Acts 9 God's Grace at Work in Saul and Peter | Amy Anthony

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Amy Anthony  January 14, 2026 WOW Acts 9

Saul: From Persecutor to Proclaimer

1. Saul on the road to Damascus (9:1-9, 26:16) 
   1. Zeal without truth can be destructive 
      1. Saul was zealously pursuing God…he just had the wrong understanding of what that meant and what God wanted from him in that relationship. How many of us, if we really took a look at our lives through God’s eyes, could say the same thing? Are we zealously pursuing a relationship with God without really understanding what that means, and without ever stopping to consider what it is God wants from us out of that relationship? Doing all the things to tick all the boxes like Saul the good pharisee did, without just stopping to sit at His feet, and spend time with Him, and make sure that it’s Him and not the law that we are really following?
   2. True conversion leads to surrendered obedience
      1. We each have a role to play. Are you playing yours? Do you start your day surrendered with the question, Lord, what would You have me do? Or do you start each day with YOUR to-do list and hope to squeeze God in somewhere along the way?
2. Ananias’s obedient faith (9:10-19a) 
   1. God uses ordinary, obedient believers 
      1. Ananias said “yes” when God said “Go!.” What about you? What is your response when God calls? Warren Weirsbe says, “Were it not for the conversion of Saul, we would never have heard of Ananais, and yet Ananais had an important part to play in the ongoing work of the church. Behind many well-known servants of God are lesser-known believers who have influenced them. God keeps the books and will see to it that each servant will get a just reward. The important thing is not fame but faithfulness.” Ladies, you never know who your witness is impacting, and who THEIR witness will impact, so be like Ananias, and just GO!
3. Saul’s next steps (19a-25, Galatians 1:16b-18)
   1. Accept Jesus, Spend time with Jesus, Share Jesus
      1. Saul got saved, got some quiet time with God, and then got busy sharing about Jesus. Ladies, plenty of people encounter Jesus, maybe not quite as literally as Saul did, and don’t accept His free gift of salvation. Don’t let that be you! If you don’t know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you can just look at these verses and see how incredibly life changing His mercy, grace, and forgiveness are. Let today be the day you experience that personally. And if you are saved, how are you doing on those other two things? Quiet time with God and sharing about Jesus? Maybe you can’t retreat to another country, but you can safeguard your quiet time, and then share what God’s shown you with someone who needs to hear it.
4. Saul goes to Jerusalem and then goes home (9:26-30, Galatians 1:18-20) 
   1. Faith in Christ does not eliminate our need for community—He uses other believers to strengthen, protect, and sustain us. 
5. ***Progress report!***(v31) 
   1. God uses persecution to strengthen and multiply His church
6. Peter hits the road and heals Aeneas (9:32-35)
   1. When God moves in one life, there is almost always a “trickle down” effect, bringing salvation to many more.
7. Peter is summoned to Joppa (9:36-42) 
   1. A life faithfully lived becomes a powerful witness—even in death.
8. Peter stays with Simon, the tanner 
   1. God often grows us in obedience and spiritual maturity by stretching us beyond personal comfort and tradition
      1. This clean/unclean thing and the gentile thing are going to be issues that Peter has to work ....For the rest of the notes email WOW@Shepherds