VBS 2019: These Are Written...

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Sermon for VBS 2019 Celebration Service

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B: , , , Galatians 1:11-17

Housekeeping Stuff & Announcements:

Welcome guests, introduce yourself. Thank band and kids ministry. Invite guests to parlor after service.
Our children’s ministry leaves for camp at Inlow tomorrow. Please keep them in your prayers this week. We will pray together for them in just a moment.
Silver Seekers (senior adult fellowship and study) will be held on Tuesday morning at 10 am in Miller Hall.
Our student ministry, COMPLETED grades 6-12, will be attending BCNM Student Camp at Inlow June 24-28. Spots are limited, and we only have 10 spots left. Last day to register is NEXT SUNDAY, June 16. Forms on the Get Connected table in the foyer, or online at our Student Ministry page at ehbc.org.
I wanted to remind everyone about something that you might not have noticed in the foyer. We have a resource wall just around the corner from the ladies’ restroom. On it, you can find magazines, devotionals, and other good stuff for you to take and use. Swing by and check it out!
And now, we wanted to show you a little bit of what took place this week at VBS...
PHOTO MONTAGE

Opening

As you’ve already seen, this has been an exciting week here at Eastern Hills! Vacation Bible School was a great time of study, worship, crafts, and fun. I’m blessed to have been able to lead the opening and closing worship rallies every day, and to have been able to worship and share the truth of the Gospel with so many kids. Our theme verse for VBS this week was . We’re going to start there this morning before we pray:
John 20:31 CSB
31 But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
Pray. Pray for YLA Camp.
Pray. Pray for YLA Camp.
So, as we’ve mentioned, our theme for VBS this week was “In the Wild,” and we looked at amazing encounters with Jesus that we find in the Bible. It was a great theme, and we were able to look at several well-known passages together: things like the Walk to Emmaus, Jesus causing Peter to walk on water, and Jesus’ baptism.
In each lesson, the kids got to engage a place in the Bible where people had these amazing encounters, and learn from those encounters.
We also are in the middle of a sermon series called “Who’s Your One?” giving some serious thought and prayer to one person in our circle of influence with whom we can share the message of the Gospel of Jesus, so that this “one” can have hope. I think that the VBS theme goes together really well with our “Who’s Your One?” sermon series.
See, the point of “Who’s Your One?” is that we as the people of God develop the habit, the discipline, of telling others about our own amazing encounter with Jesus, and about God’s offer to them of having their own amazing encounter with Him.
This morning, we’re going to look at one more amazing encounter with Jesus from the Bible, and connect that with both our VBS and “Who’s Your One?” themes.
In , we read the narrative of a man named Saul of Tarsus coming to faith through the calling of the Lord Jesus Christ on his life. Before we read this passage, I need to make one thing clear, because I’ll probably accidentally switch back and forth between calling Saul “Saul” and calling him “Paul.” I’m referring to the same guy. He went by both names. Saul was his Hebrew name (so the name he would have used around Jews), and Paul (or Paulus) was his Roman citizen first name. He is better known as the Apostle Paul, who wrote most of the New Testament.
Let’s look at his amazing encounter with Jesus, and then we’ll skip a little bit for time’s sake:
Acts 9:1–9 CSB
1 Now Saul was still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. He went to the high priest 2 and requested letters from him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women who belonged to the Way, he might bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he traveled and was nearing Damascus, a light from heaven suddenly flashed around him. 4 Falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul said. “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “But get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” 7 The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the sound but seeing no one. 8 Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing. So they took him by the hand and led him into Damascus. 9 He was unable to see for three days and did not eat or drink.
acts 9:1-9
So Saul is on his way to arrest and likely cause the death of the disciples of Jesus in Damascus. Jesus breaks into Saul’s life in a most dramatic fashion, calling out and asking, “Why are you persecuting Me?” Saul, justifiably perplexed, asks the right question: “Who are You, Lord?” And he gets the answer: “I am Jesus, the One you are persecuting… get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
So Saul is blind, but he gets up and is led by the hand into Damascus. He prays and fasts for three days while he awaits being told what he must do. Then a disciple of Jesus named Ananias comes and tells him that Jesus had sent him to Saul so that he could get his sight back and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Saul’s conversion was right then:
Acts 9:18 CSB
18 At once something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized.
Saul immediately begins to testify to who Jesus is.
Paul’s conversion summarized mostly.
acts 9:
How does Paul go into “confounding the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah?” Simple. By his knowledge of the OT.
Acts 9:20–22 CSB
20 Immediately he began proclaiming Jesus in the synagogues: “He is the Son of God.” 21 All who heard him were astounded and said, “Isn’t this the man in Jerusalem who was causing havoc for those who called on this name and came here for the purpose of taking them as prisoners to the chief priests?” 22 But Saul grew stronger and kept confounding the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.
How does Saul go about “confounding the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah?” By God using his knowledge of the Old Testament. How can I say that it was Paul’s knowledge of the Old Testament that God used so that he could confound the Jews by proving that Jesus is the Messiah?
Because as we will see in a moment, Saul was a master of the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament), and those Hebrew Scriptures foretold of the coming Jewish Messiah.

1) The Old Testament foretold the Messiah.

After Saul’s conversion to faith in Jesus, he took some time to go off and think through what he had always known: that the promised Messiah would come.
Philippians 1:11–17 CSB
11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. 12 Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually advanced the gospel, 13 so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard, and to everyone else, that my imprisonment is because I am in Christ. 14 Most of the brothers have gained confidence in the Lord from my imprisonment and dare even more to speak the word fearlessly. 15 To be sure, some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of good will. 16 These preach out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel; 17 the others proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, thinking that they will cause me trouble in my imprisonment.
Galatians 1:11–17 CSB
11 For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel preached by me is not of human origin. 12 For I did not receive it from a human source and I was not taught it, but it came by a revelation of Jesus Christ. 13 For you have heard about my former way of life in Judaism: I intensely persecuted God’s church and tried to destroy it. 14 I advanced in Judaism beyond many contemporaries among my people, because I was extremely zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. 15 But when God, who from my mother’s womb set me apart and called me by his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son in me, so that I could preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone. 17 I did not go up to Jerusalem to those who had become apostles before me; instead I went to Arabia and came back to Damascus.
Philippians
Romans
Romans 15:4 CSB
4 For whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that we may have hope through endurance and through the encouragement from the Scriptures.
Galatians 1:15–18 CSB
15 But when God, who from my mother’s womb set me apart and called me by his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son in me, so that I could preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone. 17 I did not go up to Jerusalem to those who had become apostles before me; instead I went to Arabia and came back to Damascus. 18 Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to get to know Cephas, and I stayed with him fifteen days.
Galatians 1:15–17 CSB
15 But when God, who from my mother’s womb set me apart and called me by his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son in me, so that I could preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone. 17 I did not go up to Jerusalem to those who had become apostles before me; instead I went to Arabia and came back to Damascus.
Galatians 1:14–17 CSB
14 I advanced in Judaism beyond many contemporaries among my people, because I was extremely zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. 15 But when God, who from my mother’s womb set me apart and called me by his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son in me, so that I could preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone. 17 I did not go up to Jerusalem to those who had become apostles before me; instead I went to Arabia and came back to Damascus.
Galatians 1:11–17 CSB
11 For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel preached by me is not of human origin. 12 For I did not receive it from a human source and I was not taught it, but it came by a revelation of Jesus Christ. 13 For you have heard about my former way of life in Judaism: I intensely persecuted God’s church and tried to destroy it. 14 I advanced in Judaism beyond many contemporaries among my people, because I was extremely zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. 15 But when God, who from my mother’s womb set me apart and called me by his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son in me, so that I could preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone. 17 I did not go up to Jerusalem to those who had become apostles before me; instead I went to Arabia and came back to Damascus.
Galatians 1:13–21 CSB
13 For you have heard about my former way of life in Judaism: I intensely persecuted God’s church and tried to destroy it. 14 I advanced in Judaism beyond many contemporaries among my people, because I was extremely zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. 15 But when God, who from my mother’s womb set me apart and called me by his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son in me, so that I could preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone. 17 I did not go up to Jerusalem to those who had become apostles before me; instead I went to Arabia and came back to Damascus. 18 Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to get to know Cephas, and I stayed with him fifteen days. 19 But I didn’t see any of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. 20 I declare in the sight of God: I am not lying in what I write to you. 21 Afterward, I went to the regions of Syria and Cilicia.
Galatians 1:13–17 CSB
13 For you have heard about my former way of life in Judaism: I intensely persecuted God’s church and tried to destroy it. 14 I advanced in Judaism beyond many contemporaries among my people, because I was extremely zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. 15 But when God, who from my mother’s womb set me apart and called me by his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son in me, so that I could preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone. 17 I did not go up to Jerusalem to those who had become apostles before me; instead I went to Arabia and came back to Damascus.
Galatians 1:15-
galatians 1
galatians 1:13-2
Notice that Paul said that he had “advanced in Judaism beyond many of His contemporaries.” Really quickly, remember that a few weeks ago, at the beginning of our “Who’s Your One?” series, I gave a little background on Jewish religious education in New Testament times.
Just a quick recap: Hebrew boys went to Torah school at age 5, and they memorized most of the first five books of the Bible during that time. Then at 10, those who were capable to go on to deeper religious studies would continue, and those who were not would start learning the family business. During this time, they would essentially memorize the entire Old Testament. By the time they were 17, if they were going to go on in their religious studies, they would apply to be a rabbi’s talmid, or disciple.
Galatians 1:11–17 CSB
11 For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel preached by me is not of human origin. 12 For I did not receive it from a human source and I was not taught it, but it came by a revelation of Jesus Christ. 13 For you have heard about my former way of life in Judaism: I intensely persecuted God’s church and tried to destroy it. 14 I advanced in Judaism beyond many contemporaries among my people, because I was extremely zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. 15 But when God, who from my mother’s womb set me apart and called me by his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son in me, so that I could preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone. 17 I did not go up to Jerusalem to those who had become apostles before me; instead I went to Arabia and came back to Damascus.
There was a special type of rabbi, one who had special authority, called smicha. There were not many of these rabbis. Two that I named from Jesus’ time were Hillel and Gamaliel.
So what does this have to do with our friend Saul, and his understanding of the Old Testament?
We see something critical in his defense of himself before the crowd who wants to kill him in .
Acts 22:3 CSB
3 He continued, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the law of our ancestors. I was zealous for God, just as all of you are today.
acts 22:3
Saul was the talmid of Gamaliel, a smicha rabbi held in the greatest of respect by the Hebrew people. In order for him to have been accepted as one who would sit at the feet of Gamaliel (which was a euphemism which meant that he was Gamaliel’s disciple), he would have had to be exceedingly good with the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament).
I could easily spend our entire time this morning on this first point. There isn’t time this morning for me to go into all that I’ve found in the Old Testament that promises Messiah. Nearly every time I read in the Old Testament, I find more that maybe I didn’t notice before. So this morning, I’ll just point out two. There are MANY more. There’s a great book that I highly recommend called Evidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell if you would like to read more on this.
Throughout the Old Testament, God made promises that One would come who would reverse the effects of the Fall: when mankind ate of the forbidden fruit and, as managers of creation, broke it through their rebellion. The first promise was immediately after the Fall had occurred:
Genesis 3:15 CSB
15 I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.
Genesis
Here, God is speaking to the serpent, saying that the offspring of the woman would one day crush the head of the serpent, even as the serpent wounded this offspring’s heel.
Here, God is speaking to the serpent, saying that the offspring of the woman would one day crush the head of the serpent, even as the serpent wounded this offspring’s heel.
Fast forward to Isaiah’s time, and Isaiah predicts how this remedy for the Fall will take place:
Genesis 3:15 CSB
15 I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.
Isaiah 53:5 CSB
5 But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds.
This “offspring” of Eve would
Messiah would come and be “pierced” for our “rebellion.” “Crushed” for our “iniquities.” “Punished” for our “peace.” The “healer” because of His “wounds.” This is how Messiah would come and save: by being pierced, being crushed, and by being punished.
Saul would have known this far better than I do. And how did he view the Old Testament? He explained in :
Romans 15:4 CSB
4 For whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that we may have hope through endurance and through the encouragement from the Scriptures.
When Saul went off to Arabia as he mentioned in , he was having the Holy Spirit instruct him from the Old Testament, giving him hope, endurance, and encouragement through those same Scriptures, as Saul finally understood what they really meant. He confounded the Jews in the synagogues because he could show them, from their Scriptures, that Jesus really was the promised Messiah.
But Saul didn’t just argue it. He believed it because Jesus proved it.

2) Jesus proved Himself to be the Son of God.

The fact that Messiah would be the Son of God was something that was seen in the Old Testament as well. For example, we see in Psalm 2:
Psalm 2:2 CSB
2 The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers conspire together against the Lord and his Anointed One:
psalms 2:
psalms 2:2, 7,
Psalm 2:7 CSB
7 I will declare the Lord’s decree. He said to me, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father.
psalm 2:
Psalm 2:12 CSB
12 Pay homage to the Son or he will be angry and you will perish in your rebellion, for his anger may ignite at any moment. All who take refuge in him are happy.
Psalm 2:
So Messiah is the Son of God. And Jesus is Messiah. Therefore, Jesus is the Son of God.
Saul believed it. Look at what he led with in the synagogues:
Acts 9:20 CSB
20 Immediately he began proclaiming Jesus in the synagogues: “He is the Son of God.”
Again, I could devote our entire time to just this one point. I’ll just give a couple of examples here as well:
Jesus fulfilled the prophetic messages about Messiah. Just consider that one prophecy from again. Jesus died on a cross, His hands and feet literally pierced for our rebellion, His life crushed for our iniquities, Him bearing the punishment so we could have peace with God, and healing our sin-sickness us by His blood. But Jesus fulfilled several more prophesies about Messiah: where He would be born, how He would be treated, the price paid for His betrayal, etc. There are MANY.
Jesus did the miraculous. For example, Jesus calmed the wind and the waves with His words:
Jesus calmed the wind and the waves with His words:
Mark 4:39 CSB
39 He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Silence! Be still!” The wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
mark 4:29
Mark 4:39–40 CSB
39 He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Silence! Be still!” The wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 Then he said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
Matthew 8:26–27 CSB
26 He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. 27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the sea obey him!”
Ultimately, John explains that this was the entire purpose of his Gospel in our focal verse from VBS and for this morning:
matthew 8:
Jesus defeated death by rising from the grave. Jesus was crucified, but He didn’t stay dead. He defeated death and rose to life again by the power of the Holy Spirit. After Jesus rose, Luke writes that “After He had suffered, He also presented Himself alive to [the disciples] by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days...” ()
Ultimately, John explains that this was the entire purpose of his Gospel in our focal verse from VBS and for this morning:
Ultimately, John explains that this was the entire purpose of his Gospel in our focal verse from VBS and for this morning:
John 20:31 CSB
31 But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
Everything that John wrote was so that those who read his Gospel might believe that Jesus is who He said He is, and that by believing, you would find eternal life in Jesus’ name.
This is why Jesus came. This was His mission: to seek and to save the lost, like Saul. Like you and me.
Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God, showed up in Saul’s life, and invited Saul into a personal relationship with Him. Today, He invites each of us.
Luke 19:10 CSB
10 For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.”
Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God, showed up in Saul’s life, and invited Saul into a personal relationship with Him. Today, He invites each of us.

3) Jesus invites us to have an amazing encounter with Him as well.

I think that we could all agree that Saul’s encounter with Jesus was amazing. Jesus appeared to Him on that road to Damascus and called Saul out into the depths of a relationship with Him, and Saul was never the same after that.
acts 9:
Acts 9:27–28 CSB
27 Barnabas, however, took him and brought him to the apostles and explained to them how Saul had seen the Lord on the road and that the Lord had talked to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus. 28 Saul was coming and going with them in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.
When Jesus spoke to Ananias to call him to go and see Saul and lay hands on him to restore his sight, Jesus gave some insight into who Saul would end up being:
Acts 9:15–16 CSB
15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for this man is my chosen instrument to take my name to Gentiles, kings, and Israelites. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
acts 9”15
What was it that Paul had to do in his conversion? He had to proclaim the name of Jesus. To what end? So that people would believe.
Saul went on to take up his Roman name, Paul, and travel throughout the Roman world at the time, proclaiming the truth of the Gospel of Jesus everywhere he went, calling people to be reconciled to God through faith in Jesus.
Gospel here.
1 John 5:13 CSB
13 I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
Look at what he wrote about his ministry to the church in Corinth:
2 Corinthians 5:11 CSB
11 Therefore, since we know the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade people. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your consciences.
2 Corinthians 5:18–20 CSB
18 Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. 19 That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf: “Be reconciled to God.”
Gospel here.
2 Corinthians 5:
Paul saw that his was a ministry of reconciliation: bringing two opposed parties (God and sinful people) back into a state of relationship again.
Let me apply this in two ways:
First, for those this morning who have already been reconciled to God through faith in Jesus: We have also been given the ministry of reconciliation, made into ambassadors for Christ, called to plead on Christ’s behalf that people would be reconciled to God. This is what “Who’s Your One?” is all about. If you’ve been keeping up with your prayer journal (there are a few more left on the Get Connected table if you would like one), you’ve prayed for your one that they would be reconciled to God, and that God would use your life and your witness as a means of pleading with them, just as Paul wrote.
Share your amazing encounter with Jesus! You have been given the opportunity to represent the King of kings as His ambassador in a foreign land. Join with Him in His mission to seek the lost that they might be saved.
Second, for those this morning who have not been reconciled to God through faith in Jesus:
You are here for a reason today. And I believe that that reason is so that you can have an amazing encounter with Jesus. Just after what Paul wrote in , he wrote this in chapter 6:
2 Corinthians 6:2 CSB
2 For he says: At an acceptable time I listened to you, and in the day of salvation I helped you. See, now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation!
Now is the acceptable time. Now is the day of salvation.

Closing

Our sins, the ways that we miss the mark of God’s perfection, those sins separate us from our loving Creator. We can’t fix that separation ourselves, so Jesus took our place when He died on that cross. He died for our sins. He took our punishment. And He offers us peace with God. Paul wrote, “We plead on Christ’s behalf: ‘Be reconciled to God.’” We plead on Christ’s behalf today: be reconciled with God. Place your trust in Jesus and surrender your life in submission to His Lordship, turning away from your sin, and receive His forgiveness and step into a new life… and eternal life of hope in God.
Now is the day of salvation.
If today, you are trusting Jesus with your eternity, if you’re making Him the “boss of your life” as we like to say in Children’s ministry, then please come and share that with us. Trevor and Camille will be here at the front with me, and Joe and Kerry will be in the back if you want to share with them. We want to celebrate with you and pray for you as you begin this relationship with God.
If this morning, you believe God is calling you to become a member of this church family, that this is where He would have you join with the Body of Christ so you can grow in your faith and serve in ministry, then come and share that with one of us as well.
If you have another prayer need, the steps are open for you to come down and pray, or you can come and pray with one of us.
Respond to what the Lord is calling you to this morning.
Call down the band and pray.
Invite guests to the parlor.
Offertory is by the VBS Worship Rally Team.
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