The Bible Notebook THE BOOK OF ACTS The Ministry of the Holy Spirit Volume 8 (Chapters 26-28) A Verse by Verse Study By Johnny L. Sanders, D. Min. DEDICATION To James A. Sadler Friend, Roommate, Brother in the Lord (From our first day (in line) at Mississippi College “Sadler and Sanders!” We must have heard it a thousand times from “Pop” Gore. Why were we blamed for all of those “innocent” dorm pranks? (No one blamed Ernie!) SPECIAL NOTE ON THE BIBLE NOTEBOOK The format for all the verse by verse studies I have written in The Bible Notebook Series evolved over a period of years. It began after I graduated from seminary and began to assess my study habits. After leaving the academic setting I was determined, now that I was free to study what I wanted to rather than what was assigned, to maintain a program of Bible study in which I would outline books of the Bible and add notes for future use in sermons and Bible studies. I moved from the legal pad to the type writer to the early generation of computers. I could then expand my verse by verse Bible studies and save them to a disk, rather than filing hard copies in my filing cabinet. The very first one to follow the current format was a commentary on the Book of Philippians, UNDEFEATED: Finding Peace in a World Full of Trouble, published in 1998. I felt compelled to continue the study of the Word, and in time I realized that someone else might benefit from these studies. I had shared with a few friends for a number of years, but to be perfectly honest, I did not know whether anyone else would find them helpful or not. For some 30 years, I taught from four to six Bible studies a year in addition to seminary extension classes. I expanded my own studies with the bi-vocational pastor and informed layperson in mind, not knowing if a seminary trained pastor would find my studies helpful. Feed back from trusted friends helped me stay on track and continue my work. Dr. Leon Hyatt, Jr. was a great source of encouragement from the beginning. Dr. Hyatt is a serious Bible scholar and sound theologian. He wrote the following letter to me on January 6, 2000: Dear Doctor Sanders: “In the past few days, I have been reading and studying again your excellent study materials on Philippians. I am finding them as helping and exciting as when I studied them earlier. You have done an excellent job of presenting and explaining the universal message of this book, while keeping it in true context. The work is both scholarly and practical. Thank you for taking the time to make such excellent study helps available in such usable form. “I am looking forward to having an opportunity to see and use the studies you are presently developing on First and Second Thessalonians and First Corinthians. I am confident they will be equally helpful. Thank you for agreeing to share copies with me, even though you do not yet have them in final form. “Anyone who uses these materials will be blessed. I hope you will work hard to make them widely available. May the Lord give you perseverance and strength to continue until you have completed similar studies on every New Testament book. Sincerely yours, Leon Hyatt, Jr. Dr. Mike Minnix is Editor of PastorLife.Com web site (Georgia Baptist Convention). I had sent him 150 sermon manuscripts ( The Sermon Notebook) before I sent the first commentary. I asked if he would be interested in the studies I have done in what I called The Bible Notebook , and he asked me to send him a sample. After he saw the sample, he wrote the following note on May 24, 2004: Johnny, Yes, I saw the commentary work you sent - fantastic!!! We are in process of setting up a commentary segment to the site and placing your works there. Of course, we would like to add others. Over time we could perhaps have multiple commentaries on different books of the Bible. Preferably, we would have some original works that are 3 basically unpublished. Thanks, Johnny, for all your help. Keep us in your prayers as we contact states for support. We will do that in the next month. God bless! Mike Dr. Minnix wrote to me after receiving a CD with something like 28 volumes from General Dutch Shoffner (Retired three star), who had converted my work from WordPerfect to MicroSoft Word, edited the work, and then sent all the studies on to Dr. Minnix, who mentions both sermons and commentaries in the following note (dated May 29, 2004): Johnny, “Yes, I got everything. Fortunately, we have gotten a lot of material lately and we are in the process of getting it ready for upload to the site. Some of the material will be edited for inclusion over a period of time - like the 1 John sermons, etc. The commentar(ies) have presented us with a new opportunity and new challenge. We would like to upload them by Bible books. We are working on the best way to group them and the best way to handle them within our existing available computer technology... The material you sent is outstanding and we absolutely want to make it available!!! God bless, and thanks for being my friend and a friend to PastorLife.” Mike ACTS 26 Paul before Agrippa 26:1 - AGRIPPA SAID. “Agrippa said to Paul, “It is permitted for you to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense...” Paul had already made his defense before Festus, the Roman governor of this province ( 25:6-12 ), and now he stands before King Agrippa II to address him, this time without charges against him. The purpose of this hearing was to provide Agrippa an understanding of the situation so he could help Festus with the letter he must write to the emperor. He had let things get our of hand and Paul had appealed to Rome. Festus was faced with the unenviable task of writing to the emperor to explain why he had sent him to Rome. He reveals the dilemma he faced, both to Agrippa and to the distinguished visitors: “I have nothing definite to write to the Emperor about him. Therefore, I have brought him before all of you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after this examination is over, I may have something to write” (Acts 25:26). Remember that the emperor at the time was Nero, and no one took Nero lightly. In Vol. 7 in this series one Acts, this writer quoted both A. T. Robertson [WORD PICTURES IN 4 THE NEW TESTAMENT, The Bible Navigator electronic Bible library, LifeWay Christian Resources, Nashville - after this, ATR] to identify King Agrippa, and the [NEW COMMENTARY ON THE WHOLE BIBLE, New Testament, Q uickVerse electronic Bible Library, Parsons Technology, 2007 edition - after this, NCWB]: “Agrippa II son of Agrippa I of Acts 12:20-23. On the death of Herod King of Chalcis A.D. 48, Claudius A.D. 50 gave this Herod Agrippa II the throne of Chalcis so that Luke is correct in calling him king, though he is not king of Judea. But he was also given by Claudius the government of the temple and the right of appointing the high priest. Later he was given also the tetrarchies of Philip and Lysanias. He was the last Jewish king in Palestine, though not king of Judea. He angered the Jews by building his palace so as to overlook the temple and by frequent changes in the high priesthood. He made his capital at Caesarea Philippi which he called Neronias in honour of Nero. Titus visited it after the fall of Jerusalem” [ATR]. BERNICE. This was the sister of King Agrippa. “She married her uncle Herod, the king of Chalcis. When he died, she came to live with her brother, Agrippa II, and probably had an incestuous relationship with him” [NCWB]. IT IS PERMITTED. Either Festus, governor of the province and King Agrippa II had agreed in advance that Agrippa would preside over this meeting, or Agrippa took over presumptiously as soon as everyone was in place. There is no indication that Festus introduced Agrippa and Bernice to the dignitaries assembled in the hall at the time of this hearing. Agrippa simply assumes the right to preside and gives Paul permission to speak. Interestingly, no charges are made against Paul. There were none! Festus, however, in an effort to please the Jews, had asked Paul if he would return to Jerusalem for a hearing in the presence of the high priest and elders of Israel. Paul had been a prisoner in Caesarea for two years following his rescue from a mob in Jerusalem that was determined to kill him. He was immediately taken into custody, and when the Roman Commander learned of a plot by assassins to ambush him while he was in the custody of Roman soldiers, he sent him to Caesarea under heavy guard. The high priest and elders showed up in Caesarea with a Roman attorney named Tertullus to present charges against Paul. Paul, in is defense, pointed out that the charges were without merit and the hearing was dismissed. Two things should be remembered here: (1) Paul, though innocent, was kept in prison for two years, and Felix, the governor of the province, called for him often to try to elicit a bribe; and (2) the attitude and conduct of the by Jewish leaders would lead to a revolt within a decade of this hearing, which Titus would meet with the might of the Roman army.