Jesus has a plan

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Don Filcek; Acts 25 Jesus has a plan

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If you look back here, you see some of our core values. Actually, it's an acronym for our name, so you can see
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CAST there. We decided not to put reproducing on the wall, just because we didn't want to confuse people that could be taken in multiple different ways.
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But reproducing the life of Christ in our lives, and then also the idea of actually starting other churches at our first core value.
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But you see community, authenticity, simplicity, and truth. And those are the core values that basically drive the decision -making process for the leadership here.
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But I want to zero in on simplicity, because that's one that can be a little bit confusing to people, like, how many of you know that relationships can get complex?
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Like, I mean, you get people together, you get two people together, like just two, and things can get complicated.
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So by that, we don't mean that things won't, you know, of necessity, eventually, get a little bit complicated or complex.
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But what we mean by simplicity is that there's a method, there's a plan for your spiritual growth here at Recast, and I think it's important that I communicate that from time to time, so that what we believe every believer should be doing is growing in faith, growing in community, and growing in service.
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And actually, that growth process is how we define maturity. Maturity is not an arrival at a place, oh, now
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I'm mature. That's actually a sign of spiritual deadness and dying, because how many of you know that once you arrive at a place and you think,
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I've crossed the line and I'm it, you cease to grow. And so the growing process is how maturity is defined.
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Are you growing in faith? Are you growing in community? Are you growing in service? And the way we grow in faith here is by coming together on Sunday morning, taking in his word, believing that it's true, and by believing that it's true, you don't believe it's true unless you go out and do it.
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In essence, you can say, I believe it, but if you're not living it, then do you really believe it?
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So believing that God's word is true and then going out and acting upon it, that's how we grow in faith. And growing in community, we have small groups that meet during the week.
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Now I recognize that our culture is one of individualism. How many of you would agree with that statement? Where it's very easy to slide into a church service and some people's mindset is that the sum total of church is that I come in,
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I take in a service and I leave, but really, church is about relationships. The people are the church.
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This building is not the church. I think it's a travesty that in our English language, we use the same word for the building that we use for the gathering of people.
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It's the people. We are the church as we gather together. What we do here this morning on Sunday morning is something that's unique.
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When you get together, you are the body of Christ and that's an awesome thing. And so gathering together in authentic relationships with one another, and that happens, of course, it's hard to have authentic relationships with the 120 people that are gathered here today.
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And so we divide up into smaller groups to try to foster those relationships to get to know each other in real relationships.
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And then the last thing is service and growing in service, that God has gifted each person individually with some skills, some abilities that we can use to serve others, either out in the community or here within the walls of the church.
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Right now, people are serving us by taking care of kids down there. Some people got coffee ready this morning. Some others were greeting you at the door when you walked in.
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A multitude of different gifts that he's given us and using those to better relationships with other people and to help them along.
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So that's kind of the plan. And if you are growing in faith, growing in community, growing in service, we believe you're on the right road, that you're on the road of maturity and that process that God is using in your life is maturity.
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Before the worship band comes, I wanna introduce the text for this morning from the word of God. And as we draw near to the end of the book of Acts, you're gonna notice that Luke gets,
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Luke the author gets a little bit more detailed. And the text can tend to get a little repetitive.
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We're gonna see Paul, we see three different trials, like boom, boom, boom. He's on trial before Felix.
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He's on trial before Festus. He's gonna be on trial before Agrippa. And it's like, it can tend to get a little bit repetitive. But I think
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God has included these accounts for specific reasons. That when he includes something in the text of scripture, it's there for a reason and for a purpose.
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And so we're gonna look at that this morning and see the reasons why we have this text, Acts 25, one through 26, or rather one through 27.
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But last week, Paul was on trial before Felix, the governor of Judea. Felix is deposed and this dude
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Festus ends up replacing him. And now he's on trial before Agrippa. And now he's gonna be on trial before a new governor. So kind of the same thing that happened last week.
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He was on trial with an established governor who had been there for five years over this district. He's deposed and now a new guy comes in and Festus is going to put him on trial.
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And in this text, we're gonna see that Paul gets a chance to proclaim the gospel before the most elite gathering of Gentiles that he will get a chance to proclaim the gospel to in his entire life.
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And in Matthew 10, 18, Jesus predicted that these things would happen. We see that Jesus knew that these things were gonna happen and actually said they were.
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If you look, you don't need to turn there, but if you were to look at this text, Matthew 10, 18, Jesus says this to his followers.
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And you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake to bear witness before them and to the
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Gentiles. Has Paul been dragged before leaders and rulers and kings?
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We're gonna see that in our text this morning. We saw it last week. And Jesus knew what he was talking about.
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And Paul is living that out. Paul is experiencing that in his life, the reality that Jesus is planting his church and is starting, and he's working and he's doing things to make
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Paul's life the way that it is. And I think ultimately, if you were to look at life from Paul's perspective,
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Paul knew that his life only counted as much as he tied in with the higher purposes of what God had for him in life.
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And Jesus is planting his church. And Paul is willing to be used as a tool in God's hands.
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He's eager to be used and spent for the kingdom of God. And so my question is, this morning as we come to worship, what about us?
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Do we see our lives in the mundane day in and day out? How many of you would say you just kind of had a mundane week?
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You're just kind of grinding it out and things just kind of happen and it's just kind of been a routine week, anybody? Everybody else just had wild and radical weeks?
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It was kind of a routine week for me. I mean, I'm just gonna be honest, it was routine. I did kind of the same things that I did the week before.
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A lot similar, except it was my wife's birthday. I shouldn't call that a routine week, oh my goodness.
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But what about us? Do we tie in in the day in and day out with the grander purposes of God?
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Do we see ourselves as being used by him? Do we see ourselves placed in our location, influencing people around us for the glory of the kingdom of God?
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That is a grand way to live your life. If you see your life as just kind of doing this daily thing, how many of you know that that can get depressing at times?
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If you can tap into and tie into and realize that your life is connected to the purposes of God towards what he is doing in the world.
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Recast is a sliver, a small sliver of what God is doing. I rejoice that there are other churches out there that are meeting this morning to bring honor and glory to our great king
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Jesus Christ. I rejoice that we are just a sliver of what he is doing in the world. So I want you to open your
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Bibles to Acts 25. That's page 800. There's a Bible in the seat back in front of you. You can take that one out.
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Easy reference, easy way to find it. Just go to page 800 and that's where we're gonna be. And I'm gonna read the entirety of Acts chapter 25.
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If you don't own a Bible, I want you to take that Bible with you. Or if you don't own an English standard version of the
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Bible, which is what I preach from, nothing magical about that, it's just my preference. But if you don't own one of those, you can just take that one with you.
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We've got boxes of those ready to replace those. I want you to take it. Follow along as I read
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Acts chapter 25. Now three days after Festus had arrived in the province, he went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea.
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And the chief priests and the principal men of the Jews laid out their case against Paul. And they urged him, asking as a favor against Paul, that he summon him to Jerusalem because they were planning an ambush to kill him on the way.
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Festus replied that Paul was being kept at Caesarea and that he himself intended to go there shortly. So said he, let the men of authority among you go down with me.
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And if there's anything wrong with the man, let them bring charges against him. After he stayed among them not more than eight or 10 days, he went down to Caesarea.
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And the next day he took a seat on the tribunal and ordered Paul to be brought. When he had arrived, the
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Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many and serious charges against him that they could not prove.
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Paul argued in his defense, neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have
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I committed any offense. But Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, said to Paul, do you wish to go up to Jerusalem and there be tried on these charges before me?
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But Paul said, I'm standing before Caesar's tribunal where I ought to be tried. To the Jews I have done no wrong as you yourself know very well.
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If then I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything for which I deserve to die, I do not seek to escape death.
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But if there is nothing to their charges against me, no one can give me up to them. I appeal to Caesar.
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Then Festus, when he had conferred with his council, answered, to Caesar you have appealed, to Caesar you shall go.
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Now when some days had passed, Agrippa the king and Bernice arrived at Caesarea and greeted Festus. And as they stayed there many days,
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Festus laid Paul's case before the king saying, there's a man left prisoner by Felix. And when I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the
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Jews laid out their case against him, asking for a sentence of condemnation against him. I answered them that it was not the custom of the
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Romans to give up anyone before the accused met the accuser face to face and had opportunity to make his defense concerning the charge laid against him.
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So when they came together, I made no delay, but on the next day took my seat on the tribunal and ordered the man to be brought.
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When the accuser stood up, they brought no charge in his case of such evils as I supposed. Rather they had certain points of dispute with him about their religion and about a certain
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Jesus who was dead, but whom Paul asserted to be alive. Being at a loss how to investigate these things,
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I asked whether he wanted to go to Jerusalem and be tried there regarding them. But when Paul had appealed to be kept in custody for the decision of the emperor,
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I ordered him to be held until I could send him to Caesar. Then Agrippa said to Festus, I would like to hear the man myself.
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Tomorrow, said he, you will hear him. So on the next day, Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp and they entered the audience hall with the military tribunes and the prominent men of the city.
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Then at the command of Festus, Paul was brought in. And Festus said, King Agrippa and all who are present with us, you see this man about whom the whole
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Jewish people petitioned me, both in Jerusalem and here, shouting that he ought not to live any longer.
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But I found that he had done nothing deserving death. And as he himself appealed to the emperor, I decided to go ahead and send him.
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But I have nothing definite to write to my Lord about him. Therefore, I have brought him before you and especially before you,
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King Agrippa, so that after we have examined him, I may have something to write. For it seems to me unreasonable in sending a prisoner not to indicate the charges against him.
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But as we dive into this text, right off the bat we see that this dude named Festus replaces
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Felix as governor over Judea, over the area where Jerusalem is. And he's a wise person, a wise leader in that really just right away when he gets on the job, he goes down to Jerusalem, or actually up elevation wise, up to Jerusalem and checks things out because Jerusalem is the principal city of his district.
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And so wouldn't that be wise if you're governor over an area to kind of go and get the lay of the land, meet with some of the leaders of the community that you're over and kind of figure things out.
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So he goes down there. And one of the first points of business to come to his attention is the apostle Paul. The Jewish leaders bring
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Paul up right away. Like you get the impression that maybe Paul is on their mind? Like they're thinking about him and right away, boom, it's like, oh, but what about Paul?
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You've got him in prison. What are we gonna do with him? He's been in protective custody for over two years in Caesarea, innocent, not been charged with anything that sticks, no proof against him.
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And as I mentioned before, what could you do with two years of your life? Like how many of you would grow a little bit bitter in being imprisoned unjustly for two years?
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Anybody? Okay, there's like six of us, maybe 10. Okay, and the rest of you would be okay with that, and I'll keep that in mind.
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But I think all of us, right? There'd be some tendency to be like crying out, and of course, everybody's innocent in jail, right?
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But he really is. He really is, and we know that in the text. But notice it's the
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Jewish leaders. The text says it's the priest, it's the principal men of the community, and they make a case against Paul.
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And in the process of making a case, it says they urged the governor. Okay, the word in Greek there is a really strong word.
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It means like begging or earnestly requesting. They're begging something from him. And not only are they begging something, but they're begging that he do them a favor.
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Okay, so now you put this in perspective. Okay, he's the new governor of a hostile region, and they're asking him to do, the leaders of that hostile group, the
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Jews who don't like Rome, are just asking for a favor, and it's a pretty simple favor.
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It's a small favor. Something that's easily granted. All they are asking, their only sole request, is that Paul be brought to Jerusalem for trial.
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Now how many of you think that it might be, like you put yourself in just all things being equal, just maybe you're not a believer or whatever, you put yourself in Festus' shoes.
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How many of you are pretty thinking it makes just common sense for him to grant this request? He's the new guy on the job.
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Somebody's asking something simple. How many of you might just go ahead and say, okay Paul, you're going to Jerusalem?
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Like wouldn't that be almost kind of like the, anybody with me on that? On the other hand, you look at the political climate, and he might think the exact opposite.
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Well if I show myself weak at the very first request, you know what I'm saying? I mean you kind of look at it from both sides of the political spectrum, and kind of like, if I just cave in at the very first thing that they ask, then, and so we don't really know, and we don't really see deep down in the motivations of Festus on this point.
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But he is being asked a very simple thing, and in political wisdom would say, just grant it to him, it's easy, and you'll gain a little bit of political favor down the road, and they owe you something if you give them this favor, and that could be beneficial, right?
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But we know that they don't, it's not that the Jews just want Paul to come, and you know, come to Jerusalem, hang out for a while, have some coffee, and talk through their differences, right?
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The text tells us what they have planned for Paul, and it's something a little bit different than that. They plan to ambush him along the way, and kill him.
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Now we know that there were, if you were here a couple weeks ago, and some of you were, there was a plot of Jews in Jerusalem when
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Paul was there, and he had been brought into protective custody, there was a plot of 40 Jews who said, we won't eat anything until we kill
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Paul. So they wanted him dead, and I'm guessing that those people broke their oath, because Paul's not dead, and it's been two years now.
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So either they're dead, and they kept their oath, or they broke their oath, and they're the ones that are probably still spearheading this thing, going okay, well, this plan that we started two years ago, we're gonna finish it.
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So we're gonna be lying in wait, the Romans bring him down from Caesarea, up the hill to Jerusalem, and we'll be lying in the ditch, and we will kill him.
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Not cool. But notice that the religious leaders are the ones who are now planning to kill
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Paul. Think about this, think about this statement. Many atrocities have been committed in the name of protecting religion, protecting human institutions, protecting human establishments of religion.
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Do you know what I'm talking about? There have been atrocities, and how many of you would agree with that? If you look back at history, atrocities at the expense of, or for the purpose of protecting our religious, our religiosity, our rules, our legislation, our laws, our legalism, our institutions, that's not a good thing.
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God has never called his people to protect religion. Did you know that? We are not the protectors of religious establishment.
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God has just simply called us to live out a relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. That's what we've been called to do, not to protect something like they are working, and they are actually, how many of you know that they're gonna, they're in essence breaking the law, they're gonna murder an innocent individual for the sake of religion.
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Like, do you see that in the text? That's what they're trying to accomplish here. It's a little bit backwards. Bethesda says,
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I wanna get back to Caesarea, that's where I'm going, that's where you said Paul is, Paul's in prison at Caesarea, I'm on my way there, it makes less sense for me to go to Caesarea, see him, bring him back here, than for you guys to come with me to Caesarea, and we'll see him on trial there.
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You guys come with me, and that's his logic and that's his rationale. And so Festus hangs out for a little over a week, and then he heads back up to Caesarea with the
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Jews in tow, ready to accuse him. And as soon as he can, it says the next day, he takes the judgment seat and summons
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Paul to his presence. So here's the governor over everything going on for the
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Jews, he's over the Jews, Roman ruler, and within two weeks on the job, Paul is a high priority.
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And the Jews have not let this go. They have been holding this for two years, I mean, you know that roots of bitterness can form in our lives where we can hold grudges, and this is a two year long grudge, and they want to see him dead, and that's been on their mind regularly for two whole years.
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The leaders of Jerusalem show up and bring, it says, many serious, many serious, and unprovable charges against Paul.
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Now I don't like to be falsely accused, anybody here really like that? Like when you're accused of something, you haven't done it, that's just not fun.
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I remember when I was a little boy, I can't tell you how old I was, but I remember my mom found one of my sister's
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Barbie dolls and it had a bob, it had been cut, the hair had been cut, and my mom said, who cut this?
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So I asked my sister, who cut this Barbie doll's hair? And what did my sister say? I did it, okay?
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And I got paddled, any of you get paddled when you're a kid? Get spanked? That's one I remember, okay?
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Now I got paddled a few times, I did a couple wrong things, maybe one or two times, but that's the one
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I remember, I remember that paddling, why? Because it was unjust, because I was innocent.
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Of course, what ended up unfolding in the awesome divine judgment of God is that the conversation between me and my sister, between the wall of our bedrooms, later that night, my sister unwisely disclosed the lie in a conversation with me, and she didn't know my mom was in the hallway, listening.
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I remember that well, too. So there was justice, there was justice in that situation, and it all ended well,
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I guess, for me, not so much for her. The book of Acts would just be miserable, though,
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I wanna point out, if Paul was a whiner every time he experienced injustice. This would be a miserable book.
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If every single time, you know, if we had a couple chapters of him whining to God, oh God, why, why the injustice?
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Because he's experiencing it all over the place. But we see, Paul just defends himself in a very matter -of -fact way.
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He's not whining about it, not complaining about it, he's just gonna be direct. I've not broken the law of the Jews, I've not broken the temple laws at all, and I've not broken
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Caesar's law. Case closed. Paul has declared his innocence, and in the absence of any proof,
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Festus, being a good judge, lets him go when he's free to go, right? Is that what the text says? No, it doesn't.
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Verse nine, and this is key, look at verse nine. Go ahead and look down at the pages of Scripture.
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But Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor. Wow. Great job,
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Festus. Anything in that ring of corporate business dealings, or sound like high school cliques, sound like favoritism in the church, or like a broken human nature that doesn't just do right because it's the right thing to do, but rather looks at how can
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I look the best, how can I gain the most favor, how can I push myself forward, and how can
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I work my agenda? Any of that sound like that? Festus, who wanted to do the
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Jews a favor, and he proves himself to be focused on his own agenda, and a little thing like justice is not gonna get in the way of his agenda.
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You see that? So Festus suggests that Paul go down to Jerusalem for a trial there, but in his nobility, he says, well, would you go down to Jerusalem and stand before me in trial?
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I'm not gonna just turn you over to them wholesale. I'll come down too, and I'll be your judge.
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I'm not gonna turn you over to Jewish law. You're gonna be tried under Roman law still, but I'll go with you. Would you be willing to do this?
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You see that he's compromised, and he's ready to turn Paul over. They're on their way to Jerusalem.
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But you see, the thing is, Paul remembers that two years earlier, that plot had been disclosed to him. His nephew had found out that plot that 40 people wanted to murder him on the way, and I'd imagine that Paul, in listening to this, the
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Jews really want him to go back to Jerusalem. They're like, oh, let's go do the trial there. Do you think he has maybe some knowledge of why they want him to go back to Jerusalem?
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They knew about that plot already, and it had already been disclosed to him, and he's like, something smells fishy here.
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They seem to be desperate to get me back to Jerusalem. I'm guessing that somebody is gonna try to kill me on the way. So Paul gets really strong here, and it kind of shows that I don't think it's inappropriate for us to defend ourselves.
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Some people, some Christians you'll hear say, you should never defend yourself. Well, defensiveness is ugly, right? When you're just constantly defending your behavior and stuff, and some of us have been that person.
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Some of you know that person who is just constantly, constantly defending themselves, but there is a time and a place for it, and if ever there's a time, it's when he's on trial innocently, right?
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So he's gonna get pretty strong here, and he says in verse 10, I am in the right court of law right now,
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Festus. I'm in the right place. I'm before the Roman tribunal.
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I'm your eye on your judgment seat. I'm a Roman citizen. This is the place for me, and you know full well, you know very well,
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Festus, that I have done no wrong to the Jews. Do you see how strong that is to say to his judge? That's a pretty strong statement.
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You, who are sitting in judgment over me, you know very well I have done nothing wrong. Wow, that's a pretty strong statement, wouldn't you say?
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I'm not sure how well that would go respectfully in a court of law, and then
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Paul makes an amazing bold and fearless statement. He says, if I've done anything that is a capital crime, if I've done anything that's worthy of death,
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I don't seek to escape it. If I've done a capital crime, kill me. Wow, do you think that he's convinced of his own innocence in this case?
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I think so, but if there's nothing to their claims, then no one can give me up to them, he says.
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That's a weird statement. Anybody think that's a weird statement? Because isn't he standing and speaking to the person who can give him over to them if he wants to?
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So what does he mean by that? Well, it's in light of his appeal to Caesar. He's about to appeal to Caesar and say, you're not gonna be able to give me up to him because I'm gonna appeal to the highest authority.
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But the phrase in verse 11, although it sounds strange in English, the word give in that text implies an actual gift.
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So he's saying, nobody can gift me. Nobody can give me as a political favor to the Jews, and that's what he's acknowledging, is that Festus is compromising and is about to give him as a gift, wrapped up as a package to the
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Jews. And he's like, nobody can do that to me because I am going to appeal to Caesar. Now, as a
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Roman citizen, Paul had the right to request that his case be taken to Caesar if a verdict has not been rendered.
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So it's not like our appeals process. Now, maybe some of you understand that you can appeal, you can appeal to higher courts, and there's an entire process by which a case can ultimately eventually get before the
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Supreme Court. If you appeal and things don't go well, this is only an appeal based on a non -decision.
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There hasn't been a decision, the case hasn't been, because if Festus says you're guilty, he can't appeal anymore, it's done, and the thing's gonna be carried out immediately.
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So if there's been no verdict rendered, then he can appeal to Caesar. The problem is, you might say, well, why doesn't everybody appeal to Caesar?
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Well, Caesar was not a necessarily great judge to stand in front of. So when he actually says here in a moment, you've appealed to Caesar, buddy, go ahead.
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You're gonna stand before Caesar. That's a serious thing, because Caesar might have a hangnail that morning.
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He was a pretty capricious individual, and many of the Caesars, many of the Roman rulers were very capricious in their judgments, very unsettled and unstable individuals if you study any
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Roman history. So to stand in trial before one of the Caesars was a pretty big deal, but it's ultimately,
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Paul is saying, you're compromised, this is gonna end poorly for me. I'm going to Rome, and I'm gonna appeal to Caesar.
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But I wanna camp out a moment on the confidence and boldness of Paul. How many of us could say,
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I do not seek to escape death? He actually says that. I don't seek to escape death.
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You see, Paul was rock solid in his conviction that salvation is only through Jesus Christ, and he lived his life in a manner that did not fear death, because of his assurance that salvation is in Jesus Christ, and that he himself was saved.
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I can see clearly how fearlessness affected Paul's life. Can you see that? You see the way he lived his life?
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I mean, if you're going through the book of Acts, and you've been a part of this series, man, it's just all over the places, and how many of you agree with me that Paul lived a radical life?
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Pretty amazing. But what about us? I think it's funny, a little bit humorous, that fearlessness in life has been relegated to the concept of extreme sports in American culture.
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So if you're fearless, you do things like skydiving, or mountain climbing, or flipping snowmobiles on ramps.
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Did anybody see the YouTube clip of that, the first time that they ever did an end -over -end flip on a snowmobile this past week?
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Nobody's into extreme sports? It's pretty cool, you can check that out. That's the kind of stuff, like texting on the highway.
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I don't know if that's an extreme sport, or just driving on I -94, you know? Just that, you don't even need to be texting, just drive on I -94, that's extreme.
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Fact of the matter is, Paul lived a risky life for the cause of Christ, for the name of Jesus, for the cause of the gospel.
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And here I'm not merely talking about verbally speaking to those who might not like you because you're a Christian, okay?
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It goes a little bit beyond that, because what we see Paul do is Paul left comfort because he knew he was going to die and only had one life to spend.
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Paul moved from his home and family to go and tell those who would otherwise not know because he loved
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Jesus Christ. Paul braved physical sufferings, cold nights, dangerous pathways, beatings, persecutions, because he did not fear death.
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For the believer, we really should have nothing to lose, and that's hard for me to hear, and so it's even kind of hard to say, but it's reality.
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We really should have nothing to lose. Whatever you have to lose, and if you think about that in your mind, what do you have to lose?
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Jesus would say to all of us, do we love that thing more than him? Do we love that more than him?
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What do you have to lose in living radically for Jesus? Your American dream, your home, next one's painful, your family, your stability, your reputation.
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What do we stand to lose in the cause of Christ? And there's one thing that, as I thought about this this week, that snapped me back into reality, and I need to share it with you.
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I think it puts things in perspective. None of those things are mine to begin with. They're not mine.
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I don't own them. And then a more, I can't think of the word, just, it's kind of morose to think about.
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I'm gonna lose them all anyways. Anybody gonna cling to your house and take it with you after you die?
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That American dream with the picket fence and the dog and everything just all rosy and uh, is that gonna be the way that it ends for all of us?
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It's not. Why not? Why not spend this life in radical living for our
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Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who is our only hope and is our future and is eternity for us? Why not live that way?
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Instead of clinging to the things that don't really matter and can never really satisfy, and we think we're gonna get joy out of these things.
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Have you lived long enough to experience that those things do not provide joy? Have you experienced that yet?
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Man, my prayer for all of us is that we get there. That every single one of us gets to the end of trying to find joy in stuff of this world.
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Now granted, I'm not that person who says, you know, I don't believe in evacuation theology that our goal is to get out of this earth.
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I think that he's put us here for a reason. We need to live this life intentionally. The stuff of earth is not evil.
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Having a flat screen TV is not evil. Many of us are gonna sit around and watch a flat screen
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TV tonight, right? Okay, have a little bit of fun with some fellowship with some others and have a good time.
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I encourage you to do that. Okay, I'm not saying everything needs to be down and morose and everybody needs to be just living this solemn life of asceticism and you know, beating your back with a whip and stuff like that.
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No, no, that's not what I'm saying. Don't hear me say that, but do you understand the difference between living a radical life and it's a balance and it's trying to figure out our place in this world at the same time knowing that this is not the end.
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If your hope is in flat screen TVs, oh, you're gonna be sorely disappointed because you know, that one, you need another one every six months, right?
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That one's already worn out and you need the next one and the LED, you know, gotta get an LED and all that stuff.
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That's not where our hope is. Festus confers with his people and they agree that court protocol has officially been followed and Paul will get just what he's asked for.
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Paul has appealed to Caesar, to Caesar he will go. Now we saw a few weeks ago that Jesus had actually appeared to Paul and promised him
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Rome. Do you remember that? He actually said, you will get to Rome. He's gonna get to Rome now. And not only is he gonna get to Rome, but he's gonna get an audience with the head honcho in Rome.
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That's the way that God is working in this circumstance and in this situation. He's gonna get an actual conversation with Caesar, with the emperor.
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Now we never see that recorded in scripture, but I believe that it happened and I cannot help, I mean, anybody wanna guess what the content of Paul's defense would be before the
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Roman emperor? The gospel. It's always the gospel. He's always focused on Jesus Christ and the gospel and he gets an opportunity to go to Rome.
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Festus is struggling to come up with an accusation. The trial's over. He's appealed to Caesar.
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He's going to Caesar. Everybody's dismissed. But Festus still doesn't have a clue. Everybody is struggling to figure out
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Paul. Nobody can quite figure out. Because you see, the Jews on one hand want him dead and the
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Romans on the other are finding him innocent and Festus is kind of stuck in the middle. Kind of like, well, they want you dead.
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I don't see what you've done wrong and it's his job to come down on a verdict and he just doesn't even know.
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And not only that, now he has the privilege within just a week or two of him being on the job, he has the privilege of writing a letter to the emperor accusing this guy of something and saying he's appealed to you.
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He needs to be tried in your court. Like, that would be kind of intimidating. It's like you're one week on the job and your job is now to write a case to the
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CEO of your company, like right away. Like, boom. So Agrippa, he gets some visitors at a good time because this dude
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Agrippa and Bernice show up to congratulate him on his new office and they're both really steeped in Jewish law.
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They understand Jewish customs. They're Jews themselves and they've been around this area for a while. So he's like, oh good, finally somebody who understands
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Jews is gonna be here. Could you come and see Paul and listen to him and maybe you can come up with something that he's doing wrong.
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So, and by the way, this is Agrippa and Bernice. This is brother and sister, not husband and wife, as many of you might think.
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Although, Roman history has some sketchy things between their relationship and we won't get into that. Yeah, these leaders are just weird.
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But to give you the perspective of who this is, Agrippa is the son of Herod Agrippa, okay. So Herod Agrippa, back in Acts 12,
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I mentioned last week, he stood up on a stage, said, I'm God, and then he dropped dead. And that was back in Acts 12.
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Okay, that's this dude's, that's this dude's dad. So this dude had three kids.
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We saw Drusilla last week, okay, and she was the wife of Felix, who used to be the governor.
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So if this gets too complicated, just bear with me for just a second. So you got Agrippa Senior, then you got
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Agrippa Junior, then you've got Bernice, who's here, and then his, their sister,
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Drusilla, all blood relatives. Okay, so you know there was nepotism in that time.
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You know, it was passing on the leadership from one generation to the next, and doing favors for one another in your family to get them into higher offices and things like that, and that's exactly what's going on here.
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But if that gets confusing, let me just say this to put it in perspective. Agrippa and Bernice stop by to congratulate
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Festus on replacing their brother -in -law, which is awkward. Okay, there's gotta be something awkward in that.
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Maybe they didn't like Felix, I don't know. But now verses 14 through 21 can really be covered quickly because Festus is gonna catch
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Agrippa up to speed on some of the things that we've already seen in the text, and so we can kind of blaze through it.
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But a couple of highlights in the explanation are important as Festus is explaining to Agrippa and catching him up on all the events that have transpired for Paul.
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In verse 18, it's clear that Festus, when Paul stood before him, he expected a watertight case.
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He expected some accusations that would stick, something evil that Paul has done, and there was nothing, it says in verse 18.
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When the accusers stood up, they brought no charge in his case of such evils as I supposed. He says, I thought it was gonna be a really bad case, and it was gonna be cut and dried and clear, and there was nothing there.
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But he goes on in verse 19, and he finds that the accusations are all centered around religious disputes. What's interesting is
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Festus, by the word that he uses for religion, there's several different Greek words for religion, but by the one that he uses, it betrays his own attitude towards the
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Jews. He says superstition. That's a better translation than the word religion there. Some dispute about their superstitions.
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So he shows a little bit about his own personal view of the Jewish faith and of faith in general. That's just superstition.
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But look at the end of verse 19, because I think this is kind of cool. From Festus' perspective, the main issue of the debate is that one side says this dude,
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Jesus, died, and the other side says, no, he's alive. And what happens is
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Festus unknowingly frames the central question of Christianity. He doesn't even understand.
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He doesn't really know, but he frames the central question of Christianity. Did Jesus raise from the dead?
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Fundamental question that everybody in this room needs to address. Do you believe that Jesus Christ raised from the dead?
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The central point of history. If Jesus rose from the dead, then would you agree he's worthy of following?
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Or at least pursuing some understanding of who he is? And if he did not raise, then we are following smoke and mirrors, and it really is quite senseless.
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We are all ignorant for gathering together this morning. This is a joke. Why would we be here?
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If Jesus Christ did not raise from the dead, it makes no sense to gather together and to worship him, a dead guy in the grave.
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You see, I wanna draw out some distinctions here. The cross of Christ is the place of redemption, right?
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It's on the cross that Jesus paid the penalty for our sins. The cross is where the righteousness of God meets the sinfulness of humankind, and love and justice mingle in the character of God on the cross.
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But the resurrection is the vindication. It is the proof that Jesus was acceptable as a sacrifice to the
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Father on our behalf. Even someone who doesn't understand the cross can at least get some inkling of addressing the resurrection, right?
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If Jesus was raised from the dead, wouldn't it make sense to pay attention to him, to pursue him, to figure out what this was really all about?
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If you believe that a real, genuine, historical resurrection, a body raised up from the grave, physically made well and whole, anybody think that, even from a scientific,
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Western mindset, anybody think that that's worthy of investigating? Yeah, that's pretty radical,
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I would say. That's a game changer, isn't it? That's a life changer. If somebody really rose from the dead, man, that's intense.
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Bethesda was at a loss, it says in the text. He didn't even know where to begin investigating these questions. He's just like,
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I don't even know. I mean, they're saying he's alive, they're saying he's dead, I don't really understand, and I don't know the nuances of this culture yet, and I'm not getting this.
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He has no clue to where to even begin, but fortunately to him he doesn't have to because Paul appealed to Caesar.
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Agrippa's intrigued, he wants to meet Paul. So it says with a lot of pomp, with a lot of fanfare.
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The military tribunes over Caesarea, we know historically there are 5 ,000 troops stationed at Caesarea, so there are five tribunes present here, rulers, commanders of 1 ,000 troops, along with prominent citizens,
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Bernice, Agrippa, Festus gather, and they bring in Paul. Festus makes his opening announcement explaining the situation that goes like this.
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In verse 24, Festus says the Jews want Paul dead. Verse 25, Festus says I find him innocent.
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So there's that tension that he's in the middle of. But then he appealed to Caesar, and then in verse 26 and 27 he says
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I have no charges. I have no legitimate charges to pass along to Caesar, and I really don't want to waste
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Caesar's time. That wouldn't be very politically beneficial for him in his new career to waste the emperor's time, so he wants to make sure he's got something to write.
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And so we end there for this week. Kind of a little bit of a cliffhanger. What is Paul gonna say next week?
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He's gonna open his mouth, and he's gonna speak, and he's gonna tell us a defense of his life before Agrippa, and it's one of the best, most clearly presented gospel presentations in the entire book of Acts.
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He's gonna get into detail, and it's gonna be cool. But I think it's interesting to note he's become somewhat of a trinket to these leaders, like a circus sideshow.
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Entertaining guests have visitors? Bring out Paul, let him talk. But despite that,
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Jesus is doing amazing things, giving Paul audiences that he could never have achieved in his own comfort.
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So because junk is happening, he's getting more opportunities. Have any of you experienced that in life?
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Where crud and junk comes in, but then you can see later on down the road that that provides opportunities for you to serve others who are going through the same circumstances that you've gone through.
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Any of you been there? Where you're like, man, I don't like going through this stuff, and then eventually you find out why?
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Like, I'm able to have a ministry to people who have gone through this or that or whatever. That's not comfortable, and I would never say to somebody,
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I hate the question, have you found out why God is bringing you through this? Punch, right?
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I mean, have any of you ever felt that way? Like, it's like, any of you had anybody say that to you when you're going through hard times or dark times?
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Man, you know, I just, have you found out why God's doing this to you yet? What? Let me drop the elbow of fellowship on you or something.
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You know? I mean, what? What? What, for real? Like, you gotta learn that yourself, right?
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Boy, if somebody's going through hard times, I think there's a great principle in scripture about fellowship, about community, living in community and authentic relationships.
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Mourn with those who mourn. Rejoice with those who rejoice.
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If somebody is mourning and going through hard times, man, mourn with them.
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Grieve with them. Man, if somebody's celebrating, somebody's got a job promotion, things are going well, celebrate with them.
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That's life. Doing life really together. Jesus said all this stuff was gonna happen.
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I think Paul could look back at that and see that clearly. And this is all part of the strategy of the spread of the church throughout the world, and Paul is willing to endure this.
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He lived his life with fervor. He faithfully proclaimed the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and what he did was powerfully used by God to further the kingdom in the church.
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And to conclude this morning, I wanna point out that there's really only two types of people here. Only two.
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Only two options for us. Either you believe that Jesus was raised from the dead, or you don't.
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If you believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, then my question to you this morning, and I'm talking to those of you who believe, do you live like it?
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Do you live like resurrection is real, and that there really is hope beyond this life, that this life is given to us to expend for the kingdom of God and for his cause?
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Resurrection is not some ethereal spiritual topic that should be spoken of just by theologians in seminaries and talked about up here in the sky.
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Resurrection should have application to our lives where we live. Have you let the reality of resurrection impact your life?
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Do you live fearfully? Are you bold in your life, knowing that you have the promise of a better life to come?
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If there are any here that are wrestling with the notion of resurrection, I can stand up here and tell you that it's one of the most historically reliable events.
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But somehow I think in the back of my mind that that's not gonna do it for you. Oh, oh, oh, Pastor Don said it, so it must be true.
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He believes it, and he said that it's historically reliable. And I encourage you to search these things out yourself.
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It encourages me that you're here this morning. If you don't believe in resurrection, you don't believe that Jesus Christ, or you're wrestling through that and you're not sure, it encourages me that you're here.
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I love it. You're pursuing and you're seeking, and keep engaged in that process. I'd encourage you to come and meet with me.
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I would love to talk with you further. I'm not gonna try to indoctrinate you to think like me, but I would love to talk and point you towards resources and places that you can find answers to the questions that you have.
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I am, though, firmly convinced that Jesus Christ is the risen Lord and Savior.
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He is the means by which all can be saved. Regardless of what you've done, regardless of where you've been in life, regardless of what's happened to you or what you've done to others, regardless of how much you have ever shaken your fist at God or ignored him, he is there, ready for you to come to him through his
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Son, Jesus Christ. We're gonna come this morning to communion. And I wanna remind you that ultimately, communion is a memorial celebration.
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It is a remembrance. We are remembering something. We take a piece of bread and eat it, really a cracker here, to remember that Jesus' body was broken for us on the cross.
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We drink a cup of juice to remember that his blood was spilled on our behalf. That extreme measures for God to go through, showing our sinfulness and his holiness, that's what the cross is all about, is contrasting our blackness with his light and saying that it took this, the death of his own
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Son, to cover us. And in this celebration, we're symbolically together, taking the life and death of Jesus into ourselves.
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Symbolically, but that's what we're picturing. If you're still searching, I would encourage you, take in the song that Dave's gonna come and play.
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There's nothing wrong with remaining seated. But if you're here and you believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and you believe that he is
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Lord and the risen Lord and he is your Savior, you've asked him. And by the way, salvation comes this way to an individual.
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I think that there's two angles to it. First is that you believe that he is
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Lord and that resurrection is part of that, that he is the risen Lord and that he is king and master.
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And then the second thing is that you've asked him to save you. Some people can believe he is Lord and never bow their will before him.
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It's that saying, I need you, is a humbling, like bowing your knee before the king and saying, you're my only hope,
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I have no hope aside from you. That's salvation. I need you,
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Jesus. I need you and without you, there is no hope for me. If you are in Christ and you've done that and you recognize him and you've asked him to save you, then
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I encourage you, there's communion to set up back here and back here at this table. I'd encourage this section to kind of filter out, go this way and filter back there and take communion.
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As you feel led, you can take in the song. When you go back there, take the juice and the cracker back to your, it works better instead of congesting things back there, just take it back to your seat and take it and you can just leave the cup there and we'll take care of those afterwards.
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But this is a time of reflection, a time of remembrance of what our savior has done for us. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for the ultimate sacrifice that we have in Christ.
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I thank you that even as we look at this text and there's some details and some history and it could be potentially confusing and trying to understand what
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Paul was all going through. I thank you that we see the seeds of the church planted in the way that you used individuals and the way that it was your plan and your work and you're working through individuals like Paul.
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And Father, I ask that you would help us to tie in even this week as we take immediately, the next thing that we do is take communion, but then as we move throughout this week and we consider our lives tied in with the grander purposes of you,
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I ask that you would move us towards more radical living for you. I don't even know what that means for individuals.
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I don't know. I don't go to their workplace. I don't see them, but you do. And I ask that by your spirit, you would press on people's hearts what that looks like for them to live more radically for you.
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Some, God, would you call out some from our congregation to literally go, to literally sell their house and move someplace else where the gospel is not being proclaimed?
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Father, what a glory that would be to see individuals going, whether that's
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Africa or Asia or wherever it might be, India, or just a few towns over.
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But Father, that you would move in us to further your kingdom with this short life that you have given us.