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June 1928
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considered it a great privilege to be chosen by him for this mission; now he trudges along alone and friendless except for the invisible Lord with whom he was holding sweet fellowship every step of the way. The world said Saul was a fool. Think what he had given up 1 Were there any misgivings in his heart that night as he made his way back to Jerusalem? Were there in his heart any vain regrets as he considered what he might have been in society? W e think not. He goes steadily forward to speak the name o f Christ boldly in Jerusalem as he had done in Damascus. Why did Paul head for Jerusalem at this time? Gal. 1 :18 seems to make it clear that he wished to see Peter. No doubt he had heard much about this illustrious apostle. Alas, when he got to Jerusalem the disciples gave him “the cold shoulder.” He tried' to join them but couldn’t. “ They were afraid o f him" (v. 26), and' so the church has regarded many a professed convert with coldness and suspicion. But there was one fellow in the church Who had a heart. I f the Lord Jesus had received this man, why should' not Chris tians receive him? If Saul acknowledged God as his Father, why didn’t that make them brothers? Thus Barnabas must have mused, for he took Saul by the hand and led him to the apostles and did every thing in his power to open up Saul’s way to their confidence (v. 27). Someone imagines that the warm hearted' Peter, eager to make amends for his coldness, took Saul home with him and extended him every hospitality. Per haps it was such a time o f pleasant fellowship that enabled them so fully to understand each other and to have such frankness between themselves in after days when some misunderstandings arose. Paul also saw James, the Lord’s kinsman, at that time. Paul could not be idle in Jerusalem. “H e spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians" (v. 29). The word “ disputed” is the one used to describe Stephen’s labors. It simply means that he gave opportunity for the asking o f questions and discussed matters openly. “ They went about to slay him,” and under the Lord’s leading he withdrew from Jerusalem (Acts 22:17- 21 ). Saul went to Tarsus and we find Bar nabas following him (1 1 :25-26), per suading him to go with him on a mission to Antioch. “For a whole year they as sembled themselves with the church and taught much people.” Thus a new and second center was established, for Anti och held the relation to Gentile Christians that Jerusalem did' to Jewish believers. — o — C an You A nswer T hese ? What two seals are in contrast in the experience o f Saul? What was the first question Saul start ed to answer when he began to preach? To what obscure man does the church owe a great debt? How much do we know about Ananias? What lessons for soul winners can be gotten from Ananias? What should the church learn from Ananias and Barnabas as to the reception o f new converts? What kind o f a theological seminary did Saul attend?
On t h e other hand—h e r e ’ s o n e o f o u r happy-go-lucky American negro lads. H e has no objection what e v e r to h i s p h o t o b e i n g t a k e n by H. A r m s t r o n g Roberts.
to evade discussion, does so either because he has some consciousness of weakness or because some party prejudice is assail ed or some selfish craft endangered. In any case, to war against argument by force is as unavailing as it is irrational, for truth has a vitality as eternal as God.” * ♦ * * We all must have our Arabia—the prayer closet and the study hour where we pour over the pages o f God’s Word and seek to get the truth direct from the pure Fountain. W e are taking too much capsule food, ready prepared by others. He who would make headway in teaching the truth need's to be much alone with the Lord and with no other book than the. Bible. There are many trying to be in structors in the things o f God who have had no Arabia experience. —o— G olden T ext I llustration Straightway in the synagogue he pro claimed Jesus, that He is the Son o f God (Acts 9:20). “ There is on the tablets of my memory,” says E. C. Baird, “the portrait o f a man. He was not cultured or rich or talented or famous. He wore the rough garb of the man o f toil. He had great, rugged hands, calloused and hard. But, oh, how soft and gentle they seemed to be when fondling a child or touching a baby’s cheek! “ They called him ‘The Confessor,’ be cause he was always proclaiming his faith in Christ. : “At the mid-week prayer service, instead o f quoting Scripture or praying, he would rise—slowly, deliberately—and say with unforgetable impressiveness: ‘Brethren, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.’ “ Sometimes he would approach a group engaged in conversation on the village street and make that simple, beautiful statement. Once two neighbors were dis puting about some trivial matters, when this man o f my story listened for a moment and said: ‘Don’t forget, gentle men, that Jesus Christ is the Son o f God.’
To what does Saul’s Arabia experience correspond in the life o f a Christian? What contrasts can you draw between Saul’s journey to and from Damascus? Why did Saul head for Jerusalem after getting away from Damascus? What kind o f a reception did he get in Jerusalem and what did he do? —*0~“* I mpressive T houghts Ananias was not the instrument of Saul’s conversion. Saul was converted' before he appeared and could not call any man his spiritual father, but Saul could' regard with peculiar tenderness this disciple who first called him “ brother,” told him more fully o f Christ, and was. the human agent in leading him into the Spirit-filled life. * * * * Note the parallel between the details connected with the visit o f Ananias to Saul and those recorded in relation to that o f Peter to Cornelius. Cornelius was di rected to send for Peter. Paul was pre pared for the arrival o f Ananias. The scruples of Peter were banished by the vision on the housetop. Those of Ana nias were silenced by the Lord’s decla ration that Paul was his chosen vessel. In both cases, the filling of the Holy Spirit preceded baptism in water. Learn that while there is a preparation o f the convert, it is also needed by the church as a preparation for the convert’s reception. * * * * Paul was to be an apostle o f equal authority and dignity with the others who had been personally instructed with Christ. It seems fitting that, altogether independent o f them, or any other human agency, he should have been instructed in the truth (Gal. 1 :T7-18). It was in Arabia, we believe, that he studied deeply into the relations of the old economy to the new and received special communications fit ting him for the service to which he was called. * * * * “ They watched the gates day dnd night to kill him" (9:24). Bishop Taylor says: “He who fears to face the day, or seeks
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