Acts 13: Missionaries are sent to start new Churches

THIS STUDY STOP BEGINS THE SECOND HALF OF THE BOOK OF ACTS.

ACTS 1-12 FOCUSES MAINLY ON THE WORK OF PETER, THE JERUSALEM CHURCH, AND THE SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL IN JUDEA AND AREA CLOSE BY JERUSALEM.

ACTS 13-28 FOCUSES ON PAUL AND THE SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL THROUGHOUT THE ROMAN WORLD THROUGH HIS MISSIONARY JOURNEYS AND MANY CHURCHES WERE ESTABLISHED IN ROMAN CITIES.

IN THIS SECOND SECTION, WE SEE THAT SALVATION IS FOR ALL PEOPLE AND BOTH JEWS AND GENTILES ARE SAVED AND TOGETHER FORM NEW CHURCHES IN WHAT JESUS CALLED THE UTTERMOST PARTS KNOWN AT THAT TIME.

AFTER PAUL WAS CALLED TO BE AN APOSTLE DIRECTLY BY JESUS HIMSELF ON THE DAMASCUS ROAD, PAUL HAD YET TO ACT AS AN APOSTLE.

NOW SOME 11 – 12 YEARS LATER PAUL BEGINS TO ACT ON HIS CALLING. HERE WE SEE THE VERBAL DIRECTION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN VERSE 1-3 TO CALL PAUL & OTHERS FORWARD TO START THE APOSTOLIC WORK.

THIS EVENT BEGINS WITH A GROUP OF CHRISTIANS GATHERED IN ANTIOCH AND AMONG THE GROUP ARE CERTAIN PROPHETS AND TEACHERS. IN THE GREEK ORIGINAL LANGUAGE THERE WERE SAID TO BE THREE PROPHETS AND TWO TEACHERS.

THE PROPHETS ARE SAID TO BE:

BARNABAS WHO WE HAVE MET BEFORE.

SYMEON, CALLED NIGER, LIKELY A BLACK BELIEVER FROM NIGERIA.

LUCIUS OF CYRENE, ALSO FROM NORTHERN AFRICA.

WE MAY HAVE MET THIS MAN SYMEON BEFORE AS ONE BY THAT NAME WAS COMMANDED BY THE ROMANS TROOPS TO HELP CARRY THE CROSS OF JESUS UP TO THE HILL OF CALVARY.

THE TEACHERS ARE SAID TO BE:

MANAEN, A MEMBER OF THE COURT OF HEROD THE TETRARCH, KNOWN TO BE THE FOSTER BROTHER OF HEROD.

SAUL OF TARSUS WHOM WE KNOW NOW AS PAUL, HERE LISTED AS A TEACHER.

THE HOLY SPIRIT SPOKE TO THE GROUP COMMANDING THAT BARNABAS AND SAUL BEGIN THE WORK WHICH THE SPIRIT HAS CALLED THEM TO DO.

NOTICE THE LORD CHOSE THE MEN AND HE CHOSE THE WORK.

HE SAID THEY ARE TO BE SET ASIDE.

VERSE 4:

“So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus.”

VERSE 5 TEACHES THAT JOHN WAS SEEN IN SALAMIS.

PAUL AND BARNBAS DECIDED ON THE DESTINATIONS AND AS THEY ARRIVED THEY BEGAN IN THE SYNAGOGUES OF THE JEWS, A NATURAL STARTING PLACE AS THE JEWS ALREADY HAD THE SCRIPTURES.

IN ROMANS WE ARE TAUGHT THAT THE GOSPEL WAS TO GO FIRST TO THE JEWS AND THEN AFTERWARD TO THE GENTILES. PAUL BEGAN ALMOST EACH STOP IN ALL HIS WORK WITH THE JEWS.

WHEN THE WORD WAS REJECTED BY THE JEWS, THESE MISSIONARIES TOOK IT DIRECTLY TO THE GENTILES.

THESE MEN CHOSE AN INTERN TO TRAVEL WITH THEM, NAMED JOHN MARK, THE SON OF THE WEALTHY WOMAN MARY, AND A COUSIN OF BARNABAS.

LATER THERE WERE CONFILCTS WITH PAUL AND MARK RETURNED HOME. IT IS THOUGHT HE WAS THE RICH YOUNG RULER WHO HAD EARLIER APPROACHED JESUS SEEKING THE WORDS OF ETERNAL LIFE.

LATER, UNDER PETER’S GUIDANCE, HE WOULD PEN DOWN THE SECOND GOSPEL.

FOR NOW, HE TRAVELS WITH THE MISSIONARIES.

VERSES 6-8 ALLOW US TO KNOW THEY WENT FROM EAST TO WEST AND VISITING CITIES BEFORE ENDING UP IN PAPHOS, THE CAPITAL OF THE ISLAND NATION.

THERE AN UNUSUAL INCIDENT HAPPENS.

THE MEN CAME UPON A JEWISH FALSE PROPHET NAMED BAR-JESUS, WHO WAS CLOSE TO THE HIGH OFFICIAL SERGIUS PAULUS, SAID TO BE A VERY INTELLIGENT MAN, WHO SUMMONED THE MISSIONARIES TO HEAR THEIR TEACHING.

BUT THE FALSE PROPHET, KNOWN AS A MAGICIAN, WITHSTOOD THEM AND TRIED TO TURN THE OFFICIAL AWAY FROM THE MISSIONARIES.  

HERE IS A REMARKABLE EXAMPLE OF HOW THE HOLY SPIRIT WORKS TO PROSPER THE GOSPEL.

PAUL AND BARNABAS HAD NO IDEA THEY WOULD GET A MEETING BEFORE THE GOVERNOR OF THE ISLAND WHO WAS APPOINTED BY THE ROMANS. BUT THAT MAN, EVEN THOUGH HE WAS A PAGAN ROMAN, SENT FOR THEM AND ASKED FOR THEM TO SPEAK TO HIM THE WORDS OF TRUTH.

THE MISSIONARIES CAME TO HIM AND PREACHED JESUS TO HIM.

THE MAGICIAN OPPOSED THE MISSIONARIES WHILE THEY WERE BRINGING WITNESS TO THE GOVERNOR, PROVOKING PAUL BY TEACHING CONTRARY THINGS WHICH MADE PAUL’S SPIRIT TO BE ANGRY AND HE SAID TO THE MAN IN VERSES 9-10:

“Then Saul, filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him. And said … thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?”

IN VERSES 11-12 PAUL BROUGHT THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT TO BEAR AGAINST THE MAN AND MADE THE MAN BLIND FOR A SEASON IN A MIST AND DARKNESS.

WHEN THE GOVERNOR SAW WHAT HAD HAPPENED, HE BELIEVED AND WAS ASTONISHED AT THE DOCTRINE OF THE LORD.

IT WAS AT THIS MOMENT THAT PAUL BECAME AN APOSTLE BOTH IN NAME AND IN POWER.

NOW HE SPEAKS WITH THE SAME AUTHORITY SEEN IN PETER WHEN PETER ADDRESSED ANANIAS & SAPHIRRA AS BOTH THEIR LIVES WERE TAKEN BY THE LORD.

THIS WAS THE FIRST OF THE SIGNS OF AN APOSTLE SHOWN BY PAUL AMONG MANY MORE TO COME. THIS MOMENT WAS STRONG JUDGMENT AND ONLY THE APOSTLES HAD SUCH POWER.

HERE IS THIS MOMENT AS PAUL BECOMES AN APOSTLE IN FULL, THE LEADERSHIP OF THE TEAM SHIFTS TO PAUL AS WE SEE IN VERSE 13.

NOW WE NO LONGER HEAR OF BARNABAS AND SAUL BUT FROM HERE FORWARD WE HEAR OF PAUL AND BARNABAS, WITH THE VERSE MENTIONING “PAUL AND HIS COMPANY”.

THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF THE GREAT MINISTRY OF PAUL WHICH IS CHARACTERIZED BY HIS TEACHING. THE GOVERNOR SAW WITH HIS OWN EYES THE RADICAL DOCTRINE OF CHRIST IN ACTION AND THE RESULT WAS FAITH.

IN VERSES 13-15 WE VIEW THE DEPARTURE OF PAUL AND BARNABUS AND ARRIVAL IN PERGA IN PAMPHYLIA AND JOHN THEN RETURNED TO JERUSALEM WITH THEIR NEXT STOP IN ANTIOCH OF PISIDIA.

AS USUAL THEY WENT FIRST TO THE SYNAGOGUE, HEARD THE READING OF THE LAW AND PROPHETS AND WERE INVITED TO SPEAK.

HERE WAS THE MOMENT WHEN JOHN MARK LEFT THE JOURNEY, WITH SOME DISAGREEMENT WITH PAUL ABOUT THE EXPECTATION OF ALL THE GROUP TO FACE MORE HARDSHIPS THAT WERE SOON TO COME. AS THE LEADERSHIP OF THE SMALL GROUP SHIFTED TO PAUL, JOHN MARK WAS NO LONGER AS GOOD FIT.

SO THEY CAME TO ANTIOCH, NOT THE ORIGINAL ANTIOCH IN SYRIA, BUT IN THE REGION OF PISIDIA. PAUL VISITS THE SYNAGOGUE AND SPEAKS THERE WITH A SERMON OF GREAT IMPORTANCE, WHICH SHOOK THE ENTIRE CITY.

HE FORMED A SPEECH ON THREE POINTS:

GOD HAD GIVEN THE LAND OF CANNAN AS AN INHERITANCE AFTER ABOUT 450 YEARS.

GOD GAVE THEM JUDGES UNTIL SAMUEL CAME.

GOD THEN GAVE THEM A KING NAMED SAUL FOR 40 YEARS AND THEN REMOVED SAUL AND MADE DAVID KING AND LATER GAVE THEM JOHN THE BAPTIST WHO ANNOUNCED JESUS WAS NOW PRESENT.

VERSES 26-31 WAS THE SECOND DIVISION OF HIS PRESENTATION SHOWING THE HISTORY FROM ABRAHAM TO THE PROPHETS TO THE JEWS CONSPIRING TO HAVE JESUS KILLED WHO GOD RESURRECTED AND WHO IS NOW THE MESSIAH TO THE JEWS.

VERSES 32-33 IS THE FINAL NAIL FROM PAUL AS HE QUOTES SCRIPTURE FROM PSALM 2 THAT GOD HAD BEGOTTEN JESUS AND HE WAS NOT TO SUFFER CORRUPTION AFTER DEATH, JUST AS DAVID HAD FORETOLD IN PSALM 16, AND THEN HAMMERED HOME HIS MESSAGE.

THROUGH THIS MESSIAH FORGIVENESS OF SIN IS PROCLAIMED TO YOU TO ALL WHO BELIEVE WHICH COULD NOT BE DONE UNDER THE LAW OF MOSES.

THESE WERE SHATTERING STATEMENTS.

HERE WERE MEN WHO HONORED THE LAW OF MOSES ABOVE ALL AND THOUGHT THE TEN COMMANDMENTS WERE THE GREATEST WORD EVER GIVEN BY GOD TO MAN.

EVEN THOUGH THEY KNEW THEY HAD NEVER BEEN ABLE TO OBEY THE LAW, STILL THEY SPENT THEIR LIVES TRYING TO DO SO.

PAUL NOW ANNOUNCES TO THEM THAT THEY WILL NEVER MAKE IT INTO THE KINGDOM ON THAT PATHWAY. NO ACCEPTANCE BY GOD IS POSSIBLE ALONG THAT PATH AS NO MAN KEEPS THE LAW.

THE TEN COMMANDS ACTUALLY CONDEMN EACH MAN AS THEY CONSTANTLY SHOW THE INADEQUATE STATUS OF MAN BEFORE GOD, AS A CONSTANT SINNER UNABLE TO OVERCOME SIN BY THEIR OWN EFFORTS.

PAUL THEN TELLS THEM GOD HAS ANNOUNCED A WAY TO ACCEPT MANKIND EVEN THOUGH MAN IS UNABLE ON HIS OWN TO ENTER GOD’S KINGDOM DOORWAY.

THE WAY TO GOD IS ONLY THROUGH HIS SON, HIS GIFT OF A MESSIAH TO PURGE MAN’S SIN THROUGH HIS PERFECT SACRIFICE MAKING MAN FREE FROM SIN.

BEING FREED BRINGS A NEW CONCEPT WHICH PAUL TERMS AS BEING JUSTIFIED, WHICH WAS IMPOSSIBLE UNDER THE LAW OF MOSES.

JUSTIFICATION MEANS HAVING YOUR SINS ERASED (FORGIVEN) IN A WAY THAT HONORS GOD AND PRESERVES HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS WHEN MAN HUMBLY ACCEPTS THE WORK OF JESUS CHRIST INTO HIS LIFE BY SURRENDER TO HIM AS SAVIOR AND LORD.

GOD CONSTRUCTED A WAY TO REMOVE MAN’S SINFULNESS BY THE WORK ON THE CROSS WHERE JESUS ACCEPTS MAN’S SIN AND ALSO MAKES IT POSSIBLE FOR MAN TO ACCEPT THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST AS HIS OWN BECAUSE MAN HAS NONE IN HIS OWN BEING.

THEREFORE THE RESULT OF JUSTIFICATION IS FULL ACCEPTANCE WHICH HAS OVERCOME ALL SIN BY LOVE WHICH HEALS ALL SCARS AND HURTS AND EACH BELIEVER BECOMES WHOLE ONLY ON THE JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE.

SUCH TEACHING WAS WORLD SHATTERING TO THE JEWS WHO FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS WERE CONVINCED THEY MUST DO SOMETHING TO GAIN GOD’S FAVOR.

NOW THEY ARE TAUGHT BY THIS NEW TEACHER THAT GOD’S FAVOR IS ALREADY GIVEN IN THE BEGOTTEN MESSIAH HE SENT, PROVEN BY HIS RESURRECTING HIM AFTER DEATH REMOVING ALL FEAR FROM MANKIND AND GRANTING ETERNAL LIFE WITHOUT FEAR SIMPLY BY FAITH IN THE ONE SENT.

THE POWER IN THESE CONCEPTS IS GIVEN BY PAUL IN VERSES 39-41:

“Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets; Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.”

HERE PAUL QUOTES HAB 1:5.

HERE PAUL WARNS THAT TO REJECT THIS GIFT OF GOD PUTS THESE JEWS INTO DANGER OF ETERNAL DESTRUCTION, BECAUSE ONLY GOD’S LOVE RESCUES MAN.

AT THE CONCLUSION OF THIS MEETING THE PEOPLE BEGGED FOR MORE OF THE GOSPEL MESSAGE AND THEY FOLLOWED PAUL AND BARNABAS OUTWARD SEEKING MORE OF THIS TRUTH.

THE NEXT SABBATH, ALMOST THE WHOLE CITY GATHERED TOGETHER TO HEAR THE WORD OF GOD.

BUT WHEN THE JEWS SAW THE MULTITUDES INCLUDING GENTILES, THEY WERE FILLED WITH JEALOUSY AND CONTRADICTED THE WORDS SPOKEN BY PAUL AND REVILED HIM.

PAUL AND BARNABAS SPOKE OUR BOLDLY AND SAID IN VERSES 42-48:

“It was necessary that the Word of God should be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles, For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, I have set you to be a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the uttermost parts of the earth. And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of God. and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.”

THIS IS THE SAME MESSAGE PAUL PROVIDES LATER IN ROMANS 13:1:

“The powers that be are ordained of God.”

VERSES 49-52 TEACH US THAT THE JEWS INCITED PERSECUTION OF PAUL AND BARNABAS DRIVING THEM OUT OF THEIR REGION.

BUT THE MISSIONARIES SHOOK OFF THE DUST OF THAT PLACE FROM THEIR FEET AND WENT ONWARD TO ICONIUM.

THE LAST SENTENCE IS SURELY THE MOST BEAUTIFUL:

“… the disciples who remained in that area were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.”

THIS IS THE GREAT SIGN OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD IN THE HUMAN HEART, FLOODING THE HEART WITH LOVE AND JOY.

THE TRUTH OF SALVATION HAD ARRIVED FOR THOSE WHO BELIEVE WHICH IS THAT THEIR HEARTS HAD BEEN MOVED FROM BROKEN TO NOT.

IN OUR NEXT STUDY STOP WE WILL STUDY THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF MISSIONARIES AS THEY SPREAD THE WORD OF GOD.