Abide Together: Reflections on Acts 14

In Acts 14 Luke records rest of the events related to Paul’s 1st Missionary Journey.  Everywhere Paul and Barnabas went they saw people come to faith in Jesus and had people reject Jesus and persecute them.  Every time they were persecuted to the extent of having to leave town, they just took the Gospel to the next town.  Paul, after being stoned and dragged out of Lystra, got back up and walked back into Lystra to keep preaching the Gospel.  Paul and Barnabas eventually got back to Antioch where they had originally began their journey.  Persecution of the Church leads to the spread and growth of the Gospel.  This was true in Paul’s day and in our day.  What enabled Paul and what enables believers today to keep proclaiming the Gospel in the midst of persecution?  In verse 3 it says that Paul and Barnabas were “speaking boldly with reliance upon the Lord.”  “Speaking boldly with reliance upon the Lord” is the reason followers of Jesus have and still do keep proclaiming the Gospel in the midst of persecution.  Lord, enable me to speak boldly with reliance upon You, so that others may hear the Gospel and be rescued from the penalty of sin.

– Bryan McKenzie