Acceptance and Opposition – Acts 14

The Courage to Go Back

This past Sunday, our evangelist Eric Love preached through Acts 14. By Acts 14:21, Paul and Barnabas had reached Derbe. They’d been stoned, beaten, driven from city to city, and finally they’d made many disciples in Derbe. Look at a map of their journey, and you’ll notice something striking: they were geographically closer to their sending church in Antioch than they’d been in weeks. The logical move—the safe move—would have been to head straight home.

Instead, they turned around.

They reversed course and walked directly back into the face of the persecution they’d been fleeing. Back to Lystra, where Paul had been stoned and left for dead. Back to Iconium, where the crowds had plotted to stone them. Back to Antioch of Pisidia, where they’d been violently expelled from the city. Why would anyone do this?

Because the gospel doesn’t just save individuals—it establishes churches. And Paul and Barnabas understood that healthy, functioning local churches were essential to continue the mission after they left the region. Their return journey wasn’t recklessness. It was strategic conviction about the power of the gospel proclamation and the necessity of establishing elders and strengthening disciples in every church they’d planted.

The Secret of Their Success

Eric began the message by highlighting the question every preacher wants to know: What caused so many people to believe when Paul and Barnabas preached in Iconium? Acts 14:1 says they “spoke in such a manner that a large number of people believed, both of Jews and of Greeks.”

The answer isn’t found in rhetorical skill or persuasive technique. Verse 3 reveals their secret: “They spent a long time there speaking boldly with reliance upon the Lord, who was testifying to the word of His grace, granting that signs and wonders be done by their hands.”

Reliance. Complete, uncompromising reliance on the Lord.

Paul and Barnabas weren’t trusting in themselves. They weren’t operating from a place of self-confidence or human ability. They were utterly dependent on Christ to work through them. And the Lord testified to their message by performing miracles that authenticated the gospel and demonstrated God’s approval of the risen Jesus.

This challenges those of us who minister in any capacity. Do we rely on our preparation, our gifting, our experience? Or do we genuinely depend moment by moment on the power of Christ working through us? As Eric reminded us from 1 Corinthians 15:10, Paul could say, “I labored… yet not I, but the grace of God with me.” It’s both/and. We labor faithfully, but God gets the credit because He’s the one producing the fruit.

Miracles That Demand a Verdict

One of Eric’s most compelling points was how Luke presents miracle accounts in Acts. These weren’t vague legends or stories that grew with time. Luke recorded them with specific, verifiable details that invite investigation.

Consider the healing in Lystra: “A man was sitting who had no strength in his feet, lame from his mother’s womb, who had never walked” (Acts 14:8). That level of detail matters. This wasn’t a minor ailment or a psychosomatic condition. This was a man who had never walked—not even once. And when Paul commanded him to stand, he immediately leaped up and began walking.

Eric pointed out three crucial elements in how Luke records these miracles:

First, the miracles were remarkable and undeniable. They couldn’t be dismissed as natural phenomena or coincidences. People lame from birth don’t spontaneously develop the ability to walk.

Second, the miracles were witnessed by many people—including enemies of Christianity. Luke practically invites readers to verify the accounts by interviewing eyewitnesses. He even includes names of people who were healed, making investigation easier.

Third, the miracles were done in Jesus’ name. If Jesus had been a false messiah, God would never have allowed miracles to be performed in His name. The continued miraculous authentication proved God’s approval of Jesus and the truth of the gospel message.

As Eric said, “We believe these things not because we’re gullible people. We believe these things because there’s good reason to.”

The Horror of Misdirected Worship

After Paul healed the lame man in Lystra, the crowds erupted. “The gods have become like men and have come down to us!” they shouted in their local dialect. They called Barnabas “Zeus” and Paul “Hermes,” and the priest of Zeus brought oxen to offer sacrifices to them.

This was Paul and Barnabas’s chance. If they wanted recognition, authority, or adoration from men—this was it on a silver platter. They could have soaked it in.

Instead, they were horrified.

They tore their robes—a sign of extreme distress—and rushed into the crowd crying out: “Men, why are you doing these things? We are also men of the same nature as you!” Eric emphasized that their reaction reveals everything about their motives. They had no desire for personal glory. Their entire ministry was about exalting Christ and redirecting all worship to Him alone.

Eric shared a recent experience where someone compared our church’s benevolence ministry to “angels sent from God.” His response was perfect: “Listen, the reason we do this is because Jesus told us to. If Jesus didn’t tell us to do this, honestly, I’m not driving all over the place helping people this way. We do this because Jesus is our Lord.”

It’s all about Him. That’s the end of the story.

Every act of service, every instance of generosity, every good work—it all points back to Christ. We’re simply reflecting His character and obeying His commands. The glory belongs to Him alone.

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Turning to the Gentiles: When God’s Word Finds Willing Hearts

Have you ever noticed how easy it is to justify your own decisions? We’re remarkably skilled at making choices based on emotion and then constructing perfectly logical explanations afterward. Modern behavioral scientists recently conducted experiments confirming what many suspected: nearly everyone, regardless of whether they consider themselves rational or emotional, makes decisions from the heart first and rationalizes them second.

I find it fascinating—and a bit amusing—when modern science finally catches up to what Scripture declared millennia ago. Almost 3,000 years before these experiments, Proverbs 16:2 warned us: “All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, but the Lord weighs the motives.” We’re experts at justifying ourselves, at making our actions seem reasonable in our own eyes. But God looks deeper. He sees what’s really driving us.

This truth becomes especially relevant when we encounter God’s Word and find parts that challenge us, that don’t align with what feels right to us. Do we submit to Scripture’s authority, or do we make ourselves the final judge? In Acts 13:44-52, we witness a stark contrast between those who truly submit to God’s authority and those who only pretend to.

The Ancient Wisdom We Keep Rediscovering

The behavioral scientists weren’t the first to discover this truth about human nature. Proverbs 21:2 says essentially the same thing: “Every man’s way is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the hearts.” When you observe our culture today—the political battles, the religious conflicts, the endless arguments on social media—this principle is constantly at work. What seems right to us feels right to us. And when what seems right to me contradicts what seems right to you, conflict erupts.

But here’s the problem: the heart is deceitfully wicked. Sometimes we don’t even realize we’re justifying ourselves. I think about King David, a man after God’s own heart, who managed to rationalize his horrific actions with Bathshea and Uriah. If David could deceive himself so thoroughly, what makes us think we’re immune?

The world tells us to follow our hearts, to trust our feelings, to do what seems right to us. But Scripture calls us to something radically different: taking the locus of authority from our own hearts and placing it under God’s Word. This is the fundamental division we see playing out in Acts 13.

Two Responses to One Message

When Paul and Barnabas came to Pisidian Antioch, they went straight to the synagogue. This made perfect sense strategically. Where else would you find people most eager to hear about the fulfillment of promises made in Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms? These were people who gathered every Sabbath to hear God’s Word read and explained. Surely they would be the most receptive audience.

And initially, they were interested. The next Sabbath, nearly the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. But when the Jewish leaders saw the crowds, something shifted. Verse 45 tells us they “were filled with jealousy and began contradicting what was spoken by Paul, and were blaspheming.”

Here’s what strikes me: the religious establishment, the people who should have been most prepared to recognize their Messiah, became hostile. Meanwhile, the Gentiles—the outsiders, the ones who weren’t part of the covenant community—“began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.”

When God Interrupts the Good to Call You to the Greater

We live in a culture obsessed with optimization. GPS routes us around traffic. Apps deliver groceries to our doorstep. We can accomplish in hours what once took days. And somewhere along the way, we’ve internalized a dangerous assumption: if there’s an easier path, we should take it.

But what if following Jesus actually requires the opposite of optimization? What if the path of discipleship sometimes leads away from comfort and toward something harder—something that looks less like upgrading your life and more like disrupting it? The church at Antioch was about to find out.

In Acts 13, we encounter a thriving community of believers doing everything right. Five gifted leaders were ministering to the Lord. The gospel was advancing. Then the Holy Spirit spoke: “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” God was asking them to release 40% of their leadership team. No explanation. No guarantee of easy replacements. Just an invitation to obedience that would cost them something precious.

Ministering to the Lord, Not Just Managing a Ministry

The text tells us something crucial about what was happening in Antioch: “While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said…” This phrase, “ministering to the Lord,” is transformative. This isn’t language about programs or services or even ministry to people. This is about worship.

Many approach church the way we approach everything else in our convenience-driven culture: as consumers. We church shop. We evaluate features and benefits. We ask, “What’s in it for me?” But the believers in Antioch gathered with a radically different question: How can we bring honor and glory to God?

They weren’t asking, “Does this worship set match my preferences?” or “Is the sermon speaking directly to my needs?” They came to minister to the Lord. They were offering Him service, bringing Him praise, submitting themselves to His Word. And they did this while fasting, a discipline that intentionally embraces discomfort to humble our hearts and sharpen our spiritual sensitivity.

Here’s what’s remarkable: it was in this posture of worship and self-denial that the Holy Spirit spoke.

The Call That Costs Something

“Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul.” Five leaders. God asked for two. Not the expendable ones. Not the least effective. He asked for Barnabas—the encourager, the one everyone loved—and Saul, the brilliant teacher trained under Gamaliel who could connect the Old Testament to Jesus like no one else.

The biggest hindrance for some Christians to doing what God has called them to do is continuing to do what they’re currently doing. It is hard to release good things to pursue God’s greater purposes. We cling to comfortable rhythms and familiar roles, convinced that what we’re doing now is too important to let go.

But notice what the Holy Spirit didn’t say. He didn’t say, “Set them apart because what you’re doing here doesn’t matter.” He said, “I have called them to the work“—a different work, an additional work, a work beyond Antioch’s walls. The ministry in Antioch was good and right. But God had something else for Barnabas and Saul. They weren’t shutting down the church in Antioch. The rest would carry on while Paul and Barnabas would take the gospel even deeper into the Roman empire.

Christianity is not moralism. It’s not about being generally good and hoping God approves. It’s about following the risen Lord Jesus wherever He leads. And sometimes He leads us away from good things to do the specific thing He’s calling us to do.

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Give God the Glory: Why Faithfulness Can’t Wait for Better Circumstances

Have you heard of Quitters Day? It falls on the second Friday of January—the day when most New Year’s resolutions officially die. Statistics tell us that roughly 80% of resolutions fail by February. We’ve all been there: “I’ll start eating healthier… right after this birthday season ends.” “I’ll get serious about my spiritual disciplines… once things calm down at work.” “I’ll be more intentional about sharing my faith… when I’m in a better season of life.”

There’s a pattern here, isn’t there? We’re waiting. Waiting for circumstances to improve. Waiting for conditions to be just right. Waiting for the perfect moment to finally get more serious about following Jesus.

But what if God never designed His church to wait for favorable circumstances? What if the gospel has always advanced not when things were easy, but when God’s people were faithful regardless of what they faced?

Acts 12 confronts us with this uncomfortable reality. And it reveals something we desperately need to hear at the start of a new year.

When Everything Falls Apart

The opening verse of Acts 12 introduces us to a dark moment: “Now about that time, Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church in order to mistreat them.” More than a decade has passed since Pentecost. The early church has experienced explosive growth, miraculous signs, and favor with the people. But now the tide has turned.

Verse 2 delivers the news with stunning brevity: “And he had James, the brother of John, put to death with a sword.” One sentence. That’s all Luke gives us about the first apostle to be martyred. Sometimes the Bible’s brevity isn’t meant to minimize importance — it’s meant to make us pause. This is James, one of the inner three disciples who witnessed the Transfiguration. This is James the apostle, protected through so much persecution, now executed.

And then it gets worse. When Herod saw that killing James pleased the Jewish leaders, he arrested Peter too. Remember when the early church enjoyed “favor with all the people”? That season is over. The political winds have shifted. Persecution isn’t just possible. Now, it’s popular.

If there was ever a time for the church to hunker down, regroup, and wait for things to improve, this was it.

When the World Had No Word for What They Saw

The Christmas carol plays softly in the background: “Peace on earth, good will to men.” We’ve sung it a thousand times. We’ve written it on cards, stitched it on decorations, and repeated it like a mantra every December.

But if we’re honest, doesn’t it feel a little hollow this year?

Political tribalism tears families apart at the dinner table. Racial tensions never seem to heal. Social media echo chambers make it impossible to agree on basic facts. Christians can barely stand to be in the same room with other Christians over secondary issues. And we’re supposed to believe in peace on earth?

In 1863, the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow asked the same question. As the Civil War raged and his country tore itself apart, as he mourned his wife’s horrific death and tended to his wounded son, he penned the words to “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” In despair, he wrote: “There is no peace on earth, I said, for hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, good will to men.”

Was the angelic proclamation at Christ’s birth just beautiful poetry? Or can the promise actually be kept?

The City Where Enemies Became Family

The answer is found in an unlikely place: a bustling Roman city called Antioch, decades after Christ’s resurrection.

Acts 11 takes us back to the aftermath of Stephen’s martyrdom, when persecution scattered believers throughout the Roman Empire. Most of these early Christians did what made sense—they preached to Jews only. Stay with your people. Keep it safe. Don’t rock the boat.

But some believers from Cyprus and Cyrene did something radical. They began speaking to Greeks also, preaching the Lord Jesus. And Acts 11:21 tells us something astonishing: “The hand of the Lord was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord.”

This wasn’t just intellectual assent. These people—Jews and Greeks who had every reason to hate each other—were turning to the Lord together. They were worshiping together. Living together. Becoming something the world had never seen before.

The news spread fast. So fast that the church in Jerusalem sent Barnabas on a 300-mile journey to investigate what was happening in Antioch.

Grace That Could Be Witnessed

Here’s what I love about Acts 11:23—when Barnabas arrived, he “witnessed the grace of God.”

Not felt it. Not heard about it. He could actually see it.

I’ve only experienced this a handful of times in my life. Once was in Ethiopia, visiting a tribe that just years earlier had settled their conflicts by hacking each other to death with machetes. But the gospel had come. Lives had changed. And when I arrived, I didn’t encounter violence—I encountered joy unlike anything I’d ever seen. Former enemies praying for me. Worshiping with me. Receiving me as family.

That’s what Barnabas saw in Antioch. The grace of God wasn’t just a theological concept—it was visible in the transformed lives of people who should have been enemies but had become family.

And the world noticed.

A Name for Something Never Seen Before

Acts 11:26 drops this detail almost casually: “The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.”

We take that word for granted. But this was the moment it was invented. Up until this point, followers of Jesus were viewed as just another sect of Judaism—like the Pharisees or Sadducees, but with some different beliefs about the Messiah.

But in Antioch, something was so radically different that outsiders looked at this movement and said, “We need a new word for this.”

They didn’t call themselves Christians. The world named them that. The world looked at their worship of Christ, their commitment to the apostolic teaching, their fellowship across impossible cultural barriers, their sacrificial love for one another, and said: “You people belong to Christ. You’re Christians.”

I wonder what the world would call us today if we didn’t identify ourselves.

Repentance to Life: When God Opens Doors We’d Rather Keep Closed

What would you do if someone told you that revival was breaking out among the people you like the least?

About a year ago, a friend texted me to say that a genuine move of God seemed to be happening on the Ohio State football team. As a University of Michigan graduate, that rivalry runs deep—it’s not just about sports; it’s cultural identity. My first response wasn’t celebration. But when I confirmed that people were truly being saved, that the gospel was reaching even them, I had to rejoice. Despite my college loyalties, I was genuinely glad to hear that the gospel was advancing.

But here’s the uncomfortable question we all need to wrestle with: Who are the “even them” people in your life? Maybe it’s not about a football rivalry. Maybe it’s a political affiliation that makes your blood boil. Maybe it’s a lifestyle you find reprehensible. Maybe it’s just people who annoy you. We all have these categories—people we’d struggle to genuinely celebrate if we heard they came to Christ.

Acts 11:1-18 shows the early church facing this exact struggle. And here’s what’s striking: for most of us reading this as Gentiles, there was a point in history when we were the “even them” people. The door that was opening in this passage was opening for us.

When the News Travels Faster Than the Messenger

The apostles and believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles had received the word of God. But notice what happens next: When Peter came up to Jerusalem, those who were circumcised took issue with him. They didn’t welcome him with open arms or ask to hear the amazing testimony of what God had done. Instead, they came with an accusation: “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.”

To modern ears, this might not sound like much. But in their context, this was a charge of lawbreaking. Peter, a leader in the church, was being accused of violating the very law that set them apart as God’s people. The controversy had been brewing for days while Peter was still in Caesarea, and by the time he returned home, instead of rest, he walked into an interrogation.

Imagine witnessing one of the most significant moves of God in history—the Holy Spirit falling on Gentiles just as He fell on the Jewish believers at Pentecost—and receiving immediate criticism from your own church family as your reward.

When the World is More Eager Than the Church

Have you ever noticed how sometimes the people we assume aren’t interested in God turn out to be the most spiritually hungry? We make excuses—”If they wanted to know about God, they’d come to church” or “The information is out there; it’s in their court now.” But what if our assumptions are wrong? What if the world is actually more eager to receive the gospel than we are to proclaim it?

That’s exactly what we discover in Acts 10, one of the most pivotal chapters in human history. This is the moment when God officially opens the door for the gospel to go to the Gentile world. Without this door swinging wide open, the gospel never would have reached people like us. But here’s the striking reality in this passage: Cornelius the centurion was far more ready to hear about Jesus than Peter was to tell him.

This passage confronts us with an uncomfortable truth about our own hesitancy to cross barriers, our reluctance to share what we’ve freely received, and our tendency to underestimate how hungry people really are for the truth.

The Eager Seeker Who Had Everything but Jesus

Cornelius wasn’t your average Roman centurion. Scripture paints a picture of a man who was devout, prayerful, generous, and God-fearing. He gave alms to the Jewish people. He prayed continually. He had drawn as near to the God of Israel as a Gentile could without becoming a full convert. By all appearances, this was a deeply spiritual man.

But here’s what we must understand: sincerity is not enough for salvation. Interest in spiritual things is not enough. Even having a god that you worship is not enough. Cornelius needed to hear about Jesus. He needed the gospel. Without it, despite all his devotion and good works, his sins remained unforgiven.

God knew this. So He sent an angel to appear to Cornelius with very specific instructions: “Send to Joppa and ask for Simon, who is also called Peter. Bring him here.” And what did Cornelius do? He immediately obeyed. He sent his servants. And then, while he waited for this preacher to arrive, he gathered everyone he could—his relatives, his close friends, his household—and said, “You need to hear this message too.”

Imagine that kind of spiritual hunger. Cornelius didn’t even know what message he was going to hear, but he filled his house with people to listen.

The Reluctant Messenger Who Said “No, Lord”

Meanwhile, Peter was on a rooftop, praying and physically hungry. And that’s when God gave him a vision—a dramatic, repeated, impossible-to-ignore vision. A sheet came down from heaven filled with all kinds of animals, and a voice said, “Get up, Peter, kill and eat.”

Peter’s response? “By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything unholy and unclean.”

Let that sink in. Peter said “No” to the Lord. And God had to repeat this vision three times before Peter would even begin to consider what God was showing him. Jesus had already declared all foods clean back in Mark 7, but Peter was still clinging to his traditions, his upbringing, his comfort zone.

This wasn’t really about food, though. The food laws had been given to make Israel a separate, distinct people—set apart for God’s purposes. But now that the Messiah had come, those barriers were being torn down. God was saying, “What I have called clean, no longer call unclean.” And He wasn’t just talking about bacon and shellfish. He was talking about people.

Even after the vision, Peter was confused. But then—perfectly orchestrated by God—the men sent by Cornelius arrived at his door. The Spirit spoke to Peter: “Go with them without misgivings, for I have sent them myself.”

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When God’s Power Does the Heavy Lifting: Reflections on Peter’s Healing Ministry

Have you ever walked away from a conversation about faith feeling like a failure? You stumbled over your words. You couldn’t remember that perfect response you’d rehearsed. The person walked away unconvinced, and you were left wondering if you’d done more harm than good.

If that’s ever been you, this past Sunday’s message was exactly what you needed to hear.

Evangelist Eric Love continued our journey through the book of Acts, bringing us to chapter 9, verses 32-43. What unfolded wasn’t just a lesson in biblical history—it was a recalibration of how we think about our role in sharing the gospel.

The Church Was Born for Mission

Eric opened by reminding us of the big picture. The book of Acts records the explosive growth of the early church in the thirty years following Christ’s resurrection. And Acts 1:8 serves as the thesis statement for everything that follows: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Here’s what struck me: those words were spoken directly to the apostles, yet they were fulfilled by the entire church. When persecution scattered believers throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, it wasn’t just the apostles preaching. Ordinary Christians carried the gospel wherever they went, planting churches and seeing thousands come to faith.

The Great Commission wasn’t meant for a select few. It belongs to all of us.

No Magic Tricks Here

In Lydda, Peter encountered a man named Aeneas who had been paralyzed and bedridden for eight years. Eric made an important observation: the miracles recorded in Scripture weren’t cheap illusions performed for gullible crowds. These were verifiable, severe conditions healed instantly and publicly.

You can’t fake blindness from birth. You can’t pretend to be lame for a lifetime.

Jesus healed a man born blind in John 9. Peter had previously healed a man lame from his mother’s womb in Acts 3. And now, Aeneas—eight years paralyzed—rises immediately at Peter’s word. These weren’t pulled rabbits or guessed cards. These were undeniable acts of God performed in plain sight, leaving witnesses with only one conclusion: this power comes from somewhere beyond human ability.