The Journey Back

0:00 As I have for nearing the two year mark, do just want to remind you that there remain 48 hostages that are being kept against their will in Gaza 20 of whom we think may remain alive. This continues to be a point of contention, actually, in the Middle East, you wouldn't think it would be contentious to condemn somebody who's holding another person

0:45 ransom as evil Or Wicked or some derivative thereof. But the world says otherwise in the Middle East, says otherwise. Israel this week, whether you agree with it or not, attempted to eliminate the entire political leadership structure of Hamas. While they were all residing in a luxurious facility in Qatar

1:31 and thought that they had succeeded, but it looks now like they didn't. It looks like the Hamas leadership left their phones in the room and went to prayer. And, uh, so the room with phones was destroyed, but not the leadership of Hamas. It has called into question, well, I have my own personal opinions as to who is double dipping in this, in reference to Qatar being the negotiating partner or the middle piece between Israel and Hamas,

2:20 and at the same time providing financial benefit to America and politicians in America. But Qatar, in my opinion, is aiding and abetting those who have no, um, no regard for human life. And as such, I listen. I'm not in charge, so I can say whatever I want. Well, I dunno if that's entirely true, but as such, I, they, in my opinion, should be treated

3:05 as such, which makes them enemies of Israel. At the same time, I've noted over and over again the rise in anti-Semitic acts in America and around the world. Uh, I can't remember the number. I think the number is nearing 400% in terms of rise of anti-Semitic acts in America, post-OC October 7th from Preoc, October 7th. And as I've said before, antisemitism or acts against, uh, acts of hatred against the Jewish people are just the canary in the coal mine.

3:51 What does the canary do? The canary serves as a, as an element to tell you whether or not to get outta the coal mine that canary is having a difficult time breathing in the rest of the world. And as such, we now begin to witness acts of hatred against not just Jewish people, but other people's. Why? Because when you fail to stand, uh, in what I would call the easiest point, I don't know, maybe it's the most difficult, but when you fail to stand with the Jewish people, everyone else is next.

4:43 When antisemitism is permitted, permitted and promoted, By the way, those two different permitted, permitted, and permitted and promoted, then those who are friends of the Jewish people become next. And then those who serve the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and may not even be friends of Israel are next. And then anybody who disagrees is next.

5:31 So the time to stand is at the very beginning. We're continuing in the Book of Acts today, by the way. There's, uh, you know what I've realized there? We, we have a few, uh, sheets, uh, if anybody needs some doodle time while I'm, uh, while I'm speaking, um, but also just, you know, to kind of help you keep on track. Uh, Lydia, are you in here? No. Oh yeah. So if you, if you would like a sheet just to, you know, take some notes on you're welcome to Lydia or, or some other usher, we'll bring them by.

6:16 I have realized though, after looking at Rabbi Sean's that mine are much simpler. I think one of us might be a doctor and the other one not a doctor. Uh, anyways, we're coming here back to Acts 18, and before we get into Acts 18, I do want to remind us, yeah, just keep your hands up and, and the ushers will bring, we will bring 'em by in a few minutes until they run out. I do want to remind us, it is been a while, and so I figured it's, it's now time to, to remind us. Just want to remind us though, I call him Paul.

7:07 His name is Shaul, which is also translated as Saul. And when Saul had what is known or often identified as a conversion experience, but what I would call, he had an experience with the Lord and heard a voice from Heaven and sa bright light. And, and now what? If you've been doing your homework, you also recognize that he actually had a moment with Yeshua himself. But when that happened, Paul's life was forever changed, but his name was not.

7:53 I'm telling you this because often it is proclaimed that Paul's name, um, excuse me, that Saul's name was changed to Paul when he hadn't experience with Yeshua. But I'm telling you that's not true. If that were true, it would mean that Saul equals bad and Paul equals good, and Jews equal bad and Christians equal good. It's not true. He continues even in the book of Acts to be referred to as Saul post his experience with Yeshua on the road to Damascus.

8:39 So I'm telling you that Paul is simply his name, his Greek name. Now, I wish I had one to prove it with, but it's like my dad. My dad's name is Marty. I don't know how many of you know him. You're like, oh my goodness. His name's not Rabbi Marty. No, it's not. His name is Marty. The title is Rabbi. His name is Marty. Marty is an English name, an Anglicized name. His Hebrew name is not Marty. His Hebrew name is Mordecai. Come on, you guys are supposed to be cheering because it's because it's not Haman. But anyways, I'm just getting you ready.

9:24 Purim is, is six months away, but, um, but, but Paul is not equal good, and Saul equal bad. It's Paul is the way he's addressed when he's out in the nations, because that's his, that's the lingua franca, which is weird because we don't speak French. So I don't know why we would say the, the, the, anyways, you understand what I'm saying? Paul's name is, that's his Greek name, Paulis. And, and so he, he's called Paul when he's out in really in the, in the world ministering. And what you'll notice actually is when he's with Jewish people, he's called Saul

10:11 quite often, okay? So again, Paul does not equal good and Saul equal bad. That's not the way it works. Um, now before we get into the text, I've, I've already given you that disclaimer. Let me give you another one. I said this, I think it was two weeks ago, but Galileo, who was the proco in Corinth, He, I gave the, the dates of his, um, po of him being in position of authority, uh, a couple weeks ago. And it's likely that he was there from July 51 to July 52.

10:57 And there's a slight chance that it wasn't July 51 to 52, but it was July 52 to 53. Anyways, we're within the 51 to 53 era. And if he was the one who heard Paul's case, as the text tells us, then it puts us somewhere in this time period of 51, 52, maybe 53, but I'm, I I I think it's really closer to 52. And what is probably the case, because he didn't serve, he didn't come out and adjudicate all the cases every day of the week for the whole year that he was there. He would come out once in a while and, and and handle cases. What's likely is he heard Paul's case

11:45 in July of either 51 or 52 Or somewhere right around July. So if Paul's case was heard in July, and then the text tells us that he stayed, uh, many more days. Luke is not exactly, um, explicit as to how many more days, but he stayed some more days. But this is what I want. I'm, I'm setting the scene for you, so don't worry. We, there's a purpose for this. If he stays there for a few more days or many days, many days can be from anything, my kids ask me, you know, dad, when are we gonna be there? And I'll say, well, we'll be there in a few minutes. And, and that may be three and a half hours away.

12:31 So Luke may be doing the same thing, or he could be actually being explicit. Is this just, you know, a week worth of days or something like that? But I want to tell you this because Paul sails from Corinth, uh, he sails eastward to go back to Israel if he's going to actually sail and the, and if his case was heard in July, he has about two months before he has to go because the shipping lanes and the, the sailing gets too dangerous in the Mediterranean. After about October it becomes too dangerous

13:18 for the passenger and shipping boats. And so they shut down for the season starting, uh, late October perhaps. So here we go. We get into Acts 18 versus 18. We're today, we're doing 18 through 23. Paul having Paul, not Saul or Saul, not Paul, or just Paul, by the way. I will, I will. Even though I told you there's no difference. I will continue to call him Paul, for, for your sake, uh, because everybody recognizes the name Paul. Paul having stayed many more days, said farewell to the brothers and set sail to Syria.

14:03 And with him were Priscilla and Aquila at, uh, let's see, how do we say this? Reya, I think Reya Paul had his hair cut off for, he was keeping a vow when they arrived at Ephesus. Paul left Priscilla and Aquila there, but he himself went into the synagogue and debated with the Jewish people. When they asked him to stay longer, he declined instead taking leave of them while saying, God willing, I'll return to you again. He set sail from Ephesus. After landing at Caesarea, he went up and greeted Messiah's community. Then he went down to Antioch after spending some time there, he departed and went one place after another throughout the region of Galatia

14:48 and strengthening all the disciples. You think, oh man, rabbi ar only has five verses this week. It's gonna be really short. Paul stayed many more days in Corinth. That's where we start. And then he said, farewell to the brothers and set sail to Syria. And he takes Priscilla and Aquila with them. And just for you to contextually or to geologically? No, geologically not geo geographically. Thank you. The other geo For you to understand, I think I mentioned this a couple weeks ago,

15:35 but there was, there was a, um, Corinth had two different ports. Is that popping up yet? No, Corinth had, uh, can you guys pop up? Uh oh, it's there, there we go. Corinth had two, two different ports, as I mentioned a couple weeks ago on the west coast was a port that connected it to Rome and on the East, well, really it was kind of a, for Corinth because of the way it is, it was kind of a north,

16:22 a northwest and a southeast. Those ports connected it to either Italy on the west side or to the rest of the Mediterranean on the east side. Let's see, I think I, oh, okay, let's try this. I did this last week. Yeah, there we go. See? So here you can see, I know it's a little bit blurry, but you can see the port that goes to the northwest that connects to the sea that goes to Italy, and the port that goes to the southeast is where

17:09 re uh, Ken Re is. And so Paul goes down here to what we find out in the text, uh, to Ken Crea. Let's see, I'm on the wrong page in my Bible. So Paul goes down there and he sets sail. Let's, uh, he sets sail and he's heading to Ephesus. That's, that's where we find out in the text that he's going. So this is the path that he likely took and he took with him Aquila and Priscilla, but before they left the port, he took a vow and cut his hair off. But just a little bit more about this port city, just

17:56 so you understand, uh, what's going on here. There were gods, I know I've said this multiple times really since Athens, but there were gods and temples to Gods prevalent in and near this city. There was a temple, uh, for, for the goddess Artemis on the road, uh, to the town. And within the town itself, there was a temple, uh, of Aphrodite, which had a stone statue, and there was a temple of Poseidon and a bronze image of Poseidon. And then even within the harbor itself, there were two sanctuaries. One for, uh, Asus. I didn't actually practice that one. And the other one for Isis, not the ISIS that we know today.

18:44 The harbor here in Ken Korea was small by comparison to others. So just so you can understand, it was 98,000 square feet. And Caea Maritime, which is in, uh, which is where Paul lands in Israel, it was 656,000 square feet. So it is about one sixth, one seventh of the size, the harbor that was on the northwestern, uh, harbor, uh, to go to go west toward Italy. That one was about 328,000 square feet. So it's about three times the size. I don't know if the, it is not necessarily important, I'm just trying to help you understand where Paul is.

19:31 And it seems that here in re there's a portion of the Corinthian community. Why do I say that? Because Paul references someone in the book of Romans named Phoebe, and Phoebe is a benefactor or a patron for the community. And Phoebe in Romans chapter 16, lives here in Ken Korea. Hmm. I sound like I need a bar mitzvah. I, And it seems like she's a significant patron for the community. So while he's here, he cuts his hair off and takes a vow. That's what Luke tells us. He says exactly, he says that Can Korea, Paul had his hair cut off for he was keeping a vow.

20:21 So this is what I want to say, especially since I already did the Paul and the Saul shtick. Luke here mentions Paul keeping a vow. Why? Because it directly ties Paul to a continued observance of the Torah and Jewish practices. It may seem subtle, but this is something that is written in the Torah in number, and it's likely that Luke is connecting this to a Nazarite vow, which is in numbers, its origin can be found in numbers chapter six. And there's several different options as to why someone would take a Nazarite vow, especially during this time period. A couple of them are one, perhaps for health, another

21:09 for safe travels, especially when going home from a period of war. By the way, I would say Paul has, if those are the reason, if those are two of the reasons Paul has ample opportunity as to why to take the vow. Why? Because he is been beat up for the last year and a half, two years. And if you think about it, Paul actually has been engaging in what I would call spiritual war. Paul has been out presenting the message of Yeshua, and in this process, he's actually, uh, perhaps I can put it in terms of, uh, something more familiar with us in 19,

21:54 uh, 40, was it 44? Was that when D-Day was? Yes. Thank you. D-Day, 1944, the allies amassed their troops on, on the British side of the channel, hundreds of thousands of troops. It it's, IIII think about, I've been watching older movies about older time periods recently, and I think about how our life, our lives have fundamentally changed in the last 60 50, I don't know, maybe even 30 years. Uh, things are fundamentally different than they were before. Um, but anyways, they,

22:42 they sent these thousands, hundreds of thousands of troops across the channel. And they're supposed to be in time with one another. They're supposed to have measured everything, but their goal is to establish a beachhead into enemy territory, which is on the continent. Enemy territory at that point was, was, was, uh, was underneath rule of Nazi Germany. And they, that's exactly what they did. They through, through a massive amount of loss of life, conquered the beachhead and, and established an area from which they could then launch troops onto the continent. Why am I telling you this? Because Paul is out establishing a beachhead in the nations that, that, that worship idols,

23:31 let me, let me say it a different way. Paul is out spiritually fighting and establishing a front against demons and, and, and principalities and forces that are standing against the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So Paul's at war. Now, we don't, we don't, when we talk about sharing the good news, we don't think about being in war. We think about, I wanna tell you what the good things God has done for me. That's great because those are true. But it is an act of warfare, and you have to be conscious enough to understand that because the enemy doesn't wanna lose ground.

24:17 Nazi Germany didn't wanna lose Normandy beach. It was the beginning of the end for them. If they would've held, I don't know that Nazi Germany would've lost. So think about that. When you, when someone comes to faith in Yeshua, you've establ, you have, uh, you've established a beachhead, you have, you have taken back for the Lord what belongs to him. And that makes the enemy angry. Like it made Germany angry. The world didn't end when the beach front was taken. Many more people lost their lives.

25:03 But that's what's happening. Paul is now on his way back. So think about that. If Paul has been spiritually at war now for a couple years, he's now coming back and, uh, he's taken this vow and he's cutting his hair, by the way, the cutting of the hair with the Nazarite vow, it's the only one, the only, the only offering that requires a piece of us. So when Paul does it in, in, really in, in any case, when the Nazarite vow is taken, it's the person is giving up a piece of themselves for the sake of drawing nearer to the Lord. So Paul cuts his hair off, and, and it, it does seem, by the way, it's kind of sketchy as to

25:53 what was actually in practice at this time period. But it seems like there could be by, from the enacting of the vow to the offering, the sacrifice. 'cause there's a sacrifice that goes along with it, uh, that has to be offered in the temple, that you could do those in two different places and there could be two different times, and it could take you, you could do it in a and have it span about a month period. So here Paul does one part, but he still has to complete it by doing the sacrificial offerings. And if we take that, Paul is here, uh, in, in Corinth around July and has his case heard, and he stays many more days. Perhaps he stays into August.

26:40 It seems to me, I know I'm using July and August as, as Gregorian calendar, but it seems to me now Paul might actually think he could make it to Jerusalem for Kot, you know, September, October time period. That that would give Paul, I don't know, a month to make the journey is quite interesting. So let's move on in verse 19. When they arrived in Ephesus, uh, Paul left Priscilla and Aquila there, but he himself, he went into the synagogue and debated with the Jewish people. When they asked him to stay longer, he declined instead taking leave of them while saying, God, God willing, I'll return to you again. He set sail from Ephesus after landing in Caesarea, uh, he went up

27:28 and greeted Messiah's community. Then he went down to Corinth. So here I, I've got the map. He sailed from Corinth to Ephesus. Paul leaves Priscilla in Aquila there in Ephesus. And it seems like him placing them as overseers or temporary overseers of a growing community in Ephesus, or at least something that's beginning, if that makes sense. This is not the first time, by the way, that Paul leaves one of his traveling companions to oversee a growing work. We can deduce from the text that we've studied now for the last, uh, I think it's been two months since act 16. We can deduce from this that Paul leaves one of his companions, uh, excuse me, sorry,

28:13 we can deduce from this text and Luke or Act 16, that Luke gets left behind in Philippi. Luke joins Paul's group in Troas, if you remember, in Act 16, because the, the book of Acts switches to the terminology and uses the we and us instead of they and them. But the terminology stops later in Acts 16. So we can deduce either that Luke stays in Philippi or he left the group and didn't continue with the group. That being said, I know I'm, I'm fast forwarding now maybe three or four months, but if you read ahead and you get to Acts 20, the we terminology resumes

29:01 when Paul comes back to Philippi. So we can assume that, that Luke has probably remained in Philippi and probably remained as the overseer of Philippi for about five years, certainly several years anyways, we also know in the text in Luke's, uh, Luke 18, uh, acts 18, we know that Silas and Timothy, they Remi remain behind in Berea. And when, when Paul is sent away and Paul had to send for them in order for them to come and join him. In other words, it seems like, actually, I know the text tells us that Paul was sent away, but I wonder actually if Paul put them in charge and they sent him away

29:46 and said, Lily, it's too dangerous for you. We got this. We will oversee it. And, and, and then Paul has to write to them to encourage them to come join him, and they come join him in Corinth. So here in Ephesus, Paul goes into the synagogue and he debates there, and it seems like he has a positive reception. Why do I say that? Because they ask him to stay longer. This is a fascinating thing. I don't know that Luke has notated for us a time when they've asked him to stay longer. And yet Paul says no, up until this point, Paul's getting beat up, thrown out like anything and everything bad can happen to Paul.

30:31 And Paul's like, I'm just gonna stick with it. I'm gonna stay here forever. Uh, and here he's not getting beat up at all. In fact, they're asking him to stay, and Paul says, no, I gotta go. Seems a little bit contrary, but I wonder if it has to do with the timing that Paul is on a deadline to get to Jerusalem. Now I know, I know I'm making an assumption and, and I'll talk about that assumption in a moment. But he seems like he's, he's going and he has to be there somewhere pretty quick because it seems like he only stays in Ephesus for a Shabbat. It, it doesn't seem like it's more than even a single Shabbat, but if he's on a deadline

31:18 to fulfill his vow at the temple, it would explain why he's in a hurry to continue. He doesn't express a desire to return to them in the future. Lord willing, in the creek don't rise. You can laugh, it's okay. So he expresses the desire, but he sails on from Ephesus at this point to Caesarea. So this is what it looks like. We, um, are just really talking about the, to the Caesarea part at this point. So he sails follows this goes by by the island Cyprus and gets to Caesarea, and at Caesarea said, the text tells us after landing there, he went up and greeted Messiah's community. So where did he go up to?

32:05 Did he go up to the local house community fellowship there in Caesarea, or what's more likely is he went up to Jerusalem. This is the same language Paul has used throughout, uh, not Paul. Luke has used throughout the book of Luke in Acts going up to Jerusalem and coming down. Anytime you go away from Jerusalem, by the way, it's, it's very Jewish language to refer to going to Jerusalem as going up, because you're going up into the mountains, up to the mountain of the Lord, and then anywhere you go, anywhere else, and it's going down, it doesn't matter if you're going north, I know I've said this before, but if I'm going to Austin, I'm going down to Austin,

32:50 But I'm definitely not going up to Oklahoma City. I'm just playing. I'm just playing. I'm just playing. You go up to Dallas. But uh, no, I'm just, I'm just playing. So he's going up to Jerusalem and he goes up and it says, let me, I just wanna read this text. After landing at Caesarea, he went up and greeted Messiah's community. I'm gonna, I'm gonna read a whole lot into this,

33:37 so I understand I'm reading into this, but I I don't think it's a stretch. He goes up to Jerusalem and it seems to me that he's closing the loop post Acts 15, because remember in Acts 15, he goes up to Jerusalem and he presents before Messiah's community a, uh, a, a, a problem. And the problem is, what, what do we do with these gentiles who are coming to faith? Should they be circumcised in order to be, in order to receive salvation? That's, that's the, um, the the question that is posed to Messiah's community in Jerusalem. And the elders

34:22 and the apostles, they, they, they take some time and they debate. And Acts 15 gives us a great, we get to be a fly on the wall. And, and, and we get to see and hear at least a perspective of the debate. And they come back and they say, no, these are the four things Gentiles should do In order to be in fellowship with Jewish people. And then they send Paul in his way, and Paul and Barnabas, they go, where they go to, to Antioch. Why? Because an, the question primarily comes from Antioch, which is a congregation, what I would call a mixed congregation with Jewish and Gentile followers of Yeshua dwelling together in community, and they're trying to figure it out.

35:10 And so they go back to Antioch and they say, listen, this is the great news we have. And then in the Antioch, Paul and Barnabas, they decide, we want to go tell all of the congregations that we've already planted this great news. Let's do it. And Barnabas says, let's take John Mark. And Paul says, no way, Jose, I was thinking of other things, but I'm not, I'm not traveling with that dude. He, he ditched us last time. And, and so there's this sharp break between Paul and Barnabas and Paul grabs Silas and the community in, in, in, uh, acts 15. I know I'm jumping a little bit ahead of myself.

35:55 In Acts 15, the community, the Antioch community, they send Paul and Silas out. How do I, how do I know this? Because in Acts 1540 it says, but Paul selected Silas and went out being entrusted by the brothers and sisters to the gracious care of the Lord. That's code language for Antioch. Sent them out on a mission as like missionaries. I don't know if I, if I can use reading one thing back into another, but they sent them out. So Paul here comes back to Jerusalem, and he's giving them a recap of what has happened post Acts 15. And he comes up and shares

36:40 with the Messiah's community in Jerusalem, probably considering all of these, uh, communities that, that have sprung up as a, as a, as a byproduct of Paul and Silas's work. And it also so happens that he can close the, the, the loop and complete his vow and offer a sacrifice in the temple. Now, I know there's a lot of, I, I'm arguing from a lot of silence, and that's not necessarily a safe place to be. Um, but I I, I don't think I'm actually jumping too far here. So then it says, then it's, then the text tells us he went

37:30 up and greeted Messiah's community. Then he went down to Antioch. Why did he go back to Antioch? Well, because now he's already completed the loop with the emissaries, with the Messiah's community in Jerusalem. Now he has to finish and come back and give a report to the community that sent him. If we were to send someone out on a journey, we would expect at some point that person to come back and give a report. That's what happens. That's called good stewardship. So he, he's closing this loop with Antioch, and he comes back to Antioch. Now here's, here's fascinating. We continue on in verse 23. After spending, so you, by the way, you can see this

38:18 proposed route, uh, on the, on the, uh, big screens. You can see this proposed route. Paul sails to Caesarea, then he goes up to Jerusalem and Messiah's community. Then it doesn't mention him sailing to get to Antioch. So the way, if you weren't going to sail the way the land route would've been to come up like this and to go to Antioch as, as his, as his destination.

39:05 So after spending some time there where in Antioch, he departed and he went one place after another throughout the region of Galatia Foria strengthening all of the disciples. By the way, this is, this is the area where Paul spent all of Acts 14. If you want, if you want the text to go with it. This is where Acts 14 occurred when he made the journey, the original journey with Paul and Barnabas and John Mark, and then John Mark ditched them. But this is the area that Paul was ball was in. And Paul goes and spends area, spends time in this region strengthening all of the disciples. So Paul spends some time first in Antioch

39:52 after spending some time there. That's what the text tells us. He spends time in Antioch after the completion of a journey, a task or a project, it's necessary to stop for a season. I don't know if you've ever thought about that. It's good to stop. Why? Because when you stop, you can actually rest you, your body, uh, gets restored in that. It, it's, it's dare I dare I say, it's countercultural to what we do in America today. We like to start a project, and before the project even begins, before the project comes to an end, by the way, there's some, there's some actual chemical

40:38 exchanges going on in your body. When you start a project, you get all excited and you're like, yes, this is gonna be fun. And, and then when you get to the end of the project, you're like, I don't, I don't really want the project to end because that's kind of sad. Like I just spent all this time on the project and now it's gonna be done. So we don't want that, the the ending part, if you will. We like the first part, which gets us all happy and excited and energized to do new things. So what we do is we start a project, and when one project starts to make that circle toward the ending, what do we do? We start another project because we don't wanna feel that part. We just want to continue to feel good and start projects.

41:27 I don't know. I have my own theories, one of which I don't think we like to consider our own mortality, which is what happens when you bring something to completion, is when something comes to completion, it's done and it's set aside. And we don't like to consider that we ourselves are in this arc of a journey. And at some point our journey will come to completion. And it's not a bad thing, it's a in fact, really, if you really think about it, when our journey comes to completion here, we embark on another one, but we can't, here's the reality, we can't embark on the next one until we complete this one.

42:18 So here Paul comes to Antioch and he receives rest and restoration that's necessary for him. Why is it the dude has been beat up for two years? He deserves a break. He gets to sit and relax and not have people pumble him and put him out and, and beat him up and take him to court and do all of these things. He's enjoying a place where people like him, and so he's probably being restored while he's there. And in fact, we don't think like this, but Paul is actually probably there in being poured into by others in the community

43:05 who he represented in his sufferings. And now he comes back and he's beat up and, and down. And these people now get to pour into him and replenish him. He has come back and he has a season of restoration before going back out onto the battlefield. But then the text continues to tell us. The text says, then he departed and he went one place after another throughout the region of Galatia and Gio. Why in this way, Paul's like a shepherd. He goes back to the sheep of his flock to check on them and to ensure their wellbeing.

43:50 So he goes back to all of those places that he's already been. He goes there to strengthen all of the disciples. How does one strengthen others? Well, by sharing the desires that the Lord has put within you, by sharing what the Lord is doing in your life, by sharing what the current challenges you are facing and how the Lord is helping you overcome them, that's how you encourage others. So I guess my message was shorter than usual. So what does this mean for you and me and us today? I What this is, this is my questions for you.

44:35 What is the life that you are living? And you have to really, you have to really bore down on it. What is the life that you are living currently? Where are you in your life? What is the journey that you are on? Because all of us are on some journey at some point of like this. That's what life is. By the way, we're all on this journey. Where are you? Are you at the, I'm getting beat up part. Are you at the, I need to, I need to go give a report for my activities part. Are you at the part where you just need to sit and rest and get poured into from someone else?

45:22 By the way, that's, I'm not determining this for you. You have to determine that. And you have to take appropriate action for whatever part you're in. If you're at the getting beat up part, you know what? It's time to do, time to put your big boy pants on and let's go back out, because that's what Paul does day after day. Paul gets beat up and he moves on to the next place. And he goes, I'm not saying Paul is fearless. Understand that Rabbi Sean talked last week, and if you've been doing the homework of reading first and second Corinthians, you'll read. Paul says, I was in great fear. I mean, it's ama like the things I noticed this

46:08 time, I've never noticed before. I never thought about Paul as being afraid. I always thought Paul was like, oh, you punched me. Gimme another one on this side. Oh, you kicked me. Wait, wait, let me get back up. Okay, now kick me again. But Paul's afraid for his life, but he continues to persevere and to push forward. In fact, in in second Corinthians, he talks about what perseverance in times of challenge, what it produces. Peter also talks about it. So where are you on the journey? You have to measure that yourself and wherever you are, you have to take appropriate action. Is it time now for me to, to move on to the next city?

46:56 Is it time now for me to go back and give a report? Have I been out? Is it time now for me to just get, get, get poured into, to rest and relax or this is one I, I, I assumed, but I didn't actually say, is it time now for me to get sent out and to begin to go out on that journey? Because if it's that time, you got a lot of work out of you. Every single one of of those seasons requires something different. And if you are doing, if you think you're in the being sent out part, but you're actually in the giving a report part, and you're not giving a report,

47:43 you're failing at the season that you're living in. So you have to understand what the season is that you're in so that you can appropriately prepare. And if you've been out, this is where I'll finish. If you've been out, if you've been in the spiritual battle and you've been waging war and you're tired and you're beat up, will you allow someone else to pour into you? Because that takes an act of the conscience that you don't get received. You don't receive someone else pouring into you naturally. You have to say, okay, I'm gonna listen today.

48:33 I'm gonna, I'm gonna ask and, and then I'll see what, what I can receive and receiving rest. And restoration, by the way, is it's almost harder than going to war because at least when you're going to war, you feel like you're doing something at least as a man and you feel like you're doing something. I'm out here, I'm doing things for God. We're taking Normandy or Corinth or whatever the beachhead is, we're doing these things. But when you are at the point of receiving rest and relaxation

49:19 and rejuvenation, you don't have that. You're like, man, I'm beat up like I'm tired. But no man ever wants to say that. Like that's not in our natural expression wheelhouse. We like to go to battle. We don't like to come back. In fact, I think dare say, some of us might prefer to die on the battlefield than to come back and be restored. Why? Because we think that there's glory and honor associated with that, which there might be, but there's also, it's necessary. I see it here in the text.

50:04 I can, I can see it throughout the Tanaka. It's necessary for the Lord to pour into you and allow, and you allow him by the way that that happens with other people. It, it happens with the Lord directly also. I'm not saying it doesn't do that, but it happens through other people. So this is where I'm gonna leave you ave Sha Mayim, our Father in heaven. Lord, we thank you for this time together. Lord, I thank you for this, uh, this season, this, uh, season that we have had in the Book of Acts. And Lord, even actually as we are about to enter into

50:49 the season of the High Holy Days at the fall festivals, Lord, we recognize our need, our dependence, our reliance upon you. And Lord, we ask that during this season that you would draw us near to you, that you would rejuvenate us, that you would, uh, that you would fill us full, and Lord, that you would show us where we're going next. Lord, we bless you and praise you in 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

51:36 you and give you peace. If

52:26 In the name of our Messiah, Yeshua Shabbat.