Point #1: Know “Who am I?”
Acts 8:1-2 Saul agreed with putting him to death. On that day a severe persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the land of Judea and Samaria.
Acts 9:1-6 Now Saul was still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. He went to the high priest and requested letters from him to the synagogues in Damascus,(side note: Damascus was over 100 miles north of Jerusalem) so that if he found any men or women who belonged to the Way, he might bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he traveled and was nearing Damascus, a light from heaven suddenly flashed around him. Falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” “Who are you, Lord?” Saul said.
“I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting,” he replied. “But get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
Point #2 Know your Enemy.
John 5:24 “Truly I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not come under judgment but has passed from death to life.
John 5:39-40 You pore over the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them, and yet they testify about me. But you are not willing to come to me so that you may have life.
Galatians 2:20-21 I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body,[l] I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.
Point #3 Know what you need to stand
Colossians 1:21-23 Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds as expressed in your evil actions. But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through his death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before him— if indeed you remain grounded and steadfast in the faith and are not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become a servant of it.
Romans 5:8 But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 8:37-39 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
John 14:6-7 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
“Questions for the Road”
What is your testimony? Write it out, try to keep it to no more than 5 minutes, practice it until you are comfortable sharing it.
Who are the Judaizers in your life? Who or what causes you to doubt and fear, robbing your freedom in Jesus?
How can you strengthen your stand in Jesus? What needs to be added to your life to do this?