Acts 25 Round Two: God Is Really In Charge

A governor chasing favor, a king chasing curiosity, and a prisoner chasing his calling—Acts 25 has the pace of a courtroom drama with the heartbeat of hope. We walk through Paul’s legal maze and watch how pressure, delay, and politics become unexpected pathways for the gospel. What looks like another setback turns into a decisive step forward when Paul wisely asserts his rights and declares, “I appeal to Caesar,” opening a door that leads straight toward Rome.

We unpack the power of that appeal and the strategy behind it: faith that uses practical means to pursue a mission. Festus admits he’s baffled by the charges, which hinge not on crimes but on theology and a claim that Jesus, once dead, now lives. That admission reframes the entire case. By the time Agrippa arrives, the stage is bigger, the audience broader, and the message clearer. The very forces trying to contain Paul’s influence amplify it, placing his testimony before rulers and elites who otherwise would never hear him.

Along the way, we talk about the tension of waiting and the quiet strength of obedience. Paul respects the process without surrendering his purpose, models courage without contempt, and keeps resurrection at the center. You’ll hear how pain can become a platform, how to navigate systems without losing your soul, and how to spot the open doors that hardship often hides. If you’re facing delays, closed doors, or misunderstood motives, this story offers a grounded, practical hope: God is not stalled by your setbacks. He’s aligning moments, shaping rooms, and preparing listeners you haven’t met yet.

Join us as we explore Acts 25 with clear takeaways you can apply today—wisdom in decision-making, patience in detours, and boldness to speak when your moment arrives. If this encouraged you, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs perspective, and leave a quick review to help more people find the show.

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The More We Dig. The More We Find.

Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT).
Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Theme: God In Charge
• 0:49 Community, Reviews, And Devotions
• 1:46 Setting The Stage: Acts 25 Context
• 3:28 Charges Against Paul And Legal Maneuvers
• 4:54 Paul Appeals To Caesar
• 6:00 Agrippa’s Curiosity And Public Hearing
• 7:20 Takeaway: Pain As Platform And Prayer

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast. Every day, we take one chapter of the Bible, dig deeper, and discover that the more we dig, the more we find. You can find out more at the BibleBreakdown.com. Now let's grow in God's Word together. Well, everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, Pastor Brandon. Today, Acts chapter 25. And if I were to give this one a title, it would simply be God's Really in Charge. God is Really in Charge. What we're going to see today is we're going to see how the new governor in Paul's situation is trying to mess with things, try to do whatever. And Paul's trying to get to Rome, trying to get to Rome. And the whole time, even though it looks like it may or may not happen, it finally does. Only to realize that even when things look uncertain to us, God really is in charge. We're going to get to that in just a moment. But as always, if you like what we're doing here, make sure you like, share, and subscribe to this YouTube channel. Make sure you leave us a comment on how you're connecting with God's word. Also, leave us a five-star review on the podcast. It really does help us get the word out there. We need to get as many of those five-star reviews as we can so we can kind of get in that algorithm that let more people about this community we're trying to build. Speaking of community, don't forget to go to our Facebook group where we are posting every single day a devotion that is connected to what we're reading together. And the devotion is different from what I'm saying. And it's really, really good. And I would love to hear your comments on this as well. Also, don't forget, at the end of our devotion, we've added some music at the end so that you can take a few moments and really process, decompress, and just allow the Lord to speak to you as you just think on, maybe soap through God's word is doing in you. And if you want more information about soap, make sure you look in the notes on the YouTube channel and the podcast so you can see how to soap through God's Word together. All right. Acts chapter 25 is more of the same that we've been doing. As we've been telling you before, that Luke, this physician-turned investigative journalist who is writing about the account of the early church as he's been inspired by the Holy Spirit. And now he is a traveling companion for the Apostle Paul. And so he is chronicling what happened in the Apostle Paul to get him to Rome. He's already been to Jerusalem. Now he's going to Rome. And what happened is he ends up going to the governor's palace and he stays there for two years, talking back and forth with a very corrupt governor, Felix. Well, Felix gets called back to Rome. We now know through history because he got in a lot of trouble. And so as he's gone, a guy named Festus has taken over. And now he's trying to figure out what in the world to do with Paul. And so once again, as we said yesterday, if the pain of these things continue to build this platform, that some people looking outside is going, poor Paul, like everything's going wrong. He went to Jerusalem, he got arrested, whatever, whatever. But when you realize what's going on, actually, what's happening is these bad situations are actually building bigger and bigger opportunities for Paul to speak to the leaders of the free world at the time. Or not free world, they're not free, of the known world at the time. And so we have to be careful not to always look at every bad thing as a bad thing. But rather, sometimes a setback is actually God setting us up for something else. And we're going to see that today. That in a moment it looks a little bit uncertain. It's like, is Paul gonna get to go to Rome? Is he not gonna get to go to Rome? Oh, yeah. Yeah, he's going. Because as we said, the title today is God really is in charge of all the things that are going on. Nothing's gonna happen outside of his will. So let's read this together and see what God's Word will say to us today. Verse one. Three days after Festus arrived in Caesarea to take over his new responsibilities, he left for Jerusalem, where the leading priests and other Jewish leaders met with him and made their accusations against Paul. Verse three, they asked Festus as a favor to transfer Paul to Jerusalem, planning to ambush him and kill him on the way. Pause. So I don't know if these poor jokers. Do you remember a couple chapters ago? There was it was like 40 of them. They're like, We're not gonna eat, we're not gonna drink. Well, I guess maybe. Either all of them died, or they were like, Okay, but my bad, my bad, my bad. Now they want another turn at it, right? But not gonna happen. Verse 4. But Festus replied that Paul was at Caesarea and he himself would be returning there soon. So he said, Those of you in authority can return with me, and if Paul has done anything wrong, you can make your accusations. About eight or ten days uh later, Festus returned to Caesarea, and on the following day he took his seat in court and ordered Paul to be brought in. When Paul arrived, the Jewish leaders from Jerusalem gathered around and made many serious accusations that they could not prove. Paul denied the charges. I am not guilty of any crime against the Jewish law or the temple or the Roman government, he said. Then Festus, wanting to please the Jews, asked him, Are you willing to go to Jerusalem to stand trial before me? Because Paul is smart and he remembers the accusations before, Paul replied in verse 10, No, this is an official Roman court, so I ought to be tried right here. You know very well that I am not guilty of harming the Jews. If I had done something worthy of death, I don't refuse to die. But I if I but if I am innocent, no one has a right to turn me over to these men to kill me. I appeal to Caesar. Festus conferred with his advisors and then replied, Very well. You have appealed to Caesar, and to Caesar you will go. Now pause. Now the reason why that's a big deal is because every Roman citizen as a right could appeal their case to Caesar. Now it could get denied, but you had the right to do that. And if it was granted to you, you could go. And so by doing that, that is like throwing the trump card as my right as a Roman citizen, I request this, and they're actually gonna give him that opportunity. So it looked like maybe a moment where he wasn't gonna get to go. Oh yeah, he's gonna get to go. But then look what happens next. A few days later, King Agrippa arrived with his sister, Bernice, to pay their respects to Festus. During their stay for several days, Festus discussed Paul's case with the king. By the way, this is not the emperor. King Agrippa would be like a level up than uh where Felix would be, but he's still not the emperor. There is a prisoner here, he told him, whose case was left for me by Felix. When I was in Jerusalem, the leading priests and Jewish elders pressed charges against him and asked me to condemn him. I pointed out to them that Rome, uh Roman law does not convict people without a trial. They must be given an opportunity to confront their accusers and defend themselves. When his accusers came here for the trial, I didn't delay. I called the case the very next day and ordered Paul to be brought in. But the accusations made against him weren't really of any crimes I expected. Instead, it was something about their religion and a dead man named Jesus, who Paul insists is alive. I was at a loss to know how to investigate these things, so I asked him whether he'd be willing to stand trial in Jerusalem. But Paul has appealed to have his case decided by the emperor. So I ordered him to be held in custody until I could arrange to send him to Caesar. I'd like to hear this man myself, Agrippa said, and Festus replied, You will tomorrow. So the next day, Agrippa and Bernice arrived at the auditorium with great pomp, accompanied by military officers and prominent men of the city. Festus ordered that Paul be brought in. Then Festus said, King Agrippa and all who were here, this is the man whose death is demanded by all the Jews, both here and in Jerusalem. But in my opinion, he has done nothing deserving death. However, since he has appealed his case to the emperor, I have decided to send him to Rome. But what shall I write to the Emperor? For there is no clear charge against him. So I have brought him before you all, and especially you, King Agrippa, so that after we examine him I might have something to write. For it makes no sense to send a man to the emperor without specifying the charges against him. So, what I love about this is as the pain and as the bad things continue to mount, the platform is getting bigger, and God is continuing to move and continuing to put Paul in front of more and more important people, and so the gospel can be heard. If you think about it, in no other situation would Governor Felix have had a chance to hear Paul. No other situation would the new governor, uh Festus, get to hear. And then in no situation would the king, not the emperor, but he's like a local king, Agrippa, but never had a chance. Only because of the pain. And that's so God is really in charge. He really is orchestrating all of these bad events to do something great in the life of Paul. And that brings me a lot of encouragement, and that's where I want to end our time today. We would never want a single bad thing to happen in our life. That's just normal. But is it possible that while God didn't bring these things to you, he uses and orchestrates and steers all of these things into our life in order to push us in the right direction so that he can get the glory and so that he can do greater things in us than we could ever do by ourselves? Just like Paul, in what world would he have ever got to speak to these dignitaries and leaders? There was no world there was no world when he could have. But because of bad things, it created a platform for Paul to do that. What if there are some things that God wants you to do that in a normal, ordinary setting just wouldn't be in the cards for you? You just wouldn't get a chance to do. But because of these bad things, there are now opportunities for God to use you to do great things. So maybe before we complain too much, and I'm speaking to myself, maybe instead we go, God, I'm not wondering whether or not you are moving. I just trust that you're moving as quickly as possible to put us in the right direction. Let's pray together today. God, thank you so much for today. Thank you that you are with us, you're for us. Thank you that you surround us in all things. Lord, my prayer is is like Paul. God, that when we go through things, we trust that you are leading us in the right direction. And I know, God, that you are. But I pray today, you'll open our eyes, put something in our path, uh, kind of just remind us that you're with us, you're for us, you're all around us. Thank you, God, in advance for all things. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Don't forget, God's Word says in Acts chapter 1, verse 8, Jesus said, You will receive power when? When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth. Man, I can't wait to see you tomorrow and to hear what God's doing in your life as you embrace the power of God to do great things. And I will see you tomorrow for Acts chapter 26.