Acts 26:15-18<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0\u201cThen I asked, \u2018Who are you, Lord?\u2019\u00a0 \u201c\u2018I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,\u2019\u00a0the Lord replied.\u00a016\u00a0\u2018Now get up and stand on your feet.\u00a0I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me.\u00a017\u00a0I will rescue you\u00a0from your own people and from the Gentiles.\u00a0I am sending you to them\u00a018\u00a0to open their eyes\u00a0and turn them from darkness to light,\u00a0and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins\u00a0and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.\u2019<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201c<\/span>Then I asked, \u2018Who are you, Lord<\/i>?\u2019\u201d A light brighter than the hot midday Middle Eastern sun flashed around Paul.\u00a0\u00a0Its origin identified as coming from heaven.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Then a voice with the same origin descending down to him and upon him.\u00a0\u00a0Paul knew from where the voice came from and likely, he knew who was speaking.\u00a0\u00a0It is thought, implied from other verses, Paul was already feeling guilty about having the people of the Way persecuted, imprisoned and worse, and killed.\u00a0\u00a0Therefore knowing the source of the light and the voice, and hearing the voice say to him that he had been persecuting the owner of the voice, Paul asked the identity of the One who was speaking while already suspecting who it was.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,\u2019\u00a0the Lord replied.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Paul got the answer that he suspected with dread that he would receive.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018Now get up and stand on your feet.\u00a0I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0As we recall the original telling of Paul\u2019s encounter with Jesus, we see that Paul is telling a condensed version of this incident.\u00a0\u00a0(Acts 9, 22<\/b>)\u00a0\u00a0This not unusual nor does it make it inaccurate.\u00a0\u00a0Paul wanted to give the details in as concise a manner as possible.\u00a0\u00a0He had all those officials and dignitaries as his audience and he wanted to give them the details without weighting down the story with unnecessary details.\u00a0\u00a0None of the cared the about the exact where and when, but rather they wanted to know the \u201cmeat\u201d of the story.\u00a0\u00a0They didn\u2019t know Ananias and were not interested in finding out about him.<\/p>\n KJV translates the first word of what Jesus was calling Paul to be as \u201cminister.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0However, it is likely that the NIV and ESV have captured it more precisely as \u201cservant.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Though both are apt.\u00a0\u00a0The word, as described by the Blue Letter Bible, speaks of an \u201cunderrower\u201d or someone who serves with their hands (hard manual work).\u00a0\u00a0An underrower was a person who rowed in the Galley of big ships.\u00a0\u00a0Though it was grunt work, the Greeks still considered it an honorable profession. They knew that as much as those who fought above, the work the underrowers did was indispensable and highly valued.\u00a0\u00a0They worked physically hard but their abilities and skills were highly specialized.\u00a0\u00a0Sometimes, in acknowledgement of the high importance of what they did, galley slave rowers were given their freedom and rights as citizens.\u00a0\u00a0Paul was called to be a faithful minister to the people of the Lord.\u00a0\u00a0He worked hard to spread the word as he travelled by horse and by foot, he contested for the Lord against false doctrines and opposers of the way, and he was exposed to wild animals, hunger, thirst and even pestilence.\u00a0\u00a0He was not one of the Apostles in a high position in Jerusalem, but a worker in the galley of service, not necessarily seen, but invaluable to the movement of the Gospel ship.<\/p>\n Jesus also told Paul that he would be a \u201cwitness.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0The word has a strong implication of martyrdom.\u00a0\u00a0Certainly we know that spiritually Paul died to self. (Galatians 2:20, 5:24, 1 Corinthians 15:31<\/b>)\u00a0\u00a0We also know that Paul was martyred in Rome for being the faithful witness of Jesus.<\/p>\n \u201cI will rescue you\u00a0from your own people and from the Gentiles.\u00a0I am sending you to them\u00a018\u00a0to open their eyes\u00a0and turn them from darkness to light,\u00a0and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins\u00a0and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.\u2019<\/i>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Paul will be rescued from the Jews, many times over, from the Jews who wanted to kill him whom they considered a reprobate traitor from their beliefs.\u00a0\u00a0Jesus saved him from the Jews and brought him to bring them the light of the Gospel to the Gentiles.\u00a0\u00a0Paul would lead them, and subsequently us, from darkness to light.\u00a0\u00a0He would present the Gospel to them that, if they would receive it, they would have their pre-existing chains of darkness broken from and they would be free to love and serve the Lord.\u00a0\u00a0The ministry of Paul was a carrying on of the ministry of Jesus (John 14:12<\/b>) as described in\u00a0Isaiah 42:16<\/b>\u00a0and\u00a0Colossians 1:13<\/b>)<\/p>\n Jesus said that we all, like Paul, must die to self that we may live with Him (Matthew 16:24-25, Mark 8:34-35<\/b>).\u00a0\u00a0We are called to admit that we live lives of sin and selfishness and godly lives.\u00a0\u00a0Just as Paul had to.\u00a0\u00a0Jesus has called us to set aside living for self to live for Him (Matthew 16:25<\/b>).\u00a0\u00a0It is not that we can do good works to save ourselves but that, because we love the Lord, His Spirit within us will transform our hearts and minds so that the works of God will flow through us.\u00a0\u00a0(Romans 12:1-2<\/b>)\u00a0\u00a0By dying to self we die to our old sinful nature and receive onto and into ourselves Jesus and His work.\u00a0\u00a0That brings His Holy Spirit within us to lovingly shape us and change us to what God has preordained us to be.\u00a0\u00a0Living in God\u2019s perfect plan is what is perfect for us.\u00a0\u00a0Living in God\u2019s perfect plan is peace, joy and contentedness.\u00a0\u00a0May we all live as Jesus did and as Paul His servant did and, as we are all called to do.\u00a0\u00a0Praise God for the honor!\u00a0\u00a0Praise God!<\/p>\n P<\/b><\/span>salm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/p>\n Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.<\/p>\n Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; and what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with Your God.<\/p>\n Numbers 6:24-26<\/b>\u00a0\u201cThe\u00a0Lord\u00a0bless you and keep you; 25\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u00a0make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u00a0turn His face\u00a0toward you and give you peace.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Acts 26:15-18\u00a0–\u00a0\u201cThen I asked, \u2018Who are you, Lord?\u2019\u00a0 \u201c\u2018I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,\u2019\u00a0the Lord replied.\u00a016\u00a0\u2018Now get up and stand on your feet.\u00a0I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me.\u00a017\u00a0I will rescue you\u00a0from your own people and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[82,1863,129,1969,103,100,93,101,94,1874,17,10],"class_list":["post-2147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-acts","tag-colossians","tag-corinthians","tag-galatians","tag-isaiah","tag-john","tag-mark","tag-matthew","tag-micah","tag-numbers","tag-psalm","tag-romans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2147"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2148,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2147\/revisions\/2148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}