I've had a few people ask me what I stood infront of the church and did my sermon on Tuesday night. So, if you want to read them, here are my sermon notes.
"God uses lives in every condition in order to bring glory to his name. You have never made too many mistakes in your life that God cannot use you to further his kingdom with your testimony. A prime example of this, in the bible, is a man named Saul.
One of the first mentions that we have of Saul in the New Testament is in Acts. At this point, the disciples and the church, itself, were being persecuted for their faith. In chapter eight, one disciple, Stephen, was being stoned in the square for proclaiming Jesus in the city.
Acts 8:1 mentions Saul when it says, “And Saul was there, giving his approval” regarding the stoning of Stephen. Immediately following this, the church continues to go through a period of extreme persecution, overseen by Saul. Because the persecution of the church was ongoing, the church was scattered all through Judea and Samaria. Saul spent that time literally hunting down the professed Christians and put them in jail, on trial and even gave his approval for their deaths.
Saul gives an account of this in Acts 26:9-11:
“I, too, was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Any that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priest, I put many of the saints in my prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished and I tried to force them to blaspheme. In my obsession against them, I even went to foreign cities to persecute them.”
I’ll take this opportunity to interject a quick side note. Persecution, as a Christian, is always a possibility. However, don’t let that detour you. Don’t let that drive you away from your work in spreading the gospel. It might move you to a new location, like it did for the church at that time, but don’t let it stop the furthering of God’s kingdom.
Okay, now back to Saul’s story…
A while later, in Acts 9:1-2, Saul was granted permission to venture to another city, Damascus, to seek out more Christians to persecute for his own personal agenda.
“Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.”
God had a different agenda for Saul’s life on that road, though. While Saul left with the intention to persecute Christians for their faith, Saul ended up feeling persecuted for his own lack of faith. This is shown in verses three through nine.
“As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ ‘Who are you, Lord?’ Saul asked. ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied. ‘Now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do.’ The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. Saul hot up from the ground but when he opened his eyes, he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. For three days he was blind and did not eat or drink anything.”
Although God could have preached salvation to Saul right there on the road, God desired to use one of his faithful followers to be the means of Saul’s salvation.
Don’t forget: the same God who ordains the end, also ordains the means.
He desires to use us to further his kingdom.
So, God used Ananias as the means to Saul’s salvation, as we see in verses 10-12.
“In Damascus, there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, ‘Ananias!’ ‘Yes, Lord,’ he answered. The Lord told him, ‘Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.’”
Imagine how difficult it was for Ananias to listen to God’s call on his life at that moment. Ananias had been avoiding Saul’s persecution by living and preaching outside of Jerusalem. He was preaching the gospel and furthering the church in great ways and is suddenly asked to seek out the very man that he was probably hiding from. He’s told to find that man killing and arresting his brothers in Christ and even his own friends.
How would you respond if God asked you to go find someone who you knew desired to arrest, or even kill, you? Ananias responded in verses 13-14 much like I imagine most of us would—with questions , hesitation and maybe even a little doubt about what God was telling him to go and do.
“’Lord,’ Ananias answered, ‘I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priest to arrest all who call on your name.’”
But God has bigger plans that we can even begin to try and understand. He explains that to Ananais in verses 15-16.
“But the Lord said to Ananias, ‘Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kinds and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.’”
He tells Ananias that Saul is chosen by him, despite his previous sins and the fact that he was persecuting the very concept that Ananias was being told to proclaim to Saul. He explains to Ananias about the vast amount of people that will come to know Jesus because of Ananias’ commitment to Saul’s salvation, though God’s promptings.
So, Ananias went and declared what God had told him to in verse 17.
“Then Ananais went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord- Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here- has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’”
Ananias took his commitment to Saul’s salvation and the desire to see him change to a higher level. He called Saul, “brother” in verse 17. “Brother” was a term used for the people who were cleansed and saved through the redeeming blood of Christ. They were no longer seen as their sins, but were seen as a brother to the other, as an heir to Christ.
Ananias called Saul “Brother” because he refused to call “dirty” that which God had already deemed as “clean” in his own eyes.
Because Saul had experienced the miraculous voice and light of Christ earlier on the road, his heart was already softened to what God was doing in his life and wanted to continue to do, the words that Ananias spoke to Saul carried life into his heart. He was instantly changed.
Verses 18-19 show the physical and spiritual change that ensued:
“Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized and, after taking some food, he regained his strength.
Saul heard God speak in his life and he immediately acted on what he felt God telling him to do. He repented, was baptized and then went straight out to spread the saving grace that he, himself, had just experienced.
Saul spoke in the synagogues and astonished those who listened to him talk about Jesus.
“All those who heard him were astonished and asked, ‘Isn’t he the man who caused havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on his name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?’ Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ.” (verses 21-22)
Although God knew Saul’s authentic change of heart, Saul had to convince the Christians that he was now a follower instead of a persecutor. We see his struggle in verse 26.
“When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join with the disciples, but they were afraid of him, not believing that he was really a disciple.”
The path after accepting Jesus might not always be easy but God will always be with you. In fact, he promises this in Deuteronomy 31:8.
“The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”
God ordains our path to glorify his name. He always has a plan. So, God provided Barnabas as part of the plan for Saul’s life in verses 27-28.
“But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul, on his journey, had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus, he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.”
Saul continued to go throughout the country proclaiming the good news of God and eventually became one of the most well-known disciples of Christ who commitment the rest of the days of his life to the salvation of others.
God used Saul, who later embraced his Roman name of Paul, and his testimony to accomplish great things for the kingdom of God and he was able to use his power and influence to witness to kings and the people of Israel, like God promised.
Saul knew that it was God’s grace that saved him and he gave the glory to God at every opportunity. We see him doing this in 1 Corinthians 15:9-11.
“For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them- yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.”
Saul listened when God spoke to him.
Are you listening to what God is telling you today?
You have never made too many mistakes in your life that God cannot use you to further his kingdom with your testimony.
So, whether you feel God softening your heart to salvation through his redeeming blood and grace, like Saul did on the road to Damascus, or you feel God pushing you to take the next step and proclaim your testimony to others so that they may be saved, like Saul felt after accepting God into his life, the command for both is the same:
“Listen to God’s prompting.”
Listen and then act.
The world needs to see God’s people doing God’s work through God’s people.
Are you really listening now?…
