Acts Chapter Fourteen
More persecution. The early church seemed to face it constantly. Mixed in with the persecution was also the powerful presence of God doing great things. We see that illustrated many times throughout this book. One example is the last verse of chapter thirteen.
"And the disciples were continually filled [throughout their souls] with joy and the Holy Spirit."
Acts 13:52 Amplified Bible
Chapter fourteen starts out with more unbelievers stirring up the pot of trouble. This caused divisions in the places where they were. We still see this evil tactic these days – getting people confused regarding belief in God and taking sides. If believers are confused and fussing with each other, they are not fighting evil and winning people to Jesus. The assaults became so intense there that the missionary troop had to head out to other places.
Paul and Barnabas never lived far from the supernatural in their missionary journey. At Lystra there was a man who was crippled from birth and never walked. Paul said to him, "Stand up". He jumped up and started walking. Another powerful miracle from the Lord.
The response of the populace was different this time. They called Paul and Barnabas gods and started worshiping them. They tried to offer sacrifices to them as gods. Paul and Barnabas realized what was happening and were horrified at the thought of receiving worship. They stopped the crowd and passionately preached that the power was from the true God of heaven, the Creator of the world.
Important thought here: never let any praise go to you for anything that God does through you. Give God all the glory and get on with life. Never let pride creep in to your thoughts, "I really am good, aren’t I." No, it is always God who does the supernatural. We are the conduits through which God does His work.
In spite of the miraculous, there were outsiders who showed up with the specific purpose of stirring anger against Paul. They stoned him and left him for dead. Stoning was common back then. The landscape is filled with an endless supply of ammunition. It was a tortuous way of punishing a person to death.
Again, the power of God came through. As the believers stood around Paul, who was considered dead, he got up and continued his missionary endeavors.
We see their hearts as Luke described their continued journey. They kept going to churches, and as v. 22 says "where they strengthened the believers. They encouraged them to continue in the faith, reminding them that we must suffer many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God." In spite of their suffering, they continued to strength and encourage believers. Yes, it would be hard, but that was ok, keep on going for the Lord.
Chapter fourteen ends with their return to Antioch where this missionary journey started. They gave reports to the church there of all that God had done. Of particular encouragement was how God was opening the door to reach Gentiles for the Lord.
This concluded their first missionary journey. Let us be reminded that missions is the heart of the Lord. Getting the message out that Jesus is Lord to the whole world is the commission to the church. Let us continue to do all we can to spread the Word. God always blesses a generous heart.
