Prayer is needed for Debbie Nelson, whom the Doctors say has a very short time to live. Michelle Nielson has been told that the baby within her no longer has a heartbeat. Anita Maxwell has had a stroke and is partially paralyzed.
Scripture Reading: Acts 9:1-6, Page 777
This passage gives us hope that the world can be changed. Sometimes we wonder how the world can be changed when there are so many people who are so opposed to the Gospel. I think they are unreasonably opposed. Many are violently opposed.
It is always scary when someone is breathing "murderous threats" against you. It is even scarier when they are both efficient and effective. Saul was like that. He was full of hate and he seemed to be well organized. He was not random. He knew what he needed to do and who he needed to see. It did not take him long to have all the legal authority to back up what his heart wanted to do.
Just because it is legal doesn’t make it right. No matter what the law says, it is not right to come against the church and try to destroy it or limit it.
The story of Saul is the story of divine intervention. Saul would have continued on his destructive journey to Damascus and beyond had he not met the Lord. Although in art, Paul is almost always shown falling off a horse, the text does not say that. Show Caravaggio’s "Conversion of St. Paul" here. Verse four simply says he fell to the ground as a light from heaven flashed around him.
The blinding light from heaven, accompanied by the voice of the Lord, was very convincing to Paul. He knew he was being visited by one who was far superior to himself. When Paul asked who are you Lord, the Greek word is kurios (koo'-ree-os) meaning supreme in authority. In this case it is a title of great respect but not necessary a divine acknowledge as we mostly use the English word "Lord" today.
Any doubt as to who this was disappears when Jesus answered . "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting." When Saul was persecuting Christians, he was, in fact, persecuting Jesus himself.
If Paul fell the ground with a thud at the blinding light, it did not take long for the other shoe to drop. Immediately Jesus tells him in verse six "Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do." This was a direct recruitment from the Lord.
Last Sunday night as I listened to our formerly Moslem guest speak, it reminded me of the Apostle Paul. His simple faith, heart for his own people, and his incredible courage were very Paul-like. What a remarkable story it was.
When we talked more after the service, he told me as kids he and Islama Bin Laden played together in the garage. Two Arab boys growing up together in prosperous families. Although they played, hatred for Jews was growing in their hearts. In time, they both took up arms. Bin Laden has destroyed US facilities in Africa and a modern America ship in Yemen. Many American lives have been lost to his fanatical attachment to Islam. Our guest turned his hatred to the Jews by joining Yassir Arafat’s organization to fight and kill the Jews.
He was sufficiently well-known as a terrorist that whenever some bad thing happened in America that had middle eastern terrorism written on it, he was picked up by the FBI. His hatred spilled out as blood from a wound.
A heart that is filled with hate does not change easily. It takes a powerful encounter, the kind that Paul had on the Damascus road. For our guest to now go to the Synagogue to apologize and ask forgiveness is remarkable.
But like Paul, the same dedication to the wrong cause, turned into labor for what is right. It was truly a modern-day Damascus road experience.
Today, I want faith to grow in your heart for the really hard cases. I still cannot get over the conversion of Jane Fonda. That was a really hard case. I do not doubt that the separation between her and Ted Turner has a strong spiritual component to it. In fact, Ted Turner is another hard case. We should pray for him today. Any time someone goes to that much effort to oppose Christianity, tells me that God already has a hook in their soul. They are already being pulled, otherwise they wouldn’t fight so hard.
In ancient times, think about what happened to the Caesars. Caesars like Nero, Domitian, and many others hunted Christians all over the Empire. They did what they could to eradicate the Church. One of them, I believe it was Domitian, even said that the religion of Christianity had been destroyed and the worship of the gods restored. He had it inscribed on a medallion. I would love to find a copy of that. The Caesars went from being killers of Christians to the promoters of Christianity. That is the power of prayer for the hard cases.
This week, pray for the salvation of the opponents of the Gospel. Pray for the really hard cases.
Becoming a world transformer is not necessarily without cost or effort.
First, Jesus spoke of the price to be paid. You need to know that up front. Verse 16
indicates that Jesus showed Paul, from the very first, what suffering was in his future.
This was not some promise of health and wealth that attracted Paul. Jesus promised him
quite the opposite. He has attracted because he was connected to the King of the Universe.
When difficult or hard things happen to you in life, you need to know that it is no sign that Jesus doesn’t love you anymore. Jesus loved Paul very much, but he never promised him that it would always be easy.
Second, there is a mission. In this case it was to go before the Gentiles and their kings and before Israel. He would have a three-fold mission. In his case it was to the Gentiles first and then to the Jews. Over time, Paul would do both.
Kings were also within his responsibility. He was to speak before kings and he did that fairly often.
Why would God single out kings as Paul’s distinctive mission? Aren’t kings just people who should be treated the same as everyone else? Do they somehow deserve special treatment? As far as strategy is concerned, kings are in their own category.
Why was Paul chosen to fulfill this special strategy to kings? There was something in his training, life experience, and orientation that made him a good candidate for that. Even before he was a Christian, he went to the leaders. Our text, in verses 1-2 tell us this. "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."
Paul went straight to the top in everything he did. He didn’t work with underlings. He went right to the High Priest. This was just his nature. It is what he instinctively knew to do. When he looked at the world, that is just what he saw. When someone is in their element, they just know what to do. It comes with who they are in an almost instinctive way.
When he got saved, God did not try to change his personality or temperament. He needed to change his ideas and attitudes, but Paul remained who he was after he was saved. In fact, the same toughness and initiative that made him a great Christian hunter also made his a great evangelism.
Why is it that the most difficult children in Sunday School often end up as preachers? Well they had the get up and go when they were kids. It just finally got channeled in the direction that God had in mind from the beginning. Big trouble--makers can become big devil-breakers. When you see rambunctious kids in Sunday School, or challenging kids in the youth group, don’t give up on them. See them through the eyes of God. Say to yourself, I could be teaching the next Apostle Paul here. I heard someone say about their kid the other day that he would either end up a preacher or a serial killer. I’m not sure you should ever say that out loud, but you can definitely think it because often it is true.
As adults, when you give your life to Jesus, look at what you already are and what you already have. You have a circle of friends and associates. They are the ones you are to reach. The part of the world that you are to change is the part of the world you already know. Don’t think that being a missionary is about crossing the seas. Its about seeing the cross and bringing it to bear in your world. If God has other things in mind for you, he will let you know. In the meantime, bloom where you are planted.
If you are a student, think about students. If you are a senior citizen, think about people who are like you. If you are a mother of preschool kids, think of other mothers. If you are in business, think about your associates, peers, and competitors. Philippe Vallerand just got back from a week at the Vatican meeting with the Pope and a host of Vatican dignitaries. That came about because he witnessed to people in business. The people he knows and travels with are his mission field.
We have had an exciting week on the pray as much as you use entertainment media. One wag said it has really cut into their prayer life, since they hardly ever watched TV they have had to really cut back on prayer. I don’t think so. I got an email from one of our teenagers who said they hadn’t been watching much TV but had been praying a lot and was astounded at what God was doing in her life. She said, "God has allowed me to lead one of my friends to him last Saturday, and although she is still a new Christian, and has many more things to learn and experience, I know that God has her under his wings, and that because I did the possible, he will do the impossible!"
Last night in the prayer meeting, one of our people received a word from the Lord. She said if only five people would lay on their faces before God, that God would answer the hard cases. She said she heard this from the Lord before I said what I would be preaching on. This morning, some of you know about hard cases. There are people that you have all but given up on. Come this morning and get on your face before God and ask him, as a sign of faith, for an answer to the hard cases.