Good morning. The Jews brought
many and serious charges against Paul, which they could not prove. Paul said, I
have committed no offense either against the law of the Jews or against the
temple or against Caesar. But Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, asked
Paul, are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and stand trial before me on these
charges? Why would he want to go to Jerusalem? He was standing trial right
there, and they were unable to prove anything against him. Paul knew that if
they had planned to kill him previously, they would probably do the same again
as he went to Jerusalem. I am standing before Caesar’s tribunal, where I ought
to be tried. My Bible says that as a Roman citizen, he could refuse to go to a
local provincial court; instead he looked to a higher Roman court. I have done
no wrong to the Jews as you very well know. If, then, I am a wrong doer and
have committed anything worthy of death, I do not refuse to die; but if none of
these things is true of which these men accuse me, no one can hand me over to
them. I appeal to Caesar. My Bible says that it was the right of every Roman
citizen to have his case heard before Caesar himself in Rome. You have appealed
to Caesar, to Caesar you shall go. So Paul was finally going to Rome, but not
in the way he imagined. Father thank You that You work out things according to
Your plan, even though we may not see how it could come about. Work out Your
plan in the reader’s life.
Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me
Good morning. Paul then gives a list of a lot of things that he has gone through as an apostle. I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. There could be many people that you listen to either in church or through the Internet or other means; but there was only one person (as a general rule it was a person) that lead you to Christ. Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me. He was saying that just like a child imitates his or her father, they were to imitate him. He says that again seven chapters later. Since it is easy to forget some things about people we have not seen in a while, Paul says that he sent Timothy to them to remind them of his ways which are in Christ, just as he taught everywhere in every church. Some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. I shall find ou...
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