An introduction to the gathering and a discussion about the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union, including Yuri Gagarin's historic space flight. A discussion of C.S. Lewis's response to Soviet propaganda and his analogy of God's relationship to the universe as an author's relationship to a story. An exploration of the parallels between Dante's Divine Comedy and the perception of Christ as God, drawing a comparison to the perception of God in space. An overview of the main idea in the Bible passage, focusing on the importance of sharing one's testimony and how it relates to the Apostle Paul's actions. A recap of the events in Acts Chapter 21, including Paul's arrest and the chaos that ensued at the temple in Jerusalem. Paul's defense and testimony, including his background, encounter with Jesus, and the transformation in his life, followed by a personal testimony shared by Dan Mearhead.

Introduction and Space Race

A reflection on the challenges within the church and personal disconnection from it. A heartfelt prayer for guidance and a plea for a Christian partner. An unexpected encounter at church leads to a new chapter in life. Life changes and challenges, including the impact of COVID-19 and personal spiritual growth. A transformative experience of reading the Bible and a call to serve in a new way. A creative approach to engaging children in church and sharing human aspects of biblical stories. Embracing a new role in church and expressing love and transparency within the community. An invitation to embrace faith and experience the love of God. Encouragement to continue growing in faith and sharing personal testimony. Encouragement to write and share personal testimony, reflecting on the power of God's story. Highlighting the significance of personal testimony and its impact on others. A prayer for guidance, understanding, and faith to act on personal beliefs.

Struggle with Church

- The speaker discusses the space race and the Soviet Union's atheistic propaganda
- C.S. Lewis's analogy of God's presence in the universe
- The importance of sharing one's testimony and how to prepare and share it
- Recap of the previous events in Acts chapter 21
- Paul's defense and testimony in Acts chapter 22

- Paul shares his testimony to the Jewish crowd, focusing on his encounter with Jesus and how it changed his life
- He describes his background as a Pharisee and his zealous persecution of Christians before his conversion
- He emphasizes the dramatic encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus and the specific mission given to him
- The Holy Spirit's revelation of Jesus can happen in various ways for different people, leading to a life-changing conversion experience

- Every testimony of coming to faith in Christ is miraculous
- Faith is a gift from God, not something we achieve on our own
- Jesus changes lives, as seen in the transformation of Paul from persecutor to persecuted
- All stories of encountering Jesus are worth telling, including one shared by a man named Daniel Mearhead

- Dan felt angry and disconnected from the church due to disagreements and lack of guidance
- After praying for a Christian woman, he met his wife and started attending church again
- He found fulfillment in dressing up as biblical characters and sharing their stories with children
- Dan encourages transparency and love within the church community
- The sermon encourages non-believers to consider accepting Jesus and for believers to continue growing in their faith and sharing their testimonies

- The Holy Spirit will present opportunities for you to share your testimony
- You should depend on the Spirit's power for courage and conviction to share your story
- The speaker challenges the audience to write their testimonies using a three-step outline
- Sharing testimonies with others is encouraged for mutual blessing and practice
- Testimonies are powerful in witnessing to others about God's work in your life

- The speaker discusses the space race and the Soviet Union's atheistic propaganda
- C.S. Lewis's analogy of God's presence in the universe
- The importance of sharing one's testimony and how to prepare and share it
- Recap of the previous events in Acts chapter 21
- Paul's defense and testimony in Acts chapter 22
- Paul shares his testimony to the Jewish crowd, focusing on his encounter with Jesus and how it changed his life
- He describes his background as a Pharisee and his zealous persecution of Christians before his conversion
- The Holy Spirit's revelation of Jesus can happen in various ways for different people, leading to a life-changing conversion experience
- Every testimony of coming to faith in Christ is miraculous
- Faith is a gift from God, not something we achieve on our own
- Jesus changes lives, as seen in the transformation of Paul from persecutor to persecuted
- All stories of encountering Jesus are worth telling, including one shared by a man named Daniel Mearhead
- Dan felt angry and disconnected from the church due to disagreements and lack of guidance
- After praying for a Christian woman, he met his wife and started attending church again
- He found fulfillment in dressing up as biblical characters and sharing their stories with children
- Dan encourages transparency and love within the church community
- The sermon encourages non-believers to consider accepting Jesus and for believers to continue growing in their faith and sharing their testimonies
- The Holy Spirit will present opportunities for you to share your testimony
- You should depend on the Spirit's power for courage and conviction to share your story
- The speaker challenges the audience to write their testimonies using a three-step outline
- Sharing testimonies with others is encouraged for mutual blessing and practice
- Testimonies are powerful in witnessing to others about God's work in your life

It is wonderful to be with you all today.

I'm encouraged to see so many faces here.

I want to welcome everybody who's watching online to wherever you happen to be in the world, even if it is Myrtle Beach and you are less than Louise Mearhead.

At the time, the United States and the Soviet Union were engaged in a Cold War with 1 another.

That included this technological competition that we look to as known as the space race in which these 2 countries were competing with 1 another to see which would be the first to achieve space flight.

Traveling aboard the space capsule Vostok 1, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human being to cross the threshold from Earth's atmosphere into outer space.

And the Soviets, who followed an unofficial state policy of atheism at the time, quickly shared with the world that Gagarin said these words while he was orbiting the planet.

I went up to space, but I see no God here." It's no longer actually believed that he said these words.

But at the time, Soviet propaganda pumped out posters like the 1 that you see here, declaring in Cyrillic letters that there is no God.

Lewis penned an absolutely brilliant letter, an essay, in which he argued the following.

He wrote, looking for God by exploring space is like reading all Shakespeare's plays, in the hope that you will find Shakespeare as 1 of the characters.

Shakespeare is, in 1 sense, present at every moment in every play, but he's never present in the same way as a character like Falstaff or Lady Macbeth.

If God does exist, he's related to the universe more as an author is related to a story than as 1 object in the universe is related to another object.

So to look for God as just another object in the universe, Lewis explains, would be nonsensical.

He goes on to explain that 1 might imagine a story in which the dramatist introduced himself as a character into his own play and then was thrown offstage by the characters in that play as an imposter.

We have a real instance of this in Dante's Divine Comedy.

Here in that play Dante is both the muse outside the story, inventing the whole thing, as well as a character inside the story.

The other characters in the story hear and see and meet Dante, but they haven't even the faintest suspicion that he is making the whole world in which they exist and that he has a life of his own outside of it.

In a very similar way, Christ was perceived to be God by very few people indeed, perhaps for a time only by St.

Peter, who would also, and for the very same reason, have found God in space, so to speak.

For Christ said to Peter, blessed are you, Simon Peter, son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.

I share this anecdote with you today because our big idea in today's Bible passage is that each of us has a testimony, a life story in which God has revealed himself to us, that we must learn to share with the rest of the world so that they might believe in him and experience his love.

Through our text today in Acts chapter 22, we're going to examine why the Apostle Paul shared his testimony in the first place.

We'll look at what the distinct elements of that testimony are and we'll also learn a little bit about how to prepare and share our own testimony, our own story about how God is working in our lives.

By the end of our time together, it's my prayer that we'll all have a stronger conviction, that we too, like Paul, we have a story to tell.

We have to build an awareness of when to tell it.

And we also need to depend on God's Holy Spirit for the conviction and the resolve to tell it when the time comes.

Now, if you happen to be visiting here today, our church has been slowly making our way, chapter by chapter, through the New Testament Book of Acts.

It's the fifth book in the New Testament, following the 4 Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Today I'll be speaking from Acts chapter 22.

Before I do that, I think I should take just a short moment to recap all the action and all the drama that we heard last week From the exposition of Acts chapter 21 from my dear friend Stephen McCargue Now in Acts 21 the Apostle Paul having embarked on his third and final missionary journey through several countries around the Aegean and Mediterranean seas, he arrives back in Jerusalem to visit the remaining apostles and the church elders, and to also visit the large temple there.

Now, upon arriving at the temple, we see that the crowd and the whole city was stirred up by accusations against Paul.

We see that rioters had come running from all directions towards Paul.

These rioters seized him, they dragged him from the temple, they shut the gates outside the temple, and where they had opportunity, some of the rioters beat Paul.

Roman soldiers quickly intervened because their barracks were posted just outside the temple for cases just like this when things got out of hand.

They arrested Paul, they chained Paul up.

The Roman commander, trying to figure out what was going on, couldn't understand what was causing the ruckus because the noise of the crowd had gotten so great.

And so he ordered for his soldiers to physically pick Paul up and carry him to their barracks because the crowd was pressing in on them.

Paul was saved by the intervention of this Roman commander and his soldiers who seized him, arrested him, and intended to take them back to their barracks.

But Paul pleads with the commander and convinces him to address the crowd, which is where our text today begins.

So I'll be reading now in Acts chapter 22, starting at verse 1.

Brothers and sisters, excuse me, brothers and fathers listen now to my defense.

When they heard him speak in Aramaic the crowd became very quiet And then Paul said, I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city.

I studied under Gamaliel, and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors.

I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today.

I persecuted the followers of this way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into the prison as the high priest and all the council can themselves testify.

I even obtained letters from them to their associates in Damascus and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.

Now about noon, as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me.

I fell to the ground and I heard a voice say to me, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?

I am Jesus of Nazareth whom you are persecuting.

My companions saw the light but they didn't understand the voice of him who was speaking to me.

There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.

My companions led me by the hand into Damascus because the brilliance of the light had blinded me.

He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews there.

He stood beside me and said, Brother Saul, receive your sight.

And at that very moment I was able to see him.

Then Ananias said, the God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the righteous 1 and to hear the words from his mouth.

You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard.

Get up, be baptized, and wash your sins away, calling on his name.

When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance and saw the Lord speaking to me.

Quick, he said, leave Jerusalem immediately, because the people here will not accept your testimony about me.

Lord, I replied, these people know that I went from 1 synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you.

And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.

Then the Lord said to me, go I will send you far away to the Gentiles.

When Paul said this, the crowd listened to Paul until he said this.

Then they raised their voices and shouted, rid the earth of him, He's not fit to live.

As they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, the commander ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks.

He directed that he be flogged and interrogated in order to find out why the people were shouting at him like this.

That's the end of the passage that I'll be reading for today.

Today what we're gonna do with this passage is focus exclusively on what Paul refers to in Acts 22, verse 1 as his defense, his testimony, his story.

The first thing we're going to look at is why Paul shared his testimony.

Can I just say for starters that I'm absolutely astonished that Paul made the choices that he made in this passage?

Remember that the Roman soldiers were ready to physically carry Paul away from this bloodthirsty crowd to the safety and the privacy of their barracks.

And if I were Paul's lawyer, if I were nearby, I would have counseled him, keep your mouth shut.

We can plead your case, assert your Roman citizenship.

We could do all that in the privacy and peace and quiet of the Roman barracks.

But no, Paul asks to stay outside the temple, to stay outnumbered and in danger, and to address this crowd that very much wants him dead.

I want to suggest that Paul is being faithful in the telling of his story of who Jesus is and what he's done in his life.

Faithful, faithful to what or faithful to whom?

To understand how Paul is being faithful, we have to go back to Acts chapter 9, where Paul has this miraculous encounter with Jesus, which he described in his address to the crowd.

Jesus reveals his plans for Paul to the disciple Ananias in Acts chapter 9.

And during these 3 days in which Paul had been blinded by this light, Jesus appears to Ananias and he tells him in Acts chapter 9 verse 15 that this man, Paul, is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and to their kings and to the people of Israel.

And then Jesus says this, I will show him how much he must suffer for my name." As God's chosen instrument, Paul had most certainly preached the gospel and made disciples and trade leaders at this point among the Gentiles.

We read a lot about that in Acts chapters 13 all the way through 20.

But up until this point in his ministry, he had still not proclaimed the news of Jesus among the people of Israel outside of small rural synagogues around Asia and Greece.

In the coming weeks, we'll witness Paul fully preaching the Gospel of Jesus to God's people in Jerusalem all the way through until Acts chapter 26.

And beyond that, we'll see him preach Jesus in Rome in Acts chapter 28 at the center of the most powerful empire in the ancient world, just as Jesus had told Ananias that Paul would.

So let's look at Paul's testimony here as he presents it to the Jewish crowd here in Jerusalem.

As we break his story down, notice that it can be organized into 3 segments.

He'll talk about who Paul was before he met Jesus.

He'll describe how Jesus revealed himself to Paul, and he'll describe how Jesus has been changing Paul to be more like him.

We'll start by looking at who Paul was before he met Jesus.

Paul actually gives his testimony 3 different times in the book of Acts.

He explains it in chapter 9, in chapter 22, what we're looking at right now, and also in chapter 26.

And he also describes his past in many epistles that he writes throughout the New Testament.

In each version of his story, it begins very much focused on his identity, before he ever really knew who Jesus was.

He tells us about being born in the distinguished city of Tarsus and being raised in Jerusalem as an ethnic and a cultural and a religious Jew.

Paul also tells us about his education studying under the respected Pharisee Gamaliel, whom you could read about in Acts chapter 5.

As a teacher of the law honored by all the people, well respected, Gamaliel also personally intervened when the Sanhedrin, the group of religious leaders, wanted to put Peter and many other of Jesus' apostles to death.

Paul also tells us about his behavior before meeting Jesus, which he typified as zeal for the Lord, to the point that he would be willing to persecute, arrest, and condemn others to death for their faith.

Paul was basically the last person that anybody would ever expect to be accused of being a Christian.

As a Pharisee, he would have been recognized as a dedicated student of God's Word.

Much like we would regard the RBC elders.

But his ambition, his zeal, his passion were so strong in his youth that he had no ethical problems with resorting to violence.

And that we cannot say about our RBC elders.

In 1 Timothy, Paul describes himself as the worst of sinners, a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent man acting in ignorance and unbelief.

You see, our Christian testimony, the story that we tell others about our relationship with God, is completely centered around the life-changing power of God.

So naturally we want to tell people about what we were like before Jesus revealed himself to us and before we placed our faith in him.

So when you think about your own testimony, it's helpful to consider some of these elements that Paul shared.

These elements that define who you were before God encountered you.

Like Paul, you might want to share about what culture you grew up in, or you might want to share about the education that you grew up with, or your social or economic status, or what your character or behavior might have been like, or even, possibly, the childhood trauma that you grew up with.

Everything can be relevant because the gospel changes our perspective on all these things.

Let's look at how Jesus revealed himself to Paul.

We've already described that quite a bit on this road that Paul traveled to Damascus.

Paul's encounter with Jesus had very specific and very extraordinary elements.

We read about how Jesus visibly and audibly revealed himself to Paul.

How Jesus included a miraculous sign with his revelation.

Jesus also paired Paul with another person, Ananias, as both a participant and a witness to everything that was going on.

And Jesus gave Paul a very specific mission.

Now, most people will not have so dramatic an encounter with Jesus as Paul did.

In Hebrews chapter 1, verse 1, Paul writes, in the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways.

But in these last days he's spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he also made the universe.

The Son, Paul writes, is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.

If you want to know what God is like, you can look at Jesus and you will see the very same thing.

In your testimony, the Holy Spirit is likely to have revealed the truth about Jesus to you in the Word of God, possibly in a sermon or a book that you're reading or a conversation with another believer or through a long line of many of these things until your heart was changed and you were persuaded to believe.

You might think that some testimonies have exciting moments of conversion like Paul's, and that perhaps your testimony in comparison is dull or uninteresting.

But every single testimony that someone has about coming to faith in Christ is a miracle.

And I know that because the Bible says so.

In Ephesians chapter 2, Paul writes, that it is by grace you have been saved through faith.

And this is not from yourselves, it's a gift from God.

That means even the faith that you have that is required to believe, Paul writes, is a gift from God.

We have to grasp that Christians are not morally or spiritually superior human beings.

We are not the elite few who have this special faith where other people lack it.

And yes, we are occasionally obedient in exercising that faith that God gives us.

When you tell your testimony, therefore, boldly proclaim the gift that you've received from God and give him the credit for that gift.

How is Jesus changing Paul to be more like him?

In this third element, we see that a life that is encountered by Jesus is a life changed.

Consider this, that in the year 32 AD, Paul was in Jerusalem in the role of persecutor.

He described how he cheered on and encouraged the violent murder of Stephen, the disciple.

25 years later, in 57 AD, in Acts chapter 22, Paul returns to Jerusalem, but this time he is in the role of the persecuted pleading with this angry mob for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Can you see the transformational power of the resurrected Jesus in Paul's life here as he completely changes from persecutor to persecuted, from sinner to saint?

This man previously known for his violence would eventually be recognized by his humility.

Where once he sought division, now he strives for unity.

Paul was a changed man, not perfect but forgiven and redeemed.

Again I'm going to cite 1 Timothy chapter 1.

This is the full text that Paul shares starting at verse 12.

Paul writes, I thank Christ Jesus our Lord.

He's given me strength that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service.

Even though I once was a blasphemer and a persecutor and a very violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.

The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

So here's a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance.

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the worst.

But for that very reason I was shown mercy, so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in Him and receive eternal life.

These 3 elements, who we were before we met Jesus, how Jesus revealed Himself to us, and how Jesus is changing us, These make up the fabric of God's story for Paul.

These same elements make up the fabric of God's story for you and for me.

Now each person's story is going to be different.

Some stories will be dramatic, like Paul's, featuring radical changes in behavior.

Other people's stories will seem less so, like some of the disciples, where Jesus just showed up to them 1 day and said, follow me, And they did.

What matters is that all these stories are authored by God, who writes himself into your story as Jesus Christ, revealing himself as both author and character, God and man.

All stories are miracles and all stories are worth telling.

Before I move on with this message we're gonna Listen to 1 story that's worth telling.

I'm gonna ask my friend Daniel Mearhead to come up for a moment.

Dan and his wife Heidi have been coming to RBC for the past 2 or 3 years with their 4 children.

I've been slowly getting to know Dan for some time now in my small group, and I'm very fortunate to call you my friend.

So Dan, in your own words, could you tell us a little bit about what your life has been like before you knew Jesus, how did he show up in your life, and how has he been changing your heart ever since?

When Louie asked me over the phone if I wanted to give my testimony, no.

He wanted this and I'm gonna give it to you guys.

For those of you that don't know, I grew up in a church.

My dad was a pastor of a church from a very young age that I was until probably early 20s.

All my memories is the church when I'm young, whether it be the outings, the youth groups, Church on a Sunday, Bible studies at my house where I can't watch TV or watch sports.

See Something happened to me when I was really, really, really young that made me believe in God, like I said, when I was very, very young.

My dad was having a Bible study at our house.

And he'd asked my brother to go make sure that Dan is sleeping.

When my brother came into the room, he did what he did.

He went back to my dad and said, listen dad, Daniel's not listening to me.

His eyes are open but he's not listening.

My dad found that odd, So he came into the room and he looked at me and I wasn't even breathing.

When I got to the hospital, the doctors did some checkups on me.

They put me on the machine because I wasn't even breathing on my own.

They had to make me breathe with the machine.

They came to tell my father and whoever was at the Bible study that was in the room with him that it wasn't looking good.

I wasn't breathing on my own and they just, they were dumbfounded.

About 30 or 45 minutes later, a doctor came out and said, I have never seen a miracle in my life, but today I've seen a miracle.

Your son has started breathing on his own.

So from that day on, I felt like God, like I was God's man, right?

Am I going to be like Abraham or Moses or Noah or Samson.

But I truly truly truly believed that God had a big plan for me.

It wasn't until I was about 15 where I decided to get baptized.

And thinking back now, I realize that I didn't get baptized, I mean, some of the reasons were right and some of the reasons were wrong.

Some of the reasons that were wrong was I was getting baptized because some of my friends from other churches were getting baptized.

I felt like I'd been waiting since 15 now for this big God's plan for Dan to happen, and it wasn't happening.

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