Now will you please rise with me for the reading of scripture? We're in Acts chapter 26 beginning in verse 24 and continuing to the end of the chapter. That's page eleven twelve in the black bibles. And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, you are out of your mind. Your great learning is driving you out of your mind.

But Paul said, I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words. For the king knows about these things, and to him I speak boldly. For I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this has not been done in a corner. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.

And Agrippa said to Paul, in a short time, would you persuade me to be a Christian? And Paul said, whether short or long, I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am except for these chains. Then the king rose, and the governor and Bernice and those who were sitting with them. And when they had withdrawn, they said to one another, this man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment. And Agrippa said to Festus, this man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. Well, that's the most applause I've gotten in the seven years I've been here. So I don't know what took you guys so long.

Well, as you look at this, stained glass window, we are wrapping up the gospel on trial. And next week, we begin the final section of our study of the book of Acts because it is June 2025, and we're still in Acts. We started this, book, the our study of the book of Acts back in May of twenty twenty three, if you can believe it. And so we are wrapping up, Paul's journey towards Rome, starting next week. But where we're at right now is we are still in this section of the gospel on trial, and I'm kind of wrapping up this section for us.

Where has Paul been? Well, he's been in Caesarea under the lock and key and watch of Festus, but if you remember before Festus, there was Felix the governor after Paul had been arrested in Jerusalem and kind of transferred into this because his there were plots against his life, Felix, decided that he wanted to hear from Paul. So he was trying to, you know, ascertain what has brought Paul to be so hated by the Jews, and he's trying to figure out what to do. And he keeps Paul for years, just under, you know, under guard, in prison in prison, but he had a lot of freedoms. And the whole time, he was kind of hoping that Paul would pay him off, that Paul would give him a bribe for his freedom, but Paul never did that.

And so when Felix finishes his term and the next guy, Festus, comes around, here we have this new guy, Festus, who's trying to figure out why is Paul in prison and what's he doing here. And so he is trying to figure out what to do. Paul gets to the end of his rope in a sense and decides to appeal to Caesar. He wants to go take his case to Caesar. It was his right as a Roman citizen to do that.

And so as Agrippa and his somewhat related, love interest, Bernice, come and are in the presence of Festus. Festus seems like it's a great idea, you know, to kind of host Agrippa and Bernice and show them what he's got, what kind of, you know, eloquent prisoner he has. So he kind of puts Paul on trial to say, hey. As you go to Caesar, I wanna make sure I know what your accusations are against you. So, Agrippa, how about you work with me and we can help figure this out?

So that's where we are. That's where we're going. But before we just jump in, let's just take a moment and pray together. Will you pray with me? Heavenly father, we're thankful that we have your word that we can study together.

I pray that this morning you would give us eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to understand. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. Now I I I recognize kind of my position in life and that for many of you, I may seem life in that for many of you, I may seem really young. And for others of you, I may seem really old.

But I've been here at Faith Church for seven years, and even at my when I started my job here at Faith, I think that was my job by the time I was my job here at Faith, I think that was my job by the time I was 26. So I don't know where that fits in the at law of averages, but I've had lots of different jobs, both in manual labor, landscaping, working in warehouse, and then home improvement, and also working fast food, all different types. But they all kind of fit up here, and then there's one that's really down here. It was the summer after my freshman year of college. I took a job.

I couldn't find anything else. Did I find it on Craigslist? Yes. But it was working seven days a week, for not great pay from the hours of two to 5AM every morning. Any guesses as to what I was doing?

Stocking. Not stocking. Delivering newspapers. No one said it, but I'll pretend someone shouted that out. So I delivered newspapers for the Cincinnati Enquirer, and if any of you older people here have, like, a paper route where you rode around on your bike and you collected quarters on the weekends, that was not this.

Well, that was more glamorous than what I was doing. And so anyway, we, each person like me, we got our papers, we delivered delivered the papers on the route to the houses we were supposed to. It was terrible. I would not recommend But the reason I bring it up, is because it it came to mind this week as I was thinking about where we're going in this passage and where Paul is in this situation. For me as a newspaper delivery person, I got paid, though pennies what is what it should have been, but I got paid for faithfully delivering the message.

Right? Delivering the news. If that newspaper got to that person's house in the morning, then I got paid for it. And if I didn't, then there was a penalty to pay. And it didn't matter what people did with the newspaper.

They could take the newspaper and go and throw it away. They could take the newspaper and read it and believe it, or they could read it and deny it. Didn't matter what happened. My role was to faithfully deliver the news, to deliver the message. And where Paul is, I think that's the position he's in.

That his goal, what Luke is setting him up to be, is someone who can faithfully deliver the message and that the results are left up to God. So the the the big idea for this morning is that sharing the gospel is not about the results, but faithfully delivering the message. Now as I see what Paul or what Luke is doing with Paul here in, Acts 26, I I see it kind of broken into four sections or four aspects of what it means that Paul being a faithful witness. Part one has already kind of been covered the last two weeks, and that is the aspect of being a faithful witness is sharing your story. Right?

Paul's done that. He's both shared his background of what led him to where he is, then he also shared his conversion story with, you know, Agrippa and with Bernice, and with Festus and all who are listening. So that's aspect one of being a faithful witness, and obviously that's already been covered, so we're not going there. But for this morning, we're gonna be looking at parts two, three, and four. So three additional aspects of what it means that Paul is a faithful witness, and then three questions for us to ask ourselves.

So three aspects of being a faithful witness and three questions for us. So with that, let's jump in. The thing as we pick up in verse 24 at the end of Paul's conversion testimony, is Festus interrupts Paul. And so the thing we're gonna see is that a faithful witness means A faithful witness means withstanding criticism and mockery. Verse 24.

As he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, you are out of your mind. Your great learning is driving you out of your mind. Now we might hear Festus's interruption of Paul and think, well, that's rather rude. And we have to remember that this is Festus's courtroom. He's the governor here in Caesarea.

He's the one who has put Paul on trial. He's the one who's, you know, directing the proceedings. Right? So even though we might think it's rude, he, as the judge, has the right to kind of narrow in the witness. If he feels like the witness is kind of going off just telling stories that don't matter, even in our courtrooms today, the judge has the power to say, hey.

That that doesn't matter. Don't go there. Let's keep it here. And so I think while he is kind of making these judgments about Paul and him being crazy or loony, there is a sense in which it's Festus' right to kind of try to navigate this courtroom, right, to keep it under control. And so he does not agree with Paul.

It's pretty obvious to Paul. But I also think that Paul was probably not surprised by Festus's reaction. If we back up a couple verses to see what exactly Festus was reacting to, it'll start to make sense hopefully. So if we back up a couple verses, this was the end of the passage last week that Tom Waltz preached for us. He's talking about his conversion.

Verse 22. To this day, I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass. That the Christ must suffer, and that being the to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles. Now I don't think Festus has a problem with the the fact that the Christ had to suffer. Right?

That's the main component of the gospel is that this promised Messiah of Israel, the promise by the prophets, not just that he's gonna gonna come and conquer Rome, but that actually Jesus the Messiah suffered and died. I don't think Festus really cares about that. I think what leads him to think that Paul is crazy is that Paul is talking about Jesus as being the of those to rise from the dead. That not only is Jesus, not only did Jesus rise from the dead, but that his followers will as well. Right?

The future resurrection. And it's at this point where he says, Paul, your education, everything you've learned, your whole life experience, great, but it's led you to the point of just being crazy. Few years earlier, Paul had written to the church in Corinth, and he says this about the good news of the gospel. Corinthians one. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles.

But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. So the good news of Jesus to those who believe is both power and wisdom of God. But to Jews, this idea that the Christ must suffer and die, that Christ was crucified is a stumbling block. It's something that's really hard for them to get over. They trip on it constantly.

They can't understand in their world view that the Messiah would suffer. But to many Gentiles, this idea of the Christ crucified and the resurrection and anyone rising from the dead, it's folly. It's foolishness. So with that in his mind, it probably does not surprise Paul that Festus, with no real religious background, just coming from Rome, like, he's not gonna get it. But he withstands this criticism and he doesn't fight fire with fire.

He doesn't try to put down Festus. I don't read his response to Festus, sarcastically. I don't think he's tongue in cheek trying to be like, oh, most excellent Festus. Right? But what does he say in verse 25?

But Paul said, I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words. Once again, I don't think he's trying to be disrespectful. He's just trying to say, actually, you think I'm crazy, but what I'm saying is true and it makes sense. And maybe you can't see that right now, Festus, but I'm here to tell you that it is true and that it makes sense. Well, this idea of what it means to withstand criticism and mockery, it it it hits home for me a little bit, because in my work with students over the last seven years and even beyond before I was here, when when it comes to following Jesus, we have lots of conversations, about what it means to follow Jesus, what it means to invite others to follow Jesus.

We talk a lot about that. And the question that I often ask is, what's the hardest part? You know, you have some friends who don't know Jesus. What's the hardest part of sharing your love for Jesus with others? And the number one answer without fail is always the cost.

Like, what it will cost me with my friends. The the social circles I'm in, I don't want to be ostracized. I don't wanna lose a friendship. I don't want someone to not be friends with me anymore. And, you know, we might look at students who say that and be like, oh, you guys haven't learned yet.

But let's be real. We all feel that way. Right? No matter how old you get, there is a cost to following Jesus. And it might cost you something to speak out about your love and your belief in in God.

And so as we think about what it means to withstand criticism, we need to do some inner questioning, some inner evaluation as we think about that. And we'll come back to that later as we ask those three questions. So if a faithful witness means sharing your story and withstanding criticism and mocking, it also looks like making an invitation. And that's what Paul does next. So he he's addressing Festus.

He starts to talk about Agrippa in the person, and then he actually turns to address Agrippa directly. So he starts talking about the king. Verse 26. For the king knows about these things, and to him I speak boldly. For I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this has not been done in a corner.

So he's talking to Festus about, about Agrippa. He says, hey. By the way, these things I'm talking about with Jesus, the fact that he died and the fact that I and his other disciples claim that he rose from the dead, this is not news to Agrippa. This might be news to you, Festus. This This is not news to Agrippa.

Agrippa has been on the scene for a while. Right? Both with his dad who ruled before him and him now. He came to rule when he was about 17. So he's been around the block for a while, and he was there throughout all these situations with the disciples of, Jesus.

And so he has this background. He has this understanding. He knows what has gone on in Judea and Samaria. It's not a surprise to him. And so Paul uses that as an opportunity to make an invitation.

Uses it as an opportunity to make an invitation to Agrippa. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe. So this question might seem kind of innocent. Like, oh, he's just asking about the old testament.

Like, do you believe what the prophets say? What are you talking about specifically? And I think what Paul has in mind here is the fact that the promised Messiah of Israel was going to suffer and die. And so Paul is making an invitation because in his because in his mind, he knows Agrippa. He knows about him.

He has a reputation. He is not just someone who came from Rome, but he has kind of been in the area long enough that he recognizes the religion of the Jews. And he sees himself kind of in this unique place to try and garner trust both with Rome on behalf of the Jews and with the Jews on behalf of Rome. Right? He kinda sees himself as the king of this area, instituted by Rome as having this responsibility.

So Paul knew him. He knew his background, and he's using that as an opportunity to make an invitation to enter into the conversation. I think what Paul's not trying to trap him. I think he's just trying to enter into this conversation with him. But Agrippa does not like the question.

He does not answer the question. And so what we get to in the the last, aspect of being a faithful witness, it means that we are going to trust God with the results. Being a faithful witness means trusting God with the results. I mentioned that Agrippa didn't like the question. The question of do you believe the prophets kind of puts him in a conundrum.

If he says, no, I do not believe the prophets. Well, then he has just alienated himself from the entire population of people that he is king over. Right? He is king over the Jews. He's king in Judea and Samaria and parts of Syria, and he cannot outwardly and publicly in this courtroom setting say, I do not believe the prophets.

Because up to this point, he has been a sympathizer for the Jews. But he also can't say yes, because to say yes means that he's publicly agreeing in court with a man who stands accused of being an agitator, a follower of, you know, a potential rebellious upriser named Jesus of Nazareth. Right? So he he's in a situation where he can't say yes and he can't say no. And so he does the old classic respond to a question with a question.

And Agrippa said to Paul, in a short time, would you persuade me to be a Christian? He's asking Paul this question because I think he's kind of a little bit confused. Right? Like, this is Paul's defense. Paul has been talking about, here's why the Jews don't like me.

Here's why they're trying to kill me. Here's what I was accused of. Here's my story. Here's my background. Here's my conversion.

Oh, by the way, do you believe the prophets? And I think Agrippa is like, hey, we're not we're not going there. Alright. Do you think in just this little amount of time you can convert me to becoming a Christian or convince me of being a Christian. Interesting side note, this is only the and only other time in Acts, that the word Christian is used, but it kinda points to the fact that this term was in wide use at this time.

That it was knowledgeable that this wasn't just a small sect of Judaism, but that it was its own thing, followers of the Christ. Right? So he asked Paul, do you think you're gonna be able to do this? You know, kind of in you could kind of read into it that doesn't seem positive. Doesn't seem like it's going that direction.

But Paul, trusting God with the results, says, actually, yes. I would like that. I would like I would to God that whether short or long, not only you, but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am. So he doubles down to say, actually, that's why I'm here. What I want to share with each one of you is that you could all become such as me, a follower of Jesus.

And then maybe to bring a little bit of levity, he kinda just holds up his arms, except for these. These chains that are around my arms and my legs right now, I don't wish that on any of you, but everything else, yeah. I want you to become as I am. But do you notice that he's not Paul is not setting this up to be like this is a plan that will not fail. He even admits to them that he's trusting God with whatever happens.

Right? I would to God, or I hope to God, or I pray to God that whether in a short time or a long time, whatever it takes, that you would come to know Jesus as your savior. So to to wrap up this, section of Acts 26, the last couple verses, then the king rose, the governor, and Bernice, and those who were sitting with them. And when they had withdrawn, they said to one another, this man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment. And Agrippa said to Festus, this man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.

So I think what Luke is kind of doing here to put a nice little button on the end of this part of the story is to kind of, for once and for all, show that Paul and the gospel, while on trial, are not guilty. That Paul is not guilty of the crimes that he's being accused of, and that the gospel is not incompatible with living in the world and loving others and being a good citizen. And so this is kind of the conclusion of the gospel on trial. That even though Paul gets sent to Rome, where he eventually dies in some time after the book of Acts was written, you know, Paul's death is not included in the book of Acts. But sometime in the future, even though that happens, this is the conclusion that the gospel and Paul were not guilty.

They were innocent. And Paul successfully defended himself and successfully defended the gospel. So as we think about what it means to trust God with the results, I'm reminded this week, of of just that very thing in action with this the past week being the week of kids camp. Maybe you were here last Sunday and you saw all the canopies and all the tents set up, as kids this week at kids camp were transported back to ancient Egypt. Right?

And if you're wondering why pastor Jeff shaved his head, it's because he was playing Joseph, and Joseph had to shave his head and beard before going before Pharaoh, so he committed to the part. He did it, if you're wondering why that happened. That's beside the point. In kids camp, right, Kendra Carter, our kids ministry director, Andre Witham, all the the dozens of volunteers, hundreds of man hours, all this lays the foundation for a great week of kids camp. There was rehearsing of songs, practicing skits, there was, crafts and games and snacks, snacks.

Everything planned down to the detail. But no one sat there and thought, okay. Based upon what we've done, let's calculate this out. We're gonna have exactly seven kids come to Jesus this week. We're gonna have exactly 14 recommitments.

We're gonna have 78 spiritual conversations. Thinks about this because we recognize that while we can do our part, we can lay the foundation, we can do the hard work, ultimately what happens is up to God. And there is a a fun story that I'll just briefly share. I know there's many like it, but this is one that was shared with me. That there was an eight year old girl that came into one of the tents.

Right? In ancient Egypt, the the shopkeepers who are our volunteers pretend to be in Egypt and following the gods of Egypt, and they are trying to engage our kids from kids camp in spiritual conversations. And so this eight year old goes to the adult worker and the the teen worker that were there, and starts talking about this God of Joseph, the one true God that Joseph believes in. And and actually, I believe in him too. Well, Joseph says he believes in the one true God, and you talk about eternal life, but seems like bad things still happen to Joseph.

And this eight year old was able to explain, well, yes. That's in eternal life. God makes everything perfect. But even now, God helps us through the hard times. Well, the adult had to kind of move on to help some other kids with whatever craft they were working on, and comes back and says, hey.

So how'd that conversation go? And our, teen helper goes, well, she led me to Jesus. So that like I said, that's that's one of many many stories like that that happened this week. But things like that, you know, an eight year old being so confident in her faith to be able to talk about that with someone that she thinks maybe doesn't have those sure things about them, is a confidence that we want to grow in ourselves. Is a confidence that we can be a faithful witness and trust God to handle the results.

Well, I mentioned we would have three questions for us. So as as we think about our own lives, these questions kind of align with what we've been talking about. For us, all of us here in this room, we we fall into one of two categories. We either are well, those who believe or those who do not believe yet. Right?

You either believe that Jesus is who he says he is, that he is the savior of the world, or you do not believe that yet? Well, for those of us who believe that Jesus is who he says he is, that the word of God is as true as we say it is, here are some questions for us to consider. In what ways might the fear of criticism keep us from being a faithful witness? Like I mentioned earlier, both for our students and for each one of us, when we think about the relationships we have with others who might not know who Jesus is, and maybe we're prompted even whether with someone we know or even a total stranger to have something, those fears of being mocked or criticized creep in. And I think sometimes we allow those thoughts to those fears to overpower the desire we have for those people to come to know Jesus.

We should not shrink back from sharing just because we might be criticized. We might be even made fun of or mocked. Jesus reminds us that if the world hates you, remember, it's because they hated me So it's something we should expect. Doesn't mean we have to look forward to it or enjoy it, but I do think it means we shouldn't be overrun by it. question.

Have you ever refrained from actually making an invitation because you wanted your way of life or your actions to be enough? There's a quote that I've heard many times over the years. It's often attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi. Even though there's no real reason that it's attributed to him, it's probably likely that he didn't say it. But as Abraham Lincoln once said, quotes are much more believable if you attribute it to a famous person.

So, the quote goes like this. Took you a didn't it? The quote goes like this. Preach the gospel at all times. When necessary, use words.

Cross stitch it on a pillow, put it on a coffee mug. That sounds great. That sounds like I can be a kind person. I can be a loving person. I can love others with the love from Jesus, and that's enough.

Now there there is a positive side of this quote that I like, but there's also part of it that I don't like. The positive side is that this is a reminder that how we act and how we live should line up with what we say. If we're gonna talk about what we say we believe about God, or what we say about the value of every human life, or the value of peace and harmony as human beings. Whatever we might say, our lives should live up to that. That part I love, I agree with.

The half, when necessary use words, I think sometimes has the shadow side of meaning like, really you what you do and how you act should be enough, and then maybe only in the random circumstance do you actually need to say anything about it. I've actually had conversations with people where they've referenced this quote in understanding of why they don't need to say anything. Like, I can just live my life and love others, and I don't need to say something. I would say that the Bible paints a very different picture, that we do need to make an invitation. We need to open our mouth boldly and ask and ask questions and ask people, are you ready?

Or what's holding you back? Are you in a place where you have more questions? How can I help you get there? Right? We should not rely only on our actions to proclaim the good news of Jesus.

And then the last question. When it comes to being a witness for Jesus, how are you committing your relationships and your conversations to the Lord in prayer? Are you committing these things to the Lord with the recognition that the results are up to him? Are you gonna faithfully deliver the news, the good news, and trust God through prayer? I think if we don't keep prayer and and God's role in this whole situation at the forefront, we're gonna, you know, go one of two ways.

We might try to do too much. We might try to become the Holy Spirit, convict people of sin because they need more conviction, or I'm gonna do what I can to try and soften their heart, and we might just try to do too much. Do things that are not our role, or we might not do enough, and that we grow weary of doing good. We get frustrated because we've been having these same conversations with family members year after year after year with our parents or maybe our kids or friends, and we just don't see any progress. God, what are you doing?

Are you doing anything? And if we're not committing that to the Lord in prayer, that's gonna leave us frustrated. It's gonna leave us weary. It's gonna leave us weary. Weary.

So I mentioned that, you know, we're all in one of two categories. You either believe or you do not believe yet. So if you're sitting here and you still have some doubts, that's okay. We accept you. But my question for you is this, what will it take for you to respond in faith?

Is there one more question out there that you just haven't got an answer to? Do you have the faith to an answer to? Do you have the faith to believe in something that might seem like madness to the rest of the world? Our faith in the God of the universe is not a blind faith. It is not a faith that we cross our fingers and just hope is true that at the end of time when we die, oh, it turns out I was right.

No. It is not a blind faith. It is a faith that is rooted in his word, and it is rooted in history. And it is more attested to than anything else in all of human history that we can believe with assurance that what God's word says is true. If I stood up here and told you about the wizarding world of Harry Potter, where there's this guy who saved the world with his friends, and I said, and that is real.

He would look at me like I'm crazy, and you would be right. And I think most of the world sees Christianity and Islam and being a Hindu and these other religions, they they kind of think of it in the same way as someone saying they believe in Harry Potter is real. Like, oh, that if you wanna believe that, that's good for you, but that doesn't really seem to make sense to me, so I'm not gonna believe that. And I don't have time to unpack all the reasons why that argument is wrong, but the point I'm trying to make is this. God is real.

He loves you. He sees you. He cares about you. He is inviting you into a relationship with him. If you recognize that the ways you've tried to do it your own way have not gotten you anywhere, and you recognize that you need to be saved from yourself, saved from your sins, then that invitation is there for you.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word that reminds us about what it means to be a faithful witness. We're thankful for people like Paul, and Luke, and Peter, and so many others, not just in the Bible, but even throughout the history of time, where we have seen people stand up, withstand criticism and mockery. They have truly just done what you have asked them to do to be a faithful witness to the gospel. So for us who believe, I pray that we would take account of areas in our lives where we can commit more fully to you, that we can trust you with the results, and be bold in our invitations to others to accept Jesus as savior and lord.

And father, if there's anyone here who has not taken that step of faith, I pray right now you would cover them with a boldness and a courage to take that step, to take that leap, to say, yes, God. I might not have all the answers to all my questions, but I know enough to know that you are real, that you love me, and that you have a plan for me, and that you want to have a relationship with me. So I surrender to you. I commit my life to Jesus, and I surrender to you. So father, for all of us, for each one of us, I pray as we go about this week, you would help us to be faithful witnesses in whatever situations you call us to.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen.