Moving inland from the city of Perga, Paul and Barnabas came to a city in Pisidia that was also called Antioch. Paul’s preaching of Jesus packed the local synagogue (with both Jews and Gentiles), but it also aroused jealousy and opposition. So he and Barnabas moved on from there to the city of Iconium (see map)—but they did so, Luke wrote, “overflowing with happiness.”

• Facing jealousy and enmity from the Pisidian Antioch synagogue leaders, Paul and Barnabas quoted Isaiah 49:6 to show God’s desire to reach all nations. What factors do you think led many to ignore that passage (and many others in the Hebrew Scriptures) and fight so hard against preaching to the Gentiles? Do Christians today need to overcome any similar habitual, “embedded” boundaries in order to fully obey God’s call to mission?
• Jesus said, “Happy are you when people insult you and harass you and speak all kinds of bad and false things about you, all because of me. Be full of joy and be glad” (Matthew 5:11-12). Can that kind of joy be “faked,” or were Paul and Barnabas truly “overflowing with joy” as they were forced to move to a different city? In what ways can you make that kind of joy, even when people oppose your faith, a reality in your heart?