Here some things we learnt during our camping weekend from the story of Acts 9 when Paul met the risen Lord Jesus:
Paul the Persecutor
Nobody is so good that they don’t need Jesus: Paul thought he pleased God, and had more religion than you can throw a chasuble at … yet he came to realise that he was the foremost of the sinners that Jesus came to save. At the same time, nobody is so bad that they are beyond Jesus. Even though Paul hated everyone who was ‘a follower of the Way’, and persecuted Jesus, he wasn’t too bad for him.
Paul the Pardoned
What did Paul think about during those three days and nights as he sat blind in his lodgings in Damascus? Two things were to change his life. First he realised that Jesus is in the right … he really is who he said he was, shown to be the Son of God through his resurrection. Second, Paul realised that he is in the wrong … not just wrong in his opinions about who Jesus is, but wrong in the whole direction of his life.
Paul the Preacher
Jesus turned Paul’s life around, so that now it all centred on Jesus. It was him who sent Paul into the world, to be his special messenger taking the gospel out from Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, to the ends of the earth.