A Tale of Two Women (6 of 22)
Series: UnStoppable - Acts
Tim Badal
Acts 16:11-18
We're continuing our series in Acts that we've entitled ''Unstoppable: God's Work in the World.'' Today we're looking at what I'm calling ''A Tale of Two Women'' from Acts 16. Last week we saw that while we've been learning about this unstoppable ministry God was doing in the early church, there were some things that did seem to stop the spread of the gospel. Yet God proved His faithfulness to overcome them.
The first obstacle was that of interpersonal relationship issues between Paul and Barnabas. They got into an argument about whether to take John Mark on the second missionary journey, because he had deserted them during the first journey. As a result, Paul and Barnabas parted ways, each with their own team. You might have thought this break-up of such a dynamic ministry duo would have meant an end to the ministry of the church, but in fact, it did not. God used their conflict to allow two teams to go out. Barnabas and John Mark headed toward Cyprus with the gospel, while Paul took Silas and eventually Timothy to go through Asia Minor, strengthening and encouraging the churches there.
We also saw how closed doors might have seemed to be a way of stopping the advance of the gospel. At the end of our passage last week, Paul seemed to be running into closed doors. As a result, they weren't sure where they should be going next. But while it might have seemed to be a hindrance to the cause of Christ, we learned that through a vision, God opened an unexpected door. They left Asia Minor-which is modern-day Turkey-and headed across the Aegean Sea to reach out to a new group of people in Macedonia.
This was the first time the gospel would be brought into what is now Europe. We know looking back through history that this journey ignited a fire that for 2,000 years has not been extinguished. We'll see how this unstoppable spread of the gospel began in today's story found in A ...
Series: UnStoppable - Acts
Tim Badal
Acts 16:11-18
We're continuing our series in Acts that we've entitled ''Unstoppable: God's Work in the World.'' Today we're looking at what I'm calling ''A Tale of Two Women'' from Acts 16. Last week we saw that while we've been learning about this unstoppable ministry God was doing in the early church, there were some things that did seem to stop the spread of the gospel. Yet God proved His faithfulness to overcome them.
The first obstacle was that of interpersonal relationship issues between Paul and Barnabas. They got into an argument about whether to take John Mark on the second missionary journey, because he had deserted them during the first journey. As a result, Paul and Barnabas parted ways, each with their own team. You might have thought this break-up of such a dynamic ministry duo would have meant an end to the ministry of the church, but in fact, it did not. God used their conflict to allow two teams to go out. Barnabas and John Mark headed toward Cyprus with the gospel, while Paul took Silas and eventually Timothy to go through Asia Minor, strengthening and encouraging the churches there.
We also saw how closed doors might have seemed to be a way of stopping the advance of the gospel. At the end of our passage last week, Paul seemed to be running into closed doors. As a result, they weren't sure where they should be going next. But while it might have seemed to be a hindrance to the cause of Christ, we learned that through a vision, God opened an unexpected door. They left Asia Minor-which is modern-day Turkey-and headed across the Aegean Sea to reach out to a new group of people in Macedonia.
This was the first time the gospel would be brought into what is now Europe. We know looking back through history that this journey ignited a fire that for 2,000 years has not been extinguished. We'll see how this unstoppable spread of the gospel began in today's story found in A ...
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