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This is Undaunted Life, a man's podcast.
0:54
I'm your host Kyle Thompson.
0:56
Let's get into it.
0:57
Welcome back to the forging table.
0:58
The mission of Undaunted Life is equipping men to push back darkness with content that
1:01
forges spiritual, mental and physical resilience.
1:04
At the forging table, you'll see a group of regular guys forging spiritual resilience
1:07
by digging into God's word and we're welcoming all of you to come along on that journey with
1:10
us.
1:11
That's Matt, that's Sam, that's Russ.
1:12
This is your sophomore journey.
1:13
We had your maiden voice last week, but we've got the sophomore journey.
1:16
But here's the thing.
1:17
Just peek behind the curtain.
1:18
So we record a bunch of these at a time and I always feel like, okay, we've got to have
1:22
a meal right there in the middle, but sometimes after the meal and Russ, you were even saying
1:28
downstairs when we were eating, it's like, man, I'm tired and we're recording on a Friday
1:31
night, which is not like typical, but it's just kind of what we had to do for this batch
1:35
and all that.
1:36
And so it'd be very easy for us to just kind of get lulled into this low sense of energy
1:40
and it would be hard to do that or wouldn't be hard to do that.
1:44
And so to counteract that, I have these smelling salts here.
1:49
I don't know if y'all have seen these before, but perhaps if you've watched the forging
1:53
table before, or if you've been a power lifter or if you're just a good person, you remember
1:58
these two of us here have done this on the forging table, or you may have done it multiple
2:05
times.
2:06
Me and you did.
2:07
No, but Matt didn't do it.
2:08
I've never done so.
2:09
So Matt's never done it.
2:10
So for those of you that don't aren't aware, these are called ah, they're the world's strongest
2:15
smelling salts.
2:16
This is not a drug, this is not something that gets you high, but apparently you know power
2:20
lifters.
2:21
No, no, no, no.
2:22
It does not.
2:23
All right.
2:24
Right.
2:25
Right.
2:26
So for those of you that we're not listening, when I got this, this was this bottle had
2:28
plastic around it.
2:30
The cap was sealed.
2:31
It was in a plastic bag and it was in a mailer.
2:34
I took my knife and I accidentally cut the bag that was outside of the bottle.
2:39
I literally had to roll all the windows down on my truck because it was so pungent and
2:42
it was still a sealed bottle.
2:44
Okay.
2:45
But for the sake of our audience guys, I mean, at this point, we've just, you know, we got
2:50
to take a sniff or two again, just a few rules.
2:53
Have your eyes closed.
2:54
I would highly suggest don't be like Ryan Horn.
2:57
Don't stick it directly under your nose and take a sniff like it's a rose.
3:00
It's not going to go well for you.
3:02
I didn't mean to rhyme.
3:03
That wasn't bad.
3:04
So, but yeah, it's just, it just kind of wakes up the central nervous system is going to
3:08
get us going.
3:09
I think it's the best Bible study tool out there other than an actual Bible.
3:12
Russ, would you agree with that size of the ESB study Bible?
3:14
Yeah.
3:15
I mean, you know, the Holy Spirit, ESB study Bible and ah, smelling cells, right?
3:20
It's a good top three.
3:21
Okay.
3:22
This 10 year old me did not see this like 40 Friday night smelling salts, maybe.
3:29
Yeah.
3:30
Okay.
3:31
Well, what again?
3:32
Continue.
3:33
Do you be proud right now?
3:34
Super horrified.
3:35
Okay.
3:36
So let's get smelling salt etiquette.
3:37
I've never done this.
3:38
All right.
3:39
All right.
3:40
So, so open it.
3:41
And again, you want to get it probably right about here.
3:43
So for those of you just listening, like the bottles, like right around the mouth of this
3:46
is not a bourbon.
3:47
No, don't do a waffle.
3:48
Don't do that.
3:49
Don't do the waffle.
3:50
Don't get to know it too well.
3:51
Don't put your do not put your nose in the bottle, but just put it under, you know, give
3:56
a decent Smith.
3:57
You can even like some people just I think you're whistling to your nose.
4:01
Yeah.
4:02
I need.
4:03
Yeah.
4:04
I do it.
4:05
I only have 20% use of this nostril.
4:06
Hey, let's try this.
4:07
After you do it, after you do it, let's see you, you breathe in and see if you still
4:12
have this.
4:13
Okay.
4:14
Oh, okay.
4:15
Here we go.
4:16
And then immediately put it, you know, put the cat back on.
4:20
Don't just throw it.
4:21
Don't drop it.
4:22
Yeah.
4:23
Don't drop it.
4:24
Don't throw it.
4:25
Don't throw it on me.
4:26
All right.
4:27
All right.
4:28
Here we go.
4:29
I want it.
4:30
Okay.
4:31
All right.
4:32
Let's get the snips.
4:33
Let's get the snips.
4:34
See if it's there.
4:35
They didn't get rid of that 30 percent.
4:43
Okay.
4:44
All right.
4:45
Okay.
4:46
Ooh, it's in the back of my soul.
4:47
All right.
4:48
All right.
4:49
Here we go.
4:50
Spell insults for the audience.
4:51
Here we go.
4:52
Okay.
4:53
Just get in there.
4:54
Get in there.
4:55
Oh, get it again.
4:56
Hit it again.
4:57
He didn't quite get enough.
4:58
Get a little bit more.
4:59
I can't wait.
5:00
You know what I noticed though?
5:04
One nostril takes it way harder than the other.
5:08
Do you know each nostril goes to a different part of your brain?
5:10
Right?
5:11
Well, I just found out what part my right one goes to.
5:13
All right.
5:14
But I don't think you got a good one.
5:16
Just need a little more to get the double dose here.
5:19
Oh.
5:20
Oh.
5:21
What?
5:22
What real close?
5:23
Oh, man.
5:24
There it is.
5:25
There it is.
5:26
All right.
5:27
Yeah.
5:28
Seal it back.
5:29
Seal it back up.
5:30
All right.
5:31
Russ, how you feeling?
5:32
How you doing?
5:33
Sam, have you done this work?
5:35
Because wrestlers do all kinds of crazy stuff like this.
5:37
Yeah.
5:38
We usually cut lines.
5:39
Oh, great.
5:40
Great.
5:41
Cut lines to get to the front of the weight.
5:43
I don't even know what cut it is.
5:44
What it is.
5:45
What it is.
5:46
Yeah.
5:47
A cane joke.
5:48
I don't know what I'm saying.
5:50
It's salt in there.
5:51
Remember.
5:52
Keep those eyes closed.
5:53
Oh, he went brave.
5:54
Oh.
5:55
Oh.
5:56
Oh.
5:57
My hay's winkle.
5:58
I can't smell anything anyway.
6:00
What?
6:01
You see this nose?
6:02
I do.
6:03
It looks like it's been smushed once.
6:05
Nothing?
6:06
Oh, they're okay.
6:08
It was delayed.
6:10
It's potent.
6:11
I, uh...
6:12
I think...
6:13
Make me shake it up a little bit.
6:14
I'm nervous.
6:15
Yeah.
6:16
Give it a little shake.
6:17
Give it a little shake.
6:18
We'll give it a little shake before you take it.
6:19
Give it to Matt.
6:20
You should do it the same way I do.
6:23
Who was that worse?
6:24
Oh.
6:25
Oh, there was the shake.
6:26
I got my eye.
6:27
The shake.
6:28
Okay.
6:29
Matt?
6:30
I'm nervous.
6:31
No.
6:32
No.
6:33
Before you went on the pitch, you know, to have a kick about?
6:36
Before you try to peek in.
6:37
Yeah.
6:38
So, just want to make sure.
6:40
Make sure I'm doing this right.
6:41
So, close my eyes.
6:42
Yeah.
6:43
A little, not...
6:44
Yeah.
6:45
Don't put it directly under your nose with your eyes open, like Ryan Horn did.
6:48
Okay.
6:49
Here we go.
6:50
Yeah.
6:51
Just right here.
6:52
All right.
6:53
Let's see what happens here.
6:54
Give a little shallow breath and then get a little...
6:55
That was close.
6:56
That day.
6:57
Did you get it all?
6:58
I didn't feel that.
6:59
I feel like should I do it again?
7:00
Just, you know, get in there.
7:01
A little harder.
7:02
Remember.
7:03
Whew.
7:04
Okay.
7:05
You took that pretty well.
7:06
Okay.
7:07
Very good.
7:08
Does anybody...
7:09
Man.
7:10
That is like...
7:11
That is...
7:12
Man, smelling salts are incredible.
7:13
And just like Paul tells to...
7:14
To talk to the Corinthians about...
7:15
He's so good at it.
7:16
Seasoning our words with salt, the Bible helps us do that.
7:19
Oh my God.
7:20
You should work for Ben Shapiro.
7:21
He like all his like transitions in his show for all that.
7:24
But, I'm going to go put this bag on the other side of the room, but Russ, you brought
7:29
something up in the interim that kind of works in with that, Matt.
7:31
Right?
7:32
How you feel like I can breathe?
7:34
Yes.
7:35
Yeah.
7:36
Why?
7:37
You don't need medicine?
7:38
What I found is that actually, like last time I did it, even a couple of hours afterwards,
7:42
I would almost get like a second wave of it or something.
7:45
Like something would happen.
7:46
I would smell something all of a sudden.
7:47
I'd be like, "Ooh."
7:48
That's that smelling salt.
7:49
Like, you know, it would last.
7:50
I'm feeling that right.
7:51
I feel incredible right now.
7:52
Yeah.
7:53
I see the first time I did it, I hit it way too hard because I wasn't sure.
7:56
And I was...
7:57
It was the first time the bottle had ever been opened.
7:58
So it could not have been stronger than it was at that exact moment.
8:02
And I mean, I shot it right to the back of my brain.
8:04
Like it was just the truth.
8:05
It was right now.
8:06
Oof.
8:07
Okay.
8:08
We kind of did the same.
8:09
Okay.
8:10
So that's good.
8:11
I'm glad we made this happen.
8:12
But you did bring up something interesting on the break that we didn't bring up last week
8:14
when we were discussing in Acts 22.
8:16
So as I relocate this bag to the other side of the planet, go ahead and talk to that.
8:20
All right.
8:21
So what I was thinking about is that, so some of the commentaries brought up the idea that
8:27
right here Paul pulls the I'm a Roman citizen card before he gets flogged.
8:32
And before we saw him do that to where he went ahead and got flogged.
8:35
So for one, there's the bravery of Paul that like they're like, "We're going to
8:38
flog you."
8:39
And he's like, "Oh, just the flogging?
8:41
Last time I had a flogging and then a stoning and it just all takes so much time and blah,
8:46
blah, blah."
8:47
But on this one, he decides he's like, "Okay, I'm just going to tell him right away.
8:50
I'm a Roman citizen."
8:51
And it brought up the question in the commentary as to why he did that here versus whenever
8:56
he didn't do it in the past, whenever he was at other places talking to the Gentiles.
9:01
And the commentary was saying that in the past when he didn't do it, it may have been
9:08
intentional that he didn't want to pull that card because the people he was preaching to
9:14
and the people that he was ministering to, there was already a separation bond between
9:19
them or the lack thereof because he was Jewish and he was trying to talk to these Gentiles
9:24
about what they should do and the fact that if he would have gone in and pulled the Roman
9:29
card there, it almost would have discredited him because nobody else that he was trying
9:33
to show how to live this life, this way had the ability to pull that card.
9:38
And so they were saying that he could have done this before the flogging his last time
9:42
as well, but it almost solidified him being one of us by the fact that he didn't do that
9:49
before, which I mean, there's a little bit of stretch to say that we know that or anything,
9:55
but it does make sense.
9:56
And it does match who Paul was, like he didn't do any, I don't think we look back and see
10:01
that he did many things without an intention to it.
10:04
And so like, why did he not intentionally pull that card before versus now?
10:09
This is an interesting thought.
10:11
It is.
10:12
That's it.
10:13
I had words.
10:14
I opened my mouth.
10:15
No, that was good.
10:16
They came out.
10:17
Well, you can have more words come out of your mouth because you can start reading.
10:20
If you'd like to go ahead and kind of keep that going, I'm sorry, I didn't give you the
10:23
proper response to that because that was a good point, but you just, you summed it up
10:26
so well, you put a bow on it and it was a gift to everybody.
10:29
Who needs who needs?
10:30
Yeah.
10:31
No one.
10:32
No one needs anything else other than that.
10:33
So let's keep this going.
10:34
Okay.
10:35
Acts 23.
10:36
We're digging in guys Paul before the council.
10:37
So let's get into one through 11.
10:39
Okay.
10:41
And looking intently at the council, Paul said, brothers, I've lived my life before God
10:46
in all good conscious up to this day.
10:48
And the high priest, Ananias, commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth.
10:54
Then Paul said to him, God is going to strike you, you whitewashed, whitewashed wall.
11:00
Are you sitting to judge me according to the law and yet contrary to the order for me to
11:05
be struck?
11:06
Those who stood by, by said, would you revile God's high priest?
11:11
And Paul said, I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest for his written,
11:15
you shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.
11:19
Now when Paul perceived that one part of the Sadducees and the other were Pharisees, he
11:23
cried out to the council, brothers, I am a Pharisee, a sauna Pharisees, it is with respect
11:29
to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.
11:33
And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and Sadducees and they
11:37
and the simply was divided for the Sadducees say there is no resurrection nor angel nor
11:44
spirit.
11:45
The Pharisees acknowledged them all.
11:47
Then a great clamor arose and some of the scribes of the Pharisees party stood up and
11:51
contended sharply.
11:53
We find nothing wrong with this man, what if a spirit or an angel spoke to him?
11:58
And when the dissension became violent, the tribune afraid that Paul would be torn to
12:01
pieces by them commanded the soldiers go down and take him away from among them by force
12:06
and bring him into the barracks.
12:09
The following night the Lord stood by him and said, take courage for as you have testified
12:14
to the facts about me and Jerusalem.
12:16
So you must testify also in Rome.
12:19
So save by Rome again, there's quite a few things that we can bring up here and I really
12:22
want to dig into all of them.
12:23
The first one is, you know, verse three, then Paul said to him, God is going to strike you,
12:29
you whitewashed wall.
12:31
Are you sitting to judge me according to the law and yet contrary to the law, you order
12:35
me to be struck.
12:36
So essentially it's like, yeah, you're dressed nice, but you're a hypocrite.
12:39
And it's just, it's such pointed language and I saw some of the commentaries point out
12:43
like this was Paul reacting in anger, but it seems to be righteous ending nation, right?
12:50
He's angry about the right types of things, but he kind of holds his tongue and holds
12:54
his decorum in a lot of areas.
12:56
But in this one, he was like, no, he just came right for the jugular from the jump.
13:00
Right.
13:01
I think this is a good description that like, this is us as Christians, we are trying to
13:06
mimic Christ.
13:08
It doesn't always go for like, like Paul, he has his limits too.
13:12
He is just Paul.
13:14
He is just the guy that used to be Saul and he is a human, he can be put through so much.
13:20
And he has his breaking points too, he's going to, he's going to do things according to like
13:27
in the moment, you know, and we see that here and then we see him kind of, kind of deal
13:32
with that and how to deal with when you've, when you've maybe have stepped out of not
13:37
knowing the full truth or something like that, how to adjust and how to admit like, even though
13:42
even though what you guys are doing wrong, I am going to keep on living my life true to
13:47
what I'm saying.
13:48
I think it's also a good example of, of there is room for rebuke within Christian circles.
13:54
Like we don't have to just, it's not just all lovey-dovey.
13:58
We all agree with each other.
13:59
No one ever says a sharp word to, to anybody else.
14:02
Like there is room for rebuke and sometimes rebuke is harsh and, but if, if a brother
14:08
of mine or if I'm doing something that I shouldn't be doing, like a, someone else should, should
14:13
feel like they can sharply rebuke me.
14:16
It's not, man, I think, you know, you might, you know, like, hey, don't do that.
14:22
Right.
14:23
So when I'd say if you're like, for me, I have to kind of take the advice in the other way
14:27
because I'm so default aggressive, like, I like to default to a fight that I know it's
14:33
breaking news.
14:34
It took a song to show.
14:35
Yeah, it took over 600 episodes for us to get that out there, but I feel great getting
14:39
that off my chest.
14:40
But like that's, that's the things that used to be way worse about it.
14:43
But now it's like, okay, not every situation is a 10 out of 10.
14:47
Okay.
14:48
Not every situation is appointed rebuke.
14:50
You know, I took, excuse me, I took Jordan Peterson's big five personality trait calculator
14:55
thing.
14:56
So it looks at agreeableness, neuroticism, conscientiousness, openness and something else.
15:02
But agreeableness is exactly what it sounds like, how agreeable you are with most people
15:07
in most situations.
15:08
And it's a scale from zero to a hundred, a hundred being the most agreeable.
15:10
I got a zero, a zero, because you couldn't get a negative, right?
15:15
If you could get a negative, I probably would have done that.
15:17
But I was like 98 in conscientiousness.
15:19
I was like high 80s and openness.
15:20
So that means I'm very creative, but I can also get things done.
15:23
But like that was like, Oh geez, like, but you can't be disagreeable in all situations
15:30
in all settings, but like if someone were to say to me, Hey, would you mind giving me
15:34
a critique of what I've written or what I've produced?
15:36
I always ask, are you sure?
15:39
Because time you got.
15:40
Well, because it's like, if you want me to give you advice and people will be like, man,
15:44
just watch this or read this and just tear it to pieces.
15:47
I'm like, you, are you sure you want me to do that?
15:49
Because hard definitions of tear to pieces are probably different.
15:52
And so because I, because I want to get, because it's not, I'm trying to tear it down so we
15:56
can build something up that's edifying afterwards, right?
15:59
But like for me, I used to just go straight to whitewash wall, like, and straight to like
16:04
that whole thing.
16:05
But it's like, okay, if you're constantly out of 10 out of 10, then you're just a, you're
16:09
just a clanging bell.
16:11
Like you're just, they're not going to take you seriously when, because if you think everything
16:14
is this super dramatic thing, then nothing super dramatic at the same time.
16:18
So for any of you guys out there that are more default aggressive, that's something to think
16:21
about as well.
16:23
Something as well with versus five and seven, verse five and Paul said, I did not know brothers
16:30
that he was the high priest for it is written, you shall not speak evil of your ruler of
16:34
your people.
16:35
This is pointed sarcasm, like several of the commentaries that I read through again, if
16:39
you just read through the Bible like a robot, I did not know brothers that he was the high
16:44
priest.
16:45
But he's obviously being sarcastic.
16:46
It's like, Oh, oh, I didn't know that you were the high priest.
16:50
And then when you go to verse seven, he starts a fight between the Pharisees and Sadducees.
16:55
He literally pulls the pin on a grenade, tosses it in the foxhole and then just takes a few
16:59
steps away and has a seat like, all right, y'all are getting me up here.
17:03
I'm supposed to be defending myself, but I'm just going to like, you know, I'm just going
17:07
to throw a wrench into the equation here and get y'all to get mad at each other.
17:10
Go ahead.
17:11
Well, I was going to say, I'm in the ESV study Bible and it has a note at the bottom.
17:15
And I just thought that was interesting.
17:16
I hadn't read it before.
17:17
It says he get like, I think it doesn't say that he gets there this quickly, but he rebukes
17:22
them and calls them whitewashed tunes similar to what Christ calls them because they're
17:28
obviously very devout and they keep the law and they're very legalistic.
17:31
But it has a note for why what Ananias did was was not right.
17:36
It goes back to Leviticus 1915 and it says, you shall not do injustice in court.
17:42
You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you
17:46
judge your neighbor.
17:47
And he's, he's literally telling him to smack this innocent man.
17:50
So I think they, they are legalistic, but being disobedient to the law in that moment.
17:56
And so I think that, that gives some more context as to why Paul is like going that, that getting
18:02
to that place so quickly and calling them, you know, whitewashed.
18:05
Why do you think, why do you think what he said, provokes such a response?
18:10
Like I've, I've read through that.
18:11
So before he says, I've lived my life before God and all good conscience up to this day.
18:17
And a high priest then says, smack him in the face.
18:20
Like he waited till that, I just thought that was kind of weird.
18:23
Like what he said doesn't seem that provocative.
18:25
It does say that the way he said it may, may get some insight into that because it says
18:31
looking intently at the council.
18:33
Like he was pointing them out to be like, I shouldn't be on this side of, of this council
18:39
because I have lived my life right, almost like claiming like, you haven't or something.
18:46
What do you think?
18:47
Some of the commentary I read was, it was that they took it as he was saying he was
18:51
sinless and like he, like I'm above you.
18:54
You guys preach this sinless life, this righteousness, this holiness, but I've actually done that.
18:59
Yeah.
19:00
Excuse me.
19:01
And they're like, they're taking it as, I'm better than you and you're not better than
19:04
me.
19:05
Especially in light of the charges that they had brought before and like he starts out
19:10
with like, I have lived my life, you know, before God and all good, in good conscience
19:15
up to this day.
19:16
It's like that one statement goes completely contrary to everything they're charging him
19:21
with that.
19:22
Right.
19:23
And it's, and it's kind of he's fed up because he's not only hearing it from them now, we
19:27
go back a few chapters to why he was in the temple in the first place at that time was
19:34
to go through this ritual purity because people were questioning whether or not he was living
19:39
according to the law.
19:42
It's a different Ananias, right, than a chapter ago.
19:46
Yes.
19:47
Yes.
19:48
Yes.
19:49
It's just funny to me.
19:50
He points out, Hey, this Ananias super devout.
19:52
Right.
19:53
He helped me tell me what the, what, what God wants to do and help with getting my sight
19:57
back.
19:58
And now he's like, yeah, this Ananias, whitewash, I think, I think he actually the first
20:04
time makes it clear because he says a man named Ananias, he probably knew that Ananias
20:10
was there.
20:11
Yes.
20:12
And he, and he wanted to make sure like, Hey, another dude named Ananias who was devout.
20:16
Yeah.
20:17
You know, that makes a lot of sense.
20:18
He would have said, he would have said the high priest in Ananias.
20:21
Right.
20:22
Yeah.
20:23
That makes sense.
20:24
Another thing that came up in this section, excuse me, for me in verse nine, then a great
20:30
clamor rose and some of the scribes of the Pharisees party stood up and contended sharply.
20:35
We find nothing wrong in this man.
20:37
What if a spirit or an angel spoke to him?
20:39
So we've got the immediate dramatic thing where they're standing by to hit the guy.
20:45
We have Paul's very pointed rebuke.
20:48
We have Paul sarcasm.
20:50
We have Paul pulling the pen and in the grenade and getting, you know, the Sadducees and the
20:53
Pharisees fighting and at each other's throats.
20:56
But then you have this group of scribes that are like, Hey, you know, we don't think there's
21:01
anything wrong here.
21:03
You know, what if, what if a spirit of the angel or an angel actually spoke to this man?
21:08
It is a complete like record screech moment or like slamming on the brakes.
21:15
And I immediately wrote, did God give them this idea?
21:18
Like did God give these scribes this idea to be like, Hey, tensions are pretty elevated
21:23
right now.
21:24
People are mad at a lot of different people for a lot of different reasons.
21:27
And this is like the first thing that seems like calm and, you know, go ahead.
21:32
I just take it as adjustment politics.
21:35
So the idea that defeating your enemy in a political stance is worth compromising something
21:44
that maybe you don't really align with.
21:47
And I mean, I see what you're saying.
21:50
I just took it as these guys were to set the mood of this that as soon as Paul knew, he
21:56
was like, I'm not to set this thing on fire because as soon as I make this a us versus
22:01
them thing, they're not going to know what to do because they, if I associate myself with
22:07
the Pharisees, the Pharisees, whatever I say, we'll find some reason to be like, well, he's
22:13
either not one of us or we back him, you know, and they play into it.
22:19
That's what I thought just because I see that happen a lot.
22:23
Right.
22:24
Right.
22:25
What do you guys think?
22:26
That's how I read it too.
22:27
He got them on his side.
22:28
I think he, when I read it, it looked to me like this time he got emotional and he knew
22:33
he was kind of losing him, uh oh, and, and he knows like, oh, it's like the next thing.
22:38
Like he did the Greek.
22:39
He did the Roman.
22:40
Right.
22:41
Now he's like, Hey, Pharisees, as you see, you know, I'm the son of a Pharisee and it's
22:47
like it's on.
22:48
Yeah, it's almost like what we were talking about before with the wrestling, like living
22:51
rent free or getting in somebody's head.
22:54
Like you said, it's almost like he had the self-realization.
22:56
Ooh, they got me a little bit.
22:59
Okay.
23:00
Okay.
23:01
Time out.
23:02
Let me get back on, let me get back on track here.
23:03
Let me get inside what, what they're doing here and, and twist a few of these things.
23:07
Yeah, I think I, I think it's a good point.
23:10
Okay.
23:11
Anything else on this first section?
23:12
Before we move on.
23:13
I just, does it, did anybody reading, I didn't get to find something, but something I wanted
23:16
to try to look up was, what is the exact reference to whitewashed wall?
23:21
I know that just covering it's a fakeness or something, but was that known to be like,
23:27
is that like a Gen Z slang, you know, that he was using this basically like, Oh man,
23:31
you just called me the worst thing.
23:33
Well, the one Jesus said, why was Jesus?
23:36
Why was Jesus?
23:37
Why was Jesus?
23:38
Because it's full of bones.
23:39
Yeah.
23:40
The pillar was full of death, but it looks pristine on the outside.
23:42
Oh, okay.
23:43
Yeah.
23:44
So it's kind of like.
23:45
You guys appreciate it.
23:46
Well, that's, that's what happens with the forgy table guys.
23:49
Cause again, like I tell you guys all the time, this is just a normal guy's Bible study.
23:52
We just happen to turn on cameras and mics.
23:53
Yeah, I think to your point is kind of a vernacular of hypocrite, like you're a hypocrite.
23:59
I think it, like, as Jesus says, a similar thing.
24:01
So I think you're right there, just a vernacular.
24:03
You calling me Yellah?
24:05
Yeah.
24:06
That's right.
24:07
That's exactly right.
24:08
Anything else?
24:09
First section.
24:10
Sam, how about you hit 12 through 22?
24:12
A plot to kill Paul.
24:18
When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath, neither to eat
24:23
nor drink till they had killed Paul.
24:26
There were more than 40 who made this conspiracy by an oath to taste no food till we have killed
24:32
Paul.
24:33
Now therefore you along with the council give notice to the Tribune to bring him down to
24:38
you as though you were going to determine his case more exactly and we are ready to
24:44
kill him before he comes near.
24:46
Now the son of Paul's sister heard of their ambush, so he went and entered the barracks
24:51
and told Paul, Paul called one of the centurions and said, "Take this young man to the Tribune
24:57
for he has something to tell him."
24:58
So he took him, brought him to the Tribune and said, "Paul, the prisoner called me,
25:03
asked me to bring this young man to you and he has something to say to you.
25:07
The Tribune took him by the hand and going aside asked him privately, "What is this that
25:12
you have to tell me?"
25:13
And he said, "The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow
25:19
as though they were going to inquire somewhat more closely about him, but do not be persuaded
25:24
by them.
25:25
For more than 40 of their men are lying in ambush for him, who have bound themselves
25:29
by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they have killed him.
25:32
And now they are ready waiting for your consent."
25:35
So the Tribune dismissed the young man charging him, "Tell no one that you have informed me
25:39
of these things."
25:40
One of the most interesting things to me about this section is we're not told how Paul's
25:46
nephew has this information.
25:49
So did he get a vision?
25:51
Was he like literally a fly on the wall?
25:53
Did they have this discussion in front of him?
25:54
They thought, "We don't know how old his nephew is.
25:56
Is this an adult nephew?
25:57
Is this kid seven years old?
25:59
Did y'all hear or see anything in any commentary or anything?
26:02
Were that give us any more information on the nephew, because I don't think he appears
26:05
anywhere else in Scripture."
26:06
No.
26:07
No, I didn't see anything on that.
26:08
I think he's like a kid, because it does call him a young man, so I think he's old enough
26:13
to be seen as someone who is credible by the Tribune.
26:18
So if a kid went in there, I feel like he would be, "Okay, it's just a kid."
26:22
He wouldn't have really taken that as a credible statement, so he's clearly old enough to give
26:27
one of those.
26:28
It goes back a little bit to the idea we talked about that there are messianic Jews in and
26:35
among this whole group.
26:36
It's kind of gotten mixed together that there are people talking about this stuff, and they
26:40
don't really know who's who and things like that, and it allows him to talk about this,
26:45
because you would assume that he's in favor of Paul, and I didn't know Paul had a sister.
26:51
This is the first time we're hearing about this, but it does communicate this idea that
26:55
we just think, "Oh, it's just Paul."
26:58
And then we realize, "Man, he's got family in this town, and all these people are a part
27:03
of this and intertwined."
27:05
And the fact, I think of the bravery of this kid that whenever he found out, and he says
27:09
go tell him, "That could have gone poorly on his side.
27:13
These guys are trying to kill him, and they find out that you're the one that told it's
27:17
not going to look good for you either."
27:20
I think as well, one thing that we see here in this section is, so this is what it immediately
27:25
brought to mind for me.
27:26
It was Julius Caesar.
27:27
So Julius Caesar being killed, which by the way, where was Julius Caesar killed?
27:34
In Rome, he was killed.
27:36
Right?
27:37
Where in Rome?
27:38
Who nailed it?
27:39
In the library with the candlestick by the mother.
27:41
That's right.
27:42
So most people think he was killed on the floor of the Senate, right?
27:47
But when I took a tour in Rome, they were like, "That day, they had moved the Senate
27:52
proceedings to a place off-site, and so where Julius Caesar was killed by Brutus and Company
27:58
was actually not on the floor of the Senate."
28:00
Well, it technically was on the floor of the Senate because it was the Senate for that day,
28:05
but not on the floor of the Senate where the Senate was normally held.
28:09
But you just think about the level, because essentially what they did, I saw one commentary
28:13
said that these men basically made a suicide pact.
28:16
So this wasn't just like a hunger strike thing.
28:19
No.
28:20
Like we're going to wait for this thing to be done because they're thinking tight city
28:24
streets, there's 40 of us.
28:27
There will be Roman soldiers there.
28:30
Some of us will die, but Paul will also die.
28:32
Yeah.
28:33
Right?
28:34
It's very demonic.
28:35
Yeah, just think about what you would have to do.
28:37
Think about the circumstances where you would be willing to make a suicide pact to kill someone.
28:43
That's the one thing that just kind of struck me to where it's like, you know, because
28:46
some people think my least favorite political candidate, yep, that person needs to die.
28:51
Obviously, we've seen, you know, people try to do that this year, right, to Donald Trump.
28:56
And so I, it just put me in a position to where I was like, these men were so cocksure
29:02
that they had the right idea about who Paul was and what he was here to do and that they
29:07
needed to stamp them out so much so that they were...
29:09
Or die.
29:10
Right.
29:11
And the thing is, is because it's a suicide pact in a couple of different ways.
29:14
They could be killed by a centurion right there on the street, just be strapped down,
29:17
or they can be arrested, bound, and crucified, right?
29:21
Or some other form of Roman execution.
29:24
They won't eat or drink.
29:25
And it mentions that a couple of times, like they meant it, don't eat or drink.
29:30
And I think the commentary I was reading was saying, in their minds, they probably were
29:35
like, hey, we're breaking fast tomorrow to Paul's blood.
29:39
Like, this won't take long.
29:42
We don't eat or drink to make sure we all do it, but hey, it won't.
29:45
This time tomorrow.
29:46
Right.
29:47
We'll be having fun.
29:48
I also found it really interesting that they went to the chief priests, like the chief
29:53
priest.
29:54
And he's like, yep, murder, do it.
29:56
No problem.
29:57
Good luck, fellas.
29:58
There's 40 there you should be able to.
30:00
And then they go to the centurion.
30:02
I think it's why we all, you know, the whole social media thing about the Romans, what do
30:06
guys think about stuff like this?
30:09
Like, what?
30:10
You know, murder and this guy goes out of his way.
30:12
He follows the little kid to go see Paul to go see the next, the next, the next, like
30:17
that.
30:18
That's a whole lot of stuff that he probably doesn't care about, you know, but he went
30:22
out of his way because there's honor there and this is what this my job and I'm going
30:25
to do it.
30:26
And this is the Roman way.
30:27
And this is what we do.
30:28
Yeah.
30:29
Not on my watch.
30:30
Yeah.
30:31
Yeah.
30:32
Yeah.
30:33
When you also got to think what?
30:34
What did this Roman who basically bails Paul out again?
30:36
What is he thinking at this point?
30:38
Because again, we don't see, we don't see it recorded here that the kid said, here's
30:42
how I got this information.
30:43
Here's the information.
30:44
But we see immediately that he, you will, you see here in a second, he trusts the information
30:50
that the kid is right because this could easily be, easily be manipulated information.
30:55
Because that's one of the things that we do in kind of the shadow war between countries
30:59
is we will put out a ton of fake information because we're, we're trying to figure out
31:04
if they're listening.
31:05
And so if they operate on this fake information, we know, okay, they, they took that.
31:09
You see this all the way back, like civil war in different places, there would be messenger
31:13
bags that would be lost in battle with fake battle plans, knowing that someone on the
31:18
other side would be picking that up so that that you could have, you know, during civil
31:22
war during the revolution or something like that, you could have the upper hand in the
31:25
next battle.
31:26
If they operated off of that false intel in a culture that that held honor very highly,
31:32
you have a guy who has a Roman citizen who is, would be considered like someone who would
31:39
get deferential treatment.
31:40
So I think he probably just defaulted to, I got to keep this Roman citizen safe, like,
31:46
so I'm going to just take this and be, and just be cautious about it and just keep this
31:51
guy safe because he's a Roman citizen.
31:54
So he does show some, I mean, this guy does show some wisdom in all this, you know, he's
32:00
not naive about what's going on. He's, he's naive about why it's going on. He's not naive
32:05
about what's going on and what would happen if he doesn't act accordingly, you know.
32:13
Anything else on this section before we move on?
32:15
I actually, can we go back to the, the, the, the section before this was something that
32:22
is just, to your point about the chosen stuff just happens in the flow of scripture that
32:26
you can skip over. But before it says, like in verse 11, it says, the following night,
32:32
the Lord stood by him and said, take courage for as you have testified to the facts about
32:37
me in Jerusalem. So you must testify also in Rome. So in the midst of all this turmoil
32:42
and all this stuff that's going on, people want to kill Paul. Jesus comes and stands
32:47
next to him and says, it's all right. Yeah. Like you're going to be good. Like one or
32:53
two sentences, but how powerful is that? And probably how powerful is that for Paul to
32:57
just hear? Okay. Cool. Thanks.
32:59
Yeah. I know that this won't end here. Yeah. You know, it's Jesus is standing there with
33:04
you saying, you're going to end up in Rome. Okay. Don't know what's going to happen there,
33:09
but now you just get to watch it all play out.
33:12
Well, I'm curious as you bring that up, Matt, for you guys, have you had something come up
33:17
before? I'm assuming that the Lord didn't appear to you by your bedside. Maybe he did
33:22
not don't want to prejudge. Feel free to tell the audience if you did, though, that'd be
33:26
pretty awesome. But like where you felt clear as a day that God delivered you encouragement
33:34
in when you were in a struggle. The one that comes to mind for me, I can't exactly get
33:41
into all the details, but there was a, I think I shared this, Matt with you and maybe with
33:47
some of the other guys, but I was going through a really, really rough patch. There was some
33:51
really crazy stuff happening in my life, none of which was, was my fault or my doing. And
33:57
I was just in this incredibly dark place. And I just did defaulted to what I normally
34:01
did, which is like, all right, I'm just going to kind of veg out and just, you know, scroll
34:04
on my phone and I was scrolling TikTok and this particular video came up. And it was,
34:10
it was one of those weird moments where, well, what was it a couple of weeks where we were
34:13
talking about how things slowed out? Oh, well, like with a baseball, you know, it's like,
34:17
you hear the guy say, no, and then like it's, you know, you feel like your entire situation
34:21
slows down. I felt like I zoned in and if you've done anything in athletics, if you
34:27
ever felt like you were in the zone, like where you couldn't hear your coaches, you couldn't
34:32
hear the crowd, you were just so focused on what was happening. That's what happened to
34:35
me immediately when this, this video started. And I shared the video, I think, you know,
34:40
it was earlier this year on my Instagram, but it was basically like, look, the devil's
34:45
trying to take you out. Robbers don't, don't break into empty houses. But that don't have
34:50
anything of value there. And you know, if God or if Satan can't take you out, he's gonna
34:54
try to wear you out, right? And it was one of those things where I felt like in that exact
34:59
moment, that wasn't just some random, you know, alpha super duper motivation, men's page,
35:05
you know, the algorithm thing. That was God communicating to me in that moment in my time
35:10
of need where I was as low as low can get, not knowing exactly what to do next. And it
35:15
was like, Hey man, like I'm here, but you also need to recognize your enemies after you right
35:22
now. But he doesn't have to win, right? You could let him win. But like, I've got you,
35:28
like, will you just rely on me a little bit? And so that's something for me where in this
35:33
exact scenario, it's like, I got something I didn't ask for. I wasn't on my knees on my
35:38
bedside praying God, just give me a sign and then he delivered a sign. It's like, Oh my gosh,
35:42
that was cool. It was whenever I wasn't really looking for it. I think God can
35:46
obviously come and stand next to us and speak audibly to us, but to quote our good friend,
35:52
Joby, God is sovereign over the ends and the means to achieve those ends. And I think more
35:59
often than not, and I've had this play out in my life many times, it's the people around you
36:05
that you have cultivated relationships with or that are in your circle that come and be
36:13
become that comfort to you and help you through those times and to throw throw back a little bit
36:20
a couple of weeks ago. I think to look at a situation like Frodo taking the ring up the mountain,
36:28
like he is in a desperate place. And I think in that story, God uses someone who's walking side
36:35
by side with him to be that hands and feet of Jesus to say, I've got you, I'm encouraging you,
36:41
I'm comforting you, and I'm going to carry you. And I think we can look really earnestly and really
36:48
hard for God to do some random miraculous, like out of the ordinary physical thing,
36:57
and then we miss the opportunity to really lean into like our brothers and sisters in Christ who
37:03
are right there who are doing the exact same thing, but it's just not that like spiritual,
37:10
kind of, you know what I mean? So I think we should be open to that and be looking for those
37:16
types of things, because that's often what God uses. Anything else for you guys, where you maybe
37:23
feel like God was communicating to you, giving you comfort like we see here in verse 11?
37:28
I have another example. So my life drastically changed from a spiritual perspective
37:36
to where I like most of what I know about the Bible, like I've learned over the last four years.
37:45
And I was very spiritually and theologically shallow leading up to 2020. And like, I mean,
37:55
we're talking 180 on a lot of things. And Caitlin will tell you my wife that we were very similar
38:02
in that. And after COVID, we kind of had some things during 2020, 2021 that kind of were shoved
38:10
in our face that made us ask some really, really hard questions, brought up some things that were
38:15
really just difficult. And there were times that I can look back on where I wasn't actively pursuing
38:22
answers, but God was putting them in front of me. And about the same time without talking to each
38:28
other, we were both seeking theological truths and to understand God's word better. And we are both
38:37
getting into the word more at the same time. And then there was a point where we were like,
38:42
oh my gosh, we're doing this together. And it was like a light bulb switch just turned on. And again,
38:51
a lot of times it wasn't something that I was actively pursuing, but God was like, come on,
38:55
come on. And I could look back and go, man, he was pulling me along and showing look opening
39:00
my eyes to this stuff. And so I think that's a pretty good example for sure.
39:07
So I do have an experience that I feel really uncomfortable talking about. I've only shared it
39:14
with two people. And I won't go into the whole thing because I still process what it means to me.
39:21
There was, I'm trying to think through like the things that were happening in my life around this
39:28
time. But I think a lot of, a lot of stuff for me was going on as far as uncertainty of the redemption
39:37
of my salvation along with a period of time that I had fallen away or
39:46
in my life was in rejection of what I knew God's call on it was. And those things were
39:56
rapidly, I was, it was rapidly correcting. I was feeling a newness, but there was some scripture
40:04
that I was studying that really, really bothered me and really sent me to a place that, that I just
40:11
had, I was unsure, like, what do you really think of me? Like, can, can I still be yours? Have I,
40:20
have I put that away? The scripture, I believe it's in James about, you know, that the blood of
40:24
Christ cannot save again. And I think I was working through a lot of that and I've worked through that
40:29
with some pastors talking to me through some of the caveats of that and where I stand, you know,
40:34
it's a lot more firm, but it put me at a place that just broken in contriteness. I have no standing
40:40
with God, zero standing with God in the sense of there is nothing about me that deserves to be in
40:48
heaven. But my only thing that I will rest on is whenever I come before Christ, before judgment,
40:55
that I will just be crying out the name of Jesus and just begging for the mercy that he'd paid on
41:03
the cross to affect me. And so, anyways, that's a lot of context around it, but I did one, one night,
41:11
I, whatever you want to call it, I won't get into a vision, a dream or a trance. That's, that's
41:19
really what I mean, a trance describes it perfectly was that like what you said about that focusing
41:24
moment that everything just slows down. So I would describe it as almost like whenever you
41:30
see in a movie when a bomb goes off and people's ears are ringing, everything's kind of coming back
41:36
in focus and people are saying something to you, but you're not quite with it yet to hear their
41:44
voice and then all of a sudden you start hearing it and it's a little shuffled and you don't know
41:47
what it is. So I, without getting too much in it, I had a moment like that where someone was at my
41:55
bedside and this was happening. I was terrified, like utterly terrified. It was a weird moment that
42:03
like, I felt like whoever that was had like, I understood power, like immense power and in this
42:11
zoning in of my mind and the words that were coming out of his mouth became clear and it was one set
42:19
of words back to back. And I realized all of a sudden that it was calling me a name and this is
42:29
weird, didn't plan on talking about this, but the only way I could describe it is if you had amnesia
42:37
and you didn't know what your name was and then you heard it for the first time and you just felt
42:42
like, I never knew what it was, but that's, that's it. And there's some other stuff to it, super weird.
42:50
I came back to, woke my wife up freaked out, I got up and I was up like all the rest of the night,
43:00
couldn't go back to sleep, you know, and would call it whatever you want. But for me, what it was,
43:06
it gave me a piece to say that God has a word for me or a name that sounds familiar to me
43:15
and that once he gives me that name, that is forever my name. Sorry. So that
43:22
reminds me of Sam talked about a couple weeks ago, Jacob wrestling with God, he wrestles all night
43:29
and then he's given this name. He was a scoundrel. He was a, he was kind of, he was just a low life,
43:35
not good dude. And then he wrestles with God and God says, now you will be called Israel.
43:43
I think, man, I really appreciate you sharing that. That's a really powerful story, but that also,
43:49
it should be a call for us to continuously preach the gospel to ourselves because we need the gospel
43:57
just as much now after we know that we've been saved and we stop listening to John MacArthur,
44:02
tell us, you know, what the assurance of salvation is because we've all been there where it's like,
44:06
okay, am I, am I really safe? I don't know. But it's good to always preach that to ourselves
44:13
and that that old hymn, I love that old hymn, a sinless Savior died. So my sinful soul was
44:21
counted free that God the just was satisfied to look on him and pardon me. And what you're talking
44:27
about, I mean, right on the blood of Christ, there's nothing within us and we can rest in that.
44:34
And that should, that should be the easy yoke to carry that, okay, I don't have to do anything
44:39
because I am covered by the blood. So I appear white before before God. So yeah, we should always
44:48
be preaching that to ourselves for sure. Thanks for the therapy guys. As soon as you brought up
44:54
that question, I was just, I blanked out on everything y'all said in between. I was just so
44:59
nervous. I was like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, we're not going here, but.
45:03
So we did. Can you share the name?
45:07
I don't want it. It won't mean anything to anybody else, but I don't even know.
45:12
I think the way that you described it, though, is very interesting. Like if you had in me just
45:18
didn't know what was happening and then you hear your name and it's just right. It's like the only
45:22
thing that can be true is that in that exact moment is more real than my own name. Well,
45:27
but I don't know, super, super weird, but I do think God for it, like it, it took me a while to
45:32
kind of process on can't should I feel do what can I feel comfortable with that? Like it's not
45:38
just weird. Like can I feel comfortable with it? And internally I've become more comfortable,
45:43
comfortable with not understanding all of it, not understanding that moment, but being okay that
45:50
it was a moment nonetheless. So if I may even pride just a little bit, what were the action,
45:57
not action items here? I am talking like a middle manager at some stupid company, but like,
46:01
what is the, what were the takeaways for you to where like, okay, that was weird. You process it,
46:08
you talk about it with your bride, maybe you talk about it with, you say you mentioned it to two
46:13
people. So you talk about it with them, but what what tangible action things shifted or changed?
46:19
Were there things that you started or stopped doing based on this incredibly powerful moment
46:24
they had? Yeah, I think, I think for me, it was the the piece, the piece that he knows that he knows
46:34
my name, like he knew it before I knew it, and that he has it there for me. And I think I needed
46:40
that security to feel like to survive the struggle I was going through in the doubts of how will
46:51
this turn out for one like me? Yeah, man. Well, we're not in the game of comparative stories,
46:58
but Sam, if you'd like to follow what we just had just there. So got anything, make it a good
47:05
at this point. I can't follow that story. But your story is your story. So I don't even want to read
47:11
the comments to come out and about this. Oh, dude, you don't do it post and ghost, baby. Like, I
47:16
wouldn't have changed what I would have said had I knowed what your commentary would have been.
47:20
So you can take your comment and show it. Yes, agreed. Now my was really young. I don't know,
47:28
seven or eight. And we're going on our trip to Minnesota. We drive up there every year. And so
47:33
helping dad get the car ready, changing the oil, checking the tires, checking the brakes,
47:38
all that stuff. And all week he'd been talking about how like, we don't always understand everything.
47:45
God's in control, right? All week that's going on. And now we're getting ready for the trip. And
47:50
we take off. We double checked everything. And five minutes into the drive, the car breaks down.
47:55
And he's furious, right? You know, dad's furious. What in the world I checked everything. This
48:02
shouldn't happen. Went outside, double checked oil, you know, everything. Get back in the car
48:08
starts right up and we drive off a little bit later. We come to this lineup of cars.
48:14
He's like, come on Sam. So we get out and go up and see what happened about two minutes ago.
48:18
Car came over all the lanes. I missed everybody somehow. And like, as a kid,
48:25
I almost told my dad, like, you don't know why this happens, you know, because he'd been saying
48:30
it all week. And he's mad. So I kept my mouth shut. And then, you know, he kind of looked at me
48:36
when when the guy was like, yeah, about two minutes ago. So that's about how long we stopped for.
48:40
And we had a little moment, but I'd already had it, right? Like I this the right away. I was like,
48:46
Oh, my Lord, like God's in control. He knew what he's doing. Like that car should have broke down.
48:50
I wasn't young kid, but I understand we just checked it. Right. Stops starts again. So
48:55
from real young that I can it that stayed with me made a huge imprint on my life that God's in
49:02
control. He knows what he's doing. And it the piece is the right word for it. And it's helped me a
49:07
lot over the years. One one thing that I hope I've I have no argument from scripture that this
49:13
will be the case. But I hope that there's some sort of room in heaven that's got some highlight
49:19
reels of stuff that should have happened. Yes. Right. So you're mad because you went to your car.
49:25
Oh crap. I left my phone inside and you go inside to get your phone. But if you had had your phone,
49:29
you would have been at that intersection. And as you're saying that, Sam, I don't know if you
49:33
remember this, Matt. So for those of you that are new to the show, Matt and I went to college together.
49:37
We've known each other since 2004. One of my longest standing relationships. However,
49:42
there is one guy. I mean, I'm here. I would do the same. Russell Eussis has known me
49:48
about a week longer than Matt Grassmeyer has. So you can continue your story.
49:52
All right. It's not here's it's the minutes. Yeah. Oh geez. Hey, y'all can fight for me later.
49:58
Okay. You can fight for my heart. He's all yours. Okay. So Matt at one point, Matt's had of he had
50:04
a few majors in college, but one of them was early childhood education and made it a good
50:08
way through that program, decided to switch it up. But in that you had a tremendous heart
50:13
for kids and you know, you were always like Mr. Matt and you would be the guy at the church and
50:18
you would be kind of the Mr. fun guy for for all the kids. And it was just part of who you were.
50:22
It's part of who you still are. And so you and I were the spearheads of this program that we
50:28
called Bronco buddies. Yep. And so we built this program based on so the president of the
50:32
university at the time was Roger Webb. And he had these three C's of University of Central
50:36
Columbia. Do you remember him? And I'll do that to me. I love Roger Webb. You were in TLC.
50:42
You're supposed to know this community. Caretor and
50:51
chose. Anybody not watch on YouTube. I just lean closer. Like I wasn't wearing headphones
51:01
and I could hear him better by getting closer to character community civility. The three C's
51:08
of for University of Central Oklahoma during Roger Webb's tenure, character civility community.
51:13
So we build this curriculum based off of the three C's. And this was going to be a fifth grade
51:19
program in an elementary school. We originally tried to pitch it at kind of a lower income area
51:24
and it didn't quite get accepted. But we got this school. I think it was the newest elementary
51:29
school at the time. It was the newest school. What was the name of school? I already forgot.
51:32
West West. We have West Phil Elementary on pin and Danforth in Edmond, Oklahoma, pin and second.
51:39
If anybody wants to visit. But anyway, so it had been a school for a year or two at that point.
51:45
And so basically once a week, we would go there to these fifth graders and we would teach them
51:50
some sort of a lesson because I think there were five or six lessons under each C.
51:53
And we had this activity and then we had these quotes and all this kind of stuff and it was
51:58
great fun. So we're driving back to campus one of these times and I'm at the stoplight and I'm the
52:04
first car at the stoplight. And so I'm always watching the lights and as soon as it turns green,
52:10
I go right as soon as I turn green. But for whatever reason, I'm driving you're in the passenger seat.
52:14
The lights green and I'm mildly distracted. I don't know if I was messing with the radio or
52:20
talking to you or something like that. And then I look up and I get that immediate angst of oh crap,
52:26
the car's not moving and there's a green light. I'm an idiot because there's cars behind me and
52:30
all that. You want to horn yourself. Right. It's like you moron to it. And in that exact moment,
52:36
a truck goes flying through the intersection flying. They were speeding to get through a red light
52:44
that had already been read well before they got to the intersection. Okay. So this wasn't like,
52:50
you know, a stale green light that goes yellow and then you're like, oh crap, you kind of get caught
52:53
in the middle of the intersection. It was super duper red for a couple of seconds. And then this
52:58
car goes careening through speeding through the intersection. Had I been paying attention,
53:03
had I not been distracted by whatever it was I was distracted by, I get hit for sure.
53:08
Like that's that's the only way for sure. And then probably at my funeral, it's going to be,
53:14
you know, his last moment he spent dedicated to teaching the kids of tomorrow, all that.
53:18
But there's like, there's no James. There's no Eli. There's no one on a life. Like, and again,
53:24
you don't want to put too much grandeur on your own life. And who knows I could have survived it
53:28
and who the heck knows what life looks like. But that was another one of the situations,
53:32
as you were describing that Sam to where like, I saw the consequences right in front of me and
53:37
went right through the intersection. But how many times has that happened where we didn't have the
53:42
foggiest idea or clue? I really hope God shows that to us to be like, Hey, remember all those
53:47
times when you didn't think I had you, you jerk, you jack wagon. Yeah, here's like a hundred examples.
53:52
So sit here and watch this is how it could have worked out. Why I'm God, I could do parallel
53:57
universe stuff. This is how it could have worked out. But it didn't you're welcome.
53:59
Did your agreeableness go up after that? No, still zero. Like, I don't need to agree with anybody
54:04
about anything ever. Everyone knows that. I think it's hard because I think that there are,
54:09
so put it on the opposite side of that is I think we have to accept the the bad outcomes
54:18
with the same. Yes, with the same reverence to say, which is really hard. And you don't say
54:26
that to people whenever they're going through the bad outcomes. Yeah. But on the back side of them,
54:31
you know, we can say, man, I was lucky there. Like, I almost wonder how many times, like,
54:38
to your point, whenever you get to heaven, if there could be a real that that is the opposite
54:43
that says, how many times did you think you were which goes along with it, but that that we really
54:50
get to see the picture the the Jewish Pharisees used to or Terry talks about this. I'm saying
54:56
Jewish Pharisees, but this the Jewish people have a a phrase or a saying that says, I'm going to
55:04
butcher this. So I'm going to do a what do you do for sorry, Terry? Don't tell Terry. Don't tell
55:08
Terry. It is it is that if you knew what God, if you knew what God knew, you may you may have
55:16
acted as God has acted. And the idea that things are so broad on those times that it's really hard
55:24
to do it during the bad times, it's really easy to do it during the good times when you get
55:28
missed by a truck. But just this overarching idea of kind of going back to broken and contrite,
55:35
like, I don't know, I don't know. But but I'm yours and I'm here and you know, kind of having
55:43
that attitude towards things, right? Got all things work together for his will, right? Yeah,
55:48
his good not not our good. That's right. All right. Sam, you've read who else read at the beginning?
55:54
I also spoke words out of my mouth. Oh, great. I remember that. You did a great job, not right
55:59
then. But like earlier, yeah, you did a great job with words. So Matt, how about you close
56:03
us out with more words? Let's do 23 through 35. Then he called two of the centurions and said,
56:08
get ready 200 soldiers with 70 horsemen and 200 spearmen to go as far as Caesarea at the third hour
56:15
of the night. Also provide mounts for Paul to ride and bring him safely to Felix, the governor.
56:22
And he wrote a letter to this effect. Claudius, lysius, to his excellency, the governor Felix
56:27
greetings. This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them when I came upon them
56:34
with the soldiers and rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman citizen and desiring to know
56:40
the charge for which they were accusing him. I brought him down to the council. I found that he
56:46
was being accused about questions of their law, but charged with nothing deserving death or imprisonment.
56:52
And when it was disclosed to me that there would be a plot against the man, I sent him to you at once
56:58
ordering his accusers also to state before you what they have against him. So the soldiers,
57:03
according to their instructions, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatras.
57:09
Nailed it. Looks good. Yeah. And on the next day, they returned to the barracks, letting the
57:15
horsemen go on with him when they had come to Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor.
57:20
They presented Paul also before him. On reading the letter, he asked what province he was from
57:26
and when he learned that he was from Cilicia, he said, "I will give you a hearing when your accusers
57:33
arrive." And he commanded him to be guarded in Herod's praetorium. So we don't have a lot of time
57:38
here left, but I mean, 200 soldiers, 70 horsemen, 200 spearmen, and that was a 60 mile trip, okay,
57:46
because Caesarea was 60 miles from Jerusalem. So again, I keep saying it, but the importance of
57:54
being a Roman citizen at this time, because again, there was a lot of conquered people at this time,
58:00
there were a lot of people that were enslaved, but to be born a Roman citizen, look at the treatment
58:05
he got. Well, I wonder too, if he's still in jail, I imagine they probably don't get to ride on horses,
58:12
and he's given a couple horses. Yeah, yeah, which is unbelievable. God shows up and says,
58:19
"Hey, I'm going to stand by you. Don't worry, this will be great." And then he's on a horse the next day.
58:23
You know, he wasn't expecting that, especially after the day he had.
58:28
And with this letter from Lecius, he basically says that, "Hey, Felix, I didn't charge this guy
58:35
with anything." So without saying it, he basically says, "Yeah, I don't see any fault in this man.
58:41
Like this guy's innocent, but he's essentially in your jurisdiction now. I bow to your authority."
58:48
Yeah, and how cool that he's got his letter. I don't know if Luke had a copy of it, how that
58:53
goes down. Yeah, so some people were trying to speculate, okay, how did he get the letter?
59:01
Did he only get part of it? Because this isn't a full letter, obviously this letter would definitely
59:06
not have been this short between Roman rulers and things like that. It might have been,
59:12
though. They sent him out like that night, right? He got the, "Hey, they're going to kill them."
59:16
And then by the third hour, they're on their way. Well, I think there's some speculation too.
59:20
So the idea that when he sent this letter out that the exception or the rule would have been,
59:29
he should have been released right then, but Felix wasn't wanting to... It's the same blame game
59:34
we saw before. He wasn't wanting to be on the bad side of the Pharisees, Sadducees, stuff like that.
59:40
So he gets this letter that basically just says, "Hey, I'm just getting this guy out of town.
59:44
There was some trouble around him. Don't really have anything against him. I'm just sending him
59:47
to you to get him out of town." And more than likely, he should have just been released and he wasn't.
59:53
But there is some later on, we see that there's some uncertainty on
59:58
what Felix and his wife were some of these people affected by what Paul said. They seem to be a
1:00:06
little bit more than just dipping their toes into wanting to hear what he has to say. And so I wonder
1:00:11
if that doesn't play out to why they had this letter. By the end of this, when they ended up sending him,
1:00:16
he seemed to respect him, let his friends come in, let them care for him. It makes sense that if he
1:00:23
had some type of acknowledgement that maybe this guy is for real about what he's saying,
1:00:27
he'd learn to respect him enough that it would make sense that the letter would have to come
1:00:31
from Felix. Yeah, that or the Rome thing are both. Yeah, certainly possible. Well, guys,
1:00:37
that's our discussion for Acts 23. But come back here next week where we will dig into Acts 24.
1:00:43
But before we let you go, we are going to do a quick resilience boost. Adam Daunton,
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