God calls His servants
March 20, 2009 (Friday)
Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee, looked upon the Christian movement as dangerous heresy. He took charge of the effort to do away with it. While on the highway to Damascus, pursuing that objective, he was blinded by a bright light and heard the voice of Jesus, asking why he was persecuting Him. Saul was converted to faith in Christ and for several years preached the gospel, mainly to Jews. Due to a plot on his life, he went to Jerusalem to meet the Apostles, but found that everyone feared him, so after counsel, he decided to return to his hometown of Tarsus, to await further instructions. He waited nine years.
In the meantime, a church was started at Antioch, and all its members were Gentiles. Barnabas was sent from Jerusalem to see what was going on, and was deeply impressed with the work of the Lord in that place. He needed help, and went to Tarsus to get Saul to come to Antioch and work with the church. When they later heard about famine and suffering in Jerusalem, they sent an offering to their brothers and sisters there. Saul and Barnabas took it to them. Once they arrived, they discussed the new development of the Gentiles being converted, and decided to lend their encouragement to their brothers and sisters in Antioch.
While in Jerusalem, Saul went to the Temple to pray, and had a life-changing experience with the Lord. Years later he recounted that momentous day: “When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance and saw the Lord speaking. ‘Quick!’ he said to me. ‘Leave Jerusalem immediately, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’ ‘Lord,’ I replied, ‘these men know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you. And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’ Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles’ ” (Acts 22:17-22 NIV).
Upon returning to Antioch, Saul and Barnabas were commissioned by the church to take the gospel to other nations. From that time on, Saul of Tarsus would be known as Paul the Apostle, and so began the missionary movement, continuing to the present day, resulting in millions of people following Christ as Lord. It began with a personal call to the service of Christ. Is Christ calling you to a needed task today?