Cut for Time: The Tribune

Hey. You're listening to Cut for Time, a podcast from Faith Church located on the North side of Indianapolis. My name is Claire Kingsley. Each week, I'll sit down with one of our preaching pastors to discuss their Sunday sermon. Cut for time is a look behind the scenes of sermon preparation, and they'll share with us a few things that we didn't hear from the sermon on Sunday.

Thanks for listening. Prayers have been answered. I heard you guys, pray for my healing, my miraculous healing last week so that I could be back uncut for time. Yeah. We did.

Jeff amen to that. It wasn't so much that we wanted you healthy. It's just that neither one of us wanted to host. So welcome back. Thanks.

And I mean, 75% well is enough for us. So That's right. I mean, sometimes you have to play hurt. So It's alright. No.

Good work. Alright. So Joey Yeah. Welcome to cup for time. Yeah.

Why don't you give us a rundown from your sermon on Sunday chapter 22 verses 22 to 29? Yeah. So we're at this point in the story where Paul has been rescued from a mob, and then when he tries to talk to the mob, he turns them back into a mob again. And now the tribune is trying to figure out he's the highest ranking military commander. He's gotta keep the peace.

He's trying to figure out what is going on? What do I charge this guy with? What has he done? All of that. But it's not, you know, he's not getting there.

So he orders that Paul be flogged, be tortured for information, you know, and hey report back when you get some answers. And, Paul takes that opportunity as he's been bound and ready for torture to inquire as to the legality of what they're about to do. And this is how he reveals to them that he is in fact a Roman citizen and what they're doing is illegal, and they could get punished for it and punished severely. And that starts a a dialogue between him and the tribune about their citizenship and who's higher class, you know, who's higher status. Paul is higher class and status because his citizenship came to him, from his family, from birth.

And, that we leave the story with the Tribune like, oh, man. He he afraid. Like, okay. I found this guy. That's illegal.

Like, what am I supposed to do now? And he still doesn't have any answers. Mhmm. So it's just a little vignette in the life of Paul and his now movement towards Rome. You know, he this is the turning point for Paul, this kind of chapter as, as Jesus is redirecting him towards Rome.

But we we looked at this vignette and took the opportunity to think about how God had prepared Paul ahead of time for this calling in this time, and how he's also preparing us ahead of time. So my bottom line or big idea, I don't know, went through a whole bunch of different versions, and I probably said the same thing 17 different ways. But essentially, it's like we're more prepared than we think we are. That God has been orchestrating our lives and the details of our lives and even things from before we were born so that who we are and what we know and what we can do right now is what's needed for the call on our lives. And so we talked a little bit about what what's our calling?

Can we articulate that well? How have we been prepared for that? How are we being prepared? How do we need to continue pursuing more preparation? But at the end of the day, we're more prepared than we think we are to live into the calling that God has for us.

And, that's where we left it. And next week, we'll pick up with the continuing saga of Paul getting people angry. Mhmm. Okay. And it continues.

And it continues. Yes. Okay. Okay. Yeah.

So, Joey, I don't know. While you were talking, it's something that just came to mind was just times when we've studied Paul's resume before. And the verse that stands out to me says whatever I whatever gain I had, I counted as lost for the sake of Christ. Mhmm. And, I you and I were just looking this up and found it in Philippians 3 as one of a few places.

And he never mentions, being a Roman citizen. So, like, why leave it out in some places, include it in others? And then, like, he says, he considers it nothing. But then, obviously, it means a great deal in a different context, and he uses it to his advantage. Right.

Right. Yeah. So Paul only mentions he's a Roman citizen twice, here in Acts 22. And then the previous one is where is that? Acts 19 or Acts 16?

I forget. It's the time that I think he's I think it was when he was in Corinth. Right? And they beat him, and then they try to get him to leave. And he's like, you you beat me, and I'm a Roman citizen.

Now you want me to sneak out in the middle of the night? And they're like, oh, we're so sorry. Like, we didn't know. So Paul never mentions this is this, I didn't have time to to include in the sermon is that he never talks about his citizenship, his Roman citizenship in Jewish contexts or and he never kinda leads with it. Because it wouldn't promote the cause.

It would not It would not help. At all. Right. Yeah. They already think he's a, you know, a Roman sympathizer collaborator.

And so it's not gonna help if he had, you know, in at the beginning of chapter 22 when he gets up in front of this mob, and he says, I'm a Jew, born in Tarsus and Cilicia, brought up in Jerusalem, educated at the feet of Gamaliel, and by the way, a Roman citizen. Well, then the stones start flying. Right? That's not gonna help. He and he he doesn't, as far as we can tell in any context, like, lead with, hey, I'm a citizen.

He only employs it, like, brings it out when he needs to change the behavior of Roman authorities towards him when they're treating him unjustly or unrighteously. So in wherever that was, Corinth, I can't find it quickly just by skimming, or here in chapter 22, like, they're about to torture him and he's like, yeah, we're not gonna let that happen. I have rights. But he's never, like, sitting on those. You know, evidence from, archaeology and, from the time and studying names and things like that seems to indicate Paul was actually a fairly high status, high higher class, Roman citizen, Even though he was Jewish, there's some evidence for both dual citizenship.

Like, we we see this kind of thing. It's not rare. Well, it's it's kind of rare, but not so much in in the eastern part of the empire where Paul lived. But the name Paul itself is a rarer name and seems to indicate perhaps a higher, class or society than others. Now, of course, we only know one of his three names.

We only know the name Paul or Paul Paulus. But according to Greek Roman naming convention, there would have been three names. Paul is either his first name or his nickname, but we don't know his family name, you know, his last name. And, if it is his first name, we don't know his nickname or, or the other way around. So, there's a lot we don't know about him, but he yeah.

He was a Roman citizen. He never brought it up unless it was to to, kind of change the behavior of people who are treating him, illegally. And then then it was worth mentioning. Okay. And even here in chapter 22, like, he doesn't he doesn't say, I'm a Roman citizen, while they're hauling him into the fortress to torture.

I mean, he waits until he's out of earshot of the crowd and then says something. That's interesting. Okay. Yeah. Well, is there anything that you needed to cut for the sake of time?

You mentioned maybe, like, going back and forth on some of your opening illustrations. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So I was debating, how to open the sermon, and I I may not want with the Lord of the Rings because, you know, I'm me. But, the the other kind of movie that had come to mind is did you ever see Sloam Dog Millionaire?

Do you remember that Dev Patel movie from a long time ago? I know. Yeah. Yeah. It's been a long time.

But so in the movie, he is on the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Mhmm. And they're asking him, like, it gets down to the end. And he's 3 questions away from $1,000,000. And as each question gets asked, it sort of like flashes back in his life to the experience that gave him the reason for knowing the answer to the question.

And so I thought about starting with, like, that, but I'd had to have told the whole the whole story of the movie. Mhmm. Because it's the the whole movie is just illustrating, like, you're more prepared than you think you are. Like, he's been prepared for this moment in order to win the $1,000,000. But so I thought about using that.

Other than that, not a ton of, of other stuff that I I cut out. I mean, there's always more historical background and, like, cultural stuff that we could talk about. But k. Yeah. It's a fun passage.

Okay. Let's talk about then the 2 questions that you left us with. The first one was, can I clearly say what God is calling me to right now? And the second one, there are a few versions you said, but, like, am I prepared for that? Or am I being prepared?

How am I being prepared? Am I making myself available to be equipped? That kind of thing. Mhmm. And I'm just curious, like, are both of those kind of rhetorical questions, like, in the in the way that you helped us answer them a little bit and maybe not even answer them, but maybe you were just giving us, a lead on both of them, you know, like, well, we should all it's not like we're being called to this specific job, but we're being called while we're in that job to be doing blah, blah, blah.

Well, to be doing what you said was to be like, walking the way of Jesus for the sake of those wandering without him or being a witness and every day a missionary. Is that supposed to be all of our answers? So, like, did you answer the question for us? Is it rhetorical, or should we kind of all have it a little different? Yeah.

Yeah. I think, my answer is different for the 2 different questions. Like, the first one, what is my calling? You know, sometimes we'll we'll throw around the words, like, what is God's call? What is God's will?

What does he allow? What does he want? You know, all of those sort of things. And I I didn't wanna get us into a big, like, what's what is God's will for my life? We know his will for our lives.

It's to walk with Jesus, walk the in the way of Jesus, the way, the truth, and the life. And as we're doing so, to be walking that way in a way that is visible and attractive and bringing in those who don't know Jesus so they can walk in his way. Like, that's clear that we're all called to do that. And so at faith, we're talking about it using different phrases like everyday a missionary or that, like, our mission is to walk the way of Jesus. That's what we are.

We're right? We're a people who are walking the way of Jesus for the sake of those wandering without him. And so I think everybody should be able to to answer that whether you're part of Faith Church or any other church. It's like, yeah. I know God's call on my life.

It's to walk the way of Jesus and bring others along or however you wanna say that. But you're right. It's the I I do that while I'm doing whatever else it is that I'm part of. Right? Whether you're a part time church comms director, you know, raising 3 kids and a husband.

Yeah. Whatever your job is while you are that, your calling is Yeah. To walk the way of Jesus for the sake of those wondering without him. But the second question, I think, is is less rhetorical. The okay.

Am I being prepared? Like, hopefully, at the end of the sermon, you'd be like, yeah. Or am I prepared? Yeah. I I guess I'm more prepared than I thought I was if, you know, all the circumstances of my life are equipping me for this moment.

But how am I being prepared? In other words, what am I going through and how is that helping me be better at being an everyday witness or an everyday missionary? And how should I be pursuing preparation is, like, well, this is what I'm called to. Like, I wanna do a halfway decent job. What do I need to learn how to do, and who do I need to learn how to do it from in order to, be just a little bit better at it?

Mhmm. So what does it mean to actually be prepared? Is it like Mhmm. Mhmm. When you're fully equipped to complete the task before you or, I don't know, because that's overwhelming.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, the analogy that comes to mind is we've just started watching, ER with Anna, with our daughter.

Mostly Jenna and Anna are watching, and I get to watch occasional ones along the way. And right for, for physicians in the teaching hospital, there's the watch 1, do 1, teach 1 sort of philosophy. It's like if you've never done the procedure, you watch 1. Like, you've studied it. Right?

Yeah. And then in the hospital setting, you watch 1, you then you do 1, then you teach someone else how to do 1. And I think I think preparation, sometimes we think I'm not prepared until I can do it perfectly on the first try with minimal effort. Right? Well, now I'm prepared.

But really preparation just means I know enough to get started. Like, I know enough to do the first one. Like, I've I've watched 1. Now I can do 1. And so I think preparation is the bar of preparation is a lot lower than we think it is.

Mhmm. So I guess, another way of saying you're more prepared than you think you are is, hey, you don't need near as much preparation as you think you do. Like, you know enough. If you're a follower of Jesus, you know enough to start to articulate to someone else what it means to follow Jesus. And and just to start and then figure out from there, like, oh, man.

That was hard. Or I don't know how to say x y z, and then keep working on it. Keep working at it and working on it. It's you're prepared when you have enough to get started and want to to learn and grow from there. Yeah.

So it sounds like, just show up. You know? Just show up. Willing to show up. Yeah.

Be willing to show up. Step into trying the thing you've never tried before, you know, articulating what faith in Jesus means. Yeah. Yeah. And like you said, it doesn't mean that you do it perfectly.

So is it okay to try and fail? Oh, absolutely. I have shared the gospel badly so many times. I mean, I can still remember, like, an hour long conversation with a friend when I was in high school where I'd the stupid analogy of of coming to faith in Jesus is, like, you know, getting extra lives in a video game. Because I was trying to connect it, like, with stuff that we held in common and Yeah.

Just confused him. Right? Yeah. Like, we're cats. Just thinking we have 9 lives.

Exactly. Yeah. Well, you only have one life, but when you once you come to Jesus, then you get 9 lives. No. Or trying to, like, I had a friend once, asked me, he's not a follower of Jesus.

He's like, wait. So if I pray this prayer, like, I can do whatever I want and then just get forgiveness for free? And I was like, no. But I don't know why. You know?

So yeah. Okay. So we're more prepared than we think we are, or we need to they'd be actually less prepared than we probably think we need to be to just speak with this. Right. If you can use words to say that Jesus has changed your life, then you're ready.

Right? Give it a shot. Yeah. You're prepared. Yeah.

So while you're living your life and doing what you're doing, then in your calling to walk with Jesus for the sake of people wandering without him, yeah, you're ready. Go for it. Yeah. It reminds me of what we learned in e shift, like, life to life program. You know?

Mhmm. When it comes to sharing your faith, yes, there is a point where you will it would be nice or helpful, beneficial to be able to share the the gospel from a biblical perspective. But most of the sharing that you're doing is not presenting scripture, but it's just opening up your life to show Right. And share how God has changed yours, and where he's provided or met your needs or changed your life, you know? And and, and in that case, like, people might not feel prepared because they're like, I don't know the exact scripture passages I would refer to.

We're not talking about that, but like you, what you we've seen in scripture and like this Sunday is like your story, your life story has prepared you for the moment to share your story. And like you've lived it. You have had these experiences for a reason. And so use your story. Like, use your life experience.

Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. I have never had a conversation with someone about Jesus. Go the way I planned.

Mhmm. Right? You know, go along with the whole okay. Here's you share this first and then that one and then this first and then you tie it all together. It's never it's never happened.

Mhmm. Maybe for some people, it has. But, man, for me, it's never gone that way. So can't can't be prepared for it anyway. Mhmm.

That's true. Yeah. Alright, Joey. Thanks for our conversation today. Yeah.

Thank you. Glad that you're, healed and or 75% healed. Getting there. Thanks for listening to this week's episode of Cut for Time. If you wish to submit questions to our pastors following their sermon, you can email them to podcast at faith, live it out.org or text them into our faith church texting number.

And we'll do our best to cover it in the week's episode. If this conversation blessed you in any way, we encourage you you to share it with others. Thanks for listening. We'll be back again next week.