JOIN THE JOURNEY JR.
Families Abiding in Jesus together
With shorter reading assignments and kid-specific focus areas, Join The Journey Jr. is designed to help parents disciple their kids and engage with Scripture in the best ways for their age.
This month's memory verse
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
Want weekly retellings of our favorite Bible stories and conversation guides? Listen to the Join The Journey Jr. podcast with the whole family every Monday!
But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium.
Paul Preaches in Antioch of Pisidia
13Paul and his companions then left Paphos by ship for Pamphylia, landing at the port town of Perga. There John Mark left them and returned to Jerusalem. 14But Paul and Barnabas traveled inland to Antioch of Pisidia.*
On the Sabbath they went to the synagogue for the services. 15After the usual readings from the books of Moses* and the prophets, those in charge of the service sent them this message: “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, come and give it.”
16So Paul stood, lifted his hand to quiet them, and started speaking. “Men of Israel,” he said, “and you God-fearing Gentiles, listen to me.
17“The God of this nation of Israel chose our ancestors and made them multiply and grow strong during their stay in Egypt. Then with a powerful arm he led them out of their slavery. 18He put up with them* through forty years of wandering in the wilderness. 19Then he destroyed seven nations in Canaan and gave their land to Israel as an inheritance. 20All this took about 450 years.
“After that, God gave them judges to rule until the time of Samuel the prophet. 21Then the people begged for a king, and God gave them Saul son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, who reigned for forty years. 22But God removed Saul and replaced him with David, a man about whom God said, ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do.’*
23“And it is one of King David’s descendants, Jesus, who is God’s promised Savior of Israel! 24Before he came, John the Baptist preached that all the people of Israel needed to repent of their sins and turn to God and be baptized. 25As John was finishing his ministry he asked, ‘Do you think I am the Messiah? No, I am not! But he is coming soon—and I’m not even worthy to be his slave and untie the sandals on his feet.’
26“Brothers—you sons of Abraham, and also you God-fearing Gentiles—this message of salvation has been sent to us! 27The people in Jerusalem and their leaders did not recognize Jesus as the one the prophets had spoken about. Instead, they condemned him, and in doing this they fulfilled the prophets’ words that are read every Sabbath. 28They found no legal reason to execute him, but they asked Pilate to have him killed anyway.
29“When they had done all that the prophecies said about him, they took him down from the cross* and placed him in a tomb. 30But God raised him from the dead! 31And over a period of many days he appeared to those who had gone with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his witnesses to the people of Israel.
32“And now we are here to bring you this Good News. The promise was made to our ancestors, 33and God has now fulfilled it for us, their descendants, by raising Jesus. This is what the second psalm says about Jesus:
‘You are my Son.
Today I have become your Father.*’
34For God had promised to raise him from the dead, not leaving him to rot in the grave. He said, ‘I will give you the sacred blessings I promised to David.’* 35Another psalm explains it more fully: ‘You will not allow your Holy One to rot in the grave.’*36This is not a reference to David, for after David had done the will of God in his own generation, he died and was buried with his ancestors, and his body decayed. 37No, it was a reference to someone else—someone whom God raised and whose body did not decay.
38*“Brothers, listen! We are here to proclaim that through this man Jesus there is forgiveness for your sins. 39Everyone who believes in him is made right in God’s sight—something the law of Moses could never do. 40Be careful! Don’t let the prophets’ words apply to you. For they said,
41‘Look, you mockers,
be amazed and die!
For I am doing something in your own day,
something you wouldn’t believe
even if someone told you about it.’*”
42As Paul and Barnabas left the synagogue that day, the people begged them to speak about these things again the next week. 43Many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, and the two men urged them to continue to rely on the grace of God.
Paul Turns to the Gentiles
44The following week almost the entire city turned out to hear them preach the word of the Lord. 45But when some of the Jews saw the crowds, they were jealous; so they slandered Paul and argued against whatever he said.
46Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and declared, “It was necessary that we first preach the word of God to you Jews. But since you have rejected it and judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we will offer it to the Gentiles. 47For the Lord gave us this command when he said,
‘I have made you a light to the Gentiles,
to bring salvation to the farthest corners of the earth.’*”
48When the Gentiles heard this, they were very glad and thanked the Lord for his message; and all who were chosen for eternal life became believers. 49So the Lord’s message spread throughout that region.
50Then the Jews stirred up the influential religious women and the leaders of the city, and they incited a mob against Paul and Barnabas and ran them out of town. 51So they shook the dust from their feet as a sign of rejection and went to the town of Iconium. 52And the believers* were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
Have you ever had the opportunity to share the gospel with someone, but you felt a little scared because you didn’t know what they would say? You can’t know for sure if someone will listen to you when you talk about Jesus. You can’t even know how they will respond, but God still wants us to share about Jesus (Acts 1:8, Mark 16:15).
In Acts 13, Paul and Barnabas shared the gospel in a city called Antioch. While some of the people responded and were excited to hear the gospel, there were others who fought Paul and Barnabas. The Jews in Antioch were angry at Paul and Barnabas for teaching about Jesus, and so they persecuted them. Persecution is being treated unfairly, bullied, or punished because you follow Jesus.
What was Paul and Barnabas’s response though? Read Acts 13:50-52.
Paul and Barnabas “shook off the dust from their feet” and continued to the next city so they could keep preaching about Jesus. That means that they didn’t get discouraged and stop, instead they trusted God and his plan for those people. Paul and Barnabas persevered and had courage to keep telling people about Jesus, even when some didn’t accept what they were saying. They were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit. That was how they could keep going. The Holy Spirit helped them persevere.
Think about it:
Our monthly memory verse is John 15:5. Take time this weekend to practice memorizing the verse. You can play “Pass the Fruit” or use this Memory Verse Activity Packet.