Acts - Week 7 / Tuesday

Reading for today: Acts 13:13-41

Verse 13 gives us an interesting bit of information that will resurface in a couple of chapters. It says that John Mark left them to return to Jerusalem. This departure evidently came at a crucial time, and Paul saw it as an almost inexcusable failure on the part of John Mark. In fact, this event became a point of contention between Paul and Barnabas, as we will see later.

When Paul and Barnabas arrive in Antioch of Pisidia, the first place of ministry for them is, as usual, the synagogue. When they are invited to speak, Paul begins what is his longest recorded sermon.

The first part of the sermon, verses 17-25, reviews the history of Israel, starting from God's choice of Israel and the deliverance from Egypt and leading up to God's choice of David. All of this was very familiar to his audience and showed them Paul knew the Scriptures.

The second part of the sermon, verses 26-37, deals with the death and resurrection of Jesus and with the witness of the apostles. In vs.26 Paul emphasizes that this message of salvation was sent out to them personally, both to the Jews and the Gentiles.

Paul ends his sermon in verses 38-41 by exhorting them to accept Jesus as the Messiah. Verse 39 is the key verse to his sermon: justification comes through faith in Christ, not in holding on to the Law.

The message obviously connected with those who were hearing it, causing many to decide to accept Christ as their Messiah. It is always interesting to me how God takes a spoken message and uses it to penetrate the heart of someone who is listening. God's Word is powerful! It has the ability to ignite even the hardest heart. Maybe you have been impacted by a spoken message. If so, it would be interesting to hear about it.

Tomorrow: Opportunity and Opposition