God's Chosen Instruments
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Many people lack a fully developed sense of God’s call.
We can go back to Gen 12 and see God’s specific call to Abraham. Focused on both geography and covenantal promise.
Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, Elisha, and most of the prophets.
Mary, Jesus’ call to twelve handpicked men.
Now in this chapter we come to one of the most dramatic calls in the biblical record.
On of 3 accounts of Saul’s conversion in the book of Acts.
29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
Paul opens his first letter to the Corinthians by telling them that he was “called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ”. A phrase he repeats several times in his letters.
The call will be different for different people....
The form of the call is not important. A sovereign God surely reserves the right to contact any of us as He chooses.
An awareness of the call, however, must be present for effective godly living.
In this chapter we encounter one of the most dramatic examples in history of what happens when God invades a person’s life.
God is about to appoint a highly trained, full time missionary/apostle to the Gentiles.
1 Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest
2 and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
Extradition papers…could be served in Damascus....
The disciples were not called Christians until Antioch (11:26).
The Way:
This term, possible taken from:
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
occurs again and again in Acts.
24 And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.
All of these convey movement.
Serving God is not a static...
While His character never changes, he is always moving.
We are at times to “Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord”
Even when we are still He moves....
Saul has nearly completed the 6 day journey from Jerusalem to Damascus (175 miles to the NE.)
Damascus is the 2nd oldest city in the world that is still in existence. Tarsus is the oldest.
Now God turned a mission of hate into a message from Heaven!
3 As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven.
4 Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”
No ordinary light.
The Greek word for “voice” is the word from which we get phone.
Dearly beloved, when you are persecuted, Jesus takes it personal!
5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”
6 So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
7 And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one.
8 Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.
9 And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
A proud and ruthless man..... Now broken and helpless...
Fasting or unable to eat?
Any doubts about the life change God can produce in people should no longer plague us.
Paul later claimed to be the worst of sinners.
Whether he was or not, this story may well show us the best of God’s grace.
12 “Then a certain Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good testimony with all the Jews who dwelt there,