Study Questions for September 12, 2004

Acts 9:1-31 - Saul's Conversion

1. Persecution is such a huge issue in the early church that it makes one wonder today how we can be the church without it. How do you feel when the world looks on you as if you belonged to a cult?
 
2. How can Saul’s persecution of the Lord’s disciples be considered a personal attack on Jesus?
 
3. Unlike the Ethiopian official evangelized by Philip, Saul was hardly a seeker and would have been better classified as “unreachable.” Was Ananias justified in his response to the Lord in his vision?
 
4. In Saul’s conversion process, he is spoken to, first by the Lord Jesus and then by Ananias, but he himself does not speak. What do you make of this?
 
5. What do you think Saul said to the Jews living in Damascus? How did he go about proving that Jesus is the Messiah?
 
6. Saul appears to have rejected an underground strategy in favor of preaching boldly both in Damascus and Jerusalem. Saul’s fellow believers seemed more concerned about his personal safety than he did himself.  Identify the various ways believers supported Saul.
 
7. What helped the early church to grow in numbers? What can we learn from their example about church growth?

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