Today’s passage: Acts 14:19-28
Helpful thoughts:
- Paul did not die, but he must have been close. They were able to drag his body of the city.
- A miracle seems to have taken place. He went from looking dead, to getting up and walking right back into the city, to being ready to travel the next day to preach some more!
- Paul and Barnabas went back through these cities on the way to their home base in Antioch. They risked the same treatment all over again to ensure local churches were established, seeing elders appointed in each one. (The words bishop, elder and pastor all speak of the same office in the New Testament)
- The church at Antioch had an incredibly important role in the ministry of Paul and Barnabas (And those who had traveled with them).
- These men needed to receive ministry and rest!
- The church probably benefited just as much, if not more, from being able to hear these stories and to serve their missionaries.
Questions to consider:
- If you had just been stoned and dragged out of the city, where direction do you think you would walk after you got up? What if you knew your mission was of grave importance and your ability to rise up was a miracle from God? Will God’s servants die before God is done with them here?
- When we see elders/pastors being appointed in each church in the New Testament, it’s always in the plural (Never just an elder, always elders). What benefits do you see to having more than one elder/pastor in every church?
- In what ways can we as a local church encourage our people to go preach the gospel to the nations? How can we as a church be an encouragement to the missionaries we support?