Compelled

I love you Lord, and I lift my voice, to worship you, oh my soul rejoice.  Take joy my king, In what you hear, let it be a sweet sweet sound in your ear. 

In preparation for my Bible study on the book of Romans I spent some time looking at the life of the apostle Paul.  Man was he a committed warrior for the Lord!

He was a well educated Jew, a Pharisee, and a Roman citizen.  He had the highest credentials in the society of his day.  He had a zealousness for God that was matched by few, in fact he said of himself I was "a Hebrew of Hebrews"  (Gal. 1:13-14).

Saul hated with a passion anyone that did not follow the laws of God that he had been taught since he was a boy.  The way to God had seemed clear to him, thus he hated the people of "The Way," those followers of this person named Jesus, whom they called the Christ.  For they were blasphemers and heretics, with teachings which were contrary to the laws that his teachers had taught him to follow.

After receiving permission from the religious leaders to gather up as many adherents to this heretical group as possible and in chains bring them back to Jerusalem, Saul set out for Damascus.  While on the road there, he had an encounter with God.  He asked of the voice"Who are you, Lord?"  and he heard in response, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting."  From that moment on Saul, who would later become known as Paul, was changed, and never the same again.

"Now get up and stand on your feet.  I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you.  I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles.  I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light," (Acts 26:16-18)

From the beginning of his conversion he began to proclaim Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, the "Anointed One,"  Why?  Because he had a genuine life changing encounter with Him.  There was no doubt in his mind who this Jesus truly was.  The zealousness that he had for the Law was now committed to the Lord.

If you follow his life and ministry from the point of conversion on, you will be amazed at the things he had to endure, yet he continued to preach the message of hope and salvation, the gospel of righteousness. His former brethren, the Pharisee's and religious leaders sought to kill him, as did other Jews everywhere he went.  He was repeatedly arrested and imprisoned, once stoned and left for dead, many times beaten within and inch of his life with rods, five times receive from the Jews thirty-nine lashes, three times shipwrecked and left at sea for a day and a night, abandoned by friends, bit by a deadly poisonous snake, danger to his life from the Gentiles, from his countrymen and from false brethren (2 Cor. 11:23-27).  

Why would he continue to follow Christ and proclaim His gospel after all this trouble?  Let me tell you why; he was consumed with the message of hope and eternal life, the message of grace and mercy, the message of forgiveness and salvation, the message of God's love.

After meeting the Lord that day on the road to Damascus he understood his own personal shortcomings and the sinful and murderous way he had been living.  He now understood that he was in need of forgiveness, not only for the murder of Stephen, and the arrest and imprisonment of many other "Christians," but because of mans sinful nature in general, he was in need of a savior.  He realized that without Jesus he faced eternal doom.  

Paul was grateful for God's love and forgiveness, so much so that he willingly became a servant (doulos), for life.  In his letter to the Romans, he begins with; "Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus," and in Galatians 1:10b he says "If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ," as well as in Titus 1:1 where he refers to himself as "Paul, a bond-servant of God,"  This man was consumed with the gospel message and the person that introduced him to it, Jesus.  He surrendered his all and he did it willingly.

"Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel."  1 Corinthians 9:16

Now let's bring it home: Who are you, and where did you come from?  Have you had a personal encounter with Jesus?  If so, how has your life changed?  Has it changed as dramatically as Saul's did?  Do you feel the need to let others know what God has done in your life?  Don't be afraid nor ashamed, but instead, be obedient to the call of the Lord on your life, that is, to be a witness for your savior.

If you've been reading my blog posts this year you probably have a little bit of an idea of where I've come from. The Lord got my attention 26 years ago, maybe not as radically as he did the apostle Paul, but he got my attention non-the-less, and He has done some tremendous things in and through my life. I am so grateful for the Holy Spirit's work in me that I must tell anyone who will listen, and even those who don't really want to.  If they don't hear the good news from us where are the going to hear it? "How beautiful are the feet of those bring good news!"

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes,..." (Romans 1:16)

Brothers and Sisters, Don't hide your light, instead shout your message from the rooftops!

God Bless and Press On

Larry