The Gentiles Discover Jesus
Day 52
Acts 9 & 10
And suddenly!
These are great words. God’s “suddenlies” are among His most wonderful works. The book of Acts is filled with “divine suddenlies.”
Pentecost was a divine suddenly.
And suddenly a sound came from heaven.
In chapter 16 we will see Paul and Silas delivered from prison by a divine suddenly.
And suddenly there was a great earthquake.
Here in Acts 9 we see that Paul’s salvation was a divine suddenly.
And suddenly a light shone around him from heaven.
So I believe in sudden revival and sudden deliverance and sudden salvation. Let that be an encouragement to you. God doesn’t need a lot of time to do the thing you are praying for. One moment it looks like nothing is happening…and suddenly!
I have a strong suspicion that this spring and summer is going to be a season of “and suddenly!” Dare to prophesy to your spring and summer and called it a season of suddenlies.
God is the greatest author of all and His sense of drama is unparalleled. I love the drama of divine surprise.
I got saved that way. I didn’t see it coming. One moment I was a typical long-haired Led Zeppelin freak…AND SUDDENLY!…I had a head-on collision with Jesus Christ and became the surprise Jesus freak of Savannah High School. People were surprised. I was more surprised than anyone. I still haven’t got over it. God is full of surprises! You know the Jehovah names of God? Jehovah-Shalom, Jehovah-Rapha, Jehovah-Jireh, etc. I want to give you a new one: Jehovah-Surprise!
God’s got a good surprise for you. Dare to believe it and let it make you happy.
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We are studying the book of Acts as part of the Unvarnished Jesus because we see in Acts how the ministry of Jesus continues and expands through His church. Jesus has ascended to the right hand of the Father and from there He presides over His church. In Acts 9 we see Jesus making Himself known to the anti-Christian zealot Saul of Tarsus who will come to be known as the Apostle Paul (talk about surprises!) and we see Jesus sending Ananias to Saul to get him healed and filled with the Holy Spirit. In Acts 10 we see the momentous event of Jesus opening the door of salvation to the Gentiles as Peter preaches the gospel to the house of Cornelius in Caesarea.*
* We always begin our tours of Israel in Caesarea. An appropriate place for Gentiles to begin a tour of the Holy Land. We have already filled one bus for our November Israel tour and now we’re filling up a second one. Get on board!
Jesus is the head of the church and He is calling the shots from the right hand of the throne of God. The church isn’t perfect, but the church is going to win, because it’s the thing Jesus is doing. The gates of hell will not prevail! You must be part of an authentic (shall I say unvarnished?) New Testament church to be a part of what Jesus is doing…to be in on the ACTSion…to have a front row seat to the drama of divine surprise!