I was reading Acts chapter 14 the other day, when God really made something rhema to me that I’d like to share.  I’ve read the book of Acts many many times, and never really saw this until God showed it to me. Let’s take a look into what Luke wrote about the ministry of Paul and Barnabas.

Acts 14: 1-19

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

8 In Lystra there sat a man who was lame. He had been that way from birth and had never walked. 9 He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed 10 and called out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.

11 When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!” 12 Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. 13 The 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.

14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: 15 “Friends, why are you doing this? We too are only human, like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them. 16 In the past, he let all nations go their own way. 17 Yet 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.” 18 Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them.

19 Then 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. 20 But 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.

This chapter starts off with in Iconium, where they have been preaching the gospel and a great number of Jews and Gentiles were saved.  However, a few of the more closed minded people refused to believe, and started talking poorly about the apostles and poisoning the minds of those who had not yet believed.  Paul and Barnabas dug their heels in, and continued to boldly preach the gospel.  Those closed minded Jews used second hand information, to spread lies to the people.  We see that in todays culture when we speak to people about Jesus when we hear things such as  “Oh, I heard it’s like a cult, I don’t want to be involved with stuff like that.”  They heard, from someone else who may have had a bad church experience, so their mind is set against Jesus.  It’s our job, to give them first hand information by letting them experience the true love of Jesus Christ!

The book continues to show how the city became divided, some with the apostles and some with the closed minded Jews.  Soon, a plot arose to capture the apostles and stone them.  Paul and Barnabas learned of this plot, and fled to Lystra and Derbe.

When arriving in Lystra, God healed a man through Paul, who was lame from birth.  The entire town knew this man, as he had been a beggar his entire life.  When they saw that he was healed, the crowd proclaimed that Paul and Barnabas were gods who had come to earth.  The apostles deny that they are gods, yet the people do not believe them and start bringing sacrifices to them.  We could use this section of chapter to discuss humility, but that’s not the focus on this post so let’s move on.

The closed minded Jews and their followers have now come to Lystra, and have captured Paul.  They poisoned the minds of the people in Lystra, and they stone him and drag him outside the city gates as though he was dead.

This is the point in the story where God really showed me somethings, that I’d like to share.  It’s hard to convey the feeling and passion that I have about this in the written word, but try to hear my heart here and what God is saying.

Stoned

They stoned Paul, and dragged him outside the city.  I did a little digging on what stoning is, because often times we read about stonings in the Bible and we just have this pretty little image of people throwing rocks.  Stoning is very brutal.  There were three different ways that people would be stoned:

• Tied to a stake, with their hands tied down to their sides or behind their backs
• Dropped into a pit so that only their head was exposed
• Placed into a circle of the crowd so they could not escape.

A stoning usually lasted for 10 to 20 minutes, and there were rules for stoning.  The stones thrown had to be of a size where one single stone could not kill the person.  Stoning was a very brutal, torturous way of killing someone.  Imagine having rocks the size of baseballs thrown at you for 20 minutes while you could not defend yourself.  No, really, stop reading right now and close your eyes and try to imagine it.  I used to play baseball, and I know the feeling of having a baseball hit you in the head.  It hurts, a lot, and I was wearing a helmet at the time.  Now imagine rocks, with their sharp edges hitting your head, chest, arms, neck and elsewhere.  Imagine not being able to get away from it, not being able to stop the pain, crying out for someone to save you and yet nobody comes.  Until finally, you die.

Dragged out

Ancient cities didn’t have trash trucks to come around to collect their garbage.  It was often carried outside of the city where the animals would take care of a large portion of it.  I believe, though the scriptures do not say this, that Paul was most likely dragged out of the city into one of these garbage dumps.  They had stoned him so bad they thought he was dead and so they discarded him as though he was a piece of trash.  Imagine how he must have looked: the cuts, bruises, bloody and swollen.  And not just his face, but his whole body was beaten.  After they disposed of Paul, the people returned to their city and went about their day.

The return

The disciples gathered around Paul, picked him up and while shielding him returned to Lystra for the night.  They surely found refuge in a home of one of the new believers where they could tend to his grievous wounds.  And here’s a part which really hits me in my spirit in verses 20-21:

…The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.  They preached the gospel in that city and won a large number of disciples.

I looked on the map, thinking at first, “well, perhaps those two cities were far apart and Paul had time to heal up”.  But guess what, those two cities are right next to each other.  Paul was stoned one day, and the very next day he was preaching the gospel!  Let’s say that again but with more emphasis so you don’t miss it.  PAUL WAS STONED ONE DAY, AND THE VERY NEXT DAY HE WAS PREACHING THE GOSPEL!

Such drive!

Such determination!

Such passion!

Such power!

And yet, today in our current culture, we as believers flee when someone tells us “no”.  We stop talking about Jesus when someone tells us they are not interested.  THE SAME HOLY SPIRIT THAT WAS IN PAUL IS IN US!  Why are we so afraid of man, so discouraged when someone tells us no?  Where did that Paul-level of confidence go?  Where did we lose that drive and passion and instead become a victim to fear?  We have the same power that Paul had! The same spirit, the Holy Spirit, a Rocky spirit which says “Get back up Rocky, you can do this”.

Remember who you are, you’re a child of God!  And with Him, all things are possible.  With Him, “no” means “tell them more”.  With Him means He is protecting us.  With Him means we don’t have to be afraid.  With Him, we shall win!

Father, I thank you for this message you have given me, I thank you for opening my eyes to my own shortcomings.  Father I pray for those who may read this message, I pray that you remind them who they are in you.  I pray that you remind them that they have the ultimate comforter, the Holy Spirit.  And Holy Spirit, I ask that you embolden your people and give them that spark which doesn’t die when someone says “no”, but instead ignites a flame of passion within them!  Teach them, and lead them Father!  In Jesus name I pray, amen.