Set Apart - Acts 13:1-13

Thank you so much for joining us. As we take a look at the book of Acts, we take things nice and slowly. As we look and see what God is doing in the big picture of expanding the gospel from Jerusalem to Judea and to Samaria and to the ends of the earth. My name is David Humphrey, and I'm the pastoral care and missions pastor here at United City Church in Umbel, Texas. We're excited to be your church family while you're incarcerated, but we're gonna be even more excited when you get out and you can come and be a part of our church in person. We love you very much. Please grab your Bible and a journal, perhaps a pen, and be ready to take some notes and let's learn together through the book of Acts. (audience laughing) - Welcome. This is verse by verse. My name is Paul Smith. I am subbing for David Humphrey, who is in Chicago at a conference as we speak. Wanna welcome all our guests that are online. As always, you can't see them, but as we say in the South, there is a mess of people here just excited about opening God's Word. Everyone say, "Hi, friends."

- Hi, friends. - There you go. That was not an AI recording. I can assure you of that. We're excited to have you join us. We're gonna be continuing our study in the book of Acts. Tonight, we're going to be looking at chapter 13. My intention is to get through verses one through at least 12, possibly 13. We'll see how that goes. But once again, welcome to you online. And let me give you just a little bit of background. We have been journeying for a little over a year through the book of Acts now. It's been wonderful. We have seen in the first seven chapters of Acts how the Church of Jerusalem was started. We have journeyed with the apostles and the disciples through that. As we looked at verses eight through 12, we actually saw the church spreading to Judea, some other areas just outside of the immediate area of Jerusalem and seeing God's church grove. The church at Antioch back in chapter 11 was planted. That was the first church that was planted actually outside of the direct influence of the Christian world. This is the first Gentile church. We were going to read more about the church at Antioch in our passage tonight.

Church at Antioch was at this point in church history an unusual church in that it was strong. It was God centered and it was full of faithful, faithful members who were full of the Holy Spirit and who were focused on the mission of spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ to as many places and people as they possibly could. So we're going to pick up in verse one. I'm going to read verses one through 13 and then we'll go back. And as we like to do in this class, we're going to look at it verse by verse. So let's go chapter 13 verse one. Now there were in the church at Antioch, prophets and teachers Barnabas, Simeon who was called niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manian, a lifelong friend of Herod the Tetrarch and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart for me, Barnabas and Saul, for the work for which I have called them. And after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off. So being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to solution and from there they sailed to Cyprus when they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God and the synagogues of the Jews.

And they had John to assist them. And when they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. He was with the Pro-Counsel, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But Ilimus, the magician for that is the meaning of his name, opposed them, seeking to turn the Pro-Counsel away from the faith. But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, "You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness full of deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the--" will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time." Immediately missed, and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. Then the pro-counsel believed when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord. Paul and his companions set sail from Paphras and came to Pergia in Pampaglia, and John left them and returned to Jerusalem. Oh my goodness, let's get started. So, back at verse 1, we're back at the church in Antioch, which we had just talked about a little bit. Luke makes a point from the very get-go of this passage to let us know that prophets and teachers are at the church. Now, let's take a look at that just a little bit. When we hear the word "profit" nowadays, what is it that you typically think of when you hear "profit"? Someone who tells the future. Someone who tells the future. That's exactly right. Someone who tells the future. That is not the principle meaning of the word "profit" in Scripture. It can mean someone who foretells the future, giving messages from God, but prophets typically are just those who preach the word. Those who proliferate the word of God, and that is what this means here. Now, there were prophets and teachers. There's

a little bit of difference, let's say, in the ranking order, if you will, scripturally, in prophets and teachers. Prophets would be more like, think pastors, or in the Jewish church rabbis, the priests, so forth, whereas teachers would be someone like myself. I know that there are those of you out here who teach the word of God as well. So, in the church at Antioch, people who are strong in the faith. This is what Luke is trying to get across to us right now. These were people that were deep into God's word. Remember, they had the Old Testament at this point. Then he goes to list five of them. Barnabas. We know Barnabas. Barnabas was introduced to us earlier in Acts, okay? Simeon, who was called Niger. We don't really know much about anything except what it says right here. We do though that Niger is Latin for black, so it's possible that this man may have been from Africa, dark-skinned. Lucius of Cyrene. Lucius Cyrene is a coastal town that is, today, would be located in Northern Libya, also in Africa. Manaean, a lifelong friend of Herod the Tetrarch. Now, that's Herod Antipas here, and we've talked about him, all right? He was the hare that was alive during Jesus' ministry here on earth, okay? And I want you to take note, Manaean, a lifelong friend of Herod the Tetrarch. Now, some translations say, "Who was raised with Herod?" Okay? So, the root Greek means essentially the same thing. He was raised along with him, and therefore, a lifelong friend. We're going to come back to that in just a little bit. And then Saul, now, those of you who have been in this class in the length of time, if you don't know who Saul is at this point, come see me after class and we'll have a short tutorial, all right? But these are men of God, men of deep abiding faith, all right? And they're the leaders or partial leaders of the church at Antioch. Now, that he goes on in verse two, "While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting," okay? Some translations say, "while they were praying and fasting." Does anyone's translation say, "Praying and fasting," Tim's does, anyone else's? The of what Luke is, what the picture that Luke is painting for us here is simply that this was a church that that is focused first and foremost on the work of the Lord. Sadly, and I'm not going to get into a commentary, but I can't help myself to say, sadly, there are many, many churches who are more focused on trivialities, things of the world, programs and things that grab the attention and entertain as opposed to things which - so the church is a whole

of fasting and praying. Why the world of church is a whole will be fasting and praying, no. Fasting and praying is probably the best way to prepare yourself for God's direction. Fasting and praying allows us not only to worship, which should be an act of worship when we do fast and/or pray, but it's also an act of focusing ourselves on God himself. This is what the church was doing. Remember, the church here is young. We're about 10-12 years if I remember correctly. Don't hold me exactly to that from Pentecost, all right? So this is all still fairly new even to the church at Antioch, which has been around now for several years. So they're still eagerly awaiting God's next steps. Everyone has next steps. We preach that at this church, and this is what they're doing, and they're focusing and preparing themselves for it. And as always, when we are receptive to God's will, God reveals it to the church at Antioch. He says so in the next verse, you know. And while they were worshiping the Lord in fasting, the Holy Spirit says, "Set apart for me, Barnabas and Saul, for the work which I have called them." Now, yes, sir. The Holy Spirit audibly spoke to them, do you think? Thank you for asking that question. And the answer is, we don't know. What else can I help you with, Michael? I didn't know either. And I knew someone would ask that, and I'm glad you did. We don't know. The Bible doesn't tell us what's one second. The Bible doesn't tell us how the Holy Spirit communicated this. It could have been any number of ways. Me, using my religious imagination, believe that he probably spoke through one of the prophets that Luke mentioned earlier. It could have been that the Spirit just laid on the hearts of the people. I know when God calls me to whatever my next step is, I don't hear an audible voice. And what I do hear the voices in my head, I try not to listen to them, ignore them. Most of the time, I'm successful at that. But we don't know. What's important is that the Holy Spirit made God's will known to these people. And more importantly, they listened and they obeyed, which is what we should do. Dave, you had a comment? Yeah, I think of this back when the Jews came out of captivity and they came back and they had everything they were given, all the utensils, all the workers, everything they needed to rebuild the temple. Right. And they were just gung ho, ready to do it. Right. And the Holy Spirit stopped them and said, Whoa, it's not going to be might nor by power. None of these things are going to make a difference.

It's only by the Holy Spirit. Right. Yeah. Here you see the church being very receptive. They're fasting, they're praying, they're worshiping, and they're waiting for God to give him some direction. And he does. Yes. Yeah, that's exactly. And that that of the lesson for us here from this verse is what? This is how we should be. Right. We should always be asking God, what is my next step? What is the next thing that you want me to do? Do you want me to continue where you've had me? Do you want me to go down a new direction? And we need to be not only receptive to hearing his direction, but we need to follow it as well. All right. As the church here did. Verse three, then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them, sent them off. Well, there you go. They did exactly what the Holy Spirit told them to do. But I do want to make one point that after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off as we are going to do later pray over him. All right? I want you to notice it did not say after fasting and praying let those of the hands of them and they receive the Holy Spirit and power and blah blah blah. Okay? This is not what happened. The laying on of the hands, folks, is simply an affirmation and a confirmation that we know these people are being sent out and that we are backing them and on their side and recognize the fact that they are sent of the Holy Spirit to do God's work. This is not man's work that they are being sent out to do. This is God's work. When people go out on their own accord and do things even with the affront that, "Well I'm doing this because I thank God wants me to do this." If it is not the Holy Spirit directing you or them, it's going to fail. The only way we can be successful in spreading the gospel, in spreading the good news of Jesus Christ, of doing the Lord's work is by praying and receiving direction and then letting Him guide us in the way that He wants us to go. All right? On our own, we're nothing. We're going to fail. With God, all things are possible. Someone write that down. I just made that up. Let's go on. Verse 4, "So being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to solution and from there they sailed disciples." Now again, here it is. So being sent out not by the church. Did you notice that? Did you catch that? It's by the Holy Spirit. That's exactly right. This is God's work. Here Luke is emphasizing it yet again. He wants us to be completely sure. All

right? This is not of man. This is of God. So by the Holy Spirit they went down to solution and from there they sailed disciples. Now, solution is actually about, it's about 16 miles from Antioch and it's a port city. All right? It's a very important city as far as commerce goes and so forth and Antioch used it as their port for other parts of the known world. And notice from solutions they went and they sailed to Cyprus, big island. Okay? It's the second or third biggest island in the Mediterranean if memory serves correctly. When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews and they had John, that's John Mark, which we talked about last week, to assist them. Salamis is one of the two major cities on the island of Cyprus. Now, why do you suppose it was that they went to Cyprus? Anybody what a speculate as to why they may have gone to Cyprus? Barnabas was from there. Barnabas was from there. That's exactly right. It was his home so he would have been familiar with it, right? And probably knew some of the ins and outs and was had to be familiar with the synagogues, I would imagine, being a devout man of God. Anyone have any other speculations to why they may have gone to? Scripture doesn't give us answers to this. I'm just warning you why else you might thought they may have. That's true. It was an important city as far as commerce goes. It also had a very large Jewish population and had a lot of synagogues. Notice what it says they preached to the synagogues, that's plural. That's not singular. So there were a lot of fertile fields. Remember Paul's mission was to preach the gospel first to the Jews, then to the Gentiles. So he starts in the Jewish synagogues because that's a good base of knowledge because I would imagine the way that he presented the gospel is building up on Old Testament prophecies and stories that point to Christ. Now that again is me using my religious imagination. So when they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician. Now let's stop there. When they may gone through the whole island. to maybe to another and then they go to lunch and maybe hit one more and then they're back

to their holiday in to grab dinner and go to bed. No, they spent some time doing this. They covered the entire island. Now, the other major city on the Isle of Cyprus is Pafus, right? Pafus is an interesting city. Has anyone ever heard of a goddess by the name of Venus or also Aphrodite? Okay. Well, this was her home. Metaphorically speaking, of course. Pardon me? Oh, it was a hugely pagan area. The main temple of Venus was located in this city. All right. Now, if you are even remotely familiar with mythology, Venus or Aphrodite, as she's also called, is the goddess of love and sex. In the temple, there were a multitude of temple prostitutes. They had festivals, one huge three day festival every spring, as a matter of fact, in which everyone came and we're just going to leave it at that. I don't even want your imaginations to roam at this point, please. But suffice to say that the pagan influence was extremely strong. And these guys marched right into it and preached the gospel of Jesus Christ. They are bold soldiers for the Lord. But there, now Satan rears his ugly head. All right. I want you to consider that every time God moves, Satan gets upset. Okay. Every single time. All right. Think about times when you have had opportunities to witness to somebody or to enter into a ministry or as a volunteer or to do whatever for the Lord. Have you ever gone through a time when that road was made difficult? Of course. If you've served the Lord at all, you've had a time like that. It may have been minor difficulties. It may have been major difficulties, but Satan always looks for those of us who are soldiers for the Lord because he wants to defeat us. Right. And here in this passage is where Satan first rears his head. Now we've got Paul and Barnabas, two of God's strongest weapons, if you will, right, against paganism. And they are in the heart of one of the most pagan cities in the known world at this point. All right. And Satan comes on the scene in the form of a magician. Okay. Let's go on. A certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar Jesus. This tells us he was Jewish. Okay. So he's a traitor to Jews because the way he's described, a Jewish false prophet named to Bar Jesus. Bar Jesus just for your information means son of salvation. Yeah. This man is just the opposite. He is a false prophet. Verse seven, he was with the pro counsel or governor, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. Now, a little bit about this Roman pro counselor, or we don't know a lot about him, although there has been archaeological evidence that he was indeed a true historical figure. Okay.

This FYI, the part of his job as pro counsel and just part of his nature, you notice how Luke described him as an intelligent man? All right. Now, what is a trait of intelligent people? Curiosity, right? Yeah. My wife, I consider her very intelligent. All right. And she is curious like crazy. Okay. And I could, I could point at almost everybody in this room because those of you who I know well enough, I know you're intelligent and This man was that way as well, okay? And also part of his job as governor, a pro-counsel, would have been, well you know what, there's this new religion thing out there, and well I need to find out a little bit about it. I need to know what's going on because I'm responsible for this territory as governor. So he calls for the two men that word has traveled to him, you know what, these guys, they probably know a lot about this. They've been preaching this throughout their Jewish temples and so forth. So you know what, I want to hear about it now. We don't know for sure, but because he summoned Paul and Barnabas, there may have been more than just out of curiosity involved here. He may have somehow heard about Jesus Christ. He may have heard about salvation achieved through him and wanted to actually know more about this, okay? We have a hint of this later on in this passage which we'll get to, but for right now we know that he's curious and he wants to hear the word of God, and here's where the devil comes in. But Elamists, the magician for that is the meaning of his name or some say for that is how his name is translated, opposed them, seeking to turn the pro-counsel away from the faith, well, what does Satan consider his job to be, to turn people who are curious about Jesus Christ, to turn them away from that, okay, in whatever way that he can. And here he's using this magician, this astrologer, if you will, by the way, the Greek for magician here, Magus, all right, it originally was the word used in Matthew chapter two for the badgai, remember the badgai coming from the east to see Jesus, okay? It originally had no evil overtones, but later became instead of being associated with astronomers and mathematicians and scientists and so forth, which the Magi were, it came to be a designation

just for anyone who dabbled in the occult and astrology and things like that in general. This is the way in which it is used here, all right? So Satan is using this person to sway the pro-counsel, now the pro-counsel had this man in his court, okay? This man, bar Jesus, son of salvation, okay, being a false prophet was more than likely whispering things in the pro-counsel's ear that were just false. He was turning him away and why was he doing that the same way, or the same reason that the religious leaders of Jesus' time hated every word that came out of Jesus' mouth. It was a challenge to their authority. He wanted more power. He wanted more control. He wanted to be elevated even more in the court of the governor. So he's whispering things that the governor might want to hear or that he thinks he would, but he's not whispering truth, not at all, false prophet, okay? But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit. Here's the Holy Spirit again, looked intently at him and said, "You didn't call him bar Jesus, did he, son of salvation?" No, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteous is full of all deceit and villainy. Whew, okay, let's stop there a minute, you know. What I've always admired about Paul is he kind of reminds me sometimes a little bit of Peter, because Peter was very direct. Yeah, he didn't mince words, thank you Peggy. Is Paul mensing words here? Nope, he's pretty much direct to the point, isn't he? Because he knows who's influencing this man. He knows who it is that's directing his actions and his words, all right? And he knows why the devil is using him, all right? He sees it, right? So full of the Holy Spirit, he said, "You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteous is full of all deceit and villainy.

Will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?" In other words, would you not stop twisting what God has said is truth into lies? Now, let's go back. Last week, David made He just doesn't have that many arrows in his quiver. It's kind of the same thing over and over and over again, okay? Think back to the Garden of Eden. Let's go back to Adam and Eve. How was it that Satan got Eve to take that fruit and take a bite, right? Now, God didn't really say you died, did he? No, no, that's not what he said. No, what, you know, what he's afraid. He's afraid that, you know what, you eat that fruit and he knows you're going to be just like him because you'll know the difference has been good and evil. Now, wouldn't you like to be like God? He twisted God's word. He made, how does he say it? He made crooked the straight paths of the Lord. He's doing that to this day, all right? All the, I hate to say it, all the preachings from the pulpit that mislead the congregations, in order to gain power, to look good in the eyes of man, you know? All that is just twisting God's word and stepping and taking people away from the truth being false prophets, and yes, sir. In my translation, when Paul is laying it on, he says, you're full of all kinds of deceit and trickery, just another way to look at those words that we understand better. Yep, exactly, exactly, deceit and trickery. Yeah, villainy, yeah. Boy, if that's not an evil sounding word, I don't know what is, you know? The, on a little bit of a tangent, as I was reading and preparing for this, I was thinking about the tools that Satan uses with us, and it struck me, that one of his most powerful tools to keep us from doing God's work is for words. I don't have time. Think about it. I don't have time. I have heard those words, and I have spoken those words more times than I can remember, you know? Oh, I don't have time for that. I've got this other thing I need to do. Oh, I have to be it, so-and-so. I can't go to Bible study tonight. I've got this to do. I just don't have time. For simple little words, and that's all it takes to turn our focus away from Christ and onto that which is of the world, you know? Satan is insidious people. He is sneaky, he's smart, and he's practiced. He's had thousands of years, right? If he can convince two people who literally walked with God, that what God said is not true, and he knows Scripture, that's right. How on guard must we be every minute of every day to be aware of how he's trying to distract us

from God's work? Let's go on. And now, behold, Paul continues in verse 11, "The hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time. Immediately missed and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand." Now, Paul knows something about blindness, doesn't he? Remember that little trip he made, you know? Fell off his horse or whatever he was riding on because of bright light, scales on his eyes, this type of thing. He knows a little bit about blindness, and he, through the help of the Holy Spirit, curses this man with the same blindness, you know? He already had spiritual blindness, right? Now he has a physical blindness. This is the Greek immediately missed, that word for missed, you know how at dusk, it gets darker and darker, and finally, it's nighttime, that's the, and the darkness fell upon him. You remember, sun went dark it's the exact same word okay but look at the look carefully at the curse and look at the mercy that God shows this man you will not be able to see the sun for a time we know exactly what that means it means for a short period we don't know how long that period of time was yes yes yeah you're your observation just sunk in this thick head sorry the for a short period of time we do not know how long but for a period of time he was unable to see and had to be led around by the hand he's looking for people now we don't know if if when his sight returned he also was able to see spiritually the Bible doesn't tell us doesn't tell us anymore about him that's all we know about him but here's the lesson to be learned from this particular passage okay for this part of this passage right God prevails right it's just like my license plate holders on my car I've read the book God wins it's as simple as that folks it's as simple as that okay and here he wins again verse 12 then and here's the miracle then the pro council believed when he saw what had occurred for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord the pro councils there okay kind of forgot about him for a couple minutes there right but he's there he's watching this exchange go down alright this is a man who was curious at least about this God and salvation and Jesus Christ okay yeah yep yep he's up he's at least curious all right he summoned Paul and Barnabas this tells us that the Holy

Spirit was working on this governor okay he he you're not curious about Jesus Christ unless God is calling you okay if God's not calling you you could care less about God if you're a non-believer okay this man was now I want to be clear the pro council believed when he saw what had occurred he watched all this but it wasn't it wasn't the curse it wasn't the miracle of the blindness read the next sentence for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord where does the teaching of the Lord come from it comes from this okay and it comes from teachers and it comes from prophets those who proclaim the word of God back at our first verse remember that okay that is what astonished him for the first time in his life probably he heard the details about who Jesus Christ was and what he means to each and every one of us who accept his free gift of salvation all right and he believed that is the miracle and that is the lesson to be learned from this God wins questions okay the governor it doesn't say so but and Barnabas were in pagan territory yeah yeah big time so I'm wondering if they were persecuted or if they had to the governor call for right I'm wondering if he protected them well the Bible isn't specific about whether they that whether anyone tried other than Elimes tried to persecute them them but if we read ahead all right verse 13 now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia okay and then John left them and returned to Jerusalem so they left this pagan town and went to yet another place to minister so so they were free to go they they they left Cyprus they they traveled elsewhere and started the next leg of their ministry on this their - Correct. Correct. Yeah. That's all we know about. Just this little part right here. - I've soon walked around blind and had people leave. He lost a great deal of pride and maybe a year.

- And I would think he lost probably all of his stature. - Yeah. - But we just don't know. - Let me, let me pray us out. And if you want, we could stick around for a minute. We're supposed to have, our mark is supposed to come out. I don't know if he's gonna make it or not now. Oh, yes, sir. - That's me. - Oh, that's you? Oh, okay. Well, good. Let me pray us out. The floor is yours. No. Let's go to the Lord. Heavenly Father, once again, we just thank you for this beautiful day. Again, we thank you for your word. Oh, my goodness. What a powerful, powerful message you have embedded in this passage of Scripture, Lord. It's just so wonderful to see that, that, that when Satan rears his ugly head against those of us who try to advance your gospel, that through the Holy Spirit, we can always gain the strength and the courage to defeat him. We just thank you for that, Lord. It's just almost beyond our comprehension that, that you are so loving and so gracious with each and every one of us. Lord, I pray that your blessings to us for the rest of this week, Lord. As always, I ask that you just, just direct us to let our light for you shine brightly so that those who come in contact with us, Lord, in whatever way can see that we have you living in us.

And that makes a difference. And Lord, use us to draw others into a desire for a relationship with you, Lord. We are ready to be your instruments and your tools, Lord. Thank you once again for all your many blessings. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Thanks again for joining us, verse by verse, through the book of Acts. I hope that you have learned a lot more importantly, I hope that you'll apply these things to your life this week. Share it with a friend. Great thing for you to just have some discussion with the other people around you, share the things that God is doing in your life. Again, remember the Bible is a book about God far more than it is a book about us. So let's learn about him, let's grow to love him more and more. Here at United City, this is not the only thing that we have on the Pando app. We would love for you to follow some of our other content, watch some of our worship services, along with music and the messages. As well as podcasts, we've got a lot of great content and we would love for you to follow that. And also, if you would like to be in touch with us here at United City, the best way to do that is by writing us a letter. You can address that to prison ministry at United City Church, 1-9-9-0-1, Townsend Boulevard, Umbel, Texas, 7-7-3-3-8. We'll read that, we'll pray for you, and somebody will write you back. God bless you, and we'll see you in the Word. [BLANK_AUDIO]