08 - Iconium and Paul -The Itineraries Of Paul
Iconium and Paul Paul had been in Antioch in Pisidia. This is where his first recorded message was and afterwards the Jews were sort of filled with envy because they saw that many people were going to the Saturday morning fellowship o hear Paul. They didn’t quite like that. So Paul says, “Well we turn to the Gentiles now.” He starts teaching them as well as a number of the Jews that believe. The other Jews that didn’t like it finally stirred up trouble and pushed him out of the city. Acts 13:50: But the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts. “devout and honourable women” – they didn’t just pick on some of the regular town people, the common people. They picked on some of the devout and honourable women. The ones who were married to some of the top business executives in the community, some that were married to the mayor and some of the top men or perhaps, if the culture merited it, they were in great positions themselves. “chief men of the city” – they picked the chief men; men who were in those top positions; men in authority. The Jews went to get them; the ones who would pull a little weight; the ones who knew who their contacts were among the mafia. They’re not going to work any different today. Satan uses the same tactics today that he used in the first century. He is in no way original and he doesn’t use anything new. He uses the same old rusty equipment he used back then. He raised up persecution using men and women who could pull ropes. This is all it says about it here. It doesn’t say what else happened. We’re going to read in a few other records that you just don’t expel men of God like Paul and Barnabas out of your coasts and expect the best to follow. Whenever somebody tries to buck against men who are moving with the Word, they’re not fighting against men. Like Ananias; he didn’t lie to men. Who did he lie to? God, see it? It
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avoid that thing there. That doesn’t mean that they would always flee. Jesus was sometimes threatened with stones and he spoke to them and the Word cooled it, temporarily. Other times he left the building or left the community, depending on the revelation. There will always be a way to escape. God will see to that. What happened here was they were aware of it. They considered it. They didn’t consider it sense knowledge-wise. They considered it spiritually. That’s why they moved on. The believers were still there and they could still meet in the homes. You go into a community, you hold forth the Word and people are going to believe. When they believe, the unbelievers aren’t going to like it and they’ll stir up. When they start stirring up, you just be faithful to hold forth the Word because if you quit then, your people fall by the wayside. That’s when you have to keep speaking boldly, so