Title: The Resurrection & Deconstruction
Author: Patrick Edwards
Text: Acts 9:1-31
Introduction
?I remember it quite clearly. It was the first Sunday of the New Year, 2015. My son was about to turn three; my daughter five months old. Every week in our small little church in North Carolina one of the deacons would pray in the service before we collected the offering and on this particular Sunday Deacon Ron stepped to the mic and began praying. I don't remember what he said, but I do recall how he ended his prayer. He concluded by saying, "And dear Lord Jesus, let this be the year that you return and come back, Amen.", and I remember sitting there listening and thinking to myself, "No, I hope not. I hope this isn't the year you come back."
?Now I imagine that's not what you expected to hear when you came to church today on Easter Sunday. It's like, "Great, we're at the church with the pastor that doesn't want Jesus to come back!" I get it, but here me out. I mean, for one, I will just say I feel quite differently in 2025; I pray fervently that Jesus would please come back. But in 2015 I'm this young father of two and I just couldn't help but deep down inside hope that maybe Jesus would wait a few years to come back. I wanted to watch my kids grow up, to get to know them. My life was by no means perfect, Teresa and I argued and went through dry spells like any couple, but my life was pretty good, and to be frank, I didn't want anything or anyone to mess with it.
?Have you had those seasons of life? Are you there right now? "Life is good, and it's so good that I'll reject and fight against anything that threatens it."
?You might say that's where we find the subject of our passage this morning, Saul. In Acts 9 we meet a man so entrenched in what he believes, so convinced he is right. He's powerful; he's rich. He's deeply fulfilled in his work. What a sense of purpose it gives him!
?Maybe that's not you this morning. You're not quite sure what you bel ...
Author: Patrick Edwards
Text: Acts 9:1-31
Introduction
?I remember it quite clearly. It was the first Sunday of the New Year, 2015. My son was about to turn three; my daughter five months old. Every week in our small little church in North Carolina one of the deacons would pray in the service before we collected the offering and on this particular Sunday Deacon Ron stepped to the mic and began praying. I don't remember what he said, but I do recall how he ended his prayer. He concluded by saying, "And dear Lord Jesus, let this be the year that you return and come back, Amen.", and I remember sitting there listening and thinking to myself, "No, I hope not. I hope this isn't the year you come back."
?Now I imagine that's not what you expected to hear when you came to church today on Easter Sunday. It's like, "Great, we're at the church with the pastor that doesn't want Jesus to come back!" I get it, but here me out. I mean, for one, I will just say I feel quite differently in 2025; I pray fervently that Jesus would please come back. But in 2015 I'm this young father of two and I just couldn't help but deep down inside hope that maybe Jesus would wait a few years to come back. I wanted to watch my kids grow up, to get to know them. My life was by no means perfect, Teresa and I argued and went through dry spells like any couple, but my life was pretty good, and to be frank, I didn't want anything or anyone to mess with it.
?Have you had those seasons of life? Are you there right now? "Life is good, and it's so good that I'll reject and fight against anything that threatens it."
?You might say that's where we find the subject of our passage this morning, Saul. In Acts 9 we meet a man so entrenched in what he believes, so convinced he is right. He's powerful; he's rich. He's deeply fulfilled in his work. What a sense of purpose it gives him!
?Maybe that's not you this morning. You're not quite sure what you bel ...
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