Hear, Share, Express

0:01 503 days On Thursday, four bodies were released from Gaza. And in the releasing of those four dead bodies, there was a celebration, much like a wedding festival, Palestinian families brought their children and their babies out to sea. And to celebrate the death of these four people, particularly two dead babies, the Bibas children, wedding music played on loudspeakers. Rice was thrown in a celebration of death.

0:48 The civilians who kidnapped Sheri Ariel and Kfi Beavis were in attendance and gave interviews to the media present. These civilians were responsible for the kidnapping of the Beavis and should be held accountable for their murder. They also murdered Sherri's parents at Kibbutz Niros on October 7th. ODed Litz and the BEUs family were both peace seeking families that were advocates

1:35 for the Palestinians, and yet they were all murdered on or near October 7th are y Kafi were four years and 10 months old when they were murdered. About one month after October 7th, Israel did a forensic study of the bodies to see what it would reveal, but before they could do so, I thought I had it in my notes. Hold on a second. Oh yeah, it is. I'll I'll read that in a moment.

2:26 Jarden Bibas, the only surviving member of the family, the father who was released approximately two weeks ago, asked the IDF spokesperson to ensure that the entire world is shocked by the circumstances around the murder of his children. Ariel and Kafi were brutally murdered in captivity and Gaza, contrary to Hamas' lies, they were not killed in an airstrike. Kafi and Ariel were murdered in cold blood. The terrorists did not murder them by shooting them, they murdered them with their bare hands. Afterwards, they desecrated the bodies in order to cover up the atrocities.

3:13 A fourth body was released that was supposed to be Sheri Bibas, the mother, and it was not her. Subsequently, her body was turned over Friday evening, and she was murdered in the same manner as her boys. Israel had a bomb squad. Check the coffins of the four dead hostages to make sure that Hamas did not lace them with explosives. This is the level of sickness that were dealing with. Oh, you think that's a bit much? You think Israel is just being paranoid? How about this Hamas handed over the coffins along with keys that don't open the coffins.

3:58 You know, just get a little more psychological torture in while they still can. Here is what they wrote on Sheri Bibi's coffin. It reads Date of arrest October 7th. We read in this week's tour portion about Israel supposed to supposing to supposed to be going into the land for the purpose of conquering the land and the removing of all gods that were worshiped. The gods that were worshiped in the land were gods of death and child sacrifice. Baim and Molech. They demanded the murder of their children.

4:45 And we see this throughout the Tenah and Jeremiah 32, and they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the Son of Ham, to set apart their sons and their daughters onto Molik, which I commanded them, not. Neither came it into my mind that they should do this abomination to cause Judah to sin in two Kings 23. He also defiled Tofe, which is in the valley of the son of him, so that no one would make his son or daughter passed through the fire of Molech. In other words, the sacrifice of children's lives. That is what occurred on October 7th and the days in between October 7th and today.

5:31 Over, over the last 505 days today, six hostages were released. They're the final living hostages to be released during phase one of the ceasefire deal released in Central Gaza. They were released in three different places to make it difficult, released in central Gaza in a public ceremony where Elia Cohen 27, OTO of 22 and Omer Wingert 23 released in Rafa in a public ceremony was Tal Ham and Avera Mtu, uh, who's 38 and has been a hostage in Gaza since 2014, not October 7th, 2023, but 2014 also released was Ham Al

6:20 Sayed 37, who has been held since 2015, who is a Bedouin, who wandered a little too far and was taken hostage and held for 10 years. 620 Palestinian criminals were to be released in exchange, uh, for these, uh, six today, 151 of them serving or criminals serving life sentences and long sentences. By the way, if you ever wonder why they serve life sentences instead of, uh, are given the death penalty because Israel doesn't, uh, uh, have capital punishment. They've only executed one person, uh, and to my knowledge in the history of the state

7:06 of Israel, Adolf Eichmann. So they hold prisoners who have been convicted of murder for life sentences, and they feed them and care for them until they die. The release of the 600 prisoners as of the last I heard, which was right before service has been delayed and the war cabinet is meeting Israeli war cabinet. What Hamas did was a gross violation well of humanity,

7:56 but it was also a violation of the, of the ceasefire deal. Twice currently at this moment, the leaders of the Arab nations are meeting in Saudi Arabia to attempt to come up with a plan to counter President Trump's stated plan, which was stated a couple weeks ago as an update. I know that's a that's a lot and it's heavy as an update two weeks ago, Syrian forces, by the way, this,

8:43 I I I never hear these things. Um, they just don't make the the news. Any Israeli movement makes the news. But two weeks ago, Syrian forces under the leadership of Abu Muhammad Alani, the rebel commander of Syria, have moved into Lebanese territory as a military, have moved into Lebanese til, uh, into Lebanese territory in attempt, in an attempt to remove Hezbollah from their fortified positions. If you remember, Hezbollah fought as an ally of the Assad regime, which, uh, Al Gilani was opposed to after a full day of mourning the deaths of the beba

9:30 and waiting for confirmation on their bodies in the, in mourning the death of od dead leitz, Israel experienced an assault in the form of bus explosions. This was Thursday evening. It is no coincidence. Mind you, that this occurred shortly after the architects of the second Antifa who were serving life sentences for bus bombings were released over the last three weeks in exchange for hostages, the prisoners were responsible for designing bus bombings and suicide bombings throughout Israel.

10:17 Approximately two decades ago, there were at least three bus explosions and two bus bombs that were diffused on Thursday evening. And the rumor is that this was part of a larger assault that was meant to serve as a distraction for another October 7th like incursion this time coming from Judea, Samaria, otherwise known as the West Bank. I read this in as even keeled a tone

11:06 as I can muster, because if you knew the range of emotions then myself, my family, and what I dare say every you in the world and all Israel, and I assume many of you have been through over the last, I guess 72 hours, it's a range of emotions that at

11:51 a minimum throws you off. Tilt the anger, the peaks and lulls between anger and sadness that has gone through. Every person that I know and have talked with over the last 72 hours are indescribable. I tell you these things for multiple reasons. The minimum of which is at least you stay informed.

12:39 I also tell you so that you know, if you've gone through any of these emotions, it's permissible. You shouldn't be upset that you feel all the feelings. And if I didn't describe your feelings, then you felt something else. I mean, in an emotional range, by all means. It's, it's okay to feel the feels. The scripture tells us, be angry, but do not sin.

13:31 I imagine sinning perhaps is on the minds of many of us be angry, but do not sin and in all things praise the Lord. This is a difficult time to continue to praise the Lord. But just as we read in the Psalm this morning,

14:18 our God is the God of Gods whose loving kindness endures forever. He is the Lord of lords whose loving kindness endures forever. I will be extremely frank and and say, I don't know how to see his loving kindness in the murder of two children, but I know that his love and kindness is everlasting atrocities such as this

15:10 on the scale, as this have not been seen since my grandparents' generation with the murder of 6 million Jewish people, the level of evil that exists in the celebrations that have accompanied with the torture and the re in the release of the hostages. I have nothing other than to say it is evil to see such joy at death and murder is evil.

16:11 We exist. We live in a day when evil is becoming quite apparent. Again, I don't know, perhaps I've lived with rose colored glasses for most of my life. I've known evil has existed. My grandparents lost their families in the Holocaust. I never believed that evil didn't exist, but I wasn't certain that I would see it appear in my lifetime in force again.

17:01 And yet here we are on February 22nd, 2025, experiencing evil, the likes of which have not been seen in 80 years. You'll have to bear with me because I'm gonna now attempt to shift to our discussion on Acts. Acts chapter 13.

17:54 What I'm going to do, because we've actually divided acts, just this is just the way it's kind of worked out partially because you, you saw what it was for me to speak on five verses and that I could go for an hour. So we had to divide up for practicality's sake, acts 13. Otherwise we would've been here at a minimum all afternoon on a Shabbat per perhaps longer. You may have the energy for that. I don't know if I do, but because this is all one. Really what we're dealing with is one speech by Paul, one message, if you will.

18:40 What I'm going to do, since we're finishing up Acts 13 today, is I'll, I'll go back and I'll start in the beginning and you can hear it all in one reading so that you can kind of have it all together in your mind. So we're starting in Acts 13, starting in verse We'll, well, Paul stands up in verse 16, but I'll, I'll I'll back up just to verse 13, uh, just 'cause this is where we made the division, arbitrary division setting sail from Paphos. Paul's company came to Perga in Paraphilia. John left them and returned to Jerusalem, but they passed on from Perga and came to Antioch of Pisidia entering the synagogue on the Shabbat. They sat down after the reading of the Torah

19:28 and the prophets, the synagogue leaders sent to them saying, brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people speak. So Paul standing up and motioning with his hands said, men of Israel and God fearers, listen, the God of this people, Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt and with an outstretched arm. He led them out of there for about 40 years. He put up with them in the wilderness, and when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave their land as an inheritance. All of this took about 450 years after that, he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet.

20:15 Then they asked for a king and God gave them Saul, son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin for 40 years. After removing him, he raised up David to be their king. He also testified about him and said, I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my heart who will do my will from this man's seed. In keeping with his promise, God brought to Israel a savior. Yeshua before his coming, John had proclaimed an immersion of repentance to all the people of Israel. As John was completing his service, he said, what do you suppose me to be? I'm not he, but behold one is coming after me whose sandal I am not worthy to untie brothers, sons of the family of Abraham,

21:02 and those among you who are God fears, it is to us the message of this salvation has been sent for those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers not recognizing him or the sayings of the prophets that are read. Every Shabbat fulfilled these words By condemning him, though they found no charge worthy of a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him executed. When they had carried out all that had been written about him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead. For many days, he appeared to those who had come up from the Galilee to Jerusalem who were now his witnesses to the people, and we proclaim to you good news.

21:49 The promise of the Fathers has arrived for God has fulfilled the promise to the children to us by raising up Yeshua as it is also written in the second Psalm, you are my son. Today, I have become your father. But since he raised him up from the dead, never to return to decay, he has spoken in this way. I will give you the holy and sure mercies of David. Therefore, he also says in another psalm, you will not permit your holy one to see decay. For after David had served God's purposes in his own generation, he went to sleep and was laid with his fathers and saw decay. But the one whom God raised up did not see decay. Therefore, let it be known to you brothers that

22:36 through this one is proclaimed to you the removal of sins, including all those from which you could not be set right by the Torah of Moses through this one. Everyone who keeps trusting is made righteous. Be careful then so that what is said in the prophets may not come upon you. Look, you scoffers, be amazed in vanish away for I'm doing a work in your days of work, you will never believe even if someone tells it to you in detail. As Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people kept begging them to speak these things to them. The next Shabbat, when the synagogue meeting broke up, many of the Jewish people and the God-fearing inquirers followed Paul and Barnabas who were speaking with them

23:22 and trying to persuade them to continue in the grace of God. The following Shabbat, almost the entire city came together to hear the word of the Lord. When the Jewish leaders saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and tried to contradict what Paul was saying by reviling him, both Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said it was necessary for the word of the Lord to be spoken to you first since you reject it and judge yourselves unfit for eternal life. Behold, we turn to the Gentiles for so the Lord has commanded us. I have placed you as a light to the nations so that you may bring salvation to the end of the earth.

24:07 When the gentiles heard this, they were thrilled and glorified the word of the Lord, and as many as had been inscribed for eternal life believed. Now the word of the Lord spread throughout the whole region, but the Jewish leaders incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and they drove them out of the district. But Paul and Barnabas shook the dust off their feet against them, and they went off to I Iconium and the disciples were filled with joy and the Ko. It's actually quite amazing to hear it all in one reading and and to follow Paul's line of reasoning,

24:53 Paul traces the faithfulness of the Lord through multiple seasons in the life of the nation of Israel. And then he says, the Lord brought a savior, the one who's been proclaimed to you and through whom comes the removal of sins. How does the removal of sins come about? Namely through the life, death, burial and resurrection of Yeshua, our Messiah. And it is through this one. This is what Paul says, everyone who keeps trusting is made righteous. When you actually, if you take this speech, Paul's speech or message, you call it whatever you want. If you take it and you stuck it side by side with Peters in Acts two, you would notice a, a, a quite a bit of overlap in terms of

25:41 elements within the text. I don't think that's coincidental either from Paul and Peter's standpoint or from Luke's presentation of it. Uh, I've talked about it before. It it, there is some argument to be made that Paul, who seems to be, pardon me, if, if if Paul is your favorite person in the New Testament. Paul is is the new guy on the scene. Peter has been around from the beginning. Peter's been through everything. Peter, Peter was quiet the night when Yeshua was taken away and and then denied him three times and then has now stood strong and,

26:26 and walked through the streets and, and even his shadow, oh wait, maybe that's in the next chapter. I can't that may be in the next chapter. Even his shadow has healed people. Peter is this is this foundational element for the community of, of, of followers of Yeshua. And here we have Paul who number one hated the followers of Yeshua to begin with and persecuted them and murdered them, who has seen the light literally and figuratively has seen the light change paths and is now following Yeshua with all that he is.

27:18 And it seems as if Paul, at least in the Book of Acts, the primacy of Paul now begins to shift to the forefront. I'm saying that it doesn't deny anything else that's going on with Peter or James or any of the other, uh, disciples, apostles, elders in Jerusalem. But Paul seems to be having a very large part here. It one element could be, I, I think it's safe to say maybe there's, maybe there's one or two people that this, that could challenge this, but Paul has led more people to faith in Yeshua, more Jewish people and gentiles than

28:04 any person in history. Now, I can think of there's perhaps two or three people that that might rival it only one person in, in, in regards to leading Jewish people to the faith. But Paul, there could be an element of Luke presenting Paul in comparison to Peter for the purpose of the strengthening of the community because there's, it is, it's if you will, a new generation arising in terms of leadership and, and it's difficult when you have a new generation of leaders arise.

28:51 It's difficult to, to make the switch. Now, some of you who have been here for eight years, I was about to say it is new, but it's not that new. Remember when my dad was the senior leader and now I'm the senior leader of Brook Hashem? And and as much as you like me, I understand it was a difficult transition to go from one to another. Now it helps that my dad and I make some of the same corny jokes. It helps that he's been here, you know, for eight years and hasn't gone anywhere. All of these elements are helpful, but the reality is he and I are different. We lead differently. We behave somewhat differently.

29:38 We we're, we're remarkably similar. I find out every, every Shabbat when we have dinner and my mom goes, you two are the same. But anyways, there's some difficulty with transitions of leadership or even including new leaders. It's difficult for people to make that jump. So this could be an element as to why Luke is, is creating these, um, parallel, uh, parallel texts within the speech. It could be that they had the same speech, this remarkably possible. Okay, so here let's go. We're gonna break this up and here is, is the title of my message is Hear

30:25 share Express. So we're gonna start with this first section versus 42 through 44. And Paul Barnabas were going out. The people kept begging them to speak these things to them. The next Shabbat, when the synagogue meeting broke up, many of the Jewish people in God fears inquired, uh, inquirers followed Paul and Barnabas who were speaking with them and trying to persuade them to continue in the grace of God. The following Shabbat, almost the entire city came together to hear the word of the Lord. So here we are, we're we're at the end of the service on a Shabbat. Paul stands up and gives his message. And now, uh, it seems like the synagogue meeting is breaking up.

31:12 Maybe there is a little bit more to finish after Paul shared we're not entirely certain. Perhaps they had concluding prayers, Announcements, community highlights, maybe even an EG or O ot and c maybe it was an old timers, newcomers kind of thing that that Shabbat, but we're not entirely certain. But it does seem here that Paul and Barnabas are, are leaving and now many of those who heard them follow Paul and Barnabas and say, come back, we want you to come back. They're trying to persuade them to come back. And Paul and Barnabas are there speaking with them and trying to persuade them in the, to continue in the grace of God.

32:02 It's quite interesting, Paul and Barnabas has such an impact and one synagogue service that according to Luke, almost the entire city comes to the synagogue service the next week to hear the word of the Lord. In other words, word spread through the community. Most of the city came to synagogue to hear the word of the Lord. Could this have been a bit of an exaggeration? Uh, probably could it have been a bit of an exaggeration by Luke, by Paul, by Barnabas? We're not entirely certain, but it would've been standard, standard hyperbole in this time. Period's writings, Paul's atten, Paul's message may have been

32:49 attention grabbing. If it wa I mean, why else would the whole city want to come the next week if it wasn't attention grabbing? So I I just, you, I just want you to think about this for those who are God fearers to then go out into, if you will, the marketplace of the city. And they're ruminating all week on what Paul has said. So we, we, we just talked about what Paul said, and namely, I'll, I'll just give you a a, a recap. Paul talked about the faithfulness of the Lord through the life of the nation of Israel, and that the Lord brought a savior Yeshua,

33:36 and it's through him come the removal of sins. And it's through this one, through Yeshua that everyone who keeps trusting is made righteous. That's really the, if I can summarize Paul's speech, condense it into about five lines, that's about it. There's a whole lot more in there. Don't, don't get me wrong, but these, these people, these God fears have been so impacted and the Jewish people have been so impacted that they go out during the week and they're starting talking to all of their friends and all of their, their business associates and, and word is spreading about what they heard so that the next week it's at least Luke says that nearly the whole city came.

34:22 Now, I I I will say I think it's a bit of an exaggeration. I know I've already said it once in all likelihood, the city could have been as populated as about a hundred thousand people during this time period. And listen, we have a nice large facility here at Brook Hashem, but we max out in capacity at least seating wise, I don't know, probably around 950. Now, if we max this room out, like what we used to do in Hover Hall, we might get, get 2000. Come on, somebody got you gotta laugh at me a little bit. All right. Anyways, I'm saying all of that to say you, they couldn't have all fit in one place if, if the whole city came. But what it does seem is at least a great number

35:09 of new people who had never been before came and those people came because they were eager to hear what's going on. What are the things that would, they would be eager to hear. I know what I just said that Paul said, but I don't know. I, I don't know. Maybe, maybe somebody can contradict me and tell me I'm wrong. But if you go out and just tell people, Hey, you're a sinner and, and don't you know that Jesus is the Messiah and he's provided the only way for you, I don't know that that excites people to come to synagogue. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. I don't know.

35:55 But there's some element that has excited them because they all came. I wonder if there's not a little bit of, these are the last days involved in the message. Partially because it's true. Paul and all of the, all of the apostles believe it. These are the last days. You can read it throughout all of their texts. These are the last days. How do we know it? Because the spirit of God has been pouring out and Jews and gentiles are worshiping together. That's evidence of the last days. It's textually, correct? Uh, it would be kind of like the guy, and I know that all of us are gonna snicker kind of like the guy at the street corner who says the end is near.

36:44 But if there's something else under it, how many of you're gonna read? What else is under that? Well, I'm a little bit interested. Why do you think the end is near? 'cause I think the end is near. I wonder if there's not a little bit of an element here of these are the last days. Maybe that's, maybe that's not it. Maybe they came because of the element of the resurrection of the dead. Here's Paul talking about Yeshua who died like his father David, but David's body saw decay and Yeshua was raised from the dead and we'll never see decay. Maybe that element is what brought people in.

37:31 I suspect that different people came for different reasons. I know that you're gonna be like, that's the worst answer I've ever heard. But it's also true if I ask, if I took a poll right now and said, how, why did you all come today? I'm gonna bet I get 400 different answers. Maybe three 50. Because some of you're gonna be like, well, my parents brought me, they, they had the car. They told me I can't go anywhere on Shabbat. And that's why I came. Yeah, okay. There's gonna be probably 15 or 20 of y'all. Okay, let's move on to the next passage.

38:20 So we've talked about the hearing and we're getting into the sharing, the sharing kind of overlaps. So here we're gonna go verses 45 through 49, when the Jewish leaders saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and tried to contradict what Paul was saying by reviling him. Okay, I'm, I'm just gonna pause there because I had to use a dictionary. And, um, some of you might also have to use a dictionary to wor look up what the term revile means. They're just speaking evil of Paul, okay? It's a, that's the easiest way to call it. And it's never ashamed to pick up a dictionary or to pick up your phone and go to dictionary.com or just Google.

39:05 Both Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said it was necessary for the word of God to be spoken to you first since you reject it and judge yourselves unfit for eternal life. Behold, we turn to the Gentiles for so the Lord has commanded us. I've placed you as a light to the nation so that you may bring salvation to the end of the earth. When the gentiles heard this, they were thrilled and they glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been inscribed for eternal life, believed, now the word of the Lord spread throughout the whole region. The Jewish leaders were filled with jealousy. It's quite fascinating how when you have these

39:52 elements within you of jealousy or envy or something like that, it begins to stir within you and to provoke to an action that's a negative action, which you'll find out later. But it causes me to think of the book of James. James says this in James four verses one through four, where do quarrels and conflicts come? Uh, where do quarrels and conflicts among you come from? Like, this should be a, this could be a question we all ask. Where do they come from? Don't they come from this? Namely your passions that battle within your body, parts you crave and you have not, you murder and you envy, yet you cannot get it.

40:37 You fight and you wage war. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask with wrong motives. So you may spend it on your passions. You adulterous don't you know that friendship with the world is enmity with God, therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Do you see what is happening here? The Jewish leaders, they're contradicting what Paul was saying by reviling him. So they're, they're speaking evil of him because evil's coming from within and they're stirred up to try to hold onto something that's there in their community of their own.

41:23 By the way, this is not, uh, regulated or not re regulated, relegated to Jewish leaders. This is how all people behave when challenged. I, you, you think I'm joking or you maybe think I'm not, I don't know, but just go challenge someone. I don't mean like in an offensive way, but just go up and be like, yeah, I think you need to give that up. That, that, that's a, that's a wrong element in your life. And you notice how quick they're gonna turn and, and, and talk something evil about your own life. Yeah, well, listen, you think that's bad? Well, I see you doing this.

42:12 It doesn't mean that they're both not bad and need to be gotten rid of. It just means that something is being brought up because of this conflict of what did, what did James say? The, uh, the, the quarrels and conflicts they from the, the passions that battle within you, the cravings that are within you, they fight because they cravings need to be fed. And, and, and the more you feed a craving, by the way, it never gets satisfied. In fact, the craving just gets bigger. I was like, I want more. Feed me more. I mean, have you ever sat on the couch and watched one show on Netflix and said, that's enough. I think I'm satisfied today.

42:58 No, Netflix says, oh, we're gonna, we're not even gonna count to three before we start the next show, so you don't even have a chance to pause it. Why? They want your business. It's about money for them. They want your business. And the more we, we indulge our cravings, the more business is associated with our cravings, which means people make money. Do you think it's accidental that when you get on social media and you start to scroll that it's difficult to get off? It's difficult to put it down and to walk away because you're indulging a craving?

43:44 Again, it's not bad to get on social media. I'm not speaking against social media. I get on social media and I have a whole lot of fun watching reels of stupid people, and it's, it's just quite funny. And every now and then, I need a little bit of humor in my life. But there's a point. And all of us know that point. Once we've passed it, we very rarely recognize that we're coming up to it. But all of us know that point once we've passed it, that we've gone too far. Oh, I indulge that craving just a little bit Too much should have stopped 10 minutes ago. Should have stopped with that one video with the cat on the, on the ceiling fan.

44:30 Just should have stopped there. But here we are. There's these leaders contradicting what Paul is saying. I I'm, I, there's a reason I brought money into this. I suspect it's not, it's not textually evident here, but it becomes textually evident later, but I suspect there's some money involved. Paul and Barnabas replied boldly, it was necessary for you to see the word of God spoken to them first. Since you reject it, you judge yourselves unfit for eternal life. As such, Paul and Barnabas, they turn their attention to the Gentiles who have not rejected the message in this context.

45:18 And they say, by the way, I just, they're still in the same, they're still in the same frame. They're, they haven't moved. They, it's not like, okay, we're in synagogue. God has judge you and now like who we're gonna get transferred over here to the gentile meeting place in, in, in the city. No, they're still in the same place. They turn their attention and they say this, the Lord has commanded us saying, I've placed you as a light to the nation. So as you may bring salvation to the end of the earth, I want you to understand what they're doing. The Lord has commanded us. Yes, it's Paul. The Lord has commanded Paul, the Lord has commanded Paul and Barnabas, but that scripture is speaking

46:04 to the national destiny of Israel and all Jewish people. Now, it also is very clearly speaking about Yeshua himself, but all Jewish people are called to be a light to the nations. You know what they've just done? They're sitting in front of a crowd saying, you just forsook your, your option for eternal life. By the way, we are called to be a light to the nations. Man, if that is not a Jewish guilt moment, I don't know what is. They are just throwing everybody. Look, they're not walking in what they're supposed to be. We are supposed to be a light to the nations. They're trying to, to generate a little bit of a reaction. I, I suspect the Gentiles have a reaction.

46:51 They're thrilled and they glorify the word of the Lord. And it says that they were inscribed in the book of life. Uh, I'm, I'm adding just a little bit of text into the text. They're inscribed in the book of life for eternal life because they believed or they trusted in the message of Yeshua concerning who was Yeshua. And the word of the Lord spread through the entire region. This is kind of like, if I can use it this way, it's kind of like when the, when the Torahs come out of the ark, what do the Torahs do? They go forth into the midst of the congregation and they go throughout the entire congregation. Imagine that Yeshua goes, the word of the Lord goes into the community

47:37 and it spreads throughout the community and the community. Uh, and I, and I am not talking about the Jewish community, but all of that area begin to turn to him. Namely at this point it's Gentiles who are being convicted and not of crimes, but like con convicted from within. And so the word of the Lord spread through the region. And now we continue in verse 50. But the Jewish leaders incited the God-fearing women of high standing in the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and they drove them out of their district. But Paul and Barnabas shook the dust off their feet against them, and they went on to I Iconium

48:23 and the disciples were filled with joy and the Ruakaka, Kodesh and the Kodesh. So here we have the Jewish leaders, they're inciting the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. Why is it necessary for Luke to include this? Because if you've already read the book of Acts, you'll see it later in the book of Acts in multiple places. And you'll see it throughout the, the, the, but wealthy women became primary benefactors for the growth of Messianic Judaism. And and I suspect probably for the growth of Judaism during that time also. So if you, what happens if you, uh,

49:08 a wealthy benefactor hears this message and shifts their benefactor to someone else? There's a transfer of money. And I'm not trying to say everything in the world is about money, but money talks. And when money is begin to be shifted, you just, well, you can watch in our country today, you can see who gets upset with money being shifted. Sorry that my filter didn't catch that one. When money is shifted, people get upset because it affects their livelihood for a a right reason.

49:54 By the way, if your livelihood is dependent upon money, which most of us I would say it is, you're gonna get upset if somebody says, I'm taking away your livelihood, because that means that then you have to learn how to do something else to make money to live. But here, I wonder if there's a little bit of this jealousy that is coming because some of those wealthy benefactors are shifting their perspective and are thinking, wow, this is an amazing message. And, and listen, I'm telling you, Paul explains it really well.

50:41 Paul walks through the history of Israel, and Paul brings it all the way to Yeshua as the fullest expression of the people of Israel. And then says, it is for you Gentiles too. And by the way, you don't have to become Jews in order to experience the mercies of the God of Israel. I mean, I don't know about you, but it seems for, certainly for men, it's a, it's a, it's an easy conversation that that's the one we're gonna go with. But there is some level of comfort to not being told. You have to throw away your entire heritage, your entire, everything that you've learned from the past of your people

51:30 of, of just discarding it and throwing it off to the side because everybody has to be Jewish to be saved. See, at this point, Paul is saying, no, you don't have to discard. Listen, don't worship other gods. By all means. You think that applies only to gentiles. God says it to the people of Israel in this week's tour portion. Don't go into the land and then choose to worship all the other gods because they're all there. By the way, those gods have to deal with offering your children up as sacrifices. They have to, they have to deal with money where you put your money. They have to deal with how you deal, uh, in, in interpersonal relationships. Uh, these gods didn't just

52:19 stop existing 4,000 years ago. And you're like, well, there's no really gods in America. Oh, actually I think there are, they may not go by the same names, but you just look and see what is driving people, what what motivates people. And there, I would say there's an element, a spiritual element behind that. So anyways, these Jewish leaders, they stir up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and they drive them out of their district. By the way, super fascinating this term drove them out, is the same terminology that Yeshua uses to drive out evil spirits.

53:05 So these, they're being driven out, honestly, kind of by evil. Some, some evil spirits seem to have some precedence in this township. It could have even included the family of Sergio Paulis, who I talked about a couple weeks ago. Maybe they listened, maybe they didn't. But if you remember, they were, I think I said one of the three wealthiest families in Antioch. Sidia, you don't get to be the wealthiest family in the whole city by accident. Like usually there's some feelings going on. But it's curious to note, as I've already noted,

53:54 I'm gonna note it again, it's curious to note that the text says the Jewish leaders went to incite the God-fearing women of high standing. It was very particular here. And the leading men could be perhaps the mayor of the city or the city council persons. But you can see throughout the rest of the book of Acts that the growing movement of Yeshua followers is, is reliant quite often upon these, these widows or women of wealthy, uh, wealthy means who, who just want to host.

54:39 And, and I'm not, I'm not putting them down. It, God uses all things for his glory. Some of us he uses in a one way and others of us, he uses an entirely different way. By the way, that's a really good thing to have to be utilized in different ways. Because if all of us were pointer fingers, none of us would be able to walk anywhere. Somebody's gotta be the feet. Somebody's gotta be the different po the elements of the body in our body, in the body of Messiah. So it does seem like there could be a little bit of financial motivation set to be lost here. And, and we'll come, we'll come to Act 16 in probably,

55:29 I dunno, maybe June, I think maybe June, July, somewhere, right around there. But in act 16, Paul goes to Philippi and there's a disturbance in Philippi because of a loss of money, a loss of income. I dunno if you remember, but there's this, there's this irritating servant who walks behind Paul going, and Paul goes, get out of her you demon. And it just so happened that slave person made all the money for all the different people in the, in, in the town, and they realized they didn't have a way to get money anymore. And so then they turned on. Paul, by the way, it, it, it, it's more often than not that the issues of division in a community,

56:18 we blame them on theology. Theology gets a bad rap. We blame, uh, I don't get along with her. Have you heard that person's theology? My goodness. That person. What a heretic. When in reality the divisions that exist in our body exist more because of social or economic issues, then theological issues. We just like to chalk them up to theology. So they sound important as opposed to that person took $10 of mine and didn't apologize. 'cause that just sounds petty that you're holding onto it. But the reality is, is that's what drives conflict in a communal setting.

57:07 Paul and Barnabas were driven outta the district. Paul and Barnabas's reaction, I almost fell off the stage. You see that they shake the dust off their feet. This was a much safer way to do that. If only I had a little umbrella. Paul and Barnabas, they shake their dust off their feet. You know, it, it's quite interesting, this idea of shaking the dust off their feet. We, we'll talk about it for just a second, but in the end, it's really, they washed their hands of the situation and said, we're out. Um, if I can just summarize it that way, Paul, uh,

57:53 not Paul Yeshua sins in Luke chapter nine, he sent 70 of his followers out two by two, and he instructed them to what? Shake the dust off their feet as a witness against the inhabitants of those towns who did not receive them or welcome them. He said, if they don't welcome you, go on shake the dust off your feet. So we see Paul and Barnabas applying this principle in this passage. It does make me wonder if Barnabas was one of those 70 who was with Yeshua and learned the principle, and it now is being applied, they move on to the next town. I iconium. Now I, this is not my so what yet,

58:45 but this is a really big so what for us in our everyday lives, are we able to actually do this with perceived persecution? And you're gonna go, yeah, we do it all the time. Our society persecutes us all the time. Disney puts up all of these horrible movies that promote this and that, and it's totally against my moral code. But you see what you just did right there is you didn't shake it off. You started a war against Disney and you won't let it go because they have a different moral code than us. Whoever said that the world should have the same moral code as us. No one. In fact, Yeshua said, the world operates

59:32 by a different standard. You aren't to be like them. So when we go about and we get all upset and we, and we start a boycott, you know, let's boycott this, this company, because they've got a different moral code. What you are doing is the exact opposite of shaking the dust off your feet. You're dwelling on the offense. I'm not saying you should go support that business, by all means go put your money elsewhere. But if we, if we focus on the negative, I I, I learned this story and I can't remember who, who taught it to me or maybe I saw it with a golfer, a golf instructor. When you tee up and you look down to where you want to go

1:00:19 with your golf ball, you focus on the pin. If you focus on any one of the sand traps, guess where your ball's gonna go? It's going in the sand. I a hundred percent guarantee you. Most of us, we tee up and we're like, oh my gosh, there's the sand trap. There's the sand trap. How can I get past the sand trap? There's the pin, there's the sand trap. There's the sand trap. Okay, I gotta get past the sand trap and guess what? Right in the middle of the stinking sand trap, because that's where we're putting our focus. I know I've said this before, Peter gets a hard wrap,

1:01:05 but Peter Yeshua said, get out of the boat. And what did Peter do? Peter got outta the boat. Peter walked on water, he set his focus on Yeshua, and he's walking on water. And what does Peter do? He shifts his focus from Yeshua and he sees the storm waves, the storm clouds, the lightning. He sees all of the elements around him and he forgets what he's focusing on, or should I say, he's shifted his focus to the problems, to the surs of everyday life. And you know what he does? He begins to sink what kept him on top of the water, was keeping his focus on Yeshua.

1:01:55 It didn't get the storm to go away, by the way, and it didn't get those seed to calm, but it did allow him to go through, if we can call it a trial, if we it, it allowed him to go through the trial of the storm and the, and the waves unhindered until he shifted his focus. I'm telling you that because so often we put our focus elsewhere where our focus doesn't belong. If your focus is not on Yeshua, the living word of God, the visible expression of an invisible God,

1:02:40 if you take your focus off of Yeshua for a moment, guess what happens? You see the reality of all of the trials and how hard and difficult it is, should you sink? If you're standing on top of water in the middle of a storm, of course you should sink. God created gravity. He created the law of gravity. And it's not in the Bible, by the way. So if you think everything that's in the Bible is everything that God commanded, I just wanna tell you, God created the law of gravity, which no one has yet to beat. Anybody who's ever tried to attempt to beat gravity,

1:03:27 gravity wins 100 out of 100 times. Well, no, that's not true. Elijah and Yeshua, those are different. That's different. That's different. You're right, that's different. Okay, I can't remember where I was. Anyways, all of that to say we have to set our focus and we have to be diligent about setting our focus. When you set your focus, now we, I'm just gonna give you a couple pointers. If you were here a couple, couple weeks ago, maybe a month ago, Dr. Daniel said, read the word for 10 minutes and pray for five minutes every morning. I think he said in the morning, at some point he said at some point do that.

1:04:16 You know what, if you do it in the morning, if you start with that, you know what it does is it sets your focus on the word of God. Do you know who the word of God is? Yeshua. You can read about him, you can read his word. You can, you can read everything, but then you can't just read about him. You have to interact with him. So when Yeshua says to Peter, get out of the boat and walk, Peter's interacting with Yeshua and he gets out of the boat and walks on water. He's known Yeshua, but now he's interacting in a, in a totally different way.

1:05:03 This is what all of us have to do. We have to set our focus. You know what you want to know? How many times a day you have to set your focus all the time? That's a trick question. If you do it once, guess what? You're gonna have to redo it in about an hour. It doesn't mean that you have to be like, oh, my focus, I'm looking at the tv. Wait, okay, let me read my Bible. That's not what I'm talking about. It's just the constant recalibration of what you're doing. And what I do in what I'm doing right now, is it, is it what the Lord wants me to do? And in this way, we pray without ceasing, which is what Paul says, Lord, is this really what you want me to do right now? And if you need further help, the Lord will provide it.

1:05:58 So we come to the very last verse and it says, the disciples were filled with joy in the kodesh. I learned something new in this in preparation of this week, the Greek term that's utilized here. The disciples were filled with joy. That term is utilized for gentiles before they have, um, been grafted into the community, if you will. Does that make sense? They're like, they're disciples, but they're not fully grafted in like they're on that way. And on that way is being filled with the Holy Spirit. And, and then we see, uh, starting in Acts 15, we see some, some programmatic ways of how to do that.

1:06:44 But the term here is utilized afterward. They're called brethren is what some texts translated as. But so here it's talking in particular, these, these gentiles who have been witnessing all that Paul has said, they're filled with joy. And we, the audience get to witness not for the first time, but we get to witness a primarily gentile audience being filled with the ruak hakodesh with the spirit of God. By the way, I say not the first time because it happens in Acts 10. Again, another parallel between Peter and Paul.

1:07:32 So what does this mean for you and me? Ooh, I went long today. Sorry. What does this mean for you and me? Number one, are we ready for there to be a strong interest in hearing the word of the Lord? Or do we assume that no one will want to listen? So we don't even try. You ever, you ever you ever have that? You know what, I assume you don't want to hear what I'm gonna say. So actually I'm just not gonna say it. And yet there's something inside of you going, you should say that. Call that Jiminy Cricket or the Holy Spirit. Those are just okay, my bad jokes. Okay?

1:08:19 Secondly, do we, are we ready to share the word of the Lord? The Word of the Lord? It says in Isaiah 55 11, by the way, the Lord says, my word will be that goes out from my mouth. It will not return to me in vain, but will accomplish what I intend and will succeed in what I sent it for. It doesn't matter who stands in opposition to the spreading of the word of the Lord, he will continue to go forth and to spread to others. So if for no other reason than sharing the word of the Lord, we should understand that when we share it, it's gonna go out and it's not gonna return in vain.

1:09:07 Finally, the disciples continued in joy. In other words, they express everything that was happening in their lives with joy. Those who are without hope now have the hope and the promise of eternal life. Do we express our hope and allow the ruach to dwell within us really on a daily, on a daily basis? This is something you have to, every day you have to contend in your own life for what is going to manage your time. By the way, discipline is quite difficult.

1:09:56 Managing your time, managing what you do, what you spend your time on is perhaps one of the most difficult things you will ever do. It will also be one of the most fruitful things you ever do because the one thing that we can spend and never get back is time. We can spend money all day long and money will come back. At some point we will work, we'll make money. Money comes and goes. Time it only goes. We don't ever get it back. So we have to be super disciplined in what we do with our time. And that, by the way, is the most convicting message I've ever heard for myself. What do we do with our time and

1:10:43 and how do we manage that? And do we seek the Lord in that of en May, our Father in heaven? Lord, we come to you. Lord, I thank you for Paul, for Barnabas and for their witness that we see here in Acts 13. Lord, we ask that you would, even as we have heard, that you would give us the ability to continue to share the word of the Lord, that you would give us the ability to share Yeshua in the moments where you would have us share Yeshua, Lord, and that you would give us the ability to express joy, the joy that we have in you, and the hope that we have for eternal life.

1:11:32 Lord, we bless you and praise you, and we thank you in Yeshua's name a amen. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace

1:12:30 in the name of our Messiah, Yeshua.