The apostles stayed there a long time, preaching boldly about the grace of the Lord. And the Lord proved their message was true by giving them power to do miraculous signs and wonders.
Observation
Having been rejected in Antioch of Pisidia, Paul and Barnabas travel to Iconium. They preach in the synagogue and a great number of people are saved. They stay there for some time, preaching boldly and demonstrating god’s power in signs and wonders.
A plan arises amongst both Jews and Gentiles to attack Paul and Barnabas. They flee to Lystra and Derbe where they continue to preach the Good News.
Application
The apostles stayed a long time in Iconium, preaching boldly about the grace of the Lord. It must have been difficult for some Jewish people to accept that they were saved by grace and not by following religious laws.
This is a radical message, even for many christians. We find it hard at times to believe that we really are set free and forgiven by God’s grace. We find it hard to squash that belief that we can earn God’s favour by our own goodness.
Alternatively, we can fall into the trap of thinking that we must be sinning when God feels distant.
It is all grace. Our salvation, our relationship with God, our status of righteousness- everything is grace!
To prove the power of the message, the Lord blessed the apostles with the grace to perform signs and wonders. When we truly trust in God’s grace, we are set free in every part of our being- physical, emotional, spiritual.
There is power in the name of Jesus to break every chain. Not because the word is holy or magical, but because Jesus is powerful.
Prayer
Thank you Lord for your grace. Thank you for setting me free of every kind of sin. Amen.
And the believers were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.
Observation
Many Jews and converts to Judaism follow Paul and Barnabas, so that the following Sabbath just about the whole city turns out to hear them. But some of the Jewish leaders start opposing their message.
Paul and Barnabas boldly declare that since the Jews have rejected them, they will now go to the Gentiles. The Gentiles rejoice that Paul will now focus his attention on them, and many become believers.
The Jews incite a mob and have Paul and Barnabas run out of town.
Application
This passage ends with Paul and Barnabas, having been ejected from the city, shake the dust from their feet and move on to Iconium. Then it says, “The believers were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.”
This is not to mean that the believers were filled with joy because Paul and Barnabas were gone. I think that what it is saying is that the gospel and the church are bigger than even the greatest of leaders and preachers.
The church in Antioch continued to prosper because the people had the Holy Spirit. The Lord is the one who leads and directs the people of God. We have leaders who set directions and give encouragement, but when every believer knows they are filled with the Holy Spirit, then when leaders are taken away, it makes little or no difference to what God can do in and through the church.
The New Testament makes it clear that it is the Lord who appoints His leaders- apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Leaders are essential to God’s purposes, and we ignore them at our peril.
In the end, we must recognise the gifts of leaders, but not be dependent on them above our dependence on the Lord.
Prayer
Thank you Lord for bringing order into the church, your community of faith. Thank you for pastors and other leaders. Thank you also that even when individual leaders move on, you do not leave us without direction. Amen.
Here is my commentary on Ephesians 2:6. I am publishing these once or twice a week, but you can read all of the available articles at our web-site.
Ephesians 2:6
God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.
The work of God in saving us from sin and death is already completed. When God rose Christ from the dead, He also raised from the dead all who were, and all who would be, “in Christ.”
Even those of us who were born historically two millennia after Christ, were raised with him.
The Lord has a different perspective on time than we do, so it’s best not to get too caught up in chronology.
The fact that we have already been raised with Christ means that the work of salvation is completed. There is no doubt about whether God will do this for the followers of Christ as it has already been done.
There are all kinds of anxieties that can be set Christians.
Am I good enough?
Do I have enough faith?
Will God accept me?
What else do I have to do to be saved?
No! It has already been done. We’ve been raised up to new life in Christ. We have been raised to heaven and are sitting there with Christ now.
Because that work has been completed, it cannot be undone. It can’t be added to or taken away from.
When we know this in our hearts, then we can relax in Christ. There is no fear, no anxiety. We do not have to prove ourselves worthy of salvation or do enough good deeds. It is finished! We have been raised up.
Every church service is, or should be, a reminder that Christ died for me, and that He has been raised up to life, and therefore I am raised up also.
Our resurrection depends on being “with Christ.” It is as if we have to hold onto his hand as he is raised in order to be raised also.
Connection with Christ, or fellowship with him, is the central, most important duty of a Christian. It is in Christ that we are saved, and it is with Christ that we are raised to the heavenly realms.
Many Christians seem to struggle with maintaining a close relationship with Christ, but this is essential to our salvation. It is not enough to say just one prayer to be saved, although this is a good thing.
We have to maintain the relationship with Christ. There are various means for this such as reading the Bible, prayer, corporate worship, fellowship with other believers.
Many of us are like the man who told his wife, “ I told you I loved you on our wedding day. If there is any change to that I will let you know.”
No, our being with Christ or in Christ requires us to deepen the relationship.
We were raised on the first day we said “Yes” to Christ, but why would we settle for anything less than close communion with him?
God seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.
When Christ was raised from the dead, He raised us with him, and when He was seated at the right hand of the Father, we were there too. We are there “in Christ Jesus.”
This means that I am both a creature of earth and of heaven. My physical body is on earth, but my spirit is united with Christ in the heavenly realms.
We see the world in three dimensional form, but there are many more dimensions that we do not see. We experience the world through physical senses, but the spiritual realm is often hidden from us.
Paul tells us that we are already seated in the heavenly realms with Christ- even if we are not aware of this.
Our sins have been washed away through Christ and we are now entitled to dwell in heaven. In the past, our sin cut us off from all fellowship with God, but now we have authority to be with him in the heavenly realms.
If we are already seated with Christ, we need to see all things from His perspective, from a heavenly perspective. We need to develop spiritual senses that enable us to see beyond the physical. Paul talks about this later in his discussion of spiritual warfare. We are not fighting in the flesh but in the spirit, overcoming spiritual powers.
As Christians, our real dwelling place is in the heavenly realms- in the spirit realms. This is not future but is a present reality founded on what God did in the past in Christ.
Key points in this verse:
We have already been raised from death in Christ
We do not need to add to Christ work. It is complete
We must pursue relationship with Christ
God has seated us in heavenly places in Christ
We must learn to see things from a heavenly perspective, not just the physical perspective
“Brothers, listen! We are here to proclaim that through this man Jesus there is forgiveness for your sins. Everyone who believes in him will be declared right with God- something that the law of Moses could never do.”
Observation
Paul and Barnabas sail to Pamphylia and then travel to Antioch in Pisidia. On the Sabbath they go to the synagogue where they are invited to bring a word of encouragement. Paul proceeds to go through the history of Israel and how God has always led His people. He uses the scriptures to encourage them to become followers of Jesus.
Application
In the Jewish religion there was a temptation to believe that righteousness could be earned by obeying all the requirements of the Law. There was also the opposite temptation of despairing at never being able to do enough to please God.
Both of those failings can be found in the church today, but only when people fail to understand that righteousness comes only as a gift through Jesus.
As Paul says in this Scripture, “through the man Jesus there is forgiveness of sins.” We cannot earn our way to righteousness; all we can do is put our trust in Jesus who has paid the price for our forgiveness.
Everyone who believes in Jesus is declared right with God. Instead of my sin falling on my head, it falls on Christ.
God declares that I am righteous. My sins are forgiven and my debt is paid. I can stand secure in my relationship with God.
This is seriously Good News!
Prayer
Thank you Lord Jesus for paying the price for my sin. Thank you that in you there is true righteousness. Amen.
Scripture When the governor saw what had happened, he became a believer for he was astonished at the teaching about the Lord.
Observation One day, the prophets and teachers of the church in Antioch are worshipping and fasting when the Holy Spirit directs them to dedicate Saul and Barnabas for the Lord’s work. They do this, and Barnabas and Saul go to Cyprus.
In the town of Paphos, they meet the governor who wants to hear more about the gospel. A sorcerer named Elymas tries to prevent the governor from listening to them, but Saul, filled with the Holy Spirit, declares God’s judgement on Elymas who is then struck blind for a time.
The governor becomes a believer.
Application It has often been said that a key cause of the growth of the early church was the presence of miracles by the power of the Holy Spirit. Many of these miracles were what we might describe as positive- healings and the like. Some of them represented God’s judgement. In either case, the miracles were a powerful sign of God’s blessing on the Good News.
It is interesting that in this case, the governor received salvation after Elymas was struck blind. He became a believer because he was astonished at the teaching about the Lord.
The judgement on Elymas backed up the teaching and the authority of Saul and Barnabas. He did not believe just because of the miracle. He believed because of the teaching which was backed up by the miracle.
If I make a prediction based on scientific measurements that it will rain tomorrow, you might be sceptical that I know anything about science. But when I does rain, my credibility and knowledge of science are backed up.
When our proclamation of the Good News is backed up by signs and wonders, the gospel has greater power to overcome people’s objections.
Prayer Father, please fill me with your Holy Spirit so that my speaking for you is bolstered by your power. Amen.
Here is my commentary on Ephesians 2:5. I am publishing these once or twice a week, but you can read all of the available articles at our web-site.
Ephesians 2:5
[God] made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions– it by you have been saved
In this and the next few verses, Paul talks about grace and faith working together to bring us to salvation. The past few verses were about God’s love lifting us from wrath. Now he talks about death and life.
We were dead in our transgressions.
Previously Paul talked about living in the flesh and sin, but now he reveals something shocking — we were dead in our transgressions.
It is ironic that’s the people who most want to indulge the sinful nature regard christians as lacking a life. Those who are “ living” in transgressions are actually dead.
The film “The Matrix” illustrate this perfectly. In the movie, The human race had been captivated by aliens who held everyone in a trance. People were deceived by a computer program which made them believe that they were living normal lives.
The flesh deceives us so that we believe we are living, when we are actually dead.
To be dead in transgressions means that we live a sub-human life. We were meant for so much more than a life of self-centeredness , of self-indulgence. Every person was created by God for a purpose, and unless we surrender ourselves to God, we are living below our optimum humanity. To “ live” in transgressions is to live with the purpose and direction of an animal.
To be dead in transgressions means that our spirit is dead. The spirit is the part of our nature that communicates with God. It is the breath that God breathed into Adam, and which Christ breathed into the disciples. Until our spirit is animated by the Holy Spirit, it remains dead .
To be dead in transgressions is to be sleep walking towards hell. It is like a condemned prisoner who is on his way to the execution chamber. His body is alive but he has no future other than death.
We were once dead in our transgressions, but God made us alive with Christ.
As we stated in the previous verse, it is God who takes the action in Salvation. He takes the initiative, all we can do is receive what he has done.
God made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead.
Just as God raised Christ from the dead, he raised us also with Christ. When we first saw the truth of the gospel we were raised from the dead. Life came flowing into our spirit, and we came to life.
This is God’s work of resurrection. New life flows to the spirit of the new believer. Suddenly the chains that kept us in the grave are released, and we start to feel alive, really alive, for the very first time.
It is as if we are born again, brought into a new form of life that we have never experienced before .
We could not do that by ourselves. Nobody can summon the energy to raise themselves from the grave. God did this, all by himself.
We have been saved by the grace of God.
To be saved means to be rescued where we could not save ourselves. Our ship was sinking in rough seas when a helicopter came to lift us to safety. We were lost in the bush with no food when the rescue patrol found us.
Right at the point of our death, the death of Christ raised us to life.
The word for saved means also to be healed or made whole. We were broken, dead, lost, and without hope. Then God saved us.
We were headed for hell with no possible way out. As the sentence was declared, Jesus stepped in and took our punishment away. We expected eternal hell, stared receive eternal Heaven .
This Is all by grace, the grace of God.
We need to see that it is God’s grace. The living God graces us with His gift of life.
Many people have a fuzzy idea about terms such as grace. They think that the universe is favourably disposed to us and this is grace. They think that grace, like God, is some sort of impersonal force that makes sure that everything works out.
This is God’s grace, Father God gifting us with his mercy and his life. Grace literally means a gift. Salvation comes as a gift from the Father.
We cannot earn grace because that would be a wage. We are not entitled to it like an inheritance. Grace is a free gift with no strings attached.
Salvation comes as a free gift.
We were dead in our sins, but God made us alive because of his free gift to us in Christ.
Key points in this verse
We were dead in our transgressions even though we thought we were alive full.
We had a sub-human existence until we were rescued.
We were sleepwalking to hell.
Salvation is God’s free gift to us.
We cannot save ourselves. We need God’s grace to save us.
Instantly an angel of the Lord struck Herod with a sickness, because he accepted the people’s worship instead of giving glory to God. So he was consumed with worms and died.
Observation
Herod starts to persecute the church by having James put to death. This pleases the Jewish leaders, so he has Peter arrested. The night before Peter’s trial, an angel of the Lord comes to release him and lead him to safety.
The people of Tyre and Sidon send a delegation to make peace with Herod. Herod makes a fine speech which the people present proclaim to be the speech of a god not a man. Because Herod accepts this false worship, the Lord strikes him down with sickness, and he dies.
Application
Many people like to think that God does not punish people, that He does not judge sin. Of course this is nonsense. The Bible is full of warnings against the judgement of God.
Here Herod is struck down with a fatal illness because he is praised as a god. It is interesting that it is this blasphemous pride rather than the murder of James and the attempted murder of Peter which God punishes.
While few of us would be tempted to think that we are gods, many can be prone to pride at various times. We might be proud of our abilities, proud of our talents, proud of our ministry.
At these times, we run the risk of being judged by the Lord.
Every now and again we hear of pastors falling into sin of some kind, sometimes even committing a crime. Very few of them start off in ministry with this or other immoral goals. But pride, even a sense of entitlement, starts to find its way in. Eventually they find themselves doing things that once they would not have considered themselves capable of doing.
God’s judgement is real, but not because He gets pleasure from inflicting pain on us. God judges because He loves us and wants us to turn to Him before it is too late.
Prayer
Father, please help me to walk in your ways every day. May I live in a way that honours you. Amen.
Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and strong in faith.
Observation
The persecution in Jerusalem scatters the believers to many places, but they preach only to the Jews. Some believers arrive in Antioch from Cyprus and Cyrene and start preaching to the Gentiles. The power of the Lord is with them, and many are saved.
The church at Jerusalem sends Barnabas to Antioch. He sees that God is doing great things there and he goes off to Tarsus to fetch Saul. They both stay in Antioch for a year, teaching large crowds of people.
A prophet called Agabus predicts a huge famine, so the believers in Antioch collect money to help the church in Jerusalem.
Application
I can’t think of any better honour than to be described, like Barnabas, as a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and strong in faith.
This three- fold description is something we can all aspire to, because they are all choices that we make.
To be a “good man” or woman really depends on the choice to stand firm in the Lord. This goes beyond moral choices to the concept of integrity. A good person is one who knows what is right in every situation and who operates from conviction. A few years ago there was a fad on the phrase “What Would Jesus Do?” which is a good way to remind us to always act in a way that honours the Lord.
To be full of the Holy Spirit is also a choice. It means that we constantly seek the Lord in prayer, asking Him to direct our steps. Christians are meant to be always aware of the Holy Spirit. Cultivating that awareness of the Spirit goes a long way to being full of the Spirit.
To be strong in faith means both prayer and action. Every issue in our life, every non-believer, every local and national problem should be brought before the Lord in prayer. As we do this, we learn to see that we have authority in the Lord. We start to pray bold and faithful prayers. Having prayed and listened to the Lord, we can act confidently, ministering the grace and power of the Holy Spirit.
Prayer
Lord, please help me to be a Barnabas: good, full of the Holy Spirit and strong in faith. Amen.
When the others heard this, they stopped objecting and began praising God. They said, “we can see that God has also given the Gentiles the privilege of repenting of their sins and receiving eternal life.”
Observation
Peter arrives back in Jerusalem, having shared the gospel with Cornelius’ household. Some of the Jewish believers criticise him for entering the home of a Gentile. Peter recounts the story of how he had the vision of the animals being lowered from heaven, his visit to Caesarea, and the giving of the Holy Spirit to the Gentiles.
When the others hear this, they stop objecting and start praising God. They rejoice that God is giving the Gentiles the opportunity to repent and believe the Good News.
Application
How often our preconceptions of what God will do prevent us from seeing what He is already doing. The Jewish believers thought that God would only save people like them, but God’s plan is much bigger.
Sometimes we get mentally locked in to a picture of the way God acts. It can be about people being saved- we might have a hard time believing that a particular people group can encounter God and believe the gospel.
Sometimes we think that a certain prayer or a way of praying is the only way to get a healing or some other miracle. Some people get fixated on a person- only the pastor or a particular celebrity preacher can pray for them.
Amazingly, God is much bigger than our preconceptions of Him. He will save anybody who turns to Him. He will use any prayer from any person to achieve His purposes..
Prayer
Lord, teach me how to see things as you see them, and not through the filter of my preconceptions. Amen.
Evan as Peter was saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the message.
Observation
Peter starts to share the gospel message. He shares how God has shown him that he accepts all who fear Him and do what is right.
Peter goes on to say that Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit by God and went about healing all who were oppressed. He was crucified, but God raised Him to life on the third day.
While Peter is speaking, the Holy Spirit comes on the hearers. They start speaking in tongues and praising God. Peter orders that they should be baptised since God has given His Holy Spirit to them.
Application
While Peter is speaking, the Holy Spirit came on the hearers. Of all the reasons to have a sermon interrupted, this would have to be the best!
It was a shock to the Jewish believers that the Gentiles should receive the Holy Spirit like this. They were still thinking of christianity as a Jewish thing. But here was a bunch of people who were not Jews suddenly receiving the Holy Spirit as they responded to the Good News.
God often catches us by surprise. The least likely people get saved sometimes, while those we think are on the edge of believing remain stubbornly on the edge.
Like on the Day of Pentecost, the sign of the Holy Spirit being poured our is that these new believers speak in tongues and praise God.
Speaking in tongues or, as Paul calls it, praying in the Spirit, means surrendering our voice to the Holy Spirit for Him to use.
Praising God means using our voice , along with our mind, to focus on speaking good things about God.
Both of these together are signs of the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit.
Prayer
Come Holy Spirit and fill me again. May my heart and mind be totally filled with you, and my tongue devoted to our praise. Amen.
New Life Narrabri 