Permission of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 21:37-22:1
In everything, it is the permission of the Holy Spirit to humbly ask the ranch for salvation, not for my own gain. As we look back, God has fulfilled the promise of the Holy Spirit everywhere we went. Today, lets think about the permission of the Holy Spirit.
First, we must wait for the right time for the permission of the Holy Spirit. As he was about to enter the Fortress of Antonia, in a moment of imminent death from an angry Jewish crowd, Pauls silent first words were, 'May I speak to you?' This was asking for permission to speak in an attitude of acknowledging that he was not qualified to do so. Unlike the angry crowd who were so selfish and only talked about themselves, Paul humbly endured persecution because of the gospel. However, even if you are alone, if you follow the path of mission and obey the Words, you will become the army of God, and the Holy Spirit will embrace you and grant the permission of the Holy Spirit. Paul was misunderstood, bound, and put on the verge of death in the process of seeking an opportunity to preach the gospel to his fellow Jews, but God led him to the point of asking for the permission of the Holy Spirit. As such, if you truly long for salvation through the management of the Holy Spirit, you can discern when to shut your mouth and when to open it. Like Jesus and Stephen, Paul shut his mouth when facing hardships, but carefully opened his mouth when he felt safe. When Paul made a short but polite request of humility in elegant high-level Greek, the commander in chief exclaimed with admiration, 'Arent you the Egyptian who caused a riot (verse 38).' It is the right time to open your mouth when you are asked these questions after a difficult time. So you have to wait. If you do your daily QT, ask questions at the ranch and wait, you will know the right time when you will preach the gospel one last time. This is the permission of the Holy Spirit. However, when you isolate yourself in the crowd of the Gospel and ignore the faith community, you will never know when.
Second, we must ask in words of politeness and firmness because of salvation. Paul was misunderstood by the Jews as a traitor who defiled the temple, and by the commander in chief, he was misunderstood as an Egyptian rebel leader. Most of the time, when we are misunderstood, our feelings and pride are important, so we try to deny it, feel resentment, and respond with anger, but the vicious cycle of misunderstanding continues. But Paul cleared up the misunderstanding of the commander by stating clearly that he was a Jew and a citizen of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia. Then he politely asked, 'I beg you, let me speak to the people' (verse 39). In the original text, there are both politeness and determination in his words. At this time, Paul did not reveal that he was a Roman citizen, because if he did, the commander of the army would have Paul evacuated immediately, and the antipathy of the Jews would increase and he would lose the opportunity to preach the gospel. Paul did not use his privileges. The purpose of the Holy Spirits permission is not to resolve misunderstandings, but to save. A focus on salvation gives you wisdom and allows you to discern when to use privileges and when not to use them. Surprisingly, the commander in chief granted Pauls request to speak to the Jewish people. God gave Paul the permission of the Holy Spirit because he put salvation of his people as the highest goal and respectfully treated the commander in chief according to the order God had established. Also, Paul silenced the crowd with his hand gesture so that more people can listen. God allowed this silence for him to focus on testifying. Paul spoke in friendly Hebrew at the level of the eyes of the Jews. 'Brothers and brothers (verse 1)' was an expression used by Stephen. The Jewish people listened to him as he called them with respect and with the heart of longing for their salvation.
Third, Permission of the Holy Spirit is not the same thing as forcibly using a gun and knife. At that time, there was an Egyptian assassin leader who called himself the Messiah who would save the Jewish people from Roman oppression and he caused a riot among people. Although he was overpowered by the Romans, about 4,000 Jews who had followed him disappeared into the wilderness. The Jewish people, who wanted liberation from Rome so badly, were enthusiastic about this Egyptian man who told them what they wanted to hear. Even now, we want to believe in someone who can use a gun and knife, money, or power to solve our problems right away. However, the Lord showed us that even with all the authority of heaven and earth given to him, he had to bear and die on the cross in order to save the mankind. So, obeying an evil husband or an evil boss can be one way of following the cross. Paul said, 'Listen to what I am defending before you now' (verse 1). 'Defending' is a compound word of apo, meaning from, and logos, meaning the Words. Paul was using the words from the the history of redemption that he had heard from Stephen in defending himself. Paul was asking for the permission of the Holy Spirit to bring forth one single person who would repent in front of God, and in doing so he remembered his own sin of killing Stephen and testified his own story of conversion. The Holy Spirit will give you the permission when you seek others salvation by asking others to listen to the Words, come to the ranch, or to read the daily QT.
Todays community confession is the story of one shepherd who experienced a year and a half of a reconciliation and mediation trial after being sentenced to pay a fine and a large amount of compensation for violating the stolen property laws. The plaintiffs side was always absent, did not accept the request for reconciliation and mediation, and delayed the trial by filing several objections through a lawyer. The shepherd, who could not afford a lawyer, attended the trial without missing a single moment, while preparing his argument with the help of the church community and the lawyer he had known from the ranch. Last year, at the Reconciliation and Coordination Office, he humbly explained the incident to some of the people, admitted his mistake, and told the story as if sharing in the ranch, mentioning that he wished the settlement amount would be reduced. But who knew that the judge in charge was there among the crowd! Just as God allowed Paul to speak by moving the heart of the commander in chief, this judge became the shepherds lawyer and offered a reasonable amount. In addition, he called the victim three times through the plaintiffs lawyer saying that he would never accept the request for a delay in the trial. The lawyers fees were very high as the trial got prolonged, but he judged that the lawyers fees and other incidental expenses were borne by each individual. After being silenced for a year and a half, the shepherd spoke only once, and because it was the word of salvation, it moved the heart of the judge, which was truly the permission of the Holy Spirit. I hope that all of us can wait for the Lord to work like this and receive the permission of the Holy Spirit after all.
