Conversion Stories

Our church is doing a sermon series on the book of Acts, The Acts of the Apostles, to be precise. Written by Luke, who also wrote the eyewitness account of Jesus in the Gospel according to Luke, Acts talks about how the Good News of salvation spreads to "all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth" by the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit. The early followers of Jesus, mostly Jews, were persecuted and martyred for their faith by their brethren Jews and the Romans, but their faith stood firm.

This morning's sermon was on Act 9 about the conversion of Saul, a Jewish persecutor and murderer of Christians. This was recorded for us:

"Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”. “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” (Acts 9: 1-6 NIV).

The encounter transformed Saul from a hater of Christ into Paul, the most prolific missionary in church history. He was eventually imprisoned and beheaded by the Romans, but not before he wrote a few more books of the New Testaments which are commonly referred to as the Prison Letters. Paul's life and his death is recorded to for all the skeptics who come after him.

Listening to today's sermon reminded me of the movie, The Case for Christ, which I watched about a week back. The movie is based on a true story of a Chicago Tribune award-winning journalist turned pastor, Lee Strobel. Lee was a born skeptic and was distraught when his wife became a Christian, so distraught that he set out to disprove the claims of Christ. Much like Paul of Tarsus, Lee wanted to settle the score with the Christians. He put his investigative skills to use and spoke to a number of experts in their fields of specialisation. On his journey to disprove the death, crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, he ended up face to face with the truth of Christ. 

In the face of truth, both men comes to the realisation of God's love. God took a chance on us - "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8). Today, we live in a world that is very hostile toward God and what God stands for. Yet when we push Him out of our lives, He remains quietly at the door of our hearts waiting expectantly for us to open it again. He gives us grace even when we choose to take a different path. He continues to pursue us even when we've made it clear to Him that He is not welcomed to our part of the neighbourhood. 

This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. 

 ~ John 3:16-17 The Message