Series: Roads
Message: The Road to Damascus
Preacher: Japhet De Oliveira
Daily Walk: Japhet De Oliveira
Refresh: Open with prayer. Read or listen to Psalm 84:1-4.
Read: Acts 9:1-22 (ESV). As you read the English Standard Version, note 1-3 insights or questions.
Reflect: At the start of January 2018, we will have a two-part series on the book of Acts. The book is so rich in missional insight that speaks directly to our local Church experience. If you want to know where the Daily Walk is going each week, download the preaching plan at www.Boulder.Church/about/admin. For this week, we have a sneak peak at the amazing story of Paul’s conversion. I call him "Paul" because he had both names (Saul and Paul) but went primarily with the name Paul after the events described in Acts 13:9. Just how did his “Road to Damascus” experience transform his faith journey and what would a “Road to Damascus” experience look like for any of us today? When you long to hear the voice of Jesus in your life, would an experience like this suffice or would it be too much?
As we mentioned before, Luke wrote both The Gospel of Luke and The Book of Acts as a two-part story, each part covering a period of about 32 years. The last quarter of each book is dedicated to events leading to the trial and death or imprisonment of Jesus and the Apostle Paul, respectively. But the key for both of these books is the powerful partnership between Jesus and the Holy Spirit. As members of the Trinity, their roles shifted to help human beings connect with God. For God the Father, God the Son, and the God Spirit—while existing as three distinct beings—are in fact One. Therein lies the wonderful mystery of the Trinity. Some suggest that Jesus was just the human form of God—that the Father, Son, and Spirit are merely three different manifestations of God. This is in opposition to the idea that all three co-existed from eternity past and eternity forward. My own belief is that all three members of the Trinity have always existed as One, and I believe that there ample texts demonstrating this reality throughout the Bible—from Genesis to Revelation.
Understanding the Trinity helps us understand the voice of God in our lives. They never contradict each other. They work as One and give counsel as One. Paul relates (1 Corinthians 15:8) that Jesus who was born "out of time" appeared to him. This was Jesus after He had ascended to Heaven. Jesus spoke to Paul on that road to Damascus. The very Jesus that he was working so hard against reached out to him directly to give him the chance for a radical change. We need that same encounter with Jesus today.
Recalibrate:
Respond: Pray for wisdom.
Research: Read the Lord’s prayer in Matthew and Luke. What do they teach you?