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.

Episode Transcript

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, everybody.
Welcome back to the BibleBreakdown Podcast with your
host, Pastor Brandon.
Today, Acts chapter 25.

(00:21):
And if I were to give this one atitle, it would simply be God's
Really in Charge.
God is Really in Charge.
What we're going to see today iswe're going to see how the new
governor in Paul's situation istrying to mess with things, try
to do whatever.
And Paul's trying to get toRome, trying to get to Rome.
And the whole time, even thoughit looks like it may or may not

(00:42):
happen, it finally does.
Only to realize that even whenthings look uncertain to us, God
really is in charge.
We're going to get to that injust a moment.
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(01:04):
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(01:24):
Also, don't forget, at the endof our devotion, we've added
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(01:45):
All right.
Acts chapter 25 is more of thesame that we've been doing.
As we've been telling youbefore, that Luke, this
physician-turned investigativejournalist who is writing about
the account of the early churchas he's been inspired by the
Holy Spirit.
And now he is a travelingcompanion for the Apostle Paul.
And so he is chronicling whathappened in the Apostle Paul to

(02:06):
get him to Rome.
He's already been to Jerusalem.
Now he's going to Rome.
And what happened is he ends upgoing to the governor's palace
and he stays there for twoyears, talking back and forth
with a very corrupt governor,Felix.
Well, Felix gets called back toRome.
We now know through historybecause he got in a lot of
trouble.
And so as he's gone, a guy namedFestus has taken over.

(02:28):
And now he's trying to figureout what in the world to do with
Paul.
And so once again, as we saidyesterday, if the pain of these
things continue to build thisplatform, that some people
looking outside is going, poorPaul, like everything's going
wrong.
He went to Jerusalem, he gotarrested, whatever, whatever.
But when you realize what'sgoing on, actually, what's
happening is these badsituations are actually building

(02:50):
bigger and bigger opportunitiesfor Paul to speak to the leaders
of the free world at the time.
Or not free world, they're notfree, of the known world at the
time.
And so we have to be careful notto always look at every bad
thing as a bad thing.
But rather, sometimes a setbackis actually God setting us up
for something else.
And we're going to see thattoday.

(03:11):
That in a moment it looks alittle bit uncertain.
It's like, is Paul gonna get togo to Rome?
Is he not gonna get to go toRome?
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, he's going.
Because as we said, the titletoday is God really is in charge
of all the things that are goingon.
Nothing's gonna happen outsideof his will.
So let's read this together andsee what God's Word will say to
us today.
Verse one.
Three days after Festus arrivedin Caesarea to take over his new

(03:34):
responsibilities, he left forJerusalem, where the leading
priests and other Jewish leadersmet with him and made their
accusations against Paul.
Verse three, they asked Festusas a favor to transfer Paul to
Jerusalem, planning to ambushhim and kill him on the way.
Pause.
So I don't know if these poorjokers.
Do you remember a couplechapters ago?
There was it was like 40 ofthem.

(03:55):
They're like, We're not gonnaeat, we're not gonna drink.
Well, I guess maybe.
Either all of them died, or theywere like, Okay, but my bad, my
bad, my bad.
Now they want another turn atit, right?
But not gonna happen.
Verse 4.
But Festus replied that Paul wasat Caesarea and he himself would
be returning there soon.
So he said, Those of you inauthority can return with me,

(04:16):
and if Paul has done anythingwrong, you can make your
accusations.
About eight or ten days uhlater, Festus returned to
Caesarea, and on the followingday he took his seat in court
and ordered Paul to be broughtin.
When Paul arrived, the Jewishleaders from Jerusalem gathered
around and made many seriousaccusations that they could not
prove.

(04:36):
Paul denied the charges.
I am not guilty of any crimeagainst the Jewish law or the
temple or the Roman government,he said.
Then Festus, wanting to pleasethe Jews, asked him, Are you
willing to go to Jerusalem tostand trial before me?
Because Paul is smart and heremembers the accusations
before, Paul replied in verse10, No, this is an official

(04:59):
Roman court, so I ought to betried right here.
You know very well that I am notguilty of harming the Jews.
If I had done something worthyof 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 hisadvisors and then replied, Very

(05:22):
well.
You have appealed to Caesar, andto Caesar you will go.
Now pause.
Now the reason why that's a bigdeal is because every Roman
citizen as a right could appealtheir case to Caesar.
Now it could get denied, but youhad the right to do that.
And if it was granted to you,you could go.
And so by doing that, that islike throwing the trump card as

(05:43):
my right as a Roman citizen, Irequest this, and they're
actually gonna give him thatopportunity.
So it looked like maybe a momentwhere 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 Agrippaarrived with his sister,
Bernice, to pay their respectsto Festus.
During their stay for severaldays, Festus discussed Paul's

(06:06):
case with the king.
By the way, this is not theemperor.
King Agrippa would be like alevel up than uh where Felix
would be, but he's still not theemperor.
There is a prisoner here, hetold him, whose case was left
for me by Felix.
When I was in Jerusalem, theleading priests and Jewish
elders pressed charges againsthim and asked me to condemn him.

(06:26):
I pointed out to them that Rome,uh Roman law does not convict
people without a trial.
They must be given anopportunity to confront their
accusers and defend themselves.
When his accusers came here forthe trial, I didn't delay.
I called the case the very nextday and ordered Paul to be
brought in.
But the accusations made againsthim weren't really of any crimes

(06:48):
I expected.
Instead, it was something abouttheir religion and a dead man
named Jesus, who Paul insists isalive.
I was at a loss to know how toinvestigate these things, so I
asked him whether he'd bewilling to stand trial in
Jerusalem.
But Paul has appealed to havehis case decided by the emperor.
So I ordered him to be held incustody until I could arrange to

(07:10):
send him to Caesar.
I'd like to hear this manmyself, Agrippa said, and Festus
replied, You will tomorrow.
So the next day, Agrippa andBernice arrived at the
auditorium with great pomp,accompanied by military officers
and prominent men of the city.
Festus ordered that Paul bebrought in.
Then Festus said, King Agrippaand all who were here, this is

(07:33):
the man whose death is demandedby all the Jews, both here and
in Jerusalem.
But in my opinion, he has donenothing deserving death.
However, since he has appealedhis case to the emperor, I have
decided to send him to Rome.
But what shall I write to theEmperor?
For there is no clear chargeagainst him.
So I have brought him before youall, and especially you, King

(07:56):
Agrippa, so that after weexamine him I might have
something to write.
For it makes no sense to send aman to the emperor without
specifying the charges againsthim.
So, what I love about this is asthe pain and as the bad things
continue to mount, the platformis getting bigger, and God is

(08:16):
continuing to move andcontinuing to put Paul in front
of more and more importantpeople, and so the gospel can be
heard.
If you think about it, in noother situation would Governor
Felix have had a chance to hearPaul.
No other situation would the newgovernor, uh Festus, get to
hear.
And then in no situation wouldthe king, not the emperor, but

(08:38):
he's like a local king, Agrippa,but never had a chance.
Only because of the pain.
And that's so God is really incharge.
He really is orchestrating allof these bad events to do
something great in the life ofPaul.
And that brings me a lot ofencouragement, and that's where
I want to end our time today.
We would never want a single badthing to happen in our life.

(08:58):
That's just normal.
But is it possible that whileGod didn't bring these things to
you, he uses and orchestratesand steers all of these things
into our life in order to pushus in the right direction so
that he can get the glory and sothat he can do greater things in
us than we could ever do byourselves?
Just like Paul, in what worldwould he have ever got to speak

(09:21):
to these dignitaries andleaders?
There was no world there was noworld when he could have.
But because of bad things, itcreated a platform for Paul to
do that.
What if there are some thingsthat God wants you to do that in
a normal, ordinary setting justwouldn't be in the cards for
you?
You just wouldn't get a chanceto do.
But because of these bad things,there are now opportunities for

(09:42):
God to use you to do greatthings.
So maybe before we complain toomuch, 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 movingas quickly as possible to put us
in the right direction.
Let's pray together today.
God, thank you so much fortoday.
Thank you that you are with us,you're for us.

(10:04):
Thank you that you surround usin all things.
Lord, my prayer is is like Paul.
God, that when we go throughthings, we trust that you are
leading us in the rightdirection.
And I know, God, that you are.
But I pray today, you'll openour eyes, put something in our
path, uh, kind of just remind usthat you're with us, you're for
us, you're all around us.
Thank you, God, in advance forall things.

(10:24):
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Don't forget, God's Word says inActs chapter 1, verse 8, Jesus
said, You will receive powerwhen?
When the Holy Spirit comes uponyou, and you will be my
witnesses to the ends of theearth.
Man, I can't wait to see youtomorrow and to hear what God's
doing in your life as youembrace the power of God to do
great things.

(10:45):
And I will see you tomorrow forActs chapter 26.