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The leadership is dealing with a contentious difficult situation, which has arisen in the Church of Jesus Christ, and Peter arises with the right word at the right moment. Now that is part of mature leadership. Peter explains - Acts 15:7,8 - I remember when I was thrown into a Gentile situation, and the risen and living Lord Jesus Christ blessed these Gentile people with the Holy Spirit. In this present situation, let's NOT add unnecessary yokes and laws. Peter speaks from his own experience. Learn from the experiences you have experienced, and be prepared to share…  ( Click for more )

A contentious issue has arisen in Antioch as a consequence of unsent unwanted visitors arriving and introducing foreign material into the fellowship. Paul and Barnabas and a few fellow disciples are dispatched to Jerusalem to deal with this matter.

In Acts 15:3, we read that along the way, on the road to Jerusalem, every opportunity is taken. Even problems can be used for the advantage of the Gospel.

Verse 5. There were Pharisees who had been converted to Jesus Christ, but they still wanted to hold on to their old legalistic ways. They had no real freedom and liberty.…  ( Click for more )

In Acts 15, unwanted troublesome visitors arrive in Antioch and say things which could have unsettled the Church of Jesus Christ and brought it back under the law.

Paul and Barnabas, with a few other disciples are dispatched to Jerusalem to raise this contentious matter with the leadership. These issues MUST be confronted and dealt with urgently. They are welcomed in Jerusalem, but there arose a fierce furious argument. Some people would want to say today, "Let's keep off doctrine and theology. Let's keep politics out of the pulpit. These divide us. Let's…  ( Click for more )

As we move on to Acts 15 the scene changes. What is called Paul's first missionary journey is over and we have been reading, yes, and I hope studying, over these weeks of everything that happened. Now Barnabas and Paul have returned to their local church. They have come home to rest and be refreshed - to recuperate and be repaired. They have also shared what God has been doing through them during these past two years.

That is important - to tell those who have prayed for you what God has done in you and with you and through you. Those who had supported…  ( Click for more )

At the end of Acts 14 we read of Paul and Barnabas returning home. They have travelled around 1,200 miles, and this missionary journey took around 2 to 3 years. There must have been the satisfaction of a job for Jesus well done.

They came into their local church and they began to share all that God had done with them - and through them. They gave a full report. I did this in Nairn when I came back from Uganda last December. We must share at times what Jesus has done with us and through us - especially with the people who have been praying for us. They had supported…  ( Click for more )

We are studying these final verses of Acts 14, where we learn that to be effective disciples in the New Testament sense, we must be rightly related in The Local Church. Christians can only be strong when they are committed and involved and worshipping and praying and serving and ministering and feeding upon The Word of God in loving fellowships.

Paul taught them that they were in for much trouble. Verse 22. Sadly, there are many who do not want to hear that truth! Paul could show them his own scars - the wounds and the bruises. This is how he strengthened disciples…  ( Click for more )

In Acts Chapter 14:21, Paul has come almost a complete circle, but instead of quietly and quickly making his way home, he says, "Let's go back and visit the disciples in all the places where we have preached - where there are now believers. Let's go and confirm them in the faith, and let's encourage them to remain faithful. Let's return and strengthen them and see if they are growing - maturing - enduring."

Paul really cared for those who came to believe in Jesus under his preaching. Paul had a shepherd's heart, and he was concerned that they did…  ( Click for more )

We are in Acts 14, and we come to this final section, verses 21 to 28. It is really all about the second half of this first missionary journey where Barnabas and Paul have been preaching and teaching and ministering, from Cyprus and across central Turkey.

We learn many basic fundamental principles in these passages. We saw a cripple man receiving faith, and soon he received the ability to walk. We saw these people in Lystra so impressed - so moved - by Paul and Barnabas that they want to worship them. But they got it so terribly wrong.

We saw that gang arriving…  ( Click for more )

Acts 14:19. As a result of his preaching in Lystra, in modern Turkey, Paul is severely and sorely persecuted as he is on the receiving end of a barrage of stones. What would your response and reaction be if you were on the receiving end of such behaviour? We know that within a few weeks, Paul returned to that city of Lystra to encourage and strengthen those who had come to faith in Jesus Christ through his ministry - and to appoint elders and leaders to that fellowship.

When The Word of God is being preached, we never know what is happening inside people. Some can…  ( Click for more )

In Acts 14:16, Paul continues to speak following, these astonishing reactions to his preaching. God has let the nations go their own ways, but in the world there has always been a witness to His Goodness. God has given you rain. God has given you crops and food and JOY. Paul speaks about our Creator God. There is no other book in the world where such a succinct accurate explanation is given. There is no other book which gives us an accurate detailed reliable account of Creation.

Let me share this personal comment with you. For over 20 years I have studied the…  ( Click for more )

We are reading in Acts 14, where Paul preaches in Lystra and there is a man sitting there listening to Paul preaching - a man who is a cripple. He has never walked.

Paul saw faith growing in this man. Faith was transforming him. Paul reached that point where he called out - "Stand up on your feet!" - and, the man jumped up and began to walk. When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they shouted, "the gods have come down to us in human form." This was not a strange concept to these people. This was part of their culture. They gave them names of Greek gods, and…  ( Click for more )

We read in Acts 14:8 that following the uproar in Iconium, Paul and Barnabas moved on to Lystra. No matter how arduous the ministry was, they never considered giving up. There was no 'burn out' with these apostles. They were soaked and saturated in the anointing power of the Holy Spirit. Now if there is 'a secret' that is it.

As you go through these studies, let me ask you - are you soaked and saturated with the anointing power of the Holy Spirit? It was 36 years ago that I experienced the risen and living Jesus baptising me in the Holy Spirit…  ( Click for more )

Acts Chapter 14. Paul and Barnabas are apostles - men sent by Jesus Christ - as missiles of the Holy Spirit - targeting sin, sickness and darkness - and the devil - and seeking to meet the many needs which faced them.

These disciples of Jesus are leaders who are exercising an apostolic ministry. Apostles are important men in the Church of Jesus Christ - they are like architects. They help build The Church. They are concerned with the overall design of the Church. What is God using you to build for Him? Or what is He presently building in your personal life?

The…  ( Click for more )

There were times when Barnabas and Paul had to move on because some people wanted to kill them and their work for God was not over. In Acts 13,14, they are experiencing what Jesus said His disciples would face, and this is never easy. This is not nice and some may even recoil from the very thought of physical suffering, but in our world today, many thousands of men and women are suffering sorely because of their faith in Jesus Christ. Learn about some of the things they are going through.

There were occasions when people sought to kill Jesus and He just quietly slipped away,…  ( Click for more )

We are in Acts 14 and we have been reading of Paul and Barnabas being opposed and persecuted as consequence of their ministry in the Name of Jesus and in the Power of the Holy Spirit. Prophets - preachers - persecutors - will all one day appear before the judgment seat of Jesus Christ.

What we have done in this situation with people like that around? Run away and give up?

Paul decides to remain a little longer and to preach boldly for the Lord, and Jesus honoured this decision by giving them power to do signs and wonders.

Iconium was divided in the same…  ( Click for more )

We have been reading in Acts 13 of Paul and Barnabas preaching and ministering at Antioch in modern day Turkey. People came to believe in Jesus Christ, and others caused trouble and pain for these apostles. Yes, there was a harvest, but there was also strong opposition and they had to move on to Iconium, and there, these two men of God return to the synagogue and speak about Jesus Christ to those gathered.

They were so effective that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed. But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against…  ( Click for more )

Acts 13:50. Paul and Barnabas have been preaching and speaking with people in Antioch in modern Turkey. We have the content of his message as he spoke about Israel, Jesus and then directly to those individuals present. Some warmed to The Word and came to believe.

But opposition arose. Paul and Barnabas have only been there for ten days or so and opposition arises, not because of what was preached but on this occasion, because of jealousy, and the popularity of Barnabas and Paul. Persecution was stirred up, and Paul and Barnabas are expelled from this region. …  ( Click for more )

In Acts 13:42, after Paul had preached at length and we have the content of his preaching there was a positive response. We would like to hear you again on this next Sabbath. Come again. We invite you to speak further. These people were interested.

There was much conversation, and discussion. Paul and Barnabas urged them to continue in the grace of God. Here from the very start we see how disciples are taught to persevere. Perseverance is mentioned early on in Paul first outreach.

Verse 44. There was quite an attendance the next Sabbath, and the main…  ( Click for more )

We begin in Acts 13:24. Before the coming of Jesus Christ, John preached repentance and baptism. These are two vital areas where faith and salvation are concerned. No matter how powerful and effective a ministry John had, he was not the promised one. John pointed to the One who was to come after him - namely Jesus.

This message of salvation, of being rescued from sin, is to us and for us - Jews and Gentiles.

Paul speaks in this passage about Jesus being executed, referring to the cross, and this whole activity being illegal. But God raised Jesus Christ from…  ( Click for more )

We were reading of how Barnabas and Paul on this first mission - this first outreach - this first venture into totally fresh territory for Jesus Christ - preached in Pisidian Antioch, and from Acts 13:16 we are given the text and content of Paul's message.

We have what God gave him to proclaim - the first vital elements - when preaching in a Jewish setting - in the synagogue - but with Gentiles present too - people like us who realised the Jews had something of God which was real. These Gentiles are interested, hungry and seeking God. Verse 19. Paul begins by speaking…  ( Click for more )

Acts 13. Antioch, in central Turkey, was on the main road from Europe to Asia. On the day of worship, these two men of God, Barnabas and Paul, looked for the place where the Jewish people would be meeting to worship and to read The Word of God.

These two men go into the synagogue to worship and pray and hear God's Word. They go to the place, which had rejected Jesus. The Jews may have rejected Jesus. They may have rejected what God was doing in the world, but God had not rejected them, and God will never reject them. Paul and Barnabas are a sign of this.

Every…  ( Click for more )

We are in Acts 13 and studying the strategy of Paul and Barnabas as they were thrust out into modern Turkey by the living God. They are preaching and sowing seed just as Jesus Christ did and Jesus commanded them (and us too) to do.

On the Cross, when Jesus Christ hung and died, no more meaningful seed has ever been sown, and what a harvest three days later when this same Jesus Christ rose from the dead. And what a harvest some seven weeks later when 3,000 people came to believe that He was the Saviour, the Lord, the Son of God. It is the Risen Jesus who says to His disciples…  ( Click for more )

We are reading Acts 13, where we left our missionary friends, Paul and Barnabas in Cyprus.

Now, they sail north from Cyprus, over to the mainland, to Perga, and then they travel up-country and inland to Antioch in Pisidia. The Name of Jesus Christ is about to be preached and proclaimed, where it has never before been preached.

We call Paul and Barnabas 'missionaries'. The word missionary means "sent one" from which we get 'missile'. They are missiles - Christian missiles - missiles sent in the Love of God into the world.

The Word also means - "to send…  ( Click for more )

In Acts 13:9, we read of Saul being filled with the Holy Spirit as he confronts Elymas who is opposing Saul. Elymas had been involved in the occult. Knowing how to be filled with the Holy Spirit is so essential for all types of ministry in The Kingdom of God, and if we are filled with The Holy Spirit there is no room for other things to get in.

Saul looks Elymas straight in the eye - "You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right. You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery!" That is plain talking. It also happened to be true. "The hand…  ( Click for more )