Good morning and welcome to the 5MC. I pray that you are prioritizing and scheduling 5 minutes a day to spend with God and His Word. I was talking to a friend yesterday about the busyness in our schedules and how we tell ourselves how busy we are much of the time as an excuse to dismiss things or opportunities that aren’t a priority to us. He simply looks at me and says, “you’ll FIND time to do the things that are important to you.” So true.
Well, this is day 3 of the new website, The5MC.com, and I have been working on it a lot to get it all fine tuned so that it can be used quickly and easily. I’m no web design guy but I did design the entire Captain Aloha web site when we were in Maui and this one has been much easier than that. The web design software that is out there is phenomenal and its really pretty dang easy to dream up a website and then get it done yourself. I use Wix and love it.
My goal for the website is to be able to make every post easy, organized and simple to find. I wasn’t able to do this on Facebook, they just kept piling up in chrononlogical order. I could never find the old posts that I was looking for so I know you guys couldn’t either. As I continue to dig deeper into the options on the new website I find that I can now share completed posts to other sites so starting this morning I will be sharing the day’s post from the5mc.com back over to our Facebook page. That way you facebookers can still find the post easily on the site you’re already on. If you do have any questions about whats going on just give me a shout on IM or you can email me through the new website.
Over the last 3 days I have had marathon sessions of uploading all the old posts onto the new site. There are now about 90 posts, all together in one place for the first time ever. I even have the first 30 days of the 5MC when it started back in Destin in June. Its pretty fun to go back and read the early posts and to see how God started this whole thing. I’m gonna be working today on categorical organization and see what the best way is to make relevant separations. I’m kinda in the realm of library organization as the posts grow. Bear with me.
This morning I continue to follow Paul’s courtroom appeal process in Acts chapter 25 as he sits in a Caesarea jail. Over the last 2 years Paul has been under house arrest of Felix the Governor until the end of chapter 24 yesterday when his term expired and he turned the reigns over to Festus. Now Festus has inherited the 'problem of Paul' and the courtroom shuffle continues as nobody can figure out what to do with Paul.
We start out with such a pitiful scene. The new governor, Festus, goes to Jerusalem to meet with the Jewish chief priests and elders and whats the first topic of conversation? Paul. Even after 2 years, the first thing they want to talk about is getting Paul extradited back to Jerusalem for trial. Of course Acts 25:3 tells us the real reason they want Paul sent back, “asking as a favor against Paul, that he be summoned to Jerusalem, because they were planning an ambush to kill him on the way.” These guys had a bitter hatred in their hearts for Paul that burned with ferocity. They harbored an anger that became a part of who they were. A bitter grudge.
Now let me just address grudges. The human heart can do and feel many things. It can be filled with joy, goodness, love, kindness and peace. It can be moved to feed the hungry, clothe the poor and put everyone else on this planet before the person that it beats inside of. But the human heart can also do something much different. It can be filled with hatred, intolerance, anger, violence and bitterness. It can persecute and kill those that don’t agree with it. It can make a life’s mission out of hurting others. How can the human heart be so capable of such juxtaposition? When the anger inside you burns so fiercely against a person or ideal that it consumes and changes who you are, I would call that a grudge.
Now I personally have witnessed this in my life and it is a terrible thing to behold. A person that is so intolerant and angry and so unwilling to forgive that they will harbor anger and resentment for years. I relate a grudge to a fire. Marge and I love natural wood-burning fireplaces in our homes. There’s not much better than a nice, warm, toasty crackling fire on a cold Sunday afternoon. But to start the fire and keep it going is a lot of work, attention and time. As the fire burns it consumes. As it consumes it needs new fuel, new wood. Its nature is to consume, that’s part of how it exists. As it consumes you feed it, feed it more wood. As you repeat this process, sometimes it won’t take the new wood so you have to stir the coals. You have to get it really good and hot in order to burn better. As long as you want the fire to burn you have to carefully manage this process. My friends, this is a grudge. This is long term hate. Creating a fire of hate in your heart and then carefully tending the fire to keep it going.
I personally know people like this in my life. People that have had something happen to them in the past, either by a person, a group or even a church. Out of the hurt they feel, either rightfully or not they just cannot let it go and forgive so they start a fire. Now that the fire has been started what are they going to do with it? It’s a lot of work to keep it going. If you choose to forgive in your heart and give it to God you can be freed. But if you choose to hold onto the grudge tightly it will be you personally that will have to tend the fire. My friend, the destructive part of holding onto a grudge is that it really only hurts you. I’ve heard it said that holding a grudge is like you drinking the poison and expecting the other person to die. It’s a sad thing to see. I have seen people spend countless hours tending, stirring and adding wood to the fire of their grudge. If your caught in this cycle of madness today, free yourself from it and give it to Jesus. Surrender it all and ask Jesus to free you from the anger that lives within your heart. Ask Jesus to grant you forgiveness in your heart, the heart that He created, the heart that he wants to bless. He is capable and He is willing. Ask Him and then be willing to be changed. To have your heart be filled with His love, acceptance, tolerance, joy and peace.
The grudge that the Sanhedrin held for Paul had been well tended and had been burning brightly for over 2 years. With a new governor they see an opportunity to use him to get access to Paul and they jump on it. Their request to get Paul extradited back to Jerusalem is denied so they go to Caesarea for yet another trial to try and convict Paul. Acts 25:7 “and when he (Paul) arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him bringing many serious charges against him that they could not prove.” Paul defends himself yet once again but this time seeing that justice is not within reach he asks to appeal to Caesar in Rome. Paul is a Roman citizen and this is his right. Festus confers with his council and replies, “To Caesar you have appealed and to Caesar you shall go.” (Acts 25:12)
This is all God’s plan. Jesus appeared to Paul in his prison cell back in Jerusalem and told him “take courgage for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must also tesify in Rome.” (Acts 23:11b) This is God’s plan, it has just taken a few years to play out.
Since Festus is a newly appointed governor, King Agrippa thinks it’s a good time for a visit. King Agrippa and his wife Bernice arrive at the palace. After much business talk, Festus brings up Paul. I can see the conversation from Festus. “I’ve got this Jewish-Roman-Christian-Rabbi-Preacher guy named Paul downstairs in prison and all the Jewish leaders wanna kill him but I can’t find that he’s done anything wrong. Do you wanna talk to him and see what you think?” And so it goes. Listen to the scene that God sets up for one of Paul’s most convicting sermons. Acts 25:23, “So on the next day Agrippa came with great pomp, and they entered the audience hall with the military tribunes and the prominent men of the city. Then at the command of Festus, Paul as brought in.”
So in the book of Acts we have seen Paul preach the gospel of Jesus in many places. Before the angry mob on the steps of the castle in Jerusalem. Before the Sanhedrin council that wants to kill him. Before his guards and fellow prisoners. Before Felix the governor and his wife Drusilla. Before Festus the new governor. And now Paul will preach the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ in front of King Agrippa, his wife Bernice and a hall full of politicians, military officials, and local business leaders. Did a preacher ever have a greater audience assembled than this! This is all fulfilling what the Lord had told Ananias earlier in Acts when he was told to go and restore Paul’s sight. “Go for he is a chosen instrtument of mine, to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.” (Acts 9:15) So here the stage is set, the audience is regal and the hall is full. I can imagine as they finally invite Paul to speak that the voices slowly hush until you could hear a pin drop.
And guess what he says? Awww man! We’ll have to wait and see because this is the end of chapter 25. Tune in tomorrow for chapter 26 and one the greatest sermons ever recorded as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit continues to preach the gospel with an all consuming passion that defines his life and who he is.
We have that same calling.
I pray your day is filled with peace, joy and goodness as you keep your eyes on Jesus and His perfect plan for your day. Start with time in His Word to ensure His plan aligns with yours.
Blessings.
All part of Gos’s Plan ... Paul IS going to Rome! He knows the answer of just “who” that “unknown” god is! ... ... ....