Well, Acts chapter 9, we are about midstream here in this chapter.

You know, just a quick recap, Saul.

You know, we saw him, you know, in Acts chapter 7, where he was holding the clothing and

consenting to the death of Stephen, the first Christian martyr.

And then, you know, persecution in the church,

really led by Saul himself, started to ramp up,

and it scattered the church.

But the more that the persecution ramped up,

the stronger the church became and flourished and grew.

And then we saw on Sunday, Saul of Tarsus, you know, the language there

is breathing out slaughter and murder, if you have the ESV version, slaughter and murder. That's what he

was. He wasn't just imprisoning people. He was beating up people and killing them even and imprisoning them if they

were Christians. He was a passionate guy we saw on Sunday. You can be sincere and you can be

passionate, but you can be sincerely wrong. And that's what Saul really was. And so we saw, you know,

as he was pursuing, you know, slaughtering and murder headed toward Damascus,

the Lord knocked him down and had an interaction with him. Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?

Which we talked on Sunday, how really he was persecuting the church, but that's one and the same.

You persecute the church, you're persecuting Christ. And we talked

about how we have to be careful. I'm reminded you of Acts chapter 20, verse 28, where this is where

we should be sober about how we treat the church. Paul says, take heed therefore to yourselves,

and all the flock over which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers to feed the Church of God, which He hath purchased with his own blood.

How valuable is the Church of Jesus Christ to God?

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