Acts 9:10-43

Recap:

A couple of Sundays ago we were here at the beginning of Act’s chapter 9…

Does anyone remember what happened to Saul of Tarsus?

His conversion on the Road to Damascus!

Saul, if you remember, was a super Zealous Pharisee…

He tells us in Phil 3 that he was blameless concerning the law… completing all of the jewish requirments to a T…

And even more than that, he saw Christianity as a threat to Judaism and made it his job to persecute and imprison christians…

At the beginning of Act’s 9 we saw how Saul had received letter’s from the high priest Ciaphas,

giving him permission to arrest the Christian’s in Damascus…

And so Saul starts his Journey to Damascus… but just before arriving…

on the road, Jesus appears to him saying…

“Saul Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”

We made mention of the fact that Jesus… says… Why are you persecuting ME?

And we said that Jesus, took personally all the attacks that were made against his people…

He wasn’t afar off, but present his his persecuted people…

and that is still true today

God is with us in our suffering, feeling every pain and blow that we experience for His name.

Telling us that if we are persecuted for Righteousness sake, we are blessed…

Then we saw that Jesus tells Saul that it is hard for him to kick against the goads

we said that a goad was a sharp stick used to move the oxen forward

and if they kick against the sharp stick it would only hurt themselves…

we noted what one of these goad’s could have been in Saul’s life…

And that was possibly Stephen’s death in Acts 7

How he died with forgiveness on his lips and with a heart full of faith.

And we made the application that Stephen was a man who had a surrendered life…

he did not resist persecution, he didn’t fight back, he wasn’t angry or bitter at his persecuters but he was obedient following in the example of Jesus, saying, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.”

This I could see would be a powerful moment in Saul’s life and God would use that to show him what he was attacking was the pure love and mercy of God.

Then, as we closed, we looked at Saul’s conversion and we saw 3 things that take place in someone’s life who is saved:

1. Repentance

v.9 fasted 3 days… grieving over sin

2. A desire to know God

v.5 “Who are you Lord”

3. a desire to follow the will of God

v.6 “Lord what do you want me to do?”

Now lets pick it up in v.10

V.10-22

So we are introduced to a new dude named, named Ananias…

So far in scripture this is the first time that he have met this man…

We actual haven’t heard anything about ananias before this passage…

And we won’t hear about him afterwards either…

this is the only time that we hear of this man

The name Ananias means “whom Jehovah has graciously given”

And we will certainly see how he is a gift to Saul of Tarsus!

But this guy is a regular old Joe…

nothing special… not an apostle, not a prophet, not a pastor…

He doesn’t have any particular fancy title or calling

we don’t hear of any crazy heroic deeds that he’s done before this…

He’s just Ananias “a certain disciple”

He is just somebody who loves and follows Jesus.

And if I can encourage you guys… being just a “certain disciple of Jesus”

is a powerful and special thing…

Ananias is a man just like us, and yet God used him, of all people… in a special and powerfl way.

And if I can encourage you…

you may not feel special or important but God want’s to use your life!

And God uses Ananias to do an amazing thing…

But the question is… are you ready to serve?

The Lord comes to Ananias in a vision and calls him by name…

And I love what his response is…

he says… “Here I am, Lord”

litterally the phrase in greek is- “See me Lord”

I am before you, I’m at your disposal, I’m ready to serve you…

God calls on Ananias, but Ananias says… Lord, I’ve never left, I’m right here, ready to serve you, sitting at your feet… Lord, see me!

And I think that is a beautiful question…

are we saying “See me Lord”?

Lord here I am…

Here I am, Lord, send me!

One of the most exhilarating, fun, challenging and edifying things that we do as believers is serving the Lord.

Time magazine published in 2001, this article…

it says,

The Israeli settlement of Netzarim (nets-ir-im) in the heart of the Gaza Strip was a point of much conflict with militant Palestinians for several years. The conflict was so great that the settlement was evacuated in 2005.

Those who lived in Netzarim did so at great personal risk because they felt it was an important part of keeping their land free. A schoolteacher, Shlomit (shlo-mit) Ziv, who lived in Netzarim in 2001 said, “I don’t live where it’s comfortable; I live where it’s important to live.”

For us as believers… we are not called to live where it is comfortable… but to live where it’s important to live…

in the service of God.

Anywho

so, the Lord tells Ananias to go and lay hands on Saul that he might be able to see again…

Now think for a moment what this might be like…

Saul of Tarsus, the great persecutor of Christians is traveling with his band of people send to imprison and attack beleivers…

And God is saying I want you to go to this specific street, down to this specific house and walk into this place and Saul (and probably his buddies) are going to be there

This is like a mouse walking into a snake pit

And so Ananias is understandably hesitant and he tells the Lord this in v.13-14

Acts 9:13–14 “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.””

But God reafirms what he told him, saying… “Go”.

go anyways… because I am going to use this man to spread the gospel…

And he is going to suffer for my name’s sake as well…

We definitely know that Paul suffers for Christ…

2 Corinthians 11:22–29 NKJV

Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness—besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?

V.

V.

v.29

DG says, “The story of Saul’s conversion begins with him leaving Jerusalem to persecute the followers of Jesus. It ends with him leaving Jerusalem as a persecuted follower of Jesus.”

v.30

DG says, “He was Saul of Tarsus, the young, successful, energetic rabbi. Then he was Saul the Persecutor; then Saul the Blind. He became Saul the Convert and then Saul the Preacher. Yet before he became Paul the Apostle, he spent somewhere between 8 and 12 years as Saul the unknown. Those were not wasted years; they were good and necessary years.”

v.31

DG- “Often, God wants the comfortable to be afflicted (gaining the fear of the Lord) and the afflicted to be comforted (by the comfort of the Holy Spirit)”

v.40-41

DG “Dorcas wasn’t raised for her own sake. She would have enjoyed heaven better! She was raised for the sake of her ministry to others”

Philippians 1:21–24 “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you.”

Pray.