Endorse

10 In Damascus there was a disciplenamed Ananias. The Lord called to himin a vision, “Ananias!”

“Yes, Lord,” he answered.

11 The Lord told him, “Go to the houseof Judas on Straight Street and ask fora man from Tarsus named Saul, for heis praying. 12 In a vision he has seen aman named Ananias come and placehis hands on him to restore his sight.”

13 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I haveheard many reports about this manand all the harm he has done to yourholy people in Jerusalem. 14 And hehas come here with authority from thechief priests to arrest all who call onyour name.”

15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go!This man is my chosen instrument toproclaim my name to the Gentiles andtheir kings and to the people of Israel.16 I will show him how much he mustsuffer for my name.”

17 Then Ananias went to the house andentered it. Placing his hands on Saul,he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus,who appeared to you on the road asyou were coming here—has sent meso that you may see again and befilled with the Holy Spirit.”

18 Immediately, something like scalesfell from Saul’s eyes, and he could seeagain. He got up and was baptized, 19

and after taking some food, heregained his strength. Saul spentseveral days with the disciples inDamascus.

This is such a common issue for us. Because sometimes the voice of Jesus gets drowned out by the voice of fear, and sometimes it’s hard to hear what Jesus is saying because fear is trying

to drive a decision.

10 In Damascus there was a disciplenamed Ananias. The Lord called to himin a vision, “Ananias!”

“Yes, Lord,” he answered.

11 The Lord told him, “Go to the houseof Judas on Straight Street and ask fora man from Tarsus named Saul, for heis praying. 12 In a vision he has seen aman named Ananias come and placehis hands on him to restore his sight.”

God gets to do whatever God wants to do, but God doesn’t have to do

anything. God can do anything and some supernatural things he does, but

not all the time, and we can’t make him do those things.

What’s a vision? To distinguish it from a dream. A dream is when you’re

asleep and you see something. Now, you need to know this, not every dream is a revelation from God.

Not every dream is from the Lord, and similarly, a vision is like a dream. God is revealing things to you visually. Now,

this is that God still does this on occasion.

How do we know whether it’s a vision from the Lord or not from the Lord?

We believe just because you see something or hear something; we don’t assume it has to be the Lord.

How do you test the spirits?Two very simple ways. Check it by the word of God, and secondly, check it

by the people of God.

The Holy Spirit inspired the writing of Scripture, and the Holy Spirit indwells God’s people, and so if you want to know whether or not it was the Holy Spirit, check with God’s word, check

with God’s people.

And since the Holy Spirit inspired the writing of Scripture, if what you’re hearing or seeing contradicts what

God is saying, then you know it’s not true.

God doesn’t change his mind. God doesn’t contradict himself. Check with the word of God and check with the

people of God.

13 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I haveheard many reports about this manand all the harm he has done to yourholy people in Jerusalem. 14 And hehas come here with authority from thechief priests to arrest all who call onyour name.”

15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go!This man is my chosen instrument toproclaim my name to the Gentiles andtheir kings and to the people of Israel.16 I will show him how much he mustsuffer for my name.”

This is where God is a Father, and he’s patient, loving, gracious, and kind to get his kids into the place that he

needs us to be. He’s going to allow Ananias to articulate his concerns and

to work this through.

You need to know that God is like that, that God loves you with a fatherly

affection.

And it doesn’t mean that defiance or rebellion is good, but it means if you

don’t at first agree, that God the Father wants to work it out with you and get

you into the place of obedience.

He doesn’t get any of that because we live by faith, not by sight. And so God

isn’t going to give him facts, God is going to give him himself.

God doesn’t always tell us what’s going to come, but he tells us that we

can trust him and that he knows what’s going to come.

And God commands both Ananias and Saul, and he is going to send them

both—because to be a believer is to also be a missionary.

Some of you, God’s going to call you to go invest in one person. Others of you, God’s going to send to go invest in many people. And it’s about being

faithful to what God has called you to.

But to be a Christian is to be sent, and what causes us not to go is that we’re

fearful of what could happen to us negatively as a result of proceeding forth to talk about Jesus, and so they both need to overcome their fears.

Jesus was already punished on the cross in your place for your sins, so when you’re suffering don’t assume

wrongly it’s like karma. We believe in grace, not karma. That’s not true.

Jesus already suffered in your place, and it would be unjust for you and Jesus to both suffer. Jesus already

suffered. That penalty and price was paid and you don’t need to suffer as

well.

But it does mean that though Jesus has suffered for you, if you love him, and serve him, and speak about him, some people will hate you because

you belong to him and they ultimately hate him.

This is nothing that we seek, but it’s something that we accept, and that

God will use even suffering to make us more like Jesus and to give us a

greater love and affection for Jesus because we have caused him to suffer

for us.

17 Then Ananias went to the house andentered it. Placing his hands on Saul,he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus,who appeared to you on the road asyou were coming here—has sent meso that you may see again and befilled with the Holy Spirit.”

18 Immediately, something like scalesfell from Saul’s eyes, and he could seeagain. He got up and was baptized, 19

and after taking some food, heregained his strength. Saul spentseveral days with the disciples inDamascus.

Ananias overcomes his fears and obeys his God.

And Saul receives three things. He receives the Holy Spirit, he receives

healing, he receives help. In receiving the Holy Spirit, it comes through the laying on of hands. So the Holy Spirit,

he is God. He lives in God’s people. He empowers us for life and ministry.

God doesn’t need to send Ananias, and he doesn’t need to send Saul, but he sends them both because he wants them to join him in his work. That’s

ministry.

What every new Christian needs is a Christian filled with the Holy Spirit to come alongside, and to be a friend,

and to walk, and to pray, and to encourage, and to give answers, and

to come alongside.

Sometimes God’s just going to burden your heart to be that person for

someone, and like Ananias, who didn’t even know Saul, pursued him.

Sometimes God is going to burden you to pursue somebody, to pray for them, to encourage them, to feed them, to help them, to be there for them, and

that’s what it is.

We’re all sinners. We sin in our thoughts, we sin with our words, we sin with our deeds, we sin with our

feelings, and we sin with our motives.

Jesus says that he’s perfect and never sinned. He goes to the cross and dies. Why does he die? Not for his sin, he had none. He dies for our sin as a

substitute. He trades places with us. He takes our place.

So, here’s what happens on the cross: Jesus took your place, and he put you

in his place.

In Christ you are clean, so live clean. In Christ you are holy, so live holy. In

Christ you are forgiven, so go and sin no more. In Christ you have new

desires, so nurture those desires and not the old ones.

In Christ you have a new mind, you can start thinking differently about this. In Christ you have a new power, you

can start living differently as a result of this.

Here’s the big idea:The difference in identity between a non-Christian and a Christian is the

difference between identity as sinner and identity as forgiven sinner made

saint.

You are a saint. Sin may explain some of your activity, but does not define

your entire identity in Christ. You may sin some of the time, but you are a saint all of the time in Christ. Sin is some of what you do, but not the totality of who you are in Christ.

There is a difference between having sin and being sin in Christ. Because you have a new identity as saint, you can have a new victory over sin in Christ. As a sinner, God saw you as

you were, but as a saint, God sees you as you are in Christ.

This is not just good news for us to enjoy, it’s also good news for us to share. And so he sends Ananias to Saul, and he’s going to send Saul to various groups of people, and he’s

going to send you.

Elisha Gray(1835-1901)

Elisha Gray was a Quaker from rural Ohio who grew up on a farm. He studied

electricity at Oberlin College. In 1867, Gray received his first patent for an improved telegraph relay. During his lifetime, Elisha

Gray was granted over seventy patents for his inventions, including many important

innovations in electricity.

He devised a tone telegraph of this kind about the same time as La Cour. In Gray's

tone telegraph, several vibrating steel reeds tuned to different frequencies interrupted the current, which at the other end of the line passed through electromagnets and vibrated matching tuned steel reeds near

the electromagnet poles.

Gray's 'harmonic telegraph,' with vibrating reeds, was used by the Western Union

Telegraph Company. Since more than one set of vibration frequencies – that is to say, more than one musical tone – can be sent

over the same wire simultaneously, the harmonic telegraph can be utilized as a

'multiplex' or many-ply telegraph,

conveying several messages through the same wire at the same time. Each message

can either be read by an operator by the sound, or from different tones read by

different operators, or a permanent record can be made by the marks drawn on a ribbon of travelling paper by a Morse

recorder.

On February 14, 1876 at the US Patent Office, Gray's lawyer filed a patent caveat for a telephone. However, he arrived at the

patent office two hours after an engineer named Alexander Graham Bell arrived to apply for a patent for his version of the

telephone.

On February 14, 1876 at the US Patent Office, Gray's lawyer filed a patent caveat for a telephone. However, he arrived at the

patent office two hours after an engineer named Alexander Graham Bell arrived to apply for a patent for his version of the

telephone.

On the basis of its earlier filing time -- a mere few hours -- and on the subtle

distinctions between a caveat and an actual patent application, the U.S. Patent Office awarded Bell, not Gray, the patent for the

telephone.