Acts 24 Study Guide

Family Study Guide for February 22, 2006 - Feburary 28, 2007
(Read Acts 24 Online)

Reflections on Acts 24 by Mark Chesner, Coach

There are times in our lives when it seems like God takes forever to answer our prayers. When I was a child, my father was diagnosed with brain cancer. It was a tumor and we prayed unceasingly for his healing. He had one surgery to remove the tumor, but God held off his answer and the tumor returned a few years later. He had a second surgery to remove a tumor, but God held off His answer to our prayers, and after a number of years another tumor returned. My father went in for surgery one last time, and came out and we learned that God had finally given His answer to our prayer for healing: No. My father died a few months later.

But in our impatience for an answer, we might have failed to see that God's lack of an answer was all part of His plan for our lives. When my father was first diagnosed with cancer, I was in fifth grade. Second time, I was a teenager. When he died, I was in college. While God had held off his final answer for us, in doing so He had given us what we all really wanted - time for my father to live to see his sons grow into young men.

We see this same principle here in Acts 24. Paul is brought before a Roman court and a Roman governor. Governor Felix hears the case against Paul, and his defense, and apparently understands Christianity well enough that he knows Paul is no threat to the Empire. Paul's friends and companions must have been praying daily for Paul's freedom, and his vindication before the court. But God had other plans and held off his answer of these prayers. But in doing so, He gave Paul two more years to live and to be a witness to the court of Felix. And we will see in the next chapter that these same sets of circumstances will allow Paul to be a witness for Christ before more and more important officials, until finally he will be sent to Rome.

Remember, when God appears to not be answering your prayers, the non-answer may be better for you in the long run than the answer you are looking for.

Questions to Consider
- Is God withholding His answer to a prayer in your life?
- How has the waiting for an answer affected you? What has it given you time to do, and to think about?
- When you pray to God, do you ever consider that His answer to your request may be "No"?

Bible.Org Outline for Acts 24
2. The Trial before Felix (24:1-26)
a. Accusations of the Jews (24:1-9)
b. Defense of Paul (24:10-21)
c. Adjournment by Felix (24:22-23)
d. Intermittent Interviews by Felix (24:24-26)
3. The Trial before Festus (24:27–25:12)
a. Felix Replaced by Festus (24:27)