Acts13: 1-13

On the road to Damascus the Lord intervenes in Saul’s life (Acts 9: 3-6) and he is genuinely converted during that encounter with the Lord Jesus. Under the ministry of Ananias (a disciple) he was also healed and filled with the Holy Spirit. Saul now known as Paul from that moment on immediately began preaching Christ in the synagogues of Damascus. Paul’s preaching was very convincing and disturbing to the Damascus Jews to the point where they desired to kill him. Therefore, the other Christian disciples assisted him in his escape by night (Acts 9:22-25) that he may escape to Arabia. Paul’s missionary Journeys were defining actions of him, he usually set foot with other companions and he endured hardships on these voyages. He was imprisoned, lashed and stoned several times and almost murdered once (2 Cor. 11:24-27).

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The book of Acts brings out Paul as one of the most phenomenal apostles in the times post the death of Jesus. The documentation of Paul’s gospel begins with a mission by the leaders of the Antioch church who were instructed by the Holy Spirit to separate Barnabas and Saul from the Mission they were being sent on. During that period Saul was involved in the persecution and killing of believers of Christ and the instruction was a difficult trivia to the Christians due to the History associated with Saul. The conversion of Saul from a persecutor of Christians to an apostle spreading the Gospel is also a manifestation of the Holy Spirit (Keener & Craig,

Reflects a slight change of perspective in order to dramatize early church response to Jesus’ mandate (‘‘you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and all Judea and Samaria’’), the impact on various individual lives, usually involves acceptance of Christ. God’s personal awareness of an interest in the lives of all persons, whether Jesus or Gentile.

I. Hold onto what we have confessed and don't fall back into the old way (Heb. 4:14) a. Jesus is the High Priest and he is the one that gives us hope to hold on. b. He came to earth as a lamb to be slaughtered for our transgressions and since he done that he give us the opportunity to serve him so that we can Hold on to that Promise that he gave us. He ascended back into the heavens just waiting for the Heavenly Father to send him to receive his people. c. Keep the faith and don't look back there is only one High Priest that has ever walked amongst man and that is Christ.

"When he (Barnabas) came and saw the grace of God, he was glad; and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose;" --- Acts 11:23 RSV

The book of Acts has such a variety of topics that can be addressed. Every chapter has something in it that can be applied to daily living in the postmodern twenty first century in Canada's western culture, and society. With this in mind, the point of this essay is to address what scholars will have to say about Acts 5.

Using Antioch as a starting place to proclaim the power of the Gospel, he began his first of three missionary journeys where he began his gentile mission. Paul’s purpose form that time forward was to bring the Gospel to all areas of the world and to open up the Church for everyone. Following this, when persecution started to become fierce, the leaders of the Christian community in Jerusalem made the decision to relocate to the City of Pella which was a gentile city. This provided yet another opportunity for the Gospel to be proclaimed, and as time progressed the Jewish church found itself in increasing isolation. Once converts became a part of the Christian movement the primary focus on Jewish law started to diminish, and the Gentile community within the Church started to grow. Around 135 CE leadership had passed into the hands of the Gentile Christians. The Law-observant Jews proved to be unexpectedly resistant to the Gospel and non- observant Gentiles proved to be unexpectedly receptive. The Jewish hierarchy’s rejection of this Christian sect pushed the Church into gentile territory thus aiding the shift from predominantly Jews to predominantly gentile. With this being said, it is clear that in the Early days of Christianity the gentile church was closely connected to the Jewish church that was in Jerusalem. Paul patterned the Gentile

Jesus must have known that believers would be lost without him walking along with his people, therefore he left the Holy Spirit behind to help those that needed some assistance along the life’s journey. The Holy Spirt helped Paul along his journey as well to be where he was once at in his life, to be a true testament that the Holy Spirit is alive and still at work in many lives. Through Paul’s reaching out to the churches he was involved with even while in prison allowed the believers to draw closer to Christ. With the help of Paul’s teaching and Jesus anointing then the Jews and the Gentiles came together as one to learn about the Holy Spirt and how he can advance the early church into the church of today.

The gospel message is the most important principle in missions, but apart from the message itself, obedience must take a close second. Jesus commanded His followers to, “make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19).Not being obedient to this mandate is to ignore the message itself. The Apostles were obedient to the commission of their master. Some scholars have argued that the early church leaders did not obey (or were at least slow to obey), and thereby delayed the progress of the gospel. In light of the instructions given by Jesus in Acts 1:4, the disciples did exactly what was commanded. They did not leave Jerusalem immediately. They stood as witnesses in their own back yard so to speak. Illustrating the importance of this strategy, Hawthorne writes, “Staying in Jerusalem was the surest and most public way to encounter the pressure of political and religious powers.” In other words, the apostles were to offer a prolonged testimony in a hostile and dangerous environment

1 One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer-at three in the afternoon. 2 Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. 3 When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. 4 Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, "Look at us!" 5 So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.

The Apostle Paul (formerly Saul) is responsible for the spread of Christianity throughout the areas of Asia Minor and Greece. Through his 3 mission trips to the region Paul created a base of support for the Christian faith and implemented a support strategy for future growth. The time period for his journeys was 45 AD – 58 AD. The story of Paul is interesting from the perspective that the man best known as the author of most of the New Testament started out as a devout Jew and despised the Christian faith. After his conversion he made it his life’s work to spread the Christian message throughout the world. To this end, Paul made several mission trips to the area of Asia Minor and Greece.

During this portion of the trip, Paul and Barnabas journeyed through the central region of Asia Minor. Paul preached a salvation message to the Jews in Antioch Pisidia. After the message, many of the Jews followed after Paul and Barnabas who persuaded the Jews to continue in the grace of God. The next Sabbath, almost the whole city came to hear the Word of God from Paul and Barnabas, but the religious Jews spoke against Paul. The Bible says that Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and they told the Jews that the Gospel would now go to the Gentiles because of their unbelief. When the Gentiles heard this message, they rejoiced, glorified the Word of the Lord, and believed. The Jews stirred up an insurgency and started to persecute Paul and Barnabas, and the Jews expelled the men of God from their coasts. Paul and Barnabas’ response was to shake off the dust from their feet. The same thing happened to them in Iconium (Acts 13:14-Acts 14:6). After that, they fled to the cities of Lycaonia. In the city of Lystra, Paul healed a man who could not walk. After this miracle, the people of the city cried out, “The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men” (Acts 14:11). The people said that Barnabas was Jupiter and Paul was Mercury because he was the chief speaker. When Barnabas and Paul understood what was happening, they rent their clothes and begged the people to stop. They explained to the people that they were men just like them, and Barnabas and Paul told them that they should turn from that empty worship to the one True God (Acts

The book of Acts describes how Paul was ministering in Antioch with Barnabas, when he was directed by the Holy Spirit to be released from his Church duties. The Holy Spirit had another assignment for Paul, and that was to go and take the Gospel more widely. Some believe that this notion came from the Holy Spirit through fasting and prayer. Paul began his first missionary in the town of Antioch. Throughout Paul’s first missionary journey he was accompanied by Barnabas and Barnabas cousin John Mark.

Paul writes in Acts 22:6 that he experienced a vision, ‘I fell to the ground and heard a voice say, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me... I am Jesus of Nazareth.”’ Paul was blinded but continued on to Damascus where he became certain that his vision of Jesus symbolised his calling to spread the Gospel. When he arrived his sight was restored by a disciple named Ananias and Paul was baptised as he became a Christian, a follower of Jesus. This conversion to Christianity enabled Paul to believe that he had been given a mission to go preach the word of God. Paul embarked on journeys to towns where he would seek employment and gradually get to know people. Paul wanted to influence these people by speaking of his experiences he had with God and what they had taught him about Christianity and the teachings of Jesus. In these towns, Paul also established local churches and invited elders to run them whilst he was out of town spreading the word of God, ‘Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust’ (Acts 14:23).