At first glance, even we might question the Lord’s sending Ananias. After all, this was Saul – the man who was to become the great Apostle Paul – the man who wrote nearly half of our New Testament. They couldn’t afford to blow this one. Shouldn’t this conversion involve a professional? Shouldn’t it be Peter who goes to Damascus, or maybe John? But instead God chooses one of the very ones Saul had been planning to persecute.

A first grade teacher collected some well-known proverbs and handed different ones to each child in the class. But she only handed each child half of the proverb, asking him or her to finish the phrase. Here are the results:

»Two’s company. Three’s… the Musketeers.

»Don’t put off till tomorrow what… you put on to go to bed.

»Better to be safe than… punch a fifth grader.

»Strike while the… bug is close.

»It’s always darkest before… daylight savings time.

»Don’t bite the hand that… looks dirty.

»No news is… impossible.

»A miss is as good as a… mister.

»You can’t teach an old dog new… math.

»If you lie down with dogs you will… stink in the morning.

»An idle mind is the best… way to relax.

»A penny saved is… not much.

»Laugh and the whole world laughs with you. Cry and… you’ll have to blow your nose.

»Children should be seen and not… spanked or grounded.

»You get out of something what you… see pictured on the box.

»When the blind lead the blind… get out of the way.

Unexpected endings - Children are famous for them. So is God.

I say that because who but God would have thought to complete the sentence fragment, "Saul goes to Damascus to persecute Christians" with… "but ends up becoming one!"

The first nine verses of Acts 9 tell the story of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. But there is another player in the story who was a very necessary part of it. His name: Ananias. Ananias was a Jewish Christian who lived in the city of Damascus. God needed Ananias to be His change agent. So He called on him to act according to His instructions. Today we will read his story in Acts 9:10-19a. I’ve called this message, "Agent Ananias." We'll look first at:

Notice here that God doesn’t say, "Ananias, I want you to go convert Saul." That’s important to see. Instead, God says:

»Go to a specific house – Judas’ house

»Go to a specific street – Strait Street" (I guess we could say that old Saul was "scared straight." And by the way, Strait Street was an east/west street that still exists today in the city of Damascus.)

»Provide the answer to this man’s vision and his prayer.

God could have said, "Ananias, go and convert Saul." But He didn’t. Why? Because it wasn’t Ananias’ job! It’s never our job either to convert someone. That’s always the Lord’s job. He does that work. What the Lord does is send His agents to work where His Spirit has already been busy.

If you go before the Spirit gets there, you’ll know it. There will be no receptivity. There will be no interest in spiritual matters. You might as well go somewhere else.

But you can even go to the house of a traitor like Judas Iscariot or to the house of the murderous Saul of Tarsus if the Holy Spirit of God has been there first.

Ananias is being called to a field that is ready for harvest.

God could have restored Saul’s sight without Ananias. He could have brought Saul to faith without Ananias. But He didn’t. Why?

Because more often than not God employs a human agent in His work. He chooses someone from His agency, the body of Christ here on earth, to be His agent and to take the message.

God prepares the heart. Man carries the message. That’s the way people are won to Christ.

Next we come to:

Can you hear it in Ananias’ voice here?

Can you see in your mind his knees shaking as Ananias’ expresses his anxiety to the Lord?

Of course, he’s not telling God anything that He doesn’t already know. Neither do we.

I love that line in Fiddler on the Roof. Tevye is telling the Lord some things. He says, "Lord, as Your Good Book says…." But then he says, "But why am I telling You?"

We never tell the Lord anything He doesn’t already know. But we sure try, don’t we? Ananias says,

»Lord, have you thought about this?

»Are you sure that I’m the best choice?

»Have you considered using the Preacher, Lord, for this case? (No, he didn’t really say that but that’s the way some of us might put it.)

At first glance, even we might question the Lord’s sending Ananias. After all, this was Saul – the man who was to become the great Apostle Paul – the man who wrote nearly half of our New Testament. They couldn’t afford to blow this one. Shouldn’t this conversion involve a professional? Shouldn’t it be Peter who goes to Damascus, or maybe John? But instead God chooses one of the very ones Saul had been planning to persecute.

Don’t ever think that you are insignificant or that somehow God cannot use you for sharing the message of His kingdom. He can and He will.

Understandably, Ananias was afraid to approach Saul.

Have you ever feared when it came to witnessing? Probably so. Have you ever feared for your life like Ananias here? Probably not in the majority of our cases. Some of us may have feared for our self-image or our reputation or our ego. That’s more common among us today. Of course, Satan will take whatever he can get when it comes to keeping us from carrying the message to those who need to hear it. When God has done the work in someone’s heart and you or I, His agents, are aware that we need to carry the message to a certain person, Satan will use whatever he can to keep us from going in to close the deal. He’ll use every distraction he can to prevent us from serving as God’s agents. And he’s pretty good at it. Listen to this.

Distractions. We’re busy and feel like we have many things to do so the agent never reaches the potential convert. Satan has fulfilled his mission of distraction.

Next, let’s look at:

I think there is really only one operative word in these verses that Ananias hears in the Lord’s response, and it’s the first word: "Go!"

The rest is an explanation of just how important this is to the Lord and His overall plan for the ages but for Ananias, I’m sure "Go!" came through loud and clear.

To me it sounds a lot like the "go" of a parent to a child. Once they have engaged in that seemingly endless debate of which kids are seemingly so adept, finally, we’ve had it up to here and we just say "Go!"

Was Ananias a gifted evangelist? Probably not. We never hear of him again. But how important was this conversion? It could well be the most important conversion in all of Christian history, given the many resultant conversions from the ministry of Paul. Yet God called Ananias – and Ananias obeyed.

Good things happen when we simply obey the command of the Lord to "Go." Have you heard His command? He said, "Go into al the world and preach the good news to all creation." We have the command. We have the call. Every Christian is God’s agent. If we’ll just follow through we’ll see conversions. That’s what we see next.

It seems to me as I read these verses that Ananias stays on the positive side. He addresses him as a fellow Jew. He calls him "brother." (He’s not calling him a brother in Christ at this point. He’s just recognizing their common Jewish heritage.) He tells Saul: "I’m here to see you healed. I’m here to see you filled with the Holy Spirit. I’m here to tell you about your mission." He stays on the positive side.

Maybe you noticed the Valentine hearts on the children’s church board in the foyer this morning. Each of them have writing done by the children that is somewhat similar – things like:

"Keep Jesus in your heart."

"Love the Lord with all your heart."

"Give your heart to Jesus."

Adam noticed one this past week that was a little different. It said, "Give your heart to the Lord… or be destroyed." Not too positive. Ananias stays on the positive side.

Next, Saul is healed. Something like "scales" falls from his eyes. Then he is baptized. That fulfills the second reason that Ananias came – that he might be filled with the Holy Spirit. We know that the Holy Spirit is promised to anyone who repents and is baptized.

I notice also that there was no big crowd to witness this. Only Saul, Ananias, and maybe Judas and a few members of his household, since this all took place at his home. Conversion does not always have to take place in the midst of a crowd.

Today we’ve read the account of the remarkable conversion of Saul of Tarsus. God did his part but the job also required the use of a human agent – Agent Ananias, who received the call, had the concern, obeyed the command, and witnessed the conversion of this well-known persecutor.

As we close, let me tell you about Kurtis. Kurtis was a stock boy in a grocery store. One day he heard a voice unfamiliar to him over the intercom: "Need help at check stand four. Carry out." He responded, and as he came up to the check stand he realized that the voice belonged to a beautiful girl. He figured that she was a little older than he was, maybe 26 and he was only 22, but suddenly, he was in love.

After Kurtis’ shift was over he waited by the punch clock. Soon she came and punched out and as she left he noticed that she walked home. He also looked at her nametag: Brenda. He had her name!

The next day he offered her a ride home. When he dropped her off he said, "Maybe I can see you again outside of work?" She told him that wasn’t possible. But he pressed a bit and she finally told him that she had two kids and she really could not afford a baby sitter. "I’ll pay for the baby sitter," he responded. So she accepted his offer.

The next Saturday he arrived at the door only to find that the baby sitter had called and canceled. She couldn’t go with him. Not to be deterred, he replied, "Let’s just take the kids with us." She said, "No. That’s really not an option." He pressed her just a little.

Reluctantly she let him inside to meet the children. The older daughter thought he was cute. Then Brenda brought out here son – in a wheelchair. He had Down’s Syndrome and was a paraplegic. "I still don’t understand why the kids can’t come with us," he said. She was amazed. Most men would run from a woman in such a situation. She knew that because that is what her first husband had done. But Kurtis didn’t run. He persisted.

They loaded up the kids and went. Everyone had a good time. When her son needed something, Kurtis would take care of him. When he needed to go to the restroom, he picked him up and took him.

At the end of that very first date, Brenda was sure that his was the man she was going to marry and spend the rest of her life with. A year later they were married. Kurtis adopted both of the children. Since then they’ve had two more children.

Now the stock boy has changed jobs. Today, Kurt and Brenda Warner live in St. Louis. Kurt is employed by the St. Louis Rams. He went from stock boy to MVP of the Super Bowl in the year 2000.

Brenda and family needed a change in their lives. Kurt was the change agent. Kurt needed some change in his life and Brenda and those kids were the change agents.

Folks, there is someone in your life (or soon to be in your life) that is ripe unto harvest – ready for the gospel. You are that person’s change agent – or you could be. The Lord may be right now tapping you on the shoulder to get your attention. He wants you to go that person and help them understand who Jesus is. Will you do it?

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1. Author unknown

All Scripture Quotes are from the New International Version unless otherwise specified.

Permission is granted to subscribers of The Preacher's Study to use this document in total or in sermon preparation in the context of the local congregation only. Publishing it in a book, on the Internet, or anyplace beyond the local congregation is prohibited. The author of this sermon, Ron Rasmussen,  may be reached at: rjrass@juno.com.