Now some of you here know me and uh um some of you here don't and some of you here are going I didn't know John wasn't gonna be speaking this morning. If I knew John wasn't gonna be speaking this morning, I wouldn't be here. Who is this guy? He's short. He's round, he's bald, he's old, and he walked on the stage carrying a purse. Clearly there's something wrong with him. We want John. John is none of those things. Let's close in prayer. Hey, thank you for letting me, uh, uh, be here this morning and uh some of you, uh, those of you who don't know me, uh, are going, OK, who is this guy and what is his story? Let me tell you my story, OK? My story. Like many of you, not all of you. I grew up in a, in a pretty, uh, religious home. Started going to church, uh, early age, about 9 months before I was born. Really wasn't my fault. Don't hold it against me. My parents just decided that they were going to drag me to church every Sunday and so every Sunday we'd pack up, we'd go to church, and uh the first thing is I'd go to to Sunday school, to Sunday school, you know, for the kids program and uh where I'd hear all the stories from the Bible. And so as I grew up, I learned that the book was full of stories and I learned a lot of stories about a God who was, OK, this is what it seemed to me, a God who was long ago and far away. Did I believe in God? Yeah, I, I did, but God seemed really long ago and far away and after Sunday school every Sunday. Then, uh, then I'd have to go and this was even worse, then I'd have to go to the church service and the church service was, uh, uh, filled with uh uh hymns from the Middle Ages and uh and a guy who looked like me talking in ways that I had as a 5 year old I had no idea what he was talking about and the only way and the only way that I survived at church. With, with, with my mother's purse. While he's up there yak yakking about who knows what, I'm exploring my mother's purse. And that got me through it. This is not my mother's purse. This is my good friend Susan's purse, who I grabbed earlier this morning. What does she have in here? She didn't know what was gonna happen when she said I could grab her purse. See, she have any money? She did. Uh, thank you Susan and so I made it through church, uh, listening to the pastor talk stories. I'll give it back to her seriously, I will, I will. Some of you are wondering about me and you should. Listening to the pastor talk about stories. About a God that to me seemed long ago and far away. Fast forward to my junior year in high school. By that time, I, I sort of believed in God, you know, I sure, why not, uh, but not that it made any difference. Until one day I encountered two words of Jesus. Two words of Jesus that changed everything in my life. Two very simple words, follow me. When you were younger, do you remember playing uh follow the leader? Follow the leader? OK. How many of you like to be the follower? How many of you wanted to be the leader? Yeah, nobody wants to be the follower. And so when I heard those two words from Jesus. Follow me. I knew I had a choice to make. I knew that I had been I had been the leader in my own life and he was inviting me to be the follower in my own life and let him be the leader and I realized that there was a decision for me to make. Oh, I already believed in God and I already believed the stories and stuff about Jesus, but there was something else. That Jesus was calling me to be a follower. And I had a decision to make. And in my junior year in high school. I decided I can do it my way or I can do it his way. And I made the decision that would change everything for me. The day that I decided. I will follow Jesus. I will follow Jesus. Changed everything. Honestly, God started putting pieces together back in my life, forgave me for the things that were wrong in my life, and most importantly, gave me eternal life as a member of his family. You see, who's standing here before you today? I'm just a nobody. I'm trying to tell everybody about somebody who saved my soul. He gave my heart a song to sing. Wait a minute. Yeah There's a song, yeah. To do. Some of you are going, that guy is really gonna. Do you know the song? um. I'm just a nobody trying to tell everybody all about somebody who saved my soul. Ever since you rescued me, he gave my heart a song to sing. I'm living for the world to sing nobody but Jesus. Alright. That was fairly miserable on my part. Now, I want you to make it better. You're gonna sing with me. Seriously, this is your chance. Come on, help me out here. I'm just a nobody trying to tell everybody all about somebody who saved my soul. Ever since you rescued me, you gave my heart a song to sing. I'm just a nobody who say. I'm living for the world to see nobody but Jesus. I'm living for the world to see nobody but Jesus. Alright, give yourself a hand Uh, and tell me never to try that again. Thank you very much for your patience. All right, woo, OK. OK, so that's my story. Yes, you can take that. Uh, that's my story. My question to you is, so what's your story? I was a good kid who believed the stories and stuff about a God who was long ago and far away, and it did me absolutely no good until the day that I decided to. Follow Jesus. There was an invitation on his part, a decision on my part. Have you heard the invitation? Have you said yes and made the decision to follow Jesus. Now, um, Pastor John earlier told you that next week there's gonna be, uh, there's gonna be a baptism, and some of you have been thinking about this. Some of you have have made that decision. To cross the line, made the big decision, I've decided to follow Jesus. But you've never gone public with it. Uh, about 44 years ago I was madly in love with a woman who would one day become my wife, but there was a point at which I was fully in love, but I hadn't made the decision and I hadn't gone public with it. And then I decided, man, I'm gonna be all in on this thing and we planned a what is it called? Yes, a wedding. And that's kind of what a baptism is for somebody who's deciding to follow Jesus. Number 1, have you decided to follow Jesus? Number 2, have you gone public with that? If I would have told her, you know, hey, you know, you know I love you, we don't need to do that wedding thing. Uh, she would have really questioned me. Uh, have you made your decision to follow Jesus and have you gone public with it through baptism? Baptism is just you saying, I have decided. I've decided to follow Jesus. Alright, that's my story. That's what's happening coming up. This morning we're gonna take a look at Paul's story. Paul's story, um, specifically out of Acts 24 to 26. Now last week when Pastor John was talking, he ended up with, with, uh, chapter 23. Today we're gonna try and go chapters 24 to 26, and some of you ought to be thinking, say what? We're gonna do 3 chapters in one morning. OK, OK, relax. I'm gonna tell you the story and so uh feel free to open your Bibles and follow along, but if it doesn't seem like we're using the Bible until the very end, it's because I'm just telling you the story because I don't have enough time to read the whole thing. Now, last week when John left off, Paul was In jail again. That's uh he seemed to be really good at that. This time he was in jail in Cesarea. Now Cesarea, uh, most of you are not familiar with Cesarea. Cesarea at the time was, uh, the Roman headquarters for that part of the world. It's where the military hung out. It was where the governor hung out. It was a city constructed specifically to be. Headquarters of the Romans. It was on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean and it was about 75 miles northwest was and still is 75 miles northwest of Jerusalem, and that's where we find Paul in custody with the Romans because there were a bunch of Jewish leaders who were out to see him dead. And what the Jewish leaders saw was all right, all right, Paul's gonna get a trial and we're gonna show up and we're gonna nail this dude they saw an opportunity to take them down. They accused him of being. A a troublemaker, a ringleader of Christians, and which by the way, that was true, he was a troublemaker and he was a ringleader of the Christians, but they had accused him of being somebody who had defiled the um the temple in Jerusalem by bringing um Gentiles who didn't belong into the uh into the temple. That, however, was not true. And so what the Jews saw was an opportunity to take them down. What Paul saw, what would you see if you were in Paul's shoes? I'd be looking, I'd be, I'd be shaking in my boots. What Paul saw, he saw an audience. This time, first time, this is a this is a trial in 4 parts. Act 1234. Act one was Paul before Governor Felix, Governor Felix, and uh um. What, uh, what the Jews saw was an opportunity to take him down. What Paul saw was an opportunity to present the gospel to, uh, to Felix, um. And his defense was simply no, I didn't uh defile the temple in Jerusalem. In fact, I was in the temple and you know why I was in the temple? I was in the temple because I was bringing financial gifts to poor Jews in Jerusalem, impoverished Jews in Jerusalem. In fact, I had taken an offering among Gentile Christians in Greece to bring to Jerusalem to give money away to people in the temple. You got a problem with that? Well, Felix didn't know what to do and so he finally he, he adjourned the the trial and put Paul back in jail where he left them for 2 years. Um, but in the process, Part of Paul's defense was, here's the one thing I did do. When the Jewish council Accused me of this stuff. What I did do was I said I'm on trial for the resurrection of Jesus and the future resurrection of those who believe in him. I did stir up trouble by saying that, but you catch what he's doing. He's using his moment before Felix. To tell Felix the governor. A little bit about the gospel. Felix adjourns the trial, puts Paul back in jail. Act 2. Felix comes to visit Paul in jail. Apparently because he thinks that Paul has money and he's gonna get a bribe out of Paul because after all Paul was bringing gifts to poor Jews in Jerusalem, he's gonna get a bribe and what Paul saw was just another opportunity to talk to the governor about Jesus. And, and so he did. Um, a governor who needed Jesus. Paul told him about, if you read Acts 24, he told him about a coming judgment. And how faith in Jesus would lead to forgiveness, so he could stand free in front of that coming judgment. Now, Felix was not the brightest crayon in the box apparently because What Felix didn't hear is he didn't hear the part about forgiveness. He didn't hear the part about faith in Jesus. What he heard about was coming judgment. And apparently there was stuff going on in Felix's life when he heard about a coming judgment, he thought, Oh, that's not good. And so, uh, Acts 24 says that Felix was afraid after talking with Paul. And so he left them in jail for 2 years just doing nothing, which Felix thought that that was a bad thing for Paul. Paul thought, hey, that's fine. Uh, it's I'm a I've got a captive audience, and so he just talks to anybody he can. That's what Paul regularly does. Chapter 3. Chapter 3 Felix, Governor Felix gets replaced by a new governor, Governor Festus. And Felix gets together with Festus, tells Festus about his problem with this guy named Paul who the Jews all want him dead, but he can't find anything wrong with Paul. And so, uh, Festus, hey, he's your problem now. And um for the Jewish leaders they saw this as an opportunity, another opportunity to get Paul dead and so they asked the new governor Festus, Hey, any chance you could ship Paul back up to Jerusalem and we'll have a trial there. Now What they wanted to do was to get Paul out on the open road and they had uh they had already made provision to ambush him. And so Festus says to Paul, Festus, the new governor who doesn't want this problem. He doesn't know what to do with it. Uh, hey, Paul, are you interested in going to Jerusalem and we'll uh have a trial for you there. It'll be fair, I'm sure. And Paul is smart enough to go, uh, no. At which point, Paul says to Governor Festus. I'm a Roman citizen. There weren't very many at the die at the time. It was a, uh, it was a distinct privilege. And instead of taking me to Jerusalem for a trial, I want you to ship me to Caesar in Rome. Do you see what Paul is doing? He's already got to share the gospel with governor #1, and now he gets to share the good news about Jesus with governor #2, and everybody else thinks that he's a dead man walking and Paul goes, ah. Send me to Rome and let me be on trial and talk with. Caesar The emperor of the planet, basically. And Festus also not being real astute goes, oh yeah, sure, yeah, we can do that. And so what's happening here is Paul is gonna get 3 miles to to Rome and John's gonna tell you all about the trip to Rome next week. He gets 3 miles to Rome and he's gonna get an audience. He's gonna get an audience with Caesar. Can you guess what he's gonna do when he gets there? Yeah. So that's what happens with Festus. Festus just saw a problem, you want to go to Jerusalem? No, and he appeals. Paul appeals to Caesar. Act 4. Remember Festus is brand new. Into town, Cesarea, I told you about Cesarea comes. There was governor #1. Governor #2, now comes King Agrippa, King Agrippa. You say, what's a king? Is that like Caesar? No, uh, a king in in his day, um, part of the Roman system with a bigger territory than a governor just. Kind of a little higher up in the food chain of uh of the Romans, right? King Agrippa comes into town. King Agrippa has been over the Jewish territory for a long time, knows all about Jews, knows all about the Old Testament, by the way, and he comes into town. King Agrippa has an ego. He wants to be Mr. Important. He comes into town. Festus says to Agrippa, uh, I got this guy Paul. I don't know what to do with him. He hasn't done anything really wrong. Uh, maybe you want to hear from him. At chapter 4. Now Paul's gonna talk to King Agrippa. What the Jews saw was yet another opportunity, an opportunity to uh to for Paul to get dead. What Agrippa saw was an opportunity to be important in front of all of the uh the greatest people in Cesarea because you see in Cesarea would have been all the Roman. Generals, colonels, and majors and and you name it, if you were important, you're gonna be in Cesarea and King Agrippa is gonna gather them all together. King Agrippa thinks it's about him. What King Agrippa doesn't know is it's not about him. What King Agrippa doesn't know is it's not about King Agrippa, it's about the king of kings. And so on the appointed day with a whole bunch of pomp and ceremony, King Agrippa and his wife Drusilla, would you marry a woman named Drusilla? Anyway, he did. Uh, she was history tells us she's an evil woman and um and they trace, uh, they, they pull Paul in in front of King Agrippa and uh and the whole court of important people and And Agrippa says to Paul, OK, what's your story? Which is not a good thing to say, Paul. Because Paul immediately launches into literally his story. Acts 26, if you're reading it later. Um, He starts to tell his story. He says, King Agrippa. I grew up in a really religious home. Started going to a synagogue uh early age, probably about 9 months before I was born. I was there every Saturday. I heard, learned, and memorized all of the stories from the Old Testament. About a God who was long ago and far away. I believed it. Don't get me wrong, Agrippa. I believed it. And as I grew up. I saw an opportunity for me. I saw that I could, Paul's saying, I saw that I could be important in the Jewish world and so I became, I had, I had the best of education, by the way. I went to the Grand Canyon University of uh of the day, uh, Christian, a Jewish school, uh, and, uh, and I had the best of professors and then I became really, really important among the Jewish leadership. And for a young man, I was doing really well, Agrippa. And then along comes this guy Jesus. Right into my town, Jerusalem. And he starts messing everything up and he starts looking at people and saying, follow me. Good Jewish people, Jesus is saying, follow me and, and you know what they did. And all of a sudden I'm becoming less and less important and I don't like that. And so King Agrippa, what I did is I decided I gotta stamp this thing out and so I became, I became Christian enemy number one. I became a persecutor, I became an opposer. I did everything I possibly could to stamp out this burgeoning Christian movement. I went from town to town to town to town to hunt those Christians down, put them in jail, and sometimes execute them. I was absolutely determined to stop. This Christian movement. Until one day I was on the road from Jerusalem to Damascus to find some more of those infidels when There was a blinding light and I heard a voice. And I heard a voice, you've probably heard the story. I heard a voice out of the light. Paul, Paul, why are you persecuting me? And it was the voice of Jesus. And a group of that changed everything for me. Because in those words. I heard from the mouth of Jesus. Paul. Follow me. And so I did. And then I heard from the mouth of Jesus. Paul, I've got a call for your life. I've got a plan for your life. You're gonna be my servant. And you're gonna be my witness first to your fellow Jews in Jerusalem and then to Gentiles and Asia Minor, and then to Greece and then someday, King Agrippa, Jesus told me someday I'm gonna end up in Rome. And I heard Jesus say to me, Paul, you're just a nobody. Now you're trying to tell everybody. About somebody who saved your soul. And ever since Agrippa, ever since he rescued me, he gave my heart a song to sing. I'm living for the world to see nobody but Jesus. He could have written that song. You see what God, you see what Paul is doing when he's talking to Agrippa. On the surface of it. He's telling his own story. I was this And then God did this, and now I'm this. He's telling his own story, but in the process of telling his own story, he's telling a king. About the king of kings. Paul was determined to tell everybody about that somebody who saved his soul. And in the process of telling his story, he wove in the Gospel. Acts 26:18. I summarized 24 to 2 chapters 24 and 25. That Jesus sent me, Agrippa, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light, because becoming a Christ follower always involves a turning. And from the power of Satan to God, and then they receive forgiveness, you see, that's why it's good news for their sins and be given a place among God's people. King Agrippa, you can belong, you can belong, you can be the son of God, King Agrippa. Couple of verses later, I preached first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem throughout all Judea and also to the. that they all must, they all must, not somebody must, that they all must repent of their sins and turn to God and prove that they have changed by the good things that they do. He goes on in verse 23, Agrippa, hey, Grippa, you know your Bible, don't you? I'm telling you nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said was gonna happen. Now, do you catch that that Paul's weaving in the gospel, namely that the Messiah, that's Jesus, that the Messiah had to suffer. That's the cross. That's Good Friday. And then he would be the first to rise from the dead. And the first, because, because of what Jesus did, everyone in this room can be a participant in that same future. Rise from the dead, eternal life. You see, Paul was convinced. Here we go. Paul was convinced. That everybody Needs Jesus. Everybody One of his friends, Peter, you may know him, uh, had said earlier on in a similar circumstances when the Jewish leadership had told Peter, I don't want you ever to talk about this Jesus again. Peter had said, salvation is found in No one else. No one else. There is no other name under heaven given to mankind whereby we must be saved. Paul writes in a letter to the Christians at Rome, and he hasn't even gotten there yet, but he's heading there 3 miles courtesy of Caesar. I'm not ashamed of this gospel. I'm not ashamed. I'm just a nobody trying to tell everybody. I'm not ashamed of this gospel. It's the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes. You see, Paul secondly knew his story. And he used it to tell God's story. Next week. Well, this morning you heard me tell my story. You heard me tell a little bit, you know, mine is not all that fantastic, but you heard me tell about what I was and what God did and and what I am now. And next week there's gonna be some people who are going to be baptized. Maybe, maybe that would be you, maybe after the service, go find Pastor John and say, hey. I'm ready. Um But next week you're gonna hear some people who are gonna say, here's what I was and here's what God did and here's what I am now. Um, many of you here, you have that story. You have the story where you were and then God did and now you are eternity bound. I got an assignment for you. I want you to go home. I want you to write it down, a 92nd version, a 92nd version. Here's what I was, here's what happened, and here's what I am. Did you hear me say it at the very beginning? I asked you. I literally said, can I tell you my story? And what are you gonna do? And so I told my story and Go write your story, find a friend, co-worker this week, and tell them your story. Here's what I was, here's what God did, and here's where I'm at now. All right. Uh, Paul knew his own story and he used it to tell God's story, and thirdly, Paul saw every every situation as an opportunity, every situation as an opportunity. Because he believed that everybody needed Jesus. You don't have. You don't have a friend who doesn't need Jesus. You don't have a family member who doesn't need Jesus. You don't have a co-worker or a classmate who doesn't need Jesus. They, they either have Jesus or they need Jesus and God has put you into their lives to tell them your story so that you could tell them his story. Two weeks from today. It's gonna be Easter. It's the Super Bowl of uh of of the Christian faith. And uh And John's gonna tell the people that are gathered here, uh, the greatest story ever told. I want you to be here. But I don't want anybody here to be here alone. Yeah, come at 8:30 or come at whatever the later time is, but do not come alone because You are surrounded by people who need to hear the story, and before they come to hear the story, I want you to write down your story and tell it to them. Just say, hey Bob, can I tell you my story? And then tell it to them. Paul knew every situation was an opportunity and everybody needs Jesus and some of you are thinking, yeah, yeah, but a lot of my friends, you know, they're they're just really good people and they believe in God and stuff, they don't need Jesus. Uh, Paul was a very good person. Who believed in God and stuff. But he never made the decision. Yes, I will follow you, Jesus. Yeah, but what about all those other good people from, you know, different religious perspectives. Um, do you know what Buddha? Joseph Smith. Uh, Mohammed Confucius. Do you know what they all have in common? In addition to the fact that they're religious leaders. You know what they all have in common? They're dead. You can go visit the tomb of any one of them. They had wonderful things to say. I, I suspect that they were good and nice people, uh, and they're all dead and only Jesus. You go visit the tomb and it is empty. Only Jesus and your friends, your co-workers, your family, you need Jesus. What is your story? Yeah, Dave, but I'm a good person and I believe in God. Yes, but have you made the decision to follow him? Have you said yes, Jesus, I belong to you and I will follow you. It is in that moment, it is in that day when forgiveness happens, when change happens, and when eternity begins. Have you made the big decision? To cross the line. Say, Jesus, I'm in, I'm yours. I will follow you. If you haven't made that decision, how about today? John 3:16, a verse that you see on, uh, that many of us, and you, you've probably heard it before. John 3:16, for God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in him wouldn't perish but have Eternal life. Eternal life is not something to wish for, hope so, uh, hope for, think that maybe it's something to walk out of this room knowing that because you've decided to follow Jesus, that it's yours. God's soul of the world. That he gave We're gonna be closing our service this morning with a celebrating communion together. And the ushers are gonna come and if you didn't pick up the communion elements when you entered, uh, you can, they'll give you some. Um Here at uh Mission Grove we typically tell people that if if you haven't uh made your decision to follow Jesus yet you might not want to participate in this. This is really for uh those who uh consider themselves to be full on Christians. I want to say to you, Maybe today Maybe this moment. As we remember together what he did for us on the cross, maybe this is your moment. To write your story. Maybe this is your moment as we receive these elements together. To say Jesus. I'm deciding today, April 6th, 2025. I'm deciding to follow you. Let's pray together. Would you tell Jesus that this morning? Maybe you'd pray with me. Silently, privately in your own heart. And maybe you'd say, Jesus, thank you for what you did for me on the cross. Thank you that you are living today. Thank you that you are the king of kings, and today I'm deciding. To follow you. I'm deciding to follow you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. The Lord Jesus on the night that he was betrayed. Took bread And when he had broken it. He gave thanks and said to his guys, This is my body. It's for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And for some of you this, this may be the moment. When you would by retaking this communion element, tell Jesus. And I'm yours. And so after supper, Jesus took the cup. And said this cup It's the new covenant in my blood. Do this whenever you drink it, remembering me. Lord Jesus We give you thanks. That you left your home in heaven to come and live with us, to live for us and to die for us, but now are alive. And our decision is to follow you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.