On the Road to Damascus - Kicking Against the Goads

You might have thought we were done with the red-letters! Au contraire! The disciples of Jesus have witnessed Jesus’ ascension. They’ve gone back to Jerusalem as instructed. There, they are filled with the Holy Spirit - the Pentecost. That happens in Acts Chapter 2 and from there the Christians are now actively spreading the word of Jesus. Peter’s first sermon is delivered in this same chapter. The charge forward is simple:

Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

As the testimony and conversions grow, we are then confronted with the first Martyr. Stephen gives a scathing speech that ends with “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”

The Jews could not handle or subscribe to such a rebuke and they stone him. Paul, witness to this, approved the stoning and seems to take it upon himself to lead the charge against the Christians. That leads us into Chapter 9 of Acts.

Notes for On the Road to Damascus

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