Paul's Heart for Jews
But what Paul is doing is actually presenting the gospel of the God that was always in the Bible. He has 25 Old Testament quotes. And he talks about that even way back in Abraham's day, that the majority of the Jews had rejected Jesus as their Messiah.
REMEMBERING GOD’S FAITHFULNESS
The Lord not only controls nature as stated in an earlier verse, but He also controls the experiences of people. He humbles the proud, but He also exalts the humble. The godly observe this and rejoice, but the unrighteous keep silent. A wise person will reflect on these matters and meditate on God's loyal love. How often do we reflect on God’s faithful love and all He has done and continues to do for us?
Let him who is wise pay heed to these things and consider the loving devotion of the LORD. (Psalm 107:43)
Rejecting God
You keep abandoning God and after a while, you're gonna pass out of this world and you don't get any more chances, right? I know that sounds kind of harsh, but when we reject God, eventually we're gonna pass out of this world and we don't get any more chances. It's appointed to man once to die and then the judgment.
BOLDNESS IN CHRIST ACTS 14:7
In Iconium the Jews and Gentiles tried to stone Paul and Barnabas, so they left as any sensible person would. They didn’t want to remain and be stoned or lynched by this mob. It is a wise Christian who always knows when to stand his ground and when to leave for the glory of God. Paul and Barnabas were following the directions of the Lord Jesus given to them and so they left to go to Lystra and Derbe where they began sharing the Gospel again. Notice they didn’t quit because they were scared, but moved to another location and began again. Are we fearful of what others might think or do to us if we share the Gospel? May God give us boldness such as these men had.
And there they continued to preach
Nothing Good in Us
There is nothing good in me that is in my flesh and And that's the thing about all of us, there's nothing good in us. As I frequently tell people, there's nothing good about Marty McKenzie but Jesus Christ. And that's the only thing good about me is that he lives in me and now I can live the life of Christ.
GOD'S WORK
Luke again stressed that the results of the preaching of the gospel were due to God's work (1:1-2). The Christian evangelists were only harvesting the souls that God had already prepared. "Once again the human responsibility of believing is shown to coincide exactly with what God in his sovereignty had planned." Good news spreads fast, and the good news of the gospel "spread through the whole region."
When the Gentiles heard this, they rejoiced and honored the word of the Lord, and all who had been appointed to eternal life believed. (Acts 13:48)
God Wants Our Love
We are not robots, folks, are we? God loves us and he wants us to love him because we want to, not because we have to, right? I mean, God can zap every one of us and we just go, yes, God, yes, God, yes, God, yes, God, and we'd never do anything wrong. But that's not what he wants. He wants people who love him and serve him because they want to, not because they have to. https://t.co/c0hcB7sesg
CRYING OUT TO GOD
When God's people were sick because of their sins and they cried out to Him, He restored them to health (cf. Matt. 9:1-8). The reference to God's Word having a part in their healing (v. 20) shows that spiritual nourishment plays a vital part in physical restoration (cf. James 5:14-16). Such salvation should move God's people to make sacrifices to express their gratitude and to tell other people about the Lord's goodness. Have we cried out to God in desperation and asked Him to heal us and restore us from our sins, and told others how great He is?
Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble; He saved them out of their distresses. He sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their destructions. Let them give thanks to the LORD for His loving kindness, And for His wonders to the sons of men! (Psalm 107:19-21)
THANKING CHRIST
God is good and gives us to us things we don’t deserve and keeps many things from getting to us if we would admit it, we do deserve. Have you thanked God for who He is and all that He has done and continues to do for you every day?
Psalm 107:15 Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men!
SHARING CHRIST
Here in Acts 13:16-43 Paul gives us a good pattern of how to share the Gospel. He rehearses a short history of Israel, all that God did for them, how He brought Jesus to them as a Savior from the seed of David. How John the Baptist came and testified of who Jesus is and warned people to repent, yet they ended up crucifying Jesus, and how His resurrection from the dead proved He was God. He then gave testimony of how He was seen by many witnesses for many days and that He is the one in whom all sins can be forgiven. He then gave an invitation to believe warning them of the things that the prophets had spoken of that would come upon them if they did not believe. Let us ask God to give us an opportunity to tell someone the Good News of Jesus Christ today and be faithful when we get the opportunity to share Him.
"In bringing the gospel to Pisidian Antioch, Paul and Barnabas were planting Christianity in the communication nerve center and heart of Asia Minor."5Merrill F. Unger, "Pisidian Antioch and Gospel Penetration of the Greek World," Bibliotheca Sacra 118:469 (January-March 1961):48.
Acts 13:16, 38-40 Then Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said, "Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen: Ac 13:37 "but He whom God raised up saw no corruption. 38 "Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; 39 "and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. 40 "Beware therefore, lest what has been spoken in the prophets come upon you:
Drifting from Faith
You know, when you're driving down the road and you look off for a second or you kind of mind wanders for a second, you look up, you snatch the wheel and you about went off the road to ditch, right? Well, the same thing very quickly can happen in the Christian life. We can look up, look off, get our mind in the wrong spot, in the wrong place, and we can drift. The next thing you know, we can end up in a ditch, no matter how long we've been a Christian.