Galatia: Facing Troubles - Acts 13 and 14

I try hard to maintain an optimistic attitude, but the media today makes it very difficult. Before I read any of the troubles that faced the New Christians in Galatia, my mind raced ahead and began to think of all the troubles that the Church has today. Then I read the assigned scripture, and all I can say is that times haven’t changed that much—sin still abounds and we have a fight on our hands. The opponents of true Christianity are as ardent in their disbelief as they ever were and their determination to force their opinions on us may be even greater simply because they have the advantage of a liberal media to help them in their opposition to Christianity.

Recently a local citizen registered a complaint with ABC regarding their promotion of the New Age Mentality on those of us who believe in Bible based truths. This citizen got an answer back from ABC telling him that he needed to update his thinking in line with the reality of life in America…the way things are…and he needed to get his head out of that book of fairy tales about people and events that never happened called bible.

These are not new facts, but true facts that we must face as soldiers of the Cross. We need the armor described in the gospel in order to stand and not be mortally wounded. Just in the past few years we have seen the onslaught against the very name of God as evil forces have garnered the political strength to restrict prayer in public places; destroy our Godly right to stand in opposition to laws and court rulings that are directly opposed to the teachings of Christ, and also diametrically opposite from the intention of our constitution—and it is my belief that this matter will become more invasive into our lives in the near future. If the liberals are able to appoint the next two judges to the Supreme Court—you can kiss our constitution good-by. {You have every right to call this VANDIVERISM if you wish.}

Christians have been too silent for too long in our objections to what we considered as ‘little things’ that have become ‘big mistakes.’ Merry Christmas has become Happy Holidays; sexual integrity is a mockery among contemporary consenting adults [and now the teen-ages]; and those of us that are so narrow minded as to think that Jesus is the only way to salvation are considered as narrow minded and intolerant to those that believe that there are many ways. If it is of any consolation to you, our lesson today will show you that we are not the first with problems like these. There is one fairly new problem on the scene and that is the teaching that each individual is God. I do not recall ever reading this bosh in the Bible.

Jesus Christ is the greatest teacher that ever proclaimed the Gospel. However, He told his Apostles that they would do greater things than he had done, and He no doubt had the Apostle Paul in mind, the greatest of all human preachers, evangelist, and teachers. Today’s study about Paul’s first missionary journey draws our attention to one that faced many troubles simply because of his faith in Christ. Being a Christian was not easy in Paul’s day; and I predict that the time has come when you and I will soon find more and more opposition from the group of nonbelievers that have organized [or at least have common opinions] around the task of destroying the effective efforts of all true believers. We should be in constant prayer to Almighty God beseeching him to stand against our adversaries and protect us from the same kind of destructive forces that came against Paul and Barnabas in their first Missionary Journey. The text of this lesson starts with the beginning of chapter thirteen. [Dear readers, time and space will not permit a verse by verse commentary; therefore, you simply MUST read and study along with this feeble effort to magnify the breadth and depth of Paul’s missionary work] I will guide you from city to city as they suffered hardships to bring saving grace to many who were their enemies. You will need a bible, a map, a profound interest and sustained willingness to spend time in the Word.

Beginning with this chapter, Acts shifts from ministry to the Jews…to ministry to the Gentiles—and the spread of the church around the world of that day. PAUL replaces PETER as the central figure in the book and starts his first Missionary Journey at [#1 Antioch.] There were five prophets and teachers working together as leaders in the ministry at Antioch. The church fasted and prayed and the Holy Spirit directed them to lay hands on Paul and Barnabas and commission them to start their journey. We should do likewise, and at First Baptist last Sunday, we did commission our Pastor, as the Director of World Changers, and our young people who are a part of the membership of World Changers; and we commissioned our Music Director and his wife as members of the Century-men who will be on tour overseas.

Paul and Barnabas, sent by the Holy Spirit, went to [#2 Seleucia]. There is no reference to the time spent or the work done at Seleucia. However, I remind you that the bible tells us that if all the things done and said had been recorded there would not be enough books to record it. Travel was dangerous and slow and my prediction is that they took advantage of every opportunity they had to proclaim the gospel, including the #2 city.

They went by sea to the island of Cyprus and landed in [#3 Salamis] on the Eastern shore. John Mark either went with them as their helper, or he met them when they arrived and they preached at the Jewish Synagogues. Synagogues is plural, therefore there was more than one. Cyprus is about 100 miles long and they witnessed all the way to [#4 Paphos] which is located on the western shore. They followed established trade routes for convenience, stopping often and always where there was a synagogue in which they could meet. Cyprus was inhabited mainly by Jews and their effort was to win as many Jews as possible that would help by reaching out to the smaller settlements on the Island. One of the reasons that they may have chosen Cyprus as their first overseas stop was that it was Barnabas’ home. He would be back at home and would have greater influence than if Paul had gone alone.

At Paphos they met the proconsul Paulus. Any proconsul was a high Roman official, and Paulus functioned as the Governor of Cyprus. He heard about their arrival and their message and was interested in hearing them…so he sent word for them to visit him that he might hear the word of God. High ups even in the days of Moses always kept magicians and private sorcerers. Bar Jesus was Paulus’ private sorcerer. His real name was actually Elymas—which means sorcerer, and when he found out what was happening he tried to block the meeting and change the mind of the proconsul. He knew that he was about to loose his position.

The meeting with Paulus took place and Elymas was there. Paul was frank with Elymas telling him of his evil spirit, and that he would suffer blindness because of it. Immediately Elymas could not see, and the incident only strengthened the faith of proconsul Paulus and he became a believer as a result. [You may be interested to know that this incident relates the first time in the bible where Saul is called Paul, see verse 9.] Ask yourself this question. If I am confronted with a circumstance of evil, do I have the faith and fortitude to confront a friend or foe with their evil ways? Paul did.

They move on. From Paphos on the island of Cyprus, Paul and his companions sailed to [#5 Perga in Pamphylia] where John Mark left them and returned to Jerusalem. Again there is nothing said about their work there, But can you imagine the time it took to travel long distances, and the cold nights and hot days of suffering and tiresome walking without sharing their message along the way? I can’t. And I believe they took every opportunity that God made available to them. What bothers me is that I do not take every opportunity. I do not keep witnessing on my mind 24/7! Do you? We should. Please pray for me that I will become even as proficient in my witness as I try to be in my study and teaching. Please pray for me!

There is a mystery in verse thirteen. No reason is given and no one knows why John Mark left Paul and went back to Jerusalem. Was he ill, homesick, or did he resent Paul? [Mark was Barnabas’ cousin and may have thought his cousin should be calling the shots.] Paul accused him of lacking in commitment and courage. Paul refused to take him with him later, and then even later changed his mind, accepted him back in the ministry.

They left Perga and went to [#6 Pisidian Antioch.] This was not Antioch of Syria where there was already a church 11: 26. This was a hub of several of the better roads that crossed the nation of Galatia. They visited the synagogue and as was the custom, the regular Jewish service was conducted first and then others would be called on to speak. When Paul was invited to speak, he made a long dissertation on the founding fathers of the Jewish race that included their bondage in Egypt and about 450 years of history following. The people were interested and listened. This always worked well on their first appearance, but as soon as they had spoken about the rejected Messiah that is now the saving Lord, the door would slam shut, they were not invited back and many times they were cut off, and run out of town—and usually very lucky to make their exit without injury. Take the time to read this sermon in 13: 16-41. It is the history of the Jews.

In this case, the Jews invited them back to the temple to speak again the next Sabbath. The objections grew and the book says that they ‘shook the dust from their feet and left for Iconium.

If you will notice as you read and study the bible it is repetitive on many important subjects. And this background story of Jewish heritage is one of the themes that are repeated many times. I only mention this to cause us to think about the number of times the Jews have been reminded of their place in Bible History and how many times they have been told about the line of Jewish leaders that would serve as fore-runners of the Messiah. It is so difficult for me to understand why the Jewish race could not see what was happening in their every day lives…and especially hard to understand why they would never accept Jesus Christ as the Messiah that had been promised every since the fall of the human race.

At [#7 Iconium] they went to the synagogue and preached with some success, but soon the opposition began to arise and there was a plot in the making to stone them out of town. God made provision for them to learn about the plot and they left just ahead of the stoning and moved on to [#8 Lystra and the surrounding country. And they continued to preach the ‘Good News of the New Church’—and this reminds me of an evangelist today…he can move in stir up the people and move on but the pastor has to stay and iron out the wrinkles. While they were in this area a lame man was healed and it caused them a new problem. The people wanted to give them the credit for the healing and even wanted to offer sacrifices in their behalf. Paul and Barnabas were distressed and demonstrated their unhappiness with the people—explaining that they were not the power in action and that the people must realize that Jesus Christ was the one performing the miracles.

A new wrinkle took place. They had been accepted here but a crowd followed them from Antioch and convinced the people that they were frauds and turned the people on them and they stoned the messengers, and dragged Paul outside the city and left him for dead. By the next day he was revived and he and Barnabas left for [#9 Derbe]. They were successful here for a time but when these problems arose, decided to reverse their course with the intention of strengthening the churches they had already established.

They re-visited Lystra, Iconium and Antioch with a slightly different mission. This second visit was to work with the disciples there, and encourage them to remain true to the faith. New church organization was established by appointing elders and through fasting and prayer they were ordained or committed to the Lord.

Their next move was back into Pamphylia where they made their last stop in the [#10 city of Attalia] before returning to the original city of [#1 Antioch] from which they had started. They gathered the churches together and reported on their journey and the work they had done and remained here for some time.

Is this a simple lesson? Maybe it is, but only if you refuse to use your imagination and expand on things that occurred each day—unexplained. What was their date of departure? How did they travel? Where did they sleep? What did they eat? Who helped with their luggage? Who paid their expenses? What happened on the ship on the way to Cyprus? Did they travel alone or join a caravan across the Island? The second time at sea was from Cyprus to Pamphylia: Was it a commercial or private boat? How many days at each place? How long the whole journey? How many nights were they without lodging? Did they spend nights out side? Were they cold or hot? How often did they go hungry? Where did they bathe? And how did they get their clothing cleaned? Alone and at nights thieves were known to be prevalent in bible times…Were they bothered? Robbed? Did they have any kind of literature [bibles or pamphlets] to leave with new converts? Where did they get them? How many miles did they travel? What month did they start? How long were they gone? What was the weather like each day? No wonder that there is not room enough in the bible to explain everything that was done and said. This First Journey is just a microscopic spot on the surface of a world without end.