Encounter with Jesus

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

ENCOUNTER WITH JESUS

Acts 9:19-22

Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. 20 At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. 21 All those who heard him were astonished and asked, "Isn't he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn't he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?" 22 Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ.  

NIV

Saul must have been a quick study, reading all of the Old and New Testaments including all the commentaries and quite a few of the how to an effective witness books that were in the local Christian bookstore, or either was able to obtain his degree from some seminary or Bible College in order to be able to preach that Jesus is the Son of God and that he was the Messiah, or the Christ. But wait, he did none of that, for he had just been converted from the worst of sinners to a saint, a new believer in Christ and yet there he was preaching up a storm, telling, convincing, and proving that Jesus was the Christ. Although it is true that he spent several days with the disciples in Damascus and most likely was gathering as much information about Jesus from their perspective as he could. Surely he already had some information, some history of what Jesus did, and perhaps even encountering Jesus during those years he was in Jerusalem. Yet he had never encountered Jesus like he did on that road to Damascus and he had never encountered someone laying hands on him and receiving his sight again. Saul had certainly been changed by his experience with Jesus and he was going to tell as many people as possible. This has to be our life lesson. When we experience Jesus we should be telling everyone we know, everyone we come in contact with. We don’t need to study the whole Bible, we don’t have to attend a bible school, we don’t have to read tons of how to be an effective witness books, we don’t have to know anything except Jesus is the Son of God, and he changed our life, made a us a new person, forgave our sin and has given us eternal life. As far as proof of this, it is in our life itself. Now it is true that Saul had a very bad reputation among the new believers. He was a very bad man, trying his hardest to arrest and jail as many believers as possible, and now here he was preaching Jesus is the Son of God. These people saw the difference in Saul, they witnessed his transformation and that was what baffled those Jews living in Damascus. As long as we simply hang out with other believers no one sees the difference in our lives, no one is baffled by our lives, our growing more and more powerful proving Jesus is the Christ. Certainly Saul was an excited, energetic person, outspoken, able to articulate his faith in an effective way, especially what he had experienced in his encounter with Jesus. This is all we have to do, be excited, energetic, outspoken, and able to articulate our faith in an effective way, especially what we have experienced in our encounter with Jesus. But that certainly requires that we have an encounter with Jesus, not just a religion, or a denomination, but an actual experience with Jesus, a real and vibrant encounter with Jesus.