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V. Overview of the First Great Mission of Paul
A. The First Missionaries, Barnabas and Paul: The Most Demanding Call Ever Given, 13:1-3
1 They were members of a great church, a church that reached out to all
2 They were noted as gifted
3 They were called while ministering and fasting
4 They received a specific call: They were “set apart” by the Holy Spirit
5 They bathed their mission in prayer and fasting
6 They were commissioned by the church
B. Cyprus, the Island: The Beginning of Missions and Evangelism, 13:4-13
1 There was the leading of the Holy Spirit
2 There was the work of missions and evangelism
3 There was the desire to hear the Word of God
4 There was the pronouncement of judgment
5 There was conversion
6 There was desertion
C. Antioch of Pisidia, the Main City of South Galatia: The Preaching of Paul, 13:14- 41
1 Paul and Barnabas entered Antioch of Pisidia
2 God has been working throughout all history: He suffered and bore with the ways of Israel and of the world
3 God has consummated history: He has given the world a Savior, Jesus
D. Various Responses to the Gospel, 13:42-52
1 The people’s response to the Gospel
2 The preacher’s response to the people
E. Iconium, the Ancient City: The Holy Spirit’s Pattern for Preaching and Witnessing, 14:1-7
1 Step 1: A unified spirit and effort
2 Step 2: Following the God-given method
3 Step 3: Experiencing results
4 Step 4: The grumbling opposition
5 Step 5: The boldness and perseverance of the preacher
6 Step 6: The divided opinions
7 Step 7: The turning away to willing hearers
F. Lystra, the Frontier Town: Preaching to a Heathen and Superstitious People, 14:8-20
1 Paul preached on the city streets
2 The nature of a superstitious people, the nature that necessitates a special message
3 The message to a superstitious people
4 The minister needed to reach superstitious people
G. Derbe and the Return Journey: How Churches Are Made Strong, 14:21-28
1. Task 1: Preach the Gospel and make disciples
2. Task 2: Be committed to strengthen the Church
Acts portrays Paul as the great missionary, blazing trails for Christianity in areas that have never heard the Gospel. Under direct divine guidance, the church in Antioch sent him and Barnabas, with Mark as helper, to spread the Gospel abroad. Antioch served as a base from which Paul’s journeys began.
Here the Spirit’s command to call and commission Paul and Barnabas was quickly obeyed. It was from the church at Antioch that the first teachers were sent forth with the purpose of spreading the Gospel of Christ and organizing local churches.
Sailing from the port city of Seleucia, they traveled to Cyprus, Barnabas’ home country. Salamis a port city and capital had a large Jewish population living there. There was preaching of the Word, making disciples, reaching out to new areas and confronting false prophets.
At Paphos, Sergius Paulus, after witnessing the miraculous blinding of a sorcerer, responded to the preaching of the Gospel. Luke tells us for the first time that Saul was also called Paul. The significance of this is Elymus, the sorcerer “withstood them” and judgment came from the Spirit of God, not from Paul, though he delivered the message by the Spirit. He was a deceiver and a fraud, a child of the devil. The conversion of Sergius Paulus signaled a fundamentally new development. This first instance of a Gentile, who was received as part of God’s people, may well be the theologicalproblem (and not merely homesickness) that led Mark to abandon the missionary party and return to Jerusalem.
Paul and Barnabas preached the Gospel in the Jewish synagogue there and received a positive response. They entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and as strangers they were invited to speak. Paul took the lead, addressing the Jews and followers of God. God chose and delivered Israel, put up with Israel’s weaknesses through the wilderness, led Israel to conquer Canaan, gave Israel judges, prophets and a king of their own choosing: Saul and then God raised up a special king of His own choosing: David.
The Savior was proclaimed by a forerunner, John the Baptist. The Savior is “the word of salvation” being proclaimed, who was rejected and crucified. Men did not know Him or accept nor believe the prophecies about Him. Men fulfilled all prophecy written about Him by rejecting and crucifying Him. The Savior was raised from the dead by God with eyewitnesses who saw Him. He brings glad tidings to men, forgives sin, justifies all who believe; justifies apart from the law and brings judgment upon men.
Some non-religionists desired to hear more. Some who were hungry and desired to hear more immediately, some who never attended came to hear the Word of God; some rejected and opposed then reacted against the crowds and against Paul’s message.
They rejected the rejecters of the Gospel and they turned to willing hearers. Jesus was the One sent to be the light and salvation of the world. The Gentiles rejoiced and glorified the Word; some were ordained to eternal life and believed and the Word was spread abroad. Despite rejection and persecution, they turned away from the rejecters, and were forcibly expelled from the city and surrounding area.
Great success among the Gentiles led to further and more vigorous persecution and so they moved on to Iconium. There the pattern of evangelism was essentially the same as that in Antioch. Signs and wonders accompanied them in all areas. There again was division. Once again the Jews stirred up the Gentiles and tried to have Paul and Barnabas stoned. The missionaries discovered the plot and fled.
At Lystra they were subjected to great faith in Christ and they were prone to deify men, believe myths, and offer the wrong sacrifice. Paul and Barnabas had to break superstitions by showing that they are only men, and that there was only one living God, The living God is the Creator of all, God permitted men to walk as they willed, and God has always given witness to Himself. Paul and Barnabas were willing to suffer persecution, even martyrdom. They were faithful in bearing disciples and trusting God’s delivering power. Paul again was stoned and thrown from the city and in front of disciples rose up and he and Barnabas left for Derbe.
There they preached and made disciples and encouraged believers before retracing their path back home. They revisited their work, strengthening and encouraging the believers, warning of persecution, organizing elders, ordaining, praying and fasting and commending them to the Lord. Eventually they returned to their “headquarters” in Antioch of Syria, where they stayed for “a long time”.
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