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Websters Dictionary. Astonished: to strike with sudden
and great wonder or surprise.
When you hear the teaching of the Lord, the Word of
God, are you astonished, are you struck with awesome wonder?
Or, do you yawn, apathetically lukewarm about hearing
the Word of the Lord?
Acts 13:1
Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers…
We drop into Acts 13 about 48 AD; 15 years after
Jesus death, burial and resurrection.
Stephen and James have been martyred for their faith
in Christ.
Persecution is growing, yet the Church astonishingly
keeps getting stronger.
Remember, the Church is the people, not the steeple. Ekklésia,
is the word for Church in the original text. It refers to a people called out
to interpret (rightly divide) the Word of God, and fulfill His will, above
their own.
The prayer is: Thy (not my) will be
done on earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:10.
Antioch is a sin filled city, yet, the Ekklésia, has
grown into a large family of believers, (without any big buildings or steeples).
Jesus builds His Church, providing whatever’s needed.
Here He provided certain prophets and teachers.
Ephesians
4:11-13; And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some
evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for
the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for
the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till
we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of
God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of
Christ;
The prophets are gifted to hear current directives
straight from heaven, or rather, the Holy Ghost within.
Teachers, are gifted to
rightly divide, to explain, the Word of God.
…Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen
who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
Jesus gifted folks from all over, Africans, Islanders,
Israelis. Diverse people from different places.
Galatians 3:28 There
is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is
neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Barnabas the
encourager, from the island of Cyprus.
Some say Simeon, was the man who carried
Jesus’s cross.
Lucius, may be the Luke,
that wrote the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts.
Notice Manaen, was brought up , (foster brother), with a royal silver spoon, alongside Herod the tetrarch, (Herod Antipas), who beheaded John the Baptist. They may have had similar backgrounds, but chose opposite life paths. Manaen, like Moses, chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. Hebrews 11:25.
And last, but not least, Saul. He was also raised and educated with the elite. He persecuted the followers of Jesus, until He met Jesus. After Jesus ascended to Heaven, He appeared to Saul, and then, like Ebenezer Scrooge, Saul became a new man, and he knew how to keep Christ well.
2 As they ministered
to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate
to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called
them.”
Ministered to the Lord… in the original text the word is, leitourgeó, from where we get the word, liturgy. It means
they served the Lord. Ministering
to the Lord, is the business of the Church. Not the other way around. We’re
called to serve Him, not Him, serve us.
Fasting helps minister to the Lord.
It puts the desires of the flesh under the demands of the Spirit. It balances our priorities.
You are a spirit, you have a soul, and you live in a body. A triune being,
made in the image of God, for the purpose of loving, glorifying, honoring, serving, and ministering to the Lord.
The Holy Spirit said… This may
have been an audible voice from Heaven, but probably a prophetic message, a
strong impression, on the souls of the prophets.
Separate to Me... By God’s
Divine Design, a minister is called and separated, by Him,
to Him.
For the work... Those called by Him, labor for
Him, thus, never idle. For the harvest is plenteous, the laborers,
few. Matt. 9:37.
Working for the
Lord, you never run out of things to do, and you never get bored.
Whether a stadium of thousands, a handful
in a Clubhouse, or, all alone, God’s ministers are separated and standing
before an audience of One.
We’re all called to
minister.
However, He calls certain
ones into the profession of fulltime ministry. It ought not be
something chosen as a career choice because of talent, or intellect, but an
inward calling, prompting, unction, something you must
do.
Which I have
called them... This calling may have been spoken by a human vessel, like a prophecy,
however, it was not a surprise, it was a confirmation, that
the time had come.
There was no need to explain the
details. Saul, had already been told he must bear Christ’s name to the Gentiles (Acts 9:15); that he must be sent to
the Gentiles (Acts 22:21).
The inward calling is undeniably
present, so if you receive it, you must preprayer. Make yourself ready, prayerfully
watch and wait for the Lord of the Harvest to say, okay it’s time to thrust
in the sickle, for the harvest is ready.
Are you making yourself ready? Prayerfully
watching, waiting, for the Lord of the Harvest?
One day, the Father will say, Son,
the harvest is ready, go get Your Bride.
Will He find you faithful, ripe and
ready, occupying ‘til He comes? Or, will He find you preoccupied with the
affairs of this life?
3 Then, having
fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away.
Fasted and prayed... This
was taken seriously.
Laid hands on them...
Simply a point of contact, not magic.
They sent them... With
their blessing. Sent, not went. Some folks simply up and went. They just disappear.
Your Church family, is just that,
family. To up and went, without being sent, is like running away from
home. It hurts the family and it’s not God’s way.
4 So, being sent
out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there
they sailed to Cyprus.
The Church sent them.
The Holy Spirit sent them.
That’s how it should be done, working together with
the Lord, in one accord.
The Lord wants the Church to be disciple makers and
soul winners. Ekklésia, called out, sent out, to win the lost.
So, being sent, they went west from Antioch, about 15-20
miles to Seleucia, on the coast of the Mediterranean, and then sailed about 100
miles to the island of Cyprus.
5 And when
they arrived in Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues
of the Jews. They also had John as their assistant.
Salamis
had the largest population on the island of Cyprus with multiple synagogues.
Preached in the synagogues... Paul
was a notable Jew. Barnabas was a Levite. So, as per the, Courtesy of the
Synagogue, they, as notable visitors, would be asked if they’d like to speak at the
end of their traditional religious ceremony.
John as their assistant is
around twenty-seven years old. About twenty years later he will write the
gospel of Mark. He was the young man who fled without his cloak on the night
Jesus was arrested. Mark 14:51-52.
Note for future reference: John Mark, wasn’t called
or separated for this mission, as were Barnabas and Saul. It will make a
difference. Acts 13:13.
6 Now when
they had gone through the island to Paphos, they found a
certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus,
Now when they had gone through the
island... They preached from east coast to west
coast of the island.
Notice, there’s no mention of converts or conflicts.
Just preach the Word to an audience of One. Leave the
results to God. He gives the increase.
However, also remember their calling was to the gentiles.
They’ve been coasting through the island, synagogue
hopping, preaching primarily to, Jews.
And we see no record of converts, or, conflict, or
anything.
Now, they hit the west coast of Cypress, it was like
the west coast of the US, known for immorality. Pagan Paphos, the wild
beach community. Famous for a temple to Venus, thus called Paphian
Venus.
They run into a Jewish, sorcerer, false prophet, called
Bar-Jesus. The name means son of Jesus, or Joshua, meaning, son of salvation;
but the Aramaic calls his name Bar-shoma, son of pride.
Now we’ll see some conflict.
When you get close to your target the enemy starts
shooting.
7 who was
with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. This man called for
Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God.
Proconsul, Sergius Paulus... He
was governor of the island.
He was a smart man and sought to hear the Word of God.
Archeologist, Sir William Rallings, reports finding
inscriptions bearing the name Sergius Paulus, confirming he was a Christian,
and his whole family became Christians.
There’s this wicked man with him, a false prophet, a
sorcerer, spewing lofty religious sounding words of deception.
The devil surrounds people of power and influence, with
professional, religious, pious, looking devils, to pervert the Truth, and dilute
their influence.
That’s why we’re commanded to pray for those in
authority, so we can lead, quiet, peaceable lives, in all Godliness, enjoying
our God given rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Sorcery and false prophecy can never satisfy. Sergius
Paulus, is seeking Truth, and when he hears about Barnabas and Saul, something
rings True, and he calls for them.
8 But Elymas
the sorcerer (for so his name is translated) withstood them,
seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith.
Elymas made it his business to withstand
Barnabas and Saul, like the magicians of Egypt, in Pharaoh’s court, withstood Moses
and Aaron, 2 Timothy 3:8.
Sergius Paulus, was pursing Truth.
Elymas, was promoting lies.
There’s a battle for Sergius Paulus’s soul. And yours.
Barnabas and Saul are fighting for Truth. Elymas for
lies.
Consequential people get shot at.
In the early morning hours (around 3:30) before this
message was preached, our Church facebook page was attacked. We were told that facebook
received multiple reports that we used false names, unauthorized advertising, shared
content that put others at risk, and we used tricks to bypass the verification
system.
That’s kind of funny to think since we’re so un-techno-geeky.
We responded with the following:
Hi Facebook Sup-Team.
Thank you for your
inquiry.
We are quite certain we
have not violated any guidelines. We are simply teaching the Bible. If that
goes against community standards, then, yes indeed, we are guilty.
However, we may simply be
a target for those who want to silence and cancel the freedom of speech,
especially the Truth of Jesus Christ.
We pray you review our
page and see the Truth.
God’s best to you.
I took screenshots of our conversation and posted to
our facebook page asking folks to pray.
Then, we immediately received a message that our page
was suspended for 3,649 days.
That’s 10 years.
Our page was locked.
There was an option to appeal. We clicked through some
appeal processing questions and were notified they would review and respond
within 4 days, sometimes longer.
However, within five minutes we were notified that the
page was restored. No apology, no explanation.
Thus, we were able to livestream our Bible Study that morning.
Later that afternoon, we received another message that
our page was scheduled to be permanently deleted.
Once again, we responded, jumped through hoops, and for
the moment, we’re still live.
Still not exactly sure what we did to rattle the
serpent, but Barnabas and Saul, are about to step on his head.
9 Then Saul,
who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy
Spirit, looked intently at him
Saul? Paul?
His Jewish given name was, Saul, from the tribe of
Benjamin. He’s also called Paul, his Roman citizen’s name.
Up to now, we saw Saul, mostly among the Jews,
and therefore called by his Jewish name; but now, being sent to the Gentiles,
he is called by his Roman name, Paulus, being a very common name
among them.
Paul stared down Elymas, showing a holy boldness, against
wickedness.
Did he look in his eyes for a sign of remorse? repentance?
If he did, he found none.
10 and said,
“O full of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the
devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting
the straight ways of the Lord?
Wow! Can you imagine your preacher saying that?
What Paul said didn’t come from his own personal thoughts
or feelings, but from the discerning of the Holy Spirit,
Does that sound harsh? Not nice? Un-Christian like?
Speaking Truth in Love, that hurts, is
perhaps the nicest thing you can say to someone.
They will generally hate you for it.
But someday, (prayerfully, hopefully) they’ll thank
you for it (perhaps not until you see them in heaven).
Remember this son of the
devil was with the governor.
Doesn’t matter.
The Church must be bold and courageous and willing to speak Truth to Power.
Even if it gets you kicked off the island; or facebook.
Because, maybe, it’ll wake somebody up,
and save their soul.
Better they taste a little hell fire and brimstone,
here and now, rather than there and then, forever.
11 And now,
indeed, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be
blind, not seeing the sun for a time.”
Paul was filled with and led by the Holy Spirit to say this.
Remember, Paul also was blind for a time, and it changed his life
forever, for the better.
Elymas was only struck blind for a time, he could’ve been struck
dead.
Really, this was an act of grace to prompt him to repentance either by
the judgments of God or by his mercies.
11 … And
immediately a dark mist fell on him, and he went around seeking someone to lead
him by the hand.
Now he physically sees the darkness of his soul.
He once thought himself so powerful as he led others astray. Now he
feels his frailty and needs to be led around by the hand.
Immediately darkness
fell. We
must be about our Father's business. Please do not ever miss an opportunity to
shine His Light, His Love, to everyone who crosses your path. You may be
the last one they meet before darkness falls, and they pass into eternity.
Many years ago, I missed an opportunity, it haunts me to this day.
12 Then the
proconsul believed, when he saw what had been done, being astonished
at the teaching of the Lord.
He believed when he
saw what was done. For the works sake.
However he was astonished,
at the teaching of the Lord.
The Word of God, not the signs and wonders and
miracles. It's the Word of God that has the power to change, and
cleanse and save.
Websters Dictionary. Astonished: to strike with
sudden and great wonder or surprise.
When you hear the teaching of the Lord, the Word of
God, are you astonished, are you struck with awesome wonder?
Or, do you yawn, apathetically lukewarm about hearing
the Word of the Lord?
Oh Lord, my God
When I, in awesome wonder
Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder
Thy power throughout the universe displayed
Then sings my soul, my
Savior God to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art
Let's
pray.
Our gracious,
loving, heavenly Father, we are amazed, astonished, in awe, of You.
Thank
You, for sending Your Son to us. Now, with Your Holy Spirit in us, send us, to
others, so they too can be astonished by You.
We love
You, forever.
Amen.
Prayer Requests:
Call or text: 612-554-2522
Email: pray4measap@aol.com
Facebook: Church at WPV
Books: amazon.com/author/dougspurling
Watch online:
Facebook: Astonished,
Acts 13:1-12
You Tube: Astonished, Acts
13:1-12
This was feed for you to read. Now it’s
Seed for you to sow.
Thank you for sharing.
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