Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied. (Acts 9:31)

Acts chapter 9 began with a zealous man named Saul breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord (Acts 9:1). But God was more than able to turn this terrible threat into a great blessing. Here, at Acts 9:31, Luke shows that God’s work not only continued but it was strong, despite the great opposition that came against it.

Notice the places where the church was healthy: all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria. The story of the advance of the churches in Judea (including Jerusalem) is found in Acts 1-7. Acts 8 includes the story of the church in Samaria. As for Galilee, the Book of Acts tells us nothing about the planting of churches in Galilee. We don’t know who started these churches, how they did it, or all the great works of God which took place in these young churches. This reminds us that Acts is only a partial history of God’s work during this period.

The churches throughout these regions had peace. This doesn’t mean that all persecution had stopped; instead, it means that they had peace amid persecution. Gods’ people should not need easy circumstances to have peace. As Jesus is with us, we can have peace amid the storm.

The churches throughout these regions were edified. That word edified has the idea of being built up. The churches were growing in numbers and strength. Jesus was building His church, just as He promised (Matthew 16:18).

We also read that all the churches in these regions were walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. Each of these are needed in the Christian walk. At any given moment a disciple of Jesus may more need the fear of the Lord or more need the comfort of the Holy Spirit.

How is it in your life? Depending on God to give you wisdom, ask Him to show you if you most need to receive a greater measure of the fear of the Lord or an extra portion of the comfort of the Holy Spirit. I fear that our quick response will always be for more comfort, but we must be sensitive to seasons when we simply need more fear of the Lord.

We can be sure of this – that when God’s people are walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, you may expect that they will also see their numbers multiplied.

The Bible teacher A.T. Pierson wrote about the phrase the comfort of the Holy Spirit: “There is not an evil now cursing or threatening our church life which this ‘comfort of the Holy Ghost’ would not remedy and perhaps remove.” May God give and we receive both the fear and the comfort to build up healthy churches!

And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, and did not believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. (Acts 9:26-27a)

A few years after he was wonderfully converted, Saul (also known as Paul) made a visit to Jerusalem. The visit didn’t go as he had hoped, at least not at first: he tried to join the disciples; but they were all afraid of him. It seems strange that Christians in Jerusalem were so suspicious of Saul even three years after his conversion. They perhaps thought that he was part of an elaborate and extended plot. Maybe they were reluctant to embrace such a dramatic conversion without seeing it with their own eyes. Simply, they did not believe that he was a disciple.

That had to hurt. At this point, some people might turn their back on Jesus Christ. We could imagine Saul saying, “I’ve been serving the Lord for three years, preaching Jesus Christ, enduring assassination attempts and death threats. Now you don’t want to accept me as a Christian? Do you call this the love of Jesus? Forget it!”

But Saul had a greater heart of love for Jesus and Jesus’ followers. It no doubt hurt, but he understood that the disciples in Jerusalem remembered the Christians that Saul had killed and persecuted before Jesus changed his life. If the disciples in Jerusalem lacked a little in love, Saul added a little more love to make up for it.

Yet in Acts 9:27 we read something wonderful: Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. Barnabas simply extended the love of Jesus to Saul, and as Saul (Paul the Apostle) would write later, love believes all things (1 Corinthians 13:7). Barnabas said, “I believe you, Saul. I believe you had a terrible past and I know Christians were really afraid of you. But I believe Jesus has changed your life, and for three years you’ve lived as a changed man.”

Thank God for people like Barnabas, who will welcome people into the family of God with simple friendship.

Many of us know what it is like to be hurt in the church, among God’s people. Some of us have known this pain very deeply. It seems like many people experience times when they are rejected, abused, neglected, or put out by God’s people. Some of us get treated the way that many of the Jerusalem disciples treated Saul.

If that is you, please don’t despair. You’re in good company, and God is big enough, wise enough, and sovereign enough to bring blessing and good even out of a painful season.

Here’s my prayer for you: that if you are in that painful place, God would send you a Barnabas – someone to hear you, help you, and love you in the name of Jesus. I also pray that God would help you to be a Barnabas to someone else.

Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God. Then all who heard were amazed, and said, “Is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem, and has come here for that purpose, so that he might bring them bound to the chief priests?” But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this Jesus is the Christ. (Acts 9:20-22)

Once Saul was changed by the power and presence of Jesus, he did not sit still. Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues. Because Saul was a skilled student of the great rabbi Gamaliel, he took advantage of the synagogue custom that invited any able Jewish man to speak from the Scriptures at synagogue meetings. He took advantage of this opportunity immediately.

When he spoke in the synagogues, he preached the Christ. The message of Saul was all about Jesus. He knew they needed to know Jesus in truth, that He is the Son of God.

Some people think when Jesus is called the Son of God it is a way of saying He is not God, but something less than God. But in those days, to be called the “son of” something meant you were totally identified with that thing or person, and their identity was your identity. When Jesus called Himself the Son of God, and when others called Him that, it was understood as a clear claim to His deity.

To preach that Jesus is the Son of God is also to preach the perfection of His life, and especially His work for us on the cross. It proclaims how God saves us through the work of Jesus. Saul also focused on proving that this Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah. As a rabbinical expert, Saul could easily see how Jesus was the Messiah promised in the Hebrew Scriptures.

People were amazed at Saul’s conversion. They heard Saul and said, “Is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name? It was hard to believe just how powerfully Jesus could change a life – but it was true!

All the while, Saul increased all the more in strength. Saul’s work for God so soon after his conversion should not surprise us. Often, that is the best time to serve the Lord, and especially to tell others about Jesus. It is true that young Christians shouldn’t hastily be put in positions of authority in the church (1 Timothy 3:6), but you don’t need a position of authority to serve God and to tell others about Jesus.

Saul’s willingness to serve the Lord helped as he increased all the more in strength. As we serve, God brings more strength to us.

Saul had a strong message – that Jesus is the Son of God and the Christ, the Messiah. That message can give us strength, if we will believe and walk in it – something we can do today!

…He is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake. (Acts 9:15-16)

This was a great call upon the life of a man specially used by God. In all history, there were not many people given the special call to bear the name of Jesus before those who have never heard His name (the Gentiles), before kings, and before the children of Israel.

With such a great call, we might believe that Saul of Tarsus (whom we also know as Paul the Apostle) was a “special favorite” of God. We might believe that as a “special favorite,” God would take special action to spare Paul pain and suffering.

That was not the case at all. When God gave Paul this great calling, He also called Paul to great suffering: I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.

This was a sobering addition to the great call God put upon the life of Paul. Paul would leave a life of privilege to embrace this higher call, but it was a call with much suffering.

In 2 Corinthians 11:23, Paul described some of these things he must suffer for the sake of Jesus’ name: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. He continued the description of his hard, stress-filled life in some following verses (2 Corinthians 11:26-28):

– In perils of waters: Paul crossed many dangerous rivers.
– In perils of robbers: Travelers in the ancient world were in constant danger of violent robbers.
– In perils in the city: Paul experienced many hostile mobs in the cities where he preached.
– In perils in the wilderness: Paul spent many dangerous days and nights in the wilderness.
– In perils in the sea: Paul endured many shipwrecks and difficulties at sea.
– In perils among false brethren: Paul had the danger of those who said they were brothers and his friends but were false brethren instead.
– In weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness: Paul simply lived a hard life as a missionary, traveling and preaching the gospel.

It wasn’t the mere fact of a hard life that made Paul fulfill his calling. Many people have hard lives but are in no way servants of Jesus. But for Paul, all these perils and hardships were freely chosen because he could have lived differently if he wanted to. But he didn’t want to. He wanted to serve Jesus, and if these hardships were part of serving Jesus, he would accept them. Paul lived this life, this calling – and he was happy in Jesus Christ.

God can make you happy in your life, your calling – even it means some suffering along the way. The same God work worked this in Paul can work it in you.

Click Here for David’s Written Commentary on Acts 9