Hey. You're listening to Cut for Time, a podcast from Faith Church located on the North Side Of Indianapolis. My name is Claire Kingsley. Each week, I'll sit down with one of our preaching pastors to discuss their Sunday sermon. Cut for time is a look behind the scenes of sermon preparation, and they'll share with us a few things that we didn't hear from the sermon on Sunday.

Thanks for listening. Alright, Jeff. So we left off on a cliffhanger last week. How's this gonna go? And I think we're kinda still there.

Like, I don't think that it's been completely resolved yet because this is a long passage. So we've got more to dig into this week, you know, kind of helping us run out last week, but then we've got even more to look forward to. So we might not be able to have complete answers or clarity at this point in the passage. But this week you preached from chapter 26 verses one through 11. So why don't you just give us a recap from your sermon on Sunday?

What was in the text that you covered, and then what did you pull out of it for your sermon application? Yeah. So right. This is I I have to say I didn't count the verses up completely, but I think this is Paul's longest speech in all of acts. It it goes all the way through verse 29.

So it's, like, 28 verses altogether, and we started last week, and we're actually gonna spend the next couple of weeks in this really long important speech. So this is really in a sense, and and the speech itself breaks up kind of logically into three main sections. And so this first section in verses one through 11 is really sort of Paul's background, his, sort of context of telling his story in a sense before coming to see Jesus as Messiah. And we've heard, similar versions of this kind of part of Paul's story before, both narratively and him recounting it before the Sanhedrin. And it's him talking about again, he's I think he's making connection with his hearers.

He's sort of explaining who he is and giving the background to what he really wants to get to, which is talking about Jesus and the resurrection. And so Paul lays that foundation and gets to that point within this message, and really the key verse is verse six where he says, I'm standing here on trial because of my hope and the promise made by God to our fathers. And then specifically in verse eight, why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead? So Paul is, again, it's it's not really his defense of himself. If anything, he kind of throws himself under the bus because he's acknowledging I was an opponent of Christianity.

I hated Christians. I hunted them down. I threw them in prison. I I, you know, gave death sentences to them. And, so he's you know, it it's almost sort of the opposite of what you'd expect for someone giving a defense of himself because he's not defending himself.

If anything, what he wants to put on defense is the validity of belief in the resurrection and the hope of the resurrection. And, Paul's wanting to say that's actually why I'm here. So what I was wanting to do in the sermon was talk about this idea of hope. Why hope in the resurrection, why hope in Jesus is reasonable, why it's, actually makes sense, and why, ironically, almost it seems like Paul's world and our world seems so hostile to that hope because it's built off of the same faith that he had as as a Pharisee, a hope in the belief that god would raise the dead and justify the righteous and judge the wicked, a hope in, you know, a future justice and and a rule of righteousness of god, hope that God will actually do what is right. And yet when we what we what I, mentioned is when we get down to, like, the specifics of it, that's when people get uncomfortable.

Like, Christian hope seems challenging, threatening, even offensive because it's very specific. It's about a it's about a person, and we're saying we don't just have hope in general, but we have hope in Jesus and what God has done through him. It's we claim a certainty for it. Like, no. This has actually happened.

This is not fantasy. It's not imaginary. It actually happened in history, and it and Christ's return is certain as well so that we have hope right now and a hope for the future. And Christian hope is specific. We're saying Christian hope is certain in that it's based on an objective historical fact that also has a future reality which changes my life in the present, and that this hope is real.

It's not just something we invent, it's not something we make up in our minds, it's not something that we wish would happen, and and that's kind of the whole point that Paul's driving to there in verse eight. Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead? And Christian hope in that sense seems offensive because it's certain, it's specific, and it's real. So if God raises the dead, we cannot be hopeless. And and that's both encouraging for us and also, a message that we have to take out to other people.

And and it it sort of challenges us to think through where am I struggling to really be hopeful in my own life or in things going on in the world? And and is that what real real we are really known for as as people and as a church, that that in a season of uncertainty and transition that we have reason to be hopeful, to be optimistic, to be confident, with all the uncertainty and craziness in the world around us. How can we be? It doesn't mean we're hopeful necessarily about what's happening in the world, but we're hopeful in all the things that are happening. Because if God has raised Jesus and if God has promised to raise me, I can't be hopeless.

Mhmm. And that's I think that's what Paul is trying to drive towards, in this message and and lay the foundation that that we're gonna get to pull out, get to hear from more about in the next couple of weeks. Mhmm. Yep. Thank you.

So, we had some texted in questions. Yeah. First of all, you opened with, your relation with the Cardinals, and baseball. And someone said, really? Come on.

Why not choose the Pacers? This this time that we're living in, it's a great time to be a Pacers fan. Yes. Indeed. Well, I I know that happened to come, specifically from a Cubs fan.

So, you know, all I can say is there's no accounting for taste. You know? Now, actually, I I have no animosity towards the Cubs unless they're playing the Cardinals. I was happy when the Cubs won the World Series. That was again kind of another historic run, which was great to celebrate.

And the Pacers this season have been fantastic. I I think it was more, you know, one. You yeah. I you know, I'm the pastor, so it's, you know, kind of pastor's prerogative. I get to talk about stuff that is relevant to me, and then you guys can argue and debate about it.

You get to use the Pacers next time if Pacers win, you know, that's the thing. Yeah. Right. The story's the real perfect example. But They may dash our hopes.

Who knows? The the Cardinals I mean, for me personally, yeah, it has relevance. But, also because it was, like, a whole amazing, like, two month run where literally I mean, just the build up to it. It was like they were literally hopeless going into the month of September and then had this amazing run and then all through the playoffs and then that last, you know, the World Series game six where they came from behind, like, six different times, against all hope and against the, you know, hope against, you know, all outward circumstances. So, yeah, hopefully, we'll have that same story to tell about the Pacers.

Yeah. Yeah. Alright. So could you just, help build some context for us? What's the context in which Paul is addressing the court and the Jews of his day with regard to, like, the Jewish theology of the resurrection?

Yeah. That is a great question. That would, it would be like a whole cup for time itself in a sense. So I'll I'll try and summarize it. Hope in the resurrection, again, was certainly not universal among Jews of the first century.

We we've already heard through Acts and, even here from Paul, you know, the Pharisees who accepted both the Torah and the prophets believed in the resurrection in that sense. The Sadducees, the ruling party, which was probably more like what Herod Agrippa was, just accepted the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, and didn't generally believe in a future resurrection. For those Jews who did believe in the resurrection, even there, there was just there there wasn't a lot of specificity around it. There was a wide variety of, from sort of a general hope that the soul will outlast the body in some sense. There was a belief that, the Messiah at some point would return as God's anointed to, inaugurate a rule of righteousness and justice.

There was a belief for those who did believe in resurrection that God is going to vindicate the righteous and the faithful and he's going to judge the wicked. How that worked out exactly was pretty vague, and there was a lot of difference of opinion around that. So I think, as I was trying to bring out as well, that the fact that Paul and his Christian brothers and sisters were putting a specificity to that resurrection was challenging and especially a specificity around Jesus being the center of that hope. Because what they knew of Jesus is, yes, he's he, teaches with authority. He's a prophet.

He's performing miracles, but he also was crucified and hung on a tree and died in shame. And there's no way that that person could be the Messiah because the Messiah is going to rule in glory with power, and he's going to reestablish the kingdom and bring about the righteous rule of of God on earth. So, I think the but the specificity of it, in terms of, the expectation for any kind of resurrection was about at the end of the age when God sort of closes the book on this era and and this sinful broken world age comes to an end in some kind of a rule of righteousness and and justice, it does not look like that. Like, this world that we are seeing right in front of us is not that. So it can't be Jesus, and it can't be now Right.

For all kinds of reasons. So there there was, almost nobody there there wouldn't have been any believing Jews that would have had an expectation of an an inaugurated kingdom through a suffering servant that is going to come into reality at some future point, but has been brought about now through the suffering sacrifice of, a sacrificial lamb who who's also the son of God. Right? Because the son of God is going to be powerful and and rule with justice and victory. So it was it was, a lot of variety around the idea of resurrection, but it was definitely going to happen at the end of the age when everything is wrapped up and consummated.

So this this, perspective that we could have both an already and a not yet, that was really stretching and kind of paradigm shifting Mhmm. For sure. Okay. Yeah. Alright.

And, another person says this is not Paul's first summary. So he's in a lot of cases throughout acts, we've seen him have to give a defense in some way or a summary or, just a full speech. You know? And so Right. You compare and contrast, the theological differences of this piece versus other ones we've looked at before, and why or why not, like, Luke decided to include them.

Yes. And, also, you and I were kind of we were talking about this question, and I'll just say, we're gonna also throw it to Tom next week and cut for time as well because he's the passage isn't over yet. There's a lot that we haven't looked at yet. Right. And so you can, give us your thoughts, and then we'll also just carry this over to next week because I think it's a thoughtful question.

Yeah. So this is, I think, now the third recounting of Paul's, we'd say, conversion or or Paul's the fulfillment of Paul's faith, in Jesus. First back all the way back in chapter nine where we actually read about Paul's coming to faith in Jesus on the road to Damascus. Right? And and he's knocked down and blinded, and who are you, Lord?

I'm Jesus whom you're persecuting. Then we fast forward it a lot more recently to chapter 22. There was that riot in Jerusalem when Paul's worshiping in the temple, and he and the Roman garrison commander allows him to go back and speak to the Sanhedrin. And this is where Paul now gives a recounting of his coming to understand that Jesus is the Lord. And similar to what we just heard last Sunday, Paul is, you know, sort of giving his background as a, devout Pharisee, one who was, you know, raised up under Gamaliel in Jerusalem, and, and and his history of, you know, voting to give approval to the, you know, the stoning of Stephen and the persecution of followers of Jesus.

So again, I think he's he's trying to make a connection there to his audience to say, look. I I'm not some weird outsider. I I'm one of you. And even more so now in chapter 26, Paul gives that a similar kind of recounting of his, background. We didn't get to this part yet, but there the the distinctive probably the real distinctive comment here is, gonna come up in chapter 26 and verse 14, where Paul adds a detail that we haven't heard before about his conversion, which is Jesus saying, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

And yet now we hear Jesus saying, it is hard for you to kick against the goads. So that the the so it's almost like Paul is picturing himself as a donkey that is, you know, being goaded and prodded, by the person who's directing him, almost like goads would be almost kinda like Spurs in a sense. Mhmm. And wait. We haven't heard that before.

Did why is he adding this here? And I I think and Tom can correct me because this is you know, he he's probably will have studied it more than I will have. I think, though, it's Paul again trying to bring elements out of his story to to show a commonality with the people that he's speaking to. And I think Paul is perhaps sharing this insight, this comment from Jesus that we hadn't heard before because particularly he's speaking to Herod Agrippa the second, who is again at least nominally culturally Jewish and who I think Paul is perhaps inviting to see himself as one who is kicking against the goads. Like, here's a man who is standing sort of on the fringes of Jewish faith.

He's been raised in from a Jewish background. He's not obviously living an observant religious life. And yet I think Paul senses there's maybe something happening inside Agrippa that is prodding his spirit, is is poking him. And Herod Agrippa knows that he's not living a good life and Paul is maybe hoping that his conscience is uneasy in a good way about that. And and he doesn't want him to be comfortable living this half in half out lifestyle and and sort of prompting him to just to challenging him to decide, what am I gonna do with Jesus?

Where do I land? Am I okay to just know things about Jesus, or, am am I gonna actually make a definite decision to follow him? And Paul, in a sense, kind of acting as the goad to, in a sense, kinda poke Agrippa's conscience and and see if, again, Paul can make a connection between his life of opposing god's work in Jesus and helping Agrippa to see he's kind of in the same position. So I I think, you know, looking backwards, that probably would not have been a helpful detail to throw out in front of a hostile Sanhedrin of religious leaders, but seems like a really helpful detail to bring out, when it's a more almost kind of one on one conversation that he's getting to have with this man. So I I think that's probably why Luke is recounting some detail here, and and bringing out this unique point that we haven't heard before.

Yeah. And then we'll get to see, and and wrestle with and wonder, did that actually work? Did it have any effect? Yeah. And maybe Tom won't answer that question.

Maybe Nathan won't the week after, but we'll all get to find out when we see Jesus one day. Mhmm. And whether or not here at Agrippa or Festus are there. Who knows? Yeah.

Okay. Thanks, Jeff. That was great. Is there anything that you had to cut for the sake of time this week, that we haven't had a chance to cover yet? You know, I think the people that sent in those questions raised, raised some good points that, yeah, would have been I probably would have been interesting to go into some of the detail of, you know, resurrection hope and what was that like.

And, so thank you, people of Faith Church for bringing up those good questions except about criticizing me for the cardinals. That was a bad question, and you should feel bad for that, Dan. No. You guys are you guys can bust me all you want about the cardinals. I don't care.

It's you know? I'm gonna keep on loving them, and, you know, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter. I mean You know what? What about non baseball fans? I am in Oh, totally.

Yeah. Of course. Yeah. There's gonna be a whole section in heaven for people who never have to listen to sports information, and and they'll be perfectly happy there. Yeah.

Mhmm. Mhmm. Speaking of heaven and hope, I was reading a book in the last year and something that, I may have talked about honestly with you before, Jeff. I'm not sure. So I'm sorry if this is repeat, but just something that the author brought out was that in heaven, you know, she's listing all the things that won't exist in heaven.

There there won't be any sickness or disease or poverty or depression or right? And it's like a list of, like, 30 things that it's like, wow. Great. But in hidden in the list is hope. And it, like, stood out to me.

I was like, wait. What? And then she brought it back. She's like, did you catch that? Like, there will be no hope in heaven.

There'll be no need for hope because it will be fully, like, actualized. Like, it'll be complete. Yes. The, the word is complete. Be no there will be no hoping that god will ultimately do what is right because we'll be experiencing it.

There'll be no lack. The the other way I've heard that, put is there there won't be any faith in heaven. Mhmm. Because we'll be experiencing it all. Right?

Like, we won't have to trust that, you know, that God is good against sometimes what seems like evidence to the contrary. We will constantly live in the immediate experience of God's deep unfailing goodness to us. So we won't have to be looking forward with anticipation to, you know, and living by faith. Yeah. We will be living by sight then.

Right? Like, we will actually see and experience the goodness of god all around us and and in and through one another too. Yeah. Isn't that isn't that awesome Yeah. To think about?

And right now, we get to hope for that. You know? Yeah. Yeah. Alright.

Thank you for your time today, Jeff. Thanks, Claire. And next week, you did mention this, but we'll start our, summer preaching series with just a few guest preachers. So, Tom Waltz is our first, guest preacher on Sunday, and he'll be covering the rest of this passage. So maybe we'll have a little bit more of a completeness to all these cliffhangers that we keep ending on.

So we're looking forward to that. Yeah. Alright. Thanks, Jeff. Looking forward to it.

Thanks, Claire. Thanks for listening to this week's episode of Cut for Time. If you wish to submit questions to our pastors following their sermon, you can email them to podcastfaithliveitout dot org or text them into our faith church texting number, and we'll do our best to cover it in the week's episode. If this conversation blessed you in any way, we encourage you to share with others. Thanks for listening.

We'll be back again next week.