Ep. 281. Acts 14 | The Adventure Continues

EPISODE 281

THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES: ACTS 14

This chapter continues the missionary journey of Paul and Barnabas. You can see right away that the Gospel was not received favorably. Or at least it wasn't ONLY received favorably. The Jews had not only treated Christ with wickedness, they had treated the proclaimers of Christ with wickedness. But of course this is what Jesus had warned his disciples about in Matthew 10, and what Ananias, via the Spirit, had warned Paul about at his conversion in Acts 9. The text doesn't tell us whether or not the stoning of Paul was successful in killing him or if it only left him apparently dead. The crowds, stirred up by the Jesus-hating Jews, threw rocks at Paul until they believed him to be dead. But after the disciples gathered around him and prayed for him, he got up and returned to the city, and on the next day, went on to the next city to preach and proclaim Jesus with boldness. How fickle the followers of Jesus seem to be today compared with the boldness of Paul and the early disciples. How timid the believers of today seem. But maybe that's it; they aren't believers. The people who shrink back in fear and wilt in the heat of the day are those who have pretended to be followers of Jesus right up to the point of it costing them too much. And, of course, Jesus also spoke of that in Matthew 13.

ADDITIONAL READING: Romans 8:17-18