Acts 9:1-6
ACTS 9:1-6
Saul meets Jesus
v. 1 & 2
Saul has become a full-time persecutor of the Messianic Jews, even to the point of traveling to Damascus (approximately 100 miles) to reign in and arrest any Jews from the Jerusalem area.
“The Way” has become a common descriptive term for the earliest Christians.
(See Acts 19:9, 23, 24:14, 22)
His desire is to arrest and return them to Jerusalem, where the Sanhedrin had jurisdiction and the ability to punish.
v. 3-5 The Damascus Road Meeting
The story of Paul’s conversion is told three times in the book of Acts:
9:1-6
22:6-16
26:13-15
Paul’s conversion is an awesome display of God’s power in human affairs.
The display includes:
ß Supernatural light
ß Vison
ß Falling under the power of the Spirit
ß Hearing (audibly) the voice of God
ß Spiritual rebirth
SUPERNATURAL LIGHT
A visible manifestation of the glory of God!
Matthew 17:2
Pastor Jack Hayford tells the story of early in his ministry at Church on the Way, when he was struggling with a complacent congregation of about 100 people and then one Saturday he went into the sanctuary alone and saw it filled with a silvery mist. He says, “No earthly dust had the glowing quality that this mist possessed as it filled the whole room, even where the sunlight was not shining.” God had filled the sanctuary with His glory and a church growth phenomenon began that has built the Church on the Way to be one of the most influential churches in America. (See Glory in Your House, Jack Hayford ©1991 Chosen Books)
2 Corinthians 4:4-6
When a person comes to experience the light of Christ, suddenly we have a desire for others to experience Him too!
See John 8:12, Matthew 5:14-16
VISION: Seeing the Risen Christ!
Acts 9:17 has Ananias speaking prophetically about Paul’s encounter.
9:27 ‘seen the Lord’
1 Corinthians 9:1
1 Corinthians 15:8
Acts 22:17-18
FALLING TO THE GROUND
The phenomenon of falling to the ground under the power of the Holy Spirit has become quite common in today’s churches. It is also known as ‘resting in the Spirit’ or being ‘slain in the Spirit’.
In my limited experience, I have come to discover that when this happens, it is a time of intense love accompanied by an overwhelming sense of the Holy Presence of God.
Think about it this way: When a person is being touched by the Power of Almighty God, the Creator of the Universe – doesn’t it make sense that there would be PHYSICAL manifestations of that touch?
John the Apostle’s experience:
“When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.” Revelation 1:17
“I lay on my face, a quivering mass of adoring jelly. I, therefore, am unable to dismiss what I see of certain phenomena in the present, or what I read about in the past.” John White When the Spirit Comes in Power, InterVarsity Press ©1988
Revelation 5:8, 14, 7:11, 19:4, Psalms 72:11, Matthew 2:11, 1 Chronicles 29:20,
2 Chronicles 7:3, Psalms 95:6
HEARING THE VOICE OF GOD (Audibly) 9:4-5, 22:7, 27:14
The voice of God was clear enough to quote directly!
The voice of God was spoken in Paul’s language. If someone asked Paul why he became a missionary, he could easily say: “Because God told me to!”
God still speaks today. He has not been silenced. He has not gone mute. He loves to talk to His children.
Even a man as conservative as Dr. Henry Blackaby – a Southern Baptist – said in his book Experiencing God that: "If you have trouble hearing God speak, you are in trouble at the very heart of your Christian experience."
The point is this: All believer’s should be able to discern God’s voice – whether it is audible or not! And, if you cannot, there is no need to be ashamed, or to feel guilty, but, there is need to improve your intimacy with Him!
That said, there are times that this can be abused. People with pure motives, or not, can misunderstand and/or misappropriate what they believe is God speaking. Therefore, when one says: “God told me…” you had better be ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that God did indeed tell you!
Again, I refer to the wisdom of Jack Hayford:
“As I say, ‘God spoke to me,’ I am being even more specific than referring to general revelation or to private inner impressions. I reserve these words intentionally for the rare, special occasions when, in my spirit, I have had the Lord speak directly to me. I do not mean, ‘I felt impressed’ or ‘I sensed somehow.’ Instead, I mean that a given moment, almost always when I least expected it, the Lord spoke words to me. Those whose have been so distinct that I am virtually able to say, ‘And I quote.’” Glory in Your House, Jack Hayford ©1991 Chosen Books
The Spoken Word of God is not equal to the Scriptures. In fact, all spoken words must be tested by the Scripture.
Here’s a three-stage filtering process:
Stage One: Was it a true word? Did the person hearing from God confuse a personal thought with the voice of God? Was more emotion than revelation involved? Each one should be humble enough to admit that these are always possibilities.
Stage Two: Was the impression accurate? Even if the words were correctly heard, care needs to be taken in extracting the meaning, especially when the word is in poetic or parabolic form.
Stage Three: How is it to be applied? Should all, or any, of what God has said be communicated to others? If so, to whom? What is God’s timing for the application?
SPIRITUAL REBIRTH
v. 5-6 The question: “Who are you, Lord?”
Saul says: “Lord” because there is no question in his mind of the superiority of whoever it is that is talking with him. The only question is that of identity. And Jesus’ response is precisely what Saul needed to hear: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”
Saul meets Jesus
v. 1 & 2
Saul has become a full-time persecutor of the Messianic Jews, even to the point of traveling to Damascus (approximately 100 miles) to reign in and arrest any Jews from the Jerusalem area.
“The Way” has become a common descriptive term for the earliest Christians.
(See Acts 19:9, 23, 24:14, 22)
His desire is to arrest and return them to Jerusalem, where the Sanhedrin had jurisdiction and the ability to punish.
v. 3-5 The Damascus Road Meeting
The story of Paul’s conversion is told three times in the book of Acts:
9:1-6
22:6-16
26:13-15
Paul’s conversion is an awesome display of God’s power in human affairs.
The display includes:
ß Supernatural light
ß Vison
ß Falling under the power of the Spirit
ß Hearing (audibly) the voice of God
ß Spiritual rebirth
SUPERNATURAL LIGHT
A visible manifestation of the glory of God!
Matthew 17:2
Pastor Jack Hayford tells the story of early in his ministry at Church on the Way, when he was struggling with a complacent congregation of about 100 people and then one Saturday he went into the sanctuary alone and saw it filled with a silvery mist. He says, “No earthly dust had the glowing quality that this mist possessed as it filled the whole room, even where the sunlight was not shining.” God had filled the sanctuary with His glory and a church growth phenomenon began that has built the Church on the Way to be one of the most influential churches in America. (See Glory in Your House, Jack Hayford ©1991 Chosen Books)
2 Corinthians 4:4-6
When a person comes to experience the light of Christ, suddenly we have a desire for others to experience Him too!
See John 8:12, Matthew 5:14-16
VISION: Seeing the Risen Christ!
Acts 9:17 has Ananias speaking prophetically about Paul’s encounter.
9:27 ‘seen the Lord’
1 Corinthians 9:1
1 Corinthians 15:8
Acts 22:17-18
FALLING TO THE GROUND
The phenomenon of falling to the ground under the power of the Holy Spirit has become quite common in today’s churches. It is also known as ‘resting in the Spirit’ or being ‘slain in the Spirit’.
In my limited experience, I have come to discover that when this happens, it is a time of intense love accompanied by an overwhelming sense of the Holy Presence of God.
Think about it this way: When a person is being touched by the Power of Almighty God, the Creator of the Universe – doesn’t it make sense that there would be PHYSICAL manifestations of that touch?
John the Apostle’s experience:
“When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.” Revelation 1:17
“I lay on my face, a quivering mass of adoring jelly. I, therefore, am unable to dismiss what I see of certain phenomena in the present, or what I read about in the past.” John White When the Spirit Comes in Power, InterVarsity Press ©1988
Revelation 5:8, 14, 7:11, 19:4, Psalms 72:11, Matthew 2:11, 1 Chronicles 29:20,
2 Chronicles 7:3, Psalms 95:6
HEARING THE VOICE OF GOD (Audibly) 9:4-5, 22:7, 27:14
The voice of God was clear enough to quote directly!
The voice of God was spoken in Paul’s language. If someone asked Paul why he became a missionary, he could easily say: “Because God told me to!”
God still speaks today. He has not been silenced. He has not gone mute. He loves to talk to His children.
Even a man as conservative as Dr. Henry Blackaby – a Southern Baptist – said in his book Experiencing God that: "If you have trouble hearing God speak, you are in trouble at the very heart of your Christian experience."
The point is this: All believer’s should be able to discern God’s voice – whether it is audible or not! And, if you cannot, there is no need to be ashamed, or to feel guilty, but, there is need to improve your intimacy with Him!
That said, there are times that this can be abused. People with pure motives, or not, can misunderstand and/or misappropriate what they believe is God speaking. Therefore, when one says: “God told me…” you had better be ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that God did indeed tell you!
Again, I refer to the wisdom of Jack Hayford:
“As I say, ‘God spoke to me,’ I am being even more specific than referring to general revelation or to private inner impressions. I reserve these words intentionally for the rare, special occasions when, in my spirit, I have had the Lord speak directly to me. I do not mean, ‘I felt impressed’ or ‘I sensed somehow.’ Instead, I mean that a given moment, almost always when I least expected it, the Lord spoke words to me. Those whose have been so distinct that I am virtually able to say, ‘And I quote.’” Glory in Your House, Jack Hayford ©1991 Chosen Books
The Spoken Word of God is not equal to the Scriptures. In fact, all spoken words must be tested by the Scripture.
Here’s a three-stage filtering process:
Stage One: Was it a true word? Did the person hearing from God confuse a personal thought with the voice of God? Was more emotion than revelation involved? Each one should be humble enough to admit that these are always possibilities.
Stage Two: Was the impression accurate? Even if the words were correctly heard, care needs to be taken in extracting the meaning, especially when the word is in poetic or parabolic form.
Stage Three: How is it to be applied? Should all, or any, of what God has said be communicated to others? If so, to whom? What is God’s timing for the application?
SPIRITUAL REBIRTH
v. 5-6 The question: “Who are you, Lord?”
Saul says: “Lord” because there is no question in his mind of the superiority of whoever it is that is talking with him. The only question is that of identity. And Jesus’ response is precisely what Saul needed to hear: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”
posted by Doug Love at 2:03 PM
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