April 21, 2025
#277 - From Persecution to Praise: Paul's First Missionary Journey - Acts 14
In this episode of Al Pastor, Pastor Brian and Noah explore Acts 14, walking through the powerful preaching, miraculous healings, and intense opposition faced by Paul and Barnabas on their missionary journey. Discover how the gospel prevails despite persecution, learn how to stay faithful in the face of adversity, and see how God uses ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things. Join us as we unpack the deep truths and practical lessons from this incredible chapter.
Episode Overview:
In Acts 14, Paul and Barnabas continue their missionary journey, preaching boldly despite fierce opposition. They witness miraculous healings, navigate cultural misunderstandings, and endure severe persecution. Pastor Brian and Noah walk verse-by-verse through this remarkable chapter, highlighting key insights and practical applications for believers today.
Key Highlights:
1. Faithful Preaching (Acts 14:1-7)
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Paul and Barnabas begin preaching in Iconium, following their typical pattern—starting in the synagogue.
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Despite significant opposition, many Jews and Gentiles believed.
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The opposition reminds us today that gospel ministry often faces resistance, but faithfulness and boldness are essential.
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God confirms the apostles' message through miraculous signs and wonders.
Reflection Questions:
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How do we remain faithful when facing opposition?
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Why is boldness important in sharing the gospel?
2. Miraculous Healing in Lystra (Acts 14:8-10)
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A crippled man, hearing Paul's preaching, exhibits faith to be healed.
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Paul perceives the man's faith and commands him to stand, resulting in immediate and complete healing.
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This miracle parallels Peter’s earlier miracle (Acts 3), underscoring continuity in the apostles' ministry.
Reflection Questions:
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What role does faith play in receiving from God?
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How does the preaching of God’s word build faith?
3. Mistaken Identity: Zeus and Hermes (Acts 14:11-18)
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The people of Lystra, misunderstanding the miracle, mistake Paul and Barnabas for Greek gods.
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Brian and Noah discuss the cultural background: an earlier legend of Zeus and Hermes visiting Lystra.
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Paul quickly corrects them, emphasizing that they are ordinary men proclaiming the living God.
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Paul’s appeal to nature (Psalm 19:1; Romans 1) teaches that creation itself testifies of God.
Reflection Questions:
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How do cultural beliefs impact how people initially perceive the gospel?
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Why is it crucial to clarify misunderstandings when presenting Christ?
4. Persecution and Persistence (Acts 14:19-20)
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Jews from Antioch and Iconium incite the crowd, leading to Paul's stoning.
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Miraculously surviving, Paul demonstrates resilience by returning to the city to continue preaching.
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Brian highlights the significance of disciples gathering around Paul, likely including Timothy, illustrating the transformative impact of faithful witnessing.
Reflection Questions:
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How can suffering and persecution strengthen our faith and witness?
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Who might you impact by your perseverance during trials?
5. Strengthening and Establishing Churches (Acts 14:21-28)
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Paul and Barnabas return through previous cities, encouraging believers and appointing elders.
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They emphasize perseverance through tribulation, highlighting the reality of suffering in Christian life.
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Brian explains the early church structure—house churches led by elders and pastors.
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Paul and Barnabas return home, reporting all that God accomplished.
Reflection Questions:
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Why is church structure and leadership important for ongoing discipleship?
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How can we support and encourage missionaries today?
Key Scripture References:
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Acts 14 (Main passage)
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Psalm 19:1 ("The heavens declare the glory of God")
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Romans 1 (Witness of creation)
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Acts 16:1 (Introduction of Timothy)
Closing Encouragement:
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Reflect on the power of the gospel to transform lives, even amid persecution.
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Consider how you can be bold and faithful in your own context.
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Pray for missionaries and church leaders facing opposition today.
Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe and leave a review! Your support helps us reach more people with God’s life-changing Word.
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You're listening to Al Pastor, the show that helps you love God, love your neighbor and eat more
tacos.
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I'm your host, Pastor Brian.
Welcome to the show.
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Hey friends, I want to welcome you to today's podcast.
I've got Noah joining me as we journey through Acts chapter 14.
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Noah, how you doing today?
I'm doing fine.
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Good, good.
Well, we're a little bit behind.
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I mean, we've finished technically chapter 14 on Sunday.
We're now into chapter 15.
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And so I've already been reading and studying chapter 15.
But the reason I'm behind is because normally I, I can do a sermon on based on that chapter that
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we're on.
And I really have been prepping all week for the Easter service.
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So this is we're recording this on Monday, the day after Easter.
And how was your Easter, Noah?
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It was good.
All right, well, we I want to give a special shout out to John, John Stilwell.
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And he gave us Noah a gift card to California Pizza Kitchen.
He listens to the podcast.
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And So what do you think about that?
That's pretty cool.
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Thank you.
Yeah, thank you so much, John.
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So we just want to make sure that we shout you out.
It's really good seeing you on Sunday and it's amazing what God has done in your life.
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And Noah, he also said they encourage you as well.
So almost everybody saying they enjoy having you on the podcast.
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And I, I'm definitely glad that you're on the podcast.
Thank you.
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All right, so let's get into it.
John and I said John, Acts, Acts chapter 14.
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Now this chapter it is, it has some powerful preaching that we're going to look at.
It has some some signs and some wonders.
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There's some persecution.
We see the faithful ministry of Paul and Barnabas in my prayer from this episode is that we can see
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together just how powerful the gospel really is and the faithfulness of God's servants.
Why don't you go ahead and start us off Noah with chapter 14 verse one?
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Now it happened in an iconium that that they went together to the synagogue of the Jews, and so
spoke that great multitude, both of the Jews and of the Greeks believed.
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All right, so Noah, why do you think that Paul always started preaching in the synagogues?
Because his original intention was to preach to the Jews first.
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Yeah, absolutely.
And he'll tell us that later, like in the book of Romans and everywhere else is to the Jew 1st and
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then to the Greeks.
And then also for another practical reason, they, they had been entrusted, the Bible calls it like
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the oracles of God.
That just means the Scriptures and the teachings of God.
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So from a practical standpoint, he's starting where where it would be make the most sense.
And so they've arrived here in Iconium.
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This is a city that's located on a very famous and a very ancient Rd. called the VC Best.
And so they're doing their regular pattern.
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They go to the synagogue first.
But I also want us to notice in here Noah the impact of the gospel because it says that a great
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multitude of both Jews and Greeks believed.
Now Luke is being very short here.
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This is abbreviated and Luke is known for this.
He has to I mean we're these two chapters is covering 2 years.
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So this is like just a report, right?
This would have this would have meant like baptism, like Speaking of tongues and like other stuff
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like that, right?
Absolutely all, all the whole we'd call the whole ball of waxes is included in here.
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And so we need to be reminded that the gospel even today is still powerful.
But then it's also unfortunate in Noah because we have to qualify and make sure that we fully
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explain what is the gospel.
And according to Paul and other places in the Scripture, the gospel includes the life, the death,
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the burial, the resurrection, and even the ascension of Jesus Christ.
We can't leave any of that out when it comes to the gospel.
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And just sort of like that, the Easter message that you were doing the slides for me on Easter, that
is the gospel that Jesus took our place.
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And so in our culture and today, sometimes the gospels gets just thrown out there as come to Jesus.
He'll make your life great.
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He'll make your life better, life enhancement, right?
And so the gospel is much, much more than that.
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And we can be assured that that is exactly what Paul is preaching there.
And now verse #2 would you go ahead and read that?
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But the unbelieving Jews turned up the Gentiles, and poisoned their minds against the brethren.
All right, so we see some opposition here now, Noah, what do you think we can learn from this about
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how people might respond to us sharing the gospel today?
They can either go negatively and and and they like and they like, I don't want to say necessarily
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fight back against it, but but but they like withdraw or they can accept it.
Absolutely, absolutely.
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We can expect one of two outcomes.
Well, we could, we could say many outcomes, but the majority of the time we're going to say they're
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either going to, they're either going to oppose it or they'll be, they're open to it, they'll
receive the gospel.
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But what I think that is important here is despite the outcome, Paul and Barnabas, they, they stay
the course, they remain bold, and God is supporting them through what we're going to see through.
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Through miracles, through signs, God is authenticating their message.
Verse #3I.
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Have a quick question Sure, when this when this it when it says don't believe in juice sharp as the
Gentiles are are they are they are they are they like deceiving Gentiles who aren't saved yet or
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Gentiles who who are like saved by now and are like going back to like.
This this would be it could be a mixture of both.
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But the the way that it's indicated here in the text is it is the gentiles that are in the city, the
Jews that have established, established relationship here in Iconium.
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So it would be maybe like city officials, those who have influence, those who have power.
So they're stirring them up and saying, listen, this guy Paul, we know this kind.
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Why?
Because Paul's a Jew as well.
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And because they're an Iconium, Iconium people, their only reference for Jewish people, unless they
travel to some other cities and happen to meet Jews, because Jews live in isolation.
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They would they would have, there would be a lot of credibility to the Jews that are living in
Iconium.
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And so they begin to stir them up and they're like, listen, you don't know this guy the way that we
know him.
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If you allow this to continue, this isn't going to go well for our city.
In essence, that's the way that I see it.
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That's the way that I interpret it.
And we know culturally speaking that they could carry some influence.
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So when they stir them up, notice in verse 2 it says that they poisoned their minds.
And we can gather from that that they're not doing anything different than what was done to Jesus.
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Lies spoken about him, false accusations spoken against him.
This is what is meant by poisoning their mind to anything else out of that.
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Oh no, all right, verse #3.
Therefore, therefore, therefore they stayed there a long time, speak, speaking boldly in the Lord,
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who was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their
hands.
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All right, So what we see here Noah is a progression.
In other words, what started as some opposition, it begin to grow bolder and bolder.
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And as we just talked about earlier, Despite that this this indication from verse 3, it says that
they stayed there a long time.
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That would have been like around 3 months right?
It would have been three months.
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That's, that's what Horton believes in his commentary.
Possibly over the winter.
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But think about this.
They continued despite the opposition and it and it begin to rise more and more and more.
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And eventually we're going to see that the that the persecution is going to end up moving them from
Lystra to Derby.
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But the lesson here is that opposition should not discourage us.
It often will confirm to us that we're on the right track that we're advancing the Kingdom of God
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and God here so graciously.
He it says the phrase here, he's bearing witness.
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That means God's authenticating his word and it is the word of his grace.
How is he doing that?
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He is granting.
I want I want to make sure that we emphasize the source here because it is God.
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God grants that signs and wonders were done by their hands.
Any thoughts on that?
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No, all right.
Now notice verse 4.
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It says, but the multitude of the city was divided, part sided with the Jews, in part with the
apostles.
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This is this is also interesting because despite the influence of possibly some prominent Jews, not
everybody was on their side.
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Some did side with the apostles.
Now whether or not these are believing Gentiles at this point we don't know.
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But in verse 5 it says when a violent attempt was made by both the Gentiles and the Jews with their
rulers, that's the key term there, the rulers to abuse and stone them.
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They became aware of it in verse 6 and they fled to Lystra and Derby and the cities of Laconia and
to the surrounding region.
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Now verse 6 is a summary of the of this whole chapter.
It's just this is where they went after that.
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And then verse 7, of course, it's they were preaching and the keyword here is the gospel there Any
thoughts or any questions?
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Oh no.
All right, let's let's move into verse #8 why don't you read verses 8 through 10?
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And in Lystra a certain mouth, though strength in his feet, was sitting a cripple from his mother's
womb, who had never walked.
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This man heard Paul speaking, Paul observing him intently and seeing that he had a face to be
healed, and said with a loud voice, Stand up straight on your feet.
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And he leaped and walked.
All right, now, no.
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Why do you think that Paul looked, as the Bible says, intently at this man?
What might have he has seen?
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I think he would have been able to see like something like click in the man's head or something.
Like he could sense that.
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He could sense that something was about to go on.
What kind of like how you like sometimes around an altar call, whether it was like in during like a
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mission trip or just at the church, you can like tell that something's going to happen or like
somebody's going to speak in tongues or something.
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Sure, sure that those those are all there's really no incorrect answer here.
But what what we see is somehow or another whether it's supernatural or not Paul is Paul somehow is
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tipped off visibly tipped off that this man notice what it says that he had faith and it's possible
the Holy Spirit could have highlighted him.
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It's possible that Paul can just see like man, this guy is getting it.
And the question that we have we've got to ask here is how did how did he see?
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And how did this man have faith?
Do you have any idea?
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Oh no.
Well, it's the key to this is at the beginning of verse 9.
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Now I want to make sure that we're, we've got everybody even at home tracking with this Paul sees a
man, he sees that he has faith.
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Where did this man get this faith from?
Well, it says this man heard Paul speaking.
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Now the Bible tells us that faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God.
And so as he was hearing, see his faith, this, this man's faith is not attached to Paul himself.
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His faith is attached to the word that's being spoken.
Paul is is is just a represent like a representative.
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Absolutely.
He's just a vessel, just like you and I, When we faithfully speak God's word, we let God take care
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of those those types of things.
And so Paul, undoubtedly Paul is talking again.
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He's preaching the gospel.
So he's talking about Jesus of Nazareth who went about doing good works and healing the blind and
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healing the crippled.
And this man is hearing it and he's saying that's what I want as well.
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And when it says here in verse 9, I don't want to get too, too detailed with you Noah, but that word
healed also means saved.
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They're interchangeable because your salvation and your healing are tied together via the cross.
Because when the Bible says that by his stripes you are healed, Peter looks back and he says you
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were healed.
That is, that is your salvation.
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That's your healing.
They're all wrapped into one, and so it's really, really beautiful.
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And so it says he.
He said with a loud voice.
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Stand up straight to your feet.
And he leapt and he walked.
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We won't get too much into this, but there is what we would call beautiful literary parallel here.
And what that means is that in the design of the author Luke inspired by the Holy Spirit, the
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parallels between this and Acts chapter 4 when Peter healed a lame man by the gate.
Beautiful.
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I was gonna because it's just like interesting how like how like has we been reading we we have seen
their like similarities on Peter and Paul.
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Yes, yes, absolutely.
And then and then verse 11, it says now when the people saw what Paul had done, they raised their
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voices saying in the Laconian language, the gods have come down to us in the likeness of men.
Now the crowd here, Noah, they misinterpret this miracle.
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They were going to see here that they're going to mistake Paul and Barnabas for gods, right?
Says the gods have come down.
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And then verse 12 tells us that Barnabas they called Zeus and Paul Hermes because he was the chief
speaker.
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So why do you think they reacted like this, Noah?
Why do you think they they they misrepresented or mistaken?
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Well, I remember on ones on Bible, say your time about this a little bit.
And you had mentioned like a story about like Zeus and Hermes or something and how they like how
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they like came down in like a mortal form or something and and they were just like walking around
casually or something.
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Yeah.
And so and and since like with like Konian, they had like their own gods and stuff.
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Yeah.
And since based off of that story they would have misinterpreted this being like the same case.
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Well, good job.
I was checking to see if you paid attention, but we're going to have to get everybody up to speed
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that weren't at study and there are plenty of people that aren't part of the family of Arvin
assembly God, but they still TuneIn.
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So what Noah had just said is I took some time in Bible study to explain there was a cultural
concept here in Lystra and what it was is they had and we would use our language.
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We'd say a myth or an urban legend, but they believed it.
They, excuse me, they took this very, very seriously.
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And about 70 years earlier, we know from writings outside of the Bible that there had been what the
villagers, I'm going to use the word villagers say was a visitation from Zeus and Hermes.
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And they walked around in the appearance of men and they went around to see who would be hospitable
to them.
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And they couldn't find anybody.
And finally they found this older couple that took him in.
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And because of that, Zeus and Hermes blessed this couple and they they made this man the priest of
Zeus.
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And when they died, they turned into what they call a sacred tree.
So this was the story that had went around.
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Perhaps it had been taught in this village from family to family.
It could have been a story that kids were raised up on and and the people believed it.
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And so I say all of that to say, sometimes we can look at stories like this and we might not have
the full background and we can't demonize these people because in reality, they didn't know any
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better.
They because weren't they saying how like for them, they didn't know the like God of the Jews like
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God?
It was just like it wasn't part of something that they, like, learned.
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Exactly, exactly.
And what we see here as well, Noah, is that what we talked about earlier at the beginning of Chapter
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14?
Where did Paul always go first?
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To the Jews.
And here, what we see is an indication that he's speaking in the open air.
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Now, we can't prove this, but there is no evidence that there was a synagogue in Lystra.
Now, that doesn't mean that there weren't any Jewish people, but we know from a cultural background
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and study that in order to form a synagogue, there was some requirements.
You had to have a certain number of Jewish believers.
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You'd have to come together and be about 12 different families and you could constitute A synagogue
that way of an actual building.
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Now, you could get more than you could get together as Jews in a house.
But in order to have an actual synagogue, there are requirements and there is again, no indication
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that there was one here.
So Paul goes to open air preaching and these folks don't know a whole lot.
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And so again, they call, they call Barnabas Zeus and Paul Hermes because he was the chief speaker.
Interesting side note, there is a branch of study I had said, I told everybody on Sunday, Noah that
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we're going to have a first class school of ministry and the first class that we're going to have it
is a class of how to study the Bible.
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Do you know what that the technical term for that is?
Well.
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Hermeneutics.
Hermeneutics.
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That means the study and interpretation of the Bible, how to interpret God's Word.
You know where we get that word from?
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Where?
From right, right, Well, part of it's right here, this word Hermes, it means like, like the
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interpretation of to give light to their messenger.
It's in Greek, right in Greek.
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Now they made a God, and they they called this God Hermes.
And because Hermes was the God of insight, of word, of like logos understanding.
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And This is why they thought Paul was Hermes, because he was the one speaking and Hermes was often
depicted as explaining things for the gods.
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And so Zeus, I want you to picture Barnabas is in the back.
And we we believe, we believe Paul was not a very tall man.
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He's his, his name means like there's a little one.
He's, he's, he's there preaching, he's explaining.
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And here's Barnabas in the back.
And Barnabas most likely was taller than Paul, probably had a beard, good Jewish man, possibly some
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Gray hair.
And they're like, wait a second, that's Zeus.
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And this is Hermes, right?
And so in verse #12 they, they called him that.
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And then verse 13, it says the then the priest of Zeus, whose temple was in the front of their city,
brought oxen and garlands to the gates, intending to sacrifice with the multitudes.
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So here's the scene.
Because these people spoke in the Laconian language.
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And by the way, Noah, we didn't even talk about that.
There's some really incredible, outside of the Bible, evidence of these languages that are now dead
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and gone and extinct.
Yeah, we're into saying how people who like, argue that the Bible isn't real could use these
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languages as an example.
But there is proof with like.
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Yeah.
I forgot how you would say them, but like what?
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We would say is it helps testify to the historical reliability of the New Testament.
And so these inscriptions that they have found various papyri and inscription on stone, they have
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found 23 dead languages in this region and Laconian is one of them.
And so that's just adds to the case, not only to the authorship and the reliability of Luke, but we
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can add that into the whole Bible as well, because by the Bible is God's word contained through
different authors and different books throughout the centuries.
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But here's here's the picture as Paul, Paul and Barnabas are there, these folks are begin to speak
in the language they don't know and they're like, this is Zeus, this is Hermes.
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So they send somebody, maybe a little boy, and they say go get the priest of Zeus and tell him what
happened.
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And you imagine the little boy runs into the temple.
He gets the priest right and says Zeus is here, Hermes is here, and what does that priest do?
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He brings oxen right.
This is a big, big sacrifice.
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To sacrifice an oxen is no small thing.
Would it have been multiple or just one?
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Multiple, if you say oxen, you would say ox is singular, oxen would be two or more.
So at a minimum there's two.
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Imagine 2.
All of a sudden you see the the dust, big old dust cloud and you hear the nostrils and these two, at
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least two bulls oxens are coming down and they've got these garlands on their heads and they're
bringing baskets and garlands for the people as well.
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And they're like, we are going to sacrifice and we're going to celebrate.
Reading this, it had reminded me of our time in Mexico when we went to go preach in this church and
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they had prepared like like all sorts of like food and they like the decorations and stuff for
afterwards.
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That's what it reminded me of.
Yeah, so for those, the people that weren't there with us, Noah, we drove on some back dirt roads,
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remember?
And we're driving.
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We're like, where are we?
We got chickens and goats everywhere.
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And that was very difficult.
I tried to get us out of it the best we could because I was scared.
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Now, not from the service we preached, but I wanted to get away because I was like, I don't know if
we can eat this food, Not without meaning any disrespect.
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I was concerned because listen, we're some we're we're some weak Americans.
We don't have stomachs like they do, right?
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But here, here's the good thing.
That's what prayer is for, right?
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You pray over your food and you say, God bless this food, protect me.
And you know what?
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I'm glad we stayed.
That was some of the best.
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No, it was for me.
I'm picky when it comes to carnitas and those were the best ones ever.
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So.
So we, we were talking to the audience at home now we were in Via de Santiago in the state of
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Juanawatto.
And this church decided they found a sponsor because they heard that we were coming and they
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slaughtered a pig that morning.
They pulled their money together and it was, it was a celebration and we had a good time.
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We had carnitas, we had tortillas, we had some rice and I think some fonta too on some orange.
But it was like it was, it was good.
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We cactus or whatever you call it in Spanish.
Yeah, yeah.
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It's called nopales.
Yeah.
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That we had a good time.
So this is actually no, the, the, the, Yeah, I'm glad you brought this up because, again, we cannot
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demonize these people.
They don't know any better.
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But here's the here's the issue.
They still need to hear the truth, right?
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And so we're going to, we're going to, we're going to transition to that.
So this is a festive occasion.
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So verse 14, as those auxins are coming down, all of a sudden Paul and Barnabas figure out what's
happening.
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And so they asked somebody the indications they're like, what's going on here?
And somebody let them in like, hey, we're going to party.
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Verse 14 So when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, they tore their clothes and they ran
among the multitude crying out and they're saying, men, why are you doing these things?
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We are also, we're also are men with the same nature of you as you and preach to you that you should
turn from these useless things to the living God who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all
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the things that are in them.
So here I want us to get the picture here, Paul.
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Paul has already been preaching, and there is no doubt about it that Paul had had been preaching.
There's one God through the mediator Christ Jesus, who forgives our sins.
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I mean, he's preaching the Gospel, but now he understands.
They didn't get it or they didn't hear a word that I said.
26:56
Maybe.
Maybe it was lost in translation.
26:59
All all they pay attention to was the healing.
Yeah, maybe their eyes were fixed on this, this cripple man.
27:06
We don't know.
We don't know exactly what it was.
27:09
There could have been a multitude of things, but the important thing is that Paul is still giving
them the truth.
27:15
And he says, turn from these useless things to the living God.
What are the useless things?
27:22
Zeus and Hermes?
And so you mean to tell me that this temple that we have in this city is useless?
27:29
Yes.
Paul would say, yes.
27:31
Why don't we turn it into a church?
Why don't we convert it into something for Jesus, right?
27:36
And and then it's like.
This is another example of of like a parallel from Peter to Paul.
27:44
Absolutely because Peter said why are you looking at me as if I did this right?
He's like he point.
27:50
He gives the glory over to God.
And so Paul's preaching here and then he says in verse 16 who and bygone generations allowed all
27:59
nations to walk in their own ways.
Nevertheless, he did not leave himself without witness and that he did good.
28:06
He gave us rain from heaven and fruitful in his seat in seasons, filling our hearts with food and
gladness.
28:13
And then it says in verse 18.
And with these sayings, they could scarcely restrain the multitudes from sacrificing to them.
28:22
And so the idea here is that Paul had to switch gears.
He, I'm, I'm giving you and everybody at home who's listening.
28:33
I'm giving you my interpretation.
And this is based on multiple commentators and scholars.
28:40
Paul had to adapt what he was doing.
He had to give it to them now in another way.
28:44
And so he is appealing to what is called the witness of nature right in in the book of Psalms.
I'm, I can't think of the exact chapter right now off the top of my head.
28:55
I probably should have wrote those notes down.
But it says that the heavens declare the the glory of God.
29:01
And in Romans chapter 1, Paul uses this idea of nature that speaks as a witness.
So Paul is appealing to this universal nature that God has implanted into the hearts of every human
29:18
being.
Now, what I mean by that is no anybody across the world, across any generation, they can walk
29:25
outside on a dark night and look up at the stars and say, wow, somebody had to make all of that.
There's a witness when times are good, when the birds are chirping, when a nice cool breeze comes.
29:40
Now nature isn't always hospitable, of course, but there are good days.
And this is what Paul is saying.
29:46
He's giving you rain.
He's giving you fruitful seasons.
29:50
And it in it all comes from the same person, the creator of the heavens and the earth.
That's what it says at the end of verse 15, that he made the heaven, the earth, and the sea.
30:02
Is the verse you are referencing.
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the ferment shows his handiwork.
30:09
Absolutely, Words have found tell everybody.
Psalms 19/1.
30:12
Psalm 19 one read it again.
I loved.
30:16
I love it.
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the ferment shows his handiwork.
30:22
Yes, yes.
So next time, next time it's dark out, go outside, look up at the stars and think of Psalm 19 verse
30:30
one.
The heavens declare the heavens are a witness.
30:35
And so do you have any thoughts or questions out of this section?
I don't All right, so we the situation turns very quickly hostile and it is influence from some Jews
30:50
from Antioch and Iconium.
And so let's read it.
30:54
Go ahead and read verses 19 and 20.
Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there and and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned
31:03
Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead.
However, when the when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city, and the
31:13
next day he departed with Barnabas Tudori.
Wow, now no.
31:17
Why do you think Paul returned to the city after almost being killed?
'Cause he I think he wanted to, he wanted to like show them that he wasn't done preaching after
31:32
after even though they went through the went through all that justice done him.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
31:40
And what this shows us here is is that his resilience, his resolve tells us that persecution, even
suffering physically like this cannot stop God's purposes.
31:57
Now I want to hone in on this for a second.
There's a lot of things we can talk about we're not going to there's a question was it is did Paul
32:05
die?
Did he not die All of these things doesn't matter a whole lot to the text.
32:10
Those are those are fun.
But what I want to hone in on is verse 20.
32:15
Notice, it says, when The Who gathered around him.
Disciples.
32:20
When the disciples.
So it was just Paul and Barnabas who came.
32:24
Now there's disciples, people that are following Jesus.
Who do you think these people were?
32:30
Do you think there might have been anybody there that day?
Yeah, I think people who actually listened and and started to have.
32:39
I mean, I think you and the person who was like cripple and then he would have probably been
included in the.
32:45
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
32:47
Now let me ask you this.
Where are they at?
32:55
What city?
Oh, out of like a.
33:00
They're in Lystra, right?
They're in Lystra now.
33:03
It's interesting to think that somehow the people that heard the message, they're already called
disciples.
33:09
They got to participate in praying for Paula's forming a circle.
What I want you to do now, Noah, is I want you to go to Acts 16 one, and I want you to read it to
33:19
me. 16-1.
Yep.
33:23
Acts 16/1.
But now let me give you the context, Paul, that Paul ends his first missionary journey.
33:30
He travels back to Antioch and he's going to give a report to the church.
And then there's going to be a big in chapter 15, this thing in Jerusalem where they got to go down
33:42
and defend the Gentiles from these Jews, trying to make them, you know, eat kosher and want them to
get circumcised.
33:50
And then Paul is going to go back on his second missionary journey.
This is Acts chapter 16.
33:57
Now Read it.
Then he came to Derby and Lestrade.
34:01
Hold on.
So he's going back to the place he was stoned, right?
34:05
Yeah.
And then now what does it say?
34:08
And behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a certain Jewish woman who
believed, but his father was Greek.
34:16
Ah.
So Paul comes back to Lystra, and behold, there is a certain disciple named Who?
34:22
Timothy.
Now here's the question, is it possible that on back here at Acts 14 verse 20 that Timothy was one
34:31
of those disciples that was gathered around Paul and prayed it would it would that be possible?
I think it would be.
34:38
Yeah, and maybe even Timothy's mom.
And maybe even his grandma.
34:45
And the reason we know this is because Paul will later tell us and he'll commend Timothy's mother
and grandmother.
34:54
So we can't be for certain, but most likely with with a certain degree of assurance.
No, this is an incredible verse because you never know who you're going to come in contact with and
35:08
where if Paul, I mean, think about it.
And Timothy was a young man at this time, very young man.
35:15
And Paul's going to take him under his wing.
And Timothy's going to travel with Paul.
35:21
Timothy is also later going to become a pastor at a place called Ephesus.
Paul's going to place him there.
35:29
And he tells Timothy, let no one despise you because you're young.
Now, a young man would be anywhere from the age of 20 to 30.
35:37
We don't know exactly how old he would have been, but here's the point.
At this at this time, Timothy was a young man.
35:47
And if he first heard the gospel right here in Lystra and got to, got to see, think about it, got to
see a lame man rise up and walk, got to see Paul stoned and left for dead and got to help pray and
36:03
raise him up, that would have made an impression in his heart, right?
Yeah.
36:09
And he was taught, here's the other thing Timothy was taught from the a youth, the scriptures from
his parents as well.
36:16
Beautiful story, really beautiful.
Any thoughts or questions before we move on?
36:22
I wonder if Paul would have thought about Steve Stephen as as all this was happening.
Well, I'm glad you brought that up.
36:30
I've got it all highlighted and documented in a note.
There are also parallels in the language that Luke uses and the the parallel is in verse 19.
36:44
Now the reason that we know this Noah is because Luke is.
I don't want to give you too complicated of language here, but Luke is very intentional about every
36:55
word he uses.
And that word in 19 when they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, is the same word that was
37:07
used when describing Paul with what he did to Christians.
Dragging the men and the women out of their houses.
37:16
Exactly.
So this is what we would call.
37:19
I'm going to say we, I say I call a literary breadcrumb.
Now I didn't see this.
37:26
I saw this when I was reading it was a scholar by the name of Craig Keener.
And when I, when I was reading that, I said, wow, now this isn't in the sense of like, oh, Paul,
37:35
you're getting paid back.
But you asked the question, would Paul have thought about it?
37:40
And the answer is absolutely, absolutely.
But by the grace of God, God had his hand on Paul's life.
37:48
You see, God is not God is not vindictive to his children in this way.
Let me let me explain that there is a concept, Noah, that is called penance.
38:01
And this is really prevalent among Catholics.
And I don't mean this in a derogatory way or disrespectful, but Catholics have this idea that if you
38:11
commit a sin that you have to pay for it through a form of penance.
And there are various ways you can do that.
38:18
So let's say you go to the priest and he and you, you go into this little booth, you confess your
sin to a priest and then the priest.
38:26
I'm using my language here, writes you out a prescription and he says here's what you got to do.
Go say 10 Hail Marys.
38:35
And what a Hail Mary is, is a form of prayer, right?
Is it the like?
38:40
Kind of.
It includes the sign of the cross, but they use beads.
38:43
Go say 10 Hail Marys and you'll be forgiven.
There are other extremes where people maybe have to walk a mile on their knees.
38:51
There are even some sects of Catholicism that will do self flagellation.
What that means is they'll take a whip and they'll beat themselves on the back.
39:03
And this is what we call a form of penance because it's the idea that God that you have to pay for
your sins somehow.
39:11
Here's the great doctrine of substitution.
What did I preach on yesterday that Jesus did what?
39:17
Died for our sins, He.
Paid for it all, Absolutely.
39:21
He died for our sins, and when he paid for your sins, he paid for them in full.
Which means there is, if there's nothing you can do to be saved, Noah, there's nothing that you can
39:34
do to forgive yourself even more because it's already been forgiven.
So here's the idea.
39:40
Paul is forgiven.
God is not doing this to strike Paul, most likely.
39:48
If anything, this could be an attack from the enemy trying to get Paul off track.
And Saint Paul, I know what you did.
39:59
You know what you did.
But here's the amazing thing.
40:02
God forgets about all that because the Bible says when we're forgiven, he cast them into a sea to
never be remembered anymore.
40:09
But you know what?
The enemy wants to bring up those things from your past and say you're no good, you're dirty and he
40:17
fights dirty.
And so did Paul think about this?
40:21
Absolutely.
And I believe Paul probably said it's under the blood, you devil.
40:27
I like now I think about like how like it could have been, I guess you could say like an eye for an
eye, but still like fully like could have been like the devil staring it in the concept of an eye
40:41
for an eye.
But but then God gave mercy at the end.
40:45
Absolutely, Absolutely.
And that concept, we won't talk about it now because you said eye for an eye, but but God did say an
40:53
eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
Old Testament, Old Testament.
40:57
And there was a reason for that.
But we, if you get me talking about that, I won't stop.
41:03
So let's let's move on.
Do you have anything else out of here?
41:05
Oh no, all right, verse 21.
And when they had preached the gospel to that city, right now that city is is Derby.
41:15
And it says they made many disciples.
They returned to Lystrom, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting
41:25
them to continue in the faith and saying we must through many tribulations enter the Kingdom of God.
So I really like this because there is an indication here of some godly wisdom.
41:40
Now, what I mean by that is Paul has been bold.
And let's give Barnabas credit too, because Barnabas is with him.
41:47
They've been bold.
They've been preaching the gospel despite opposition.
41:51
However, they're using wisdom now.
They have to go back the way they came.
41:55
And what are they doing?
They they went to the very last city, which is Derby.
42:01
And then as they return, they go only to the believers to strengthen them.
And when it says to exhort them, they're encouraging them saying, listen, this, this isn't going to
42:11
be easy.
Following Jesus isn't easy.
42:15
It's not popular.
You will suffer.
42:19
Some of you will even give your lives for the face faith.
And he tells them we must through many tribulations enter the Kingdom of God.
42:29
And the idea is, is that what happens to us knowing this life is temporary, but it's better to
suffer now than all of eternity.
42:39
That's the idea.
Verse 23 So when they had appointed elders in every church and notice what they did, it says they
42:48
prayed and fasted, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
Now when it says the church here, this is the, this is, this is not a church building.
43:04
This hasn't developed yet.
Would it be in the sense of like every group?
43:09
Because it would be like multiple groups with a sort of amount of people who get together.
Correct, it'd be a little house group.
43:16
And then and and and then, like every so often, like everybody from every group would meet together
or something.
43:22
Yeah, yeah, You would do that.
You would, you would do the best you could.
43:26
So for now, you'd have these house, a network of house churches, and they had to appoint an elder.
And this elder would be responsible to encourage everybody.
43:36
Hey, we're going to get together, we're going to fast, we're going to pray, we're going to recite
some scripture.
43:42
It's a it's a, it's a small house church.
And So what, what beauty we have here in the appointing of elders.
43:51
Later on, this would develop into a concept of having pastors.
Not yet, but pastors would come.
43:58
And in fact, we actually know Noah from from church history, what we call the early church fathers,
that one in particular, a man by the name of Eusebius actually talks about this very area.
44:15
And he names by name some of the pastor's that were sent there.
They were sent there to help shepherd the flock.
44:23
See, it's good we've got to have elders.
But there is also, there's also the need for teaching and preaching of the Word through pastors as
44:33
well.
So really, really beautiful.
44:36
So they prayed, they fasted.
It reminds us of the opening chapter of Acts chapter 13.
44:42
It reminds us as well of the opening when they appointed some deacons, when the church started
growing like in Acts 5 and 6, those chapters.
44:54
And so we see the same pattern and protocol here.
Any other thoughts or questions?
45:01
No.
OK, verse 24 and it says after they had passed through Pasidia, they came to Pamphylia, and when
45:09
they had preached the word imperga, they went down to Italia.
Now, they had arrived here in this very location at the opening of chapter 13.
45:20
However, they didn't preach.
It does.
45:23
It doesn't tell us they preached, doesn't mean they didn't.
But there was no indication that they had preached in Purga or Italia.
45:30
These are harbor towns.
And the reason is because there was a departure of John Mark, most likely when John Mark decided to
45:39
leave.
That was a pretty heavy deal.
45:42
So they went ahead and went up to, to to Antioch Poseida up there.
But I want you to notice once they're out of harm's way, they're back down.
45:52
If we were to look at the map, it's they covered a lot of territory.
They traveled.
45:56
Please, I may get the mileage wrong on here, but I believe it's 110 miles total that they had to
travel to get down to these towns and they ended up preaching right down here in these dock towns.
46:12
And then in verse #26 it says from there they sailed to Antioch.
Now this is not Antioch, Poseida up north, this.
46:21
Is the home base.
The home base Antioch of Syria.
46:25
So when they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which
they had completed.
46:34
So they're going home.
Verse 27 when they had come and gathered, notice this word here.
46:40
They gathered the church together.
So it would be like all like.
46:44
All of them.
That's like, hey, go tell every elder that on Sunday morning you're, you know, whatever day it would
46:51
have been, we're all getting together and we're going to have a big service.
Right?
46:55
Yeah.
And then it says they reported all that God had done with them.
46:59
So they're, they're up there and they say, all right, Paul Barnabas, you get the pulpit here.
Tell us what happened.
47:05
Now this, I mean, imagine it's like we're we're going to have a missionary coming in in May.
We're not going to say his name for safety or protection.
47:19
However, he's going to come in and he's going to tell us about some things that have been happening
with where he's serving at.
47:25
He's going to do exactly what we see here.
And we're just one of many churches that help support them along the way.
47:32
Right?
But this is the idea.
47:34
This is the first, very first missionary journey.
And this church sent them out.
47:40
So they're back.
Paul Barnabas, they're reporting all the, I mean, Can you imagine the stories like we think about
47:47
it.
Let's just recap here for a second.
47:49
We let when we left you, it was two years ago.
We got on a boat.
47:53
We went to Cyprus.
And when we got to Cyprus, we, we we encountered A sorcerer and he was trying to, like, oppose us.
48:04
We prayed.
He went blind.
48:05
We met this guy, Sergius Paulus, the governor.
And we got the governor.
48:09
He believed and he sent us up here.
And then we took a boat and we went up to Antioch.
48:14
I mean, the stories, right?
You get it.
48:17
Yeah.
And I mean, this is this is incredible.
48:21
And then it says all he says they reported all that God had done with him and that he had opened the
door of faith to the Gentiles.
48:31
Beautiful, beautiful.
This is a big, big deal.
48:37
And this is what's going to lead us into chapter 15, verse 28.
So they stayed there a long time with the disciples.
48:48
How long do you think a long time is?
Probably like a few years maybe.
48:55
It's hard to tell with Luke I I don't have an answer for you.
I wish I could say they were there for six months and two weeks, but you know, a long time is
49:05
probably longer than several months, so they could have been there.
Maybe like a year or.
49:09
More I I think biblically speaking, anything longer than a season could be a long time.
You know, it's sort of like here's here's the running joke.
49:20
Jesus says, behold, I'm coming quickly.
Well, Lord, what does quickly mean, right?
49:25
We've been waiting 2000 years.
So anyway, that's, that's that's it for there.
49:31
But they stayed there with the disciples a long time.
Beautiful.
49:35
I mean, I mean, think about it.
No, you, you got to go with Dago and Memo and myself to Mexico.
49:41
We were only there for a week.
We've got you're going to have stories about that week for the rest of your life, right?
49:48
Imagine going out for two years, the stories you would have.
And plus all the stuff we don't know about.
49:54
Exactly.
Exactly.
49:56
And Luke could only fit this into two page.
Like I say, 2 pages, 2 chapters.
50:03
That's not a whole lot of papyri like.
And wouldn't it be like like a few sheep or something worth or like 10 sheep plus for like one thing
50:14
or something?
I wish I could remember exactly how many sheep gave their lives for this original papyri.
50:21
I don't remember.
I remember Wes Huff was talking about that and.
50:25
At least at least you know what I'm talking.
About, I do know what you're talking about, Yes, yes.
50:31
So any other thoughts or questions on this at all?
I don't.
50:35
All right, well, folks, we want to thank you so much for tuning in.
We as a church on this week.
50:42
We are studying and meditating on Acts chapter 15.
If you're not part of Arvind Assembly of God, we love you.
50:50
I invite you as well.
Take some time, even before the next podcast, listen to Acts 15, try to listen to it on your Bible
50:58
app, meditate on it, think about it.
And Noah and I will be right back here.
51:05
Can't promise when it could be here in the next sometime this week we will commit.
Do you commit Noah to this week?
51:13
As long as long as it isn't today, well.
We got to get some pizza 1st, right?
51:18
We got to go to California Pizza Kitchen now.
I don't remember going there at all so so that'll be cool.
51:24
Actually, it's really good pizza.
I think they have a Taco pizza.
51:31
What do you do?
They can't see you.
51:33
He's shaking his head, saying no, I'm teasing.
They might have one, but yeah.
51:38
Should we get a Hawaiian pizza?
One with pineapple.
51:42
Wow.
How would the Italians feel if we had pineapple on that piece?
51:47
Oh, no, we'll get a good meat lover's pizza or something.
But thank you so much for tuning in.
51:53
Listen to Acts 15, study it, and we'll be back with you on the next episode covering that chapter.
God bless you.
52:08
Thank you for listening to Al Pastor with Brian Overturn.
If you found value in this, please subscribe and get updates.
52:15
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52:26
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52:31
Until then, we'll see you later.