Sunday Morning Service

Acts 9:20-31 (Click title for audio access)

"Signs Of Life"  •  8.7.11  •  Sunday Morning Service, Calvary Christian Fellowship

Intro.

- We are in the middle of one of the greatest and most dramatic conversion stories in the Bible.

- Saul's conversion is a powerful reminder of why we are to never give up on any unregenerate person. Saul was the worst and God made Him one of the, if not the, very best!

- As we continue our trek through this chapter, I believe that we'll be able to discern the signs of life that are to accompany every believer, new to the faith or a veteran of long standing.

- For the sake of context, Saul has met with Ananias, received his sight and the Holy Spirit, been water baptized and taken a little food. In verse 20, we pick up his next move.

Text

•  Acts 9:20-22  :  "Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God. Then all who heard were amazed, and said, 'Is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem, and has come here for that purpose, so that he might bring them bound to the chief priests?' But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this Jesus is the Christ."  :  Saul wasted no time. He immediately preached the Christ, the Messiah in the synagogues.

- These are the same synagogues that Saul had planned to empty of believers!

- The early Christians spent much of their time in the local synagogues, which were worship centers in Judaism. You needed 13 males to begin one and they committed themselves to scripture.

- Every week, there were specific readings and time was given for people to speak. This was the perfect place for Saul to preach.

- The word "preached" here is "kerusso," which is different from the one that we looked at last week. This word has the sense of an official announcement.

- Earlier, when the church was scattered, they went everywhere "preaching" the word. Same word in English, but different in Greek, the word in Acts 8:4 being "euangelizo."

- It's the difference between sharing something that God opened your eyes to see and announcing something that God Himself has told me to share with you!

- In this case, Saul wants people to know that it was right for them to understand that their Messiah was the unique Son of God, the person Jesus who was and is God's Christ.

- Saul wanted to announce the Christ and went at it right after being converted to Him.

- Here was a man with an incredible IQ and proficiency in Hebrew scriptures that was unparalleled in his time and in ours!

- For Saul, acknowledging Christ as Lord and being filled with the Holy Spirit was akin to receiving the box after having been given the puzzle pieces!

- Saul now had accurate knowledge to add to his already legendary zeal. His laser focus was directed in the proper place and for the proper purpose.

- Now, THAT being said, you and I do not need to hold a PHD in order to begin sharing and speaking with authority that Jesus is the unique Son of God. Remember Stephen the waiter!

- When the people heard Saul, they were beside themselves, in the same way that a person is bewildered at a magic trick. "How is this possible?"

- They were amazed not at the content, but at the fact that it was Saul who was speaking in this way, completely opposite to what they had heard about him.

- "We thought that he was here to destroy this cult, not endorse it!"

- There seems to be a hint of critique in this saying, meaning that the people of the synagogue used his conversion to accuse him of being spiritually flighty.

- New converts often face such criticism regarding their past. "Oh, he used to believe like we believe. Now he has changed. So, which is it? What do you really believe?"

- While he faced this criticism from the synagogue, daily Saul found a new level of strength. Literally, God daily endowed him with fresh strength to understand and communicate.

- The people of Damascus were confounded or thoroughly disturbed by what He was saying. Every word that Saul spoke had a mind shattering impact on their thinking.

- He was "proving" to them that Jesus was the Christ. What he said about the Lord was more than an opinion. The word "proving" means to knit something together.

- Even in this early part of Saul's ministry, he was piecing things together and giving it to those that were listening.

- He compared texts that they all knew with the life of Christ that many had witnessed. He put the picture together for them. We would do well to ask the Lord for the same wisdom.

•  Acts 9:23-25  :  "Now after many days were past, the Jews plotted to kill him. But their plot became known to Saul. And they watched the gates day and night, to kill him. Then the disciples took him by night and let him down through the wall in a large basket."  : The words "after many days" refers to a "sufficient time." Between verse 22 and 23, most scholars insert a three year period which Paul testifies to in Galatians 1.

•  Galatians 1:11-17  :  "But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus."

- Galatians 1:18 declares that this was a three year period.

- Saul's ministry engendered the usual response from the religious people, who literally took counsel or deliberated over the concept of killing Saul. This is too soft a word, as his fate was sealed.

- Two things occur to me. First, what delusions does one have to suffer about themselves when they fool themselves into believing that God would endorse such rampant wickedness!

- When does murder get God's approval? When the god being served is false!

- Second, for Saul's sake and for ours, we know that our preaching is right on when those who hated Jesus have similar feelings towards us! We should not be shocked by such a thing.

- Please turn over in your Bibles to John 15. Jesus makes this statement to His disciples.

•  John 15:18-20  :  "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also."

- The message of the cross, no matter the kind of delivery, is an offense to those that are perishing. The message alone will often cause a negative reaction.

- Within days of becoming a Christian, Saul is already a target for murder because he is preaching the right message! The plot became known to Saul.

- They watched meaning that they "lay in wait" looking for opportunities to come and spring their trap on him. They watched the gates on a continuous watch.

- Luke does not tell us how Saul became aware of the plot against him, though ultimately we can say that God revealed it. When God calls a person into His ministry, He will protect him as well!

- The disciples took a large basket, stuffed Saul inside and lowered him to his escape. You could say that this first crusade was a real let down!

- From there, Saul left Damascus and took a side journey that we know little about, except to say that it was a time of intensive training.

•  Acts 9:26-28  :  "And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, and did not believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. And he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. So he was with them at Jerusalem, coming in and going out."  :  Three years have passed and Saul comes back into Jerusalem, naturally attempting to find fellowship among the disciples.

- He tried to join or glue himself to the group. The language is indicative of repeated attempts to join and repeatedly finding the same response.

- Saul wanted to find fellowship, to make some permanent commitment to the church.

- I want to take a quick side trip here and consider the characteristics of this newly converted man. He began his walk with the Lord with the right question in Acts 9:6.

- In 9:11, we find that the Lord rouses Ananias to visit him, because Saul has been and was  praying in that particular moment.

- Saul received the Holy Spirit and was baptized in 9:17,18, both acts of submissive obedience to the Lord. We've noted that he immediately preached in 9:20.

- Now, we see him looking for fellowship. He wants to do what God wants, he wants to talk with God, he wants to receive His power and he wants to be with His people!

- That is a Christian that I can relate to because that is a Christian!

- A person who is unconcerned with God's active will, has no desire for prayer, hasn't been obedient in the first things and has no desire for fellowship with fellow believers is not likely a believer!

- A believer is not one who confesses something with his mouth. Rather, his mouth agrees with what has come out of his life!

- We know that we have life by the appetites that signal life. We have a need for air, food, water and rest. If none of those things are present, there is no life!

- Saul was a man who demonstrated that he was alive to Christ by living out these things! He craved God's Word for His life, communion through prayer, faithfulness by obedience and fellowship.

- Unfortunately, while he could achieve the first three by himself, it was the fourth that he was denied, as the disciples refused to accept him.

- These disciples are not the original 12, but the ones who had come to the Lord as a result of the word of the Apostles.

- They did not trust that Saul's conversion was genuine, which is easy to understand. The last time that they saw him, Saul had run off, imprisoned, maybe even killed members of their church.

- Even at this time in history, when God's Spirit operated with such power, Saul's conversion was just too much to believe.

- Thank God for men like Barnabas. We recall from our first look into Barnabas' story that he was known in the church as the "Son Of Encouragement." He vouched for Saul.

- He came to the Apostles on Saul's behalf and stood there to verify his story and testify to what had already!

- This was just the sort of guy that Barnabas was. He saw the best in people and he believed when nobody else would!

- Saul had not only come before the Apostles with Barnabas, but a great friendship in the Lord was started in that moment. Barnabas and Saul are soon to be a great missionary team.

- This partnership opened up the friendship within the church at Jerusalem. He was with them coming in and going out is a metaphor. Each day, the affections between the church and Saul grew.

•  Acts 9:29-31  :  "And he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Hellenists, but they attempted to kill him. When the brethren found out, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him out to Tarsus. Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied."  : While Saul was in Jerusalem, he continued to speak boldly for the Lord.

- During this time, there was a fifteen day period that Paul writes about in Galatians 1:18.

- He was able to meet with Peter and James and spoke boldly in the name of the Lord.

- He preached and disputed. The word sounds as though Saul was argumentative. The word has the connotation of seeking and examining something together. You could use the word discuss.

- I want you to notice the several words that we have encountered as we have noted the dispersed disciples and their method of communicating the gospel.

- They announced their relationship with the Lord. They shared what they had been shown. They made public proclamation and here, we see Saul using discussion as a means of evangelism.

- The disciples, the truly redeemed, find ways to evangelize. When the news of Christ is real in a person's life, that news will find it's way out through their lips!

- Saul's heart was to sit with the Hellenists and show them where he had been wrong and where he found correlations to in his newfound faith to the scripture that they both held dear.

- He was earnest toward them, but they were eventually wroth toward him. For a second time, he was expelled for his ministry. Again, the brethren found out and got him out of town.

- Caesarea was a well fortified Roman city, located on the shore of the Mediteranean sea. From there, he would board a ship to his home town of Tarsus, a little over 300 miles away.

- You'll notice that the church has now spread from Jerusalem, into Judea and Samaria, as well as the Gailiee region! Who doesn't want to start a church by a lake!?

- The gospel is spreading, God's people are growing and for at least they had peace.

- They had peace or "rest" and were built up, established or founded. They could breathe easily and would enjoy a time where they could be established in their fellowship together.

- This was a season of growth and a time for the worship of the Lord to flourish.

- This was not meant to be a permanent situation. It's the exhale before the next growing pain.

- The times of peace in a believer's life are not ultimate ends. In other words, peace in this life is not a goal for Christianity.

- We will have peace in our spirits and we will have peace in our circumstances, though the latter is usually temporary and for the purpose of preparing, building us up for the next storm!

- These brothers and sisters are seen as people who were walking in the fear of the Lord. They continued on their journey with a desire to honor the Lord.

- There is a sense of reverence and worship in their walk. For those in such a position, there is a reciprocal response from the Lord: The Comfort of the Holy Spirit.

- Those that walk humbly, reverently with the Lord, are encouraged by the Lord. They receive what they need for the next steps.

- Luke closes this section with a summary statement that all of this is meant to show us: The church was multiplied. Saul sought to destroy it, but eventually worked to grow it!

Conclusion

- The Word of God leaves us with an incredible picture of an incredible life. We all marvel but if we if we don't hold it up as a mirror, then we miss the point.

- The elements of Saul's life require us to examine our own. What is our desire for God's will to be done in our lives? How important is prayer? If our lips are moving, what is it we are preaching?

- How vital is our need to fellowship? Nobody can answer these questions for us, but if there is a disparity at some level, it's not the Bible that needs to change. It's us!