Acts 9-11; Proverbs 28
*Click here to read these passages:
There are a few people within these chapters that stand out to me
that I wanted to highlight.
~Saul (Paul) – We have already briefly been introduced to Saul in
chapter seven when Stephen was stoned.
“And Saul was there, giving approval to his death.” Saul was relentless in his
determination to see believers of Jesus arrested and even killed. He was on his way to the city of
Damascus with the sole purpose of arresting believers when Jesus stopped him in
his tracks. “Saul, Saul, why do
you persecute me?” The very one
whom Saul had believed so strongly against was speaking to him. And after meeting Jesus Saul went from
the biggest persecutor of believers to the biggest advocate for Jesus
Christ. God can turn anything and
anyone around.
~Ananias – Ananias is not a huge character in the Bible. We only get a few verses about him, but
what he did was really incredible and important. He is the one God tells to go and restore sight to Saul, who
had been struck blind when he met Jesus.
Can you imagine being in Ananias’ shoes? He knew Saul was the one hunting down Christians and yet God
is telling him to go find this guy and heal him? Saul was the last person he’d want to be in the same room
with much less minister to. “But
the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my
name …” Ananias had faith and
obeyed. We can definitely expect
the unexpected when following Jesus.
The last person we would choose is quite often the first one God
chooses.
~Peter – Of course, we already know Peter because he was with
Jesus the whole time, but here in Acts we see him in action, giving his life to
fulfilling what Jesus told them to do.
We know that Peter, as well as many of the apostles, performed
miracles. Being honest here that I
started wondering when reading about Peter healing Aeneas and bringing back
Dorcas (Tabitha) from the dead why we don’t have more miracles like this
today. I also wondered if Peter in
his mind hesitated at all before he said to Aeneas, “Jesus Christ heals
you. Get up” or before he said,
“Tabitha, get up.” Did he think,
“Is this really going to work?” Or
did he just completely unswervingly believe it would happen? I don’t know all the answers to my
questions on this today. I have
some thoughts that I will share at another time, but it is something to
continue thinking about.
~Barnabus – We’ll read more about Barnabus later, but I love the
brief introduction we get in Acts 11.
“He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great
number of people were brought to the Lord.” If I were being described in one sentence, I would love for
it to sound something like that.
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