Yass Community Baptist Church
Part VI of our series 'To The Ends Of The Earth'
Acts 9:1-9 NIV
Through this series so far, we have been exploring the story of the early church.
As we continue that journey today we will ask the question, how far does the gospel of God’s grace reach?
Is anyone far enough away to be beyond the reach of God’s grace?
Jesus Christ Came to Save Even the Worst of Sinners
Do we sometimes write ourselves, or other people, off as too sinful or too lost for Jesus to save them?
The worst of the worst
Saul sought to destroy the church.
Acts 8:3 NIV
Acts 9:1-2 NIV
A Remarkable Change
His conversion from enemy of the church to passionate proclaimer of the gospel of Jesus demonstrates that no-one is beyond the reach of God's grace.
Acts 9:3-6 NIV
Acts 9:20-22 NIV
Later in his life Saul, now known as Paul, wrote “Jesus came to save sinners – of whom I am the worst.”.
1 Timothy 1:15-16 NIV
Who are you witnessing to?
It is easy to put some people in the too hard basket and focus our witnessing efforts on those that seem easier to reach.
But we are called to be witnesses to all people.
How do we witness to the worst of sinners, the most lost of the lost, the most broken of the broken, the most hopeless of the hopeless?
And is that witness only for those who are the "worst", or should the answer to that question have wider reach than just those few?
Acts 8:9 NIV
Close encounters of the Jesus kind
What transformed Paul’s life?
It was not the persuasive arguments about Jesus, it was not great preaching or apologetics, it was not human reason, but an encounter with Jesus Christ himself.
Our role as witnesses is to lead and pray people towards encounters with Jesus Christ. Encountering Jesus opens the eyes of the Spiritually blind.
Is your life truly an encounter with the one true God?
2 Corinthians 4:4 NIV
Revolution!
Alongside his encounter with Jesus Paul was revolutionarily accepted and welcomed by members of the church that he had tried so hard to destroy.
Acceptance is hard. No question. But the early church forgave Paul, who even admitted to being "the worst of sinners".
How can we accept those the world has told us deserve no acceptance?
Acts 9:18, 20 NIV
Acts 9:10-17 NIV
Acts 9:26-28 NIV
Acts 11:25-26 NIV
Jesus Christ came to save sinners, not to condemn them. We are called to be witnesses to that truth.
So how do we do that?
We can lead people towards an encounter with Jesus. We can practice revolutionary love and acceptance.
But in the end, the question comes down to...
How much Jesus do people encounter through you?
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