gospel momentum

As they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath. And after the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who, as they spoke with them, urged them to continue in the grace of God.

Acts 13:42-43

Paul and Barnabus began the very first missionary journey with a strategy that would define all of Paul’s missionary efforts. They first entered the local synagogue, in fellowship with their brother Jews, to teach from the Old Testament the gospel of Jesus Christ. In the synagogue of Pisidian Antioch we have an entire sermon of Paul’s preserved for us in this text. The Jews and the devout Gentile converts to Judaism that were present in the synagogue that meeting heard Paul worship the God Who is Redeemer of Israel. Paul walked them through reminders of their history: the choosing of Abram, the Exodus from Egypt, the wilderness wandering, the conquest of Canaan, the judges, the kings, and David who was promised to bring a Savior to Israel.

Then Paul moved to more recent events: John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus, the reality of Jesus being rejected by the Jewish authorities and His execution by them under Pilate. But God raised Jesus from the dead. This is the good news Paul centers on, with the latter third of his sermon being a focus on the wonder of sins now totally forgiven because Jesus is alive, having broken the curse. Jesus lives to bring believers this new life!

The congregation loved this message! In fact, they asked Paul to preach the same sermon again to them on the next Sabbath! And the echoes of this message hit the streets of Pisidian Antioch all week long so that the synagogue became a public square the next week, with almost the entire city packed around it to hear what Paul had to say. That’s some kind of gospel momentum! That’s the message, and response, I pray all churches would want to preach and experience every gathering! Be true to the gospel. It has it’s own momentum and like a flywheel that keeps turning and generating new energy, it will advance if we will just faithfully bear witness to it and speak its truth!