Yesterday we witnessed the expansion of Christianity into the Gentile world with the conversion of Cornelius.  Now the movement continues: "men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus.  The Lord's hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord" (Acts 11:20-21).  As a result of this expansion, "the word of God continued to increase and spread" (12:24).

And now the gospel moves into the larger world, in the first three missionary journeys in religious history.  Paul and Barnabas sail first to the island of Cyprus, and "when the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord" (13:12).

Then on to Asia, mainland Turkey today.  At the town of Pisidian Antioch, the Gentiles "were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.  The word of the Lord spread through the whole region" (13:48-49).  Next to Iconium, where "Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue.  There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed" (14:1).  But then came Lystra, where "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. But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city" (14:19-20).

At Derbe, "They preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples" (14:21).  In Acts 15, the Jerusalem church, still the headquarters of the Christian movement, affirms this ministry to the Gentiles.  Here's the summary statement: "So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers" (16:5).

On their second journey (15:41-18:22), God calls Paul further west, to Greece and Europe.  In Philippi they win Lydia, then their jailer (ch. 16).  In Thessalonica, "Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and not a few prominent women" (17:4).  At Berea, my favorite church in the New Testament, "the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.  Many of the Jews believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men" (17:11-12).

Tomorrow we'll watch Acts 1-28 end, and begin writing chapter 29 in our day.

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