Last night at SURGE we continued "The Journey" as Paul and Barnabas traveled from Pisidian-Antioch to Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. We discovered that there has been a pattern emerging as to how the Jesus message was spread through the cities that Paul went to. Here is the pattern: they went to the synagogues, spoke to the Jews, then to the Gentiles (sometimes signs and wonders), there was always a split audience (those who believed vs. those who did not), the animosity of those who didn't believe (mostly Jews) grew, Paul and Barnabas were persecuted, then they left town. We have to remember that Paul's first missionary journey is only 2 chapters in our Scriptures but it was really a 2 year journey. One key thought that we looked at was how close to home Paul was when they entered the city of Derbe. He was so close to the city of Tarsus where he was from. It looks as though the journey is leading Paul and Barnabas to a place of refuge except...when they leave Derbe they head right back to Lystra, Iconium, and Pisidian-Antioch. They head right back into the cities that ran them off. Paul was even left for dead in Iconium after being stoned. But this didn't stop him nor Barnabas from going back to strengthen the fledgling congregations that had just formed. They went back to choose leaders and to let the new Christ followers know that the journey will be hard.
How about you? Has your journey been hard? If so...you are probably on the right journey!
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Jon