Good morning. The last we saw of Saul/Paul was in
conjunction with the stoning of Stephen. I
don’t know how much later this was. Saul, still breathing threats and
murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, and asked
for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any
belonging to the Way, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. As he was
approaching the city, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; and he
fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, why are you persecuting Me?
Who are you, Lord? I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but get up and enter
the city, and it will be told to you what you must do. The men with him heard
the voice but did not see anyone. He could not see, and the men with him led
him by hand into the city. He was three days without sight, and neither ate nor
drank. There was a disciple in the city named Ananias; The Lord said to him get
up and go to the street called Straight (it went straight through the city
without any curves), and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus
named Saul, for he is praying. The Jews prayed a lot, so this did not mean
necessarily that Saul was saved. And he has seen in a vision a man named
Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight.
And of course Ananias said, You better believe I will. Just like we would say,
he said, Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to
Your Saints at Jerusalem. (in other words, You don’t know what you’re talking
about). And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call
on Your name. And God said, you are so right – My bad! No He didn’t; but we
will have to wait till next time to find out what He really did say. Help this
to be a great day for the reader. Help him/her to see You more clearly and to
hear from Your voice today.
Merry Christmas!
Good morning, and Merry Christmas! We are going to digress and look at the first Christmas. This was something that had been foretold centuries before; and yet people still did not understand what was going to happen. They were thinking that the Messiah was going to come as an adult and was going to re-establish the nation of Israel above all other nations. They were not expecting Him to come as a baby, supposedly born to a carpenter and placed in a manger. Many things had to happen at precisely the right time. You had to have the right person to be His mother and the right person to be His supposed father. You had to have a reason for them to be in Bethlehem on the night He was born – the census. It had to be when shepherds would be in the field near Bethlehem watching their flocks. And just at the right time – an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before the shepherds, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. And the angel said to them...
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