Acts 9:1-19
Reflect
There is very good reason that this story has been told over and over again, whether on flannel board, deep academic study, and everything in between. Saul the persecutor, repents and transforms into a leading apostle. In church lingo, this transformation is called metanoia. Somehow with all the focus on Saul, we can easily overlook that Saul was not the only one with a metanoia experience.
When Ananias said, “Here I am, Lord” (v10) he really had no concept of just how powerful metanoia is. He thought that the people needing conversion were “out there”, when in reality, the true metanoia still needed to happen inside the church.
Something happened between verses 16 and 17. Ananias had to have said, “I don’t have what it takes to do this, but I don’t just long to be the ‘hands and feet’ of Jesus. I long to have the mind of Jesus, the heart of Jesus. I desire to truly follow Jesus”.
That my friends, means that we see even the most “lost” people as people Jesus loves and desires for us to go to and serve.
There is a lot of talk about us being in the post-Christian era. I don’t accept that. This is the metanoia generation; one in which we toss out bored lip service to following Jesus, and one in which the core of the church, by the filling of the Spirit, embraces those that so many others reject.
Apply
How is your metanoia revealing that you are going to the outsider with Jesus?
Pastor Dan
Pray
- Pray for our Prime Minister and Premier, Mayor Sohi, your MP, your MLA, and any other government officials God brings to your mind.
- Pray for Dave Schneider, our Youth and Worship Pastor and Erin Gibbard, Youth Ministry Associate.
- Pray for all our small group leaders.