PHISH BOWL MINISTRIES
Chummin’ for saints…until the
nets are full
Matthew 4:19
May 2013
My beloved
fellow believers thank you so much for all of the kind thoughts and
prayers. Prison is slowly getting back into a routine which is
good for the guards and for us. There
is a delicate ecosystem in prison that makes this machine run. Not anything like our walk with Father. With Him, we don’t have to fear doing the
wrong thing and then BANG, now Father is mad and going to call down curses on
us. No, my friends, Father loves us so
much, and knows we are going to fall short. Even Jesus, with great compassion said:
“Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing”.To my second thank-you: My hand is healing slowly. I will not lie. It isn’t doing all that well. I am waiting to see the doctor to discuss some of the recovery issues. Please keep this in your prayers.
I also want to thank Barb for one awesome Phish Bowl last month (To God Be the Glory!). So many guys have stopped me and said how much they enjoyed her insight. The best part about P.B., is that it isn’t about just one person, it’s a co-equal ministry and I thank Father for that!
Before
moving on in our study of Acts, I do have a prayer request. My case manager gave me the application
papers for Community Corrections (a half-way house). The papers will go in May 8th! Pray for Father’s will that I am where I can
do the best for Him, His church and His children. Thank you.
(Many of us are praying for him to be released to Larimer County as this
is where his support system is.)
As we move on, let’s do a quick recap. Acts 1:8 seems to be an outline for the entire book. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth”. NIV. I will once again borrow from J. Vernon McGee since I love how he looked at this passage in light of us today.
First: In Jerusalem is equivalent to our homes.
Second: In all of Judea is equivalent to our community.
Third: To Samaria which is equivalent to the other side of the tracks, the people with whom we don’t associate.
Fourth: The earth. Although we may not meet with all parts and all kinds of people in this world, there are still many ways we can support others who do God’s work. My only note here is the wording; “And you will be my witnesses”. Sorry, this is not an option if you are a believer. No, I’m not really sorry. I am honored to do His bidding in this world.
Chapters 1-7
describe the gospel being preached in Jerusalem. Chapter 8 shows believers, under threat of
persecution taking the good news of Jesus to Judea and Samaria. Now in Chapter 9, Luke records one of the top
10 events in all of the Bible and the Church’s history; The conversion of Saul
of Tarsus. Saul, later known as Paul,
would be God’s apostle to the Gentiles (see Galatians 2:8 and Ephesians 3:8). He would lead the Church in spreading
Christianity “to the ends of the earth”.
And no one was a better fit for the job.
He was a “real Jew is there ever was one” (Philippians 3:5). He was a native of Tarsus and thoroughly
knowledgeable in and with the Greek culture (Acts 17:22-31), a citizen of Rome
(Acts 16:37), trained in a trade so that he could support himself (Acts 18:3).
Before
Christ could use this highly qualified man, He first had to transform him. Today, we are only going to look at what
happened on the road to Damascus. Here
are three words which I am going to borrow:
theological, psychological and philosophical. For a deeper look at Paul in these areas, I
personally suggest a study in the book of Philippians.
Acts 9:1-2 Then Saul, still
breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the
Lord, went to the high priest 2
and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found
any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to
Jerusalem.”
The first
time we saw Saul, he was at Stephen’s stoning (Acts 7:58-8:1). He was so zealous for his Jewish belief
system, that he began a campaign against anyone who believed in Jesus the
Christ, all who were followers of the Way (see Philippians 3:6). The name implied
“the way of the Lord” or “the way to salvation”. Christ had earlier claimed to be the “the
way” (John 14:6). This claim is found a
number of times in Acts.
Acts 19:9 “But when some were hardened and did not
believe, but spoke evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them
and withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus.”
19:23 “ And about that time there
arose a great commotion about the Way”
22:4 “I persecuted this Way to the death, binding
and delivering into prisons both men and women”
24:14 “Then he said, ‘The God of our fathers has
chosen you that you should know His will, and see the Just One, and hear the
voice of His mouth.”
24:22 “And they listened to him until this word,
and then they raised their voices and
said, “Away with such a fellow from
the earth, for he is not fit to live!”
16:17 “This girl followed Paul and us, and cried
out, saying, “these men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to
us the way of salvation.”
18:25-26 “This man had been instructed in the way of
the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the
things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John. So he began to speak boldly in the
synagogue. When Aquila and Priscilla
hear him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more
accurately.”
Acts 9:3 “As he journeyed he came
near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven.”
Damascus, a
key commercial city at that time was located about 175 miles away from
Jerusalem, a Roman province. Several
trading routes went through or linked Damascus to other cities throughout the
Roman world. Saul may have thought that
Damascus would be a good spot to stamp out Christianity; there he could stop
the spread of the good news. Now at some
time during his journey, Saul found himself surrounded by an unbelievable
Heavenly light. This text does not overtly
state that Saul saw Christ, it is implied, and since seeing the resurrected
Lord was a requirement of New Testament apostleship (see 1 Corinthians 9:1,
15:8). Also, the testimonies of Ananias
(Acts 9:17) and Barnabas (Acts 9:27) confirm an eyewitness encounter of the
heavenly kind.
Acts 9: 4 Then he fell to the
ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting
Me?” 5 And he said, “who are You, Lord?”
Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is
hard for you to kick against the goads.”
At this
point, we hear Jesus make a very powerful statement about the relationship
between Christ and His church. Anyone
who persecutes believers is guilty of persecuting Jesus the Christ (also see
Matthew 25:40-45). We are the body of Christ on earth. I wonder what was going through Saul’s mind
as this great Pharisee was face down in the dirt. Could it have been “I was not serving God,
but I was opposing Him?” Anyway, at the
center of this wonderful experience was Jesus the Christ. Saul did not see a vision; he saw the risen
Christ. Saul did not “get religion”
(something he already had), he found a relationship with Jesus.
6 So he, trembling and
astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want to do?” Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the
city, and you will be told what you must do.”
According to
Paul’s own testimony in Acts 26:16-18, Christ gave him a brief preview of his
future.7 And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one.
In Acts 22:9 and 26:14, we get enlightened that those who were with Saul heard some kind of sound and saw some kind of light, but didn’t understand any of what was going on.
8 Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9 And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
Let me start here with this: The why, how and symbolism behind the “blind” has my head spinning. Wow! to all you commentators. And a big “really”…Let’s not over read things. But here’s mine…God needed Saul’s full, undivided attention. Saul had a lot to think about. So for three days, God and Saul had spent a lot of one on one time. During this time, Saul would have had the time to realize that this Jesus was indeed the Messiah whom the Jews were awaiting. He had time to cover in his mind all the prophecies he had studied in his training as a Pharisee. Suddenly, all that Saul had believed was being torn down and replaced with a new Truth. And he did this all blind and praying (9:11). This is Barb: Does the fact that he was blind for three days hit anyone else right between the eyes, so to speak? Not 5, nor 7, nor 2, but 3 days. Don’t you love God’s consistency?
Saul’s
conversion was undeniable:
He went storming out of Jerusalem
in a huff; he came stumbling into Damascus in
humility
(9:8-9).He went to arrest Christians; he ended up being arrested by Christ Himself! (9:1-5).
He began the trip determined to wipe out this message of Christ; he ended the trip devoted to the cause of taking that message to the “end of the earth”. (9:19- 22).
He went from being a persecutor to being a persecuted one (9:23-25).
In short, Saul’s whole mindset
and belief system were turned upside down.
He realized that Jesus the Christ was not dead, but alive. Jesus was not just a Nazarene rabble-rouser,
He was the Messiah, the son of God.
Because of his great conversion, Saul turned out to be perfect for the
task given to him by God. He was
thoroughly versed in Jewish theology, language and culture; a native of Tarsus
means that he was equally at home in Greek culture; a citizen of Rome; trained
in the secular trade of tent making, thus being able to support himself as
needed.
This is a great picture of how Father works with His church. It’s the snowflake principle; we’re all different. No one else would have been suited to do what Paul did. And, no one else can do what you can do. No one else has your circle of friends, your abilities, your situations. In a sense, each believer has a calling. Father wants to send you out to use you to do something helpful in this world. You may not play a highly visible role, but Father has a fulfilling plan for your life in the ever growing church family. Glad you asked, OK, what is my role? I don’t have that answer, but I can tell you this much. If you don’t get up and do something, you will never find out.
Next month
we are going to look at one man who was willing to be used by God, even if it
was in a way he hadn’t planned or even if he wasn’t really understanding the
way in which the Father
works
to him the Lord said in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.”
This will be covered next month.
Semper fidelis! Love your brother, Timothy. I Corinthians 16:13-14
Phish Bowl Ministries is an outreach of
Calvary Chapel Loveland
276 E. 29th St.
Loveland, CO 80538
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