Three Missionary Journeys

Three Missionary Journeys

These events of Paul's three journeys show how and where they make a connection with his epistles. Paul taught the gospel to Jewish and non-Jewish (Gentiles) alike. Paul and Barnabas traveled to Jerusalem to provide financial support from Antioch (Niswonger R.L. (1988). Paul travels three separate journeys which the first one being with Barnabas, Paul, and John Mark.

Paul's first journey started after they had returned from Antioch on a famine-relief trip. The first journey (Acts 13:13-14), was led by Barnabas, at first, grabs Paul from Antioch than travels to Cyprus, southern Asia Minor (Anatolia), and finally back to Antioch. Paul started taking charge at Paphos on Cyprus (Acts 13:19), during a confrontation with the sorcerer Elymas in which Paul blinded the magician (Acts 13:8-12), who was degrading their teachings, and from that point on Paul was in charge (Acts 13: 9).The group sails on to Perga in Pamphylia, and John Mark leaves the journey, and returns to Jerusalem. Paul and Barnabas proceed to Pisidian Antioch on the Sabbath, and went to the synagogue where the leaders invited them to speak. Paul evaluates Israelite history from life in Egypt to King David. He welcomes Yashua as a descendant of David brought to Israel by Yahweh. Paul told of his group bringing the message of salvation.

Paul relates the story of Yashua's death and resurrection, and talks from the Septuagint (Acts 13:43), to assure that Yashua who was the promised Messiah which brought forgiveness of their sins through His death and resurrection. They were asked to speak at the Sabbath both by the Jews and the Yahweh fearing Gentiles in which almost the whole city gathered. This made some of the influential Jews mad against Pauls' group, which he used this occasion to talk about a change in his missions in which from now on would be to the Gentiles (Acts 13:13-48).

After preaching for a time in Antioch, Paul proposed to Barnabas that they needed to visit the churches that they had established before, therefore, starting Paul's second journey (Niswonger R.L. (1988). Barnabas had words, so they decided to go separate ways, which Paul teamed up with Silias on his return trip to Asia Minor. Paul started over land first this time with Timothy joining them later when they stopped at Lystra.

In Philippi, those men who exploited her powers were not happy about the liberation of their soothsayer servant girl, which Luke said she had a spirit of a python (Niswonger R.L. (1988). Even with no grounds the authorities had Paul and Silias beaten and imprisoned. After a miraculous earthquake, the gates to the prison fell and Paul and Silias were able to escape, but stayed, this event became the conversion of the jailor... Acts 16: 25-34. The journey continued to Berea, and then resumed to Athens where Paul preached to the intellectuals of Areopagus (Niswonger R.L. (1988). Paul met Aquila and Priscilla in Corinth, which became faithful believers who helped Paul through his other journeys (Niswonger R.L. (1988). The two followed Paul and his missionaries to Ephesus for a brief visit to the synagogue, and then sailed to Caesarea to greet the church there (Niswonger R.L. (1988), and traveled north