You're listening to audio from Faith Church located on the North Side Of Indianapolis. If you'd like to check out more information about our church and ministry, you can find us at faithchurchindy.com. Now here's the teaching. Alright. Hey, everybody.

Good morning. My name's pastor Joey. I mean, I I know I say this every week. I'm excited to jump into this text with you because, you know, I got to spend all week studying it, and there's so much in here to share. I I never have time to share it all.

But anyway, we're jumping into Acts twenty four and twenty five. Last week, we finally got there to the first official actual court trial for Paul. Maybe you remember we spent the last few weeks on our walk through the book of Acts following the story of Paul. He's the church's first great missionary church planter. He was mobbed by an angry crowd in Jerusalem, taken into custody by the Roman garrison, shipped off to the capital city of Caesarea under guard to avoid an assassination plot.

And finally, last week after a trial where his accusers laid out their case and Paul laid out his defense, we got a verdict. Paul is still in prison. Actually, no verdict. The judge wanted to curry favor with the Jewish authorities, so he adjourned the trial. He says, I need more information.

That's where we pick it up this week. But before we jump in, let me pray for us. Father, as we open your word, we ask, show us who you are and show us what you call us to do and to be as followers of Jesus. We pray in his name. Amen.

So if you were here last week, you you remember I hope you remember. We talked from the story of of Paul's trial, the scene in Acts 24, about how we might discern when trusting God means stepping back, keeping quiet, letting god work through circumstances or or other people? Like, how do we know when we're supposed to do that versus when trusting god means stepping up, speaking up, letting God work through us. You know, I chatted with a bunch of you after services last week and and some of you are saying, thanks, but you know, I'm not really struggling about whether or not to speak up or, you know, or to stay silent or whether I should do something or do nothing. I've said what I need to say.

I think. I've done what I need to do. I I think. And I've been praying, and I'm just waiting waiting on God to show up. Like, lord, do something.

I'm trusting you to work. So are you gonna work? And if so, when? I was talking with someone this this just this last week about God's timing, about how God works on his own schedule, not on our schedules, how God works when he wants to, not necessarily when we want to, and she said, you know, God is never early and he's never late. And I jumped in.

He arrives precisely when he means to. Now you may or may not agree with me, but I happen to think that's one of God's most annoying traits. Actually, it's anyone's most annoying trait, if we can be honest. Other people are on their own schedules. Right?

Not on my schedule. If you've ever tried to get a toddler to church on time, you know what I'm talking about. It's so annoying. Other people are on their own schedules, not on my schedule. God is on his own schedule, not on my schedule.

And it says a lot about us, I think, when when we realize we find ourselves questioning whether or not God really cares about us based on whether or not he does exactly what we want exactly when we want it done. Or at least does something sometime soon. Well, in the two scenes from Paul's story that we're considering this morning, Paul's finding himself in this same kind of exact kind of situation. In the first scene at the end of chapter 24, everything is happening much much too slowly. Okay, Lord.

Where are you? And then in the second scene, the first half of chapter 25, everything is happening much much too quickly. Like, okay, Lord. I get it. Slow down.

Let let me process for a minute. So we're gonna take next twenty minutes or so, walk through this story together, both scenes. And after after each scene, I want us to pause for just a moment to to think about how what we're seeing here might might help us, give us some guidance or direction when we find ourselves in our own waiting periods, waiting for God to show up? And then what do we do when he does show up? How do we trust?

How do we trust God when when nothing is happening? How do we trust God when everything is happening all at once? Well, let's jump in and find out. We pick up the first scene in Acts 24 verse 22. By the way, it's on page one forty four if you're following along in your scripture journal or, page eleven ten if you grabbed the black bible underneath the seat in front of you.

If you brought your own bible, good on you. I can't help you, but it's, I don't know, it's near the end somewhere in Acts. That's about as helpful as I can get. Anyway, we're picking up chapter four verse 22, but Felix, having a rather accurate knowledge of the way, in other words, he's seeing into what's happening here in this trial, he puts everyone off saying, well, when Lysias the tribute comes down, then I'll decide your case. Paul has just finished his defense, but Felix is in a tight spot.

He doesn't wanna alienate the Jewish authorities. If they're not on his side, he can't govern effectively. Sure. There's the way things are supposed to work legally, but there's also the way things actually work socially. He needs them and declaring Paul innocent and dismissing his case could create a rift that might not be easily overcome.

On the other hand, they're the ones who told them Paul is the ringleader of a sizable movement focused in Jerusalem but extending around the world. Condemning this guy could cause further instability, further riots. And if it's true that the movement extends outside the borders of Judea, there's no way Felix wants unrest out there to be traced back to a decision that he made here. See, you see, he's stuck. You can't condemn him.

You can't free him. I know. We just we need more information. Let's just let's just do a little bit more investigation. So alright.

We'll decide this when when Lysias comes down. Never mind the fact he's already written a letter. We'll we'll just wait. Now Felix isn't done with Paul. He's keeping him in military custody.

He's just not willing to side his case, but he wants to keep hearing from him. There was something Paul said in his defense that kinda piques his interest. Remember Paul is a a Roman citizen, actually, fairly high status Roman citizen. And he'd he'd mentioned in his defense that he the only reason he came to Jerusalem was to bring money, funds for the church for famine relief. Maybe there's more where that came from.

Alright. Let's see if we squeeze this guy a little bit and see if any money comes out. So verse 24, Luke tells us that Felix, along with his Jewish wife, Drusilla, they send for Paul on the pretext of hearing him speak more about the way, about what faith in Jesus as Messiah. Like, what does this mean? What does this all look like?

And and Paul seizes the opportunity. He never shies away from a chance to explain the good news. Jesus is Israel's Messiah, that by his death and his resurrection, he's he's become the lord of the whole world. And to describe, what what does that mean in terms of justice and morality? About the call to live a life of of self control in light of god's perfect righteousness.

Explain about the judgment that's coming at the end of all things when god will condemn those who preferred their own definition of justice over against his. These aren't topics chosen at random. It's been a long time since Felix has practiced any sort of self control. The stories are notorious. It's been a long time since he sought to align himself with any sense of justice or morality that was higher than just what he wanted right now.

For him, the only judgment he was looking forward to was coming from Caesar, who would tell him, you know, well done, good and faithful servant, and reward him with rest and retirement or see his failures and condemn him with death or exile. And so when Paul is calmly explaining, you know, there's an authority even higher than Caesar that you and I and all of us will one day be accountable to, Felix is like, alright. That's enough of that. Okay. Shut it down.

Now whether he ever allowed Paul to to bring up these topics again or or he just kept the conversation going, but, you know, on other topics still, he sent for Paul often, bringing him for conversation not because he was interested in hearing more from him, but he figured if he gave him enough opportunities, eventually, Paul would be like, you know, maybe maybe a few shekels could move this case along a little bit. Paul didn't take the bait. And two years later, Felix's time in office ends in scandal, and Paul is still in prison, still waiting. And what do we do when when we're still waiting? When god isn't coming through or or at least not coming through, you know, now in the way we we want him to?

See, Paul has a in this scene, he still has a measure of of freedom. He's in Roman military prison, but his friends can visit him. They can bring him what he needs, but still prison is prison. Right? There's this sense of, like, for two years, Luke covers it in one verse, but he's just marking time, waiting for something to happen, praying daily, God, when are you gonna show up?

When are you gonna do something? Paul's already had his opportunity. He's made his defense, and now he's trusting God to work. And trusting God always means patience. Right?

Because his schedule is not the same as my schedule, but still, one author puts it describing this scene. Even so, this is getting ridiculous. Like, two years. So what do we do when we're waiting? I think even in this short vignette we can pick up a few lessons for ourselves.

What do we do when we're waiting for God to act? Because in Paul's actions here we see at least, you know, he does what he can. When you're waiting for God to act, you still do what you can. He didn't have much freedom, but he used what he had. He spent time with friends.

He encouraged people from a distance. He read. He studied. I'm guessing the church leaders in Caesarea, those that could make the trip up from other areas around from Jerusalem, they learned a lot from him in conversation over these last two years. Most scholars even agree these two years is probably when Luke mapped out most of this story from two years of nothing but being able to talk with Paul about everything that had happened.

So he did what he could. When you're in a waiting period waiting for God to show up, you still do what you can. And conversely, you you don't do what you can't do. Right? What you shouldn't do.

You do what you can, but you don't do what you shouldn't do. Now we don't really know how wealthy Paul himself might have been. He was a Roman citizen. His family had performed some sort of meritorious service to the Roman army, so he has enough wealth or at least access to enough funds that later he's able to rent rooms in Rome. He can afford to pay for the trip that gets him there.

Maybe that money was from his own assets. Maybe it was from ministry funds. Either way, he could have afforded the kind of bribe Felix was looking for. You know, just a few dollars, Paul, and you can be on your way. It's just the the cost of doing business.

But he didn't take the bait. You don't do what you can't do. Trying to change the situation, change your circumstances through ways that are outside of God's will. When we get desperate for God to show up and he hasn't yet, it's it's tempting to try to come up with ways to to make things happen, to force something to happen. Even if the methods we're tempted to employ might not be entirely technically biblical.

But at least from what we see here in Paul, you do what you can, but you also you don't do what you you can't do. That's what we see in these two years. So where are you? If you're in a season of of marking time, running out the clock, waiting for god to show up in a holding pattern, thinking, god, I trust you, but this is getting a little ridiculous. We do what we can.

We don't do what we can't. God is faithful. He doesn't show up early. He doesn't show up late. He shows up exactly when he intends to, which finally comes and happens in chapter 25 verse one.

The second scene picks up in just a flurry of action. If one verse covered two years, now the next 12 verses are gonna cover just twelve days. Verse one now, three days after Festus, this is the new governor has come on the scene after he's arrived in the province. He goes up to Jerusalem from Caesarea. This and he's glad handing the chief priest, the Jewish elite, the principal men.

And they immediately lay out their case against Paul. They're like, hey, priority number one. You've been holding in custody this guy that should have been killed two years ago. Could you hear the case for us, please? They, Luke tells us, ask as a favor against Paul that Festus summoned Paul to Jerusalem.

Why don't you just tell him to make his way on down here? Pay no attention to the robbers behind the cliff. Festus isn't falling for it. Now whether he knows they're planning to ambush him or not, we don't know. Luke tells us, but, presumably Festus doesn't know.

But he does know he can't just transfer Paul's case from one jurisdiction to another without at least hearing the case himself in person. So instead, he invites he said, guys, I'm not gonna we're not going down that road, but if you want if you wanna keep pressing this, you can send some reps back with me to Caesarea. I'll do you the favor of hearing this case first. I'll pick it up first thing. So eight days later, maybe ten days later, Festus returns to Caesarea.

He's got a group of Jewish representatives in tow. And on the very next day, the first day that he officially sits down on the seat of justice and begins to hear cases, the first case he chooses to hear is Paul's. Now unfortunately for Paul, it's it's a restart. It's all the way back to the beginning of a brand new case. It's a whole new trial.

All the accusations, the defenses, the arguments, the counter arguments, they were all already made two years ago, but that was in front of the last guy. Festus is in charge now. He's gonna hear the case again from the beginning. So again, verse seven, Paul's accusers surround him just like before. Luke tells us they bring many and serious charges against him, which they cannot prove.

Just like before, Paul gets to defend himself. He's like, I didn't break any Jewish laws. I didn't defile the temple. I didn't even break any of Caesar's laws. But Festus is brand new.

It would behoove him to earn a little bit of favor with the Jewish authorities. He needs them. Actually, they're the reason the last guy was sacked, so it'd be good to get on their good side. How about a proposal? Paul, what would you say to relocating this whole thing?

Why don't we take the trial to Jerusalem, and we'll just we'll hold it there. Now it's not entirely clear what Festus is proposing. He could be just suggesting that they simply relocate the trial. Hey, we could do it here. We can just as easily do it there, which wouldn't seem like a big deal, but it's still it's not great for Paul.

Prison's not fun, but at least in the fortress, he's safe. Last time the Jewish authorities asked that he be transferred from one place to another, it was because they had a plot to, you know, ambush him and kill him, and they're just doing the same thing again. We don't know if Paul knows that or not, but, you know, when someone asks for you to be brought out of the open country, lightly defended, suspicions get raised. So it could be that, or it could be that Festus is suggesting, hey, Paul. How about look.

This seems like it's an internal thing. I'm just gonna transfer you down to the Jewish courts. The Sanhedrin will hear you. What do you say? And he's like, oh, no.

You remember the last time he was in front of the Sanhedrin? About got ripped into two pieces by the two factions that were literally pulling him one way or the other arguing over whether or not he was innocent or guilty. It doesn't matter what defense he brings up. He's gonna end up executed. And at this point, you know, the the third alternative would be to to set him free, but I'm not even sure at this point Paul wants to be freed.

If he's just ushered out the back gate undefended, there's little guarantee he'd make it out of Caesarea alive. Not with the number of times that groups of men have taken vows to see him killed. So he's, like, stuck between a rock and a hard place and the Whirlpool with only one bad option left. Verse 11. You guys have a long speech in verse 10.

We get a real summary of it, but he's, look, I haven't done anything wrong. You know it. They know it. If if there's nothing to their charges against me, he says no one can give me up to them. That word give me up has this it's the word for no one can do them a favor by turning me over.

I appeal to Caesar. And, like, that, case is over. It's a last ditch card. It's not the card you play first. See, Paul is well within his rights to appeal to Caesar, not he's not appealing for him to overthrow a guilty verdict or change a sentence.

He's saying no verdict has been passed, but he's tired. Like, this thing has been dragging on for so long. None of the options are any good at all, so Caesar needs to hear this whole case from the beginning. Again, it's a smart move, but not without its risks. It's expensive.

When you appeal to Caesar, you're the one responsible for paying to get yourself there. So Paul's gonna have to pay for himself, his companions, a Roman guard, all of it to get him to Rome. And Caesar, I mean, by the time he gets there there's no guarantee of a good outcome. It's Caesar who at this point it's Nero. Nero might have his own reasons for wanting the case to go this way or go that way or disappear altogether.

You remember some of the accusations were that Paul is creating disturbances all across the empire, and Paul essentially argued, like, that's outside the jurisdiction of just Judea here. Well, now you're going to the highest court. It's within the jurisdiction. But it's better than starting over in Jerusalem. It's better than being killed along the way.

It's better than being shoved out into the streets and killed before you make it home. Plus, maybe this is how Jesus is planning to get him to Rome. You remember the promise is that Paul is gonna testify to Jesus in Rome. In an audience with the Caesar, Paul will have a chance to speak about the good news of Jesus to the most powerful person in the world. Would you pass that up if you're a professional missionary?

I mean, it's worth a shot. So Luke tells us, verse 12, Festus confers with his counsel, his advisors, and it's a pretty good guess. There aren't very many Roman citizens in Israel. This is Festus's first day on the job. This is unprecedented for him.

Like, can he do that? Can he appeal? I think so. Do we have to let him? You know what?

This is a really good way to get this off of my plate and onto somebody else's. He can avoid offending the Jewish authorities that he needs on his side. Hey. I'm sorry. I would have found him guilty, but he appealed to Caesar.

There was nothing I could do. So to Caesar, you have appealed. To Caesar you shall go. After two years of daily, God, when are you gonna when are you gonna do something? What are you gonna do, Lord?

Two years of marking time. Now everything is happening just all at once. Paul is suddenly he's thrust out of a season of waiting on God for two years into a season of trusting. Okay, God. I think you're at work in of all the bad choices, I chose the least bad one in a single day of just frantic activity, which kind of seems to be maybe the way God works.

It feels like nothing forever and then everything all at once. What I noticed about Paul in this second scene, this one day of just crazy activity, is he never he never veers from his mission, from his calling. You know, in those two years of waiting day after day after day, he did what he could, didn't do what he couldn't, and here in this one day of activity, he does what he's called to do. Actually, I think he's he'd been doing that for the two years before as well. He was called to these were Jesus's words to him.

I'm calling you to to share the the to testify to me in front of Jews and Gentiles, the kings and rulers. And he did it with Felix every chance he got. He did what he could. He didn't do what he couldn't do. He did what he was called to do.

And it was two chapters before this that Jesus promised, Paul, you're gonna testify to the gospel. You're gonna talk about me in Rome. Paul's kicking himself. He should have asked when. Just so he knew.

Right? Okay. I'm gonna testify to you in Rome. Any idea on the timeline? I would just love to know.

So what do what do we do when we're when we're marking time, when we're in a waiting season, when we're in a holding pattern, When we're in that time of waiting, we've done what we can, we've said what we can, we've prayed what we can, and we're we're just waiting. Okay. Lord, now what? Well, we do what we can while we wait. We encourage one another.

We we work at what we can. We build relationships. We talk about Jesus. We don't do what we can't do, try to massage the situation or make things happen outside of the means and ways in which God has ordained us to work as followers of Jesus. We do what we're called to do.

We know our calling. Right? We We're everyday missionaries, each and every one of us. Whether we're in a season where God is visible and active and things are happening, or we're in a season where God is maybe working not so visibly, or at least not in the way or with the timing that we would like. Season doesn't change our calling.

Our calling is still to be people walking the way of Jesus for the sake of those wandering without him, inviting others to find life in Jesus. Because God is faithful. If you think he showed up too early, it's probably us that we're late. Or if we think he's showing up late, it's probably we who are early because he always shows up precisely when he means to. But if you're anything like me, you need all of your fingers and most of your toes to count the number of seasons you've gone through where, speaking for myself, my sense of, does God really love me?

It just rises and falls every day based on some little glimmer of hope that maybe he's working now versus just being in those two years. I want God to to do something, anything. Just don't leave us hanging. I don't want the two years of waiting, of nothing ever happening. I I want the one day of everything happening all at once.

Anyone else? It would be a mistake though to believe that God isn't working in those two years, that he's only working on the one day where we can see it. For those two years, he he may not have been working in Felix or in the circumstances or in the Roman justice system. He may not have been working in anything that was happening around Paul, but we know he was working in Paul. Paul wrote a lot of letters.

One of them to the followers of Jesus in Philippi and to the church that's in Philippi. We don't know if he wrote it before this scene or after this scene. He wrote it at some point when he was in prison, but he's been in prison before this, and he'll be in prison after this. So we don't know when he wrote to the Philippians, like, had he already learned this lesson? Was he learning this lesson again for a second time?

But he puts it down in writing in this letter. To the followers of Jesus in Philippi, Paul writes, rejoice in the Lord always in any circumstance. He says, I'll say it again. Rejoice because the Lord is right at hand. So don't take more worry onto yourself than is appropriate.

See, there's a better way through prayer and supplication, which is repeated asking. So just let your requests. Bring the things you're concerned about. Let your request be made to know made known to God. And and the peace of God, which is higher than anything you could think yourself to.

The peace of God will show up and guard your heart and guard your mind from losing love or losing faithfulness to Jesus, the Messiah. Says, by the way, I've learned in whatever situation I'm in to be content. Because I know how I I know how to be brought low. I know how to be raised up. In any or in every circumstance, he says, I've learned the secret to how to face having everything, being hungry, how to be abundant or in poverty.

He says, I learned the secret. Do you wanna know the secret? Says I can face anything as long as the Jesus who strengthens me is at my right hand. I can face any hardship through him who strengthens me. In that two years of waiting or in the one day of frantic activity, God may be working visibly on the one day around us, but in those two years invisibly, he's working in us.

He's never not working. So let's pray together. Heavenly father, you care so deeply for each and every one of us desiring our good and working for our good, which brings us to the point of confession of of laying down in front of you that if we ourselves had to choose or got to choose between whether you worked in us to make us more like your son or you worked in the circumstances around us to free us from the anxieties or the burdens or the cares that we carry, I, and I think many of us, would ask you first to fix the world around us. And so we confess, and we ask that you would use the seasons of waiting and the seasons of activity, that you would use both, not just to make things happen for us, but to make things happen in us. Grow us in the fruit that comes from being attuned to you through your spirits, the fruit of love and joy and peace, the fruit of patience and kindness, gentleness, fruit of self control.

Father, grow us, change us before you change the world around us. We pray in the name of your son. Amen.