Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1921-08-04

LESSON TExT-Acts 1882.
GOLDEN TExT-Ye shall be witnesses
unto me both in Jerusalem, and In all
Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the ut
termost part of the earth.-Acts 1:S.
REFERENCE MATERIAL = Matt 10:
H-33 2s:1s-2o; Mark 1915; Luke 24:46, AZ.
I PRIMARY TOPIC-Adventure Of Paul
| and Barnabas.
JUNIOR ToPIC-Saul silences sor-
| eerer.
INTERMEDIATE AND SENIOR TOPIC
Paul Begins His Missionary Travels.
YOUNG PEOPLE AND ADULT TOPIC
Paul Becomes a Missionary.
This marks the beginning of foreign
missions as the deliberately planned
| enterprise of the church.
|. The Gifts of the Church at Anti
och w. u.
Young as Antioch, the new religious
center, was, she had prophets and
| teachers. Such are essential to church
life. Indeed, they are never absent
from the true church. In Ephesians
:S-12 Paul says that when Christ as
! cended He gave gifts unto men for the
purpose of perfecting the saints unto
the work of the ministry.
II. Barnabas and Saul Sent Forth
wv. 2, ~.
While the five ministers were pray
ing and fasting, the Spirit OF God COM
handed them to send forth Barnabas
and Saul. The work OF evangelizing
the world was laid so heavily upon
these men that they refrained from eat
| ing in order to seek the will of the
Lord in prayer. This is the kind OF
| fasting that meets Gods approval.
From the fact that they were directed
| to send forth those whom the Spirit
called, we learn that the real call tol
Christ's service comes from the Spirit.
The Spirit calls and the church sec
onds the motion by sending those who
are called. They sent the very best
men from the church at Antioch.
III. Preaching the Word Of God In
cyprus tvv. 4, 81. = '~'.es
| We are not told as to why they first
went to Cyprus, but we infer that ii
was because 1t was the home OF Bar
nabas. 1t Is most natural that those
who have heard good news should goI
| with 1t first to their kindred and
| friends. AS they went forth they
preached the Word Of God; not civic,
righteousness, current history, philoso-,
ply, etc. The great need today Is
Spir1t-called and Spirit-nlled men
| preaching Gods Word. ,
| ~. Wlthstood By 'Eiymas The sor-
esrer tvv. 6-l2). f
+ When Barnabas ana Saul by invita-
ton were telling Sergius Paulus Of the
Word Of God, Elymas maliciously
sought to turn his mind from the faith.
This is the first obstacle they encoun-
tered. This opposer is the same one
who came to Adam In Eden and to
Jesus in the wilderness He is the
enemy Of God and man. He now seeks
to bar the gospel as 1t enters upon its
career Of the conversion OF the. hea-
then. Saul denounced him In the most
scAthing terms, calling him the child OF
the devil, full OF guile and villainy, and
| pronounced him the enemy OF all right
eousness accusing him Of perverting
the right ways OF the Lard Il
Happily. the deputy needed Sau1's
teaching and believed the gospel. It
was In this connection that Sauls
name was changed to Paul.
v. In. the Synagogue At Antioch In
PisidIa wv. Is, ,18).
| From Paphos Paul and Barnabas
went northward to Perga. From
Perga they went into Antioch in Pr
sidia, where they entered the syna-
| gogue on the Sabbath day Though
he was sent to the GentiIes he does
| not depart from the order Of begin
ming with the Jews. After the usual
reading of the Scriptures, upon the
invitation of the rulers, Paul deliv-
cred the discourse recorded in verses
| 17-41. This sermon Is worthy Of care
full study. It consists of four parts:
~ Historical wv. 1928; apologet-
ical wv. 4-37); (3) doctrinal, wv.
3s, 39); az practical wv. 40, 41). 1t
sets forth the missionary message for
all times and lands. Its essence
should ever be the same. In this SER
mon he presented the glorified and
risen Christ as the Savior from sin,
basing his proof upon the testimony of
living witnesses and the inspired
Word.
vi. The Effect of the Sermon wv.
1881.
Many of the Jews and proselytes
requested them to speak to them
again. Almost the whole city came
to hear the Word of God the next
Sabbath. This great crowd melted
the jealousy OF the Jews. This jeal-
ousy could not long be restrained; it
broke out in open opposition. This
opposition was in turn answered by
Faul's rejection of them and turning
to the Gentiles.