With every trial, Paul gets to bear witness in front of men more and more powerful than before. First the mob, then the religious leaders, then Governor Felix and Governor Festus, and in this passage, he is now in front of King Herod Agrippa and his wife Bernice. But Paul is staying rooted in saying the resurrection of Jesus is the reason he's on trial, and continuing to anchor himself in that truth.
Paul stands trial before Felix the Governor, and gives his defense. Felix began to be very interested in what Paul was saying, and even brought his wife in to potentially fact check Paul’s argument. But all of a sudden, when Paul’s defense turned into sharing the gospel to Felix, the conviction was too much. Felix bailed, said, "I’ll be in touch later, maybe," and two years later, he is out the door leaving Paul in prison for the next Governor to deal with, never having professed faith in Christ.
Paul is now moved away from the mob, and into a formal trial in front of the Sanhedrin. It doesn't last long. Paul's speech is two sentences, he gets slapped in the face, and then spots an opportunity to get the attention off of himself. But that night in the jail cell, he gets a special visit from the Lord himself, encouraging him to stay the course.
It's the beginning of the end for Paul as he is arrested in Jerusalem. He'll never be a free man again. And the people who have stirred up the crowd and demanded his arrest (and tried to kill him) are the Jews from Asia – the very people he had just spend the last several years trying to win to the gospel.
A riot breaks out in Ephesus, because so many people are being converted to follow Jesus that it is affecting sales at the local shrine shop. Paul heads for Jerusalem and ends up in city called Troas, where a sleepy young man falls from a third story window and dies.
Priscilla and Aquila listen to a young man named Apollos speaking in the synagogue about Jesus, but the message was not quite complete. What he said was correct, but it wasn't complete – like stopping with Jesus' death and resurrection and leaving out the Holy Spirit. So they invited him over and explained "The Rest of the Story."
As Paul rolls into Corinth, we get a bit of a window into him being a little more human than we may have thought about him. He admits in 1 Corinthians that he came into town with weakness, fear, and much trembling. Yet, God meets him in that fear and offers him incredible comfort.
Paul and Silas visit two cities (Thessalonica and Berea) and receive two very different welcomes from the religious people in those areas. So the question remains – do we allow traditions and "that's the way we've always done it" to inform what's true? Or are we willing to question even our traditions, and search the scriptures for answers?
With the base of operations now at Lydia's house, Paul and Silas settle into a routine of prayer with the new believers. But this new church has stirred up some opposition – both spiritual and political. Paul and Silas end up beaten by rods and thrown in prison, where we find them worshiping in the middle of the night.
Paul and Silas head north to catch up with the new believers in Galatia and Phrygia. Then apparently, they decide to not go home yet, but keep going further west. But, in one of the strangest lines of Acts, the Holy Spirit said no to Asia, and no to Bithynia. Paul gets a vision about heading to Macedonia, and the crew springs into action.