Swallow No Camels

July 5, 2026 – Failure or Success— Acts #46
Acts. 13:4-12

I have met some amazing cooks in my time, but almost all of them have stories of dishes that just didn’t turn out as they expected.  Culinary failures.  But some failures can become great successes.

100 years ago, there were no chocolate chip cookies.  And the first chocolate chip cookie in the 1930s was a failure.  They were supposed to be making chocolate drop cookies, but they didn’t turn out as expected.  Chocolate cookies required 2 cups of shaved chocolate per batch.  Shaving that much bar chocolate using a grater is difficult, so one day someone decided to use a knife to chop up the bar into small chips instead.  And instead of melting all through the dough and getting chocolate cookies, they got what we now know as chocolate chip cookies.¹  That is what I call a successful failure.

There is a rumor online that Ruth Wakefield, the chef at the Toll House Inn in Massachusetts, invented the chocolate chip cookie.  But don’t believe everything you read on the internet.   She didn’t invent them, but she is the one who made them famous, and it is her recipe on the package of Nestle’s chocolate chips, by the way- the only highly successful food product made just for a specific recipe.

My wife is an incredible cook. And she is not afraid to try something new.   But one Christmas, we were traveling to my grandmother’s home, and Shirley made a cake with strawberry filling between the layers, then decorated it with white icing.  It was beautiful… until, just a few miles down the road, she looked in the back seat and saw the layers sliding in every direction.  Apparently, the strawberry filling was a little too much like jelly and was too slippery to hold the layers in place.  So, as we passed by my office, I ran in and grabbed some tongue depressors to stick into the cake to hold the layers together.  Shirley said, “That cake was a failure,” But I disagreed.  It was delicious.

She makes a great pound cake, but once had a pound cake overflow and had to scrape it out of the bottom of the oven.  So we had all these thin scraps of cake she scraped out.  But those scraps were better than any cake I’ve ever had.  Buttery with a great crunch.  I asked her to make it that way again, but she just gave me that look.  Again, what she saw as a failure, I saw as a grand success.

How do you determine if something is a success or a failure?  I have done some things that were colossally dumb.  Major mistakes.  But they made really great stories.  And those are the stories we tend to tell and laugh about over and over again.  So were they a failure or not?  It all depends on how you measure success.

So today, we will look at Paul and Barnabas’ next mission in Acts and see whether it was a success or a failure.  But I am going to jump to the end and give you a sneak peek, a spoiler.  Paul preaches this great sermon, and then he comes back to the synagogue the next week, and it is a mess.  Look at verse 50:

Acts 13:50   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.

Paul and Barnabas get run out of town.  I have personally never seen a preacher run out of town after the first week.  But that is how it ends.  So let’s go back to the beginning of the story.

Acts 13:13-16   Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem, but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia.

So they left the island of Cyprus and headed north to what is now Turkey, the town of Perga.  At this point, we are told that John Mark left them, but Luke doesn’t say why here.  But reading on in Acts and then in the book of Galatians, we discover that Paul was very upset with John Mark over this. 

Acts 15:36-40.  And after some days, Paul said to Barnabas, ‘Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.” Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John, called Mark. But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord.

They had a sharp disagreement about taking John Mark.  Paul felt that John Mark had deserted them.  And this dissension led Paul and Barnabas to go their separate ways.  We will deal with this issue later and see how they reconciled and how Paul later speaks fondly of John Mark, but I want to make one point. 

These two great spirit-filled missionaries, who performed miracles through the power of God, couldn’t get along and had to part ways.  We tend to put Paul, the great missionary, on a pedestal.  But he was just like us.  He had disagreements with people. There were times he said things he shouldn’t, and times he didn’t show grace to others, as God did to him.  We should remember this when we judge others (or ourselves) for such behavior. 

We all, like Barnabas and Paul, make these same mistakes.  We judge too quickly, we speak too soon, or too harshly.  But that is part of the process of being human.  So the measure of our closeness to God is not so much how perfect we are, or how few mistakes we make, but instead, how well we forgive each other when mistakes are made and how well we repent of our mistakes.  The Bible says 

Proverbs 27:17. Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.

When you use iron to sharpen iron, there is friction.  It gets hot.  Sparks fly.  This is a great analogy.  We sharpen each other when there is friction.  That is the process of growing.  So when you and a friend or you and a spouse have a disagreement, and you say things you shouldn’t have said, you can think of that not simply as a failure, but as a time to grow.  If you never have arguments with a friend or with your spouse, that is unfortunate.  Because then you lose the opportunity for growth.  

James 1:2-4   Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

 We are human.  We make mistakes. And we need to make mistakes to grow.  So next time you mess up, just tell the person you are arguing with, “Wait a minute! This is great!  This is another chance for you to practice forgiveness for the stupid thing I said, and for me to grow and learn from my error.  Failures can become successes.  

So John Mark departs, but they move on to Antioch in Pisidia.  Remember, they left from Antioch in Syria and are now in central Asia Minor (today’s central Turkey, which in Paul’s day was known as the province of Galatia).  Paul and Barnabas will spend the rest of this missionary journey in Galatia, and Paul will later write a letter to these churches, which we call the book of Galatians.  And that book will be more meaningful to you once you know the stories of the towns Paul and Barnabas visited there.  By the way, notice that before leaving Cyprus, Luke always referred to this duo of missionaries as “Barnabas and Saul.”  We have discussed that, from that point on, he will use Saul’s Greco-Roman name, Paul, instead.  But look at verse 13.

Acts 13:13  Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia.

No longer “Barnabas and Saul” but “Paul and his companions.”  From this point forward, Paul is the headliner.  Some have postulated that this may have had something to do with John Mark’s leaving: that he had joined his cousin Barnabas on the journey and resented Paul taking over.  But that is just a theory. 

So they arrive in Pisidian Antioch. 

Acts 13:14-15  And on the Sabbath day, they went into the synagogue and sat down. After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it.”

Well, you didn’t have to twist Paul’s arm to get him to speak, and here is his first recorded sermon.  I need to clarify that this is not the entire sermon Paul gave that Saturday morning; it’s a summary, a condensed version.  I need to say that because you can read the whole sermon in about 2 1/2 minutes.   And I can imagine you thinking,  “Well, if the great apostle Paul can give a Bible-worthy sermon in 2 1/2 minutes, why does it take him 25-30?”  

Paul begins this way:

Acts 13:16. “Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen.”

In the synagogue were “men of Israel” or Jews, and also those whom the Bible often refers to as “God-fearers”.  These are Gentiles, non-Jewish people, who have decided that the Roman gods are not real.  They have abandoned the religion of their country and have decided that Yehovah is the only true God.  

So they attend Shabbat services at the synagogue, participate, and usually follow Jewish moral and dietary laws, but they have not fully converted to Judaism.   Many God-fearers were wealthy, influential people who supported and occasionally funded synagogues, such as the centurion in Luke 7, who funded the synagogue in Capernaum, or the centurion in Acts 10, who encountered Peter after his vision. 

Then in his sermon, Paul tells the story of the Bible.  In the condensed version, he doesn’t start in Genesis, but he could have.   He begins with God choosing the Jewish people and how He led them out of Egypt. Paul says:

Acts 13:17  “The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it.

Acts 13:18   And for about forty years, he put up with them in the wilderness.

God put up with those murmuring, grumbling, complaining Israelites, 

Acts 13:19-20   And after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance. All this took about 450 years.

Then Paul tells of the time of the Judges, then King Saul, and then King David.  

Acts 13:22   And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’

David, a man after God’s own heart.  I have said this before, but this is important.  David was a man after God’s own heart because he kept pursuing God.  He certainly wasn’t perfect.  He was human like us and made lots of mistakes.  But he was after God’s heart; he was always redirecting his heart’s attitude back toward God.  

Oh, he made some huge mistakes- murder, adultery, to name a few- but when he failed, he repented and turned his heart back toward God.  We are talking about determining if something is a success or a failure.  David failed many times, but his life was not a failure but a success, because he repented and learned from his failure.  Again, we are human, and we will fail.  But the question is: will we repent of our failures, and will we forgive others of theirs?

Then Paul moves the story along to John the Baptist and Jesus, the promised descendant of David.   Paul tells them:

Acts 13:27   For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him.

The prophets had predicted that a descendant of David would come, then suffer and die.  And because the religious rulers in Jerusalem didn’t realize Jesus was that one, they fulfilled those very prophecies by seeking his suffering and death.

This savior that God had sent, they tortured and killed.  Then Paul’s sermon takes a turn with two of the best words in scripture:  

But God….

Acts 13:30  But God raised him from the dead.

Hallelujah!  He didn’t stay dead, but He is forevermore alive. In the darkest time of the planet, when the Son of God lay in a grave, Yehovah reaches out and rights all wrongs and restores justice and turns failure into success, defeat into victory. 

Please memorize this scripture right now.  Acts 13:30 But God raised him from the dead.  

And I am hoping you will keep those first two words at the front of your mind.  But God…. because no matter what happens in your life, those two words matter more than any circumstance you will ever face. You might have an accident like I just heard yesterday about a friend falling off a ladder, you might tear a tendon in your arm, you might have to have surgery for a bad knee or shoulder, you might get a diagnosis of cancer, a family member might die, you might die today….

But God…. 

They put Jesus in a grave, they finished him, they thought it was over.  But God raised him from the dead.   Your circumstances, whatever bad things might happen, are not the final sentence in your story.  Because the next sentence always begins “But God…”. 

And consider Romans 8:28.

Romans 8:28  And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose

So the Bible tells us that for those who love God, God occasionally works things out for good.  That now and then, God is going to take your bad situation and somehow make it become a good situation.   No!

How many things does God work to be good?   All things.  Everything.    So anytime misfortune strikes, every time your car runs out of gas, every time someone is mean to you, every time you mess up and say something stupid, every time you are inconsiderate to someone, every time you make a mess, every time you sin, every disaster…. All of these things are then followed by God working it for good.  

Let me say that again: because of grace, mercy, and forgiveness we have available through Jesus, every time you sin, God works it for good.  He did it for David, and he will do it for you.  

This is why you have to be careful not to call anything a failure.   Yes, we failed, got angry with each other, and said some harsh words.  But God used that as an opportunity for us to repent and for both of us to practice forgiveness and grace.  

So our temporary failure is turned into a success.  And even when your heart fails, when your life fails, and you stop living.  God will take the horror of death and turn it into new life, a better life.   

 What are the first two words of Acts 13:30? But God.

This is the story of the Bible.  God created a perfect world, and then humans brought sin and death into the world.  But God, through the sacrifice of His son, made a way for sin and death to be defeated.   This is the story of all of our lives.  We are all sinners, but God….  Our friend Bina became paralyzed after a spinal surgery with no hope of recovery, but God…. My friend would die without a kidney transplant, and no one could be found to match her, but God…

I was hit in a near head-on collision on a curving mountain road and rolled my jeep 2 1/2 times, but God was with me and kept me on the road with only minor injuries.  My sweet, precious mother and my brother both passed away in the past few years, but God… but God didn’t leave them dead just like he didn’t leave Jesus dead.  I will see them again one day. 

You and I have had many failures in our lives, and we will have many more.  But there is another sentence coming in your story.  And that sentence begins with the first two words of Acts 13:30: But God. Do you see?  For those who love Yehovah and are called to His purpose, God will see to it that our failures become our successes.  

Acts 13:44   The next Sabbath, almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.

Wow.  That’s what I call a response.  You preach once, and a week later, the whole city turns out.  Sorry.  We need a Paul right now.  I can’t even get a good friend to come visit here.   But hold on, because this is not a happy crowd.

Acts 13:45   But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him.

Paul gets heckled, and a big argument breaks out right there in the synagogue.

Acts 13:48-50   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. And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region. 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.

So there are two groups in opposition.  One group rejoices and glorifies the word of the Lord and believes.  Another group stirring up persecution.   And that group succeeds in running our missionaries out of town.  So, back to our original question: Was this ministry in Pisidian Antioch a success or a failure?  

Well, the best people to answer that question would be Paul and Barnabas.  The scripture tells us that they did exactly what Jesus told the disciples to do if a city rejected them:

Acts 13:51  But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium.

So they travel to the next city.  But are they walking with their heads down, feeling defeated?  Did they see this part of their mission trip as a failure?

Acts 13:52   And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

No.  Despite being run out of town by those who persecuted them, they left joyfully.  They did not see this mission as a failure.  Why?  Because being persecuted and run out of town is not the end.  There is another sentence coming in the story that begins with the first two words of Acts 13:30: “But God…”They knew God wasn’t finished in Pisidian Antioch.  Seeds had been planted, and some Gentiles believed.    The story isn’t over.  And I can almost see Paul walking out of the city, turning and saying, “I’ll be back.”

Let me end with the story of Dr. William Leslie, a Canadian medical missionary who traveled to the remote jungles of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to minister to the Yansi people. For 17 years, he faced tremendous obstacles in spreading the Gospel.

After nearly two decades working in the region, his relationship with local tribal leaders broke down, and he was asked to leave.  He returned home very discouraged, thinking that his many years of difficult work were a failure, and then died 9 years later, believing that nothing good had come of his life.  Then, in 2010, almost a century later, a missionary team led by Eric Ramsey traveled deep back into that section of jungle in the DRC.  They didn’t know if anyone there had ever heard the name of Jesus.   Here is part of Ramsey’s report:

“When we got in there, we found a network of reproducing churches throughout the jungle,” Ramsey reports. “Each village had its own gospel choir, although they wouldn’t call it that,” he notes. “They wrote their own songs and would have sing-offs from village to village.”²

There was a church in each of the eight villages scattered there, including one that seated over 1000 people.  Ramsey asked the people who had told them about Jesus, and they told him about a man, but didn’t know his full name.  It was not until Ramsey returned to the US that he discovered the story of William Leslie, who thought he died a failure but left a legacy of souls for Jesus in the jungle. 

William Leslie died thinking he was a failure, but oh what a welcome he received in heaven.  And over the past 100 years and for time to come, Leslie is seeing the fruit of his successful mission as thousands of people from the Congo join him in heaven, thanking him for his work.

Our failures, the small ones we make every day and even the big ones, will never remain failures because of the first two words of Acts 13:30…. “But God.”  He is still working all things for good.  All Things.  No matter how bad the news reports are, the next sentence for us always begins with the same two words:  ‘But God.’  

1.  Gelb, Claudia.  “The Way the Cookie Crumbles”.  Gastropod podcast, April, 2022.
2.  Ellis, Mark.  GodReports.com.  May 19, 2014.