Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / September 25 - Acts 26

Transcript

September 25 - Acts 26 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's Sean here. It's Thursday, it's the 25th of
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  September and I'm so delighted to have your company as we today
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  are going to look. I am such a nostalgic dude.
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  Today we are going to hear for the last time Paul providing a
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  full defence of his faith, sharing that story of what has
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  happened to lead him to to have the belief that he has.
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  And it is just a fantastic story that Paul is just so confident
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  in sharing and shares it nuanced differently again and again to
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  all these different audiences and uses it to great effect to
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  to the point where the king today is shocked because it just
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  speaks so directly to him that he assumes it must be in an
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  effort to convert him to the way.
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  Ah, fantastic. So let's hear what Paul has to
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  say as he continues his defence of his faith all the way through
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  to Rome, which will come as we wrap up acts next week.
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  But for today, Paul and the gripper in 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 from my earliest
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  childhood among my own people and in Jerusalem.
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  If they would admit it, they know that I have been a member
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  of the Pharisees, 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, authorised by the
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  leading priests, I caused many believers there to be sent to
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  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, I was
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  on the road. A light from heaven, brighter
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  than the sun, 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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  Saul, Saul, 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 anoint you as
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  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'm sending you to the Gentiles to open their eyes so
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  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 are set apart by faith in me.
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  And so, King Agrippa, I obeyed that vision from heaven.
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  I preached first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and
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  throughout all Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that all must
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  repent of their sins and turn to God and prove they have changed
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  by the good things they do. Some Jews arrested me in the
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  temple for preaching this, and they tried to kill me, but God
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  has protected me right up to this present time, so I can
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  testify to everyone from the least to the greatest.
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  I teach nothing except what the prophets and Moses said would
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  happen, that the Messiah would suffer and be the first to rise
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  from the dead and in this way announce God's light to Jews and
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  Gentiles alike. Suddenly fester shouted Paul,
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  are you insane? Too much study has made you
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  crazy. But Paul replied, I am not
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  insane. Most excellent, Festus, what I'm
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  saying is the sober truth, and King Agrippa knows about these
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  things. I speak boldly, for I'm 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 deserve death
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  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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  Our Lord, thank you for this story.
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  Thank you, firstly for Paul's boldness in the way that he
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  shares the way that you touched his life.
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  And secondly, Lord, thank you for this insight, that here you
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  have a clear goal to take your message to Roman, to the
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  emperor. But those who are wisest in this
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  audience, those who are in power, those who know the most
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  and are most connected, they are blinded to your plan and to your
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  truth. They have no idea.
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  Our Lord, that is the way your Kingdom works.
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  Your Kingdom works in these mysterious ways that are not
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  obvious from the outside. And when we look at what's going
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  on, it can often make no sense at all.
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  And particularly when we are wisest, your message can sound
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  the most foolish. Our Lord, make us fools for your
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  message. Humble us, and may your message
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  and your truth be on our tongues, even when it sounds
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  like foolishness to the world around us.
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  We want to be Your heralds, bringing Your truth to the
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  world. We love you and we love your
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  Kingdom and all that it brings for us and our world.
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  And so we praise you, we love you, we thank you, We pray all
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  of this in your precious name, Jesus, Amen.