PHISH BOWL MINISTRIES
JULY 2013
“Chummin’ for Saints until the
nets are full”
Matthew 4:19
Saints,
I hope to keep focused as I write to you. Once again, in my walk, I feel Father ever so
gently nudging me in a new direction. It
seems as though one season is almost to an end and another is starting to dawn
in some ways, if I may. In the last PBM Saul
had just received his sight back. The
old Saul was passing away and the new Paul was being born anew. Now my change is not a death to life thing as
much as a dying to self-thing. There is
no way for me to just stay the same year after year. I would have to ask myself “Is the Holy
Spirit really living inside me”? The
reason I say this is that it is His job to guide us, and if you’re not going anywhere
and you don’t feel lead, please check yourself.
Now here is a good time and quote: Galatians
1:15-19:
“But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s
womb and called me through His grace,
to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not
immediately confer with flesh and blood nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went
to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.”
According to his own
letter, Saul spent three years in Arabia between the time of his conversion
(Acts 9: 3-6) and his journey to Jerusalem
(Acts 9: 26).
Acts 9:19b-20: “Then Saul spent some days with the disciples
at Damascus. Immediately he preached the
Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God”.
Here in Acts, Saul uses the term,
“Son of God” and it implies three things:
1.
It spoke of
Jesus’ intimate and unique relationship with God the Father.
2.
It placed
Jesus in the kingly line of David.
3.
It
identified Jesus as the long awaited Messiah of Israel (see Matthew 26:63).
Saul could be so bold because he
knew without a doubt that Jesus was alive, that Jesus was God’s Son and that
Jesus was the Messiah.
Acts 9: 21: “Then all who heard were amazed, and said, “Is
this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem, and has
come here for that purpose, so that he might bring them bound to the chief
priests?”
“AMAZED”. Chew on that for a moment. Why were they amazed; his clothes, his well-used
words, maybe his knowledge? Were Saul’s
arguments for Christ so powerful because he was a brilliant scholar? Do you want to know what made his gospel
presentation even more convincing? It
was his changed life! People knew that what Saul taught was real because they
could see the change in him. It is
important to know what the Bible teaches and how to defend the faith, but be
sure that your words are backed up with your new life.
Acts 9: 22; “But Saul increased all the more in strength,
and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this Jesus is the Christ.”
The Jews were ‘baffled’,
confounded, taken back; why? Saul was
proving that Jesus is the Christ. He was
putting together the Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah with the facts of
Jesus’ life.
Acts 9:23: “Now after many days were past, the Jews plotted
to kill him. 24 But their plot became
known to Saul. And they watched the gates
day and night, to kill him. 25 Then the
disciples took him by night and let him
down through the wall in a large basket.”
2 Corinthians 11:32: “In Damascus the governor, under Aretas
the king was guarding the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desiring to
arrest me;”
I have read a lot about
Acts 9:23-25, Galatians 1:17-18 and 2 Corinthians 11:32. There is a lot of information available about
this time line. I don’t want to just
pass it over, but I’m not comfortable writing about this yet. What is clear to me is that Saul’s preaching
had made such headlines that the Jewish leaders decided to kill him and that
three years had elapsed between Acts 9:22 and 9:26.
26 “And when Saul had
come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples; but they were all afraid of
him, and did not believe that he was a disciple.”
Now after three years sojourning in Arabia, Saul
arrived in Jerusalem, and not to completely open arms. People still remembered
Saul and what he had done. This one line
shows us how terrible Saul’s persecutions had been. Stop!
Can you tell me who the big bad man was in your life three years
ago? Most likely not, but these men and
women still knew Saul and what he had done in the past. They were not buying
into the act. Was this all a show? He can’t really be one of us! How many times do we say this in our own
church when someone who used to gang-bang walks in?
27 “But Barnabas
took him and brought him to the
apostles. And he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and
that He had spoken to him, and in the name of Jesus.”
I so dig Barnabas! He is
so in keeping with his nickname “Son of Encouragement”. When someone new walks into our church, do we
come along side of him? It is not an
easy thing to change one’s reputation, and Saul had one really terrible
reputation with the Christians. Barnabas became the bridge between Saul and the
apostles. New Christians (especially
those with tarnished reputations), need friendship, guidance, people who will
come alongside to encourage them, teach them and to introduce them to other
believers and to this new way of living.
To help them find their new identity in Christ.
28 “So he was with
them at Jerusalem, coming in and going out. 29 And he spoke boldly in the name
of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Hellenists, but they attempted to
kill him. 30 When the brethren found out, they brought him down to Caesarea and
sent him out to Tarsus. “
While in Jerusalem, Saul
was lead to witness to the very same audience that had masterminded the stoning
of Stephen. I ask myself what it would
be like to go back to the church where I committed my crime and to testify to
what Christ has done in my life over the past 8 years. This would not be easy! Nor was it easy for Saul to preach to this
group. Could we all be this bold in
Christ to do the same thing? So, what
did this get him? It got him one fast
ticket out of town! However, this did
not take God by surprise. Father has a
plan.
31”Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and
Samaria had peace and were edified. And
walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they
were multiplied.”
This is one of Luke’s
tag lines. We see that after every
crisis, the power of God was present and the Church grew. The gospel was spreading and the Church was
growing in Judea, Galilee and Samaria.
It was now time for the message of Christ to be taken to the “end of the
earth” (Acts 1:8).
This is where we leave
Saul until Acts 11:25. And so, I will
stop here also. I pray this finds you in
His Peace.|
Semper
Fidelis!
Love,
Timothy (I Corinthians 16:13-14)
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