Lessons From Acts – Lesson 30
The 1st missionary journey was fast paced. There was only one place that they stayed a while.
They traveled to Salamis and preached in synagogues plural. So they were there at least a few weeks.
Then Paphos and dealt with a certain sorcerer and preached to a deputy who got saved.
Then went to Antioch in Pisidea preached in the synagogue, almost the whole city comes together to hear the word of God, the Jews are filled with envy.
The word of the Lord was published throughout all the region but the Jews stirred up people and expelled Paul and Barnabas out of their coasts. They were there only a little over 2 weeks.
They go to Iconium. Speak in the synagogue and a great multitude both of Jews and Greeks believed.
The unbelieving Jews stirred up people. Paul and Barnabas were in Iconium a while. Acts 14:3 says Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of his grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands.
The Jews made a plan to stone them so they fled to Lystra and Derbe and preached the gospel.
At Lystra they preach and heal a cripple, and the people who saw it wanted to sacrifice to their false gods.
Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium catch up to them in Lystra and get the people to stone Paul and leave him for dead.
Paul then travels back to Antioch stopping along the way to teach new believers in Derbe, Lystra, and Iconium.
Acts 14:22 Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
Acts 14:23 And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.
So they stopped in Derbe and do that and then stop in Lystra and do that and then stop in Iconium and do that.
They confirmed the souls of the disciples. That is taking the time to make sure they understood and really got saved. I remember reading a book written by a man who was a missionary in the Far East.
He would have meetings and give an invitation and hundreds would get saved. But he sensed that something was wrong. As he started following up with them and visiting them in their homes time and again he found the same thing.
They still had their false god idol altar in their homes. They only made one change to it. They added a picture of Jesus to all their other gods.
They were still actively worshipping all the false gods on their altar. That doesn’t work. They did not understand, they did not get saved.
There was no turning from and turning to. There was no repentance. He learned that giving a 1 2 3 repeat after me invitation to people who have no foundation or understanding and then giving them assurance of salvation actually did great harm.
Now he had to try to get them to understand that they were not saved when he told them they were saved. He had to try to undo the damage that he had done. He said in his book that he quit doing the 1 2 3 repeat after me invitation.
He started to be more careful to work with people one on one and make sure that they understood. And he started to have more faith that God is very active in His work.
In fact no matter how dedicated or burdened for God’s work we become, God is infinitely more interested in it. And God is perfectly able and active in bringing people along and working in their hearts and lives.
He learned that he did not have to push for a quick response because if he didn’t get them to pray this minute that their chances for getting saved are not over. He learned to let God bring about a sense of conviction in people’s lives.
Repentance is needed for salvation. There must be a turning from and turning to with a repentant heart. After someone makes a profession of trusting in Jesus, it is biblical to later follow up and make sure they understood.
That is what Paul and Barnabas are doing here. They are confirming them. And then they and exhorting them to continue in the faith. And showing them the example of Paul getting stoned and yet still serving and living for Jesus.
Acts 14:23 And when they had ordained them elders in every church,
And then once they knew they had a group of believers, then they organized it into a local house church.
The elders would lead as servant leaders and not as lords over the flock. And they would have been given some quick training on how to have services. To sing the Psalms and preach the scriptures. Which would have still been mostly the O.T. Antioch is already making copies of manuscripts. I have little doubt that it would be arranged for these new churches to get a copy of the scriptures.
At this point in time only one New Testament book has been written and that is the gospel of Matthew. The new house churches will need a copy of Matthew and of course the other N.T. letters as they begin to be written and circulated. And after setting up leaders and some quick instructions they commended them to the Lord.
Acts 14:23 … and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.
It was all done fairly quickly. And they commended them to the Lord. Paul and Barnabas put them in the Lord’s hands and move on.
Acts 14:26 And thence sailed to Antioch, from whence they had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled.
They were called for this one trip, they were sent out from Antioch and I believe Antioch paid the bills for this trip and when they came back the Bible says they fulfilled the work.
It was finished. When they get back they report what happened and then got back into teaching at Antioch. And they did that for a long time.
After they deal with the false teaching issue and God puts it on Paul’s heart to go out again. He takes with him Silas.
They travel fast thru Syria and Cilicia confirming the churches.
Then on to Derbe and Lystra and pick up Timotheus.
Acts 16:4 And as they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem.
Acts 16:5 And so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily.
Are you seeing the pattern? Moving along at a good place.
Then comes the Macedonia call and they go to Philippi and meet Lydia by a river, she gets saved and they start a church in her house.
While there Paul deals with a demon possessed woman. Her masters get mad and Paul and Silas get thrown in jail. The jailer and his family get saved.
The magistrate comes and gets them out of jail and tells them to get out of town.
They make a quick stop and Lydia’s house church on the way out of town. So again no long stay to train and establish a church. And we know from the letter of Philippians that this church lasts and does just fine.
They will send to Paul’s necessity again and again thru the years.
It is now on to Thessalonica. Paul preaches 3 sabbath days. Some believed and devout Greeks a great multitude believed.
Jews are moved to envy and caused an uproar. Paul and Silas leave by night to Berea and preach again in the synagogue. Many get saved.
The Jews from Thessalonica come and they have to get Paul out of town quick. He gets separated from Silas and Timotheous.
Paul goes to Athens gives us the example of what kinds of seeds to plant with those who have zero foundation. He also works with people at the market every day and with the Jews at synagogue and leaves a few new believers in Athens.
Acts 18:1 After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth;
Be honest. Does this sound like this has been a whirlwind? Both the 1st and 2nd missionary journey so far. I mean it really was fast paced.
Other than one good size pause at one town, it has been go preach, travel preach, travel get ran out of town, preach get ran out of town, go preach. It has been a fairly consistent pattern throughout both missionary journeys so far.
Fast pace. Not in any one place too long. They were a long time at Antioch between the two journeys but once the missionary journey started it was go and go and go.
But all the sudden things change. I have said many times, don’t speed read your Bible. You will miss a lot. Take time to slow down and think about things.
Go too fast just plowing thru verse by verse and you will actually miss a lot of the lessons that God has for us.
So we paused and did a quick review to remind ourselves what it has been like so that we are very aware of the change that is about to happen.
Acts 18:4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.
Acts 18:5 And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ.
Acts 18: 6And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles.
And Paul went literally next door and preached, and the chief ruler of the synagogue and his family get saved.
This upset the unbelieving Jews in the synagogue. We have seen this over and over. And time and again in the past Paul gets ran out of town. But not this time.
Acts 18:9 Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace:
Acts 18:10 For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city.
Acts 18:11 And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
If we slow down and think about it a bit, we learn a very important lesson about God and His work. A lesson that many miss.
God is now going to protect Paul so that no one touches him for a year and a half. He will be able to preach for a year and a half and no matter how mad the Jews get God will not allow them to touch Paul or run him out of town.
God did not protect Paul this way in all the places that we just mentioned in our quick review.
Question. Was Paul doing something wrong before? Did Paul not deserve or earn protection before? Does God for some reason now love Paul more than he did before?
Was Paul preaching before in a way that God was not pleased with and so God let him be driven out of town? Is Paul’s preaching now going to be good enough for protection?
The answer to all of those questions is no and no and NO.
It is clear that there is a change here. And this change is directed by God. God tells Paul to stay and preach. This is new. This is the first time God told this to Paul.
But does not the Bible say. Heb 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
I have had people misuse that verse to say that God is the same, He does not change, and therefore since He was the same yesterday, and He had us do things a certain way yesterday, then He must still want it done the exact same way today.
Because after all Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
I am not making that up. There are people who actually think that way. The problem with that is it is not biblical. God had Paul do things one way for a long time and now a new way.
Jesus is God so how can He have Paul do His work one way for a long time and in a large number of places and then all the sudden change it?
Did God learn something and decide to fix how it is done? No. That cannot be it. God is all knowing and perfect. He does not make mistakes.
So what is the answer?
First the verse Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day and for ever is talking about who He is. It is about His character and attributes. He is perfect and holy and just and righteous and loving and faithful ect…
It is a mistake to take that verse that is talking about His character and attributes and apply that to dealing with different situations.
The answer is God deals with different individuals on an individual basis.
The jailer needed to hear Paul and Silas pray and sing, and then see an earthquake and all of the prisoners bonds fall off and yet they did not run.
Lydia only needed a good explanation of the scriptures from Paul. And a testimony about God working in the jail. And that church was started and did fine.
Some people needed to see someone healed. And those new believers in those towns where Paul was ran out of needed to see Paul again after he was stoned.
They not only needed to hear what Paul said that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. They also needed to see it. Paul was just stoned and he is still serving God and doing His work.
And they were all quickly organized into a church. That is all they needed from Paul. God would send others later with copies of scriptures.
Those in Athens just needed some good seeds planted and a few believers left behind.
God does have His work done differently based upon the individuals and what they need.
A quick trip, a little preaching, and teaching, and then off to the next place was not going to cut it in Corinth.
How do I know that? It is called the book of 1st Corinthians.
They had divisions in the church. They were arguing that their baptism was better because I was baptized by Paul others claimed Apollos or Cephas.
They had problems with using the sign gifts correctly. They abused tongues for example.
They had a man in the church who was having sex with his father’s wife. So his step mom. And the church was fine with it.
They had problems with understanding what Christian love is.
And the list just goes on.
And think about this. This is after 1 and a half years of Paul preaching and teaching to them. Can you imagine how bad it would have been if Paul only stayed a few weeks like he did most places.
I am of the opinion that they would have never made it long enough for Paul to write 1st and 2nd Corinthians.
And those books needed to be written. Those 2 books have been used to edify all the churches thru the ages. They have instructed millions and millions of believers.
Of course God knows this. He has perfect foreknowledge. So yes. God does have His men do things differently based upon the needs and goals at that time.
God will never have His work done contrary to His Word. He will never change the principals in His Word. Salvation, faith, prayer, baptism, Lord’s supper, the need to carry out the great commission.
None of that changes. But like how God had Paul do quick visit after quick visit and now stop for a year and half.
Things like that, God does in fact have men do things differently based upon what is needed.