Acts 26:1-23 | Sermon Resources | 30 May 2021
Sermon Summary
Saul of Tarsus was arguably one of the most famous Jews of the first century. He went from a privileged Jewish education in Jerusalem under Gamaliel to a zealous anti-Christian fanatic, “breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord” (Acts 9:1) to a radical Jesus evangelist in Damascus, proclaiming in the Jewish synagogues that Jesus was the Son of God (Acts 9:20), to pastor in Antioch to missionary and finally apologist, or defender of the Christian faith, before high government officials and probably even the Roman emperor Nero. Remember back in Acts 9:15 that the Lord told Ananias that Paul was his “chosen instrument…to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings…” In this Sunday’s passage we find him before King Agrippa in Caesarea. Unlike Jesus, who, with the exception of his childhood trip to Egypt, never travelled very far from his hometown, Paul’s missionary journeys took him to islands such as Cyprus, Crete and Malta, to provinces all across the Roman Empire in modern-day Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Greece, Italy, and if church history is accurate, as far west as Spain.
What’s happening here in chapter 26 is Paul’s final testimony about his conversion. We actually have three accounts of Paul’s conversion in Acts. First there is Luke’s original telling of the event in chapter 9. Then there is Paul’s defense in Jerusalem in chapter 22. This third telling of his conversion takes place in the coastal town of Caesarea before King Herod Agrippa II, the grandson of Herod the Great.
What happened to Paul that made him change from a persecutor of the Way to its greatest missionary? Why did he turn from being a blasphemer, persecutor and violent man to being a servant and witness to the Lord Jesus? Why did Paul forsake his status and fame, and go through horrible suffering and ultimately, even cruel martyrdom? This morning we will look at three things that changed Paul forever, and we will also consider how the Lord Jesus may similarly transform us.
Discussion Questions
- Read Acts 25:23. In noting the kind of architecture that may have surrounded Paul during his trial, how might he have felt during his speech?
- Read Acts 26:11. What does it mean that Paul tried to make the saints “blaspheme”? What might explain his “raging fury”?
- What happened to Paul that made him change from a persecutor of the Way to its greatest missionary? Why did he turn from being a blasphemer, persecutor and violent man to being a servant and witness to the Lord Jesus?
- What is the difference between knowing about Jesus and knowing Jesus?
- How might you be persecuting Jesus? Read 1 John 4:20, Romans 14:10, and Matthew 5:22.
- How does it make you feel to know that God knows your name? Have you trusted in Jesus as the only one who can give you confidence for the day of judgment? See 1 John 4:16-18.
- What is the significance of Jesus speaking to Paul in the Hebrew dialect? Will you pray, give, or go so that Cornerstone may send 1% of our church to the unreached?
- How is the risen Jesus calling you to be a servant and witness of the things you have seen and heard from him? Pray every day this week for at least 3 friends that are not believers and ask for the Lord to reveal ways that you can serve them and share your faith in Jesus with them.
- How might you be kicking against the goads?
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