Conversion of St. Paul

 From the time of the birth, the Church had gone through persecutions. Even right now in many parts of world the followers of Christ are persecuted. But still believers are taking the gospel to the world. Even now if you are reading this message, it is written in the midst of persecution. Why is it like that? Even in the midst of persecution why the church of God is increasing in numbers?

Before Jesus ascended to heaven, He gave His disciples a command. In Acts 1: 8 is says, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witness in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth”. Jesus told them to proclaim the good news to all the ends of the earth.

When Christ was doing His earthly ministry, He gave a warning to His disciples, mentioned in Mathew 10: 17. “Be on guard, you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues. On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witness to them and to the Gentiles.”. Jesus already knew how his disciples are going to be persecuted by the world when they witness Him. So He is strengthening them. But at the same time He is promising them that Holy Spirit will come upon them and once that happens, they will boldly proclaim in front of people without the fear of persecution.

Same happened after Holy Spirit came upon the disciples in Acts 2. They started witnessing Jesus in Jerusalem. But they were staying only in Jerusalem and proclaiming good news. And then, a persecution happened which was led by a man called Saul. In Acts 6 we see a man called Stephen emerging as a leader and witnessing Christ. His preaching in the synagogue brought great persecution. In Acts 8: 1 we learn that those who killed Stephen laid their clothes at Saul’s feet. At the time of death you can see Stephan’s eyes were on to heaven. His face mirrored what he saw. Since persecution was high, believers fled to Judea and Samaria, same way Jesus commanded, and now to the ends of the world.

Saul thought he was victorious in persecuting Christians. So he took more responsibilities to destroy the Church of God. So he took authority from Chief Priest and was moving towards Damascus, when he saw a bright light from heaven. He fell on the ground and heard a voice telling, “Saul, why are you persecution me”. When he asked who you are, Lord told back it is me Jesus whom you are persecuting.

Yes, many people who want in search of God won’t like Church. So they persecute the church. Once they find Jesus is God, they become the carriers to take the gospel to the next level. Same story and history can be taken throughout the last generations. A man named Sadhu Sunder Singh, who persecuted Christians and burned the Bible, got touched by Jesus and then he took the gospel throughout India.

Saul became Paul and went to missionary journey and planted churches and encouraged them with letters which read in Bible as Epistles. After his conversion, he had to go through persecutions, being jailed, got almost killed, but still stood for the gospel and because of him, we are encouraged to take the gospel to our neighbours and friends around.

As we remember the conversion of Paul, let the Holy Spirit anoint you with His Spirit to walk in word and be a witness boldly preaching the gospel in the midst of your trials and temptations. May God bless you all.

Servant of God - Mark

When you read the Gospel of Mark, we can easily determine its objective – “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” – Mark 10:45. Mark was not trying to prove certain statements and prophecies concerning Jesus. His only object in writing was to tell clearly certain facts about Jesus: That Jesus is the Son of God. He proves this not by declaring how he came to earth, but by showing what he accomplished during His brief period on this earth.

John, whose surname was Mark, is the writer of this Gospel (Acts 12:12,25). He was the son of Mary, and cousin of Barnabas (Colossians 4:10). He accompanied Paul and Barnabas to Antioch and was the cause of a serious disagreement between them (Acts 12:25; 13:5). Finally he became a great help to Paul (Colossians 4:10-11; 2 Timothy 4:11).

There is no introduction in Mark. The other Gospels have lengthy openings, but there is none in Mark. The opening verse says, “Gospel of Jesus Christ”. He adds, “Son of God”, to show Christ’s divine glory. Miracles have a leading place in Mark, as parables have in Mathew. Twenty miracles are given in Mark in detail. These miracles of Jesus were proof of his mission from God. Through his miracles, Jesus inspired faith in many of those who saw and heard him.

An important thing we find in Mark 1:35 is about Prayer. “He arose very early and went out of the city to a lonely place and prayed”. If the son of God needed to pray before he undertook his work, how much more should we pray. Perhaps if we lack success in life, it is because we fail at this point.

From Mark 8:31 to Mark 15:47, we see Christ’s direct claim to be King and the suffering and rejection he had to go through because of that. Jesus tells his disciples that he is to be rejected by elders, chief priests and scribes (Mark 8:31), he is to be delivered by treachery (Mark 9:31), he is to be put to death by the Romans (Mark 10:32-45), and he is to rise again the third day (Mark 9:31).

In Mark 16, we see Christ being exalted and his words that his disciples are to take his place, and he will serve in and through them (Mark 16:20). The command rings with urgency of service. Not a corner of the world is to be left unvisited; not a soul to be left out.

The greatest sin of every age is the rejection of Jesus Christ. Everyone who had heard the Gospel must either accept the Lord as Saviour or trample him underfoot. There are people who made their choices right by accepting him. But the ones who accepted him should show his characteristics.

I pray that you accept Christ and live with his fruits and gifts to bring others to salvation.