Acts 9:1-19
Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. For three days he was blind, and he did not eat or drink anything.
In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”
“Yes, Lord,” he answered.
The Lord said to him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”
“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”
But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord – Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here – has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.
At one time or another most of us have set up a Dominoes chain. You know, the painstaking process of setting up the little pieces in a long line, then, when you finally have them all set up, you push the first one over and it knocks the next one over until, clickety-click, they all fall down.
Did you know that the world record for a Domino chain reaction is 275,000 pieces? I looked it up on youtube and it took over 10 minutes to watch.
It strikes me that the gospel is kind of like that. Just last week I heard a simple gospel-chain-reaction-story.
An executive told me that a few years ago his family moved to this area from another state and had no connections at all. He was traveling a lot for work so his wife had to handle making all the
new connections at school, in the neighborhood and at church.
They had been part of a small Baptist church in the south but didn't think there were any churches like that up here in the Chicago area.
One day the wife/Mom took her very young children to the McDonald's on Randall Road, just south of FBCG’s East Campus, for lunch and to play in the play area.
While she was there another Mom, who was also there with her kids, and who was part of FBCG, overheard her southern accent and just started up a conversation by asking where they were from.
As they talked the Mom from FBCG mentioned something about her church and the other lady asked, "What church do you go to? We haven't found a church yet." And she said, "We go to FBCG -
you should come with us sometime; we love our church!"
And they came and have been here ever since.
I think that’s something like what we see in this story!
Look at the dominoes. First, there is Saul of Tarsus. Saul is heading to Damascus to arrest followers of Jesus. But Jesus intervenes. But that’s not the end of the story. Notice the other dominoes that are part of the story.
We are told that Saul's friends help lead him by the hand into Damascus because Saul had been struck blind.
Then we are told that eventually both Saul and Ananias go to the home of a guy named Judas.
Think about the story this way:
What if Saul’s friends had run away in fear when they heard the voice from heaven?
What if Judas had said, "Not in my house!"
What if Ananias had said, "Go pray for Saul? No Way!"?
What if this one gospel chain reaction had not happened?
We can’t know for sure, but maybe Saul would never have received his sight or the Holy Spirit. Maybe Saul of Tarsus would never have become the Apostle Paul. And maybe the gospel would never have been carried to the Gentile world!
We are all part of the great gospel chain reaction and it’s got way more than 275,000 pieces; and it’s been going on way longer than 10 minutes!
In Colossians 1:6 Paul writes,
All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth.
The gospel chain has been going on for 119 years at FBCG alone; and for some 2000 years since Saul met Jesus on the road to Damascus. And, if you’re reading this, chances are that somewhere along the way the gospel chain touched you! Somewhere, somehow, someone prayed for you, talked to you, cared about you, invited you - and the gospel of Jesus took root in your heart.
Somewhere along the way the gospel chain touched me.
But the question is: Have we taken our place in the chain? Are we willing to touch the next domino?
Pastor Brian Coffey
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