Paul and Barnabas Preached so Powerfully

**fennywest** Wed 23 Jun 2010, 10:52 am

Paul and Barnabas Preached so Powerfully
Seeing several souls surrendering, saved
From immorality, impurity, demonic activity
Drunkenness, deception, division, damnation
Anger, arrogance, avarice, addiction, acrimony
Lustful pleasure, lying, looseness, laziness, and the like

Many miraculous signs and wonders were wrought
Giving glory to the God of Glory and the King of kings.

Their preaching divided people’s opinion
And some stirred satanic onslaught against them;
Even spreading, sowing, slanderous seeds and stoning them.
The apostles had to flee for their lives yet they did not quit preaching

Paul was brimming with the anointing as he loudly
called a cripple man: “Stand up! “
And the man jumped unto his feet and started walking.”

Some thought they were gods
And wanted to offer sacrifices
Paul and Barnabas were horrified
An told them ‘we are mere men’

Later a murderous mob arrested them
Beat them black and blue and left for dead
But believer surrounded Paul and he revived
He left the following day to fight another day.

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Lessons:

1. Powerful preaching will result in many souls being saved.v1

2. There has to be boldness in preaching if it is to be powerful.v3

3. Powerful preaching is preaching the whole counsel of God- not what people want to hear but what the Lord wants to say.v4

4. Powerful preaching will challenge and charge and change people’s perception opinion and direction. V4

5. Powerful preaching will focus on God and glorify God.v14

6. Powerful preaching will be followed or confirmed by signs and wonders.v3

7. Powerful preaching will aggravate the religious establishment and unbelievers.vs4-5

8. Powerful preaching will be opposed vehemently by Satan and his cohorts.vs4-5,19-20

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In Iconium

¹At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed. ²But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. ³So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders. ⁴The people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews, others with the apostles. ⁵There was a plot afoot among the Gentiles and Jews, together with their leaders, to mistreat them and stone them. ⁶But they found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding country, ⁷where they continued to preach the good news.
In Lystra and Derbe

⁸In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked. ⁹He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed ¹⁰and called out, "Stand up on your feet!" At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.
¹¹When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, "The gods have come down to us in human form!" ¹²Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. ¹³The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.
¹⁴But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: ¹⁵"Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them. ¹⁶In the past, he let all nations go their own way. ¹⁷Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy." ¹⁸Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them.
¹⁹Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. ²⁰But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.
The Return to Antioch in Syria

²¹They preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, ²²strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. "We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God," they said.