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Happy Monday off a solo weekend 
at church on Sunday. 

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Thanks Chris and Kristen for 
abandoning me. 

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You know what turn about a spare
play? 

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It just happened to me like 
what, a week or two ago? 

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Two weeks ago, that's true. 
Kristen and I were. 

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Gone. 
And of course and of course when

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you leave, there's at least one 
like audio microphone scare, 

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which, yeah, had me about out of
my skin 'cause. 

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You were fine. 
So you say, but internally I was

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I was moving at about 100 miles 
an hour. 

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It sounds like a personal 
problem. 

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It really is it really? 
Is microphones worked just fine 

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for me this week. 
I don't know, I'm so afraid of 

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them. 
I could never be a stand up 

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comedian. 
I think for a lot of reasons, 

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they know. 
They know that you're afraid of 

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them, so they know, so they act 
out against you. 

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It's. 
True, they seem. 

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To you, oh man. 
So no thanks for a sweet 

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gathering time yesterday, Sunday
morning. 

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I appreciate you church family. 
We're going to continue the 

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conversation around Acts 23. 
I said in my sermon, even we 

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read the first 11 verses of, 
excuse me, verses of Acts 23, 

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and I basically skipped over the
1st 10. 

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I I even said at some point, the
beginning part of this passage, 

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there's a lot of good historical
detail and some political 

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intrigue and we're not going to 
talk about any of it, but that's

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what this space is for. 
By the way, it killed me and 

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it's hard to hear if you're 
watching online. 

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So listen, I, we, we watched 
like about an hour after it 

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aired on Facebook because Alyssa
was driving. 

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And so I just turned it on the 
phone and have it going through 

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the car. 
And unless people really have 

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like a loud laughter moment, 
you're not going to hear that on

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the online thing. 
But I did wonder, like, I was 

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like, seriously chuckling when 
you said yeah, but I'm not going

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to cover any of that. 
I just kind of started laughing 

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in the car and I was like, oh, 
OK, cool. 

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And yeah, I wondered if that hit
anybody else, but maybe not. 

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I don't know. 
I just found that amusing. 

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And I meant for it to be amusing
and it just kind of, it just 

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kind of went over. 
I don't know. 

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It didn't have to be funny, but 
I felt like everyone in the room

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was just like, OK, Yep. 
So we're just we're sticking 

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with you. 
We'll go where you go. 

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Yeah. 
So, but by the way, before we 

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get into anything else, I got to
tell you, man, like when I 

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turned on the live or whatever, 
the thing that was so striking 

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was like your yellow sweatshirt,
like I was just like, oh, man, 

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that hits hard. 
And I'm not, I'm not, please 

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hear me, I'm not promoting ERC 
merge. 

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That's not what I'm trying to do
here. 

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But like, it's the first thing I
noticed. 

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I was like, man, look at that 
sweatshirt. 

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That's crazy. 
And so I hope I wasn't the only 

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one who, like, saw that and 
went, whoa, that's, that's 

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awesome. 
There were others who chimed in 

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and even like wanted that design
or or at least wanted a crew 

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sweatshirt with with the logos 
on it too. 

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But that yellow one in 
particular, I just I mean, we're

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in Iowa. 
Sorry to the rest of you college

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allegiances, but I just had the 
I feel like at least around 

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where we are, maybe it's just 
the people I'm around or my most

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of my attention is on University
of Iowa. 

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Like that's, I just feel like 
that's what captures. 

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I know, I know there's Iowa 
State and Northern Iowa and not 

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like all the other places and we
have people who went to all of 

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those colleges, but like to me 
it's Hawkeye colors. 

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So so that was just can I make a
Hawkeye colored sweatshirt that 

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like will catch people's 
attention, but gotcha. 

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It's it's search stuff. 
Actually, I'm annoying for 

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Jesus. 
You know, and it's funny, like, 

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and that makes sense because 
even when Pastor Brandon was 

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here, you know, it's been a 
thing in Iowa for a long time. 

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America needs farmers. 
And it's got that classic circle

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on it. 
He took that exact same idea and

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turned it into the Elevate 
design for a lot of the shirts 

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for the youth convention. 
And I was like, oh, I, I see 

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where you got that. 
But he, he's right. 

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Like it's a good design and good
color pattern and all that kind 

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of stuff. 
Real quick, maybe like one of 

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the things that I don't know if 
we've ever like talked about 

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from on stage is the fact that 
like, why do we, why do we have 

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ERC shirts? 
Like why do we do that? 

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I think I think there's a good 
reason for it, but I don't think

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we've ever actually talked about
it. 

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Yeah, I mean, it's it's mostly 
the the knowing Jesus and making

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him known that it's the it's the
making him known side of that. 

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I've been wearing Christian St. 
wear for, I don't know, 15 

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years, probably 1215 years. 
You will be shocked the 

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conversations that strike up 
just by the clothing that 

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you're. 
I mean, we notice people's 

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clothing all the time. 
So why shouldn't it also scream 

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Jesus or or scream Bible verses?
So but we also have some very 

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creative individuals here. 
Like everything, everything 

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we've made has been designed by 
either me or students or or 

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other individuals here. 
Grace Hendrickson has a ton of 

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them, a ton of the designs that 
we've produced. 

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But yeah, so to have Jesus St. 
wear, but also have it attached 

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to a local community, a local 
church that hey, this is This Is

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Us and we want you to be a part 
of it because we want you to 

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know Jesus. 
Like I think that's I think 

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that's the larger picture, the 
larger vision of of the clothes.

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So it's not just, I mean, we're,
we're covering costs and we're 

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and we're do and that and we get
to kind of customize them. 

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I like we can, we can do that. 
We have that freedom to be able 

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to make the colored shirts that 
people want and we'll actually 

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enjoy to wear. 
So we're not certainly not 

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filling the budget lines, right?
Like we're just breaking even on

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stuff. 
But I think at least I and, and 

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you, Kristen and others like we 
just, we just believe in it 

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enough to wear our faith on our 
sleeves, as it were. 

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So. 
And I think, I think that's 

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really neat. 
I, I would hate for anybody to 

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get the wrong idea that somehow 
we're just like, quote UN quote 

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self promoting because that's 
never the heart behind it. 

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The heart behind it, of course 
is like, yeah, how can I know 

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Jesus and then therefore make 
him known? 

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For some people, it's not easy 
to have a conversation with 

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friends or family or even 
strangers or anybody, but man, 

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it is really easy to wear a 
shirt and they go, oh, what's 

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that? 
And then all of a sudden here's 

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the conversation starter for 
that. 

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And I think that's really 
important, especially when 

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you're talking about getting 
somebody plugged into a 

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community of faith. 
I think that's really important.

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So I love that we do that. 
I just, I just don't think we, I

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don't know that we've ever 
expressed that out loud, the why

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behind the shirts and stuff. 
Sure. 

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Yep. 
And that's that's good. 

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I think that's a lot of the 
heart around it is, hey, we, we 

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love our church and we love 
Jesus and we want you to be a 

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part of that too. 
If that can happen through the 

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clothing we produce and share 
and sell and wear together, I 

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think mission accomplished with 
that then. 

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Absolutely. 
So Acts 23, as I said, we left. 

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We left plenty of stuff out. 
Sorry, before we jump into Acts 

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23, there's like e-mail and text
and announcements that are going

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on about this too. 
But we're going to change it up 

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with the podcast a little bit. 
At the beginning of September, 

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we're going to do a couple of 
episodes because the first 

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Monday is Labor Day and then the
following Monday, September 8th 

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is actually it's the day after 
kickoff. 

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But we're going to a conference 
in Jacksonville, actually Church

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Leaders Conference. 
So those two weeks of the pod, 

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we are going to do some Ask Me 
Anything episodes and that 

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literally, I mean anything. 
I'm not saying we're going to 

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answer all the questions, but 
you can submit whatever 

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questions you want and then we 
will answer as many of them as 

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we. 
Yeah, I actually feel 

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comfortable. 
I don't know. 

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I am super, super excited about 
those couple episodes because it

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could be some really ridiculous,
would you rather that we've 

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never talked about that you want
to hear some weird banter on? 

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Or it could be like a deep 
theological question that you're

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like, I've never felt 
comfortable asking this out 

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loud, but man, I would sure love
to hear hear my pastor's 

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opinions on on this thing. 
And so I think that's going to 

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be really cool. 
I'm really looking forward to 

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those. 
Yep. 

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So that's coming up the first 
couple Mondays in September. 

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If you have questions again from
from anything, it can be 

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ridiculous. 
Would you rather scenarios, 

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theological questions, personal 
life questions like I mean, 

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really ask me ask us anything is
is what we're doing. 

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You can drop those in the 
comments on in the show, on your

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podcast feed there or Facebook 
feed where it's posted. 

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Connect at emmausrdonline.org is
the e-mail or you can text. 

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You can text anytime the church 
number 563-659-9444 and we'll 

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get those questions too. 
And if you want to ask, ask a 

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question, but not have us 
mention who that is, who's 

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asking the question, that's 
perfectly valid too. 

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That's OK, Just tell us you want
to keep it anonymous and that's 

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fine. 
We'll still throw your name in. 

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That's got to be. 
You can let us know that you 

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wanted to be anonymous and then.
Well, we just lost 5 questions. 

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No. 
And if you really, if you really

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don't want to attach your name 
to it, we can. 

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We can keep it off, but yeah, I 
hopefully it's fun enough that 

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it, yeah, doesn't necessarily. 
You're not going to get judged 

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for, we're not going to judge 
you for it, so. 

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No, don't. 
Worry about receiving that from 

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anyone else either. 
Yeah. 

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I mean, if if anybody who's 
listening to this was aware of 

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some of the questions I've been 
asked in the last decade of 

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pastoral ministry, you wouldn't 
be ashamed to ask anything. 

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And I will not bring any of 
those up in this space. 

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Right. 
Yeah, good. 

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All right, Acts 23 as I said, I 
I skipped over a lot of the 

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geopolitical drama contained in 
this passage, but the first 

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couple of verses, couple 
interesting things come out of 

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this looking intently at the 
council first one of chapter 23,

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Paul said, brothers, I have 
lived my life before God in all 

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good conscience up to this day. 
And the high priest Ananias 

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commanded those who stood by him
to strike him on the mouth. 

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That got that. 
Got hot in a hurry? 

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Real quick, Yep, real fast. 
Paul tried to he greets them 

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with brothers, which is 
something that he would like 

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writing a letter to the early 
church. 

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These are these are not his 
friends, right. 

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And he tries to say, hey, trying
to trying to be civil about 

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this. 
I'm I'm a Roman citizen just 

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like you are. 
I was I was a fairest. 

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I I was a leader of the 
religious law at one time and he

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tries to say I've lived my life 
before God and all good 

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conscience up to this day like I
have presented myself rightly. 

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I I think I can live with how 
I've lived my life before God, 

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which is interesting if you 
think about the whole scope of 

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Paul's life. 
I brought this up a Bible study 

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on Thursday does I don't know 
that it goes this far, but does 

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he mean even when he was 
persecuting the church like he 

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still had such conviction he was
he was still in a respectable 

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stance before God even as his 
enemy. 

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Let that the Jesus I'd I'd 
rather you are hot or cold, not 

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lukewarm that I would spit you 
out like is there is there some 

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measure of respect even that God
had for the conviction of Paul 

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against his church that Paul 
lived so rightly and good 

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conscience before God, even when
he was his enemy, Of course, 

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since his conversion, but. 
No, I think, I think one thing 

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that again, despite the harm he 
did in individual people's lives

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and maybe in a greater community
sense, in some ways, despite all

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of that, man, he was sold out 
for what he believed. 

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And, and I think that's, I think
we can see that today. 

224
00:12:29,760 --> 00:12:32,960
And and that's I can respect 
that even if I don't agree with 

225
00:12:32,960 --> 00:12:35,680
somebody. 
If you are totally sold out for 

226
00:12:35,680 --> 00:12:38,120
that and this is what you 
believe in your heart of hearts 

227
00:12:38,120 --> 00:12:42,360
and you've got either data or, 
you know, a specific faith 

228
00:12:42,360 --> 00:12:44,320
background to really back that 
up. 

229
00:12:44,680 --> 00:12:47,840
Like, hey, you know, in some 
ways, good for you. 

230
00:12:47,880 --> 00:12:51,880
I guess you can live with a 
clean conscience because you are

231
00:12:52,160 --> 00:12:55,040
living into your convictions. 
And, and I think we should all 

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00:12:55,040 --> 00:12:57,800
do that to whatever extent that 
we can. 

233
00:12:57,800 --> 00:13:01,400
So I, I can see how Paul would 
say this and could say that with

234
00:13:01,400 --> 00:13:06,560
a straight face because he's 
always taught, you know, spoken 

235
00:13:06,560 --> 00:13:09,680
and acted inside of his moral 
convictions. 

236
00:13:09,840 --> 00:13:12,240
Yeah, and I think it lends 
credence to his position. 

237
00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:17,280
Now, he knows that they disagree
with his position, but they also

238
00:13:17,280 --> 00:13:21,240
have to be familiar with who he 
was and what he was and what he 

239
00:13:21,560 --> 00:13:24,440
did. 
And if he can say I went with 

240
00:13:24,440 --> 00:13:27,600
the same level of conviction 
that you knew I had against the 

241
00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:32,640
church before my conversion, I 
now in all earnestness believe 

242
00:13:32,640 --> 00:13:36,320
this with all my like that we're
on the same scale of intensity 

243
00:13:36,320 --> 00:13:40,320
of conviction, though I'm my 
perspective has changed. 

244
00:13:41,320 --> 00:13:45,680
Maybe their ears would be more 
more open, would would hear that

245
00:13:45,680 --> 00:13:48,000
and be more open to what he has 
to say. 

246
00:13:48,320 --> 00:13:52,280
And I would we brought this up 
way back when we first read 

247
00:13:52,320 --> 00:13:54,480
Paul's conversion story on June 
15th. 

248
00:13:54,720 --> 00:13:59,320
I brought up the idea of being 
able that a philosopher kind of,

249
00:13:59,320 --> 00:14:02,080
and I'll paraphrase it here, but
a philosopher talks about the 

250
00:14:02,080 --> 00:14:05,120
greatest level of freedom is 
being able to disagree with 

251
00:14:05,120 --> 00:14:09,120
yourself, even from an hour ago,
but having the freedom and the 

252
00:14:09,120 --> 00:14:11,320
right to be able to say, you 
know what, I was wrong. 

253
00:14:11,320 --> 00:14:14,840
I can disagree with that version
of me, but here is my real 

254
00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:18,160
conviction now. 
And and I don't think honestly, 

255
00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:22,640
we, we hear a lot of apologies 
in our culture because, oh, I 

256
00:14:22,640 --> 00:14:24,480
offended this group or I 
offended that person. 

257
00:14:24,480 --> 00:14:27,520
So I know I need to give this 
big public apology through my PR

258
00:14:27,520 --> 00:14:31,960
person or whatever. 
I, I think I would have to argue

259
00:14:31,960 --> 00:14:35,960
that like rather than rather 
than that apology would probably

260
00:14:35,960 --> 00:14:39,320
be far more profound to be able 
to say, you know what, I've 

261
00:14:39,320 --> 00:14:40,760
thought long and hard about 
this. 

262
00:14:40,920 --> 00:14:45,400
And actually, I think I disagree
with my previous self and I 

263
00:14:45,400 --> 00:14:50,240
disagree to the point where I'm 
I'm with you and that was wrong 

264
00:14:50,240 --> 00:14:53,320
that I said that. 
And I can see that now and and 

265
00:14:53,320 --> 00:14:55,840
I'm willing to disagree with my 
previous self and that gives me 

266
00:14:55,840 --> 00:14:58,200
a lot of freedom. 
Yeah, and that's a respectable 

267
00:14:58,200 --> 00:15:02,440
position then to have that 
reflective part of of your 

268
00:15:02,440 --> 00:15:03,800
conviction, right? 
Yep. 

269
00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:07,080
Yeah. 
So Ananias's response to this, 

270
00:15:07,080 --> 00:15:12,640
though, I think he probably only
heard before good before God. 

271
00:15:12,640 --> 00:15:16,240
In all good conscience, he 
probably just heard Paul saying,

272
00:15:16,240 --> 00:15:20,760
hey, look at me, I'm I'm God's 
Golden Boy done, done nothing 

273
00:15:20,760 --> 00:15:24,440
wrong, righteous before God. 
And he immediately calls for 

274
00:15:24,760 --> 00:15:28,880
Paul to be struck on the mouth, 
which was AI mean physical sign 

275
00:15:28,880 --> 00:15:32,960
of all right, you're done. 
Like we're we're turning that 

276
00:15:32,960 --> 00:15:36,560
off. 
He offended the high priest and 

277
00:15:37,320 --> 00:15:40,920
he he I'm sure Ananias's 
perspective was someone accused 

278
00:15:40,920 --> 00:15:43,960
of the crimes that Paul was 
accused of couldn't claim a 

279
00:15:43,960 --> 00:15:46,760
clear conscience. 
This is not a person he wants to

280
00:15:46,760 --> 00:15:51,760
be in good standing. 
So Paul's response then verse 

281
00:15:51,760 --> 00:15:55,760
three, he says back, God is 
going to strike you, you 

282
00:15:55,760 --> 00:15:59,400
whitewashed wall. 
Are you going to sit and judge 

283
00:15:59,400 --> 00:16:02,040
me according to the law and yet 
contrary to the law, you order 

284
00:16:02,040 --> 00:16:04,720
me to be struck. 
Remember, like the Roman 

285
00:16:04,720 --> 00:16:08,280
citizenship still like protects 
him in this moment right there. 

286
00:16:08,280 --> 00:16:11,560
There's not supposed to be 
physical consequence until 

287
00:16:12,240 --> 00:16:15,120
judgement has happened. 
So verse 4, those who stood by 

288
00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:18,200
said, would you revile God's 
high priest because Paul has now

289
00:16:19,200 --> 00:16:22,480
maybe offended the high priest 
and then talked back to the high

290
00:16:22,480 --> 00:16:24,720
priest. 
Paul said I did not know 

291
00:16:24,720 --> 00:16:26,040
brothers, that he was the high 
priest. 

292
00:16:26,040 --> 00:16:29,560
For it is written, you shall not
speak evil of a ruler of your 

293
00:16:29,560 --> 00:16:32,480
people. 
Yeah, this is a really 

294
00:16:32,480 --> 00:16:35,080
interesting moment, I think. 
And you and I were chatting 

295
00:16:35,080 --> 00:16:39,760
about this briefly before the 
show, which is this, this kind 

296
00:16:39,760 --> 00:16:43,560
of classic phrase, 2 wrongs 
don't make a right. 

297
00:16:44,040 --> 00:16:48,480
And So what Paul does here 
again, just like owning his 

298
00:16:48,480 --> 00:16:51,760
ability to say, you know what? 
I was wrong and I'm owning that,

299
00:16:52,480 --> 00:16:55,760
but now here I am in these 
current convictions in the same 

300
00:16:55,760 --> 00:17:01,760
way Paul owns his own sin. 
He's not asking them to he's not

301
00:17:01,840 --> 00:17:05,319
insisting to them at in this 
moment that they have to repent 

302
00:17:05,319 --> 00:17:08,880
from their sins of striking him,
which it is because you can, you

303
00:17:08,880 --> 00:17:10,200
can look that up. 
It is a sin. 

304
00:17:11,119 --> 00:17:14,680
However, he just owns his stuff 
and says, you know what, that's 

305
00:17:14,680 --> 00:17:18,000
on me. 
I, I broke, I broke God's law 

306
00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:23,400
here by disrespecting or, you 
know, along those lines, God's 

307
00:17:23,400 --> 00:17:26,839
high priest. 
And so he still shows some sense

308
00:17:26,880 --> 00:17:31,840
of like, he honors the authority
of the Jewish Church. 

309
00:17:32,480 --> 00:17:36,000
And I don't think he's ever 
dishonored the Jewish church, 

310
00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:38,360
even in his 20 years of 
preaching Christ. 

311
00:17:38,360 --> 00:17:39,600
I don't think he's dishonored 
it. 

312
00:17:39,880 --> 00:17:43,600
I think he very much sees it the
way that modern Christian would 

313
00:17:43,600 --> 00:17:47,640
be, which is Jesus is the 
fulfillment of this. 

314
00:17:47,680 --> 00:17:50,240
It's not. 
He's not in opposition to the 

315
00:17:50,240 --> 00:17:52,160
Old Testament. 
He's not in opposition to the 

316
00:17:52,160 --> 00:17:53,320
law. 
He fulfills it. 

317
00:17:53,640 --> 00:17:58,200
But yeah, the the greater thing 
here is he owns his stuff, and I

318
00:17:58,200 --> 00:18:00,600
think that's a pretty powerful 
thing to do. 

319
00:18:01,360 --> 00:18:05,600
Yeah, absolutely. 
And his his misstep, the 

320
00:18:05,600 --> 00:18:08,360
priest's misstep maybe even if 
the priest was wrong in ordering

321
00:18:08,360 --> 00:18:11,920
for him to be struck, Paul's 
acknowledging that that does not

322
00:18:11,920 --> 00:18:15,000
make allowance now for his 
misstep. 

323
00:18:15,200 --> 00:18:19,680
So like the the mistake of an 
other does not make your mistake

324
00:18:19,680 --> 00:18:24,240
allowable in response, right. 
So he he backtracks very quickly

325
00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:28,120
and says, Nope, you're right. 
I was, I was out of line. 

326
00:18:28,120 --> 00:18:31,800
I did not know. 
There's a couple, there's a 

327
00:18:31,800 --> 00:18:35,040
couple little theories on how he
like, how could you think? 

328
00:18:35,120 --> 00:18:36,920
How could he not know who the 
high priest was? 

329
00:18:36,920 --> 00:18:38,240
Like, shouldn't this guy be 
marked out? 

330
00:18:38,240 --> 00:18:40,000
Isn't it very clear who the guy 
in charge is? 

331
00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:41,840
He's wearing special robes or 
something. 

332
00:18:41,840 --> 00:18:45,000
And maybe maybe he's not wearing
special robes like they could 

333
00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:48,000
have had a uniform and just 
known who the senior was because

334
00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:50,440
that. 
But so in that argument, if he 

335
00:18:50,440 --> 00:18:54,480
is wearing different clothes, 
just some scholarly theories of 

336
00:18:54,880 --> 00:18:58,120
Paul's getting up there in eight
his at this point, his eyesight 

337
00:18:58,120 --> 00:19:02,200
may may be going. 
He may literally not be able to 

338
00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:07,000
clearly see Ananias where where 
he is at and he might not be 

339
00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:10,920
sure who it was or just lack of 
proximity. 

340
00:19:10,920 --> 00:19:14,240
And this is about 20 years after
his conversion. 

341
00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:16,760
He just he hasn't been in these 
circles either. 

342
00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:19,800
It would be natural that the 
authority would have turned over

343
00:19:19,800 --> 00:19:22,800
the office of the high priest. 
He just might not have these 

344
00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:25,120
personal, almost certainly 
didn't have these personal 

345
00:19:25,120 --> 00:19:28,360
relationships anymore that he 
once had when he was in these 

346
00:19:28,360 --> 00:19:32,160
Jewish circles before. 
So not unreasonable that he just

347
00:19:32,160 --> 00:19:35,560
like it sounds a little crazy 
that he'd be like, I didn't, I 

348
00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:39,880
didn't know, but there's a 
couple reasonable explanations. 

349
00:19:39,880 --> 00:19:41,240
For what? 
He wouldn't know. 

350
00:19:41,840 --> 00:19:43,800
Nothing. 
Nothing in the New Testament 

351
00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:47,600
gives us a sense that Paul's 
character would just outright 

352
00:19:47,600 --> 00:19:50,400
lie. 
You know, like he does. 

353
00:19:50,520 --> 00:19:53,120
As you mentioned at the at the 
top of this, he does a very 

354
00:19:53,120 --> 00:19:55,840
savvy move. 
Or maybe you mentioned it 

355
00:19:55,840 --> 00:19:57,920
yesterday in your sermon. 
It's a very savvy move. 

356
00:19:57,920 --> 00:20:01,320
What he's about to do when he 
kind of divides the room between

357
00:20:01,320 --> 00:20:03,720
Pharisees and Sadducees. 
Very briefly talked. 

358
00:20:03,840 --> 00:20:05,160
About the difference, he's not 
lying. 

359
00:20:05,640 --> 00:20:07,400
He's not lying. 
And so I don't, I don't think 

360
00:20:07,400 --> 00:20:08,680
that that's a part of his 
character. 

361
00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:11,600
So I think it's perfectly 
reasonable to think that maybe 

362
00:20:11,600 --> 00:20:16,360
his eyesight is as bad as what 
it's been reported especially. 

363
00:20:16,880 --> 00:20:20,000
Having others write, write 
letters for him and things like 

364
00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:21,920
yeah. 
I think that's perfectly valid 

365
00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:26,560
and I I don't, I don't see why 
we would question that a whole 

366
00:20:26,560 --> 00:20:29,760
lot. 
Right, so he uses some pretty 

367
00:20:29,960 --> 00:20:32,760
harsh words. 
It'd be more interesting if we 

368
00:20:33,560 --> 00:20:38,280
knew the tone of the words to 
did did he did he say it 

369
00:20:38,280 --> 00:20:40,600
begrudgingly? 
Did did he say it kind of under 

370
00:20:40,800 --> 00:20:43,520
God will strike you, you 
whitewashed wall like? 

371
00:20:43,760 --> 00:20:47,360
Did he almost mutter it to 
himself or did he did he shout 

372
00:20:47,360 --> 00:20:49,120
it back? 
Was it a deck of God will strike

373
00:20:49,120 --> 00:20:52,160
you, you whitewashed wall? 
Like I don't know that it 

374
00:20:52,160 --> 00:20:55,560
matters the the meaning is still
there, but it'd be interesting 

375
00:20:55,560 --> 00:21:01,240
to know the vibrancy of Paul's 
retort in in this situation. 

376
00:21:03,040 --> 00:21:06,920
Whatever it was, this insult, 
this whitewashed wall, just a 

377
00:21:06,920 --> 00:21:13,280
white outer covering, concealing
obvious corruption underneath. 

378
00:21:13,280 --> 00:21:16,200
Like that's, that's what the 
insult is, a whitewashed wall. 

379
00:21:16,200 --> 00:21:19,680
It's not really the way it is, 
but it's covering up the ugly on

380
00:21:19,680 --> 00:21:22,400
the inside, right? 
And that's the same, that's the 

381
00:21:22,400 --> 00:21:26,440
same, you know, thing that Jesus
said to the Pharisees and 

382
00:21:26,440 --> 00:21:28,200
Sadducees. 
You know, he called them 

383
00:21:28,200 --> 00:21:31,520
whitewashed tombs, beautiful on 
the outside, but full of dead 

384
00:21:31,520 --> 00:21:34,280
men's bones on the inside. 
And, you know, and I think 

385
00:21:34,280 --> 00:21:35,840
that's fair. 
You're basically just, it's a 

386
00:21:35,840 --> 00:21:38,880
really cool way to call somebody
a hypocrite. 

387
00:21:40,160 --> 00:21:43,920
And so, you know, if you, if you
need like a high level way to 

388
00:21:44,240 --> 00:21:48,000
disrespect somebody, I suppose 
that's a way to do it rather 

389
00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:49,200
than just calling them a 
hypocrite. 

390
00:21:49,600 --> 00:21:54,160
Yeah, and so he speaks harshly, 
but there's also truth in that. 

391
00:21:54,160 --> 00:21:57,560
Deuteronomy 25 one and two, 
according to the the Old 

392
00:21:57,560 --> 00:22:01,320
Testament law, only a man found 
guilty can be beaten. 

393
00:22:01,680 --> 00:22:05,680
And Paul had not yet been 
adjudged and there there wasn't 

394
00:22:05,680 --> 00:22:08,360
a verdict. 
And so he could he should not 

395
00:22:08,360 --> 00:22:10,240
have been struck. 
So he's calling out the 

396
00:22:10,240 --> 00:22:14,440
immediate hypocrisy as an appeal
to you're calling me out for 

397
00:22:14,440 --> 00:22:17,000
breaking the law, yet you break 
the law right now. 

398
00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:19,760
So who are you to even call me 
out? 

399
00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:25,880
Even even parallelism of our own
sinfulness as as we interact 

400
00:22:25,880 --> 00:22:28,240
with other believers. 
But it's not it's not our place 

401
00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:29,640
to judge. 
And I don't think Paul's even 

402
00:22:29,640 --> 00:22:32,240
saying that that it is his place
to judge. 

403
00:22:32,240 --> 00:22:35,720
You see how quickly he he walks 
back when he's called out for 

404
00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:39,680
his sin, he just kind of humbly 
says, yeah, you're right, I am a

405
00:22:39,680 --> 00:22:42,680
Sinner. 
I messed up, not my place. 

406
00:22:43,560 --> 00:22:46,920
So I think there is an 
interesting parallelism in in 

407
00:22:46,920 --> 00:22:49,960
what we're called to as well. 
And I want to, I want to clarify

408
00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:53,920
something here because this gets
tossed around a lot in modern 

409
00:22:53,920 --> 00:22:56,560
day culture is, oh, you can't 
judge me, you can't judge me. 

410
00:22:56,840 --> 00:23:00,120
But you have to understand what 
that word really means in the 

411
00:23:00,120 --> 00:23:04,040
biblical context. 
When we say judge, we mean 

412
00:23:04,520 --> 00:23:08,920
potentially make an assessment 
or something about that person. 

413
00:23:08,920 --> 00:23:11,280
I'm assessing you and I'm saying
that you're not worthy, 

414
00:23:11,280 --> 00:23:12,000
whatever. 
That's how. 

415
00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:14,160
Usually in a. 
Negative way. 

416
00:23:14,560 --> 00:23:17,640
But the word judge here in the 
Bible, it actually means 

417
00:23:17,640 --> 00:23:20,000
condemn. 
It means to condemn. 

418
00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:23,240
It's a much harder, stronger 
word. 

419
00:23:23,600 --> 00:23:27,560
So when people get it wrong, 
when they say you can't judge me

420
00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:31,320
and what they're really saying 
is you shouldn't assess my 

421
00:23:31,320 --> 00:23:35,280
behavior. 
No, Christians have to assess 

422
00:23:35,280 --> 00:23:37,600
behavior. 
We have to use our God-given 

423
00:23:37,600 --> 00:23:40,440
brains to assess whether 
something is right or wrong. 

424
00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:44,480
Now, is the Christian called to 
judge in terms of the biblical 

425
00:23:44,640 --> 00:23:46,840
nature of the word, which means 
to condemn? 

426
00:23:47,160 --> 00:23:51,200
No, we are not to condemn, 
right? 

427
00:23:51,400 --> 00:23:53,240
But yeah, we have to assess 
people. 

428
00:23:53,240 --> 00:23:56,120
We have to assess intentions and
actions and things like that. 

429
00:23:56,120 --> 00:23:58,080
So I just want to put that out 
there. 

430
00:23:58,080 --> 00:24:01,440
So that way if you're listening 
to this like in the next time 

431
00:24:01,440 --> 00:24:04,640
something like that comes up, 
you know that like it doesn't 

432
00:24:04,640 --> 00:24:08,560
mean don't use your brain and 
don't assess the situation. 

433
00:24:08,760 --> 00:24:11,840
It does mean don't condemn. 
Yeah, no, that's a really good 

434
00:24:11,840 --> 00:24:15,680
point. 
Paul's insult goes on. 

435
00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:20,200
He calls him a whitewashed wall,
calls out his hypocrisy, and 

436
00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:23,280
then he offers, offers some 
judgement, offers some 

437
00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:26,640
condemnation. 
Actually God will strike you. 

438
00:24:29,120 --> 00:24:32,120
Maybe more prophetic than we 
realize in this moment or maybe 

439
00:24:32,120 --> 00:24:34,960
even then. 
Paul realized Ananias the high 

440
00:24:34,960 --> 00:24:41,760
priest notably historically 
involved in scheming and bribes 

441
00:24:41,760 --> 00:24:45,920
and and pro Roman supporting the
empire politics. 

442
00:24:47,560 --> 00:24:52,040
He was brutally killed by mobs 
of Jewish nationalists, Just 

443
00:24:53,120 --> 00:24:56,880
Jewish culture people who were 
done with his corrupt ways. 

444
00:24:57,760 --> 00:24:59,280
Crazy. 
I did not know that before 

445
00:24:59,280 --> 00:25:01,240
today. 
By the way, that is like a 

446
00:25:01,240 --> 00:25:04,240
crazy. 
I I don't want to use word fun, 

447
00:25:04,240 --> 00:25:06,400
but that's a crazy historical 
fact. 

448
00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:09,280
Like man, you don't want. 
To use the word fun. 

449
00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:13,320
No, I don't. 
That's see and that's why I 

450
00:25:13,320 --> 00:25:16,600
didn't use the word fun. 
I said the word fun, but I don't

451
00:25:16,600 --> 00:25:20,200
think it is fun. 
So let me clarify that. 

452
00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:26,160
So yeah, that was it didn't 
happen right away in the moment,

453
00:25:26,160 --> 00:25:30,440
but Paul again, kind of 
foreshadowing, sure what would 

454
00:25:30,440 --> 00:25:34,040
befall this corrupt ruler kind 
of got. 

455
00:25:34,320 --> 00:25:37,080
He got his judgement. 
He did receive his condemnation 

456
00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:46,320
dying in such a severe way. 
So at this point, Paul, we said 

457
00:25:46,320 --> 00:25:48,320
it, Paul is not in the midst of 
France. 

458
00:25:48,360 --> 00:25:51,600
They all the Pharisee and 
Sadducees, don't really like 

459
00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:54,200
each other. 
They also definitely don't like 

460
00:25:54,200 --> 00:25:58,200
Paul at all. 
He has no friends, no allies in 

461
00:25:58,200 --> 00:26:01,200
the room. 
Verse 6 and chapter 23, when 

462
00:26:01,200 --> 00:26:04,000
Paul perceived that one part 
were Sadducees and the other 

463
00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:05,920
Pharisees, he cried out in the 
council. 

464
00:26:06,320 --> 00:26:09,720
Men and brethren, I am a 
Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee.

465
00:26:10,200 --> 00:26:13,480
Concerning the hope and 
resurrection of the dead, I am 

466
00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:17,400
being judged. 
I called this out in the sermon 

467
00:26:17,400 --> 00:26:19,040
yesterday. 
One of one of the big 

468
00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:22,640
differences, both Pharisees and 
Sadducees just steeped in the 

469
00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:25,080
law. 
They love the law, they love the

470
00:26:25,080 --> 00:26:29,240
ritual, they love the rights, 
they love the things that you 

471
00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:35,400
have to do for your religiosity.
The Pharisees, however, at least

472
00:26:35,400 --> 00:26:39,160
believed in the divinity of 
Jesus, right? 

473
00:26:39,160 --> 00:26:43,320
The resurrection of the dead 
that that there was a promised 

474
00:26:43,320 --> 00:26:47,760
Holy Spirit that there there 
were the the reports of of 

475
00:26:47,840 --> 00:26:53,920
angels or or just supernatural 
beings, voices, communication 

476
00:26:53,920 --> 00:26:56,240
from God. 
The Pharisees were on board with

477
00:26:56,240 --> 00:26:59,040
with all of those things. 
The Sadducees were absolutely 

478
00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:03,640
not that they did not believe 
that Jesus resurrected from the 

479
00:27:03,640 --> 00:27:07,920
dead that that there was that 
promise of heaven because of his

480
00:27:07,920 --> 00:27:11,040
work. 
So so Paul kind of points out, 

481
00:27:11,040 --> 00:27:16,320
hey, I'm on your guys Pharisees.
We agree on this. 

482
00:27:16,320 --> 00:27:18,200
We're like we're team Jesus 
here. 

483
00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:23,520
We, we, we, we like this and it 
it causes infighting. 

484
00:27:23,520 --> 00:27:27,160
I I don't you'd have to think 
that there was he was at least 

485
00:27:27,240 --> 00:27:29,240
maybe he was just trying to 
appeal. 

486
00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:32,520
I don't know that he's looking 
to set him off fighting against 

487
00:27:32,520 --> 00:27:34,560
each other, but that's what 
happened right? 

488
00:27:34,640 --> 00:27:40,480
We we have this chaos afterwards
on that that even turned violent

489
00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:43,840
that that even like broke out to
the point that Paul had to be 

490
00:27:44,080 --> 00:27:46,880
rescued and brought back off to 
jail. 

491
00:27:46,880 --> 00:27:50,600
So clever move. 
Yeah, it is very clever. 

492
00:27:50,800 --> 00:27:53,480
I like actually in the show 
notes here, one of the things 

493
00:27:53,480 --> 00:27:57,920
that gets brought out is the 
Sadducees were the theological 

494
00:27:57,920 --> 00:28:01,360
liberals of their day and denied
the reality of the life after 

495
00:28:01,360 --> 00:28:03,360
death and the concept of 
resurrection. 

496
00:28:03,800 --> 00:28:06,960
And so I think, you know, if 
we're trying to place ourselves 

497
00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:10,080
in the moment and understand the
context, that's a pretty great 

498
00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:14,200
way to say that, which is, you 
know, and if you bring that 

499
00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:18,320
forward into modern religion or 
Christian Christianity, you 

500
00:28:18,320 --> 00:28:21,240
might look at that and go, oh 
man, I feel like I could 

501
00:28:21,240 --> 00:28:25,480
probably pick out the hyper 
liberal churches that don't 

502
00:28:25,480 --> 00:28:28,160
believe fully what the Bible 
says, but they're still claiming

503
00:28:28,160 --> 00:28:32,000
Christianity is their own, even 
though they're not really 

504
00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:35,360
adhering to the word itself. 
And so that's, you know, 

505
00:28:35,360 --> 00:28:37,720
essentially, if we need to bring
it forward to understand it 

506
00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:39,160
more, that's that's how we do 
that. 

507
00:28:39,600 --> 00:28:42,640
You know, we can pull that right
in and say, OK, now I now I have

508
00:28:42,640 --> 00:28:47,280
a sense of like these two, these
two factions that are now 

509
00:28:47,280 --> 00:28:49,760
arguing amongst themselves 
because of what Paul said about 

510
00:28:49,760 --> 00:28:52,240
resurrection. 
And so we can understand that 

511
00:28:52,240 --> 00:28:53,560
way. 
And I think that's perfectly 

512
00:28:53,560 --> 00:28:55,480
valid. 
Yeah, the Sadducees want to know

513
00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:58,480
part of that, of that divine 
afterlife, part of it. 

514
00:28:58,480 --> 00:29:02,240
The Pharisees problem was they, 
they took the Bible seriously. 

515
00:29:02,240 --> 00:29:05,920
They took Scripture seriously, 
but they still it it, it was 

516
00:29:05,920 --> 00:29:12,040
like Jesus plus Jesus plus the 
things that I do results in 

517
00:29:12,320 --> 00:29:14,440
eternal life. 
They still added the traditions 

518
00:29:14,440 --> 00:29:18,160
of of man to Jesus's teaching 
to, to the Old Testament 

519
00:29:18,560 --> 00:29:22,240
teachings as as the way for 
eternal life. 

520
00:29:22,240 --> 00:29:25,120
So the Sadducees were lacking 
the whole truth of the Bible. 

521
00:29:25,120 --> 00:29:27,000
The Pharisees took the whole 
truth of the Bible, but they 

522
00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:30,800
wanted to put their two cents in
as well to probably maintain 

523
00:29:30,800 --> 00:29:35,280
power to to still have some 
semblance of control over the 

524
00:29:35,280 --> 00:29:37,760
people. 
So in this way, though, Paul, 

525
00:29:38,480 --> 00:29:40,600
Paul hit a nerve like he struck 
a nerve. 

526
00:29:40,600 --> 00:29:43,480
This was the right issue to 
bring up. 

527
00:29:43,480 --> 00:29:46,760
And the Pharisees even say this,
he brought this is what we 

528
00:29:46,760 --> 00:29:49,280
believe and we believe in a 
powerful God that works in these

529
00:29:49,280 --> 00:29:51,320
ways. 
Let us not fight against God. 

530
00:29:51,320 --> 00:29:54,200
We're not we're not going 
against Paul anymore. 

531
00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:58,920
If this is the message that he's
bringing the the riot kind of 

532
00:29:58,920 --> 00:30:01,720
turns violent. 
Verse 10 says now there arose of

533
00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:04,800
great dissension and the 
commander fearing Paul might be 

534
00:30:04,800 --> 00:30:08,200
pulled to pieces, commanded the 
soldiers to go down and take him

535
00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:12,080
by force from among them and 
bring him into the barracks. 

536
00:30:12,560 --> 00:30:16,400
So even back to the last couple 
weeks, we said we saw the 

537
00:30:16,400 --> 00:30:18,640
crowds, the Jewish crowds as he 
was preaching to them. 

538
00:30:18,640 --> 00:30:22,920
Like there came a point tensions
are really high at this point 

539
00:30:22,920 --> 00:30:25,120
I'm it's the people amidst the 
leaders. 

540
00:30:25,400 --> 00:30:31,040
The gospel is is working in ways
that are maybe madding to the 

541
00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:35,920
public at this point, either for
either for annoyance or maybe 

542
00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:38,760
from sheer conviction. 
Like it could be working in that

543
00:30:38,760 --> 00:30:43,040
way of frustration. 
Do you ever like the phrase 

544
00:30:43,040 --> 00:30:47,280
truth hurts, right? 
It's it's cliche, but but it's 

545
00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:50,400
true. 
Like if there's something that 

546
00:30:50,480 --> 00:30:52,240
you either don't love about 
yourself or a situation you 

547
00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:56,240
handled and someone and someone 
calls that out, you feel that 

548
00:30:56,240 --> 00:31:00,800
right? 
You're like, I know I kind of, I

549
00:31:00,800 --> 00:31:02,440
kind of hate that I did that 
too. 

550
00:31:02,520 --> 00:31:05,680
Like looking back, I didn't like
that as well. 

551
00:31:05,680 --> 00:31:08,160
Like that's, I feel like that's 
what's happening amidst amidst 

552
00:31:08,160 --> 00:31:10,880
the crowd or even the 
frustration that we see Boyle up

553
00:31:10,880 --> 00:31:13,440
here in the leaders. 
The truth of the gospel was 

554
00:31:13,440 --> 00:31:17,120
cutting through so much that 
they felt a level of conviction 

555
00:31:17,120 --> 00:31:20,480
of guilt, of, of wrongness. 
Even if they didn't agree with 

556
00:31:20,480 --> 00:31:25,160
it, they could feel the weight 
of oh man, he's, he's right. 

557
00:31:25,320 --> 00:31:30,480
Like we we feel this is wrong. 
Well, and I think, you know, to 

558
00:31:30,480 --> 00:31:34,840
give it further historical 
context, you add the fact that 

559
00:31:35,280 --> 00:31:38,920
the the Jewish people have been 
under the thumb of the Romans 

560
00:31:38,920 --> 00:31:42,600
now for I don't even know how 
long would have to look that up.

561
00:31:42,760 --> 00:31:46,600
But you know, so there's all 
this tension inside the city all

562
00:31:46,600 --> 00:31:50,160
of the time because you really 
don't like sure, if you're a 

563
00:31:50,160 --> 00:31:53,040
Jewish person at that point, you
can live out your faith to the 

564
00:31:53,040 --> 00:31:56,160
extent that the Romans allow you
to. 

565
00:31:56,920 --> 00:32:01,280
Now take for example, you know, 
they did, the Jewish people did 

566
00:32:01,280 --> 00:32:04,400
push back on the Romans from 
time to time because, you know, 

567
00:32:04,400 --> 00:32:09,600
there's a moment where they want
to have Caesar's likeness put on

568
00:32:09,600 --> 00:32:12,200
or near the temple. 
And the Jewish people revolt and

569
00:32:12,400 --> 00:32:14,840
they tear the thing down and 
yeah, people go to jail, they 

570
00:32:14,840 --> 00:32:18,000
get beat. 
But ultimately Caesar decides, 

571
00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:19,680
you know what, this fight isn't 
worth it. 

572
00:32:19,680 --> 00:32:21,240
It's fine. 
We're just going to leave that 

573
00:32:21,240 --> 00:32:24,240
off or whatever. 
But still, like there's always 

574
00:32:24,240 --> 00:32:27,640
this underlying tension of their
in their lives of we are not 

575
00:32:27,640 --> 00:32:30,960
free. 
We could get arrested, beaten, 

576
00:32:30,960 --> 00:32:33,920
whatever at any given moment if 
the Romans decide that we don't 

577
00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:36,600
like what you're doing. 
And that could be religiously or

578
00:32:36,600 --> 00:32:39,360
otherwise. 
So there's just this always 

579
00:32:39,360 --> 00:32:44,640
underlying tension in the air. 
Plus you add Paul, who again, 

580
00:32:44,640 --> 00:32:50,080
the accusation is that he's 
saying no Moses, no customs, and

581
00:32:50,080 --> 00:32:54,440
that's really setting an already
volatile situation on fire. 

582
00:32:54,640 --> 00:32:57,920
Yeah, and this is so just 
looking up a historical timeline

583
00:32:57,920 --> 00:33:00,680
quick. 
The the Roman rule was from 

584
00:33:00,680 --> 00:33:08,960
about 60 BC to about 13140 
somewhere in there AD, so about 

585
00:33:08,960 --> 00:33:16,000
a period of 200 years and we're 
roughly around 50-60 AD right 

586
00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:18,240
now somewhere in there. 
So there's been this period of 

587
00:33:18,240 --> 00:33:23,160
there been on a Roman rule for 
120 years at this point they're 

588
00:33:23,160 --> 00:33:26,760
on the the downside like they 
didn't know obviously when it 

589
00:33:26,760 --> 00:33:30,520
would end, but in another 80 
years they would have broken 

590
00:33:30,520 --> 00:33:31,880
free. 
So you're right, like this is 

591
00:33:31,880 --> 00:33:35,640
the start of tensions mounting, 
kind of boiling over, kind of 

592
00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:39,960
being done with this, this Roman
rule and occupation. 

593
00:33:40,360 --> 00:33:46,080
And it makes me wonder about the
frustration of the crowds, 

594
00:33:46,080 --> 00:33:49,800
though They, they were obviously
yearning for something else. 

595
00:33:49,800 --> 00:33:55,160
Did they, did they hate Paul for
taking the out of aligning with 

596
00:33:55,160 --> 00:33:57,920
his Roman citizenship like we 
were talking about last week? 

597
00:33:57,920 --> 00:34:00,440
Did they? 
Oh, well, this guy's, well, this

598
00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:04,960
guy's a Christian, but he aligns
with this political force and we

599
00:34:04,960 --> 00:34:07,360
don't like that. 
So by extension, we don't like 

600
00:34:07,360 --> 00:34:08,760
Christians. 
Is is that? 

601
00:34:09,679 --> 00:34:12,159
I don't know. 
It could be, I mean, I, I think 

602
00:34:12,159 --> 00:34:16,080
you could draw some modern day 
parallels with certain groups of

603
00:34:16,800 --> 00:34:18,320
evangelicals and stuff like 
that. 

604
00:34:18,320 --> 00:34:19,840
If they're telling you how to 
vote and whatever. 

605
00:34:19,840 --> 00:34:23,120
And all of a sudden now I don't 
like you at all because you are 

606
00:34:23,120 --> 00:34:25,480
representing Christianity, but 
you're also representing the 

607
00:34:25,480 --> 00:34:27,280
side of the aisle that I don't 
like. 

608
00:34:27,320 --> 00:34:30,880
And it could be either side. 
But yeah, I, I could absolutely 

609
00:34:30,880 --> 00:34:36,280
see that as being true. 
And yeah, just the extent of and

610
00:34:36,280 --> 00:34:39,880
it makes me wonder, like, you 
know, sometimes, sometimes our 

611
00:34:39,880 --> 00:34:45,360
anger in our frustration comes 
out on people or on situations 

612
00:34:45,719 --> 00:34:49,080
when that's not really the 
person I'm angry at. 

613
00:34:49,080 --> 00:34:53,400
I just happen to blow up on you.
And I could see that with Paul 

614
00:34:53,400 --> 00:34:56,080
in some ways, you know, 
especially as he claims his 

615
00:34:56,080 --> 00:34:57,880
Roman citizenship in front of 
them. 

616
00:34:58,240 --> 00:34:59,880
Like, yeah, they're not going to
like that. 

617
00:35:00,480 --> 00:35:03,920
And and so I mean, like, it just
brings about all these feelings 

618
00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:06,520
of feeling small and feeling 
oppressed. 

619
00:35:06,840 --> 00:35:09,600
And then all of a sudden, like 
this guy who's trying to tell 

620
00:35:09,600 --> 00:35:12,440
you about, you know, the 
resurrection of Jesus Christ, 

621
00:35:12,680 --> 00:35:15,440
now he's aligning himself with 
the Romans, calling himself a 

622
00:35:15,440 --> 00:35:18,840
citizen, which he is. 
But all of a sudden, now I have 

623
00:35:18,840 --> 00:35:22,320
an even greater beef with you. 
And it didn't start with you. 

624
00:35:22,320 --> 00:35:24,760
It started with this oppression 
that our people have felt for 

625
00:35:24,760 --> 00:35:28,800
the last 120 years. 
But here you are representing 

626
00:35:28,800 --> 00:35:30,160
that. 
So you're going to get, you're 

627
00:35:30,160 --> 00:35:31,920
going to get the blunt of my 
anger. 

628
00:35:32,080 --> 00:35:35,440
So there's miss, there's 
misplaced anger here, just kind 

629
00:35:35,440 --> 00:35:38,760
of by proxy, by association, 
Paul aligning himself with this.

630
00:35:38,760 --> 00:35:44,160
They're frustrated at the bigger
political concept of of the 

631
00:35:44,160 --> 00:35:47,880
Roman Empire. 
And yeah, so there comes this 

632
00:35:47,880 --> 00:35:53,080
great disagreement, riot, 
physical violence, the commander

633
00:35:53,240 --> 00:35:57,000
fearing. 
He's fearing, I think not so 

634
00:35:57,000 --> 00:36:01,160
much for Paul, but maybe for the
law that he's supposed to. 

635
00:36:01,880 --> 00:36:04,000
It's by law that he's supposed 
to keep Paul safe, right? 

636
00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:06,040
Like as a Roman citizen. 
So I don't even know it's 

637
00:36:06,040 --> 00:36:07,520
personally for Paul's 
well-being. 

638
00:36:07,520 --> 00:36:11,040
He's probably just covering his 
own job and standing. 

639
00:36:11,040 --> 00:36:14,840
But it's it's his responsibility
to keep this prisoner on trial 

640
00:36:14,840 --> 00:36:17,120
safe. 
I don't think it was any 

641
00:36:17,120 --> 00:36:19,240
personal affections necessarily.
There's. 

642
00:36:19,240 --> 00:36:22,000
Nothing, nothing here to. 
Well, I mean, think about these 

643
00:36:22,000 --> 00:36:25,080
guards. 
If, if a Roman citizen gets 

644
00:36:25,080 --> 00:36:28,920
mobbed in Jerusalem, you better,
you better know that the people 

645
00:36:28,960 --> 00:36:30,840
above you are going to hear 
about that. 

646
00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:33,880
So like Paul is no different. 
He's a Roman citizen. 

647
00:36:33,920 --> 00:36:36,200
They're going to hear about it 
if they let him die. 

648
00:36:36,480 --> 00:36:38,960
Yeah, and then there's even just
know if they can't keep the 

649
00:36:38,960 --> 00:36:42,880
citizens safe, then there's no. 
You're not doing your job. 

650
00:36:42,880 --> 00:36:44,000
No. 
And then and they don't, their 

651
00:36:44,000 --> 00:36:47,720
reputation would fall away and, 
and all those, all those things.

652
00:36:47,720 --> 00:36:54,160
So this note in verse 10 here 
again, I use, I use the enduring

653
00:36:54,280 --> 00:36:58,120
word commentary very frequently.
But this note in verse 10 kind 

654
00:36:58,120 --> 00:37:03,480
of catapulted me to the point 
that I landed on, on where I was

655
00:37:03,480 --> 00:37:05,760
going to be in the message. 
And I, I really only focused on 

656
00:37:05,760 --> 00:37:07,240
one verse, verse 11 for the 
message. 

657
00:37:07,240 --> 00:37:08,760
And that's why we haven't gotten
there yet. 

658
00:37:08,760 --> 00:37:10,480
We're not going to spend a whole
lot of time on it because I 

659
00:37:10,480 --> 00:37:12,280
spent 25 minutes on it 
yesterday. 

660
00:37:12,280 --> 00:37:16,680
But Paul's clever ploy. 
This is from the Enduring Word 

661
00:37:16,680 --> 00:37:19,640
commentary. 
Paul's clever ploy rescued him 

662
00:37:19,640 --> 00:37:22,880
from the council, but he could 
not have been happy with the 

663
00:37:22,880 --> 00:37:25,640
results. 
He had the opportunity to preach

664
00:37:25,640 --> 00:37:28,320
to a huge crowd of attentive 
Jews on the Temple Mount and it 

665
00:37:28,320 --> 00:37:31,040
ended in failure. 
Then he had the opportunity to 

666
00:37:31,040 --> 00:37:34,960
preach to the influential Jewish
council and it also ended in a 

667
00:37:34,960 --> 00:37:42,440
fistfight. 
I can't, I can't imagine this is

668
00:37:42,440 --> 00:37:45,080
this is obviously not the 
context in which Paul thought he

669
00:37:45,080 --> 00:37:48,640
would be bringing the gospel, 
seemingly open to any context, 

670
00:37:48,640 --> 00:37:53,880
but obviously conditions were 
not perfect for how he would 

671
00:37:53,880 --> 00:37:58,040
imagine preaching the gospel. 
But as I brought up yesterday, 

672
00:37:58,040 --> 00:38:02,560
this certainly was not the 
outcome that he thought he would

673
00:38:02,560 --> 00:38:04,880
get that he experienced in other
places. 

674
00:38:04,880 --> 00:38:07,720
We have all these other accounts
of and, and the Lord added daily

675
00:38:07,720 --> 00:38:11,880
to those or 3000 came to be 
saved that day or whatever. 

676
00:38:11,880 --> 00:38:16,400
Like we've had these momentous 
happenings in the early church 

677
00:38:16,400 --> 00:38:22,600
where just thousands of lives 
are changed in a day and he's in

678
00:38:22,600 --> 00:38:29,360
Jerusalem and crickets like 
nothing, no, no result. 

679
00:38:30,360 --> 00:38:33,040
It's got to be, it has to be 
crushing to some degree. 

680
00:38:33,080 --> 00:38:37,040
I don't know how despondent Paul
was, but it was despondent 

681
00:38:37,040 --> 00:38:41,440
enough to to come to verse 11 
that it took a visit from Jesus 

682
00:38:42,480 --> 00:38:45,680
to encourage him to cheer him 
up. 

683
00:38:45,840 --> 00:38:48,480
Verse 11, the following night, 
the Lord stood by him and said, 

684
00:38:48,720 --> 00:38:51,480
be of good cheer, Paul. 
For as you have testified for me

685
00:38:51,480 --> 00:38:56,120
in Jerusalem, so also you must 
bear witness at Rome. 

686
00:38:56,480 --> 00:39:00,440
Yeah, I think there's, there's 
an interesting note here, you 

687
00:39:00,440 --> 00:39:05,920
know, talking about Paul's 
feelings on the issue, you know,

688
00:39:05,920 --> 00:39:09,240
because if he was just cold, he 
would say, well, they didn't, 

689
00:39:09,240 --> 00:39:11,040
they didn't listen to me. 
They're bad. 

690
00:39:11,600 --> 00:39:14,480
Oh, well. 
But like, you know, the notes, 

691
00:39:14,520 --> 00:39:17,280
they, they, they give this 
interesting thing coming out of 

692
00:39:17,280 --> 00:39:21,600
Romans 9/1 through 4:00. 
I am speaking the truth in 

693
00:39:21,600 --> 00:39:22,680
Christ. 
I am not lying. 

694
00:39:22,680 --> 00:39:25,880
My conscience bears me witness 
in the Holy Spirit that I have a

695
00:39:25,880 --> 00:39:29,400
great sorrow and unceasing 
anguish in my heart. 

696
00:39:29,880 --> 00:39:34,360
For I could wish that I myself 
were accursed and cut off from 

697
00:39:34,360 --> 00:39:37,880
Christ for the sake of my 
brothers, my kinsmen, according 

698
00:39:37,880 --> 00:39:40,120
to the flesh. 
And so you read that. 

699
00:39:40,120 --> 00:39:44,400
And not unlike Jesus, who's 
ascending to Jerusalem and he 

700
00:39:44,400 --> 00:39:49,040
just weeps, he looks at his 
people and it breaks his heart 

701
00:39:49,040 --> 00:39:53,520
that they refuse to receive him.
And Paul's no different. 

702
00:39:53,520 --> 00:39:57,480
He really has the heart of 
Christ in mind for these people.

703
00:39:57,760 --> 00:40:01,280
And it had to have been so 
heartbreaking for him to go 

704
00:40:01,280 --> 00:40:04,720
there with this message of 
freedom and forgiveness and 

705
00:40:04,720 --> 00:40:07,240
life. 
And then to be squarely 

706
00:40:07,240 --> 00:40:10,680
rejected. 
He's taken beatings before, he's

707
00:40:10,680 --> 00:40:13,640
been, he's had rocks for him, 
he's been thrown out of town. 

708
00:40:13,640 --> 00:40:15,960
All these things, he's endured 
all these things. 

709
00:40:15,960 --> 00:40:20,640
This is not anything new to him,
but this is heartbreaking. 

710
00:40:20,640 --> 00:40:24,120
That is new to him, that he 
looks at the people who he loves

711
00:40:24,120 --> 00:40:28,840
and cares for and they just 
refuse to receive the good thing

712
00:40:28,840 --> 00:40:32,720
that he has for them. 
Yeah, so not even in a depressed

713
00:40:32,720 --> 00:40:36,560
sort of self reflection or 
evaluation, his, his heart is 

714
00:40:36,560 --> 00:40:39,920
breaking for their lack of 
response. 

715
00:40:40,080 --> 00:40:43,600
Like maybe not even judging 
himself or his quote UN quote 

716
00:40:43,600 --> 00:40:48,440
effectiveness or whatever in in 
the gospel, but just truly 

717
00:40:48,440 --> 00:40:52,840
distraught for the lives that 
are in jeopardy and in in the 

718
00:40:52,840 --> 00:40:55,040
scope of eternity that are in 
jeopardy. 

719
00:40:55,600 --> 00:40:58,720
And that's it's a really sweet 
and tender place to be. 

720
00:40:58,720 --> 00:41:01,720
And when we talk about the 
example that Paul had in the 

721
00:41:01,720 --> 00:41:06,440
heart after Jesus do our we we 
sing the song Hosanna lately 

722
00:41:06,440 --> 00:41:10,680
break my heart for what breaks 
yours is is is in that bridge 

723
00:41:10,680 --> 00:41:13,520
and I I just think that's an 
amazing posture that's that's 

724
00:41:13,520 --> 00:41:17,400
emulated here in Paul. 
Of course, of course Jesus is 

725
00:41:17,400 --> 00:41:20,200
heartbroken that there's there's
people against him that don't 

726
00:41:20,200 --> 00:41:22,640
want to repent and turn back to 
him. 

727
00:41:22,920 --> 00:41:27,880
Paul seemingly is is on is on a 
similar empathetic level to 

728
00:41:27,920 --> 00:41:35,040
Jesus for his his despondency in
in the stubbornness of these 

729
00:41:35,040 --> 00:41:37,520
people's hearts. 
I think we've brought this up 

730
00:41:37,520 --> 00:41:41,120
before, but it's worth saying 
again, which is if you're going 

731
00:41:41,120 --> 00:41:44,320
to be a Christian through and 
through heart, mind, body, soul,

732
00:41:44,320 --> 00:41:48,360
etcetera, that does not 
necessarily grant you a happier,

733
00:41:48,360 --> 00:41:50,480
easier life. 
In fact, it's. 

734
00:41:50,680 --> 00:41:52,120
The IT almost definitely won't, 
no. 

735
00:41:53,200 --> 00:41:55,600
It's true. 
Welcome to Christianity. 

736
00:41:58,200 --> 00:42:02,320
Sorry. 
This is actually not a funny 

737
00:42:02,320 --> 00:42:03,600
thing. 
It's not a funny thing. 

738
00:42:03,600 --> 00:42:06,360
I just, I had the image of 
people hearing that coming from 

739
00:42:06,360 --> 00:42:10,040
their pastors and like, we're 
fine, we're fine. 

740
00:42:10,040 --> 00:42:11,920
We're OK. 
Like we're, we're not, we're not

741
00:42:11,920 --> 00:42:14,160
just having a pity party here 
for ourselves. 

742
00:42:14,280 --> 00:42:18,000
No, but I mean, The thing is, 
the the closer you draw to God's

743
00:42:18,000 --> 00:42:21,240
heart, the more your heart will 
break for the things that breaks

744
00:42:21,240 --> 00:42:23,520
His heart. 
And of course, and I'm sure 

745
00:42:23,520 --> 00:42:25,240
people listening have 
experienced this. 

746
00:42:25,240 --> 00:42:27,880
You've got friends, you've got 
family, all these kinds of 

747
00:42:27,880 --> 00:42:30,760
things that like you would love 
to see these these people, you'd

748
00:42:31,120 --> 00:42:33,440
love nothing less than to see 
these people have a real 

749
00:42:33,440 --> 00:42:37,080
relationship with Jesus Christ 
and have salvation and have 

750
00:42:37,080 --> 00:42:39,520
assurance and security in their 
eternity. 

751
00:42:40,040 --> 00:42:46,240
And it is so difficult to watch 
people either passively or more 

752
00:42:46,240 --> 00:42:48,720
aggressively outright turn away 
from that. 

753
00:42:49,200 --> 00:42:52,960
That's really difficult to do. 
And so, I mean, I think we can 

754
00:42:53,040 --> 00:42:56,160
absolutely empathize with Paul 
here. 

755
00:42:56,240 --> 00:42:59,520
We, we can with Jesus too, to 
some extent of just like, yeah, 

756
00:42:59,800 --> 00:43:04,080
it should break our hearts, you 
know, to some extent when we we 

757
00:43:04,080 --> 00:43:09,160
know what Jesus offers, we know 
what life abounding really looks

758
00:43:09,160 --> 00:43:10,520
like. 
We know what freedom looks like.

759
00:43:10,520 --> 00:43:12,840
We know what all these things 
look like through Jesus Christ. 

760
00:43:13,360 --> 00:43:17,000
And to have somebody that we 
love and we care about openly or

761
00:43:17,000 --> 00:43:19,920
passively reject that, it's 
really, really difficult. 

762
00:43:19,920 --> 00:43:23,440
So yeah, I will tell you, as 
others have said, maybe more 

763
00:43:23,440 --> 00:43:27,400
eloquently than me, if you're a 
Christian, it's your heart's 

764
00:43:27,400 --> 00:43:30,560
going to break more often than 
not, because you're going to 

765
00:43:30,560 --> 00:43:35,080
watch an entire world of people 
just reject this grace. 

766
00:43:36,440 --> 00:43:39,560
Yeah, yeah. 
And that's that's the brokenness

767
00:43:39,560 --> 00:43:42,880
of heart that the urgency I 
think that that Jesus calls us 

768
00:43:42,880 --> 00:43:45,480
to to have as we go and make 
disciples. 

769
00:43:46,080 --> 00:43:48,960
The final thing I kind of want 
to talk about and I didn't leave

770
00:43:48,960 --> 00:43:50,840
room for it in the message 
because this could have gone. 

771
00:43:51,400 --> 00:43:53,920
I focus on verse 11 and I 
probably could have focused on 

772
00:43:53,960 --> 00:43:57,680
this aspect of verse 11 for 
about the same amount of time as

773
00:43:57,680 --> 00:44:01,480
I did in the message yesterday 
in in totality. 

774
00:44:03,280 --> 00:44:07,720
Paul obviously is a unique 
individual, has a unique 

775
00:44:07,720 --> 00:44:13,160
relationship with God, with 
Jesus, more so than really 

776
00:44:13,160 --> 00:44:15,640
anyone, any Christian that would
follow, I mean. 

777
00:44:16,040 --> 00:44:17,240
Yeah, that. 
I think that's fair. 

778
00:44:17,640 --> 00:44:22,560
Wrote most of the New Testament,
right is is the human author of,

779
00:44:23,760 --> 00:44:27,400
or at least Penner of most of 
the New Testament, the the Canon

780
00:44:27,400 --> 00:44:33,600
that we hold as Holy Scripture. 
But as I said yesterday, never 

781
00:44:33,600 --> 00:44:39,640
once have I had like this clear 
of an affirmation, interaction, 

782
00:44:40,480 --> 00:44:43,680
correction, or encouragement 
from God. 

783
00:44:44,440 --> 00:44:49,000
And I didn't talk to anyone 
yesterday who blatantly has 

784
00:44:49,200 --> 00:44:51,600
either. 
I don't, I don't know that you 

785
00:44:51,600 --> 00:44:56,160
have one one way or the other. 
Why? 

786
00:44:56,880 --> 00:45:07,000
Why don't we get this clear as a
bell feedback from God either 

787
00:45:07,000 --> 00:45:11,640
either either well done, keep it
up or even to some degree Jonah,

788
00:45:11,640 --> 00:45:15,160
like Jonah got a whale sent to 
get him back on course. 

789
00:45:15,200 --> 00:45:19,400
But like I, I, I feel like we 
can find ourselves in you. 

790
00:45:19,480 --> 00:45:23,120
You were talking about earlier 
kind of this bartering with got 

791
00:45:23,120 --> 00:45:26,600
like give me a sign. 
Let let me let me know if if 

792
00:45:26,600 --> 00:45:32,400
this is The thing is, is that a 
weird thing to think about? 

793
00:45:32,400 --> 00:45:37,080
Is is it something that we 
should long for? 

794
00:45:37,120 --> 00:45:40,600
Is it something we should be OK 
not having? 

795
00:45:42,320 --> 00:45:46,960
What what's, what's your 
personal understanding of of the

796
00:45:46,960 --> 00:45:50,680
dynamics of that? 
Yeah, I, I'll tell you what, I 

797
00:45:50,680 --> 00:45:56,440
have read a couple different 
articles about Muslims in 

798
00:45:56,440 --> 00:46:00,960
various places across the earth.
And they turned over their life 

799
00:46:01,040 --> 00:46:05,880
in a day, actually in a night, 
because they saw the risen 

800
00:46:05,880 --> 00:46:10,160
Christ in a dream. 
And this is the same Jesus that 

801
00:46:10,160 --> 00:46:12,720
they know they've been 
persecuting through this other 

802
00:46:12,720 --> 00:46:14,640
faith. 
They know they've been making 

803
00:46:14,640 --> 00:46:17,320
him less than what he is 
because, you know, a Muslim will

804
00:46:17,320 --> 00:46:19,480
say, well, Jesus is a prophet 
and nothing more. 

805
00:46:20,040 --> 00:46:21,680
He's not the Son of God, you 
know, whatever. 

806
00:46:22,040 --> 00:46:25,600
And so these people have 
reported and have done a 

807
00:46:25,600 --> 00:46:30,600
complete 180 overnight based on 
this dream experience that 

808
00:46:30,600 --> 00:46:35,120
they've had with Jesus Christ. 
And so I absolutely believe 

809
00:46:35,120 --> 00:46:38,560
those things still happen. 
Now, here's the thing that we 

810
00:46:38,560 --> 00:46:42,720
have to ask ourselves. 
And it's a bit like CS Lewis in 

811
00:46:42,720 --> 00:46:46,360
his story, The Chronicles of 
Narnia, one of the characters 

812
00:46:46,440 --> 00:46:48,720
asks about a different 
character. 

813
00:46:49,080 --> 00:46:53,720
And as land, the the line who 
represents Jesus says, that's 

814
00:46:54,040 --> 00:46:57,040
that's not for you to know. 
You only need to worry about the

815
00:46:57,040 --> 00:47:00,480
life that I'm giving you and 
that I'm working in and through 

816
00:47:00,640 --> 00:47:01,720
you. 
That's not for you to know. 

817
00:47:02,000 --> 00:47:06,440
That parallels really nicely. 
And CS Lewis is pretty, pretty 

818
00:47:06,440 --> 00:47:09,200
slick for this. 
It parallels really nicely when 

819
00:47:09,280 --> 00:47:12,360
Peter and Jesus are walking on 
the beach and John's kind of, 

820
00:47:12,440 --> 00:47:14,480
you know, a little bit off from 
them. 

821
00:47:14,720 --> 00:47:16,480
And Peter asks about, well, what
about John? 

822
00:47:17,040 --> 00:47:20,200
And Jesus says, that's not for 
you. 

823
00:47:20,680 --> 00:47:23,480
You need to worry about your 
story with me, not anybody 

824
00:47:23,480 --> 00:47:26,440
else's. 
And so it sounds like kind of a 

825
00:47:26,440 --> 00:47:29,000
cop out. 
I can hear myself saying it, but

826
00:47:29,000 --> 00:47:32,200
it's true. 
Like when we look at other 

827
00:47:32,200 --> 00:47:35,840
people's experiences with the 
living God and we say, Oh my 

828
00:47:35,840 --> 00:47:38,200
gosh, isn't that fantastic? 
I would love to have. 

829
00:47:38,240 --> 00:47:40,240
Jesus shelved. 
In my bedroom and finally I had 

830
00:47:40,240 --> 00:47:42,800
that. 
But like we have to recognize 

831
00:47:42,800 --> 00:47:47,680
that A as the Bible makes it 
very clear and CS Lewis brings 

832
00:47:47,680 --> 00:47:50,400
out on his story. 
That's not for us. 

833
00:47:51,000 --> 00:47:53,320
Absolutely not. 
God makes that very clear. 

834
00:47:53,840 --> 00:47:57,880
But the other thing is like, if 
we assume God's sovereignty and 

835
00:47:57,880 --> 00:48:01,440
we assume that he knows us 
better than we know ourselves, 

836
00:48:01,760 --> 00:48:05,640
then we also have to assume that
he knows best what we need when 

837
00:48:05,640 --> 00:48:08,280
we need it. 
And so again, it sounds like I'm

838
00:48:08,280 --> 00:48:11,440
sidestepping or it's like a cop 
out, but I don't believe that at

839
00:48:11,440 --> 00:48:13,120
all. 
I believe that God absolutely 

840
00:48:13,120 --> 00:48:15,800
knows exactly what I need, when 
I need it and how I need it. 

841
00:48:16,240 --> 00:48:20,120
And so, for example, like, you 
know, various parts of my life 

842
00:48:20,120 --> 00:48:23,520
over the last 15 years, God 
showed up in some really real, 

843
00:48:23,520 --> 00:48:27,440
real ways for me and my family. 
Now, did He show up in my living

844
00:48:27,440 --> 00:48:29,720
room as the glorified Christ? 
Nope. 

845
00:48:29,880 --> 00:48:33,160
That hasn't happened to me yet. 
It'd be cool if it happened, but

846
00:48:33,160 --> 00:48:36,080
it hasn't happened yet. 
Yet it's always been enough. 

847
00:48:36,080 --> 00:48:38,680
He shows up through His Spirit. 
He shows up through His people. 

848
00:48:39,040 --> 00:48:41,360
He shows up in all sorts of ways
that we need. 

849
00:48:41,760 --> 00:48:44,200
And so I just think God 
differentiates. 

850
00:48:44,200 --> 00:48:46,560
I think He knows our hearts. 
I think He knows exactly what we

851
00:48:46,560 --> 00:48:50,040
need when we need it. 
And that would be like how I 

852
00:48:50,040 --> 00:48:53,960
would address that. 
It would be cool, but like, is 

853
00:48:53,960 --> 00:48:56,720
that really what you need? 
God would know you wouldn't. 

854
00:48:57,560 --> 00:48:58,880
And that makes a lot of sense. 
I think. 

855
00:48:58,880 --> 00:49:00,960
I think you said that really 
well. 

856
00:49:03,200 --> 00:49:10,840
How it's, it's not for us to, to
have, we don't need to have the 

857
00:49:10,840 --> 00:49:16,360
exact encounters that Paul had 
with God to gain eternal life, 

858
00:49:16,360 --> 00:49:18,800
right? 
Like to, to, to end up in heaven

859
00:49:19,440 --> 00:49:22,760
with God. 
We also there's plenty of 

860
00:49:22,760 --> 00:49:26,920
interactions that even even in 
the book of Acts where we don't 

861
00:49:26,920 --> 00:49:30,640
have this follow up of Jesus 
popping up and being like, hey, 

862
00:49:30,920 --> 00:49:33,000
2 thumbs up. 
You're on the right track. 

863
00:49:33,160 --> 00:49:33,920
Keep going. 
I. 

864
00:49:34,480 --> 00:49:37,000
Like how you said that, by the 
way, yesterday that was. 

865
00:49:37,000 --> 00:49:42,680
I like that a lot. 
So it's a very, I just think 

866
00:49:42,680 --> 00:49:45,680
it's a very unique, it's an 
obvious question to ask why, why

867
00:49:45,680 --> 00:49:49,400
doesn't, and we, I feel like we 
asked that a lot, Why doesn't 

868
00:49:49,400 --> 00:49:51,360
God still speak in this way? 
Why, why isn't God? 

869
00:49:52,840 --> 00:49:55,080
Why isn't God's voice more 
prevalent? 

870
00:49:57,600 --> 00:50:04,880
I think we have I think we over 
generalized the instances of God

871
00:50:04,880 --> 00:50:09,280
Speaking of Moses in a burning 
Bush and Angel of the Lord 

872
00:50:09,280 --> 00:50:11,920
appearing before Joshua and 
letting him know exactly what 

873
00:50:11,920 --> 00:50:15,720
he's supposed to do at the city 
of Jericho or or whatever it 

874
00:50:15,720 --> 00:50:19,240
might be. 
These are these are these are 

875
00:50:19,240 --> 00:50:24,320
one in a million moments, right 
recounted in the Bible and and 

876
00:50:24,320 --> 00:50:27,120
we kind of we have them in a 
highlight reel in the Bible of 

877
00:50:27,120 --> 00:50:30,120
when they happened. 
But how many countless thousands

878
00:50:30,120 --> 00:50:33,920
of other millions of other 
interactions went on still 

879
00:50:33,920 --> 00:50:38,800
within the will of God, still 
pleasing to him without this 

880
00:50:38,800 --> 00:50:40,600
little pep talk at the end of 
them, right. 

881
00:50:40,600 --> 00:50:44,280
Like even the disciples, even 
many of the stories in this book

882
00:50:44,280 --> 00:50:50,000
of Acts, plenty of things 
happened without this positive 

883
00:50:50,000 --> 00:50:53,520
affirmation with it, without 
this direct direction, if I can 

884
00:50:53,520 --> 00:50:58,040
say that redundantly in this 
direct direction from God and 

885
00:50:58,400 --> 00:51:02,880
and that's OK, right? 
Like they still the word of God 

886
00:51:02,880 --> 00:51:06,040
still went forth. 
They were still acting in 

887
00:51:06,040 --> 00:51:10,800
alignment with his will. 
I think it more just highlights 

888
00:51:11,520 --> 00:51:16,760
maybe the depths of despair that
Paul was in the the significant 

889
00:51:16,760 --> 00:51:20,400
discouragement that he was 
experiencing in this moment. 

890
00:51:20,640 --> 00:51:23,040
And like I said, like I said 
yesterday, he didn't even at the

891
00:51:23,040 --> 00:51:26,920
time really know what was in 
store for tomorrow with his 

892
00:51:27,040 --> 00:51:32,880
life, life threat being 100, 
being beyond that of, of how his

893
00:51:32,880 --> 00:51:38,240
life was going to be taken. 
So he was, he was already that 

894
00:51:38,240 --> 00:51:43,840
discouraged Jesus. 
Jesus knew exactly where he was 

895
00:51:43,840 --> 00:51:47,400
at and knew he needed this 
boost. 

896
00:51:47,400 --> 00:51:48,680
You're, you're on the right 
track. 

897
00:51:48,680 --> 00:51:52,640
This doesn't look like how you 
drew it up or how you thought it

898
00:51:52,640 --> 00:51:55,880
was going to be, but you're 
exactly where I want you right 

899
00:51:55,880 --> 00:51:57,520
now. 
And I and I want you to keep 

900
00:51:57,520 --> 00:52:01,600
going and. 
I think we can minimize our holy

901
00:52:01,600 --> 00:52:05,160
experiences. 
What I mean by a holy experience

902
00:52:05,160 --> 00:52:10,400
is that maybe you're in prayer 
about a particular thing and 

903
00:52:10,400 --> 00:52:13,320
gosh, guess what? 
Somebody calls you 10 minutes 

904
00:52:13,320 --> 00:52:16,280
later and they're literally 
talking to you about the very 

905
00:52:16,280 --> 00:52:19,240
thing you're in prayer about. 
Or, you know, same kind of 

906
00:52:19,240 --> 00:52:21,280
thing. 
You're, you're asking God for 

907
00:52:21,280 --> 00:52:23,440
answers and you're only praying 
to him. 

908
00:52:23,440 --> 00:52:26,040
You haven't talked about this, 
you haven't done anything, and 

909
00:52:26,040 --> 00:52:28,200
then you go have lunch with a 
friend and all of a sudden 

910
00:52:28,480 --> 00:52:31,760
they're speaking some pretty 
amazing truth into your life 

911
00:52:31,760 --> 00:52:33,960
that you didn't even start 
talking about. 

912
00:52:34,360 --> 00:52:39,440
And I think we minimize those 
moments and, and I, I don't 

913
00:52:39,440 --> 00:52:43,000
think Christians ought to 
believe in coincidence. 

914
00:52:43,400 --> 00:52:47,040
I really don't. 
I think if you are, well, that's

915
00:52:47,040 --> 00:52:48,600
just a coincidence kind of 
thing. 

916
00:52:48,840 --> 00:52:51,720
I don't know that you know, the 
God of the Bible yet because he 

917
00:52:51,720 --> 00:52:56,000
is so powerful to move 1000 
different pieces that we don't 

918
00:52:56,000 --> 00:53:00,080
see in real time so that we have
that interaction so that that 

919
00:53:00,080 --> 00:53:02,600
person says just that right 
thing to us that we were 

920
00:53:02,800 --> 00:53:06,480
privately praying about. 
Like, if that's not God, I don't

921
00:53:06,480 --> 00:53:09,160
know what is. 
So I would, I encourage 

922
00:53:09,160 --> 00:53:13,160
Christians, do not minimize 
those holy moments. 

923
00:53:13,160 --> 00:53:17,280
And in fact, as the Bible calls 
us too often, you need to 

924
00:53:17,280 --> 00:53:19,960
remember those. 
You need to hold that in your 

925
00:53:19,960 --> 00:53:22,360
memory bank. 
And when you feel low, when you 

926
00:53:22,360 --> 00:53:25,480
feel like man, I wonder where 
God's at, you need to pull those

927
00:53:25,480 --> 00:53:28,440
memories forward because God 
constantly tells us in his word,

928
00:53:28,440 --> 00:53:32,080
Remember, remember, remember, 
remember my faithfulness, you 

929
00:53:32,080 --> 00:53:34,240
know? 
And so like, if we don't earmark

930
00:53:34,240 --> 00:53:37,480
those moments in our minds when 
God clearly shows up, God has a 

931
00:53:37,480 --> 00:53:41,040
right word for us through a 
person or, or whatever that 

932
00:53:41,040 --> 00:53:43,080
looks like. 
If we don't earmark those and 

933
00:53:43,080 --> 00:53:46,320
remember them constantly, we are
going to get a little bit 

934
00:53:46,320 --> 00:53:49,480
despondent and we'll feel like, 
oh, I'm not getting the 

935
00:53:49,480 --> 00:53:51,720
experience that this person got 
or this person. 

936
00:53:52,040 --> 00:53:55,680
But again, that all rolls back 
to like, no, God's relationship 

937
00:53:55,680 --> 00:53:59,800
was with you. 
And you don't need to like worry

938
00:53:59,800 --> 00:54:02,640
about what that looks like with 
other people necessarily. 

939
00:54:02,880 --> 00:54:06,920
Yeah. 
And I, so that's where kind of 

940
00:54:06,920 --> 00:54:09,680
the jump off for the message for
me, if, if it was this 

941
00:54:09,680 --> 00:54:13,640
significant, if Paul's despair 
or frustration or discouragement

942
00:54:13,640 --> 00:54:16,360
or whatever it might be, it was 
so significant that Jesus had to

943
00:54:16,360 --> 00:54:19,200
step in and say, you're on, 
you're on the right course. 

944
00:54:19,200 --> 00:54:24,640
You got to keep going. 
I felt like we then as Christ 

945
00:54:24,640 --> 00:54:30,480
followers need to be on guard 
for similar situations like 

946
00:54:30,480 --> 00:54:34,920
where we don't see the results 
that we imagined or we don't see

947
00:54:34,920 --> 00:54:38,920
the life change for the sake of 
Christ that we dreamt up, 

948
00:54:38,920 --> 00:54:41,600
whether whether it's in our 
lives or the lives of our family

949
00:54:41,600 --> 00:54:44,800
or the live or whatever, whoever
the people that we're 

950
00:54:44,800 --> 00:54:48,640
interacting with, the stranger 
that we randomly share the, the 

951
00:54:48,640 --> 00:54:55,040
gospel with. 
Because I've had I've had 

952
00:54:55,040 --> 00:54:58,280
interactions where I've I've, 
I've felt the prompting, I've 

953
00:54:58,280 --> 00:55:02,680
felt the push of the Holy Spirit
to conditions were not perfect. 

954
00:55:02,680 --> 00:55:05,520
It's, it's not how I would have 
drawn it up or even with the 

955
00:55:05,520 --> 00:55:10,080
person that I that I would have 
drawn it up back in, in my early

956
00:55:10,080 --> 00:55:15,960
20s, there was, there was a 
situation with a young guy who 

957
00:55:15,960 --> 00:55:20,200
was, I mean, had a tough life 
was it was looking for some 

958
00:55:20,200 --> 00:55:21,800
breaks. 
We were working at the same, we 

959
00:55:22,400 --> 00:55:27,880
were working at the same place 
and he would found out that he 

960
00:55:27,880 --> 00:55:33,320
was using, using some stuff on 
the job and the, and he was, he 

961
00:55:33,320 --> 00:55:35,280
got fired and, and all these 
things. 

962
00:55:35,280 --> 00:55:39,840
And I, I, I had to be the one to
let him go actually. 

963
00:55:39,840 --> 00:55:45,720
And conditions were not perfect 
as I'm walking him out in the 

964
00:55:45,720 --> 00:55:50,000
parking lot out to his car. 
I had at the time, I kept little

965
00:55:50,000 --> 00:55:57,080
like pocket Esvs with me in my 
in my backpack and I I gave him 

966
00:55:57,080 --> 00:56:00,440
the Bible and I said, I'm sorry 
that like the answers you were 

967
00:56:00,440 --> 00:56:04,000
looking for in life didn't 
didn't get answered at this job.

968
00:56:05,520 --> 00:56:09,320
I promise the answers you really
need aren't here. 

969
00:56:10,000 --> 00:56:13,960
And I gave him, I gave him a 
couple like I encourage him to 

970
00:56:13,960 --> 00:56:17,920
read John and and Proverbs were 
were like the two books that I 

971
00:56:17,920 --> 00:56:21,960
said, you should really pull, 
pull these out of here and ran 

972
00:56:21,960 --> 00:56:25,920
into them around town a few 
times around then and and kind 

973
00:56:26,000 --> 00:56:29,800
of kind of followed up. 
Come to find a few years later 

974
00:56:29,800 --> 00:56:33,400
that he he took his own life. 
I don't know. 

975
00:56:33,640 --> 00:56:37,040
I don't, I don't know where he 
wound up in his faith journey 

976
00:56:38,040 --> 00:56:40,720
after that. 
And I'm not, I'm not saying this

977
00:56:40,720 --> 00:56:43,080
just to tout my own. 
It was, it was awkward. 

978
00:56:43,080 --> 00:56:46,760
It was as awkward and and 
uncomfortable as you can 

979
00:56:46,760 --> 00:56:48,560
imagine. 
It was not perfect. 

980
00:56:48,600 --> 00:56:53,400
I didn't I'm I'm recounting the 
story in a in a succinct form 

981
00:56:53,400 --> 00:56:55,120
and it sounds maybe direct and 
elegant. 

982
00:56:55,120 --> 00:56:56,280
It wasn't. 
I promise. 

983
00:56:56,280 --> 00:57:00,560
I was stumbling over words and I
didn't know exactly what to say.

984
00:57:02,800 --> 00:57:07,440
But ultimately, obviously, it 
didn't end up the way that I 

985
00:57:07,440 --> 00:57:11,720
drew it up it there there. 
I didn't experience the life 

986
00:57:11,720 --> 00:57:17,480
change in this guy that but as I
said yesterday, I don't think 

987
00:57:17,480 --> 00:57:20,280
that's the point. 
I think the point was there were

988
00:57:20,280 --> 00:57:26,240
there was a hurting soul in 
front of me and my heart broke 

989
00:57:26,240 --> 00:57:31,880
for him that he needed Jesus. 
I think that's ultimately what 

990
00:57:31,880 --> 00:57:36,920
we're called to in this. 
I don't need to be longing for 

991
00:57:36,920 --> 00:57:39,120
and and again, didn't receive 
feedback in that moment. 

992
00:57:39,120 --> 00:57:40,680
I did. 
I didn't I didn't step back in 

993
00:57:40,680 --> 00:57:43,000
my office and get a pat on the 
back from dude like yeah, you 

994
00:57:43,120 --> 00:57:45,360
did it. 
You you reached out to another 

995
00:57:45,360 --> 00:57:46,240
one. 
All right, good. 

996
00:57:46,320 --> 00:57:50,520
Like, yeah. 
But our faithfulness in that for

997
00:57:50,640 --> 00:57:56,560
especially in in people's most 
broken moments to bring Jesus to

998
00:57:56,560 --> 00:57:58,800
them. 
That and that's the that's the 

999
00:57:58,800 --> 00:58:01,360
attitude we see from Paul here. 
That was just that was the 

1000
00:58:01,360 --> 00:58:04,760
message that was resounding on 
my heart this weekend that we 

1001
00:58:04,760 --> 00:58:08,240
need to be guarded. 
We need, we need to not let the 

1002
00:58:08,240 --> 00:58:13,800
results of our faithfulness be 
reflected in other people. 

1003
00:58:13,960 --> 00:58:17,240
Yeah, no, absolutely, 
absolutely. 

1004
00:58:17,960 --> 00:58:19,120
Thank you for sharing that 
story. 

1005
00:58:19,120 --> 00:58:22,480
That's incredible. 
And I hope for anybody that was,

1006
00:58:22,560 --> 00:58:24,200
by the way, my first time 
hearing that story. 

1007
00:58:24,800 --> 00:58:25,640
Sorry. 
No, that's OK. 

1008
00:58:25,680 --> 00:58:28,120
Drop that on. 
No, that's a, that's a big one. 

1009
00:58:28,520 --> 00:58:32,920
But no, I, I, I hope as people 
have heard that story now that 

1010
00:58:32,920 --> 00:58:37,360
you've said that, that, yeah, it
did not have the ending that you

1011
00:58:37,360 --> 00:58:41,160
wanted, but man, you gave him 
something that nobody else did. 

1012
00:58:41,680 --> 00:58:45,360
And what he did that with that, 
that's between him and God, as 

1013
00:58:45,400 --> 00:58:49,400
we've talked about. 
But that's, that's our call to 

1014
00:58:49,400 --> 00:58:51,920
faithfulness to to be 
ambassadors. 

1015
00:58:52,320 --> 00:58:55,920
I can't help but reflect on the 
fact that in the in the Old 

1016
00:58:55,920 --> 00:58:59,400
Testament, the Old Testament 
prophets, I can't remember, 

1017
00:58:59,400 --> 00:59:01,320
maybe it's both Jeremiah and 
Ezekiel. 

1018
00:59:01,320 --> 00:59:03,720
God just straight up says 
they're not going to listen to 

1019
00:59:03,720 --> 00:59:07,560
you do it anyway. 
And, you know, it begs the 

1020
00:59:07,560 --> 00:59:09,880
question, yeah, but if they're 
not going to listen to me, if, 

1021
00:59:09,960 --> 00:59:13,640
if, if I can't control the 
results, then why am I doing it?

1022
00:59:14,040 --> 00:59:17,880
And that's a valid question to 
some extent, if you take God out

1023
00:59:17,880 --> 00:59:20,240
of the picture. 
But if you leave God in the 

1024
00:59:20,240 --> 00:59:23,040
picture and you let him do what 
he does best, which is save 

1025
00:59:23,040 --> 00:59:26,560
people, then you can remove 
yourself from that personal 

1026
00:59:26,560 --> 00:59:30,000
weight of I didn't do my job. 
No, you did your job. 

1027
00:59:30,000 --> 00:59:33,000
You were faithful to the call 
that God gave you and let him do

1028
00:59:33,000 --> 00:59:35,640
his job. 
And we don't exactly know what 

1029
00:59:35,640 --> 00:59:37,560
that looks like in any given 
person's life. 

1030
00:59:37,560 --> 00:59:43,800
But that's his job, not ours. 
Yeah, so that's the extra 

1031
00:59:43,800 --> 00:59:47,560
thoughts on Acts 23 this week. 
Thanks for hanging out with us 

1032
00:59:47,960 --> 00:59:51,160
for a little while longer. 
A couple Ask Me Anything 

1033
00:59:51,240 --> 00:59:53,320
episodes coming up at the 
beginning of September. 

1034
00:59:53,320 --> 00:59:56,000
We need your questions to fill 
that time. 

1035
00:59:56,000 --> 01:00:01,280
You can e-mail them, connect at 
emmausrdonline.org, DM the 

1036
01:00:01,280 --> 01:00:03,880
Facebook page, send them. 
That way you can text your 

1037
01:00:03,880 --> 01:00:08,880
questions to 563-659-9444 or I 
mean you can. 

1038
01:00:09,440 --> 01:00:11,400
If you have our numbers, you can
text us too. 

1039
01:00:11,440 --> 01:00:13,920
That's, that's fine. 
We'll put them in a put them in 

1040
01:00:13,920 --> 01:00:16,080
a bin, put them in a dock and, 
and have them ready for the 

1041
01:00:16,080 --> 01:00:17,600
show. 
So that'll be fun. 

1042
01:00:17,680 --> 01:00:20,480
We'll enjoy doing that. 
This has been great. 

1043
01:00:20,880 --> 01:00:23,360
Love this reflective time with 
you. 

1044
01:00:23,520 --> 01:00:25,960
Feedback from the sermon, but 
also just some of the extra 

1045
01:00:25,960 --> 01:00:28,840
things that we can touch on so. 
It's a ton of fun, I hope you 

1046
01:00:28,880 --> 01:00:32,240
guys are enjoying it. 
Have a blessed week Church, 

1047
01:00:32,240 --> 01:00:33,000
we'll catch you next time.