Paul: The Model Christian

[0:00] Please be seated. It is the Passover today as well.

[0:12] ! We are going to talk about this morning on Paul, the model Christian really, the model Christian.

[0:35] And Paul shows us just how a model Christian looks like. We read about him in Acts 20 from verse 17. You might want to turn to Acts 20 together.

[0:47] And from verse 17 it talks about how Paul called the elders of Ephesus as he was about to leave there and journey on to Jerusalem and ultimately grown and his death.

[1:02] And Paul relates to the elders at Ephesus about how he has lived. And we'll pick it up from verse 19. Paul says this, How he has been serving the Lord with all humility of mind and with many tears and temptations which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews.

[1:22] Paul had suffered much. The Jews had often plotted against him. And he goes on to say how he stuck with it. He stuck through this time, through this time, stuck out with this ministry that God had given to him.

[1:36] Despite all those things which we'll talk a little more about later. With all humility of mind, with many tears and temptations. Verse 20 says, And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you and taught you publicly, and from house to house, testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ.

[2:04] And now behold, I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there.

[2:16] Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth that in every city, save that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things move me, neither count on my life dear unto me, myself.

[2:31] So that I might finish my course with joy. And the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.

[2:43] Now we know the story of Paul as he was known as Saul at first. How really, it pictures how a terrorist became an evangelist.

[2:55] It was a transformation. It's been put that conversion is the certainty that what you were does not determine what you are. And what you are does not determine what you will be.

[3:09] I'll say that again. The certainty that what you were does not determine what you are. And what you are does not determine what you will be. Conversion.

[3:20] You can be changed. You can be made different. And your life can move in an entirely different direction. And that's why I haven't seen Paul. The Lord Jesus not only changed his name, but changed his life.

[3:32] It was conversion. I've heard it put that you can imagine when Paul was promoted to glory, when he entered heaven's gates as it were, when he entered the presence of the Lord.

[3:44] And those that had gone before that knew him. Amongst those that would have greeted him and celebrated Paul entering heaven would have been possibly some of those that he martyred.

[3:57] He was part of the martyrdom of Stephen in effect. And others that he'd pulled from their houses and dragged to prison and to torture death.

[4:09] They would have greeted Paul as now a saved man. And Paul demonstrates for us what the model Christian life looks like. He lived that life.

[4:20] The life of Paul speaks to us today, even you and me. We can learn from Paul. He says, copy me, imitate me. That's what he writes in 1 Corinthians 1 verse 11.

[4:31] He says, being followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. And saying really, imitate me, copy me. If we are told to be like Paul, then we ought to see how he lived.

[4:44] Take some note of that. See how we can apply what Paul lived in our own lives. He shows for us what it looked like to be a true servant of the Lord.

[4:55] And we're going to look at a few things that stand out on that thing. He says, of serving the Lord with all humility of mind. Serving the Lord with all humility of mind.

[5:06] This is Acts 20 verse 19. And with many tears and temptations. Paul's life was a life dedicated to serving the Lord with humility of mind.

[5:17] Friends, every Christian is a servant of God. Every one of you that believe, that know him. You are his servant. The servant of the Lord. And Galatians 5 verse 13, it says, by love serve one another.

[5:32] Friends, we're all servants of the one master. The Lord Jesus, who himself took the form of a servant. He was the master with a capital N. And he became a servant of all, didn't he?

[5:45] He came in that lowly place. He took upon him the form of a servant. The word servant here, doulos, it means a voluntary slave. One who had the option of liberty, but chose to serve.

[5:58] This is not a slavish servanthood. This is a glad, joyful servanthood. A privilege to be, as it were, serving the King of Kings and the Lord of Lawless.

[6:10] Imagine if you got a phone call from Buckingham Palace saying that you're invited to being a servant of the Queen. You'd say, yes, I'll gladly take such an honoured place, as it were, in the scheme of things.

[6:24] Kind of parallel of what it would be like, wouldn't it? To be chosen to be his servant. That's a wonderful joy. It's not a slavish thing, to be his servant. To be a servant of God.

[6:35] Think of it as his servants. We're purchased by the master. We're called to obey the master. And we're dependent upon the master. And as servants, we give up our own will to the will of the master.

[6:47] Gladly so. We're devoted to another. To disregard our own interests. Paul talks about a humility of mind. As a Christian, we are called to be such. With humility.

[6:58] To have a humble opinion of ourselves. A deep sense of our littleness. We're called to a virtue such as modesty. Of humility.

[7:10] Of lowliness of mind. It's interesting that the name Paul means little. As I said just last week. Paul tells us how he served humbly.

[7:22] With three things I'll put to you that we can mark down today. That stand out to me about the servanthood of Paul. And what we can do.

[7:33] As we ought to copy Paul. As he calls us there, as we read again. To be followers of Paul. As it were. As he is a follower of Christ. And the first thing I'd like us to notice here is Paul's tears.

[7:47] Verse 31. It says of Paul. As Paul writes here. It says, The Bible talks about our tears.

[8:04] And tears. And tears. It speaks of sensitivity, doesn't it? Of that natural rawness of our emotion. Of that sensitivity unto God.

[8:16] And that sensitivity unto others. We ought to have that. Church. Amen. We ought to be a church that has that sense of. Godly emotion.

[8:28] The tears. And can we as a church have that kind of. Sense of conviction. Of compassion. Of care. Tears show up.

[8:40] As we have a holy conviction about our sin. We think of some instances where people wept. When the rooster crowed. Peter was out there.

[8:52] And immediately. It struck him. The Lord had prophesied. When you hear the rooster crow. It would speak to you. Speak to you.

[9:03] And it spoke to Peter. As it. As it spoke to him. Of his denial of Christ. It spoke to Peter. Of his own sinfulness. And it says in Matthew 26. Verse 75. As he was challenged in the court there.

[9:15] And he denied the Lord. He went out. And it says. He wept. Bittery. There was bitter tears from Peter. We see another instance. When the sinful woman. Realised her utter need of the Saviour.

[9:27] She washed the Lord's feet. With her tears. Tears. And wiped them with the hair of her head. That's Luke 7. 38. Another instance where. Godly tears.

[9:38] Tears of. Of repentance. Tears. Of. Conviction. When Nathan challenged David. He also wept at the depth of his sin.

[9:49] 2 Samuel 12. Verse 7. Tears are good. When they're in a godly vein. Think of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. As he looked over the city.

[10:01] Of Jerusalem. In Luke 19. Verse 41. The Lord Jesus looked out. And he surveyed the city. And it says. He could see. It's. You could sense that he could see.

[10:13] It's rebellion. And it's impending doom. And he wept. Over the city. Think of Nehemiah. To some of those. To some of those.

[10:24] To some of those. To some of those. To some of those. To some of those. To some of those. To some of those. To some of those. To some of those. To some of those. To some of those.

[10:35] To some of those. To some of those. To some of those. To some of those. To some of those. To some of those. To some of those. To some of those. To some of those. To some of those.

[10:46] To some of those. To some of those. are prompted by God. Paul talks about many tears, many tears. Paul's worth tears of warning, as it reads here, as he would warn everyone, night and day, with tears.

[11:04] So Paul was a man who was weeping quite a lot, it would seem. Here his warning message was going unheeded, and he wept. People were in danger, and he wept.

[11:16] And friends, we have that same stirring message to deliver. You know, as we go out Saturdays, sometimes you think how grievous it is. You weep for these ones, really.

[11:28] But once you say, not interested, you think, well, one day you will be interested, but it won't be in time.

[11:39] And how sad, how sad it is when you see such that we oppose the gospel, we reject the saviour. It's time for a sad, sad heart.

[11:54] There was an old-time evangelist called Uncle John Vassar. I don't really know much about him, but he was, apparently he was described as one of the greatest soul winners of his century.

[12:05] And this man, I'm told, would go door-to-door distributing tracts and speaking with people as opportunity came. And when Uncle John Vassar was in town, excuse me, there was an Irish woman who'd heard about this strange man entering the houses of the town without introduction, knocking on the door.

[12:27] And she said, if he comes to my door, he shall not be kindly treated. The next day, with no knowledge of this threat, he rang her bell.

[12:40] Ding dong. I'd like to give you sound effects now. She opened the door and when she recognised him, she slammed the door, bang, in his face.

[12:51] Nothing dawns that he sat upon the doorstep and sang, said, But drops of grief can ne'er repay The debt of love I owe Dear Lord, I give myself away Tis all that I can do He said, but drops of grief Can ne'er repay The debt of love I owe A few weeks later, this woman was converted And as she gave her testimony, she'd only say between her sobs Twice those drops of grief They burnt themselves into my heart Friends, tears are a good thing, aren't they?

[13:39] Let's gladly serve our Lord with tears What does it say here? It goes forth bearing precious seed And weeping, isn't it?

[13:50] There's a sense where we are moved by God To tell As Uncle John Vassar So let's gladly serve our Lord with tears And also, no matter what's against us Paul tells us of serving the Lord with all humility of mind And with many tears And, secondly, temptations Temptations Trials and tests will dog our steps They will face you You that believe Life is not always pleasant and comfortable The word temptation It can mean a trying A trial As it reads in 1 Peter 4 verse 12 through 13 Peter writes He says Beloved, think it not strange Concerning the fiery trial Which is to try you As though some strange thing happened unto you But rejoice in as much as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings That when his glory shall be revealed You may be glad

[14:51] Also With exceeding joy Peter tells us of a fiery trial He tells us of a trying of your faith It's that same word of temptation Of trial Of testing, in other words Life can be a test James echoed these thoughts as well In James 1 verses 2 to 3 it says My brethren, count it All joy when you fall into diverse Temptations Or, you know, different kind of temptations Different kind of trials Different kind of sufferings He says Knowing this That the trying of your faith And work of patience The trying of your faith Again, the same word of temptation Of trial As Paul speaks of Friends, serving God will bring times of trial You know, friends Believers here today Do not be deterred If you face trial God's in it God's in it You know, some of you are facing Some operations For medical procedures

[15:53] There's unknown things Some of you are going through Some family heartache There's tough things You've got situations at home That are hard to handle Children that need special attention But we know life is full It's filled with trials Of many kinds Paul says it James says it Peter says it Serving God Will bring even more Such times of testing A trying of your faith Think of what Paul endured This model For us Paul Paul knew what it was To suffer For Christ It's interesting He was one Who was A violent persecutor Of the church And he Started to cop it Himself As we read In 1 Corinthians 4 It tells something Of the trials Of his life Paul writes this In 1 Corinthians 4 From verse 9 He says I think that God Has set forth Us apostles Last For as it were

[16:54] Appointed to death For we are made A spectacle Unto the world And to angels And to men He says That this is They really stand out As really A stand out thing A spectacle And he says Verse 10 We are fools For Christ's sake But ye are wise In Christ We are weak But ye are strong Ye are honourable But we are despised He is using Kind of Illustrative Language Here And he goes On to say What he goes Through He says Even unto this Present hour We both hunger And thirst And are naked And are buffeted And have no certain Dwelling place He is saying He is suffering Privation Hunger Thirst Lack of clothing Being struck Homelessness Yeah So he is really Doing it Tough here Verse 12 And labour Working with our own hands Being reviled We bless

[17:54] Being persecuted We suffer it Being defamed We entreat We are made As the filth Of the world And are the off Scouring Of all things Unto this day Treated like Off scouring Scum Treated like Filth Treated like Deerth You could put it And then It says Another Occasion Where he Tells of his Ministry Of his trials He talks further In 2 Corinthians 11 From verse 23 He talks about Labours more Abundant Of strikes Above measure So being flogged In prisons More frequent In deaths Off He says Of the Jews Five times Received I forty stripes Save one So thirty-nine Lasses On his back Verse 25 Thrice was I Beaten with rods Once was I Stoned Thrice I suffered Shipwreck A night and a day I had been in the deep So he's there

[18:54] On the high seas As the ship Went down He was there Bobbing up and Down Yeah Got away with Words here Thanks for that You're thinking Just what I want To say Okay Verse 26 It talks about In perils In perils Perils of waters In perils of robbers In perils of One own countrymen In perils by the heathen In perils in the city In perils in the wilderness In perils in the sea In perils among false brethren In weariness and painfulness In watchings often In hunger and thirst In fastings often In cold and nakedness Besides those things That are without That which cometh upon me daily The care of all the churches And Paul had His hands full there With much responsibility And with much attack Perils From every which way

[19:56] And what an example He is to us And he says That in humbleness of mind That he had many tears And he had temptations Or trials So as Christians We are caught to Endurance And perseverance I can't imagine Really What Paul went through But yet there are Christians Who are going through Such things Even As we speak I know I've been getting As I've mentioned Lately Reports from Myanmar Where People are in danger Of their life Friends As Christians We are called to Endurance And perseverance Now You've probably heard About the missionary David Livingston The great Scottish missionary To Africa And if you bear with me I'm just going to read Some Description

[20:57] About the life Of David Livingston People know of him As an explorer But really He was much more Than that He was a missionary With God's heart For the lost Sixteen years After his first Journing Into Africa Livingston Returned to Scotland For a time of rest And speaking engagements And he was Asked to speak At the University Of Glasgow And if he knew What awaited him He might have Declined that invitation Because it was The custom Of the undergraduates In those days To heckle the speakers That came And they were well Prepared for this preacher They had pea shooters You know Toy trumpets Rattles And noisemakers Of every description They were set To make fun of him Livingston Walked out Onto the platform With the tread Of a man Who had walked Eleven thousand miles And his left arm Hung limply At his side Having been almost Ripped off his body

[21:58] By a huge lion And his face Was a dark Leathery brown From sixteen years In the African sun And was furrowed With innumerable lines From the bouts Of African fever Which had wrecked And emaciated his body He'd been attacked By the savages By the Turks Who plied their Vicious slave trade He was half deaf From rheumatic fever And half blind From a branch That had slapped him In the face In the jungle And the students Stared And they knew That he was the life That was literally Burnt out for God Not to rattle moved Not a foot shuffled A hush Crept over the vast auditorium And they listened In rapid silence As David Livingstone Told his journeys About the tremendous needs Of the vast African population Shall I tell you?

[22:50] He asked What sustained me In the midst of these toils Hardships And incredible loneliness It was a promise A promise of a gentleman Of the most sacred honour It was this promise Lo I am with you Always Even unto The end Of the world Born in Blantyre Scotland In 1813 Livingstone Had dedicated himself To Christ At an early age The great missionary To Africa Robert Moffat Came to Livingstone's town And spoke And he often And he said Often as I've looked To the vast plains Of the north I have sometimes In the morning sun Seen the smoke Of a thousand villages Where no missionary Has ever been No missionary Has ever been Livingstone Set sail Soon after For Africa He plunged into the jungle From the south And found it impenetrable

[23:51] After numerous hardships He finally opened A way into the interior A huge lion Almost ripped his arm From his body And left him Permanently crippled But also brought a blessing In disguise For while he was Recuperating Robert Moffat Came and brought His beautiful daughter Mary To care for him And for David It was love At first sight Soon they were married And she shared His zeal and concern For the evangelisation Of that large continent Of Africa Unfortunately The months of hardship And toil Were too much For Mary They had watched One of their children Dying As they attempted To cross one Of the vast deserts Of Africa A burden That almost crushed Livingstone Finally there came The most difficult decision Of his life To send his wife And three children Back to England How difficult was the burden That he was to bear Perhaps the most cutting of all Was the criticism That he had left his wife

[24:52] And children To go rambling About Africa Because he really Did not love them But his letters Tell a far different story My dearest Mary I see no face now To be compared To that sunburnt one Which has so often Greeted me With its kind looks Gather the children Around you And kiss them for me And tell them That I love them And that I have left them For the love of Jesus And they must love him too For five long Agonising years He never saw his wife And his children Then the time came When finally He was going home Home at last With great expectation He burst into his old home In Glantyre To find it empty They had just buried His father And this man Who had faced The spears Of hostile savages And the roaring Of wild beasts Without so much As blinking Fell down And wept like a child After months Of sweet fellowship With his family His dreams again Haunted him The vision of a thousand

[25:53] Villages In the morning sun And so with great Agony of heart He set sail For Africa again The years passed And when the children Were old enough Mary wrote That she would Be able to come And be with him For months She sailed upon the ocean And up steaming African rivers Finally To be greeted By her husband Only to be smitten By a grievous fever Night after night Day after day He sat up With his beloved wife And wiped her fevered brow Slowly she worsened And she breathed Her last Mary Was dead David Livingstone Buried her Under a huge Bayop tree And fell on that Mound of dirt And again He wept His body was broken His loved ones Were gone He seemed alone Discouraged Was he overcome Listen to the words He wrote in his diary My Jesus My King My all My life I again Cosecrate my life To thee I shall place No value On anything

[26:54] I possess Or anything I may do Except in relation To the kingdom Of Christ When he arrived At Uchichi Nader stole His spoon And worst of all They stole His medicine chest And the quinine And other medicines To heal Those terrible Fembers For Livingstone It was a sentence Of death And he cried out Oh God You promised To be with me For five years He'd not seen The face of a white man And now in the midst Of the interior Of Africa He looked up From that prayer And saw a white face Walking towards him It was Henry Stanley Who uttered Those unforgettable words Dr Livingstone I presume Stanley had searched Until he found him Brought medicine And wholesome food And nursed him Back to health For four months Henry Stanley Lived in the same hut With Livingstone And Stanley Described himself This way I was the biggest Swaggering atheist That could be found In all of the world

[27:55] But Stanley Could find no fault In Livingstone's life His compassion His earnestness The quietness With which he went About his work The sympathy That he showed To all about him Quickened the sympathy In Stanley's own heart And he said Finally After all these months Livingstone Converted even me To Christ Livingstone Livingstone however Would not return To civilisation But plums deeper Into Africa And for him The end was approaching His diary says Lord help me To finish Thy work This year To thine honour And so he did He came to the place Where his strength Was completely spent His feet were Lacerated with boils All his teeth Loosened and fell out He could neither Walk nor stand He could not go And not a step Livingstone commanded His friends To put him on a stretcher And carry him onward Deeper and deeper Into Africa He plunged on a stretcher Propped up And proclaimed He proclaimed The riches

[28:55] Of the gospel of Christ To all with whom He came into contact Finally During a night of prayer Livingstone Passed from This life Into the presence Of Jesus Christ Livingstone died On his knees He lived his life And he left his life In the presence Of him who said Lo I am with you Always 39 years He charged 29,000 miles Upon the face Of the continent Of Africa And light shined In the darkness 2 million Africans Were brought to the gospel And the light Continues to shine Today What a testimony What a testimony Friends God sustains us Through trials Livingstone David Livingstone Is just one example Of countless We could share Of the sustaining Grace of God Through trial Brother Sister Let's gladly Serve our Lord With tears And also No matter what The temptations The trials The test Whatever we may face

[29:56] Let's also Not hold back From testifying The third point Of this model Christian Is not only Did he have tears And temptations Or trials But he also Had a testimony He was intent On testifying And Acts 20 Verse 20 It says I kept back Nothing that was Profitable unto you But I've showed you And I've taught you Publicly And from house To house Verse 21 It says Testifying both To the Jews And also To the Greeks Repentance Toward God And faith Toward our Lord Jesus Christ And then Verse 24 As he talks About those things That he went through He says But none of these Things move me Neither count On my life Dear unto myself So that I might Finish my course With joy And the ministry Which I've received Of the Lord Jesus To testify The gospel Of the grace Of God Friends Paul held Nothing back

[30:56] He pulled out All the stocks It says In Acts 18 Verse 5 Paul was Pressed in the Spirit Testified To the Jews That Jesus Was the Christ And it says Also in Acts 20 Verse 27 I have not Shun to declare Unto you All the counsel Of God He declared The whole counsel Of God Friends Paul knew He knew That he had To fully deliver That message That he was Charged with And is it Any different For you and me He proclaimed The biblical message Without fear Or favour Paul was Testifying In other words Witnessing Giving testimony Of repentance Toward God And faith There's great need Of this same message Today Amen The same message Is still a critical Need That Christian life Is meant to be A witness There's a great need

[31:57] Of being a witness Someone said this The average church Member has listened To 6,000 sermons Heard 8,000 prayers Sung 20,000 hymns Over and over And asked Zero Persons To accept Christ As personal Lord and Saviour It's a telling Remark Isn't it We can Be Really We can be Fully busy In church Activity But Not Testify Not testify All of us Have that same Assignment We've got that Same mission To communicate The gospel Will we Will we Testify Will we Speak out For Christ To tell of this One Who God sent Into the world To The word Became flesh He dwelt amongst us Because of Christ We can know What truth is What forgiveness is What grace is What love is What salvation is

[32:57] Who God is God wants His word in us To communicate His word Through us Let me tell you Another story now If you'll Bear with me Really another Example of One who put This Model Christian Life into Practice And He was one Who testified In a kind of Unusual way And Here's a picture Of the chap A fellow in Alaska And he's been Throwing the word Of God Into the ocean For a third Of a century Missionary Everett Back elder He operates A gospel Home In A place Called Nob Which is In Alaska And He's tossed More than One thousand Mayonnaise jars And ketchup Bottles You know Sauce bottles Into the Bering sea Gets these Bottles And he puts Scripture messages In them Written in A hundred Languages And wind And waves Carry these

[33:58] Bottles All across The ocean To carry The story Of God's Love To the far Corners Of the earth And they Bring responses From as far As 10,000 Miles away Think of that In this Gospel home They've got Children there Who help The man I think he's Passed away Now But Help Forward up These messages And put them In bottles And in jars And bottles And seal them And throw them Into the ocean And it's been A rewarding Experience One bottle Was taken From the Atlantic Ocean A decade 10 years 10 years After Back Elder And tossed Her into The icy Bering waters And a man In Singapore Singapore Destroyed over A romance Gone sound He was about To commit Suicide By jumping Into the Waters From a Cliff When he Saw a Bottle There He saw A bottle Wash up Against the Rocks Below And he Was deciding To leave He said Well when That bottle Breaks

[34:58] I'm going To jump And he Was waiting And waiting And the Bottle Just wouldn't Break It was Lapping Up against The rocks Beneath Him He was Watching it Hit the Rocks Again and Again And it Wasn't Breaking So Curiously He was Very Curious He climbed Down From the Cliff And he Saw the Messages He saw The bottle Had a Message In it And he Opened The bottle And he Saw That it Related To the Word Of God And this Man Who was About to Commit Suicide He Sought out A missionary In Singapore And got Saved It had Taken Ten Years I don't If you Can See That Yeah Ten Years Here's a Picture Of where That bottle Traveled Ten Thousand Kilometres Ten Years He Got To the Foot To the Foot Of that Cliff Just At The Right Time For that Man To get The Message Now Friends The Message Must get Through To Man And he Doesn't Normally Use Vessels Of Glass He Uses Human Vessels Doesn't He He

[35:58] Uses Human Vessels Such As You And me He Uses Human Vessels To carry The Message Whether You Be Like Paul Tells Of Him He Was One Who Was Serving The Lord With All Humility Of Mind He Had Many Tears And Temptations Or Trials And He Was One Who Was Testifying Both To The Jews And To The Greeks Repentance Toward God And Faith Toward Our Lord Jesus Christ Friends Paul Says Follow Me As I Follow Christ Paul Says For You To Follow He Is A Pattern For Us If We Could Do Well To Take A Page Out Of Paul's Book And Be Like Paul Of The Bible Friends I Pray You Be Challenged In That Regard There's One Notice I Neglected To Mention Is Next Saturday We Got A Special Outreach Day Peter Gregory He He's The One

[36:58] That's A Burning And Shining Light In The Corner Witnessing Day Next Saturday You Can Join And Learn Just Come Tag Along Even If You Say Nothing To See Others Witnessing What's The Plan Peter Come Tell Us Nine O'clock Elizabeth The Way Cafe Come And Meet Us There You Get A Free Brekkie See Brother Peter For Info But It's Just One Opportunity Honestly You Might Say Look I Don't Know How To Witness I Wouldn't Know What To Say Come And Learn Come And Join In I Encourage This I Find It One Of The Most Joyful Things In My Life As Much As They Might Reject To Be A To Tell People Tell People Testify Amen Let's

[37:58] Be Like Paul Serving The Lord Tears The Christian Life Can Bring Tears Good Tears Tears Of Conviction Over Your Sin Tears That Will Make You Want More Of Jesus Tempt Tempt Trials Test Things Tough Things God Is With You Like He Was With Livingstone And You Can Be A Testifier You Can Bear Testimony You Can Be A Witness Testify You Got A Testimony To Tell Testify Step Out Of The Comfort Zone And See What God Can Do Through You let's pray Lord we thank you for the testimony of Paul Lord of the witness of his life one who was a Christ rejecter a persecutor of the church and one who was a great enemy of the gospel yet Lord you turned his life completely around and gave him a new name a new heart a new life he was born again

[39:04] Lord we pray each one might know that wonderful trust of believing faith that sees the heart transformed and made new Lord we thank you that it was the grace that took you to the cross as we heard earlier today that the grace held you there the love for us held you there that we can be saved that trust your work that finished work of the cross Lord we pray for everyone here present they might know what it is to say Lord Jesus I believe you died on the cross for my sin and I trust in you to save me I believe thank you Lord that you can make us new creatures by the virtue of that precious blood of Jesus shed for us and help us Lord to put these things into practice Lord help us in some small measure to be like Paul in our lives ahead we are Christ and Christ we pray amen we are