Acts 26 Round Two: We Determine Faithfulness. God Determines Fruitfullness.

What happens when you give everything you’ve got, say exactly what’s true, and nothing dramatic happens? We sit with Paul’s defense before King Agrippa in Acts 26 and find a liberating answer: faithfulness is the win, and fruit belongs to God. From the opening frame, we explore how Paul grounds his story in his Jewish background, names his past as a persecutor, and centers the Damascus encounter where Jesus commissions him to open eyes and turn people from darkness to light. He doesn’t manipulate. He doesn’t posture. He bears witness—calmly, clearly, and courageously.

We unpack Paul’s careful appeal to Moses and the prophets, his insistence on the resurrection as the anchor of hope, and the striking exchange with Festus and Agrippa. When Festus calls him insane, Paul stands firm. When Agrippa pushes back, Paul prays that everyone listening would become as he is, except for the chains. There’s no cinematic payoff here—no instant conversions, no victory lap—only a deep lesson about calling. You cannot control outcomes, especially spiritual ones. Your lane is obedience; God decides fruit and timing.

Together we translate that into real life: how to measure success by faithfulness in tough workplaces, complex family dynamics, and long seasons with little visible progress. You’ll hear practical encouragement to keep showing up with integrity, to share your story without pressure tactics, and to trust the Spirit’s power more than your own performance. If you’re weary from chasing results, this conversation offers relief, courage, and a clearer target for your soul. If it resonates, subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review—then tell us: where do you need to choose faithfulness today?

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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 Big Idea
• 1:00 Community And Calls To Engage
• 2:03 Setting The Scene With Agrippa
• 2:28 Paul’s Jewish Roots And Hope
• 3:47 Persecution And Damascus Encounter
• 5:00 Commission To The Gentiles
• 6:02 Defense: Moses, Prophets, Resurrection
• 6:23 Festus Interrupts, Paul Stands Firm
• 7:00 Agrippa’s Pushback And Outcome
• 7:35 Redefining Success As Faithfulness
• 10:10 Prayer And Final Encouragement

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 26. And if I were to give this a title, it would be this We determine faithfulness, God determines fruitfulness, and within his time frame. We determine faithfulness, God determines fruitfulness, and within his time. We now have the moment when Paul is speaking to the highest ranking official in the area outside of the Emperor, the Caesar himself. And in this moment, he all this pain, all these things that he has done and has been done to him is leading him to this moment. And all he has to do is just be faithful with the same message he's preached everywhere else. We're going to get into that in just a moment. But as always, if you like what we're doing here, make sure you like, share, and subscribe. The YouTube video, make sure you're commenting on it to let us know how you're impacted by God's word. If you're listening to the podcast, make sure you leave us a five-star review. It really does help us to kind of get all this out here. And I would love for you to go to the Facebook group, Bible Breakdown Discussion, and let us know how you're engaging with this. Also, we have some folks creating some devotions for us every single day. We would love for you to engage with that. And also, if you would like to be part of our team, let us know how we can uh we can do this thing together. And I want to know if you're really engaging with the music at the end. Are you taking a moment to really just pray, just think and allow God to seal his word in your heart? If so, I want to know about it. I want you to let me know if you're listening to this on the YouTube channel. Make sure you leave us a comment there or go to Facebook and let us know, okay? As we dive into God's word, that's what this is going to be today. It's just going to be Paul sharing the story about what God is doing in his life all over again. And it's just awesome. It's awesome to see how God is just continuing to build this platform on all this pain. And now here's the moment. Other than speaking to Caesar, this is the biggest audience Paul is going to have. And his job is just to be faithful, and God determines fruitfulness, and the timing is also his. So if you have your NLT Bibles open with me, you want to open them up to Acts chapter 26. We're going to jump into God's word together and just hear what Paul has to say. Here we go, verse one. Then Agrippa said to Paul, You may speak in your defense. So Paul, gesturing with his hand, started his defense. And I don't know what that means. I just, here we go. Whatever it is, he gestured, and not in a vulgar way, apparently, because he's talking to a guy who could kill him at any moment, but he says, Here we go. So you may speak in your defense. He says, I am fortunate, King Agrippa, that you are the one hearing my defense today against all these accusations made by the Jewish leaders. For I know that you're an expert on all Jewish customs and controversies. Now, please listen to me patiently. As the Jewish leaders are aware, I was given a thorough Jewish training from my earliest childhood among my own people and in Jerusalem. If they would admit it, they would know that I have been a member of the Pharisees, the strictest sect of our religion. Now I'm on trial because of my hope in the fulfillment of God's promise made to our ancestors. In fact, that is why the twelve tribes of Israel zealously worship God night and day, and they share the same hope I have. Yet, your majesty, they accuse me of having this hope. Why? Why does it seem incredible to any of you that God can raise the dead? I used to believe that I ought to do everything I could to oppose the name of Jesus the Nazarene. Indeed, I did just that in Jerusalem. Authorized by the leading priest, I caused many believers there to be sent to prison, and I cast my vote against them when they were condemned to death. Many times I had them punished in the synagogues and uh and get them to curse Jesus. Now pause for a moment. Did you realize that? That he said, not only did I do these bad things, but many times I would punish them in the synagogue and get them to curse Jesus. So he was the worst kind of sinner. And he was saying, as he continues, I was so violently opposed to them that I even chased them down in foreign cities. One day I was on such a mission to Damascus, armed with the authority and commissioned the leading priests, and about noon, your majesty, I was on the road, and a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shone down on me and my companions. We all fell down, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is useless for you to fight against my will. Who are you, Lord? I said. The Lord replied to me, I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting. Now, get to your feet, for I have appeared to you to appoint you as my servant and witness. Tell the people that you have seen me, tell them that I will show you what I will show you in the future, and that I will rescue you both from your own people and the Gentiles. Yes, I am sending you to the Gentiles, to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God. Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God's people who are set apart by faith in me. And so, King Agrippa, I obeyed that vision from heaven. I preached first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all Judea, and to all also to the Gentiles, that all men might repent of their sins and turn to God, and prove that they have changed by the good things they do. Some Jews arrested me in the temple for preaching this, and they tried to kill me, but God has protected me right up to this present time, so that I can testify to everyone from the least to the greatest. I teach nothing except what the prophets and Moses said would happen, that the Messiah would suffer and be the first to rise from the dead, and in this way announce God's light to the Jews and Gentiles alike. Suddenly Festus shouted, Paul, you're insane. Too much study has made you crazy. Paul replied, No, I'm not insane, most excellent Festus. What I'm saying is the sober truth. Other words, he's saying, I am stone cold right in the center of my brain. I know what I'm saying. Verse 26. And King Agrippa knows that these knows about these things. I speak boldly, for I am sure that these events are familiar to him, for they have not been done in a corner. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do. Agrippa interrupted him. Paul, do you think you can persuade me to become a Christian so quickly? Paul replied, Whether quickly or not, I pray to God that both you and everyone here in this audience might become the same as I am, except for these chains. So he's saying, I want you to be as in love with Jesus as me, but maybe you don't have to go to prison for it like I do. Verse 30. Then the king, the governor, Bernice, and all the others stood and left. They went out and they talked it over and agreed. This man hasn't done anything to deserve death or imprisonment. And Agrippa said to Festus, he could have been set free if he hadn't appealed to Caesar. So here we have Paul in this moment. And he's finally in front of Caesar, or not Caesar, but but King Agrippa, and he shares his story. And then, you know, there's there's this moment, like you know, you see in the movies where, you know, there's the the the hero of the story, and he's got to overcome all of these odds and all these obstacles, and he finally gets his moment in the sun, and and he gets to do the thing, whatever it is, and he just saves the day. You know, he he um he fixes it so that the bomb doesn't go off, or he stops the aliens, or whatever it is. And so like he wins the day, and then everybody just sells off into the sunset. Well, that's a movie. That's not real. This is real life. And so all these bad things have happened to Paul. He's had to overcome all these horrible situations, and it's gotten bad, and it's gotten worse, and it's got worse until finally he's standing before King Agrippa, one step below Caesar. And they're like, We're gonna sing you to Caesar, but before you go to Caesar, here's your chance to share your story. And in the movies, this would have been the moment when he would have shared his story. King Agrippa gets saved, and then they just ride off in the sunset together. This is real life. So he shares his story, and he's like, Paul, are you trying to make me a Christian? Almost mocking him. And Paul's like, Yep, I wish you could be a Christian just like me, except you don't go to jail. And that's it. That's the end of the story. From what I've researched, we have no idea if King Agrippa ever became a Christian or not. I'd like to tell you he did, but we simply don't know. We don't know if Festus became a Christian or not. We don't know if Bernice, his wife, ever became uh Agrippa's wife ever became a Christian. We we don't know. And there's something about that now. I would love for them to have become Christians, love for them to become Christians in the moment. But you know what I love maybe even more is that wasn't the point. That wasn't Paul's point wasn't the fruit. It wasn't for these people to get saved, that would have been great. Paul accomplished his mission when he was faithful. Because our job is faithfulness. God determines fruitfulness, and the timing is also his as well. Now, make sure you understand, I'm not saying that we shouldn't try to do the best we can. What I'm saying is we can't get hung up on the results because we can't control the results, especially when it comes to sharing our story with others. We can't make someone receive Christ. That would be manipulation, and that's not at all what God's about. But rather, our job is just to be faithful with the story and then let God do the rest. And so they didn't have to receive Christ for Paul to have achieved his mission at this set, at this part of the journey. The part of the journey that he had to do was be faithful. And my encouragement to you is this maybe you're in a situation where you're doing your best to live for the Lord, you're living for God in difficult circumstances, difficult home environment, different, difficult work environment, maybe this a difficult season of life, and you just feel like, you know, I just I feel like I'm not seeing success. I'm not seeing the return for my investment. What if you were to redefine success? You know, maybe redefining success is not to achieve, but it's to become everything that God has called you to be. And it's to be faithful, to be faithful to what God has called you to do, and let that faithfulness determine what you do, and let God determine the fruitfulness, let God determine the bottom line. So today, instead of being worried about accomplishing everything, what if you focused on being faithful with what God has put in your hands and see if that'll bring a little joy into your life? Let's pray together and we'll be done. Father, thank you so much for today. Thank you for your goodness, your mercy, your kindness. God, we we all want to be successful at what we do. We all want to achieve, we all want to provide, we all want these these good things. But sometimes our definition of success gets in the way of our faithfulness. Because sometimes we feel like that unless we achieve what we have as our idea of success, then we haven't actually done anything good. Only to realize, God, that we can't determine fruitfulness a lot of times. All we can determine is our level of faithfulness. I pray today you help us to be faithful in all that we do and just trust you with the rest. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Don't forget, God's Word says in Acts 1, verse 8, he said, I will you will receive power when? When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth. My prayer for you is that you'll experience the power of the Holy Spirit, and he will empower you to make a difference in your world today. I love ya. I'll see you tomorrow for Acts chapter 27.