Acts 14, Half Way Through The Book Of Acts, Paul's 1st. Missionary Journey, to the Jew first , Iconium, Pisidia, Pamphylia, Lystra, Fasting, refused to believe, blinded unbelievers,

Acts 14

Acts Chapter 14, Half Way Through The Book Of Acts, Paul's 1st. Missionary Journey, to the Jew first , Iconium, Pisidia, Pamphylia, Lystra,

Fasting, refused to believe, blinded unbelievers, signs confirm message

Acts 13:6, Paphos

Acts 14:1, Iconium

• One pastor, that I listened to, said that Iconium was named after Greek mythology which tells that the gods and goddesses restored humanity after a great flood, in this region. By coming down and making images (icons) out of mud. And that we get our English word “icon” from this story. I find it very interesting, but I have not been able to either confirm or deny this account.

Acts 14:1, Iconium

• Acts 14:1 At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed.

• “Iconium” is only used concerning Paul. ½ of it’s uses are in Acts 14

Acts 14:1, Iconium, Modern Konya , Turkey

• Wikipedia, Konya “… Greek: Ικόνιον Ikónion, Latin:

• Iconium) is a city in the Central Anatolia Region of Turkey. It is the seventh most populous city in Turkey. As of 2011, the Konya Metropolitan Municipality had a population close to 1.1 million…”

Acts 14:1, Iconium, Modern Konya , Turkey

• Wikipedia,

Hercules Sarcophagus (ca. 250–260 AD) at the Konya Archaeological Museum

Acts 14:1, To The Jew First

• Acts 14:1…Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue…

• To the Jew first;• Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the

Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

• Romans 1:16, 2:9, 10 ...to the Jew first and also to the Greek...

Acts 14:1, They Spoke Effectively

• Acts 14:1…There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed.

• God is sovereign! He does it, and He involves us.• Rom 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing

by the word of God. KJV• Rom 10:14-15 How, then, can they call on the one they

have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!“

Acts 14:1, They Spoke Effectively

• Acts 14:1… they spoke so effectively …• 2 Cor 5:20-6:2 We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as

though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 6 As God's fellow workers we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain.

• KJV 2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Acts 14:2, Poisoned Their Minds

• Acts 14:2 But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.

• 2 Cor 4:4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ…

• NAU 2 Corinthians 11:14 …Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness…

• Col 1:21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.

• Titus 1:15…to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted.

Acts 14:3, Miraculous Signs

• Acts 14:3 So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders.

• The miraculous signs were to confirm apostles.• The New Testament wasn’t written yet.• 2 Cor 12:12 The things that mark an apostle —

signs, wonders and miracles…

Acts 14:6, To The Lycaonian Cities

• Acts 14:6 But they found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding country,

ISBE, 4509 Iconium

• “…The topographical position of Iconium is clearly indicated in Acts, and the evidence of Acts has been confirmed by recent research. … Xenophon, who marched with Cyrus' expedition through Phrygia into Lycaonia, calls Iconium the last city of Phrygia. The writer of Acts 14:6 makes the same statement when he represents Paul and Barnabas as fleeing from Iconium to the cities of Lycaonia--implying that the border of Phrygia and Lycaonia passed between Iconium and Lystra, 18 miles to the South. Other ancient authorities who knew the local conditions well speak of Iconium as Phrygian until far into the Roman imperial period. At the neighboring city of Lystra (Acts 14:11), the natives used the "speech of Lycaonia." Two inscriptions in the Phrygian language found at Iconium in 1910 prove that the Phrygian language was in use there for 2 centuries after Paul's visits, and afford confirmation of the interesting topographical detail in Acts …”

Acts 14:8, Crippled In His Feet

• Acts 14:8 In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked.

• Triple redundancy!• Paul is doing all the same miracles that Peter

did earlier.• Confirms his apostleship.

Relief found at Rome,

showing a slave leading a

garlanded bull, ready for sacrifice. Cf.

Acts 14:12-13

ACTS 14:15

Sirs Why Do Ye These Things

Acts 14:15, Cosmological Argument

• Acts 14:15…the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them.

• Acts 14:17 Yet he has not left himself without testimony:…

• Teleological Argument• Acts 14:17…he provides you with plenty of

food…• Providence

Acts 14:16, He Let Nations Go • Acts 14:16 In the past, he let all nations go their own way.• Acts 17:30-31 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now

he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead."

• NAU Hebrews 1:1 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son…

• NAU Genesis 3:9 …God called to the man…"Where are you?“• NAU Genesis 6:13 Then God said to Noah…• NAU Genesis 12:1 Now the LORD said to Abram…• NAU Genesis 31:3 Then the LORD said to Jacob…• NAU Jonah 1:1 The word of the LORD came to Jonah…

Acts 14:19, They Stoned Paul

Acts 14:19, They Stoned Paul

• Acts 14:19 Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead.

• Gal 6:17 Finally, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.

• 2 Cor 12:2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know — God knows.

Acts 14:24, Pisidia To Pamphylia

• Acts 14:24 After going through Pisidia, they came into Pamphylia,

Aspendus: Roman theater

Aspendos, Pamphylia

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspendus, “Aspendos was an ancient city in Pamphylia, Asia Minor, located about 40 km east of the modern city of Antalya, Turkey. It was situated on the Eurymedon River about 16 km inland from the Mediterranean Sea… The wide range of its coinage throughout the ancient world indicates that, in the 5th century BC, Aspendos had become the most important city in Pamphylia. At that time the Eurymedon River was navigable as far as Aspendos, and the city derived great wealth from a trade in salt, oil, and wool…”

Aspendos, Pamphylia, wikipedia.org

• The Roman theatre in Aspendos has been preserved remarkably well.[1]

Aspendos, Pamphylia, wikipedia.org• Aspendos theatre from the upper gallery

A river in Pamphylia with the Tarus Mountains in the background.

Acts 14:21, The Return Trip

• Acts 14:21…Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch,

• Lystra, that’s where we get…

• Listerine• 1924-bottle• Then Pamphylia must be

where “pamphlets” come from!

Acts 14:23, Appointed Elders

• Acts 14:23 Paul and Barnabas appointed elders…

• Titus 1:5 The reason I left you [Titus] in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.

Acts 14:23, Fasting Is Jewish

• Acts 14:23 When they had appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

• Matthew 17:21 "But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

• Acts 13:2 While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.“3 Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.

Acts 14:23, Fasting

• Matthew 9:14 Then the disciples of John came to Him, asking, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?" 15 And Jesus said to them, "The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.

• The only pertinent NT verses on fasting are before Acts 15, and the introduction of gentiles…

• After Acts 14:23 the NAU has no uses of “fasting, fasted, fastings.” The church epistles are silent on fasts.

Prayer And

Fasting

Acts 14:23

Acts 14:24, Pamphylia, Fausset's Bible Dictionary

• Southern province of Asia Minor, bounded on the N. by Pisidia, from which it was separated by the Taurus range, W. by Lycia, E. by Cilicia, S. by the Levant. In Paul's time it with Lycia formed a province under the emperor Claudius. His "peril of robbers" was in crossing Taurus, the Pisidians being notorious for robbery. He visited Pamphylia at his first missionary tour, sailing from Paphos in Cyprus to Perga in Pamphylia on the river Cestrus, where Mark forsook him (Acts 13:13; 15:38). They stayed only a short time then, but on their return from the interior "they preached the word" (Acts 14:24-25). Then they "went down (sea being lower than land) to Attila," the chief seaport of Pamphylia. The minute accuracy of the geographical order, confirming genuineness, is observable, when, in coasting westward, he is said to "sail over the sea of Cilicia, and Pamphylia." Also Acts 13:13-14, "from Perga to Antioch in Pisidia," and Acts 14:24, "after Pisidia ... to Pamphylia," in returning to the coast from inland.

Acts 14:26, Attalia Back To Antioch

• Acts 14:26 From Attalia they sailed back to Antioch,

• End of 1st. Missionary journey

1st. Journey = green line2nd. Journey = red line

Church Swappers

• I don't know why some people change churches; what difference does it make which one

• you stay home from?

Acts 13:6, Paphos

Don’t forget to give

thanks this week!

THE END