INTRODUCTION

 

Our Study Scripture examines the pattern of our life and it leads us to examine whether our life has gone according to our plan. When you do this examination,  you will realize that your life and the life of your parents and grandparents do not generally go according to plan.

In this Study we find that the Apostle Paul’s life didn’t go according to his plan.

In Acts 22 we will see how he tells his story about how his life went and it was not according to his plan.

Think about it for this is how your life will work and has worked.

 

We are therefore confronted with some very difficult issues for we like to think that our life goes according to the plan that we have established, that is, if we have a plan at all.

 

It is very difficult for us to understand that God has a plan and that nothing can thwart His plan irrespective of the traps into which we fall. His plan will always achieve His success.

 

That is what we mean when we teach that the Word of God will never be voided.

 

In addition, we learn that in the plans of life that we have, and the plan of God, have to contend with the traps of Satan, our enemy and God’s enemy.

In this Lesson we will face a situation where is the great missionary Apostle fell into one of the Devil’s trap and he disobeyed the Spirit of God.

He was forbidden by the Holy Spirit to go to Jerusalem or to stay in Jerusalem and yet because he had this great passion in his heart to be used of God to teach Israel and to bear witness to the unbelieving nation, note that this motivation is the highest of desires, he nevertheless disobeyed what God clearly told him not to do. So he continued in the path he preferred and fell into great difficulty.

 

We like to think that the devil only set the traps of sexual immorality, loving money, loving position and authority, and other such lusts that we tend to fall into.

But we should remember that Satan is much smarter than we can imagine for once he was Lucifer, the angel placed right beside God as the overshadowing angel. He  was once the cherub that covereth, probably the most exalted position in the angelic hosts, but he rebelled against God and was thrown out of his position

 

He therefore sets subtle traps based on often what you consider to be your extremely good desires. You think you are serving God when you believe that the Holy Spirit is directing you in a particular direction. But the believer must be very careful. Doing what “you” think God wants you to do is not always the right thing to do.

 

So this Study Scripture tells us to beware of how we are living.

Let the Word of God and the leading of the Holy Spirit describe what is the optimal path of life for you.

 

Never forget that you have some examples apart from that of Paul’s behavior in this particular case. Our father Abraham also had the promise from God that he would have a son of promise but after he waited for a long time he and his wife Sarah decided to help God along and to have a son which turned out to be Ishmael and this son was the start of great difficulties for Abraham and the descendants of the Son of Promise when he did come.

 

Now we know that many believers like to think that they are on top of things and what they end up doing is really directed by God. But in some cases what believers do sometimes is contrary to Scripture for we tend to have a much higher view of our ability than in fact we do have.

This of course has led to all kinds of difficulty among the people of God for the sin of pride often pops up even though we might deny it.

 

But we must note that in this case it took something very subtle to get to the Apostle Paul. We learn therefore that as one writer puts it

“Probably the subtlest temptation of all is to be tempted to do what is right, to do what God wants done, but to do it on our own time schedule and not be willing to await the unfolding of God’s program. And that is what finally trapped Paul

This is what Abraham did—do you remember? Abraham knew that God had promised him a son, and he waited quite a while for the promise to be fulfilled. But the delay grew too long for him and so he fell into the trap of trying to hurry God’s program. He went into his handmaid and a son was born to her but was never accepted as the fulfillment of God’s promise, and suffered much heartache as a result.

It is vital for all of us to learn that God has a time to accomplish what he wants done, as well as the will to have it done.

But now Paul, is hard so moved, so burdened for his people, is so desirous of reaching them, so intent upon bringing about that great day when Israel would be a nation exercising faith in Jesus Christ, knowing and accepting their Messiah, that E to carry out this purpose apart from God’s timing.

The end result, as the Holy Spirit had warned him, is that he winds up as a prisoner in the hand of the Romans”.

 

So to fully appreciate this Lesson Study let us look at the Context of this event.

We always like to remind believers that you cannot really understand the message of the Bible without looking at Context.

When people try to pull one verse of the Text of  Scripture out of a passage and expound on it, this generally does not go right. You see, we. tend to forget or might not even understand that the writings inspired by the Holy Spirit were written in the form of letters, documents on Scrolls generally in an uninterrupted sequence.

This practice of looking at the Bible and seeing Chapters and Verses was a structure that was developed in relatively modern times. This change or alteration was brought in to help us understand what was being meant, but sometimes it works well and sometimes it does not work well.

The Chapter and Verse divisions has led on some occasions to great difficulties in our understanding of what the scriptures are telling us.

 

To understand what the Holy Spirit is telling us we have to look at what went before the particular section we are interested in, as well as what was written after that particular section. That Ignoring of how the Bible was written has led to great misunderstandings and disagreements.

 

So let us now look at the Context. Paul had travelled around talked to a lot of people, set up a lot of churches, and taught the message of the gospel in many areas. When the Apostle did this people hostile to him among the Jewish community started rumors about what Paul was really saying. These rumors included that Paul was teaching that Jews no longer had to follow Jewish traditions or customs, did not have to circumcise their children or follow the feast days. This of course led to the development of great hostility to Paul and his proclamations.

 

But the apostle who loved his people wanted to go back to Jerusalem to see what was happening in Jerusalem and so after he reported on his missionary work and told the disciples there about the many churches and peoples that were now following Jesus, the disciples in Jerusalem warned Paul about the rumors that the Jews were saying that Paul was trying to throw away Jewish customs and traditions. To clear up the situation they proposed that Paul would go through a ritual purification in the temple so that the people would see that he was not against Jewish traditions, but instead were following these traditions because he was a Jew. Paul agreed to that and so he went into the temple to purify himself in a 7 day process.

 

But sadly while Paul was in the middle of this purification the people who had been spreading rumors saw Paul there and worked themselves up into a frenzy,, grabbed Paul dragged him out of the temple and started to beat him for they were trying to kill him. They pinpointed Paul as the one who was hostile to Judaism as then taught.

Luckily for Paul the Roman guards came into this uprising and dragged him out from under the pile of people beating him. They then rescued Paul but arrested him.

But Paul asked the Roman guards permission to talk to the people that had been beating him and the guards agreed.

The Apostle therefore in our Study Lesson will speak to the hostile Jews in their own Aramaic language, which of course would calm them down. The Apostle wisely established his relationship with them as Jews by calling them brothers and fathers, or that they would give him a hearing.

We can learn a great deal from the Apostle in our witnessing strategy and how we deal with people who are hostile to us.

 

Remember now that Paul is not defending himself but is defending the faith and presenting the faith to the hostile people.

 

Clearly God had provided a door for Paul to tell the story about how he changed from being a Pharisee to become a Christian.

 

So the Apostle began by establishing his Jewish bona fides telling them that he was a disciple of Gamaliel the famed and respected rabbi. We know however that Gamaliel was more tolerant of the Jews than head began following Jesus than his disciples turned out to be.

 

In this witnessing episode the Apostle Paul therefore identified himself with those that were opposing him. Paul made it clear that just as they were opposing him, he had also opposed followers of Jesus and persecuted them even to the point of death. Some believe that Paul was referring to the death of Stephen in which he participated.

Paul told the crowd that the officials, the high priests and the Jewish Council had him to arrest followers of Jesus and he was on his way to Damascus to do exactly that.

So note carefully that the Apostle was telling the crowd that he was like those who were opposing him and if God had not intervened he would have continued to be like those that were opposing him.

 

But instead of his plan of life something happened to him on the way to Damascus.

 

At this point you should consider how you are on the way to becoming who you were going to be.

But in our life we think about it and we realize that something happened to us that we did not anticipate. In fact we had no way of anticipating. What was going to happen to us

 

When that unanticipated event came, that unplanned event, we change from being children of wrath to children of God and placed in the family of God.

 

Understand therefore that this work of God is a work which involves God seizing you and redirecting you and making you His child.

He intends to hold on to you and to persevere with you and carry you safely through the turmoils of life, thwarting the plans of Satan to disrupt your path of life in the family of God.

With that in mind then, since you know the context, we can now proceed with the Lesson Study with a short review of the preceding verses.

 

We pray however that you will remember as one writer states ,

“The real battles of life are fought Not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual forces controlled by Satan , who is continually trying to destroy God’s people by means of lies , deceit and murder. While this warfare is seldom visible to the naked eye, it is still very real and deadly. The Christians only hope for survival in this struggle is to wrap himself in the resurrected Christ Jesus. As Paul was writing the Ephesian letters from his prison cell, where he was guarded night and day by Roman soldiers, he used the armor and battle dress of his captors to illustrate his counsel to Christians in Ephesus on how to stand in the face of spiritual warfare. Thus he speaks of  “girding your loins with truth”, “ putting on the breastplate of righteousness””, “ having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace”, “ taking the shield of faith”  and as we will see today, putting on the “ helmet of salvation”.

The Roman helmet was made of leather and metal so that the soldier’s head was protected from stones, clubs and arrows, whatever the enemy would throw at him in battle. The head controls the actions of the body. Keeping one’s head clear in the midst of battle therefore is essential to survival.

In this context, the Christian is instructed to put on the helmet of salvation in order to maintain a clear head in the midst of the spiritual battle. The helmet of salvation enables him to think straight and not be confused. The word for “salvation” here encompasses not only the notion of the Christian’s being saved from sin (justification), but also that his life in Jesus is being saved. As Peter wrote to the Christians in Turkey,

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time”. 1 Peter 1:3-5.

The inheritance is the presence and power of the risen Lord who lives in our hearts. He will provide strength, courage and wisdom so that we may stand in times of trial and temptation.

 

As we draw on Christ, He will reveal Himself through us.

Christians have been saved from the penalty due to sin. We are now being saved from the power of sin; and one day we will be saved from the presence of sin. To wear the “ helmet of salvation” is to have the mind of Christ, to see and interpret all the circumstances of life as Christ, not as the world, the flesh and the devil defines and uses them.

The “helmet of salvation” enables us to look beyond the physical and discern what is going on in the spiritual world. While Satan seeks to tear down and destroy all that God has created, our Lord God is working out his plan of redemption in spite of the devil’s scheme”.

 

We are cautioned however that when people talk about spiritual warfare and about Demonism and the things of Satan we have to be very careful for more often than not this topic is very misunderstood. It is common practice in many Christian circles to talk about demonism and those kind of things, but we need not to be afraid of them for in many cases they are quite ignorant of the world of the ungodly.

They have to be tested too, for they often are led by motivations which are outside of the direction of the Holy Spirit. But even if they are followers and believers one has to be careful of them and not simply accept their extra strong proclamations. Many of those who are strong in this area have turned out to be not so strong.

Just remember that they are all kinds of false interpretations in the world.

 

THE TEXT

 

Verse 3: The Lesson starts here with Paul clarifying who he is, as there seems to be some mistake In the eyes of his opponents regarding his identity, even more so his nationality. 

At this point in time, he is recounting the events that put him on the other side of the street, as some would say it, because instead of persecuting the Christians, he now finds himself one of them, preaching the Gospel of Christ. 

Now before the chief Captain, he begins to clarify who he is from the beginning to his full station and title.  

He also mentions that this commission that he has been given, was from Christ Himself.  

 

Paul states that he is indeed a child of the state of Israel, of the seed of Abraham.  But not just that, as he mentions that he is a Hebrew of the Hebrews. That means he is not from any ordinary family, but someone whose family name and history are known to every Jew. Paul when he later appears before the full council of officials including the Jews that actually he was born a Roman citizen, a free person. This shows his family pedigree.

Paul indicates that his level of education is on par with that of Moses being taught when he was in the house of Pharaoh.  This was evident when Paul address’ the crowd in Hebrew (Aramaic). 

 

These passages connect back to earlier chapters in Acts, specifically Acts 21 where Paul was under attack for bringing in a Gentile, past the Court of the Gentiles. 

 

Paul laid a common ground between the people and himself, as part of his defense.  He spoke to them as a Jew to a Jew, so that there could be no misunderstanding between them. 

His history is important in this case, for he has to show where he came from. 

The story in this section was intended strictly to persuade the Jews, while in other parts of the New Testament, it had a slightly different purpose. 

He mentions that though he was born outside of the Promised Land, he was brought up in Jerusalem, and mentions the one charged with his upbringing and education, that being, Gamaliel (Acts 5:34). This means he was a gentleman among the Jews and also a scholar.   Some Jews were born in servitude, especially considering the fact of Roman rule.  However, Paul was born free, for which if need be, he could produce the certification need to stop any insolent individuals that might try to strip him of his particular freedom.

 

He also mentions, that without question that he is a Hebrew of Hebrews, concerning the law, and also a Pharisee (Philippians 3:5). This meant as mentioned in the previous paragraph that Paul was not ignorant of the laws of the Jews, nor could he be slighted in any part for not knowing any part of it.  

From his early days he, Paul, had presented himself as a principled youth which as he progressed put him in a position to be forward, yet an eminent professor of the Jews’ religion.   

It is clear Paul is trying to say to all, that no one person kept the law as he did, from the smallest piece to the largest piece of the law. 

 

Paul also states that he was and is as zealous toward God as they are.  They knew of his history of being strict in observing the Jewish laws and very fervent in enforcing them upon others.  

Paul was a rare individual who was as much a zealot as he was a rabbi.  He was very ‘hands on’, as people would say in terms of ensuring that people understood the law, obeyed the law and were made examples of the law should they not fail into the appropriate place in the law. 

He was zealous against everything that the law prohibited, but yet thought he was doing it for the honour of God and the service of His interests, and so his statement confirming his zeal towards God.

 

Verse 4: Continuing from the previous verse, Paul, highlights the fact that he was known to be a furious persecutor of the Christian religion in the beginning of his time.  This was done to let all know in a clear and open manner that the change in him when he converted to the Christian faith, was purely the effect of a divine power. 

Before the point of conversion, he had no inclinations to it, nor did he favour any of its opinions, and thus one could say by his actions he had the utmost antipathy imaginable to Christianity, and was filled with rage against it to the last degree. 

 

Paul had persecuted those who walked in the way of Christianity and Christianity itself, which he branded as a byway, a sect, and his clear motivations were to persecute this sect to the death, to be the ruin of this religion. 

As mentioned before, Paul was quite the zealot, and it seems he would have been willing himself to die in his opposition to Christianity, and would have been fine with it, in defence of the laws and traditions of the fathers. 

 

He did all that he could to frighten people from this way, and out of it.  He filled jails with Christians, and this part is speculation, but he might be reflecting on the fact that he imprisoned not only men, but also woman, the weaker sex, who ought to be treated with particular tenderness and compassion, but unsparing prosecuted both sexes. 

 

Verse 5: Paul was employed by the great Sanhedrim, the high priest, and all the estate of the elders, as an agent for them, in suppressing this new sect. Meaning he was sanctioned to do this work by the religious leaders.  As he mentions, the high priest could act as a witness for him in the fact that he would do anything, any service against the Christians.  To that end, when reports were brought to their attention about the Jews in Damascus, and how they were embracing the Christian faith, he was sent to deter them, had orders to make examples of them, by bringing all bound to the prisons in Jerusalem so that they could be openly punished, even to the point of death for deserting their faith and God as how the religious leaders had seen it. 

 

Thus did Saul make havoc of the church, and was in a fair way, if he had gone on awhile, to ruin it, and root it out. “Such a one,” says Paul, “I was at first, just such as you now are. I know the heart of a persecutor, and therefore pity you, and pray that you may know the heart of a convert, as God soon made me to do. And who was I that I could withstand God?“ [Matthew Henry]

 

Verse 6: These next few verses deal with the manner in which Saul was converted and became Paul.  It was not due to any natural or external causes.  The change did not come from any epiphany, or novelty of hearing the Christian gospel, nor was he tired of the message from the elders of Israel. 

 

This was the Lord’s doing, and the circumstances of this doing were enough to justify him in the change, to all those who believe there is a supernatural power, and none can condemn him for it, without reflecting upon that divine energy by which he was overruled.   He recounts the story, aiming to show that it was purely the act of God. 

 

He, Paul, was fully intent on persecuting the Christians just before Christ Himself had stopped him.  Paul was on the way to Damascus with no other thought than to execute the cruel design he was sent to do.  He intended no mercy for to him these Christians were heretics, schismatics, and dangerous enemies both to church and state. 

 

This is where his encounter with God took place.  A light from heaven startled him, but no ordinary light, but a great light, which shone around him, and very suddenly.  The Jews knew that God is light, and his angels, angels of light, and that light was clearly capable of outshining the light of a noon day, and so it must be from God.   It wasn’t only him that was affected, but also those around him, but the nature with which that light shone about him indicated, and could not be denied that surely the Lord was in this light.   

 

Verse 7: Initially Paul had no good thoughts about Jesus Christ.  He was just a person, a leader of a new sect, going against the teachings of the leaders and the God of Israel, and to that end, must be dealt with severely.   But now, a voice immediately calls Saul’s name from the light, and Saul likely knows that it is Jesus, perhaps even before he posses the question. 

 

Jesus knows every one of us.  And He especially knows those who are His own, even when they do not know it.  This situation is similar to when Jesus confronted Thomas.  There were other people in the room, but Jesus was there to deal solely with Thomas, and now, Jesus was here solely to deal with Saul, and perhaps that is why the men that were with Saul did not hear Jesus, but only experienced that great light, Jesus was not there for them, just yet. 

 

Verse 8 & 9: When Saul asked the question, who is it that calls out to him, we see that he names the person Lord, conferring a level of greatness to the voice. 

The power displayed was undeniable, especially as it was witnessed by many.  That way no one could say otherwise. 

Jesus answers and says to Paul, it is Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

Now it is clear that that glory from heaven that outshone the sun, and that voice of authority and awe from the light belongs to no other than God, who is Jesus Christ the Son of God.

Notice how God acts in this situation.  It is similar to when God tells Samuel that the people didn’t reject you, they rejected God, and wanted a king.  The offense of Israel was to God.

Here the office of Israel under the hand of Saul was to offend Jesus, the Son of God. Note that Jesus does not give to Saul a great deal of evidence about Himself. Jesus simply instructs him about what to do next.

Jesus’ person provides the evidence to refute all the erroneous teachings that has led Saul to this particular point.  Now Paul can step forth, and Saul is put to death, the old man is gone, and the new creation is before Christ. 

 

Note what will happen to you on the path to conversion. On the way to becoming who you were going to be something happen to you when you meet the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Jesus will invite you into conversation with Him and that conversation will involve him questioning you, and likely will involve you asking questions of Him.

But remember that the questions from Jesus will be challenging you and asking you why you are doing what you are doing. In this case Paul was doing what he assumed was zeal for God, following God and what God dictated. But he simply responded to the rebuke of Jesus.

So ask yourself the question, How will you respond when you meet Jesus?

Your missionary activity should involve this challenge to whoever you are speaking to and you can do this safely because you know that behind your question is the power of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit and God the Father.

 

The men around Paul did not hear the voice, but experienced the light.  The effect on them mentioned that they were afraid.  As mentioned, all could not deny what had happened here, the evidence was too overwhelming.  It doesn’t necessarily state that they too were converted to Christians, but this experience perhaps led to that eventuality. 

 

Verse 10 & 11: Paul is humbled.  He assures them that when he was startled, he referred himself entirely to a divine guidance.  Note therefore that he does not resist Jesus whose people he had been persecuting. Paul knows he’s dealing with a superior .

He clearly has put himself in the position of a servant after this experience.  Now he is awaiting instructions from the person who he was persecuting.

All previous orders given to him were null and void.  Now he awaited orders from his only Master, and he lets everyone know that is how he answered the voice, who was God, who is Jesus. 

 

It is interesting to note that even though the Lord gave Paul specific instructions these are incomplete instructions. Paul is told to go to Damascus and when he gets to Damascus then he would get further instructions about everything that was appointed for him to do.

 

Notice however that after seeing the light of the Lord Jesus Christ Paul could see no more. He was physically blind and this mirrored his spiritual blindness.

Yet, note that even though, he was physically blind he was beginning to see.

 

However, the brightness of that light made Paul blind. In persecuting Jesus he was spiritually blind, and then he was also physically blind – and had to be humbly led by the hand into the city of Damascus. 

This is why it would not be a stretch to believe those with Paul were converted despite not hearing the voice.  They still could not longer follow a lie, and false teachings presented with what had happened to them. 

 

The extraordinary ways of divine revelation, by visions, and voices, and the appearance of angels, were designed, both in the Old Testament and in the New, only to introduce and establish the ordinary method by the scriptures and a standing ministry, and therefore were generally superseded when these were settled. The angel did not preach to Cornelius himself, but bade him send for Peter; so the voice here tells not Paul what he shall do, but bids him go to Damascus, and there it shall be told him. [Matthew Henry]

 

In general some of the world, some of the religious leaders are in a state of spiritual blindness as Paul was. Some still refuse to understand their condition (John 9:40), but Jesus will in time make all things known. 

We cannot exist in blindness forever and not face the consequences of that disobedience.    Paul’s physical blindness mirrored his spiritual blindness and let him see the errors in all that was taught to him and how he had approached his life before. 

But now he is a new man, for the first time in his life he is alive. 

 

Verse 12: God was sending Paul to a particular man. This man the Bible says was a devout man. 

 

Paul noted that it was Ananias, a man with credentials as a good Jew who received him into the Christian family. [David Guzik]

 

The character here given of Ananias. He was not a man that was any way prejudiced against the Jewish nation or religion, but was himself a devout man according to the law; if not a Jew by birth, yet one that had been proselyted to the Jewish religion, and therefore called a devout man, and thence advanced further to the faith of Christ; and he conducted himself so well that he had a good report of all the Jews that dwelt at Damascus. This was the first Christian that Paul had any friendly communication with, and it was not likely that he should instil into him any such notions as they suspected him to espouse, injurious to the law or to this holy place.  [Matthew Henry]

 

No one, Jew or Gentile seemed to have a bad thing to say about this man.  He seemed to be well respected, a devout man, and followed God.

 

Verse 13: From this encounter, we see that both men acted as good Jews, good men.

Ananias was straight forward, and direct.  He most likely knew everything about Saul, about Paul.  But Ananias knew God and obviously God had communicated with him that this situation would occur.  Ananias was not fearful.  He was obedient.  He did not look at Saul with anything other than the love of a fellow-servant of God, evidenced by his greeting of Paul, saying Brother Saul, and immediately saying for him to receive his sight. 

 

This confirmation put Paul on the path that God wanted him to now follow.  Ananias’ words had power behind them, power granted by Jesus so that Paul would understand what task would lie before him.

 

 

Verse 14: The declaration from Ananias gives and puts on Paul a peculiar and unique favour which the Lord Jesus designed for him above any other.

 

Paul was put in a unique position that he should see Christ upon earth after His ascension into heaven. Stephen saw him standing at the right hand of God, but Paul saw him standing at his right hand.  Some might say that Paul took over from who Stephen might have been.   Paul had this particular and unique honour. 

 

Christ is here called the Just One for He is Jesus Christ the righteous, and suffered wrongfully.   Those who God has chosen to know His will must have an eye to Christ, and must see Him, and hear the voice of His mouth. 

The experience should echo Paul’s experience, maybe not as dramatic, in it’s execution, but dramatic in it’s effect. 

 

Verse 15: The aftermath of this situation is that Paul should be a witness for Christ.  This is a monument of the grace of Christ, that He should take one such as Saul, and forgive him and make him tell the gospel to save others.  Paul would now deliver the message to Jew and Gentile, because all must hear the word. 

 

 

Paul so particularly relating the manner of his conversation in his apologies for himself, here and ch. 26, we have reason to think that he frequently related the same narrative in his preaching for the conversion of others; he told them what God had done for his soul, to encourage them to hope that he would do something for their souls. [Matthew Henry]

 

CONCLUSION

 

Jesus had told Paul that he would tell him everything that he was appointed to do. Ananias told Paul that God had appointed him to know the will of God.

Notice that the will of God for Paul was first that he would “see” and “ here” Jesus.

 

Remember also that before Paul could witness for Jesus he had to call on the name of Jesus and give his allegiance to Jesus and be baptized in public recognition of the changes in his life, says one writer.

 

So what can we say about you? God has appointed you to see and to hear Jesus. You have been appointed to bring to Jesus what you take in with your eyes and ears and the rest of your faculties. You must experience Jesus, say you want to writer and scholar.

 

Never forget that God has appointed you to be a witness of what you have seen and heard. God has opened the door for you to be a witness for Jesus just as He did for Paul.

 

Note therefore that everything in your life is according to plan. There have been many turning points in your life which have been set up to lead you to Christ.

 

Ask ourselves therefore whether are on the way to becoming what you would have been did you  meet Jesus?

While you were on the way to doing what you wanted to do did Jesus redirect you?

 

If you can answer these questions positively then your life has gone according to God’s plan and it will turn out better than anything you would have planned if you had met Jesus on the way.

 

When Jesus entered your life and you continued to follow Him, there will be all kind of starts and stops, twists and turns, Hills and valleys. But remember that the Righteous One will meet you and redirect you right on time.

 

It might seem peculiar to us that Paul would not obey the direction of the Holy Spirit to leave Jerusalem for his enemies would seek to kill him. But Paul was so fervent in his desire and zeal to spread the gospel and to do what he could to bring about a change in his fellow countrymen, the Apostle decided to stick it out and face them. This led to a great uproar created by Paul’s accusers and the Roman tribunal had to intervene not knowing the nature of the disagreement.

 

But God worked out the circumstances around Paul’s life. Paul went to Rome finally to face Caesar and he had great difficulties after his first trial but he survived and he went on and worked before being eventually beheaded for the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

So look at the Lord’s plan for you. It will not always conform to the expectations others have for you.

So tell your own story to the people that you meet.. It might be too much for some of them some might not want to hear you or might even then not want anything to do with you anymore.

 

But remember you are not done yet.

The Lord Jesus Christ has many things for you to do!

First Seventh Day Baptist Church of Toronto       49 Brydon Dr.  Toronto, Ontario   M6K 1V8   Tel  (416) 747 7278     Fax (416) 535 0117 www.7thdaybaptistchurch.org