The First Missionary Journey - Paul Preaching in Antioch - Part 2

Alright, let's take our Bible, let's turn back to Acts chapter 13. Most of you know where we will be tonight in our study, but we'll be in verses 42 to 52. We'll read those verses in just a minute or two. Now last week we found Paul and Barnabas on their second stop in the first missionary journey which was in Antioch in Poseidon. And this is a different Antioch now, make sure you're not confused there. This is a different Antioch, they were sent out from an Antioch there in Syria. Now their first stop was on the island of Cyprus which is where Barnabas was originally from, we've seen that.

Luke tells us that when they had gone through the island they ended up at the capital city of Papas where they encountered two important individuals, both different obviously. First they encountered that magician named Bar-Jesus who was also a Jewish false prophet, sounds rather confusing, but Luke tells us he was with the Roman governor named Sergius who was a man of intelligence. And Sergius sent for Barnabas and Saul and he asked to hear the word of God, but we saw that Bar-Jesus, this magician false prophet resisted.

No doubt they had been declaring the word of God and the gospel all throughout the city and no doubt Sergius had heard so he sent for Barnabas and Saul. And several things happened in that encounter. Paul boldly rebuked Bar-Jesus for being an enemy of righteousness, for being full of the sea and diverting people from the straight paths of the Lord and Luke tells us that the Apostle Paul judged him with temporary blindness. And then Paul continued to speak the word of God to Sergius the governor and Luke tells us that he believed because he saw what happened to Bar-Jesus and because of hearing the teaching of the word of God.

So their first stop on their first missionary journey was a good one. It was a good one. We could say it like this, they had great gospel success. Then after leaving Cyprus, Luke tells us that they sailed some 200 miles across the Mediterranean Sea back to the mainland. They landed in Atalia, the port city and then they traveled through Perugia and made their way more inland into Antioch in Poseidon. And this was a difficult leg of the trip, the journey. It was long, part of the area where they traveled was mountainous and it seems that Paul was sick according to Galatians 4.13.

Now here's where I would encourage you to do something that may surprise you. Look at the maps in the back of your Bible. Look at the maps in the back of your Bible and look at these cities and these regions where they're going and it'll start making sense. It won't be as confusing for you. When I made the comment that they left Cyprus, it was an island in the Mediterranean and they went back to the mainland, they went north, you can see where they were going, the cities and the regions. That'll help. Now, when we found Barnabas and Saul in Antioch, we found some changes in their ministry.

The leadership structure changed before Luke listed them as Barnabas and Saul. Now Luke tells us that Paul emerged as the leader here in Antioch. So from now on you'll notice Luke lists the team as Paul and Barnabas. Then we saw that John Mark abandoned them, no reason was given although we can speculate, but later we will see this became a sharp point of contention between Paul and Barnabas. We see that in Chapter 15. I kind of challenged you to study that and maybe make your determination as to who was right. But here in Antioch, Luke shows us that Paul and Barnabas went to the Jewish synagogue on the Jewish Sabbath.

And after being invited by the synagogue rulers to give a message of encouragement to the people, Paul stepped forward to preach a great and impactful sermon. And last week, right here, we learned a great lesson on God's providence in relation to what I call the open door of ministry. Paul did not have to ask to preach. The synagogue rulers asked him, gave him the opportunity to preach. But we learned that it was God that opened this door of opportunity for Paul to preach to the Jews that were there and those Gentiles who were converts to Judaism. There's a great lesson for us this much the same. God opens doors for us as well.

He opens doors of ministry for us as a church and we should be spirit-filled. The leaders of the church should be spirit-filled so as to see those open doors and lead the church in those open doors. Then we have personal open doors of ministry. We have personal open doors that the Lord opens for us to serve within our church and ministering to people in the community and also witnessing. So I think you see that we need to see those open doors of ministry that God opens for us. Now let's get back to Antioch.

Luke got Paul and Barnabas to Antioch and Luke showed us that Paul preached a great lengthy sermon and we will see this was a spirit-empowered sermon. And this sermon was and is very, very important for several reasons. First of all, this is the longest sermon that Paul preached as recorded by Luke in the book of Acts and Luke puts Paul in some great company of great preaching and preachers. Luke gave us Peter's great sermon on the day of Pentecost. I think we would say Peter was a great preacher and the Pentecost sermon was a great sermon. And Luke gave us the great preaching of Philip and Stephen.

They were deacons turned evangelists and preachers. So he was in great company, Paul that is. But Paul's sermon is great because this is the first time we see Paul preaching to great crowds, both Jew and Gentile. And this sermon was great because of its content and its results. Paul took those listening there. Remember, these were Jews and Gentiles who were converts to Judaism. He took those there in the synagogue through the rich Jewish history there in verses 17 to 22, then through Old Testament prophecy there in 23 to 27.

And he showed that their history and the prophecy that they knew well all led up to and pointed to Jesus as the promised Messiah of God. And the pinnacle, the high watermark of his sermon obviously is all about Jesus and that forgiveness for sins wasn't as possible for those who believe in Jesus as the promised Messiah of God. We see that pinnacle there in verses 38 to 41. Now last week I pointed out that different people, different scholars break down the sermon in different ways. But I set up that one where's me describes verses 38 to 52 as the application of the sermon. I like that because that's what it is.

This is the application of the sermon. I'm going to borrow that and change it a little. I see verses 38 to 41 as the application of the sermon and I say that because of the shift we see in Paul's language and some specifics we see in the language. In verses 38 and 39 Paul uses the personal pronoun "you" three times, three times in the English Standard Version. Look at verse 38 and 39. Notice he shifts from the sermon to the application.

Let it be known to you therefore brothers that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed from the law. So notice how he takes the sermon and he applies it. He says "you, you, you." Now church this is a vital, a life and death in my opinion lesson here. When we preach God's word, when we teach God's word, when we witness no matter what context we're in now we must personally apply God's word personally to those before us. I know that sounds redundant but let that sink in.

We must personally apply God's word personally to those that are before us. We must press the gospel and the word of God onto the minds and into the hearts and up against the lives of those that are before us. When we're witnessing to someone we make personal application. When we're witnessing to our children well we desperately need to make personal application.

Hypothetically if you've got a 15 year old and they're not converted to Christ and they're struggling and dealing with sin, they are or would be and you're dealing with that sin, the way you press the gospel upon them is to say you do these things because you are lost and you need Christ. You see when we're teaching our children the word of God we make personal application. This is how you should respond. This is what this means to you. When we're preaching and teaching God's word from our pulpit and our small groups and our children's classes we just need to apply it. Use the personal pronoun you.

If you need help there I can help you and I really believe the spirit of God can help you and he will. Now tonight we find ourselves on the other side of Paul's sermon. We find out what happened after Paul's sermon. Here we see the responses of the Jews and Gentiles. Here we see that some rejected, some rejected with persecution. Here we see that some received and some received to the point of saving faith. So within these verses we're going to see a lot of responding. We're going to see a lot of rejecting. We're going to see a lot of receiving. So there's a lot of responding going on, rejecting going on and receiving going on.

Now this is the title of the message. This is a part two. The first missionary journey Paul preaching an annual. That's what we have. This is the first missionary journey. The second stop but this is Paul preaching in Antioch. This is part two. Now let's read the verses. I will explain how I will approach the verses and then I will explain to you that we will not cover all of this tonight. So when I give you the breakdown don't have a panic. Verse 42. "As they went out," they're leaving the synagogue now, "the sermon's over. The people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath.

And after the meaning of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who as they spoke with them urged them to continue in the grace of God. The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. But when the Jews saw the crowds they were filled with jealousy," the King James says, "and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him. And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, 'It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.

For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, 'I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.' And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord. And as many as were appointed to eternal life believed." And the word of the Lord spreading throughout the whole region. But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and drove them out of their district.

But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium and the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. Now this is how we'll break these verses down. First I want us to see their initial response in verses 42 to 44. Second the continued preaching of Paul in verse 44. Next the subsequent response of the Jews in verse 45. Fourth Paul and Barnabas declared their plan and their position in response to the Jews, verse 46 to 47. Fifth the subsequent response of the Gentiles, verse 48. And last the results in verse 49 to 52. Again we'll not cover all of this tonight.

There's just too much and I want us to make sure we get all that we can get and I want to make some application. So if you struggle to get that breakdown I will give it obviously as I usually do throughout the message. So let's get started. Number one, verses 42 to 44 the initial response of the people. The initial response of the people. Here we see that when they went out of the synagogue and after Paul had preached this great sermon, Luke shows us this first, this initial response. I say initial because we see response after response. It's just back and forth.

And notice that this initial response was very positive and I'm sure this was very encouraging for Paul and Barnabas. First the people were receptive. Luke tells us that the people, which would have been both Jew and Gentile now, they went up to Paul and Barnabas receiving what they had heard being preached. Second they were spiritually hungry. Luke tells us that the people begged for more preaching in truth than ex-Sabbath. In this phrase the people kept begging. In the original it means to call to one's side, to call for, to speak to, which may be done in the way of exhortation or in treaty.

Simply the people were receptive of Paul's preaching and they were hungry for more and they asked and they even begged for more. Third, the people were determined. Not only did they beg for more preaching on the following Sabbath, verse 43 tells us that some of the Jews and Gentile converts to Judaism even followed after Paul and Barnabas asking for more. I like how John MacArthur puts this. He says they kept a running dialogue with the missionaries through the streets of Antioch. And then fourth they were professing belief. Here at the end of verse 43, Paul and Barnabas urged those following and talking to continue in the grace of God.

Look at the verse. And after the meeting of the synagogue broke up many Jews and devout converts to Judaism, that would be Gentiles, they followed Paul and Barnabas. Again, they're following throughout the streets using MacArthur's language. And as they spoke with them, urged them to continue in the grace of God. And what we see here is this. It appears that some had already professed belief in Jesus as the Messiah, but the legitimacy of their profession of faith had not yet been tested by time and trial and tribulation, just living life. So what did Paul and Barnabas do? They urged them to continue in the grace of God.

Jews meant that Paul and Barnabas saw their profession of belief as something positive and they accepted their profession of faith. So they encouraged them to continue in the gospel, to continue in the grace of God, to continue in the forgiveness of sin, justification before God in Christ Jesus, and the declaration of these things to others. Fifth, they were present from more preaching. In verse 44, Luke tells us that upon the next Sabbath, these receptive Jews and Gentiles were therefore more preaching from Paul and more of the Word of God. So this initial response was very, very positive and very promising.

Both Jew and Gentile received Paul, they received Barnabas and the Word of God and the gospel. They received Jesus as the Messiah savingly. They received the instruction from Paul and Barnabas to continue in the faith, you see? Now what do we need to learn here? We should be receptive. We should be hungry. We should be determined. We should be hungry. We should be receptive. We should be determined in the Word of God as it is taught here in our church. Look at all that we have here in the life of our church. Look at the preaching and the teaching ministry in our church.

Look at all the ones around you in the life of the church, brothers and sisters, who are personally accountable to you and you can be accountable to them in all of these things. You get a good diet here, folks. We work hard to preach the Word, to teach the Word systematically, purposely, even when it's a subject. We will start looking at Deacon Sunday morning. It will be a subject study, but we will exegete, I will exegete the scripture. So no matter if we're going verse by verse or dealing with the subject, no matter if we're studying a book in small group or a topic in small group, it's always biblical and you are fed well.

We should always be receptive, hungry, and determined in what's taught here. When it takes discipline, we'll have to fight our flesh, life always intrudes, our affections can be drawn elsewhere, and we cannot forget that we should make sure that we continue in the grace of God as well. In all of our Christian life, we should continue and continue and continue to continue. Another insight here, this is what I've seen throughout the years of being here at Grace Life Church at Brookhaven. There are generally two types of people who come into our church. There are generally two types of people who come into our church. The first type is this.

They come in and they will say something like this, "Where have you been? Where has this church been? Where has this kind of preaching and teaching been?" And they will go on to say that they've been in churches where the preaching's been shallow, topical, not that we're experts, no, but we just put the plow into the word. And they'll say, "Where have you been?" And they kind of articulate, "I've been looking for something like this a long time, but there's another kind of person." They come in and say, "Where's the door?" They're backpedaling because that's not what they want. But these people in this initial response were hungry.

They wanted more. So the initial response, let's continue. Next number two, the continued preaching as requested. Look at verse 44. The continued preaching as requested. The next day, let me back up verse 42. As they went out, the people begged that these things might be told to them the next Sabbath. In other words, come back next week. And the next Sabbath, almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. Here we see that as requested back in '42, Paul and Barnabas went back to the synagogue a week later the next Sabbath to preach the word, really to pick up right where they left off.

But notice who attended, not just the people who begged for more of God's word back on the first Sabbath. Verse 44 says, "The whole city gathered." Now question, does this mean that the entire city gathered? No. Well, who were these people? Scholars tell us that Antioch was predominantly a Gentile city, but they did have a sizable Jewish population because they did have a Jewish synagogue. But this is what happened because of the preaching and ministry of Paul and Barnabas there in the city, as well as the synagogue ministry the week before, the word of God was spreading all throughout the city.

So on this second Sabbath meeting, many Gentiles and even more Jews came to hear the word of God. Of course, the Jews would have been permitted to enter into the synagogue, but the Gentiles would have had to have stayed outside of the door of the synagogue. So Paul and Barnabas continued to preach in the synagogue per the request of the people, and because the Spirit of God, the Spirit of God was working in the city. Now church, I want us to make sure we see something here. We must see that two things were at work. We must see that two things were working together.

The word of God was at work in the synagogue in the city with both Jew and Gentile. The Spirit of God was at work in the city, in the synagogue in both Jew and Gentile. You see it? These are two separate works, but one work. This was a supernatural work of the Spirit of God using the preaching of the word of God and the gospel to draw people to the word of God, to draw people to the gospel, to draw people to personal salvation in Jesus Christ. Do you see that? This is what we need. So many churches fall into the trap of making the church all about entertainment.

So many churches fall into the trap of making the teaching ministry of the church all about felt needs. So many churches today, sadly, resort to promotion and hype to get people into the door. None of that works. Now let me go a little further. We must see that we can have great preaching. We must see that we can have theologically correct preaching. We can have doctorally correct preaching in teaching.

We must understand that we can have great teaching in our teaching ministries of our church like small groups and in our children's classes, but, but, but without the supernatural work of the Spirit of God in those things, it is spiritually dead preaching and teaching. There is such a thing as dead truth. That sounds contradictory now. We're talking about the word of God now. There is such a thing as dead truth. The truth of God's word can be dead. So what do we do? First of all, we need to see the needs all around us.

We need God to open up our eyes to the lost who are around us in our families, the lost we work with, the lost in our neighborhoods, even the lost in our church. We need to also see the great spiritual needs around us. Some in our church are being honest about deep, hard spiritual needs. So we need to see the needs around us. We need to see that we must have a life and death dependence on the Holy Spirit of God. Let me go back to the needs. If God the Holy Spirit doesn't work in those needs, what hope do we have? What hope do we have for the lost? What hope do we have with a brother or a sister struggling with sin?

We need this desperate life and death dependence upon the Holy Spirit of God. Then we need to beg for, seek after the work of and the person of the Holy Spirit of God. Look, the past few weeks I have been more burdened for needs among us and more burdened for the lost. I find myself going back to two portions of scripture. Luke chapter 11, the chapter I teach on prayer about once a year. We must have spiritual bread. We must have heavenly bread. In John chapter 3, when Jesus was dealing with Nicodemus and he was talking about regeneration and conversion and being born again and he described the Holy Spirit as a wind that blows through.

He says, "You don't know where it's going. You don't know where it's come from. In other words, you're not in control." So we desperately need heavenly bread. We desperately need the wind of the Spirit. So what I'm trying to show you is this, we need God's word to be anointed and empowered among us. We don't need just truth. We need Holy Spirit empowered truth. So the continued preaching per the request of the people. Then number three, the subsequent response of the Jews. We see this in verse 45. Now back in verse 42, we saw the initial response. But here we see the subsequent response of the Jews to all that was happening.

And we will see that they responded in a very negative way. Look back at verse 45. But when the Jews saw the crowds, in other words, they saw all that was happening. They were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him. Listen to the verse in the Amplified. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things said by Paul and were slandering him. Now notice how this breaks down. The King James says they were filled with envy and this jealousy, this envy. This speaks of an excitement of the mind. This speaks of a fervorous spirit. But this was not positive.

Theirs was an excitement, a fervorous spirit connected to what Albert Barnes calls a wrath of indignation. A wrath of indignation. Simply they were excited. They were feverish in their spirits and they were filled with a wrath of indignation because they were rejecting Paul's preaching because the truth of God's word would have ruined their religion. So they were filled with jealousy, a wrathful jealousy. Second, they openly contradicted what Paul was preaching. This means that in their jealous, envious wrath and indignation, they openly rejected and argued against what Paul was preaching.

And this began to contradict in the original, it's in the imperfect tense, which means they were continually speaking against Paul and his preaching. This simply means that this went on and on, on and on, not just on that day. And Barnes says this was evidently done in their presence and would have caused great disorder. So they openly contradicted what Paul was preaching. No doubt they were interrupting the worship service and the preaching. Third, they reviled Paul. And this word reviling here, it's where we get our word blasphemy. It means to speak evil against, to speak reproachfully against, to rail against, to revile.

But a question, who were they reviling? You might say Paul and Barnabas. Well the text says Paul. The text doesn't say Barnabas. Another question, why were they reviling Paul? And not Paul and Barnabas. They were railing against Paul because he was the one preaching. You see that? They were railing against the one who was preaching truth. Again, I go back to Albert Barnes' insight. This was done in their presence and this would have caused great disorder. This was aimed against the one preaching truth. So we see this subsequent response of the Jews to all that had been happening. They rejected it all.

But we can see that their rejection was aimed at Paul. It was aimed at the preaching of the word and it was aimed at the message of the gospel and the message of the word of God. And look church, we see the same thing today from some who were lost. Many times the lost were raffly railed against the one who was declaring the gospel and the word of God to them.

And if we pay attention when this happens, we can see that at the root of their wrath and railing, they are mad and they are jealous because the word of God and the gospel is being declared and pressed upon them and it is exposing the falsity of what they are holding onto fourths their salvation. So what do they do? They raffly rail against the message and the messenger. I've experienced this all throughout my ministry since 1996. Occasionally, there will be somebody who will rail against my preaching and my teaching.

Years ago when I was at First Baptist Church in Ellsworth, we had a young man in the church marry children and he went into the ministry. I had been serving in the church for several years. But when he got behind the pulpit and he gave his testimony, he looked over at me and he got real red-faced and he said publicly now that he did not like me and did not like my preaching. It caught me off guard. It threw a cold chill out and then he kind of went on to say he'd forgive me and all that. But I realized what he was doing. He didn't like the message of the Word of God because it ran contrary to his life and lifestyle.

So what I'm trying to show you is this. If we pay attention when this happens, we can see that at the root of their wrath, at the root of their railing, they are mad and they are jealous because the Word of God and the gospel of God that is being declared and preached and pressed upon their life, it is exposing the falsity of what they are holding onto for their salvation. What was happening? Paul was undoing everything the Jews believed in. And when you are witnessing, you will encounter this. If you witness and you say you, you, they will look at you and they will be mad. I say, so you are telling me I'm going to hell?

When you declare truth to others that you encounter, when you declare the gospel and the truth of God's Word, they will turn on you. So the lesson for us here is this. When the gospel and the truth of God's Word is applied to the lost and especially that which they are holding onto for their salvation, many times they will wrathfully rail against and even hate the one declaring the truth. Many times they will be filled with a wrathful jealousy because the truth of the Word of God is dismantling the lie and the lies they are holding onto for their salvation. This goes on in witnessing encounters. This goes on in families.

Someone will come to save in faith and they will take the gospel, they will take the Word of God into their family and all of a sudden their family will start getting mad. They will start railing. Why? Because they are being dismantled and called a liar. This goes on when you witness. This goes on in families and it goes on in churches. So the subsequent response of the Jews. Now at this point I want to pause in covering the rest of the verses like I said earlier. We have three more observations to make next week.

So next week we will get into fourth how Paul and Barnabas declared their plan and their position in response to the Jews now verses 46 and 47. Fifth the subsequent response to the Gentiles in verse 48. Let me give you a hint. They didn't react like the Jews. And then last the results. There are quite a few in verses 49 to 52 and we will see even though they were run out of town they had great gospel success. Now I want to conclude at this point by going back to something we desperately need to see and learn from in what we have studied.

In their first missionary stop in their first missionary journey Paul and Barnabas had great missionary success. They went to Cyprus rather easy Barnabas home territory no persecution no difficulties for the most part. Well in this second stop we are seeing that Paul and Barnabas had great missionary success. And of course there is more for us to examine and more for us to learn. But notice something big picture here. They had great success on that first Sabbath meeting and we are seeing and will continue to see they had great success on that second Sabbath meeting and all in between. We can say it like this.

They were having a city wide city impactful revival meeting. Is that a stretch? I mean Luke says all the people in the city came out to the next Sabbath meeting. We really can say they were having a city wide city impacting revival meeting. And you know today we can have a city wide revival meeting. How? And we can have a city impacting revival meeting. Well how? You do know there is a difference in the two. We can have a city wide revival meeting by promoting a revival all over the city. We can send out advertising. We can pass out flyers. We can put billboards out. We can blanket the city.

Everybody in the city can know that we are having a revival meeting. And it can be city wide because we promote it in all the neighborhoods. Rich poor black and white and everybody in between. But it is different when you have a city impacting revival meeting. And the only way you have a city impacting revival meeting is when you have a supernatural work of the spirit of God. There is a difference. There is a difference. Notice Paul and Barnabas had none of the things we can depend on today. But they had a city impacting revival meeting. But what was the key? What was their secret? What tool did Paul and Barnabas use?

What tools did they employ? Luke tells us over and over the key. In verse 44, verse 46, verse 48, and verse 49. Now this insight came from Jim Boyce. I ran across it last week and I just had to hold on to it. Verse 44. I'm reading in the Amplified. "On the next Sabbath, almost the entire city gathered together to hear the word of the Lord about salvation through faith in Christ." I love what Boyce says here and I'm quoting. "You might say, 'Well, they gathered to hear the word of Barnabas.' Or they gathered to hear the word of Paul.

Perhaps so, but it doesn't say that." Boyce goes on to say, "They gathered to hear what these men had preached earlier. It was what they came to preach. And it was what they had preached." "It was the word of the Lord that stimulated the interest of these people." Notice, it was the word of the Lord that drew all these people back and more back. Now how did this apply to us? Luke, church, only the word of God, empowered by the Spirit of God, can draw people. Only the Spirit of God, using the word of God, can draw people. The word of God can draw people, can save people, can sanctify those that are saved, and then grow them.

Occasionally what happens is God brings people here. So obviously God's drawn them. Circumstances, other believers reaching out. God draws them. And then when the word of God is preached and man, it impacts their life and they're in their lost state, it's the Spirit of God and the word of God working and God's drawing them. God's drawing them. The word of God, empowered by the Spirit of God, can draw people, save people, sanctify people that are saved, and grow the church. We can give away a car and get the church full, but that won't save them. And it sure won't sanctify them and it won't keep them.

Verse 46 in the Amplified, "And at the same time Paul and Barnabas spoke boldly and confidently saying, 'It was necessary that God's message of salvation through Christ Jesus be spoken to you, Jews first.'" See that? It was necessary that God's message be spoken to you. Boy says here, Paul and Barnabas were conscious of the fact that this is what they had come to deliver. You see? They were conscious of the fact that this, what? The preaching of the gospel is what they came to deliver. Now how does this apply to us?

As the primary preaching pastor, elder, as the pastor, and as our elder body, and as our entire church, especially me, we must believe in and demonstrate that I have come for one primary job, to deliver God's word, to preach God's word. Yes I have three jobs. I'm the pastor and shepherd you, and I do. I'm to help govern the affairs of the church, and I do. But the most important job I have is to preach the word. Again boys, Paul and Barnabas were conscious of the fact that this is what they came to do. That's what I've come to do.

Verse 48 in the Amplified, "When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying, praising and giving thanks for the word of the Lord." They were praising and giving thanks for the word of the Lord. Notice the Gentiles rejoiced in, not in the word of Paul, not in Paul's ministry. They rejoiced in not in Barnabas, the son of encouragement, but they rejoiced in the word of God. But how does this apply to us? We must rejoice in the word of God, and the word of God only, no matter who delivers it. We must rejoice in the word of God.

And look, if we're coming here, yes we rejoice in many other good things, but ultimately we must rejoice in the word of God. The word is what saves, and the word is what sanctifies. Verse 49 in the Amplified, "And so the word of the Lord regarding salvation was being spread throughout the entire region." Boys says, what I've been saying all along, what stimulated the interest of the people was the word of the Lord as the Holy Spirit blessed it. He uses the word blessed. I've used other language saying the same thing. Question, do we have the blessing of the Holy Spirit of God on the preaching and the teaching of God's word in our church?

If we do, lives will be changed. The lost will be saved. The saved will be sanctified, and our church will grow in maturity and number. That's it. That's it. And we have to ask, do we have the blessing of the Holy Spirit of God on the preaching and the teaching of God's word in our church? If we do, in God's time the lost will be saved. In God's way the saved will be sanctified, and in God's way and in God's time using the word of God in the work of the church, the mature will grow in more maturity. The believers will grow in maturity, and the mature will continue to mature, and our church will grow in number because we will reach people.

So the first missionary journey, we'll be here for a while on that first missionary journey, the second stop, Paul preaching in Antioch. And we'll pick back up in verse three, and we'll finish this out, yes, seeing that they were run out of town, but oh, they had great, great gospel success.