Week 37 Day 3

September 20, 2023 | Be On Mission

Paul Testifies of His Conversion & Call

Scripture: Acts 26:1-23(NIV)

¹Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.”

So Paul motioned with his hand and began his defense: ² “King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate to stand before you today as I make my defense against all the accusations of the Jews, ³ and especially so because you are well acquainted with all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently.

⁴ “The Jewish people all know the way I have lived ever since I was a child, from the beginning of my life in my own country, and also in Jerusalem. ⁵ They have known me for a long time and can testify, if they are willing, that I conformed to the strictest sect of our religion, living as a Pharisee. ⁶ And now it is because of my hope in what God has promised our ancestors that I am on trial today. ⁷ This is the promise our twelve tribes are hoping to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night. King Agrippa, it is because of this hope that these Jews are accusing me. ⁸ Why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?

⁹ “I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. ¹⁰ And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the Lord’s people in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. ¹¹ Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. I was so obsessed with persecuting them that I even hunted them down in foreign cities.

¹² “On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. ¹³ About noon, King Agrippa, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. ¹⁴ We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

¹⁵ “Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’

“ ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. ¹⁶ ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. ¹⁷ I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them ¹⁸ to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

¹⁹ “So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. ²⁰ First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds. ²¹ That is why some Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me. ²² But God has helped me to this very day; so I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen— ²³ that the Messiah would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would bring the message of light to his own people and to the Gentiles.”

Devotional

Paul had been in prison for two years in Caesarea. He was facing extradition to Rome where he would stand trial before the Emperor. He was now standing before King Agrippa (Herod Agrippa II), the great-grandson of Herod the Great (who killed all the baby boys in Bethlehem when Jesus was born) the grand-nephew of Herod Antipas (who beheaded John the Baptist and mocked Jesus before sending him back to Pontius Pilate), and the son of Agrippa I (who executed the apostle James and imprisoned Peter). Can you spell intimidating?

What did Paul do? He shared his testimony! Facing persecution and death, Paul’s great hope was that Agrippa, Festus, all the religious leaders, and everyone listening would become followers of Jesus.

Fear is the number one reason Christians give for not sharing their faith with others. Fear of rejection. Fear of ridicule. Fear of failure. Let’s be honest. Fear is a strong emotion. It can paralyze us from taking action. Fear is a great de-motivator.

Notice that Paul’s testimony was personal. He told about how he himself was obsessed with persecuting Christians before he became one. He shared his personal conversion experience. He explained how Jesus changed his life from a persecutor to a proclaimer of the gospel of Christ.

It’s time again to review your own personal testimony. What was your life like before you sold out to Jesus? How did you become a committed follower of Christ? What changes has the Holy Spirit worked in and through you since you surrendered to God? What is the Lord calling you to next?

Write out a few sentences for each of these questions. Practice it a few times. As 1 Peter 3:15-16 says, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.”

Poem

I Stand And Testify

I stand and testify to my past life
All full of sin, all full of strife
The way I kicked against the goads
The way I let my pride corrode
The Way of straight and narrow road
With ruts of all wrong thinking

I stand today and testify
How Jesus caught me in my lies
The way His light did me surround
The way He knocked me to the ground
The way I heard salvation’s sound
With valleys lifted, straight’ning

I stand and testify to you
To prophecy fulfilled and true
The way Christ precious blood was shed
The way Christ rose up from the dead
The way Christ now has gone ahead
With heaven’s path a-mending

I stand and testify how Christ
Has given me eternal life
A way for you to enter in
A way to be forgiv’n of sin
A way for new birth to begin
With arms outstretched a-welcom’ng

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