Divine Appointments
Acts 9:1-16
Many have heard the term “divine appointment,” which refers to an encounter that the LORD arranges, sometimes with another person, to use that interaction to affect both people’s lives.
Sometimes, divine appointments can be when you run into a neighbor who has a need, or perhaps someone comes to mind, and you reach out to let them know you are praying for them.
Maybe you are at a store, and you strike up a conversation with someone who needed what you had to say in that moment.
In any of these cases, the LORD used you in the moment to show kindness or to communicate to someone on His behalf.
Please open your Bibles to Acts 9
Last week, we talked about one-on-one evangelism followed by a believer’s baptism. We must be led by the Spirit, know the Word of God, and share Christ.
This morning, we are going to talk about Divine Appointments from the Lord and learn more about Saul’s conversion to Christ.
I. Saul, a picture of the Old Man.
Read Acts 9:1-2
During the persecution against the early church, Saul consented to the murder of Stephen.
Here we see that Saul went to the High Priest for permission to bring Christians from Damascus to Jerusalem to stand trial.
The religious leaders of the day were so against the God they claimed to serve that they killed people in the name of religion.
In our day, most people alive have heard of the Apostle Paul, previously known as Saul, even those who have not studied the Bible, because he wrote over half of the New Testament.
But the thing that I love about the Apostle Paul is that He, empowered by the Holy Spirit, single-handedly turned religious legalism on its head!
Later in his epistles, Paul spoke about his time as a persecutor of the LORD and His people.
Saul, without the Holy Spirit, is a picture of someone with zeal, but driven by the flesh, and is actually fighting against God.
Notice, “Still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord.”
Saul was an angry, violent man who was sure of his own righteousness and religion, and because he felt that Christ-followers were blasphemers, he hated the disciples of the Lord.
Saul’s ultimate goal was to exterminate Christians.
People bound up in legalism or religiosity are always wanting to exterminate the Christian liberty we experience in Christ.
Before having a personal relationship with Jesus, the old us did things in the flesh.
In the flesh, sometimes we think we are doing the work of the Lord while in rebellion, but Saul had a divine appointment with Jesus, and he was instantly changed into a servant of Christ!
Then notice, “If he found any who were of the Way”.
Christianity is referred to as the Way, and that term is used five times in the Book of Acts as a description of following Jesus.
Christianity is more than a set of rules or doctrines. Following Jesus is a way of life, and naming Christianity the Way was probably adopted from the words of Jesus Himself.
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. NKJV
II. Saul has a “Come to Jesus” meeting.
Read Acts 9:3-5
Damascus was about 130 miles northeast of Jerusalem, and by this time, Saul knew there were a significant number of followers of the Way in Damascus.
Notice what happened here as Saul was traveling the road towards Damascus, a great light shone on him.
The LORD has a way of getting through to hard-hearted people, so if you have someone in your life who is hard-hearted, be patient as you watch how the LORD will deal with them.
Saul was educated in the best schools; he received a prestigious education in Jewish law, as he was considered a scholar, yet he missed the most important thing to know of all eternity.
Saul didn’t know Jesus!
After his conversion, Paul learned the meaning of godly wisdom compared to human wisdom. He said to the church at Corinth…
1 Corinthians 3:19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, "He catches the wise in their own craftiness”.
1 Corinthians 3:20 and again, "The LORD knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile." NKJV
Even though Saul was educated, the things of Jesus, the Old Testament prophecies, the promises, and eternal life by faith in Christ were unknown to him before this Divine appointment.
There is some speculation about what this light from heaven was. Was it the Shekinah Glory of God? Was it simply Jesus’ glorified body?
We really don’t know, because the LORD usually does not confront sinners in such a dramatic way.
Then he fell to the ground. Saul did not fall in worship or reverence for the LORD, he was frightened and in survival mode not knowing what was happening. (see vs. 6)
Jesus asked Saul a very telling question in Acts 9:4.
1. "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?"
Saul failed to understand that every time he attacked a member of the body of Christ, it was an attack on Jesus Himself!
Ephesians 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. NKJV
Listen, Christian, if you are under attack, the battle belongs to the Lord! The enemy sometimes uses people to attack the sheep, but the real battle is not against people at all!
2. Who are You, Lord?
Notice how Jesus answered Saul. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” The name "Jesus" means "Yahweh is salvation."
Remember, Saul was a sold-out Jew, a Pharisee who believed in the God of Israel but missed Jesus.
Jesus is God in the flesh, and all throughout the Book of John, Jesus claimed to be equal with the Father, many different times.
Most of the time, the Jews understood Jesus’ claims to be equal with God the Father, and they tried to kill Him for His claims.
Ironically, Paul later said in Colossians 2:8, Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.
Colossians 2:9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. NKJV
Notice Jesus said, “Whom you are persecuting”. A good reminder for us is that when we attack one of Christ’s bodies, we are also attacking Christ.
There can and should be Church correction, when necessary, but we must be careful not to attack the bride of Christ.
3. “It is hard for you to kick against the goads."
What is Jesus talking about with kick against the goads?
Oxen were used to till soil, and a goad was a long, sharp stick, like a cattle prod, a wooden shaft with a pointed end.
The man working the oxen would use a goad to influence the oxen in the direction they should go.
If a stubborn ox didn’t want to go in the direction the farmer was telling them to, the goad would poke a little harder.
The more the oxen rebelled, the more they would suffer. That’s why Jesus said, “It is hard for you to kick against the goads."
It was hard because Jesus hated to see Saul suffer the consequences for his rebellion.
We can look at Saul as the ox and Jesus as the One tilling the field. Saul was stubborn, but Jesus knew Saul would later become useful for the kingdom.
The LORD will not force us to do anything, but He loves us enough to get our attention and to try to prevent us from hurting ourselves with sin.
The LORD is all-powerful, all-knowing, and Sovereign, so He knows how the situation will end, and He is also able to protect His Children from those who attack us.
4. What do You want me to do?
I highly recommend this response when the LORD calls you out in your sin! First, make sure the command is from the LORD, and then do what He tells you to do!
Faithfulness to the LORD requires commitment, sacrifice, and a predetermined resolution to obey the voice of God.
Faithfulness and obedience are so important to the child of God because faithfulness and obedience reveal that we trust Him.
Obedience and faithfulness happen as we rest in the LORD and trust what He says is true, which is our love response to Him!
III. Saul’s response.
Read Acts 9:6-9
The LORD caused Saul to fall down right there in the dust! So, he, trembling and astonished.
Again, Saul did not fall in worship or reverence for the LORD; he was frightened and in survival mode, but then he responded to Jesus with obedience.
Everyone in scripture who had a true encounter with the LORD had an immediate, radical response and is never the same!
Consider Jacob, who, after wrestling with the LORD at Peniel, said, “I have seen God face to face”.
Afterwards, Jacob’s name was changed, and he walked with a limp as a reminder of the night he wrestled with the LORD.
Isaiah saw the LORD and was instantly convicted of his lack of holiness, and said, “Woe am I, I am undone!”
When someone has a genuine encounter with Jesus, they will repent by going in a new direction, they will receive a renewed Love for God and His people, and they will be transformed.
Our role is to make ourselves available to the LORD and cooperate with Him in whatever He wants to do with us.
Our attitude must be one of surrender, acknowledging Him as the potter who has the right to do with us whatever He chooses.
If we maintain an open heart, we can have our own special experience with Him, and just like many people in the Bible, we will never be the same!
Saul had officially hit rock bottom; he had nowhere to look but up as he saw the light.
Saul had gone on a mission to destroy, but the LORD had other plans for him. Suddenly, a bolt of light knocked Saul off his high horse of hatred and religiosity.
He encountered Jesus, and now his life would never be the same. Saul went from a hating enemy to calling Jesus LORD.
Notice Saul’s response, “Lord, what do you want me to do?”
In essence, he is saying, “You are the boss, I will listen, Lord.”
My personality is like Paul’s; he was an all-or-nothing person.
When I believe something, I go after it like a dog on a bone. I need to research and learn for myself, but once I have the information needed, I am all in.
Once Paul realized who Jesus is, his life was immediately and permanently changed.
Notice, Jesus told Saul to arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.
The LORD usually gives us enough light to take one step at a time. If we could see everything in our future, we might not venture out.
The LORD, in His grace, gives believers just enough light to see safely one step at a time into our futures. Think about when Joshua was leading the Children of Israel over the Jordan.
Joshua 3:13 And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that come down from upstream, and they shall stand as a heap." NKJV
The LORD told Israel to put their feet in the water, and then He would provide the next step for them to follow. Because the LORD often directs our paths, one step at a time.
Notice, “The men who journeyed with him stood speechless”.
The LORD revealed Himself to Saul but not to the others who were with him; they heard something, but they did not know exactly what happened.
Then Saul opened his eyes, but the LORD allowed Saul to have a three-day blindness for His own purposes.
Maybe the three-day blindness was to picture the three days Jesus was in the grave, and then how Saul would receive resurrection life from Jesus.
Notice, “And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank”
Did Saul not eat or drink for three days because he was shaken up, or was he fasting?
This humbling experience challenged all of Saul’s previous knowledge of exactly who the LORD is and what pleased Him.
IV. A Divine Appointment for Ananias.
Read Acts 9:10-16
Jesus told Saul that a man named Ananias was going to help him, and Ananias became the bridge to connect Saul with his new life in Christ!
“To him the Lord said in a vision”. God spoke to Ananias in a completely different way than He spoke to Saul.
Saul had a knock you to the ground experience with the LORD, but Ananias received a vision, where the Lord called, and Ananias was obedient to respond and say, “Here I am, Lord”.
And notice the LORD tells us “Behold, he is praying”.
Saul had prayed his whole life with formal prayers, but here Saul prayed like he had never really prayed before.
This was the first time Saul prayed with Jesus as mediator. This was the first time Saul prayed in Jesus’ name and this time, Saul prayed with a broken and contrite heart.
After hearing the LORD’s message about Saul, Ananias questioned God’s call.
Notice, the call from the LORD was very specific: what street, what house, what person, and what the person was doing.
Why were the details from God so important? Ananias would want confirmation along the way that he was being guided by the LORD to confirm this.
Notice what he said, “I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done.”
Ananias’ objections were logical, but he was not counting on the LORD to do a miracle in the life of Saul, and he wasn’t trusting the LORD’s ability to protect him during the mission.
Having doubts and questions is not the problem as Christ-followers. The issue is, once we hear the call, we are to GO.
Later in Acts 22, Paul mentions Ananias while sharing his testimony before the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem.
We don’t know much about Ananias, but he came to Christ somewhere along the way, and his call from God was simple: go to a particular place, meet a specific man, and pray for him.
Notice, there was no talking about results, just a call to obey.
Even though it was scary, Ananias obeyed God’s voice, and his obedience was instant.
Understand, folks, the LORD does the saving, but He uses people like Ananias to help connect Him to the rest of the body.
Even though Ananias seemed to waver at first, he went. Notice, the Lord revealed more of Saul’s future to Ananias than He did to Saul himself.
Acts 9:15 to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. NKJV
He is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name
The LORD had a plan for the life of Saul, and He has a plan for each one of His children. If you are meant to drown, you are not going to burn.
Ananias played a small but significant part in this great drama of Paul’s conversion.
Whatever the LORD has called you to do is not insignificant; all of our obedience to the LORD is important!
The LORD gave Ananias clear instructions. Ananias heard God’s call and instead of making excuses, he obeyed.
If we were in the same situation, what would we have done?
Lord, I love to see new people join the church, but not this guy.
He might have asked, “Has he really changed? This could be a trap. Why take this kind of risk?”
But this unsung hero ignored all of the excuses and listened to the LORD.
The LORD can use whomever or whatever He wants to, but when we listen and follow, we receive the blessings by being part of the miracle God performs.
When we follow the LORD’s instruction, we receive His peace and protection as well.
For Saul, the LORD said, “For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake”.
Saul left a life of privilege and religious superiority to follow the LORD’s call in his life, a life of service and suffering.
V. Practical Application.
There are many applications from Saul’s conversion:
1. The LORD has the power to save.
If ever there were a person who seemed out of reach to be saved, Saul would fit the bill.
A terrorist, murderer, religious zealot who hated God’s children. He was too educated to believe in the fairy tale of Christianity.
The lesson is two-fold…
a. Don’t allow your past to stop you from serving the Lord
b. Don’t give up hope for people in your life that you think are beyond redemption, even murderers.
He can cleanse our sin, he can change a sinner’s heart, He can convert a soul, and He can reach the unreachable!
2. Man’s conscience can be wrong.
Saul thought he was doing God’s work, terrorizing Christians.
1 Thessalonians 5:21 Test all things; hold fast what is good.
We need to make sure whose voice we are listening to as we test all things by the Word of God. If something contradicts God’s Word, it is not of the LORD.
3. Call on the name of the LORD.
Be like Paul, once convicted by the Lord and ask, “What do You want me to do?”
4. Be sensitive to the LORD’s divine appointments.
The LORD has a way of interrupting our lives and bringing us into divine appointments.
We see this in the life of Ananias and then in Paul as well.
In the midst of doing his own thing in life, Paul encountered a divine appointment that turned his life around
Then Jesus makes Paul aware of future Divine appointments
Jesus said in Acts 9:16 For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name's sake." NKJV
Through this divine appointment and by Paul learning to be sensitive and obey, Paul was able to fulfill his divine destiny.
As followers, we need to be sensitive to divine appointments with people we meet whom we are to minister to and witness to.
People we meet can be open doors for the Gospel and make connections for God's purpose for our lives and ministry.
5. We all have an appointment we will not miss.
Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment
If you have received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you will appear at the Judgment Seat of Christ and receive your rewards for living for and serving Jesus
If you have never asked Jesus to be Lord and Savior of your life, you will appear at the Great White Throne of Almighty God and have to answer for your sin based on your own righteousness.
2 Corinthians 6:2 Behold, now is the day of salvation.
