44 The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. 45 But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him. 46 And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. 47 For so the Lord has commanded us, saying,

“‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles,
    that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”

48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. 49 And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region. 50 But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. 51 But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. 52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

Now at Iconium they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed. 2 But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.3 So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. 4 But the people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles. 5 When an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to mistreat them and to stone them, 6 they learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding country, 7 and there they continued to preach the gospel.

As I read this, I thought, ‘We are in ‘gospel country’ here’, with the Jews acting out of ”jealousy” and stirring up opposition. (Also, verse 51 takes us back to the words of Jesus in Mt.10:14). We see that the Word of God divides people, in terms of their responses to it. This is no less true today than back then. Jesus specifically said that He had not come to bring ”peace” but a ”sword”(Mt.10:34). But even amidst suffering, nothing could extinguish the Spirit-filled joy of ”the disciples” (13:52). Opposition did not deter the evangelists, even though it might eventually necessitate moving on. The little word ”So” at the beginning of verse 3 is telling after what we see in verse 2. Such persevering courage is God-given

‘The will to persevere is often the difference between failure and success.” David Sarnoff

‘Paul was a man on the move but not a man easily moved because of difficulties.’ Warren W. Wiersbe