Locations & Times

1. What was Paul wrong about? (Discuss. He thought rules were more important than being friends with God.)
2. Why was he traveling to hurt people? (He didn’t like that people were following Jesus.)
3. What happened on the road with the bright light? (Jesus came to Paul, blinded him, and three days later he was healed.)
4. How did Paul change after he met Jesus? (He realized he was wrong and Jesus really did die for people’s mistakes so that we could be friends with God. He devoted his life to sharing that good news.)
5. Have you ever felt your heart change because of Jesus? (Discuss.)

Read: John 19-20, Mathew 27, Acts 9

There’s a sweet children’s book written from a child’s perspective filled with rhymes about taking all different kinds of transportation. Throughout the book, there is a repeating line “but the best is the bus, the bus is for us!” The point is that the bus is the greatest way to get anywhere because it’s for everyone.

That’s the gospel. It’s the best news. It’s for all of us. That truth makes the gospel so sweet and at the same time so scandalous. The good news of forgiveness in Jesus, the forgiveness that makes friendship with God possible again, is for every single person. Everyone. No exceptions.

In this series we will look at the gospel through the eyes of four very different people who reveal the truth that the gospel is for all of us. The broken, hurting, and desperate. The liars, cheaters, and betrayers. The criminals and the convicts. For people who think they have it all together and people who can’t find their worth. The gospel wouldn’t be good news at all if it weren’t for everyone.

But the best is the gospel, the gospel is for us.

 ***

The gospel was for Paul, who thought he had it all together. He found his entire worth in being the best of the best in the religious world. The gospel was offensive to someone like Paul who’d spent their whole life trying to be good enough to earn status, approval, and importance.

But the gospel makes it clear that there is nothing to be earned. Paul was a murderous and hateful man, dripping with religious prestige until he quite literally bumped into Jesus. Jesus confronted Paul with the reality of the gospel and the freedom and grace he offered. Paul could no longer deny the reality of Jesus, and he spent the rest of his life making sure everyone knew just how truly wonderful and beautiful and life-giving the good news of Jesus was. It’s why he wrote these words down:

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved… now in Christ Jesus you who were once far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ,” Ephesians 2:4-5, 13.

That is good news. That is the gospel. The gospel is for us.