God Of The Underdogs, Week 4: My Past is Too Bad

When the odds are against you, God is for you.  Title of message:  My Past is Too Bad  (Ephesians 4:29) (NIV) Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. (Colossians 3:8) (NIV) But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. (Ephesians 5:4) (NIV) Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. We all have a past we are ashamed of, but God can use it if we’ll surrender it to Him.  (Acts 26:4-5) (NIV) The Jewish people all know the way I have lived ever since I was a child, from the beginning of my life in my own country, and also in Jerusalem.  They have known me for a long time and can testify, if they are willing, that I conformed to the strictest sect of our religion, living as a Pharisee. (Acts 26:9-11) (NIV) I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the Lord’s people in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. I was so obsessed with persecuting them that I even hunted them down in foreign cities. (Acts 26:12-14) (NIV) “On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. About noon, King Agrippa, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? (Acts 26:15-16) (NIV) “Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’  ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. 1.    God’s Presence is what changes us (Proverbs 16:25) (NIV) There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death. 2.    God always asks us to get up (Acts 26:16) (NIV) Now get up and stand on your feet. (Isaiah 60:1) (NIV) “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. (Acts 26:16) (NIV) I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. 3.    Our Past can become our platform