What Does God Really Want from Us? A Transformed Life

Pastor Dan's sermon from 1/13/2008
Scripture Reference: Acts 9:1-19
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Every week, Michal, our administrative assistant (since the beginning!), asks my dad and I for our sermon titles and references. I often do not know what my pithy title will be until the very end. This week, I changed it several times as the sermon kept on taking different directions. I finally realized that I was making things too difficult.

What does God desire of us? A transformed life. It is that simple. Who does the transforming? Contrary to what most people believe, it is God who transforms us from the inside out. Nowhere is this clearer in Scripture than the greatest conversion in church history relayed to us by Luke in Acts 9. Saul the persecutor became Paul the Preacher.

We might look at Saul's conversion and think that it was so miraculous that our experience has nothing to do with something as great as this. We couldn't be further from the truth. The same power that saved Saul saves all sinners. It is the same mercy and grace and gift of faith. There are normative elements to each and every Damascus Road. We like Saul had to have contact, conviction, conversion, consecration, and communion. Check out what I mean in this week's message.