Acts 14:1
Outline:
I. \\#Acts 1:1-8:4\\ God’s Work in Jerusalem
A. \\#1:1-3\\ The Introduction
B. \\#1:4-26\\ Jesus’ Departure
1. \\#1:4-8\\ The Command
2. \\#1:9-11\\ The Ascension and Promised Return
3. \\#1:12-26\\ The Wait for the Holy Ghost
C. \\#2:1-8:4\\ The Holy Ghost’s Coming
1. \\#Acts 1:1-4\\ The Holy Spirit Comes
2. \\#Acts 2:5-8:4\\ The Power of the Holy Spirit
a. \\#Acts 2:5-13\\ The Power of Languages
b. \\#Acts 2:1-36\\ The Power of Preaching
c. \\#Acts 2:37-41, 47\\ The Power of Salvation
d. \\#Acts 2:42-47\\ The Power of Fellowship
e. \\#Acts 2:44-45\\ The Power of Giving
f. \\#Acts 3:1-11\\ The Power of Healing (miracles) and
more preaching \\#Acts 3:12-26\\
g. \\#Acts 4:1-31\\ The Power of Suffering
h. \\#Acts 4:32-5:42\\ The Power of Chastening
i. \\#Acts 6:1-7:50\\ The Power of Leadership (salvation,
preaching, persecution)
j. \\#Acts 8:1-4\\ The Persecutions Intensify
II. \\#Acts 8:5-12:24\\ God’s Work in Judea and Samaria
A. \\#8:4-40\\ The Ministry of Philip
1. \\#5-25\\ Philip Called to Samaria
2. \\#26-39\\ Philip’s Called to the Desert
3. \\#39-40\\ God Moved Him Toward Caesarea
B. \\#9:1-31\\ The Salvation of Saul
1. \\#9:1-9\\ The Power at Saul’s Conversion
2. \\#9:10-22\\ The Power after Saul’s Calling
3. \\#9:23-31\\ The Consequences of His Conversion
C. \\#9:32-11:18\\ The Ministry of Peter
1. \\#9:32-35\\ At Lydda
2. \\#9:36-43\\ At Joppa
3. \\#10:1-48\\ At Caesarea
4. \\#11:1-18\\ At Jerusalem
5. \\#11:19-30\\ (An update on the church and Paul)
6. \\#12:1-25\\ Peter’s Arrest and Deliverance
III. \\#Acts 13:1-28:31\\ God’s Work in Uttermost Parts of the World
A. \\#13:1-14:28\\ The First Missionary Journey
1. \\#13:1-3\\ The Calling
2. \\#13:4\\ Seleucia
3. \\#13:5-12\\ Cyprus
4. \\#13:13\\ Perga in Pamphylia
5. \\#13:14-52\\ Antioch of Pisidia
6. \\#14:1-5\\ Iconium
7. \\#14:6-19\\ Lystra
8. \\#14:21\\ Debra
9. \\#14:22-25\\ Retracing the Journey
h. \\#14:25\\ Attalia
i. \\#14:26-28\\ Antioch of Syria
I. \\#13:1-14:28\\ The First Missionary Journey
A. \\#14:1-5\\ Iconium Iconium Map
1. The distance from Antioch to Iconium was about 80 miles.
2. \\#1\\ "they went …into the synagogue" - Paul and
Barnabas continue their ministry to the Jews FIRST.
3. "a great multitude both of the Jews …Greeks believed"
a. This time, the results were different from that of
Antioch of Pisidia in that both Jews and Gentiles
were accepting Jesus as Messiah together.
b. Satan has the enemy continued to cause the believers
trouble.
(1) Cyprus - Satan physically put his servant between
the gospel and the lost. God removed him and
many came to Christ.
(2) Antioch of Pisidia - The Gentiles accepted the
Word but not the Jews. The Jews eventually
stirred up enough trouble that the disciples
left.
(3) Here, both the Jews and the Gentles accept the
Word.
c. What will the devil do to hinder the spread of the
gospel here?
4. \\#2\\ "But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles"
a. The devil used the "unbelieving Jews" to cause yet
another split.
b. "against the brethren" - "Brethren" means saved.
c. The devil used the Jews who did not believe to plant
evil thoughts in the minds of the saved Gentiles
against the saved Jews.
d. Satan likes to use division to hinder God’s work.
5. \\#3\\ "Long time" - Even so, the "apostles" \\#4\\ stayed
in Iconium a long time preaching and the Lord blessed
with "signs and wonders."
6. \\#4\\ "But the …city was divided" - Sadly, in time the
Devil caused the division to spill over into the city
and it was so great that a riot broke out.
7. \\#5\\ Both the unsaved Gentiles and the unsaved Jews
joined together to "use" the apostles "despitefully, and
to stone them."
B. \\#14:6-20\\ Lystra Lystra Map
1. The distance from Iconium to Lystra was about 20 miles.
2. \\#6-7\\ This verse is a summary verse telling that in the
province of Lycaonia, the apostles will go to two cities.
a. "ware of it" - The disciples were made aware of the
Jews plans to kill them.
b. "fled unto Lystra" - The disciples did not flee for
fear as much as in obedience to Christ and to
continue to spread the gospel.
3. Lystra - Here, there is yet another response, the people
worship Barnabas and Paul.
a. \\#8\\ "impotent …cripple from his mother’s womb"
In Lystra, they find a man with a great need.
b. \\#9\\ The crippled man "heard Paul speak."
c. And Paul "steadfastly beholding him" believed he had
the faith to be healed.
d. \\#10\\ Paul told the man to stand up which he did.
e. \\#11-12\\ "The gods are come down …in the likeness
of men" - Almost correct. Jesus did that. These men
were there to tell them about Him.
(1) Barnabas was called Jupiter - The head of the
Roman gods
(2) Paul was called Mercury - The Roman messenger
god, because he was the main speaker.
f. \\#13\\ "the priest …would have done sacrifice" -
People are easily persuaded to worship the creature
rather than the Creator.
g. \\#13-18\\ Paul and Barnabas stopped them by telling
them the truth. Interestingly, how the people
responded to the gospel itself was not recorded. One
would think that if people were so willing to
worship a person, they would turn to Jehovah; but
remembering that to accept Jesus would require they
turn from all false gods, perhaps not.
h. \\#19\\ So Satan went to work.
(1) "came …Jews from Antioch and Iconium"
(a) The fact that the Jews had united from two
cities some 80 miles apart would indicate
that the Jews were taking the gospel
threat seriously.
(b) The distance from Antioch to Lystra would be
about 100 miles.
(c) There had to be Jews living in the city for
they will ultimately stone Paul \\#20\\.
For the first time, Jews traveled to
hinder the message of the gospel.
(2) "who persuaded the people" - That is a very vague
statement! How did they persuade the people to
go from worshipping these two men to stoning
them? We are not told but since the method of
killing Paul was stoning, it would seem logical
that they stirred the Jews of Lystra up against
the gospel. Somehow, Satan created another
division.
(3) "having stone Paul, drew him out of the city,
supposing he had been dead."
(a) The text would lead us to believe that Paul
was not actually killed in the attack,
although there are many who believe that he
was and that it was at this time that Paul
was taken up into the third heaven
\\#2Cor 12:2\\.
(b) This must have been a hasty stoning for the
proper way to stone is to take the victim
outside of the city where there are enough
stones not only to kill the victim but to
bury him.
i. \\#20\\ "as the disciples stood round about him"
Awhile the believers were still standing about Paul,
he arose.
j. "came into the city" - Then Paul went back into the
city where he had just been stoned. These men are
not cowards in any sense of the word.
k. to Derbe" - But neither were the disciples willing to
throw their lives away. Paul and Barnabas decide
that it is time for them to move along.
C. \\#21\\ Derbe Debre Map
1. Derbe was about 60 miles from Lystra.
2. The only detail given of their time at Derbe is that
"when they had preached the gospel …and taught
many." This would indicate that they spend some time
there with some being saved.
D. \\#21-23\\ "they returned again to Lystra …Iconium
…and Antioch" Return Map
1. \\#21\\ From Derbe, they could have easily traveled
on to Tarsus or some other port city closer to
their ultimate destination at Antioch of Syria.
2. \\#22\\ "Confirming the souls of the disciples"
However, returning to Antioch was only part of their
goal. They also wanted to revisit the believers
they had seen converted and to strengthen them.
3. "we must through much tribulation enter into the
kingdom of God" - Much suffering for Christ lay
ahead and the disciples were rapidly gaining the
creditability to teach on being faithful.
4. \\#23\\ "when they had ordained them elders"
a. In all of churches, they selected leaders to lead
the believers. hey were creating local churches.
b. Unfortunately, we are not told whether there was
a church in every city they had gone to or not.
5. After "fasting" for them, "they commended them to the
Lord" that He might keep them straight in the truth
and to bless them in Christ.
E. \\#24-25\\ Perga
1. \\#24\\ "Pisidia …Pamphylia" - Antioch of Pisidia is
not specifically mentioned, but the apostles did
pass through the area associated with that city.
Since there were some Gentiles converted on their
first journey through \\#Acts 13:48\\, I would
suppose the missionaries did stop there.
2. \\#25\\ "Perga" - No results were given when the
disciples first went to Perga and none are given on
their second journey through.
3. "when they had preached the word in Perga" - This
city heard the gospel twice, but we are left with no
evidence that they accepted the message.
F. \\#24\\ Attalia
1. "Attalia" was about 8 miles from Perga.
2. By studying the maps, we see that typically, the
disciples put more miles between the cities they
visited. The logic might have been that if a group
of believers was located in one city, they could
(and should) take the gospel to the cities near them
freeing the apostles to carry the gospel to a new
area which had not heard the message.
3. Why go to another port city? There are several
possible reasons.
a. Perhaps a ship sailing to Antioch was more available
there.
b. But perhaps they wanted to give the gospel to
another city close to Perga because Perga had
not responded to the gospel.
G. \\#26-28\\ "thence sailed to Antioch"
1. \\#26\\ And from Attalia, they were able to sail to
eventually reach Antioch of Syria.
2. "the work which they fulfilled" - In so doing, they
completed the work they had been charged by God to do.
3. \\#27\\ "gathered the church together" - Paul and
Barnabas gave an account to the church. Although the
apostles were called by God, they were accountable to
the church.
4. \\#28\\ "long time" - The Bible does not give specific
times. The last reasonably certain date we had was
the death of Herod Agrippa, 44 AD. The consensus
seems to be that Paul’s first missionary journey was
from 45 to 47 AD and that it is possible that Paul did
not start his second missionary journey until around
51 AD.
http://www.matthewmcgee.org/paultime.html
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