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["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] Hey, everybody, welcome to the Playa Ford Baptist Church. We're going to take your hymnals for the song number 150. Begin our evening service by singing the song number 150, my faith is found in resting place. ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] All right, if you turn in your hymnals, the song number 169. Come now found, we'll sing 169. ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] ["Come Now Found"] So a big thank you to everybody who prayed for and of course the few people who went over to Nigeria and had a great harvest. So we had six soul winners go over there and we had 362 salvation so praise the Lord for that. And it's amazing what can be accomplished by even a small group of people if they're just willing to be dedicated and to eat. Of course it helps being in a place like Nigeria where everyone is super receptive. But again, a great harvest of souls so we're very happy about that. Also below that, thank you to everybody who participated in the Small Town Soul Winning in Eloi where we had 25 soul winners and 28 salvations. And then don't forget, speaking of missions, we have the missions conference coming up Wednesday, November 8th through Thursday, November 12th. There's going to be some guest preachers and you're going to have a lot of different activities. Also, there is a risk tournament up there this Saturday. I don't know if anyone feels like driving two hours to play Risk. Is there anybody like that? Okay, well if you're just too shy to raise your hand and show everybody what a, well, that you, anyway, that you're that much of a nerd that you can drive two hours to play Risk. Just come speak to me and I'll keep it a secret, I promise. But I'll give you those details. On the back, pray for the expectant ladies in our church. Of course, a lot of these names are, all of them, in fact, are the ladies up in Tempe, but they certainly could use your prayers that they'll have a safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery. Don't forget the yearbook portraits are coming up very soon, so October 29th. When is that? What date? What's the date today? Two Sundays from this Sunday. Ten days from today. So, look at a calendar, all right, because I can't figure it all out right now. But mark your calendar, be here, and of course we're going to do this after the morning service. So, just like we did last year, we'll have it set up here. Brother Ramon will be down here for Tempe and we'll just kind of get through the bigger families first and then we'll work our way down and get everyone's photo taken. So, please participate. You'll get a nice digital copy of this. You'll get a high resolution for the low, low price of nothing. So, we don't charge anything here, but you'll get a free portrait and it'll be, again, high resolution. You can do a lot with that. Don't forget the chili cook-off coming up at the end of the month. A couple rules to keep in mind. All chilis must be made from scratch. No pre-season packets. No MSG. Man, I wish Rafa were here. I'm sure he's watching a live stream right now, right though, right? So, he's squirming at home. No MSG, folks. We're better than that, okay? If you need MSG in your cooking, just stop cooking, all right? Just come enjoy some good chili, all right? But you got a first, second, and third place prize being awarded. And we'll have lots of great chili sides, spiced cider. You have until 6 o'clock to get the chili here. So, I know that's kind of been an issue in the past for some people. Admittedly, 5.30 is kind of a hard break, so we've backed it up a little bit until 6 o'clock. Hopefully, that gives everybody enough time to get a chili here. Who's going to come down and put a chili in the pot, so to speak? We've got one. You're going to be first, second, and third place. Mrs. Union, you're going to win all three prizes. Nobody else is going to enter a chili this year? Good night. You're not entering a chili? You don't know how to cook. Oh, man. You need to do something about that. Fabian, no chili? No? Man. Well, my wife's entering one, so we're up to two. I really don't want to have to go down to Wendy's, folks, and buy a bunch of chili. So, some of you need to think about that. You boys over here, none of you guys have any culinary skills whatsoever? Are you going to put it? Yeah. Noah, come on. You're like the champ. You pulled it off one year. Are you going to put chili in this year? I'm begging you. Please enter a chili. Look at me. Look at this. I didn't get this breathing air. I need chili. There's a lot of people here. The thing is, we know Mrs. Union has a chili that's going to be really good, so everyone's going to eat that one. We need some backup chilis. You had some good chilis, too. You won, right? Are you going to commit to a chili? You got to talk to Mom first? Yep. Okay. I'll accept that. Mrs. Spears, you can hear us back there, right? I don't know. We got a thumbs up on the chili for Noah. She got a thumbs up. See, it's official. It's public. We got witnesses. You're bringing a chili. Okay. All right. Anybody else want to be publicly embarrassed? I'm just kidding. You say, why don't you bring a chili, Deacon? All right. Trust me. You don't want me to bring a chili. You don't want to lose. It's bold talk, right? Anyway. All right. That's enough of the standup routine. Let's go ahead and count up the soul winning going back to Monday. Any salvation report for Monday or Tuesday? What about Wednesday? What about today? Got the one today. Praise the Lord. All right. Well, keep up the great work, soul winning, everybody. Let's go ahead and sing one more song before we get into the preaching tonight. Song number 379, bringing in the sheaves. Hopefully some of you will be bringing in some chilis. Song number 379. Let's go ahead and sing one more song before we get into the preaching tonight. Let's go ahead and sing one more song before we get into the preaching tonight. Let's go ahead and sing one more song before we get into the preaching tonight. Let's go ahead and sing one more song before we get into the preaching tonight. Let's go ahead and sing one more song before we get into the preaching tonight. Let's go ahead and sing one more song before we get into the preaching tonight. Let's go ahead and sing one more song before we get into the preaching tonight. Let's go ahead and sing one more song before we get into the preaching tonight. Let's go ahead and sing one more song before we get into the preaching tonight. Bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves. Reach the heart, rejoice, sing. Bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves. Reach the heart, rejoice, sing. Bringing in the sheaves. Swallowing in the sunshine. Strolling in the shadows. Scaring by the clouds. The waves will zoom in. Flying by the harvest. And the labor ending. Reach the heart, rejoice, sing. Bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves. Reach the heart, rejoice, sing. Bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves. Reach the heart, rejoice, sing. Bringing in the sunshine. Swallowing by the harvest. Strolling by the harvest. Swallowing by the harvest. Bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves. All right, next scene at this time we'll pass the offering plate around. As it goes around you can turn your Bibles to Acts chapter 23. That's Acts chapter 23. Acts chapter 23. Beginning at verse 1. Paul heard to behold the council said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day. And the high priest Ananias commanded them that stood by him to smite him on the mount. Then said Paul unto them, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall. For sin is thou to judge me after the law that commandeth me to be spent contrary to the law. And they that stood by said, Do God's thou God's high priest? Then said Paul, I guess not, brother, that he was the high priest, for he was written, and thou shall not speak, for when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other part Pharisees, he cried out, In the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee, of the hope and resurrection of the dead, I am called in question. And when he added, So said there arose a recession between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the multitude was divided. For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel nor spirit, but the Pharisees confess both. And there arose a great cry of scribes that were of the Pharisees, part arose, and strove, saying, We find no evil in this man, but if the spirit or an angel has spoken to him, let us not fight against God. And when there arose a great recession, this chief, captain, Fearing lest Paul should have been pulled in pieces of them, taken by force from among them to bring them into the castle. And the night following, the Lord stood by him and said, Be of good cheer, Paul, for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou of their witness also at Rome. And when it was day, certain of the Jews banged together and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had healed Paul. And they were more than forty which had made this conspiracy. And they came to the chief priests and elders and said, We have bound ourselves under a great curse that we will eat nothing until we have slain Paul. Therefore, ye with the council signify to the chief captain that he bring them down unto you tomorrow, as though ye would acquire something more perfectly concerning him and we, wherever he could come here and are ready to kill him. And when Paul's sister's son heard of their lying in wait, he went and entered into the castle and told Paul. And Paul called one of the centurions unto him and said, Bring this young man unto the chief captain, for he had a certain thing to tell him. So he took him and brought him to the chief captain and said, Paul, the prisoner called me unto him and prayed to bring this young man unto thee who had something to say unto him. And the chief captain took him by the hand and went with him aside privately and asked him, What is that thou hast tell me? And he said, The Jews have agreed to the desire of thee that thou wouldst bring down Paul tomorrow unto the council, as though they would inquire somewhat of him more perfectly. Do not thou yield unto them? For there lie in wait for him of them more than forty men, which have bound themselves with an oath that they would neither eat nor drink till they have killed them. And now are they ready, looking for a promise from them. So the chief captain then let the young man depart and charged them. See thou tell no man that thou hast shown these things to me. And he called unto him two satyrians, saying, Make ready two hundred soldiers to go to Caesarea, and horsemen three score and ten, and spearmen two hundred at the third hour of the night, and provide them beasts that they may set Paul on, and bring him safe unto Felix the governor. And he wrote a letter after this matter, Claudius Lysias unto the most excellent governor, Felix, sending grief. This man was taken of the Jews, and should have been killed of them. Then came I with an army, and rescued him, having understood that he was a Roman. And when I would have known the cause wherefore they accused him, I brought him forth into their council, whom I perceived to be accused of questions of their law, but to have nothing laid to his charge worthy of death or loss. And when it was told me how that the Jews lay weight for the man, I sent straightway to thee, and gave commandment to his accusers also, to say before thee what they had against him farewell. Then the soldiers, as it was commanded them, took Paul and brought him by night to attack the catchers. On the morrow they left the horsemen to go with them, and returned to the castle, who when they came to Caesarea, and delivered the pistol to the governor, presented Paul also before him. And when the governor had read the letter, he asked of what province he was, and when he understood that he was a Cilicia, I would hear thee, and said, when thy accusers also are come, and he commanded them to be kept in Herod's judgment hall. Brother Albert, be free from this. Thank you, Father God, for this evening's service. Bless this evening's service. Please bless the deacon, our brethren, with the Holy Spirit, to preach holy hymn. To help us end our lives, we can preach him tonight. Thank you for your word, and Jesus' mighty name, Amen. Amen. So Acts 23, just really quickly bringing us up to speed. Of course, we saw in Acts 22 where Paul is being attacked by the Jews for suggesting that they should, he would preach to the Gentiles. And of course, the centurion comes, the Romans come, and they take him away from the Jews who are literally going to kill him. And he brings them up into the castle, and as he goes in, he begins to make this speech, and that just gets them all worked up all over again. And then eventually he ends up just having this meeting here in Acts 23. If you look there in verse 30 of Acts 22, it says, On the morrow, because he would have known the certainty whereof he was accused of the Jews, this is speaking about the centurion that rescued him, he loosed him, Paul, from his bands, and commanded the chief priests and all their council to appear and brought Paul down and set them before them. So that sets the stage for Acts 23. They're having this meeting the next day after Paul had gone to the temple and had almost been killed. So he gets rescued there. And you have to remember too, Acts 23, 22, obviously these are all interconnected. Acts 21, you kind of have this buildup. And if you remember through those previous chapters, Paul is being warned not to go to Jerusalem. Repeatedly the Holy Spirit is telling him, don't go to Jerusalem. But Paul decides to go anyway. We talked about it last week, how actually, you know, obviously it wasn't right, but it's still commendable that Paul had a burden for his own people, that he wanted to see these people saved. But, you know, God still has to teach Paul a lesson, I believe. And I see that's what you're kind of seeing here through these several chapters. And what we see in Acts 23 is Paul is kind of getting out of the situation. He's kind of stepped in it a little bit, so to speak. Acts 22, things did not go the way he was anticipating. You know, James is making it out like, hey, go in with these other four guys who have a vow on them and just appease the Jews that believe, who still want to hold on to Moses and the laws. So he was trying to compromise. We preached about that a couple weeks ago. And things did not turn out the way Paul was hoping. And now it's just going from bad to worse. It's true that he was rescued by the centurion and the Romans, but Paul, put yourself in his position. We have the privilege, the advantage of knowing how the story turns out. You know, Paul, this happened to him. He didn't know it was going to take place. He couldn't just flip ahead a few pages and go, oh, I'm going to be fine in the long run. Right? So put yourself in Paul's shoes here in Acts 23 and understand that he might be sweating a little bit at this point. And really, I think the Lord is kind of letting him go through this. Okay? Obviously, we see the Lord does come to him in this chapter and encourages him. But leading up to that, Paul is kind of, I believe, maybe a little nervous how things might turn out. And what we see he's doing here in this first 10 verses is that Paul is kind of using his wits to deliver himself. Okay? He gets in front of the, he's brought before the council. He's brought before the Jews to make, so that they can accuse him. And the centurion can kind of figure out what's going on here. And then what we see Paul doing is he pits the Sadducees and the Pharisees against each other and gets them all worked up again to where nothing can proceed. And then the centurion, obviously, the captain has to take them out of that situation before things get out of hand. So what's going on is Paul is kind of delivering himself. He's kind of getting himself out of this predicament that he's in. And, you know, that's what will happen sometimes in our own lives. You know, if we decide to just do things our way and not take heed unto the word of God and take heed to the Holy Spirit, the preaching of it, you know, we're going to find ourselves in a pickle. Okay? And God might just let us kind of stew in that for a little bit. God might just let us deal with that situation a little longer than we would like. God might let us sweat, too, just like Paul. If we do things that are contrary to what we have been told to do, you know, God might just let us go through some hard times and teach us a lesson. Not that he's completely forsaken us, just as he hasn't forsaken Paul in this chapter. He does come to him and tells him to be of good cheer, that he's not through with him. But, you know, he didn't come to him right away, did he? You know, it would have been really in handy if the Lord had showed up, you know, in the previous chapter when they're trying to tear Paul apart. But who had to show up and save Paul? It wasn't the Lord. It was the Romans. They had to show up and rescue him. Okay? You know, the Lord could have intervened then, you know, but I believe God kind of was letting Paul learn a lesson here. And it's a lesson we need to learn for ourselves, too. We want to make sure that we are obeying the commands of Scripture, that we are doing things in a way that pleases God. Okay? Now, let's look at a little bit of the details of how Paul is kind of delivering himself, how he's kind of relying on his own wits here. If you look there in verse 1, it says, And Paul earnestly, beholding the council, said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day. Now, remember, these are the same guys that already have kind of heard Paul's testimony. They already know what Paul's about. They've already heard Paul talk about how he was, you know, before he got saved, went out and was persecuting the church, how the council and the elders and the high priests had given him letters. This is that same group of people. They know what Paul's testimony is. So that kind of explains how reactionary they are. Because what did Paul say in verse 1? Did he really say anything that's that inflammatory? I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day. You know, that's not exactly going to cause you to clutch your pearls, right? That's not really an inflammatory statement. But what he's saying is, I have lived in all good conscience before God. You know, I'm right with God. I've lived before God. So Paul says, hey, I've lived in all good conscience. And he says, hit that guy. Press him on the mouth. And then Paul kind of, you know, lets him have it a little bit too, right? And then Paul said unto him, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall. So you can kind of see he shouldn't have come here after all. As much as I was burdened for them, as much as I wanted them to be saved, you know, they're obviously not getting it. It didn't work. And now I'm being smacked in the mouth by the high priest, you know, by proxy, obviously. But he's saying, now he's lashing out, right? And he's saying, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall, for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law? And it's interesting here that Paul calls him that specific name. He says, thou whited wall, right? Now what does that mean? You know, if we try to like insult somebody or, you know, get after someone or, you know, get one up on somebody, that's probably not the first thing that comes to mind, right? Someone cuts you off in traffic, you're not like, thou whited wall. You know, that's not, you're kind of like, what does that even mean? Like, you know, you're not like, ooh, burn, Paul. But it really is a burn, when you kind of know where Paul's getting this from, okay? And the only other time you hear that, see that phrase used in Scripture is when Jesus said it. To that same group of people, the Jews, the Pharisees. He called them a whited wall as well. And, you know, the point here is that, you know, Jesus used strong language in his preaching. And Jesus was not above even name calling. And I don't mean in like some childish way. I'm saying that, you know, the Jews and wicked groups of people, he called them for what they were. He didn't hold back and try to just be perceived as somebody who's just so loved. There's so much in Matthew 23 that we could, we could start reading. This is Jesus speaking. You know, he's lifting up his voice. He's, he's exclaiming this. You know, he's lifting up his voice. He's, he's exclaiming this. He's putting a lot of emphasis on this. He's saying, you hypocrites. You shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, for you neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them. What is he saying? You're going, he said, you're not going to heaven. He basically just told these people that they're hypocrites that are going to hell. That's what Jesus said publicly in front of everybody. This is the Jesus of the Bible. It's important that we look at this and understand this and take the time to kind of go over it tonight because there's another Jesus that's being, there's another, you know, another person that's being held up and called Jesus that's nothing like the God of the Bible. The Jesus who just loves everybody, never gets upset, you know, and is never mad, never angry. And you scratch your head and wonder, where are people getting this? It's because they're not reading their Bible. They're not following the example of Christ. They're not getting it from here. They're not getting it from philosophy or Hollywood or whatever, whatever false Jesus. Pharisees, hypocrites, for you devour widows' houses and for pretense make long prayers. Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees. Verse 15, you compass land and sea to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. So let's, they're hypocrites, like three times in a row, versus. He called them a child of hell than you. What is he saying? He's saying you're a child of hell. You know, there will get a lot of blowback. You get a lot of resistance. But what really frustrates me is when Christians take the time to contact me, cherry-picking the passages that aren't controversial, that aren't going to. Passages and deal with it. As to just publicly criticize a man of God. 23 on your own, if you don't believe me. It's such a powerful passage, but. ... and Pharisees, hypocrites. If you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have amended the way to your matters of the law, judge and swallow a camel. Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. For you may clean the outside of the cup and platter, but within are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup, that thou, that the outside may be clean also. So you've got to kind of get the context here where he's saying, he's saying that these guys are clean outwardly. They appear clean outwardly, but inwardly they are full of iniquity. Verse 27, because that's kind of the context here leading up to verse 27. ... platter, right? That which appears, that which people see, that looks clean, but within you're full of extortion and excess. You know, you're devouring widows. He's saying, I know how you appear unto men, but what you are really like on the inside is wicked. That's the illustration that he's using of the cup and platter. Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. For you are like unto whited sepulchres, which is full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Woe unto you. And he just doesn't stop. Powerful chapter. But what does he call them? He calls them whited sepulchres. Just like that's what Paul was referring to when he called them a whited wall, right? The wall of that sepulcher was whited. That's what he's saying to this guy who just commanded for somebody else to smite him on the mouth for what he said. He's saying, you're a whited wall, you Pharisee. You're a whited sepulcher. So here you have Jesus using strong language, right? Name calling, tearing people down and pointing out, calling out sin publicly, calling these people out for their hypocrisy and everything else. Then you have Paul doing the same thing. He's name calling. I mean, calling him a whited sepulcher, right? You look good on the outside, but within you're rotten, right? That's what Paul is saying, again, in Acts 23. So I sometimes scratch my head and wonder, like, why do pastors who preach strong, who get up and take a stand and just preach what the Bible says, and then they're accused of not being like Jesus? Paul never would have said that. Jesus never would have said that. What Bible are you reading? What church do you go to? Do you go to at all? Have you ever read? It just always boggles my mind. But what's interesting, I wonder, was Paul there in Matthew 23? He very well may have been. In fact, I tend to think that he was. I think he's actually lifting this phrase. I mean, he was probably being preached at by Jesus in this chapter, when you think about it. I mean, where did he come up with whited wall? Look, if you're going to emulate anyone's preaching, it might as well be Jesus's, right? There's nothing wrong with, you know, repeating a great truth. These people really are whited walls. They really are whited sepulchers. They really are full of him. So, you know, I think he's lifting this. That's where Paul likely heard Jesus say this in Matthew 23. Say, well, prove it. Well, if you remember Acts 22, well, first of all, where's Jesus preaching Acts 23? For the Passover, the crucifixion. So, he's in Jerusalem preaching this to the Pharisees. Paul, I mean, Paul was a Pharisee of the Pharisees, right? That's what he said. You think Paul might have been in Jerusalem three days before the Passover? Oh, yeah, he was there. Was he there at this exact moment when Jesus was preaching this? Was he within earshot of this? I think it's interesting he's using the same phrase, but I believe he was there. Don't forget Paul also said in Acts 22 that he was, though he was born elsewhere, that he was brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel. That's Acts 22 verse 3. That city being Jerusalem. That's where he lived. That's where he was dwelling. Not only was he living there, but he certainly would have been there for the Passover. So, here's the thing. What's Paul doing when he says, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall, when he calls him a whited wall? What's he doing? He's just quoting Jesus. He's just saying, well, that's what Jesus called you. And if that's what Jesus called you, that's what you are. So, what's wrong with somebody just calling somebody what they are? You know, we get up and use Bible words that people don't like today, but, you know, they're Bible words. You know, don't criticize and attack a preacher for quoting the Bible. Like, oh, I can't believe he said that. I can't believe it's, well, it's in the Bible. You can't believe a Baptist preacher got up and quoted the Bible? What did you think I was going to read, Dr. Seuss? You think I was going to pull out some other book up here? Of course I'm going to read the Bible. Of course I'm going to use the Bible words. I'm a Baptist preacher. I would think it's weird to not hear a Baptist preacher use Bible words. You know, Bible preachers quote the Bible. Hello, I mean, that's just what we do. It's our job to preach the whole counsel of the word of God. So you see Paul here just quoting Jesus. That's all he's doing. Yeah, and he's using strong language too, isn't he? And he's name calling. Whited wall. Whited sepulcher. You hypocrite. But let's move along here in our story. So, again, Paul's doing all this. Why? Because he's kind of having to rely on his own wits at this point in the story. He's kind of having to like, you know, do the verbal kung fu or whatever to kind of keep himself out of hot water. Because, you know, it's probably pretty obvious to him that he should have listened to the Holy Spirit and not come to Jerusalem. And now he might be thinking, maybe God's going to just let me go. This might be the end of the road for me. He's uncertain. I mean, I can't say that for, you know, 100 percent accuracy that that's the way it is. But, I mean, Paul's human being, just like the rest of us, he doesn't have the benefit of foresight, you know, or being able to look back on the situation. He's in the thick of it. So if you kind of think about it from his perspective when it's happening, I mean, he could be getting, you know, kind of nervous at this point. But he's still being bold, isn't he? And he seems like he's even getting a little frustrated here. Where were we? Verse 3. So pick it up there, verse 4. And they that stood by said, revile us thou, God's high priest, right? Righted wall. And they're saying, you're going to call him a white wall? So they got the, they, because they were there when Jesus said it too. But these people understood it. And they're saying, oh, you're going to call him a white wall? Why revile, why are you reviling God's high priest? Revile us thou, God's high priest? You're insulting the high priest by calling him this? Then Paul said in verse 5, I wish not, brethren, I didn't know that he was the high priest. For it is written, thou shall not speak evil, the ruler of thy people. Which he, you know, he wouldn't have said that if he didn't mean it. Obviously, he didn't realize that was the high priest, perhaps, I'm assuming. Because he's saying, I didn't know, right? I don't think he's lying about that. For it is written, thou shall not speak evil, the ruler of thy people. So you can see how they're having this like verbal back and forth, right? He gets up and just, hey, I've lived in all good conscience before God until this day. I've done nothing wrong. They smack him. And he says, thou whited wall, God shall smite thee. Right? Oh, you're going to talk back to the high priest like that? Oh, I didn't know it was the high priest. You know, the scripture says, thou shall not speak evil, the ruler of thy people. That's Exodus 22. Thou shalt not revile the gods nor curse the ruler of thy people. Right? So they're kind of, they're having this verbal conflict. So you can kind of see how Paul is having to really rely on his own wits to kind of maneuver the situation. Then if you look at verse 6, but when Paul perceived, so who did the perceiving? Paul. It wasn't like the Holy Spirit went, hey, say this. You know? It wasn't like he slipped on the get out of jail free card or something. You know, he didn't, Paul perceived this. Paul had figured this out. Paul, this is his strategy. This is his tactics that he's employing. When Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other part Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee, of the hope and resurrection of the dead. Paul didn't question. So what is he doing? He's pitting these two against each other. Right? Verse 8. Well, verse 7. And when he had said so, there arose a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the multitude was divided. For the Sadducees say there is no resurrection, neither angel nor spirit. You know, these are your liberal, watered down, so-called Christians today. They don't even believe the Bible. Right? These contemporary liberal types have always been with us. Okay? These social gospel preachers. They don't actually believe the Bible. They just, you know, pay it lip service. But the Sadducees, they don't believe in miracles. They don't believe in the spirit. They don't believe in the afterlife. The Sadducees confess both. They do believe it. They're more orthodox, fundamental in their faith. And there was a great cry. And the scribes saying, we find no evil in this man. Are you sure? Because you were just trying to kill him in the previous chapter. But see, so you can see what Paul's doing. He's like bringing up this doctrinal sore spot for them. He's like saying, hey, let me just, you know, point out that I'm a Pharisee. Right? So now they're going to have this big debate. Because the Pharisees and Sadducees are just at each other. There is no resurrection. Yes, there is. Right? So he's saying, hey, I'm a Pharisee. I'm just being a kid. This is just happening because of these nasty Sadducees. They just don't like what we believe about the resurrection and spirits. So now the Pharisees are going to, are kind of coming to his side. Before, God has, you know, worked on his part to deliver him out of, you know, tough circumstances. Look at verse 9. Look at verse 9. And there rose a great cry, the scribes and the Pharisees, unto him, let us not fight against God. Right? Because see, that's their doctrine. Well maybe, maybe a So he's getting them all, you know, tangled up in their doctrine. He's just making them debate each other. In those flames, this debate that they have between the Sadducees and Pharisees. And when there arose a great dissension. So you say, why was Paul doing that? For verse 10. Because he knew these people. You know, if I say the right thing and I get these guys going, it's going to get so out of hand. Right? This is like, you know, the family reunion. You got that one uncle that shows up, you know, and he always just makes a scene. Right? Or whatever. You get these certain Oh, you can just kind of rely on them and eventually it's just going to blow up and turn into an argument. Okay? So that's what he's doing. He's like, I know these Pharisees and I know these Sadducees. Maybe this great dissension, as it says in verse 10. When that happened, the chief captain realized Paul should have been pulled in pieces of them. So now they're fighting over Paul. Right? He's done no evil. There's a spirit that spoke to him. Because there are spirits. The Sadducees, there's no spirits. No one talked to him. There's no resurrection. There's none of these things. And the chief captain's just like, here we go again. Right? The same thing as yesterday. They're all just trying to tear Paul apart. He commanded the soldiers to go down and take him by force from among them to bring him back into the castle. So, phew. It worked. He's rescued once again. And really there's no conclusion made. The captain here, he doesn't know. I mean, the whole point was to figure out what the accusations were. Why were you guys trying to kill this guy yesterday? What's the problem? Because remember, put yourself in Paul's shoes. Sandals, whatever he was wearing. I have to. At least I would. Maybe I'm reading myself into the story a little bit. Not that I'm Apostle Paul or anything near it. But you know, if I had resisted the Holy Ghost and resisted the Holy Ghost and resisted the Holy Ghost and then went and did exactly that thing. I went to that place I was not supposed to go to reach people that Jesus said, stop trying to reach them. They had their chance. If I was disobeying and grieving the Holy Spirit and then had all these things take place where God's not showing up, God's not delivering, where I just got myself on hot water, if it were me, I'd be pretty nervous right now. God hasn't shown up. And yeah, I learned how to navigate my way and get out of that sticky situation, but it's not like it's over. There's still this element of uncertainty. So when you read verse 11, you can imagine what a relief this is to Paul. And the night following, the Lord stood by him. He said, all right, Paul, that's enough. I think you learned your lesson. You've had enough. You going to listen next time? Uh-huh. And what does he say to him? Tell it to yourself. Should have listened, Paul. Tried to warn you, you big dummy. You're going to listen to me now, right? You didn't pour salt in the wound. You encouraged him. Be of good cheer, right? Look, when people do wrong, and they know they've done wrong, and they've been punished for it, they don't need anybody else to pick on them. They just need to be encouraged sometimes. Just be told, hey, you know what? It's over. Be of good cheer. It's like in 1 Corinthians, right, where, 2 Corinthians rather, where Paul in 1 Corinthians, I won't take the time to go into all of it, had written on the Corinthian people and told them to kick out the fornicator. Right, because fornication is a sin that gets you kicked out of church, along with drunkenness, covetousness, idolatry, extortion, and so on and so forth. There are sins that the Bible says will get you kicked out of church. And he said, hey, kick that guy out. You know, he's committing fornication. That's not even so much his name among the Gentiles. And then he went on and said to, not to treat him as an enemy, but to entreat him as a brother. Right, lest one be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. Right? He's saying, yeah, you know, lest the guy be, you know, swallowed up with overmuch sorrow, lest he be more sorrowful than you. The point of kicking people out of church is so that they'll feel bad and quit doing that sin. You can't have sin in a church, a little leaven, leaven at the whole lump. Okay? God won't bless a church that has sin like that in it. But what he's saying is, it's the same principle that, you know, we kind of see the Lord working with Paul. It's like, when people have been put through the wringer, you know, it's time, it's enough. We don't need to pile on them much for a person to take. You know, have you ever, just aren't going your way. Things just aren't working out. You're discouraged. I mean, how helpful would it be for someone to come along and say, yeah, that is hard. Hate to be you. Man, you know, maybe you deserve that. Or, you know what I mean? Like pile on, right? Usually when we're down, when we're discouraged, we need somebody to lift us up. You know, we have to call somebody, talk to them, get their perspective, listen to what they have to say. And a lot of times we'll walk away from those conversations a lot more confident, a lot more positive, you know, feeling better. Even if the circumstance hasn't changed. Maybe you think nothing's changed, but you know, you've spoken to somebody who's just trying to say what? Be of good cheer. Okay? Paul is obviously at a low point here. And I have to imagine he doesn't really know what's going to happen or how he's going to get out of this. I mean, what a relief it must have been to have the Lord stand by him. You know, stood by him. I believe that was quite literal. That the Lord is standing near him. And look, whenever we find ourselves discouraged in life, we're going through hard things. You know, iron sharpens iron, so does a brother, his brother's countenance. I know I'm paraphrasing there, right? Obviously we need encouragement from brothers and sisters and Lord. Obviously, you know, we should be in church. We should, you know, get that fellowship. It's an encouragement to us. But the encouragement you need the most is God's encouragement. You need the Lord to stand by you. And, you know, this is important because so often people, even Christians, when they get in difficult circumstances, when they're discouraged, when they're down, they turn everywhere else but to God. And I'm not saying everywhere that they turn is necessarily bad. But look at a lot of places that the world will turn to. A lot of people start having a hard time. You know, they'll turn to drugs. They'll turn to alcohol. They'll go get a prescription. They'll go start taking things to numb the pain, right, to just forget about it. They'll turn to pleasures and distractions and everything that's out there. You know, we as God's people, the Bible says that, you know, we could come boldly before the throne of grace to find mercy and help in time of need. So do we? You know, we should find ourselves often, you know, at Jesus' feet. I mean, that's where Paul is. He's standing by him in the night. I have to imagine Paul's laying down and he's there at Jesus' feet. And, you know, I have to imagine at that point there is nowhere Paul rather would have been. But he's in prison. Yeah, but if the Lord's there, it's a palace. So the Lord's standing next to him and he wasn't just sitting there to go, I told you, right, with the angel when he smoked Peter in jail and told him to rise and be going. He says, be of good cheer, Paul. You know what? And the fact that he says be of good cheer, well, Paul's like, well, I don't need to be. I'm cheerful enough, right? He had to say be of good cheer because Paul needed to be encouraged, which tells me that up to that point Paul is probably discouraged. He's probably uncertain of how things are going to play out. He's saying be of good cheer, Paul, for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, even though I told you not to, so thou must bear witness also at Rome. So he's telling him, you know what? I see what you tried to do in Jerusalem. You're going to do it in Rome. You're going to bear witness there as well. And so don't take that as, you know, he said, hey, as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so God was for him going to Jerusalem. No, because if we read the preceding chapters, we know that God tried to warn him multiple times to not go to Jerusalem. He's just saying, look, you did that there. Again, it's just speaking of the fact that God's not coming down on him, right? As thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, even though I told you not to go here, right? No, he's just saying, you know what? As you've done it here, you're going to do it in Rome. He doesn't bring up the fact that God didn't tell you to come here. You know, he just says, hey, you're going to do that in Rome now. You know, you're going to be many, many, many miles away. So I believe, you know, what we see taking place through this whole story of Paul going down to Jerusalem, going into the temple, you know, behaving as a Jew and not as, you know, someone who's believed on Christ and adhering to those Mosaic laws that have been done away in Christ. We see that, we see him, you know, being persecuted. What we're seeing in this story is that God let him sweat for his stubbornness. And let that be a warning to us that if we're stubborn and stiff-necked, you know, the Bible says, he that being often reproved and hardened at his neck, often reproved and hardened at his neck, shall be destroyed suddenly and that without remedy. You know, if we're stubborn long enough and we harden our neck long enough, it's not just that God's going to let us sweat and said he'll actually destroy us. I mean, that's what the Bible says. He that being often reproved and hardened at his neck, and that without remedy, meaning there's no coming back from it, permanent damage will be done. And obviously that's not what happened in Paul's case. But God lets Paul sweat, but he doesn't let him get him over-discouraged, okay? He tries to help him. We've got to move along here. You're right, notice it doesn't say a vow, right? Or the sworn oath. They curse themselves, right? They bow themselves to the curse, saying we will neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. That is a curse, right? If you're going to sit there and say, I'm not going to eat or drink, that to me, that's like, look, the Bible says to swear not at all. Swear not by heaven, or is God's throne, nor by the earth, for it is his footstool, you know? Neither by thine own head, right? Because you can't turn one hair white or black. Believe me, I've tried, right? Jesus said, let your yay be yay, and your nay be nay. You know, for any more of that, anything that goes beyond that cometh of evil. Again, I'm paraphrasing, forgive me, but these guys are swearing. I mean, it's bad enough to oath anything, and look, I would never make a vow a vow, because the Bible tells me not to. But if I did, it would never be this one. I would never, under any circumstances, say, I'm never going to eat or drink until such and such a thing. You know, I mean, that might explain what's going on up here a little bit, right? I'm going to explain why I look the way I do. So that's one vow the deacon would never make, right? But these guys, they make this vow. Eat or drink till Paul's dead. But then again, we know, but we know that they don't accomplish this, right? Because we've read the story. Are those guys still hungering and thirsting to this day? Obviously, they had to have broken it. You know, they said that in their religious zeal, their vigor, right? But once Paul got away, it's like, well, you know, we couldn't help it. Did you see the army that was, you know, carrying him away, you know, past the bread? Give me some water. And they were more than 40 that had made this conspiracy. And when they came to the chief priests and elders and said, we have bound ourselves under a great curse. We'll eat nothing till we have slain Paul. Now, therefore, ye with the council signify to the chief captain that bring him down unto you tomorrow as though you would inquire something more perfectly concerning him. And we, or ever he come near, are ready to kill him. So this is a big conspiracy. Hey, we've sworn this vow. We'll kill him. You just get him down here. You know, you just make up that you want to talk to Paul some more. You want to ask him a few more questions so he can figure things out about what he believes. You know, it's this big ruse, right? But notice in verse 16, it says, and when Paul's sister's son heard of their lying in wait, he went and entered the castle and told Paul. So Paul had a relative there. His sister's son heard of their lying in wait, and he goes and tells the people in the castle. He goes and tells the chief captain, okay? Now, I want to take just a minute, because this is a great passage, to maybe help shed some light on another passage. Okay, if you would go to 1 Timothy chapter number 5. When you get there, bookmark, because we're going to look at 1 Timothy chapter number 5 again. Notice how in verse 16, it says, Paul's sister's son. Now, I don't like to put people on the spot, but what would we call your sister's son today? A nephew, right? You are with me, okay? Some people are like, is it nephew? I know. If I say it and I'm wrong, I don't even know the proper terms for next to kin, but it is. It's nephew, right? That's what my sister's son is. It's my nephew, okay? But that's not how the Paul, so why doesn't the Bible just say nephew? Why doesn't it just say nephew there? Nephew heard, right? Well, that's because that word, nephew, had a different meaning back then. Look here in 1 Timothy chapter 5 verse 3, But if any widow have children or nephews, let them relieve them, excuse me, let them first to show piety at home and to requite their parents, for that is good and acceptable for God. So if any widow have children or nephews, right? No, it's not, okay? Although there would be nothing wrong with you helping out an aunt, okay? For her needs, you have to make sure, you have to go through this process of elimination and make sure there isn't some other, and we'll take the time, in 1 Timothy 5, you know, for a widow, if they have children or nephews, they have to, those people, nephew is a grandchild, okay? So it's children or grandchildren. Now, grandson, granddaughter, grandchild is not a term you find in the Bible. It's not used. Nephews is, okay? So I don't know about that. Well, this is from vocabulary.com, okay? When brothers or sisters have male children, you become an aunt or an uncle to a nephew. If your nephew has a sister, she is your niece. Both niece and nephew originally meant grandchild, but narrow to their current meanings in the 1600s, okay? And the King James Bible was written in 1611, right? So after the King James Bible was written, that term nephew ceased to mean grandchild and means now what it means, became to mean what it means today, okay? Which is, you know, the son or daughter of your sibling, okay? You're on the hook for your mother and your grandmother, okay? The whole sermon is that God's word is so perfect and he makes provision for every single circumstance, the Bible that people come up with, because sometimes people just dream up stuff, you know, that has, but I'm saying things that are practical, the things that are real, the things that you're actually going to have to deal with in life, the Bible's got an answer. Every single situation. I love it. It's such a great testimony to, you know, the honor of motherhood, okay? Which is something that, you know, so grossly just overshadowed and just diminished in our society. Where being a mother is like, oh, you're just some uneducated doormat or something, right? They try to just make you, try to make mothers into just these saps and it's disgusting, okay? Motherhood is one of the most just noble callings. It's something we can't venerate enough and respect and show honor to enough in our society. We should do it all the more, okay? Motherhood is not something to be treated as, you know, a curse or something, okay? Is, you know, an unselfish, okay? Children are to honor their father and thy mother. That's, you know, that's the 10 commandments, folks. And it's the first commandment with promise that thy days may be long upon the earth. And it's not just talking about honoring them and doing what you're told. It's talking about even in your adult years, you know, if your parents are destitute and in need, you should take them in, okay? Look, and I understand it's fallen out of fashion as a society today because we have all these, you know, these nice retirement and so on and so forth and people, you know, in their younger years are able to store up a nest egg and they can live on their own. This is where there's real specialized care that needs to be provided that maybe you can't get at home and maybe the family has to put them in a facility and honor them in that way to make sure that they get the care that they need. I get all that. It happens. I mean, why is the Bible making provision for it then? Now, what's also interesting here, and again, that's a whole sermon right there, when it says Paul's sister's son is what we would call his nephew, okay? That's the nearest Kenya scene of Paul's and it's like that's the only one that's coming to his aid. And I have a heart, you know, I have to imagine, you know, that Paul had a... Maybe he was an only child, well, obviously he was an only child, but, you know, maybe he wasn't close to others, served God and believed and obeyed the Bible and put this book to practice in our lives that might cost us some relationships that might even break some familial bonds in our lives. And look, not everyone has to, it's not like it's required, okay? But don't be surprised if it... Matthew, if you would, go to Matthew 10, and I'll wrap up, okay? I know I'm going a little long tonight, but we'll wrap this up soon. But it's important to see that, like Paul's sitting here and... Who's coming to warn him of this conspiracy? You know, I don't see brothers or, you know, Paul's sister's son... Obviously, maybe there's some extenuating circumstances, maybe their heart was with Paul, they just couldn't do anything about it. I get it. But I'm just using that as a springboard to make the application that sometimes in a Christian life, we're going to go through things and family will desert us in the midst of it, for what we believe. You know, it's something I've experienced in my own life. I've had people say, oh, you go to that church? You believe what that pastor's saying? I'm like, yeah, what's what the Bible says? Well, then I don't want anything to do with you. I don't want anything to do with you. Well, I guess I should stop, you know, I guess I should just, you know, throw all my integrity out the window and cease and just, you know, compromise to preserve some, you know, earthly relationship. You know, let me just kick the Bible out the door and forsake God and just so I can preserve some familial bond. You know, let me value that. Let me value that a relation with somebody that hates the Bible and hates God more than my relationship with God. You see what I'm saying? That we might find ourselves in that position. And look, if we're not, if we have godly parents, if we have godly brothers and sisters, if we have fellow believers that make up our immediate family, praise God for that. You know, value that, cherish that because not everybody has that. A lot of people, you know, they get saved later in life. They weren't raised in a Christian household. A lot of times it causes conflict when a person gets saved and says, I'm going to live for God now. I believe in you. I believe in you. I believe in you. Jesus says, I'm going to live for God now. I believe the Bible. All of it. Okay? Familial bonds may have to be broken over the Bible. You know, it might just be one nephew that's still on your side. Jesus said in Matthew 13, you're there in verse 10, a prophet is not without honor save in his own country and in his own house. Look at chapter 10, verse 34. Think not, I have come to send peace on earth. But I thought Jesus said, everyone's just going to get along. Everyone's just going to love each other. He said, I didn't come to send peace on the earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword. You know, is that the Jesus that's being preached out there today? For I am come to set a man at variance against his father and the daughter against her mother and their daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. Not that that's hard to do. And a man's foes, that was a joke, and a man's foes shall be they of his own household. A man's foes shall be they of his own household. That's what Jesus said, and he said that's what I came to do. Right? He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me. And look, verse 38 is tied in with the preceding verses. You know, some people, that's the cross. You know, some people, that's the cross they have to bear in this life. I'm going to follow Jesus. I'm going to love him more than everybody else. And if everybody else forsakes me as a result, so be it. So be it. Because I'm going to be faithful to his word and to him above all else. That's a cross some people have to bear. He that findeth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. 2 Timothy 3 says, Yea, and all day that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. You know, maybe you're not going to suffer in that way. Maybe your family all loves the Lord. Praise God. Maybe all your brothers and sisters and your mom and dad and aunts and uncles and just everybody loves the Lord. And, you know, you can all get together and have good godly Christian fellowship, you know, every major holiday. Maybe you all go to church together. I don't know. Well, praise the Lord for that. But let me just tell you something. You're not off the hook either. Persecution will come to you. Because the Bible says, All they that live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. If you live godly, you know, that's the prerequisite. All they that live godly shall suffer persecution. Meaning, if you're just kind of going through the Christian life and just like, I've never suffered persecution ever, you kind of have to ask yourself, are you actually living godly in Christ Jesus then? Are you actually looking at the Bible and conforming your life to it, taking on its standards, living your life in a way that conforms to the word of God, or not? Because if you are, if you are doing that, if you are conforming the word of God, you know, people are going to probably notice. And some people actually might think it's kind of odd. Some people might poke fun at it. Some people might even hate you for it. And even some people might think, I want nothing to do with you. But that's the cross that we're all called to bear. And if that, you know, and I'm not saying we all have to be disowned and abandoned by our family, but look, we have to ask ourselves, have I suffered persecution? And if we haven't, we have to ask ourselves, why? Are we living godly in Christ Jesus or not? I know I got to hurry up and wrap this up. You know, verses 18 to 35 kind of give us just the rest of the story, how he sends this great, you know, these guys swear, bound themselves to this curse. They're going to kill Paul. Paul's sister's son comes. His nephew warns them. Paul sends him to one of the centurions to tell him about what's going on. And then he speaks to the chief captain. Paul's nephew does. And he tells them how the Jews have agreed to send Paul tomorrow, and how there's 40 men. They've sworn this oath. And he called, so verse 23, and he called, he being the chief captain, called two centurions. I just want to look at this because get the escort that Paul gets, right? And he called on, because it's 40 guys, right, just 40 men that are trying to slay him. And he called on two centurions, which are people, you know, captains or whatever, that are over 100 soldiers, centurions, century, 100 years, okay? He calls two centurions, and he said, make ready 200 soldiers, 100 each, right, to go to Caesarea. And horsemen, three score and 10, so 70 horsemen. And spearmen, 200, right? So 400 guys on foot, and then 70 guys on horse. And be ready at the third hour of the night. So over, you know, 470 soldiers, and 70 of those guys are mounted on horse, which in that day would have been like a tank, right? You ever try to go up against a horse, just, you know, mono el horso, not gonna end well. The horse will win, okay? So I mean, that's the escort Paul's getting, right? I mean, that's pretty cool. And now he's kind of saying, yeah, the Lord was right when he stood back next to me last night. I mean, my nephew's showing up, he's warning me, and like everything's working out again. It's like God's on my side again. He's warning me, the baddest dudes on the planet escorting me out of this jail, right? They're gonna take me out at the third hour of the night. So then he writes this letter, and he sends it to Felix, and, you know, there's just really too much here to unpack tonight, so I think I'm just gonna end it there. But, you know, what's the lesson that we can learn from this chapter thus far? Is that if, you know, we're stubborn, and we resist God, you know, God might just pull back a little bit and let us sweat. And when he determines that we've had enough, and maybe we've come to our senses, you know, God will immediately stand next to us and be that encouragement. You know, if we sin, you know, we have an advocate with God the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The Bible says, he that confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall have mercy. You know, so if we've been stubborn, if we've been stiff-necked, you know, maybe we just need to learn our lesson. And you know what? God is ready to draw close. You know, if we will humble ourselves and draw an eye to God, he will draw an eye to you. Right? So we need to do that. You know, that's there. That's one lesson we can learn from this. But also, you know, drawing close to the Lord and having that be the most important relationship in your life might come at the expense of other ones. It might come out of not, yes, relationships that are, yes, less important, but still dear to us. Still, relationships we might even cherish. But you know, we have to be willing to bear that cross for Christ. If that's what it takes to follow God, that's our duty as Christians. To live godly in Christ Jesus, even if it means suffering persecution. Let's go ahead and close in a word of prayer. Dear Lord, again, thank you for the great example of Paul. Thank you for this great book, Lord, as we're coming to the end. There's so many lessons we can look back on, so many things we've learned. And Lord, help us to not be a people that grieve the Holy Spirit. Help us to not quench the Holy Spirit. Help us to be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Help us to be found in your word, listening to your voice, listening and obeying the things that are written in the Lord. The Bible says we're happy if we do these things. Not that they'll, we'll never have grief or sorrow in life, Lord, but we know that ultimately if we love you that all things will work together for good, Lord. Just pray and ask now that you'll be with us as we go. Keep us safe. We ask in Christ's name. Amen. All right, we'll go ahead and sing one more song before... And all right, we'll take our handles with song number 375. We'll sing one more song before we're dismissed tonight. Song number 375, work for the night is coming. Song number 375, work for the morning hours. Work for the light is falling, work for the morning hours. Work for the new is talking, work is\" work for the night is coming. Work for the night is coming. Work for the night is coming. Work for the night is coming. Work for the night is coming. Work for the night is coming. Work for the night is coming. Work for the night is coming. Work for the night is coming. Work for the night is coming. Work for the night is coming. Work for the night is coming. Work for the night is coming. Work for the night is coming. Work for the night is coming. Work for the night is coming. Work for the night is coming. Work for the night is coming. Work for the night is coming. Work for the daylight comes. Work for the last week we've been in. We didn't shine no more. Work for the night is coming. Work for the night is coming. Work for the night is coming. Work for the night is coming. Work for the night is coming. Work for the night is coming. Work for the night is coming. Work for the night is coming. Work for the night is coming. Thanks for watching!