Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Hey, guys, this is naive. And you've reached the Mosaic Church Podcast. So excited that you're part of our listening community, and I'd love for you to be even more connected. So check out our website. There's more content there and there's more opportunities for you to get connected in our ministries and events as well. Also, love for you to share this content if this has blessed you. I know that God wants to use you to bless other people with it, so share this podcast.
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[00:00:39] Join us to reclaim the message and the movement of Jesus together. So would you consider giving to this ministry? I know that God is able to do immeasurably more through us when we come together. Thank you so much. God bless you and enjoy.
[00:00:57] All right, that's great. That's awesome. Hey, really quick, though, before we get into it, card games. Card games. Okay. Are we in it? Are we for it?
[00:01:04] Yeah. How many people are like, yes, we love card games.
[00:01:07] How many of you like, no, no card games?
[00:01:10] One person. Alexa. Yes.
[00:01:12] Yes. Alexa, here's the thing. I don't want to talk to you guys. Alexa, here's the thing. Here's why we don't do it. At least I don't do it. I don't like card games because. So I'm dyslexic, right? So I've got dysgraphia as well.
[00:01:23] Maybe I'm just not smart, but anyways. But I just can't figure out card games. And so recently, though, I did get a chance to play poker. Yeah. Yeah. As a pastor. Woo. Hello.
[00:01:35] I said some Hail Mary, so I was good after that. Not really, but.
[00:01:40] So it was my first and last time.
[00:01:42] Here's why. Here's why. My first time. They're so gracious. And actually, in fact, I did it with the men's group here, and these guys were just having some fun and people. Peter, who leads the group, he was so gracious. He was, like, sitting with me, telling me all the stuff, all the things, what to do. Hey, don't do that. That's a good hand. That's not a good hand. And some guys were getting upset.
[00:01:58] They're too much into card games. They're like, you should figure this out now. We told you the rules. I'm like, I just don't remember. Da, da, da. So that was my first time, and it was also my last time because, friends, I made a killing that Night. I took the house.
[00:02:12] Yes. 30 bucks, baby.
[00:02:14] And I quit.
[00:02:16] I was like, I'm gonna quit. Well, I'm gonna head. I'm gonna quit. So here's the thing. Why are we talking about cards? Here's why. Because I feel like with games, we all love games, but life sometimes feels like a game. In fact, some people think of life as a game. Like, you have a game of whatever. Like if you're. Even if you're dating, if you in a relationship, and you're like, yeah, it's kind of like. Kind of game. Maybe you think, like, a career is a game. And for some of us, spirituality sometimes is a game. Like God seems to play.
[00:02:42] We think sometimes that God's playing games with us. I don't know if that's true at all. But what I do know is. What I do know is that sometimes in life we are dealt a hand, right, that we have to deal with.
[00:02:56] Sometimes we get something, you're like, and it's just. No one's fault. It's just what it is. And the question is, how do you deal with the hand that you've been dealt this morning? For some of you, you're like, hey, I'm looking good.
[00:03:08] And for others of us, you're like, ah, I don't know how I'm gonna turn this around.
[00:03:12] I'm not quite sure. So here's what I wanna do. What I wanna do is I wanna talk about what the scriptures tell us about dealing with the cards that we've been dealt, dealing with the hand that we've been dealt in life. And here's where I wanna do that. See, we've been in the series in the Book of Acts. If you guys remember, we started six years ago.
[00:03:29] No, no, no. This is the longest series that we have done, I believe. And we are. I'm so proud of us. We did the entire Book of Acts. We are almost done, friends. Two more weeks this week and next week we're almost done. I'm gonna do chapter 26 to 27. 20. No. So 24 to 26 today.
[00:03:46] And, well, I'm proud of us. I'm proud of the fact. And some of you. You guys are like, I missed a bunch of that. I'm like, okay, that's all right. But the reason why we wanted to do that was for a couple of reasons. One, we wanted to see if you could actually do it.
[00:03:59] Some of my staff members, you look like, let's see if name can actually commit to this.
[00:04:03] Or will he change his mind? And yes, I proved him wrong. We did it. We did it. But no, seriously, though, what we wanted to do was to give you a picture of what does it look like for people, real people, to fumble through trying to follow Jesus without Jesus in the room, you know what I'm saying? Because the early church, when the early church started and the first day one was Jesus was like, I'm out.
[00:04:28] And by the way, you're gonna get a Holy Spirit. Oh, who's this person? Well, you can't see him.
[00:04:33] And it's sort of a her too. Kind of like Holy Spirit. Rua. The word is female. Okay, so it's gonna be all that. So they had to navigate how to figure out what does it mean to follow Jesus, and then how to figure out what Jesus was trying to do. Like, Jesus was like, I'm gonna build my church. Also that I'm going to build the kingdom of heaven, and you're part of it. And so they were figuring stuff out. And what we've done is the Book of Acts tells us the story of how the church got things wrong and got things right. There's some miracles that takes place in the middle of them. And there is also a mess that they've created. And so what they're trying to do, I want you to know, if you haven't realized this, what they're trying to do is you have these Jewish people who are trying to figure out now, okay, Jesus told them to live a certain kind of way. And there are some Jewish people who are like, listen, listen, we gotta be. We gotta keep being Jewish even as followers of Jesus. And then there are some Jewish people who are like, no, no, no, no. This follower of Jesus is a cult. We're not doing that.
[00:05:27] And so the church navigates this. What you realize is within the church, people who follow Jesus are still, like, kind of still Jewish. They're holding onto their Judaism, which is cool because the culture is cool. But the problem is that there was an Old Testament and Jesus was like, hey, Old Testament, remember that? That was great, right? Okay. Didn't work so much. But here's the New Testament, you know, there was an Old covenant. The Old Covenant was like, you know, Jewish people, Israel is the chosen nation. All right, well, here's what you're special, but not that special. Here's what's happening. What's happening is this new covenant is the world is special.
[00:06:04] So God so loved the world. Old Testament was like, Jewish people rock. Hey, New Testament, everybody rocks.
[00:06:11] And so the issue was they were like, ah, some Jewish People were like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, but we rock better.
[00:06:18] And they're like, no. So they were trying to figure out how to circumcise people. They're trying to figure out how to get people who are now followers of Jesus to become more, what?
[00:06:26] Jewish. And Paul and the early church leaders were like, no, no, no, no, no. Paul was one of those guys. He was like, listen, this is not. You cannot mix it. And see, the problem is we do this here. See, we know this because when we got our Bible, it was given to us with the Old Testament. And the.
[00:06:44] That was our Bible. For the Jewish people, it was just the Old Testament. That was their.
[00:06:49] So what happens is the early church leaders are trying to figure out this new covenant. They've got a Bible which is the Old Testament. They don't have a New Testament that didn't show up for the fourth century. So they're trying to navigate what this thing looks like. And they're trying to firm their faith or have a foundation that is strong. And they risked their lives. They died for this. And they did this without the New Testament.
[00:07:17] So your faith and my faith has to be stronger. I know. Don't get me wrong. Don't get this twisted. Has to be stronger than the Bible.
[00:07:26] It's gotta be rooted in Jesus because Jesus is bigger than the Bible. And the early church leaders knew that. They died for that. They didn't die for the Bible. There was no Bible. They died believing there was a guy, he was the son of God, he died for our sins. And he. And he was resurrected. And we believe that. And we'll give our lives for that. And they're like, what about the Bible? We don't have a Bible, but we're figuring it out. The privilege we have, though, is we have the Bible, which is old, and the New Testament. And what I want us to do is look at Acts and realize this, that when you marry the Old Testament and the New Testament, when you marry them, right? When you make them just kind of mix and match them. And it doesn't work because you got the Ten Commandments, which was. The Ten Commandments were the.
[00:08:18] Basically, they outlined the entire Jewish laws. So when you take the Ten Commandments and look into them, you realize that they're actually three to six hundred laws. Jesus comes back around and says, hey, hey, hey, let me give you one.
[00:08:32] Let me give you one.
[00:08:34] Let me give you one. Not to let the Lord your guide, heart, soul man.
[00:08:38] He says, this is the new commandment I give you.
[00:08:41] Love one another as anybody Know it. Yeah, yeah. As what?
[00:08:46] As I have loved you. That's it. That's it. And so it's so hard for Jewish people, you know, trying to be Jewish and going, ah, but how is this Jesus thing working? Because all of that is gone. It's like, yeah, that was. That was good for a time, but it's gone. It was good for a time. It's good.
[00:09:05] But now this is the new. And the new is your relationship with the Holy Spirit. Because the Holy Spirit, the spirit of God, lives inside of what you no longer a temple. There's no sacrifices. We're doing. We're not doing all these things. Why? Because Jesus did it. There's no lamb. Let's leave the lambs alone. Poor little lambs, okay? Let's not sacrifice them all time. It's done, man. We got a shortage, okay?
[00:09:30] One sacrifice for the entire world. It's done. It's over. So as the middle of this. Here's what's happening, okay? We'll jump into the chapters. What's happening here? You got people who believe that. No, no, no, no, no, that's not true.
[00:09:45] They're like, no, no, we got to secure. We're keep. We've got to conserve this Jewish heritage. And Paul the apostle, who was one of us, defected, and now he's becoming the traitor of this. And now he's following that cult. And. And we gotta do something serious. And so last couple of chapters has been basically him being explaining, hey, guys, I'm not the bad guy. This is what Jesus did. And so what we're gonna do is we're gonna see is that chapter 24 starts off with something that happens, really. Official. Officially. Officially, the Jewish religious leaders get a lawyer. They lawyer up and they. Yeah, they lawyer up. This is the official time. This chapter. This is what happens. This. They officially charge.
[00:10:26] They actually get a Roman guy, a Roman lawyer named.
[00:10:32] And they basically file charges.
[00:10:34] Now it's going to the courts. And what they want is they want Paul imprisoned or assassinated. Now, it's not just. He said, no, no, this is getting serious. And so in the middle of this, what do we find? That's the question. And so what I'm trying to do in every. What we've been trying to do in this series is take a chapter and go, okay? There's so much. What can we learn from this? So the first point in this, chapter 24 gives us this point, and this is it.
[00:11:02] When dealing with difficult people, okay, what you need to do, stay. What?
[00:11:07] You know those shirts, right? I'M gonna make a shirt that says that. Okay. When dealing with difficult people, stay what?
[00:11:12] Stay calm and keep what?
[00:11:15] A clear conscience.
[00:11:17] Stay calm and keep a clear conscience. So let's jump in.
[00:11:22] What happens is in Acts 24, verse 5, we find out, we read here it says we. This guy is the lawyer, right? The lawyer gets up and he says, here's the deal. This is the official. He gets up. Opening statement. We have found this man to be a. What? A troublemaker.
[00:11:38] Okay, Come on, man. You don't name call me. Okay. Troublemaker who is constantly stirring up riots among the Jews all over the. What?
[00:11:47] Really? All over the world? Also in Singapore. Really? Okay, okay, okay. He is a what?
[00:11:54] A ringleader of a what?
[00:11:56] A cult. They drink blood.
[00:11:58] I mean, not really, but you know, anyways. Okay.
[00:12:02] Among the Nazarene. Furthermore, he is trying to do what?
[00:12:06] Desecrate the temple. Did he ever do that?
[00:12:09] What's happening when we arrested him? What was he doing?
[00:12:14] You can find out the truth. He's talking to Felix the governor and he says, you'll find this out, the truth on our occasion by examining him yourself. And then the other Jews chimed in in declaring that everything, Whatever his name is, was, was true.
[00:12:37] So now you got other people chiming in.
[00:12:40] What happens here? So now he's officially. So here's what we realize, what we realize here is that you and I, sometimes you'll find dealing with difficult people are actually Christians.
[00:12:53] Can I get it? No, no, no. They're actually Christians. Sometimes there are people in your family and sometimes it's not just like an argument.
[00:13:03] Sometimes it goes to courts.
[00:13:05] Sometimes there are people, there are family members who are suing other family members.
[00:13:10] Then there are Christians suing other Christians. And then there are some people who are been married and now going through a messy divorce and they have just lawyered up. They've. Now it's in the courts and it just gets super messy. So I don't know which difficult situation you're in or, sorry, different people you're dealing with, but in the level that you're dealing with. But what does, what does Paul do here?
[00:13:36] See, Paul does something which is really interesting because he knows. He knows that. Yeah, when difficult people will start calling you names, they'll give you labels, they'll call you a troublemaker, you're a cult follower, a ringleader of this and all that. And so difficult people name call you all the time. And that's hard to. But you got to know that that's happening. They'll also exaggerate the truth. And it's like a truth with a little twist.
[00:14:04] Yes, he was the leader of the way. The Jesus way. Yes, he was one of the leaders, but he's not a cult leader. A little bit of twist there.
[00:14:15] I think when we get accused by people of some things, understand, there is a little bit of truth there, but it's also twisted. It's also twisted. And. And. And here's what we also know from reading this passage, is that, like other Jews chimed in, there are people that. Some people in your life will be convinced that that's true.
[00:14:38] They will convince other family members.
[00:14:41] They'll convince friends, employees.
[00:14:45] They'll convince. They'll get a group of people that says, you know what? That is true. This person is like this. This person is like this. So when you're dealing with difficult people, understand, they're going to get a gang together.
[00:14:57] They're gonna exaggerate, and they're gonna start name calling. You see, that's when you know, you're dealing with someone that's difficult because they're no longer. They no longer are having a honest conversation about anything. And so what does Paul do? What does Paul do?
[00:15:14] What's interesting is, as I was reading this, I thought about asking you guys a question, and then I thought, I don't know if I want to know this.
[00:15:22] Like, the question was, how many of you have ever been arrested?
[00:15:25] And then I was like, no, don't. Don't. Don't do that. I don't want to know. Bunch of criminals in Mosaic. I don't know. I don't.
[00:15:32] I mean, I have. I have. Okay. I have spent the night in jail before. Okay, let me explain. I grew up in Kuwait.
[00:15:39] Pakistani, if you don't know. I grew up in Kuwait in the Middle East. And after the war, friends of ours, there was a curfew during the war. And, you know, we were like teenagers. We were like, ah, curfew, Smurf you, whatever. And so.
[00:15:51] So we took off, and we got on the streets and all that, and Popo showed up, and we spent the night in jail. So that was my. Who. My.
[00:16:00] Living on the wild side in Kuwait. Living. So you don't want to spend the night in jail in Kuwait. But what's interesting about that, I thought about this. Like, there was no reading of the rights. You know what I'm saying? There was no, like, hey, it was just like, you should do this here in the Western world. It's more civilized, right? They're supposed to read you some rights if they're Going to charge you for something. Right. And do you know what it starts with? You have the right to.
[00:16:21] Okay, let's stop right there.
[00:16:25] You have a right to remain silent because what? Everything you will be used against. Yeah, let me just. Can I just take you to this thing?
[00:16:35] When people accuse you of things, you have a right to remain silent online.
[00:16:46] You have a right to what?
[00:16:49] Remain silent.
[00:16:50] And for some of us. And I'm guilty of it. I don't exercise their rights.
[00:16:56] I'm like, yeah, well, you're a.
[00:16:59] You know, I do it in my head. I don't. You know, you and I can exercise the right to remain silent, because once we don't remain silent, here's what we do. We don't stay calm. We give away our peace to that person.
[00:17:18] Now they own it.
[00:17:20] Now whatever they respond, we will react, and that is how our day will go.
[00:17:25] So in the middle of this, Paul goes, I'm not even gonna do that. I'm not gonna do that. Here's what he does.
[00:17:32] Here's what he does. The governor. Then. It says here in the passage, the governor then mentioned Paul speak. And this is what Paul said. I'm not a troublemaker. No, he didn't say that. He said, I know, sir, that you have been a judge of Jewish affairs for many years, so I gladly present my defense before you. Not this dude. You.
[00:17:56] You can quickly discover that I have. That I have arrived in Jerusalem no more than 12 days ago to worship at the temple. Temple. Not desecrated temple. My accusers never found me arguing with anyone in the temple, nor stirring up a riot in any synagogue or on any streets of the city. These men cannot prove that these things they accuse me of doing.
[00:18:23] They can't.
[00:18:25] They can't do that. They can't do that. And then he says this. He. He says. He keeps on going. He says, but. But I admit.
[00:18:35] What?
[00:18:35] That I follow the.
[00:18:38] The way. What are you talking about? The way of Jesus. The way of Jesus. He's a Jewish guy, but I'm following the way. The way of Jesus. It's a way of doing life which they call a what? A cult. I worship the God of our ancestors, by the way. I mean, this is all. I'm not moving away from that, by the way. I firmly believe in the Jewish law and everything written in the prophets. I believe that. And that was really great for a time. I have the. What? The same hope in God that these men have. I have. We are the same here. We should be the same. That he will both raise Both the righteous and the unrighteous. Because of this, I've always tried to maintain a what? A clear conscience before God and all people. And so Paul knows how to read the room.
[00:19:25] He knows. You're not gonna make me say something.
[00:19:30] You're not gonna make me like you.
[00:19:32] I'm not gonna get in that game. That's not gonna happen.
[00:19:37] I'm not gonna do that. I'm not going to start acting out of character. And I'm not gonna take on your character.
[00:19:45] I'm gonna do what I do because I'm going to stay calm and I'm gonna clear. Keep a clear conscience. And what that means is he's saying, I'm gonna keep a clear conscience before God. He says, basically, I am committed to living a certain kind of way, and you're not gonna make me change.
[00:20:02] So when you're in a messy divorce and you're angry.
[00:20:07] Cause I've walked people through that. You're angry and you want to get revenge. And sometimes you just want to punish them.
[00:20:15] I get that. I mean, I sort of get that. I don't know, but I've heard people just go, just so mad and angry, and that's why you get angry. But in your anger, do not sin.
[00:20:28] And sin is basically violating the person you know you're supposed to be.
[00:20:34] So in the middle of that.
[00:20:36] Don't do that. So in dealing with difficult people, you don't have to defend yourself.
[00:20:42] Let God do it. Now, if you're in a court case, you gotta get a lawyer and you gotta do that. But in the middle of all of that, you wanna leave that whole lawsuit with a clear conscience. I did not violate.
[00:20:56] And I didn't go low when they went low. I didn't do that. Paul's doing that.
[00:21:03] That is chapter 24.
[00:21:05] Let's see what chapter 25 is. Cool. So chapter 25, what we hear is now it gets complicated.
[00:21:12] It gets complicated because not just difficult people. It's a difficult situation, and it's a frustrating situation. Here's why. Because no one wants to. The governor, no one. The people, the lawyers are trying to, you know, accuse him of things. But no one wants to, like, charge Paul of something. Like, no one wants to really do it. So they keep, like, delaying stuff. In fact, what we find, though, at the end of chapter 24, and we go into chapter 25. Paul, Paul, basically after this whole thing, the guy, the governor goes, you know what? I'm not quite sure if I'm the guy for it or if he delays the decision By a couple of weeks?
[00:21:49] No.
[00:21:50] No. By a couple of months. No, by a couple of years.
[00:21:55] Paul is now in prison for two years and waiting on what?
[00:22:00] Just a decision.
[00:22:02] Just like, what are we doing? What are we doing? What are we doing? And so I put down, when you're dealing with not difficult people, but when you're dealing with disappointing. Disappointing what? Results.
[00:22:15] Let's put that up on screen. When you're dealing with difficult.
[00:22:19] Sorry. Disappointing results, you need to. We need to what? Stay confident and be wise. Stay confident and be wise. Be confident. Here's why. Here's why. Because I don't know about you. When I get. I get disappointing results, the first thing I get, maybe it's just me, I get insecure.
[00:22:41] The first thing, if I get disappointing news. If I get, like, stuff that's. Ah.
[00:22:49] I just don't. When you hear like, you didn't get the job, you don't go, hey, you know what? Bad for you, because I'm amazing.
[00:22:59] No, when you get. When you hear several of them, or these days, when you don't hear from anyone and you're like, can I talk to a person?
[00:23:10] The first thing that happens is you just kind of go, like, maybe I'm not that.
[00:23:14] Maybe I'm not that person. Maybe I'm not that.
[00:23:16] You doubt yourself. And let me just tell you something.
[00:23:19] No wise decisions were ever made in insecurity.
[00:23:27] Can we get insecure? And that's what life does, right? That's what results, disappointment does. It robs you from who you are. It robs you. It takes your confidence. It takes your courage. It takes your courage.
[00:23:39] So here's what happens, right? What does Paul do? So next chapter.
[00:23:44] Now there's another person that he's talking to, a guy named Festus. And he. He's like, all right, all right, let's talk about this.
[00:23:52] And then we read here, it says, Paul denied the charges. Now they're doing the whole thing. He says, I'm not guilty of any crime against Jewish law for the temple or the Roman government. Like, now you're accusing me for all kinds of things. And he's frustrated. You could hear this. He's frustrated, he says. And then Festus, wanting to please the Jews, asked him, are you willing to go to Jerusalem and stand before trial before me there?
[00:24:17] And now he's like, okay, hold on. What are you trying to do? I thought you were just trying to hear my case. Now this guy Festus is playing a game. He's like, well, I want to move you to Jerusalem because I Want to make a trial there. He's like, why do you want me to move you to Jerusalem? Because there's now all of a sudden a game that the guy's playing.
[00:24:35] Now it's a political case.
[00:24:37] Now he wants its politics. Now he wants to figure out how he can get reelected or something.
[00:24:44] So here we find this. But Paul replied, no, no, not doing this. This is the official Roman court. So I ought to be tried, right? What, here?
[00:24:56] You know very well that I'm not guilty of harming the Jews. If I have done anything worthy of what?
[00:25:03] Death. I don't refuse to die.
[00:25:06] You want to kill me, kill me. But let's get them charges that really stick.
[00:25:11] But if I'm innocent, what does he say? No one has the right to turn me over to these men to kill me because you sent me to Jerusalem. I mean, you send me Jerusalem, they're gonna mob me.
[00:25:25] That's what's gonna happen. And you're doing this. And then he does something that's really interesting, I think we can learn from.
[00:25:31] He says, yeah, they're gonna turn me over, these men to kill me. And then he says, I'll tell you what.
[00:25:36] I appeal to Caesar. And they're like, what? What?
[00:25:42] What? He just played a hand that they did not think he was going to play. He was like, your move.
[00:25:50] I appeal to Caesar. Oh, he said the words, what?
[00:25:57] Festus conferred to his advisors and then replied, all right, very well.
[00:26:02] You have appeared. You have appealed to Caesar. And to Caesar you will go.
[00:26:10] What does he do here?
[00:26:12] You see here, Paul makes the most strategic decision. And so, in times of disappointing results, here's the lesson, the big lesson is, what is the most strategic thing you can do now, after this disappointment, what are the most strategic thing you can do? And also know that these results, like within the passage, you know, as you can tell, the decision for Paul involved, not just Paul's deal involved, like a mess, like there was something going on in the background.
[00:26:44] And sometimes disappointing results is not because of you. It's because of the games other people are playing.
[00:26:51] It's because of other things that are going on.
[00:26:53] And sometimes it's not just you. So stay confident. It's not. You do not think that you're less than. Because these are disappointing results. And you're like, no, but Name I've been trying to do this forever. I get it, I get it. I get it. But what is the most strategic thing? What is the most wisest thing that you can do now?
[00:27:13] Name.
[00:27:14] All of a sudden, this job I got let go. I get it. But yes, yes. And you can take a minute, but then what is the wisest thing you can do?
[00:27:25] Who do you need to appeal to?
[00:27:30] Who do you need to appeal to? You're like, who do you. And for some of you, you know who you need to appeal to.
[00:27:39] All right, last chapter.
[00:27:41] Not last chapter, for this, because there's endless chapters here. Okay, 26. Chapter 26.
[00:27:47] Okay, let me give you the big idea there in chapter 26. Again, this is a lot of Paul's, like, back and forth and back and forth. And it's basically we're sitting. Just imagine sitting in a courtroom, just listening to this, back and forth, back and forth, going, what? How can we learn from this? So the last chapter, I believe it's like when dealing with discouraging a discouraging process.
[00:28:09] Here's what you need to do. You need to. What? Stay. What?
[00:28:13] Yeah, you need to stay.
[00:28:15] Stay faithful and remember God's calling on your life.
[00:28:21] You need to do that. Acts 26, it says here, right?
[00:28:26] So now he's. He's. Now he's sent to a king.
[00:28:30] And the king is like, okay, okay, now what? And this is again, just talking to him. And Paul does something that's really interesting here. Paul goes back and tells the king his story.
[00:28:41] His story.
[00:28:43] He says, I used to believe.
[00:28:45] I used to believe that I have to do everything I could to oppose the very name of Jesus the Nazarene.
[00:28:52] Okay, why are you telling me this?
[00:28:54] Let me just talk here. He says, indeed, I did just that in Jerusalem, authorized by the leading priests. I caused many believers there to be be sent to prison, which is ironic because they're trying to send me to prison.
[00:29:11] And I casted my vote against them when they were condemned to die. I was okay with that. I used to be that guy.
[00:29:19] Many times I had them punished in the synagogues, in the synagogues to get them to curse Jesus. Hey, King, I just want you to know, I know what they're accusing me of. Let me just tell you the kind of guy I was and where I'm coming from, where I'm coming from. I was so. I was so what?
[00:29:38] Violently opposed to them that I even chased them down in foreign cities. Like, I went after them.
[00:29:47] I went. Got authorized. I mean, I went to people. I told them. I told them, hey, deputize me. Let me go and hunt them down. I was a bounty color. A bounty. What do you call it? Bounty hunter.
[00:29:58] For or against the people of Jesus. I was that guy.
[00:30:04] One day, though, one Day I was on such a mission.
[00:30:10] I was on that kind of mission on Damascus, armed with what authority and commission of the leading priests.
[00:30:19] And I stopped it right there. He said that one day this happened.
[00:30:22] And they're leaning in, they're like, what happened?
[00:30:25] Because the king hasn't heard this. He says, and then, I'll tell you what happened.
[00:30:29] What happened? And he tells him, there's a light, I was blinded. Jesus showed up, he told me all these things, all this stuff happened. And he's like, I just want you to know this is a real thing.
[00:30:42] Why is Paul telling the king in a court?
[00:30:46] Why is he telling him the story?
[00:30:50] Because when you're dealing with a very discouraging process, a healing process, a process that has taken so long, this court case of his that lasted for years could have been done over the. You know, over a week it's been playing.
[00:31:06] It's so like, have you been through something? And you're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's not done yet.
[00:31:12] I'm still going through it.
[00:31:14] It's still happening.
[00:31:17] Like, what? And you're like, have you ever thought this? When is it going to what?
[00:31:22] Yeah, when is it gonna end?
[00:31:25] When for the God, what is going on in the middle of that? God says, stay committed, stay faithful, and remember, I called you. Remember I've been working your right. Remember how far you have come?
[00:31:45] Because here's the problem. The problem is when we're here, wherever here is, and you're in the process, you're like, why am I not further in life than so and so?
[00:31:59] Like, why is she the chosen child?
[00:32:07] And she's got the timeline and she's got everything, and her kids are perfect, whatever, and everything's going great, and I am just, why?
[00:32:19] I just want you to know, like, when you live your life and I struggle with this. When you live your life just looking around to where you are in life and evaluating your success or your relationship with God, where you are in life, that's dangerous. Because where you are in life, you look around, you go, okay, I am comparing myself to so and so.
[00:32:40] But here's what Paul is doing. I believe in telling the story. He's not saying, this is where I am in life. He's basically saying, here's where I've come from.
[00:32:53] This is all the things I have been through.
[00:32:56] So the question is your why on why you need to stay faithful, your why on still being committed, your why in dealing with all the junk and awful people and the name calling. Your why for keeping up with all the anxiety and the stress and the anger and the, like, up and down emotions. Your why? Your why is how far you've come.
[00:33:22] You've just gone through so much. Yeah.
[00:33:26] And it doesn't matter where you are in life. It matters what you've gone through. And for some of you, you've gone through hell.
[00:33:36] You've gone through it. You're going through it, and that's your why. And Paul goes back, and after years of this, he goes, let me just tell you the story that happened.
[00:33:46] They're like, why are you telling the story? Because I feel like he needs to remind himself.
[00:33:51] He needs to remind himself. Like, the other day we were in the house, and I think I was downstairs and Ashley was upstairs, and she was like, hey, you sold a lot of books this quarter.
[00:34:03] And I was like, oh, cool. That's awesome. So I've written, you know, two books. And so.
[00:34:10] And then I was like. I was like, which one? And she was like, oh, ex Muslim. And I was like, that's the first book.
[00:34:18] I just came out with the second book. I need to sell that one. Let's sell that one. And she was like, oh, the ex Muslim. I was like, oh, great.
[00:34:26] And I was like, yeah, yeah, I should be happy. I should be happy. Should be happy. And here's the problem. The problem is ex Muslim. I wrote, like, I don't know, how many years ago, maybe 12 years ago. And it's a story of my coming to faith in Jesus. It's a beautiful story of my family, Pakistani family, immigrant family, coming here, coming, getting asylum, getting religious status, being a refugee. I mean, amazing story. Coming to Jesus. Oh, my gosh. Experience. Yes. Wow, wow, wow. And when I go out and speak, people, like, when I go out to do, like, book tours or whatever or tours or something, somebody give me a tour. I was like, they're like, hey, tell us your story. I'm like, no, the new book.
[00:35:04] They're like, no, play the classics. No, no, I got new songs. They're like, no, no, no, play that one. I'm like, okay, okay. So then they're like, hey, yeah, why don't you come out and speak? And I was like, great. I got a book called Tomorrow Needs yous. They're like, oh, that's great. That's wonderful. Just tell us your story.
[00:35:22] I was like, ah.
[00:35:23] And I got to be honest with you, like, it's so good for me, because when I do that, I tell my story, I go, yeah, that's why. That's why. That's why. That's why. That's why. That's why. That's why. So in the middle of all of this, Paul does this.
[00:35:41] He tells the story, and then he says, here's what happened, though.
[00:35:46] Here's what Jesus told me. And some of us need to remind ourselves.
[00:35:50] He says, here's what Jesus told me. He said, now get.
[00:35:54] Get to your feet, for I have appeared to you to appoint you as my servant and witness.
[00:36:02] Tell people that you have seen me and tell them what I will show you in the future and I will give. I will rescue you from both your own people and the Gentiles.
[00:36:17] Yes, I'm sending you to the Gentiles to open their eyes so they can turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. That they then. Then they will receive forgiveness of their sins and be given a place among God's people who are set apart by faith in me.
[00:36:38] He says, hey, I'm telling you this. I'm telling you this. And at the end of this, his whole storytelling. Here's what the King says, which is really interesting. King. The King Agipe. He interrupts him. He interrupted him. And he says this. He says, do you think you can persuade me to become a Christian so quickly?
[00:36:57] Like, are we in some translations? It says, wow, if you just keep on going, I just might become a Christian.
[00:37:06] I just might become a Christian.
[00:37:08] And then Paul says, and this is interesting because now it's not about the court case. It's not about the Jewish. It's not about the lawyers. It's not about anything else. Then Paul's like, he says, whether quickly or not, I pray to God that both you actually and everyone here in this audience might become the same as I am.
[00:37:34] And then he gets cute, except for the chains.
[00:37:39] He says, yeah, at the end of all this, at the end of all this, I just want you to know him.
[00:37:45] I just want you to know the God who called me, and that's why I'm here. So in the middle of difficult stuff, in the middle of just a process, stay committed and remind yourself. God called you to be the dad, that. God called you to be the wife. God called you to be the provider. God called you to be the healer. God called you to be the friend. God called you to this.
[00:38:10] God called you. And he's not.
[00:38:13] He's not taking that back, regardless how people accuse you of whatever.
[00:38:19] So can I pray for you?
[00:38:21] All right, let's pray. Lord God, thank you so much, so much for your. For your love for us, for how you allow the scriptures to talk to us. How youw allow people's stories to inspire us to remember God.
[00:38:38] Yes, we all go through times where we're dealing with people or results or process that just won't quit.
[00:38:45] In the middle of that God, you want us to allow the Holy Spirit to do something inside of us that we only the Holy Spirit can do.
[00:38:59] Give us a peace that surpasses all understanding, Give us a confidence that only comes from his power, and give us a faithfulness and assurance that knowing that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives inside of us.
[00:39:18] So God, would you do that? In our hearts, our minds this morning as we move towards this week and hopefully moving more towards you, God, I pray that as we respond in this last song, as some of us go to the cross, as others go maybe light a candle or take communion, God, in this response time song, I pray that we remember ourselves, God, that you.
[00:39:49] You're with us.
[00:39:51] You're with us.
[00:39:53] You're with us.
[00:39:57] Thanks for listening to this message from Mosaic church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
[00:40:02] For more audio and video content, visit us at MosaicChurch TV.
