Acts 26
Acts 26
Jenny Zook: [00:00:00] Hey everyone, welcome to God's plan, your part year two, where this year we're reading through and studying the entire New Testament one chapter at a time. Thanks again for joining us in discovering God's plan and your part in it.
Ryan Zook: Today, we are looking at Acts chapter 26, and it's clear that we are quickly coming to the very end of this book.
Uh, there's only two chapters to go after today's episode. So next week we'll be wrapping up the book of Acts. And basically what's going on here is that. Paul has been put, uh, in front of Herod Agrippa the second to make a case, uh, for his defense and probably the most compelling thing that comes out of the chapter is at the very end of the chapter, the very last line, it says, and Agrippa said to Festus, this man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.
So it's revealed in this chapter that Paul it's so, it's so obvious that Paul has not committed a crime. Um, that [00:01:00] had he not appealed to Caesar, he would have been released. So we've kind of been chasing this thread of God's sovereignty, how God clearly ordained that every single step of this process would play out.
And it's even more obvious here in today's. Um, before we really start to dig into this chapter, I do want to kind of repeat, I haven't talked about this in a while, but we are doing this podcast because we're passionate about understanding God's word, uh, because that is the best way to make decisions in your life to know God's word and to understand.
And to live according to what it reveals. And so I just want to continue to encourage you guys. Uh, don't just listen to me and Jenny talking, uh, every given day, make sure you read the chapters for yourself, or at least stick around to hear them. Uh, because the, the spiritual power, the spiritual authority is not in what we But it's what in God has to say.
So if nothing else, please make sure you read the chapter for yourself or stick around to hear us read it. Please don't skip the readings. Um, [00:02:00] because when Jenny and I talk, it's just kind of what we're noticing for the day or what we think is a good takeaway. Uh, but the real power of scripture is present in the scripture itself.
So please make sure you read it. Uh, outside of that. Uh, this is a pretty quick chapter. If you remember yesterday, uh, there was kind of this changing of the guard with these Roman leaders. Uh, Felix hands over his reign to Festus and Festus really has no idea what. Paul is facing. Like he doesn't totally understand the charges, but he's fairly certain that Paul is not guilty of any Roman offense.
So Festus goes and gets Agrippa and asks Agrippa to hear Paul's defense. And the goal here is to get Agrippa to kind of. Paint a picture of what Paul has done wrong based on his understanding of the Jews and their customs and how things work in his region and his area. So really, um, Festus is just [00:03:00] relying on Agrippa to help make the case that Paul should go before Caesar.
Because the last thing that Festus wants to do is send Paul to Caesar without any formal charges, uh, because that would make him look bad. That would make, uh, Caesar very angry. Confused. So this entire chapter is just Paul making his case and you can see there's kind of a formula to how Paul lays out his defense at this point.
Jenny made a great point the other day, uh, that over the course of our reading through acts, we've seen Paul essentially on trial six, seven, eight times. And there's a formula to what he says. And what he does when he makes this defense, what he's going to do here is start out by drawing attention to his childhood and how important being a Pharisee was to his childhood.
If you look in verse four, it says my manner of life from my youth. Spent from the beginning among my own nation in Jerusalem is known by all the Jews. They have known for a long time, if they are willing [00:04:00] to testify, we know they're not, that according to the strictest party of our religion, I have lived as a Pharisee, and I now stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship God.
night and day. So Paul saying like, Hey, I've been a Pharisee most of my life. Uh, when it comes to being a Jew and following the law, I've spent the better part of my life trying to be the best possible Jew and follow the letter of the law as close as I possibly could. And he's pretty well known for having done that.
Uh, he studied under this prominent, uh, teacher, Gamaliel. Uh, he was very. Uh, zealous towards protecting the traditions of his people and his religious tradition, uh, even to the point of getting, um, like, like letters of authorities so that he could go and persecute Christians. If you remember all the way back in the beginning, I think it was Act six or Act seven, uh, Paul is actually the guy that is like approving the [00:05:00] killing of Stephen.
So the very first Christian to give his life for the faith, uh, is killed at the hands of Paul, essentially. And so he makes. He makes this part of his argument saying like, Hey, when it comes to zeal for serving the law, I am the most zealous and it actually was on my way to Damascus to persecute Christians that Jesus confronted me himself.
Uh, so he kind of goes from this, this history, like being a Pharisee as a, as a kid. All the way up to, hey, then I had this incredible conversion experience. And I want to point out a little bit of a subtle difference here, uh, starting in verse 14 and when we had fallen to the ground, this is him talking about on his way to Damascus, um, there, there was a great light and everybody fell to the ground.
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 goads. And I said, who are you, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But [00:06:00] rise and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles.
Amen. To whom I'm sending you that line to kick against the goads. It sticks out to me as a line that I haven't really heard before. And to be honest, it's not a line that I was super familiar with. Like I've heard the line, but I never really thought about what it means. So I spent some time looking into that.
Actually, I used logos, Bible software, not to do a shameless pitch, but we've been talking about how valuable that is. I just dug into that line. It essentially is a line that would have probably been understood by the. The Roman people, because it was like a line that was part of their culture or something.
Um, but essentially what it means is how hard it is to kick against what God has already willed to be done. Like how difficult it is to resist what God has already ordained. And so what's being revealed here is that Jesus essentially said [00:07:00] to Paul, like Paul. You're already called to this life. Why are you fighting this?
You need to come in line with what I have planned for your life. And you see that Paul then becomes obedient and does everything he can to serve the life that God has already carved out for him. So if you're curious about that whole kick against the goads line, that's what's going on there. And then he moves on to the point of basically like, Hey, um, I came to faith in Jesus and I have lived out the, the rest of the days of my life, trying to get people to understand who Jesus is to come and worship him and be faithful to him and obedient to him because he now believes that Jesus has fulfilled the things that are revealed in the law and the prophets.
He actually goes all the way back to faith. To Moses saying like, Hey, Moses spoke of Jesus and Jesus has come and fulfilled these promises. So another interesting thing that I want to draw your attention to, um, In verse 27, this is where Paul gets really [00:08:00] pointed because remember he's talking to King Agrippa.
He says in verse 27, 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? And Paul 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, except for these chains.
Um, you can see Paul is supposed to be making a legal defense to Agrippa, but instead he's using this as an opportunity for evangelism. Apparently Agrippa was known to be essentially like. Somebody who respected God and wanted to follow God and be obedient to God. And so Paul is capitalizing on Agrippa's reputation and saying, Hey, it's not too late for you to turn from your sin and embrace Christ.
And Agrippa sees what's going on. He's like, Hey, you're supposed to be making a defense. Uh, who do you think you are trying to turn me into a Christian? So Paul uses, uh, this, this, [00:09:00] uh, It's essentially opportunity to defend himself. He uses it instead to draw attention to Jesus and give Herod Agrippa II an opportunity to repent and follow Christ.
He says he hopes everybody in the audience does the same. So this is a powerful example of Paul's commitment to the gospel, uh, Paul's commitment to serving Christ over himself. Uh, and, and it just feels like we've been repeating this. Lately, every day that Paul is so committed and so on fire for serving the Lord that literally we're at a point in his life where nothing is going to come between him and accomplishing the mission that Jesus has asked him to accomplish.
So Agrippa does not receive the invitation. Agrippa actually kind of Mocks, I think Paul in saying that, like, you're, you're going to try to convince me to be a Christian with like this short of a period of time. And at the end, when Agrippa is done hearing this argument, uh, he's just like, Hey, this guy has done nothing wrong.
It's [00:10:00] really a shame that he appealed to Caesar because there's really no point in sending him to Caesar because I believe this man is innocent. And so we see again, the power of God's sovereignty in this situation. Um, because. Paul is going to go to Rome at this point, even because even, uh, with the, with knowing that he's essentially innocent, he's still going to go to Rome and God is still going to use Paul's trip to Rome to reach even more people and spread Christianity even further, uh, throughout the world.
If you're into. Christian history. Uh, at this point in time, Christianity is fairly small, though it is growing rapidly and Paul's going to go to Rome. There's going to be an incredible persecution that breaks out against Christians and you would think that it would destroy Christianity, but actually it causes it to grow even more.
And so here at this point in time, Christianity is kind of like a small outlier that the Romans don't mind persecuting. Um, but [00:11:00] as we get into the year. It's in the three hundreds, uh, in the three hundreds, Constantine is an emperor. He's going to have this incredible vision of Christ, similar to Paul. And there is some debate about that whole situation.
If you want to learn about that, you can dig into that online, or you can use Logos Bible software to figure that out. Um, Constantine is going to basically become a Christian and essentially send out an edict that everyone in Rome. Become Christians. So in a period of about two to 300 years, uh, Christianity goes from this tiny rabble that people just really don't have time for, uh, to the official religion of Rome, which is a pretty big deal.
And it's a pretty big shift and it does show just the power, um, and, and the authority that Jesus had and how quickly it spread. So anyway, that's, that's it. Extra credit, extra Bible nerd, church history, extra credit. Um, the big takeaway here is to [00:12:00] understand Paul. Really takes advantage of every possible opportunity to share God's grace with other people.
And man, I know that I am not as good at this as I should be. Uh, and, and evangelism can be kind of tricky in my mind. Sometimes this is just one of those, another one of those topics that I'm just still actively trying to figure out. I wish I was better at it and I wish that I could follow Paul's example and just speak freely about who God is.
And how he's calling him to himself. You can see that Paul doesn't put a lot of personal responsibility on himself. Like he's not going to lose any sleep because Agrippa didn't hear him. Um, but he is also going to preach the gospel every possible opportunity. That he has. And I think he's a great example for us to follow.
Don't be afraid to tell people about the power of Jesus in your own life, especially if God is bringing you through something right now. Uh, if you, if you have seen Jesus provide for you in a big way, if you have been changed in a significant way [00:13:00] because of the work of Christ, don't be embarrassed by it.
Tell those stories and give people an opportunity to hear about who Christ is and to dedicate their lives to serving, uh, him. It's not your, it's not your job to force them to have a relationship with Christ, uh, but it is a great thing to at least extend the opportunity. We see here, Paul takes every opportunity he can.
But it also doesn't bother him to shake the dust off his feet. When people don't listen, we can't change people's hearts. Only God can do that. Uh, but we should be, um, proud of what God has done in our own lives and we should be willing to share our testimony. So hopefully you are encouraged by that. Uh, it's the weekend, so I won't be around tomorrow, uh, but we'll be back again on Monday, hopefully with Jenny as well, uh, and also on Monday, if you get a chance to check out my.
Other podcasts, God's whole story. We'll have a new episode coming out Monday morning. [00:14:00] Uh, you can find God's whole story by clicking the link in our description or by just searching God's whole story anywhere that you find podcasts, uh, over there on that channel, we'll be talking about the book of Genesis.
There's a lot of good content and there's a lot you can learn from it. And on our podcast, uh, on Monday, we'll be talking about. Acts chapter 27, like I said, we only have two chapters to go and then we'll be into Roman. So that's it for today. Uh, we'll see you again on Monday. Have a great weekend.
Jenny Zook: Thanks for joining today's episode of God's Plan, Your Part.
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Jenny Zook: Every little bit of this helps so much, and we're so thankful for your support. With that in mind, here's today's reading.
Ryan Zook: Acts chapter 26 So Agrippa said to Paul, [00:15:00] You have permission to speak for yourself. Then Paul stretched out his hand and made his defense. I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa, I am 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 in Jerusalem is known by all the Jews. They have known for a long time, if they are 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 twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope I am accused by the Jews, O King. Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead? I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in [00:16:00] 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 all the synagogues, and I tried to make them blaspheme. And in raging fury against them I persecuted them, even in foreign cities.
In this connection I journeyed to Damascus, with the authority and commission of the chief priests. 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 all 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 goads. 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 [00:17:00] and witness to the things in which you have seen me, and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from the people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes.
Amen. Amen. So that they may turn from the 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. Therefore, O King Agrippa, 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 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 both to our people and to the Gentiles.[00:18:00]
And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, I am You are out of your mind. Your great learning is driving you out of your mind. But Paul said, I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus. But I am speaking true and rational words. For the king knows about these things, and to him I speak boldly.
For I am persecuted that none of these things has escaped his notice. For this has not been done in a corner. 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? And Paul 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, except for these chains.
Then the king rose, and the governor, and Bernice, and those who were sitting with them. And when they had withdrawn, they said to one another, This man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment. And Agrippa said to Festus, this man could [00:19:00] have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar. Thank you so much for listening to today's episode of God's Plan, Your Part.
Don't forget, you can find us on just about every social media platform and YouTube. Let us know what you thought of today's episode, and if you have any questions, go ahead and post them there. You can also reach out to us directly at godsplanyourpart at gmail. com. As always, If you don't have a Bible or if you'd like to use the one that we use, uh, reach out to us via email and we'll be happy to send one to you.
Thanks again for listening. We'll see you again tomorrow.