Three times in the New Testament Paul describes his life before Jesus. In each of his accounts, he uses the same word to describe his demeanor—zeal. Paul had intense passion for God and for his people, Israel.So, when he is set apart for missionary service, Paul is chomping at the bit to preach the gospel to his countrymen. He envisions travelling from synagogue to synagogue, arguing passionately from the scriptures that Jesus is the Christ to an overwhelming response.

Unfortunately for Paul, things don’t work out that way.

Yes, Paul does go into the synagogues. Yes, he does preach the gospel. Yes, he does get a response—just not the response he envisioned. At best he gets indifference. At worst he gets, well, we’ll see this week in Acts 14 the worst-case reaction.

Paul’s mission didn’t look like what he thought it would. That is often the case. Often, following Jesus doesn’t look like what we thought it would. Moral failures. Opposition from friends and family. The fear of missing out on the world’s valuables. These are just some of the hurdles we face as we follow Jesus. How do we handle disappointment?

Join us this week as we look at one of Paul’s biggest disappointments and see how he was able to keep the faith.

See you on Sunday!