Art Toombs Ministries 

Online Bible Commentary

Do you go with the flow, or march to a different drummer? Everyone has a worldview whether they know it or not. 

Acts 26:15 “Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. 16 ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. 

17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

19 “So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven.20 First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds. 

21 That is why some Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me. 22 But God has helped me to this very day; so I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen—23 that the Messiah would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would bring the message of light to his own people and to the Gentiles.”

24 At this point Festus interrupted Paul’s defense. “You are out of your mind, Paul!” he shouted. “Your great learning is driving you insane.” (NIV)

Paul has been brought before King Agrippa by Festus who is asking that Paul be put to death for spreading the gospel. The King later ruled that Paul did nothing to cause his imprisonment or death.

Paul, in this passage, has just finished speaking of his Damascus Road experience where Jesus appeared to Paul and converted him. Jesus told Paul “I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.”

Paul then tells the King that he was not disobedient to Jesus’ call for him and that Jesus had helped him “to this very day.” Festus then calls Paul “crazy”. 

Our call is no different than Paul’s. As Christians we are here to “open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God.”

Jesus is very clear. People are either under the power of Satan or God. There are only two worldviews according to Jesus.

Our worldview is either that of the world or of God. We choose which worldview we will follow. When we “go with the flow” and follow the world, we have no help, and no hope. We are convinced by all of the lies and deception that Satan spouts from the mouths of those who are lost.

When we follow Jesus, He will give us help. However, there will still be those of the world who call us “crazy”. That’s okay by me. I know who wins in the end.