Set Apart To Be Sent Out | Acts 13:1-12

Before Paul and Barnabas ever set foot on the mission field, the church at Antioch had to do something first: worship, fast, and listen. This message walks through Acts 13:1-12, the moment the Holy Spirit sets apart two ordinary men for an extraordinary calling, and the early church responds not with a program but with prayer. Being sent by God always starts with being set apart by God.

Scripture: Acts 13:1-12
Series: Living by the Spirit, Following the Way

The Way Church KC is a community of misfits & saints in the Rosedale neighborhood of Kansas City following the Way of Jesus & pushing back darkness — together. Join us Sundays or learn more at thewaykc.church.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Welcome to Sermons from the Way Church KC, a community of listening saints in Kansas City following the way of Jesus and pushing back darkness together.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

Good morning, everybody. All right, our scripture reading comes from uh Acts chapter 13. Let's rise for the reading of God's word. We'll start reading from verse 30 of chapter 12. There goes. And Barnabas and Saul returned to Jerusalem when they had completed their service, bringing with them John and the other named the name, the other name was Mark in chapter 13. Now they were in the church at Antioch, prophets, teachers, uh Barnabas, Simon, who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manen, a lifelong partner of Herod, the Tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work that I have called them. Then 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 Seleucia and from there they sailed to Cyrus. Where they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogue of the Jews, and they had John assist them. When they had gone through the whole the whole island of Pethos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Barjesus. He was with the proconsul, Sagias Pelulas, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and so and sought to hear the word of God. But Emas, a magician, for that is the meaning of his name, opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from faith. But so, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, You son of the devil, you enemy of righteousness, full of deceit and violent, with you will you stop making crooked straight paths of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind for and unable to see for the sun for a time. Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by hand. Then the proconsul believed when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord. That is the word of the Lord. Amen.

SPEAKER_02 3:38

Amen, amen. Well, welcome everyone to the Way Church KC. My name is Zach. I have the privilege of being the lead pastor here, and um we're an almost two-year-old church plant now. Um, like this is our birthday month. Um so we'll have been a church for two years on March 31st of this year, and we exist to follow the way of Jesus and push back darkness together. And what I truly believe is that God's building such a sweet family here at the Way KC. Uh, people from all walks of life, people doing life together, people uh supporting each other in the valley and celebrating together on those mountaintop moments. And it's just a privilege to be your pastor, it's a privilege to do life with you. And like, what do you say we keep going? One more Sunday, Roman? Come on. All right, so if this is your first time here, welcome. We're glad you're here. Um, you're welcome here. Um, we have a gift for you if this is your first time. Um, so connect with me right there outside of the sanctuary doors, and I'll get you that gift. Um yeah, it's gonna be a great Sunday. We have been in a sermon series through the book of Acts. Our series is entitled Living by the Spirit and Following the Way. And so we've been walking verse by verse through Acts. And the past couple, several weeks, we've been kind of in a uh transitional um season of this book of Acts. Um they've been, the the gospel, the early church is now expanding and spreading from just the Jewish people to the Gentile world. And we see that rapidly happen in Acts 13. So today, um, as Dolly read, we'll be in Acts chapter 13, verses 1 through 2. Um, if you've got your Bible, you can go ahead and open it there. If you don't have a Bible, right outside of the sanctuary doors, uh, we got Bibles for you. You can have, you can keep, you can mark up, do all the things, take all the notes you want. Um, it's our gift to you. But in Acts 13, up until this point, we've watched the risen Christ build his church through the apostles, through persecution, through scattered believers, through unexpected conversions. But now the story widens. It's as though the author Luke is zooming out. The gospel begins to move intentionally, it begins to move publicly, it begins to move strategically to the Gentile world. And here's what I want us to see from the start. A lot of times, I think as we read the New Testament, we can look at Paul as the hero, right? Like Paul had a radical conversion story that we read about earlier in Acts. Paul was probably one of the greatest church planners to ever live. He wrote a big chunk of the New Testament, but he's not the hero of this story. We must see that Paul is simply a servant in a mission that began before him and will continue after him. The hero is still the triune God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, who is spreading the light of his true temple to the ends of the earth through his Isaiah servant witness. Remember, kind of our thematic verse here in Acts is Acts 1, 8, and you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all of Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. That's what's happening here. God is keeping his promises. The servant king is claiming the nations. And as the kingdom expands, something else happens. Like, yes, the gospel comforts, but what we see here in Acts 13 is the gospel also confronts. It confronts idols, it confronts spiritual darkness, it confronts false religion, it confronts every claim that anyone other than Jesus reigns. That's what we're seeing here in Acts 13, and I think if we're being real, there's a version of Christianity that looks like a well-oiled machine. You know, I'm in a lot of different like church planting circles. And in those trainings and those things, you, you know, they'll talk about marketing, they'll talk about a launch strategy, they'll talk about the little prospectus magazine that you give to potential supporters. You've got a brand, like, hey, let's get the logo right. And then I read Acts 13. Where the most strategic missionary movement in church history, arguably, begins with a group of people worshiping and fasting in a room in Antioch. Now, maybe you've you're a person who's been going to church for a while, you've lived in the church, you've grown up in the church. That wasn't necessarily my story. You know, we would attend church, but we weren't super uh plugged in at church. Um I was not a follower of the way of Jesus growing up. I came to faith in my early adult years. And so with that, like I didn't grow up thinking that the church would change my life, that Jesus, through his church, would change my life. And maybe that's you. Maybe you didn't grow up thinking that the church would change your life. Maybe you grew up thinking that the church was for people who had it all together. And you definitely didn't have it all together. That was me. Like, I didn't have it together. I thought, you gotta be all buttoned up to go to church. That's right, Crystal. Or maybe, maybe it's that you've never seen a church that looked like the world actually looks messy, diverse, complicated, real. But that's what Acts 13 gives us a picture of. Acts 13 gives us a picture of exactly that kind of church. And it turns out that that church, the church at Antioch, which was in a city a lot like Kansas City, became the launching pad for the most significant missionary movement in human history. Not because they had the best strategy, not because the church at Antioch had the best logo around. I don't even think they had a logo. But because they had the right king. And they knew how to worship that king. So Acts 13, 1 through 12, it shows us how this missionary movement to the Gentile world begins with worship, with the Holy Spirit, with authority, and with fruit that it bears, with radical conversion stories. So as we dig in, here's our big idea this morning. The church that worships deeply is the church that the Spirit sends powerfully. I'll say it again. Big idea this morning. The church that worships deeply is the church. The Holy Spirit sends powerfully. So, with that, this morning we'll look at four movements that we see in this text. First, we'll see a community called. Second, we'll see obedient outreach. Third, we'll see overcoming opposition. And fourthly, we'll see spirit-led success. I'll pray, and then let's dig in. Heavenly Father, we love you, we praise you. Thank you for bringing us here today to worship you, to lift your name high, to glorify you. God, I pray that today, as we look at your word, that you would speak clearly to us. Lord, move me out of the way, let your words be made clear. I am but a mouthpiece. Jesus, will we make much of you for all that you've done for us, for dying on the cross for our sins, for being buried in a tomb, for three days later, rising from that tomb, spending 40 days with your disciples, and then ascending to the right hand of the Father. Jesus, we praise you for that. We praise you for the sacrifice that you've given for us. I pray that we see you clearly, that if we don't yet know you, that we would come to saving faith today. Holy Spirit, you are welcome here. Would you move in this place? We love you. We praise you. In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray. And everybody said, Amen. Point number one this morning is a community called. A community called. Acts chapter 13 begins. I'll actually start as Dolly did at chapter 12, verse 25, because 1225 connects to 13.1. Um so 1225 of Acts. And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had completed their service, bringing with them John, whose other name was Mark. Chapter 13. Now there was in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon, who is called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Menae, a lifelong friend of Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart from me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off. So right off the rip, verse one, now there was a church in Antioch with prophets and preachers and teachers, and then the author Luke, he goes on to list those leaders of that church. And so Antioch, the church at Antioch, it's not this accidental setting. Antioch is a spirit-led, scripture-fed, multi-ethnic church. There are Jews and Gentiles, there are people of different backgrounds, there are people with different histories, there are people with different upbringings. And Luke, he goes out of his way to show us this variety. You have Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, you have Menaean with high society connections, you have Saul the Pharisee, you have Barnabas from Cyprus. And what Luke's doing, he's drawing our attention to the diversity of the church at Antioch. But there's one name that I want to take a second and point out to us. As I was studying and preparing for this sermon, this just like blew me away. Maybe you already know this. I didn't. The name that should stop us cold is Menaean. Luke tells us that he was a lifelong friend of Herod Antipas. Now, this is the Herod that we read about in the Gospels. And the ESV, it doesn't give us the full idea of what this word lifelong friend means. The Greek word for lifelong friend, it has this idea of being raised together. In some connotations, it has the idea of being a foster brother of. It has this idea of being a childhood companion of. So this Menaean, he's a childhood companion or a foster brother, or uh was raised together at the very least, of Herod. This is the same Herod who beheaded John the Baptist. This is the same Herod who mocked Jesus the night before his crucifixion. So Menaeon, he grew up in that palace. He sat at those very same tables. He lived inside of the machinery of Roman corruption and power. And then Jesus completely wrecked his life in the most beautiful way possible. He didn't just like get religious. No, he what the text shows us is that he became a pastor, a prophet, in a multi-ethnic church plant in Antioch. I don't know about you guys, but as I read that, that is crazy. Right. Like I think about those conversations that may have happened between Manaian and Herod. Like Herod's like, hey, I just beheaded John the Baptist. And I don't know what Menaeon's response was, but if they were, like they grew up together, they were brothers, like, I don't know. And then Jesus wrecked his life. And so I think right off the rip here, there's some application for us. For anyone here who feels like your past, your background, the world you came from, the things you were a part of. Do you think those things somehow disqualify you from being used by God? Manaan is your answer. God doesn't call the qualified, right? No, He qualifies the called. And sometimes the people who grew up closest to the darkness, Menaeon grew up close to some darkness, right? Sometimes those people carry the most authority when they speak about the light. So all these believers in Antioch, Jew and Gentile, different ethnicities, different backgrounds, from different sides of the track, they make up the core team of the church at Antioch. And what we can deduce is that this is a healthy local church. So here's the first lesson that we see from this healthy local church in Antioch. The Spirit often advances mission through a healthy local church. Not through celebrity, not through isolation, not through lone ranger Christianity. Remember, we we say this often here: a lone ranger is a dead ranger. And God plants his church. And that church becomes a sending church. What I convictionally believe is that people don't plant churches, denominations don't plant churches, but churches plant churches. Right? And so our hope as a church, as a new church plant, we were sent out by a local church, neighborhood church, and our hope is to be a sending church, just like the church at Antioch. And so this church at Antioch, leading that church, is those names that are listed, and one of the names is Saul, and here in Acts 13, a little later, we see him referred to as Paul for the first time. So Paul, he's one of the leaders of this church. Remember, he was once struck blind on the road to Damascus. He saw a light brighter than the sun, and he heard a voice, the voice of Jesus, that changed everything in his life. And that's the man God's about to send to be a part of this church planting movement to the Gentile world. He's sending him to the nations. This is a man who couldn't see Jesus until Jesus opened his eyes. So keep that idea of blindness, of Paul's blindness, and some other ideas of blindness that we see as the story unfolds. Next, let's look at what they're doing in verse 2. The text says, while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting. I'm laughing because my daughter's fake coughing back there. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting. So the word Luke uses, it has this feel, it has this idea of priestly service. It's as if he's saying, the church gathers like a temple people, offering spiritual worship up to the living God. And so the mission, the mission, it flows out of this worship. And here's why that matters for the shape of the whole mission. That's my girl. Back in Isaiah chapter 49, verse 6, God tells his servant, I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth. That is what is being activated here in Acts chapter 13. That the Spirit isn't launching something new, he is fulfilling something ancient. The light of the true temple was always meant to go to the ends of the earth. So Antioch is the prophecy in Isaiah 49 becoming Acts 13. And if you keep reading, by the very end of this very chapter, Paul will quote this exact verse and say, This is what the Lord has commanded us. So the worship room in Antioch is where Isaiah's prophecy gets its feet. Which means mission is never just strategy. No, mission is covenant faithfulness. God is keeping his word. So this is crucial. This is critical. If worship is weak, mission becomes performance. If worship is thin, mission becomes guilt. But when worship is deep, mission begins to overflow. So my hope for us is here at the Way KC that we would continue to and continue to grow in being a worshipful people. May we be people of worship, may we be people of prayer here. And what we see, what we see as we continue in verse 2, the Holy Spirit said, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. That we would be a people who are set apart. So Barnabas and Saul, Barnabas and Paul, they're being set apart to be sent out. And let's not miss the grammar here. This isn't a suggestion from the Holy Spirit. The Spirit He commands. And he says, For me. So the call to mission, it's first belonging. They are set apart to the Lord before they are sent out to the nations. And then verse 3, they fast. They pray, they lay hands, and they send them off. May we be a church like this. May we be a sending church family. May we model what we are learning in Acts at the Way KC. You know, I think about like this has been a part of our vision from the very beginning, right? That we would be a church that is equipping people to do the work of the ministry, right? And we've seen that as we sent our first missionary out last fall to Southeast Asia. We're seeing that as we're prayerfully equipping and preparing our brother Dali to go back to Malawi in 2028 to plant a church. And would the Lord continue to do that? Would he do that here in the U.S.? Would he do that across the globe? But will we be ascending church? Will we see more churches planted? Not for the sake of our name, but for the sake of his name, for the glory of God alone. And I think if this is our goal, if this is our vision, if we are to model this, then this is how we should think about calling and sending. We should listen together, not merely like individually, but we should listen together for the voice of the Lord. Would we pray before we plan? Like we've lived that out these past two years. Will we continue to pray before we plan? Will we confirm and commission those God has called? Like we're not trying to hoard people here. But will we confirm and commission? Will we confirm and send out? Will we release people for the sake of the nations? Like I don't know about you guys, but as I read the book of Acts, like it's so clear how we're supposed to live these things out. Like we're supposed to be sending, sending, sending. And every single church growth strategy is like opposite of that. But I think that's like what we're supposed to do. That's what the book of Acts models for us. We're not trying to keep people here. Well, no, we want to send them out to do whatever it is that God's called them to do. And I believe that God is calling each of us to something. And for some of you, the the Spirit may not be calling you to cross the ocean and reach people in like the 1040 window. Did I get that right, Glenn? But maybe he's calling you to cross this room. Maybe he's calling you to cross the street. Maybe he's calling you to cross a comfort zone. Maybe he's calling you to be his mouthpiece in the school system. Maybe it's at the hospital that you work at. Maybe it's at the photography place you work. Like when when you're, we get a lot of creatives, maybe it's like somebody you're doing a photo shoot for. Like God's calling us to something. It may not be to go to Indonesia. It may be right here in Kansas City. It may be right in your neighborhood. It may be right in our neighborhood of Rosedale. So he's calling you. The mission, this this mission is not for super Christians that got it all together. No, this is simply what happens when the church belongs to Jesus. And once the Spirit speaks, they don't stall. They go. They're obedient. Barnabas and Saul are obedient immediately, which brings us to point number two. Obedience outreach. Obedience, outreach. Chapter 13, verses 4 and 5. So being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews, and they had John to assist them. Verse 4, so being sent out by the Holy Spirit. Notice something beautiful here. It's the church that sent them. And verse 4 says, verse 3 says the church sent them, verse 4 says that the Spirit sent them. So that's not like a contradiction. That's a pattern. Those two work in unison, those two work in collaboration. The Spirit sends through his church. So the Holy Spirit's sovereignty, it doesn't cancel human responsibility, and the church's activity does not replace the Spirit's authority. This is God's mission being carried out through God's people. So they go down to Seleucia, they sail to Cyprus, and verse 5, when they arrive, they proclaim the Word of God in the synagogue of the Jews. They proclaimed the Word of God. And that's the thing about mission. Mission is always word-centered. They don't bring entertainment, they don't bring a vague spirituality. No, they bring the word of God centered on the risen Lord Jesus Christ. And the text shows us that they go to the Jew first, and that doesn't mean like the Gentiles are secondary, it just means that God is faithful to his promises. The Messiah came through Israel, and the message begins there as it goes outward. So for us, if we want acts-like power, if we want to see God move, his spirit move, as we see him move in acts, we must have acts-like priorities. We must be a church that gathers and worship. We must be a church that is listening to the Spirit. We must be a church that is committed to the Word. We must be a church that's willing to be sent. That's what's happening here with the church at Antioch. They are committed, they are willing to be sent. But as soon as the word enters new territory, the darkness pushes back. Which brings us to point three overcoming opposition. Overcoming opposition. Verse 6 of Acts 13. 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 proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But Elamas, the magician, for that is the meaning of his name, opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. So we meet this guy, Bar Jesus, and there's a confrontation. This is the first major confrontation of Paul's mission. It's not a philosophical debate, it is a spiritual conflict. Bar Jesus is a false prophet, his name means son of Jesus, but his life contradicts the name. And significantly, he has attached himself to political power. He's attached himself to this man named Sergius Paulus, who is the proconsul. So verse 7 says he's with Sergius Paulus. And this is something worth pausing on if you want to learn about the credibility of the Bible. Sergius Paulus, he's not a fictional character. None of these people we read about in the Bible are fictional characters, but there is like archaeological proof of this Sergius Paulus. In the late 1800s, and our archaeologists discovered an inscription in Paphos, the very city that Luke's describing here, referencing Aleutius Sergius Paulus, a proconsul of Cyprus during the reign of Claudius. So that archaeological find, it matches the time frame of Acts 13 almost exactly. So this should prove to us and show us Luke isn't writing mythologically. No, he's writing history. The people are real. The places are real. The dates check out. And that matters because if Sergius Paulus was a real man who really believed, then the gospel really does cross every boundary of power, of class, and of culture. What we see as we continue through this text is one of the most educated, politically connected men on this island heard the word of God and was astonished. And the lesson for us here is that that still happens today. So this Bar Jesus, he teaches us something important as well. Like it's something important for us to consider. Like darkness. Bar Jesus, he embodies this idea of darkness. Darkness often positions itself near influence. He's positioned himself right next to one of the most influential people on the island. And it's like the enemy doesn't always show up looking obviously evil. Sometimes he shows up looking impressive, quasi-spiritual. Maybe he shows up looking helpful, wise, quote unquote. Maybe even religious. But verse 8 gives us the truth. But Elamus the magician opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. Both Bar Jesus and Elamis are emblematic of darkness. And so this verb turn away, it's the opposite of repentance. So the idea of this word is Elamis, he's trying to bend the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, away from Christ. Repentance is turning towards Christ. Elamis is trying to bend the proconsul away from Christ. So here's the third lesson for us this morning. Whenever the gospel advances, opposition appears. Sometimes the opposition is religious. You see that with a Jewish false prophet. Sometimes it can be political. You see that in the opposition being embedded near the leadership of Sergius Paulus. It's always spiritual, it's powered by darkness, and it's pretty much always deceptive. It can look like wisdom, but it isn't. It might have been a substance. Could have been a relationship. Could have been a lie that you were believing about yourself. That you were too far gone, that you were too messed up, that you were too complicated for God to want. He's not arguing theology with Sergius Paulus. No, he's just bending him away from the straight path. He is trying to keep him turned and to keep him distracted. And that's oftentimes how the enemy works. But here's what I've learned. And some of you may have lived this. Jesus is the one who interrupts the interrupter. Jesus is the one who interrupts the one who tries to keep us distracted. Like that's my story. All the way back in 2015, I wasn't looking for God. I was, as many of you know, I was deep in addiction. I was convinced that I was beyond reach. And Jesus showed up. He wrecked my life and he silenced what had been keeping me blind. Not because I found my own way to the straight path, but because he cleared the path to me. That's what's happening in this passage. The gospel, it doesn't just offer us a better option of many options. No. It removes the obstacle. The gospel is the only option. And we need to be real here about these truths and what we see in this section of text. Like, firstly, spiritual warfare is real. Spiritual warfare is real. There are real principalities and powers that we're fighting against. Not everything is psychological, not everything is political, not everything is mere preference. The New Testament shows us repeatedly that there are powers at work that hate Christ and hate his gospel. That can seem scary, that can seem worrisome. But as those who are in Christ, we do not fear it. Because Jesus is not merely a good moral teacher. He is the ascended king, sitting at the right hand of God the Father. In Jesus' time, Caesar claimed to rule the world. But Christ is the risen and reigning king. And here in Acts, he is reclaiming territory. He continues to reclaim territory today. And so what are we to do with that if we know that spiritual warfare is real? If we know that we don't are not to fear it. Well, the fact of the matter is, is we don't fight with worldly weapons. Not with manipulation, not with outrage, not with fleshly methods. No, we fight with truth, we fight with prayer, we fight with holiness, we fight with proclamation by his spirit. Our weapon is the sword of the spirit. Amen. Paul, he gets his sword, his figurative sword of swords, the sword of the spirit out, and he's ready to go. Point number four, spirit-led success. Spirit-led success. Acts 13, 9 through 12. The word says, but Saul, who is also called Paul, this is the first time that we see Saul referred to as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time. Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. Then the proconsul believed when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord. So verse 9 is the hinge in this story. But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit. The key phrase here is not Paul, it is filled with the Holy Spirit. This is not Paul's brilliance. This is not Paul's personality. This is God at work through his servant. And just picture that, Paul. He looks intently at Elamas. And he says, You son of the devil, enemy of righteousness, full of deceit. That's a burn, right? Will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? So notice what is happening here. These false prophets, they're making crooked the straight paths of the Lord. That language, it comes directly from Isaiah. It's the language of someone who is blocking the way, who is bending what God has made straight. Bar Jesus, he is spiritually blinding Sergius Paulus to the truth of God's word. And it's this idea of the same way in which Paul was spiritually blind after Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus. The difference is that Paul met the risen Christ, but bar Jesus, he's chosen that darkness instead. And that's strong language. It's not like personal pettiness, it's not like Paul trying to like embarrass this dude in front of everybody. No. He's speaking prophetically, he's speaking with clarity. Paul is unmasking, he's revealing what is truly happening. And then verse 11. And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you. Paul announces blindness, and immediately mist and darkness fall. He's led by the hand. This Elemus is led by the hand. He's humiliated, he's exposed, he's powerless. Here's what Luke wants us to feel. Acts 9, Solitarsius on the road to Damascus, struck blind. Couldn't see for three days. And in that blindness, God did something. Now Paul strikes Elamis with the same blindness. And Luke tells us it's only for a time. The door isn't sealed. The question is whether Elamas, like Paul, will use the darkness to finally see. The judgment is real, but so is the mercy that's embedded inside it. So is the invitation. Sometimes blindness is the last gift that God gives before sight. Blindness in this text and at times is a sign. It's a judgment that also reveals truth. So, brothers and sisters, are you spiritually blind? My prayer is that you would open your eyes and see the light of Jesus Christ. Because here's the fourth lesson. The Lord's superior power clears the way for the Lord's superior word. What I believe is that if you are here today, that is the Lord using his superior power to clear the way for you to come to him. That's what spirit-led success looks like. And the hand of the Lord falls, strikes the guy blind, not because Christianity is violent, but because God is rescuing someone from deception. God blocks the blocker. He interrupts the interrupter. He silences the liar so that the truth can be heard. And then verse 12. Verse 12 is really, really cool. Then the proconsul believed, praise God, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teachings of the Lord. Notice that final emphasis. He's astonished at the teaching of the Lord. The miracle of blindness, it serves a message here. The sign, it points us to the Savior. And God's power, it confirms his word. So are you guys like really grasping? Are you seeing the significance of this? The proconsul coming to saving faith like this. This is the most influential dude on the island. And he's astonished at the teaching of the Lord. And then this crazy wild church planting movement begins as God continues his mission to reach to the ends of the earth. So for us, Ashen, you can come up as we land the plane. For us, we should expect the gospel to confront idols. Your old life has to, it has to be dethroned for Christ to reign. What's that old life? What's that thing you're clinging to that you're trying to hold on to, that you're still trying to live in? What is it you say, River? The devil owns the fence? Right? We gotta stop fence sitting. Either you're all in for Christ or you're all out. Syncretism, this idea of like enmeshing Christianity with the ways of this world, with other religions, adding Jesus to your other loves, that will not stand. Because Jesus, he doesn't share his throne. It's not Jesus plus anything. It's just Jesus. With that, the second kind of truth for us to consider is that we should expect Jesus to win through the word. Even when God uses unusual means. When he strikes someone blind, when you run into someone at the gas station and you get into a spiritual conversation, when your neighbor walks over and invites you to church, when you share the gospel with someone at your bank, whatever that may be, we should expect for Jesus to make his name known, even through unusual means. Because the aim is always that people would believe the message about Christ. Thirdly, what we should see is the importance and the immediacy and the necessity of a response. What this text shows us is that we should respond now. Elemus is a picture of resisting the truth, of twisting the straight paths of the Lord. But Sergius Paulus is a picture of humble hearing, of response, of desiring the word, of receiving the word, of believing the word. We see two men, we see two responses, we see two outcomes. And I think for me, for so long, I lived my life as though it's like, hey, I'll surrender to Jesus one day. You know, I viewed it as a uh a relationship with Jesus as like a get out of hell free pass. But that's not what it is. It's a new life, it's the greatest life that one could live. And he came in and wrecked me at the proper time. That's what happened for sure, Jesus Paulus. And my prayer is if you don't know Christ, that that's what happens to you. Christ, he necessitates a response. Either he's everything or he's nothing. And if he's everything, let's start acting like it. So Acts is showing us the arrival of a new order in the world. A new king is on the throne, and his gospel is superior to syncretism, to idols, to magic, to spiritual powers, to every rival claim to his throne. And that leaves all of us with a choice. Wherever you stand today, wherever you sit today, we have a choice. A choice of two stones of sort. First, the resurrection and ascension of Jesus is a stone. And that can either be a cornerstone to those who come into his new temple people, Jew and Gentile together by faith, or that resurrection and ascension can be a stumbling block to those who cling to their power and their darkness. So which stone will you choose? Will you choose to make Christ the cornerstone of your life? Because he is the cornerstone of his church. Here's the closing call. Brothers and sisters, way church. Let's be like Antioch. Let's be a worshiping people. Let's be a praying people. Let's be a listening people. Let's be ascending people. And when opposition arises, let's not panic. Let's proclaim the superior Lord Jesus that we know. And for those who do not yet know Christ, my prayer this morning is that you would not follow Elamis into darkness. That you would come to Christ, the true light. That you would believe the teaching of the Lord. The King, this King, King Jesus, he's not merely inviting you to improve. No, he's inviting you to repent and to believe. And what he offers you is forgiveness, adoption into his kingdom family, and new life. 2 Corinthians 5.17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. So let's remember that this mission, the mission of the church, it's not about Paul. The mission of Acts 13 is not about Paul. It's about the triune God spreading his light of his temple to the ends of the earth. And that light has reached us, it has reached you. If that's you who wants to receive Christ, I'd love to talk with you, to pray with you, to walk with you as you receive Christ. I'll pray and then let's close in worship. And my hope is that we worship like the Acts 13 church. Heavenly Father, we love you, we praise you. Thank you for bringing us here together for another Sunday to gather together to worship you, to glorify your name. God, you are Lord of Lord, you are the Holy of Holies. We love you, we praise you. We glorify you for sending your Son Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins. God, but we live as we though we are in Acts 13, Church. We live these things out. We love you, we praise you. It's in the mighty name of Jesus. Everybody said, Amen.

SPEAKER_03 49:14

Amen. Let's stand in and worship together.

SPEAKER_00 49:19

Thanks for listening. Join us Sundays at 10 30 a.m. in the Rosedale neighborhood of Kansas City. Or find us anytime at the wakeac.church.