 Father, we thank you for this day, for this time, Lord, as we are here together to get the Lord Jesus. Father, I surrender the whole class into your hand, Lord Jesus, I surrender my Lord, whatever we are going to learn, Lord Jesus, help us to understand your word about deeply, Lord Jesus. Thank you for everything, Lord Jesus. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Is this working? Oh, no. Is this... Oh, it's supposed to... Okay. Okay, okay. It's okay now. Okay, so I was just asking if anyone had any questions on the assignments. So we... I posted it on Google Classroom with instructions and with details about, like, how I'll be grading all of those things. So you can look through that. But today is the deadline for posting the person that you're going to be presenting on and the sources that you'll be using. You can email that to me. Ma'am. Cheetah, you had a question? Yes, ma'am. Actually, I mailed you. You didn't reply. So I want to ask, like, you got my mail. Okay. Did I post it on Google Classroom? I posted whoever's... Whoever had mentioned... Okay. Yeah, so I got your email. Sorry. I think I might have forgotten to this point. But I got your email and I've posted on Google Classroom so everyone else knows that that person is being already presented. Okay. Thank you, Cheetah. Sorry. Okay. So, yeah, you can go into that and see the instructions and let me know if you have any questions. You can post on Google Classroom or email me. But timeliness is one of the things you're being graded on. So if you are submitting work late, then that will affect your grade as well. Okay. So last week, let me just go back to what we covered last week. Does anyone want to quickly take us through some of the highlights of what we did in last week's class? We only did one hour last week. So there was just a little bit that we covered. We looked into the three main points, like, as a church, like our relationship with God, and amongst, in our personal lives, or amongst ourselves in the church, and then outside the church, that means with the society around us. Yeah. We looked on that. Okay. Thank you, Rin. Yeah. So based on what we see in the first church in Acts, we looked at what were some characteristics of the church, and we looked at it from the perspective of relationships, the relationship with God, relationship with other believers within the church, and relationship with those outside the church. Okay. And then we did go into page 10, right? We talked about, yeah, so how that community of first believers then took the revival fire to different parts of the ancient world. So how did that revival spread because of the community going out and taking what they had learned? And then we looked at, we started a little bit with what Paul did, and how he was someone who had experienced revival, his own personal spiritual revival, and how did he take that to others? We started a little bit with Paul's life. Okay. So we are primarily going to be reading from scripture, but we'll do a little bit of background before we go into reading from Acts. So we're going to be looking today at Paul's first missionary journey. So there are three missionary journeys that Paul took. And each journey he covered a few different places. So today we'll start with his first missionary journey that was from AD 44 to 46. So it's a span of about two to three years. And that's covered in Acts 13, one to Acts 14, 28. So that's where we'll be reading from as we look at where all the places that he went to. So Paul's home church is thought of as Antioch in Syria. So there were two Antiochs, there's one Antioch in Syria, and there's another Antioch in Pisidia. And we'll be looking at both those places when we look at his first missionary journey. So Antioch in Syria is where he is thought to have been his home church. And that's where he started all of his missionary journeys from. So he would always return there and he'd start his next missionary journey from there. So Antioch in Syria was established in 301 BC. So 300 years before Christ came. It was north of Jerusalem. I'm not sure if you can see it on your maps. I will put it up on our screen as well. But it was north of Jerusalem, near the somewhat close to the coast. And it was actually quite a big city. So it's estimated that there were about 500,000 people living in Antioch. Now, if you remember when we looked at Jerusalem, we said there were about 100,000 people there usually. So this is about five times the size of Jerusalem. And the only cities that were bigger than it were Rome and Alexandria. So those were the two cities that would have been bigger than Antioch. So Antioch was a pretty big city and it was also well developed as a place where commercial activity happened. So there was a royal palace. There was a long street that was paved in marble. There were aqueducts, waterfalls, fountains. There was an Olympic stadium. So the Olympics were generally held in Greece. But Antioch also had an Olympic stadium where the Olympics were held. And then there were yeah, there were villas, there were gardens. There was a public place where Julius Caesar held court and for official functions. And there was also a temple of Jupiter and Daphne. So these two gods that were worshipped, there was a temple there. So there's this religious side of it. There's the commercial side of it. And there's just the political side of it as well, Julius Caesar's activity that happened there. So it was a pretty big city. And so Paul was from this city. So he had a lot of that kind of education and background that he brought with him whenever he was going in the work that he was doing. So Antioch now is in Turkey and it's called Antakia. So if you're looking for it on the map today, that's how you can find it. So let's go into Acts 13. And we'll be reading from the scriptures and kind of looking at some of the things from Paul's first journey. We can all open to Acts 13. I'll ask people to read. So if you're able to read online, please feel free to unmute and read and students in class as well. I'll also just share my screen with the map. Okay, so we were talking initially about here Paul being from Antioch in Syria. So that's his hometown. And this is where he would start his journey. And that's where he would return before he went back on his second missionary journey. So can someone read from Acts 13 verse, just read verse one. Now in the church that was at Antioch, there were certain prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon, who was called in Niger, Lucius and Siren, Manen, who had been brought up with hair of the tetrarch and Saul. Okay, so we see in verse one and this is something we talked about earlier last week. We talked about how there were prophets and teachers who had already been raised up in this church within a span of three years. So how raising leadership in times of revival is very important. So these were leaders who had been raised within the church. And we see leaders from various backgrounds, which is really nice to see because this congregation was primarily gentile congregation. So the leadership reflects that diversity of that is in the congregation. So Barnabas was a Levite from Cyprus. And Simeon, we see he was also called Niger, so that refers to the color of his skin, that he was dark skinned. So it might be that he was from Africa or because it's a Jewish name, it might be just that he was someone with darker skin. So we have Simeon who might be from Africa or a Jew. Lucius, who is from North Africa. And then we see Manen who was brought up with Herod the tetrarch. So he was someone who was a royal birth, Herod. Because, okay, so we see Lucius of Cyrene. So where Cyrene was located is in North Africa. So we know based on the information that is given here. So the question for the online students was, how do we know where they were from? And then Manen, it said here, right, he was brought up with Herod the tetrarch. So he was someone who was brought up in royalty. Now the Herod that's mentioned here is also mentioned in the Gospel. So he was the Herod who later became king. And then we see Saul who was a Pharisee and a highly educated Pharisee. So there is a lot of diversity in terms of education, in terms of geographical location of these people, which is important in a church, right? That your leaders are diverse and reflect the congregation that is there in the church. From there, in verse two, we see they were worshiping the Lord and fasting. And while they were worshiping and fasting, the Holy Spirit revealed to them that Saul and Barnabas should go on this journey, on this missionary journey. So that is an important part of revival, where the leadership is in this place of prayer and fasting and waiting on the Lord. So the decisions that are made come from revelation from the Holy Spirit, which is very, very important that we're not going by what we feel, what we think, what seems good to us. But it is, what is the Holy Spirit leading us to do in this time? And that as leaders, they were gathering together and waiting on the Lord and seeking the Lord for what should we be doing. And so it's in this time of waiting on God that they hear from the Holy Spirit and Paul and Barnabas leave on the first missionary journey. So let's read from Acts 13 verses four onwards. If someone can read four to twelve. So being sent out by the Holy Spirit, you want to take the mic? Sorry. Oh, you are using that. Okay. Okay. Good. Thank you. They went down to Celusia and from there they sailed to Cyprus. And when they arrived in Salamis, Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. They also had John as their, as their assistant. Now when they had gone through the island to Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-Jesus, who was with the Procantil, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. This man called for Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But Lemus, the sorcerer, foresaw his names translated, which stood them seeking to turn, to turn the Procantil away from the faith. Then Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, Oh, full of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not seize perverting the straight ways of the Lord? And now indeed the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a time. And immediately a dark mist fell on him, and he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand. Then the Procantil believed and he's, when he saw what had been done, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord. Okay, thank you. So if we look on the map, you can see they went from Antioch to Seleucia, from Seleucia to Salamis in Cyprus, from Salamis to Paphos, and whatever was was narrated or whatever we read from the passage happens in Paphos. So it was Paul, Barnabas and John Mark. So the three of them had gone out on this journey, right? And in Paphos is where they meet the Procantil and they meet this false prophet named Bar-Jesus. We see here as they are traveling that they are meeting different groups of people, but in Paphos they meet someone who is at a leadership level, right? Someone was a leader in that island and they have the opportunity to impact leadership there. And what is it that convinces that leader that what they're preaching is true? Yeah, so they see something or he sees something that is super powerful, right? That can't be explained by any human ways. And so because he sees the sign, he's convinced and he believes. So that is what we've seen, right? In revivals that signs and wonders will accompany the preaching of the gospel. So from Paphos they go on. Can somebody read verses 13 and 14? Now when Paul and his party set sail from Paphos, they came to Perga and Pamphylia and John departing from them, returned to Jerusalem. But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Sidia and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down. Yeah, so we see here that they travel. Thank you. We see here that they travel across the sea. Okay, so they travel a little bit by land. They travel by sea. They travel by land again and again by sea to Perga and from Perga, they go to Antioch. So this is the other Antioch which is in Sidia. Okay, and when they arrive here, they go into the synagogue and they begin to preach to the Jews. So in the meantime, Mark has left them, right? Yeah, in verse 13, we see when they were in Perga, Mark leaves and goes, John Mark leaves and goes to Jerusalem. And then they continue on to Antioch. So while they are speaking to the people in the synagogue, so there's a whole section there where they preach to the people and Paul is basically sharing from their history with what God has revealed to the people of Israel and then starts to share about Jesus. So we can go from there to verse 42 and I'll read verse 42. As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people invited them to speak further about these things on the next Sabbath. When the congregation was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas who talked with them and urged them to continue in the grace of God. Verse 44, on the next Sabbath, almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy. They began to contradict what Paul was saying and heaped abuse on him. Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly, We have to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. For this is what the Lord has commanded us. And then we go to verse 48. When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord and all who were appointed for eternal life believed. The word of the Lord spread through the whole region, but the Jewish leaders incited the God fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from their region. So they shook the dust off their feet as a warning to them and went to Iconium and the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. So this is all a summary of what happens when they are in Antioch in Pisidia. They go to the Jews in the synagogue and they're preaching to them and the people are really interested in what Paul has to say and so they call them back and when they go back the next Sabbath there's a huge crowd that's gathered to hear what Paul is saying. So the word is spread about what they were teaching and so more people come and that makes the Jews jealous because these people from outside are receiving a response that the Jews normally don't get and to see that kind of interest that the people had in these leaders who had come in from somewhere is obviously they are like why don't people follow us and so what they don't realize is that it's the Holy Spirit who's moving right. So it's that revival fire that is spreading it's what we talked about that people will be attracted to what is happening not because of human effort because they can see that God is doing something and their hearts are drawn to that and so we see people gathering to come and hear Paul and Barnabas speaking okay and with that with that jealousy from the Jews also rises persecution so they do they get the leaders of the city to support them and they come against Paul and Barnabas and then Paul and Barnabas are made to leave okay but in the process of all of this is where the door for the Gentiles to respond to the gospel opens so it's because the Jews have rejected what is being preached to them that Paul then says we will take this to the Gentiles and the Gentiles respond with gratitude and they receive the message that is being given and from there they move on to Iconium which is east of Antioch and they go there to start to start reaching out to the people there so let's see what happens at Iconium can someone read from verse one to what's the long passage maybe we'll break it up a bit so yeah one two seven but before we do that just one key verse that verse 13 ended with the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit okay so they are facing persecution right they're facing challenges and they're being thrown out of this place but their response to that is joy that is again the move of the spirit in them so the Holy Spirit working in them filled them with joy and they are continuing to be filled with the Holy Spirit who then leads them into the work that they are going to do next okay so yeah chapter 14 one to seven chapter 14 one to seven at Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as Israel into the Jewish synagogue there they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jewish and Greeks believed but the Jews who refused to believe steered up the other Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers so Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there speaking boldly for the Lord who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to perform signs and wonders the pupil of the city were divided some sided with the Jews and others with the apostles there was a plot afoot among both Gentiles and Jews together with their leaders to ill treat them and stone them but they found out about it and fled to the Lyconian cities of Lystra and Derby and to the surrounding city country where they continued to preach the gospel okay thank you so from Antioch in Pisodia they go to Iconium and this is a small description of what happens while they are in Iconium so again they go back to the Jews right so in Antioch they went to the Jews then they said that we will go to the Gentiles and the Gentiles respond with gratitude and then they go to Iconium and they go back again to the synagogue so they're going back and they're going to try and reach the Jews again and here we see that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed but again they face opposition from the Jews and while they're facing opposition they are continuing to preach boldly another thing we saw about revivals right that we are not that even in the face of persecution the work of God continues and the people are the people who are preaching or the people who are teaching get a boldness that comes from the Holy Spirit to continue the work in even in the face of persecution so along with that their message is confirmed by signs and wonders so not only they're preaching but also the miracles that follow are the things that convince people and again we see another sign of revival is that there is division in the response that comes so people are seeing the signs and wonders people are seeing they are hearing the preaching but they're responding differently some people are convinced by the message and some are not so just because there are signs and wonders doesn't mean people are going to believe and just because there's powerful preaching doesn't mean people are going to believe just because the Holy Spirit is moving in power doesn't mean people are going to believe okay which is sad but it's true from what we see in scripture and in how people responded even to Jesus right we see all of that true in Jesus of ministry but there were still people who didn't believe and then we see that there was a plot to to kill Paul and Barnabas and so they flee from Iconium to Lister and Derby and they continue to preach the gospel so this is something that's also important the one is that they didn't stop the work in the face of persecution the other is that yeah so that persecution is only causing this work to spread right it's not stopping the work but the other side of it is having the wisdom to know it's time to move on they're not saying oh it doesn't matter if they're going to kill me I'm going to stay here they knew that this work had to continue and so they continued to move on if it was time for God if it was time for them to go back to Jesus then they would follow that so it's so important to know like what we're talking about in church right no God's timing right in that's Nassande services sorry but yeah to know God's timing to be led by his spirit right so when we are being led by his spirit we know this it's time to stay here or it's time to move on to the next place and because the work God was doing was not finished they had to leave this place and go to the next place so they go on to Lister and Derby can someone read verses 8 to 20 that'll be what happens when they're in Lister and Derby and in Lister a certain man with our strength in his feet was sitting a cripple from his mother's womb who had never walked this man heard Paul speaking Paul observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed said with a loud voice stand up straight on your feet and he leaped and walked now when the people saw what Paul had done they raised your voice is saying the like this is like corny and language okay like corny and language the the okay like corny and language the gods have come down to us in the likeness of men and Barnabas they call Zeus and Paul Hermes because he was a chief speaker then the priests of Zeus whose temple was in front of their city brought oxen and garlands to the gates intending to sacrifice with the multitude but when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this they tore their clothes and ran in among the multitude crying out and saying men why are you doing these things we also are men with the same nature as you and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living god who made the heaven the earth the sea and all things that are in that are in them who in bygone generations allowed all nations nations to walk in their own ways nevertheless he did not leave himself without witness in that he did good gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons filling our hearts with food and and gladness now we now with and with these saints they could scarcely restrain the multitudes from sacrificing to them okay um okay you can go on till verse 20 then the Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there and having persuaded multitudes they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city supposing him to be dead however when the disciples gathered around him he rose up and went into the city and the next day he departed with Barnabas to do okay so we see that as they are moving from place to place persecution is following right it's the same people who are continuing to follow them and cause trouble for them wherever they go so it was not easy when the work that they were doing first of all they are traveling uh like from place to place in that ancient world without the kind of transportation we have nowadays they're traveling long distances but in that as they are traveling they're facing hardship at each place so just because in revivals we see god moving in power doesn't mean that there will not be yeah there will not be persecution there will not be hardship there will not be sacrifice that is needed to be made right so even though we are seeing great fruit what is required in order to see that great fruit happen is hardship sacrifice on the part of the people who are serving god in that time so not to forget that there is glory there is manifestations of god's power but there's also us making big sacrifices to see that happen question yeah do you want to oh i can repeat the question you want to say it in the mic yeah the same people were following the ball and threatening more different different people so we see here um i think in verse 19 it says Jews from Antioch and Iconium so they were just they just went to Antioch from Antioch they went to Iconium because they were threatened in Antioch and then in Iconium again they were threatened and they went to uh Listan Derby so the same Jews from Antioch and Iconium have come there okay so you can see their determination while these people are determined on one side there's also a determination on the other side right so they continue going out to these places and here in Listan Derby it's a little bit different so they didn't go into the synagogue but they're preaching to the Gentiles and uh they preach the Gentiles because of the miracle that happens so that lame man the man who's lame from birth is healed and the people see that and they think that their gods have come in human form okay uh so immediately Paul and Barnabas do what they can to correct these people's thinking but even though they're doing all that those people are already there's a frenzy and they are fully convinced about these people's power and they start to do whatever they are trying to worship them and but on the same time this whole persecution side happens so you can see how quickly the crowds are swayed while suddenly they were so convinced that these people are God um within a few hours or minutes we don't know uh there's another group of people who comes in with another message and they are convinced by that message and they start to uh they stone Paul right so um yeah so there is going to be challenges is going to be persecution there's going to be Satan working as well to uh stop what God is doing but obviously Satan is no match for God no match for the Holy Spirit and so the work continues so even though Paul is toned and he is hurt he guy he gets up so that in itself is something that's miraculous that he gets up and he continues the work uh that he was doing the next day they go to Derby um let's go on from there verse 21 to verse 28 can someone read and when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples they returned to Listera Iconium and Antioch strengthening the souls of the disciples exhorting them to continue in the faith and saying we must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God so when they had appointed elders in every church and prayed with fasting they commanded them to the Lord in whom they had believed and after they had passed through the pizzeria uh they came into Pamphylia now when they had preached the word in paga they went down to Atalia from there they sailed to Antioch where they had been commanded to the grace of God for the work which they had completed now when they had come and gathered the church together they reported all that God had done with them and that he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles so they stayed there a long time with the disciples okay thank you so uh they finish uh they leave Listera they go to Derby right so this is the last place in this journey and then they start to go back okay so Derby is the last stop and in Derby they see a lot of root in the work that is done so there's a large number of disciples who respond so basically a lot of people respond and start to follow Jesus and then from there they go back to the very same places that they uh had escaped from right so they go back to these places um to strengthen the disciples that had been raised in each of those places um and what is their message to them yeah yeah yeah so their message is not everything's going to be great uh yeah so there's no prosperity gospel there's no uh yeah there's no like only good things we're only going to preach good things to you they're telling them you've seen what happened to us and this is the reality for those who follow Jesus that you will face persecution and it is through that hardship that you will uh enter into God's kingdom so all of this is part of that journey uh of finally being with Christ okay um so that is important that our message of the gospel we live in very easy times definitely compared to what Paul and Barnabas experienced okay and so uh sometimes our the gospel we preach is also reflective of our experience so we preach good things we preach all happy things because that's what we've experienced uh but the reality of the gospel is that sometimes there will be hardship and and so we should be preparing our congregations for that uh to face the hardship when it comes if we're not preaching that uh then when hardship comes they will not be ready for it so preaching the whole gospel preaching the whole of scriptures uh and preparing people for those challenges along with preparing them for revival uh is also preparing them for the challenges that will come with revival um so uh we see from Derby that they start to go back so they go back to Lystra in the same order that they were going in they go back the same way so Lystra, Iconium, Antioch, Perga then they go to an additional place that they didn't go to on their first uh when they were going they go to Atalia from Atalia to path for uh no from Atalia they go straight to Seleucia and then back to Antioch okay so um another important thing that they did apart from strengthening the believers apart from uh telling them about this hardship that they will face is also to appoint local leaders over the church okay so this was so important because Paul and Barnabas were not going to be there all the time so there had to be people who would continue guiding and leading the church and how did they appoint these leaders yeah so this uh we constantly see that right before Paul and Barnabas were sent the leaders prayed fasted sent them out now when they are returning and they are raising leaders up they are appointing leaders they are praying fasting and trusting them to the Lord and then moving on uh so um having that kind of dependence on the Lord right that we are really like we are sacrificing our physical selves in the work that is being done um but we are also like making this sacrifice spending time in prayer uh spending time fasting uh and uh depending completely on the Lord's guiding in all that we are doing um so they reach yeah they go back through all of these places and uh they go back so this is one journey completed their first journey completed they arrive back at the church and report all that God had done uh they report about the door being opened to the Gentiles and then they spend some time in Antioch uh with their home church again okay so this whole first journey is estimated to have taken two years okay and uh they traveled about 1200 miles so that's uh like about 2000 kilometers that they traveled uh during this time uh so for people who know our distances maybe that makes sense uh if it doesn't make sense to you uh go back and look at uh sorry okay uh sorry okay Samuel please go ahead sorry okay sure no problems sorry i am also like not always on google meet so if you want to say something please uh please unmute and share or you can post on the chat and one of y'all please let me know okay uh so okay did someone want to say something sorry no okay um so yeah uh if if distances don't make any sense to you just go back and look on google maps uh and try and figure out what 2000 kilometers would be from your hometown to some other place that's really far away okay so i was looking at it uh in from Bangalore uh which is where we are uh so it's like way up north almost to like the end of India is 2000 miles okay so just to put that in perspective of this is how much they traveled and they traveled on horseback they traveled on ships so it was not easy quick travel right it was not one flight three hours flight to the next players or it was not a train journey it was not easy work it was like physically exhausting to be doing those journeys um two years two years of going to all of those places and going back okay so it was work that took time and a lot of physical energy uh oh we have two minutes any comments any questions i think we'll stop here and then continue from here tomorrow okay there's nothing then maybe we'll just cover that last part of this journey so within this journey uh Titus joins Paul and Barnabas so we don't know where exactly they met Titus uh or when he came to faith or how he came to faith there's no record of that uh but we know that at the end of this journey when they go back to Antioch uh Titus is with them uh i'll just read for you from Galatians 2 um this is actually while they are in Antioch so after they've returned from their first missionary journey they return to Antioch and um it says then after 14 years i went up again to Jerusalem this time with Barnabas i took Titus along also so somewhere when they go back and they are in Antioch Titus joins them and uh so we'll read a little bit about Titus uh tomorrow and then we go into Paul and Barnabas's second missionary journey or Paul's second missionary journey because Barnabas doesn't go with him okay thank you all have a good rest of the day yeah okay guidelines for the presentation um i've if you look in google classroom i've kind of given a lot of details about what you need to do and what i'm grading on so what i'm looking for what will get a good grade what will not get a good grade you can look at that and then if you have questions we'll talk about it tomorrow okay thank you online students thank you