ACTS 23

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NOTE 4 things God uses to accomplish what He wants in our lives:

FIRST-God uses your personal perception and knowledge. 1Paul, looking intently at the Council, said, "Brethren, I have lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day." 2The high priest Ananias commanded those standing beside him to strike him on the mouth. 3Then Paul said to him, "God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Do you sit to try me according to the Law, and in violation of the Law order me to be struck?" 4But the bystanders said, "Do you revile God's high priest?" 5And Paul said, "I was not aware, brethren, that he was high priest; for it is written, 'YOU SHALL NOT SPEAK EVIL OF A RULER OF YOUR PEOPLE.'" 6But perceiving that one group were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, Paul began crying out in the Council, "Brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; I am on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead!" 7As he said this, there occurred a dissension between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. 8For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor an angel, nor a spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all. 9And there occurred a great uproar; and some of the scribes of the Pharisaic party stood up and began to argue heatedly, saying, "We find nothing wrong with this man; suppose a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?" 10And as a great dissension was developing, the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them and ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force, and bring him into the barracks.

Paul was perceptive enough to see how to get the crowd side-tracked away from him. He did it by pulling the Pharisee card, so that they fought among themselves.

SECOND-God uses His more direct communication. 11But on the night immediately following, the Lord stood at his side and said, "Take courage; for as you have solemnly witnessed to My cause at Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also."

As you learn to walk with Jesus, it's important to listen to His Spirit in you. Listen to those impressions and follow them as they flow, UNLESS they are illegal, immoral or fattening. As you make it a habit of trusting Jesus to lead out in your life, you'll know what to do next and not too far ahead of time.

THIRD-God uses your enemies. 12When it was day, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves under an oath, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. 13There were more than forty who formed this plot. 14They came to the chief priests and the elders and said, "We have bound ourselves under a solemn oath to taste nothing until we have killed Paul. 15"Now therefore, you and the Council notify the commander to bring him down to you, as though you were going to determine his case by a more thorough investigation; and we for our part are ready to slay him before he comes near the place." 16But the son of Paul's sister heard of their ambush, and he came and entered the barracks and told Paul.

God used Paul's enemies to get him to Caesarea safely. If they had not been so filled with rage in plotting to kill him, they wouldn't have been found out by Paul's nephew.

FOURTH-God uses officials and community leaders. Throughout this scene in Jerusalem in the last chapter and in this one God uses the Roman Commander to protect Paul from the crowd, from those who were plotting to kill him, took him safely to Caesarea and presents Paul to governor Felix as a man falsely accused.

God has used non-believer leaders to accomplish His work-the King of Nineveh gathered the people to hear Jonah's message. God has even used a donkey, when He was without a human willing to speak up.

Here's the principle: GOD IS ALWAYS AT WORK TO ACCOMPLISH WHAT HE WANTS IN YOUR LIFE AND HE IS NOT BOUND BY THE TOOLS HE WILL USE!

ACTS 22

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1"Brethren and fathers, hear my defense which I now offer to you." 2And when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew dialect, they became even more quiet; and he said, 3"I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated under Gamaliel, strictly according to the law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as you all are today. 4"I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons, 5as also the high priest and all the Council of the elders can testify From them I also received letters to the brethren, and started off for Damascus in order to bring even those who were there to Jerusalem as prisoners to be punished.

6"But it happened that as I was on my way, approaching Damascus about noontime, a very bright light suddenly flashed from heaven all around me, 7and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?' 8"And I answered, 'Who are You, Lord?' And He said to me, 'I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.' 9"And those who were with me saw the light, to be sure, but did not understand the voice of the One who was speaking to me. 10"And I said, 'What shall I do, Lord?' And the Lord said to me, 'Get up and go on into Damascus, and there you will be told of all that has been appointed for you to do.' 11"But since I could not see because of the brightness of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me and came into Damascus.

12"A certain Ananias, a man who was devout by the standard of the Law, and well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, 13came to me, and standing near said to me, 'Brother Saul, receive your sight!' And at that very time I looked up at him. 14"And he said, 'The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will and to see the Righteous One and to hear an utterance from His mouth. 15'For you will be a witness for Him to all men of what you have seen and heard.

16'Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.' 17"It happened when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I fell into a trance, 18and I saw Him saying to me, 'Make haste, and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about Me.' 19"And I said, 'Lord, they themselves understand that in one synagogue after another I used to imprison and beat those who believed in You. 20'And when the blood of Your witness Stephen was being shed, I also was standing by approving, and watching out for the coats of those who were slaying him.' 21"And He said to me, 'Go! For I will send you far away to the Gentiles.'" 22They listened to him up to this statement, and then they raised their voices and said, "Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he should not be allowed to live!"

The crowd listened to what Paul had to say, UNTIL he mentioned that God sent him to the Gentiles. Why is this? Why did this incense them so? I think this is all part of the human condition. It's just human nature to:

1. Want to be right and all others are wrong or more right than others which places us above the others.

2. Want to have our own clique or club, separate from all others, feel threatened that others might be as IN as we are.

3. Want to denigrate or destroy those who are not on the inside with us or, at least, we tend to be joyful over the "others" fall or difficulty or ruin.

5 observations: FIRST-Religious systems produce piles of guilt. And what's even more interesting is that the guilty have the urge to throw on more guilt on everyone else.

SECOND-Religious systems produce fear and insecurity. The religious mindset of "innies" and "outies" is filled with insecurity and fear.

THIRD-Religious systems produce angry people. There is nothing more ugly than an angry, passionate, religious person with a bible verse.

FOURTH-Religious systems are not so much about God as they are about ME, MYSELF and MINE.

FIFTH-Religious systems leave the residue of shame on all who participate.

I keep defining religion as man's best attempt to avoid going to hell, but religious systems are hell. A relationship with God says, "I've been to hell and don't want to go back!" This relationship with God is a taste of heaven while going through your hells.

The crowd was firmly implanted, and even stuck, in their religious comfort levels, which emerges from a belief that God is exclusive. It's a WE-FOUR-AND-NO-MORE approach to life. It's ugly and a massive turn-off! Paul was speaking from the reference point of a relationship with God, which is all-inclusive for anyone who is interested. RELIGION ALWAYS DIVIDES; JESUS ALWAYS UNITES. Try it out and see for yourself!