Acts: The Church in Action Week 3 Devotional Questions

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1 Acts 9:1-31 Day 1: Acts 9: Day 2: Acts 9: Day 3: Acts 9: Day 4: Acts 9: Day 5: Acts 9: These readings and study questions are in preparation for next week's sermon. As you read each day, ask the Lord to speak to you through His Word. Ask the Holy Spirit to make His Word come alive to you for that day. The Book of Acts reminds us that despite modern challenges the church can be alive and well. Acts shows how revival and church growth come, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Day 1: Read Acts 9:1-7. Acts 9:1-7 (ESV) 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 flashed 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. When Chuck Colson became a Christian in 1973, the whole nation reacted with skepticism Christians and non-christians alike. Of all the leading characters in the Watergate scandal, he was one of the most notorious. His nickname was the hatchet man. How could such a calculating man sincerely come to God? This week we will consider God s miraculous work in Saul s conversion and the effect of this on the whole church. 1a. Saul was traveling 150 miles, a six-day journey on foot, to Damascus to expand the persecution against believers (Acts 8:1). What does this tell you about Saul? 1b. Jesus interrupted Saul s plans in a remarkable way. How do you think Saul felt when confronted by Jesus? (9:4-6) 1c. How have you seen the power of the truth of the Gospel in your own life, or in the lives of others? 2 Corinthians 4:6 (NIV) For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

2 2 Day 2: Read Acts 9:8-9. Acts 9:8-9 (NIV) 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything. Psalm 27:14 (NIV) Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Isaiah 40:30-31 (ESV) 30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. Jesus gave His disciples the command to wait in Acts 1:4. The disciples spent that wait time actively meeting and praying together. The Lord allows Paul to wait for three days before giving him any further information. Paul spends that time fasting and praying, with a submitted attitude. Sometimes the Lord interrupts our lives to force us to wait. Why do you think the Lord chose to blind Saul on the Damascus road and then restore his sight three days later? What kind of sight did Saul need? 2a. Are you waiting for the Lord for something right now? Waiting for the Lord is an old and deep idea. Read Psalm 27:14 and Isaiah 40: Ask God for continued trust, strength and peace as you wait for Him to provide, to answer, to do something in His perfect timing. Pray the same for a friend who is waiting.

3 3 Day 3: Read Acts 9: Acts 9:10-19 (NIV) 10 In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, "Ananias!" "Yes, Lord," he answered. 11 The 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. 12 In 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 saints in Jerusalem. 14 And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name." 15 But the Lord said to Ananias, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name." 17 Then 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." 18 Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength. Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. Ananias is the second person within three days to have a direct encounter with the Lord. Compare and contrast his encounter (vv ) with that of Saul. 3a. What was Ananias objection to God s request? 3b. What do you learn about obedience to God from Ananias? 3c. How would it have made Saul feel to hear Ananias addressing him as brother (v.17)? 3d. How would you describe the role that Ananias played in helping Saul fulfill his God-given calling? 3e. What characteristics of God do you observe in this passage? Take a moment now and praise Him. Isaiah 43:1 But now, this is what the Lord says-- he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. (NIV)

4 4 Day 4: Read Acts 9: Acts 9:20-25 (NIV) 20 At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. 21 All 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?" 22 Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ. 23 After many days had gone by, the Jews conspired to kill him, 24 but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him. 25 But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall. Note the irony in verse 21. Originally, Saul was coming with a letter from the High Priests in Jerusalem to the synagogues in Damascus to persecute the followers of Jesus and now he came to the same synagogues preaching Jesus as the Messiah. It is likely that sometime between verses 22 and 23, Saul spent three years in Arabia. Read his own account in Galatians 1:15-18 (at left). 4a. List what Paul (Saul) says God did in Galatians 1: b. Has Christ ever radically changed your perspective on anything? If so, what was changed, and what/who did He use in your life to do so? Galatians 1:15-18 (NIV) 15 But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by 16 his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any 17 man, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus. 18 Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter and stayed with him fifteen days.

5 5 Day 5: Read Acts 9: Acts 9:26-31 (NIV) 26 When 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. 27 But 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. 28 So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 He talked and debated with the Grecian Jews, but they tried to kill him. 30 When the brothers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus. 31 Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord. Notice who came to Saul s defense. Earlier in Acts 4:36 the Apostles had called Barnabas Son of Encouragement as they recognized his spiritual gift. 5a. How did the Holy Spirit use this gifted believer to benefit Paul at this time? Who has been the greatest encourager in your life? What difference has that gift made? Have you thanked him/her? What a difference Ananias and Barnabas made in Saul s life. How could you be an Ananias or a Barnabas in someone s life today? Acts 9:31 is another of Luke s summaries that he regularly dropped into the book (Acts 2:46 47; 4:4, 32; 5:12 14). Note that the geographic locations parallel those given in Acts 1:8. Luke is telling us that the message was going out just as the Lord had commanded. Soon, the center would be Antioch, not Jerusalem, and the key leader Paul, not Peter; and the Gospel would be taken to the uttermost part of the earth. Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, Ac 9:26 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996).