Podcasts about Tarsus

Why are tents mentioned nearly 400 times in Sacred Scripture? Catholic author, speaker, and pilgrimage leader Steve Ray (catholicconvert.com) joins host Matt Swaim on The Son Rise Morning Show to explore the spiritual, historical, and practical significance of tents and tent-making in the Bible. Ray breaks down how the Israelites and God Himself dwelt in tents during the 40 years in the wilderness, how St. Paul crafted tents using the unique black goat's wool (cilicium) from his hometown of Tarsus, and the various biblical symbolic meanings of "tents"—from earthly tabernacles to human bodies. Stream now to listen!Support the show: https://www.sacredheartradio.com/donate-now/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rev. Cyril A. Stevens – Sermon 0254A recorded on November 23, 1980 teaching from Acts 9 – The Conversion of the Apostle Paul. Pastor Cyril A. Stevens examines on the conversion of the Apostle Paul as described in Acts 9. Stevens delves into the historical and cultural context surrounding Paul, then known as Saul of Tarsus,…

Listen to Bishop Doyle's sermon, "Feast Day of Theodore of Tarsus and Celebration of Rev. Amanda Kotval" held at All Saint's Episcopal Church, Fort Worth, TX. More at www.texasbishop.com

Sermon Outline: "The Throne Is Open for Business: Bold Access in an Unshaken Kingdom" I. John on Patmos: Shift in Perspective (Revelation 4:1–2) The Reality of Hard Places: John went from witnessing Christ's earthly miracles to facing exile, solitary confinement, and hard labour in the rock quarry of Patmos (00:58:10). Looking Up Above Circumstances: In the middle of hard realities, John looked up and saw an open door in heaven. Believers must shift from horizontal focus (earthly struggles) to vertical focus (heavenly throne) (01:00:55, Colossians 3:1–3). An Unshaken & Occupied Throne: The heavenly throne is unmovable, untouchable, and sovereign. God is actively seated on the throne, in total control regardless of world events or personal crises (01:05:33). II. Yom Kippur & The Torn Veil (Hebrews 4:14–16; 10:19–22) The Significance of Yom Kippur: Preached on the exact day of Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), highlighting the transition from the restrictive Old Covenant tabernacle to the limitless access bought by Christ (01:15:38). Access Granted at Calvary: The Old Covenant veil declared "keep out," but when Jesus died, the veil tore from top to bottom (God reaching down to man), granting permanent, bold access to the Most Holy Place (01:23:09, Matthew 27:50–51). The Superiority of Christ's Blood: Unlike the annual blood of bulls and goats that served as a yearly reminder of sin, Jesus' precious blood washed sin away permanently (01:18:20). III. Approaching the Throne of Grace Mercy vs. Grace: Mercy handles yesterday (what we have done wrong) (01:24:25). Grace meets us today (supplying power for what we cannot handle) (01:24:25). Never Treating the Blood as Common: We treat Christ's blood as common/unholy when we refuse to forgive ourselves, dig up past forgiven sins, or claim our situation is beyond redemption (01:29:47, Hebrews 10:26–29). Examples of Radical Atonement: If God could redeem Mary Magdalene, the Gadarene demoniac, Peter (after his betrayal), and Saul of Tarsus (a murderer), there is no pit or person beyond the reach of Christ's redeeming blood (01:31:33). Scripture Index Revelation 4:1–2 > "After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven... Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne." (00:56:31) Hebrews 4:14–16 > "Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God... Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." (00:57:13, 01:13:45) Colossians 3:1–3 > "If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth." (01:04:13) Revelation 3:20 > "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him..." (01:02:00) Psalm 103:19 > "The Lord has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all." (01:11:11) Revelation 4:11 > "You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created." (01:12:05) Matthew 27:50–51 > "And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom..." (01:23:09) Hebrews 10:18–22 > "Having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh..." (01:19:51) Hebrews 10:29 > "...who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?" (01:29:47) Revelation 5:5, 9–10 > "Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed... You are worthy to take the scroll... for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood..." (01:35:10) "Thanks for listening! For more information, visit churchoftheharvest.com. Don't forget to follow us on Facebook and YouTube @cothcleveland.

Trinity Anglican Seminary is built on the same daily prayer rhythms you practice every time you hit play. Morning Prayer. Evening Prayer. Weekly Eucharist. Chapel and classroom aren't two separate worlds at Trinity. Whether you're pursuing a degree or exploring a certificate in Anglican studies, Trinity is a place to be formed in community, through study and prayer. Learn more at tas.edu/dailyoffice.Morning Prayer for Saturday, September 19, 2026 (Ember Day [Autumn Saturday]; Proper 19; Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury, 690).Psalm and Scripture readings (60-day Psalter):Psalm 501 Kings 10Hebrews 9:15-28Click here to support The Daily Office Podcast with a one-time gift or a recurring donation.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Click here to access the text for the Daily Office at DailyOffice2019.com.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Trinity Anglican Seminary is built on the same daily prayer rhythms you practice every time you hit play. Morning Prayer. Evening Prayer. Weekly Eucharist. Chapel and classroom aren't two separate worlds at Trinity. Whether you're pursuing a degree or exploring a certificate in Anglican studies, Trinity is a place to be formed in community, through study and prayer. Learn more at tas.edu/dailyoffice.Evening Prayer for Saturday, September 19, 2026 (Ember Day [Autumn Saturday]; Eve of Proper 20; Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury, 690).Psalm and Scripture readings (60-day Psalter):Psalm 51Haggai 1Matthew 14Click here to support The Daily Office Podcast with a one-time gift or a recurring donation.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Click here to access the text for the Daily Office at DailyOffice2019.com.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

“So God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today. God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted: ‘Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts.’” (Hebrews 4:7 NLT) An attorney was trying to deliver an important paper to a man who was determined to avoid him. The man reasoned that the attorney had some type of subpoena, so he went out of his way to dodge him. Fourteen years passed, and the man finally found himself in the hospital, dying of cancer. Through a strange series of events, the attorney was admitted to the hospital and was assigned to the same room as the dying man. The man turned to the attorney and said, “Well, you never got me. I’ve escaped you all this time, and now it doesn’t matter. You can even serve your subpoena. I don’t care.” The lawyer replied, “Subpoena? I was trying to give you a document that proved you had inherited forty-five million dollars!” Many people go out of their way to avoid Christians and the opportunity to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. All the while, their hearts grow harder, and they risk becoming increasingly calloused to the gospel. Scripture gives sober warnings about hardening our hearts, but from our perspective, we don’t know when someone has reached that point. Maybe you know someone who seems completely closed off to the gospel. We can take heart when we look at the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. It was so radical and unexpected that when it happened, first-century Christians thought he was attempting to infiltrate their ranks and persecute the church even further. They didn’t believe that God could save someone as wicked and hostile toward the church as Saul. They couldn’t wrap their minds around a change of that magnitude. But we know that Saul became Paul the apostle. Hebrews 4:7 says, “So God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today. God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted: ‘Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts’” (NLT). That’s a warning some people will ignore ninety-nine times out of a hundred. But that one time is all it takes. Circumstances have a way of lowering people’s defenses. Seeing the difference a relationship with Christ makes in people’s lives, in good times and in bad, can speak powerfully to a person. Sometimes the right phrase, spoken at the right time by the right person, can resonate in a life-changing way. If you know someone who seems too far gone and permanently hardened toward the gospel, keep praying. Keep being present. Keep setting an example of the Christian faith at work. Be prepared to answer questions and respond to challenges in a loving, thoughtful way. Remember, even the hardest heart can be softened. You never know—the hard-hearted person you’re trying to reach just might be the next Paul. Reflection question: How can you reach out to someone in your life whose heart is hardened to the gospel message? Discuss Today's Devo in Harvest Discipleship! — The audio production of the podcast "Greg Laurie: Daily Devotions" utilizes Generative AI technology. This allows us to deliver consistent, high-quality content while preserving Harvest's mission to "know God and make Him known." All devotional content is written and owned by Pastor Greg Laurie. Listen to the Greg Laurie Podcast Become a Harvest PartnerSupport the show: https://harvest.org/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

9:10 And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. 9:11 And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth, 9:12 And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight. 9:13 Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem: 9:14 And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name. 9:15 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: 9:16 For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.

Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and to him the Lord said in a vision, "Ananias." And he said, "Here I am, Lord." 11 So the Lord said to him, "Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying. 12 And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight." 13 Then Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. 14 And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name." 15 But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. 16 For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name's sake." 17 And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." 18 Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized. 19 So when he had received food, he was strengthened. Then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus.

Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and to him the Lord said in a vision, "Ananias." And he said, "Here I am, Lord." 11 So the Lord said to him, "Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying. 12 And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight." 13 Then Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. 14 And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name." 15 But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. 16 For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name's sake." 17 And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." 18 Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized. 19 So when he had received food, he was strengthened. Then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus.

Today, I want to direct our attention to a pivotal turning point in Scripture: Acts chapter 8. Up to this point in the Book of Acts, Peter and John have held centre stage, proclaiming Christ with bold authority throughout Jerusalem. But as chapter 8 opens, the narrative shifts sharply under the shadow of intense hostility, introducing a man named Saul. Acts 8 begins with a sombre marker: Saul was consenting to the death of Stephen. Stephen, a spirit-filled leader whose martyrdom closes chapter 7, looked steadfastly into heaven, saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and prayed for his executioners with his dying breath: "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." Watching over the coats of the executioners stood Saul – a brilliant Pharisee trained under Gamaliel, born in Tarsus with Roman citizenship, and violently opposed to the Gospel. Following Stephen's death, a great persecution erupted against the church in Jerusalem. Verse 3 tells us, Saul "made havoc of the church," dragging men and women from their homes into prison. Yet, what the enemy intended for destruction, God used as an engine for expansion. The believers scattered across Judea and Samaria – while the apostles remained in Jerusalem – and verse 4 records the astonishing result: those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. They refused to be silenced. Persecution did not extinguish the message; it dispersed the fire. Out of this scattering, another leader steps into the light: Philip. He travelled down to Samaria and proclaimed Christ. The crowds listened intently, not only hearing his words but witnessing the undeniable demonstration of God's power. Unclean spirits were cast out, the paralysed were healed, and the lame walked. From the ministry of Jesus – attested by signs and wonders – to the early church, the Gospel was never merely a philosophy; it was validated by the tangible power of God. Philip's ministry in Samaria challenges us deeply today: we cannot settle for mere words when the true witness of the Gospel has always been the power of God in action. Watch the YouTube version: https://youtu.be/EaTZNbJUyZ0  For more information on the Ministry of David Hathaway http://www.eurovision.org.uk 

Turgut Altuğ 1965'te Tarsus'ta doğdu; tarım işçisi bir ailenin dokuz çocuğundan biri. Ankara'da siyaset bilimi, İzmir'de ziraat okudu ve 1992'de, 27 yaşında Almanya'ya geldi. Bonn'da yüksek lisans yaptı, 2002'de Hohenheim Üniversitesi'nde Bolivya And Vadileri'ndeki Criollo keçileri üzerine doktorasını tamamladı. 2009'da Kreuzberg'de Türkisch-Deutsches Umweltzentrum'u kurdu. Almanya'nın göçmenlere yönelik ilk çevre örgütü. 2011'den bu yana Berlin Eyalet Parlamentosu'nda milletvekili; uzun yıllar Yeşiller'de doğa koruma, çevre eğitimi ve gıda politikaları sözcülüğü yaptı, 2025 sonunda partisinden ayrılarak SPD grubuna katıldı. 20 Eylül'deki seçimlerde aday değil; 15 yılın ardından aktif siyasete veda ediyor. Hayatını anlattığı kitabı geçen hafta çıktı. Turgut Altuğ ile sunucumuz Gökçe Göksu sohbet etti. Von Gökçe Göksu und Elmas Topcu.

August 19, 2026 - Wednesday Bible Class   In this episode Kevin leads an in-depth study of Saul, later known as Paul, tracing his life from a well-educated Pharisee and Roman citizen in Tarsus to one of the most influential apostles and church planters in New Testament history. Mentioned participants include Neal and Hiram (who had led related studies) and class attendees who contribute questions and observations throughout the session. Topics covered include Paul's dual names and background (Hebrew Saul, Greek Paul), his education under Gamaliel, his trade as a tentmaker, early persecution of the church, and the dramatic Damascus road conversion. The episode examines Paul's apostleship and authority (1 Corinthians, Galatians), his extensive New Testament authorship, and the debated authorship of Hebrews. It also explores his personal struggles — the “thorn in the flesh” (possible eyesight or speech issues), his visions and being caught up to the third heaven (2 Corinthians 12), and how these experiences shaped his ministry. Kevin draws parallels between Paul and Moses — privileged upbringing, direct encounters with God, investment in successors (Timothy vs. Joshua), and untimely death — and reviews practical lessons from Paul's life: zeal alone does not guarantee truth; be willing to accept the truth and change; do not let circumstances (singleness, imprisonment, opposition) stop gospel work; and rejoice whenever Christ is preached, even if motives are mixed (Philippians 1). Key scripture references discussed include Acts, Galatians, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Hebrews, Philippians, and Deuteronomy. Listeners can expect a mix of biblical exposition, historical context, textual references, classroom interaction, and practical application — aiming to refresh familiar material and surface new insights into Paul's character, ministry, and the lessons his life offers for faithful Christian service today.   Duration 39:07

What God has Made Clean Acts 9:32-10:23 by William Klock Back in 2012 Barack Obama, in what became something of an infamous campaign speech, told business owners, “You didn't build that.”  His point was that private business relies on public infrastructure, but most people just heard him dismissing their hard work as irrelevant to the businesses they had built.  It wasn't a good campaign move.  But that line keeps coming back to my mind as I read the closing verses of Act 9.  Amazing things were happening in the church.  The apostles were doing amazing things.  The church was growing by leaps and bounds.  And in the middle of it all, Luke says, “You didn't build that.  Jesus did.” You might remember back to when we first started out look at Acts and I said that even though we call the book “the Acts of the Apostles,” what Luke really makes clear throughout is that this is really about the acts of Jesus—picking up where the Gospel left off.  It's just that now Jesus is working indirectly through his people.  We—and I can say that especially pastors—need this reminder.  When we look at the church, when we're tempted to take credit for the things we see happening, Luke reminds us: “You didn't build that.  Jesus did.”  Brothers and Sisters, the glory—all of it—belongs to God and this long story of God and his people, of Israel and the church that continues today has one purpose and one purpose alone: to reveal God's glory. Now,most of Chapter 9 was about Saul of Tarsus and his encounter with Jesus.  That's going to be important.  But first Luke brings us back to Peter.  We'll pick up with 9:32 [page 1091 in the pew Bibles]: “As Peter was going through various places among all the believers, he went down to God's people who lived in Lydda.  There he found a paralyzed man named Aeneas who had been confined to bed for eight years. “Aeneas,” Peter said to him, “Jesus the Messiah heals you!  Stand up and fold up your bed!”  And at once he stood up.  Everyone who lived at Lydda and Sharon saw it, and they turned to the Lord. In Joppa [today it's Jaffa not too far from Tel Aviv] there was a disciple named Tabitha, whose name translates as Dorcas.  She was full of good works and generous deeds.  Around that time she fell ill and died.  They washed her and laid her in an upper room.  Lydda is near Joppa, and the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him with the urgent request that he shouldn't delay, but come to them at once.  So Peter got up and went with them. When he arrived, they took him to the upper room, where all the widows were weeping. They showed him the tunics and the other clothes that Dorcas had made while she was with them.  Peter requested them all to leave.  Then he knelt down and prayed, and turned to the body.  “Tabitha,” he said, “get up!”  She opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up.  He gave her his hand and lifted her up. Then he called God's people, including the widows, and presented her alive.  This became known throughout the whole of Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.  Peter stayed on in Joppa for some days, at the house of Simon the tanner.” I don't want to spend too much time on this interlude.  Surely there were other wonderful things happening, but Luke focuses us on Peter and the healing of Aeneas and the raising of Dorcas and in them he gives a sense of the church's growth through Judaea.  Dorcas is interesting, because she seems to have lived in a community of widows—and we know that was one group, one demographic where the gospel spread early on—to a group of women living with poverty and grief.  Jesus was good news.  But I think Luke's key point in these verses is in the words of Peter when he told Aeneas to get up: “Jesus the Messiah heals you!”  Not just, “Get up.”  Not, “I've healed you.”  “Jesus the Messiah heals you.”  Peter knew who was at work.  Jesus—and the Spirit—are behind everything we do as the church.  And we need to be reminded of this sometimes.  Sometimes when we're tempted to take the credit for things.  Sometimes when we get frustrated with a lack of things happening or with what seems like too slow a pace and we wish bigger things would happen faster in the church.  Brothers and Sisters, it's Jesus' church, not ours.  He's the one who makes things happen.  If Saul's conversion isn't proof of that, then nothing is.  Trust Jesus.  Wait on Jesus.  Give Jesus the credit. And then there's one other detail here.  Peter's staying at the home of Simon the Tanner.  This says something about who the first Christians were.  Tanning was dirty, smelly work.  It didn't necessarily make you unclean as people used to think, but it was nasty work and it put tanners on the social fringe of society.  But Peter doesn't shrink from Simon's hospitality.  He stays at his house, even though it probably stinks to high heaven.  Most people would think he was crazy, but Brothers and Sisters, this is what the gospel does.  It makes people of unlikely—and even unsavoury backgrounds—family. Now, Luke goes on in 10:1.  “In Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion with the cohort called the Italian.”  He was devout, and he and all his household revered God. He gave alms generously to the people, and constantly prayed to God.” As Twenty-first century Christians we might miss how significant these two verses are.  Luke says that there's a centurion named Cornelius at Caesara.  Caesarea was the main Roman base in Judaea.  It was a port city built by Herod the Great to funnel all the shipping into one place to make it easier for him to tax.  But it was also the home of the Roman governor.  It wasn't a backwater.  It was a significant outpost of the Roman Empire and a centurion stationed there—a centurion was the commander of a unit of one hundred soldiers—he had some status.  Cornelius had the respect of his Roman superiors.  But then Luke says that he was “devout”—eusebes.  He was godly, pious, and reverent, not in a vague religious sense, but towards the God of Israel.  He was generous with his money so far as the local Jewish community was concerned, and he was constant in his prayer, again, to the God of Israel. That wasn't unheard of, but it was unusual.  I've said before, there was this group of people, gentiles, pagan in their background, whom the Jews called “God-fearers”.  They were attracted to the God of Israel, to the purity of Jewish life, and to the community they saw there.  Remember, pagan life in the pre-Christian world was mean and brutal and merciless.  The gods were mean and brutal and merciless too—along with being unknowable and fickle.  Sexual immorality was everywhere.  Women and slaves existed to satisfy the desires of men.  In the upper classes, boys were initiated into adulthood through sex with older men.  Marriage was pragmatic and divorce was common.  So were abortion and infanticide.  When you look around the world today and you see the darkness and the brokenness around you and know in your bones that this is not how God meant for things to be, the pre-Christian pagan world was much, much worse.  And for all of Israel's failings, she still stood out as a light in the darkness.  And a lot of the pagans, seeing that, mocked Israel.  But some were drawn to it.  They didn't go all the way.  They had their reasons.  A centurion like Cornelius, for example, would probably have to give up his career—or would be forced out of it—if he was circumcised and chose to live by torah.   So it's interesting—because the progression of the story in Acts will eventually lead us with Paul to Rome.  And it sort of starts here, although it starts with Peter.  And the first Roman we meet breaks all the stereotypes.  He wasn't one of those soldiers who took pleasure in abusing the local Jewish people.  He wasn't one of those Romans doing unspeakable things at the bathhouse.  Caesarea had a huge temple—built by Herod!—a huge temple to the goddess Roma and to Caesar Augustus.  And I can imagine Cornelius going there and going through the motions for his job, but he wasn't the sort to otherwise frequent the pagan temples.  He's a little like Jesus' good Samaritan.  He's supposed to be the enemy.  Everyone wants him to be the enemy.  Everyone wants to hate him.  But he's actually a good guy and even the Jews in his community grow to respect him. So, Luke goes on in verse 3: Cornelius ‘had a vision.  Around three o'clock in the afternoon he saw, quite clearly, one of God's angels coming to him. “Cornelius!” said the angel.  He looked hard at him, terrified.  “What is it, Lord?” he said.  “Your prayers and your alms have come to God's notice,” said the angel.  “What you must do is this.  Send men to Joppa, and ask for someone called Simon, surnamed Peter.  He is staying with a man called Simon, a tanner, whose house is beside the sea.”  When the angel who had spoken with him went away, he called two of his household and a devout soldier from among his retinue.  He explained everything to them, and sent them off to Joppa.” So God's obviously been working in Cornelius for a while now and he's been doing it through his people and their witness.  This why God created a special people.  And Cornelius has been hearing the scriptures—probably in the local synagogue.  But that's not enough.  I mean, even as far at the old covenant went, that wasn't enough.  He wasn't circumcised.  He didn't live according to torah—except maybe in a few ways easy for a gentile to do.  He'd never taken part in Passover.  He couldn't enter the temple.  He was drawn to God, but he was still far away.  He could see the hope that Israel embodied, but it wasn't his hope.  But even life on the fringe of Israel, even life looking towards a God he couldn't actually approach, was better than pagan life.  And this sets things up for where the gospel is going to go and how it's going to challenge the church.  Because up until this point, the gospel, Jesus were still very much a Jewish thing.  To be a Christians was to continue to be a Jew, but to be a Jew living in the fulfilment of the covenant and of God's promises to you and to your people.  But—this is key to the book of Acts—for those promises to be fulfilled also meant that Israel's calling to be a light to the nations, to make God known amongst them, to set them to rights had to be fulfilled.  And bringing gentiles to fringes of the people of God, to make them attracted to the family, but to leave them still outside—that wasn't fulfilment of God's promises.  It anticipated the fulfilment, but somehow the new people of God and the Spirit had to fully incorporate the nations. But up to this point, it seems like those first Christians—pretty much all Jews except for the Samaritans—who were like quasi-Jews—and the Ethiopian eunuch, whom at this point they may not have even known about yet—the idea of Jesus bringing the nations under his rule through the gospel, it doesn't really seem to have been on the radar.  That was the part of the promises that Israel had kind of forgotten—and when they did remember it, they thought of it mostly in terms of God coming on the gentiles and their kings in judgement to rain down his wrath—not his mercy and grace.  And, well, those first Jewish Christians also had plenty on their plate already just proclaiming the gospel in Jerusalem and Judaea.  So, again, it's God who moves things forward—just as he'd done with the Samaritans. And angel appears to Cornelius.  Send for Peter in Joffa.  And so Cornelius chooses two of his servants and one of his soldiers who is also a God-fearer to fetch Peter.  I had to pause there for a bit, because it sounds like Cornelius is devout enough that he's been sort of an evangelist for Judaism even though he isn't even a Jew.  That's pretty remarkable. Now, verse 9, Luke takes us about fifty kilometres down the coast, to Joppa and to Peter: “The next day, as they were on their journey and getting near the town, Peter went up onto the roof of the house to pray.  It was around midday; he was hungry, and asked for something to eat.  While they were preparing it, he fell into a trance.  He saw heaven opened, and a vessel like a great sail coming down toward the earth, suspended by its four corners.  In the sail there was every kind of four-footed creature, reptiles of the earth and birds of the air.' So it starts out pretty ordinary: Peter's hungry and while he's waiting for his lunch he falls asleep and dreams about a banquet coming down from heaven.  But then he looks at what's on this great linen picnic cloth and there's everything.  Clean animals good for food, but also forbidden unclean animals.  He's perplexed.  Why would he dream about eating unclean things.  That's gross.  ‘Then he heard a voice: “Get up, Peter!” said the voice. “Kill and eat!” “Certainly not, Lord!” said Peter. “I've never eaten anything common or unclean!”  Peter was a good Jew.  He lived by torah.  Diet—along with circumcision and keeping the sabbath—were the big things that marked out the Jews from everyone else.  God had chosen Israel, he'd rescued them from Egypt, he'd set them apart, he'd come to live in their midst, and he'd given them his law to set them apart from the nations—to be a holy people.  And out of gratitude for the Lord's grace—not to earn anything, but out of gratitude—they did their best to be obedient.  It was their way of being faithful in response to the Lord's faithfulness.  For the Lord to tell Peter to eat, say, a pig, well, he might just as well have told him to break the Sabbath or to go worship at a pagan temple.  To break the law was to break faith with the God of Israel.  Peter was shocked.  He was confused.  Was this really the Lord speaking?  Verse 15: “What God has made clean,” said the voice, coming now for a second time, “you must not regard as common.”  And just to make a point, verse 16: ‘This all happened three times, and then suddenly the sail was whisked back up to heaven.' Luke writes, ‘When Peter came to himself, he was puzzled as to what the vision he had seen was all about.'  No kidding.  I bet he was confused.  Why would the Lord tell him that something clearly unclean isn't actually unclean.  Had God changed his mind?  I don't think Peter would go in that direction.  He knew as well as anyone that God doesn't change his mind like that.  We'll get back to that in a bit.  I expect Peter started thinking about all those times he was with Jesus and Jesus did something that seemed like it was against torah, but then showed how God was doing something new, how God was fulfilling what torah had always been pointing toward.  But before he had time to work it all through, Luke says, ‘Suddenly, the men sent by Cornelius appeared, standing by the gate. They had been asking for Simon's house, inquiring if someone by the name of Simon called Peter was staying there.  Peter was still pondering the vision when the Spirit spoke to him. “Look,” said the spirit. “There are three men searching for you.  It's all right; get up, go down, and go with them. Don't be prejudiced; I have sent them.”  So Peter went down to the men. “Here I am,” he said. “I'm the one you're looking for.  Why have you come?” “There is a man called Cornelius,” they replied. “He is a centurion, and he's a righteous and God-fearing man. The whole people of the Jews will testify to him.  A holy angel told him in a vision to send for you to come to his house, so that he can hear any words you may have to say.”  So he invited them in and put them up for the night.” When he met the soldiers at the door everything started to make sense.  It wasn't about the food.  The Lord didn't care what Peter ate.  Peter could never eat a nice bacon-wrapped shrimp—and the Lord would be sad for him missing out on the wonder of a bacon-wrapped shrimp—but it was no moral failure on Peter's part.  It wasn't about food; it was about people.  If we put ourselves in Peter's shoes, a first century Jewish fisherman, it makes sense.  Because for someone like him, it wasn't just what you ate, it was just as much who you ate with.  Jews didn't eat with gentiles.  They didn't even go into their houses.  Because even if a gentile wasn't serving you obviously unclean food, like a shrimp or a porkchop, you never knew where that food might have come from.  It might be meat that was offered to an idol and bought from the butcher shop behind the temple.  In the Jewish mind, gentile homes always ran the risk of corpse defilement.  The gentiles didn't take the same care with their dead that the Jews did, plus they aborted their infants and threw them in the privy.  Who knows how you might find yourself defiled if you consorted with gentiles or ate their food.  And to let yourself be defiled that way, well, it was to dishonour God.  Even a God-fearer like Cornelius.  A soldier? He was probably regularly defiled by corpses.  He ate bacon.  Even if he didn't really worship them, he spent time around idols.  If you were a Roman soldier there was no escaping it. And I can easily picture Peter, meeting Cornelius' God-fearing men at the door and, even though he hasn't had a chance to work it all through, something clicks.  Again, it wasn't actually about the food.  It was about people.  In the Jewish mind, these men were pigs: unclean, idolaters.  But God had told him: “Don't be prejudiced against these men.  I've sent them.”  And so he let them into the house.  I expect there was more to it than Luke tells us.  Peter hadn't had a chance to tell any of this to his hosts.  It's not hard to image their, “But…um…Peter…uh…what are you doing…not in my house.”  And in those days, to welcome someone into your house was to offer them hospitality.  His host had just made Peter lunch and now Peter's going to invite these unclean Romans to sit and share it with him.  This went against everything.  But the Lord had been clear: “Don't be prejudiced against them.  Do not call common what I have made clean.”  It'll take a bit for Peter to work the implications of this all the way through, but he knew what to do and I'm sure he was already starting to wrap his head around what the Lord was doing. You see, our problem is this.  Because of the secular thinking that's been ingrained into us, when we hear the Lord say not to be prejudiced and not to call common what he has made clean, our first thought is something like “God changed his mind”  or maybe we're thinking something like, “Good, it was about time God set those prejudiced Jews straight”—as if their keeping apart from gentiles was wrong.  In our culture, the default view is that all religion are the same.  We rankle at the idea that a person's religious views might be wrong.  I've pointed out before that, first, this modern idea of “religion” didn't exist in the First Century.  But the bigger mistake we make is to think that there was something wrong with the law, with torah, with the way Jews kept themselves apart.  And that's not it at all.  If that's what we're thinking, then we're the ones with a prejudice that needs to be removed. Brothers and Sisters, the law was good.  The law was God's gift to his people—and through them to the nations.  When God tells Peter not to call common what he has made clean, it's really important that we hear this properly, because I think we're prone to misreading this as God saying, “You've mistakenly called common what I've called clean”—as if Leviticus and the rest of torah were a mistake.  No.  Cornelius, Romans, gentiles, pagan idolaters were unclean.  They are still unclean today.  The law hasn't changed.  What's changed is that Jesus has shed his blood to purify, to wash clean—not just his own people, Israel, but every last one of us, Jew and gentiles alike.  If we will hear the good news that he has died, that he has risen, and that he is Lord; if we have heard the good news that his blood washes away our sin and our idolatry and the stain of death; if we have heard the good news that he is setting this broken world to rights; if we have heard the good news that in his Spirit, God is fulfilling his promise to build a new temple and to dwell with is people; if we have heard this good news and believed, we are no longer unclean.  Jesus washes away our sin, he washes away our idolatry, he fills us with God's Spirit.  Jew and gentile alike, and he makes us holy. God didn't change his mind.  He didn't retract his previous word.  I can remember once as a young kid in a parking lot, getting distracted, dawdling, and getting left behind when my mom crossed a busy thoroughfare.  Being a kid, blind to traffic, I was just going to run across to catch up with my mom.  But she noticed what had happened and she yelled at me to stay put.  It sticks in my mind, because a complete stranger, seeing what was happening, grabbed my shoulder and held me there when I was about to run.  A moment later Mom told me to come to her, to run across that busy thoroughfare.  And it wasn't that she changed her mind.  Something else changed.  She told me to stay put the first time, because there was a car coming and she didn't want me to run into its path.  But then the car was gone.  It was safe to run to her.  And just so with the law and the gospel.  The law kept Isreal holy so that she could live in God's presence.  The law kept gentiles away, because it's not safe for what is impure, what is sinful, what is unclean to be in the presence of holiness.  Brothers and Sisters, that hasn't changed.  Not one bit.  What has changed is that Jesus, through his death and resurrection, has made a way for us to be washed from the stain of sin and death, to be purified from our idolatry, and to be made holy.  So holy, in fact, that God fills us with his own Spirit and makes us his temple. And that's what God was communicating to Peter that day.  Peter already understood all of that.  He knew that the church, that Jesus' people, filled with the Spirit were the fulfilment of God's promise to return to his people, to rebuild his temple, and to live with them.  But this was the day that God started to show his people: the blood of Jesus and the life of the Spirit weren't just for Jews.  In fact, to fulfil his promises, this new life was also for the gentiles.  Jesus' blood can wash them—can wash us—just as clean.  And in that God reveals his faithfulness and his glory.  And it is his glory, above all, that draws men and women to him in faith.  Just like Cornelius. This is only half the story here in Acts.  I'm already going long.  We'll finish it next week.  But this is the takeaway.  Not so much something you can do, but something you need to know, to understand, so that you can see the glory of God better.  He doesn't change his mind.  In the law, he didn't give Israel something bad that he later had to revoke.  It's all part of the story of God and his people and his redemption of humanity and all of creation.  It's a progressive revelation of himself through promise and fulfilment and at each step of the way, as we see God's goodness, his love, his faithfulness, his glory is ever more revealed.  That's is, I think, how we should think of “law and gospel”.  There's been a lot in the history of the church that has mucked that up, but think on Peter and Cornelius this week—maybe go home and at some point read the rest of the story in preparation for next week—and see the goodness and faithfulness of God—and give him glory.  And as you do, do so in joyful anticipation, knowing that one day, through our witness, through our proclamation of Jesus, the knowledge of that glory will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. Let's pray: Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us the gifts of faith, hope, and love; and, that we may obtain what you promise, make us love what you command; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Acts 21:37-40 English Standard Version Paul Speaks to the People 37 As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the tribune, “May I say something to you?” And he said, “Do you know Greek?38 Are you not the Egyptian, then, who recently stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the Assassins out into the wilderness?”39 Paul replied, “I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no obscure city. I beg you, permit me to speak to the people.” 40 And when he had given him permission, Paul, standing on the steps, motioned with his hand to the people. And when there was a great hush, he addressed them in the Hebrew language, saying: Acts 22:22-30 English Standard Version Paul and the Roman Tribune 22 Up to this word they listened to him. Then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live.” 23 And as they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, 24 the tribune ordered him to be brought into the barracks, saying that he should be examined by flogging, to find out why they were shouting against him like this. 25 But when they had stretched him out for the whips, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, “Is it lawful for you to flog a man who is a Roman citizen and uncondemned?” 26 When the centurion heard this, he went to the tribune and said to him, “What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman citizen.” 27 So the tribune came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” And he said, “Yes.” 28 The tribune answered, “I bought this citizenship for a large sum.” Paul said, “But I am a citizen by birth.” 29 So those who were about to examine him withdrew from him immediately, and the tribune also was afraid, for he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had bound him. Paul Before the Council 30 But on the next day, desiring to know the real reason why he was being accused by the Jews, he unbound him and commanded the chief priests and all the council to meet, and he brought Paul down and set him before them. English Standard Version (ESV) The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.

On the Road to Damascus Acts 9:1-31 by William Klock When I was a sophomore in University I took the first of several art history courses, where I discovered—I should say it was more like I was confronted by—Caravaggio's famous painting of the conversion of St. Paul: Paul fallen from his horse, hands covering his face, his servants scrambling to figure out what's going on and to help him, everything in darkness—except Paul, bathed in heavenly light.  I'd read Act 9 who knows how many times before then.  But seeing Caravaggio's interpretation of that scene suddenly piqued my curiosity—made me wonder what really happened to Paul that day, what did he actually see, and why did it make such a powerful change in him.  Paul, that day, became for me—I suppose after Jesus—the most intriguing character in the Bible and I wanted to figure him out, to understand him—I think, because I wanted a faith of my own like Paul's, because I wanted to know the same kind of transformation, the same kind of passion, that Paul had after meeting the risen Messiah. And one of the things I came to realise is that Paul's passion, his zeal didn't start when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus.  Actually, let's call him “Saul” for now, because that's where he's at in Acts 9.  Saul's zeal was already there: for the God of Israel, for righteousness and justice, for the world to be set to rights.  He truly hoped in the God of Israel, whom he knew to be good, and just, and faithful to the promises he'd made to his people.  That was what it meant to be a Pharisee.  Paul knew that his people had sinned, they had been unfaithful, they had engaged in idolatry.  They had ceased to be a holy people, so the Lord departed from them.  His presence—the cloud of glory—departed from the temple and then the people were conquered and exiled to Babylon.  “You want to worship pagan gods,” the Lord was basically saying, “Fine, you can spend a few decades in Babylon living with the pagans and their gods and see how it works out for you.”  And the people of Judah learned the lesson.  They set aside their idols, they embraced the torah, and they longed for an end to their exile—they longed for the return of God's presence.  And they became a people of hopeful longing.  It's funny how experiencing God's discipline so often gives us more hope, because it just underscores all the more his faithfulness—to do what he said, even if it's making good on his promise of judgement.  They knew his promises of restoration if they repented were just as true. And in the meantime, with no temple and with no visible manifestation of the presence of God, they did the best they could.  They devoted themselves—the Pharisees more than others—but they devoted themselves to torah, to holiness.  If they couldn't go to the temple, they would become like the temple themselves—a holy people waiting for God to return to them.  And when they returned to Judaea and rebuilt the temple and the Lord still did not return, the empty temple—all the more—became the symbol for their longing.  And missing his presence, they would meditate on the very idea of the Lord's presence.  If they dared—and at least the later rabbis urged caution, based on the Lord's warning to Moses that “no one may see my face and live”—but if they dared, some would meditate on Ezekiel's weird and mysterious vision of the Lord in his heavenly chariot—not looking for some personal mystical experience, but out of a hope and a longing for the day when the Lord would return, when heaven earth, so long sundered by our sin, would be brought back together, for the day when the Lord's people would once again live in his glorious presence.  It was a longing borne of the absence of the temple and of God's presence there. It was this passionate longing for the Lord's return that fuelled the zeal of men like Saul of Tarsus.  This zealous young Pharisee, steeped in Israel's scriptures and Israel's story, with a passion for the Lord and a longing to see his return.  And in his mind, if anything was going to hinder the Lord's return to his people, it was the new Jesus movement, these people who blasphemously believed in a crucified Messiah.  It had to be stamped out.  And so Saul supervised the stoning of Stephen.  And now, as we get into Acts 9 [page 1090 in the pew Bibles) we find that he's one of the chief orchestrators of the persecution of the early church.  Luke writes: “Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out threats and murder on the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest and requested from him letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that he could find people who belonged to the Way, men and women alike, tie them up, and bring them back to Jerusalem.” And along the way, I think that Paul was probably meditating.  Luke doesn't fill in these kinds of details, but between his telling of the story here and Paul's telling it later in his epistles, there are parallels with the accounts we have of Jews engaging in this practise of meditating on Ezekiel's vision.  Paul was a man of faith, a man of hope, a man who knew that the Lord is faithful to his promises.  And so he knew the Lord would return to his people and I think Paul lived out that hope in the present by just this sort of meditation on scripture.  Up and down with the rhythmic movement of what was probably a donkey—there are some stunning parallels here with Balaam even if this donkey never says a word—the hot sun beating down on him.  Breathe in.  Breathe out.  Recall Ezekiel.  Eyes closed, Paul pictures as best he could the four bizarre living creates, all wings and eyes, and the chariot wheels, somehow wheels within wheel all going different directions.  He concentrated and mentally looked upward from the wheels to the crystal chariot itself, and then to the throne where Ezekial wrote that he had seen a figure not unlike a human, but gleaming with holy fire.  I expect Paul had meditated like this before.  Maybe it had never come to much.  Just try it yourself.  Try to visualise what Ezekiel describes.  Good luck making sense of it.  Or maybe Paul had done this many times before and had really been met by the Lord, the God of Israel through this kind of meditation.  But this time was different.  Luke goes on: “While he was on the journey, and was getting near to Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven shone around him.  He fell on the ground and heard a voice speaking to him.  “Saul, Saul!” said the voice.  “Why are you persecuting me?”  “Who are you, Lord?” he asked.  “I am Jesus,” he said, “and you are persecuting me.  But get up and go into the city, and it will be told you what you have to do.” Saul, in his mind's eye looks up: angels, wheels, chariot, throne—and then the figure on the throne—to his shock—is Jesus, the crucified Messiah, now risen from the dead and here.  And Paul tries to tear himself away.  No!  He tries to open his eyes to escape the vision and realises that his eyes are already open.  This isn't a vision.  It's not in his head.  It's real.  It's really Jesus.  And the sight is too much to bear—in so many ways.  He throws up his hands as Caravaggio imagined him doing, as—stunned—he loses his balance and topples off his donkey.  And the vision of glory is still there.  Where Paul expected to see the God of Israel, there was Jesus and Jesus was asking, “Why are you persecuting me?”  And Paul's thinking that this just can't be.  “Who are you?” he asks, even though he already knows.  And the figure of glory confirms it, “I'm Jesus.”  And he might as well have said at the same time, “I'm the God of Israel, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”  And again, “Why are you persecuting me?”  And Paul, stunned, his whole world being rearranged and reinterpreted faster than he can take it in, he says nothing as Jesus tells him simply to go to Damascus and to wait. Luke says in verse 7: “The men who were traveling with Saul stood speechless.  They heard the voice but couldn't see anybody.  And Saul, he been struck absolutely blind by the vision.  So they led him by the hand and took him to Damascus.  He went for three days, being unable to see, and he neither ate nor drank.” I expect the gears in Saul's mind were spinning away like never before during those three days.  This man of prayer was suddenly praying like never before.  If Jesus was alive, it meant he really was Israel's Messiah.  It meant that the Lord, in him, had fulfilled already the very promises that Saul so longed to see fulfilled.  It meant that the Lord, in Jesus, had returned to his people.  It meant that God's new world had already begun.  Paul, intelligent and deeply steeped in Israel's scriptures, began the long, slow process of rethinking everything he knew in light of Jesus.  Paul knew—really knew the story, the scriptures.  I try to steep myself in those same scriptures and I'm like a watered down Americano compared to Saul.  Saul was a dark, black, espresso—the kind your spoon will stand up in.  That's how steeped he was in God's word.  It wasn't so much a “conversion” he experienced as it was a reorientation.  The temple, the presence of the Lord, the place where heaven and earth meet, had finally come to Saul.  And, too, those words of Jesus: “You're persecuting me.”  It meant that these people he'd been dragging off to prison, they were Jesus' people, his covenant family, even in some way an extension of himself.  God's promises to Abraham and to Moses and to David, the words of the Prophets, it all spent three days spinning through Saul's mind as he reevaluated everything in light of Jesus. Now, verse 10: “In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision.  “Ananias!” he said.  “Here I am, Lord,” he replied.  “Get up,” said the Lord to him, “and go to the street called Straight.  Inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul.  Look, he's praying!  And he has seen, in a vision, a man named Ananias coming and laying his hands on him so that he can see again.” You can go to Straight Street today—even on Google Earth.  It runs from the last remaining Roman gate, through the Christian Quarter of the old city.  Imagine the shock of Ananias.  He may have been in Damascus having fled from Saul already.  And now he has a vision and the Lord tells him he needs to go to Saul.  You can almost hear his “Ummmm…”  Was this vision for real?  Had he heard right?  “Lord,” replied Ananias, “I've heard about this man from several people…all about how he's done wicked things to your holy people in Jerusalem…and now he's come here with authority from the chief priests to tie up everybody who calls on your name!”  Ananias is worried. “Just go,” replied the Lord. “He is a chosen vessel for me, to carry my name before nations and kings—and the children of Israel, too.  I am going to show him how many things he is going to have to suffer for the sake of my name.”  So Ananias set off, went into the house, and laid his hands on him.  “Brother Saul,” he said, “the Lord has sent me—yes, Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—so that you may be able to see again, and receive the holy spirit.” Worried, hesitant at first, Ananias' faith got the better of him.  Maybe on the way.  Maybe when he met Saul and there was so clearly something different about him.  “Brother Saul,” he called him.  As Jews, yes, they were brothers, but Ananias somehow recognised in Saul the same faith, the same Jesus, the same Spirit.  I don't think Ananias ever expected to be in a situation like this.  What do you do?  Jesus said that Saul had already had vision of Ananias laying hands on him, so that's what Ananias does.  He lays his hands on Saul and he prays, and Luke writes (verse 18): “At once something like scales fell off his eyes, and he was able to see.  He got up and was baptized.  He had something to eat and regained his strength.  Ananias and Saul stayed with the disciples in Damascus for a few days.” I wonder what happened when Ananias took Saul back to meet the other Christians in Damascus.  I expect there were some skeptics.  Was this just a fake-out by Saul to get in amongst them.  And I bet, when Ananias showed up to say, “You'll never guess what's happened!” there was someone else there, older, wise, steeped in the scriptures who wasn't surprised at all.  “Brother Ananias, why would you have expected otherwise?  This is how our God does things.”  God dealt with the persecution of his people by making their persecutor one of them.  And Saul?  Well, he's as zealous for God as ever; Jesus has just given him new direction.  While the rest of the saints in Damascus were hiding, now that he can see again, Saul marches straight to the local synagogue to proclaim Jesus, risen and Lord.  Luke goes on: “At once he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “This really is the son of God!”  Everyone was astonished, and said, “Isn't this the man who caused havoc to those in Jerusalem who call on this name?  And here he is, coming to tie them up and take them off to the high priests!”  But Saul grew all the stronger, and threw the Jews in Damascus into confusion by demonstrating that Jesus is indeed the Messiah.” I bet.  Saul was one of the best of them.  He knew the scriptures and the promises of God inside out and upside down.  He was brilliant.  And he was passionately zealous for God.  And I expect—you know how when you figure something out that you've been wrestling with for a long time and it lights a fire under you and you get really excited to tell other people?—well, meeting Jesus lit that kind of fire under Saul.  It would take him a long time to really work it all through—he would go off to Arabia by himself to work it all through—but already he's been rethinking what meeting Jesus means about the God of Israel and about what it means to be Israel.  Even what it means that Jesus is the God of Israel.  And so he went to his fellow Jews to proclaim this good news.  To tell them that Jesus is the son of God.  This is, by the way, the first time in Acts we hear Jesus called “son of God”.  It was a big deal.  And then Luke says that the other thing Saul was eager to do was to explain to his fellow Jews that Jesus was the Messiah—or maybe it would better to say that the Messiah was Jesus.  Because given the context here in Acts and what we know of Paul later from his epistles and how he roots everything so deeply and richly in the Old Testament, I expect he was in the synagogue in Damascus reminding the people there of the scriptures and especially of these two ideas, these two characters: the son of God and the Messiah.  “Son of God” isn't used much in the Old Testament, but when it is, it refers to Israel.  God said to Pharaoh, “Israel is my firstborn son”.  But Jesus is also the son of David, the Messiah.  And God had promised that David would have a son who would build the temple.  God would raise him up and he would sit on David's throne.  “I will be a father to him,” God had declared in 2 Samuel 7, “and he will be my son.”  All this is swirling madly in Saul's mind and starting to take shape, to make sense.  And then there was Psalm 2, invoked by the first Christians as they faced persecution.  God confronts the wicked rulers of the world and declares that he has set up his King in Zion and that the nations will tremble before him.  He's the one to whom the Lord has made his firm decree, “You are my son, this day I have begotten you.”  Luke doesn't tell us exactly what Paul preached or even if he preached.  Maybe he just hung out at the synagogue and proclaimed the good news to whomever would listen.  But knowing Paul, I have to think he did some preaching.  And he reminded his people of God and of his promises and he appealed to their hope: God's promise to return to his people.  God's promise to set the world to rights.  God's promise to bring the nations under his sovereign rule.  And how all this is now coming true, how it's being fulfilled in Jesus the Messiah.  Through him God will reach out to the gentiles and bring them under his sovereign rule and make them his inheritance.  How the Messiah will rule them with wisdom and justice just as God promised.  This would be the heart of Paul's preaching: The risen Messiah is God's anointed King.  He's God's son, he shed his blood to purify us from our sins that he might bring us back from our long exile.  He's God's son who has built a new temple, a house for his Holy Spirit.  In him God's promises are being fulfilled.  2 Samuel 7, Psalm 2, Psalms 72 and 89 and 26 and 27.  God's promises.  Psalm about Israel's hope.  Psalms about the Messiah.  We know from the scrolls we've found at Qumran that how Paul was handling these scriptures was exactly the way other Jewish groups in his day were handling these scriptures and asking the same questions.  And struggling to find an answer.  Because no one ever dreamed that a man who was crucified could be the Messiah.  But Paul had met him, risen from the dead.  And the dots began to connect.  The royal psalms began to connect with the psalms of lament.  The great king who would rule Israel and the nations began to connect with the suffering servant who represented Israel.  And then it gelled: The king represents his people so that he can stand in for them.  So that what happens to him, happens to them—and what happens to them, happens to him.  And so the king died.  And then the king rose from the dead.  And in that great act, God had declared: “See!  This really is my son.  And with him I am well-pleased!”  Pleased with his beloved son—and through him, pleased with his beloved sons and daughters. And surely some believed.  But others were angry.  Verse 23: “After some days, the Jews made a plot to kill him, but Saul got wind of their plan.  They were watching the city gates day and night so that they could do away with him.  But the disciples took him by night and let him down through the wall, lowering him in a basket. When he got back to Jerusalem he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple.  But Barnabas took him, brought him to the apostles, and explained to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that he had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus.  He was with them in Jerusalem, coming and going and speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.  He spoke, as well, to the Hellenists, who tried to kill him.  But the brothers heard of it and took him down to Caesarea. There they sent him off to Tarsus.  So the church in all Judaea, Galilee, and Samaria found itself at peace.  It was built up and gained in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit.” And Paul knew, this too is how God works.  He saved the brothers and sisters in Damascus from their persecutor.  But Saul, well, God humbles him.  He has to be lowered over the wall in a basket so he can run.  Sometimes that's also how God works.  He was preparing Saul for his missionary task and the struggles and dangers and humiliations that would come with it.  Even returning to Jerusalem, he is initially rejected by the apostles.  God bless Barnabas—the “son of comfort”—he vouched for Saul and told him that he really had met Jesus on the road to Damascus and that all the rest was, in fact, true, no matter how impossible it seemed.  And Saul then proved himself in Jerusalem, preaching to the Hellenists who promptly set about to kill him. And so Peter and the others packed him off.  Luke doesn't say exactly why.  Maybe the trouble his zeal for Jesus stirred up in Jerusalem was just too much right then.  Maybe they knew that Saul needed to go home to Tarsus, to begin his preaching with the people who knew him.  So—and not for the last time—Saul boarded a ship and set sail.  This would be the pattern for the rest of his life. Brothers and Sisters, Saul of Tarsus—Paul—knew better than anyone that Jesus changes everything.  That Jesus is the embodiment of God's goodness, his mercy, his love, and maybe most importantly his faithfulness.  Remember that last week we looked at that bit of Paul's writing in 2 Corinthians where he talks about the glory of God that was on display in the Exodus: at the burning bush, in the plagues, at the Red Sea, at Mount Sinai, in the cloud of glory that descended on the tabernacle.  And he wrote that Jesus upstaged it all.  The Messiah he met on the road to Damascus revealed the glory of God in a way Paul had never imagined possible.  Brothers and Sisters, may we encounter that same glory ourselves. I think for most—probably all of us—our experience of God's glory is far more hum-drum and ordinary and unsensational.  Maybe that's because, as far as being steeped in scripture and knowing the glory of God revealed there, we're a watered down Americano.  We're like those can of LaCroix that say they're orange flavoured, but the flavour is so weak—well—you wonder if it's just carbonated water that was bottled in a plant where there was a solitary orange sitting in the corner to imparts the tiniest hint of its essence.  Paul was the opposite.  And we need to aspire to be like him.  Pray that God will give us a hunger for his word and a desire to know him and to know the story.  My observation has always been that the better people know the story, the more saintly and the more passionate they are, the more zealous they are for the Lord and for his good news.  Steep yourselves in the scripture.  And meditate on your baptism and how Jesus has brought you through the water into life with him.  How he's plunged us into God's Spirit and given us new life.  And come to his Table.  Eat the bread, drink the wine, and recall what God has done for us in Jesus, in his incarnation, in his death, and in his resurrection.  Experience here the fulfilment of all God's promises that you might see his glory.  Then be the people who—like Saul who just couldn't stay quiet—make that glory known in the world.   Let's pray: Almighty and merciful God, by whose gift alone your faithful people offer you true and laudable service: Grant that we may run without stumbling to obtain your heavenly promises; that we might truly see and know your glory along the way; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

Send us Fan MailHow dangerous it is to think you are okay with God, only to discover you are really far from God. Some people are steeped in religion and see that as being right with God. Saul of Tarsus was that man. And his religion caused him to persecute the followers of Jesus.Then it happened. Jesus rescued him and Saul became a new man. He went on to be the great Apostle Paul. His story teaches us that there is hope for anyone to come back to God. It doesn't matter where you've been or what you've done, Jesus is inviting you back into a relationship with Him.

In this powerful message from The Follow Me Series, Pastor Putnam explores the story of Matthias in Acts 1 and the importance of trusting God's timing. When the disciples faced an empty place after Judas' departure, they moved to fill the vacancy—but Jesus had instructed them to wait for the promise of the Holy Spirit. This message challenges us to consider how often we try to solve problems simply because waiting makes us uncomfortable. God's plan may be preparing something—or someone—we cannot yet see. Through the contrast between Matthias and Saul of Tarsus, we are reminded that God's choices can look very different from our own. Discover why waiting is not doing nothing—it is active trust and obedience. When the answer hasn't come, the door hasn't opened, or the path isn't clear, we can trust that God is still working. God's will is worth the wait. To hear more about what God is doing in Sheboygan County and beyond, visit us at posc.church!

Tarsus Pharmaceuticals announced plans to acquire Alkeus Pharmaceuticals, including its emerging oral treatment for Stargardt disease, gildeuretinol (ALK-001), in a deal valued up to $800 million. Stargardt disease is the most common form of inherited macular degeneration and is often diagnosed in children or teens. There are no current treatments.

Acts 21:37-22:21 English Standard Version Paul Speaks to the People 37 As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the tribune, “May I say something to you?” And he said, “Do you know Greek?38 Are you not the Egyptian, then, who recently stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the Assassins out into the wilderness?”39 Paul replied, “I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no obscure city. I beg you, permit me to speak to the people.” 40 And when he had given him permission, Paul, standing on the steps, motioned with his hand to the people. And when there was a great hush, he addressed them in the Hebrew language, saying: 22 “Brothers and fathers, hear the defense that I now make before you.” 2 And when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew language, they became even more quiet. And he said: 3 “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as all of you are this day. 4 I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women, 5 as the high priest and the whole council of elders can bear me witness. From them I received letters to the brothers, and I journeyed toward Damascus to take those also who were there and bring them in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished. 6 “As I was on my way and drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from heaven suddenly shone around me. 7 And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?' 8 And I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?' And he said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.' 9 Now those who were with me saw the light but did not understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me. 10 And I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?' And the Lord said to me, ‘Rise, and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do.' 11 And since I could not see because of the brightness of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me, and came into Damascus. 12 “And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, 13 came to me, and standing by me said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight.' And at that very hour I received my sight and saw him. 14 And he said, ‘The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the Righteous One and to hear a voice from his mouth; 15 for you will be a witness for him to everyone of what you have seen and heard. 16 And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.' 17 “When I had returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance 18 and saw him saying to me, ‘Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.' 19 And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves know that in one synagogue after another I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you. 20 And when the blood of Stephen your witness was being shed, I myself was standing by and approving and watching over the garments of those who killed him.' 21 And he said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.'” English Standard Version (ESV) The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.

In "The Spirit of Adoption," Pastor Robert McNutt continues his expository series through Romans 8, taking up verses 15 and 16 as yet another test by which believers may assure themselves that they are indeed children of God. He first clears away a common misreading of verse 14: being "led by the Spirit" is not chiefly about receiving direct guidance for every decision, though he grants from Acts 13, 15, and 16 that the Spirit does genuinely guide and restrain His servants. The governing subject of the passage is sanctification, putting to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit. Turning to verse 15, McNutt argues that "spirit" must mean the Holy Spirit in both halves of the contrast, not a mere disposition or feeling. The parallel of "received," the force of the word "again," and the consistent usage throughout Romans 8 all point the same direction. This means the Spirit Himself first produced the spirit of slavery and fear, wielding the law to convict of sin, since the unconverted man is not naturally troubled but secure and self-satisfied, as Saul of Tarsus was in Philippians 3. The Spirit's conviction brings a sense of condemnation, of inward depravity, and of utter inability to save oneself, driving the sinner to cry, "What must I do to be saved?" as the Philippian jailer and the crowd at Pentecost did. Only then comes the great exchange: Paul counting his religious resume as rubbish to gain Christ and His imputed righteousness. That prior bondage always precedes adoption, and remembering it is solid ground for assurance when doubts and difficult seasons come.

"He was an officer, a tribune, in the Roman army in the time of the Emperor Maximian. A Syrian by birth, he served in his native land. When the Persians attacked the imperial Roman army, this Andrew was entrusted with the command in the battle against the enemy — whence his title: commander, strateletes. A secret Christian, although as yet unbaptised, Andrew commended himself to the living God, and, taking only the cream of the army, went to war. Before the battle, he told his soldiers that, if they all called upon the aid of the one, true God, Christ the Lord, their enemies would become as dust scattered before them. All the soldiers, fired with enthusiasm by Andrew and his faith, invoked Christ's aid and attacked. The Persian army was utterly routed. When the victorious Andrew returned to Antioch, some jealous men denounced him as a Christian and the imperial governor summoned him for trial. Andrew openly proclaimed his steadfast faith in Christ. After harsh torture, the governor threw Andrew into prison and wrote to the Emperor in Rome. Knowing Andrew's popularity among the people and in the army, the Emperor ordered the governor to set Andrew free, but to seek another occasion and another excuse (not his faith) to kill him. By God's revelation, Andrew came to know of this imperial command, and, taking his faithful soldiers (2,593 in all) with him, went off to Tarsus in Cilicia, where they were all baptised by the bishop, Peter. Persecuted here also by imperial might, Andrew and his companions withdrew deep into the Armenian mountain of Tavros. There in a ravine, while they were at prayer, the Roman army came upon them and beheaded them all. Not one of them would recant, all being determined on death by martyrdom for Christ. On the spot where a stream of the martyrs' blood flowed down, a spring of healing water sprang forth, healing from every disease. The bishop, Peter, came secretly with his people and buried the martyrs' bodies in that same place. They all suffered with honour at the end of the third century and were crowned with wreaths of eternal glory, entering into the Kingdom of Christ our God." (Prologue)

Join us as we dig deeper into last Sunday's sermon from Pastor Gabe Kasper "The Gospel for the Greeks" and hear from Amy Duncan and Nate Zuellig on "You Walk With Me".   Digging Deeper Questions: Where/to whom has God sent you?   What does "Spiritual depth" look like in your life?   An "other focus" doesn't mean we spend our lives worried about what others think of us, or as people pleasers, rather it means we live lives looking to serve others in love. What is challenging about that?   How does receiving grace transform our lives?   Scripture Reading: Acts 11:19-30 19 Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. 20 But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus. 21 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. 22 The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, 24 for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord. 25 So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.   27 Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the days of Claudius). 29 So the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. 30 And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul. Intro/Outro Song: "Only One" Nate Zuellig ULC Artist In Residence    "You Walk With Me" Housefires CCLI Song # 7130488   CCLI License # 11254293

An Inheritance in Jesus Acts 8:26-40 by William Klock Have you ever had one of those occasions when you had an overwhelming sense that God was telling you to go to this or that place, to go talk to this or that person?  On a few occasions I thought I was in the middle of one of those moments.  One Sunday evening in Portland I was alone and on my way home from church and, driving down the street had this overwhelming sense—again, like God was telling me—go into that Burgerville restaurant.  So I did.  And except for the people working there—none of whom had any interest in talking to me beyond taking my order—the place was completely empty.  I wasn't hungry, but I thought, “Well, if God wants me here, maybe I need to wait.”  So I ordered dinner.  And I sat there for an hour and a half, eating my dinner v…e…r…y slowly with my Prayer Book and Bible in front of me.  And the place stayed as empty as it had been when I walked in.  That, in itself, is pretty odd for a Burgerville in Northeast Portland.  Was that overwhelming sense God?  I don't know.  I thought maybe there was someone there who needed a minister.  But there was no one there at all. I hear people tell stories of their overwhelming senses that God was telling them to do something and then something really amazing happened.  But I've never had that happen.  Not like that anyway.  When those moments have come, I've never had an overwhelming sense of anything; they just happen. But Philip.  Last week, in the first half of Acts 8, we saw Philip driven to Samaria because men like Saul were rounding up the Christians in Jerusalem and putting them in prison.  And while he was there he told the Samaritans about Jesus.  And God did something amazing.  The church, God's new temple, this people purified by Jesus and filled with the Holy Spirit, it grew, it jumped the border, it crossed the divide of animosity between the Jews and the Samaritans, it healed and restored.  Jews and Samaritans went on hating each other—but not in the church.  What the fall had divided, the gospel reunited.  It was the first step toward God's renewed humanity, back on track with their vocation to steward his presence, filling the earth with the knowledge of God's glory as the church lived out God's future in the present. And it's as if God is saying to Philip: “Well done, good and faithful servant.”  Philip has proved his faithfulness and now, Luke writes in Acts 8:26, “An angel of the Lord spoke to Philip: ‘Get up and go south,” he said. “Go to the desert road that runs down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” That's quite a hike.  Fifty to sixty kilometres back to Jerusalem—and hope Saul of Tarsus doesn't catch you on your way through—and then Gaza was another fifty to sixty kilometres.  That's two bike rides for me, but it's a long way to walk.  And Luke kind of stresses that this isn't an easy journey.  It's not just the road down to Gaza, it's the desert road down to Gaza.  It's hot, it's dusty, it's barren and ugly—it's lifeless.  It's a stark contrast with the new gospel life suddenly flourishing in Samaria.  But that's what Jesus calls his people to do: To take the gospel, to take the life of the kingdom into the desert of the world.  It's tempting to sit in the church, to enjoy gospel life with our brothers and sisters, and to forget about the desert outside and the people perishing out there.  Brothers and Sisters, get up and go to the desert.  You and I are the streams of living waters that take the life of God to the world.  Don't dam it up here.  Luke goes on in verse 27: “So he got up and went.”  Luke uses very biblical way of stressing obedience.  God said, “Get up and go” and Philip “Got up and went”.  And it's not for nought.  “Lo and behold, there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Kandake (queen of Ethiopia), who was in charge of her whole treasury.  He had come to Jerusalem to worship, and was on his way back home.  He was sitting in his chariot and reading the prophet Isaiah.” So who is this guy in the chariot?  Luke says he's Ethiopian and an official—the head of the treasury—for the Kandake—sometimes in English we say “Candace”—the Queen of Ethiopia.  For people like Luke (or Philip) in the Roman Empire, “Ethiopia” was a catch-all for everything south of Egypt, “Black Africa”.  “Kandake” was part name and part title, incorporated into the names of many of the Ethiopia's Queen.  But this wasn't the modern nation of Ethiopia.  It was what's now the northern part of Sudan.  It was a trade centre between Egypt and the rest of Africa further south along the Nile and it was very wealthy because of that.  And a eunuch in charge of the Queen's treasury made perfect sense.  That's the sort of thing eunuchs did in the ancient world.  No one had to worry about a eunuch trying to build a dynasty for his children using someone else's wealth.  The reward was that this man, himself, would have been fabulously wealthy too. So when Luke says he was riding in a chariot and reading an Isaiah scroll, don't picture so much a small war chariot.  This would have probably been more like a small carriage.  And don't picture him with some little scroll unrolled in his lap the way you might sit with your Bible.  Scrolls like this were big.  And an Isaiah scroll was really big.  One of the longest books in the Bible.  So there's a good chance this man has at least a servant or two to help him.  Maybe one as driver.  Maybe another as a personal assistant, helping him with that big Isaiah scroll.  That he—a foreigner—even has an Isaiah scroll says that he's very wealthy.  Normally you'd only find something like this in a synagogue for public reading. But the bigger question is: Why would an Ethiopian eunuch, the Queen's treasurer be reading Isaiah?  There's a near-zero chance that this man was actually Jewish.  Not absolutely zero, but it was highly unlikely.  Neither is he a proselyte—a convert—to Judaism.  Because he's a eunuch.  It was right there in Deuteronomy 23:1, “No one who's testicles are crushed or male organ is cut off shall enter the assembly of the Lord.”  There was a way for gentiles to be circumcised, submit to torah, go through the rites of purification, and to enter the Jewish covenant community.  It was rare, but it was possible and not unheard of.  But not for eunuchs.  They were explicitly excluded.  Not a chance.  And yet this man was drawn to Israel and to Israel's God.  That was not such an odd thing in those days.  Pagan society was mean and ugly, it was merciless and perverted and brutal.  And the pagan gods were no better.  For all her failures, Israel, her way of life, and her God really did stand out and people took note.  The Israelites looked after each other—however imperfectly.  The Israelites cared about purity.  They didn't practise infanticide or homosexuality.  They took marriage seriously.  They believed in the dignity of human life.  Pagans, tired of their own brutal and morally filthy world, were drawn to it.  There was a whole category of people that the Jews called “God fearers”.  They weren't circumcised, they weren't actually part of the covenant, they couldn't observe Passover or go to the temple, but they clung to Israel.  They came to the synagogue and listened to the teaching.  They read the Bible.  And this man may have been one of those sorts of people—or, at least, something like that.  And maybe that's why he's got the Isaiah scroll.  He'd come to Jerusalem to worship.  And he was leaving disappointed.  As gentile he was barred from the temple.  As a eunuch he has no hope of that changing.  Luke says he was reading Isaiah 53 when Philip caught up with him, but just a few chapters later, in Isaiah 56, the Lord says through the Prophet, “Let not the eunuch say, ‘Behold, I am a dry tree.” For thus says the LORD: ‘To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.'” (Isaiah 56:3-5) This man longs to be part of this people.  This man longs for the presence of the God of Israel.  And he's been there.  Maybe he sat in a synagogue and he heard this passage read and his heart skipped a beat.  There's hope.  But when he asked, how can I join you, they quoted Moses at him and sent him away.  That's not to disparage Moses.  There was a reason God wanted things this way.  Remember, God is working through a story that slowly unfolds to reveal him.  But in response, somehow this man bought an Isaiah scroll for himself.  He wants to read more.  He wants to know how to get from Moses' “No” to Isaiah's “Yes”.  And now he's reading the part, just a few chapter before as Philip, out of nowhere, is suddenly jogging along next to his little carriage. And the Lord now speaks to Philip again as he sees this chariot on the road.  Verse 29: “‘Go up and join his chariot,' said the Spirit to Philip.  So Philip ran up, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. ‘Do you understand what you're reading?' he asked. ‘How can I,' he replied, ‘unless someone gives me some help?' So he invited Philip to get up and sit beside him. The scripture passage he was reading was this one: ‘He was led like a sheep to the slaughter and as a lamb is silent before its shearers, so he does not open his mouth. In his humiliation, judgment was taken away from him. Who can explain his generation? For his life was taken away from the earth.'” This is Isaiah 53:7-8, again just before that passage giving hope to eunuchs. Luke has already made some hints about the importance of Isaiah 53 and we get the sense that the Spirt isn't just at work to bring Philip to this man.  The Spirit has been at work getting this man into Isaiah—showing him hope—and getting him ready to hear the source, the reason for that hope. This is precisely how a lot of people meet Jesus.  Maybe this is how you met Jesus.  We live in a word full of hurt and tears, full of sin and sickness and death.  We may not know a bit of theology or philosophy, but we know it in our bones that this not the way the world is supposed to be.  Maybe we meet some Christians, maybe we have an encounter with the church, maybe we just pick up a Bible and we start to read—and we encounter a different world.  We encounter a different kind of people.  Like the people drawn to Israel for its people's passion for purity and for mercy and their hope for a world set to rights, we're drawn to Jesus and his people.  There we see holiness, love, grace, unity—however imperfectly displayed, but so different from so much of the world.  Maybe we realise that Western Civilisation is not the gross, brutal, and filthy world of the Greeks and Romans anymore, we realise that it was the gospel that made this change, and we want to know more.  And so we come.  And we hear things said, but we don't really understand.  We open the Bible and we start to read, but we don't know the context of what we're reading.  That's where this Ethiopian man was at.  He sees goodness.  He see holiness.  He sees hope.  He so desperately wants to be part of it, but how?  How does it work?  This servant in Isaiah 53's got something to do with it all, but  who is the Prophet talking about?  So verse 34: “‘Tell me,' said the eunuch to Philip, ‘who is the prophet talking about?  Himself or someone else?' Then Philip took a deep breath and, starting from this scripture passage, told him the good news about Jesus.”  Philip literally “gospelled” this man.  He told him the story.  How much of it?  Luke doesn't say.  But he told this man the story—the same one that Stephen had told to the Sanhedrin.  This was how the first Christians read the Jewish scripture, including the Prophets.  They didn't just go looking for prooftexts that they thought might line up with Jesus.  They read the scriptures as a great narrative, a big story with Jesus at its centre.  It ran all the way back to the creation itself and to the story of human rebellion against God—to the introduction of sin and death and all the pain and tears, and through Abraham and his family, through Moses and David and the Prophets, leading right to Jesus, but not ending there, but carrying on to the day when the whole project of redemption is done, creation and humanity are set to rights, and sin and death, pain and tears are no more. Isaiah knew this story.  At his point in it, Israel was in exile, separated from the land God had promised, separated from the temple where he'd dwelt with them, seemingly—as far as many could tell—cut off from the hope they had.  And so Isaiah, inspired by the Spirit no doubt, but also absolutely and utterly steeped in this story of Israel and Israel's God, knowing his character, knowing his promises, Isaiah meditated on that story: on the exile of his people, on the promises of God, one God himself, whom he knew to be faithful even if Israel hadn't been.  And as Isaiah meditated and prayed and reflected the Spirit gave him the image of a servant: a servant who would come to where Israel was at, who would come to finish the failed task that Israel had been given, who would come to do for Israel—and for the world—what they could not do for themselves.  He would, in his own body, bear the shame and reproach that the nations had shown to Israel for her failures and faithlessness, and he would die.  He would die, not a death he deserved, but the death his people deserved.  Isaiah knew: This was the only way.  Israel couldn't do it on her own.  She'd failed over and over.  And now she stood, guilty before the Lord, having broken his covenant, cut off, hopeless.  Or so it seemed hopeless—dead to the covenant—but Isaiah knew God's faithfulness and so he knew the Lord would not abandon his people or his promise to them.  The Lord would send this servant who would suffer the punishment the people deserved, who would take up the task Israel had failed and complete it himself, who would bring God's life and light and glory to the world. It's almost as though Isaiah, working through the story, made a list of everything this servant would need to be or to do and—in poetic form—he wrote a job description—a job description that pointed straight to Jesus, although no one would realise that until Jesus himself arrived—practically with resume in hand to show that he's the one Isaiah was writing about.  And Isaiah saw how this suffering servant—precisely through his rejection, through his suffering, even through his death—would bring an end to Israel's long exile.  And Isaiah knew that through this, God would finally set the world to rights.  He would establish a new covenant to replace the one Israel had broken (Isaiah 54), and new creation would be born (Isaiah 55), and as this new covenant made Israel what she was supposed to be all along and as this new world was born, it would finally draw in the foreigners, the nations, the pagans—even the eunuchs. And so Philip explained to this to the man.  He told him about Jesus and how he'd done and fulfilled what the Prophet had seen.  And—like a good evangelist—Philip had obviously told this man how to be part of it.  Give your love, your loyalty, your allegiance to Jesus the Messiah.  And repent.  Let go of everything else, every loyalty, every other hope, and like Israel passing through the Red Sea to enter a life with God, pass through the waters of baptism to enter life with Jesus and the Spirit—so that Israel's story, Isaiah's story, Jesus' story becomes your story.  And Luke continues in verse 36: “As they were going along the road, they came to some water. ‘Look!' said the eunuch. ‘Here is some water! What's to stop me being baptized?'” I want to be part of this! “So he gave orders for the chariot to stop, and both of them went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch together, and he baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away, and the eunuch didn't see him anymore, but went on his way rejoicing.  Philip, however, turned up at Azotus. He went through all the towns, announcing the good news, until he came to Caesarea.” This is the part where I want to know more.  I want to say, “But…but…but…you can't just cut him loose at this point.  He needs a good church, he needs solid teaching.  When you cut people loose right after you baptise them, that's when they get into cults and obsessed with weird eschatology!”  But it seems that the Spirit was powerfully with this man—the same way he was with the apostles and Stephen and Philip.  The Spirit has other important work for Philip.  And so this man went on his way back to “Ethiopia” with his Isaiah scroll, with the scriptures, God's word, with the story now his story, and full of the Spirit.  It wouldn't be long before the church was thriving in Africa and tradition says that this man was the one who took it there.  The gospel is already on its way to the world. And I think that's why Luke plants Isaiah 53 and Jesus as the suffering servant where he does here.  It's why, as we tell the story, we ought to be doing the same thing.  Because over and over what we see in Acts and down through history is that the people of the nations look around themselves, and they—we—know nothing of Abraham or Moses or David or the Prophets or Israel or even Israel's God, but we know that the world is not as it should be.  The pain, the tears, the sin and the filth, sickness and death.  We see how the strong abuse the weak.  We know the fickleness and failure of our gods.  And when we're honest, we know that we've all had a part to play in the brokenness of the world.  One way or another we hear, we feel, we sense the “no”, but we long for a “yes”.  We need rescue.  We need hope of the world set to right.  And then we hear the story.  We meet Jesus, the suffering servant.  We meet the lamb of God who gave himself up for our sins and to wash us clean from their stain.  We meet the King who gave himself for his people.  We meet the Messiah in whom all of God's promises find their “yes”.  We meet the one who has conquered sin and death and in him we find the conciliation, the life, and the hope we've longed for. Brothers and Sisters, this the story we need to learn, this is this is the story we need to inhabit, this is the story we need to tell—until the whole world has heard, until the whole world knows this life and hope, until the knowledge of God's glory fills the whole world. Let's pray our Collect again: Lord God, you declare your almighty power most chiefly in showing mercy and pity: mercifully grant to us such a measure of your grace, that we, running the way of your commandments, may receive your gracious promises, and be made partakers of your heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

On this week's episode, Chris Garabedian, Graig Suvannavejh, Paul Matteis, and Tess Cameron open with the biotech market. They describe 2026 as strong but discerning, with 19 Nasdaq IPOs this year and generalist investors still not fully back. The co-hosts also cover recent launches and raises, including Boulevard Bio's launch with Deerfield backing and Epicrispr's $90 million Series C raise for FSHD. In data news, Tenax's HFpEF candidate missed its primary and secondary endpoints, while Sionno's cystic fibrosis drug missed its biomarker target, sending shares down 90%. On the dealmaking front, Jazz acquired epilepsy biotech Actio for $820 million upfront to deepen its rare epilepsy pipeline, and Revolution Medicines struck a RAS-inhibitor partnership covering China development alongside a PRMT5 clinical collaboration. Elsewhere, AbCellera raised $200 million on positive Phase 2 vasomotor data, and Silence Therapeutics raised $175 million on positive polycythemia vera data, while Definium posted positive Phase 3 data for its psychedelic GAD candidate, and Cullinan/Taiho did the same for their lung cancer drug zipalertinib. In regulatory news, Neurocrine's Prader-Willi drug faced new safety scrutiny after reports of seven deaths, and Amgen's Tavneos was pulled by the EMA over misleading trial data. Belite Bio's tinlarebant earned FDA priority review for Stargardt disease, while rival Tarsus acquired Alkeus for about $800 million. The episode closed with a debate on expanding the COINS Act into biosecurity. This episode aired on August 14, 2026.

God's Gospel Goes Global   After Peter told the story of his vision and going to Joppa to the home of Cornelius, we read in Acts 11:18 that "… the believers in Jerusalem had no further objections and praised God saying, 'So even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.'" And now the barriers that had existed between the Jewish world and the non-Jewish world are down in a single moment. The believers in Jerusalem that had grown up as devout Jewish people had their eyes opened to understand the new age that God promised had arrived. AND God's Gospel Goes Global!!!   Then + Now  GOD's Plan - His plan and intent have always been to win the entire world to Himself. God's plan is coming to fruition. Romans 10:12-13 we see that there is no difference between Jew and Gentile because the Lord saves all who call on Him.   In verse 19 and 20 we read that those scattered by the persecution following Stephen's martyrdom are spreading into Cyprus, Phoenicia and Antioch sharing the gospel message to Jews and Greeks. Peter's ministry to Cornelius opened the flood gates!!  Verse 21 tells us that the Lord was with them and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.   We see the gospel exploding in Antioch, a place with many from multiple backgrounds and cultures, a wealthy city and an incredibly immoral city and this is where the Gospel explodes!!  Unbelievers discover what they are living for has no lasting value, leaving them empty.  Does this sound like the world today?  It is there that God desires to bring the Good News that changes people lives, transforming them from the inside out, that brings an eternal destiny, and great joy and He does that through His people then and NOW!   God's People - God uses His people to do mighty things. He desires to use us to touch our families, neighbors, and even our enemies with His word and his love. In verse 22 the news of the spread of the Gospel got back to the church in Jerusalem, so they send Barnabas to Antioch. Barnabas was from Cypress and was known as an encourager and once he saw what the grace of God was doing there, he encouraged the new believers to persevere in their faith with all their hearts, just as we need to do TODAY!   God's Grace - God's breaks into our lives because He is good, not because of anything we have done, but because He is gracious. It is all based on what Jesus did at the cross. We all need to encounter that grace and know that God cares for us. His grace is powerful and changes lives, families, marriages, communities and the world both then and NOW!.   God's Leaders - Through Barnabas a great number of people are brought to the Lord. And Barnabas goes to Tarsus to bring Saul to Antioch. God assembles a great group of leaders, an amazing team uniquely qualified to carry out God's plan. In verse 26 we read that great numbers of people in Antioch were taught for an entire year by this leadership team, equipping God's people to know God, His Word, His guidance, His direction, and His Holy Spirit. These leaders were specially needed in a corrupt age, in a corrupt city, because if God's people are not equipped they will fall prey to the enemy. Today we see God continuing to raise up leaders to do His work, in His strength and with His guidance and Holy Spirit.    God's Teaching - we need to be instructed in the Truth.  It is a matter of connecting what the Bible says to the life of a believer.  Orthodoxy - right opinion - Beliefs - essential to be grounded in God's truth - the message of Christ's forgiveness. Orthopraxy - right practice - Conduct - knowing how to live our lives in a fallen world.  It's not just head knowledge, it is about heartfelt, Spirit-guided living - conduct that becomes a follower of Jesus.   Titus 2:11-14 - the grace of God offers salvation to ALL people and teaches us to live self-controlled, godly lives as we await Christ's return.    God's Mercy - In verses 28-30 we read that Agabus, a prophet, predicts a famine, so the disciples decide to support the believers living in Judea. In the mercy of God they reached out to those in the midst of famine, then. Today, God's mercy shows in us as we walk by faith and follow the Holy Spirit's leading.   … and God's Gospel continues to Go Global!   This week's READING ASSIGNMENT: Acts chapter 11-12.    Now What? Learn about God at https://www.awakeusnow.com EVERYTHING we offer is FREE.   Check out this video series from our website: https://www.awakeusnow.com/god-acts-then-now   Or watch from our Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@AwakeUsNow/videos   Join us Sundays live or on demand from our website  https://www.awakeusnow.com/sunday-service

The Temple Comes to Samaria Acts 8:4-25 by William Klock Remember back in Chapter 5, when Peter and John were arrested and brought before the priests and elders, and Gamaliel, one of the leading Pharisees, told his fellow council members: “Leave them alone.  If what they're doing is of human origin, it will come to ruin.  But if it's from God, you won't be able to stop them.  You might even be found to be fighting against God.”  They let Peter and John go that day, but since then they haven't been heeding Gamaliel's advice.  They stoned Stephen.  And at the end of last week's text Luke told us that Saul of Tarsus was going house to house, dragging men and women to prison and that, while the apostles remained in Jerusalem, everyone else was scattered through Jerusalem and Samaria.  And it turns out Gamaliel was right.  Neither Saul nor anyone else could stop what God was doing.  This new temple, not made with hands, not made of bricks and mortar, but instead of people, purified by the blood of Jesus and indwelt themselves by God's Spirit, this temple was going to fill the earth.  Persecution won't stop it.  Just the opposite, in fact.  Luke writes in Acts 8:4 [Page 1089 in the pew Bibles]: “Those who were scattered went all over the place announcing the word.”  These were people who knew, first hand, the transforming power of the gospel.  Many of them had been eyewitnesses to the risen Jesus.  They had seen signs and wonders, done by Jesus and then done by the apostles.  They knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that God was at work and Israel's hopes were being fulfilled.  There was no stopping them.  If they had to flee Jerusalem, so much the better.  Now the good news about Jesus would be proclaimed all over the place.  Think back to Stephen's speech before the Sanhedrin and how he'd highlighted how God works through rejection and persecution.  Joseph's brothers had sold him as a slave, but through their evil God delivered his people.  Ditto with Moses.  Pharaoh wanted all the baby boys of the Hebrews drowned, so Moses' mother put him in a basket and Providence floated him down the river right to Pharaoh's daughter.  And Jesus, the supreme example: The forces of evil and death rose up to do their worst in killing Jesus, but in doing so they played right into God's hands.  They concentrated themselves all in one place, in one great act, allowing Jesus to rise from death to conquer them.  So Saul of Tarsus, threatening the church?  God's going to use that to—to get the gospel out of Jerusalem, to all of Judaea—and even to Samaria. So Philip.  You remember Philip?  He was one of the seven in Chapter 6, whom the church chose and laid hands on to do the work that was taking the apostles away from their prayer and preaching.  Stephen was another of them.  When the church calls people and lays hands on them and commissions them to be servants of the gospel, there's no telling where that may lead.  So “Philip,” says Luke in verse 5, “went off to a town in Samaria and announced the Messiah to them.” I suspect no one would have thought—or wanted—to take the gospel to Samaria—at least not for a long time—even though Jesus had said that his church would take the gospel there.  But in the context of Acts, I think Luke wants to stress that even more than taking the gospel to Samaria, what Philip is doing is taking the temple there.  And that's pretty significant.  Samaria was the piece of land between the two Jewish territories, between Judaea in the south and Galilee in the north.  The Samaritans were the people who had lived there while the Jews were off in exile in Babylon.  We don't really know for certain the origins of the Samaritans.  They claimed—and they still claim, as they're still there to this day—that they're the descendants of what was left of the northern Israelite tribes after the nation was destroyed by the Assyrians.  The Jews claimed that the Samaritans were the people resettled in the land by the Babylonians after they'd sent the Jewish people into exile.  There's probably some truth to both.  Whatever the case, the Samaritans followed their own form of Judaism.  They had their own version of the torah, of the first five books of the Old Testament.  They rejected the Prophets and other books.  They looked forward to their own version of the Messiah.  They called him the Ta'eb or “The Returner”—the prophet Moses promised would come.  But maybe what's most important in the context of Acts, was that the Samaritans had their own temple on Mt. Gerizim.  The Jews would never let them anywhere near the temple in Jerusalem—they weren't real Jews and they had corrupted Israelite religion—but even if the Jews allowed them into the temple, the Samaritans would never go there.  As far as they were concerned, theirs was the real temple.  The Samaritans were a people utterly without God's presence. And now Philip finds his way there and carries the for real real temple to a people who didn't even know the old one.  And when God's temple arrives in Samaria, the people can't help but notice.  Verse 6: “The crowds, acting as one, clung to what Philip was saying, as they heard him and saw the signs he performed.  For unclean spirits came out of many of them, and several who were paralyzed or lame were cured.  So there was great joy in that town.” “But there was a man named Simon, who had lived in the town for some while and who practiced magic. He used to astonish the Samaritan people, giving out that he was some great personage.  Everyone, small and great alike, paid attention to him, and said, “This man is the one called ‘God's Great Power'!”  [Luke might be hinting that the people thought of Simon as maybe being the Ta'eb, the Samaritan “Messiah”.] They had been under his spell for some time, since they were amazed at the magic he could perform.  But when they believed Philip as he was announcing to them the message about God's kingdom and the name of Jesus the Messiah, they were baptized, men and women alike.  Simon too believed and was baptized, paying close attention to Philip.  When he saw signs, and great and powerful deeds, it was his turn to be astonished.” The devil was doing one thing in Judaea in a futile attempt to quash the gospel.  He was doing something else to the same end in Samaria.  He'd been doing it for a long time, leading the Samaritans away from God's torah and God's temple.  Now there's this man, Simon, who has enchanted these Samaritans with his magic.  Maybe it was just sleight of hand magic, but the way Luke, throughout Acts, contrasts magic with the power of the Holy Spirit, it seems like Simon actually did have some kind of power and if that power wasn't from God, it was coming from demonic forces of some kind.  That's just the sort of thing the devil would do to lead people astray.  But Philip, empowered by God's Spirit, it's obvious to everyone—even to Simon—his power was different and it was far superior.  Seeing it, these people believed the good news about Jesus that Philip was proclaiming.  And they did what believers do: they were baptised.  Like Israel following God through the Red Sea and into the promised land, in faith these Samaritan followed Jesus through the waters of baptism and into God's new creation. Samaritans embracing and giving their allegiance to Jesus may not seem like a big deal to us, but it was a really big deal to everyone involved.  Again, Samaritans and Jews didn't mix.  Even though Jesus had said that his disciples would take the good news to Samaria, they had no plan to go there—and probably little or no desire to.  But God had a plan to get them there, and when Philip does end up in Samaria, he doesn't let that hold him back.  It's pretty clear that these early believers thought of the gospel as something for Jews, but—hey—if gentiles came to them and wanted in, if Samaritans heard and believed, that was great.  They saw God at work in these people, even if these people weren't their evangelistic priority. And yet, something odd happens.  These Samaritans hear the gospel, see God at work, they believe, they're baptised, but there's something missing.  I suspect Philip noticed it immediately and sent word back to Jerusalem—excited on one hand, but concerned on the other.  Verse 14: “When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received God's word, they sent Peter and John to them.  When they arrived, they prayed for them, asking that they would receive the Holy Spirit, since up to that point the Spirit had come upon none of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.  Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.” Like I said, something was missing.  The Spirit was clearly at work.  Faith in Jesus is a gift of the Spirit and no one comes to Jesus without the Spirit first moving in the heart.  But so far in Acts, when people believed and were baptised, they all had some kind of experience of being transformed by the Spirit  They were obviously different.  The Spirit did a work of new creation in them.  And they typically—and immediately—displayed supernatural gifts.  Some prophesied, some healed, some spoke in other languages, and so on.  Whenever we see God doing something new in the story of redemption, it's usually got miracles clustered all around it and we see this no less in the early days of the church.  Bringing Samaritans to Jesus was very much something new.  But this time the miracles didn't happen.  I expect Philip was surprised.  What was wrong?  So he sent word to Jerusalem and Peter and John decided to go see for themselves.  And, sure enough, something was missing.  These people had believed, but the Spirit—God—hadn't yet come to live in them  They were not yet part of the new temple. I don't know if Peter and John understood everything at this point.  I suspect that they just recognised that these new believers were lacking the indwelling Spirit.  It was weird and inexplicable at the time.  And so Peter and John just did the only thing that made sense: they laid their hands on these people and prayed that God would give them his Spirit.  And God did.  Luke doesn't say how it was obvious, but it was apparently obvious that the Spirit had filled the Samaritans.  And I think as time passed, Peter and John and the others started to figure out what God was doing in withholding the very thing—I should say, the very person—who fulfils God's promises to dwell with his people.  By the time Luke wrote, it all made perfect sense. You see, there was always a danger that the Samaritans would hear the gospel and believe, but that because of the divide between them and the Jews, the Samaritans would end up with a separate church of their own.  A lot of them would have been perfectly happy to have it that way and plenty of Jewish believers would no doubt be happy to have it that way.  But that would undermine the very gospel itself.  God doesn't have multiple people.  He has one.  With all our divisions in the church today, it's easy to forget this, but Jesus was clear: God has one people and one of the essentials of the gospel is that it heals the breaches, heals the divisions, heals the animosity between the people of the world.  We saw the first dramatic sign of this healing at Pentecost as the men there heard the gospel proclaimed in their own languages.  It was a dramatic reversal of the Tower of Babel episode.  And now it happens with the Samaritans.  God withholds his Spirit from them in order to get Peter and John to pray and lay hands on them and in that God makes it clear to everyone that they are all united in Jesus and the Spirit.  The apostles and the Jewish believers can't dismiss the Samaritan believers and neither can the Samaritans—with their long history of doing their own thing and having their own temple—neither can they act as if they have no need of or can be separate from the Jewish believers. We need to be careful we don't mistake Luke's point here.  We often read this passage at confirmations when the bishop lays hands on us and prays for us to be strengthened by the Holy Spirit.  But Luke wasn't thinking about confirmation.  Confirmation is a rite that developed centuries later.  Pentecostals and Charismatics use this passage to explain their experience, arguing that this passage proves that receiving the Holy Spirit is a second work of grace apart from baptism and conversion.  But that's not Luke's point either.  In fact, his point is that what happened with the Samaritans, with God withholding the Spirit, was unique—a one-off thing—that was necessary to ensure everyone knew that there is one church, one body and that our unity in diversity is one of the gospel's most powerful witnesses to God setting the human race to rights.  The whole thing that made this episode stand out was the delay in the Samaritans receiving the Holy Spirit, because the indwelling of the Spirit it not a second blessing or a second work of grace.  It's what happens when we believe and are baptised.  It's what makes us God's temple.  Jesus purifies us so that the Spirit can fill us. And then Simon the Magician. The gospel goes to a new place, but the same old problem comes up again.  In Jerusalem it was Ananias and Sapphira.  The devil crept in.  They let their love of money compromise the purity so essential to being God's temple.  They serve as a warning: Jesus purifies us so that we can be God's temple, but to remain God's temple requires continued purity.  And now the Samaritan believers their own warning about this.  Verse 18: “When Simon saw that the spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money.  “Give me this power too,” he said, “so that anyone I lay my hands on will receive the holy spirit.”  “May your silver die with you!” retorted Peter. “Did you really think that God's gift could be bought with money?  You have no part or share in this word!  Your heart is not straight before God.  So repent from this wickedness, and pray to the Lord.  Perhaps he will forgive the scheme you had in your heart.  I can see that you are still stuck in the bitter poison and chains of unrighteousness.”  “Pray to the Lord for me,” said Simon in reply, “that none of what you've said will happen to me.”  After Peter and John had finished bearing witness and speaking the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, announcing the good news to many Samaritan villages.” Simon liked the status his magic gave him.  And now he sees something really amazing, something that clearly and dramatically upstaged whatever it was that he was doing.  And Simon wanted it.  But it wasn't so much the Holy Spirit that Simon wanted.  Tricks were nice.  He'd been doing them for a long time.  But what Simon wanted was the ability to control people.  He didn't want the Holy Spirit.  He wanted what he thought Peter and John had: he wanted the ability to lay hands on people and to give them the Spirit. And in that, Simon was exposed.  It wasn't about Jesus for Simon.  It wasn't about being God's temple.  It wasn't about being purified by the cross.  It wasn't about being part of God's new creation.  Simon was still firmly part of the old.  He wanted to use and control people for his own personal gain and prestige.  His old magic had been upstaged.  No one would be impressed by it anymore.   But if he could be like Peter and John, if he could lay hands on people himself and impart the Spirit to them, well, then he's be back on top of things.  For those who read The Magician's Nephew this month, he's like Uncle Andrew, seeing a new world being miraculously born around him and new life sprouting from the ground, and all he can think of is bring bits of iron to plant so they can grow into factories and battleships to make him rich. He was blind.  He heard the gospel.  He heard the good news about Jesus.  He saw the life the Spirit in these people and he saw new creation being born.  But he wasn't interested any of it.  He just wanted to be in control.  He saw it as a way to get rich.  So he offers to buy this gift from Peter and John—as if it was theirs to sell.  As if it was their power to impart the Spirit. But Peter and John had no such power.  They didn't go around laying hands on people and giving them the Spirit any more than a modern-day Anglican bishop or Pentecostal evangelist does so.  This was a unique situation.  God gives the Spirit, not men, not preachers, not bishops, not even apostles.  This was simply a case in which it was necessary for both the Jews and the Samaritans to understand that they were one people in Jesus and the Spirit. The crazy thing is that we still see this sort of thing despite all the warnings in scripture.  There are far too many people out there, preachers—people calling themselves “apostles”—offering the Spirit or his gifts for money, as if those gifts are the work of human beings and not God.  I expect that when Simon asked Peter and John to sell him this gift—one they didn't even actually have—Peter immediately remembered Ananias and then Sapphira falling dead at his feet.  Because he knew, this false idea needed to die.  If allowed to fester, it would corrupt the church. And so he rebuked Simon—who, by God's mercy isn't struck dead on the spot.  “You're no believer, Simon.  You're still stuck in the bitter poison and chains of unrighteousness.” Luke tells us that Simon asked them to pray for him so that he wouldn't fall under God's judgement.  I have to wonder if they told him about Ananias and Sapphira and left him quaking in his boots.  Luke doesn't tell us what happened to him, whether he eventually understood and actually believed the gospel or not.  What Luke wants to stress here, what we shouldn't lose of, is that the Spirit is not under human control.  The Holy Spirit isn't magic.  Magic is the human attempt to manipulate God.  Humans have been trying to figure out ways to do that ever since our fall.  Magic treats God like a vending machine.  Push B5 to get this or push D2 to get that.  Say this spell, offer this sacrifice—follow the right formula and you can control the divine.  The so-called “Prosperity Gospel” is a modern version of this.  But you don't have to be into the Prosperity Gospel or the Word-Faith movement to be guilty of thinking you can control God.  When we bargain with God, we're doing the same thing.  We think that if we offer God this or that, we obligate him to give us something in return.  Brothers and Sisters, God's been teaching his people from the beginning that he doesn't work this way.  He's sovereign.  He sends his Spirit as a mighty rushing wind and, as Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Those who are born of that Spirit are blown along with it.”  Those who surrender themselves to Jesus and the Spirit are blown into purity, blown into holiness, blown into godliness, blown into ministry and blown into mission.  That's what Luke shows us in Acts.  Jesus purifies us, the Spirit fills, and in those acts God make us his living temple.  A temple through which he will make himself known and through which he will eventually fill the earth with his presence. In this morning's Collect we asked the Lord to teach to us to ask for the things that please him.  Brothers and Sisters, if we understand ourselves to be his temple, his working model of new creation in the midst of the old, I can hardly think of a better prayer.  It's a prayer very much like “on earth as in heaven”.  A prayer that sets aside our own agendas and ask for God to bring us into his.  I'd like to close praying that Collect again. Let your merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of your humble servants; and, that we may obtain what we ask of you, teach us to ask for those things that please you, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

Welcome to the Influence Podcast! I'm George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host. Lee Grady writes the following in his book, Lead Like Paul: Saul of Tarsus — who eventually became known by his Greek name, Paul — is our mentor and spiritual father. Apart from Jesus Himself, he is our best example. Of course, we have Peter, James, John, Mary Magdalene, and so many other first-century disciples who walked closely with Jesus. But Paul was unique. He didn't travel with Jesus or witness His miracles, yet he fully surrendered to the resurrected Christ, he understood the truth of Jesus better than almost any human being on earth, he spread the gospel throughout the Roman Empire, and he was used by the Holy Spirit to lay the foundation for a Christian movement that has spread globally. For all these reasons and more, Grady argues, Paul is a mentor we should imitate in our own ministries. In this episode, I talk to Grady about how we can begin to do so. Lee Grady is an ordained minister in the International Pentecostal Holiness Church, award-winning journalist, and author, most recently, of Lead Like Paul: 21 Ways to Reignite Your Spiritual Fire and Expand Your Spirit-Led Influence, published by Chosen Books. Sponsor Ad This episode of the Influence podcast is brought to you by Gospel Publishing House, distributors of The Assemblies of God: Our Story by Daniel D. Isgrigg. Explore the inspiring history of the Assemblies of God from a handful of ministers to a worldwide fellowship of more than 85 million believers. Discover the legacy, mission, and Spirit-filled story that continues to impact the world today. For more information about The Assemblies of God: Our Story visit GospelPublishingHouse.com. Show Notes 00:00 — Introduction and Sponsor Ad 03:00 — Why Lead Like Paul, rather than Lead Like Jesus or Lead Like Peter or Lead Like James? 05:08 — Why start with humility, and how does Paul model humility for Christian leaders? 7:37 — Chapters 4 and 5 discuss loving people and being present. What was the impetus for writing these two chapters? And how can pastors develop both better people skills and greater presence? 11:21 — Chapter 6 is titled, "You Need Power, Not Just Head Knowledge." Why is this the case? What function do the words "not just" play in this title? And how do we develop what the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary calls "knowledge on fire"? 20:06 — Why are the temptations of sexual immorality and financial exploitation such a problem for ministers, and how we do we overcome them? 23:57 — Why is forgiveness so important, and how we do we forgive congregants who have harmed us? 26:56 — What trends in the Pentecostal and charismatic movements worry you today? What trends bring you hope? 32:11 — What are you reading right now that is interesting, helpful, and/or personally challenging? 34:21 — Conclusion

Join us as we dig deeper into last Sunday's sermon from Pastor Randy Duncan "The Gospel for the Persecutor" and hear from Amy Duncan and Nya Martinez on "Christ Be Magnified". Digging Deeper Questions: Saul wasn't looking for Jesus. Jesus was looking for Saul. When have you experienced God pursuing you, even when you weren't seeking Him? How does Saul's story change the way you think about people who seem "too far gone" for God?   Ananias had every reason to fear Saul, yet his first words were, "Brother Saul." Is there someone in your life whom you've quietly labeled as beyond hope, forgiveness, or acceptance? What would it look like to see that person through the eyes of Jesus?   Saul's encounter with Jesus didn't simply improve his life. It completely re-centered it. What area of your life is Jesus currently turning "right side up"? Where is He calling you to surrender control?   Jesus told Ananias that Saul would suffer for His name, but He also promised His presence. How does knowing that Christ is with us in suffering change the way we face hardship or opposition for our faith?   The sermon reminds us that the Gospel is bigger than our sin, our failures, and our assumptions about others. This week, who is your "Saul"? What is one intentional step you can take to pray for, encourage, or reach out to someone who needs to experience the pursuing, embracing, and transforming grace of Jesus? Scripture Reading: Acts 9:1-22 1 But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3 Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. 4 And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" 5 And he said, "Who are you, Lord?" And he said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6 But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do." 7 The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. 8 Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9 And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.   10 Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." And he said, "Here I am, Lord." 11 And the Lord said to him, "Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, 12 and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight." 13 But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. 14 And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name." 15 But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. 16 For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name." 17 So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." 18 And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized; 19 and taking food, he was strengthened.   For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. 20 And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, "He is the Son of God." 21 And all who heard him were amazed and said, "Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?" 22 But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ.   Intro/Outro Song: "Only One" Nate Zuellig ULC Artist In Residence    "Christ Be Magnified" Cody Carnes CCLI Song # 7139866   CCLI License # 11254293

Teach, Encourage And Be Kind To New Believers By Discipling Them In Their Faith Acts 11:22-26 21The Lord's hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord. 22News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. 24He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. 25Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.

Telling the Story: Part 4 Acts 7:35-53 by William Klock Not very long ago I got into an online discussion with someone about evangelism.  The people I was interacting with were telling me things like, “I don't confront, I just plant seeds” and “We're suppose to share the gospel, not tell the gospel” or “If people are getting mad at you, you're doing it wrong” and “Jesus just loved people.  He wasn't confrontational”.  I found myself wondering if these people read the same Bible I read.  And I was thinking about that whole conversation off and on these last few weeks as I've been working through Stephen's address—his very confrontational address—before the Sanhedrin. Because there's nothing namby-pamby or wishy-washy—or uh, I mean, “non-confrontational”—about Stephen's address.  I expect that if you set Stephen down in our context today and let him do what he did, a lot of modern Christians would be misquoting Matthew 7:1 at him.  You know, “Judge not lest ye be judged.”  But, of course, being confrontational, calling people to repent, proclaiming the good news about Jesus and the truth that he is Lord as something more than just another choice on the religious smorgasbord has nothing to be with being judgemental.  It has everything to do with knowing and having experienced the reality of God's goodness in Jesus and the Spirit and it's about having a vision, a hope of this broken creation—and of humanity—set to rights and God coming to dwell with us forever. We've made our way through Stephen's address over the last three Sundays.  They accused him of blaspheming the torah and the temple and Moses and instead of defending himself, Stephen instead told the story they all knew so well.  But going back to Abraham and working through it all the way to their present day, he showed how the law and the prophets, the torah and the temple had been signposts pointing the people to Jesus the Messiah.  And so it wasn't Stephen who was blaspheming torah and temple—it was them—because they'd rejected Jesus.  The Christians were the true followers of the law and the prophets, the true children of Abraham and Moses, because they recognised that that's what the story was working toward all this time.  But that wasn't what they wanted to hear.  But if we've heard the story that Stephen told, we ought to be prepared.  Rejection is how God often works.  Joseph had been rejected, but God worked something amazing from it.  Moses was rejected, but God worked something amazing from it.  Jesus was rejected, but God worked something amazing from it.  So if Stephen is rejected, we can be confident God will work something amazing from it.  I think they understood, which made them all the more angry, because they understand: if they reject Stephen, they're actually playing right into his narrative.  But they do it anyway. We'll pick up with Acts 7:54.  [Page 1088 in the pew Bibles.]  Luke tells us: “What Stephen said was a blow right to the heart. When they heard it, they gnashed their teeth against him.” Picture them, sitting in their dignified counsel, the priests and leaders of Israel.  But there's no response they can give that won't condemn them, so they just sit there glaring at him as they gnash their teeth. To us that's probably just a picture of rage, but Luke is pulling this image of gnashing teeth from the Old Testament—particularly from the Psalms—where it's always the wicked who gnash their teeth at the righteous or the wicked who gnash their teeth in frustration, aguish, and rage at God after finding themselves on the wrong end of his judgement.  Luke wants to make it clear that these are the leaders of Israel—the men who were supposed to know and to represent God—but instead they've rejected his Messiah and are revealing their wickedness.  Think of Jesus in John 8, addressing a crowd of angry scribes and Pharisees.  “We've got one father and that's God,” they yelled at him.  And he said back, “If God were really your father, you would love me, because I come from God…No, you are from your father, but your father is the devil.” And then, in stark contrast, Luke describes Stephen in verse 55: “He, however, was filled with the holy spirit, and looked steadily up into heaven. There he saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at God's right hand. ‘Look!' he said. ‘I can see heaven opened, and the son of man standing at God's right hand!' They've rejected Jesus.  They sit there, almost demonically gnashing their teeth at him—the posture of the wicked who stand condemned before God.  And Stephen stands before them full of the Spirit and with the very vision of heaven those men had longed for.  Luke said at the beginning of all this that as they looked at Stephen his face was like the face of an angel.  And Stephen shouts out to them, “Look!”  I can imagine them looking around, wondering what he's insisting they look at, because of course, no one else is seeing what he sees.  But the fact that his own face had been transformed—or even transfigured—says that he must have been seeing something and they knew it.  And he goes on, “I can see heaven opened and the son of man standing at God's right hand!” I think that whenever I've read this, I've tended to picture Stephen looking up, pointing past the ceiling of the room they were in, as if he's been given a glimpse into—you know—heaven—up there.  But the more I think about the imagery and context here, I don't think that's it.  I think we should be thinking back to episodes like the one in 2 Kings 6.  Israel was under attack by the Arameans.  The Prophet Elisha and his servant, Gehazi, were staying in the city of Dothan when it was surrounded by the Aramean army.  They woke up in the morning to see the huge army surrounding the city and Gehazi began to worry.  “What shall we do?” he asked Elisha.  And Elisha calmly told him, “Don't be afraid, for those who are with us are great than those who are with them.”  I picture Gehazi standing there wringing his hands.  And so Elisha prays, and as he prays, Gehazi's eyes are opened and on the hills all around he sees horses and chariots of fire surrounded the Aramean army.  And that heavenly army didn't arrive when Elisha prayed, like heaven, it was there all along.  The miracle was simply God's gracious allowance to open the eyes of Elisha's servant to see it. It's a reminder that heaven isn't up there, some far away place.  Heaven is here.  God created earth and heaven to overlap, for us to live in his presence.  Our sin has driven a wedge between the two.  But God and his realm are never far away.  As Gehazi was reassured that day as he saw a glimpse of heaven, so Stephen was reassured as the stood before the Sanhedrin.  As the highest court of the Jew was about to render a judgement against him and condemn him to death, I think we should understand what he saw as a sudden revelation of the heavenly court.  And there stood Jesus, the son of man.  The son of man was the character in Daniel's vision who rose to take his throne at God's right hand and from there to quelled the angry kings and nations that raged against God.  And now Stephen sees the ascended Jesus, not now sitting on his throne as Lord, but standing at the right hand of God, the great judge, to act as his advocate and witness.  The court of Israel was condemning him to death, but the heavenly court, the heavenly judge was ruling in his favour. What's interesting about this comparison between the chariots of fire and Stephen's vision of the heavenly court, is the result, the aftermath, the response of God's man.  Because the chariots of fire didn't swoop down to crush the Aramean army.  Instead, Elisha prayed again and God blinded the Arameans.  And Elisha then went out and convinced the blinded Arameans to follow him to Samaria, where Elisha prayed again and the Lord opened their eyes.  The king wanted to slaughter Elisha's “prisoners”, but Elisha warned the king.  It wasn't the king who defeated and captured them, God had done that.  So instead the king prepared a feast for them and then sent them on their way home.  This was Israel in one of her finer moments, obeying God, being light to nations, making known the grace and glory of God.  And I'll come back to it shortly. I think Luke's main point in telling us about this heavenly vision of Stephen's ties in closely with the theme of Jesus and the church being the new temple—something that comes up over and over through Acts.  Remember that for the Jews the temple was the supposed to be the place, not just where heaven and earth overlapped, but the thin place between them where God's people could meet him.  Not fully, of course.  His presence was in the holy of holies where no one could go.  But if they offered the sacrifices that would purify them from the stain of sin and death, they could draw near.  The irony was that God's presence had been gone from the temple for hundreds of years.  They'd rebuilt it when they returned from their exile in Babylon, but God's presence had never come back.  As if God was hinting to them there was something new and better to come.  And Stephen's been preaching on that theme.  The old temple was a signpost pointing to Jesus and to a new temple, not this time made with hands, but established by God himself and filled with is Spirit.  And in as much as I expect this miracle vision of the heavenly court was a gift to Stephen to encourage him—even though he doesn't seem to have needed much of that kind of encouragement—the gospel was enough—it highlighted to everyone present that day the thing that Isreal so longed for in the temple—the convergence of heaven and earth—was now happening in Jesus and his people. And while Stephen's vision seems to be unique in Christian history, we see saint after saint, martyr after martyr going to their deaths with the same sort of calm and composure that we see in Stephen.  I have to wonder if God has given others similar visions to which, for obvious reasons, we simply aren't privy.  Polycarp, Perpetua and Felicity, Ignatius, Thomas Cranmer, Nichols Ridley, Hugh Latimer, Maximillian Kolbe—all died with the gospel and prayers for those who killed them on their lips.  Brothers and Sisters, that's the witness of men and women who are confident in the gospel, in the lordship of Jesus, and in the hope of resurrection and new creation.  These are men and women who understood what the gospel is—not good advice, not another option to try on the religious smorgasbord, not something you should give a try; they knew it to be true and they knew it to be truly good news—the way, the truth, and the life.  They knew the grace of God so powerfully, that they went to their deaths praying that those who killed them would one day know it. So Luke goes on in verse 57: “But they yelled at him at the tops of their voices, blocked their ears, and made a concerted dash at him.  They bundled him out of the city and stoned him.  The witnesses laid down their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul.  So they stoned Stephen.  “Lord Jesus,” he cried out, “receive my spirit.”  Then he knelt down and shouted at the top of his voice, “Lord, don't let this sin stand against them.”  Once he had said this, he fell asleep. “Now Saul was giving his consent to Stephen's death. That very day a great persecution was started against the church in Jerusalem. Everyone except the apostles was scattered through the lands of Judaea and Samaria. Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. 3 But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.” It's not just that Stephen stood firm on the gospel before the Sanhedrin and it's not just that he had a vision of heaven in which he was vindicated and could go to his death with calm and confidence.  His prayer for his enemies speaks volumes—it's a powerful witness—to the gospel itself. I can't image what it was like for Stephen.  In high school I was hit in the throat by a softball trying to catch someone's pop fly.  It hurt. Apparently I was lucky it didn't crush my trachea.  And that was a softball.  Stephen stood there—and I expect pretty quickly knelt and then lay there—as people threw rocks at him.  The biggest rocks they could find and still throw with force.  It was an absolutely brutal way to die and I can't imagine what kind of sadistic person would take joy in doing it to someone.  I guess that's yet more testimony to the influence the gospel has had on our culture.  And there, at a little distance stood Saul of Tarsus, having given the green light to the angry mob, supervising them as they threw their stones.  Keeping guard over their coats.  But as the rocks were hitting Stephen—imagine a rock breaking your jaw, crushing your nose, breaking your skull—Stephen cried out to God.  He cried out for mercy on those who were killing him. And that stands out as another witness to the gospel.  Because the whole going to a martyr's death, calmly and confidently and stoically, that's admirable, but other people had done that before Stephen.  About two centuries before, in the days when the Greek king, Antiochus Epiphanes, ruled Judaea, there had been a lot of Jewish martyrs.  Antiochus wanted to break the Jews, get them to forsake their “law”.  Get them to become more Greek, and they'd be an easier people to rule.  And so he desecrated their temple.  He made it illegal for them to circumcise their sons.  And his soldiers would round up the openly rebellious and force them to eat pork on pain of death.  2 Maccabees 7 tells the story of one family of Jewish heroes.  Seven brothers are tortured and, one by one, martyred as they stand firm in their faith, as they refuse the soldiers' order to eat pork.  They bore witness to their faith in God, to their hope in the future resurrection of the dead, but they also call down horrible curses on those pagan soldiers as they died.  With their last breath, they called down God's judgement on their enemies. But Stephen: Like those Jewish martyrs, he stood firm in faith.  He warned his accusers and his killers of God's coming judgement.  But he didn't lay it down as a curse.  He laid it down as a warning, a call to repentance—and with his last breath, a prayer for grace.  One of those Maccabean martyrs had yelled out, “This mighty power will torture you and your descendants!”  And Stephen, raised on those same stories of the martyrs, he saw that same divine persistence, but in light of Jesus he saw it very differently.  Stephen knew there is no escaping the Hound of Heaven.  But instead of divine judgment pursuing his enemies, he saw divine grace hounding them, the redeeming love of God pursing them—and if they would not be caught by it—it would pursue and catch and enfold and transform their descendants.  Somehow, someday the grace of God in Jesus, the renewing power of the gospel would catch them, because—Stephen was absolutely certain—that power will one day change the entire world.  That was the point of his powerful speech before them, after all.  From Abraham to Joseph, from Jospeh to Moses, from Moses to Jesus.  That's what the story is about: the grace and glory of the God of Israel to save his creation—not just Abraham's family—but all of creation.  It's about God, in love, giving himself to purify us from the stain of our rebellion, so that he can come home to live with us.  To restore heaven and earth.  And that gospel knowledge, that good news changed everything for Stephen. Brothers and Sisters, think about this.  Imagine people knew nothing of Jesus or the gospel or Christianity other than the astounding fact that Christian martyrs go to their deaths, not hurling curses, but calling down blessing and forgiveness from heaven on the very people torturing and killing them.  That, in itself, says something powerful about Jesus and the gospel and Christianity.  That in itself, would, I think, make a lot of people constructively curious.  That this is what we see from Christian martyrs down through history is witness to the gospel and to the very nature of our faith in the God of love who shed his blood to reconcile his enemies to himself.  A witness to the Jesus who, as he died on the cross, prayed that those who killed him would know God's forgiveness. Would that we, Brothers and Sisters, would be captivated by this same gospel of grace and the same sure and certain hope of reconciliation and resurrection and new creation.  Because our generation of Christians seems to be losing it.  We no longer think of the gospel as good news to proclaim, but as good advice to share, because Jesus is no longer the way, the truth, and the life, but now a way, a truth, a life.  We no longer have a clear hope and vision of creation set to rights by Jesus, maybe because we twisted this idea of “heaven” into a distant, ethereal, disembodied realm, instead of God's realm, present, but unseeable because of our sin.  And so we're afraid to speak of sin as that great evil that keeps us from God and we're afraid to call people to repentance and we're afraid to speak of that day when God will, once and for all, wipe the last traces of sin and evil from the world, to heal the breach between heaven and earth, to pull out the wedge we've so firmly driven between them.  And, in the same way, having consigned Jesus' lordship to a distant heaven, we fear to proclaim that most basic Christian creed—the one carved on our lychgate: “Jesus is Lord”.  Lord, not just in a far away heaven, not just someday in a far away future, but here and now. Brothers and Sisters, we need Stephen's witness just as much as the Sanhedrin did that day.  I pray that we would take it to heart.  And if we lack his confidence, if we lack his hope, if we lack his vision, or if—in contrast to Stephen—we find ourselves gritting our teeth in anger and calling down curses on our enemies, that the Lord would give us a clear vision of his grace, of his kingdom, of his glory.  Amen.

Acts 9:10-19: "Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." And he said, "Here I am, Lord." And the Lord said to him, "Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight." But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name." But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name." So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized; and taking food, he was strengthened. For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus."

Acts 9:10-19: "Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." And he said, "Here I am, Lord." And the Lord said to him, "Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight." But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name." But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name." So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized; and taking food, he was strengthened. For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus."

Barry Strauss introduces Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt and member of the Ptolemaic dynasty founded by one of Alexander the Great's generals. Strauss describes Alexandria as the Mediterranean's greatest metropolis and a wealthy cultural hub. Cleopatra is depicted as a "tough player" who survived deadly family intrigues to rule Egypt. When she meets Antony in 41 BC at Tarsus, she dazzles him with a spectacular, perfumed arrival on a barge. Antony views Cleopatra not just as a lover, but as a vital financial resource for his Eastern ambitions. A key point of contention is Caesarion, Cleopatra's son, whom many believed was the child of Julius Caesar. Octavian's later propaganda painted the East as "effeminate" compared to Roman manliness. To demonstrate her immense wealth, Cleopatra famously dissolved a priceless pearl in vinegar during an extravagant dinner. (2)

July 5, 2026 - Sunday AM Bible Class In this episode we study Acts 8–9 through the lens of a congregation learning to juggle multiple challenges at once. Neal references Chris Young's prior expository teaching and collaborates with Hiram as they walk listeners through the scattering of the Jerusalem church, the ministries of Philip in Samaria and to the Ethiopian eunuch, and the dramatic conversion of Saul of Tarsus. Biblical figures featured include Philip, Simon the sorcerer, the Ethiopian eunuch, Saul/Paul, Barnabas, and Dorcas (Tabitha). Topics covered include the church's response to persecution (Acts 8:1–4), the pattern of evangelism exemplified by Philip—"going up and opening his mouth," the role of signs and miracles to confirm the message, and how the Word plus the Holy Spirit accomplishes conversion in the absence of New Testament-era miraculous gifting. The episode examines how Philip's message produced belief and baptism among Samaritans and the eunuch, and it highlights the consistent New Testament emphasis on baptism accompanying repentance and faith. The conversion of Saul is treated as the central example of the challenge of change: changing religion, relationships, reputation, and life direction. The discussion follows Saul's pre-conversion persecution of Christians, the divine encounter on the road to Damascus, Ananias's role, and Barnabas's pastoral advocacy—how the early church received, connected, trusted, and helped a radically changed convert integrate into fellowship and ministry. Practical lessons and key points include: adversity should not lead to apostasy; put the emphasis on Scripture; humility in hearers makes teaching effective; joy accompanies obedience; follow-up and personal investment (the Barnabas model) are essential for new converts; old struggles can resurface and must be shepherded; and the church must care for loss (illustrated in the account of Dorcas) with compassion and expectation. Listeners should expect a mixture of exegesis, pastoral application, exhortation for personal evangelism (a simple challenge to invite others to study the Bible), and reflections on how Acts models mission, community care, and endurance under pressure for the contemporary church.   Duration 44:00

ദൈവം നിന്നിലൂടെ സംസാരിക്കുമ്പോൾ | When God Speaks Through You | Malayalam Daily Devotional | Br. Damien Antony | Morning Glory 1978 | 23 July 2026നിങ്ങളുടെ വാക്കുകൾക്ക് ശക്തിയും രൂപാന്തരവും ഉണ്ടാകണമോ? പരിശുദ്ധാത്മാവിനാൽ അഭിഷേകം ചെയ്യപ്പെട്ട സംഭാഷണം നിങ്ങളുടെ ജീവിതത്തെയും മറ്റുള്ളവരുടെ ഹൃദയങ്ങളെയും എങ്ങനെ മാറ്റുന്നു എന്ന് ഈ ദൈവവചന സന്ദേശത്തിലൂടെ അനുഭവിച്ചറിയുക.In this powerful Malayalam daily devotional sermon, we dive deep into the profound spiritual truth of Anointed Speech and how the Holy Spirit empowers believers to speak words of life, wisdom, and transformation. Drawing from Apostle Paul's revelation in First Corinthians, true Christian preaching and spiritual communication are not built upon persuasive human wisdom, linguistic skills, impressive public speaking techniques or high educational degrees like Paul possessed at the feet of Gamaliel in Tarsus. Instead, supernatural impact comes purely through the demonstration of the Spirit and power.ദൈവവചനത്തിൻ്റെ അനുഗ്രഹങ്ങൾക്കായി Blessing Today ചാനൽ ഇപ്പോൾ തന്നെ Subscribe ചെയ്യൂ! ✨പുതിയ വീഡിയോകൾക്കായി Bell Icon അമർത്തുക.

Before moving into Acts 8, we need to discuss the figure mentioned in both Acts 7:58 and 8:1, Saul of Tarsus. Who was this man, and why was he so bent on binding and even killing followers of Yeshua?

Introducing a new series on Romans by learning how God molds His bondservants for His purpose and His glory.

In Acts 11, ordinary, nameless believers—scattered by persecution—stepped into Antioch, crossed cultural lines, and preached the Lord Jesus to Hellenists, and “the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord” (Acts 11:21, ESV). These were not apostles or platformed leaders, but faithful “them” whose obedience launched gospel advance from the third-largest city in the Roman Empire and birthed the very name “Christians.” This message confronts the lie that God only uses the gifted, the clean, or the famous: He delights to rest His hand on ordinary people who simply proclaim Christ with steadfast purpose. Whether you're in a hidden Tarsus season of waiting or feeling sidelined by past failure, the same sovereign Lord who used the scattered is at work in you—preparing, shaping, and ready to unleash fruitfulness for His glory.

Chapter 1 of Heroes in the Bible: Paul with Michael Chandler is inspired by the book of Acts. Paul vs. Jesus - Story Inspired by Acts 9 Saul of Tarsus was an unstoppable force. He was zealous and determined to end the Christian movement. But what happens when the unstoppable force meets the immovable Rock of Ages? In this episode, inspired by Acts 9, Saul the Pharisee is awakened to the deity of Jesus… And history will never be the same. Hosted by world champion fighter Michael Chandler, each episode goes beyond the story to uncover the deeper meaning behind Paul's trials, victories, and inner battles. Drawing from his own life experiences as an elite athlete, competitor, husband, and man of faith, Chandler brings a rare perspective on discipline, sacrifice, endurance, and purpose. Listen to some of the greatest Bible stories ever told and make prayer a priority in your life by downloading the Pray.com app. Sign up for Heroes in the Bible devotionals at https://www.heroesinthebible.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Can A Person Change, Reinvent Themselves; Can A Leopard Change Its Spots? Through Christ...YES! Acts 9:26-30 New International Version Par ▾ Saul's Conversion 1Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest 2and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” 5“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6“Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” 7The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything. 10In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!” “Yes, Lord,” he answered. 11The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. 12In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.” 13“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. 14And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.” 15But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. 16I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” 17Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, 19and after taking some food, he regained his strength. Saul in Damascus and Jerusalem Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. 20At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. 21All those who heard him were astonished and asked, “Isn't he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn't he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?” 22Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah. 23After many days had gone by, there was a conspiracy among the Jews to kill him, 24but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him. 25But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall. 26When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. 27But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. 28So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. 29He talked and debated with the Hellenistic Jews, a but they tried to kill him. 30When the believers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

Packinghouse's Sunday morning worship service from July 11, 2026. Acts 9:1–19 — The Conversion of Saul In Acts 9, Pastor Greg examines the dramatic conversion of Saul of Tarsus, showing how the greatest persecutor of the early church became one of Christ's greatest servants through a personal encounter with the risen Jesus. The message highlights God's power to transform even the hardest heart, reminding us that no one is beyond His grace and that our past does not disqualify us from His purposes. Through the courage of Ananias and Saul's complete surrender, the study emphasizes that God prepares each believer for a unique calling, often using life's hardships to shape us for future ministry. Ultimately, the passage encourages us to fix our eyes on Jesus, trust Him with the direction of our lives, and faithfully step into the assignments He places before us. - Greg Opean - Sunday, July 12, 2026

Packinghouse's Sunday morning worship service from July 11, 2026. Acts 9:1–19 — The Conversion of Saul In Acts 9, Pastor Greg examines the dramatic conversion of Saul of Tarsus, showing how the greatest persecutor of the early church became one of Christ's greatest servants through a personal encounter with the risen Jesus. The message highlights God's power to transform even the hardest heart, reminding us that no one is beyond His grace and that our past does not disqualify us from His purposes. Through the courage of Ananias and Saul's complete surrender, the study emphasizes that God prepares each believer for a unique calling, often using life's hardships to shape us for future ministry. Ultimately, the passage encourages us to fix our eyes on Jesus, trust Him with the direction of our lives, and faithfully step into the assignments He places before us. - Greg Opean - Sunday, July 12, 2026

Packinghouse's Sunday morning worship service from July 11, 2026. Acts 9:1–19 — The Conversion of Saul In Acts 9, Pastor Greg examines the dramatic conversion of Saul of Tarsus, showing how the greatest persecutor of the early church became one of Christ's greatest servants through a personal encounter with the risen Jesus. The message highlights God's power to transform even the hardest heart, reminding us that no one is beyond His grace and that our past does not disqualify us from His purposes. Through the courage of Ananias and Saul's complete surrender, the study emphasizes that God prepares each believer for a unique calling, often using life's hardships to shape us for future ministry. Ultimately, the passage encourages us to fix our eyes on Jesus, trust Him with the direction of our lives, and faithfully step into the assignments He places before us. - Greg Opean - Sunday, July 12, 2026

Stephen stood before the Sanhedrin, the most defendant-protective court in the ancient world, a court that had just thrown out every one of its own protections to kill him. As the stones fell, Stephen did not cry out for vengeance. He cried out for forgiveness. That single prayer, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin,” marks the moment the new covenant broke the old cycle of compounding vengeance and introduced a gospel of extreme, unreasonable forgiveness. And watching over the coats of the men who killed him stood a young man named Saul, the very man that forgiveness would one day reach.

Life Changing: Saul The Persecutor Becomes Paul The Believer Acts 9:10-14 10In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!” “Yes, Lord,” he answered. 11The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. 12In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.” 13“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. 14And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”

Put yourself in the shoes of a man that knew of Saul of Tarsus, a person that persecuted the church of God, and God told this man to go see this persecutor! That would take a lot of courage! But being a disciple, an obedient follower of Christ, must involve courage of some level at some point.

This powerful exploration of Acts chapter 9 by Assistant Pastor Dillon Meadway from Sunday, June 28th 2026 takes us on a journey through one of the most dramatic transformations in biblical history - the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. We're reminded that the same God who created the heavens and earth still works miracles today, and that no weapon formed against us shall prosper when we stand on the name of Jesus. The message challenges us to move beyond merely talking about surrender to actually living it out. Paul's encounter on the Damascus road wasn't just about believing - it was about complete transformation through baptism in Jesus' name and being filled with the Holy Ghost. We see that Ananias didn't offer Paul a simple prayer of salvation, but instead proclaimed the full gospel experience as demonstrated on the day of Pentecost. The critical insight here is that the power of the Holy Ghost is only as effective as the state of our surrender. We cannot hold onto our traditions, our comfort zones, or our own understanding if we truly want to experience the transformative power of God. This message calls us to examine whether our lives match our confessions, whether our actions align with our proclamations of faith, and whether we're willing to pay the price of true discipleship.

Does your Christianity have a cross? Saul of Tarsus was chosen to suffer. But we shouldn't think he was unique in that. Jesus said, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me." This is not a message that fills arenas with eager hearers. But many of us do long to be significant, perhaps even to be heroes. Jim will connect those dots with Part 2 of his sermon, Hero: Chosen to Suffer. Listen to Right Start Radio every Monday through Friday on WCVX 1160AM (Cincinnati, OH) at 9:30am, WHKC 91.5FM (Columbus, OH) at 5:00pm, WRFD 880AM (Columbus, OH) at 9:00am. Right Start can also be heard on One Christian Radio 107.7FM & 87.6FM in New Plymouth, New Zealand. You can purchase a copy of this message, unsegmented for broadcasting and in its entirety, for $7 on a single CD by calling +1 (800) 984-2313, and of course you can always listen online or download the message for free. RS06232026_0.mp3Scripture References: Acts 9:15-16

Barry Strauss introduces Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt and member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, which turned Egyptinto a Mediterranean "gold mine." She was a "tough player" who survived deadly dynastic intrigues to secure her throne. Her spectacular entry at Tarsus on a perfumed barge wowed Antony, establishing a partnership built on both romance and finance. Egypt served as a vital treasury for Antony's ambitions, as the Romans had long viewed the country as a bank. A key political asset was her son, Caesarion, whom she claimed was the son of Julius Caesar—a direct threat to Octavian's legitimacy. Strauss highlights Cleopatra's intelligence through the story of her dissolving a pearl in vinegar to host the world's most expensive dinner. While Roman propaganda painted Alexandria as "effeminate" and "comic," it was actually the scientific and cultural capital of the ancient world. (2/8)1572 CONSTANTINOPLE