“And there they preached the Good News.”
Acts 14:7 (NLT)
Paul and Barnabas brought the Good News to Iconium, but some rejected the gift of God through Jesus for eternal life, and they rejected the givers too. There was dissension, and jealousy, confusion, disbelief, and pride that fueled persecution toward the very ones who came to bless them.
Think about that. Have you ever had somebody bring you a gift, and then you got hateful, joined a mob, and tried to attack and stone the person who brought it? That is appalling. Confusing. Unreasonable. Yet that is what happened, and praise God the apostles learned of the coming attack so they could get out of town.
These apostles did not just escape persecution, they changed the location where they preached the Good News. In less than ten verses, they were run out of town twice, Antioch in Pisidia and then Iconium, but they did not give up. Another way of translating Acts 14:7 is that they continued to preach the hope of the Gospel. They not only had hope, they preached of it in the midst of a death sentence.
Practically, if a mob had kicked me out of town twice, I probably would have taken a break from preaching. But Paul practiced what he preached. Galatians 6:9 says not to get tired of doing what is good, and at the right time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Keep your hope in God and continue looking up today, not at the wind and the waves. Then in the midst of persecution, danger, or bad news we can keep sharing the Good News with our focus on heaven.