Welcome to NECF sermons. Each message here is
designed to uplift and strengthen you in your
walk with God. Don't miss out. Stay with us until
the end for a rewarding experience. Let's dive
right in. Heavenly Father. Thank you, Heavenly
Father. Thank you, Heavenly Father. In the mighty
name of Jesus. Jesus speaking to his disciples,
he said, most assuredly, I say to you, most assuredly,
I say to you, most assuredly, I say to you, most
assuredly, I say to you. When someone is speaking,
you listen. When someone says most assuredly,
in their time, that will be truly, truly, that
will be like twice. The word will, I think another
translation, I want you to give us on the King
James. Verily, verily, or truly, truly. The ESV
will say, truly, truly, this is verily, verily.
Verily, verily. It's like someone calling your
name once and calling your name again to get
your attention, to bring you to this consciousness
that this is important. And we'll see that this
is unique to the gospel of John. We'll see about
in 25 verses, you see this exactly as it is.
Moses, surely I say to you, verily, verily I
say to you. You see this happen several times.
And it's a cue for something important. It's
a cue for something worth noting. In the teaching,
I will go further and explain that. But I'm setting
the stage for us to understand that we need to
pay attention, right? We need to pay attention.
And we're in a day and age where people lose
attention. People don't pay attention. People
can be looking at you. A person can be looking
at you, but their minds are far and in a distant
land. And attention is, we most times pursue,
we want to get attention, but we don't want to
give it. We don't want to give it. The world
is revolving around people seeking to be noticed,
people seeking to be known, people seeking clicks,
likes, and follows, or subscribers, people seeking
all of that. One very key thing and one very
important thing that's very foundational to understanding
is giving attention or paying attention. Giving
attention or paying attention. And in this year,
God is demanding that we pay attention to his
word. He's demanding that we pay attention to
the disciplines that will account for our growth.
Pay attention to the things that he's speaking,
the things he has spoken, the things that he's
still speaking. You are paying attention to the
prophecies that you have received, paying attention
to it so that you are able to partner with God
to see its fulfillment. And the whole of Scripture
is littered around with this whole idea or this
concept of having to give attention, to be attentive.
Proverbs 4, 1, 2. Two, it says, hear my children
the instruction of a father and give attention
to no understanding. Give attention to no understanding.
For I give you good doctrine. Don't forsake my
law. Give attention to no understanding. Give
attention to no understanding. If you want to
understand, you have to give attention. You have
to pay attention. You don't understand by being
passive. You don't understand by being casual.
You understand by paying or giving attention.
Praise God. And in Proverbs 2, verse 1 to 5,
it says, My son, if you receive my words and
treasure my commands within you, so that you...
If you receive my words and treasure my commands
within you so that you incline your ear to wisdom
and apply your heart to understanding. Yes, if
you cry out for discernment and lift up your
voice for understanding. If you seek her as silver
and search for her as hidden treasures, then
you understand the fear of the Lord and find
the knowledge of God. There is this inclining
your ear. to the wisdom, applying your heart
to understanding. There's this, every part of
you has to be involved in it. You don't just
give me your ear. You want to give God your ear.
You want to give him your heart. You want to
give him your full attention. Because when someone
has your full attention, they will not miss a
thing. Praise God. You will not miss a thing.
You will not miss a thing. And scripture continues
to communicate this strongly to us that Paying
attention is foundational to understanding. Paying
attention is foundational to growth. Anybody
that wants to grow in fact in a specific area,
you want to give attention to that area for you
to see growth. You can't just be aiming everywhere
and expecting to grow everywhere. Paying attention
means that you are focused. Paying attention
means that you are single -minded. You're not
all over the place. When someone is not paying
attention, the word for it is that they are distracted.
And for many of us, our walk with God is full
of distractions. If I ask you to reflect on 2025,
you will remember all the times you were distracted,
on the things that you had planned to do, you
had prayed, you had prepared, on the day of execution,
you found yourself doing another thing. Or you
find yourself doing something else. And then
when you finish, you say, Lord, I'm sorry. And
then you come back again and then you repeat
the cycle. It's almost like the cycle just comes
back again. But we see in that same Proverbs
4, when you read down, I want us to read down,
I think, from 20, 420. 420, I think. The minister
don't mind. Oh, the song. My son, pay attention
to my words. In fact, that's the song that comes
out when you're reading this Proverbs. Pay attention
to my words. Incline your heart to my sayings.
Do not let them depart from your eyes. Keep them
in the midst of your heart. For they are life
to those who find them. They are health to all
their flesh. Keep your heart. with all diligence,
for out of it springs the issues of life. Put
away from you a deceitful mouth, and put perverse
lips far from you. Let your eyes look straight
ahead. Let your eyelids look right before you.
Ponder the patch of your feet, and let all your
ways be. established. Don't turn to the right
or to the left. Remove your foot from evil. I
would like us to read 1 and 2. That is chapters
1 and 2. Chapters 5 starts off with my son again.
Pay attention to my wisdom. Lend your ear to
my understanding. that you may preserve discretion
and your lips may keep knowledge. We see that
there's a repeated theme in this particular area,
in the passages that we've read, it starts off,
he encourages his son to pay attention, to give
attention. And this is a theme repeated and scattered
through. scriptures, you find it. It says wisdom
actually demands that you deliberately pursue
it. You don't stumble on wisdom. Wisdom doesn't
stumble to you. You look for it. You find it.
You give attention to it. You hold on to it.
You hold fast to it. And then you treasure it.
Some of us receive things and we don't treasure
the things that we have received. We take it
casual. We incline our hearts towards understanding
it. We seek insight and we intensify our desire
for it. We look at it. The way a gold miner mines
for gold, they dig. They investigate. They look
around. They search. They clean the dirt. They
get dirty. They get rough trying to do that.
And once they have found the gold, the search
doesn't stop because there is more gold to find.
Praise God. There is more gold to find. And God's
word is gold and God wants us to treasure it.
God wants us to treasure it. We incline ourselves
to it. We apply our hearts to it. So there's
always something to do. There's always something
to do. There's always something to do. And I
want to just put this in as we're talking about
it. When Pastor, if I was leading us in prayer,
he dropped it in. This is the 18th of January.
This is the 18th of January. I want to ask you,
you know, many people still do this thing of,
okay, this is a new year. I want to do something.
I want to do a new year, new me. I want to do
things differently this year. And then they say,
okay. I'm going to try. Last year, I couldn't
complete my Bible, the canonical. I want to do
better this year. If you want to do better this
year, and we are on the 18th of January, first
and foremost, doing better will mean that you
should be on the plan, the one we are together
as a church. Some people will say, sir, there's
a personal plan I do. Yes, there's a personal
plan you do. How do we... How are you accountable
in that personal plan? How we can know that you're
accountable because you already are used to doing
it. So what you'll just do is that you'll join
us and then we'll be able to hold ourselves accountable
together. That's one. Two, where we've started,
this is the 18. And the question is, are you
playing catch up? Because if you're playing catch
up, you know, some people have been doing catch
up since last year. Now is a new... It's a new
plan. If you're going to do catch up again, it
shouldn't be 18 days. We're now still doing 15
days. Not behind by 15 days. It means that if
you want to start off to do better, it means
that you should be closing in. We can be in day
18 and then it's bad enough that we're doing
like three days missed, four days missed. If
it's 10 days missed, it means that you have not
learned your lesson from the past year. Praise
God. And I'm saying this to say that little things
like this are the micro changes that you make
for the macro changes to occur. Praise God. They
are the micro changes that you make for the macro
changes to occur. I'm saying this and looking
into the eyes of some people. They are the micro
changes you make for the macro changes to occur.
You don't just arrive at here. You move slowly
and you can make mistakes or you can skip, but
let it not be too far apart. Let your recovery
time be shorter this year. Praise God. Let your
recovery time or let the days apart be shorter.
Some people, I was horrified to see that they
had like 100 and something days in last year.
And this year, there is no 100 and something.
There is no catch up this year. Praise God. It
means that if you want to. If you want to do
better, you have to plan. You don't stumble into
it. You want to say, I want to pay attention
to my study of God's Word. I want to see that
there's an improvement from what used to happen
before. Yes, I'm up to date, but how am I internalizing
what I'm receiving? That is the step further.
I think one way, Brother Gabriel was leading
us in prayer one time. He says, yes, there are
nine gifts of the Spirit. If you are doing eight,
there's one more. If you are doing one, there's
eight more. If you are doing five, there's four
more. It means that anywhere you find yourself,
there's more. Meaning that if you have been doing
it successfully, you want to put in a challenge
to it. Say this year, I'm going to add more fasting
to it. I'm going to add more of intense study
to it to challenge myself, to enable myself to
do. Because there's actually a consequence of
not paying. There's a big consequence to not
paying attention. Praise God. There are consequences
to not paying attention. I think I will give
an illustration with, I think, this semester
that just ended. Even in your everyday life,
if you don't pay attention, you pay for it daily.
I'd given announcements to all the students,
stated, okay, this is how you're going to do
it. This is the venue for the exams. And I walked
into an exam hall and I saw a particular student
in the wrong exam, writing the wrong examination.
And this student looks at me and I said, I looked
and I'm able to tell that this student shouldn't
be in this examination. I looked into the student's
eye. I said, you shouldn't be in this exam. She
looks, the student looks at me and tells me,
thank you, Hojam. And then I'm thinking to myself,
I was like. I don't have time. I have like different
rooms to attend to. I can't explain to the student
again that they're in the wrong class after telling
me thank you and not doing anything about it.
And then I'm thinking to myself that if you continue
and finish the entire exam, I hope you know that
the consequences that you have zero because the
courses are not the same. And then you have people
giving or you're doing work, but you're doing
work. in the wrong direction. And for some of
us, last year we were busy. We were very busy.
We were doing a lot of things. But we were not
in church. We were not in the Word. We were not
found in a place of prayer. We were nowhere,
but we were everywhere. Praise God. I want to
challenge you that you want to look And see,
paying attention is not just examining your life
and doing nothing about it. Because most of us
have examined our lives. And we have seen that
there is a problem in this area and this area.
But we are just locked in the habit of living
things the way that they are. This is my challenge
to us. That there is more, right? There is more.
There is more. There is more. And I think in
the passage that was read to us, I think on Wednesday,
when Pastor Victor was teaching us, he read to
us from Hebrew. And in Hebrews 2, he mentioned
something. He says, Hebrews 2 is one. He says,
therefore, we must give more earnest heed. I
like the way he emphasizes more. earnest heed
to the things that we have heard. More earnest
heed to the things that we have heard. Lest we
drift away. Lest we drift away. You're giving
heed to the things you have heard so that you
make progress. In fact, it didn't just say give
heed to the things. It said more earnest heed
to the things that you have heard. And for some
of us, we have been hearing, hearing, hearing.
It's a broken record. We've been hearing and
hearing, but we still have not decided that this
is the time it will end. What I believe God is
going to be doing to us or doing in us in this
season is that he's going to be stirring the
desire. We're going to look at, as we prayed,
we're going to see examples, as we saw in the
passage in 1 Timothy 4. We're going to see examples
that will challenge us. We're going to see people
around us, and God is going to put us in that
place where we'll be challenged to insist on
change. Insist on change. That we will not drift.
Some people drift and drift and drift, and to
come back, it's like a little slow fade, slow
fade, and before you know it, there's nothing.
Jesus Christ speaking in Luke 18. I want us to
go to Luke 8, Luke 8, 18. Luke 8, 18, it says,
Therefore take heed how you hear. Take heed how
you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be
given, and whoever does not have, even that which
he seems to have, will be taken from him. Even
the things you do have, you can lose it if you
don't apply yourself to it. Some of us, we just,
we regress a bit and when we come back, it's
like it's new to us. Because you have regressed
or you have held back a bit. Means that if you
don't consistently pay attention, you're going
to lose already gained grounds. You're going
to lose already gained grounds. If you don't
consistently pay attention, you will miss something
that you will struggle to catch up with. It's
like if you don't pay attention in the whole
of the semester, when you fail, you have to pay
for another semester. It means that it will cost
you. It will cost you. It means that you don't
want to give yourself, you want to really pay
attention to what is happening so that you don't
miss out. You don't miss out. I want us to go
to the first Timothy. First Timothy 4. First
Timothy 4. We'll start from 13. First Timothy
4. We'll start from 13. It says, Till I come,
give attention to reading. Till I come, give
attention to reading, to exaltation, to doctrine.
Give attention to doctrine, that is teaching.
Do not neglect the gift which is in you, which
has been given to you by prophecy by the laying
on of hands of the eldership. 15 now says, meditate
on these things. Give yourself entirely to them.
Notice he says, give yourself entirely to them.
He didn't say partly. He didn't say somehowly.
He says entirely to them that your progress may
be evident to all. It means that what we'll see
as a result is progress, right? What we'll see
as a result is you'll get better. What we'll
see as a result is that you will not struggle
to catch it or to understand when it's being
taught. It means that your progress will be evident
to all. 16 now says take heed to yourself and
to the doctrine, which is teaching. Continue
in them. For in doing this, you will save both
yourself and those who hear you. So it means
that your making progress is not going to be
beneficial to you alone. Even people around you.
In the prayers that we're saying, it's now not
we or you're looking forward to who will encourage
you. It's now you encouraging someone else because
you yourself have been encouraged. Praise God.
You have been encouraged. And time and time again,
the purpose or the plan for God is not for everyone
to be needing, right? Everyone to always, God,
what is it for me today? What do you have for
me today? That kind of work is what we are here
encouraging you not to. Give yourself to praise
God. The work should be such that you will say,
what do you want me to do? That is someone that
is paying attention. Someone that is paying attention
will be like, there is work to be done. I am
availing myself for that work that needs to be
done. But someone that is needing attention will
wake up and say, what do you have for me today?
I want... You know, I have fees that are not
paid. But someone that is paying attention will
see the pattern. The way your fees have been
coming from last year, it has been miraculous.
But it has been coming. So it means that you
don't want to give your attention to that, but
focus your attention on the work that he's instructing
you to do. So we see that it's very... practical
either benefits or consequences to it. There
are practical benefits or consequences to it.
And I want us to pick something from the parable
of the sower, right? And this further exemplifies
or illustrates the matter. Because when people
hear spiritual truths and they don't understand
it or they don't heed it, there is There are
things that can happen. There are things, there
are consequences, or there are things that they
can allow themselves to give heed to that will
distract them from the truth. Because if the
truth that you have received doesn't take root,
you will not see the fruit of it. Praise God.
You will not see the fruit of it. And it's very
important that we don't undermine the things
that God is exposing us to, the things that God
is teaching us, the things that He's helping
us to come into understanding of. I want us to
see it from a sense where I want to see this
from Matthew 13. Matthew 13 from verse 9. It
starts off with, He who has ears to hear, let
him hear. 10 now says, And the disciples came
and said to him, Why? Do you speak to them in
parables? He answered and said to them, Because
it has been given to you to know the mysteries
of the kingdom of heaven. But to them it has
not been given. For whoever has to him more will
be given. have abundance, but whoever does not
have, even that which he has will be taken away
from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables,
because seeing they do not see, and hearing they
do not hear, nor do they understand. And in them
the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says,
Hearing you will not hear, and shall not understand
and see, you will see and not perceive. For the
hands of his people have grown dull, their ears
are hard of hearing, and their eyes have been
closed, lest they should see with their eyes
and hear with their ears, lest they should understand
with their hearts and tongue. So I will... so
I should heal them. 16. But blessed are your
eyes for they see, your ears for they hear. 17
now says, For assuredly I say to you that many
prophets and righteous men desire to see what
you see and they not see it and hear what you
hear and they not hear it. 18 now comes to the
explanation. Therefore, hear the parable of the
sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom
and does not understand it, then the wicked one
comes and snatches away what has been sown in
his heart. This is he who received seed by the
wayside. But he who received the seed on stony
places is the one who hears the word and immediately
perceives and receives it with joy. Yet he has
no root in himself but endures only for a while.
For when tribulations or persecutions arises
because of the word, immediately he stumbles.
Now he who receives seed among the tons is he
who hears the word, and the cares of the world
and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word.
And he becomes unfruitful. 23. But he who receives
seed on the good ground is he who hears the word
and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and
produces a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirteen.
Praise God. So, we want to be people who receive.
the Word with enthusiasm and allow it to take
root in us without letting things choke the Word.
We can read this in the different accounts in
Luke 8, which we had read earlier, the ending
part of it, from 4 to 15, and Mark 4, 1 to 9.
It means that genuine fruitfulness requires not
just you, hearing but there's the vigilance or
there's the consistent engagement what you're
receiving and allowing it to take root that results
in the growth that we are believing to see and
we see that in the proverbs that we read and
remember we read proverbs 4 23 where we see that
the heart has to be diligent right you have to
guard your heart with all diligence right Guard
your heart, keep your heart with all diligence,
for out of it springs the issue of life. Meaning
that if you are not guarding the Word, guarding
it, and I want us to notice that when you are
being taught something, and then you go outside
and heed the opposite or something different
from what it is you've been taught, you're undermining
what you have been taught. Praise God. You have
been taught about... your identity in Christ,
and someone comes and tells you, like, something
else. Know that it's going to undermine what
you have understood. You held on to it, but you
let go of it. And for many of us, there are many
things that are even more detrimental, where
you have heard about this, you believed it, in
fact, you saw the fruits of it. And then you
go, and then you listen to something else, and
you allow that thing to take root. The consequences
are there because you didn't pay attention. You
didn't heed. You didn't even notice. You didn't
understand that this thing you are entertaining
will affect you on the long run. And note that
this, your attention is able to shape your life
in ways, which is what the Proverbs are saying.
It's able to shape your lives in ways that you
can't even imagine. And for some of us, it's
because we're allowing, we don't have filters.
And we are in a world where everybody now just
allows anything to go through. We don't have
guards. We don't have filters. We just allow
whatever it is that is flying around, just come
and sit on us. And once it sits, the fruits,
the same way the word of God takes root in your
life and the fruit is evident, the same way once
the errors or the wrong things flying around,
once it sits, the... manifestations of it will
be very evident. Praise God. It will be very
evident. So paying attention to Scripture is
not just a minor spiritual discipline, right?
It's a gateway through which all the growth that
is needed, all the possible things that is needed
to be manifest in our life is made available.
And it's not something you don't just... Most
of us don't actually... look at the areas that
need immediate care and attention we allow things
to go out of hand and then we now react to it
when it goes out of hand we find ourselves reacting
to the circumstance or reacting to the difficulties
but what should change in this year is we want
to not just assess the situation but walk towards
ensuring that we constantly make it a habit to
continue in the new things or in the things that
God is laying our hearts to because we're going
to be getting instructions. Instructions are
coming. Instructions will continue to come. We
want to be consistent. We want to be regular
because it's in your consistency and your regularity
that you are able to see the areas and heed the
word and get the instructions and make progress.
And in this season, building capacity is, paying
attention is inevitable when you are wanting
to build capacity. Paying attention is one thing
that is inevitable, meaning that you have to
focus steadily towards the area that needs attention.
And for most of us, it's all around information
because it's information that guarantees that
we understand. If you don't have information,
you'll be lacking understanding. And if you lack
understanding, you are very much in a disadvantaged
position and to result in no growth or growth
in the areas that is not important. Praise God.
Because many of us are having a lot of information,
we're growing in areas that are not as important
as the areas that demand our immediate attention.
Praise God. And we want to be like... a detective,
as the Proverbs was talking, how you are investigating,
you are focusing and trying to find clues. Yes,
you know, but you are not allowing what you know
cloud the things that you are taking or you are
receiving. Because in it lies clues or things
that you will learn while you are at it. Praise
God. For some of us, we come to, we pay attention
and we hold on to the things that we know. and
push away the things that we don't agree with
very quickly. And that in itself doesn't allow
us to make room to understand what is being taught.
Because once you are so critical of everything
that you hear, that you miss out on the truths
that is coming to you, there's still not going
to be any progress. Praise God. We want to be
people that you have a filter. But you're open
to allow what exactly it is that you're hearing
pass through that filter. Praise God. Because
if it doesn't pass through the filter, you never
got it. And if you don't understand it, you're
not going to make any progress in and along that
line. So you are looking for clues and you're
hoping and expecting to learn something new.
Praise God. And I want to share a story of someone
that I think a couple of us are familiar with.
Because his wife became a believer. And he's
a journalist. His wife became a believer. And
because of his wife becoming a believer, he decided
to investigate the faith. He, as a journalist,
took on the research of finding out about Christianity,
finding out whether this Jesus Christ actually
existed and finding out whether he actually died.
And note that in his research or in his investigation,
he had to hear both sides. and had to sift through
the information given, and he arrived at a conclusion.
At the end of the day, his journey was from that
of a skeptic to that of a convinced believer.
Praise God. Meaning that he started off as a
skeptic, and he didn't allow what he understood
of it to deny him the privilege of learning something.
And he learned, and the man now is a convinced
believer, and as a result of that, he had written
a book, or several books now, because I checked
up just to confirm, that he has now several books.
And his book now is one of those, is a very powerful
tool in Christian apologetics because of the
research that he has done in ensuring that. there's
a proper like in communicating his findings so
that other people will be able to know what he
had learned that brought him to the faith and
christian apologetics for those of us that probably
are not aware of what or this is the first time
hearing christian apologetics the the word apologetics
i think we know what christian is i shouldn't
be defining what christian is we know what apologetics
is apologetics is derived from the greek word
apologia And it means to give a verbal defense
or a speech in defense or a reasoned statement
or argument. Apologia, I'll spell it if it's
apology. Just instead of apology, you write apologia.
The apologetics is the same spelling, but it
ends with jetics. That's E -P -O -L -O -G -E
-T -I -C -S. Then apologia is the same spelling
with an I -A. A -P -O -L -O -G -I -A. And it
just simply means to give a verbal defense, simply
means to, as a speech in defense or a reason
statement of argument. And when we say argument,
most people would think of argument as violent
argument. You know, some people don't have, the
argument has to be, it almost would look like
it's physical. But this is the argument in. Like
you are defending a stance. I think the people
in the court of law will understand because it's
a courtroom. It's a term, courtroom. And I want
us to see, because we're going to look at defense.
Because if you don't pay attention, you will
not have understanding. And once you don't have
understanding, you cannot give a defense of why
you believe what you believe in. Remember, you...
You didn't stumble. You heard something to come
to the knowledge of the truth. And what you had
heard is what convinced you. The person actually
had presented something to you, made a defense
of why he believes what he believes, and then
you bought into that whole idea, and then you
now became a believer. Praise God. In 1 Peter
3 .15, 1 Peter 3 .15 says, But sanctify the Lord
in your hearts. And always be ready to give a
defense. Always be ready to give a defense to
everyone who asks you for a reason for the hope
that is in you. With meekness and fear. With
meekness and fear. So he says always be ready.
Always be ready. Turn to your neighbor and say
this year. I am always ready. I am always ready
to give a defense for the reason of the hope
that is in me. And I do it with meekness and
fear. Amen. I think the song of a battle ready.
So you want to always be ready. Praise God. You
want to always be ready. You can be a believer.
And because what is going on, it's a warfare,
right? Even right now, in this world and this
day and this age, everything is competing for
attention. So it's really a battlefield. Everyone
is competing. There's a whole lot of money that
goes into this whole idea of wanting to get your
attention, into media. A lot of money goes into
media. The way they design things to take your
attention or to get your attention, it's they
are really paying attention to how you pay attention
to get your attention. That just came here. So
they are really putting a lot of work into it
and you have a responsibility to pay attention
to the things that you pay attention to so that
nothing steals your attention, but rather you
give your attention to the things that demands
your attention. Praise God. There's a lot of
attention in the statement, but I hope we get
the point. Praise God. And we're going to look
at a bit while we close. We're going to look
at a bit, look at Apostle Paul's, the way Apostle
Paul carries out his defense. We're going to
analyze it a bit in closing. In Acts 22 verse
1, Acts 22 verse 1, I want us to listen and see.
Yeah, he says, brethren and fathers, hear my
defense before you now. Notice, Paul, you remember
we said with meekness and what? Fear. Notice
the way he acknowledges the audience that he's
making a defense. He says, hear my defense before
you. Next verse, we're going to, I think, get
to probably five, six or so. See, and when they...
When they heard that he spoke to them in Hebrew
language, they kept all the more silent than
he said. Praise God. I want you to notice something.
Please, while I'm going through the verses, I'll
be bringing out points for us to note. Note that
in making his defense, he had to communicate
in a language that they would listen. that will
demand the attention. So it means that when you
are making a defense, you want to make that defense
in something that the other person can understand.
You can't be, a Turkish person can't be making
a defense to you in the language if you don't
understand. You will just be looking at them
and not understanding. So know that people will
listen to you or you get the attention of the
other person by communicating in a language that...
So, next verse. He says, I am indeed a Jew, born
in Tarsus of Sicilia, but brought up in this
city at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according
to the strictness of our father's law, and was
zealous towards God as you are all today. Notice
that he also introduces himself. One other thing
that we do when we are trying to, we just meet
the person. Hello, brother. just run to whatever
it is you want to make them understand that,
okay, you're a person, your name is this, you're
this, and that, and that. All of those things
aid the conversation. A person will know that,
they will kind of get to know you before you
say the things that you have to say. And sometimes
it's very important that we do these things because
it goes a long way in ensuring that what your
defense is heard. Praise God. Your defense is
heard. Then in 3 and go down, it says, I persecuted
this way to the death, binding and delivering
into prison both men and women. So he didn't
just, he tells them that he's part of them and
he did work. He also explains to them the training
he had received and his commitment to the cause.
He uses, we see that in the three and the four
that we're looking at, that he had introduced
himself, described his training, and explained
his commitment to the cause. And we see in verse
five, let's look at verse five. He says, as also
the high priest bears me weakness and all the
council of elders, from whom I also received
letters to the brethren and went to Damascus
to bring. in chains, even those who were there
to Jerusalem to be punished. So he also now has
proof. Like he tells you, okay, the things I've
done, these people are weaknesses. They can confirm
the credibility of what my defense, the credibility
of what I'm saying or the credibility of who
I was because he's no longer that anymore. Then
let's go to six. It says, and it happened that
as I journeyed and came near Damascus, At about
noon, suddenly a great light from heaven shone
around me. 7. And I fell to the ground and heard
a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why are you
persecuting me? So I answered, Who are you, Lord?
And he said to me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom
you are persecuting. And I want you to notice
something that sometimes we read this passage
and we probably might not notice is the fact
that Apostle Paul hadn't persecuted Christ, but
rather his people, right? And when we communicate
this, our oneness with God, we don't understand
the extent to it in the sense that he is here
having, and it's Jesus of Nazareth, not Jesus.
He's a physical person that you'd be like, oh,
I should know this person because if he's a Nazarene,
I should have had an encounter. He knows what
is going on. He says, you're persecuting. Why
are you persecuting? Whom are you persecuting?
Then we see in the next verse, it says, and those
who were with me indeed saw the light and were
afraid, but they didn't hear the voice of him
who spoke to me. So it means that they saw light,
they saw all of those things, but they didn't.
There was the light, but they didn't hear who
was speaking. He was the one that was hearing
what was going on. And then we see him go through
what, all of this are the things that happened
in Acts 9. And if you go down to, I think, 20
or so, we see him also makes reference to...
him also being part like him he says and when
the blood of the matthias stephen was shed i
also was standing by consent to the death and
guarding the clothes of those who were killing
him as him as way back as act six seven so we
see that he had done a lot and this is him explaining
the encounter that happened to make a defense
and what he was doing was making a defense of
his case before them. And I want us to see him
make another defense. I'll do this in Acts 26,
Acts 26, 24. Acts 26, 24. It says, now toss and
toss his defense, which is the same. And this
is the verb of the apologia. This is the verb
of apologia. It ends with, it's A -P -O -L -O
-G. E -O -M -A -I. A -P -O -L -O -G -E -O -M
-A -I. And he makes, this is the verb form of
it. So Festus, which is Governor Festus, said
to him in a loud voice, Paul, you are besides
yourself. Much learning is driving you mad. Much
learning is driving you mad. Meaning that what
Festus is trying to do is undermine... The validity,
you know, in the court of law, you know, we see
this all the time. When people want to faint,
they act mad. Because once the person is mad,
what they are saying loses credibility. So we
see him trying to undermine his defense by saying
he is mad. And understand that other translations
will say insane or crazy. Insane or crazy. Note
that Apostle Paul did not take that. from him
he goes ahead he said in 25 he says but he said
i am not mad most noble festers notice the fact
you know when somebody calls you mad some people
will not take it lightly it's can that meekness
part of the passage that we read will be out
of the window But know that in this case, he
says, I'm not mad. Except if, you know, when
you say mad is making a difference, then you
can say, yes, I'm not crazy. I'm not, but I'm
making a difference. That is M -A -D. But know
that he's clearly states, he is clearly stating
that he's not mad because he knows that that
will undermine his defense. And then he says,
but speak the words of truth and reason. Speak
the words of truth and reason. 26. He now says,
for the king before whom I also speak freely
knows these things. That is speaking about King
Agrippa. For I am convinced that none of these
things escapes his attention. Praise God. None
of these things escapes his attention since these
things was not done in a corner. 27. King Agrippa,
do you believe the prophets? I know that you
do. Then Agrippa said to Paul, you almost persuaded
me to become a Christian. You almost persuaded
me to become a Christian. That word persuade,
we'll discuss that on Wednesday. You almost persuaded
me to become a Christian. And Paul said, I would
to God that not only you, but also all who hear
me today. might be, but almost altogether, such
as I am, except for this change, which is very
powerful, that he wants all of them to be such
as he is, except for the change. 13 now says,
and when he said these things, the king stood
up, as well as the governor and Bernice and those
who sat with them. And when they had gone aside,
he... they talked amongst themselves saying,
this man is doing nothing deserving of debt or
change. Then Agrippa said to Festus, this man
might have been set free if he had not appealed
to Caesar. So what I want us to notice very quickly
in closing is that Paul's passion or passionate
defense of his faith came across to the governor
Festus as being like, why is this person here
talking to us about how a light shone, he heard
the voice of somebody that is dead, all of that.
That doesn't sound to him as something that is
saying, that's something that will come from
him. He just feels that it's all superstition.
He didn't understand it, but Apostle Paul did
not allow it to deter him from communicating
the truth that he was communicating. And that
is, the same should apply to us. People should
not make us feel mad. Because of what we believe
in. Because we're the ones that believe what
we believe in. They don't believe. What we're
doing is that we're trying to convince them to
see what we have seen and what we know. See,
don't let anyone explain your faith away with
madness. Don't let anyone explain your faith
away with madness. Because, as I said earlier,
some of us didn't get the joke. It looks like
I saw Sister Fola Kemi laughing. I think she
got... The joke that, except if you're making
a difference in the life of the person, making
a difference in life, if mad means making a difference
in the life of a person, then you can, mad can
work for that. King Agrippa's familiarity with
the Jewish customs basically was what made him
a very, too, in evaluating Apostle Paul's case.
And that's why he mentioned, that's why he...
Apostle Paul could tell that this person is following
through with what I'm saying. And notice that
the fact that he's king, notice he said, you
almost persuaded me. In the sense that if probably
it was a one -on -one, there's a likelihood that
he would have just walking off the conversation.
I'm not inferring anything, but walking off the
conversation that had happened. So the fact that
you speak to someone. and you didn't seem to
have got the response that you require, doesn't
mean that the seed hasn't been sown. Praise God.
The seed of God's word, God's word is powerful.
Meaning that the fact that you had that opportunity
to allow the seed be sown, God is working in
the life of the person. Beyond your conversation
with that person, God is doing something in the
life of that person. And I've seen time and time
again how you meet with someone and you are finishing
a work that someone else has... planted the seed
for praise God and we all and they all agreed
in one thing even though they didn't agree on
that to the face of Apostle Paul that he shouldn't
be in prison or he shouldn't be in prison or
be placed in debt for any reason and I am running
off with this to encourage us in this season
as we've started from last year and getting into
this new year you want to share your faith And
how you stand fast in the faith is by sharing
what you have received. Because holding on to
what you have received is not good enough. How
you solidify or how you allow what you have received
to take root is by sharing it. Praise God. And
you don't have to know too much to share. What
you just have to do is to desire to share. And
once you desire to share, you will see. the promise
of God ring true, that once you open your mouth
to speak, he will put his words in your mouth.
It's not really, yes, you have to know what you're,
but notice that he's the one that does the work
and the life of the other person by the spirit
of God. I want us to open our mouths and just
say, Father, I thank you because in this season,
I'm standing fast in the faith. In this season,
I'm paying attention. In this season, I'm strong.
I am brave. I am brave to go out and share my
faith. I am brave to engage and make a defense
of the things I have received, the things that
I know, the things that you are doing. And in
this season, our hands will heal. In this season,
our ears will hear. We appreciate you being here
today. We hope you carry this word with you throughout
your week. Don't forget to check the show notes
for additional insights. Stay connected with
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with someone you care about. Until next time,
stay blessed.