When Everything Around You Is Out of Control | Acts 22:30; 23:1–11 | Alex Sands

Welcome to the Kingdom Life podcast.

What do you do when the situation around you is unstable?

People are wrong.

The future is unclear.

And you cannot control what happens next.

In X, 22, 30, and X, 23, 12, 11.

You cannot see the road ahead.

This message is for you.

You do not have to know what happens next.

We need to know who controls what happens next.

Now it's past the Alexand.

Today's message from Acts 22.

30 in Acts 23, 1 through 11.

The Word of God has gone forth.

We have studied in the book of Acts.

The Word of God has gone forth, and the book of Acts is about the unstoppable advance of the kingdom of God.

The unstoppable advance of the kingdom.

And the kingdom has been advancing one soul at a time.

Advancing and moving and advancing, and praise God.

Continues we see it today.

Hallelujah.

We've seen how the gospel has expanded throughout Acts, Acts, the history of the church, the first 30-some years of the church's existence.

We've seen it advance, and we've gotten to this place where the Apostle Paul has completed his missionary journeys, and he'd been arrested in Jerusalem, and then he gave a chance to give his testimony, and he did that, and people still wanted to kill him.

But the amazing thing is, as I covered last time in our illustration about playing spades, he had the big joker in his deck of cards in his hand.

And the big joker is the big card.

It's above all other cards.

You throw down the big joker, you win the book.

He had the back uh the big joker in his back pocket from birth.

He was a Roman citizen from birth.

That gave him certain protections, legal status, privileges.

It wasn't anything that he had done.

He was born a Roman citizen.

His family, his father, his grandfather, they were Jews.

But apparently they father, grandfather, somebody had done something good for Romans, and they appreciated it and granted them Roman citizenship, and he was the beneficiary of it.

It wasn't an accomplishment that Paul had done.

He was, it's just a it was in the hand God had given him.

But one thing I want to emphasize again: although you cannot control the hand that you have been dealt, you can control how you play it.

The goal of Uno is to beat everyone else.

Spades, you have a partner.

And it's not to burden everyone else like Uno with all these different cards, it's to win together.

Paul had the opportunity to throw that big Joker down in Philippi, but he was beaten.

He could have said, I'm a Roman citizen, you can't do that.

But he passed and didn't play that big Joker because he knew the Philippians, the culture, having the Philippi was called a little Rome because it was even laid out like Rome.

There was the worship of Rome.

If he would have claimed his Roman citizenship to get him out of a jam after he had been preaching that Jesus is the king, if he tried to play that hand, it wouldn't have worked.

The church he would leave behind would have been in trouble because no one would have respected what they were doing.

He'd rather absorb the blows than for anyone else to believe.

You see, part of playing space and part of life, living life as a Christian is you gotta watch the board and watch what your opponents are doing.

Just because you have a card in your hand doesn't mean you have to play it.

Exercising wisdom, knowing when to even absorb blows, when to play and when not to.

He played the card after he had been released from prison.

After that, and he was escorted out of Philippi.

So all the world will know this, the whole city would know this was wrong.

Don't you mess with the believers.

This was wrong what they did.

All the officials had to escort them out.

That was the time to play the card.

And we saw last time, before he was flogged, he threw out there his Roman citizenship.

And not only that he was a Roman citizen, that he was born a Roman citizen, that kept him from being flogged.

Beaten in order to beat an explanation out of him.

He threw that big joker down.

And at that point, understand, when someone throws down the big joker, they have control of the board.

They control what happens next.

They couldn't beat Paul, they couldn't do anything.

The tribune, the Roman commander, just said, okay, we just need to take him out of this situation.

If they had proceeded in flogging Paul, they could have died.

That's how strong that Roman citizenship, that's how strong it was.

They take him back to the barracks.

Overnight, he's in the barracks.

He's protected, but he's in the barracks.

And understand this, church.

You know, even though he had played the big joker, that doesn't mean the situation changed.

God protected him, but he hadn't removed him.

Amen.

God protected him, but he didn't remove him from that situation.

And sometimes we assume, hey, that if we we're playing the cards right, we're looking at the board and everything else, that God's gonna deliver us, and there's gonna be, aren't gonna be any other troubles, any other hardship.

That is not what it means when you are you can be playing the cards right, watching the board, and done everything right up to that point, and God not necessarily turned that situation around.

Sometimes God delivers us out of, and sometimes God keeps us in the midst of.

And that gives us brings us to our kingdom truth for today.

And that is God sovereignly rules what we cannot control.

Paul could faithfully be confident.

He can be confident not because he knows his situation is changing, he can be confident because he understands his confidence is in what God does.

God sovereignly rules what we cannot control.

Everything okay?

In the back?

Everything okay?

We don't have the other one?

It's not showing?

Okay.

All right, so this is where we'll go, where we have to go.

All right.

God sovereignly rules what we cannot control.

Take a look at some of these passages.

And I know that just kind of seems a sovereign.

That just, you know, hey, that's rudimentary.

We've got to understand all of that, but here's the deal.

We still need to be reminded of it.

A couple of scriptures from the Old Testament that underscore this truth, Psalm 115, verse 3.

Psalms 115:3

God is in the heavens, he does all that he pleases.

Again, you know, God does all that he pleases, he is the only being in the universe that can speak, and it has to come to pass.

Because he created all things.

He's not bound by anything that he has made.

He's omnipotent, he is omniscient.

Continuing, taking a look here at Psalm 1, Proverbs, excuse me, 21, verse 1.

The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord.

He turns it wherever he wills.

Now that doesn't mean everything that happens in our lives is good.

Doesn't mean that people are not responsible for their actions.

What it means is that God is still in control in all things.

And so there are points in time where chaos is all around us, and we have to rest in the fact that he is sovereignly in control.

He is the dealer that has dealt the hand for everybody, and we have to trust his purposes.

Just because Paul has played everything right, it doesn't mean the chaos has subsided.

And in your life and my life, there's no guarantee the situations will work themselves out.

It's not about the situation changing, it's how you conduct yourself in every situation, in the circumstances.

And so we'll see the example here of Paul as he is uh continuing uh on this in this um you know in this situation on the next day, desiring to know the real reason why he was being accused by the Jews, he unbound him and commanded the chief priests and all the council to meet, and he brought Paul down and set him before them.

It's the next day after all that uproar, and the the Roman commander still doesn't know what was going on.

The crowd initially they had gotten all upset and mad, and no one could give a straight answer.

And so he arrested Paul, he just put him in Paul, he beat it out of him.

But Paul spoke Greek and he talked about being from Tarsus, and that was a respected city and educated, everything else.

So he figured, hey, okay, go ahead, you can address the crowd.

He addressed the crowd in Hebrew, and then all of a sudden, they got even more upset.

And so he really wants to know what's going on, but he can't flog him.

So he put him in custody, and the next day he still doesn't know what's happening.

So he wants to convene a meeting.

Now understand this is an informal meeting, this isn't a formal meeting of the chief priest and the council.

And the chief priest represented the chief priest, where are you talking about?

The high priest, and you're speaking of the high priest's family in which they, the high priest had been selected.

And so this is these are the aristocrats.

Well, these are wealthy individuals.

Then you have the whole, you have the Sanhedrin.

Now, again, this is an informal meeting, don't meant know how many, because a Roman commander commanded this meeting.

This was an uh trying to gather information, trying to gather intel.

What is happening?

So the council, this is Sanhedrin, the 71 men who got like this the religious supreme court, if you will, for the Jews.

Don't know if all of them showed up, but hey, they they these guys are in power.

So you have the chief priests, you have the council, you have representatives from you know, all of you know, this is Jewish life.

This is a good play on the commander's part.

I need to know what's happening because how am I going to give a report about what he has done?

So he he sets Paul in front of them.

They're not at the temple because the commander is there, listening.

Verse 23 and looking intently at the council, Paul said, What's the first thing he said?

When you hear brothers, I want you to hear family.

I want you to hear his his heart, I'm one of you.

Even with all the chaos and all that you have wanted to do, you are still brothers.

We are.

I am, you are, descendants of Abraham.

Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day.

Interesting about that.

Make sure I highlight this about how he's talking about how he has lived his life.

That really, that that word, living my life, the Greek word there is it's a verb, but it's where we get politic from.

It means I have been a good citizen.

I have lived, I've lived well, I have obeyed the rules before God.

And just think of all that has happened regarding citizenship.

Throughout this passage, throughout everything that's happened, he keeps referring to that and where he was born and Tarsus and all of those.

But he finally comes to the he comes to this point, he's addressing the leadership, the Jewish leadership.

I have lived my life, I've been a good citizen, a man of God.

I have lived my life before God in all good conscience.

Up until this day.

Even up until now, all my days.

Now, don't hear what he's not saying.

He's not saying he hasn't made mistakes.

Because someone can have a clear conscience, but that doesn't mean they have a correct conscience.

A clear conscience is not necessarily a correct conscience.

Our conscience has to be shaped, calibrated by the truth of God.

Someone can be sincere and just be sincerely wrong.

Paul had been sincere his whole life, before Jesus encountered him on the Damascus Road and after.

He consistently wanted to please God.

So we can say, I lived in good conscience before God all of my days.

Even when he thought he was doing God's will, he did it.

He gave, he threw us all into it.

So I'm not here to to uh uh because I'm trying to to present myself to be something other than I am up until this day.

But let's not go too fast.

Notice how he says again, before God.

And this is something all believers, everyone who puts their faith in God, is all believers have to understand.

And everyone has to embrace we live our lives before God and not man.

We have an audience of one.

So we are to live our lives before God because we can't control what man says or thinks.

And meaning again, Paul doesn't think he's never sinned, but he knows he has lived faithfully before God.

And in front of all of these people, this council that have been judging him and evaluating him and just registering in their minds how short he has fallen on and on and on.

He says, I have lived in good conscience before God.

Oh, and saints, that is so important for us to understand because listen you can exhaust yourself trying to control how others, what others think of you.

You will never get off that treadmill.

You will exhaust yourself trying to uh control how everyone thinks about you.

You can explain something perfectly, and someone still must understand what you are saying.

You can do the right thing day after day after day, and somebody still assign it the false motives.

You can strive to live at peace with everyone, and somebody's not gonna want to be at peace with you.

You can either live to try to be, you know, a person who is accepted by all and judged as perfect before all, or you can say, I just want to stand with a clear conscience before God.

And oh saints, when you decide to do that, it is so liberating, it is so freeing because you will either fear man or fear God, but it won't be both.

At some point, it's one or the other.

You can't have a good uh a fear of man and man's judgment and still elevate the fear of man of God above all else.

It'll be God or not.

When I say fear of man, I'm saying fear of man's judgment.

When the Lord has said not guilty, what can man do?

Continuing, looking at 2 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 12.

2 Corinthians 1:12

Paul he said this so many times in 2 Corinthians 1 12.

Our boast is this it's a testimony of our conscience that we've behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom, but by the grace of God and supremely so toward you.

His confidence is not that everybody likes him, his confidence is based in the fact that he can stand before God.

That is something we all have to appreciate.

Well, what happens in verse 7?

I'm excuse me, verse 2.

And the high priest, Ananias, commanded those who stood by him to what?

To strike him.

Ooh, we.

Now understand, that's that's that's you know, you look at it, that's not a slap.

That's a punch.

Paul hadn't even gotten down to explain himself or anything.

The high priest is sitting there, just tells my guy, punch him in the face.

Now somebody say that ain't right.

That ain't right.

It's not right.

It's unjust.

It's not right because he hasn't, listen, he hasn't been condemned of anything.

He hasn't had a chance to even explain himself.

There haven't been any witnesses presented.

There haven't, there hasn't, the charges haven't been leveled against him.

I mean, it's just he hasn't done anything, and then, but he hits him, has him commanded to be hit.

How does Paul respond?

Oh, coming in hot.

God is going to strike you.

What is he calling?

God is going to strike you, you white washed wall.

You know, they would have this, uh, the Jews, you know, annually they would do this thing with the tombs, and they would you know, make them white, cover them, and they'd paint them, or they're making them white, the tomb.

So they would.

Do this, but inside, just because you made you painted the outside, the inside was still fill of what?

Dead men's bones.

And so when when when Paul says the Lord's gonna strike you, the Lord's gonna get you.

You struck me, but the Lord is gonna get you because you are a hypocrite.

On the outside, you look clean and righteous, but on the inside, nothing but dead bones, whitewashed wall.

He says this, are you sitting to judge me according to the law?

And yet, contrary to the law, you order me to be struck.

Contrary to the law, you order me to be struck.

This is where he's called, why he's calling him a hypocrite.

Because what he did wasn't just.

So you're trying to claim, you you you you kind of claim here that as sitting in your position, ordering somebody to strike me, and you're presenting yourself as this leader, you know, this religious leader, and yet you have violated the law even in telling a man to punch me.

Hypocrite.

Then those who were stood by said, Would you revile God's high priest?

And Paul answers, I didn't know, brothers, that he was the high priest.

I didn't know.

People debate why he didn't know.

Some say that you know he had an eye affliction and therefore he couldn't see that it was Ananias.

And this was an informal gathering, so he probably, Ananias probably, it was a hastily called information gathering.

So he probably didn't have all of his robes on and all everything else.

So some people think because of Paul's eye condition, he couldn't clearly see who it was.

Some people say that Paul is just, you know, being ironic.

I didn't recognize you.

Because of what you said.

High priest.

Regardless, though, of why he said it, it's what he says next.

Verse 5, I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest, for it is written.

You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.

Here, he's not in control of the board, right?

He's not, he's not controlling what happened.

And and and someone has punched, he's done wrong.

And then scripture is introduced into the situation.

And listen, Paul's response was not to say, hey, look, he hit me first.

His response was not, did you see what he did?

His response was not, well, he broke the law first and he hit me on it.

What does he say?

I didn't know, because the word says, you should not speak evil of a ruler of your people.

I didn't know.

I didn't know.

Now he's still acting a good conscience.

He doesn't, he didn't recognize him, and this is why I don't think he's being, I don't think this is irony.

I think he sincerely wanted everyone in that room to be saved.

And so he he, that's what was was his desire, and so he wasn't out there trying to do it like a trying to be funny or anything like that.

He just said, I didn't know.

But when scripture was introduced, when it's for it is written, that settles it for Paul.

It's like a reset.

Chaos is all around him, but he didn't allow, listen, he didn't allow someone else's sin to justify his own sin.

He didn't use someone else's disobedience as justification for his own disobedience.

Because regardless of what the high priest did or what anyone else did, Paul is responsible for his actions.

And saints, we that's something for us to embrace as well.

We can't point the finger at everyone else and blame them for our reactions.

We are free as children of God.

We don't have to respond sinfully.

And so when scripture is on the table, the only play is to say, This is God's will.

Mind you, saints, when Jesus was in a similar situation 20 some years ago, Jesus held his peace.

But here, Paul didn't.

And even though he didn't, it wasn't a factor who hit him, it's the way he responded.

He lashed out.

He shouldn't have done that.

But he keeps going back to the word.

He never said he was justified.

He said, I didn't know, but that didn't make it right.

But he lifted up the word.

That's integrity, saints.

That's living as a man, as a woman of integrity.

1 Peter 3, 15 and 16.

Scripture says here, instead you must worship Christ as Lord of your life.

And if someone asks you about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it.

But do this in a gentle and respectful way.

Keep your conscience clear.

Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ.

You can't control what people say about you, but you can tell, you can control whether or not what they're saying has integrity, has truthfulness.

You can, because you can control your behavior.

You can control your conduct.

You can't control the response.

You can control your conduct.

Even when someone else is wrong, we are still responsible for being faithful.

And so things are gonna happen.

Things are gonna happen.

Chaos is gonna break out, even if you play the big joker.

That doesn't mean that there isn't gonna be chaos that erupts around you.

Doesn't mean people aren't gonna disappoint you.

Doesn't mean that people aren't gonna mischaracterize you.

It doesn't mean that things won't happen that are wrong.

But understand, we can't see our instinct to that, our response to that out of the flesh is to react in a similar way.

So we try to justify bitterness with what they did to us.

We try to justify what we said based on what they said.

Try to justify our behavior because of the conduct of others.

But mature believers living in integrity, their desire is to have a clear conscience before God, not the perfection, but a clear conscience that in spite of the wrong, you did right.

And that the situation was not greater than the Holy Spirit inside of you.

He that is within you is greater than the one that's in the world.

And so we don't seek to justify wrong.

We say, thus it is written.

And we always have to submit to the Lord and his will.

Can't control what others do, can't control what your spouse does, can't control what your adult children do.

You can't control what happens on your job, but what you can control is your testimony.

So I would say to all of us, guard your testimony.

Don't respond to someone else's sin with sin of your own.

You do know that, right?

There's some cases people just want to hijack the narrative about you.

They know they're not right.

They just want to, you know, they just want to provoke you to get something out of you.

You don't have to go that route.

If you if you are saved, you have the Holy Spirit inside of you.

Anybody ever had that before?

You want it, if something's on the tip of your tongue, and then a word comes to you from the Lord.

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth.

But only what is good for edifying and building up.

You want to say it, but it's like the Holy Spirit won't let you.

You want to type in your reply to the email and you want to send it to everybody.

CC the world.

Posting it on social media.

You got that, ooh, that just the first thing you want to do, because you want to vindicate yourself.

But the Holy Spirit, I mean, I know I'm not alone, the Holy Spirit grabs you and you debated it for an hour.

And still the Holy Spirit wouldn't let you.

Praise the Lord for that.

That's how you know you're saved.

When you want to do wrong and the Lord won't let you.

You wanna cut, you want to bring some vocabulary you left behind.

But you can't, because we sang about it.

I can't explain it.

My heart is changing.

Then before you know it, you've been an hour struggling with the email, whether to send it or not, you can't do it, and another 30 minutes later you're weeping and praying for that person.

That's what the Lord does.

That's how he does it.

Going back to this, how Paul talked about his being a citizen, if you will, living a life, a good citizen, living before God.

Philippians 1.27, he used the same uh terms, terminology.

Listen, Philippians 1.27.

Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven.

Hallelujah.

Conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the good news about Christ.

Then whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing together with one spirit, one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the good news.

Live as citizens of heaven.

Live up to your name.

You're a child of God.

You're a kingdom citizen.

Live that out.

Paul did that.

He did that.

His response wasn't in keeping with who he was.

Is I didn't recognize the situation.

I didn't, but I the word is still right.

So now he's he's gotten himself under scripture, under the word.

He doesn't move away from it, doesn't justify anything.

He just says, I didn't know.

I didn't see it, didn't recognize it, even still.

Now, when Paul perceived, picking up verse 6, because the thing is, this thing gets even bigger.

Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees.

It's a it's a it's a mixed crowd.

They're not all theologically in alignment.

In fact, these two groups, they might not have come together except for the fact that the Roman commander commanded them to do it.

You know, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

And so the commander called us together to address this Paul issue.

And he was a problem for all of the religious leaders, like Jesus was.

He perceived.

One part was Sadducees, the other Pharisees.

He cried out to the council, what he did it again, the second time.

Brothers.

And then he says, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees.

Now listen, I know and I've taught that Paul was being savvy here.

But having a better chance now to dig into this now and kind of see, I don't think that's the case.

He's not trying to be savvy or trying to get himself out of a jam.

And so again, he's not trying to save his own skin.

You know, he's not trying to dig, you know, I just happen to believe, again, he wants everyone to be saved, and he gets to the core issue.

Jesus Christ and him risen from the dead.

The reason why I am here is because or in respect to the hope of the resurrection, the hope and the resurrection of the dead.

That's the reason I'm on trial.

Everything surrounds the gospel.

Everything about being a Christian rises and falls with the resurrection.

If Jesus didn't rise from the dead, it's all in vain.

No point.

All of Christianity collapses.

This is what the Sadducees need to know, and the Pharisees need to know, and South Carolinians need to know, and Americans need to, everyone needs to know this and believe it.

He gets right to the core issue.

This is the reason why.

The hope.

The hope promised in the Old Testament prophets.

The hope.

Joel talking about these last days.

It's all about this hope and the resurrection of the dead.

Being a Christian isn't about being a better person.

It's not about not getting drunk.

It's not about not having sex before you're married.

Being a Christian is understanding the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And going from spiritual death to spiritual life.

That's what it is.

It's not about being a better person, which, regardless, Sadducees, Pharisees.

You see there the religious position, as Luke brings it out, having this hope beyond the grave.

Before I go there here, 1 Corinthians 15, verse 17.

1 Corinthians 15:17

1 Corinthians 15, verse 17.

1 Corinthians 15:17

There we go.

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile.

Or futile, in vain, and you are still in your sins.

Death has been defeated, and there is hope beyond the grave.

And listen, this is what gives him so much confidence because he knows their opinion, their judgment, it doesn't affect the final judgment.

That's already been decided.

When he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

An uprising, contention.

It arose between these two groups, and the assembly was divided.

That means there was a schism, a split.

For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit.

Sadducees didn't believe in a spiritual realm, a spiritual.

Look, they were all about money.

You know, they didn't acknowledge the prophets.

They were all about money and getting positions and power.

Now the council included the Pharisees.

I'm talking about the Sanhedrin, they included the Pharisees, and included scribes.

And scribes were the experts in the Old Testament.

That's they gave their lives to understanding the Old Testament, all of it.

They believed in the spiritual realm.

They believed in the angels and the resurrection.

That's the Pharisees.

They were in the room too.

Because they're part of some were part of the uh those the Sanhedrin, the religious leaders, they were the popular choice of the people.

All in.

The Sadducees, they were just kind of picked by Rome and they were just responsible for keeping everybody in control.

But the Pharisees, they were serious about being pure.

And so they believed in all those things.

And Paul had said, I'm a Pharisee, and my daddy was.

It's probably maybe his grandfather, but he's I'm a descendant, my dad, Pharisee.

I've been a Pharisee since I came out.

Since I showed up.

Now, some in the group, they would have just appreciated that fact.

Because you with us, there's a mixed crowd.

And you know what happens when you have a mixed crowd and a spirit of earthly wisdom is present.

And you got people jockeying for position and trying to compare themselves with others, you get what happened here: a dissension.

There was a dissension, there was division, and then there was a great clamor that arose.

We don't use that word very much.

That means things, there's a clamor is like a cry, a loud shout.

It gets noisy.

And some of the scribes, again, the experts in the law, the scribes of the Pharisees' party, they've studied the Old Testament over and over.

They stood up and contended how?

Sharply.

We what?

Find nothing wrong with this man.

You see that?

Somebody is speaking truth.

But it's only because they're opposing the group they can't stand.

We don't find anything wrong with this man.

How do we know?

If a spirit or an angel spoke to him, don't you know it all rises and falls on Jesus?

What people believe about him.

It's almost like, you know, there's a storm outside, the wind is blowing, and you can hear it blowing against the door, it's blowing, it's heavy, and then you open the door, and a whole gust of wind comes in.

It's like Paul has opened the door because this contention, it always existed.

It was there before they showed up in the room.

Before he said anything, there was division.

And just his word, it lit the fuse.

And once again, here is Paul surrounded by chaos.

Just the statement itself exposed the division.

He just said, This is why I'm here, because of the hope of the resurrection.

And when again the dissension, what happened?

Became what?

Violent?

Oh these jokers.

The switch flips, they turn on each other, and the dissension, the arguing, it becomes violent.

Think of the irony here.

These are the religious leaders in Judaism.

These are the leaders.

Follow our example.

And And the disputing and the arguing is elevated to violence.

I'm gonna get you.

But you know what?

That's how the high priest started, wasn't it?

And so it erupts all throughout the room.

And they were going, they brought Paul here because they said he was, you know, what they thought what he was doing was against the law, and this is how they behave.

Chaos.

Once again, all about Jesus.

But you know something?

Paul hadn't said anything wrong.

He has spoken the truth.

A reminder for us.

Chaos, we can control the table one time and then not have, we can't control chaos.

We can't control how others receive the truth.

We have opportunities to share and we can't control the outcome.

The chaos was not Paul's fault.

He just spoke the truth and it lit a fuse that was already there.

That truth did, not Paul.

And so again, chaos erupts.

He can't control, he can't control what's being said.

He can't control what the Sanhedrin, he can't control whether the Sanhedrin are going to act like the Sanhedrin.

He can't control what the Sadducees believe and don't believe.

All he can do is just be faithful.

But that does not, their reaction does not change what is true.

Truth is truth.

Brings us to Kingdom Life principle number two.

Because of the resurrection, the chaos and instability around you doesn't have to live inside of you.

Paul doesn't like what he's seeing, but he's comfortable because he knows he has the truth.

Sometimes the truth exposes what's already in the room.

And you don't always know what living and speaking the truth, what effect that that's going to have.

Maybe it's tension in the family, maybe it's tension on the job, however, that tension in the world.

You know what?

Everybody's stressed out about AI.

I can follow, you know that, and I watched this documentary on Netflix, it blew my mind about things that AI can do.

But you know what?

Jesus is still in control.

Because at the end of the day, I had to put myself in check.

Go back to the truth.

Jesus risen from the dead and he's returning.

World isn't in control.

Jesus is in control.

Decisions might be made, but decisions that are made by others don't determine your future.

So don't allow the instability around you to create instability within you.

Jesus is still Lord, whether there's peace in the room or not.

Jesus is still Lord, whether everyone is loud or everybody's peaceful, whether you want people understand it or not, God is still faithful.

Whether you're weak or is good or falls apart, Jesus still the one in control of everything.

What happened?

The tribune, the leader, afraid again that Paul is going to be torn to pieces.

Man, can you imagine what's going through his mind?

Again?

I mean, every time Paul is a life, this is the second day in a row.

It was before the whole crowd.

He came into the situation.

Paul was getting beaten within an inch of his life.

Then he he gave his testimony, saying the tribune, he didn't know what was being said.

He didn't speak Hebrew, but all he knows is people got mad toward like 10 minutes in, who knows?

They get mad and start taking off their cloaks and kicking up dust.

He's like, I don't know what's happening.

Get Paul.

God saved Paul with Roman soldiers.

Put chains on them and put in the barracks.

Now he's got the leaders.

And they acting crazy too.

Man, tribute is like I'm about to lose it.

What is happening?

His one job was to keep peace.

One job.

And one man is disrupting all of it, and he's a Roman citizen, and I can't do what I want to him.

How God works it out?

God protected his apostle.

And when others would want to do wrong, they can't.

Because all of it, Jesus, oh, he has the final word.

Our hope doesn't depend on circumstances.

1 Peter 1:3.

1 Peter 1:3

Blessed be the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, according to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope.

To the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Remember that.

A living hope, not a dead hope, a living hope because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Our circumstances might be unpredictable, but our hope rests in the fact that Jesus is alive.

Church, when everything, it is seriously, and all jokes aside, it is chaos around us.

Can you honestly think you know what's going to happen in the next five years?

Everyone is saying this could happen, that could happen.

Politics unraveling, AI taking over Skynet and things that we don't know what the next five or ten years could bring.

But you know something?

We don't have to know.

We know how the story ends.

We don't know what tomorrow will bring.

But our hope doesn't reside in this world anyway.

Because if our hope resides here, then it's a dead hope.

Because your hope is going to die with you.

If this is all it is, your hope, all your hopes die with you.

But we have a living hope.

And God has reserved for us the reward, He has reserved everlasting life.

No one can take it away.

So always come back to what God has said.

Come back to what you know is true.

Keep bringing yourself back to the empty tomb that changes everything.

Remember Jesus risen from the dead.

Well, here's what's beautiful.

Guys, just don't miss this last verse.

Oh, goodness.

Paul is taken back to the barracks because all the chaos.

He's there now.

All of it.

Look, there's no more clamor, there's no more noise.

All of that is subsided.

And Paul is alone.

He's alone.

And you know, there's something about being alone.

He's alone and he doesn't know what's coming next.

He doesn't know what the Romans are going to do.

He doesn't know if he's going to turn him, turn him over to the Jews or not.

Everything is uncertain in front of him.

Let me tell you what else he doesn't know.

He doesn't know that there are 40 men at that moment making a vow not to eat or drink until they take his life.

He knows nothing about Felix, Agrippa.

He doesn't know about being on the sea and his shipwreck.

He doesn't know all of that that's going to happen that we're going to talk about as we progress into the end of Acts.

He doesn't know that.

He doesn't know anything.

He's just alone.

And you know what?

Being alone, you know, it's sometimes it's easier to have your faith in front of opponents than it is to be alone.

Because your mind starts working over time.

Anyone know what I'm talking about what I'm talking about?

You put on, you were brave and all the adrenaline was hoping.

You were brave and strong then, but then alone, am I really am I going to make it?

Is this going to happen?

We see it in scripture with John the Baptist.

He had baptized Jesus.

He he knew the confirmation from heaven.

He knew all of that, but he was in prison because he stood up for the truth before Herod.

And while he was in prison and heard all these miracles Jesus was doing, he asked, Are you the one?

Or are we to wait for someone else?

Jesus had to remind him of the miracles.

All of that is part of the kingdom age.

As much as taking over.

John was waiting for a takeover.

Sometimes being alone and in difficult circumstances can mess with your mind.

Move you off of what you know is true.

Paul is an apostle, but he's human.

He's been beaten, he's been threatened.

Over two days, all of these things have happened.

Look what happens next.

The following night.

That means the night after this meeting had convened.

So that was during the day, now the night.

What happened?

Come on, read it with me.

What happened?

The Lord stood by him.

The Lord stood by him and said, Don't run too fast.

You can't read things like that too fast.

The Lord made a house call.

Jesus showed up.

Paul was all alone.

He was left by himself and mine running, and Jesus showed up.

This doesn't say it's a vision.

It says he showed up and stood by him.

See, he's see, we the thing we don't know when we read scripture, we don't know how long he stood there.

He could have just, Paul is just standing there and Jesus just shows up next to him and just stands there.

Sometimes it's just knowing the Lord is in the room.

Jesus didn't have to do anything, he just stood by him and said, wait a minute.

Listen.

Jesus made a house call and he had something to say.

Now, how many of you understand Jesus could have said something to Paul in an infinite number of ways?

He could have called a voice to speak from heaven.

Paul.

Look, the Lord called handwriting to appear on the wall.

You remember that?

He could have spoken that way.

He could have dispatched an angel, but the Lord showed up.

The Lord showed up and stood next to him.

Paul has been standing by himself in front of thousands, and he just has testified about the truth, and no one has been there with him, but Jesus comes and stands by him and says, Take courage.

Now again, we don't know how long he was standing there, but he said to him, Take courage, be courageous.

I'm getting ahead of myself.

Before Jesus said anything about Paul's future, he gave him his presence.

Oh, what we need to know most saints is not how the story plays out.

What we need most is not an explanation of events that have happened in the past.

What we know and what truly gives us peace is that the Lord is with us.

And understand, Jesus isn't, I'm not, Jesus doesn't have to stand in our living room to tell us that he's with us.

This he gave Paul what he needed at that moment.

He needed somebody to stand next to him.

And Jesus knew it.

Jesus didn't just show up to show up, he knew Paul needed him.

Because with all that was happening, his presence is what he needed.

And he gave him.

I love how Jesus chooses to do, how he chooses to bless and restore, he said, and told him, take courage.

As you have testified.

Oh, we can't go too fast beyond that either.

As you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem.

Understand when he says that?

It's an affirmation, it's validation for what Paul has done, which has brought chaos, the word that he's spoken, brought chaos all around, because that's how people respond often to the word.

But Jesus says, You have testified of me.

Remember back in the beginning, Acts chapter 1, you will be my witnesses.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

Paul, you have been a witness in Jerusalem, and as you have done it, you have been a witness to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must.

You must testify also in Rome.

And that word, must is a divine imperative.

It is God's purpose that you bear witness in Rome like you have done in Jerusalem.

That you witness about me.

Paul, I'm standing by you because you've done right.

And I'm telling you, you must.

Now, listen, I want to just put backpedal for a minute because listen, this isn't the first time Jesus has shown up.

He had shown up when Paul was in Corinth.

Minister to him then.

And the Lord said to Paul one night in the vision, do not be afraid, be courageous.

We often think of Paul just being just crazy courageous and everything.

He needed the Holy Spirit to have that courage.

The Holy Spirit gave him all of that.

And so the Lord had told him years earlier when he was in Corinth, don't be afraid.

Go on speaking and do not be silent.

Don't be silent.

Keep being my witness, for I am with you.

No one will attack you to harm you, for I have many people in this city.

Many who are my people.

Keep on going.

There are more who are going to be saved.

And so now he's come and he's told him he is not alone.

And even if the world labels him a failure, because many people would have said, because the masses of people didn't come forward to be saved, Paul, because he didn't have the numerical success, Paul was a failure.

No, sir, no ma'am.

He has done what's right.

He played the card right because he was obedient.

And he was faithful to proclaim Jesus.

And he wasn't a failure.

As you have testified in Jerusalem about me, you must testify also in Rome.

I love it.

Jesus didn't tell him what's going to happen next and what's happened next and then after next.

He didn't tell him about the plot that was forming at that moment to kill him.

He didn't tell him about that.

He didn't tell him about all this.

He just said, take courage, you must testify in Rome.

And that spoke a blanket statement over everything.

Didn't mean everything that he was going to do was going to be right and sinless.

What it meant was, I will get you there.

You will be my witness in Rome.

And there's nothing anyone can do to stop it.

And saints, you don't have to know what happens next when you know who controls what's next.

You know who controls it.

Saints, we have promises.

The Lord has made promises to us.

He's promised us he'd never leave us or forsake us.

He has promised us the good work I started in you, I'll keep, I'll perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

I said until the day of my return, I will continue to work it in you.

Jesus promised, I am going to prepare a place for you.

That you will be where I am.

Those are promises, those are assurances, and we can stand on him.

He has promised these things, and we can write, and Paul never forgot what happened in those barracks.

Years later, toward the end of his life, he would write to Timothy.

Because as he knew Jesus was him then, at other points, in other situations, other times, he was, you know, his in other cities, other locations, he was incarcerated, or his freedom was taken away.

He knew where he would end up.

He knew the destination.

He knew where this was going to end.

So he told Timothy, the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it.

And I was rescued from the lion's mouth.

Oh, you know what?

When you have a testimony of the Lord's faithfulness, no one can take it away.

Oh, he was still in prison when he wrote this.

This was he was going to die shortly, but he had confidence the Lord still was with him.

That's why he said, All I need is my cloak and my Bible.

Okay, the scrolls.

But he said, I just need a coat and my Bible, and I'm good.

Because I'm going up yonder.

What you need is his presence.

Be on the lookout.

There's chaos and everything else, but be on the lookout.

The Lord is with you.

So again, closing church.

Remember, we can't control what happens to us.

We may have that big joker from a certain for a certain situation, certain time, but that doesn't mean everything is going to work out perfectly.

Can't control what others do.

Maintain your integrity.

Maintain your integrity.

Have a good conscience before God.

Always go back to what you know is true.

There's chaos around you, but it doesn't have to live in you when you reset and go back to the resurrection.

Your hope is there.

That's where it is.

And we don't need to know what happens next because we already know who controls what happens next, and we know our destination.

Let that govern you in all the chaos in the world.

Let that hold you.

And you'll be able to respond to what's happening on the board and the cards your opponents have played, and even what your partners in Christ, what they've played, you can watch it and still play the right card.

He'll give it to you.

Just hold yourself, hold your peace, maintain your integrity.

Jesus is with you.

Lord, thank you for this word.

Thank you for this encouragement.

Thank you, Lord, for this example that we have in Paul.

We confess that we haven't always made the right choices, but God, you are working all things together for good.

And so, Lord, we are just grateful for your presence, grateful for your love and your faithfulness.

Thank you for standing with us in the ways, Lord, that you needed to minister to us.

You came to us.

So we thank you for that.

We want to continue to live faithfully so everyone will know Jesus is Lord.

In your name, Jesus, we pray.

Amen.