December 11, 2025 • 11 mins
What if the hardest season you’re living through is also the microphone God is handing you? We walk through Acts 24 and watch Paul step into a courtroom designed to crush him, only to find a larger audience for the gospel. False accusations, political theater, and a governor fishing for bribes set the scene. Yet every obstacle widens the reach of a clear, steady message centered on the resurrection and a hope stronger than fear.
We unpack Felix’s reputation for corruption and why his delays, though self-serving, keep bringing Paul back to speak. Paul’s defense is crisp and honest: he names the facts, owns his faith in “the Way,” and points to the Law, the Prophets, and the resurrection as his anchor. When Felix and Drusilla listen, the conversation turns bold—righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment. The room shifts. Felix feels the weight and stalls for “a convenient time.” Two years pass. Paul remains in custody, but the platform grows, the audience expands, and the road to Rome inches closer.
This conversation isn’t just ancient history; it’s a roadmap for modern courage. We explore how to respond when systems are unfair, how to speak truth without bluster, and how waiting can become witness rather than waste. If you’ve wondered whether your struggle can bear fruit, this story offers oxygen: people may respect success, but they connect through pain—and God can redeem even the mess into meaningful influence.
If this encouraged you, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review to help others find the podcast. Then tell us: where have you seen purpose break through pain?
We’d love to hear from you. (For questions, use the links above.)
Contact us-
Ask a Question
Send Encouragement
Take a Next Step-
SOAP Bible Study Method.
Bible Reading Plan.
Free Weekly Newsletter.
Socials-
Facebook.
Instagram.
X.
YouTube.
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.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast.
Every day, we take one chapterof the Bible, dig deeper, and
discover that the more we dig,the more we find.
You can find out more at theBibleBreakdown.com.
Now let's grow in God's wordtogether.
Well hello, everybody.
Welcome back to the BibleBreakdown Podcast with your
host, Pastor Brandon.
Today, Acts chapter 24.
(00:21):
And if I were to give this one atitle, it's just continuing this
narrative of God turns pain intoplatforms.
God turns pain into platforms.
We wouldn't ever want to gothrough some of the things that
Paul went through.
We don't want to go through thethings we have to go through.
But here's the thing if you'regoing to go through pain, don't
waste it.
Let God turn it into somethingamazing.
(00:43):
And God told Paul to get toJerusalem, and he did.
And then when he gets toJerusalem, everything hits the
fan.
It gets crazy.
He got beaten and arrested, tiedup, and then he gets a plot
against him, 40 fools trying tokill him.
And I mean, it just goes crazy.
(01:03):
But then right in the middle ofthat, God talks to Paul and he
says, You're good.
You're not going to end here.
You're going to make it all theway to Rome.
And all of this pain ishappening.
But what it's doing, though, ison his way to Rome, the
platforms are getting bigger andbigger and bigger.
And we're going to talk aboutthat more in just a moment.
But as always, if you like whatwe're doing here, make sure you
like, share, and subscribe theYouTube channel.
(01:25):
Make sure if you're watchingthis or listening to this rather
on the podcast, give us afive-star review.
It really does help us.
Make sure that you go to ourFacebook group at Bible
Breakdown Discussion.
Let us know what's going on inyour life.
And I want to ask you thisquestion.
Have you ever had to give aspeech?
Have you ever had to give aspeech before?
If so, I want you to tell usabout it.
Did you like it?
(01:46):
Did you not like it?
Did you were you willing to takea zero speech class instead of
doing it?
Have you ever had to do that?
Well, Paul, he's a speaker.
He does that a lot, but hisplatforms are getting bigger and
bigger and bigger.
And now it's getting to where heis speaking from these elites.
And we're going to get into thatin just a moment.
But I also want to tell you,we've been adding music at the
end of it to give us anopportunity just to sit and
(02:07):
settle what God's Word is doingin us.
And I want to know, if youlisten to this on the YouTube
channel, I want you to leave usa comment and let us know if it
is helpful for you just to havea moment.
If it doesn't matter to you, letus know.
We're just trying to, you know,try out some ideas.
This is also proof to you thatwe do try out your ideas to see
kind of what works, what helps.
So you let us know if it's goingto help.
Let's get to this today.
(02:28):
Acts chapter 24.
Now, I want to give you a littlebit of a background about Felix.
Felix is a Roman politician.
Felix was known to be extremelycorrupt, very much into playing
the political game of the Romanestablishment, very much into
not really caring about thevalue of human life, willing to
kill people in order to helphimself get ahead, and also very
(02:49):
willing to accept a bribe at anygiven time.
And later, what's going tohappen is he is actually going
to get in a whole lot of troublefrom this.
And a contingent of Jewishpeople are eventually going to
go to Rome to complain to theemperor about Felix is going to
get Felix removed because he'sjust so corrupt and so horrible.
But that hasn't happened yet.
(03:10):
Right now, Felix is over kind ofthe area that encompasses all of
the Jewish territory.
And that's why, once when theycouldn't come up with the
solution in Jerusalem, they senthim to the next step up, the
Roman uh provincial leader,which is governor Felix.
And so that's why they have donethis.
(03:31):
And so a contingent fromJerusalem has now come to the
governor's palace so that theycan hear the case, or Felix can,
and figure out what to do.
So, yet again, all of thisthat's going on, all of these
painful experiences are justbroadening out the platform that
can be used so that Paul cancontinue to tell the story of
the gospel.
Even if it's a corruptenvironment, Paul is able to
(03:54):
move forward because God is withhim.
So if you got your Bibles openwith me to Acts chapter 24, your
NLT version, let's jump intoverse one together.
Five days later, Ananias, thehigh priest, arrived with some
of the Jewish elders and thelawyer Tertulus to present their
case against Paul, the governor.
(04:15):
To the governor.
Paul was not the governor.
All right, verse 2.
When Paul was called in,Tertulus presented the charges
against Paul in the followingaddress to the governor.
You have provided a long and uhlong period of peace for us, the
Jews, with foresight that haveenacted reforms for us.
For all of this, yourexcellency, that's really hard
(04:35):
to say.
We are very grateful to you.
But I don't want to bore you, soplease give me your attention
for only a moment, for we havefound this man to be a
troublemaker who is constantlystirring up riots among the Jews
all over the world.
He is a ringleader of the cultknown as the Nazarenes.
Furthermore, he was trying todesecrate the temple when we
(04:55):
arrested him.
You can find out the truth ofour accusations by examining him
yourself.
Then the other Jews chimed in,declaring that everything
Tertula said was true.
Verse 10.
The governor then motioned forPaul to speak.
So Paul said, I know, sir, thatyou have been a judge of the
Jewish affairs for many years,so I gladly present my defense
(05:17):
to you.
You can quickly discover that Iarrived in Jerusalem no more
than twelve days ago to worshipat the temple.
My accusers never found mearguing with anyone in the
temple, nor stirring up a riotin any synagogue or on any
streets in the city.
These men cannot prove that thethings they accuse me of accuse
me of doing.
(05:38):
But I admit I follow the waywhich they call a cult, and I
worship the God of ourancestors, and I firmly believe
the Jewish law and everythingwritten in the prophets.
I have the same hope in God thatthese men have, and he will
raise both the righteous and theunrighteous.
Because of this, I always try tomaintain a clear conscience
(05:59):
before God and all the people.
After several years away, Ireturned to Jerusalem with money
to aid my people and to offersacrifices to God.
My accusers saw me in the templeas I was completing a
purification ceremony.
There was no crowd around me andno rioting, but some Jews from
the province of Asia were there,and they ought to be here to
(06:21):
bring charges if they haveanything against me.
Ask these men what crime theJewish high council found me
guilty of, except for the onetime I shouted out, I am on
trial to you today, uh beforeyou today, because I believe in
the resurrection of the dead.
As you can see, the govern thelawyer uh before him was a
(06:42):
little bit kind of vague aboutwhatever, but not Paul.
He's got nothing to hide.
It's very specific about what hehad just done, and he had an
opportunity there to also splashin the gospel when talking to
Governor Felix.
So verse 22, at that point,Felix, who is quite familiar
with the way, adjourned thehearing and said, Wait until
(07:02):
Lysissus, the garrisoncommander, arrives, then I will
decide the case.
He ordered an officer to keepPaul in custody, but to give him
some freedom to allow hisfriends to visit him and to care
for his needs.
A few days later, Felix cameback with his wife Dorusilla,
who was also Jewish.
Sending for Paul, they listenedas he told them about faith in
(07:24):
Christ Jesus.
As he reasoned with them aboutrighteousness, self-control, and
the coming day of judgment,Felix became afraid, probably
because he's full of sin.
Go away for now, he replied.
When it is more convenient, I'llcall for you again.
He also hoped that Paul wouldslip him a bribe, so he sent for
him quite often and talked withhim.
(07:45):
After two years, after two yearshad gone by, Felix was succeeded
by Portius Festus.
And because Felix wanted to gainfavor with the Jewish people, he
left Paul in prison.
What I think is amazing aboutthat is there is corruption,
greed, and bad intentions allaround Paul.
(08:08):
But all those things are doingis creating a bigger platform
for Paul to preach the gospel.
I mean, think about it.
The reason why he's even thereis because of the lies and the
deception of the Jewish peoplewho were against him.
It created a platform.
While he's there, he's talkingto Felix because of the bad
things and lies they said.
(08:29):
Then, because Felix wants abribe, he continues to bring him
before him often.
That's corruption.
But he's building the platformunknowingly.
And then because he wants tohelp the Jewish people do them a
favor, he leaves them in prison,which means then the new
governor is going to have tohear him.
So all of this pain, all ofthese problems, all they're
(08:52):
doing is building a platform forPaul to share his story.
Now, let's be honest as we getready to end our time together.
I don't want that.
You know what I want to build?
A platform for me to share thegospel?
Good news.
Good things.
Pastor, I want you to share withme how you've got such a perfect
life.
Well, let me tell you, becausethe Lord is good.
That's what I want to share.
(09:14):
But according to the life ofPaul, sometimes the greatest
platform builder is pain, isdifficulty, is heartache, is
tragedy, is horrible things.
But in that pain, when you seesomebody still being faithful,
still holding on to God, stilltrusting in the Lord, that says
a whole lot more.
I heard someone say one time,people will respect you when
(09:37):
your success is, but theyconnect with you through your
pain.
And the thing is, is that ifwe're trying to truly share the
goodness of God, many timespeople will be excited for you
when good things happen, butthey get close to you in painful
situations.
And that doesn't mean we everenjoy a single bad day.
But it's to realize that even inthe bad days, God has purpose
(09:59):
for us there.
I don't know what you may begoing through, but maybe, just
maybe, that God is big enough todo something beautiful, even
through something as ugly asthat.
Let's pray together and we'll bedone for today.
Father, thank you so much.
That your word says that you canturn beauty from ashes.
Lord, I see that the life ofPaul, you're turning pain into a
(10:21):
platform.
And I pray, God, that you willdo that in some kind of way in
the life of everybody who'slistening today.
I don't know what they're goingthrough, but you do.
And you're able to take whateverthat is and mold it into
something beautiful.
I pray that not only will you dothat today, but you'll open our
eyes to see your goodness and tosee you doing that in our life
today.
(10:42):
We celebrate that in advance.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
And amen.
Don't forget God's word says,Jesus said in Acts 1, he said,
You'll receive power when theHoly Spirit comes upon you, and
you'll be my witnesses.
Where?
To the ends of the earth.
I love you.
I hope you have a great day.
I will see you tomorrow for Actschapter 25.
(11:02):
And let's take a few moments andreflect on God's word together.
Welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast.
Every day, we take one chapterof the Bible, dig deeper, and
discover that the more we dig,the more we find.
You can find out more at theBibleBreakdown.com.
Now let's grow in God's wordtogether.
Well hello, everybody.
Welcome back to the BibleBreakdown Podcast with your
host, Pastor Brandon.
Today, Acts chapter 24.
(00:21):
And if I were to give this one atitle, it's just continuing this
narrative of God turns pain intoplatforms.
God turns pain into platforms.
We wouldn't ever want to gothrough some of the things that
Paul went through.
We don't want to go through thethings we have to go through.
But here's the thing if you'regoing to go through pain, don't
waste it.
Let God turn it into somethingamazing.
(00:43):
And God told Paul to get toJerusalem, and he did.
And then when he gets toJerusalem, everything hits the
fan.
It gets crazy.
He got beaten and arrested, tiedup, and then he gets a plot
against him, 40 fools trying tokill him.
And I mean, it just goes crazy.
(01:03):
But then right in the middle ofthat, God talks to Paul and he
says, You're good.
You're not going to end here.
You're going to make it all theway to Rome.
And all of this pain ishappening.
But what it's doing, though, ison his way to Rome, the
platforms are getting bigger andbigger and bigger.
And we're going to talk aboutthat more in just a moment.
But as always, if you like whatwe're doing here, make sure you
like, share, and subscribe theYouTube channel.
(01:25):
Make sure if you're watchingthis or listening to this rather
on the podcast, give us afive-star review.
It really does help us.
Make sure that you go to ourFacebook group at Bible
Breakdown Discussion.
Let us know what's going on inyour life.
And I want to ask you thisquestion.
Have you ever had to give aspeech?
Have you ever had to give aspeech before?
If so, I want you to tell usabout it.
Did you like it?
(01:46):
Did you not like it?
Did you were you willing to takea zero speech class instead of
doing it?
Have you ever had to do that?
Well, Paul, he's a speaker.
He does that a lot, but hisplatforms are getting bigger and
bigger and bigger.
And now it's getting to where heis speaking from these elites.
And we're going to get into thatin just a moment.
But I also want to tell you,we've been adding music at the
end of it to give us anopportunity just to sit and
(02:07):
settle what God's Word is doingin us.
And I want to know, if youlisten to this on the YouTube
channel, I want you to leave usa comment and let us know if it
is helpful for you just to havea moment.
If it doesn't matter to you, letus know.
We're just trying to, you know,try out some ideas.
This is also proof to you thatwe do try out your ideas to see
kind of what works, what helps.
So you let us know if it's goingto help.
Let's get to this today.
(02:28):
Acts chapter 24.
Now, I want to give you a littlebit of a background about Felix.
Felix is a Roman politician.
Felix was known to be extremelycorrupt, very much into playing
the political game of the Romanestablishment, very much into
not really caring about thevalue of human life, willing to
kill people in order to helphimself get ahead, and also very
(02:49):
willing to accept a bribe at anygiven time.
And later, what's going tohappen is he is actually going
to get in a whole lot of troublefrom this.
And a contingent of Jewishpeople are eventually going to
go to Rome to complain to theemperor about Felix is going to
get Felix removed because he'sjust so corrupt and so horrible.
But that hasn't happened yet.
(03:10):
Right now, Felix is over kind ofthe area that encompasses all of
the Jewish territory.
And that's why, once when theycouldn't come up with the
solution in Jerusalem, they senthim to the next step up, the
Roman uh provincial leader,which is governor Felix.
And so that's why they have donethis.
(03:31):
And so a contingent fromJerusalem has now come to the
governor's palace so that theycan hear the case, or Felix can,
and figure out what to do.
So, yet again, all of thisthat's going on, all of these
painful experiences are justbroadening out the platform that
can be used so that Paul cancontinue to tell the story of
the gospel.
Even if it's a corruptenvironment, Paul is able to
(03:54):
move forward because God is withhim.
So if you got your Bibles openwith me to Acts chapter 24, your
NLT version, let's jump intoverse one together.
Five days later, Ananias, thehigh priest, arrived with some
of the Jewish elders and thelawyer Tertulus to present their
case against Paul, the governor.
(04:15):
To the governor.
Paul was not the governor.
All right, verse 2.
When Paul was called in,Tertulus presented the charges
against Paul in the followingaddress to the governor.
You have provided a long and uhlong period of peace for us, the
Jews, with foresight that haveenacted reforms for us.
For all of this, yourexcellency, that's really hard
(04:35):
to say.
We are very grateful to you.
But I don't want to bore you, soplease give me your attention
for only a moment, for we havefound this man to be a
troublemaker who is constantlystirring up riots among the Jews
all over the world.
He is a ringleader of the cultknown as the Nazarenes.
Furthermore, he was trying todesecrate the temple when we
(04:55):
arrested him.
You can find out the truth ofour accusations by examining him
yourself.
Then the other Jews chimed in,declaring that everything
Tertula said was true.
Verse 10.
The governor then motioned forPaul to speak.
So Paul said, I know, sir, thatyou have been a judge of the
Jewish affairs for many years,so I gladly present my defense
(05:17):
to you.
You can quickly discover that Iarrived in Jerusalem no more
than twelve days ago to worshipat the temple.
My accusers never found mearguing with anyone in the
temple, nor stirring up a riotin any synagogue or on any
streets in the city.
These men cannot prove that thethings they accuse me of accuse
me of doing.
(05:38):
But I admit I follow the waywhich they call a cult, and I
worship the God of ourancestors, and I firmly believe
the Jewish law and everythingwritten in the prophets.
I have the same hope in God thatthese men have, and he will
raise both the righteous and theunrighteous.
Because of this, I always try tomaintain a clear conscience
(05:59):
before God and all the people.
After several years away, Ireturned to Jerusalem with money
to aid my people and to offersacrifices to God.
My accusers saw me in the templeas I was completing a
purification ceremony.
There was no crowd around me andno rioting, but some Jews from
the province of Asia were there,and they ought to be here to
(06:21):
bring charges if they haveanything against me.
Ask these men what crime theJewish high council found me
guilty of, except for the onetime I shouted out, I am on
trial to you today, uh beforeyou today, because I believe in
the resurrection of the dead.
As you can see, the govern thelawyer uh before him was a
(06:42):
little bit kind of vague aboutwhatever, but not Paul.
He's got nothing to hide.
It's very specific about what hehad just done, and he had an
opportunity there to also splashin the gospel when talking to
Governor Felix.
So verse 22, at that point,Felix, who is quite familiar
with the way, adjourned thehearing and said, Wait until
(07:02):
Lysissus, the garrisoncommander, arrives, then I will
decide the case.
He ordered an officer to keepPaul in custody, but to give him
some freedom to allow hisfriends to visit him and to care
for his needs.
A few days later, Felix cameback with his wife Dorusilla,
who was also Jewish.
Sending for Paul, they listenedas he told them about faith in
(07:24):
Christ Jesus.
As he reasoned with them aboutrighteousness, self-control, and
the coming day of judgment,Felix became afraid, probably
because he's full of sin.
Go away for now, he replied.
When it is more convenient, I'llcall for you again.
He also hoped that Paul wouldslip him a bribe, so he sent for
him quite often and talked withhim.
(07:45):
After two years, after two yearshad gone by, Felix was succeeded
by Portius Festus.
And because Felix wanted to gainfavor with the Jewish people, he
left Paul in prison.
What I think is amazing aboutthat is there is corruption,
greed, and bad intentions allaround Paul.
(08:08):
But all those things are doingis creating a bigger platform
for Paul to preach the gospel.
I mean, think about it.
The reason why he's even thereis because of the lies and the
deception of the Jewish peoplewho were against him.
It created a platform.
While he's there, he's talkingto Felix because of the bad
things and lies they said.
(08:29):
Then, because Felix wants abribe, he continues to bring him
before him often.
That's corruption.
But he's building the platformunknowingly.
And then because he wants tohelp the Jewish people do them a
favor, he leaves them in prison,which means then the new
governor is going to have tohear him.
So all of this pain, all ofthese problems, all they're
(08:52):
doing is building a platform forPaul to share his story.
Now, let's be honest as we getready to end our time together.
I don't want that.
You know what I want to build?
A platform for me to share thegospel?
Good news.
Good things.
Pastor, I want you to share withme how you've got such a perfect
life.
Well, let me tell you, becausethe Lord is good.
That's what I want to share.
(09:14):
But according to the life ofPaul, sometimes the greatest
platform builder is pain, isdifficulty, is heartache, is
tragedy, is horrible things.
But in that pain, when you seesomebody still being faithful,
still holding on to God, stilltrusting in the Lord, that says
a whole lot more.
I heard someone say one time,people will respect you when
(09:37):
your success is, but theyconnect with you through your
pain.
And the thing is, is that ifwe're trying to truly share the
goodness of God, many timespeople will be excited for you
when good things happen, butthey get close to you in painful
situations.
And that doesn't mean we everenjoy a single bad day.
But it's to realize that even inthe bad days, God has purpose
(09:59):
for us there.
I don't know what you may begoing through, but maybe, just
maybe, that God is big enough todo something beautiful, even
through something as ugly asthat.
Let's pray together and we'll bedone for today.
Father, thank you so much.
That your word says that you canturn beauty from ashes.
Lord, I see that the life ofPaul, you're turning pain into a
(10:21):
platform.
And I pray, God, that you willdo that in some kind of way in
the life of everybody who'slistening today.
I don't know what they're goingthrough, but you do.
And you're able to take whateverthat is and mold it into
something beautiful.
I pray that not only will you dothat today, but you'll open our
eyes to see your goodness and tosee you doing that in our life
today.
(10:42):
We celebrate that in advance.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
And amen.
Don't forget God's word says,Jesus said in Acts 1, he said,
You'll receive power when theHoly Spirit comes upon you, and
you'll be my witnesses.
Where?
To the ends of the earth.
I love you.
I hope you have a great day.
I will see you tomorrow for Actschapter 25.
(11:02):
And let's take a few moments andreflect on God's word together.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Bobby Bones Show
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.