Apostle Paul in Damascus and Arabia

Series on the Life of Paul

Possible Date: 37-39 A.D.

Scripture: Acts 26:19-20; Acts 9:17-36; Galatians 1:11-12, 15-18; 2 Corinthians 11:32-33

NOTE: Reconciling the timeline and geography of this time can be challenging.

#Paul

#Apostle Paul

Apostle Paul in Damascus and Arabia

The length of the visit in Arabia is uncertain. Galatians 1:17-18 gives three years as the time between Paul’s conversion and the first visit to Jerusalem. Meyer and Lightfoot, while differing as to the place in the Acts at which the visit should be inserted, agree in making it a brief sojourn, merely an incident in Paul’s life in Damascus, “a first, certainly fervent, experiment of extraneous ministry.” The usual interpretation is that the greater part of the three years, the “many days” of Acts 9:23, were spent in Arabia. This is favored by the consideration that it would be eminently fitting that the apostle should go into retirement for reflection and spiritual preparation for his work as a preacher. In arranging the passages I have grouped them so that the three years (Gal. 1:18) includes the whole time from shortly after Paul’s baptism to his final departure from Damascus, thus leaving the division of the time undetermined.

The Arabian visit is peculiarly interesting in its relation to the growth of Paul’s theology and his personal religious experience. See Lightfoot on Galatians, Note I.; “St. Paul’s Sojourn in Arabia;” Matheson’s “Spiritual Development of St. Paul,” chap. 4, and Stalker’s “Life of St. Paul,” chap. 4.

On the connection of the date of Paul’s conversion with Aretas, king of Arabia, see Hackett (Introduction, p. 20), and Conybeare and Howson, Vol. I., pp. 81, 82.

Commentators are generally agreed in connecting the Arabian visit with the apostle’s stay at Damascus, given in Acts 9, though there is much difference of opinion as to the exact place in St. Luke’s account in which the Arabian incident is to be inserted, and as to the length of the stay there. Lightfoot puts the visit after Acts 9:19 (“Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus”), and before his preaching in the synagogue, which is mentioned in the following verse (20). This he thinks is necessary, because in Gal. 1:16 Paul says “immediately (i. e., after his conversion) I conferred not with flesh and blood, neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia.” Meyer, however, places the Arabian incident after Acts 9:20–22, the account of Paul’s preaching in the synagogues, and argues that “straightway” in Acts 9:20 (“and straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues”) must be taken to mean that after being a few days with the disciples (v. 19) he straightway “preached Christ,” and the Arabian visit must necessarily follow the preaching in the synagogues and be put after verse 22.

The discussion is one concerning the relative claims of the “straightway” of the Acts and the “immediately” of Galatians. If both are to be accepted literally there is a hopeless contradiction. It seems clear however that the preference should be given here to the account in Acts rather than to the one in Galatians. Luke evidently uses “straightway” (Acts 9:20) in a strictly literal sense. Paul was with the disciples a few days and then began straightway to preach, with the ardor of a new convert who could not but speak of the things he had seen and heard. In Galatians Paul’s use of historical facts is all subservient to his argument, which is to assert his dependence upon God alone for the gospel which he preached. He sketches his career in the large: his conversion, his journey to Arabia and return to Damascus, the first visit to Jerusalem, when he saw only Peter and James. It is natural that his “immediately” should be used, in such a hasty sketch, in a free, general sense as meaning soon after his conversion, which can allow time for the preaching in the synagogues mentioned in Acts 19:20. For argumentative or rhetorical purposes, Paul often omitted important events—as for instance in his speech before Agrippa concerning his conversion he omits entirely the appearance of Ananias—while, on the other hand, Gal. 1:18–24 is quite minute and accurate (see pp. 27, 28) because the point in his argument demanded minuteness. We conclude therefore that Paul in Gal. 1:16 omits any reference to his preaching in Damascus after his conversion as it was not within the scope of his argument at that time. The order of events is as follows: after his baptism by Ananias, Paul “was certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus” (Acts 9:19). Opportunity was soon afforded him to preach in the synagogues, which he did, achieving great success as a disputant and increasing in strength (Acts 9:20–22). Then followed the journey into Arabia (Gal. 1:17), whence he returned to Damascus, from which city, after meeting with great opposition from the Jews, who tried to kill him, he escaped to Jerusalem. The view held by Olshausen, that Paul went to Arabia after the escape from Damascus (Acts 9:25), is not tenable, as according to Gal. 1:17 Paul returned to Damascus after the Arabian visit; which would necessitate, according to this view, the apostle’s return to Damascus to rëencounter the enemies who had driven him from the city.

"World Changer Boot Camp"

One of the most challenging and eye-opening Christian books of the past 50 years has been Celebration of Discipline. Written in the late 1970s by Richard Foster, it was a deep book. I got a hold of a copy of that early in my ministry. It really blessed my life. I believe it is a blessing to you as well I want to share with you a quote from Richard Foster from page one of the book Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster writes, “Superficiality is the curse of our age. The doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary spiritual problem. The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people or gifted people, but for deep people.” That is pretty deep, isn't it? We don't want to be shallow, do we?

How many of you wake up in the morning and say my greatest goal and desire today is to be a “shallow Christian”. In fact, I'm going to take it a step further. I want to be the shallowest Christian in the world today. We don't wake up and say that do we? No, we don't want to be shallow. But truth be told, most of us don't want to be deep either because being spiritually deep is difficult. It takes too much work. Let's be honest with ourselves. We're spiritually lazy, being a shallow Christian is so much easier than being a strong Christian. Becoming a stronger Christian takes way too much work.

Listen to how Chuck Swindall explains this. He describes it as, “A life marked by depth can only be cultivated in periods of time spent in solitude, quietness, and obscurity. Concepts for those who live their lives at the speed of light. A major obstacle that prevents us from [going deeper in our relationship with Christ] is our lifestyle. We're simply too busy? [We need] brief periods of time when we deliberately slow down and meet alone with our God. Stop and think for a moment. When was the last time you carved out time to be absolutely alone with God.” It's a question I'd like to ask you. When is the last time you carved out time? To be absolutely alone with God.

Recently we've opened God's word together and we've seen here in Acts 9 how Saul's life was radically transformed – turned upside down by Jesus Christ. As Jesus appeared to him in a blinding light on the road to Damascus. Saul was a madman. He was borderline out of control. He was going from house to house and from synagogue to synagogue, arresting Christian men and women. Some he would throw in prison, others he would beat others. He would petition to have others executed. He was a madman, but on the road to Damascus Jesus appeared to Saul in this blinding light. God asked him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” It was Saul's wake-up call. In that moment, Saul realized that not only had Jesus appeared to him and proven that he was very much alive, but Jesus was in fact the Christ who Christians claimed he was.

Three days later, a soul was praying and fasting there in Damascus. God sent him a Christian brother named Ananias to lead him to faith and baptism. After Saul was baptized, we read in Acts 9:20, “at once, he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the son of God.” Now, since we have a written account of Paul's life and ministry here in the pages of the Bible, we know that Paul was most likely in his early 30s when he met Jesus on the Damascus Road. And he was martyred in his mid-60s. So, he was a Christian for just over 30 years.

So, I want you to think about this. Paul had just over 30 years to plant dozens of churches on two different continents. He had just over 30 years to write half of the books of the New Testament. He had just over 30 years to become the most influential Christian leader in the 2000-year history of Christianity. That's not much time, is it?

So just imagine what you might say to Paul if you had had the privilege of being there on the banks of that river when he was baptized. Realize knowing that he would have just 30 years left to become the most influential Christian that Christianity would ever see. What would I say to him? And so I imagine what it would be like if I had a time machine. What would it be like? What would I say to Saul? Picture in your mind as Saul was coming out of the water saying something like this. So, God has a great plan for your life. You have no idea how big of an impact you're going to carry for the cause of Christ. You have no idea how big of an impact you're going to have in this world for Jesus Christ. So far so good on that little pep talk, right?

But then I would be tempted to take it a step further and say something like this. Saul, the clock is ticking. You don't have much time here. The clock is ticking. You don't have any time to lose, so start preaching. Start writing scripture. Go, go, go, go, go. Go … Saul. And that's one of the many reasons why Jesus has never given me a time machine. That is not what he would want to be said to Saul.

My plan for Paul stinks. My plan for Paul was in God's plan for Paul. As many of you remember, Paul's greatest impact in this world came when he set out on his missionary journeys. He went on 3 missionary journeys through Northwest Asia, that's the area in modern-day Turkey and in Southeast Europe. Greece, Italy, etc., and so this is where he carried his greatest impact on his three missionary trips as many Bibles with maps will point out. That's where he carried his impact.

But something I find very, very interesting. You may not know this, but Paul didn't set out on those 3 missionary journeys for at least 10 years after his conversion to Christ. He didn't change the world in 30 years. He changed the world in under 20 years. For those of us who are always busy, always moving, going here, going there, squeezing in one more errand, one more activity, one more class, one more thing on our “to-do” list. God used Paul differently. The first 10 years of Paul's Christian life seem puzzling to us it. Really seems like a bit of a waste. Paul had so much potential -- he had so little time.

So why didn't God send him to Jerusalem right away? Why didn't God send him to Rome right away, or to Ephesus, or even to Philippi right away? One of these wonderful cities where he would minister and plant churches and do amazing ministry. Why didn't Jesus send him there right away? The simple answer is -- Saul wasn't ready.

Saul wasn’t ready. So, God had something much more important for Saul to do FIRST, more pressing than planting a dozen churches, or even writing half the books of the New Testament. And I find my human self saying, “How could that be?” What could possibly be more important than planning over a dozen churches on two continents? What could possibly be more important than writing half the books of the New Testament?

Well, God's ways are higher than my ways, and his thoughts are higher than my thoughts. Let us see that his methods for shaping world-changing Christians, are much different than our methods, Amen?

Let’s take a closer look at Paul's first three years as a Christian. And as we do, we're going to answer some very important questions, namely, what was Paul doing during his first three years after he was saved and came to Christ? And the follow-up question, Why?

What was Paul doing during his first 3 years?

Let's start with that first question. What was Paul doing during his first three years after he gave his life to Christ? I want us to tackle this first question by looking at the three passages that give us some details about Paul's first ten years after he became a Christian. We're going to be looking at Acts 9, 2 Corinthians 11, and Galatians 1. So, look at these passages back-to-back-to-back.

We're going to start in Acts 9:19-30. Saul in Damascus and Jerusalem

Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. 20 At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. 21 All those who heard him were astonished and asked, “Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?” 22 Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.

23 After many days had gone by, there was a conspiracy among the Jews to kill him, 24 but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him. 25 But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall.

26 When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. 27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. 28 So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 He talked and debated with the Hellenistic Jews, but they tried to kill him. 30 When the believers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

Second passage. Paul gives us a little summary of what had happened when he was lowered in the basket there in Damascus. 2 Corinthians 11:31-33

The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying. 32 In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me. 33 But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands.

Galatians 1:11-24 Paul Called by God

11 I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. 12 I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.

13 For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. 14 I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. 15 But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being. 17 I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus.

18 Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days. 19 I saw none of the other apostles—only James, the Lord’s brother. 20 I assure you before God that what I am writing you is no lie.

21 Then I went to Syria and Cilicia. 22 I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23 They only heard the report: “The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” 24 And they praised God because of me.

When you first compare Acts 9 with Galatians 1, side by side, there appear to be some discrepancies in here. For instance, in Acts 9:20, Luke tells us that after Saul's baptism at once, he began to preach in the synagogues, “That Jesus is the son of God.” And Luke, in the book of Acts doesn't say anything about Saul going to Arabia. But then you look at Galatians 1:17, Paul himself says that after his conversion to Christianity, “I immediately went into Arabia and later returned to Damascus.” So which is it? And the answer is, It was both. There's no discrepancy here, you see in New Testament times when people spoke of Arabia, they had a different geographic area in mind than you and I tend to, when we're thinking of Arabia today. First, look at a map of modern-day Arabia -- this is what we call the Arabian Peninsula, on the West is the Red Sea and on the east is the Persian Gulf. Then, down below is the Arabian Sea or the Indian Ocean, and so it's the Arabian Peninsula. So, most of that today is taken over by Saudi Arabia. But if you were to look at the geographic area of Arabia in Paul's day 2000 years ago, it looked much different. The Nabatean Kingdom or Nabatean Arabia, unlike present-day Arabia, ends about at the top part of the Red Sea, it stretched North past Israel on the West side all the way into the modern day. And if you were to be able to picture or find it on a map, the very top is next to the city of Damascus. Damascus, was just barely outside of the geographic perimeter of Nabatean Arabia.

So, when Paul says here that he went into Arabia right after he gave his life to Christ from the city of Damascus, this was just a quick one or two days, jaunt to get into Arabia. It wasn't a very long trip. Now some Bible scholars speculate that he had gone 450 miles South to Mount Sinai. Further down South on a map that marks where Mount Sinai was. He could have traveled all the way down deeper into Arabia. But that's just a guess. He didn't have to travel very far to get to Arabia. And so likely, there was a little bit back and forth movement between the Arabian desert and the city of Damascus over this three-year period.

What's the point? When Paul writes in Galatians 1:17 that he went into Arabia after he became a Christian, he's not talking about traveling halfway around the world. He's talking about traveling a short distance into a more remote desert region where he would do some things that we'll talk about in a few minutes. Maybe you went deeper into Arabia, but my guess is he was pretty close to Damascus during that entire three-year period.

Here is a likely order of events for Paul's first ten years after he gave his life to Christ.

#1 Paul becomes a Christian. There in Damascus,

#2 He begins preaching in Damascus like we read in Acts 9

#3 He then very quickly he retreats to the Arabian Desert for most of the next three years.

#4 He returns to Damascus, where he begins to be persecuted by the Jewish people living in Damascus, and they come up with this plot to kill him. In fact, the King of Nabatean Arabia is part of that plan to block the exits to the city to have Paul arrested. What did Paul's Christian friends do? It says they lowered him in a basket through a window in the wall of the city. So he was able to escape in 2 Corinthians 11. We read it also in Acts 9 after he escapes Damascus

#5. He goes to. Jerusalem, where he spent 15 days with the apostle Peter and James. We read that in Galatians 1.

#6 After leaving Jerusalem after that 15 days Saul spends at least seven years in Syria, Cilicia, and back in his hometown, where he was born, Tarsus.

And so that's that 10-year period of Paul in a nutshell. What was he doing during the first three of those ten years? There's no doubt that he spent some time preaching the word of God, but it seems clear that more than anything else, Saul was living alone in the desert -- there with the sagebrush and there with the snakes and the hyenas he's out there in a very remote area by himself. Likely, Paul had minimal interaction with people during the bulk of that three-year period after he gave his life to Christ, which leads us to the second question

Why?

Why was he in Arabia? What was he doing out in the desert with the jackals and the sagebrush? It's a valid question, isn't it? Seems like to me with my modern Western civilization mindset, it seems like such a waste of time. Why was he out in the desert when the clock is ticking. Only 30 years to impact this world for Jesus Christ.

Well, Paul answers this question why for us better than about anyone. In Galatians 1:11-12, Paul writes. 11 I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. 12 I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.

We've looked at that conversion of Saul there on Damascus Road. Then as that conversion was completed with Ananias’ help there in Damascus. We've seen this amazing account of Jesus speaking through revelation directly to Saul. But that was only the first of Jesus's revelations to Paul. When Jesus met Saul on the road to Damascus, he just introduced himself and gave Saul a brief snapshot of the mission that God had for him. But Jesus had so much more to teach him.

In Acts 1, do you remember when the early church is gathered there before the day of Pentecost? It had just been a few weeks earlier that Jesus had died on the cross and Judas Iscariot had betrayed him. Then Judas felt so guilty, he went out and hung himself. There in the upper room in Jerusalem, before the day of Pentecost, Peter gathers the disciples together and says we're missing an apostle. Jesus appointed 12 and Judas went off and hung himself. We need to choose a new 12th apostle. And there he says in Acts 1:21-22, what a few of the qualifications had to be for someone to be selected to be an apostle. Luke records It is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time. The Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from John's baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. One of these must become a witness with us of Jesus's resurrection. So don't miss this, not just any Christian man could become an apostle. It had to be someone who had seen Jesus with his own two eyes and had heard Jesus with his own two ears and someone who had experienced Jesus's ministry from start to finish. And you remember how long Jesus's ministry lasted, it lasted for just over three years now.

Is it a coincidence that Saul was out there in the Arabian Desert for about that same amount of time -- three years? I don't think so. I don't believe in coincidences in God's Kingdom. What was he doing out there in the desert by himself? Well, Jesus was meeting with Saul, and qualifying him. Jesus was equipping him and preparing him to be an apostle. He was able to allow Saul to ask him questions, and Saul was able to listen intently to Jesus's answers. Saul was able to receive from Jesus the greatest revelation in the history of the world, the revelation of the Gospel of Salvation through Jesus Christ.

Years later, Paul would write these words in Romans 1:16-17 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

That is truly profound. Where did Paul learn that profound theology? And the answer is he learned it from Jesus Christ directly.

How about what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:3-6 3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.

That's incredible. Where did Paul learn the highest priorities in the gospel? He learned them directly from Jesus Christ.

How about Ephesians 2:8-10, 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

I love these verses. How was Paul able to articulate these gospel truths so clearly? Because he spent the better part of three years one-on-one with Jesus Christ himself, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. You and I tend to look at Paul's three years in the desert as a waste of precious time, but the truth is. It was the best use of Paul's time. Paul could not have planted dozens of churches on 2 continents had he not first spent so much one-on-one time with Jesus. Paul could not have written Romans, 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, or his other ten books of the Bible, had he not first spent so much time at Jesus's feet. Paul could not have become the most influential Christian leader of the past 2000 years had he not spent so much time doing the most strategic thing that any Christian could ever do who hopes to make a lasting impact in this world, and that is to get along with Jesus and let him prepare you for battle.

I want you to consider how the most influential “world changers” in the Bible spent one-on-one time with God before they impacted the world for God. Think about Moses, he spent 40 years herding sheep out in the desert. He was out there herding sheep for 40 years before God spoke to him through the burning Bush and sent him back to Egypt to lead over 1,000,000 Israelites out of captivity. And Moses, by the way, went on to write the first five books of the Old Testament, what's called the Torah, the Jewish peoples' scripture.

David was the greatest king in Israel's history, but it took him a long time to get there. He spent his teenage years standing in the fields of Bethlehem, herding his dad's sheep. Most of his 20s were spent on the lamb running through the desert from Saul, who wanted to kill him. He was running through desert places he was hiding in caves and as you look at the Book of Psalms, of those 150 psalms in our Bible, David wrote about 75 of them. And I believe most of those were written during those years he was either out in the sheep fields as a teenager or running from Saul during his 20s. God was preparing him in the desert with that one-on-one time that God spent with him. At the start of his ministry, the Prophet Elijah spent lots of one-on-one time with God near the Chareth Brook and his only other companions were Ravens.

Joseph spent lots of one-on-one time with God in an Egyptian prison where he sat for several years.

Long before John the Baptist started baptizing people in the Jordan River, he was spending lots of one-on-one time with God in the desert. In fact, he lived in the desert.

Each of these great servants of God, along with so many others, spent quality one-on-one time with God. That was God's world-changing boot camp that they went through, preparing them to be the greatest impactors this world has ever seen. You see more times than not, the eternal impact isn't attained by speeding up, but by slowing down. Not by packing more into our schedules, but by packing less. Not by talking to people more, but by listening to Jesus more. If we desire to reach further for Jesus, we must first go deeper with Jesus. When we do that. When we slow down, when we streamline our hectic schedules and spend one-on-one time with Jesus, listening to him and going deeper with him, I guarantee you will be in a much better place to make a greater impact.

Important Life Lessons

I want to share with you in closing three important life lessons that we can pull from this study.

Lesson #1 – Connect with other disciples

Let me start with number one life lesson #1. If you want to be a deep Christian, you must be a “churched Christian”. You might ask, where do you get that from? God has a design and purpose for His church. Well, I want you to think about what we read in Acts 9. We discovered that after Saul's conversion, he connected with the church in Damascus immediately. That was his M.O. for the next 30 years, when he would go into a town that what would he do? He would immediately connect with Christians in that town. He would connect with them, and if there weren't Christians in that town, he would start a church. So he would either connect with the church that was already in existence or plan a new church. Either way, he connected as quickly as possible with the church.

COVID had an impact on Christians and their assembly. Millions of American Christians have voluntarily isolated themselves from church, voluntarily isolated themselves from their church family, and without a doubt, it has taken a toll on their spiritual health. Truth be told, all of us need more than what an online service can provide. We need fellowship with other Christians. We need to worship and study God's word and take communion and serve alongside other Christians. I'm so glad that our church can offer these online services. They're a blessing to so many people. But as good as they are, I'll be the first to admit they aren't nearly as good as an in-person service alongside other brothers and sisters in Christ. So if you are physically able to get back to church, I urge you to get back to church in person. By the way. Don't miss the significance of what Ananias and Barnabas did here in Acts 9, when Paul gave himself to Christ, he was called Saul of course, at the time when Saul gave his life to Christ and Ananias immediately introduced him to other Christians. He introduced him to the Church and then, three years later, as Saul goes to Jerusalem, at that point, it was his first time back after having left with those letters from the chief leaders in the Sanhedrin and giving him permission to arrest Christians. Three years later, he comes back. He didn't have those letters anymore. He starts preaching about Jesus, and Barnabas takes Saul, who was looking kind of fishy to the other Christians in town, and Barnabas introduced him to Peter and the other Christians. Don't miss what Ananias and Barnabas did. They introduced Saul the Christian to our Lord’s Church. It's a wonderful thing when you and I do the same thing. When we take a Christian who is isolated from other Christians and we introduce him to the church family and allow him or her to acclimate and be assimilated into that church family. It's one of the greatest gifts we could ever give another Christian is the gift of a church family. A family to fellowship with, to serve with, to love and honor Christ.

Lesson #2 – Actively and Intentionally look for ways to grow closer to God.

Don't wait for a cataclysmic event or life-threatening illness to slow you down and shut you up. Slow down, talk less, and listen for the still quiet voice of God. As we discovered when Jesus spoke to Saul on the Damascus Road, that wasn't the first time Jesus had tried to get Saul's attention. He tried to get his attention many other times, but Saul wasn't listening. He's running around like a chicken with his head cut off, chasing after Christians in their homes and chasing after Christians and synagogues. And he was busy, busy, busy, busy, too busy to hear the quiet, still voice of God. Don't make God knock you flat on your back to get your attention. Slow down. Stop talking. Turn off the noise around. You don't always have to have some kind of media playing when you're in your car. You don't always have to have the TV on when you're at home. Stop talking. Turn off the noise around you and listen. Listen for God.

Lesson #3 – Get one-on-one with Jesus

If you want to be a deep Christian, then you must prioritize one-on-one time with Jesus. If you really want to do great things for Jesus, you must first spend quality time with Jesus. Lesson #2 was all about slowing down and listening to God's voice amid your daily routine. But lesson #3 here is about doing what it takes to change your routine – both are critical. In your routine, make sure that you slow down and quiet the noise to listen to the voice of God. But this third lesson reminds us our routine needs some shaking up. It needs some changing. When our lives get too busy, something has to give. Something has to be cut from our schedules and more times than not, what is that something we cut from our schedules? More times than not, it's our time with God because we've got this crazy hustle and bustle, American mindset, that if I've got too much to do. Sitting around and praying or reading the Bible has to go. I am too busy. To spend time with God and the fact is the exact opposite is true. You're too busy not to spend time with God. So often we cut our time in the Word and we cut our time in prayer, we scrap our personal devotion time with God, our quiet time with God, and our prayer time with God. Whatever you call it, we put it on the back burner when we start getting busy. And if you keep it up. You're going to get to the end of your life having done many good things that carried very little impact in this world for Jesus Christ. I've said it many times before and I plan to keep saying it. You know what? What is good is the enemy of what is best. So often we go and do many good things, but we're doing these good things that fill the time, taking time away from the best things. And the very best thing you could ever do with your time is to give it to God. Spend quality time in prayer and in Bible study and meditation with God. What is best in any Christian's life is our time spent with Jesus Christ in church and one-on-one -- Just you and him. There's no better way to spend your time.

Prayer -- Lord we want to come to you and repent. We confess Oh, God, that we've put you on the back burner. Even our mindset at times Lord is just 180 degrees from where you want it. We have this crazy idea that I'm too busy to go to church. I'm too busy to read my Bible and I'm too busy to pray, I'm too busy to shut off the noise or cut some things out of my schedule so I can spend more time with you. I'm too busy to carve out a day on a weekend. To just get off in the mountains or sitting on a fishing boat or whatever it takes to get away from the noise and the cell phones ringing and the TV blaring and our neighbor blasting the rap, just whatever it is, Lord, whatever it takes to get away and just spend one-on-one time with you. Forgive us, Lord, for that faulty mindset. And I pray, oh God. That we would more than ever before, prioritize meeting with you with other Christians. May we get back to making church a priority? Lord, we've gotten into this habit of making church as simple as possible. A quick hour on my cell phone, and I'm done for the week. God, that's not discipleship. Lord, I thank You that we're able to have these services for those who are shut-ins and can't physically make it to a church. But Lord, for those of us who physically can, we need more. So, Lord, I pray that we wouldn't give you the simplest form of worship. The quickest form of worship. The quickest form of prayer or Bible study. But Lord that we would give you more devoted time to you with other Christians. And one-on-one, just me and you. Lord, I pray. That you would do your work in us. As we do what you did in Saul, preparing him for the great ministry ahead. May we never forget, Lord, that we will carry the greatest impact tomorrow if we spend the time we need to with you today. In Jesus name. Amen.

I am very thankful for the church that allows us to put these online services out each week. They're critical for our shut-ins. They're critical for people that might never step foot inside our church building. But I know that others of us are physically able to be in a church service in person. Get back and join the fellowship. Get back and join us as soon as you can. I guarantee you these online services are good, but in-person services, they're even better. God bless you. As you serve our Lord this week, please reach out to us. If you're ready to put Jesus Christ in the driver's seat of your life, or if you just need prayer or you have another need, please reach out to us. We want to help if we can. God bless you. Love and serve and trust our Lord Jesus Christ this week. You make a greater impact for the glory of God.