Sermon: From A Wolf to A Shepherd

From A Wolf to A Shepherd
Acts 9:19-31
November 4, 2018
Pastor Tony Felich----more----

Acts 9:19 and taking food, he was strengthened. For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. [20] And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” [21] And all who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?” [22] But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ. [23] When many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him, [24] but their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates day and night in order to kill him, [25] but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket. [26] And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. [27] But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus. [28] So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. [29] And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists. But they were seeking to kill him. [30] And when the brothers learned this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

[31] So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.

“With astonishing suddenness the persecutor of the church became the apostle of Jesus Christ. He was in mid-course as a zealot for the law, bent on checking a plague which threatened the life of Israel, when, in his own words, he was ‘apprehended by Christ Jesus’ (Philippians 3:12) and constrained to turn right round and become a champion of the cause which, up to that moment, he had been endeavoring to exterminate, dedicated henceforth to building up what he had been doing his best to demolish.” - F.F. Bruce

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.  - Paul to the Colossians 1:13-14

• Saul before knowing Christ
  • Active hatred of Christ
  • Violent pursuit of Christians
• Saul after knowing Christ
  • Fellowship with other Christians
  • Ongoing spiritual growth
  • Fearless witness for Christ