Leftovers - Acts 26

Happy Monday, we're back in with the ERC Leftovers podcast.

I'm Pastor Matt. Pastor Chris.

That was a weird voice. And I always say it like that.

I'm PS to Chris. Yikes.

Yeah, gorgeous. Right out of the gate.

Right out of the gate. You were not.

Let me just let me just be a weirdo out of the gate.

Is it because you didn't have a microphone yesterday and I'm.

Like, you know, I got to get it out, You know, I.

Have a microphone? I, I think, I think having some

type of, you know, microphone in front of me changes something

about me and I don't know why. I wonder if that's true for

everybody. Like, you know, you'd be talking

to somebody, but if you put a microphone in their hand, all of

a sudden, like there's a different part of their

personality that activates. I wonder.

Now I'm really curious. About that, yeah, I'm sure.

I'm sure it brings out brevity in some and probably like

nervousness in others like. Or.

Just kind of clam up, give them a microphone.

Or you just become like you lose like 30 points on your IQ like I

just did like asked to Chris. And I just, I just get weird.

That's fun, OK. Oh, boy.

All right. Yeah.

So it's a good weekend, a fun weekend.

You missed the for the 1:00 we we showed for the one, the

Brandon Lake Phil Wickham documentary on Friday night.

That was about 50 people here on Friday.

Thanks for coming out to that. Those of you that did cool

behind the scenes stuff. I mean, it was a lot of there

were a couple full songs from the tour that they just had the

produced video version of crowd version of that was cool.

But a lot of behind the scenes stuff with with the band and

their thought processes and just kind of on tour things.

It was, it was cool. I yeah.

Still a fan of those guys and the work that they're doing for

the Kingdom of God and really the global church.

It's interesting to hear them talk about you, don't you?

They don't set out to, and this may seem backwards, but the the

goal wasn't to write songs that would be sung in churches all

over the world. That's not that's not what it

is. And that's why for the one

works, 'cause really they originally set out, they just

this is worship, this is life. They're writing songs praising

Jesus like is is what it is. Why I think, or personally, I'm

predisposed to the two of them in a lot in a lot of the songs

we do for worship on Sundays. Not saying that other bands or

artists aren't doing as good a job, but there's there's a

purity in just the simplicity. There's not there's not fluff,

there's not cheesiness really. There's there's a

straightforward relationship and illustration of relationship and

response in worship. Certainly there's other bands

and artists that bring that out too, but I I think Phil and

Brandon are just, they make it seem effortless, but it's

because of a life lived out like that.

This just really is the expression of their life put

into songs. So that's why there's so much of

our Sunday morning worship is saturated with their songs.

And certainly other bands that we do too.

But yeah, it was just affirming for me too, in those, in those

choices of songs that we do here.

We do want the songs to be rooted in truth, in scripture,

in real relationship and things about us in relation to God, in

relation to what Jesus has done. And it was.

It was cool to see the behind the scenes thinking in their

songwriting process too. Yeah.

Well, and along with, you know how you know that kind of dives

a little bit into the topic of how are songs chosen here or at

any given church. But I know one of the filters

that you use in particular is, is this about praising God or is

this a song about me? And there are plenty of

Christian artists who make songs about me and my process and my

life and my evolution as a Christian, or however you might

say that. But like, especially on a Sunday

morning in particular, we are there to worship God, not

necessarily talk about our process.

And our process as Christians is really important because we go

through good and bad seasons and all these things.

And so like God is writing our story, you know, as it were.

But like on a Sunday morning, you know, we are there to

worship him, not to necessarily examine ourself through song in

in such a clear way. I think songs can have elements

of that. But if it's all about me and

what I'm doing and you know, then it may, it may be a good

song and maybe even be a good Christian song, but it may not

be appropriate for Sunday morning.

Yeah, you're absolutely right. And that is largely the filter

that I use. Even if there is me's or or the

song is seemingly about me, myself or or us at that point.

I mean there, there still needs to be an element of it being

sung to God. And I don't I'm not what I'm not

going to do. We're not going to sing songs

that are sung to us necessary or or even yeah, just they could be

about us, but not sung to us. There's it's not it's not

heretical. I'm not I'm not saying it's a

terrible song or anything, but maybe I've brought it up before.

But bless God from from Hillsong Brooke Liggert Wood, most

recently the the chorus is come on and come on and praise the

Lord with me. Sing if you know his name, like

all the word, the subject of all the words she's on stage singing

to the people. Yes, she's singing to the people

about God, but almost at no point it takes until like the

third line of the bridge of that song till God is the one that

you're then singing to. And for me again, find some

everything in it is is true, is pure, is Christian Y in a

gathered Sunday morning worship setting that for me at least as

I've grown to understand leading worship and worshiping God, that

context on Sunday mornings isn't for that is not supposed to be

directed at us. Everything else about Sunday

morning is directed at us. Our announcements are for us,

even the preaching of God's word.

There's there's nothing that you or I say on Sunday morning that

God's up in heaven like, Oh, Chris, that was a really good

point, man. I've never looked at it that

way. Never thought about himself.

Like that's it. It sure the preaching and

proclamation and teaching of God's, it's glorifying to him,

but it's not for him. It's not the the only thing

that's extolling him is our praise in that moment.

So I feel very strongly about not shirking that opportunity

and and squandering it on focusing on us.

That being said, now you've really got me.

Now I'm on a now. Now I'm on a roll.

The song gratitude, Brandon Lake that we have and do sing pretty

regularly. That's a very me song.

That's that's a very all my words fall short.

I've got nothing new, so I throw up my hands and praise you again

and again. All that I all that I have is a

Hallelujah, Hallelujah. I know it's not much, but I have

nothing else fit for a king except for a heart.

Heart filled with Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

Still very. And this might seem really

nuanced and weird. I'm comfortable with that song

because I think there's the whole of that song is something

that is like universally experienced by Christians and

that that's where it gets into the weeds a little bit.

For the songs that are specifically about me or to us,

I think there's a lot of them that are just way too specific.

Like they they are a personal song or a personal experience or

a personal revelation that maybe isn't experienced by 80% of

Christians. And then we're singing a song

that 80% of the room is just like, I don't get it.

And so that might seem really weird and nuanced, but that I

think that's the danger in the me my I songs sometimes.

I mean, they're written by artists.

Again, if these artists are writing them, not that they're

sung in thousands of churches, they're writing them because

it's about them. It's it's, it's their

experience, it's their prayer or their conversation with God.

They didn't write them to be universally applicable to

everyone. So then if we're singing a song

about me that's only relatable by me, then then we've just like

missed gathered corporate worship all together.

Well, and actually on that song in particular, I was thinking as

you were kind of talking through that a little bit, it's

interesting because like I, I, I hear a song like that in, you

know, Sunday worship service setting.

And the question for me here, and I hope it's the same

question that other people would ask themselves is, does this

song lead me into worship of God or does it lead me to think

about me? I would tell you that that song

in particular does lead me into worship of God, you know,

because as we are repeating that Hallelujah, you know, like that

is me speaking to God and giving him worship and praise.

That's not me thinking about me anymore.

Even if the subject matter started with us, it ends with

us, you know, lifting our hands metaphorically or in reality to

him, you know, And so and so then that way, I think it's,

it's incredibly appropriate. Absolutely.

And yeah, and again, there's I, I praise you, I praise you again

and again with my arm stretched up wide, I will worship you.

Like it's still God's still the subject of that song.

Yes, it's about me. It's about my actions towards

God, still sung to God. So yeah, anyway, happy to talk

song theology or if you whatever have questions or feel like

maybe we're inconsistent in that somehow, sometimes some ways I'm

open to having those conversations.

But that's those are kind of the bounds.

I do get song suggestions every once in a while that are just

that's not what I've grown to understand of a Sunday morning

gathered worship. Just too much, too much about

us. Who's doing the verbs?

Is God, is God, is God doing the things or is he the object, the

subject of the of the words that we're singing?

Then it's then it's probably good or something universally

experienced by all of us. I think.

I think that's OK then to sing to him about.

Yeah. And I don't know if a lot of

people, maybe maybe you do like subconsciously, like if you have

a, like a, a theology of music, you know, And I think that is an

important thing to do, especially since that's one of

the things that a community comes together to do really

together is to worship through song.

We're singing the same words. And, you know, so like, I do

think like the, the individual Christian should develop a sense

of like theology around the music that they listen to or

they appreciate. Like that's, that's pretty

important. Even as a non music musician I

would say I I love music. But as a non musician like I I I

most certainly have theological understandings and leanings and

opinions about music. Absolutely.

Yeah, yeah, for sure. And I think, I think we all

should. It's it's I mean, we use songs

for just about as long on Sunday morning as as the word is

preached. So they should they should be

filled with the word of God. Is really.

Is really what it is, so perfect.

All right, So that was OK. Unplanned discussion on a little

worship theology here. I had an icebreaker question.

Where did that? Oh, it's right there to your

right, Sir. Oh.

It's behind my coffin mug. I can't see it.

OK, reminder, we're looking for the next few weeks.

It's going to be September 1st and September 8th.

We're going to do Ask Me Anything episodes and just kind

of have more of a conversation. Kristen's going to come in here

and ask questions. That's kind of fun.

Part of the discussion too, so we need your questions.

You can drop them in the comments under the show, on the

podcast or on the Facebook feed. Connect at emmausrdonline.org is

the e-mail, or you can always text in your questions to

563-659-9444. All of those means have been

utilized. You can message the Facebook

page, comment on the podcast, post there.

I think we've had questions submitted every which way there

is. So we have quite a stack.

We're going to have a couple shows worth of Ask Me Anything

questions, but just to give you a sense of why or or what we're

doing, we answered a question last week that was listener

submitted and this week we're going to talk about and ask me

anything question. It's when praying, do you use

Lord God or Jesus? I haven't noticed.

Do do you have a regular fixed addressing of God that you use

every time you enter into prayer?

I I can't pinpoint that for you, but maybe you do.

OK, so I would say, you know, I want to let again the Bible

inform what I do as much as possible.

And so not that I'm perfect at. That.

But yeah, very Pastor. Yeah, I'm just just nailing that

one down right away, Pastor Chris.

So. Come on man, right?

I know, I know, I know well, and, and, and I was just getting

into a serious tone and then I blew it.

So anyway, going back to that, you know, I want to let the

Bible inform how I'm speaking to God and that's really, really

important. And so, so for example, you go

back to the Lord's Prayer, and we've touched on this in various

spaces, which is Jesus leads that prayer, our Father, you

know, and so like, even if the individual Christian is praying

that they're probably, they're probably praying his words, Our

Father who art in heaven, hail be the name, you know, So why

would we use the plural hour if we're by ourselves?

Well, in particular, because Christianity does not really

exist outside of the Christian community.

And that's a whole different topic.

So I'm going to leave that alone for now, but stating that

anytime we are in a gathering, especially corporately, like on

a Sunday, you're probably going to hear me say our father before

whatever, whatever else we pray. And you know, maybe I brought it

up. There's a funny story about

that. I was, I was leading a, a

funeral and I started saying that with an unfamiliar crowd

and they just jumped into the Lord's Prayer instantly.

And so that was awkward and mildly funny.

So it did give a but, but in general, yeah.

So if I'm, if I'm in a corporate setting, you'll probably hear me

say our Father and then, you know, 'cause we are addressing

him as a community in my individual prayer life.

I don't, I, I can tell you that I do address God in that way,

but not every time. I think, you know, we can

address God with any of those particular titles that he gives

himself, and I think those are appropriate, but particularly in

corporate worship, I think we should address him as a

community. OK.

So the the plurality of that is even what I'm hearing you say is

that the plurality of that is even more important maybe than

the title that you're addressing him with.

I my dad always had a set every time.

My my my I'm a pastor's kid. My dad was a pastor from the

time I was 13 till still is past 22 years.

Anytime I've ever heard him in a corporate setting.

Wedding, funeral, church service and extends to the dining room

table too. Honestly, like I've heard of

meals with our family or meals with friends over.

He always fell into the habit of gracious Lord Almighty God and

that's just how he started every prayer I I don't think I default

every single time I don't say our father, I will say Father

God in addressing God. I think I am also far more

conscious though than maybe is necessary.

But I think then like your average Christian very often on

Sunday mornings, you all probably hear me say, I, I know

I say Father, God, Lord, Jesus, Holy Spirit, I, I address, I

address all three of of the Trinity and something from

seminary to worship school to just my ministry experience

here. It's not just like a safety

thing to cover all my bases. I do think there's a part of me

that that most accurately, I feel like the Holy Spirit is the

person of God that is closest to us in proximity, if that makes

sense. And we could argue the semantics

semantics of that, like all three persons are arguably

omnipresent and and all knowing. And like, I don't think that.

I don't think, like if we say our Father, the Holy Spirit's

ears are suddenly covered and they're like, I'm not listening.

I'm not listening like this. I don't.

Know this is private just between you and and no.

I I don't think it works that way, but there's a part of me

that also wants to intentionally address each one.

And of course, I where it would get weird if you if you prayed

our Father, we thank you for dying on the cross for us.

Maybe not like heretical. You should turn in your

Christian card, but that's just that's just not accurate.

The are but the Father did not die on the cross.

We we shouldn't shouldn't pray that prayer.

So I think I think there are aspects of the Trinity that are

only for each of them. If if, if that makes sense.

Can we pray for Father God to work healing in someone's life?

Yeah, I think we can. Can we pray for the Lord Jesus

to heal someone to work healing? And so yeah, I think we can.

Can we pray Holy Spirit would would you heal this person

broadly? I think all three of those do

that. But the Holy Spirit didn't die

on the cross. God didn't die on the the Father

God didn't die on the cross. So I like I like to address all

three. I guess is my default if I.

If I'm more broadly just start a prayer like you say with our

Father, I think I say Father God in that the the I guess the

father aspect is more forward on on the addressing for me.

If it is, if I am just praying to Jesus, I feel like again that

like if I ask Lord Jesus, it's, it's often in reference to what

he has done, like the the works that are either his words

recorded in the gospels or his his works, his miracles done his

his death on the cross. Like it's more specifically

addressed. I'm not saying you have to I

guess pigeonhole those 3 roles like that, but I do think we

minimize our addressing an acknowledgement of the Holy

Spirit as well, just generally in our little corner of God's

Kingdom. I feel like the Holy Spirit

often gets the short end of the stick with with us, so I don't

want to neglect that. I think it is important to

acknowledge the person of the Holy Spirit, even in prayer.

Oh, absolutely, yeah. I, I thank you for saying that.

I thought, I think you bring out a good point that maybe I've

never specifically thought about it.

For example, like you'll, you know, you could hear me pray

with our congregation on the Sunday and I will thank God the

Father for giving his Son. So, you know, I'm addressing God

the Father pretty directly and you know, for that goodness and

mercy to be able to give up his only Son on our behalf.

And so I do think like in that way subtly, like we were talking

about the role of God the Father versus the role of Jesus Christ

versus the role of the Holy Spirit.

And I don't think that's a bad way to do that, honestly.

And I don't think it makes anyone bigger or smaller than

the other because the Trinity is perfectly unified in in its work

in our lives. And so, yeah, I that's that's

actually, that's a fantastic way to think through that.

Thank you. Yeah, I think I've been doing

that without thinking about why I do that.

But you bring up an excellent point there.

Yeah. And that's thank you.

You maybe don't have to be that exacting, but that's how it runs

through in my very logical thought out mind.

So. And I and I will say.

Rarely I feel like do I say Lord?

Just getting back to the question, do you use Lord God or

Jesus? I guess I'd say Lord Jesus.

I'd say Father God, Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit.

I don't think I'd ever use I, I don't know that I have used the

Lord God. I think you could, yeah.

I don't think I have. Well, and actually we're going

to, as we come into the Moses series this upcoming fall, we're

going to get into some names because, you know, and this will

come out more so. But like when you see capital L,

capital Ord, that's like God's specific name he gave to Moses

to tell the people, this is who's sending you.

That's who I am. Yeah, that's who I am who I am,

you know, And so that's what that is.

And so, but you know, to acknowledge our, our Lord God,

maybe maybe if you were to write that out in print, it would be

capital L and then lowercase Ord and then capital G Elohim God.

And I still think that's, I still think that's absolutely

appropriate because we do see him named that way in Scripture.

So that's appropriate. Yep, yes, a title.

Yeah, kind of got that. That like Lord God, that would

be like God of Gods. Would.

Kind of be what that you are exactly of all things, all gods.

So yeah, they also think that's appropriate.

And actually just real quick, I'm looking at this poster on

your wall. It's if you've never been Pastor

Matt's office, he's got this poster on the wall and big print

and says, and he shall be called.

And then there's all these names that, you know, we can, we can

honestly and respectfully acknowledge these are names of

the Lord, whether it's the, the image of the invisible God, the,

you know, all these things that are on that poster, they're all

true. And actually, funny thing I got

to bring this up. I read about this guy who

preached A sermon and the whole sermon was just naming the names

of God. He did nothing.

But. Name the names of God for 22

minutes and then he walked off the stage.

He just, he just in a list, just boom, boom down the line and and

then he walked off and people were like blown away because I

and I and I think you're blown away by a that's a, that's an

pretty, that's a remarkable thing to do for a sermon.

You're just going to name who God is for 22 minutes straight.

You're going to give all of his titles that he's given in

scripture and then he just walk off and you're like, this is who

he is. He is all of these things and so

I think you know, we can appropriately is the Bible.

If if God says this is who how you can acknowledge me through

his word, then we have absolutely every right to

acknowledge him in those ways in our prayers.

So I don't even think you need to limit it to those three

things that the question worked around.

Sure, yes, all all appropriate and but that's it's not a, it's

not. That's not the only list.

Those aren't the only titles that we can use either.

Yeah. So for example, if I, if I am

going to give a prayer of praise and I know specifically like

Lord, I just I just want to praise you as my sustainer

capital S, you are my sustainer. You are the giver of all good

gifts. You are, you know, and just and

just name those things right back to him, which is

appropriate. Like part of our prayer, and we

talked about this in Bible study yesterday, actually part of our

prayer should absolutely just be thanking him and naming who he

is to us. That is an important part of the

prayer. And so, yeah, if the name that I

I need to most appropriately uses my God and my sustainer

capital S, yeah, absolutely. That's perfectly valid.

And I think it's reverent and respectful.

Yeah. Oh, I love that.

And also good to know. Like if you if you call in last

minute or sick this weekend, 22 minutes, if I just state all the

names, we've got sermons, sermons done.

Oh. Man, if you can get that list,

you know, good for you, good for you.

Good to know that that's a that's a fall back option.

That, that would be incredible. I would, I would absolutely

listen to that. I wonder if he I wonder how he

did it. Did he just like let did he let

everyone sit? Was he just like Lamb of God,

resurrection and the life like just like 3 seconds right?

And he just. I assume that there was some

kind of dramatic sense to that. I need to go back and find where

I read that at, but I thought that was terribly interesting.

It is, it really is all right. We are continuing on Acts 26 is

where I was, what I was preaching on yesterday.

We only have a couple more weeks left in Acts.

We're coming to the end and I focused on a really narrow

sliver of this chapter and it's something that we've already

covered. As we were talking about, this

is the third account of Paul's conversion really.

But there are there are different details and I think

deeper details that come out with each.

Obviously, the first time was when he actually experienced it.

The second time recorded is him relaying it to members of the

early church to kind of affirm his place in the early church.

And now he's using it as, as a bit of a witnessing tool before

King Agrippa. And I said it yesterday in the

sermon, but I'll, I'll revisit it here on the podcast.

This was a hostile environment. Paul was before Agrippa.

His great grandfather was Herod at the time Jesus was born and

tried to eradicate all the baby boys two years and younger.

Around the time that Jesus was born, Agrippa's grandfather had

John the Baptist beheaded and Agrippa's father martyred the

first apostle James. He was the first one of the 12

disciples, obviously Judas. Judas died after betraying

Jesus, but like the first one who was martyred, who was killed

on for the sake of Christ, that was done by Agrippa's father.

So this particular power, this particular reign and authority,

this throne had not ever since literally the dawn of

Christianity, the mirth of Christ had never been favorable

towards the Christian Church. And this is the context that

Paul steps into. Literally given verse 1 of

chapter 26, you are permitted to speak for yourself, says Agrippa

to Paul. He's on the spot defending

himself. No, lawyer doesn't have

representation. He is his defense attorney in in

this case where Festus and Felix, the the ones again, we're

kind of working up the Court of Appeals, Agrippa's Agrippa's

pretty much it like this is it. Something needs to happen.

And Felix and Festus have already admitted like there's

not, there's not really anything we can hold this guy for.

Like he hasn't, he hasn't done anything wrong.

We're just, we're trying to make him crack, basically.

Yeah, which is a crazy thing to do and illegal even in their

day, but somehow they're doing it.

They were trying to mask it like we have all this nuance from

Luke as to how they were trying to skirt around because the

people aren't going to be submissive.

They're not going to follow an authority that's openly corrupt,

obviously, obviously it was corrupt, but they tried to cover

it up as well as they as well as they could so that the public

wouldn't really know about it or or uprise themself.

So I love. I didn't, I didn't talk about it

yesterday. Paul's response here, the first

words he says. I think myself, I find myself

happy, King Agrippa, because today I shall answer for myself

before you concerning all the things of which I am accused by

the Jews, especially because you are an expert in all customs and

questions which have to do with the Jews.

Therefore, I beg you to hear me patiently.

I find myself happy to be here before you today.

That's wild. Yeah, but I actually think it's

it's here's the thing. We saw Felix a couple weeks ago

and we saw we saw the attorney for the Jewish people, the

prosecuting attorney for the Jewish people.

We saw him just try and butter up Felix and it was transparent

and it was ridiculous and rather silly in my estimation.

But I don't think Paul is being sarcastic or trying to butter

this guy up. He honestly means that he is

excited for the opportunity to bear witness about Jesus Christ

through his personal testimony to somebody who he knows

desperately, desperately needs the gospel.

Not only that, but I mean, think about it like it is.

It is one thing to talk to your neighbor about Jesus, and that's

important. Of course it is like that's

somebody's soul, that's somebody's eternity.

That's important. But what if you could talk to a

king or a president or whatever who does not believe in the

Gospel and you know you have an opportunity not only to help

that individual person meet Jesus Christ, but think of the

influence that they have in all of society.

Paul has seen the bigger picture.

And so he is. He is absolutely happy, excited,

fortunate. Might be a translation.

Word, too, yeah, is fortunate, but literally, that's awesome.

Macarios, the Greek word here can even happy is where it's

mostly translated, but it can also mean blessed.

I I find but like this, this is over the top.

But you're exactly right. It's this opportunity that is

before him, not only for Agrippa's singular soul.

Remember like leave, leave the 99 for the one like Paul's

definitely living that out, but the trickle down, the ripple

effect from maybe this one. This is a big one.

If if this domino falls there, there's a lot of subsequent

dominoes that are that are gonna step in line.

So in that way, you're right, he's seen the big picture.

This is fulfillment. Sorry, fulfillment.

That. Was really hard to get out.

Good job. That was so.

Oh no. This is a fulfillment of Acts 9

Jesus commissioning telling Paul he will be tasks X-915-GO for

he's a chosen vessel of mine to bear my name before Gentiles

kings and the children of Israel kind of a twofold.

He is before the king and and possibly by his influence of the

king with the King's influence, then have that impact on the

peoples and and and would nations be changed for and with

the gospel. That's that's pretty cool.

So that's the blessed opportunity.

It sounds weird in the moment. I find myself happy before you,

but that's you're right. He's seeing the whole big

picture. Good for him and, you know,

ultimately good for Christianity if you can, yeah, if you can

have an opportunity to share the gospel with somebody who has

like a pretty broad network of of maybe unbelievers.

What a gift. I mean, you know, so for

example, if a person were to, Oh my gosh, who's the Bill Maher?

Bill Maher. That's a person.

The the late night talk show guy, I don't know, just staunch

atheist and he's, he's interviewed Christians and stuff

before. And I have little doubt that

every Christian who goes on to his show absolutely feels like,

you know what, I've got the gospel and I'm going to give it

to this guy. And if I can give it to him, all

of the very kind of atheistic liberal people who listen to him

and who follow his every word, I've got a chance with all of

them too. And I don't need to talk to all

of them individually. I, if I can affect him, if the

Holy Spirit can affect him in this moment with the gospel.

Think about it, too, Joe Rogan, who has maybe one of the biggest

podcasts in on the planet. He's had a lot of different, you

know, theologians and Christians on his show who openly speak

about the gospel. What an incredible opportunity

for the gospel when you get to talk to somebody who has that

level of pull and influence in society.

And so, yeah, I think, you know, when we see moments of like, you

know, man, this is going to go bigger than just this

conversation with this one person.

It has that potential, absolutely.

We need to, we need to then bear the truth of about Jesus Christ.

Yeah. And that's that's a good modern

day example. You're right.

It is. It is Bill Maher, I believe is

who you're who you're referencing, but.

Staunch atheist. Yeah, to have to have his

influence or his perspective changed would reach, yeah, a a

notable audience of, of unreached people too, Yeah.

So Paul continues verses 6 through 8 here now I stand and

I'm judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our

fathers. OK, just like what we were

talking about before. He's he's pluralizing this.

This is God made this promise. And of course, Gripa, you're you

are familiar with the Jewish customs with the Old Testament

scriptures. All I'm saying I'm I'm I'm

promoting the Old Testament scriptures and I'm I'm finding

them fulfilled. These are no longer just old

dusty historical prophecies. I'm I'm claiming them done and

then that it's happened and they're coming against me for

it. So tell me where I'm in the

wrong. He why should it be thought

incredible by you that God raises the dead verse 8 that

this you know of these scriptures in which it was told

so and you're and you're supporting these old scriptures.

I'm just telling you that it's happened now.

What's the problem? It is really his honest.

I think I don't think he's mocking him.

I think he's honest like logically make it make sense for

me. What's the problem?

Yeah, and I and I love that that Paul does that.

Like, don't, don't we all need to do that?

Like, hey, here's this, here's this issue.

Theologically or philosophically in your life?

It's not that I'm so smart that I have, I've created the answer.

No, the answer has come forth and is obvious in the world.

How can you not make that connection?

And I, and I think that's so cool that he has the opportunity

to do that. I love that.

And it's just, it's very, it's very rational.

It is, are you going to end? And at times faith can be

rational. It doesn't need to.

Be. It ought to be.

It ought to be there's Yeah, I, I it ought to be.

It doesn't have to. We don't have to go to a point

where everything has to be able to be rationalized and be

explained as as I guess my 1 caution in that arena.

But it's you're right. We're not just Willy nilly.

Yeah, throwing my faith at that. I got I got faith in that to

happen. There's it should be a thought

out process. And I think the reason why I I

lean towards that rationality side of things is because I was

an adult when I came to Christ. And so as somebody who came as

like a child, Chris. Yeah.

Well, yeah, sure. Yeah, that's true.

But as somebody who came to faith in in a kind of an adult

rational context, like this needed to be historically

accurate for me. This needed to make sense in a

intellectual way. It and yes, after I would tell

you that like that faith, like a child that you just brought up,

like that's real. But like there were some hurdles

that had to be jumped even prior to that for me to actually, I

would, I use this word loosely, I don't actually mean it, but

actually to regress into a more childlike faith.

Like it's almost like Picasso. This is a great example.

Picasso said he's. Coming out OK.

No, I don't get to bring this up enough, but Picasso said he

spent his his entire adult life trying to learn how to do art

like a child, because art like a child.

It's pure and it's simple. And yeah, maybe it doesn't look

like Michelangelo's stuff for Leonardo's stuff, but it's just

done of love for the thing itself.

And it doesn't have these crazy expectations of, oh, you got to

prove this and this and this and this, and you got to prove you

can do this and you're good at this.

No, like he spent his whole life, quote UN quote, regressing

back to a childhood form of art because that was the most pure

version of it. So you're actually absolutely

right, whether it's from an artistic standpoint or a faith

standpoint. Like I need to regress back to

childhood level faith and thoughts.

About Jesus Christ, like I just look at him in awe and I just

love him for who he is. And those bigger kind of

philosophical questions like those have been answered and now

they're put away. And now I can be like the child

who just looks at Jesus and says, I want to give you a hug.

And, and I think that's an important process.

Yeah, for sure, for sure. He goes on with the rational

argument side of things versus 9 through 11.

Indeed, I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the

name of Jesus of Nazareth. This I also did in Jerusalem.

Many of the Saints I shut up in prison, having received

authority from the chief priests.

And when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them and

I punish them often in every synagogue and compelled them to

blasphemy. And being exceedingly enraged

against them, I persecuted them. Even to foreign cities.

We see shades of pain and maybe still guilt and regret from Paul

here. He he does allude to this in

other parts of the New Testament, his letter First

Corinthians 15/9 and and First Timothy 1:15.

1 Timothy 1:15

This compelling other believers to blasphemy to to renounce

their faith is maybe one of the things that he still bears with

him, that he he's left that past life behind.

But he still maybe has this pang of regret of what he undid for

others. That seems to be one of his most

painful things. But he's also really a very

genuine experience to King Agrippa here too, right?

Oh, well, you know, as you're as, as we're reading through

this, I thought of another potentially, it's not a silly

example, but so I can't, I can't think of a specific thing.

But let's say, for example, you've got a youngish child, so

somewhere under 10 years old and you remember a movie that you

loved as a kid and you show them that movie and you forget that

some of the jokes in that movie are really adult.

And then like you carry this, like, I feel so bad.

I exposed my young child to some, I open their eyes to

something or I or I or I had them partake in something that

was really honestly not good and not appropriate for them.

And so I mean, this is way bigger than that, of course, but

like, that's just what it made me.

I think of as like, man, I introduced or I caused you to be

a part of something that you should have never been a part

of. And and I can't take it back,

you know, so. Can't undo it.

I can't undo it. The words are out there, you

know, you saw the thing or whatever, or I made you say this

thing like I can't take that back.

And I can imagine even as like a parent with thinking about that

particular scenario, which is pretty real in my life, I can't

take that back. And I feel terrible about that,

you know, And so I, I think you're right.

I think you're spot on. He's probably still despite

knowing that Jesus has forgiven him, there's still maybe some

underlying like I wish that had never happened.

And I think he's, I don't know that he's being manipulative in

it, but I think he's having a raw, genuine moment before

Agrippa that maybe this pain is apparent.

Like I, I did these things and I undid the faith of those that

I'm now, I'm now championing this faith and I wish I could

undo what I did. Can can you, Agrippa, can you

see the pain? Can you see the regret?

Regret that the genuineness with which I I I want to undo this

and now I'm pleading before you today.

This is real. This my pain was real over this.

I'm pleading before you, I don't want you to experience this pain

that I forced upon others for not knowing who Jesus is.

I, I don't, I don't know that it has to be like that manipulative

of a gospel tactic, but I think there's just an air of

genuineness and we're like this, this is real.

This matters to me and I'm bringing it to you.

Yeah, he is. He is really honestly in a very

legal case, he is honestly exposing his own heart.

And that's, that's a unique thing to do in, in a case that,

you know, it's a, it's a civil legal case.

You wouldn't necessarily do that in a court today.

You're just keeping to the rational facts, as it were.

But he's not quite doing that here.

The next part of this passage in Acts 26 is what I spent the bulk

of sermon time on yesterday. You can go back in the podcast

feed ERC Sundays and listen to that if you haven't caught it

yet, but versus 12 through 18 were where we spent most of our

Sunday time. You can hear the the working of

the gospel in those several verses there.

But and and it's all his experience.

He he has Paul recounts some more direct instruction from

Jesus in his conversion and after that after he relays his

conversion on the road to Damascus, we pick it up in verse

19 of chapter 26. Paul says after after his story,

after his testimony, after relaying what Jesus had

commanded him laid out for him to do.

He says therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the

heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus and

in Jerusalem throughout all the region of Judea and then to the

Gentiles, the people that I used to be a part of.

That's, that's the subtext there, right?

Like Paul, Paul was my own people that they should repent,

turn to God and do works befitting repentance.

He continues this logical argument saying, Hey, man, this

isn't just me, this God, this Old Testament God that you're,

that you're familiar with. He's the one who gave me this

command. I've been obedient to this

command and now they're, they're trying to lock me up for

following this command. So this isn't even just if

you're going against me on this, you're also you're going against

God Agrippa, Can you can you do that?

Do you want this smoke? Like right.

I mean, that's what he's saying. Oh my gosh, Yep, Yep.

I like you. Said it I You got it.

Just not, I mean not. He's not even trying to excuse

himself. He's just saying I've got God on

my side. Are you going to stand against

that? Right, That's the question here.

Oh, my gosh. Well, and The thing is, like,

does is anybody really going to answer that question honestly?

Like, come on, There's there's no way you're going to be like,

yeah, you know what? I actually think you're innocent

and I think you're right, but forget it.

Let's let's just see how this works out for me, me challenging

not only you as an individual, but God himself.

Like, no way. Nobody's answering that

honestly. No, and but and so I think I

think in this instance he is using that tactic.

He's got he's got the big stick on his side, right and he's

saying I've got God to do you. Where do you line it?

You can you can be with us, but against us.

This is what's staring back at you, right.

So even with that, though laced with I went to the Gentiles that

they should repent, turn to God and do works befitting

repentance. He again has that R language,

this you language, Agrippa, you're you're included in this.

This opportunity is here for you.

Then he goes on to recount to Agrippa that the again, he's

he's got this very rational argument on his side.

He's trying to support his actions with rationale and

reason. He's also pointing out the

irrationality, the inconsistency in those who are accusing him.

Verse 21 For these reasons, the Jews have seized me in the

temple and tried to kill me. Therefore, having obtained help

from God, to this day I stand witnessing both to small and

great, saying no other things than those which the prophets

and Moses said would come. So he's got he's got God on his

side now he's got Moses on his and the prophets, which these

people and this king familiar with the Jewish customs, those

were, those were the forefathers, right?

You're not going to you might, you might say that Jesus is

Messiah, but you're not going to double cross Moses.

You're not going to go against the prophets.

You're not going to go into these things that you've been

raised on from childhood, right? He's got an absolutely

deadlocked spectacular argument. It's not.

I mean, this is airtight and how he could still be passed on or

found guilty on this. It just screams corruption.

That's all it is. Because this thing, again,

theologically speaking, is airtight.

There's nothing that you can do with this that you could be

like, well, actually Paul, the Bible says this or no, you

cannot. Like he is only preaching what

the Bible has already said. Yep, Yep.

So Paul, all, all the things, he hit him.

He hit him with the love of the gospel.

He's now hit him with the the rationale, even leaning on the

law, because that's really what he's talking about here.

Moses and the prophets. OK, you guys hold to the law.

I'm, I'm just, I'm talking about the law and the guy who came to

fulfill the law and the guy who beat the law and rose from the

dead. But you don't want to hear any

of it. So what do you want to hear?

Help me out, Agrippa. Again, it's what do you want to

hear all these things that you're you're saying we're fine

to say or saying we're fine. I'm, I'm saying the same thing.

And yet you hate me for it. So what am I?

What am I to do standing here accused saying no other things

than those with the prophets and Moses would come.

Why haven't you brought anyone else who's taught any of these

old scriptures over the past XYZ years?

They all should be in the same spot that I am because I'm doing

nothing, nothing different than what they had.

So very logical. He's hit him with the gospel.

He's used logic and reason within his argument and then.

And then and. Then the the what is it?

The counter cross examination from the from the other side.

That's is that how it happens in the in the courtroom?

Festus speaks up verse 24, Paul Paul's got 23 verses to defend

himself and Festus just says, Paul, you are beside yourself.

Much learning is driving you mad.

You're you're insane. That that's his argument.

He's he's not even that's the only hole he can poke in Paul's

reasoning. You're a crazy person.

Try that. Try that to someone that you

disagree with. See how that works.

If you're if they give you a rational thought out reasoning,

you just said not, you're nuts. You're crazy.

Like where's that going to get you?

That's that's a crazy thing to say to somebody is like, you

know what, I think you're insane.

And actually one of the things that this can draw us to is it

can draw us to this interesting idea.

Don't think too hard about your faith 'cause he's saying that,

you know, your, your great learning has driven you mad.

So in other words, like, hey, don't you dare think too hard

about your faith. Don't spend too much time with

this, like, yeah, God is God and we're people and just kind of

leave it there. Don't go too deep with this

thing 'cause otherwise you look crazy.

And I think actually in modern American Christianity, there are

probably a, there's probably a large swath of people who they

wouldn't come out and say that, but they live that way.

They're like, you know what, God's got me.

I know it's fine. I don't need to think a whole

lot about this because if I think about this too much, you

know, and, and here's the real end game for people who who

check their brains at the door for Christianity, but quote UN

quote, believe it is. If I think about this too much,

if I dive too deep, I might actually find out that God has

expectations for my life and how I behave and all these things.

And, and I want to have God, but I actually don't want all of

him. I want his benefits without his

expectations. And I think in some ways that's

where modern American Christianity can go sometimes.

And I'm not saying that that's where Festus is necessarily

going. But I am saying that if Festus

is a person who believes in the law and the prophets, he has

still absolutely checked his brains at the door.

And Paul is just so far ahead of him that he he can't actually

speak on Paul's level. So he's just going to be like,

yeah, man, you're nuts. And it's such a low level

argument, like there's there's no substance to it.

Just to say, Paul, you're insane.

It it would get really it would be really easy at this point for

Paul to just kind of get in a back and forth.

He he said she said sort of kind of match here.

He keeps his head, he says back in retort to Festus.

I am not mad most noble Festus. I don't, I don't think waxing

eloquence, just trying to maintain politeness, right?

Because Festus certainly wasn't noble, but but he needed to

address it in this context. He needed to address it in such

a way. I am not mad most noble Festus,

but speak the words of truth and reason for the king.

Agrippa, before whom I also speak freely, knows these

things. He knows truth.

He knows reason. For I am convinced that none of

these things escapes his attention.

Since this thing was not done in a corner.

Paul double s down on truth and reason.

He believes the truth. He's used reason, reason and

rationale to fuel his argument for truth because it was based

on historical events. These were events and things

that, as much as the powers that be tried to sweep it under the

rug and just make it go away. Paul saying these were not done

in a corner, they were done out in the open.

People witnessed and saw these things in all too recent

history, right? So the historical foundation of

Paul's message is true. It's simply unreasonable to deny

things that happened, that there are witnesses for who Jesus was,

that there was a Jesus of Nazareth, that he did die.

It must be accounted for. He's not.

He's undoing Festus's own argument with more.

You can't say that I'm insane for talking about a guy that

really lived. In fact, Festus, you would be

the insane one to say this guy wasn't real, right?

Oh, absolutely. And actually, I the the response

in verse 28 is so awesome. And Agrippa said to Paul, in a

short time, would you persuade me to be a Christian?

You know what he's really saying?

He's saying I can understand the the logic and the rationality of

your argument. And if I believe in all of these

historical facts, the end game that that the only conclusion

that I can come to if I believe your truthful, honest testimony,

which is rational and historical, is that I need to

become a Christian. And he immediately pushes back

on that. But that should tell you

something, shouldn't it? It should absolutely.

Oh, he really did. And The thing is like, I think

that's where rationality absolutely holds court inside

Christianity, as it did for me. Because again, my own personal

experience, if I can intellectually and rationally

agree with this set of doctrine, this his, these historical

documents, all this kind of stuff, I am left with two

options. I go and I say, you know what?

I have to intellectually agree with these things.

Therefore I'm a Christian and I believe this and I will now

confess this as truth. I will let that alter the way

I'm living my life. Or I have to look at the truth

in the face and I have to say the world is flat.

I mean, those are my options, aren't Are they not?

Like I Yeah, there's that great little documentary I heard about

about the flat Earthers. Who literally did the

experiments to prove that the Earth was flat and they proved

themselves wrong through their own experiments.

And still, this is Agrippa, by the way.

Still some of them are like, yeah, no, no, I don't believe

it. So like it's right in your face

and you refuse? And that's what he you almost

persuade me to become a Christian.

And this is where if you didn't listen to the message, this

gives it away a little bit. But that why I think there's

such a distinction between the the opening the eyes and then

the turning from darkness to light.

You need eyes open to even be shown the light.

But then you still need to choose the light, right?

And Agrippa didn't want to be convinced.

All of the facts, all of the reason, all the truth is before

him. And he didn't want to turn from

darkness to light. He didn't want to turn from the

power of Satan to the power of God.

He didn't want to receive forgiveness of sins or a place

among God's people. He didn't want any of it.

He didn't want to. Even with all the facts laid

bare before him, he still chose darkness.

He still chose himself over God, Right?

And I actually thought, by the way, huge compliment to you.

I, I absolutely thought you brought that out wonderfully

yesterday through, you know, various illustrations and the

points you made. But this goes back as well.

Like, man, you can have and, and, and this is frustrating.

I've been there so many times. You can have all of the right

answers. You can have the historical

narrative in place. You can give them facts, You can

give them everything they need. And it does not necessarily mean

that that person will be converted.

And I have experienced that before.

I have. And this is not a bragging

thing. It's just a research thing.

I have argued people into the ground and they are in a corner

and they still refuse. And I walked away from some of

those conversations years ago going, what did I do wrong?

Like, was I not convincing? Like I, I, I had them, you know,

and yet somehow it didn't work. And it is just because, like

that thing of like, man, you can lead a horse to water, but you

can't make a drink. Right, right.

It's it's. There and that's what I was and

that's what I was saying yesterday in the in the go and

tell part of it to to not overestimate our involvement it

no, you should not bear that part of it Was I not convincing

enough Was I not eloquent enough Did you share did you share the

gospel with him? Did you share what Jesus has

done in your life with them? Don't oversell your involvement

in their conversion, but also don't undersell what you're

called to. You're still called to bring

that to them. Maybe it's not for you to have

brought them all the way, though they're still working of the

Holy Spirit. There might be other Christians

down the line, down the road that you're just kind of setting

up or teeing up for them. The conversation is is simpler

with them, or maybe it clicks with that person down the road.

So we're called to be faithful to.

That to that aspect of of bringing the gospel and sharing

faith, but not we, we shouldn't get to the point of frustration

of but I didn't save the life, so I failed.

Yeah, be really careful with that.

Like that's not on us. We don't save.

I was actually hanging out with some non Christian friends this

weekend and this guy who I was talking to, he kind of made, he

kind of made a jab at me and he's like, oh, what?

You're going to, you're going to convert me now you're going to

save me, Chris. And I said, and I looked right

at him and I said, I don't save anybody.

I just introduce you to Jesus. And he just stopped.

Like he turned away and I could tell like just body language.

He was done engaging in that conversation and I didn't push

it because I've been there, done that.

And again, like I know better at this point.

I didn't used to, but but I do now and I just, I'm just going

to let that sit like not my job to save you, my job to introduce

you to my savior and yours if you'll have him so.

That's great. Yeah.

Well, good on you. There's, there's opportunities

there, even when people are a little rough around the edges.

But I, I, you know, for me and, and I hope for anybody

listening, like, I, I hope you continue to feel called to do

that, to gently challenge and to, you know, you can, you can

be clever about it, You can, you can be nice about it or

whatever. But like continue to gently

challenge and introduce people to Jesus and then leave the rest

of the actual spirits movement to the spirit.

You know, Lord help, Lord help that man.

I, I, I hope that was an impactful moment for him.

I hope it was, it was for me and I hope it was for him too.

And we'll just see what God does with that.

Yeah, we reach sort of an impasse.

Sorry, I didn't put these in the notes there.

There are three more versions, 3332 and it's, it's just a

picture of the corruption, a picture of the system.

Again, Paul had been working up from, from Felix to Festus to

now Agrippa and apparently this whole appeals process, he was

going to wind up at Caesar and before the emperor and, and in

Rome. We, it's been foretold

throughout acts that he was going to have the opportunity to

go to Rome. So he had already appealed to

Caesar. But you can see the corruption

versus 3332. Agrippa and and Bernice and

Festus are talking to themselves afterwards.

And Agrippa said this man is doing nothing deserving of death

or chains. He may have been set free if he

had not appealed to Caesar. So they're just wrapped in this

procedural corruption of either trying to get him to out himself

to say something substantially incriminating about what he's

done wrong. Paul's holding the line.

He's, he's not changing the story and he's holding the truth

of his story for what it is. But that's going to keep him in

captivity, in captivity. That's going to keep him in

imprisonment for the ultimate goal though, right?

It was God told him he was going to use him as an instrument.

Jesus told him it would be before kings.

And now he's going on to Caesar on to Rome with this.

So we've got a couple more weeks.

We'll, we'll see kind of the end of the account here in Acts.

You're up next week. And then I.

Close this out at the end of August through this series and

acts. So thanks for hanging with us on

a Monday hearing a little bit more about follow up to the

sermon from this week. Acts chapter 26 reminder we've

Acts 26 · chapter mention

got the ask me anything. You've got one more week.

We'll we'll kind of stop taking questions.

You can always ask us questions. But as we're recording the

episodes the next week, this round of just kind of taking

questions from everyone will kind of end on October 24th.

But you can always submit questions on the Facebook page,

comment on the episode post or inbox the the Emmaus Rd. church

on Facebook connected Emmaus Rd. online.org.

You can text your questions to 563-659-9444.

All the things, all the ways. So appreciate you church family.

Thanks for hanging with us and and hope you have a blessed

week.