The good news is that it’s NOT the Coronavirus. The bad news is that whatever this bug may be, it has knocked me flat for a week.
But fear not, my friends. I have NOT left you without a PODCAST.
In fact, as I reach back into the massive archive of podcasts, I’ve selected THE sermon that planted the seed of salvation in the soul of Saul-turned-Paul.
NOT my sermon, to be sure. But the sermon of Stephen. THE sermon overheard by Saul-now-Paul as he aided and abetted the stoning of this precious man.
For without a Stephen, there likely never would have been a Paul.
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You are about to meet two individuals, remarkable each. YET, as you are about to hear on this PODCAST, they were both utterly invisible, completely anonymous, hidden in the shadows.
Invisible, anonymous, hidden to everyone but God.
Do you ever feel invisible? As if, when all is said and done, your life might count for very little? Or nothing at all?
Encouragement for your soul is one click away!
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It had to be a rather rude awakening to be sure—Paul’s initial introduction to the unenviable life of an apostle.
As we will learn in this PODCAST, there is much—much more than we could possibly imagine—behind Paul’s otherwise enigmatic statement in 1 Corinthians 4:9, a rare moment of personal reflection (and dare-I-say exasperation and frustration) in the writings of this most-prolific apostle:
“I sometimes think God has put us apostles on display, like prisoners of war at the end of a victor’s parade, condemned to die. We have become a spectacle to the entire world—to people and angels alike.”
Well, here in Acts 9, the Apostle to us Gentiles endured quite the humiliating spectacle indeed.
It was hardly the homecoming our new friend, the Apostle Paul, had anticipated as he entered archway in the main gate leading to Straight Street in Damascus.
Was his heart all a-flutter? Mine would have been.
After a three-year absence from its legendary landscape, his formal training as an apostle now complete. I have to believe that Saul-now-Paul had much upon which he would have liked to reflect.
Perhaps a quiet, private, personal rendezvous with the spot on the road where he first met Jesus?
Maybe a knock on the door of Judas’ house, where he was graciously housed for three days as a man-struck-blind?
How about cup of Turkish coffee with Ananias, the man tasked with, and understandably fearful of, being first follower of Jesus to approach just-converted Saul?
Possibly some visits to the synagogues where he first preached, “Jesus is indeed the Son of God”?
Paul’s heart had to be pitter-pattering with excited anticipation as he once-again approached the storied city.
But alas. A happy homecoming wasn’t in cards that fate dealt this soon-to-be-suffering servant of Jesus.
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Well, truth be told, there are a lot of things that I love about the Bible. Far too many to tell in this PODCAST.
But certainly residing at or near the top of my rather lengthy list is this: The window the biblical writers open to the growth and maturity of its principle players.
Case in point: The Apostle Paul.
Paul did not emerge from his road to Damascus encounter with Jesus a wholly-mature believer. Nor did Paul burst on the scene armed with a fully-formed theology that would become the capstone of his prolific writings. Paul had to grow in his faith as a committed Christ-follower just like the rest of us.
I love that!
Paul moved from a measurably primitive understanding of Jesus to a remarkably profound comprehension of who Jesus was and is and all that Jesus did and accomplished. This growth, this development, this maturity takes place right before our wondering eyes ever to behold in all of its spiritual splendor.
In short, Paul was a person in process, just like us! A process well-documented in the New Testament that as we are about to learn slowly-but-surely took place over many, many years.
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I believe that I can say this without equivocation. See if by the end of this PODCAST, you agree with me.
My unequivocal observation? He is the single-most important person in the New Testament of whom you have never heard.
There is an overarching theme to this discussion, born out of this story. One that relates directly to something that Jesus said.
You talk about Paint the picture, Rabbi. This story here in Acts 9 paints THIS amazing picture.
Jesus said, “But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.” That was in Matthew 19.
So important is this principle that Jesus repeated it in the very next chapter:
“So those who are last now will be first then, and those who are first will be last.”
Whatever did Jesus mean? More to the point: What does this look like? Paint the picture, Rabbi.
Fortunately for us, Jesus is about to paint this picture—as beautiful a picture as you’d ever want to see—courtesy of Saul here in Acts 9, as illustrated so wonderfully in the lives of two otherwise anonymous individuals.
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You are about to meet him in this PODCAST, up close and personal: Saul of Tarsus. Disciple of the renowned Rabbi Gamaliel. One of the Jerusalem-based Pharisees. Soon to become a voting-member of Israel’s Supreme Court—the Sanhedrin.
This was a guy whose career-path was rocketing skyward in an ever-ascending trajectory to greatness.
In terms of his religious tradition, passed on to him by his Pharisee-father, Saul was a guy who had it all—
A rapidly-increasing influence.
A growing respect among his peers.
Certainly the pride of his parents.
The possibility of fortune to go along with his ever-expanding fame.
And, of course, to his way of thinking, the super-abundant approval of God, along with all of God’s bountiful blessings that Saul though he deserved, and that allowed Saul to justify to himself his murderous rage.
Indeed, Saul had it all.
And consequently, Saul had it all to lose.
And lose it, he did. In the blink of an eye, literally.
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Hate unbridled and unchecked is a murderous thing.
Hate in name of God is terrifying and terrorizing thing.
And as you are about to hear in this PODCAST, hate in the name of God is indeed a terrorizing thing because such religious hatred is actually viewed by the hater as a righteous thing.
Just ask a certain Pharisee—emphasis upon that lofty religious title, Pharisee, since it goes to the very heart of this story—named Saul. Yes! Saul was a Pharisee.
On the night before He was executed, as Jesus and His now-eleven disciples were slinking through the dark alleys of Jerusalem, literally one step ahead of His betraying-disciple Judas, the Temple guards, and the Roman cohort that Judas was leading to arrest and ultimately to crucify Jesus, Jesus made this chilling statement which should have given His disciples pause, assuming that in that desperate hour they had presence of mind to pause.
It’s found in John 16:2, where Jesus said this:
“The time is coming when those who kill you will think they are doing a holy service for God.”
A prediction, a prophecy that has historically come to pass in our day—the bitter result of religious extremism—far too many times to count. Bloodshed in the name of God. Be that blood shed at the hands of the Christian Crusaders, Muslim suicide bombers, or a now-ranking member of Sanhedrin—keep that label in mind; it too goes to heart of this story—Saul.
From where did Saul’s unbridled fury, his murderous hatred for Jesus and all things Jesus-related come?
Tonight, we will consider together much of what is often overlooked in any discussion about Saul-to-become-Paul’s background.
All of which will expose the degree to which God went when preparing His “Apostle to the Gentiles.”
Indeed, Paul will write in wonder in Galatians 2:8,
“For by God’s power I was made an apostle to the Gentiles.”
That power was clearly at work in Paul’s/Saul’s past. And as you are about to hear, that power was equally at work in Saul’s present here in Acts 9.
Please remember that depending upon your web browser and connection speed, it may take up to 60 seconds for this podcast to begin to play.
The good news is that it’s NOT the Coronavirus. The bad news is that whatever this bug may be, it has knocked me flat for a week.
