In this episode of Connect with Skip Heitzig, we explore the early transformation of Saul and his journey to becoming Paul, one of the most influential apostles. You will hear about the significance of small beginnings as Pastor Skip discusses Zechariah’s vision and its relevance in our lives. Discover how God prepares us over time to fulfill our missions, emphasizing the importance of spiritual growth and patience.
00:00:01 Introduction to Connect with Skip Heitzig
This is Connect with Skip Heitzig. Thanks for joining us today. Here at Connect with Skip, our mission is to help you know God’s Word and apply it to your life through clear, practical Bible teaching and real encouragement every day. And if you’d like to keep growing in your walk with Jesus, sign up for Pastor Skip’s free weekly devotional. You’ll receive biblical insight, teaching highlights, and more. and exclusive resource offers straight to your inbox. Plus, when you sign up today, we’ll send you a free digital download of a chapter of Skip’s book, Biography of God. It only takes a minute to sign up. Go to connectwithskip.com and join the list today. That’s connectwithskip.com. Now let’s dive into today’s teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig.
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He has seen so much. He has been in Damascus, boldly proclaiming, showing Jewish people, proving that Jesus is the Christ, going to Jerusalem, boldly, powerfully speaking, and now he’s doing nothing. And this is important. Sometimes God has to let us marinate and get the sauces deep into our core before we’re ready. And I love the book of Zechariah. There’s a great passage of scripture where the prophet gets a vision, and the vision is of a menorah. You know what a menorah is? A seven-branched candlestick that was in the temple. The tops of it have little oil lamps. So he sees in a vision this menorah with the seven oil lamps on top. Above in the vision, he sees this beautiful golden bowl filled with oil and a spout going to each of the seven oil lamps. On each side of the bowl are two olive trees with a pipe going from the olive trees to the bowl and then the little pipes to the lampstand. So it was like an automated lampstand. It’s all automated. And the prophet says, what is this? And the Lord says, this is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel. It’s not by might. It’s not by power. But it’s by my spirit, says the Lord. And then he says, you are not to despise the days of small things, small beginnings. You see, they were there in Jerusalem rebuilding the temple. And the people were getting discouraged. They laid the foundation, but they remembered how glorious it was in Solomon’s day. And they said, this isn’t much of a start. This is a horrible look at it. We don’t have much money. We don’t have much progress. And the Lord encouraged them. He said, it’s not by your might. It’s not by your power. It’s by my spirit. These things are going to get done. Don’t despise the days of small things, small beginnings. It’s a good word for us. We want to rush God. We want God to use us now. God, don’t you know how awesome I am? I’m smart. I’m awesome. I’m articulate. I have a beautiful voice. You should use me. He wants you to marinate, steep a little while. Let the juices cook in. Get flavorful. And if God calls you into the ministry, great. but it will take that kind of time to sustain you in your ministry. A lot of people start in the ministry and they fizzle out. It’s not easy. And what will sustain you is the preparation that God gives you. So don’t despise the days of small things. God knows what he’s doing. So I love this. They didn’t know my face. They wouldn’t recognize me if I walked down the street. I was unknown visually to them. But, verse 23, they were hearing only, he who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy. And they glorified God in me. I mean, at the very least, they’re saying, praise God, he’s not going to kill us. He’s a changed man. Don’t you love to see somebody radically saved like that? You look at somebody, I’m sure everybody said, he’s the last guy that would accept Christ. He, of all the people that won’t accept Christ, he gets the award in the high school annual least likely to be saved. His picture would be there. And here he is, the chief antagonist is now the chief protagonist. of the faith, and they glorified God in me.” So we have the chronology. Saved on the road to Damascus, there for a few days. The blindness is he recovers from that. He preaches. He’s bold in affirming that Jesus is the Christ. He then goes three years into the desert, silent years, is taught grace, taught the gospel, truth by the Lord, preparing him to write Romans, Galatians, and all the rest. goes back to Damascus, gets let down over the wall, goes to Jerusalem, goes back home, and he waits. Now look at chapter 2, verse 1. Then, after 14 years, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas and also took Titus with me. Now, there’s a little bit of a debate, and I don’t care about the debate, honestly, about the 14-year mark. Was it 14 years from his conversion? Was it 14 years from his first coming to Jerusalem, which make it 17 years after his conversion? And I have found that commentaries, commentators love to fight about this and assert their position, and I don’t care. At some point, he went up to Jerusalem, probably 14 years after his conversion. After 14 years, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas. That’s that beautiful man and took Titus with me. Do you know who Barnabas was? You know, his name wasn’t originally Barnabas. His name was Joe. Right, you know that, Joseph or Joseph. But they called him son of encouragement or son of consolation. His nickname, Barnabas, means son of consolation because he was so encouraging. He encouraged the church financially. He was the one who encouraged Paul and stood by him and offered the right hand of fellowship to him and vouched for him to the apostles. No, no, no, this guy’s real, man. He got converted. He’s a changed man. He’s the one that stood up for him. So get the picture. Saul has been waiting where? What’s his hometown? Tarsus in Cilicia. He’s been waiting there. So in Tarsus, there’s a man waiting. In Antioch of Syria, there’s a man, Barnabas, thinking. The man in Tarsus is waiting. He’s gotten a call from Jesus on the Damascus Road years before that said that he would bear the name of Jesus before the Jewish people, before kings, and before Gentiles. So he’s kind of twiddling his thumb, making tents, going, okay, I got a call from God. How come nobody’s contacting me from Jerusalem? Been a long time. So we have a man waiting in Tarsus. In Antioch of Syria, there’s a man thinking, Barnabas. God has done a work up north in Syria, up in Antioch, and he thinks, hmm, Antioch, you know, we’re a very Gentile, but also Jewish, but also Roman town. Who would be the best person to reach these people? Ah, I remember that Saul Paul guy. He’d be excellent. So it was Barnabas who sent for Saul to leave Tarsus and come to Antioch. And that’s where his ministry began, not Jerusalem. It began in an area that was suited perfectly for Paul. Because Paul had all the qualifications. Spiritually, Jewish. Politically, he was a Roman citizen. Culturally, Greek. So Greek, Roman, Jewish, perfect guy. So it was Barnabas who brings Saul and begins his ministry there with Paul. Now here’s what’s beautiful about Barnabas, son of encouragement. He’s so encouraging that when you read through the book of Acts, you read this, and Barnabas and Saul did this, and Barnabas and Saul did that, and Barnabas and Saul went here and there. until you get to chapter 13. Then it’s reversed, Paul and Barnabas. And Barnabas became the servant to the one that he had mentored, son of encouragement, pushing him along, encouraging him on the way. So I love, love, love Barnabas. So after 14 years, I know I’m slow. Matt, is this slow enough? After 14 years, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas and also took Titus with me.” Titus was led to Christ by Paul. So just as Barnabas was the mentor to Paul, Paul was the mentor to Titus. Titus was a Gentile convert. And Paul brings him to Jerusalem, and when they bring him to Jerusalem, there’s a dispute going on. Do you remember that dispute in Acts chapter 15? It’s the very dispute that is the heart of this book. It’s the very dispute that he is talking about in chapter 2. In Acts chapter 15, Barnabas and Saul are up in Antioch preaching the gospel. Certain men from Judea, from Jerusalem, hear about this revival going on up north. And so they send a group of people up there. And the group of people, we call them Judaizers. They were Jewish Christians who believed the only way to get to heaven is to become a Jew first. Keep the law of Moses and be circumcised, then believe in Jesus. So keep the law and believe, and that’s how you get to heaven. So they went up to Antioch and said, unless you are circumcised and keep the law of Moses, you can’t be saved. And so Paul and Barnabas went down to Jerusalem to have a showdown. Show down at the O.K. Corral in Jerusalem. Hammer this thing out doctrinally. And Paul stood his ground against this. So when he brings Titus down to Jerusalem, you’re going to read, some of these Jewish believers were so adamant about keeping the law, keeping the law, become a Jewish person first, that they wanted this Gentile, Titus, to get circumcised, which he won’t do. Verse two, he says, and I went up by revelation. What does that mean? It means I wasn’t summoned by the apostles in Jerusalem. We want to see you and you give an account because he didn’t care, as you’ll see. But the Lord told him to go.
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This is Connect with Skip Heitzig. When you give to this ministry, you help reach thousands of people every day with God’s life-changing truth, encouraging them to know Him, trust Him, and walk in His freedom. And this month, we want to thank you with a special resource package. You’ll receive Skip’s book, Biography of God, which helps you explore God’s nature, His power, the mystery of the Trinity, and the hope that comes from removing the false limitations we sometimes place on Him. Plus, you’ll get Skip’s six-message CD series, Expound Galatians, where Skip unpacks the book of Galatians and the freedom believers have through grace, not works. Your gift today helps bring the life-changing message of Jesus to people around the world through Connect with Skip. Request your resources when you give $50 or more at connectwithskip.com slash offer or by calling 800-922-1888. Now, here’s more from Pastor Skip.
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He had a revelation directly from the Lord. Go to Jerusalem, hammer this out. I went to Jerusalem, I went up by revelation, and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those who were of reputation, lest by any means I might run or had run in vain. That is, I’m going to stand my ground, but I don’t want to do it in such a way that’s going to cause a rift. among the believers. It’s already causing a division. I don’t want to further that division. So I’ll do it in a very discreet way. I’ll get the leaders together. I’ll give them the testimony of what the Lord has done through me in Antioch with Barnabas and Saul. Also, at that Jerusalem council, the first guy to stand up and speak was Peter. And Peter stands up and he says, brethren, I know you’re all hot and bothered about the gospel going to the Gentiles, but you remember that God first spoke to me to go preach the gospel to the Gentiles, right? He spoke to Cornelius, that Roman centurion in Acts chapter 10. And the door of faith was open to the first Gentile. And then Peter said this, why is it that you are putting a yoke on on the neck of the disciples, which neither we nor our fathers were ever able to bear. You’re trying to load us down, load them down with the law of Moses, a yoke. It’s a yoke of bondage because, and I love how Peter puts it, neither we nor our fathers were able to keep the law. God gave us the law, but none of us kept it. You didn’t. I didn’t. We didn’t. Our fathers didn’t. We have failed God throughout history. You know our history. So that’s how that Jerusalem Council started unfolding. Peter got up and spoke, and then Barnabas and Paul got up and spoke as well and shared what had happened through them. lest by any means I might run or had run in vain. Verse 3. Yet not even Titus, who was with me being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. They wanted him to. They demanded that he be, but he wasn’t convinced. But this occurred… This occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty that we have in Christ, that they might bring us into bondage. To whom we did not yield submission even for an hour. We listened to what they had to say, but it didn’t take long before we said, uh-uh. Not going to happen. Not true. That’s false. We didn’t yield submission even for an hour. That the truth of the gospel, the good news, might continue with you. Now, we’re not going to turn to it, but if you, in your own time later, go to Acts chapter 15. When they’re having this discussion, Peter stands up, Paul, Barnabas, the Judaizer. Luke, the author of the book of Acts, he was a clever writer. He writes in the diminutive, but he means something more radical. He says, and there was no small dissension among them. which is a nice way of saying it was a heated argument. They almost went to blows. There was no small dissension among them. But from those, verse six, from those who seemed to be something. Oh, I love Paul. Now he’s in Jerusalem, there’s Peter, there’s James, there’s John, there’s the bigwigs, the big dogs. They’ve been around, they’ve hung out with Jesus. Everybody respected him, rightfully so. But from those who seemed to be something, whatever they were, it makes no difference to me. Don’t you love that? I don’t care who they are. God shows no personal favoritism or he shows personal favoritism to no man. For those who seemed to be something added nothing to me. Man, the more I read Paul, and I’ve read him for a long time, the more I love him. I just like his sauciness. You know, he’s got an edge to him. And he’s just so in love with Jesus and just, oh yes, reverend so and so, high and holy Peter, Paul, James. And we have a tendency to do that. We have a tendency to put people on pedestals and in so doing, see ourselves as insignificant. You are as significant and important to God as anybody else. You are as important to God. Some people, well, the Pope is the most, you are just as important. Maybe even more so. But we do that, don’t we? We, ooh, that person’s awesome. And then there’s that person. God shows no personal favoritism. And I love that about God. God knows our hearts, doesn’t care about our accomplishments, the litany of what we’ve accomplished and what we’ve done and what school we were educated. I was educated at Cambridge. Who cares? I need to throw this in because he is mentioning the bigwigs and Peter is part of that. And you’re going to read in a little bit that Paul confronts Peter at Antioch. And why is this important? Because I grew up in a religious system that said Peter was the first pope and that Peter was the head of the church. That’s wrong historically, and it’s wrong for a lot of reasons. But historically, it was not Peter. It was James who was the head of the Jerusalem church. Peter followed the orders of James, the half-brother of Jesus. So Peter wasn’t the first pope. And even if he was, this shows us Paul’s attitude toward the first pope. Wasn’t pretty high at all. I don’t care who they were. They didn’t add anything to me. But on the contrary, just the opposite. When they saw the gospel for the uncircumcised had been committed to me as the gospel for the circumcised was to Peter, for he who worked effectively in Peter for the apostleship to the circumcised, the Jewish community also worked effectively in me toward the Gentiles. Boy, I love this. There’s so much I love about, and I say that I know a lot in just about every book of scripture, but we as humans have a tendency to divide into groups and think that our group is the most important group. So you have one guy doing ministry to the Jewish believers, one person doing ministry to the Gentile world. Both are valid. Both are effective. You don’t have Paul saying, Peter, you should do things like I do them. Or Peter saying, Paul, you should do things like I do. You should do what God’s called you to do. And we do this in the church. We like to divide. We think that, well, you know, we’re kind of, we’re like the cool church. You know, we just, we’re casual. We wear blue jeans. And we’re not like those people of choirs and robes and liturgy. But so what? If some people like more of a liturgical style. Who are we to say we’re closer to God and we’re more spiritual because we don’t do that? Just like they can’t say they’re more spiritual because they do that. It’s not the style, it’s the substance. If the gospel is preached, and that’s the criterion, it’s the message. If the gospel is preached, if the message is pure, if the doctrine is right, put on all the robes you want. Have all the choirs that sing in a way you can’t understand their words. Have fun. Have at it. Some people go, oh, that just speaks to my soul. Awesome. I’m glad something’s speaking to your soul other than the garbage that’s in the world. So I just love this balance that there’s the legitimacy of the style of Peter to the Jewish world, the style of Paul to the non-Jewish world. And when James, verse 9… That’s the half-brother of the Lord Jesus, James. Not James, the brother of John. He’s already been murdered. He’s been decapitated, his head, by Herod in Acts 12. So when James, this is the half-brother of Jesus, leader of the Jerusalem church, author of the book of James. When James, Cephas, and John, Cephas was Peter’s original name. that’s his given name. Jesus gave him the name Peter. Sometimes he is referred to as Peter, sometimes as Cephas. That’s his name. So people, Pastor Skip, Reverend Skip, what should I call you? Skip is my name. Use that. And so he’s just very familiar with Peter. When James, Cephas, and John, I love this part too, who seemed to be pillars of You get the language of Paul. You see how he’s writing. I don’t know who they were. They don’t add anything to me. And these guys who seem to be something, seem to be pillars, perceive the grace that had been given to me. They gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. Now, when Paul used this little word, pillars, those who seem to be pillars, I don’t know for sure, but because he was a Pharisee, a Jewish rabbi, he knew his Old Testament, maybe he was just thinking in his mind the Temple of Solomon. You remember the Temple of Solomon. We just studied that. There were out in front of it two pillars, bronze pillars. given names, Jachin, Yaqin, and Boaz. Boaz, Jachin and Boaz. In him is strength, it means, one pillar means, and he shall establish. So God will establish in him his strength. So these two pillars. Here’s what’s interesting about the pillars in the temple. They were hollow inside. They were empty inside. And They didn’t hold anything up. They were purely ornamental. So they were there and they were beautiful and they were awesome. But maybe it’s just like, you know what? We make a big deal about certain people and put people on pedestals. And even those who seem to be pillars, like in Solomon’s temple. But I love his conclusion that they, in the end, perceived that God had indeed touched my life, given me his grace. And that is the theme of the book, the grace of God.
SPEAKER 03 :
Thanks for joining us today on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we go, remember, your generosity helps share God’s Word around the world, bringing truth and hope to people who need Jesus. And this month, we’d love to thank you for your support by sending you a special resource bundle, Skip’s book, Biography of God, along with his Six Message CD series, Expound Galatians. Together, these resources help you explore who God really is and how to live in the spiritual freedom He offers. Give today at connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888. See you next time on Connect with Skip.
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Make a connection. Make a connection at the foot of the crossing.
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Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God’s never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
