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March 7th, 2023

Blessings to you in our Lord Jesus, everyone! Thanks for coming along as we open God's Word today. 

Yours in Christ,
Pastor Paul


 
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Acts 9:17-19


Greetings

Greetings everyone! God’s joy and peace to you in our Savior Jesus, and welcome to Tuesday’s edition of EDiBS! I’m glad you’re here for our time together on this second day of our study week, where right now we’re continuing to learn new things about the life of the early Church in the book of Acts. Now would be a great time to invite your friends, co-workers and family members along on our journey; it’s a terrific way, and an easy way, to share your faith with them! Thanks for coming along today — let’s pray as we begin. 

 

Prayer 

Heavenly Father, as we come to the Scriptures today we come with expectation and anticipation, because we know that your Word is truth. Speak truth into our lives today, and transform us by it so that we can grow in our faith and be strengthened in our knowledge of your love for us in Christ. We ask this in Jesus’ name, amen. 

 

Getting Started 

As we get started today, we have a shorter session on tap as we spend just a bit of time thinking through Ananias and his actions following his vision from the Lord. Our focus: the way of faith.

 

Acts 9:17-19

17Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord--Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here--has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit." 18Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, 19and after taking some food, he regained his strength. 

 

Ananias. We talked about him the last time we were together, remember? He’s just an ordinary individual like you and me — a man who’s a follower of Jesus. He’s a man open to and sensitive to the things of the Lord. He’s an informed man, a man with his ear to the ground in terms of what’s going on in the local church. He’s also a discerning man. But most of all, Ananias is an obedient man…obedient to the Lord. We know that because in today’s reading, he follows through on a very specific task that the Lord, through a vision, has given him to do. It is a formidable one, counterintuitive to everything that seems good right and salutary. Ananias is to be an instrument of the Lord to restore the sight of Saul through the laying on of hands — Saul, the already-infamous and greatly feared persecutor of Christians. In his heart and mind, Ananias can’t reconcile this mission with what he knows of Saul. What he can reconcile it with is the heart of God. Thus, trusting in the Redeemer to whom he has prayed and with whom he has spoken in the vision that was sent to him, Ananias goes.

 

I don’t know about you, but there have been many times in my life where I have been resistant to going and doing the work of the Lord. Like Ananias, I have often assumed that what I have been given to do is unsavory or difficult or not suited for me — and in particularly faithless moments, I have even been so bold as to tell the Lord that He didn’t know what He was doing, a la Jonah or Jeremiah…or yes, like Ananias. But God does know what He’s doing. Always. And God also knows — and picks and plans and prompts the person of His choosing — to carry it out. Sometimes it will be something very concrete, like what we see Ananias doing in today’s passage, but often (and this is what I’d like you to think about today) the call to action will be not involve the feet so much as the knees.

 

Sandra Goodwin wrote a poem many years ago about this subject, and I want to share it with you here because I believe it will draw you into God’s mission heart. It will draw you into the part you have in His Great Commission. It will open your eyes to what faith in action looks like, not so much on your feet, but on your knees. May our Lord Jesus speak to each of us through the example of His Word and through artistic words of His servant today. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen. 

 

Last night I took a journey
To a land far 'cross the seas;
I didn't go by boat or plane,
I trusted on my knees.
I saw so many people there
In deepest depths of sin,
And Jesus told me I should go,
That there were souls to win.
But I said, "Jesus, I can't go
And work with such as these."
He answered quickly, "Yes, you can
By traveling on your knees."
He said, "You pray; I'll meet the need,
You call and I will hear;
Be concerned about lost souls,
Of those both far and near."
And so I tried it, knelt in prayer,
Gave up some hours of ease;
I felt the Lord right by my side
While traveling on my knees.
As I prayed on and saw souls saved
And twisted bodies healed,
And saw God's workers' strength renewed
While laboring in the field.
I said, "Yes, Lord, I have a job
My desire Thy will to please;
I can go and heed Thy call…
By traveling on my knees."


Take care, everyone; I’ll see you again next time.

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