Daily Bread Pastor Mike Anderson

Paul’s Trial Before Festus 25  Three days after arriving in the province, Festus went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem,   2  where the chief priests and the Jewish leaders appeared before him and presented the charges against Paul.   3  They requested Festus, as a favor to them, to have Paul transferred to Jerusalem, for they were preparing an ambush to kill him along the way.   4  Festus answered, “Paul is being held at Caesarea, and I myself am going there soon.   5  Let some of your leaders come with me, and if the man has done anything wrong, they can press charges against him there.” 6  After spending eight or ten days with them, Festus went down to Caesarea. The next day he convened the court and ordered that Paul be brought before him.   7  When Paul came in, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him. They brought many serious charges against him, but they could not prove them.  8  Then Paul made his defense: “I have done nothing wrong against the Jewish law or aga

24  Several days later Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish. He sent for Paul and listened to him as he spoke about faith in Christ Jesus.   25  As Paul talked about righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and said, “That’s enough for now! You may leave. When I find it convenient, I will send for you.”   26  At the same time he was hoping that Paul would offer him a bribe, so he sent for him frequently and talked with him. In Romans 8:28 the apostle Paul says, " And I know that all things work togther for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose ." Paul may have been referring to the events of these last chapters in Acts, where his trials brought him before many men of power.  Today he is brought before King Felix.  Drusilla was Felix's 3rd wife, was 20 years old, and he had seduced her away from her husband. This might explain why Felix was afraid when Paul talked about righteousness, self control and

23  Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, “My brothers, I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day.”   2  At this the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth.   3  Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck!”  4  Those who were standing near Paul said, “How dare you insult God’s high priest!”  5  Paul replied, “Brothers, I did not realize that he was the high priest; for it is written: ‘Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.’ [ a ] ” 6  Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, “My brothers, I am a Pharisee, descended from Pharisees. I stand on trial because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead.”   7  When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly w

6  “About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me.   7  I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me,  ‘Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?’  8  “‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked.  “  ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,’  he replied.   9  My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me.  10  “‘What shall I do, Lord?’ I asked.  “  ‘Get up,’  the Lord said,  ‘and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.’   11  My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me.  12  “A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there.   13  He stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very moment I was able to see him. 14  “Then he said: ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the R

Paul’s Arrival at Jerusalem 17  When we arrived at Jerusalem, the brothers and sisters received us warmly.   18  The next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James, and all the elders were present.   19  Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.  20  When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul: “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law.   21  They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs.   22  What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come,   23  so do what we tell you. There are four men with us who have made a vow.   24  Take these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know there is no truth in these reports abo

22  “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there.   23  I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me.   24  However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me— the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace. 25  “Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again.   26  Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of any of you These words are spoken by Paul as he says farewell to the Ephesian elders.  The church of Ephesus was probably the strongest and most strategic of the early churches.  Most of the time we see Paul the evangelist, but in these verses we also see the heart of a pastor. Though Paul knows through visions and prophetic words that trouble awaits him wherever he goes, he is single mindedly focused on fini

11  God did extraordinary miracles through Paul,   12  so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.  13  Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.”   14  Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.   15  One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?”   16  Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. This is quite an interesting story.  First, we see Paul was so filled with the Holy Spirit and the gift of healing that his handkerchiefs and aprons touched the sick they were healed.  Luke notes that these were "extra-ordinary" mir

9  One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision:   “Do not be afraid;  keep on speaking, do not be silent.   10  For I am with you,  and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.”   11  So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God. Wherever Paul went we have seen a familiar process.  He goes to the local synagogue and preaches to his fellow Jews explaining how Jesus is the Messiah.  Then, he also preaches to the God fearing Gentiles, who were usually very receptive to his message Importantly Paul preached Jesus alone , not adding anything to the Gospel.  He says this later in 1 Corinthians 2:2,  "For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucifiied." But as a result of this preaching there were Jews who were jealous of his following, or were offended when Paul had crucified Jesus.  But the Lord was with Paul and spoke to him in a vision and urged him to keep preaching. 

In Berea - Acts 17 10  As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas  away to Berea.  On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue.   11  Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica,  for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures  every day to see if what Paul said was true.   12  As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men. 13  But when the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God at Berea,  some of them went there too, agitating the crowds and stirring them up.   14  The believers  immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas  and Timothy  stayed at Berea.   15  Those who escorted Paul brought him to Athens  and then left with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible. Paul visits three major cities in Greece, and as usual he goes first to the existing synagogues to share the gospel and to

Acts 16 Paul’s Vision of the Man of Macedonia 6  Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia  and Galatia,  having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia.   7  When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus  would not allow them to.   8  So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas.   9  During the night Paul had a vision  of a man of Macedonia  standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”   10  After Paul had seen the vision, we  got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel  to them. This is the remarkable story about the power of the Holy Spirit and Paul's obedience to the Spirit's guidance.  What can we learn for it as we seek to be LED by the Spirit in our lives? The Holy Spirit is a person of the Trinity.  Most people have a hard time relating to the Holy Spirit as a person.  We can identify with

Acts 15  Certain people  came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers:  “Unless you are circumcised,  according to the custom taught by Moses,  you cannot be saved.”   2  This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem  to see the apostles and elders  about this question.   3  The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia  and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted.  This news made all the believers very glad.   4  When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them.   5  Then some of the believers who belonged to the party  of the Pharisees  stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.”  6  The apostles and elders met to consider this question.   7  After much discus