Acts 9 - The road to Damascus

Speaker: Matt Hails

Notes

Background to Paul's life:

• Born as Saul, known also as Paul.

• Born in Tarsus, in the province of Cilicia (Acts 21:39;22:3).

• A Jew, from the tribe of Benjamin (Phil 3:5; Acts 21:39; Rom 11:1).

• A Roman citizen, from birth (Acts 22:25-29).

• Raised as a Pharisee (Acts 26:5; Phil 3:5).

• Trained in the law by Gamaliel (respected Pharisee and teacher of the law - Acts 5:34) in Jerusalem (Acts 22:3).

Book recommendation: "Paul A Novel" by Walter Wangerin Jnr.

There are 3 accounts of Paul's conversion: Acts 9, 22 and 26.

Paul was originally a vigorous opponent of the Christian faith (Acts 7:58; 8:1,3; 9:1-2,13,21; 26:11).

He had a very dramatic encounter with Jesus in a vision while on a journey to Damascus (Acts 9:3-6). This was a tremendously humbling and traumatic experience (Acts 9:7-9).

Paul's priority on having his sight restored was to be baptised, even before ending his fast. The decision that each of us makes in response to Jesus is the most important decision we'll ever make. Once you've heard the message of Jesus, you must decide whether to follow him or not. You can't sit on the fence forever.

Acts 9:20-22 shows what a dramatic turn around Paul made, from opposing Jesus to ardent follower. From his later life we see great effectiveness in doing what Jesus called him to, and a great resilience to circumstances (Phil 4:11 - 13). One important factor in this is that he put down deep roots during his time of conversion - demonstrating Luke 7:47, that deep gratitude and love for Jesus comes from accepting much forgiveness.

Paul's calling from Jesus is described in Acts 22:17-21. Despite his high-profile conversion, Jesus sent him to the Gentiles, who knew nothing of his pre-conversion life. God wants our obedience, not our help. (See also 1 Sam 15:22).

Application

N.B. Some of these questions are somewhat personal and confrontational. Be sensitive to the group and think about ways of asking them that will not require people to share things they don't feel comfortable doing. Perhaps split the group into 2s or 3s.

Read Acts 9:1 - 22.

What do you find most striking about Paul from the account of his conversion?

If you are a Christian: did you go through any sort of humbling experience during your conversion? If it's not too personal, tell the group more about it.

Do you feel you are sitting on the fence in terms of your response to Jesus? If so, what are you looking for before you will decide?

Do you feel you have "put down roots" in your Christian life? Is there anything in your past that you think is holding you back?

Have you been through a course or process similar to "Freedom in Christ"? (That might need some explaining ...) If it's not too personal, share with the group any experiences from that.

Are you facing a decision or decisions about your direction in life? Do you sense any conflict between what God may be asking you do to and your own preference? If you are not facing such a decision now, but have done in the past, tell others about your experience and what you did.

Posted: 18 Jan 2009