Recall please from last week that amazing things were happening at Antioch (Acts 11:19-26). Jews were coming to the faith; Gentiles were coming to the faith; People were beginning to be called “Christians”. So, the church at Jerusalem sent Barnabas to help provide leadership. And there was so much work, Barnabas sent for Paul who was at Tarsus to join them.
In Acts 13, we find there were actually now 5 pastors of this growing church. Manaen, was from Antioch and was well connected with not only Caesar’s family but also Agrippa’s family. Lucius and Simeon helped found the church after leaving Jerusalem, when the great persecution broke out after the stoning of Steven (Acts 8:1-3). And now, Paul and Barnabas had come to help out.
But by the Spirit’s direction they sent Paul and Barnabas on to continue spreading the Good News. Including John Mark on their journey, their first stop was the Island of Cyprus, where their efforts was so successful, that even the Roman head of the territory proconsul Sergius Paulus, came to faith. But when they headed on to their next stop, John Mark instead returned to Jerusalem. He would miss three difficult but great works of God.
- In Acts 13:13-52, Paul and Barnabas visit a second Antioch, this in Asia’s Minor, where after being invited to speak at the synagogue, they at first were warmly received, but on the second Sabbath they were rebuffed sufficiently that they shook of the dust of their feet against them and began to shift their ministry to the Gentiles.
- In Acts 14:1-7, they go to central Turkey and teach both Jews and Greeks at Iconium. Again, the Spirit granted them the ability to perform miracles among them, but unbelieving Jews stirred up opposition and were preparing to stone them. They fled for their lives.
- In Acts 14:8-18, now at Lystra, they heal a man crippled from birth and the townspeople think they are the Roman gods Zeus and Hermes! But shortly Jews from the previous two towns arrive, turn the crowds against them and proceed to stone Paul and drag his lifeless body out of town.
Acts 14:20
But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe.
Paul miraculously survived the stoning and went back into the city! They stayed the night before moving on to the next town. Imagine the Spirit-filled bravery that took.
What happens next is equally amazing.
When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
They went back to the three other cities! And not briefly! They stayed long enough to start a church in each of them.
While some go through life looking for “open doors”, Paul and Barnabas bashed them, down with the help of the Holy Spirit.
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