Kerry Shook - Recycle Your Road
How cool is it to be able to drive a steamroller while building a road? Don’t worry about it. Okay, I need to learn how to drive a snowplow. It sounds like a great stress reliever; I can tell you that. You just think about your problems and stresses and imagine they’re asphalt, and you steamroll them. You think about people that frustrate you? No, you don’t do that! I want to really flatten this out. Well, that’s pretty fun! Everybody can come up afterward and try it. That didn’t take any talent. Don’t clap for that; I didn’t even practice. But look how good I did! I built a road there; it’s pretty amazing. You know, we’re in a series called «Recycled,» and it’s all about how God can make all things new.
Do you know what the most recycled material in America is? Is it plastic bottles? No. Is it paper? No. Is it aluminum? No. The most recycled material in America is asphalt. Asphalt pavement is 100% reusable and recycled at a higher rate than any other material in America, including soda cans and newspapers. In fact, 94% of asphalt reclaimed from old roads goes back into new roads. And God is a road builder; He loves to build roads. God built us a road to Heaven because we can never build one on our own. In fact, God is the road. In John 14:6, Jesus, God in human flesh, said this: «I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.» God is a road builder, and He built the road through the Red Sea to lead the people of Israel to safety in the Old Testament. He built a road of rescue.
Look at Isaiah 43:16: This is what God says: «The God who builds a road right through the ocean, who carves a path through the pounding waves.» God built the road through the ocean, and when you’re a Christ follower, there are many times God will build a road of rescue in your life to take you safely through an overwhelming problem in your path. God loves to build roads, and sometimes God takes a crooked meandering road that goes to nowhere, and He straightens it out into a road of purpose that leads to fulfillment. In Proverbs 3:6, it says, «In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your path straight.» He loves to straighten out crooked roads because God is a road builder. Whenever Satan puts a temptation in the middle of your road, trying to wreck your life, God builds a road of escape-a way out of danger. Look at 1 Corinthians 10:13: «But when you’re tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.» God loves to provide a road of escape because our God is a road builder.
But I think the most beautiful road He builds in our lives is the recycled road. We all take wrong turns in life; we go down selfish roads, prideful roads, foolish roads, and they quickly turn into a road of regret. We regret the wrong turns that we can’t turn around, the mistakes from the past that we can’t change. We end up on a broken road filled with broken hopes, broken dreams, and broken lives. The broken road feels like the end of the road, but it’s not the end of the road because the great road builder can take all the pieces of your broken road and recycle them into a new and beautiful road. God specializes in recycling broken roads.
So today, we’re going to look at a guy in scripture who was going down the wrong road. It was a road that was leading to destruction, but God recycled his road. God recycled the road that was leading to destruction into the road that led to his destiny, and his name was Saul of Tarsus. He was on the road to Damascus, but God took the old broken road that Saul had been on his whole life and recycled it into a new road. God even recycled Saul’s name to Paul! God gave him a new road, a new name, and a new purpose because we have a God who makes all things new-the God who recycles broken roads.
So would you stand in honor of God’s Word, and let’s look at it in Acts chapter 9? Here, Saul is on the road to Damascus. But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus so that if he found any belonging to the way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from Heaven shone around him. Falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, «Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?» And he said, «Who are You, Lord?» And He said, «I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you’ll be told what you are to do.» The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were open, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. You can be seated.
Saul was on the road to Damascus. Now, why was he on the road to Damascus? Because he was going there to persecute Christians. Saul thought he was going down the right road his whole life; it was the road of religion. When it came to being religious, Saul was at the top of his class. He followed all the rules and rituals of religion; he was more sincere and more committed than anyone else. But he was on the wrong road, this religious road. Really, religion is trying to build your own road to Heaven; it’s trying to build your own road with your own good works, believing that if you’re religious enough, if you’re good enough, you can make it to Heaven. But none of us could ever be good enough to build a perfect road to perfect Heaven, and that’s why God built a road down to us. We couldn’t build a road up to Him, so He built a road down to us. That’s why He came to this earth, died on a cross, and rose again to take away our sins and to take us to perfect Heaven one day.
But Saul was on the road of religion, and then he persecuted those who weren’t on his road because he thought they were on the wrong road. He imprisoned and killed Christians in Jerusalem, and now he’s going to Damascus in Syria to persecute Christians. The Christians there were called «The Way.» Paul didn’t say, «I’m going to go persecute Christians.» They hadn’t been called Christians at that time; that came later at Antioch when they were first called Christians. But at this time, they just called them «the way.» Everyone called the early Christians people of the way because they followed Jesus, the way, the truth, and the life. They said, «That cult over there, 'the Way, ' we’ve got to get rid of them,» and Saul was on the road to Damascus to persecute the people of the way because he thought they were going the wrong way, but Saul was going the wrong way-the religious way.
Several years after his religious road had been recycled into a relationship with Christ, he later said this in Philippians 3:6: «I was sincere, yes, so much so that I greatly persecuted the church. I tried to obey every Jewish rule and regulation right down to the very last point. But all these things that I once thought very worthwhile, now I’ve thrown them all away so that I can put my trust and hope in Christ alone.» Paul said, «I was going down a religious road that I thought was the right road, but it was an empty road. It brought me no fulfillment. It was a lifeless road. But I gave that broken, lifeless road to Christ, and He recycled my empty road into a path of purpose.»
It was on the road to Damascus where Saul’s recycling took place. God met him on the road with a spotlight from Heaven. Look at it with me in Acts 9:4. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him: «Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?» «Who are You, Lord?» Saul asked. «I am Jesus whom you are persecuting,» He replied. This light from Heaven hit Saul, and he fell to the ground. Sometimes you have to fall to the ground in order for you to see God. Sometimes you have to fall on your face in order for your eyes to be opened. Sometimes you have to fall on your face so you can look up to God. Sometimes it’s just God’s mercy that He allows us to fail because the worst thing that could ever happen to you is to succeed going down the wrong road, and everything you do is successful, but you’re on the wrong road.
That’s a terrible thing to happen to anyone-to find things going smoothly when you’re going down the wrong road so that you get to the end of the road and find there was only emptiness there the whole time. How sad! I mean, what could be worse than being successful while going down the wrong road? Sometimes, in His mercy, God will give you a kick in the asphalt to break up the road you’re on. Has that ever happened to you? It’s no fun, but God does it in His mercy. Sometimes it’s God’s mercy that we fail, and the road before us gets broken. God breaks up the road because He loves us so much; He doesn’t want us to experience the pain of making it to the end of the road and realizing, when it’s too late, that there’s only emptiness.
And so He’ll allow us to fail; He’ll knock us to our knees like He did Paul to knock the pride out of us. He knocked Saul to his knees so that his eyes could be opened for the first time. Look at Acts 9:8: «Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing. Leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus.» So Saul, who had led so many people down the wrong road, was now being led by the hand; he couldn’t see his next step. He was totally dependent upon God and others. He was blinded, but really, for the first time in his life, he could finally see. His eyes were opened to the fact that he was totally dependent upon God and others. And we’re always totally dependent upon God; it’s just when everything’s going great that we rarely realize how dependent on God we are. We’re dependent on God for our very next breath, so why in the world do we get prideful, thinking that we can get our lives all together and change others' lives and that we can fix everything and control everything when only God can? He uses us; what an amazing thing! But only God controls everything.
In Acts 9: 6, look at it with me: «Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.» God says to Saul, «Here’s your instruction. I want you to get up; though you can’t do it by yourself, you need some help. I want you to get up, and I want you to go into the city. I want you to follow the road, go into the city, and then I’ll give you your next instruction.» Saul is now following Jesus’s instructions for the first time in his life; he’s following. That’s really the secret to finding the right road in your life-follow Jesus. Simple as that! You don’t need to know the right road; you just need to know the right person to follow. You don’t need to know the right road; you just need to follow Jesus, and the right road will find you.
How do I know which road God wants me to take? Maybe you’ve got two roads in front of you. How do you know which one of those two roads that God wants you to take? Well, you don’t need to find the right road; just follow Jesus, and the right road will find you. Follow Jesus one step at a time, and He’ll guide you down the right road. So many times, He uses His Word, and He speaks to us. As we take the next step of obedience, we’re going down the right road-that road of fulfillment. That’s why I’m really excited that we’re doing these devotionals together as we start the new year. We have the little notebook that’s the daily devotional journal that we want everyone to get, or you can have your own journal or get your own notebook; that’s great. Maybe you want to do it in the notes on your phone, but we have a little bookmark in it that tells you how to do your daily devotional. It’s real simple-just give God about 15 minutes in your day. Spend time with God; it changes everything! God says, «When you meditate on My Word day and night, you will prosper,» and the word «prosper» in Hebrew, I’ve told you many times, simply means «the ability to make wise decisions.» That means God will guide you down the right path because in all your ways, if you acknowledge Him, He’s going to make your path straight. He’s going to bring the path to you if you just follow Jesus because He’ll be going down the right path.
The little bookmark tells you first just to sit still for two minutes. Just sit still; be silent for two minutes, and that’s hard to do. Just let God prepare your heart, and then pray, saying, «God, help me understand the Word that I’m going to read. Help me understand Your Word.» Then read a chapter or two in the Bible, maybe in the Book of Psalms, maybe in the New Testament in the Book of John, maybe in the Book of Acts that we’re studying right now. But you just read a chapter or two, and then you write down some things that God is showing you. Maybe it’s a promise from God in the passage; maybe it’s just something God showed you that really relates to what you’re going through. Just write down a little bit, and then ask yourself, «How can I apply this to my life today? How can I put this in my life?» It’s really a daily discipline that God wants us to learn. If you miss a day or two, just get right back with it because if you can string some together, it becomes a habit in your life that changes the course of your life because why? You’re following Jesus! You’re just putting God’s Word into your life. You’re following Jesus, and He’s going to lead you down the right path.
So you don’t have to try to find the right road; just follow Jesus, and the right road will find you. Well, in Damascus, there was a believer named Ananias, and God spoke to him at the same time. In Acts 9:10, the Lord told him, «Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision, he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.» So the Lord speaks to this believer, Ananias, and says, «Hey, I want you to go down Straight Street. I’m going to give you direction for the right road that you need to go down. You need to go down Straight Street to this guy’s house; his name is Saul of Tarsus.» Ananias had heard of Saul of Tarsus-everyone had-because they knew he was coming there to persecute them, imprison them, and kill them. So Ananias says, «God, are you joking? Are you kidding? Saul of Tarsus? He’s coming here to kill us! I’m hiding from him, and you want me to go down and find him and pray for him and lay my hands on him? Are you kidding me? Why would you do that, God? That’s a death sentence!»
But look what God says to him in Acts 9:15: «But the Master said, 'Don’t argue. Go! I have picked him as My personal representative to non- Jews and kings and Jews. Now I’m about to show him what he’s in for-the hard suffering that goes with this job.'» God said, «Ananias, don’t argue with me. Just go down the road I told you to go down. Just get on Straight Street, and I’m going to guide you, and I’m going to take care of you.» Ananias obeys, even though he doesn’t know what the end result’s going to be. He goes to meet Saul of Tarsus, this great persecutor of the Way, and then he comes in, prays over him, and Saul’s eyes are opened. Now it’s a whole new road for Saul; his name is changed to Paul. He gets a new name, he goes down a new road, and he gets a new purpose, and a miracle has happened!
Now, Paul’s road after he came to Christ wasn’t a perfect road; it was far from it. In fact, it was a very painful road at times. Paul was beaten; he was stoned; he was thrown in prison many times. When you come to Christ, it doesn’t mean there will be no more painful roads, but it does mean there will never be another purposeless road. There will always be a purpose in every problem on the road that you’re going down; you can always count on it. You can also count on that Christ will never leave you on the road -He will lead you; He will go behind you; He will go beside you, and He will carry you down that road through everything that you go through.
I mean, the people who made the biggest difference in the world are those who’ve walked down painful roads, but God has gotten them through, like Martin Luther King Jr., whose birthday we celebrate tomorrow. God called him to walk a painful road, but walking that painful road produced great purpose and made a great difference. So you’re going to walk down some roads that are painful, but they’ll always be purposeful, and God will get you through, and you’ll see miracles along the way. You’ll come to dead ends, and God will blow them open to take you to the next level, eventually getting you to your destiny.
I want you to look at what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 1:8: «We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God who raises the dead.» So Paul said, «Hey, brothers and sisters in Christ, we want you to know the road we went through in Asia. If you haven’t heard, it was a rocky road, a difficult road, a painful road. In fact, we were crushed on that road; we thought it was the end. We thought it was the end of the road for us; it was a dead end. We were being crushed, and we thought it was the end. We thought we were going to die; we had a death sentence. But God allowed that crushing so that we would see that He would bring us through. God allowed that crushing so that we would totally rely on God, the God who raises the dead, the God who destroys dead ends.»
So Paul was saying, «We came to this place where we were crushed so deeply, and God allowed it. We hated it, but God allowed it, and we were crushed so deeply, but it caused us to rely totally on God, and we got to see Him save us. We got to see Him put down a road of rescue; we got to see Him bring about a road of deliverance for us because our God raises the dead.» We want you to know about the miracle that He did, and sometimes God allows us to go through this crushing process on the road, just like asphalt. For the road to be built, the steamroller goes over the asphalt, and then the road is smoothed out; the road is made straight.
You know, sometimes there are those potholes-we get them all the time in Texas-those potholes, those holes in the road that make it hard to drive through. Sometimes those potholes have to be filled up, and sometimes there are those bumps in the road that have to be leveled out. In fact, I want you to look at this next passage in Isaiah 40:3-5: «A voice of one calling in the wilderness, prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain, and the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.»
Now this is a prophecy about John the Baptist, who was coming in the future to prepare the way for the Messiah, Christ, so that Christ can be revealed and glorified and His light will shine. He is preparing the way; He’s leveling out the road, and really, it applies in our lives as well because for us to let Christ shine through us, there are times that God has to level out the rough places in our lives-those prideful little hills that come into our lives where we’re full of ourselves and we can’t be full of Christ. God will allow a crushing to take place so that the road in our life is leveled out, and sometimes we have these gaps in our character, these potholes that God has to fill up so that our road and our character are made smooth, so that Christ can shine through us.
In Psalms, it says, «Run in the path of God’s commands.» You run down that road, but you can’t run down a path that’s bumpy; a path with potholes has to be smoothed out. For us to run in the freedom of God’s power, strength, and purpose — fulfillment-then that road to my character has to be smoothed out. That’s not a great process at times; it’s not a fun process. Some of you right now-I mean, God is smoothing out the road of your character, but He’s preparing you for that road to take you to the next level. He’s preparing you for something greater that’s ahead.
Whenever God is leveling out the road of your character and filling in those potholes that are missing, He has got to work on that. You need to work on and cooperate with His change process. Whenever He is leveling out those little mounds of pride that begin to grow in our lives, and He’s smoothing out the road, He’s preparing a way for you to go to an amazing place-a new level in your life, a new level of blessing. You can’t get there until He smooths out the road. Then you can run on that road and experience all that God has for you. So don’t get discouraged; don’t give up when God is smoothing out the road of your character because He has a higher calling for you. That’s what it means: a setback is just a setup- God setting you up for the next new and powerful thing in your life.
Well, Paul never tried to hide his failures from the road of his past. Sometimes we want to cover up our failures from the road of our past and say, «You know what? We’re doing great; that’s all that matters. Don’t think about all the failures from the past and all the struggles from the past.» We want to hide it; we want to cover them over. But that road is still there, and the amazing thing is God wants to use that road. In 1 Timothy 1:15, toward the end of Paul’s life, he said, «Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason, I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display His immense patience as an example for those who would believe in Him and receive eternal life.» Paul says, «Hey, the road of my past is not pretty; it’s ugly. I persecuted Christians; I am the worst of sinners. But I want you to know that road from my past just lifts Jesus up to show you how merciful He is. That road from my past and how God recycled that road just shows you that our God can recycle anything, and it just brings more glory to God.»
See, it’s so amazing to me that the road to Damascus that Saul was on was a road to destruction. He wanted to destroy the Christ followers; it was a road to destruction for him. That road he was on-the road to Damascus-I mean, that was the wrong road. He was going down the wrong road, but God took the same road and recycled it into the road to Paul’s destiny. God used the same road; He didn’t say, «Okay, I’m going to blind you with light; now get up and get on another road and go another direction.» He didn’t say, «Leave here, turn around, and leave. Don’t persecute Christians; leave right now and go back to Jerusalem.» No! He said, «I want you to get up and go down the same road-the same road you were on-but I’m recycling the road as you’re going!» You see, that’s what God does; He doesn’t change our past; He recycles the past. He takes you down the road that’s recycled so your past just glorifies God and shows how He can rewrite just one word-a new word: salvation in your story-and it changes all the chapters from the past.
See, God had a new destiny, and He changed Saul’s name to Paul. He gave him that new destiny; that road to Damascus became the road of destiny for his life because God led him right to Ananias. Then he gathered with other believers; he was baptized, and he began to share his story with all the believers. He got connected to the church, and God always uses people in our lives to connect us. He won’t just lead you to your destiny; He’ll lead you to people-the church, Christ followers-who connect you to your destiny because we are the body of Christ, and He’ll connect us in the body of Christ, and that’s where we find our purpose and our destiny. That’s where the dreams come true that God places in our hearts.
That’s why I really encourage you, if you haven’t joined the church this new year, connect to the church family. Join the church! We have our membership class next Sunday from 1:00 to 3:00. There are going to be several hundred people here; it’s a huge class! I teach the class; we feed you, and we take care of the kids. That’s a little baby step of commitment to join the church because when you connect to the church family, the way you connect to God’s purpose for your life is first you connect to God’s people, and then you’ll begin to find God’s amazing purpose for your life.
Paul went down the same road, but God had recycled that road from a road of destruction to a road of destiny. He went down that same road, and that’s what God can do for you. He can recycle your past and turn it into your purpose. You know, Paul wrote most of the New Testament, and that’s why we’re talking about him today. You see, if God hadn’t recycled the road, we wouldn’t be talking about Paul. But Paul wrote most of the New Testament; he wrote so many of the passages we study here in church. God can recycle your road; He doesn’t erase the past; He uses your past. He recycles the same road and turns it into the road to your destiny.
Corrie ten Boom, whose family was in World War II, was arrested by the Nazis and placed in a concentration camp because her devoutly Christ-following family was hiding Jews and others that the Nazis were trying to exterminate. They built this hiding place in their home, and they had sometimes 20 or 30 people they just packed in there as the ten Boom family was trying to save their lives from the Nazi regime in Amsterdam, which was being occupied in the Netherlands.
Eventually, the Nazis arrested the whole ten Boom family when they got word that they were hiding Jews, and they arrested the whole family, but they never found the hiding place, and their Jewish friends were saved. But the ten Boom family went to a concentration camp, and everyone in her immediate family except for her died-even her sister, her best friend Betsie, died in that awful place. But Betsie kept telling her, «Corrie, when we get out, we’re going to share that God’s light can even be in the darkest places-that God’s light shines in the darkest places, the most evil places.» Corrie said, «This makes no sense, Betsie. How could God take us down this awful road? Why would God allow this evil?» And her sister would keep telling her, «It’ll all make sense one day; this story will all come together, but you’ve got to tell the story.»
And that’s what Corrie did. When she got out, for the rest of her life-even into her 70s- she would tell the story of how God brought light in the darkest road, and there was forgiveness, and they sensed God’s presence. God used the past pain to give her a whole new purpose of sharing the light of Christ. She would say that even though she would pray for God to do it differently in that concentration camp, God didn’t answer, and she didn’t understand it. Everything looked so ugly from this side, but there’s another side that God knows all about that we haven’t seen yet.
Corrie had this embroidery that was in her house, and whenever she would go speak anywhere-she went all over the world — she would take this embroidery with her, and she would hold it up and say, «Look at this!» She would hold it up from the back, and it had all these frayed knots; it just looked ugly. It was a mess, and people would think that she didn’t realize she just showed them the backside of it. Some of them would go, «Can you turn it around?» They thought maybe she was getting old and couldn’t see all the frays and knots, and they would just look at it and go, «Um, can you turn it around?» And she would go, «Just look at this,» and she would say, «When you pray and God doesn’t answer the way you want; when you go through times when you feel forgotten or when something doesn’t make sense, think about all these frayed knots and how ugly this is.»
She said, «But you’re just looking at it from the wrong side,» and she would turn it around and show them a beautiful crown that had been embroidered in the fabric. She would say, «You can’t see the crown that’s coming because God is sewing together and weaving together a road of righteousness, and it’s all about the crown of righteousness that is coming for you. Your road isn’t a dead end; you’re just looking at it from the wrong side.» Folks, there are some painful roads that you will go down in this life, and sometimes after you’ve gone down the road a few years, you look back and go, «I see what God was doing. He was weaving together a road to lead me to my purpose. It was painful back then; it was awful back then, but I see it now. I’m so grateful for that broken road that led me to You, Jesus.»
That led me to my purpose, or led me to a new level in my life. I didn’t see it then, but I see it now. But folks, there are some roads that are so painful that they make no sense to us at the time that we’ll never quite understand until we get to the other side. We’re just looking at it from the wrong side, and God knows the other side, and one day, it will all make sense; it will all come together. But when it doesn’t make sense in the here and now, just follow Jesus. Follow Jesus. Follow Jesus because He will never mislead you. When you can’t follow Him because you’re worn out, and you’re hurt and broken, He will hold you, and He will carry you through, and He takes every broken road and recycles it and makes it new because God makes all things new. You can always trust Him.
I want us to pray: Dear God, we love You. I pray right now for all those who just feel like they’re broken; maybe their heart’s broken, or maybe they’re just walking through a broken relationship, or maybe their emotions feel so broken right now. Lord, just remind them that You love to take the broken road and recycle it into a beautiful road of Your purpose. Do that in their hearts and their lives. I pray for those of us, Lord, who You are smoothing out the rough edges of our character to look more like Jesus, and Lord, it’s not fun, but help us remember that we need it so we can have a smooth road that takes us to the next level.
And Lord, I pray for those who have never really fallen to their knees and had their eyes opened to see that You are the Savior; You’re the only one who could make a road to Heaven for us, for You are the road. Help them right now in the silence of their heart pray this prayer: Dear Jesus, I admit I’ve been going down the wrong road. I need Your forgiveness of all my sins. I step onto Your road because You’re the way. You are the road; I believe You are the way, You are the truth, and You are the life. I believe You’re the only way to Heaven. I ask You to come into my life, and I ask You to take me to Heaven one day. I accept Your free gift of Heaven, Your free gift of forgiveness, and Your free gift of grace. Thank You for saving me. I want You to be the Lord of my life; I want to follow you from now on. For it’s in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
If you’ve prayed and received Christ, He’s faithful, and He came into your life, and you never have to pray that again, but you take steps of faith. You take steps of faith and grow in Him. Because if Christ really came into your life, you’re going to want to follow Him. Sure, you’ll still sin at times; sure, you’ll still go on wrong roads, but He’ll take every broken road, and when you give it to Him, recycle it and use it for His glory.