 Good morning. Welcome. Thank you for connecting on this call as we study through the book of Acts and we also focus on the life of Apostle Paul, a very important personality as far as the growth of the church is concerned. So we'll pray and then we'll get into today's section, whatever we have. So let me just pray right now and then we'll go ahead. Heavenly Father, we thank and praise you Lord for all these weeks and your grace, oh God, to study through the book of Acts. Father, we pray that you will give us the understanding of the many things Lord that have unfolded in the lives of your people in times past. Father, to gain insights, oh God, so that Lord in our lifetime we will be able to walk in the power of the Spirit the way they walked, Father God. Thank you Lord. Thank you for their testimony of great courage, their testimony of great passion. And Father, we just pray that you will fill us with the same, oh God, and help us to achieve greater heights for the glory of your name. Father, commit myself and each student in this class, oh God, speaking good health, and strength and focus as we continue Lord learning from the book of Acts. Thank you once again for this time in Jesus name we pray. Amen. All right, so we started with the missionary journeys of Apostle Paul and we said that he wasn't there in the picture for quite a while that is right after his conversion on the road to Damascus. There was a silent period after which in Acts 11 he's brought to the church of Antioch in Syria and he's ministering in that church and eventually he's part of the leadership of that church and during the time of ministry to God God reveals to the team that there are a certain set of people who must go ahead with the call of God on their lives. And so it's like he steps into this new season of becoming a missionary or a minister who is taking the gospel to various parts of the region. He along with Barnabas set out on a journey. We saw the maps and we saw the regions. We said that there will be the spread of the gospel in the Judean region as well as the parts of Asia Minor and also some parts of Europe. We saw how they start the journey from Antioch and then they start moving forward. We saw they came to this place called Paphos and over there they experienced a very real opposition that was demonic in nature because there was a very intelligent man Sergius Paulus who wanted to know about God but because of the demonic hindrance he was unable to receive the truth of the gospel. However Paul he exercises spiritual authority as a minister and he overcomes elements or bargesis and the power that he was exercising on Sergius Paulus. And we saw how the team was able to make an impact at the highest level. So throughout the book of Acts we'll see that the communities that are being touched, the people groups that are being touched will be varied. So sometimes we will see people who are probably in the lower strata of society but then there will be people who are quite high up in the ranks in the government even whom Paul and other ministers will go and speak to. So that's what we saw. Somebody who has great influence comes to know about the Lord Jesus and his saving grace and then later on after that particular incident at Paphos we saw how the team moved on to a place known as Antioch of Sidia and over there there was a good reception of the team because they were preaching in the synagogues and people were quite curious, they wanted to know, they wanted to understand the message but slowly even though initially everything went well we saw that opposition started rising to quite a strong degree and at that point Paul and the team they decide that they will go and minister to the Gentiles. So on a particular Sunday they go and great crowds gather and they start to share about the gospel but this again was a threat for the authorities of the region or the city and they really wanted Paul and their team out so there was a conflict in Antioch. So that's where we were at. So let's just maybe start reading from the end of Acts chapter 30 and then we will move on to Acts chapter 14. So let's start from verse 44 of Acts chapter 13. Would somebody like to read please? You just read the end portion of Acts 13 and then we'll pause for a bit and then move on to Acts 14. Yeah, would someone like to read it out? Can you hear me now? Yeah, Acts chapter 13 was the next time but almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God but when the Jews saw the multitudes they were filled with envy and contradicting and blaspheming 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 but since you rejected and judged yourself unworthy of everlasting life behold we turn to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us I have set you as a light to the Gentiles that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth. Now when the Gentiles heard this they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord and as many as has been appointed to eternal life believed and the word of the Lord was being spread throughout all the region but the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city raised a persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from their region and they shook off the dust from their feet against them and came to Iconium and the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. All right, so we're seeing that they have finally left that place they've left that region of Antioch of Syria and Paul and Barnabas will make a journey to a different place. Now we as we look at these places right we initially talked about Antioch of Syria and Antioch of Syria that would be the home church of Apostle Paul and Barnabas a couple of things about Antioch of Syria would be that you know it was located about 300 miles north of Jerusalem and Antioch of Syria was quite a large city in those times so you could estimate something like 500,000 people who were dwelling there and it was quite well developed somewhat like a commercial center and had many wonderful features okay. Now when we talk about a place like Antioch of Syria, Antioch of Syria you know we saw that there was this journey right so from Antioch of Syria they went to Celusia, Salamis and then you know we saw the whole thing that happened at Paphos and then finally Perga is where they were at so from Perga it's about 100 miles in this particular place and it had a good population of both the Jews as well as the Gentiles and yeah it was good ministry done but then I think Antioch of Syria is more popular compared to Antioch of Syria now that things are not working out in this particular place okay they will move on to another place which is about 60 miles east and this place is called as Iconium. Now Iconium it was a city which was surrounded by a high wall and we'll see that in Iconium again Paul and team will spend a good amount of time ministering and speaking from God's word to the people and of course after Iconium you know they will move on to Listra which is again about 18 miles but we'll come to Listra soon and a lot of wonderful things will happen in the city of Listra. Now I was also talking about a third person right in the team who was that somebody who joined the journey and somebody who left the journey who's that individual yes John Mark okay John Mark he started off on the journey but he left and I was talking about the personality of Paul and how it was displeasing for Paul to have somebody like John Mark you know who according to Paul maybe he felt that this individual lacked focus and therefore you know he was not very happy with it. So now let's move on to Acts 14 Iconium and Listra that's what we are expecting to read about here so let's go ahead and read the passage we will begin at verse one and till verse seven so that is the account in a place called Iconium. I just request different ones of us to read you know faster I can also narrate the story but then I just felt that if we read through then you will register better that's why you know we are giving a little bit of time to quickly read through and then continue explaining so kindly you know step in and read thank you. Acts chapter 14 verses one to seven now it's happened in Iconium that they went together to the synagogue of the Jews and so spoke that great majority of the Jews and of the Greeks believed but the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poised their minds against the brethren therefore they stayed there a long time speaking boldly in the Lord who was bearing witness to the work of his grace granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands but the multitude of the city was divided part sided with the Jews and part with the apostles and when a violent attempt was made by both the Gentiles and Jews with their rulers the abuse and stone then they became aware of it and fled to Lystra and there be cities of Lycomia and to the surrounding region and they were preaching the gospel there. All right so some good ministry is going on in Iconium again they go to the synagogue of the Jews because that's an easy place for them to go and begin to speak so in the synagogues there would be opportunity for any learned person to come and share and that's the opportunity that Paul and his team took up so they go to the synagogue and they speak to a great multitude of Jews and it also says Greeks so even the Greek people believed but you see the opposition which the apostles had in the city of Jerusalem or Paul experienced in Sidia the same opposition seems to be continuing here. Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brethren so the opposition is continuing to such a point that now they have to leave this city as well but one good thing in Iconium is the Bible says that they stayed there a long time speaking boldly in the Lord so we have to remember that the whole first missionary journey the entire duration of that period is you know about two years roughly two years and so in each of these regions they would have spent you know couple of months couple of weeks even right so but then they are just going ahead and making that journey the exact duration though it says therefore they stayed there a long time what is that long time not very very sure or exact about that but they spent a good amount of time there they were bearing witness about the Lord Jesus and they did the usual kind of ministry you remember when we started studying the book of Acts we said that the Lord Jesus all that he taught and did so there is a combination of the teaching ministry as well as the healing or the you know deliverance or supernatural so I hope we can see that the apostles and now this is a daughter church isn't it from where Barnabas and Paul are going ahead to do the ministry they are continuing the same pattern so it's not like anything has changed so there is the preaching of the gospel there's the teaching of the doctrine and then of course there is a demonstration of the power of God so in Iconium scriptures tell us that there were signs and wonders done by their hands so they ministered in the same way and that is what even today though we may be quite far away from the years when these cities were impacted but we can have the same pattern of ministry both in the world and the supernatural now they moved out of this particular place and one more thing to note is that there was a serious threat to them because there was a violent attempt by both the Gentiles and Jews so there was some part of people in both these communities who were unbelieving who even tried to abuse and stone Paul and Barnabas and because of this situation they fled okay and now something for us to think about is that we keep saying that the disciples prayed and asked God for boldness God give us more boldness that signs may be done to the hands of your apostles but over here we see this response to persecution where mighty men like Paul and Barnabas are fleeing the place okay so then what do you have to say about that because earlier they're asking God for boldness to continue the ministry in the face of persecution but over here they're leaving the place so any thoughts regarding that doesn't it seem like a contrast why did they leave they should have just stayed there and continued no matter how dangerous it seemed yes yes Lupega I literally think there are two two factors at play factor factor number one is the being compelled by the Holy Spirit being directed by the Holy Spirit because right yeah number two is their passion they were passionate for the gospel okay I think that's what I have to say that's true but I'm asking you why did they flee doesn't that sound very covered me to leave the place and sort of run away no maybe it was not the time for them to be on to be martyrs for Christ okay it was not the right time they got God's time for them to die so they used wisdom to flee very correct so that last part that you said Rosalind about they use their wisdom so for us to witness for Christ in the midst of persecution we really need God's wisdom we need to discern the timings we need to discern how God may want us to minister to the people and if we sense that the Holy Spirit is actually leading us out of the place there is nothing wrong to flee and find a place of safety because we see mighty men like Paul and Barnabas doing that so there is absolutely nothing wrong you know with with moving in the direction of the Holy Spirit and to find protection for oneself however when there are times when we must continue standing up for what we believe in for example if you look at people like Stephen who was martyred it's very unfortunate that a man like him was martyred or we know the end of Apostle Paul's life that he is in prison that even he becomes a martyr for the gospel now it's not that you know he escaped but as Rosalind rightly put this was not the right time for him to endanger his life because there were so many things ahead of him for him to fulfill God's purpose and which is why they had the wisdom to flee and now they are coming to places such as Lystra and Derby as well these are cities of Lyconia and the surrounding region and they went there to preach the gospel so what they're doing is they're looking at open doors as the Holy Spirit is showing them and then move the same pattern of ministry preach teach signs wonders miracles as people start to begin then they continue the work but if there is a threat then we are seeing that they are moving to the next region so that's how it's it's going on right now so now they are in Lystra and what happens in Lystra a very very notable miracle you all of us when we look at this miracle you know we can relate to another miracle which happened in the book of Acts so I'll let us read this particular miracle and then we will discuss so can one of us read from verse 8 to verse 18 please and in Lystra a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting a cripple from his mother's womb who had never walked this man heard Paul speaking all serving them in 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 lived and walked now when the people saw what Paul had done they raised their voice saying in the Lycanian language the gods have come down to us in the likeness of men and Barnabas they called Zeus and Paul Hermas because he was the chief speaker then the priests of Zeus whose temple was in front of the city brought oxen and garlands to the gates intending to sacrifice with the multitudes 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 this 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 that is in the all that all things that are in them who in bygone generations allowed all 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 gladness and with these sayings they could scarcely restrain multitudes from sacrificing to them thank you for reading John and my question to all of us is can you think of any other passage in the book of Acts which is similar right um do you want to say it to the mike yeah there was a man in the beautiful game with Peter what are the other similarities yeah he was crippled too but I think there are some differences I mean some of the similarities I don't think he heard Peter preaching but here we see the crippled man he had actually paid and that's one of the difference I was looking into yeah thank you yes sir Javina so you're right we see a resemblance such as Acts chapter three where we have Apostle Peter and of course John with him go to the temple and again beautiful I didn't show you all pictures at that time but if you are interested I can quickly maybe show you now let's see okay okay so just you know for your curiosity nothing else it's not so such an important picture or anything um but yeah I I'll see this larger yeah so if you can see the entrance to the temple and then you have a gate over here which is known as gate beautiful this is where the people begging for arms used to stay and you know they would walk into so people would walk into the temple in this manner and the surrounding of the temple right so this is like the outside compound of the temple the surrounding region of the temple is where you have something known as Solomon's porch so you remember the man who was sitting here Peter came and the difference is he like though he was also crippled from his mother's womb 40 years he could not walk he was lame actually he was lame from his mother's womb but Peter ministered by you could say something like a gift of faith so he held his hand and he just sort of you know made him stand he pulled him up and then the Bible says strength came into his feet and this man he stood up and we know the Bible says that he was jumping and all and you know like in Solomon's porch that area he was just sort of running around and people saw him people were very amazed so the stories are similar but some of the differences would be that in the case of Lystra it's a crippled man and this man he is actually listening to the preaching of Paul so the person involved in Acts chapter 14 is Paul and by listening to the preaching something happens to this man what is that he seems to develop faith now we all know that passage from Romans Romans chapter 10 verse 17 which says faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God so there's a difference the way Paul ministered it's not necessarily faith in working because we know this beggar he looked at Peter and in Acts chapter 3 and he was expecting maybe money isn't it that's when Peter and John they said silver and gold we don't have but what we have we give to you in the name of Jesus rise up and walk so they ministered by the power of the Holy Spirit whereas over here it's more like invoking faith or or developing faith in the heart of a listener so Paul is speaking and when Paul is speaking what's happening faith is coming faith comes by hearing so as faith is developing you see the discernment that Paul has so Paul observed it says intently and saw that this man has faith to be healed and once he discerned that he gives a command he says stand up straight on your feet and then it happened this man left and walked so in the other case Peter gave his hand and he raised him up but in this case there is a command which is issued so there are all different ways of ministry we cannot have a signal formula we have to be led by the Holy Spirit as Lubega was sharing so this ministry happens and the man comes back do you see any other similarity in Acts 3 and Acts 14 Nistra account in the response of the crowd I hope you remember what we have been discussing so far the crowds respond initially in Acts 3 okay so the people look up to Peter and John and you remember Peter said why are you looking at us as you know we have done this but this has happened because of you know faith in the name of Jesus and that's how he shared you know how the miracle took place in Acts chapter 3 same way we find here that the moment a miracle takes place the people over there they are so excited and we look at Paul and Barnabas and in their Lyconian language they start to call them by the names of some Greek gods so they apparently according to Greek mythology there were some gods that had the property of incarnating into human beings and you know they would they would come visit they would make visits to the world and among that you know that set of gods where these gods known as Zeus and Hermes and so from the mythology they they thought that those gods were visiting that's how the miracle actually took place and apparently between Zeus and Hermes the Hermes was the one who was the speaker or the communicator and Zeus was a more you know like a strong personality who invoked a sense of awe and so they thought Barnabas would be Zeus and or I don't know how to pronounce it sorry but the Zeus and Hermes okay so they thought that these gods were the ones who have actually come and the right response whenever god is ministering or visiting is to worship okay that's the way we all are we want to worship God and they decided that they will worship Paul and Barnabas so what did they do they there was a priest apparently from the temple of the Zeus who brought oxen and garlands to the gates intending to sacrifice with the multitude so you can imagine that there was this sudden excitement in the city and people are rushing to worship these so-called gods now for ministers of God it's kind of nice when someone you know Pat's are back and says you're doing a good job or if a lot of attention is given to us for serving God think about Paul and Barnabas in this situation people were ready to worship okay but they responded just the way Peter and John responded and Peter said why are you looking at us as if we did this miracle this has happened because of you know strength that has come because of the name of Jesus so they gave credit to God and they were not a self-centered or self-seeking to take the glory for themselves and we see the same attitude with Paul and Barnabas Paul and Barnabas in fact they were frustrated they were angry we are told that they tore their clothes and ran into the multitude crying out meant why are you doing these things we also are meant with the same nature as you and preach to you that you should turn from these useless useless things to the living God who made heaven the earth the sea and all things that are in them so they are reminding the people that men should not be worshiped only God deserves our worship only he is worthy and that even ministers who are walking in the power of God should not try to take the glory of God or take the position of God so that is very clear among all the ministers that you would see in the book of Acts here okay and yeah so they preach a little bit more about God and they are presenting the picture to the people of Lestra that God is a creator okay he is he is not a created being he is a creator and then you know they say things like he gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons filling our hearts with food and gladness so basically they are letting them know that you know God is a creator he is bigger than mere men and one needs to worship him all right so this has happened so there is this whole uproar right in the city and they are trying to stop they are trying to stop people from worshiping them so let's see what exactly happens after that so I'm coming to verse 19 here and I'll read it it says then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there and having persuaded the multitudes they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city supposing him to be dead so this is continuing isn't it from Sidia there is opposition in Iconium they wanted to stoned Paul and Bhagavas in Lestra they managed right they actually did it they stoned Paul it says and dragged him out of the city supposing him to be dead who was treated like this stoned dragged Stephen yeah so look at this it was Paul remember he was at that point he was called by his Jewish name Saul and people were doing people were persecuting Stephen in the leadership or through the leadership of Saul but now we have this account of Paul we generally talk from his Roman name okay but the same thing or a similar thing that happened to Stephen is now happening to Paul Paul is stoned he is dragged out of the city supposing him to be dead now was he really dead you know that's not clear Luke being the detailed doctor that he is for whatever reason he doesn't give us clarity not that matter was he really dead or was he almost seemed to be dead so anyway generally they would drag a person out of the city when they are dead okay so now we we are not clear whether he was actually dead however look at verse 20 says however when the disciples gathered around him he rose up and went into the city and the next day he departed with Barnabas too so you know Luke just said it matter of factly one sentence now let's stick together Paul is stoned anybody who is stoned okay we get a small hurt it's so painful and we need time to recover but something supernatural has taken place as far as Paul's body is concerned he was stoned now maybe he was really dead or maybe he was close to being dead otherwise the persecutors would not have dragged him out so there was something serious in the situation but what happened you remember again Acts 12 the believers were praying for Peter and Peter supernaturally through an angel was rescued from the prison the disciples gathered around him that means that the disciples when they saw him in this condition would have prayed over Paul they gathered around him and they prayed for him now we don't know did he resurrect or was he supernaturally healed in moments how can a body which is injured by stoning recover to an extent where Luke is writing next day he departed with Barnabas to Derby as if you know you have your item really your schedule and even though Paul was stoned so badly he's up and about but a miracle took place that's what Luke is trying to mention in those few lines that Paul had a recovery in his body supernatural from injuries from you know the limitations that came from stoning so many wonderful things are actually taking place in the lives of God's people and the team which is ministry so that is how you know Paul exited Lestra I think about this firstly there's the passion for ministry and then they are ministering in the right way preaching supernatural power of God but then they have to deal with the response of the people unfortunately there is the unpleasant side of all the challenges and the difficulties but they still manage they manage everything and they keep going on they keep moving on okay so that's a very special quality for us as ministers of God who are serving God you know we deal with everything that comes our way but we got to keep going on okay we got to keep serving the Lord got to keep pursuing the purpose of God for our lives and we mustn't let anything stop us that's how the attitude of Paul and Martin this was they didn't let anything stop them they had decided we'll go city to city we'll preach we'll have you know disciples and judge plans in each of these places and they continue to do that and you know they were so strong in the call that God gave them so now they have moved on to Derby or Derb whatever you want to pronounce that now coming to verse 21 let's see all that happens in this place so someone can read from verse 21 to verse 28 we'll summarize that before we close off and when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples they returned to Ristra, Iconian and Antioch strengthening the souls of the disciples exalting them to continue in faith and saying we must through many tribulation enter the kingdom of God so when they had appointed elders in every church and praying with fasting they commanded them to the Lord in whom they had believed and after they had passed through Pesidia they came to Parphilia now when they had preached the word in Pegia they went down into Attalia 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 and gathered the church together they reported that all God had done with them and he had opened the doors the door of faith to the Gentiles so they stayed there a long time with the disciples amen I'm just putting up a picture for us to see so this is the end of the first missionary journey we saw how they you know traveled around and then they again came back so you could you could see the places the regions over here are you able to see okay so Antioch right and we saw how the journey went on from there you know Cyprus and all that happened and then they went on to Perga and then Sidia, Iconium, Nistra, Derby right and then what we are observing now is you see being a missionary going to a place winning souls for God that's a wonderful work but the role which Paul and team have it is like we're developing the understanding that this is apostolic ministry okay it's not just a missionary just a missionary journey go touch the place and come back because what they're doing is once they are done with Derby or Derby they are going back okay in the same way that they came to the earlier cities as well and what are we doing in those places they are strengthening the believers they are appointing leaders what is that that is apostolic ministry because there is a certain form of governance of the church plants there is a certain evolution of structure in each of those church plants you see when they had gone and preached in these cities they would have had some set of believers right they could have just said okay be happy in the Lord and become strong in the Lord and that's it okay guys bye we're moving to the next place so that they on the map they can just keep putting okay we finished Iconium we finished Antioch of Sidia and then they could have just moved on but what does apostolic ministry do it's about transforming transforming the whole mindset the culture the kingdom culture right bringing in that kingdom culture to each of the cities so that's what they did they went back to these same churches strengthened the believers I'm sure they would have strengthened them in the word in the work of the spirit and also they are picking leaders because now these churches must become like Antioch you remember what they did in Antioch they came to Antioch they a small team was there for one year they taught the people and then we saw how it became a multi cultural team you had different people with various capabilities there were teachers there were prophets so that same pattern is continuing they are building up strong churches in all these places and then they are returning to their original place or the the base church of Apostle Paul which is Antioch and another thing that we saw there was they gave an account of all the things that had taken place so they are happy to report you know of what God has done so that's in that way it's nice to be connected to the base church because it's the base church or let's say our home church sometimes you use the term home church where we have our team where we have people who are praying for us or the sending out church right and they stay connected to that sending out church so let's stop here class we'll come back and we'll move into activity okay so please stay on the call but I'm stopping the recording now thank you