Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / October 30 - Acts 26

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October 30 - Acts 26 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it is Sean here. It's so good to have your
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  company. I hope you're going well on this
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  Monday morning. Here we are at the start of a
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  whole new week, and this is a week that we are going to cover
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  a fair bit of territory. You and I are going to finish
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  reading through the last three chapters of the book of Acts and
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  then and then we are going to go back and finish off the book of
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  Isaiah. We have gotten halfway, well
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  more than halfway through. And we are going to duck right
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  back into that narrative on Thursday.
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  But I'll tell you more about what's happening when we get
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  back there today. We are going back to Poro.
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  Paul stuck in his incarceration game playing, going on at a
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  political level, and him stuck trying to do what he does, that
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  is, be faithful and continue his mission, preaching the good news
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  about Jesus to the world of Gentiles.
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  What a guy. Just an incredible witness, and
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  an incredible example of someone just so dedicated to that vision
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  that God gave them. So whatever it is that you have
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  going on, let us put that down. Let us pick up this narrative.
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  Let God's word speak to us, nurture us, and shape us to be
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  more like the disciples that He wants us to be.
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  Let us read together, Friends, Acts Chapter 26
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  then, Agrippa said to Paul. You may speak in your defence.
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  So Paul, gesturing with his hand, started his defence.
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  I am fortunate, King Agrippa, that you are the one hearing my
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  defence today against all these accusations made by the Jewish
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  leaders, for I know you are an expert on all Jewish customs and
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  controversies. Now please listen to me
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  patiently. As the Jewish leaders are well
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  aware, I was given a thorough Jewish training for my earliest
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  childhood among my own people and in Jerusalem, if they would
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  admit it, they know that I have been a member of the Pharisees,
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  the strictest sect of our religion.
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  Now I am on trial because of my hope in the fulfilment of God's
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  promise made to our ancestors. In fact, that is why the 12
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  tribes of Israel zealously worship God night and day, and
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  they share the same hope I have. Yet, Your Majesty, they accuse
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  me for having this hope. Why does it seem incredible to
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  any of you that God can raise the dead?
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  I used to believe that I ought to do everything I could to
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  oppose the very name of Jesus, the Nazarene.
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  Indeed, I did just that in Jerusalem, authorized by the
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  leading priests. I caused many believers there to
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  be sent to prison, and I cast my vote against them when they were
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  condemned to death. Many times I had them punished
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  in the synagogue to get them to curse Jesus.
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  I was so violently opposed to them that I even chased them
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  down in foreign cities. One day I was on such a mission
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  to Damascus, armed with the authority and Commission of the
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  leading priests. About noon, Your Majesty, as I
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  was on the road, a light from heaven, brighter than the sun,
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  shone down on me and my companions.
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  We all fell down and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic.
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  Soul, soul, why are you persecuting me?
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  It is useless for you to fight against my will.
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  Who are you, Lord? I asked, and the Lord replied, I
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  am Jesus, the one you are persecuting.
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  Now get to your feet, for I have appeared to you to appoint you
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  as my servant and witness. Tell people that you have seen
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  me, and tell them what I will show you in the future, and I
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  will rescue you from both your own people and the Gentiles.
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  Yes, I am sending you to the Gentiles to open their eyes so
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  that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of
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  Satan to God. Then they will receive
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  forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God's
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  people who were set apart by faith in me.
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  And so, King Agrippa, I obeyed that vision.
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  From heaven I preached first to those in Damascus, then in
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  Jerusalem, and throughout all Judea, and also to the Gentiles,
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  that all must repent of their sins and turn to God and prove
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  that they have changed by the good things they do.
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  Some Jews arrested me in the temple for preaching this, and
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  they tried to kill me, but God has protected me right up to
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  this present time so I can testify to everyone from the
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  least to the greatest. I teach nothing except what the
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  prophets and Moses said would happen, that the Messiah would
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  suffer and be the first to rise from the dead and in this way
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  pronounce God's light to Jews and Gentiles alike.
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  Suddenly Festus shouted. Paul, are you insane?
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  Too much study has made you crazy.
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  But Paul replied, I'm not insane.
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  Most excellent Festus. What I'm saying is the sober
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  truth. And King Agrippa knows about
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  these things. I speak boldly, for I am sure
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  these events are all familiar to him, for they were not done in a
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  corner. King Agrippa, do you believe the
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  prophets? I know you do, Agrippa
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  interrupted him. Do you think you can persuade me
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  to become a Christian so quickly?
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  Paul replied. Whether quickly or not, I pray
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  to God that both you and everyone here in this audience
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  might become the same as I am, except for these chains.
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  Then the king, the governor, Bernice, and all the others
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  stood and left. As they went out, they talked it
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  over and agreed. This man hasn't done anything to
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  deserve death or imprisonment. And Agrippa said to Festus, he
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  could have been set free if he hadn't appealed to Caesar.
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  Lord, the story of your engagement with the world does
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  sound like craziness. Your truth is foolishness in the
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  ears of the world, so we will need extra boldness as you
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  empower us and send us with this message.
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  But this message, deep in itself, has hope and love and
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  forgiveness that no matter how foreign the story may sound,
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  that is what all human hearts crave.
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  So empower us by your spirit that your message would be ever
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  on our lips, and that your message would be what inspires
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  us in the way that we live, the way that we respond to
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  challenges in our lives, and the way that we treat people, so
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  that people have no option but to ask what is up with you?
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  Why do you act this way, Jesus? Give us opportunities to speak
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  of your love and Your grace and Holy Spirit.
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  Give us your words, because ours always fall short in comparison.
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  We are Your servants. Just as we read Paul speaking so
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  boldly, we too are your servants.
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  Send us, use us, equip us, and thank you for the love that you
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  shower us even before we get out of bed in the morning to do
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  anything for you. We love you, and we're so
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  grateful for all of this. It's in Jesus name that we pray.
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  Amen.