Acts 23
Choose Your Loyalties Wisely!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, August 3.
Our loyalties determine what we think about and how we conduct ourselves. What loyalties are influencing you?
This very personal question jumped out of the story in Acts 23 when Paul was on trial in the Sanhedrin, the Jewish court. Listen to Acts 23:6-10, “Now when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, ‘Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.’ And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all. Then a great clamor arose, and some of the scribes of the Pharisees’ party stood up and contended sharply, ‘We find nothing wrong in this man. What if a spirit or an angel spoke to him?’ And when the dissension became violent, the tribune, afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him away from among them by force and bring him into the barracks.”
Paul knew the true loyalties of the religious elites and exposed them for who they were—political parties more interested in defending their positions of power; rather then, humble followers of God who seek to knowing Him first and foremost and discern His will for those who trusted them to lead them spiritually through Word and prayer.
Paul remained free of all this and was at peace because of it!
I choose to repent of any divided loyalties and return wholeheartedly to my first love, Jesus Christ! Who or what are you choosing to focus your life?
Seize the moment and check your loyalties. In Christ, you will have peace and rest.