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their obedient response to the Spirit’s call. Being thus sent forth by the church in fellowship with the Holy Spirit, these two departed (v. 4). They became the pioneer missionaries o f the church, and here Paul began his first missionary journey, from Antioch and return. II. P a u l ’ s F irst I tinerary as a M issionary (13:13-15). Leaving Antioch, they went to Seleucia, Cyprus, and Salamis. After preaching the Word in the synagogue at Salamis, they went to Paphos where Elymas withstood them and was silenced, and Sergius Paulus, the Roman deputy, was converted. From Paphos they went to Perga, from whence John Mark left them and returned to his home. Then they went to Antioch in Pisidia where they were invited to speak in the synagogue and Paul preached a great sermon which so stirred the audience that the next Sabbath day nearly the whole city came to hear. But this so angered the Jews that they drove out the missionaries. From Perga, they went to Iconium where great numbers believed, but again hatred on the part o f unbelievers brought such danger that the messengers left that city and went to Lystra. From there they re traced their steps and finally arrived back in Antioch from which they started and made their report to the church which had sent them forth. III. P au l ’ s E xperience as a M issionary (14:19-23). Paul’s experience is typical of all mis sionary activity, being a mixture o f accept ance and rejection, of hardship and ease, o f persecution and reception. Persecution was met at Lystra (v. 19). It came from certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium. These Jews stirred up the people to such an extent that those who recently had honored the missionaries as gods now stoned them and left them for dead. The vanity and fickleness of popular opinion is nowhere better revealed than here. And the missionary, or Christian worker, cannot be too highly elated by the favorable reception of his message nor too cast down by the rejection of his message. It is for the approval o f the Lord that the worker goes forth, whatever may be the treatment received from the people. The perseverance necessary for the mis sionary is revealed in Paul’s action in the face o f persecution (vs. 20, 21). After he had been stoned and drawn out of the city, the disciples gathered about his supposedly dead body, but he arose and once again entered into the city. It may be that the prayers offered over these two devoted ser vants o f the Lord before they left Antioch were now having their answers. Only the grace o f God could minister such courage and devotion in the face of such opposition to the truth. But wherever the Christian worker may find himself, there he will find the same grace ministering courage and devotion. The continued service of the missionaries is most important (vs. 22, 23). They re traced their steps to Antioch and confirmed the souls o f those who had accepted the gospel. This confirmation o f souls was accom plished by exhorting them to continue in the faith, that is, the faith set forth in the preaching of the missionaries. Satan de sires above all else to remove the disciples from that faith and thus ruin their enjoy ment o f salvation and curtail their value as workers. Satan and the world dispute every foot o f the way and this brings tribu lation, but through the tribulation they
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