The Ministry of the Spirit of God with the Word of God. Pt. 13

Good evening to each and everyone one of you. 

Memorial Day is almost upon us. It used to be a time of patriotism, parades to honor our military, past and present, and to gather for family cookouts and fun activities. Some may follow the Indy 500 race or a NASCAR race, rooting for their favorite team, car or driver. 

I remember the parades, bands, and everyone flying flags on the front of their homes. It was awesome to see current and former members of all the branches of Service marching in formation, reminding us that the price of our freedom and liberty is costly. There will always be battles to fight as long as one group attempts to oppress another group. 

This reminds me that we are engaged in a fierce spiritual battle. The born again Christian is on the front lines for the Lord of Glory. The price of purchasing our freedom from guilt and redemption from sin was infinitely costly to our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Yet, Jesus endured it all and paid it all for the joy of knowing that lost sinners would be born again into the family of God. Now, we rejoin this man named Saul, who was born again, so that we may see the progress being made in his life.

We continue to unfold all that happened to Saul after his conversion. We already saw that when Saul was baptized, he began to preach Christ very powerfully. He confounded the Jews in the synagogues, meaning that Saul used scripture to destroy their arguments against the fact that Jesus Christ is King, Lord, Messiah and God in the flesh. 

Saul begins to encounter stiff opposition to his preaching. 

It did not take the religious zealots of Judaism very long to turn their hatred on Saul. Once again, they were perfectly willing to violate the command against murder in order murder Saul, and silence the truth from being proclaimed. 

Saul had some help of other Christians and they assisted him in escaping the Jews who wanted to kill him. 

Acts 9:23-25 And after that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him: 
But their laying await was known of Saul. And they watched the gates day and night to kill him. 
Then the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket. 

Next, Saul was sent to the church at Jerusalem. 

Saul must have thought that the church at Jerusalem would welcome him because they had heard of how he preached the gospel of Jesus Christ. However, the memories of Stephen's martyrdom and how Saul hunted down Christian families and jailed them, was still too fresh in their minds. They were afraid of Saul and did not trust him.

Barnabus boldy stood up for Saul and brought him to the apostles and told them about Saul's conversion to Christ, and the radical change that happened. 

Acts 9:26-27 And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple. 
But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. 

Persecution finds Saul in Jerusalem. 

The apostles accepted Saul as a Christian brother and he was able to spend time with them. He also preached boldly and openly, much to the consternation of the religious leaders of Judaism. 

They plotted how to kill Saul and when the church became aware of their strategy, they helped Saul safely go to Caesarea. Then, they sent him to his hometown of Tarsus. 

This reminds me of when Jesus healed the maniac of Gadara and when the man wanted to stay with Jesus, the Lord told him return to his home and tell the people what Christ had done for him. I suspect Saul was given similar instruction, to go to Tarsus and be a witness for his Lord. 

Acts 9:28-30 And he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem. 
And he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians: but they went about to slay him. 
Which when the brethren knew, they brought him down to Caesarea, and sent him forth to Tarsus. 

The churches had rest and were strengthened. 

The end result of Saul's conversion is that all the churches in Judea, Galilee and Samaria had a time of rest from persecution. The churches concentrated on preaching the word so that people would be edified, or built up in the faith. 

Believers were walking in the fear of the Lord and the Holy Spirit of God comforted them. This heart transformation work continued and intensified in the lives of these early Christians. 

Acts 9:31 Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.

There is much more to the life and ministry of Saul. His name was changed to Paul. He became the Apostle to the Gentiles. The Lord Jesus Christ taught him truth in preparation for his apostleship. He would be used to write 13 books of the New Testament, 14 if you include the book of Hebrews. Paul never looked back. He was always moving forward for Christ. 

Points to Ponder.....

• Opposition to the truth of God being preached is a constant in New Testament Christianity.

• Being faithful to serve the Lord and others is a prerequisite for New Testament Christianity. 

• We should follow Paul's example and boldly share the Word of God every chance we have.

• We should always be active in serving our Lord and in being transformed more into His image. 

We still have some other responses of various individuals to the ministry of the Spirit of God with the Word of God, that we will look at in future posts. For now, we will leave the Apostle to the Gentiles behind, as we seek to learn and apply these truths in our own lives. 

Bob