Acts 13:14-41

Paul's powerful sermon at Antioch Acts 13:14-41: At Perga in Pamphylia John Mark left Paul and Barnabas and went back to Jerusalem. Later, this would cause no small trouble between these brethren. We are not told why John Mark deserted them, but what he did was very disturbing to Paul.

At Antioch in Pisidia the missionaries went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. This gave them an opportunity to preach the gospel. Paul's sermon was very much like that of Stephen in Acts seven. All that he said was designed to cause the people to accept Jesus as the promised Lord and Christ, the Messiah. It was a sermon about God's mercy and long-suffering. He showed that in spite of all that God did man was ungrateful and perverse.

Paul traced Hebrew history moving from David to the Son of David. This son of David is Jesus, the Savior of the world. The apostles always preached Christ crucified, His burial and resurrection. In his sermon Paul dealt with such things as: (1) Saul reigning over Israel for forty years, (2) David was both the fleshly and spiritually ancestor of the Savior, (3) John preached a baptism of repentance to prepare the way for Christ, (4) the Jews were the first to know of God's promises to Abraham, (5) the Jews condemned Jesus to death, (6) Jesus was buried, (7) God raised Him from the dead, (8) "glad tidings" is another term for the gospel of Christ, (9) Jesus arose from the dead to die no more, (10) Jesus was not left in the grave long enough to see corruption, (11) Through Jesus and only through Him is the forgiveness of sins preached, (12) The law of Moses could not bring the justification that is possible by belief in Christ, and (13) he warned of the coming Judgment Day.