It is good to be with you for another edition of the Weekend Sermon. I am thankful to the Lord for giving me the opportunity each week to share these messages. I am also thankful to each of you who take the time to read what I post.
I have good news to report this week. As I've posted here in the past, I've been working on a religious book for awhile now. The book is complete, and it is out to a publisher. Please pray that all continues to go well with this project. I have been working on poems quite a bit lately. I hope to have several ready to submit for publication after the first of the year.
In prayer this week, please continue to pray for those who have been affected by storms and natural disasters around the world. Haiti, the Carolinas, the Philippines and Japan are recovering from natural disasters. Please pray that these areas will receive the help that they need.
Let us also continue to pray for peace around the world. Syria and Iraq really need our prayers for peace at this time. Also, let us pray for Christians around the world who may be suffering persecution. May the Lord give them a strong awareness of His presence as they face difficult times.
For our prayer focus countries this week, let's remember the nations of Malaysia and Liberia. Pray that many people will respond to the message of the Gospel in these two nations.
During the last several weeks for the sermon, we have been studying some less well-known Bible characters. Today, we turn our attention to a man named Ananias who is known in the Bible do to his encounter with one of the most important figures in the New Testament. This Ananias is not the same Ananias who was struck down along with his wife for lying to the Holy Spirit.
We find Ananias' story in Act chapter 9. Saul of Tarsus had made a reputation for himself for being a harsh persecutor of Christians. When the deacon Stephen was stoned to death for his faith in Jesus, Saul stood by and held the people's coats who were stoning Stephen.
Chapter 9 of Acts begins by telling us that Saul was threatening the believers wherever he could find them. Saul even decided to go as far as Damascus to find Christians and bring them bound to Jerusalem.
I don't know how far Saul would really have gotten with this endeavor. I wonder if the Roman authorities would have stood by and let him just haul people out of the city against their will. Nonetheless, Saul went to Damascus to find Christians and persecute them. Apparently, many Jews must have converted to Christianity in order for Saul to be so determined to go up there.
On his way to Damascus, the Lord appeared to Saul in a flashing light from Heaven. Saul fell to the ground, and Jesus spoke to him. Saul was blind and had to be led into the city.
Here is where Ananias comes in. The Lord appeared to Ananias in a vision and called his name. Ananias said, "Here I am, Lord." The Lord then told Ananias to go to a street called Straight and lay his hands on Saul so that Saul could recover his sight.
At first, Ananias was reticent to go because he knew Saul's reputation as a persecutor of Christians. However, Ananias went after the Lord told him that Saul had been chosen to preach to the Gentiles.
Ananias went to Saul and called Saul his brother. Ananias told Saul, "the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." The Bible says the Saul's sight was restored, and Saul then went and preached the good news in the synagogues of Damascus to the people's amazement.
This is one of the great stories of the Bible. A man like Saul can go from persecuting the church to being a great Apostle and missionary. This is only possible by the work of regeneration by the Holy Spirit.
There is so much that we can say about Saul, who later changed his name to Paul's life, but our focus today is on Ananias.
Many in the early church believed that Ananias was one of the seventy disciples that Jesus sent out two by two to spread the message about Him. It seems apparent that Ananias was a leader in the church of Damascus, and he may have played a role in introducing Christianity to that city.
When I look at what the Bible says about Ananias, the first thing that I note is the fact that he was immediately ready to respond to the call of the Lord. When the Lord called his name, Ananias said "Here am I, Lord."
Just as Ananias was responsive to the Lord, we should be as well. When the Lord calls our name, we should be willing to to what he tells us to do. Ananias stands in stark contrast to someone like Jonah who heard the word of the Lord and went the opposite direction. He didn't want to go anywhere near Nineveh.
Ananias was at first a little taken aback by the idea of going near a great persecutor of the church. However, when the Lord told Him it was OK, Ananias went without hesitation. He was totally committed to doing the will of God no matter what that entailed.
Two other people that come immediately to mind who were willing to immediately follow the Lord's will even in uncertain circumstances were Amos and Jeremiah. Amos was a shepherd and a tender of trees when God called Him to go from the southern kingdom of Judah and preach a message of judgment against the northern kingdom of Israel. Amos did exactly what he was told even though the religious authorities in Israel opposed him. Jeremiah had to give a hard message, and he was persecuted at every turn. But, Jeremiah always followed the Lord's instructions to him.
Ananias, Amos and Jeremiah are good examples to us. We should not run from the will of the Lord. For some of you, Jesus has told you to do a specific thing for Him. I urge you to be obedient and follow the Lord's will.
All of us have been given the task by the Lord to spread the Gospel. All of us have been commanded to follow Jesus and emulate Him so that others may want to know more about the Savior we love and serve. Don't stop following and serving the Lord. Always seek to be obedient to Him.
One other thing stands out about Ananias to me. He addressed Saul as his brother right away. Ananias recognized the fact that with God nothing is impossible and there is no sinner that Jesus cannot save. Even though Saul had contributed to the martyrdom of Stephen, and he had mercilessly persecuted Christians, Ananias believed that the Lord could save and redeem even someone like Saul.
I think of my Dad when I think of people whose lives were radically transformed by the Lord Jesus. My Dad never went to church as a boy, and as an adult he didn't want to have anything to do with religion. My Dad drank a lot, and he lived with a woman for many years without being married to her. My Dad got into fights a lot, and people were afraid of him.
Several years later when my Mom and Dad were first married and I was just born, my Mom started going to church again. One Saturday afternoon, the minister of that church came to visit my Mom. She wasn't at home, but my Grandpa and my Dad were there. That minister took the time to share the message of Jesus with my Dad. That Saturday afternoon, my Dad repented of his sins and accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. From that day forward, his life was totally transformed.
From that day, my Dad never drank again. He gave up his old ways of living. He became a new creation in Christ.
I never experienced my Dad the way he was before. My only memories of him are as a devoted follower of Jesus who worked to bring others to Jesus and who served in various ministries of the church.
When you see what the Lord can do in the lives of people like Saul and my Dad, you know that the Lord can and does bring anyone who calls upon Him to salvation.
Ananias was ready to accept Saul as his brother in Christ. Many people would not. In fact, many people were suspicious of Saul throughout his ministry.
This same thing happened with my Dad. Many people in his hometown just couldn't accept the fact that he was a new man in Jesus. They just wanted to view him as the man he was before. Some church people even did this.
We must be people who invite all to be our brothers and sisters in Christ. If the Lord has provided salvation to someone, let's recognize that and encourage new believers in their walk with the Lord. The Lord can do a work in anyone's life, Let's rejoice when that happens. That's what the angels do. They rejoice when a soul comes to the Lord.
Ananias doesn't have anything else recorded about him in Scripture, Church history tells us that he continued to minister for the Lord until he died a martyr's death.
I just want to conclude this message with an invitation to anyone who does not know Jesus as Savior and Lord. You can call upon the Lord in repentance and faith right now, and the Lord will hear you and forgive you. Please, don't let another day go by without turning your life over to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Next week, I will post a couple of verses on Monday. There will be a review on Wednesday, and we will continue our series on less well-known Bible characters on Friday with a look at a character from the Old Testament. May God bless you all. Amen.
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