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Galatians 1:23 | March 15, 2020

Have you ever missed your goal?

I played several years of organized soccer when I was a kid.

At the beginning of the season I always started in the middle of the field which, generally speaking, are the players that take shots at the goal and score. 

By the end of the season I was always playing goalie – like the position as far away from the middle as you can get. 

I was a decent goalie, but I always felt like I was back there because I wasn’t very good at scoring goals.

These days instead of blocking soccer goals I’m trying to block calories.

I went to the doctor the first week of October – then I went back to the doctor the last week of December. 

The math on that is 12 weeks. 

When I was there in December, the nurse said:

“I’m really sorry to ask you this, but I’m having a problem with the computer. It won’t let me input your weight. It keeps telling me there is an error.”

And then she gave me the number and graciously asked:

“Have you really gained that much weight since October?”

I responded:

“Yes – but can we don’t have to keep talking about it.”

How about that for an accomplishment – in just 12 weeks I was able to break my doctor’s computer all by myself. 

Incidentally, I’m doing better, and I’ve shed some pounds, but the scales remind me every morning that I haven’t made my goal yet.

Blocking soccer balls and fitting back into your favorite pants are worthy goals at certain times of life, but what is the ultimate goal of life?

What is the primary aim of your life?

What is the one thing that matters more than everything else?

What is the one thing that can impact every moment of your life?

• Every stress
• Every sickness
• Every worry
• Every want
• Every frustration
• Every fear
• Every past
• Every panic

That sounds like a goal worth hearing, right?

That sounds like the kind of thing we would want to aim at, right?

So, what is that goal?

Let’s find out – listen to Galatians 1 beginning with verse 13:

13 For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it…

What was Paul’s goal in life?

To persecute Christians.

That was his aim. 

And how committed was he to that goal?

He was trying to destroy the church. 

That’s passion.

He didn’t want to cancel church for a few Sundays because of a pandemic – he wanted to destroy the church. 

He wanted Christianity wiped out. 

Someone has said that if we were to use modern-day language, we might say Paul was like a commander of a terrorist group. 

He was terrorizing the church. 

In the book of Acts, Dr. Luke records that Paul was overseeing and affirming the death of Christians. 

And Luke said he was ravaging the church and going from house and to house and dragging men and women off to prison for following Jesus. 

Many churches all over the country have cancelled services today as an act of kindness to their fellow church members and their neighbors.

That is not persecution – that is a loving precaution for doctors and nurses and hospitals and senior adults and children and everyone else.

Churches cancelled today because we are Christians – because Jesus has called us to love our neighbors in the same way that we love ourselves.

Paul was dragging Christians out of their homes because he hated his neighbors – he was trying to destroy the church.   

Paul hated the gospel.

He didn’t think Jesus was a good teacher or a wise prophet. 

He hated Jesus and hated his followers.

He was a savage, violent, zealous fanatic. 

And he was really good at it. 

Paul is a classic example of someone who is very genuine and very sincere in what they believe, but very, very wrong in what they believe.

So, what do you believe?

What is your goal in life?

What is your aim in life?

The Bible is unmistakably clear:

Genuine, sincere people who do not have a saving faith in Jesus Christ will be separated from God forever.

If you have not already, I plead with you to repent of your sin against the perfect and holy God who was and is and is to come and believe in and cling to and rely on Jesus Christ.

Paul says that he persecuted Christians beyond what most people could even imagine.

His goal – his aim – was to crush and destroy all of Christianity.

But something happened!

Paul woke up one morning excited about another day of persecuting Christians!

But by the end of the day, he was a Christian!

How in the world can that be?

Listen to what happened:

Acts 9:3

As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him;

 

Acts 9:4

and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?"

 

Acts 9:5-6

And he said, "Who are You, Lord?" And He said, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do."

 

Acts 9:7-8

The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing…

Paul had a personal encounter with Jesus!

He didn’t hear a sermon or read a tract or get invited to a Sunday morning church service.

He met the Risen Jesus on the road to Damascus!

And on the road that day he was physically blinded.

But his physical blindness immediately revealed to him that he was spiritually blind.

Because after meeting Jesus, he realized that all the religious laws that he was so zealous and passionate about could not make him right with God.

Paul really thought he had been serving God, but he was actually fighting against God.

But can anyone truly fight against God and win?

At just the right time on just the right road, God was pleased to have Paul meet Jesus and God was pleased to save him. 

Paul might have been fighting against the Lord, but he quickly discovered that he was no match for the sovereignty of God!

Paul was saying:

• “I was persecuting.”
• “I was excelling.”
• “I was destroying.”
• “I was zealous.”

But then he had to quit using the word “I” and he had to change his tune and he started saying:

• “God saved me!”
• “God set me apart!”
• “God called me!”
• “God revealed the gospel to me!”

So, Paul gets saved.

And then what happens?

Well, he immediately became the senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Jerusalem and started his own podcast and got his own book deal and became spokesman for Lenscrafters and Warby Parker because his spiritual vision was excellent!

No, he kind of lived in obscurity for about 3 years and then he made his way to Jerusalem and he met Peter and the other disciples and more strategically started talking about the gospel.

And then down in verse 22 he writes this to the Galatians:

22 I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea which were in Christ;

Step into this for a moment.

Do you ever stalk people on social media?

Not in a creepy way, but someone is talking about someone that you need to meet for something that involves church or work or school or the prom or something and you quickly look them up on social media so you can see what they look like so when you agree to have a meeting at Starbucks you will know who you are looking for.

Can you imagine back in the day one of your Christian friends telling you, “Hey you really need to meet this guy Paul. He’s not like he used to be. I told him to meet you at The Pita Pocket for lunch tomorrow, so, be there at Noon.”

Wouldn’t you maybe think, “Paul…the guy who dragged men and women out of their houses and threw them in prison and stood over people who were killed for being Christians – yeah, I think I want to know what that guy looks like before I walk blindly in for some pita and hummus with him.”

They had no idea what he looked like – but they had been hearing the stories. 

Listen to what Paul says in verse 23:

23 but only, they kept hearing, “He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy.”

Let me just remind you of one amazing reality:

The power of God is still the same!

• There is not a single persecutor outside the reach of Jesus!
• There is not a single terrorist outside the reach of Jesus!
• There is not a single conservative outside the reach of Jesus!
• There is not a single liberal outside the reach of Jesus!
• There is not a single socialist outside the reach of Jesus!

No matter how bad or discouraged or impossible the situation may be with your spouse or your parents or your kids or your boss or your BFF or your neighbor or anyone else in the scope of your world they are not outside of the reach of Jesus!

And please, please, please hear this truth – you are not outside of the reach of Jesus!

Are you criticizing pastors for having church during a pandemic?

Are you criticizing pastors for cancelling church during a pandemic?

Are you criticizing churches for believing the truth of the Bible?

Are you criticizing churches for living out the truth of the Bible?

Are you criticizing churches for not being what you think the church should be?

Are you dragging Christians out of their homes and throwing them in prison or worse overseeing their execution for their faith?

There are still people like that in many places in the world, but no matter who you are and what you have done or what you are doing, you are not outside of the reach of Jesus – and by grace alone through faith alone Jesus is still saving and helping and forgiving and strengthening and keeping and loving.

He is still changing persecutors into preachers.

But again, put yourself in their shoes. 

“Hey, did you see the post that Paul is going to be at our church this coming Sunday? You’re going, right?”

“Uhhh…yeah…well, I…uh…I might not be able to be there that day because I have to stay home and eat some cake…I mean someone’s having a birthday somewhere so I feel led to observe their special day. But I’ll be back the next Sunday.”

In other words, it would be no surprise to consider that people were skeptical when they kept hearing that Paul was now a Christian.

They would have been skeptical that it was real.

They would have been afraid that it wasn’t true.

And how did they fight their fear?

• How did they fight their fear of the unknown?
• How did they fight their fear of frustration?
• How did they fight their fear of misinformation?
• How did they fight their fear of anger or apathy or anxiety?

Listen again to what Paul said the people were saying:

23 “He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy.”

It was the faith that helped them. 

Not just their faith, but the faith.

Faith in Jesus Christ, the Author and the Perfecter of their salvation.

Faith in Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday and today and forever. 

Faith in Jesus Christ, the One who loved them and gave himself up for them.

Faith in Jesus Christ, the One who was crucified and buried and resurrected and ascended into heaven.

Faith in Jesus Christ, the One who is coming again to judge the living and the dead.

Faith in Jesus Christ, the One who is full of grace and mercy and love.

Faith in Jesus Christ, the One – the only One who will one day make all things new.

New!

• No more sickness
• No more pain
• No more stress
• No more poverty
• No more hospitals
• No more disease
• No more dementia
• No more orphans
• No more funerals
• No more Enemy

Only through the faith – only through faith in Jesus. 

Their faith caused their fear to fizzle.

Why?

Because of Jesus – only Jesus. 

Rather than be afraid they did something else.   

Listen to what Paul says next.

24 And they were glorifying God because of me.

Well, bless his heart, that sounds a little arrogant.

But nothing could be farther from the truth. 

They weren’t glorifying Paul because of what Paul did!

They were glorifying God because of what God did in Paul!

They heard the story and in stunning amazement kept saying:

“Look what God did!”

And therein lies the most satisfying goal – the best aim – that any person can have in life: to glorify God. 

To glorify God is the first and greatest and most important goal a person can have in life.

Why?

Because only God is perfectly good and holy and loving and merciful and majestic and satisfying – everything is best with Him.    

And when the glory of God is your greatest aim then everything else in your life changes.

Why?

Because you never get over what he has done. 

The old hymn says, “I once was blind, but then I fixed my eyes and now I see.”

Is that how the song goes?

No.

John Newton

Amazing grace!

How sweet the sound

That saved a wretch

like me!

John Newton

I once was lost,

but now am found;

Was blind,

but now I see.

God’s grace is the sweet sound!

God’s grace is what saves the wretched sinner!

God’s grace is what seeks out and finds the lost soul! 

And it is God’s amazing grace and only God’s amazing grace that makes the blind to see!

So, in the face of fear we look at Jesus and we keep whispering to our souls:

“Look what God has done!”

“Look what God has done!”

I read something very interesting this week about the Battle of Iwo Jima during WWII.

One of the most famous pictures in the world is the photo taken of six soldiers raising the American flag on the fifth day of fighting at Iwo Jima.

But raising the flag was not a moment of victory.

The battle continued for another month. 

Three of the six men who raised the flag were killed in action before the battle ended.

Tim Keesee (Ka-zee) is the founder and director of Frontline Missions and the instigator of the powerful videos known as Dispatches from the Front and I highly recommend visiting the site (dispatchesfromthefront.org).

This is what Tim writes about that solemn realty of Iwo Jima:

Tim Keesee

The flag represented hope when it was raised – it did not represent victory.

Hope was raised that day in Iwo Jima – hope that the battle could be won. 

Tim goes on to say this about the cross of Jesus:

Tim Keesee

Unlike the inspiring flag-raising on Iwo Jima, when the cross was raised, it seemed to symbolize only defeat and death.

Tim Keesee

Yet, secured by Sovereign Love and the empty tomb, Christ’s work was so complete that everyone who comes to him will live forever.

Tim Keesee

Only he could heal the hurt of his people, turning their sorrow into song and their death into life.

Before, during, and after your battles and your fears and your moments of panic – what is your aim?

If your aim is the glory of God, then the most vivid image of his glory can be seen every second of every day in the beauty of the cross.

Hope is raised every day in the cross because the cross and the empty tomb are reminders that in Christ the battle is won – forever. 

Look what God has done!

Look what God has done!

 

Message by Dow Welsh

March 15, 2020 © Holland Avenue Baptist Church

 

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Above are pre-sermon manuscript notes, not sermon transcript

Sermon scriptures NASB unless otherwise noted

Lots of help from many pastors and theologians

Weekly help from Bruce Hurt at www.preceptaustin.org

https://www.dispatchesfromthefront.org/

So have you ever missed your goal? Have you ever had some some bad aim, so to speak? I think, uh, I remember when I was a kid. I played organized soccer a lot a few years at least, And every year, the beginning of the year, I was in the middle of the field. That's where I started off. I started off in the in the middle of the field. And so the middle of the field is where the players are that, you know, usually trying to take a score, a goal. You know, they're the ones that score interesting, though. By the end of the year, I was always in the goal was playing goalie. In other words, somehow from the beginning of the year to the end of the year, I actually seemed to get worse at soccer. At least it seemed that way because I seemingly couldn't aim. Well, I couldn't score the goal. I feel like I was a pretty decent goalie, though, and has a decent goalie. I feel like I was doing okay, but I always felt like it was because I wouldn't really, really, really good. My slides disappeared. I'm going to bring him back. Because you know what? You got to see this right? Watch the kid in the back. That's me as me. Instead of blocking soccer goals these days, I'm now trying to block some calories. Yeah, I went to the doctor the first week of October and went back to the doctor the last week of December. So just to give you the math, well, Matt's 12 weeks. So in 12 weeks, something happened When I got back to the doctor in December. I'm sitting there with the nurse and and she said, Hey, I hate to ask you this, but but I'm having a problem with the computer. I said, Okay. And she said, Well, the computer is not letting me put your weight in It keeps telling me that that it's an error that that it's wrong. I was like, Okay, she goes, Can I ask you, Did you really gain this much weight since October? And I said, No. I think your computer's messed up. I don't know. It's not. No, not at all. No, actually, I had to say, Yeah, I gained that much weight I'd really love if we just quit talking about it now, but you'll be fine. We can move on about that for something. And 12 weeks time, I completely broke my doctor's computer. Yeah, completely broke. The reality is, though, is I'm doing a little better. Shed a few pounds here and there, but But every morning when I get up, my scale reminds me I'm still not meeting my goal. My aim is still off a little bit. I'm getting there. You know, whether we're talking about soccer goals or whether we're talking about getting into your favorite pants again. The reality is there's a bigger question beyond that. And that's this. What is your ultimate aim in life? What is the goal of your life? What is the one thing that is the most important thing to you in life? But the reality is there is something that impacts every single moment of your life. It impacts every stress, every sickness, every worry, every won't every frustration, every fear, every past and every panic. There's something a goal and aim that impacts all of those things. If that's true, then it sounds like a name or a goal that we might want to hear about. So what is that aimed? What is that? Gold? Where we're going to look in Galatians Chapter one and let the Apostle Paul help escalations one beginning with verse 13. But you've heard of my former manner of life and Judaism how I used to persecute the Church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. What was Paul's golden life? His goal was to persecute Christians, that that was his aim. And how committed was he to his goal? He was trying to destroy the church. That's a whole another level of passion. Paul did not wanna cancel church for a few Sundays over a pandemic. He wanted to destroy the church. He wanted a wipe Christianity out. Someone said if we were to use modern day language to describe Paul, we would say that he's like the commander of a terrorist group. He was terrorizing the church. Luke wrote about him and acts. He said that Paul was overseeing the execution of Christians. He said that Paul was rather jean the church he was. He was dragging men and women out of their homes, putting them in prison just because they were followers of Jesus. Now, today, all over the world. There are some churches that have cancelled. Their service is that they didn't cancel because of persecution. They canceled out of precaution and an effort to be a kind and good neighbor. In other words, part of the reason that the cancer was was an effort to try to show some some neighborly love to try toe to function in Christian love. Paul. I didn't care about his neighbor. Paul hated his neighbor. Paul was trying to destroy his neighbour. He was dragging his neighbor off to prison. Paul hated the gospel. He didn't think Jesus was a good teacher. He didn't. Jesus was a wise prophet. He hated the church. He hated the gospel. He hated the people of God. He was savage, He was violent. He was zealous. He was a fanatic and he was great. At it paused a classic example of someone who sincerely believes in what they believe that they are sincerely believing wrong. So what do you believe? What do you believe? What is your aim in life? What is your goal in life? The Bible is unmistakably clear. If the aim and goal of your life is not to be right with God. Then you will be separated from all that is good and holy and beautiful and satisfying forever. So if you have never repented, if you've never turned to Jesus who never turned away from your rebellion, your sin against the one true Holy perfect God, we would plead with you to do that today. Don't wait. You don't have to be in church to get saved. You don't have to be down front to get saved. Today could be your day of salvation. Today could be your day of hope. Paul says that he persecuted Christians beyond what most people could even imagine. He was wanting to destroy them. His his aim was to destroy all of Christianity. But then something happened. Paul woke up one morning and he was pumped. He was excited. He was zealous. He was passionate. He couldn't wait to go persecute some more Christians. And by the end of the day, he was a Christian with the world. How in the world could something like that listen to this story acts chapter nine, beginning with verse three. As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him and he fell to the ground and he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he said, Who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city and it will be told you what you must do. The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing No. One. Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing. Paul woke up a persecutor of Jesus, a persecutor of followers of Jesus that day, and at the end of the day, he was following Jesus himself. He had a personal encounter with Jesus. He didn't live stream a sermon. He didn't go to church on Sunday morning. He didn't read a booklet about Jesus. He actually met the risen Jesus, and when he met the risen Jesus, he became physically blind and in his physical blindness in his inability to see all of a sudden, his heart could see that he was desperately spiritually blind because in meeting Jesus, Paul immediately realized that the religious loss, the good deeds, the things that he was doing would not make him right with God. Paul really thought he had been serving God. He thought he was doing God's work, but he was actually fighting against God. But but think about that. Can you really win that battle? Can anyone really fight God and win? You see, on just the right day at just the right time on just the right road. God was pleased that Paul meet Jesus, and God was pleased to save Paul That day. Paul might have been fighting against the Lord, but he quickly realized that he was no match for the sovereignty of God. I think about the change in the scene. Here's Paul saying You know what? I was persecuted, boy. I was I was ex Elling. I was zealous. I was passionate. I was a fanatic. I was destroyed. And then all of a sudden his language changes. All of a sudden he starts speaking completely differently. He says God has saved me. God has rescued me. God has helped me see the gospel. His life was changed. Paul was saved. And then what happened? Well, Paul became immediately the pastor of the First Baptist church in Jerusalem. Hey, started his own podcast. You got a book deal and he became the official spokesman for LensCrafters and Warby Parker because his vision was fantastic. That's that's what all happened. No. Ironically, according to the Scriptures, Paul kinda lived in obscurity for about three years. The key? Imagine. I mean, what would we D'oh! Here's this persecutor! And now he got saved. Mehlis! Hey, let's let him preach next Sunday, you know? Let's let's put him on the front page of our website. Come on, let's make a big deal out of Paul. Kind of almost disappeared a little. And then eventually he made his way to Jerusalem. He met Peter. We met the other disciples and he started more strategically proclaiming the gospel. Listen what he said to the Galatians down in verse 22 I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea which were in Christ. Right? Step into this just for a moment, okay? Do you ever stalk people on social media? I'm not talking about in creepy ways, you know, like you have a meeting with somebody that you've never met. You know something for school or for work? or for church with the prom or whatever. And And you need to meet with that person. You're supposed to meet him at 10 o'clock at Starbucks or whatever it is you're thinking. I don't know this person. So you know that morning to the night before you go on social media and see if you can find a picture of him. So, you know, you kind of know who to look for the next day. So put that in this moment. Okay? You have a friend that says, Hey, I want you to meet this guy named Paul. Yea, I know there's some things about it, but he's changed, and I set up a meeting for you. And you're supposed to meet him tomorrow at the, you know, at the pita pocket. And you guys are supposed to have lunch. Okay? So just head on down there, you might be thinking, Paul, the guy who used to be named saw the that the guy who was dragging Christians out of their home, putting them in jail and then overseeing some of them being killed. That's the guy I'm supposed to meet with tomorrow. I might go on social media and see if I could see what he looks like, You know, before I show up, you know, for some Peters and some honest, you know, I might just tryto see exactly who he is. I mean, we can feel this moment a little bit, right? They have never seen Paul that they didn't know what he looked like, but they had heard the stories. Listen what he says next. Verse 23. But on Lee, they kept hearing He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith, which he once tried to destroy. Can I just remind you of of one amazing reality? The power of God is still the same? The power of God has not changed. There is not a single persecutor in the universe who's outside of the reach of Jesus. There's not a terrorist outside of the reach of Jesus. There's not a socialist outside the reach of Jesus. There's not a liberal outside the reach of Jesus. There's not a conservative outside the reach of Jesus. And no matter how bad things have gotten, no matter how discouraging things, maybe with your spouse or your parents or your kids are your B F F or the person at work, or your neighbor or whoever it may be in your world, there is no one outside of the reach of Jesus No one. And please don't miss this truth. You are not outside of the reach of Jesus. Are you criticizing pastors who canceled churches today? Are you criticizing pastors who held church today? Are you criticizing churches that believe in the Bible? Are you criticizing churches that live out the truth of the Bible? Are you criticizing churches because they're not what you think they should be? Or are you persecuting men and women for following Jesus? Are you dragging them out of homes and taking them to prisoner are overseeing their execution? That may sound crazy, but that is happening today. There are still solves in the world. There are still people today that are dragging Christians to their death, persecuting believers. But listen to the power of Jesus. And that is this. But no matter who you are, no matter what you are doing, no matter what you have done, you are not outside the reach of Jesus Jesus Christ by grace, through faith, he is still saving and rescuing and redeeming and forgiving. He's still helping. He's still keeping. He's still loving. It's you. Yes. Jesus is still changing persecutors into preachers. He's still doing it. But again, let's that's kind of put ourselves in their shoes. Right. So Buddy comes up to Hey, Paul is going to be a church this Sunday. You're going to be there, right? Uh uh, Paul. Paul. Yeah. Um, you know, I may not be able to be there this Sunday. This'll Sunday. This Sunday, I might have to eat some cake. It's going to be somebody's birthday somewhere. And, you know, I just need to observe their birthday because, you know, it's it's it's cake, but I'll be there next Sunday. Don't worry. I'll be there next time. In other words, I think all of us can feel the reality that they may have felt a little nervous about this. That they may have been wondering. I'm not really sure about this. Is Paul Gun? I'm not really sure If if I should be going to be around him, I'm I'm a little skeptical of what's going on. Maybe this is some kind of hoax. Maybe this thing with Paul has been blown out of proportion. Maybe they were a little afraid. They were either fearfully afraid or they were angrily afraid. And what do they do with their fear? What do they do with their fear of the unknown? What did they do with the fear of frustration? What do they do with the fear of misinformation? What do they do with the fear of anger or anxiety or apathy? What did they do with their fear? Listen again, Paul says is this. They were saying this. He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy. It was the faith that helped them with their fear. Not just their faith, but but the faith. Faith in Jesus Christ, the author and perfect er and finisher of our salvage faith in Jesus Christ. The one who is the same yesterday and today and forever. Faith in Jesus Christ. The one who loved them and gave himself up for them. Faith in Jesus Christ. The one who was crucified and buried and resurrected and ascended into heaven. Faith in Jesus Christ. The one who is coming again to judge the living and the dead faith in Jesus Christ. The one who is full of grace and mercy and love. Faith in Jesus Christ, The one who one day is going to make all things knew, knew no more sickness. No more pain, no more stress, no more poverty, no more hospitals, no more disease, no more dementia, no more orphans. No more funerals and no more enemy. No more on Lee through the faith. Faith in Jesus. You see, it was their faith that calls their fear to fade. It was their faith in Jesus and on Lee their faith in Jesus Rather than be afraid that they did something else, they had another plan for dealing with their fear. Listen what Paul says next, Verse 24 And they were glorifying God because of me. Well, bless his heart. That sounds a little bit area, right? Yeah. They were glorifying God because of me. I'm new, kid. I'm the new celebrity, Cristian Lower find guy because of me. It's not what he was saying. Farther is from see. There was no way for them to be able to do that because they weren't glorifying Paul for what Paul did. They were glorifying God because what if God did in Paul They kept hearing these stories about how the persecutor had become a preacher. Take appearing these stories about the one person that they thought would never, ever become a Christian. This person would never follow Jesus. He always thought it was crazy as a fairy tale. It was a hoax. And then they heard he's following Jesus. And every time they heard another story, they glorified God. They said, Look what God has done. And therein my friend, lies the aim and the goal above every name and every goal. And that is this the most important aim in life that any person can have The most important goal in life that any person can have is to glorify, go, to glorify God. To glorify God means that the first and greatest and most important goal in your life is to enjoy him, to love him, to follow him, to embrace him and to make a big deal out of him. Why why would we do that? Because on Lee God Onley God, there's no other person's name that goes in that blank on Lee. God is perfect and holiness perfect justice, perfect and grace perfect and peace perfect and hope Perfect and love perfect in salvation. Perfect and wrath perfect. Enjoy, perfect and happiness. Ultimately, the only word that best describes God is best. He's the ultimate best. And why would you do that? Why would you glorify God? Why? Why would you make it the aim of your life? To glorify God? Because not only is he the best, but because he will change your life as you glorify him. Glorifying God changes every single moment of your life. The glory of God reminds us over and over again. Oh, yeah, I remember now. This is what God has done. As the old hymn says. I once was blind, but then I fixed my eyes. And now I see That's how the him goods, right? No, that's not how it reads. He reads like this Amazing grace. How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. And then John Newton says this I once was lost but now I'm found was blind. But now I see we don't fix our eyes. God does when we realize that we're spiritually blind, are on Lee. Response is to cry out Lord have mercy on me. A sinner. You see God's grace is the sweet sound. God's Grace is what saves the wretched center. God's grace is what seeks and finds the lost soul, and Paul was not confused about the grace of God. Paul knew that it was on Lee by God's grace, God's amazing grace, that he once was blind. But now he could see so in the face of fear. We look at Jesus and we keep whispering to our souls. Look what God, It's time. Look what God has done. I read something very interesting this week about the Battle of Iwo Jima and World War Two. He would Jima's most famously known for the picture. It's a picture taken on the fifth day of fighting, when the American flag was being raised up. The interesting thing about that moment is that Flag was not being raised in victory. See, the battle went on for another month After the flag was raised. Three of the six men in the picture were killed in action during that battle. Tim Casey is the founder and director of Frontline Missions. He's the instigator of some videos, known as Dispatches From the Front. I highly recommend that you check out the website dispatches from the front dot or you can see it printed on the bottom of the next slide. This is what Tim said. The flag represented hope when it was raised. It did not represent victory feeling that day, and that that battle victory was not one after the flag was raised. But hope was raised hope that that battle could be won five days in, when it looked like there was no hope when it looked like everything was falling apart, Hope was raised that day that the battle could be one. Tim goes on to say this about the cross of Jesus. Unlike the inspiring flag raising on Iwo Jima. When the cross was raised, it seemed to symbolize Onley, defeat and death, yet secured by sovereign love and the empty tune Christ Work on the Cross was so complete that everyone who comes to him will live forever on Lee. He could heal the hurt of his people, turning their sorrow into song and their death into life. Only Jesus on Lian Jesus can can hope be raised. Ultimate hope. Final hope, hope for today and hope for ever before, during and after your battles before, during and after your fears before, during and after your anger before, during and after your panic. What is the aim of your life? What is the goal of your life if your aim, If your goal is the glory of God, then please know that the most vivid image off the glory of God is found in the beauty of a cross. Because every second of every day, no matter what is happening in your life, the beauty of the cross is constantly raising up hope over and over and over again and helping us to see on our behalf that sin was cancelled once and for all. So when we look upon the cross, we see the glory of God and we keep saying and whispering to our souls. Look what God has done. Look what God has done today. Tomorrow, next Thursday, three weeks from now, three months from now, three years from now, you will never find an aim. And you will never find a goal for your life more worthy and more satisfying than the glory of God. Because the glory of God helps us find Jesus. The glory of God makes us from LOS to found The glory of God takes us from being blind to see. And when we see there is no fear, there is no stress. There is no moment in life that truly has the power to take away that strength off the gospel. And so, looking upon Jesus, day after day, hour after hour, we can keep saying, Look what God has done. Look what God has done.