Then Agrippa said unto Paul, “Thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Then Paul stretched forth the hand, and answered for himself: I think myself happy, King Agrippa, because I shall answer for myself this day before thee touching all the things whereof I am accused of the Jews: Especially because I know thee to be expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews: wherefor I beseech thee to hear me patiently. ~ Acts 26:1-3

It has been three years to the day since Pentecost Sunday 2020 when I prayed to God to show me the way out of a place where just about every man I knew, including the pastor of the church I loved and never saw myself leaving, was hiding from the world. Yesterday morning, I woke up without the slightest hint of what today’s Tune-up message would be…until I read Acts 26:1-3 followed by my friend Lisa’s Damon post above, to which I asked, “Where are they?” …three days into PRIDE month.

I thought about Apostle Paul, in stark contrast to this generation of men, in the chapters leading up to 26, especially beginning in chapter 20:22, And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there: Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. And his response to the friends that begged him not to go to Jerusalem for fear of his life, in 21:13 Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart?   for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.

As sure as Paul went bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, you and I are bound by spirits that hold us back and keep us down. There are many unholy spirits; fear, pride, and alcohol to name a few. There are ordinary spirits…

“Ordinary men and women are too small-minded to govern their own affairs. The order and progress can only come when individuals surrender their rights to an all-powerful sovereign.” ~ Barack Obama …in his own words. *

But God did not make us to be ordinary men. Nor did He send His Son to save ordinary men.

The religion…of every man must be left to the conviction and conscience of every man; and it is the right of every man to exercise it as these may indicate. This right in its nature is as an unalienable right. It is unalienable; because the opinions of men…cannot follow the dictates of other men: It is unalienable also; because what is here a right towards men, is a duty towards the Creator….This duty is precedent both in order of time and degree of obligation, to the claims of Civil Society. ~ James Madison

The ONLY difference between us and the greatest apostle of all is that we are bound by spirits we have yet to come to terms with. And I myself, until this very day, include myself in the lot with you. But until we do, we are but half men full of empty promises, leaders unworthy to be followed, mentors who fail those who looked up to us, and trusted friends who let friends down.

We ALL need to come to terms with that enemy within ourselves. We ALL need deliverance. We ALL have the power to change…IF we look to our “Universal Sovereign” for the key!

Before any man can be considered as a member of Civil Society, he must be considered as a subject of the Great Governor of the Universe; And if a member of Civil Society, who enters into any subordinate association, must always do it with a reservation of his duty to the general authority; much more must every man who becomes a member of any particular Civil Society, do it with a saving of his allegiance to the Universal Sovereign. ~ James Madison

“Worry is a conversation we have with ourselves about things we cannot change. Prayer is a conversation we have with God about things we can change.”

…or we can continue to run.

* Brother Craig Seibert of The Christian Civics Training Initiative pointed out that this Obama clip was edited to make him appear to be saying the opposite of what he actually said. Of course there are very few people by now who actually believe he believed or meant what he said.  #WeLiveAndLearn!

But those ideals have also been tested, here in Europe and around the world. Those ideals have often been threatened by an older, more traditional view of power. This alternative vision argues that “ordinary men and women are too small-minded to govern their own affairs, that order and progress can only come when individuals surrender their rights to an all-powerful sovereign.” Often this alternative vision roots itself in the notion that by virtue of race or faith or ethnicity, some are inherently superior to others and that individual identity must be defined by us versus them, or that national greatness must flow not by what people stand for, but what they are against. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/transcript-president-obama-gives-speech-addressing-europe-russia-on-march-26/2014/03/26/07ae80ae-b503-11e3-b899-20667de76985_story.html