The Steps of A Good Man

Acts 9:8-9,    Galatians 1:15-17
The steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord, and His stops.
The pauses in Life can sometimes be as meaningful as the pause in good music.
Paul had 3 periods of Retirement.

I: The Pause for Confirmation. Acts 9:8-9
1. 3 days of darkness.
2. 3 days to confront a new life in Christ.
3. 3 days of earthshaking changes.
4. 3 days to hear the call to preach.
5. No fuss, no refusal, but a time of turning. What had happened to him?
6. The chief of Sinners had met Jesus.
7. Here he faced and accepted the demands of his new relationship (A bond slave).

II: The Pause for Instruction. Gal. 1:15-17
1. Led by the Spirit into the Arabian desert.
2. Taught by Jesus to come to grips with giant issues.
3. No schooling better than this; short cuts into the Ministry are dangerous.
4. Paul came form the desert ready to give an answer to the whole world.
5. Paul took the Old Testament and came back with the Epistle in his heart and mind.
6. His keen mind took hold of the truth and he confronted Potentates and Kings.
7. His knowledge and conviction divided men and brought some to Christ, and made devils out of some. Few were able to ignore him.

III: The Pause for Discipline. Acts 9:29-30
1. Paul’s preaching in Jerusalem stirred up a hornets nest.
2. Paul was willing to follow Stephens example.
3. Paul retired to Tarsus for about 7 yrs.
4. Here he saw the 3rd heaven.
a. Here he encountered his bodily affliction.
b. Here he found that the grace of God was sufficient.
5. All these things went into the training of an Apostle.