A Weekly
Word
August
30, 2023
This Sunday, September 3, is the
Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost.
Verse of the Trinity Season:
This week’s sermon is: B.C. Heroes:
Samuel
This week's readings are :
Things You Didn’t Learn In Sunday School About … Paul
Perhaps this is a
misnamed episode!
When I was in Sunday School, we learned a lot about Paul.
Saul of Tarsus
Pharisee
Devoted to God’s Word and Faith
Zealous
A persecutor of the church – which
haunts him for the rest of his life.
Considered himself the least of the Apostles
He has an incredible
conversion story. (Acts 9, 22, 26)
Confronted
Blinded
Healed
Immediately proclaims Christ
The former
persecutor faced persecution
Assassination attempts – Damascus and
Jerusalem
Arrested – Philippi, Jerusalem
Beaten – Philippi,
Stoned – Lystra
Escaped from a Riot – Ephesus
Traveled extensively – Turkey, Greece, Italy – perhaps even to Spain
Wrote to the Churches
13 Letters (Maybe 14 if he wrote Hebrews)
He was the “Apostle
to the Gentiles.”
Hugely important for bringing the
Gospel to non-Jewish people
A lot to say to the ethnic
divisions we experience today
Racism – normal for
sinful people
Reconciliation in Christ – we are more than our sinful impulses
He was the only
Apostle to not see Jesus during His earthly ministry.
This led others to view Paul as
the least of the apostles – and some still do!
He was spoken against then – and still
is.
“That’s Paul …” – women’s
ordination, human sexuality.
He was received by the other Apostles,
though.
Peter regards Paul’s letters as Scripture
2 Peter 3:15-16 - Also, regard the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our dear brother Paul has written to you according to the wisdom given to him. 16 He speaks about these things in all his letters. There are some things hard to understand in them. The untaught and unstable will twist them to their own destruction, as they also do with the rest of the Scriptures.
A great take-away
from Paul’s life – Never underestimate God’s power to transform a person and use
them for the sake of the Gospel. (Even you!)
Comments