Acts 13-14 Paul's First Mission

1. In Paul’s first first journey he started in the city of Seleucia and from there traveled to Salamis, Paphos, Attalia, and Perga.
2. Some advice I would give a struggling missionary is look at Paul and Barnabas in Acts 13:1-5. They after prayer and fasting were called to preach the gospel in a far-off land. They fasted and prayed, and were suddenly called spontaneously to go on a mission, when things were going well where they were at. Furthermore, they had to travel on old world ships, which were incredibly dangerous by today’s standards.
3. Barnabas means son of consolation. He was a man of great spiritual nature. Regarded as an apostle, though not of the twelve, he was informed of the spirit of Saul’s conversion and convinced the apostles that Paul was a sincere individual and his conversion was real. He suffered with Paul on many journeys, and was a strong missionary partner to Paul. Some great blessings in sending missionaries out by two’s is it makes their testimony difficult to dispute, and further, the companion cares for the others needs and they support each other.
4. Paul and Barnabas were teaching in Lycaonia when the people beholding miracles treated them like Gods and tried to offer sacrifices. Horrified, they spoke to the people and told them they were mortal men and such a thing should not ever be, and they barely stopped the people.
5. For Acts 14: 8-13 and 19-22 the situations were amazingly different and shows how vastly different the gospel response may be. In the first case, the healing of the lame man who wished to be healed brought such a positive response that the people went overboard and tried to offer sacrifices unto Paul and Barnabas believing them to be beyond mortal. In the case of the men from Antioch and Iconium it was blunt disbelief to the point they brutally stoned Paul without the city. Paul later taught the people of those cities again and taught them that through faith and suffering through tribulations would we enter the kingdom of God. Both of these experiences are examples of enduring through tribulation in different ways. Observing the overzealousness and willingness to commit to sacrifices shows the extreme human response the gospel or any other principle can have when taken to excess. The disciples suffered watching them try and twist the gospel to their old lifestyle. In the other case outright rejection in Antioch brought about the stoning of Paul, who likely nearly died. Yet Paul endured and was blessed with disciples in those cities and showed through his suffering that enduring to the end always brings reward and salvation in the kingdom of God.