Acts 28:17-22

Paul gives us a little tidbit of information here as to why he appealed his case to Caesar. The Jewish leaders who were present during his trial before Governor Festus were protesting the fact that Festus really could find no grounds to keep him incarcerated. Festus, wanting to do the Jews a favor, asked Paul if he was willing to go back to Jerusalem for trial—the very thing the Jewish leaders wanted so they could kill him along the way. Paul, knowing he had done nothing wrong, exercised his right as a Roman citizen and appealed to Caesar.

Even if Festus had released Paul, his days may very well have been numbered, as there were plenty of men determined to kill him. Yet God even used Paul’s incarceration as a means of protecting him while at the same time providing passage to Rome.

Upon Paul’s arrival in Rome—some six months after his departure from Caesarea—he was given some freedoms, and he felt it necessary to have a meeting with the Jewish leaders there. Word had not reached them concerning Paul’s particular predicament; however, they had heard about the “movement” and noted that it was being denounced everywhere. Paul still had some convincing to do, yet they appeared more open to hearing what he had to say, which would take place next.

God used every challenge in Paul’s life as an opportunity to further the Gospel. Not everyone would receive his message, but many certainly heard it. Seeds were planted, and the Holy Spirit would continue to foster their growth in the days ahead.

Never underestimate the power of a seed.

Jesus compared the preaching of the Gospel to sowing seed. Some seeds take root and others don’t. Their growth is not our responsibility—God is the One who causes the growth—but sowing the seed is.
Are we telling His-story?

For the believer, this is a command and commission given by the Lord Himself. We have been given the biblical record of some 4,000 years of God’s purposes and plans being fulfilled in the lives of mankind, along with some 2,000 years of continued testimonies of God working in people’s lives since then.

Not only do we have all of that at our disposal, but we also have something no one can take away from us—His personal workings in our own lives. Our testimony of what Christ has done for us is one of our most powerful tools.

Paul was certainly equipped as a leader in biblical thought as a former Pharisee, but what made him so dangerous to the old way of thinking was his personal testimony of an encounter with the risen Lord. Paul could say, in essence, “I know what I was before I met Him, and I know what I became afterward.”

I may not get all my theology perfectly right, but what I do have is my personal testimony of a changed life that came about only through my relationship with the risen Lord. Jesus changed my life and set me on a path of fulfillment that I would not have found any other way. He is faithful and true and worth knowing—so much so, as expressed in the words of Paul:

“Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!”
‭‭(Philippians‬ ‭3‬:‭8‬-‭11‬ ‭NLT‬‬)

And that he would.