Paul's Encounter with Christ

A Living Faith
Who Understands Faith?
Paul before King Agrippa

Acts 26:9-18

The Message

^9-11 “I admit that I didn’t always hold to this position. For a time I thought it was my duty to oppose this Jesus of Nazareth with all my might. Backed with the full authority of the high priests, I threw these believers—I had no idea they were God’s people!—into the Jerusalem jail right and left, and whenever it came to a vote, I voted for their execution. I stormed through their meeting places, bullying them into cursing Jesus, a one-man terror obsessed with obliterating these people. And then I started on the towns outside Jerusalem.
^12-14 “One day on my way to Damascus, armed as always with papers from the high priests authorizing my action, right in the middle of the day a blaze of light, light outshining the sun, poured out of the sky on me and my companions. Oh, King, it was so bright! We fell flat on our faces. Then I heard a voice in Hebrew: ‘Saul, Saul, why are you out to get me? Why do you insist on going against the grain?’
^15-16 “I said, ‘Who are you, Master?’
“The voice answered, ‘I am Jesus, the One you’re hunting down like an animal. But now, up on your feet—I have a job for you. I’ve handpicked you to be a servant and witness to what’s happened today, and to what I am going to show you.
^17-18 “‘I’m sending you off to open the eyes of the outsiders so they can see the difference between dark and light, and choose light, see the difference between Satan and God, and choose God. I’m sending you off to present my offer of sins forgiven, and a place in the family, inviting them into the company of those who begin real living by believing in me.’

For Reflection

Paul was obviously bright.  He was also well schooled in Greek rhetoric and philosophy.  He was a disciple of Jewish law willing to act on his convictions.  In short, Paul was a powerful enemy, committed to God, but ignorant of the truth in the Christ event.

Having hearing God's call his transformation into a servant of the Truth, was instantaneous.  Paul responded in the only way he could, he believed and became a committed witness to that truth.  Can you also be called a servant of the truth?

Pray

that you will bear witness to the truth signified by God's sacrifice of his son.  Pray that life's confrontations with that truth will become opportunities to grow closer to God.