Paul's Odyssey: Our summer series deals with the life and missionary journeys of a man named Saul, better known as the Apostle Paul.

Throughout this series we've watched as a man named Saul, who was fiercely opposed to the message of Jesus, transform into a man referred to as Paul and was tasked with taking the Gospel message to the Gentiles.

Table Question:
What is the largest project that you've been involved with? What unknown challenges did you face?

Today we're in Acts 14:26-28 and are wrapping up Paul's first missionary trip. In some ways, this was a long project that Paul and Barnabas undertook. When they first left Antioch, they didn't fully know the challenges they would face as they kept moving toward the end goal of sharing their faith throughout the region.

Here's a quick recap of all that Paul and Barnabas did on this first missionary trip:
· 1200 miles traveled over 1-2 years
· 9 Cities visited – some of them twice
· Chased out of three cities
· 1 person healed
· 1 person un-healed
· Many, many people heard the Good News
Acts 13:7 The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God.
Acts 13:44 On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.
Acts 13:49 The word of the Lord spread through the whole region.
Acts 14:1 There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Greeks believed.

With every project, there is always an end goal and a metric for determining whether the goal has been met or not. For Paul and Barnabas, this last point (spreading the Good News to many people) was the one and only determining factor of whether their trip was a success or a failure.
We see that many people heard the Good News, responded to the Good News, and churches were established. We could come to the conclusion that this trip was a success!

What did Paul and Barnabas do to be successful? How did they achieve all that they did?
Here are 3 keys to their success that we can mimic in our own lives:

1. They had a PATTERN for sharing their faith.

2. They took a RISK to share their faith.

3. They made great EFFORT to share their faith.

Table Discussion:
Going off of our previous discussion about large projects...discuss what you did at the end of the large project? How did you feel? Did you celebrate or did you just move on to the next project?

Now we'll look at Paul and Barnabas's response to their successful trip:
Acts 14:26-28

1. They RETURNED to where they started after their goals were REALIZED.
Acts 14:26

2. They REPORTED their accomplishments.
Acts 14:27

Why did they include everyone as they celebrated their accomplishments?

-Celebration: We should celebrate all of the good things so that we can honor God for His goodness. We also don't want to miss the opportunity to memorialize it. We need those memories for when tough times come...and we know they will come.
-Accountability: We need to have people we can rely on to hold us accountable and keep us from doing things we shouldn't. Submitting to others helps us to combat the seed of arrogance or pride that all of us have in us.

3. They REKINDLED their relationships, REINVESTED in the believers, and they were REENERGIZED.
Acts 14:28