So as you all know, we have been focusing on what it means in 1 Corinthians 13, what is Christian love? And we left last week talking about what does it mean to have a mind controlled by the love of Christ. And I'd like to start this morning by asking just a few questions. You'll remember last week we ended by reading through Acts chapter 26, which is where the Apostle Paul is giving a defense. And that defense is the defense of the gospel before King Agrippa and the governor at the time who was Governor Festus. But before I begin to unpack that in a little bit more detail, I'm going to be asking some questions. You remember last week we talked about what is it that controls our thinking? And we came to the conclusion that it wasn't something that is of ourselves, but a mind that is controlled and exhibits the love of Christ is controlled by the Holy Spirit. It's not something that comes in and of ourselves, but it's something that is given as a gift. by the Spirit of the Living God. And I mentioned this verse last week in Acts chapter 4, where the Apostle Peter stands up and gives this great defense. And the Pharisees and the leaders of the Jews at that time came up with this conclusion after hearing what Peter had to say. It was Peter and John that said they perceived that they were uneducated and common men. Isn't that a wonderful thing that here these men are who have never been to theological training, they've never been to a Christian college, but yet here they are expounding deep truth from the Word of God that is impacting the culture in which they live. I talked about Barnabas, who in Acts chapter 11 was a man that was said to have been a man who exhorted the good men of the congregation in the church. And it says in Acts 11 verses 21 through 24, that he was glad, and he exhorted them to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose. He used his mind, he used his intellect to call the church. to this great exhortation. I'd like to start today by asking some questions. What are some of the Holy Spirit attributes or what are some of the things that the Holy Spirit does in the mind? What are some of the gifts that we see the Holy Spirit executing or being portrayed in the life of the believer? What are some of those gifts? What do they look like? How do they come out? How do we say that person's mind is controlled by the Holy Spirit because of their what? Joy. What else? Peace. Love. Think specifically about the mind. What are some of the gifts that the Spirit shows through the mind? Okay? Humility. Giving. What else? Think about the mind. And what do we call that? Discernment. Discernment. What else? Wisdom. Wisdom. Discernment and wisdom. In 1 Kings, look what King Solomon says in 1 Kings. Now if you remember, King Solomon had taken the throne and God asked him, ask of me whatever you wish. And King Solomon says this, he says, give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to govern this, your great people? So we see God answering that question all throughout scripture as we read about Solomon. People were coming from miles around to hear this man speak and to hear the wisdom that God had given him through his Holy Spirit. And then in wisdom, in Acts chapter 6, the deacons were men full of the Spirit and wisdom. Listen to what it says in Acts 6 verse 3. It says, therefore, brothers, pick out from among yourselves seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom. And then in 1 Corinthians 1.30, it says, Jesus is our wisdom. It says, and because of him, You are in Christ Jesus who became to us wisdom from God. It's all throughout scripture. Look at Colossians 1.9. And so from the day that we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will and spiritual wisdom and understanding. So here the word is telling us that spiritual wisdom comes from God. So how do we attain these things? Not a trick question, really. Pardon me? They're given to us, but how do we attain them? We ask for them, right? We ask for them. So listen to what it says in Luke 11. Jesus tells us to ask for the Holy Spirit. says this, if you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? So part of what we need to understand as we come to this great subject of the love of God, and we start thinking about how does this affect the way we speak? How does this affect the way we think? We have to ask. We have to first of all say, God, there's something here I don't have. And unless you give it to me, I'll never have it. We have to ask for it. Let's go back to where we left off last week. Turn to Acts chapter 26. This to me is a remarkable passage of scripture. Remarkable. Acts chapter 26. Let's turn there once again. Let me read this to you. So Agrippa said to Paul, now Agrippa, just so that you know who he is, it's Herod Agrippa. He is the king in Israel. So Paul is standing before the king and he has been given that audience because the governor has opened up the door for Paul to speak Because the governor is trying to figure out how he can send Paul to Rome. If you remember, Paul has asked for an audience with the emperor. And if you understand a political system, Festus, who is the governor here at this point in time, is wondering, how can I send this man to Rome when I have no idea what he's done wrong? That's a big problem. You don't just send somebody haphazardly to the emperor and say, hey, this guy did something wrong, you figure it out, emperor. No, no, no, that doesn't happen. Especially in the Roman times. You better have something very, very concrete to present to the emperor if you're asking for him to make a judgment. Because if you put him in a very precarious position, your head comes off first. So Festus is a little bit concerned about this man, Paul. And he is going to King Herod Agrippa saying, help me think through this. I need to figure out what I'm going to say when I send him to Nero. And so the reason he called on King Herod Agrippa is because King Herod Agrippa understood the Jewish mind. And so that's where we find ourselves in chapter 26. So Agrippa says to Paul, you have permission to speak for yourself. Then Paul stretches out his hand and he makes his defense. And he says this, I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa, that I'm going to make my defense today against all the accusations of the Jews, especially because you are familiar with all the customs and controversies of the Jews. Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently. My manner of life from my youth, spent from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem, is known by all the Jews. They have known for a long time, if they're willing to testify, that according to the strictest party of our religion, I have lived as a Pharisee. And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, to which our 12 tribes hope to attain as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope, I am accused by Jews, okay? Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead? What an amazing question. Why is it incredible when we're talking about God that you would think that it's incredible that he would raise the dead? He says, I myself, now he gives, this is how he gives his testimony. Here's how he's going to make his defense now. Listen to what he says. I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme. And in raging fury against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities." This doesn't sound like much of a defense to me. He's basically saying, I was just like the rest of these guys. I hated these people. Couldn't stand them. I wanted to wipe them out. And then he says this, verse 12, in this connection I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. Now let's stop there for just a minute. Those men were there. His accusers were standing there listening to him make this defense. And they knew that he was going and doing this under their authority. In other words, at one time, he was in complete agreement with those who now accuse him. And that's what he is trying to communicate to this king. And then he says this, never discount the power of your testimony, brothers and sisters. Because what you're going to hear now, you're going to stand, I stand amazed that he even went to the trouble of sharing this most marvelous conversion experience. He says, at midday, O King, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, that shone around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goats. And I said, who are you, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but rise and stand upon your feet. For I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and a witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles. to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me." Wow. That's pretty bold. This is why they hated him. This is why. And this is why they will hate us. This is why the world will hate you. Because He is testifying. I want you to think about what He's saying. He's saying, guess what? It's no longer just about the Jews. God has called the Gentiles to Himself. God has told me on this road to Damascus that He is calling me out of this darkness that I was involved in, the hatred of His people, and He's calling me into this light. And He's giving testimony. And this is why they hate Him. Therefore, O King Agrippa, verse 19, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance. For this reason, the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. To this day, I have had the help that comes from God. And so, I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass. That the Christ must suffer. And that by being the first to rise from the dead, He would proclaim light to both to our people and to the Gentiles. And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, you are out of your mind. Your great learning is driving you out of your mind. Now there's a very interesting term here in this verse, isn't there? Your great learning. Even this heathen is making testimony to Paul knowing something. You've learned something, and it's driving you mad. But what we're seeing here, brothers and sisters, is that Paul has taken his great intellect, and he has yielded it to the Holy Spirit. He said, here you go, God. Use it however you see fit. All's I'm going to do is say what I know the truth is. But Paul said, Notice this. Paul didn't argue a theological position. He basically said, I'm not out of my mind, most excellent Festus. Humility. Tremendous humility. He said, but I'm speaking true and rational words. And then he goes to the king. Now remember why the king is there. The king is there so that Festus might have something to accuse Paul of. And he looks to the king and he says, for the king knows about these things. The king knows that what I'm speaking to him has come from the prophets. And to him I speak boldly, for I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice. For this has not been done in a corner." In other words, what he's saying here is, this is not something that happened in the dark so that nobody knows about it. All of this has been out in the open. Remember, Jesus Christ was crucified publicly before all of them. They knew exactly who he was talking about. This wasn't something that was hidden from everybody and he was proclaiming some secret dark truth that nobody knew anything about. He was speaking boldly for the truth of what had happened and he was giving defense of what was going on in Jerusalem. He said, for I'm persuaded, verse 26, that none of these things has escaped his notice, the king's notice, for this has not been done in a corner. Then he says, King Agrippa, Do you believe the prophets? I know you believe the prophets. And Agrippa said to Paul, in a short time, would you persuade me to be a Christian? Wow. And Paul said, whether a short or long, I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am. Accept. for these chains. What a powerful proclamation of the gospel before men who hated him. But I want you to see, love under control, using the intellect of this great man, this great mind, gave the world nowhere to run. Who's disagreeing with him now? In fact, they're more confused now than they were when he began. Bethesda still doesn't know what to do with this man. King Agrippa is at the point where he's about ready to say, I believe what you're saying, Paul. This makes sense. I know what the prophets say. Now there's no evidence that he ever was converted, but the fact of the matter is, is that Paul, out of love for God, used this great intellect that he had to make this powerful proclamation of the gospel to a world that needed to hear it. Just like we do. Just like we do. And look at what they said. They got up and they rose, and the governor in Bernice, Sister, they left and said when they had withdrawn, they said to one another, this man is doing nothing deserving death or imprisonment. And Agrippa said to Festus, this man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar. So the dilemma remained. Isn't God good? He didn't give the world anywhere to run. So here's the summary. In chapter 22, just so you know, the crowd drags Paul in to stand before, they drag him out of the temple. In chapter 22 and 23, he's drugged before the council. Then in chapter 24, he gives testimony to the high priest Ananias and the first governor Felix. Then he remains in prison for two years. And then he gives his first testimony to Festus. And then Festus brings him up in front of this King Agrippa. He's just giving testimony after testimony after testimony. He's being brought before all these different leaders. And then finally in chapter 28, Paul goes to Rome. Now, if you look closely, you'll find that in chapter 23, God actually tells him. He actually tells the Apostle Paul that you are going to go to Rome. And Paul set his face toward Rome and he wound up there in chapter 28. So I want you to think back to 1 Corinthians 13 now. And we spoke earlier about the attributes of love. And I want to point out how these attributes in this passage actually were born out in Paul's life in this account. Because what it teaches us is it teaches us how we, as New Testament believers in 2012, can do exactly the same thing. We have the same Holy Spirit that Paul had. Many of us are very well educated. We have more documentation available to us today than he did. He was a walking revelation of God. He was the scripture walking around. Today we have this glory. I mean, I'm teaching you from an iPad. I can instantaneously get any translation of this scripture that you want. Greek, Hebrew, what do you want? I can give it to you. But the problem with us today, brothers and sisters, is not information. That's not our problem. Our problem is revelation. What we don't want is just to go spew forth a bunch of information to this culture that we live in. We need to be demonstrating, like Paul did, what it is that empowers us to live the way we do. And if we are calling this culture to the carpet because they've taken prayer out of the schools, then we should probably be in the church praying. Look at what he says. In verse 2, he shows incredible patience. He says, I consider myself fortunate that it's before you, King Agrippa, that I'm going to make my defense. And then in verse 25, he shows this incredible sense of kindness. He says, I'm not out of my mind, most excellent Festus. But I'm speaking true and rational words. He didn't argue with him. He didn't tell him he was stupid. He didn't say, I have revelation you don't have. He says, oh, no, no, no, most excellent Festus. I'm speaking true and rational words, and let me show you how I know that. Even to the point to where this king says, not much longer, you keep going, and I'm going to become a Christian, Paul. He shows humility in verse 3. Therefore, I beg you, listen to me patiently." He shows gentleness, which is the absence of rudeness. He says, King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe. And Agrippa said to Paul, in a short time, would you persuade me to be a Christian? Now, a rude comment would never have gotten that response. But here this king is so impressed, he's so overcome with this man's intellect, his ability to speak, and the spirit that is on him. Let us not look at the man, let's look at the spirit that is on him. He has got this incredible spirit of God that is just oozing out of his pores. And everybody in this group that's listening to him can hear it, can feel it and can understand what he is saying. He's selfless. He's not irritable. He's not resentful. He's not making some demand for his rights. He says this. He says, therefore, King Agrippa, in verse 19, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but I declared first to those who were in Damascus and then in Jerusalem and through all Judea, He was selfless. He took this message everywhere he went. It didn't matter who hated him, he told it to them. And then in verse 22, it talks about how he desired righteousness. In other words, he was more concerned about truth than being right. He said, to this day, I've had the help that comes from God. And so I stand here testifying, both the small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass. I'm only speaking to you the truth. I'm not speaking to you about my rights, about how they've been violated. I'm not talking about how I'm a Roman citizen and I deserve to be set free. I'm speaking to you this great and wonderful truth. And he was always looking for the best in others, which at the end of 1 Corinthians says bears all things. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things for the sake of another's betterment. And that is manifest in verse 28 where it says, And Agrippa said to Paul, in a short time you would persuade me to be a Christian. And look at Paul's response. Paul's response said, whether short or long, I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am, but not with these chains, that you would be free. Look at the love that this man shows a dying world, a culture that has destroyed his own people. A culture that has eaten up everything that he can grab hold of. But remember that this culture that it's eating up also at one time had eaten up Paul. That it had taken Paul. And it had taken a murderous, arrogant, self-centered, egotistical, narcissistic Pharisee and turned him into this. Brothers and sisters, when we think about what God did to this man, this is a most remarkable conversion. This took a spiritually arrogant man and turned him into the greatest Christian who ever walked the face of this earth. Because Paul said, what? I counted all what? It's all rubbish. All of my great learning, all these things that I know, they don't mean anything. If I don't have Christ, it means nothing. See, Paul gives evidence of his great intellect and ability to discern the times. How did he do that? Here's something I want you to think about. What made Paul's testimony in this particular circumstance so powerful from a human perspective? What did he know? This is kind of a hard question to answer. Let me see if I can answer it for you. In chapter 25, Paul knew who he was going to stand in front of. He knew. He knew who his audience was. And you know, brothers and sisters, that speaks to us, too, because we know who our audience is, don't we? We know who it is that we stand before every day when we walk out the doors of this church. And the same message that this man brought to them, we can bring to this dying world. Exactly the same message. The question is, do we just have the information, or do we have what they need? You see, I believe, brothers and sisters, that we need to ask God for something. Paul asked God for something, and God gave it to him. If we're gonna reach this world for Christ, we have to be willing to admit that what we need, we don't have. And what we need is we need the unction of the Holy Spirit to thrust us out and make us bold proclaimers of this gospel. And I don't know about you, but I can tell you that from my own perspective, many times I shrink back. I could stand up here and speak to you for hours. But you put me in front of an unbeliever, and sometimes I become as timid as a mouse. You know what that says? I need something. I need something I don't have. And the only way I'm going to get it is if God gives it to me. And the way He's going to give it to me is if I come to Him and say, you know what, God? I don't have it. I'm weak. I'm feeble. I'm broken. This world needs something that I need to give them and I can only give it to them if you empower me to give it to them. Paul stood before this group with all that he needed because he knew that God was with him. God told him, I'm sending you to Rome, Paul. And you know what? God has called every one of us and told us where he's sending us. He's sending us to glory. We're all on our way. to the new heaven and the new earth. Something else, what was Paul demonstrating to this group? This is something that we really need as the Church of America, that we've lost. What did he demonstrate? Boldness. And what does boldness basically communicate? Authority? Authority? Power of God? What else is he demonstrating? He wasn't afraid? Think about the political system that we're in today. Why is it that it doesn't matter what party you're listening to today. You know, you can listen to some of these people. What do they lack? They lack credibility, don't they, many of them? I mean, they speak these things and then you find out that the things that they were exhorting you to in their political campaign, they're guilty of. Paul had credibility. He had spiritual credibility. Nobody questioned whether or not God was with him. In fact, this king even said, you're going to persuade me to become a Christian. He had tremendous credibility, did he not? Amazing credibility. He thought out what he was going to say. He let the Word of God saturate his mind and his heart and every part of him so that when it came time, when the right time came, he had what he needed. You know, that's why our pastor has been passionately speaking to us. Is that the right time? Is it 10 o'clock? 10? 10 o'clock. 10 o'clock. OK. It says 1030. Anyway. That's why our pastor has been so passionately pleading with us, be reading the Word. Be reading the Word. Here it is in Acts 23, God says this, the following night, the Lord stood before Paul, he said, take courage, take courage. For as you have testified to the facts about me here in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome. See, Paul demonstrated love by sharing his experience, sharing his life. He communicated the gospel. He even said to this king, he said, I'm going to say nothing to you but what the prophets of Moses said would come to pass. I'm going to speak to you from scripture, king. And you know what the scriptures say. You know what the prophets have said. The prophets said that this Christ was going to come and I'm going to give testimony that He has come. So can you see the importance of having a keen mind? Having a mind that's in tune with what God's Word says, what He has for us. Can we take hold of this ourselves and let the Word of God change the way we think? So that when the culture comes and says X, Y, and Z, we say no, 1, 2, and 3. The word teaches us to think differently. Not only does it teach us to act differently and to speak differently, but it teaches us to think differently. You know, I was at a dinner one time with a bunch of executives, and we began to talk about children going to college. And I began to share with these men some of the thoughts that I had about how I was going to help my children prepare to go to college. And most of these men were very wealthy men. And most of these men said, well, you know, I'm just going to go and we're going to figure out which college my kid wants to go to. And whatever it costs, I'm going to pay for it. I said, really? You think that's really wise? You think it's wise for an 18-year-old kid not to have any skin in the game for his own education? And I began to share with him my thoughts. And one of them looked at me and said, where did you get this stuff? This is really good. I said, I read it in the Bible. Here's what I came up with as I was preparing for this. I thought about this. Remember what Paul said in verse 8? He said, why is it thought incredible by any of us, or any of you, that God could raise the dead? Or put it into our day, why does it seem so incredible to you that God knows more than you do? Or why does it seem so incredible to you that there's greater wisdom that can be found in God's Word than anything we hear on television, hear on Oprah, see on the news, or read in a magazine? And brothers and sisters, I have to say that some of us are guilty. I know sometimes I'm affected by what I read. And I go, wait a minute, that doesn't line up. It doesn't line up. You know, I spoke on Wednesday night about this whole idea of same-sex marriage. It doesn't line up. How can what God condemns be blessed by His church? Romans 1. Just read Romans 1. God gave them over. Three times He says that. So God gives someone over to something because of their absolute disrespect and rejection of His gospel, and the church says that we should embrace that? Does that make sense? We forgot how to think. The Word of God teaches us how to think. It teaches us how to love with our minds and with our hearts and with our speech. Paul thought about these things. Paul thought how he would respond to the culture. Paul thought how he would communicate the love of God in a fallen culture. Paul wanted the gospel to transform the culture. What about us? Is the church transforming the culture or is the culture transforming the church? We're called to be demonstrations of the power of God. So when God says, when we go out to this fallen culture and we say, I want you to see the sins that Jesus has delivered me from, we better be ready to demonstrate that. Otherwise, we have no credibility. This is not a call to legalism. This is a call to faith in Christ. and the belief that he delivered us from it. That's not to say that we're never going to sin, but it's to say my life is completely different. You know, I just got done reading this book, Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, by Jim Cimbala, and he gives testimony of this homosexual that comes into his church dressed in women's clothing, and how he was just overwhelmed by the fact that this man looked more like a woman than he did a man. And it wasn't long after that, this church preached the gospel to this man. This man got radically converted. His whole life was turned upside down. This church actually taught him how to act like a man, because it had been so long, he didn't even know how to act like a man. This church loved this man. This church took him and taught him how to act like a man, and he wound up getting married to a woman. He wound up being part of this church. And he got deathly ill. He contracted AIDS during his time of being a homosexual. He was lying on his deathbed and he called Jim Simbel up on the phone and he said, Jim, I just wanted to say goodbye. And Jim passionately praised for this man on the phone. God gave this man two more years of life. The next day he woke up and he was perfectly well. This man goes back to the church, he gives testimony to this church about what God had done, and the homosexual community in Brooklyn, New York was turned upside down because the love of Christ was seen in one of their own. That, my friends, is what Paul did. That's what Paul did. He used what he had, and he loved these men and women, even those who hated him. Let's pray. Father, we come this morning and we thank you that you are not like us. We thank you that you love us even to the end. And Lord, we confess that we need you. What we need to bring to this culture that we are in is the greatest story ever told. It is the greatest testimony ever to be told that a God who lives in a high and a lofty place would condescend to such creatures as us and grab us out of the fire and call us his own. Lord, teach us how to see that in others. Teach us how to have a mind and a heart and a lips and bodies that were, like the Apostle Paul put on display in his culture. Make us men and women like that, oh God, we would pray. And I confess, Lord, I need you. I need you. Every moment, I need you. And if it weren't for you, I would be the most hideous and wretched, broken sinner on this earth. But because of your grace, you have given me new life. And I pray, oh God, fill my heart, fill the heart of my brothers and sisters here today with so much love that we couldn't keep them out. But they would come in and say, what is this thing going on at Living Hope Bible Church? To the praise and glory of your great name, amen.