15-4-09 Martyn Atkins Bible Study

Wednesdy Acts 9: 1-19 here

Being Converted What kind of person were you What happened to you What happened afterwards

Acts 9 is a sudden surrender as much as it is a sudden converstion

Three Q’s

1. Paul, What kind of person were you?

• WITNESS MATTERS – Paul was someone impressed by xtn witness.
• never underestimate impact of our testimony – MA conversation (one of many). asked God to make himself real. Nightclub clipboard evangelist spoke of Christ. Mr Bell from youth group. Knew Mr Bell loved God and was a deeply xtn man. Stephen didn’t know what his witness might effect and affect Paul as he ‘held the coats’.
• So, How is the witness going?? It’s tuff. You probably won’t know that
• A GOOD JEW – Philippians 3: 4-6
• xty not just for big sinners, but also for those, like paul who were good religious people

2. Paul, what happend to you?

• JESUS APPEARED IN ME – Idea of Jesus appearing in su and to us. Wesleyan theology. He makes the first move. God acts whether we ever realise it or not
• PAUL MET WITH JESUS. Doesn’t always happen like it did with Paul, but regardless meetig with Jesus is the quinntessential xtn experience.
• RULES OF BEING A JEW, within the rules of being a jew Paul was good, but upon meeting xt P needs to totally reacess, all this is loss because of knowing christ J my lord, all else is rubbish. (anti-semitic problem of this). A radical re-assessment is eqd when meeting xt. Meeting/following xt is like a new magnetic north direction in life. chnge north, evrything else is modified too. so we who are not the ‘biggest’ sinners in terms of human ranking. Point of feeling conviction is close to turning point.

Notes on this Bible passage

• Paul is called by name – so was Peter at lakeside, Mary at Gethsemene, Saul too.
• Saul is asked ‘why are you persecuting me’ – to persecute xt is to persecute his people. what you do to them you do to me.
• the Q is in the rabbinic telling of the story of the temple Saul Saul why do you ersecute me. David saying to Saul when he is in the cave ‘relieving himself’. story told in samuel, but Luke uses these words to signal to Paul thatb there is an imoportant link here with the OT. J is son of David.
• Paul is recruited, commissioned and taken on…

What happened fterwards