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Friday, December 30 2011
Introduction: Saul thought he was "the man", Oh how wrong he was! Chapter 8:1 says "Saul was one of the witnesses, and he agreed completely with the killing of Stephen" [NLT]. He set off a terrific persecution of the church in Jerusalem, Saul just went wild, devastating the church, entering house after house after house, dragging men and women off to jail. He must have thought he was destroying the work but forcing believers to leave home base, made all of them missionaries! Wherever they were scattered, they preached the Message about Jesus! He must have found out that the Gospel had reached Damascus (probably by the ministry of Phillip) so he went to obtain arrest warrants for believers in Damascus. (Vs. 1-2) This set the stage for one of the greatest conversions the body of Christ will ever witness. Reading through the verses we ask ourselves . . . "What can we learn?"
Let's look at these two maps and see God's hand at work:
· Stephen was killed in Jerusalem · This sparked off a great persecution and the people became missionaries preaching everywhere they fled to · Philip headed for Samaria and caused a spiritual shaking; with people turning to Christ · The Spirit teleported him to the road to Gaza where he preached to the Eunuch after which he was dropped off in Azotus · Philip continued to preach along the way from Azotus until he got to Caesarea as accounted of in Acts 8:40 · I strongly believe that he continued to Damascus because 9:1-2 says Saul was getting arrest warrants for believers in Damascus Conclusion: Following from the last study, God saw something in Saul (He saw zeal that could be appropriately channelled) so He set him up (big time!) Remember what He did to Pharaoh? He set him up as well. God can use anyone, anything, any situation for His glory. Trust Him, He can use you too. Just be willing, obedient and sensitive to His spirit. |
