An elderly priest and his wife quietly served the Lord. Zechariah, , ministered in the temple; Elizabeth, was righteous before God, “walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.” Yet they had no child, and their prayers for one had long since faded into habit. As the people prayed outside, the angel Gabriel appeared bbeside the altar and announced the impossible: “Thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.”

Acts 13 marks the beginning of Paul’s first missionary journey. The church at Antioch, guided by the Holy Spirit, sent out Barnabas and Saul to preach the Gospel. Their first stop was the synagogue in Pisidian Antioch — and it’s important to notice where they began. They preached the Good News of Jesus Christ not to pagans, but to the Jews, within the structure of the old covenant. Paul stood up, beckoned with his hand, and began with what every Jewish listener knew well —