I think about people in the Bible. There are people in there that we can learn a lot from. I have favorites. Guys like Joseph, and the way he forgave his brothers, Jonathan and his sense of loyalty, for better or worse. I admire Daniel a lot, and others. I think about Paul a fair amount. I marvel a lot at the things he did and that he went through in his life.

The Bible is "the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes," and it somehow never stops amazing me. An unbelieving friend of mine once said to me, "You know, it seems like people have been studying the Bible, and studying the Bible and studying it and studying it for so many years. Why? Why when they've studied it do they keep on studying it? I just don't understand."

I told him that just about every time I studied it, I would learn something new. He had a hard time understanding that. It's true though. I was reading in 2nd Corinthians Chapter 5, and I was struck by some things.
9 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. 11 Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences. 12For we do not commend ourselves again to you, but give you opportunity to glory on our behalf, that you may have an answer for those who boast in appearance and not in heart."

Paul knew that he was saved for eternity by God's grace, by faith in Him, and he loved God immensely, but it seems as though Paul was confronted by the thought of standing, as we all will, in front of Almighty God, and the thought frightened him. "Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord," That fear of the Lord must have been one of the big factors in his walk that motivated Paul to try to win souls to God. Paul wasn't a fearful type of man, but he had a deep respect for God and he never forgot Who he was dealing with. It always makes me laugh when people say defiant things like, " I'm gonna have a few questions for God when I get to heaven." No they're not. They're going to be so intent on finding a way to bow lower without squashing their faces that they won't even be able to think of a question.

Paul I think, had a special perspective on what it can take to be reached by God when we've set our minds to achieving a personal, prideful agenda. Jesus had to knock him off his feet with in a special "attention getter" seminar on the road to Damascus.

I guess one of the things I really admire about Paul is that when faced with the stark truth that he had been completely wrong about the Lord when faced with His power, he became humble. You might be thinking, "Yeah, but what else could he do?" There are men and women every day who are faced with merciful blessings from God in His amazing timing for their lives, who have hardened their hearts to a point where they simply turn from Him without a care.

There are people for example, whose Christian friends so repeatedly invite them to church that they finally agree to show up, just to get their friends to stop asking. What happens next? They sit in the pew and hear a message that they think must have been written especially for them. They turn and look at the one who invited them and wonder if they must have informed the pastor about them before they got there. They get very convicted in their hearts and then when it's all over, they say "Thanks" to their friends and leave, never to return. They have just said "No" to Jesus, and every time that happens, it gets easier and easier to do.

So, knowing the power and the justice demanded by a pure and loving and gracious God, certainly Paul was highly motivated to press onward in his ministry. Paul didn't give a rip about anyone's "credentials". What he cared about were people's hearts, because he shared the attitudes, the "mind" of Christ. It was his boldness and willingness to share the Gospel in any setting that caused Festus to tell Paul that too much learning had driven him insane. Paul didn't care what Festus, King Agrippa or the Governor thought of him, he only wanted to take his opportunity to share the truth in reason with them.

Our message is very personally bound together with our lives and our ministry for the Gospel. We need to remember that without a ministry, our lives tend to ebb away to a point where they have become unproductive. One of the best ways to keep that from happening is to be in intimate contact each day with God, and to read His Word. While doing that, take a look at some of the personalities that God put in the Bible record that you find to be godly, and take note of the way that they looked at God. I promise you, it won't be a waste of your time.