You are God's Witness

- Amen. (audience applauding) Well, good morning to all of you. We welcome all of our campuses. Happy Father's Day. If you're a father here, could you stand up so we could recognize you today? Appreciate all that you do. (audience applauding) Thank you, men. And men. (audience applauding) Thank you, men. It's the highest calling that you have. We don't do it perfectly. We do it increasingly, amen? That's what we do. Thank you for your faithful service to the Lord and to your family. Just as a reminder, this past week, we had your pray for a high five. We had nearly 1,200 kids between both our campuses. And we had 700 plus volunteers. And I wanna do this today too. I wanna recognize, if you served in any way with high five, would you also stand up so we can recognize you today? Thank you so much. (audience applauding) Appreciate you. Amen.

(audience applauding) Such a great job. Everyone served with such incredible joy. We had a number of kids here that had never heard the gospel before. It's difficult to keep track of who stood, who did what. But we did give out Bibles to those who said, this is the first time I ever made a profession of faith. And between the two campuses, praise God, we gave out 130 Bibles this week at high five for those that did that. So we praise God for that. And we'll continue to entrust the Lord with our souls and seeds that were sown and all of that. I have a special announcement today. I wanna bring out my good friend, John Gausen, his wife Beth. If you give them some appreciation when they come out. (audience applauding) So John has served faithfully on our staff for seven and a half years. But there's more to the story. In about 2009, when God called me to plant a church, Kent Shaw, who's now one of our supervising elders, was at Harvest Bible Chapel in Chicago. And it planted, ended up planting almost 200 churches in 19 different countries. But Denver was like number 66 or something like that. And I remember, I say, I wanna meet some of the guys in the fellowship.

I wanna see if these guys really devote themselves to prayer if they're really about the word. And so Kent gave me the number of four different guys. And one of the first guys I called was Pastor John. So in 2009, I called him and I was asking him all sorts of questions about how they preach. And do you pray and do you do this? I was so impressed when I got off the phone. I told my wife, I'm like, yeah, this is the kind of guy I can hang out with, this is what God's doing. So John has planted four churches during his ministry. He was also the international director of prayer for Samaritan's Purse prior to coming here. And he served so faithfully on our staff all the whole time. Not only has he been a faithful servant, you've heard him preach and all those things. He and his wife Beth are really good friends of ours. And one of the things that we've been praying for them is while John's been working here, Beth is the more gifted of the tomb, and true. And she's been managing a Chick-fil-A with the hopes that one day she could be an owner. Well, last fall they got word, she's gonna be an owner. Amen. (audience cheering) So they're gonna be moving to Derby, Kansas, which is outside of Wichita. They're already moved there, actually. And they're gonna be setting up, I think things start in July, July 1, right? And so Beth will be the owner of that.

And they've been really gracious to me that I think they will be to you. They're gonna give us 10% off sweet tea if we drive out there. And Sundays are free. All Sundays free, right? So we're excited. Have you heard of this restaurant, Chick-fil-A? Okay, I thought so. Anyway, we're so excited for them. They've served so faithfully. We're excited for you, Beth, and your next move. And, you know, as we're talking about today, even in the message, just wherever the Lord places you, it's a ministry. And I know John and Beth are gonna do a great job. So I just wanted you to welcome them before we just commission them off and have Kent pray. Maybe just share just a little bit about what the Lord's been doing, John. Thank you, Pastor Jeff. Well, we have only been on the ground for three weeks in Derby, Kansas, and we already miss you terribly, our church family. And we're just starting to visit churches in the Wichita area. We know there's a divine appointment for us somewhere that there is a body that Christ has been preparing to receive us. So that's our number one prayer request

that you would pray for us that God will lead us to the right local church for this next season of our spiritual journey. We would so appreciate that. You know, for seven and a half years, Beth and I have felt so loved by you, so welcome to by you, so received by you, so encouraged by you. So we wanted to say thank you for that this morning. The Holy Spirit has worked through you in our lives for such confirmation and affirmation of our ministry. And Pastor Jeff, I wanna say thanks for your friendship. And I know that's gonna continue. And I just thank you for being a man who boldly proclaims the entire counsel of the word of God and stands on the authority of the word of God in all things. And Jeff and Kim, thank you so much for your commitment to prayer, that you really believe in the power of prayer. Everything that happens at Brave Church for eternity is because of prayer and Christ being glorified. So thank you for modeling that for us. And thank you for being such faithful shepherds in loving the flock so well, that has been so encouraging to us. This morning, the Holy Spirit gave me a verse of exhortation for you, Brave Church. First, Peter 2, 9. But you, Brave Church, are a chosen race.

You are a royal priesthood and a holy nation. You are a people for his own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Brave Church, always stand in your new identity in Christ. We love you. (audience applauds) - I'm a crier, so I won't say much, but I just wanna say thank you. And I've said for a long time, God's doing more in Derby, Kansas than just a Chick-fil-A. So we don't know what that is, but I'm confident that he goes before us and he's gonna lead us to the places that he wants us to be spheres of influence and that you talked about this morning. So I just wanna say thank you for your prayers for our family, thank you to Jeff and Kim. That's where I start crying, so it ends there, but I just appreciate it. (audience applauds) - You know, the Christian life is a wonderful life, but it's a bittersweet life. Because of times like this, we've loved John and Beth. I've known John since 2005, had the privilege of planting him in Prescott, Arizona. And so we love you guys. We're gonna deeply miss you.

We are gonna swing by Derby, Kansas, on the way back to Chicago though, and hit the Chick-fil-A and see you guys as well. But anyway, why don't you stand with me? We're gonna pray for them. It's interesting that in Acts chapter 20, Paul prayed over the elders of Ephesus for the last time. And there was weeping, but there was a commending to God. So we're gonna commend you to God today. And so yeah, reach out your hand. So Lord, as your people, we don't take lightly the privilege that we have of the bold and confident access we have to the throne room of grace. And Lord, we thank you for the gift that John and Beth have been to so many, and especially this body, especially to me and Nancy, especially to Jeff and Kim. And Lord, we thank you that they have demonstrated a faithfulness and a consistency over decades that of life lived well, of obedience in the same direction. And now Lord, may they accelerate to the finish line in Kansas. Lord, thank you for the hearts and minds of people you're preparing for them to have great kingdom influence. And so Lord, we commend them to you. And we thank you that your word says, the Lord is the one who goes ahead of them. You'll be with them. You'll not fail them or forsake them. Therefore, they will not be fearful or timid. So Lord, we commend them to you now.

Lay your hand upon them. Lord, we bring you to bring many more leaders like John and Beth to our church to serve in the Denver area as we seek you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. (audience applauds) - And brother, love you. (audience applauds) God bless you. - Thank you again. - We have love you too. Come to me. I know that you will see John and Beth again here and they'll continue to be great friends of our church. As a reminder, last announcement, as a reminder, tomorrow we begin renovations in this building. So this is our last service in here for a couple of months. If you attend here in Inglewood and you come here next week, we will not be here. We will be next door at Brave Academy. Here's what I would strongly encourage. Brave Academy will not house all of us in the same place. We will have overflow seating, but if a couple hundred of you would be willing to come to 830 for a couple months and come to the earlier service,

there will be more room for you there and it'll help us out a little bit. Nobody's mandating it. But here's what I would say. Let's have fun over the next couple months. When you come back in here, it's gonna look like an entirely different place. Those stairs behind me will be long gone. We'll have new screens. We'll have new chairs. We'll have a new floor layout. It's gonna be very, very different than what it is right now. But it's gonna be continued to be filled with the Word of God and prayer and everything that we do. Amen. And so, for those of you here in Inglewood, I have seen the chairs now and they're bigger and more comfortable. All right, and with that, let's go before the Lord. Let's get ready to hear his living and active word today, okay? Our Father in Heaven, we do give you glory, honor, and praise for who you are and Lord, all that you're doing. We celebrate, Lord, just all the different ways that you brought this church together to accomplish all your purposes here in this city and beyond. Lord, help us to remain faithful to you as a body that honors you, loves you, and serves you with everything that we have.

And Lord, we're encouraged this morning to get to hear from your living and active word, because we as a people believe that every time your word is faithfully and accurately proclaimed, that it is you who are speaking, so our prayer this morning is, speak Lord, for we are ready to hear. And so now for all those who have gathered who desire to hear the Lord Jesus Christ, speak directly to you, who will believe what He tells you and who will by faith put into practice what He shows you, will you agree with me very loudly this morning by saying the word, amen, amen. As we've been studying this book of Acts in the first chapter, Jesus told His disciples what they were going to be. Jesus had His earthly ministry where He began to do and teach everything. And then before He ascended into heaven, His disciples begin to ask Him, "Lord, at this time you're gonna restore the kingdom to Israel." And He said, "It's not for you to know dates and times, but here's what you do need to know. You will be my witnesses." And then He tells them how it's going to expand, but the key words are, "You will be my witnesses." To be a witness means more than just sharing the truth. It means to bear witness to the truth. It means you live out the truth, but you also speak the truth in order for you to be,

if you're a born-again believer, then what God's desire for you is to live the truth and to speak the truth, not just do one or the other, not just to speak the truth, but not live it, and not just to live the truth and not speak it. You, if you're born-again, are God's witness on this earth and everything that He did through Jesus, the God-man during His earthly ministry, Jesus is now doing through His church. We are His witnesses. Here's the lie. The devil tells you, not you. You're not good at that. You don't have the right personality. You don't have a good testimony. You don't have the right temperament. You don't know enough about the Bible yet. You're just not good at sharing with other people. What if you get it wrong? What if you share it bad? What if those people don't listen to what you have to say? There's lie after lie after lie after lie after lie. God says, Jesus said, you are my witness. If you're a born-again believer, you've repented of your sins and you've trusted in Christ, you are God's witness, don't believe the lie. And it's so important that we know this because for many of us, even in our experience, we've had experiences where we've tried to share the gospel with people or we've lived it out

in front of people and it hasn't gone well. And the devil has used that in our lives, they say, see, you're not very good. You're not very good at that. And I heard a comedian one time say that only 7% of people in the church actually share their faith. That's a stat. And then he asked, why is it always the wrong 7%? I mean, here's the reality. Sometimes we don't want to be grouped with that people that are standing up and proclaiming, but that's not sharing your faith. Bearing witness means in your sphere of influence with who you know, with who you are, with your own unique gift and your own unique personality, whether you're introvert or extrovert, that you can testify to the grace of God in your life. Because here's the reality. If Jesus is really the God-man, and he is, and if he said, I am the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me, which he did, and you are his witnesses, which you are, then how important is it for us to live and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ all the time? You are God's witnesses. This is a refresher to many of you who have believed the lie for too long, that think for some reason, it's just not me. It's not what I do, and it's not who I am,

and I want to call you to the Word of God and remind you this morning that you are God's witness. It's who he wants to use, and he wants to use you. And so to do that this morning, we're gonna be in the Book of Acts chapter 25 is where we're gonna start. And by God's grace, we're going through chapter 25 and 26 this morning because it's really all one section, and we're gonna go through it rather quickly, but I want you to see what God does to prepare you to be his witness, and what God's responsibility is in that, to give you a great confidence so that you know in your life when you're in certain circumstances or situations what God is doing behind the scenes, and how God is working behind the scenes to work all of these things out. As you remember, to pick up our story, Paul had gone to Jerusalem against the desires of all of his friends, saying if you go there only chains await you. He said, I don't care. I'm hearing the same thing too, but I'm willing to go there and even die if I have to. When he gets there, he gets, Paul is killed. We're going to give a vow to this. Paul's nephew hears about it, tells the commander, so they give Paul a military escort to Caesarea. And in Caesarea, the people from Jerusalem come and they accuse him of things, but they can't find anything wrong with him. And Felix, who's the governor of that province at the time, is listening, but he can't find anything wrong with Paul, so he just keeps them locked up. And so Paul's been locked up now for two whole years. From time

to time, Felix, the governor would call him so he could talk to Paul, but he was always hoping that Paul would bribe him and give him some money, which Paul, of course, never did, and that's where our story picks up. So even though God told Paul when he was in Jerusalem that he was going to go testify in Rome for two years now, he's been sitting in Caesarea under house arrest. And this is where our story picks up. It says in chapter 25, Festus then, having arrived in the province three days later, went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea. So what had happened is at the end of the chapter, Festus seceded Felix. So you have a new governor of the province from Caesarea to Jerusalem. That whole region is now governed by a man named Festus. And three days after he was installed, he went up to Jerusalem, and the chief priests and the leading men of the Jews brought charges against Paul, and they were urging him, requesting a concession against Paul that he might have and brought to Jerusalem at that time, setting an ambush to kill him on the way. So Felix gives his governorship over to Festus. Festus is in Caesarea for three days as he gets established, goes up to Jerusalem. As soon as he gets to Jerusalem, guess what happens? The people that had been after Paul, not for a month, not for a week, but for two years, they're still after Paul. They still want Paul done. And so they come to Festus and say, hey, can we try him down here? And while they're saying that to him, they're already making a plot against Paul's life. They're like, we'll kill him now. I mean, this has not dissipated. This anger towards Paul is not going away. It's only escalating, and that's what they want to do. So they're telling the new governor, Festus, why don't you just bring him down here? We'll try him here. All along, all they're wanting to do is kill Paul. First four, Festus then answered that Paul was being kept in custody at Caesarea and that he himself was about to leave shortly. Therefore, he said, let the influential men among you go there with me. And if there is anything wrong about the man, let them prosecute him. After he had spent not more than eight or 10 days among them, he went down to Caesarea. And on the next day, he took his seat on the tribunal and ordered that Paul be brought. After Paul arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many serious charges against him. And notice these next words, which they could not prove. While Paul said in his defense, I have committed no offense either against the law or of the Jews or against the temple or against Caesar. But Festus wishing to do the Jews a favor answered Paul and said, are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and stand trial before me on these charges? So as this is taking place, I mean, remember,

the last time this happened, the chief priests went up when Felix wasn't charged two years ago and tried him and it didn't work. Now Festus has gone to Jerusalem and he's like, hey, if you want to try him, come up to Caesarea. So two years later, the same groups coming up to Caesarea to try him and they're trying him and they're bringing charges against him and none of them stick because Paul didn't do any of those things wrong. There's nothing wrong. So Festus says, well, Paul, would you come to Jerusalem and be tried there? Well, Paul's not going to want to go there because they know he wants, they want to kill him. And so notice what happens. But Paul said in verse 10, I am standing before Caesar's tribunal where I ought to be tried. I have done no wrong to the Jews. As you also very well know, if then I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything worthy of death, I do not refuse to die. But if none of those things is true of which these men accuse me, no one can hand me over to them. Here's what he's saying. If there's anybody that can prove that I did any of these things that are worthy of death, I'm willing to die. I'll pay the penalty. I know the law. I know what's true. But if not, let me go. I mean, there's no charge against me. And so here's what he then says, I appeal to Caesar. In other words, I'm a Roman citizen. It is my right. I'm not getting a fair trial. I'm going to take it all the way to the emperor. I want to go see Caesar. Then when Festus had conferred with his counsel, he answered, you have appealed to Caesar to Caesar, you shall go. Now here's the first thing I want you to see. When it comes to being God's witnesses, God is the one who opens the door. Now think about this, Paul went to Jerusalem, shared the gospel, and it did not go well. We're not aware of anybody that came to Christ through that trip that he took to Jerusalem. We are aware that he got thrown into prison. We are aware that when he was brought out and tried, they wanted to kill him again and he was put back in prison. We are aware that they put a hit on his life. We are aware that they gave him a military escort to Caesarea. We are aware of all those things, but from a spiritual standpoint, just reading the book of Acts, we would say, "What a miserable failure." Paul, they told you not to go there. We knew it was a horrible thing for you, and yet when Paul's in prison, after this experience,

who shows up in the prison, Jesus does. And Jesus is standing right beside Paul and says, "You've done great." And in the same way you've testified here in Jerusalem, I'm going to have you testify in Rome as well. So a couple of things are going on. When the world looks at a situation and says, "What a miserable failure?" God's not looking at it and saying, "What a miserable failure." God's looking at it and saying, "What a faithful witness Paul has been." And in the same way you've been a faithful witness here, I'm going to open up a door for you to be a faithful witness in Rome. So you would think, "God told me I'm going to Rome. God told me I'm going to Rome." Here's where Paul goes. He goes to Caesarea. And how long does he stay there? Not a week, not a month, two entire years. Here's the reality. God's the one that opens the doors. And when does God open the doors? God opens the doors when he wants to open the doors. God opens the doors at the time that he wants to open the doors. If God's given you a word from his word, this is what you're going to do, it doesn't mean today and it doesn't mean tomorrow and it doesn't mean next week and it doesn't mean this year, it may be 5, 10, 15 years down the road. But God's always faithful to his word. Here's the truth. If Jesus told Paul, he was going to go to Rome, what's the likelihood that Paul was going to go to Rome? He's 100% because everything Jesus says is true. And so while Paul is in Caesarea, he's meeting with Felix, he's talking to the prisoners,

he's making the most of every single opportunity that he has. And God is the one that's going to open the door for him. Here's what I want you to see. If God's the one that opens the door, then make the most of every opportunity that you have. There are too many people in the Christian faith, too many born-again believers that are waiting for just the perfect opportunity. As soon as I get this audience, as soon as I get this title, as soon as I have this chance, as soon as I can do this, then I'll be ready to share the gospel. Like God's called me to share the gospel with this group or this group or this group. No, here's the reality. You're his witness wherever he places you. That's where he wants you to share the gospel. So think about it, men, men, men, men, fathers' day. The greatest witness you can ever be is to your wife and to your kids because they're with you all the time, they're with you more than anybody else. The greatest witness you can be to your kids is loving your wife. The greatest witness you can be to your wife is loving your kids. The greatest witness you can be is living for Christ, speaking for Christ, letting your kids see that in you. And because you're still a sinner and you're not perfect, letting them see when you're saying I'm sorry, I didn't do what I was supposed to do. I let down your mom. I let you down. I'm sorry. I could have done better that way, right? You're a witness there. You're a witness in your neighborhood. Some people think, well, I'm in this really bad job right now, and there's no way. That's your sphere of influence now.

That's the door that God's open. So live the gospel and share the gospel right where you're at. We're usually waiting for somebody else and it's all the people that God's bringing. If you're going out to lunch today afterwards, God is already orchestrating the person that's going to be your server. So live the gospel in front of them and share the gospel with them. Like, that's your sphere of influence, we're too often waiting for just the perfect moment with the perfect person as if, and this happens, but it doesn't, I mean, in 37 years of being a Christian, it hasn't happened to me, but maybe once or twice where somebody's been like, I just want to know what it means to be a Christian. Can you tell me? Those are really easy ones. Most of the time it's not like that. And here's the reality. You know this. Think about why you're a believer. If you're born again, think about why you're a believer. Who's the one that shared the gospel with you? Who are the people that planted seeds in your life? Chances are nobody knows who they are, but you do because they were valuable to you because they saw you in their sphere of influence and they saw you as important enough to share the gospel of Jesus with. God is the one who opens the doors. Amen? I mean, Paul said, and after he said, "Be devoted to prayer, being watchful and thankful and Colossians 4-2 and 4-3," he says, "Pray for God to open a door for the Word." In 1 Corinthians 16-9, he says, "A wide door for effective service has opened." And I love Paul. Even when he's in prison and he's right into the Philippians, how does he write? He doesn't write aw shucks.

I really don't have an opportunity. What does he say? I want to let you know that my circumstances have worked out for the propagation of the gospel. For in my chains, my imprisonment has become known throughout the whole Priatorium Guard and to everyone else that my chains are for Christ. In other words, what's the door got open for Paul? Well, he got into a prison that nobody else was getting into, so he took that as an opportunity to share the gospel with all the prisoners and all the guards. And everybody there knows, well, Paul's here, this guy obviously loves Jesus because that's all he talks about. Wherever you are, that's the door that God's opened. And if you're faithful in the little, God will make you faithful in much. Don't wait until, well, as soon as I get a hundred people, then I'll start sharing the gospel. As soon as people, no, no, no. Right where you're at in your own sphere of influence as God opens the door, be faithful to live it and to share it. Well, I can't really live or share where I'm working right now. Well, you need to live and share every place you go because there's not one spot on planet earth where Jesus is not Lord over all of it. And if you can't do it there, go find another place, amen? Because every place you go needs Jesus, amen? And we can talk about all this, you know, just the way God works, circumstances. Because if you've lived long enough, you know, life doesn't go the way that you orchestrated. It goes the way God orchestrates it. And sometimes even when you're planning to go a certain way and you put it in your hand, you know it's going to work out. It doesn't work out the way you think. And other times you're trusting God to do something somebody else lets you down.

You've had circumstances in your life where you are, where you are because other people let you down or you made some wrong choices along the way or whatever. That's all part of God's curriculum to have you where you are right now so you can bear witness to how good God is because isn't it true that the greatest witnesses are not witnesses that stand up and say, "I came to Christ at two and I've lived perfectly ever since and I'm awesome." Nobody listens to that. Like what they listen to is, "Here's the sin that God brought me out of and here's what he's continuing to do in my life and I praise God that Jesus was willing to forgive all my sins just like he's willing to forgive all of yours. Amen? God is the one who opens the door. So instead of like waiting for this massive door to open, just open your eyes. I mean in Mark chapter 4 when the Samaritan woman went to get her village and the disciples are coming to him they're saying, "Rabbi, eat something." He goes, "I have food to eat that you don't know anything about." And what he's talking about is the food coming across the plane. And he's like, "Look at the fields. They're wide under harvest. Like this is what feeds me. If you want to grow in your Christian faith, can I just tell you, live the gospel and share the gospel with others. You will grow in your faith. It's impossible not to, right? And what the enemy will lie to you and say is, "You're not good enough. You don't have the right testimony. You didn't do it right." Listen to me, believer. Listen, listen, listen, listen. This is really important.

For some of you, the reason you don't share your faith is you were kind of tamed before you came to Christ. You knew you were a sinner. You knew you were dead. You knew you needed a Christ. You're a pendant. You believed. And it was after you became a believer that the enemy took you down a road. And it was after you became a Christian, you went through certain things. And now you think, "Well, I should have known better because I was already a Christian when this happened." So now my whole testimony is ruined. That's a lie. Can I just tell you what happened at the cross? Jesus Christ paid for all your sin, past, present, and future. You are clean. You are washed. You're His ambassador. You have a story to tell. Amen? And that's what the enemy doesn't want you to know. God's the one opening the door and you're the person He wants to walk through it. You're the person that He's going to use, amen? And so that's what we see as point number one. Point number two is this. As you walk through the door, God is the one who assembles the audience. God is the one who assembles the audience. You don't get to pick the audience that God has for you. God does. Notice verse 13.

Now in several days, had elapsed. King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea and paid their respects to Festus. So Festus is the governor of the region, ruling from Caesarea. King Agrippa is living in the Jerusalem area and he's king over that short region. And here's the deal. This king Herod is the grandson of the king Herod that tried to kill Jesus. I mean, this is the whole Herodian dynasty. This guy is familiar with Jewish teachings. This guy is familiar with the Jewish law. This guy oversaw the temple. This guy was responsible for everything. He's coming up to pay his respects to the governor of the area, Festus. And he's going to arrive with his wife Bernice. And what you're going to see is you're going to get insight into the back room meeting that they're going to have about what's going on with the apostle Paul. It says this in verse 14. "While they were spending many days there, Festus laid out Paul's case before the king saying, 'There is a man who was left as a prisoner by Felix and when I was in Jerusalem, and chief priests and elders of I answered them, it's not the custom of the Romans to hand over any man before the accused meets his accusers face to face and has had an opportunity to make his defense against the charges. So after they had assembled here, I did not delay, but on the next day took my seat on the tribunal in order the man to be brought before me. When the accusers stood up, they began bringing charges against him, not of such crimes as I was expecting. But they simply had points of disagreement with him about their own religion and about a dead man Jesus whom Paul asserted to be alive. So do you see what's going on here? King Agrippa comes up from Jerusalem, fastest is the new governor.

They're having this conversation and he's like, here's what's going on. Felix left this prisoner, his name's Paul. He's a Jew, he is also a Roman and everybody's got a problem with him. I wasn't going to just turn him back over because it's Roman law that he needs to meet his accusers and have a defense. So we all got together after I got here and it didn't go the way I thought it was going to go. I thought we were going to have like serious charges. It's kind of like this religious dispute, like the Jews and the Christians, they don't get this thing. It's like, I couldn't figure out what the difference was other than this. Here seemed to be the sticky point. Paul claimed this man, Jesus, who died also rose. That seems to be the really big issue, like I don't get it, but that seems to be the really big issue. Jews say he died and he's dead. Paul's saying he died and he's alive and he asserts that he's still alive to this day. That's the only difference I can see between these two. Can I just tell you your view on the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is a massive deal. It's a massive deal. How you determine whether Jesus rose from the dead or not will determine your entire eternity. It's a really big deal. Festus is like, yeah, it's just like this religious thing. It's about a dead man that's alive and then they don't think he is and I just don't understand. Being at a loss as to how to investigate such matters, I ask whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem and their stand trial on these matters, but when Paul appealed to be held in custody for the emperor's decision, I ordered him to be kept in custody until I sent him to Caesar.

And Agrippa said to Festus, I would also like to hear the man myself. Tomorrow he said, you shall see him. So he begins to explain to him all that's going on. Here's what you need to know. Agrippa didn't accidentally show up. Festus didn't accidentally randomly mention Paul. God's orchestrating every single deal of these events. I love this scripture. I love this scripture. It's in Proverbs chapter 22 verse 29 says this, do you see a man skilled in his work? He will stand before kings. He will not stand before obscure men. You see nothing in the apostle Paul's heart that says one day when I get a hearing with the king, then I'll start sharing Jesus. Now Paul's going to share Jesus with anybody and everybody. With prisoners, with prison guards, with broken sinful, with prideful religious, anywhere he is, that's his audience and God's going to give him an audience with the leaders of the whole nation. He's orchestrating all of that all the time. Every conversation you have is a divine appointment from God. It's not random who you sit next to on a plane. It's random to you. It's orchestrated by God. It's not random who you're sitting next to in a restaurant. It's not random who your server is. It's not random who's checking you out at the grocery store. It's not random who your neighbors are that just moved in next door. Nothing is random. God is sovereign over all of it. God is always a surprise to us because we're not in charge of the whole universe, so everything

feels like a surprise or we don't pay attention because we don't think God's ordering. God is orchestrating every single relationship conversation and he's asking us to be faithful in the middle of it all. God is the one who assembles the audience and that's exactly what he's doing for Paul. Festus the governor, King Agrippa, his wife Bernice, everybody that's going to be coming together is because God is orchestrating it. Notice this in verse 23. So on the next day when Agrippa came together with Bernice amid great pomp and entered the auditorium accompanied by the commanders and the prominent men of the city at the command of Festus, Paul was brought in. Here's what they want you to see. Everybody who's anybody is in this meeting. Every leader in the city is in this meeting. The governor's in this meeting, the king's in this meeting, every city officials in this meeting, everybody's coming to this meeting and God waits for all of them to get there and he's going to bring him Paul. I mean, do you not see how God is orchestrating this whole thing? It's amazing. Festus said, King Agrippa and all you gentlemen here present with us, you see this man about whom all the people of the Jews appealed to me, both at Jerusalem and here, loudly declaring that he ought not to live. appealed to the emperor, I decided to send him. Yet I have nothing definite about him to write to my Lord. Therefore, I have brought him before you all, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after the investigation has taken place, I may have something to write. For it seems absurd to me in sending a prisoner not to indicate also the charges against him. It's hilarious. Festus is saying he's done nothing wrong, nobody can prove anything wrong, but he's appealed to Caesar. I'm the one that has to write the letter to Caesar to let Caesar know why he's coming so that Caesar doesn't waste his time in trying this guy, but he's done nothing wrong, so I don't know what to write anything, so I'm gathering all of you here today so that maybe you could help me figure out what I need to put in

the letter to write to the emperor so that he doesn't think I'm an idiot, because it's absurd to me to send somebody for the emperor to me when he's done nothing wrong. So can you help me? That's why he's there. So this is where the story is going to continue, but I want you to see this. God is the one who's assembling the audience. Psalm 37, verse 23 says, "The steps of a man are established by the Lord," probably 16, 9, "the Lord directs his steps." We learned in Acts 17 that God is the one that establishes all the boundaries and the times that we're going to live. You will know your birth date because your parents will tell you when you were born or what your birth certificate says. You don't know your death date, but that's already been set to. The day you die, it's not going to be a surprise to God. He's like, "Yeah, that's what I planned from all eternity past." You can't add a single minute to your life by worrying. You understand? God is sovereign over all of it. If he wasn't, there'd be people going to meet him in heaven every day be like, "Didn't know you were coming today. We're not quite ready yet." I mean, there's none of that. Everything to us on this side of heaven is a surprise. It's a shock. It's a tragedy. It's too soon. It's too in God's economy. It's like just the way I planned it out. It was always going to be like this because I'm God and I'm good and I don't need to explain myself. And one day you'll see just how incredibly awesome I am. God's the one who assembles the audience. Amen? I mean, we see how in the Old Testament, Esther was positioned before the kings to save the nation. We see how the woman at the well was rightly positioned so she would go witness to all the people in Samaria and they would come out. We just see Zacchaeus just happen to be up in a sycamore tree right at the exact time that Jesus was walking by. How did that happen? Because God orchestrates it all. Everything that you're watching in the Word, God's orchestrating in everything that you're watching in your life. So even like we tell stories about how we met, you know, your spouse and how it was just such a surprise. It's not. It was all orchestrated. You walked into it. It was a surprise to you. It was never a surprise to God. God's the one that was working out all the details. Right? Do you understand? We never thought we could get pregnant. It was such a surprise. It wasn't a surprise to God. God knows. He's in charge of everything. We don't think of God that way, but it's reality. And it's true. God is the one who assembles the audience. I remember one of the questions that Kim and I, Kim had for me when we were coming out here to plant the church was, you know, where are the people going to come from? And how are they going to even know that we have a

church? And my answer was so honest. I'm like, I don't know. But God's the one that assembles the audience. I mean, even if you're here today listening to me preach, you think you got yourself up and got showered and got ready and came here and it was on your watch and it was God that wanted you to be here. It was God that was behind the scenes that brought you here because there's something that God wants you to hear and be aware of. I mean, we think it's us. It's not us. It's God. God's always behind the scenes. God's always the one opening the doors. God's always the one assembling the audience. God's always the one bringing relationships together. The question is, are we opening our eyes long enough to see God, what are you doing and what's up in this relationship and how do you want me to live and how do you want me to act and what do you want me to say? Because Lord, this is what you determined for my day this day. God's in control. Because sometimes when you hear a pastor say, you need to share your faith more often. It's like a guilt trip. Like, okay, I'll try it this week, but I really don't want to. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that God's in control of your life and in every circumstance is if you look up to him and say, okay, Lord, this is where I am. How do you want to use my life for your glory? There's opportunity for you to share the love of Christ. Amen. God opens the door. God assembles the audience and then notice this. God is the one who empowers the witness. God is the one who empowers the witness. This is for all of you who say, I wouldn't know what to say. I wouldn't know what to do. I wouldn't really understand. We've been over this. If you are born again and you place your faith and trust in Jesus, you have the same testimony I have. You have different details than I have, but you have the same thread throughout. I was, but God revealed his son to me who died on the cross and rose from the dead, I repented and believed, and now here's how I'm living for him. That's my testimony. Now I can tell you all sorts of details about that, past and present, and why I'm excited about my future, but I can tell you in just that short 25 seconds too. It's the same testimony you have if you're born again. You have a story. Don't let the devil lie to you and say, well, it's not a very good story.

The story's not even about you. It's about what Jesus did for you. It's a great story. Amen. Amen. If it was, then we would never do high five. Because we were like, well, those are boring stories. It's just like seven-year-olds getting saved. They don't have much of a testimony yet. Let's let them go live like hell for 20 years. Then we'll share the gospel. I mean, how ridiculous is that? It's beautiful if a seven-year-old comes to Christ. If a four-year-old comes to Christ or a nine-year-old comes to Christ and starts along, it's beautiful. The testimony is not all the bad things they did. Well, I stole a crayon and broke it from my... I mean, who cares? I mean, it's... I was a sinner and I was dead and I met Jesus and he saved my life, regardless of my age, and now I'm living for him. That's my testimony. Amen. So Paul's going to give his testimony. So a group of tests to Paul, chapter 26, you are permitted to speak for yourself. Then Paul stretched out his hand and proceeded to make his defense. In regard to all the things of which I am accused by the Jews, I consider myself fortunate, King Agrippa, that I am about to make my defense before you today,

especially because you're an expert in all customs and questions among the Jews. Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently. Here's what he's saying. Festus was not Jewish. Festus didn't have any religious background. Festus didn't know anything. King Herod had been around the Jews his entire life. King Herod was aware of Old Testament scriptures. He was aware of the law. He was aware of everything that the Jews believe. He knew it all. And so Paul was saying, I really, really hope you'll listen to me patiently, because you know enough of this foundation that it's going to be important for you to hear the whole story. So King, please, please pay attention. It's my pleasure to be able to tell you why I'm here today. Amen. He says, "So then all Jews know my manner of life from my youth up." Here's his I was. I was from the time I was a boy up until now. This is what I was. He's going to give his I was story. From my youth up, which from the beginning was spent among my own nation and at Jerusalem. Since they have known about me for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that I lived as a Pharisee according to the strictest sect of our religion. So let me tell you my I was. Paul says, I was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. I was in the strictest sect of Judaism.

I obeyed the law outwardly flawlessly. I did everything I was supposed to do. I tied the way I was supposed to tie. I traveled to Jerusalem, the way I was supposed to travel to Jerusalem. I was zealous for the law. I was a Hebrew of Hebrews. I was circumcised on the eighth day. All the things they can testify about, if they want to, that I'm a Jew of Jews. That's my I was. I was very, very religious. And now I am standing trial for the hope of the promise made by God to our Father, the promise to which our twelve tribes hope to attain as they earnestly serve God night and day. And for this I hope, O king, I am being accused by the Jews. It's for the hope that I have that I'm being accused. This is what I'm not being accused for anything I've done. I'm being accused for what I believe and where my hope is. Why is it considered incredible among you people if God does raise the death? What is so difficult to believe, Jews? I mean, as a Jew, you believe that in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth out of nothing. You believe that he saved Israel from Egypt. You believe he parted the Red Sea. You believe that he gave manna in the wilderness. You believe that he gave water out of a rock. You believe that the dry bones in Ezekiel were put on flesh and that they lived. You believe that God spoke to Moses in a burning bush. You believe God called down fire from Elijah. You believe all of the miracles and all the miraculous.

And if God could create the whole world out of nothing and do all that, what is so difficult to believe that he can raise the dead? Why is that such a hard step and a hard hurdle for you? You should be able to believe that too. If you have the hope of the resurrection of the dead, why is it so difficult to believe that the God man, Jesus rose from the dead? It's not that hard to believe. That's what he's saying. So then I thought to myself that I had to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. This is his I was. So he became very devout. Not only did I lock up many of the saints and prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death, I cast my vote against them. And as I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme and being furiously enraged at them. I kept pursuing them even to foreign cities. So what's he saying? He's like, I was a Jew of Jews. He goes, I did all of the things I did. I tried to lock up as many of the Christians as I could lock up. When it came to whether they should live or die, I always cast my vote that the people of the way should die. And I tried before they died to get them to blaspheme to say that Jesus is not the Christ. That's what I spent my life doing. And it wasn't enough just to do it in Jerusalem.

I went to foreign cities to do it too. I wanted to see every Christian that believes what I believed today put to death. That's who I was. That's his I was story. What's your I was story? Are you clear on what you were before you met Christ? I mean, probably not nearly as colorful as Paul. I mean, maybe you're just, that's kind of churchy. I grew up in the church. I was religious. Maybe you didn't have any religious background. I don't know what your I was story. But what was your life like before Christ? That's what Paul's saying. I was a Jew of Jews. I followed the strictest Judaism codes. I did all that stuff right so much so that I hated Christians and tried to get them to blaspheme. And if I had the opportunity to lock them in prison or putting them to death, I did that. And it wasn't enough for me just to do it in Jerusalem. I went to foreign cities to see that get done. That's what I was. Now he's going to talk about his but God. Verse 12, "While so engaged as I was journey into Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests at midday O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven brighter than the sun shining all around me and those who were journeying with me.

And when we had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goats." So here's what he said. "So I'm going to foreign cities, but on the way to Damascus, something different happened that day, a light brighter than the sun shone around me and everybody there. And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It's hard to kick against the goats. A goat is a sharp stick that was used to keep oxen in line. And the only thing that it was good for was keeping the oxen in line. The only one that would get hurt is the ox. Paul's like, why God's like, why are you fighting against me? Why are you hurting yourself? Like, why do you persecute me? It's interesting when you persecute Christians who are you persecuting? You're persecuting Jesus, the ones he died for. Why, because the church is his body, amen? So he's asking Paul, why are you persecuting me? You know what Paul's answer is? And I said, who are you, Lord? Why are you persecuting me? Who are you?

I don't even know who you are. Like, why are you doing the things you're doing? Who are you? And here's what he said. The Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. I'm Jesus, that's my name. I'm the one you're persecuting. Every time you try to drag a Christian off, every time you put him in prison, every time you have him beat, every time you vote for him to be executed, you are coming against me, you're persecuting me. But then he says this, but get up. Stand on your feet for this purpose I have appointed you. To appoint you a minister and a witness, not only to the things which you have seen, but also the things in which I will appear to you, rescuing you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you to open the eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in me. Here's what I want you to see. Doesn't matter how awful you've been, when you turn to Christ, he's still able to use you. I mean, if there's anybody God couldn't use, it would have been the Apostle Paul. I mean, he spent his entirety of his life in his eye was

persecuting and killing Christians. I mean, you talk about living in shame, he used to kill all the people. I mean, he would go to church and some of the people that would be in the church would be family to the people that he'd killed. I mean, if there's anybody that would say, I can't do it, it would be Paul. Here's what I want you to see. No matter who you are, if you turn to Christ, he still has purpose and mission for your life and no sin that you've ever committed is too great that God can't use you. Amen? That's the grace of God. That's the grace of God. And so Paul says, this is what he told me. When I found out who he was, he told me that I was gonna bear witness. I was gonna be a light to the Gentiles. He was gonna rescue me from the Jews. He was gonna rescue me from the Gentiles. But I was to proclaim the truth of who God is. That's my calling. And notice what he says in verse 19. So King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision, but kept declaring both to those of Damascus first and also at Jerusalem and then throughout the region of Judea and even to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance. So where does Paul start?

He starts in Damascus. He said, you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Sumerian to the ends of the earth. Why? Because everybody's going to start in Jerusalem. Well, where's Paul starting? Well, he's going to start in Damascus because that's where he is. It means where do I start sharing the gospel? Right in your sphere of influence today, right now. That's where you start and then God will expand your reach and God will expand what you do and who you can talk to and who you're going to be with, but don't wait for the right opportunities. Paul said, I started right then. I started testifying. And here's what he's testifying. He's not testifying that, okay, there's a man named Jesus and he died and I believe he's alive and you don't. But you need to believe he's alive because if you believe he's alive, then you can go to heaven. But it's not what he's proclaiming because even the demons believe that in shutters. Satan knows Jesus rose from the dead, Satan's not going to heaven. It's not knowing facts. What does he say? You must do. Here's what he's been doing all over the world. He's calling people that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to what repentance? He's going to use the word repentance twice. Repentance. Repentance is turning from sin. I'm not going to say in my sin.

My sin is what separates me from God. I don't want that anymore. I'm going to turn from that and I'm going to turn to the living God. And when I do, the evidence that I've done that is going to be ongoing growth in Christ with more repentance because I'm going to have fruits in keeping with repentance. In other words, the evidence that I'm born again is that I don't want to continue to sin. That's the evidence. I've changed allegiances. I used to live for myself. I used to live for my idols. I used to live for money. I used to live for hedonism. I used to live for vacations, material, whatever it was. Not anymore. I'm putting all that aside. I used to live for immorality. I'm putting that aside. Now I'm living for Jesus and He's my Lord. I'm not doing it perfectly, but I'm doing it increasingly. And there's evidences in my life that there's new leadership that's taking place. That's Christianity. Please, please, please, please, please don't believe that just by giving verbal, like, "I agree," or just some mental cognitive, "I agree, Jesus is Lord," that you're going to heaven. That's not what it is. People that are going to heaven are people that have said, "I want to be done with my sin, and I want Jesus to be the Lord of my life." And the evidence they've done that is there's a desire to no longer sin. There's a desire to say, "I'm turning from that. That was what killed me.

Why would I live in that any longer?" God's grace has forgiven me. Now I want to walk in the grace of God. There's evidence in my life. So I'm not saved by my works, but I am saved for good works. And the more that I know Jesus, the more I get to walk in that truth. Amen? And God's the one who empowers the witness. I mean, all that Paul's doing, this sounds like a really big thing, like, I don't know if a story like that, all he's doing is telling his experience. That's it. I mean, you see the same thing in John chapter 9, if you're like, "I don't even know how to tell my story." I mean, think about John 9, the blind guy that Jesus healed. There's his testimony. All I know is that I was blind, and now I see. He did it. That's it. I mean, you don't have to be this extroverted, good with your words, kind of person. Just say what God did for you. That's it. That's your testimony, right? And so this is what we see in the story. That's why all throughout it, Jesus said, "You'll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you." You'll never be worried about what you're going to say. You don't have to. If you know that the gospel is the fact that Jesus died and rose, you know everything you need to share. If you can share your story in that, it's plenty.

And my experience has been when I'm talking to people about the gospel, by the way, here's a lie, don't share the gospel. You don't know enough yet. What if somebody asks you a question you don't know? What do you say? Here's a really spiritual thing to say. I don't know, because it's truth, man, it's a great question. I hadn't thought about that before. Let me do some research. I'll get back to you. That's a great thing to say. And it will help you grow in your faith. That's how I grow. I'm still not convinced I know every single answer to every single question, but I don't have to, because I know the Word of God is so true that nothing in the Word is going to stump God. There's no question that's too great for him, amen? But share the gospel wherever you are. Right? And here's the beauty of it. Jesus told us disciples, you don't need to worry about what you're going to say, because the Holy Spirit will empower you. He'll give you the words to say when you need. My experience in sharing the gospel with people is there are so many times when I'm sharing the gospel with people, and something will come And as I'm saying it, I think to myself, that was really good. I don't even know where that came from. That was good. I need to take notes on that.

Because it's the Holy Spirit that's empowering your witness. It's the Holy Spirit that does it. You don't have to know. All you have to do is be available and say, "Lord, I'm willing to share." If you'll give me the words to share, I'm available to you to share. Just open the door for me. You show me who my audience is and I'm willing to do it, but I'm going to need your help to do it. God will use that witness. Amen? You don't need to be a professional salesman. We don't need to be salespeople. We don't need to go sell people on the gospel. You just bear witness to the gospel by saying that Jesus is the Christ and that God's done this in your life. That's why the great commission is so powerful. We're called to go make disciples. You make disciples by sharing the gospel and then growing them up in the faith. That's why 2 Corinthians 5-20 says, "We're ambassadors for Christ." That's why 1 Peter 3, 15 says, "Do not be ashamed of the gospel, but always be willing to give an answer for the hope you have within you." Friends, if you have Christ, you have so much hope. I mean, do you know what's coming? I mean, a perfect world with people

that don't know how to sin with Jesus Christ setting up his monarchy on this earth. No more pain, no more suffering, no more crying, no more debt. I mean, can you imagine a place like that? That's coming. I mean, that's why you love stories when you hear people's testimonies. You don't argue with it. Some of you have had cancer and have come through cancer and you no longer have it anymore. And you've heard testimonies of people that give their cancer testimony. I had this, it was stage two, stage three, it was stage four. This is what I went through and I don't have it anymore and I'm free. You would never hear somebody share that story and be like, "Yeah, I don't believe that." You're just making that stuff up. You would never say that. You can't argue with somebody's testimony, right? And so all you're doing when you're sharing Christ is saying, "This is what I was. "This is what God did and this is how I'm living now." That's it. And the only thing that people can do is accept it or reject it. That's it. There's no other response. So you don't need to worry about,

well, what are people gonna think or doesn't matter? That's totally up to God too. All he's gonna do is empower your witness so that you can share what Christ has done. Same thing happens in court with, if they ever call you to testify in court and you're a witness, you're just testifying to what you've seen in her, that's it. Yeah, that's all you can do. You're not there to persuade, convince. I'm just telling you, this is what I saw. This is what I did. That's what happened from my perspective. That's a testimony, right? And that's what we all have. And this is what's going on here. This is what we see. So he's calling people to repentance. And then he says in verse 21, "For this reason some Jews seized me in the temple "and tried to put me to death." So, having obtained help from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and to great, stating nothing but what happened to the prophets and Moses, saying what the prophets and Moses says was going to take place, that the Christ was gonna suffer and that by his reason of his resurrection from the dead, he would be the first to proclaim light both to the Jewish people and to the Gentile. So what's he saying?

He's saying, here's what I'm testifying to. Here's what you need to know. Jesus Christ is the God, man. Here's the problem. The problem is you've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The problem is I've sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, which means this. There is nothing that you nor I can ever do to get right with God. We can't go to church enough, we can't give enough money, we can't build enough good relationships, we can't give enough to other people, we can't serve enough, we can't help enough, we can't pray enough, nothing takes and forgives our sin. But God made a way. He sent his son to be the savior of the world. Jesus Christ came as the God, man, born of the Virgin Mary, fulfilled the law, never sinned, lived perfectly. And before he left, he took your place on a cross, he died on a cross, he was suffering, he was beaten, he took all of that to pay for your sin and what you deserve and he was buried in the grave. But I have good news, three days later, he rose from the dead, he's as alive as he's ever been and he offers life to anybody who would recognize they're a sinner apart from God and they want life. (congregation applauding) And through no effort of your own, simply turning from your sin and turning to Christ,

you can be saved and saved to the full. You can have all your sin washed away. You say, why is this important? 'Cause here's what happens. When you die two seconds after you die, a nanosecond after you die, you will stand before the resurrected glorified Christ to give an account for your life. And you're gonna hear one of two things and it's all you're gonna hear. You're either gonna hear because you're repented and trusted in Christ in this life. Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into your rest. You're going to hear that. Or if you haven't repented and trusted Christ on this side of heaven, here's what you're going to hear. "Depart from me, you worker of iniquity, for I never knew you." And then you'll go into a holding place called hell until the final judgment when you'll be thrown into a lake of fire for all eternity. That's it. Those are your only two options. And here's the fact, God did not design hell with you in mind. God does not desire anybody to go to hell. God desires that all would be saved and repent and come to the knowledge of Christ, which means if you're here today, I am persuading you to give your life to Jesus. I am persuading you to repent and believe that Jesus is the Christ because He loves you so much. Amen? I mean, and this is the witness God will empower in you because the more you walks the truth, the more you will see the truth.

And then finally is this, and those who are all close, God not only opens the door and assembles the audience and empowers the witness, but God is the one who demands the response. Like you can't preach this and not have a response. I mean, it demands a response. No matter who you tell, you can whisper to this. You can tell somebody this. Listen, if you don't repent and trust in Jesus, you will go to hell for the rest of your life. But God sent his son Jesus who died in your place and rose from the dead. And if you'll repent of your sin and trust him, you'll be in heaven with him for the rest of your life. That's not a, I'm not interested. That is a, it demands a response. It could be a passive response like, okay, whatever for you, that's good for you. It could be an angry response. It could be, thank you so much for sharing with me the way of salvation. It's what I've been searching for. But it demands a response. It's kind of like when you, guys, when you ask your fiance, you ask your current wife, when you propose, it demands a response. Like when you say, will you marry me, if there's a long pause, it's a bad day. You know what I'm saying? Or if it's, I'll think about it. It's a bad day. Like you want an immediate response because you're putting your whole heart out there. Like I'm asking you, if you'll be with me for the rest of our life, you're kind of looking for like, yes, or somebody tackling you or something. You know, I mean, just not a, I wasn't thinking about that today. That's a bad day. And the gospel is the same way.

If you're going to present the truth, God's the one who's demanding a response, you don't need to follow up and be like, what are you going to do? God's the one already working in their heart, telling them, what are you going to do? And here's what happens here. While Paul was saying this in his defense, here's the first response. I mean, you remember Felix earlier, Felix was the one that said, you know, Paul, why don't you come back at a more convenient time? He was feeling conviction and he was like sending Paul away, but would visit with him. Festus is going to respond a little bit differently. Notice what Festus said. As Paul was saying this in his defense, Festus said in a loud voice, Paul, you're out of your mind that your great learning is driving you mad. That's what he says in front of everybody. That's a response. Here's what he's saying. You're an idiot, you're, you're, you've studied too much, you're, this is crazy. I know it's crazy. The people listening to you know it's crazy. It's crazy. I want nothing to do with this, but notice what Paul said. Paul doesn't say, yeah, you'll know someday doesn't say anything like that. Notice what he says. But Paul said, I am not out of my mind most excellent Festus, but I utter words of sober truth. You should listen to what I'm saying. I'm not out of my mind. I'm in my right mind and what you're hearing is true and what you're feeling is conviction. And then he immediately turns his attention to King Agrippa because when you're sharing the gospel, sometimes you know when somebody's like totally not interested and you, you don't need to chase him down and beat him over the head with the Bible or just, Paul's basically

saying, I'm telling you the truth and you don't want to hear it, I get it, but he turns right to King Agrippa and he says, for the King knows about these matters and I speak to him also with confidence. Since I am persuaded that none of these things escape his notice, for this has not been done in a corner. He's like, King Agrippa, you know what I'm telling you is true. We haven't done any of this stuff in secret. You've watched my whole life, you've seen what's going on, you know that what I'm telling you is true. Then he says, King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do. He's like, you believe the Old Testament scriptures. I know you do. The prophets? I know you do. Didn't they say this is exactly what's going to happen? You know they do. King Agrippa, do you believe that? And Agrippa replied to Paul, in a short time you will persuade me to become a Christian. He's like, Paul, do you think that in this short amount of time you can persuade me to become a Christian? What's he saying? I'm not going to do that because you know what Paul's asking him to do? Paul's not asking them to believe the same creeds he believes. Paul's asking them to change allegiances. Paul's saying, you're the governor, you're the king, you need to change crowns. You need to give your allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ. Caesar's not Lord, Jesus Christ is Lord, and you need to go public with that. A grip is saying, "You think in such a short time I'm willing to change my whole life because in no way I'm not doing that."

When you call people to repentance and faith, it doesn't matter whether they're 3 years old or 93 years old, it changes your allegiance as to who's the Lord of your life. That's what Christianity is. It's not a filling out a card, not walking an aisle, not making a promise, not making a commitment. It is when you shift from serving someone other than Christ to giving the allegiance of your life to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it means to be born again. That's what he's asking them to do. Festus is saying he's out of his mind. King Gripp is being a little more formal about it. It's like, "Do you think you can convince me about this? But this is what's going on." And Paul said, "I wish to God that whether in a short or a long time, not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am except for these chains." Here's what's interesting. Paul is standing before them in chains. They're all wearing a crown. In the natural, on this side of heaven, Paul's the one chained up. In reality, he's the most free person among the whole bunch. And one day, Paul's the one that's going to be given a crown by the Lord Jesus Christ. These two are wearing crowns on their heads with no chains, but they're the ones that are most spiritually bound, and they're going to be cast into a lake of fire unless they repent and believe what Paul's saying. I mean, the irony of the story is Paul's standing there as a prisoner. Jesus is looking down saying, "That's my son, and he's free, and he's telling you how you can be free too, because you guys are actually the ones living in chains." And Festus is saying, "You're out of your mind, and King Agrippa is saying, 'I'm just not ready for that yet. You can't convince me in a short amount of time.'"

The king stood up, and the governor, and Bernice, and all who were sitting with them, so all the dignitaries, and when they had gone aside, they began talking to one another saying, "This man is not doing anything worthy of death or imprisonment, and Agrippa said to Festus, this man might have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar." So even Festus and Agrippa knows he's done nothing wrong, they're just not going to believe in his God. They're not going to believe that Jesus is the Christ. Felix said, "Come back in a more convenient time." Festus said, "You're crazy." Agrippa was almost convinced. The rich young ruler walked away sad. The one thief on the cross said, "I want nothing to do with him." People in Noah's generation were all mocking him until the door of the ark shut. I mean, there's only time and space for you to respond. And I talk to people all the time, and they'll say something like this, "I've never really had that experience with Jesus that people talk about where I once was, and now I am." Then make that experience today. Well, I think what I have is good enough. I've kind of always believed, "No, no, make the experience today. What keeps you from getting on your knees and saying, "Lord, save me? I want you to be the Lord of my life." If there's anything hindering my relationship with you and your Lordship, just show me what it is because I want to make sure I've done this thing right. Please don't come to brave church and think you're saved. Know that you are. Know that you are. I love you so much. My desire would be to spend eternity with you. I know I'm going to spend eternity with Jesus, and it has nothing to do with any good works I've ever done.

It's only because I've turned from my sin, and I believe that Jesus is the Christ and he's forgiven me. That's it. That's it. And you can have that too. There's something that goes off in your heart like, "Oh, you've already done this," or, "Oh, you did that with your mom," or, "What if your parents find out that you're just coming to Christ right now," or, "Hey, you're 60 years old," and so you know, you'll get it right later. Just make this moment, this time, right now, for it's appointed a man to die once and after that face judgment. Today, if you hear the Lord's voice, do not harden your heart. Make it in this moment. I won't make you stand. I won't make you raise a hand. I won't do anything. But I just want to pray with you today because of today's the day you want to give your life to Christ, give it to them, and give it to them now. Amen. Amen. Would you stand with me? Father in Heaven, we give you all the glory, honor, and praise. Lord, we covered a lot of Scripture today, but Lord, the most important thing that we talked about is the fact that you're the one who does the work. Lord, I know you're doing work through a number of people that are hearing my voice today. And if today's the day that you're hearing the Lord's voice and you're like, "I don't know that I've ever crossed over. I don't know I've ever repented to my sin and trusted Jesus. Make this moment now."

And here's what you can say. Lord, I want to turn from my sin and I want to trust you. Jesus, save me now. Lord, through the power of your Holy Spirit, I pray that you would save every single one here who's genuinely calling out to you for the forgiveness of their sins. And that Lord, you would give them evidence this week as they continue to walk with you of just little glimpses that they're not the same, that they're a new identity and they're different. And then Lord, give us all an opportunity this week to share the good news and the hope of Jesus with somebody in our sphere of influence. Give us eyes to see who's right near us. Lord, we don't want it to be some religious experience. let it happen naturally, relationally, that we would see. Why we believe what we believe And Lord we just trust all the results to you But eternity is a long time And Lord we want to be people that are salt and light on this side of heaven. Lord help us do that We give you all the praise. We give you all the glory. We give you all the honor do a work Right now in this place and we give you all the praise in Jesus name amen and amen. Could you have got praise for us? It's worth it then. (crowd cheering)