Unshaken: Chapter a Day

Acts 22 Discussion

• Pastor Plek

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A single word turned a crowd into a mob. Walking through Acts 22, we unpack how Paul builds credibility, shares his story without airbrushing the ugly parts, and then lights the fuse by naming God’s mission to the Gentiles. The result is chaos in the streets, a near-flogging in the barracks, and a masterclass in courage, clarity, and the wise use of rights to keep the gospel moving forward.

We start with Paul’s strategy: speaking Aramaic to signal solidarity, invoking respected names like Gamaliel and Ananias, and grounding his authority in Scripture and community. Then we trace the hinge of his testimony—before Christ, encounter with Christ, and commission from Christ—highlighting why honesty about failure invites trust. When Paul recounts a temple vision that sends him to the nations, we connect the dots back to Isaiah and the temple as a house of prayer for all peoples. The crowd’s rage isn’t about miracles; it’s about mission. That exposes a timeless warning: the gospel confronts our cherished identities and reveals the idols we’re reluctant to relinquish.

We also explore the surprising safeguard of Roman law. The tribune reaches for the whip until Paul invokes citizenship, and everything changes. That moment isn’t mere legal trivia; it’s a model for modern witness. Know your rights, steward them for the sake of the mission, and pair bold prayer with diligent preparation. Along the way we reflect on God’s timing, how the Spirit led Paul away from Jerusalem and later back into danger, and what it means to follow a Lord who sends His people into hard places with hope.

If you’re ready to act, draft your testimony in three lengths, include the parts you’d rather hide, be baptized if you haven’t, and pray by name for people in your life. Then step out with grace and grit. If this conversation helped, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review to help more listeners find it.

Text us at 737-231-0605 with any questions.

Pastor Plek:

And welcome back to a chapter day. Keeps the devil away. I'm Pastor Fleck. That's Pastor Holland. We are checking out Acts chapter 22. We're gonna observe it. Well, first we're gonna outline it, then we'll observe it. Then we'll interpret it and then we'll apply it so that you can take your day by the power of the Lord on your way. Okay, so Acts chapter 22, verses 1 through 5, Paul addresses to the crowd and is gives his Jewish credentials and reminds them that they are, you know, brothers and fathers, and he speaks to them in Aramaic. And then he affirms his strict Jewish upbringing, born in Tysatars, but educated in Jerusalem under Gamaleel, zealous for God and persecuting the way to a point of death. Then you got verses 6 through 11, Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus. He tells his own story, first person testimony of asking, um, of when the Lord asks him, Hey, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Then you got verses 12 through 16, he goes over Ananias' role and Paul's commission of being baptized and tell him God has chosen him to be a witness to all people of what he has seen and heard. And then Paul is urged uh to be baptized and to be wash away his sins, calling on Jesus' name. Then you got verse 17 through 21. Paul has a vision in the temple and a call to the Gentiles. And that's where when God tells him he will send you away to the Gentiles, and that's where the crowd loses its ever-living mind. Verses 22 through 30. The crowd erupts at the mention of Gentiles, shouting, Away with such a fellow from the earth. And the Roman tribune commander orders Paul taken into the barracks to be flogged, interrogated, and he's about to scourge him. And the tribune alarm, whenever Paul finds out that Paul's a Roman citizen, they get freaked out, and then they arrange a meeting. Okay, let's get into some observations.

Pastor Holland:

Okay. So Paul is a genius. You know, he's he's starts off, he's really appealing to like his Hebrewness, right? His Jewishness. And he's speaking in the the Jewish dialect, um, Aramaic dialect or language, Hebrew language, and he's highlighting, you know, how he's a Jew and all these things. And then he and he connects himself to Ananias, right? Which is true. Yeah. But he's like, you know, you guys know Ananias. He's well spoken of by all the Jews. So he's he's connecting him to someone that they all respected. Right. Because he's kind of forcing them forcing them to be like, okay, if we if we you know discount Paul, we got to discount Ananias, too. And we don't want to do that because everybody knows and loves Ananias. And he also mentions Gamaleel. Gamaleel, yeah. And so he's connecting himself to these, you know, important kind of pillar type guys in the community. Yeah, but it it does ultimately doesn't work because as soon as he mentions Gentiles, they go crazy. And they want him to be flogged, but then he taps into the fact that he's a Roman citizen. Right. He's like, You guys can't do this, actually. Yeah, you know, if they were to flog him without a trial or whatever, you know, um, then they get in big trouble. And so uh, Paul just highlighting different aspects, and you know, he's very he's just brilliant, he's a genius.

Pastor Plek:

Okay, so why were people cool with Paul talking to Jesus but not cool with Paul talking to Gentiles? Yeah. If you were to think of something to freak out about talking to Gentiles, maybe this we just don't understand the the absolute visceral relationship between Gentiles and Jews. Yeah. Like, especially when you're the heart of Jewishness in Jerusalem. It's not like he was out in like Antioch or uh in Tarsus, but he here he is in Jerusalem, and he is talking about how there's a desire that God has to go and reach the Gentiles, and that makes them more angry than they can possibly imagine. The word gentile.

Pastor Holland:

He should not be allowed to live. And this reminds me of like social media stuff today when someone posts like a you know their take on whatever political, cultural situation, and people are just like, you, you know, you deserve to die for having like people have just always been like this.

Pastor Plek:

They are so angry. All right, yeah.

Pastor Holland:

They hate him. It's wild. Um, okay. They hate him because they hate Gentiles. And he's saying we should reach the Gentiles. Yeah.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah. Um how about uh you know, the the trance, you don't get that, the only place you really get this trance, you know, when he's in is in when he's in the temple. Yeah, it's right here. Like you don't you don't hear this like in a chronological sequence. This is like a flashback, and which I thought was interesting. Yeah. And I but I do appreciate that uh that that Jesus is telling him to go to the Gentiles when he's praying in the temple. Yeah, right. And then maybe that's the part that's supposed to be super offensive. But remember, even if you were just to go straight Old Testament, there's supposed to be a light to the Gentiles. Like that's Isaiah, right? Like where this is not this isn't well, how do you think it got that sort of truth got buried? Maybe that wasn't the whole council of God that they were, you know, turning to.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, yeah. The the call, the missionary call of Israel to the nations has always been there. The temple was supposed to be a house of prayer for all nations, right? And so it's very fitting for Paul to get this trance and vision about going to the Gentiles in the temple. And it also, you know, it's like he didn't get this trance out in Gentile land, he got it right there in the temple. So he's really building his case, establishing his case very strongly, but it just shows how opposed they are to the idea of reaching the people God called them to reach.

Pastor Plek:

Um, how about this? This is kind of going off the topic of that for a second. Uh, the commander of the Romans, I think it's Claudius Lysias, his first move is like to put him on the rack. Like, it's not like, hey, can you tell us what's really happening? It's like before we like, I'm not even gonna bother asking him. I'm gonna put him on the torture rack because he's got to understand that I'm about to beat this guy to an oblivion. Like, that's why like I mean, imagine living in a culture where, like, instead of going to an interrogation room where like, yeah, they sit you down, they make you wait for 45 minutes to an hour, they just put you on a torture rack.

Pastor Holland:

Start flogging you and be like, all right, question one.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah. I mean, what a wild world uh that we lived in. Or well, we didn't, you know, 2,000 years ago, it was a wild time to live. Yeah. Okay. Uh what about let's get into some um truths about the nature of people.

Pastor Holland:

Uh yeah, the hatred in us um that can rise up uh is is not something that's like a modern phenomenon in today's culture, you know, just from the from the beginning of Cain killing Abel. Yeah.

Pastor Plek:

Like you know, yeah. I I tell you, like just like they were all about the gospel up until the point where like the like the sticking point wasn't, and he rose from the dead, and like, nah, okay, come on, nobody rises from the dead. The sticking point for them was, and God loves the Gentiles. Like that, like that's the thing. And so it's you just never know what the thing could be, the the sticking point for someone, the the what's the you know, I was thinking of it in terms of the rich young ruler from back in the gospels. Like, what's the thing that you're you're idolatrous about that for you to give up that thing, you'd say I'd rather die. And I think these people would rather die than see Gentiles get saved. Yeah.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah. Um, you also see in the nature of man, uh uh this is kind of abstract, but you just see like government at work, and there's laws that Paul's appealing to. And, you know, um, you see, it's in our nature to have order, government, authority, law, order. I already said order. Uh, you know, Paul Paul appeals to that, and he's like, hey, wait a second, you can't do this. You can't, um, you know, is it lawful? He says, and these are, you know, the these are non-Christians, non-Jews, even, just Romans. And he's able to appeal to like a universal reality that pretty much everyone acknowledges we need law, order, rules, government.

Pastor Plek:

And maybe it's because um their first thing of torturing people first made people really respect law way more. Yeah, maybe, yeah. All right, let's get to some character of God. I think God sovereignly chooses and commissions his people. Like the fact that Jesus personally selected Paul, and then when he just simply tells a story, they're they just flip. I mean, these people flip out. They were not chosen. I mean, because all the elders, yep, the Jerusalem council, they're all for what Paul's doing, and they're like rejoicing that God has chosen to save the Gentiles. They're not angry about it. That's holy apparently that's a whole a very huge sign of the Holy Spirit is that you rejoice when a Gentile gets saved.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah. Um, I also think it's interesting, you know, here when he's retelling this, um, the trance, it says, get out of Jerusalem quickly. They're not gonna listen to you. And so back then he needed to get out of there. Um, but now he's being called back to Jerusalem, um, where you know, they're not gonna listen to his testimony and they're gonna try to kill him. Same thing, but it's like this was now is the appointed time. It's like Jesus, how you know he didn't he told people, hey, don't tell anyone who I am. You know, my it's not my hour has not yet come. But eventually he he you know, he returns to Jerusalem and his hour does come and he's crucified for it. Um, so you see a similarity between Jesus and Paul again with just um leaving Jerusalem initially, but then the spirit leading him back to Jerusalem.

Pastor Plek:

How about this? God directs his servant through visions and revelation. Yeah. Like I, you know, when I was in my twenties and just on fire for the Lord, I think every person I ever talked to, like I know, and this is like, okay, so like five people that I talked to, but would be in different cities, different times. They said, I have this vision of a cross, and there's about a thousand people all surrounding the cross at a big worship concert. Like that was like in the in the early 2000s, um, to maybe even 2010, 2015. That was like the big thing. I would talk to people and they all had that same vision. And to be fair, there were concerts and stuff like that that had thousands of people with a big cross, and I I you'd see it all the time. Um now I think the vision has shifted or cults really. I'm I'm hearing a lot of people like, I just see this vision of small a whole bunch of small churches gathering and people like really getting in tune with the Lord. Like, I'm it's kind of a wild, you know, at once you get when you get older, you just it the visions are different, but the plan is the same of God moving in through his people. And I love the fact that um and I don't think it was it wasn't Jesus specifically, it wasn't an apostle. However, what I heard back then happened, and what I'm hearing now is happening more and more as churches are people are looking for more intimate spaces to be with God in this current culture.

Pastor Holland:

So you're saying you still you think God still speaks to people through visions and dreams, and that's kind of yeah, I still see that happening.

Pastor Plek:

I I at least I've seen it happen not in an apostolic way, but in a God gave this guy a vision, and like things happen, and it's sort of wild. Yep. What else we got on uh character of God? I think uh God saves even the chief of sinners.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah.

Pastor Plek:

Uh like Paul's testimony highlights that he he is a guy that shouldn't have been saved. He was definitely one of the ones saying, Oh, Gentiles, kill him. Yeah, yeah, like and here he is now the greatest act. Now he's like the champion, gentile champion. Gentile champ.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, and you know, you you see, God loves Gentiles, God loves all the nations of the world and desires them all to know Christ. Um, he sent Paul to the Gentiles. Here we are on the other side of the world, 2,000 years later, talking about Jesus and reading these words of Paul. It's just kind of crazy that you know, Paul, what he set out to do happened, happened, and you know, is continuing to happen throughout the world today. It's amazing. Yeah.

Pastor Plek:

Love it. Okay, what about let's get back to some application. Uh, so we've got a spec, which is uh sin to avoid or confess, a promise to claim, an example to follow, command obey, or knowledge to believe. What do you see here? How can we apply this today?

Pastor Holland:

Um, tell your testimony, example to follow. Paul gives his testimony here, and he doesn't um take out the embarrassing parts, you know. He he includes Stephen. He's like, I was right there. They're killing Stephen, and I was right there holding their coats. Can I just say this?

Pastor Plek:

How wild would have been to be like Stephen's family. Right. And then, oh, Paul, oh, he's he writes the Bible. Oh, Paul, he also killed my family. Like, I mean, yeah, crazy. I mean, like, there was a reason. It wasn't just that they were afraid of him, they probably like hated him. I mean, but they had to do that thing of forgiving, like Stephen did. Stephen said, forgive them, Lord, they don't know what they're doing. Yeah, and so they lived out Stephen's career by forgiving. That's powerful. I mean, that you just gotta imagine the amount of lives that Paul wrecked.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah. And then I, you know, and he owns it all. He owns it. He said, and even the embarrassing stuff, he you know, he says, I was led by the hand, you know, because of the brightness of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me. You know, mighty Paul had to have someone hold his hand and walk him to the town. And so, you know, example to follow. Tell your testimony, tell it all, and trust that God will use it.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, and don't leave out the, I guess, shameful parts. Yeah. Like, in fact, that that's the part that might just be like Yeah, people go, Oh, I can relate to that. You know who people can't relate to? The guy who never does anything wrong. Uh, the guy that's like has always done it right, you know, he's and never has that part where like in the inside, I felt like just angry or lustful or dark, you know, twisted, or no one can relate to a person that never feels that. And here's Paul, very much relatable. Yeah. In fact, all these people are like, yeah, kill them all. Uh and and and so, like, I I think that was sweet and powerful. Okay. How about uh command obey? Call in the name of the Lord for forgiveness and be baptized. Amen. It's kind of odd how many times we're seeing here in Acts of like this thing of people getting baptized, obviously. Why do you wait? Verse 16. Why do you wait?

Pastor Holland:

Let's go get baptized. Yeah. Another um example to follow, know your rights. Yeah. Paul says, Is it lawful for you to do this? And they're like, ah, dang it. It's not lawful, actually.

Pastor Plek:

I can't get it.

Pastor Holland:

We didn't know you're a Roman citizen. Yeah. And so know your rights, be familiar with uh the law.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah. Um about knowledge to believe God sends his servants into rejection and danger as part of his plan.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah. Yeah. And and I think that there's a relationship actually between those. Like when I say know your rights, I'm also saying, like, hey, if you're gonna be going and doing evangelism or you're gonna be showing up to places to preach the gospel and like understand, you know, the rights that you can stand on to be effective in gospel ministry that you know might be dangerous or risky, but you know, um, there's certain protections that are available to you as well. Yeah, why not use those?

Pastor Plek:

Yeah. It's like if you can, if there if if you don't have to pay a tax for this because you have a a reason to not pay it, then by all means, don't pay it. All right. Uh, how about promise claim? Uh I I think we've been saying this, but God chooses and equips unlikely people for the mission. Like the last person you would probably think of as a missionary to the Gentiles would be the guy that was the most Jewish.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, right, right, right. Um, I also think Paul's example of just like how he um the it his persuasiveness and appealing to people, like um the way that he kind of connected himself to Ananias and um Gamalel and you know shared his testimony in a way where he didn't hide anything, but at the same time he's going like, Hey, I'm a Jew, you know, like he he was a great communicator, and um that takes practice and skill. And uh, you know, just because you're not naturally gifted at that, like some people go, I could never tell my testimony like that. But yeah, you can practice. You can write, take a take a day and write out your testimony and think of like, okay, here's how I would share it with coworkers, here's how I'd share it with this family member. You know what I mean?

Pastor Plek:

That's really good. Yeah, and maybe that's part of um, you know, if uh uh if you really felt like I think sometimes we we we pray big and then we don't prepare. Meaning we're praying for something, but we don't do anything that would follow, like if you know, I'm praying like God raise my children to follow and love you. And then I don't do anything to train them in the gospel or train them with a Bible or train. It's like I must not do I either A, don't believe it, or I feel like I have no part in it. Why not kind of pray like it's all up to God, and then actively live out that He's gonna say yes to that and have your plan. So I think coming with your testimony of like, if you want to reach your office, pray through each one per each person in your office and say, how can I have my testimony prepared so that when they hear it, I'm ready to give a reason for the hope that I have.

Pastor Holland:

And he lays out, you know, a good model for us for sharing your testimony of like, hey, here's who I was before Christ, here's what I was doing, here's what I was like, here's how Christ saved me, and now here's what he's called me to. Yeah, I was persecuting the church, bright light, you know, shone, changed my life. I got baptized, and now he sent me to the Gentiles.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, and I also love how he identifies with them. Like he's like, we're the same, you know, we love the same stuff.

Pastor Holland:

Builds a bridge, finds common ground. Yeah. It's it's really great.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah. And so be baptized, share your story, know your testimony. And uh man, that's exciting. All right. Hey, thanks for so much for watching. We'll see you next time on a chapter a day.

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