Acts 23: God’s Protection in the Middle of Opposition

In this episode of The Morning Charge, Joshua walks through Acts 23 and focuses on Paul’s appearance before the council, the division that breaks out among the religious leaders, and the plot that forms against his life.

This chapter shows how God continued to protect Paul even in the middle of conflict, corruption, and opposition. It also highlights Paul’s courage, his clear conscience before God, and the way the Lord used unexpected people and circumstances to move His plan forward.

The message also points listeners to practical application: staying rooted in God’s Word, being willing to speak the truth, and not letting fear keep us from sharing Jesus with others.

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- Real Talk. Real Jesus. Real Life. -

Transcript

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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, let's pray and let's jump in. Father, I thank you for your word. I thank you, Lord, for what you're doing. Lord, around the earth right now, even in the month of March, so many voices that are speaking, Lord, are speaking about March, March, marching forth. And Lord, there's the turning of the tides in March. And Lord, I know it's your voice because it's the same things you've been rolling around in me, God. So, Father, we just, we just we just get before you right now, Holy Spirit. And I say, whatever you want to do this month, whatever you want to do this year, Lord, do it in us. Do it in me.

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Lord, we want to follow you right now.

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Amen. Verse one. Paul fixed his eyes on the members of the council and said, My brothers, up to this day, I have lived my life before God with a perfectly clear conscience. Up to this day, I've had a perfectly clear conscience, he's saying, the Aramaic is, I have been blessed by God in every way unto this day, or I have been guided by God unto this day. So he's like, I am following the Lord no matter what.

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Welcome in.

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At that moment, after Paul says that, Ananias, the high priest, ordered those standing near Paul to strike him in the mouth. Now, it's ironic that one Ananias was God's instrument to bring healing and sight to Paul in Damascus.

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But here, this is a different Ananias, okay? Paul responds, God is going to strike you. You corrupt pretender.

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It's getting it's getting really heated right now at this moment. And now Paul is like, No, God is going to strike you. For you sit there judging me according to the law, yet you broke the law when you ordered me to be struck. Those standing near Paul said to him, Do you dare insult the high priest of God? Those standing near Paul said to him, Do you dare insult the high priest of God? And Paul answered, I had no idea, brothers, that he was the high priest. See, it was common, let's look at some things. It was common for priests and rabbis to wear common clothes except on holy occasions. This could be, could be, why Paul didn't recognize him as the high priest. There was also uncertainty as to who the high priest was, as Paul had been away from Jerusalem for years at this point. He doesn't know. He doesn't know one person from the other. So that's why he said, I had no idea that he was the high priest. For the scriptures say, do not curse the ruler of your people. And verse 6 says, just then Paul realized that part of the council were Sadducees, and they were sad, you see, who deny the resurrection of the those that ain't alive anymore. All right, this clause, and this is borrowed from verse 8, and it's inserted here for the sake of clarity of the English narrative again, okay? For those that are like, I don't see that. Of the three major sects of Judaism of this day are the Pharisees, the Essenes, and the Sadducees. The Sadducees were a small but influential group that philosophically denied the supernatural. They didn't, they didn't get all up into that, okay? Including the resurrection of the, you know. They didn't it also included angels. They didn't get into angels or spirits or anything that was supernatural like that. All right, and they gravitated instead toward political control of the people, is this particular religious sect. All right, the Sadducees. But they were a very influential group of people.

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All right, so here's Paul. They denied the resurrection of them, and others were of the separated ones.

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So he shouted, My fellow Jews, I am a separated one. Or I'm a Pharisee. I'm a Pharisee, which means separated one. That's what Pharisee actually means. They were strict keepers of the law and believed in angels and the resurrection. All right, so there's that. I want us to understand you had you're dealing with different different people within the religious sect here, and all of them saw things differently. It was a very confusing thing. All right, but but here's Paul in front of all of these people.

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What would we do in this moment?

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I mean, with Paul understanding things and speaking in the languages of the people that would understand that he knows that they'll respect, I mean, you got to think he's a pretty sharp guy. He's, I mean, he's not, he's not just bumbling around. He really is following the Lord, and he's a really sharp dude. All right. But he says, My fellow Jews, I'm a separated one, Pharisee, and the son of a separated one. That's why I'm on trial here. It's because of the hope I have that the unalived will rise to live again, he says. Or the hope and the resurrection from the unalive state. The Aramaic says, I have faith in the miracle of the resurrection from the unalive state. When he said this, it's verse 7. When he said that, a heated argument started among them, dividing the council between the Sadducees and the separated ones or the Pharisees. So now he started an argument in the whole group, the groups in the group, the cliques in the group. Paul knew that the Sadducees teach there is no resurrection and do not believe in angels or spirits, but the separated ones believe in it all. And this is what sparked an even greater uproar among them. So not only has Paul kind of taken the heat off of himself for a moment, now he's got them fighting amongst themselves, the different, the different sects in here. Okay. You guys look at this stuff when you read this. I'm like, Paul, Paul is taking it off. He's like, I'm gonna get them stirred up for a minute. All right. Finally, some of the separated ones who were religious scholars stood up and protested strongly, excuse me, saying, We find nothing wrong with this man. We don't find anything wrong with this man. It could be that the spirit has spoken to him, or an angel had come to him. The spirit was referred to, obviously, sent from God. All right, they're talking about the Holy Spirit. When the shouting match became intense, this is verse 10. The commander, fearing they would tear Paul to pieces, intervened and ordered his soldiers to go in to their meeting and seize him and take him back to their headquarters. All right, because things were getting really out of control. So the soldiers are going to seize him and take him back to the headquarters. All right, verse 11. That night our Lord appeared to Paul, stood before him, and said, Receive miracle power. So God is speaking to Paul now. For just as you have spoken for me in Jerusalem, you will also speak for me in Rome. It's like, well, this can't be the end. There's further instruction, see? What looked like a real dangerous situation. What looked like a dangerous situation. God's hand is still upon Paul. And now he's getting further instruction. Paul had to go to the place that God sent him to so he could get further instruction for what was coming. Now, things don't always come the way that we think they're going to come, but they come. I don't know. That's for someone this morning. So the Lord appeared to him, receive miracle power. Miracle power. The Greek says, Have courage. Have courage, Paul. The next day, excuse me. I can't wait till this is over. The next day, more than 40 Jews formed a conspiracy and bound them under or bound themselves under an oath. What? So the 40 Jews formed this conspiracy now. This plot to get rid of Paul. We got to get him out of here. All right. This dude can't be hanging around anymore. If he starts making sense to enough people, we're outnumbered. This ain't gonna happen. So they bound themselves under an oath to have no food or water until they had unalived Paul. So they they bound themselves under this oath, and what this can translate out to could actually mean with a curse. So they have cursed themselves, put themselves under an oath that they wouldn't eat or drink until this guy is gone. They pronounced, I want us to get this this morning, okay? Remember, words are powerful. Hello? I say that all the time. Words are powerful. All right, but they pronounced a curse upon themselves, calling down heaven's punishment if they did not unalive Paul. If they didn't get rid of him. Be careful what you say. They went to the high priest, this is verse 14, and the elders to divulge their plans and said to them, We have united in a solemn oath not to eat or drink until Paul is unalive. So we urge you to have the commander bring him to you as though you were to determine his case with a more thorough inquiry. And we are going to unalive him before he even gets here. Amen. So now they've taken this oath. They got a plot against Paul. Verse 16 goes on to say, When Paul's nephew, his sister's son, overheard their plot to unalive him, he came to the headquarters and informed him of their plans. Paul called for one of the captains and said, Take this boy. Alright, the Aramaic says this preteen boy, all right. This boy wasn't even a teenager yet, or the Greek says this young man, but take this boy to the commander, for he has something important to report to him. Paul's nephew overheard the plot to unalive him. He came to the headquarters and informed him of their plans. So he had a little family inside letting him know what's going on. And then Paul says, Hey, take this boy to the commander. He's got something important to say. Amen. Verse 18 The captain took him to the commander and informed him, Paul the prisoner, asked me to bring this boy to you because he has something important for you to know. The commander took him by the arm and led him aside in private and asked him, Well, what do you have to tell me? Amen. So his nephew's in here, and he's going to talk to the commander. What do you got to say? The captain took him to the commander and informed him. 18, Paul the prisoner, asked me to bring this boy to you because he has something important for you to know. The commander took him by the arm and led him aside in private and asked him, What do you have to tell me? Come in here. What do you have to tell me? He replied, The Jews have plotted to kill Paul. Tomorrow they will ask you to bring him again to the Supreme Council under the pretense of wanting to question him further. Do not believe them. He's giving him a warning, don't believe them, because they have forty men lying in wait to ambush Paul. These men have sworn an oath not to eat or drink until they have unalived him. They're all waiting for you to agree to their request so they can carry out their plot. The commander dismissed Paul's nephew after directing him. Don't you tell a soul what you just told me? Then he summoned two of his captains and said to them, I want you to take Paul by horseback to Caesarea tonight at nine o'clock. Dispatch two hundred infantrymen, seventy horsemen to provide security and deliver him safely to Governor Felix. He sent with them a letter that read this All right, from Claudius Lysias to his Excellency Governor Felix. Dear Governor, I rescued this man who was seized by the Jews as they were about to put him to that unalive state. I intervened with my troops because I understand that he is a Roman citizen. I was determined to learn exactly what charge they were accusing him of, so I brought him to stand before the Jewish Supreme Counsel. I discovered that he was being accused with reference to violating controversial issues against their law, but I found no charge against him that deserved unalived or imprisonment. When I was informed of an imminent plot to unalive him, I sent him to you at once, and I have ordered his accusers to also come before you and state their charges against him. Sincerely, Claudius Lysius. The soldiers carried out their orders and escorted Paul during the night until they reached the city of Annapatris. Now this was over halfway from Jerusalem to Caesarea, okay? About halfway, if you're putting this together. And also to go back. All right, this was Antonius Felix, all right, to the place that they're taking him. He was the governor of Caesarea who had jurisdiction over Israel and parts of Syria. If you want to geographically place this. He was married to a Jewish woman and was well acquainted with Jewish laws and traditions. Man, it was important that Paul, a Roman citizen, be tried by Roman authorities. That's where I'm trying to go.

unknown 17:50

Trying to let y'all know.

SPEAKER_02 17:52

Thank you, Sherry. It's all gonna be okay. Man, fisherman's friend. Should be an advertisement for that. Yes, that's exactly what I need, Chelsea. Thank you. I said it just as you as you typed it in there. All right, Brandy, please put that on the list for today because that's what's gonna help me through tomorrow.

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All right. So the soldiers got him there.

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The next day, the horsemen continued on with Paul, and the rest of the soldiers were dismissed. Upon their arrival in Caesarea, they presented the letter to the governor and they brought Paul before him. After reading the letter, he asked Paul what province he was from. Paul responded from Southeast Turkey. Or or Silia Ka Sil Y'all know who I am with this. Cilicia. Let's go with that. Cilicia. It is C-I-L-I-C-I-A for those that want to go look it up and maybe find a better pronunciation than me. It's hard for me to keep all those things. You know what I'm saying? Here. Anyway, Paul answered where he's from. The governor said, I will give you a full hearing when your accusers arrive here also. Then he ordered that Paul be kept under guard in Herod's palace. So they're keeping him safe because of who he is. But it was much better that Paul, being a Roman citizen, would be tried by the Roman authorities. So this was the best thing for Paul at this point. Paul had to go forward. He had to do what he had to do. But God is the one that the Holy Spirit's what led him back to Jerusalem because he had to go there to do and say what needed to be done and said, now he is on the way over to Ah. Now it's interesting that the Lord has also already spoken to him while he was there, received miracle power for just as you have spoken to me in Jerusalem, you will also speak for me in Rome. Well, my the Lord has already made a way for him to go before Rome. Just as you have spoken to me here, you're going to speak to me there. And the Lord is already beginning to line things up. How many of you know God will begin to line things up if you just let him? But that's the thing. We have to let him. We have to let him line things up. Come on, somebody. We have to let him line things up.

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Alright, let's look at some highlights from today. We see a lot of division today, a lot of conspiracy, backstabbing, going to unalive Paul.

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Just go ahead and get rid of this guy. But we also see God's sovereign protection in the midst of all this, too. God's hand is upon Paul. Alright? If God leads you somewhere to take care of business somehow, he is going to make sure that his hand is upon you.

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He's not going to leave you hanging out there high and dry.

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And you know, even now, this is not, this is not a thus saith the Lord or whatever. This is just the way I see things. Even Stephen, do y'all remember Stephen going back a few chapters at this point? When Stephen was being stoned, or when he was being unalived out there, and even Saul was a part of this, Paul. But it said his face was radiant, he was almost glowing. It makes me wonder how much pain he actually felt as he was being stoned. Stone to an alive state in that moment because he was already radiating so much of heaven. How much protection can the Lord place upon you in those moments? Because these were these were guys that stood up and they would do exactly what God asked them to do. No questions. They would just do whatever God asked them to do. And in the moment of even unaliving to their own flesh, they could have just not done what they did and just stayed comfortable and said, I'm just going to be comfortable. But it said Stephen was radiating. He was glowing. They were looking at him and he was glowing. Like he was bright and he was glowing. How much pain did he actually endure? Maybe a good bit. But what I'm saying was full so full of heaven till it just didn't matter. Are we willing to say we would step out in that matter? I mean, would we? Would we go that far? These are just questions that I ask myself. These are questions that I challenge you all with. How far are we willing to go with the Lord? How far are we willing to go for the Lord? But looking at 23, a little bit of a recap. Alright, Acts 23, this happens right after Paul's defense that we saw yesterday in 22. All right, Paul had been arrested by the Roman authorities, not because Rome found him guilty, but because they were trying to stop this violent Jewish mob from unaliving him. Okay. They were just trying to protect him at this point. And the Roman commander just wants to know what is the real accusation here? What is really going on? What's the real accusation? Let's get down to the bottom of this. So Paul is brought before the Jewish council in the Sanhedrin. And we saw three things today. God protected Paul through very unlikely means here, through the political realm, the deep division within the Jewish leadership. All right, we saw with the different religious sects now coming against each other. And we saw the beginning of the long legal journey that's eventually going to take Paul. It took Paul to Rome, which is where he is now. So Paul began his defense. I've lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day. I have followed the Lord. And I got a good clear conscience. Immediately, the high priest ordered Paul to be struck in the mouth. Remember? This high priest, Ananias, and he was the son of Nedabaeus. Help me, Jesus. Look, I looked all this stuff up and I'm just like, these names. Anyway, going back to the history of Ananias, okay, I tried to pronounce all this. Alright, he was known for corruption and brutality. He was not a very nice guy. All right, and you're like, what? The high priest? Known for corruption and brutality? Well, we still see this in the religious realms today, religious arenas, certain things. God is really bringing, He was shining the light on many different areas here. Can I tell you, God is still shining his light in many different areas today? He's still shining his light. Because God tries to get to the heart of the matter. This is not to condemn anybody, but it's to get down to the heart of the matter of what's really going on. God puts us all on a level playing field where all God's children. Things go sideways. Sin creeps in. Let's just call it by what it is. When sin creeps in, it begins to defile things, and God wants to get down to the heart of the matter behind things that are going on. And he will shine his light. It's not a matter of will he shine his light. It's when will he shine his light? Because his light is going to shine. This little light of mine, he's going to let it shine. Which is why in Psalms we should be praying, Lord, search me and know me. See if there be any wicked way in me. All right. We have the authority to go before the Lord and take ourselves and continue to unalive to this flesh every day. We need to unalive to our flesh more and more and more every day. That's what we need to be doing. You know, because we can look in the news and we can look at all these things coming out about this ministry and that ministry and this guy over here, and oh my gosh. And while all that is disturbing, because I will tell you, I mean, the Bible talks about we're not just going to see darkness, we're going to see gross darkness between certain files that have been released and certain things that are going on in certain ministries. It's a lot for us to handle. All right. Stop digging in the weeds on all this, though. All right. Everyone listening to me, if you can pick up anything we've talked about this morning, as great as the book of Acts is, stop digging on the weeds of all the issues that are going on. You see them, you know them, we pray. It's not to see them and know them and to dig deeper in them. No, no, no. It's to dig deeper in this. This is where we need to be digging deeper. The Bible told us all this stuff would we would see these things, but it didn't say to dwell on those things. We got to be dwelling upon this. God's word is where we need to be dwelling. So be careful what you're what you're looking at, what you're listening to. All right, these are two of the biggest, the eye gate and the ear gate, where you let things enter in. Be so very careful. All right, guard those at all cost. Okay? I'm just telling you, guard those at all cost, my friends. But God is exposing things. He was exposing things then. He's always been exposing things. He's even doing it now. We have to allow him to continue to do what he's doing because it's for the good of that person, because he's getting to the heart of the matter. It's the good of the people because it shouldn't continue. Let God continue to do what he does. And we need to do what we need to do search ourselves, get in this, know whose we are and who we are, and keep moving forward and what he is calling us to do. All right. But we see this. He's beginning to shine some light even on the people that we see, like Ananias, not a nice guy. And even the Jewish historians record that Ananias was wealthy, he was greedy, and he was violent. There was corruption in the religious realm. My, my, my. Who knew? He used his position to seize the tithes meant for the ordinary priests. So when he orders Paul to be struck, it already fits who he is historically.

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He's not a nice dude. That's not who God is. Paul responds, God's going to strike you.

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You whitewashed wall, is what he is what he technically told him. God is going to strike you. You want to strike me? God's going to strike you, buddy. That was a big stern warning for this guy. Now, the whitewashed wall means something that looks clean on the outside, but it's very corrupt on the inside. All right, if you go back to this translation, that's that's what that is. You are so corrupt on the inside, but not on the outside. And it echoes the words of Jesus towards the Pharisees that we saw in Matthew 23. All right, but then Paul realized that he's spoken against the high priest. He's like, oh, oh, okay. I didn't know he was the high priest. All right. I mean, you got to think. It was a very chaotic situation. Very, very chaotic situation that's going on here. The high priest may not have been wearing the official garments. Remember the feast and all the different things that were going on, so he probably wasn't dressed up like they should. Everybody else knew this guy. Paul didn't. Paul's been away for a really long time. But he still spoke the truth. He said what needed to be said. And then Paul quotes Exodus 22 and 28 You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people. And then Paul shows respect for the office even when the man is corrupt at this point, because he recognized who he was. I still think the Lord used that for him to say what needed to be said. But then he realized, oh. And then it showed that Paul was still respectful, even though this guy was that whitewashed wall. You looking all holy and whatever on the outside, but on the inside you're very corrupt. Paul's still respectful. Then Paul realizes the council is made up of these two groups. Ah, the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Oh, okay. These people, the Pharisees, they believe in the resurrection. They believe in the angels and the spiritual realities. They got this going on. The Sadducees, they reject the resurrection and the angels and the supernatural beliefs. He's like, wait, wait, wait. We got everybody here together. So Paul says, I'm on trial for the hope and the resurrection of the unalived. And then that mentally the council just erupts in these arguments now. So now they're all arguing with each other. Even more chaos is here now. The Pharisees say, We find nothing wrong with this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him? That disagreement becomes so violent, the Roman soldiers have to remove Paul to keep him from being torn apart. Paul understood the people that were before him that day. And he knew what he needed to do. That's why I said he was a pretty sharp dude when we were going through this earlier. He used that the truth strategically to expose the division. See, he didn't just do it to try to keep himself safe, but he said that one line and it exposed the division between one group. Well, they see things this way, they see things this way. So they take him, they put him in captivity to keep him safe. And that night, the Lord stands near Paul, the word tells us, and says, Take courage. As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome. I'm going to open a door so you can go do the same thing in Rome. It's encouraging to Paul because this is not the end. I have more for you to do. All right, because that encounter with the Lord that Paul had was extremely important. All right, Paul's long journey to Rome is now confirmed by the Lord Himself. Rome was the center of this empire. You have to remember that Rome was a very powerful, powerful place. It was the center of all of this. If the gospel reaches Rome, that could be another wildfire to spread everywhere. Wouldn't it be like the Lord to use somebody like Paul to really go and spread the gospel? And Paul has the attention of the authorities at this point. But this reassures Paul everything happening, this is a part of my plan. God has to, how many, how many of you know God has to come and he has to reassure us this is a part of the plan. You find yourself in a situation and you're wondering and you're thinking and you're questioning is this what God wants me to do? Is this what I'm supposed to do? Seems like all this keeps happening. I keep running into these people. This is all. The Lord will remind you in the way that he can speak to you, this is a part of my plan. You got to continue to be a part of the plan. Amen. More than 40 men began to conspire against Paul. They took the oath not to eat or to drink. We still don't know, we still don't know what happens to these people. They took an oath, and they're not going to eat and they're not going to drink until Paul is he is no more. That shows this intense hatred toward Paul. This is how this is how bad this has become. This is an intense hatred, y'all, towards him. So they're working with the chief priest and the elders, and they're coming up with this ambush plan. Here's what we're going to do, here's how we're going to do it. All right, the idea was to request Paul for another hearing and to unalive him on the way to this hearing. They had it all mapped out. They had it all planned out. All right, religious leaders are now cooperating with those that want to murder.

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Whatever happened to thou shalt not. What?

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So now you're even going against your I You guys see the problem? You see the weakness? See what's going on here? This reveals to us how deeply politics and religion were very intertwined. This is not a very good situation.

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But Paul's nephew. Praise God for Paul's nephew. His nephew's in Jerusalem.

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His nephew hears about this assassination plot, and he goes and he warns Paul hey, here's what they're wanting to do to you. So Paul is sending him to the Roman commander. God's protection for you will sometimes come through sources that seem like where did where does nephew come from? His nephews happen to be in the right place at the right time? Like, what is this? Yeah. Yeah. God will use ordinary people. God always, even when we can't see it, he's working. Even when we don't feel it, he's working. He never stops working. He's using the obedient ones to get things done. And we have to trust that you are where you are right now because that's where God wanted you to be right now. His nephew was in the right place at the right time, overheard what was happening, went to Paul. Paul sent him to the commander. And now the young man is going to save his life here. Now we don't know much about Paul's family. We don't know very much about Paul. We really don't. But this little moment right here shows he still had relatives that were connected to him and that were close to him. And this kid that we see, you know, because we're reading through the different translation, he was a preteen. He wasn't even a teenager yet. He was a kid. And he went and he helped save Paul's life. There is no junior Holy Spirit.

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There is no junior Holy Spirit.

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So the Roman commander organizes this really massive escort for Paul at this point. He's sending, this was no small thing. He said, I'm pulling together 200 soldiers. What were the numbers? 200 soldiers, 70 horsemen, and 200 spearmen to escort Paul safely to Caesarea. What? Why? Why this large why so many? Because Roman commanders took assassination threats very seriously. This was a very serious thing. And they were going to do whatever they needed to do to protect Paul because of who he was. And also, if a Roman prisoner was unalived under their watch, the commander could be punished by Rome. If you study out the history of this, he could have been punished. He's like, nothing falling back on me. So we're sending 200 soldiers and 70 horsemen and 200 spearmen, and we're going to make sure nothing happens to this guy. Not on my watch. That's why I say it's important to get your history lesson in when you're studying the Word of God because you got to know why they did what they did. It wasn't just like this big extravagant. Most of the time we'd have just read over that and kept on going. There was significance to everything. There is significance to every word in this book, every phrase, every word. There is a major significance as to why it was said or why it was played out. We got to make sure we're studying these things. Paul is sent to Caesarea to appear before the Roman governor at this point. Caesarea was the Roman administrative capital of Judea. And the commander writes a letter explaining the whole situation. All right, so Felix, and we'll call him Felix because, well, Marcus Antonius Felix, I can say those three names. So he would understand what is going on. All right, and interestingly, here, he portrays himself in a better light than what actually has happened. Paul. He spread a decent light on Paul here.

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And that's where we are. Paul is now over on in Caesarea.

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If the gospel of Jesus Christ wasn't so real and so controversial, there wouldn't have been no issues then. There'd have been no issues. It'd be like, yay, the Messiah came. Jesus coming began to tear down religious systems. And it messed up the flow. It messed up the flow. It's messing up economies. The economies that we have seen.

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Especially places like Corinth and places like that. Greece. All these false idols everywhere.

SPEAKER_02 42:01

Jesus came, he's up, he's not just upheaving the world, he's upheaving the religious system. Today, today, we are still upheaving the religious system. And we're still upheaving the world. This is a process that's ever continually going on. So don't ever think that your voice is not important. Don't ever think your voice is not important. Your voice is very important. More important than you'll ever realize. And we've got to stand up like Paul, and we've got to be able to tell the truth. And we have got to be like he said, when he stood up and he said those words this morning. I want to make sure to quote this right. He said, He said, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day. He says, I know I'm speaking the truth. I know I'm speaking the truth. Well, if you know you're speaking the truth, then no matter what opposition comes your way, look at all Paul is facing, and we're scared to talk to the neighbor about Jesus because the neighbor may not like us anymore. What have we become? What have we become? We don't want to talk to that coworker that's really struggling too much because I may not have the right words to say. It's not like you have a guillotine sitting outside like you say the wrong things. Paul had it much worse than we did, obviously. So what is our excuse? What's our excuse for not sharing the gospel the way we should be sharing it? Sharing our testimony with somebody, talking to that person at the store that we've seen 12 times. We passed them 12 times, the Lord keeps highlighting them to us, but yet we don't say anything. Remember, I've taught you guys how to do this. I've taught you how to do this. All you have to tell Somebody who's like, hey, I don't mean to bother you. But but do you do you know Jesus? Do you do you have a relationship with the Lord? Are you saved? In any of those. And that's going to tell you which way the conversation's going to go. If it's a no, say, well, you know what? Jesus loves you. And he just wants you to know that he cares about you deeply. And then just allow the Lord to fill your mouth. Who knows where that conversation would go? I can't tell you. Only God knows. If they say yes, they know Jesus. But will you mind if I pray with you? I just feel like I'm supposed to pray with you. Is that okay? Ask their permission. We don't ever go in like a bull in a china shop and just get in there and just start saying, the Lord said that my gosh, don't be scaring people. Ask some questions and then go for it. Because when they see that you're patient, love is patient, love is kind.

SPEAKER_00 45:01

Hey, is that okay if I pray with you?

SPEAKER_02 45:04

Do you know Jesus? I mean, a few little surely we can all squeak that out. Goodness gracious. You know what I'm saying? Amen. Yes, and thank you, Jesus. There is no guillotine, Sherry. Yeah, I saw that up there. Thank goodness it's not waiting out there for us. We're just worried about. See, we're we're so wrapped up and worried about what people think about us. That's where our problem lies. We're worried about what this person's gonna say, what that person's gonna say. We can't be worried about that. I'm more concerned about what he wants me to do. You ever leave those, like you know you're supposed to pray with someone and you leave and you kind of have that empty feeling because you didn't do what God said to go do? He still loves you. Just repent for those times. Lord, I repent for every time that I never spoke when I was supposed to, when I never ministered to that person when I was supposed to. Holy Spirit, will you just come and love on me? Will you just love me through my messes and my missed opportunities? And right now, just say, Lord, Lord, right now, will you just come and wipe the slate clean in those areas right now? Holy Spirit, just come and wipe the slate clean. Wash us fresh and anew again today. Holy Spirit.

SPEAKER_01 46:29

Ah, we just thank you, Lord. We thank you, Holy Spirit.

SPEAKER_02 46:36

Father, I pray, Lord, if anybody's struggling, even with sharing their testimony today, Lord, that those Father, Lord, that all fear would be gone right now, all worry would be gone right now, all doubt would be gone right now in the mighty name of Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 46:50

Lord, I thank you.

SPEAKER_02 46:53

Lord, let us be gentle, let us be kind, let us put on the mind of Christ, the vision of Christ.

SPEAKER_01 47:01

When we see people that need prayer, they need minister to, Lord.

SPEAKER_02 47:07

Use us as mighty vessels, God. Because it's you that brings the miracle signs and wonders. It's you that heals, it's you that saves, Lord. But use us as mouthpieces, Lord, in the places that you're calling us to to speak, in the places you're causing us, calling us to act, God.

SPEAKER_00 47:31

Help us to be more like Paul and the disciples and the apostles. Help us, Jesus. Help us, Jesus.

SPEAKER_02 47:46

And Father, I just pray over everybody who's been in this live stream today. That's Father, I just speak a blessing over every household right now. Lord, there's those that are struggling with their finances, God. Lord, I pray, Lord, a blessing. Lord, that you would pay every bill on time, every time, right now in the name of Jesus. Lord, that you're opening doors of opportunity. That you're giving people purpose in this moment in time. That you're bringing provision to those in this moment in time, that you're bringing promises to those that have been faithful, those that have been tilling the ground and planting the seeds, Lord, and trusting you with a sun in the rain, Lord. Will you bring the sun in the rain today? Father, those that are sick right now, Father, I pray for every bit of sickness, disease, Lord, to leave right now in the name of Jesus. And I say, Lord, let healing come right now. Let healing flow right now, Lord, over everybody who needs healing in their body today. Y'all just say, Lord, thank you for my healing. Jesus, thank you for my healing. Thank you for my healing. Thank you for my healing.

SPEAKER_01 48:59

Lord, I thank you. I love you. I praise you. Right now. In the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. Amen.

SPEAKER_02 49:10

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.