Beyond the Weekend: Spaces
Where does God meet us? Throughout Scripture, he meets his people in real places—mountains, deserts, seas, and the temple. Each place teaches us something about who he is. Join us for The Places Where God Meets Us, a six-week series exploring how these spaces point forward to Jesus, the one who meets us still.
The Damascus Road
During the Spaces series, Beyond the Weekend will preview the coming weekend’s message rather than looking back at the previous one—mirroring our group curriculum and helping prepare our hearts for the upcoming sermon. This week, that means looking ahead to The Road.
Read: Acts 9:1-22 | Listen: Acts 9
“This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.” Acts 9:15
The gospel spreads through Jerusalem, and so does persecution. Saul stands in the center of the persecution. He hunts down Christians and approves their deaths, convinced he’s defending God’s honor. He sets out for Damascus with letters authorizing more arrests, breathing out murderous threats. Nothing on that road prepares him for Jesus meeting him there. In one blinding moment, his path bends in the opposite direction, from persecutor to preacher, from Jesus’s enemy to his servant. He isn’t searching for Jesus. Jesus finds him anyway and completely changes his life.
It’s easy to think God could never use us. We might believe our past disqualifies us, that we don’t know enough, or that we haven’t followed Jesus long enough. We may feel too busy, too tired, or too overwhelmed by what life is currently throwing at us. Yet Jesus pursued the least likely candidate on the Damascus Road, redirecting his path toward gospel work no one saw coming. That same Spirit lives in us today, ready to work in and through us in ways we never expected. As we surrender our excuses, our past, and our plans to him, God redirects our paths too, using us for his kingdom in ways only he can orchestrate. No one is too far gone for Jesus to pursue and use for his gospel purposes.
TODAY: Surrender any excuse holding you back from believing God can use you. Ask him to redirect your path today, however small the step, and follow him into it, trusting he’s already at work in you.
Listen to the Beyond the Weekend Podcast as the team discusses last weekend’s sermon—find it wherever you listen to podcasts or on YouTube HERE.
