When the Obstacle Becomes the Opportunity | Acts 23:23–35 | Alex Sands

Welcome to the Kingdom Life podcast.

What if the obstacles in front of you is not stopping that?

Actually, becoming 23.

23 to 35.

Oh, it's a regard.

It's movement, it's restricted.

It's restricted to be the hits of the people.

You are in it.

Delayed.

What's the random master?

You did not choose.

Del.

Maybe done more through the obstacle.

Then you can see.

With today's message from Acts 23, 23 to 35.

Amen.

Thank you, Jesus.

All right, we get to dive into Acts today.

Acts chapter 23 is going to be our focus, verses 23 through 35.

Acts 23 · chapter mention

And we're collecting the cups as we uh go through and and uh just thankful for this opportunity again to gather as one and to to worship and to remember Jesus through his sacrifice and and to also be encouraged and challenged by his word.

His word never fails, his word always works.

But you know, sometimes we come together and we're struggling because there's something in our lives that we view as being an obstacle.

As much as we try to focus on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, there is this thing that just distracts us.

This this thing that seems to be in the way.

Some of you, you're watching right now because you don't even want to come in, because you're struggling even to get out of bed, because of this thing, struggling even to worship with God's people, because of this thing in front of you that seems to be blocking you, keeping you from your path.

And so even though in worship, even though in communion, we're lifting up the name of Jesus, thanking the Lord for what he's already done, you still got this thing in front of you that you would say, if only God would take that away.

I know what Jesus did, but if only we take this out of the way.

Well, here's the question I want to pose to you.

If God gave you a pen today, P-E-N, if God gave you a pen and said you could scratch out that obstacle, scratch out that thing, what would it be?

Don't you think about that?

And maybe you you can't really right now think of this great big thing that's in the way, but is there anything in your life if God gave you a pen and allowed you to scratch it out, that you would change it?

Maybe for some people it's health.

Your health is diminished in some way, and it seems to be a restriction for the things that you want to do, maybe it's health.

Maybe it's because a door has been closed that you have wanted God to open and is just closed.

And and yet, yes, you still have your your join the Lord, but but if God would just open that door, or maybe it's a restored relationship with a family member.

Maybe it's just maybe your desire is to have a family.

I want a family.

I I desire to have a family, I want children.

What is that that thing you would just if you could just change it?

Maybe if the Lord would just was remove the thing from the board and take it out of the way, I could get so much closer to God and so much more fulfill the work that He had, if He would just remove it.

Well, what if what you're calling an obstacle is the very thing God is using to get you to the path where He wants you to be?

In other words, what if what you think is an interruption is actually part of the route?

We don't actually, that's not how we think, though.

You know, what we how we kind of think is we get saved, and then you know that we know the Lord is conforming us into his image.

We know that he has a purpose here on our earth, so we just think sometimes that they look, the Red Sea is going apart, manna's coming from heaven, and he's always going his body, and manna and all of the melodies from heaven, all of that's gonna come on down, and life is good, and and and you got money and all everything is going to be smooth.

But as you read scripture, as we're gonna break down in the story today we've been talking about for weeks, as you read scripture, you find very rarely is that the case.

Very rarely is that the case.

But you also learn as you continue to study and digest God's word and let it work on you, you realize that what you think is blocking the way is actually part of the way.

And it's not about if I just became a more mature Christian.

There are challenges that come, and it's still part of the journey.

Now we've seen that in the Apostle Paul as we've been studying in Acts chapter 21, 22, and in 23.

Acts 21 · chapter mention

We we have seen what's operating in the Apostle Paul that listen, he had it in his heart to get to Rome.

He had it in his heart years earlier that he wanted to uh go throughout and collect this offering and then go to Jerusalem and deposit the offering and then make his way to Rome and then from Rome go on to Spain.

You know, he he had this desire in his heart to get to Rome.

And what we saw a couple weeks ago is that the Lord Jesus told him, You must testify of me in Rome.

But I'm certain that what has transpired in his story, what we're reading, that what had transpired over just 48 hours, between 48, just in a couple days, the things that transpired he could not have imagined.

I'm sure he didn't think that this would have been the way that he would get to Rome.

But you know what?

What appeared to be obstacles and what others would call obstacles were all part of the plan and part of the way that led him to where the Lord told him he would be.

He's on the divine airlines, airlines owned by God the Father, piloted by Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the co-pilot, he's got a place on the flight, the plane, and and he's on the way.

But I'm sure it took a route he could not have imagined.

But what the Lord had meant, what the Lord had worked, yes, you were the you were beaten by a mob within an inch of your life, but I put Roman soldiers, a commander who put you in chains, and what was restrict, what some had would call a look, Agabus would call a restriction was actually your protection.

And and even an assassination plot by over 40 men who vowed to not eat or drink until they killed you.

What we'll see today is that becomes the impetus, the urgency to get them along on the path.

What would appear to be obstacles is actually part of the plan and the path, and we get to learn it so we can walk in it because Paul's experience is the normative experience for believers.

This is the norm.

Before we dive into the text, let's take a look at our kingdom truth, our kingdom truth that is guiding our time together this morning.

All right, our kingdom truth is this.

God sovereignly turns obstacles into opportunities for his purposes.

Obstacles into opportunities.

Sovereignly.

As we've been covering the last few weeks, a kingdom truth is a theological principle.

It's something that is just a principle for all time.

God is sovereign.

That means God is all-powerful and no one can overrule his judgments.

Providence, God working every situation in life to accomplish his perfect purposes.

Nothing is by accident.

The universe is so big and God controls it all.

He controls everything in life, every event, every circumstance.

There is no fluke.

He sovereignly turns obstacles into opportunities for his purposes.

And if there's one word to highlight in that kingdom truth that I really want us to focus on is the word opportunities.

Oh, by the way, the notes are ready now.

They weren't ready earlier, but they are ready.

If you looked at them earlier and they looked like last week's, well, they are now this week's.

But here is what I want us to see.

What Jesus had told his disciples over 20 years prior to what we're reading now, what he told them was this in Luke 21, verses 12 and 13.

Luke 21:12

But before all this, the return of Christ and before the end, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, brought before kings and governors for my name's sake.

Read verse 13 with me.

This will be your opportunity to bear witness.

Brought before governors and kings to be persecuted, delivered in the synagogues, those are obstacles, those are things that don't seem to compute.

This will be an opportunity.

Part of the path, an opportunity.

By the time that we're done this morning, I'm not saying that whatever that thing is is going to be removed.

My prayer is that you see it a different way.

That's it.

That you walk out of here and say that you see it in a different light.

Hopefully see it the way that the Lord does.

Amen.

Philippians chapter 1, verse 12.

Philippians 1:12

Paul would say to the Philippians, I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel.

You could see it all and see how God worked through it all.

What you may be looking at as an obstacle is really an opportunity.

All right, let's take a look.

Let's remember where we left off, you know, uh last time.

Uh what we talked about two weeks ago is that God sovereignly rules what we cannot control.

Now, we have been studying from the point when Paul was in Jerusalem and he and he made his testimony before the crowd that had assembled for Pentecost.

Thousands, some say millions of Jews were in Jerusalem, and thousands were there gathered at the temple, and they wanted to kill Paul because of a uh pernicious lie that had spread through the crowd that he had brought in a gentile into the temple, the temple area, where the part where Gentiles were not allowed to go into.

Not the Gentile court, but beyond that.

And the crowd was beating up Paul and beating him and wanted to kill him.

And that's when the Roman commander sent soldiers down and they got him out of the situation and were prepared to flog him.

He gave a testimony before the crowd.

The commander allowed him to do so.

He gave his testimony, he he he called it his defense, but he talked about his life before Christ, how he met Christ, and then his life after Christ.

That's all you need to share.

Before Jesus, and then what happened after.

If I'd had him flogged, and then he said, I'm a Roman citizen.

Not only am I a Roman citizen, and I'm paraphrasing, I was born a Roman citizen.

That is the big joker.

It was illegal to flog a Roman citizen.

And he hadn't been charged with anything.

So then the Roman commander ushered him out to jail to the barracks, and that night Jesus visited him.

You must testify me, Rome.

The next day, the commander convened a council of all the Jewish leaders, the Jewish high court.

Well, that whole thing dissolved into a fight, and they had to escort Paul again.

What I'm trying to give you is a little timeline.

These things we've been studying over the last three or four weeks, this is all wrapped up in two days.

Because where we left off last time is there was an assassination plot.

Over 40 men took a vow not to eat or drink until they killed Paul.

But Paul's nephew overheard it.

He overheard it and he went to Paul and told him what was going on.

And Paul wisely just grabbed a centurion and said, This young man has something to say.

Take him to the commander, and the centurion ushered his nephew over to the Roman commander and told him everything.

And you can just see God, as we talked about last time, God sovereignly works through ordinary means to accomplish his purposes.

There was no angel appearing to get Paul out of the barracks.

There was no earthquake.

There was no miraculous thing that happened besides his nephew being at quote unquote the right place at the right time to overhear a conversation of a secret plot and then the favor of him being able to go to the centurion and then to the uh commander of all of the troops in Jerusalem.

He's over ten centurions, which means a thousand troops.

And his word was do not say anything to anybody.

Keep this to yourself.

God working through ordinary means.

He gave us a lesson that the Lord is always working.

We can't see what's happening underneath the surface.

But the Lord is working, and inevitably it will manifest.

But their roots are going out.

This plan is working.

And now we see more of it as this story continues.

Picking up here in oh, before I get there, this is the word, because I want us all to be able to see it in Acts 23, 11.

The following night, the Lord stood by him and said, Take courage for you, as you have testified to the facts about me, so you must.

Divine imperative, must.

You are made for this.

You must testify also in Rome.

Now we pick up in verse 23.

Then he, speaking of the Roman commander, called two of his centurions and said, get ready, get ready.

How many?

Two hundred soldiers with what?

Seventy horsemen.

And he's not done.

And two hundred spearmen.

Good night.

Now, I need somebody.

I need a um I need what I got.

Any of the students here?

Any of the students, add that up.

How many is that?

Come on, y'all.

You make me feel bad about this name.

Four hundred.

Four hundred.

Four hundred and seventy soldiers.

Two hundred foot soldiers, seventy on horses, and two hundred with spears.

For one person's protection.

What you talking about?

How many did I tell you he was over?

How many is this Roman commander over?

He has ten centurions who report to him.

How many who have a hundred each?

So how many is this commander over?

A thousand.

And how many does he dispatch for one man's protection?

470.

Almost half.

Think about this.

You've got over 40 men who say we're not going to eat or drink until he dies.

They've been planning an ambush while God was arranging an escort.

To escort him out of town.

Now you might think to yourself, this is overkill.

Really?

That many?

In fact, there are some scholars who will say that number's too big, it doesn't make any sense.

But when you think about all that has happened over the past couple of days, thousands wanted to kill this one man who he has learned is a Roman citizen by birth.

Then he got the religious leaders, 71 of them.

They start fighting each other and try to rip him apart.

All of that is happening.

Then he learns that you got over 40 jokers who said, We ain't gonna eat again.

He is saying there's all these folk crazy.

Now the streets in Jerusalem were narrow, and to get him out of town to where he would need to be and for this to move forward to uh for the for the uh commander to send him to his superior, whose name is Felix, we'll read about him in a minute, to get him out, to get him out of Jerusalem, the streets were really narrow, and then there would be an uphill journey.

So if there's an ambush waiting, they're probably waiting right around when it's narrow, and then also on the upward climb to just go ahead and run the side and go with a knife, you know, and and and kill him.

He knows there's over 40.

And he knows that if a Roman citizen dies at the hands of a mob, it could cost him his life.

That he knew about also.

So look here, it may not have been it, it wasn't you know, angel, it wasn't an earthquake or whatever, but but you have a Roman commander who dispatches his resources because he knows how serious this is.

This really, when you think about it and not knowing.

How much opposition is out there?

This actually makes sense.

To get Paul out of here, A S A P.

Think about all of this is transpiring.

The conspirators, they have planned and they have plotted because they have an agenda.

You've got the Roman commander, he's planning because, listen, this is about not only his job, his career, this could be his life.

So he's making plans.

You got the soldiers, the 470 that uh report under him.

They got a plan, they got to get him out.

And everybody's got their plan.

But God has his plan.

God turned an assassination plot into exactly what was needed to get Paul to the next step, the next step in the journey.

Everyone else had their plan and everyone else had their motivation.

Not one of them believed Jesus Christ was the Messiah.

Not one of them.

But God worked even in their manipulation and in their planning to accomplish his perfect plan.

That church is providence.

That's God's providence.

That's God's God's working behind the scenes to accomplish what he's accomplished, set apart to do.

To go as far as cesarea at the third hour of the night.

Get ready, 470, to go as far as Caesarea at the third hour of the night.

That is 9 p.m.

Night started at 6 p.m.

Get ready to go at night.

This is before.

Look, there's a plan to, when Paul gets uh escorted down to the council, the the uh conspirators, their plan was to ambush him along the way.

They're thinking that's gonna happen in the morning.

Because that's when normally something will happen.

They're not gonna convene something at 2 a.m.

or whatever.

Their plan is we still got some time.

We still have some time to get ready and we're gonna take him out.

Well, before they have time to get into place, God gets him out, him, Paul, before they can even get themselves together.

An escort at nine, travel roughly 35 miles, which by foot, that'll take several hours.

Third hour of the night, oh, and also provide mounts for Paul to ride and bring him safely to Felix the governor.

Bring him safely to Felix the governor.

Now I want you to watch this.

The plan from the commander is to bring him safely, and to bring him safely means this: to save through, to bring safely through danger.

Not to remove it, but to bring him through it.

The commander doesn't know who is out there trying to kill him.

So his objective is to show an overwhelming, an overwhelming display of force.

Soldiers armed to bring Paul safely through.

You see, saints, sometimes God removes the opposition.

Sometimes he removes the danger, and other times he allows us to safely go through it.

You know, Jesus, the Lord could have just struck all of his opponents down just like that.

Read the book of Judges.

God could do it, God sent hornets, mudslides, the sun standing still, the Lord can do anything.

But he chose to operate through human means to get Paul safely through.

The opposition was still there.

Oh, people still hated him.

No one changed their mind about him.

But the Lord brought his servant safely through to the destination.

So here's the takeaway.

Our first kingdom life principle this morning.

Our first kingdom life principle is this.

Trust God to provide whatever his purposes require.

Whatever that obstacle is you put, you know, in your mind that you wrote health, family, whatever it was, door closed.

Understand this, first of all.

The Lord has provided all the resources for you to accomplish what he requires right now, in this moment.

Don't be obsessed about tomorrow.

Don't be obsessed about next year.

But for now, he has provided everything that his purpose requires.

470 soldiers?

Yeah.

And church, don't miss this.

He provided horses, mounts to carry Paul through because he couldn't have made it on his own.

He couldn't have walked this.

He was beaten two years, two, two days ago.

So when you have a picture of Paul, don't think him as being healthy and strong and all of that.

He's probably still got a fat lip, maybe a black eye, bruised, bruises up and down.

He has been hurt, wounded physically.

He couldn't walk up the hill.

He couldn't do that journey in his own.

He couldn't make it that fast.

He would have been a liability.

And look, the and the commander knew that, and the Lord knew that.

Give him a way to get through so we won't have to struggle beyond his means because the Lord always provides the resources for us to accomplish what his purpose requires.

Sometimes we become obsessed with the obstacle, the situation, and we forget the God who provides the grace, regardless of what the obstacle is that we face.

He's given us what we need.

As difficult as things may be, oh, he gives us what we need.

Psalm 46, 1 says, God is our refuge and strength.

A very present help.

In days of trouble.

He is a refuge.

He is our strength.

Refuge.

Protector.

Covering.

Strength.

The way to get through.

And not past tense.

He is.

Right now.

He is.

Right now.

With all of it that you would want to change right now.

2 Timothy 4.18.

Here's Paul's testimony.

This is the last uh letter that he wrote that we have in Scripture.

2 Timothy 4.18.

He says to his protege, Timothy, the Lord will rescue me from prison.

This is a deep dungeon.

The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me how?

Safely safely into his heavenly kingdom.

To him be the glory forever and ever.

Amen.

You in the darkness, Paul.

You can hardly see.

I know the Lord will bring me through.

However, it turns out, Paul says, the Lord will bring me safely through.

Does that mean he's going to be delivered from this?

He's saying, I'm going to get to heaven.

The Lord's purpose for me, it will be accomplished.

And to him be the glory.

He has a praise party by himself.

In a deep dark dungeon.

There are some things we can't avoid, church.

There's going to be some struggles in this world we just can't get out of, but we just have to remember his grace is sufficient.

And he will rise to the occasion.

And in this case, 470.

Everyone hates him.

Countrymen hate him.

Commander says, you're going to make it.

470.

Good night.

Let's continue.

Verse 25.

Verse 25 is a letter.

And he wrote a letter to this effect.

Claudius Lysias to his excellency, the governor Felix, greetings.

He writes a letter to send the letter along with Paul because he just can't send Paul without an explanation of why he's being delivered.

Can't just send him along and look without knowing what the charges are.

So he writes this letter, and what we find here is this is the typical format.

Felix, his excellency.

You know, he's his uh superior.

So this is the kind of terminology I was common for the day.

And he says, again, Claudius Lysias to his excellency, the governor Felix, greetings.

This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them when I came upon them with the soldiers and rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman citizen.

That sounds good, don't it?

Not quite how it went down, though, was it?

Not exactly how it went.

Verse 28, and desiring to know the charge for which they were accusing him, I brought him down to their council.

So on and so forth.

But begin verse 27, he leaves some stuff out, doesn't he?

Having found out that he was a Roman citizen, I I came down and I came upon them with soldiers and rescued him.

He doesn't tell the part where he thought he was like this Egyptian insurrectionist at first.

He didn't talk about the fact that he had him stretched wide to flog him.

Oh, he left all that part out.

He went straight to the part where he was a Roman citizen.

I discovered that and and I set him free.

But see, he's writing this letter, and you know what?

He's writing it as the hero of the story.

I saved the day.

Like an avenger.

All the mob of people, they wanted to kill him.

I rescued him with all of my soldiers.

And desiring to know the charges for which they were accusing him, I brought him down to their council.

Now that is true, and I found that he was being accused about questions of their law, but charged with nothing deserving of death or imprisonment.

So Lysias leaves out some key details of the story, which is human nature.

Now he's not he might be he might like Paul.

He might have gone grown fond of him over the last two days, but he ain't saved.

And he has a career he's keeping in mind.

He doesn't want the uh the governor, Felix, to know that he was getting ready to flog a man that wasn't charge and he didn't even inquire whether or not he was a Roman citizen.

He didn't need to tell all of that.

Because he's still his career, might he's still interested in his career and keeping his position and keeping his life.

So he's not interested.

He's still about his agenda.

Nevertheless, God used him, didn't he?

He had his agenda, God has his agenda.

Don't you know that God made provision?

He already knew what Lysias would write and what he would leave out.

But notice the last part is the most critical thing.

And this was, again, something recorded here.

God meant to be here.

He was charged with nothing deserving death or imprisonment.

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.

With everything else Lysia has put in, whatever he left out, he brought this most important critical declaration statement.

This man hasn't done anything deserving of death.

He's innocent of anything.

Anything he has done has been charges against their religion and their way, but it has nothing to do with us.

What we'll find is that this is a recurring pattern as we continue on through Acts, it's a recurring pattern.

Festus will say, I don't have any charges against him.

Agrippa will say, I don't have any charges against him.

There isn't anything that an objective court can say he has done wrong, deserving execution.

It's the fanatics who want to kill him, but they have no legitimate cause.

They've had to lie, make up this whole thing.

The ones who are honest and legit are Roman soldiers.

And Felix, a governor, man, he was crazy.

You read the historians, he was a former slave that was elevated to this position, and they will say, historians will say, of that time said, he's a king with the mind of a slave.

He was ruthless, down low, and dirty.

But he's gonna pass the buck.

We're gonna find here that even Felix, he's not gonna let him free.

Paul's gonna sit in confinement for two years for nothing he hasn't done, but Felix trying to get some money out of somebody.

He's just trying.

That's how he thought.

But you know, God still protected his servant, even in people acting wickedly.

And his advocate, Paul's advocate, was not a man who believed Jesus was the Messiah.

Just a man looking for himself.

God used him.

Another never pointing again to providence and a reminder of this fact.

Kingdom life principle, too.

Don't demand perfect instruments from a sovereign God.

Why?

Why am I saying that?

I'm saying that because since God is sovereign, he can use anybody.

Think about that thing that is an obstacle.

Something you wish you could change, something that may seem that this is a robot you wish was different.

Not saying going back in the past, but right now.

Don't you think about that thing?

Have you already thought in your mind how God should fix it?

Have you already kind of thought to yourself about who and how it could, it could, it should turn out?

Maybe there is a particular supervisor that you want to bring out of this situation at the workplace.

Maybe you have in mind a particular doctor, or at least a doctor who's a Christian, that can provide the remedy and to bring you through.

Don't you know God could use somebody who doesn't believe at all, and he could use that person to believe to bring your healing?

Doesn't have to be a Christian.

Sometimes we want what we have a desire for.

We can elevate that desire to be something that it's not.

Don't try to put God in a box.

God doesn't need Christians to do everything.

If that were the case, he wouldn't be sovereign.

Is he just restricted to the people of God?

He can use anybody.

Read the Old Testament, you'll find out about a king named Cyrus that God used to bring deliverance for his people.

And use a messianic terminology to describe him.

He was a pagan.

God can use anybody.

But don't get in your mind who or how we think God can do it.

He can use imperfect instruments, he can use imperfect means to bring you through.

And we might be missing the Lord working, so focused on how God should provide, that we miss how God has already has.

I was transfixed on how God would do it.

Get me out and miss his provision and preparation along the way.

About how where I thought I wanted to be, I wasn't ready for.

And even where I thought I wanted to be, it changed.

I didn't know what was going to end up happening down the road.

I'm so thankful God blocked that way.

But none of it I could say was, you know, the church, somebody praying over me, and then, you know, at the and then the workplace brought it out, and a Christian saved the day there.

It wasn't that.

God just putting pieces together.

I'm sure he wouldn't have chosen Paul, wouldn't have chosen uh Claudius Lysias to be his advocate.

I mean, he couldn't have thought that years and years ago, but it's exactly what God did.

And you can think about how he's done it in other times.

You can think about uh Genesis chapter 50, verse 20.

Genesis 50:20

Joseph, as for you, Joseph speaking to his brothers, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.

To bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today.

God does not need the instrument to be perfect to accomplish his perfect purpose.

Verse 30 says, And when it was disclosed to me that there were, that there would be a plot against the man, I sent him to you at once, ordering his accusers to state before you what they have against him.

Ordering, again, think about this whole thing.

The conspirators, the ones who are there trying to kill Paul and wanting to bring these charges to pass, and they're trying to order the steps and everything else.

Look how God totally did a 180.

They wanted to tell the commander, look, bring him to us, and within a matter of hours, the order is have them travel to you, Felix.

Give him an audience before all of his accusers.

Won't God do it?

There's no way Paul could have orchestrated this, and there's no way there were other Christians who can who could have maneuvered this to happen.

And remember, Jesus said you would be brought before governors and kings.

This is the way God was doing it.

And he's not done, he's not done yet.

Just remember, God is able.

It's not an interruption, it is the route.

It's not a diversion.

God works in everything.

Verse 31.

Look at this.

So the soldiers, according to their instructions, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris.

And on the next day they returned to the barracks, letting the horsemen go on with him.

Okay, soldiers.

They've traveled this far to Antipatris.

And then the soldiers, the foot soldiers and the spearmen, go back to Jerusalem.

Now, why is that the case?

Because now they've gotten this far, the land changes.

The topology changes.

It's leveled land.

You get to this point, up to this point it's been uphill.

Once they get to this part, it's wide open and it's flat land.

So he doesn't need 470.

The 400 can go back.

400 can go back, and just the 70, that's all that's needed to go the rest of the journey.

400 can be back.

They were dispatched at 9 p.m.

They can be back the next day to continue on in their service.

But still, look, Paul has gone from 470 to 70.

Ever had your resources dwindle like that?

But listen, when they came to Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they presented Paul also before him.

The provision changed, but the provider didn't.

The provision changes with the terrain, but the provider does not.

Sometimes, church, God surrounds you with a lot of people, and then other times they're few.

There are seasons in life where we have a whole lot of energy and strength, and then other seasons we don't have as much.

What was with us or who was with us in a certain season may not be there the next.

However, the provider is still with you.

Different terrain, still the same provider who says, I will be with you.

You must testify.

You must make it, you will make it.

And we want to get everything back like it used to be.

Sometimes the Lord says, I can do more with less.

Go back.

400 go back.

It's just like Gideon.

Okay, maybe not to that extreme, but 30 some is too much, too many.

He gets down to 300.

God said, that's enough.

Otherwise, man, you'll get the glory.

Others will get the glory.

Look, just send them back so I can be the only one who gets the glory.

Different seasons, different things required.

He will meet every need for every season.

Oh, thank you, Lord.

I had to say sometimes I bemoan what I used to have.

Because I want to go back.

I wish I had the same amount of understanding and wisdom matched with that energy, you know, everything that way?

Y'all don't know anything that I'm talking about right now.

Jacob, like, no, mm-mm.

But I burned a lot of energy worrying about things that didn't matter.

And really, um, for goodness, I don't want to say all of that, but understand, you get my point.

I wish I had some of that wisdom matched with, but you know, God says, stop pining after the season that has passed.

If you didn't have that season, you wouldn't be where you are today, knowing what you know right now.

It took some ignorance for you to learn some things.

Not to know about you, but sometimes I've got to hit my head up against the wall before I learn something.

And that's the only way it took.

Lord had to let me do it.

Like, okay, I ain't doing that again.

If I could go back to 36-year-old Alex, 26-year-old Alex, I would tell him, don't do it.

But you know what?

26-year-old Alex was like, I'm gonna do it anyway.

The thing is, the provisions haven't changed.

Oh man, no, the provisions have changed, but the provider hasn't changed, and he knows exactly what's needed for that season.

And on reading the letter, he asked what province he was from, and when he learned he was from Cilicia, he said, I will give you a hearing when your accusers arrive.

And he commanded him to be guarded in Herod's praetorium.

Now, that place, that that city, that area, that was nice, that was built up.

Now, I'm not saying he's living in luxury.

He's not living in luxury, but he's protected, he's not in a dungeon, and he's allowed to have people visit him to go back and forth.

God protected and provided.

His beaten, bloody servant is protected and granted liberty, and he's afforded due process.

And this will be an opportunity to witness.

Because you want to know something?

The accusers are coming, they're still not gonna listen.

They're gonna hire somebody to bring charges and all that, they're not gonna listen.

But you know what?

Paul is going to have an opportunity to witness to Felix, his wife, later Festus, and fulfill everything that the Lord said that he would do.

Way back, way back, when Jesus encountered him on the Damascus road, caused him to be blind, then he had, he told him to go to Damascus, and then he had a conversation with Ananias.

Ananias said, Don't you know who he is?

I know exactly who he is.

Then Jesus says to Ananias, the Lord said to him, Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.

Box checked and being checked, check, check, check, 20 plus years later.

Oh, it wasn't overnight, church.

Sometimes in reading scripture, we forget the timeline.

This is over 20 years.

Jesus was crucified and risen about 25 years before all this happened.

Jesus encountered, it took 20 plus years.

Do you have enough patience?

And then, even when things aren't going the way you thought, are you still able to see God is working that plan?

Before we think Paul was a super saint, can I remind you Jesus has made two house calls to Paul already?

And he's not done.

Stay here, Paul, in Corinth.

I've got many people in this city.

And here, you will make it to Rome.

But you gotta stay in relationship with the Lord to be able to hear those messages.

You stay in communion.

He's communing with and he's getting these references.

But again, this happened a long time ago.

Sometime the thing we're thinking about is it just has taken too long.

Maybe it's not about you, maybe God is getting everything else in place.

Felix wasn't in position 20-something years ago.

The commander wasn't in position then.

Now God has gotten everything ready in his perfect timing.

Through all of his trouble, God got him in the room that he needed to be in.

So saints always remember this: restrictions do not mean God is finished.

What if God intends for you?

What if God plans to use you while the restriction remains?

Which you would want to remove.

What if God uses you through it?

And what you think is in the way is actually the way.

Change your options may get small, but God's purpose doesn't get smaller.

Could be health, maybe your idea of what retirement was going to be, family responsibilities, career change, all of these things.

God's purpose hasn't shrunk.

Provisions might decrease, but his purpose for you hasn't changed.

Well, I just don't know what all of that entails.

Maybe he hasn't revealed all of it to you because you're not ready for it.

He wants to do what the Lord wants you to do his will more than you want to do his will.

Always remember that.

And his plan is always better than your plan.

And when you look back, you'll be able to say, Lord, I thank you.

I thank you for everything.

I thank you for it all.

Going back to Philippians 1, verses 12 and 13, Paul said, I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel so that, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ.

Philippians 1:12

Maybe different setting than the one we're studying, but still the same principle.

He knows that the whole prison guard, Imperial Guard has heard the good news.

They know why he's there.

I'm gonna remind you of this before we move forward, before we're we're done.

2 Timothy 2, 8, 9.

Always remember that Jesus Christ, a descendant of King David, was raised from the dead.

This is the good news I preach.

Always remember this, the gospel.

You gotta always come back to it.

Come back to it.

And because I preach this good news, I am suffering and have been chained like a criminal.

But the word of God cannot be changed.

All of this, the imprisonment, all of this, the opposition, all of it, it actually accelerated the advance of the gospel, which is what Paul had wanted the whole time.

Church, analyze what you desire for life.

And if it's anything less than God getting the glory through you, through the gospel advancing, meaning people learning about Jesus being Messiah and Savior, if it's anything less than, i.e., just being comfortable and having money be able to retirement, if that is not your key purpose, you can have other things maybe you want, but if that isn't your key purpose, you'll be disappointed in life and it won't make sense.

Paul's joy was that the gospel was moving forward.

And that did it, so it didn't matter all that he had had to go through, it was alright.

We're gonna wrap up there, we'll pick up next week, Lord willing.

And again, just want you to just think back again that that thing.

Whatever that thing is, think back upon it.

Think on it.

And I want to tell you, whatever that thing is, again, not promising that the Lord will remove it or take it out of the way.

Don't know.

Can't make you that promise to you.

But I can promise you it has a purpose.

We've seen that through Paul.

We've seen that in the fact that a Roman commander, Roman commander, supplied the resources, the protection that he needed at that moment in time, and God always provides what's needed for that, right there for that moment.

We realize that an assassination plot didn't block Paul, it accelerated the advance of the gospel moving forward outside of Jerusalem.

Because it was to go to Jerusalem, Judea, the uttermost parts of the earth, and Paul was called to go before governors and kings.

This accelerated it because he couldn't have gotten out of Jerusalem on his own.

And we've seen the troops, some diminish and whatever it is, but they still got him right where he needed to be on time.

Everything you need for the moment, the Lord provided.

Church, I challenge you to just ask the Lord to give you an expanded view of what he's doing.

Understand, the Lord met Paul in those barracks because it was exactly what he needed for that moment.

It's exactly what he needed.

You must testify in Rome.

Sometimes we just need to tune in and discover the Lord's been standing by us the whole time and just been wanting to tell us you must.

And that can be all the that could be the one thing you need to hear.

I'm done here again.

Maybe watching.

The obstacle has caused you to distance yourself from the Lord when it really needs to be the opposite.

It should draw you closer so I can hear you better, Lord, and maybe learn.

This isn't in the way, this is the way.

Father, thank you for this time, your word, your grace, Lord, for meeting us today and help us to keep these things in mind and to continue to encourage one another to love and good works, and we just submit ourselves to you.

You can use us to encourage a brother or sister.

Help us, Lord, to be encouraged and to encourage others and to point others to you.

Lord, that's what you're working in all of our lives, because Lord, that is the good and perfect purpose you have for us.

You are working all things together for good.

And what is good is your glory.

In Jesus' name we pray these things.

Amen.