Hey everybody, it's Matt. This is the 10-Minute Bible Hour Podcast. And this is one of those episodes where we're going to pick up where we left off yesterday. So if you didn't get yesterday, you might want to. We're tracking the converging stories of Peter and Paul that lead them to be in Antioch at the same time. That leads to this crazy confrontation that is described in Galatians chapter two. I hit pause abruptly in the last episode. We're going to pick it up abruptly right after Jeff plays some music right here. So Barnabas goes up. He's like, well, this is great. And at some point in the game, Barnabas is like, you know who we need to help with this situation and help this church in Antioch that is just thriving almost out of control. It's going so great. The guy who would be perfect to help with this situation is a guy who right now doesn't really have a home. He doesn't quite fit in Jerusalem. The disciples, they accept him there, but he's on weird standing with the Jews there. And the right guy is a dude who's a Roman citizen, but also a Jew by birth. He's trained as a Pharisee, but he met Christ on his way up to this part of the world where Antioch is. It's Saul of Tarsus, who we come to know as Paul, the author of Galatians. That's the guy. I gotta rope him in. So somehow it looks like Barnabas, who is kind of treated as the leader on this expedition, the leader of the shared ministry with Saul in the early going, he gets listed first by Luke, the author of Acts, whenever he's talking about him in the early going. They go to Antioch, and Barnabas' intuition was right. Saul was exactly the right guy, a gifted theologian, a gifted communicator, a dude who culturally could kind of be all things to all people. And the church in Antioch thrives even more. And it's here that for the first time the term Christians starts to be used. I mean, what an incredible legacy to have if you're a part of that church that seemed to just pop up out of nowhere. I mean, talking about making lemonade out of lemons, Saul persecutes people down in Jerusalem, even participates in the stoning of Stephen. And then a few years go by, and Paul's out in the desert somewhere, and a whole church crops up out of that, and it proves to be an absolute powerhouse church that ministers to Saul as Saul ministers to it, and then they mutually benefit the whole thing by partnering together so effectively that it's the Antioch Church that commissions Saul, Paul, and Barnabas to go out on the first missionary journey, the prove it journey to help make sense of this whole thing, especially to the people back in Jerusalem, so that they could see the fruit of all of this and be like, it's not just an Antioch phenomenon. It's just not that this one urban environment in Antioch was the perfect ripe social petri dish for the message of the gospel, the seed of the gospel to put down roots. I mixed like 12 metaphors right there. But no, it's it's everybody. The gospel is for everybody. And we're sending Paul and Barnabas out to prove it. And remember, on that prove it journey, they go first to Cyprus and outduel a sorcerer. I mean, what an amazing first step. Is word of that got back to Antioch. They must have been like, I told you this was the real thing. And remember, this is overwhelmingly Gentile Christians up there who are not circumcised. And remember, from there, I mean, that duel with the sorcerer, Bar Jesus, that happens in the court of the governor, the highest Roman official on the island of Cyprus. And it almost looks like that Sergius Paulus fellow connects with Paul so deeply that maybe, I mean, there's rumors that Sergius Paulus almost adopted Paul, his spiritual mentor and father, as an honorary member of his family. Some people even think that Paul started going by Paul instead of Saul in honor of the Sergius Paulus household name. I don't know, maybe, maybe not, but Sergius Paulus's family estates are in the southern half of the hourglass of Galatia. And Paul and Barnabas, they go there. Probably that's when they established the churches that are in view in the book of Galatians. I still acknowledge it's possible that it happened a little bit later on up in northern Galatia. Really could be either way. I don't think it affects the timeline or the message of things too much. And Paul and Barnabas take an absolute beating in these Galatian churches on this prove-it journey. But despite that, people still become Christians. Jews become Christians, and Gentiles become Christians, and amazing things of God happen, and they go back to Antioch and they communicate what happened there. And things are really cooking. But remember, Acts has an A plot and a B plot. And all of this is adding up to what's happening in the tension between Peter and Paul in Galatians chapter 2. Remember, that's where we're going here. The A plot and the B plot of the book of Acts, especially in the first half of the book of Acts, the A plot follows mostly Peter. The B plot follows mostly Paul, including the stuff I just reminded you of with the Antioch thing and the first missionary journey. Well, meanwhile, down in the A plot in Jerusalem, what's going on? Well, one of the kids of Herod the Great is acting up, and he's all fussy about Christianity, and he martyrs the first of the followers of Jesus to be killed, that being James, the brother of John. And he also had Peter arrested. Now Peter is miraculously freed from prison, and there's this comical scene where he walks out of prison and he like goes back over to Mark's house and is like, hey, it's me, Peter. I'm out of jail. Just not could you let me in, please? Because I'm kind of out here and I got arrested recently. And I don't know if I was supposed to leave jail. So it's me, Peter, you know, like the guy from Matthew 16, like, you're the Christ, the Messiah. And he was like, Yeah, you're right. And on this rock, I'm gonna, do you remember? It's just me. I'm still out here. And like the servant who answers the door there in Acts chapter 12 is freaking out because it's Peter. The girl's name was Rhoda. I just think it's fun that we get that detail of what her name is. And she runs back and is like, I think Peter's at the door. And everybody's like, Oh, you're crazy, because he's probably executed or whatever. He's in jail for sure. And Peter's still just standing out there. Guys, come on, seriously. And then eventually everybody gets over there to the door after he keeps on knocking, and you know, it's this amazing reunion and this amazing moment. And then that little exchange wraps up with Acts chapter 12. Ah, dang it, I didn't look closely. It's 17. Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. Hey, tell James and the brothers about this, he said, and then he left for another place. Well, in Galatians chapter two, we pick up with that story and we learn a little bit more about what that other place was. It looks like Peter went up the road to Antioch. Well, think about it. Where else would he go? He's cooked in Jerusalem. There's nothing else that he can be doing there right now. I mean, it's not really clear what's going to happen to him for this jailbreak kind of situation, but you know, Herod's men are not going to be real impressed. Now it turns out that somewhere shortly after this, Herod dies. He gets eaten by worms after giving a speech in big shiny armor and acting like he's God. So that's kind of a fun aside. But nonetheless, Peter has already fled. Where would you go? Uh Egypt? I mean, I guess that's where the holy family went. That seemed like a good place to get away, but it doesn't look like there's really a Christian base there to receive him. We're still in the really early going of Christianity. Well uh Corinth? Well, there isn't a church in Corinth yet. Oh. Okay, well, uh how about Galatia? I mean I mean those are some of the early churches, yeah, but those aren't founded yet either. Oh, well, what about Rome? They really like Peter in Rome, don't they? Well, not yet. They were nowhere close to that time yet. There's really only one place for him to go, and it's Antioch. Of course he went to Antioch. Where else would he be received and given safe harbor and be appreciated? Where else could he continue his work? So it looks like he goes to Antioch, that is, at least if we can rightly assume that the situation that we hear about where there's a confrontation between Peter and Paul in Antioch happened at this time. And well, I am assuming that, and I believe I am rightly assuming that. I think one subtle thing that supports my theory that where Peter went next was to Antioch. Well, I guess it'd be one thing, I mean, where else would he go? But reason number two is that remember, we're jumping A-plot and B plot all the way through the book of Acts. A plot is Jerusalem with Peter, B plot is with Paul, which largely headquarters out of Antioch. All right, you're smart, you've got a mental clock in your head that's telling you, okay, we're probably like running out of time to keep pulling on the threads of this story, and you're right, so we're gonna hit pause here. But I need to do a little bit of housekeeping thing. I got a situation that has come up for those of you who support this program at Patreon. It's been a pretty wild thing over there. Apparently, Apple Store told Patreon that you can't bring on new patrons through Apple Store anymore. We're gonna charge you 50% or some crazy number. And so Patreon was like, all right, then we got to change the way we do things. And they made a big change that doesn't affect you very much, but it kind of does affect me. They are changing it so that you are no longer allowed as a content creator to do Patreon on a per creation basis. Now, for the longest time, we've done a thing where every Monday I quote charge you the patrons who support through Patreon for that week of podcast, and I do that 52 times a year because they're 52 weeks in a year, and I make the podcast 52 weeks a year. But they are no longer going to allow me to do that or anyone to do that. So they have built this mechanism whereby I have to go and click a button by a certain date, and this is starting to go into effect this month, and what it does is it's just going to convert all of your average monthly amount that you're currently doing over to a one-time monthly support. So I don't charge you every week anymore. It's just one flat number for every month. If what they're saying is true and everything works, those of you who support at patreon.com, this new number should be the same amount as your total monthly support has been in the past. It's just one single monthly number that they calculate based on whatever you've been doing. So, for example, if you've been doing a thing where you're like, I support two weeks a month at $5 a week, well then theoretically when I make this switch, your new number will be $10 per month or something real close to that. If you've been supporting every week for $10 per week, then it's going to like prorate that out over all 52 weeks and mush it in. So it'll be something like $40 a month and change a little bit more than that, I guess, because you have a couple extra weeks over the course of the year. I don't know. They got a whole way that they run it with averages, so it should be the same for you, is the point. I don't have a choice in this, and I don't really want to make a change because it's just easier not to mess with it. But the reality is I think this is going to be an easier and simpler system, and it should all just be six of one, half a dozen of the other when all is said and done. However, please keep an eye on it over the next week or two to make sure when it converts over, it does so equitably, and it is at the amount of monthly support that you want it to be. I would feel gross and unhappy and sick about it if it did it wrong and you didn't feel good about the calculation. So please double check that. And this whole thing gives me a great opportunity to express to all of you something that just needs to be said from time to time. This podcast would not exist without those of you who support it. And I'm so dang grateful, not just to those of you who are supporting right now, but to those of you who might support someday down the road, and to those of you for whom it made sense to support for a given time in the past or like a one-time thing. None of that is lost on me. You don't have to do any of that. It's free, it's obviously free. That's just above and beyond and really, really cool of you. So thank you. People who've supported in the past, people who support right now, people who might support in the future, people who are never going to support this thing because you don't have to. Thank you all so, so much for doing this. And look for that change to the way Patreon organizes your monthly support, which should come out to be just even and the same thing. Look for that to happen somewhere here in the next couple of days or maybe a week or so. All right, that was a lot. Thank you for hearing me out on that. I'm Matt. This is the 10-minute Bible hour podcast. Let's do this again soon.