Access to Mr. Big

Acts 9 starts, “And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,
[2] And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.”

Jordan says, “Think about what that’s telling you. They just killed Stephen and they’re persecuting and following the people with him; they’ve scattered all the disciples out of Jerusalem except for the apostles. (Acts 8:1)

“Paul’s not satisfied to have seen Stephen killed and the Pentecostal believers scattered. Now he’s ‘breathing out threatenings and slaughter.’ He’s trying to destroy these dudes. So he goes unto the high priest. Just think about that. He’s got access to Mr. Big.

“That’s like you go to Washington and knock on the White House door and say, ‘I’d like to see Barack.’ You know how far you’d get? They’d say, ‘We need you to come right over here and sit in this little padded truck.’

“You’re not going to get anywhere but there are people who can just walk up, show a badge and get right in. That was Paul. Now that’s a very small group of people. He was an elitist. He said, ‘I profiteth above many mine equals. The high priest knows me! The people in charge of Israel’s government trust me!’

“It says, ‘he desired letters to Damascus.’ Paul becomes the official representative of his nation in persecuting the Pentecostal Believers. Boy, when you see that . . . He says in Timothy, ‘Before I was a blasphemer and injurious.’

“He had a lot to trust in. He had all of this self-righteousness, this religion, all of his Phariseeism. He had all of the ordinances, the pedigree. You know—‘circumcised the eight day.’ He wasn’t a proselyte, he wasn’t a come-lately.

“He was a thoroughbred of the tribe of Benjamin. That’s the great famous special tribe that was special. When Jacob had his boys, Benjamin was that last boy and he was the special one because Joseph got sold off, that very special tribe. He was the one that when Joseph was in Egypt and the brothers came to get food, he told them, ‘You can get any more food unless you bring Benjamin!’

“Benjamin’s a special guy in Israel. Paul said, ‘I’m the elite, man!’ He had all this stuff that he’d trusted in.

“Acts 9 continues, ‘And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:
[4] And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
[5] And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.’

“Now that was a startling encounter. There’s this light of God’s countenance that shines on him. He hears the voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul.’ And you see what he says immediately? I love that: ‘Who art thou, Lord?’

“He knew it was God. It was the first time in his whole life that he had ever really encountered God. He’d had all of this religion but it never got him to God. Now God showed up and Paul says, ‘Who are you?!’

“Now, I don’t know about you, but in the back of my mind I have the idea that he’s thinking, ‘Who are you? PLEASE don’t say Jesus!’

“He didn’t say, ‘What new regulation do I need to follow?’ He said, ‘Who art thou, Lord?’ You know what Paul wanted? He wanted to KNOW the Lord. He wanted to know who He was. He had a desire to know Him.

“You can study music theory and composing music, learn about the theory and the science of music . . . you can master the theory and never sit at a keyboard and play a song. Never learn to play for yourself. You can learn to compose music and teach others how to compose music and never learn to play yourself.

“You can get all the mechanics of the faith, learn all the technical stuff, and all the doctrines, and never really come to know Him. And that’s why Paul says there in Philippians 3:10, ‘That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.’ ”