A Suffering Servant

0:00 This time, I'd like to invite Rabbi Ariel Waldman to the stage. It's Ariel, not Ariel. He does not have red hair or a tail. Okay. Though I do like the scene. Yes, you do. Oh, veno, thank you so much for my brother, my friend. Thank you Lord for the work that you continue to do in and through him, Lord, as you're transforming him into the very image of your Son, I pray that we would receive your word and we ourselves be transformed closer and closer to the likeness of Yeshua through today's message. We bless you, Lord. We thank you Yeshua's name.

0:45 Amen. Amen. Well, as I've done now for 834 days, I stand here to remind you that there remains one body being held hostage and captivity in Gaza. In fact, I was looking this week just to see if there was any updates. It, it may be that they've lost the body. I'm not entirely certain, and I'm not sure that anybody is certain. Um, but there, there remains one body that has not been returned to Israel, um, and,

1:31 and whose family continue to wait for the closure. It's funny because I came in this morning and I, I usually give some news updates, and in any given week, so many things have happened that I have to like whittle it down. But I gave a news update on Wednesday, so I was like, oh, I, there's really nothing has happened since Wednesday, but a lot of things actually are still continuing to happen. Um, Israel has been on high alert. I, I, I'll, I'll share a couple things. I shared on Wednesday night, 'cause there was, the world was moving on Wednesday, Israel, Israel went to High Alert on Wednesday. Um, America also went to High Alert and,

2:17 and, um, began to move some personnel around. And then now there is a, um, an aircraft carrier in strike unit, um, heading to the Middle East from the South Sign, south China Sea, uh, the USS Lincoln and the, there's, there's a lot going on, but it's been also very quiet. Uh, Iran has removed the electricity, the internet, um, to help prevent anything from getting out. Uh, word did get out last, after last weekend that it seems, the estimate is there's were tens of thousands murdered last weekend

3:06 of protestors murdered who were, who were, um, standing up against the regime. Some, the estimate was somewhere between 12 and 20,000, which puts, now we're over 20,000 for the death count for, for Iran. And I just decided, I, I thought, huh, I wonder what the death count, the Gaza Health Ministry death count was for Gaza. Not, not what, not the number of who actually died, but what Gaza, the Gaza Health Ministry, which is run by Hamas for two year war, 73,000 people died according to the Gaza, um, healthcare, according to Hamas, a two year war, 73,000 died.

3:53 We are three weeks into this. Uh, I'm not sure that you can even quite call it a rebellion yet, or an uprising or an an overthrow attempt, whatever's going on in Iran. And already we're, we're nearing about the half body count of what, of the number of people who perished in Gaza. In Gaza. The health ministry, by the way, says that there were zero fighters who were killed. There were, I think they allocate about a thousand for people who were, uh, un a workers for people who were journalists and, and,

4:41 and so on and so forth. But they claim about 70,000 we're civilians. I I'm gonna say we're, we're well on our way for Iran to have half at, at a minimum of that number. And we're three weeks in. That was a two year war, which is in ceasefire at the moment. And I, I say that because there was such outrage for two years at the loss of innocent civilian life, as, as there should be when there's a loss of civilian life. But it's been crickets the last three weeks from the same people.

5:29 It, it's, anyways, one of the other things I found fascinating, uh, was, I'm trying to remember. I think it must have been Thursday, I read a headline from the Iranian regime, um, saying that they wouldn't miss this time with an, with an assassination attempt on, on President Trump, which, which actually is, is an admission to the first time. Uh, it's quite fascinating. Anyways, that, that's, that's about the limit of, of what I'll share. You can continue. I, I, I think I did last week. Also, you can continue to pray, especially for the body

6:17 of Messiah and Iran, um, who are under heavy persecution. And I don't know if you're, you're aware of this. I I, I, I said it in a prayer last week, but I don't think I gave a number count. There's still about somewhere between nine and 25,000 Jews who live in Iran. And, um, I, I saw a great video. I should have thought, I I would've put it in my notes for today of, um, saw a great video and it was the, the tomb of Mordecai and Esther and the, the, I don't know if you call him the tomb caretaker. He, he lets these, this, this person in, and they're videoing and he goes, you gotta get on your knees to crawl

7:04 through the opening to go see the rest of the tomb. And that's 2,500 years old. It, it's in America. You know, I I I, I think most of you who were here a, a year and a half or two ago, we went a my family, we did a, a road trip, and we saw these places in America that are hundreds of years old and, and in America hundreds of years is old. You know, you get five, 600 years in into the Pue, the Puebloan societies and the, they're built into the mountains and all the, you're like, that's so old in America. There are civilizations, cities, remnants of,

7:50 of synagogues and, and all sorts of things around the world that way, outdate America. And, uh, it, it's just fascinating that you can, you can even now walk on the road that Yeshua walked on, that you can go to the places around Israel and, and, and, and other places in the Middle East where events occurred that we know from 2,003,000 years ago. And, and they're still preserved. Uh, you could go, you could go drive on a Roman road up to Jerusalem, and that road is better preserved than 6 35.

8:37 I, I don't know. I I think the construction back then was far better than it is now. Anyways, it, if you ever get an opportunity to go to someplace like that, to where you can, you can see and, and, and you know, lightly touch because you're not supposed to heavily touch to otherwise, it destroys the artifacts. You know, where you can, you can smell and, and feel and, and experience the things that we consider to be ancient history, uh, or even biblical. I I, when I was in, I took Ella to camp a couple years ago, and I, and I thought to myself, it's quite amazing.

9:26 I don't know if you've ever been to California, but the, the Redwoods or, um, holy, is that the word? You, it is unbelievable, the Redwoods. But can I tell you something fascinating? If you've ever been to the Redwoods, by all means, you should go and just stand in awe of what God has created. But the amazing thing about the redwoods, they were planted around the time King David was king. They were seedlings coming up with Solomon. And here the trees still stand. I, I I I, I think of these psalms, this is not my message at all, and I'm way off, but I just think of the psalm

10:13 where it talks about the heavens and the earth declare the glory of the Lord. And I just, I stand in amazement when I go out and I see that we continue to a, a as, as poorly as people. We treat the earth. The earth continues to rotate. We continue to work our way around the sun. We have day and night, we have, we have summer and winter in the same day in Texas. Uh, you know, we have all of these different things that, that speak ur to the greatness of God. And we get to witness it. Even today, you go, I, I was texting with somebody, I think it was last weekend.

11:04 To me, there is nothing that is the equivalent to a Texas sunrise and sunset, especially sunsets. But it, they just, they're so beautiful. And, um, and someone was texted me and they recently moved here, and I said, well, it may be hotter here than it were, than it was where you were before. But you get good sunsets from now on. But the sunset I is just speaks to God's magnificence. Anyways, I, this is totally off topic is more like my Rosh Hashanah messages. Um, we're continuing in Acts chapter

11:49 22, and I'd like, just for us to recall before we get into the text, uh, just a couple notes. Again, I, I do this all, all the time. Oh, thank you, Lydia, for walking around. Um, if you, if you are in need of notes or something to keep you awake while, while, uh, while I talk, you're welcome to, to ask for notes there. We have both English and an attempt at Spanish. Um, but I will not tell you it's my fault if the Spanish is wrong, it's AI's fault because I gave it to ai and this is what they returned. Yeah, I, um, anyways, ways, So just put your hand up if you're in need of an, of, of a handout.

12:38 The setting that we're in this week, as a reminder, Paul has come back to Jerusalem. Paul is at the temple. He, he has come to the temple to make an offering. He's come to celebrate Shavuot. He comes into the temple, he's making these offerings, and someone begins to stir up a crowd. And while they're there, this crowd just begins to become like a mob. And the Roman military intervenes partially because they think Paul is stirring up a rebellion. It's quite fascinating actually, that we're, the text that we're in talks about this, or there's fears of rebellion, and there's a current rebellion going on in Iran, and you can see the, the power of a multitude

13:26 of people gathering together even against armed opposition. So this, the, this, this crowd is, is coming together in the Roman military. They intervene quite quickly to, to squash. What they perceive as a re is, is the beginning of an uprising. And in that, in that, in, in this commotion time period, Paul convinces the commander, don't ask me how, but he convinces the commander to let him address the crowd. I can only presume that Paul is explaining to him, I'm not causing a rebellion. I actually want to helps like calm the crowd down and disseminate the crowd. Um, otherwise I can't imagine why the, the, the Roman would let him up

14:11 to address the people in the first place. So he convinces this Roman commander to let him address the crowd. The crowd seems to be listening, seems to have quietened down and, and, and really absorbing what Paul is saying, but the crowd at the end gets ignited. It, it's, it's that moment. I don't know if you, if you're from Texas, I, I grew up doing this, but it's that moment. You have the big stack of, of, of firewood in the back that you've made for a bonfire, and then you pour gasoline on it To help. And it's that moment where the, the match is struck and thrown. And that moment is Paul is up there

14:58 and he's talking about how Yeshua has intervened in his life, and the crowd is fine with it. He's talking about how he comes to the temple to pray, and the crowd is fine with it. And he says, and then God called me to be a witness to all of the Gentiles. And that bonfire just went, it ignited beyond control. And, uh, the, so the Romans intervened again and they pull Paul away, and they, they take him away. And then we come to our text today. So I'll read the text and then we'll go through, uh, verse by verse and make some comments. We're in chapter 22 verses 23 through the end of the chapter. As they were crying out, this is the crowd,

15:46 as they were crying out and flinging off their cloaks and throwing dust into the air, the commander ordered Paul to be brought into headquarters. He said, Paul should be examined by lashing so that he might find out why they were shouting against him. So, but when they stretched him out with straps, Paul said to the centurion, standing there, is it legal for you to scourge a man who is a Roman citizen without due process? Now, when the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and reported it saying, what are you going to do for this man? As a Roman, the commander said, came and said to him, tell me, are you Roman? And he said, yes. The commander answered, I bought this citizenship for a large sum of money, but Paul said, but I was born.

16:33 So there, therefore, those who were about to interrogate him instantly drew back from him. And the commander also was afraid when he found out that Paul was a Roman and that he had bound him. But on the next day, desiring to know exactly why Paul had been accused by the Judeans. He released him and commanded the ruling Kohanim and all the Sanhedrin to meet together. And he brought Paul and set him before them. So we're gonna go through this just chunk by chunk. We're gonna look at verses 23 through 25. First, this crowd of Jewish people, they're listening to Paul and they erupt The moment Paul states his mission is for the Gentiles. They're crying out, they're flinging their coats off, and they're throwing dust in the air.

17:19 You can imagine how hectic it's beginning to get in the temple, on the temple Mount, the Roman commander, which I, I'm going to, uh, I'm gonna step into next week's, uh, in, into the message a couple weeks from now, just for the sake that we know his name and bring his name into this. His name is, uh, Claudius, uh, Lu, uh, Lucia Claudius Lucias. And he's the Roman commander. He commands a legion of troops. This Roman commander Claudius decided that he wants to hear for himself why the crowd is so upset about Paul,

18:07 by the way, his approach not so soft and gentle. Hey, Paul, tell me what you're talking about. It seems that we can perceive from the text that either the commander did not understand social nuances, the social nuances of Judaism's, plural in the, in the second Temple era. Or, and, and actually I probably should say, and or 'cause it could be both, um, that they weren't speaking. He didn't understand the dialect or the, the, um, the language that, that Paul was speaking to the crowd. Because if you'll recall, at the end of chapter 21, I know this is like, now we're going like, we have to span months to cover everything. At the end of 21, it says that Paul got up and addressed the crowd.

18:52 In some of your translations, say Hebrew or Aramaic, it depends on the translation, but it's a, it's a Jewish specific language, if I can call it that way. And so the Greek or the Roman, who probably speaks Greek, and I would assume Latin, he might not understand either Hebrew or Aramaic. And so now he's, he's gotta figure out what's going on because the crowd, not only did Paul not make the crowd get less, he made the crowd get worse. And so he, he pulls Paul back and he's like, we're gonna figure this out the hard way. You know, it's like those moments where you talk to your children. You can, you can do this the easy way or the hard way. All children choose the hard way all the time, almost.

19:39 It's just the way we're programmed. And, and I, and I, and I did say we on purpose, um, because all of us are like children before the Lord, the the commander, he feels the need to resort immediately to drastic measures. Why? I mean, he could ask Paul, Paul, what are you saying? But do you understand? He takes Paul and he says, string them up, we're gonna lash him. And I'm gonna get in, in just a, in a few minutes and, and we're gonna describe the procedure so that you actually understand how violent this procedure truly is. But why, before I do that, I want to know why,

20:26 why is the commander resort immediately to drastic measures? Perhaps the crowd in other similar situations turned violent, and there was a rebellion that arose out of it. We, we know that, uh, from, from earlier, I can't remember if it was in this chapter or the previous chapter, but we know that there was an, an Egyptian who came and led a rebellion, and I think it was 30,000 people, 30,000 men. He led 'em out into the wilderness and then came back and led a revolt against Rome in Jerusalem. And it started in the Temple Mount. We dealt from different times during Luke, the, the, the gospel, not the author, um, during the gospel that there were different elements where there was uprisings

21:12 and the, and, and the, the governor would squash 'em and, and would, would, would murder all of the people who were involved. So it seems from both biblical and extra extrabiblical, uh, sources, Judea was kind of a hotbed for promoting rebellion. Yeah, I'm glad you're laughing because that's about all you can do. And, and again, I, I was talking to my dad this week and, and I think I said this quote here maybe a month ago, but there was a conversation between, I think it was President Eisenhower and Prime Minister Gold maier like 60 years ago. And President Eisenhower said, man, it is really difficult governing a nation

22:00 with 200 million people. I like it. It is just exhausting. And she responded and said, I totally understand it's really difficult governing a nation of 2 million prime ministers, because that's the way we are. So here, he's, he's, perhaps it's because the crowd is, is following the, the trajectory of prior crowds as they, as they grow and they turn violent. It could be also, as I mentioned a minute ago, the crowd is speaking a language or a dialect that the commander doesn't understand. So what he may perceive to be a violent uprising is actually they're upset

22:46 with Paul, and, and, and they're having a religious dispute, which actually we find out later when he sends a letter to the governor and he says, there's some, he didn't violate any Roman law. There's just some religious dispute. I'm turning it over to you. My hands are clean. Uh, it could be that he just doesn't understand. In either case, the commander is not risking a full blown uprising. Why? Because if there's a full blown uprising, it's gonna be him who suffers on behalf. When, when Rome finally squashes it, and they say, who allowed the uprising, it's gonna fall on him. So in either case, he's not risking this, and, and he doesn't know what Paul said to the crowd.

23:31 He only sees the crowd's reaction. So now what he does, he takes Paul and he says, stretch Paul out with straps. So they're utilizing a form of torture that, that might give them the needed information, but is actually potentially deadly. Paul would have been stripped down to the waist, exposing his upper body. They would've taken his, his hands or his wrist and strapped him to, to something that would probably post or something like that, that would both stretch him out this way and forward so that you have a full, um, spread out back. Does that make sense? Because that's where the lashes are gonna happen on the back. And, and you gotta have the, like, the best opportunity,

24:18 you gotta pretend like you don't have aim. Um, so they need, like, they need him kind of in this kind of position exposing the fullness of his back for the surging. Oh, and now they would've stretched out Paul with the intent to lash him. And now I wanna show you what, there's a couple different potentials for lashes. One of the lashes Had a handle of twisted iron metal, small iron chains and heavy metal balls at the end. So it would've looked, perhaps something like this. This is what would've been the, the tip would've been hitting the back of Paul.

25:10 Another form consisted of a leather strap, interwoven bones in small pieces of metal, and the design could be otherwise adjusted with sadistic creativity. So here's, this is just a kind of a, a, a hand drawing of the other one. But in, in either case, you can see how painful it would be. It would gra the lash when you, when you struck, would grab the skin, and then when you pulled back the, it would pull on the skin to the point of, of removing bits of flesh from the back. By the way, this is the same thing that Yeshua, um, experience at his crucifixion.

25:59 This one, he, it's so funny how methods of, of, um, transmission affect us different ways. I look at this one, I'm like, oh, it's not so bad. It's just a drawing. But, uh, I looked at this one and I was like, man, that would be really bad. I, I recognize both of them would be really bad. I'm not saying either, but I don't know. There's something about getting hit with metal iron that, that just has no appeal to me.

26:46 This being struck with either one of these would entail such deep suffering for Paul that actually it, it ties Paul's life to Yeshua's death. Paul waits until this moment where he, he's, he's spread out with the straps, he's exposed, and he, I I just want you to picture this. If this was a movie that he's like this, and he goes, by the way, did you know I'm a Roman? Or No, he doesn't even say, by the way, did you know I'm a Roman? He goes, he, he, it's even better. He goes, is this legal to do for, for Romans

27:32 who without due process, Paul, at any point up until this moment could have brought it up. But he waits until he's in this position stretched out with straps, and he goes, is this legal? It's there. It's a little bit funny when you think about it. Like, why would Paul wait? I mean, I'm assuming they put one strap in one on one hand, and he like, if it were me, I'd be, whoa, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Let's talk about this. Like, we don't need to do the other hand. You can go ahead and put that thing away.

28:17 But he's there. He waits until the last moment possible. And he says, is this, uh, hold on. He says, is it legal for you to scourge a man who is a Roman citizen without due process? He waits until this exact moment. The timing seems to be for dramatic effect, at least the way I would look at it. And he at this moment is revealing a piece of information about himself through a question instead of a statement. But it's a new piece of information, and it's a piece of information that changes the circumstances.

29:06 So I don't know, do you guys want me to leave that up there for the rest of the time? No. Yes. We'll leave that one up there for the rest of the time now. So we're gonna continue on. Now, when the centurion, when the Centurion heard this, the centurion, by the way, uh, lemme see if I have this in my notes before I, if I, I don't wanna jump ahead. No, I don't. Okay. The Centurion, a centurion is, is oversee about somewhere between 70 and a hundred soldiers. That's why you have the name Centurion because of a hundred a Century, or, uh, that's from the Latin.

29:53 So the, a centurion oversees about a hundred, and it's the commander of the Centurion who oversees the whole legion. And if the Legion is about somewhere between seven and 10,000 and, um, or maybe I should say five to 10,000, I gotta give myself a bigger window, five to 10,000. The commander, the centurion goes and gets the commander. He realizes, oh, we have a problem, Houston, we have a problem. Centurion heard this. He goes to the commander, reported it, saying, what are you going to do? This man is a Roman. The commander comes and says to him, tell me, are you this, this is like a comedy playing out. It's what, um, it reminds me of, it doesn't matter what? It reminds me of it.

30:38 The commander came and said to him, tell me, are you Roman? And he says, yes. And the commander answered, I bought this citizenship for a large sum. Paul said, I was born, so therefore Monty Python, that's what it reminds me of. I was like, I knew there's a name there somewhere. Therefore, those who are about to interrogate him instantly drew back from him. And the commander was also afraid when he found out that Paul was a roaming and that he had bound him. So that here we have this interaction between Paul, the Centurion and the commander. Paul is still strapped in the straps, and he's here going, is it, is this legal for a Roman citizen without due process? And the the centurion goes, wait, you're a Roman. And then he goes, he gets the commander. The commander goes, are you a Roman?

31:24 And he goes, yes, I'm a Roman. And the commander says, I was, I bought my Roman citizen again. Paul is like this, y'all the whole time, half naked, stretched out. The guy goes, I bought my Roman citizenship. And Paul goes, I was born one. And and they all draw back at fear, but he still is in the straps. It is. So the whole setting is just so comical to me. If it weren't so, uh, the, the deathly element weren't so high in the potential realm. It, it just, it would be, you would laugh, although you can laugh, but how, so we're gonna talk about this.

32:10 How is the commander to verify Paul's claim? Paul's sitting here stretched out. I imagine everybody could be like, oh, you're gonna stretch me out. I'm just gonna tell you I'm a Roman. Then we could stop the, we, we could either prolong it or, you know, or procrastinate or whatever. What are they gonna do? Check his Vatican passport and make sure he's from Rome. Uh, like, there's no passports. But there were proofs during this time period. And, and this is where we really begin to appreciate Luke as an author, because Luke starts this whole setting. And I don't mean Acts 22, I mean, everything that he begins with Luke and Acts, he starts it with a census.

32:59 And that's where Yeshua was born. The census was done periodically. And in the census is how you would have a list of who were Roman citizens and who weren't, and what towns they were from. So then the commander would have a list of, of, oh, you're from, you're a Roman citizen. Which town were you from? And I'm gonna check the census. So it's actually quite easily verifiable. But beyond that, there also is, um, starting, I think it was right around the time of the birth of Yeshua, they began to issue birth certificates. Um, once you registered, once you came to your, your hometown, you to register for the census, you would issue, they would issue a birth certificate.

33:44 The birth certificate for a citizen was received on a wooden, I think it's called a dip tick. Uh, it, it looks like a book that you open up and it has wax in the middle. Uh, some of them had wax and some of 'em not. And on that would be, this is, um, this, hold on, let me get to the right detail on that. Were the date of birth, the names of seven witnesses, and then an abbreviation indicating Roman citizenship. So this could be carried with him. It doesn't, I, I don't know that Paul has his, with him, because it does, at least Luke doesn't tell us that. Um, but another way, which I found fascinating,

34:30 that Romans could prove their citizenship was through the wearing of a toga. If you wore a toga, you were a citizen. If you didn't, and you wore a toga, it was death. So you would only presume to pretend to be a Roman. The, the consequences for a fraudulent ca claim for Roman citizenship was execution decapitation by an ax. So Paul's claim seems to be at least, uh, real according, according to here. And, and Paul's response to the commander who says,

35:16 the commander says, I purchased my citizenship. You know, this was an honorable thing. I'm gonna say, in some ways this would be like having a, a, an American citizenship. About 30 years ago. I, I, I think it's different now, but 30 years ago, if you had a US passport, you'd go anywhere in the world without asking questions. I, I mean, except for maybe North Korea. But like, you could basically go anywhere in the world and know and be like, oh yeah, you're okay. You can go right on through the line. Uh, it is no longer that way. Um, but that's what a Roman, Roman citizenship would do for you. It would get you anywhere. And, and it established all sorts of privileges for you. And so this commander, he says, I bought mine

36:01 And his name by, I want to recall his name, uh, we're gonna look forward, but coming back to him, his name is Claudius. Uh, Lucia, the name of Claud, the, the use of the name Claudius, indicates that he bought his citizenship while Emperor Claudius was in power. So Emperor Claudius reigned from 40, I think it was 40 to 54. Um, Luke has already talked about Claudius. He purchased his citizenship while Emperor Claudius was in power. The fascinating thing about the Emperor Claudius is during his emperorship, it was easier to obtain Roman citizenship, whether by proper means or by improper means, it was much easier. People could forge it and, and become Roman citizens that way.

36:47 Lucia is a Greek name indicating that he originates from the eastern part of the Roman empire, not the western part. In other words, from Greece this way versus Italy and that way. So this interaction he has with Paul causes fear in the centurion, the commander and everyone else who was around him. I imagine there's gotta be at least a dozen soldiers there. They're all full of fear. Why are they full of fear? Because now there's potential, um, consequences to their actions that would be harmful to them because they have falsely strung up a Roman citizen. And the question is, I, I've already asked it once.

37:34 Why didn't Paul reveal this earlier? Why did he go through all the, all of the, you know, they stripped his cloak off, which to me tells me that they didn't, couldn't tell he was a Roman by what he was wearing. 'cause he wasn't wearing a toga. So they stripped his cloak off, he stripped down to the waist. It also tells me he probably didn't have that wooden, what do they call it? A, a dip, dip tick. I think something like that. He didn't have that on him because they probably would've found it when it came falling out of his cloak as they're removing it. So now they have to go check the census records to, to verify, but it seems like they do. So why did he wait until this moment? First of all, revealing that he was a Roman citizen,

38:20 would not have been advantageous in front of the crowd that is accusing him of being not Jewish enough. You imagine that this crowd is like, Hey, you're not Jewish enough. And he goes, it's okay. I am a Roman citizen. She would've just exploded the crowd. Even worse, Maybe there wasn't a clear opportunity for Paul to tell them while they're hooking him up to the straps. Maybe they did it real quick. I don't know. It doesn't, seems like it would take a little bit of time. And Paul, in the process might have realized and gone, Hey, I'm a Roman, by the way. But most likely in my opinion is that Paul chooses to reveal this certain aspect about himself.

39:06 Why do I say this is most likely? Because he does it other times. He holds a piece of information until a particular moment for, for the most dramatic, uh, outcome. He holds this piece of information, uh, to reveal. He, he waits to reveal this certain aspect about himself for a certain moment, for the greatest impact for the Kingdom of Messiah, not for his own defense, but for the kingdom of Messiah. I want you, why do I say that? Because you shouldn't take away from this. Maybe I can, let me lemme say it the way I have it written, because it's, I've already thought it out. This is not to lead us to believe that there's unrighteousness in Paul's life that he hid

39:51 for the preservation of his own life until the right moment. It's not like hiding a sin from 30 or 40 years ago in, in until and, and hiding it until it can't wait anymore. And then it comes out and you're like, oh, by the way, I did this. That's detrimental to the advancement of the kingdom of heaven. What Paul withholds and within reveals is for the purpose of the advancement of the kingdom of heaven. It's, he's not trying to hide a sin. He's trying to wait for the right moment, for the greatest amount of glory to go to the Lord. So you say, how, how does that, how, how does telling a, how does, how does getting out of being lashed bring the greatest amount of glory to the Lord

40:38 by telling the commander that he's a Roman, he's given an audience before the commander, he's given an audience before the Sanhedrin. He's given an audience before the Governor, and we'll find out eventually he's given an audience before King Agrippa. He, and, and, and even eventually, he's given an audience in Rome by, by withholding this piece of information until this particular moment when he's going to, this is such a Jewish thing, he's going to emote the most Jewish guilt possible. He, he's going to, he's gonna milk it for everything. It's got the commander's like, okay, I'm just gonna have to definitely pass this one up the line.

41:25 Okay. So we come to the last verse, but on the next day, desiring to know exactly this is the commander desiring to know exactly why Paul had been accused by the judeans. He released him and commanded the ruling kohanim, the ruling priests and all the Sanhedrin to meet together. And he brought Paul and set him before them. So this is the, this is the next step. Paul's un, Paul's actions by withholding that he was a Roman citizen until the last moment it bought him. Not that he wouldn't have gotten it anyways at some point, but it bought him an audience with all of the Sanhedrin, including the high priests. It's so fascinating to me that this commander,

42:11 the Roman commander, is the one who commands the high priest, who is the highest authority in Israel. He commands the high priest to come and get him, and he commands the high priest to convene the Sanhedrin. Whatever it is, it seems like I, I know that actually this is also true, but the, the religious institution of the temple was subservient, or at least, um, would operate in obedience to Roman authority as long as it wasn't for the desecration of the temple. We're not told that this commander has a certain level of curiosity.

42:58 He wants to, he's releasing Paul, but he wants to see, he wants to hear what Paul's gonna say in defense, in his own religious, uh, setting. And so he brings him before the Sanhedrin. It's quite interesting because we're not told what happens with this commander. We're not given, here's the, here's right now and here's 50 years later or, or whatever. But to me, it seems like something began to awaken within the commander that was at least intrigued by faith in Yeshua, which is amazing because Paul is then walking in his mission at that moment, the moment he's strung up in front of a, a Roman, uh, commander, he's walking in his mission, which is

43:45 to bring the light of Yeshua to the Gentiles. It seems this, this commander is quite fascinating and actually operates in defense of Paul for we, we will get there in a couple weeks, but here he releases Paul and he commands the ruling coen in the ruling priest to gather for the purpose of stating their charges against Paul. And he brings Paul to the council, sets them before them, and then he sits by and waits. And you just, like, I just, it'd be fascinating to be that commander putting Paul right in front of the Sanhedrin. I'm just gonna step to the side. I wanna watch, I wanna listen, I want to hear everything that goes on, and we're, we're gonna get into that next week. So what does this mean for you and me?

44:33 I had some real difficulties with, with this week's passage, trying to figure out how do we, how do you find application for this in our own lives? I ended up with three questions. One is, what level of suffering are we prepared to endure for the sake of Yeshua or Messiah? It is a, this is an easy question for us to ask in America. Why? Because by and large, we don't suffer. And I, I don't mean to dismiss everything that in America, that that, that we don't suffer with. But when you consider the, the, the underground church in China, the underground church in Iran, you consider all of these other places and what the body of Messiah, what they have to endure,

45:23 we, we don't even really begin to, it's almost not even fair to be included on the same spectrum. Um, but still the question I think still is prevalent. What are we prepared to endure for the sake of our Messiah? Paul was willing to be lashed with this or this enduring what his messiah, what our Messiah had, had endured to the point of death. It, it could be that Paul was going to die from this. We don't know that, but it certainly was a, was a, a likely outcome. My second question is, how strategic are we in the revelation of ourselves to others?

46:12 Not because we're hiding something, but for the sake of the advancement of the kingdom of heaven. I, I just, I was, when, when Casey was reading the psalm, Casey, what psalm did you read? Was it 1 45? 1 45 45 or 1 41 41 45. There was something in there that struck me. And you know, I, I probably should have written it down, but it was talking about the kingdom. Oh, your kingdom. Wait, wait, hold on. They declare the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might. Verse 11. Well, let's, let me back up. Verse 10. No, lemme back up to verse nine. The Lord is good to all. He has compassion on all his creatures.

47:00 All your works praise you oh Lord. And your holy ones bless you. They declare the glory of your kingdom. This is what Paul is doing. He's declaring the glory of the kingdom. They, and they speak of your might to make known to the sons of men. This is everyone else to make known the sons of men his mighty acts in the glory of the majesty of his kingdom. Your kingdom is a kingdom for all ages. And your not all. I mean, yes, all ages, like, you know, like one through one 20, but also for all ages, like all eons. And your dominion endures from generation to generation.

47:46 How does it endure from generation to generation? Because we raise up our children in it. What we do daily matters. If we don't do our daily deeds, if you will, of just living life for the Lord, guess what? His dominion would stop. It's almost as if we're partners with the Lord. I've been reading a, a, a book and, and I probably, I'm not, I haven't finished it so I probably shouldn't reference it, but I will. This book changes the premise upon which they build theology in, um, concerning the Bible.

48:34 Most of us have the, the theology that man send. And from that point onward, God's trying to repair the world. But his premise is God wanted fellowship. And in that process we broke the fellowship. And so repair has to happen, but repair is not the most important thing because once it's repaired, it goes away. And in the end, the fellowship remains between us and God, God wants us to fellowship with him. His kingdom will go on when we fellowship with him daily with us and with our children from age to age,

49:22 both age to age and age to age. So how are we strategic in our own lives for the sake of the kingdom of heaven? And finally, how are we prepared today? This is, this is the one that, this is probably the most practical one. These others, you kind of think of these, I I can suffer this x amount of times or you know, I, ooh, I have this really cool thing I can tell you. Um, I can hold it until a little bit later. But really this is the most practical. How are we prepared to present the message of Yeshua before all different types of audiences? Because Paul goes from an, from a,

50:08 from a court in Athens where he talks about an unknown God to the temple where he is the God, But even though he is the God, it seems as if the people, he's unknown to the people. Paul covers this gamut of, of opportunities. And then in the process of being stretched thin, he has another opportunity to share about Yeshua with a Roman centurion and a commander. So what are we or how are we prepared to present the message of Yeshua before all different types of audiences?

50:54 This, this goes from when I hop in an elevator as I'm going up to the ninth floor at the hospital to, I'm picking out the best looking apple while I'm at the grocery store and somebody comes and takes the apple that I was gonna grab. All of these are opportunities. I once had someone ask me where, you know, we really want to, we wanna share with Jewish people about Yeshua. Where do you go to share with Jewish people? And I said, where do you grocery shop? Where do you go to the library? Where, what do you do in your life? Because wherever you are, there's Jewish people there. Like they're everywhere.

51:40 And it's really ironic 'cause there's only 15 million of us. It's not like we outnumber anybody, But it doesn't matter where you go. The Lord will give you an opportunity if you're ready for it, and he'll give it to you even if you're not ready for it. And it'll be a challenging moment and you'll be like, Lord, can you help me remove my foot from my mouth please? But if you don't want to end up with your foot in your mouth, you can prepare, you can, you can read the scripture, you can have, you can look at me and be like, alright, how can we, how can we prepare for every situation you can? And you can't. You can't because you have to allow the Holy Spirit

52:26 to lead you in any given moment. But if you don't ever read the word of God, it'll gonna be a hard time for the Holy Spirit to lead you into explaining God's truth. So you can start by reading, start by praying, fill yourself with knowledge and understanding of of, of the Lord, and then see what he does. So a Venus Sha Myanmar Father in heaven, Lord, we thank you for this passage. Lord, I thank you for this opportunity to, uh, continue in, in our study of Paul's life. Lord, I recognize that, uh, the suffering that we experience here in America is,

53:13 is minimal at, at most. But Lord, we, um, Lord, we recognize what Yeshua bore for each of us Lord. And we, we come to you Lord, and we lift up even today those in the body of Messiah who are suffering Lord, around the world and in, in particular in Iran. Lord, during this, uh, season of, of uprising and, and, and violence, Lord, we just ask that your protection would surround your body, would surround the Jewish people in Iran, Lord.

54:00 But more than that, Lord, we ask that you would utilize them as a means to share the good news of Yeshua with others. Lord, we ask for dreams and revelations for those in Iran, for those around the world, Lord, in particular where Lord, I lift up, uh, the Muslim population of the world, Lord. And I just ask that you would reveal Yeshua through dreams and, and, and spiritual encounters that you would do like you did with Paul, that you would take them from the road of persecution, of,

54:47 of the body, of Messiah, to being willing to lay down their own lives for the body of Messiah. Lord, we bless you and praise you, Yeshua, his name. 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. If

55:58 in the name of our Messiah, Yeshua Sham.