Sermon Tone Analysis

Pre-Sermon

Welcome

Hello everyone,

I hope you are having a great day,

Humor Pill

Before we get started they say laughter is the best medicine, and the most affordable too!

So here is a humor pill for today.

A kindergarten teacher gave her class a “show and tell” assignment of bringing something to represent their religion.

The first child got in front of the class and said, “My name is Benjamin and I am Jewish and this is the Star of David.”

The second child got in front of her class and said, “My name is Mary, I am Catholic and this is the Crucifix.”

The third child got up in front of his class and said, “My name is Tommy and I am Baptist and this is a casserole.”

It seems like the Baptist always get stuck with the casserole don’t we?

The folks in church liked that one Sunday morning.

The Ultimate Conversion

Today’s sermon is entitled- “The Ultimate Conversion”

Lets start off by looking at Acts 9:3-5

The Ultimate Conversion

I have always been fascinated by the Apostle Paul, one of the reasons for this being the Metamorphosis that occured at his conversion.

Why do I use such a dramatic word like “Metamorphosis ” for Paul’s conversion?

First let’s define it.

Definition of Metamorphosis:

a: change of physical form, structure, or substance especially by supernatural means

b: a striking alteration in appearance, character, or circumstances

Life Changer:

Supernatural event

Character

Circumstances

So Paul definitely qualifies since both his character and circumstances were altered due to this supernatural event that occurred on the road to Damascus.

Saul to Paul

Saul to Paul

To better understand the transformation of Saul to Paul we must first look at who he was before he’s conversion.

The Man Saul (before his conversion )

The Man Saul

When we look at Acts 9:1-2 we see glimpse of the man he was before his encounter with Jesus.

A man on a mission

A man on a mission

Saul was a man who thought he was on a mission from God to eliminate all of the followers of Jesus, whom he consider to be traitors of the faith, trouble makers and blasphemers for saying that this carpenter from Nazareth who died a shameful death on a Roman cross was the Son of God.

Introduction to Saul

Introduction to Saul

Our introduction to Saul is at the execution of Steven after he preached in the Synagogue enraging all those who heard him.

Lest’s look at Acts 7:54-8:3

Let’s look into Saul’s past

Saul's past

From these verses we can clearly see how committed Saul was to his task.

To understand how Saul became this persecutor of Christians let’s look deeper in his history, to better understand the man before his conversion.

Born in the city of Tarsus

Born in the City of Tarsus

Paul was born the City of Tarsus, it is believed to have been around the same time as Jesus birth , where he lived until the age of thirteen, before moving to Jerusalem to get his education .

Tarsus is located in south-central Turkey, 12 miles inland from the Mediterranean.

During the Roman Empire, Tarsus was the capital of the province of Cilicia.

An interesting fact, Tarsus was where the first meeting between Mark Antony and Cleopatra occurred.

There have been several movies made about this , probably the most famous one was the 1963 film “Cleopatra” that stared Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Roddy McDowall, and Martin Landau.

Now I didn’t see it when it first came out because I was too young but I did catch it later on TV.

You can tell I’m an old movie buff.

It’s a shame they can’t, or I should say won’t make any decent movies now a days that you can take your entire family to, unless it’s one of the animated movies and you have to be careful with those too.

Enough of that let’s get back to Saul, in Acts 21 & 22 Paul is in Jerusalem and after addressing the Jews in the Temple he is run out and is being beaten by a crowd of outraged Jews when the Roman Centenarians come along and break it up and take him away to the Barracks to charge him

Tarsus

Here Paul is appealing to the Centurion by speaking in Greek as a Roman Citizen, and by no obscure city, Paul was referring to fact that Tarsus was well known.

Tarsus was a free Roman city and a thriving merchant and trade center, it was also an intellectual city home to one of the three great Universities in the world at that time, the other two were in Athens Greece and Alexandra in Egypt.

Roman Citizen by birth

Roman Citizen by birth

Paul was a Roman Citizen by Birth, we read this later on in Chapter 22.

After having addressed a different crowd of Jews outside the Temple Paul enrages them as well so the Roman Centurions take him away.

Jewish

Jewish

He was Raised in Jerusalem - Acts 22:1-3

Now we are going back peddle a little to the Start of Acts 22 where Paul is addressing the crowd that gathered out side Temple to see what the ruckus that was going on was all about, you could say these were the regular working folks.

Roman and Jew

Roman and Jew

Notice the change, earlier when he spoke to the Roman Centurion he spoke to him in Greek as a Roman citizen, now when addressing the Jews , he speaks to them in Hebrew as a fellow Jew.

Effortlessly Paul transitions from speaking from Greek as a Roman citizen to speaking Hebrew as a Jew.

This duality of language and culture is an important part of Paul’s future ministry, the ability reach out first to the Jew then the Gentile .

Romans 1:16

A Member of the Sanhedrin

Member of the Sanhedrin

Paul was a member of the Sanhedrin, this is due to Acts 26:10

Paul had to have been a member to cast a vote.

A Pharisee

A Pharisee

He was a member of the Pharisee Sect of Judaism

Paul wasn’t just a Pharisee, he said he was the Pharisee of Pharisees Gal 1:14

Refresher

Refresher

Just a little refresher here, the Sanhedrin was like a judicial branch, or governing body of Jewish Law, made up of the Sadducee’s and Pharisee's.

The Pharisee’s where puritan Jews who strictly observed the Law’s of Moses, spiritualistic believing in Angels and an afterlife, and very Patriotic in their Loyalty to Israel .

The Sadducee's on the other hand were more Hellenistic, willing to appease their Roman captors, were more materialistic, and did not believe in spirits or an afterlife.

A Rabbi

A Rabbi

From Acts 6:9 many scholars feel that Paul may have been a Rabbi

Paul would have been one of those members from Cilicia and Asia.

Being a Rabbi along with being a member of the Sanhedrin gives us a clue to Paul's age at the time of Steven’s stoning as well since for a man to hold both, or either of these positions he had to be at least 30 years old.

From a wealthy influential family

From a wealthy influential family

The Bible doesn’t tell us Paul's family, so here we have to play detective a little and find clues that can help us.

Here are a couple of things that hint to this

Saul’s roman citizenship was by birth, even though he was Jewish.

Many scholars believe this was due to the fact that either His father or possibly his Grandfather had been taken by the Romans into slavery when Cassius took Tarsus and were taken to Rome.

His father’s or Grandfathers high social position and culture may have impressed their owners and were set free, this would according to the Roman law make them a full Roman Citizen with all the rights and privileges that came with it .

Acts 23:16 Paul’s Nephew, his Sisters son comes to him while he is imprisoned,to warn him of a plot to kill him.

In order for his nephew to hear this he had to be in a high social position to be in the presence of those plotting to kill Paul.