Thank you for joining our summer series exploring the Apostle Paul's long and adventurous journey.
Before he became known as Paul, he was known as Saul...a Pharisee who practiced the Hebrew religion, and a persecutor of anyone associated with the Way.
Acts 9:1-2
John 14:6
In the book of Acts, the term, "The Way" was the most common name for those following Jesus. The word "Christian" is introduced later in the book.
When people look at your life, do they see you are following "The Way" of Jesus?

Something happened in Saul's life. It's called conversion, or a change of life. We can sum up the previous few weeks of this series with this statement:
God saves people with a STORY, and creates for them a new STORY, so they can tell His STORY!
There are a number of Biblical accounts describing this conversion or change in Paul's life. Acts 9, 22, 26; Galatians 1; 2 Corinthians 11-12 are just a few of these. Do you think that maybe God wants us to learn something from Paul's life that will help our life?

The message today is entitled The Quiet Years. It deals with the period of time following Saul's conversion to the start of his missionary journeys. This is a time frame of about 14 years. This is before he became famous. His faith is developed, his faithfulness to Jesus and the church is established, and his fearlessness is tested. Paul wasn't just sitting like a bump on a log during this time! Just like any biography would leave out more than what was recorded, the same is true of Paul's story. It's what God has chosen to present to us.

We can look at Acts 9 to learn more about the quiet years.
Acts 9:1-9: we learn how Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus
Acts 9:10-18: we see that God sent Ananias to confirm his conversion
Acts 9:19-22: Paul was cared for and then quickly began to speak about Jesus

Paul was able to be used by the Lord for two very good reasons:
- He had been trained with Biblical knowledge through various classes and personal mentoring (both are something that Grace Church offers).
- He had encountered the testimony of Stephen and likely would have heard Jesus teach before meeting Him on the road to Damascus.

If we are to be used by God, we must be teachable, have encounters with Godly people who confront us with the truth, and have a personal relationship with Jesus.

At this point we must pay attention to the first words of verse 23. Every word here communicates something and we can ask ourselves, how many days? Verse 23 doesn't tell us but other passages do (Galatians 1:15-18a)

During this three year period of time, Paul traveled throughout Arabia.
We learn from 2 Corinthians 11:32-33 that Paul had taken the news about Jesus into this area. Paul ruffled the feathers of the mighty king of the Nabateans who followed Paul back to Damascus seeking to arrest him.
This three year period of time is what is referenced in Acts 9:23-25

The Quiet Years were super critical to who Saul would become.
We see this in others in the Bible as well such as Abraham who journeyed many miles in obscurity toward the Promised Land. We also see this in the lives of Moses, Joshua, David, Elijah and Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, John the Baptist, and Jesus.
Just like the practice field shapes an athlete into who they are on the game field, the quiet years shaped Saul to become Paul, a world changer!

The Quiet Years are part of God's plan. He uses them to call us, grow us, refine us, shape us, prepare us, and change us to be those that He is able to use to accomplish His will and to influence others.
Philippians 3:7-17

Here are three actions that Paul took during this period of time. If we want to fulfill His purpose in our life, to create a new story so we can share His story, then we must do as Paul did:

1. PURSUED a relationship with Jesus.

How much effort do you put into the pursuit?

2. PONDERED his own life.
Pondered means, "to think about or consider (something) carefully."

What areas of your life need to change?

3. PRIORITIZED the eternal over the temporal.

When life is over, will God see you as someone who used the stuff of this world for yourself or for Him?