Focal Passage: Acts 22:7-21
I can remember growing up and how I loved getting together as a family for the holidays and other occasions. It was a special time and the evenings were my favorite.
That’s when everyone would share stories. Some were funny, some were sad, but all of them were interesting. You can learn so much from just listening. You can also discover things about your heritage and people that have been an important part of your life, of how they have influenced you into the person you now are.
Telling and listening to stories gives context to our lives, and every one of us has them. Stories of how we grew up, where we lived, who we are as a person and the list could go on. Stories are an important part of our life. They chronicle our life experiences.
Nimmo
In this week’s lesson, we find the Apostle Paul addressing the crowd in the temple after an altercation with some Jews from the province of Asia. He shares his conversion experience and a vision he had. The crowd listened until he shared a vision he had of God commanding him to take the gospel to the Gentiles, then a riot broke out. The Roman commander heard the ruckus and came and arrested Paul. Fearing Paul’s harm, he decided to shield him in the barracks away from the crowd.
Finding there was a plot to later kill Paul, the Roman commander, Lysias, then had him transferred under guard to Caesarea to be tried by Felix, the Roman governor of Judea. However, Felix instead, wanting to do a favor for the Jews, left Paul in prison for two years until he was replaced by Festus. Festus, not knowing what to say in his letter to Rome regarding Paul, solicits the advice of Agrippa, king of Judea.
After hearing the circumstances concerning the case and the pending appeal, Agrippa requests to hear Paul’s side of the story before offering his advice. The next day, Paul was brought in before Festus and Agrippa. After being given the floor to speak, Paul addresses both, the governor Festus and King Agrippa.
He proceeds to tell the story of his conversion experience once again. Luke gives three records of Paul giving an account of his conversion in the book of Acts. Each are essentially the same story almost word for word. There were components in his story that some might have found difficult to believe or comprehend.
But Paul never changed anything to make his story more believable nor more appealing. He just told his story truthfully and trusted God to use it to glorify Himself in and through it. There is a lesson to be learned from Paul’s example.
Each one of us, as believers, has a conversion story just like Paul. It may not have been as exceptional as his, but nonetheless, it is just as powerful in the hands of God. We do not need to enhance it, change it or make it more appealing. We just need to tell it. Tell it just like it happened and let God work in and through it to glorify Himself. We are just to be His witnesses to what He has done for us. He will provide the power of persuasion. All He asks us to do is keep telling our story. He will take it from there. B&R
