Acts 9:1-19

Introduction

Image

King of the Hill

Hank: I didn't think I'd ever need to tell you this but I would be a bad parent if I didn't. Soccer was invented by European ladies to keep them busy while their husbands did the cooking.

Bobby: Why do you have to hate what you don't understand?

Hank: I don't hate you.

Bobby: I meant soccer.

-I dislike soccer just as much as the next red blooded American guy. I don’t understand it. I can’t comprehend how such a sport can be fun. But there are so many things in this life that are like that. As humans, we have a tendency to dislike, hate, or fear that which we do not understand. Saul of Tarsus was the exact same way. Here was this man that knew everything there was to know about the Rabbinic teachings. He knew everything that needed to be known from the best schools and seminaries. He could not comprehend or understand why his fellow Jews would be following this “Way”. The only response to such news was hatred that lead to the attempt to exterminate this “Way”.

-In God’s sovereign grace, Saul was rescued from his misunderstanding, rescued from his hate, and rescued from himself. God would use this man almost more than any other man to building God’s kingdom. This man that was once the greatest threat to the church of Jesus Christ would become one of her greatest tools.

Need

Just like Saul, we are in danger of hating the gospel because we do not understand it. People hate the gospel because they think it is too easy. Someone can live a horrible life and all they have to do is pray a magic prayer and they have a get out of jail free card? Some people reject the gospel because they know that God could never forgive all the things they have done wrong.

We need to truly understand the beauty and the power of the gospel!

Referent

Acts 9:1-19

Organization

Saul Was Weakened (vs. 1-9)

Saul Was Strengthened (10-19)

Sermon in a sentence:

I will love the Lord with all my heart, mind, and strength.

Context

Luke has just finished telling about the amazing work of God in the Samaritans and the Ethiopian eunuch! It is amazing that God is growing the family in larger and larger circles outside of the Jewish center! Why does Luke include Saul’s conversion here? After Saul’s conversion, Luke is going to then focus back on Peter and the conversion of Cornelius in chapter 10. Luke will do this for a few reasons. One of those reasons is to show us the beginning of Paul’s ministry in light of these great conversion stories. Isaiah 59:1 “1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;”

As a pastor, I have seen it so many times. I see people that become institutionalized with Christianity. They are know all the corporate jargon. They know the words to every hymn. They also know the page number of every hymn. They know everything about Christianity except for a true relationship with Christ. They have no real relationship with the Lord. They do not express any joy towards the brothers or sisters in Christ.

I’ll pray about it - probably not

bless their hearts - they are idiots

Prayer update - gossip session

Saul Was Weakened (vs. 1-9)

Saul’s conscience has become weakened and depraved.

Sual was willing to kill Stephen, now he is willing to hunt down and kill even more Christians.

God physically had to weaken Saul for him to recognize his weakness.

As we look throughout Scripture, we generally do not see those that have been used mightily by God as examples of a life of ease. We often see those that have been used mightily by God have been humbled greatly. Show me one king, prophet, judge, or patriarch that is described as living “their best life now”.

2 Corinthians 12:8–9 “8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

Saul Was Strengthened (vs. 10-19)

God used Ananias to strengthen Saul.

I don’t think Ananias woke up with helping his enemy on his to-do list.

God used a weak man to strength another weak man.

I love when Phil reads out loud! Even in his weaknesses, Phil is trying to honor the Lord and serve his brothers and sisters in Christ!

Joseph Spurgeon Facebook

Stonewall Jackson’s local church in Lexington like many churches had a midweek prayer meeting. Jackson did not enjoy public speaking and so was initially hesitant to pray aloud in public. After his pastor had taught the congregation on the duty of public prayer, Jackson met with him to discuss the matter. He told his minister, “You…are my pastor, and the spiritual guide of the church; if you think it is my duty, then I shall waive my reluctance, and make the effort to lead in prayer, however painful.” Soon afterwards, the minister called upon Jackson to pray aloud in the weekly prayer meeting. Jackson stammered through the prayer with embarrassment, his petition being “almost as painful to his brethren as it obviously was to himself.”Attempting to spare Jackson further embarrassment, the minister did not call again on him to pray publicly over the next several weeks. Jackson asked his pastor why he did not call on him again. When the pastor told Jackson he wanted to spare him an uncomfortable duty, Jackson replied, “Yes…but my comfort or discomfort is not the question; if it is my duty to lead my brethren in prayer, then I must persevere in it, until I learn to do it aright; and I wish you to discard my feelings in the matter.”

God put Saul on a Straight path

Isaiah 40:3 “3 A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”

God used Ananias and the disciples in Damascus to strengthen and build up Saul.

John Stott

The Message of Acts 3. Saul and Ananias: His Welcome into the Church in Damascus (9:10–25)

I never fail to be moved by these words. They may well have been the first words which Saul heard from Christian lips after his conversion, and they were words of fraternal welcome.

Paul had spiritual and physical needs that the disciples met.

Conclusion

Holly is very gifted musically. For years, she has enjoyed classic music. When she first told me about it, I hated the idea. It was stupid. There are no lyrics. The music is boring. Why listen to it?

The more I have listened and appreciated the complexity and beauty of classical music, the more enjoy it. The more emotion I feel. The more I see the world that the composer intended to create. In a similar way, I want you to become more familiar with the beauty of the gospel. I want you to live in the world that the Lord is creating in and through his people.

Just like classical music, the more I understand the beauty of the gospel, I can never go Bach.

Application

Repent from unbelief! Turn to Christ , by faith, and live!

Ask yourself how you are loving the Lord with your heart, mind, and strength this week?

Heart -

Mind -

Strength -