WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.040 --> 00:00:03.240 Well, Jeff, today we're going to be experiencing an infest 2 00:00:03.240 --> 00:00:06.960 the station. What infest the station? 3 00:00:07.240 --> 00:00:09.839 Are you talking about the governor Fastus? 4 00:00:10.160 --> 00:00:10.359 Oh? 5 00:00:10.519 --> 00:00:12.880 Yes, Okay, Well he's Chris and I'm Jeff, and we're 6 00:00:12.880 --> 00:00:30.519 the Bible Guides. Okay, Chris, He tried to say, Okay, Chris, 7 00:00:30.519 --> 00:00:32.960 all right, Well, I'm just so excited about this one. 8 00:00:33.159 --> 00:00:35.600 I always say it, and I have to say it again. 9 00:00:35.679 --> 00:00:37.399 I love the Babylon B segments. 10 00:00:37.439 --> 00:00:40.119 That's right. Well, you know, we only get the best 11 00:00:40.200 --> 00:00:44.600 news for people and the highest quality, and so our 12 00:00:44.719 --> 00:00:48.600 favorite kind of news is satire, and so the Babylon 13 00:00:48.679 --> 00:00:51.520 B is always satire. There's a very important article that 14 00:00:51.560 --> 00:00:53.359 I thought was going to be important for you personally. 15 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:55.679 When I saw this, I thought this is going to 16 00:00:55.759 --> 00:00:59.520 really mean something to you. Here's the headline. Japanese admit 17 00:01:00.159 --> 00:01:02.880 that sushi was just a massive prank to see if 18 00:01:02.920 --> 00:01:04.799 they could get people to eat raw fish. 19 00:01:04.680 --> 00:01:06.879 Which is great. This is my favorite fit. 20 00:01:07.159 --> 00:01:09.079 Yeah, yeah, I know you love sushi. 21 00:01:09.719 --> 00:01:12.319 We just had sushi together, did Yeah, we did. Yeah. 22 00:01:12.359 --> 00:01:15.040 So the Prime Minister of Japan admitted today that sushi 23 00:01:15.079 --> 00:01:16.959 was just a giant prank by the people in Japan. 24 00:01:16.959 --> 00:01:18.519 To see if they could get people to actually eat 25 00:01:18.599 --> 00:01:21.879 raw fish. We got you, good laugh, Prime Minister at 26 00:01:21.920 --> 00:01:25.200 Plumo Kashita. It's been so hard keeping a straight face 27 00:01:25.239 --> 00:01:27.879 watching you dopes eat raw fish. This is the best 28 00:01:27.879 --> 00:01:31.359 prank in the history of pranks. The joke reportedly started 29 00:01:31.400 --> 00:01:34.000 in nineteen seventy four. It was hatched by the Prime 30 00:01:34.040 --> 00:01:38.200 Minister Prime Minister chef during a visit by President Gerald Ford. 31 00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:40.760 Just for giggles, the chef put a piece of raw 32 00:01:40.760 --> 00:01:42.840 fish on mister Ford's plate and said it was Japanese 33 00:01:42.879 --> 00:01:45.840 tradition to eat it that way, said historian Amiko Nikaya. 34 00:01:46.599 --> 00:01:49.799 To everyone's shot, mister Ford proceeded to take a huge 35 00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:52.519 bite of raw tuna. The Prime Minister had to leave 36 00:01:52.560 --> 00:01:55.159 the room as he couldn't hide his laughter. Thus sushi 37 00:01:55.239 --> 00:01:58.719 was born. Ever since the prank's inception, Japanese chefs are 38 00:01:58.760 --> 00:02:02.799 taking delight and create progressively more disgusting creations to see 39 00:02:02.799 --> 00:02:06.280 what people will eat. It's insane. We can roll up 40 00:02:06.359 --> 00:02:09.319 raw fish and literal seaweed, but then call it a 41 00:02:09.400 --> 00:02:11.120 dragon roll and people will eat it. 42 00:02:12.560 --> 00:02:14.879 To Kai, I love dragon rolls. 43 00:02:15.280 --> 00:02:17.360 The other day, one of the other chefs dared me 44 00:02:17.400 --> 00:02:19.599 to put fish eggs on top of rawsquid and call 45 00:02:19.599 --> 00:02:22.960 it Emperor's delight. A dozen people ate it. Oh man, 46 00:02:23.000 --> 00:02:25.759 I was gagging behind the counter just watching them. The 47 00:02:25.840 --> 00:02:28.520 Japanese people also admitted that they came up with the 48 00:02:28.520 --> 00:02:31.639 idea of karaoke just to watch people make idiots to themselves. 49 00:02:31.800 --> 00:02:36.560 Oh my goodness, that is so funny, just just the 50 00:02:36.639 --> 00:02:39.680 idea that they are sitting behind the scenes. Good. Can't 51 00:02:39.719 --> 00:02:42.719 believe you eat it, you crazy people, and you do it. 52 00:02:42.759 --> 00:02:43.439 Man, you love it. 53 00:02:43.759 --> 00:02:46.560 I love sush You eat sushi every day. I mean 54 00:02:46.599 --> 00:02:48.479 it'd be you know, too high in murky. I couldn't 55 00:02:48.479 --> 00:02:51.599 do it, but but but I gotta tell you my 56 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:53.039 taste buds would want to. 57 00:02:53.120 --> 00:02:55.199 Yeah, yeah, yeah, you love it. What's your favorite? Love 58 00:02:55.199 --> 00:02:57.039 it sushi listeners? 59 00:02:57.680 --> 00:03:00.080 To be honest with you, I my go to is 60 00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:03.400 a rainbow roll. So it's it's it's all. It's pretty 61 00:03:03.439 --> 00:03:07.039 much a California role with an overlay of different types 62 00:03:07.080 --> 00:03:09.479 of raw fish. So so then they slice it, so 63 00:03:09.520 --> 00:03:13.280 sometimes you'll get like just avocado laid over, and sometimes 64 00:03:13.280 --> 00:03:15.879 you'll get you know, salmon, then you get whitefish, then 65 00:03:15.919 --> 00:03:19.599 you get you know, my favorite, which is uh the salmon. 66 00:03:19.639 --> 00:03:22.159 Then you get the raw tuna and then I think, 67 00:03:22.400 --> 00:03:26.000 uh oh, then shrimp as well. So those are those 68 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:26.439 are the ones. 69 00:03:26.520 --> 00:03:27.159 So you love it? 70 00:03:27.319 --> 00:03:29.000 Oh, love it? You love it, love it, love it. 71 00:03:29.080 --> 00:03:31.080 So I like, if you ever go and you're not 72 00:03:31.159 --> 00:03:33.520 sure to our listeners, if you're not sure that whether 73 00:03:33.599 --> 00:03:36.159 or not you like sushi, just order it tempura. That 74 00:03:36.159 --> 00:03:40.960 means they fry it right right and is going to 75 00:03:41.000 --> 00:03:43.960 be good. Yeah. Yeah. So we were in East Africa 76 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:46.120 one time. We were in Dara, Salam and we had 77 00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:48.560 a bunch of the African pastors with us, and uh, 78 00:03:48.759 --> 00:03:50.800 we had an evening that was kind of free and 79 00:03:50.879 --> 00:03:53.039 so chat our executive pastor and I we were like, hey, 80 00:03:53.159 --> 00:03:54.599 let's go to the sushi place. Supposed to be the 81 00:03:54.639 --> 00:03:57.240 best sushi place in East Africa's right on the Indian Ocean. 82 00:03:57.599 --> 00:03:59.719 And so we invited several of these pastors and they 83 00:03:59.719 --> 00:04:02.199 got there and they said they don't cook the fish. 84 00:04:03.599 --> 00:04:05.439 We said no, and they're like, we are not eating 85 00:04:05.479 --> 00:04:08.159 this stuff. And so they ordered, you know, we ordered 86 00:04:08.199 --> 00:04:10.039 a couple other things and they ate all the appetizers, 87 00:04:10.120 --> 00:04:11.520 ate everything else, but they wouldn't eat the sushi. For 88 00:04:11.560 --> 00:04:13.639 a long time. Finally, one of the guys tried it, 89 00:04:13.840 --> 00:04:15.719 and you know, Chad was showing them, you know, put 90 00:04:15.759 --> 00:04:17.959 it on the ginger, put it on the what's the 91 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:21.519 green stuff sabi, and then put a little sic sauce. 92 00:04:21.720 --> 00:04:23.439 It's like umami in your mouth is so good, and 93 00:04:23.480 --> 00:04:25.519 so on. One of the guys tried it because you 94 00:04:26.199 --> 00:04:27.920 and next thing you know, he's just hitting it hard. 95 00:04:28.120 --> 00:04:30.680 And next thing you know, all these guys it was 96 00:04:30.759 --> 00:04:32.800 like a vacuum cleaner. So they went for thirty minutes, 97 00:04:32.800 --> 00:04:35.240 wouldn't touch it, and like in seven minutes, every piece 98 00:04:35.240 --> 00:04:38.319 of sushi was gone. So they went from being afraid 99 00:04:38.360 --> 00:04:40.439 of it to loving it. And I think a lot 100 00:04:40.480 --> 00:04:42.040 of times people are just afraid of what they don't know. 101 00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:44.639 You just described the journey for every person who tries 102 00:04:44.920 --> 00:04:47.160 fish for the first time. Yeah, yeah, right, Oh no, no, no, 103 00:04:47.120 --> 00:04:49.399 that's not everybody everybody's journey, but everybody who continues. 104 00:04:49.560 --> 00:04:50.920 Everybody who loves sushi. 105 00:04:51.000 --> 00:04:53.720 Yeah, everybody loves sushi says I was afraid of it 106 00:04:53.839 --> 00:04:55.199 and then I tried it. Yeah, I love it. 107 00:04:55.399 --> 00:04:57.480 It's fun, it's fun to try new things. But as 108 00:04:57.480 --> 00:04:59.600 it turns out, according to the Babylon Beat, it was 109 00:04:59.639 --> 00:05:01.720 always prank. It was never supposed to be taken here. 110 00:05:01.720 --> 00:05:03.879 That concept is really really funny. 111 00:05:04.560 --> 00:05:09.879 Okay, So yesterday we talked a little bit about how 112 00:05:10.759 --> 00:05:13.240 Festus's job kind of comes to an end during this 113 00:05:13.319 --> 00:05:16.680 two year Felix's Yeah, I'm sorry, Felix's job comes to 114 00:05:16.720 --> 00:05:19.360 an end at the end of this two year period. 115 00:05:19.600 --> 00:05:22.639 And then God has the Roman Empire appoint this guy 116 00:05:22.680 --> 00:05:25.920 named Festus, and Festest comes in. He's a man of integrity, 117 00:05:26.160 --> 00:05:28.160 and so he decides, hey, this is crazy, We're leaving 118 00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:32.319 this Roman citizen, you know, without having finished this trial. 119 00:05:32.480 --> 00:05:37.319 So, if Felix was the predecessor to ponscious Pilot, he 120 00:05:37.399 --> 00:05:41.560 was a successor or successor, not processor, right, then Portius 121 00:05:41.560 --> 00:05:46.120 Festus was the he comes after. Yeah, the successor is 122 00:05:46.160 --> 00:05:46.959 the same job. 123 00:05:46.800 --> 00:05:50.079 That Pilot had right now is the governor of Judas. 124 00:05:49.800 --> 00:05:51.800 Which, by the way, is interesting because I'm not sure 125 00:05:51.839 --> 00:05:53.199 I ever thought about that before. 126 00:05:53.279 --> 00:05:54.240 Yeah, yeah, same guy. 127 00:05:54.319 --> 00:05:55.800 Yeah, interesting role. 128 00:05:55.839 --> 00:05:58.199 So it says three days after Festus arrived in Cesarea 129 00:05:58.279 --> 00:06:01.959 to take over his new responsibilities, he left for Jerusalem, 130 00:06:01.959 --> 00:06:04.360 where the leading priests and other Jewish leaders met with 131 00:06:04.439 --> 00:06:07.399 him and made their accusations against Paul. They asked Festus 132 00:06:07.439 --> 00:06:10.040 as a favor to transfer Paul to Jerusalem, planning to 133 00:06:10.079 --> 00:06:13.360 ambush and kill him on the way. They'd already failed 134 00:06:13.399 --> 00:06:14.800 at this two years before, but they're going to do 135 00:06:14.839 --> 00:06:19.040 it again. But Festus replied that Paul was at Cesarea 136 00:06:19.360 --> 00:06:22.759 and he himself would be returning there soon, So he said, 137 00:06:22.959 --> 00:06:25.279 those of you in authority can return with me. If 138 00:06:25.319 --> 00:06:28.480 Paul's done anything wrong, you can make your accusations about it. 139 00:06:28.560 --> 00:06:31.160 Eight or ten days later, Festus returned to Cesarea, and 140 00:06:31.199 --> 00:06:33.040 on the following day he took a seat in court 141 00:06:33.319 --> 00:06:36.000 ordered that Paul be brought in. When Paul arrived, the 142 00:06:36.079 --> 00:06:39.480 Jewish leaders from Jerusalem gathered around and made many serious 143 00:06:39.519 --> 00:06:42.519 accusations they couldn't prove. Paul denied the chargers. I'm not 144 00:06:42.560 --> 00:06:44.879 guilty of any crime against the Jewish laws, or the 145 00:06:44.879 --> 00:06:48.319 temple or the Roman government, he said. Then Festus, wanting 146 00:06:48.360 --> 00:06:50.480 to please the Jews, asked him, are you willing to 147 00:06:50.519 --> 00:06:53.199 go to Jerusalem and stand trial before me there? But 148 00:06:53.279 --> 00:06:56.639 Paul replied no, this is the official Roman court, so 149 00:06:56.720 --> 00:06:59.000 I ought to be tried here. You know very well 150 00:06:59.040 --> 00:07:01.240 I'm not guilty of harmony the Jews. If I've done 151 00:07:01.279 --> 00:07:04.199 something roorthy of death, I don't refuse to die. But 152 00:07:04.240 --> 00:07:06.240 if I'm innocent, no one has a right to turn 153 00:07:06.240 --> 00:07:08.439 me over to these men to kill me. I appeal 154 00:07:08.519 --> 00:07:13.480 to Caesar. Festus conferred with his advisers, and then he replied, 155 00:07:13.839 --> 00:07:16.519 very well, you've appealed to Caesar, and to Caesar you 156 00:07:16.560 --> 00:07:20.120 will go. A few days later, King Agrippa arrived with 157 00:07:20.160 --> 00:07:23.639 his sister Bernice to pay their respects to Festus. During 158 00:07:23.680 --> 00:07:26.680 their stay of several days, Festus discussed Paul's case with 159 00:07:26.720 --> 00:07:29.240 the King. There's a prisoner here, he told him, whose 160 00:07:29.279 --> 00:07:31.399 case was left for me by Felix. When I was 161 00:07:31.399 --> 00:07:34.600 in Jerusalem. The leading priests and Jewish elders pressed charges 162 00:07:34.600 --> 00:07:36.959 against him and asked me to condemn him. I pointed 163 00:07:37.000 --> 00:07:39.079 out to them that Roman law does not convict people 164 00:07:39.079 --> 00:07:41.399 without a trial. It must be given an opportunity to 165 00:07:41.439 --> 00:07:44.920 confront their accusers defend themselves. When his accusers came here 166 00:07:44.920 --> 00:07:46.839 for the trial, I didn't delay. I called the case 167 00:07:46.879 --> 00:07:49.160 the very next day. Order Paul brought in, But the 168 00:07:49.199 --> 00:07:53.240 accusations made against him weren't of any crimes I expected. Instead, 169 00:07:53.279 --> 00:07:55.720 it was something about their religion and a dead man 170 00:07:55.800 --> 00:07:58.839 named Jesus, who Paul insists is alive. I was at 171 00:07:58.839 --> 00:08:00.759 a loss to know how to invest to gate these things, 172 00:08:00.800 --> 00:08:03.800 so I asked him whether or not he would be 173 00:08:03.839 --> 00:08:06.879 willing to stand trial on these charges in Jerusalem. But 174 00:08:06.920 --> 00:08:09.839 Paul appealed to have his case decided by the Emperor, 175 00:08:10.040 --> 00:08:12.120 so ordered that he be held in custody until I 176 00:08:12.120 --> 00:08:14.720 could arrange the sendate to Caesar. I'd like to hear 177 00:08:14.759 --> 00:08:18.879 the man myself, Agrippa said, and Festus replied, you will tomorrow. 178 00:08:21.160 --> 00:08:22.560 Are we reading all the way through? Or are we done? 179 00:08:22.600 --> 00:08:23.360 Isn't that where it ends? 180 00:08:23.480 --> 00:08:24.079 Yep, you're right? 181 00:08:24.199 --> 00:08:24.519 Okay. 182 00:08:25.160 --> 00:08:28.920 So that's so interesting, isn't it. And so he appeals 183 00:08:28.920 --> 00:08:33.360 to Caesar and infested this, of course, shows his integrity 184 00:08:33.679 --> 00:08:36.559 by not, you know, doing the favor of letting Paul 185 00:08:36.600 --> 00:08:40.240 be killed. And you know, and Paul just sticks to 186 00:08:40.279 --> 00:08:43.759 his guns. When I hear the word agrippa, you know 187 00:08:43.799 --> 00:08:44.440 what I think of. 188 00:08:46.360 --> 00:08:46.840 Losing it? 189 00:08:47.279 --> 00:08:50.240 No, no, no, no, I think of unless his enemy has 190 00:08:50.240 --> 00:08:54.240 studied his agrippa, which I have. That's a line from a. 191 00:08:54.200 --> 00:08:58.279 Movie Princess bratte Yes, yes, yes, remember. 192 00:08:58.320 --> 00:09:01.440 And then then he jumps over any flips and he says, 193 00:09:01.519 --> 00:09:03.039 unless his enemy is a studies a good. 194 00:09:03.279 --> 00:09:05.720 That's right, that's funny. My name is an Ego Montoya. 195 00:09:06.080 --> 00:09:10.600 Yeah, have to die. Yes, So King heered A Grippa. 196 00:09:10.720 --> 00:09:15.240 By the way, I also uh named a mop King Agrippa. Uh. 197 00:09:15.559 --> 00:09:17.159 When I was a janitor for a year or two 198 00:09:17.200 --> 00:09:20.799 years in college, we had these mops that would you know, 199 00:09:20.879 --> 00:09:23.399 the mop heads, but would have to be gripped, and 200 00:09:23.440 --> 00:09:25.600 so these things would loosen up and they would grip 201 00:09:25.639 --> 00:09:27.120 them up and then you have to sort of fasten 202 00:09:27.159 --> 00:09:29.840 it down. And uh. And I wanted that mop and 203 00:09:29.879 --> 00:09:31.360 so I put a big piece of tape on it. 204 00:09:31.639 --> 00:09:34.399 I called it king a gripping. It's another memory that 205 00:09:34.440 --> 00:09:35.639 has no bearing on this part. 206 00:09:35.759 --> 00:09:39.399 Not thank you. Yeah, well, you know, it's just rattling around. 207 00:09:41.440 --> 00:09:44.559 People are so interested in. 208 00:09:43.679 --> 00:09:46.960 These things, like, wow, Chris is so interesting. 209 00:09:47.080 --> 00:09:51.919 Yes, here's an idea talk about the Bible. You just read. 210 00:09:55.039 --> 00:09:55.679 That's so good. 211 00:09:56.159 --> 00:09:58.559 Ye, the mob guys, So there were there were a 212 00:09:58.559 --> 00:10:01.720 few King Agrippas, by the way. So this King Agrippa 213 00:10:01.840 --> 00:10:05.720 is King Agrippa the Second. He's the son of King 214 00:10:05.720 --> 00:10:10.039 agripp Of the First, which is clever, and the grandson 215 00:10:10.399 --> 00:10:16.519 of I think Herod the Great, is that right? Yeah, 216 00:10:16.679 --> 00:10:21.200 his great grandfather and his grandfather and his father all 217 00:10:21.240 --> 00:10:24.919 had the name Herod, right, they were all kings, but 218 00:10:25.039 --> 00:10:26.960 Herod the Great was in his line as well. So 219 00:10:27.200 --> 00:10:32.960 these guys are basically power players that have some They 220 00:10:33.000 --> 00:10:36.559 have some authority, but mostly their tax collector type guys, 221 00:10:37.080 --> 00:10:43.399 and they kind of work alongside of a governor. So 222 00:10:43.440 --> 00:10:47.919 where the governor like Pontius, Pilot or Felix are now Festus, 223 00:10:48.120 --> 00:10:50.480 they were more on the legal side of things and 224 00:10:51.159 --> 00:10:57.039 commanding the Roman garrison. The Agrippas or the Herods, they 225 00:10:57.039 --> 00:10:59.720 were kings that had a lot of authority, but were 226 00:10:59.720 --> 00:11:04.519 really more about being embedded in the region of Israel 227 00:11:04.600 --> 00:11:08.159 in Judea rather than being spread all over the Roman 228 00:11:08.200 --> 00:11:12.159 Empire like Festus, Felix, Pilot. They come and go. They 229 00:11:12.200 --> 00:11:14.080 come in, they serve a term, they stay a certain 230 00:11:14.080 --> 00:11:17.200 amount of time, and then they leave. The Herod family 231 00:11:17.639 --> 00:11:20.000 stays in power for a long period of time. It 232 00:11:20.080 --> 00:11:22.360 kind of rules alongside of them. That's that's how that works. 233 00:11:22.360 --> 00:11:25.039 But every one of these Herods is crooked, every one 234 00:11:25.080 --> 00:11:25.360 of them. 235 00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:28.159 Yeah, it says each generation had a confrontation with God 236 00:11:28.200 --> 00:11:30.480 that failed to realize the importance of the moment. 237 00:11:30.879 --> 00:11:32.799 Each generation of Herods of Herods. 238 00:11:32.879 --> 00:11:35.360 Yeah, yeah, it says Herod, a grip of the seconds 239 00:11:37.120 --> 00:11:42.120 great uncle Herod and Tippet Antipas. Antipas actually met Jesus 240 00:11:42.240 --> 00:11:45.039 during the trial, but failed to see him for who 241 00:11:45.080 --> 00:11:45.440 he was. 242 00:11:45.879 --> 00:11:49.159 Remember, he left Pilot and went and Pilot sent him 243 00:11:49.200 --> 00:11:51.799 to go see Herod wanted him to do miracles. 244 00:11:51.840 --> 00:11:53.720 He was Jesus was the hot potato back there. 245 00:11:53.720 --> 00:11:56.200 That's right, that's right, And Herod wanted Jesus do miracles, 246 00:11:56.240 --> 00:11:58.440 and Jesus wouldn't do any miracles. So Harrod got bored 247 00:11:58.440 --> 00:11:59.480 and sent him back to Tipilot. 248 00:11:59.559 --> 00:12:02.039 Right, And it says a grip of the second heard 249 00:12:02.039 --> 00:12:05.679 the gospel from Paul, but considered the message only mildly entertaining. 250 00:12:05.720 --> 00:12:07.639 And by the way, we're about to read and get 251 00:12:07.639 --> 00:12:10.120 into that later on. Right, he found it humorous that 252 00:12:10.159 --> 00:12:14.080 Paul actually tried to convince him to become a Christian, right, so, 253 00:12:14.159 --> 00:12:16.480 as we're about to see, right, Yeah, so he thinks 254 00:12:16.480 --> 00:12:20.440 that's humorous. Yeah, So that's interesting. So this narrative of 255 00:12:20.519 --> 00:12:25.039 Paul being you know, bounced around, you know, obviously it's 256 00:12:25.080 --> 00:12:29.039 got to be really bad in order for Paul to 257 00:12:29.120 --> 00:12:31.759 yell out, I appeal to Caesar and I would guess 258 00:12:31.759 --> 00:12:34.519 that Festus would be that was the best news Festus 259 00:12:34.519 --> 00:12:35.039 could have heard. 260 00:12:35.320 --> 00:12:38.240 Yeah, it would have been surprising because that's a pretty 261 00:12:38.320 --> 00:12:43.519 final thing, right, And I think they were all you know, 262 00:12:43.639 --> 00:12:45.720 Festus doesn't seem to be but Felix was looking for 263 00:12:45.720 --> 00:12:49.440 a bribe. Clearly the herods would have taken a bribe, right, 264 00:12:49.840 --> 00:12:52.799 They all were pretty bad. So it mentions Bernice here. 265 00:12:52.919 --> 00:12:56.720 So Bernice was a sister, a stepsister of different people 266 00:12:56.799 --> 00:12:59.200 she was having affairs with. She winds up going on 267 00:12:59.240 --> 00:13:02.440 and becoming a mist of Titus, the son of the emperor. 268 00:13:03.080 --> 00:13:05.759 She's not a good person either. These people are are 269 00:13:06.039 --> 00:13:12.200 just antithetical to everything Paul was about. But Paul is 270 00:13:12.200 --> 00:13:15.440 showing gentleness and peace with them and trying to share 271 00:13:15.440 --> 00:13:18.120 the gospel as best he can. He's not being judgmental 272 00:13:18.159 --> 00:13:22.200 towards them. But when Festus gives him the opportunity, hey 273 00:13:22.279 --> 00:13:23.639 are you going to go back? You willing to go 274 00:13:23.639 --> 00:13:25.600 back to Jerusalem? You know, he's just trying to get 275 00:13:25.639 --> 00:13:28.080 rid of him at this point, and he goes absolutely 276 00:13:28.120 --> 00:13:32.320 not if he had just stopped there, he probably could 277 00:13:32.320 --> 00:13:34.559 have still avoided going to Jerusalem, because they couldn't find 278 00:13:34.559 --> 00:13:38.240 any reason to execute him, but instead he said, I 279 00:13:38.279 --> 00:13:40.639 appeal to Caesar. I'm a Roman citizen. I appeal to Caesar, 280 00:13:40.919 --> 00:13:44.960 and that guaranteed. Now the next eight nine years, he's 281 00:13:45.000 --> 00:13:46.519 on his way to Rome the whole time. 282 00:13:47.080 --> 00:13:51.679 You know, isn't it interesting to see the tenacity of 283 00:13:51.759 --> 00:13:54.519 the crowd of these people who wanted Paul dead. 284 00:13:54.879 --> 00:13:56.360 I mean, here's it's unreasonable. 285 00:13:56.519 --> 00:13:59.720 Yes, it's unreasonable, but they but they want him. They 286 00:13:59.759 --> 00:14:03.519 want him gone because they now understand that he has 287 00:14:03.559 --> 00:14:06.200 become just as big of a threat in many ways 288 00:14:06.399 --> 00:14:09.919 as Jesus was. Obviously there's no comparison. 289 00:14:09.440 --> 00:14:11.080 Right, but they were feeling that way, they were treating it. 290 00:14:11.240 --> 00:14:13.240 They were feeling it that way because but what they 291 00:14:13.240 --> 00:14:14.360 were seeing was the effect of. 292 00:14:14.399 --> 00:14:17.639 Things, right, because thermiety was spreading so fast. Jesus had 293 00:14:17.679 --> 00:14:20.919 one hundred and twenty followers at the Upper Room right 294 00:14:21.279 --> 00:14:25.000 after his resurrection, but now there's hundreds of thousands of 295 00:14:25.080 --> 00:14:27.799 Christians all over the Roman Empire. So yeah, it would 296 00:14:27.840 --> 00:14:30.399 have maybe seemed like it was a bigger deal with Paul. 297 00:14:30.960 --> 00:14:33.639 Yeah, because because again when we look at Jesus compared 298 00:14:33.639 --> 00:14:36.600 to Paul, we say it's no comparison because of who 299 00:14:36.639 --> 00:14:38.960 Jesus is and who Paul is. But they didn't really 300 00:14:39.039 --> 00:14:41.519 recognize it that way. They were just like the amount 301 00:14:41.559 --> 00:14:43.840 of trouble that this guy gave us versus the amount 302 00:14:43.840 --> 00:14:45.200 of trouble that this guy gave us. 303 00:14:45.240 --> 00:14:45.960 It's getting worse. 304 00:14:46.200 --> 00:14:47.000 It's getting worse. 305 00:14:47.000 --> 00:14:49.759 Followers of the Way, man, it's spreading everywhere. They turned 306 00:14:49.759 --> 00:14:53.279 the world upside down. And you know, later Paul writes 307 00:14:53.279 --> 00:14:55.679 about though, and I love this. Paul writes a little later, 308 00:14:55.720 --> 00:14:58.440 He'll say, we don't fight against flesh and blood. So 309 00:14:58.480 --> 00:15:00.679 he didn't see these people as his enemy. He said, 310 00:15:00.759 --> 00:15:04.000 it's a spiritual battle that's happening. And so, you know, 311 00:15:04.200 --> 00:15:07.679 it seems unreasonable. If this is just human human issue 312 00:15:08.320 --> 00:15:12.440 fighting against you know, Paul, then they would have eventually 313 00:15:12.440 --> 00:15:16.399 lost interest, right, it just would have gone away. But 314 00:15:17.120 --> 00:15:21.120 I believe that this is a supernatural, demonic fight against Paul. 315 00:15:21.240 --> 00:15:23.600 Take him out of this fight, take him, take him 316 00:15:23.600 --> 00:15:26.720 out of his influence and impact. And you know, Paul's 317 00:15:26.759 --> 00:15:29.519 just facing it with grace and kindness and all this stuff. 318 00:15:29.799 --> 00:15:32.000 But you know, we've mentioned before that you know, when 319 00:15:32.039 --> 00:15:34.320 you're telling a narrative, when we're when you're in the 320 00:15:34.360 --> 00:15:37.720 Bible and you're reading doctrinal passages, and Paul's just telling 321 00:15:37.759 --> 00:15:40.559 us how to live or how to behave That is 322 00:15:40.600 --> 00:15:44.360 all for our benefit, either to know how God works 323 00:15:45.360 --> 00:15:50.720 from a technical aspect doctrinally or how we should live practically, 324 00:15:50.799 --> 00:15:52.919 right the application side of it. But when we read 325 00:15:52.960 --> 00:15:55.639 these narratives like this, and you know, it's several chapters 326 00:15:55.639 --> 00:15:58.639 here in a row of just telling the story, the 327 00:15:58.639 --> 00:16:01.720 Bible says that God gave us these things, told us 328 00:16:01.720 --> 00:16:04.639 these stories of ancient times for our benefit, and so 329 00:16:04.720 --> 00:16:06.960 we look for what are the things that we can 330 00:16:07.000 --> 00:16:10.080 take away for our benefit. One of them is Paul's 331 00:16:10.240 --> 00:16:13.960 grace under fire, under pressure, and the fact that he 332 00:16:14.039 --> 00:16:17.440 wasn't afraid to leverage his position. His position was, I'm 333 00:16:17.480 --> 00:16:20.159 a Roman citizen. I don't have to go to Jerusalem 334 00:16:20.279 --> 00:16:22.360 where these crooks and these crooked people are going to 335 00:16:22.399 --> 00:16:25.840 try to kill me. Right, I'm going to Rome. And 336 00:16:26.480 --> 00:16:28.480 so he pulled the levers that were available to him 337 00:16:28.559 --> 00:16:31.639 without manipulating. He didn't manipulate the system. He just pulled 338 00:16:31.639 --> 00:16:33.240 the levers that were available to him in the moment. 339 00:16:33.519 --> 00:16:36.120 And there's some advantage I think to be Jesus taught 340 00:16:36.200 --> 00:16:38.240 us to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves 341 00:16:38.960 --> 00:16:41.240 to understand how the world works. There's one point where 342 00:16:41.320 --> 00:16:44.279 Jesus is frustrated with his disciples. They're talking about money 343 00:16:44.320 --> 00:16:47.240 issues and things, and Jesus is a little frustrated, going, 344 00:16:47.480 --> 00:16:49.159 how is it that the people of the world know this? 345 00:16:49.279 --> 00:16:51.720 But you know, you don't know these things, and you 346 00:16:51.759 --> 00:16:53.720 need to be as harmless as doves, but you need 347 00:16:53.759 --> 00:16:56.559 to be wise as serpents. And so here's Paul being gentle. 348 00:16:57.080 --> 00:17:00.879 Paul's being peaceful, he's defending himself, but he's also a 349 00:17:00.919 --> 00:17:04.240 wise person. He knows all the tools available to him. 350 00:17:04.359 --> 00:17:07.000 And at this point, rather than going and getting assassinated 351 00:17:07.039 --> 00:17:08.880 on the road back to Jerusalem, he pulls the lever 352 00:17:08.960 --> 00:17:10.920 and goes, nope, I'm appealing to Caesar. That was the 353 00:17:10.960 --> 00:17:13.480 next level up, and that solved everybody's problem. 354 00:17:13.799 --> 00:17:16.640 Yeah, well solved bestus problem because he wanted to get 355 00:17:16.680 --> 00:17:17.039 rid of him. 356 00:17:17.079 --> 00:17:17.440 Yeah. 357 00:17:17.519 --> 00:17:20.400 And you know, even back when you talked about Jesus 358 00:17:20.440 --> 00:17:23.000 being the potato, it was sort of that way back 359 00:17:23.000 --> 00:17:25.880 then as well. We noticed that, you know, he appears 360 00:17:25.960 --> 00:17:27.799 in front of Pilot and you know what Pilot says. 361 00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:30.000 Pilot says, I just I just want this to be 362 00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:33.640 somebody else's problem, right, you know, so they said the Caiaphas. 363 00:17:33.799 --> 00:17:36.359 Then he bounces back to Herod. You know, he's back 364 00:17:36.400 --> 00:17:38.960 and forth because everybody just didn't want to have to 365 00:17:39.000 --> 00:17:41.440 deal with it, and all, you know, all they really 366 00:17:41.480 --> 00:17:43.880 want to do is they want to just keep the peace. So, 367 00:17:43.960 --> 00:17:47.400 you know, just like Pilot again, the same exact position. 368 00:17:48.200 --> 00:17:50.279 Festus just wants to keep the peace because that's what 369 00:17:50.319 --> 00:17:50.960 he's charged with. 370 00:17:51.039 --> 00:17:52.960 And he can't even Festus can't even really figure out 371 00:17:52.960 --> 00:17:56.400 what's going on, which is funny, right, It's like, what right, right? 372 00:17:56.480 --> 00:17:58.680 This must be a bad guy. I mean, Felix kept 373 00:17:58.759 --> 00:18:01.039 him here for two years, be a bad guy. And 374 00:18:01.079 --> 00:18:05.039 then he's down in Jerusalem and the High Priest goes, hey, 375 00:18:05.359 --> 00:18:10.519 we want Paul. We want Paul executed, and Festus goes, well, hey, 376 00:18:10.559 --> 00:18:11.960 I'm going back to Cessa. I want you to just 377 00:18:11.960 --> 00:18:14.599 bring some people so they come back again. And then 378 00:18:14.680 --> 00:18:16.759 but when he's trying to explain to us to Herod, 379 00:18:17.039 --> 00:18:21.960 Herod shows up with Bernice and he goes I called 380 00:18:21.960 --> 00:18:24.000 the case the very next day and ordered Paul brought in. 381 00:18:24.039 --> 00:18:26.799 But the accusations made against him weren't any of the 382 00:18:26.839 --> 00:18:29.720 crimes I expected instead, and this is what's so funny. 383 00:18:29.839 --> 00:18:33.240 It was something about their religion and a dead man 384 00:18:33.319 --> 00:18:36.640 named Jesus, who Paul says is alive. And I was 385 00:18:36.680 --> 00:18:39.200 at a loss to know what to do or how 386 00:18:39.240 --> 00:18:43.599 to investigate these things. Festus is like, that's what this 387 00:18:43.720 --> 00:18:48.480 is about. I don't want some dead guy named Jesus, 388 00:18:48.799 --> 00:18:51.359 and Paul says he's been resurrected, and you know, it 389 00:18:51.400 --> 00:18:53.319 reminds me of when Paul writes he said, you know 390 00:18:53.640 --> 00:18:57.039 that the things of God are foolishness to the world, right, 391 00:18:57.400 --> 00:19:00.920 And Festus is not thinking about things of God. 392 00:19:00.720 --> 00:19:02.200 First Corinthians one eighteen. 393 00:19:02.319 --> 00:19:06.279 Yeah, and and Festus is not thinking about the things 394 00:19:06.279 --> 00:19:08.160 of God. Festus is just trying to figure out how 395 00:19:08.200 --> 00:19:10.200 to get his job done, and he's brand new at it. 396 00:19:10.759 --> 00:19:13.119 And apparently this guy must be a bad guy because 397 00:19:13.119 --> 00:19:15.880 Felix kept him for a long time And then he goes, 398 00:19:16.160 --> 00:19:22.039 what some dead guys alive? Right, right, that's what he's arrested. 399 00:19:22.359 --> 00:19:25.880 And by the way, it's the exact wording is instead 400 00:19:26.000 --> 00:19:29.240 it was something about right, right, like like I don't 401 00:19:29.240 --> 00:19:32.920