Say More About Acts 28:17-31

This week we discuss questions that came from our Sunday morning sermon on March 15th from Acts 28:17-31 at Fullerton Free Church

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:24

Hi everybody. Welcome to the Say More podcast at Bulletin Free Church. So groovy. And kind of does that feel like Hansen? What does that feel like, that song? It feels like uh it's kind of got a maybe Hansen-y feel from like the 90s. Poppy 90s. Yeah. What do you think? Uh, I'm here with Katie Smiley. Well, you don't have an opinion on that?

SPEAKER_03 0:46

I don't. I mean, I have an opinion. I just like it. That's my opinion.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

It's kind of Disney channel-ish, that song. Uh, I'm also here with Billy Tarka, by the way, who is uh this is his second appearance on a full version free podcast in the history of the world. I'm back. Yes. I finally got invited back. Well, you know what? It's funny because we had so much demand. There were so many people insisting that you be on again. And we were like, Yeah, we were like, we're not, we're not gonna give in to all of this pressure. We're not gonna, but we finally couldn't withstand it.

SPEAKER_03 1:16

I I just was like, if we don't get Billy in here, I think I'm gonna quit doing the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 1:22

Wow. So yeah, yeah. So here we are. Katie's not gonna quit, and Billy's back. Yep. Although it's a different podcast now, so you know. That's right. Yeah, it's still a lot of nonsense.

SPEAKER_03 1:32

I think what happened is we changed the title, and I thought to myself, who do I want to hear say more things?

SPEAKER_01 1:37

Oh, Billy Turkham. I like that. That's a nice thing to say. The jury's out. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 1:43

Katie's jury here.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

Katie's already already decided. Uh the Say More podcast is a weekly podcast where we have a follow-up conversation about the Sunday morning teaching at Fullerton Free Church from the previous week. So this week's episode is uh kind of centered around the teaching from March 15th on Sunday last, which was the final week in our Bloom series studying Acts. Wow, we were in the text, Acts 28, 17 through 31. So um people always have the opportunity to ask questions, email, they can write the podcast at podcast at Fullertonfree.com, or uh they can submit questions through. I mean, they could email one of us or whatever, but that's you know, yes. So um if you have not yet had a chance to hear the message from March 15th, you can press pause right now and go back and listen to that. Or uh maybe I mean, hopefully you were in the room with us and worshiping with us on Sunday. And if you're not worshiping with us on Sunday, we'd want to invite you to come and join us on Sundays at 9:30. But uh basically this last Sunday, we were in that last section, and in that last section, we basically hear just a quick summary. Um we hear that Paul, after being in Rome for three days, engages with the Jewish leaders in town. So he goes towards them and says, like, hey, you may have heard some things about me. I've been on trial, like, all this stuff has happened. The reason I'm in Rome is I've been accused of some things. But the bottom line is uh all I'm all I care about is the same thing you care about, which is the hope of the Jews, right? The like the return of the Messiah. And they say to him, Well, we haven't really heard any of the gossip about you. We haven't received any letters, but you don't know anything about this, but we have heard about Christianity or followers of the way, and we would be interested in hearing more about this sect. So he invites them to come, and it says that morning to evening he's arguing, not arguing, but like defending who Jesus is. I guess arguing, but not like in a mean-spirited way. He's defending the truth of who Jesus is out of the Old Testament scriptures and out of the prophets, and it says that some of them believe and some of them don't. And so at the end of that, he he quotes from Isaiah, and it's a passage that Jesus quoted also, that just talks about the danger of plugging your ears and closing your eyes and allowing your heart to become hardened and not receiving the truth of who Jesus is. And so he tells the people, hey, you know, you, some of you are walking away because your hearts are hardened, just like your forefathers' hearts were hardened. But the reality is God is widening that door to include the Gentiles, and they're willing to listen to the message of Jesus. And I made the point on Sunday as I was teaching that like that isn't him closing the gospel or withdrawing, withholding the gospel from the Jews. It's him saying this, it's it's opened even broader beyond you. You're still included and you're still invited to believe, but so also are the Gentiles. And he's giving them a stern warning about the hardness of their hearts. Then after that, it basically says that he is uh still like chained up. Um, he's under guard, but he rents an apartment and he's got a place to live, and he his door is wide open, and he talks with anybody who's willing to come uh about Jesus for the next two years. And that's kind of how the book ends. And so as we finished our study, I made a couple of closing points. I just kind of said, number one, like while Paul was limited, his limitations didn't preclude him from being faithful. And while, you know, there were people who believed and didn't believe, it didn't really, the the his success wasn't based on whether they believed or didn't believe, it was based on was he faithful with the message. So it was really about faithfulness. We talked about the fact that Acts, you know, when Luke is writing Acts, he doesn't really tie up the loose ends on Paul's life. But I made the point on Sunday to say this isn't, this has never been a story about Paul. It was always about Jesus working through Paul, and the story of Jesus is not done. So even though Paul's story may be finished in Acts, and actually we don't even see the conclusion of his story, Jesus' story continues to bloom in all of us. It continues to unfold in the stories of the things that are happening in our circles today. So I made that point. I talked about the way in which all throughout Acts we've seen them follow the Spirit's leading, and that that's still vital for us today. That like they there's never a like forward movement into new territory that isn't led by the spirit in Acts, which is a great precedent for us to remember. And then there are all these boundaries that are crossed. So, of course, the Jew and Gentile thing, but even women in leadership in some powerful new ways. And like you just see all like the slave and free thing, all this stuff is kind of they're walking into territory that previously the Jewish people would have said, like, no, we're never gonna go here. Right. And yet that's where the spirit leads them. So I asked the question on Sunday of our people to say, what are the boundaries that God may still lead us to cross in the name of his spirit and in this, you know, in the in the spirit of Christ. So we talked about that, and then I sort of finished by saying, like, what is your Rome? And this is gonna tie in with the question that we got um submitted this week from one of our congregation, but just asking the question, like, where is it that God wants to take the gospel because of you? Like for Paul, he had this destination in mind and God used him to move to Rome, which is the seat of power, like the most powerful city on earth at the time. And Paul has the opportunity to witness there. And so then the question for us was like, what what relationship or what workplace or what family circle or whatever is God going to break into um because of you and and who you are, and like how you are you paying attention to what your room might be? So that was a I cut tried to do a brief summary, but that's kind of a quick rundown.

SPEAKER_03 7:30

It's hard to do a brief summary of 28 chapters.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

Well, yeah, and yes, and that message is kind of a summary in itself.

SPEAKER_03 7:38

So for me to do a summary here of that summary is a summary of a summary while you were talking. I went ahead and opened up our schedule of teaching, and yeah, we started studying the book of Acts a really long time ago. Yes, we did. January of 2025. So that was quite a while.

SPEAKER_01 7:56

It's a good series. And we took a you know, we had like some little breaks here and there, but it was a good series. It was a good series, yeah. Yeah, lots of very like timely and you know, that's the fun thing about jumping into a series like that is you kind of you you're plotting it out a year and a half or more in advance, and then you have a chance like as you go to be like, wow, this is incredibly relevant to what's happening in our world.

SPEAKER_00 8:17

That's what I was gonna say is the the amount of time you spend well ahead to plan something that you don't know, and then to see how relevant, how important it is for us as a church and in culture at the moment. You couldn't you couldn't have known that. Right. And yet God had this for us at this time, and I think throughout the whole series of the book of Acts. Like there's so much, so much for us as a church to to lean into.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

So yeah, it's been a fun study and um lots of good conversation. And yeah, I don't know, it's been really great. So wonderful. So, Katie, let's dive into our a question. What do we got?

SPEAKER_03 8:51

Okay, so we did get um uh well, this is a question we got from someone um who was in the worship center with us on Sunday and has a great question that ties into the message, but then also just kind of into the the way that um as a church we're h helping our our folks think about their relationship with with Jesus and what that means for their life. So um I'll just dive right in and then we can we can process it on the on the back end. So um this person says, I'm early on my path to accepting Jesus as my savior, but I'm not early in my life. I think today's message was great, and what I always appreciate is that it always comes to a summation of how do I go forward with this learning and inspiration in my everyday life? The main takeaway was where is my Rome? So, hey, Darren, look at that listening. How do I share the joy of Christ with others in my circle of experiences? Here is my question and comment. I do not feel that I have a fraction of the vast amount of knowledge of the gospel to be influential, to quote, or even paraphrase scripture to others, to influence them to follow Jesus. I do, however, understand that my transformation over the past four years of attending Fullerton Free has been that I have a pure desire to go forth and model the spirit and behavior of Christ by providing love, kindness, inclusiveness, and generosity to all that I come across in my day. Can you talk a little bit about those of us that have not accumulated the years of it and experiences of being a follower of Christ and how we can be effective in supporting our mission at Fullerton Free?

SPEAKER_01 10:47

Such a good question.

SPEAKER_03 10:49

Such an amazing question, such a like a great way to think of like how do I internalize this thing that I'm hearing about scripture? How do I think about it rightly? How do I apply it to my life? How do I not just like apply it like a robot, but how do I really truly think about transformation in a meaningful way? Like this is so beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 11:13

I think the thing that comes to mind, first of all, he said it is it he who uh says early on um a fraction of the vastness of the gospel, right? Yeah, right. And I think there's there's something to pay attention to in that, like there's this pressure or this this maybe misunderstanding that, oh, I I need more knowledge or I need to be, you know, have accumulated this sort of thing. And quite honestly, like by the end of this question, um, he's already articulating the simplicity of the gospel. Right. It's so true. The life change that takes place as a result of Jesus and the ways which our lives are transformed. Um he's he's got much more than a fraction of the vastness of that. But it it just uh it it feels like sometimes there's this pressure on us to feel like we need to be more or understand more, to have a greater, you know, theology that's developed or to be super studied or that kind of thing. And while learning is important and you know, those kind of things are formative to our spiritual growth, um, sometimes we make it harder than it needs to be. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:26

You're you're making a really good point. And there's some there's lots of little nuancey things in his question. So I want to make sure we pay attention to all of them. But like I felt the same thing you did. You can hear in his question this sense of his own limitation. So, and some of that I think comes from, and we all feel that, yeah, but it comes from comparison with others. We have people we admire, whether that's uh somebody you listened to their podcast, or it's a it's a professor you had in college, or it's a pastor or a leader, or whatever. And it's easy to feel like less than when you compare yourself to someone who's studied longer or went to more schooling or was a missionary for 50 years, or you know, there's all kinds of categories that you could feel like, well, I didn't I didn't live that life, or I didn't get that degree, or I didn't have this experience. I, you know, my sometimes even with with people's like dramatic experiences. So when you hear like a professional baseball player who also is a Christian, you're like, well, this is an amazing story, you know, and then you think, well, I I've never been a professional anything, or you know, whatever. You can feel your own limitation, and then it feels like somehow you're a second-tier ambassador or a third-tier ambassador because you're not a seminary prof or a pastor of a church or a pro or whatever. And I think um at the same time, he you can feel him like assessing himself and going, like, I don't know as much, I'm early in my journey, I don't have all the same experience. So how do I do this? But then he goes on to just like in the most beautiful terms, go, I mean, what I'm doing is I'm loving others and I'm just trying to be kind and inclusive and generous with my with my stuff and my speech. And it's like, well, wait, you just articulated the whole of who Jesus is. And Jesus never asked us to be seminary profs or to be fancy pastors or to be whatever. Like, he just asked us to be followers of him. So there's and and again, it's like you said, I I'm not diminishing like how cool it is when you've got a seminary prof who knows all the special details of the Greek language or whatever. But I am saying, like, God makes each of us unique, and our experience with Jesus is enough at whatever stage we're in to make a difference in the life of someone else. Yeah. Um, one of the things, and I uh like I won't just talk and talk. I always say that, but yes, you will. He said it last week. We a new question. I know. I do I because I get worried about rambling.

SPEAKER_03 14:53

Wow, Billy listens to the podcast. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:55

That's why he knew all the words to say more, although it's mostly just say more. Um so when we talk about circles, which is kind of our evangelistic language, right? Like you are created uniquely to have an impact on a unique group of people. I'm I I know for a fact that like if I was dropped into the the person who wrote this email, by the way, is a friend and a person I love and admire in our church. But I and I know a little bit about his life and his circle and whatever. And if I was dropped into his circle, like there are people in his circle that would not want to trust me because they'd be like, Who's this guy? Like this, he's a pastor of a church, he's some religious guy, whatever. Right, right. And I would I would have a diminished impact in some ways because I don't have the rapport and the I don't have the same experience and the longevity and the trust that's built and whatever. He is the perfect guy to have an impact on his circle of people. Um, and the reality is if he was dropped into my circle, the same thing would be true. They'd be like, who's this guy and where'd he come from? So I think to be able to rest in the fact that God's got you exactly where he wants you to have the impact he wants you to make on the people he wants you to have the impact on. You know, like I've said before, ambassadorship is essentially taking the king's message to the king's audience. And that that's the way that's always been. The king's hands the hands the communication to the ambassador and he takes it to a foreign land, and he doesn't get to tweak it or change it or whatever. He just takes the thing that that he's been handed. And so I think in our unique experience, God God does show himself, and I don't have to feel less than I don't have to feel like my experience or my skills are somehow not as good as somebody else's.

SPEAKER_03 16:46

It is important to remember that Paul and the other apostles and disciples, some of them came to faith because they were Jews who grew up in a context of understanding scripture and understanding God's relationship to a people. But some of them were these Gentiles who had a completely different paradigm for who they thought like these gods were. And the reason why they came to faith is because they stood in a courtyard or they were in a like a natural amphitheater by a body of water, and they heard some stranger talk about who this Jesus was, and it sparked something in their spirit, and then they just decided to turn their attention toward that thing. So they they had just a spark of faith, like this guy. And then over time they learned about who God says he is through the scripture, who God has revealed himself to be by looking around in their environment, by understanding God's relationship with people and and by leaning into that transformation. So there isn't a place where like only smart people or only pastors get to have that um specialized spiritual knowledge. Like all of these people that Paul is witnessing to, they all began with just a spark of faith that came naturally by hearing this message, just like just like me, just like you, just like Billy. So it is kind of important for us to remember that like all of these human beings all started in the same kind of way. Right. You know? So to me, it's really beautiful to remember like Stephen, yeah, he was a martyr and he was stoned, but like he stood in uh just like an open-air place and gave this message. And there were some people there who'd never heard it before, and that was the first time they ever considered following this Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 18:48

He was not a not a he wasn't a drug user. Just for just for clarity, he was stoned. He was killed. He got killed with rocks, but he was not punk. Not a I just you know people listening, people listening to this podcast, they might be like, What? He was stoned.

SPEAKER_03 19:05

I'm sure that all the people in that were like podcasts every time.

SPEAKER_01 19:11

Every time someone says Stephen was stoned, that's my uh like requisite dad joke about that.

SPEAKER_03 19:17

Your requisite dad joke. That's yeah, that's exactly right. So anyway, I think that yeah, it is hard sometimes in a church context. Like I guess the other thing I would say is that most people, even people I know that have grown up in the church, I was just having this conversation with someone, they kind of have a feeling like they're behind or that they don't know how to pray, or that they're not quite, they're not quite doing it right. And that the person sitting next to them at the table is probably doing it better than they are.

SPEAKER_02 19:50

Right.

SPEAKER_03 19:51

And um sad, like if there's one thing I could do in the body of Christ is say, like, that is that's a lie you've told yourself.

SPEAKER_02 20:03

Right.

SPEAKER_03 20:03

And and I don't know why or where that came from, if it's another Christian who was feeling bad about themselves and did that to you, or if it's just like your own sense of inadequacy, but like really we're all kind of in the same boat. Yeah, we're all doing our best.

SPEAKER_01 20:20

Yeah. Well, and and there's no point in the future, we've said this before, but there's no point in the future where God's gonna give you a theology test, or he's gonna say, like, like when they ask Jesus, like what's most important, he says, Love God, love your neighbor. Everything else hangs its hat on that. Like it all works together, all of the speculation and the theorizing and the and the postulation about all the different Old Testament texts and whatever. Like, if you love God and love your neighbor, like all those things work themselves out, you know? So, what what is it God expects from us? The very things that this that this question describes kindness, compassion, care, mercy, empathy, like the the fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, like, and those are things that the spirit manifests in us. You don't even have to, those aren't even things you have to strive for necessarily. They're things that are produced the more you walk with Jesus and just try to put him on display. Now, I will say this too, just to add to the whole thing. I think there's a balance to the pendulum, which is to say, I do want to know more than I know today. And I recognize that some of the things I believe today are flawed because I'm a human and they were taught to me by humans and whatever. So I am on a perpetual pursuit of uh deeper experience with God, more clarity and understanding. And and it's not wrong for me to want to read a bunch of books or to go to a seminar or to go through a class. We do, you know, a following Jesus class, and we and we we're we got some spiritual leadership stuff that's in the pipeline that we're working on right now for people who want to walk with Jesus more closely. Uh I don't think there's anything wrong with saying, like, well, I know. What my followership of Jesus looks like today, and I want to follow him better as a weird word, but maybe more closely tomorrow or in the next five years. And so I'm gonna put some things into place to learn some new techniques for how to pray or to learn some new techniques for how to study the Bible or whatever. Though it's fine to pursue those things, but don't make those things like the quantifiable proof of your worth as an ambassador, because that's not true. Like the ambassador who knows that God is love and that Jesus, Jesus showed us a different way to live is just as valuable as the one who's been learning Bible study techniques for 40 years. Like we just have a different audience in some cases, you know?

SPEAKER_03 22:43

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 22:44

Yeah. What else?

SPEAKER_03 22:46

Well, that's kind of how I was gonna pivot because I this person is kind of asking, like, how do I be more effective? Like what can I do to take the next step? So I think that, yes, I want to make sure that he knows that no one is standing over his shoulder saying, like, be better, work harder, right? Go faster, you know, with a stopwatch. But at the same time, how can we help him as shepherds to say, Yeah, let me give you some tools or let me give you something to look towards in the future?

SPEAKER_01 23:20

And I would say, like, the answer begins with him or anybody who's listening, it's starting by going, like, what what do you feel led by the Spirit of God to know more about or to try more? Do you feel compelled to be more active? Well, then there's places you could volunteer, like there's there's places where you could engage. Or do you really want more intellectual understanding? Like, you could take a class. We got lots of great classes you could take either at our church or at local colleges, or like there's, or you can go online and there's like a wealth of resources, you know. So, but not everybody's gonna want that, you know. Like for some people, they want to get more and more and more college degrees. And like, I've never been a guy who cares much about having a bunch of letters by my name, but I read constantly, and I've got a stack of, I'm reading three books at any time, and I've got a stack of 12 that I I'll get to when I can. That's just how I'm wired. So I've paid attention to the way I like to grow. But I think for anybody that's listening, if you feel a sense of like, I want to go deeper in this area, I want to know more about prayer, or I want to know better how to articulate my faith to someone else. I think that I think they're just follow that passion. Like, what's the thing you're intrigued on? You know, go down the path.

SPEAKER_00 24:31

It does sound like that's what he's asking is the articulation of the gospel in some verbal form.

SPEAKER_03 24:38

Is that that's what it seems like?

SPEAKER_00 24:41

So I I mean I think there too, like, yeah, those the you can learn those things. There are different strategies. I think you've referenced, like, oh, there's the Bible explosion, there's the Roman Road, and all these kind of you know spiritual tools. But at the end of the day, there is I I you often articulate a very specific way, and not that he needs to do it or everybody needs to develop yours, but you've learned, you know, a particular phrasing to say this is this is what we gospel in a nutshell. Right. And it's a sentence or two, you know. It isn't it isn't this super long drawn-out thing. So I'm I'm I'm thinking that's what he's getting at is I I just want to learn, like I want to have something in my guts that's ready to go. Or or maybe it's not that, maybe it's a couple of particular scripture passages that are, you know, John 3.16 or you know, different verses in Romans or whatever that could point people specifically just to a place. And that might be a suggestion is find a couple of those verses and just have them memorized and ready.

SPEAKER_03 25:45

I all sorry, you were gonna say something. I mean, I know you don't want to keep talking about it. Talk and talk and talk, yes. But is it okay if I say something? I prefer that. I prefer that once in a while, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:54

Um You are such a that is such a snarky way. I'm just I'm just you talk for a second while I wipe my tears.

SPEAKER_03 26:03

Billy, this is fight it out. I maybe do it. You won't invite me back again. No, I for sure want you to become back.

SPEAKER_01 26:11

Crying is really good for you.

SPEAKER_03 26:12

Um I Darren's not actually crying for our listeners, just so you know. Um, I I think I love, I've said this before on the podcast, but Bob Sears has this way of saying um you're getting familiar with God and who he is by repeated interactions with him. And so I all I think I think of just like getting to know who God is, like through maybe it's scripture, just repeated interactions with God through reading the Bible and understanding what it says, or thinking about how God interacts with people. Maybe it's like you just pick the Psalms to read through in this spring, and you're gonna see some crazy things, but you'll get to know some language for like how God speaks to people and how he talks about his grace or his love or whatever. And um, and you can start to kind of recognize just the behavior of of um of how God interacts with people and how he, you know, sort of like loves them or even just like deals with their behavior or whatever. And and then maybe that's a way to get to know how to to treat others. But also, if you're gonna do something like that, I would always say, like, have someone. I do best when I'm with another person or multi multiple people doing these kinds of things because in community you can kind of be like, dude, I read this chapter and that's crazy. Like what's happening, the violence in it or the chaos I'm seeing, or I don't understand at all what this means because then you can bounce it off each other and talk through it and maybe come to some, maybe someone knows a little bit more than you. So I don't, I don't know if this person's involved in some kind of community group or something like that where you can talk things through, but that would be my recommendation. Um, just to get to know, I don't want to add things to their plate, but just some kind of like way to debrief your relationship with God in community would be a beautiful way to get to know him a little bit closer through repeated interactions with him. And that helps you be able to explain it a little bit more when you're talking to people who have questions about your life with God. So it's good.

SPEAKER_01 28:35

Okay, so I have two last things, and then we can be done. We're at 28 minutes, so we're done.

SPEAKER_03 28:39

So long.

SPEAKER_01 28:40

Um, I would say for the person who asked the question, and for anybody who's listening, there's a reason why you are following Jesus, why you started following Jesus, why you continue to follow Jesus. Yeah. And articulating that reason is enough. Like that's the gospel, right? So to be able to sit with someone and go, like, here's why I I decided that I was gonna dedicate my life to kindness and generosity and all these things that I see modeled in Christ and his resurrection or whatever. Articulating your perspective is that that is as good as a tract or a four spiritual laws thing or whatever. And what I articulate in my sentences is the reason I'm following Jesus, you know, it's like, and and I've tried to boil it down to a simple couple of sentences, but you have favorite verses or you have things, moments in your life that you're like, Yep, Jesus is is the way, you know? So you so putting that on display is like what it means to be an ambassador because you're talking from your own experience, not from somebody else's formulated system. And then the second thing I I would just, and this is a reminder, and it may be everybody knows this already, but it is not our job, and we even talked about this in the message on Sunday. It's not our job to lead other people to a place of following Jesus. Only God can draw them, right? Jesus says, No one comes to me on their own, like the Father draws them. So I think there's a sense in which what we're called to do is to be a light and to carry his uh revelation in our words and thoughts and actions and attitudes. And then we trust God with the other piece. So sometimes too, you can go like, Well, what do what more do I need to know in order to convince my coworker to become a Christian or convince my dad to become a Christian or whatever? And I think you can turn loose of that and go, no, no, you just put Jesus on display and trust that piece of it. There's a supernatural piece of it that only God can do. And and you then that lets you like rest and not feel like you gotta accomplish something.

SPEAKER_00 30:38

Yeah, that's really good. There's this sense, maybe I'm picking up on the question that there's you know, that there's some importance in like closing the deal or something. Yeah, that your words and your articulation of something is gonna create, you know, some success. And I think you told you you mentioned in the message, you know, even even Paul with his great wisdom is trying to lead people, and some are deciding to follow Jesus and some are not. Right. And that's not on him, right? Yeah, yeah. So we have to turn loose on that.

SPEAKER_01 31:05

All right, our time is up. Thank you so much, Billy, for being here. Thank you very much, Katie. As always, even though you deeply wounded me in my heart.

SPEAKER_03 31:14

Did not.

SPEAKER_01 31:15

But that's what friends are for. And uh, thanks all of you for listening, and we will catch you next time on the Say More podcast. Goodbye.