Conversion

Conversion – What is conversion – And why should we worry about it

Webster defines conversion as something that’s converted from one use to another

• Wwe take something that’s being used for one purpose

• and we change it so that it can be used for a whole new purpose

Now 1st of all there has to be a need for something to be converted

• There must be something wrong with it in the first place

• There must be a need for the change

• Remember the old saying if it aint broke don’t fix it

• Numbers – Measurements – Currency

• Vans = conversions

• Furnaces= Gas to propane

• School bus

• The idea is that we are taking something from the way it was to a sense of what it will be

This is what we see in today’s text

• Paul who is still Saul at this point is going through a conversion

• There was a need for Saul to be converted – changed

Read Acts 9:1-9

Saul’s Conversion

9 Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers. So he went to the high priest. 2 He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them—both men and women—back to Jerusalem in chains.

3 As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?”

5 “Who are you, lord?” Saul asked.

And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! 6 Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

7 The men with Saul stood speechless, for they heard the sound of someone’s voice but saw no one! 8 Saul picked himself up off the ground, but when he opened his eyes he was blind. So his companions led him by the hand to Damascus. 9 He remained there blind for three days and did not eat or drink.

Now the first thing we see

• Is that there is a huge difference between the Saul we see in verse 1

• And the Saul we see in verse 8

• One moment he’s storming up the road, determined to capture and imprison Christians.

• The next minute he is being led like a child by the hand into Damascus.

• God’s grace is often displayed through both powerful acts

• And what appears to be catastrophes.

We see from the text that there are two needs for conversion at work here

• First we see Saul’s need for conversion

• He was Persecuting Christians

2 He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them—both men and women—back to Jerusalem in chains.

• The Way” (9:2) was an expression used in the first century

• To refer to the Christian faith, Meaning, “the way of salvation”

And while Saul is traveling down the road Jesus calls him out

• Jesus asks Saul the question, Why do you persecute Me?

• The reason that this statement is so important

• Is that it shows the union between Jesus Christ and His church.

Jesus did not ask, “Why are you persecuting My church?”

• Jesus said Why do you persecute Me?

• The reference to “Me” gave Saul his first glimpse

• His first insight into the great doctrine of Christians being in Christ.

It is also important for us to understand that this conversion was personal

• That this encounter was all about Jesus and Saul – Nobody Else

• We know this because in vs 7 it says

• 7 That the men with Saul stood speechless, for they heard the sound of someone’s voice but saw no one!

• But Saul had heard the voice of Jesus and

• And Saul had seen Him

• Now even though there isn’t any explicit statement of Saul’s seeing Christ,

• It’s implied through the reference to a light from heaven.

This is fundamental to Saul’s apostleship that he saw the resurrected Lord

• In Acts 1:21-26, we see the qualification for Matthias,

• He was chosen as an apostle after Judas’s death,

• An apostle is someone who is sent out by someone (Jesus)

• And the Qualification is that they be an eyewitness:

• Matthias was present with Jesus from the time of John the Baptist through His death and resurrection of Jesus.