the Lamb, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, we pray. Amen. Acts chapter 9, I will be reading starting at verse 1 all the way to verse 19. So please bear with me. We will not be in all of this passage. I just want to get a I just want to have you get a feel for the context and see and understand what's going on here. We are going to look at mainly verses 10 through 19. So Acts chapter 9, starting with verse 1, it says, and Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest. and desired of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven. And he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what will thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, arise and go into the city and it shall be told thee what thou must do. And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. And Saul arose from the earth, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man, but they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither did he eat nor drink. And there was a certain disciple of Damascus named Ananias, and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias, and he said, behold, I am here, Lord. And the Lord said unto him, arise and go into the street which is called straight and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus. For behold, he prayeth and hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him that he might receive his sight. Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man how much evil he has done to thy saints at Jerusalem. And here he had authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name. But the Lord said unto him, go thy way for he is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake. And Ananias went his way and entered into the house and putting his hands on him said, "'Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, "'that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, "'hath sent me that thou mightest receive thy sight "'and be filled with the Holy Ghost.' "'And immediately there fell from his eyes, "'as it had been scales, and he received his sight forthwith, "'and arose and was baptized. "'And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus. If I pronounce something wrong, I apologize. I normally preach out of the, I've been preaching out of the New King James and I'm going to be quoting out of that for my notes. So if I don't say something that 100% squares with the King James. I apologize for that, that's what's in my notes. But this is a familiar story to us, is it not? The story of a man of God who was raised up. And as we'll see in a few moments, there is more than one here. But when you read this story, what is it that is most impacting to you? What is it that most jumps out at you? Without a doubt, it's the marvelous transformation of a rabid enemy of Christ and his church. We have here an irate and a murderous Pharisee, who in the height of his campaign of terror against what in the book of Acts is called the way, meaning the church, the disciples, this man has an encounter with the risen Christ. And here we see the resurrection power of God in Christ over his enemies. Saul may have been a threat to the first century church, but he had never even posed even the most minimal danger to God and to his anointed. Truth be told, all was going according to the divine plan. As a matter of fact, the Lord had Saul just where he wanted him. In a matter of seconds, this persecutor of the church, this foe of the church of Jesus Christ is turned into a slave and into a friend of Christ. This is an amazing thing that we see here. God has the power not only to crush his enemies, but to crush them and turn them into his willing servants. This is what he does. in the life of Saul and God has the last laugh because he not only regenerates and converts this evil man but he calls him as an apostle and he calls him as an apostle to the Gentiles I mean the fact that he's an apostle is amazing enough an authoritative apostle who gave us inspired scripture the majority of the New Testament or a great part of the New Testament at least This man who tirelessly ravaged the church becomes the most tireless laborer in the church. He who sought to quench the flames of this sect of Jesus of Nazareth becomes one of the ones whose most used of God to build up the church and to advance the cause of Christ and the kingdom of God. He who tortured, who imprisoned, and who killed the saints becomes one of the saints who most suffers for Christ. And this Jewish Pharisee, as I mentioned, this Jewish Pharisee is called as an apostle to the Gentiles. We see here that God has a sense of humor. I mean, the Pharisees, who were they? They were the elites, right? They were the Navy Seals of Judaism. And Paul is one of the foremost of the Pharisees. A Hebrew of Hebrews, one of the top Pharisees, knew the most scripture. And as the ones who most prided themselves in being so Jewish and so scriptural, they were very arrogant, and especially arrogant against the Gentiles. They had a sense of superiority over the Gentiles. That's why I say God has a sense of humor. He sends him to, this former Pharisee, he sends him to the Gentiles. But you know, there's another story in this text, and a story that is not frequently talked about, a story that seems to be eclipsed by the account of the conversion of Paul. Nevertheless, this is a very important story. In this passage, the Lord raises up a man of whom the world is not worthy for a special and unique task. And I'm not referring to Paul. I've already mentioned Paul. I'm referring to somebody else. I'm referring to the second major character that we see in the text, godly Ananias. And by the way, he's not the same Ananias that got killed in Ananias 5. I need to mention that in case you may have been wondering. Ananias, in the vein of the Old Testament prophets, Ananias just seems to pop up out of nowhere, fulfill an essential task, and then fade right back into obscurity. We know absolutely nothing about this mysterious believer apart from what is written here and also in Acts 22 where Paul again recounts, well, he recounts his testimony, the testimony of his conversion to the Jews in Jerusalem. But that's all basically we know about Ananias. And notwithstanding the few details we have here, there is much that we can learn from him. In only a matter of verses, Ananias wonderfully displays outstanding qualities of godly character and humble service to his king. Indeed, he is an exemplary servant. His humble submission to the Lord and his sincere obedience is an example of the kind of saint that the Lord uses. Have you ever asked the Lord, Lord, use me? Please use, I wanna be used, Lord. Well, we have here an example of the kind of saint that the Lord uses, and this can be helpful and beneficial to us. So I just wanna highlight three noteworthy characteristics of Ananias in this text. And this is going to be very simple. First characteristic or first point that I have, Ananias was ordinary. Ananias was ordinary. Notice the stark contrast between Paul and Ananias in the text. Their two lives converge in this story, yet their lives are so different. Paul's encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus, his extraordinary calling and commissioning is dramatic. It leaves you on the edge of your seat. It makes you want to keep reading. There is anticipation that is building up here in the narrative. Makes you wonder what's gonna happen next? What's gonna happen with this Saul, rabid enemy of the church who gets converted? And when Ananias is introduced in this text, there is still some tension in the narrative, but what happens with Ananias is not so dramatic. Saul ends up being the protagonist of the book of Acts, pretty much the rest of the book. He is an authoritative apostle, and he is used to turn the world upside down and give us inspired scripture. Ananias, on the other hand, completes his assignment and is no more in the narrative. He disappears. We don't know what happened to him, what came of his life, et cetera. And Ananias is not an apostle. In fact, he's given no title by Luke, the author of the book of Acts. He's only, the only title that, you know, he's given no title but this one, in verse 10, disciple, which is, well, not really so much a title, it's a description of what he's like. And this term in Acts is not a distinguishing term. It is used to refer to all believers. What is a disciple? A disciple is a learner. Basically, that's what it means. A disciple. A disciple is a believer. And by the way, I must mention that there are not two kinds of Christians. You know, the carnal Christian and then the disciple. You know, there's only one kind of Christian. Every Christian is a disciple. Every believer is a learner who learns at the feet of Christ. So the point here is that Ananias is like the rest. He's not an apostle. He doesn't hold some extraordinary office. He doesn't go down in history as someone who is extraordinarily gifted. He's just a regular old disciple. He doesn't stand out from the rest. He seems average. He seems unremarkable. Yet the Lord is pleased to take this an undistinguished believer and give him an extraordinary assignment. He's raised up to confirm and to further the ministry of God's chosen instrument, as it says in verse 15, chosen vessel. He has to lay hands upon Saul to receive his side and so that he may be filled with the Holy Spirit. And that is no light matter. That's an amazing privilege in and of itself. This exceptional vessel, Paul, became what he was. Think about this. Paul became what he was because God used a seemingly unexceptional vessel to do it. So we learn something important here. God uses ordinary, simple people, not just those who are extraordinarily gifted or exceptionally called. God uses ordinary people. Behind every amazingly anointed man is an unknown disciple who is used to make that man what he is. We hear a lot about Charles Spurgeon, right, the prince of preachers. Well, we don't hear as much about that Methodist preacher who was instrumental in his conversion. Spurgeon heard him preaching the word, expounding on Isaiah. Look unto me, all ye the ends of the earth. We don't know too much about that, man. We know a lot about Spurgeon. And we could say the same thing about many other believers, individuals in the lives of Spurgeon. I think of, for example, the Christians, the believers who were in the boiler room while there was preaching going on. I don't know if you're aware of that or familiar with that, what was happening. The boiler room, right, the place where Many believers were in prayer. They were going before the throne of grace. What's the secret to Spurgeon's ministry? The prayers of the saints, the prayers of the unknown ordinary disciples. In the Christian world and in the kingdom of God, there is no such thing as a John Wayne Christian. You know, the sort of gung-ho guy that takes the world by storm, on his own, by himself. No, we are all dependent on one another. And I find this amazing. In the Scriptures, in the New Testament, Paul himself, this apostle of Jesus Christ, who saw the Lord Jesus Christ, he requested prayer. He asked for the prayers of the saints. And you may feel yourself to be ordinary, to be mediocre. You may not have an impressive oratory ability or pronounced ministerial abilities, but you know what? If you are a believer, you are an essential element in the body of Christ. Just read 1 Corinthians chapter 12. I'm not gonna read that, but read it yourself. Meditate on it. There it says that we are all members of one body. And Paul uses the analogy of a human body, right? Talks about hands and feet. We are all essential in the body of Christ. Of course, everybody likes the presentable members, right? The ones that can be seen. Especially the mouth. You know, I find that funny. Everybody wants to be the mouth. That's what the Bible warns us about, right? That not many of you be teachers. But we all want to be seen and heard. But it says in 1 Corinthians 12 that the unpresentable members, those that must remain hidden, those that are unseen, are given the most honor. Have you ever stopped to think about that? The ones that are not seen, those are the most honorable. just because you're not in the pulpit, just because you're not recognized, just because you're not in plain view, that does not mean you are not an integral part of the church. Now you may say, well, I wanna be used of God, I want the Lord to use me like all those preachers and all those missionaries that we read about, that we hear about, the ones that we are praying for. Well, you don't have to be in the pulpit, you don't have to be an overseas missionary. in the mission field to be used of God, you could be used right here in the context of the local church. You could be used through your intercession, through your giving, through your encouragement, encouraging the saints. You know, a few gestures of encouragement go a long way. There's been times in my life I've been feeling really down, struggling with depression. Just a few words from a believer just encourages me. And you don't know what the Lord can do with a few words of encouragement. The Lord can use you in whatever capacity he's called you to. I think of, you remember Anna in the gospel of Luke, a woman who was a widow, and how did the Lord use her? She couldn't do many things. She couldn't preach. She couldn't teach the word. She couldn't be a missionary. but she ministered unto the Lord with prayings, prayings and fastings. That's how the Lord used her. The Lord could use you through intercession. He could use you mightily. Sure, you're not gonna be known of men, but you're gonna be known of God. And the Lord may not use you in a powerful proclamation ministry, but he can use you to raise up or encourage a person who is called to that ministry. Behind every Paul there is an Ananias. God could use you as an Ananias. Have you ever prayed about that? Have you ever said, Lord, use me like that? Would you even be content with a ministry like that? Because at the end of the day, that's what it boils down to, contentment. Lord, use me in whatever manner you want to use, not how I want to be used, not my will, yours. Let yours be done. Use me in whatever capacity that you want me to serve in. Lord, if it's your sovereign will for me to serve my brother and carry his bags for the rest of my life and let him get all the recognition and me to be in the shadows, then let it be. So be it, Lord. Just use me. Ananias was content in the ministry that he had. He was content being ordinary. He didn't care about standing out or being special. He just wanted to do God's will. When Jesus calls Paul a chosen vessel in verse 15, Ananias doesn't get jealous. Oh, why not me, Lord? I wanna do what you want Saul to do. He doesn't respond that way. In fact, in Acts 22, 14, when Paul is recounting the story of his conversion, and he mentions Ananias, he says this, that Ananias told him, the God of our fathers has chosen you. Paul, the God of our fathers has chosen you. Ananias was humble enough to recognize that he was not chosen for that ministry. Paul was, and he told him that. Would you be willing to do that? Could you recognize the grace, the gifting, the calling in another person and be happy about it? And seek to lift up that brother or that sister? That is a great privilege in and of itself. And I can guarantee you, if you have that ministry, you will be rewarded. You may not be seen of men, but you will be rewarded by the Lord. And furthermore, We ought to know, we ought to be aware of this, brethren, that there is design in our ordinariness. God sovereignly places you where you are in the body of Christ for a purpose. This is God's wisdom. Ananias, for example, here, he needed to be ordinary. You say, why? Well, in Galatians chapter one, Paul says that he did not receive the gospel from man. He was an apostle in his own right. Had Ananias been of distinguished rank, an apostle, it could have been said that Paul received his gospel from another apostle, secondhand for man, from this person who laid, this apostle who laid hands on him. So we see here the wisdom of God. Ananias needed to be ordinary. So again, you may not have a recognized position in the church. You might be obscured like Ananias. Or you may have your five minutes in the limelight and then fade away. Lord, let your will be done, so be it. Whatever the Lord wants. He knows what he's doing. We don't know what we're doing. I don't know what I'm doing. I'm in the ministry. I don't know what I'm doing. I'm sorry to disappoint you if you expected me to know what I'm doing. I don't. I'm trying the best I can to be guided of the Lord according to his word, to be led of him, to follow the Lord's leading. Who is sufficient for these things? But praise God either way, however God uses us. We ought to echo the words of Paul, our aim is to please him. Not man, it's to please him. What's most important is that we're known in heaven. Ananias certainly was known in heaven. Verse 10, here the Lord Jesus calls him by name. He says, Ananias. Think about that, Jesus Christ knew his name. Wouldn't you like the Lord to call you by name? To come to you and say your name? But you know what, he does know your name. The Lord knows you intimately. If you are in Christ, you are a child of God and you are loved. He loves you, he knows you, he has loved you with an everlasting love, he has set his covenant love upon you. Not only do you know the living God, the Lord knows you. You have fellowship in Christ with the Father. You have fellowship with the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Isn't that enough? I mean, what more could you want? The God of the universe, the creator of the heavens and the earth, the sovereign ruler is your Father. You have an older brother who is the Savior. You are empowered daily by the Holy Spirit. And he dwells in you. And the Lord Jesus has promised to be with us always. and he has promised to dwell with us. We have his gaze, we have his presence. Isn't that enough to serve him in quietness and obscurity? Now I know that we are flesh, or we have the flesh at least. We've struggled with the flesh. And there are times in which we can be tempted to seek the glory for man, to regard man according to the flesh, to seek the recognition of man. And we're going to be tempted. And I'm sure you have, if you're a believer. You've been tempted to seek the recognition of man, to want people to look at what you're doing. Look at me. Look at me as I'm serving. There are times in which we can fall into this trap in a very subtle way. We say, well, pray for me, because I'm doing this and this and this. We have a long list of things that we're doing. And I'm not saying it's bad to ask for prayer. But it's a question. It's a matter of motivation. What are your motives? And at times, we can fall into the trap of seeking the glory of man. And when people don't give us the recognition, we get frustrated. When people don't pay attention to us, we get frustrated. No one appreciates me. No one appreciates all I do in this church. I do so much here, and no one says, and no one even tells me, thank you. And you look for validation in people rather than God, and when you don't get it, you are tempted to quit. My friend, if that describes you, I have some words of encouragement for you. Just stop. Stop it, OK? And I need to tell that to myself. Who are we living to serve? We say, well, I want to be like Christ. Really, you want to be like Christ? Christ lived for the majority of his life on Earth in relative obscurity. Read Isaiah 49 too. He was hidden away with his father And he was satisfied just being there. We're talking about the king of kings and the Lord of lords. We're talking about the God man. And he was content just being there with his father until it was his time to begin his earthly ministry. That's Christ's likeness following that example. It's Christ's likeness. Just being with the Lord. Are you content being with him? Just pleasing him? being ordinary and unknown. I like what Charles Wesley says in one of his hymns. Keep us little and unknown, prized and loved by God alone. Oh, that that would be our prayer. Lord, keep us little and unknown. If we prayed that regularly from a sincere heart of truth, imagine how the Lord would use us. So often we get in the way. You know, oftentimes after I finish preaching, I'll ask my wife, was there anything wrong in the message? And she'll often say, only one thing, you. And that's so true, right? I get in the way of my own preaching. It's when my own thoughts get in the way of the word of God, when my own flesh even gets in the way. self gets in the way so much. But if you could just go before the Lord and say, Lord, just use me however you want to, even if I'm not known, the Lord could use us so much. And he will, if you ask him. We have not because we ask not. Years ago, I asked the Lord this, when I was in Mexico. serving as a missionary, my co-laborer, very gifted, very gifted preacher, teacher, theologian. He would get all the attention. And I would pray to the Lord, Lord, keep me little and unknown, and God answered my prayer. I wasn't really recognized. And there were times in which I was tempted to like, oh man, can't I just have a little Lord? But no, and the Lord still keeps me in that way. Thanks be to him. There are times again in which I wish I had some more recognition, but no, you don't want that. You don't want that and the temptations that come with being recognized and known and seen publicly because the book of Proverbs tells us that a man is tried by the praise that he receives. You don't want that kind of temptation, temptation into pride. So many fall, you know, in our day and age of social media, especially, oh, look at what I'm doing. We share on Facebook, right? Oh, look at my evangelistic outings. Look what I did here. Look at me serving. And there's videos on YouTube that you can find of people record themselves giving money to the homeless and stuff. And we can fall into that trap as believers. We want everybody to see what we're doing. Everybody doesn't have to know what you're doing. It's enough with God knowing what you're doing. But there are so many people that because of this culture that we're living in of just constant exposure, online exposure, a lot of people fall into pride. A lot of people don't last in the ministry because they fall into pride. You should thank the Lord that you are hidden away and unknown if you are unknown. Secondly, we need to move on here. Ananias was devoted. These two other points are gonna be short. Ananias was devoted. In Acts 22, 12, Paul says that Ananias was a devout man according to the law, having a good testimony with all the Jews who dwelt there. So Ananias had a good reputation. He didn't have a ministry as pronounced and famous as Paul's. He didn't impact the whole world in the way that the Apostle Paul did, and yet, He had a good testimony in his neighborhood, in his community, in his immediate context. This Jewish believer was a man of the word. He knew the scriptures and he lived accordingly. And his reputation of uprightness impressed even the unbelieving Jews in Damascus. And we see how filled with the scriptures he was just by the language that he uses in this passage. The Lord speaks to him and he answers. He says, here I am, Lord, basically. Verse 10, behold, I am here, Lord. And in doing this, he is echoing the response of the Old Testament saints like Abraham, like Jacob, like Samuel, like Isaiah. You remember how they answered, here I am, Lord. He is utilizing Old Testament language. He's showing how familiar he was with the scriptures. This was a man devoted to the word of God. And when the word came to him, he answered the Lord with his word. And his familiarity with scripture is also evinced by his use of the term saints in verse 13. The word saint means a set apart one. In case you didn't know, a saint is not someone who's been dead for hundreds of years and been canonized by the Roman Catholic Church. A saint is any believer. A saint means one who is set apart. We have been set apart for God. We have been sanctified, set apart for him. So he uses the term saints, which is an Old Testament term. He also, in verse 14, he talks about all who call on your name. That's also Old Testament language. And he uses these terms to describe God's new covenant people. He demonstrates also in this text knowledge of the Holy Spirit. And there's other language that he uses here in Acts 22 that demonstrates that he is a man full of the word. He's devoted to God's Word, and he's devoted to the Lord himself as well. This was a man of prayer. This was a man of intimacy with God. I find it very interesting. You might accuse me of kind of trying reading into the text too much, but I find it very interesting that the Lord himself appears before him. And he doesn't get all weirded out, and he doesn't get all surprised. It seems like another day in his life. He's not shocked. This was a man who was so used to having fellowship with God that having a supernatural encounter with Jesus doesn't faze him. He just answers by saying, here I am, Lord. And this expression, here I am, Lord, is amazing in and of itself because in the book of James, James summarizes the life of Elijah, the prophet, with these two words, he prayed. In like manner, the life of Ananias could be summarized by the words that he says here. Here I am, Lord. That's how he responds to the call of Christ. Ananias was so devoted to the Lord that when the Lord came and called him, he was ready. Ananias was a man at the ready. He was available. I remember Brother Kyle White, my pastor, talking about a brother in India who would always say, I just want to be available. That's how Ananias was. He was always available. He wasn't caught off guard. He was ready for the next assignment. Psalm 27, eight, when you said, seek my face, my heart said to you, your face, Lord, I will seek. When the Lord calls, he is ready. That was in Ananias. He was a vessel for honor, sanctified, meet for the master's use, prepared for every good work. Now the question is, are we ready? Are we available? Should the Lord call us to a particular task, even if it is to clean bathrooms? Are we ready? Can we echo the words of Ananias? Lord, I am ready. Or would we be caught on guard this very moment? If God leads you to do something, if an opportunity opens up providentially for you to serve, would you be caught off guard? Lord, I'm not ready, not yet. If God providentially brings an unbeliever to you, would you be ready to share the gospel with that person? There's times in which I don't obey scripture, I'm not ready. Scripture says we should be ready in season and out of season. There are times where I'm caught off guard. My mind is not on the things of God, my mind is not on heavenly things, my mind is not on Christ. We need to be ready at every moment. In the words of 1 Peter 3, we need to be ready to give an answer for the hope that lies within us. Always ready. Moreover, Ananias' devotion is displayed here in that he was all there. He was all there for the Lord. He was devoted entirely to the Lord and to his service. His was not a half-hearted devotion. He was all there for the Lord and he was all there for the saints as well, because in verses 13 and 14, we see that He shows a great concern for the believers. Ananias' answer to Jesus was, Lord, I have heard by many of this man how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem, and here he hath authority from the chief priest to bind all that call on thy name. I heard what this man has done, what he's been doing to your church, to your saints. And how did he hear about this? Well, he was likely talking to other believers, and he was likely very involved in the lives of the believers. And he cared for them. He cared for their well-being. He didn't want them to be persecuted and harmed. That's why he expresses his concern here. He was all there for the Lord. He was all there for the brethren. Are we all there? When we were singing earlier, were you all there? I confess I had a bit of a struggle. I often struggle. I have certain chronic degenerative ailments, and that makes me kind of lose concentration. And I have to get back into the hymn, get back into the song we're singing. It's a struggle for us to be all there. We must strive to do so, but with the Lord's grace, with the Lord's help, it's a battle, it's a battle that we all have to battle every day. I also remember the words of an old Baptist preacher, Vance Havner. He was lamenting how many in the church today, many professing Christians, how unenthusiastic they are about you know, gathering together as a church. And he said, the same church members who yell like Comanche Indians at the ball game on Saturday sit like wooden Indians in church on Sunday. Are we all there? Are we worshiping in spirit and in truth, brethren? And I'm not saying, you know, you ought to worship exactly like a Pentecostal or something. I'm saying, are we worshiping in our hearts? with fervor, with zeal. Are we on fire for the Lord? I know that term has been overused, it's kind of a cliche nowadays, but it's true, we ought to be on fire for the Lord. 2 Chronicles 25 too, there it tells us that Amaziah, a certain king of Judah, and he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a loyal heart or not with his whole heart. We don't want that to be said of us. We didn't do it with a whole heart. We did it half-heartedly. Final point. Ananias was faithful. Ananias was faithful. He was devoted and committed to being obedient to his heavenly master, regardless of the circumstances. Now, some may not appreciate the tension that we see in our text. But I can guarantee you there is much tension here. And there would have been great difficulty. We kind of see it in the text. There's great difficulty here on Ananias' part. Because Ananias was the hunted. Saul, like a rabid dog, was seeking to imprison, to torture, and to kill the believers in Damascus. And Ananias may indeed have been a primary target. being of such reputation, such a testimony. Yet the hunted is called by Jesus to seek out the hunter. The persecuted has to approach the persecutor. And this would not have been an easy task, which is why he objects to the command. He says, but Lord, you know, he has this moment of kind of doubt, even though he was a very godly man and very devoted to the Lord. He was all there. None of us are perfect. We still struggle against the flesh. But Lord, ironically, this is also reminiscent of the Old Testament, is it not? Of the prophets like Moses. But Lord, I am slow of speech. I can't do it. They put up many excuses. We see Jonah running away from the Lord's command. Reluctant to obey the Lord. Ananias sort of has a moment like that, even though it's not as bad as some of the people in the Old Testament. But what is the response of the Lord? The Lord doesn't beat him over the head. He knows that Ananias is not fully understanding why. His objection arises out of not understanding everything that's going on. I don't get it, Lord. Jesus kind of gently rebukes him, and he tells him, go, go thy way, verse 15, for he is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel, for I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake. I'm going to use him. You may not understand fully what's going on, Ananias, but I know what I'm doing. You just trust in me. And how does Ananias respond to that? In verse 17, he goes, he does what the Lord says. has commanded him to do and he calls Saul brother in verse 17. I think that's incredible. I don't think in using that term brother, I don't think he was referring merely to the fact that he was a Jewish brother of the Jewish community. I think he's actually calling him a saint of God, brother Saul. So Ananias was faithful and so faithful that he was willing to change in accordance to the will of God. He was willing to change his direction if the will of God dictated it. If the word of the Lord made him change or exhorted him to change, he was willing to conform to the heart of Christ. This man was a true servant. He was teachable. He does not run from correction. Do we run from correction? Are we teachable? So often the word of the Lord comes to us through another brother or a sister, an exhortation, even a rebuke. Are we willing to change? Are we willing to accept it? Because at times, you know, our flesh doesn't like it. None of us like to be confronted, right? Doesn't feel good for anyone. I don't know any saint, I've never met a saint that said, you know, I love being rebuked. I love feeling bad when I'm rebuked and being put on the spot, right? None of us like it, at least in the flesh, we don't like it. But so often when we are confronted, the temptation is kind of, not to answer in a right way, but to kind of focus in on things that we shouldn't be focusing on. Well, I don't really like the way he said it. You know, I don't like kind of his attitude, the way he was telling me this. You know, we throw ad hominems in response, rather than just analyzing things objectively. Okay, I may not like the way he said it, but was it true? Does it line up with scripture? He may have had a bad attitude, but is it true? That's the question. Is it true? Whenever someone comes to me and exhorts me, I have to ask that question. Is it true? Is it biblical? It doesn't matter how the package was wrapped. Is it biblical? And if it is, I must conform my life to it. I must be teachable. Brethren, we must be teachable. And we have a great example of someone who was teachable here, Ananias. So I hope this has been of some help to you. This man who is not really well regarded or known, who doesn't receive much attention, but we can learn a lot from him. May we imitate the life of Ananias as he imitated Christ. I want to end with the words of another psalm, not psalm, sorry, hymn from John Wesley, because I think this This is very pertinent to the text that we've been reading here and studying. O thou who camest from above. I love this hymn because it shows us the source of our service. What we greatly need as a church is a baptism of service. the Holy Spirit to help us be servants. And He is the one who gives us the power to do. We don't have it in and of ourselves. We can't try to muster up the courage or muster up the ability to do this. We're not gonna do it. We're gonna fail every time. We must go to the Lord and ask Him to help us. He is the source of our power. You know, Philippians chapter four, Paul said, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. He's not talking about going to the moon and, you know, knocking out your opponent in a boxing match. He was talking about being able to withstand any circumstance and be content. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. That's, you know, the emphasis of that very well-known verse should be Christ. Nowadays, the emphasis is on, often it's on, I can do all things. That's not the emphasis. I can do all things through Christ. He is the source of my life, of my ministry, of my service, of my perseverance. Christ, He must hold me fast. And so let me read this hymn and then I'll pray. O thou who camest from above, the fire celestial to impart, kindle a flame of sacred love on the mean altar of my heart. There let it for thy glory burn with inextinguishable blaze and trembling to its source return in humble prayer and fervent praise. Jesus, confirm my heart's desire to work and speak and think for Thee. Still let me guard the holy fire and still stir up the gift in me. Ready for all Thy perfect will, my acts of faith and love repeat, till death Thy endless mercy seal and make the sacrifice complete. Oh, may the Lord come from above. May He pour out more of His Spirit upon us so that we would be ready for His perfect will. Let's pray. O Lord God, help us. When I consider my own life, O Lord,