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🎵Piano music plays🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music plays🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music ends🎵 Hymn number seven, Holy Holy Holy will be our first song. When you've found it would you please stand. Open up your white book again. Hymn number seven in your white book is Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty. That'll be our first song for tonight. Lift it up nice and loud. Especially on a Wednesday. 🎵Piano music plays🎵 Alright, sing it up to the Lord. 🎵Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty🎵 🎵Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee🎵 🎵Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty🎵 🎵God in three persons, blessed trainings be🎵 On the second. 🎵Holy, holy, holy, all the saints adored Thee🎵 🎵Blasting down their golden grounds around the glassy sea🎵 🎵Cherubim and seraphim, falling down before Him🎵 🎵Newer words as not, and ever more shall be🎵 Sounding great tonight. 🎵Holy, holy, holy, Lord the darkness guide Thee🎵 🎵Love the eye of sinful men, Thy holy name I'll see🎵 🎵Holy, thou art holy, there is none beside Thee🎵 🎵Perfectly thou art mine, my Lord🎵 On the last. 🎵Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty🎵 🎵All my hearts shall praise Thy name in new and sky and sea🎵 🎵How rich and holy, holy, merciful and mighty🎵 🎵Lord in three verses, blessed Trinity🎵 Alright, everyone, you may be seated. Beautiful singing this evening. Let's open our service with a word of prayer. Brother Jordan, would you mind? Blessed, Precious Heavenly Father, thank you for this day that you give us, Lord. I just pray that our voices, that you like us to sing and sing praises to your name, Lord. I just pray for a good church service and that, yeah, thank you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Alright, everyone, let's switch over to the hymnals. If you would, open right at the front. Number 14 will be our first hymn, Kneel at the Cross. Number 14, Kneel at the Cross. Christ will meet you there. Number 14, sing it up again. All together with the first. That's the whole line. The end is a little bit tricky. Kneel at the cross. Christ will meet you there. Come, love, be wasteful. Very good. Jesus is the Christ, deep within your care. And I find you. Kneel at the cross. Kneel at the cross. Kneel at the cross. Jesus will meet you there. Very good. Kneel at the cross. There is room for all. There is room for each other. There's a place up there before us. A grandeur there. Kneel at the cross. Kneel at the cross. Kneel at the cross. Jesus will meet you there. Very good, everyone. Kneel at the cross. There are no fathers or daughters around. Christ will meet you there. Turn not around. Kneel at the cross. Kneel at the cross. Kneel at the cross. Kneel at the cross. Kneel at the cross. Jesus will meet you there. Beautiful singing tonight, everyone. 3.51 will be our next one. What an amazing promise that we can leave everything at the cross, that we can go to our Lord in prayer. 3.51, Tell it to Jesus is our next song. Are you a weary? Are you have a-hearted? Tell it to Jesus. 3.51 will be our next hymn. Sing it up on the first. Are you weary? Are you happy? Are you sad that you're Jesus? Sad that you're Jesus. Are you weary? Enjoy. 3.51, Tell it to Jesus. Tell it to Jesus. Are you sick? Are you tired? Tell it to Jesus. Tell it to Jesus. Tell it to Jesus. He is the friend that you know. The one who sucks. Tell it to Jesus. Very good. Are you weary? Are you happy? Are you sad that you're Jesus? Tell it to Jesus. Are you anxious? Tell it to Jesus. Tell it to Jesus. Tell it to Jesus. Tell it to Jesus. He is the friend that you know. The one who sucks. Tell it to Jesus. Are you tired? Are you tired? Tell it to Jesus. Tell it to Jesus. Are you tired? Are you tired? Tell it to Jesus. Tell it to Jesus. Tell it to Jesus. He is the friend that you know. The one who sucks. Tell it to Jesus. Beautiful singing, everyone. What a comforting hymn. All right. Last one before the Bible reading. 389. Bring them in. Bring them in. 389 will be our last hymn before the Bible reading. Brother Chris will do the Bible reading for us after this. Number 389, Hark! is the shepherd's voice. Night in the desert. Hark! And dream. Altogether the first. Hark! is the shepherd's voice. Night in the desert. Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! Brother Chris knows Pastor Kevin is mysteriously absent. Acts 22. Men, brethren and fathers, hear ye my defense which I make now unto you. And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence, and he saith, I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous towards God, as ye all are this day, and I persecuted this way unto the death, finding and delivering into prisons both men and women, as also the high priest doth bear me witness in all the estate of the elders, from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to Damascus, to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished. And it came to pass, that as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light around about me, and I fell into the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he saith unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid, but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me. And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus, and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do. And when I could not see for the glory of the light, being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus, and one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there, came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him, and he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and say that just one, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth. For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. And now, why terriest thou? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. And it came to pass that when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I saw in a trance, and I saw him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem, for they will not receive my testimony concerning me. And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee. And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him. And he said unto me, Depart, for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles. And they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth, for it is not fit that he should live. And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air, the chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade that he should be examined by scourging, that he might know, wherefore they cried so against him. And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman and uncondemned? When the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest, for the man is a Roman. Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, Tell me, Art thou a Roman? He said, Yea. And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born. Then straightway they departed from him, which should have examined him, and the chief captain also was afraid, after he knew that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him. On the morrow, because he would have known this certainty, wherefore he was accused of the Jews, he loosed them from his bands, and commanded the chief priests and all their counsel to appear, and brought Paul down and set him before them. Lord, thank you for this wonderful word of God. We just pray over Pastor Kevin that he's filled with the Holy Spirit. We pray upon his words, and we thank you today that we're able to just honor and glorify you through this word. In your mighty name, Amen. Amen. Okay, great. So, we're there in Acts 22, and we'll look at verse number 1. Men, brethren and fathers, hear ye my defense, which I make now unto you. So, Paul begins to give a defense of his testimony. So, I just decided to call the servant tonight, Paul's defense. Alright, Paul's defense. Now, before we start getting into Acts 22, you may recall that Paul, in the previous chapter, made his way to Jerusalem, and the Holy Spirit had warned him not to go there, and that danger, there'd be danger for him there, and he'd be arrested. He goes anyway, and he does get arrested. There's an uproar there in Jerusalem, and then he begins to, at the end of the chapter, he begins to give a defense, begins to open his mouth and give a defense, and he gives his testimony. So, Acts 22 is that defense that he begins to give. Now, a lot of Acts 22 is just Paul repeating what we have seen in the previous chapters of the book of Acts. So, before we get straight into the book of Acts 22, the other thing about Acts 21 that you need to, maybe you may recall, is that Acts 21 was the end of his third missionary journey. What I had expressed to you before in his first and second journey, he had always gone back to his church in Antioch, and then from his church in Antioch, he had begun his next missionary journeys. This time, he doesn't get to Antioch, and he gets arrested there in Jerusalem. So, before we get into Acts 22, what I want to do is ask brother Matt if he can put up the map up there on the screen. We're going to do a quick review of Paul's third missionary journey once it's up there. And, yeah, I didn't really have a lot of time last week to go through and give the summary of the third missionary journey, so I thought this time would be a good time to do it. Now, first of all, one thing I didn't mention in the previous maps, down the left corner there, it says theologyfortherestofus.com. I do not approve of this website. I just want you to know that, okay? The reason I chose these maps is I went to Google Maps. I was looking for the best maps representing Paul's journeys. Some of them I liked, some of them I didn't quite like. I just really liked how they laid out their map. Alright? And how they often use, or they would use the red transit line, if you want to call that, to talk about his journey into his missionary journey and then the blue as his return back at the end of his missionary journey. So, I liked the clarity of these maps. I have no idea if I approve of the content. I probably don't. I probably don't approve of the content in that website. I have a very basic rule of thumb, alright? If you're going to listen to any preacher, if you're going to read any websites relating to the Bible, if they don't get the gospel right, I don't believe they're going to get anything else right. Just that's my basic rule of thumb. Now, I have no idea if they got the gospel right. I've not investigated, I don't know. I just want to make it very clear that I don't represent the views of that website. I just like the map, alright? That's all, that's all. Just before anyone starts to call me a heretic or something, I don't know. Anyway, let's start there. So, he was in Antioch. So, from the red arrows, he starts in Antioch. And if you got your Bibles, come with me to Acts 18. Acts 18 and verse number 23. Acts 18, verse number 23 says, And after he had spent some time there, that's in Antioch, he departed and went over all the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening all the disciples. Alright, so, whoever created this map, they took, I guess, some personal liberties here to talk about what his journey may have been like. All we have there is, verse number one, is that he goes into these areas of Galatia and Phrygia and he does it in order, strengthening the disciples. So, he's going back to the former places he's been before and he does it in an orderly manner. I guess the artist of this map said, Well, I believe this is the orderly manner that he took from Tarsus to Derbe, Iconium, Lystra and probably Antioch up there in Poseidon. Because these are locations that he preached the gospel. These are some places that he started churches and ordained elders. And so, the map creator thinks that's probably the journey that he took. So, you know, let's leave it up to Antioch in Poseidon. That's probably where he was. If you come into Acts 19, Acts 19 and verse number one, Acts 19 and verse number one, it says, And it came to pass that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper coasts, came to Ephesus and finding certain disciples. Alright, so from Antioch in Poseidon, Paul goes to Ephesus. Alright, so in Corinth, all the way over here, we've got Apollos doing his stuff, preaching, you know, great sermons, teaching that church over there. But Paul travels to Ephesus. And so you can see that by going to Ephesus is now toward the east of the coast, sorry, the west of the coast there. And that's going to allow him to travel back into Macedonia and through Greece in a moment. Now, if you look at verse number 10, Acts 19 verse 10, it says, And this continued by the space of two years, so that all they which, so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks. So he's there in the area of Ephesus for about two years. Now, Paul's third missionary journey is generally understood to be about four years long. It's the longest of his missionary journeys, out of the first, second, the third one is the longest. So he was definitely there for two years. And as I said, is generally understood that he was there for four plus years in this whole journey. All right, then we get to Acts 20, coming to Acts 20 and verse number one, Acts 20 and verse number one, he stayed there for two years, eventually gets kind of run out, you know, causes a lot of problems and he ends up leaving Ephesus. And Acts 20 verse one, it says, Paul called unto him the disciples and embraced them and departed for to go into Macedonia. And when he had gone over those parts and had given them much exhortation, he came into Greece. All right, so from Ephesus, now, the guy that created the map points, suggests that he went to Troas. Again, he probably did, because he did that in his previous journey, in previous missionary journey. And from there, probably caught a ship that sent him over to where Philippi is. And that whole region, Philippi, Thessalonica and Berea is back then was known as Macedonia. All right, I mean, for us, pretty much all of that is now Greece for us, okay. But in that time, that was known as Macedonia. And if we go to verse number, Acts 20 verse number six, actually, it's not, sorry, it's not just the map creator's suggestion, because it says here in Acts 20 verse six, All right, so you can see that he did go to Troas and from Troas, he traveled to Philippi. Philippi there in Macedonia. Now in Acts 20 verse number 13, it says, All right, so that's why you've got the arrow from Troas to Asos. Wait, wait a minute, let me get that right. And verse number 20, sorry, Acts 20, 13. Let's get, sorry, come with me to Acts 20, 13. Oh, okay, yeah, they were waiting for Paul in that area, that's right. They were traveling separately, they're waiting for Paul to turn up to them. All right, so I'm not even sure. I wonder if that is, oh, it's not even. Let me get my head around that. Brethren, sorry, I'm a little bit lost there. All right, you know what I think that represents? I think here on the map, I think that represents that purple dotted line, where the brethren are sailing around, waiting for Paul to join them. And that's why they're going through those islands, like all those islands that we mentioned, Mytilene, Chios, Samos, Tragilium, it's all those little broken islands you can see between those two mainlands. And then when you get to Acts 21, look at Acts 21 and verse number 1, it says, From the straight course unto Cus, and the day following unto Rhodes, and from thence unto Patara, and finding a ship sailing over unto Phoenicia, we went abroad and sent Paul. All right, where am I up to brethren? I'm trying to follow. We're onto blue on the way back, but we've missed something. What have I missed? Yeah, we're on the way back, I've missed it. You know what I've missed? Sorry, I missed a portion there. Ah, that's what I missed. I missed a big portion of Acts 20. Come back with me to Acts 20 and verse number 1, again. Ah, that's what I missed. Okay, Acts 20 verse number 1. So we had a look at that, that's where he goes to Philippi, and when he had gone over into those parts and had given them much exhortation, he came into Greece. And of course coming into Greece he would go to Athens where he was previously. Now, this is what's quite interesting. The person that created the map shows that from Athens, Paul went to Corinth. But we don't have that information in the book of Acts. Now the reason the map creator suggests that he went to Corinth is not based on the book of Acts, it's based on the writing of his epistles. And this is where it gets kind of tricky, because we've got certain epistles where Paul is writing to the Ephesians or he writes to Corinthians, but he's writing from certain locations. And so you're kind of left to fill in the gaps. When did he go to these locations? At what point in his missionary journeys did he write these letters? And so it is suggested by the guy that created the map that Paul probably at this point went to Corinth before making his way back on the blue arrows. And that was an important part, that was an important part to cover. And if you look at Acts 20 verse number 3, it says when he came to Greece, and there abode three months, and when the Jews laid wait for him, he was about to sail into Syria. He purposed to return through Macedonia. Alright, so when he's in Greece, he wants to go back to Syria over here, but he purposes to go back through Macedonia, which is why the blue arrows, once we get to Athens, starts going back into the Macedonian areas. Okay, that makes a lot more sense now. That's why when you get to verse number, Acts 20 verse number 6, and we sailed away from Philippi. Okay, so we definitely went to Macedonia, because now they're sailing back from Philippi to Troas, and that's where I kind of all got messed up. Sorry guys, I missed an important part of the travels there. Alright, now if we go, drop down to Acts 21, Acts 21, and I'm sorry if I confused you, Acts 21 and verse number 3, Acts 21 and verse number 3, it says, now, when we had discovered Cyprus, we left it on the left hand. So they're travelling back, okay, they're travelling back on the way back. He goes, oh, we discovered Cyprus, because there's Cyprus, right? Because in their previous missionary journeys, they stopped by Cyprus. But this time he says, we sailed then, sorry, so we left it on the left hand. So they're saying, look, as we're travelling, we're seeing Cyprus on our left hand, which is why we've got the travel there going to Tyre. And it says, and sailed into Syria and landed at Tyre, for there the ship was unlaid her burden. Alright, so they stopped by Tyre. Now remember in Tyre, that is Phoenicia, and that is not the place of a Gentile, that is not the place of Jews. That's the city of the Gentiles. But there were certain disciples there. And those disciples were told by the Holy Spirit, they told Paul, look, do not go to Jerusalem. That's when he got his real serious warning, when he got to Tyre, do not go to Jerusalem. So once he's at Tyre, he's got a choice to make. He wants to go to Jerusalem, he had set his mind to go there, or he could go back to Antioch, back to his home church and report on his journeys. Well, when you look at Acts 21 and verse number 8, it says here, Alright, so Paul, instead of going north to Antioch, he goes to Caesarea, because he's on his way to Jerusalem. And when he gets to Caesarea, he stops at Philip the Evangelist's house. I mean, he's got his four daughters that are also preaching the gospel with their father. And then from Jerusalem, there comes a prophet all the way to Caesarea. Paul, if you go, you're going to get arrested, right? He gives that prophecy. Paul still decides, well, we're going to Jerusalem anyway. And so by the time we get to Acts 21, look at verse number 15, it says, Now, I had explained this before, even though they're traveling south to Jerusalem, when we've seen many times when the Bible speaks about going to Jerusalem, it says we went up to Jerusalem, because they're actually traveling uphill on the way to Jerusalem. Alright. Okay, then we have all the problems that occurs in Paul's life. He gets arrested. The Roman soldiers think of him as, because there's so much commotion, there are so many accusations made about Paul, the Roman soldiers are left thinking, this must be some Egyptian man, a murderer with his, what was that? Was it 300 men that he had? I think it was 400 men that were murderers and they arrest him. And they don't know who he is really, because they can't make clear accusations of exactly what Paul made. So he's arrested, and he begins to open his mouth, and we get to Acts 22. And we read verse number one, So a lot of chapter 22 is again, repetition of what we've seen in the previous chapters. But there are two thoughts that I want to take out of this chapter. The first thing that you notice that Paul does when he begins to speak to the Jews in Jerusalem, he calls them men, brethren, fathers. Alright. He's trying to relate with them. He's trying to express, hey guys, I'm a Jew, just like you guys are. Alright. You know, I'm not this horrible person. I'm just like you. He's trying to, you know, listen to my defense. I'm just one of you guys. And then we get to verse number two. Alright, so he spoke in Greek to the Romans. Okay, so they would hear him. Now he's speaking Hebrew to the Jews, and they're starting to pay attention. They're like, oh man, this guy can speak Hebrew. He's one of us. So they stay silent. They start to pay attention to what Paul has to say. Paul says, Alright, so we learned that Paul was a student of Gamaliel. Gamaliel was mentioned earlier in the book of Acts. He was known as a wise man that people respected. And his instruction to the chief priests and the Pharisees and these people around was to just let these Christians do their business, right? If it's not of God, it's all going to fall apart. That was kind of his advice that he'd given them. But this was a renowned man of the Pharisee sect, okay? So Paul is saying, look, I was instructed, I was taught by the best Pharisee that, you know, that everybody knew about, right? He's trying to express, I'm just like you guys were. I was just like you guys, right? And I've got this, like, you know, in their eyes, I've got this testimony that, you know, I was a zealous Jew, alright, for the things of God, toward God. And he continues in verse number four. And I persecuted this way unto the death because I also persecuted the Christians. I persecuted this way, that's the way of Jesus, Christ being the way, alright? I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women. And also the high priest doth bear me witness and all the estate of the elders from whom also I received letters unto the brethren and went to Damascus to bring them which were their bound unto Jerusalem for to be punished. We get a little bit of extra information here. We know that he was sent by the high priest to go cause havoc to the churches, to the believers. But we can see here that one reason he was going to Damascus is that there were certain believers that were already arrested and Paul was going to bring them back to Jerusalem to question them, to sentence them, to punish them, alright? So it says, look, I'm not just known by Gamaliel. You can go and ask the high priest. You can ask all the religious leaders in Jerusalem. They all know who I am, alright? And what he's trying to do here is trying to express that I'm not this crazy, you know, lunatic. You know, I'm just one of you guys. I was just like one of you guys. You all know me. I'm not a criminal. Ask anybody about my testimony as a Jew and they're going to speak highly of me. That's kind of what he's trying to express, alright? And then it comes to verse number six. And it came to pass that as I made my journey and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me and I fell onto the ground and heard a voice saying unto me, soul, soul, why persecutest thou me? So we know this is the interaction that Saul or Paul had with Jesus Christ. Verse number eight, and I answered, who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. Now verse number nine is interesting. And they that were with me saw indeed the light and were afraid, but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me. Alright, verse number nine is interesting because those that say there are contradictions in the Bible will use verse number nine here and state there's a contradiction, okay? Because what is Paul saying? The people that were in company with him, they saw a light, but he says here they heard not the voice of him that spake to me, alright? So as Paul is describing this, they didn't hear the voice. Now keep your finger there and come back with me to Acts nine. Come with me to Acts nine, please. Acts nine and verse number six. So Acts 22 is Paul speaking of his experience. Acts nine is the Holy Spirit telling us exactly what took place. Acts nine, verse number six. It says here, and he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what will thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. Look at verse number seven, this is the important part. And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. Alright, so when we have the narrator, Acts nine, here the Holy Spirit, it says that those that journeyed with Paul heard a voice, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. We know they saw a light, but they did not see Jesus. Paul saw Jesus. Acts nine, six says they heard a voice. Acts 22 says they did not hear a voice. They did not hear the voice, right? So is this a contradiction? I just want you to think about that. Brew on that a little bit. Is a contradiction in the Bible? Can you come with me also to Acts 26? In Acts 26, Paul explains this supernatural meeting with Jesus. Once again, in Acts 26 and verse number 13, Acts 26 and verse number 13, he says this, At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun shining round about me and them which journeyed with me. Alright, so this confirms that the people that would journey with Paul also had that light shine upon them. Verse number 14, And when we were all fallen to the earth, okay, so they're all on their knees, I guess. They're all face down on the earth from that light. I heard a voice speaking unto me and saying in the Hebrew tongue, So, so, why persecutors thou me? Is it hard for thee to kick against the pricks? Alright, so we have a third part in the book of Acts explaining the events. What's interesting about Acts 26 though, is that Paul says, I heard a voice speaking unto me. Almost like saying that, and we know this to be true, that Christ was not speaking to those that were in the journey with Paul, but specifically speaking to Paul, but those that were with Paul did experience this great light and they were, you know, they were overwhelmed by the power of this light as well. So how can we understand all this? So Acts 22 says they heard a voice, sorry, they didn't hear the voice, and Acts 9 says they heard the voice. So how do we understand this? It shouldn't be too complicated, alright? I'm going to give you the answer in a moment, but I want you to turn with me to John chapter 12, because this happens quite a few times in the Bible. Things like this happen quite a few times. Come with me to John chapter 12, we'll look at John 12, and then we'll have a better understanding of what took place with Paul and his companions on his journey to Damascus. So look at John 12, look at John 12, John 12 and verse number 27, now this is an interaction that Christ has with God the Father, And in John 12, 27, it says, So Christ is speaking to his Heavenly Father, right? Verse number 28, Look at verse number 29, Interesting, when Christ is speaking to God the Father, and God the Father speaks, Jesus understands his words clearly, but for those that are with Jesus, they just hear thunderings, right? They're like, I don't know, is an angel speaking to Jesus? Like, they're not, they're hearing something, but they're not understanding what they're hearing, okay? Come with me also to Daniel in the Old Testament, come with me to Daniel chapter 10. There's quite a few times this happens, but I'll just give you the most common ones. Daniel chapter 10, please. Daniel chapter 10, we'll look at the Old Testament here, and this is a time when Daniel is praying to the Lord, and the Lord sends an angel to Daniel to speak with him. The Lord gives Daniel a vision of an angel, and in Daniel chapter 10, Daniel chapter 10 and verse number 5, Daniel 10, 5, it says, His body also was like the barrel, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet, like in color to polished brass, and the voice of his words, like the voice of a multitude. Sounds a lot like Jesus in the book of Revelation, but it's actually an angel, but this angel is also turning on the glory, okay? So he's got this voice of a multitude. When he speaks, it sounds like, it's a whole bunch of people speaking, all right? And then look at verse number 7, So Daniel's also got this experience, where someone from heaven or a vision from heaven, or this angel that he's seen speaks to him, he understands that, he goes, man, it's like a voice of multitudes, but the others that are with Daniel, they're like, oh, like they start trembling, like, you know, and they try to hide themselves, like they don't, they can't perceive, they cannot understand, they hear something, they experience something, but the message is given to Daniel. And when Jesus speaks to the father, the father speaks to his son, and the others are like, oh, it just sounds like thunders, right? It kind of reminds me of Mount Sinai, when God speaks to the Israelites and he's telling them the 10 commandments, and Moses, cause he writes the book of Exodus, in Exodus 20, he's writing down the 10 commandments or whatever, whatever method he used, but the people that heard the voice of God, all they experienced was thunders and lightnings and smoke coming out of the mountain, and they're so afraid of the voice of God, and they're like, Moses, don't let God speak to us, you speak to us, all right? And so we see these things play out a few times in the Bible, and so in light of what I've seen in the Bible multiple times, I would conclude that yes, the people that traveled with Paul heard a voice, they heard something, I mean, they experienced the light, we know they didn't actually see Jesus, that there was something special that Paul saw, and they heard something, but they just didn't understand it. They didn't perceive the words, all right? And they too were frightened. And so this is what I believe, I believe how you reconcile these passages. Yeah, they heard something, a voice, but they didn't understand the voice. So I hope that makes sense. And I think we have other portions of Scripture that I've looked at here just to show you that this happens several times. We're not just creating an idea, but we're following a pattern that we see throughout the Bible when somebody can receive the words of God, but others are just too overwhelmed by what they're experiencing. All right, let's go back to Acts 22. Acts 22 and verse number 10. So Paul is explaining his interaction, his supernatural interaction with Jesus Christ. And in verse number 10, he says, And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus, and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do, and when I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus. So remember when Paul experienced that light, he was blinded by that power, that light. Verse number 20, And one Ananias, a devout man, according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there, came unto me and stood and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight, and the same hour I looked up upon him. So we know that Ananias was able to help Paul regain his vision. I like how he says about Ananias, a devout man, according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews. This is what he's all saying. If you guys don't believe me, go and ask Ananias. Ananias also has a good testimony. He's got a good report. Everybody knows he's a good man. If you don't believe the words of my testimony, ask him. All right? And then verse number 14, And he said, The God of our fathers have chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that just one, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth. Okay, so Paul was selected to see Jesus and to hear the voice of his mouth. For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. And now why tarriest thou? Arise and be baptised, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. All right, this is where somebody will take verse number 16 and say, well, in order for you to have your sins washed away, you need to get water baptised. All right? People will take this passage. Now, we already know, look, I don't have time to preach for this, obviously, baptism does not save anybody. Okay, water baptism only gets you wet. We understand that it is a public declaration of your faith on Jesus Christ. But when people read this and they want to twist the scriptures, they want to bring forth a false gospel, they will take a passage like this and try to show that baptism is what washes away your sins. But there's another way to read this, which makes perfect sense. All right? Verse number 16 again. But why tarriest thou? So Adonai is saying to Paul, what's taking you, look, don't delay, go get baptised, wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. So what actually washes away your sins? Calling on the name of the Lord. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Okay, and that would be consistent. Paul wrote those words, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Are we going to conclude now Paul is contradicting his own doctrines and saying, well, now you got to get baptised to be saved. We can conclude one of two things, be baptised, you need to remember that the word baptised just means immersion, to be immersed, you know, and everybody that's been saved has been baptised into Christ, even if you've not been water baptised, if you've been saved, you've been baptised into Christ. The righteousness of Christ, you're inside of His righteousness, the moment you call upon the name of the Lord, the moment you put faith in Jesus Christ, you are clothed in His righteousness, you could say you're immersed, you're covered by the Lord's righteousness. When God the Father looks upon you, we could use that from a spiritual sense of being baptised. I've got no problem that way, or it's just an instruction, we've seen it many times, when someone does believe on Christ, when they do call upon the name of the Lord, they immediately get baptised. It's just something you do, it's not something we commonly wait weeks and weeks and weeks and months and months and months to get baptised, it's something they do the moment they have trusted Christ as their saviour. So this is all happening all at the same time, right? Calling upon the name of the Lord, getting water baptised afterwards, yes, been washed away with my sins, the water baptism representing that I have identified with the death, the burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Let's continue verse number 17. And it came to pass that when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance. And I saw him saying to me, make haste and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me. And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee. So you can see that this is an interaction that Paul has had with Jesus Christ, some extra information that's given to us in his testimony. Verse number 20. And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by and consenting unto his death and kept the raiment of them that slew him. And he said unto me, depart, for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles. So Paul was concerned. We read here that when Jesus asked him, all right, go and preach the gospel, Paul's like, yeah, but man, everyone hates me. Everyone knows that I'm an enemy to the church. So Jesus' solution was all right, we'll send you far away anyway. You're going to the Gentiles, you're going to the other nations. You don't have to worry about what's going to take place, you know, in Jerusalem. Verse number 22. And they gave him audience unto his word and then lifted up their voices and said, away with such a fellow from the earth, for it is not fit that he should live. Really strange. So the whole time since he started speaking in the Hebrew tongue, they're paying attention, paying attention, paying attention, paying attention. He gets to the point where he's asked, go and preach to the Gentiles, go to the Gentiles. Now they're like, take them away, we don't want to hear it. Because remember, this was something that Peter struggled with in the early church was that when he was called to go and speak to Cornelius, he's like, I'm not supposed to interact with the Gentiles. All right. They're unclean, we're holy, we're clean. We're not meant to intermingle with them. I'm not supposed to spend time with them. I'm not even meant to enter his house. We know that Peter has these concerns. Well, now Paul is saying, well, Jesus, the Lord is telling me to go to all the Gentiles. So they're like, ah, this is our religion. This is, you know, the scriptures are for us. It's not for the Gentiles. And now they don't want to pay attention anymore to what Paul is saying. So wicked. So wicked. People who have the word of God, who have been blessed by the prophets of old, who are physically the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I'm confident Abraham wants nothing more than his physical descendants to trust Christ as their savior. And as soon as they hear Jesus or the Lord wants this message going to the Gentiles. Now we don't want to hear it. Take him away. He's crazy. You know, I don't want to be like the Jews of old. We've been blessed with the scriptures. We're blessed even more brethren by the way. We have the whole canon of scripture. 66 books, Old Testament, New Testament. They didn't have the New Testament at this point in time. It was still being put together. We have it all and we have it in our own language, English. And not only do we have it in our own language, English is the international language of the world. We have a wonderful privilege. I don't want to be like the Jews and be like, no, no, it's just us. No, brethren, we need to go into the world and preach the gospel. We're a small church. We're limited in our resources and manpower and even finances. But boy, if the Lord will open the door once again, send us into another Fiji, another Philippines, some Papua New Guinea, some type of Vanuatu or something that's in our region, even New Zealand if the Lord wills. You know, we want to be able to say, Lord, just send us. We'll go where we need to go. We don't want to be like the Jews of old and think it's just ours. We're just special. No one else needs to hear it. Brethren, Jesus wants the gospel going throughout the whole world. And he's used us already. He's used New Life Baptist Church and Blessed Hope Baptist Church. He's used us. And Amanda, I don't know about you, but my heart is so full of joy when I hear reports of soul winning in Victoria, in WA, in South Australia, in New Zealand. And I know full well that God allowed our ministry to meet these people, to connect people, to encourage them, to train them where they've got their heart's desire and they're trying to reach other places in Australia. Boy, if God would use us even more to reach our influence online in person, whatever God would have us to do. I never want to get to the point where I'm like the Old Testament, like the old style Jews. No, not the Jew, no one else, just us. No, we need to reach people. And the Lord has used our small church to do so. I mean, we have brethren listening online today throughout different places in Australia, you know, that have met us on our journeys as we've gone to the WAs or the Melbournes and wherever else the Lord will have us to be. You know, we want to make sure that the Word of God gets preached boldly, you know, across this entire world. Anyway, what are we up to? Verse number 22, they lifted up their voices, away with such fellow of the earth. They don't like the news that the Gentiles get to hear the scriptures. Verse number 23. And as they cried out and cast off their clothes and threw dust into the air. I mean, they're going crazy. Paul's just testifying. Paul's not causing any problems. It's just, look, this is what happened. Check with these people that I've named. Check with the chief priest. They know they sent me to Damascus. All these things I'm saying are true. Check the companions I was with. They were overwhelmed by the lights. Like, this story can be proven, all right. There are witnesses of what I've experienced, but they reject it, all right. They go insane. Verse number 24. And the chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle and bade that he should be examined by scourging, that he might know wherefore they cried so against him. So the chief captain of the soldiers, he still doesn't get what the problem is. So it's like, oh, man, look, we're not getting the truth. The only way to get the truth out of Paul is to scourge him, is to whip him. Then he'll really tell us why they hate him because, like, the chief captain of the soldiers is like, it doesn't make sense. Why would they hate him? He hasn't done anything wrong. He's not a wicked guy. He's not committing murders. He's not a thief, right? So it's like, all right, we need to get the truth. So let's torture Paul and get the truth out of him, all right. And then verse number 25. And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman and uncondemned? When the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest, for this man is a Roman. And the chief captain came and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, Yea. All right, so we learned something, that if you're a Roman citizen of this day, you are not allowed to just be arrested, no charges brought against you, not found guilty, and then beaten and whipped, okay, and things like that. That is unlawful. These soldiers can get in trouble, because Paul is not going for a proper trial, okay. So Paul uses his citizenship card, okay. Remember that he's from, where was he from again? He was from Troas. Yeah, Tarsus, sorry. He goes, I am suddenly a man in verse number three, born in Tarsus, the city of Cilicia. So he's from a city that is under Roman rule, and I suppose if you were born or grown up in that area, you were given Roman citizenship, okay. So as a Roman citizen, he deserves his rights, all right, to be brought before a proper court system, you know, innocent until proven guilty kind of thing, before they just start beating up on him, all right. So the soldiers get concerned about this. Oh man, we're just about to torture him, we're about to sweep him, and he's a Roman citizen. And then verse number 28. And the chief captain answered, with a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, but I was freeborn. So the chief captain is basically telling Paul, well, I'm a Roman citizen, I paid a big sum of money for this. Now, just recently, you probably heard about it, Donald Trump in the US has made this gold visa, where you can become an American citizen, if you come and bring $5 million, if my memory is right, you pay $5 million for your golden visa citizenship, plus you have to invest a certain amount of dollars and employ a certain amount of people, and you can become an American citizen. In Australia, we had something like that not too long ago, it was $5 million as well. I think it ended last year sometime, but it wasn't very popular. We've had something like that in Australia too, where you can buy, again, for $5 million, kind of buy your path to citizenship in Australia. And so the Roman soldier is kind of like, he's gone, he said, look, I've paid for my freedom, I've paid to be a Roman citizen. Paul says, yeah, but I was born into it. I was born a Roman citizen. So this tells us, in some ways, Paul's Roman citizenship is a higher level for being born in that, rather than just becoming one, you know, out of immigration or something like this, okay? He was freeborn, verse number 29. In other words, like, I've got rights as a Roman citizen. Okay, I've got rights that I was born with, you know, and you can't just beat me up and whip me into submission. Verse number 29, then straightway they departed from him, which should have examined him, and the chief captain also was afraid, for he knew that he was a Roman and because he had bound him. On the morrow, because he would have known that certainty, whereof he was accused of the Jews, he loosed him from his bands and commanded the chief priests and all their counsel to appear, and brought Paul down and set him before them. All right, can you come with me quickly to 1 Corinthians, please, 1 Corinthians chapter 9. Come with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 9. All right, so basically Paul is, you know, as we turn there to 1 Corinthians 9, Paul has been loosened from his arrest, I guess, you know, and now he's brought to like a court hearing, a hearing, right, to see what are these accusations against Paul. All right, the chief captain is a little concerned. We didn't do these things properly. If he's a real Roman citizen, we need to give him the proper procedure to go through, and we'll learn more about that next week. But come with me to 1 Corinthians 9, please. There are a few things, 1 Corinthians 9. There are a few things that I think we can take out of this chapter, okay? Number one, I believe the first thing that we can learn here is that when we're trying to reach people, we need to find common ground with people. When Paul began to preach to the Jews, he said, men, brethren, fathers, he says, guys, I'm just like you. I'm one of you, all right? And when he's dealing with the Romans, with the Roman soldiers, he says to them, hey, I'm a Roman. I'm like one of you. So Paul has this, you know, dual citizenship thing happening, right? I'm one of you, I'm one of you. One thing that I think I, I don't need to emphasize it so much, but let me tell you a little bit about some of the early interactions I had as a pastor with different people that would contact me over the years about different things. Let me explain to you the interaction, then I think you'll know where I'm coming from. I've had people come up to me more than once. Many times, young men recently saved, and quite young as far as their years, so they're young in experience as well. And they'll contact me, hey, pastor, I want to tell you about what took place, and went door-to-door soul winning. I came across someone that did not want to hear the gospel, so I told them, oh, you can just die and go to hell then. You reprobate or something like that, right? And, oh, pastor, I got to tell you this event, man, I really put this person in their place. They didn't want to hear it, and I just told them, man, go to hell, you faggot. Probably a reprobate. I don't know if you guys even know what I'm talking about, people that speak like this. And they think I'm going to pat them on the back. Well done. That's how you interact with people. Well done. No, no, no. I don't get it that much anymore, because I think people know how to respond. When I hear that kind of language, I just think, you're so foolish. You're so carnal. You're so immature. You're trying to win people to the Lord, all right? And one thing that you got to learn, like, yes, have your gospel presentation in place, have your plan, have the verses, know what you're going to speak about. But one of the most important things when you're preaching the gospel to people is that you need to be relatable. You need to be a human being. They have to know I'm an Aussie neighbour. I'm from this church. I'm passing by. I just want to tell you about Jesus. And are you sure you're going to heaven? You have to learn how to relate to people. And here's what's amazing about it. So when I talk to these individuals, I'm like, look, before you got saved, were you able to get along with people? Yep. Were you able to get along with your family? Yep. Were you able to get along with your work colleagues? Yeah, always. So you know how to interact with people. You know how to get along with people. But now that you're saved, now you've forgotten how to get along with people. Now that you're saved, you just can no longer relate to anybody. And what I think of this is the holier than thou. I'm saved. And the rest of you, man, I'll tell you, sorry, man, I'll tell you one, going door to door soul winning with somebody, I won't tell you who. And when somebody at the door would not hear the gospel, which is like 99% of people, it's like, well, they must be reprobate. They must be children of the devil. That's what a reprobate is, a child of the devil. A reprobate is someone that's been rejected by God. God has rejected that person. God hates them. I'm like, boy, what's happened? Have you always been like this? I'll give you the opposite. I remember when Johnny took Johnny, one of the first time soul winning. He was a little kid back then. Okay. Little one. And people would not want to hear, we'd knock on the door. They don't want to hear the gospel. Jonathan's response wasn't dad. They must be reprobate. That wasn't his response. He was dad. Are they already saved? Is that why they don't want to hear the gospel? Cause they're already saved. Yes, Johnny. They're both wrong. Like they're not already saved. That's wrong and wrong. They're just reprobate cause they want to hear it wrong. But it shows me where that person's heart is doing the same work, trying to reach our neighbors and our community, the same work, but a completely different heart, completely different. One wanting to see salvations and the other one just wanting to damn people. So hell, it's the worst thing that can happen to anybody. And let's call them rejected by God. Let's call them children of the devil. It's like, dude, that's quite an allegation you're making. Just cause they don't want to hear. You know, I can tell you stories of people that I've gotten saved and it's taken a long time. It's taken weeks and months. They finally believe the gospel. I know one story that took two years. What if I just, ah, I'm just a wicked child of the devil. One thing we need to learn that we learned from Paul, and if you look at 1 Corinthians 9, you're there. Look at verse number 20. Paul says that unto the Jews, I became as a Jew that I might gain the Jews to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law. Verse number 21, to them that are without law. That's like the Roman soldiers or the Gentiles. As without law, being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ, that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak that I might gain the weak. I am made all things to all men that I might by all means save some. Paul's like man, whoever I'm talking to, the Jews, the Roman soldiers, the Gentiles, the Macedonians, the Greeks, whoever it is, I've learned to relate to these people. And I don't know what it is. We learn, we grow up, we mature, we know how to interact with people, but we get saved and that's it. We forget how to interact with people. It's like we should be the ones that I'm reaching to these people more than anyone else. I hate the holier-than-thou attitude where someone struggles, someone fails, a believer fails or someone's in sin. They're in sin. We're all sinners. We all need the saving grace of Jesus Christ. It's like I can't touch them. It's a prostitute. Jesus is saying like these prostitutes are going to heaven before these Pharisees and these religious leaders. Christ cared for people's souls. Paul cares. He's like I'll do whatever I have to do to get along with people, to relate to people. You know when I knock on someone's door and let's say there's some Christian religion, right? Whatever. Ah, I'm a Catholic. Ah, I'm an Anglican. I'm a Methodist. I'm a Presbyterian. I immediately try to find common ground. Ah, so, you know, you believe in Jesus too. You heard of Jesus too? You know of Jesus? Ah, you know, immediately. I'm like, ah, you must be unsaved. Because you're praying to your Catholic priest or whatever, right? Oh, let's common ground. Yeah, okay, Jesus. You know, I know about Jesus too. Try to find common ground. Or if it's another religion like Buddhist, Hindus, even Jews, I guess. I don't come across many of them. Hindus, Buddhists, what else is there? Muslims. You know, they all believe in some aspect of a heaven and a hell. All of them. Some, they don't call it heaven or hell necessarily. But they believe in some idea of a heaven and hell. So, let's say it's a Buddhist. Ah, I'm a Buddhist. Oh, okay. But actually, you know, one thing that I understand from Buddhism is that you guys believe in, you know, a type of heaven and hell. Like kind of Christianity. Oh yeah. Try to find that common ground. There is something we have in common. And if they, yeah, yeah, oh yeah, we don't want to go to that bad place. Well, has anyone ever shown you from the Bible what it says about going to heaven? Try to be relatable with people, right? Paul tries. The other thing that I learned from this brethren is that Paul takes advantage of his legal rights. I'm a Roman. I don't deserve to be treated like this. Alright. He takes advantage of his legal rights. And, by the way, Reverend, under section 116 of the Australian Constitution, it says the Commonwealth shall not make any law for establishing any religion or for imposing any religious observance or for prohibiting the free exercise of any religion. You know, according to our Constitution, we have free exercise of our religious practices. So, we take advantage of that. Isn't it a blessing that we can come to a country, we live in a country like Australia, we can be in church tonight, and we're not worried that the Roman soldiers are about to knock on the door. We're not worried that we're about to be massacred or something like that. We have to hide ourselves, you know, for fear of our lives. Well, we need to learn to appreciate the rights that we do have as Australians. By the way, not long ago I preached on disciplining your children, taking out that rod of correction. There is a misunderstanding in Australia that thinks disciplining your children is illegal. It's not illegal. In fact, we've got acts within our states that give us the right to discipline our kids. Now, we don't need it. I will discipline my kids anyway because we obey God rather than men, but we do have that right. Now, I remember going to work back when I was in Sydney before I was a pastor and a work colleague saying to me, because every now and again I bring my kids, all right? I don't know, I can't remember why now. But I was always, man, your kids are so good, you know? And this lady came up to me, how do you raise and tell me about it? I was like, well, every now and again I've got to use the rod. I'm going to report you to the Department of Child Services. I was like, why? You just told me my kids are great. You just praised me for my kids. You just praised me for my parenting. But now I'm wicked? No. In New South Wales, by the way, our states, at least I know New South Wales and Queensland do give us the rights to discipline our kids. In Queensland, it's Section 280 of the Criminal Code Act. Under domestic discipline it says, it is lawful for a parent or a person in the place of a parent or for a school teacher or master to use by way of correction, discipline, management or control towards a child or pupil under the person's care such force as is reasonable under the circumstances. Pretty good, because most Australians think it must be illegal to discipline, to use any force on your kids. Even our state laws protect us and give us this right. So, as Bible-even Christians, knowing full well that we should use the right of correction, one thing we should definitely not be afraid of is using it, especially from the legal perspective, because it's in our rights, we're defended by law to do such things. And so, you know, the other thing that I learned from this from Paul is take advantage of your legal rights. Someone says, do you discipline your kids? Do you give them a smack once? Yeah, I do. And Queensland law agrees with me. And so does the Bible, by the way. So, those are the two things that I've learnt from this chapter, brethren. Number one, find common ground when you're trying to reach people. Don't become this horrible person just because you're saved. You thumb your nose down on people. I'm not saying, I'm just telling you, I've had lots of conversations like this over the years, not so much lately. Praise God. Thank God. But especially in the early days, I just couldn't believe, you know, how the perceptions that some people would have toward the lost in our community, they need to be reached. They're not these horrible people. Like, they're just normal people like you and I were. Try to find common ground and number two, try to find common ground and number two, take advantage of your legal rights. All right, brethren, title for the sermon today was Paul's Defence. I hope you learnt something tonight. Sorry for the mess up I had a little bit with the map. And let's just close in a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you for tonight. Thank you that we can be here in your house of the Lord and the stories that we can read about here in Acts 22 and how you used Paul in such a mighty way, Lord, to do a great work for you. And Lord, even though he disobeyed and went into Jerusalem and got himself into trouble, Lord, we see your hand in his life. And God, it just reminds me that when we're not walking on the right paths and we mess up every now and again, that you'll never leave us, you'll never forsake us and you can still use us to do great work for you. Lord, I pray that you continue to use new life at this church, a smaller church, Lord, to have a great influence with brethren across this land and Lord, that you would use us once again to reach places that need to be reached with the gospel. Even if we need to travel overseas, Lord, I pray that you would provide our resources, our manpower, the finances, Lord, to continue doing a great work for you. We commit this night to you, Lord, in Jesus' name I pray. Amen. All right, please take, since we've got them, please take your white booklets and we'll sing hymn number five, Be Thou My Vision. I thought we could finish on this one, just relating to Paul. He went blind, all right, and then he had his eyes opened, okay, he received that vision before he got blinded of Jesus Christ, so let's ask Jesus Christ, our Lord God, to be our vision as well. Be Thou My Vision, hymn number five in the white booklet, hymn number five. Be Thou My Vision, Lord of my heart, God be all else to me, save that thou art, thou my measure, my day for my night, may be all safe in thy presence my light. Be thou my wisdom, and thou my true word, thy ever-living, and thou with me, Lord, thou my great father, and I thy true son, thou with me dwelling, and I with thee come, rich as I've eaten, all hands in the praise, thou art inherited, thou and always, thou and thou only, first in my heart, my King of heaven, thy treasure thou art, my King of heaven, my victory won, may I reach heaven's first, O bright heaven's sun, Lord of my own heart, whatever befall, still be thy vision the ruler of all.