Paul's 1st Missionary Journey Series

October 28, 2023

Prologue

• Acts 11:19-30 - Now those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, telling the message only to Jews. Some men from Cyprus and Cyrene went to Antioch and also told the Greeks good news about Jesus. The Lord was with them, and a great number of people believed. News of this reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he saw the evidence of the grace of God, he encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch…..

Acts 13 is sort of the dividing line of the book. In the first 12 chapters most of the new church’s movements are centered in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. Now, there will be a major shift outward, “to the ends of the earth.” While the Good News had spread as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, most of the missionary effort outside of Palestine will come from Paul and the remainder of Acts will focus on his 4 journeys.

We begin in Syrian Antioch. There we find Barnabas and Saul worshipping with other believers. The Holy Spirit instructed the congregation to set Barnabas and Saul aside for a special work.

The 1st Missionary Journey Begins - Cyprus

John Mark joined Barnabas and Saul and they headed for Cyprus. They landed at Salamis and proclaimed the message in the Jewish Synagogues. They traveled the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jew, Bar-Jesus (also known as Elymus, which means “magician”). He was a false prophet and sorcerer, who attended Sergius Paulus, the Proconsul of the island.

Sergius Paulus, “an intelligent man,” sent for Saul and Barnabas because he wanted to hear the Word of God. Elymus came to the meeting and tried to influence Sergius against Saul and Barnabas. Saul (also called Paul) fixed his gaze on Elymus: “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. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind. You will be unable to see the light of the sun for a period of time."

Immediately, Elymus was blind and had to be led out of the room – Sergius Paulus believed and was amazed at the teaching about the Lord!

It is here that Saul begins to go by Paul.

• Being both a Jew and a Roman citizen, our man in Cyprus had 2 names: a Jewish name, Saul, “asked for or prayed for” and a Roman name, Paul, “the small one”.

As a good Jew, Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin, it would make sense for him to use his Jewish name. However, after he was converted and set aside for mission work, it makes sense for him to choose to be referred to as Paul. He was traveling farther and farther into the Gentile world, where a Roman name would have allowed Paul to approach those who might not have been so inclined to listen to a Jew.

From Paphos, Paul and his companions sailed to Perga in Pamphylia, where John Mark left them to return to Jerusalem.

From Perga they went on to Pisidian Antioch.

Antioch Pisidia

On the Sabbath Day, they went to the Synagogue. After a reading of the Law and Prophets, the synagogue rulers invited Paul and Barnabas to speak. Paul stood up: “Men of Israel,” He began. {Acts 13:16-41}

After giving a brief history lesson, Paul concluded his speech by saying, "Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses. Take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you: 'Look, you scoffers, wonder and perish, for I am going to do something in your days that you would never believe, even if someone told you. (quoting Habakkuk 1:5)'"

Paul and Barnabas were invited back the next Sabbath.

On the next Sabbath, nearly the entire city came to the synagogue to hear Paul speak. When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to speak against what Paul was saying. Boldly, Paul and Barnabas responded: "We had to speak the word of God to you first, but since you reject it and don’t consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. For this is what the Lord commanded us to do: 'I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.'"