Paul's Missionary Journey

Text: Acts 13

After Barnabas found Paul, they taught at the church of Antioch for a year (Acts 11:25-26). Subsequently, the Holy Spirit chose Paul and Barnabas for the missionary journey. This is where they started. They also took along with them

John as their assistant.

Syria (Antioch)

Text: Acts 13:4-5

As led by the Holy Spirit, they preached in the synagogues in the city of Salamis.

Cyprus (Salamis)

Paphos

Text: Acts 13:6

They confronted a sorcerer who was seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. God gave them power and the sorcerer was made blind.

After witnessing this and hearing the teaching of the Lord, the proconsul believed.

Pamphylia (perga)

Text: Acts 13:13

An interesting event happened here where John, their assistant, departed from them for unknown reasons.

From Acts 15:36 onwards, when Barnabas and Paul were planning to revisit the places that they have ministered to before, they had a dispute over John. Barnabas wanted to bring him along again, but Paul refused because he felt that he was unfit to join them again because of the previous departure.

Text: Acts 13:14-50

Paul and Barnabas went to the synagogue and Paul preached to them. Initially, his words were well received and both the Jews and Gentiles were eager to hear more.

But when the Jews grew jealous of the attention that he was getting, they opposed him and spoke against him. They stirred up prominent people and the crowd to persecute them and rejected them out of the region.

Pisidia (antioch)

Text: Acts 14:1-5

Similar to Pisidia, Paul and Barnabas spoke at the synagogue of the Jews and a great number of Jews and Greeks believed. They stayed there for a long time witnessing the word of God and did many wonders.

But as division grew, opposition attempted to stone them. Thankfully, they were aware of it and managed to escape to Lystra.

Iconium

Text: Acts 14:8-20

This was where Paul healed a man who was crippled since birth. Because of this event, the multitudes started to claim that Paul and Barnabas were Greek gods.

It is also recorded that the people who previously attempted to stone Paul and Barnabas from Iconium made their way here (Lystra) and they successfully stoned Paul and thought he was dead.

Miraculously, Paul survived the ordeal and proceeded to Derbe with Barnabas.

Lystra

Text: Acts 14:20-21

Despite the stoning and near death experience, Paul and Barnabas continued preaching in Derbe and made many disciples.

And when they were done, they returned to cities they had ministered to, appointing elders for the churches, and returned to Antioch finally.

This concluded their first missionary journey.

Derbe

There is much we can learn from Paul's missionary journey. When we consider carefully the missionary journey in the book of Acts, we will uncover priceless gems of lessons and "missionary principles" that are very practical and important for us today.

1. Missionaries Must Be Proven People

Paul and Barnabas were no ordinary disciples. They were not just people with a passion for the great commission, but they were men full of the Holy Spirit and faith (Acts 11:24).

Missionaries are not just messengers, but they are representatives of Jesus. If we fall short of the Spirit and faith, what kind of examples are we? If Christ is not in us, how do we expect to produce Christ in them?

The sad truth about missionaries these days is... our standards have fallen.

Churches and mission organizations are carelessly sending people into the field. We are not well equipped, not proven (2 Tim 2), immature in discerning good and evil (Hebrews 5), and our goals are not Spirit led. Surely this is one of the reasons why we have close to a 50% attrition rate for missionaries (according to survey).

Being full of the Holy Spirit is important not just because we have to exhibit the gifts and fruit of the Spirit, but because we need to be led by the Spirit too. In the mission field, there will always be a hundred good things to do, but it's crucial that we only occupy ourselves with what God wants us to do. When we are in the Spirit, we will discern the will of God, through His word, His voice, circumstances, dreams, or visions.

Being full of faith is also important because the mission field is an uncertain world. In the missions, uncertainties are a constant, and goliaths lie await for us all the time. It is a common occurance for missionaries to face shipwrecks in their faiths. Look at the examples of Paul and Barnabas. Despite opposition, challenges, and near death experiences, they persisted on with faith and obedience.

2. Teamwork is Important

Jesus taught about the power and importance of two to three people (Matt 18:20). He also sent His disciples out two by two (Luke 10) into the cities to preach.

In Paul's missionary journey, we also see this principle. He initially partnered with Barnabas and John. When Paul and Barnabas had a disagreement about John, we see this principle at play still. Barnabas took John along with him, and Paul brought Silas along for his trip.

Consider Jesus too, who understood the power and importance of companionship when He was praying and closing in to His death. If Jesus and the apostles played by this rule, who are we to diminish the importance of teamwork?

With a team, we will have mutual encouragement, discernment of God's will together, accountability, shared suffering, and shared joy.

3. Proclamation & Persuasion

In Paul's first mission tour from Syria (Antioch) to Derbe, Paul's and Barnabas' work were mainly proclamation, and partly persuasion. At that year and time, while some would have already heard and known about Jesus, the gospel was not yet known to the majority of the world. "Salvation in Jesus" was a new idea and theology to many (Acts 17:19-20).

Times are different now because the majority of the world already know about Jesus. Christianity is no longer a new theology to most. Does it mean that proclamation work is not needed? Certainly not! But in our time now, much of our work will involve persuasion (Acts 18:4). We need to be prepared to teach accurately the knowledge of God (Acts 24:22) and persuade people that Jesus is the only way to salvation.

4. Edification (Build to Last)

Paul and Barnabas did not simply scatter the seeds and leave everything to chance. While their first mission tour was mainly proclamation, they circled back to the previous cities and edified (strengthened) those who have been converted, and appoint leaders among them to shepherd and continue the work of discipleship (Acts 14:21-23).

Consider how Paul instructed Timothy to remain in Ephesus (1 Tim 1:3) to shepherd the followers there. Timothy had to care for the church, ensuring that the people would grow in the Lord, while at the same time, making sure that no other doctrine is being spread around.

When we are planning and doing mission work, we must build the church to last and do all we can to ensure sustainability. The devil is always seeking to destroy what we plant. The moment the missionary leaves, the devil dives right in to undo the work that had been done.

5. Goal: Christ in Them

Mission work is not just about giving material things to people, healing people, and preaching. People must be taught and they must be transformed.

Paul's goal as a missionary was simple: Producing Christ in people (Gal 4:19). Preaching Christ was just part of Paul's missionary work. The other part that he was heavily involved in was strengthening and transforming people into Christlikeness.

We should not aim for any lesser. If our goal is any lesser than this, we should not be doing any mission work.

6. It's Not a Walk in the Park

Usually, the missionary journey is not smooth sailing. It is constantly filled with uncertainties, fear, resistance, and discomfort. As we see in Paul's example, he experienced many things, from resistance, to physical abuse.

We are literally waging warfare with the devil when we try to "snatch his sheep". Paul clearly knew and understood this as we can see in Ephesians 6. The devil will not allow us to simply walk into his domain to save people. He is going to do all he can (under God's soverignty) to disable us and our work.

As much as we know that God's grace and protection will be there for us, we must count the cost before embarking on such work.

7. Let the Gospel Run Swiftly!

Throughout Paul's journey, he never once remained in a city for too long. He was constantly on the move with the intention to spread the gospel like wildfire. As perfectly written in 2 Thes 3:1, Paul asked them to pray that the gospel may run swiftly and be glorified.

It is easy to get comfortable in a place when ministry is successful, and where people accept us and esteem us well. But we must be careful to not let these factors impede us, especially if the Lord's will is for us to move.

Paul could have stayed at a city long term and just be a senior pastor in a big church and have a big following. But he chose to move, and in doing so, it gave opportunity for others to fill the gap and rise up as pastors and teachers.

Ultimately, we must discern God's will in our journey, and be willing to move when it's time to.