Long Shots

Oh my, I'm glad to be in church with you as well.

I want to tag on that, Revival Knights.

We have put this together for you, believing that God wants to spark revival, not just in our church, but in the Pacific Northwest, and we're going to be a part of it.

How many of you say amen to that?

We are asking that you would sign up.

It is for free, no cost, but on our website, go to slash events.

I don't know, slash events, whatever.

Just go to our website and find the events page.

And then sign up.

There's only a few spots left.

And then we're going to be going live on social media.

There will be no spots left by the time Revival Nights comes at the end of August.

So if you want to be in the room, I'm letting you know ahead of time so you can fill in those last few spots.

We'd love to have you Saturday night and Sunday night.

John Bevere will be here Saturday and Sunday morning.

and Jude Fuquay Sunday night.

Gonna be absolutely incredible, incredible weekend.

And then I had a great week.

I hope that you all had an incredible week.

I wanna tell you about my week just for a moment.

I had our, my wife and I had our second grandchild born.

Brave.

His name is Brave.

Come on.

Brave Beckham Grimm.

There he is.

Seven pounds, 15 ounces, 20 inches long.

A man like stats, I'm just telling you.

And going to bed last night, here he is.

Look at that.

Our kids give birth to some really cute grandkids.

It's pretty amazing.

All right, hey, something else that you heard in the announcements, and it's this.

Tonight is welcome dinner.

So welcome dinner tonight at 6 p.m.

If you have yet to take this next step, this is how you get involved in the church, how you discover what the church is all about.

We'd love to get to know you.

Meet us here.

We will be here.

At 6 o'clock, feeding you dinner, going to be an incredible, incredible time.

And then as well, something I announced to our Pursuit Night people, whoever showed up to Pursuit Night on first Tuesday of this last month, we got something coming in the fall that I'm super pumped about.

Our staff is pumped about it.

Our dream team is pumped about it.

If you haven't heard, you're going to hear right now, and it's this.

We are on a journey, always have been.

For 25 years, we started something for discipleship called Impact.

And we've been doing that for, think of that, a quarter of a century.

That's pretty amazing.

I mean, my wife is getting old.

I mean, this is crazy.

Just kidding.

I'm older than her, so.

The 25 years, maybe 26 years, we were kind of debating about how long we've been doing it.

A long time.

And then prayer has always been a major thing for us.

So we have first Tuesday of every month, we pray.

So we have pursuit night, and then that's Tuesday.

And then Thursdays, we got impact.

Guess what?

We're having a marriage of two ministries.

We are gonna marry pursuit night of Tuesday night with impact Thursday night.

They're getting married.

If Tuesday and Thursday have a baby, guess what?

It's called first Wednesday.

First Wednesday.

So coming in Saturday, coming in Saturday, coming this September, so we will be, we will still have Pursuit Night this come, first Tuesday in August.

But in September, we are bringing these ministries together and we will have, instead of just an hour where we gather on a first day of the month, we will gather for an hour and a half.

It will be from

6.30 to 8, first Wednesdays every month of the year.

And we will still have prayer for 45 minutes.

And then we're gonna go a little bit deeper for discipleship and a little bit deeper in teaching.

And so I'm super pumped about this.

You don't need to sign up.

You can just show up.

We are going to take you on a journey every first Wednesday to go a little bit deeper.

How many of you say, that sounds great to me?

All right.

First Wednesdays, starting in September.

Well, I want to just, before I get into the word today, I want to just welcome all of our church family, our Pendleton campus that's meeting in a high school auditorium right now, our Department of Corrections campus that is growing, having an incredible move of God up on the hill right now, our online family.

Walla Walla, say hello to all your church family today.

Thank you.

We love each and every one of you.

We are in a series, as you know.

I don't even know what week it is.

It's like week 15 or 16 or something like that.

It's going to end up being week 40 some or 50.

It might take us the better part of a year.

But we're in a series called There Is More as we journey through the book of Acts verse by verse and chapter by chapter.

And whether you're new to the faith, whether you have been following Jesus for decades, there is more.

Tell your neighbor there's more.

There is more.

This is one of my favorite series that I've ever done.

I just told some pastors yesterday.

I was in Idaho with a group of pastors, and I just told them, I think this might be my favorite series I've ever done, and I've been preaching for decades.

But going deep, we've done books of the Bible before, but I'm so enjoying it.

I hope you are as well.

Why do we go through a Bible, a book of the Bible this long?

Why do we go verse by verse and chapter by chapter?

Because we believe it takes the whole Bible to make a whole Christian.

Amen.

So today, we are going to look at a guy today that is a long shot to ever become a Christian.

I don't know if you've ever heard someone described as a long shot.

A long shot is someone or something with almost no chance of succeeding.

If you were betting on them, you probably wouldn't waste your money.

Every one of us have watched sports events or sports games where teams come together in a game where there's somebody that has almost no chance of winning.

The experts have already picked the winner.

The commentators have already moved on.

The fans have already accepted defeat.

Kind of like Spain with Argentina today has already accepted defeat.

Shouldn't have said it, sorry.

Come back together, united as one.

But there's a long shot.

But every once in a while, the long shot wins.

And everybody loves an underdog story.

But this morning, we're not talking about sports.

We're talking about people.

Because if we're honest, every one of us knows someone we're quietly deciding is beyond God's reach.

Maybe it's a son, a daughter, a spouse, a coworker, a neighbor.

Maybe it's someone who's angry at God or someone who's addicted.

I don't know what it is.

Maybe it's someone who's convinced that Christianity is for idiots or it's foolish.

Maybe it's someone who's hurt you deeply.

And if we're really honest, sometimes we begin to look in the mirror and before we begin to think, maybe I'm the long shot.

Maybe I've made too many mistakes.

Maybe it's me.

I'm too broken.

I'm too hard-hearted.

I'm too messed up.

Acts chapter 9, where we're going today, was written for people like that.

Because Acts chapter 9 reminds us that Jesus specializes in saving long shots.

Check the story out.

Here we go.

Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples.

He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the way...

Whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners.

They weren't called Christians yet.

They were just called the way.

Take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.

He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, Saul, Saul, whenever God speaks your name twice, pay attention.

Hey, if God speaks your name once, pay attention.

Why do you persecute me?

Who are you?

Lord?

Saul asked.

I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting, he replied.

Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.

The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless.

They heard the sound, but did not see anyone.

Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes, he could see nothing.

So they led him by the hand into Damascus for three days, and he was blind, and he did not eat or drink anything.

In Damascus, there was a disciple named Ananias.

The Lord called him at a vision.

Ananias?

Yes, Lord, he answered.

The Lord told him, go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he's praying.

In a vision, he's seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.

Are you loving this supernatural stuff?

Where visions happen, and God speaks specifically.

Go to 9th and Poplar.

No, don't go to 9th and Poplar.

That's the pot store.

Go to...

Yes, go to 9th and Poplar.

Let's get back to the Scripture.

He saw a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.

Lord, Ananias answered, I've heard many reports about this man and all the harm he's done to your holy people in Jerusalem.

And he's come here with authority from the chief priest to arrest all who call on your name.

But the Lord said to Ananias, go.

This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.

I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.

Then Ananias went to the house and entered it.

Placing his hands on Saul, he said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes and he could see again.

He got up, was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

I wanna take these few verses out of Acts chapter nine, and I wanna talk on this subject long shots.

From this point forward, the story of Acts begins to shift.

It begins to change.

Peter has been the primary person God has been using.

Now we'll still see Peter in the next couple of chapters, but beginning here, Luke, the author of the book of Acts, begins to shift his attention to a man who will become the greatest missionary in history.

His name is Saul.

Eventually, Luke will be calling him Paul, his Roman name, as the gospel spreads into the Gentile world.

But before Saul becomes Christianity's greatest missionary, he was Christianity's greatest enemy.

Let me back up just for a moment and introduce to you the very first mention of this man in the Bible.

Back in Acts chapter 7.

Says this, as they covered their ears, yelling at the top of their voices, as they're going to stone Stephen to death, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city, began to stone him.

Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man, here he is, named Saul.

So Saul shows up giving authority to the martyrdom of the first Christian martyr by the name of Stephen.

And when it says they laid their coats, have you ever seen relief pitchers warming up in the bullpen and when their name gets called, they give their jacket or their coat, whatever they might have extra on, to their pitching coach and out to the field they go?

That is the idea that you get here that these martyrs

These people are laying their coats down at the feet of Saul so they could give it everything they've got to see Stephen be killed.

Now, it says this about Saul.

He approved of their killing him.

And then it says in Acts 9-2 that he found any who were blown to the way, whether men or women.

And I highlighted women because if you're dragging women from their homes to kill them or to imprison them, you are a bad dude.

Right, you're a bad dude.

We need to understand how intense, how miraculous, how radical it is that Saul, the long shot, got saved.

That Jesus rescued and delivered this man.

Now to give you an idea, just a picture, I'm gonna see how many of you remember this picture or this shot from a video that went viral in 2015.

Some of you remember this.

In 2015, 21 Egyptian Christian men were captured by ISIS solely because of their confession of faith in Jesus Christ.

And ISIS demanded and said, you will recant your faith or you will die.

One by one gave them an opportunity to recant their faith on video.

Don't watch it.

On video, and then beheaded them one by one.

Notice, these are the Christian men kneeling in their orange jumpsuits.

The guy in the middle with the camo on, he's the commander of the ISIS that are in this video right here.

That's the guy who was calling out and giving authority and saying,

Take their life.

Take their life.

Now listen, this dude in the middle, these, well, first off, let me say this.

These were not 21 Christian pastors.

These were 21 Christian construction workers who refused, one by one, refused to deny their faith.

Every one of them

said, yes, I'm a Christian and I will not deny my faith.

So the dude in the middle would be like Saul.

And what happens in the story of Saul, spoiler alert, is that Saul goes from the dude in camo

to one of the Christian men in an orange jumpsuit and ends up, church history teaches us, beheaded for his faith.

This is how radical, this is a radical conversion.

Saul is not chasing criminals.

He's chasing Christians.

And if there were betting odds on who would become the greatest missionary in church history, Saul would have had the longest odds imaginable.

No believer in Jerusalem would have believed that Saul would get saved.

or would become the greatest Christian missionary, or let alone just get saved.

Peter would not have picked him.

John would not have picked him.

Stephen absolutely would not have picked him.

Saul was a lost cause.

He was a long shot.

But church, Jesus loves saving long shots.

So the big idea today, if you're taking notes, write this down.

Jesus saves long shots.

I want you to see what Luke writes.

He goes, meanwhile Saul was breathing out.

Breathing out.

Breathing out, I love Luke's words.

He's breathing out murderous threats.

So Saul wasn't occasionally angry.

Hatred had become the very air that he breathed.

Violence had become his language.

Everything about his life pointed in one direction.

Destroy the church.

But notice what happens next.

As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.

Saul is not searching for Jesus, but Jesus is searching for Saul.

Saul is on his way to arrest Christians, but Jesus is on his way to arrest Saul.

That's the gospel, my friends.

The gospel isn't primarily a story of people finding God.

The gospel is a story of God pursuing people who are running from him.

Romans says this, while we were sinners, Christ died for us.

Jesus did not wait until Saul cleaned himself up

Jesus didn't wait until Saul became interested in who this Jesus is.

Jesus didn't wait until Saul apologized.

Jesus interrupted him.

And maybe that's your story.

Maybe you weren't looking for Jesus at all.

You might be sitting in this room or online or in Pendleton right now, and you're just...

You're not even looking for Jesus.

You're going to work, raising your kids and your family, and you're chasing money, you're chasing success, you're chasing relationships, but maybe somebody invited you to church.

Maybe you opened a Bible because your life began to fall apart.

I don't know what it is that God is beginning to do to suddenly shine a light around you, but maybe somebody has been praying for you

for years.

And looking back now, you realize something.

You weren't finding God.

God was finding you.

God had been pursuing you all along.

And I love this picture that I see this moment.

Jesus doesn't politely knock on Paul's heart and go, well, I'm going to be a gentleman today.

Would you like to find out about me?

No.

It's like Jesus just comes like the lead team member of a SWAT team and kicks the door down of Paul's heart.

And he's like, Saul, get off your horse.

Get on your knees.

You're following me now.

End of story.

Saul's like, yes, sir.

That's grace.

Not because Saul deserved it, but because Jesus delights.

In saving long shots.

My dad was a long shot.

My brothers were long shots.

Hey, come to think of it, I was a long shot.

Our family was long shots, but Jesus kicked the door down of our castle and walked in and said, you're serving me now.

And our family, the entire family, bowed their knees and said, yes, Lord.

You know that you're a long shot.

That when you become a Christian, the people you knew before don't believe you.

Like, ah, that ain't gonna last.

Right, no way.

I know you.

You know you're the king of the long shots.

That when you get born again and God speaks to somebody else and says go pray for them, that they don't want to obey God because they're afraid if they go to pray for you, you will kill them.

That's what goes on with Saul.

Jesus loves saving long shots.

But he doesn't just save them.

He changes them.

Jesus changes long shots.

You see, Saul at this point was what I would call a religionist.

Everything was black and white.

He knew the Bible, but he didn't know the author of the Bible.

And so he was fighting against God and had no idea that he was fighting against God.

He was wearing his black and white referee shirt with a whistle around his neck.

And he was blowing the whistle on every Christian and doing his level best to remove them from the game of life.

But Jesus comes along and blows the whistle on Paul.

Blows the whistle on Saul.

And Saul gets delivered alive.

From his religion.

From his thinking he knew God and didn't know God at all.

In fact, Saul, when he begins to be called Paul, he writes this to the Philippians and he goes, beware of dogs.

He's got a beware of dogs sign everywhere he goes.

Some of you got them at your house.

You're like, beware of the dogs, right?

What he's talking about, he's talking about religious people who will devour your relationship with God.

He will fight to keep you from knowing Jesus.

He said, beware of them, evil workers, mutilation.

For we're the circumcision who worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, have no confidence in the flesh.

In other words, he's saying, don't trust, don't be self-righteous.

Saul is saying, don't be self-righteous.

Because he was self-righteously persecuting the church.

And you say, how could a...

That'd be self-righteous.

Well, there's religious wars going on in the world today that people think they're doing God's service, killing people and murdering people, and they don't know God at all.

No confidence in the flesh, though I also might have confidence in the flesh.

If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I'm more so.

Circumcised the eighth day.

Stock of Israel.

Tribe of Benjamin.

Hebrew of the Hebrews.

Concerning the law, Pharisee.

That was the strictest.

I'm here concerning zeal, persecuting the church.

Concerning righteousness, which is in the law, blameless.

Doesn't mean he never sinned.

What he means is I did everything according to the law to get my life back right with God.

I did every sacrifice that needed to be done in order to get right with God.

But what things were gained to me, these I have counted lost.

For Christ, indeed, I count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I've suffered the loss of all things, and count them as what?

Count them as rubbish.

Sounds English.

It sounds like Paul's been drinking some tea.

Just count them as rubbish.

Rubbish is this Greek word, skubalon.

It is very likely that Paul is using a Greek word to refer to dog dung.

Because he says, beware of dogs and beware of the rubbish they leave.

When he talks about self-righteousness, he's like, beware of self-righteousness.

I consider it dog dung.

I gotta go.

Here we go.

Acts 9.5.

And he goes, who are you, Lord?

Jesus didn't say, I'm the God of the people you're persecuting.

He said,

You're persecuting me.

Oh, you need to meditate on it.

I don't have time to preach it today.

But when you speak evil of Jesus' bride, when you touch the bride, you touch him.

The church is the apple of his eye.

He loves the church.

And knowing about God and knowing God are not the same.

So Paul, or Saul at this point, goes, who are you?

I thought I knew you.

Who are you?

Lord, I love that Saul responds with Lord.

You know why?

Because when Jesus speaks, it sounds like he's in charge.

Right?

But when religious people speak, it sounds like they're in charge.

Meditate on that one.

Paul went from who are you to I just want to know him.

He went from who are you, I want to know him.

Everything he had built his life on collapsed in one encounter with Jesus.

And he was changed forever.

And he ends up defending a genuine relationship with God.

A ministry of reconciliation.

And even stood against Peter.

when Peter slipped back in to a religious spirit where he wouldn't hang out with certain people because of what it might look like, and Paul rebuked him.

And listen, you've got to be a man of God to rebuke Peter.

Because Peter, people are dropping dead in Peter's presence.

But because Saul was changed so much by an encounter with Jesus, he's like, I smell religion from 100 miles away.

Peter, get away from that.

This is not right.

You are acting religious, and you are looking for self-righteousness from yourself, or you're looking to look a certain way by hanging out or not hanging out with certain people.

You need to repent of it right now.

And Paul was right.

Jesus saves long shots.

Jesus changes long shots.

And check this out.

He uses long shots.

Now, I can't ignore this guy because Luke introduces another main character, a man by the name of Ananias.

Can we just appreciate how ordinary this man is?

He's not John.

He's not Peter.

He's not one of the 12.

He's simply described as a disciple.

I love that.

God loves using ordinary disciples.

Look at this.

In Damascus, there was a disciple named Ananias.

The Lord called him into the vision.

Ananias.

Yes, Lord, he answers.

Then Jesus gives him an assignment he didn't want to.

He said, go to Straight Street.

There's a man named Saul waiting for you.

Imagine hearing that.

Lord, the Saul?

The one in the papers?

The one arresting Christians?

The one dragging families?

The one who drags women out of their homes and kills them?

This one?

The one who approved of Stephen's execution?

I think you've got the wrong address.

I love this about Ananias because he's honest.

He doesn't pretend he's not afraid.

He tells the Lord exactly what he's thinking.

Lord, I've heard about this man.

Translation, Jesus, this is a terrible idea.

Have you ever noticed that God never argues with Ananias?

He just says, go.

Go, obey me.

Because Jesus sees something in Saul that no one else could see.

Ananias sees a persecutor.

Jesus sees a preacher.

Ananias sees an enemy.

Jesus sees an apostle.

Ananias sees Saul's past.

Jesus sees Saul's future.

Aren't you glad, church?

People, well, they may often define us by our worst day, but Jesus defines us by his grace.

That's good news.

Because if Jesus only saw our past, none of us would be in this room today or in that high school.

None of us would be here.

Then Jesus says something incredible.

This is my chosen instrument.

Think about the dude in camo.

This is my chosen instrument.

You've got to be kidding me.

Chosen?

You're going to use him?

Not because Saul earned it.

Not because Saul deserved it.

Grace always comes before usefulness.

Jesus, I don't know if you figured this out yet, he doesn't save perfect people.

Any perfect person in the room?

No.

He saves broken people.

He saves long shots.

And then he uses them for his honor and his glory.

Somebody needs to hear that.

Somebody needs to hear because the enemy keeps reminding you of who you were.

But Jesus wants to remind you whose you are.

Your past may explain some things about you, but it doesn't define you anymore.

Then, Ananias walks into the house.

Please do not miss this.

Ananias walks into the house.

Look at this.

And entered, placing his hands.

He got close.

I would have texted first.

Right?

Right?

I would have sent my associate pastor, Caleb.

My schedule's full.

He'd love to come over.

But can you imagine, can you imagine what Saul felt when he had hands laid on him?

He's blind, and he hears these words.

Brother.

Brother.

Brother.

Brother.

Saul.

Three days earlier, Saul would have arrested him.

Now, he's family.

Only Jesus can do that, my friends.

Only Jesus can take enemies and make them brothers.

Can we give Jesus praise?

Ha, you're amazing.

Jesus saves long shots.

Jesus changes long shots.

And Jesus uses long shots.

So what's our application today?

Very quickly this.

Believe again that God can change anybody.

Believe that God can change anybody.

As hard as it is to believe that some people could ever change,

God can change anyone.

Second Corinthians, Paul wrote it.

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person.

This is a long shot writing this.

He wants you to know something.

You're brand new.

The old life, it's gone.

So my friends, don't stop believing that Jesus can change anybody.

which means this, keep praying.

Keep praying for long shots.

Never give up praying for someone you care about to come to faith in Jesus Christ.

Church, many of us get discouraged when Jesus doesn't answer our prayers in a day or a week or a month or maybe even in a year.

But true, relentless faith doesn't wear a wristwatch.

George Mueller was a 19th century amazing man of prayer who cared for over 10,000 orphans.

Early in his ministry, he wrote down the names of five friends who didn't know God, and he made a commitment to pray for them every single day.

18 months later, the first friend gets saved.

Five years pass, and the second friend gets saved.

12 years goes by.

And the third friend surrendered his life to God.

And George Mueller kept praying every single day.

Hear this.

For 52 years.

52.

He absolutely was convinced.

God will answer my prayers.

I have two more friends.

that are long shots, that haven't come to faith, but I know they will.

He died, George Mueller died before his other two friends came to faith.

At George Mueller's funeral, the fourth friend leaned over, looked at the casket in the hole, and felt the weight of the gospel, and knelt there and gave his life to Christ.

Three years later, the fifth and final friend was saved because he never stopped believing in the power of prayer.

Saul never got over the fact that Jesus saves long shots.

This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I'm chief.

You might be in the sound of my voice right now and there's something in your heart that says, I am so grateful that Jesus saves long shots.

That's me.

I'm grateful he kicked down the door of the home of the Grimm family.

That's our last name.

I'm thankful that Jesus saves long shots.

But some of you might be saying it in a different way.

I'm hopeful that he saves long shots because I've yet to ever surrender my life to Christ.

I wanna give you a chance to do that today.

If Jesus can save Saul,

He can save you.

Let's bow our heads, close our eyes.

If you're in the sound of my voice in Pendleton, Department of Corrections, or in this room, or online, and you are not sure you're right with Jesus, and you want to get your life right with God right now, you are one sincere, honest prayer away that says, Jesus, I'm a sinner, but I want you to be my Savior.

It's that simple, that profound.

If you want to get your life right with God, then I want to know who wants to pray this next prayer with me.

I'm not going to call you out.

I'm not going to embarrass you in any way.

But I do want to know who wants to pray this prayer and be bold enough to say,

I want to be saved like Saul was.

I want to suddenly, I want to give my life to Christ right now.

On the count of three, I want you to lift up your hand, and I want you to keep it in the air until I can catch eyes with you.

One, two, three.

Lift your hand up right now, and let's catch eyes with one another just so I can see you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you back here.

Thank you back here.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Now, I might miss you.

I promise you this.

Jesus does not.

We're going to all pray together.

Come on, church.

Let's stand up together on our feet.

Everybody stand up.

And let's repeat this after me.

Dear Lord Jesus, I come to you today in need of forgiveness.

I repent of my sins.

I want you as my Lord.

Forgive me and fill me.

I pray this now in Jesus' name.

Come on, shout amen.

Amen.