Everyone Needs A Barnabas, A Paul, And A Timothy, Part II

Everyone Needs A Barnabas, A Paul, And A Timothy
Part Two

Acts 26:12-18
“In this connection I journeyed to Damascus with the authority
and commission of the chief priests.
At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven,
brighter than the sun, that shone around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we had all fallen to the ground,
I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language,
‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?
It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’
And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’
And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.
But rise and stand upon your feet,
for I have appeared to you for this purpose,
to appoint you as a servant and witness
to the things in which you have seen me
and to those in which I will appear to you,
delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—
to whom I am sending you to open their eyes,
so that they may turn from darkness to light
and from the power of Satan to God,
that they may receive forgiveness of sins
and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’”

Everyone Needs A Paul

Before Jesus changed him
no one could resist him
as an unholy fire burned
hot within him threatening
the faithful, scattering
them from Jerusalem
with the power of his
murderous persecution.

After Jesus changed him
no one could resist him
as God’s Holy Spirit burned
hot within Him declaring
God’s gospel message
of salvation in Jesus—
neither the angry Jews
nor the murderous Romans.

For God had a call on
his life, this onetime Saul
blinded on the road
by the glory of his Lord,
granted more than the
sight he had known—
now the Love of His
Savior afire in his heart.

It is an eternal necessity—that is, for each of us to reach the point in our life when we lay ourselves down at the feet of Jesus, and ask Him to be the Lord of our life. So, God has always had His eternal Gospel plan—having Jesus come to live among us on this earth. In so coming among us He lived the perfect life to reveal the ways of God among human kind. In so living He demonstrated how to walk in God’s Presence every day, looking and listening for His direction, seeing, hearing, and obeying His perfect Will. In loving God and every person, Jesus made clear the perfect Way. And then came His ultimate purpose—to willingly, obediently, and lovingly lay down His life for us, so that our sins might be forgiven. Then, Jesus arose victorious, declaring for all time the defeat of sin through Him. And so, the decision is in our hands and in our hearts. We must decide for Jesus or against Him. We must choose Heaven or Hell. So, the Holy Spirit draws us towards our ultimate decision. 

By God’s Grace He raises witnesses to the Gospel, who declare with their lives and with their words, the necessity of yielding to the Holy Spirit and making Christ Lord. This is precisely why we all need a Paul. For God raises up Paul and His similarly burdened brothers and sisters gifted with Gospel burning hearts, who proclaim the Jesus path we must follow if we would discover and accept the claims of Jesus, our Savior. How thrilling to hear Paul’s testimony. How blessed to see how Jesus caught him on the road to Damascus. How amazing to see how He spoke God’s Truth into Saul’s troubled heart. How profound to see the absolute change the Spirit brought in Saul’s life once Jesus confronted him, and won the surrender of his heart, mind, and strength to His loving Lord Jesus.

We all need a person or people in our lives who have experienced this miraculous transformation achieved by Jesus. We need people in our lives who speak the deep and troubling truth concerning the hopelessness of our present lives. We need bold and honest souls who love us too much not to interrupt our present course which leads us towards eternal death and destruction. We need people like Paul who will use the mighty Word of God to speak the truth we must heed lest we die forever. We need people like Paul who worry little about what we think of them, so that they say the hard things about our sinfulness we need to hear. We need people like Paul who stick with us as we come to Jesus and begin life in His service, so that when we falter, they point us to Jesus and His outstretched, loving hand to take our own and raise us up, dust us off, and lead us back onto His pathway leading towards Heaven, blessed eternally, in the presence of Jesus.

I believe you are blessed as I am, to look back on life and recognize those people like Paul God placed along your way. I still thank God for my own Father and Mother, who invited our Pastor to talk with my older brother and me about our need for Jesus. He came to our house and explained in a way we could understand even as young boys, our need for Jesus as our Savior. I do not recall his actual words, but I do know he did so clearly and that he neither frightened nor confused us. He simply gave us the Gospel facts. That very day the Holy Spirit opened up Ray’s heart, and he made his decision to make Jesus His Lord and Savior. The Holy Spirit continued working, based on our Pastor’s witness, until the words of the hymn, “Oh, why not tonight?” one Sunday evening, pierced my heart with my need for Jesus. And so, that very night I prayed with the Pastor and gave my life to Jesus.

Not only did I need the Pastor to show me the way to Jesus and salvation. I needed those who would lead me and guide me in Jesus’ perfect way for me. Not only did Paul show people in his life the way to Jesus and salvation. He taught them  and exhorted them to follow in the path the Lord Jesus laid before them. When they wandered from truth, He forcefully and lovingly showed them the way back to Jesus. Even in the life of the Apostle Peter, and in the life of his dear friend and co-laborer Barnabas, Paul proclaimed clearly the truth about the Jesus Way, and corrected them if they wandered. In my long life I have needed such bold and loving correction, and God has, of course, provided Paul’s to admonish me. I praise God for pastors, certainly (including my present pastor), Bible teachers (including one presently teaching a group of us in Galatians), missionary colleagues, Nigerian and Nigerien Christian brothers and sisters, and my dear wife, just to name a few. They have not allowed me to wander far, and have kept me on the Jesus path, the only path to the life filled with obedience and joy in our blessed Lord Jesus.

I Needed A Gospel Witness

There was a time in my life
when I was in danger
of choosing the wrong
and the dangerous,
self-centered way
rather than God’s loving,
His perfect Way for me.

I needed a Gospel Witness
who would in obedience
take the time to show
me God’s perfect way in
Jesus to center
my heart Making Him my
Lord on the Way to Heaven.

And as I have walked all these years
along His Good Way blessed
with further witnesses
He has lovingly kept
leading me back
when I’ve wandered—so
I praise Him forever.