37When Paul was about to be taken into the fortress, he asked the commander, "Can I say something to you?"
"How do you know Greek?" the commander asked. 38"Aren't you that Egyptian who started a riot not long ago and led four thousand terrorists into the desert?"
39"No!" Paul replied. "I am a Jew from Tarsus, an important city in Cilicia. Please let me speak to the crowd."
40The commander told him he could speak, so Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the people. When they were quiet, he spoke to them in Aramaic:
Acts 22:1"My friends and leaders of our nation, listen as I explain what happened!" 2When the crowd heard Paul speak to them in Aramaic, they became even quieter. Then Paul said:
3I am a Jew, born and raised in the city of Tarsus in Cilicia. I was a student of Gamaliel and was taught to follow every single law of our ancestors. In fact, I was just as eager to obey God as any of you are today.
4I made trouble for everyone who followed the Lord's Way, [a] and I even had some of them killed. I had others arrested and put in jail. I didn't care if they were men or women. 5The high priest and all the council members can tell you that this is true. They even gave me letters to the Jewish leaders in Damascus, so that I could arrest people there and bring them to Jerusalem to be punished. 6One day about noon I was getting close to Damascus, when a bright light from heaven suddenly flashed around me. 7I fell to the ground and heard a voice asking, "Saul, Saul, why are you so cruel to me?"
8"Who are you?" I answered. The Lord replied, "I am Jesus from Nazareth! I am the one you are so cruel to." 9The men who were traveling with me saw the light, but did not hear the voice.
10I asked, "Lord, what do you want me to do?"Then he told me, "Get up and go to Damascus. When you get there, you will be told what to do." 11The light had been so bright that I couldn't see. And the other men had to lead me by the hand to Damascus.
12In that city there was a man named Ananias, who faithfully obeyed the Law of Moses and was well liked by all the Jewish people living there. 13He came to me and said, "Saul, my friend, you can now see again!"
At once I could see. 14Then Ananias told me, "The God that our ancestors worshiped has chosen you to know what he wants done. He has chosen you to see the One Who Obeys God [b] and to hear his voice. 15You must tell everyone what you have seen and heard. 16What are you waiting for? Get up! Be baptized, and wash away your sins by praying to the Lord." 17After this I returned to Jerusalem and went to the temple to pray. There I had a vision 18of the Lord who said to me, "Hurry and leave Jerusalem! The people won't listen to what you say about me."
19I replied, "Lord, they know that in many of our meeting places I arrested and beat people who had faith in you. 20Stephen was killed because he spoke for you, and I stood there and cheered them on. I even guarded the clothes of the men who murdered him."
21But the Lord told me to go, and he promised to send me far away to the Gentiles.
22The crowd listened until Paul said this. Then they started shouting, "Get rid of this man! He doesn't deserve to live." 23They kept shouting. They waved their clothes around and threw dust into the air.
I can't help but wonder why Paul bothers. It's not as though he doesn't know what to expect from the crowd. They have been faithfully consistent in their rejection of Paul's message from the beginning.
But then...Paul is not responsible for the results,he's only responsible for the delivery.
It's not uncommon for us to evaluate probable outcomes before we invest our time and energy in anything...particularly if the investment costs are high...as they always seemed to be for Paul.
Fine, if we're writing a blog or reading a book. Not so much, if our task involves leading people to Christ. Part of the reason we've become a stagnant church is we can no longer tell the difference.
Would any of us have wanted the Holy Spirit to quit in us?
Live boldly out there today...
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