 welcome back everyone thank you for joining in again we started to look at the missionary journey of Apostle Paul so I have a colorful picture and that's what I wanted to show you earlier so let me show that picture once and then we will get back into our study so here it is this is a little more colorful so hopefully that is it'll be interesting for you to see okay it's too tiny you know are you able to see or it's too small just to make a note of the same cities that I mentioned earlier you know the and the path to it because all that is happening is in the same region the Mediterranean region and a little bit of Europe so this is all like your Jerusalem Judea then your Syria then you go on to this portion here which is Asia Minor or what we are calling like the Mediterranean region and then you know you will see the journey move on to Macedonia okay so we will read about this place called Macedonia and then from further out will be Europe so I just want you to have a picture or an idea of where these things are taking place let me share one more map that brings more clarity to all the areas this one is a good one yeah okay so get like a mental photograph of this this is what you need for the Book of Acts all the areas that we will cover there'll be three missionary journeys that Paul will undertake you know moving around these places so that will carry on as we read through the Book of Acts but if we have a picture of this map then we will understand the Book of Acts so I'm repeating myself Jerusalem Judea remember Jerusalem Judea Samaria that region here going to Syria Syria a Tarsus Silesia is right here and I was mentioning about Asia Minor so this whole entire thing is Asia Minor where is Tarsus in present day times it's Turkey okay Turkey now this is this would be your Asia Asia Minor Asia region and then we will see slowly like after the first missionary journey Paul will then go to Macedonia for the second missionary journey so where is Macedonia from Asia he'll move on to the next region here this would be Macedonia and Macedonia there will be all these important places Philippi Thessalonica we will then talk about another region this is the Akea region where you have a very key city known as Corinth okay so Corinth we'll talk about that place so these regions will be covered in the different missionary journeys in Asia there is this city called Ephesus which is very very key in the region of Galatia this city called Colosse this is important so just have an idea of where these places are we'll talk about the individual journeys later so towards the end of Paul's life you know after he does his ministry here he will need to go to Italy to Rome so remember we said Europe parts of the Mediterranean and then Europe so he'll cover the Europe region and this map will give you a better understanding of how we will proceed later so if you have any questions you can actually ask I think maybe our brothers from Africa have a much better idea of where these regions are so let me stop sharing the map for now okay all right so let's get back into Acts 13 we now know about this island of Paphos and what exactly happens there and I told us about the spiritual opposition right so think about this like even Paul when he went to preach Satan was opposing him in various ways so right now it's a sorcerer who's engaged in evil practices who is the source behind the hindrance in the life of this man called Sergius Paulus he's a procuncel who's a procuncel procuncel was a dignitary or he was somebody of a high position or high rank in Paphos at that time so he's an intelligent man and he was open to the gospel but what was the problem spiritual hindrance remember in the book of Corinthians that's why Paul wrote because Paul understood all these things he wrote about in I think it's first Corinthians 4-4 where he says you know the Satan or the demonic powers they caused blindness spiritual blindness and that's exactly what they experienced in Paphos but once this procuncel and his work was dealt with it was easier to proclaim the gospel okay alright let me just correct myself I'm always mixing up first and second second Corinthians yeah correct second Corinthians 4-4 where it says the God of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not okay so how does blindness come spiritual blindness through demonic forces and that's what we looked at so let me just pause I know I'm saying so many things but where are you at are there any thoughts so far or any comments please feel free to share and then I'll continue yeah so I just want to know about the we saw a brief introduction of Paul and his journey and all the things so is it available in that revival visitation like the complete thing is available over there or is there any other book we can really study so yeah so in the revival's visitations there's a brief introduction Jeffina there's a brief introduction to the life of Paul any other book I think we'll have to form a picture based on all our readings so you can refer to enduring word from David Kozik he shares some insights about the life of Paul and then of course you know revival's visitations and additional reading that will shed light for you or you may also study the book of Galatians the book of Corinthians to give that additional clarity about the life of Paul so we'll have to study that's when we'll gain a better picture is that okay okay great thanks Jeffina yeah anything else class alright so as Paul moves on his first missionary journey I think it's time for us also to move on so let's move forward we've seen now that in pathos the procuncel believe moving on to verse 13 let's let's start there and it's quite a long passage here hey maybe two of us can read so somebody can read from verse 13 to maybe 20 23 maybe and then from 24 till the end of the passage another person can read verse 41 another person so 13 to 23 somebody 24 to 41 another person chapter 13 was 13 to 23 now when Paul and his party said say it from pathos they came to Perga in Pamphylia and John departing from them written to Jerusalem but when they departed from Perga they came to Antioch in Pesadia and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and Saturday and after the reading of the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent to them saying man and brethren if you have any word of exhortation for the people say on and Paul stood up and motioning with his hands said men of Israel and you fear God listen the God of this people Israel chose our fathers and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt and with an uplifted arm he brought them out of it now for a time of about 40 years he put up their ways in the wilderness and when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan he distributed their land to them by allotment after that he gave them judges for about 450 years until Samuel the prophet and after a word they asked for a king so God gave them Saul the son of Kish a man of the tribe of Benjamin for 40 years and when he had removed him he raised up from them for them David asking to whom also he gave testimony and said I found David the son of Jesse a man after my own heart who will do all my will and from this man said according to the promise God raised up for Israel a savior of Jesus thank you Jeffy now another person can continue from here verse 20 verse 23 onwards from this man said according to the promise God raised up for Israel a savior Jesus after John had first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel and as John was finishing his course he said who do you think I am I am not he but behold there comes one after me the sandals of whose feet I'm not worthy to lose men and brethren sons of family of Abraham and those among you who fear God to you the word of it this salvation has been sent for those who dwell in Jerusalem and their rulers because they did not know him nor even the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath have fulfilled them in condemning him and though they found no cause for death in him they asked Pilate that he should be put to death now when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning him they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb but God raised him from the dead he was seen for many days by those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem who are his witnesses to his people to the people and we declare you we declare to you glad tidings that promise which was made to the fathers God has fulfilled this for us their children in that he raised up Jesus as it is also written in the second Psalm you are my son today I have gotten you and that he raised him from the dead no more to return to corruption he has spoken thus I will give you the sure mercies of David therefore he also says in another Psalm you will not allow your holy one to see corruption for David after he had served his own generation by the will of God fell asleep was buried with his fathers and so corruption but he whom God raised up so no corruption therefore it will be known to you brethren that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins and by him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses we were therefore less to what has been spoken in the prophets come upon you behold you despise us marble and perish for I work a work in your days a work which you will by no means believe though one where to declare it to you but should we continue till the end I think let's talk about this first and then we can continue yeah yeah thank you thanks okay okay so this is the sermon which is delivered by Paul and he is speaking to the people in Antioch of Sidia so we saw Paul and in verse 13 it says Paul and his party remember I kept saying that the limelight will move to Paul so till now who was the key person Barnabas Barnabas brought Paul and Barnabas was the one who introduced Paul to the church of Antioch now suddenly it is Paul and his party and Luke is writing also like that he's saying you know that Paul is the key person who's leading the team whereas Barnabas is in the team but Paul seems to have the importance they set sail from Paphos we saw about Paphos and then came to Perga in Pamphylia we saw that region and now something very key is happening John departing from them returned to Jerusalem now this incident though Luke doesn't talk much about it it's a it's an incident that Paul did not like okay remember earlier we saw John was with them when he started off when Paul and Barnabas started the missionary journey this John is now going back to Jerusalem now we may ask the question the journey has just started they only went to the island of Paphos and preached to the procuncel there how come this man John is returning so quickly hardly anything has been covered in the missionary journey so we can only speculate there are no concrete scriptures to tell us why John went back see he started in the missionary journey but some people say that he was probably homesick he was not very mature and then yeah right after one place he was homesick whereas others say that he was probably not very serious about these missionary journeys he had some unfinished tasks back home now we don't know the exact reason why this John went back but why I'm saying this is significant is because this creates a rift between Barnabas and Paul see the personality of Paul we will notice that he he is extremely hardworking extremely passionate and you know he is a very very focused person and so when he sees somebody like John a younger minister who he's not able to keep focus beyond one you know visit of one city or one region he's very upset with this John and he doesn't he takes a you know like he disliking towards this John but what about Barnabas you know there's a stark contrast between the personality of Paul and Barnabas Barnabas is more of the accommodating kind who probably thinks about why John has done this and what could have been the reason Paul is not like that he's a task master and he doesn't like any excuses so when John returned this later we'll see that it actually causes a rift between Paul and Barnabas and their personalities so that also awakens us to the fact that today when we work with one another you know God doesn't transform us and make us all of the same you know personality and style of ministering he allows us to be ourselves and when we are ourselves in group ministry sometimes it's not so easy because we find people making decisions which we would never make but the thing is we must understand how to work with people we'll see that there will be a rift between Barnabas Barnabas and Paul but later on you know at some point Paul will recognize Paul will sort of you know his personality will be a little more toned toned down and then he'll be willing to accommodate John Mark he'll say hey bring John because he'll be useful for the ministry so there are there is a journey of maturity journey of change as an individual that Paul will also go through Barnabas will also go through but this John going back home was not a good thing for Paul and Barnabas and their you know relationship in some ways okay fine now we are at verse 14 they departed to Perga they came to Antioch remember I told us don't get confused there are lots of Antiochs so this Antioch is the Antioch of it's as Pisidia but I saw some place that you know it's it's pronounced as Sidia so that's why I was saying Sidia so they come to Antioch of Sidia and they went there to the synagogue on the Sabbath day so think about this they knew where to find people people would be at the synagogue on the Sabbath day that's where they go and then they start to read and you know they start to speak so finally you know they are speaking Paul stood up and he is speaking to the men of Israel because obviously you will find Jews over there and so he's talking to the men of Israel and he says you who fear God listen they are all people in this in the synagogue to know about God that's why they are there now he starts narrating remember this this kind of a preaching we have seen this earlier it's nothing new Peter used to preach like this he used to go back to the fathers the patriarchs Abraham Isaac the journey the wilderness Moses David why because we are speaking to the Jews they need context and so it's really important for the minister to understand where the people are coming from even Paul recognizes here are Jews who are well versed in the scriptures they know about the history of Israel so he starts there and he says look you know how we dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt and with an uplifted arm God brought us out and then he also talks about how you know for about a 40 year period of time we were in the wilderness because you know because of the various things that happened and then finally you know God brought us into the land of Canaan and you know the journey goes on he talks about the churches Samuel and then he talks about David who's chosen as king and then you know he continues why David because from David he's going to the seed of David who is that the Lord Jesus Christ so ultimately the sermon is about Jesus but all this building up context is to proclaim Christ so when we are saying that we are preaching we've got to preach the truth about the Lord Jesus it's it's always about the life of Jesus it's always about the deity of Jesus that we must come back to and that again is the motivation that Paul has so he's bringing the conversation or he's bringing the the focus to the Lord Jesus so from David he comes to David son of Jesse he talks a little bit and then he moves on he says the man's seed according to the promise God raised up for Israel a savior that's the center of this sermon a savior Jesus then he he talks about who this Jesus is he says how John the Baptist said that you know he is only there preaching baptism the baptism of repentance but even a man like John the Baptist who was honored among the people said that he was not worthy to lose the sandals of Jesus so again the focus is back to Jesus Jesus the seed of David Jesus greater than John the Baptist okay so then he is continuing you know he's going on talking and he says family of Abraham and those among you who fear God to you the word of this salvation has been sent so you see key themes in what he's talking he's saying Jesus is deity Jesus is honored among men Jesus is the one who brought salvation okay and he points out and he says that don't you know that like everyone was actually talking about Jesus and you know he talks about how the Lord Jesus he was raised by God from the dead and he finally you know he just moves on to the fact where he says that God did not allow him to see any form of corruption and so Jesus was resurrected from the dead so he mentioned salvation but again verse 38 he says forgiveness of sins okay so this is what Jesus brought for us salvation forgiveness of sins and he tells them now after preaching about Jesus he tells them what they need to do verse 39 he says and by him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could be justified by the law of Moses so Jesus is being proclaimed and then what Jesus did for us is being proclaimed what happened because of that salvation forgiveness is being proclaimed and then Paul is actually communicating to these Jews and saying that if you believe because everyone who believes is justified so we can now be justified okay and he's giving them the option of receiving salvation being forgiven being justified so this is a really a preaching session which is going on in Antioch of Sidia in one of the synagogues where the Jews are so now we can continue another person could kindly read the remaining portion here in Acts chapter 13 verse 42 verse 52 so roughly about 10 verses but we would require one more individual to read please starting from verse 42 yeah so when the Jews went out of the synagogue the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath now when the congregation had broken up many of the Jews and the devoured proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas who speaking to them persuaded them to continue in the grace of God on the next Sabbath excuse me all almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God but when the Jews saw the magazine the multitude they feel they were filled with envy and contradicting and blessed and blessed farming they opposed the things spoken by Paul then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said it was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first but since you reject it and judge yourself unworthy unworthy of everlasting life behold we turn to the Gentiles to the Gentiles for says the Lord has commanded us I have sent you as the light to the Gentiles they should be that you should be for salvation to the end of the earth now when the Gentiles had had this they were glad and glorified the word of God as they and as they had been appointed to internal life believed and the word of God was being spread throughout the region but the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city raised up prostitution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from their region but these shook off but they shook off the dust from their feet against them and came to Econium and the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit amen thank you Lubega thank you for reading through that passage okay yes jeffina you have a question okay maybe not so I'll go ahead and explain we saw that Paul preached to the Jews and now what's happening is there are Gentiles who are also remember we mentioned that proselytes so you have people from other communities who were devout followers of the God of Israel they are known as proselytes so there are Gentiles who begged for these words to be taught to them the next Sabbath and so the next Sabbath it happened we find that Paul goes up and there was a huge gathering so Luke describes it as the whole city came together to hear the word of God but you see this whole city coming together proved like a threat to the Jews because they were all about politics they were all about you know power games and power tactics so when they saw that there was such a huge following for Paul they felt threatened that what if these guys you know gain power in that place maybe they've come to elevate themselves and become the authorities of that place so you know these kind of thoughts cause them to be envious about Paul and Barnabas and so what did they do they started contradicting they started blaspheming Paul and they opposed the things that were spoken by Paul so just some time ago there was an openness right and they were willing to listen but now there is an opposition and because of that you know Paul speaks to them and he says that we are now at verse 46 then Paul and Barnabas grew bold okay so what is the result of experiencing persecution or opposition boldness that's what you see throughout the book of acts they were never scared or you know they they did not back down because of the rising opposition but with God's wisdom boldly they continued to proclaim so they were bold and they said it was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first who's you first Jews but since you reject it since the Jews are rejecting it and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life behold we turn to the Gentiles so they they are now in a way forced to take the gospel to the Gentiles because the Jews are not accepting of the gospel so based on the based on remember we had mentioned earlier the prophetic word which even Ananias had received so Paul states here in verse 47 I have set you as a light to the Gentiles that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth so based on the word regarding the life of Paul he is now moving in that direction so acts 13 when we started according to the word of God for the things that I have called set aside Paul and Barnabas for the things that I have called them to do so in line with the purpose of God Paul is now journeying he went he tried preaching to the Jews they're not listening but according to the word on his life that he has to be a light to the Gentiles now what is he doing he's actually moving on to preaching to the Gentiles so it was 48 says now the Gentiles heard this they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed so there was a move among the Gentiles and the Gentiles started to believe God so there was opposition but the word of God did not you know stop impacting lives we see a different community which is the Gentiles being receptive in Antioch of Sidia and then what happens over there there is obviously opposition was rising and opposition got pretty bad the Jews stirred up devout and prominent women so it's like an uprising that is starting against Paul and Barnabas intentional one so what do the Jews do they go to the who's who of the city and they instigate them against Paul and Barnabas and because of this it's so unfortunate that you know they Paul and Barnabas went there to do the ministry but you know they are now being expelled when they went to do a good thing they expelled so what what Paul and Barnabas doing remember when one was not welcome into the city earlier Jesus also said just shake off the dust from your feet what a shake of the dust from your feet it's a it's a it's an expression right it's it's a manner of speech so it doesn't literally mean that they shook the dust off their feet but in hermeneutics we understand that we have to interpret this basically they they said okay fine if you don't want us preaching here fine we'll just move on and the rejection which came to Paul and Barnabas as people of God they they just based on that let go of this community and said fine we won't minister to you anymore and so they shook the dust off their feet against them and they came to the next city which is Iconium and we will read more about what happened in Iconium later on but look at this persecution is always going on but what do we read in the midst of persecution generally we read the ministers were bold and then it also says the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit so wow all this is existing together so it's not like a perfect world right like there's no opposition the surroundings are so conducive for Paul and Barnabas to preach the gospel and so you know things are moving forward smoothly no things are not moving smoothly and yet the gospel is spreading people are filled with joy and the Holy Spirit is doing his work so I'll stop here jeffina you have some questions please go ahead you can ask yes pastor I think I didn't turn on the mic last yeah so in verse 31 we see he was seen for many days by those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem who are his witnesses to the people so I just want to know whether it's talking about the disciples or who it's actually talking about okay verse 31 of yeah correct he was seen for many days by those who came up uh with him from Galilee to Jerusalem who are his witnesses to the people so this one jeffina it's talking about the resurrected Christ yeah okay uh so what what is your question I mean I understand it's talking about the resurrected Christ yeah uh so who are these witnesses is it only his disciples or okay okay got it uh yeah I will tell you there is a verse actually yeah first Corinthians 15 6 where uh that verse it says uh I'll just read the NIV version which I readily got here it says after that he appeared to more than 500 of the brothers and sisters at the same time most of whom are still living though some have fallen asleep so 500 brothers and sisters it says which is likely see brothers and sisters is like a term used for believers uh which was used so those who believed in Jesus I think he just showed up to them it says 500 people in first Corinthians 15 6 those are the people okay is there any idea on how many days faster after resurrection he showed up to people how many days okay how see after many days uh okay right so just one second see uh the death of Jesus happened at the time of uh we are aware about the um the celebration or the observance of the Passover okay now Passover to Pentecost Passover to Pentecost is 50 days um so we know that Jesus was with them and then after he ascended it was roughly about 10 days before the baptism in the Holy Spirit so calculating like that Passover to Pentecost and then Jesus ascended there was 10 days duration before the uh uh Acts chapter 2 incident happened so 40 days is the calculation Jefina 40 days Jesus was uh walking around in his resurrected body thank you pastor uh I have two more questions yeah sure yeah so it says uh I don't know which verse it says uh you will not allow your holy one to seek corruption there is a verse in that so it talks about the physical body being corrupted yes you're right you're right okay so in verse 42 we see uh so Paul preached to the Jews and then the Gentiles are actually begging so I believe maybe they heard him speaking so why they asked him to preach one like words might be preached to them the next Sabbath like why the Sabbath is actually mentioned is it okay so yeah that question actually I don't have a definite answer to it but as you're stating maybe Sabbath to Sabbath is when they had large gatherings I feel so one Sabbath Paul minister to the Jews and maybe the obviously the Gentiles would have a different congregation they cannot be part of the Jewish group right so they are inviting Paul to a separate uh session and they may have thought that they need a large gathering uh and they need enough time so they could have picked the next Sabbath I I don't exactly know actually yeah sure thank you thank you any any other questions or thoughts all right so I think it's pretty good so far we've seen how the ministry has happened in Antioch of Sidia and Paul and Barnabas now move on to Iconium so we will look at Iconium remember the first missionary journey is still on it's not over yet okay till they make a full circle and then they come back to Antioch that's when we'll say that the journey is over journey has just started and unfortunately even in the very first place uh you know they're not not really the first place Paphos is where they ministered and then now in Iconium but there is opposition earlier through that sorcerer bar jesus and now through the Jewish Jewish notable people Jewish people of the city of Iconium they are having opposition but praise god you know they are bold they continue to minister they are thoroughly equipped right with the power of God with the word of God so nothing is really stopping them and you know they are carrying on as per the call of God on their lives so let's maybe stop here and we will pick up from Acts chapter 14 for the rest of Paul's missionary first missionary journey in our next class so at this point we can close with a word of prayer I would like to request someone to please go ahead and lead us in prayer let's pray heavenly father we come to you under the name of Jesus we thank you for this day thank you for the precious that we had today we thank you for your powerful truths the way you transform a person is beyond imagination Jesus but we thank you for the call that you have placed in our life as we are reading about acts and the life of Paul's Jesus but I just pray that it will stir up our desire it will stir up our passion to work more for your kingdom to move more super naturally and to not to just listen to the classes but to actually put it into practice in our life so that we can win souls for you Jesus filled us with the boldness and the confidence that the early church had so that we can move my team for your kingdom I give all the classmates and pastors and saints here have blessed them all in the name of Jesus for all the glory and honor in Jesus name I pray amen amen thank you jeffina thank you everyone god bless you have a good day and a very blessed weekend bye for now thank you thank you bye