John Chiarello
- Oct 15, 2020
- 18 min read

Acts 25

ACTS 25 Acts 25:19 But had certain questions against him of their own superstition, and of one Jesus, which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive.

Links to my sites here and the bottom of every post- https://ccoutreach87.com/links-to-my-sites-updated-10-2018/

Acts 25 videos-

https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMg202UhWtOO2o1BhS

https://www.dropbox.com/s/eelcggyqfvg9aiu/10-10-17%20Acts%2025.mp4?dl=0

https://mega.nz/file/nH5kCBqQ#EYY2Evyo_0__vlfD6Kskb0qVuh_ls14VPy8G7zkSS-w

https://youtu.be/GO_EbKzNSpk https://ccoutreach87.com/10-10-17-acts-25/ https://ccoutreach87.com/10-10-17-acts-25-2/

ON VIDEO- .Paul’s appeals .The new governor comes in .festus replaces Felix .The local court out of Jerusalem still had the plot! .From Ceasarea to Jerusalem was about 60 miles- a 2 day trip back then https://www.britannica.com/place/Caesarea .Paul appeals- to Nero! .Why? .Seneca the Stoic .King Agrippa the 2nd- and Bernice the queen .Wait- aren’t they brother and sister? .Bernice is the oldest daughter of Agrippa the 1st- and Agrippa the 2nd is his son .How they they be King and Queen? .Can you solve this riddle? .Homer- Iliad- Odyssey

TEACHING - Just a few notes- these past few chapters are simply covering Paul’s appeals thru the local court system [Sanhedrin] and going up the ladder to the top court of the land- Caesar of Rome.

The caesar at this time- is Nero- http://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/nero Nero was one of the worst persecutors of the early church- yet Paul took his case to him. Why?

At this stage Nero was not ‘as bad’ as we know him to be later on. He actually will martyr both Paul and Peter later on. Yet at this stage of the game he was influenced by Seneca- a Stoic philosopher- https://dailystoic.com/seneca/

Though the Stoics were not considered Christians- they did indeed have moral elements to their teaching. Self denial- stuff like that.

So it would not be strange for Paul to take his case to him. Another point- Paul has been sitting in the ‘county jail’ for 2 years by now. Governor Felix left office- and festus took his place.

So the case is reviewed by the new governor- And after 2 years- the high priest at Jerusalem [the top judge in the county] still wants to kill Paul! We see a lot of corruption in the system- and how those who hold seats of authority- positions the public should be able to respect- yet these same people are some of the most corrupt of the day.

Yet- we also see Festus- and in his dealings with Paul- he does what is right. The local court out of Jerusalem wants Festus to bring Paul to them- so they could carry out the plot to kill Paul.

Paul is aware of the plot- for 2 years now. And he appeals his case to Rome- and Festus takes the appeal. I’ll add my past teaching below- but wanted to simply give this update- John.

NOTE- The regular PAST POSTS and VERSES section is still below- but I made this short post [below] last night- thinking I might do a daily ‘roll out’- But didn’t want to waist an entire post just for this- so I stuck it here- [More below] I also talked about a strange experience I had- it involved a person who was put to death last night in Texas [2 nights ago now] I talked about it on an upcoming teaching post- KINGS 13- but here’s the news link- http://www.kztv10.com/story/36586596/inmate-executed-for-beeville-prison-guards-death His sister asked me to pray for him a few years ago- I did- Then she asked me to pray for her brother again- because he was on death row- again? Well it will be explained on the KINGS 13 post- I thought maybe his sister was wrong- she wasn’t. Most of my Bluff friends would know his sister- but I won’t mention her name here [If I do a roll out- I might mention it before the kings 13 post- there are a few issues I might want to talk about as well]. This was her 2nd brother- on death row.

PAST POSTS- [Past teaching that relates to this post- Acts 25- Verses below]

ACT 25- Festus hears the Jews at Jerusalem, they want him to bring Paul to Jerusalem. Festus goes back to Caesarea and asks Paul ‘why don’t you go back with me’? Paul appeals to Caesar! Of course going to Rome was part of the plan. Now King Agrippa [another one of the many ruling authorities that Rome had over the people!] comes to Caesarea and Festus tells him about Paul. Agrippa will get a strong word in the next chapter. Also the Jews come down from Jerusalem and accuse Paul of many things. I want to make a note here. In the area of apologetics, which we do a lot of, you need to be careful that you don’t jump on the bandwagon of unfounded accusations. There are and have been real doctrinal heresies that needed to be dealt with, but some of the apologists really get personal. Even calling family members degrading names! In Paul’s case he had accusations that were not true. He does defend himself against the false ones, but also admitted that he believes in Christ’s resurrection and that this is considered heresy among certain Jews. Paul’s main message was Christ and the resurrection! As we get ready to close our study in a few more days, I want to recap the importance of seeing Jesus and his fulfillment of the Old Testament prophets as the main message of the Apostles. This early teaching by the Apostles needs to be the ‘tradition’ if you will, once again. We [believers] have a tendency to delve deeply into all sorts of stuff. Paul will warn his spiritual sons ‘don’t get lost in endless genealogies and debates about the law’ and Hebrews says ‘it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace, not with meats [legalistic doctrines] which have been unprofitable to those who have gone that route’. Now, you guys know I believe in correct doctrine, and Paul wasn’t advocating ‘no doctrine’. But it is easy to get lost in endless debates that lead to nowhere. Ultimately our goal is to present every man perfect in Christ. Paul will stick with this message all the way to Rome! https://ccoutreach87.com/overview-of-philosophy/ ACTS- Acts 1