The Missionary Journeys
Begin
– Acts
Thirteen
Acts chapter
thirteen begins with a time of fasting and prayer in
As their
missionary work began Barnabas and Saul preached the gospel in
Paul and the
others left Paphos and sailed to Perga
in Pamphylia. Here John Mark left them and went back
to
The
mission of Paul and Barnabas – Acts 13:1-3:
Antioch
in Syria was located about 300 miles north of
Jerusalem, and 16 miles from the Mediterranean Sea. It became the
starting place for Paul's missionary journeys. At the conclusion of each
journey Paul and his companions returned to
Barnabas and Saul were to be separated for a special work
that the Lord had called them to. Their great missionary journeys would
change the face of Christianity forever. There would now be no doubt that the
gospel is for all. As a gesture of approval
the brethren laid their hands on these missionaries and prayed for them. Paul
became the apostle to the Gentiles.
Elymas, a false prophet, a
sorcerer – Acts 13:4-12: John Mark
accompanied Paul and Barnabas as they went to
Elymas was very much against Sergius Paulus obeying the
gospel. He tried to keep him from having faith in the Christ. Saul, who is
better known as Paul, called Elymas a son of the
devil. Paul said that he was an enemy of all righteousness and that he was
perverting the right ways of the Lord. The Lord punished him by making him
blind for a while. Elymas had to try to find someone
to lead him by the hand. When Sergius Paulus saw what had happened, he was amazed at this
teaching about the Lord. He became one that believed.
Paul's powerful sermon at
At
Paul traced Hebrew
history moving from David to the Son of David. This son of David is Jesus, the
Savior of the world. The apostles always preached Christ crucified,
His burial and resurrection. In his sermon Paul dealt with such things as: (1)
Saul reigning over Israel for forty years, (2)
David
was both the fleshly and spiritually ancestor of the Savior, (3) John preached
a baptism of repentance to prepare the way for Christ, (4)
the Jews were
the first to know of God's promises to Abraham, (5) the Jews condemned Jesus to
death, (6) Jesus was buried, (7) God raised Him from the dead, (8) "glad
tidings" is another term for the gospel of Christ, (9) Jesus arose from the dead to die
no more, (10) Jesus was not left in the grave long enough to see corruption,
(11) Through Jesus and only through Him
is the forgiveness of sins preached, (12) The law of
Moses could not bring the justification that is possible by belief in Christ,
and (13) he warned of the coming Judgment Day.
Paul
preached to the Gentiles and is persecuted – Acts 13:42-52: The people
were eager to hear more of the preaching done by Paul and Barnabas on the next
Sabbath. Many of both the Jews and Gentiles became Christians. They were encouraged
to continue in the grace of God. The next Sabbath almost everyone in town came
to hear the message about the Lord. This led the Jews to begin a persecution of
Paul. They blasphemed and denied the truth that Paul taught. The Jews heard
God's word first but they rejected it. By rejecting the gospel the Jews had
judged themselves unworthy of everlasting life.
God had sent
Paul to be a light of the Gentiles. No person will be
either saved or lost by any predestined decree. The Jews had the opportunity
of salvation but the rejected the gospel. So now Paul turned to the Gentiles
with the word of God. "When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and
glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life
believed." How wonderful it must have been when the message about the Lord
spread all over that region.
The Jewish leaders started making trouble and
drove Paul and Barnabas out of their city. Paul and Barnabas shook the
dust from that place off their feet and went to the city of
To begin your Christian life hear the gospel (Romans