Bible Guys Classics: Acts 25 & 26

Well today, here's a story of Paul's conversion. Again. I know he said it twice, but he's gonna do it a third time. So Paul now is giving you defense before Agrippa. Yep, and this is a big one. So he's Chris and I'm Jeff and where the babba guys. Okay, Chris, this is a good one today. It is a good one. I like this one. Yeah, it's it's so we're supposed to we're giving the segment that we're supposed to do a draft pizza draft. Here's my here's my question. Like we've all been to places you and I that that we've tasted specialty pieces. In other words, they're not like Little Caesar's or Dominos. So my question is do we do we branch off and say like Raised Pizza on Ninth Street, New York, or do we just stick with you know. I don't know what are the rules because it does a Raised, the one that gave us this desiree. Okay, let's pick our favorite pizza places. You rock papers and scissors to see who gets the first and go into each have five pizza. Places, so there's no rules. It's your favorite pizza. We're just drafting our favorite pizzas sounds great, you're ready. We're trying to bring. People over to our side too, So we're trying to do like we want people to go. Yeah, Jeff has the best pizza draft oh. In that case, In that case, we got to stick with the famous. I think you just draft whatever you want to draft. Okay, yeah, yeah, all right, let's do our favorite sitters read shoot? Ready, one, two, three? Shoot? So I did scissors and. Uh so here is my first choice pizza, which is Raised Pizza in New York. Really yes, okay, yeah, yeah, that's it. Yeah, okay, my very favorite pizza in the world, and I've driven five hours just to go get it one time. One way is Connie's Pizza in Chicago. It's a deep dish Chicago style. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, fine, my favorite pizza. Yeah. So this isn't going to be very popular, but I did a I did a deep dish pizza in California that was Chicago style. Chicago style in California, I know, come on, man. Yeah, and I don't even know the name of the place. I can't draft that. I can't draft a place you don't know the name of. All right, well, then here it goes. I'm actually going to say that my next choice besides Ray's Pizza, is going to be Benitos Banitos Banito's Pizza. Okay, yeah, I like Benito's better than any other brand. Okay, I think in Michigan, so Michigan is a is a hotbed for pizza, right, yeah, I think in Michigan, I'm going to draft Buddies. Oh yeah, Buddies Pizza, Buddies Red. I mean that's the original eight square or you know what, eight sided pizza or whatever. Script Yeah, okay, that's the Detroit pizza. So all right, Well, since you know what, since we're going out of state. In my hometown, there is a pizza place called Westgate Pizza and it is extremely famous, and I'll choose that for my third. It's extremely famous in Youngstown, Ohio. Yes, yeah, because none of your listeners have ever heard it except your mom. Mom, Well she's listening. So yeah, I think I'm gonna stick with us. So the one that I pick, like if I just have okay, hey, let's have pizza delivered at home. Yeah, it's one of two that I have delivered, and I think I'm going to pick Jets. I was gonna say, Jets is my fourth. Let's get jets, Let's get Jets. Yeah, I was gonna say Jets. Okay, So I will then have to say that I like. This is tough, Jess was it for me? Believe it or not. I know it's gonna sound crazy, but since Domino's is as re done. Their formula, it's it's pretty stromptious. I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go Dominos. Yeah. Yeah. For for fast delivery, Yeah, that's a good one. Uh. The other one that I like, believe it or not, is I like hungry howays because I like all the stuff you can put on the crust. Yeah yeah, yeah right right, so getting that extra garlic butter and yeah yeah yeah yeah that's good. You know what, that's the throwaway. Hey, I don't want to think about it. Disorder pizza, it's right, okay. And and for the for the last one, I'll go nuanced. How about have you ever had the pizza at the Alibi? Yes, that's a really pizza on Rochester Road. Rochester Road for our listeners, if you're ever in Michigan, go to the Alibi. Yeah, that's that's good pizza. That's good pizza. Yeah, so I think the one that I'm going to do, and it's all the people in McComb County know, this one is green Lantern. Well yeah, Greenland, Green Landers's Yeah yeah, it's similar to Alibi. Yeah yeah, yeah, so that's cool. So that would be it. Okay, what what do you love on pizza? What do you get? So I believe it or not, I'm a I'm a guy who gets like all the veggie toppings but not olives because those are from Satan? What? Yeah, so I would say I get like mushrooms. I don't think you're really You're not Italian? You don't like olives? Yeah, I know what you fraud. We just we just exposed. I like, I like, you know, like a meatballs. Isn't the only the only requirement for being Italian you have You're required. You're required to love meatballs, You're required to love good cheese, and you're required to love olives. It's required. Yeah, understand, we're gonna revoke your your Let me get. My answer out. Mushrooms, onions, peppers, and slices of tomato. But you don't do the meats a lot? No, I do you just asked me what was my favorite? Okay, so my dad orders everything, so we we all the way to the anchovies, we weed it all and so I love the everything pizza. Those are always good. But if I'm just ordered for myself, it's always going to be a meat lover's okay, And I like I believe or not, I really like thin crust pizza too. Yeah I did. Yeah, in fact, Benito's Thin Crust with the topics they gave you. Yeah, is my wife and I is go. To okay, and then I uh, I'm very happy with just a good pepperoni. Yeah. Yeah. So anyways, all right, well, hey, that was very important stuff. I know people, Yes, everybody turned it off and went and ordered pizzas, but it is. Six minutes of life wasted for love of you're never getting that back. I was gonna joke and. Say Di Giorno's, but I didn't want people to be like typeing in boom here. That's right, that's not. We're going to pick up at the end of chapter number twenty. Five and read to the end of twenty read. It to the end of twenty six. Yes, let's get to it, man, because this is an interesting story. It says in verse twenty three of chapter twenty five of the Book of Acts. So the next day, Agrippa and Bernice arrived at the auditorium with great pomp, accompanied by military, all officers and prominent men of the city. Fastest order that Paul be brought in. Then Festus said, King Agrippa, and all who are here, this is the man whose death is demanded by all the Jews, both here and in Jerusalem. But in my opinion, he's done nothing deserving a death. However, since he appealed his case to the Emperor, I've decided to send him to Rome. But what shall I write the Emperor? For there is no clear charge against him. So I've brought him before all of you, and especially you, King Agrippa, so that after we examine him, I might have something to write, for it makes no sense to send a prisoner to the Emperor without specifying the charges against him. Then Agrippa said to Paul, you may speak in your defense. So Paul, gesturing with his hand, started his defense. I am fortunate, King Agrippa, that you are the one hearing my defense today against all these accusations made by the Jewish leaders. For I know you are an expert on all Jewish customs and controversies. Now please listen to me patiently, as the Jewish leaders are well aware, I was given a thorough Jurish training from my earliest childhood among my own people, and in Jerusalem, if they would admit it, they know that I have been a member of the Pharisees, the strictest sector of our religion. Now I'm on trial because of my hope and the fulfillment of God's promise made to our ancestors. In fact, that is. Why the twelve tribes of Israels zealously worshiped God night and day, and they share the same hope I have. Yet, your majesty, they accused me for having this hope. Why does it seem incredible to any of you that God can raise the dead. I used to believe that I ought to do everything I could to oppose the very name of Jesus and Nazaren. Indeed, I did just that in Jerusalem, authorized by the leading priests. I caused many believers there to be sent to prison, and I cast my vote against them when they were condemned to death. Many times I had them punished in the synagogues to get them to curse Jesus. I was so violently opposed to them that I even chased them down in foreign cities. And one day I was on such a mission in Damascus, armed with the authority and commission of the leading priests. About noon, Your Majesty, as I was on the road, a light from having brighter than the sun shone down on me and my companions. We all fell down, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, Saul, Saul, why are you person secuting me? It's useless for you to fight against my will. Who are you, Lord, I asked, and Lord replied, I am Jesus, the one you're persecuting. Now get to your feet, for I have appeared to you to appoint you as my servant and witness. You are to tell the world what you have seen and what I will show you in the future, and I will rescue you from both your own people and the gentiles. Yes, I'm sending you to the gentiles to open their eyes so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. And then they will received forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God's people who are set apart by faith in me, and so King Agrippa, I obeyed that vision from heaven. I preached first to those in Damascus, and then in Jerusalem, throughout all Judea, also to the gentiles, that all must repent of their sins and turn to God and prove they have changed by the good things they do. Some Jews arrested me in the temple for preaching this, and they tried to kill me. But God has protected me right up to this present time, so I can testify to everyone, from the least to the greatest. I teach nothing except what the prophets of Moses said would happen, that the Messiah would suffer and be the first to rise from the dead, and in this way announced God's light to Jews and Gentiles alike. Suddenly Festus shouted, Paul, you were insane. Too much study has made you crazy. But Paul replied, I'm not insane, most excellent Festus. What I'm saying is the sober truth, and King Agrippa knows about these things. I speak boldly, for I am sure these events are familiar to him, for they were not done in a corner King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do, Agrippa interrupted him. Do you think you can persuade me to become a Christian? So quickly? Paul replied, whether quickly or not, I pray to God that both you and everyone here in this auditorium might become the same as I am, except for these chains. Then then the King, the Governor, Bernice, and all the others stood and left. As they went out, they talked it over and agreed, this man hasn't done anything to deserve death or imprisonment. And Agrippa said to Festus he could have been set free if he hadn't appealed to Caesar. Wow, he said to Festus, he could have been set free if he had hadn't appealed the season. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Some some historians would say Paul kind of overplayed his hand by that, right, Yeah, for sure. But I think Paul was always going to Rome, right. Jesus had told him you're going to Rome, right, So he's going to Rome. Yeah, and he saw he saw the way that was the path right right? So yeah. So and by the way, we ultimately know that this is going to end in Paul's demise. That's right. So he never really gets released, he never gets back, you know, and you know with his with his friends, with his comrades, back on mission, he pretty much just defends himself until they kill him. Yeah, which is years by the way. Yeah, yeah, so this is like fifty eight AD. He doesn't die until like sixty seven, sixty seven, yeah, yeah, so fifty nine. I think this, This would be fifty nine because he began with Felix and fifty seven, so then it was Felix and then two years in jail and then this is brand new with Fests. That's like ten years nine yeah. Ten years of being in prison. So you know, if if. You think you have problems right right, you think you've been inconvenienced for God's mission, you think that God has asked too much of you. And by the way, I'm not saying that he hasn't. I don't know your situation. I don't know you know your story, but Paul certainly trumps me in a lot of ways. Well, God lets us know these things for our own benefit. And so what God is saying is, hey, your circumstances might be bad. They were bad for Paul too. But Paul made the best of them. I think that's the thing. And if I can tell you my story, my story's bad, but God made the best of it. And I think it's the same for all of us. If we will trust him, God will take the bad story make it good. Paul wrote about that in Romes chapter eight. He can make all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to this purpose. So if you understand that your life is according to God's purpose, then God has a plan for you. God wants to use you. Then it doesn't matter the circumstances you're in. I'm not saying they're not bad. I'm just saying those don't define you. You can decide to let them define you, but God doesn't view them as defining you. They might make you stronger and better, but they don't find you. So anyways, there's Paul. He's in jail again. Now he's standing in front of h He's standing in front of the two of the biggest power players in his region. Right, I mean he was in front of governors, now he's in front of kings. This is pretty amazing that he's able to share the gospel. How else who else would ever have the opportunity to share the gospel King Agrippa. Yeah, and and is this the verse that's translated into yes, that almost. Persuaded me, almost persuaded me, Yeah, yeah. Because we both grew up reading the King James version. Yeah. And and so then in this one it's translated just slightly different. Resais do you think you can persuade me so quickly? Yeah? And the other translation for it would be a little more in your arguments, would make me a Christian. But clearly he's kind of mocking Paul, right, He's so there's there's maybe a little bit of wow, that's compelling message, but I'm not in it. No, thank you, Right, that's what he's doing. Yeah, I've preached messages on King Agrippa almost becoming a Christian. Yeah before yep. And but you know, it's it's so cool to see again Paul, you know, give his testimony, and it just solidifies that, you know, telling your story is a really powerful tool. And just in case we're wondering, Paul tells his story. Paul's conversion story happens in Acts chapter nine, then also at Act chapter twenty two, and then twenty six and the full version is in nine. Twenty two is a summary, and then twenty six seems to be smaller, right, not as many verses, but yet the exact same details. Although in this one he's clearly presenting the gospel yeh, So he minimizes history. I think that this is the best presentation that we see for Paul. Paul talks a little bit. Because he makes this history with Jesus story right. Right, right, So he's taking his story and he's saying, hey, I was a radical. I was, you know, even a better guy in our religion than all these guys that are accusing me now. And they can't argue with it. But the reality is I had this encounter with Jesus that transform my life and now. And then he spends all this time saying, it's all you know, so you can receive forgiveness of your sins and be given a place among God's people. And then he comes back to it. Multiple times that he's driving at home that salvation is by faith, right, that it's available to you too. He reminds them several times it's not just for me as a Jew or my Jewish brothers, it's for gentiles too, just like you. He's very respectful, and he talks about how esteemed. Here it is right. He's doing all the things necessary to not drive a wedge, but instead to open the gates and say this is available to you too, and you can have the same experience I did, maybe not having light from heaven, but you can place your faith and trust in Jesus Christ too, And he's really driving home faith for everybody, salvation for everybody, forgiveness for everybody, and in this one. So it's less of him, more of Jesus, and then more of a push or and encouragement for them to respond in faith. One of the things that stands out to me is when Agrippa did say that famous line, you think you can persuade me to become a Christian so. Quickly, Paul says, whether quickly or not? And here it comes. I pray to God that both you and everyone here in this audience might become the same as I am, except for these chains. And what I was really saying is he's saying, you know, as I stand up here and I profess my story, I pray that you would all get to the place where you realize that Jesus Lord as well so you know, it just goes into it speaks into Paul's who he is, Paul's life, his mission, what he's called to. But it's who he is. And think about it. Everywhere Paul has ever ever has been. You know, he's at Act seventeen, He's at Mars Hill, and he just can't sit there and wait for his friends. He feels completely compelled to go tell people about Jesus. He is so driven by his mission. God has called him to preach the gospel and bring it to those who are not of the Jewish faith, who are lost and wandering and don't know Him. And so I try to think of like people in our church, because you know, you and I were pastors, and we live in church world, and so we live around you know, people who attend to our churches, who volunteer with us. You know a lot of them are staff, most of them are not. But it's the people who get it that I love the most. Right, So every time that I stand in a place where there's like key volunteers, like for instance, a lot of times, what we'll do is we'll pray with all the people who show up in the morning, and we'll gather like in a little circle and we'll pray, and usually I feel this and I share this in those moments, or sometimes we'll do like a volunteer celebration kind of a thing or a volunteer training where you know where the crowd is, specifically people who are on mission with you. And I always say the same thing. And here's what I say. I say, you are my favorite people. And it's the truth, because anybody who has that kind of desire, yeah, and who says, listen, I don't care what kind of song you're singing. I don't care you know how many chairs need to be set up. I don't care what needs to happen or in the parking lot or with coffee. I'm just going to do everything I can so that everybody here can hear about Jesus and come to know Jesus. And so I always say you're my favorite group of people. And here's where I honestly believe. And this is my last point. I wrap this thought up in that. So one day I'm going to retire from ministry, right, and we're going to be older than we are. Almost that old. Gonna say we're getting old, yeah, but we're. Gonna be older than we are, and we're going to stop being in ministry full time. When we look back, I. Think for me, it may not be for everybody, but for me, like, yeah, sure, building a building and opening up was great. I had that experience having an experience where almost six thousand people showed up. To my event. I had that experience, you. Know, creating great moments of you know, like Freedom Hill, you know where we have you know, one hundred and seventy four people baptized at one time. You know, twenty five hundred people show up. That's a great event. I don't think that those are the things that I'm going to be most grateful for. I'll remember them, of course, but I'm going to be the most grateful for the volunteers who get it every day when they get up and they they're on mission with you, and every day we're able to look at everything, you know, we look at the stats, you know, and we say, look at how many people showed up, and look how many people trust in Christ, and look how many people got connected and if taken the next step, and we sort of measure the movement of Christ, all of it, every bit of it is with people who have that kind of resolve. Yea, and I just and I think they're my favorite people. Yep, I agree one hundred percent with you. So then another thought in here as we kind of start coming to the wrap up, is Paul is not. Just arguing his emotion. He's appealing to the fat right. He says, literally what verse twenty six he tells Herod, these things didn't happen in a corner? Right, Right, while Paul's talking, this is what fifty eight fifty nine a D. People were still alive that were there when Jesus died, when he resurrected Jesus, there were people that were still alive that had seen Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead. Right, these things weren't done in a corner, were they? Agrippa? Right, he's being gentle and kind, most excellent King Agrippa. But he's saying these things didn't happen in a corner. And one of the things I love is, this is not just an idea, This is not just an ideology, This is not. Just a philosophy. That's all the world has to work with. They only have their ideologies and their opinions and their philosophies. But what we have is we have a real story rooted in history, with actual people and actual events that Herod did not argue against didn't argue against the resurrection. So while Festus goes, I don't know, this is something about their religion, some guy that he claims resurrected from the dead name Jesus, he turns to Herod and goes, you know these things are true, and Herod doesn't go, no, those are all a lie, right, right, So then when Herod goes, you've almost persuaded me. I think that was more of a sarcastic blowoff than it was a actual thing. But Herod is not arguing that they did not happen, right, And what's great about it is when we read a guy like Luke who's so detailed in his history and he's dealing with real people in real history, it should strengthen our faith to know that there's so much more substance to what we believe than having it just be some interesting philosophical angle that we're trying to take on how to live our life. Right, that this is real, rooted in real history, with real people, with a real savior who really did rise from the dead, and even the most powerful king at that time in that region, went that's true. That he didn't argue, that's great, that's that's a really cool thing. We should walk our days, walk through our day today with confidence that what we believe is true. Oh, that is a great place to end. And hopefully we'll see you next time on the Bible guys. H m hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm