๐ช๐๐ฅ๐ ๐จ๐ฃ
โข Think of someone you had reservations about approaching. How did you overcome those challenges?
โข How do you come to believe in something? What are the steps you take to do this?
โข Recall someone who changed your life. What was different before compared to how you live your life today?
๐ช๐ข๐ฅ๐
โ๐๐ถ๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐บ ๐๐ฑ๐ช๐ณ๐ช๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ถ๐ด๐ข๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐ฎ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ข, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ.โ ๐๐๐ง๐ฆ ๐ญ:๐ด
(Read also ๐๐๐ง๐ฆ ๐ฑ:๐ญ๐ต-๐ฏ๐ฎ)
When the disciples heard Jesus promise that the Holy Spirit would empower them to preach the gospel, they probably did not expect to encounter many different kinds of people. Some were of good reputation, while others came from unexpected backgrounds. They had no idea that God would use one of the most dangerous men of their time to become instrumental in proclaiming the good news to the nations outside of Israel. Today, letโs look at how God used this man named Saul to fulfill Jesusโ promise of His disciples being witnesses to the end of the earth.
๐ญ. ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐๐น ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ต๐๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ต
๐๐ถ๐ต ๐๐ข๐ถ๐ญ, ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ค๐ช๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ, ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐บ๐ฏ๐ข๐จ๐ฐ๐จ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ต ๐๐ข๐ฎ๐ข๐ด๐ค๐ถ๐ด, ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐บ, ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ, ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ถ๐ด๐ข๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฎ.ย ๐๐๐ง๐ฆ ๐ต:๐ญ-๐ฎ
When he was younger, Saul witnessed and approved the execution of believers. He was present when Stephen was stoned for speaking about Jesus (Acts 7:58) and went from house to house arresting those who followed Jesus (Acts 8:1โ3). Surely, this man was far from becoming a disciple. However, little did he know that God would eventually turn his life around in an unexpected way. How do you think you would feel if someone like Saul threatened your community of faith?ย
๐ฎ. ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐๐น ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ ๐บ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐น๐ผ๐๐๐น๐.
๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ข๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ข๐บ, ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐ฎ๐ข๐ด๐ค๐ถ๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ. ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ, ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ท๐ฐ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ, โ๐๐ข๐ถ๐ญ, ๐๐ข๐ถ๐ญ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐บ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ฆ?โ ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ, โ๐๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ, ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ?โ ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ, โ๐ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ด, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ.โ ๐๐๐ง๐ฆ ๐ต:๐ฏ-๐ฑ
One day, as he was approaching the city of Damascus, Saul encountered Jesus for the first time. Jesus called Saul by name and made His name known. When Saul was given instructions from Jesus, he became blind and lost his strength for a few days. God used Ananias to help Saul regain his sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. As Ananias prayed for Saul, he was miraculously healed, both physically and spiritually. What do you think would have happened if Ananias remained hesitant about visiting and praying for Saul to be healed?
๐ฏ. ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐๐น ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐๐น๐ฒ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ถ๐น๐ฒ๐.
๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ, โ๐๐ฐ, ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ด๐ณ๐ข๐ฆ๐ญ. ๐๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ด๐ถ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ.โ ๐๐๐ง๐ฆ ๐ต:๐ญ๐ฑ-๐ญ๐ฒ
After Saul regained his sight, he was baptized, strengthened, and began proclaiming Jesus to others. From a persecutor to a preacher, Saul became known as Paul, a disciple, a preacher of Christโs gospel, and an apostle to the Gentiles. While some believers doubted his transformation at first, his testimony of his encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus is a powerful reminder that God could change the hardest of hearts. If you were Paul, how would you feel preaching the very message you initially opposed?
Paul was a fulfillment of Godโs promise in Acts 1:8 and became instrumental in spreading the gospel to the Gentiles in key places, such as Greece and Rome. There was peace and continued growth in the church because God stepped in and worked a miracle in Paulโs life (Acts 9:31). Today, Paul continues to speak to us about Godโs love through his epistles and letters of encouragement in the Bible.
๐๐ฃ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ก
โข Why do you think God chose a persecutor instead of a righteous believer to bring the gospel to both Jews and Greeks? Why do you think God chose you to hear and respond to His gospel?ย
โข Was there a time when you persecuted someone for their faith? How did God correct you from this? How are we to respond to persecution today?ย
โข Is God leading you to be a blessing to someone you have reservations with? Ask God to remove any doubts and prejudice as you demonstrate His love to them this week.ย
๐ฃ๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐๐ฅ
โข Thank God that nothing is impossible for Him and that He is able to transform and use challenging people to make His name known.
โข Pray that God would use you to be of good encouragement instead of bitterness and pride. Ask God for the grace to demonstrate His love to the people around you, even when they are difficult to approach.
โข Pray for someone who you have a difficult time engaging with but needs to hear the gospel. Pray that God would use you as His channel of blessing to that person in the following days.