The Transition of Paul

I very much appreciate Mr. Urbom's sermonette about transitioning. All of us are in the process of doing that. I want to talk about one individual today and his transition. That's what I'm going to focus on in the sermon. It's quite appropriate that we had even the change described that we did during the sermonette. But as we enter into this weekend, we want to be uplifted. We want to be inspired. We want to be moved. We want to be guided by God as he shows us more about what his plan is, what his plan and what his purpose is, and how he has made available the power to achieve what in some ways seems almost impossible.

As we had referred to earlier in the first part of the book of Acts, where you see the beginning of the New Testament Church, where it was initiated by the miracle that took place on that Pentecost. You read about it in Acts 2, and I'm not directly going to read through all of that right now. But we read that, and of course Peter spoke of a definite plan.

It wasn't just haphazard. It didn't just happen to turn out this way. This was by design that God sent at that particular Pentecost after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He sent the Holy Spirit in a manifestation of power, of tongues of fire, of languages and hearing that were inspired.

And he was able to show as he begins to add people to the Church. That's what he says he did in Acts 2. But I want us to look at chapter 2 here in the book of Acts and focus on what it says in Acts 2. This is Peter talking, and he's describing something. And of course, in many ways we think of who was inspired on the day of Pentecost. All of the apostles were there. There appears to be 120 of the disciples who would have been there keeping this day of Pentecost.

And later throughout chapter 2 you see Peter speaking in what seems to be an unusual way. Unusual in a good sense in that he is quite eloquent. He is quite able to explain the Scripture. And he is quite able, and you would say he's almost daring as he spoke to the religious leaders who had just put Jesus to death. See, this was following Jesus' death by a couple of months. His death, but then also his resurrection.

And then now with this first Holy Day that they would come to the spring Holy Day that year, or not the spring, but the summer, early summer Holy Day of Pentecost. In the year following Jesus' resurrection, you see in verse 22, Peter says, you better Israelites, listen to what I have to say. Jesus of Nazareth, a man of attested to you by God with deeds of power and signs and wonders that God did through him among you, as everyone knows. In verse 23, this man handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.

You crucified and you killed by the hands of those outside the law. You took him to the Romans and they killed him. But he says in verse 24, God raised him up having freedom from death because it was impossible for him to be held by death. Now, he was clearly just making a statement about the fact that Jesus was the Son of God. And Jesus had just been crucified and then a few days following that, God resurrected him from the dead. But what I'm pointing out is here in verse 23. Peter said this came about. Jesus, not only life but his death and his resurrection, this came about by the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.

And see, that's what we study whenever we study the Holy Days. Whenever we study what the days, whether they're in the spring or in the summer or later in the fall, how these Holy Days that God gives us, how they picture a plan, how they picture a meaning, and then how they are extremely beneficial for all of us. See, God's purpose for man involves the power of the Holy Spirit actively working in each of our lives. It's not a matter of just the fact that, well, the Holy Spirit is what makes the Church what it is.

That's somewhat of a general statement. The power of the Holy Spirit has to be actively working in you and in me. And I hope that we can think about how much power, how much power God has extended to us to use in his service and to grow in his divine nature. I wonder, whenever we read the Scriptures, and even as you see Peter in a sense being quite bold and quite dogmatic in what he just had to tell the religious leaders that he spoke to, they're going to be, when you read on down in chapter 22, they're going to be pricked in the heart.

They're going to be affected by what Peter had to say. They're going to be convicted by God, at least some of them are, those who welcome the message. They're going to be transformed. And we often think about Peter and his transformation, but I want to ask us specifically how did the power of the Holy Spirit change the heart and the mind and the motivation of Saul, of Tarsus? We usually focus on Peter and what he did and said on the day of Pentecost, but I want to focus on the Apostle Paul, the one who was formerly named Saul of Tarsus.

And I'd like for you to think about Saul because he's quite a notable figure in the Bible. Not Saul in the Old Testament before a king before David, but Saul of Tarsus, the one who would become known as the Apostle Paul, the one who would write 14 books in the New Testament, the one who would go through all kinds of suffering as he took the gospel message of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God to the Gentile world.

Now he had somewhat of a unique upbringing. He was clearly a Pharisee. Why would God choose him? Well, I hope in going over some of this today that we can learn about Saul of Tarsus, and we can learn about the Apostle who would write books that are so beneficial to church congregations that he worked with, but then also to individuals, to Timothy, to Titus, to Philemon.

He would be writing books that would be a part of the canon of the Bible that were specific letters to these individuals that he was teaching and training and guiding in their development of the divine nature. He's also quite a remarkable individual. And actually, you see, and again we've already had pointed out that Luke, who was a physician, although he was not an apostle, he may have been a disciple, he had to be around, he had to be clearly aware of most everything that was being done around the life of Jesus.

But he later would, at the direction of Theophilus, he says, I'm going to put this together. Maybe we could even go and look at that in Luke 1. Luke 1, you see in the first few verses what Luke says.

Luke wrote the Gospel of Luke, which is an account of the life of Jesus. He had to be writing that from, if not eyewitness, at least from information from others and maybe from recording of others. But he says in the first few verses of Luke 1, since many have undertaken to set down an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as they have handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants to the Word.

Again, he says, I've heard a lot of this directly from the apostles. He says, I too, in verse 3, decided, after investigating everything carefully from the very beginning, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the truth concerning the things about which we've been instructed.

And here he's writing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He's writing about the life of Jesus and about things that happened. And of course, he's writing about the birth and then ultimately the teaching of Jesus and finally his death. All of that is contained in the book of Luke. But then you find in the beginning of the book of Acts, him writing a continuation. That's what he says. That's what Paul read earlier. He read about how it was that Theophilus was the one that Luke was writing this book of Acts for, so that he would be able to know not only the information about Jesus, but about the church. The church, because that's what the 28 chapters of the book of Acts, that's what the chapters are about. They're about the development of the church. They're about the growth that God caused the church to have.

They're about not only the Jewish world, but the Gentile world. And ultimately it's about Paul's travels. His travels that in many ways we find that God was fully directing. I don't think he even knew sometimes exactly where he was going to head or what God was going to allow. But ultimately, we find that he was to be in Rome, and he would later take the Gospel even beyond that. What I want us to look at is, as I said, Luke records several different accounts of the transition that Saul went through. And I ask us, are we familiar with these accounts? Because they, I think, are very telling. Very telling indeed. If we'll turn over to Acts 9, this would clearly be the one that would be most familiar with perhaps many of us. But I ask that we continue to read it, because I mentioned what this says here in Acts 9 about the conversion, the initial conversion of who would later become Paul the Apostle. And then I say that Paul himself related some of this same information a couple of additional times, and he adds a little bit more information. And I hope to point out some things that perhaps we haven't thought of, or maybe we haven't been reminded of recently. But I do want us to think of this here in Acts 9, starting in verse 3. It says, now, as he was going along and approaching Damascus, and so Saul was heading toward Damascus from Jerusalem, it says, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him, and he fell to the ground and heard a voice, saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he said, who are you, Lord? He appeared a little puzzled right then. Clearly, God was getting his attention. He went on in verse 5 to say, who are you, Lord? And the reply came, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Of course, that was what he was doing. He was chasing down those who would believe in Jesus Christ. But I want you to get up in verse 6 and enter the city, and you will be told what you're going to do. And so you can see this was, of course, a dramatic transition. This was a dramatic change that was going to take place. But I point this out because there was a great deal of power that was used in getting Saul's attention, and then actually causing him to change from what he had been to what God wanted him to be and what God wanted him to do. And so we read in verse 9, Saul got up from the ground. They took him into Damascus. In verse 9, for three days, he was without sight and he wasn't eating, he wasn't drinking, he was fasting. He was blinded by this light. And if we jump down to verse 10, you see the description there of what God told him about a disciple in Damascus. There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias.

Ananias says, here I am, Lord. The Lord said, get up and go to this street called Straight. Go to a house, the house of Judas, and look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. And at this moment, he is praying, and he has seen a vision. A man named Ananias coming in and laying his hands on him so that he could regain his sight.

And so, when I read this, it's just almost dumbfounding to think that Paul has been the one who would become Paul. I'll probably mix up those two names because he isn't called Paul until kind of mid-Acts. But he's called Saul here right in this account.

And Saul is on his way to Damascus to persecute Christians. And he finds that Jesus Christ intervenes in his life in a dramatic way. And he is then, for three days and three nights, fasting. And clearly, he's praying. God is getting his attention.

God is calling him to his service.

And in verse 13, Ananias answered and said, Lord, I've heard about this man. How much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priest to bind all who invoke your name. The Lord said to him, Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel. I myself, in verse 16, will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.

See, here Paul was getting into something he had virtually no inclination to do. But God was going to bring him to conversion. God was going to bring him to a transition in his life. And whenever it says, at this moment, Saul is praying, I think about the fact that clearly God knew that.

He was telling Ananias, Saul is praying. Does God know when you're praying? Does God know when I'm praying? He clearly knew when Saul was praying. And clearly this was a significant event, I will say. But I think we also should think, well, God does know. He does hear. He is involved in our lives. And as he points out in verse 15, that he had chosen Saul to be a servant.

So in verse 16, we see what happened. I, myself, will show him how much he must suffer. And Ananias went. Verse 17 entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul. And he says, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, whom you appeared, or who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight, and so that you may be filled with the Holy Spirit. Now, was Saul looking for the Holy Spirit?

Was he out to try to get something for himself? Well, no, he wasn't. But here in this case, God had sent Ananias. And he said, I've come to lay my hands upon you, and so that you will receive your sight, but that you will be filled with the Holy Spirit. And immediately, something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored, and he got up and was baptized. And so you see a, even though you see a quite a common pattern where someone repents and is baptized and receives the gift of the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands, that's a common pattern you find in the book of Acts, and almost always is the case with us today.

In this case, Paul was dramatically affected by the coming of the Spirit, and he realized, I have to be baptized. Now, how much did the Jews know about being baptized? Well, I know they knew something about it. They were familiar with that activity. But this was different.

Paul knew, I need to be obedient. I need to be in submission. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength. And in the latter part of verse 19, for several days, he was with the disciples in Damascus.

And it says immediately, he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogue, saying that Jesus is the Son of God. And all who heard him were amazed. And they said, isn't this a man who made havoc in Jerusalem among those who invoke the name of Jesus?

And has he not come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priest? And Paul became increasingly more powerful. And he confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was a Messiah. And so it says, after some time it passed, even the Jews. See, he had others with him who were of his own thinking in the past, those who were out to persecute Christians. The Jews plotted to kill him, but their plot became known to Saul, and they were watching the gates so that they might kill him, find him and kill him.

But the disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket. And so you see different occasions here, or different incidents that I'm not going to focus on, but you can follow this history pretty easy. You can see what it was that was happening. And what we find here in verse 23, as we jump on down to verse 26, it says, when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples, but they were afraid of him.

They wouldn't believe that he was a disciple. Now, the sequence here, it kind of leaves something out. Luke does not record what Paul later reveals about his training. So here you see a dramatic intervention from God. And I don't know if any of us think back on our conversion. Surely we don't think back of it in exactly that same way, because none of us were struck down in that way. None of us were blinded.

I wouldn't think at least. I certainly know that I was not, but I know that there was a transition taking place in my mind. There was a need that I had come to see, that I needed God, that I needed the Holy Spirit, that I needed to repent. And of course, that's consistent with what we see here.

But you find that Luke, in this case, right here between verse 25 and verse 26, you find that Luke has not recorded everything that Paul later reveals about his training. He was later going to go to Jerusalem, and yes, the church was going to be afraid of him. But let's take a look at what Paul says. Here in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians 15 is, of course, a book that Paul wrote. He wrote it to the church in Corinth, a somewhat troubled church, one that was struggling.

They were not making a smooth transition. They were struggling with the learning that they needed to do to be solid Christians. But here in chapter 15, I think all of us know this chapter is about the resurrections. It's about what Paul would say and teach, and it in many ways is a basis for the understanding that we have in the Bible of the resurrection from the dead, and how, sure, that resurrection is.

But here, this is what I want to point out here about what Paul had to say. In chapter 15 verse 3, he said, I have handed on to you, Corinthians, as of first importance what I in turn had received. And so he was telling them, you know, this is what I had been taught. This is what I have been instructed in. He says, Jesus Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scripture. He was buried. He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scripture. And so this was clearly his explanation in brief of what Jesus had gone through, his death, his resurrection, his burial, and then resurrection. And he goes ahead to say, after that, in verse 5, he appeared to Peter, and he appeared to the twelve, and then he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time. See, he's relating information that you can verify as you go back and see who it was that Jesus appeared to, and how he appeared to his disciples numerous times on and off. Again, Paul read of one of those times here in the first part of the book of Acts, how that he would continue to interact with his disciples during the days between his resurrection and the day of Pentecost. During that time, he saw them a number of times, and it talks about a group of five hundred brethren who were well aware of Jesus' resurrection, most of them who are still alive, even though some of them have died. But he says in verse 7, then he appeared to James, and then he appeared to all the apostles. And then in verse 8, last of all, last of all, as of one untimely born, and as of one born out of season, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God, but by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. See, here Paul makes a statement that I saw Jesus. I saw him after. Now, he could have easily been referring to what we read in Acts 9, where Jesus interacted with him, but it was almost like this was just a sudden blow, and he was blinded, and he then had to be led by his cohorts into Damascus, and Ananias had to come and lay his hands on him to receive the Holy Spirit. Now, that didn't sound like a lot of interaction with Jesus Christ.

And yet, we do also find, when we go back to the book of Galatians, another one of Paul's books, Galatians chapter 1 gives even more details, and this actually fits in there in the book of Acts chapter 9.

Between verse 25 and verse 26, you see what it was that Paul actually experienced, and you actually find that Paul was given a lot of training. He was given more training than we might ever imagine, but here in Galatians chapter 1 and verse 11, he says, He says, I want you to know, brethren, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin. And so he said, I didn't just come up with this. I didn't just hear it from somebody else and think, oh, that's good. I'm going to pass that on. He said, the gospel that I proclaim to you is not of human origin, for I did not receive it from a human source, for I taught it again from a human source, but I received it through a revelation from Jesus Christ. So here he is saying that, you know, I've spent time with Jesus Christ. I have been given revelations and visions. I've been given instruction that I am to pass on to you as the servant of God, as the servant and apostle to the Gentiles. And he says in verse 13, he's going to explain this, verse 13 down to verse 24, he says, you've heard no doubt of my earlier life in Judaism. And I was, I was, I would think he's almost having to spit these words out of his mouth. I was violently persecuting the Church of God, and I was trying to destroy it. And I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my fathers. See, he was, he was in a sense kind of explaining to the Galatians, the people who were a part of the Church that he very much loved and wanted to nurture and guide. He says, I want you to know that what I've given you is it didn't come just from a human origin. It came from Jesus himself.

It came from revelation of Jesus teaching and training and guiding me.

And he says in verse 15, when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, when God was pleased to reveal his Son to me so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with any human being. Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me. So here he's explaining, even though what we read in Acts, he eventually did get to Jerusalem, but there was a time frame that he's going to account for here that you don't see Luke writing about in the book of Acts. He says, I didn't go up to confer with another human being, nor did I go to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away at once into Arabia. And afterwards I then returned to Damascus.

And then after three years, I did go up to Jerusalem. So here he's given a time frame, he's giving some information about where he was and kind of what he was doing. Now it doesn't directly say that I'm in the desert in Arabia for three years. You see the time frame here. He surely was sent into Arabia and they're taught by Jesus Christ through revelation from him for a period of time. But he says, after I was in Arabia, however long that was within that three-year time frame, then I came back to Damascus and I continued to teach or work with the church, the people who were believers, and as he was to do, he was going to preach even to the Jews who, as I read, they got pretty tired of him pretty quick and they plotted to kill him, those who were in Damascus. But here you find Paul saying that during this period of time immediately after I was initially brought to see my need for God, I was taught by Jesus Christ through the power of the Spirit of God. God works through his Spirit. He continues to teach. And so we see Paul talking about or declaring that he had been in Arabia, that he had been taught by Jesus Christ, and that he had received a revelation from Christ about how it was he was going to achieve a mission. How it was he was going to go through what we might say would be one of the most remarkable, one of the most remarkable transitions ever. Here he was violently persecuting the church. And he's now been called by God to be the recipient of a Holy Spirit and to be an apostle to the Gentiles. See, that's amazing to me to just think about the type of transition, the type of power that God has whenever he wants to achieve something of importance. Clearly this was important. We see it recorded in the Bible so that we know what is possible when we believe God. In this case, Paul was brought to where he truly did believe God. He was brought to where he would truly surrender to God. So what I want to point out in the remainder of the sermon today is pretty much bringing all of us to a recognition of what God did and how it was that he taught Paul. And maybe we should go back to the book of Acts again, Acts 9. This fits in here where Paul is teaching that Jesus is the Son of God there in Damascus in verse 20. In verse 21, people were amazed about that. And the Jews are upset with him. You actually find everybody is upset with Paul. The church is upset because they don't know whether to trust him. The Jews are upset because he appears to be a traitor. And later you find, I guess in verse 29, he spoke and argued with the Greeks. And they were wanting to kill him too. He didn't have hardly anyone on his side except Jesus Christ and except the Spirit of God that was lifting him up and empowering him. You see, in verse 23, the Jews trying to kill him, them thwarting a plot. But then in verse 26, he says, then I went up to Jerusalem. And in verse 27, Barnabas took him and brought him to the disciples or apostles and described for them how on the road he had seen the Lord who had spoken to him and how in Damascus he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus.

And so Barnabas was actually a big help to Paul. He was quite an encouraging and comforting individual. He was a very seemingly tender person. He was committed to helping Paul. And yet you find, if we go back to Galatians again, he says, after three years, I did go up to Jerusalem, Galatians 1, verse 18, to visit with Peter.

And I stayed with him for 15 days, but I didn't see any other apostles except James, the Lord's brother. For what I'm writing to you, verse 20, before God, I don't lie. See, Paul was writing this and he said, you may not believe it. You may not comprehend just how I've been taught through revelation by Jesus Christ.

But this is what I tell you is true. And I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia and I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. They only heard it said that the one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith that he once tried to destroy.

And the church was excited to see that. The church was glad to see this transition that was taking place in Paul's life.

But the two things that I want to point out to you is just how powerful the Holy Spirit is.

How powerful the Spirit of God is to reach Saul's heart and mind.

This is the first point I want to make. The Holy Spirit is a power that was able to turn anger toward God because that's where Paul was.

He was angry with God. He was upset with the Christians. He was upset with them believing in Jesus.

God's going to turn that around and he's going to cause Paul to be a most endearing, a most loving, a most nurturing, a most committed servant of God. He does this through the power of the Holy Spirit.

See, this transition from threatening and killing Christians to loving and nurturing the church is what the power of the Spirit of God is able to do.

We need to think about this in our own lives. I'd like for us to go back and just take a look at what the words are.

We've read some of these already. But I want us to take a look. We can look in the book of Acts here.

Because this book of Acts is the history of the New Testament church. It's beginning in chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost.

And then you see other activities that involve Peter and John and involved Stephen and involved Philip.

You see several different individuals mentioned.

You find here in chapter 7 Stephen being brought before the council and of course ultimately put to death.

Stephen was a martyr for his commitment to Jesus Christ.

But I want to read what it says here because this is where Paul was. This is where Saul was.

Saul was a Jew. He was a Pharisee. He was highly schooled. He was a linguist.

He had in many ways great ability and certainly he had a great deal of zeal.

Let's see his own description here in Acts chapter 7 talking about Stephen.

It says in verse 58, they dragged Stephen out of the city and began to stone him.

And the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.

This is one of Saul's assigned duties. This was one of his commissions from the Jews.

He was out destroying what they felt was a threat. What they felt was against their authority and against their religion.

Verse 59, while they were stoning Stephen, Stephen of course prayed and said, Lord Jesus received my spirit. And when he knelt down, he said, Lord don't hold this sin against them.

But when he had said this, he died. In verse 1 of chapter 8, Saul approved of their killing him.

Again, we want to see exactly how much in a fit of anger toward God, toward Stephen, who was an admitted servant of God, a follower of Jesus Christ. See, this was where Paul was.

Saul approved of their killing him. And that day a severe persecution began against the church in Jerusalem. And all except the apostles were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria. And devolved men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation over him. But in verse 3 Saul was ravaging the church by entering house after house, dragging off both men and women, committing them to prison.

What type of activity could you say Saul was involved in? Well, he was in a real rage. And actually when you go on over to chapter 9 in verse 1, Saul still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. So he went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues of Damascus so that if he found any who belonged to the way, see that's a description you find in several different places here in Acts as far as the church, the way of life that God caused people to live when they became committed to Jesus Christ. But if they found any who belonged to the way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

See, we read in 1 Corinthians where Paul said, I persecuted the church of God. And in Galatians we read in chapter 1, verse 23, the one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith which he tried to destroy.

See, what kind of transition was going to be needed? Well, it wasn't just something that Saul could do on his own. It was something that only could take place through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, through the power of God, that he would change from having such anger toward God and such anger toward the believers who followed God, and that he would later become an apostle. If we look here, you can read this in many of the different letters that he wrote to the churches, but one of the sections that we could easily read here is in the book of Thessalonians.

Thessalonians, the first book of Thessalonians. You see, this was written again by the Apostle Paul. We read part of this, I think, even last week. And it says in verse 4 of chapter 2, just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the message of the Gospel, we speak not to please men, but to please God. And if we drop down to verse 5, as you know, as God is our witness, again, Paul is saying this to brethren.

He's saying this to the congregation there in Thessalonica. One that, when you read in the book of Acts, he has been very instrumental in raising up. He was there, he went there, he was preaching. People were drawn into the church by God. They were called. And he wanted them to be there, to be stable. He wanted them to be growing.

He no longer had the hatred toward God. He no longer had the carnal-mindedness that we see so easily described by his anger toward the church and toward God. But he says in verse 5, as you know, as God is our witness, we never came with words of flattery or with the pretext for greed. Nor did we seek praise from mortals, whether from you or others, though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ.

So he said, we came to you and we spoke to you the truth. We gave you the message of Jesus Christ. We gave you a message about the kingdom of God. We gave you the message that you need to repent and that you need to be converted. That's what he had told them. And he said, even though we could have made demands of you, he had the authority from Christ.

It says in verse 7, we were gentle. We were gentle among you. Like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children. Now, what kind of change had taken place? What kind of power had God instilled in the Apostle Paul to change him from such a hostile, angry, hate-filled mind to where he now, as a servant of God, would describe, I came to you like I was coddling a little baby.

Like I was nurturing that baby like a nurse would take care of the baby and watch over that baby. He says, we were gentle among you like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children so deeply. Do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the Gospel, but also our whole lives? Because you have become very dear to us.

What kind of transition had taken place? Well, I would say the power that comes from the Holy Spirit is what caused a change in Paul's heart, in his mind, in his attitude, in his way of viewing the mission that God had given him. And then, of course, the type of love that he was to have for others and that he was to represent because he, in many cases, writes about, you know, you've seen our example, you've seen the faith, and you've seen the love, you've seen the care, you've seen us put ourselves out for you.

He was appealing to the church to, I want you to grow. I want you to develop in a divine nature that is possible through the help of the Holy Spirit. I know what God has done in my life, and I know he can do that same type of thing in yours. He goes on in verse 9, You remember our labor and toil, brethren. We work night and day so that we might not burden any of you while we proclaim to you the gospel of God, and you are witnesses, and so is God.

How pure and upright and blameless our conduct was toward you believers.

What a remarkable transition. What an unbelievable conversion. Not only the initial part of it, which was astounding, but even beyond that. How God trained him, Jesus revealed to him his purpose and his mission. He gave him insight and understanding. See, Saul wasn't there when Jesus was training the original apostles. He wasn't there with Peter and James and John. I would assume, and I don't know this, I would assume he was in Tarsus. I would assume he wasn't even in Jerusalem. But he came to Jerusalem whenever his anger, and actually in defense of his past. See, that's why he was so angry. He defended or wanted to defend Judaism. He wanted to defend his role as a Pharisee. He didn't want to be told, you're wrong and you need to change. He didn't want to be told that. See, brethren, every one of us have come to a recognition of our lives that we need to change. We need that transition. We need to see where we're wrong. We need to see what God holds out before us. But as we go on here, he says, You are witnesses in verse 10, and God is as well how pure and upright and blameless our conduct was toward you believers. As you know, we dealt with each of you like a father with his children. So here he not only talks about the nurse tenderly caring for a little child, but he talks about how that as a father would nurture a child and care for that child and provide for that child and is so concerned about the growth and the development and whenever someone falls and gets hurt. That hurts a child. That hurts the parents, too. That hurts the father or the mother because they care and they love that child. But here he says, you know how pure and upright and blameless our conduct was toward you believers. And as you know, we dealt with each of you as like a father with his children. Verse 12, urging and encouraging you and pleading that you lead a life worthy of God who has called you into his own kingdom and glory. See, these are Paul's descriptions of how he felt, what he thought, what God had put in his mind, what the Holy Spirit had empowered him to have the love of God for the members of the congregation, not only here in Thessalonica, but in many of the congregations that he dealt with. And we truly see that the power from God is able to turn us from bad attitudes, wrong angers, wrong insights, can turn us into having the love of God, having what Paul describes here as being a deep, deep love for the brethren.

The second thing I want to point out, and I'm not going to have the time to go through much of what we read here in the book of Acts, about Paul defending himself, whether it was before Felix or Festus or Agrippa, these are all later on in the book of Acts. I'm not going to go into all of those, but you see Paul recounting this story about what God did to me. Or, probably he was referring to what God did for me, although he does talk about it as far as what I went through, the transition that I have experienced, the transition of conversion. And I want us to look briefly here in Acts chapter 26, because here in Acts 26, Paul has been accused of the Jews, he's been brought to the Roman officials, he's been brought to the tribune and later the governor, and finally King Agrippa, is who you find here in chapter 26. Paul is verse 1, he's been given permission to speak for yourself. Agrippa said to Paul, and you find that Paul is later going to talk about why he was there, he's going to talk about what had happened, he's going to talk about how he persecuted the church, how wrong that was, how that my anger toward others had to be repented of, and how I'm now simply the servant of God, and I am going to tell you about Jesus Christ, I am going to tell you about the kingdom of God. And here as he relays, verse 17, let's see, chapter 26, see if I can pick this up here. Okay, in verse 17, Paul is saying that he was told, I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles to who I am sending you, to open your eyes so that you may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. See, this was again a way that Paul understood what God had done. He had been wrapped up in his own human nature. He had been wrapped up in his own wrath and anger. He had been wrapped up in the power of Satan. He had been turned to God so that you might receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who were sanctified by faith in me. This is how it is that Paul was relaying what had happened to him. And in verse 19, King of Grippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. He said, I paid close attention to what God showed me as Jesus knocked me down and caused me to be blind and later trained and taught me to be his servant. And he says in verse 20, But declared first to those in Damascus and then in Jerusalem and throughout the countryside of Judea and also to the Gentiles that they should repent and that they should turn to God, and they should do deeds that are consistent with repentance. Here, as he is before King of Grippa, again a Roman ruler, he's telling them what the gospel is. He's telling them that they need to repent. And he says in verse 21, For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and they tried to kill me. And in verse 22, Verse 22, to this day I have had help from God. See, that's something all of us could write out. I have had help from God. If we're converted, we didn't do that on our own. We did that as God initiated a calling and as he blessed us with a gift. He blessed us with a gift of the Holy Spirit. And as Paul says here in verse 22, I have had help from God. And so I stand here testifying to both small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would take place, that the Messiah must suffer, and that by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light, both to our people, the Jewish people, and also to the Gentiles.

See, he points out how that he had been given help from God. And see, we never want to forget that without God's help, without His Spirit, we're not going to make the transition on our own. We want to ask that God will cause that transition to take place because we are seeking His help, as Paul says, He very greatly had.

You also find when you read through Romans chapter 7 and Romans chapter 8, and we won't have time to do that right now, but when you read through Romans 7, you see, he describes a struggle against wanting to obey and then not being able to. See, he said that for every...

I guess we have to go to at least some of it since I can't quote it. Here in Romans 7, verse 14, we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh. I am carnal, sold into slavery, under sin. Romans 7, verse 14, I don't understand my own actions.

I don't do what I want, but I do the very thing that I hate. See, here he's describing a struggle that he sees very clearly in his own life. He says, I cannot win. I cannot succeed without help. And he says, we drop down to verse 23, I see in my members a bore going on. And in verse 24, Wretched man that I am, who will rescue me from this body of death? And thankfully he answers that by saying thanks be to God, that it is through Jesus Christ our Lord, that I can be rescued, that I can be transitioned into a converted mind, that it is through the power of God, that that will happen.

And then, of course, chapter 8 ties together with chapter 7 because he says, without God I can't do it. With God, I can. In verse 5 of chapter 8, Those who live according to the flesh have set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.

And to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. Verse 9, You are not in the flesh, but You are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in You. He says, Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him. It's the amazing transition he makes even from Romans 7 to Romans 8, because he says, I am a victor. I am a victor and I am able to succeed. I am able to overcome. I am able to obey. See, on our own we don't obey. We struggle.

We trip up. We stumble. We fall. But with the power of the Holy Spirit, and as he says here in verse 9, If the Spirit of God dwells in us, then we set our mind on the Spirit. We set our mind on the things of God. And in verse 14, of course, it says, All who are led by the Spirit of God, they are the children of God. See, God's plan for Paul involved a change in his heart, in mind, in his motivation.

His purpose for Paul involved a good deal of suffering and struggle. But Paul was happy to talk about it. He was happy to proclaim it. He was happy to say, by the help of the Spirit of God, I will grow, and I did grow in the divine nature. And brethren, that same Spirit, that same Spirit, God is extended to us. That same Spirit. Now, we haven't gone through exactly the same thing Paul did, thankfully. Because he went through far more than we might ever imagine, although we don't know what we're yet to go through.

But see, the Spirit of God should never be underestimated. And I will simply close with a statement that Jesus makes here in Matthew 19. Matthew 19, you have an account of a rich young ruler, a man who wanted to know what he needed to do to have eternal life. And Jesus said, you need to keep the commandments. And of course, he didn't even really understand how to do that. He said, I've been doing that all my life. He really didn't comprehend what Jesus was saying. And he said, I want you to sell everything you have and give it away. And of course, he was not wanting to do that because he was very wealthy.

But as Jesus discussed this with the disciples, they said, boy, who could possibly be saved? Who could possibly have salvation? Well, Jesus answers that question. They ask it in verse 25, who could be saved? Jesus looked at them and said, well, with mortals, with men, this is impossible. But for God, all things are possible. And so, brethren, we want to be thankful as we celebrate this Feast of Pentecost this weekend, as we think about what it is that God has done, not only in Paul's life, but in our lives, that we remember that for men, it is impossible.

With God, everything is possible because he is able to empower us with a power that is so great. As it worked in Paul's life, it can also work in ours.

Look forward to seeing all of you tomorrow. We'll have another day full of studying the Word of God.