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December 16 - Acts 25 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's Sean. Here it is, Monday, start of a
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  new week and it's the 16th of December.
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  Oh, getting very, very close to the end of the year.
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  I hope your year is rounding out nicely and that you are not too
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  madly run off your feet. But 1000 things to do.
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  Although if you are, that's kind of usual kind of part for the
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  course of this time of year. But no matter what's going on,
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  you have taken a moment. Good on you to put your day in
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  priority in order and hear a bit of God's word to punctuate
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  what's going on in your life. And today we begin the last week
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  in the book of Acts. We are going to finish the last
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  four chapters of Acts this week. This is where Paul finds himself
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  travelling all the way through to the centre of the known
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  universe, all the way to Rome, Yes, away from that treasured
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  city that Luke, the author loves Jerusalem and loves to write
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  about what's going on there. But this is the journey away
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  from Jerusalem into the centre of that space and from Rome,
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  from Paul's missionary work in Rome.
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  The message spreads far and wide to the corners of the earth.
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  And so here we are documenting that process.
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  So let's do it, shall we? Let us hear the story about how
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  Paul ends up there and what he does there as we read together
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  Acts chapter 25. Three days after Festus arrived
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  in, say, Syria, to take over his new responsibilities, he left
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  for Jerusalem, where the leading priests and other Jewish leaders
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  met with him and made their accusations against Paul.
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  They asked Festus as a favour to transfer Paul to Jerusalem,
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  planning to ambush and kill him on the way.
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  But Festus replied that Paul was in Say Saria, and he himself
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  would be returning there soon. So he said, those of you in
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  authority can return with me. If Paul has done anything wrong,
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  you can make your accusations. About 8 or 10 days later, Festus
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  returned to Say Saria, and on the following day he took his
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  seat in court and ordered that Paul be brought in.
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  When Paul arrived, the Jewish leaders from Jerusalem gathered
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  around and made many serious accusations they couldn't prove.
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  Paul denied the charges. I am not guilty of any crime
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  against the Jewish laws or the Temple or the Roman government,
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  he said. Then Festus, wanting to please
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  the Jews, asked him, Are you willing to go to Jerusalem and
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  stand trial before me there? But Paul replied, no, this is
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  the official Roman court, so I ought to be tried right here.
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  You know very well I'm not guilty of harming the Jews.
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  If I have done anything worthy of death, I won't refuse to die.
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  But if I am innocent, no one has the right to turn me over to
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  these men to kill me. I appeal to Caesar.
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  Festus conferred with his advisers and then replied, Very
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  well, you have appealed to Caesar, and to Caesar you will
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  go. A few days later, King Agrippa
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  arrived with his sister Bernice to pay their respects to Festus.
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  During their stay of several days, Festus discussed Paul's
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  case with the king. There is a prisoner here, he
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  told him, whose case was left for me by Felix when I was in
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  Jerusalem. The leading priests and Jewish
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  elders pressed charges against him and asked me to condemn him.
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  I pointed out to them that Roman Lord does not convict people
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  without a trial. They must be given an
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  opportunity to confront their accusers and defend themselves.
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  When his accusers came here for the trial, I didn't delay.
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  I called the case the very next day and ordered Paul brought in.
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  But the accusations made against him weren't any of the crimes I
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  expected. Instead, there was something
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  about their religion and a dead man named Jesus, who Paul
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  insists is alive. I was at a loss to know how to
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  investigate these things, so I asked him whether he would be
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  willing to stand trial on these charges in Jerusalem.
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  But Paul appealed to have his case decided by the emperor, so
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  I ordered that he be held in custody until I could arrange to
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  send him to Caesar. I'd like to hear the man myself,
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  Agrippa said, and Festus replied.
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  You will to Morrow. So the next day Agrippa and
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  Bernice arrived at the auditorium with great pomp,
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  accompanied by military officers and prominent men of the city.
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  Festus ordered that Paul be brought in then.
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  Festus said King Agrippa and all who are here, this is the man
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  whose death is demanded by all the Jews both here and in
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  Jerusalem. But in my opinion he has done
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  nothing deserving death. However, since he appealed his
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  case to the emperor, I have decided to send him to Rome.
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  But what shall I write the emperor for?
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  There is no clear charge against him, so I have brought him
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  before all of you, and especially you, King Agrippa, so
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  that after we examine him, I might have something to write
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  for. It makes no sense to send a
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  prisoner to the Emperor without specifying the charges against
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  him. Ah, Lord, sometimes the
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  machinations of bureaucracy are enough to drive us mad.
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  Things take so long, and things take twists and turns and
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  directions that we don't anticipate.
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  And not just in bureaucracy, but in life in general.
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  But Lord, you have a bigger plan.
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  Your understanding and knowledge and creativity and the canvas
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  upon which you paint the story of our lives is so much bigger
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  than anything we can imagine. So, Lord, I pray for your peace
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  and I pray that we would rest in you and trust, trust in your
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  ways and trust that in the fullness of time and in the
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  breath of your creative plans that your will will be done.
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  I mean, it looks like the enemy is winning and that your Kingdom
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  is suffering. Lord, that we would rest in you
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  in the knowledge that you rule supreme over heaven, but also
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  over earth. Thank you for your love, thank
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  you for your goodness, and that you shower both of them on us.
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  We are humbled and delighted by you, and it's in your name that
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  we pray all these things. Jesus, Amen.