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Okay, two things here. 1. This is the first example of a man
being saved by absolute Grace, as I heard a preacher before,
Paul wasn’t seeking God at an old-fashioned altar here.
2. What did the Lord tell Saul while he was preaching to him
there on the road to Damascus?
It was this:
The Lord told Ananais in verse 15 But the Lord said, Go thy
way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before
the Gentiles, and Kings, and the children of Israel.
Folks, that’s when our Gospel first came into being.
It was directly from the Lord in Glory. Another verse, This
is when Paul was before King Agrippa.
Acts 26:13 At midday, O King, I saw in the way a light from
heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about
me and them which journeyed with me. 14 And when we were all
fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking in the Hebrew
tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for
thee to kick against the pricks. 15 And I said, who art thou,
Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, who thou persecutest. 16 But
rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee
for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both
of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things which
I will appear unto thee; 17 Delivering thee from thee Gentiles,
unto whom now I send thee, 18 To open their eyes and turn them
from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God,
that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among
them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
Okay, at this point I hope you can see by the Bible that Paul
was definitely called of the Lord AFTER He taught the twelve
a ministry on Earth, and then sent Paul to the Gentiles which
He commanded the twelve not to go to in Matt., Mark, Luke, and
John.
To explain Paul’s ministry, you need to know a couple
things. Saul (Hebrew name) was a Jew; The Lord renamed him Paul,
a Gentile name. Interesting, isn’t it? Paul’s early
ministry was to Gentiles that were originally outside the covenants
of Promise in the Old Testament. In Paul’s early ministry,
He was sent to the Gentiles because it was foretold in Old-Testament
Prophecy. I will get into that in another message. Now mind
you, the Lord told Paul in the above verses, Acts 16 to make
thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou
hast seen, and of those things which I will appear unto thee.
Now, the appearings from the Lord are changes in Paul’s
ministry and I will show you later because he didn’t preach
to the same people all the way through his ministry.
Look who Paul preached to first, Acts 9:20 And straightway
he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of
God.
Notice, he preached to Jews, in synagogues at Damascus. Next
he preached at Perga and Antioch also, now look who he is preaching
to. Act 13:16 Then Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand
said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience. Verse
42 And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles
besought that these words might be preached to them the next
sabbath. 43 Now when the congregation was broken up, many of
the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas:
who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace
of God. 44 And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city
together to hear the word of God.
They were Jews, Jewish Proselytes and Gentiles who feared God.
Romans 1:14 I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the barbarians;
both to the wise, and to the unwise. 15 So, as much as in me,
I am ready to preach the gospel of Christ: for it is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew
first, and also to the Greek.
Now look what happens, Acts 13:45 But when the Jews saw the
multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those
things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.
46 Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It is necessary
that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but
seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of
everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.
Preaching at Iconium.
Acts 14:1 And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both
together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that
a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed.
About this time Paul turned to the Gentiles and began to preach
for the first time that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs
with Israel, who were before outside the covenants of promise.
What did he preach unto them? Follow with me please to Romans
3:21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested,
being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22 Even the righteousness
of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all
them that believe: for there is no difference: 23 For all have
sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24 Being justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus: 25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through
faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission
of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 28 Therefore
we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds
of the law. Romans 4:5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth
on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for
righteousness.
I would like to just point out a few things in closing. The
gospel Paul preached is VERY different of that preached by the
apostles in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. I would also like
to say his gospel is the one that shows us salvation by grace
through faith because of the Lord’s death on the cross
for us. Paul also taught the rapture, not found in the early
gospels, Paul also taught us we are saved by grace through faith
and not of works. Paul also taught us that we are free from
the law and it was taken out of the way at the cross.
The gospel changed folks, can’t you see that? We now
live in the most blessed time ever put down to this earth today
and one day it will all end and the dispensation of grace will
be finished and no more, in the tribulation, it will pick up
right where the 12 apostles left off and Israel will again come
into focus. But not today. Today you can be saved by simply
believing that Jesus Christ was the Son of Almighty God and
He died for your sins. No more to it than that.
So why do so many churches preach the law and doctrines and
miracles and works of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John for the
church today? Because they either don’t know the Bible
or they do know it and are teaching these practices anyway to
bring in money. They are also led by the ministers of the devil
and a curse abides on them. I’m so sorry to say these
things, but I was in a denominational system all my life and
I’m pretty upset about these things. Do you know why?
Because I could have ended up in hell one day and all my life
I thought I was saved and doing the right thing. The church
of this world is in a sad state of affairs folks. Be sure your
not caught up in that and counting on it for your salvation.
Before you get angry with me for writing this, I would like
you to read your Bible and see for yourself whether the things
I am telling you are true. Be sure you have a King James Bible
and ask God to show you the truth, you will see it someday as
I have...and it will set you free.
Again, I don’t have any reason to tell you this other
than my burden for lost people and because it is the Word of
God.
I want you ask yourself these same questions today, before
you leave here angry; it was the same question I asked myself
many years ago. I am so happy I had the nerve to change. I would
be in hell with the rest of the good people in my church.
love,
michael
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