Acts 21: Obedience When the Road Gets Hard

In this episode of The Morning Charge, we walk through Acts chapter 21 and unpack Paul’s powerful journey toward Jerusalem. Even with repeated warnings, emotional pleas, and the clear knowledge that suffering awaited him, Paul stayed committed to the assignment God had given him.

This chapter challenges us to examine our own walk with the Lord. Are we only willing to follow Jesus when life feels safe and comfortable, or are we truly surrendered no matter the cost?

We talk through:

•  Paul’s unwavering obedience to the Holy Spirit 
•  The difference between a warning and a command from God 
•  How prophecy can reveal hardship without changing the assignment 
•  The danger of rumors, assumptions, and religious confusion 
•  Why obedience does not always lead to comfort, but it always leads to truth 
•  How God can use unexpected systems and circumstances to protect His people 

This is a strong reminder that following Jesus is not about ease, comfort, or image. It is about surrender, courage, truth, and faithfulness. If you’ve been facing pressure, opposition, or uncertainty, this episode will encourage you to keep moving forward in what God has called you to do.

Podcast Summary / Show Notes Version
Today on The Morning Charge, Joshua teaches through Acts 21, where Paul continues his journey to Jerusalem despite repeated warnings that suffering and imprisonment await him.

As Paul travels through major port cities, meets with believers, and receives prophetic confirmation of coming hardship, one thing becomes clear: he is not led by comfort, fear, or public opinion. He is led by the Holy Spirit.

This episode explores the cost of obedience, the role of prophecy, the tension between religious tradition and the gospel, and the power of staying faithful when opposition rises. Paul’s example reminds us that hearing God does not always lead us to safety, but it always leads us to truth.

If you’ve ever wrestled with hardship, sacrifice, or the fear of man while trying to obey God, this episode will speak directly to you.

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- Real Talk. Real Jesus. Real Life. -

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the Morning Charge. This is your moment to slow down, breathe, and get your spirit aligned before stepping into the day ahead. Life moves fast, responsibilities pile up, voices compete for your attention. But before the noise of the world takes over, this is where we come back to what actually matters. This is a place for honest conversations about faith, life, purpose, and everyday battles we all face. No pretending, no religious performance, just the truth. Because following Jesus was never meant to be complicated. It was meant to be real. So whether you're driving to work, you're getting the kids ready, or simply taking a quiet moment for yourself, you're in the right place. This is real talk, real Jesus, real life. This is the morning charge. All right, something warm on the throat, and now we're going to dive into Acts chapter 21. Lord, I just thank you for this study on Acts. Father, I thank you for opening my eyes to so many, so many things that I have missed going through this book many, many times, Lord. Lord, you've placed this upon so many people's hearts right now, Lord, to go through this book. Lord, maybe we not rush it, but may we just glean from every word that's being stated here. Father, the words of Luke that he put on these pages, Lord, don't let them just be stories. But let these be, let these be instructions for a lifestyle. Holy Spirit, we just give you permission to move here in this place today. And we just thank you, Lord.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

We thank you for all that you're doing. Renewing hearts, renewing families, renewing minds. Oh Jesus, we love you. Jesus, we love you. Jesus, we love you. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 1:53

Alright, well, let's take a look at Paul's journey to Jerusalem. Yesterday he was having a conversation with his peoples, and he's like, hey, need you to come here. He wanted to stop back in Ephesus, but he knew time was drawing short. And he was all about the timing of the Lord. He always followed the Lord. So he wrote a letter to them, like, I need you to meet me here before I leave. So the those over in Ephesus came and met with him, and he gave them the spiel about you know what to do, and everything's gonna be fine, and you continue to follow the Holy Spirit. I've taught you how to work hard, I've taught you how to how to live, I've taught you the principles of Jesus. You know, you got the knowledge, you got the relationship, you got your home churches going. Continue to do that because here's the deal you're not gonna see me again. That was the part that was like, whoa, this is serious. What is going on? And and so many along the way we're gonna see today are gonna plead and beg, please, please don't go to Jerusalem. But he knew Paul at all costs followed the Holy Spirit, no matter what it meant for him in the physical. This was all, this was all, he had such a relationship with the Lord, he's like, no, no, no, I gotta go. And he was so in tune with the Holy Spirit, he knew that there would be a greater good to endure fleshly pain to go to the places that God sent him. I mean, he's already been beaten and thrown out of town and stood up and walked back in and finished ministering before he left. That's the kind of guy that Paul was. Are we willing? Are we willing to be like, like, let's just get real with ourselves for a minute. Are we are we really willing to go through that, that for Jesus? We're not too careful. We go rah-rah-rah, Jesus, yay! And we feel like, you know, it's gonna be, you know, he's gonna get us to our destinies. And if we're not careful, a lot of us over in the Western world church have kind of a warped view of our destinies. God wants to bless us. All right. He wants you to have the nice car, and he wants you to have the income coming in to sustain your family and produce generational wealth. He wants all of those things, but that's not that's not the that's not the end-all results. I got the big house and the big car, and God loves me, and boy, we're blessed. No, that's not the end result. It's how how how in it to win it for Jesus and spreading the gospel are you going to be? You know, God is a sovereign, he can give you all those things. He can he can help you produce the works of your hands to give you very nice, I mean, to do all that. But I can tell you that the main focus here is changing hearts and lives by the message of Jesus and by the word of your testimony. You've got a testimony. A lot of people are like, well, I've never really gone through a whole lot. You still you have a testimony. All right, life has put you somewhere somehow, and you have a testimony. And you know what? If you are one of those that were saved at seven years old, like me, praise God, God got you early. There's no telling how many things He protected me from. I mean, I had a little wild streak in me, you know, kind of in my mid-20s or early mid-20s. I mean, I had that wild streak in me, going out, doing this, whatever. But God, but I never really left the Lord. I just had a little mode of rebellion in me due to life events, you know what I'm saying? But how wonderful that is for to have that testimony. But we all have a testimony regardless. Don't be afraid to share your testimony. Don't be afraid to share your testimony with people and the good message of Jesus. This is what it's about. This is what it's about. All right, so let's see what Paul, let's see what happens with Paul now. Acts chapter 21, verse 1. After we tore ourselves away from them, we put out to sea and sailed a direct course for the island of Kos. And I'm sure they had to tear themselves away from them because Paul's just dumped this message on them. Uh, you won't see me again. Yeah, you you will not see my face again was his words to them. So they really didn't want to leave. Okay. After we tore ourselves away from them, we put out to sea and sailed a direct course for the island of Kos, and on the next day to the island of Rhodes, and from there to Petera. There we found a ship that was crossing over to Syria. So we went aboard and we sailed away. After we sighted Cyprus and sailed south of it, we docked at Tyree in Syria, where the ship unloaded its cargo. So they had to go from here to here to here to here to here to here to here. Amen. But tonight in Amen, Catherine. See, Catherine is sharing her testimony tonight. Amen. You're gonna touch hearts, you're gonna help change lives, you're gonna deposit seeds. God is gonna bring the rain and the water on those seeds, and you're gonna watch some things grow. Verse 4 When we went ashore, we found a number of believers and we stayed with them for a week. So they they found a number of believers already. So everywhere that they go, there's there's there's already a number of believers. All right, they know who these guys are. So they got places to stay along the way. They prophesied to Paul repeatedly, warning him by the Holy Spirit not to set foot in Jerusalem, warning him by the Holy Spirit. But it's interesting to me. Paul knows he has to go, but yet there's these warnings by way of the Holy Spirit. So is the Holy Spirit saying stop, or is he saying, do you kind of see where that gets a little? Sometimes people in good faith, and I believe that they they got it partly right. Paul knows he's gotta go. He's a strong guy in Jesus. So he's like, Yeah, okay, that's that's nice, and I see your concern, but but I gotta go. I know what I gotta go do. So they were sensing that he was going to Jerusalem and they had to check in their spirit that something was gonna happen. So that was kind of the message to Paul at that point in time. When it was time for us to leave and be on our way, everyone, men, women, children, accompanied us out to the city down to the beach. After we all knelt in the sand and we prayed together, we kissed one another, said our goodbyes, and we boarded the ship while the believers went back to their homes.

SPEAKER_00 8:33

So Paul is leaving Militus.

SPEAKER_01 8:36

He's traveling through a lot of different port cities. And these were all major Mediterranean trade hubs, too, by the way. So these were major ports where goods would come in and out. So lots of people, lots of workers, lots of lots of trade going on. This is how they did things back in the day. All right, so Paul was but Paul was very connected to the Roman world. Okay. He was very connected to the Roman world. All right, because ships moved frequently between these ports, but he knew where to go and he knew the people that he needed to minister to. That's why these places were strategic. It wasn't just very random that he would go to these places. So we're seeing Paul right now. He's he's he's he's going around to all these different seaports. And when Paul reaches Tyree here, the disciples urge him to what? Do not go to Jerusalem. Don't go to Jerusalem. Please don't go. All right. Were they wrong in saying that? The Holy Spirit say no. Well, I mean, not necessarily. I mean, the Spirit, what is going on? The Holy Spirit is revealing the danger that is to come. Paul already knows that. This is just confirmation to him. This Holy Spirit is revealing that danger is coming. All right. The believers assume here the warning means don't go. The Holy Spirit's saying, don't go. It's going to be bad. Don't go. Paul understood that I that I've got to prepare for the suffering that is coming, and you're sort of hearing the truth, kind of. But the Holy Spirit's not saying don't go because he's already told me to go. It's just a warning of what's to come. Okay. So I just wanted you to, I just kind of wanted to point that out to you because of the language that they're using here. Warning by the Holy Spirit not to set foot. Well, the Holy Spirit just told me to go. So is he saying don't go or go? There's a little mode of confusion there, so I wanted to say that. Sometimes people can see things and they, oh, well, he must, the Holy Spirit must mean. Paul's like, I'm gonna be okay. All right. And prophecy is going to prophecy often will reveal what is going to happen. Not always what you should do. So you have to be careful if you're one that prophesies to people. Okay. If we if we're given a word of knowledge or prophesying to people, all right, we you don't really reveal the outcome. You're revealing what is going through, what the situation looks like. All right, so but Paul knew. Paul knew he had to go. All right, so they said their goodbyes, they boarded the ship. The believers went back to their homes at this time. Now we find ourselves in verse 7. From Tyree, we sailed on to the town of Acho and greeted the believers there with peace. We stayed with them for a day, and then we went on to Caesarea, and we stayed for several days in the home of Philip the Evangelist, who was one of the seven deacons and the father of four unmarried daughters who prophesied. All right, so now we're seeing Philip the Evangelist is back with us. You know, Philip, he was one of the original seven servants that was chosen in Acts chapter six, if you can go back and think that far. We've kind of gone a little way past that. But there's certain things tied back in. Okay. He's also the same Philip who evangelized Samaria and baptized the Ethiopian that we saw in Acts chapter eight. So this is the same dude. All right, and now we see he's the father of four unmarried daughters who prophesy. So now he's even training up his daughters. All right. Sons and daughters prophesy. Remember, Joel the prophet said, Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Well, here we go. Here's the fruit of that taking place. All right, verse 10. During our stay of several days, Agabas, a prophet from Judea, came to visit us. So we're seeing Agabas arrives. As a prophetic gesture, he took Paul's belt and he tied his own hands and feet with it as he prophesied this to Paul. He said, The Holy Spirit says the one who owns this belt will be tied up in the same way by the Jews, and they will hand him over to who are not Jews, to the Gentiles. He's going to be handed over to the Romans. Verse 12, when we heard this, both we and the believers of Caesarea begged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. So now they're just like, okay, we're hearing this over and over and over, and we're kind of seeing what the Holy Spirit's dealing with you about. Please don't go. But, verse 13, Paul replies, Why do you cry and break my heart with your tears? Paul's like, it breaks my heart that you're upset over this. Don't you know that I'm prepared not only to be imprisoned, but to unalive in Jerusalem for the sake of the wonder of the name of our Lord Jesus? Don't you know? Don't you understand? This is not about my life. This is about the mandate from Jesus that he has on my life, and I will carry it out to the point to where I'm not here with you anymore. Because we couldn't persuade him, remember this is Luke talking. Luke wrote this book. Verse 14, because we couldn't persuade him, we gave up and said nothing more except, May the will of the Lord be done. All right, we're done arguing with Paul. Paul's got his mind made up, he follows the Lord, and we have to trust that. So may the will of the Lord be done. So they release him out of here. All right, because there was a big emotional time. I mean, Paul means a lot to these guys. They all travel together. You imagine they commune, they do life with one another. I mean, this was like a brother to these guys. So naturally you're like, hey, hey, hey, don't do that. You're my brother, you can't go. So they had to fully release him. Let the will of the Lord be done here. All right. Afterward, we packed our bags and we set off for Jerusalem, verse 15 here, with some of the believers from Caesarea accompanying us. So now they have company.

SPEAKER_00 15:03

They brought us to a village, all right, as implied in the text here, to a village, where they introduced us to Nason, a Cypriot, one of the original disciples, and he offered us hospitality here.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

This is this is one of the first converts that we're seeing here, and his name is like Mm Nason, but I'm just going with the M is silent. Nason is what we're going to say. All right, he's one of the first converts. All right, he may have been one of the original converts at Pentecost or one of the first disciples converted by Paul and Barnabas. All right, M'Nason means remembering. So it's real interesting. Y'all know I'm big on names. So M'Nason's name means remembering. So now we see him here. He's offering hospitality to them. All right, and when we finally arrived in Jerusalem, verse 17, the believers welcomed us with delight. The next day, Paul and our team had a meeting with Jacob. All right, that is Jacob or James. Remember the confusion thing here. All right, the brother of our Lord Jesus, not the apostle Jacob who was martyred. All right, so this is the this is the brother of Jesus that we're talking about. All right, so Paul and our team had a meeting with Jacob and all the elders of the Jerusalem church. After greeting everyone, Paul explained in detail what God had accompanied through his ministry among the Gentile people, among the non-Jewish people. When they heard Paul's report, they praised God and they said to him, You should know, brother, that there are many tens of thousands of Jews who have also embraced the faith and are passionately keeping the law of Moses. But they've heard a rumor that you've been instructing the Jews everywhere to abandon Moses by telling them they don't need to circumcise their children or keep our Jewish customs.

SPEAKER_00 17:15

So they're seeing a apostasy from the law of Moses.

SPEAKER_01 17:20

You're telling them to abandon the laws of Moses. This is extremely offensive. This rumor that's going around. We urge you to follow our suggestion. We have four men here who have taken a vow and are ready to have their heads shaved. Now go with them to the temple and sponsor them in their purification ceremony. All right, this could have been the completion of that Nazarite vow when we saw Paul shave his head when he left that one region. Could be the same thing. This is in Rome, uh, I'm sorry, this is in Numbers chapter six, verses one through twelve, if you want to read about the Nazarite vow, okay? Or a reference to the Jewish custom of when a Jew returned from a trip to a foreign or a pagan land, if they were coming from there, he would purify himself of the defilement of being with unbelievers, and that was a part of that type of thing as well. But anyway, they got four men here. They've taken a vow, they're ready to have their head shaved. Now go with them to the temple, sponsor them in their purification ceremony, and pay all their required expenses. Then everyone will know that the rumors they've heard are false. They'll see that you are the one who lives according to the law of Moses. But in reference to the Gentile believers or the non-Jewish believers, we've sent them a letter with our decision stating that they should avoid eating meat that has been offered to an idol or eating blood or any animal that has been strangled to any essual immorality. Amen. Lynette, we just stand with your friend Dawn right now, that healing is coming to her. Renewing is coming to her, refreshing is coming to her now. Lord, you know what's going on there. I say, Lord, lay your healing hands upon Dawn, Father, right now, Lord, and just eradicate whatever is going on. Right now, Lord, bring healing to her body. And we stand in faith with Lynetta this morning in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Amen, friend. So just come and do these things, and this will show them that this is not true. Big rumor going on. So, verse 26, the next day, Paul took the four men to the temple and ceremonially purified himself along with them. He publicly gave notice of the date when their vows would end, and when sacrifices would be offered for each of them. When that seven-day period, okay, the seven-day period, the Sabbath, was almost over, a number of Jews from Western Turkey, all right, they were possibly in Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of Pentecost. Remember, this was he wanted to get to Jerusalem, all right, during feast time, during the celebrations. So there were a number of Jews from Western Turkey who had seen him in the temple courts stir up the whole crowd against him. They begin to stir up the whole crowd now. Seizing him, they shouted, Men of Israel, help us. This is the man who teaches everywhere what is contrary to our nation, our law in this temple. And not only that, but now he brings these Gentile men, these non-Jewish men with him into the inner courts of our temple. Religion don't like it when you come in and you stir some things up and you damage their system. You're coming against our system. How dare you do these things? They have made this sacred place ritually unclean. All right, for Trophimus and Ephesian had been seen previously with him, and they assume that he entered the inner courts with Paul. So that's who they're referring to when they say these Gentile people are coming into our inner courts, and now they have defiled the whole thing. Everything, everything, this sacred place is ritually unclean now. This ignited a huge riot in the city. As all the people came together to seize Paul and drag him out of the temple courts, closing the gates behind him. But as they were about to Paul right then and there, the news reached the commander of the Roman garrison that the entire city Was in an uproar. All right, that's the Roman commander who was in charge of about 600 soldiers. So news has reached him now. He immediately ran out to the crowd with a large number of his officers and soldiers. When the crowd saw them coming, they stopped beating Paul, and the commander arrested him and ordered that he be bound with two chains. He then asked, Who is he and what has he done wrong? So who is this guy and what has he done wrong? Some in the crowd shouted one thing, and others something else, a whole lot of a lot of things going on, and just added to the confusion of the moment. Since the commander was unable to get to the truth because of the disturbance, he ordered that Paul be brought back to their headquarters. When they reached the steps leading up to the fortress, they had to protect Paul and carry him up because of the violent mob that was following them, and everyone was screaming out, Away with this man, unalive him. As Paul was being led to the entrance of the compound, he said to the commander in Greek, May I have a word with you? The commander replied, So you know Greek, do you? He's speaking in Greek now. Paul's learned a lot of different languages. Aren't you the Egyptian fanatic who started a rebellion some time ago and led four thousand assassins out into the wilderness? Paul answered, I am in fact a Jew from Tarsus in Silica, and well known a well known city of southern Turkey where I was born. I beg you, sir, please give me a moment to speak with these people. When the commander gave his permission, Paul stood on the steps and gestured with his hands for the people to listen. And when the crowd quieted down, Paul addressed them in Aramaic now, and he said, That's the end of verse 21, or chapter 21. I was going to say you have to wait until Monday to see what he said, but honestly, if you're if you have your sword handy, I mean you can get ahead of the game if you'd like. But that's where we stop today. So he's got everybody to calm down. Now, see, there is just a mess of things going on over here in Jerusalem, and he had to go back to this point. He had to go back so he could address them. And it says Paul addressed them in Aramaic or Hebrew. Or if the Hebrew language had been replaced with Aramaic during the Babylonian captivity, a little fun history fact for you. For more than a thousand years, the Aramaic language remained the language of the Jewish people. And note that Paul did not address the Jewish people in Greek. Well, he was just talking to the commander, but now he's addressing the Jewish people in their native language. He always addresses people to where they can understand clearly. Because we want to understand things clearly. So Paul, following the Holy Spirit, has gone back to this land. And during the feast of all time, of all the times that he could have picked to go to Jerusalem, is when there was the biggest mass of people there in that place celebrating the feast. And now here he comes. The guy they see that has just created just a complete uproar. Paul was all about getting people in one place to, but that was the big thing. They didn't have social media and other ways to get in touch with people.

SPEAKER_00 25:58

He wanted everyone there to hear and to listen. He wanted everybody to know and to hear and to listen.

SPEAKER_01 26:10

And that was the best time to have everyone there to hear and to listen. You have to really look into this. Why did he pick that time? Why did he a lot of people, a lot of ears. He had a voice. And now he's got them quiet because he has some things to say. And literally, Monday, he is going to go, you can you can read through this, y'all. This is going to be his defense, and he is going to go from start to finish of his life all the way through to where he is now.

SPEAKER_00 26:44

And then we'll see what happens. We'll see what happens. Lots of guys prophesy, don't go, Paul. But he went.

SPEAKER_01 27:08

Can we could we could we say that? I'm not ready to only just be bound.

SPEAKER_00 27:14

But I'm going to say what needs to be said, and they're going to hear what needs to be heard, even at the cost of my own life. Even at the cost of my own life. No matter the hardship, I'm going to go forward with it.

SPEAKER_01 27:32

Because it's the assignment of heaven that I'm after.

SPEAKER_00 27:37

That's who Paul was. I'm going. I'm going no matter what. So no matter what he heard, he continued to go.

SPEAKER_01 27:48

He continued to move. He arrives in Jerusalem, stays with Nathan of Cyprus, who was one of the early disciples. And this, and the fact the people that he stays with, too, it just shows me that real deep network of believers that are around the region and how close knit they all were to one another. I mean, followers of Jesus, this Christianity thing was just spreading like wildfire across all ethnic and geographical lines at this point. I mean, it literally is like an epicenter, and it's like what I was seeing yesterday when you when, you know, when an earthquake hits and it spreads and it goes out. That's what the gospel was doing then. And then what did we see this morning after that? Paul meets with James and the elders. All right, James, the brother of Jesus, James. They glorify God for what he is doing in the Gentiles. Praise the Lord. And then, of course, they raise their own concerns that, well, rumors have been spreading, Paul, that you're teaching Jews to abandon the laws of Moses to address this. We got these four men. We need to go through the head shaving, and you know, they've taken the vow. But why why did Paul agree to do this? See, he was not, he he was he never he never was one, he would not compromise the gospel at all. And he adapted culturally to reach people. That's why he went and he did it. That's why he was still big on the circumcision thing. He's like, we gotta do these things so we can be accepted in here, so that we can give them the real message. He said, We gotta be all things to all people. That's what he means. That doesn't mean that you that you act like everyone. He was all things to all people so that he could reach all people. He was about Jesus, but he was also about the people. And he wanted them to have the truth, even at the cost of his own life. He was so passionate about Jesus and the teachings of Jesus. Remember 1 Corinthians 9 and 20, to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win the Jews. So it's very evident that he becomes like the culture that he is going to reach. Right? And the Gentiles didn't care, you know. Bunch of heathens we were, but but when he was going in these certain circles, especially with the Jews, he wanted to be as a Jew so he could reach them.

SPEAKER_00 30:38

He was avoiding any unnecessary offenses.

SPEAKER_01 30:42

Because, I mean, they were, hey, the religious they're gonna jump on you, as we saw. What's coming against him now? You know, unity in the church requires humility to be able to reach the masses of people. There's people from all walks of life everywhere, but the important thing is reaching them with the gospel of Jesus and the full gospel of Jesus, being baptized in the water and of the Holy Spirit, teaching people who this Holy Spirit really is. Amen. Now we see this riot in the temple. Jews from Asia see Paul in the temple. They're accusing him of bringing Gentiles into the sacred area. All right, and this was I don't understand, I don't know if you guys understand how serious this accusation was. This was this was not just a no-no. This is a like a we're gonna take you out, we're gonna stone you now, because this won't happen again, because now we got to go through a whole lot to get this holy and pure again. As if everything was all up to them. See, the religious system makes makes it seem like everything's all up to them to keep things holy and all up to them to. This was a real serious accusation here. I mean, the temple had very strict boundaries, and one day we can kind of break that down, but but a stone barrier called the Soreg, all right, separated Gentiles from the Jews in the inner courts. There was this stone barrier. Gentiles were not meant to enter that. You are not a Jew, and you will not be coming in. All right. Inscriptions. History shows us that inscriptions on the stone actually was a warning to Gentiles that crossing it, you could be. If you come through this, you know, big warning signs. We got warning signs. Do not cross, do not enter, private property. You know, they had one that was engraved in stone on the outside of these things. It said, if you cross the crossing this, you could be. So this was a big deal. The crowd erupts in violence and confusion, and Paul is dragged out of the temple at this point, and the gates were shut. It said, We have got to, we're closing this whole thing off right now. And they intended to unalive him right then and there for what he's done. But the Roman soldiers, they intervene. The Roman commander arrests Paul in order to stop this riot. And, you know, ironically, here, the arrest actually saved Paul's life because they were beating him to that unalive state right then, and that could have been the end of Paul. Paul, the end, Paul is gone. But but as we know, there's so much more that Paul accomplishes. Jemiah, good morning. Everyone that's jumping in, good morning to you. I mean, I'm just doing a little recap of Acts chapter 21. But that saved his life. And this even fulfills the prophecy that Paul would be bound. I will be bound, but I'll do this to even. But it's going to be a little while before the unalied part gets here. All right, God uses the Roman authority to preserve him for the next stage of Paul's mission and where he's going. He did a lot of writings and a lot of teaching to the place he's going, a lot of letters sent. And then Paul is standing up and he speaks to the Roman commander in Greek, and the commander was surprised that he actually did that. And he thought Paul was an Egyptian rebel who had led a revolt earlier. This showed how chaotic the region was. I mean, politically, this place is a mess. Paul asked permission to speak to the crowd, and he addresses them in Hebrew or Aramaic. You know, there was a there was a switch off here with the language, but in their native language is the whole deal. And we ended with Paul about to give his defense, which we'll pick back up on Monday. You know, some things that we see this morning, just to break it down plain for us, obedience sometimes means walking into difficulty. We try to feel like being obedient with the Lord. Everything's gonna be sunshine and rainbows. And we we go back to salvation when we first met Jesus at the altar and accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior of our life. We think, oh, life is gonna be just it's gonna be great now. Glory, hallelujah. I mean, there's some there's some good days, but why do they say maintain the joy of the Lord even in difficult times? Why did he say he's close to the brokenhearted? Why does the scripture point us where we see all through the Psalms where where David was groaning with the Lord, he would first thank the Lord and praise him for how good he was, and then he would say, Oh, you see these afflictions that are upon me. Just because you know Jesus don't mean you're not gonna walk through anything difficult. And just because you're walking through something difficult don't mean Jesus has left you. We think we we get saved, and while everything's good, we're with it. And when things get bad, he don't like me. God don't like me. You don't think you don't think the you don't think the Lord loved Paul? You don't think the Lord loved Paul? Oh, come on, somebody. Yes, he is spreading the gospel, he's going, he's the Holy Spirit is leading him and guiding him. Come on. Brandy said the fact Jesus was beaten blows my mind that people think it's gonna be easy. Come on, let's go back to the very start.

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He said he'd be there. God said he would be there with you.

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But obedience can mean walking in difficulty, laying down things that you wanted to do to do what God wanted you to do. Scooping all that off to the side to to go through the narrow road. Yeah, Jesus literally had to had to unalive to his flesh. Literally. In order to be our Savior. Paul knows what he needs to do to continue to spread the gospel. And he knows he's not going until God until God allows it. God did not allow it, what we saw in 21 today. And the early church is wrestling with this cultural tension too. All right. Oh, us over in the Western world, we don't see this tension as bad. Because this was really between Jewish traditions and Gentile freedom. And so we see this big battle going on, but the whole political thing was a mess. So this didn't add to anything that's going on over there. And I also want you to know that, too, that as you have seen here, rumors and misunderstandings are a huge threat to unity. You can never base anything off of rumors or misunderstandings. They are beating this guy up and they hadn't even heard from him yet. All of this has taken place, and he has not come to his defense until until chapter 22, when he addresses the masses. So many times we're so quick to jump to conclusions. We just start spatting off what we've heard. Or now we formed a judgment for somebody. I can't believe they did that. Well, you ain't even heard their side yet. And number two, it ain't even really your fight to be in. My granddaddy used to say, I don't even have a dog in that fight. That's what my granddad used to say. He's like, I'm not too worried about it. That's not my deal. Yeah, Autumn, big battles, big God victory. And when we fight, we fight with prayer and praise. And we are coming, we're fighting from a place of victory. We are already victorious before we get out on the battlefield. Do you guys even realize y'all know that? We are already victorious before we even get out to the battlefield. My goodness gracious. If only we could fully understand that we are victorious. And now that when we're fighting, we are coming from we are victorious. That's why you can pray and praise and you can stand confidently in who you are and who you are through the midst of the battle, knowing that you've already won. Oh, me. Thank you, Lord, for what you've showed us through this today. On the other note that I jotted down too is that God, what I see here as well, is God can use unexpected systems. He's using systems or the Roman authority. He's using something very unexpected to protect his servants. He's using something very unexpected to protect his servants. He's going to protect Paul. I mean, Paul's going through it. Oh, you already see he's already kind of been beaten.

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But he's protecting Paul. We plan our ways, God orders our steps.

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Hearing God does not always lead you to safety, but hearing God always leads you to the truth. So we got to be listening for truth and let his truthful leading lead us based upon our comforts. You know, we real comfortable over here, y'all. Like we we real, real comfortable, folks. Apostle Kelly, good morning. Good to see you. This is my apostle right here, y'all. From the cross coming from the victory, headed to the celebration. Come on, somebody. That is good right there.

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That is good. Headed to the celebration.

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Thank you, Jesus. But hearing God doesn't always lead you to safety. Sometimes it leads you to sacrifice. Some things and some different things.

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So are we going to be in it with the Lord?

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In it to win it with the Lord, like I always say. Lots of things to think about as we go through acts. We like the goosebumpy, feel goodie stuff. When it gets down to the serious, ooh, my life may be on the line for what? Oh. Oh man, well, uh, I may have to uh I may have to think about that for a minute. I don't know. Maybe. Maybe I'll do that, Lord. You want me to do that? Those folks don't really like me. I don't know if I should. You better do whatever God is telling you to do. Amen. That's today's morning charge. Before you move on with your day, take a moment and let what you've heard settle into your heart. Faith isn't just something we talk about, it's something we live out in the ordinary moments of everyday life. Wherever today takes you, remember this. You don't walk into it alone. God is already ahead of you, working in ways you may not even see yet. Stand firm, walk in wisdom, lead with love, and don't forget who you belong to. Until next time, keep your heart anchored, keep your faith strong, and keep living out real talk, real Jesus, real life. We'll see you on the next morning charge.