Jesus Brings Radical Changes!

“Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on [Jesus Christ’s] name?” 
– Acts 9:21

About a hundred years ago, the story goes, there was an old farmer who lived with his family in the middle of nowhere. One day they climbed into their horse-drawn buggy and headed into the big city to take care of some important business. When they got there, the farmer parked his buggy in front of a massive building. He turned to his youngest son and said, “Little Johnny, you can come with me if you want. But the rest of you stay here. We won’t be long.”

 

Johnny jumped at the chance to go inside the huge building with his dad. Inside, the receptionist directed them to the elevator that would take them to the fifth floor. The farmer and his son stood in front of the elevator, bewildered. After a few minutes, they saw a little old lady shuffle into the elevator by herself. She stepped inside, turned and faced the farmer and his son, and the doors closed. About 30 seconds later, the doors re-opened, and a gorgeous young woman stepped out of the elevator. INCREDIBLE! A decrepit old woman went in, and a beautiful young woman came out. So, the farmer told his son, "Quick,—go get your Ma!"

 

That farmer was pretty shallow. He wanted to trade his wife in for a newer model. It never even crossed the old codger’s mind to step into the elevator himself to become a better man for her. But honestly, you and I aren’t very different from that farmer. We work much harder trying to get the people AROUND us to change than we do trying to change OURSELVES.

 

Well, some two thousand years ago, a man stepped into God’s elevator and allowed himself to be radically changed: the Apostle Paul. In a matter of moments, Paul went from destroying churches to building them. He went from exterminating Christians to nourishing them. He went from hating Jesus to loving Him.

 

In Acts 8, Saul was a religious zealot who hated Jesus Christ—so much that he tried to eradicate the name of Jesus from the lips of Christians around the world. He looked on in approval at the stoning death of Stephen, the first Christian martyr. He arrested as many Christians as he could, often campaigning to have them executed. Saul hated Christians with a passion.

 

But that all changed in Acts 9 when Saul met Jesus Christ. He was knocked flat on the road to Damascus, temporarily blinded. He gave his life to Christ and was baptized. The next thing people knew, he was proclaiming the name of Jesus in the synagogues. Saul, the man who had been bent on getting rid of Christians, had become the Apostle Paul, trying to make more Christians. Within about 30 years, Paul traveled about 10,000 miles, helping to plant dozens of churches, and wrote half the books of the New Testament. Those books have led hundreds of millions of people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul changed the world. But before Paul could change the world, Jesus Christ had to first change HIM.

 

I’d like to share three powerful life lessons from Paul’s transformed life.

 

Life Lesson #1: Even the greatest Christians have checkered pasts. No matter what you’ve done, no matter how far you’ve strayed from God, there is hope for you in Christ. If you’ll let Him, God will forgive you. God’s grace is greater than our disgrace.

 

Lesson #2: God doesn’t just SAVE hell-bent sinners. He RECRUITS them to change the world. 

Lesson #3: You have precious little time to impact the lives around you. So, hit the ground serving. Finish strong.  In Paul’s own eyes, he started out as the worst of sinners. But he sure did finish well. In just 30 short years, he revolutionized the world by spreading the Gospel. Once he made up his mind to give Jesus Christ his all, he fought the good fight and finished the race strong. And so can you!

 

Dane Davis is the pastor of Impact Christian Church, meeting Sundays at 8:30 and 10 a.m. at 16209 Kamana Road in Apple Valley. For more information, visit www.GreaterImpact.cc. 

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Words to Live By

“Praise be to you, Lord; teach me your decrees…. I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches.” – Psalm 119:12-14

My parents bought me my first study Bible about 35 years ago. I still use it to this day when I’m preparing sermons. And as I turned to Psalm 119 this past week, I saw a lot of notes in the margins from at least 10, possibly 20 years ago. Next to verses 12 -14, I wrote this question: “Do I ask God to teach me His laws, and do I rejoice and delight in following them?”

 

Good question. I wish I could tell you that in the years since I wrote this question in the margin, I have done this without fail. But I haven’t. Like you, I have read God’s Word many times without first praying, “God, please teach me what You want to teach me.” And so many times after I’ve finished reading from the Bible, listening to a sermon or attending a Bible study, I have forgotten to rejoice in what God has taught me, and I haven’t delighted in doing what He has taught me to do.

 

I don’t know about you, but I want that to change this year. And I invite you to join me. Late January may seem a little late for resolutions … but it’s NOT too late to begin making God’s teaching a priority in our lives.

 

The Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:9-10, “As it is written: ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him’—but God has revealed it to us by His Spirit.” So, how does the Holy Spirit reveal to us what God has prepared for those who love Him? He reveals it in His Word. If you prayerfully seek God with your whole heart and walk in His ways this year, I promise you: You will see what most people can’t see; you will hear what most people can’t hear; and you will understand what most people can’t understand.

 

I’d like to share with you 3 important steps for keeping God’s Word a top priority in 2025:

 

Step #1: Prayerfully read God’s Word every day. Many Christians across our nation are reading the whole Bible in 2025. If you’d like to set this as a goal for yourself or, better yet, your family, I highly recommend it! If you’re short on time for reading, the YouVersion Bible app offers audio versions of the whole Bible in multiple translations.

 

Step #2: Prayerfully memorize one Bible verse every week. If you go online, you can find several lists of the best 52 Bible verses to memorize in a year. Although we’re halfway through January, I encourage you to begin doing this today. Fifty verses are far better than zero!

 

Step #3: Prayerfully study God’s Word with your church family every week. In Acts 2:42, we’re told what the top four priorities were for the first Christian Church in Jerusalem. Guess what was at the top of the list? “Teaching.” At Impact, we keep it at the top of our list as well. I encourage you to study God’s Word with your church family every Sunday this year.

 

Would you join me in prayerfully reading God’s Word every day, prayerfully memorizing God’s Word every week, and prayerfully studying God’s Word with your church family every week? I hope and pray that you will.

Dane Davis is the pastor of Impact Christian Church in Victorville. Join us at Impact for Sunday services: in person at 9 a.m., or online at 10 a.m. on YouTube or Facebook. For more information, visit www.GreaterImpact.cc.

Are You a Lover or a Hater?

 “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” – 1 John 3:16

None of us want to stand before God on Judgment Day and discover that we weren’t really Christians. And in the meantime, during this life, we want to be able to distinguish real Christians from false Christians.

 

In 1 John 3:10, we read: “This is how we know … who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.” Let’s examine the second distinguishing characteristic of God’s true children: God’s children love one another.

 

In verse 12, immediately after reminding us that children of God “should love one another,” John shines the spotlight on the first human being who did the exact opposite of that: Cain. Christians are to be lovers; Cain was a hater. John writes: “Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother.” God called Cain to love his brother, but instead, Cain hatefully butchered him. Why? John answers, “Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous” (v. 12).

 

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus makes it clear that when we harbor intense anger and hatred in our hearts toward someone else, God views that bitter anger and hate as murder. That’s because murder begins in the heart. But just as Cain was the trailblazer for hate and death, Jesus Christ is the trailblazer for love and life. The most famous verse in the Bible, John 3:16, tells us: “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”

 

1 John 3:16 is like the sequel to John 3:16: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. We who follow Christ also ought to, in love, “lay down our lives for our brothers.” John makes it clear that the essence of Godly love is self-sacrifice, which has been perfectly demonstrated by Jesus Christ.

 

Here are three Life Lessons we can draw from this passage:

 

Life Lesson #1: Don’t hate like Cain. If you harbor anger and hate toward another Christian, you are guilty of murder in your heart. So, get rid of all your lingering anger and hate. If you are a believer and follower of Jesus Christ, there is no room in your heart for harboring bitterness or hate against anyone, especially a fellow Christian.

 

Life Lesson #2: Love like Jesus. The essence of Christlike love is self-sacrifice. So, if you are a follower of Christ, you must sacrificially put others’ needs above your own. In humility, Jesus considered others’ needs more important than His own. That’s why He willingly died on the cross.

 

Life Lesson #3: When you walk in obedience and Christlike love, you can be confident that Christ lives in you and will hear and answer your prayers. In verses 21-22, John seems to be making this point: If we, by God’s mercy and grace, have a clear conscience before God, we can come confidently and boldly to God in prayer.

 

False Christians follow in Cain’s footsteps: They disobey God’s commands and harbor hate against others. But true Christians follow in Jesus’ footsteps: They do what is morally right, and they love others with a self-sacrificing, Godly love.

Dane Davis is the pastor of Impact Christian Church, meeting Sundays at 8:30 and 10 a.m. at 16209 Kamana Road in Apple Valley. For more information, visit www.GreaterImpact.cc.