LESSON 4

October 24, 2021

PAUL, THE CALL TO BE AN APOSTLE

GOLDEN TEXT
“Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our
brother Sosthenes”. (1Cor. 1:1)

USEFUL PRACTICE
God calls people to perform great deeds in the divine realm.

SCRIPTURE READING
Acts 9:15-22; Galatians 1:11-18

Acts 9

15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to
proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of
Israel.

16 - I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

17 - 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.”

18 - Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could
see again. He got up and was baptized,

19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength.Saul spent several
days with the disciples in Damascus.
20 At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of
God.
21 All those who heard him were astonished and asked, “Isn’t he the man
who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And
hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?”
22 Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in
Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.
Galatians 1
11 I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is
not of human origin.

12 I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it
by revelation from Jesus Christ.

13 For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely
I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it.

14 I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my

people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers.

15 But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called
me by his grace, was pleased

16 to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the

Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being.

17 I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I

was, but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus.

18 Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with

Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days.
 GENERAL OBJECTIVE
To reveal that God currently calls believers to his work.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
I To highlight the starting point for Paul's call;

II To emphasize that Paul's call came from the Risen Christ;

III To relate Paul's call to his learning in the desert.

INTRODUCTION
In this lesson, we are going to study Paul's call to the holy apostleship.
We are going to see his call starting point and his training school in the
Arabian Desert. Thus, we are going to have an overview of how God
uses time and circumstances to form a useful ministry for the Kingdom
of God.

I - THE STARTING POINT FOR PAUL'S CALL

1. Divine call and foreknowledge. Paul's call was established
according to God's foreknowledge. He himself confirms this fact to the
Galatians, when writing: “But when God, who set me apart from my
mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased” (Gal 1:15).
The apostle experienced a complete transformation through the
encounter with Christ, and was called by Him to a great work. The
Book of Acts attests to an anticipated call when our Lord says to
Ananias: “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name
to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show
him how much he must suffer for my name.” (Acts 9:15-16). So Paul
was baptized in the Holy Spirit, baptized in water, and had his sight
restored (Acts 9:18).

2. A ministry in the fullness of the Spirit. After going through the

New Birth experience, Paul received the fullness of the Spirit, that is,
he was baptized in the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:17). In this sense, the Book
of Acts reveals that the ministry of the Apostle to the Gentiles received
a special anointing from the Holy Spirit. It was a ministry marked by
powerful preaching, healings, signs, miracles and wonders. Through
the apostle's ministry, we learn that we cannot do God's work without
the Holy Spirit at work. He is the one who confirms the Word and the
work.
3. Did God change Saul's name to Paul? In the Bible, we see times
when God changed the name of people (Abram to Abraham [Gen.
17:5]; Jacob to Israel [Gen. 35:10]), as Jesus changed the name of
Simon to Peter (Mark 3:16; John 1:42). However, this was not the case
with the name of the apostle Paul. There is no mention of this in the
Bible. What explains the shift in emphasis from the name of Saul to
Paul is the origin of the apostle. The name “Saulo” (Portuguese for
“Saul”) dates back to his Jewish origins; but “Paulo” (Portuguese for
Paulus, in Latin), is his Roman citizenship. As the apostle's ministry
sought to reach the Gentiles, the name “Paul” was naturally used in
missionary work and, consequently, in the canonical Scriptures.
II – A CALL FROM THE RISEN CHRIST
1. Saul saw the glorious splendor of the risen Christ (Acts 9:3-6).
It was not a mirage, nor an optical illusion, but Saul actually saw the
risen Christ, whom he was persecuting (Acts 9:17). This glorious vision
overshadowed his pride before the Jewish authorities and was
decisive in the life of one who would later become an ambassador for
Christ among the Gentiles.
2. An inevitable call to the apostle’s office among the Gentiles.
God chose Saul beforehand to make His will known (Acts 22:14). What
was His will for Saul? To make him an ambassador for Christ, a
preacher of the Gospel (Acts 9:20). It is not by chance that the
apostle's various letters to the churches he planted were identified as
follows: “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. ” (Eph 1:1).
The apostle was not ordained in Jerusalem, neither by a commission
of apostles formed by Peter, John, and James, nor by other apostles
of Christ. What prevailed was the declaration of Jesus to Ananias,
faithful disciple of Christ in Damascus: “Go! This man is my chosen ins-
trument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the
people of Israel. ” (Acts 9:15). Ananias, with authority delegated by the
Lord Jesus himself in a vision, went to meet Saul, on Straight Street,
and arriving there, he “placed his hands on Saul” (Acts 9:17).
3. The call changed the course of Saul's life. From a persecutor of
Jesus' followers, with a tenacious and obstinate personality (Acts 9:1-
6), God called Saul and made him the apostle who would be most
responsible for the expansion of the Church in the Gentile world. The
working of saving grace in Saul's life brought about a radical change
in his life. It was Jesus who confronted him, surprised him, and called
him by name. Christ still calls human beings to bear fruit in the
Kingdom of God. A real encounter with Christ is needed. When that
happens, He empowers the human being for His purpose. So it was
with Saul.
III – PAUL'S CALL AND LEARNING IN THE DESERT
1. Going to the desert. Paul's ministry needed rigorous, silent
preparation, communion with God, and reflection. Instead of going to
Jerusalem to learn from the apostles, he turned away from the Jews
in the synagogues, where he later proceeded to present Christ. Paul
took the route to Arabia, southeast of Damascus, under the rule of
King Aretas (Gal 1:17-18; cf. 2 Cor. 11:32). The apostle preferred to
live in a place, in the desert region of Arabia, where some nomadic
groups inhabited and he was totally unknown. In the desert, God
taught Paul to be the leader He needed to expand His kingdom.
2. The lessons from the desert. The apostle knew that he needed to
deepen his knowledge about Jesus Christ, because his path would be
one of confrontation with doubts, opposition and rejection. Then he
went to the Arabian Desert and stayed there for about three years,
between his conversion and his return to Jerusalem (Gal. 1:17-18).
That period served for Paul to reconsider his position before God, his
Jewish beliefs and convictions, confronting them with the revelation of
the grace of God in Christ Jesus. So, Paul prepared to explain his call
to church leaders in Jerusalem.

3. More lessons from the desert. Saul went on to use his Roman
name Paul, with which he became known in his ministry. By heading
into the desert to reflect and learn, the now Paul was stripped of all
legalistic philosophy and religiosity of Judaism. In the desert, he
learned that simplicity was the key to opening the door to Christianity,
that it was necessary to master his passions, replacing them with the
joy of salvation in Christ. He also learned that the vastness of the
desert crushes man's power and weakness; now he can only depend
on God. For this reason, Paul also discovers, from his experience of
silence and loneliness in the desert, that the things of God happen
according to His will, not ours. In the desert, God taught Paul to be the
leader He needed in order to expand His kingdom.

CONCLUSION
The great truth we have learned from this lesson is that God has not
changed His approach for guiding and calling whomever He wants to.
For this, He often uses painful experiences in the desert of life. It is
necessary to sharpen our spiritual sensitivity to identify God's call to
our lives.