Welcome to 10 minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work.

I'm Jensen Holt McNair. We're jumping back into the book of acts today in

chapter 25. Now if you're reading along with us then you may have read chapter 25, and like I did, thought, I'm a little confused about

who all these people are, and I really don't feel all that inspired by this passage of

scripture today. And that's fair, because this passage of scripture today.

And that's fair, because this passage is entirely narrative.

Luke is recounting a time in Paul's life.

He's sharing a bigger story that points us towards big truths about God and his work in the lives of

followers. And in order to see how exactly Luke is doing that in this passage, we have to remember

the larger story going on. You see, this chapter

falls right in the middle of the larger narrative of Paul's wrongful imprisonment and the

trial before the Jewish and Roman leaders of his day.

It's been a bit since we've read through the previous chapters detailing what led up to this

point and I'd encourage you if you have time today to refresh this story and read chapters 21 to 25.

But for now, let's remember what has happened to Paul.

So Paul has been preaching to the Gentiles going on missionary journeys and in

chapter 21 he makes the decision to return to Jerusalem despite the warnings from others

that he receives that returning to Jerusalem would lead to his imprisonment.

See the Lord had called him to Jerusalem and he faithfully followed that call whatever would come.

And when he got to Jerusalem, sure enough, the Jewish

leaders stirred up trouble and spread false accusations against Paul, leading to a

riot where Paul was dragged out of the city and almost beaten to death. But before the crowds could kill Paul,

...