Missions Paul

Acts 14:7 “… where they continued to preach the gospel.”

Go on, continue!

You may have received a refusal and not just one, but you can continue.

People may have stirred malicious lies against you, whisperings of your name may have spread, but you can continue.

In 1995 I made a phone-call to an acquaintance who has become a very close friend. He was on the scrap-heap of life, dumped there by people he trusted, there was no hope. I said to him, ‘Go on, continue’ and I helped him do just that. 22 years later that man is continuing today.

You may be battle-weary, tired from doing so much good yet receiving so much bad, but you can continue.

In 2001 I received a phone-call from someone who had been on my staff but I had removed him. His voice echoed in the recesses of my mind for a long time afterwards as he said “I will bring you down” and he had a very good go at it! But I found I could continue!

Your circumstances may threaten you, vivid pictures of your demise may be ever before you, but you can continue.

You may have had to flee, to take a step back, to come out of the line of fire for a while, but you can continue.

In 2012, I walked out of a hospice having journeyed through the valley of the shadow of death with a loved member of my church who died far too young. Standing in the hospice car park with tears in my eyes I announced to God I was finished, it was over. He graciously told me to shut up and I found I could continue.

Every year of my life not just the 3 years I mention I have learnt one over-riding important lessons, I can continue.

You see when one door comes crashing in on you another door beautifully opens up and you realise that no matter what comes against us, we can continue! Amen!

 

Taking a step back

ACTS 14:6

“But they found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding country”

Paul and his team became aware of the threat to kill from the Jewish and Gentile leaders. If that action had been carried out then their mission journey would have ended. They needed to do something quick and they gathered together and decided to get out of the situation.

Sometimes we need to take a step back:

1. When we are made aware that circumstances are going to change. Getting a break from the line of fire is needed.
2. When the step back is actually a side step. To do a side step in order to keep going is not a bad thing.
3. When to flee is to escape being stopped. To flee is to say to the enemy you will not put a full stop after me.
4. When we need to see other places that are in need of God. The step back creates a new vista we were unable to have previously.
5. When it opens up more opportunities. Fleeing from the one city of Iconium opened at least 2 cities and the surrounding towns and villages.

Do you need to take a step back today?

Be careful who you dismiss

Acts 14:5

“There was a plot afoot among both Gentiles and Jews, together with their leaders, to mistreat them and stone them.”

Message: One day, learning that both the Jews and non-Jews had been organized by their leaders to beat them up

Amplified: When there was an attempt by both the Gentiles and the Jews, together with their rulers, to shamefully mistreat and to stone them

There is no limit to what man can want to do to man. The Jewish and Gentile leaders were plotting on stoning the apostles to death. They hadn’t carried it out yet, they had just got together a plan of attack, they had organised themselves to kill.

Recently I was told of how an executive board had decided not to go ahead with a previously organised plan of attack. They had organised themselves to set a trap to bring down a fellow executive member who they believed had been disloyal. They didn’t carry out that trap but it shows the level we are prepared to go to eradicate what we perceive as threats.

When there is an opposing view or when faced with the challenge of jealousy creeping into our lives sometimes we too can be dismissive completely. We want to eradicate that person out of our circles of comfort for they do not belong to our elite group of like-minded believers. We can perhaps form allies with people we would never have done so with previously because we have found a common greater foe. This verse shows an incredible force of unity amongst the Gentile and Jewish leaders but it is a shallow unity.

Of course we would never plan to execute someone. But we can be in danger of dismissing a servant of God completely because we are not happy with something we have heard or found out about them. We need to be careful what we dismiss for we may do away with God, if that were possible.

 

 

Apostle

Acts 14:4

“The people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews, others with the apostles.”

Nothing much has changed, there is still division. People are still taking sides but from within the Church. You see though we look at this verse and see a city divided, it actually reveals something new and it is the new that causes division today. This is the first time that Paul and his team are called apostles. Apostleship has caused walls of division for generations. By the second century the title Apostle had been replaced by Popes, Archbishops, bishops and other hierarchical titles. Interestingly it was in that century that mission began to wane.

In the early church apostles: had witnessed the resurrection of Christ and were sent by Him into the world.

1. Some say there were only 12 apostles. The only apostle gifting we have today are their writings.
2. Some say that there were more than 12 in fact the Bible would certainly indicate this with names not well known stated as holding the title, Andronicus and Junias in Romans 16 and even Jesus is given the title in Hebrews 3 because he was sent by the Father.
3. Some like my friend in Cote D’Ivoire hold the title apostle within his denomination because he has been a pioneer planting many churches.
4. Some say the apostles today possess exactly the same authority as those of Paul and the like.
5. Some say apostles exist but the Apostle doesn’t, meaning the gift but not the authority of the office.What do I say? I just think people like to take sides. They like to debate and argue. I would much prefer we got on with the mission at hand.
6. What do you say?

• Let us initiate new works to bring people to Jesus.
• Let us keep going to places where there is no church and plant one.
• Let us release the pioneers again, to blaze a trail that all the gifts of the church can then follow.
• Let us continue to raise up new leaders and new gifts within the church.
• Let us see more spiritual fathers building strong relational churches.
• Let us see church structures support callings and not the other way round.

If these things are done then we will continue to benefit from apostleship no matter what side we sit on.

Dig your heels in

Acts 14: 3

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

 

Sometimes you just have to stay and dig your heels in.

When most of us would move on to a more welcoming place, Paul and his team stayed to do the task of sharing the gospel. Alongside the opposition came the miraculous works of grace, the Spirit providing the support that they needed. The Jews were poisoning the minds of the Gentiles, the teams work looked like it was being undone, so they stayed. They did not fear man more than they feared their God. They were not here for their own comfort but to rescue people from their lost state. This took enormous boldness and courage.

Courage is not the absence of fear but it is acting despite the presence of fear.

Not many know of the story of the 19^th century itinerant preacher, Peter Cartwright. On one occasion when Cartwright was speaking, someone told him that US President Andrew Jackson would be in attendance and advised Cartwright to keep his remarks inoffensive. Ignoring such counsel, Cartwright preached a bold message and then concluded, “I have been told that Andrew Jackson is in this congregation, and I have been asked to guard my remarks. What I must say is that Andrew Jackson will go to hell if he doesn’t repent of his sin.” Everyone expected that the shocking statement had offended the President. But as soon as the sermon was over, Jackson strode up to Cartwright and said, “Sir, if I had a regiment of men like you, I would whip the world.”

Charles Spurgeon, the great 19^th c. preacher wrote about himself and his colleagues

“Fits of depression come over the most of us … The strong are not always vigorous, the wise not always ready, the brave not always courageous, and the joyous not always happy …Such was my experience when I first became a pastor in London. My success appalled me; and the thought of the career which it seemed to open up, so far from elating me, cast me into the lowest depth … Who was I that I should continue to lead so great a multitude?”

The greatest battle to be won is that of yourself and often it is to remain where you are and to hold your ground for the good of the gospel.

Be bold be strong, for the Lord our God is with me … I remember singing this song like it was yesterday. How I need those words today in my life!

Today, dig your heels in, don’t back down, don’t run away, God will enable you to remain for the victory.

Poison

Acts 14:2

“But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the other Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers”

All was going well until the Jews began to infiltrate the Gentiles not with the gospel but with poison.

To poison is to make friends for an ulterior motive.

To poison is to keep others from being opposite to you.

To poison is to hide something bad within something good.

To poison is to change a person’s thinking, behaviour and life.

To poison is to turn the positive into a negative.

To poison is to harm the one taking the poison.

To poison is to harm others connected to the one poisoned.

To poison is to hate.

To poison is using something small for a big lasting effect.

-The warning sign of the skull and bones is a prophetic picture-

Have you been poisoned yesterday?

Beware what you hear today.

Protect your tomorrow.

 

Why go there?

Acts 14:1

At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Greeks believed.

So why did they go to Iconium? And what are the lessons for mission?

Perhaps these 7 lessons may help us …

1. The city is approximately 90-100 miles from Antioch where they had been treated badly and expelled.  Lesson: They put distance between themselves and the event. In other words ‘they moved on’ and so should we.
2. The city was still within a Roman province, of Galatia. Paul was a Roman citizen which gave him privileges of always having a fair legal trial, never having a death penalty and he could never be whipped. He also could appeal directly to Caesar.  Lesson: Use the privileges and the status that you may have, draw on favours, use your contacts. See everything as God-given to be used in mission.
3. The same Phrygian dialect was spoken as that in Antioch which Paul and his team were familiar with. Lesson: Language was not a barrier to their mission.
4. Iconium was on a major trade route called the ‘Emperor’s Road’. It connected the city with Antioch. Even today there is still an existing Roman bridge. Paul and his team walked this road and crossed the bridge at least twice on this their first missionary journey.  Lesson: Go where there are people. Go where you can be seen. Some churches act like they are an underground church in China.
5. The city was prosperous, agriculture was a growing business and there was plenty of water. Lesson: The salvation message isn’t only well received by those who are desperate, poor and the needy. It can also be received and is needed by people who have a sense of hope and well-being who carry a positive approach to their future.
6. The city worshipped the mother goddess Cybele. Cybele was the mistress of wild nature symbolised by the lion that accompanied her in every statue. She was the goddess of protection in time of war and of fertility. Lesson: Generally speaking people want to live peacefully and be productive. We carry the gospel of peace and purpose from the God of gods.
7. There was a Jewish synagogue in the city. Paul had been a Jewish student under Gamaliel. He belonged in the synagogue. Wherever he went he would head to the synagogue and start there, there was an open door always to him, at least to begin with! He was often invited to teach in the synagogue perhaps because they had previously heard about him. Lesson: Go where there is an open door already. Go to where you belong and work out from there. Go where you are familiar with the culture. Begin here.

Acts 13:52

“And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit”.

Some people say you can have joy without being happy, but it usually those who are not smiling. Some people say their joy is deep down inside, but what good is a light that doesn’t shine?

In John 15:10-11 Jesus says these words, “If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” He spoke those words shortly before his dark Gethsemane and then the week of accusation, slander and torture of Calvary. He spoke of ‘my joy’. He has joy remaining with Him at the time of his greatest trial and testing and Jesus wants you, whatever your trial or circumstance to have His joy in your life. It is not temporary, it is permanent based on His relationship with you. The greatest sign of God’s presence is joy.

The disciples were filled with joy. That means Paul and his team who were expelled from the region and also the church of Antioch who remained behind. All had experienced the persecution from the Jews but all were filled with joy!

Nothing satisfies, renews and re-energises like the joy of the Lord!

How can we fight the battles of the Lord if we are downbeat?

How can we be a light to the world if we do not shine?

How can we set the world on fire if we are cold and dry?

We need joy in our hearts.

We cannot have a relationship with God without Him giving us joy. In Psalm 16 we are told that in Gods presence there is fullness of joy.

A joyless life is an un-revived life.

Am I heartless to talk about joy when the world suffers? No, I have found the church with the most joy is the church that is suffering. I have wept with Christians in many despicable places of the world only to see their smile return because God is with them. I always come away being moved by their joy more than their suffering. Joy conquers suffering.

We have a resurrection that conquers death and we have a joy in God that conquers the darkness of this world.

 

Get over it
Acts 13: 51
“So they shook the dust from their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium.”

Jesus had already told the disciples (Luke 9 and 10) that if they are not welcomed on mission to shake the dust of that town off their feet and to move on.
The Jews had a similar practice for when they had walked through Gentile regions. They would shake off the impure dust from their feet.
So reading that Paul and his team having received persecution and being expelled from the region acted in a similar way is not surprising.
This is an important lesson for all who engage with the challenges and opposition of mission. Let me sum it up in these 3 words:
Get over it.
Stuff happens. It’s not easy. You don’t get the results you deserve and at times it’s painful. Being a disciple of Christ can leave you hurting, discouraged and rejected.
You may feel that way today.
Get over it.
You can’t change what has happened so don’t take it with you into a new day. Make sure even the dust of that event is removed.
Don’t keep talking about it, thinking it through, going over the events in your mind. It has gone. Get over it.
Move on. There are new opportunities before you. New people. New results. Don’t scatter yesterday’s dust in today’s blessings.
Get over it.

Acts 13:50

“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.”

 They were expelled from the region.

From day one the church has known persecution, today more than ever. 65.3 million people are displaced from their homes around the world and are sheltering in unfamiliar and sometimes dangerous regions. They face added enemies of natural disasters, starvation and disease. Many of these are children making up to 51% of the world’s refugees, they travel alone with no protection from parents. During each minute of 2015, 24 people were forced to flee. On December 23^rd there was the 5,000^th recorded drowning in the Mediterranean sea of migrants in 2016 alone.

The world is a shifting river of hopelessness mainly brought about by persecution from those who are deeply evil but deeply religious themselves. Every religion is being persecuted. It is part of everyone’s faith.

Maybe today we can think of those who have no home because they have been expelled for no reason other than their belief and worship.

How should we respond to these people? What can we do?