Day 02 - Pisidian Antioch

RESTORING OUR VIEW OF THE GOSPEL.

Today was wonderful as we learned what it means to restore our view of the Gospel. In a time when Rome claimed their own gospel, their own Son of God, and their own peace and salvation through the Pax Romana, the one true Gospel can grow dim. We visited the ancient ruins of Pisidian Antioch, a city founded by Antiochus mentioned in the book of Daniel. 

There, we gained a helpful historical background of life in Rome, specifically imperial cult worship. We visited the temple to Augustus, the focal point of this city and compared the great Roman triumph to the breathtaking triumph of Christ. There is no comparison.

We visited the incredible site of the first century synagogue where the apostle Paul preached his sermon in Acts 13. This is the first place in all of Asia Minor where the apostle Paul preached and proclaimed the message of Christ! We were blessed with the opportunity to gather there, read and dissect his masterful sermon, and discuss how to apply it to our lives in light of our own lesser gospels we have where we’re from. It was a significant time together!

We then visited a museum to see more Roman and Christian artifacts before heading to  Pamukkale where some of us had a wonderful swim, others had a Turkish bath, and we wrapped up with a sweet, meaningful meal altogether. This team really is tremendous and we’re having a blast growing closer to Jesus and each other!

Tomorrow morning is coming early (4:50am to be exact) as half our team will go up in a sunrise hot air balloon ride over the terrain we’ll be visiting throughout the day tomorrow. It’s going to be quite the experience! Please pray for everyone on our team as tomorrow will be long and hot, and we’ll be hiking all day. Pray for stamina, openness to the Holy Spirit’s teaching, and affection for the one true God and His beautiful Gospel.

Your prayers matter and we are blessed by them.

Tommy