Before and After

Saul / Paul

*** Photo: Paul

Saul’s conversion

Takes place in our text today

Paul defends himself after being arrested (22.6ff)

Paul defends himself before Agrippa (26.12ff.)

Referenced briefly in 1 Corinthians (15.8)

Referenced briefly twice in Galatians (1.12, 1.15-16)

Paul meets Jesus

Acts 9:3–5 NRSV

Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” He asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

*** Photo of Paul off the horse

Paul meets Jesus, who turns his life upside-down

Acts 26:14–16 NRSV

When we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It hurts you to kick against the goads.’ I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ The Lord answered, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But get up and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you to serve and testify to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you.

*** Photo of Paul before the light

Paul meets Jesus, who turns his life upside-down, changing the way Paul thinks

Acts 22:12–15 NRSV

“A certain Ananias, who was a devout man according to the law and well spoken of by all the Jews living there, came to me; and standing beside me, he said, ‘Brother Saul, regain your sight!’ In that very hour I regained my sight and saw him. Then he said, ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will, to see the Righteous One and to hear his own voice; for you will be his witness to all the world of what you have seen and heard.

*** Photo: Paul thinking

Paul meets Jesus, who turns his life upside-down, changing the way Paul thinks and what Paul does

Acts 26:19–23 NRSV

“After that, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout the countryside of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God and do deeds consistent with repentance. For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. To this day I have had help from God, and so I stand here, testifying to both small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would take place: that the Messiah must suffer, and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.”

*** Photo: Paul before Agrippa

An encounter with Jesus turns out lives upside down, changes how we think and what we do, gives new meaning to everything that’s gone before.