To Caesar you will go

Good morning. I want to thank Dave for reading for us this Acts of the Apostles, chapter 25, the first 12 verses. In contrast last week we went through the entire chapter 24 Last time and that was with Festus Not having come at the scene until the very end we have Felix for the last chapter as the governor and So at this time we see a change over to Festus both starting with the F there, but anyway, so it's Festus is the one that we'll be encountering through this passage and actually into next week's passage as well.

Everything that we see here taking place with Paul is in Caesarea. Initially, Festus, after he starts his governorship, goes to Jerusalem. It was a typical thing for the governors to go back and forth between Caesarea and Jerusalem. Caesarea was the Roman military base, both a land and naval base there along the coast, and Jerusalem, of course, being the capital city, if you will, of the Jews. So the governor would go back and forth.

Here would be a computer modeling of Herod's palace there at Caesarea, where Paul would be tried. And also where Paul would be kept in a rather, how do I say, not necessarily luxurious, but a much better than average condition as a prisoner there in the palace. And as we have noted last week at the end of the passage, it says, Felix kept him there for two years so so what we have found is from the time of Paul's arrest in Jerusalem by the Romans until this time here in this passage about two years have passed so he spent quite a bit of time there this would be the interior plaza of the palace so as you can tell although this is a computer simulation which is rather cleaned up Nonetheless, it was not bad in terms of the facilities there. And this is where Paul would be kept in, I would say, a lower class room, but nonetheless a much nicer place than the usual prisons as they were during the time.

One of the things that we want to keep in perspective is we're going to go way back in the book of Acts. This is Acts chapter 9. This is where the Apostle Paul has been met on the road to Damascus by Christ himself and confronted. Paul, this day, becomes a believer. But there is a very pivotal set of verses here that we want to make sure we keep in mind and in focus. So this is God's plans for Saul. Acts 9, 10-16. And it says there, Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. And the Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Lord, or here I am, Lord.

Right? And the Lord said to him, Get up and go to the street called Straight, which we mentioned as we were going through the passage. The street was anything but straight. It was like a one-word joke. Right? This was the crookedest street you could possibly imagine called Straight Street. It's about some other words that are conflicted.

And inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he was praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight. Now, at these words you have to keep in mind, Ananias is hearing this. Has he ever heard of Saul before?

Absolutely. That's the next words. So you're going to have to imagine Ananias at this point, he is gasping. He's going, right? So just keep that in mind. That's his response. So he says, but Ananias answered, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, right?

Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to your saints at Jerusalem, and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name." So here's Ananias, and he's given the objection, wait a minute, this guy is arch enemy number one, he's out for blood. He wants to take us and take us back and kill as many as he can, officially. Verse 15, But the Lord said to him, Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine, yes, that bloodthirsty killer, persecutor. He is a chosen instrument of mine to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and sons of Israel, and I will show him how much he must suffer for my name's sake."

Now, one of the things I've noticed as I've looked at various commentaries on Acts, that word show is the most under-emphasized, misunderstood word in the book of Acts. Reason. It's not the usual word show. It's a word that means two very important things. One, it means warning.

It's used in Matthew 3.7 and Luke 3.7 when John the Baptist uses that same word for the first time in the New Testament, twice, speaking to the Jewish leaders. He says, who warned you of the wrath to come? That word. Secondly, it's a word that is also used to mean instruction, and it can mean both things at once.

So imagine, I will warn this guy Saul in advance about his suffering, and I'm going to instruct him on it. This guy is going to be the capital suffering this guy is going to suffer a lot and I'm going to tell him about it in advance I'm going to warn him and I'm going to instruct him about his suffering he's not going to go ignorantly and blindly into the suffering he's going to know about his suffering in advance and he's going to go into the suffering with understanding very pivotal Pivotal word and look I will show him warning him and instructing him How little he must suffer right? No, how much?

He must suffer Because life's a real pain Know how much he must suffer for my name's sake huge huge passage All right, so Paul is A chosen vessel. So Jesus told Ananias that this Saul, later called Paul, was his chosen vessel. Yeah, that murderous, slanderous Paul guy. Saul guy. He's going to bear Christ's name before the Gentiles.

Did he do that? Yep. Kings, this word for kings is used in two ways. One, sometimes it's used specifically for a king, other times it's used rather as a figure of speech for rulers in general. So guess what? We're seeing the fulfillment of what Jesus said right there in Acts chapter 9, not only of the, I will show him in advance, but also that he's going to appear before rulers. He appeared earlier before Galileo, right? he appeared in this instance as we saw last week before Felix and he's going to appear in today's passage before Festus and we're going to see a couple more rulers show up in next week's passage so this guy most definitely appears before kings and rulers and before it's all done he's going to be brought before Nero the emperor who, by the way, has been emperor here for several years. Last, he's going to bear my name before the sons of Israel, the Jews. He's going to do it in the land of Israel, and when he goes into the Gentile lands, the first people he's going to pursue and see are the Jews.

Next, Jesus also told Ananias that Saul, who would later be called Paul, would be both warned and instructed about how much he would suffer for Christ's name, and that is exactly what we're seeing. So the Apostle Paul doesn't go to Jerusalem and fulfill his vows and go on to the next missionary journey.

This thing turns into a five-year mess, as far as we can tell from our end. Suppose somebody said, you know, you're going to have a little bit of trouble, you know, by the afternoon, you know, and you say, okay, that's fine. And the trouble is going to last for five years, and you go to prison, and you're not going to be in the same prison all the time.

Oh, and by the way, there's people going to try to kill you, right? So this is complicated. This and this is persistent. Have you ever been through a trial that is persistent? My guess is probably yes. Been through a trial that persists, it doesn't just kind of show up and then go, by the time the sun goes down, you're done, you're through, no. You go through trials, sometimes they last, and last, and last, and you think, I'm not sure I'm going to last.

But that's exactly what he sees here. The book of Acts and Paul's letters confirm, and that's why we're going through this. You look at this and you say, oh, Acts goes on and on and on. Why? One of the reasons is for us to learn from Paul's suffering and to learn about Paul's suffering.

And even in this instance, it isn't like, okay, I went into the jail at Philippi and then got out. In this case, He is under Roman arrest, stretched all across the Roman Empire from Jerusalem all the way to Rome for five years. Sign up for a five-year hassle. That's what he got. Here's the plaza inside the palace where Paul is kept prisoner for two years under Felix and now that same place at the beginning of Festus rule.

So you can imagine, here's the Apostle Paul, he has been warned in advance this was going to happen. He wrote earlier, in every city, in every city, I'm being warned ahead of time about this that's happening. But he's also being instructed by the Lord in something else that we brought up.

We'll bring it up again a little bit later. And that is, it is apparent as we study the New Testament, the book of Acts and the letters of the New Testament, the Apostle Paul is meeting personally with Christ here in this place. and learning things from Christ he had never known before. And he doesn't get to write about them so far as we have any of the letters until he gets to Rome. But they are phenomenal truths. We'll be looking at that shortly.

The other thing to keep in mind is here is a guy who, here's Ananias stating right at the outset to Paul, look, the Lord said He's going to show you how much you're going to suffer. And that doesn't mean just warning in advance, but it means instruction. Here's the Apostle Paul. Imagine him here in this thing, this trial keeps going on and on. And I don't mean trial as in legal trial.

I mean, this is a difficulty. He's stuck in this place. Would you take the number one priority, primary apostle to the Gentiles and stick them in a Roman prison for five years? That wouldn't be the plan that you and I would make, right? But that's what happens here. And God does it on purpose. Yeah, and it's not because God is a sadist. And it's not because Paul's a masochist. This is on purpose because God loves Paul and he loves you and me.

So here's Acts 25.1. This is July 59 AD.

Festus then, having arrived in the province, three days later went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea. The place where Festus very likely had his palace was the same palace that Pontius Pilate had had some years before, approximately two plus decades earlier. This place here. The same palace. He went there to Jerusalem, which was up? Yes. Now, it says, along came Festus.

Now, I have to admit to you something. When I first hear the name Festus, what comes to mind to me is this character in Gunsmoke, right? So I hear Festus, that's what comes to mind. So I have to deliberately kind of focus here and not think of this somewhat humorous sort of flea-bitten deputy that's in Gunsmoke. If that's what comes to mind, I have to deliberately think, no, that's not that Festus.

So after Paul remained under Roman guard there in Felix's palace in Caesarea for about two years, Felix, by the way, after going through his years of governorship and three wives, he ended up not so well off. And so Porcius Festus took his place. By the usual standards of Roman governors, he was actually a pretty decent fellow.

But he was overwhelmed. Things were getting really bad in Israel. The rebellion of the Jews was heating up. And he, in fact, was only in place there for a few years. He died young. I think it happened to do with the high stress levels from what he was doing.

But nonetheless, Porcius Festus replaced Felix, and he started the process all over again. In our set of laws, you can't just recharge somebody for the same crime. That wasn't true in Rome. In Rome, when you had a change of rulers, you could start all over again. So even though one fellow had said he's not guilty and you're fine, the next fellow came and did start all over again.

So within three days of taking office, he went to Jerusalem to deal with matters that were centered there, as was typical of governors. They'd go back and forth between Caesarea and Jerusalem. Caesarea to Jerusalem was indeed up, about a half a mile up from the coast there to the city of Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, Festus would be near the Jewish leaders and away from Paul.

So that's the environment that he has there. So, we also have a handout, feel free to take one if you'd like, it's a supplement that's out there that kind of gives, here are the Roman leaders, the Roman officials who are involved, so we have actually three pages of that, and so you're welcome to take advantage of that if that's of interest to you. Here's Acts 25, 2, and 3.

The chief priests and the leading men of the Jews brought charges against Paul and they were urging him, requesting a concession against Paul, that he might have him brought to Jerusalem, so at the same time setting an ambush to kill him on the way. So one of the things you might notice here, wait a minute this sounds awfully familiar, Haven't we seen this before? Yes, you have. Same song, second verse, right?

And originally the leaders of the Jews, this is back when Paul initially was arrested by the Romans, cooperated with a scheme to feign or pretend, as you will, a meeting in which Paul would be brought But the real plan was in order to bring Paul towards this meeting, but never actually accomplish it. Why? They would assassinate him by ambush and whatever Roman guards got in the way. That was the plan. So guess what? We have the same plan resurrected two years later. By the way, by this time, you have not only a different governor, you also have a new high priest, a different one. And they're basically going to carry out the exact same scheme.

The only thing is they're going to, instead of taking Paul from one place to another inside Jerusalem, they're going to take him from Caesarea to Jerusalem and hopefully, so they think, provide a lot more opportunity to kill Paul. And they would kill Paul and any other Romans who got in the way at the time. Hopefully they wouldn't have any hundreds of Roman soldiers escorting Paul this time.

Here's Acts 25, 4 and 5. Cephas then answered that Paul was being kept in custody in Caesarea and that he himself was about to leave shortly to go back to Caesarea, right? Therefore, he said, Let the influential men among you go there with me, and if there's anything wrong about the man, let them prosecute him. So you get the plan there. You guys, I'm going to go back to Caesarea. That's where Paul is. You guys send your officials to make all your charges. Come there and do that. And let's start this thing all over again. Even though it's all been done with Felix, now we're going to just start it all over again. Hit the reset button. Begin again with Festus.

Now one of the things that shows up in this passage, and it's a good example, it's actually three times, is something that shows up in the Greek, and that's if and then. And so in verse 5, and if there's anything wrong about the man, then let them prosecute him. The then is implied.

And so anyway, the first thing there is you're going to come to Caesarea. So you're not going to have a trial here. No, you're not going to be able to take Paul from Caesarea to Jerusalem. We're going to at least start off here back in Caesarea. So I'm going there. You guys are going to go there if you want to prosecute him. So as before with Felix, Festus is going to require that the Jews press their charge against Paul in his new home city of Caesarea. Paul was located there and safely kept in the palace prison. If there's anything wrong about the man, then let him prosecute him.

So if there is, And the question is, does that mean if there is and there's a doubt about it, if there is and it's not true, what's meant there? And actually the way it's stated, we won't go into all the details, the way it's stated, if there is an assuming it's true. So.

But as we'll see, Festus will change his mind and try to please the Jewish leaders. Here's the difficulty. The Romans were having increasing strife with and even conflict to death among the Jews who were beginning to rebel. Lots of problem with that. But, these Jews there in Jerusalem were actually the most pro-Rome because they had an arrangement where they could have some degree of power and still under Rome's rule so that these Jewish leaders Festus and Felix before him wanted to please even though the Jews in general are beginning more and more to rebel these guys were the Jews who are most pro-Roman so he's trying to please them you have a handout that goes into more detail But this is the start of something that shows up actually three times in this passage.

And so in the Greek, it's an if. So let's go back to that. OK, if there is anything wrong about the man, if and it's assumed to be true. Let's ask this question. Was it actually true? Is there anything wrong with Paul? No, there isn't. So, if and it's assumed to be true, which in some cases can be if and it's assumed to be true for the sake of logic, but it's not actually true. And that's true here, and we're going to see it once more in this passage. We're going to see one verse where this if thing comes up twice. So anyway, there's a handout on that, a supplement, if you'd like to take advantage of that. you're not interested, that's okay. All right? Okay.

Acts 25.6, after he had spent not more than eight or ten days among them, he went down to Caesarea and on the next day he took a seat on the tribunal and ordered Paul to be brought.

So here he is, he's going to meet these guys, this is the room in the palace where they would gather and they would have essentially a courtroom scene. He says, okay, he'd ordered his soldiers, bring Paul here. Bring him here. So they go back into the palace prison, get Paul, bring him into this room. So Hephaestus had returned then to his coastal palace there in Caesarea.

He ordered Paul to be brought on trial here for the exact same charges that Paul had been on trial for before under Felix. It must have seemed kind of like a deja vu experience for Paul. You can imagine, oh, we've been through this all before, you know. But that's the way it was.

Hephaestus was the new procurator. He set up the same trial with the Jews. By the way, it was probably not all entirely the same Jews. They had changed high priests. So it was a different high priest, okay, as taken place before under Felix. So different governor, different high priest, maybe some other changes in the rulers. And basically the same thing all over again.

Acts 25, 7 and 8, After Paul arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many and serious charges against him, which they could not prove. While Paul said in his own defense, I have committed no offense, either against the law of the Jews, or against the temple, or against Caesar. How many? No offense. So what we see is serious charges the Jews made, just like before. There was no proof, but Paul said, I've committed no offense.

So two years before the Jews had brought these serious charges, now they're bringing them again. They didn't have facts or testimony back then that backed up their charges. Same thing is true here. Because they don't have any facts and they don't have any testimony just like before. Paul, cut to the bottom line here, as interesting as the previous court action seems to have gone on for quite a bit, and a lot was recorded, this, very concise. One verse, the Jews present their complaints and all that.

Paul comes in, I have committed no offense, either against the law of the Jews, or against the temple, or against Caesar. There is nothing to charge me with. and nobody here has any valid testimony and both Jewish and Roman law required at least two witnesses confirming and they couldn't come up with them not even bogus Acts 25 9 but Festus wishing to do the Jews a favor answered Paul and said are you willing to go up to Jerusalem to stand trial before me on these charges." So what he was saying is, are you willing to do this to go up to Jerusalem and stand charges again? Why, would he ask him? There's a good reason.

The Jews present to charge Paul were mostly, if not entirely, Sadducees. It did not appear that they had hired this Tertullus fellow the last time. In fact, that didn't work very well, so they didn't hire him this time, as far as we could tell. To speak for them this time around, the Jews just simply presented their case and complained directly. These Jewish leaders here are the ones who are most favorable to the Roman rule over Israel.

They were the ones that Festus wanted to please, if at all possible. But, according to Roman law, regarding Roman citizens, Festus could not force Paul to go to Jerusalem. So he had to ask him, are you willing? All Paul has to say is, I am most certainly not willing, right? And Festus could not force it.

Acts 25.10, but Paul said, I am standing before Caesar's tribunal where I ought to be tried. It ought to be here right now.

I have done no wrong to the Jews as you also know very well because the prior testimony had already been recorded and the prior decision had already been recorded. You know this very well, and besides that, just like before, they have no witnesses and no evidence. So he's saying, I choose not to go to Jerusalem. There's no reason for me to go there. I've done nothing wrong. I don't need to stand trial. I'm here under the Roman court in Caesarea, where it ought to be.

Paul knew the facts. The Jews did not have a valid claim against Paul. They still intended to assassinate him, as we see here in the text, even if it was against both Jewish and Roman law. They intended to assassinate him. Paul was under the protection of Rome, and he was under the protection of Roman laws, a Roman citizen. He knew that he had done nothing at all deserving death by any law in Israel, by any law of Rome, and as a Roman citizen. I have full protection, he's telling. Here's Acts 25 11 and look for the ifs.

If then I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything worthy of death, I do not refuse to die. But if none of those things is true of which these men accuse me, no one can hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar." Powerful, really big, life-changing, life-sparing, and eternally revealing for us words. One of the things I'll put in here is the implied Zen. because it has then, real early, but the implied then, then I do not refuse to die and then no one can hand me over to them the first if, if I'm a wrongdoer, is he? no, but it's stated if it is assumed to be true even though it is not true and I've committed anything worthy of death has he committed anything worthy of death? the answer is no then I refuse do not refuse to die.

This is assumed to be true, but it's not. But if, here's the second if, none of these things is true which these men accuse me, then no one can hand me over to them and that is assumed to be true. But it is true, right? You see that? I appeal to Caesar. As long as Paul was in the land of Israel, he knew that the leaders of the Jews would seek to assassinate him in some devious way. They were not going to pull this off in any legal way. It had to be illegal because what they were doing was against the law of the Jews and the law of the Romans. Completely illegal. Also quite immoral and unethical. Paul already had assurance from Jesus himself The night of June 3rd and 4th, 57 AD, Jesus appeared to Paul. He had assurance from Jesus himself that he would go to Rome as Christ's witness.

How many of you would like that kind of assurance? You're going to do this and that, and you're going to have this. Wow, that's just amazing. So the Lord warned him in advance of the trouble he was going to have. He says, I'll give you special instruction on the suffering you're going to undergo. Oh, and by the way, at certain times I will give you special assurance personally. That's pretty amazing.

Paul didn't sit there passively assuming he would go to Rome no matter what. He evaluated the legal options before him and deliberately chose to appeal to Caesar consistent with the assurance and the intent he already had to go to Rome. He deliberately chose to appeal to Caesar, consistent with what he had told the church in Rome, I want to come to you in the blessing of Christ and in the will of God, and he had Christ's assurance that he would go to Rome as a witness. So he made a legal decision consistent with everything else that had already been told.

Here's Acts 25.12, And then when Festus had conferred with his council, he answered, You have appealed to Caesar, to Caesar you shall go.

So the typical Roman council consisted of eight to twenty men for a governor. They were political people, military people, legal people, and financial people. So you got all the very most important inputs about what was all the best of Rome. And you were completely legal, and militarily, and financially, you covered all the bases.

So given all those Roman kinds of considerations, Festus responded with, as Caesar you will go. taking Paul away from the Jews and away from the threat of the Jews and to Rome where he had full protection all the way. So if you think about it, he desired to go to Rome with the blessing of Christ and in the will of God. Jesus himself had assured Paul that he would go. So he's appealing to Caesar there.

That was a very clear decision. Should I do it or should I not? Well, absolutely he should. Right? It was very clear. Oftentimes we get in circumstances where we say, well, I'm trying to figure out what the Lord's will is in this case. Where the Lord has made something clear and we have a decision in front of us, the decision then becomes no trouble at all. It is not in dispute. Because it's consistent with everything else the Lord has said.

So let's look here in Romans 15 29 through 33. I know that when I come to you, writing to the church at Rome, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ. Now I urge you, brethren, by Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, that I may be rescued from those who are disobedient in Judea, which we saw is exactly what happened, and rescued is the word that Claudius Lysias, the Roman commander, used, and be rescued from those who are disobedient in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may prove acceptable to the saints, so that I may come to you in great grief and anger and distress, no, in joy by the will of God, and find refreshing rest in your company, even if it's under house arrest.

Do you know we can do that too? We can make a decision or make decisions that are consistent with what God has already revealed to us. There are times when God says, this is what I want you to do, and it's all very clear, but we may still need to make decisions where God has made something clear. We have a place then to make decisions consistent with what He's made clear. The starting place is, what does the Word of God say? What does the Word of God say about this or that point? And seeking God's will, first of all, whatever God has made clear, we are free then to make decisions consistent with what He's revealed. And by the way, if He hasn't revealed whether I should do this or that, It may well be that God is saying, well really it doesn't matter which you choose, if it's not a matter of something that I've made clear.

God is not walking, pacing the floor of heaven, hoping that you'll choose to buy the blue Chevy instead of the yellow one. God's not all anxious and uptight about that. But for what he has made clear, we then can be free to make decisions consistent with what he's made clear, right? We're going to see that the Roman legal system might provide some guidance for the legal decisions for the magistrates and the proconsuls, but the Roman legal system was not great when it came to time constraints.

Oh, you'll go to Rome. But I'm not going to send you tomorrow, I've got some other things I'm going to do first. And you'll have to go there eventually. Eventually you'll get there. And when you get there, you're going to wait a couple of years until Nero makes a decision. So Rome had no time constraints as to its legal decisions. Festus could say, then to Caesar you will go. Eventually, right? After a while, you'll get there.

Be patient. Really, really, really patient, right? Felix had Paul held in the prison palace there for two years. No rush to do anything different. Hephaestus comes in to replace him, and there's still no rush to send Paul to Caesar. Paul, however, always stood on the truth, no matter how long he had to wait.

Have you ever noticed that there are times when time passes painfully slowly? Have you noticed that? Have you ever had something that seemed, oh, come on, hurry! And we have moments like that where we just can't believe how slow the clock is ticking. How long it takes for something to happen. The other thing that happens is we get the other extreme. We say, wow, where did the time go? Things happen so quickly. Here Nancy and I were looking at, we came here, we had how many grandkids? None. Now having been here 17 years, we have 11 grandkids. And the first, the oldest of them just turned 18, started college. Whoa! This is really something.

God the Father is the one who calls the great points of time and the most momentous spans of time. Until time as we know it will be no more. We will spend eternity with Christ. Isn't that amazing how we have these times where the clock just doesn't seem to move? Other times where it goes by so quickly, we can hardly believe. Where has the time gone? But God's the one who calls the pivotal moments in the spans of time. And it's actually God the Father. We can be very specific about that.

But there will be a time when time will be no more. When we get to heaven, we'll be not looking down at our watches and saying, when's the coffee break? And I sure hope they have this roast and not that one because I don't like that coffee. So none of that.

One of the things that happened during this time one would have thought, oh, here is the apostle to the Gentiles stuck in a Roman prison for two years for no apparent reason other than from all appearances is the time when the Apostle Paul, who months before beginning his time in Caesarea, had written to the church in Rome, and so had been identified with Christ in his crucifixion and death, his burial and his resurrection.

That's all he wrote. Once he gets done with this time in the prison in Caesarea, he's writing Oh, you've been ascended and seated with Christ. He had never written about that before, and I don't think he was holding back. I think he didn't know until Christ personally told him, you've been ascended and seated with Christ in the heavenlies. That's where you are blessed. That's where you have your citizenship.

So my urging to you would be to focus on what and who is timeless while you still have time. Focus on what and who is timeless while you still have time There will come a day when they'll all be over for all of us In fact, it'll be over for all of us real quick if the Lord comes today, and I hope that's what happens Colossians 3 1 through 4 starts like this therefore if you've been raised up with Christ, by the way, there's another if have you been raised up with Christ and Yep. If, and it's assumed to be true, and it is true, you see that by what it says, do what?

If you've been raised up with Christ, go to sleep in church. No. If you've been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Seek it once in a while. Every third Sunday at about 11.54 until you get hungry. Keep seeking the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Seek what? The things above where Christ is.

Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. If you are to be any earthly good, you must be heavenly minded. Got that? The usual thing you hear is, so heavenly minded, no earthly good. No, it's the opposite. It's counterintuitive. If you are to be any earthly good at all, you must be heavenly minded. Set your minds on things above. Keep seeking the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

That's the only way to be of any use at all here on planet earth. There isn't any other. Four, you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, by the way, Who is your life? Real clear. Real clear. This couldn't be any more clear. Christ who is your life. Our life together. Christ who is our life is revealed. What is that?

That is the day he comes for each one of us. Then you also will be revealed with him in glory. The Apostle Paul writes that for us to be looking for His coming for us. So the time we're here, looking forward to that twinkling of an eye moment when He comes for us, you get an eternal reward for that.

Can you imagine that? Looking forward to that instant of time, that twinkling of an eye moment, you get to be rewarded eternally for that. Isn't that great? Isn't that wonderful? then you also will be revealed with Him in glory." Who's that? That's you and me.

Tax payment due. Oh, by the way, if you apply for additional time, next month, which starts tomorrow, in the middle of that month, taxes are due. So you've got that. You're planning for the next thing. That'll all be done. Wouldn't that be great? More taxes to file? Anyway. You also will be revealed with Him in glory. Isn't that fantastic? Meanwhile, what do we do? For the moments of time that we have, keep seeking the things above. Set your mind on things above. Right? Okay. Now, I have a different subject to cover. Part 2.

This is the Peterman-Katsorki clan from about six years ago. So this is Randy and Jessica, and by the way, they're off in Boston enjoying a 20th anniversary celebration together, and their kids, and here's Nancy and myself, and then we have Kurt and Becky and their family, and then our son Ed and his wife Sherry and their family all here. And that was six years ago. Kurt and Becky have added to their clan so that you have in this picture two small fries, right?

But they've changed since that time. Now there's six medium fries. So you get the picture there. At any rate, so you've got those big changes. Nancy and I now have 11 grandkids. So those are rather distracting little fries, medium fries actually now. The two younger ones, Benny and Decker, five years old, and then Brennan, now 18, and spread in between those.

Also have my folks. My mom is now 90 in January, 91, and my dad is 92. And that's my brother Eric and his wife, Ouellette, and they're over in Ukiah, Redwood Valley area. And so anyway, between all these different family members and talking to my brother this last Monday night, they've all asked for our help. So anyway, I'm not getting any younger. Nancy is, but I'm not. Right? So just so you know. So I'm not getting any younger, even if Nancy is. So around the end of this year, we'll be packing up our Silver Civic and making a move going from here to Ukiah, California area. And so I need to let you know that, and we'll see what the Lord has next here. So we'll be Taking off, and as the Lord has made clear, we need to look at different directions there.

And as we do, obviously there need to be some changes here, so we'll be praying for that, and I hope you will too. And we're just thankful for all the different ways that the Lord has shown His grace and His glory. We look forward to the Lord's continuing to work, even in our case, if that means we're elsewhere. So I just wanted to bring that before you. We'll be leaving here at the end of the year and then heading off to Ukiah. As is clear, the Lord has told us we need to take care of our extended family needs. And so we'll be looking to the Lord in that for both ourselves and for you. And so, at any rate, let's take some time to pray. Okay? Would you pray with me? Thank you, Lord, for your faithfulness. We thank you, Heavenly Father, that we can come to you, we can run to you.

As we look at this passage, we see the powerful and momentous things that you're doing behind the scenes in Paul's life. You're also giving him wisdom in the middle of the words that he says and the decisions that he makes. And that we see how those ultimately end up benefiting us immensely as we understand we have been ascended and seated and have our heavenly citizenship and our blessing there with you. We thank you, Lord, too, that in the turning points of life and the big spans of time, that these things are in your hands, and we can trust them to you, and we can trust you to walk us through them. We just pray these things. We give you thanks. We give you the honor and the glory. In Jesus' name, amen.