Welcome to Gateway Church's podcast.

Wherever you're tuning in from, we hope you're encouraged by today's message.

So this morning I spoke in Houston and then was going to fly here, but there was a torrential rainstorm and lightning.

And so I went to the rental car place,

rented a car, and drove as fast as I could. I didn't get a ticket. Didn't get a ticket.

But I feel like just being here for the worship is just so meaningful for me. Last time I was here,

being in here and experiencing this house and the way you worship,

the dependency that you have, it just did something for me. And so when this opportunity came,

I was like, I have to come back. Well, a few months ago, somebody asked me, Steve, besides Jesus,

who is your favorite person in Scripture?

I thought that was a great question. And then I said, Ananias, not the one who stole money from the

church, bad guy. But a guy who has mentioned less than a dozen times in scripture, but somehow this guy has a powerful impact.

And what I want to do tonight to kind of kick off this first conference is I want to teach you how you can be an everyday Ananias.

Every single one of you has the potential, has the power, has the ability to be used

by God if you want to. And what we see in Acts chapter 9 is the story of this man named

Ananias. If you have a Bible, you can turn with me there.

Acts 9 will begin in verse 10.

It says this, in Damascus, which is 150 miles from J-town, Jerusalem, there was a disciple.

Now the word disciple in Hebrew is the word Talmudim.

Let me hear you say Talmudim.

It literally means a student or an apprentice

of a rabbi. And to be a Talmudim, you had high desire in high devotion to be like your rabbi.

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