Title The Damascus Experience (July 2006)
Contents
Date: July 2, 2006
Word: Acts 9:1-9
Title: The Damascus Experience
Contents:
Saul had such an experience while he was going to Damascus with a warrant to arrest and kill the believers in Jesus and destroy the roots of Christianity. A light brighter than noon shone all around Saul, and he fell down, but when he heard a voice calling from heaven, Saul could neither see nor eat, and after fasting, Ananias laid his hands on him and saw him again. This one experience changed Saul into Paul.
We often see that one event, one word, one book, one sermon can change the course of our lives.
Our Damascus experience is the experience of the Holy Spirit, that is, the experience of being born again.
If the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a one-time event and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is a continuous state, the filling of the Holy Spirit is a repeated event or condition. Therefore, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is not interrupted, but in order to be filled, we must devote ourselves to the life of faith.
The Damascus experience is the experience of meeting Jesus.
It is faith that the Lord's people experience that Jesus is the Son of God and the Savior. Meeting Jesus is a special event for every individual. Thousands of people met Jesus in the wilderness of Bethsaida, but it was not personal. Tens of thousands of people met Jesus at the Passover Jerusalem, but salvation comes through individuals.
The Damascus experience is a transforming experience.
The precious and the humble have changed. Likes and dislikes have changed. The concept of sin has completely changed. What I hoped for was worldly, and what was worldly was completely changed. The concept of line has changed drastically. The concept of beauty has changed.
The Damascus experience is definitely a work-changing experience.
The work for me becomes work for the Lord, and the work for the world turns into work for the kingdom of heaven. In particular, the Damascus experience is an important event in the spread of the gospel from Judea to the Gentiles. Saul's conversion was the starting point for the fire of the Holy Spirit to spread throughout the world, centering on Jerusalem, Judea, Israel, and Samaria.
The gospel cannot stay in one place. The gospel must burn through our lips through material things today, going beyond mountains, crossing rivers, and transcending the culture and customs of ideas and ideologies.