Acts 24–25: Paul on Trial and the Gospel on Display

In this episode of The Morning Charge, Joshua walks through Acts 24 and 25, where Paul stands before Roman leaders, answers false accusations, and continues to speak clearly about Jesus.

These chapters show how Paul handled pressure, delay, and political maneuvering without losing focus. Even while imprisoned and repeatedly accused, he stayed grounded in truth and used each opportunity to point back to the gospel.

This episode highlights Paul’s steady witness before Felix, Festus, and King Agrippa, and reminds us that God can still work through seasons that feel delayed, unfair, or uncertain.

For a more interactive experience, watch "The Morning Charge" LIVE every Monday–Friday at 7:00 AM CST on TikTok.

Find more teachings, podcasts, resources, and ministry updates at fireandwaterministries.org.

If you’d like to become a Monthly Partner with Fire & Water Ministries or sow into the mission, click HERE!

- Real Talk. Real Jesus. Real Life. -

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the Morning Charge. This is your moment to slow down, breathe, and get your spirit aligned before stepping into the day ahead. Life moves fast, responsibilities pile up, voices compete for your attention. But before the noise of the world takes over, this is where we come back to what actually matters. This is a place for honest conversations about faith, life, purpose, and everyday battles we all face. No pretending, no religious performance, just the truth. Because following Jesus was never meant to be complicated. It was meant to be real. So whether you're driving to work, you're getting the kids ready, or simply taking a quiet moment for yourself, you're in the right place. This is real talk, real Jesus, real life. This is the morning charge. So let's pray and let's dive into uh chapters 24 and 25 of Acts. Father, I thank you this morning. Holy Spirit, I ask, Lord, that you would meet us here in this place. God, I just ask right now, Lord, that you would just illuminate every word on these pages today. We want to be able to glean from every word, Lord, that you show us today. Every word that we see here in this book. Don't let this just be two chapters where we just see Paul in a courtroom where he's trying to state his case and just trying to make it through, God. But Father, show us the lessons to be learned through this. Holy Spirit, come and move. Come and move right now. In the name of Jesus, amen. Amen. All right, we're in Acts chapter 24. Here we go. All right, without further ado. Five days later, Ananias the high priest arrived in Caesarea, accompanied by some Jewish elders. Etertalus, their prosecuting attorney. Oh, good. They brought their attorney. Fantastic. All right. Well, and when you see the word attorney here in the word, could also mean the the orator or the public speaker. All right, because we know that's what an attorney is. He's the one that's going to sort of speak on your behalf unless you're asked a direct question. You know, well, my, you know, my client, da-da-da-da-da-da-da. He kind of can get all the facts in there for you when you go to trial. So he's kind of your spokesperson. All right. He was a professional advocate representing the high priest and Jewish elders. Turtleus means triple hardened. His name. His name means triple hardened. So just not just a hard guy. He's a hard guy times three, I guess. All right, y'all know I'm big on looking up what names mean. So there you go. All right. So anyway, they were brought before the governor to present formal charges against Paul. And after Paul was summoned, Turtleus accused him, saying, Your Excellency Felix, oh goody, we're going to get the speech, the attorney's speech here. Your Excellency Felix, under the shadow of your wise leadership, all right, under your shade or your shadow, under your tents, if you will. We Jews have experienced a long period of peace. All right, Jewish lawyer representing the Jewish community here. Because of your wise foresight, many reforms are coming to pass in our nation because of you, most honorable Felix. We deeply appreciate this and thank you so very much. So we okay, well we're we're we're we're kissing up to Felix this morning. But in verse 4, so that I won't weary you with a lengthy presentation, I beg you to hear our brief summary with your customary graciousness. It continues. For we have found this man to be a contagious plague. Contagious plague. The Aramaic says, he is an assassin was the exact word that was trans uh translated into in the Aramaic. A seditious man who continually stirs up riots among the Jews all over the world. He has become a ringleader of the sect known as the Nazaren. Now, but the Nazaren, that word translates out to be the branch or the Sion. Alright, so the Nazarenes. I mean, we we know that's that's a denomination, the Nazarenes. But the Nazarenes, it means the branch. We are we are the branches connected to the vine. The branches that are connected to the vine. The Aramaic word implies the title of an heir of a powerful family. Remember, we went through this the other day, or one who is victorious. Jesus the victorious. We are victorious. Believers, as believers, we are grafted in to the family tree as branches. Victorious ones in Christ, we are. We are victorious. All right. Many modern-day Arabic speakers still use the term Nazarenes when speaking of believers in Jesus. They still call us Nazarenes today. All right, a little fun fast fact for you. But Paul is the ringleader of this sect known as the Nazarenes. Verse 6 says he's even attempted to desecrate our temple, which is why we had him arrested. He brought a Gentile in our holy place, and we can't have that. We sought to judge him according to our law, but Commander Lysias came with great force, snatched him away from our hands, and sent him here to you. He has ordered his accusers to come to you so that you could interrogate him and ascertain for yourself that all these charges we are bringing against him are true. Alright, all these charges are true. Verse 7, and parts of verse 6 and 8, are missing in a lot of the Greek manuscripts. Alright, they are a part of the Aramaic text and are included here. Thank goodness. We sought to judge him according to our law, but Commander Lysias came with great force, snatched him away from our hands, and sent him here to you. He has ordered his accusers to come to you so that you could interrogate him and ascertain for yourselves that all these things we are bringing against him are true. All the Jews present joined in the verbal attack, saying, Yes, it's true. It is true. Verse 10. The governor motioned that it was Paul's turn to speak. Come on, Paul. So he began to answer the accusations. All right, so Paul's going to begin to answer here. He says, Because I know that you have been a judge over this nation for many years, I gladly respond in my defense. You can easily verify that about twelve days ago I went to Jerusalem to worship. No one found me arguing with anyone or causing trouble among the people in the synagogues or in the temple or anywhere in the city. And this is true, Paul. He was just there and he wasn't causing any issues. They are completely unable to prove these accusations that they make against me. But I do confess this to you. For I believe everything that is written in the law and the prophets. Now, notice what he said here. He said, I worship Jesus, is what he's saying. I am a follower of the way, because I believe everything that is written in the law and the prophets. Jesus didn't come to abolish the law, he came to fulfill it.

SPEAKER_00 8:46

He was the promised Messiah from all the prophets past. Verse 15.

SPEAKER_01 8:56

And my hope is in God, the same hope that even my accusers have embraced. The hope of a resurrection from this unalive state of both the righteous and the unrighteous. That's why I seek with all my heart to have a clean conscience toward God and toward others. After being away from Jerusalem for several years, I returned to bring to my people gifts for the poor. I was in the temple, ritually purified and presenting my offering to God when they seized me. I had no noisy crowd around me. I wasn't causing trouble or making any kind of disturbance whatsoever. It was a group of Jews from Western Turkey, all right, or from Asia, who were being unruly. They are the ones who should be here now to bring their charges if they have anything against me. Or at least these men standing before you should clearly state what crime they found me guilty of when I stood before the Jewish Supreme Council. It's like you guys got anything? Like, what's the what's the main deal here? Unless it's the one thing I passionately spoke out when I stood among them. I am on trial today only because of my belief in the resurrection of the unalives. That's why I'm here. Because Jesus and what and what happened to Jesus when he was resurrected from the TikTok language, y'all. Or social media language. Felix, who was well acquainted with the facts about the way, concluded the hearing with these words. Remember, the way is the way of Jesus, okay? Followers of Jesus. Felix was well acquainted. Excuse me. Felix was well acquainted with the facts about the way. And so he said this I will decide your case after Commander Lysius arrives. He then ordered the captain to keep Paul in protective custody, but to give him a measure of freedom, he allowed his friends to visit him and help take care of his needs.

SPEAKER_00 11:27

Keep Paul in protective custody.

SPEAKER_01 11:30

We don't want anything to happen to him. So even in the midst of this mess, Felix finds it necessary to keep him in captivity, in protective custody, but you can allow his friends to visit him and help take care of his needs. That's okay. Verse 24 says, Several days later, Felix came back with his wife Drusilla. Alright, Drusilla was the youngest daughter of Herod Agrippa. You guys remember King Herod, huh? The first. And the sister of Agrippa the Second. As a Jewess, she was likely the source of Felix's understanding of the way. She was most likely the mouthpiece that spoke to him about things of the way. So he was getting this information, understanding it, and hearing it from a trusted source. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 12:31

But Felix comes back with his wife Drusilla.

SPEAKER_01 12:39

They sent for Paul and listened as he shared with them about faith in Jesus, the anointed one. Wow. They sent for him and now they're listening. You tell us about faith in Jesus. As Paul spoke about true righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment, Felix became terrified and said, Leave me for now. I'll send for you later when it's more convenient. The Aramaic says, When my conscience is clear, I will call for you. It's almost like it was just too much for him to take on. This is way too much at one time for me to handle. I'm having to eat this in bite-sized pieces. So I got to send you away for now, and I will call you back later when it's when it's more convenient. In other words, let me let me simmer on this for a little bit. He expected, verse 26 tells us that he expected to receive a bribe from Paul for his release. So for that reason, he would send for Paul from time to time to converse with him. We're going to see if he wants to bribe us so he can get out of here. Pay his way out. Two years later, Felix was succeeded by Portius Festus. Before he left office, he decided to leave Paul in prison as a political favor to the Jews. So you left him in there as a political favor for the Jews? I don't know. That's what's written in the text. But you can see that he had some sort of protection upon Paul. And while he still remained and kept him captive, he's talking with Paul. He's understanding the way better. This was a twofold thing. So the gospel is still going on in the midst of this situation. And the gospel is still going like wildfire. Things didn't stop outside of the walls that Paul is in right now because Paul is in here. No, it is still spreading all throughout the region. The mighty gospel of Jesus is still going out everywhere. And he is influencing leaders. Powerful leaders. He might be in captivity. You are probably an influence more than you realize, even in the times of captivity in your own lives. You ever stop and think about that? Even in the midst of your bad negative situations, you can still be the light of Jesus. Amen. Annalise. Alright, so let's keep moving on. We're going to get through 25 short, and these two kind of go together. So that's why I'm doing these together. All right. Now I'm in Acts chapter 25, verse 1. Three days after Festus assumed his duties in Caesarea, he made the journey to Jerusalem. All right, this journey was about 65 miles, if you want to put it into perspective. So he made his journey to Jerusalem. Religious authorities and prominent leaders among the Jews brought formal charges against Paul before Festus. All right, now you've got to remember a couple of years has gone by at this point. So they probably had quite a while to think about some things. Excuse me. They came asking him for a favor that he would transfer Paul from Cayria back to Jerusalem, all the while plotting to ambush and unalive Paul along the way. So a couple of years has gone by. The new guy has just stepped in. Festus has assumed his role. And so now you want to try to go based on we're going to go with the original plan that failed a couple years ago. We're going to go with the original plan. We're going to get rid of this guy because I'm tired of hearing about this, tired of talking about it. All right. Festus responded to their request by informing them that he planned to return to Caesarea shortly. He told them, Your leaders can come with me to Caesarea. If this man has broken any laws, you can bring charges against him there. After Festus had stayed in Jerusalem no more than eight to ten days, so he stayed a little while. He left back for Caesarea. The day after he arrived, he convened the court and took his seat on the bench as judge over the proceedings. After he ordered Paul brought into the courtroom, the Jewish leaders who came from Jerusalem encircled him and leveled against him many serious charges, which they were unable to substantiate. They brought a bunch of charges against him and could not prove a single one of them. In his defense, Paul said, by the Holy Spirit, once okay. Remember, this is the difference, and we're learning this. Let's pick up the principles we're learning in Acts. In his defense, Paul said, by way of the Holy Spirit. That's what the Aramaic tells us. By way of the Holy Spirit, he spoke. We should be speaking by way of the Holy Spirit. We should be relying on the Holy Spirit when we open our mouth. And he said, I have done nothing wrong. Or I have not sinned in anything. I have not sinned in anything, he says. I've committed no offense against Jewish law or against the temple or against Caesar. Festus, because he wanted to curry favor with the Jews, uh-oh. He asked Paul, are you willing to go with me to Jerusalem and be tried for these charges? We got a guy who's trying to be buddy buddy with the Jewish community now. Paul replied, I am standing here before Caesar's tribunal. This is where I should be tried. As you well know, I have done no harm to the Jews. If I have committed a crime worthy of unaliving me, I won't seek to escape the unalive penalty. But if none of their charges are true, no one has the right to hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar. After conferring with the members of his council, Festus replied, Since you have appealed to Caesar, to Caesar, you will go. We're going to go ahead and take you. I mean, you've come the way, you going all the way. All right, verse 13. All right, chapter 25 of Acts, if you're just joining us. Good morning to you. Welcome in. Several days later, King Agrippa and Bernice, all right, King Agrippa and Bernice, Bernice was a Jewess, all right, was the sister of King Agrippa, the older sister of Drusilla, all right, and the wife of Felix. Well, Drusilla was the wife of Felix, not this one. Sorry. So this was the sister to Drusilla. Okay? During their stay of many days, Fessus explained Paul's situation to the king to get his opinion on the matter, saying, There's a man here whom Felix left as a prisoner. When I was in Jerusalem, the leading priests and Jewish elders pressed charges against him and demanded that I issue a guilty verdict against him. I explained to them that it is not our Roman custom to condemn any man before he has an opportunity to face his accusers and present his defense. So they returned here with me. I didn't postpone the trial, but conveyed the court to the very next day and ordered the man to be brought before me. I listened to their accusations against him, but they were not what I expected to hear, for he had committed no crime. Rather, their issues centered around disagreements with him over their religion and about a unalived man named Jesus, who Paul claimed was actually alive. Because I was perplexed about how to proceed, I asked him if he would be willing to go to Jerusalem to stand on trial with his charges. When Paul appealed his case to the emperor for a decision, I ordered him to be held in custody until I could send him to Caesar. King Agrippa now says to Festus, verse 22, I would like to listen to this man myself. How intriguing. Tomorrow, he replied, you will have that opportunity. So the next day King Agrippa and Bernice entered the audience hall with much pomp and pageantry. Accompanying them were the senior military officers and prominent citizens. Festus ordered that Paul be brought before them all. Then Festus said, King Agrippa, An esteemed guest, here is the man whom the entire whom whom the entire Jewish community, both here and in Jerusalem, has asked me to condemn to unalivingness. Paul really has just stirred it up, hasn't he? The entire Jewish community here and Jerusalem want to do away with him. ASAP. They have screamed and shouted at me, demanding that I end his life. Yet, upon investigation, I couldn't find one thing that he has done to deserve the unaliving penalty. When he appealed to his majesty the emperor, I determined to send him, but I have nothing concrete to write to his majesty, so I have now brought him before you all, and especially before you, King Agrippa. After this preliminary hearing, I should have something to write, for it seems absurd to me to send a prisoner without specifying the charges against him. We continue to see a pattern here in chapters twenty-four and twenty-five. And this is very it's very touchy for these political people. This is all inside your religious area. I mean, this man hasn't alived anyone, he hasn't broken any laws, but yet there's this religious people who are wanting to do away with him and they're wanting to do harm with him. And he is trying to he is trying to find favor with these people, but he knows that this man hasn't done anything, and and what a what a what a what a weird it's like what do we do? What do we do? What happened here was so we see things taking place in Caesarea once again, the Roman capital of Judea.

SPEAKER_00 24:11

Paul was imprisoned here. But Felix is keeping him there.

SPEAKER_01 24:23

Governor Felix is gonna keep him there for a couple of years before he moves on. During that time, Paul has testified before who? Governor Felix, Governor Festus, King Agrippa. But this fulfills Jesus' words. Do you remember? Going back to Acts 9 and 15. You guys remember this? Who've been going with me? That Paul would testify before kings. This should be no, this is no surprise to Paul. Jesus has already spoken and said, You're going to testify before kings. So with Governor Felix, of course, he was the governor was his full name, Marcus Antonius Felix. The name I can say. That's why I said the whole thing, because y'all know I am with names. All right, Felix was a former slave who rose to power through political connections. He knows what it's like to be at the bottom. Now he's at the top. Roman historian Tacitus described him as a man who ruled with the power of a king, but the mind of a slave. He was known for cruelty, corruption, political manipulation, accepting bribes. Felix was not the, he was not the he was not the cool dude, okay? And if you want to put this on a timeline, he governed Judea from about 8052 to 8059. Okay, so from 52 to 59. The Jewish leaders arriving have arrived with a lawyer named Turtulus. Turtulus was likely a professional Roman attorney who had been hired by them to argue the case here. The charges against Paul was kind of a threefold thing, creating riots among Jews throughout the empire, all right, being a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes, attempting to desecrate the temple. All right, we got three things against him. All right, and interestingly enough, the Jewish leaders changed their accusations here. Earlier, what did they say? They accused Paul of bringing Gentiles into the temple. Now they're accusing him of stirring rebellion. All right, they did bring that attempting to desecrate the temple, but it's like they're adding on to their story. All right, why?

SPEAKER_00 27:10

Let me stop that thing. Why?

SPEAKER_01 27:13

Because Rome did not care about the Jewish religious disputes. Rome cared very deeply about any type of political unrest. So they're smart enough. They've heard this. They're like, if he really did anything, let us know. If they really did, let us know. So they're trying to twist the story so that they can find some fault to get this guy gone. Not just like kick him out again. We did that a long time ago. He left. Now he's back. He keeps returning. So we got to do away with this guy. So whatever they can do, and let me just tell you, the religious system still today finds a way to twist the truth to snuff out what Jesus really wants to do. Oh my God, I'm gonna get in trouble by somebody today. I told you we're gonna read through this and we're gonna pick up exactly what we see, patterns we see with Paul and what is going on here. Even the religious system is going to try to twist things to snuff things out. If it doesn't fit their model, if it doesn't fit their mold, if revival does not come the way that it has always came, I don't want no part of it. Because we know what revival looks like. We already know what revival looks like, and that don't look like it. God will begin to move in these last days. I'm telling you, God's gonna begin to move in our day. Amen. Just like just like today.

SPEAKER_00 28:59

God's gonna begin to move, and people are going to look and they're gonna go, that's not God.

SPEAKER_01 29:08

We know what looks like God and that don't look like God. There will be many who call themselves righteous and pure before the Holy One that will not recognize him when he moves. Circle that. Mark that down. You'll begin to see that as God has already started moving. God's already moving all over the earth. But as things begin to intensify in the spirit, there's going to be moves of God where man is going to point their righteous finger and say, That's not God.

SPEAKER_00 29:43

That's not how he moves.

SPEAKER_01 29:45

Don't you be one that looks at something and say, That's not God. Unless something is blatantly wrong or impure. When God begins to move, if you do not understand that move of God, get out of this understanding. I mean, he already gives us peace that surpasses our understanding. He gives us joy and tells us to maintain our joy even through when we're going down there through it. So there's lots of things that he does for us that surpass this. So we have got to be ready for when he moves. Because the political, religious system, it is it's it's got its own politics inside its own vein. If you look, you have the political realm, and then you have the Jewish community here. The Jewish leaders who are not happy. They got their own thing going on. And you see how sick and twisted this is? I mean, I'm just I'm hoping you guys are picking up on this. They will try to twist the truth to get this man gone. They want a guy unalived. That don't sound like that don't sound like the God I serve. That doesn't sound like Yahweh. But they're so stuck in this political system.

SPEAKER_00 31:08

They're so stuck in what they're in. Jesus. Let's keep going. So the accusation against Paul.

SPEAKER_01 31:22

That thing doesn't want to stop. Oh well. The accusation against Paul here. Now that the Jewish leaders have arrived and they're trying to twist the story. Paul gets his chance to stand up.

SPEAKER_00 31:40

And did you see how Paul responded? He was very calm. He didn't shout. He didn't pitch a fit. He was very calm. And he explained it like this. I came to Jerusalem to worship.

SPEAKER_01 32:08

Which he did. Remember the feast and the different things, the festivals were going on. I came to Jerusalem to worship. I didn't cause these riots. And I believed everything written in the law and the prophets. He said, I am a Jew. And then he makes a key statement. He says he believes in the resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. That's what Paul said. This was extremely controversial, again, because the Sadducees denied resurrection. The Sadducees didn't see that resurrection. Paul repeatedly brings the conversation back to the resurrection because the resurrection of Jesus is the heart of the gospel. It is the heart of the gospel. He arose and he lives.

SPEAKER_00 33:13

What?

SPEAKER_01 33:14

They cannot wrap their head around that. It's a very interesting story to Felix and anyone else who's lending an ear. So Felix postpones the judgment. He claims, I'm going to wait until the remote Roman commander Elysius arrives. Okay. I mean, but that never really happens. What happened instead? Instead, Felix kept Paul under that house-style custody. But we're going to give you some freedom. Your friends can visit. We'll give you a little bit of freedom in here. I'm going to protect you. We're going to keep you here. Felix and his wife Drusilla invite Paul to speak. All right, we know about Drusilla's background. We went over that earlier. But I mean, pretty much she came from the same Herod family that persecuted the early church. So that's that's the family line she came from. Drusilla had left her previous husband to marry Felix. And when Paul speaks to them, he's talking about righteousness, he's talking about self-control, the coming judgment. He's sharing all these things with him. Paul is speaking directly to two powerful people. These people were known for immorality, these people were known for corruption. But he is speaking the truth nonetheless. Felix, so much, if you remember in the word, said, I'm going to have to send you away and we'll bring you back. In other words, we'll bring you back when I can process all of this. He's almost like trembling, almost afraid of what Paul is saying. But Felix doesn't budge. He's listening, a little fearful about what Paul is saying, but he keeps Paul in prison. And he's hoping Paul is going to offer a bribe. Paul might just bribe us to get out of here. Paul didn't do that. Paul's following the Holy Spirit. He's following, he's not that kind of man. He's a man of character, he's a man of integrity. If we're going to pick up how Paul lived his life, he was a man of his word, and he was a man of his character and his integrity. He wasn't going to bribe his way out of this situation. He's trusting the Lord in the midst of this. So Paul's going to wait for two years that we see. Felix leaves office at this point. He's replaced with old Festus. Felix leaves Paul in prison to gain favor with the Jewish leaders. And that shows how political leaders will often prioritize popularity over justice. He didn't do away with him. He didn't go all the way. But he kept him out from being out to cause any more trouble. So now Festus is replaced. And unlike Felix, though, Festus had this reputation for being a little more fair and slightly more competent in making decisions. All right, historically speaking. But he inherited a very complicated political situation. This is a very, this is not like your typical situation here. Like this is so he's kind of inherited this issue. Three days after arriving, Festus then travels to Jerusalem. The Jewish leaders immediately ask for Paul to be brought to Jerusalem because they wanted to go with the original plan. On the way here, there's going to be an ambush. We'll take him out of here. Done.

SPEAKER_00 37:25

Festus refuses.

SPEAKER_01 37:28

He tells them, if you got a case, you can come present this over in Caesarea.

SPEAKER_00 37:33

If you got a case, you come present it to us over here. Back in Caesarea, the trial begins. The Jews make many accusations, but they can't prove these accusations.

SPEAKER_01 37:53

Festus tries to compromise and ask if Paul will go to Jerusalem for trial. Paul realizes this could also lead to an assassination. So Paul uses one of the greatest rights of the Roman citizen. He's a Roman citizen, Paul. He says, I appeal to Caesar. He pulls the Caesar card. Well, if a Roman citizen believed that he could get a fair trial here and local, he could request judgment from the emperor. Excuse me, y'all. At this time, the emperor was Nero.

SPEAKER_00 38:39

Festus accepts the appeal. Paul is now being sent over to Rome.

SPEAKER_01 38:48

God lines everything up, y'all. We worry about our lives and what's today going to look like, and we get caught up in our day today. If you look at Paul and look at his life, everything from him being a Roman citizen, yet Jewish, yet he was speaking to this crowd, speaking to this crowd, and now he has at least he has favor here in this place. Still a bad situation. And there's still lots of corruption. But because of who he is and because of his citizenship, things have to be handled with kit gloves. They cannot just do away with him for no reason.

SPEAKER_00 39:26

Okay. In Acts 23, 11, Jesus told Paul what?

SPEAKER_01 39:37

You must testify. I'm going to have you testify in Rome. Yes, you're going to be testifying here, but I'm also going to have you testify in Rome. Now we see him being fully sent over. Paul's appeal to Caesar becomes the legal mechanism that sends him right on to the heart of it. Right on in it. Rome will pay for Paul's travel as a prisoner because of his citizenship. And God has sent him now to the capital of the empire to be a voice and to speak. Amen. Here's something that a lot of people miss when we're going through this. So Paul spent, what, two years in Sicyria? About two years there in Acts 24. During imprisonment imprisonment, sorry, Paul still had influence. He had visitors. He had opportunities to preach. The Herodian family, or Herod, King Herod, Herodian, appears over and over in Acts. We keep seeing them come back up. Y'all notice that? They consistently interact with the gospel, but they rarely respond with true faith. Paul repeatedly shifts courtroom accusations into conversations about the gospel of Jesus. Even when defending himself, he continues to preach Christ. In every situation, he preaches Christ. Doesn't matter who he's in front of, doesn't matter what is going on, whether it's a laid-back situation or a bad situation, he preaches Christ. Can we stand here today and say that we still preach Christ? Can we say that? Are we preaching Christ no matter what? Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. That's today's morning charge. Before you move on with your day, take a moment and let what you've heard settle into your heart. Faith isn't just something we talk about, it's something we live out in the ordinary moments of everyday life. Wherever today takes you, remember this. You don't walk into it alone. God is already ahead of you, working in ways you may not even see yet. Stand firm, walk in wisdom, lead with love, and don't forget who you belong to. Until next time, keep your heart anchored, keep your faith strong, and keep living out real talk, real Jesus, real life. We'll see you on the next morning charge.