Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Welcome to the Bible
Breakdown Podcast.
Every day, we take one chapterof the Bible, dig deeper, and
discover that the more we dig,the more we find.
You can find out more at theBibleBreakdown.com.
Now let's grow in God's Wordtogether.
Hello, everybody.
Welcome back to the BibleBreakdown Podcast with your
host, Pastor Brandon.
Today, Acts chapter 23.
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And if I could give this one atitle, we're really kind of
continuing this idea of God'spresence is in the storm.
We're really walking with theApostle Paul as over these few
days, he's really having toembrace God's presence as kind
of an eye in the middle of avery difficult storm.
And we're going to get into allthat in just a little while and
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see how that kind of impacts ourlife.
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(01:05):
Is it encouraging for you?
Is it helpful for you?
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beneficial, then we'll cut itout.
But we're going to keep it goingfor a couple of weeks and just
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Okay.
All right.
As we get ready to get into Actschapter 23, remember this book
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of the Bible was inspired by theHoly Spirit through Luke, the
doctor turned investigativejournalist.
And now he's traveling with theApostle Paul.
He has firsthand account of allthese things that are happening
in the life of the Apostle Paul.
And now the whole narrative isPaul has been told by God that
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he is supposed to preach thegospel in Rome after he gets to
Jerusalem.
And so he's taking these nextsteps.
So first God tells him, You gotto go to Jerusalem.
So he goes.
Well, now he's about to tellhim, Don't worry, the path to
Jerusalem is taking you to Rome.
And so God gives us the nextstep so that we can take the
next step.
And what we're seeing throughall of this is that God's voice
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is sometimes the loudest whenthe storm is also the darkest.
It reminds me of you ever been,you know, outside somewhere, and
all of a sudden you just seethis flash of light, like
lightning, and you just see it.
Well, if you've really thoughtabout it, that light is is
bright, but it's just as brightas this the the daytime sun.
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It's no brighter than thedaytime sun, at least it doesn't
look like it to my eyes.
What makes it brighter isbecause of the darkness that
surrounds it.
And many times God's voice willseem loudest when the storm is
the darkest.
Not because he speaks anylouder, but because his voice
becomes clearer when we'relooking for him.
And when it is um it isinterspersed or or it um
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contrasts with the darknessaround us.
So we never want a bad time tocome, but when the bad time
comes, we go, wow, I'm gonnahave an encounter with God in
the middle of this.
And we can see this because thisis what's happening in the
Apostle Paul's life.
And so remember what happened ishe's having to stand again
before the council of Jewishpeople, and now he is in front
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of this is the Sanhedrin, andthese are the top-tier leaders
of the Jewish world.
They're there and they'rewanting to hear what is the deal
with Paul.
So you have two different groupsyou have the Pharisees and the
Sadducees who are there.
Sadducees, they're the ones whokind of buddy up to the Romans
the most.
They don't really believe in theresurrection, they don't believe
in a lot of the books of the OldTestament, very liberal, very,
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very, very out there.
And I don't mean that as in apolitical way, just their their
thinking is very just not reallyorthodox, very, very, very close
to the Roman people.
On the other side, you got thePharisees, very, very
conservative, not politically,but when I'm talking about their
belief system, they believe inall of the Old Testament, they
do believe in the resurrectionof the dead, they believe in all
this stuff, but they're verylegalistic, so they got their
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problems too.
So both of these groups cometogether to form the Sanhedrin,
and now Paul is standing beforeall of them, and he's got to
give an account for himself.
So if you got your NLT Biblesopen with me to Acts chapter 23,
NLT version, let's jump intoGod's word together.
You ready?
Here we go.
Verse 1.
Gazing intently at the highcouncil, that's the Sanhedrin,
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Paul began, Brothers, I havealways lived before God with a
clear conscience.
Instantly, Ananias, the highpriest, commanded those to uh
close to Paul to slap him on themouth.
But Paul said to him, God willslap you, you corrupt hypocrite.
It'll mess around, man.
What kind of judge are you tobreak the law by ordering me to
be struck like that?
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Excuse me, Paul.
Um, um, those standing near Paulsaid, Do you dare insult God's
high priest?
Oh, I'm sorry, brothers.
I didn't realize that he was thehigh priest, Paul replied.
For the scriptures say you mustnot speak evil of any of your
rulers.
Uh, but heaven help him if hehadn't have been a ruler,
because Paul wouldn't messaround on this day.
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Verse 6.
Paul realized that some of themembers of the high council were
Sadducees, and that some werePharisees.
So he shouted, Brothers, I am aPharisee, and was uh where as
were my ancestors.
I am on trial because my hope isin the resurrection of the dead.
This divided the council, thePharisees against the Sadducees,
for the Sadducees say there's noresurrection or angels or
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spirits, but the Phariseesbelieve in all of these.
So there was a great uproar.
Some of the teachers ofreligious law who were Pharisees
jumped up and began to argueforcefully.
We see nothing wrong with him,they shouted.
Perhaps a spirit or an angelspoke to him, and a conflict
grew more and more violent, sothat the commander was afraid
that they would tear Paul apart.
Poor Paul, if he's not gettingarrested or beat, he's getting
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tore apart.
So he ordered the soldiers to goand rescue him by force and take
him back to the fortress.
That's really amazing if youthink about it.
That Paul just used his wisdomto help them help get him out of
the situation.
Verse 11.
That night the Lord appeared toPaul and said, Be encouraged,
Paul.
Just as you have been a witnessto me here in Jerusalem, you
must preach the good news inRome as well.
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So Paul knows now this isn'tgoing to end with his death.
He's going to make it to Rome,and now he's ready to go.
Verse 12.
The next morning a group of Jewsgot together and bound
themselves with an oath not toeat or drink until they had
killed Paul.
There were more than forty ofthem in the conspiracy.
They went to the leading priestand the elders and told them, We
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have bound ourselves with anoath to eat nothing until we
have killed Paul.
So you and the high councilshould ask the commanders to
bring Paul back to the councilagain.
Pretend you want to examine hiscase more fully.
We will kill him on the way.
But Paul's nephew, his son, hissister's son, heard of their
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plan and went to the fortressand told Paul.
Paul called for one of the Romanofficers and said, Take this
young man to the commander.
He has something important totell him.
So the officer did, explaining.
Paul, the prisoner, called meover and asked me to bring this
young man to you because he hassomething to tell you.
The commander took his hand, ledhim inside, or led him aside,
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and said, What is it you want meto know?
Paul's nephew told him, SomeJews are going to ask you to
bring Paul before the highcouncil tomorrow, pretending
that they want to get moreinformation.
But don't do it.
There are more than forty menhiding along the way to ambush
him.
They have vowed not to eat ordrink anything until they have
killed him.
And they are ready now, justwaiting for your consent.
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Don't let anyone know you toldme this, the commander warned
the young man.
So, Paul's got a bounty on hishead at this point.
They have determined not to eator drink until they have killed
him, which is hilarious to mebecause if they kept their oath,
40 people are in the dead now.
And they died pretty bad, uh,not eating or drinking because
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they didn't get him.
All right, verse 23.
The commander called two of hisofficers and ordered, get 200
soldiers ready to leave forCaesarea at nine o'clock
tonight.
Also, take 200 spearmen and 70mounted troops.
So you and talk about anentourage.
They got one.
Provide horses for Paul to rideand get him safely to Governor
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Felix.
Then he wrote this letter to thegovernor.
From Claudius Lysissus to hisexcellent excellency, Governor
Felix.
Greetings.
That's a really big hello.
This man was seized by someJews, and they were about to
kill him when I arrived with thetroops.
When I learned that he was aRoman citizen, I removed him
safely.
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Then I took him to their highcouncil to try to learn the
basis of the accusations againsthim.
I soon discovered the charge wassomething regarding their
religious law, certainly nothingworth imprisonment or death.
But I was informed of a plot tokill him.
I immediately sent him to you.
I have told his accusers tobring their charges before you.
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So that night as ordered, thesoldiers took Paul as far as
Anthropis.
They returned to the fortressthe next morning while the
mounted troops took him toCaesarea.
When they arrived in Caesarea,they presented Paul and the
letter to Governor Felix.
He read it and then asked Paulwhat province he was from.
Celestia, Paul answered, I willhear your case myself when your
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accusers arrive.
The governor had told him this,and then the governor ordered
him to be kept in prison atHerod's headquarters.
So, once again, in the storm iswhere God's presence is.
All of this chaos is happening.
All of these things.
Paul's going to speak to thisperson, and there are people
there getting mad.
There's a plot to kill him, 40guys, there's a midnight escape.
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All these things are going on.
And then what's bad, we don'tknow this, you know, in context,
lest you know history, butGovernor Felix is a crook.
He's a bad guy.
He is he is nobody's friend inthis scenario.
And so, in some ways, it wouldlook like things just went from
bad to worse.
Because for the right bribe,Felix would have handed Paul
over to anybody.
And so it could look like it'sbad.
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But the reality is, is even inthe midst of this swirl, right
in the middle of it, there'sPaul.
And Paul's good because he hasthe word of the Lord.
And the word of the Lord says,You're not going to die, Paul,
till you get to Rome.
And that's what's amazing aboutGod's word.
That's why I think we shouldread God's word every day, is
because we can't always help thestorms on the outside, but we
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can absolutely help the peace wehave on the inside.
And the peace that kept Paul inthe middle of this is a word
from God that said, I got you.
When I read God's word everyday, it reminds me that God's
word is true, that God's word ispowerful, that God's word is
above all of this stuff, and solet the storms rage.
I don't want them to, but Ican't help that.
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Let let people say what they'regonna say.
I don't want them to, but Ican't help that.
I can't help the storms on theoutside, but I can help the
peace on the inside by knowingGod's word.
How is God's word going to keepyou peace at peace and centered
today?
My hope is that's exactly whatit will do.
Let me pray for us and we'll bedone for today.
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Father, thank you so much foryour goodness, your kindness,
your mercy.
God, we would love to never havea storm in our life.
We'd never we'd love to neverhave a bad day.
We love for everything to beokay, but we know sometimes our
journeys take us through storms.
But my hope is today that aspresent as the storm is in
everyone's life, even morevisible will be your goodness
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and your kindness.
I pray you'll be with us today.
Let us experience your presence.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Don't forget, God's Word says inActs chapter 1, Jesus said, We
will receive power.
When?
When the Holy Spirit comes uponus.
Then we will be his witnesses tothe ends of the earth.
My prayer today is that you'llexperience the power of God and
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it will encourage and empoweryou to be a witness to the world
today.
I love you.
I'll see you tomorrow for Actschapter 24.