Acts chapter 23. Acts chapter 23. Good to see everybody tonight. Appreciate you praying for me. And I ask you to continue praying. I was planning on going to Cuba next month. I called the man today and canceled that. I don't feel 100% yet. And January, soon as The holidays is over. We're going to be going to City Hall and trying to get things squared away, and this is the priority. And as soon as we get the permits, the man, we've already crossed paths with the man, so he'll pull the permits for us. Thank the Lord. And I'm going to be getting with cement pouring people and trying to get that process going that direction. And so I don't feel like I need to go just yet. We'll go another time. So anyway, Acts chapter 23. I said chapter 23, but let's just go back to chapter 22 and verse number 25. And that will explain some things about chapter 23 and the beginning thereof. The Bible says in chapter 22 and verse 25, and as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman and uncondemned? When the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain saying, Take heed what thou doest, for this man is a Roman. Then the chief captain came and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? And he said, Yes. And the chief captain answered with a great thumb, obtained, I this freedom. And Paul said, but I was free born. This great way they departed from him, which should have examined him, and the chief captain also was afraid, after he knew that he was a Roman and because he had bound him. On the morrow, because he would have known the certainty wherefore he was accused of the Jews, he loosed him from his bands and commanded the chief priest and all their council to appear and brought Paul down and set him before them. Verse number 1 of chapter 23, And Paul, earnestly beholding the counsel, said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day. And the high priest Ananias commanded them, that stood by him to smite him on the mouth. Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall. Forsittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law? And they that stood by said, Revilest thou God's high priest? Then said Paul, I wish not, brethren, that he was the high priest. For it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people. Father, I pray that you would take this message now and God help me. God, my mind, it needs the touch of God. I pray that you would help each one that is here. Thank you for all the good folk, the good people of God. Turn it out on Wednesday night. Lord, I know their lives are busy. I know, Lord, during this time of year, there's so much running to and fro. God, they're faithful to you, and I appreciate that. I know you do. And I pray you bless them for it. Have your way now. And God, I pray that what we say will give you the glory in Jesus' name I ask. Amen and amen. You can be seated. Thank you for standing. As we look at this text right here and we see how that the Apostle Paul is so bold in his statement after he's stood before these folks and he's stated his status, the fact that he's a Roman and the fact that number one, they shouldn't be doing anything to him. And then literally it made the chief captain nervous for the fact, knowing that he's a Roman. And they, you know, talking about turning him loose and everything. You remember, you remember back whenever they had scourged him and they came to him and they set him free and we're going to let him go. And they said, no, you scourged us openly. We're not leaving like that. Somebody going to come and say something. I mean, y'all remember that? Paul makes a statement here in chapter 23 and verse 1. He said, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day. He's letting them know that he's lived like he's supposed to live. I wish I could say that. I can't say that tonight. I'd like to be able to. I wish I could say that I've done my very best in every step of the way since the day I've been saved to the present time, I wish I could say that I have thought like the Lord thinks, I have talked like the Lord talks, and I walk like the Lord walks. I wish I could say that tonight, but I'm afraid I can't do that. Maybe I give too much liberty to the flesh. Maybe I use the flesh for an excuse. I don't know, Marcus, but I know this. I know me. And I'm just going to be honest with y'all. In this flesh there definitely, definitely dwelleth no good thing. It seems like I got more battles than what I got victories. It seems like if there ever is once in a while when I do win a battle, I appreciate you preaching on them battles of the night. I'm glad, I'm glad. Thank God for when the battles do come. Thank God we do have a place to go to. We have a refuge in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm glad that, thank God, every once in a while we'll look up and the smoke's cleared and the enemy's gone. And you think, what in the world happened? And we won. We won. Thank God. I'm glad for them days. But Paul said, I have lived in all good conscience before God unto this day. And that was offensive to this Ananias called the high priest. And the Bible says, and the high priest Ananias commanded them that stood by him to smite him on the mouth." Now, maybe I'm not seeing something just right here, but I'm just wondering why it is that he wanted to slap Paul in the mouth for saying, I have lived right before God. Maybe they looked back on Paul's life before Paul became a Christian. Maybe they're looking at Paul a little bit closer than what Paul thinks they're looking at him. Maybe they're seeing things about Paul that they don't like due to jealousy. I mean, we live in a world whenever, I don't care how hard you try to live for God, this world's dissecting us. Would you agree with that? They're looking for me to follow my faith. You know what? That don't bother me. That don't bother me. But Charles, I know they don't do it. I know they're waiting on us to mess up. What bothers me is when church folks looking like that. What bothers me is whenever Christians, people that says they're saved, says they're my brothers and sisters in the Lord, and they're just waiting on us to make a mistake and maybe say something we ought not to say. I'll just go ahead and admit it to you now. I say something I ought not to say once in a while. Amen. I can tell you some of y'all fit in this next category I'm supposed to be reading about right here because you've gotten real quiet on me. So the Bible says, Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee. Now listen, listen. I don't think from what I'm reading right here, I don't think Paul is talking to the man that hit him. I think Paul's talking to the man that commanded him to be hit. He said, and then said Paul unto him, God shalt smite thee, thou whited wall. I mean, he's letting him know, they ain't nothing to you but some shiny stuff on the outside. You know, sometimes, please help, forgive me, forgive me for being like this, but every once in a while, I'm just going to confess it to you, I feel like that. Every once in a while, I just feel like a white ancestor. And especially when the devil starts throwing them old wicked darts, and wicked thoughts is coming by, and I might look at somebody and I think something I shouldn't say, and you know, I'm looking maybe down on them for what they did, and I'm thinking, what am I doing? I ain't supposed to think like this. Why am I thinking like that about my brother? Why am I, why I got that thought going through my mind? I couldn't do no better than what they're doing. And in that instant, in that moment, I have become a whited sepulcher. I mean, I'm just white walled. That's what he said about him. He said, hey, God shall smite thee thou whited wall. I mean, there ain't nothing to you except for on the outside. They don't nobody here know what you are if it wasn't for what was shining on the outside. If it wasn't for your name tag, they wouldn't know. Is that right? I mean, Paul made it kind of heavy out there. He just stood out there in his face, and he didn't like that. Not only did he not like that, but all them people that he had convinced that he was somebody didn't like that. Let's go. We got to see something here. He said, for thou sittest, for sittest thou, to judge me after the law and command me to be smitten contrary to the law? You mean you'd tell me that you're going to sit there and you're going to look at the law and you're going to judge me and you're going to use that plumb line and it's fitting me, it's condemning me, but it ain't doing nothing for you? Isn't that the way most folks does all the time? I mean, don't we live in that kind of a world where there's always somebody says, I tell you old Bill Martin, he's a Christian, I tell you he'd do this and that and everything. What was that thing I read one time about something about having a beam in their own eye? I mean, you know what? Before most of the time, before we ever make a comment, before we ever say something to or about somebody else, wouldn't it be good if we just jumped up in front of a full-size body mirror and look at that thing and say, God, show me what's wrong in that picture. I mean, that'd go a long way right there, wouldn't it? I mean, you know, I watch all them TV preachers and everything just to get good preaching out of it. I don't believe nothing. A bunch of hoodoos, varmints, and I don't put no confidence in them or nothing like that, but I don't make that my ministry to expose folk like that. There's too many people that need Christ. There's too many people going to hell. There's too many people to witness to. There's too many wounded soldiers. There's too many people that can be helped back up. There's too many people that can be encouraged. There's too many people, God's children, that can be brought back into the house of God and encouraged to go one mile further to spend precious time on things like that. Paul said it. Hey, you're going to take the law and you're going to condemn me? You white walled rascal, you. Did you not see yourself? You know what's always amazed me? How many people that used to be, forgive me, badgers and has moved on. to other denominations. Every one of us knows somebody. You say, well, the reason they've done that was because they just didn't have a good foundation. No, I think the reason they've done it is they just got tired of fighting. I think the reason they've done it is because they just got tired of being around a bunch of people they hated so much. I think the reason they've done it was because they just got tired of being around people with such bad attitudes. I mean bad attitudes. Bad attitude Baptist. Boy, how'd you like to be referred to as like that? Where you go to church? I go down to Bad Attitude Baptist Church. Huh? I wouldn't tell nobody about that, would you? So why would we want the inside of our fellowship to be like that? Huh? You know what? Listen. Listen. Sunday morning I come in here. I probably had a bad attitude, and if I did, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I just didn't feel good. Sunday night if I'd have come back, I'd have had a worse attitude. I promise you that, OK? No, you'd have had a bad attitude if I'd have come back Sunday night. Thank God Brother Gary was ready like that. I appreciate that. I knew him or Brother Jeff or Brother Dan, anybody would have been. But you know what? We can make that attitude ourselves. I watch those people walk. I don't know that older gentleman's name, Brother Gary, but I'll never forget him not wanting to get out of the van where he lived. And all he wanted to do, I don't know if you may have told this, I thought after I listened to that message, you preached to a nut-ball party. There's nothing else I can tell about Africa. He told it all, doesn't he? But I thought, this guy told Brother Morella, he said, I just want to go see a friend. Isn't that what he said? And he said, but that's a long ways back. He said, oh, no. He said, it's just right down the road. No, right around here. He said, that's just right around here. And we're still riding to the point of destination he's looking for. And I said, brother, how far have we come so far? He said, over 10 miles. And this 70-something year old man is going to have to walk back. And guess what? He didn't have a bad attitude. What about that? Now, I'd had a bad attitude. Because we done seen baboos. And guess where they at on the food chain? They're on the plate that the lion serves. Amen. Is there a favorite? We like chicken legs, thighs, chicken breasts, hallelujah, neck, wing, back, I don't care. In rice, out of rice, dumplings. That's the way a baboon is to a lion. We done seen the baboons. Brother Morella said he went to that one place that was across from where we stopped at on the other side of the mountain. He said, the first time I went, he said, we counted six lines. I said, we didn't go back. I said, that's my kind of ministry right there. Amen. Quickly you learn. Amen. I'm just saying, this guy, his name's Ananias, and he's supposed to be the high priest. That ain't even the point. I got a better point just to get to it. He's supposed to be the high priest. I mean, shouldn't that mean something? I mean, isn't he a representative? Aren't we? Us? You? Me? But aren't we supposed to be good representatives of the position that we hold? Ambassadors for Christ? Huh? Lord have mercy. I seen Brother Darnell's cousin today. And Brother Darnell's cousin talks real fast. Real fast. Verdell. And he talks real fast. And I saw him at the store today. I saw him at the store. And I seen him and he said, he comes and goes, hey, hey, how you doing? How you doing? I said, I'm good. I'm good. How are you doing? He said, oh man, I'm good. He said, man, I like you. I like you. He said, you always talk about Jesus. I like that. I like that. Well, if nobody else notices, Vernell does. Amen. Amen. And I thank God for that. Amen. I mean, if this one, if this one, if this one, here's what he said. He said, and they that stood by said, Revilest thou God's high priest? Now this verse right here brings forth something that they don't know that me and you know. Number one, Ananias wasn't a high priest. I know, I know, listen, don't jump out of your seat just yet, because you're going to say, well, in verse 2, it's about this high priest Ananias. Ananias was a high priest by appointment of the Romans. Somebody that was a high priest was a high priest because of the lineage of Aaron. And so here now, here's this man, and just to show you, here's Paul that is Pharisee of Pharisee. He knew the law. Don't you think he knew what a high priest was? Don't you think he knew something about the lineage of Aaron? Don't you think he knew who was and who was not of that line? I guarantee you he did. And he said, I wish not. I didn't know you was a high priest. Now, how embarrassing would that be to the man that's supposed to be sitting in that chair? He said, wait a minute. Are you trying to tell me you's a Christian? Hey, sir. Hi, priest. Hey, sir. Well, I didn't know it. I thought about this. What was it that he had some persuaded that he was, and then there's some that didn't know? I'll say this, number one, those that thought he was, only thought he was because of religious order. It was just a religious thing. Nothing more, nothing less. It wasn't because that he had done any kind of great work of God. It wasn't because he told about his testimony on the roads of Damascus. It wasn't because that he had done anything to further the Gospel. He ain't told nobody about Christ. He was only interested in the law. He was right back there where it all started. And here's a man that's now met Christ. And this man now is trying to tell everybody about Jesus. And this man now is trying to tell people how they too can know Jesus. And this man now is preaching a Gospel to the Gentiles. We could go on and on and on and on. Paul said, I didn't even know that you was one of them. Has any of us ever been to the place, at work, whatever, and the cat come out of the bag? And somebody says, oh, you're a Christian? after you've worked there for a while and a while and time has passed and they didn't know? I've been there. You might not want to admit it, but I've been there. I can remember. I can remember living like them. I can remember I was talking like them. Some of y'all ain't never been backslidden before is what it is. I can see that right in your face. Y'all are good Christians, and I thank God for you. I can remember going where they went, enjoying what they enjoyed. Some of you are starting to confess up a little bit now. And Paul said, I wish not, brethren, that he was the high priest, for it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people." Exodus chapter number 22 and verse 28, Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people. You know, Paul said, listen, he said, wait a minute, let me get something straight. I said if I'd have thought for half a moment that you was God's man, if I'd have thought for just half a moment that you belonged to the Lord Jesus, that you trusted the true and living God, that God had called you and you were faithful to Him and you put Him above everything, oh, there's no way in the world I'd have said nothing bad about you. That's what Paul said. You know what I think helps us as Christians? Quit looking at folk. Quit looking at folk. You just might as well go ahead and mark this down. Mark this down. Write this in your Bible. Write this in your Bible somewhere and put my name beside it. Brother Edward said this. Write this in your Bible and put my name beside it. There ain't nobody as good a Christian as you are. Write it down in there and say, nobody close to God like I am. So I'm going to quit looking for everybody else's flaws. I'm just going to leave them alone and I'm going to worry more about my light shining. Listen, I don't want nobody to stand before God and say, hey, I wish not that you was a Christian. I didn't know you was saved. Look at you here at the judgment seat of Christ. I'll never forget whenever they started to judge the bus ministry, a couple of little fellas. What was that little, what was that? Oliver. Oliver, what? Joshua. Joshua was the one I'm trying to think about. His brothers. And you know who I'm talking about, Brother Darnell? You remember them? And Jared had a little Suzuki Samurai. And he had that thing by Jeff, that little manual transmission they got from Brother Joe Tenkin. And Jerry would pull up here, and he thought he was something, that thing. Y'all didn't know it. It had mud on it all the time, like he was going four-wheeler, but he'd make mud pies out of the house and pack them on his windows, make it look like that. Don't tell anybody I said that, all right? Don't tell anybody I said that. And some of y'all text me when you get home. You'll throw me under the bus like Brother Gary did. And so anyway. So anyway, Jerry pulled up here one time. And what's the youngest thing? Joshua. Joshua. He's a little boy. Little old boys, you know, they ain't went through puberty yet. They got a high-pitched voice and everything. They go, they talk real loud. They real high like that when they talking. And he walked up there to Jerry's little Suzuki and goes, look at you with that stick sticking out of the floor of your truck. I laughed so hard, I tell you. I like to die. I like to die. And of course, we never let Jared, every time we see Jared shifting gears, we tell him, look at you, that fellow right there. He's stinking out of the floor. Maybe somebody might say, look at you in the judgment seat of Christ. I didn't think you'd be here. There's going to be a lot of surprises up there. You know why? Because we wish not. That they were saved. Not for my glory, but because I don't want it to seem like I haven't done my job. I want folks to know I'm a Christian. I want folks to know I love Him. Brother Dan, I want people to know I give Him in my all. My all may not be much, but Sister Pearl, I want to give Him however much I've got. I watched them fellows over there. Wow. That one old gentleman, I think the only thing he could say was, Amen. Amen. One fellow was interpreting for him. And he didn't know what that guy interpreting was saying. And he just had a big old smile on his face. Look at him. Amen. Amen. Amen. God's been too good to us. Not the one to tell people. We're in the family. If there's anybody that would have known a Christian, it would have been Paul. If there's anybody that could have said... Somebody stands out. I bet he thought Stephen stood out. He said John Mark stands out. Barna stood out. Timothy stood out. Listen, you know what? I want him to stand out. Him to stand out. He stands out. Stand out. Our conversation can be about him. Amen. That's not trying to make you sound so old and you can't never talk about potato salad. Amen. I mean, some people, if you've ever heard this phrase, some folks are heavenly minded, they know if they're good. I don't know if that's possible or not. But I know this, I know that I live in this world. And every time I go to that red light down there, right down there where my house is at, y'all know where I'm talking about? Every Wednesday night and every Sunday night, I get caught by it. And I sit there and complain because I'm in the flesh. Because that's the longest red light in Camden County. Mr. Mayor, did you ever get caught by it? The worst? I hate it in my gut. Because I'm sitting there and banging another car within five miles. And I'm wanting infrared glasses so I can see if there's a cop hiding down the median. Because I know whenever I bolt across there, whoo, there he comes. I'm saying, I'm just saying, let's just wait on the Lord. Amen. Wait on the light. I don't want somebody to say, was you one of them? I used to not be one of them. But now I'm going to tell everybody, I'm one of them. I'm one of them. Thank God. I'm one of them because of Him. Not because of me, but because of Him. Amen. Amen. Let's all stand together.