I am continuing with the book of Acts, and I will be quoting from chapter 26 in just a few minutes. But to get us up to speed, where I left off last is when Paul appealed to Caesar (chapter 25, vs. 11). What happened next is that King Agrippa arrived in Caesarea, and to make a long story short, he wanted to hear what Paul had to say. And so King Agrippa gave Paul permission to speak for himself, and that he did.
And then Paul gave his testimony, beginning by describing
his life before he met Jesus on that road to Damascus, and then he told of his
encounter with Jesus, and about what Jesus said to him there.
“And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’” Acts 26:15-18 ESV (One of my all-time favorite Scripture passages)
In a previous writing titled, “Are You Persecuting Jesus?”(1),
based off an earlier chapter in the book of Acts where Paul shared some of this
same testimony, the Lord had me talk about what it means to persecute the Lord
Jesus. For what the Lord was saying to him, in essence, is that by him
persecuting the Lord’s servants and witnesses that it was the same as him
persecuting Jesus himself (See: Acts 9:4-6; Matthew 25:31-46). And that is the
case with us, as well. For how we treat other followers of Jesus Christ is how
we are treating Jesus Christ.
And then the Lord gave Paul his calling of God, which in
essence is to share the message of the gospel of Christ with the people, which
is what we are all to be doing, if we are genuine followers of Christ. We just
aren’t all called to do this full-time, although we should all be ready at any
given moment to share the truth of the gospel (the whole counsel of God) with
anyone anywhere, as the Lord opens up those opportunities for us. And none of
us should be ashamed of Jesus and of his Word.
[Matt 5:13-16; Matt
28:18-20; Jn 4:31-38; Jn 13:13-17; Jn 14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 26:18; Rom
10:14-15; 1 Pet 2:9,21; 1 Jn 2:6]
Then verse 18
captures the essence of the gospel message which is that we all need to turn
from darkness, i.e. from sin, to the light of Christ and his righteousness and
holiness, in practice. For we must be crucified with Christ in death to sin and
raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer living as
slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. For if sin is
what we practice, and if righteousness and obedience to our Lord are not what
we practice, then we will not inherit eternal life with God regardless of what
our lips have professed.
And we all need to turn from the power of Satan to God. For,
prior to receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives, we were under
the control of sin and Satan, and we were separate from God and unable in
ourselves to be righteous or to be acceptable to God. But when we die with
Christ to sin, we leave those lives of sin behind us, and we are no longer
under Satan’s control, and our lives are now surrendered to Christ to live
under Holy Spirit control, in obedience to our Lord and Savior.
Then we have forgiveness of sins. And then we are included
among those who are sanctified by God-given faith in Jesus Christ. For we do
not have forgiveness of sins based on giving lip service only to the Lord. We
must die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness, in his power
and strength and wisdom. For if we continue living in sin, deliberately and
habitually sinning against the Lord, the Scriptures teach we do not know God,
we are not in fellowship with Jesus Christ, and we don’t have salvation from
sin nor eternal life with God, even if our lips professed him as Lord.
As the Deer
By Martin J. Nystrom
Based off Psalm 42:1
As the deer panteth
for the water
So my soul longeth after You
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You
You alone are my
strength, my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZv3jzOTE70
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(1) https://runwithit.blog/2023/05/24/are-you-persecuting-jesus/
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