle school, and now he’s in his mid-50s, so that means, for forty years, he has not been going to church, and I believe that even that God has allowed, so that the correct gospel can go in, because he shouldn’t go to a religious church. Now, I went from somebody who used to persecute people, and now, I’m being persecuted by my family; I’m being mocked and ridiculed by my friends. Now, because I do not believe in my friends, I don’t believe in myself, I believe in Christ, they are ostracizing me. That’s normal. If that isn’t happening, you haven’t changed yet. That’s why one person is so important.
3) One person
(1) Values that come through Christ (Phil. 3:9)
(2) Righteousness that comes from God through faith (Phil. 3:9)
(3) Press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold (Phil. 3:12)
(4) Person who presses on toward the goal
(5) A person who runs toward the prize of God’s upward call
What do I see as valuable inside of Christ? Then the eyes with which I see America will change. You see the great power of the superpower nations and realize, “That’s not it.” You’ll realize that they are completely spiritually poor. You’ll realize that they have no choice but to continue to have more mental problems, addictions, suicide, shootings. I hope you will change into someone who lives by faith in Jesus Christ. I race towards that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. I do not decide my life, but I race towards that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. He is racing towards the goal of being an apostle for the Gentiles. I am racing towards the heavenly prize. Many Christians live their walk of faith to gain things of the earth. That person has no reward. Because they’re living their lives to gain the things of the earth, they have no heavenly reward. They live their walk of faith for good things to happen to their child, so they don’t get heavenly rewards. You lived your walk of faith for worldly success, so you have no heavenly reward. We are racing towards the heavenly reward for which we have been called. When nonbelievers look at that kind of Christian, they will see Christ.
Conclusion
1. One person who has found the answer through the gospel
2. One person who has reached the conclusion of world evangelization
3. One person who accomplishes everything through only prayer
So in conclusion today, I hope you will confirm where you are in the time schedule of an evangelist and change into a persecuted evangelist.
Message Prayer
Let us pray holding onto the Word we have received.
Offering Prayer and Newcomer Blessing
God, we thank You. We believe You will guide us to be imprinted, rooted, and have the nature in the Word you have given us to save the people in the field. We have returned Your material blessings as offering. We pray You will bless the hands that have given this offering so that this offering will be used to save the church, the field, those who are dying, and the future generations. In Jesus Christ’s name we pray, amen.
God, we thank You. We pray You will bless the family of the newcomers. May they discover the blessing of the gospel within Christ, and may their family be used to save Mongolia and their fields. In Jesus Christ’s name we pray, amen.
Closing Prayer and Benediction
Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the unending love of our Father God, and the indwelling, working, guidance, and fellowship of the Holy Spirit be upon the heads of the people of God, who desire to save the church, the region, and all the world, through only Christ, only world evangelization, and only the power of the Holy Spirit, be with them now and forevermore always, amen.
You are a persecuted evangelist!