Summary Of ' First Missionary Journey '

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).

Paul more than anyone was responsible for the spread of the Jesus movement into the Gentile world. By the end of the first century Christianity had become an important religious force. Paul while respectful of its Jewish origins moved the Christian faith into a position where it was no longer bound by Jewish law and was able to embrace people of any cultural background. After his own conversion, Paul passionately espoused his message from the Palestinian world through Asia Minor and southern Europe to Rome, the heart of the empire. Some of his letters by Paul to fledgling churches throughout the Roman Empire are contained in the New Testament and outline Paul 's theology. He insisted that Gentiles had as much access to the faith as Jews and that freedom from the Law set everyone free. It was this teaching which was essential for the development and success of the early church which would otherwise have remained another Jewish sect.

This was due to the fact that he called himself, “The Son of God”. Just before Jesus was condemned to death, he commanded his to disciples to continue spreading his teachings. At first they only preached in Jewish communities throughout the Roman world, but Paul played the most influential role in spreading Christianity throughout the world. He set out on missionaries on the road to spread Christianity worldwide. He traveled through the Mediterranean and set up churches in Asia Minor and Greece. He proclaimed that those who believed that Jesus was the son of God and followed his teaching would obtain eternal

Acts of the Apostles chronicles the rapid advancement of the Gospel by way of the gift of the Holy Spirit. “The Holy Spirit in the Acts of the Apostles: The Charismatic Community in Mission” takes into account the narratives succeeding Pentecost including Spirit Baptisms from Samaria to Ephesus (Acts

Luke's account of Paul's mission spans much of the latter half of Acts 13-28, and more so in 13-20. In the course of that mission, Paul rises from Barnabas' junior colleague to a senior and veteran missionary. We also see Paul laboring in wider and wider spheres in the Eastern Mediterranean basin. It comes as something of a surprise, then, to see that activity grind to a halt in Acts 21-28. In these chapters, a sizable portion of the text of Acts, Paul is in captivity, his movements dictated by Roman officials.

Without Paul, all of Jesus’s followers would have remained Jewish. Jesus’s disciples thought that the afterlife was going to happen very soon, so they awaited and kept on being Jewish. Paul knew Jesus’s main disciples. After Jesus’s death, Paul went out and talked with these disciples and formed a plan to spread Jesus’s teachings. Paul convinced them to start converting others, Paul was the one who organized the early converters and told them what to do. When Jesus’s disciples started to try and convert Jewish people, they remained unsuccessful and low on resources. Paul gave them the resources they needed, as he was doing very well at converting. These resources helped the other heads of the religion to start converting. They listened to Paul, and because of Paul they started to be successful at gaining more followers. Paul decided to convert Gentiles, the non-Jewish people. Paul expanded the religion from being a small branch off of Judaism,

Saint Paul, originally named Saul, was a crucial part in the development of Christianity. Paul, who was born in Tarsus, Cilicia, grew up Jewish and was trained as a rabbi (Adcock). Paul eventually converted to Christianity, but before he did, the future of the religion was looking very slim. Rome had made it illegal to practice Christianity. Paul was a pious Jew, so his conversion to Christianity surprised many of his followers. They viewed him with much suspicion and treated him with hostility. Paul was dedicated to his new life and made it his mission to spread Christianity throughout the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire and eventually to Rome itself. Paul made two separate journeys throughout the Mediterranean. He preached about the message of Jesus to many and sent his letters to the people he had not visited. Paul saw that his new faith had a message for everything and everyone. By converting to Christianity, St. Paul has saved Christianity from extinction, has written crucial letters about his faith, has preached to hundreds of people, has spread Christianity throughout the Roman Empire, has caused

Allen, Roland. Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or Ours? Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1962. 179 pp.

Judaizers wanted to preach works but Paul wrote that we must preach Christ alone. 7. Paul was not a passive individual as he describes himself in verse 14 he was “exceedingly zealous”. He appears to be talking to an audience who knew him in the past as a strong Jew who upheld the traditions of his people. He also stated in verse 14 that he “profited in the Jews’ religion” 8. so he was possibly politically powerful and personally benefiting from his status in the community while upholding the Jewish traditions of his fathers. He wants to make it clear to his audience that what he is preaching to them now is not of man but is by divine revelation from God by his grace. To demonstrate his point, Paul recounts his conversion, in which he switched from being a persecutor of the church to being a preacher of its gospel. He wants to advise that his conversion occurred through a direct act of God, who “was pleased to reveal his Son to me, 9. so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles”. The revelation of who Jesus really was came directly from God and for a clear purpose so that Paul could take the message to the Gentiles. Paul insisted that the Spirit is the same Spirit through whom God spoke and acted in the history of Israel, the difference is that through Jesus the Spirit is now poured out on all God’s people, Jew and Gentile alike. 10. The fact that Paul criticized some aspects of his native Judaism 11. and that he announced a gospel to the

Paul arrived in Berea after escaping from Thessalonica. Luke tells us that the Bereans had a more opened mind than the Thessalonians. They gladly listened to the message from Paul. They studied the Scriptures every day to weigh the truth of they heard. As a result, many of them believed, including many important Greek women and men. However, Paul’s successful mission in Berea would not last long. The jealous Jews in Thessalonica heard that Paul was in Berea

He goes to Judea and Learns with Raban Gamleael; he becomes involved in persecuting Christians. Eventually, according to a legend Saul is blinded by a vision. He goes on the road and Jesus comes to him and asks him why he is persecuting the Christians, Jesus blinds him. Jesus toells Saul to go to a certain Christian to get healed. Saul did that and then he changes his name to Paul, because Paul means healed. Paul has a great influence on spreading Christianity to non-Jews, and forming it as a separate religion. Between 45 and 65 CE, he journeyed throughout the eastern Mediterranean region, spreading the teaching of Jesus and founding Christian communities. Paul visited Rome, where, according to tradition he was put to death. Paul’s Epistles to Christian congregations form an important part of the New Testament. The New Testament was a combination of four gospels written by Paul and a book of Revolution; this is in relation to the Old Testament, which was the Torah. Paul insisted that Jesus was not just the Jewish Messiah but a savior for all human races. By following the teachings of Jesus, all people could be saved from the consequences of their sins. They could avoid damnation and instead enjoy the bliss of salvation in paradise after death.

Paul’s first journey was accompanied by Barnabas, they went to the council of Jerusalem where he strongly argued that the Jews should follow the Christian religion or at least allow Gentiles into the Christian faith. Paul’s Second Journey was to Athens and Corinth Greece. In this journey he spent a lot of time preaching to Jews in Synagogues and everyday people where he convinced people that there is a place for everyone in the Christian faith. In Paul’s third journey he revisited the many communities he had founded or written to. At a stop in Rome he was imprisoned and sadly after another year of travelling captured and killed in

Our source of knowledge of the apostolic work of Paul comes first from the Book of Acts. The epistles written by Paul serve to further our knowledge of his mission. These letters were written to churches that he had founded or churches that were known to him. Luke’s account of Paul introduces us to the basic facts about this important biblical figure. A more complete understanding of Paul’s journeys can be gleaned from his letters. These epistles were written almost at the time they occurred and they comprise some of the earliest works contained in the New Testament.

The principles of discipleship can be found throughout the Bible. One of the ultimate goals of discipleship is to become more Christ like which makes Jesus's life and grace an excellent basis for discipleship. Jesus invested in twelve men, the first Disciples, and entrusted them to continue the process. Peter, James, and John were a part of Christ's inner circle and he fostered and encouraged an exalted spiritual life and growth in these three. Paul was a Pharisee who was murdering Christians and then his life was transformed and he became an apostle. He gave his life over to God's purpose not only in a broad perspective, bringing the Gospel to the Gentiles, but also personal. Timothy was a disciple of Paul; Paul was personally involved in Timothy's life. The Great Commission commands the Disciples, in Matthew 28:19, to "go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit". The Disciples followed the Great Commission and Christianity spread. Believers are meant to follow the

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).