“At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.”
Acts 9:20 (NIV)
In Acts 9, after Ananias lays hands on Saul—obedient to Jesus—and prays that Saul would regain his sight and be filled with Holy Spirit, Saul is baptized. Immediately everything changes for Saul and those around him.
Verse 20 tells us that at once Saul began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. In our day there’s a term called overnight success. Saul is very much an overnight preacher, but more than that, he turns from one end of the spectrum all the way to the other—from persecuting people for following Jesus to helping people find Jesus.
Verse 22 shows us Saul grew more and more powerful, baffling the Jews in Damascus not just by preaching Jesus is the Messiah, but proving it. How does this happen? Saul has an encounter with Jesus, he has an assignment from Jesus, and then he’s filled with the Holy Ghost. His glasses have been cleaned—what was foggy now becomes clear—and he understands what the heart of the Old Testament was pointing to.
The name of Jesus is a big deal, and the infilling of Holy Spirit is a big deal. And when someone has an encounter with Jesus, has had training in the scriptures, and then is filled with Holy Spirit, we shouldn’t prevent them from being a chosen instrument to preach the good news. We shouldn’t encumber them with some process they need to follow before they’re allowed to minister the good news.
If Saul had to follow the process that ministers today often have to go through just to show up in a synagogue and begin preaching, I wonder who wouldn’t have been saved. I wonder what ministry wouldn’t have occurred. And I wonder if we’d still be talking about Jesus, the Son of God. Today I’m thankful for Saul’s example to immediately use the gift he’s been given to tell the good news and to amaze others by the testimony of what God had done through him.