GOSPEL MEDITATION # 43

Acts 14:1-7

Paul and Barnabas at Iconium

1. Find a quiet place without distractions.
2. Be comfortably alert, still, and at peace.
3. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer.
4. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
5. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
6. Rather than retreat after their experience at Antioch of Pisidia, Paul and Barnabas head 90 miles east to Iconium.
7. Again they visit a synagogue and proclaim Jesus; many Jews and Greeks believe.
8. As usual there is opposition, underscoring the reality that what one believes and identifies with will not go unchallenged.
9. Luke does not detail what the persecutors did exactly, but he does report that the “minds” of the Gentiles were “poisoned.” Luke, the physician, uses a word that describes a very potent, even dangerous influence.
10. Then Luke says, “So they remained for a long time” when it would be expected Paul and Barnabas might go elsewhere.
11. “Speaking boldly”—courageous at minimum and driven by love for those lost without a Savior. Their main theme was the “word of his grace.”
12. The “granting” of “signs and wonders”—“by their hands”— we wish we had more information. Were these healings? Were hands laid on? Luke assumes the reader understands.
13. Division was developing, some sided with the apostles while others were against them. Things have not changed from that day to this, which creates a tension, at minimum, for those who preach the Gospel message.
14. Once the political rulers become involved, the way is clear for the mistreatment of the apostles. Indeed it is now possible to stone them to death.
15. Paul and Barnabas hear of the plot against them and escape.
16. They travel south to Lystra, then east to Derbe. As they go they continue to preach the Gospel throughout the region.