Be prepared

“And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise

 made by God to our fathers.

“To this promise our twelve tribes, earnestly serving God night and day, hope to attain.  

For this hope’s sake, King Agrippa, I am accused by the Jews.

“Why should it be thought incredible by you 

that God raises the dead?...

 “Therefore, King Agrippa, 

I was not disobedient to the heavenly realm,

“but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem,

 and throughout all the region of Judea, and them to the Gentiles,

 that they would repent, turn to God, 

and do works befitting repentance.

When he had said these things the king stood up as well as the governor and Bernice

 and those who sat with them.

and when they had gone aside, they talked among themselves, saying,

 “This man is doing nothing deserving of death or chains.”

                                                                                           Acts 26:6-8,19-21,30,31
Paul was prepared.  Paul had studied the Word of God and was able to give a good account of himself.
I hear, many in the church say “don’t worry about what you are going to say, God will put the words in your mouth.”  That maybe true, but we need to give a good account of ourselves.
Paul when writing to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:15 states this:

“Do your best to present yourself to God

as one approved,

a workman who does not need to be ashamed

and who correctly handles the Word of truth.”

Christians, both leaders and laity, constantly misuse Scripture.  Sometimes, it is out of deception.  Most times, I believe it is our lack of understanding.
It is imperative, that we study the Word of God to understand, what it means and how to use it.
Paul here, uses the Word of God very effectively.  He is standing before both a Roman, who doesn’t have a complete understanding of Scripture and King Agrippa, who knew the Word.
He lays down his argument in a way that both understood.  The result, was they pronounced him innocent.
We need to be like Paul, to study the Word of God, and know it in context.  We should also do our best to look at a bit of the history around the Scriptures, which will also give us a bit more insight.
Something to think about
You can use Scripture to produce almost any scenario you want.  When taken out of context, anything can be made to sound right.  The only way, we can be certain that we are getting the right message out there is to study the Word of God.
The words of Paul to Timothy are just as important to us in this century:

“Do your best to present yourself to God

as one approved,

a workman who does not need to be ashamed

and who correctly handles the Word of truth.”

One day we will have to give an account to God. Will you be able to stand before Him and not be ashamed?
Think about it.