Participants: Tony Moore
Series Code: IFP
Program Code: IFP000004
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01:35 After the stoning of Stephen in Jerusalem, the believers
01:38 were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 01:42 They traveled up through the regions Phoenicia to the 01:45 island of Cyprus, and even as far north as 01:48 Antioch and Syria. 01:51 They were sharing the good news about Jesus to all of the 01:55 places that they visited. 01:57 Antioch was the queen of the Eastern Mediterranean world. 02:01 The third largest city of the Roman Empire after Rome 02:04 and Alexandria. 02:06 Today it is known as Antakya and it is a modern city on 02:11 the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean in Turkey. 02:14 It was founded by Seleucus Nicator I, one of the generals 02:18 who succeeded Alexander the Great. 02:21 He built this city and named it after 02:23 his father, Antiochus. 02:25 Off in the distance you can see through the haze the 02:29 Mediterranean Sea where Seleucus found a port and named 02:33 it after himself, Seleucus Piraeus. 02:37 That is 12 miles from here, but it was connected in 02:40 ancient times to this city that was built 02:42 against the mountain. 02:44 Alexander the Great defeated the Persians just a few 02:47 miles north of here on the plains of Issus. 02:51 The Jews supported Alexander during that time and so he 02:55 extended to them the offer of large tracts of land to 02:59 settle this area. 03:00 Seleucus granted them citizenship here in Antioch, 03:04 putting them on an equal level with the Greeks in 03:07 Macedonians that was living in this city. 03:10 The Greeks had a great respect for the Jews. 03:13 They called them the people of the book because both nations 03:17 had an ancient history and an ancient language. 03:21 The Greeks respect the Jews and gave them wide latitude 03:25 in their practices. 03:27 They allow them to observe the Sabbath, to practice 03:30 circumcision, to practice ritual baths, as long as they 03:34 did not try to convert the Greeks. 03:36 That would be crossing the line, and so they were 03:40 exempt from the Greek holidays, religious festivals, 03:43 and they could practice their religion focusing upon 03:46 the one true God. 03:47 The Romans continued the same policy of tolerance towards 03:51 the Jews, even while they were crushing the rebellion 03:55 down in Jerusalem, the citizens of this city, who were 03:58 Jewish, continued to enjoy their full rights. 04:02 The Gospel took deep root in this city. 04:05 As the believers came here preaching and sharing Jesus, 04:10 they began sharing Jesus not only people of a Jewish 04:14 background, but also Greeks. 04:17 Notice how Luke describes what happens in Acts 11:20. 04:50 After the stoning of Stephen in Jerusalem, the 04:53 persecution caused Christians to scatter throughout the 04:57 areas of Judea and Samaria and although up here to 05:00 Antioch modern-day Antakya. 05:03 They were preaching the good news to Jews 05:05 in all of these cities. 05:07 Some authorities estimate over 1/10 of the Roman world 05:12 were Jews, that is one out of every 10 people in the 05:16 Roman Empire was a Jew. 05:18 A very large statistic, but there was even a larger 05:22 percentage of the population, here in Antioch, 05:26 that was Jewish. 05:27 The disciples began to share the good news, not only with 05:31 Jews, here in this city of Antioch, but they began to 05:35 share it with the Greeks as well. 05:37 You see there are many people in the Roman world who were 05:40 tired of the polytheism of Greece and Rome. 05:43 They were tired of multiplied gods, and they saw in the 05:47 one God of the Jews a simplicity of worship. 05:51 They were attracted to monotheism, they preferred the 05:54 God of the Jews. 05:56 We will see them refer to, throughout our series, 05:58 as God's fearers. 06:01 Some authorities estimate that 25% of the Roman world 06:05 were God fearers. 06:07 That is one out of four that preferred the Jewish 06:10 religion, but they did not go all the way to becoming 06:13 Jews by being circumcised. 06:15 So the Gospel takes deep root here in Antioch. 06:20 A number of people in this city believe. 06:24 Let's read on in our passage. 07:05 The church was exploding. 07:07 The Apostles down in Jerusalem asked Barnabas to go up to 07:11 Antioch and to examine the situation. 07:15 To organize a church that was growing and developing 07:18 here in this great metropolis. 07:20 When Barnabas reached the city, that was nearly 300 miles 07:24 away, he was overwhelmed by what he saw. 07:27 Tremendous numbers of both Greeks and Jews 07:30 believing in Jesus as Messiah. 07:33 Barnabas traveled the 90 miles up the coast to the city of 07:37 Tarsus and looked for his old friend Saul. 07:40 He asked Saul to come back and help him to teach in this 07:43 new church that was growing in Antioch. 07:46 The two men walked back the 90 miles, to the metropolis 07:50 of Antioch, and here they taught the disciples 07:53 for over a year, it was a thrilling time. 07:56 The believers became so numerous, that they were first 08:01 nicknamed Christians, here in this city. 08:04 Yes, they were so odd and peculiar, followers of someone 08:08 name the Christ, that the Romans and Greeks 08:11 called them Christians. 08:13 This cave could be called the first Christian Church 08:17 because this is the place where the people who were 08:21 nicknamed Christians used to meet. 08:23 It is the earliest church here in Antioch, and it is 08:26 actually a cave in the side of a mountain. 08:29 It is a very special spot to walk in this cave. 08:33 To see the stone altar, to examine the tunnel on the side 08:39 where believers could escape and go through passageways 08:44 to various parts of the mountain. 08:46 Yes it is a very special spot, a very sacred spot. 08:50 By the end of the century the church and the city became 08:54 the second strongest and most influential center of 08:58 Christianity in the world. 09:00 When Jerusalem fell to the Romans, and Jews and 09:03 Christians were banned from the sacred city by Hadrian, 09:07 Antioch became the strongest center of Christian teaching 09:10 in the world. 09:12 The sad reality is that as you wander through the streets 09:16 today looking for a Christian church, you look in vain. 09:20 There are scarcely a believer in Jesus to be found in 09:23 the city that granted the followers of Jesus, 09:26 their special name. 09:28 There is hardly a believer to be found in the city that 09:31 sent the apostle out on his three missionary journeys. 09:35 When it was predicted that a famine would take place 09:38 in the Roman world, a relief offering was taken up here 09:43 in Antioch and sent by Barnabas and Saul down to Jerusalem. 09:47 When Saul and Barnabas returned from Jerusalem and 09:50 came to Antioch, the church was rejoicing. 09:54 During a prayer meeting a special Revelation was given. 10:14 Luke describes how the church at Antioch set apart Saul 10:17 and Barnabas by the laying on of hands and commissioned 10:21 them to go out to new areas, proclaiming that Jesus 10:24 Christ was Lord. 10:26 Acts 13:4 says. 10:36 Yes they walked 12 miles down from Antioch to this port. 10:40 In ancient times this was a bustling harbor serving as 10:44 a port for the Roman capital of Syria Antioch. 10:50 It would have been filled with ships, as it was also 10:53 the home of the Roman fleet based in the eastern 10:57 Mediterranean Sea. 10:59 From this port, Saul and Barnabas would take their 11:03 journey to the island of Cyprus to proclaim the good news 11:08 that Jesus Christ is Lord. 11:17 They landed at the eastern port of Salamis where 11:20 Barnabas was from. 11:22 They shared the gospel with his family and friends and 11:26 the cross was established, the Gospel was planted 11:30 on this island. 11:32 Luke describes how they walked across the island visiting 11:36 the towns and villages and sharing the good news that 11:39 Jesus was the Christ, or the Messiah. 11:42 When Saul and Barnabas and John Mark reached the Western 11:46 end of the island, they came to the provincial 11:48 capital of Paphos. 11:51 Here the Roman governor Sergius Paulus had his residence. 11:56 Luke describes how there was a Jewish sorcerer 11:59 named Bar-Jesus, who was trying to oppose the work 12:03 of Saul and Barnabas. 12:05 The Roman governor wanted to hear what these men 12:07 had to say, and this man kept opposing them. 12:10 Acts 13:6. 13:16 What a fascinating miracle happens here at Paphos, 13:20 on the island of Cyprus. 13:21 This sorcerer goes blind, he was rejecting the light 13:25 and now he walks around in the darkness that 13:27 he had preferred. 13:29 Notice the impact upon the Roman governor. 13:38 Luke describes how the proconsul believed because of this 13:43 miracle that took place on the island province of 13:46 Cyprus at Paphos. 13:49 Sergius Paulus was the first major Roman official to 13:53 accept the gospel through Paul and Barnabas preaching 13:57 in their missionary journeys. 13:59 He opens his heart becomes a believer. 14:02 From this point onward, Luke refers to Saul as Paul. 14:06 Apparently he adopted the name Paul, perhaps in honor 14:11 of this Roman official who had been converted. 14:14 Or perhaps he began to recognize that the gospel is going 14:18 to go more to the Roman world, more to the Gentile world. 14:22 So he adopted this more popular Roman name. 14:26 We do know from this point onward he is referred to as 14:30 Paul in the narrative of the book of Acts. 14:33 Paul and Barnabas and John Mark sail from the province 14:38 of Cyprus across the Mediterranean to Pamphylia. 14:43 Notice the next verse in Luke's account. 14:55 Luke describes how they sailed across to Perga. 14:59 I am sitting here on the edge of the Acropolis high above 15:04 the ancient ruins of Perga, on the southwestern coast 15:08 of modern Turkey. 15:10 The ruins of this city are spectacular. 15:13 There is a theater that would seat 14,000 people. 15:16 It was built in the Greek style and remodeled by the 15:20 Romans and there is an unusual raised stadium which 15:24 seats 12,000 people. 15:27 The monumental fountain was one of the most splendid 15:31 buildings of the ancient city of Perga. 15:34 Built at the foot of the Acropolis, water from the spring 15:38 was channeled and focused underneath the river god 15:42 Sestos where it would cascade down as a waterfall, fill 15:46 this pool where the great columns of the statues were 15:50 standing, and then it would flow over again, rippling 15:54 down and going down aqueduct that ran down through the 15:58 center of the city. 16:00 The main street that ran, from north to south, 16:03 was a double colonnaded straight. 16:05 That meant there were columns running down both sides 16:08 with the portico with shops. 16:10 Then they had the modern convenience of air 16:14 conditioning, as it were, with the water running down 16:17 the center of the street to cool the city on this hot 16:21 humid coastal plain. 16:24 It was to this city that Paul and Barnabas and John Mark 16:28 came to proclaim the Gospel. 16:31 And from this city John Mark would return to his mother 16:35 and Peter in Jerusalem, and Paul and Barnabas would depart and go 16:40 into the high lands to the regions of Galatia and Phrygia 16:44 proclaiming the good news there. 16:50 We've come here to the modern village of Kovanlik where 16:53 this excellent section of the ancient Roman road has 16:57 been preserved. 16:58 It was known as the vivia sansoota, this road connected 17:04 Pamphylia along the coast with the uplands of Phrygia, 17:09 Galatia and Pisidian. 17:12 Paul and Barnabas would have walked along this road, 17:15 climbing the steep mountain pass on their way to take the 17:19 gospel to Pisidian Antioch. 17:22 Pisidian Antioch was a Roman colony, that means it had 17:27 been settled by Roman veterans. 17:29 It was known as the colony of Augustus Antioquia. 17:33 It was named after Seleucus father and called Antioch of 17:39 Pisidia to distinguish it from Antioch Alvaronties from 17:44 which Paul and Barnabas had sailed. 17:47 Paul says it was because of an illness that I came to 17:52 preach the gospel amongst you, the Galatians, 17:55 Galatians 4:13. 17:58 Many have wondered, did Paul contract malaria down 18:02 along the swampy coast of Pamphylia? 18:05 Is that why he chose to go inland to the rather 18:09 isolated villages of Pisidia, Antioch and Iconium, 18:13 Derbe and Lystra? 18:15 These are very small towns in comparison to Perge 18:20 or Ephesus or Corinth or even Tarsus. 18:25 Perhaps it was because of the illness of malaria, seeking 18:31 relief from the hot humid plain along the coast, often 18:36 the high lands where it was much cooler and less humid. 18:41 It has also been suggested that perhaps Sergius Paulus 18:46 was from Antioch of Pisidia, and that the Roman governor 18:51 of Cyprus gave Paul and Barnabas letters of introduction 18:57 references, asking him to go to his family and friends 19:02 in the area of his birth. 19:05 For whatever reason the two apostles left the coast, 19:09 they left the major city of Pergy and they began the 19:14 steep ascent up this mountain pass and over it into the 19:18 Anatolian Plateau where they went to Pisidian Antioch 19:23 and preach the gospel there in the synagogue. 19:26 That is where we are going next, we want to go to 19:30 Pisidian Antioch where Paul shared, with both Jews and 19:35 Gentiles, in the synagogue on the Sabbath day. 19:42 I am walking in the ruins of the Church of Paul in 19:47 Pisidian Antioch. 19:49 This church was constructed in the fourth century upon 19:54 the foundation of the early Jewish synagogue where Paul 19:58 and Barnabas preached to the Jews and the God-fearing 20:02 Gentiles of this city. 20:05 Luke records how they came into the synagogue on the 20:09 Sabbath, and after the Scripture reading they were 20:13 asked if they had anything to share with the congregation. 20:17 Did they have anything to share! You bet they did. 20:35 Paul and Barnabas came into the synagogue that has been 20:39 located at this site. 20:41 They came in on the Sabbath, and after the reading of 20:45 the law and the prophets, they were asked by the 20:48 synagogue ruler, or leader, if they had anything to 20:51 share of encouragement for the congregation. 20:54 Did they have anything to share? Their hearts were full. 20:57 Paul stood up and began to teach here in the synagogue. 21:01 Rehearsing the great history of God's people Israel. 21:04 Beginning there with the exodus at how God worked 21:08 marvelously to deliver His people from bondage in Egypt. 21:11 He brought them into the land of Canaan displacing 21:15 seven nations, and he shared how God established 21:18 Judges to rule over the people. 21:20 Then how He raised up Saul as the first king of Israel. 21:25 Then David as the second King. 21:27 Then Paul shares with them the mighty moving in recent times. 21:32 Of the preaching of John the Baptist. 21:34 How the nation was stirred and went to the banks of the 21:38 Jordan to hear His message. 21:40 Then how John identified Jesus of Nazareth as the Jewish 21:45 Messiah, as the Christ. 21:48 Paul had something to share with them, he shared Jesus 21:54 as the Messiah, the Christ. 21:56 Then he came down and focused upon Jesus, and how the 22:01 people of Jerusalem, the leadership had rejected Him 22:05 as the Messiah. 22:07 Although He was proclaimed to be innocent, by the 22:12 governor Pilot, He was executed, an innocent man 22:16 executed, but then Paul comes down to the focus of his 22:20 message, it is what he shared in city after city, in 22:24 synagogue after synagogue that although Jesus was 22:28 executed, He came back to life. 22:32 Paul appeals to the Psalms, the 16th Psalm where it says 22:36 you will not allow your Holy One to stay in the grave, 22:40 nor to suffer corruption. 22:42 While it may have originally referred to David as king, 22:46 David's grave is still in Jerusalem to this day. 22:50 But Jesus came back to life, He could not be contained 22:55 in the grave, but was resurrected and appeared to many 22:59 people throughout the city and to His disciples. 23:03 Paul had something to share, and the people's hearts 23:07 were opened, they believed and responded and notice 23:10 what Luke says. 23:30 Do you get the picture? 23:31 Here on this site both Jews and God-fearing Gentiles 23:35 came together on the Sabbath. 23:38 While they were there, Paul shared Jesus with them. 23:42 He presented the messages of the gospel here in this 23:46 setting, and many asked if he would come back the next 23:50 week and continue the message. 23:52 When they left the synagogue many continued to inquire about 23:57 the message from Paul and Barnabas. 23:59 But notice verse 44. 24:01 most amazing passage. 24:08 The next week, almost the entire city, the word had 24:12 spread throughout this great Roman colony Pisidian 24:15 Antioch, and the next Sabbath the entire city almost came 24:18 together, as Luke said, to hear the word of the Lord. 24:22 Again Paul and Barnabas preached Jesus to them and 24:27 shared about His resurrection from the dead. 24:29 This was an amazing event. 24:32 It was a gathering of the city as a result of Paul's 24:37 preaching the first Sabbath? 24:39 Or was it the result of the letters that Paul 24:43 might have brought from Sergius Paulus, 24:46 the Roman governor of Cyprus? 24:48 Was it just a mighty moving of the Holy Spirit, 24:51 or a combination of the three? 24:54 All we know is what Luke says, that the whole city 24:57 gathered to hear Paul present Jesus the next Sabbath. 25:00 God was moving, but the devil was threatened, 25:03 notice verse 45. 25:12 Yes when the Jews saw the great crowds of people, 25:15 Gentiles coming to hear what Paul was preaching, 25:18 they became jealous. 25:21 The word jealous is perhaps strange in this setting. 25:23 Were they jealous of the bigger crowd coming to hear Paul 25:27 in the synagogue? 25:28 The actual root of the word is the same word as zealous. 25:32 The Jews were zealous, they were zealous for the 25:36 traditions of the father. 25:38 They were concerned that Paul was presenting Jesus to 25:41 Gentiles, and allowing them to believe in the Jewish 25:45 Messiah without first making them Jews. 25:49 He did not require that they become circumcised and 25:54 to become Jews before they could accept Jesus as Messiah. 25:58 This caused a spirit of agitation within the Jewish 26:03 community and we read on in verse 46. 26:26 Paul said that we had to first come and preach to you 26:29 the Jews, but since you are rejecting this message, 26:31 we now turn to the Gentiles. 26:34 From this point, in the city of Pisidian Antioch, 26:38 Paul and Barnabas preached Jesus to the Gentiles. 26:42 The Gentiles were thrilled and were responding to the 26:45 message, a mighty revival was spreading through this 26:49 Roman colony and people were being converted. 26:52 We read on in verse 48. 27:02 Yes the Gentiles responded and were glad in their hearts. 27:06 For they were accepting Jesus as their Lord 27:09 and they had peace. 27:11 Up on the top of the hill is the Roman temple to 27:15 Augustus Caesar, discovered there was his testament which 27:21 declared him to be the prince of peace, but now Paul 27:25 is teaching that true Prince of peace, Jesus as the 27:28 Messiah, the Christ, to the people in the city. 27:32 For the first time their hearts are 27:35 being filled with peace. 27:36 Have you received the peace of Christ in your heart? 27:40 You can if you will open your heart to Him just now. 27:44 He will come in and bring you His peace. 27:48 Let's pray together, eternal God we thank You so much 27:52 for the way which you led Saul and Barnabas to leave 27:55 the comforts of Antioch and to travel to distant lands 27:58 proclaiming that Jesus Christ was Lord. 28:01 And Lord Jesus we see that these Gentiles and Jewish 28:05 believers accepted You as the true Prince of peace and how 28:09 You brought peace and joy into their hearts and 28:11 into their souls. 28:13 I pray just now that You will do that for each one that 28:16 is hearing this teaching, I pray in Jesus name, Amen! 28:21 From here in Pisidian Antioch, Barnabas and Paul travel 28:25 out to the regions of Laconia where they proclaim that 28:29 Jesus Christ is Lord in the cities of Lystra and Derbe. 28:33 They were identified as Hermes and Zeus in Lystra, 28:36 tremendous crowds believed and then they turned and dragged 28:40 Paul this from the city and stoned him leaving him for dead. 28:44 Don't miss the next thrilling chapter, in this series, 28:47 when Paul got stoned. |
Revised 2014-12-17