During our lifetime, we've witnessed far too many acts of terrorism. Each one speaks to the depravity of man. and each catastrophe becomes an unforgettable symbol of godlessness. Today on Insight for Living, Juxwindahl continues his biographical study on the life of Paul. Delivered in the raw aftermath of 9-11, his message transcends this American tragedy to explain how Paul, who was beaten, threatened, and targeted for assassination, remained anchored in God's truth when raw emotion could have swept him away.
So here's the question. How do we choose peace rather than panic? We begin with prayer. Our Father, we don't know what a day would bring forth, but. You never know.
what it's like not to know. We are out of control and unable to fix what is wrong. You have never lost control and well able. to change even the times or the seasons. Just a quick look through the telescope tells us of your mighty hand in the stellar spaces.
As with perfect chronology the planets move. in their orbits. And all of that hangs together because you are Lord. And you are in perfect control. of the events above us.
Just as you are of the things around us. The eternal God is our refuge and underneath. or the everlasting Arms. We bow before you because of your grace. We have an entrance into the throne room that is as immediate as if we were a child of the President of the United States.
having entrance into the Oval Office. to see his father. We come today and we trust you, Father, and we want to say so. We lean upon you. It may be that some gathered with us today whose needs are so great that the current events.
Have paled into less significance because of the pressures they are living with. the struggles they're going through. It may be a domestic conflict. It may be something at work. It may be an emotional upheaval happening within them.
or around them. Whatever may be the need, Father, you are able. You can handle it. And you wait simply for us to call upon you and to say that simple word: help. Help us, Lord.
Thank you for the glory that is given to your name at this place and has been for these years. We have met. Thank you for the things you have taught us. For the way you have humbled us. For the reminders again and again that this is your work, not ours.
Just as we declare your word, not ours. We sing your songs, not ours.
So that you may have your way. Not our way. We give you praise for sustaining us. Through those many, many months in different places. For giving us the ability to build this structure.
For the pleasure you found in meeting our needs through the giving of your generous. people.
so that we could be in a building. on a piece of land at a vital place in the crossroads. of this community. We hold it all very loosely. Lord, for the simple heartbeat in our chest.
comes from you. The breath in our lungs. comes from you. So we lean upon you today, Father, and As we do so, we anticipate instruction. from your book.
Thank you for preserving the life. of this heroic individual. who, though not perfect, was far beyond what we could imagine. an individual could be. Thank you for speaking to us and teaching us from his life.
For the threats that were upon him and the trials that came against him. for the rejection in the presence of enemies. and the scarcity of friends. For his solid confidence in you. and for the way you preserved his legacy.
For us to see.
Now, Lord, we have the joy of participating further in our worship. as we give to you. I pray that you will watch over these gifts just as you have watched over the gifts of the past. May they be used solely and carefully. for your work.
may needs be met May you be pleased. Even as today our worship comes before you as a sweet-smelling. Aroma. You are our Lord eternal. And in this little pinpoint of time, we acknowledge that.
And we give you Daksa. Glory. and praise. as we give you our gifts. In the name of Christ our Lord.
And everyone said, Amen. You're listening to Insight for Living. To dig deeper into the life of the Apostle Paul on your own, be sure to purchase our Searching the Scriptures Bible Study workbook by going to insight.org/slash workbooks.
Now, teaching from the book of Acts, here's Chuck with today's message. Thinking as Paul thought. I love it when we come to the 21st chapter of Acts, and I'd like to have you turn there now, that we come to a time when the Apostle Paul. Is able to gather up what he truly believes. And before audiences Who were either hostile or ignorant.
was able to set forth the truth. in plain straight thinking. You may be surprised to know that at the time we get to the 21st chapter, all of the missionary journeys have ended. Unless you call the journey to Rome a missionary journey, which it could be. But the three missionary journeys are over.
Six of Paul's 13 letters have been written. And having finished the third journey, he's come back to Jerusalem. We could call it perhaps home base. It's where he was schooled. It was as familiar to him as perhaps your hometown or the place where you've lived for many years.
He's back in Jerusalem, and according to verse 17 of chapter 21, his friends were there to receive him gladly. After we arrived in Jerusalem, note that we Luke is with him. Verse 27. When the seven days were almost over, that's referring to the seven days of purification connected with a feast mentioned in the context earlier. But when those seven days were almost over, notice who emerges.
From the shadows, Jews from Asia. We're not in Asia. We're in Jerusalem. But they know where Paul is. And they are sick and tired of Paul's leading their fellow Jews to conversion to Christ.
They want it stopped. In fact, they want him put to death. And you will notice they begin to accuse him. None of the accusations are true. They turn to this mob and they say, Men of Israel, come to our aid.
This is the man who preaches to all men everywhere against our people. That's wrong. He didn't. And against the law, and he didn't. And this place, the temple, and he didn't.
And besides this, he even has brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place when he didn't do that. They saw him with Trophimus as he was coming toward the temple. And the next verse says, They supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple. Once again, criticism not based on facts. They were not thinking straight.
But they were uh Building the steam under the crowd so that a riot would break out. And all the city, verse 30, was provoked, and the people rushed together, taking hold of Paul.
Now, imagine this. And they dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut. While they were seeking to kill him, You know, it'd be easy for me to just go on to the first trial, but I got to pause right there. Ever been in a setting like this? Most of us can remember a fist fight, or the guys can.
Uh Uh I could hardly remember. I was trying earlier to think. The last time I got punched around, I think. I first thought it was elementary school, then I realized, no, it was junior high school, and then no, it was high school when it happened, and then I realized, no, it's while I was in the Marine Corps. It happened there, too.
It's a little closer, Mary, but it's been years and years and years, but nobody wanted to kill me. I mean, this man is beaten. For the purpose of taking his life by this mob. This is a frightening scene. You and I probably never even seen a scene like that except maybe on television.
And they're punching his lights out. They're hoping to put an end to his life. And this uproar that's happening in the streets is the worst possible thing in the eyes of a Roman government, to whom Israel must answer. And a word travels and finds a commander. His name is Lysias, and that's another subject.
We'll get to him next time. He comes out of nowhere. He's called the commander, verse 31, the commander of the Roman cohort. He got word that all Jerusalem was in confusion. And there's one thing Romans hated, and that was confusion.
They liked things done in order, according to the law, and according to jurisprudence. It all began with them. At least this kind of justice. And so, verse 32, he saves Paul's life. This is not the first time Paul is saved in a rather remarkable manner, and I'll mention more later.
At once, he took him along with some soldiers and centurions. Centurions were officers in the Roman Guard who were responsible for 100 men in a company. That's why the word centurion appears.
So each one was a leader over a hundred, but they didn't bring all the company, they brought only the officers along with some soldiers. They ran down to them, and when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. Wow. They wanted to kill him, verse 31.
Now they stop beating him.
So I suppose he's standing there, bruised. Probably bleeding. He has lacerated from their punches, and the commander is wondering what in the world has happened. Verse 34. Among the crowd, some were shouting one thing and some another.
And when he could not find out the facts, look at that, verse 34. Could somebody tell me in a straightforward, one, two, three, evidential manner what's caused all of this? He wants the facts. And mobs don't give facts, they're big on. Emotion.
and experiences. Because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks. That's a reference to Antonia's barracks. And that was one place where he could find safety. Uh And that's exactly where he brings him.
When he got to the stairs of this place, he was carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob. The multitude of the people kept following them, shouting, Away with him, away with him. By the way, does this sound familiar? Does it sound a little bit like what happened to Christ? Crucify him!
Crucify him! We don't want the facts, we know enough to put him to death, get rid of him. The same type setting here. And a commander's got a real challenge on his hands. He's got a mob.
that outnumber his troops. And he's got a man he doesn't know. who may be guilty of something, maybe not. And so As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks. Uh he said to him to the commander, may I say something to you?
He's under rather calm control. I think it's remarkable. Uh And he speaks to him in Greek. And so the Roman looks at him and says, Do you know Greek? And then to the surprise of the reader, we read, then you're not the Egyptian.
It what? You see, the history of this is just intriguing, but when you're reading through it, you go, where is that from? That's from left field, no? Josephus tells us that in three years earlier, An Egyptian came on the scene. who appeared in Jerusalem and claimed to be a prophet.
He got a gathering of four or more thousand people around him. They went to the wilderness and made their plans, and then they came back to the Mount of Olives with plans to overthrow the city of Jerusalem. And ultimately, the Romans took over and threw him out. He became like a terrorist. And he thinks maybe This is the terrorist.
Yeah. You maybe are the Egyptian. In fact, look at how it reads. Who some time ago stirred up a revolt and led the 4,000 men of the assassins out into the wilderness that came to be known as the Assassins. Sakari is the word.
But Paul said, I'm a Jew. I'm a Jew of Tarsus and Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city, and I beg you allow me to speak to the people.
Now that's amazing. I would think, get me out of here. These people have beaten me up. Get me. Into the barracks.
Paul says, I'd really like to have a chance to turn and talk to these people. When he had given him permission, And it's a masterful stroke. Paul turns. And and he's on the on the stone uh stairway leading to the fortress of Antonia. He pauses at the top of the head of the stairs and he addresses the mob.
There's a great hush that comes over them. They're surprised. He spoke to them in Aramaic, which is the lingua franca of the Palestinian Jews, and he speaks their language.
So he's just been speaking Greek, and now he speaks Aramaic, fluent Aramaic. And he begins his defense, brethren and fathers. Check it for yourself. That's how Stephen began his address. You think uh Stephen's death wasn't still haunting Paul.
He remembered it well. And he thought that was a great speech. I'll never forget that. I'll begin my speech like that. If you do much public speaking, you sometimes get clues from great public speakers.
And Paul, I think, remembered Stephen's speaking. Spontaneous though it was, it was a masterful address. And it was followed by his stoning, his death. But he said, he says, hear my defense. Guess what word this is?
Apologia. Peter says, You ought to be ready to give an apology. Paul says, I'm ready to give an apology. I want you to hear my defense which I now offer you. And when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew dialect, they became even more quiet.
Listen, listen. Listen to this man. And he said, I am a Jew.
So he was one of them. Born in Tarsus of Cilicia, probably there were some there who had been born in Tarsus. Brought up in this city, I know Jerusalem well. I've been here since I was a teenager. I was educated under Gamaliel.
They knew Gamaliel. Gamaliel was the leader and founder of the Hilliel School, the strict school training the scholars, the rabbinical scholars of the future. The theologian among theologians, I was educated under Gamaliel and strictly according to the law of our fathers.
So every bit of this, there's a sense of identifying with them. What a wonderful way to begin this speech. And he said, being zealous for God, just as you all are today, I was like you are. We have that in common. I persecuted this way to death.
Binding and putting both men and women into prison. And these people are thinking, this is our kind of guy. This is what we do. And he's done this. See, it's been years since he's been among them, if I count correctly, about 11.
Some have already put him out of their mind, or they haven't thought that much, or they don't remember what he looked like, or by now he may be scarred. butchered up from his experience. And he reminds them of the experience in the past. In fact, he gets them to Damascus and he said, I was on the road and a light shone and I heard a voice. And He changed my life.
But these are the facts that I can present to you about The Messiah who has come. And while they're listening and standing there, some getting a little bit more restless, he drops. He drops a load of freight on him in verse 21. He said to me, that is, Jesus said to me, Go, for I will send you far away. To the nations.
Ethne is the word translated here, Gentiles. He uses the G word. Boom! I mean the lid blows off. That's all they needed to hear.
This man is now messing around with Gentiles. We don't talk to Gentiles. We don't relate to Gentiles. We don't go to school with Gentiles. We don't live among Gentiles.
And now he's trying to reach the Gentiles. Notice verse 22. They listened to him up to this statement, and then they raised their voices and said, away with such a fellow. From the earth, and he should not be allowed to live.
So they're back at it.
So the commander goes back out and gets Paul and brings him in. He's thinking this is going to get out of hand. And the commander says, if they can't find out the facts, I'm going to find them out for myself. Dear guy, the commander ordered verse 24, ordered him to be brought to the barracks, stating that he should be examined by scourging. Scourging, so that he might find out the reason why they were shouting against him this way when they stretched him out with thongs.
So he's on the stretcher, literally. Wrists and ankles bound with leather thongs, and they stretch him out. They're getting ready to beat him with the cat of nine tails, which is leather thongs with bits of metal and glass in the end of this whip, and they're going to whip him. And Paul says to the man who's standing by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman and uncondemned? Wait, wait, he didn't know he was a Roman.
So, well, the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and says, What in the world are you doing? Oh, this man is a Roman. Verse 27, commander came and said, You are a Roman? I mean, he's not the Egyptian. I don't know who he is.
He found out now he's a Roman and he's a Roman citizen. And Paul says, Yes. Remember, Paul's threatening, yes, yes, I'm a Roman. And the commander answered, I acquired this citizenship with a large sum of money. Paul says, I was born a citizen.
Born a citizen? Loose this man. Therefore, those who were about to examine him immediately let go of him. What's the big deal?
Well, under Roman law, citizens were not to be tortured without a trial. He's breaking the law. And his commander's looking around to see if his boss is looking. He says, Get him off the rack. Don't whip him.
Get the chains away. And he thinks, What am I going to do with this guy?
So he thinks, well, maybe I could take him before the Jewish Supreme Court. At least they would find out the truth. Bad chance. Verse 30, on the next day, wishing to know for certain why he had been accused by the Jews, he, the commander, released him, Paul, and ordered the chief priests and all the council to assemble and brought Paul down and set him before them.
Now, the second trial begins. This is so much like what Jesus went through. These are all kangaroo courts. The first thing is almost a sideshow, and the commander blows it by beginning to torture a man who's a Roman citizen, and now he brings him before the corrupt council. I want you to notice the very first thing that's said in this second setting.
Paul looking intently. at the council. Looking intently. Atenitzo is the word, and it's only used twice in the New Testament. It's a very unusual word.
It means to gaze. You know how you'll squint your eyes to see somebody? Say you're at a football game and somebody says, Look over there, that's Frank and Barbara. You go, You're atanidzoing as you do this. Paul is in front of the council, which is 70-plus individuals, and before he speaks, he looks.
What's he looking at? Doesn't that intrigue you when you come to something like this? What's he looking at? Luke was there, so he knows how he looks. I think First of all...
Just to be physical about it, I think his mind might have been A little f fuzzy from the beatings. and it was difficult for him to focus. That's a possibility. I think also He was studying faces to see if he recognized anybody. Were you among this group when I was here holding the garments for Stephen?
For the. For the Sanhedrin, when you were about to stone Stephen, were you one of those? Do we know each other? Are there any familiar faces? We'll place a bookmark right here because we're going to pause for just a moment.
You're listening to Insight for Living and the Bible teaching of Chuck Swindahl. Chuck has a closing comment to share in just a bit, so stay with us. Here at Insight for Living, we are always looking for resources that will help you apply biblical truth to your everyday life, even if we need to create them. In fact, we have a special book set aside for you. It's called Life is 10% What Happens to You and 90% How You React.
Throughout this biographical study on Paul, Chuck has pointed out the critical importance of adjusting our perspective on life in order to align with God's will. even when it's hard. This book will show you how to do just that.
Well, two weeks from now, Insight for Living will complete another ministry year, and we're in a virtual race to the finish line. We're asking God to replenish our reserves through friends like you, so that Insight for Living can continue to proclaim the amazing grace of God without interruption. Here's Chuck. Down through the years, Insight for Living ministries has touched the lives of millions of people, thanks to folks like you. those who invest in what we do make it possible for us to continue doing what we have attempted to do over the years.
We're at a great turning point in our history now that we have come to this era. where people are listening more than ever. Looking for hope. A reason to go on. A way to get beyond the drag of yesterday and And to move on into the hope of tomorrow and what it can mean for their future.
Insight for Living will play a major role in that. As we take the Word of God. Open it. and allow them to read over our shoulder and to see how true these principles and precepts are. In order for that to happen, we need your support, your giving.
Your faithful support will make it possible for us to continue what we have been doing down through the years. Thank you in advance. for giving so generously. It's easy to respond to Chuck Swindall. Just choose the method that's best for you.
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In closing, I'll point you to the featured resource I mentioned earlier. It's a popular practical book by Chuck Swindahl called Life is 10% What Happens to You and 90% How You React. And then we also have a reflective companion journal called Cultivating Joy in Life's Circumstances. To purchase our Attitudes bundle, call us at 800-772-8888. The bundle includes Chuck's book and the personal journal.
You can find all the details at insight.org/slash offer. I'm Bill Meyer. Join us when Chuck Swindahl continues his biographical study of Paul, a man of grace and grit. Thursday on Insight for Living. The preceding message, Thinking as Paul Thought, was copyrighted in 2001, 2003, and 2024, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2024 by Charles R.
Swindahl, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.
