Acts 9:1-23 - Part C

We must never underestimate the power of personal touch, personal testimony of one single person being used by God to reach another. It's the same answer to the question, why don't angels get the loudspeakers hung from the moon addressing earth, earth.

Here's a miracle. Angels dancing in heaven, light shining, wow, I believe. Okay, now that I got your attention, he doesn't do that. He sends people to preach the gospel. It's by the foolishness of the gospel preached, the message preached.

So God is all about human instrumentation to do his work. Today on Connect with Skip Heitig, Pastor Skip concludes his teaching on Saul's conversion and examines how God uses unlikely people to make the gospel message heard. Now here's more about this month's resource to help you remember the sacrifice of Christian martyrs who came before you. Today's modern martyrs actions mirror the courage of a long line of brave Christians. And as believers, it's important that we know the heroic sacrifice of those who gave it all for the Christian faith so that we too can boldly stand for Christ.

But most of these modern stories are unknown. We want to help encourage and strengthen you with the stories of those who've paid the ultimate price to share their faith so you can hold fast to the truth by sending you a copy of the New Book of Christian Martyrs. In this update to Fox's Book of Martyrs, Johnny Moore and Jerry Patengale highlight key martyrs of past centuries and feature stories of contemporary martyrs around the world. You'll be encouraged and inspired as you discover that men and women are still standing firm for the truth. The New Book of Christian Martyrs is our thanks for your gift of $50 or more to keep messages like this one today on the air for you and others, equipping you to know God's word and follow his will.

Call 800-922-1888 or give securely online and connectwithskip.com slash offer. Okay, let's turn to Acts 9 as we begin today's teaching with Skip. When he says, Lord, in verse 6, what do you want me to do? Now this is Saul recognizing the supremacy and we could even say deity of Christ. This is, in this verse, I believe, the hinge point of his conversion. This is where he is saved. He's suddenly knocked down. He's a quick thinker. He's a quick processor. He's not going, that was weird.

I mean, he's like, I get it, Lord. Now this is his resignation. What do you want me to do?

So follow the process. There was a very quick, sudden process. There was an interruption.

Light, he hits the ground. The interruption is followed by an interrogation. Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? After that little interrogation process, that leads to conviction. He says, Lord, what do you want me to do, Lord? And then that results in resignation. What is it you really want me to do?

I'm resigning myself to you. Then the Lord said to him, arise, get up, go into the city, that's Damascus, and you will be told what you must do. And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no one. I love how C.S. Lewis talks about this episode, this conversion. He says that God was the divine chess player who was maneuvering the chess board and backing Saul of Tarsus into a corner until finally Jesus said, checkmate. I just love that.

It's just a clever description. Here's Jesus saying, checkmate. You're after me? You're trying to arrest my people?

I just arrested you, dude. Now there are two questions that Saul of Tarsus asked. There are two questions I believe every one of you must also ask. Who are you, Lord? That's the first question.

What do you want me to do? That's the second question. Some of you have been around church your whole life, you've been around God your whole life, but you've never settled the question, who is Christ? You've heard things, you've listened to things, but you've never wrestled with it and struggled with it. I spoke to a young man in the foyer and he had all sorts of different issues and beliefs. I said, who is Jesus Christ to you? Is he the son of God? He goes, well, I've been dealing with that a long time. I said, well, now's the time when you should get that answered and get that settled.

Who is Jesus Christ? Answer that question. Once you've answered that question and you think he is the Lord and you've resigned to that identity, then you should ask, Lord, what do you want me to do?

There's nothing more exciting than living your life getting that question answered. What do you want me to do? Wake up the next morning. What do you want me to do? What do you want me to do? Where your life becomes a living sacrifice.

Those two are essential questions to ask and to have answered. Then Saul arose, verse 8, from the ground. And when his eyes were open, he saw no one.

But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight. So they led him in because he can't see. He's without sight. Neither he neither ate nor drank.

Saul of Tarsus is absolutely in shock. He has no appetite. He has no vision.

So no outside stimuli can go in his head. He's just confined to his thoughts. And I say he's in shock because every single thing he has come to believe about truth has just been challenged. His view of the Old Testament has been challenged. His concept of God has been challenged. His view of the Old Testament has been challenged. His idea of the Messiah has been challenged. The afterlife has been challenged. The resurrection has been challenged. Who Jesus Christ is has been challenged. All of that is just like he's just like he needs some three days to get through this and think this through.

So the Lord makes sure that he can't see anything and he just has to think this through. Several years ago, I was 13 years old, I was with my parents. What did I say? Several years ago. So you said I should say many years ago, not several years ago?

Okay, thousands of years ago. When I was 13, my parents were in an automobile accident. It was right after the car was developed.

No, I'm just kidding. And I was in the backseat. They were traveling.

It was out by Reno, Nevada. They went around a curb and the car that eventually struck them was powered by a man who had been drinking, had fallen asleep at the wheel, and his car had wandered into our lane at a high speed. He was going near 100, maybe 90, and it was a head-on collision on a highway. It killed him instantly. It put my parents in the hospital and I had, amazingly, just a bloody nose from it. But I recall walking outside the accident scene after, and I was stunned, and all the rest of the day stunned. In the next few days, just, I could hear the noise still in my head. It was like a ringing in my ears. I was just shocked by it. And I think of that with Saul of Tarsus.

He's just absolutely blown away because of what happened to him. Now there was, verse 10, a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias. Oh, by the way, isn't it interesting that he was in this state for three days? This was the most revolutionary three-day period in Saul's life. But I think back to another revolutionary three-day period, and that is when Jesus, between his death and resurrection, was buried in the ground. A revolutionary three-day period. That was the most important three-day period in history. This is the second.

There will be a resurrection, so to speak, of Saul of Tarsus. So he's three days. He's not eating. He's not drinking. He's not eating. He's three days. He's not eating.

He's not drinking. But there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias. And to him, the Lord said in a vision, Ananias, I like how the Lord is so, he says your name. And he said, here I am, Lord. So the Lord said to him, arise and go to the street called Straight.

By the way, it's still there in Damascus, in Syria. And inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus. For behold, he is praying. And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias, that would be you, coming in and putting his hand on him so that he might receive his sight.

Notice the description that Jesus gives of Saul of Tarsus to Ananias. For behold, he is praying. Do you find that unusual? I find it surprising and beautiful, all of the same.

It's surprising because, well, let's see. He said, I'm a Hebrew of the Hebrews, concerning the law of Pharisee. He grew up praying. He prayed all his life. He prayed every day of his life. Since he was a little kid, he was taught the Shema, Deuteronomy 6, Shema Yisrael, Adonai Ochad, Adonai Eloheinu, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

He said that from being a toddler. Then later on, he learned other formalized prayers. There's a set of prayers that pious Jews like Saul prayed every day called the Shemon Estre. The 18 prayers said morning, noon, and night. He prayed those prayers. There were formalized prayers on every day of the year.

He was Jewish. Of course he was praying. So why does Jesus say, behold, he is praying? Because he's never prayed like this before. I grew up in a church where we had formalized prayer, but the day I gave my life to Christ in San Jose, California, I prayed differently. I was really communicating to God. It wasn't road. It wasn't formalized.

It was reality. Now he's really praying. And I love that description, for behold, he is praying.

Keep in mind, he's going through all that he has learned. He's changing his view of who Jesus is, all those Old Testament scriptures, the law he has been taught. Remember Saul of Tarsus was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel in Jerusalem.

This guy was, according to his own testimony, blameless when it came to the Judaic worship system. So he's rethinking all this. Alan Redpath said, we can never say, thy kingdom come, until we first learn to say, my kingdom go. So this is Saul of Tarsus saying, my kingdom go.

He's resigning. He's letting go during these three days so that he can apprehend and obey the will of God. Then Ananias answered. This is after he said, get up and go talk to Saul of Tarsus. Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard many things about this man and how much harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. This is Ananias protesting the command. It would be like if the Lord said, go to Syria and talk to Baghdadi.

Find the head of Isis and go talk to him. Because I've just converted him. You'd probably go, ah, Lord, I've heard about this guy. I've heard about this guy.

He has done many things against your saints. So he knew the reputation of Saul of Tarsus. And here, verse 14, and here he has authority from the chief priest to bind all who call on your name. But the Lord said to him, go, for he is a chosen vessel of mine to bear my name before the Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must, I want that word to sink in, suffer for my name's sake.

How would you like to hear that the first day of your Christian experience? And Ananias went his way and entered the house and laying his hands on him, he said, brother Saul. I wonder how he said that. I wonder if he said that with confidence, brother Saul, or if he said, brother Saul? With a little trepidation and fear.

Not certain. The Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales. Remember, he was blinded for three days and he received his sight and at once he arose and was baptized. So when he had received food, he was strengthened. Then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus. Ananias was responsible for providing the first experience Saul of Tarsus would ever have with Christian fellowship.

Just think about that. Ananias is one of the unsung heroes in the Bible. You never hear of Ananias writing a book, preaching a sermon, performing a miracle, but he was the guy who first approached Saul of Tarsus and called him brother. And I love this and may I say we need this in the church.

People who will come along and embrace those bumpy new believers, who get saved out of weird rank sorted lifestyles, who don't quite act or look like you think they should, to come around them, embrace them and say, brother, sister, let me bring you into the body of Christ, stand with you, provide fellowship for you, disciple you. So I love that Ananias did that. Whether he was reluctant or not, I'm not sure. I know I would be. I would sort of feel like the missionary who was face-to-face with a cannibal and he noticed the cannibal was staring at him for some time and he finally said, what are you staring at? And the cannibal smiled and said, dinner.

You know, you'd feel a little odd in that situation, right? Saul of Tarsus was notorious. Ananias certainly could have felt reluctant, but he comes in and faces his brother Saul, that Jesus who appeared to you has sent me, and he prayed for him. Now I want to say something as we are drawing to a close, and you know what? Time runs away from me. I'm always ready to just keep going, but we're not done yet. We still have some time, but let me ask you a question. Jesus is speaking directly from heaven, and Saul of Tarsus says, Lord, what do you want me to do?

Okay, now stop right there. Why didn't Jesus just say, okay, Saul, right now, believe in your heart that I am the Messiah and confess it with your mouth, you'll be saved, then go get baptized. Why didn't Jesus just tell him what to do? Because he doesn't. He says, get up and go into town, you'll be told what to do. Okay, so he has to wait three days till Ananias shows up.

Jesus goes through the trouble of speaking a vision to Ananias to get him to go speak to Saul. Why not pass, go, collect $200, just like, forget the middleman, right? Cut out the middleman, just, Jesus, you got my attention.

What do you want? This is what I want. This is what you do. He doesn't do that.

Why? Does he ever wonder that? I remember reading that, wondering that, here's why I believe. Jesus delights in using people. We're called the body of Christ. He delights in letting somebody else like Ananias be the human face for the invitation of Christ in the body. We must never underestimate the power of personal touch, personal testimony of one single person being used by God to reach another. It's the same answer to the question, why don't angels get loudspeakers hung from the moon addressing earth, earth. Here's a miracle.

Angels dancing in heaven, light shining, wow, I believe. Okay, now that I got your attention, he doesn't do that. He sends people to preach the gospel. It's by the foolishness of the gospel preached the message to preach. So God is all about human instrumentation to do his work. He confines himself to the foolish things of this world so that he gets all the glory. So never underestimate the power of a single person surrendered to God, spreading his word, and that trickles down.

Think of it this way. Edward Kimball was a shoe salesman, also a Sunday school teacher. He shared with his boys the gospel. One of them received the gospel. His name was Dwight Lyman Moody.

D.L. Moody preached in his church after he became a pastor and at one of the services. A young man by the name of Frederick Meyer, F.B. Meyer, listened and he was turned on to do the Lord's work.

F.B. Meyer, in doing the Lord's work, led a person named Wilbur Chapman to faith in Jesus Christ. Wilbur Chapman worked for the YMCA and while he worked there hired a young ex-pro ball player named Billy Sunday to work at the YMCA and be an evangelist. Billy Sunday eventually goes to Charlotte, North Carolina, to speak to a group of Christian businessmen. The Christian businessmen get inspired and they decide let's have a crusade and they hire evangelist Mordecai Ham to come to town and give a crusade. At the crusade on one of the nights, I think it was the last night, a tall blonde-haired lanky young man came forward to receive Christ named Billy Graham.

And thousands and thousands and millions of people, including myself, by that trickle-down obedience have been touched. The Lord loves that story told through humans of redemptive history. So Ananias obeyed and Saul spent some days, verse 19, with the disciples at Damascus. Immediately, what did he do immediately? He preached Christ in the synagogues that he is the Son of God. And there's a couple of things I just want you to notice about Saul's conversion. Immediately he was baptized and immediately he was vocal.

Do you see that? Immediately he's baptized. He didn't like wait five years and say, yeah, I received Jesus five years ago.

Now I'm going to get back. He got baptized immediately. He wanted to make a break and make a public demonstration of inward change.

Early church baptisms happened after salvation. Second, he felt he had to be vocal. From the beginning, he wanted to tell people his faith. He was a preacher. He felt like this was so great what happened to me.

I got to tell somebody. It's sort of like when you shake up a coke. There's so much pressure built up that you just release your thumb a little bit, and come spewing out. Saul of Tarsus was all shook up, and he had to get it out. So immediately he preached the Messiah, literally the Christ, in the synagogues that he is the Son of God. And all who heard were amazed and said, is this not the he who destroyed those who called in 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 Jesus is the Christ.

Imagine being in the synagogue the day Saul of Tarsus walked in and preached Christ to you. You as the Jewish adherent to your faith are there for the typical service, and this man stands up and preaches that Jesus is the Messiah. And you're listening going, what?

Say what? That's the guy that kills people or arrests people that talk about that guy. What's he doing? It's quite a shock. So, sort of an interesting journey that he has taken so far. First he was on his back, right, hearing the gospel under the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Then he is on his knees praying. Now he's on his feet preaching. And it happened all suddenly, all immediately, all within a few days. Now, between verse 22 and verse 23, there is, I believe, a gap.

So let's just read it. Saul increased all the more in strength, and he confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this Jesus is the Christ. Now, after many days were past, the Jews plotted to kill him. Now that phrase, many days, I believe, was three years. I believe there's a three-year gap between verse 22 and verse 23.

You say, well, what happened in those, first of all, why do you think three years, and what happened during those three years? Well, next time we get together, I'll be able to unfold and unlock that mystery for you, and I'm going to tell you what happened in those three years. I'll be able to unfold and unlock that mystery for you to be continued. That's Skip Heitzig with a message from the series Expound Acts. Find the full message, as well as books, booklets, and full teaching series at connectwithskipp.com. We're glad you've joined us today. Connect with Skip Heitzig exists to bring more people into God's family and connect listeners like you to his unchanging truth. That's why we make teachings like this one today available to you and others on air and online.

If they've helped you connect with Christ today, would you consider giving a gift to help others around the world connect with him in the same way? Just call 800-922-1888. That's 800-922-1888, or visit connectwithskipp.com slash donate.

That's connectwithskipp.com slash donate. Thank you. Come back next time for a message on how God prepares people to do the work to which he calls them. God's preparations are very unique. Sometimes he can take a person and give him a formal education. He did that with Saul of Tarsus, though the formal education was in Judaism. There was no formal Christian training as of yet, but rather the Lord took him alone in the desert. And you might say that he had a BSD degree, backside of the desert degree. Connect with Skip Hyten is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.