After spending some time in Antioch, Paul set out from there and traveled from place to place throughout the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.
Paul leaves Corinth and travels to Ephesus. He doesn’t stay long. His second missionary journey comes to a close. He returns for a Homecoming - to his home base - the Antioch Church.
His first journey took him to the Island and Cyprus and then to several cities in what is now central and eastern Turkey. On this second longer journey, he revisited the churches he established on his first journey and then traveled farther west, establishing churches in the cities of Greece.
After spending some time in Antioch, Paul embarks on his third missionary tour. His purpose? To strengthen the students of Jesus he enlisted on his first two journeys!
Paul has been paying close attention to the Teacher. Jesus said to go and make students and baptize them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
But that isn’t all He said. Jesus continued by saying – Teaching them to observe everything I have commanded…
Who is responsible for nurturing new students? To show them how to become successful students? According to Jesus, it is the person who taught them and baptized them in the first place!
This is what makes Paul’s work such a model for students of Jesus today. He doesn’t go out and share the good news, make new students for Jesus, baptize them and then abandon them.
He also does the much more time-consuming work of getting involved in their lives, answering their questions and helping them through problems.
That’s why He goes back to the same places again and again. And why, when he can’t see them face to face, he writes personal letters, many of which are preserved in the New Testament. In all of this, Paul is a conscientious student of Jesus.
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