WEEKLY SUNDAY
SCHOOL LESSON
An international
Sunday school lesson commentary
For
Sunday October 11, 2015
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readers worldwide
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WITH
THE HELP OF BARNABAS SAUL EARNS CREDIBILY
(GOD
calls and inspires leaders to grow HIS Church)
(Acts
9:19-31)
After Saul’s conversion, he abided in Damascus preaching
about CHRIST for a few more days, and all who heard him were amazed at his
transformation of doctrine, and, his behavior (his sudden surrender to CHRIST).
They could hardly believe that this was the same man who had once terrorized
the “Adherents of the Way” (followers of CHRIST) every chance he got. As Saul’s
preaching became more and more powerful, the Jews in Damascus were no longer
able to refute his proofs that JESUS truly was, and indeed is, the MESSIAH.
In the meantime, Saul’s old Jewish comrades,
the Pharisees, began plotting to kill him for what they viewed as his betrayal
to them. They were to lie in wait for him at the gates of the city, but Saul
was alerted of their plot by a group of believers who sneaked him out of the
city by lowering him down the wall one night in a large basket, and he was able
to flee, making the 140-mile trip back to Jerusalem with no trouble (Vs.23-25).
Upon Saul’s arrival in Jerusalem a week later,
he tried to meet with the believers there but they were afraid of him because
of his history of persecuting those who followed CHRIST’ doctrine. They thought
that maybe he was only pretending to be a believer so that he might draw them
out to be jailed or even killed. However, Barnabas, a trusted ally in the new Church
brought Saul to the apostles and vouched for him, telling of the good work that
Saul had done in Damascus over a three-year period (Galatians 1:18), and how he
had been truly converted by CHRIST JESUS on the Damascus Road.
The apostles accepted Saul among them on
Barnabas’ word, and were willing to give him a chance to prove to them, his
new-found loyalty to the Christian cause. In time, they all came to trust in him
completely, and while in Jerusalem, Saul preached boldly in the name of JESUS. He
even debated a group of Greek-speaking Jews, who, as a result of Saul’s
powerful defense of the Gospel, were left helpless and speechless, and in their
anger, they plotted to murder him (Vs.23-29).
When the believers heard about this plot they
took Saul to Caesarea, and from there, sent him back to his hometown of Tarsus
where he remained for about nine years teaching and preaching the Gospel there.
At that time the Church was at peace throughout, and it grew by leaps and
bounds in both strength (quality), and, in numbers. They walked both, in the
fear of the LORD, and, in the comfort of the HOLY SPIRIT (Vs.30-31).
Thanks to Barnabas, a man of GOD who insisted
on believing that there is some degree of good in every man (GOD’s nature),
Saul was accepted into a leadership role at the Church in Jerusalem. Barnabas understood
that only GOD can change a person for the better, wealth can’t do it, man can’t
do it, the greatest secular education in the world can’t do it, only GOD can
save us from destruction.
When Barnabas first heard that JESUS had
caused this change in Saul, it was all that he needed to know. We can
absolutely trust the change that GOD can make in a person through JESUS CHRIST,
and, with the help of the HOLY SPIRIT. It is a GOD-like trait to be courageous
enough to give a man a second chance at redemption. Through JESUS CHRIST, GOD
is saying that HE will never allow our past to permanently separate us from
HIMSELF.
Saul learned very early in his Christian walk
that he would have to suffer many persecutions along the way, for he himself
had at one time been a source of such persecutions. And he must have always
wondered to himself why a person would gladly endure the kinds of treatment
that he himself used to exact upon the believers of CHRIST. But in time he came
to understand that, suffering persecution for CHRIST’ sake, should be
considered the greatest compliment to a believer, because it lends a certain
proof that the evil forces of satan knows that what we’re doing really matters
in GOD’s plan for the world HE created.
A Sunday school lesson by,
Larry D. Alexander
LARRY D. ALEXANDER- Official Website
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