Testified

This week, we have been closing out our journey through Acts by looking at a section from each of the final chapters. Yesterday, Paul’s ship was shipwrecked on the island of Malta. Today, we find out (check out Acts 28) that Paul has finally arrived in Rome and we will have one final opportunity to hear Paul share what he believes (in this case, the Jewish leaders in Rome).

Acts 28
23 So a time was set, and on that day a large number of people came to Paul’s lodging. He explained and testified about the Kingdom of God and tried to persuade them about Jesus from the Scriptures. Using the law of Moses and the books of the prophets, he spoke to them from morning until evening. 24 Some were persuaded by the things he said, but others did not believe. 25 And after they had argued back and forth among themselves, they left with this final word from Paul: “The Holy Spirit was right when he said to your ancestors through Isaiah the prophet, 26 ‘Go and say to this people: When you hear what I say, you will not understand. When you see what I do, you will not comprehend. 27 For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes - so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them.’ 28 So I want you to know that this salvation from God has also been offered to the Gentiles, and they will accept it.” 30 For the next two years, Paul lived in Rome at his own expense. He welcomed all who visited him, 31 boldly proclaiming the Kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ. And no one tried to stop him.

Testified. We began this journey with words from Jesus that were a prophetic, challenging and revolutionary call for us to be witnesses of his story (check out

Acts 1:8). Then, as the story is unveiled, we see Peter testifying in Jerusalem (check out Acts 2:14-41). We see Philip testifying in Samaria (check out Acts 8:4-13). We see Paul testifying throughout the Roman Empire … Iconium (check out Acts 14:1-3), Philippi (check out Acts 16:12-15), Thessalonica (check out Acts 17:1-4) and Ephesus (check out Acts 19:1-10) to name a few … and now in Rome, the center of the Roman Empire. The Bible is really the Story of God and this part of his story reveals our role in the Kingdom of God … our responsibility to testify. I think Paul said it best when he described our role as ambassadors (please check out 2 Corinthians 5:14-21). Where, in your circle of influence, are you testifying for Jesus? Where are you representing God?

We will be taking a break next week. We encourage you to use any of the 47 posts available in the archive. On Monday, September 29th, we will return with all new posts. Have a great weekend and a great week. See you on the 29th.

Listened

This week, we are finishing up our journey through Acts by looking at one section in each of the remaining chapters. Two days ago, we learned Paul appealed his case to Caesar in Rome. Today, in Acts 27, we hear how difficult that trip to Rome would be. It is one of the most dramatically written chapters in the book. The group traveled north from Caesarea to Sidon and boarded a ship there.


Acts 27
5 Keeping to the open sea, we passed along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, landing at Myra, in the province of Lycia. 6 There the commanding officer found an Egyptian ship from Alexandria that was bound for Italy, and he put us on board. 7 We had several days of slow sailing, and after great difficulty we finally neared Cnidus. But the wind was against us, so we sailed across to Crete and along the sheltered coast of the island, past the cape of Salmone. 8 We struggled along the coast with great difficulty and finally arrived at Fair Havens, near the town of Lasea. 9 We had lost a lot of time. The weather was becoming dangerous for sea travel because it was so late in the fall, and Paul spoke to the ship’s officers about it. 10 “Men,” he said, “I believe there is trouble ahead if we go on - shipwreck, loss of cargo, and danger to our lives as well.” 11 But the officer in charge of the prisoners listened more to the ship’s captain and the owner than to Paul. 12 And since Fair Havens was an exposed harbor - a poor place to spend the winter - most of the crew wanted to go on to Phoenix, farther up the coast of Crete, and spend the winter there. Phoenix was a good harbor with only a southwest and northwest exposure.


Listened. On one side, the officer had a captain and an owner saying ... better harbor, short trip ... no-brainer. On the other side, he had Paul saying ... shipwreck, loss, danger ... bad idea. Who would you have listened to? Personally, I don’t know. Probably, I would have followed the advice of the captain ... the guy with the most experience. If you read on, you will find that Paul was right. A fourteen day long storm would drive them hundreds of miles off course causing them to abandon their cargo, destroying the ship and leaving them stranded. For me, the decisive moment came when the captain had to weigh Paul’s advice a second time ... with his life on the line (check out Acts 27:30-32). Fortunately, he listened. We all need people in our life that we can listen to when we have to make difficult decisions. This part of God’s story provides some great guidelines on determining who those people should be ... listen to people who trust God and demonstrate that trust by the way that they live ... listen to people that have provided good advice in the past ... listen to people that have your best interest at heart. Who are you listening to?

Same

This week, we are finishing up our journey through Acts by looking at one section in each of the remaining chapters. Yesterday, we heard Paul’s brief trial before Festus. Today, we are actually going to take a look at statements of Paul’s defense before King Agrippa II throughout Acts 26. Just to give you some background on Agrippa II ... his great grandfather tried to eliminate Jesus when he was a baby (check out Matthew 2:1-17) ... his great uncle had John the Baptist beheaded (check out Mark 6:14-29) and tried Jesus (check out Luke 23:7-12) ... and his father killed James and imprisoned Peter (check out Acts 12:1-11). This was the man Paul was speaking to ...


Acts 26
1 Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You may speak in your defense.” So Paul, gesturing with his hand, started his defense:

Paul shared his childhood ...
4 “As the Jewish leaders are well aware, I was given a thorough Jewish training from my earliest childhood among my own people and in Jerusalem.”

Paul shared his beliefs ...
9 “I used to believe that I ought to do everything I could to oppose the very name of Jesus the Nazarene.”

Paul shared how he came to believe who Jesus was ...
12 “One day I was on such a mission to Damascus, ... 13 ... a light from heaven brighter than the sun shone down on me and my companions. ...

Paul shared the change that believing in Jesus made ...
19 “And so, King Agrippa, I obeyed that vision from heaven. 20 I preached ... that all must repent of their sins and turn to God ...

Here’s how it ended ...
24 Suddenly, Festus shouted, “Paul, you are insane. Too much study has made you crazy!” 25 But Paul replied, “I am not insane, Most Excellent Festus. What I am saying is the sober truth. 26 And King Agrippa knows about these things. I speak boldly, for I am sure these events are all familiar to him, for they were not done in a corner! 27 King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do - ” 28 Agrippa interrupted him. “Do you think you can persuade me to become a Christian so quickly?” 29 Paul replied, “Whether quickly or not, I pray to God that both you and everyone here in this audience might become the same as I am, except for these chains.”


Same. One of our passions at Eastside is the passion of reach ... telling others about our life change. In this chapter, Paul gives a great example of how to do that ... sharing your past and the impact it had on what you believed, sharing what caused you to believe in Jesus and sharing the changes that have taken place because of that belief. I think sometimes we are afraid to share because we are afraid we don’t know enough; but there is a great scene, earlier in Acts, where Peter reminds us that our priority is to simply do what Paul did ... share what we have “seen and heard” (check out Acts 4:8-20). To help with some of those fears, I would encourage you to take some time to think through and write out your story ... your life change, so that you will be prepared to share it when the opportunity presents itself. A couple years after this trial, Peter would write a letter that would include some more encouragement and instruction regarding this passion of reaching (check out 1 Peter 3:15-16). He talks about sharing our hope gently and respectfully while living a life that reflects that hope. Like Paul (and Peter), I do want people to be the same as me ... changed, because of my hope in Jesus; but that will only happen if we reflect that hope ... with how we live and what we say.

Prove

This week, we are going to conclude our look at the book of Acts. In order to do that, we will only look at one section in each of the remaining four chapters. Today, we will look at a section of Acts 25. I encourage you to take a minute or two and read through the rest of the chapter some time today. Last week, we learned that Paul’s trial had been postponed and that Governor Felix had been replaced by Porcius Festus. Here is Paul’s brief trial before Festus.


Acts 25
7 When Paul arrived (in court), the Jewish leaders from Jerusalem gathered around and made many serious accusations they couldn’t prove. 8 Paul denied the charges. “I am not guilty of any crime against the Jewish laws or the Temple or the Roman government,” he said. 9 Then Festus, wanting to please the Jews, asked him, “Are you willing to go to Jerusalem and stand trial before me there?” 10 But Paul replied, “No! This is the official Roman court, so I ought to be tried right here. You know very well I am not guilty of harming the Jews. 11 If I have done something worthy of death, I don’t refuse to die. But if I am innocent, no one has a right to turn me over to these men to kill me. I appeal to Caesar!” 12 Festus conferred with his advisers and then replied, “Very well! You have appealed to Caesar, and to Caesar you will go!”


Prove. In this scene, I was been drawn to the “trial terminology” ... words like law, crime, guilty, innocent, charges and appeal. The one word that really hit me though was the word prove. The Jewish leaders couldn’t prove any of their accusations against Paul; which made me think ... what could you prove about me ... my life ... my story? Each one of us leaves a trail of evidence in our life ... conversations, decisions, purchases, appointments. If someone were to gather that evidence and examine it, what would they discover? What would I want them to discover? What would I want it to prove? I think Paul said it best in Galatians 5:22-23 (so I will steal his words), “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” I want that investigator to find evidence that will prove God was at work ... at home ... in my life.