"'Brethren and fathers, hear my defense which I now offer to you.'  And when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew dialect, they became even more quiet; and he said, 'I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated under Gamaliel, strictly according to the law of our fathers, being zealous for God, just as you all are today.  And I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women in to prisons, as also the high priest and all the Council of elders can testify.  From them I also received letters to the brethren, and started off for Damascus in order to bring even those who were there to Jerusalem as prisoners to be punished.'"

Paul begins to tell people about his history.  He is basically giving the crowd a resume look at Paul of Tarsus.

We see this in other parts of the Bible, but the reason it is so important here is context.

Paul is speaking to people who are very much like he is.  Religious people.  People who were brought up Jewish.  People interested in the Lord.

The reason Paul is speaking this way to this group is to prepare them for the message they are about to hear.  Paul will later say, "I make myself a slave to all men..."  This is exactly what he is doing here.

What do you do, or what do you sacrifice, to help people hear the Gospel message?