Amen. Okay, so Paul He's going to be on trial over and over again for a period of two years. He's imprisoned in Caesarea Maritime on the Mediterranean Sea. It's kind of a Roman place. It's the Romans are there. And so Paul, as a Roman citizen, is protected from the Jewish mob that wanted to kill him in Jerusalem. And so in chapter 24, Ananias, the Jewish high priest, he went to Caesarea with his colleagues to make their case against Paul before the Roman governor Felix. And their charge is that, look, this Paul is causing riots? among the Jews worldwide, wherever he goes, riots start. That's kind of true. He's preaching the gospel and people who don't love Jesus are going to get upset when you preach the gospel. But they're saying he tried to desecrate the temple. No, that's false. They're saying he's a leader of the Nazarene sect. Well, yeah, Jesus was from Nazareth, and that's what they called this branch of Judaism. They said it's heretical, because it worships Jesus as God and believes Jesus is the Jewish Messiah and the Savior, and these Jews rejected Jesus. And so Paul has to respond to that, and in Acts 24, Paul denied that he's causing the riots. In other words, what he's saying is, look, I'm just preaching, and then the guys that are accusing me of causing the riots, they're the ones that start the riots. I don't go there. I don't say, hey, let me go start a riot. He's saying, look, I'm going somewhere and I'm going to preach the word, and then that's causing people to riot. So Paul denied that he causes riots. He denied that he tried to desecrate the temple, but he admits he is a follower of the way. See the three names that Christianity went by back then was the Nazarene sect and that's what the Jews, the Jews said well they follow that Nazarene and anybody who's from, it'd be like if people wanted to belittle our church they might say oh you go to that church where that Jersey guy is the preacher or something like that. Nazareth was like despised place and they said, oh, you know, yeah, he's a follower of the Nazarene. But the Christians themselves said, well, Jesus said, I'm the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. So the Christians said, we belong to the way. We're followers of the way. OK. And see, the thing was, the Christians weren't really big on naming themselves. because they were just the completion of Judaism. The promised Messiah has come, so it's not like... So, I always try to be real careful that the apostles were trying to start a new religious movement. They weren't trying to start a new religion. Okay? It's kind of like Ronald Reagan. Okay? He used to be a Democrat and then he became a Republican. And when he became a Republican, everybody says, you left the Democratic Party. And Ronald Reagan said, no. the Democratic Party left me. Okay? Ronald Reagan was saying, I wasn't the one who changed my views. My party changed their views. And once they were trashing the Constitution, I had to join the other party. Now I don't know what Ronald Reagan would do today. He'd probably say both parties left me now. But whatever the case, So they just said well we're followers of the way. Then there was a slang, it was meant to be derogatory. They said oh those people are the little Christ and they called that to the Gentiles in the church of Antioch and they called them the Christians. So Christians actually started out as a slam and now we wear it as a badge of courage we're the followers of Christ, the Jewish Messiah. But whatever the case, Paul says, look, I haven't done anything wrong, I'm just preaching Jesus. Now, Governor Felix did not want to offend the high priest, because they're constantly filing complaints on Roman officials to the Roman emperor. He didn't want to offend the high priest, so he promised to decide the case at a later time. and he kept Paul under guard with freedom to have guests. So Paul was treated fairly well and then Paul preached to Felix and his wife Drusilla during a private meeting but Felix dismisses Paul due to his fear of future judgment. Paul started talking about future judgment and he's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, you're making me uncomfortable now, go away. And so for the next two years Felix visits Paul hoping to receive a bribe from him for release, of course Paul does not comply. Now in chapter 25, Festus replaces Felix as the governor. Okay, so now you have a new governor, it's Governor Festus. And the Jewish leaders figure, okay, now a new governor, new opportunity to slam Paul. So the Jewish leaders ask Festus to bring Paul to Jerusalem, the reason being they're plotting to kill him. But Festus refuses, he knows, this is a Roman citizen, Paul will remain in Caesarea for his trial. Even though Festus still can't figure out, I don't know what we're trying this guy for. All I know is the Jews want to kill him, I have no idea what to charge him with. So he's saying Paul will remain in Caesarea for trial, and then the Jewish leaders go to Caesarea to bring charges against Paul, but once again they fail to prove them. Paul pleads innocent and refuses to be tried in Jerusalem. As a Roman citizen, he appeals his case to Caesar. Look at chapter 25, verses 8 to 12. Acts chapter 25, verses 8 to 12, while he answered for himself, neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I offended in anything at all. Paul's saying, I haven't offended any lawful authority. I'm not speaking against the Law of Moses. Jesus fulfilled the Law of Moses. The Law of Moses wants you to trust in Jesus. I haven't sinned against the Temple. I didn't bring a Gentile into the court of the Jews. They're lying about that. Nor have I sinned against Caesar, the Roman Emperor. But Festus, wanting to do the Jews a favor, answered Paul and said, Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and there be judged before me concerning these things? And figuring, you know, maybe it'll satisfy the Jews and these guys will get out of my hair, but Paul knows, I go to Jerusalem, they're going to kill me. So Paul said, I stand at Caesar's judgment seat where I ought to be judged. To the Jews I have done no wrong, as you very well know. For if I am an offender or have committed anything deserving of death..." So Paul acknowledged that the government has authority from God to exercise capital punishment. He says, "...if I'm an offender or have committed anything deserving of death, I do not object to dying. But if there is nothing in these things of which these men accuse me, no one can deliver me to them. I appeal to Caesar." Then Festus, when he had conferred with the council, answered, You have appealed to Caesar. To Caesar you shall go. Now Caesar's in Rome. So Paul's basically going to get a free ticket to Rome. It's going to be a tough ride. It's going to be a tough trip. But now he's going to get a free trip to Rome. This is after he wrote the letter to Romans. And he said, I wanted to visit you. Maybe when I go to Priscia, Spain someday on the way over I can go there. I've never been to Rome. uh... because i didn't want to build on another man's foundation some people think peter might have founded the church of rome i think actually peter founded on the feast of pentecost the guys that got saved went back and said yeah we learned the gospel from peter's sermon and uh... but whatever the case that's why paul explains the whole gospel message in the book of romans he said had i been to romans this is uh... to rome this is the gospel i would have preached but since i never went there I'll write to you in a letter the gospel I would have preached and then when I get there we can, you know, talk about how to apply this gospel. And so now he appeals as a Roman citizen. He appeals his case to Caesar. If he were not a Roman citizen, you could appeal to Caesar all you want. You're not going there. So now what happens next? Well, King Herod Agrippa II visits Governor Festus. Let me say that some of the worst sermons preached in the history of the American church have been sermons about Herod. Because you have some preachers... See, there's good reasons why to go to Bible college. So you can learn the historical background, you can learn about the languages, you can learn about what great thinkers throughout the history of the church have thought. But then when the Bible professors start going heretical, then it could be the worst place you want to send people. But one of the good things that comes out of it is you get to figure out, okay, wait, there's more than one Herod. I'm just going to throw out a few names here, but Herod Agrippa II, the one here who's going to visit Governor Festus, he's the son of Herod Agrippa I. Now you're probably thinking, wow, that's really profound. But whatever the case, Herod Agrippa II is the great-grandson of Herod the Great. So he got his sons, nephews, ruling and stuff. Herod the Great was the one who started the building of the temple or the fixing up of the temple. He was the Herod that tried to kill Jesus at his birth, okay, and then he died shortly thereafter. Herod Antipas was the, well before Herod Antipas, there was Herod Archelous, Herod's son, he ruled over Judea. So when Joseph and Mary and Jesus fled to Egypt, when they tried to come back to Bethlehem, they realized that region was being headed by Herod's vicious son, Herod Archelous. So they went north back to Nazareth. And then Herod Antipas He was the Herod who was in charge during Jesus' death and John the Baptist's death. He had John the Baptist killed. Herod Agrippa I, I don't even think he's mentioned in the New Testament, and then this is Herod Agrippa II, here's in Acts 25 and 26. But whatever the case, Herod Agrippa II visits Governor Festus. Festus tells Agrippa about Paul's case and says, you know, it's a religious dispute about a dead man named Jesus whom Paul claims is alive. And so King Agrippa is interested, Agrippa II, and he requests to meet with Paul, and then the next day King Agrippa and his sister Bernice are introduced to Paul. Now a little bit about Agrippa II and Bernice, they were living together as lovers, even though they were brother and sister. So if you're thinking, wow, the Herod family had issues, oh yeah, yeah they did. But whatever the case, now we're going to look at Acts chapter 26, and we're going to read that chapter, make a few comments on it, but the main thing I want to do is really look at these historical events, Paul in prison for preaching the gospel. Paul, how he handled himself at trial, okay? And I want to look for some application for us. And I'm going to give you ways that we can apply what Paul went through and how he responded to it in our own lives, in our own walks with the Lord. So Acts 26, Paul speaks to King Herod Agrippa II. starting at verse one. Then Agrippa said to Paul, you are permitted to speak for yourself. So Paul stretched out his hand and answered for himself, I think myself happy, King Agrippa, because today I shall answer for myself before you concerning all the things of which I am accused by the Jews, especially because you are an expert in all customs and questions which have to do with the Jews. Therefore I beg you to hear me patiently. Now Paul is talking to a guy who is guilty of sexual promiscuity and incest and he starts out by complimenting him and calling him an expert. Let me tell you, one thing I cannot, I could care less if the whole world hates my guts. As an apologist, as a defender of the Christian faith, I wear it as a badge of courage when the world hates me and stuff like that. But I'm telling you, friendly fire is tough on defenders of the faith. If you get into apologetics, you can be very, very lonely. But that's one of the criticisms I get from gruff Christians who sometimes don't lead a whole lot of people to Christ because they're constantly calling them names and bad-mouthing them at my debates. When I befriend the guy I'm debating, when I pay him some compliments, and then I demolish his arguments and provide strong evidence for Christianity, I catch flack because I treated the guy like he was a scholar or whatever. Let me tell you, if you want to be persuasive, maybe you don't. God's Word commands you to speak the truth in love. Maybe you only want to speak the truth. Maybe you only want to attack the man. It's called an argumentum ad hominem. Argument against the man where you attack the person. Maybe you want to be that kind of a Christian and belittle people, isn't it? God's Word says speak the truth in love. God's Word says find common ground with people. Okay? So Paul could go to Athens, we talked about that just a few weeks ago, and see that more idols than there are people. And he can compliment them and say, wow, I can see you're very religious, you're aware there's a spiritual realm. Most of us would look and say, you pagan sinners, I'm not even going to preach today because obviously you're not open to it. And there was Paul. complimenting them, finding common ground. But if you're going to be persuasive, let me tell you something. This is one of the most important things I've learned about sharing my faith and defending the faith. When I am the messenger, people don't have to accept the messenger. They have to accept the message when I'm preaching the good news, okay? However, in today's day and age, it's not much different than in Paul's time. If they reject and hate the messenger, they're probably going to reject and hate the message as well. Okay? So all I'm saying is don't make it harder to believe than it already is by being a jerk when you share Jesus to others. Okay? And I really think that the Roman Empire at the time that we're preaching this is incrementally getting more and more anti-Christian. But it's happening slowly. Right now the main enemy of the church are the Jewish religious leaders who don't want to trust in Jesus. But as time went on, eventually the Roman Empire tried to stamp out Christianity. As America goes that route, I really believe if I'm being all that that God has called me to be. If I'm seeing people, believers and non-believers, through the eyes of Jesus, if I'm loving them with the love of the Lord, and that includes the guy in the White House, too, okay? That includes your enemies, okay? I believe if I'm being all that Jesus called me to be, uh... that yes when the powers that be say okay there's no place for this phil fernandes we're going to lock him up or we're going to execute him or whatever I believe that there would be hundreds if not thousands of non-believers saying you know I kind of like the guy He was good to me. I kind of wish they didn't kill that one. You know? Because believe me, Paul, we're going to see when he gets shipwrecked, when he's in a Philippian jail, everybody looks to him as the leader. They just want to, I mean, and so when you preach the gospel and you are the messenger, people don't have to accept the messenger. They just got to accept the message. So you don't have to try real hard to be popular. At the same time, if they like the messenger, they're much more likely to like the message. I would argue that Americans are more likely to vote for president for the person that they like the most not the person that they agree with the most okay so sometimes it comes down to who's got more money to do fancier commercials to get you to like a guy who if you sat down with the guy behind closed doors you'd probably say man that dude's a jerk you know but whatever the case You know, try to connect, try to find common ground. And I got, you know, I used to brag when I used to take a lot of debates that I probably hold the record of being the evangelical Christian apologist who's been hugged by more atheists. Then after we debated, I usually hugged the guy. The talk I gave where two Seattle's atheists, leading atheists, showed up, they both gave me a hug. One of them, this big 400-pound guy, told me, hey, I love you, man. I'm thinking, an atheist? Usually I try to say that to the atheist and then he turns red. And this guy's telling me, yeah, I love you, you know. Paul's looking at a sinful, disgusting, evil, vile ruler. And Paul's saying, you know what? I'd love to see this guy in heaven someday. He's killed a lot of innocent people. He's a sexual pervert, but I'd love to see him get saved. You know, Paul could always say, you know, who am I to trash people? I used to kill Christians. And so Paul starts out, if you're going to be persuasive, try to find some common ground. Try to pay some kind of a compliment to the person that you're talking with. But he says, especially because you are an expert in all customs and questions which have to do with the Jews, therefore I beg you to hear me patiently. Verse 4, my manner of life from my youth was spent from the beginning among my own nation in Jerusalem, all the Jews know. They knew me from the first, if they were willing to testify, that according to the strict sect of our religion, I lived a Pharisee, a Jewish rabbi, and now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers. To this promise, our twelve tribes earnestly serving God night and day hope to attain. For this hope's sake, King Agrippa, I am accused by the Jews. For why should it be thought incredible by you that God raises the dead? Indeed, I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth." So what he's saying is, look, I'm a Pharisee. I'm supposed to believe in the future resurrection of the dead of all the true children of God. Okay? By the way, a lot of Christians don't even know that. that the three theistic religions, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, all teach that on the last day there's going to be a resurrection of both believers and non-believers, or the true followers of God and the false followers of God. Now, obviously, Jews that have rejected Jesus, you can't be saved without Jesus. Jew or Gentile, you gotta trust in Jesus. And the Muslims, Allah, is not the true God. Their concept of the Creator God is this big, brutal, bloodthirsty God. Allah is not Yahweh. Okay? If Allah is something real, rather than just from Muhammad's imagination, he's a high-ranking, cold-blooded demon. that loves drawing human blood. Okay? But the fact of the matter is if you believe in a personal God who created the universe as the three theistic religions do, you also believe in a future resurrection which means we're not going to live forever and ever as disembodied spirits. Now after you physically die your spirit goes to be with the Lord if you're a believer. If you're a non-believer it goes into torment in Hades awaiting the final judgment after Jesus reigns on earth for a thousand years. but eventually the dead are going to be raised with either bodies fitted for eternal conscious torment, we call that hell, the lake of fire, or with bodies suited for everlasting immortality with the Lord Jesus. And so Paul's saying the fact that Messiah would come, die for our sins, and then be bodily raised from the dead, how is that heresy? I'm a Pharisee. I'm not a Sadducee. The Sadducees didn't even believe in resurrection. So wouldn't it be, it shouldn't be surprising that God would first raise Messiah as the first fruits, the down payment. They had the Feast of First Fruits. He rose from the dead on the Feast of First Fruits. It's not surprising that Messiah would be raised from the dead first as a down payment guaranteeing all his true followers would be raised in the future. So Paul's saying, you know, if you want to be technical about this, they're angry with me because I'm more consistent with their view on the resurrection than they are. Okay? And So, but he said, you know, hey, now, I myself, I thought I had to do things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Verse 10, this I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priest. And when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. See, he had authority. He was a high-ranking, young, up-and-coming rabbi. And I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme. And being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities. So Paul's saying, look, I understand where they're coming from. These guys are lightweights next to me. These are thousands of guys or hundreds of guys against Paul. When I was Saul of Tarsus, it was me against thousands of Christians. So these guys are lightweights next to me. But I used to persecute the way as well. Well, what happened? Verse 12. While thus occupied, as I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priest, he got permission from them to bring orders that would held the authority of Rome since the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council, had authority over temple matters and could exercise the death penalty of religious crimes. He carried papers with him so he wouldn't catch flack from the Romans. And he was going to Damascus to capture Christians and bring them back. Well, on the road to Damascus, verse 13, at midday, O king, along the road I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we had all fallen to the ground, so it knocked them all down, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, You think he was Jewish? Oh, he was real Jewish. Okay? That's why I don't think, I don't think doubting Thomas when he saw Jesus risen from the dead, I don't think he said, ὁ κοριασμού καὶ ἀθεασμού, the Lord of me and the God of me, my Lord and my God. I don't think he said it in Greek. John translated it into Greek for us. Instead, I think he was referring to Jesus as his Yahweh, an Elohim. When Jesus and the boys were just hanging out, They were talking Hebrew to each other. Now when Jesus had a talk to some of the Jews in Jerusalem and not all of them could speak Hebrew so they also had to know Greek as well and these are not a bunch of uneducated peasants. The only reason why they the Jewish religious leaders called them uneducated was they weren't trained in any fully accredited uh... pharisaical school, school of Hillel or school of Shammai they were fishermen uh... they were farmers they were you know just regular guys who happened to spend all their free time studying under John the Baptist until he pointed to Jesus and said behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world they said okay well when Jesus calls us we're going John the Baptist was I'm alright with that he must increase but I must decrease. And so Jesus spoke to him on the road to Damascus in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads. The goads are sharp rods that you would stick an animal to get it to go where you wanted them to go. And Jesus is saying, man, the Holy Spirit has been poking you and you keep fighting against it. So I said, who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Let me tell you something. If you ever end up in a prison cell for preaching Jesus, and you feel all alone, and you feel defeated, and you start feeling sorry for yourself, stop. Just stop. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Feel sorry for the people who put you in that prison cell. If you're getting imprisoned for preaching Jesus, someday Jesus is going to say to them, why did you imprison me? We say, we never imprisoned you. You know, it's Matthew 25, whatever you do to the least of these brethren of mine, that you did to me you mess you know feel sorry for our leaders that want to outlaw christianity and keep coming down and always make us the bad guys no matter how many christians get killed throughout the world the muslims are the good guys and the christians are the bad guys and we just keep hearing the same bogus rhetoric over and over again feel sorry for them okay because you mess with Jesus' children, you're messing with Him. So there's some people that don't like Phil Fernandez, they don't like John McCarthy, they don't like you, and they think, you know what, I can just step all over Phil Fernandez. Well, that's right, you can. But you gotta keep in the back of your mind who I belong to. I'm an ambassador from the Kingdom of God. Okay, back in Georgia my sister Elaine always told me that I was such a good brother and I never even gave her a time of day. And then I found out the reason why she thought I was a good brother was because whenever I was around none of my friends would make fun of her. And I said, well of course they wouldn't make fun of you because I would have, you know, whooped them. And she said, I know. There were guys in New Jersey, I was a little guy, I weighed 125 pounds soaking wet when I graduated high school. I was fighting as a featherweight at the time, but... But there were guys who would not mess with my sister for fear of me. Okay? Why in the world would anybody want to mess with us? The reason is they don't fear Jesus. You kick me, you knock me around for preaching the gospel. You're not messing with me. You're messing with the king of kings. Okay? The old saying in New Jersey, I'm gonna clean it up, but you mess with the bull, you get the horns. Okay? You mess with Jesus, but I don't want you to mess with Jesus' people. Number one, I'm Jesus' people. I don't like pain. Okay? But number two, and more importantly, you mess with Jesus' people, you mess with Jesus. Okay? Paul never felt like he was the guy to be pitied. Every rock they bounced off Paul's head. Every slash he got from being scourged, he thought, oh man, do I feel sorry for these guys. Because you mess with Jesus' children, you're cranking up the furnace for yourself. There's going to be different degrees of punishment in hell, just as there'll be different degrees of rewards in heaven. Jesus taught that. Some will receive many stripes, others few. Pray for those who hate you. Love your enemies. And so he said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I have yet to reveal to you. I will deliver you from the Jewish people as well as from the Gentiles to whom I now send you. to open their eyes in order to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me." So Paul receives his commissions. He was persecuting Christians as a Pharisee, he strictly obeyed God's laws, but Jesus confronted him on the road to Damascus. Saul accepted Jesus as a Messiah and Savior and Messiah and Savior and then God appointed him to preach To the Gentiles and he continued to preach Jesus despite horrible persecution verse 19 Therefore King Agrippa. I was not disobedient to this heavenly vision. What about you? When you met Jesus or better yet when Jesus met you and Have you been obedient to what he's called you to do? Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, return to God, and do works befitting of repentance. For these reasons, the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. Therefore, having obtained help from God, to this day I stand witnessing both the small and great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come, that the Christ, the Messiah, would suffer, that he would be the first to rise from the dead and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles. So he's saying the Old Testament taught our Messiah is going to suffer and die for us, Isaiah 53, Psalm 22. but he's also, but God's going to prolong his days after his death, Isaiah 53, that God would not allow his Holy One's body to see decay, Psalm 1610. The Old Testament preached the death and resurrection of Jesus. Now, Agrippa's response here, now as he thus made his defense, Festus said, would allow voice, Paul, you are beside yourself. Much learning is driving you mad. But he said, I am not mad. So Paul said, look, I'm not insane. Most noble Festus, he was respectful to him, but speak the words of truth and reason. See, Christian faith is a rational faith and it is faith in the truth. For me to deny God's existence would be like looking out when it's raining and pouring and saying, no, it's not raining. It's just denying the obvious truth. Okay? We wouldn't be here having this discussion and we wouldn't be reasoning unless we were created by a rational God and in His image so that we could reason about Him. Okay. Paul says, for the king before whom I also speak freely knows these things. He's saying, fastest you think I'm a nut. A grip of the second he knows about Jewish theology. He's been around the Jews long enough. For I am convinced that none of these things escapes his attention since this thing was not done in a corner. He's saying, a grip of a second knows I'm not telling stories, because he remembers, you know, oh, they're going to just kill this carpenter from Nazareth, no big deal. Oh, well what about the earthquake? What about the darkness? What about saints coming back from the dead? What about the veil in the temple being torn from the top to the bottom? This thing wasn't done behind closed doors. This was all done, it's all happening out in the open. Then on a feast of Pentecost, Peter preaches, 3,000 people get saved. Look, dead Messiah equals dead Messiah movement. A dead Messiah can't save, can't deliver the Jewish people. When Jesus died, his messiah movement died like so many other messiah movements. But then all of a sudden, boom, it came back to life and started spreading throughout the Roman Empire. How did Jesus' dead messiah movement come back to life? Because the dead messiah came back to life. And so the Jews still look well believing Jews will still look to this day and the church looks to today when Jesus will come Come back will return and not only rescue the church But will also rescue the nation of Israel and on that day all Israel will be saved when they see their Messiah Returning and but he said look at Agrippa II, he knows I'm not a fool. What I'm telling you, this was big news in the Jerusalem area. And then Paul turns to him, King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you do believe. Now, Agrippa II is a politician. That's like asking Donald Trump, are you a Christian? Okay? That was like asking John McCain and Senator Obama. Are you a Christian? Because Christians make up such a large chunk of the population, everybody and their mother's brother who runs for president, they're a Christian. They can't say no. And so Paul says, Paul asked him, do you believe the prophets? I know that you do believe. If he says no, he's got all the Jews that are under him that are going to be upset with him. It's just like every once in a while you get a secular government over an Islamic country. Like Saddam Hussein. Whenever it was politically expedient, he got on his prayer rug and pretended he was a real Muslim. Well, he really wasn't. So Paul knew what questions to ask. By the way, if you want to be able to share the gospel message in a world that hates, in a culture that hates Jesus, you better not just know what to say, but you better figure out the right questions to ask. You need to ask a few questions because you may have to smash their idols before you proclaim Jesus in all his glory. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you do believe. Then Agrippa said to him, you almost persuade me to become a Christian. I think he's being sarcastic there. He's saying, you really think you're going to persuade me to be a Christian in one sitting? He's probably, he may have even moved Agrippa at this point. And Paul said, I would to God. Notice how Paul was talking to Festus and how he's talking to Agrippa. I think apparently he sees that he might have an open door with Agrippa here. And Paul said, I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me today might become both almost and altogether such as I am, except for these chains. I want to tell you, when you share Jesus with others, can you honestly tell them, say, look man, I just want you to love Jesus like I love Jesus. I just want you to be saved and heaven-bound like I'm saved and heaven-bound. That's all I want. You can call me a hater, that's what they called the ancient Christians, haters of mankind. That's what they're calling us today. Do our leaders, are they screaming about the hundreds of thousands of Christians who are being put to death throughout the world for their faith? No, they act like it's not even a news item. But you got to be able to look at people and say, look, I'm not a hater. I love you. And I love you so much. I love to see you saved just like me. Yeah, without all the ridicule. For Paul was without my chain. I want you to be just like me in love with Jesus and saved and born again. I just don't want you to be in chains like I'm in chains. Speak the truth in love. If you can't speak the truth in love, don't speak the truth. You're going to make the rest of our jobs tougher. Okay? And I had an atheist from Sweden named Albin who hated my Bible class the first couple days. And then it became his favorite class. It was actually my philosophy of religion class. We got a lot of debates and a very knowledgeable atheist. And I said, why did you hate my class at first? And he said, I thought you were like such and such a famous Christian who's always ridiculing atheists. And the guy really doesn't study philosophy and theology and he's not a Bible scholar so a lot of atheists invite him on their program programs because they like to ridicule him and say see that's the way Christians are and so Albin has stereotyped me as that kind of a anti-intellectual Christian who just makes fun of people and when he found out wow he's Red Nietzsche He's read Bertrand Russell. He's read Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins. He's read Stephen Hawking. And this guy's intelligent. There could actually be intelligent Christians and all. And he's not calling me names. The guy genuinely likes me. And we've got to be like Paul on that, where we've got to really show people that we love them, we care about them, and we want them to be saved like us, yet without the persecution we receive. Verse 30, When he had said these things, the king stood up, as well as the governor and Bernice and those who sat with them. And when they had gone aside, they talked among themselves, saying, Now listen, listen to what they said. This man is doing nothing deserving of death or chains. If you were on trial for your faith, would some of the leaders scratch their heads? They treated Paul that way, and they also treated Jesus that way. It's like, man, what they're basically saying is, this is a good guy. I don't agree with him, but he's a good guy. There's no need to kill this good guy. I don't know, sometimes I think most of us, if we were on trial, the judge would just say, boy, what a jerk. This guy calls himself a Christian and he's a jerk. So, I mean, you don't compromise the faith, but if you preach the truth and love, even those who hate Christianity are going to have a hard time hating you. Okay, and verse 32, then Agrippa said to Hephaestus, this man might have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar. Well, Paul's smarter than you think. If he had been set free, the Jews would have killed him immediately. the Jewish religious leaders. By appealing to Caesar, he gets to preach the gospel in Rome, and he gets the free ticket rescuing him from the Jewish religious leaders in Jerusalem that want him dead. Okay, here's what I want us to look at. I want us to follow Paul's example. Look at a couple verses I'm going to just have us look at real quick. 2 Timothy 2, 2 Timothy chapter 2, The first four verses that we look at, we've just got five verses to look at, but the first four verses that we look at, I'm just reminding you what your job is in this area. Okay? Don't be a lazy Christian. I'm going to take the easy way out. I'm not going to read the Bible and study the Bible. No. God commands you to study the Bible. 2 Timothy 2.15, Paul's about to be put to death by the Romans. This is his second Roman imprisonment. And he tells Timothy, be diligent. Diligent means hardworking. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth or handling accurately the word of truth. Are you diligent in your study of the Bible? God commands you. He commands me to diligently study the word. You might say, well, I don't have time. Or I'm just not into reading or something. Well, then just get it on a CD. The Bible on CD. It's your job to diligently study God's Word. Okay? It's not an option. It's your job. If you're a believer, it's your job to diligently study God's Word. Ephesians 4.15. We don't have time to turn there. You can look it up when you get home. But Paul says, Speak the truth in love. It's your job to be grounded in God's Word, and to study God's Word, and to accurately handle God's Word, and then it's your job to speak that in love. Speak the truth in love. Like I said before, if you want to speak the truth and you don't want to do it in love, do me a favor, just shut up, okay? because you're just going to push people away. And then they're going to stereotype me and they're going to stereotype you. So when you go to share the gospel, they're going to prejudge you as one of those narrow-minded, anti-intellectual bigots. Okay? So it's your job. Diligently study the Word. It's your job. Speak the truth in love. Look at 1 Peter 3.15. 1 Peter 3.15, Peter says this, but sanctify the Lord God. Some translations say sanctify the Lord as God in your hearts, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, always being ready to give a defense. That's where the word apologetics comes from, apologia in the Greek. Always be willing to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. Some translations read gentleness and reverence. So speaking the truth in love. Are you gentle when you share the gospel message? Do you have respect for the other people and their views no matter how wild or how weird they may be? Okay? But you've got to be willing to respond, to give an answer. By the way, our job is easier today than it was back then. If you don't know the answer, then you need to say, I don't know the answer, but I know someone who does. Or, I don't know the answer, why don't we research it on the internet? Okay? You can go to your pastor, you can go to other Christians who are more knowledgeable in the word than you, but you need to give them an answer. We're running out of time but I remember, I'm going to give you an illustration here. We had a guy who was questioning his faith because he was a senior and one of his buddies had committed, who was a Christian in his youth group, had committed suicide. And so he was questioning his faith and uh... and I was teaching him a philosophy course about the law of non-contradiction. A cannot equal non-A at the same time in the same way. Okay? And uh... And then he thought, well wait a minute, over the weekend he thought, if that's true, then Jesus can't be both God and man at the same time. Law of non-contradiction, A cannot equal non-A at the same time in the same way. Jesus cannot be, this is in 12th grade, he cannot be God and man at the same time because then he'd be both infinite and finite at the same time and that's a contradiction. So he asked his pastors, His pastors chewed him out for asking such questions. In other words, the pastors didn't know the answer. When I told that to Bob Urich, one of my fellow teachers, who's a retired Navy chaplain and who also had been a prison chaplain, he was disgusted. He said, even if they didn't know the answer, they shouldn't yell at him for having the question. They should say, let's go find the answer. But what I did, this was in weightlifting class, I said, I'm not a Christian anymore. His name was Cameron. He said, I'm not a Christian anymore. And I said, why not? He said, because he taught us about the law of non-contradiction. Jesus can't be both the infinite God and finite man at the same time. I said, Cameron, the law of non-contradiction, A cannot equal non-A at the same time and in the same way. Cameron, the hypostatic union, I taught you in ninth grade Bible. And all of a sudden it clicked. Yeah, you're right, the hypostatic union. And he walked over to a different part of the weight room and sat down and I could hear him laughing. The hypostatic union. The hypostatic union means Jesus is one person. He always existed as God, the second person of the Trinity. The infinite God, the second person of the Trinity. And then at a point in time he added a human nature. So now he is one person with two distinct natures. In his divine nature he's fully God and infinite. In his human nature he's finite and limited. But they're joined in the one person. And they don't blend together. And so I just watched him for a minute just sitting there laughing. And then all of a sudden he stopped laughing. And then he walked up to me And he said, why didn't my pastors know that? And I said, it's probably been a while since they went to Bible college. But why did they make fun of me for asking questions? And then there was a negativity, not against Jesus, but a negativity from the evangelical leaders and stuff. So whatever the case, We've got to be willing to answer people's objections. If we don't answer people's objections, you know, this is why between 75 and 88 percent of evangelical Christians, once they go to college, they lose their faith. during that first year. Because we're not answering their questions. Here at this school we at least try to answer their objections. So if they do walk away from the Lord, it's not because of the objections, it's because they wanted to sin now that mommy and daddy can't watch them. Okay? Colossians 4, 5, and 6. Paul's letter to the Colossians. Chapter four, verses five and six, Paul says this, walk in wisdom towards those who are outside. So walk in wisdom towards those who are outside the church, non-believers. Redeeming the time, make the most of the time, take advantage of every opportunity God gives you. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. Okay? So again, we need to answer people's objections and be wise. If we don't have the answer, that's okay. We can help them find the answer or direct them to somebody who does have the answer. So that's your job. Diligently study the Word. I don't want to. That takes time. It's your job. Speak the truth in love. Oh, but some of these non-believers get on my nerves. Hey, it's your job. Speak the truth in love and answer objections. Oh, I'm going to get headaches trying to answer these objections. It's your job. Okay? When Paul's given these orders out, people didn't even have copies of the New Testament. Not all the New Testament was written yet. And even with the Old Testament, they had to go to synagogues to find that. Only rich people could own scrolls. It's your job to diligently study the Word, to speak the truth in love, and answer objections. Okay? Now turn to Mark, and we'll close with this passage. Now you're wondering, why did I go through all this? Well, number one, because Paul diligently studied the Word, Paul spoke the truth in love, and Paul was always willing to answer objections, but when you hear what I'm going to say next, it might make you think. that you don't have to diligently study the word. You don't have to try to answer objections, okay? Because listen to what Jesus says in Mark 13. He's talking about the end times. He says, I don't want anybody to deceive you. There's going to be many people coming in my name. Wars, rumors of wars. This is not yet the end. Nations are going to rise against nations. Kingdom against kingdom. But then look at starting at verse 9. But watch out for yourselves, for they will deliver you up to councils, and you will be beaten in the synagogues. You will be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony to them." So Paul, so Jesus is saying, you're going to be arrested and taken, put on trial because you love me, because of my name. And then he says, and the gospel must first be preached to all the nations. That's going on right now. Verse 11, but when they arrest you and deliver you up, do not worry beforehand or premeditate what you will speak. But whatever is given you in that hour, speak that, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. Okay? So what I'm saying here is this, it is your job to diligently study the word, it is your job to speak the truth in love, and it is your job to answer the objections of non-believers, okay? But, when you're on trial for preaching Jesus in the last days, Many scholars believe we're in those last days. Yes, you need to love God's Word and study God's Word, but don't worry. Don't be afraid. The Holy Spirit will give you the right words to say. Okay? Now keep in mind that's not a ticket to be a dumb Christian. God doesn't give you permission to be a dumb Christian. God wrote a collection of 66 books and he wants us to thoroughly know this. Then he wants us to know what the world is saying so we can refute it. Okay? There is no excuse for being an anti-intellectual. God wants you to study his word, to be able to speak the truth in love, to be able to answer objections, but then he says, oh, by the way, if they arrest you, and they beat you, and you don't know how to respond, Don't worry, I'm gonna give you the words. This is talking about power encounters. I've had this occur sometimes during debates where I had no idea how to respond. I just said a little quick prayer to myself and boom, the answer came out. One of those responses on YouTube has been seen by over 100,000 people throughout the world. It's even been translated into Spanish when I took an objection by Dan Barker and turned it into an argument for God's existence and the whole audience laughed. Okay, power encounters, gift of faith. When I confronted a Satan worshiper, I said there's a rumor going around, Corporal, that the guy even outranked me at the time, that you're a Satanist and you're casting spells on me and other Christians. Is that true? And he was shooting pool, and he stopped and he put his face right up to mine, his eyes looked right into my soul, and he said, I am. And I just trembled, and all I could think about was running away and leaving, and his face was that close. And I don't even know how it happened, but I stuck my nose right up against his nose, and I said, my master made, created your master. So when we get together and talk, I will do the talking and you will listen to me. Do you understand me?" And he backed up and his eyes got all watery and he looked down and he went, And then he just nodded yes, okay? That was what the scriptures call, 1 Corinthians 12, the gift of faith. Where all of a sudden I was overcome, the Holy Spirit giving me the gift of faith where I knew for sure, had total trust, that Jesus of Nazareth is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that Jesus of Nazareth, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords, and all the power of Satan and his demons, cannot stand against the Lamb who was slain, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. What Jesus is saying is when things get tough and you're in those power encounters, the Holy Spirit will give you the gift of faith and will give you the words to say. This was even something that they called the persecuted church in Fox's Book of Martyrs called the dying grace. They thought, you know, there's a lot of Christians that don't have a lot of courage, yet they courageously are willing to die for Jesus. I wonder if the Holy Spirit hits you with dying grace. And it was actually confirmed. and uh... read the fox's book of martyrs and you'll see that but i'm telling you follow paul's example diligently study the word defend the faith answer objections speak the truth and love but don't freak out don't get stressed out you still gotta do your job but the fact of the matter is uh... when you're on trial for preaching jesus and you're in prison for preaching jesus It's all right. It's going to be okay. The Holy Spirit's going to give you the words to say. That's one of the things that just amazes me. The apostles were not extraordinary men. They were just ordinary men who served an extraordinary God. The same God who rose Jesus from the dead and the same God that empowered Peter, Paul, and John is the same God who is at work in your life and empowering you to be His ambassador to a world gone mad. Let's close with a word of prayer. Our king is still on the throne.