Acts 27:27-44 Open Your Eyes!

Acts 27:27-44  On the fourteenth night we were still being driven across the Adriatic Sea, when about midnight the sailors sensed they were approaching land.  They took soundings and found that the water was a hundred and twenty feet deep.  A short time later they took soundings again and found it was ninety feet deep. Fearing that we would be dashed against the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight.  In an attempt to escape from the ship, the sailors let the lifeboat down into the sea, pretending they were going to lower some anchors from the bow.  Then Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved.”  So the soldiers cut the ropes that held the lifeboat and let it drift away.  Just before dawn Paul urged them all to eat.  “For the last fourteen days,” he said, “you have been in constant suspense and have gone without food—you haven’t eaten anything.  Now I urge you to take some food.  You need it to survive.  Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head.”  After he said this, he took some bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all.  Then he broke it and began to eat.  They were all encouraged and ate some food themselves.  Altogether there were 276 of us on board.  When they had eaten as much as they wanted, they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea.  When daylight came, they did not recognize the land, but they saw a bay with a sandy beach, where they decided to run the ship aground if they could.  Cutting loose the anchors, they left them in the sea and at the same time untied the ropes that held the rudders.  Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and made for the beach.  But the ship struck a sandbar and ran aground.  The bow stuck fast and would not move, and the stern was broken to pieces by the pounding of the surf.  The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners to prevent any of them from swimming away and escaping. But the centurion wanted to spare Paul’s life and kept them from carrying out their plan.  He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land.  The rest were to get there on planks or on other pieces of the ship. In this way everyone reached land safely.

In this passage we have Paul on his journey to Rome experiencing a shipwreck on the shoals of the Island of Malta.  He and the 276 onboard will find safety on the island after abandoning the wreckage of the Alexandria.  The plan of God revealed to Paul by an angel had to be followed exactly.  If not, they would not escape death in the ocean.  Then Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay with the ship, YOU CANNOT BE SAVED.  God planned their escape from the terror of the sea, no variation, no sloppiness in carrying out his will was tolerated.  We see God’s perfection revealed in the Old Testament when He instructed the Israelites to build a tabernacle for him.  All measurements of the tabernacle had to be precise; no estimation or sloppiness in building his tabernacle would be tolerated.  God is perfect, holy and absolute.  Jesus said we must be perfect as God is perfect; no deviation or sloppiness is allowed in God’s plan of redemption.  As Paul states to the Philippians, Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.  (Philippians 2:11-13)  In our redeemed stature by the blood of Jesus, God is working out his perfection in us, for IT IS GOD who works in you TO WILL and TO ACT in order to fulfill his good purpose.  Now we see the ship, the Alexandria, destroyed on the shoals of Malta; we see 276 people surviving the turbulent sea.  It is God who worked out his will on the beach of Malta.  But Paul had to warn the centurion that unless they followed God’s perfect will, the sea would swallow up all onboard.  God, through Paul’s words, encouraged the people to eat, to gain strength for their exhausted bodies.   Paul said to the people, you have been in constant suspense and have gone without food—you haven’t eaten anything.  Now I urge you to take some food.  You need it to survive.  This horrific experience on the sea had dried up their appetite, fear will do that, but God wanted them to eat so Paul encourages them to do so.  He says this to them while the storm is still raging.  Now they placed their trust of survival into Paul’s hands and his God that he serves.  He told them that Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head.  After he said that he took some bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all.  Then he broke it and began to eat.  The breaking of bread is symbolic of God’s presence.  The two disciples on the road to Emmaus did not know Jesus was with them until Jesus broke a loaf of bread to give to them to eat.  When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them.  Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him.  (Luke 24:30-31)  After Paul broke bread on the ship and began to eat, the others followed him, eating until they were full.  The bread of life was on that ship; they would not die in this raging storm, but they would be shipwrecked and experience the danger of the elements and the coldness of the environment.  But salvation had come to the people on the ship through the words of God through Paul.  

Do we really believe the builder of our lives has come to us?  Are we building on the solid foundation of Jesus, The Rock, in this wilderness of life?  Paul is telling the ship’s occupants that God is with them on this raging sea, but they must believe that, trust his purposes in this situation.  Paul is telling everyone on board that God is with them.  They now realize Paul is a man of God; they trust his words and place their faith in his God.  After they ate as much as they desired, they threw the grain into the sea, no more food was now onboard.  They cut loose the anchors that helped them to battle the sea and untied the ropes that held the rudders.  They were now at the mercy of the  ocean’s waves.  By faith, they hoisted the foresail to the wind and made for the beach, expecting now that their ship would make it safely to the land.  But God had other plans; he put rocks in the way of their landing on the shore of Malta.  To avoid drowning within the ship's wreckage, they had to abandon it and swim for the beach. Some paddled to shore on planks and pieces of wood. Their once earthly security was broken up on the rocks, now it was all God or drowning.  God made sure that all of them would make it to shore, surviving this horrible ordeal.  We who are IN CHRIST must depend on God’s work and not our own efforts, knowledge and wisdom.  God is working out our salvation through Jesus Christ.  God assures us that we will make it to the heavenly land He has prepared for us to occupy.  Paul advises us to build only on the foundation of Jesus Christ.  In the process of living we must build our lives wisely on Jesus Christ.  Each one should build our lives with care.  For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.  If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light.  It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work.  (1 Corinthians 3:10-13)  The people on the Alexandria followed God’s words carefully and they made it to the land of safety because of listening to God through Paul’s words.  God is a good God, but precise.  They were to follow God’s directions completely.  No deviation, no sloppy assumptions.  If we build our redeemed life on false and careless assumptions, we are not building on God’s redeeming work, which is Jesus Christ.  In Jesus alone is the knowledge and wisdom of God.  If we build in complete trust in Jesus' work, we are building our lives with gold, silver and precious jewels; we can be assured that we will make it to shore alive.  Paul said about the Colossians, I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ himself.  In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.  (Colossians 2:2-3)

We see in this episode of God rescuing the people on the Alexandria an analogy of God rescuing his own people from the raging sea of life.  God has made a new covenant with his people through the redeeming work of Jesus Christ.  As Moses heard from God about the Israelites in slavery: I am Yahweh, no longer just El-Sahddai.  I am more than that, I am your God, your caretaker: “Therefore, say to the people of Israel: ‘I am the Lord.  I will free you from your oppression and will rescue you from your slavery in Egypt.  I will redeem you with a powerful arm and great acts of judgment.  I will claim you as my own people, and I will be your God.  (Exodus 5:7-8)  We do not know if anyone on this ship turned to God with their whole heart, but we do know God rescued them from death.  In the New Testament we see Jesus often rescuing people from their fleshly trials.  He heals people, delivering them from blindness, leprosy, conditions of deformity, and the like.  In his miraculous work through Paul, He restores them to health, places them on the new land in safety.  The 276 people survived on a new land through God’s miraculous work.  The disciples carried on with this work of God through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  They helped people to land safely on a new life, away from the horrors of the sea.  One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon.  Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts.  When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money.  Peter looked straight at him, as did John.  Then Peter said, “Look at us!”  So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.  Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you.  In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”  Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong.  He jumped to his feet and began to walk.  (Acts 3:1-8)  God would reveal himself to his creation through the work of his Son.  God’s work is always precise, complete, and redeeming.  People who felt the healing balm of God through his Son would leave the arena of the scene, jumping, running and praising God.  Surely the people on the Malta beach were praising the God of Paul, for everything ended just as Paul had said: now they were safe on land, escaping the judgment of death on a turbulent sea.  We who are under the great hand of Yahweh through our shepherd Jesus Christ should live lives worthy of our Redeemer who died on the cross for our salvation.  In Paul’s concern for the souls of the Colossians, he says, We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.  (Colossians 1:9-12)  Christians are to build our lives with gold, silver, and precious jewels.  We are to be obedient to the Lord’s teaching. “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?  As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like.  They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock.  When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.  But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation.  The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”  (Luke 6:46-49)  The people on the Alexandria put the words of God into practice.  They were reluctant at first; did not heed Paul’s words not to sail the Mediterranean so late in the season, but later on they listened to Paul and put his words into practice, for they knew they were from God. Dear friends put in practice the words Jesus taught you so that you might build your life on God and not on your own fleshly desires and opinions.  Then when others need to hear from God, you will be ready to speak his words.   

 

Acts 27:13-26 Have a Strong Heart!

Acts 27:13-26  When a gentle south wind began to blow, they saw their opportunity; so they weighed anchor and sailed along the shore of Crete.  Before very long, a wind of hurricane force, called the Northeaster, swept down from the island.  The ship was caught by the storm and could not head into the wind; so we gave way to it and were driven along.  As we passed to the lee of a small island called Cauda, we were hardly able to make the lifeboat secure, so the men hoisted it aboard. Then they passed ropes under the ship itself to hold it together.  Because they were afraid they would run aground on the sandbars of Syrtis, they lowered the sea anchor and let the ship be driven along.  We took such a violent battering from the storm that the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard.  On the third day, they threw the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands.  When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved.  After they had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up before them and said: “Men, you should have taken my advice not to sail from Crete; then you would have spared yourselves this damage and loss.  But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed.  Last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul.  You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.’  So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me.  Nevertheless, we must run aground on some island.”

We see in this continued saga of Paul’s journey to Rome what it means when one has a partnership with God.  In this union God never leaves Paul even when Paul is experiencing a harrowing journey to Rome.  Paul might have questioned why he was on this ship that he knew eventually would have trouble on a turbulent Mediterranean Sea.  Maybe he should have thought better of going to Rome.  But Paul had a great love for God through the work of Jesus on the road to Damascus.  After that interaction, we know God is committed to Paul, directing his life intimately, keeping in contact with Paul through dreams, trances, and angels.  Through these supernatural interventions, Paul received encouragement not to fear the angry faces of men and women.  One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent.  For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.”  So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.  (Acts 18:9-11)  Without that assurance of not being afraid of the faces of people, he and Silas would not have been found in the Philippi jail singing and praying.  In their imprisonment, bound by chains and stocks, they were singing and praising God.  They had been beaten with rods, bruising their bodies; they heard ridicule and hatred from their captors.  Their emotions should have been bitter, defeated, wallowed in despair; instead, they were praising God in the depths of the Philippi prison.  About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.  (Acts 16:25)  Paul was in Philippi because of a vision: During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”  (Acts 16:8-9)  Paul now could have thought, why am I here in Macedonia?  But in Philippi, Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth, became Paul’s first convert in Europe.  Paul was in partnership with God; God was the Director, Paul was fulfilling a role God had planned for him on this earth's stage.  From the beginning of time, God used people to do his will.  Some of his people became heroes in their societies and cultures, but others existed in ignominy, without recognition and reward.  No audience standing and clapping for their performance; instead, There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection.  Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.  They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword.  They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— the world was not worthy of them.  They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.  (Hebrews 11:35-38)  

After Paul’s rescue from a murderous mob in Jerusalem by the Roman’s soldier, the commander of the Roman garrison summoned the Sanhedrin and Paul to come before him and explain why all this disruption in Jerusalem had occurred.  Paul divided the Sanhedrin by claiming he believed in the resurrection, and some of them did not.  A fight broke out between the Pharisees who believed in the resurrection and the Sadducees who did not believe in the resurrection, causing so much commotion that the commander ordered his soldiers to put Paul back into the barracks.  That night, the Director of Paul’s life on earth, told Paul He had another scene for him to play.  Take courage!  As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.  (Acts 23:11)  In today's focus we see Paul playing out this last scene on the ship, Alexandria.  He is a prisoner on the Alexandria, and the ship is at the mercy of a Northeaster storm on the Mediterranean.  Eventually the ship will break up and run aground on some island.  Of course this situation is desperate and filled with despair for the 276 onboard.  But now the crew and passengers were ready to listen to Paul, only a prisoner, but one who seems to know God.  He then gets up before them and tells them good news.   Last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul.  You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.’  (Acts 27:23-24)  The intrusion of an angel in Paul’s life, once again reveals God’s partnership in Paul’s role in life.  He could tell the occupants of the Alexandria that they would all come out of this scene with their lives.  All of them would survive, for God has directed Paul to go to Rome.  This theme of be not afraid, I am with you is throughout the scriptures.  We see these words as Joshua is preparing to take Canaan with his army.  Be strong and have strength of heart!  Do not be afraid or lose faith.  For the Lord your God is with you anywhere you go.”  (Joshua 1:9)  In Canaan during the time of the Judges: Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah had to act on the words of God: be not afraid, take courage, for I will use you to overcome your enemies.  They believed what Isaiah expressed later about God’s faithfulness to his people: Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.  (Isaiah 41:10).  Paul stood on the faithfulness of God.  If He said, I should go to Rome, then I will go to Rome in safety.  So Paul can tell the crew and passengers that God is faithful to fulfill his words.  Paul can say, Yes, the ship will go aground; your lives will be endangered in the water, but you all will survive.  Definitely encouraging to the humans on board that day.

But hearing and believing are two different things.  Often people hear God’s voice in their inner ear, but to believe and act on what they heard in their spirits is a different story.  Often God desires to direct us, but we fail to accept his direction.  Jesus in the beatitudes spoke about how to be a true follower of God.  He said that we are not to strike back at those who abuse us.  We are not to hate our enemies.  We are to be patient, loving, and caring for our neighbors.  We are to be humble, servants to all.  We are to be as God who sends the refreshing rain on the ones who love him and on the ones who despise him.  We are to fix our lives on God’s words, for they are the rock of our salvation.  The commandments and the teaching of the Lord should be obeyed, not ignored.  Paul believed the words of the angel; he knew those words came from God.  Take courage men, I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me.  Paul acts on the angel’s words by having everyone eat something and relax, for God will do what He told me.  He convinces the Centurion not to let the crew abandon the ship to save their own lives.  Paul’s words are heeded because the people and the Centurion know Paul is a man of God.  He not only heard God, he listened to God and acted upon it.  Often people hear, but do not listen with a desire to obey the words heard.  We often put our own ideas about life in front of God’s commands.  We hear but do not listen.  Sometimes a child, who is hearing words of correction from a parent, will just hear, but not truly listen so that his or her misbehavior can be corrected.  Jesus in Matthew 15:10 called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand.  What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”  We are to listen and obey.  As with food, what goes into our mouths is not the defiling agent, but what comes out of our mouths is the defilement.  Words that go into our ears do not defile us, but what is generated in us with those words we hear do defile us.  Jesus said, the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them.  For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.  (Matthew 15:18-19)  What should we do with God’s words that we hear.  We ought to listen to them and put them in practice.  Paul knew what he should do with God’s words that he heard from the angel; he put them in action.  He truly listened, not letting his own ideas about life dismiss God’s authority over his life.  Paul knew God is his refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.  Therefore he would not fear, though the earth gives away and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.  (Psalm 46:1-3)  Paul would obey the Director of his life.  His life was in  partnership with the lover of his soul.  He could trust God to never abandon him or leave him, and that all things work together for those who are in this love relationship.  Dear friends know God as the director of your life; trust him with your life, for He desires to bless the world through you.  And we know you will! 

Acts 27:1-12 Eternity is Love!

Acts 27:1-12  When it was decided that we would sail for Italy, Paul and some other prisoners were handed over to a centurion named Julius, who belonged to the Imperial Regiment.  We boarded a ship from Adramyttium about to sail for ports along the coast of the province of Asia, and we put out to sea.  Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, was with us. The next day we landed at Sidon; and Julius, in kindness to Paul, allowed him to go to his friends so they might provide for his needs.  From there we put out to sea again and passed to the lee of Cyprus because the winds were against us.  When we had sailed across the open sea off the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we landed at Myra in Lycia.  There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing for Italy and put us on board.  We made slow headway for many days and had difficulty arriving off Cnidus.  When the wind did not allow us to hold our course, we sailed to the lee of Crete, opposite Salmone.  We moved along the coast with difficulty and came to a place called Fair Havens, near the town of Lasea.  Much time had been lost, and sailing had already become dangerous because by now it was after the Day of Atonement.  So Paul warned them, “Men, I can see that our voyage is going to be disastrous and bring great loss to ship and cargo, and to our own lives also.”  But the centurion, instead of listening to what Paul said, followed the advice of the pilot and of the owner of the ship.  Since the harbor was unsuitable to winter in, the majority decided that we should sail on, hoping to reach Phoenix and winter there.  This was a harbor in Crete, facing both southwest and northwest.

In the above passage we see the love of God displayed through Paul’s ministry to the world.  He had desired to go to Rome for a long time.  Rome and the Roman world controlled the countries around the Mediterranean Sea and beyond.  Rome powerfully influenced the people they conquered.  Their knowledge, wisdom, their mysticism, their power strongly affected the way people thought and lived.  God sent Paul into this dark Roman world to present Christ as the Lord and Savior of all people.  Paul was driven by the Holy Spirit to minister the Good News to everyone in the Roman world.  Now he is traveling 1,810 miles to Rome with the message of Jesus being the Redeemer of all people.  When God stopped Saul on the road to Damascus, He supplanted Paul's will of how he wanted to live his own life with God’s will of how Paul will live his life.  Instilled in his heart during his blindness was the love of God for him and for all people.  The darkness in Paul’s heart was turned to the light of God.  Paul’s heart of darkness, murder, and hatred for other people, especially Christians, turned to loving others as himself.  Now that love compels him to go to Rome with the Good News.  This journey to Rome should have taken approximately 24 days; instead, it took seven months to complete.  On his way to Rome Paul finds himself in the Mediterranean Sea, swimming for his life after his ship, the Alexandrian, breaks up on rocks.  When on shore of the island of Malta, safe from drowning, he is bitten by a deadly snake while putting wood on the fire that the survivors started to keep them warm and dry.  The snake bites Paul’s hand; he shakes the snake off into the fire.  The inhabitants of Malta when seeing this viper bitting Paul’s hand assumed Paul would die immediately.  For them they now considered Paul was cursed by the goddess of Justice.  He had escaped justice by not drowning in the sea, but now the viper will complete the final act of justice, causing Paul to die before their eyes.  But Paul did not die, so they thought  Paul was a god.  Paul on his mission to spread the Good News to Rome experienced a very difficult journey.  He was a victim of other people’s bad decision.  The owner and pilot of the Alexandrian wanted to sail even though it was late in the season for boats to be on the Mediterranean.  The celebration of the Day of Attonement was past, so it was either late September or early October when the ship’s owner and pilot decided to leave a place called Fair Haven to continue the journey to Italy.  Paul had already experienced difficulty traveling the seas.  Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea.  (2 Corinthians 11:25)  He knew well the danger of being on the sea in the wrong season.  Even though having no say in this decision to sail on, he found solace in seeking the Lord.  Paul had the natural fear of drowning, but God comforted his heart through an angel and told him not to fear, for this journey to spread the Good News was in God’s perfect will.  He would make it to Rome. 

We see in this journey to Rome, God works in miraculous ways.  He will save Paul from drowning, and He will save everyone on the ship from drowning, 276 people.  Before the ship was destroyed on the shore of Malta, Paul’s words were heeded by everyone on the Alexandrian.  Paul was in charge, and the people knew, Paul’s God was in charge.  How many of them became Christians we do not know, but surely some of them turned to the Redeemer in that harrowing experience.  God works in mysterious ways.  Because of disobedience to God, the Israelites were constantly in danger of being disciplined by God or being threatened to be disciplined for their sinful ways.  They were a hard-nosed people with hardened hearts.  They served other gods with a multitude of shrines and altars in the land of Israel.  To save a remnant of God’s chosen people, his treasured people, God disciplines the Israelites by allowing the Babylonians to conquer their land.  The best of them, all their leaders, all their strongest young men and healthy women, all of their talented artisans and skilled craftsmen were taken to Babylon, a 900 mile journey to the land of their enslavers.  We might assume that this long, agonizing journey to Babylon was filled with tears, hearts of emotional pain.  They knew they were permanently walking away from a land they loved to a land of slavery.  Yet, this was a mission of God’s love.  God was in the business of saving the human race.  He had his seed of redemption in these people who were experiencing unimaginable pain and suffering.  Paul’s ministry of suffering and pain was for the purpose of redeeming the world from darkness into eternal life.  His personal life, not one of us would desire.  Paul as Abraham’s descendants had the coveted position as God’s chosen.  He was chosen as the captive’s of the Babylonians were a chosen people, a greatly loved people by the God who made all things.  Paul’s life was part of God’s plan as those who were brought to Babylon as slaves were part of God’s mysterious plan to redeem the world from its darkness.  The slaves were put to work in a dark and dangerous world.  Paul said he was a slave to God.  Paul, a servant (slave, bondservant) of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God.  (Romans 1:1)  He also worked in a dangerous world, never knowing when his life would be taken from him by people who hated him.  He says, I have worked hard, been in prison frequently, been flogged severely, and been exposed to death again and again.  Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.  Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move.  I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers.  I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.  (2 Corinthian 11:23-27)  What did God require of Paul, his slave?  To love people, to forgive them, and treat them as potential children of God, worth redeeming.  

What did God require of the Jews who were bound in slavery in Babylon, a wicked and cruel people?  God allowed these people to enslave the Jews in their country of Babylon.  This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce.  Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters.  Increase in number there; do not decrease.  Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile.  Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”  Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you.  Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have.  They are prophesying lies to you in my name.  I have not sent them,” declares the Lord.  (Jeremiah 29:4-9)  Pray for my enemies?  Why pray for them?  Pray to the Lord for THEM.   Is that not too much to ask?  Why should the Jews in Babylon pray for their enemy?  It is too much to ask.  But Jeremiah says, This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.  This is the Lord’s will for you.  Paul says that he would sacrifice his own eternal dwelling with God for the Jews who hate him and wish to kill him.  Why would he say such a thing?  Because this is God’s will for him in the form of his Son, Jesus.  He was sacrificed for humanity.  His Son, Jesus, the Christ, cried out in a loud voice, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  (Matthew 27:48)   Paul could have felt forsaken as the ship breaks up on the rocks, but God was with him.  Definitely the captives in Babylon could have felt God had abandoned them.  But in neither case was God far from them.  He had a plan for them, a plan that would fulfill his mysterious plan of redemption for all mankind.  The Chaldeans of Babylon hated the Jews; the leadership of the Jewish nation hated Paul, and the secular and religious world hated Jesus.  But God had a plan that supersedes the natural will of man to hate and kill.  God is in the process of making perfection.  Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.  He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.  If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?  Are not even the tax collectors doing that?  And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others?  Do not even pagans do that?  Be PERFECT therefore, as your heavenly Father is PERFECT.  (Matthew 5:44-48)  The Jews in Babylon had no real reason to pray for the Babylonians; Paul had no reason to love those who wanted to murder him.  And Jesus had no reason to love the world who killed him on the cross.  But God is love, eternity is love, a place where love abides.  We are given the daily responsibility to love as God loves.  This is our assignment: our assignment is not to harbor hate and bitterness is our hearts.  If you are abiding in this kind of darkness, ask the Lord to forgive you, AND HE WILL.  

Acts 26:19-32 Keep on Loving Others!

Acts 26:19-32  “So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven.  First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds. That is why some Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me.  But God has helped me to this very day; so I stand here and testify to small and great alike.  I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen— that the Messiah would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would bring the message of light to his own people and to the Gentiles.  ”At this point Festus interrupted Paul’s defense.  “You are out of your mind, Paul!” he shouted.  “Your great learning is driving you insane.”  “I am not insane, most excellent Festus,” Paul replied.  “What I am saying is true and reasonable.  The king is familiar with these things, and I can speak freely to him.  I am convinced that none of this has escaped his notice, because it was not done in a corner.  King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets?  I know you do.”  Then Agrippa said to Paul, “Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?  ”Paul replied, “Short time or long—I pray to God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains.”  The king rose, and with him the governor and Bernice and those sitting with them.   After they left the room, they began saying to one another, “This man is not doing anything that deserves death or imprisonment.”  Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”

To believe as Paul believed, our world shouts as Festus shouted, “You are out of your mind, Paul!”  Paul believed in the reality of the resurrection; he believed the prophets who prophesied that the Messiah would come to earth to rescue the human race out of darkness.  Paul spread this message of Jesus being the Messiah and that He is the light, the truth, the way to eternal life.  I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.  If you really know me, you will know my Father as well.  (John 14:6-7)  After the road to Damascus, Paul’s life was constantly in jeopardy.  Most of the Jews and Gentiles were vehemently opposed to his message of finding and knowing God through faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior.  The people in the Caesarea courtroom rationally supposed Jesus to be dead; his bones resting in a tomb somewhere in Jerusalem.  For these people, Paul was expressing madness, a fanatic who has lost his rational mind.  Paul’s preaching of the resurrection of Jesus was an unbelievable story, counteracting what the rational mind knows about death.  For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.  For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise: the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”  (1 Corinthians 1:1819)  God chose not to allow many to approach his redeeming power through the rational mind.  He selected the foolish and weak things of the world to confound the minds of the elite and strong.  Jesus’ followers were mostly the weak and deprived.  He told John's disciples who carried to Jesus a question from John the Baptist: Are you the anticipated Messiah?  Jesus responds to the two disciples of John, Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the POOR.  (Luke 7:22)  Jesus’ intimate followers that he dined with were considered by the Pharisees and the teachers of the law as “scum.”  Paul talks to the Corinthians about the worldly status of most of those who believe in Jesus as Lord.  Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called.  Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.  But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.  God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.  It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.  Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”  (1 Corinthians 1:26-31)  Paul in the courtroom of Caesarea does not have men of influence to support his innocence; he has only his testimony to enlighten these influential people.  For them he is expressing madness, yet they knew he was an innocent man who should be freed, but Paul appealed to Caesar so they could not release him from the chains that bound Paul.

Everything Paul is saying in the courtroom is based on a truth he has observed.  He knows through Jesus’ name people’s lives have been turned upside down.  Once they lived in absolute darkness, filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity.  They were full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice.  They were gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful.  (Romans 1:29-30)  These people Paul ministered to in the Gentile world displayed little fidelity, love, mercy to others, especially to their enemies.  But Paul saw the miracle of the newly born IN CHRIST.  Through faith in the work of the cross, their lives emanated love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  (Galatians 5:22-23)  God’s presence in them through the work of the cross had made them new creatures.  As Jesus said, you must be born again.  Paul saw the image of God come through these new-born people, Greek and Jew alike.  They once had sat in darkness, but now as new creatures they were living lives of goodness and love.  They were living testimonies of Jesus’ words. “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.  He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.  If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?  Are not even the tax collectors doing that?  And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others?  Do not even pagans do that?  Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.  (Matthew 5:43-48)  As Jesus ministered, Paul ministered.  Paul saw the truth of born-again lives.  He knew his own life changed from hating Christians, killing them, hurting them, persecuting them, wishing for them to recant their belief in Jesus Christ as Lord.  His life was so transformed that he gave his life away willingly to follow Jesus as his Lord.  Festus evaluated Paul's life as madness.  But Paul saw Jesus on the road to Damascus; he saw the living Savior and he could not put that aside and say Jesus was still in a tomb.  He realized Jesus was alive and that He had a purpose for Paul’s life.  As Jesus who died outside of the Holy City of Jerusalem, he too was to go outside of the camp to the Gentiles and give his life, spreading the Good News to a very dark, wicked world.  Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore.  For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.  (Hebrews 13:13-14)  With an enduring city awaiting him, death meant little to him.  The persecution of the world would not deter him from vigorously spreading the Good News everywhere.  Now in the Caesarean courtroom he was stating that his life was not his own; it was purchased by Jesus Christ on the cross.  He was living for Christ’s glory and not for his own glory.  He honored only Christ and no one else.

In Hebrews 11, we read about the ancients, about men of faith who lived in former days.  We read about people of violence who righted kingdoms and brought justice to the world.  They defended the honor of the Israelites through the sword.  Men such as Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, David and Samuel.  They defended God’s Promised Land: Canaan.  But after their rule, the people always descended back into slavery.  As long as the edge of the sword was active, people found peace in their land, but as soon as the edge of the sword was gone, people reverted back to their sinful nature.  Sin was rampant again, idol worship took the place of worshipping God.  Every mountain, every low place, every crossroad, every tree had shrines and idols to gods, but not the living God.  They rejected the consuming fire and the thunderous voice they saw and heard at Mount Sinai.  The sword could not change the Israelites' hearts.  Some of them did not pick up the sword to defend themselves but believed in the God of Mount Sinai.  They were looking for a better world, a place of peace and prosperity.  But without the sword, they were horribly mistreated: tortured, faced jeers and flogging, chains,  prison, death by stoning, sawed in two, death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.  These people were looking for a better world than the one they were living in.  They were looking for the ETERNAL PROMISED LAND OF GOD, not one built by human hands.  These men and women were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.  (Hebrews 11:39-40)  Paul’s ministry expresses the fulfillment of God’s plan for humans from the beginning of time.  Through Jesus Christ who died for the sins of all humans, people can find the way to God.  Perfection can be achieved through the work of the cross.  The  Eternal Promised Land will be inhabited by mere humans because of the work of Jesus on the cross.  But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.  You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven.  You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous MADE PERFECT, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.  (Hebrews 22-24)  To revenge the blood of Abel means violence will bring justice.  But justice was achieved on the cross.  Christ brought justice to the world; no longer do we need to hate our enemies.  Christ has achieved justice for us.  Therefore, Paul’s ministry seemed madness to a violent, dying world, but he was bringing healing to a very sick world.  He proclaimed that God is love.  He loves all people, even those who dwell in the deepest darkness.  God’s plan for them is to know and to emulate God’s love towards all people so that peace can be established in this troubled world.  So as Paul says, Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters.  (Hebrews 13:1-2)  Brothers and sisters around this breakfast table, we are to be incubated in the grace of God.  Faith in God’s grace will change everything in our lives; we will be new creatures in God’s eternal love.  Amen!  

      

   

       

       

  

 

 

Acts 25:23-27; 26:1-8 Be Faithful!

Acts 25:23-27; 26:1-8  The next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp and entered the audience room with the high-ranking military officers and the prominent men of the city.  At the command of Festus, Paul was brought in.  Festus said: “King Agrippa, and all who are present with us, you see this man!  The whole Jewish community has petitioned me about him in Jerusalem and here in Caesarea, shouting that he ought not to live any longer.  I found he had done nothing deserving of death, but because he made his appeal to the Emperor I decided to send him to Rome.  But I have nothing definite to write to His Majesty about him.  Therefore I have brought him before all of you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that as a result of this investigation I may have something to write.  For I think it is unreasonable to send a prisoner on to Rome without specifying the charges against him.”  So Paul motioned with his hand and began his defense: “King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate to stand before you today as I make my defense against all the accusations of the Jews, and especially so because you are well acquainted with all the Jewish customs and controversies.  Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently.  “The Jewish people all know the way I have lived ever since I was a child, from the beginning of my life in my own country, and also in Jerusalem.  They have known me for a long time and can testify, if they are willing, that I conformed to the strictest sect of our religion, living as a Pharisee.  And now it is because of my hope in what God has promised our ancestors that I am on trial today.  This is the promise our twelve tribes are hoping to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night.  King Agrippa, it is because of this hope that these Jews are accusing me.  Why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?

In the above scene we see Paul once again convened with the authorities, explaining once more his conversion to Christ and his ministry of the Good News.  This time because of Festus' desire to find a valid reason for sending Paul to Rome before Caesar’s court, he wants King Agrippa and Bernice to hear Paul’s defense against the Jewish leadership's accusations against him.  Festus realizes Paul is innocent of the charges against him.  For him to send Paul to Caesar is a waste of time of the highest court in the Empire.  However, maybe Agrippa by hearing Paul’s defense can determine a good reason for him to send Paul to Rome.  King Agrippa is the great-grandson of Herod the Great, the first Herodian to rule Palestine and the surrounding area.  King Agrippa and his sister, Bernice enter the courtroom with great pomp. They are accompanied by high-ranking military men and prominent secular officials.  In contrast to this group's prominence in society sits Paul, a man who has experienced a difficult life in ministering the gospel.   I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers.  I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.  (2 Corinthians 11:26-27)  Paul is in the courtroom with well fed, well groomed, well perfumed people.  HIs clothing, grooming, and health are not anywhere near the well-being of these people.  In addition, he is in the room of his enemies, opposed to him and Christianity.  He knows the Herodians have always been opposed to Christ.  Herod the Great, his grandfather, tried to kill Jesus the baby.  Herod’s father, King Agrippa I, executed James and imprisoned Peter, holding Peter in prison to behead him after the Jewish Passover celebration had ended.  But Peter escaped his murderous hands.  Herod’s cousin, Herod Antipas, beheaded John the Baptist at the request of his granddaughter who was following her mother’s instructions   Her mother hated John the Baptist because John opposed her marriage to King Herod Antiopas, a condition of infidelity to her former marriage to the brother of King Antipas.  Now Paul knows, King Herod and Bernice are no independent arbitrators; they both harbored hatred toward Paul and his proclamation of the Good News.  King Herod the first, their father, had converted to orthodox Judaism when he ruled, so his son was very familiar with the tenants of Judaism.  Paul could not trust these people to treat him fairly.  He knew their hearts and their animosity to Christianity.  He could not trust their fairness.  Jesus did not even trust many of his own followers because he knew the intrinsic nature of humans.  Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name.  But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people.  He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.  (John 2:23-25)  Jesus had once said that no one is good, only God his Father is good: trustworthy and loving.  

Paul understood, knew this courtroom was in a hostile environment.  No one in that courtroom wished him well or would advocate for him.  If they could find any supportive evidence for his execution under the Roman’s hand, they would rejoice.  But Paul was innocent of these charges brought before the court by the Jewish authorities.  As with Jesus, his enemies wished to kill him.  In Jesus’ case, the Jewish leadership constantly harassed Jesus, harboring murder in their hearts.  Jesus lived a sinless life, but this did not prevent them from their desire to murder him.  You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires.  He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him.  When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.  Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!  Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?  If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me?  Whoever belongs to God hears what God says.  The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”  (John 8:44-47)  Paul is now looking at men who do not want to hear the truth about God.  They do not want to change their lifestyles, their selfish pursuits of benefitting themselves by the exploitation of others.  Leadership carries perks which they enjoyed.  Except for the magnificent presence of the Holy Spirit, Paul had none of these fleshly perks and advantages in life.  These enemies of Christ and the Good News rejected the idea that they needed a cleansing of their souls if they desired eternal life.  Paul knew the crux of eternal life is wrapped around a substitutionary work of Jesus on the cross.  Sometimes John 3:16 is misunderstood by those who quote it often.  Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  (John 3:13-17)   People leave out the reason they have eternal life; Jesus became a curse for them.  He was lifted up on a stake, just as a serpent was lifted up on a stake in the wilderness to heal those who looked upon it.  It is a horrible imagery to view Jesus as the bronze snake in the wilderness, but that is what He is in God’s sight.  God had cursed the snake and Jesus became that curse satisfying the wrath of God toward rebellion of his authority.  Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals!  You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.  (Genesis 3:14)   Without God’s intervention in our lives, we are cursed to death.  Paul’s Good News is that we no longer have to carry this curse of death on ourselves because of the rebellion within us to God’s authority and will for our lives.  No one wants to be imagined as a snake, crawling in the dust of the world, the sin of the world.  We want to be lifted up in the eyes of the Lord God as holy and good.  Jesus who is holy and good paid the price for our nature of selfish pursuits and self-interest.  Paul catalogs so well the nature of mankind:  They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity.  They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice.  They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.  (Romans 29-31)  How can we accept such a description of us?  

What might we say?  I am not like that.  Look at my life: I do not display that kind of nature.  Of course the Bible depicts clearly another group of people who said things like that: the Pharisees.  But Jesus the righteousness of God describes them differently.  What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees.  Hypocrites!  For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity.  Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.  (Matthew 23:27-28)   Are we consumed with evil and wicked deeds?  No, but our nature is not pure or holy in everything we do, think, or say.  And God is always the same in season and out of season: perfect.  Jesus told us to be perfect as God is perfect, and unless we are, we will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven or possess eternal life.  Jesus categorizes these supposedly righteous people as Snakes!  Sons of vipers!  How will you escape the judgment of hell?  (Matthew 23:33)  For Jesus, they are dust eaters, sin consumers.  But Paul’s message is that Jesus paid the full price for dust eaters.  We who never will be perfect; the perfect  price for our imperfections has been paid, Jesus.  On the cross, Jesus became the cursed one, the snake, and paid the price for all unrighteousness. All who look upon that price, Jesus on the stake or the cross, will be healed of their unrighteousness.  They will not die as Jesus said: those who believe on his name and put their trust in his works, will never die.  This has been the message in the heart of God from the beginning of time.  Paul is faithful to deliver this message to the people in the courtroom.  He tells the courtroom, this is why generations of Jews have served the living God day and night.  This is the promise our twelve tribes are hoping to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night.  King Agrippa, it is because of this hope that these Jews are accusing me.  Why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?  Jesus has been raised from the dead: He is not in the grave rotting as all flesh that is buried.  No!  He is alive!  Paul tells the people in the courtroom: the Good News has been promised to us Jews by our prophets.  Isaiah writes about the Messiah, who is Jesus, Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.  After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.  Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors.  For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.  (Isaiah 53:10-12).  Friends around this breakfast table, God has come down in the form of a man, Jesus Christ.  He suffered in the flesh for the salvation of many.  Jesus experienced what it was like to be in a sinful, rebellious environment to his Father God.  He felt the pain of humanity.  He cried at Lazarus’ tomb.  In the pain of death, the sorrow of those who were weeping about Lazarus' departure, He wept.  But his mission was to be lifted up on the cross, to release humans from the pain of sorrow and death.  He told the people who believed IN HIM, you will never die.  This is your inheritance.  Paul preached this message to many communities, both Jew and Gentile alike.  Now the people in the courtroom are considering whether Paul should be charged with a crime deserving death.  They could not find such a charge, but off to Caesar he went.  Paul taught THE WAY to God; he was faithful in this task.  You will be faithful too.  

Acts 25:1-22 Living Water Gives Life!

Acts 25:1-22  Three days after arriving in the province, Festus went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem, where the chief priests and the Jewish leaders appeared before him and presented the charges against Paul.  They requested Festus, as a favor to them, to have Paul transferred to Jerusalem, for they were preparing an ambush to kill him along the way.  Festus answered, “Paul is being held at Caesarea, and I myself am going there soon.  Let some of your leaders come with me, and if the man has done anything wrong, they can press charges against him there.”  After spending eight or ten days with them, Festus went down to Caesarea.  The next day he convened the court and ordered that Paul be brought before him.  When Paul came in, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him.  They brought many serious charges against him, but they could not prove them.  

Then Paul made his defense: “I have done nothing wrong against the Jewish law or against the temple or against Caesar.”  Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, said to Paul, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and stand trial before me there on these charges?”  Paul answered: “I am now standing before Caesar’s court, where I ought to be tried.  I have not done any wrong to the Jews, as you yourself know very well.  If, however, I am guilty of doing anything deserving death, I do not refuse to die.  But if the charges brought against me by these Jews are not true, no one has the right to hand me over to them.  I appeal to Caesar!”  After Festus had conferred with his council, he declared: “You have appealed to Caesar.  To Caesar you will go!  A few days later King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea to pay their respects to Festus.  Since they were spending many days there, Festus discussed Paul’s case with the king.  He said: “There is a man here whom Felix left as a prisoner.  When I went to Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews brought charges against him and asked that he be condemned.“  I told them that it is not the Roman custom to hand over anyone before they have faced their accusers and have had an opportunity to defend themselves against the charges.  When they came here with me, I did not delay the case, but convened the court the next day and ordered the man to be brought in.  When his accusers got up to speak, they did not charge him with any of the crimes I had expected.  Instead, they had some points of dispute with him about their own religion and about a dead man named Jesus who Paul claimed was alive.  I was at a loss how to investigate such matters; so I asked if he would be willing to go to Jerusalem and stand trial there on these charges.  But when Paul made his appeal to be held over for the Emperor’s decision, I ordered him held until I could send him to Caesar.”  Then Agrippa said to Festus, “I would like to hear this man myself.”  He replied, “Tomorrow you will hear him.”

As we journey with Paul to his destination in Rome, we see many intrigues of his foes manifested.  His enemies loath Paul and want him dead.   Once again we see Paul fulfilling God’s desire for him to present the Good News to the world.  In doing so, he receives constant threats upon his life.  Paul is persistent in season and out of season in spreading the seed of the Good News of eternal life to all people.  Threats or not on his life, he consistently talks about God’s mysterious plan of redeeming all people to himself.  He knew God had promised him a rough road in life after his conversion.   But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go!  This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.  I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”  (Acts 9:15-16)  This assignment from Jesus would be filled with suffering, but no different from what his own disciples received.  After Jesus came into their lives, they never again experienced life without a lot of opposition.  All of them but John died violently in the hands of the enemies to the Good News.  Paul also would experience a violent death.  The Good News would always be swimming up stream.  The rebellious nature of men and the prince of this world, the Devil, would assure a rough road for those who professed Jesus Christ as their Savior.  Paul now before Festus was swimming upstream.  Festus had chummed around with the leaders in Jerusalem for several days.  Being new to his role of being governor of Palestine, he needed to win over the power structure in Judea.  The leaders of Judea were in the Sanhedrin.  For several days he met with them.  These leaders informed Festus of their hatred for Paul and the Good News he ministered.  In the Roman Empire, to execute someone is difficult if he is a Roman citizen.  A Roman citizen carries many rights.  Therefore to punish a Roman citizen with death, the deed has to be very egregious such as murdering a citizen above his cast, a killing of a servant or slave, or someone below your cast would not receive capital punishment.  Festus understood the Roman courts well; aggravating the ruling class of Judea was not an act for capital punishment.  He probably understood the Jewish leaders' request of Paul’s execution by the Roman government was an impossibility; the 

charges against him were not that grave.  Because of that, he might have concluded that the only way Paul was going to be killed would have to come from the hands of the Jews.  Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, said to Paul, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and stand trial before me there on these charges?  Festus knew the Sanhedrin’s venomous hatred of Paul would eventually lead to Paul’s murder.  As the new governor of Palestine, he wished to please the leadership of Judea.  He could have been aware of the Sanhedrin’s conspiracy to kill Paul outside of the Roman’s jurisdiction.  Paul might have suspected that Festus was in union with the Sanhedrin in their conspiracy to kill Paul outside of the Roman’s authority, so he appeals 

to Caesar!  To appeal to Caesar was the only way he could insure that he would not be murdered by the Jews.  Even if Festus would have set him free, he would have been murdered by the Jews.  Paul, once allied to the Sanhedrin by his their hatred of Christianity was now a foe of theirs.  Paul's proclamation of the Good News was a lethal threat to the Sanhedrin’s leadership role in Judea.  They needed to stamp out the name of Jesus.  Paul’s elevating the name of Jesus as Lord and Savior was the central theme of Paul’s ministry everywhere he went.

Paul and Jesus were not part of the spiritual chosen in the Judaic religion.  Jesus was from the house of Judah and Paul was from the tribe of Benjamin. They were not Levites, God's chosen to take care of the spiritual duties of the Jewish people.  Neither of them were priests, a lineage directly from Moses.  Jesus is challenged by the priests when he disrupted the Temple’s environment.  Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there.  He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.  “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’"  (Matthew 21:12-13)  The leadership wanted to know who gave him the authority to do such a thing in the Temple; only the Sadducees have authority over the Temple.  The Sadducees are the legitimate authorities assigned by God to oversee the workings within the Temple; they are priests from the lineage of Moses.  Now the Sanhedrin see Paul, no longer under their authority, dispensing a message about Jesus as Lord and Savior.  For the leading priests, Jesus was but a bastard, conceived out of wedlock.  For them, how can this man’s name be elevated in the Greek communities?  The spreading of Jesus throughout the region was an embarrassment to them.  He is but a bastard in the understanding of the Jewish elite.  But Paul understood the mystery of God, hidden in God’s heart from the beginning of time.  God had revealed this message to him directly, that redemption of mankind would come through the name of Jesus Christ.  Faith in Jesus’ work on the cross would create children of God.  To open this redeeming message to humans, God used Paul.  However, Paul first had to be struck blind.  For Paul to change his theology he had to experience severe trauma: blindness.  A once robust and energetic man had to become so helpless that he had to be led to Damascus by his companions.  In Damascus he spent three days in darkness and in prayer.  Finally Ananias arrives, restoring Paul's sight and releasing him from his hopelessness.  Delivered from blindness, helplessness, Paul is informed by Ananias that he will stand before governors, kings, magistrates, and the leaders in society and proclaim the name of Jesus boldly before them.  In our above focus, we see Paul once again satisfying God’s requirement on his life.  Paul is standing before Festus and the Sanhedrin with the message of Jesus Christ’s redeeming power.  He is doing this, knowing that murder existed in the hearts of those who were listening to him.  In Jesus’ life, the Pharisees, Sadducees, and the teachers of the law listened to Jesus with murder in their hearts.  Jesus knew the condition of their hearts, knowing their hearts were violating Moses’ law.  Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty.  (Exodus 23:7)  Paul knew the Sanhedrin wanted to dispose of him, so he appealed to Caesar, the highest court in the Roman Empire.  Festus had no choice but to relent to Paul’s appeal.

In Paul’s captivity, he was dispensing living water to those who would listen to him with open hearts.  Festus, the Sanhedrin, and later king Herod were hearing the Good News from a man who should be shaking in fear.  Paul’s boldness in expressing the name of Jesus in such a company was confusing to the people in authority.  For Festus the dispute between the Jewish leadership and Paul was impossible for him to understand.  For him it is 

about a dead man named Jesus who Paul claimed was alive.   But his heart will be exposed to the Good News and it will rattle him, claiming Paul is insane.  Even though this Roman governor could not accept what Paul was saying, the living water was present in the courtroom of the Romans, and later it will flow in Rome too.  Jesus told the Samaritan woman about the living water He was delivering to people, 

Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst.  Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”  (John 4:13-14)  This redeeming water contains eternal life in it.  Paul knows this is true, so he boldly proclaims the name of Jesus as Lord and Savior.  This proclamation is confusing to Festus in his darkness, but truth to those who walk in the Light.  Jesus talks about this light within people.  They will not worship at a special place, supposedly anointed by God; instead, they will worship God from their innermost being.  Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.  You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.  Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.  God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”  (John 4:21-24)  Paul full of the Holy Spirit knows this truth.  He knows the kingdom of God is within people.  The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’because the kingdom of God is in your midst.” (Luke 17:20-21)  Paul is presenting the kingdom of God to all people; he is offering them water that will sustain their lives for eternity, an overflowing water that will satisfy their parched lives.  No longer will people be stiff-necked, believing their lives will be okay with a righteous, holy God who alone possesses eternal life.  If people desire life forever, they must accept The Way to it: believing on the name of Jesus Christ and his work on the cross.  Friends around this breakfast table, the kingdom of God is within you.  That means the voice of God is within you.  You do not need a trance, a dream or a vision to know God.  His voice exists in you richly.  You are presently known as children of God.  We see in the above focus, Paul proclaiming this Good News everywhere; to save his life for another day, he had to appeal to Caesar.  You are not in that conundrum of having to save your life for another day.  You are in a day the Lord has made so that you can proclaim boldly the way to eternal life.  Rejoice in that opportunity and be wLove, Dad and Mom