15 Oct (Acts 9)

Acts 9

(v.1) Paul was an accuser of the Church...sound familiar? Satan means accuser in Greek. Satan was working in the Pharisees and Jewish leadership to persecute the early Church. He then went to work in the Romans, the RCC and Islam. But what happened every time, was those who believed in God's Word, and not man's word, were strengthened and grew! Satan eventually found out that once he lost on the cross, he would infiltrate the Church, and make it ineffective.

(v.4) When people treat you badly or say mean things to you because you follow Jesus, remember that ultimately, they are saying or doing those things against Jesus. John 15:18

(v.9) Once again, the number three is important here...this is a number used in Hebrew to assign testing or cleansing.

(v.11) Whenever I read this verse, the street named Straight makes me think of Isaiah 40:3

(v.13) This is the first time the Church believers are referred to as saints in the Bible. They haven't died and been immortalized, no, they are living believers who are saints in the eyes of the Father who have the cleansing blood of His Son on them by their faith! We who believe are His saints!!!

(v.15) God's plans don't make sense to us at first. Here was Paul, who was a revered Pharisee, who could have had an incredible witness to the other Pharisees of his conversion to Christ. But God didn't want to do that...He had Paul preach to the Gentiles. We can only speculate, but perhaps God knew that the hearts of the Pharisees were too hard, and Paul's witness would have been wasted on them.

(v.16) Being used by God is not always a bed of roses...it takes sacrifice and commitment. But in the end, we will enjoy immense joy and reward for letting God use us for His purposes!

(v.18) I often wonder why Jewish people can't see that Jesus was their Messiah. If they know the Old Testament (the Tenach) they should be able to see He was who the prophets wrote about. But in Luke 19:42 we see that God had them not see, for they refused to see back when their day had come.

(v.27) We all need a Barnabas in our lives...one who will have our backs, and reach out to others who doubt or mistrust us.

(v.40) I noticed that Peter did what Jesus did...had the people leave the room. That is being a disciple...emulating your teacher.

(v.41) Here we see that the Brethren are the saints...not dead believers immortalized by a church, but living witnesses and followers of Christ.