{"id":32530,"date":"2024-09-17T22:00:34","date_gmt":"2024-09-18T05:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/acts-24_17-27-copy\/"},"modified":"2024-08-06T20:48:00","modified_gmt":"2024-08-07T03:48:00","slug":"acts-25_1-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/acts-25_1-12\/","title":{"rendered":"Asking for the Breakthrough You Need"},"content":{"rendered":"

Acts 25:1-12 \u00a0 (CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Acts 25:1-12.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help, then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

Acts 25:1-9 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Three days after arriving in the province, Festus went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem,
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0where the chief priests and Jewish leaders appeared before him and presented the charges against Paul.
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They urgently 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.
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Festus answered, “Paul is being held at Caesarea, and I myself am going there soon.
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Let some of your leaders come with me and press charges against the man there, if he has done anything wrong.”
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0After spending eight or ten days with them, he went down to Caesarea, and the next day he convened the court and ordered that Paul be brought before him.
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When Paul appeared, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many serious charges against him, which they could not prove.
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then Paul made his defense: “I have done nothing wrong against the law of the Jews or against the temple or against Caesar.”
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, said to Paul, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and stand trial before me there on these charges?”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1 to 9:\u00a0 Originally governor Festus rejected the request of Paul\u2019s opponents to have Paul moved to Jerusalem for the trial (verses 4-5).\u00a0 So why in verse 9 is Festus now giving into their request and trying to convince Paul to move to Jerusalem?\u00a0 It\u2019s because of what happened in verse 6: \u201cAfter spending eight or ten days with them\u201d.\u00a0 In other words, Festus spent over a week hanging out with Paul\u2019s opponents.\u00a0 As a result, Festus became like putty in their hands and was ready to give them what they wanted.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0Watch who you hang out with.<\/strong>\u00a0 They say that we are the average of the 5 people who are closest to us.\u00a0\u00a0If you hang out with the wrong crowd long enough, you will one day become one of them.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Acts 25:10-12 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Paul answered: “I am now standing before Caesar’s court, where I ought to be tried. I have not done any wrong to the Jews, as you yourself know very well.
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0If, however, I am guilty of doing anything deserving death, I do not refuse to die. But if the charges brought against me by these Jews are not true, no one has the right to hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar!”
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0After Festus had conferred with his council, he declared: “You have appealed to Caesar. To Caesar you will go!”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 10-12:\u00a0 Paul had already been waiting in prison for 2 years for his trial to resume.\u00a0 He could sense that something fishy was going on between Festus and the Jews who wanted to kill Paul.\u00a0 So as he waits to formally take the stand once again in trial, Paul takes a stand here.\u00a0 He wisely rejects Festus\u2019 attempt to move him to Jerusalem and appeals to Caesar.<\/p>\n

Likewise,\u00a0there comes a time when you need to take a stand against whatever is holding you down<\/strong>.\u00a0 Just as Paul appealed to Caesar, one of the most powerful ways you can take a stand is to appeal to a higher power.\u00a0\u00a0If you\u2019ve been held down by a tough situation for a while, don\u2019t just sit there and sulk, but take a stand.\u00a0 One way you can take a stand is to appeal to the authorities above you, the greatest of whom is God Himself.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Pray to the God of heaven to rescue you and to bring the breakthrough that you need.<\/p>\n

Lord Jesus, I look to You today for the breakthrough that I need:\u00a0[Go ahead and be specific about what breakthrough that is.]\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Thank You that all authority in heaven and on earth belongs to You and with You all things are possible.\u00a0 So I appeal to You today.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2022 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Acts 25:1-12.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help, then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!\u00a0
\n\u00a0
\nActs 25:1-9 (NIV)
\n1\u00a0\u00a0Three days after arriving in the province, Festus went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem,
\n2\u00a0\u00a0where the chief priests and Jewish leaders appeared before him and presented the charges against Paul.
\n3\u00a0\u00a0They urgently 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.
\n4\u00a0\u00a0Festus answered, “Paul is being held at Caesarea, and I myself am going there soon.<\/p>\n

On verses 1 to 9:\u00a0 Originally governor Festus rejected the request of Paul\u2019s opponents to have Paul moved to Jerusalem for the trial (verses 4-5).\u00a0 So why in verse 9 is Festus now giving into their request and trying to convince Paul to move to Jerusalem?\u00a0 It\u2019s because of what happened in verse 6: \u201cAfter spending eight or ten days with them\u201d.\u00a0 In other words, Festus spent over a week hanging out with Paul\u2019s opponents.\u00a0 As a result, Festus became like putty in their hands and was ready to give them what they wanted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32532,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32530"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32533,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32530\/revisions\/32533"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}