Sun.’s Devo - Paul’s Destiny

Read: Acts 24-26
Tertullus, with the high priest, Ananias, and the elders followed Paul to stand before Felix. Tertullus means “triple-hardened”. He was there as their orator to accuse Paul of all kinds of lies and slander. Felix means delusive. After Turtullus hurled out his accusations, Felix asked for Paul’s rebuttal. Paul was also a great orator so he stated his case which had to do with resurrection from the dead. Felix didn’t know how to judge this case so he suspended it till Lysias could come down and give it clarity. This is a classic case of the world trying to judge spiritual things. They have no grid for it. Felix even made Paul tell his story to his wife who was Jewish to get her opinion. Paul’s testimony of Jesus made Felix tremble in fear. He continued to hold Paul hoping for a bribe but no one offered one.
Two years later, Festus visited Jerusalem and the high priest and Jewish chief tried to persuade Felix to send them Paul, with the plans of killing him along the way. Fetus refused but decided to go see Paul for himself in Caesarea. When he brought Paul out, the Jews yelled out their complaints. Paul answered for himself but Festus wanted to win the Jews favor so he asked Paul if he would be willing to go to Jerusalem. Paul surprised them all by appealing to Caesar. King Aggripa heard about Paul and wanted to hear him for himself so he came the next day. Paul was able to testify before him of the hope of the gospel and resurrection of the dead. He gave him his own personal testimony of how Jesus revealed himself to him. Paul appealed to Agrippa’s heart and almost won him over. The general consensus of the leaders was that Paul was not guilty of anything worthy of death and if he hadn’t have appealed to Caesar, they would have been able to set him free. Paul wasn’t there to be set free. Paul was there to testify before kings and leaders the truth of the gospel. The Jews had played right into that destiny.
If we open our spiritual eyes we will see that many set-backs in our lives are really repositioning us for our destiny.
Lord, help us to not think of earth as our home. Heaven is our home and You have written eternity on our hearts.