Nigel Hand | Acts 15:36-16:5
Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, ‘Let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.’ Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the believers to the grace of the Lord. He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.
It looked like a disaster. The dream team of Paul and Barnabas was broken as each dug in on a point of principle. Yet, as Nigel points out, one mission team turned into two and, later, new leaders were drawn into ministry. Today, as then, conflict and other difficulties may make the road longer but can still lead to greater growth.
The recording begins with the reading from Judy Hand.
4 Oct 2026
Keep right on till the end of the road
Nigel Hand | Acts 14:21-28
[Paul and Barnabas] preached the gospel in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. ‘We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,’ they said. Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.
Acts is a mixture of riots and revivals, says Nigel, and Paul and Barnabas were in the thick of it. They headed back to their home church in Antioch, passing through cities where their preaching had led many to faith but also brought them violent rejection. They took the time and trouble to form the new believers into churches and set them on the path to continued growth. As Nigel reminds us, the Christian life isn’t just about the spectacular but, rather, a long walk of obedience.
The recording begins with the reading from Simon Jones.
27 Sept 2026
The gospel accepted and rejected
Bishop Maurice Sinclair | Acts 13:50-14:20 | Matthew 13:44-46
At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Greeks believed. But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the other Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to perform signs and wonders. The people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews, others with the apostles. There was a plot afoot among both Gentiles and Jews, together with their leaders, to ill-treat them and stone them. But they found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding country, where they continued to preach the gospel.
[Jesus said,] ‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.’
What motivated so many who heard Paul and Barnabas’s preaching to reject their message? And what caused some to accept it with joy? As Bishop Maurice reminds us, we face similar obstacles today, but the gospel message still brings joy and we are called to keep on proclaiming it faithfully.
The recording begins with the readings from John Davies.
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