The Bible Teacher's Commentary
Paul J. Bucknell
Paul’s First Missionary Journey
Acts 13-14
Developing Missions in Your Local Church
Introduction to God's Mission Work and Map
The pictures of Christian activity that we discover in the Book of Acts are designed to instruct later generation Christians as to what is normal activity for the church. This first missionary trip is no exception. Unfortunately, many have totally misunderstood the purpose of Acts. They instead state that Acts represents the New Testament church, with the implications that those things do not happen in today’s modern (normative) church.
I recently came back from India. We were about to leave when a tall young man went running into the house. He had broken his back as a boy after falling from a coconut tree. Two hospitals said there was no hope without an operation they couldn't afford. But when they heard about Jesus, they asked Him to heal their son. God did heal that boy; he was the same young man running into the house in our story. That family, along with quite a few others, came to know the Lord through this miraculous healing.
Acts 13-14 describes how God initiates ministry in His people so that they can have a part is His worldwide mission. The church was not meant to remain stagnant. We will find an active church, waiting upon the Lord by prayer and fasting.
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
The center of church activities quickly moved from Jerusalem to Antioch. There were numerous reasons for this:
- Persecution in Jerusalem didn’t allow for open evangelistic activities.
- Persecution hardened the people and drove many leaders away.
- God was preparing Jerusalem for judgment and developing a new center.
- Gentiles eagerly became Christians and were located outside Jerusalem.
Christ was soon to judge Jerusalem for its rejection of the Messiah. This judgment occurred in just another twenty years after this journey. God was not only relocating the center of Christianity but establishing many new centers. Antioch in Pisidia now became a center, not only Antioch in Syria.