The Conversion of Saul - Part 2 (Acts 9:1-31)

Welcome & Announcements

Child Dedication of Ember Lynnae Dickson on February 5th, 2023 during Sunday AM Worship.

“SOUP”erbowl Watch Party on February 12, 2023. We’re encouraging everyone to bring a homemade soup, we’ll vote on the best soup, and the winner wins a $50 gift card to Brown Dog Catering in Philipsburg. Kickoff is at 6:30pm.

Please prepare for the Lord’s Supper on February 19th, 2023.

Josh Dickson will be preaching February 26th, 2023, during the Sunday AM Service.

Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Call to Worship (Ps 71:1-6)

Our Call to Worship this morning is Psalm 71:1-7, which is an anonymous psalm that’s actually primary geared at old age or aging. It focuses on the psalmist’s long memory of God’s faithfulness and renewing power. This morning our verses primarily focus on God as our Rock and fortress in whom we take refuge and he reminds himself of God’s faithfulness since his youth. Please stand and read Psalm 71:1-6 with me—I’ll read the odd-numbered verses, please join me in reading the even-numbered verses:

Psalm 71:1–6 ESV

1 In you, O Lord, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame! 2 In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me, and save me! 3 Be to me a rock of refuge, to which I may continually come; you have given the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress. 4 Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man. 5 For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth. 6 Upon you I have leaned from before my birth; you are he who took me from my mother’s womb. My praise is continually of you.

Congregational Singing

Come Praise and Glorify (44)

My Faith Has Found a Resting Place (404)

Beautiful Savior (193)

Scripture Reading (Gen 16)

Our Scripture Reading this morning continues in the historical narrative of Genesis. In this passage, we see the issue between Sarai, Abram, and Hagar that results in a boy named Ishmael. What we see in Genesis 16 is the result of what happens when you don’t trust God to do what He says He will do. Josh can you read Genesis 16?

Genesis 16 ESV

1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. 2 And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3 So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. 4 And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. 5 And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!” 6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her. 7 The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.” 9 The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.” 11 And the angel of the Lord said to her, “Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has listened to your affliction. 12 He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.” 13 So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.” 14 Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered. 15 And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

Preaching of God’s Word (Acts 9:1-31)

Introduction

If you have your Bible, please open it to Acts 9:1-31.

We’ve been walking through the book of Acts and we’ve seen the apostles as they’ve proclaimed the Gospel throughout Jerusalem and the immediately surrounding areas. During this proclamation of the Gospel, we know that the chief priests, the Sanhedrin, the Pharisees, and Sadduccees have all been utterly opposed to the Gospel—they’ve rejected the truth, they’ve rejected Jesus, and now they’re rejecting the apostles sent by Jesus. Last week, we started in on the account of a man who had previously persecuted the church significantly—he attacked Christians, separated families, imprisoned people, and even murdered those who followed the Way. This man, who had a great reputation amongst the Jewish people as one who was a Pharisee of the Pharisees, also had a terrible reputation amongst those following Jesus because of the severe persecution that he pushed at them.

As I mentioned last week, if anyone was “far too gone,” it would’ve been Saul, and yet, Jesus chooses him, confronts his sin, and calls him to repentance and obedience. Last week, we saw this confrontation, this repentance, this obedience, but where we were last week sort of ended before we saw the result of Jesus’ salvific work in Saul—I mean, we witnessed his salvation, but nothing beyond it.

This week continues in the historical account with Saul by showing us what happens next and I will say, what you’ll see as we continue in the text is a very similar application to last week’s message because the text follows in the same way that last week’s text did. Keep this in mind.

Let’s read Acts 9:19-31.

Acts 9:19–31 (ESV)

For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. 20 And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” 21 And all who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?” 22 But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ.

23 When many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him, 24 but their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates day and night in order to kill him, 25 but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket.

26 And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. 27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus. 28 So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists. But they were seeking to kill him. 30 And when the brothers learned this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

31 So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.

As we study this passage, we’re going to break it into two parts both of which center around Saul spending some time in different cities—(1) Saul’s Time in Damascus (19b-25) and (2) Saul’s time in Jerusalem (26-31). What we’ll see as we study about Saul immediately post-conversion is a man who hears the truth, accepts the truth, and immediately goes and proclaims the truth to others. The same zeal that Saul had in persecuting the church, he now directs into proclaiming the Gospel to anyone who will listen. This morning’s sermon should encourage us to share in the same zeal, it should convict us of the times in which we didn’t or haven’t, and it should compel us to proclaim the Gospel just like Saul proclaimed the Gospel.

Prayer for Illumination

Saul’s time in Damascus (19b-25)

So remember, as the historical narrative continues, Saul has made his way to Damascus despite being blind, he’s been healed through Ananias who prays for him in the city, and we ended last week with v. 20, that “immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, ‘He is the Son of God.’”

But remember, Saul has a significant and terrible history of persecuting Christians, so of course, there’s going to be a significant reaction about all this:

For instance, everyone who hears him is shocked by what he’s saying because he has a reputation of causing trouble to those who call on the name of Jesus. Vv. 21-22 explain this with two questions, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this [or Jesus’] name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?”

So again, Saul has a reputation of causing great harm to those who proclaim Jesus Christ; and everyone around had heard that he was coming to Damascus for the purpose of arresting Christians,

Of course, then, this sudden change of personality, of action, of verbiage, and really of heart, would cause some people to question what exactly is going on.

And, of course, it would cause them to express a certain amount of amazement, surprise, and maybe even a bit of a sense of awe.

Let’s face it, we do the exact same thing when it comes to far less—someone who you know from high school who was absolutely obsessed with some sort of popular cultural item, is no longer obsessed with that popular culture item and you might be amazed that they’re no longer obsessed with NSYNC or surprised that they no longer like Pokemon cards or something like that because their personality used to be engulfed by the concept, but it isn’t anymore.

Saul’s whole life completely and utterly changed from hating Jesus, hating the people of Jesus, and disdaining the Way to actually loving Jesus, loving Jesus’ people, and following the Way that he persecuted—the change at hand isn’t that he was obsessed with a popular cultural item, it’s literally that his whole life’s direction has now been changed.

Of course, for someone who changes so drastically, there could be a bit of disappointment or discouragement that wells up within him anytime someone brings up the havoc making that he made or the fact that he did persecute the Christian people.

We actually experience a bit of disappointment or discouragement anytime someone brings up something from our past that we’re not entirely proud of—for instance, maybe when you were younger, you did something completely foolish in school and every time you get together with some friends that you were once really close with, they bring it up and they laugh—and really, they’re laughing at your expense.

By them continuously bringing it up, it reminds you of a time that you did something absolutely dumb and instead of them letting you live it down, they just keep bringing it up—and it causes you to slip into disappointment or discouragement.

Or maybe, you have a nickname that someone has given you and when you act or say something a certain way, they immediately call you that nickname.

They might not mean anything about it, but it hurts you and it causes you to wish that the situation had never happened.

Perhaps Saul felt a bit of this discouragement or disappointment, I think we would all agree that he has a bit of a right to, but it’s clear that he doesn’t let it disturb him too much because v. 22 tells us that “Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ.”

Or in other words, instead of allowing the things that they were saying about him disturb him and veer him off track, he grew and he continued proclaiming the Gospel.

Now some think that when it speaks of his strength that it’s referring to his physical strength—and that is a possibility based on the fact that after he’s confronted by Jesus, he experiences a severe physical malady at the loss of his sight and inability or lack of desire for eating and drinking.

Personally, I think the text is referring to his faith and his knowledge of the truth—that his faith strengthened as his knowledge grew.

I base that on the fact that in the most immediate context, the strength is tied into the idea of him confounding the Jewish people and proving that Jesus was the Christ—the Anointed One.

With that in mind, it seems to imply that Saul was growing spiritually in his faith and in his knowledge, so much so, that when the Jewish people saw him, they were confounded or even confused at what exactly had happened and the simple fact that the one who so viciously an utterly opposed Christianity could now prove how Jesus was and is the Christ—again, the Anointed One.

Now, of course, with Saul being such an integral part of the persecution of the first church, those that had endorsed him or maybe even sponsored him to persecute the church, would still want to see the church persecuted.

After all, Saul changed, but those that Saul worked with didn’t—so, of course, those who formerly were working with Saul would now want to see great pain and suffering in and of Saul.

And we see this in v. 23, “when many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him.” It’s of note, that when the word Jews is utilized in this sort of context, it typically refers to not your every day, run-of-the-mill Jewish person, but rather those that are in charge of the Jewish people.

So, in a context like this, think of the Sanhedrin, the Pharisees, the Sadduccees, and the High Priests—they, who had commissioned or sent Saul to go into Damascus to persecute by way of binding and arresting those who were following the Way learn that Saul isn’t actually persecuting or binding or arresting them, but rather, he’s joined them.

Of course, then, these folks would be angry, upset, and filled with rage to the extent that all the anger, disdain, and rage that they focused on those who were following the Way is now focused on Saul.

And, though these are supposed to be the religious leaders and their primary focus is really supposed to be in leading the nation of Israel into the proper worship of Yahweh, they instead choose to plot and scheme against Saul, the one who was once on their side but abandoned them to join the Way.

Now, the word translated as plotted comes from a Greek word that can mean conspired or counseled and it paints a picture that the actions that they were choosing to do against Saul and to Saul were against the plan of God—it places them in a position of direct opposition with not just Saul, but ultimately with God.

And their plotting isn’t to just stop Saul or to convince him of the foolishness of believing in Christ; their plan isn’t to slander or smear his name, their plan is to do to Saul the very thing that Saul was doing to Christians, they sought to murder him, which shows us the extreme wickedness of those who were supposed to be leading the nation of Israel into proper worship of God—that those who should be completely on board with Jesus are instead plotting, planning, conspiring, and counseling with one another to not just quiet someone but to very literally murder that person tells us the level of corruption throughout the Jewish leadership.

Though, honestly, we already knew of the great level of corruption throughout the Jewish leadership—after all, this is the same group of people who murdered Jesus, who not just permitted but insisted on the persecution of Christians, and who agreed to the murders of several people who claimed to follow Jesus—it really shouldn’t surprise us that when one of their own turn around and follow Jesus, they would want to murder that individual as well (especially someone like Saul who was a Pharisee of the Pharisees, who actively pursued Christians and persecuted them).

The Jewish leaders conspire to kill Saul, but v. 24, tells us that “their plot became known to Saul.” Saul, through some means hears of what the Jewish leaders plan to do to him.

In particular, he learns that they’re “watching the gates day and night in order to kill him.” Damascus was a city surrounded by a massage wall to protect the people and the city—the only ways in and out would be through the gates, thus, it made it rather simple for a corrupt religious organization that was seeking to murder people to murder those people.

They wouldn’t need to spend hours and maybe even days searching for Saul amongst all the people, they wouldn’t need to panic about trying to find him, they simply need to watch the people leaving the city throughout the day and night and eventually, he would try to leave the city and they can grab him then.

Humanly speaking, this is actually a good plan but somehow Saul hears about this plan and in v 25. “the disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket,” which by the way, actually sounds pretty terrifying if you really think about it—the wall around Damascus was a Roman wall, which meant that it was on average about 20 feet high and Saul’s being lowered from a hole in the wall that’s probably near the top of the wall in a little basket.

Thus ends Saul’s time in Damascus—let’s just recap this. Saul, initially was headed to Damascus to persecute the Christian church and while on the road to Damascus, he’s confronted by Jesus who calls him to repentance and the once infamous murderer of Christians repents and believe in Jesus. Now, when he sees Jesus, the glory of God utterly blinds him and when he finally heads into Damascus, he has to be led to Damascus and for three days, he doesn’t see a thing until Ananias, who had a vision from the Lord comes to Saul, prays for him, and Saul is then healed. Saul then gets baptized and almost immediately proclaims Jesus as Messiah throughout the city of Damascus, so much so, that those who commissioned him to murder Christians hears about it and determines to murder him too, but as of this point in history, he escapes.

Now, let’s look at vv. 26-31.

Saul’s time in Jerusalem (26-31)

Acts 9:26–31 ESV

26 And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. 27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus. 28 So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists. But they were seeking to kill him. 30 And when the brothers learned this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus. 31 So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.

So, Saul leaves Damascus after being lowered from a hole in the wall by way of basket and he immediately goes to Jerusalem to attempt to join the disciples, but remember, Saul has a terrible reputation and v. 26 tells us that all the other disciples were “afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple.”

Which, let’s be honest, we would have a very similar response to Saul—we have a hard time accepting when people today who might have lived lives of what we consider debauchery repent, so it really ought not surprise us that the murderous persecutor of Christians would be looked at with a bit of suspicion.

They think that Saul’s lying about actually believing in Jesus and you might wonder what exactly they thought Saul was doing and it’s simpler than what you might think.

The disciples think that Saul is lying about being a genuine believer in Jesus Christ, why would he do this? So that he can infiltrate the church, learn who the disciples are, and then continue in his persecution of the church. What better way to destroy an organization than from within?

And we’ve already seen that those persecuting the church are capable of such deception, such duplicity, and trickery. So, it makes sense that they would think that Saul was attempting to do something like this.

However, we know because of the benefit of Scripture and really hindsight, that Saul really does believe at this point in time; and Barnabas, who has a reputation of being a great encourager, comes alongside Saul to convince the disciples that Saul genuinely believed in Jesus.

How exactly did he do this? Rather simply, he came along Saul and brought him directly to the apostles to tell the disciples that Saul literally saw Jesus face to face on the road to Damascus, that he genuinely repented and believed before going into Damascus and preaching boldly the name of Jesus.

And the apostles believed Saul and because the apostles believed Saul many of the disciples also believed Saul and that frees him from not having to defend himself to the church, but rather to focus on preaching Jesus boldly and that’s precisely what he does.

In v. 28, we see him going throughout Jerusalem “preaching boldly in the name of the Lord” and in doing so, he speaks to a disputes against what the Bible calls the Hellenists.

The Hellenists are Jewish people who primarily spoke Greek and I’d encourage you not to read into that detail too much, they just happen to be Jewish people who primarily spoke Greek probably because of the way that they were raised.

But here’s the thing, when the Hellenists hear Saul, they, just like the Jewish leadership in v. 23, also seek to kill him.

And so the brothers referring to (probably) the apostles, bring him down to Caesarea, which is by the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and they send him away to Tarsus,

Now, you might hear that Saul’s essentially being forced to run from place to place and think that that is such a terrible, terrible thing.

Or, quite honestly, you might hear that and think that it serves him right since he previously did that to Christian people throughout Jerusalem, but let me suggest that something else is happening and it is actually far greater than you think and it is providential.

Meaning, all this is happening under God’s divine foresight and intervention. Saul being chased, pursued, and plotted against isn’t some form of cosmic karma, it’s God in His providence and sovereignty through His Holy Spirit, growing His church.

Or put differently, we think of all this great persecution of the early church as a bad thing, but the reality is that God is utilizing all that is happening to the Christian people to spread the Gospel for the church to continue growing.

Now, you might be wondering how exactly persecution causes the Gospel to spread because the whole point of persecution is to stop the spread of the church.

The reasoning is quite simple—when true persecution comes, those who genuinely believe (though they might be forced out of their homes and they might be forced to run from their original city or even country or even continent), still believe and they’re still commissioned by Jesus to go and make disciples.

And as they run for their lives, they’re doing just that—they’re proclaiming the Gospel and they’re teaching people about Jesus, and those that hear their testimonies about Jesus repent and believe.

Or in other words, as Saul is being chased from city to city, he’s proclaiming the Gospel and people are believing in Jesus because of his proclamation of the truth.

So, Saul is being sent to Tarsus and judging by how he’s responded to the Gospel thus far, we could rightfully assume that he’s going to go, proclaiming the Gospel all along the way to anyone who will listen.

Thus, as Saul is facing persecution, the Word of the Lord is spreading to more people and more people are hearing the Gospel, repenting, and believing.

The persecution of Saul is providential and in God’s sovereignty, he’s using it to grow the church everywhere that Saul is forced to run.

Now, you might ask, what happens with the Christians in Jerusalem, Damascus, and really the surrounding areas, are they being persecuted as well?

At this point in time, not really because the one who was primarily focused on persecuting Christians in Jerusalem, Damascus, and the surrounding areas was Saul, which means that the church in these areas isn’t being ravaged like it once was, in fact, they’re experiencing a time of peace and God is providentially and sovereignly utilizing that peace (just like he’s using the persecution of Saul).

V. 31 tells us, “the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.”

In the remaining few minutes, I want us to look at some specific application and as I mentioned in the introduction, the application shares some similarities with last week’s application.

Application

In this morning’s text, we see this former murderous persecutor of the church who had just repented and believed in Jesus going and proclaiming the Gospel throughout Damascus and Jerusalem, but there’s a significant apparent problem for Saul. Everywhere that he goes, the Jewish leaders and the Hellenists seek to murder him, so the disciples and the apostles devise ways to get him out of those cities for his own protection. There are two applications that I want you to see from this text: (1) Sin has a residual effect and (2) God providentially and sovereignly works and moves. Let’s look at both those ideas in detail.

First, Saul is definitely a believer but the sin he committed before he believed still has a residual effect on him. (19b-31)

We see this plain as day because he’s facing some temporal or earthly consequences for his sin.

Saul is definitely a believer but his previous connection to those who sought to persecute and murder the church has caused those very people to want to persecute and murder him.

We also see it in the simple fact that those who are believers have a rather difficult time believing Saul to be a genuine believer because they know what he had done in his sin.

What Saul is experiencing is the simple truth that your personal sin has long-reaching temporal consequences even if you know longer have to pay the eternal consequences for your sin. You really ought to expect your sins to have a lingering effect even though you are forgiven for them.

In Saul’s case, he had been forgiven by Jesus Christ but the church struggled to believe him because they simply assumed he was just trying to trick them. And in his case, those who were seeking to murder him are the very same people that he was working with to murder other Christians.

Our tendency is to think that just because we’ve been forgiven, everyone should just forget about our past and move on or that we won’t face any sort of consequence for any type of sin that we commit from now on, but that’s simply not how it works.

While the Christians that you hurt in sin ought to strive to forgive you, the reality of the matter is forgiveness isn’t the same as acting like you had never done anything at all—for instance, if you repeatedly lied to me, I can graciously forgive you but that doesn’t mean that I have to trust every word out of your mouth. Me choosing not to trust what you say isn’t sinful on my part, it’s a result of you not dealing with your sin appropriately.

Or if you had a history of unrighteous anger—your friends can graciously forgive you but it doesn’t mean that they have to continue to hang out with you and them choosing not to hang out with you isn’t sinful on their part, it’s a result of you not dealing with your sin appropriately.

Or if you sinfully indulged but you’ve since repented and believe, you may still have to deal with your body adjusting to return to what it was like before you sinfully indulged in whatever it was that you indulged in (and you may not ever fully recover). It’s a result of your sin.

Your sin will have lingering effects even though you’ve been forgiven for them—you really ought to expect this.

Now, you might ask, what can you do about this and the answer is rather simple:

Be thankful that Jesus has forgiven you for your sin and its eternal consequence and then ask for His help and His mercy and His grace as you deal with the temporal consequences for your sin.

You need to acknowledge that sin has temporal consequences and you will have to deal with those temporal consequences but praise be to God, you’ve been forgiven for the eternal consequences of your sin through Jesus Christ.

Second, God providentially and sovereignly works and moves (19b-31) to the extent that even things as dire as persecution can be utilized by God and is used by God.

In the case of Saul, as Saul faced persecution, we see him running from those who sought to harm him from city to city. And again, our tendency is to view the persecution as a terrible thing.

Until we start looking at how Saul proclaims the Gospel from city to city and thousands of people are repenting, believing, and following Jesus.

And we look carefully at how the Holy Spirit is providentially maneuvering things to put Saul precisely where he needs to be for the Gospel to have a tremendous impact throughout the area.

You should realize that every situation in your life is being utilized by God for your good, even if it doesn’t feel like it.

And your good (according to Romans 8:28 is for you to be like Jesus). Romans 8:28-30 “28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. 29 Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers; 30 and those whom He predestined, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified; and those whom He justified, He also glorified.”

God is the Great Narrator of your life and He is sovereignly and providentially utilizing your life circumstances to teach you and to mold you and to grow you into Jesus’ image.

Of course, being molded and changed can often be a painful situation and yet, that’s precisely what the Holy Spirit does for you and through you to conform you into the image of Jesus Christ.

Now, the question is, when you are going through life and you’re dealing with these situations in life that are painful, that seem terrible and horrendous, what ought you to do in light of the fact that every situation in your life is being utilized by God for your good?

Should you shake your fist at God and get angry that your life isn’t perfect at that moment?

Should you get angry at God and go on a rant like Job did?

Should you just throw up your arms and give up?

Let me suggest hat you do precisely what Saul does in this text—he continues to proclaim the Gospel and serve the Lord precisely how God had called Him to serve—and that’s exactly what you ought to do.

Life is filled with situations that will be utilized by God to conform you into the image of Jesus Christ.

Be thankful that He loves you enough to use those situations to conform you into the image of Jesus—do you know what exactly that means?

It means that when you find yourself in the hospital, God is using that to teach you, to grow you, and to mold you.

It means that when you lose your house or your car’s repossessed, or if you experience the loss of a loved one, God is using that to teach you, to grow you, and to mold you.

It means that when you struggle at work or at school, when you face trial and tribulation in life, God is using that to teach you, to grow you, and to mold you.

Knowing this does something in particular—it gives you hope because it reminds you that life is not filled with random, unusual events that happen for no reason and for no purpose.

Rather all these things are being utilized to do something for your good in accordance to God’s plan.

Put simply, what we learn from Acts 9:1-31 is that God can save anyone and that person though he might still have to deal with the temporal consequences of his sin is being conformed into the image of Jesus Christ. Or put differently, God saved you and though you might still have to deal with the temporal consequences of your sin, you are being conformed into the image of Jesus Christ.

So, have hope, have faith, and keep proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Pastoral Prayer

Congregational Singing

All Glory Be to Christ (133)