{"id":11119,"date":"2024-04-27T05:55:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-27T10:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/servias.org\/?p=11119"},"modified":"2024-04-25T06:56:10","modified_gmt":"2024-04-25T11:56:10","slug":"how-will-you-respond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/servias.org\/?p=11119","title":{"rendered":"How Will You Respond?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a><em>We are to fully align ourselves with Jesus and His instructions!<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Luke wrote by The Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 9:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">10&nbsp; Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and to him the Lord said in a vision, &#8220;Ananias.&#8221; And he said, &#8220;Here I am, Lord.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">11 So the Lord said to him, &#8220;Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">12 And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jesus already knew that Ananias was reliable and would respond positively to the directive.&nbsp; How did Ananias respond?&nbsp; <strong>\u201cHere I am, Lord.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">[13] Then Ananias answered, &#8220;Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">14 And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your Name.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">15 But the Lord said to him, <strong>&#8220;Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My Name before <u>Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel<\/u><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">16 For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My Name&#8217;s sake.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">17 And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, &#8220;Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, Who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me <strong><u>that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.<\/u><\/strong>&#8220;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">18 Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and <strong>he received his sight at once; and he arose <u>and was baptized<\/u>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">19 So when he had received food, he was strengthened. Then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Paul responded in the same manner when he responded to Jesus in the earlier verse:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">6 So he, trembling and astonished, said, &#8220;<strong>Lord, what do You want me to do?&#8221;<\/strong> Then Jesus said to him, &#8220;Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Each of us has a unique calling and that calling might place us in the presence of influential people.&nbsp; Paul was called to minister to his prior enemies, the Gentiles.&nbsp; Can you imagine how he had to process such a calling?&nbsp; He was to go before kings as well.&nbsp; What were the three priorities?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Priority #1: The Gentiles<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Priority #2:&nbsp; Represent Jesus to the Kings<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Priority #3&nbsp;&nbsp; The children of Israel<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What an important calling!&nbsp; Paul would need a confirmation as you or I would as well.&nbsp; This is why Jesus sent Ananias as the second witness.&nbsp; Paul had no idea who Ananias was, which assured him that this was a genuine confirmation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Paul wrote by The Holy Spirit in Romans chapter 1:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">13&nbsp; So, my dear brothers and sisters, please don\u2019t interpret my failure to visit you as indifference, because many times <strong>I\u2019ve intended to come but have not been released to do so up to now. For I long to enjoy a harvest of Spiritual fruit among you, like I have experienced among the nations<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">14 <strong><u>Love obligates me to preach to everyone<\/u><\/strong>, to those who are among the elite and those who are among the outcasts, to those who are wise and educated as well as to those who are foolish and unlearned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">15 This is why I am so excited about coming to preach the wonderful message of Jesus to you in Rome!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">16 <strong>I refuse to be ashamed of the wonderful message of God\u2019s liberating power unleashed in us through Christ!<\/strong> For I am thrilled to preach that everyone who believes is saved\u2014the Jew first, and then people everywhere!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">17 This Gospel unveils a continual revelation of God\u2019s righteousness\u2014a perfect righteousness given to us when we believe. <strong>And it moves us from receiving Life through faith, to the power of living by faith<\/strong>. This is what the Scripture means when it says: \u201cWe are right with God through life-giving faith!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Do not be surprised if Jesus calls you to a greater ministry than you currently have.&nbsp; Will you respond, &#8220;<strong>Lord, what do You want me to do?&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We are to fully align ourselves with Jesus and His instructions! Luke wrote by The Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 9: 10&nbsp; Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and to him the Lord said in a vision, &#8220;Ananias.&#8221; And he said, &#8220;Here I am, Lord.&#8221; 11 So the Lord said to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-love"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/servias.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/servias.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/servias.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/servias.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/servias.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11119"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/servias.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11120,"href":"https:\/\/servias.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11119\/revisions\/11120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/servias.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/servias.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/servias.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}