THE APOSTLE PAUL
THE APOSTLE PAUL
Preached by: Carolyn Sissom
Sunday, January 9, 2009
Joel 2:32b: “As the Lord has said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.
As we rejoice in this New Year, many are seeking the Lord for “change”. We can all ask the Lord to perfect our shortcomings and bad habits that we will be able to glorify Jesus Christ in all our ways. However, if you have found that place of “rest” in the Lord Jesus Christ and we are fitted in to His Perfect Will for our life for that season, we will be in peace as to our present and our future.
This does not mean that we are lazy, passive couch potatoes, but we are actively advancing the Kingdom of God on Earth as it is in Heaven. I have preached about “holding a line.” This is important, but it is time to Advance. Many are restless and eager or ambitious to see their lives move out into adventure, new beginnings, and new territories.
This is a good thing if we are being directed by the unction of the Holy Ghost. My experience with “change” and the “suddenlies” of God is just that. The Lord moves “suddenly” to bring forth His timing, will and purposes in the lives of His saints.
“If we attempt to make this happen, it will only open the door for the entrance of a religious spirit, which will promote self-righteousness and a futile attempt to produce our own good works through the power of the flesh.” (Bobby Conner)
To those who are young, you have a future and a hope. Your commission is “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believes not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen (Mark 16: 15-20)
Well, I don’t know anyone that has all of these signs following their ministry in the year 2009. So, I figure we all have a lot of maturing to do before we can walk in the fullness of Jesus Christ.
The Apostle Paul was blessed according to Romans 15:19 to walk in the fullness of these signs and wonders. He had all nine gifts of the Spirit operating in His life. Let us consider the ministry of this Apostle to the Gentiles as we consider our purpose and destiny as an Apostolic and Prophetic Company.
“Romans 15:19: “Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round about until Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.”
His Call: Acts 9: “Suddenly there shone round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why persecute you Me? And he said, who are You, Lord? And the Lord said, “I am Jesus whom you persecute: it is hard for you to kick against the prick…the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. Paul had to be led by the hand and was three days without sight and could not eat nor drink. The Lord then visited Ananias and told him to lay his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.
The Lord spoke to Ananias in Verse 15 Paul's call and commission: “Go your way; for he is a chosen vessel to Me, to bear My name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: for I will show him how great things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”
Here the Lord gave the scope of Saul’s future work. It is threefold. He is to declare the glory of Jesus to (1) the heathen; (2) Their rulers, (3) and the children of Israel. Note that Israel is not excluded from his labors, though the order indicates the Gentile world is to be Saul’s primary field of operation. Saul’s subsequent history fulfilled all that Jesus said here, for he made the heathen world ring with the truth of the cross.
In God’s redemptive program, the first was the advent of Christ from His incarnation to His ascension, the central epoch in all human history. Everything human is measured by it. The second fact was the spiritual diffusion of Christ at Pentecost creating the dispensation of the of the Spirit. There Jesus became available to all men as the Holy Ghost. The third fact is this manifestation of Jesus to Saul whereby he salvaged him and made him an apostle. Or as Paul himself says in two of his letters, that he was called to be an Apostle. But in the other letters, he calls himself an Apostle. Nothing in subsequent history is comparable to it. In the next 30-years Jesus will work through this man to throw His revelation of the Kingdom of God into the heart of the world with such force that paganism will be shattered and a new thing called “churches” will be established to multiply everywhere. Paul established churches and wrote the governmental plan of the Lord to oversee those churches.
His Revelations: He was the first to fully explain the death and resurrection of Christ as the focus of God’s plan of salvation. It was he who first understood the new nature of God’s people now made up of Jews and Gentiles bound together in one body. He was the first to see how God’s new action in Christ fits together with his special relationship with the people, Israel. It was he who first spread the gospel effectively around the gentile world, telling people simply of Jesus the Savior, and not requiring them to become Jews. He was the first to announce in the message to the Romans that God is ready to receive all men who will come to Him on the basis of Faith alone. If a person will accept God’s righteousness by putting his complete trust in Jesus, then God, by His power, will declare that sinner as righteous as Himself. This is the message of salvation through faith---period.
If you will master the Book of Romans, you will find yourself relaxing in the security of your soul. It is through the death of the carnal soul that man can walk and live in the Spirit. (Romans 8)
However, these great revelations came at a high cost. Remember Saul was arrogant and haughty until he had the Damascus Road experience. 2 Cor. 12:7, “And less I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was give to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of satan to buffet me, less I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak then am I strong.”
The sufferings of Paul for Jesus: 11:13: “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ…(V.22) Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths often. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that our outside that which comes upon me daily, the care of all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I burn not. If I must glory, I will glory of the things which concern my infirmities.”
Many are seeking the Lord for the fullness of the timing of going forth into the whole world to preach the gospel. Joel 2:32 reads, “and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.”
The time of the choosing and the commissioning will be a “Suddenly”. Until that time, we must watch, pray, read the Holy Bible, minister in our families and communities and at our work place the love and salvation of Jesus Christ. Paul prayed for an effective door to open for him to preach the gospel. Let us pray for the Lord to open the doors. Paul traveled most of the known world spreading the gospel and wrote one-third of the New Testament.
The book of Acts closes in chapter 28 with the reality of those who will hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing you shall see and not perceive; for the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed, less they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.”
(V.23) “there many came to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening. And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not.”
In Verse 30, Luke’s mention of Paul’s two years at Rome is very strategic. It is probably the strongest clue as to whether or not he was released. We are rather certain that he died a martyr, but it was very unlikely that his death occurred at the end of these two years which Luke says were so favorable. While Luke doesn’t say so, his words imply that no one came from Jerusalem to press the charges against Paul. The Sanhedrin probably considered it unwise.
There are some who believe he was led some three miles outside the city where he was beheaded on orders by Nero in A.D. 64. However, it would seem from Philippians1:25 and Philemon 22 that Paul himself expected to be set at liberty.
Watch MaNee once wrote 15-years before his imprisonment and his death in prison, “God dares to put his greatest apostles in prison.”
Many are presumptuous in the church world these days to presume to give themselves a title, and promotion. One of the marks of an Apostle is a visitation of the Lord Jesus Christ and you will see him. 2 Cor 10:18:” For not he that commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends.”
In each of his salutations, Paul identified himself, “Paul a servant of Jesus Christ called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God. (Ro. 1:1)
1 Cor. 1:1: “Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God.
11 Cor. 1:1: “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God.
Galatians 1:1: “Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by
Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead.)
Ephesians 1:1: Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 1:1: Paul and Timothy, the servants of Jesus christ.
Colossians 1:1: Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God.
Timothy 1:1: Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope.
11 Timothy 1:1: Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus.
Titus, 1:1: Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness.
Philemon: Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ.
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries, Inc.
Scripture is from KJV