Day 335 – Paul – Journey #1 (Iconium, Lystra, Derbe)

• It’s December 1st – welcome to month twelve of your reading plan. As you opened your advent calendar this morning (I’ve got a LEGO one!), I hope you considered the reason we mark advent as the preparations begin for the celebrations we’re all looking forward to on the 25th. The countdown to day 365 is truly ticking on now!
• We read today of the end of Paul’s first journey. Can you count how many towns they visited in Acts 14?
• Everywhere they went, Paul and his companions faced support and hostility in equal measures. How do you think they dealt with this?
• What surprising thing happened at Lystra, in Acts 14:11-18? Notice that they were speaking in Lycaonian (verse 11), so Paul and Barnabas probably didn’t recognise what was happening initially. The priest’s actions in verse 13 would have confirmed matters!
• The people of Lystra were polytheists, meaning they believed in more than one god. Paul and Barnabas were quick to teach them the message that God is one, and the sole Creator of all that exists. How did they go about saying this?
• The Jews that arrived in Acts 14:19 had travelled around 100 miles from Pisideon Antioch and Iconium to stone Paul. The stoning must have been severe, as they supposed that he was dead. Was he?
• You could forgive Paul for wanting to get home quick after his brutal attack. He could have walked back to his starting point of Antioch (about 58 miles) quite easily, but he continued on to Derbe, and then – astonishingly – back to Lystra, Iconium and Pisidian Antioch, the very places that his recent attackers had come from. What courage!
• What do Acts 14:22-23 suggest were the reason for Paul’s return to the churches he had set up earlier in his trip?
• How did Paul use his persecution to encourage others? The passage in 2 Timothy will add further context.
• What does the passage in Romans tells us about the reason Paul travelled so far to spread the message of Jesus?

If you weren’t aware of the sheer courage of Paul and Barnabas before, then today’s passages can’t have failed to impress you, I’m sure. Starting in Acts 14:2-3, where their message was received with hostility so they “remained for a long time”, and continuing throughout the chapter, the pair knew that the worst that humans could do was to hurt the body: they could never take away salvation.

In the final passage today in Romans, which was also written by Paul, we get an insight into Paul’s determination to preach Jesus. In these verses he explains why it was so important that he preached about Christ to an unbelieving Gentile (non-Jewish) audience. Why does he say he did it? Look at verses 15 (because of the grace of God), 18 (because he’s experienced the wonder of salvation himself) and 21 (because people need to hear the message to make their own decisions).

What reasons do you think you have for sharing the good news of Jesus in the ways you’re able to?