{"id":2116,"date":"2020-03-28T09:01:59","date_gmt":"2020-03-28T17:01:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=2116"},"modified":"2020-03-28T09:01:59","modified_gmt":"2020-03-28T17:01:59","slug":"devotion-acts-2513-22-another-hearing-against-paul-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=2116","title":{"rendered":"Devotion Acts 25:13-22 Another Hearing Against Paul Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Acts 25:13-22<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0<\/i>A few days later King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea\u00a0to pay their respects to Festus.<\/i><\/span>\u00a014\u00a0Since they were spending many days there, Festus discussed Paul\u2019s case with the king. He said: \u201cThere is a man here whom Felix left as a prisoner.<\/span>\u00a015\u00a0When I went to Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews brought charges against him\u00a0and asked that he be condemned.\u00a0 16\u00a0\u201cI told them that it is not the Roman custom to hand over anyone before they have faced their accusers and have had an opportunity to defend themselves against the charges.<\/span>\u00a017\u00a0When they came here with me, I did not delay the case, but convened the court the next day and ordered the man to be brought in.<\/span>\u00a018\u00a0When his accusers got up to speak, they did not charge him with any of the crimes I had expected.<\/span>\u00a019\u00a0Instead, they had some points of dispute\u00a0with him about their own religion\u00a0and about a dead man named Jesus who Paul claimed was alive.<\/span>\u00a020\u00a0I was at a loss how to investigate such matters; so I asked if he would be willing to go to Jerusalem and stand trial there on these charges.<\/span>\u00a021\u00a0But when Paul made his appeal to be held over for the Emperor\u2019s decision, I ordered him held until I could send him to Caesar.\u201d\u00a0 22\u00a0Then Agrippa said to Festus, \u201cI would like to hear this man myself.\u201d\u00a0 He replied, \u201cTomorrow you will hear him.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they came here with me, I did not delay the case, but convened the court the next day and ordered the man to be brought in.<\/i><\/span>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0When coming before Festus\u2019s predecessor Felix, the Jews took five days to go before him in Caesarea.\u00a0\u00a0This time they were there right away.\u00a0\u00a0They had, in Jerusalem, presented to Festus that they wanted Paul immediately tried and condemned to death based merely upon the strength of their assertions and \u201crequests.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Showing their exigency of the matter they showed up right away and Festus, understanding their urgency, held the trial the very next day.\u00a0\u00a0Surely they were ready, after two years of stewing over the matter, to present a strong case.\u00a0\u00a0Right?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen his accusers got up to speak, they did not charge him with any of the crimes I had expected.\u00a0\u00a0Instead, they had some points of dispute\u00a0with him about their own religion\u00a0and about a dead man named Jesus who Paul claimed was alive.<\/i><\/span>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0They had two years to get ready for the trial and then presented hollow allegations of their doctrinal differences and no violations of Roman law\u2026in a Roman court!\u00a0\u00a0No citizen would expect to go into a U.S.A court of law and expect them to enforce a law that does not exist in the U.S.A.\u00a0\u00a0Festus desired to give these people, who could be a weight upon him or allies for him, what they wanted.\u00a0\u00a0But he believed and respected Roman law enough that he needed some kind of evidence to convict.\u00a0\u00a0To his utter surprise they gave him fluff and no substance. Of course we know the reason why they could not give any substance, it is because none of the charges against Him were true and no Roman law had been broken.\u00a0\u00a0The truth is exactly what Paul had been saying.\u00a0\u00a0The charge they brought against Paul boiled down that he preached the resurrection of Jesus and what that subsequently meant to the world, and should mean to them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was at a loss how to investigate such matters; so I asked if he would be willing to go to Jerusalem and stand trial there on these charges.<\/i><\/span>\u00a0\u00a0So Festus said to Paul \u201cHey Paul, these guys want to have you executed.\u00a0\u00a0However they don\u2019t appear to be ready with any weighty evidence at this time so do you want to go to Jerusalem, in their place of power, and stand trial, again, there?\u00a0\u00a0I mean I know they have tried to convict him before the Commander Claudius Lysias, and before Governor Felix, and now before me and could not prove their case.\u00a0\u00a0However do you want to give them another go at it?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Obviously ridiculous.\u00a0\u00a0Yet, we can be sure that if Jerusalem is where Jesus had told Paul to go, then Paul would have went back there.\u00a0\u00a0However, Rome is where the Lord told Paul he would go and so Rome is where Paul wanted to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when Paul made his appeal to be held over for the Emperor\u2019s decision, I ordered him held until I could send him to Caesar.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0\u00a0As Festus had said at the time of Paul\u2019s demand \u201c<\/span>You have appealed to Caesar. To Caesar you will go!<\/i>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0To which Paul must have cast an inward smile to Jesus and inwardly prayed \u201cLord, Your ways are surely above our ways!\u201d (Isaiah 55:8-9<\/b>)<\/p>\n

\u201cThen Agrippa said to Festus, \u201cI would like to hear this man myself.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0He replied, \u201cTomorrow you will hear him.\u201d<\/i><\/span>\u00a0\u00a0So, likely, King Agrippa was frothing at the mouth to hear what Paul would have to say.\u00a0\u00a0It is likely that he had heard of Paul and had wondered about him and now here was Paul.\u00a0\u00a0Of course he, the Roman placed King over the Jews, who had authority to name the high priest, wanted to hear from Paul!<\/p>\n

Luke 12:11-12<\/b>\u00a0\u201cWhen you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Although we are all amazed at Paul\u2019s ability to defend the faith, we ought not to wonder.\u00a0\u00a0At least we ought not to stare at Paul and wonder.\u00a0\u00a0Sure, it was well known that he was incredibly educated, even the Romans knew that (Acts 26:24<\/b>), but that is not the reason Paul was unafraid.\u00a0\u00a0He was unafraid because he walked in the Spirit and not in the flesh. (Galatians 5:25<\/b>)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0He knew that all the studying he had done was most valuable when revealed and put together by the Holy Spirit.\u00a0\u00a0We also know that.\u00a0\u00a0Many men of the world study the scriptures without the Holy Spirit within, and with no desire to submit to Jesus, and so the Word has no true spiritual meaning to them.\u00a0\u00a0But we know that the Holy Spirit guide not Pau but He also guides us.\u00a0\u00a0All who have spent time sharing the Word knows that the Holy Spirit is the One who provides and guides as the Word is preached, taught, and shared.\u00a0\u00a0So let us not fear, God is within us.\u00a0\u00a0God can speak through us.\u00a0\u00a0And He does!\u00a0\u00a0Praise God!<\/p>\n

P<\/b><\/span>salm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/p>\n

Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.<\/p>\n

Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; and what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with Your God.<\/p>\n

Numbers 6:24-26<\/b>\u00a0\u201cThe\u00a0Lord\u00a0bless you and keep you; 25\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u00a0make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u00a0turn His face\u00a0toward you and give you peace.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Acts 25:13-22\u00a0–\u00a0A few days later King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea\u00a0to pay their respects to Festus.\u00a014\u00a0Since they were spending many days there, Festus discussed Paul\u2019s case with the king. He said: \u201cThere is a man here whom Felix left as a prisoner.\u00a015\u00a0When I went to Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[82,1969,103,106,94,1874,17],"class_list":["post-2116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-acts","tag-galatians","tag-isaiah","tag-luke","tag-micah","tag-numbers","tag-psalm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2116"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2116\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2117,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2116\/revisions\/2117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}