November 24, 2024 Recap

Reflections on Sunday morning are a part of my Monday morning routine.  It helps bring clarity to what I study through the week and with your added insights, the LORD brings it full circle.

Saul's conversion on the road from Jerusalem to Damascus was the beginning of his journey.  Once a persecutor of The Way, he had an encounter with Jesus, he began to preach Christ in the synagogues.  Saul was met with resistance and after escaping Damascus through a hole in the wall, he spent 14 years of preparation before his ministry of church plantings and writings.  We can piece together Scripture to get an idea of Saul's journey and confirm Damascus, Arabia, Jerusalem, Caesarea, and Tarsus were stops he made. But, we can be sure that the LORD was ordering his steps because of the call that was on his life.  Pvbs 16:9 teaches us that .  Saul was led by the LORD. 

After spending time in Arabia and Damascus, Saul heads to Jerusalem and according to Gal 1:18  he wanted to see Peter.  Acts 9:26-31 details the meeting between Saul and the apostles.  The Bible teaches us that the men of Jerusalem were afraid of Saul and rightfully so.  They knew of his past and did not believe that he was a disciple of the One he once rejected.  BUT Barnabus took him to the apostles and declared unto them that Saul had seen the LORD and now preached the Name of Jesus.

The BUTs we see in the WORD are a change in the course of events.  No matter what we are going through, the BUTs give us HOPE!  We may be sick, alone, tired, hurting, or in sin... BUT, the LORD is faithful to forgive, restore, heal, redeem, guide, and turn us around.

After Barnabus testified on Saul's behalf, Acts 9:28 says he traveled with the apostles throughout Jerusalem for 15 days and that he spoke boldly in the Name of the LORD Jesus.  What a wonderful gift Barnabas gave Saul.  Standing before the leaders of The Way, he confirmed what had happened in Saul's life.  He was no longer the same, he had seen the Light.  We need more Barnabases!  The boldness to stand up for the one that needs encouraging and defending.  We may never know how that can change someone's life.

One thing we can be sure of, when the Name of Jesus is being preached, resistance will come.  And more certainly when that preaching is bold and full of passion, as in the case of Saul. When he disputed with the Grecians, they sought to kill him.  And as the LORD would have it, the brethren heard of this and they sent him to Caesarea in order to sail to his hometown of Tarsus. 

Saul's first 14 years were vague but we know he was passionately teaching Jesus is the Christ.  My thoughts are that this time was a time of construction.  Years that Saul spent with Jesus building his faith and spending time with the One he had sought to destroy.  The life of Saul as a Pharisee and student of Gamliel prepared him for what the LORD wanted to do in the life of the Church.  Jesus can take the most unlikely vessel, a resistor and persecutor, and use them to change history.