Good morning, everyone.
In all ages, Christians have found great encouragement
in hearing the testimonies of how other Christians
came to know Christ.
One testimony I frequently call to mind
is that of an early theologian named Justin.
He tells us that he was converted to Christ
because he saw Christian after Christian
being led away to die for the sake of Jesus,
all while staying steadfast in their faith.
And Justin was so amazed, he became a Christian himself.
I frequently remember, too, a certain testimony
of a woman named Nino, a slave woman back in ancient Georgia.
And she converted the royal family of Georgia
through her diligent prayers.
Then there is the testimony of Frumentius.
He was a slave in the royal household of Ethiopia,
but far from becoming embittered against his enslavers,
he shared the gospel with the prince of Ethiopia.
And the prince of Ethiopia believed in the prince of peace,
our dear Jesus.
And from there, the gospel spread to that African country.
I recall, too, a man named Mar-Aba.
He was a zealous persecutor of Christians in ancient Persia.
And one day, after persecuting a Christian,
that Christian forgave him.
And Mar-Aba was stunned.
And he soon became a Christian himself.
Friends, these kinds of testimonies,
they continue in modern times, as you well know.
Richard Wurmbrandt, one of the great heroes
of the 20th century church,
he was a Jewish atheist.
He was highly educated.
But one day, an uneducated farmer
had the audacity to give him a Bible.
Richard had read the Bible many times before,
but this Bible was different,
because as Richard says,
this Bible was given to him in love.
And Richard wept as he read of Jesus,
and he was converted to Christ.
I also often remember the testimony
of a man named Watchman Nee of China.
His mother had recently become a Christian,
and after administering to him
an unjust punishment,
she became convicted of her sin.
She returned and apologized to him.
And Watchman Nee was so amazed
at this Jesus who had transformed his mother
that he became a Christian.
And then he became a leader in the Chinese church.
Nowadays, as you know,
you can often hear testimonies from people
in their own words online.
And unexpectedly, recently,
I encountered one such testimony
when I was listening to the sermons
of Martin Lloyd-Jones,
a famous preacher in the 1950s.
Evidently, a few years back,
an organization had Lloyd-Jones' sermons
digitized and put online.
And when I was browsing through them,
I heard the testimony of the man
who was paid to digitize the sermons.
He was not a Christian,
but they hired him to digitize the sermons anyway,
and a good thing, too,
because by the time he had finished
listening to Lloyd-Jones' sermons,
Lloyd-Jones had led him to Christ.
Sometimes, the online testimonies
that strike you to the heart are anonymous,
and you don't even know who is sharing.
I recall once reading a testimony online
by a woman who said that she became a Christian
in large part because she was working
at a small company which was making job cuts,
and the manager asked all the workers
to vote on who would lose their job.
So they colluded together,
and they all voted for the one Christian
in the office,
and the Christian was let go.
But instead of lashing out,
that Christian threw a goodbye party
and invited all those who had voted against him
and welcomed them joyfully into his home.
And she was amazed.
Friends, there are many things
about these testimonies that encourage us
and that challenge us.
They show the awesome power of the gospel
where people are led to repent of their sins,
to forgive their enemies,
to remain steadfast in the face of death,
to love deeply their neighbors,
to persist in prayer,
and to preach with great conviction.
In fact, Martin Lloyd-Jones,
that famous preacher I mentioned,
after I listened to one of his sermons,
he inspired me to preach this sermon
and to draw material from it.
All the testimonies I've mentioned,
they give different beautiful reasons
for why people convert to Christ.
But in this diversity,
there is one deeper theme
threaded through them all,
and motivating them all.
Despite their differences,
the ultimate reason
why all these people convert to Jesus
is the same.
And in fact, the same reason
is not just present in these testimonies,
but in all testimonies,
including yours and mine.
The ultimate reason
for why we come to Christ
is nothing less than God
stepping into our lives,
God intervening in our hearts
to turn us from our sins
and to welcome us into his kingdom.
And it is the same for everyone, friends.
At the end of the day,
the all-embracing foundational reason
for why we come to Christ
is that God rescued us,
God washed us,
God made us clean,
God forgave us of all our wrongs.
And in his good providence
and in his grace
through his son Jesus,
he restored us.
The foundational reason
why we came to Christ
is not due to us,
but due to God.
And what testimony
can be more encouraging than that?
Friends, with this in mind today,
we read perhaps
the greatest testimony ever given.
We read the testimony
of Saul of Tarsus.
Saul was a murderer.
He persecuted the early church.
He assisted in executing Stephen,
the first Christian martyr.
But then as the Bible says,
Jesus intervened in Saul's life.
He appeared to Saul.
He transformed Saul.
He turned him from Saul of Tarsus
into Paul the apostle.
And Paul went on
to preach the gospel for decades.
And he went on to write
many letters of the New Testament.
And I want to encourage you
this morning
that what Jesus did for Saul,
though he was the worst of sinners,
he also does for you,
though you be the worst of sinners.
In fact, Scripture tells us
that Saul's conversion
is an example for us
to follow and to consider.
Paul explains this himself
in his own words
that we heard earlier this service.
He says in his letter to Timothy,
I received mercy for this reason,
that in me,
as the foremost of sinners,
Jesus Christ might display
his perfect patience
as an example
to those
who are to believe in him
for eternal life.
Scripture itself declares
that Paul's testimony
is an example
for all of us who believe.
So this morning,
we will take Paul's testimony
as this very example
as we look to Christ
and as we walk with him
and as we come to him.
Would you join me in prayer?
Father in heaven,
we come to you humbly
and we ask that your Holy Spirit
would be with us,
would empower us
to hear your words
and to see your face,
to be convicted of our sins,
but to feel your loving embrace
of mercy and forgiveness.
Lord, I pray
that your Spirit
would be heavy upon us
with conviction
and with joy.
And we pray this
in the mighty name of Jesus.
Amen.
Paul's testimony
is so important
that it's repeated
three times in the Bible.
And this morning,
we will focus
on the third time
Paul gives his testimony.
And this is in the book of Acts,
chapter 26,
which can be found
on page 879
of your pew Bible.
That's 879.
Acts, chapter 26.
We'll begin in verse 9.
Paul is standing trial
for his faith in Christ,
and he makes his defense
before King Agrippa
in these words.
He says,
in verse 9,
I myself was convinced
that I ought to do many things
in opposing the name
of Jesus of Nazareth,
and I did so in Jerusalem.
I not only locked up
many of the saints in prison
after receiving authority
from the chief priests,
but when they were put to death,
I cast my vote against them.
I punished them often
in all the synagogues
and tried to make them blaspheme.
And in raging fury against them,
I persecuted them
even to foreign cities.
In this connection,
I journeyed to Damascus
with the authority
and commission
of the chief priests.
At midday, O King,
I saw on the way
a light from heaven
brighter than the sun
that shone around me
and those who journeyed with me.
And when we had all fallen
to the ground,
I heard a voice saying to me
in the Hebrew language,
Saul, Saul,
why are you persecuting me?
It is hard for you
to kick against the goads.
And I said,
who are you, Lord?
And the Lord said,
I am Jesus,
whom you are persecuting.
But rise and stand upon your feet.
For I have appeared to you
for this purpose,
to appoint you as a servant
and a witness to the things
in which you have seen me
and to those in which
I will appear to you,
delivering you from your people
and from the Gentiles
to whom I am sending you,
to open their eyes
so that they may turn
from darkness to light
and from the power of Satan
and to God
that they may receive
forgiveness of sins
and a place among those
who are sanctified
by faith in me.
Therefore, O King Agrippa,
I was not disobedient
to the heavenly vision,
but declared first
to those in Damascus
and then in Jerusalem
and throughout all
the region of Judea
and also to the Gentiles
that they should repent
and turn to God,
performing deeds
in keeping with their repentance.
When reading this passage,
most people are immediately
struck by the extraordinary things
that happened to Saul of Tarsus.
But our goal this morning
is not to focus
on the miraculous elements
of the story,
the flash of light,
the appearance of Jesus,
the blinding, the healing.
Don't be distracted
by these things.
Because at bottom,
this story is a story
of the normal Christian conversion.
As I said earlier,
Saul became an example to us
about how we all become Christians
and how even after our conversion,
God again and again
intervenes in our lives
to turn us from our sins,
to welcome us into his kingdom,
to wash us and to make us clean,
and to forgive us of all our wrongs.
This morning,
using Saul as an example,
we will walk through his testimony
and we're going to see
five points or stages,
five moments
that we all go through
in our conversion to Christ.
And I should give you fair warning
that the first three of these
can be hard to hear,
but the last two
are glorious beyond words.
Let's begin with stage one.
Paul says in verse nine,
I myself was convinced
that I ought to do many things
in opposing the name
of Jesus of Nazareth,
and I did so in Jerusalem.
I not only locked up
many of the saints in prison
after receiving authority
from the chief priests,
but then when they were put to death,
I cast my vote against them,
and I punished them often
in all the synagogues
and tried to make them blaspheme,
and in raging fury against them,
I persecuted them
even to foreign cities.
This passage describes
what Paul was like
before his conversion.
Paul puts it this way.
He says that before Jesus met him,
he was trying to do many things
that were in opposition
to the name of Jesus of Nazareth,
and he was trying to do many things.
Now, I know many of you
have never tried to persecute Christians
and murder them
like Saul of Tarsus was doing,
but what is important here
is not precisely what Saul was doing,
but why he was doing it.
He says in verse nine,
I was convinced
that I ought to do many things
in opposing the name of Jesus.
A more literal translation is,
I thought to myself
myself that I had to do many things
hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
Why was Paul doing
these wicked things in unbelief?
He says he was simply doing
what he thought was best.
He was conducting himself
according to his own estimate
and according to what was good
in his own eyes.
And this is a problem
because it means that
before Saul's conversion,
he was the subject of all things.
God was merely an object
to be manipulated.
Just look at what this quote reveals.
I thought to myself,
I was convinced, Saul says.
Did Saul ask God
what was good?
Was Saul submitting himself
to the will of the Almighty?
No.
I thought to myself, he says.
He came to his own conclusion
about what was good
and what was evil,
what was right
and what was wrong.
He took his course of action
according to what he wanted to do,
not according to what God
wanted him to do.
This is our first point
to consider this morning.
Before we become
a disciple of Christ,
we are all just like Saul was.
We are all self-centered
and self-possessed.
When we are in a state of unbelief,
the world revolves around us.
We are the center of attention.
We do what is right
in our own eyes.
This is how we all were
before Christ.
And this is also
the same struggle we have
when we are backsliding
in our walk with Christ,
when we turn our attention
away from God
and to ourselves.
Then we do not trust in God.
Instead, we trust in ourselves.
We do not look to God
for what we should do.
And instead,
we delight in our own eyes.
For this reason, friends,
we must always ask ourselves,
am I trusting in myself
or am I trusting in God?
And so I ask you,
who is directing your path today?
Are you entrusting yourself to God?
Or are you doing what is right
in your own eyes?
Now, you might say
that you try hard to do good,
that you're very spiritual,
you follow a higher power,
you try to be unselfish,
you follow a particular teaching,
you put your whole life into this,
you do good works.
Yes, perhaps you make mistakes
here and there,
but you're doing your best.
And God can't possibly blame you
for falling short,
especially given how
devotedly spiritual you are.
But Saul of Tarsus,
when he was in a state of unbelief
and self-worship,
he was just as devoted
to spirituality
and to doing what he considered
to be good as any of you.
He tells us,
in his letter to the Galatians,
he says,
you've heard of my former life
in Judaism,
how I persecuted the church
of God violently
and tried to destroy it,
how I was advancing in Judaism
beyond many my own age
among my people.
So extremely zealous was I
for the traditions of my fathers.
But when he who had set me apart
before I was born
and who called me by his grace
was pleased to reveal his son in me
so that I might preach him
among the Gentiles.
Saul was zealous for doing
what he thought was good.
He was zealous for what he thought
was true spirituality.
But in all this,
Saul wasn't trusting in God.
Instead, he was doing
what was right in his own eyes.
And his beliefs and his traditions,
they might have had elements
of truth in them.
In fact, we know that the Judaism
of his day had profound truth,
divinely inspired truth.
But Saul was using these things
to further his own purposes
instead of furthering God's purposes.
And today,
the very same thing happens with us
when we walk in unbelief.
The very same thing happens
when we abandon God
and trust in ourselves.
It happens when we trust
in what we think is good
in our own eyes
and we trust in worldly teachings.
And it can even happen
when we claim to follow
the commands of Christ.
But in reality,
are merely manipulating Christ
for our own ends
and doing what we think is best
on our own terms
and not God's.
This is the first stage
when we are apart from Christ.
We find ourselves
to be worshiping the self.
We're inwardly focused.
We're manipulating God.
And then the second stage
in coming to Christ,
it happens like this.
Paul tells us,
in this connection,
I journeyed to Damascus
with the authority
and commission
of the chief priests.
And at midday,
O King,
I saw on the way
a light from heaven
brighter than the sun
that shone around me
and those who journeyed with me.
And when we had all
fallen to the ground,
I heard a voice saying to me
in the Hebrew language,
Saul, Saul,
why are you persecuting me?
Friends, the next step
in becoming a disciple of Jesus
has very little to do with you
and your effort.
Saul is on the way to Damascus.
He's journeying there
to do something terrible.
He's plotted this beforehand.
He's already murdered.
He has no problem
murdering again.
In that previous passage,
we read,
Saul already told us
what was going on
in his mind.
I thought to myself
I had to do many things
against Jesus of Nazareth.
He was doing everything
on his own terms.
He was the subject
and God was just
the decoration of his world.
And then due to no effort
of his own,
a flash of light
was around him.
He falls to the ground
and a voice cries out,
Saul, Saul.
And all of a sudden
in this second stage,
Saul of Tarsus
begins to realize something.
He begins to realize
that he is not
the subject of all things.
God is the subject.
God is the center
of all things.
Saul is no longer
the focus.
Saul is no longer
doing the talking.
God is addressing him.
The one who created
all the world
is speaking directly
to him.
Saul, Saul.
And the very same thing
happens to us, friends.
When God intervenes
in our lives,
the very same thing
must happen
if we are to become
a disciple of Jesus.
The outward events,
they may not be
so miraculous,
but at root
they are exactly the same.
You have your thoughts,
your beliefs,
your practices,
you do what is right
in your own eyes,
and then suddenly
it might be a certain hour,
a day, a week,
it might be over many months
or even many years,
but the light of Jesus
appears to you.
The light from his face
is blinding.
The power of his presence
forces you to the ground
and he cries out your name,
Saul, Saul.
And suddenly you find
that you are now no longer
the one who is talking,
you are listening.
God is intervening in your life.
Something is being done to you.
Becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ
is not about reforming yourself,
but about God reforming you.
Now you are the object,
God is the subject,
and you start to realize
that most profound
and precious truth
that what really matters
is not what you think of God,
but what God thinks of you.
and he doesn't think very highly
about what you have been doing.
Has Jesus called your name?
Have you been humbled before him?
Or are you still waiting for his power
to come into your life?
If you are waiting,
Scripture declares
that you are waiting
because you still aren't really listening.
For God speaks to all people.
In fact,
Scripture declares
the gospel has already been proclaimed
in many ways to all of us.
He has already spoken to you directly.
He's already come into your life.
In many ways,
he's already appeared to you.
And in this stage,
you realize that you missed it
because at bottom,
you really didn't want to see it.
The same thing, in fact,
happened to Saul of Tarsus.
This was not the first time
Jesus had appeared to Saul.
In fact,
this is not the first time
Jesus had appeared to Saul
in the book of Acts.
We see all this clearly
displayed several chapters earlier
in chapter 7 of the book of Acts
during the story
of the stoning of Stephen.
If we turn there in verse 54,
Luke says this.
He says,
When they had heard Stephen
say these things,
they were enraged
and they ground their teeth at Stephen.
But he,
full of the Holy Spirit,
he gazed into heaven
and he saw the glory of God.
And he saw Jesus
standing at the right hand of God.
And he said,
Behold,
I see the heavens opened
and the Son of Man
standing at the right hand of God.
But they cried out
with a loud voice.
They stopped their ears
and they rushed together at him.
And then they cast him
out of the city
and they stoned him.
And the witnesses
laid down their garments
at the feet of a young man
named Saul.
And as they were stoning Stephen,
he called out,
Lord Jesus,
receive my spirit.
And falling to his knees,
he cried out again,
Lord, do not hold this sin against them.
And when he had said this,
he fell asleep.
Well, there it is.
Jesus appeared to Stephen
and Saul was right there.
And Saul didn't see Jesus
because Saul was too busy
thinking about all the things
that he should do against Jesus.
Saul didn't hear Jesus
because Scripture says
he stopped his ears.
Saul was too caught up
in his sin to notice.
He was too full of himself.
He was not really listening
and he was not really looking.
My brothers and sisters,
all these points I'm making
about Saul of Tarsus
and his conversion
may be interesting
from a historical point of view,
but they won't help you at all
unless you answer this question.
Are you listening
for the voice of Jesus?
Are you looking for his face?
How many times has he appeared
to you already
and you missed him?
How often has he called your name
and you did not hear
because you were not listening
because you were so focused
on yourself and your sins?
He stands at the door and knocks.
Will you let him in?
Friends, we've seen two stages thus far
when we are converted to Christ.
First, we're in unbelief
and self-worship.
And secondly,
God begins to intervene
in our lives
and we begin to realize
that he is what matters,
not us.
And then if you're ready,
the third stage
in coming to Christ
proceeds like this.
When Jesus appeared
and he cried out,
Saul, Saul,
why are you persecuting me?
Then in verse 15
of Acts chapter 26,
Saul replies,
who are you,
Lord?
And the Lord said,
I am Jesus
whom you are persecuting.
In this third stage,
Saul begins to realize
that what he has been doing
is very wrong.
The third step
in our conversion
is the conviction
of our sins.
we see that all we've done
in our lives
have been tainted,
have been self-centered
and self-absorbed.
It's been wicked and evil.
And more than that,
we begin to realize
that all of these sins
we had committed,
we did not just do
against someone else.
We did them against God.
Saul, Saul,
why are you persecuting me?
Jesus explains this
in the Gospel of Matthew.
He says,
truly I say to you
as you did it
to one of the least
of these my brothers,
you did it to me.
The one thing
we hate above all others,
friends,
is to think of our sins
and to think of our sins
not as mistakes,
but as what they truly are,
sinful sins.
Because God knows
what you do
behind those closed doors
or in that dark room.
He knows all about
what happened years ago
to that person.
He knows all these things
and He knows
that whatever you did
against those people,
you really did against Him.
In this third stage,
we come to realize
that God knows
all about our sins.
We cannot hide from God.
We cannot hide our sins
from the Almighty
who is all-seeing
and all-knowing.
Everything will be proclaimed
from the rooftops.
Nothing is hidden from God.
And in this stage,
we feel the full force
of His gaze upon us
and it cuts us to the heart.
This is no better exemplified
than on that night
when Jesus was betrayed.
Jesus told Peter,
the apostle,
that he would deny Jesus
three times.
And the gospel tells us
that when Peter was in the courtyard
of the high priest
observing the trial of Jesus,
that he did indeed deny Jesus
three times.
And immediately,
after the third denial,
Luke writes,
and the Lord turned
and looked at Peter.
And Peter remembered
the saying of the Lord,
how he said to him
before the rooster crows,
today you will deny me
three times.
And he went out
and wept bitterly.
Friends,
the Lord looked at Peter
and Peter was convicted
of his sins
and he wept bitterly.
And Jesus looks at all of us
while we are sinning
because all of us
when we sin
are actually sinning
against God.
Peter experienced
this gaze of Jesus.
Saul of Tarsus knew it too
and it blinded him.
And you,
Jesus looks at you also.
Saul, Saul,
why are you persecuting me?
But there is much hope,
friends.
When we feel this conviction,
when we feel the full weight
of our sins,
then thanks be to God.
We move on
to that fourth stage
in coming to Christ.
And what happens
in this stage
is shocking.
What does God do?
Does he condemn?
No, friends.
He forgives
and he commissions.
This is what Jesus
says to Saul of Tarsus
in verse 16.
Rise.
Stand on your feet.
I have appeared to you
for this purpose,
to appoint you
as a servant
and witness
to the things
in which you have seen me
and to those
in which I will appear to you,
delivering you
from your people
and from the Gentiles
to whom I am sending you,
to open their eyes
so that they may turn
from darkness to light
and from the power
of Satan to God,
that they may receive
forgiveness of sins
and a place among those
who are sanctified
by faith in me.
Jesus Christ came to earth
to save sinners
and to commission them
as ambassadors
of his kingdom.
Jesus forgave Peter
and commissioned Peter.
Now he forgives Saul
and commissions Saul.
And I tell you,
he desires to forgive you
and commission you
for his kingdom.
He wants to show you
all that has been appointed
for you to do.
Friends,
we serve a God
who delights in mercy.
He looked upon us
walking in darkness
as slaves to sin
and though we had wronged
him deeply,
he came down
in the person of Jesus,
the healer,
the savior,
to bind and restore
and renew
and reconcile,
to pay for our sins
and to give us new life.
Jesus is a gentle master.
We have wronged him much.
We know we have done wrong,
but he loves
and he longs to forgive
and commission us
in his kingdom
to spread his gospel
of the forgiveness of sins
to all nations.
The plain truth of the matter
is this.
While we were enemies of God,
Christ died for us.
What then can separate us
from the love of Christ?
Nothing, friends.
Nothing.
Hallelujah.
So then we've gone
through four stages.
The first
is being self-centered,
focused on the self,
self-worship.
The second,
you realize that God
is the subject
and what really matters
is not what you think of God,
but what God thinks of you.
And the third
is conviction of sins
and the fourth
is forgiveness of sins
and being commissioned
and appointed
into God's kingdom.
And now,
we come to that final stage.
After the Lord
steps into our lives,
after he forgives
and wipes away your sins,
then this happens.
in verse 19,
Paul says,
therefore,
O King Agrippa,
I was not disobedient
to the heavenly vision,
but I declared first
to those in Damascus
and then in Jerusalem
and throughout
all the region of Judea
and also to the Gentiles
that they should repent
and turn to God,
performing deeds
in keeping
with their repentance.
Paul says in his words,
I was not disobedient
to the heavenly vision.
He accepted his commission.
He accepted his appointment
from Jesus.
He traveled throughout
the Roman world
preaching that all
should repent,
preaching that they should
turn to the living God
and perform deeds
in keeping
with that repentance.
This is very different
than what Saul of Tarsus
was doing before.
Remember what he had been saying.
I thought to myself
that I had to do
many things hostile
to the name of Jesus
of Nazareth.
But now,
he's looking to God
for direction.
He's repenting.
He's submitting to his Lord.
He is saying,
here I am,
O God.
I am here to do
your will,
not mine.
And this friend
is the same
with you.
God is appointing you
to his service
and to his kingdom.
He is commissioning you.
Will you accept it?
He didn't care
that Peter was only
an uneducated fisherman.
He knew that Saul of Tarsus
had committed murder.
He knows you may be unskilled.
You may be afraid.
You may be young.
You may be old.
He knows you may be in school.
You may be retired.
You may be in poor health.
You may struggle with addiction.
You may be disabled.
You may have weak faith.
You may be the worst of sinners.
He knows all these things.
But God's purpose for you
is to convict you of your sins,
to forgive you,
to restore you,
to renew you,
and then to make you
his special instrument
to shine his loving
and glorious light
to others
and to spread the gospel
of mercy and peace,
the forgiveness of sins,
and the reconciliation
of sinners with God.
Will you accept this commission
of Jesus?
I tell you,
there's nothing better.
I remember 23 years ago
when Jesus intervened in my life,
when I was in college,
walking in darkness,
absorbed in my sins,
and then Jesus Christ
stepped into my life
and convicted me of my sins
and then forgave me of my sins
and appointed me to his service.
And I tell you, friends,
this world is not worthy
to be compared
to the kingdom of God
and to the service of Christ.
Lastly, friends,
when you are appointed
to the service of Christ,
you will make the same confession
that Saul of Tarsus made
in his first letter to Timothy
that we heard earlier.
where he said this,
I thank him
who has given me strength,
Christ Jesus our Lord,
because he judged me faithful,
appointing me to his service,
though formerly I was a blasphemer,
a persecutor,
and an insolent opponent.
But I received mercy
because I had acted ignorantly
in unbelief.
And the grace of our Lord
overflowed for me
with the love and faith
that are in Christ Jesus.
The saying is trustworthy
and deserving of full acceptance,
that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners
of whom I am foremost.
but I received mercy for this reason,
that in me,
as the foremost,
Jesus Christ might display
his perfect patience
as an example to those
who are to believe in him
for eternal life.
Hallelujah, friends.
Let's pray together.
Oh, Lord Jesus,
thank you that you love us enough
to convict us of our sins.
Thank you that in your love
you came to wash
and renew and rescue.
Father, I pray for those of us
here today
who do not know you.
We ask that you would
illuminate them
and turn them to you
and to your kingdom.
Father, we also pray
for those who do know you.
Lord, we pray
that you would help them,
urge them on
in their walk with Christ.
Help those of us
who are backsliding
and encourage us
in the faith
to not grow weary.
Lord, we pray
also
that you would help us
to share your gospel
of peace and forgiveness
with this world.
We pray that you would give us
a special anointing
of your Holy Spirit
to do that this week.
And we pray this
in the mighty, mighty name
of Jesus.
Amen.