Close Encounter

Close Encounter

Text: Acts 26:12-18 (NIV)

12 “On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. 13 About noon, O king, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. 14 We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

15 “Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’

”‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. 16 ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you. 17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

I.       Introduction:

II.    A Close Encounter with Jesus Changes Our Outlook on Life

A.    Blinded By A Fanatical Prejudice

B.     Faced With A Supernatural Visitation

C.     Examined In A Personal Confrontation

D.    Challenged By A Crucial Question

III. A Close Encounter With Jesus Changes Our Purpose in Life

A.    Given A Staggering Identification

B.     Given A Superior Commission

C.     Given A Substitute Mission

D.    Given A Shared Transformation

IV. Conclusion: