Be Courageous: You Must Also Testify in Rome

In one paragraph

This message followed Paul's arrival in Jerusalem, his arrest in the temple, and his defense before the Jewish crowd and the Sanhedrin, covering Acts 21 through 23. Pastor Josh traced the events from Paul's reunion with James and the elders through the riot, the Roman commander's intervention, and the night-time word from Jesus that Paul would reach Rome. The thread running through all of it was...

Read together

1. Isaiah 49 Jews were appointed to be a light to the Gentiles
2. Acts 15 the Jerusalem Council letter telling Gentiles to abstain from meat sacrificed to idols, blood, what is strangled, and sexual immorality
3. Romans 9 Paul would have given his own life so that his people would know and believe the gospel
4. Deuteronomy 18 the Lord will send one like Moses, listen to him
5. Exodus 22:27 you shall not curse God and you shall not curse a ruler of your people
6. Acts 23:11 the Lord stood near Paul and told him to be courageous and that he must testify in Rome

Talk about it

1. James and the elders told Paul that thousands of Jewish believers were still zealous for the law, and they asked him to take on a purification ritual to show he was not against his own people. When have you had to make a gesture toward someone else's understanding of a situation, even when you felt misunderstood?
2. Paul was seized while he was doing exactly what his accusers wanted him to do, and the doors of the temple were immediately shut behind him. What does that image bring up for you about the experience of doing the right thing and still facing opposition?
3. When the crowd was shouting different things and the commander could not find out the facts because of the uproar, the pastor paused and asked whether we have felt that way in our own lives today. Where do you find yourself most worn down by that kind of noise, and how are you responding to it?
4. Paul addressed the angry crowd as brothers and fathers, included himself with them, and acknowledged he had once been exactly where they were. What did that posture make possible in that moment, and what would it cost us to take that same posture with people who are hostile toward what we believe?
5. At the end of the passage, Jesus told Paul to be courageous and did not say he should not have come to Jerusalem. He simply said, now you must also testify in Rome. What does it mean to you that Jesus met Paul where the situation already was, rather than dwelling on how it got there?