Church history is packed with examples of the power of the Gospel to change lives! Two off the top of my head are Josh McDowell & Lee Strobel – both who set out to prove Christianity wrong but instead the good news of Jesus transformed them. The same is true of Saul.
Saul was out to get Christians – arrested, killed, whatever, until in the middle of it all he meets Jesus – LITERALLY! Saul is confronted by Jesus and asked “Why do you persecute ME?” Get that? If you persecute God’s people, you are persecuting Him! Saul goes blind and is led to Ananias (not the dead one from chapter 5) just as Jesus told him. He is told “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit." Suddenly he can see, gets baptized, hangs out with the believers and begins to PREACH the very Jesus he was against! Both INNER & OUTER TRANSFORMATION takes place!
This news gets out and the people are both astonished at his message and trying to kill him. Even the disciples freaked out at the thought of Saul joining them! That’s when Joe Encourager – Barnabas - steps in again. He encouraged the believers by selling land in chapter 4 and now is source of encouragement to Saul when no one else would stick up for him. Barnabas explains how Saul is different now and so the disciples then accept him. Kuddos Barnabas! During this time of preaching it says that the church “…enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord.”
Side note - Saul is gonna get shipped of to Tarsus for 3 chapters and Peter will come back on the scene in the meantime. Chapter 9 then concludes with Peter miraculously raising a godly woman named Tabitha from the dead which again leads many to put their trust & faith in Christ. One last thing, the final line of the chapter is short but powerful: “Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon.” A tanner was a person who made animal hides into leather. Ok, so what’s the big deal? Well, since tanners worked with dead animals they were seen as “unclean” and so Simon would have been shunned by the religious peeps. Wow – these are lessons Peter (and all of us) needed to learn & is learning (10:34).
SO WHAT?!
*I too am an example of a transformed life. I came to faith in Jesus in October of 1982 and I can totally relate to Paul’s words in 1 Timothy 1:12-17. And if you have put your trust & faith in Christ, you too are being transformed. The question is, would people who look at our lives be “astonished” at the way we live and be drawn to Jesus? Or, do our lives look no different that the life of an unbeliever so that they have no way to see Jesus?
*When was the last time you stood up for someone? We remember when people stick up for us, it leaves a deep mark. Let’s be Barnabas’ today!
*Who are the outcasts in your circles of influence: Your school? Your neighborhood? Your workplace? Be Jesus to them today……..you could save a life!
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