Who Are You Reaching Out To?
Today I’m driving home thinking about the Sunday service that just finished. The weather is warm and the afternoon is going to be a bit busy with family activities. It will be great to spend time with those close to me and share a delicious meal.
I’m thinking about the passage of Scripture we focused on this morning and the sermon I preached. We studied Saul from the book of Acts. It is the story of his dramatic encounter with Jesus while traveling a dusty road to the city called Damascus. A noontime bright light drove him onto his face. Jesus verbally spoke to Saul and confronted him about his persecution of Christians in Israel and his desire to seek them out beyond his native borders. Jesus made it clear He takes such action personally. He instructs Saul to go on into Damascus and wait for further instruction.
Jesus then appears to a Christian man in Damascus named Ananias. Jesus instructs him to seek Saul out and help him become a Christian. After trying to avoid his assignment, Ananias obeys and finds Saul in the house of a man named Judas. Ananias tells Saul about Jesus and Saul becomes a follower. As you know, Saul’s name is later changed to Paul, and he becomes the most influential Christian of his time. He also wrote half of the New Testament.
The sermon challenge from this morning was, “Do we see the ‘Saul’s’ that are all around us?” Jesus is calling people, who don’t know Him, into relationship with Himself. This is a two-step process. First, God works in the heart and life of an individual He is drawing to Himself—in this morning’s passage it was Saul. He stirs the heart; He calls that man or woman to come to Him. Secondly, Jesus then prompts a Christian to engage the one God is drawing—in this case it was Ananias.
Jesus prompts Ananias to get up, engage Saul, and be the voice to share the good news of salvation and lead Saul to become a Christian. For some reason God has decided not to engage the Saul’s of this world in a direct manner. But instead chooses to prompt Ananias to go engage Saul. This pattern remains the same today.
God is constantly working in the hearts and lives of non-believers. He is stirring their heart to surrender to Him and become a devoted follower of Jesus. Then He prompts us to go talk to that person and help them become a Christian. God has placed many ‘Saul’s’ in our lives. There are thousands of them in Auburn. You know them. They are in your school, your neighborhood, or at the club you belong to.
Our challenge is seeing them and then being willing to be God’s voice and speak to them about the love of Jesus. Ananias saw the assignment from God as risky and possibly humiliating. Often we fear being God’s voice for those same reasons.
But let’s take courage. Let’s ask God to help us see those whom He is drawing. Let’s be willing to surrender to God’s prompting and be His voice.
In fact, I’d like to hear your story of who you are reaching out to. How are you intentionally being the voice of God in your theater of life? Who has God prompted you to reach out to lately? What have you done to respond to His prompting and how has it gone? It would be such an encouragement to me and others if we could hear your story of how you are being used by God to speak His love to another person. Email me (phil@auburngrace.com) with a brief story of how God is doing this in your life.
I love being your pastor. See you on Sunday.
Pastor Phil
