Hey, Destination Church. Pastor Josh here. Hey, I just wanted to let you know before you check this video out, we unfortunately had our camera go out during this message, but we did capture the audio.

We also have a wonderful testimony at the end of this message. So, listen along like it's a podcast and watch along towards the end and we'll see you for next week's message. All right, welcome to Destination Day. We are so excited for the things that are happening today and we hope that you will join us afterwards for all of the festivities that are going on. Hopefully you meet someone new and are able to have a lot of fun.

For those of you who are just joining us, we've been in this three-w weekek message series called Lost Now Found. We kicked it off with our grand opening just a few weeks ago and we've been looking at several characters in scripture and we've been seeing how these characters have found and followed Jesus which by the way is my prayer is our prayer for you here today is that you would find Jesus and follow Jesus. So just to recap here what's been going on.

We have the the first week we looked at the prodal sons and we looked at what to do when we're lost and hopeless. And then we looked last week at the life of Simon Peter and we answered this question, how do I find and follow Jesus. And today we're going to look at the life of Paul. So if you missed any of those, go back online, check those out.

, and hopefully they'll encourage you in your faith. , but before we get into the life of Paul, we really need to finish one more part of this series, which has been my lost in North Dakota story. Now, if you're new, don't feel bad that you've missed this story because it's really not that great. , it's actually kind of embarrassing and I did not plan on telling it for three weeks, but it just worked out so well. So, here's the story to kind of catch you up.

, I was in a touring rock band at one time and we were driving from Bismar to Minot and we broke down at 1 in the morning. No map, no way to know where we were. It was winter, so it was really cold. So, I started walking towards what I hoped to be the nearest gas station and ran into a rather large gentleman who I flagged down and welcomed me into his car.

Luckily, I didn't die. And he took me to the nearest gas station. During this time, I got to talk with this guy about why we were there.

I got to tell him that, you know, we were a Christian band who was spreading the love of Jesus and trying to play at all of these venues. And he expressed, you know, that he is he hadn't found and he didn't realize you know, what it meant to actually follow Jesus. And so we've had this conversation now for what feels like about an hour because nothing is close in North Dakota. I don't know if you know that, but I found that out that day. And by the time we get back to the van, I can see the sun start to rise.

And I'm I'm trying to share Jesus with this guy. And we're we're coming to the end of the conversation. I'm getting out of the car.

I'm bringing the gas t can to the van. And he says, "You know, I appreciate you sharing your story with me and sharing how you came to know Jesus, but I just think I'm too far gone for God. " That's what he said.

And unfortunately, at this time, I couldn't keep the conversation going. You know, we both had to go our separate ways. But I still think of that last parting word that he had. And that's the question that I want to explore with you today is what happens or what do I do when I feel too lost for God. What do I do when I feel too lost for God.

And to do that, we're going to pull open those blue Bibles to Acts chapter 22. It's on page 958. If you do not have a Bible, we want to encourage you, take that Bible home.

We are a church where we believe in opening the word of God. And we believe that as you open the word of God and read it, this is the only book that also reads you and changes your life and your heart. So please take this with you. Feel free to bring your own Bibles and and mark them up.

But we're going to be looking at Paul is his name. And Paul has quite a story. If you want to talk about somebody who feels too lost for God, that is the definition of who Paul is.

And now Paul's going to tell his his testimony here. You should know about Paul is he ends up writing lost. He was but what you should know about Paul is he ends up writing a majority of the New Testament and being one of the biggest church planters, which by the way, that's what we are.

We are a brand new church. , but he ends up being like one of the biggest church planters of all time. , and and starts the early church.

And so Paul, the best way I can think to describe him is he gets this kind of direct download from Jesus and he's able to then use it to build Jesus's kingdom. But Paul's life wasn't always this way. In Acts chapter 9, he has this radical conversion story.

And we could read Acts chapter nine, but I love Acts 22 because in Acts 22, Paul's actually going to tell his story that happens to him in Acts chapter 9. So let's start together, read together in in verse one, it says this, "Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense. " This is Paul talking.

When they heard him speak in Aramaic, they became quiet. Then Paul said, "I'm a Jew born in in in Tessaras of Cesar, but brought up in the city. I studied under Galilea and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors. I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today. I persecuted the followers of this way, that is the way of Jesus, to their death, arresting both men and women, throwing them into prison as the high priests and all of the council can testify.

I even obtained letters from them to their associates in Damascus and went there to bring people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished. So, here's a little bit of explanation breaking those verses down because sometimes it's hard to understand what's going on. So, here's what's going on.

Paul is speaking to a group of Jewish people, but he's not speaking in his language. He's speaking in their native language. So, Paul meets these people where they're at, speaks their language, and is able to start to articulate his upbringing.

He says, "This is how I was brought up. Here's my past me. And here is then where I decided that it was better to live in this villainous sin than to live for the glory of God.

He's basically saying, "Hey, I wasn't always a Christian. I used to be like one of you. I used to be completely committed to stopping this movement.

" So much so to that he was so committed that he wanted Christians to be put to their death. Now, can you imagine as somebody that is now trying to brand themselves as a Christian, somebody who is trying to start the the church and spread the gospel. Now, this is somebody who has to start out that pitch by saying, "Hey, I wanted to once, you know, kill all of you. " It It's just terrible when you think about it.

It's like a Hitler level, you know, kind of delivery that this man is is giving these people. And you have to imagine that for that pitch, he's got to be feeling just a little bit of guilt, just a little bit of shame for who he was. But he completely owns and accepts his past, which is what we need to do first when we feel too lost for God.

We need to be able to accept our past. Now, this is hard harder than than just saying it. Hey, just accept your past because we are filled with feelings of guilt and shame and regret and other things when it comes to thinking about some of the things that we've done in our lives. But you think about all of the recovery programs that we have across our nation.

And one of the most popular ones being AA, which is alcoholics anonymous. And throughout those 12 steps of this program, there are multiple levels of acceptance that you need to give. As a matter of fact, the first step itself is to say that I was or am alcoholic.

And so there's this level of acceptance that sometimes will kind of hit on our pride and make us feel guilty and full of shame. And we don't like to talk about shortcomings like that. We just don't because we don't want people to see our failure. We want them to see the filtered version of us on social media or whatever it is.

But remember, as you accept your past, know that your past describes you, but through Christ, it doesn't define you. Through Christ, you are made new. You get a new future.

CS Lewis, who is one of my favorite authors, says it like this. This is one of my all-time favorite quotes. You can't go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending. No matter where you are, through Christ, you can change your ending.

And that's where Paul starts to share here. He starts to share how he's going to change his ending. So, let's read on in verse six.

It says, "At noon, I came near Damascus and suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me. " "Who are you, Lord. "I am Jesus of Nazareth whom you are persecuting," he replied.

"My companion saw the light, but I didn't understand the voice or they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me. " "What shall I do, Lord. "Get up," the Lord said, "and go to Damascus, and there you will be told what you've been assigned to do.

And then my companions led me by the hand into Damascus because the brilliance of the light had blinded me. Okay, so Paul's on his way to put Christians in in chains and and get them arrested and get them into trouble. And as he's on his way, a bright light from heaven comes and blinds him.

So before he meets Jesus, before he hears the voice of God, you need to see this. It gets a little bit worse before it gets better. Sometimes our stories when we feel too lost for God will often get a little worse before we really meet Jesus.

And then Jesus speaks to him and his first question is this question that all of us need to answer that all of our characters through this series have ha has had to answer which is who is Jesus. He says, "Who are you, Lord. " And then Jesus tells him and he has this coming to his senses moment where he accepts that this voice from heaven that's talking to him is giving him instructions that will lead him to life.

And so this is his big moment. This is his conversion moment where he finds Jesus. And this is the second thing that we need in order to know what we do when we feel too lost for God is find and remember your Jesus moment.

Now, I didn't find my Jesus moment until I was 15 years old. Maybe for you in here today, you haven't found Jesus. And that's okay. I'm glad you're here.

I've been sitting there at several points through my life where I haven't really felt like I found Jesus for the first time. But here we also need to remember that if we have found Jesus, there is a powerful thing that happens when we remember that moment that we came to know Jesus. And that's what Paul is retelling. Remember, he's retelling the story that happened to him in Acts chapter nine.

This is so important because somewhere in your story, Jesus is going to show up. Maybe he's going to show up today, maybe he's already shown up, but Jesus is going to show up in your story. And I think what happens is if we don't find these moments or remember these moments then they become lost.

I think the two ways that they become lost so easy is we give two really big excuses. The first one is this. I'm too messy.

I am too messy for God. And people will will will not even tell their stories of how they found Jesus because they're filled with all of those guilt and shame and regret feelings. And then they'll say, "I'm just too lost.

I'll God doesn't want me. " But I could I need to tell you nothing is further from the truth. And for us here, we're glad that you're here.

If you haven't found Jesus, because if we can't accept you at your mess, then we don't deserve you at your best. We want you despite the things that you have been through and Jesus does too. Secondly, this is the barrier on the opposite side.

My story is too boring. I'm coming after you if you've grown up at the in the church right now. I'm I'm I'm letting you know that.

I am so tired of hearing when a Christian says, "My testimony is boring. I don't need to tell it because I grew up in the church. And I've never really wavered. I've never really had one of those man moments where I was, you know, addicted to drugs. I wish I had one of those moments like, "No, you don't.

If you have a boring testimony, guess what. That's what I'm praying for for every single one of those kids in Destination Kids right now. Not that they would have a boring testimony, but they would have one that says, "Wow, through everything that the world had to offer them, they would rather have Jesus, right. " And so, this is a good thing. If you have a story where you just maybe feel like, "I didn't really have that radical conversion moment.

That means you kept faith. And so, tell that story. Tell that faith.

Show that stleness to others that are trying to do it as well because the same Jesus who met Paul in his story is going to meet you in your story no matter how messy or how boring you think it is. So what happens to Paul next. Let's pick it up. It says, "A man named Ananas came to see me.

He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living here. " He stood beside me and said, "Brother Saul, receive your sight. " And at that very moment, I was able to see him. Then he said, "The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the righteous one and to hear the words from his mouth.

You will be his witness to all the people of what you have seen and what you have heard. So Paul gets to Damascus. He he travels and then he's blinded there and he meets this guy named Ananas.

And as soon as he meets him, Ananas heals him. And then he speaks purpose into Paul's life. And this shows us the third thing that we need to do when we feel too lost for God. We need to find our people.

If you do not have people around you that are doing the same thing that Ananas is doing for Paul here, you need them. You need them. You need people that are going to sit at your bedside when you are blinded to some of these things that are happening in the world and are able to speak life into you and speak healing into you and help you where you are to get to where you need to be. We all need multiple anonyases in our life.

And the problem is is that we have these devices now. And these devices were designed originally for communication. But now they're used as community.

You see, these are not community. This is communication. This what we're doing. Look around at the real people next to you.

This is community. This is community happening. Community happens in serve teams, in growth groups.

This is why we push these things is because we want you to be a part of a serve team. And a growth group. And it's not so you can help our numbers or whatever it is.

We I could care less about those. What I care about is that you have anonyases around you that are able to speak truth and life and love into your walk with Jesus. And if you don't have those, you are missing you are missing out on what God has for you.

And so the question is, do you have those people. And if you don't sign up for one of these two things, but let's see how this ends because now Ananas doesn't stop there. He continues to speak and he says these words where we're going to end today in verse 16. I'm going to put them in on the screen because they're so powerful. He says this, "And now, what are you waiting for.

Get up, be baptized, and wash your sins away, calling on his name. So now, Ananas heals him. He speaks purpose into him. And then he gives him a final challenge.

If you really found Jesus and you're really following Jesus, what are you waiting for. Get up, be baptized, and wash your sins away, calling on the name of the Lord. I've had the benefit being in ministry for over 15 years now to sit at the side of a baptism tank for so many people. And I've heard so many powerful stories.

And one of my favorite stories was from an 11-year-old girl who was getting baptized because she stood up and gave the shortest testimony ever. And then she ended by saying, "If you're in here and you follow Jesus and you haven't gotten baptized yet, what are you waiting for. " And I was like, "Wow.

" Okay, conviction. Because it's from an 11-year-old girl. And and if you're sitting there and and you haven't gotten baptized for, you know, years and years.

I didn't get baptized until I was like 31. And so for me, I'm like, man, this girl's faith is amazing. And that's what Ananas is saying here. If you really believe this stuff to be true, what are you waiting for.

What's preventing you from going allin for Jesus. What's preventing you from owning your faith. And that's the last thing that we need to do if we feel too lost for God.

We need to own our faith. You see, the problem is we can go to church for years. We could have a boring testimony and go to church for years and never have our own faith. We can have rented faith. Rented faith from our parents, rented faith from our pastors, rented faith from a mentor.

My prayer for each and every one of you is that you would get to a place where you own your faith, where you can defend what you believe, where you can talk about the ways that Jesus has moved in your life and you can own some of these hard parts of your story. And so it happened to Paul and it can happen to all of you. And if you don't believe me, I want to share a story with you.

This is the first time we're ever going to do this here at at Destination, but we're going to continue to do it from here on out. I love hearing people's stories. I believe that all of us have a story to tell.

And and no story is too boring if you found Jesus. And I want to share a really powerful testimony from somebody here in our church who was just as lost as Paul was. And so if you would turn your attention to the screen and we're going to hear Jeremy's testimony.

Hello everyone. My name is Jeremy Watson and today I'll be sharing my testimony with you. I am the youngest of three.

I grew up in a nuclear family. I have two older sisters. Being the youngest child, I had a lot of freedoms and my oldest sister was often in a lot of trouble with school and with the law. There was one point, several points in my childhood where I remember going to bed at night and police lights were flashing off the wall cuz cops cop cars were outside and they were always at the house for my sister. And this became a normal routine pattern throughout my childhood.

And in all this chaos, my sister was always getting the attention and I was always just left alone because I wasn't causing problems. I got good grades in school. I was often on the the dean's list or the honor roll and never really had many problems.

And then right around 14, things started to change for me. , I started losing a lot of family members. In a two-year period, I lost five family members, and it culminated with me losing my mother by the time I was 16.

And that stretch of my life was the hardest, toughest point I've ever had to experience. And it was a lot of death. I'd go to a funeral. I'd get back to normal. Another death.

I'd fall behind again. Pain, loss, grief. I'd process it, deal with it. Or at least I thought I was.

And I'd get back to normal. Get caught up again. But I never really got back to normal.

I never really caught up. This was my pattern for those years. And after losing my mother, both of my sisters were out of the house. So, it was just me and my father.

And I started to self-medicate. , a lot of drinking, a lot of drugs, and a lot of parties. And it was just me coping with the pain, life, the loss, trying to find my way.

And then right shortly after I turned 18 years old, I had an altercation with someone. I was backing out of my driveway. I had my best friend in the car.

I had a female friend from school in the back seat. And my friend and I were giving her a ride to drop her off at another friend's house. And an individual came to my house and saw me, put a gun to my head, told me to stop the car.

I stopped the car. He opened up the back seat. He grabbed my female friend out of the back seat and kidnapped her for all I knew.

And this is the catalyst that triggered the following events. In that moment, I felt like a victim. I was full of anger and rage and I didn't like that feeling and I wanted to retaliate and I was jumping to conclusions.

I I knew who he was. I didn't know why he did that. And me and my friend and my then oldest sister decided that I would do a driveby and fire a gun at his house to scare him.

And since I didn't know where he lived, I fired a gun at somebody else's house because I thought that individual had sent him to my house to scare me. And 18 years old, I'm in the back of a pickup truck and I fired a 12 gauge shotgun at a house to scare a kid and I end up hitting someone in their heart, killing them instantly. The man I shot died 10 days before his 19th birthday.

I was 18 years old at the time. I was arrested, sent to jail. I plead guilty to a 300 month sentence, 299 months. It's 25 years. And when court was all said and done, I was transferred from county jail to St.

Cloud where I started my sentence. This is a huge part of my testimony because when I was in county jail, I woke up in the holding tank, sobered up, and that's when it hit me that the way I had been living was not healthy, was not a good way to be living. And I needed to make some changes because the way I was doing it wasn't working.

, I found myself in jail. I took a human's life. My life was over. And I went to the while I was in county jail, I went to the library and I read a book by Harold Morris called Twice Pardon. And I was in my cell in county jail crying after reading his book because I wanted what he had.

He was in a different state serving prison for a murder that he did not commit and he was fighting for his life while in prison. But his family was out on the street fighting for his freedom. And throughout his interactions in the prison, he was an athlete before he went in.

He ended up meeting the warden's son through the fence as he was shooting basketballs. And he started coaching this kid how to be a better basketball player. And the little boy had a shirt that said, "Jesus loves you.

" And the little boy started to talk to him and share the gospel. And Harold Moore surrendered and gave his life to Christ and he had peace and he writes about it. He talks about it and after having read his story that's what I needed.

That's what I wanted. And I started going to church and my first church service when it was done they let us out. I'm going back to my cell and the pastor handed me a Bible track, God's Simple Plan of Salvation by Ford Porter, written in 1933.

I took that Bible track, I went back to my cell, I read it, I surrendered, I gave my life to Christ. May 18th, 1998, I was born again. And I've been following Christ ever since.

I am a sinner. My life has been turned upside down through the transformation God has made in my life. And that was both the fall of my life and the beginning of my life. The old me died in that cell and the new me having surrendered gave my life to Christ.

I was blessed. I was given a second opportunity, a second chance. I was released in 2015. When I walked out of the doors of prison, I had spent half my life in prison. I went in 18 years old, a young, scared kid.

And I came out a grown man. And then my life started. I got a job. I got a career.

I got a place to live. I started dating. And I've been blessed.

A lot of you know my wife Laura Watson. We have a beautiful, healthy, happy daughter and we have another one on the way due in December and my marriage, my relationship, the birth of Renley. All have been God's stories and just blessings in my life.

I surrendered and gave my life to Christ and he has given me strength. He has given me hope. He has given me a future.

He has given me a purpose. And now my life is filled with Christ. My wife and I are very active in this church. We believe in it.

We believe in Josh. We believe in this community. And now I'm here. I wanted to share that story with you for a multitude of reasons, but I think one of the most powerful things that you need to catch from this is that a little boy wearing a Jesus loves you shirt led one person to Christ that wrote a book that led another person to Christ who felt like they were too messy.

It doesn't matter where your story is, how messy you think it is. God wants to meet you today. And so, if you would just bow your heads and close your eyes just for a moment between you and God.

Maybe you're here today and and you haven't had this Jesus moment. Maybe you have, but you're thinking about your past and you're still living in some of that guilt and some of that shame. And I just want to encourage you today that Jesus is here and he's ready to turn your hopelessness into hope. He's ready to turn your mess into a message. All the tests you've been through into a testimony.

God is ready to meet you here. He's ready for your mess. He's ready for your story.

And so if you're here today and and you just want to say, "I'm in Jesus. I want this this kind of life change in my life, the same life change that Jeremy had, that the the Apostle Paul had. I I want that in my life, God. If that's you, I just want to invite you to pray this prayer in your heart. Jesus, I thank you for being here with me.

God, I I believe that you can turn my mess into a message. So God, heal me. Give me hope. Give me a purpose.

I lay my life for you. You are Lord of my life. And I believe in Jesus name.

If you're here today and you prayed that prayer, listen, I don't want you to leave here without telling anyone. So, mark it on a card. Come meet with one of us at the next steps table. We want to help you in your next steps. We want to help you share your story and tell of his goodness.

But let's stand together. I'm going to pray and then we're going to conclude with worship. God, we thank you so much that you are in this place. We thank you that you are transforming lives, God, from the people here in this church to all the way back to the Apostle Paul, God, that you are in the business of changing lives.

And God, we stand on that promise. We stand on that love and that truth and that grace and that mercy that you so freely offer us. And so, God, we thank you for today.

I pray for everybody in this room to just feel you this week. Enter their story in Jesus name.