Two Life lessons.
Life Lesson #1
Let's be willing to release gifted
men and women without RELUCTANCE. And when you are called by God to go to a
place you would never have expected to go, there's no need to be AFRAID of
change. Change brings adventure and adventure stretches your faith. All that
spells GROWTH. Faith and RISK go hand in hand. -- Chuck Swindoll
God does call Christians to go into all the world, and
when he does, I need to be OK with that. Like Job, we need to say the Lord
gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. We must rejoice
if people are taking the gospel to other places. And at whatever point. God calls
you or me to go, we need not be afraid. God knows what he's doing. If God says
go do what the church at Antioch did fast and pray with other Christians to
confirm God's calling. And once you've prayed and confirmed God's will do what
he says, go walk by faith, even when it's risky. Because faith and risk go hand
in hand.
Life Lesson #2
The Spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions, and
the nearer we get to Him, the more intensely missionary we must become. --
Henry Martyn (missionary)
That was very well said and very thought-provoking. In
the days ahead, God will call some of us to go. In the days ahead, I would
guess, God will call most of us to stay. Regardless of whether God calls you to
go or to stay, there's something wrong. If we are not using our location as a
mission field. If you are growing in your faith and deepening in your
relationship with Christ, but you're not impacting more people around you for
Christ, there is something wrong. God has called you to be a missionary, wherever
He has you. God has called you to be a missionary as a disciple maker where you
are, and if he calls you to go somewhere else, he calls you to be a missionary
there as well.
Remember what we read back a few chapters in the book
of Acts. Acts 4:12, early in the life of the Christ’s Church there in
Jerusalem, Peter and John were arrested because they were in the temple courts
proclaiming Jesus Christ, and they just wouldn't shut up. The Jewish ruling
Council, the Sanhedrin, they have them arrested and they start waving their
fingers in John and Peter's faces and saying shut up about this Jesus, I don't
want you to speak his name anymore. And I remember what Peter boldly said in Acts 4:12, he said salvation is found in no one else, for there was
no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved, and the
Sanhedrin is blown away because this guy had been a fisherman all of his adult
life, and he was boldly proclaiming the truth about Jesus in front of this
Council of 70 and in Acts 4:13 we read of the Sanhedrin’s reaction. It says
this when they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were
unschooled, ordinary men. They were astonished and they took note that these
men had been with Jesus. Friends as you grow in your faith and you deepen in
your relationship with Christ, those who are around you should sense that there
is something extraordinary about you. Those around you should take note that
you have been with Jesus.
Pray: Heavenly Father, you are an awesome
God. We thank You for the powerful life-giving word that You've given us.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for coming to Earth and inspiring Peter and John to
boldly stand for you and inspiring Paul and Barnabas to boldly stand and speak
for you. Please give us the courage and give us Lord the effectiveness in doing
your missionary work right here where you have us for the glory of God. In
Jesus' name. Amen.
God has called us to be generous Christians, and God
has called us to be obedient Christians that share His word with those around
us. Let's take our mission field more seriously now than we have in a long
time. Let's invite our friends and family and allow them to hear the gospel and
experience life change in Jesus' name.
God bless you as you serve and love and trust our Lord
this week.
===========
A
helpful book for my studies of Paul has been Chuck Swindoll's great book called
Paul, a Man of Grace and Grit. As I was reading through it, I came
across a missionary that Chuck Swindoll was talking about a missionary. I'd
never heard of his name, James Gilmore. He was born in the mid part of the 19th
century -- born in 1843. He was a Scottish-born Christian. At a young age, he
felt God's call upon his life to go on to the mission field. His mom was very
mission-minded. She carved out an hour of time every night to teach her kids
about the word of God. At a young age, Matthew 28:19-20 was impressed on his
mind and heart, where Jesus before he went to heaven gave this Great Commission
to his followers. He shared how he wants us to go into all the world and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and Son and
Holy Spirit. Teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you.
This young
boy, James Gilmore, took that to heart and he concluded that he could not be
obedient to God's call on his life if he were to stay at home. He believed he
must go overseas. At a young age, he concluded, “To me, the soul of an Indian
seems as precious as the soul of an Englishman. The gospel is as much for the
Chinese as for the Europeans. So after graduating from college, he was thrilled
to be accepted into the London Missionary Society and go to seminary to prepare
to be an overseas missionary. at the age of 26, his dream came true. He was
sent to Beijing, China.
Within a
few months, he was given the opportunity to be a pioneer missionary up north in
the area of Mongolia, at that time was just north of China. He went to Mongolia
and off and on for the next 21 years, he served as a missionary there in
Mongolia.
Well, after
arriving in Mongolia, Gilmore wrote these words in his journal. He said several
huts insight, when shall I be able to speak to the people, O Lord? Suggest by
the spirit how I should come among them, and in preparing myself to teach the
life and the love of Christ Jesus. You could just hear the excitement as he
wrote in his journal. He was so excited to lead these people to Jesus
Christ.
Well, Fast
forward about four years. During that time, he learned the Mongolian language.
He built relationships. He preached the gospel to all who would listen. And
what do you think happened in those next four years? Thousands of Mongolians came
to Christ. Perhaps he planted not one or two, but maybe four or five churches.
Perhaps a great revival broke out in Mongolia? Not exactly!
Here's what
he wrote four years later in his diary. “In the shape of converts I have seen
no results. I have not, as far as I am aware, seen anyone who even wanted to
become a Christian.” And that just kind of makes your heart drop, doesn't it?
Four years, pouring his blood, sweat, and tears into his Mongolian mission. And
he didn't even get a glimpse of anyone drawing any closer to Jesus
Christ.
Around the
same time, Gilmore married his wife, Emily. She was a great partner in
ministry, but she died of some strange disease before they reached their 11th
anniversary. Just a few years later, Gilmore himself died of typhus fever, just
a few weeks shy of his 48th birthday. The world looks at James Gilmore's life
and they say what? He was an abject failure in his mission to Mongolia. But God
looks at James Gilmore's life, and says “Well done good and faithful servant.”
We would
like to think that good ministry is as easy as a walk in the park and always
leads to thousands of lives being transformed by the power of the gospel. But
the truth is more times than not, Christians who pour their blood, sweat, and
tears into their God-given ministries find it to be a very, very bumpy road.
And oftentimes the results aren't nearly as monumental or glamorous as we had
imagined.
Even the
great apostle. Paul discovered this to be true. So if you're serious about
doing great ministry, carrying out God's purpose for your life, and bringing
heaven to your corner of the world, you'd better buckle in and brace yourself
because it's going to be, in all likelihood, a pretty bumpy ride.
Earlier we
looked at the five key leaders who led that church in Antioch of Syria. Two of
those five leaders were none other than Barnabas and Saul. The leadership was
fasting and worshiping God. One day the Holy Spirit set apart Barnabas and
Saul, for the work to which I will call. And after gathering the church
together for a season of fasting and prayer, they laid hands on Barnabas and
Saul. Then they sent them off for the mission. The Antioch Church was losing
2/5 of its leadership team. But as heart-wrenching as that must have been for
the church members, they accepted it because it was God's will.
Acts 13:4-12 4 The two of them, sent on
their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia
and sailed from there to Cyprus. 5 When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in
the Jewish synagogues. John was with them as
their helper.
6 They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, 7 who was an attendant of
the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. The
proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to
hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the
sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. 9 Then
Saul, who was also called Paul, filled
with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, 10 “You are a
child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of
all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways
of the Lord? 11 Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going
to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun.”
Immediately mist and
darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the
hand. 12 When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he
was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.
Well,
having been chosen and set apart by the Holy Spirit. Barnabas and Saul set out
on the adventure of a lifetime to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout
Northwest Asia. These guys had been set apart by God. They knew that God had
told them to do it, and they must have been thrilled beyond being able to put
it into words. Their first step was going to go to Barnabas's hometown. Or if
not his hometown, at least his home nation, the Island of Cyprus. That was
going to be the first stop on their mission trip. Barnabas and Saul began their
journey by traveling most likely on foot, just a few miles West to the nearest
port city of Seleucia. Luke tells us there in Acts 13:4. There they could board
a cargo ship headed for Cypress, so they boarded a ship and took the 130-mile
boat ride to the east side of the Island of Cyprus.
Luke tells
us in Acts 13:5 that John was with him as their helper. Now this was John
Mark, remember? He was Barnabas's cousin. Barnabas and Saul had gone to take
some financial relief to those Christians in and around Jerusalem. And when
they were down there giving that financial relief to the Christians and the
churches down there, Barnabas ran into his nephew or his cousin Mark and
brought him back to Antioch with him. Evidently, they had had a conversation
with John Mark and convinced him to join them as their helper on this first
missionary journey. Luke doesn't tell us what kind of helper Mark was. Some
think that maybe he also preached and taught the word of God. The word that's
used is pretty broad. My best guess is he was more likely to carry the luggage
and cook the meals kind of helper. He most likely wasn't preaching, he was just
a young man, pretty new to his faith. But he was a big help for them in the
early weeks of their missionary journey.
Barnabas
and Saul's ship came into port at Salamis. If you look at this map of Cypress,
you can see Salamis is over on the East Coast. So they were coming from the
mainland over just north of Israel. They took that boat ride over to Salamis.
Salamis was a very important city in those days. Cypress was an island famous
for its copper mines and its shipbuilding industry, and Salamis was the
commercial Center for the whole island. But particularly the east side of that
island. Something interesting that I learned about Cypress. The Greeks,
nicknamed the Island of Cyprus, MACARIA translation “the happy island”. Isn't
that sweet? Now, why would they have nicknamed Cyprus the Happy Island? Well,
for starters, it had gorgeous views on its coastline. The Greeks believed that
the Island of Cyprus was one of the most perfect places on earth to live. It
also had every resource that any man would ever need to be happy. And it had
some of the most perfect weather in all the Mediterranean. They called it the
happy Island because you could live there for the rest of your life.
Well, once
in a while we hear someone moving, hear someone moving to Hawaii to do
ministry. And when that happens, sometimes we find ourselves saying, well, it's
a tough job, but someone has to do it right. Doing ministry and in paradise
well, it's tough, but you know what someone's got to do it. That's maybe what
people thought of Paul and Barnabas going to Cyprus. You know what? If you're
going to start a missionary journey, you might as well start in Paradise,
right? You might as well start on Fantasy Island. You might as well start on
the Happy Island.
They went
to Salamis and Luke gives us in Acts 13:5, just the briefest of summaries of
what they did in the city of Salamis. He simply writes, they proclaimed the
word of God in the Jewish synagogues and that's it. “Synagogues” is plural, so
we know there was more than one where Paul and Barnabas had ministered. They
evidently went into these synagogues and they preached the word of God. They
shared the gospel, and we would assume, like in the other cities, where these
two missionaries went, that people turned to Christ. They turned from Judaism
to Christianity. We would think that Saul and Barnabas planted a church there
in that city, but we're not told that. All we know is they preached there in
the synagogues. It seems that after they left there, they traveled through the
whole island, speaking the word of God along the way, and eventually, according
to Acts 13:6, they get to the West side of the island of the city of Paphos. So
look at a map again. Paphos is over on the South side of the islands. They went
from Salamis 90 miles West to Paphos. Along the way, they most likely preached
the gospel through the island.
They get to
Paphos and (Luke the writer of Acts) focuses on one person who converts to
Christianity. He focuses on a man named Sergius Paulus. He was the Proconsul of
Paphos (In other words, he was the governor of that region) where Paphos was
the capital city. Paphos, you see, was not just the capital city of that
region. It was actually the capital of the Island. Saul must have thought it
was strategic to share the word of God, to share the gospel.
Acts 13:7
Sergius Paulus is described as an intelligent man who sent for Barnabas and
Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. Acts 13:12, Sergius Paulus
believes the good news of Jesus Christ. He becomes a Christian, but not before
his chief adviser has something to say about it. His chief adviser is a Jewish
sorcerer named Bar-jesus. Kind of a weird name. Now you remember when we talked
first about Barnabas, that prefix bar in Greek means “son of”, so Barnabas
means “son of encouragement”. Bar-Jonah translates to son of Jonah. So bar
Jesus translates as son of Jesus. Now what does Jesus mean? Remember Jesus's
name in Hebrew is Joshua. Sometimes we pronounce it “Yeshua” the name Joshua,
Yeshua, or Jesus literally means the Lord Yahweh save. And so catch this. This
Jewish sorcerer is named son of the Lord who saves. He is also called Elymas,
which means, the “skillful one” or the “wise man”. So imagine the audacity of
this guy, strutting around like a peacock. Someone asks him, what's your name?
My name is the “son of salvation”. But you know my friends, those that know me
well, they just call me the “wise one”. They call me the Super intelligent, the
skillful one. So you can do that too. This guy probably had an ego that didn't
quit. Both names are very egotistical at first, possibly even being downright
slanderous or blasphemous. Well, he was called out as a Jewish sorcerer, but we
know all sorcery is satanic in origin, so he's practicing satanic sorcery.
Bar-jesus was not interested in hearing Saul's sermons, was he? It's clear from
what Luke tells us, he was not interested in hearing his sermons, and he knew
that Saul’s preaching could negatively impact his own job security because his
personal advisor to the Proconsul. To him, he's a consultant to him and so he
knows if his boss converts to Christianity and Christianity clearly stands
strong against any form of satanic sorcery, then he will likely be out of a
job. He thinks he has a vested interest in getting Saul and Barnabas to shut up
and go away. He comes against them fiercely. He speaks out against the gospel,
he speaks out against Saul and Barnabas. In all likelihood, he's speaking out
against Jesus himself. Notice Acts 13:9-11. 9 Then Saul, who was also called
Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, 10 “You
are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full
of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right
ways of the Lord? 11 Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to
be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun.”Immediately
mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead
him by the hand.
Now there
are a few important details that I don't want you to miss. This is the first
time Luke mentioned Saul's Greek name, Paul. He says Saul, who was also called
Paul. Once he says that, from this point forward, Paul will never be called
Saul again in the Book of Acts. As he's beginning his first missionary journey
to reach not only Jews but Gentiles with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Saul
starts going by his Greek name Paul, and he doesn't go back.
Don't want
you to miss the similarity between what, Bar-Jesus did in verse 6 and what Saul
of Tarsus had done 12 years earlier. On the road to Damascus what Jesus said to
him when he came to him in blinding light. He said, Saul, Saul, why do you
persecute me? Saul had violently opposed Christians and had tried to turn them
from their faith and tried to convince them to blaspheme Jesus. Isn't that
exactly what Bar-Jesus is doing in Acts chapter 13? And that is the punishment
that Saul got the initial punishment. He was blind and couldn't see for three
days. Bar-Jesus, Elymas receives the same punishment. He goes blind because of
his blasphemy because he was cursing God's followers and trying to dissuade
people from accepting Christ. It's pretty remarkable and miraculous. All that
to say this. Whether someone is a devout Jew or a pagan sorcerer, when he or
she claims to represent God but OPPOSES Jesus Christ and Christ-followers, he
or she is acting like a “CHILD of the devil” and needs to be told so, either by
Jesus Christ directly or by one of his followers, Barnabas and Saul did
some good ministry on that Happy Island. But it didn't come easily, did it?
They had to deal with a fair amount of pushback seems to have made a big impact
on both Paul and John Mark. By the time they leave that Island of Cyprus, my
guess is there were at least dozens of followers of Jesus Christ, and
hopefully, a new few new churches that have been planted in these strategic
cities that Luke mentioned, one strategic city on the West Coast, one on the
East Coast, we don't know for sure. Luke tells us so very little about that
ministry to Cyprus. But one thing that we can know for sure as we get to these
next several verses is that ministry on Cyprus took a toll. Once again, it took
a toll, particularly on Paul and on John Mark.
Look with me
at Acts 13:13-14 From Paphos, Paul
and his companions sailed to Perga in Pamphylia, where John left them to
return to Jerusalem. From Perga they went on to Pisidian Antioch. On the
Sabbath they entered the synagogue and sat down.
I just want
us to focus briefly on those two verses. After finishing their missionary
endeavors on the island of Cyprus, which was Barnabas's home Island, they went
to the mainland in Asia Minor, which was more of Saul’s or Paul's home turf.
Those 3 missionaries, Paul and Barnabas, and John Mark, all arrive on the
mainland there in Asia Minor in this mainland city of Perga in Pamphylia. Now
on a map, let me explain quickly what happened during this journey so far they
left Antioch in Syria. Remember to Salamis on the East Coast of Cyprus. They
went all the way across the island of Paphos, on the West Coast of Cyprus, and
then traveled some 200 miles northwest to the mainland. There in that
city of Perga, now Perga was somewhere between 8 to 11 miles inland, depending
on which port they landed at when they hit the mainland. Then they go to the
city of Perga. Notice what it says happens there in Perga. Paul for the first
time is listed first. Up until this point, it's always been Barnabas and Saul.
Even a few verses earlier, God had said set apart for me Barnabas and Saul, for
the work to which I will call them now. For the first time, not only is Saul
called Paul, but now he's listed first. In this particular verse, 13, Barnabas
isn't even mentioned by name. He's just one of Paul's companions. There is this
big shift that takes place as Paul hits the mainland. It's not that Paul has a
tag along with Barnabas as the leader. Now Barnabas takes a secondary position
to Paul, who from this point forward will run point for their missionary team.
Like John the Baptist and John Chapter 3, Barnabas seems to say he must become
greater and I must become less. He must increase and I must decrease. This is a
pivotal moment in Paul's ministry.
It seems
clear that it wasn't a moment that John Mark cared for at all. And evidently,
he has had enough. Luke doesn't really give us the details of what happened.
But he makes it clear in verse 13 that John Mark left them to return to
Jerusalem. Their little missionary team of three suddenly becomes a missionary
team of two. John Mark hightails it out of there he goes back home to
Jerusalem. Over the years, Christians have speculated about why John Mark left
Barnabas and Paul. There are all sorts of reasons that different Christians have
suggested. Some have said, well, he was a young man, he was new in his faith,
he just got homesick. He missed his mommy. So he went back to Jerusalem because
we know John Mark's mom, she opened up her house to hold Christian services for
a lot of the Christians there in Jerusalem. So he was close to his mom. Others
say, possibly he just thought that he was getting a little too hot in the
kitchen. It's something that he couldn't handle. It was getting too difficult.
It's not what he had signed up for, it was getting way too hard. Well, that's a
possibility as well. Maybe it was getting too difficult for him. His cousin
Barnabas had convinced him to go and he had these pie-in-the-sky ideas of how
glorious it would be to go to Cypress his cousin’s homeland and lead thousands
of people to Christ and have all these people just adore them and thank them
for coming. And they get showered with praise and thanks. These weeks, if not
several months into this missionary journey, and he's thinking it's hard. It's
really, really hard. I think this is most likely why he did leave. I do believe
that for John Mark, it just was getting too hot in the kitchen.
I want to
tell you what they did after they left the city of Perga. So they get to the
mainland, they go a few miles inland to the city of Perga and then we know
their next stop is Pisidian Antioch up in the region of Galatia. In the letter
to the Galatians, Paul writes later in the New Testament that includes the city
and Antioch. We know there are two likely routes that Paul and Barnabas took
when they went up to Pisidian Antioch. The normal route would be maybe 175
miles. And it was an important route. In those days, it was considered a paved
road by Rome. Now, of course, they didn't have asphalt, but it was paved in the
sense of being a somewhat smooth dirt and gravel road. It was a tough road. on
foot. If you didn't have an animal pulling your cart or pulling you because
there was a 3500-foot elevation gain to go over the mountains to get over the
city and range to Pisidian Antioch. This was not an easy path. Also, it was
considered one of the most dangerous roads in the Roman Empire. There were
bandits all over the place, and if you were on foot and didn't have a big
caravan with you, you'd be a sitting duck for robbers and bandits. Some think
they took the more direct route due north which was following the River Valley
there, but they still had to hoof it over 3500. But cliffs and when they did
that, there wasn't a paved road. Either. way, John Mark may have looked at the
road ahead and said, you know what, that's just nuts. I didn't sign up for
this. It's too. Hard. It's too hard.
Notice what
Paul wrote several years later to the churches in Galatia. In Galatians 4:13,
Paul wrote. As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached
the gospel to you there in Galatia. That's a very telling verse. He doesn't
give us any more details, but it's clear the Galatians understood exactly what
he was talking about. So we've tried to speculate and guess by putting the
pieces together what was going on before Paul and Barnabas went to Galatia.
Well, either on the island of Cyprus or on his 200-mile voyage to Perga in
Pamphylia, Paul evidently had contracted a life-threatening illness of some
sort. Many believe it was malaria. By the time he gets to the mainland, he's
suffering from malaria. Or some other terrible illness. And he learned that
sometimes an illness like this fares better at a higher elevation. So, it seems
that Paul and Barnabas changed their initial plans, which probably was to stay
close to the coast. It seems they changed their plans and headed 100 or so
miles inland to Pisidian Antioch. Killing two birds with one stone. For
starters, it would get Paul at a higher elevation where you could breathe easier
and hopefully get over this illness, whatever it was. But more importantly, it
would allow them to spread the gospel into territories where the gospel had
never been taken up to that point. That's what Paul and Barnabas decided to
do.
They make
this decision to head north and John Mark must have protested. He thought it
was insane. I imagine him saying something like this. Paul, you need to call it
off. You need to stop this. You got to cut it off right now. This is crazy. You
need to go back home. You need to rest. You're going to kill yourself. And I'm
not going to be a part of it. If you're not leaving with me, I'm leaving by
myself. You guys are nuts. I want nothing to do with it. I wash my hands of all
that you're doing and he turns and he goes home.
lt took him
many years to get back into Paul's good graces, but I'm so thankful that we
read later in the New Testament. By the time Paul was nearing the end of his
life, he considered John Mark to be one of his most faithful, most helpful
workers with him. John Mark, matured a lot in the years that followed. He went
on to write the second book of the New Testament, the Gospel according to Mark.
He went on to be one of Paul's greatest helpers, but at this point in time it
was getting too hot in the kitchen for young John Mark.
Well, Paul
and Barnabas would soon prove time and time again that as hard as ministry
gets, if God was in it, it was worth every bit of blood, sweat, and tears that
they poured into it.
Two Life
Lessons
I want to
share with you two life lessons that I believe we can pull from this study
today. Both of these are very important.
Life Lesson
#1
Our culture
desperately needs to hear you and me speak and live out God's WORD with
BOLDNESS and CONVICTION.
I don't
want you to miss how Paul preached in Acts 13. He preached with power and
conviction, did he not? Absolutely he did. It didn't matter if he was preaching
to Jews in a synagogue on Happy Island, or if he was confronting a Jewish pig
and sorcerer, it didn't matter where he was, to whom he was speaking. And he
preached and spoke the word of God with power, with boldness, and with
conviction. In our day there are far too few Christians who do that. Truth be
told in America these days, there are far too few preachers who do that.
Life
lesson, #2.
Good
life-changing ministry is rarely EASY. Most often, it's really, really
HARD.
Chuck
Swindoll I think says it so well, he writes. Authentic ministry is not for the
fainthearted. Or the phony. There's no promise of a life of ease and fame and
kid-glove treatment. Most ministers of the gospel enjoy 30 to 40 sometimes
50-year run. Before it ends in little more than a cake and punch reception to
honor their lifetime achievements, no fanfare, no glamorous award galas along
the way to spur weary servants on to greater works. Truth be told, it is mostly
a mixture of dreams mixed with reality, joy and heartache. I agree. Believe me
when I say doing good ministry is an absolute thrill. Make no mistake about it.
It is a joy and a thrill to do good ministry. It is awesome to see people come
and get saved. It's wonderful when a number of people. Decide to believe and be
baptized on the same day. And I love to see the water from the baptistry
pouring down the steps like a waterfall. That's an amazing sight to see. It's
awesome when you see broken marriages restored by the power of the gospel. It's
awesome to see people turn from some of the most wicked ways and wicked sins
and turn and repent and be baptized into Jesus Christ. It's powerful to see new
Christians, baby Christians mature in their faith. Develop in their character
following Christ. It's a beautiful, powerful thing. But at the same time, make
no mistake about it, doing good ministry is fun, but it's exhausting. It's a
it's a blast.
===========
IN
ANTIOCH IN PISIDIA
Paul’s
sermon (Acts 13:14-41)
Paul
probably encountered dangers while traveling from Perga to Antioch
in Pisidia. During this time the apostle may have endured many of
those “perils of rivers” and “perils of robbers” which he
mentions in 2 Corinthians 11:26
Here
is gives a good sermon to persuade them to follow Jesus. The other
addresses of Paul mentioned in the Acts are as follows:
(1)
14:14–18, at Lystra;
(2)
17:22–31, at Mars’ Hill;
(3)
20:17–35, at Miletus to the Ephesian elders;
(4)
21:40–22:21, on the castle stairs in Jerusalem;
(5)
22:30–23:9, before the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem;
(6)
24:10–21, reply to Tertullus in Cæsarea;
(7)
24:25, before Felix and Drusilla;
(8)
25:10, 11 before Festus;
(9)
26:1–29, before Agrippa;
(10)
27:21–26, on the ship during the voyage to Rome;
(11)
28:17–20, at the first meeting with the Jews in Rome;
(12)
28:25–28, at the second meeting with the Jews in Rome.
Paul
And Barnabas Are Rejected By The Jews And Turn To The Gentiles (Acts
13:42-49)
The
Departure From Antioch Because Of Persecution (Acts 13:50)
IN
ICONIUM. PAUL AND BARNABAS ARE PERSECUTED AND FLEE TO LYSTRA
IN
LYSTRA
Paul
Heals A Lame Man. The People Deify Paul And Barnabas Acts 14:6-13
Paul’s
Speech Acts 14:14-18
Paul
Stoned Acts 14:19-20 (2 Corinthians 11:24-25)
TO
DERBE, LYSTRA, ICONIUM, ANTIOCH IN PISIDIA, AND “THROUGHOUT
PISIDIA,” TO PERGA
PAUL’S
COMMENT IN 2 TIMOTHY ON HIS FIRST MISSIONARY JOURNEYS
2
Timothy 3:10-11 You, however, know all about my teaching, my way
of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11
persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in
Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the
Lord rescued me from all of them.
PAUL
AND BARNABAS ABIDE A “LONG TIME” (TWO YEARS) IN ANTIOCH, 48–49
A. D
============
Note: JOHN MARK (Acts 13:4–5, 13)
- Acts 12:12, 25; 15:36–39
- Colossians 4:10
- 2 Timothy 4:11
- Philemon 1:23–24
- 1 Peter 5:13
John Mark, the writer of the earliest Gospel (the Gospel of Mark), was an assistant of three early missionaries—Barnabas, Paul, and Peter.
Mark was taken along as an assistant by Barnabas and Paul on their first missionary journey. However, for unknown reasons, he left them to return to Jerusalem before the trip was completed (12:25; 13:4–5, 13). Because of this, when Barnabas wanted to take him along on the second trip, Paul flatly refused. The sharp disagreement that resulted broke the team apart: Barnabas took Mark (his cousin) with him, and Paul chose Silas, and the two pairs went their separate ways (15:36–41).
Later, it appears that Paul and Mark were reconciled and that Mark once again served as his assistant. In Colossians, Paul refers to him as a co-worker and suggests that he may soon be sending him to visit the church in Colosse (Col 4:10; Phlm 1:24). Still later, when Paul was awaiting execution in prison in Rome, he asked Timothy to bring Mark with him, for he thought Mark would be helpful to him in his ministry (2 Tim 4:11).
Mark also appears to have assisted Peter when Peter was engaged in missionary work in Italy near the end of his life; early Christian tradition speaks of him as Peter’s “interpreter.” In one of Peter’s letters, he speaks endearingly of Mark as his “son” who is with him (1 Pet 5:13). Early tradition says it was from Peter himself that Mark got the information for his account of the life and words of Jesus. Generally considered to be the earliest of all the Gospels, Mark’s Gospel was almost certainly one of the key sources used by Matthew and Luke when they later wrote their own Gospels. For this reason, Mark’s Gospel is one of the most influential of all the early Christian writings.
Mark’s story reminds us that God can overcome human failings and restore rocky relationships for the sake of Christ and the Good News. Early failures do not disqualify a person from a life of effective service and even lasting significance.
