For the past two weeks we have been having a conversation on Sunday morning about what it means to be a 21st Century follower of Jesus. We've talked about how the greatest threat to faith isn't unbelief, but apathy. I shared about research coining the term "Moral Therapeutic Deism" as a way of religious life and how that waters down what we call faith. We've talked about a fantastic analogy called "The Wall of Purpose" and how it helps us understand the critical places we come to as Christians.

Our last conversation really surrounds looking at the person with the greatest example of translating what it means to follow Jesus across multiple cultures. The Apostle Paul and his story is found in the New Testament and it takes up over 1/3 of the writings we have. The book of Acts focuses on the historical story of Paul and the various ways that he reached countless people.

But the bottom line is this - Personal experiences transform us and others.

And this transformation gives us the freedom to make decisions in different ways, and for a different purpose.

Missional Decision Making.

Paul had a pretty wild personal experience. It will be the beginning point of our conversation. We find it in the book of Acts.

Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord's followers. So he went to the high priest. He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them—both men and women—back to Jerusalem in chains.

As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?"

"Who are you, lord?" Saul asked.

And the voice replied, "I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do."

The men with Saul stood speechless, for they heard the sound of someone's voice but saw no one! Saul picked himself up off the ground, but when he opened his eyes he was blind. So his companions led him by the hand to Damascus. He remained there blind for three days and did not eat or drink. Acts 9:1-9

Paul, a man who was tasked with finding these new believers of Jesus and killing them, was taking his mission outside of Jerusalem. In many ways the word zeal best describes Paul. But at this moment on the road to Damascus something wildly different happened to him. And it was inside this experience he was able to realize something bigger was happening in life. This would begin a lifetime of going to others and drawing them in the story of God. But as much as Paul had this amazing experience, He didn't draw others into his experience, he spent time inviting them into their own intimate and life changing experience with the Living God. And he did so in ways that spoke to the immediateness of who people where, who they had been their whole life, and the life changing freedom that Jesus offers them.