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December 10 - Acts 22 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends. Yeah, it's Sean here.
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  Lovely to have your company on this Tuesday, the 10th of
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  December and so glad that you have invited me in so that you
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  and me, we do what we do best together and that's read God's
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  word. And today, well today is kind of
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  the the second half of the cliffhanger from yesterday where
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  Paul being dragged away by the Roman office, well not dragged
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  carried away by the Roman soldiers, turns back to the
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  crowd to tell them his message. And this is the message that he
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  shares with them. And brilliantly, this is Paul
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  sharing his testimony, sharing the story of God and his faith
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  in God and what Jesus has done for them.
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  I don't know whether you've ever had a chance to Share your story
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  in a way like this. It's it's not about exercise, to
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  sit down and to think, what would I tell people?
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  How would I share my story of faith of what Jesus has done and
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  what I believe that Jesus has done for everyone?
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  Probably not a bad thing to contemplate how we would do that
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  because these opportunities probably don't come along very
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  often. So it's good to be ready, ready
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  to go with our story on tap. So you want a performer?
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  You want to hear how he does it? Me too.
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  Well, let's read it together. That's Acts chapter 22.
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  Brothers and esteemed fathers, Paul said, listen to me as
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  ioffer my defence. When they heard him speaking in
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  their own language, the silence was even greater.
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  Then Paul said, I am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cecilia,
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  and I was brought up and educated here in Jerusalem under
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  Gamaliel. As his student.
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  I was carefully trained in our Jewish laws and customs.
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  I became very zealous to honour God in everything I did, just
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  like all of you today. And I persecuted the followers
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  of the way, hounding some to death, arresting both men and
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  women and throwing them in prison.
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  The high priest and the whole council of elders can testify
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  that this is so, for I received letters from them to our Jewish
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  brothers in Damascus, authorising me to bring the
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  followers of the way from there to Jerusalem in chains to be
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  punished. I was on the road approaching
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  Damascus. About noon.
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  A very 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 were 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'll be told everything you
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  are 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 at that very moment I could
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  see 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 imprisoned 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 with such a fellow, he
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  isn't fit to live. They yelled, threw off their
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  coats, and tossed handfuls of dust into the air.
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  The commander brought Paul inside and ordered him lashed
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  with whips and made him confess his crime.
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  He wanted to find out why the crowd had become so furious when
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  they tied Paul down to lash him. Paul said to the officer
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  standing there. Is it legal for you to whip a
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  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 were about to interrogate Paul quickly
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  withdrew when they heard he was a Roman citizen, and the
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  commander was frightened because he had ordered him bound and
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  whipped. The next day the commander
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  ordered the leading priest's intercession with the Jewish
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  High Council. He wanted to find out what the
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  trouble was all about, so he released Paul to have him stand
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  before them. Thank you Jesus, for the gift of
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  faith that you place in our hearts.
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  And this faith is not some generic cookie cutter pulled out
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  of a box of Kellogg's Cornflakes faith.
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  But this, this is a faith that you nurture personally in each
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  one of our hearts. And each one of us has a story
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  of how you have convicted us that you are indeed our Lord.
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  Thank you that you would take a personal interest in each of us,
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  that you love us not with a great big love that covers
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  humanity in a sea of grace, but that your grace is given
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  individually to each of us, Your dearly beloved children.
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  We don't quite understand how you are capable of such enormity
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  and such intimacy. But here you are, loving us in
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  the way that you do anyway, even though we can't wrap our heads
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  around it. May your love transform us so
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  that we too can be children of the light, loving and restoring
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  the world around us through Your presence and Your love.
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  We are so grateful for all you have done for us.
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  So we praise you and we pray all these things in your name,
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  Jesus. Ah, man.