“I used to believe that I ought to do everything I could to oppose the very name of Jesus the Nazarene. Indeed, I did just that in Jerusalem. Authorized by the leading priests, I caused many believers there to be sent to prison. And I cast my vote against them when they were condemned to death. Many times I had them punished in the synagogues to get them to curse Jesus. I was so violently opposed to them that I even chased them down in foreign cities.”
Acts 26:9-11 (NLT)

“You know what I was like when I followed the Jewish religion—how I violently persecuted God’s church. I did my best to destroy it.”
Galatians 1:13 (NLT)

“And now I am bound by the Spirit to go to Jerusalem. I don’t know what awaits me, except that the Holy Spirit tells me in city after city that jail and suffering lie ahead. But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.”
Acts 20:22-24 (NLT)

“With Christ as my witness, I speak with utter truthfulness. My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm it. My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters. I would be willing to be forever cursed—cut off from Christ! — if that would save them.”
Romans 9:1-3 (NLT)

“One day I was on such a mission to Damascus, armed with the authority and commission of the leading priests. About noon, Your Majesty, as I was on the road, a light from heaven brighter than the sun shone down on me and my companions.  We all fell down, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is useless for you to fight against my will.’ “‘Who are you, lord?’ I asked. “And the Lord replied, ‘I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting. Now get to your feet! For I have appeared to you to appoint you as my servant and witness. Tell people that you have seen me, and tell them what I will show you in the future.  And I will rescue you from both your own people and the Gentiles. Yes, I am sending you to the Gentiles to open their eyes, so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God.
Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God’s people, who are set apart by faith in me.’
Acts 26:12-18 (NLT)

“For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect.”
1 Corinthians 15:9-10 (NLT)

PEOPLE’S ETERNITY MATTERS TO GOD.

"If you believe that there is a heaven and hell, and people could be going to hell ... and you think it's not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward ... how much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize?"
Penn Jillette – Comedian/Magician

GRACE MEETS US WHEN WE LEAST EXPECT IT & GIVES US WHAT WE COULD NOT IMAGINE.

GRACE IS A FREE GIFT FROM GOD FOR US.