Acts 13 - Paul and Barnabas Go On Their First Missionary Trip!

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As the church gathered in Antioch, there were different men gifted in teaching and prophecy exercising their gifts. As they prayed, the Holy Spirit told them to pray over Saul and Barnabas send them off to work the Lord had called them to. There is debate over whether or not the Holy Spirit literally spoke this to them. 

The bottom line is that the Holy Spirit spoke, whether it was audibly, or through the prophets, whose role it was to be God's mouthpiece. After they fasted and prayed, they laid hands on them and sent them off on their new mission. This model has been used to send off missionaries today. Note there is always a sending church, in this case the church of Antioch. 

On Cyprus

Cyprus was an island in the Mediterranean Sea, west of Antioch. Luke states that John Mark also joined them.  When they were surveying the island, they met a Jewish sorcerer named Elymas. When the proconsul of the island, Sergius Paulus, asked for Saul and Barnabas to come and share the Word of God with him, Elymas tried to get in there way. Saul, who is now called Paul for the rest of the book of Acts, was filled with the Holy Spirit and rebuked Elymas. Elymas was struck blind, and a dark mist came over him. He needed someone to lead him by the hand. 

Notice again the key phrase, "Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit!" When Sergius Paulus saw what had happened and was inspired by his teaching, he became a believer. See once again there is both teaching and a powerful sign. The sign authenticated what they were teaching. 

In Pisidian Antioch

From there they traveled back to Asia to Pisidian Antioch, which would be modern day Turkey. John Mark left to go back to Jerusalem, which we will hear more about later. Paul went to the synagogue to teach and preach about Jesus. 

Paul literally gives them a history lesson from the Old Testament with stories about their 450 years in Egypt, after which they ended up in the wilderness. And then more about the judges, kings, and finally King David. King David's lineage eventually led to the birth of Jesus the Messiah. 

Note the message he preaches is both to the the Jews, who had migrated here during the dispersion, but also those who were native to the land. They were God fearing Gentiles. This is a pattern we will see over and over in the next chapters. Paul preached to the local Jews and God fearing Gentiles, who had become part of the Jewish faith and were seeking God. 

Roughly speaking you might draw the analogy in the church today, where we have both professing Christians at various levels of maturity, and those who are seeking to understand the Christian and become part of the church. Then, Paul summarized the message of salvation. The Jewish rulers did recognize Jesus and asked Pilate to to have him executed though he had done nothing wrong. He died and they took him off a cross and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead and he was seen by many of those who followed him. 

Paul proclaims the gospel of the forgiveness of sins through Jesus. Through Jesus, they would be set free from the Law of Moses, which they could never keep anyways. 

"We can never justify ourselves before God. To think so assumes God grades on a curve, a measure that bends according to human weakness. To think so also gives us the glory for our own salvation instead of simply saying, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) - Guzik

The people were very interested in what Paul had preached. They followed him around in curiosity until the next Sabbath, when almost the whole city gathered to hear him preach. Word of mouth travels fast. When some of the other Jews saw Jesus they were jealous. They tried to contradict Paul's teaching and heap abuse on him. 

Paul told them that since they had rejected his words and "not considered themselves worthy of eternal life", he would shake the dust of his feet and turn the focus on his efforts on the Gentiles. The Gentiles were excited and Jewish leaders stirred up people to kick Paul and Barnabas out of the their city. 

Rather than being discouraged or distraught about these events, the disciples (which shows there was a big group of those traveling with Paul and Barnabas) were "Filled with joy and the Holy Spirit!" Later Paul will teach in Galatians 5 that "joy" is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Even though the disciples were being run out of town, they were still filled with the Spirit's uncontainable joy!