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ACTS CHAPTER 21 KJV WEB See previous page Act 21,1-3 (249b) Priorities >> God’ s preeminence >> Wealth >> True perception of wealth >> Do not trust the carnal perception of wealth >> Do not pursue wealth – We visualize Paul taking his journeys in his own sailboat, but here we see him hitching a ride on a cargo ship. It was unlikely Paul and his companions were stowaways; they no doubt had permission to come aboard probably for a nominal fee. It was by far the most economical way to travel, though not the most stylish, and much cheaper than buying his own boat, maintaining it, and then docking it somewhere and leaving it unattended for months at a time. Paul usually traveled inland from city to city and then whishing to set sail from a completely different harbor or maybe from a different ocean. So, it would have been totally inefficient and cost prohibitive to own his own boat. Knowing Paul who had the heart of Christ, if he had the money to buy a boat, he would have given the money to the poor instead and continued sailing on cargo ships for a fraction of the cost, yet nowadays we see so-called Christians flying in their own private jets, prosperity teachers who feel the need to lead by example, living extravagant lives and forwarding the bill to their church members and TV viewers, proving that their teachings actually work, at least for them they do. As though this were the will of God that we all become gluttonous heathens, they only prove their lack of relationship with Jesus, who said about people like them, “You have your reward in full.” Act 21-4,5 (131a) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Unity >> Interdependent on each other to do the will of God – This passage shows the relationships they had with each other being more valuable to them than anything. It helps to explain the kind of life Christians had back then and how missionaries lived. They were dependent on the brethren for everything, who bent over backward for anyone who was in need, especially the leaders of the Church, people like Paul and other missionaries who risked their lives for the gospel. It was a privilege to serve them. They were ready to give whatever they had to support their fellow Christian to the point of sacrificing their own lives. There was a faith among them that the Church has lost, and for the most part we don’t even know what we are missing. Nothing we are told in church today has any bearing on the experiences that the First Century Church enjoyed regarding relationships with each other. We have no idea how to foster the kind of unity that was among the brethren in those days, and we are unable to muster their level of commitment; we don’t know where they got it. We know they were persecuted; the world doesn't persecute the Church today because it does not offend the world, because we have not created enough separation between us and them that anyone would notice. The only difference the world sees in us is that we go to church and they don’t. KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Act 21-4 (105i) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Led by the Spirit into the will of God >> Led by the authority of the Church – Here is another example of the disciples trying to save Paul’s life, and he was resisting them again, like he did in the theater (Act 19-30), where a mob would have pounced on him immediately and killed him, and now he wants to go to Jerusalem. Paul seemed to have a death wish, as though he wanted to die a martyr, going-out in a blaze of glory and filling the imaginations of those who would read about him throughout the centuries, or he was shooting for a better resurrection, or perhaps both. His intent was to visit Jerusalem, worship in the temple, be recognized by his fellow Jews, be killed on the spot like Zechariah who was killed between the temple and the altar (Genesis 4-8; 2Chronicles 24-21,22), or be arrested first and then murdered, but what happened? He was arrested and spent many years in prison awaiting trial, and there he wrote many of his epistles that we read today as the “prisoner of the Lord.” His friends were trying to save his life and prolong his ministry to see what else God had in store for him. (106i) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Hearing from God >> Means of hearing from God >> Through prophets -- This verse goes with verse 11. The Church needed Paul; they couldn’t visualize the future without him, because he was the man who best understood the gospel; he was the one most committed to the faith and keeping the truth stain-free from false doctrine that was waiting in the winds for the first opportunity to infiltrate the Church, liars and deceivers that would come after his departure. His fellow believers and disciples in the Lord knew the truth very well, and they were able to avert imposters from Church leadership for a while, but eventually they would break through their ranks and infiltrate their teaching and doctrine. Unfortunately, their influence is with us to this day. The disciples loved Paul, loved the Church and loved their lives in the faith; he was their watchdog, and they knew his demise would bring negative change, and they were trying to defer it. (152k) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> Witnesses of the father >> The Church holds the position of a prophet >> True prophets >> Confirming the prophets -- This verse goes with verses 9-14. The will of God in a person's life can be a complicated thing. Sc ripture is clear that it was the will of God for Paul go to Jerusalem and initiate the chain of events that transpired, though his friends, who had a prophetic anointing, were telling him not to go. He went because he had a great interest in reaching his former colleagues, the Scribes and Pharisees and his fellow countrymen the Jews. In the cities that had a synagogue he went there first, and the gentiles would investigate the commotion, and when the Jews rejected the gospel, he would turn to the gentiles who were present. Paul knew that if the Jewish people believed in Jesus, the gentiles would benefit, because the gospel belonged to the Jew first, and the Jews were in position to understand the gospel better than the gentiles, because they lived the Old Testament regarding the prophecies that were written about the suffering servant, and God had designed Israel for the purposes of God, and for this reason they were better able to convey the gospel to lands unknown, as Paul did. It wasn’t just because he loved his fellow countrymen; he knew the Jews would make better leaders of the Church if they only believed, for they could better piece the events of Scripture together for the gentiles, but it was useless. Satan and thousands of years of religiosity had twisted their minds into knots that no one could untie, not Paul and not even God. (177l) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Presumption (Hinduism) >> Presuming the will of God >> Presumption interprets God’s word -- This verse goes with verses 11&12 Act 21-5 (123i) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Love >> Spiritual affection >> Being in love with the body of Christ >> Emotional situations – Most will never know the full extent of emotions the people had that day. They knew they would probably never see Paul again in this life; the love they shared for each other far exceeded the Church’s experience in our own time. We go to church as a mere social gathering instead of a spiritual union among the saints. We talk about our ice-cream socials and make plans to get together during the week; some of us are close, and somewhere in the mix is our Christianity, faith and brotherhood, but they are buried beneath a thick coating of fleshly interests and worldly concerns. The faith of most Christians is not at the forefront of their relationships with each other. What causes faith to rise to the surface is persecution, for then most of the imposters and liars and pretenders depart, leaving a high concentration of faithful believers, who establish unity through an anointing they share by the same Spirit that is in them all. Act 21-6 -- No Entries Act 21-7,8 (142i) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Witnesses of Jesus >> Having a reputable ministry >> A reputation of ministry in the word -- These verses go with verses 20-22. P hillip the evangelist may have been one of Jesus' twelve apostles, who was now being called one of the seven, suggesting that five of the original twelve had already deceased. KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Act 21,9-14 (44l) Judgment >> Transformation process >> Fulfill your ministry >> Make sacrifices – Fruitfulness is the number one goal in God’s mind regarding His people. What level of fruit can we expect if we make certain decisions? If we know that our plans will not produce fruit for the Kingdom of God, then we should not do it, for He would never lead us to make unfruitful decisions, but if we make a decision that we expect to produce fruit, God will bend over backwards to help us. The question remains: are we striving to do our will in pretense for God, or are we striving to do His will? (54i) Paradox >> Opposites >> Ignoring the word of God to find the will of God – The prophet took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet with it and said, ‘The same will happen to the man who owns this belt,’ but he didn’t say, ‘Therefore, don’t go to Jerusalem.’ He just forewarned him what would happen to him if he did. This is a real lesson in the manner in which God leads us. Imagine Paul being arrested or killed in the beginning of his ministry and losing all those fruitful years of evangelism; it would have been a complete waste of life. This would not have been the will of God for sure. In fact, this very scenario almost played-out in Damascus shortly after his enlightenment, except that he was rescued, “His disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a large basket” (Act 9-25). He wouldn’t have even acquired the name that he had as Paul the great apostle and evangelist of the early Church. He would have been arrested, thrown in prison as a virtual no-name, his ministry silenced before it even began. See also: Paradox; 94h (87d) Thy kingdom come >> Obedience >> Church obeys all the Father’s will – God doesn’t micromanage us, even if Paul went to Jerusalem, terminating his ministry as an evangelist. Had Paul not gone, there is no question God had other things for him to do in other places spreading the gospel, but apparently it wasn’t necessary since it didn’t happen. God found ways of using Paul in his decision, and he remained useful because of his faithfulness and obedient heart and his love for God, but he was no longer an evangelist. There were no longer hundreds of people coming to know Christ through his efforts, though inadvertently his many epistles he wrote in prison more than made up for his loss of ministry in evangelism with millions instead of thousands coming to Christ over the centuries. That is, Paul was far more credited for souls coming to Christ throughout the age of grace than he was in his lifetime. He did the will of God as an evangelist for many years in establishing dozens of churches, virtually reaching the known world and accomplishing the goals that God set for him. Going to Jerusalem was no longer a question of God’s will, but a question of what God was able to make of it. What is God able to make of the things we decide to do with our faith in Jesus after we have accomplished the goals that He set for us? It is hard to say what we might accomplish in our lifetime, but who is to say what might happen through our efforts after we are gone, what repercussions might reverberate decades into the future or even centuries? (94h) Thy kingdom come >> God’s perspective >> His perspective on the witnesses of Jesus – The prime motivator for Paul going to Jerusalem was love for his fellow countrymen the Jews. He desperately wanted them to understand and believe in the gospel and lead the world in faith toward God. Being a prophet Paul probably knew Israel’s fate that throughout the age of grace they would be persecuted as "Jesus killers", and he probably knew what kind of managers the gentiles would make of the gospel, that it would fall into disrepute before long and the pure message of a simple faith and separation from the world would be lost. Much as he may have feared these things, they came true, and he even helped them come true when he went to Rome and taught the gospel to the Romans, who misconstrued everything and applied their paganistic superstitions to the gospel and turned it into a religion not so different from Greek mythology that they named Catholicism. Paul did everything he could to convince the Jews that Jesus was their Messiah, but all he managed to accomplish was to assist the Roman Catholic Church on its feet, which did more than any other human institution to restrict the gospel from the common man. This is not to condemn Paul, but to merely state a historical fact, that this was the result of his efforts; anybody’s labor in the gospel is bound to be misconstrued and used by Satan; it is the way of the world. Just the same, God has been choosing from the world those who would be His worshippers over these two millennia, despite Satan's efforts. From our perspective it appears that Satan is in total control, but from God’s perspective, who pulls purified worshippers from the ashes, He can barely keep from thanking the devil for his services. See also: Paradox; Act 21,11-14; 58l (105la) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Led by the Spirit into the wilderness >> Wilderness of pain (152k) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> Witnesses of the father >> The Church holds the position of a prophet >> True prophets >> Confirming the prophets -- These verses go with verse 33 (178i) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Hypocrisy >> Hypocrisy of the Church is rebuked >> The Church is rebuked for making false judgments (216f) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> Compelled by the Spirit >> God forces His bond-servants to do His will (232b) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Seeking the kingdom >> Count the cost >> The cost is more than you can imagine so don’t count (234h) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Invest in the kingdom >> Sold out >> Placing no boundaries on your commitment to God >> Going to any extreme to fulfill the will of God – God allowed Paul to go to Jerusalem, only because he did it from love for his countrymen. This is a huge lesson in our own walk with God in effort to stay in tune with His will. We wonder sometimes how God leads us. As Paul said in Rom 12-2 there is the “good and acceptable and perfect” will of God. If that is in sequence, then “good” is not acceptable and “acceptable” is not perfect. Actually God has only one will for us, leading us in a three-step process with the goal of perfection in mind. Seeking the will of God, how he works with us is a mystery. How much does he care about us; his love is incomprehensible, yet the better question is how He actually deals with us and how we deal with Him, and how much leeway we have in His will; to most people, it would probably be a surprise just how much we have. He sets certain goals for us to meet; for example, in Act 16,6-12 God spoke to Paul in a night vision (dream) that he should go to Macedonia. God didn’t care if he used a boat, camel or donkey to get there, so long as he went in haste and presented the gospel to the people living there. This was a goal that consumed most of Paul’s missionary life, for Macedonia led to Philippi, which led to Europe, then onto Thessalonica to Berea, Athens, Corinth.... (236b) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Invest in the kingdom >> All things are for your sake >> We are fighting for you >> Our bondage is for your sake -- These verses go with verse 33. Paul had a dream and was told by the Holy Spirit where to go next, and when he went there it would be a gold mine of human souls prepared by God to believe the gospel (Act 16,6-12). All his missionary journeys were extremely fruitful, yet we don’t read that the Holy Spirit told Paul to go to Jerusalem, so was Paul disobedient in this? Nowhere does it say that God was displeased with Paul about going to Jerusalem, incurring persecution upon himself and shortening his ministry in evangelism, because he made the decision from love for his countrymen; he was willing to die for their sakes. It was probably his vision that he would go down as a martyr preaching Jesus to the Jews in the streets of Jerusalem, that it might turn some of them from their unbelief to trust in the gospel and be saved, but it didn’t happen. It was a trend that whenever he was persecuted for his faith in the public eye people would come to Christ by the droves. Apparently, his ill-treatment made them think that if Jesus was real enough to him, a man of God and a preacher of righteousness, then it was real enough for them to get saved. (242i) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Persecuting the kingdom >> Worldly pressure >> World pressures you to forsake your values – We could say that Paul’s fiends were pressuring Him to forsake his values, but this was a surface issue compared to the motives he had to go to Jerusalem in the first place. His friends wanted him to stay far from the city that “kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her” (Mat 23-37), so they could keep Paul a while longer that he might continue in the work he was doing, evangelizing, making converts and establishing churches. The problem with people’s opinions of us is that they have no idea about the will of God for us. We are all shortsighted when it comes to the will of God for others, and too often when it comes to our own calling from God. That is not a criticism but simply stating a fact. Had Paul listened to his friends, God probably would have continued using him as an evangelist, but what his friends didn't seem to understand about Paul was his deep love for his fellow Jews, and it is quite possible Paul knew that if the Jews did not receive the gospel by the time he died, chances were highly improbable they ever would until the end of the age. He wanted desperately to see the Jews come to Christ because he probably also knew the level of suffering they would incur throughout the coming centuries if they didn’t. Paul probably knew that the Jews would be better managers of the gospel than the gentiles, simply because they would have correctly viewed it through the lens of the Old Testament. The gospel belongs in the hands of the Jews; this is confirmed by all the denominations of Christianity in care of the gentiles, though the Jews were unfaithful to the old covenant. (248a) Priorities >> God’s priorities >> The will of God >> We play our part in the will of God >> Knowing the will of God – Was it the will of God that Paul went to Jerusalem? The answer to this question can help understand how God dealt with the Israelites throughout Scripture; it can also help understand our own way with God. We know Paul’s decision changed the course of his life, ending his career as an evangelist, except when he got to Rome he was released and taught the word of God there for two solid years. It also changed the story of Scripture, for had he not gone to Jerusalem there would have been other things to write about Paul’s exploits. It even changed world history, for Rome heard the word of God in purity, which became the seed that spawned the Roman Catholic Church. Paul’s suffering invariably led to salvation for others. He no doubt was thinking this when he went to Jerusalem, knowing that he would be arrested; but when we go back and look at what happened, the best we could say is that Paul wrote many of his epistles to the churches while in prison, and the New Testament has undoubtedly helped more people get saved throughout the last two millennia than those who were saved during his ministry as an apostle and evangelist. (248l) Priorities >> God’ s preeminence >> Values >> The Highest Values >> The life to come is more important than this one – The only person who thought Paul should go to Jerusalem was Paul, thus it was the consensual will of God. Paul not only knew the risks, he actually invited them into his life. He was a stubborn man, which God used most of the time for good, but sometimes it got in the way and God had to work around his stubbornness, just like He does with all of us. He wouldn’t listen to anyone; he knew he would not receive a warm welcome from the Jews, yet this did not violate the will of God, who was able to weave His will into the circumstances to keep Paul safe. It was like he had a death-wish; he earnestly desired to be a martyr for Jesus, and the best way to do that was travel to Jerusalem. This way he could be a martyr and have a better resurrection and a better reward in heaven, but God had other plans for him; he wasn’t going to heaven just yet. KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Act 21,11-14 (7d) Responsibility >> Protecting the gospel >> Defend the word by preaching it – These verses go with verses 26-30 (58l) Paradox >> Two implied meanings >> The Lord is warning Paul / The Lord is promising Paul -- These verses go with verses 30-40. All the prophets were warning Paul that if he goes to Jerusalem he will be bound and tortured and possibly murdered, so is God telling Paul through the prophets not to venture into Jerusalem? Paul didn’t see it that way, so why did God show the prophets these things? It was as though the Holy Spirit sent a broadcast message to the whole church, not so much to warn Paul but the people that they would one day lose their fearless leader. Had Paul interpreted it as the word of the Lord not to go to Jerusalem, he would not have gone; rather, he saw it as the Spirit forewarning him of his imminent future. Paul was by no means going to run from these people, and he determined that they would not make him feel restricted from going certain places, for this was God’s earth, and Jerusalem was His city; it didn’t belong to them. Using our 20/20 hindsight, what was the purpose of going to Jerusalem? The full answer to that questions is complicated, but the short answer is this: Paul said he wanted to be there in time to celebrate Pentecost with the elders (the original apostles of Jesus). He went there to defy his opponents and to show the Church for all time and especially the Church in the last days that we are here to defy Satan and his one-world government and defy the Mark of the Beast and defy fear of being martyred for our faith. See also: Paradox; Act 21,9-14; 54i (101e) Thy kingdom come >> Zeal does not count the cost >> Zeal goes to extremes -- These verses go with verses 30-40 (123j) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Love >> Spiritual affection >> Being in love with the body of Christ >> Weeping in the Spirit (188c) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Suffering >> Growing pains >> Growing outwardly (189g) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Martyr >> Martyrs witness to the life of God – Being a martyr was the ultimate goal of Christians back then, as opposed to some of the radical Muslims with their wild-eye-ed ideas, who call themselves martyrs for killing themselves and taking as many “infidels” with them as possible. This is stretching the word "martyr" to mean something it doesn't, just as they have done to the truth about God, whom they do not know. What aspect of these people actually corresponds with the truth? Absolutely nothing! In fact, listening to their monologue, we never hear them use the word “truth”. Act 21-11,12 (177l) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Presumption (Hinduism) >> Presuming the will of God >> Presumption interprets God’s word -- These verses go with verse 4. This man with Paul’s belt was a prophet, and he prophesied that Paul would be arrested in Jerusalem, and it says that he would be delivered into the hands of the gentiles, Roman governors. He would have to appear before them and give a defense, and as a result many years peeled off his life in prison as a result of going to Jerusalem, and for this reason the people were begging him not to go. Afterward Paul spent many years in prison waiting to be heard. Paul’s friends didn’t understand their own prophecies that they spoke over him, begging him not to venture into Jerusalem, knowing that these things would happen to him. The Holy Spirit prophesied these things, and they interpreted it as warning Paul, but he took it as informing him of his fate. That is, Paul should go to Jerusalem where he would be arrested according to the will of God. Was it really the will of God that Paul should waste all those years in prison when he could have been fruitful as a free man preaching the gospel of the kingdom and expanding his evangelism ministry and establishing more churches? Paul was getting older and slowing down, and he more or less reached his goal in evangelism and wanted to switch gears, but the real motivation behind Paul was the hope of reaching the Jews with the gospel. He always had a heart for his countrymen and earnestly desired them to believe in Jesus for their own sake, and also for the preservation of the Church and for the gospel. He knew that the gentiles would need the Jewish people to manage the doctrines of the faith throughout the age of grace, not that they did such a bang-up job preserving the old covenant but because they were God’s people according to the flesh and it was their job to manage all things pertaining to God. As it was, they rejected the gospel overall, making the Church named after the gentiles, which after the third century turned to Catholicism, which is a pagan/Christian religion, if you can see a paradox in that. We all know from the Old Testament how much God hated worshipping baalim. Also, God had in mind for Paul to write his epistles in prison, because if he were not in prison, he was racing to the next city to share his faith with everyone there. His writing did more throughout the age of grace to bring many sons to glory than all of his preaching put together times a thousand. Act 21-11 (106i) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Hearing from God >> Means of hearing from God >> Through prophets -- This verse goes with verse 4 Act 21,12-14 (131l) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Unity >> Having soul ties (152b) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> Witnesses of the father >> Apostles >> Commitment to the cause proves apostleship KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Act 21-13,14 (6c) Responsibility >> Advocate God’s cause >> Jesus’ yoke of evangelism (28c) Gift of God >> God is our advocate >> God protects the Church from the world -- These verses go with verses 27-40 (129l) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Unity >> Being in one accord >> Single minded >> Going to any limit to fulfill God’s will (148i) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Evangelism >> Obligation to preach the gospel >> Ambassador in chains -- These verses go with verses 27-36 (176l) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> False doctrine >> Extremes >> Exception: going to extremes to love God (191f) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Result of putting off the old man >> Set apart >> God sanctifies us through our devotion to Him (213h) Sovereignty >> God is infinite >> Jesus owns you >> We are his instruments >> We are clay in the potters hand – This may be one the most complicated passages of the Bible. God wanted Paul to go to Jerusalem so he could be captured by the Jews and sent to Rome to preach the gospel to Caesar, ultimately resulting in setting up the Catholic Church, which held the Protestant Church in bondage for twelve hundred years. Why did God want Paul to go to Rome when He knew this would happen? He knew the Catholic Church was destined to form no matter what anyone did, so Paul might as well go to Rome that the gospel should be proclaimed throughout the world with Rome as the hub that disseminated the gospel according to the saying, “All roads lead to Rome.” That statement is true, and so it its opposite, ‘All roads lead away from Rome.’ In this way Paul produced more fruit than he could any other way. He could have continued preaching the gospel from city to city, making converts and establishing churches along the way. He was by no means too old to continue, but sitting in prison he wrote many epistles that we read today, which had the effect of saving more people throughout the age of grace than he did in his lifetime. That is, we read Paul’s epistles because he went to Jerusalem. Act 21-13 (67h) Authority >> Jesus delegates authority >> Name of Jesus >> Sacrificing your life for the name of Jesus – The angel said to Mary, “You shall call His name Jesus.” The name “Jesus” means savior, “for He will save His people from their sins” (Mat 1-21). Man uses words to think. In contrast, pick any animal and we can be sure it does not think in literary terms, because it is not language oriented; it doesn’t use words to represent meaning. Our pet dog seems to know what we are saying, but more likely it is deciphering our body language and voice inflections. It may understand a handful of voice commands, but it most certainly does not think on those terms. It has no inner monologue (which is typically more haunting than useful). The point is: our language orientation causes us to erroneously associate the name of Jesus with the person of Christ, but we don’t realize that His name merely refers to Him. We have a hard time separating the meaning of words from the entities to which they pertain, suggesting that we think of them as equal; in other words, we think the name of Jesus is equal to the person of Christ, the Son of God, but this is not actually the case. Again, we are not good at distinguishing between a person's name and the person himself, which usually is harmless, but we run into trouble when we believe the name of Jesus is the same as the person of Jesus. For this reason many people think the name of Jesus has power in itself, but Heb 1-3 says that the power of God is in the person of God and not in His name, for “He upholds all things by the word of His power” (not by the power of His word). In the same way, then, the name of Jesus calls on the power of God, but it does not have power in itself, anymore than Scripture has power in itself, otherwise mankind would have destroyed himself with it long ago. (233c) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Seeking the kingdom >> Seeking the goals of the kingdom >> Seek the goal of knowing God (faith) – We were given the name of Jesus, so we could know the Son of God, whom we ascribe glory and praise, so the world knows whom we serve. However, before Christ and even before Moses, mankind must have wondered about God, no doubt wondering whether He had a name. Moses said to God, “Now they may say to me, 'What is His name?' What shall I say to them?” and we all know His answer; tell them “I AM has sent me to you” (Exodus 3-13,14). “I AM” is more a description of God than His actual name; in fact, it is possible we still don’t know the real name of God (Rev 3-12). The term “I AM” implies that He has always existed, which suggests He always will. Knowing God should be our ultimate goal, knowing the unknowable (Eph 3-19). Act 21,15-19 (143i) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Witnesses of Jesus >> Popularity >> Sought commendably >> Being sought for your relationship with God – It appears the reason Paul so earnestly desired to go to Jerusalem was to relate his accomplishments that he achieved through Christ to the elders and the remaining original apostles. Remember that the elders had originally received him at the beginning of his ministry, when Barnabas recognized Paul as a bona-fide convert to Christianity with potential as a minister of the gospel. Barnabas saw his heart and zeal and brought him to these same elders whom Paul was again seeking, not for their approval this time but to share an account of his accomplishments that resulted from their approval of him. He related to them how many gentiles were receiving the gospel, expanding the Kingdom of God and even prevailing in many communities that he had visited. None of Paul's accomplishments would have been possible without their initial confirmation of his stewardship. Without their endorsement he would have been a rogue Christian trying to do good, a lone ranger not getting very far. He needed acceptance and support to accomplish the many things he did for the Lord. Act 21-16,17 (235g) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Invest in the kingdom >> Giving (your inner self) >> Hospitality (providing a temporary home) >> Being a good host Act 21-18,19 (147a) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Remember Jesus’ miracles KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Act 21,20-40 (179k) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Wolves >> Wolves lead people into a cult >> Leading people through ignorance Act 21,20-26 (1f) Responsibility >> Avoid offending God >> become all things to all men >> Conform without compromise – The elders told Paul to pretend to follow the law, according to the old saying, ‘When in Rome do as the Romans,’ and when in Jerusalem do as the Jews (1Cor 9,19-23). It might have made him look like a chameleon to be this to one person and that to another, but there are instances when being yourself is unacceptable. Paul was appearing to have the values of the Jews; he was willing to revert to the old standard to show that he could be a Christian and live like the Jews. Paul had made up his mind to go to Jerusalem, and everybody was against the idea, because the Jews had been seeking Paul’s life for years, and now he was venturing into the lion’s den, into Jerusalem itself as it were to tempt fate. His motive: he loved the Jews and wanted to see them free and saved, and he wanted to fellowship with the brethren, the leading apostles who were headquartered there and to share with them his victories in the conversion of the gentiles throughout his many hair-raising adventures and to worship in the holy city during the days of Pentecost. God may have called him, or he may have determined in his heart to go; either way, God protected him. In attempt to appease the Jews, they had him go through the rigors of old covenant purification of the flesh, though it never purified anyone of sin. God had abolished old covenant rules and regulations of worship, so that we now enter the Most Holy Place through the word of God and prayer, and we can meet God in His spiritual tabernacle through the blood of Christ, but in old covenant days they had to first purify their flesh before entering the temple, and it was an arduous, time-consuming process, which for Paul meant shaving his head among other things after coming from the gentiles. So, we see Paul conforming to the demands of the Jews without compromising his faith, unless a person used these performances to seek God’s favor; he would then be denigrating the sacrifice of Christ. (1m) Responsibility >> Avoid offending God >> Carrying a false burden >> Making commitments that contradict Scripture – Paul was in danger from the Jews who were following the law, which is misleading enough, but to follow misconceptions of the law was worse. Those who follow the law have hundreds of commandments and ordinances they must continually obey, but the apostles reduced them all to four things to avoid. Eating meat sacrificed to idols (see 1Corinthians chapter 8) was a common practice among the pagans, though the consumption of those foods would not hex a person or be physically or spiritually toxic. Rather, it sanctioned idol worship, which sends the wrong message as Christians. The second and third commandments, to abstain from eating blood and from what is strangled, turn out to be health and moral issues. Many diseases are carried through the blood and traumatized animals release large amounts of adrenalin, which is not healthy for humans. Finally, to abstain from fornication is also a health and moral issue, which is self-explanatory and is the only one of the four that is still relevant today. (62g) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Being clever >> Maintaining a blameless reputation Act 21,20-25 (108a) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Balance between truth and error >> Wisdom brings balance between truth and error Act 21,20-22 (142i) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Witnesses of Jesus >> Having a reputable ministry >> A reputation of ministry in the word -- These verses go with verses 7&8 KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Act 21-20,21 (44ka) Judgment >> Transformation process >> Fulfill your ministry in evangelism >> Fulfill your ministry through opposition -- These verses go with verses 27-40. Paul did some evangelism in Jerusalem, but he spent most of his time and energy on missionary journeys in other parts of the world. Paul’s routine, when he entered a city that he intended to evangelize, was to find the Jewish synagogue and first preach to those in attendance, who mostly if not all were Jews. Then after they rejected and blasphemed, he would start preaching to the gentiles instead, who came to the synagogue investigating the commotion. From there he would go from house to house as one faith encounter led to another. (162ka) Works of the devil >> Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Bondage >> Being slaves of men >> In bondage to the burdens of men >> In bondage to the Law (176d) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Zeal without knowledge (Spirit w/o the word) >> Conviction without commandment (190j) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Circumcision >> Circumcision is a sign of obedience >> Symbolism over substance (191d) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Extract the leaven of false doctrine – Paul taught the Jews wherever he went on his missionary journeys that we are saved by grace through faith and not by works, but the Jews who lived in Jerusalem did not understand this. The Law of Moses was meant only to point out sin and had no power to reconcile anyone to God. They stumbled over the law as a consequence of Israel’s long legacy of disobedience, causing them to misinterpret the purpose of the law. God didn't give the law as a means of forgiveness, but called Israel to walk as their father Abraham did, by faith. The law, which came many years later, was given to expose sin, not to cure it. Over the centuries, though, the Jews had misinterpreted the purpose of the law to mean that if they did not obey it, they would fall out of favor with God, when in fact a person who disobeyed the law had broken it in his heart long before he broke it in practice, showing the connection between Abraham and Moses. Their Jewish practices defined them, so that if they quit following the Law, it would be as though they stopped being Jewish. Nevertheless, Paul was able to reach many Jewish people with the gospel, and was able to convince them that God sent His Holy Spirit to replace the law, so that if we followed Him, as Heb 10-19,20 says, “…we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh.” In the new covenant we follow a living person instead of a list of dos and don’ts, and inadvertently achieve far greater success in fulfilling the law. (196i) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Spiritual laziness >> Replacing God’s standard of excellence with yours >> Lukewarm Christianity (205ka) Salvation >> Salvation is based on God’s promises >> Faith versus works >> The faith of God versus the faith of men >> Faith versus the law >> The work of faith versus the works of the law – The Jews in Jerusalem in no way understood the gospel. Many of the so-called believing Jews who hated Paul were converts of Peter and the elders, who had failed to wean them off the old covenant law of Moses. They were at a complete loss as how to get through to them that it was by grace that Christians should achieve the righteousness of God. Paul had some success helping the Jews grasp this concept, who lived in other regions of the world among the gentiles, clarifying it for us too in his epistles to the Romans and the Galatians. In these letters he taught that instead of observing the old covenant law, we now inadvertently fulfill it in the process of following the Holy Spirit. Ironically, when God gave Israel the law, they refused to obey it, and when He replaced the law with the Holy Spirit, they refused to let go of the law. The law was deeply entrenched in their minds (not their hearts), and they could not conceive of demoting Moses in order to instill a new and better way through the Spirit. Paul was extremely rigorous in striving to make his converts understand that salvation comes by grace though faith and not through the works of the law, yet Paul’s ministry was geared more to the gentiles, who had a much easier time understanding this. KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Act 21,22-24 (171h) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Outward appearance >> Decorating the outside to simulate the inside >> Simulating the outer man to portray the inner man Act 21,23-40 (54i) Paradox >> Opposites >> You cannot please people who have predetermined that you are wrong (103l) Thy kingdom come >> Purifying process >> Purified by circumstances >> Purified Through hardship Act 21,23-26 (2e) Responsibility >> Keep your commitments >> it is better not to vow at all Act 21-25 (10e) Responsibility >> Keeping order in the Church >> Decrees of the Church – These four restraints are the only "laws" that the original apostles imposed on the Church, and they were pressured even to give these. In the old covenant all animals that did not have a cloven hoof were off the menu; things have changed from the old covenant to the new. For example, nothing says you can’t eat pork anymore; however, you had better cook it well or you might contract parasites. Some parasites, viruses and bacteria exist as spores that can resist high temperatures, and for this reason God did not tell His people to cook pork extra well, because some people would not have done it, and then disease would have ravaged the camps, and soon the entire nation of Israel would have had health problems, so He just banned pork altogether. There were other foods that were off-limits for good reason, virtually all bottom feeding creatures of the sea, such as lobster, scallops and shrimp, yet they didn’t have a place on the new covenant list because God wanted to make the point that His new covenant was not about rules and regulations, but about obeying the Holy Spirit. (32d) Gift of God >> God is our Father >> Grace >> The grace of God’s healing power – Abstain from eating blood for our physical health. It is now understood that diseases are carried in the blood, and if we consume it, we could contract those diseases. God never gave a reason to the Israelites not to eat blood; He just said not to do it, for how could He tell them about micro- organisms? For this reason Jesus was also vague about some of the spiritual aspects of God's Kingdom, for we have no knowledge base to understand such things. Eat nothing that has been strangled was another restriction for our physical benefit. We have only recently begun to recognize the imprudence of strangling an animal before eating it. It is extremely stressful to the animal and gives enough time for adrenaline and other undesirable hormones to filter into the tissues before it dies, and these chemicals remain in the flesh for us to metabolize, which are health hazards. We can avoid this simply by using a quicker, more humane manner of killing the animal. (135b) Temple >> Your body is the temple of God >> Sins of the body >> Immorality >> Fornication – During Old Testament times, these four restrictions were relevant, but the only one that has withstood the test of time is fornication. By comparison, all the others have become largely obsolete. Any sociologist could tell you that fornication has a deleterious affect on society. Any nation without a moral compass with fornication is prevalent, the family structure crumbles, the moral fabric disintegrates, people become depraved and soon there is nothing left in the human soul that is redeemable. The amazing thing about the subject of fornication is that it was never against the law in the Old Testament. It said “You shall not commit adultery,” but fornication was not named. In fact, there were many incidences in the Old Testament where fornication occurred with no significant repercussions. The concept of having a concubine was a form of fornication, which was not against God’s laws. However, it was fornication that overthrew Solomon, whose many wives and concubines led him to worship their idols, and it became a trap to the nation of Israel. Fornication is a trap to any nation. (173d) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Catholicism >> Scripture that contradicts the catholic faith >> Worshipping idols – Eating meat sacrificed to idols, this restraint was for our spiritual health. At the time idol worship was common, and therefore so was food sacrificed to idols. Paul talked about abstaining from eating such foods in 1Cor 8,7-13, saying also in 1Cor 10,27-29 that it is for conscience sake that we abstain, “I mean not your own conscience, but the other man’s; for why is my freedom judged by another’s conscience?” If someone sees us dining in an idol’s temple, it would give him the idea that eating food sacrificed to idols was acceptable to God, and the next logical step would be to condone idol worship, which is eternally forbidden. We who have knowledge can eat the food of an idol without actually worshipping the idol, but our weaker brother may not understand this and automatically equate eating the food to idol worship. We would be inadvertently teaching him that idolatry is acceptable when it is not. There is only one God and we worship Him, and all the other idols have demons behind them (1Cor 10-20). Most likely, food sacrificed to idols is just as nutritious as any other food, but after it has been sacrificed to an idol it is associated with worshipping demons, and for that reason we should avoid partaking of it, not for our conscience, but for the sake of others. The application of this restriction still exists in the Catholic Church where idol worship is still practiced. They believe the body and blood of Christ literally replaces the bread and wine during communion. The priest must give his blessing over the so-called Holy Eucharist before this transubstantiation can occur. To the person with knowledge, we know that the bread and wine are just that, but to participate in this ceremony among those who believe that these things literally undergo a transformation is to convey the message that we too believe it, when in fact we don’t. Act 21,26-30 (7d) Responsibility >> Protecting the gospel >> Defend the word by preaching it -- These verses go with verses 37-40 Act 21-26 (122k) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Boldness in adverse circumstances >> Go in places of adversity (205h) Salvation >> Salvation is based on God’s promises >> New covenant >> The old one is obsolete – These were the regulations that were required of Israel by Moses. When those laws were first enacted so long ago at the base of Mount Sinai just after the exile from Egypt, God worked close with the children of Israel, showing His mighty power every day for forty years. Israel ate manna that fell from heaven; they saw the pillar of fire by night and the cloud hovering over the tabernacle by day. These rules of divine worship were meant for them to observe throughout their generations, yet over the centuries, as God withdrew from them because of sin, He loosened the consequences of their disobedience, so there were no immediate repercussions as during the days of Moses. By Paul’s day any divine consequences for disobedience had all but disappeared (Heb 8-13), their old covenant having become rancid and toxic. People had grown distant from the Lord in their hearts, their rituals reduced to mindless routines. The Jews desperately tried to keep their ancient customs alive, though their descendants became increasingly resistant to their religion, and when Jesus took away these things, they refused to let them go. The term “rebellious Jew” is redundant, yet they represent a cross section of all mankind. KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Act 21,27-40 (28c) Gift of God >> God is our advocate >> God protects the Church from the world -- These verses go with verses 13&14 (44ka) Judgment >> Transformation process >> Fulfill your ministry in evangelism >> Fulfill your ministry through opposition -- These verses go with verses 20,21 (72a) Authority >> Ordained by God >> We are ordained to walk in His authority – We begin to see why Christianity didn't go over well with the Jews; they weren’t ready to quit worshipping God according to their ancient customs that was handed to them through Moses. They would need an authority figure to tell them that their religion was no longer necessary and that a change had occurred. Paul had no authority to tell them to stop worshipping God according to the laws of Moses. What they needed was Moses or God Himself to descend from heaven to tell them these things, and so He came, but they hung Him on a cross. Now who will tell them that a change has occurred, certainly not Paul? The catch-22 is that this change of covenants could not occur until they crucified their King. (117b) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Rest in Jesus (Sabbath) >> Rest in His yoke through obedience (126g) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Peace >> Peace in the midst of the storm (162g) Works of the devil >> Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Bondage >> Addicted to sin >> Being a slave to the sinful nature – In the mind of the Jews Paul was a traitor of their religion. They never stopped a minute to think about anything he said. This very accurately depicts the human condition beginning in the Garden of Eden with Adam taking the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God said, “You shall surely die” (Gen 2-17); die meaning separation from God, so enmity formed in the heart of man against God starting that day. This enmity is spiritual in nature; it is not logical or sensible no even conscious, in that the same forces that are in Satan are also in us. This mystery of lawlessness has yet to be defined, and perhaps it never will. Even in heaven we may never understand the darkness that was once part of us. See also: Mystery of lawlessness (Satan fulfills the principles of his own nature); Jn 13-18; 65i (179d) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Wolves >> Stir up the crowd >> Stir up the crowd through jealousy – There were Jews in Jerusalem who were from Asia, and Paul preached the gospel in Asia, and these same men who persecuted him there recognized him in the temple and stirred up the crowd against him, only this time he was in Jerusalem, which for a prophet was like being in the lion’s den. The audacity of Paul going there, the people arrested him and dragged him from the temple, making mostly untrue accusations against him, but some were true, particularly that Paul was trying to alter the Jewish customs, preaching against the Law of Moses and against the temple. Paul taught that all these things had been abolished by the new covenant since Jesus was sacrificed, and that old covenant temple worship had become obsolete. In the ears of the Jews this was blasphemy, but to the Jews who believed in Jesus it made perfect sense, because the ultimate sacrifice had already been made, and the Holy Spirit has come into their hearts to show them right from wrong; so who needs the Law anymore, and who needs the temple to make anymore sacrifices for sin? (185c) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Mystery of lawlessness >> Having no grounds for your hate >> Hating the Church without a cause – It wasn’t good enough to throw Jesus in jail or to argue with Him or flog Him but to kill Him. In the same way, the Jews didn’t want Paul arrested but murdered, and so nothing had changed; there was still no repentance. The whole world learned to hate the Jews because they allowed their religion to become corrupt. What was the cause of the Jews drifting so far from God’s truth that was written in their manuscripts they read in their synagogue every Sabbath? The primary cause was they made their religion all about themselves; anybody who makes their religion about themselves will suffer the same fate. When Messiah came and put their Old Testament into His own words, it sounded foreign to them, because they had veered so far from its original message. When we go back and read the Old Testament according to the way Jesus presented it, it’s all there, but when we read the Old Testament according to Jewish understanding, all we see is a lot of mechanical works, and a relationship with God was completely removed. Is our relationship with Jesus still intact or has our religion become mechanical too? Act 21,27-36 (29a) Gift of God >> God is our advocate >> Delivered from our persecutors (148i) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Evangelism >> Obligation to preach the gospel >> Ambassador in chains -- These verses go with verses 13&14 (242c) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Persecuting the kingdom >> Persecuting God >> Persecuting the word of God Act 21,27-32 (163f) Works of the devil >> Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Used by Satan to destroy the word of God >> Used to destroy the mouthpiece of God – The Jews were in the process of killing Paul when the authorities rescued him from their hands, and Paul took their abuse with love. There are some people who are simply unable to believe the truth, though they are perfectly capable of religion. We are talking about a heart made of stone and a mind that rejects logic and reason; if we tried to explain God to them, invariably it would conflict with their previous beliefs (Act 7,54-60). The reason these things have been written is not so much to emphasize the ignorance of the Jews but to emphasize the ignorance of man, because the Jews represent mankind. Had God chosen any other race or nation, they would have followed exactly in Israel's footsteps, fifteen hundred years later their minds completely devoured by religion, having already happened to many gentile churches. Try to tell people in just about any church that their doctrines are skewed, and we will be escorted from the premises and told never to return. In fact, churches these days have pastors who are completely inaccessible to actually prevent this encounter from happening; that wasn’t true just thirty years ago. There was a time we could go to about any church and the doors would be open, and we could speak to the pastor about whatever we wanted without an appointment, but now we can’t even see him by appointment. The Jews are not unique in preferring religion over a genuine relationship with God. See also: Apostasy (Miss the second coming of Christ); Mat 22,3-6; 18i Act 21,27-30 (176g) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Zeal without knowledge (Spirit w/o the word) >> Intensity without insight Act 21,27-29 (175f) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Ignorance >> Dodging the issue (willful ignorance) >> Evading the word of God Act 21-27,28 (18b) Sin >> Unrighteous judgment >> Condemning God’s people – Paul’s enemies were sinners accusing him of sin, being a very common scenario. Jesus addressed this problem when He said, ‘Who is without sin among you? Let him be the first to throw a stone at her’ (Jn 8-7), meaning that being an unrepentant sinner disqualifies you from any judicial standpoint. These Jews operated according to their own doctrines and religion, which in their minds completely justified their actions and behavior, but in reality they were completely ignorant of God and needed saving in this life and in the one to come if they were going to avoid the eternal sentence of hell. KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Act 21-28,29 (178b) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Presumption (Hinduism) >> Presumption is not founded on facts -- These verses go with verses 37-39. According to the Law of Moses, gentiles were not allowed in the temple, and the Jews assumed that Paul brought Trophimus the gentile into it, because they had earlier seen them together, but the facts didn’t matter. All that mattered was the sense that they cannot be wrong, and so it was useless to talk to them. These people had already made up their minds about everything. Whatever they concluded was their truth, and it trumped the facts, immediately solidifying in their minds like cement. Nothing Paul said could convince them otherwise; this was typical not only to them but also to all people and religions. Whatever people believe about God becomes seared into their hearts as it were with a hot branding iron, becoming permanent. We cannot talk to anybody about a change in their religion after they have once believed. Perhaps a couple months into their faith we can still reason with them, but not after their beliefs have had time to set-up in their conscience. Bringing the gospel to people who are absorbed in secular humanism, for example, is met with the same resistance, so who can be saved? The answer is nobody, except the elect. Poor, third-world countries are more open to the gospel these days than developed nations. The world is in need of revival, and revival is coming with authority to reinstate the true doctrines of our Lord Jesus Christ, and a time is coming when people will once again respond to the gospel, and they will believe in Jesus. The truth is powerful, being the only thing the Holy Spirit is willing to anoint; He does not anoint the religions of men. Act 21,30-40 (58l) Paradox >> Two implied meanings >> The Lord is warning Paul / The Lord is promising Paul -- These verses go with verses 11-14 (101e) Thy kingdom come >> Zeal does not count the cost >> Zeal goes to extremes -- These verses go with verses 11-14 Act 21,30-36 (158i) Works of the devil >> Essential characteristics >> Divide and conquer >> Division (Cliques) >> Satan is the origin of division – They assumed that Paul had brought a gentile into the Jewish temple, which was against Jewish law; the centurions didn’t know Paul, and the Jews were crying out “away with this man” without giving any reasons, causing confusion. Every society has their convictions, and they think there are things in life that are of cosmological importance, yet they can’t even put into words what means most to them. To them it doesn’t matter; they feel it, so that’s it. There are many people who go though life this way, having strong convictions about things they don’t even understand. See also: World hates Christians; 1Jn 3,10-15; 167j Act 21-30 (65g) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Satan unites the world for the cause of persecution (162b) Works of the devil >> Carried away bodily – Paul’s enemies did this to him because he had the audacity to go to Jerusalem and worship in the temple. Paul had every right to be there, because he was a Jew, and a Pharisee at that, a former leader of the Jews. His countrymen were treating him worse than a gentile, because he had become a Christian; therefore, they did not recognize him as having any rights as a Jew, considering him to have defiled the temple by his presence, because of his faith in Jesus. So really, it was his faith that supposedly desecrated the temple, yet His faith in Jesus correlated with the teachings and formalities of temple worship that God commanded Israel. Paul actually understood temple worship better than the people who persecuted him, so we see how twisted the truth had become in the minds of the Jews in those days. Over a course of fifteen hundred years the Jews added a wrong turn to a wrong turn, until they completely lost touch with their direction and forgot where they were going. Their temple worship morphed into mere actions performed by rote without knowing what any of it meant, except to assume that if they performed them, they would please God. They completely lost touch with the heart and soul of their religion, which had contorted into an excuse for their sins, and their falsity carried them into darkness and spiritual deceit, so when their Messiah came, they crucified Him and inadvertently fulfilled God’s plan that He had prepared from all eternity. Act 21-31 (25c) Sin >> Poverty (Forms of fear) >> Murder >> Persecution to the death >> prestige KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Act 21-32 (214b) Sovereignty >> God controls time >> God’s timing >> God’s timing transcends our comprehension >> God’s time does not make sense to the natural mind Act 21-33,34 (18d) Sin >> False Judgment lacks evidence >> Undefined charges Act 21-33 (152k) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> Witnesses of the father >> The Church holds the position of a prophet >> True prophets >> Confirming the prophets -- This verse goes with verse 4 (236b) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Invest in the kingdom >> All things are for your sake >> We are fighting for you >> Our bondage is for your sake -- This verse goes with verses 9-14. Being bound with two chains was a prophecy that Paul received before he went to Jerusalem (Act 21-11). He knew the consequences of going there, but he went anyway, so the consequences were not a surprise to him. What exactly was it that he was trying to accomplish by going to Jerusalem, and was it really the will of God that he went? We know it was the will of God that his friends prohibited him from entering the theater in Act 19-31, for he would have been instantly killed by the mob, so why would it be any different in this case. Paul had many years of ministry; he could have continued as a missionary, though he was getting older. He just made up his mind that his missionary days were over and that he would turn a corner in his life, for he knew his present course would be altered by this decision to venture into Jerusalem’s temple. He knew he would not walk from Jerusalem a free man. Act 21,37-40 (7d) Responsibility >> Protecting the gospel >> Defend the word by preaching it -- These verses go with verses 11-14 (121g) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Hope >> Expectation >> Expecting good things based on God’s character >> Expectation based on His word (147d) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> God exercises authority over every living thing (148d) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Evangelism >> Natural advantage in the flesh regarding evangelism – Paul pulled out his ace card, the fact that he was born a Jewish Roman, having been born in Tarsus. It carried incredible weight to be citizen of a world empire, being a feather in Paul's hat that God put there, predestining him to be born in Cilicia and equipping him with all the resources he would need from his mother's womb to fulfill his ministry, his Roman status being valuable as a passport. (148k) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Evangelism >> Obligation to preach the gospel >> Consumed by the desire to do it – Paul interpreted every situation in life as an opportunity to share the gospel with someone. He didn’t have to stop the centurion; the authorities were taking him to safety. He took a serious beating (again) for the opportunity to share the gospel with his countrymen. His motive was not to clear up any confusion, but to tell his side, so they might at least know why they hated him; there may have been someone in the crowd who could understand what he is saying and get saved. This is why Paul stopped the centurion; his whole life was about saving souls, often at the risk of his own life. He was compelled to show the reality of God in his life and the change that had transpired in him. Act 21,37-39 (178b) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Presumption (Hinduism) >> Presumption is not founded on facts -- These verses go with verses 28,29 See next page