March 8, 2025 • 24 mins
Acts 9.1-31 | Alex Huggett | 16.2.2024
Part of a series on the book of Acts
© Bentley Baptist Church Inc.
www.bentleybaptist.org
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
God sometimes chooses the most unlikely people,
doesn't he Think of people inyour life, or you know of who is
like?
What was God thinking, you know?
In 1950s, new York, nicky Cruzwas the leader of a notoriously
violent Puerto Rican gang calledthe Mau Maus, and Cruz had no
qualms about sticking a knifebetween someone's ribs.
(00:22):
In fact, he claimed to havestabbed 16 people while he was
with the gang.
One day, a straight-lacedpreacher told Cruz that God
loved him and in fact, thepreacher told Cruz on two
occasions that God loved him.
How do you think Nicky Cruzresponded?
(00:43):
Threatened violence on bothoccasions, and you know he would
have done it.
Well, one night, the preacher,david Wilkerson, put on a youth
rally and sent a bus to pick upthe Mau Maus amongst other youth
gangs, and during the meeting,wilkerson even asked the Mau
Mau's Nicky Cruz's gang to takeup the offering.
(01:06):
Now, think about that.
What a great opportunity for abunch of young people with no
conscience.
But instead of running off,cruz himself actually convinced
the gang to take the offering upthe front, and while Wilkerson
(01:26):
preached, he and a number of theother gang members were cut to
the heart and gave their livesto God.
Now Cruz's life, of course, wasturned upside down.
He went to Bible college.
He became a director of TeenChallenge, which is a drug rehab
ministry that Wilkerson started.
Director of Teen Challenge,which is a drug rehab ministry
(01:47):
that Wilkerson started.
There's a place down inEsperance.
That's part of that.
He led other gang members toChrist and he eventually started
his own ministry, nicky CruzMinistry.
And you know, today, in his 80s, nicky Cruz is still turning
the life of young gang membersaround.
You just can't pick who God'sgoing to use sometimes.
(02:09):
Well, we're back in the book ofActs.
We've had a break over the lastcouple of months from that, and
today we find God choosing anunlikely character to lead the
ministry that was about tospread throughout the Roman
world.
So we're in chapter 9 of Acts,starting at verse 1.
Now Saul was still breathingthreats and murder against the
(02:30):
disciples of the Lord.
So we briefly met Saul a littleearlier when he signed off on
the execution of Stephen, whowas a Jesus follower and
preacher, the first Christianmartyr, and it says Saul was
there supervising, basicallygiving approval, which probably
(02:54):
means he was the official personoverseeing that.
And then a great persecutionbroke out about the church.
So now he went to the highpriest and requested letters
from him to the synagogues inDamascus.
So currently he's in Jerusalem,and Damascus is, as today, a
little bit north, so that if hefound any men or women who
belonged to the way, he mightbring them as prisoners to
(03:15):
Jerusalem.
Now the Romans basically let theJews deal with their own people
on religious matters.
At that stage of history, andsince Christianity was still
considered a branch of Judaismcalled the way, the Christians
fell under the authority of theJewish religious leadership, and
(03:36):
so Saul was on a mission towipe out what he considered to
be a dangerous new cult.
Those Jewish leaders thoughtChristianity was a threat not
only to their own religion butactually to the nation.
So as he traveled and wasnearing Damascus, a light from
(03:57):
heaven suddenly flashed aroundhim and, falling to the ground,
he heard a voice saying to himSaul, saul, why are you
persecuting me?
Who are you, lord?
Saul said I am Jesus, the oneyou are persecuting.
He replied.
Now isn't that interesting, asPaul, or Saul, paul he'd become
(04:21):
was hauling Christians off toprison.
Jesus says why are youpersecuting me?
I'm the one you're persecuting,saul, not just these people.
People often think of the churchas a building, an organization
or a religious service.
Somewhere you go, I'm going tochurch.
(04:43):
But when the Bible talks aboutthe church, it never talks like
that.
It always talks about thepeople who follow Jesus, and
sometimes it means the people ina particular place or city so
where a church here gatheredtoday is Bentley Baptist or the
church in Perth and sometimes itmeans followers of Jesus
(05:08):
everywhere, which we call theuniversal church.
So when it's a body ofbelievers meeting together, it's
a local church, and when we'retalking about the church
everywhere, we're talking aboutthe universal church.
But whether local or universal,jesus is wildly passionate about
his church.
The church is his tribe, it'shis family, and when you hurt
(05:31):
the church, you hurt him, youhurt my wife, you hurt me.
So what do we do with that?
Well, there's a warning here,of course, warning people often
(05:52):
don't take.
But you mess with Jesus' church, you're messing with Jesus.
One day he's going to judgethose who persecuted him, that's
if, like Saul and Nicky Cruz,they don't repent first and turn
from their sins.
But there's also a tremendousencouragement for those of us
who believe in Jesus, becauseJesus is passionate about his
(06:12):
church.
He's passionate about us.
He identifies with us.
We are his people, you are hispeople, we're part of him and
he's part of us, and that is awonderful thing.
It's also really humbling,isn't it, that Jesus would
(06:34):
identify with you and me and usand say that's my person, that's
my gal, that's my guy, they'remy people.
Look, church is far from perfect, isn't it?
We're a fragile, sinful bunch.
We mess up all the time, bothindividually, but as
(06:55):
organizations, as bodies ofbelievers, and yet Jesus is
devoted to us.
He died for his church and he'sdoing a number on us folks to
make us beautiful.
So what does this mean?
Well, it means be careful, evenas Christians, when we complain
(07:17):
about the church, and thatdoesn't mean you should never
criticize it.
We need to call out sin.
We need to constantly becalling, we need to constantly
be calling the church back tofaithfulness, to Jesus, but it
does mean we do so lovingly andwith respect.
A lot of people just whingeabout the church or they get
(07:37):
picky, but when you're talkingabout the church, as imperfect
as it is, you're talking aboutJesus.
You're talking about Jesus, try.
So be careful about the way youdo that.
Well, moving on, jesus tellsSaul but get up and go into the
(07:58):
city and you will be told whatyou must do.
The men who were travellingwith him stood speechless
hearing the sound but seeing noone.
Saul got up from the ground andthough his eyes were open, he
could see nothing.
So they took him by the handand led him into Damascus.
He was unable to see for threedays and did not eat or drink.
(08:22):
Meanwhile, someone's about toget a very different kind of
surprise.
So there was a disciple, that'sa follower of Jesus in Damascus
, named Ananias, and the Lordsaid to him in a vision
"'Ananias, here I am, lord'.
He replied" Get up and go tothe street called Straight.
The Lord said to him Apparently, there's still the Straight
Street, the street calledStraight, in Damascus today.
(08:44):
Go to the house of Judas andask for a man from Tarsus named
Saul, since he is praying there.
In a vision, he has seen a mannamed Ananias coming in and
placing his hands on him so thathe may regain his sight.
Lord Ananias answered I'veheard from many people about
this man, how much harm he hasdone to your saints in Jerusalem
(09:06):
and he has authority here fromthe chief priests to arrest all
who call on your name.
But the Lord said to him Go,for this man is my chosen
instrument to take my name tothe Gentiles, kings and
Israelites.
I will show him how much hemust suffer for my name.
Wow, how often do Christianshave visions from God like this?
(09:31):
Not very often.
So, of course, the first thingyou're going to do is argue with
God.
It's like, but do you relate?
I relate to Ananias.
Like, but do you relate?
I relate to Ananias.
Saul's reputation is such thatAnanias would rather argue with
God than go do what he said onthe first look anyway.
(09:53):
But Ananias puts on his bigdisciple pants and fronts up to
Saul and in his own small way hebecomes a part of the church's
story.
So Ananias went and entered thehouse and he placed his hands
(10:13):
on him and said Brother Saul,the Lord Jesus, who appeared to
you on the road you weretravelling, has sent me so that
you may regain your sight and befilled with the Holy Spirit.
I wonder what it was like forAnanias to front up to this man
who he feared.
I wonder if he hated, byreputation at least.
(10:34):
But then he calls him brother.
And I wonder what it was likefor Saul, who'd just come to
arrest people like this man, tohaul them off to prison to hear
him call him a brother.
It must have been whoa.
What's going on here?
It's no wonder that Saul laterwrites bless those who persecute
(10:58):
you.
Now, as for Ananias, he wasclearly afraid, but he did it
scared.
I'm a fairly timid person myself, believe it or not, and this
makes me think of the times I'veactually overcome some fear,
seized opportunities that Godhas put in front of me.
I think about the time Godbatted aside my plans and called
(11:22):
me to be a missionary, you know, and leading up to that man, I
spent hours in prayer andfasting.
It was an exciting prospect,but it wasn't what I'd planned.
It was actually different towhat I thought God had been
planning for me and it wasfrankly terrifying.
But I said yes to God and, as abonus, I met my wonderful wife
as a result.
(11:42):
But I also think of timesprobably far more, many more
times that I've given in to fearand said no.
When I was overseas with thatmission, one of the leaders said
Alex, I think you should joinour advanced planning team Now.
The planning team went in.
I was on a ship and went inahead of the ship, spoke to
government officials to get allthe permits necessary, spoke to
(12:05):
churches to line up meetings andthat sort of thing, and at that
time in my life I just couldn'timagine myself doing that.
As I said, I'm a timid person,I'm fine in my element, but you
know, I just wonder whatopportunities perhaps just in
their own right, but alsoopportunities for growth I
missed out on because I wouldn'tgo with the stretch, I wouldn't
(12:26):
say yes and just do it scared.
And what about you?
Is God calling you to something?
And you think me, I'm afraid orI'm not up for it?
As they say, do it scared.
You never know what the storywill look like.
(12:52):
At once, something like scalesfell from Saul's eyes and he
regained his sight.
Then he got up and was baptized, and after taking some food he
regained his sight.
Then he got up and was baptizedand after taking some food he
regained his strength.
Saul was with the disciples inDamascus for some time and
immediately he began proclaimingJesus in the synagogues he is
(13:12):
the son of God Into thesynagogues.
That's boldness.
All who heard him wereastounded and said isn't this
the man in Jerusalem who wascausing havoc for those who
called on his name and came herefor the purpose of taking them
as prisoners to the chiefpriests.
But Saul grew stronger and keptconfounding the Jews who lived
(13:34):
in Damascus by proving thatJesus is the Messiah.
Wow, what a turnaround.
Saul goes from being apersecutor to a preacher.
You know, in the Bible physicalblindness is often a metaphor
for spiritual blindness.
It's a deep irony that whenJesus was going through Jericho
(13:55):
on the way to Jerusalem, a blindman was the only one who
recognized who Jesus really was.
A blind man was the only onewho recognized who Jesus really
was.
So Saul has actually beenliving with an affliction far
worse than physical blindness.
He was spiritually blind, butnow he literally sees the light.
The scales literally fall fromhis eyes, which is where we get
(14:17):
the metaphor, even today.
And he's a changed man.
Previously he considered Jesus ablasphemer and a heretic.
He considered claims that Jesushad risen from the dead to be
dangerous and delusional.
And now he understands thatJesus' death and resurrection
(14:37):
means salvation.
And he'll quickly come tounderstand this, not just for
the Jews, his own people, butfor the whole world that Jesus
took our sin and brokennessyours and mine and nailed it to
the cross when he died there.
That when he rose from death hemade the way for all who
believe in him to have new life,eternal life.
(15:02):
And then, if there was and Idon't think there was, but if
there would have been any doubtabout Saul's sincerity, his
baptism in the name of Jesus wasa sure sign of how serious he
was.
Now we might not think muchabout that, but still today, in
many cultures perhaps in yourculture, you've experienced this
(15:23):
People won't bother you if youdisclaim to believe in Jesus.
That's no problem.
Go to India.
People believe in all sorts ofgods.
Jesus is just another god.
But you get baptised, which isa symbol of dying and rising
again.
You're cutting off the old, andthat's when Christians become
marked and they can lose family,property, work, even their own
(15:47):
lives.
Sometimes Baptism is the signthat someone is a true believer
in Christ.
But why Saul?
Why did God choose this man?
You wouldn't necessarily apixel, but really he was the
(16:07):
ideal candidate, andparticularly for what God says
he has in store for him.
This man is my choseninstrument to take my name to
Gentiles, kings and Israelites.
I will show him how much hemust suffer for my name.
Kings and Israelites, I willshow him how much he must suffer
(16:32):
for my name.
In one of his letters, paul willlater write about how zealous
he was for the Jewish religionbefore he became a Christian.
Beyond his, he was top of theclass.
In fact, he studied under a manwho is still today considered
one of the greatest rabbis inJudaism of all time, and as a
passionate student of the Bible,saul had known all the
(16:56):
arguments against Jesus Once hemet Jesus and had been filled
with the Spirit.
That fire and sharp minddoesn't just disappear, it's
flipped for God.
But Saul, interestingly, alsohadn't grown up in Israel.
(17:18):
Saul was a diaspora Jew.
He'd grown up in a Greek citycalled Tarsus, and so he knew
the wider culture.
As a Jew, he was one of theideal people to take God's
message to the world, and so Godtakes his fire, his sharp mind
and cultural background and usesit for his purposes.
(17:41):
We okay here this is Eliana.
Everyone we love her very much,but she's a bit of a handful.
Thank you.
There we go, there we go.
(18:13):
So Saul would have made aformidable debater, and he tears
into his opponents, and he's soeffective that, after many days
had passed, the Jews conspiredto kill him.
But Saul learned of their plot,so they were watching the gates
day and night intending to killhim, but his disciples of their
plot.
So they were watching the gatesday and night intending to kill
(18:34):
him, but his disciples took himby night and lowered him in a
large basket through an openingin the wall.
I mean how the tables haveturned.
Eh, saul the persecutor is nowthe persecuted.
I don't know why anyone hasn'tmade a movie of this.
Can you imagine how this wouldbe?
It must have been heartthumping.
You're being watched both sidesof the wall, so sneaking
through the city at night,hugging the shadows, entrusting
(18:56):
yourself to people who you'dcome to kill and imprison, and
they're running as fast as youcan as you leave the city.
And when he arrived atJerusalem, he tried to join the
disciples, but they were allafraid of him, since they did
not believe he was a disciple.
Barnabas, however, took him andbrought him to the apostles,
(19:18):
that's, the Christian leaders,and explained to them how Saul
had seen the Lord on the roadand that the Lord had talked to
him and how, in Damascus, he hadspoken boldly in the name of
Jesus.
Now, previously we have metBarnabas.
He had sold some property anddonated the funds to the
church's welfare program.
And there Luke, who's theauthor of Acts, notes that his
(19:39):
name, barnabas, means son ofencouragement, and encouragement
is very much a feature ofBarnabas's style as we go on
through Acts.
Feature of Barnabas's style aswe go on through Acts, being a
landowner.
He was wealthy and probably hadsome status.
So he leverages what power hehas to step in and advocate for
Saul and he'll become a trustedcompanion of Saul when Saul goes
(20:01):
on his ministry through theRoman Empire.
And it's interesting, isn't it?
Saul will be, and is already, aformidable minister of the
gospel.
He's a formidable leader, hehas status, he has power, but he
still needs people around himto advocate for him, to help him
(20:23):
.
So Saul was coming and goingwith them in Jerusalem, speaking
boldly in the name of the Lord.
He conversed and debated withthe Hellenistic Jews so they
were the Jews from other partsof the Roman Empire, but they
tried to kill him.
And when the brothers found out, they took him down to Caesarea
(20:44):
and sent him off to Tarsusthat's his hometown there in
modern Turkey.
And so the church throughoutall Judea, galilee and Samaria
had peace and was strengthened,living in the fear of the Lord
and encouraged by the HolySpirit, it increased in numbers.
Just an aside the HellenisticJews would have been
particularly passionate becausethey are maintaining their
(21:08):
belief in a hostile culture.
I mean, not that the Jews werepersecuted, but everyone's just
like.
These Jews are weird, and ifyou're going to maintain a
belief I think most of us knowand be really devoted to it,
particularly the Jews who haddietary laws.
They couldn't join in to theother festivals, they couldn't
go to everyone's parties, theycouldn't eat all their food.
If you're going to live thatdifferently, you've really got
(21:32):
to believe in order to maintainthat lifestyle.
So, whereas the Jews in Israelthere were a lot of Romans and
Greeks in Israel, but it was abit, you know, this is our place
whereas the Hellenistic Jews?
They had to be.
So that's why we keep readingabout these Hellenistic Jews.
They had to be so.
That's why we keep reading aboutthese Hellenistic Jews who just
seem to be the pointy end ofall the opposition to
(21:54):
Christianity, but who could haveimagined that God would bring
relief to his people this way?
The one who was giving them themost grief becomes their
biggest champion.
How often do we want God tosmite our enemies?
To use the old word, god turnedthis enemy into a friend, even
(22:24):
an advocate.
And so Saul, who changes hisname to Paul, becomes one of the
greatest proponents anddefenders of Christianity in
history.
We have a lot of our Biblebecause of him.
But along the way, god uses somevery ordinary people to step
out of their comfort zone, toovercome fear, to put their
(22:45):
reputation and perhaps, inBarnabas's case, on the line.
Fear to put their reputationand perhaps, in Barnabas' case,
on the line.
Become part of the history ofthe church and help turn the
world upside down.
Who is in your life?
(23:06):
Perhaps that you're thinking,no, god could never use them.
But maybe God's saying, hey,just pray for them.
But what about you as well?
What does God want to dothrough you that maybe you're a
little afraid to do?
Through me and through us as achurch, let's pray, father.
We thank you for Paul and whatyou did in his life, what you
(23:31):
have done in so many lives sincethen.
And, father, perhaps there arepeople in our minds who we're
thinking of, who, oh God, couldnever touch them.
Lord, give us a heart to prayfor them, to believe for them,
and, lord, if there are thingsin our lives that you are
(23:52):
calling us to and we just can'tquite see ourselves doing it
because it might mean hardship.
We've got responsibilities.
Or I just can't do that that'snot me, I don't fit that, or I'm
just plain chicken.
Lord, please help us to step upto those things.
Lord, we want to be part ofyour story, your church's story,
(24:18):
and we want to see your namelifted up and glorified in our
world.
In Jesus' name, amen.
God sometimes chooses the most unlikely people,
doesn't he Think of people inyour life, or you know of who is
like?
What was God thinking, you know?
In 1950s, new York, nicky Cruzwas the leader of a notoriously
violent Puerto Rican gang calledthe Mau Maus, and Cruz had no
qualms about sticking a knifebetween someone's ribs.
(00:22):
In fact, he claimed to havestabbed 16 people while he was
with the gang.
One day, a straight-lacedpreacher told Cruz that God
loved him and in fact, thepreacher told Cruz on two
occasions that God loved him.
How do you think Nicky Cruzresponded?
(00:43):
Threatened violence on bothoccasions, and you know he would
have done it.
Well, one night, the preacher,david Wilkerson, put on a youth
rally and sent a bus to pick upthe Mau Maus amongst other youth
gangs, and during the meeting,wilkerson even asked the Mau
Mau's Nicky Cruz's gang to takeup the offering.
(01:06):
Now, think about that.
What a great opportunity for abunch of young people with no
conscience.
But instead of running off,cruz himself actually convinced
the gang to take the offering upthe front, and while Wilkerson
(01:26):
preached, he and a number of theother gang members were cut to
the heart and gave their livesto God.
Now Cruz's life, of course, wasturned upside down.
He went to Bible college.
He became a director of TeenChallenge, which is a drug rehab
ministry that Wilkerson started.
Director of Teen Challenge,which is a drug rehab ministry
(01:47):
that Wilkerson started.
There's a place down inEsperance.
That's part of that.
He led other gang members toChrist and he eventually started
his own ministry, nicky CruzMinistry.
And you know, today, in his 80s, nicky Cruz is still turning
the life of young gang membersaround.
You just can't pick who God'sgoing to use sometimes.
(02:09):
Well, we're back in the book ofActs.
We've had a break over the lastcouple of months from that, and
today we find God choosing anunlikely character to lead the
ministry that was about tospread throughout the Roman
world.
So we're in chapter 9 of Acts,starting at verse 1.
Now Saul was still breathingthreats and murder against the
(02:30):
disciples of the Lord.
So we briefly met Saul a littleearlier when he signed off on
the execution of Stephen, whowas a Jesus follower and
preacher, the first Christianmartyr, and it says Saul was
there supervising, basicallygiving approval, which probably
(02:54):
means he was the official personoverseeing that.
And then a great persecutionbroke out about the church.
So now he went to the highpriest and requested letters
from him to the synagogues inDamascus.
So currently he's in Jerusalem,and Damascus is, as today, a
little bit north, so that if hefound any men or women who
belonged to the way, he mightbring them as prisoners to
(03:15):
Jerusalem.
Now the Romans basically let theJews deal with their own people
on religious matters.
At that stage of history, andsince Christianity was still
considered a branch of Judaismcalled the way, the Christians
fell under the authority of theJewish religious leadership, and
(03:36):
so Saul was on a mission towipe out what he considered to
be a dangerous new cult.
Those Jewish leaders thoughtChristianity was a threat not
only to their own religion butactually to the nation.
So as he traveled and wasnearing Damascus, a light from
(03:57):
heaven suddenly flashed aroundhim and, falling to the ground,
he heard a voice saying to himSaul, saul, why are you
persecuting me?
Who are you, lord?
Saul said I am Jesus, the oneyou are persecuting.
He replied.
Now isn't that interesting, asPaul, or Saul, paul he'd become
(04:21):
was hauling Christians off toprison.
Jesus says why are youpersecuting me?
I'm the one you're persecuting,saul, not just these people.
People often think of the churchas a building, an organization
or a religious service.
Somewhere you go, I'm going tochurch.
(04:43):
But when the Bible talks aboutthe church, it never talks like
that.
It always talks about thepeople who follow Jesus, and
sometimes it means the people ina particular place or city so
where a church here gatheredtoday is Bentley Baptist or the
church in Perth and sometimes itmeans followers of Jesus
(05:08):
everywhere, which we call theuniversal church.
So when it's a body ofbelievers meeting together, it's
a local church, and when we'retalking about the church
everywhere, we're talking aboutthe universal church.
But whether local or universal,jesus is wildly passionate about
his church.
The church is his tribe, it'shis family, and when you hurt
(05:31):
the church, you hurt him, youhurt my wife, you hurt me.
So what do we do with that?
Well, there's a warning here,of course, warning people often
(05:52):
don't take.
But you mess with Jesus' church, you're messing with Jesus.
One day he's going to judgethose who persecuted him, that's
if, like Saul and Nicky Cruz,they don't repent first and turn
from their sins.
But there's also a tremendousencouragement for those of us
who believe in Jesus, becauseJesus is passionate about his
(06:12):
church.
He's passionate about us.
He identifies with us.
We are his people, you are hispeople, we're part of him and
he's part of us, and that is awonderful thing.
It's also really humbling,isn't it, that Jesus would
(06:34):
identify with you and me and usand say that's my person, that's
my gal, that's my guy, they'remy people.
Look, church is far from perfect, isn't it?
We're a fragile, sinful bunch.
We mess up all the time, bothindividually, but as
(06:55):
organizations, as bodies ofbelievers, and yet Jesus is
devoted to us.
He died for his church and he'sdoing a number on us folks to
make us beautiful.
So what does this mean?
Well, it means be careful, evenas Christians, when we complain
(07:17):
about the church, and thatdoesn't mean you should never
criticize it.
We need to call out sin.
We need to constantly becalling, we need to constantly
be calling the church back tofaithfulness, to Jesus, but it
does mean we do so lovingly andwith respect.
A lot of people just whingeabout the church or they get
(07:37):
picky, but when you're talkingabout the church, as imperfect
as it is, you're talking aboutJesus.
You're talking about Jesus, try.
So be careful about the way youdo that.
Well, moving on, jesus tellsSaul but get up and go into the
(07:58):
city and you will be told whatyou must do.
The men who were travellingwith him stood speechless
hearing the sound but seeing noone.
Saul got up from the ground andthough his eyes were open, he
could see nothing.
So they took him by the handand led him into Damascus.
He was unable to see for threedays and did not eat or drink.
(08:22):
Meanwhile, someone's about toget a very different kind of
surprise.
So there was a disciple, that'sa follower of Jesus in Damascus
, named Ananias, and the Lordsaid to him in a vision
"'Ananias, here I am, lord'.
He replied" Get up and go tothe street called Straight.
The Lord said to him Apparently, there's still the Straight
Street, the street calledStraight, in Damascus today.
(08:44):
Go to the house of Judas andask for a man from Tarsus named
Saul, since he is praying there.
In a vision, he has seen a mannamed Ananias coming in and
placing his hands on him so thathe may regain his sight.
Lord Ananias answered I'veheard from many people about
this man, how much harm he hasdone to your saints in Jerusalem
(09:06):
and he has authority here fromthe chief priests to arrest all
who call on your name.
But the Lord said to him Go,for this man is my chosen
instrument to take my name tothe Gentiles, kings and
Israelites.
I will show him how much hemust suffer for my name.
Wow, how often do Christianshave visions from God like this?
(09:31):
Not very often.
So, of course, the first thingyou're going to do is argue with
God.
It's like, but do you relate?
I relate to Ananias.
Like, but do you relate?
I relate to Ananias.
Saul's reputation is such thatAnanias would rather argue with
God than go do what he said onthe first look anyway.
(09:53):
But Ananias puts on his bigdisciple pants and fronts up to
Saul and in his own small way hebecomes a part of the church's
story.
So Ananias went and entered thehouse and he placed his hands
(10:13):
on him and said Brother Saul,the Lord Jesus, who appeared to
you on the road you weretravelling, has sent me so that
you may regain your sight and befilled with the Holy Spirit.
I wonder what it was like forAnanias to front up to this man
who he feared.
I wonder if he hated, byreputation at least.
(10:34):
But then he calls him brother.
And I wonder what it was likefor Saul, who'd just come to
arrest people like this man, tohaul them off to prison to hear
him call him a brother.
It must have been whoa.
What's going on here?
It's no wonder that Saul laterwrites bless those who persecute
(10:58):
you.
Now, as for Ananias, he wasclearly afraid, but he did it
scared.
I'm a fairly timid person myself, believe it or not, and this
makes me think of the times I'veactually overcome some fear,
seized opportunities that Godhas put in front of me.
I think about the time Godbatted aside my plans and called
(11:22):
me to be a missionary, you know, and leading up to that man, I
spent hours in prayer andfasting.
It was an exciting prospect,but it wasn't what I'd planned.
It was actually different towhat I thought God had been
planning for me and it wasfrankly terrifying.
But I said yes to God and, as abonus, I met my wonderful wife
as a result.
(11:42):
But I also think of timesprobably far more, many more
times that I've given in to fearand said no.
When I was overseas with thatmission, one of the leaders said
Alex, I think you should joinour advanced planning team Now.
The planning team went in.
I was on a ship and went inahead of the ship, spoke to
government officials to get allthe permits necessary, spoke to
(12:05):
churches to line up meetings andthat sort of thing, and at that
time in my life I just couldn'timagine myself doing that.
As I said, I'm a timid person,I'm fine in my element, but you
know, I just wonder whatopportunities perhaps just in
their own right, but alsoopportunities for growth I
missed out on because I wouldn'tgo with the stretch, I wouldn't
(12:26):
say yes and just do it scared.
And what about you?
Is God calling you to something?
And you think me, I'm afraid orI'm not up for it?
As they say, do it scared.
You never know what the storywill look like.
(12:52):
At once, something like scalesfell from Saul's eyes and he
regained his sight.
Then he got up and was baptized, and after taking some food he
regained his sight.
Then he got up and was baptizedand after taking some food he
regained his strength.
Saul was with the disciples inDamascus for some time and
immediately he began proclaimingJesus in the synagogues he is
(13:12):
the son of God Into thesynagogues.
That's boldness.
All who heard him wereastounded and said isn't this
the man in Jerusalem who wascausing havoc for those who
called on his name and came herefor the purpose of taking them
as prisoners to the chiefpriests.
But Saul grew stronger and keptconfounding the Jews who lived
(13:34):
in Damascus by proving thatJesus is the Messiah.
Wow, what a turnaround.
Saul goes from being apersecutor to a preacher.
You know, in the Bible physicalblindness is often a metaphor
for spiritual blindness.
It's a deep irony that whenJesus was going through Jericho
(13:55):
on the way to Jerusalem, a blindman was the only one who
recognized who Jesus really was.
A blind man was the only onewho recognized who Jesus really
was.
So Saul has actually beenliving with an affliction far
worse than physical blindness.
He was spiritually blind, butnow he literally sees the light.
The scales literally fall fromhis eyes, which is where we get
(14:17):
the metaphor, even today.
And he's a changed man.
Previously he considered Jesus ablasphemer and a heretic.
He considered claims that Jesushad risen from the dead to be
dangerous and delusional.
And now he understands thatJesus' death and resurrection
(14:37):
means salvation.
And he'll quickly come tounderstand this, not just for
the Jews, his own people, butfor the whole world that Jesus
took our sin and brokennessyours and mine and nailed it to
the cross when he died there.
That when he rose from death hemade the way for all who
believe in him to have new life,eternal life.
(15:02):
And then, if there was and Idon't think there was, but if
there would have been any doubtabout Saul's sincerity, his
baptism in the name of Jesus wasa sure sign of how serious he
was.
Now we might not think muchabout that, but still today, in
many cultures perhaps in yourculture, you've experienced this
(15:23):
People won't bother you if youdisclaim to believe in Jesus.
That's no problem.
Go to India.
People believe in all sorts ofgods.
Jesus is just another god.
But you get baptised, which isa symbol of dying and rising
again.
You're cutting off the old, andthat's when Christians become
marked and they can lose family,property, work, even their own
(15:47):
lives.
Sometimes Baptism is the signthat someone is a true believer
in Christ.
But why Saul?
Why did God choose this man?
You wouldn't necessarily apixel, but really he was the
(16:07):
ideal candidate, andparticularly for what God says
he has in store for him.
This man is my choseninstrument to take my name to
Gentiles, kings and Israelites.
I will show him how much hemust suffer for my name.
Kings and Israelites, I willshow him how much he must suffer
(16:32):
for my name.
In one of his letters, paul willlater write about how zealous
he was for the Jewish religionbefore he became a Christian.
Beyond his, he was top of theclass.
In fact, he studied under a manwho is still today considered
one of the greatest rabbis inJudaism of all time, and as a
passionate student of the Bible,saul had known all the
(16:56):
arguments against Jesus Once hemet Jesus and had been filled
with the Spirit.
That fire and sharp minddoesn't just disappear, it's
flipped for God.
But Saul, interestingly, alsohadn't grown up in Israel.
(17:18):
Saul was a diaspora Jew.
He'd grown up in a Greek citycalled Tarsus, and so he knew
the wider culture.
As a Jew, he was one of theideal people to take God's
message to the world, and so Godtakes his fire, his sharp mind
and cultural background and usesit for his purposes.
(17:41):
We okay here this is Eliana.
Everyone we love her very much,but she's a bit of a handful.
Thank you.
There we go, there we go.
(18:13):
So Saul would have made aformidable debater, and he tears
into his opponents, and he's soeffective that, after many days
had passed, the Jews conspiredto kill him.
But Saul learned of their plot,so they were watching the gates
day and night intending to killhim, but his disciples of their
plot.
So they were watching the gatesday and night intending to kill
(18:34):
him, but his disciples took himby night and lowered him in a
large basket through an openingin the wall.
I mean how the tables haveturned.
Eh, saul the persecutor is nowthe persecuted.
I don't know why anyone hasn'tmade a movie of this.
Can you imagine how this wouldbe?
It must have been heartthumping.
You're being watched both sidesof the wall, so sneaking
through the city at night,hugging the shadows, entrusting
(18:56):
yourself to people who you'dcome to kill and imprison, and
they're running as fast as youcan as you leave the city.
And when he arrived atJerusalem, he tried to join the
disciples, but they were allafraid of him, since they did
not believe he was a disciple.
Barnabas, however, took him andbrought him to the apostles,
(19:18):
that's, the Christian leaders,and explained to them how Saul
had seen the Lord on the roadand that the Lord had talked to
him and how, in Damascus, he hadspoken boldly in the name of
Jesus.
Now, previously we have metBarnabas.
He had sold some property anddonated the funds to the
church's welfare program.
And there Luke, who's theauthor of Acts, notes that his
(19:39):
name, barnabas, means son ofencouragement, and encouragement
is very much a feature ofBarnabas's style as we go on
through Acts.
Feature of Barnabas's style aswe go on through Acts, being a
landowner.
He was wealthy and probably hadsome status.
So he leverages what power hehas to step in and advocate for
Saul and he'll become a trustedcompanion of Saul when Saul goes
(20:01):
on his ministry through theRoman Empire.
And it's interesting, isn't it?
Saul will be, and is already, aformidable minister of the
gospel.
He's a formidable leader, hehas status, he has power, but he
still needs people around himto advocate for him, to help him
(20:23):
.
So Saul was coming and goingwith them in Jerusalem, speaking
boldly in the name of the Lord.
He conversed and debated withthe Hellenistic Jews so they
were the Jews from other partsof the Roman Empire, but they
tried to kill him.
And when the brothers found out, they took him down to Caesarea
(20:44):
and sent him off to Tarsusthat's his hometown there in
modern Turkey.
And so the church throughoutall Judea, galilee and Samaria
had peace and was strengthened,living in the fear of the Lord
and encouraged by the HolySpirit, it increased in numbers.
Just an aside the HellenisticJews would have been
particularly passionate becausethey are maintaining their
(21:08):
belief in a hostile culture.
I mean, not that the Jews werepersecuted, but everyone's just
like.
These Jews are weird, and ifyou're going to maintain a
belief I think most of us knowand be really devoted to it,
particularly the Jews who haddietary laws.
They couldn't join in to theother festivals, they couldn't
go to everyone's parties, theycouldn't eat all their food.
If you're going to live thatdifferently, you've really got
(21:32):
to believe in order to maintainthat lifestyle.
So, whereas the Jews in Israelthere were a lot of Romans and
Greeks in Israel, but it was abit, you know, this is our place
whereas the Hellenistic Jews?
They had to be.
So that's why we keep readingabout these Hellenistic Jews.
They had to be so.
That's why we keep reading aboutthese Hellenistic Jews who just
seem to be the pointy end ofall the opposition to
(21:54):
Christianity, but who could haveimagined that God would bring
relief to his people this way?
The one who was giving them themost grief becomes their
biggest champion.
How often do we want God tosmite our enemies?
To use the old word, god turnedthis enemy into a friend, even
(22:24):
an advocate.
And so Saul, who changes hisname to Paul, becomes one of the
greatest proponents anddefenders of Christianity in
history.
We have a lot of our Biblebecause of him.
But along the way, god uses somevery ordinary people to step
out of their comfort zone, toovercome fear, to put their
(22:45):
reputation and perhaps, inBarnabas's case, on the line.
Fear to put their reputationand perhaps, in Barnabas' case,
on the line.
Become part of the history ofthe church and help turn the
world upside down.
Who is in your life?
(23:06):
Perhaps that you're thinking,no, god could never use them.
But maybe God's saying, hey,just pray for them.
But what about you as well?
What does God want to dothrough you that maybe you're a
little afraid to do?
Through me and through us as achurch, let's pray, father.
We thank you for Paul and whatyou did in his life, what you
(23:31):
have done in so many lives sincethen.
And, father, perhaps there arepeople in our minds who we're
thinking of, who, oh God, couldnever touch them.
Lord, give us a heart to prayfor them, to believe for them,
and, lord, if there are thingsin our lives that you are
(23:52):
calling us to and we just can'tquite see ourselves doing it
because it might mean hardship.
We've got responsibilities.
Or I just can't do that that'snot me, I don't fit that, or I'm
just plain chicken.
Lord, please help us to step upto those things.
Lord, we want to be part ofyour story, your church's story,
(24:18):
and we want to see your namelifted up and glorified in our
world.
In Jesus' name, amen.
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