Mission Era: First Missionary Journey

The Story of Bearsun

A giant teddy bear walking from LA to New York to raise money for various charities

Why do people do outrageous things to raise money or to bring awareness? Because it makes people listen.

Getting the Story Straight...

Paul is saved by faith in Jesus and becomes a Christian on the road to Damascus.

After he was saved by Christ he spent time in Damascus until a plot to kill him had formed and then went down to Jerusalem

...until another plot to kill him formed.

While in Jerusalem he became good friends with Barnabas before departing back home for Tarsus then to Arabia before returning to Damascus.

After three total years Paul returned to Jerusalem to spend time with the apostles.

He then went up to Syria and Cilicia for 14 years; during this time the church in Antioch is established and Barnabas travels to Tarsus to find Paul to come and teach at the church in Antioch.

During this time he begins discipling Titus; after 14 years he travels back to Jerusalem with Barnabas and Titus

Galatians 1:11-2 and Acts 13-14 outline what Paul was doing, where he was going, who he was seeing, and what he was saying. Everything Paul wrote to the Galatians clearly was well received and it is safe to presume they began the steps of correcting their false doctrine because Paul was welcomed there on his following missionary journeys.

His journey begins in

Antioch - 167 miles

Antioch to Seleucia - 19.7 miles

Seleucia to Salamis, Cyprus - Sailed (unknown length of time but most likely within a day or two)

Salamis Cyprus to Paphos Cyprus - 113 miles

Paphos to Perga - Sailed (unknown length of time but most likely a couple days)

Perga to Pamphylia

Pamphylia to Pisidian Antioch

Pisidian Antioch to Iconium

Iconium to Lycaonia

Lycaonia to Lystra

Lystra to Derbe

Derbe all the way back to Antioch...

Wait, So What Did Paul Do?

Paul did a lot but it can be summarized very very broadly with t main points:

The first is Paul confronts the false doctrine that we are saved by our works. Instead he corrects this doctrine and confirms to the Galatians that we are saved by faith alone in Christ alone.

Galatians 2:15–21 ESV

We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

Secondly Paul opposes fleshly (sinful) behavior by calling out his peer, Peter, and then identifying the areas in which the Galatians are failing to their sinful desires.

Galatians 2:11–14 ESV

But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

Galatians 5:19–26 ESV

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

What Do I Need to Remember?

Justification comes by faith alone in Christ alone

We must love our brothers and sisters in Christ so much that we too will confront them with grace and truth.

Ephesians 4:15 ESV

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,