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September 18 - Acts 22 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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Hello friends, it's Sean here. It's Thursday.
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It's the 18th of September and I know if you're anything like me,
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you did not get a wink of sleep last night as you lay in bed
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thinking what happened to Paul. He was getting carried out by
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those Roman guards. He was asked if you could please
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turn around and say something and he took a deep breath and
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then we stopped. Well today we continue and we
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hear what Paul has to say in defence of himself and the
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gospel and how that goes down with the ferocious crowd.
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Spoiler not very well, so let's dive straight into it shall we?
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No more further ado Acts chapter 22
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brothers and esteemed fathers. Paul said.
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Listen to me as ioffer my defence.
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When they heard him speaking in their own language, the silence
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was even greater. Then Paul said, I am a Jew born
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in Tarsus, a city in Sicilia, and I was brought up and
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educated here in Jerusalem under Gamaliel.
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As his student. I was carefully trained in our
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Jewish laws and customs. I became very zealous to honour
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God in everything I did, just like all of you today.
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And I persecuted the followers of the way, hounding some to
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death, arresting both men and women and throwing them in
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prison. The high priest and the whole
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council of elders can testify that this is so, for I received
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letters from them to our Jewish brothers in Damascus,
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authorising me to bring the followers of the way from there
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to Jerusalem in chains to be punished.
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As I was on the road approaching Damascus about noon, a very
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bright light from heaven suddenly shone down around me.
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I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul,
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why are you persecuting me? Who are you, Lord?
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I asked and the voice replied, I am Jesus the Nazarene, the one
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you are persecuting. The people with me saw the light
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but didn't understand the voice speaking to me.
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I asked, what should I do Lord? And the Lord told me, Get up and
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go into Damascus, and there you will be told everything you are
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to do. I was blinded by the intense
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light and had to be led by the hand to Damascus by my
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companions. A man named Ananias lived there.
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He was a godly man, deeply devoted to the law and well
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regarded by all the Jews of Damascus.
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He came and stood beside me and said, Brother Saul, regain your
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sight. And that very moment I could see
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him. Then he told me, The God of our
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ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the
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righteous, 1 and hear him speak, for you are to be his witness,
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telling everyone what you have seen and heard.
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What are you waiting for? Get up and be baptised.
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Have your sins washed away by calling on the name of the Lord.
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After I returned to Jerusalem, I was praying in the temple and
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fell into a trance. I saw a vision of Jesus saying
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to me, hurry, leave Jerusalem, for the people here won't accept
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your testimony about me. But Lord, I argued, they
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certainly know that in every synagogue I'm prisoned and beat
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those who believed in you. And I was in complete agreement
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when your witness Stephen was killed.
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I stood by and kept the coats they took off when they stoned
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him. But the Lord said to me, go, for
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I will send you far away to the Gentiles.
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The crowd listened until Paul said that word.
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Then they all began to shout away.
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With such a fellow, he isn't fit to live.
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They yelled, threw off their coats, and tossed handfuls of
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dust into the air. The commander brought Paul
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inside and ordered him lashed with whips to make him confess
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his crime. He wanted to find out why the
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crowd became so furious when they tied Paul down to Lashem.
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Paul said to the officer standing there, Is it legal for
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you to whip a Roman citizen who hasn't even been tried?
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When the officer heard this, he went to the commander and asked,
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what are you doing? This man is a Roman citizen.
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So the commander went over and asked Paul, tell me, are you a
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Roman citizen? Yes, I certainly am, Paul
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replied. I am too, the commander
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muttered. And it cost me plenty, Paul
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answered. But I am a citizen by birth.
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The soldiers who are about to interrogate Paul quickly
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withdrew when the Herdie was a Roman citizen and the commander
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was frightened because he had ordered him bound and whipped.
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The next day the commander ordered the leading priests
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intercession with the Jewish High Council.
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He wanted to find out what the trouble was all about, so he
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released Paul to have him stand before them.
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Lord Jesus, what an example of boldness we see in Paul.
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He's able to just speak so clearly and confidently in what
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he knows to be true. And he has this trump card up
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his sleeve, which is his Roman citizenship, which gives him
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these rights in this place. And Lord, here we are all these
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years later, and we might not be Roman citizens, but we are
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citizens of your eternal Kingdom.
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And that citizenship brings us so much more than Roman
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citizenship. We know that as citizens of your
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Kingdom that we have a Father who loves us, that you, the
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Almighty God of the universe, is for us, and that you have our
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eternity all secured and locked down through the incredible gift
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and sacrifice that Jesus has given us.
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My Lord, thank you for all that you have done for us.
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Thank you that you give us this rock solid foundation from which
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to live and to speak and to act. Our Lord, I pray that we may
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never forget our foundation of being members of your Kingdom
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and the profound privilege and security that this brings us.
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So we just lift you up, our King and our Saviour, and we pray all
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of this in your name, Jesus, Amen.