Paul Before King Agrippa (Part 3)

      Paul now addresses King Agrippa directly in verse 19, the key verse. Let’s read that together. “So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven.” Before we move on, I want to take a look at two Bible passages. The first one is in Numbers 21, but you don’t have to turn there. Any of you know this passage (Joke)? It’s the story of the Israelites and the bronze snake. “4 They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; 5 they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!” 6 Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8 The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.” The second is the story of Joseph. We all know Joseph’s story in the Bible right? Turn to Genesis 45 and keep your place there. Let’s recap Joseph’s life quickly. Joseph was a man who probably had all the reason to believe his life could not be any worse. His own brothers disowned him and sold him to slavery because they hated him. It's bad enough being sold into slavery, but Joseph was sold by his own brothers. After that, he was able to gain favor with his master, and his master trusted Joseph with more and more responsibilities. When the master left the house, he left Joseph in charge. The master's wife found that Joseph was handsome and strong, and so she tried to have sex with him. Joseph knew that if he gave in to her, his master would be upset with him, and so would God. So Joseph decided to fight his desire to sleep with her and he literally ran away from her. She became upset with Joseph and made false accusations about him to his master, and he was thrown into prison. In prison, Joseph was able to gain favor with the prison keeper, and eventually with Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Joseph was able to get the position of second in command of Egypt. His brothers went to Egypt during a famine, and he was able to help them live.
      So why did I just tell you about these two passages? It’s because they teach us about vision. In the story of the bronze snake, the Israelites were presented with a choice. They could either look at the snakes that were biting and killing them, or they could choose to look at the bronze snake. If they looked at the snakes biting them, they would die. If they looked at the bronze snake they would live. In Joseph’s story, he was presented with a choice. He could look at all his problems and give up on life, or he could choose to look at God. Let’s read Genesis 45:8. “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.” Joseph chose to believe that God had a plan for his life. Joseph believed that it was God who was in control of his life, not his problems. Paul too was presented with a choice. We spoke at the beginning how Paul had been in captivity for years. He was falsely accused, flogged, and wrongly kept in captivity. Yet we read earlier that Paul considered himself fortunate to speak to King Agrippa. How could Paul possibly consider himself fortunate? It’s because he never lost his vision. Paul had a choice, just like the Israelites had a choice in the wilderness; does he choose to look at the snakes biting him, or the bronze snake? He had a choice, just like Joseph did; does he choose to look at all of his problems, or does he choose to look at God? Paul chose to focus on his vision. In his own words, he was obedient to the vision from heaven. What was Paul’s vision? His vision is in verses 16-18. “16 ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. 17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’” The fulfilment of his vision is in verses 20-23. “20 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. 21 That is why some Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me. 22 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— 23 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.” The fulfilment of Paul’s vision was the fact that he always testified to others about his faith. Paul never lost sight of his heavenly vision, and was testifying about his faith even in this passage.
      It may not always seem like it, but we are presented with a choice. Are we going to choose to look at the snakes that are biting us, or the bronze snake? Imagine if you were the Israelites at that time. There are a bunch of snakes, all attacking you. Our natural reaction is to freak out. Where do we naturally look? We would look at the snakes, and try to defend ourselves. It is completely against our nature to look away from the snakes, yet that is what was necessary in order to live. If the Israelites wanted to live, they would have to focus their vision on the bronze snake. Similar to Joseph, we all have problems that we have to deal with in life. It may not be as extreme as Joseph’s challenges, but there will be things that challenge us. It’s natural for us to focus on our problems, and to try and fix them ourselves. They can burden us and cause us to lose our vision. We have to keep our vision on Christ. Some of you may be wondering, what is a vision? Do I really have to see a physical vision? No, God can give us visions in many ways, not just through our physical eyes. Or you may ask, what if I never had a vision? There is a very simple answer to that question; pray. Pray that God would give you a vision and a calling. But even if you have not had a specific vision for your life, there’s a vision that we all share; Matthew 28:19-20 “19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Sound familiar? It should. Our vision should be to see everyone turn to Christ. How do we fulfil this vision? We have to testify, as Paul did. Will everyone accept our testimony? Absolutely not. Look at verse 28, “28 Then Agrippa said to Paul, ‘Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?’” King Agrippa didn’t believe in Paul’s testimony. This didn’t stop Paul, because Paul was following his vision. Remember when I read Matthew 28:19-20? What did I leave out? Does anyone know? “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” When we have trouble testifying about Jesus, remember that He is always with us. Paul truly believed this in His heart. Philippians 4:13, “I can do all this through Him who gives me strength.” Paul depended on God when He had trouble testifying. And believe me, Paul had many troubles and challenges. Lastly, we have to remember that following our vision requires more than testifying with our mouths. It requires testifying with our lives also. Then we will have both our witness testimony, and our evidence. Let’s read the key verse. “So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven.”

-Smart

Thanks for reading! I hope you were encouraged by God's word.

Paul Before King Agrippa (Part 2)

      Paul now begins his defense, or in this case, because it is an unofficial hearing, his testimony. Remember earlier what two things we said could be used to convict someone of a crime; evidence and testimony. Although it is just a hearing and not a court case, anything Paul says could be used in a court of law. This could cause Paul to speak very carefully, or maybe even lie about certain things that might make him seem guilty, but Paul tells his testimony truthfully. I’m sure you all know Paul’s story by now, since he has recalled it multiple times in the book of Acts, so we’ll go through it quickly. Let’s read verse 5 together. “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.” Before Paul was converted, he was a very religious Pharisee. He obeyed all of the laws, and acted just the way a Pharisee was expected to live. After he was converted, he stopped depending on his self-righteousness and started depending on God. Let’s read verse 6-8. “6 And now it is because of my hope in what God has promised our ancestors that I am on trial today. 7 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. 8 Why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?” After Paul’s conversion, he understood that Jesus was the fulfilment of the law. Paul no longer had to be a Pharisee in order to fulfil the law. He also understood that because Jesus died and rose again, he has hope in his savior. Turn to Philippians chapter 3, and can I have someone read verses 10 and 11? “10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.” So what was Paul’s hope? His hope was in the resurrection. Since Christ has risen, there’s hope for all believers to be risen with Christ. Paul truly believed in the hope of the resurrection, but the people listening did not. Paul says to them “why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?” In fact, Paul’s hope in the resurrection is one reason why the Jews wanted to pursue Paul’s death. They couldn’t accept that Jesus was the promised Messiah and that all believers have a resurrection hope. Even though Paul knew that his believe in Jesus as the Messiah and his hope in the resurrection was why the Jews hated him, he had to testify about these things. Paul had to be faithful to his beliefs, even if it meant he would be charged with death. It’s important for us to learn that we have to be faithful to our hope in Jesus. There are many people today who will criticize us for our beliefs, which may cause us to shy away from talking about Jesus. If Paul realized that he could die because of his beliefs, yet still testify about Christ, how important is it that we also testify?
      Moving on to verse 9, we see that Paul begins to talk about his conversion. Paul speaks about his persecution of the Christians, and how he even pursued them into foreign cities just to punish them. Paul was obsessed with persecuting the Christians, and he wanted them to be put to death. Paul then speaks about how Jesus spoke to him on the road to Damascus. Let’s read verse 14. “We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’” Paul was not only persecuting the church, but he was also persecuting Christ. If you turn to Matthew 25, you find the parable of the sheep and the goats. The sheep are the ones who cared for Jesus’ needs, and the goats are the ones who did not. When they ask Jesus when they cared for Him, He answers “’truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” How we treat others is important to our relationship with Christ. Anyway, that’s just a quick side note. I know that what you really want to know is what “kick against the goads” means. “Kick against the goads is an expression that means that someone is trying to do something but is only hurting themselves. The expression comes from an ox kicking the goads, which is a stick used to move cattle, but only hurting itself. Paul was pursuing something that only ended up hurting himself. He was denying the truth of God and even actively opposing Jesus. This only succeeded to keep Paul from the truth. Jesus then claims that Paul is going to be His servant and a witness of Christ. Paul will be sent to save people from the power of Satan, and to help people receive forgiveness and sanctification.

Paul Before King Agrippa (Part 1)

      Earlier today I gave a message for the youth group at my church. The Scripture I spoke about was Acts 25:23-26:32. I thought I would share it like I shared my other message before. I hope you are able to learn something from my message and be encouraged.
      The first couple of verses tell us the background of the events that will take place in this passage. Let’s read chapter 25, verse 23 together. “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 court. At the command of Festus, Paul was brought in.” What does this tell us about the passage? If you take another look at the verse, it says that “the next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp and entered the audience room.” Let’s stop there. King Agrippa and Bernice came in with great pomp, meaning they came with splendor and showiness. While they may not have been boasting about their high status with their words, they came into the room in a boastful manner. From this we can see that this isn’t really a court trial, because King Agrippa and the others in the room lacked seriousness. Another key thing we can see is that they were in an “audience room”, not a courthouse. Right away we can see that this isn’t an official trial, but is just a public hearing of Paul. The purpose of this hearing is evident if we keep reading the passage. Let’s read verses 25-27 together. “25 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. 26 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. 27 For I think it is unreasonable to send a prisoner on to Rome without specifying the charges against him.” What Festus says here is absolutely mind-boggling. First, he affirms that Paul did nothing deserving death. To us, it seems like Paul has been imprisoned and put on trial for only a couple of chapters, but keep in mind that in reality Paul has been captive for years. After all these years, Festus determines that there is nothing that Paul has done to deserve death, or even imprisonment. Second, because Paul appealed to Caesar, Festus has to give Caesar a letter to explain why Paul is going to him. However, Festus has nothing to write to Caesar! Third, we learn that the sole purpose of this hearing to give Festus something to charge Paul with so he can send Paul to Caesar. You would think that since Paul had been through so many trials they would at least have come up with something to charge him with. It’s impossible to have a court case without charges against the defendant. That’s the whole point of a trial. We did learn of a couple accusations the Jews made against Paul in previous chapters, such as Paul blaspheming and destroying the temple. However, none of these charges could be substantiated in court. Do any of you know what two important things you need to prove your statements in court? You need evidence and witness testimony. The Jews claimed that Paul was a blasphemer, but they had no evidence to prove it. Furthermore, their testimonies were not consistent, so Festus couldn’t validate any of their claims against Paul. Festus has to find out another way to charge Paul and send him to Caesar.
Now we know that the point of the hearing is that Festus could write something to Caesar about Paul. The next question is, why did Festus consult King Agrippa? Let’s read chapter 26, verses 2 and 3. “2 King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate to stand before you today as I make my defense against all the accusations of the Jews, 3 and especially so because you are well acquainted with all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently.” Agrippa was a king, and he was well acquainted with Jewish practices. King Agrippa probably knew about the differences between the Sadducees and Pharisees, the Jewish view of Jesus, the Christian view of Jesus, and other religious matters. Festus knew that if anyone would be able to appropriately judge Paul, it would be King Agrippa. Not only that, but King Agrippa was curious about Paul and Paul’s views on Christianity, as evidenced by chapter 25, verse 22. Looking again at verse 2, Paul says that he considers himself fortunate to speak before King Agrippa, even though Paul has been on many trials before. Paul hopes that King Agrippa will be able to use his understanding of Jewish customs to understand Paul’s testimony. Paul has spoken to many religious leaders before, but now he hopes that King Agrippa will be the one who accepts his message.

What Commands Your Time?

"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."
-Matthew 6:33
      I talked about my fears going to Grace Retreat in my last post, but today I am going to talk about my hopes after attending Grace Retreat. At the Grace Retreat there were many good messages and seminars, but one seminar really stood out to me. The seminar was titled "Teach us how to Pray", based on the passage where Jesus teaches His disciples the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13). The speaker went over all the different parts of the Lord's Prayer and how to pray based on those parts. While I learned from that, what really convicted me was when he talked about actually spending time to pray.
      When Jesus was in Gethsemane, He took three disciples with Him to go pray. Jesus leaves a bit on His own, and prays for an hour. When He comes back, He sees His disciples sleeping. He rebukes Peter by saying "could you not keep watch for one hour?". Normally when I read this passage I focus on Jesus' prayer and the disciples failure to stay awake. The speaker said something interesting regarding this passage- take Jesus' words as a challenge. We should take Jesus' rebuke to keep watch and pray for at least an hour as a challenge. We should ask ourselves "how much time do I spend in prayer?"
      No one can develop a skill without spending time refining that skill. Similarly, no one can develop a relationship with another person without spending time with that person. While I know these as true, I often do not carry these principles into my spiritual life. I expect to grow in my relationship with God without spending time with Him. Unfortunately, that is impossible. I realize that spending so little time in prayer is hindering me from developing my relationship with Christ. Often times I blame my lack of "spirituality" because of my sins, weaknesses or shortcomings. No matter how I try, I won't be able to stop committing sins, and I will never overcome my weaknesses and shortcomings. This is especially true if I don't spend time in prayer.
      The reason my relationship with God is stagnant is not because I am sinful; it's because I am not spending time in prayer and in the Word. So why am I not spending time in prayer? There are many reasons I have, and I'm sure that we all share some of the same excuses. One reason is because I can find prayer to be boring. I wonder how people can spend so long in prayer, since it can be repetitive to me. Also, I wonder how people can find so many things to pray for. Often times, I just run out of things to pray for. Another reason I do not spend a lot of time praying is because I value other things over prayer. What you spend your time in reveals what you care about. The fact that I spend so little time in prayer reveals that I don't value prayer as much as I should.
      How can I spend more time in prayer? That is my question to myself and perhaps your question to yourself as well. The easiest way to spend more time in prayer is to learn to enjoy it. I know that this can be a weird concept to grasp, but prayer should be enjoyable. I haven't discovered how to "make" prayer enjoyable, but if God is as good as we say He is, how hard can it be? A practical way to spend more time in prayer is to set aside a certain time everyday to pray. I'm going to try and set a time where I can pray and read the Bible everyday. This certainly can be difficult, but it's a good way to teach us how to value our time with God. There are many things that we let take priority over prayer, but let's give God first priority of our time.
-Smart