Paul Before Festus and King Agrippa

This is such a good lesson! Paul just keeps the Faith and keeps teaching about Jesus. The students loved the printable for this lesson and there are several different ways you can use it.

Remember that Agabus warned Paul not to go to Jerusalem. Paul went to Jerusalem anyway, because he was willing to do whatever God wanted him to. Paul was beaten by the crowd and the chief Captain, Lysias, put him under protection and when Paul’s nephew heard that 40 of the Jewish men plotted to kill him, he went to the prison to tell Paul. When Paul’s nephew informed Lysias of the plot, Lysias had soldiers take Paul out of Jerusalem. Paul went before Felix. He was a very bad Roman ruler. Felix kept Paul a prisoner for two years. Our lesson today is found in Acts 25 & 26.

Then, finally, Felix was sent to Rome and Festus took over. He went to visit Jerusalem to check out the capitol, and while meeting the with the high priest, the same men that wanted Paul killed, were still angry at Paul, and they talked to Festus.

Since Festus was a new governor, the Jewish leaders tried again to have Paul taken back to Jerusalem. They wanted to kill him on Paul's journey back. Festus didn’t know about their plot. They told Festus THEIR STORY about Paul, and of the things THEY were accusing him of.

When Festus returned to Caesarea, Festus asked Paul if he would go to Jerusalem to be tried. The Jewish leaders were hoping for this. But Paul said “I haven’t done anything wrong. If I have, I would be ready to die. I appeal to Caesar.”

Festus couldn’t deny Paul, because of his Roman citizenship. Festus agreed to send Paul to Rome to be tried in Caesar’s court. As Festus wondered what kind of report to send to Caesar, King Agrippa and Queen Bernice visited. They ruled Galilee. They stayed with Festus for many days and Festus told them about Paul. When Festus explained Paul’s story, King Agrippa wanted to talk to Paul.

The next day, Paul had another hearing. King Agrippa and Queen Bernice came in to see Paul with 'great ceremony" [pomp]. Other important men attended also.

Read Acts 26:3 Paul told King Agrippa that he is an expert of customs of the Jews and even he is questioning what they are saying. And Paul is happy to be able to speak to him with the truth.

Paul talked about Jesus and how he learned about Jesus when he was blinded by a light on his way to Damascus. He told them that Jesus had died on the cross and was raised from the dead. Paul said that he has been teaching about Jesus all over Judea that people should repent and turn to God. Acts 26:20

Paul told King Agrippa that he is just saying the same things that the prophets said. Moses said that a Savior would come and suffer and then rise from the dead, who was Jesus. Paul asked “Do you believe the prophets? I know that you do.”

READ Acts 26:28 King Agrippa said, “Almost thou persuade me to be a Christian.” Paul knew that ALMOST was not enough. We sing a song called "Almost persuaded”. King Agrippa didn’t want to give up his lifestyle. King Agrippa didn't want to live like Jesus wants us to live. He knew Paul was right, but just wasn’t willing to change his life.

When King Agrippa stood up, that meant that he didn’t want to hear anymore. The guards took Paul back to his prison, while King Agrippa, Queen Bernice and Festus talked about Paul.

They knew Paul didn’t do anything wrong, but since he appealed to Caesar, they decided Paul had to go to Rome for a trial.

For today's printable, I created a Fold-It. I just called it that because they fold it a couple of times to make a smaller booklet. So, Jesus is in the center and this page can be used by itself for a lot of lessons. When it is folded in half, Paul and the three men he went before is on the half page. The students will fill in the blanks with their names. Fold again and you have the cover. Jesus said to Go and teach. That is what Paul did. The center has blocks for the students to write in different things they know about Jesus. This can be directed in any direction you'd like, but I just want to see what they remember about Jesus, and we can discuss more as talk and write. This can be printed in color or black & white. Click here to download.

Click here to print the worksheet.

You can find all the Acts worksheets here.

Click here to download the updated visuals.

This file contains all visuals for Acts 24-27. All are not shown.

Click here to download the pictures to color.
(These are the same as the visuals but are black & white.)

Bible Verse: Acts 26:31

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.

Used by permission.

Passport: Caesarea

Lesson is here.