When God Uses the Unexpected | Acts 23:12–22 | Alex Sands

Welcome to the Kingdom Life Podcast.

What do you do when the threat is real?

The pressure is rising.

And the person God uses to help you is the last person you would have expected.

In Acts 23, 12 through 22.

A group of men form a violent plan against Paul.

But God is already at work behind the scene.

What looks like a dangerous tribe becomes another reminder that his purposes are not limited by what we can see.

And he is free to use anyone can use it.

That comes from God.

Sometimes God has to unexpected person.

Sometimes through the unlikely person.

Sometimes through the word you never will have chosen.

Expect God to use people you don't expect.

Now let's open God's word together in Acts 23, 12 through 22.

Today we're going to be in Acts chapter 23, verses 12 through 22.

Acts 23:12–22

Acts chapter 23, verses 12 through 22.

Acts 23:12–22

And uh this week there was an event that kind of caught my attention.

It was on Monday.

I don't know if you saw it, but there was uh a whole lot of um uh planes were were downed and airports were like shut down for hours because a construction crew apparently cut a fiber optic cable.

Of course, it was by accident, and the cable was fed into the you know airline systems, some of their backup systems, and so on and so forth.

It messed up everything.

So flights were grounded.

Some didn't take off at all, others were delayed, but all along there, that the the the East Coast, it was all a mess.

Well, uh I was listening to a couple days after that, I was listening to ESPN, and one of the commentators was talking about his experience that day.

Because he was flying from, he had a flight to go from LaGuardia to Reagan International Airport, which is in DC.

Supposed to be a quick flight, and he had some interviews and something else to do in DC, so he had a tight schedule, but he missed all of that.

In fact, I mean he just had to sit in a plane for hours.

Have anybody ever been in that situation?

You're like, I'm in the plane, they got me trapped.

That is it this is frustrating when you're there and you don't have a you don't know when you're just sitting in the plane.

That happened for hours.

Well, finally the plane took off.

Again, leaving New York.

Plane takes off and in the air, and the guy sitting next to him went to sleep.

And he said sleep, sleep, like deep sleep.

He's knocked out.

They get towards, you know, DC and and and they can't land because their issues uh down at Reagan at the airport.

So they start doing this lapse.

Ever done laps around an airport?

Just because it can't land, you're just circling.

They're circling.

And then the pilot gets on the intercom and says, ladies and gentlemen, uh we are not going to be able to land right now, and we're not gonna have enough fuel if we continue to do this.

Somebody has had that experience before.

And he said, we we're gonna have to go to Richmond and refuel.

And then, so go past DC, go to Richmond, refuel, and then when we can get back to Reagan.

So everybody groans and everything, and he's like, Oh man, shoot, you know, everything is spoiled, my whole plan.

So the the plane gets to um to Richmond, and he said it was a hard landing.

You ever had a hard landing?

Boom! And I mean one of those things like that.

He said it was a hard landing, and the guy next to him woke up.

It woke him up.

And so they're on the runway and he and he just happens to lift up the window shade.

He said, That's not that's not Reagan.

Where are we?

He gets into the pan into a panic.

And so the the guy, he has been a commentary, he said, no, we're we're in Richmond.

And then he goes off, what the fruit are we doing in Richmond?

And he goes in a panic, he goes in a total panic mode.

He's he's flailing and everything else, and finally, someone had to, someone told him the whole story.

No, we are going to DC.

That is the final destination.

We just had to divert to refuel.

And the commentator said, just the guy's reaction was it had enough entertainment value in itself, it almost made the whole thing worth it.

The destination, even though it took a diversion, the destination hasn't changed.

Even though some unexpected things happened, the destination has not changed.

And then, course of the week, studying Paul and the situation, it just all this kind of reminded me of Paul's situation being in the barracks alone.

He's had a, I mean, uh an unimaginable 48 hours where he's been beaten and he was about to be flogged and everything else, and you wouldn't, and and there I can just imagine at night finally alone and his mind racing and going all different, all kinds of places, and Jesus made a house call.

Jesus showed up, stood beside him when no one else was there, and even those who wanted to be there couldn't be there.

Jesus showed up and stood beside him, and what did he say?

You heard Tim say in his prayer, take courage.

How many know Jesus has to say, take courage, you need courage.

He needed courage.

Take courage, be of good cheer.

You must.

No, wait, I've gone too fast.

As you have testified in Rome, the first thing Jesus does is he affirms what Paul had done all by himself.

He was standing against a crowd that wanted to kill him, and they they thought they were saying he was a blasphemer, he's not fit to live, and he was declaring the gospel and it and it and it almost cost him his life.

But Jesus said, You testified about me.

Jesus affirmed the ministry.

When no one else says, You're doing right, just Jesus saying, You did my will is enough.

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

Paul isn't in Rome, he's in Jerusalem.

Jesus said, just as you've done here, you're going to make it to Rome.

He wanted to do that years ago.

That's what the whole purpose, the whole point.

Drop off this money and get to Rome.

And Jesus comes and says, He says, Yes, that is where you'll be.

He didn't say how he was going to get there.

But he said, You're going to get to Rome.

That changes everything.

Jesus told him his destination.

Not everything that was going to happen in between.

Oh, it wasn't easy for Paul.

We're going to study that things got difficult, that got hard.

The Lord said never said it would be easy.

He said there were many things he's going to have to suffer for, his name.

It wasn't going to be easy, but the destination is not going to change.

Now, the ultimate destination is heaven.

But in between here in heaven, you're going to make it to Rome.

You will get to Rome.

And saints?

Don't you know when you got saved, you went up to the gate and got a boarding pass that you didn't pay for, you didn't earn.

You got a boarding pass for a flight on the divine airlines.

And it's on his way to heaven.

That is the final destination.

And you got a seat, and you're there, not because you deserved it, but by grace.

Take a seat.

You're comfortable.

And then the pilot comes on.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is your pilot, Jesus, speaking.

On behalf of the cabin and crew of Flight 112, whatever, on the Divine Airlines, I want to welcome you along with my co-pilot, the Holy Ghost.

There might be some turbulence, but this is a direct flight.

You will get there.

Because I'm your captain speaking.

And as long as Jesus is the captain, and my boarding pass says heaven, I'm gonna be alright.

Here is the message for today that we're gonna see as we unpack verses 12 through 22.

Jesus gave Paul the word, you must testify about me in Rome.

You must.

There was resistance that coming the way, there are people to come in the way, all these different things.

Challenges are gonna come along the way, but you must testify of me in Rome.

Jesus was working to get him to Rome in things that he could see and things that he couldn't see.

And that's how things work, church.

Let me go ahead and get to our kingdom truth.

Principle, guiding principle, I always want to get back to the guiding theological principle for today that we're gonna see in today's passage.

And today's guiding theological principle is this God sovereignly works through ordinary means to accomplish his purpose.

He sovereignly works in things that you can see and things that you don't see, things that are spectacular and things that are mundane.

We've talked, this whole section has been about the last few weeks, has been about providence.

God working, orchestrating everything to fulfill his plan and purpose.

Whether you see it or not.

Because here's the challenge, church.

Watch this.

That man was asleep in the plane, and he didn't hear all of the instructions because he was asleep.

He would have had peace when he woke up if he had heard the instructions.

If we aren't listening, if we're asleep, then when the turbulence hits and we show up somewhere we didn't think we were going to be, we would panic just like that guy did.

What are we doing here?

I'm losing my mind.

This wasn't supposed to happen to me.

I'm a child of God.

God is still working.

He is working through ordinary means, spectacular means.

He is working.

Trust the pilot.

Look at your ticket and trust the pilot.

He'll get you there.

And so today, my responsibility as pastor is just to be the dude sitting next to you saying, You're gonna make it.

You're panicking right now, but you're gonna make it to heaven.

The final destination is assured because Jesus knows what he's doing.

We see this in our passage today and in uh Psalms 33, Psalm 33, verses 10 and 11.

Psalms 33:10

The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing.

Woo-hoo, we're gonna see that today.

He frustrates the plans of the peoples.

Yay, he will.

The counsel of the Lord stands forever, and the plans of his heart to all generations.

Let that sink into your spirit.

Some of what you're going through today, it's not all about you.

You may be going through something so your grandchildren will remember what grandma, what grandpa went through, and that will encourage them when you're long gone.

Generations, generations, his word accomplishing purpose through generations.

Let's review real quick where we left off.

I said Paul was in the barracks, he's alone.

Well, how he got there is that in Jerusalem, he was able to give his testimony.

A testimony is who you were before Christ, how you met Christ, and your life afterwards.

You can do it in 90 seconds.

You can do a 90-second.

Just learn your testimony so you can just share it real quick and ask folk if they want, you know, the same thing that you ever see, what the Lord has done.

He he gives them, though, not the 90 second, he gives the extended cut.

What he shares with the crowd, the masses that had been beating him minutes earlier, he shares with them that he was a Pharisee.

And his he was a son of a Pharisee.

And he talked about all that he had done and all he had done to persecute the church.

But he met Jesus on the Damascus Road, and everything had changed.

And and that he had seen the risen Lord in his encounter.

He explains all of that.

And then he talks about after being saved, he was in the temple, kind of to let people know I'm not anti-temple, I'm not anti-law.

I was here praying.

And the Lord Jesus said to go.

They won't receive your testimony here.

And then he said the words that just blew up the whole thing.

I am sending you to the Gentiles.

A bomb went off.

Everybody starts getting upset, in their clothes, flinging them in the air, ripping stuff.

They want to kill him.

The commander, who was the one who had given him permission to share, the military commander, the Roman commander, he's standing by.

He doesn't know what's going on because Paul is speaking Hebrew or Aramaic.

He don't know what's going on.

He just knows Paul is the one that everybody's mad at.

So I need to beat it out of him.

And then as he was preparing to do that, Paul played the big joker.

I am a Roman citizen.

Centurion.

A man who was over a hundred soldiers.

He said, Whoa, ho, boss.

He calls it the see the commander was over ten centurions, which means he was over a thousand soldiers.

That one centurion said, Nah, dog, I ain't doing it.

He's a Roman citizen.

That's against the law.

I might die.

Mm-mm.

Peace, bro.

So the soldier, the commander, he says, Well, you know what?

I paid a whole lot of money for my citizenship.

And Paul comes out and says, I was born a Roman citizen.

There's Roman citizenship, and then there's Roman citizenship.

It means his family, someone in his family, she may be father or grandfather, had done something that was so good for the country, they recognized him and his descendants, including Paul, as Roman citizens.

That is that is next level.

And the commander, the tribune, says, okay, untie him, put him in the barracks.

And then the next morning he says, I got to figure out what this is.

He still doesn't know what to charge him with.

So he convenes the council, the Jewish council, the religious leaders, 71 men make up the Sanhedrin.

He calls an informal meeting.

He didn't have the authority to call a formal meeting of the Jews.

They wouldn't receive that, but they do want to provide input.

So they respond and they have a meeting and inquiry to find out what is it about this man so I can know what to do.

That's all the command world.

I just want to know what to do with him.

It's comical almost when you read this because Paul begins to share, gentlemen, I have lived in all good conscience before God today.

The high priest says, Hit that dude.

And there's one of his soldiers punches him across the face.

That's all he could get out.

Paul kind of retaliates with an edge that he would retract.

I didn't know who you were, and so on.

Part of the room is Sadducees.

Sadducees party, faction.

They didn't believe in miracles.

They were really just the ones who were just kind of like the aristocrats.

They were all about just power.

And the Romans had charged them with just keep peace.

And so they didn't believe in miracles.

They only believed in the law, but they didn't even believe it seriously.

The first five books, they didn't believe in angels, they didn't believe in afterlife or whatever it was.

But the other part of the Sanhedrin was Pharisees, scribes who were experts in the law, and Pharisees who believed in angels, miracles, the prophets, all of that, and they lived to be pure.

Alright, everybody with me?

Paul says before them, I am here before you today because of my belief and the hope that it was given to our ancestors, and paraphrasing of the resurrection from the dead.

Bomb blew off right in that room.

He wasn't trying, he was just going into his gospel.

This is what everyone needs to understand.

Jesus raised from the dead, the Messiah, our ancestors have been waiting for, have prayed for.

Boom.

One side of the room says, Yeah, well, that ain't no problem, the Pharisees.

The Sadducees were like, uh, and they they start to argue with each other.

So much so that they start to fight.

It gets physical.

And they're supposed to be the leaders.

And so they come to blows, and the Pharisees, the Pharisees' faction, you know, they end up saying in verse 9 of chapter 23, hey, look, we don't find anything wrong with him.

An angel might have talked to him.

But they end up saying, listen, Pharisees end up saying, we don't find anything wrong with Paul.

Phew.

Or if things sure do change, quick.

They really didn't believe Paul.

They just wanted to oppose.

They had, they didn't believe all Paul's message, but some people just want a reason to fight.

You know, that's what carnality would do.

Prove you're better than someone else.

So the tribune, the Roman commander, sees it happening again.

Man, he must have PTSD at this point.

So he gets Paul and he takes him to the barracks, and that's where Jesus had met him.

That's where, and so the night passes.

Jesus leaves.

And now, as we pick up in verse 12, it's the next day.

And here's the thing, church.

Jesus had said, You must testify of me in Rome.

There's a group coming and already planning and scheming that believe that say Paul is going to die in Jerusalem.

Who do you think is going to win?

When your ticket is from the divine airlines.

From the one who said, for generations, the Lord's counsel it will stand.

Watch how no weapon formed against God's people will prosper.

Verse 11, 12 rather.

When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath, neither to eat nor drink until they had killed Paul.

Now, first understand, it says they're the Jews.

That's not speaking of all the Jews, it's speaking about these Jewish leaders, this faction that wants him dead.

So they enter into a plot, and that word means like a whirlwind, like bringing things together.

Plot, bringing something together.

And bound themselves with an oath means they are binding themselves under a curse if they don't do what they are, what they have agreed to do, that's an oath.

An oath is something you've agreed, you've promised to do, and this is you're saying together, let us be cursed.

Calling each other undercursed.

And what are they saying?

They say they'll neither eat nor drink till they have killed Paul.

Yeah.

That is just to show you how fanatical these individuals were.

That we will not eat or drink until Paul is dead.

Pause and just think about how twisted and convoluted that is.

We are not going to eat or drink until we have violated God's command and committed murder.

Y'all do know thou shalt not murder.

You know that's one of the ten, right?

We are not going to eat until we murder Paul in the name of Yahweh.

They're so twisted and so so convoluted that they're thinking they can bring honor to God by violating the word of God.

But they believe they're fighting for a righteous cause.

And they're so obsessed, this group, I mean, to say you're not going to eat or drink until you kill a man, that's serious.

This group believes that their cause is so righteous it justifies sinful actions to accomplish it.

That the end justifies the means regardless of what the means might be.

Sin, sinful, or not sinful.

Doesn't matter.

Church, this is where religious fervor, if it's not coupled with an understanding of the love and the grace and the knowledge of God, this is where it leads.

This is where it leads because it ends up becoming either me or you.

That's how deceptive.

Oh, the heart is deceitful.

The heart is deceitful.

That's why the Lord came to change our hearts, to take out this heart of stone to have a heart of flesh.

These these these these zealots, these dudes, they're not thinking.

And now look, look, look, look.

Look how many they are.

How many?

Verse 13.

What does it say?

There are what?

40?

No, it doesn't say there are 40.

More than 40.

40 is the floor.

I.e.

not less than 40.

Could be 50.

Could have been 75.

But it was no less than 40.

Who made this conspiracy?

Wow.

Then they went to the chief priests and elders.

Now watch this.

This is where things really get shady.

That's why the backdrop is so important for us.

The backdrop of the composition of the Sanhedrin is so important for us.

They went to the chief priests and elders and said, We have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food till we have killed Paul.

Now, therefore, you, along with the council, give notice to the tribune to bring him down to you as though you were going to determine his case more exactly.

And we are ready to kill him before he comes near.

That's low down.

But just a cursory reading of it, you'll miss how really low down it is.

Who did they go to?

I have it in yellow.

Chief priests and elders.

I told you about two factions, two primary factions in Judaism, two primary factions that were made up the Sanhedrin.

One of them was the Pharisees.

What was the other?

Sadducees.

Who do you think comprised the chief priests and elders?

Sadducees.

Scribes, primarily, they came from the Pharisees, experts in the law.

They dedicated their lives to studying the law.

They weren't present in this sidebar kind of committee, subcommittee meeting.

They weren't invited.

Because just a few hours ago, they had said, I don't find anything wrong with it.

So they don't invite them to the discussion.

Deception.

But they have this plan.

We're going to ambush him.

You just say, and the tribune wouldn't have known.

I mean, it sounds reasonable.

We want to continue the conversation that we had earlier.

Remember, I said you can mask it in religious tone, make it real sound real, real nice and smooth.

We want to continue the conversation we had started earlier.

Things got out of hand.

I think it would really benefit all of us if we had a chance to sit around the table and really break this down.

The tribune might have said, you know what, that sounds good.

Y'all won't try again?

I'm willing to try again, too.

But the 40 plus say, you guys go to the tribune and say you represent the whole that the council wants to meet.

And and he's probably gonna agree to it.

And while he's being transferred down from the barracks down to the to the to the hall, we're gonna ambush him.

Now he wouldn't have gone, Paul would not have gone unescorted.

There would have been soldiers.

But the streets in Jerusalem were narrow, and you got over 40 men who haven't eaten.

And they got knives and all of that.

They can overwhelm whatever contingent the tribune had originally or initially would think was rational, maybe five or ten, whatever.

They can overwhelm him.

That's their mind.

And you know what?

That plan would have worked.

But see, that's how low down, shady.

And y'all seen that at work, haven't you?

I know many of you have been in corporate arena.

You've seen, I have seen that different circus, same clowns.

You see, because it's it's flesh, it's carnality.

You're gonna see, it doesn't matter what the title of the company is, the names that are on the nameplate, this is how stuff works.

We're gonna have a meet a side meeting.

No, no, no, don't tell Jeffrey about it.

That's unfortunately how so often how the sausage gets made by little low-down deals like this.

But the problem with this whole thing is they're trying to baptize this and call it the will of God.

That we are speaking on behalf of God, and this is accomplishing his purpose by murdering a man who has not been convicted of a crime to try to accomplish the law.

You think you have to break the law?

Come on, let's go real quick here to our first kingdom life uh principle.

First application.

Don't use ungodly methods to accomplish what you believe is a godly goal, remember the kingdom truth.

God works through ordinary means to accomplish his perfect plan.

It doesn't have to be miraculous, he works through everything.

If you believe that God is sovereign and everything is working providentially for his glory, which is your good, all things working together for good, your good is God's glory.

Don't think your good is just about getting your plan of life executed.

The best life is living life God's way.

If you believe that God is sovereign and everything is providentially working together, then you don't need to lie.

You don't need to lower yourself to the world standard of how things get done.

If you believe God is leading you to do something, do it God's way or don't do it at all.

Because if you have to lie, manipulate, cheat, that ain't God.

I'm sorry for all the bad English, for all the English teachers.

I do know pretty good English, but but but really, that ain't God.

You're not gonna bring glory to God to do what He's will by breaking.

You can't bring glory to Jesus and mischaracterize his character.

You know what I'm saying?

Try to make you can't.

It's not a good, it's not, it doesn't work.

The math doesn't work.

Church, you never, never have to sin to accomplish God's will.

Ever.

Don't ever let that thought across your mind.

Now I'll hear somebody say, hey, hey, hey, hey, Pastor, what about Jacob?

Jacob and Esau, you know that whole affair and and the whole nonsense that went he pretending to be his brother and his mom was part of the whole deception.

And and but but didn't didn't God say to Rebecca um, you know, that that that the older's gonna serve the younger?

Didn't everything work out?

Well, see, God is sovereign, but Jacob would have had that anyway, and he would have had it faster.

He wouldn't have to mess with Uncle Laban if he had just waited and done it God's way.

So when we think to ourselves, like, hey, well, he sinned and it still ended up working again.

No, no, no, no.

See, the journey didn't have to take, I'm using a different story, but the journey didn't have to take 40 years.

But it took 40 years for Israel to go get to the promised land because of their disobedience.

I don't want to take a long run.

I don't want my life, I'm on the back nine.

I don't want things to be harder than they have to be.

I want to finish strong.

So if I have to lie and deceive and manipulate, I've seen it happen in churches.

Let's just break it down.

I've seen it happen in parachurch organizations where shady kind of stuff is done because money is involved, because there's positions of power involved.

And again, trying to use, you know, use flower week, I don't got time for that.

I don't have because you've seen it too.

That's carnality working in.

There's a church in the New Testament, you can read about the church at Corinth.

You can read those letters.

They are poster children of how not to work.

You don't have to lie, you don't have to manipulate.

You don't need to cheat the IRS.

God has a cattle on a thousand hills.

Why what kind of insult is that to God that I can, I how the only way I can make it is to cheat Uncle Sam.

That must mean that's an insult to God.

God, I'm gonna put everything I made, and here it is.

And 52 cents.

You know what I need, I'm mailing it off.

Or hitting a button.

I bet you he'll come through.

I've seen it.

I'm a witness.

He will do it.

We are called to be children of light, not children of darkness.

Ephesians chapter.

I don't know where it was.

Okay, that one.

Things run together good.

Alright, there it is.

Alright, so for at one time you were darkness, and because you were darkness, you did deeds of darkness.

Deeds of darkness to get ahead.

But that's not who you are now.

Now you are light in the Lord.

Walk as children of light.

Live like who you are.

If I got to lie to you to get your car to get this contract, I'm not gonna do it.

I'll wait for God's provision.

Because this path isn't it.

Let the church say, Amen.

Amen.

Talk about this.

There's the uh carnal wisdom is spoken.

We've talked about on Wednesday night Bible study this difference between earthly wisdom and God's wisdom.

Uh James chapter 3, verse 17.

James 3:17

Well, I'll read 16 and 17.

For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder in every vile practice.

You see it, we're reading about it.

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy, and good fruits, impartial and sincere.

Mm.

Mm-mm.

All right.

So the low-down, dirty plan has been put on the table.

And the council, this group that was supposed to be representing, you know, God and everything else, well, they decide they're gonna go along with it.

So the plot has been hatched.

But the Lord had already given Paul the destination.

You're going to, you must testify at Rome.

And it ends up being all right, is is the Lord's will going to be done?

Or will it be these low-down sorry jokers?

Verse 16.

Now.

Now could also be but.

But the son of Paul's sister.

The son of Paul's sister.

What's another word for nephew?

Paul's nephew.

This is the first time we are introduced to this.

Paul had that Paul was a real person.

He had family.

He had a family.

And and and remember his testimony that he uh was trained under Gamaliel and he is born in Tarsus, and then, but apparently his family moved to Jerusalem, and that's why he's been sitting under his feet and he was there, had been there the whole time.

Well, this now makes sense.

You put the pieces together.

His sister is still there, or you know, if she has passed on or something, the nephew is still there.

But as we'll see, he's a young man, which is a kind of broad term.

It means he could be like mid-teenagers, teenage years up to 30.

You know, sometimes we just call people young, and then you know they ain't young.

Sometimes that's relative, but he's a young man.

I gotta get here.

I gotta get to this because this is real life, church.

When you read this scripture, these are real people with real families.

He was the son, Paul, the son of a Pharisee.

Can you imagine the pressure that was on Paul's family?

Because for 20-something years, Paul has been running all over the world telling people Jesus is raised from the dead and you don't need to be obedient to the law to be saved.

Can you imagine what life was like at home?

You've read some stories where people like a kid will miss a field goal?

College football game.

A kid will miss a field goal and starts getting death threats.

And family gets death threats.

Can you imagine what it must have been like if if people were ready to stone him?

Can you imagine?

Scholars almost unanimously agree that Paul's family rejected him.

So part of that uh he counted everything but dung, it probably included his fam his family, those relationships.

It would have been awfully hard for them to continue to support him.

That's real life.

The gospel, look, is free but ain't cheap.

You have to put Jesus above family, otherwise, you're not worthy of him.

But here's what grips my heart.

This young man, Paul's nephew, is the one God will use to expose this whole plot.

And this young man, listen, okay, okay, he heard about their ambush.

We don't know his name, but uh Jack.

Jack has a decision to make.

We don't know how he heard about it, we don't know how he caught wind of it.

Providence, though.

Don't you know that God is working even in the conversations you overhear?

You think something's a chance encounter, but you Bump into somebody who happens to know somebody else who can set get get you something that you need, it's not accident.

But don't rob this young man of his choice.

Because he he has a choice of what to do with this information.

He could sit on it.

He could.

I just believe in this in my heart.

He couldn't do it.

I just couldn't.

It's something about when you grew up and this person is Uncle Paul.

All the parents are mad.

They all can't they can't stand him anymore.

But I remember playing with Uncle Paul.

I still remember that.

I remember he took time to talk to me when everyone else just said I was just a little kid and go sit down in a corner.

He talked with me.

So even though that there could have been all kinds of retribution against him and his family, he decided anyway to go and enter the barracks.

Paul hadn't been arrested.

There's no charge.

He was in the barracks for his own protection.

So that people had access to him.

Paul's nephew comes up.

Hi.

Uncle.

I don't know.

Hi, Jack.

So good to see you.

Yeah.

I gotta tell you something.

He told Paul everything.

We're gonna see it, how detailed it is.

However, he heard about it, he heard the whole deal, the whole spiel, everything, the whole plan.

Look what Paul does.

He called one of the centurions.

Centurion is nearby.

Centurion is a is is has how many soldiers underneath him?

One hundred.

So centurion had rank.

Paul is able to directly address a centurion.

Something about Paul, some people hated him, but others, even a centurion.

He answers.

And then Paul says, take this young man to the tribune, for he has something to tell him.

He has something to tell him.

He doesn't tell the centurion who the young man is in terms of his relationship with Paul.

He just says, take this young man and take him to the tribune because he has something to say.

He doesn't tell the centurion what's going on.

Just take him to the tribune.

Apparently, there's such a pretty at least gracious relationship between Paul and the centurion that the centurion does it.

He didn't have to.

Something that you think maybe just doing, listening to somebody and having a conversation and being nice and compassionate and gentle to everyone in the organization, from the janitor to the CEO, there's something about just having that spirit.

You never know how far God will take it.

So he took him and brought him to the tribune and said, Paul the prisoner called me and asked me to bring this young man to you because he has something to say to you.

And we're gonna pause right there.

He takes them there, and he has something to tell you, Mr.

Tribune, and we'll learn his name in the next week or the week after.

He has something to say.

Think about all the chain of events that's happened.

The nephew overhears a conversation.

He has a choice to make.

He goes and tells Uncle Paul.

Uncle Paul tells the centurion, hey, this young man has something to say.

Listen to him.

And then uh take him to the tribune.

And the centurion does it.

And we're gonna pause right there.

All of those events, just one after the other.

If you just kind of breeze through reading it, it's just ordinary.

In the terms of, if you put the the kind of uh miraculous deliverances from prison and things like that, this doesn't stack up.

I mean, this isn't like the previous time we read when Paul and Silas were in Philippi and the earth shook as they were praising and everything else.

This isn't an earthquake.

This isn't like Peter being led out by an angel.

But that doesn't mean God wasn't working.

God can deliver in any type of way.

Sometimes we miss God's hand because we're looking for the spectacular.

And miss how he's working in the mundane.

In the little conversations, the relationships that are formed, all in God using all of these networks, and before you know it, he does something that no one could possibly do because he's connected the dots.

Because God is as he works through ordinary means and extraordinary means to accomplish his righteous, perfect purpose.

Brings us to our second kingdom life principle.

Don't miss the miracle.

Don't miss the miracle.

Simply because God's method looks mundane.

Alright, I'm gonna ask a quick question.

Timeout media team?

Is that camera like doing some funky stuff on the screen?

The stream PC?

Stay so it is?

Flickering and stuff?

Alright, well, at least y'all got the sermon notes.

Don't know if this is gonna continue or not?

This is you never, this is why I know we just continue with the word.

Don't miss the miracle simply because God's method looks mundane.

We see this throughout scripture.

We see so many times God orchestrating various events, and you see, um, it's all over the map.

All right, it's all over the map.

This is new.

All right, here we go.

Looking at if you would look at take examples of scripture, throughout God's word, you find situations, circumstances where God puts people in place, he puts people in position to come alongside those who are his people and work his perfect plan.

You see it, if you look at scripture, you find how uh Jesus, how he speaks to the disciples, and he speaks to them and says, he sends them out in Luke chapter 10, and he says, When you go to a town, he says, go to somewhere and and and offer it its peace.

Luke 10 · chapter mention

If you find a son of peace, stay there.

A son of peace doesn't mean someone was saved when they entered the town.

What it meant was someone there that was gracious and willing to receive.

Gracious and willing to receive them.

That God, he says, Jesus is saying, God will position people of peace who will be able to provide for you, and they'll have a tender heart toward you.

I'm going along ahead of you and softening their heart.

Stay with them.

And they're not they're not people you might expect, but I'm still working in them and through them.

Think about Esther.

You think about Esther, right?

You read the book of Esther, you don't find God mentioned.

You don't find God referred to, but God is working in everything.

You see his providence everywhere.

Mordecai just happens to hear a conversation of an assassination plot.

He said, just happened to.

Everything works out, and then finally, ultimately, the plot is uh Haman has his plot against the Jews, and he confronts Esther, who is the queen, and you remember what he said to her?

He says, listen, you can sit on this now, and deliverance will come some other way.

Because God has a plan for Israel.

Deliverance will come some other way, but who knows whether or not you have been brought to the kingdom for such a time as this.

This is, this may be your season.

Everything has worked providentially for this to take place.

God has worked and orchestrated events.

He works through uh ordinary means to accomplish his will.

Don't miss how he's working because you're looking for something spectacular.

He can do it in all kinds of ways.

Just a conversation here, the tribune, uh to the nephew, the tribune, all of it.

That's all just regular stuff, all guided by God's hand.

But Paul, watch this church, Paul was not passive.

Watch this.

Just because Jesus said, You will get to Rome, didn't mean Paul said, I ain't got nothing to say.

Hey, that's all right.

Oh, hey, Jack, good to see you.

Oh, thanks for letting me know, but I'm going to Rome.

He didn't do that.

He could he could discern how the cards were being played.

And he knew what to do.

Centurion, come take him.

Sometimes people take God's promises as a justification for passivity.

Having faith doesn't make you passive, it makes you wait on the Lord and ready to move whenever you see him move.

When the pillar of cloud moves, you move.

Because you know, you know this is fulfilling and all about God's perfect purpose and plan.

Amen.

Looking at verse 19 and uh and following, we'll wrap up through verse 22.

Oh, this is so powerful.

The tribune took him by the hand and going aside asked him privately, What is it that you have to tell me?

The young man, maybe 18 to 30, he's a young man.

He has no clout, he has no power, he has no way of forcing the tribune, and the tribune is the highest ranking military officer in Jerusalem.

There's no one above him in terms of military status in Jerusalem.

He reports to Felix, but all of the soldiers, they're under him.

A thousand soldiers and over 200 soldiers who ride horseback.

He's going to send half of them next week when we read it, half of them to accompany Paul.

That's how serious he was about this.

He didn't have to listen to this young man.

But what did he do?

What does the text say?

He took him by the hand and spoke to him privately.

Why did he do that?

Well, the Lord had softened his heart, but it was also because of the relationship that just in those 48, some hours, maybe 72 hours, in getting to know Paul, just knowing him and knowing those characters out there and how they acted a fool, just having that exposure with Paul for a few short days, that was enough to say, whatever Paul wants to tell me, it must be important.

Do you live your life with such integrity that even unsaved folks know that when something comes to you from that you give them a word or a message, do they know it must be real?

Do you have such integrity that people can trust your word and can discern it above the noise?

That's what he has called us to be, as light to speak truth.

Paul has been nothing but truthful in this whole situation.

And it's enough for the tribune to willingly pause and listen to a young man and take him to a corner so he can listen privately and hear what's happening.

It's powerful.

What do you have to tell me?

He said the Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow as though they were going to inquire somewhat more closely about him.

But do not be persuaded, do not be persuaded by them.

Who are you again now?

Little man, who are you?

Do not be persuaded.

This is like a command struggle.

Do not be persuaded by them, for more than forty of their men are lying in ambush for him, who have bound themselves by an oath, neither to eat nor drink till they have killed him.

And now they are ready, waiting for your consent.

So the tribune dismissed the young man, charging him, Tell no one that you have informed me of these things.

Wow.

He listens to him.

Remember, I told you that the uh Paul's nephew, he's gotten the full 911, and he spills it.

He tells it all.

And the tribune with wisdom says, Don't tell anybody that you've told me.

People don't know that he knew Jack.

And the tribune says, make sure no one finds out after this what you have told me.

Why does he say that?

Because he knows if those dudes are willing to say we're not gonna eat or drink until we kill him, if they, that's right, if they find out that the tribune knows they're going to quickly come up with a new plan because they're hungry.

Something of what hunger does, we're gonna have to regroup, we gotta figure out something else to do, but we gotta take him out.

And they would have killed Jack too.

Y'all gonna call him Jack just from now on.

He would have died, all of that would have happened, and the tribune says, in his discernment, his wisdom, he says, Don't tell a soul, and we'll see next week what happens.

How many, the escort that Paul uses, that the tribune uses to take Paul out of town.

Kingdom Life principle number three is that God, and I'm paraphrasing because I can't, I don't have my the exact words here, but God, expect God to use people you don't expect.

Is that somewhere in there?

Somebody say, Yeah, that's the one that's somebody.

Okay.

Expect God to use people you don't expect.

Have that in your mind that you are not above any other person, that God can use somebody who is saved and somebody who's not saved to accomplish his will through you.

We are called to walk in grace and not be obnoxious.

There's some spiritual, some Christians who it seems like their spiritual gift is being obnoxious.

And always pointing out wrong and other folks and this and that and whatever.

Jesus wasn't like that.

Hypocrites, he called out hypocrites, but he walked with grace.

Well, if you have that kind of haughty attitude that you're better than everyone else and you're uh obnoxious, you have cut off so many avenues that God could use to bless you and to lead you.

But when you walk in love to everybody, first thing is you don't have to have a lie, because sometimes people lie one, tell one lie this way and another lie to another.

You can't keep up your lies.

You tell so many lies you can't keep them straight.

You don't have to walk that way.

You can walk in love and peace and in truth.

But when you're willing to listen and talk, expect God to use people you don't expect.

Someone who bumps into you at Publix, Walmart.

You get a parking space that just shows up and you're like, man, look at this.

Look at how God works this together.

And other times you're parked back in Egypt.

I told this story one time I went to Walmart and I ended up parked back around staples.

God can even orchestrate that because you might pass somebody who needs a smile and you don't even know God's working in them.

You just walk in with graciousness.

You could be singing a gospel song and that can encourage somebody else.

You thought about you, but if somebody else is listening, all of it is orchestrated by God.

So expect people to God, expect God to use people that you don't expect.

That's why you always want to be open and receptive.

In other words, as we as we wrap this thing up, do not be like the dude on the plane who's asleep.

He's asleep, and he assumes everything's gonna be alright and it's gonna be smooth.

Well, what the Lord calls us to do is to be alert, to watch, to love and to care, be gracious.

And when things turn out the way that you don't expect, you end up is there's a diversion along the way, or maybe turbulence.

Trust the pilot.

Take a look at your boarding pass and understand there's only one destination.

You're gone your way to heaven, you're on your way to heaven, and what God has for you is on reserve, Peter says in 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 3-4.

1 Peter 1:3–4

It's reserved for you, meaning no one can take it away.

You got a seat on the divine airline.

And Jesus is the pilot, the Holy Spirit is the co-pilot, and you had a reservation.

You got a free pass, and no one can take your seat.

So be alert as you're on the way, but rejoice while you're on the way.

Give thanks at every juncture of the journey.

Because understand, wherever God leads, it's better than what you had planned.

Even if it's adversity.

God's plan is always better than your best plan.

I'll take that even if it's hard.

Even if there's battles and everything else that comes with it, I want to stay on this and see it to the end, to have everything God has called and want us to have.

Let's pray.

Lord, we just thank you for the way you've spoken to us today and you blessed us.

Thank you for stories that we have to read here.

This truth, I pray God, everyone understands.

This is real life.

And Lord, you operate in real life, in everyday life.

So, Lord, we we just pray you you help us to have awareness, to not be asleep, to understand you are working in ordinary ways and in extraordinary ways.

Help us always to say.

Be willing to say, I don't know where this is going to, how this is going to turn out here, but I know I'm gonna make it to heaven.

That's my confidence and my assurance, and you help us to always have that attitude and be willing to live like we know that's the case, not with panic, not with this dis-ease or having to manipulate people or be deceitful.

We know where we're going.

Help us to conduct ourselves like we know that's true.

Jesus, in your name we pray.

Amen.