Day 03 - Central Turkey: Pisidian Antioch

Hello day 3!! This is your captain (Em J) speaking, and what a day we had today - if I could sum it in two words - very tolerable. Just kidding it was more than very tolerable it was amazing and unforgettable.

We packed up our bus and headed to Pisidion Antioch for our first stop of the day. We got to visit some ancient sites and started with another theatre that has been maintained. On the steps Jared taught us about the Inter-testimonial period which is the 400 years of silence in the Bible between the book of Malachi and Matthew. And while the Bible was silent, the world was not and we got a greater understanding of the events leading up to the coming of Jesus Christ.

We then moved onto another ancient site and talked about Paul’s first sermon in Acts 13. Paul, a Roman citizen, was preaching a Christian gospel rooted in Judaism to a gentile world. It was probably four minutes overall, but the power of the gospel is simple and in Acts 13:42-43 it says, “As they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath. And after the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who, as they spoke with them, urged them to continue in the grace of God.” This specific site was a Byzantine Church but the crazier part is that it was believed that churches were built on other ancient sites and underneath this church was a synagogue- likely the exact synagogue where Paul preached this first sermon. Boldly declaring what the Lord has done and this is the picture the Forge uses for Dokimos - that in the same way we might boldly declare the gospel. It was so surreal to be sitting in the text and getting the opportunity to visit these places that we read about in real life.

Our last stop was a pagan temple where we started to talk about the seven churches in Revelation, specifically Thyatira. This church struggled with tolerance and being passive to the sin that was in their church and community. And we see this in our world today - how Christians are now and will be seen even more as intolerant because of the things we stand for. We hold fast to the word of God and how he says we should live, but the world pressures us everyday to conform and be tolerant and it will only get harder. However, we look to 1 Peter 5:12, “this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it.”  

Thankful for everyone who is praying for us and our time here! Feeling extremely blessed and humbled to get to have this experience and know it wouldn’t be possible without the Lord and also the support and prayer of everyone back home! Not sure what we are doing tomorrow, I heard the plans are up in the air!