followHIM - Acts 22-28 Part 1 • Dr. Scott Woodward • July 31 - Aug. 6

Episode Date: July 26, 2023

How do we continue to share the gospel with “good cheer” amidst opposition? Dr. Scott Woodward explores the opposition facing Paul as he takes the gospel to the known world.00:00 Part 1–Dr. Scott Woodward01:11 Introduction of Dr. Scott Woodward02:52 Background to Acts 22-2805:17 Cutting a covenant–old and new07:20 The blood of the new covenant08:45 Paul working with the Gentiles and the Jews11:09 God is God of the whole earth13:29 Temple veil was torn 14:28 Paul’s separate journeys16:49 Acts 20:22 Paul returns to Jerusalem18:16 Paul gives report in Jerusalem20:51 The Law of Moses has been as a school master21:48 Becoming a servant and messenger for Christ24:30 Paul was completely misunderstood29:34 Paul’s work at the temple was also misunderstood31:42 Violence and mob mentality32:32 Making choices34:42 Paul addresses rumors37:46 Paul reminds the crowd he had authority to persecute Jews but met Jesus39:50 They desire to scourging of Paul41:39 The fruits of the Spirit42:42 Paul rebukes them 44:47 Paul is sent to Felix and Caesarea 48:58 “Be of good cheer”50:58 Paul speaks for himself in front of Felix53:10 Paul is under house arrest and Festus replaces Felix56:40 Paul appeals his case to Caesar58:52 Paul speaks to Herod Agrippa1:07:14 Paul’s testimony is effective to many 1:09:29 Translation differences in Agrippa’s response1:13:15 End of Part 1–Dr. Scott WoodwardPlease rate and review the podcast.Show Notes (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese): https://followhim.coFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followhimpodcastYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/FollowHimOfficialChannelThanks to the followHIM team:Shannon Sorensen: Executive Producer, SponsorDavid & Verla Sorensen: SponsorsDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: Marketing, SponsorLisa Spice: Client Relations, Editor, Show NotesJamie Neilson: Social Media, Graphic DesignAnnabelle Sorensen: Creative Project ManagerWill Stoughton: Video EditorKrystal Roberts: Translation Team, English & French Transcripts, WebsiteAriel Cuadra: Spanish Transcripts"Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com/products/let-zion-in-her-beauty-rise-piano

Hello, my friends. Welcome to another episode of Follow Him. My name is Hank Smith, and I'm here with the legendary John, by the way. Hello, John. Hi, Hank. The last few weeks, we've been studying the Apostle Paul. I have personally benefited so much from this study, John. How have the last couple of weeks been for you? Yeah, I love that too. I mentioned this before, but we talk about the desire to be an instrument in the Lord's hands. And Paul is like a Swiss army knife. He could go anywhere, talk to anybody. He could talk differently with different groups. He's awesome. And it's fun to watch what he does and what he says. Yeah. Yep. Absolutely right. Joining us today is Dr. Scott Woodward. Scott, how can the church benefit from studying the life of the Apostle Paul? Paul is, I think, the epitome of a disciple of Jesus Christ, intrepid, undaunted, knows the Lord's will and is willing to do it at all costs. I think his example is actually kind of intimidating to me, but inspiring at the same time, if that makes sense.

Scott, we're so happy to have you back on the program. It's been a couple of years. John, can you introduce Scott again to everyone? Yes, we had Scott with us when we were doing the Doctrine and Covenants, and we had some really great episodes with Scott. Scott Woodward graduated with his PhD in Instructional psychology and technology from BYU. He's been teaching professionally in the church educational system for nearly two decades, including seminaries and institutes, BYU religious education. And he's currently a member of the BYU Idaho religion faculty. He is currently a managing director of Scripture Central.

I hope everybody has looked and explored and you could spend hours on that site. So helpful. And also I want to mention that Scott Woodward and Casey Griffiths have a podcast they do together called Church History Matters. It's awesome. They attempt to answer the hardest questions in church history. And you can trust these guys. They're faithful Latter-day Saints. You'll be edified and enriched and informed by looking at that. So we're really glad to have you back, Scott. Thanks for joining us. Thanks, John.

It's good to be here with you and Hank. This is a blast for me. I gotta just tell everyone, if you weren't with us in our Doctrine and Covenants year, if you don't know how to go find this, you can find it on our website, followhim.co, followhim.co,

and look at Doctrine and Covenants 18 and 19. Go look at those two episodes, those two, part one and part two. They were life-changing for me. They really were. Okay, Scott, we are in the last chapters of Acts today, Acts 22 through 28. I think we're going to spend our time talking about Paul, aren't we? I think so. I think that's what Luke wants us to do.

That's how he's written the book. So I think we need to do that today. Is Paul the only one mentioned almost in this book? Let me read something from the manual. I'll turn it over to you. The Come Follow Me manual says this, when we are on the Lord's errand, President Thomas S. Monson promised, we are entitled to the Lord's help. We are not entitled, however, to a smooth road and an endless stream of success. For proof of this, we need to look no further than Paul the Apostle. His errand from the Savior was to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and children of Israel. In these chapters, we see Paul fulfilling this errand, but facing great opposition, chains, imprisonment, physical abuse, shipwreck, and even a snake attack. But we also see that

Jesus stood by him and said, be of good cheer. With that, let's turn it over to you, Scott. Do you want to give us a little background before we jump in? The section that we're looking at today, chapters 22 through 28, fit in the third part of a three-part kind of division of the book of Acts. And this division is actually right in the very first chapter of Acts. If you kind of think about Acts as a three-part structure outlined in verse eight of chapter one, this is Jesus right before he ascends. He says to his apostles the following, he says, I'm quoting's Acts chapter 1 through 7. Then he says in all Judea and Samaria, that's Acts chapter one through seven. Then he says in all Judea and Samaria, that's

Acts chapter eight and nine. And then he says unto all the world, that's chapters 10 through 28, all the way to the end. So really what Luke is trying to show us here, Luke is the author here of both Acts and the book of Luke traditionally. And so Luke is actually doing a two-part thing here. And he wants to show us eventually how the gospel is going to go out to all the world. That's the big announcement, right? This is not just an Old Testament people thing anymore. This isn't just for the bloodlines of Israel anymore. This is for everybody. And the apostle Paul is going to play the major role in that third part to take this to all the world. I've heard it said before that Jesus is the message and Paul is the messenger.

It's almost how Luke set it up. Here's the message. Here's the messenger. He's going to take it to all the world. I like that. That's a fantastic way of saying it. There's so many growing pains that are happening during the book of Acts that Luke is showing us, and the Apostle Paul's

letters are just dripping with these growing pains of transitioning from the old covenant to the new covenant. And the old covenant, maybe it needs a little clarification. This is what happens with Israel, right? In Exodus 24, when the house of Israel were emancipated from, redeemed from Egypt, we come down to Mount Sinai and at Mount Sinai, the Lord says, I brought you here because I want you to become my covenant people. And here would be the terms and conditions. And he lays out the 10 commandments along with some other judgments. And he says, what do you think? And Moses actually approaches the people and says, are you willing to do this? And they say, yes. And he says, well, let's show it through the blood of the covenant. That's what he calls it, the blood of the covenant.

They cut some oxen, they drain the blood, half the blood goes on the altar representing God, half the blood goes on the people representing themselves, and the blood kind of binds them to God. And through the blood of the covenant, they are now God's covenant people. And that's referred to from the New Testament perspective as the old covenant. It's the old covenant God made with his people. It wasn't the old covenant then. They weren't like, oh, I'm glad we- No, it was just the covenant. Exactly. No, it was just, we are God's covenant people.

Yeah. Who was God's covenant people? It was the house of Israel. It was the seed of Abraham who had been promised, right? Abraham had been promised that God would raise up a nation from his seed. And through that nation, he would bless all the nations of the who had been promised, right? Abraham had been promised that God would raise up a nation from his seed. And through that nation, he would bless all the nations of the earth. It's a very slow centuries, millennia long process for God to eventually fulfill that promise. And the whole message kind of gets murky in the middle about exactly what are we supposed

to do? How are we supposed to bless all the nations, right? But then along comes this Israelite named Jesus who embodies all of Israel, who is actually the son of David, the Davidic king, fulfilling part of the Davidic covenant that Messiah, the anointed one would come through David's line and that he would rule over the house of Israel. And somehow he would rule over the whole world. In the middle of all of that, when Jesus comes, New Testament authors are trying to show us this transition from Old Covenant people to New Covenant people. That's where we get the names Old Testament, New Testament. And in Luke 22, for instance, when Jesus introduces what we call the

sacrament during the Passover, he says, behold, the blood of the New Covenant in some translations. In the KJV, I think he says the blood of the New Testament, or this is the New Testament in my blood. The only two times that phrase blood of the covenant shows up is Exodus 24. And when Jesus is introducing the new covenant at the Passover, essentially saying at my death, there's going to be a new arrangement. At my death, what it means to be my people is going to shift and to change. At my death, and he doesn't explain all this all at once. We have to pick this up over time and Paul's going to help us out a lot. But essentially at my death, there's a new blood that's been shed that's now going to open the way for all mankind, all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people to come

into the family of Israel. So the growing pains in the book of Acts and the letters of Paul that he's trying to work out is what does that look like for a people who have always been God's people, the house of Israel, who are now supposed to open the doors to Gentiles, other nations to come in. And the book of Acts is showing us these growing pains. For instance, in Acts 10, we see the president of the church wrestling with this, Peter, as he has that groundbreaking impression in Acts 10, where he says, I finally realized that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation, those who work righteousness are accepted of him. That's with Cornelius.

Yeah, Cornelius becomes the very first Gentile to become part of the house of Israel without having to first become a Jew. This is a season, basically the season becomes the very first Gentile to become part of the house of Israel without having to first become a Jew. This is a season, basically the season of the new covenant is the season of radical inclusion. And this is such a difficult mental shift for many Jewish Christians to make, to invite the Gentiles into the family of Israel, to become heirs of all the promises made to the ancient covenant fathers. For some Jewish Christians, that inclusion of Gentiles into their promises felt like an intrusion into a place that they should not be. At the temple precinct, there's like this wall, like the Gentile wall,

like no Gentile shall pass this spot. Gentiles could hang out in the outer court, but they could not pass, like a literal barrier. And Paul and others are certain, Paul's the best, but others are trying to say that barrier has been broken. And Jesus is inviting all in because of the shedding of his blood. Many Jewish Christians were trying to get on board with this and others were struggling pretty bad.

Acts 15 dealt with the troubling question of what ought to be expected of a baptized Gentile. Okay, let's say the Gentiles can come into the family of Israel. So now what? Does that mean they need to take on all the obligations of the law of Moses? Do they need to be circumcised? They need to start living kosher laws? Yeah. Celebrate all the holidays, Yom Kippur and Passover and everything. Like exactly how Jewish does a Gentile convert need to be? And that's what they wrestled with back and forth. And if you are a Gentile convert, does that mean you're kind of a second-class citizen in the house of Israel? Or are you an equal heir with all?

I don't think we can fully fathom how difficult this time period was. We don't have anything quite like this today. I mean, Christian unity has always been a challenge, but Christian unity was the greatest challenge the early church faced. How can two very different groups of people become one? That's part, I think, of what Paul meant in 1 Corinthians when he says that Christ's gospel is a stumbling block to Jews and it's foolishness to Gentiles. And how are we going to get that message in both hearts

and help bring those people together? So Saul was called to be the Lord's apostle to the Gentiles, specifically to try to help bridge this gap and heal that breach. Awesome. What a great summary. John, what do you got? What dawned on me as I'm reading this, just I know that in the ancient world, everybody had kind of their own gods in their country, in their community, in their region. And how interesting it would be for Paul to say, well, actually, the God of Israel is the God of the whole earth. And trying to send that message out. I know you've got all your gods.

I mean, going into Greece and seeing the pantheon of gods they have there and for Paul to have to go and actually Israel's God is God. It reminds me of the closing line in the Ten Commandments when Ramesses sits down with Nefertiti and says, Moses' God is God. It's this bum-bum-bum moment. And here's Paul saying, God of Israel is the God of the whole earth. And now, like you said beautifully, it has to go to the Gentiles, to the whole world now. This is the beginning of missionary work as we know it. There was no such thing as going out and trying to convert people. That wasn't even a thing until the season of the new covenant. You think about Matthew 10, Jesus calls his 12 apostles and then he commissions them to go out to the house of

Israel. He says, go out to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, but unto the Gentiles, yeah, do not go. Do not go there. Right now. What happens after his resurrection? Matthew 28, he says, now go to the whole world. What has changed? What has changed between Matthew 10 and Matthew 28? The shedding of Jesus's blood. That's what changed. There's a new blood of a new covenant. That's it. And now he's, he's wanting to invite everybody in. And Paul's going to deal with this over and over again in his letters, Galatians, Ephesians. Ephesians, he talks about Jesus through his death, breaking the barrier, the wall of partition

between Jews and Gentiles. And so we can all become fellow citizens in the family of God, not strangers and foreigners. God's trying to help us become one family. And this is the way, the surprising, shocking way that God had always planned all along that through Abraham's seed, especially Jesus, all the nations of the surprising, shocking way that God had always planned all along that through Abraham's seed, especially Jesus, all the nations of the earth will be blessed. And so Paul is trying to help everybody see that, both Jews and Gentiles, that this is what God meant all along. And it's up to us to now participate in that and work out the details.

Pete Yeah, that's the greatest part is here's what you're going to do. You work out the details. And that's where we get a lot of these letters, working out the details. Can we add to that the symbol of the veil of the temple being rent? You talked about that. This is also a symbol of, okay, now everyone. Yeah. It's not just one high priest once a year who can come into the Holy of Holies. Now, anybody can approach the throne of God boldly as the author of Hebrews will say, right? You can now boldly approach the throne of God, men and women, Jews and Gentiles. This is so radically inclusive, right? This is not like it's ever been done before. Nobody saw it coming quite this way. Isaiah prophesied about the light of God going out to the Gentiles, Israel,

their light blessing the Gentiles, but nobody thought that it was going to happen quite like this. And so that's what they're navigating in the first century, these apostles. Paul at the forefront. Love that phrase, radical inclusion. That's a great phrase. Keep going. From what I've read, Paul is going through the known world. He is covering some serious ground. That's right. Yeah, between Acts 13 and Acts 21, through those chapters, Paul goes on three separate journeys. You can go into your scripture maps.

You can see they're color-coded. There's some pictures. And you can see he goes on three different journeys with various companions on land and sea, spanning several years. I think he travels over 10,000 miles when you add those all up. And this isn't air miles. This is walking. Foot miles. Yeah, foot miles, ship miles.

He establishes at least 14 different Christian communities by preaching what he sometimes called the kingdom of God. That's what he called his message, the kingdom of God. That's what he's announcing. His typical pattern was always to go into a city, first into the Jewish synagogue, to announce to his fellow Jews that the good news that the messianic king that was promised in the Hebrew Bible was Jesus of Nazareth. Then he could always back it up with powerful historical, theological and scriptural arguments. He said he didn't come to supplant the Jewish hopes.

This Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled them. He fulfilled the promises. And then once he had either converted or offended as many Jews as possible, he would then switch his audience to be the Gentiles. And he would proclaim to them the good news that the one true God, like you were talking about, John, the one true God who happens to be the God of Israel had invited them to repent and join the kingdom of God and join his people. Now, this message was always inevitably by some people misunderstood, either Jews seeing it as like scandalous blasphemy on the one hand, or like a social threat to Gentiles on the other hand, because the very social stability of those people was built,

I'm talking about the Roman culture, was built on the worship of various Roman gods. To say there's only one true God and that their gods were not that true God was socially destabilizing. Yeah, could be bad for business. This is bad for business. Not to mention the claiming that a crucified man was risen from the dead and is now king of the world. That didn't always go over very well in Caesar's empire.

So sometimes they beat him. Sometimes they stoned him. Sometimes they imprisoned him. Sometimes they just ran him out of town. Different strokes for different folks. But that's how they reacted to Paul. Either they loved him or they hated him. Is that where we pick up then, Scott, in Acts 22? Is he towards the end of his life here? Yeah. So now we're at the end of the third journey. So in Acts chapter 20, at the end of

his third journey, he has this almost out of the blue insight, verse 22, where he just starts to announce, he says, I now go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that should befall me there. And it doesn't sound good. It doesn't bode well, but he says the spirit is urging him to go there. He had actually been collecting money from the various branches of the Gentiles to help meet the needs of some of their Jewish brothers and sisters back in Jerusalem. By the way, that's another angle. He's trying to foster unity between these two groups. He's raising money among the Gentiles to help some of the poor or afflicted in Jerusalem.

So maybe his original plan was to let somebody else carry the money and go back to Jerusalem. Because when he starts to announce that he's going to take the money, his friends start to flip out. They're shocked. And they say, you can't do that. You can't go. I even say in verse four of chapter 21, Luke writes that they said to Paul through the spirit that he should not go up to Jerusalem. So he's saying, the spirit's telling me to go to Jerusalem. They're saying, the spirit's telling me you shouldn't go to Jerusalem, right? Interesting, conflicting interpretations here. And then-

They don't want him to go because it's dangerous for him? It's dangerous for him, yeah. His reputation has preceded him. And we'll see actually when he ends up showing up in Jerusalem, let's go over to chapter 21. This is kind of setting up today's block. In chapter 21, when he shows up to Jerusalem, let's go over to verse 17. Maybe I'll read a little bit here. He says this, this is Luke recording. He says, and when we, we think the

we means Luke was with them. And when we were come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. And the day following, Paul went in with us unto James and all the elders were present. James seems to be kind of the presiding authority in Jerusalem. And when he, Paul, had saluted them, he declared particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry. Kind of his mission report, his ministry report here. That might take a while. This is going to take a while. Yeah. And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord and said unto him,

Wow, thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe and they are all zealous of the law. Meaning that's awesome what's been happening among the Gentiles. You probably noticed as you've come back to Jerusalem, there are a ton of Jews. There are a lot of Jews that believe, Jewish Christians. But that last line is actually a warning shot to Paul. He says, they are all zealous of the law. Zealous of the law. This idea means that they have righteous indignation for God's honor, for the unbreakable law of Moses. And there's been rumors. Verse 21 says, they are informed of thee. This is why it was dangerous for Paul to come back to Jerusalem. They are informed of thee that thou teachest all the Jews,

which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs. So this, Paul's in the doghouse. There's been rumors about him. They've been spreading about him by fellow believers. We've got to just try to capture this. These are Jewish Christians. These are people who've accepted Jesus as their Messiah, and they've

got it out for Paul because apparently, according to the rumor mill, he's been teaching people to forsake Moses. When he's out there teaching Jews in the synagogues among the Gentiles out in Ephesus or out in Corinth or whatever, he's basically telling them, you don't have to take Moses seriously. Now, is that accurate? No, that's not accurate. That or whatever. He's basically telling them, you don't have to take Moses seriously. Now, is that accurate? No, that's not accurate. That's not what he's been teaching them. But that's the scuttlebutt.

That's what's made it back to Jerusalem. And they're ticked. If they find him, they want to do him harm. Now, is there a kernel of truth here that he is saying the law of Moses is not as important as the new law now. That does seem to be a little bit of his message, or has that not been in anything he's taught? Well, he's saying something like this, if I could encapsulate. He's saying

that the law was useful as a schoolmaster, like he says in the Galatians letter, it was a schoolmaster to prepare us for Messiah to come. The Davidic son has come. The true seed of Abraham has come. And so we ought to rejoice. He's not destroying the law of Moses. He fulfilled it. He is the hope of Israel. He is everything we've been wanting and everything that has come before has been good. Everything that's come before has been right. It's been true. It's been from God. And now that Messiah has come, there is a new covenant. There is a new covenant with his people and it looks different. Yeah, that was a hard pill to swallow. And you can see how misunderstanding crept in right away.

And it basically gets to the point where people are saying he wants to destroy the Jewish way of life. Like Paul is the enemy. And he's successful. He's a successful missionary. He's having an impact. Incredibly. I'd like to maybe just pause here for a sec to think about this. What does it mean to be a servant of Christ and a messenger of Christ? And as we see with Paul, he was a victim of false assumptions. He's a victim of false assumptions. As Jesus' disciples, I think we can expect that to some degree or another. When some people learn that your convictions about Jesus and his

teachings disagree with something that they hold dear or conflicts with a lifestyle that they're committed to, as we see here, the Jewish way of living, that's when the defensive false assumptions come rushing in. It's a human tendency. We all do it. It's a psychological self-defense tactic to tell ourselves horrible stories about people we disagree with and who threaten our status quo and to ascribe to them the worst possible motives. This is what the Jewish believers are doing in Jerusalem. We would call them church members. It wasn't quite the way it's set up today, but these are church members who have it out

for an apostle who's teaching stuff they disagree with. Can we just let that sink in for a second? It's actually dangerous for him. They almost kill him. We're about to get to those verses, but they were angry with him. What do you guys want to say about that? This idea that as Jesus' disciples, misunderstanding about our motives, about where we're coming from. It's almost bound to happen. Have you experienced that? Is that something you feel is an accurate way of talking about followers of Christ? This kind of reminds me of the Book of Mormon,

when Jesus comes and tells them that the law of Moses is fulfilled, says they were astonished. Now, the Sermon on the Mount, they were astonished because of his doctrine. He taught with authority from God, not from the scribes. But in the Book of Mormon, they're astonished because of his doctrine. He taught with authority from God, not from the scribes. But in the Book of Mormon, they're astonished because, well, what's he doing with the law of Moses? And it's kind of that same shift of, whoa, so everything we've thought before, this is a whole new system. How do we do that?

And he had to keep telling him, I am he who delivered the law. I'm fulfilling the law. I'm not destroying it. And the prophets, those that haven't happened will yet happen. And it's interesting to see the same kind of thing, I think, in the new world. Do you see that? Exactly. Yeah.

Even Jesus was misunderstood. And I think, is it 35, 15? He says, I perceive that you're still wondering what I meant when I said all old things have been fulfilled and all things have become new. This is his reference to the new covenant. I perceive that you didn't understand when I said that back in chapter 12. Let me expound a little bit on that. It's hard as a messenger of God, as a servant, anyone who's ever tried it. It's hard to not be misunderstood, to try to teach the truth so clearly that you're not misunderstood, but also compassionately so people know you're not trying to wreck things that they hold dear.

Well said. Reminds me of the prophet Joseph Smith. All right. If you study his life, you know he's a great, good man. But still today, completely misunderstood by the world and sometimes purposely misunderstood. I know what you're saying, but I'm going to twist your words into something else. Yeah. Paul's trying to destroy our whole Jewish way of life, right? That's kind of how it comes out. Like he is the worst. I think we, you know, maybe to broach a sensitive topic, we see this

pretty commonly today surrounding like LGBT issues. Modern apostles and Jesus' followers today often just take it right in the teeth when it comes to LGBT issues. You hold up man-woman marriage as the only God-ordained way of marriage, however humbly you approach it, however thoughtfully, gently, and sincerely, and watch out. Some are not going to be able to resist hurling terms like homophobic or hateful bigot or anti-love or whatever. Even if you're an apostle, nobody's exempt from the hate machine here. Assumptions will be made and accusations will be leveled. On the other hand, though, I also notice it the other way that as efforts are made by Christ's followers, including his apostles today. Sometimes accusations come from

the other direction within the church about caving under pressure, stuff like that, right? We've just got to learn to slow down and challenge our initial assumptions about each other, listen to each other in love, right? The point I'm making here though is just as a follower of Jesus, prepare to be misunderstood, prepare to be misrepresented. It's bound to happen. So prepare to forgive a lot. You're going to have a lot of opportunity to forgive. Paul knew that firsthand. Jesus will say, blessed are those who are persecuted for my name's sake.

Like, it's going to happen. It's part of the Beatitudes. Not even eloquent, powerful Paul, who was such a good speaker and writer and explainer. And not even he could avoid being misunderstood with his words so I like what you've taught us here Scott and I noticed my thoughts directly going to yes I am misunderstood sometimes yes my words are deliberately twisted but then as I stopped for a second you said stop and probably the better lesson is when do I do that to others? When do I deliberately misunderstand or when do I jump to a conclusion and fall victim

to, what do they say? They are informed of thee. Who is informing? Where did I get the message? Maybe the message is wrong. Maybe what I've heard isn't the real story. One of my good friends, Lynn Bowler, who's served in lots of church leadership, I've asked him, what has he learned? And he said, I've learned there's always two sides to every story. You'll hear one piece of it, and then you'll make a judgment on it. This is what's happening. And then you'll find out that the situation is a lot more complicated and nuanced than what you thought. Yeah. Instead of attacking Paul, maybe the thing is to go talk to Paul. Like, Paul, here's what I've heard. Help me, brother. Help clarify. Is this accurate? Are you trying to destroy the Jewish way of life? I heard it recently with President Oaks, just gave a talk about dating and I gave some tips about dating, kind of a pretty innocuous bit of counsel he's given before and people attacked him online. He was trying to encourage, I don't know, 1950s type marriage and dating type of standards or something. He's old fashioned and just kind of

went after him. But I thought, I don't know if he actually heard the talk. Maybe go back and listen to the talk. I just see it happening with the apostles today. And of course it hurts, but at also the same time, it's like, well, that's par for the course. That's what happens. Wasn't it Jesus himself, the community discourse, Matthew 18, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. So often when someone offends us, we talk to everyone except that person, right? We talk to every other person there is,

but the Lord is saying, go talk to them. And he says, and if he will hear thee, meaning if, I think if you come to an understanding, you've gained a brother. In this story, that's not what they do. That's what you should do, but that's not what they did. They're followers of Jesus, sort of, right? And that's how we all kind of are. We're followers of Jesus, sort of. We sometimes mess this up. We don't always do what Jesus just said there to go to the person between them and us alone. And in this case, the Jerusalem apostles saw the writing on the wall. They knew it was going to happen. They were trying to stop this from happening. So they actually give them really good advice. They say, how about this?

Go to the temple. What's more Jewish than the temple? Shave your head as a vow, like the vow they would take in Numbers chapter six, a very love Moses vow. Take these four Jews with you, pay for them for their passage into the temple and pay all the things that need to be paid to do that.

Go in there, pray, meditate, do like the most Jewish stuff. It's like so love Moses-y. And let's see, cross our fingers if that works. Well, let's turn the page. And that doesn't work. Seven days of that were going on, of this days of purification. It's kind of a way you could like dedicate and devote yourself to God, like a more deep kind of a temporary form of purification. It's kind of a way you could like dedicate and devote yourself to God, like a more deep kind of a temporary form of purification. And when the seven days were

almost ended, verse 27 says, the Jews, which were of Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the people and laid hands on him, crying out, men of Israel, men of Israel, help. This is the man that teacheth all men everywhere against the people and the law and this place, the temple. Like he's in the temple worshiping. Like, here's the guy that's against the temple. Here's the guy. Look, he also brought four Greeks also into the temple and polluted his holy place. He didn't bring four Greeks.

Those were all straight up Jewish guys. But here they go, twisting, distorting to fit their message. All the city, verse 30, was moved and the people ran together. They took Paul. They drew him out of the temple and forthwith the doors were shut. And as they went about to kill him, then the chief captain of the Romans come out

and they break it up and they get soldiers to surround him and they start taking him up the stairs and bind him in chains to see what he had done. But holy smokes. How about that reaction? That is intense from believers. Believers who fomented this about,

and it seems like other Jews are getting involved too, that maybe aren't believers, right? Jews, which were of Asia and kind of everyone in the area, like this guy, he's defiling the temple. He's defiling our way of life. It's just not accurate. They don't have their facts right. So it's really unfortunate.

Anyway, human tendency, we've got to fight against that. Yeah. And the mob mentality there is real. Where was Paul when it said they all came together and most of them didn't even know why they were? Oh, in Ephesus. Yeah. Some said this and some said that and some didn't even know why they were there. Yeah.

Let's go chant something. This will be right yeah grab him get him what do you do i don't know but he must be a bad guy i don't know if he wasn't a bad guy why people be saying mean things about it yeah therefore i'm seeing this chapter in a new light here scott with this they've got their story wrong usually we act angrily or violently against people when we believe the false stories that we tell ourselves about them. Usually the truth is much softer. Usually the truth will bring about compassion, not this kind of reaction.

It's just a human thing. We've got to work on that. All of us do. I feel it myself. I got to check myself. Is that the real story though? I got to go deeper into this. What's your source? Sometimes that's deeper into this. What's your source?

Sometimes that's a good question. What's your source on that? Let me know where you're getting this information. From what I've heard of Paul, he doesn't seem like the kind of guy that wants to destroy the Jewish way of life. But tell me more about it. Where are you getting that information? Yeah. Reminds me of the Book of Mormon.

The Book of Mormon is one of the only books you can have a very strong opinion about without having read it. Without reading it. You can hate that book and never have read it, never have looked into it actually to see what it says. There was an article in the church news about the new For the Strength of Youth, A Guide for Making Choices. I love that it's the only one of all that have ever been published of the For the Strength of Youth pamphlets that has a subtitle, A Guide for Making Choices. It's like, you're going to make this choice. You're going to hear him and you're going to let God prevail. But there was an article in the church news about one kid

that was like, hey, dad, it now says tattoos are okay. And the dad's like, who said that? President Uchtdorf. Did you actually read that talk? And he said, I knew he hadn't because that was a Saturday session. We weren't there or something. But then you read the talk. No, you're taking a false assumption. You're going way too far. What did he actually say? The idea was, now go read the whole thing.

Boy, I just love the emphasis of President Nelson. We all have to learn to hear him and then let God prevail. And that takes, like you said, Scott, there's a little bit of patience and stepping back and saying, wait a minute, let me make sure I understand what's really happening here from the best sources. And then let me get on my knees. And usually there's a softening that happens when we do that. Yeah, almost always for me that happens. There's that softening. Yes. I don't know if you

guys have ever heard of anyone stereotyping and labeling people who don't believe what they believe politically. It used to happen. I've never heard that. Yeah. I've never heard that. It used to happen. Elder Oaks talked about that too, right? Yeah. And church over and over and over. President Hinckley said, we must work harder to build mutual respect and attitude of forbearance with tolerance one for another, regardless of the doctrines and philosophies which we may espouse. Concerning these, you and I may disagree, but we can do so with respect and civility. That would have been a softening there. That would have happened in Acts 21. Oh yeah, which isn't even part of our block yet. Imagine if they would have said, hey, Paul, we heard this. Can you clarify? Just imagine how different that is. Hey, Paul, we heard this, this, this. What did you actually say and how different that would be?

Exactly. All of this is backstory to where we want to go today. Sorry, this is a really long backstory, but Acts 22 through 28 is our block. But what's interesting is Acts 22 starts out with a speech. It starts out, men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defense, which I now make unto you. You need chapter 21 to even know what's going on. You just go back a few verses there in the end of chapter 21. Paul actually asked permission of the Roman guard. He says, can I speak to these people?

The Roman guard's surprised that he can speak like perfect, intelligent Greek. And he's like, oh, you speak Greek? Sure. And then by the way, verse 38, just for fun. He's like, aren't you like Egyptian guy that led like an uproar and led 4,000 men who were murderers? Like the Roman guard's got a weird story about Paul. He's like, are you that guy? He's like, no, I'm not that guy. Verse 39, he's like, no, I'm a Jew of Tarsus from Cilicia. What the heck? What are people saying about Paul? He's so misunderstood, so maligned.

Yeah, Joseph Smith is probably a good equivalent to this or close, right? The stories people say about Joseph. But the guard says, okay, go ahead. Yeah, you can talk to these people. So he turns and he speaks to them in perfect Aramaic. And the people are stunned that he can speak Aramaic. Quiet down. Let's listen to this guy. That's verse two of chapter 22. When they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence. And then he tries to do what we've been talking about. He's trying to help them understand his perspective, trying to understand where he's coming from. There's clearly misunderstanding. I'll go kind of quickly.

I'll jump through some of these verses, but verse three introduces his background. I'm a Jew, guys. I'm a Jew. I was actually brought up here. I'm from Tarsus, but I came to this city and I learned at the feet of Gamaliel, one of the greatest scripture teachers of the law

that there is. And then he says at the end of verse three, he says, I was zealous toward God as ye all are this day. That word zealous, again, that's a loaded word. That means he was this willing to defend to the death. I don't know if you remember his backstory, but that's what he brings up. Verse four is like, I persecuted this way. That's call christianity during this time this way i prefer the niv the way and it capitalizes it too that before it was called christianity it was called the way in acts 24 they're going to call it the way again instead of that way or this way that's it he reviews his story of how he like persecuted it unto the death binding and delivering people to prison,

men and women. He says, there's high priests right here in this crowd that can bear me witness and all the estate of the elders from whom I also received letters unto the brethren, right? I went to Damascus to bring them bound to Jerusalem to be punished. All these weirdos, all these people, I don't know if we could use the word Jesus freaks, that's come up before, but this idea of like all these Jesus freaks they're just twisting the law, twisting the way, twisting the true meaning of the law of Moses, right? Going after this executed criminal, such weirdos. And this has to stop because they are polluting the purity of our way of life, of the Jewish way of life. Yeah, he's almost like he's saying, I was just like you.

In fact, I was really good at this. Yeah. I probably was better at this than you. Because he's dropping names, verse five. He's like high priest, the elders. I had official letters to do this. You guys are kind of this mob that's just formed. But I did this almost professionally. Yeah. I was legit at this. And then he said the only thing that changed the thing that changed for me was i actually met jesus and this is one of the accounts where so he has three times in the book of acts that the story of paul's conversion is told the first is told by luke in acts chapter 9 the next two are told by Paul personally. We get it straight from his mouth here in 22. He talks in verse 7 about falling to the ground, the question, the piercing question, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Who art thou, Lord? He says, I'm Jesus of Nazareth,

whom thou persecutest. You're deliberately trying to persecute my way. And they that were with me saw the light. They were afraid. They didn't hear the voice but i asked what should i do he said get up go to damascus and you'll know what to do when you get there talks about ananias anyway the whole story he tells the story again and he says that's what changed for me and the people are still listening they're not yelling anything at him during this time he said i persecuted this way because i didn't understand i misunderstood i had some false assumptions about the Jesus way. And when I met Jesus personally, that changed everything for me. But then here's the problem.

Go down to verse 21. And he, Jesus, said unto me, depart, for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles. As soon as he says the G word, look at the next verse. And they gave him audience unto this word. They were listening to that word. Once he said Gentiles, they then lifted up their voices and said, away with such a fellow from the earth, for it is not fit that he should live. I mean, come on, we could disagree with each other, but we really have to. And he doesn't even say anything about it. It's just the Lord told me to go among the Gentiles. That's it. So all the stories are true. So everything we've heard about you is

true. Yeah. They just upload all those assumptions away with this fellow. They even cry out verse 23. They start ripping their clothes, throw dust into the air and all these Jewish forms of mourning or exasperation. And the guard's like, okay, we're done here. Takes him into the castle. They say, let's find out the truth about this guy by scourging him. We're going to, that's what they would do back in the day. Beat the truth out of people. They felt like it wasn't authentic

unless you were bleeding. That's as odd to us as it was normal to them. We had Dr. Jack Welch with us and he said, that's how they knew if someone was telling the truth. If they tell something and then they beat them and they held to their story, okay. It's the worst. Tough days to live in.

Yeah. Yeah. So as they tie him up, they're ready to flagellate him. He just asked a little question. This is one of the aces he had up his sleeve. He says, oh, by the way, is it lawful for you to scourge a man that's a Roman? I love this. Uncondemned?

Yeah. And they're like Uncondemned. Yeah. And they're like, oh, shoot, right? He dropped the Roman citizen card. The centurion. And then he goes and consults with the centurion. He's like, hey, did you know this guy's a Roman? He's like, no, what? Yeah, they come back and he says, is that true?

He says, it is. And they had ways of knowing back then. They had this thing called, I think it was called a diploma, actually. A little brass thing that showed that you were a citizen of Rome. And I don't know if he had that on his person at somewhere, if he just kind of pulled it out from underneath his tunic or whatever, but they believed him to the point where they said, well, we're going to do this a different way then. Tomorrow, we're going to assemble the council and the leaders of the Jews, the Sanhedrin, and We'll let them examine you concerning this matter. And so he avoided the flogging right there. How many times has he kind of repeated this story of this is what happened to me?

Three times in the book of Acts, one's by Luke and then the other two, yeah, they're by Paul himself. I love it because it's kind of, this is how I got to where I am. And I love verse 15, thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast. I love these words. It's not just what thou has felt, what thou has seen and heard. I was just over here looking at all the Book of Mormon references for the missionaries talking about, it's not what they feel, but what they have seen and heard and offering kind of evidences of the gospel. So I like that. It's not just our feelings. We have seen and heard things. We've seen the fruits of the gospel in our lives and in the lives of others.

And that's all part of our testimony along with our feelings. Scott, so far, what I'm hearing is that Paul comes back to Jerusalem. People didn't want him to go back to Jerusalem because they thought it was dangerous for him. Turns out they were right. It is dangerous for him. And this mob takes him and then the Romans grab him. They find out he's a Roman citizen. So they're like, all right, we'll set up a meeting for tomorrow with you and the leaders of the Jews. Did I get the story right?

And that's where chapter 23 comes. 23 picks up paul stands before them and he announces this verse one he says men and brethren i have lived in all good conscience before god until this day and he gets punched in the mouth right after saying that like bam verse two right in the mouth and he's like whoa and then paul he does react a little on this one verse three he's like whoa god shall smite thee that whited wall for sin is thou to judge me after the law and command is me to be smitten contrary to the law you hypocrite so the guy's like hey revilest thou god's high priest because god's high priest ananias he's

the one that told the guy to hit him in the mouth. And he's like, oh, shoot. I wist not. I knew not, brethren, that he was the high priest, for it is written, thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people. I apologize. Wow. Blood trickling down his lips. He's like, sorry about that. He only says one more thing.

He kind of reads his audience, notices part are Pharisees, part are Sadducees. Brilliant. What he does here. He says, men and brethren verse six i am a pharisee which is totally true the son of a pharisee of the hope and resurrection of the dead i am called in question and because the sadducees don't believe in the resurrection luke explains in verse a they don't believe in angels or spirits or that your spirit becomes like something after you die. But the Pharisees did. He now wins a good part of the room. We're not sure what the breakup is, what percentages are Pharisee and what Sadducee, but immediately all the Pharisees come to his side and they're like, you know,

he's not so bad. We find no evil in this man, verse nine. So Paul knew how to work a room. He knew a little bit about party politics here a little bit, but that's actually going to be a consistent defense he's going to put up. He's going to be like, listen, I haven't said anything against the law. I'm only here because I believe in the hope of the resurrection because I met Jesus. And I know that that's real. I know the resurrection's true. And that's the only thing people have against me. He's going to bring that up over and over again at each of his defenses. This is the first time he's going to have four defenses. This is his first. And it goes bad that day. The Romans that are watching that go on, they're going to tear him in pieces. They say the Sadducees are going to grab him,

the Pharisees are going to rip him in half. And so the Romans intercede again. They're like, all right, get back here. Let's just put you in solitary confinement here. So he is forced away, verse 11, that night, the Lord stands by him and says, this is a really important verse, be of good cheer, Paul, for as thou has testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome. So this is a major moment, a major promise, because this is a key point that Luke wants to tell in the stories. How does the gospel go to the whole world?

And Rome is at the center of the world. It's not the uttermost edge, it's the centerpiece. And if you go to Rome and from Rome, let the message go out from there, you could reach the whole known world. I mean, Spain is about as far west as they understand the known world to be. The Lord's calling him here and promising, you're going to go to Rome. It wasn't frightening when he learned the next day from his little nephew that there was a plot by many Jews who'd sworn they would never eat or drink again until they killed Paul. He wasn't really bothered by that. He just told his nephew to go tell the Roman captain who then is able to avert that tragedy. He actually decides to send him to Caesarea, where he's going to be out of the hotbed of Jewish hostility, go to Caesarea. Caesarea is kind of the headquarters of Roman rule in that part of the world.

Yeah. Right on the coast there. Right on the coast. It was a strategic location for that, right? Why don't you take a second and differentiate Caesarea from Caesarea Philippi? Because that, before I actually went there, that's what my mind got confused. Because if your name is Caesar, you can name a bunch of cities after yourself. That's right. So there's a few Caesareas. There's Caesarea that's here just north of Jerusalem. And then there's a Caesarea way up north, right? The Caesarea Philippi. It's kind of, they're naming a lot of places after Caesar, kind of like we did in America with Washington. We have Washington state, we have Washington DC. You can do it in multiple ways.

It's from Washington County, right, Hank? Washington County. That's right. This is just that. So this Caesarea is the Caesarea right by the coast, north, what, like 30 something miles or so from Jerusalem. It's a great strategic location because from there they can receive and dispatch emissaries from the Roman empire and they can kind of send news to Rome and they can receive news and that kind of thing. And so, Caesarea is just a nice port city that makes sense. And so, that's where the Roman governor at that time is and his name is Felix. Paul is sent off to Felix. So, the Romans are trying to protect Paul, it sounds like.

That's right. Maybe Luke's doing that in a fun little twist of irony here, right? That God's people, ancient Israel, now, right, with all that history behind them, now when the true, when the good news comes to them fully about Jesus Christ, and not just that some of them haven't received Jesus because they have, but to see the full effect of where this has all been meaning to go the whole time, that God actually wants to take this to the whole world. Like that becomes such a stumbling block to use Paul's word to the Jews. And so what's God going to do?

He's going to use Gentiles. He's going to use Gentiles. He's going to share with the Gentiles more fully. But in this story, Luke's highlighting some of the positive traits of some of the Gentiles, right? This is sometimes Luke gets accused of overdoing it. I don't think that's true. I think he shows plenty of flaws in the Gentiles, but he doesn't back away. If they do a positive thing, he'll let you know. This is one of those things. They are protecting Paul from his own people. Paul keeps saying over and over again, I'm a Jew. I was like you. I

understand where you're coming from, but listen. But they won't listen. And so, yeah, the Romans are protecting him probably because he's a Roman citizen. Once he said that, once he used that card, they have been especially careful to protect him. He gets to go to a place where Roman citizens would be judged, which is the seat of government in that area off to Caesarea. And so that's why he goes there and meets Felix. So when he gets to Felix, Felix doesn't quite know what to do with him. He wants to listen to Paul and he does. And Paul explains himself to Felix.

Felix doesn't see anything worthy of death. That's what he says. Yes, you've done nothing worthy of death. Scott, before we go any further, I don't want to miss just a little opportunity in verse 11. The Lord stood by him and said, be of good cheer. I think Paul might look at the Lord and go, have you been watching the last few days here? Be of good cheer? You want me to be happy about this? This is Elder Neal A. Maxwell. He talks about the Savior telling the apostles the night before he dies, be of good cheer. And he says,

because Christ had overcome the world, the atonement was about to be accomplished. Death was irrevocably defeated. Satan failed to stop the unfolding plan of salvation. All mankind would be given, through the grace of God, immortality. These were among the resplendent realities and the fundamental facts which justified the twelve's being of good cheer, not their grim temporary circumstances. The precious perspectives of the gospel give to us this gospel gladness. It was the same on another occasion. The resurrected Jesus stood by the imprisoned Paul, instructing Paul to be of good cheer. Once again, the circumstances of the moment included Paul's

having been struck publicly on the mouth, 40 individuals plotting his death, and a trial for sedition. Why, therefore, should he be of good cheer? Because, Jesus announced, though in bad circumstances, Paul would soon take the good news of the gospel to Rome. He then talks about how this happened in 3 Nephi 1, how it happened to the prophet Joseph Smith. And then he says, what precious perspective we obtained from the gospel of Jesus Christ concerning things that really matter, against which we measure the disappointments of the day. I think what Elder Maxwell is getting to, he said it a lot more eloquently than I can, that these great big truths of the atonement and the resurrection can really put bad days,

bad times in their proper perspective. Wow. Great insight. Scott, take us to what happens next in Caesarea. Great. Yeah. So they go to Caesarea where Paul meets Felix, the governor who's there. This is the place where Roman citizens ought to be tried. And plenty of Jews

follow from Jerusalem to come up and accuse Paul in front of the Roman governor. And they go on waxing eloquent about what they felt like was the problems. In fact, they even hire a certain orator, verse one says, of chapter 24 named Tertullus. Basically, he's a lawyer who informs the governor against Paul, basically summarizes the case of the Jews against Paul. Paul is then allowed to dispute them. And he says in verse 10, to cheerfully answer for myself. And he tells his story, basically refuting each of the points that were brought up then in verse like 14 and 15 he says but this i do confess unto thee here's what i'm guilty of

that after the way there it is again john after the way which they call heresy so worship i the god of my fathers believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets i am guilty of worshiping in the way which was spoken of in the law and the prophets which has written in the law and in the prophets. I am guilty of worshiping in the way which was spoken of in the law and the prophets, which has come in fulfillment in Jesus. He goes on in verse 15 to say, and have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. And herein do I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense toward God and toward men. As Felix listens to him, long story short, he says, listen, I don't see any

problem with this guy. I don't see anything worthy of death, but he doesn't dare to let him go because he fears the Jews. He basically just keeps Paul there. Sometimes he brings his wife with him, who's Jewish. Verse 24 tells us her name's Drusilla. And so he's like, hey, you want to listen to this guy? So Paul would come and teach them about faith in Christ and righteousness and temperance and judgment. And sometimes Felix didn't like what he was hearing. Verse 25 says he would tremble. And he's like, well, go thy way for this time. When I have a convenience season, I'll call for thee again. He doesn't know that he's, Felix is trapped. Felix is kind of an unprincipled opportunist. He's waiting, we see in verse 26, for Paul to try to bribe him.

He wants Paul to bribe him. He says, if he gives me some money, I'll let him go. But he can't tell Paul that because that would be illegal. But Paul knows there's the wink, wink, nod, nod, hint, hint. And so Paul stays there. Verse 27 says, for two years. After two years of being in Felix's palace area, he basically, his term is over and this new guy comes, a new governor is put in place called Festus, Porcius Festus. Let me just stop for a second. I want you to think about that, that Paul was told back in Jerusalem by Jesus,

be of good cheer. I need you to go bear witness of me in Rome. He's like, awesome. Right, then he goes to Caesarea and nothing happens. He waits there. Two years, like, so what's Paul to do? What's Paul to do, right? I guess, wait, trust.

He doesn't see any opportunities yet, but Festus is gonna offer him one. Festus, this new governor, the new provincial governor over that area. When Festus comes into power, his first act is to go to Jerusalem because that's kind of the main group that he's kind of ruling over. He goes there to kind of see how things are with the Jews. What's the very first thing the Jews bring up to him? They're bitter still about Paul.

It's been two years. They're still upset. Yeah. They've got a little bee in their bonnet, little burr under their saddle, and it's named Paul. And they're concerned that Paul's up in Caesarea where they can't really get at him. So they're asking Festus to bring Paul to Jerusalem.

I think Festus saw the writing on the wall that they probably just wanted to waylay him and be done with him. And so he says, how about this? How about, why don't you guys come up to Caesarea? I want to hear the case. And so now here's Paul, his third defense. He's going to now have the accusation of the Jews against him. And now Festus wants to hear. He goes ahead and defends himself again. The Jews come up, he defends himself and Festus responds. And by the way, Luke is obviously summarizing a ton

of material. Like look in chapter 25, verse 8, he says, while he answered for himself, quote, neither against the law of the Jews, neither against the temple, nor yet against Caesar have I offended anything at all. Close quote. That's all Luke tells us that he said. Of course, Paul said way more than that. But Luke's just saying, listen, he defended himself kind of in typical fashion, but Festus, willing to do the Jews a pleasure, he said to Paul, Wilt thou go up to Jerusalem and there be judged of these things before me? And Paul said, listen, I stand at Caesar's judgment seat. He's a Roman citizen, right?

He knows his rights, where I ought to be judged. To the Jews have I done no wrong, as thou very well knowest, Festus. For if I be an offender or have committed anything worthy of death, I refuse not to die. But if there be none of these things whereof these accuse me, no man may deliver me unto them. You know my rights as a Roman citizen. So he says, he drops his ultimate trump card. I appeal unto Caesar. Ah, shoot. That's kind of like in Pirates of the Caribbean when you say parlay, parlay, right? It's like, ah, dang it. Now we got to take him to the captain, Captain Barbossa, right? This is that moment where he says, I appeal to Caesar. So any Roman citizen, apparently, according to the

judicial system at the time, could appeal to Caesar. Now, no one was like gutsy enough or rarely were people gutsy enough to do that. You don't want to waste the emperor's time. You don't do that lightly. But Paul saw the writing on the wall, like Festus is flirting with the idea of sending him back to Jerusalem. Paul says, you know my rights as a Roman citizen. So let me just drop that card to Caesar, I appeal, right? And so Festus says, hast thou appealed unto Caesar? Well, then unto Caesar shalt thou go. So things are getting interesting. Now here's what's cool is that Paul was promised by the Lord that he would go to Rome. Nothing's been happening for two years. So, Paul invokes parley and that ensures

that he's going to go where? Rome, the seat of Roman power. So, I sometimes want to stop and think about that, right? When I've been given a promise by God that doesn't seem like it's coming to pass. There's a few different approaches. Sometimes the Lord will say in scripture, stand still and see the salvation of God. Other times he'll say, why don't you cheerfully do all things that lie in your power to bring about my promises to you, right? And then stand still. And so I see that's an interesting thing that Paul seems to be doing here is he's like, well, maybe this is that

ladder kind of a thing. So I'm going to appeal to Caesar and that's going to get me to Rome. We've got to pray to be wise enough to discern the difference when it's a, I need to do this myself or kind of, I need to act in a way that's going to help bring about the Lord's promises versus I need to trust God. I can't force this. We've got to be very wise and discerning. In this case, Paul took some initiative and sure enough, that's going to lead him to Rome. Could have been a prompting too. Would we characterize it as being in prison for two years or just being in Caesarea?

Was he in house arrest? He's in house arrest. People can come and go. He can kind of walk about. He's not behind bars. Verse 23, let him have liberty, Festus said, that he should forbid none of his acquaintances to minister or come unto him. So kind of a loose kind of house arrest. He's not allowed to leave, but he's not behind bars

the way you'd think of imprisonment now, not during this time. Scott, it does sound like Jesus said, you're going to go to Rome. He sits there for two years, kind of waiting. Then this opportunity comes up. This could be the chance to go to Rome. So maybe he sees Jesus, not only that as a prophecy, but also as an instruction. When you get the chance to go to Rome. So maybe he sees Jesus, not only that as a prophecy, but also as an instruction.

When you get the chance to go to Rome, take it. Take it. Yeah. Yeah. In fact, it's funny because the very next story, this is where King Agrippa comes to visit the new governor, Festus, and he's intrigued by Festus's prisoner. Agrippa is a Jew. His actual name is Herod Agrippa.

He's from the Herodian dynasty, these Jews. And so Paul could speak like insider speak to Agrippa. By the way, this is Herod Agrippa II. This would be great grandson of Herod the Great, the great temple builder. The guy, he built Caesarea, the very place where he's going. Yeah, an incredible builder. Obviously a controversial character as well. Also the one who in Matthew

commands the slaughter of the innocents. And his uncle, I think Agrippa's uncle would have been the Herod that Jesus went to during his trial. And so they're all connected in the Herodian dynasty, right? So Agrippa wants to hear Paul and they come in great pomp and circumstance. He comes with his sister.

His sister is named Bernice in verse 13. Bernice. Yeah. And I love that Festus says in 14, there's a guy left that Felix left me. Almost like I got this huge problem that Felix just just walked away from yeah that's it that's it and the chief priest and the jews like they hate this guy they want me to bring judgment against him but i don't really have much to judge there's not much i'd actually love if you could listen to him with me and he's appealed to caesar and i don't know what to tell caesar

when i send him to him. What are the charges? What are the charges against this guy? There's some Jews that don't like him. What do we say? And so he says, all right, let me hear this guy on the morrow. And so on the morrow, by the way, it's kind of funny in verse 19 to from a Gentile non-believing perspective. If you ask Festus, what does Paul believe? It's kind of funny to hear non-believers explain what you

believe. Here's how he says it. He says, well, the Jews have certain questions against him of their own superstition and of one Jesus, which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive. That's summing it up right there. That's Festus' version of Paul's testimony right there. They had some disagreements and it's pretty much over this guy. Yeah. A dead guy who he says is still alive. Yeah.

Yeah. But because I doubted of such manner of questions, I asked him whether he would go to Jerusalem. He appealed to Caesar. So let's talk. And so he's all right, let's talk. Let's hear him tomorrow.

So tomorrow under great pomp, verse 23 says under great, with great pomp, Agrippa and Bernice enter into the palace of hearing with all the chief captains and principal men of the city at Festus' commandment, Paul was brought forth. Out he comes, the stage is set. Paul comes out, all eyes on him.

And Festus says, King Agrippa and all men here present with us, you see this man about whom all the multitude of the Jews have dealt with me, both at Jerusalem and here, crying that he ought not to live any longer. But when I found that he had committed nothing worthy of death and that he himself had appealed to Augustus, Caesar, I've determined to send him, but I don't know what to say. So King Agrippa, after some examination, could you help me out here so I know what to say when I send him to Caesar? So Agrippa says to Paul, chapter 26, you may speak.

This whole chapter is worth going slowly through. I don't know that we have the time today to do that, but it's a great speech. We'll hit on some highlights. Paul's just cheerful. Talk about be of good cheer. Look at verse two. I think myself happy, King Ag agrippa because i shall answer for myself this day before the touching all the things whereof i'm accused of the jews especially

because i know thee to be an expert in all customs and questions which are among the jews wherefore i beseech thee to hear me patiently agrippa is a jew and so paul's like finally i get to explain this to a jew not to felix, not to Festus, like they're Romans. You'll understand me, Agrippa, when I say what I'm about to tell you. And then he tells his life story again. This is similar back to chapter 22, but I'm from my own nation, Jerusalem. I'm known of all the Jews. Those who know me would testify that I came from the straightest strict of our religion.

I lived a Pharisee. Notice that Paul's still calling Judaism, as we would say today, he's calling that his religion. This is still my religion. This is just a certain sect of Judaism that a lot of people were having problems with. But he still considers himself a Jew. And he says, and now I stand and am judged

for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers, unto whom promise our 12 tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope's sake, King Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews. What hope's he talking about? He says in verse eight, why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead? So Agrippa's a Jew, and apparently the more popular Jewish opinion is that resurrection's a reality. Sadducees don't believe it, but they're a small group compared to the group that believes in resurrection.

And so he's appealing to that within Agrippa. He tells about persecution in verse 9, 10, 11, that he was punishing this group of people following Jesus. It was this disruptor, this disturber, this dead man. But then, verse 13, At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me, and them which journeyed with me. And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me and saying, In Hebrew, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks. This idea of oxes, right?

They had these little sharp shards that were sticking out of the, down by the wheels. And if the oxes kicked to try to buck, they would, those goads would prick them. In other words, Paul, you're going the wrong direction. You're going the wrong way, man. You think you're doing the right thing? You're going the wrong way. You're kicking against the pricks and it's only going to

hurt and I said who art thou Lord and he said I'm Jesus whom thou persecutest rise and stand upon thy feet I have appeared unto thee for this purpose this is actually the best explanation of what Jesus said to him he gives a little more here I like to compare Paul's different accounts to like Joseph Smith's different accounts of the first vision, where there's little details that he gives that are different depending on his audience, depending on the context. And this context, he's got a Jew who is listening and has given him a full audience. Like, tell me everything, Paul. He does. And here's what Jesus said to me. Verse 16, I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness,

both of these things which thou hast seen and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee, delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom now I send thee. Why? Why would he send him to the Gentiles? Here's the best answer. Verse 18, to open their eyes. Jesus wants the Gentiles to have their eyes open and to turn them from darkness to light that's second reason third reason and from the power of satan unto god that they may receive forgiveness of sins forgiveness of sins is possible for gentiles you know that would do for them if they receive forgiveness of sins? Fourth reason, an inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. Whoa, inheritance, inheriting the promises made to Israel. Paul, I want you to go out and declare repentance to the Gentiles, turn them from

darkness to light, from Satan to God, so they could be forgiven of their sins and become heirs of all the promises, all the promises made to those who are sanctified by faith that is in me. Wherefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision, but I showed first unto them of Damascus at Jerusalem, throughout all the coast of Judea, then to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God and do works meet for repentance.

For these causes, the Jews caught me in the temple and they went about to kill me. Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both the small and great saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come, which is that Christ would suffer, that he would be the first that should rise from the dead and that he would show light unto the people and to the Gentiles. He's summarizing a great deal of Old Testament content there, right? Again, his audience, Paul judges his audience worthy of these details, right?

That he will get it. Agrippa will understand what I'm saying. This is quite a testimony he's bearing here and he's giving a lot of details. It sounds like maybe he sees in the face of the audience, at least some people in the audience, that this is clicking with them. I think so.

But it's funny though, verse 23, after he explains exactly what the Old Testament prophecy said, he's waxing really eloquent. You can kind of see people who are kind of spellbound by what he's saying. You know those moments when someone's just giving a great talk. You just kind of lean in and you're like, ooh. And then all of a sudden, Festus breaks the spell spell in verse 24 and he yells as loud as he can. The Greek here says as loud as he can. He says, Paul, thou art beside thyself. Much learning doth make thee mad. Have you lost your mind? You're crazy, right? Your education is, you've taken one too many hits in the head with a book.

I love how he reacts. He's like, I'm not crazy. That's Paul's defense. I'm not crazy, most noble Festus. I speak forth the words of truth and soberness. And he looks at the king and he says, king, you know of these things. You know what I'm talking about. I'm persuaded that none of these things are hidden from you for this thing was not done in a corner. Then he puts the king on a spot, maybe not the smartest move, but he just went for it. This is Paul. He's bold. He says, King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? Do you believe the Old Testament prophecies?

Then he answers his question. Maybe Agrippa was squirming. And so he says, I know thou believest. And then Agrippa's like, maybe I can speak for myself. He says, Paul, verse 28, almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. Almost thou persuadest me. Unfortunately, now I love that verse, but unfortunately, that's not a good translation. I found out. I was a little crestfallen when I found out that's not a good translation. Let me pull up a good translation. So here's a cool little trick that you can do that listeners might find interesting is if you just type in, you just

Google, I'm doing it right now. If you just Google a verse, just actually type in the literal verse. So Acts 26 verse 28, and just click enter. And you're just going to scroll down just a little bit to something called Bible hub. It's always like in the top four or so references. And then it will show you instantly all the different bible translations not all of them but like all the most common or popular translations of that verse and you'll find that in this case the king james version is pretty lonely in terms of saying that he was saying almost thou persuadest me to be a christian the greek just doesn't bear it out here's maybe a better translation so like yeah so for instance if you go you can see the niv new living translation

they're right there boom here's a few just samples right quote then agrippa said to paul do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a christian that's maybe a little more accurate you look through you'll find you just kind of start getting a sense and kind of cluster the meaning after you read like 20 of these uh translations, or you can kind of see, okay. And with, but little persuasion, thou wouldest feign,

make me a Christian. Well, with, with such a thin case, you think you can make me a Christian? Do you think I would believe so quickly? Or can you persuade me in such a short time to become a Christian? That's a little closer to the vibe that the Greek gives off. He's not saying,

man, almost, man, I was almost there until Festus had to break the spell. That's how I always read it. But when I got into the Greek, I was like, ah, dang it. The translation in King James is not following that. Not perfectly accurate. Yeah. Yeah. And maybe there's a little hint of like, maybe in another life, Paul, maybe under different circumstances, but not today, brother, not today. And then Paul answers with humor, verse 29. Paul says,

I would to God that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, we're both almost and altogether such as I am. And he looks down at his chains, Except for this. Except these bonds. Except for this. Yeah. I love he's still got that vibrant sense of humor in such a high-pressure situation. He's still cracking jokes. Except these bonds. Yeah. Except these bonds. I wouldn't recommend that aspect. And then Agrippa, he concludes like everyone else has concluded that he's done nothing worthy of death or even bonds, he says in verse 31, to Festus as they're walking away.

He says, were it not that he had appealed unto Caesar, he could have been set at liberty. So now we start to see the wisdom of Paul in appealing to Caesar, right? If he was now set at liberty, he could have found his way to Rome. But in this case, he's going to get a Roman guard escorting him to Rome. And he's going to get actual audience with the big man himself, the ruler, the emperor, the Caesar. And that's even a better way, appeal to Caesar. So Agrippa would have let him go at this point, but he does not because of the appeal to Caesar. So super interesting. Please join us for part two of this podcast.