A Recap from Sunday’s Sermon 

Preaching Text: Acts 22:3-16

The conversion account of the Apostle Paul is unquestionably the most famous in Christian history. Luke, the author of Acts, includes three versions (See Acts 9, 22 & 26).   In these accounts, we find Paul (a.k.a. Saul), as a strict Pharisee and zealously persecuting Christians.  

Paul’s later writings, such as Romans 7, indicate that the Lord had been working on Paul prior to confronting him on the road to Damascus.   Conversion always involves a process.   Even for those who can identify a specific moment of surrender, conversion is never 100%.   This is because conversion must involve all aspects of a person. Ask yourself what percentage of your whole being is converted to the Lord.

Jesus converts the head, the heart and the hands.

Paul believed as a Pharisee (Head), was zealous (Heart) and worked to arrest Christianity (Hands). After being confronted by the Risen Lord, he spends three days blind and fasting and praying. Then he spends three years secluded in Arabia (See Gal. 1:17). Even after fourteen more years, he was concerned he might be laboring in vain, so he conferred with the other Apostles (See Gal. 2).

Not only is conversion a process, it must be recurrent process. We must daily offer our lives to the Lord. As someone once said, the problem with “living sacrifices” is that they can crawl off the altar!

Our church is developing an even clearer process to help people grow. It has three parts and a forth. 1. Sunday worship at church. 2. Small group participation. 3. Service to the church and the world. The fourth item is to intentionally take other people into this process.  

Taking it Home: Discuss a time when you pulled back something that you had previously given over to the Lord.