Shabbat Shalom everyone. I would like you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Acts. In Hebrew we call it Maasei Shlichim, the Acts of the Holy Spirit of God. We are today going to read in Acts chapter 22 and verse 1 to 21. Let's just read that first and please just follow me and listen to the reading. Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defense, which I make now unto you. And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew language to them, they kept the most silence. And he saith, I am verily a man which am a Jew. Born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous towards God, as ye all are this day.

And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prison both men and women. As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders, from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to Damascus to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem for to be punished. And it came to pass, that as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus, about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me. And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Shaul, Shaul, why persecutest thou me? And I answered, Who art thou, Lord?

And he said unto me, I am Yeshua of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. And they that were with me saw indeed delight, and were afraid, but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me. And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus, And there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do. And when I could not see for the glory of the light, being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus. And one Hananiah, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelled there, came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Shaul, receive thy sight.

And the same hour I looked up upon him, and he said, The God of our Father hath chosen thee, that thou shouldst know his will, and see that just one, and shouldst hear the voice of his mouth, For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. And now why, terrest thou, arise and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord? And it came to pass that when I was come again to Jerusalem, Even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance, and saw him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem, for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me.

And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and bit in every synagogue them that believed on thee. And when the blood of the martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him. And he said unto me, Depart, for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles. And I'm stopping here in verse 21, because immediately following these remarks of the Apostle Paul of Shaul, we have the response from the Jewish people in the temple at the time when the Apostle Paul was preaching there. Now, let me just make a few remarks, beloved brothers and sisters.

For those of you that have not been with us in our previous meetings together, we are studying the book of Acts, the Acts of the Holy Spirit. In Hebrew, we call it Maasei Shlichim, the Acts of the Apostles. And we have arrived to a portion of Scriptures, chapter 21 and 22, in which the Apostle Paul finalized his third missionary journey. You remember the Apostle Paul was called by the glorified Messiah to preach the message of the gospel to the Gentile world. In fact, actually, if we read in chapter 9 and verse 15, the apostle Paul was chosen a vessel to bear the name of Yeshua the Messiah before Gentiles before Kings and also before the children of Israel and wherever the apostle Paul preached the message of the gospel in those three missionary journeys he always first of all gone to the Jew first you can see that in every passage every time that you read in those chapters of the book of Acts.

In fact, in Romans chapter 1 and verse 16, the Apostle Paul gave us a principle upon which we learn that in the preaching of the gospel, he always make it right before God in sharing the message with his Jewish brethren, the Jewish people. You remember he said in Romans 1 16, I am not ashamed of the gospel of the Messiah, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believed, to the Jew first and also unto the Gentile. Now, that was his practice. Everywhere he had gone, he had gone to the Jewish brethren first in the synagogue, and then he preached to the Gentile. Now, when he concluded his third missionary journey, he actually arrived to the city of Jerusalem, assuming that when he's going to share the message with his brethren in the city of Jerusalem he will win them to the Messiah Yeshua he will win them to become part of the church of the assembly at least many of them will come to acknowledge that Yeshua the Jesus is truly their Lord and Messiah so we find out in chapter 21 Paul was warned by some not to go to Jerusalem some have warned him Paul Shaul don't go to Jerusalem if you notice in chapter 21 in verse 4 finding disciples there in Tyre and listen the disciples said to him Paul through the spirit that he should not go up to Jerusalem some have said to him Paul don't go to Jerusalem because they have sense that there will be a persecution of the apostle in the city of Jerusalem and in chapter 21 and verse 10 there was another man by the name of agabus who was a prophet he said in.

Verse 11 when he was come unto us he took Paul's girdle he bound his own hand and feet and he said the holy Spirit said this way so shall the Jews in Jerusalem bind the man that owns this girdle and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles but Paul for one reason or another loved his brethren the Jewish people he wanted to go to Jerusalem first of all to bring the gifts that he had for them for the Jewish believers but also to share the message of the gospel so notice what he said in chapter 21 and verse 13 what mean ye to weep and to break my heart For I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah.

So he was ready to give his life over for the name of Yeshua in the city of Jerusalem. And that's why, brethren, sometimes believers kind of feel there are two ways of looking. That some says Paul was wrong in going to Jerusalem. Others says, no, Paul was right in going to Jerusalem because that, in a sense, concluded his third missionary journey by being captured in Jerusalem. And so, whichever way one leaned to, we know that the Apostle Paul was a man of God who wanted to please our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. So he had gotten to Jerusalem, have gone into the temple he had the vow of the nazarite with other four individuals and then he was captured by the Jewish people who were in the temple especially those Jewish people who came from Asia Minor they heard about this man by the name of Paul and they captured him as we read here in chapter 21, verses 28 to verse 30.

And the last thing to mention about chapter 21, it was the Roman captain who really delivered him from the hand of his own Jewish brethren who wanted to actually kill him. He delivered him and brought him into what we know today as the Antonia Fortress, which I actually just came from there. I've just been in the Antonia Fortress area, in the Temple Mount in Israel, right by the Wailing Wall. And Paul, Shaul, was captured by his brethren, ultimately delivered by the Roman chief captain, and brought into the Antonia Fortress, which was overlooking the Temple Mount by the Romans who were in charge at that time. So he was brought in, and now, beloved brothers and sisters, we are coming into our chapter itself.

Chapter 22, where we have the Apostle Paul's testimony to his Jewish brethren in the city of Jerusalem. These verses 1 to 21 is the testimony of the Apostle Paul to his brethren. We have a few points that I want to mention here in these verses. The first thing that we want to point out today is in verses 1 to 5, the apostle introduced himself to the multitude. Notice that, first of all, he began to speak in the Hebrew language. And this is very interesting because he wanted the attention of the people and he did not speak to them in Greek. He did not speak with them in Aramaic even, because it's very clear from these verses that he spoke with them in the Hebrew tongue.

Let me read verses 1 and 2. He began, he says, men and brethren and fathers, hear ye my defense, which I make now unto you. And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew language to them, they kept the most silence. He began to say, in Hebrew we say, Achim, brethren, fathers, avot. He was speaking the same way that Stephen was speaking when he was facing, in chapter 7, the leadership of Israel. He also called them brethren and fathers. This is a Hebrew expression which we, who are Jewish, often speak in such a way to each other. They are the brethren because of our affiliation as a nation.

They are the fathers because of the one that led the nations over the years. So he was speaking to them, and he began to speak to them in Hebrew, the evrit we say it, and they heard him and they quieted themselves down when they were beginning to listen to what he had to say. And just imagine, multitude in the temple seeking to run against him and to kill him. He was delivered by the chief captain of the Roman legion there. And now he asked him to be able to speak to the multitude. Paul wanted to share with his brethren how he became a believer in Yeshua, the Messiah.

So now notice what he does. And it's very interesting. In third verse, the Apostle Paul points to his background. And that is very important in our testimony, to share with others about who we are, where we came from, what happened to us as we became believers in our Lord Jesus the Messiah. And he pointing out to them his background by saying a few things to his brethren. Number one, in verse three, he says, I am verily a man which am a Jew. Notice he doesn't say i was a Jew but he says i am a Jew now remember Paul was already for many years a believer a christian a Messiah follower but he never for a moment said i used to be a Jew he saying i am a man which am present tense a Jewish man in Romans 11 he says i am an israeli in Philippians chapter 3 he say i am from the tribe i'm a benjaminite i'm a Hebrew of the Hebrew he never said i was a Hebrew he never said i was a Jew he never said i was an israeli he was at all time a Hebrew and israeli and a Jewish man but a believer in our Lord Jesus the Messiah so the first thing he says to them i am a Jewish man secondly he's saying to them that he came from a city that is called tarsus tarsus is present-day turkey he says i'm a man which i'm a Jew born in tarsus a city in cilicia in other words he was born in the diaspora in the.

Dispersion he was a Jewish man who was born outside of the land of Israel today when the Jewish people who were born in Israel they are called sabarim or sabra these are born israeli Jewish people but he was born in the diaspora in a dispersion there are Jewish people born in canada and united states in europe all over the world they are born outside of the land but they a part of the Jewish community in that foreign land so he was born in Tarsus a city in Cilicia he is telling them this is a testimony look I'm a man who is a Jew but I was born in the diaspora thirdly in verse 3 he's telling them even though I was born in the diaspora he says to them that I as it says here in verse 3c I was brought up in this city at the feet of Gamliel now this city is the very city where he was preaching where the temple was the city of.

Yerushalayim. In other words, that even though he was born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, present-day Turkey, he was growing up and taught in the city of Jerusalem, the center of Israel, where all the schooling concerning the things of God were being taught in the temple and perhaps outside of the temple area but the point here that even though he was a Jew of the diaspora he was as it's mentioned here brought up in this city and this city is the city of Jerusalem fourthly in this verse he's pointing out to the fact that he was taught by rabban gamliel notice i was taught at the feet of rabban gamliel the word rabbi is for a rabbi but a high rabbi called rabban in Hebrew we don't have the word rabban here but we call him today gamliel gamliel was a very important rabbi for the people of Israel and he was sitting at his feet and learning from rabban gamliel this rabban gamliel we hear of him already earlier when Peter was persecuted if you turn for.

A moment to Acts 5 just for a second in act chapter 5 and verse 34 rabban gamliel's name is mentioned there as well it says here in verse 34 then stood there up one in the council a pharisee by the name of gamliel a doctor of the law and he had a reputation among all the people and he commanded to put the apostles forth a little space you remember when the apostles were captured by the sanhedrin and they ultimately wanted to judge them to condemn them but rabban gamliel apparently was a pharisee and he was a doctor of the law and he was a teacher among our people Israel of old They were very much respected men among the people of Israel, and Gamliel was the one who held the persecution of the apostles already in the earlier part of the book of Acts.

The name Gamliel is a very interesting name. The name simply means my recompense is of God. Gamliel means my recompense is of God. Apparently he was a respected man among the Jewish people in the city of Jerusalem. And then finally notice that in the same verse, verse 3, and I'm back to chapter 22 and verse 3, the Apostle Paul pointed out that he was taught exactly in the perfect law that Israel, the Jewish people were taught by the leaders of Israel. Because he said in verse 3 i was taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers so Paul Shaul wanted to show his Jewish brethren before he tell them about his faith in the Messiah that he was born though a Jew of a diaspora he was taught in the city of Jerusalem he was taught by rabban gamliel he was taught according to the perfect manner of the law of our fathers he wanted them to know who he was and what he had in the past history of his life he also told them finally in verse 3 that he was zealous towards God as they were zealous you see when Paul came into the temple in Jerusalem he came and they knew that he was a believer in Yeshua the Messiah they assumed that he was teaching against the law against the temple against the God of Israel against the commandments of God against Moses so they wanted to capture him and actually to kill him because he violated as far as they were concerned that which God had given to Israel.

And Paul is saying to them listen I had the same kind of zealousness towards the God of our fathers just like you have today I was just like you because I myself was zealous towards God as you are today zealous towards the God of Israel and you want to capture me and to kill me so in verse three beloved brothers and sisters Paul pointed to his background and to what he have done before he became a believer in Yeshua the Messiah and now notice that in verse 4 the Apostle Paul is saying to them also how he had persecuted the assembly the church and notice it says here I persecuted this way listen to this verse 4 i think this thing haunted him all his life because he always felt guilt in the fact that before he became a believer in Yeshua he was persecuting his Jewish brethren who believe in that way it haunted him and he's telling these Jewish brethren of his in the temple in Jerusalem he said i persecuted this way unto the.

Death i bound them i delivered them into prisons both men and women he's looking back at his history he remembered that before he became a believer you know he was persecuting his Jewish brethren by the way when we say that he persecuted Christians i want us to understand the Christians that he persecuted were not Gentile believers but Jewish believers because he didn't care whether Gentile believers believed in Jesus the Messiah at that time the importance for him was to persecute the Jewish people who came to faith in Yeshua the Messiah that's why he took letters from the high priest to go to the synagogue in Damascus in order to bring Jewish believers in Jesus and to imprison them and ultimately to cause them much harm.

I want you to turn with me for a moment to 1 Timothy chapter 1. Paul said about himself when he spoke to younger Timothy. He spoke about himself. He was speaking concerning the glorious gospel that he was preaching. He says in verse 11, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God. Which was committed unto my trust. And then he says, I am thankful to Christ Jesus, to Messiah Yeshua our Lord who has enabled me for that he counted me faithful putting me into the ministry listen brothers and sisters in verse 13 who was before a blasphemer and i persecuted and injurious but i obtained mercy because i did it ignorantly and in unbelief see Paul write to Timothy says listen God entrusted unto me this glorious message of the gospel and who am I I'm one that was a blasphemer I'm one that persecuted the believers when before I became a believer in Yeshua and it must have hurt him all his life when he remember of what he have done to his Jewish brethren who became believers in Yeshua the Messiah and that's why brothers and sisters in verse 4 the apostle Paul was repeating this when he was standing there in that Antonia fortress on the step there and speaking in the Hebrew language to his Jewish brethren who were.

In the court of the temple of the city of Jerusalem and so now in verse 5 as he continued to introduce himself to the multitude he says in verse 5 as also the high priest does bear me witness and all the estate of the elders from whom i also received letters unto the brethren and i went to Damascus to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem for to be punished and so he's telling can you imagine he's standing before multitude of his Hebrew brethren confessing the fact that he himself was the one that persecuted the ones that believed in this way you notice the expression here in verse 4 it's called this way in first century you know the word this way was really the name of those who follow this way Yeshua said i'm their way the truth and the life the word christianity or Christians was not as much known among the Jewish people it was known as this way the way to follow Yeshua the Messiah and so in verses 1 to 5 he is introducing himself.

Before the multitude in the city of Yerushalayim in the temple area when he was there being caught and delivered by the chief captain of the Roman army so now we are moving on to the second section of this chapter in verses 6 to 16 the apostle Paul testify of his salvation experience on the Damascus road you know it is very important for us as believers to share with others how we became believers in Yeshua, the Messiah. We might not remember theology, every passage in the Bible. We might not remember every verse in Scripture, but one thing we have that no one can take away from us, and this is our personal experience.

We can always tell others how we became believers and what happened to us when we have turned by faith and became believers in this rejected Messiah. We don't need to be scholars. We don't need to be theologians. We don't need to know every verse. We should know verses from the Bible, but we don't need this in order to share our testimony with others. We can simply recollect the experience of how we became believers. Some of us got saved through our parents. Some of us got saved from a friend at school or at work. Other of us have accepted the Messiah because we have gone through emotional experience or something happened in our lives that caused us to turn to the Lord Jesus, the Messiah.

To Shaul, Paul, it happened the same thing. We call it the Damascus experience. The Damascus experience, it is experiential, something that happened to him in his life that brought him to his knees to become a believer in Yeshua the Messiah. We don't read him reading a text in Romans chapter 5 or Romans chapter 3 or the prophet Jeremiah as we have read earlier. He had the Damascus Road experience. Something happened to Shaul in his life that brought him to believe that Yeshua was the Messiah. And I want to point out here that this section is really divided into two points. First, verses 6 to 11, Paul tells what happened to him on the way to Damascus.

And then from verse 12 to 16, Paul tells what happened to him in the city of Damascus. And let us look at this for a few minutes together. First of all, notice in verse 6, it says that Paul, as he was speaking in Hebrew, he said, And it came to pass, that as I made my journey, and I was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me. Paul began, he says, listen, I was going to Damascus, And we know very well why he was going to Damascus, because there were Jewish believers in Damascus. He took letters from the leaders of Israel in order to go to capture those Jewish believers in the city of Damascus.

And as he was traveling, he was getting closer and closer to Damascus. Suddenly, about noontime, there shone from heaven a great light round about me. That great light, oftentimes in Scripture, speaks to us about the Shekinah glory, the Shekhinah, we call it in Hebrew. We find the Shekhinah, the glory of God, manifests many times in biblical accounting. For example, when Yeshua was born, there was a star that was moving from one place to the other until it shone right above the babe or the child that was born in the city of Bethlehem. We find a shekinah glory many times mentioned in Scripture. When the temple was built, the shekinah glory rested upon the temple.

When Israel were walking from Egypt to the promised land, to Knaan, it was the Lord's manifesting himself in the cloud by day and with a fire by night. This is the shekinah, the presence of God, that going along and leading the people of Israel as they were moving into the promised land. Well, here we find the great light that was round about Shaul as he was on the way to the city of Damascus. I want to point here something that I thought is very interesting, because we have three times in the book of Acts the apostle sharing with men, the holy Spirit sharing with us Paul conversion how he became a believer in a Messiah we have his actual experience in chapter 9 of Acts we have his sharing this with his Jewish brethren in act chapter 22 where we are today and we have it mentioned again in act chapter 26 as he was defending himself before king Agrippa but there is a growth there is a process in which we see how Shaul Paul sees that light go back for a moment to chapter 9 and verse 3 we see the actual experience of Paul and we read in verse 3 as he journeyed he came near Damascus and suddenly there shine round about him a light from heaven now back to chapter 22 and verse 6 and it came to pass that as I made my journey and I was come nigh unto Damascus about noon suddenly there shone from.

Heaven a great light round about me now turn to chapter 26 and there read with me verse 13 It says, and at midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun. Now, when I was reading this, I remember from years ago when we were studying this passage, how the apostle seemed to add something to this light every time. In other words, in chapter 9, it was light. In chapter 22 it was a great light in chapter 26 it was a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun now do you think that pastor Paul does not know what he have experienced but what i would like to suggest that his appreciation of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah grew as he was sharing with others what he really experienced when he became a believer in our Lord Jesus the Messiah it was a light it was a great light but it was a light that is brighter than the shining of the sun in other words he appreciated the person and the work of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah and I wish this in my life and i wish this in your life that as we walk with the Lord that our spiritual growth will be in such a way that we will appreciate what the Lord is and what he has done for us as we walk with him here in this world it was a light it was a great light it was a light that is.

Brighter than the sun at noonday this is amazing beloved brothers and sisters how precious to see what the apostle Paul have appreciated what the Lord have done for him so i'm back in chapter 22 verse 6 he journeyed on the way to Damascus and he saw that light he calls it here great light round about me the shekinah the shekinah glory then in verse 7 what happened to him when he saw that great light he fell under the ground and he heard a voice saying unto him Shaul Shaul why persecute us down me so here he's recalling the Lord speaking to him and call him Shaul Shaul twice he's calling Shaul Shaul and he says why do you persecute me now Paul did not persecute the Lord the Lord was in heaven he was at the right hand of the father but he persecuted the believers and by persecuting the believers the body of Christ the body of Messiah you are actually persecuting the Lord himself and the Lord called him from heaven and he says Shaul.

Why do you persecute me he heard the voice of Yeshua from heaven and so as he was falling to the ground from seeing such a light he heard this wonderful voice of the Lord mentioning this to him in verse 7 why do you persecute me and brothers and sisters whenever a believer is being persecuted by the world by Satan by the enemies of God really that person have to answer to the Lord Jesus to Yeshua the Messiah who is sitting at God's right hand a persecution of the people of God is a persecution of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah himself as he mentioned it here in verse 7 and so what Shaul is saying in verse 8 he responded to this voice of the Lord he says who art thou Lord and he said unto him I am Yeshua of Nazareth whom thou art persecuting he responded to the glorified Messiah and he said to him who art thou Lord notice he calling him Lord here in a sense we.

Can see here that he recognized the lordship of the Lord Jesus that he's adorned that he's Lord that he is master that he is his servant he recognized and he says who are thou Lord even though he's saying who are thou but he calling him Lord recognizing uniqueness in that person and look what the Lord Jesus answer him he said to him i am Yeshua of Nazareth whom you persecuting now here we see the humanity of the Lord Jesus he's called Jesus Yeshua from the city of Nazareth actually have been in Nazareth just three days ago it's one of the last thing we have done before we came to Canada it was the city of Nazareth and we sat down in the center of the city of Nazareth where Yeshua the man was living and serving and ministering in the city of Nazareth and we can just imagine how he lived in that city a city that was foreign in a sense it was oblivious city in the north of Israel unimportant city of Nazareth the important people came from.

Judea the important people came from the city of Jerusalem but he says I am from Nazareth I am from the city of Nazareth you can see he's speaking about his humanity and his humility when he lived here on earth the rejected one the despised one we call him Yeshua hanotsri the one that was rejected and despised by men he is now seated at the right hand of God the father but he came once in humility he was despised and rejected of men and Shaul here was really persecuting him by persecuting his own people so he's rehearsing before his Jewish brethren the fact that he responded to the Lord who told him I am Jesus I'm Yeshua from the city of Nazareth and you by persecuting the believers actually persecute me and so in verses 9 Paul companion responds it says here in verse 9 and they that were with me saw indeed the light and they were afraid but they heard not a voice of him that spake with me so those that have been with him who traveled with.

Him they saw the light they have been very much afraid but they didn't hear what the Lord was telling Shaul and so finally in verse 10 and 11 Paul's words to Yeshua and Yeshua's answer to him he says what shall i do Lord he said in verse 10 and the Lord said unto him arise go to Damascus and there it shall be told thee all things which are appointed for thee to do you see he asked him what do you want me to do i guess when the Lord spoke with him on the way to Damascus and he challenged him why do you persecute me and he said well Lord what should i do now and the Lord Jesus the glorified Messiah had given him instruction he said to him you get up you go to Damascus there in the city of Damascus you will be told what you are going to do and then we find out what happened to Paul to Shaul because when he got up he discovered that he became blind.

He couldn't see so he needed somebody to lead him by the hand all the way to the city of Damascus when he could not see for the glory of the light being led by the hand of them that were with him he came and he had arrived to the city of Damascus he finally had arrived to Damascus but he needed to be led by men you know the brightness of the light that shone around him have literally blinded him and made him incapable to walk and he needed the help of others to take him by the hand and to move him into the city of Damascus.

I found it kind of interesting that we never read of the others that they became blind but we read that he became blind and yet we see that they saw the light in verse 9 those that rohim saw the very same light that he saw and yet they did not become blind and he became blind well there was a message for him from the glorified Messiah the Lord in a sense. Stroke him to show him that he is in total dependence upon him that he cannot do anything against the Lord and against the Lord's people should the Lord want to stop him from doing it But yet in grace, he allowed him to be led by the very people who saw that light to be brought to the city of Damascus because there Yeshua had a message for Shaul in order for him to be a servant of the Messiah.

And so here in verses 6 to 11, we find Paul sharing with his Jewish brethren in the temple in Jerusalem what happened to him as he was journeying from Jerusalem to the city of Damascus. Now brothers and sisters listen to the next verses verses 12 to 16 now he's telling them his experience in the city of Damascus a few points here first of all we hear about a man by the name of Ananias in Hebrew we call him Hanania come from the word grace Hanan mercy grace we find this man himself living in Damascus one by the name of Hanania a devout man according to the law having a good report of all the Jews which dwell in this city of Damascus apparently this man by the name of hanania a believer in the Lord Yeshua the Messiah he apparently had a good report among all the Jewish community both believers and unbelievers they looked at this man by the name of hanania he had a good testimony he had a good report he had a good testimony among all the Jewish community even though he was a believer in Yeshua the Messiah he had some respect some acknowledgement by the Jewish community.

Then we find out in verse 13 that he is the one who was used to give the sight to Shaul because it says in verse 13 he came unto me and he stood and he said unto me brother Shaul receive thy sight and the same hour I looked up upon him now notice he call him Shaul he doesn't call him Paul you know sometimes people say you know when he was a Jew he was Shaul when he became a believer he became Paul that is not correct he was always Shaul before he became a believer and after he became a believer his Jewish Hebrew name was Shaul his diaspora name was Paul this is something that is still practiced today by the Jewish community a Jewish person who live in the diaspora live outside of the land has two names his hebraic name to communicate with his Jewish brethren and his non-hebraic name a Gentile name in which he uses in his work or school or wherever he is among the non-Jewish community apparently he already became a believer he called him brother.

Shaul receive thy sight and at that moment Shaul Paul received his sight and he could look at this man and he could see this man by the name of Hananiah looking upon him seeing this man that was used by the Lord Yeshua to give him the sight and now notice what the message that Hananiah gave him from the glorified Messiah look at the thing that Hananiah is saying to Shaul He said to him, now verses 14 and 15, He said, The God of our fathers has chosen thee that thou should know his will, and that you will see that just one, and that you should hear the voice of his mouth, and that thou shalt be his witness unto all men, and what thou hast seen and have heard.

The Lord gave the Apostle Paul, or the Lord gave Shaul, four things that he's pointing out about the call of the Apostle Paul. Do you remember when we read earlier in the prophet Jeremiah? When Jeremiah, Yirmiyahu, was called for ministry? He was called for ministry long before he was born. God already has purposed that Jeremiah will be a servant of the Lord. God have already a purpose in the heart of the mother of Moses, that even before he was born, the child was called to be a servant to the God of Israel. The same thing with Shaul Paul. Even before he was born, he was chosen by the Lord to be a servant in the body of Messiah.

That word for chosen, it's really the word for election. God has elected you to become a vessel of service and a minister in the gospel. You and I also, according to Ephesians chapter 1, we were chosen in the Messiah before the foundation of this world. Can you imagine the grace of God to choose us before the world began and he had brought us in time to be part of the people of God? Same thing with the Apostle Paul. He was chosen by the God of our fathers in order for him to do four things. Number one, to know God's will. Notice verse 14, that you should know the will of God.

God had chosen Shaul Paul that he will know the will of God the amount of knowledge that God had given to Shaul to Paul that he had given to us in the word of God to know the will of God Paul was chosen by the Lord for this purpose number two Shaul was chosen to see that just one you know we believe that the Lord Jesus is the Messiah we read of him in the Bible the Spirit of God have revealed the truth concerning the Lord Jesus but who of us can say i've seen the Lord but Paul can say that that's why do you remember earlier in other passages he reflect upon the fact that he was taken to paradise to the third heaven and in chapter 9 he have actually seen the glory of the Lord shining right about him not everyone has seen the glorified Messiah but apostle but could say that he had been chosen to see that just one thirdly notice that in the same verse 14.

That you should also hear the voice from his mouth again he's reflecting of the experience that he had on the way to Damascus who can say the heavens were open and I heard the voice of God now we can say that we heal his voice through the Scripture but Apostle Paul literally have heard the voice of that just one the Lord Yeshua the Messiah on the way to Damascus and in other experiences that he had in his life he was a unique chosen vessel by the Lord Jesus the Messiah and lastly what tananiah is pointing out in verse 15 that the Lord have chosen Paul to be a witness notice verse 15 that you shall be a witness unto all men and what you have seen and what you have heard so the apostle was chosen to be a witness unto all men no wonder why he was willing to lay down his life no wonder why he was willing to be sold out totally for the Lord because he had.

Received this special unique things that he should see the Lord know his will hear his voice and to be a witness unto all men he was an elect vessel a unique elect vessel he was an apostle that was chosen not by the will of man but he was chosen by the glorified Messiah and by the way beloved brothers and sisters in his lifetime on earth he have never seen Yeshua the Messiah before he died he never seen him the early apostles did Peter has handled him John have handled him and spoke with him James and Jude and the others have seen him and walked with him and sat with him and eaten with him studied with him but not Shaul Shaul have never seen the Messiah in his life here on earth but what made him qualified to be an apostle because he saw the resurrected Messiah and that's how we have here in these verses 14 and 15 that he was chosen by God.

To be a vessel that will know God's will that will see the just one that will hear the voice of the Messiah from heaven and that he will be a witness to all men of the person and the work of Yeshua the Messiah and so here in verse 16 look what Ananias is telling Shaul he's giving him instruction and he says don't tarry now get up rise and be baptized and wash away your sins calling on the name of the Lord you know that there are people who believe that baptism is that which wash away our sins and that's why they use this verse 16 to say that when you get baptized only then this is water baptism only then your sins can be washed away but we have to be careful that the Bible does not teach us that water baptism wash away sins but water baptism is identification with the rejected Messiah Yeshua.

What shall wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Yeshua. The thief on the cross never had an opportunity to go to be baptized by water. But his sins were washed away because he trusted in the upcoming finished work of our Lord Jesus the Messiah but i want to mention that for a Jewish person in first century to identify with the rejected Messiah was such an important thing because he is now by getting water baptized he identified with the Messiah in his rejection and he avoided the year 70 judgment that was going to come upon the people of Israel when the Romans came and destroyed the temple in Jerusalem and burned the whole city it was really a deliverance from the coming judgment that was going to come upon the people of Israel well let's conclude here with the last verses here verses 17 to 21 and this is the final point in Paul testimony to his Jewish brethren in verses 17 to 21 Paul share about a vision that he received after he became a believer in the Lord Jesus the Messiah he's sharing with them something that we never read about before but he shared with them right now.

And that is interesting because it says in verse 17 he point to them that he received a vision after he became a believer it says here it came to pass when i was come again to Jerusalem even while i prayed in the temple i was in a trance apparently he became a believer in Jesus on the way to Damascus he served in Damascus for a little while and then you remember he came back we read about him in chapter 9 and verses 29 and 30 he came to the city of Jerusalem and then he was recognized and acknowledged by the leaders in Jerusalem in chapter 9 because there it says that Barnabas took him and he brought him to the apostles in Jerusalem and he declared to them how he became a believer and when he came to Jerusalem we don't read it in Acts chapter 9 but apparently here he gives us information that he received an additional Revelation from Yeshua, the Messiah what was the Revelation?

We find now in verse 18 it says that he was praying in the temple he was in a trance and look and I saw him saying unto me he's speaking about Yeshua he saw again notice that he said I saw Yeshua and he said unto me make haste get thee quickly out of Jerusalem for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me apparently when Paul arrived back to Jerusalem the glorified Messiah have revealed himself to Shaul Paul and he told him Shaul Paul leave Jerusalem why because they will not receive your testimony about me Shaul your Jewish brethren will not receive the testimony he wanted so much to talk to his brethren he loved his Jewish brethren he cared for them he wanted to tell them what happened to him how his life was changed and how he became saved and how that Yeshua is truly the Messiah but the Lord knew that he will not be received by the Jewish brethren in the beginning and that's why the Lord called him to be an apostle to the.

Gentile world the apostle Paul is called the apostle to the uncircumcision while Peter is called an apostle to the circumcision so the Lord gave him that additional vision and he told him get you out quickly from the city they will not receive thy testimony concerning me and look what the answer of Paul in verses 19 and 20 Paul answered and he said to Yeshua he says Lord they know that i am imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believe on you he was speaking to the Lord he said Lord you know they know me they know my past history they know how i behaved before i have trusted that you were the Messiah and you know he always again i want to say these brothers and sisters it always hurt his heart because he knew how he behaved towards his own brethren and how he hurt them how he persecuted them how he brought them into prison and some he even killed they were even killed because of their faith in a Messiah and.

It grieved him it grieved him so much that he wanted now to tell the brethren i was behaving like this look what happened to me but the Lord had to tell him listen they will not receive your testimony time was not then notice in verse 20 the apostle adding and he says and when the blood of the martyr Stephen you know he's going back to act chapter 7 when the first Jewish believer in Yeshua the Messiah became a martyr his name was Stephen he was a Jew of the diaspora who became a believer in Yeshua he shed his blood he died for the name of Yeshua he was stoned and Shaul says listen when he was stoned i also was standing by and i was consenting unto his death in other words Paul is saying you know when they were throwing stones at stephen i was standing by i was watching it i saw it and not only this i was consenting unto his death i was in agreement.

Was this so they should accept the message that i tell them Shaul the Jew the Hebrew the israeli they will accept the Lord they know that and then he said i even kept the raiment of them that killed him do you remember in act chapter 7 the last verses chapter 7 verse 58 59 and 60 they left their garments those who actually were stoning steven before a man by the name of Shaul i'll read it act chapter 7 verse 58 it said and they cast him out quickly of the city and they stoned him this is steven and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet whose name was Shaul in chapter 7 they say that they laid down their clothes by Shaul but here Shaul tell us not only that they let down their clothes but I actually kept for them their clothes I participated in the death of Stephen and he was so grieved in his heart that he wanted to share the same message with his brethren that they will become believers in our Lord Yeshua.

The Messiah because he behaved like they behave now but he got saved he became a believer in Yeshua and he longed that they will believe as well and the Lord had to tell him Paul, Shaul go quickly, make haste go quickly out of Jerusalem they will not receive your testimony concerning me and so the conclusion of this portion In chapter 22, it's found in verse 21, where Yeshua answered and Yeshua commended to Shaul. Yeshua said unto me, Depart, for I will send you far away unto the Gentiles, the Goyim. Shaul, leave Jerusalem. I will send you to be a testimony to me unto the Gentile world. You are going to be used as a vessel to the Gentile world.

I know your love for your people, Israel. I love them as well. But you are called to be a message to the Gentile world. And dear brothers and sisters, most of us are not Jewish. Some of us are Jewish here together today. Most of us have benefited from the messenger that was sent by the Lord Jesus by the name of Shaul who became an apostle to the Gentile world everywhere he went he preached a message of the gospel of course he went to the Jew first but he also went to the Gentile and he became this vessel that was chosen by God to become a vessel to the Gentile world to let them know that Yeshua Jesus is truly that promise Messiah and Redeemer of mankind and i want to conclude with this one verse in galatian chapter one so precious to see how the apostle Paul was chosen and he said in verse 15 when it Please God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the heathen.

Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood. Neither did I go up to Jerusalem to them which are the apostles before me. But I went to Arabia and returned again to Damascus. Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter and abode with him for 15 days. But just notice it one more time. When it pleased God verse 15 who separated me from my mother's womb and he called me by his grace to reveal his son in me that I might preach him among the heathen among the Gentiles it pleased God who had chosen Shaul from his mother's womb to be a testimony to the Gentile world that Yeshua Jesus is the son of God the Messiah the Savior the Lord the Redeemer of mankind Shaul went and he preached that message among the Gentile world when we read chapter 21 22 he finished in a sense three missionary journeys and now he coming to Jerusalem seeking to share this message with his Jewish brethren and he did so but it cost him you will see the price that he paid by going to Jerusalem to share this message and his testimony with his Jewish brothers and sisters may the Lord help us to have the same heart like the apostle in sharing the message of the gospel in testifying concerning this wonderful person whose name is Yeshua the man from Nazareth who came and gave his life for you.

And I am