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I greet you this morning in the name of our Lord. A special greeting to our visitors with us in house this morning and those of you online. God bless you. It's wonderful to have you among us today.
Brother Dudley, we know you lost your dear brother Charles this week, sir. We continue in prayer for you. Bless the Lord.
Our theme this year is serving the kingdom, in line with the national theme: serve. When we talk about serving, we're talking about what God expects us to do — not so much the things we want to do, but God's will for us. Let that be in the forefront of our minds this morning.
The scripture this morning told of Saul's conversion — the Damascus Road experience. Sometimes people say they would really like a Damascus Road experience. They would really like God to encounter them the way he did with Saul. The truth is, you probably wouldn't like it very much. I personally wouldn't join the queue for that experience.
Saul was a terrorist of the day. He was a menace to the body of Christ. But there was something about Saul — his sincerity. He was sincerely wrong, but he was genuine in his belief.
It's not a bad place to be, because your motive is what really matters. And your motive will always stem from your value system. If your value system is off key, then your motive is going to be against the grain of what is right — but as far as you are concerned, you are doing the right thing. Saul was genuine. He was more genuine than a lot of us who are in the right way.
Saul came from a tribe of people who were very steadfast. He was from the tribe of Benjamin. When Jacob blessed his children in Genesis 49, he hesitated when he came to the last one:
"Benjamin, Benjamin, Benjamin, you are a ravenous wolf. You will tear to pieces."
That word means to pluck and pull to pieces. That's exactly what Saul was doing. His mind was made up. He had an intention to abolish the church of Jesus Christ.
The other thing about Saul is that he was proactive — one of his qualities the church needs to grasp even more. He knew the holy scriptures. He knew when blasphemy was occurring. As far as he was concerned, there was only one religion, and anything threatening it, he would stand against.
He wouldn't wait for anybody to call him. He would go up town to the council office, meet with the chief priest, and get letters to authorize him to bind Christians and drag them back screaming and kicking to be tried and, in some cases, put to death. He didn't wait for anybody to tell him.
When we are in service, we should be proactive.
Jesus saw that Saul was bent on doing what he thought was right. That is the right attitude for everybody to have. And he wouldn't wait to be told when he knew what the right thing to do was. I imagine Jesus thought, "If I could just get somebody like that to work for me."
When you have that strong conviction that nobody needs to encourage you to do what you are supposed to do — you just want to make sure you're not acting out of turn, so you go to the pastor and say, "Pastor, is it okay if I did this?" — that is what Jesus liked.
So he saw Saul going down to attack the Christians with his letter of authority, and Jesus admired him because he believed in what he was doing.
But the scripture tells us: if the little light that is in you is darkness, then how great is that darkness? Your enlightenment is darkness. That strong conviction you hold on to is a lie. This sentiment you've built your whole life around is a lie. How great is that lie?
This helps us understand others who do not worship the Lord Jesus Christ — whose whole life is built around worship, sometimes more pious than people who worship the Lord Jesus. Whole families for generations grow up not knowing Jesus, but they are worshipping every week. How great is that darkness?
Saul would have persecuted the Christians, bound them, brought them back to Jerusalem for trials — and it would be futile. Nothing gained. So Jesus went and met him on the Damascus Road.
The Damascus Road is a place of decision. It is a juncture where turning points are marked in the lives of people. The term is used even in the secular world because it is so definitive about the sea change in our lives when we turn around.
Sometimes we see it as a situation where someone unsaved gets this conviction and turns around. But as I looked at this word, it occurred to me: Saul's religion and the new Christianity that came in — there is an element of that in Christendom today.
Saul's religion was after the tradition. They did not recognize anything new, no matter where it came from. And within Christendom today, there are traditions we actually embrace. Even though God would say, "Behold, I do a new thing," there are some of us who set ourselves up as the ones who have to verify and mark it off before it can happen.
There are some Sauls in our churches that really need a Damascus Road encounter before we can turn around.
Jesus is not necessarily speaking ill of the traditionalists. Jesus really likes you. He knows that you hold on to what you know. In fact, the Lord admires you that you hold on to this thing for so long.
It hasn't been paying any dividend for the last 40 years, but you hold on to it and you're still investing. The church has moved on, but you're holding on — because a Damascus Road experience is necessary.
Jesus went down to meet Saul. The Bible said a great light shone around him — so bright it blinded him, so bright it knocked him off his horse. And Jesus spoke: "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?"
You may think, well, this wasn't Jesus, it was the followers. But Jesus is saying, every time you hurt one of these, I feel it in my body. It is me you are persecuting.
It may well be a good time to address the Sauls in the body of Christ — those who can't let go of yesterday for whatever reason and persecute those holding on to the new vision. It is Jesus you are persecuting.
Maybe it's not about tradition. Maybe it's just the way you behave. There are some people among us who esteem nobody. We don't treat each other well. We don't speak well of each other. As soon as there is an opportunity to denigrate somebody, we join in the gossip.
"Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?"
You cannot hurt one of these without hurting me. You cannot speak ill of your brother or your sister without speaking ill of the Lord Jesus himself.
One of the images that came to me was Jesus being the head of the church. In his resurrection, the head came above the earth. And in his ascension, it's not just the head that resurrected — it's the whole body.
Imagine him moving up, his body coming out of the earth, the head going above the clouds into heaven — but his body is still down here. The head is in heaven. So every time he gets a pinch on earth, because the body is down here, the head in heaven starts to feel it. Every time a part of the body is in trouble, the head starts to feel it.
That's how he makes intercession — because he feels everything. You cannot touch me without Jesus knowing. I can't touch you without Jesus knowing. Every time I'm kind to you, I'm kind to the body on earth, I'm kind to the head in heaven.
Let me get Brother Patrick. If I touch Brother Patrick on his foot — you're feeling it? Where am I? What am I doing?
"You're squeezing."
Brother Patrick, where was I squeezing?
"My ankle."
How do you know it was your ankle?
"Because it's connected to my body."
I don't have any medical training, brethren, but I know there is a head up here. Before you can feel me doing anything down here, the head registers it. Before I feel hurt when you abuse me, or when I abuse you, Jesus feels it.
I had some tummy pain this week. Before I knew I had a tummy ache, it registered up here and connected the feeling so I could say the pain is in the stomach. Before I feel what you do to me, before you feel what I do to me, Jesus feels it. That too is a consolation — because before it registered, Jesus knew what's coming, and can prepare me for it.
Brethren, let us look after one another. Because Jesus is still asking the same question today within the body of Christ: "Why are you persecuting me?"
Saul recognized the authority of the speaker: "I don't know who you are, but I recognize your authority. I can't see you, but I discern that you sit above everything else." And so he responded.
Brethren, when we think of serving, this is the greatest of responses we can ever make to the Lord:
"Lord, what will you have me to do?"
Church sometimes doesn't function well because many persons are serving in the wrong area. The Bible says wait on ministry — wait on your area of ministry. Don't serve in the wrong area, because you won't do it properly. However good you do, you will not be rewarded, because the reward prepared for you is for the right area of service.
So — what will you have me to do, Lord?
Let me talk to you about this light. The Greek word there is force — fire. It was not merely a beam of light Saul saw; it was fire giving such a bright light that it outshone the sun. This was Saul's issue — it was midday, and this light put the sun in the shade. Extraordinary.
This fire in people's lives creates a turnabout juncture. It creates a sea change.
You may well be the bishop, pastoring for so long — but we have to ask ourselves the question, "Lord, what will you have me to do?" If you're not prepared to ask the question, you have not encountered the fire.
Jesus said to his disciples, "Wait here until you are filled with the Holy Ghost. Until you receive the promise." Jesus did not trust his disciples to go out and be witnesses without their experience of the fire.
When the fire came:
...spoke up in Acts 4 and said, "Tell me now, is it better to obey God or to obey a man?" He put his neck on the block and said, "Chop it if you want, but God I will obey." Hallelujah.
When you experience the fire, boldness comes upon you. There is a turnabout. That wouldn't happen other than through the fire. The fire burns away the chaff from around you. It's only the fire that can burn away some friends, some bad influence.
Sometimes we really respect people because they've been there from the foundation, and not to take their advice feels like disrespect. Sometimes it's because they love you that they advise you so well. But you have to know whether it's God leading you.
Back in 1984, I decided to start a business. I began to share my plan within my trusted circle. Some were hard against it: "Brother Deverton, no, don't do it. They're going to rob you and kill you and take away your money. Brother Deverton, may I beg you, don't."
I remember talking to Elder Whittaker. He said to me, "If it's what the Lord wants you to do, you will not be happy doing anything else."
So I started the business. I bought a house from the business. I gave employment to people from the business. I left Jamaica and left it to my sister, and she did well from it. I am still here.
I also had someone say, "When you start the business, you cannot put all your accounts through the books. You'll pay too much tax." I was tempted. But everything went through the books. When I applied for the loan to buy the house, I had to bring in my tax receipts — and because of my bookkeeping, I qualified.
Brethren, it is good to be honest. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
We all need that time in our lives when we experience the fire — because only the fire can burn away the dross from around you.
Jesus responded, "I am Jesus whom you persecuted."
Church, let me say this once more so it registers: do not interfere with your brother or sister in any way and think you're going to get away with it.
Sometimes we're guilty. We've done it. So the rumor is true. But listen — when the Bible tells us in Revelation that the adversary accuses us before the Lord day and night, it is not lies he uses. He can't go before God with lies. It's the truth. Every time he calls my name to God, it is the truth about what I've done. But the blood was already shed. And I overcome him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of my testimony — that Jesus died for me and Jesus paid it all.
So don't get in league with anybody who badmouths your brother or sister. Don't do it. Because before I am hurt, Jesus feels it.
"What will you have me to do, Lord?" "Go into the city. You will find a man called Ananias. He will tell you what to do."
Paul is the first person we encounter in scripture with the equivalent of a PhD. Theologians say he had the equivalent of two PhDs. But as educated as Saul was, Jesus said to him, "Go to the pastor. Let him disciple you."
When you become a Christian, the next step is to be discipled. Jesus didn't tell him, "I'm going to make you an apostle." He didn't tell him, "You're going to be the apostle to the Gentiles." He said, "Go to Ananias and let him teach you."
Anyone who is discipled understands where God wants them to serve. In time, you discern what the Lord will have you to do. It doesn't matter who we are — discipleship is the premium thing within the body of Christ. If I am not discipled, I guarantee you I'm going to give some trouble. Because I am here, but I don't even know where to serve.
We had a joke in high school when doing auto mechanics. You strip something down, put it back together, and still have some screws left. A rougher joke was to take off the head and drop them inside the cylinder. For those who don't know the consequence: when the piston comes up and makes that compression, the pressure is so high that the gas ignites and drives it back down. A few nuts and bolts in there is really going to cause chaos.
The person not discipled in the church is left in a space where the movement has to move you out of the way every time. You feel battered, and you're damaging something because you're not in your place. Those bolts, wherever they should have been, aren't fastened — so things start to rock and break.
We each need to be in our right place in the body of Christ.
Stand with me, brethren. I wonder if we could now bring ourselves to ask, "What will you have me to do, Lord?"
Maybe you're in the congregation and have not yet received this answer. I'd like to pray with you. You might not even be saved — Paul wasn't. But you want to know where God wants you. I'd like to pray with you. There is nothing more blessed than knowing what you ought to do.
Ananias not only told Paul where God wanted him to serve, but also about some of the things he would encounter — some trouble he would have. Sometimes we think we're on the wrong road because of all that's happening, but you just need to know that you are helping to bear a cross. You've become a target now because you are in the right way.
Can you imagine what kind of church we would have if everybody woke up on a given morning knowing, "This is where God wants me. And that's what I am going to do." Hallelujah.
Before I pray, I want to speak to those of us who feel like misfits, for want of a better word. You know you love the Lord. You know what God has put in you. But you feel as though you don't fit.
The very thing Jesus admired in Saul — he was energetic, he was zealous — but he was in the wrong place. It may be a family member whose determination is causing issues. You know if that were redirected in the right way, that person would make a difference in the family and in the kingdom of God. Let us pray for that person.
Almighty God, we thank you at this time. Lord, we know of your love for your people. Here we are before you, dear Lord Jesus.
Somebody is saying, "Lord, what will you have me to do? I want to serve. I want to serve in the right place. I want to serve in the right way. Lord, help me to discern what you will have me to do. Give me an appetite for your word. Let me be more approachable where discipleship is concerned. Help me to value the teaching more, so I can come in line with what you want for my life."
Lord, I bring your people before you. I put myself at the altar, too. I surrender to you today, God, and I ask you — in this season, what will you have me to do?
On behalf of George Street, those in attendance, those online — what will you have us to do? On behalf of those who have not yet committed their lives to you — what will you have me to do? On behalf of those who have committed and are still on the fringes — I pray that the same spirit that was on Saul will come upon them now, and they will be proactive, and take a step forward to accomplish what you'd have them do for their life, for your kingdom.
Master, I bless you. I honor you, Lord Jesus, today. We declare that we want to be in that number that asks, "What will you have me to do?" Lord, we want to serve in the right way, in the right place.
Thank you, Jesus. Amen.
