ACTS 9:19-31 LET GOD PREPARE YOU FOR MINISTRY2016 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Acts 9:19-31 Let God Prepare You For Ministry

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2016.

We're going to be here in Acts chapter 9 this evening, and we'll be looking at verses 19 through 31. Last week, we looked at the first part of the chapter, verses 1 through 18, and we got introduced to Saul and watched the amazing conversion that happened. And now we're picking up that account and seeing what happens next.

in the life of Saul. And so let's read through this passage that we have before us this evening. Acts chapter 9 verses 19 through 31. Here's what it says. So when he had received food, he was strengthened. Then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus. Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.

Then all who heard were amazed and said, is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem and has come here for that purpose so that he might bring them bound to the chief priests? But Saul increased all the more in strength and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that Jesus is the Christ.

Now after many days were passed, the Jews plotted to kill him. Verse 24. But their plot became known to Saul, and they watched the gates day and night to kill him. Then the disciples took him by night and let him down through the wall in a large basket. And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him and did not believe that he was a disciple. Verse 24.

But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. And he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road and that he had spoken to him and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. So he was with them at Jerusalem, coming in and going out. Verse 29. And he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Hellenists, but they attempted to kill him.

When the brethren found out, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him out to Tarsus. Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied.

Here as we continue the account of Saul in Acts chapter 9, we're picking up where we left off last week. We saw last week in Acts chapter 9, Saul making havoc of the church, intending to go to Damascus to destroy the church there and bring back captive the Christians there. He was persecuting them, causing them to blaspheme, executing them.

He cleared out all the Christians from Jerusalem but wasn't satisfied with that. And so he gets permission. He makes his way to Damascus.

But there outside of the city, God intervenes, knocks him down into the ground and has a little chat with him. And Saul, as a result of that, is converted. He goes into the city now blind and Ananias comes and prays for him and he receives the Lord. He receives the Holy Spirit and he begins a new life. He's born again now and he's going to live a new life now by faith in Jesus Christ.

Now, in a few chapters, we're going to see Saul of Tarsus become the Apostle Paul. And he's going to be the prominent figure, really, for the rest of the book of Acts in just a couple chapters as he goes out on the missionary journeys, as he becomes the apostle to the Gentiles, as he plants churches and writes letters. He writes, you know, about 13 of the New Testament books.

And so he becomes this great man of God, a great contrast to what he once was in persecuting Christians. Billy Graham describes the Apostle Paul as the greatest Christian who ever lived. And so from one extreme to the other, he was against Christ to a great degree, but then he was for Christ with all his heart. And we'll get to see that explode really in just a couple chapters.

But before all of that can happen, before Saul of Tarsus can become the Apostle Paul, God has some preparations for him. There's a work that needs to happen beyond just being born again, beyond just the conversion experience as amazing and awesome as that was. There's some deeper things that God needs to do in the heart of Saul and in the character of Saul to prepare him to become the Apostle Paul.

And so the title of the message this evening is Let God Prepare You for Ministry. As we look at the example here of Saul, there's the preparations that need to be taking place. And similarly in our own lives, we need to allow God to prepare us for the things that he has in store for us, which we have no idea about. You remember last week when Saul was there talking with Jesus, he said, what must I do?

And Jesus told him, go into the city and then you'll be told what to do. He just gave him one little step. He didn't give him the whole picture. Remember, he gave Ananias, well, here's what Saul's going to do. Here's what he's going to become. He's going to have a great ministry. He gave him the whole picture. But for Saul, he just gave him one step. And that's all that Saul knew at the time. He had no idea the ministry that God was going to unfold before him.

but God knew. And so God is going to be doing the work of preparation that would be necessary for Saul to be able to fulfill the will of God in his life. And so there's this time of preparation that takes place. It's really going to be probably another 12 or 13 years before Saul becomes the Apostle Paul. We are

Don't always hold on to the timeline in our head as we read through these things. And so we see Saul converted and then it's like, you know, just two chapters later that he's on a missionary journey and he's engaged in the church and he's planting churches and it seems like all this stuff just happened overnight. Right?

But it's a decade later when really the work begins and the preparation is completed. I was listening to Pastor Damien Kyle recently talking about similar things, and he was talking about how our culture undervalues preparation. I really think that's something that's true and for us to really worthy of consideration. That

that we undervalue preparation. We're so in a hurry. We just want to get to the end, and we don't value the preparation time, you know, that God is doing in our hearts and in our lives. We need to understand that God is never in a hurry. Have you ever thought about that? God is never in a hurry. He's never in a hurry. That really bothers me sometimes. I don't know about you.

I want to see things happen quickly, but God wants to see things happen correctly. He's never in a hurry. He is more interested in doing a work in you than doing a work through you. He's more interested about your heart and your character than what could be accomplished if you were doing stuff for him in his name. He is perfectly patient and content to just do a work within you

And he's okay with, well, if you don't want that to happen, if you don't let him do that work, then you won't be that useful. He's okay with that. He's not going to like skip over, lower the bar. Okay, well, close enough, you know. All right, now go ahead and launch into all these great things that I have in store for you and be a vital part of the kingdom of God. No, no, he's content. Okay, you don't want to be prepared. You won't allow me to do the work in you that needs to be done. Then you're

resulting ministry or resulting effectiveness and participation in his work is going to be limited. He's okay with that. Again, we want to see things happen quickly and we get frustrated when we see ourselves still struggling with issues. We think we should have been over that many years ago, but God's working in us in his time as we submit to him. We think we should have, you know, different roles and responsibilities much faster than perhaps God does.

Again, we want to see things happen quickly, but God wants to see things happen correctly. And so this evening, I want to encourage you to let God prepare you as we look at the example of Saul.

We see the preparation that God was doing in his life. It's an encouragement to us to allow God to do that kind of work in us. And so there's four points we'll look at as we work through this passage this evening. Understand it's not an exact formula and God doesn't use, you know, all these same exact timings and things like that. But it's a good pattern for us to consider and to evaluate and to really surrender to the Lord in what he wants to do for us and in our lives.

So we'll begin in verses 19 through 21 with point number one, and that is preach the gospel immediately. And so that you're thinking, well, all this talk about waiting and preparation, and then now it's immediately preaching the gospel. Well, that's what we see here. Verse 19. So when he had received food, he was strengthened. Then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus. Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues that he is the son of God.

So Saul, immediately after conversion, he's, you know, just barely received the Lord. He's been prayed for by Ananias, and the scales fell from his eyes. He received his sight. He was baptized, and he begins to spend time with the disciples. He's a brand new believer, brand new, and yet well-versed in the scriptures because of his upbringing and education. And

And so right away, he is there in the synagogues, which is where they would gather anyways as Jews. So he would be there and he would take advantage of the opportunity to speak there and he would preach the Christ. The Christ, of course, is a reference to the Messiah of the Old Testament, the promised Savior that God had been declaring would come from the very beginning. And so what he is preaching now is that Jesus is the Messiah. Yeah.

it's appropriate to just stop and reflect on the kind of change that has taken place. Saul who persecuted those who said that Jesus is the Messiah. Saul who put to death those who said that Jesus is the Messiah.

Saul who caused people to blaspheme and curse the name of Jesus, those who held that Jesus is the Messiah. Now Saul is preaching that Jesus is the Messiah. As we talked about last week, that's a 180 degree turn, a complete change. It's real repentance has taken place.

What he was fully against, now he is fully for, and he is preaching the Christ. The Messiah has come. The Savior has come. His name is Jesus. But not only that, even more radical there in verse 20, it also says that he preached that he is the Son of God. So Saul, as he's preaching the Christ, he's also preaching that the Christ is the Son of God.

That Jesus is the Son of God. And this was a major contention with the Jews, or as far as the Jews had with Jesus. That Jesus claimed to be the Son of God. This was a big deal for them in their culture. Now in our culture, we kind of think that phrase can mean that Jesus is lesser than God.

Sometimes people use that as an argument. Yeah, Jesus isn't God. He's the son of God. But that's not what the phrase means. And the Jews knew what the phrase meant. You can see that in the ministry of Jesus in John 5, verse 18. It tells us that the Jews sought all the more to kill Jesus because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also he said that God was his father. And then notice, making himself equal with God.

Jesus declaring himself to be the son of God was a declaration that he is equal to God. And that is one of the major factors of, well, the persecution against Jesus by the religious leaders and then the crucifixion of Jesus by the religious leaders. It's one of the major contentions that Saul had before his conversion experience with member Stephen the martyr.

When he was there and he said, I see Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father. And it caused the Jews to be so upset that they put him to death. They stoned him right there. And Saul was there holding the garment saying, yeah, that's right. You guys get him. He deserves it because he is claiming that Jesus is equal to the Father. That Jesus is God. That's what it means to be the Son of God. And that's what Saul is now preaching. He's preaching that the Messiah has come. His name is Jesus.

But beyond that, it wasn't just a mortal man, a normal man who is the Savior, but he is the Son of God. He is equal to God. He is God who became man to die upon the cross that we might have salvation in him. And so a radical change has taken place. And immediately he begins to declare these truths and declare this change that has taken place in his heart. Verse 21 says,

So the Jews there in the synagogues, they're blown away. And they're talking amongst themselves, isn't this the guy who came here? He was persecuting the Christians in Jerusalem, and he came here to do the same, but they're amazed.

Because he's doing exactly the opposite. Something has changed. Now, it is interesting. It tells us that they're amazed, but not converted. And so, although Saul preached immediately, it doesn't appear that his ministry was immediately effective. But he began right away. And I think that's important as we talk about letting God prepare you for ministry.

Because there is a balance to these things. On the one hand, we need to make sure that we wait for the preparations that God wants to do. But we also need to understand there's some things we don't have to wait for. There's some things that God wants us to engage in right now. And we keep waiting, never feeling like we're sufficient, never feeling like we're adequate, and

When God's saying, just go, trust me and go. And part of his preparation for us is in the experience of obeying him and doing what he's called us to do. And preaching the gospel is something that he's called all of us to do. Even brand new believers just barely converted like Saul are commanded to preach the gospel.

And those of us who've been around for longer than that, we are still commanded to preach the gospel. It's part of God's commission and instruction to us, and it's part of his preparation for what he wants to do further in our lives. Every believer has the capacity to preach the gospel. Now, Saul was unique in that he had, you know, a strong grasp of the Old Testament scriptures. And so I'm sure that as he preached the gospel, it was, you know, very clear.

deeply rooted in those Old Testament scriptures. The way you and I might share the gospel might look a little bit differently, but every believer, everybody who has an encounter with Jesus, everybody who's been born again has the capacity to preach the gospel because you know enough to be able to receive the gospel and be born again. And so part of the preparation that God has for us is just in obeying him right now and the things that

He's already told us to do and the things that we already know to do. And that could be applied to preaching the gospel or serving one another or loving one another or being the husband or the wife that God's called us to be or saying no to this or yes to that. Any of the instructions that we have in the scripture, obedience to that immediately is part of God's preparation for you for the things that lie ahead.

Moving on to verses 22 and 23, here we have the second point, and that is to let God prepare you for ministry, you need to have time alone with Jesus. Check out verse 22 and 23 again. It says, Now after many days were passed, the Jews plotted to kill him.

Notice how things change. At first they're amazed. Wow, can you believe it? This guy came here to destroy Christians and now he's preaching what Christians preach. But as Saul increased in strength, as he proved that Jesus is the Christ, things began to change in the hearts of the Jews. And now they're at the point where they want to kill him. They don't want to receive the message.

They want to put him to death and stop him from proclaiming the message, still refusing to receive Jesus as the Messiah. But what's interesting about these verses here is that there's something that Luke doesn't mention, but that takes place somewhere in between verses 21 and 23. And that is that Saul...

during this time, somewhere in this time frame, gets away from Damascus and spends time alone in the wilderness. And I think it's important for us to consider that. And so would you turn with me for a few moments to Galatians chapter 1. Here in Galatians chapter 1, as Paul is writing this letter to the churches of Galatia, he's establishing the truthfulness of the gospel and the

He's authenticating it. He's declaring, this is how you can know the gospel is true. Because, of course, the Galatians were turning to another gospel. And so he's telling his story to help authenticate the gospel message and let them know this is the only gospel message. This is the truth that you need to hold on to. And so Galatians chapter 1, we'll pick it up in verse 11 and read a few verses here. Verse 11 says this.

So here at the beginning, Paul is saying, look, I want you to know the gospel that I brought to you was not taught to me by some other person.

It wasn't Peter who came and taught me the gospel message or it wasn't James or John. It wasn't, you know, one of the apostles or even Ananias who taught me the gospel message. But Jesus revealed the gospel message to me.

And of course, we can consider the encounter that he had with the Lord on the way to Damascus as part of that revelation that the Lord revealed himself, declared himself to be, and revealed that he is the Messiah, that he is the Son of God. But he says, I had this personal experience, this revelation directly from Jesus. That's the gospel that I brought to you, the gospel that Jesus told to me. Verse 13 says,

Verse 1.

Notice what he says here. But I went to Arabia and returned again to Damascus."

So Saul explains here, there was this time period. We don't know exactly the details of, you know, when he went to Arabia, but there's this time period where he went into Damascus blind. He has this encounter with Ananias. Ananias comes to pray for him. He's baptized.

It seems that he spends some time with the disciples there, but he gets away from Damascus for a season and goes out into Arabia. Now, Arabia...

it's hard to identify exactly where Saul is talking about. Some would suggest that all the way down to the south, beyond this map, down, you know, like where Sinai is, where the children of Israel were in the wilderness, that's the area of Arabia. Others suggest Arabia goes all the way up, and Damascus is the top, you know, northernmost part of Arabia. And that seems a little bit most likely to me, but...

You know, you can wrestle with the scholars on that. But so he goes out into this time alone. He goes out into this wilderness. He goes out into the desert and spends some time alone with the Lord. And understand, Saul has to basically be reprogrammed. Everything he's been taught and trained in Judaism, although Judaism was rooted in the Old Testament, remember the religious leaders had built on top of the Old Testament all of these traditions.

And so Saul had to really reprogram himself according to God's word, according to the truth of the scriptures. And so he spent this time alone with the Lord. And then he goes back to Damascus. And so then I think it's fitting in verse 22, going back to Damascus,

Where are we? Acts chapter 9. It says, Saul increased all the more in strength and confounded the Jews. And so there's this increase in strength that comes and seems rational to me that he has been away from

He's spent this time and he's come back stronger. He's come back, you know, rooted in the things of the Lord and having been taught by the Lord. It tells us in verse 23, back in Acts chapter 9, now after many days were passed, the Jews plotted to kill him. And so many days have passed. And it tells us here in Galatians that it was a three-year period. His time in Damascus and Arabia altogether lasted

was three years. And so it's at the end of that three years now that we're finding Saul, and he's been trained a little bit by the Lord. He's had some alone time with Jesus.

John Corson talks about this. He says, And so he spends this time in the wilderness, again, just relearning the scriptures and relearning how the scriptures refer to, talk about, and reveal Jesus Christ.

It's a really good example for us. Let God prepare you for ministry in this way also. That is, you need to have some time alone with Jesus. You need to have your own encounter with Jesus, and not necessarily a one-time, three-year wilderness experience, but an ongoing time alone with the Lord. First of all, you need to have your own experience with the gospel message.

You need to have your own encounter with the gospel. Not just that, well, you know it's true. You've always heard it. You know you've read it. You know the scriptures. But that it's transformed you. That you have had an encounter with the gospel. Your own experience with the gospel. Like Saul describes in the book of Galatians. Where he can say to them, hey, I want you to know the gospel. It's not just something someone told me. But this is something that God has revealed to me.

Now, having your own experience doesn't mean you might come up with something different. And some people will go off on a tangent, you know, and, well, yes, you know, that's what a lot of people believe, and that's what the Bible says, but here's what I have discovered, you know. And that's not licensed to, you know, go and run and do your own thing. Paul will go on in the book of Galatians to say, hey, you know,

This is what the Lord revealed to me. And then when I finally did get to Jerusalem, the gospel that Jesus told me was exactly the same. It was identical to the gospel being preached by the apostles. So it was the same message. That was, you know, further authentication, further verification of that gospel message. And so what we believe and the conclusions we come to must line up with what God has already revealed in his word. But...

We also need to have that real personal encounter so that it's not just words on the page when we read those verses. So that it's not just we know that because it says that, but that we know that because the Lord has revealed that to us. There's a difference. And every one of us, we need to have those kind of encounters with the Lord, with the gospel message, with the

With the deity of Jesus, I talked about Jesus being the son of God and how that's significant and really important and how it speaks to the deity of Jesus. You need to have your own encounter with the Lord in that way and understand and come to that conclusion apart from just saying, well, that's what Pastor Jerry said.

You need to have your own encounter where you can walk away and say, yeah, that's what it means. I understand that's what it means. Jesus is the Son of God. That means Jesus is equal to the Father, that Jesus is God, and that you have a grasp on that doctrine and on that truth because you've encountered that with the Lord. You've had that time with Him, and you know that because of your relationship with God and not just because some other person has told you.

I'm sure you remember Acts chapter 17 verse 11 where it talks about the Bereans. They were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica because they received the word with all readiness and searched the scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. They received the word. They heard the word. Paul was teaching the word. They heard it. They received it. But they didn't just take his word for it. And then they searched the scriptures daily.

They had their own encounter with the word of God, with the Lord, with the truths that were being presented so that they could walk away from that saying, I believe that. I see that. The Lord has shown me that. So that it's not just repeating somebody else's word, but it's a word that you can declare because you have encountered the Lord in his word. You need to have time alone with Jesus in that way.

You need to have that type of encounter with the Lord regarding everything that you believe. You need to have that kind of encounter with the Lord regarding the decisions that you make. You need to have that real relationship with the Lord where he's speaking to you, where you're interacting with him, and it's not just you responding or repeating what others have told you, but a big part of preparation for ministry is

And not just ministry in the sense of, you know, activities at church, but a big part of preparation for you to be effective and active in the work of the kingdom of God is for you to have real encounters with the Lord, where you're reprogrammed, where your mind is remapped and shown, you know, this is what the Bible says. This is the truth. And not just because someone else has told you, not because that's the words on the page, but

Along with those things, the Lord has revealed those truths to you in a way that you can relate and identify and walk away and say, no, this is what the Lord says. It will line up a scripture. And if it doesn't, then you've got a problem and you're out of line. But there's a difference between just repeating a verse and having a real encounter with the Lord in that verse. Have alone time with Jesus.

Moving on to verses 24 through 27, here we have point number three. Let God prepare you for ministry by interacting with other believers. In order for God to do the work in you that he wants to do, you need to be engaged, not just with the Lord all by yourself in the word in the desert, but you need to be engaged with other believers who are walking with the Lord also. Verse 24 says,

So here you get to see Saul is not all by himself in the midst of this situation. He's not a lone ranger. They were plotting to kill Saul, but the believers heard about it. And now they take steps to look out for Saul and protect him.

They take him by night and let him down through the wall in a large basket. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians chapter 11 that he's let out through a window in the wall. And so what we're seeing here is not just being let down the wall, but somebody had a house there built into the wall. That was a common practice for them. Their houses would be built into the walls of the city. Remember Jericho?

Their Rahab had a house built into the wall, and so that's how she let out the spies, and that's where she hung the scarlet cord so that her and her family would be preserved. In a similar way, this house is on the wall. And so somebody is, you know, letting Saul into their home and then taking these steps to hide him at night, to let him down by a basket in order to protect him from this plot against him. Here's the point.

Saul didn't only spend time alone with Jesus. Sometimes we might take that approach. We might say that. All I need is Jesus. Just me and Jesus. That's all I need. But that's not how God was working in Saul. Saul hung out with the disciples. Now, understand, just try to take some time to appreciate this. Saul, who had been persecuting, torturing,

torturing to the degree that people would blaspheme the name of Jesus and renounce their faith in Jesus, torturing to the point that, well, people would be executed for believing in Jesus. Saul was hanging out with believers. He had good relationships with believers, strong relationships with believers, so much so that they cared. They cared if he was put to death by these Jews.

They didn't want to see that happen. And it's only been three years. I mean, I don't care how long it's been. Someone who's been persecuting and torturing my friends and family, I'm going to have a hard time sitting next to them in service. But you see the transformation that takes place and the love of Christ that we are to demonstrate as the body of Christ. It must have been so hard for him to hang out with other believers on his part and for their part as well. It would have been very difficult for

But as difficult as it might have been, spending time with other believers is an important part of the Christian life. This is something we need in order for God to do the work in us that he wants to do. We need to spend time with other believers. You will never be the Christian that God wants you to be. You'll never be the man of God or the woman of God that he wants you to be all alone. You will only become the man of God, the woman of God that he wants you to be

as you are spending time with other believers, even when it's difficult, even when those people had persecuted you or tortured your relatives or caused others to blaspheme, even when you have reason to be ashamed and stay away. I mean, I just try to imagine myself in Saul's shoes. I think I would have just been all by myself. I mean, I would tend to be that way anyways, but if I had sinned against people and tortured people in this way, I would have just...

rather not deal with the mess. It's going to be really hard. What are they going to be saying about me? I mean, if I show up, if I walk into the gathering there, believers, oh, they're going to be reminding me about what I did, and they're going to be talking about, they're not going to want to hang out with me. And it would have been so easy for Saul to just avoid the whole gathering together with believers, ashamed over his prior behavior, over what he had done.

But gathering together as believers is important. So important that even when you're ashamed, you should still gather. Even when it's uncomfortable, you should still gather. Even when it's unthinkable, you should still gather. It's part of God's design for us. It's part of his plan for us. We need one another. And Saul was humble enough to be part of the group of believers there in Damascus.

And here in this case, as these Jews are plotting against him, he's humble enough to allow the disciples to help him. He's humble enough to say, okay, you can put me in a basket and scoop me out the window. It's not a bold move. You know, it's not an honorable, noble move. Might have been just as easy for them to say, hey, he's going to get what he gets. I mean, he deserves it. He persecuted the

the church and now he's going to be persecuted. Yeah, let it happen to him. But he developed relationships with these believers. They love him. As hard as that might be for us to imagine, they love him. It's like a terrorist getting saved and then we love him or her. That's the reality of what took place. That's the reality of the Christian gathering. That's the reality of the love that we're to have for one another. To care for one another, no matter what's taken place in the past,

but also to let others in. In our struggles, in our lives, in our difficulties, in our situations, relying upon others can be so hard, but it's necessary. No matter how many times you've been burned in the past, you will never be the man or woman of God that he wants you to be without people still being involved in your future. No matter how many times you've been burned. I know that's rough. I know that's tough. I know that's hard for us, but that's the way that God has designed us.

And so these believers care for Saul. They help Saul. He lets them help them. They have this relationship together. They're interacting together. They're trusting one another. They're seeking the Lord together. They're praying together. They're worshiping together. And now they usher him out to safety out the city wall. And from here, Saul goes from Damascus back to Jerusalem. So he makes the trek, another 147 miles or so.

He goes from Damascus. He goes to Jerusalem, verse 26. And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him and did not believe that he was a disciple. Notice what happens here in verse 26. What's the first thing that Saul does when he gets to Jerusalem? He tries to join the disciples because gathering together as believers is

is absolutely important. Can you imagine how difficult it might have been for Saul to walk into a gathering of believers there in Jerusalem? I mean, he was in Jerusalem where he wrecked havoc in the church and drove everybody out of Jerusalem except for the apostles. Now some time has passed, and so now there's a gathering of believers once again beyond just the 12 apostles. And

But this is where he, this was his hometown. This is where he destroyed so many lives. This is where he threw everybody out. This is where the core of it all, the core of his persecution was.

Perhaps there was people in Damascus that had been, you know, immediately affected and directly affected by Saul's persecution. But definitely in Jerusalem, there were people who were directly affected. Definitely in Jerusalem, he was interacting with friends and family of people that he had tortured, that he had persecuted, that he had perhaps executed. But what does he do when he gets to Jerusalem? He tried to join the disciples.

Gathering together is important. Even when it's difficult, even when you have reason to be ashamed, even when it's uncomfortable, we need one another. Now, Saul has this straight. He has it right in his mind. He needs to be part. He needs to be plugged in to the gathering of believers, but it doesn't go so well. The disciples are afraid of Saul. It says they didn't believe that he was a disciple.

So they thought he was faking it, maybe trying to spy them out, figure out who the leaders are so that he could really destroy the church this time, you know? So they're just thinking, oh, that's not a real conversion. He's just faking it. He's not really a believer. And so they don't let him in. Richard locks the door when he sees Saul walk up and he says, no, no, you can't come in. We don't believe that you are really a Christian. But then verse 27, but Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and

Barnabas went and told Richard, hey, open the door. It's okay. Let him in. And Barnabas says to the church, hey guys, Saul has seen the Lord. On the way to Damascus, the Lord appeared to him and he spoke to him.

And afterwards, Saul's been preaching boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. He's been preaching the gospel that we preach. Now, here's what I would ask you to consider. How did Barnabas know all this about Saul? I would suggest to you that Barnabas reached out to Saul and spent some time with him away from the group. The picture that I get from this passage, Saul tries to join, tries to come in. They won't let him. He's outside at the door knocking. They won't let him in.

Barnabas goes outside. Hey, Saul, let's take a walk. Tell me what's going on. Where are you at? What you've been through? Why are you here trying to join the church? Barnabas goes out of his way, risks his own neck to talk with the great persecutor of the church. He's a good example for us. I know we're looking at Saul and the pattern there, but again, the point's being we need to interact with other believers. Barnabas sets a good example for us. He's willing to personally spend time with Saul.

Even when it might not be appropriate for the whole group to accept him in, it is always appropriate for the Barnabas to go say, hey, let's go have lunch. Let's have a talk. What's going on in your life? What's the Lord saying? How are things going? He spent some time with Saul. He got to know him. And then he was able to come back and introduce him to the apostles. It's essential for us guys to interact with other believers.

to interact even with those who maybe collectively we would say, I don't think that person should be part of this. I'm a little bit uncomfortable with that idea. And yet it's still important for us to interact, to reach out, to go beyond our boundaries, to go beyond our comforts. And as you continue to look at Saul, Saul is led by Barnabas back. Again, just trying to put myself in Saul's shoes. I wonder if I would have went back with Barnabas.

I mean, okay, Barnabas, you want to hang out with me? That's cool. But, you know, I don't think I can go back to that church because they really rejected me pretty hard. And that was really painful. That was difficult. I don't think I can do it. But Saul didn't give up. He didn't come at the door and shout. You guys call yourselves Christians? What about forgiveness? What about love? No, he didn't give up. He didn't say, forget it. I'm just going to

Go off by myself. I didn't want to spend time with you anyways. No, he didn't because gathering together as believers is important even when it's difficult, even when it's painful, even when you have reason to be ashamed, even when it's uncomfortable.

Gathering together, interacting with one another, being joined together with other believers is an essential part of the Christian life, and we will never be the men and women of God that he's designed us to be without each other involved in our lives. Interact with other believers. Spend enough time with other believers that they care about you. Spend enough time with people that they care about you. Sometimes we get upset because people don't care about us, but

Although some people might be cold and callous and hard and, you know, they need to be rebuked. But, you know, we could also consider maybe they don't care about me because I haven't invested any time with them. I haven't invested enough time with them for them to care about me. We're not meant to be just Facebook friends and, you know, pew buddies. That's not all that we're designed to be as believers. But we're called to have real and deep and meaningful and ongoing and consistent and...

and constant relationship with one another, to care about one another. It takes time to develop this kind of relationship, to develop this kind of care. Part of that also is that you need to let other believers help you. Sometimes we're so proud, so full of pride that we don't let others in, and so they don't care about us because we've not let them in. We've not let them be part of our struggles. We've not let them pray along with us. Understand, again, picture Saul.

This would have been incredibly difficult and uncomfortable and painful. And if I was in Saul's shoes, everything in me would have been screaming, get out of here. Don't even attempt it anymore. Give up on trying to hang out. You can just be alone with Jesus. Look at those cool times in the desert we had and the scriptures. I don't need anybody else. But that's not the way that God has designed us. It is essential.

for us to interact with one another, to be part of each other's lives, to be part of each other's spiritual walk, and not just each other exclusively, but to reach out to the new person and bring them in and incorporate them into the group like Barnabas did with Saul. That's how we are to be as believers in Jesus. And that's part of God's preparation for us. We'll never be prepared if we don't interact with one another.

Well, for the final point, we're going to look at verses 28 through 31, and that is faithfully walk with God at home. If you want to be prepared for what God has for you, you want to be in the center of God's will and accomplish what God has set before you, faithfully walk with God at home. Now, as you look at these things, none of these are huge, earth-shattering, you know, truths that you've never heard before, right? But this is what it takes to be prepared for ministry, to be prepared for all that God has for you.

Preach the gospel immediately. Do the things that God has told you to do immediately. Have time alone with Jesus. Make sure you develop that relationship and hear from him and let him teach you everything that you need to believe and everything that you need to do, but still hold on to relationships with other believers and then live it out home. Verse 28, so he was going or so he was with them at Jerusalem coming in and going out.

And he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Hellenists, but they attempted to kill him. When the brethren found out, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him out to Tarsus. So Saul's there in Jerusalem. He becomes part of the church. But once again, there is some trouble brewing. He's with them at Jerusalem. He's coming in. He's going out. He was accepted into the church. He becomes part of the believers there. And he begins to reach out.

and share the gospel with the Jews in Jerusalem, specifically the Hellenists. These were the Jews who came from a Greek culture, a Greek background, like Stephen, like Philip. Remember, it was Stephen disputing with the Hellenists that brought about his execution by stoning.

Now Saul, who is part of that whole scene, holding the garments as these Hellenists stoned Stephen, Saul is now disputing with the Hellenists, kind of taking up the mantle of Stephen's ministry and bringing the truth, bringing the gospel to the Hellenists. But as he is attempting to reach out, it's a repeat of Damascus. He's boldly proclaiming they're not liking it, and so they attempt to kill Saul.

They plot, they plan, they're prepared to kill Saul. Verse 30, when the brethren found out, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him out to Tarsus. So once again, the believers get involved. He's interacted with them to such a degree, they care about him, they hear about this plot. They don't say, good, finally, you know, he's going to be out of the fellowship.

We don't have to see that guy no more. Let him kill him. He deserves it. You know, the Lord will judge him. You know, there's none of that. It's, he's built relationships. They had reason to care about him. And so they say, Saul, you need to get out of here. And so they go with him. It says they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him out to Tarsus.

We're going to protect you, Saul. We're going to be around you. We're going to surround you. And they go out from Jerusalem to Caesarea. Now, quick look at the geography before we finish making that point. So he originally went, that's the red arrow, up to Damascus. There he had an encounter with the Lord. Then he goes back to Jerusalem after they plot and plan to kill him. And he goes back to Jerusalem.

Then now there's a new plot here in Jerusalem. And so the purple arrow is the people, the disciples, taking Saul to Caesarea right there on the coast. They're saying, we want to protect you. We want to keep you safe. And so they went with him to Caesarea, and then they put him on a boat and send him north to Tarsus. Now the whole point here, faithfully walk with God at home, comes from this final location because Saul is from Tarsus.

So what they do here at this time is they send him home for his own protection, for his sake. They send him to his hometown. And so he goes to Tarsus and we will not hear from him again until Acts chapter 11. In Acts chapter 11, Barnabas is going to be doing some ministry up near Tarsus in a place called Antioch. And as he's ministering there in Antioch, he says, you know, Saul would be a perfect fit for this kind of ministry. And so he leaves Antioch. He goes to Tarsus and

and he finds Saul there, and he brings him back. So here in Acts chapter 9, Saul is sent to Tarsus, and then in Acts chapter 11, Saul is still in Tarsus. Now the gap of time between Acts chapter 9 and Acts chapter 11 is roughly about eight or nine years. So for eight or nine years, Saul is in Tarsus. Looking at the timeline a little bit, 36 AD, Saul is converted on the way to Damascus. He has that encounter with the Lord.

He goes to Jerusalem at about 39 AD because he was in Damascus, Andorabia for about three years. And then he's shipped out to Tarsus. And his first missionary journey being sent out from the church at Antioch is estimated to be about 48 AD. So notice the amount of time that is going by in all of this. From 36 to 48 AD, that's 12 or 13 years ago.

From Saul's conversion to his first missionary journey. He's had 12 or 13 years of just walking with God before he launches out into this new ministry, into this new thing that ultimately is going to be really his calling. And he hasn't written any New Testament letters up to this point. He's not done any, you know, amazing things. The only thing he's done is gotten in trouble and been rushed out of Damascus and out of Jerusalem.

And now he goes home and we don't hear, there's no revolt there. There's no revival there in Tarsus. It's that he goes home and he just faithfully walks with God for the next eight or nine years. He's out of the picture. He's out of the book of Acts. He's out of what we would consider, you know, the ministry. He's just there at home faithfully walking with God for the next eight or nine years. Verse 31 says,

Here Luke points out the primary leader of the persecution was Saul. He was taken out of the movement against Christians. And so the movement died down a little bit. And so now the churches have peace and are edified. But then notice what it says. Walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied.

Here's what I think is interesting about this. Here you have, again, as Billy Graham described Paul, the greatest Christian, you know, who ever lived. Effective minister, but he's benched for a decade. And what happens to the church? The church is multiplied. The believers are multiplied. Now, I would be looking at Saul's potential and saying, wow, we got to get him active. We got to get him in the work as soon as possible. I mean, man, put him to work because look at how much he could do.

But God's preparation takes a different route. He says, no, you just go home and live as a Christian man. Live the Christian life for the next eight or nine years. Just do that for a decade. Learn how to walk with me in the simple things, in the plain things, in the normal day-to-day life. That's part of my preparation for you for what's next. There's a common question for people who feel called into full-time ministry. And maybe you don't wrestle with this question. I don't know. Maybe you do.

But people wrestle with, well, should I get started in the work or should I go to school and be trained? But usually there's an urgency like, I don't know if I want to take the time. It's going to take me several years to go through Bible college and then, you know, start the work. And it just seems like, well, that's never going to happen. It seems like forever in our minds. And yet look at God's preparation here. His most effective tool in many ways. Now, I don't know if God would describe Paul that way, but from our perspective, we see, man, God used him greatly.

But God sits him on the bench and says, just live the Christian life at home for 10 years. That's the best preparation for you. And that's more effective. It's better than you just getting involved and doing stuff right now. You're not going to go on a missionary journey right now. You're not going to do that right now. No. What you need to do is just learn how to live out your Christian life. Live out a walk with God. Live out a relationship with Jesus.

Again, more important than what we can do for God is our own personal walk with God. And so to let God prepare you for ministry, faithfully walk with God at home. Understand that you are not ready until you are ready. And I don't mean that to say that, you know, you think you're convinced that you're ready, but until the work in you is done, you're not ready for the work that God wants to do through you. He has to do the work in you first.

So learn to be a man or woman of character. Have a real relationship with God. Have a real prayer life. Get to know God's word and live it out. And don't be discouraged if it isn't happening as fast as you want. Maybe God has you on the bench for a decade because he's doing the preparation. He's doing the work. Again, we tend to undervalue that time, that preparation. It seems like such a waste, but God doesn't see it as a waste at all.

It's exactly what's needed. It's exactly what he wants. Before Saul can become Paul, God had to take these 12 or 13 years to prepare him. And then even when he started, it wasn't that he was finished. God was continuing the work in him as he was on the mission field and the several trips that he took. But he was preparing him even just for that first missionary journey for 12 or 13 years. It's a good pattern for us.

It's not an exact formula, but it's a good pattern. Begin immediately right now preaching the gospel and doing the things that God has told you to do. Develop time alone with Jesus. Have real interaction with him. Have truths that you can hold on to that the Lord has revealed to you. Interact with other believers. You're not in this by yourself, but you need to have real people in your life that you encourage and minister to, and they encourage and minister to you that you love one another.

And then faithfully walk with God at home. Don't be the kind of Christian that puts on the Christian demeanor at church and then goes home and lives a different life. Faithfully live out the Christian life at home. Be the man and the woman that God has called you to be. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, as we consider these preparations, it is easy for us, God, to get impatient and to wish and to want and to desire things

for things to happen more quickly. But Lord, you are so patient and content to let your word develop in us the heart that we need to have, the mind that we need to have, the character, the love that needs to be there, the experience that we need to have of just walking with you and being a disciple of Jesus in the workplace and in the home and living out

the truths that you reveal to us. Lord, we need that experience. Help us not to belittle it, God, or to think less of it, or to be so impatient that we try to rush ahead of you or get discouraged and just quit altogether. Lord, you will be faithful to complete the work you began in us. So Lord, help us to trust you in that. Help us to allow you to do the preparation that you want to do in us. And that's not just sitting back and doing nothing, but that's in obeying you, in seeking you,

in purposefully interacting with other believers, and in seeking to live out the truths that you reveal in our personal life. Help us to do that, Lord, that we might be ready to be part of whatever you have in store for us. Lord, that we could glorify your name and be part of your eternal work. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

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