Text: Acts 9:20-29
Memory Verse: “But their plot became known to Saul. And they watched the gates day and night to kill him. Then the disciples took him by night and let him down through the wall in a large basket” (Acts 9:24&25).
Paul, the persecutor of the Christians became the persecuted Christian. While on his way to Damascus, holding on tightly to letters with which She would arrest Christians and forcefully return them to Jerusalem so they could be killed, Saul encountered the risen Jesus. “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” (Acts 9:4). This encounter marked the beginning of a missionary zeal that has never been paralleled in the history of the church.
Indeed, if a person could gain the righteousness of God by obeying the law, Paul may have become the greatest in the Kingdom of God, but he humbled himself and carried the message of salvation to the world as it was in those days. He received God’s undeserved mercy. He made himself a servant for all men (I Corinthians 9:19). He disciplined his body and suffered terribly for the sake of the Gospel. Emperor Nero’s persecution of Christians in AD 64 may have caused the death of Paul, when he was beheaded.
According to Church history, the word martyr originally meant witness. Paul became a witness and a martyr for Christ both with his life and at death. Many modern-day Christians play games with the faith that has been committed into our hands. Remember his admonition in Romans 12:1 “I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice…” These are the words from the man who persecuted Christians, but ended his life as a persecuted Christian.
Prayer Points:
1. O Lord, teach me to live fully for Your glory.
2. Help me, Lord, to witness for Christ with my life.