Paul's Hatred for Christians Leads to His Radical Conversion! - Acts 26

9 “I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10 And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the Lord’s people in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. 11 Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. I was so obsessed with persecuting them that I even hunted them down in foreign cities. 12 “On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. 13 About noon, King Agrippa, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. 14 We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic,[a] ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ 15 “Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “ ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. 16 ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. 17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

One of the greatest testimonies in the history of the Christian church is the apostle Paul.  The greatest reality of the truth of the Christian faith is a changed life.  The greatest proof of the historical nature of Jesus is Paul conversion story.  Why?  

Because Paul went from a "hater" of Christians, to the "apostle" who traveled the world and planted more churches in more parts of the world than anyone in the history of the church.  Paul was so zealous, he put many of the new Christians in prison, cast his vote to have them put to death, forced them to blaspheme, and even hunted them down in foreign cities.  Such was the case when he was traveling to Damascus to round up the Christians and bring them back for trial.  

But then something happened?  Paul met Jesus on the road.  Jesus appeared to Paul in a supernatural way and told him that it was he who Paul was persecuting.  When Paul punished a Christian, he was punishing Jesus himself.   In another version we know Paul was blinded by the light and heard the word from the Lord that he was to be an ambassador to his own people the Jews, and then to the Gentiles.  You can only imagine what Paul was thinking when Jesus told him he was going to reach the "dirty Gentiles".  Jews hated Gentiles and know Paul, the zealot for the Jewish faith, was going to bear witness to Jesus to them.  

What can we learn from this story?

1. Never count anyone out.  God can use any person, even a guy like Paul who hated Christians.  When Paul met Jesus his life radically changed and his last words about his impending death were, "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain."  Philippians 1:21

2. God can use us to reach people very different from us.  One of the great joys I have had in the last couple of years is getting to know and then baptizing some Persians from Iran who came to faith in Jesus.  I would have never thought that would happen.  Jesus' last words to his disciples in Matthew 28:19-20 were, "Go and make disciples of all NATIONS".  This meant all "people groups" or "cultures".  

3. The passion someone exhibits in a life opposed to God's purposes can be used by God for his purposes.  Some of the greatest evangelists of all time were far from God when they were converted. John Newton wrote the most well known hymnsof all time, "Amazing Grace".  This reflected John Newton's conversion.  Newton was serving in the Royal Navy on a slave trading ship in the Atlantic.  When the ship he was on was in such a severe storm that Newton thought he would perish, he called out to God and became a Christian.  Later, he became an Anglican priest and penned this hymn in 1773. These words put his experience in the proper perspective, "Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.  I once was lost but now I'm found, was blind but now I see!"

Friends God has saved us and called us to share the love of Christ with people of all nations starting right in our backyard!