“Let me tell you a story.” Those words can be powerful. I remember being on one of my first mission trips and being in a situation when things were getting out of hand. Afterward, one of the experienced members of the team told us a story of something similar happening in Africa, except in this case one of the team members got everyone’s attention and said, “Let me tell you a story.” Shortly thereafter they were all sitting on the ground and the team member, a petite lady, told them all THE story starting with Adam and Eve and ending with Jesus’ death and resurrection.
People will listen to a story, and that story can say a lot.
If you remember, way back in Acts 4:20, Peter and John stated before the Jewish court, “. . . we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” Here in Acts 22, Paul is still doing the same thing. As he hushes the crowd and speaks to them in their native language, he reaches out to them in yet another language, one that is common to all people: a story. Actually, it is his story; what he has seen and heard. He tells them about his conversion on the road to Damascus.
This story telling session goes quite well until the very end, when Paul touches back on what had angered the crowd in the first place – his relationship with the Gentiles, and the message that God loved them as well as the Jewish nation. Ultimately, the crowd rejected Paul’s story. That happens. It is only by the Spirit of God that anyone can believe that Jesus is the Son of God who redeems us. However, we must remember that our job is not to make the hearer accept the testimony. When Paul made his defense before the crowd, he sought to convince them, but it was only the Holy Spirit who could create faith in them. He was only there to be a witness.
The same is true for us. All throughout this book we’ve come back to this central thought of being witnesses. We just lay the story out there, and people will believe it or not.
We too have encountered the risen Christ. We have met Him in His Word; the Bible. He has washed us in the waters of Baptism. He has touched us through the Lord’s Supper. Some of us have had life transforming experiences – like Paul being knocked to the ground! Others have had a lifetime of gentle prods in God’s direction. However that experience has been for us, we can pray as Paul did when he was converted, “What shall I do, Lord?”
Paul found the ultimate answer to this question and shared it with the Philippian jailer in Acts 16:31: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” That answer overarches every aspect of our lives. Yet we can still ask this questions, “What shall I do, Lord?” as we go through this life and seek to serve God and follow Him as the Lord of our lives. He will answer it, and guide us!
This is a good question for churches to ask, too. Are we doing what God has called us to do in every aspect of our life? What shall we do, Lord? For God is still at work in this world, and we are called to participate in that Work, and only God can show us exactly how he wants us to go about it. In prayer and study of the Word, God will teach and lead us in what we should do.
Lord, we often seek to do things our way. Forgive us and teach us to ask, “What shall we do, Lord?” Amen.
People will listen to a story, and that story can say a lot.
If you remember, way back in Acts 4:20, Peter and John stated before the Jewish court, “. . . we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” Here in Acts 22, Paul is still doing the same thing. As he hushes the crowd and speaks to them in their native language, he reaches out to them in yet another language, one that is common to all people: a story. Actually, it is his story; what he has seen and heard. He tells them about his conversion on the road to Damascus.
This story telling session goes quite well until the very end, when Paul touches back on what had angered the crowd in the first place – his relationship with the Gentiles, and the message that God loved them as well as the Jewish nation. Ultimately, the crowd rejected Paul’s story. That happens. It is only by the Spirit of God that anyone can believe that Jesus is the Son of God who redeems us. However, we must remember that our job is not to make the hearer accept the testimony. When Paul made his defense before the crowd, he sought to convince them, but it was only the Holy Spirit who could create faith in them. He was only there to be a witness.
The same is true for us. All throughout this book we’ve come back to this central thought of being witnesses. We just lay the story out there, and people will believe it or not.
We too have encountered the risen Christ. We have met Him in His Word; the Bible. He has washed us in the waters of Baptism. He has touched us through the Lord’s Supper. Some of us have had life transforming experiences – like Paul being knocked to the ground! Others have had a lifetime of gentle prods in God’s direction. However that experience has been for us, we can pray as Paul did when he was converted, “What shall I do, Lord?”
Paul found the ultimate answer to this question and shared it with the Philippian jailer in Acts 16:31: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” That answer overarches every aspect of our lives. Yet we can still ask this questions, “What shall I do, Lord?” as we go through this life and seek to serve God and follow Him as the Lord of our lives. He will answer it, and guide us!
This is a good question for churches to ask, too. Are we doing what God has called us to do in every aspect of our life? What shall we do, Lord? For God is still at work in this world, and we are called to participate in that Work, and only God can show us exactly how he wants us to go about it. In prayer and study of the Word, God will teach and lead us in what we should do.
Lord, we often seek to do things our way. Forgive us and teach us to ask, “What shall we do, Lord?” Amen.
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