Acts 24:10-23, Serving, Believing and hoping

Acts 24:10-23, Serving, Believing and hoping

10-23,
10 When the governor motioned for him to speak, Paul replied: "I know that for a number of years you have been a judge over this nation; so I gladly make my defense.
11 You can easily verify that no more than twelve days ago I went up to Jerusalem to worship.
12 My accusers did not find me arguing with anyone at the temple, or stirring up a crowd in the synagogues or anywhere else in the city.
13 And they cannot prove to you the charges they are now making against me.
14 However, I admit that I worship the God of our fathers as a follower of the Way, which they call a sect. I believe everything that agrees with the Law and that is written in the Prophets,
15 and I have the same hope in God as these men, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.
16 So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man.
17 "After an absence of several years, I came to Jerusalem to bring my people gifts for the poor and to present offerings.
18 I was ceremonially clean when they found me in the temple courts doing this. There was no crowd with me, nor was I involved in any disturbance.
19 But there are some Jews from the province of Asia, who ought to be here before you and bring charges if they have anything against me.
20 Or these who are here should state what crime they found in me when I stood before the Sanhedrin --
21 unless it was this one thing I shouted as I stood in their presence: `It is concerning the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you today.'"
22 Then Felix, who was well acquainted with the Way, adjourned the proceedings. "When Lysias the commander comes," he said, "I will decide your case."
23 He ordered the centurion to keep Paul under guard but to give him some freedom and permit his friends to take care of his needs.

  The world turns away from the Gospel. We who believe in the gospel should be armed with Jesus. The text shows how Paul, the witness of the gospel, lives by the gospel.
  Paul has been accused of 1) a boss of the Nazarene heresy, 2) a pandemic, 3) a trouble maker, and 4) a blasphemer. But Paul, by famine, preached gifts to Jerusalem in trouble, went into the temple, offered sacrifices, and offered sacrifices (18). Instead of defiling the temple, the Israelites sacrificed a holy sacrifice to honor God in the temple. With this falsification, Paul defends himself in front of Governor Felix with the imprisonment of the arrested suspect.

    He was courageous and proud to defend the ministry of the gospel (14-16).

1) I have served the God of Israel, my fathers

(cf. Paul is unselfish in his conscience. (16)    He is devoted and eager to serve God. He ministers with love and gratitude. Only Jesus is our Savior and our Savior. He serves God through Jesus. But the Jews serve God through the way of doing the law, the way of the chosen people of the Pharisees, the secular way, and the dining way.
* How do you serve God and Jesus?

2) Paul confesses that he believes the law, the prophets, and the Old Testament (Bible, 14).

The Law, the Prophets, and the Old Testament all show Jesus Christ to come. It was completed when Jesus came. But the Jews are waiting for the political Messiah.
  Do I believe in God and Jesus in the Bible?

3) Paul believes in the resurrection of the heavenly hope, the righteous and the wicked, waiting for the Jews (cf. What is your hope?
 1 Cor. 15:58.
  Do you live with the resurrection hope, the hope of heaven?

   * Victor Frankl's testimony

 Paul boldly advocates the gospel before the governor of Felix and the Jews. Are you boldly communicating Jesus in front of people?

   Verse 23, Paul was held in Caesarea, but was somewhat free to testify of the gospel. Are we free to believe in Jesus? What if there is no freedom and peace?
 
  Saints, are you holding onto the Word with Jesus? Do you live boldly praying with the resurrection faith, the hope of resurrection?
  Do not be discouraged(Gal. 6:9).