 Okay, everyone. So the recording has restarted. Let's go ahead and see what else Paul talks about as he's making a difference for himself. Okay, so yeah. So I was just telling us that you know he's narrating the incident of his conversion and he mainly talks more about others also, they're aware, but to clarify certain things, you know the Jews would have wondered why is it that this man who is so passionate about you know following this Jesus, why is it that he has not come and ministered in a prominent city such as Jerusalem, he has been all over the place. So he's clarifying, he's saying look God told me not to minister here, the reason being you know at that point people would not have believed him. Why would people not have believed him? Well he adds to his explanation and he says that because at that time I was the one imprisoning people and he also adds you know he says that when Stephen one of the ministers of God was killed this person Paul was standing and giving consent to the murder of Stephen and it is said that he was after like while Stephen's his death was happening that he was even guarding the clothes of those who were actively involved in murdering Stephen. So that shows that he was a clear cut recognized zealous Jew who was now persecuting anyone you know who belonged to a different faith. So this kind of a person you know immediately almost immediately they come and they start talking about their conversion it is likely that people won't be able to digest what they are saying people would have assumed that this persecutor is trying to play a game and confuse us and that's the reason maybe God also told him okay Paul this is not the time. So again as we read these things you know we recognize that the Holy Spirit is the director of the events in the book of Acts including the life of Paul you know there are certain places where he wanted to go and God says no don't go now there are places where you know he wanted to leave you know we saw in Corinth he was so desperate he was so upset you know by the by the kind of attitudes people carried and yet God encourages him and he says there are lots of people here lots of my people are there Paul okay so don't get discouraged you do you do your work. So in this way what is God doing you know God knows how to encourage God knows how to lead God knows how to also prevent us from moving into something which is not the right thing for us to do or at the right time okay so it's the leading the direction of the Holy Spirit that we see throughout the book of Acts and particularly in the journey of Apostle Paul so he provided all this clarification all this introduction about himself so when they were listening to him obviously they were they were cleanly attuned to what he was sharing now that the Jews understood that hey this first is one among us very similar to the passion that we carry for the faith so they were ready to listen but in the speech that Paul made in Jerusalem one problem happened okay so far everything is going well he asked the commander give me one chance to speak so he says okay you speak he starts narrating but he once he talks about his passion for the law and for the Jew Jewish people he says that God told him depart for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles so Paul is correct in what he's saying okay he's not hiding or he's not missing his words so clearly he adds to the introduction of himself and said God also God told me don't minister in Jerusalem right now and then God told me God I will send you to the Gentiles now the moment he brought up the term Gentiles the listeners they lost it they were like okay forget it now whatever he was saying till now we don't even why should we even try to understand it because they were passionately against the Gentiles okay so you find that the crowd stopped listening to him when he came to this sentence look God told me that I will send you to the Gentiles and at that point with that one word in fact Luke says they listen to him until this word and then they raise their voices and said away with such a fellow from the earth for he is not fit to live so you see that Zeal is making them hate a person from a different community or even a different pattern of thinking Paul is clarified he's a Jew but he's for the Gentiles that the people did not like so how angry did they get with him they are saying he's not fit to live so they are ready to kill him if the commander had not interviewed what would have happened to Paul Paul would have died but again God's timing God's purpose in Paul's life God did not you know let him be killed so the commander came he took charge again the Jews are insisting come on let's kill this fellow okay but the commander he orders and he says okay come on bring this man back now to the barracks or you know the place where they would keep the prisoners bring him back there and let's investigate further what actually is going on because if we leave him here these people are going to kill him so they bring him back and they try to interrogate it says it's underscourging scourging is a it's a like a a process where they whipped you right you have these whips and they hit you nicely so severe scourging now imagine you know this is what the Holy Spirit was already revealing to him Paul if you go to Jerusalem you have to suffer all this but what did Paul say I'm ready Lord not just to suffer to die also I am ready so that is exactly what is unfolding goes to the taken to the barracks there he is you know they want to scourge him okay and you know they want to see what else can be done for this this particular Jewish man because he's become confusing by now he says he's Jewish now he says that God told me to go to the Gentiles who is this man what is he trying to do so there's so much of confusion so the commander he brings him and they start leading him towards the barracks but look at the wisdom which God gave Paul okay and Paul also knew this is not the time for me to die because he still has to testify many things so God gives him wisdom and Paul asks a question to the commander he says is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman and uncondemned you remember Paul played this card even in the Philippian in the Philippian jail when they said okay quietly you leave Paul and Silas he says how can you leave quietly I'm a Roman you first of all you did not follow proper process to put us in in the prison and now you want to leave us okay you can't do that so Paul finds that fitting moment to question the authorities so he says how is it that easily you know you will you will take me then you will beat me without any any proper proof right he says I'm uncondemned I'm not yet condemned so yeah interrogation you want to follow the process that's fine but how can you scourge me and Paul asks that question I'm a Roman citizen and those days you know somebody who was a Roman citizen was you know they they had received a privilege okay and those who were not Roman citizens you know even nowadays I have observed you know people who want to go live in a particular country and they really really desire to do it they pay huge sums of money they go through an entire process for citizenship right PR permanent residency so they do all the hard work to get their paperwork done finally they can say wow I'm a citizen of what maybe some first world nation and they are now in that now able to experience the benefits of that country but here Paul he says that I'm a Roman citizen so those days to have a Roman citizenship today also difficult you know to get a citizenship of a country but those days the Roman Empire was very renowned to get a citizenship as a Roman was probably one of the hardest things so the moment Paul really I am Roman and I am uncondemmed the Centurion he one of the truth of the commander the Centurion heard that he goes to the commander immediately and he says you know take care what you do for this man is Roman because if they he treated a Roman you know all the repercussions would follow so actually alerts the commander please be careful okay don't treat him otherwise he could lose our position the Romans will come and we will be in trouble so the commander comes to Paul and he says hey are you a Roman tell me are you really a Roman because he was doubtful he was like this man who mobs are against is claiming to be a Roman can this be true you know how can this be true so he questions him Paul says yes I am then the commander says with a large sum of money I obtain the citizenship so obviously the commander was not a born Roman citizen okay so he would wonder where did this man get a lot of money to to buy the citizenship he wanted clarification on that so he was really confused that a person who would soon be under trial is claiming citizenship so Paul answers he clarifies once again he says look it's not money and all that I was born a Roman citizen so the moment Paul revealed that you know immediately it says they they had planned to with them remember examine under scourging they withdraw that they say no no no you can't do that the commander became afraid that he was dealing with a Roman and that they had also bound this Roman so he got scared he's like oh this case is a is a you know it's a little tricky because if I end up doing something wrong instead of Paul being condemned I will be booked for something you know I will be booked I I will be you know in a position to lose my authority so the commander understood that so then he decided okay come on let me not deal with this man alone so the next day you know he he wanted to have this person you know examined by a better set of authorities so what he does is he brings it the chief priest and the council is we kind of makes that possible for the chief priest of the council to now come and examine this case and Paul is brought before them so you know from now on what we have to see is the Paul is going to be taken from one person to the other person in authority okay and he is going to not just defend himself but he's also going to talk about what God has done in his life so we've already seen that to the Jews and even the commander would have heard about that supernatural conversion you know that happened to Paul so he narrated that and later on now he's been brought before the the high priest and the council so let's see you know how he makes use of this opportunity so now when he comes there again he starts to address them because Paul you know he he's defending at least till now he's not like a condemned person or anything and he didn't really need to hire a lawyer so he's speaking for himself so he stands before the council and then the same way he says men and brethren you see the the connection that he has with the Jewish people he's not saying oh you unbelievers you the way he's addressing them also he is showing them he has a heart for the chooses men and brethren I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day why does he begin his speech like that because he's trying to justify himself he is trying to tackle the accusations and allegations made against him so we say you are telling him that I'm not upholding the law that's not true I have lived before God until this day even when he was a Jew remember the kind of background that he gave he was trying to uphold the law and now more so after he's come to the faith and he has understood about God forgiving you know the sins of mankind and him having the relationship maintaining that relationship with God so he maintained that good conscience with before God so he's just starting and beginning to defend himself but what happens the moment you know a person who would go under trial says something like I have a good conscience before God until this day the high priest Ananias okay again don't get confused this Ananias is different from the Ananias that Paul talked about in the previous chapter that is a believer Damascus who came and prayed for him this is another Ananias who was a high priest at that time he got offended like how dare a prisoner you know how dare somebody who's coming for trial justify himself and say I have good conscience I have not done anything wrong you know so Ananias God so offended he told somebody who's standing next to Paul to strike him on the mouth so they actually hit him on the mouth you can imagine how disrespectful and painful you know that would have felt for Paul because he's serving God and it's not like he's made a mistake he's innocent but somebody in authority you know commands another person to even hit him okay so it's all painful and you know for for a man have got to go through that they just think about the people who are being persecuted in different parts of the world today they may have lived a good life they may be innocent they may be you know even now the trial that they are undergoing it could be for the sake of the gospel but the humiliation which they are experiencing right it's all painful but for the sake of the gospel that's what Paul said hey I've signed up for this this is what it means to live for God I will live for God so he's coming under this kind of treatment so he got beaten but when he got beaten Paul was angry he Paul got really angry he said that God will strike you you whitewashed wall for you sit to judge me according to the law and do you command me to be struck contrary to the law because he he felt that he had been wronged the very reason he had been brought here for that the leaders the council the high priest they will uphold what has been spoken in the law but before asking any anything about Paul immediately they are they hitting him so that upset him you know that also shows that he was a man with principles he did not like you know what was being done so he just reacts to the incident and at that moment you know somebody tells him do you revive God's high priest so only then Paul realizes you know when he said you know whitewashed whitewashed wall and all he has used certain vocabulary words in his reaction so Paul realizes that the man whom he had spoken about just now was actually the high priest so you see how much of a law abiding you know Jew Paul was he immediately apologizes he says I did not know brethren that he was the high priest okay so because God's word it is written he says you shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people so the moment Paul comes to know that he made a mistake he actually made an accusation against the high priest you know he again presents a defense and says hey I'm so I'm so sorry I didn't know he was the high priest I thought he was just you know anybody so he's still living his life under trial he's living his life according to the law of God so at this point you know again God gave Paul the wisdom so we've already said that you know at different points that is either like in Corinth we saw this in Ephesus we saw you know one of the leaders themselves they come in and they say that religious matter don't bring it to me it's a religious matter if it's a moral issue then yes you know you bring it to me I can resolve it for you so in that way Paul escaped again in Ephesus you know if Demetrius has a problem let him go to the courts the courts are open but you know don't don't make this chaos in the city so Paul escaped so there are times when God gives us an escape by working through the authorities themselves you know even earlier back up some more go to when Peter and John came under trial you know Gamaliel he says that if this is a work of art we cannot stop it so that came from one of the leaders however right now when Paul is standing before the courts or he's standing before the authorities God gives Paul the wisdom so as Paul is looking at the council there he realizes you know what this team is a mixture of the Pharisees and the Sadducees so he gets an idea he says men and brethren I am a Pharisee the son of a Pharisee concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead I am being judged so he makes a statement which causes confusion between the existing people there so we understand the background here the Pharisees they believed in resurrection but the Sadducees they did not believe in you know the spirits or angels heavenly beings or even resurrection so the moment Paul brought up a subject which was contention right for both the parties it's like confusion in the enemy's camp they start taking sides you know some the Pharisees are like oh really you know they are accusing you for believing in resurrection resurrection is real no resurrection is true so the Pharisees would have thought that they must protect Paul but at the same time you had the Sadducees okay who are also very much part of the authority but so they don't believe in resurrection and they are like how can you protect a man who is who believes in resurrection so there is a there is a kind of confusion okay that begins to take place the Pharisees save if I know evil in this man but if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him let us not fight against God so when all of this confusion is going on you know the commander again remember the commander is in charge of Paul why did he bring in here because he could not decide so he thought okay let me take them to let me take him to the next level of authorities they will solve the problem but here it's becoming like the Jerusalem situation you know temple situation where where if the commander did not have the presence of mind to leave who knows they could have caught Paul again and started beating him up if they had an opportunity they would have even killed him so the commander quickly you know he acts he tells the soldiers okay go down take Paul take him back to the barracks so they protect him how did Paul escape this time wisdom okay God gave him that statement and he said look am I being judged for the hope and resurrection of the dead is that why you all are judging me and that help him to escape his own death okay now let's move forward now that Paul has been brought back God continues to encourage Paul you know and this is again a very beautiful thing when we are ministering and God has called us to minister do you see that how closely you know God is observing things that are happening in our lives and in ministry here Paul is going through severe opposition and in the case of severe opposition you know even God understands sometimes that you know we are not able to bear the challenges before us so he directly in currently encouraged him now let's see what God said verse 11 of chapter 23 but the following night the Lord stood by him and said be of good cheer Paul for as you have testified for me in Jerusalem so you must also bear witness at Rome so there's a ray of hope there first of all God is saying don't be discouraged or in other words be of good cheer and then he says what a witness you have been for me Paul you know angry mobs are listening to you you're standing there and you you shared about your encounter you shared about the truth so boldly you know something I want you to also bear witness to me in Rome okay now think about this currently where is Paul he's in Jerusalem but in a way God is telling him you're not going to die Paul then you go to Rome so there is some more time for the for that moment to come so it would have really helped him understand what is within God is protecting him I still have time I'm going through a rough patch but this is not meant for my death because I have to travel to Rome okay and God is telling me there is an assignment I have to bear witness at Rome also okay so I'm not going to be afraid of being killed alright so in that way God once again strengthen Paul God once again you know showed him what he would do now let's let's continue so by now we have understood there is a lot of hatred against Paul okay now the extent to which this hatred circled in the hearts of the Jews it can be and can be perceived by what a set of Jews decided so you find that there were 40 Jews they joined together and they had a conspiracy conspiracy means you are making a decision against someone you know to to to do something to to destroy them or do something you know to bring them down so it's a conspiracy so they plan up against Paul and walk you know what was their agenda their agenda was obviously to kill him and he took an oath they said that we are not going to eat or drink till we have killed this man Paul so that is the level of hatred okay and these people they came to the chief priests and elders just now there's been all this commotion about resurrection and all but still these Jews they come and they they realize that hey this man he does not even need a flag trial why are you wasting your time trying to listen to him how about we just kill him so they talk to the council the elders and they say let's do this okay this is the plot okay or this is the plan you bring him as if you are going to listen to him and as if you know the fair like go through the proceedings of you know whatever needs to be done for a person like this so you just bring him under that pretext let him be there what we'll do is at that point tomorrow we will catch him and we'll kill you don't worry about that you follow your process but they were so passionately against Paul that they said we will go and kill Paul okay so this was the conspiracy against him you see you know God brings escape in so many different ways we've already talked about it this time around you know Luke records at one of Paul's there was Paul's sister son who heard of this how is it possible for Paul's sister son to hear it it is likely you know Paul was from that you know that that strong Jewish background okay learn the Jewish background and maybe his relatives were still part of that you know Jewish tradition and Jewish culture and all that and he had so a close relative like his sister whose son was connected to the authorities that that's the possibility he was probably connected now we don't know of his faith whether he believed in Jesus or you know if he was just a Jew like the others that but because of the relationship you know sometimes there are people even today there are people who are in the faith maybe their family members are not in the faith but out of relationship so they could warn us and say hey this is happening you know get out of here right so in that manner Paul's sister son he heard about what was planned against Paul and he quickly went to the barracks and he told the one of the centurions okay and when the centurion heard this you know again the way Paul the way look right he's a doctor and a historian and a very very systematic individual so he writes the orders okay the ranks he says the son goes to the come the centurion the centurion directs him to the commander and the person reveals this to the commander okay and he says Paul the prisoner called called me to him and asked me to bring this young man to you he has something to say to you so the centurion shared this and the boy the the son tells them they are waiting to kill Paul okay so the moment the commander comes to know this you know he realizes oh man what is going on you know if if this man is killed again you you remember he was already quite intrigued that Paul is a Roman citizen okay now a Roman citizen under his care is going to be killed if that happens you know whether the the council and the high priests are aware of it on the commander was well aware that he would lose his job versus he would run the risk of losing his life also so he has to act quickly isn't it the commander so the wisdom that the commander had is so he tells he tells this boy okay thank you for letting me know the plan please don't tell anybody that you have told me these things and the commander thinks what can I do how can I follow the legal process so that under my care nothing happens to this Roman citizen by the name of Paul so he decides okay come on let me send him elsewhere let me send him to the governor okay so maybe that was the next step for the commander to follow so he decides and this governor lived in Caesarea okay and he was called Felix so now you know this commander does the usual process of handing over a person who is to be tried and that is to write a letter so he writes a letter and he says okay you know this man we seized he was seized by the Jews and he was about to be killed but you know I rescued him so you see he's making it clear that he has done nothing even for Roman citizen and then he says okay the moment we learned that and then later once I rescued him I learned that he was a Roman and you know I tried all the things that I needed to do I brought him to the council and all but then you know there I didn't find that there is any charge against him which is worthy of death okay however because he is being accused in this way how about you know Felix you take up the interrogation further so that is the letter that he writes to Felix and he wants to send Paul over to Felix for the next round of trial and once he does that you notice here that he comes up with a good plan to make Paul escape so what does he do he orders soldiers to take charge okay and it's really beautiful because he sort of sends an entire troop okay to protect Paul now you can imagine these are all you would say that human beings are doing this when Paul is under trial you know a commander is is providing protection and all that but it's actually God don't you think so because it was not yet Paul's time so God gave his wisdom to the commander and you see how the plot against Paul also came to light nobody would have ever known it if the chief priest would have called Paul those 40 Jewish men who are passionately against Paul they would have murdered him but you know God had a way of bringing that matter out and then the wisdom through which the commander acted okay he wrote a letter to Felix and now he's providing protection he's sending all these troops and you know he's he's letting all escape and we are told that by night okay why by night because there is danger in Jerusalem if this were to happen in the like before the Jewish people there they would have found out that you know the commander is sending this man Paul away so let's do something and kill him but instead at night with great protection they brought him to Caesarea and they delivered the letter to the governor and they also presented Paul to him and so when the governor Felix had read the letter he understood and he asked you know a little bit about Paul so he asked him okay Paul you know where are you from and all and Paul revealed to him that I am from Caesarea okay so he understood okay looks like this man is from our region and maybe Felix didn't want to rush the whole matter so he says okay fine I will do one thing I will hear you when your accusers also have come so he wanted a fair trial he wanted to hear what Paul had to say but at the same time he also wanted to listen to the accusations you know which the people against him had made so he said okay I'm going to hear you later all right so then after five days you know we are told that the same high priest you remember the high priest who was offended when Paul said I lived with a good conscience before God that high priest you know he comes with elders and he also brings an orator so those days they had like a lawyer you could say like a lawyer but they call them more of an orator because I don't know whether today we know the lawyers you know they will do the research and they will work on a case and then they will present it but here sounds more like you know somebody who would be told the matters and they will share it they will speak it or present before the authorities so Turtleis was one of these orators who Ananayas brought along and they also gave evidence to the governor against Paul so they are presenting all these things to Turtleis he calls him and Turtleis begins okay yeah so he starts by exalting and you know speaking well of the governor so he says seeing that through you we enjoy great peace and prosperity is being brought to this nation by your force you know all this just shows that they were trained like that that first you must flatter or you know speak highly of the authorities that you you are going to present your case to so it shows how you know like a textbook way he starts by praising Felix he says okay you know prosperity is being brought to this nation by your force side we accept it always and in all places most noble Felix with all thankfulness okay so so he's doing his part in the format that he was thought of and now he begins to bring accusation against Paul and look at what he says he says he found this man plague a creator of dissension among all the Jews throughout the world and a right and a wing leader of the sect of the Nazarenes where is the background for these accusations that they are making against Paul we'll find out okay but they outright believe that if they make Paul look bad then the authorities will go by what they are saying okay so he says all kinds of wrong things about Paul as a he's a man who has created trouble among the people and you know using words like this man is a plague can you imagine you know so obviously it was not at all easy for Paul being a man who is so we've seen right like how he's so he he wants to obey God he wants to keep the law even when he makes a mistake he corrects himself you know that kind of an individual and when without any basis people are saying wrong things about them it must have deeply disturbed him and you know made him feel so bad but you know what to do he is serving God and he is standing up for the gospel and these are all things that he needed to go through so the accusations continue so turtleism he continues and he says that he tried to profane the temple but again what is the evidence that he tried to profane the temple when Paul was trying to present his defense over there in Jerusalem before the Jews they didn't even let him talk he just started he gave a background and they you know got angry when he mentioned the gentiles so they've not given him an opportunity finally when he came to the council before the Pharisees and the Sadducees again over there you know they started fighting among each other and he never had a chance so how in the world are they making these accusations against Paul but look at that gravely they're just putting it out there okay this person he tried to profane or defile the temple and we caught him and then they're also saying we wanted to judge him according to the law but the problem was that man Lysius he or the commander his name is being mentioned here because he is the one who took him out of our hands and commanding his accusers to come to you so see we would have solved this problem in Jerusalem itself but you know that commander he interfered and you know he is the one who is asking you to examine his case so basically now this turtle is saying okay fine so you examine you examine you ascertain all things but the situation is such that we are quite clear that this Paul is in the wrong and that he needs to be killed okay now Adilis has presented his point of Paul he does not have an orator like Ananya has brought an orator with him but Paul it's his turn to defend himself so then you know the governor looks at Paul and says okay come on you need to share now and now you know Paul begins to unveil the things that had happened to him one of the beautiful things as we are studying or rather listening to Paul's speeches is you know it not only is a defense but it reveals more about his life it reveals more about you know how God was dealing with him also so I just want you to pay attention okay to those additional insights and those additional details that will come up now and also I'm noticing the time is only we are only four minutes away from the class getting over so I think I will start with Paul's defense to govern the Felix in the next class okay because then we can continue from there right and yeah let's see I don't know if in the next session we are able to finish off the book of acts maybe even two more weeks we will have to continue okay so yeah let me just stop with that and wanted to ask the online students have you seen the assignment questions okay so I have given there the details you would have to write down you know the timeline the places where he went some of the special special events that took place maybe there's a healing or a deliverance or you know somebody that Paul ministered to who is a man of influence or something like that so what are the special events over there and then additionally you know any of your key learnings from what happened in that city so that is how you need to do it okay yeah I think that's also quite clear so let's wrap up this morning session I would request either of them or give them a spray and then we can end the call oh thank you for giving us a privilege to learn from the life of Paul even today lord whatever you have revealed from Paul's life and from your word lord let our heart our life put into practice so that law father we will live and walk in truth and lord uh thank you once again for this wonderful time of learning and may your spirit guide us all raise of the day in Jesus name I pray amen yes sir thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you see you bye