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Write a one variable linear equation to solve for present age when you know that in 40 years the person will be 11 times as old as he is right now.
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2011 Daytona 500: Trevor Bayne
Video Details
2011 Daytona 500: Trevor Bayne
Trevor Bayne says he's never expected to win the Daytona 500.
Tags: 2011 Daytona 500, Trevor Bayne, NASCAR
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Dale Earnhardt Sr. Captures Daytona 500 WinAfter 20 years of trying, Dale Earnhardt finally captured his elusive Daytona 500 victory in 1998. ...
What Makes Daytona SpecialDaytona International Speedway is rich in both history and tradition. Watch this video to see how ...
2013 DAYTONA 500 TV CommercialTake a look back at some of the most memorable DAYTONA 500 moments to see what makes it the race of ...
2012 Coke Zero 400 Last LapWatch as Tony Stewart captures his fourth career Coke Zero 400 Powered By Coca-Cola win in a ...
2012 Coke Zero 400 Post RaceRace winner Tony Stewart talks about his continued success at Daytona.
2012 Coke Zero 400 Post RaceRace winner Tony Stewart talks about how proud he is of the Stewart-Haas Racing team.

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(Bloomberg) -- Mary Jo White, President Barack Obamas nominee to lead the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, said she will avoid some matters involving firms including JPMorgan Chase & Co., General Electric Co. and Deloitte & Touche LLP if confirmed by the Senate.
White, a former U.S. prosecutor who is retiring as a partner in the law firm Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, outlined her recusal plans in cases involving former clients in a letter accompanying her financial disclosure report. She reported earning more than $2.4 million from her partnership stake last year.
The report, which also lists former Bank of America Corp. Chief Executive Officer Kenneth D. Lewis, former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. director Rajat Gupta and UBS AG as clients, underscores Whites longstanding ties to Wall Street as a top defense lawyer. She may face questions over potential conflicts of interest at her Senate confirmation hearing, which hasnt been scheduled.
Obama nominated White for SEC chairman on Jan. 24, praising her tenure as U.S. attorney for the southern district of New York from 1993 to 2002. She will be a cop on the beat of the financial system and help complete the task of reforming Wall Street, the president said.
In her letter, White wrote that for a period of one year after my retirement from the law firm, she would not participate personally and substantially in any particular matter involving specific parties in which Debevoise & Plimpton LLP is a party or represents a party.
Executive Order
Under an executive order signed by Obama in 2009, White must sign an ethics pledge that forbids her from participating in particular matters involving former clients or Debevoise for two years.
The two-year pledge is written in a way that could allow White to work on some issues that have ties to Debevoise or her former clients, said Kenneth A. Gross, a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.
This would give her a good bit of latitude to regulate a former client because this restriction is narrow, said Gross, who advises political appointees on government ethics laws.
Scott H. Kimpel, a former counsel to SEC commissioner Troy A. Paredes, said Whites participation in SEC business related to Debevoise or former clients would have to be reviewed by the SECs office of ethics counsel.
Enforcement cases, rather than regulatory votes, would be most likely to raise potential conflicts of interest for White, Kimpel said in a phone interview. Some commissioners recuse themselves from any issues involving former clients or law firms during their entire term at the SEC, Kimpel said.
Client List
Anytime Debevoise is a defense counsel in the enforcement space, she is going to have to recuse, said Kimpel, now a partner at Hunton & Williams in Washington.
Whites other clients at Debevoise have included News Corp.s independent directors, Microsoft Corp. and officers of MoneyGram International Inc. She also has represented Howard Udell, a Purdue Pharma LP general counsel who pleaded guilty to criminal charges of misrepresenting the prescription painkiller OxyContin as less likely to be abused than other narcotics.
She and her husband, John W. White, have grown wealthy during more than three decades as elite New York lawyers. The couple reported assets valued between $9.9 million and $41 million, largely in index and exchange-traded funds, according to her financial disclosure report. The form requires administration nominees and officials to disclose the value of assets as a range, not a specific figure.
Couples Income
The couple reported income of between $3 million and $8.7 million during 2012, including her salary at Debevoise. John White, who was the director of the SECs corporation finance unit from 2006 to 2008, is a partner at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP.
In her ethics letter, Mary Jo White wrote that she would receive a lump-sum retirement payment from Debevoise upon confirmation as SEC chairman. The letter doesnt indicate how much she would receive, though the disclosure form indicates she is eligible to receive $42,500 a month at retirement.
She wrote in the letter that she will forgo a retiree benefit that entitles her to use of secretarial services, office space and a BlackBerry at the firms expense.
White will also get a payout of money she contributed to Debevoise as an equity partner. Her disclosure form values her interest in the firm at between $500,001 and $1 million.
She also said in the letter that she will avoid participating in matters involving three private investment funds in which her husband is an investor. He plans to divest his interest in the funds if she is confirmed, according to the letter.
John White has agreed to not communicate with the SEC on behalf of the firm or any client while his wife is chairman, she wrote in the letter. His practice involves advising firms on public reporting requirements and corporate governance matters, according to Cravaths website.
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To people of world we want simple Justice The Public Trust has been betrayed and Individuals Rights are under attack! When the Public Trust is broken, not only individuals lose - everybody loses! What hurts one of us hurts us all! My business partners and family and friends we... more »
To people of world we want simple Justice The Public Trust has been betrayed and Individuals Rights are under attack! When the Public Trust is broken, not only individuals lose - everybody loses! What hurts one of us hurts us all! My business partners and family and friends we exercised our individual rights as citizens during the recent provincial election by supporting a candidate Vicki. For an entire month prior to the election we put aside our business affairs and worked for our candidate. We made a difference, and our candidate Conrad won . For this we have been viciously attacked and harassed, both as individuals and as a business entity! In one instance, a batch of bad cheques was forged in our name against a now-defunct computer company we owned eight years ago! These cheques were passed all over Nova Scotia. This is not the work of just one individual, but the work of many, and they are acting together. Some of these enemies are persons who are charged with the Public Trust, and they are using their positions to cause financial injury to my business partners and me and to put us out of business and erase us from human knowledge! The aim of our enemies is to discredit and destroy us. Totally! But I say to you if they can do this to us, they can do it to you! If you oppose them, they can hit any person they like! It could be you! Because the Public Trust and the Public Good is involved, I am telling everyone of our plight. Your goodwill and prayers are requested and appreciated. It was decided because of the fact that J. C. Reddy had become so hard to work with that AFM Management would let Mr. Reddy go and move the company's business to Ferrier's office. Mr. Ferrier explained he wasn't a company lawyer. However, he said his law partner, Andrew Kimball, would work as AFM's company lawyer. Following the Small Claims Court case, the AFM Board of Directors met in May, 2006, and decided to completely sever all connections with Mr. Reddy. On the advice of Mr. Ferrier, the Directors went to Mr. Reddy's office to obtain the minute books and records for AFM Management Ltd. The company books were then to be delivered to Mr. Kimball's office. What happened to Mr. Ferrier and his law firm? What happened in the disappearance of AFM Management's payroll transfer payments? Why did Mr. Kimball lose his memory? What caused Mr, Ferrier to lose control of himself? Why were the company books no longer in Mr. Ferrier's possession? The Bridgewater Police Services still continued to harass and lay charges against AFM president Jeff Fraser throughout the summer of 2006. This was a continuation of their campaign of pursuit to assign blame for a rash of bad cheques which were cashed with Jeff Fraser's name (a blatant forgery) as the signer. By late September, 2006, the Crown Prosecutor had managed to put several charges on the docket at the Bridgewater Provincial Court for trial in October. Mr. Fraser contacted Thomas Feindel, a Bridgewater lawyer, to represent him. The meeting was postponed, and Lawyer Palmer fully committed himself to a new meeting date. On the eve of the second appointment, Lawyer Palmer telephoned to say he hit a deer on his way home from Shelburne, and was therefore unable to keep the second appointment! Calls went unanswered after that. How bizarre! What made Mr. Palmer change his mind? He said his colleague, Brian Casey, a lawyer who used to work in the office of Joel Pink, a Halifax lawyer, would take his place. When Tony Anderson and Jeff Fraser arrived at the offices of Boyne Clarke, they were stopped at the elevator and escorted by two people. They were led into a boardroom, not an office, and shown where to sit. In late November, 2006, Tony Anderson and Jeff Fraser were referred to Philip Star, a Yarmouth lawyer. He was highly recommended and it was said he did not lose many cases. Of course, this was totally against the wishes of Mr. Fraser who decided that Mr. Star was not acting in his best behalf. Mr. Fraser tried to work with Mr. Starr, but Mr. Star absolutely refused to co-operate Mr. Pink also couldn't understand why Mr. Star wouldn't meet with only Jeff Fraser, and not both Anderson and Fraser. He said he would inquire as to why. The meeting proceeded quite well. However, after discussing the case, Mr. Pink said, "I am a man of honour and integrity" and that his word "meant something". Mr. Pink indicated that he had helped the Bridgewater Crown Prosecutor's son in the past and that he was a good friend of Crown Prosecutor Lloyd Tancock. Mr. Pink said he felt it would not be a problem to get an extension of time for Jeff Fraser's court appearance. Mr. Pink made one telephone call and Crown Prosecutor Lloyd Tancock just so happened to immediately pick up the other end! Mr. Fraser's co-worker informed him that Mr. Pink was in the process of negotiations with Lloyd Tancock, Crown Prosecutor, on the charges against Jeff Fraser. This was completely against Mr. Fraser's best interests! He was shocked! Jeff Fraser immediately spoke to Mr. Pink, who acknowledged that he was indeed trying to negotiate a plea bargain with the prosecution. Jeff Fraser did not wish to negotiate nor did he want Mr. Pink to negotiate a plea bargain of any kind whatsoever on any of the trumped-up charges with the Crown Prosecutor! Jeff Fraser was then left with no choice but to dismiss Mr. Pink from the case, as he was not acting in his client's best interests. Mr. Pink was not used to being fired and he asked to be reconsidered. Request denied! Referral letter from reach Ability Tony Anderson and Jeff Fraser had arranged an appointment with Halifax lawyer Victor Goldberg on the same afternoon they met with Mr. Pink. The appointment with Mr. Goldberg was March 20, 2007, at 2:30 PM. This appointment was primarily for Mr. Anderson's case against irregularities in his personal Royal Bank VISA account, and other matters affecting AFM Management Limited and Spotless Cleaning and Maintenance. As a matter of fact, as they got to the elevator, another client with a dog were standing by the front counter. The poor little dog decided he didn't like what he had heard either, and left a large yellow stain on the rug to show his opinion of Mr. Goldberg's firm. Mr. Garson seemed very reserved and nervous during the initial conversation. What was the most surprising was his obvious disinclination to accept the case. He did not even know the facts at this point. Mr. Garson had indicated he would contact Mr. Anderson and let him know if he would accept the case. In late May, 2007, the former owner of Spotless Janitorial, posing as a friend and professing sympathy and concern for their plight, recommended a lawyer friend of his who had represented Spotless in the past. At that time Anderson and Fraser did not know that the former owner was in reality a highly placed member of the Lunenburg County Jehovah's Witnesses, and who had all along been working actively to sabotage AFM Management and Spotless Cleaning and Maintenance. Anderson and Fraser learned later, from a list of names of Jehovah's Witnesses members, that Mr. Burke is a practising member of the Jehovah's Witnesses. This would explain Mr. Burke's bizarre behaviour.. Later, but still in June 2007, because of Mr. Chipman entering these guilty pleas, Barry Whynot then accepted a plea bargain on my behalf with Crown Prosecutor Lloyd Tancock and I ended up sentenced to house arrest and Barry ran away. We have spoken in some length with the Ottawa Commission for Police Complaints. This was one of the last emails that were sent to them and their response is below. We have not received a response back from Ottawa this year. Where did they disappear to? No one has showed up and talked to us! NOTE: Jeff Fraser was released September 4th and Judge Anne Crawford retired two weeks later « less
- February 21, 2010
- 83 Views
February 21, 2010
CategoryReal Life Web Series
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OT- Hi, I'm Reckless
OT- Hi, I'm Reckless
- Read more about OT- Hi, I'm Reckless
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I am not sure what is it about the video that Brian embedded in the "Your Stupid, Stupid Minds" post, but I find that I want to watch the clip over and over.
Is it the realization that Idiocracy is upon us? Should I now be looking for the "Ow, My Balls" show on the Violence Channel? The slow motion head first fail is just beyond me. Or is it that I can't understand why anyone would make their cat play the keyboard (or even think of the concept, granted it is a YouTube wonder now). Or is it simply the juxtaposition of these two images that short circuit the mind a bit when you realize how ridiculous the mash up is. Some therapy from the gallery would be appreciated.


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About DaveD
Feet Under The Table
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Ford Model
Ford Ka Edge
Ford Year
UK/Ireland Location
Motorsport & Racing
FOC Age group Poll!
DaveD replied to Ahmet's topic in General ChatSixty seven and been fixing Fords for fifty years now. Best motors I have ever worked on were the Kent cross flows and the Pintos.
DaveD started following New Ka Edge Fuel Consumption, FOC Age group Poll!, Adding Electric Mirrors On An 2013 Edge Ka and and 3 others
Adding Electric Mirrors On An 2013 Edge Ka
DaveD replied to b1g_dav3's topic in Ford KA / StreetKA ClubReally!! our 2012 Ka Edge has electric door mirrors and they are fab. What a bunch of cheapskates not fitting electric mirrors...
Booster packs is the way to go. Throw them jump leads in the attic (copper will be worth more in the future)!
I have a battery pack just in case any of our three cars (two sons and our car) needs a jump start. Jump starting is no real bother just double check the connections before attaching leads and always earth the car to be started to an engine lifting eye or a large rust free bolt then you will be ok. Battery packs dont cost a lot and are real handy. Keep them 'topped up' this time of the year by regular charging monthly and store indoors in the warm.
New Ka Start Stop / Lights
DaveD replied to Clairegard1979's topic in Ford KA / StreetKA ClubReliability is 100%. Economy is fine too 48mpg on average. My stop/start works fine in the summer (?) but lately it hasnt cut in because of the drop in temp and the heater blower being on and short journeys otherwise we are very pleased with our new Ka. I would certainly recommend it to you.
Black Smoke
DaveD replied to trev16185's topic in Ford Mondeo / Vignale ClubUh oh MOT fail coming up.
New Ka Edge Fuel Consumption
DaveD posted a topic in Ford KA / StreetKA ClubSo far Im getting over 48 mpg. Thats an improvement over my old MINI One 38 mpg.
"exclusive Closed Sale Discount Event" ???
DaveD replied to 2011fiesta's topic in Ford Fiesta ClubDo they do food and drinks? Ive been around the motor car salesmen for over forty-five years now and know how to wind them up and let them down. Just turn up and have a good time but DONT take your documents. Have fun!
Ford Cortina Launched Fifty Years Ago!
DaveD replied to DaveD's topic in General Ford Related DiscussionsWow that was bright!
Ford Cortina Launched Fifty Years Ago!
DaveD posted a topic in General Ford Related DiscussionsI remember this iconic car being launched back in 1962. I remember seeing the TV adverts and the new Cortinas in the Ford showrooms at the time. Later years I also owned several and fixing them and servicing them were childs play to any competent engineer. Needles to say our factory's car park was stuffed full of them all shapes and engine sizes. One of the best examples was the 1600E which was a very sought after model.
Showroom Shine
DaveD replied to Janfromto's topic in Ford Fiesta ClubMeguiar's is the best I have found yet. Not cheap but boy does it give good results and lasting shine for ages! http://www.theultimatefinish.co.uk/meguiars.aspx?gclid=CPeQwtavuLICFVMbtAodXUUAag
I have used the FOS and it certainly makes things work a whole lot faster.
Cam Belt/chain
DaveD replied to james132's topic in Ford Focus ClubMy workmate had his cam belt changed on his Scenic by the local garage. Within a year it had snapped. The garage fitted a replacement engine at no cost to him.
Can you honestly see the Greeks, Italians,Spanish,etc etc taking any notice of this? They dont even bother with seat belts or motorcycle helmets (although its the law). But I expect it will be heavily enforced in the good old UK though. But wait a minute the well off with their expensive classic Sunday cars will be heavily hit as most of the spares arnt available anymore they have to buy NON STANDARD parts. Last year on Crete we saw a wrecked car being used as every day transport, nobody took a blind bit of notice not even the cops!
Kerbed White Alloy
DaveD replied to AR-Fiesta's topic in Wheels & TyresFear not my friend. I repaired my sons expensive alloy wheels on his MINI Cooper with this Planet Polish Alloy repair. Just rub the scratch smooth with the sandpaper, mix the filler, sand again till smooth then paint but you are going to have to spray yours white though. This stuff really works. He couldant see the repair! Heres a link for you. Delivery is swift and a great product. http://www.planetpolish.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=1


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Environmental Protection
Being Green Helps Department Save Green
The City of San Diego's Public Utilities Department has a number of excellent "green" and sustainable programs. Each program and project share a common goal of improving the local environment while helping to keep the Department's cost down. With the Department providing water and wastewater services to millions of San Diego residents each day, it is imperative that we remain mindful of environmental impacts of these services, and how we can help minimize our carbon footprint from recycling waste to ocean monitoring. Learn more about the Public Utilities Department's sustainable programs through the links below.
- Energy Efficiency Program
- Groundwater Supply
- Metro Biosolids Center
- Ocean Monitoring
- Pure Water San Diego
- Recycling and Waste Reduction Program
- Recycled Water Program
- Recycled Water Study
- Sewer Spill Reduction Program
- Water Conservation Program
- Water Purification Demonstration Project
- Watershed and Resource Protection
- Water Supply Assessments
Energy Efficiency Program
Energy independence is a primary City goal; specifically the Public Utilities Department aims to capitalize on the energy production opportunities of the City's water and wastewater facilities through its Energy Efficiency Program. The Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant is energy self-sufficient, producing double its energy needs using methane gas produced during the wastewater treatment process to power two large electrical generators. The plant also harnesses the force of the plant's discharged wastewater by channeling it through a hydroelectric plant at the outfall. The City sells the excess energy it produces back to the San Diego Gas & Electric Company. The North City Water Reclamation Plant, the Metro Biosolids Center, and the Miramar Landfill work together to similarly maximize the use of methane gas which is converted to electricity to run those plants. Additionally, the City installed solar panels at both the Alvarado and Otay water treatment plants to generate renewable energy to help run them. The Public Utilities Department produces over 90% of the renewable energy utilized by the City and saves the City approximately $2 million a year in energy costs at the Point Loma plant alone. The energy savings made by the Department directly benefit the residents of San Diego by helping to maintain lower sewer rates while providing renewable electric energy to the region. and maintain the system effectively, efficiently, and competitively.
Groundwater Supply
A priority for the City is to develop new local water supplies and storage. The use of groundwater contributes to regional efforts to reduce demands for imported water. The City is currently investigating several groundwater basins within its jurisdiction to determine the feasibility of each basin as a sustainable resource for production and/or storage.
Metro Biosolids Center
The award-winning Metro Biosolids Center is the City's state-of-the-art regional biosolids treatment facility. Biosolids are the nutrient-rich, processed organic material produced by the wastewater treatment process. The plant, which began operation in 1998, is an essential component of the region's wastewater treatment system. Up until 1998 digested solids (sludge) from the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant's digesters were dried in open fields or through belt and filter presses on Fiesta Island in Mission Bay and then trucked to landfills.
The Metro Biosolids Center provides two treatment operations: thickening and digestion of the raw solids (raw sludge) generated at the North City Water Reclamation Plant; and the dewatering of the wet biosolids from both the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant and the North City Water Reclamation Plant. The facility produces dewatered biosolids that are approximately 30% solids and 70% water, the consistency of wet plaster. Biosolids may be used to promote growth of agricultural crops, to fertilize gardens and parks and to reclaim and replenish worn and nutrient-depleted land. Currently, biosolids are used as soil amendments, landfill, and landfill cover.
The Public Utilities Department has a comprehensive energy conservation plan, and one of its key elements is cogeneration, the utilization of methane gas to power the largest Wastewater facilities. The Department has a long-term agreement with a private firm that uses methane generated by the Metro Biosolids Center digesters and the Miramar Landfill to power both the Metro Biosolids Center and the North City Water Reclamation Plant.
Ocean Monitoring
The Wastewater Operations Branch continues to be a leader in the protection of our local marine environment. Our goal is simple: to protect the quality of our ocean water, its marine life and the people who rely on the ocean for recreation and livelihood. Our professional staff of marine biologists, microbiologists, chemists and toxicologists collects and analyzes tens of thousands of ocean samples and a half million pieces of chemical, biological and oceanographic data annually, all to determine the effects of the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant's discharge on the ocean environment.
The results are excellent:
- Fish in the waters off Point Loma are safe to eat.
- A healthy population of fish, shellfish and bottom-dwelling animals is maintained.
- Our beaches and kelp beds are not impacted by the plant's discharge.
In addition to monitoring our local environment, our Environmental Monitoring & Technical Services staff has worked with their Mexican counterparts to help them establish a monitoring and industrial pretreatment program of their own. The results are very promising with an end result that will benefit not only the citizens of Tijuana, but the residents of San Diego's South Bay and their beaches.
Recycling and Waste Reduction Program
Combining technology with environmental protection, the Public Utilities Department's Water Operations Branch integrated the Bid-to-Goal management tool (a performance-driven business plan) with the international ISO 14001Environmental Management System. ISO 14001 is a certified environmental management system, merging service improvement with environmental responsibility. It is an international voluntary standard that involves a set of policies and procedures to manage environmental issues as part of our work, and the services we provide. Water Operations was the first utility in the nation to implement such a program, and it continues to take a leadership role and improve services that benefit all San Diegans. Improved efficiency and environmental sustainability and reduced operations costs are just some of the benefits of this integrated program.
The objective of the Water Operations' Recycling and Waste Reduction Program was to reduce Miramar Landfill usage, and recycle and reuse concrete, asphalt, soil debris, copper, brass, paper, and other materials whenever possible. The program improves the environment and saves the City money. We continually train staff members and monitor their performance to separate materials appropriately for recycling or landfill diversion. Some examples of materials that were going to the Miramar Landfill that we now recycle are: wooden pallets, scrap wood, steel meter box lids, concrete meter box lids, steel gate casing, cast iron gate caps, cast iron water mains, ductile iron water mains, concrete, asphalt, soil debris, brass fittings, copper pipe, cardboard, plastic, and paper. In addition, Water Operations staff separates office paper, cans, bottles and plastic from the trash and places them in recycling bins for proper recycling.
From fiscal year 2005 through fiscal year 2010, Water Operations recycled 71,025 pounds of paper, cans and bottles; 34,477 tons of asphalt, concrete and soil; and 635 tons of scrap metal. The program saved the Department approximately $645,000 in landfill fees over the five-year period. In the future, the program is expected to annually recycle 10,000 pounds of paper, cans and bottles; 6,900 tons of asphalt, concrete and soil; and 125 tons of scrap metal.
Recycled Water Program
The San Diego region currently relies on imported water for 85% to 90% of its water supply. By implementing a Recycled Water Program, the City is able to reuse an existing resource for a variety of different uses. In place since 1997, the Recycled Water Program provides customers with recycled water for industrial processing, cooling towers, construction site dust suppression and soil compaction, decorative fountains, and toilet and urinal flushing. The City's North City Water Reclamation Plant and the South Bay Water Reclamation Plant treat wastewater to a level that is approved for irrigation, manufacturing and other non-drinking, or non-potable uses.
Recycled Water Study
The City of San Diego conducted a Recycled Water Study in 2009. The focus of the study was to develop water reuse alternatives and then weigh the alternatives against other options with particular focus on the water supply benefits and the cost savings through reduced wastewater systems operations and improvements.
Water Conservation Program
San Diego is located in a semi-arid coastal desert environment that averages 10 inches of rainfall annually. Only 10% to 20% of San Diego's water is of local origin, collected as runoff in the City's nine reservoirs. The City's Water Conservation Program consists of a diverse strategy aimed at reducing San Diego's dependency and demand on imported water. It is committed to giving San Diegans the knowledge, tools, programs and resources necessary to save water. Successful savings have been achieved by creating a water conservation ethic that includes using water saving techniques in everyday life, adopting programs, policies and ordinances designed to promote water conservation practices, and implementing comprehensive water-use education campaigns.
Water Purification Demonstration Project
As part of the City's effort to provide a local and sustainable water supply, the City conducted a Water Purification Demonstration Project to examine the feasibility of using advanced water purification technology to provide safe and reliable water for San Diego's future. The Demonstration Project, which included more than 9,000 water quality tests, determined that water purification with reservoir augmentation is feasible for San Diego. San Diego's three-step water purification process produces a safe supply of water that meets all federal and state drinking water standards.
Pure Water San Diego
Following the success of the Water Purification Demonstration Project, the City is moving forward with Pure Water San Diego, a program to provide a safe, sustainable and cost-effective local drinking water supply for San Diego. An initial 30-million gallon per day water purification facility is expected to come online in 2021. Upon program completion, Pure Water will provide one third (83 million gallons per day) of San Diego's drinking water by 2035. Benefits of the Pure Water program include a local and sustainable supply of high-quality drinking water, decreased dependence on imported water, less discharge into the ocean and a move toward lower carbon emissions.
Sewer Spill Reduction Program
In 2001, the then-Metropolitan Wastewater Department (now Public Utilities Department) embarked on an aggressive Sewer Spill Reduction Program. The key elements of this program included cleaning all 3,000 miles of the Municipal Sewerage System by 2004 and developing a system-wide cleaning schedule; televising and assessing the condition of more than 1,200 miles of the oldest and most problematic sewer lines in the system; and increasing the number of miles of sewer lines replaced or rehabilitated from 15 miles per year to 45 miles per year.
The results of this program are dramatic. From 365 sewer spills in 2000, the number of spills in all of 2007 dropped to only 77 events – a 79% reduction. The program's success is also seen in the reduction of beach closures as a result of sewer spills. In 2000, there were 33 sewer spills that reached public waters. In 2007, there were only eight.
Watershed and Resource Protection
The Public Utilities Department owns and manages over 42,000 acres of land and water surface in the county of San Diego. These lands surround nine reservoirs (Barrett, El Capitan, Hodges, Miramar, Morena, Murray, Otay, San Vicente and Sutherland) and two basin areas that do not contain reservoirs (Pamo Valley and Marron Valley) and comprise our watersheds. Protecting water quality is primary in importance to the Public Utilities Department. Additionally, the Department is committed to preserving and protecting the natural resources that exist on its lands and its reservoirs. Because these lands have been largely protected from development and human disturbance, they support important and high-quality habitats and resources for a wide variety of plant and animal species. The City aims to protect these natural resources for future generations.
Water Supply Assessments
Water supply assessments (WSAs) are required to be prepared by local water supply agencies for certain large-scale development projects in accordance with California State Senate Bill 610 (SB 610). The intent of SB 610 is to improve the link between information on water supply availability and certain land-use decisions made by cities and counties. WSAs evaluate whether the water supplier's total projected water supply will meet the projected water demand associated with the proposed project, in addition to the supplier's existing and planned future water demands. The Public Utilities Department is responsible for preparing WSAs within the Public Utilities Department service area.


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Head to Café Tortoni and Barolo Palace on Avenida de Mayo; look for the architecture of Calatrava, Pelli, Foster and Viñoly in Puerto Madero; and view the palaces of Recoleta.
This historic porteño (Buenos Aires local) restaurant serves traditional dishes and goods baked in an adobe oven, including the city's best roast suckling pig. Sarmiento 1334, Tribunales; (54-11) 4372-3380; www.restorandelprogreso.com.ar.
Learn about the legend, who still haunts this city, in Pigna's monograph, or watch the musical on film, starring Madonna as Argentina's answer to Princess Di.
In an 1880 flour mill, this milonga is a dream for those who are passionate about tango. Sarmiento 4006, Almagro; www.lacatedralclub.com.
In the old Casa de Bombas, you'll find key works by Argentine artists like Benito Quinquela Martín, Xul Solar and Eduardo Sivori, as well as 19th-century European masters. Libertador 1473; (54-11) 5288-9918; www.mnba.org.ar.
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Try the braided goat chitterlings or the sweetbreads with a glass of great Malbec at this parrilla. Save room for the legendary "eye of beef." Estados Unidos 465, San Telmo; www.parrillalabrigada.com.ar.
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We come again this morning in our study to the book of Acts, and I call your attention again to our passage in chapters 21 and 22. We've been sharing together in this rather lengthy portion for the last several weeks. I think this is the fourth week that we've been in this portion from chapter 21 verse 27 through chapter 22 verse 30, and we will draw it to conclusion this morning. Up until chapter 21 of Acts, we have been following the ministry of the Apostle Paul as a free man. That is, he has traveled under the direction of the Holy Spirit without bondage to those places and those cities that God has led him to. He has had a great and glorious ministry.
From chapter 21 on, he becomes a prisoner; and from here on out until his death, he remains a prisoner. His ministry is not diminished in any sense. It's only different, so we see Paul from chapter 21 to the end of the book in chapter 28 as a prisoner. Now during the time of his being a prisoner, he gives six different defenses of himself, of his actions, of his attitudes. The first such defense is given here in chapter 21 verse 27 through chapter 22 verse 30, and so we've entitled this section "Paul's Arrest and First Defense." But as we have been studying this, more than just looking at the historical narrative as it flows in the text, we have also endeavored to see a principle behind the narrative, and that is the idea of giving a positive testimony in a negative situation.
In the midst of his arrest and defense, we see principles of how to give a positive testimony in a negative situation; and we have endeavored to draw those principles out. Now we have suggested several principles; and, today, we're going to conclude the suggestion of those principles as we look at the final part of the narrative; and, basically, the last of the principles that we'll be considering has to do with attitude. In giving a positive testimony, attitude is extremely important. The attitude that I have toward the unbeliever is going to color the kind of testimony that I give. If I really love the unbeliever as Jesus did, as Paul did, if I really have a deep concern and honest care for his soul and for his life, as Jesus did and Paul did, it's gonna affect my testimony toward him. And if I really love him, the negative in his life is gonna be superseded by the positive of my love; and it won't really matter how antagonistic he is or how unlike he ought to be he is, I'll love him anyway, if my heart is right.
And so in giving a positive testimony in a negative situation, attitude then becomes critical...Many Christians, through the years, and even today, have been accused of having wrong attitudes, and I think it's true in great measure. Christians are superior often in their thinking. They think they have something the lost don't have, and tend, rather than to reach down to lord it over, there are some who exude a kind of holier-than-thou, aloof, separated attitude. Then Christians have also been accused of being cliquish, clannish, unloving, uncaring, unsympathetic, and in some cases, as I said, I think it's justified.
You know, you can become so self-righteous and so involved with the body of Christ and with Christians that you sort of isolate yourself from the unsaved, and the only attitude left for them is sort of a condemnation; and in an effort to avoid defilement, you forsake them rather than loving them and being with them as Jesus was, as Paul was. A genuine, caring, honest, deep love for the lost is basic to effective testimony. I'll put it simply. I believe in my heart that you could verify the fact that the people who are the most effective in reaching the lost are the people whose love for them is the most genuine, because we tend to do what our love motivates us to do...
The Christian who is superior acting, who has a stern, condemning, self-righteousness is one who really doesn't love those people as Jesus did; and the result of it is, instead of winning people, he alienates people. So another factor in a positive testimony in a negative situation is true love, true concern. You know, it's often easy to treat people like statistics and kid yourself into the fact that you really love them when all you do is rack 'em up. Say, "Well, I led three more to the Lord this month." I'm not sure that's the love of the lost as much as the love of the self...
Have you ever gotten into a testimony where you're sharing Christ, and the thought that comes into your mind is, "Wait till I tell them that I led someone to the Lord. Aren't I something spiritually? That's kind of a sick thought, but I've had it...
Now, in this passage, Paul displays for us the right attitude toward the unbelieving, and that's basic to affecting them for Christ. You take it from the standpoint of God. First God so loved the world, then God gave His Son. This is true. This is basic. Paul makes the statement of his love for Israel. He loves Israel so much, he could wish himself accursed, and it's out of that that he loves them, that he gives them the gospel.
Now, remember, that, as we come to chapter 21, the Apostle Paul has concluded his third missionary tour. He's arrived in Jerusalem at the time of the feast of Pentecost. It's a time when Jerusalem is jammed with people. Now when Paul was on these three missionary tours, he had both a positive and a negative impact. Positively, he won a lotta people to Jesus Christ and started a lotta churches. Negatively, he alienated Jewish people everywhere he went. The first thing he'd do when he went into a town was go to the synagogue, because he loved Israel so deeply, and so should we; and he would preach Christ in the synagogue; and some of the Jews would believe and the rest of them would be adamantly antagonistic; and, for the most part, they would begin to hate him...
And, as he went from town to town, this kind of hatred was built up, and it was built up until there was a whole world of Jewish people, mostly the leaders, rather than the populace. The populace being effectively influenced by the leaders who hated Paul. On this tour to Jerusalem, all the way along the tour, he faces the hostility of antagonism from Jewish leaders. Now, to make things worse, here he arrives in Jerusalem at feast time, and guess who's also in Jerusalem at feast time. All the Jewish leaders from all over the world. So he arrives in an explosive, volatile situation at the same time as his enemies. He's surrounded by the world of enemies that hate him.
As we pick up the scene in verse 27, he's in the temple; and he's in the temple carrying out a particular Jewish custom in order to show the Jewish Christians that he still held reverence for their traditions; and as he's carrying out this custom, he is seen there by some of these Jews who hated him. These non-Christian Jews, antagonistic Jews who hated him, they see him in the temple. In fact, it tells us in verse 27 that they were from Asia Minor, a Roman province, a Roman territory. Paul had ministered there effectively for three years and founded no less than seven different churches from influence through his ministry. He had a dramatic influence on that area; and here they see this, their arch enemy in the temple; and the flames of their hatred are fanned by the very sight of the man; and they realize that they, not only have their own resources, but they've got the resources of all the rest of these people from around the world who hate him just like they do, and the whole populace of very Judaistic, legalistic Judaism, and everybody there can be potentially whipped into a frenzy to bring about his death; and so they start a riot.
And from verses 27 to 30, they whip the riot up. Now, in this explosive situation, we're gonna draw out the spiritual principles that we see exemplified in the life of Paul as he gives a positive testimony in the midst of this horribly negative situation; and, as I said before, this is the only way to witness effectively, because, if you're really making a dent in the system, it's gonna be in a negative situation.
Now, on the your outline, which we'll use the same outline we've used for all these weeks, we'll just follow the basic flow of the text. First of all, the attack of the mob. They have whipped this mob into a frenzy by accusing Paul of being against the Jews, against the law, and against the temple. They have added to those general things the accusation that Paul has taken a Gentile into the forbidden territory of the temple and, therefore, he should lose his life. Which was a lie, he had not done that. Nor was he against the people, nor was he against God, nor was he against the temple.
All of this was a whipped-up frenzy. This was all a lie concocted to generate mob violence against him, and it worked. The mob went furiously together in verse 30. They took Paul. Drew him out of the temple, and they shut the doors of the temple, and they are about to kill him in verse 31.
We come to point 2 in our little breakdown, the arrest of the Romans. Immediately when the Romans saw the riot going on in the temple, their garrison that was ready for such times of riot, stationed in Fort Antonia, right to the northwest of the temple ground, steps descended right into the courtyard. Down came the centurions and their soldiers to break up the riot. Verses 31 to 36, then, is the Roman arrival that breaks up the riot. Now, the Romans assume that Paul has done something awful, so they arrest him. In fact, the commander-in-chief, the chiliarch, the chief captain, he thinks that this is the Egyptian revolutionary that previously had led a riot against Jerusalem. He just assumes that from what's going on, and so they grab Paul, and they shackle him, and they drag him up the stairs through the mob, carrying him over their heads, and they set him up on the top of the stairs, heading for the barracks. And, really, the Romans have saved his life...from the murderous mob.
Now, as we saw that, we saw the first principle of giving a positive testimony in a negative situation. We saw Paul totally quiet, totally submissive, allowing himself to be shackled and taken a prisoner. The reason is because God had told him this was gonna happen, hadn't He? Chapter 21 verse 11, the prophet Agabus had said he was gonna be bound and taken prisoner. Earlier than that, chapter 20 verses 22 to 24, the Holy Spirit told him in every city that he was gonna be a prisoner, that things bad were gonna happen, so he just accepts it as God's plan.
Now, notice, principle No. 1 in giving a positive testimony in a negative situation, accept the situation as from God. Now, we've seen that, haven't we? You must accept the situation as God's will. Paul did that. If you think all God wants to do is make you lie in a bed of roses you've got it wrong. God wants to bring you testings and trials and difficult situations, for those are what make you strong. God wants to bring you into very difficult confrontation with an evil world, because that's how people are confronted with the gospel, so you might as well get ready to know the fact that God is gonna bring you into negative situations; and when they happen, accept them as from Him.
Now, then Paul, secondly, after he was arrested, moved into principle No. 2, which is create an opportunity. Once you've accepted the situation as from God, create an opportunity. We find that in point 3, the apology of Paul, beginning in verse 37; and this is a long one. It goes all the way from 37 clear through chapter 22 verse 21. That's his whole long defense.
But we see that when he gets to the top of the stairs, they're starting to take him to the barracks, he says to this guy, he says to the commander, he says, "Could I say a few words?" And the man does a double take, because he says, "Can you speak Greek?" talked to him in Greek. He thought he was just a rabblerousing Egyptian who probably didn't know much of anything, let alone cultured Greek.
When he heard he could speak Greek, he thought, "My, that's a marvelous opportunity." And then Paul said, "Yes," he said, "I can speak Greek. I'm a man from no mean city. I come from Tarsus of Cilicia," which was sort of a high-class place; and he said, "I'm not the rabble-rouser you think I am. May I speak?" And the man thought, "My goodness, this'll be a great opportunity for me to find out what's going on here and find out what the accusations were. Hear the man's defense. So he said, "Fine, you speak."
You see what Paul did? He created his own opportunity. In the midst of a negative situation, he created a positive opportunity. Then he began to speak in verses 1 through 5 to the whole crowd. I imagine the man thought he might have spoken in Greek, since everybody spoke Greek there, but he didn't. He spoke in Aramaic, the Hebrew language. The Hebrew tongue is Aramaic, the vernacular. And he did that because he wanted the people to know that he could speak the way they spoke. He wanted to be conciliatory. He wanted to...to go to their level and have common ground; so he spoke their language, which probably was somewhat of a shock to the leader, because he didn't speak it as well. The reason we know that is because when Paul got all finished, he wasn't too sure what he said.
Now, it may have been that he had theological problems and couldn't understand the implications; but, basically, it was because he didn't understand the language very well. So Paul speaks in their tongue. He says, "I'm a Jew." Verse 3, "I studied at the feet of Gamaliel," who was the leading Jewish teacher of his day. "I was taught according to the perfect manner," that is the legalistic interpretation of the law of the fathers. "I was a Zealot," which is the farthest right-wing in the Pharisees' party. I was extremely zealous just like you are; and what he does there is say, "You know, I was every bit a Jew like you, and I even was zealous enough to do what you're doing today. I've persecuted people just like you're persecuting me." And, in a sense, he justifies their action.
And then he says, "Not only that, why, I was supported...verse 5...by the high priest and the whole Jewish Sanhedrin." And that's principle No. 3, beloved, in those five verses. What's he saying? Principle No. 3, giving a positive testimony in a negative situation. Do everything you can to win your audience. Establish common ground. That's what he did. He established common ground. He says, "You know, I understand how you feel. I'm one of you. I went through this. I know your motives. I understand your true zeal, etc." He does everything he can to win their attention, their interest; and, hopefully, they were saying at this time, "You know, this guy's not so bad. I mean how can you knock a guy who was born a Jew, studied with Gamaliel, was a right-wing on the Pharisees' party, had orders from the high priest to do everything he did, and he just justified our motives. In fact, this guy is really nice. What are we doing to him? How did we get into this mess?"
Most of the mob hadn't got the faintest idea what's going on. Like any mob, a few people start the fight, and everybody piles in, and don't know what they're doing; and so Paul conciliates the crowd. Now, it's very important in giving a positive testimony in a negative situation. You don't wanna alienate everybody immediately. You wanna find common ground for conciliation and establish whatever that is...and, really, it can be as simply boiled down to this. You talk about what they're interested in. Great way to witness to somebody is to ease into the conversation about Christ by meeting them where they are, not dragging them over where you are.
Now, immediately, then, he begins his testimony, and we said that it's divided into three parts. The first part is through verse 5, and that's the part before his conversion. He talks about his conduct before his conversion, and we've covered that in detail. The second part is the circumstances at his conversion, verses 6 to 16; and, there, he tells the whole story of his conversion; and we've considered that in detail, all except the last verse.
Now, you remember what he said about all that? Let's pick it up at verse 6, and I'll read it to you. "It came to pass that, as I made my journey...remember, this is the testimony to a wild mob, and bunch of Roman soldiers standing around him...It came to pass that, as I made my journey and was come near to Damascus...he told 'em what he was gonna do there. He was gonna get some Christians, drag 'em back to Jerusalem, imprison 'em...About noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me. And I fell unto the ground I heard a voice saying unto me, 'Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?'" And, of course, he's laying there with his mouth in the dirt, and he's hearing this voice out of heaven, "Why persecutest thou Me?" He must have know immediately what it was, because he was persecuting Christ. "And I fell unto the ground," he said, "And then I heard the voice, and I answered...verse 8...'Who are You, Lord?'" Just wanna make sure. "He said unto me, 'I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.'"
You know what that was in itself? That was the confirmation of the fact that Jesus had risen from the dead. That was the shortest sermon in the New Testament on the resurrection. If Jesus talked to Paul, then Jesus was alive. What Jesus? Jesus of Nazareth. Paul made sure that the whole thing got in there just so they'd know, Jesus of Nazareth was alive. He's just preached the resurrection to them, only they probably weren't expecting it. The buzzing probably was, "Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus of Nazareth. He talked to Paul? Didn't we crucify Him? Is that resurrection myth true?
"And they that were with me saw indeed the light." Now, that's a beautiful confirmation. He says, "In case you have any question, I had a whole lotta people with me who saw the same light, fell on the same ground I fell on. The only difference is they didn't hear what I heard. That message was special for me." And so Paul's saying, "You see, what happened to me was divine, supernatural act, an act of God." And that's important. "And I said, 'What shall I do, Lord?' and the Lord said unto me, 'Rise and go into Damascus. It shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do.'"
In effect, he's saying, "You know, I was going to Damascus minding my own business. Bang, I hit the dirt, bright light, voice outta heaven, 'Go do this,' I went. I was blind, and I went. If you wanna indict somebody for what I am, you better talk to God. He did it. I couldn't see...verse 11...for the glory of the light. I was led by the hand by those who were with me. I came to Damascus. A man showed up by the name of Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews who dwelt there."
He makes sure they know that Ananias was not a anti-Jewish character. "He came to me, and he stood and said unto me, 'Brother Saul, receive thy sight!' In the same hour, I looked up upon him.' And then he said this...listen...'The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know His will and see that Righteous One...that's a Messianic term describing Christ...thou shouldest hear the voice of His mouth. For thou shalt be His witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard.'"
Now, just get this. Paul says, "I'm walking on the road. I fell on the ground. I saw a light. A voice came out of heaven. Said, 'Do this." I got up, and I went and did it. All of a sudden, a man came along, gave me my sight, said, 'The God of our fathers hath chosen thee.'" Now, every Jew standing there knew who the God of our fathers was. Now notice, friends, this is the key. The fourth principle, the fourth principle that we gave you in a positive testimony in a negative situation is exalt the Lord. Exalt the Lord.
Say, "What do you mean by that, John?" I mean this. Make sure that if anybody rejects your testimony, in order to do it, they've gotta reject God. You say, "Why do you want 'em to reject God?" I don't want 'em to reject God. I just want 'em, if they're gonna reject, to make sure they know they're rejecting God, because that's the issue...When my testimony is complete, nobody should walk away rejecting my experience. They should walk away, either accepting or rejecting my God. That's the issue...and Paul made sure that if they were gonna deny him, that they were gonna have to deny God, the God that they claim was their God, the God of their fathers. The God of Isaac and Jacob, Abraham.
"The God of our fathers hath chosen thee. That thou shouldest know His will and see the Messiah and hear His voice and be His witness. Paul, this whole thing is a sovereign act of God." You see how powerful this testimony is? Paul says, "You cannot accuse me of being anti-Semitic...verses 1 to 5...I am a Jew in every sense. You can't accuse me of chasing after Christians and becoming a traitor and getting won over by these Christians. You can't accuse me of that. The reason I am what I am is because God invaded my life and made me this way. If you wanna argue, you'll have to argue with Him. If you don't like this, you'll have to talk to heaven about it."
Now, do you see what he's doing? He's making the issue squarely where it has to be. If they deny what happened to Paul, they're denying God. If they reject Paul, they reject God Himself. That's the issue...When you give your testimony, beloved, make sure that what you're giving testimony to is the miracle that God has wrought in your life, not the new you, not just the practical outsides of the new you, but what God has done. The clearest testimony is that testimony which leaves a man only one option: to either accept the truth about God or to reject it. Not about me. Not about you. And that's what Paul did.
Well, even when God is sovereign, and He is, and I believe in the sovereignty of God. People always ask me that, and I always say, "Absolutely." Do you believe in election? Of course, it's in the Bible. He's chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world. How could I not believe it? Do you believe that nobody gets saved unless God calls him first? Absolutely, "No man comes unto Me except the Father...what?... draw him." Of course I believe. It's in the Bible. "All that the Father gives to Me shall come to Me," said Jesus. I believe absolutely in the sovereignty of God; but, beloved, I also believe that a man has to respond to God's sovereignty, and that's exactly what we come with in verse 16. And when Ananias has said all this, he says, "And now what are you waiting for?" Now what is the implication? You gotta do something about this. "Arise, be baptized, wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord."
Now, you see, here, then, is the balance of salvation, the response of the man. God is sovereign. God did all the...the initiating. God slammed him on the ground, made him blind, brought him Ananias, went through the whole thing, told him what He wanted him to do. Every detail was sovereignly ordained of God before the foundation of the world. In fact, the book of Revelation says, "Your names were written in the book of Life from before the foundation of the world."
Yes, I believe in the sovereignty of God. Yes, secondly, I believe that man must respond personally by making the proper choice, and so he says, "What are you waiting for?" There is a response necessary for salvation. There are some people who believe everything, but they never make that response. It's one thing to believe at all. Something else to respond to it. That's necessary.
I was thinking about the time I was speaking to the USC football team before one of their games last season, and I had occasion several times to do that, and went into Heritage Hall, and my ex-football coach, who was an assistant with John McKay last year, introduced me to the team before I spoke on this particular occasion. He got up. I'll never forget his words. He said, among other little introductions about my background and stuff, he said, "I want you to know," and he kinda hung his head when he said it, "that everything John tells you is true. It's all true. I know it's true. I've just never accepted it personally." He dropped his head. That was his introduction. You coulda heard a pin drop in there, but he...that's exactly where he's at. I've been sharing Christ with that man ever since we used to ride on airplanes together to football games; but his hang-up is the personal commitment of some things in his life that he's not willing to let go of.
To say that God has brought about all these circumstances of knowledge and information does not preclude the fact that man has to respond to that; and so he says to him, "Call on the name of the Lord. The result will be your sins will be washed away. Then to make that publicly clear, be baptized. That's what he's saying; and so he's asking for a response.
Now the statement of verse 16 has been kind of the key verse to people who teach baptismal regeneration. They say, "Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins." And the idea that water can wash away sins. Now, lemme just speak a minute about this. Can water wash away sin? No. I'll give you a good illustration of it. If water could wash away sin, everybody would be saved. Why? Everybody's been in the water. You say, "No, only certain water." What water? Holy water. No, no, where did you see that? Only Jerusalem water. That'd mean everybody in Jerusalem would be saved, who's ever dunked in the Jordan. No.
No, you say, "Well, that's right, then. Water doesn't wash away sin." All right, if water doesn't wash away sin, then it doesn't wash away sin, any water doesn't wash away sin. Either water does or water doesn't, and since we know it does not, we can just stay with that. You say, "But what do you mean here then?" Well, lemme take it a step further. If Ananias was saying, "Paul, be baptized and wash away your sins," that would be the first time Paul ever really clearly heard the standard of salvation, right? This would be God saying to him, "Here's how to get saved. Get baptized and wash away your sins." Then if that was true, if that's how Paul got saved, how do you think he'd tell others to get saved? Same way, wouldn't he? If it was get baptized and get saved, that's what Paul would preach.
Let's see what he preached. Romans 10, and it's important to know what he preached, 'cause whatever it was, he got it from the Lord. Romans 10:9, he tells us something interesting. He says, "This is the word of faith which we preach." What is it you preach, Paul? Remember what Ananias told you that first day, Paul, do you forget that. Here's what I preach, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be...saved." Do you see any water there? See any baptism there?
Obviously, Paul didn't get that message from Ananias, did he? Hum, well, that's interesting. Verse 10, "For with the heart man believes unto righteousness, with the mouth confession is made to salvation." It's simply a matter of believing and stating that belief. You say, "Well, if it doesn't mean in verse 16, 'Be baptized and wash away thy sins,' what is it saying?" Watch. The break comes here. "Arise and be baptized."
Now watch this. "Wash away thy sins...doing what?...calling on the name of the Lord." The thing that modifies wash away thy sins is the phrase calling on the name of the Lord. Do you know how to get saved? Get baptized? No, do what? Call on the name of the name of the Lord. That's the message Paul got. Look at it, Romans 10:13. "For 'whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be...what?...saved.'" Now, do you see what message Paul got that day? He got that message. He didn't get the message, "Get baptized and get your sins washed away." He got the message, "You'll be saved when you call on the name of the Lord." That's the modifier. That's the way to interpret the verse. The New Testament never teaches that a man can be saved by water. Teaches that a man is saved by grace through faith, that confessing Jesus Christ is Lord, believing in his heart means salvation.
Calling on the name of the Lord. What does that mean? That means to ask God to be all that He is in your life. Calling on His name, calling on His fullness, appropriating all that He is unto yourself...You say, "Well, what does the baptizing have to do with it?" That's the public testimony. Since your sins have been washed away by calling on the name of the Lord, arise and make it public. Baptism was the symbol, the outward symbol of an inward reality. Says Paul didn't make any big deal out of baptism.
First Corinthians 1:13, very interesting. "Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name...name of Paul?" And he's showing that there's no sense in having little factions of people in the church. Verse 14, "I thank God that I baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius." Now, if baptism equals salvation, that's a very strange statement, isn't it? "Boy, am I thankful I didn't lead any of you to Christ except Crispus and Gaius."
"Lest any should say that I had baptized in my own name. Oh, I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Besides, I know not whether I baptized any other." Now watch this. "For Christ sent me not to baptize." Yikes! Not to baptize. What'd He send you to do? "To preach the gospel." Did you know that baptizing and preaching the gospel are two different things? Therefore, baptism isn't part of the gospel. Salvation is apart from baptism. Baptism, folks, is an outward work, and you can't be saved by works, right? Ephesians 2:8 and 9. It's only a visual testimony to an internal transformation. That's all. Paul says, "I thank God I didn't baptize any more of you, and God did not send me...Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel." Two different things.
Go back to Acts 21. Ananias says, "All right, Paul, do something about it," Paul does. Praise God, Paul did believe. He was baptized. You can check it out, Acts 9:17 and 18. Don't look it up now. You can look it up on your own; but he was baptized, gave his life to Christ. Now, in all of this testimony, what is so fantastic is that he gives all the glory to God. Have you ever read his testimony in 1 Timothy 1, and he wraps up his testimony in 1 Timothy 1:17 by saying, "Now it's a God immortal, invisible. The only wise God, be glory and honor, Amen." His whole testimony resolves itself in God's glory, and that's what we're trying to say. Exalt the Lord. If people are gonna deny, then let 'em deny God, not your experience...
Jesus said, "If you lift Me up, I'll draw 'em in to Myself." That's the priority. Paul told the Corinthians, he said, "When I came to you, I didn't come with fancy words and cute sayings or stories about myself. I determined in my mind I would know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified."
Exalt the Lord...Well, what has Paul done? He's totally exonerated himself. They can't accuse him of anything. They can't say, "Paul, you did this." He'll say, "No, God did this to me." If you wanna indict anybody, indict God. Man, does that put pressure on them. Whoo! Their own God...and so powerfully he turns the tables. You know who's really on trial now? They are. This is what Jesus did. Before Jesus was done with His trial, Pilate was on trial, and the Jews were on trial, and the whole of the chief priests and rabbis were on trial, and Jesus was sitting was sitting in the seat of the judge; and Paul turns the tables on 'em. He says, "Now you folks are on trial because, if you're gonna reject me, you're gonna reject your own God. So make your choice."...God did all of it. That's the way your testimony oughta come across, people.
All right, now the third section of his... of his defense includes his commission after his conversion. You'll notice in verse 15 that he was told at that time just to be a witness to all men, and it never got specified to the Gentiles until later. Here comes part 3 of his little defense, verse 17. Three years after his conversion, he returned to Jerusalem. During those three years, he was in Nabataea and Arabia. That's from Edom on the south, Petra, all the way north to Damascus. That whole east bank of the Jordan, Paul roamed for three years. The end of the three years, he arrives in Jerusalem, and that three-year period is discussed in Galatians 1:17 and 18; and in Acts 9, it tells us of his arrival in Jerusalem.
Then he picks up in verse 17, "When I came to Jerusalem... three years later after his conversion...even while I prayed in the temple," and that's an important note because it shows them that, even as a Christian, three years later, after being a Christian, he still holds reverence for Jewish customs. He still is in the temple, and this is a very conciliating statement to these Jews whose whole life surrounds the temple, and since a Christian can pray to God anywhere, he can just as well pray to God there as anyplace else. So he did that as a conciliation, and because his own heart was still accustomed to the things of Judaism; and this is, again, to try to win them.
"So I was praying in a temple, and I was in a trance." The Greek word is ecstasy. "I was in ecstasy." This is a divine high, if you will. It's a state of being transported out of the normal senses. It's going to a dimension that you can't exist in apart from some kinda supernatural experience. It's the same word used in Acts 10:10, you know, where Peter went to sleep on the roof at Joppa, and he was transported into a trance and saw a sheet with all the animals on it, and God told him to go to the Gentiles and so forth. So sometimes God took His choice servants and gave them a consciousness at a level beyond the normal and natural senses of man. This is a divine act...
I can only illustrate it by saying this. You're not the only people...you're the only people in this room, but you're not the only beings in this room. You're the only ones you can see, but this room is occupied. Well, I know it's occupied by the Holy Spirit, and He's a person, and He's here. In addition to that, there are probably a lotta angels here, ministering angels, if nothing else. Ministering to some of you, maybe to all of you; and if there are angels here, and the Holy Spirit's here, I got a good idea there's some demons here. You know, there may be the biggest war going on right around up in here somewhere, and none of us even have the faintest idea what's going on.
Now, the point is, if you were allowed to see with spiritual eyes, you could perceive a real world of real spiritual activity going on right here, but you can't, because you're locked into the natural senses. Part of what your new body is gonna be able to perceive is that world. When you are translated and enter into the presence of God, you're gonna be as open to that world as you are to the physical world.
Now, the point is, in a situation like this, and Paul had many such visions and revelations - 2 Corinthians 12 tells about 'em. Remember the time he was taken even to the third heaven and couldn't speak about the things he saw? So, at this point, Paul is lifted up to experience and to see and understand a dimension that is beyond the natural so it's in ecstasy; and what happens? He sees the Lord, and the Lord speaks. Verse 18, "Make haste and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem, for they will not receive thy testimony concerning Me." Now, the Lord says, "You gotta get outta Jerusalem, Paul." He's just arrived after three years in Arabia and, you know, the word is out, boy, that Christians are scared of this guy. They...Christians, first of all, hear that Paul has arrived, and they get panicky, because they think...Paul claims to be a Christian. They think it's some kind of a new ploy, so he can sneak in on the Christians and get 'em, and so the Christians don't want anything to do with him. Finally, Barnabas says, "Calm down, people. He's our brother." Puts his arm around Paul, drags him into the Christians' meeting, and they're all going, "Uhhhhh," you know, sort of shaky and, "It's nice to know you, Mr. Paul, hmmmmm," you know, and that's about it; but it doesn't get really very, very gregarious in terms of affection.
But worse than that, Paul...and it's in chapter 9 of Acts, when he comes to Jerusalem, he just...when he starts preaching, he just alienates all the Jews in town; and so, finally, the apostles hustle him down to Caesarea and get him out. "Go, Paul, please. You really cause problems for us." But you know what? It took a while. In fact, he stayed in Jerusalem 15 days. He was there praying, and the Lord said, "Get out." He didn't go till 15 days later, and the whole time he's there created havoc. You know why he didn't go? He didn't think he should. He argued with God. You ever done that?
Look what it says, verse 19. "And I said, 'Lord, I got a few things to say. They know that I imprisoned and beat into every synagogue those that believed on Thee. And when the blood of Thy martyr Stephen was shed, I stood by and consented unto his death and kept the raiment of them that slew him.'" He says, "Lord, you know, I got an idea. I think I'd be the best guy to reach these people. You know why? Because they know what I used to be, and they could see the fantastic transformation. They know I was totally anti-Christian; and now, when I come in and start presenting Christ, they're gonna say, "Only God could make a transformation like that. His gospel must be true."
You know something? Paul's wrong. Dead, flat wrong. The Lord says to him, "No, Paul, they will not receive your testimony." Verse 18, "They will not." You say, "But those circumstances look so good. Boy, I was such a persecutor. I was there when Stephen was stoned," Acts 7:54 and following, "I mean they're gonna know that some fantastic transformation - I'm just the guy suited to reach the Jews." God says, "Get outta town. They won't listen to you." You say, "Well, why wouldn't they?" Well, it's obvious, folks. If they wouldn't listen to Jesus after he performed miracle after miracle after miracle right in front of their faces, they're not about to listen to this guy. But Paul thought he had the circumstances on his side.
I've learned one good thing. Remember this. Circumstances are not a good way to tell God's will. They're not, 'cause you can only see the ones that are right in front of your nose. You can't see the next ones. God knows better. That's why I say, and that's why I wrote the little book on the will of God, circumstances isn't a part of it; because you cannot read the future. You cannot really see the circumstances. What looks to you good on the surface may not be good. That's why there's gotta be other monitors for the will of God than just what appears to you to be the best way to go; and, man, when Paul arrived in town, he was wrong. Everything went wrong. He finally had to get outta there to save his neck. Don't always bank on circumstances. God uses circumstance, of course, but that's not a good monitor always on the will of God.
So the Lord then says to him, "Depart, for I'll send thee far from here unto the Gentiles." This is God's calling, not Paul's choosing. Now, they hated Paul for several reasons. One of those reasons was 'cause he preached to the Gentiles. So you know what Paul says here? "If you wanna be mad at somebody for my ministry to the Gentiles, you know who you're gonna have to be mad at? God." So Paul says, "Look, people, you can't accuse me of being anti-Semitic. I was raised a Jew. I followed all the patterns. You can't accuse me of going after Christianity myself and diving in and accepting it. God did it to me, flat out. It was against my will at the very moment that it happened on the road to Damascus. If you don't like the fact that I'm a missionary to the Gentiles, you're gonna have to talk to God, because He's the one that did that to me; and, even that, I argued against."
Now what has he said in effect? He said, "You can't blame me for one thing. Here I stand. I am what I am by the grace of God. If you don't like it, ask Him. He did it." Fantastic testimony. An unbelievably beautiful and confounding defense, which puts all of the pressure on them to make a judgment about God, the God they claim to love and worship. Powerful. Powerful. "If you don't like what I am, don't tell me about it. It's the work of God." Well, when he said the word Gentiles, it sprung the little trap in their brains and released all their prejudice. They hated the Gentiles, and the thing that griped them most about Paul's ministry was he was going around preaching equality. The Jew and Gentile as one in Christ, and they didn't have to become Jews. They didn't have to get circumcised. Didn't have to keep the law, and this infuriated them. So all he had to do was say the word Gentiles, and that brings us to point four, the action of the people...
This tripped the hammer, and everything broke loose, and they listened to him until this word. When he said, "God sent me to the Gentiles to preach what I preach," that blew their lids; and they lifted up their voices and said, "Away with such a fellow from the earth. It is not fit that he should live. This kind of pollution doesn't belong in the world. Get him out." All logic, all sense, all reason, all doctrine, all everything was consumed in the flames of prejudice. The fury broke loose.
Now, they weren't angry because he made proselytes. They made proselytes. They were angry because he offered equality to the Gentiles apart from Judaism. They couldn't tolerate it. They couldn't stand it. Verse 23, you know what they did? "They cried out and cast off their clothes and threw dirt in the air." Say, "That musta been a funny scene." Well, they started throwing their clothes. Some people would say, "Well, that was just fury, and they were throwing dirt and throwing," you know, like they were mad. No, I...I don't think so. I think they had a very specific purpose. You say, "What do you mean?" Well, you know, I was reading about casting off their clothes, and my mind went back to verse 20, and it says that when Stephen was stoned, Paul kept the raiment of them that slew him.
You know, whenever they stoned somebody, apparently they took off their outer garment so they could really let the rocks fly; and I think what they were gonna do was stone Paul; and since he was clear up at the top of the stairs, it was a long shot...and they started throwing off their outer garments, you see, but they threw dirt. You know why they threw dirt? There weren't any rocks. They grabbed whatever there was. Dirt clods instead of stones. I think they were gonna stone him. They were so infuriated. They were in a frenzy, and they began to grab dirt and throw dirt and threw their clothes off so they could throw it far enough to hit him.
What a scene. Can you see how totally stupid and totally irrational they are? All of the logic of Paul's presentation means nothing. All he does is mention the word Gentiles, and they go nuts. That's religious prejudice...Paul gave his defense, and when they rejected it, you know who they really rejected? Who did they reject? God, that's who; and if that doesn't confirm the unbelief of Israel at that point, nothing does.
Now the last feature. We close with this one. The attitude of Paul, and here come to the thing that I wanted to major on. The attitude of Paul. In the midst of all of this, with everybody throwing dirt at him and the Romans chained him up and all this going on, what's his attitude? Well, I'll tell ya. Just give you a little preview. You know what his attitude is? Love, love for everybody. Love for the Jews throwing the dirt. Love for the Romans standing there guarding him, because that's the measure of the man. He loved. That was his character. All the flying clothes and dirt clods and everything else presented to poor old Claudius Lysias a real problem. He had a new perplexity. "Now what do I do? I didn't even understand what the guy said. I'm no closer to the truth than I ever was. What am I gonna do now?" And so he figures like any Roman soldier, any hardened character such as that. "I know how I'll find out. I've got a way to do it. Torture."
Verse 24. "The chief captain commanded him to be brought into the barracks, and they bade that he should be examined by scourging." That's torture, the flagellum of the Romans was a horrible thing, a stick covered with leather, and then leather thongs, and at the end, bits and pieces of bones and metal, and they would just lash the back until it ripped it raw. That was the flagellum, something Paul had never experienced. Five times received from the Jews, the Jewish lashes. That was different, and three times, the Romans had beaten him with rods, and that was a bunch of sticks tied together, and then they just flailed on him with it; but he'd never had the flagellum. Jesus did before His death.
And so he says, "I'll scourge him, and that'll make him confess, and we'll find out what he's done." He figured he musta done something terrible when they started throwing all this dirt. So he brought him in to be scourged, verse 24. Verse 25, "And as they bound him with thongs," and the word bound has the implication of stretching. That's what they did. They would stretch the man's body to all extreme, so that his body would be drawn to attention, and so that all the lashes would cause the skin to separate immediately and cut right into the flesh and the muscle and tissue. And so they stretched him out, verse 25. And "Paul...I love this...said to the centurion who stood by, 'Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman and uncondemned?'"
Yikes! Now, the scourge, if it didn't kill him would cripple him for life...Paul had never had the scourging. You know why he never had a scourging? 'Cause it was a crime to scourge a Roman. The Portion law and the Valerian Law forbid any Roman from ever going through punishment by flagellum. To add to that, Suetonius, the lawyer said, "Any Roman...who violates or any man who violates the rights of a Roman citizen will be executed of Esquiline Hill in Rome."...So, when Paul said, "Is it lawful to do this to a Roman, uncondemned?" panic struck. Now you know what's interesting in this? You see Paul's attitude. You've already seen his attitude toward the Jews. Even though they hated him and despised him, he loved them and did everything he could to conciliate them, didn't he? He didn't say one thing in that whole speech to really alienate them. Everything he said was gentle and loving and winsome. Even though they hated him. Even though they had beaten him, and, as he even stood there and spoke, his face was puffed and black and blue and bruised and blood was on his clothes from the beating he'd had before the Romans got to him. But with all of that, he was loving and kind and gentle and never a harsh word to them. He loved them.
And here with these Romans, he doesn't burst out in any kind of invectives. It's just the gentle question that he offers very patiently...and I think that indicates his attitude toward them. You know why? Paul could've accepted the punishment. You say, "You gotta be kidding. Nobody'd do that." Wait a minute. You don't know Paul. Paul said that every mark he had on his body was a mark of Jesus Christ, didn't he? Galatians 6:10. Romans 8, he said, "The sufferings of this world are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be ours hereafter." Colossians 1, he said, "I fill up in my body the afflictions of Christ." Philippians 2, he said, "If I have to suffer on the sacrifice of your joy, I...I rejoice." In other words, suffering, to Paul was a glory. It was a joy, and you know, he could've just taken all those blows all over him, and...and then he coulda said, "You see all those scars? I have received those for Christ. Oh, what a joy it was." And maybe he could've said, "You see what I've suffered," and maybe gotten a little self-glory out of it...
Paul, seemingly, had the ability to take all kinds of pain and to have joy in the middle of it, didn't he? Remember the stocks in Philippi? Those aren't stocks like you think of. Those are stocks with graded, graduated holes, extending all the way out; and the man, according to the length of his legs, was stretched to the extremity, and his legs were locked in at their furthest, extreme stretch. In the midst of that, what was he doing? Singing. Singing songs. Now, he had an ability to tolerate pain in the midst of persecution that's unreal. He probably coulda said, "Well, the Spirit'll sustain me. Go ahead, hit away; and if I die, to die is...gain." We sang it this morning, didn't we?
You say, "Why didn't he do it?" 'Cause he didn't have a martyr complex. He didn't have some kind of a self-glorification problem where he wanted to go around and show off his scars. That brings me to a good principle, another principle. In witnessing in a situation, don't be a martyr. Don't just put yourself in a situation to suffer pain so you can go away and say to everybody, "Ohhhhh, I've suffered for the Lord." Don't look for self-glory or self-pity...Don't enjoy your suffering. No place for Christian masochists.
But, you know, there's a second reason he didn't let 'em do this to him. The first one is because he didn't have a martyr complex. He didn't have self-glory. The second one is this: He saved the life of that Roman. He could've accepted the pain and gone to be with Jesus, which is what he wanted to do anyway. Or at least he could've accepted the pain and had the scars to show his faithfulness. But, no, he didn't do that, because, had he done that, he could've had the life of that soldier; because, you see, if the soldier had done that, he could've paid with his life. So when Paul said, "I'm a Roman citizen," in effect, he saved the man's life.
Verse 26, "When the centurion...that's the captain of a hundred men...heard that, he went and told the chief captain...that's the captain of a thousand men, the chief commander, Claudius Lysias...He said, 'Take heed what you do. This man is a Roman.'" Boy, when the news got there, panic. "The chief captain came and said unto him, 'Tell me, are you a Roman?' He said, 'Yes.'" Do you see how God had equipped Paul for every trial?...
You know, that reminds me of 1 Corinthians 10. When Paul said it, he knew what he was talking about. "God will never allow you to suffer above that you are able, but will, with every trial or temptation, make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it." God fits every man for everything He takes him through. "Said, 'Yes,' and the chief captain answered, 'Hooooo, with a great sum obtained I this freedom.'" He said, "Man, I bought my Roman citizenship. It means a lot to me. You realize what I almost did? Almost lost my citizenship or my life." Paul quietly says, "It's interesting. I was free born." Which just drives the nails in a little deeper. He wasn't a second-class citizen. He was a first-class citizen. Here was a second-class citizen gonna...gonna flagellate a first-class citizen. Bad news. The first guy was on thin ice anyway.
You say, "How did he get his citizenship?" He bought it. Say, "Who'd he buy it from?" Probably under the rule of Emperor Claudius, because his name is Lysias, a Greek name. He's a Greek guy. Where did he get the Roman name Claudius? Well, people used to take the name of the emperor, so he probably took Claudius' name, because, during the reign of Claudius, Claudius had a wife named Messalina, and Messalina had a buncha court favorites that hung around her, and they all thought they'd line their own pockets, so they started selling Roman citizenships for exorbitant prices; and what happened was Claudius Lysias bought one of them. Took the name of Claudius, so he was a purchased citizen in that sense. Paul was born a citizen.
You say, "That's interesting. How did Paul's father become a citizen?" We don't know, but God made sure it happened. Well, "Then immediately...verse 29...they departed from him who should have examined him." Everybody left. "The chief captain was afraid after he knew that he was a Roman, because he had bound him." He was scared. Chief captain said, "Everybody out. It's all over with."
"And the next day, they turned him over to the Jews for due process." Now lemme show you something, as we conclude with this thought. What do we see here about giving a positive testimony in a negative situation? Next time, we're gonna pick it up and see what happened in phase two of his defense, his second defense. But what do we see here about a positive testimony in a negative situation? One, you have to accept the situation is from God. Two, create an opportunity. Three, do everything to win your hearers. Four, exalt the Lord, so that if people reject, they're rejecting God, not you. Five, use everything to avoid suffering. Six, have the right attitude; and the only right attitude is love.
How many times have you been in a situation where you had an opportunity to witness, and your only attitude was self-preservation? Protecting your ego, safety, security, popularity....What was Paul's attitude? Selfless love for those around him. He did everything to win their hearts. To the Jews, he was everything that he could've been to win them. Say, "That was a gimmick. Ahhhhh, that was a gimmick to get their attention." No, it wasn't a gimmick. You know he loved those Jews? You read Romans 9, 10, and 11 again, if you don't think he loved 'em. He says in Romans, "I could wish myself accursed... chapter 3...for the sake of Israel's salvation." He says, "My heart's prayer and desire for Israel is they be saved," in chapter 10. There was a passion in his bones. No, he really loved 'em, and he loved the Gentiles enough to spare that man's life.
You know, Jesus was the same way, dying on the cross, He looked out to the people who spit on Him, and He said, "Father... what?...forgive them for they know not what they do." Stephen, as he crushed beneath the bloody stones and the blood ran away and the life with it, looked up and said, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." That's the only attitude that'll ever make you effective in a negative situation, when you love the people so much you're willing to sacrifice everything you have for their sake. Your ego, your popularity, everything. That's to be your attitude. Beloved, when all these things fall into line, you'll have a positive testimony in a negative situation that God'll bless. Let's pray.
It's good, Father, this morning to share in the Word. It's rich. It's full, and we feel satisfied. We thank You for it. Father, as satisfied as we are, we're unsatisfied in the sense that there are many yet who do not know our Lord Jesus Christ, and our hearts grieve for them. Maybe some this morning here. And in addition, Lord, there are Christians, Your own children, who should be giving this kind of testimony, but are not out of selfishness. Oh, God, we pray that they might really know what the love of God is that shed abroad in their hearts, and that they might be able to transmit it to others as the Spirit flows through. Pray that we might make a dent in this world. That we, from this church, just us, to begin with, Lord, would go out of this place in this week, give a positive testimony. Father, what Your Spirit could do. How exciting it is to think about. God, help us to be faithful. We give You the praise in Jesus' name. Amen.
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