Acts 14:1-24
The healing of the lame man isn’t the only healing that took place at Lystra. Here is Paul left for dead but after the disciples gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city and the very next day, he left for Derbe.
Through the Holy Spirit, the disciples prayed for Paul and he got up and not only went back into the city where the people were that stoned him, the next day he set out on a 60 mile journey to Derbe!
Even after all of the persecution they faced, after winning a large number of disciples in Derbe, they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch. They went back where they knew people wanted to kill them for spreading the Gospel.
Y’all, so often I hear people quote Matthew 10:14 where Jesus told his disciples to “If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet,” when they encounter opposition. The original text says if no one will listen to your words you can leave and not look back, but Paul and Barnabas knew that some in those towns would listen because they had listened before when they were there. They had shaken the dust off their feet when they left Antioch the first time, but now, they went back.
Loved ones, even if someone doesn’t listen the first time you share the Gospel with them, don’t give up because the next time, or the next time, or the next time the Holy Spirit may have opened their hearts enough to hear and believe.