Peter Barnes | Acts 13:42-52
SERMON NOTES
PAUL IN A PAGAN BACKWATER
Psalm 104; Acts 14:8-20
– Lystra was a rustic pagan backwater; the people think that Paul and Barnabas must be gods because of the miracle (14:8-14)
1. We are all one in Adam.
– 14:15; ‘men’ rather than Jewish brothers as in 13:26, 38. Paul makes the same point at Athens (17:26a); note 10:25-26
– we did not evolve at different rates from different places.
2. There is one living God who is the Creator.
– 14:15; see Ps.146:6
– we cannot really tell people about Jesus if they do not first have a notion of one God as the creator.
3. Idols are useless.
– 14:15; see Isa.44:10, 14-17
4. God makes His goodness known in the creation.
– 14:16-17; see Rom.1:20; Ps.147:7-9
– they tried to sacrifice to Paul in verse 13 and to stone him in verse 19.