Tulsa Oilman

Acts 9:1-6

Saul’s Conversion

¹ Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest ² and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. ³ As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. ⁴ He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

⁵ “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. ⁶ “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

I find it interesting that God takes Satan’s hardest worker, who is on his way to persecute Christians, and steals him over to His side.  We know Saul thought he was serving God.  He was one of the witnesses at Stephen’s stoning.  Now here he was; “Still breathing out murderous threats against the Lords disciples.” Saul thinks, no he is convinced, he is working for God…but he is not!  This brings me to a point:

• It is possible to think or even be convinced that you are serving God and yet be serving Satan.

You can serve as a minister all your life and on judgment day find out you have been serving Satan. (look at Matthew 7:21-23)

From the story we just read above we see that Saul is not only persecuting Christians in Jerusalem, but asking the high priest for permission to do the same in Damascus.  Saul is good at his job and wants to expand his territory.  But on his way to Damascus he has an encounter with Jesus.  Like every encounter with Jesus, his life is about to change.  I want to look at the first part of the encounter to make my main point.

God hits Saul with a light!  Think about that for a minute, the God who made lighting hits Saul with a bright light.  How bright do you think He can make a light?

Then God says in verse: 4 “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

Saul says: “Who are you, Lord?”

Jesus answers: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”

And that brings me to the main point of this blog:

When you persecute Christians, you are persecuting Jesus!

And that should make me stop and think;

• When I complain about the song leader, am I persecuting Jesus?
• Jim broke up with Sandy, I’m going to give him the silent treatment, Are you persecuting Jesus?
• Bill wore those ugly pants, I’m going to talk behind his back, are you persecuting Jesus?
• I tweet a hateful thing about another’s blog, am I persecuting Jesus?

When we persecute Christians, we are:

• Screaming Crucify Him!
• Driving nails in Him!
• Whipping Him!
• Spitting on Him!

We need to Stop and Repent!