# Conversion of Saul

Category: Evangelism & Soul Winning
Key Passage: Acts 9:1
Speaker: Paul Chisgar
Date: July 10, 2025

Let me talk for just a bit about a couple of things. One thing is we often will say when Paul got saved, God changed his name from Saul to Paul. And it just may be a little minor detail, but that’s actually not accurate, to be honest with you. In fact, he wasn’t called Paul until chapter 13 of the book of Acts.

And he was called Saul many times after he gets saved here. And there’s never a count, you know, with Jacob. The Lord said, hey, we’re going to change your name to Israel. God never did that with Paul. So it’s not really an accurate thing. Probably, we think, those that have studied out, probably both Saul and Paul was his name. That’s very typical. Paul of Tarsus.

And he was a Jew, but a Roman citizen, very typical for them to have two names. And so we think that’s what was going on. Saul was his Jewish name. And he was a Pharisee, remember that? Raised the feet of Gamalya. And then Paul would be his Roman name. And, of course, he was called an apostle to the Gentile.

And so probably, maybe a little bit associated with that. It would be more effective for him to be called Paul. But later on, the only time, really, that both are mentioned, Acts 13:9, his first time he’s mentioned as Paul. And it says, “Then Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him.” That’s chapters after verse number nine or chapter number nine, so sometimes we would just say, well, right then and it was used, but that was several chapters after he was called Saul many times after his conversion. So just kind of just a little technicality some will want to argue by, nothing to argue over, but just let you know what’s going on there.

But we’re in chapter number nine. We’re going to start out tonight now, the end of chapter seven. Remember chapter seven was where one of the deacons, he stood up and, man, the high priest asked him four words. And out of those four words came the longest chapter of the book of Acts, the longest sermon in the book of Acts. And at the end of that, they stoned him. They kill him. What’s his name? Help me out. What’s his name? Good, good. And he’s at the very end of that, it just says he fell asleep.

And that’s it. And peaceful. Remember, he saw the Lord standing, Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father and on and on. And then chapter number eight starts like this: “And Saul was consenting unto his death.” Chapter 8 just starts off on my Saul. He was there. He was consenting to his death and probably encouraging him. And then chapter that, chapter verse number three: “And as for Saul, he made havoc of the church daily.” And then that next verse of chapter 8, chapter 4: “Well, they spread out all over. They scattered abroad and preached the word everywhere,” which is a good thing. But he just keeps mentioning Paul and Saul and the persecution. And yes, God turned it into good. And they’re preaching everywhere. And then the last part of chapter number eight, Philip goes to Samaria, and then eventually down the Ethiopian eunuch is a great thing. But then we come to chapter number nine, all right. I kind of want to get that thought process. He keeps right after the death of Stephen in chapter number seven, and then Saul’s consenting, and he made havoc of the church. And then, yes, Philip, but now he gets back to this thing of Saul in chapter number nine.

All right, y’all wouldn’t be out there tonight? Would you please stand if you’re able to as we read God’s word together, chapter number nine, and we’re going to start in verse number one of the book of Acts. “And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus.”

That’s interesting how the Bible says “breathing out.” It makes you think it was almost like it was natural, as often as breathing was. He is breathing out these threatenings, hate-filled, and these Christians, I’m going to get them, just breathing out threatenings and slaughter. Some say that’s murder, killing them. And slaughter against the disciples of the Lord.

Now, from Jerusalem to Damascus, that’s 135 miles as the crow flies. And they, you know, you’re in a plane, but you take roads, most will say well over 200 miles. That’s a long journey. By the way, they didn’t have Southwest Airlines. They didn’t have—I mean, Steve Goldforce got a Ferrari, they didn’t have that back in the day, you know. I mean, they didn’t have all those Corvettes like Steve Page had. They didn’t have all those things back then, you know. It’s a long journey.

And here’s the thing: they left Jerusalem because of persecution. They’re scattered abroad, but Saul, he wasn’t settled for that. He was such an enraged, such a violent man. He said, “I’m going to chase them wherever they go.” They’re way up there over 100 miles. I’m going to go after them. And that’s Saul, just a violent, angry, just breathing out threatenings and slaughter and is going to travel over hundreds of miles to get some Christians. That’s where he’s at.

Verse number two: “And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues that if he found any of this way…” Isn’t that interesting? I wonder if we would be accused of being this way. I wonder how he knew that. Maybe their language, maybe their dress, maybe the reaction to problems—any of this way. “Whether they were men or women,” that’s kind of sad. It doesn’t matter if they’re women, he won’t get them all. “He might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.”

“And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus.” It was a long journey. How many days we don’t know. But he’s finally almost there to Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven. I like that phrase, a light from heaven. And he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him, “Saul, why persecutest thou me?”

And he said, “Who art thou, Lord?”

And the Lord said, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” He, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?”

And the Lord said unto him, “Arise and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.” I emphasize that, and he trembled and astonished and said, “Master, Lord…”

Isn’t it interesting what Jesus said to Paul? Look back, if you would, in verse number five, verse number five there, the red letters. He said, “I am Jesus.” By the way, he didn’t say, “I’m Jehovah’s Witness or whatnot.” He said, no, I’m Jesus. But what’s what he says? “Whom thou persecutest.” Well, that’s interesting. Verse number four right there, red letters: “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?”

As far as we know, Saul wasn’t there when Jesus died on the cross. I mean, he wasn’t there, and we know he was there when Stephen was stoned. And he made havoc of the church daily, and boy, he persecuted and threw those Christians in jail. But Jesus said, “Hey, hey, hey, why are you persecuting me?”

There are a couple of things about that. One thing is when someone rejects you—not because you didn’t brush your teeth or whatnot, not because of that, all right—but because of your stance for the Lord. Okay. You realize they’re not rejecting you per se. Don’t take it personal. They’re rejecting Jesus. Jesus said, and by the way, it wasn’t Jesus that was there physically; it was Stephen and the apostles and the early Christians, but Jesus said, “Why persecutest thou me?”

How many ever had someone that will not take a tract? They just won’t take a tract. Anybody? Come on, yeah, yeah. And we’re not careful, we’ll get irritated over that.

I was knocking on doors years ago in Laverne, and even Smyrna, this wouldn’t happen, and I’m teasing a little bit with Brother Marley and Miss Stacy. But someone—I had knocked on the door and offered them a tract. They wouldn’t let me talk to them. That’s fine. Let me give you a tract. They wouldn’t even take the tract. They had said they went to church, and so I walked down the street, and it started to bother me. I’m like, they say they’re going to church, they wouldn’t even take a track, you know. And I typically will say, “I just got some Bible verses and whatnot,” you know, and they wouldn’t even—and it bothered me. So I went back, and I knocked on their door and said, “Hey, well, what church do you go to?” And they told me, and I said, “That’s all I want to know,” when I left. But if you’re not careful, it can really bother you.

You ever, maybe at family reunions or wherever, maybe at work, you have to take a stand sometimes. Boy, that happens at work, and you feel like you feel real alone. You feel like you’re kind of stranded on an island. Everybody just, you know. They’re doing that to Jesus. Jesus said, “Why persecutest thou me?” Don’t take that personal.

And then let me say this: they’re persecuting Jesus, and you’re over there with Jesus. You’ve got pretty good company there, friend. I’d rather be with Jesus than the rest of the world, amen. You’ve heard it said, God and man makes a majority all the time.

And Jesus said, “Why persecutest thou me?” Don’t take that too personal. Then there’s just something about that. I ought not take it too personal, but you know Jesus takes it personal. When they give you a hard time, our persecution compared to the New Testament church here in America is so puny. They wouldn’t take that tract, you know. Well, they’re getting their head chopped off over there. But it still can bother us, and this is where we’re at, and it still can hurt when you just feel, you know, nobody at the family reunion wants to talk to you because you witnessed to Uncle Joe last time and all those things happen, you know. And it does bother you, and I get that. But, you know, when you’re persecuted, whatever they might look like, Jesus takes it personal. Jesus said, “Why persecutest thou me?” Jesus understands. Jesus feels your pain. No wonder Stephen, when he was martyred, he said, “I see Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father.” No wonder Jesus stood to welcome Stephen home. It was just like it was Jesus that was getting martyred.

And Jesus said, “Why persecutest thou me?” Just a couple more thoughts here. Notice what else he says there. Notice what else he says in verse number five. He said, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.” He said, “It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.”

Now, let’s talk about kicking against the pricks. What are they talking about? Well, they would often have an ox-goad, they would call it—it’s a very long pole. And just imagine if you have a yoke of oxen. And remember Elisha, 12 yoke of oxen, he was in that last one working with him, you know. If you got this yoke of oxen and you’re plowing, and sometimes you just get lazy, you pull out your ox-goad, and it’s long—well, 15 feet, whatever—and you take that, you prick those cattle. It’s got a long point on it, and you just prick them.

You know, it’s interesting—they say, I don’t know if this is true, I’ve heard this story has been told—but they say back in the day, some of those old, old churches in the early days of America, they would have the men sit on one side and the ladies sit on another side. And if they had a long pole, and then a guy in the back—this is what they say—a guy in the back had a long pole, and that long pole at the end of it on one side was a feather, and if the ladies fell asleep, then he would take that pole and kind of put it over. They’d tickle them a little bit, wake those ladies up. On the other side, the other side was a little ball. If the men fell asleep, they’d hit him over the head with that little ball. Who knows how true it is, but that’s what some will say, some of the historians. But it’s a little bit like that. It’s an ox-goad, and when the cattle don’t want to move, they would prick them with it. And the cattle are trying to kick it, man, “Who’s poking at me back there?” you know? And that’s what they’re saying right there. Jesus is saying to Saul, “It is hard for you to kick against the pricks.”

Now, let me just say it: sometimes those individuals are so mean and rude and just hateful, that may be the ones that Jesus is working on right now. And they’re kicking against that. They don’t like it. And that’s why they’re so violent and angry and mad. And sometimes on the outside, I’m like, “Hang on with nobody,” but that may be the one that Jesus is working on. We don’t know.

I don’t want to tell the whole story, but years ago we had some neighbors move beside us. The first man that moved there, I witnessed to him. And he said, “I came down earlier. There’s a couple that’s going to come down. They were moving from Michigan.” And he said, “The one thing that couple told me—I came down early, found a place for all of us to live—they said, ‘Make sure it’s not close to a church anywhere, or we don’t want to live there.’” And it ended up finding that moved right beside a preacher. And he said, “Don’t you talk to them about the Lord.” I didn’t for a while. By the way, the Lord did this, but eventually we got to lead that couple to the Lord. That man didn’t get saved, but that couple got saved eventually. But those people that are so violent sometimes are the very ones that God’s working on. Man, Saul, it’s hard for you to kick against the pricks. May have started with the death of Stephen when his face shone like an angel, but the Lord calls him. He said, “You just keep resisting the prodding of the Holy Spirit,” basically.

Now, a couple of other things here. I want you to see this. Want you to see this. In order for Saul to get saved, what does it say in verse number three? You’ve already emphasized it here. We’ve emphasized verse number three: “And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus and suddenly there shone around about him a…” What’s the next three words?

Sometimes we get the thought, “If I would just say the right thing or have just the right technique, Uncle Joe’s going to get saved.” Some of these situations—all of them, but some more than others, if you will—it’s going to take a light from heaven. And I say that there are a lot of different angles of that. One thing is, you’ve done what God wants you to do, try to win them to the Lord, whether it be a coworker or whoever. And you’re not going to have the silver bullet. Sometimes we even get a little proud. We want to be the ones that lead them to the Lord. No, no, no. Let God do it in His way. In order for them to get saved, it’s going to take a light from heaven. And a little bit the pressure’s off. Yes, do what you’re supposed to do, obey the Lord, but God’s the one that sends the light.

I have a brother-in-law that is a Jehovah’s Witness. And before—I think before even they were married one time—he wanted to Skype, I think it was back then. And we did over the computer there in Florida or whatnot. And we talked a little bit about the Lord, not too much. And then maybe one time in person. And then I felt like the Lord—the next time I was with him, I felt like the Lord said, “Just have it out with him,” and, you know, as polite as we can. And so we… I went into study for three hours. Started, I don’t know, maybe 8 o’clock or so, and ended about midnight. And the Lord blessed in that. And we’ve had conversation since since then. He won’t have one time. We went out to eat and we talked very directly about it all. But I feel like for me, at the moment at least, God doesn’t want me to go next time I see him and just try to cram it out. I did what I’m supposed to do for the time being, and I’m waiting for that light from heaven. I’ve got to make it up, and he’s got to get saved. You can’t make anybody get saved. And sometimes it’s going to take that light from heaven.

Now, here’s something about it: pray for that. Pray for that. Pray for that. Pray for that light from heaven. It’s not going to be all, you know, you figure out the right angle to go out of all. It’s going to be the light from heaven. That’s what got a hold of Jesus met with him on the road to Damascus, and it was a light from heaven.

I don’t want to say who, but just were online and all that, but I have some other relatives, and one of them are not saved, a husband and wife, and they both graduated secular university and were very humanistic in their talk and their mindset, and people tried to witness to them and whatnot, nothing. And they were trying to have children, and they couldn’t. And the doctors finally got to the point. The doctor said, “There’s nothing else we can do unless we go to a big intervention level that we do. There’s nothing else we can do.” And we’re kind of done. And maybe a couple months later, two months later, a month or so later, she was expecting. And I remember her saying, “I know that was a divine thing.” Well, she would never say anything like that before. Now, she’s not saved yet, but that light from heaven changed them. Since then, I remember they’ve asked me to pray about this, pray about that. And she’s even said, “Pray about this, that.” And just total difference of night and day, the mindset, but it wasn’t anything I did. It was a light from heaven.

And so there’s going to be times these people that we’ve done what we’re supposed to do. Pray for that light from heaven and say, “Hey, Lord, it’s going to be you. It’s not going to be me and me. I got the silver bullet.” Nobody’s got the silver bullet. It’s the Lord in His light from heaven.

It’s interesting, you know, at that point God didn’t use a man to lead Paul to the Lord. But then notice what he says in verse number six, verse number six, that last part, the red letter edition: “He said, ‘Arise and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.’” Now, he was going to use a man again, again, after he was saved. But as far as him getting saved, it was a light from heaven. Man’s part was done, if you would. Now he got saved. He called Him Lord. “What must I do?” And He said, “Go over there, and I’m going to send the right man along to help you grow.” But his salvation and his conversion was a light from heaven. And sometimes we’ve got to realize, God’s got to do that. Now, when he gets saved, God—I want to be there for the Lord to use me—but it was a light from heaven that changed Saul, and Saul got saved. And what a wonderful conversion. It was an amazing, amazing thing.

Let’s keep reading here. We’re in chapter number nine and verse number seven, all right? We’re in verse number seven. Look at verse number seven: “And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.”

Now, just a little thought here. We’re studying through Wednesday night, it’s the book of Acts. Some will say there’s a contradiction here. Two other times we have Paul giving his testimony about his conversion. Chapter 22, he’s on the stairs there, and he’s testifying to the Jewish people, and they got him as a prisoner somewhat. And then a little bit later on in chapter 26, he’s talking to King Agrippa, and he’s giving his testimony there. And in chapter number 22, it says they heard a voice, hearing a voice. Here it says they didn’t. Well, there’s a contradiction, but if you really look at it closely, it’s kind of like—I’m so bad about this anymore. I mean, my hearing is going. My wife can say amen to that right there. And she just said amen. It happened this afternoon. I thought about it. Well, I’m about to use this as illustration, but she’ll be in another room and she’ll say, “Hey, blah, blah, blah,” you know. And did I hear her? Yes. But did I hear her understand what she was saying? No. Anybody out there like that? Any ladies ever like that? Just all of us men. Okay, we got a couple ladies like that too, good. And that’s, I think, what’s going on here. There’s a contradiction of the idea. One instance he’s saying they heard, but then the other one, he didn’t understand these other people. By the way, in chapter 26, it tells us that it was in a Hebrew tongue, which might add a whole lot to the subject, especially of these Roman soldiers that didn’t understand the Hebrew tongue. Some will say there’s a contradiction in the Bible. Be careful when you’ll hear that. The Bible always stands up to the test, but that’s one of the arguments the anti-people will say, anti-biblical people will say. And so you know what’s going on there.

In verse number nine, let’s keep reading here for a bit. I just want to hit that real briefly so if you hear that coming up in your conversation. Verse number eight: “And Saul arose from the earth. And when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand and brought him unto Damascus. And he was three days without sight, neither did he eat nor drink.” That means he wasn’t baptized. He wasn’t a Baptist yet, because he was a Baptist, he had to eat, amen, you know. Of course, I’m teasing there, but he’s not eating or drinking. It’s an amazing thing.

Verse number 10: “And there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias. And the Lord said in a vision, Ananias.” And he said, “Behold, I am here.” Now, when he got saved, God didn’t use a man at that point, light from heaven. But after he got saved, God said, “I need somebody to help him.” Can I just say this? Isn’t it wonderful? God knows your name. Psalms tells it. He knows your name. He said, Ananias was ready. “I’m here, Lord.” I mean, he’s just willing and ready to do what the Lord wanted.

Here’s something else about it that it says right there, I think in verse number 10 right there. Notice what he says: “And there was a certain disciple.” A disciple. More than a Christian, a disciple is one that disciplines themselves to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. I wonder how many years God had been preparing Ananias for this. Some say this—I don’t know. I don’t think this is true. I don’t know. But some will say Ananias was part of the 70 disciples Jesus sent out earlier. We don’t know. But I just wonder how many years God had been preparing Ananias for this moment. He was in the right place, the right time. God knew it. And God called his name: “Ananias.” “I’m here, Lord.” God had been preparing him. That’s why it’s just important just to follow the Lord, disciple, discipline yourself to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, and those are the people at the right time. God knows your name and He calls you.

Now notice this, verse number 11, verse number 11: “And the Lord said unto him, Arise and go into the street, which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth, and hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.”

Then Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard by many of this man how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem. And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name.” This is the way I am. “Lord, I’ll do whatever you want me to.” And God says, “All right, I want you to go. I want you to go reach out that man over there named Saul.” And I said, “Lord, I didn’t hear you real good. Lord, what was that?” And then the way we always say, “Lord, I want to be used by you,” and God tells us what He wants us to do, and they’re like, “That’s not what I had in mind, Lord.” But Ananias gave in. And he said, “All right. You know better than I.” That’s the way I am. Been like that about 400 million times. Same thing still happens tomorrow. I want to be used by the Lord. Well, go help so-and-so. That’s not what I had in mind, Lord, when I said that. But Ananias gave in. He did what the Lord wanted. God used him greatly.

Well, now, what was Saul doing for these three days? He wasn’t eating. He wasn’t drinking. He tells us right: he was praying. I like that. Just pray. But when God gets a hold of us sometimes, you know, Matt, I leave is just praying. Now, he was already saved at this point, but he’s praying.

By the way, you notice God told Ananias exactly what to do. He said, “Ananias, he said, now this Saul, he’s seen a vision of you, Ananias, and you’re going to come in and you’re going to put your hands on him.” He told Ananias exactly what to do: “Put your hands on him. He’ll get his sight back.” Verse number 12: “And I have seen in the vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.”

I want you to put your hand on him. He’ll get his sight back. I told him what to do, but then notice how the Bible words that—want to say, he said, “Put your hands on him.” You ever heard that song, “How Can You Reach a World You Never Touched”? You ever heard that song? Have you ever heard that song? That’s a good song. It’s a good one. “How Can You Reach a World You Never Touched?” That’s the exact name of it. You know, when you touch some people, I ask you, get your hands dirty a little bit, but how can you reach a world you never touch? As a whole, I think our church is very good about that. I appreciate so many people putting their hands to the work, maybe teaching Sunday school, junior church, primary church. You’re putting your hands to the bus ministry. Oh, my goodness. It is putting your hands on them, and you’re getting involved. And by the way, I appreciate our bus workers. They don’t just, you know, not just a taxi service to get them to church, but, man, they’re involved in their lives, calling during the week and spending time with them and trying to give them to camps and everything else. That’s the way it should be.

I thought about the powers at a billion people at the Liberty Station, put their hands to it, soul winning, trying to win people who are putting their hands to it, the jail ministry, putting their hands to it, the nursing home ministry, all these. And I missed about a million of them, but just putting your hands, getting involved in a messed-up world and messed-up life. And he said, “Ananias, I want you to go over there. I want you to put your hands on him.” That’s part of it. If the Lord’s going to use us to change lives, part of it is just putting our hands on it.

Now let’s keep going. What does the Lord say about it all? Verse number 15 here, verse number 15: “But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me.” And those people, you say, “Man, I got to put my hands on that.” Yeah. Yeah. I don’t know if you noticed this is a gross story, but this is part of it. But that family—not that family, the youth group that came a couple Sundays, Sunday nights ago, filled up a couple rows over here. And a little bit into the message, one of those teenage boys, he had drank some kind of red mountain dew type thing, I don’t know, drinking. He drank the whole thing, and as he was leaving out of that back door, he threw up. And the youth director and some of our people, and eventually the youth director found out, he made the boy clean up the bad part of the other cleaned up. But, you know, when you deal with people, there’s going to be some dirty stuff. You put your hands on it.

But those individuals, they’re chosen vessels. God’s got a plan for them. It’s going to be nasty and awful, and you’re going to get involved in a situation. You’re like, “How in the world am I going to get in the middle of this stuff?” But you put your hands on it. And it’s going to be gross from time to time. But God says, “You know, they are a chosen vessel. I got a plan for that. I’m working in their lives.” “For he is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel: for I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.” Isn’t it interesting? Old Saul, he had been persecuting and causing other people suffering. God said he’s going to get his share of it too. I’m not saying it’s retribution, I’m just saying that’s God’s plan for him, and he’s going to have to go through some suffering.

Verse number 17, we’re just going to finish this thing out here pretty quick. “And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him, he said…” I like it. Say it. This is wonderful. First two words he said to him: “Brother Saul.” He didn’t make you feel out of question here. “Are you really saved? Do you mean it? Let me watch you for a couple days and see if you’re really saved or not.” He just walked in his whole brother Saul.

You know, Saul, he was blind at that point, hadn’t been eating for three days, been praying. You know, these Roman soldiers maybe around him, I don’t know, wondering what do we do now, you know? And don’t you know Saul needed someone come in there befriending? Ananias didn’t bat an eye. At that point, he didn’t argue with the Lord. He said, “All right, Lord, I’ll do whatever.” And he went right in there, put his hands on him. The first thing he said, “Brother Saul.”

I always think about this. Back in the day, when we came over here, we were in a storefront, looked for a place to build, whatnot, and Brother Dylan was here. Brother Dylan called, said, “How about you coming over here?” There was a handful of people here. Miss Mickey was part of that. And I came over on a Sunday night. I had someone else preach at our church, and he came over on a Sunday night and met with the folks. And Brother Gates, Raymond Gates—he’s in his 90s. His help is not good enough. He’s not here. But Raymond Gates, he was there. He was a leader in the church, maybe a deacon, I’m not sure. But Raymond Gates, after the service was over, he came up to me after. He said, “Hey, you want to know what I think about this? All right here. It’s about to happen right here. Here’s going down,” you know. And he said, “Here’s what I think about it.” And he reached up—praise the Lord, he’s short. I mean, he had to reach up. That’s very rare for me, you know. But he did. He was just a sweet man. He reached and he gave me a hug. He said, “This is what I think about it.” And boy, that’s so warm and welcoming. And that’s the way Ananias did to Saul. He put his hands on him. He said, “Brother Saul. Brother Saul.” You never know who’s really going through it, who needs a good encouraging word. You never know. It may be the last person, the last time you think that, and they may just need someone to say, “Hey, Brother Saul.”

And Ananias said the right thing. First words to him, put his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mayest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.”

You know, he had met Jesus on the road, but he still was blind, and he wasn’t filled with the Holy Ghost yet, and he needed a person. And God saves souls, and He changes them and grows them. But, you know, he needs someone to go say, “Hey, Brother Saul.” Put his hands on Brother Saul. It’s amazing the influence you can have on a person when they really need it, just with love. At that point, Ananias wasn’t even teaching him, giving all those doctrines; it was just reaching out, putting his hands on him and loving him, and wow, what a difference. I mean, the scales came off his eyes, and he could see, he was filled with the Holy Ghost.

I wonder what co-worker it is. They may not be the best Christian, but they’re struggling, they’re trying, and they need you at work just to say, “Hey, Brother Saul, let me befriend you. Let me put my hands on you.” You never know who that is, where they are. But, oh, Ananias was what a wise man. He just put his hands on him.

By the way, don’t wait for them to come to you. Don’t do that. We started the church, and we were putting a little sign up in that little bitty first building. And Green Realtor, I drove by the other day, and there in Laverne, that neon green building—that’s the start of our church. That’s putting a sign up out there. Somebody stopped Saturday or something, whatever day it was, and said, “Oh, man, in Rutherford County, you put a sign up and they’ll come.” I thought, “That guy’s got a hole in his head, his head big enough to drive a truck through me.” No, that’s not it. You got to go get them. They don’t come to you. I mean, that’s about one in a thousand, you know. No, no, you go get them. Now, sometimes God blesses us because you’re trying to go get them, but you’ve got to go get them. Amen. And you can’t wait for them to go get them.

Ananias left where he was, went over to the street called Straight, and he went to Judas’ house, and he went to where a man that hath friends must sit and wait and smile for everybody to come to him. Is that what I say? A man that hath friends must show himself friendly. Go reach them. Don’t wait for everybody to come to you. Go go to where they’re at. I mean, he went over to this guy and he put his hands on him and he said, “Brother Saul.” You know who was wonderful at it? Brother Frank. I’ve had so many people say—so many people. Somebody else, somebody knew, was telling me Sunday that I hadn’t heard it from, and said, “Well, Brother Frank was one of the first ones to greet me when I came to this church.” I just said he was good about it with everybody, and befriending them and putting his hands, if you will, and saying “Brother Saul” to them. And people remember that.

Look at verse number 18, verse number 19. We’re going to be done for the night, amen. Here is verse number 18: “And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith: and arose, and was baptized. And when he had received meat, he was strengthened.” That meat there, that means steak is what that means. It means medium rare also. He needed some food.

“Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus.” He had met Jesus on the road, and boy, that changed him. But even after that, God needed a man. And God—God knew—God knew Ananias’ name. And Ananias was the disciple. He was prepared. And God said, “Ananias, he’s the one. You want me to go over there to him?” “Yeah, yeah.” And Ananias went. Put his hands on him. “Brother Saul.” And boy, boy, that just—wow—he began that. The scales fell off his eyes. He went and got baptized. And he got a part of the Christian crowd, began to grow. Of course, the rest of this is history, how God used Saul or Paul in such a great way.

Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar ＂Conversion of Saul＂ - Wednesday 7⧸9⧸25 [vi31ndVK3dY]