“They stoned Paul and dragged him out of town, thinking he was dead. But as the believers gathered around him, HE GOT UP and went back into the town.”
(Acts 14:19-20).

Paul is not a very impressive looking man. One description of him in a second century document called, The Acts of Paul and Thecla, was “a man of little stature, thin-haired, crooked in the legs, a good state of body, with eyebrows joining, and nose somewhat hooked.” This sounds a lot like the type of kids that got knocked around on the playground. Yet, here is a man who endured FAR more punishment than just about anyone will endure and he kept getting up again, and again, and again, and again.

Paul would be the first to tell us that it was, as it states in Zechariah 4:6, “not by might, not by power, but my Spirit says the Lord Almighty.”

Paul and Barnabas were in Lystra preaching the gospel when Paul noticed a man looking intently at him. He knew this man’s look indicated someone who had the faith to believe so Paul speaks directly to him during his sermon and says, “Stand Up!” (Acts 14:10). So, the man immediately stands up and begins to walk for the first time in his life. This astonished the crowd, of course, and they began to look at Paul and Barnabas as gods. In fact they looked at Paul as Hermes and Barnabas as Zeus. Keep in mind that Paul and Barnabas were conducting the first deliberate evangelistic journey into the Gentile world. These people were not used to hearing, much less seeing, the Word of God in action. They began to worship Paul and Barnabas and they brought wreaths to the town gates and bulls to sacrifice to the “gods.” It was at such a fever pitch that Paul and Barnabas ripped their clothes and began to plead with the people to stop what they were doing; this was not them but rather the real God of heaven and earth.

This story reminds me of the scene in Toy Story 2 where Buzz and Woody get trapped in the machine with the group of alien toys who think the crane is some form of deity.

Some Jewish agitators arrived from Antioch and turned the crowd against Paul and Barnabas. Paul is stoned, believed to be dead, and then dragged out of town. These were not pebbles; these were rocks. They would be large enough to inflict pain and eventual death but not large enough to immediately kill someone. In this case Paul was knocked unconscious.

Maybe you’re at a place in your life where the enemy has been hurling rocks at you and you’ve been dragged out out of town and left for dead.

You’ve been sick for years.

You’ve been abandoned.

Your family is broken.

Your dreams are shattered.

Your faith is weak.

You’re tired.

COVID-19 has brought on immense fear, doubt, uncertainty and deep loneliness.

You’ve been told you’ll never change.

You’ve just about given up and you’re unconscious from the stoning. Maybe you don’t just fit one or two of these categories but the perfect storm has arrived and you’re feeling them all at once!

Get Up! Stand Up!

“But as the believers gathered around him, he GOT UP and went back into the town” (vs.20).

“For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them” (Matthew 18:20)

I love that “as the believers gathered around him” so did the presence of God surround him. It must have been a sight to see someone who was left for dead GET UP again. Paul could have played the role of the victim and just packed up and went home but he didn’t. He didn’t quit. He GOT UP and went back into the town of Lystra. I think part of me may have pulled a Jonah and told God that I wasn’t going to go into Nineveh.

Sometimes you just have to GET UP and go back.

GET UP and go back home and make it right; it’s never too late; GET UP.

GET UP and go to work; even if it’s not where you want to be; GET UP

GET UP and start believing for your healing again; GET UP.

GET UP and replace the lies of the enemy with the truth of God’s Word; GET UP.

GET UP and dust off your journal and read the dreams that God gave you; GET UP.

GET UP and trust the Lord to fulfill His promises to you; GET UP.

GET UP and believe that “WITH GOD, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE” (Matthew 19:26).

GET UP!!