Unshaken: Chapter a Day

Acts 14 Discussion

• Pastor Plek

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A man is stoned, left for dead, and then gets up to walk to the next city to preach. That’s not legend—that’s Acts 14. We take you into the dust of Iconium and Lystra, where a single healing flips a city from adoration to assault and reveals how fragile public praise can be when truth collides with power.

We walk through the chapter’s stark turns: a lame man stands on healed legs, the crowd prepares sacrifices as if Paul and Barnabas are gods, and agitators from nearby cities arrive to poison minds. Stones fly. Paul falls. Then he rises and keeps moving. Together we explore what drives that kind of resolve, why Barnabas’ quiet steadiness matters as much as bold preaching, and how young churches survive chaos through prayer, fasting, and the appointment of wise elders. This is a study in resilience, leadership, and the unglamorous work that holds a community together when pressure mounts.

You’ll hear us unpack the nature of crowds, the pull of idolatry, and the deep spiritual opposition that organizes against the gospel. We reflect on how God confirms his word with power when needed, sustains people through real tribulation, and opens doors of faith to those far from religious centers. The takeaways are practical: resist the frenzy, stick with your church family through conflict, honor the partners who carry weight without fanfare, and let Scripture anchor your reactions when emotions run hot. If you’ve ever wondered how to keep going when you’re bruised by life, Acts 14 offers a roadmap—purpose that outlasts pain and a mission that outlives praise.

Listen now, subscribe for more A Chapter a Day, and share this with a friend who needs courage for the road ahead. If this encouraged you, leave a review and tell us your biggest takeaway so we can keep building this community together.

Text us at 737-231-0605 with any questions.

Pastor Plek:

And welcome back to a chapter a day. Keeps the devil away. I'm Pastor Fleck. That's Jacob Lawden. We are talking Acts chapter 14. We're going to outline it. We're going to make some observations. We are going to interpret this scripture. And then finally we're going to apply it and help you along your way today. Whether you're driving, whether you're just pursuing the Lord at 5:30 in the morning, we're here to walk with you in this scripture. All right. Acts chapter 14, verses 1 through 7 talks about the ministry in Iconium on Paul's first missionary journey. Then verses 8 through 18, after leaving Iconium, they head to Lystra. And then there's healing and there's attempted deification, uh, which is sort of wild. Uh, and then they move on from there and they move to Lystra, where Jews from Antioch and Iconium arrive. They persuade the crowds and stone Paul, drag him out of the city, supposed him to be dead. Then verses 21 through 23 is, I mean, it was wild. After Paul gets up from being dead, uh, he goes into Derby and uh the ministry continues. And uh wild. And then they point elders all over the place. They pray, they fast, they commit these people to the Lord. They return to Antioch and report the good news. Okay, let's get into some observations. I the biggest observation I hear is just the unbelievable resilience of Paul.

unknown:

Yeah.

Pastor Plek:

Like he preaches. Okay, it's one thing to preach. A lot of people preach, a lot of people are good at it, a lot of people enjoy it. But then he's stoned for it. Usually, after you're stoned, you're like, you know, let's call it a day. He is stoned, dragged out of the city, left for dead. The disciples are all gathered around, going, like, what are we gonna do? And then he wakes up and he doesn't say that, wake up, hey guys, I think I need to go to the hospital. He wakes up and says, Hey, let's go to the next city to continue on the mission of preaching. You just got killed, and you're gonna go do it again. And it wasn't like a, you know, you cut your head off and it got reattached. It was sort of painless. It was pelting with rocks until you lost consciousness. I mean, this guy is the epitome of hardcore.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that's gotta, that's gotta screw you up. Some broken bones, several concussions. Like, you're not now is he was he healed?

Pastor Plek:

I would love to know if, like, hey, let's go back again. You know, like like what was it about that? Um, anyway, I just I really appreciate Paul's resilience there. How about Barnabas? Barnabas is like, yeah, let's do it. Like, you know, if there's anybody like, you know, man, Paul, you don't look so good. Like, I think part of your eye is hanging out of the socket. Uh uh, are you okay? He's like, Yeah, let's do it. He just is a steady partner. Uh, and he and he doesn't care that he's less prominent. Now, maybe he sees what happens the more prominent you get, the more rocks you get thrown at you. But nevertheless, he is out of that business. He's not worried about his name getting on the billboard. He's worried about the gospel going forward. Amen.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I think it's great that like they double down, like they circle back to all of the churches as if to like let them know, like, you know, if if if words getting around, like, hey, yeah, I was just stoned, I died, it was bad, who knows like what happened to me. Um, but now we're gonna appoint elders and we're gonna keep this thing going.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah. Um, okay, how about this? How fickle is the crowd of Lystra? Like they worship him, and then they turn from worshiping to stoning him.

SPEAKER_01:

It is wild. And I don't know if you know how close Iconium or Lystra are, but like in verse one, um the Jews and the Greeks, they believed. And then in the very next verse, uh, their minds are poisoned and they're like turning against them. Uh, and they're uh and they're divided. And so I'm like, because I think uh later on they like kind of chase him out like through cities.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah. Uh they're about 20 miles apart. Um, the Lystra and far. I mean it's a night's journey. It's a day's journey. Yeah. Uh, but you know, that's a hike. Like, if anybody here walked 20 miles, they would be sore for days. Now, granted, probably back then everyone was a little bit more fit uh and they didn't have a beer gut, uh, or whatever their issue was, but they uh yeah, that was a day's journey, and so it wasn't easy, but it also that was something that the people did was a normal day's walk along the Roman roads.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so so what made him what made them stone him? Because the he he he heals this guy, they praise him, and then the Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and they persuade the crowds, so they're like they're following Paul. They didn't stay in their city, they followed him to try to get him.

Pastor Plek:

Verse 18. Even with these words, they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifices to them. But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul. Like that is just like boom. How can now this is where I'm like, how convincing do you have to be to convince somebody who's about to worship, sacrifice an animal to a man to not do that and instead pick up a rock and kill him? That's impressive. Like, for you know, they they might have been evil, it might have been even demonic because that is some serious ability to sway a crowd, or it just shows the nature of crowds.

SPEAKER_01:

The nature of crowds and of man. Like, I'm I'm hung up on the fact that they followed them 20 miles because they wanted them uh destroyed, because they saw that we're gonna lose power and status and control if this guy keeps doing this.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, I mean, I to me, I don't at some point it can't, it's no longer about control because like it's about uh a demonic expression of I'm gonna murder you. Yeah, like it's no longer, hey, I think you're wrong, or hey, this is not good for the culture. It's now I'm gonna kill you by whatever means I need to. And I think there's an aspect of demonicness going on there. Wow. Um, yeah. Uh and they're like the Jews from Antioch and Iconium, they're persistent and they were organized. I mean, they travel significant distances, like we just mentioned, to oppose the gospel, highlighting that deep-seated rejection and determination to suppress the message. I think that's where it gets demonic. Yeah. Uh, how about new disciples and elders were made? Like there was a need for maturity. You needed wise people to be raised up and to be appointed into leadership in this fresh church because when you have fresh Christians, you have fresh problems. And I and I think we saw that uh back with the you know, in even in Jerusalem with the Hellenistic Jews and the uh the Jewish Jews, it was it was challenging for them to get along. And so you needed someone to sort of manage church, right? Which uh some people sometimes people go, they go like, I just man, I love non-Christians, I just hate the church. I'm like, no, that Jesus died for the church, that's his bride. At the same time, it is can it be frustrating when church people don't act like church people are supposed to act, they act like the world. Yeah, but that's just that's what happens when you get brothers and sisters together. I mean, I mean, I look at my own kids and I go, now that's what happens when you get your brothers together, you start fighting about stuff. Um, and that's natural. So uh I think there's a real sense there that nothing has changed over the course of history. In fact, let's get into the nature of man. I I'd say, first off, nothing has changed. There's a need for leadership in the church, and there's a need for leadership in the in the world that doesn't know Jesus. And our hearts are fickle and prone to idolatry. They're literally worshiping men and the next second killing them.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, we are sheep, we are dumb, we're prone to wander. These people's minds are changed so quickly from one extreme to uh another. You are a god to I need to kill you.

Pastor Plek:

It feels like social media on steroids. And so whatever you have to say about social media, and I know we all have like our opinions of how bad it is, uh, but man, this was worse. This was worse. It took people from worship, which is bad, worshiping men, to murdering men. It it like how like that again, that that's the demonic aspect to me.

SPEAKER_01:

I think that there's something, I don't know if this is like the nature of man, but uh there is fruit in a consistency. Um, whether it's like staying at a job or working out or staying in the faith. Um you need a consistency. And Paul here, he's super consistent, he perseveres. It doesn't matter that he's stoned, he continues to go back to these churches he's planted and he's uh he consistently builds them up, helps them take their their their next step, and yeah, it bears fruit.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, yeah. I feel like that these new disciples face tribulation, but they're watching Paul and like, all right. I I mean, I guess that's what you do. Yeah, I mean, if you if you see somebody like heal somebody miraculously, then get stoned to death, then get up, you're like, nah, I guess that's all part of it. Yeah, yeah, take the mirror, good with the bad. I don't, you know, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01:

That's wild though. In some ways, you might just be excited, like you're looking for adventure, and you're like, wow, my life has never had more purpose. Like, I'm with the guy who gets stoned and heals people, you know?

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, and and to be fair, I think, isn't that what we all want? We all want a purpose that no matter what pain we're involved with, we will persevere and have persistence through the pain because we have great purpose.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, they have purpose and a camaraderie in that purpose.

Pastor Plek:

All right, let's get into uh some truths about the character of God. Uh, God confirms his word with signs and power. Like, I think that's true, especially in the as the gospel was shared in new um Pioneer Frontiers. Yeah, uh there was healing. The lame man got healed. Uh, there's the miraculous healing of Paul being raised after the stoning, showing his power over everything to authenticate the message protects his his servants in the midst of danger, which sometimes maybe the most, the safest place you could be is right in the middle of God's will, in the middle of absolute anarchy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. I think too, just because we're going through pain and suffering, it doesn't mean God is not for us. Like God allowed Paul to go through that. Yeah, he could have stopped it. He sustains his people through tribulation. I love it.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

Pastor Plek:

Um, how about God opens doors of faith to Gentiles and to all people? Like he gives people opportunity to believe through miracles, through circumstance, through all like just having ears to hear, he's the one that opens up their hearts. Uh and he has um it's his gospel is what is the light for the nations. It's meant for the nations to be spread. Yeah, that's good. What else you got? Anything else about the character of God here? We can move on to uh application. Let's get into uh spec, which is a sin to avoid or confess, a promise to claim, an example to follow, command to obey, or knowledge to believe. Um, how about sin to avoid? Don't be fickle, don't be a quitter, don't be so easily stirred up by the frenzy of the crowd. Even if it's on social media and you get into your echo chamber and it's people saying your own same thing, it's like and you're like, yeah, rage. Uh just calm down. Let the word of God, let God's word speak to you.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I think that there could be something to be said about like sticking it out with your church, sticking it out with your family, um, fighting with them and like seeking a reconciliation. Nice. Like God calls it.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, that's what elders are for. That's why they're point elders. Okay. How about promise a claim? Is that um his word is confirmed with power when needed. Like if you're ever wondering, like, what if his word's not enough? No, it's always enough. And if it weren't, he would make sure to confirm it with a sign or a wonder or whatever. Um and even tribulation is sometimes the sign that people need. Like the struggling Christian is what they need to believe. Yeah. We stop doing that and we forget that God is that good. And you might need to be reminded, even when you tell your own story, you'll probably tear it, get teared up because he he was so faithful to you. And you've been faithless at times, but he has always been faithful to pull you back to himself because he's that good all the time. Amen. Hey, thanks so much for joining us. We'll see you next time on A Chapter a Day.

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