Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
October 16 Daily Reading- Read the Bible in 1 Year
9 Plays20 hours ago
If you would like to download my FREE calendar for keeping track of your commitment to read the Bible every day, you can find that on my site, here: https://www.inthefamilywaycoaching.com/pages/read-the-bible-in-1-year
Monthly memberships to support this event can be purchased on my site, here: https://www.inthefamilywaycoaching.com/offering_packages
Today's we will be reading the Book of Acts Chapter 9.
Today's reading will show Jesus revealing Himself to Saul, telling Saul (and us!) that Saul was actually persecuting JESUS when Saul thought he was persecuting the followers! We will see Ananias called by Jesus to heal Saul's eyes and give him the Holy Spirit, but he was resistant to do so because of Saul's reputation.
In our discussion for daily application we will talk about how God takes who we are and shows us how to be ourselves the right way in order to build the Kingdom of God! Jesus took Saul's zeal for God and showed him how to be zealous for Jesus! In our own lives Jesus does this with us all the time! God takes EXACTLY who we are and shows us how to be ourselves the RIGHT WAY, the way HE designed us to be! So let's be who we are FOR JESUS! We also learned that no matter what we have done we can still be used by Jesus! We are not without purpose! Let us remember this situation when God calls us to witness to people we might have a tendency to feel are "beyond hope." Not even Saul was "beyond hope" or "too sinful."
If you enjoyed today's reading and feel like God has lit YOUR light please click the LIGHT button (it looks like a thumbs up or a heart) and consider subscribing to or following my channel, if you have not done so already.
If you know someone who might be interested in reading the Bi! ble with me this year please SHARE today's reading with them! It's never too late to join in! Let's help this event grow and together we can spread the word about reading God's Word!
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Purpose
00:00:02
Speaker
Hello everybody! Welcome to the October 16th daily reading of our Day by Day Kids Bible written by Karen Henley. You are with Robin and Scooby for a little while today it looks like.
00:00:16
Speaker
And we are within the Family Way Coaching. We are so glad that you are following along and listening. We are just buzzing along this year and God's event is growing.
00:00:28
Speaker
So if you are new to this event and have recently subscribed, every day it seems like I'm seeing more follows or subscribers. So thank you for joining us and helping us spread the word about reading God's word.
00:00:40
Speaker
I'm just so excited that God is using all of us, not just me, but he is using you to help spread the word about reading his word. I am so glad about that. That is the goal for this year.
00:00:51
Speaker
Besides our daily application each day after we read our daily reading. Well, if you are following along in your commitment calendar, your bookmarking calendar, your motivational tool, go ahead and get that out and get your sticker ready or whatever you're using to mark off your days because we're going to hear the Bible today.
The Transformation of Saul
00:01:12
Speaker
I'm surprised Scooby is staying this long. My lap can be a little slippery. And he wants up, and then he just wants down. So we'll see how long this lasts. Well, yesterday we were talking a little bit about the fact that we were seeing Saul entering the picture.
00:01:29
Speaker
Saul became known as Paul and he eventually becomes today a disciple. And that means somebody who is following Jesus. And you know what? That's exactly what Jesus told us to do was to go out and make followers for him.
00:01:43
Speaker
So today we are going to be seeing even Paul becoming a follower. I love this because ah when we see God's ah words about him, that God has chosen him, i want us to think about that because that's going to be our daily application today, that God chooses us to do things.
00:02:06
Speaker
And like we talked a little bit about yesterday, where we think, oh, I have committed sins that are not helpful. I'm never going to be able to be useful in the kingdom of God.
00:02:17
Speaker
And that's our adversary. That is Satan. Satan means adversary. It's not a name like Robin or Scooby. It means adversary. He is against us and he wants to tell you lies.
00:02:32
Speaker
And sometimes those lies can be about other people and they can discourage us from welcoming people into God's kingdom because we may think that they have done bad things and they are not fit for the kingdom of God.
00:02:47
Speaker
That's what we're going to be seeing here today. And we want to see that despite the fact that we think people should not or are not worthy or or can't be useful.
00:02:58
Speaker
There he goes. That that's not the case. God actually has purpose for all of us. And it doesn't matter.
00:03:08
Speaker
God will use us. So let's look at how God has determined, and in this case, it's Jesus who has determined that Saul is in fact going to be useful to him.
Saul's Encounter with Jesus
00:03:23
Speaker
This is chapter 9 in Acts. Now, all this time, Saul was planning ways to hurt Jesus's followers. He went to the high priest in Jerusalem and he asked him to write some letters and the letters would go to the worship houses in Damascus and the letters would give Saul the right to take Jesus's followers to jail.
00:03:46
Speaker
They would be introducing him. They would be, our big Bible says that they were letters of introduction so that he would have authority from the temple in Jerusalem. So Saul headed for Damascus and all of a sudden, a bright light came from heaven and it shone down on Saul.
00:04:06
Speaker
Saul fell down. He heard a voice. Saul, Saul, why are you hurting me? Why are you persecuting me?
00:04:19
Speaker
Who are you? asked Saul. I am Jesus, said the voice. I am the one you are hurting. Get up and go into the city of Damascus and someone there will tell you what to do.
00:04:39
Speaker
Now the men who were there with Saul just stood there. They didn't know what to say. They had heard the sound of the voice, but they couldn't see anybody. So Saul got up.
00:04:52
Speaker
And he opened his eyes, but he couldn't see anything. So his friends took him by the hand and they led him into the city. Saul couldn't see for three days.
00:05:05
Speaker
Don't you love how Jesus made that three days again? We see the number three. And all that time he didn't eat or drink anything.
Ananias and Saul's Healing
00:05:14
Speaker
We call that fasting.
00:05:17
Speaker
Now there was a man named Ananias who was in Damascus, and he was also a follower of Jesus. And Jesus called to him, "'Ananias!' "'Here I am, Jesus,' said Ananias.
00:05:31
Speaker
"'Go to Straight Street,' said Jesus, "'and go to the house of a man named Judas. "'Ask for a man named Saul there. "'He is praying there.
00:05:42
Speaker
"'He saw a man with your name in a dream.'" I sent him this dream. And in his dream, you put your hands on him and then he could see again.
00:05:55
Speaker
We would call that dream a vision.
00:05:59
Speaker
I've heard about Saul, said Ananias. And Lord, he has hurt your people in Jerusalem and he is here to put your people in jail. Go, said Jesus.
00:06:10
Speaker
I chose this man to serve me. He will tell people who are not Jews about me. He will tell their kings. He will tell Jews too.
00:06:22
Speaker
And I will show him how much he will have to face or suffer for following me.
00:06:30
Speaker
So Ananias obeyed. Ananias found the house. He went in and he put his hands on Saul. Saul, he said, the Lord Jesus came to you on the road and he sent to me here so that you can see again.
00:06:47
Speaker
He sent to me so that you can be filled with God's Holy Spirit. Right away, something like scales fell out of Paul's eyes and now he could see again. And he got up and he was baptized.
00:07:05
Speaker
Then he ate and he felt stronger. Saul stayed in Damascus for a few days, and right away he started teaching in the town's worship houses, and he told everyone that Jesus was indeed God's son.
Saul's Early Ministry
00:07:20
Speaker
Now people were surprised.
00:07:23
Speaker
Isn't he the man who made trouble in Jerusalem? They asked. He made trouble for Jesus' followers there, and he came here to put Jesus' followers into jail. Now Saul got better and better at teaching about Jesus.
00:07:39
Speaker
And the Jews in Damascus couldn't stand it. They couldn't understand it. I'm so sorry, I misspoke that. They couldn't understand it. Saul was showing people that God had sent Jesus to save them.
00:07:54
Speaker
Many days passed and the Jews made plans to kill Saul. Every day and night, they watched the city gates. The gates were in the wall around the city.
00:08:06
Speaker
And the Jews were going to kill Saul when he left. Now Saul found out about their plan. So one night Saul's friends took him to the city. They took him to the wall and gaga Saul got into a big basket and his friends put the basket through an open place in the wall and then they let it down to the ground.
00:08:28
Speaker
Saul went back to Jerusalem and there he tried to meet with Jesus' followers, but they were afraid of him and they did not believe that he had really become a follower of Jesus.
00:08:41
Speaker
But Barnabas took Saul to see the apostles and Barnabas told them about Saul's trip to Damascus. And he told them about how Jesus had talked to Saul. He told them how Saul had taught people about Jesus.
00:08:56
Speaker
So they let Saul stay with them. Now Saul went wherever he wanted to go in Jerusalem. He was brave. He taught in Jesus' name.
00:09:09
Speaker
He talked to Jews from Greece about Jesus. But they tried to kill him. So some of Jesus' followers sent Saul to Sarsus. And that was his hometown.
00:09:20
Speaker
Then things were peaceful for Jesus's followers and they grew stronger. The Holy Spirit made them brave and many people became Jesus's followers and they worshiped the Lord.
Peter's Miracles
00:09:37
Speaker
Now, Peter traveled from place to place, and he went to see God's people in Lydda. A man who could not move, who was paralyzed, lived there. He had had to stay in bed for eight years.
00:09:50
Speaker
Peter went to go see him.
00:09:53
Speaker
Jesus, the Messiah, makes you well, said Peter. Get up and make your bed. So right away the man got up and the people who lived there saw him walking.
00:10:05
Speaker
And then they started believing in Jesus.
00:10:09
Speaker
A woman named Tabitha, which is translated as Dorcas, lived in Joppa. She did good things. She helped poor people. But she got sick and she died.
00:10:23
Speaker
And her body was put in the upstairs room. Now Jesus' followers in Joppa heard that Peter was in Lydda, and the towns were close together. So the followers sent two men to go see Jesus.
00:10:37
Speaker
Please come right away, they said. So Peter went with them to the place where Dorcas was, and they took him upstairs, and women were standing around.
00:10:48
Speaker
They showed Peter all of the clothes that Dorcas had made for them. Peter told them to leave the room. And then he got down and he prayed.
00:11:00
Speaker
He looked up at the woman and he said, Dorcas, get up.
00:11:08
Speaker
Dorcas opened her eyes and when she saw Peter, she sat up. Peter held her hand and helped her stand up. And then he called her friends in and he gave Dorcas back to them.
00:11:23
Speaker
She was alive again. Everybody in town found out about what had happened. So again, lots of people believed in Jesus. Peter stayed there for a while with a man named Simon.
00:11:38
Speaker
And that is the end of our reading today.
Reflections on Zeal
00:11:43
Speaker
Wasn't today awesome reading? oh my gosh, I love today's reading. My favorite part is that Jesus said that he chose Paul.
00:11:55
Speaker
And did you see how initially Ananias was very concerned? Like he needed to tell Jesus what was going on. He said, Jesus, this man has come here to put your people in jail and he's been giving them a lot of trouble.
00:12:09
Speaker
And Jesus said, go. I chose this man to serve me. And then we see again that once Paul had, or Saul, he's still Saul at this point.
00:12:21
Speaker
Once he came to the light and he was filled with God's Holy Spirit, he immediately began teaching about Jesus.
00:12:32
Speaker
And he began telling the people that he was indeed the Son of God. So it's probable that Paul or Saul was actually a Pharisee.
00:12:43
Speaker
So he was a teacher and we see in the beginning how he was very zealous. he He was full of zeal for God. He thought he was doing God a favor, just as Jesus said would be the case in killing the followers of Jesus.
00:12:58
Speaker
And God took his zeal zeal for him, his fervor, and he showed him how to use it for good. And God does the same thing with us.
00:13:13
Speaker
He teaches us how to use who we are for good, to further his kingdom. Isn't that wonderful? We all have our traits.
00:13:25
Speaker
We have our gifts. We have the ways that God created us to be. And it may be that like Saul, we are using who we are the wrong way.
00:13:36
Speaker
But Jesus can teach us through the transformation of the renewing of our minds to show us how to be who we are supposed to be for God's kingdom.
00:13:49
Speaker
And Saul is the number one first example that we have of that. and We have other people converting and immediately ah doing good things. But we see here in Saul the specific zeal.
00:14:04
Speaker
the fervor that he has, that he wants to be doing things. And Jesus is going to teach him how to do it the right way, how to do it for him.
00:14:16
Speaker
Another thing that I want to point out is that Saul thought he was persecuting or hurting Jesus's followers. But Jesus told him, you are hurting me.
00:14:29
Speaker
So we need to keep that
Obedience and God's Will
00:14:30
Speaker
in mind. We want to take things personally and think that people are after us. They're out to get us, that they are persecuting us, that they are giving us a hard time.
00:14:40
Speaker
But Jesus is telling him that it is not us that they are hurting. It is him.
00:14:49
Speaker
So Jesus told us that if if they listened to him, that they would listen to the disciples. And if they did not listen to him, then they would not listen to the disciples.
00:15:01
Speaker
And so what we're seeing here is further confirmation of what Jesus has already taught us. So we need to keep that in mind and don't take it personally. We are on a mission for God's kingdom.
00:15:16
Speaker
It's not us that people are choosing to hate. It is God. It is Jesus. Jesus says that they are doing that because they don't know my father and they don't know me.
00:15:29
Speaker
So Jesus, however, can still use those whom he chooses. And so if God is showing us that somebody we know or we know of or is leading us to go somewhere ah to try and teach people about him, that we should not discredit them as being usable.
00:15:51
Speaker
or as being our brothers or sisters in the Lord. This is a very powerful example. Initially, the followers were very scared of him, understandably. And instead, Jesus was was making it clear that he was to be used.
00:16:09
Speaker
And so Barnabas advocated for him and told them what had happened. And once they knew what had happened, they gladly obeyed. i don't know that they gladly, but They, I'm trying to think of the word that they, well, they they were just, they changed their mind. They were, they chose to obey. There we go. That's what I'm trying to think of.
00:16:31
Speaker
They chose to obey. And so we need to make sure that we also choose to obey And do what God tells us to do. In this case, Jesus told Ananias, go.
00:16:41
Speaker
And so he didn't. He didn't continue arguing. And so we need to be sure that if God is sending us somewhere or to talk to someone and we think, not that person is awful.
00:16:54
Speaker
They're never going to be able to to believe this. We don't know that. Jesus does. If he is sending us to plant those seeds, then we need to plant them. and obey.
00:17:07
Speaker
We are learning this year to make God and Jesus the most important ones in our lives. And this is what Ananias did. He made sure that Jesus was the most important one. And he followed Jesus' example that not his own will, but God's will to be done.
00:17:23
Speaker
Well, I hope that you feel that God has lit your light today, that you are motivated to obey God and to spread the word to people that you may not have otherwise been desirable, desiring to spread the word to so that we can help teach other people to be followers of Jesus.
Call to Action
00:17:41
Speaker
Because Jesus, if he has chosen them, they will be useful for him. So thank you for joining me today for our October 16th daily reading out of the Day by Day Kids Bible written by Karen Henley.
00:17:54
Speaker
And ah if you would like to please click the light button, I'd like to encourage you to do that. When we click that light button, we are helping other people to hear the word of God.
00:18:07
Speaker
It helps this video to be, or audio to be shown and popped up on feeds. And I think that that's at least how some of you have gotten here. So help us spread the word about reading God's word.
00:18:20
Speaker
Help us make followers for Jesus this year. And if you are ready for tomorrow's reading, tomorrow, I will be here tomorrow. So I hope you do join me tomorrow for our next daily reading out of the Day by Day Kids Bible.
00:18:33
Speaker
And until we meet again, i hope you have a very blessed day and that God sends someone into your path to whom you can spread the word about reading his word too. See you then.