Paul’s First Missionary Journey or Barnabas’ First Missionary Trip
Today I’m going to continue our Book of Acts Bible study. I know the Devil doesn’t want me to, he has been fighting me the whole time. But by the grace of God, I’ll finish it today.
I’ll start this Bible study and I will finish it.
I’m finishing up Acts 14 and am going to look at the features of Paul’s first missionary journey. Paul on his first missionary journey made a few pronouncements which became standard for all his other missionary expeditions.
What is the ultimate proof that your soul is saved? Is this the work of man or God?
On his first missionary journey, a terrible thing happened to Paul. These are some of the things that I will look at in this Bible study.
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Backstory To What Happened on Paul’s First Missionary Journey
In the last Bible study, Paul was in Lystra and he healed a man that was born crippled. The Jews who left Antioch and Iconium followed him to Lystra and convinced the people that he was evil and then they stoned him.
He almost died and that’s where we’re going to pick up today. So we’re going to look at Acts 14:19.
“And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead.”
Acts 14:19
What did they persuade the people concerning Paul?
They persuaded them to stone Paul saying he wasn’t of God. They said something evil about him and persuaded the people about it and the people believed them.
So, in a previous Bible study, I explained that the Devil surfaced many times during Paul’s first missionary journey.
He first appeared in Paphos, which is the Western end of Cyprus, then in Antioch, next in Iconium, and now in Lystra.
I have explained to you what I mean by Satan always operating through unbelievers.
Consequently, we observe those unbelieving Jews from Antioch and Iconium traveling to Lystra to torment Paul.
Paul Started Doing This On His First Missionary Journey!
They left all the way in Antioch and went to Iconium but he wasn’t there; they left Iconium and went to Lystra where they found him.
These people are deliberate. They are focused.
“How be it as the disciples stood round about him he rose up and came into the City and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.”
So after he was stoned and while they were standing there, he got up and he left with Barnabas to Derbe.
So an important feature of Paul’s first missionary journey is that he makes circuitous journeys. He travels in a circuit or loop.
I think he might have gotten this from the prophet Samuel who traveled in circuits or he may have done this because of the topography of the region in which he was preaching.
Let’s look at Samuel the prophet of God and I’m going to read from first Samuel 7:16.
Samuel “went from year to year in circuit to Bethel, and Gilgal, and Mizpeh,” so he traveled “from Bethel to Gilgal to Mizpeh and judged Israel in all those places.”
So Samuel started in Bethel and traveled to the other cities and ended up back in Bethel where he started.
Where Did St Paul’s First Missionary Journey Start?
So he made a loop in his travel and that is one of the things that Paul did during his missionary journey, starting with the first missionary journey.
He left from Antioch, Cyprus then all the way and traveled around and then came right back to Antioch where he started.
Subsequently, you will observe that Paul returned to the place that he had just left. He left Antioch for Iconium and Iconium for Lystra and then from Lystra to Derbe then he left from Derbe to Lystra and then from Lystra to Iconium, from Iconium to Antioch. So you know he’s retracing his steps.
“And when they had preached the gospel to that City and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra and to Iconium and Antioch.”
So Luke is here explaining the circuit that the team was making as they traveled. Note, in the scripture verse below, how Apostle Luke differentiates between preaching and teaching.
Basically, preaching focuses on persuading the hearers to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. while on the other hand, the focus of teaching is to ensure that those who believed grow in the knowledge of God and Christ.
That’s the basic difference because there are times when preaching and teaching merge into one operation because a preacher is a teacher and a teacher is a preacher.
Yeah!
What Does It Mean to Confirm The Soul of The Believer?
There are times when you will not be able to differentiate between a preacher and a teacher. But usually, they can be one and the same person and they usually are, because I am teaching now primarily, but I can preach too.
Thanksgiving is around the corner and it’s very cold outside, so, I’m having my coffee as I do my Bible study.
All right, so let’s look at confirming the souls. Note below, how Luke shows that a Believer’s soul is separate from the Believer.
Thus, Apostle Paul makes his missionary circuits confirming the souls of Christians. All right, and we are at Acts 14:22:
“Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.” Acts 14:22.
So what does it mean to confirm the souls of the disciples?
Now don’t get this confused with the Roman Catholic Church and the rest of the world because the Roman Catholic Church is doing what it wants.
It’s not doing what’s in the Bible for there is no confirmation of any Believer in the Bible.
We cannot confirm Believers. The Word of God does that! There’s no ritual in the Bible where any leaders confirm any Believer.
Remember that, that’s not in the Bible.
The RCC And Confirming The Believer!
So the confirmation that the Roman Catholic Church is talking about is not biblical. It’s not in the word of God.
The confirmation that Paul did, confirming the souls of the believer here, I’ll explain shortly. So confirming the souls of the disciples could imply strengthening them, but that is not what the Bible means by that.
First, Paul preached Jesus Christ to them and they were saved. But later, on the return leg of his journey, remember he retraces his steps.
So he preached to them and left, went to another city, and while he was on his way back he stopped, at Lystra, and he confirmed the souls of the believers there.
In other words, the message that he preached to them when he was going the first time, it’s the same message he preached to them the second time.
However, he added other scriptures to the Word of God showing them that they are indeed saved.
So it’s the same word he gave to them again, confirming the first word that he gave with additional biblical proofs, that’s what Paul was doing.
So in other words, Paul was using the Bible to reassure them that they had made the right decision concerning believing in Jesus Christ.
Confirmation is not some religious rite; instead, it is the operation of the word of God, strengthening and reassuring our hearts.
The First Missionary Journey – Another Name For It!
It’s the spoken word of God, confirming and reassuring our hearts because remember these people were Gentiles, they didn’t know God and Christ, they had no experience with the word of God and that’s why Paul was doing all of this.
However, note that Paul wasn’t confirming the disciples. Instead, he was reassuring the souls of the Believers and there is a difference, not the people he was confirming but their souls.
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So let’s continue, and we are at Acts 14:23, this is primarily talking about Paul but remember that Barnabas is with him and even though we are saying Paul’s first missionary journey.
Remember it’s not just Paul, it’s Paul and Barnabas, but the Scripture focuses on Paul.
Actually, it’s Theologians and Christians who really say Paul’s first missionary journey, it’s not the Scripture at all.
The scripture clearly tells us that Barnabas was with Paul, so it’s not the Bible.
Who Went on the First Missionary Journey?
“And when they [and the scripture refers to they, not just Paul, and when they, meaning Paul and Barnabas] had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believe.” Acts 14:23.
“And after they had passed through by Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia. And when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia: And thence sailed unto Antioch, from whence they had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they had fulfilled.”
Therefore Paul having confirmed the souls of the Believers went on to exhort, which means strengthening and encouraging them to continue in the faith.
In the church and in the Bible, whenever a believer gives an exhortation, it’s a moving speech that encourages or strengthens the church, the congregation, and the other believers.
Finally, Paul explained to them that we must through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God and this causes a lot of confusion too, because we have to enter into tribulation to enter into the kingdom of God, but that’s not what the scripture says!
“And when they were come, and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of Faith unto the Gentiles. And there they abode long time with the disciples.”
Conclusion
Basically, that wraps up Paul’s first missionary journey.
He started in Antioch, he traveled the Mediterranean Sea, went North, went into Asia, went from Antioch to Lystra to Derbe then from Derbe and then he retraced his steps and went back where it started, and that concludes his first missionary journey.
Now there are some things that Paul did on this journey that he will continue to do in his other excursions.
So I’m going to conclude, as Paul navigates his other missionary journeys he will travel in circuits, ordaining Elders in every Church and confirming the souls of Believers.
These activities he started here on this first missionary journey, but they will continue in other excursions.
Apostle Paul went through Asia confirming the souls of Believers or confirming the churches.
How To Confirm the Soul?
This is one and the same thing and this was necessary because the Gentiles or the Greeks had no experience with the word of God.
Therefore, Paul could only confirm those churches he had visited before.
So the confirmation that the scripture is talking about here is the confirmation of the word of God.
Paul could only have confirmed these churches or the souls of these believers only if he had spoken to them or preached to them before.
If he had not done that then there was nothing to confirm, there was no word of God to confirm, so that must happen first.
When Does Confirmation Happen?
So you will recognize that confirmation of the souls of believers or confirmation of the churches could only occur on subsequent visits.
He cannot confirm that which he has not spoken. It must be something that he has spoken to them about before that he is confirming in later visits.
Therefore the confirmation of souls is not a religious rite but the power of the spoken word of God that confirms the hearts of Believers.
These people got saved, and they came to know God, but they didn’t know much about the Word of God.
Paul had to repeat himself and in so doing confirm to them that they had made the right choice.
They have made the right decision in believing on Jesus Christ and that’s basically all that was about, confirming the souls of the believers.
I thank you for your time and I bless you in the mighty name of Jesus. Blessings of the Lord are on you and if the Lord Wills, I will see you in another video Bible study. Bye.
