 Okay, good morning and welcome to class we continue in the study of the Book of Acts We will pray first and then we get into Acts chapter 13. I would like to request maybe Zellie. Zellie could you lead us in prayer? Okay, let's pray together Father we come before your presence in the name of Jesus. Father God as we begin our session Lord We pray for your grace your strength your wisdom of our pastor Nancy and Also, I thank you for each one of us who are here in this class I pray for good connection that Lord there will be no hindrances and everyone will be able to attend class and also Lord We ask of you Holy Spirit to help us teach us because you are the greatest teacher and Lord God may you lead us throughout the classes Lord in Jesus name. Amen Amen. Amen. Thank you Zellie. So in the last Class we looked at Acts chapter 11 and Acts chapter 12 where we saw how You know the church of Antioch that it was growing and the way in which Barnabas and Paul Ministered in that place. We later on saw that in Acts chapter 12 Herod wants to lay hold of the leaders of the church so that he can create some fear he can create, you know, some sort of An intimidation among the people However, we saw that though James The brother of John he was killed Peter had a supernatural escape God sent an angel to bring him out But we also saw that one of the important Practices of the church was to really pray and There were people who were constantly praying for Peter. No wonder God did something so Amazing in his life and he brought him out. We also saw how towards the end of that chapter Herod, he is boastful and he proclaims You know proclaims his greatness, but at the same at that moment we saw how judgment came upon him because We know from scripture that God gives grace to the humble, but God resist the proud so the pride of Herod and how that brought such Devastating end to Herod's life is something that we looked at now. We move on to act chapter 13 I was telling us initially that the first You know initial growth of the church We saw that from acts chapter 1 to about acts chapter 8 We saw how people like Philip who were volunteers They were moving around and they were taking the gospel out to the nearby regions and then from acts chapter 8 till Acts chapter 12 that is again You know a place where we saw because of the movement of the Disciples there were new churches planted, but there is a specific account of the Church of Antioch which was observed by us now We will consider the next 20 years from acts chapter 13 to acts chapter 28 would be the next 30 years in the happenings of the book of acts and Here the primary focus, you know so far I was telling us that Peter isn't it Peter was one of those prime figures in the church the leader of the church and The focus was on him, but there was an introduction to a man known as Paul in acts chapter Acts chapter 7 but then acts chapter 9 where he has an encounter with the Lord and his life is transformed So we will see the focus shifting to apostle Paul from acts 13 and Initially when we started out the book of acts we were discussing about the many reasons as to why acts was written by Luke and One reason that we stated was that it could have been a defense brief that Luke wrote to Set Paul free from the prison and that is why a lot of the Book of acts is about Paul and what he did and you know What came against him and whether he was wrong or whether he was right according to the law? So we will observe all of these details in the writings of Luke as we go forward So what we have seen so far as I stated earlier the initial eight years and then the next ten years initial eight years That's acts one two acts eight is what we saw where the outpouring of the Holy Spirit took place We saw the journey of the church Then acts eight to acts 13 Roughly about 10 years there and you know, we saw the movement of the church the the revival Fire spreading now acts 13 to acts 28 is the next 20 years. So a total of about Four decades is covered in the book of acts and so the initial 20 years roughly 20 years is devoted to the Church the Jerusalem Church and the next 20 years the focus is more on The missionary journeys of this man called Paul So in acts 13 to 28, you know, we will observe that Paul sort of becomes that trail blazing Who takes the gospel? To the Mediterranean region now, we know that Primarily you know Paul is only able to touch parts of the Mediterranean and Also, some portions of Europe even though in acts one eight We have that promise where God said and you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you You shall be my witnesses in all of Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth, but given the Circumstances of those days and the travel limitations The work was just getting started. So Many of us may question. Why is it that they did not reach the ends of the earth? But remember I said that the book of acts is in a sense being Done or being taken forward through each one of us So we are all the ends of the earth right now different ones and different countries different You know parts of the globe and we continue to carry these revival fires and spread the gospel spread the power of the spirit the work of the spirit so Though the initiation happened in the book of acts it hasn't stopped. Okay, God's work continues But particularly in the book of acts, it's the Mediterranean region and parts of Europe where Paul's ministry was done. So a little bit about Paul, you know, I'll just share a few details You can find this in the APC publication known as Revivers Visitations and moves of God So I'm sharing it from there a little bit about, you know, the timelines in Paul's life So AD 38 is roughly when he was converted in Damascus and the age we may wonder, you know, how old was Paul at that time? He was roughly about, you know, 29 to 33 years old and for some of us that's very encouraging to know that you know, Paul came to know the Lord a little later in life, but that was not a Restriction in any way for him to serve God well and we know how passionately he served God and how much he did you know for the kingdom of God and then We see once he was converted. He was very Again passionate to go ahead and do the ministry that God called him to do so he tries to go and preach in the synagogues of Damascus for a short period of time But we know that he was not accepted because of his background because of the fear that people carried about him and you know, people were worried whether he was just An imposter Trying to you know, sort of masquerade as a believer and that he might get them into trouble He might catch them and put them in the prison. So people are not ready to listen to him So he tried doing some ministry in Damascus It didn't really work out then He went to Arabia and in parts of Arabia is where he Started preaching to the Gentiles. Now, where do we get a picture about the life of Apostle Paul? We definitely read a few portions in acts, but to build a complete picture We may have to go into the epistles because he writes about himself In the epistles as well. So we would need to combine aspects of what is mentioned in acts as well as You know some of the epistles particularly in the book of Galatians he Gives some details about where he was what he was up to so Galatians chapter one throws light on You know his whereabouts. So we said that he went to Damascus not very well accepted But later on he moved to Arabia there. He preached to the Gentiles and this is mentioned in Galatians then we see that he returned to Damascus and For the rest of the three-year period he continued to preach in the synagogues of Damascus then We observe that You know people even tried to arrest Paul people from Arabia attempted to arrest Paul however He escaped out of Damascus and traveled to Jerusalem his stay in Jerusalem You know, this is you find a little description of this in 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 versus 32 to 33 So he went to Jerusalem just for 15 days. So that's not a significant time for him to Learn everything from the Apostles. So, you know, it is said that Though the Apostles had the privilege the early Apostles had the privilege of walking with Jesus learning directly from Jesus that was not something that Paul could boast about because his conversion happened much later and he did not necessarily spend a lot of Personal time with the Apostles. So Yes, the doctrines he would have picked up from the Apostles and many teachings a lot of guidance He would have received from the Apostles But he was a man who had to probably do a lot of hard work to learn the teachings of Jesus by himself and Thankfully, he was a scholarly man and we know that you know, he would have been able to get a grasp of the the teachings So personally in a sort of one-to-one from the Apostles or one-to-one from Jesus that was not an experience that Paul had so Even when he writes in 2nd Corinthians chapter 11, I hope I said 2nd Corinthians earlier in 2nd Corinthians 11 when he talks about Communion, you know, he Instructs regarding the communion He even states that You know, he received From revelation Okay The the truth about Jesus and communion and all that so that is also something for us to note that He was really moving in the power of the spirit and receiving revelation from God even some things that we See him right throughout in the epistles. How did Paul receive this kind of information? Obviously, you know a man with a strong prayer life and a man who was receiving revelation from God That's the kind of man that Apostle Paul was and so, you know, this is how it is so initial days Damascus Arabia those were his his places of hanging out and then he moves to Jerusalem just for 15 days So the short visit in Jerusalem What are some things that you know could have happened in the life of Apostle Paul, you know, we know that the Apostles also were scared They were not very happy to receive This persecutor but thank God for a man like Barnabas and encourager who Attempted to introduce Paul to the Apostles and you know, he he tells them That now he's changed. So we must give him an opportunity. So because of Barnabas, Paul is accepted and He Paul ends up spending time with James and we find this again in Galatians chapter one So what happened in Jerusalem? He went Barnabas was the one who Put a good word for Paul but then he was able to spend time with James Okay, so the Lord's brother. So the Lord's brother meaning remember I mentioned there were two James in the in the book of Acts one who we See that he is killed In Acts 12, that's the brother of John But the brother of Jesus or the half brother of Jesus James. He became the Leader of the early church. So Apostle Paul spent time those 15 days Who did he spend time with he spent time with James? Okay, the leader of the church? So obviously a lot of impartation learning must have happened and That is something that he carried in his life later on then what else do we see so Even when he stayed in Jerusalem, Paul is very bold. He speaks in the name of Jesus He proclaims the name of Jesus. He even is so confident that he debates with the Hellenists remember we said that the Greeks speaking Jews are the ones who are known as the Hellenists. So Paul's ministry has not stopped even though his acceptance right now is quite bleak among godly people Then, you know, we see that as Paul is doing his ministry Opposition is always there Earlier when he was in Damascus the Arabians tried to come and Sort of catch him but now in right now when he's in Jerusalem again, there are Rumors of plots against Paul and Because of this the early disciples also they think that It might be better to take him to a safe place. So they escort him to Siseria, so he goes to Siseria They put him on a ship and they send him home to his place. So where is Paul from? Which is the region that he's from? I had mentioned this in the last class his original place Saul of I hope Tarsas, yeah, yeah, correct. Thank you. Thank you, Lubega. So, yes, Saul of Tarsis, okay? So Tarsis If we look it up now It's somewhere it's a city in South central Turkey. So that is where Tarsis is along the Tarsis River and Yeah, so that's a that's some description about Tarsis and It was in the region of any any guesses We know about the city of Tarsis, but what region is Tarsis in or Tarsis was it? Saul or Paul of Tarsis, but the region is it Silesia? correct. Yes, Silesia Silesia. So Tarsis was in Silesia. So you might find You know the origin of Paul Being mentioned as Paul of Tarsis Excuse me or Paul of Silesia Because it's the region Tarsis was in the region of Silesia. So that's about the origins of Paul now we've seen that in the initial years he tried to do ministry and He was not very well accepted But he thankfully got some acceptance from the Apostles now We can continue to build on his life and see, you know, what could have happened to Paul So now he's in the region of Silesia. That's his home region and the Bible talks about Silent years that he spent there. So when we say silent years Maybe about six years to about ten years Paul, you know, he would have been in that region where He would have been continuing to do the ministry continuing to learn the word of God continuing to get grounded in the doctrines and It's only later on. So now about you know six years or some people say even ten years Silent years where we don't read much about Paul So this is from the period of you know Acts nine we read about him. We saw how You know, he was made to escape from Damascus Then we don't really read about him because he was in Silesia. So at nine to 11 at 11 suddenly Barnabas is there He's providing assistance in the Church of Antioch of Syria, but he goes and he brings Saul of Tarsus To the Church of Antioch. So what's happened now? We only skipped one chapter, right? Like acts nine Saul was there Acts 11 he's back, but there's one chapter in between acts 10 Where we saw more about Peter and how God led him to go to the Gentiles But in that period of time, which is you know, like like in the life of Paul that is a period of Let's say nearly 10 years okay, so 10 years have gone by and Then Barnabas actually goes and he brings him to assist him in the work of Antioch as a teacher. So in Acts chapter 11, we suddenly see the reintroduction of Apostle Paul and his ministry starts off. So overall if we consider right from the time of Acts nine when he actually escapes So there are people who kind of calculate the the duration and They say that, you know, he was not really doing active ministry. So up to 17 years sometimes is attributed to these silent years of Paul where he was not necessarily an Approved Apostle of You know the believers in Jerusalem or in the region So that's a lesson again for us to learn that even the mighty Apostle Paul Went through his own season of preparation That God is not in a hurry Even when let's say, you know Paul's life. We said that He started off around the age of 29 33 It already somewhere feels like oh wow, it's pretty late, you know God should Give him a lot of ministry right away so that he is able to serve God for the rest of his life Yes, that's true, but notice how God had to take him through a season Now what could have happened in that season? We don't really have any record of it, but His vision was strengthened because we find him Preaching we find him standing up boldly for the gospel. So even though he was not accepted he would have Strengthened his determination to serve the Lord. That's amazing because something like that is required in our character to serve the Lord with focus to serve the Lord with commitment and Paul went through that so silent years when he was not popular He was not the you know famous preacher who people reached out to to come and minister But he was faithfully serving the Lord that much we know So God really worked on his character in those silent years in order for him to become This great man that we all talk about now What were some of the other matters within Paul that God needed to work on? We're not very clear Determination of course passion of course because his passion only grew for the Lord and we could even say that His knowledge in the the doctrines would have become more thorough Reason is when Barnabas went and he brought Paul He brought him in order to teach in the Church of Antioch. So it's likely that Word may have gone out saying here is Paul who is also a good teacher of the word He's able to teach the truth Accurately, so let's have Paul come to Antioch and let's have him minister. So you see There was a good Reputation or a testimony which was built up in with regard to Paul, which is why Barnabas asked him to come and assist him So this is a little bit about the life of Paul so that you have a background Otherwise what happens is You know Paul in Acts 9 he goes to Damascus and then there's no background whatsoever So then we are wondering what happened to this man. Where is he at? What is he up to all of a sudden? He reappears, you know in Acts 11 and slowly You know, he becomes the the carrier a sort of the soul carrier also you could say Yes, there were other people who joined him in the ministry, but you know, he becomes the He he's hearing the movement in the book of Acts from Acts 13. So He gains a position of incredible importance. So we need to know How is it that Paul actually? Became this Paul that we talk about so from Acts chapter 13. We will move into the missionary journey of Apostle Paul. We'll see how God set him aside along with Barnabas to do this work and We see that the initial initial journey, okay this missionary journey is for roughly about two years from AD 44 to AD 46 and there are some places that are covered by Paul and Barnabas, we'll see how they enter the regions how they strategically Preach the Gospel we will observe that They generally tend to pick the place where there is openness. So in the synagogues those I mean in general they had this opportunity to go stand up and share so Paul made use of that opportunity so he straight away went to the synagogues in different places and he started preaching about Jesus and when there was a Resistance in the synagogues, you will find that he moves on to You know the Gentiles and he starts to preach to the Gentiles. So in this manner, he's covering You know different communities and then he's just moving forward With preaching the gospel. So there are some places where he will go to and he will Minister so roughly two years is the first missionary journey And you know, we will we will look at that. Just give me a moment Okay, maybe I'll come back to it later so yeah, we could probably first go through acts 13 and then As we're talking about the missionary journey I will show you the map. I think that will be a little clearer than me Showing it to you right away. That's what I'm thinking. Okay. Just one moment All right, I think let's do that. We will come back to this. So right now, let's go to acts 13 and Start to read. We are in AD44, okay so We we now have You know the Focus shifting on a possible point. So let's look at that Maybe we started reading From verse one. I'm not very sure yet, but let's let's start again acts chapter 13 and the verse one again someone help us read three three lines of acts 13 That's chapter 13. Yes Now in the church that was at Antioch. There were certain prophets and teachers Barnabas Simon who was called Nigger Lucius of sireen Manning who had been brought up with herald the tetra and soul As the minister to the Lord and faster the Holy Spirit said now separate to me Barnabas and Saul for the work Which I have called them then having fasted and prayed and laid hands on them. They sent them away Thank You Rosalind. Thank you for reading that portion. So in the first few verses We know that we are back to the church of Antioch Which is a thriving church a good amount of teaching has happened there by Barnabas and Paul and Now we are also introduced to a bunch of Prophets and teachers. So it helps us recognize that even back in the book of acts you have a Team that is ministering So it's not so much an individual pastor who is The soul overseer of the church, but it seems like there was a Team ministry which was going on so there is a set of prophets and Teachers and their names are mentioned here. We have Barnabas. We already know who he is He's a good man a Levite, you know a giver an encouraging person then We have names of people like Simeon case Simeon It is also mentioned that he was called a nigger so In the writings of Luke when he mentions as a nigger so back in those days They would use that description for African people in the congregation. So, you know that terminology was still used by Luke But to identify a Simeon so we know That he was from another country So apart from this Simeon was probably the person who helped Jesus carry the cross and we see this in Luke chapter 23 and verse 26 So that's a little bit about Simeon Barnabas. We know Simeon, okay Would have been a person from an African origin now moving on. There is the mention of this man called as Lucius Lucius of sireen so it already mentions where Lucius is from. We will look at the next person Manayen he About him it says being brought up with Herod the tetra. So we know that Herod was a Person of authority if Manayen was brought up with Herod the tetra That goes to tell us that he was Probably from a rich family And also well educated us Now think about this, you know, you have Barnabas Simeon It's talking about where people are from Lucius and it's also giving us a little bit of insight about you know Whether they were learned or not. So in the case of Manayen. Yes, he was a very learned man Maybe similar to Paul. We don't know because even Paul was a learned man. So what we can say is that There was a team of ministers in acts in the church of Antioch who probably had Had varied experiences as far as their background was concerned But based on their calling, they were all serving the lot together. So we could say it's a multi disciplinary team It's a multicultural team as well. So today We see a lot of churches around us who have people from Different countries serving together in the same local church. It's not different from the church of Antioch even back in those days we had Sort of a multicultural team serving in Antioch. So It really helps us see how people were serving and They were willing to serve together. They were willing to use their graces and their gifts to Equip the body of Christ now in act chapter two We see that they minister to the Lord and Fasted it says. So here we are seeing an aspect of Seeking the Lord. How did these leaders serve the church? They like the early church had the practice of prayer. They had the Practice of spending time with the Lord. So they're continuing that so they're ministering to the Lord That's wonderful because see usually when we talk about ministry, it's always about ministering to people What about ministering to God acts 13 talks about it? So there is a ministry to people But there is also a ministry to God in other words, you know, we know that as seeking God We spend time in this presence. So The leadership team of the church of Antioch We saw the description and what are they engaging in? They are ministering to the Lord. They are people who seek the Lord They seek the Lord for his guidance. They seek the Lord for his strength They seek the Lord for his presence. So they were praying they were ministering to the Lord and they fasted it says so they Waited upon the Lord in fasting And what happened at that time? So it's very beautiful when the the leaders fasted And they sought the Lord God responded to them Okay, so that's the beauty of it. We are ministering to the Lord. We are speaking to God and what does God do? He speaks back to us. So that's really something for us to register every time we spend time in prayer or we Spend spend time even corporately worshipping the Lord seeking the Lord We can expect the Holy Spirit to speak to us and give us his Instructions so the Holy Spirit he speaks to these leaders and says now separate to me Barnabas and Saul For the work to which I have called them so God is now giving a clarity about a kind of It's not really a shift, but more of God calling people into their primary responsibility so Regarding Saul remember Ananias had a word Ananias had this word where God said see I'm going to use him He's going to minister to the Gentiles. He is going to be a witness to many leaders people in authority So now Paul is moving in that direction that God has for him. So that's what is actually happening God is calling Barnabas and Paul for the Work for which he had actually called them. So it was the right time for Paul to step into his ministry Then the Bible says after having fasted in prayer. They laid hands on them and sent them away So laying hands on them and sending them away That is such a practice in the Early church. So laying hands is nothing but commissioning commissioning the The disciples and sending them out to do the work that God has called them to do So it's basically commissioning that is taking place here where The other team members are praying over Barnabas and Saul And they are sending them out for what God has called them. So now starts the missionary journey They begin to travel around travel about And we will see how this journey actually takes place. So Would one of us be able to read the passage here? We are at verse four You may read till verse 12 13 verse 4 to 12 So the being said fortified the holiest ghost departed on to Celestial and from the and from death He sailed to Cyprus and when they were at Salamis They preached the word of God in the synagogue of the Jews and they had also joined to their ministers And when they had they had gone through the issues and two powers They found a certain sorcerer a false prophet a Jew whose name was badges badges which was With the deputies of the country Sadius follows in prudent man The prudent man who called for Barnabas and Saul and decided to hear the word of God but Elements the sorcerers Also in In his name for by interpretation. He stood the second to turn away The deputies from the faith They saw who also Is called for Pilled with the holy ghost Said his eyes on him and he said oh full of all substitute And all the mischief Down side of the Of the devil Down enemies of all righteousness We now not cease to forgot The right way of the Lord and now viewed the hand of the Lord is upon the And thou shall be blind Must see the sun for his season and immediately They fail on him and miss on a darkness and he went about seeking some to lead in that The hand fast way Then they would see when he saw what was done to lead Being astonished at the darkness of the Lord Thank you, Abu Bakr for reading that Yeah, I'll come to that Okay, so Jeffina is asking here regarding the what I mentioned about Simeon carrying the cross I'll just give you the Scripture for that first uh Luke 23 26 Where um, you know, it says Simeon A siren sirenian Okay, so it's likely now. I'm not saying that it's It has to be that person. It's likely that it could be the Simeon only who Carried the cross Okay, fine. So let's move on. Uh, we came here now to Sillusia Uh, which is where They went first Let me quickly Okay, I uh, not too sure if you can View it with great clarity Uh, but here we are so Antioch Antioch of Syria Which is your base church or the mother Uh, maybe we won't use mother church because generally Jerusalem Jerusalem is is the mother church that we refer to Uh, so this is a branch church Okay, so you can see here the journey like you have to Syria tire sit on Uh, so Antioch is somewhere here in the region of Syria from Syria They moved to a place called Sillusia, right? So from Sillusia, we see them journeying forward So this is how they travel they come to Salamis Cypress, okay, this this region here and pathos pathos is where we see Um, regarding the False prophet bargesis or or elements. Uh, so we talk about that and then we will Find this team continuing to other regions. So they will go to Perga and uh Pesid Syria, uh, you know Antioch Iconium Lystra Derby So in this manner they will they will journey on and then they will even return, you know, they'll just return back So the arrows you got to follow the arrows. So they go to these regions and then they sort of come back also Okay, uh, and we'll talk about that. So from here, uh, uh, Atalia and then they kind of come back to, uh, Antioch So we look at that. But for now, I just wanted us to have a look at, um, Antioch And since it mentioned Salusia, uh, it's right here and they're traveling out Salamis Cypress pathos So this is where we are and then the journey will continue Sidia Antioch and so on. Okay. So, uh, if this this much is clear, then we can, uh, continue in our Reading. So what did we see so far? We saw that God is called Paul and Barnabas for a missionary role and they step out But we'll see that it's not Only a missionary role for Paul. It's apostolic because he'll start planting churches He'll start overseeing churches raising up leaders. So there's an incredible work ahead of apostle paul Um, now we saw how he moves Uh to down to Salusia Sail to Cypress arrived in Salamis and then, you know, he, uh, starts to preach the word of God Where does he preach? I told us earlier the common place to go to in any region is a synagogue because synagogues were open And people will allow anyone to come any Jew to come and minister there or preach there So he would just go into the synagogues and start to, uh, preach and, uh At this point there was, uh, an assistant with him. His name was John. Okay. Who is this John? You may recall Acts chapter 12. Remember Mary in her home prayer was going on She was the mother of John muck. Uh, and John muck is this is this wonderful Man who is journeying along with, uh, paul and Barnabas Now they come to Cypress and over there they go to the island of Paphos there and in the intelligent man or a man of, uh, um, uh, some position You know, he is eager to learn more about God and so he wants to hear from paul and Barnabas regarding, um, uh, this in Jesus But what happens is there is a spiritual Opposition or a spiritual hindrance, uh, and this man is not able to, um, receive the word What is that spiritual hindrance? There is a false prophet by the name of bar jesus or elimus who, uh, is causing that spiritual hindrance in, uh, Sergius paul is receiving the gospel and so, you know, uh, paul steps in filled with the holy spirit. He rebukes this person and, uh, Uh, elimus goes blind for a period of time, uh, and, uh, when this happens, you know, It's like binding the work of the evil one and that's what paul does And the Sergius paul is is now open, uh, to the teaching of the lord. He's able to receive so We learn from here that even when we preach the gospel, there can be spiritual opposition But when we bind, uh, the the works of the, uh, demons, then we can Preach the gospel and there is a greater openness. You'll also notice that, uh There is a mention in verse nine sol who is also called paul Uh, I don't know if you've ever wondered we keep saying sol sol Uh till acts 13 and then suddenly the name shifts to paul. What is the significance of that? Well, both were his names sol and paul were his names from the beginning, but sol is a more jewish sol is connected to his jewish, uh, roots. So sol is a jewish name Whereas paul is the roman name that he used. Uh, so maybe as uh, luke was writing the the defense letter He found it useful to refer to paul in his roman name and that is why from now You'll you'll see paul paul. You won't see sol anymore. He'll start talking about paul and barnabas paul and barnabas. Okay So let's stop here. We'll come back. I know you may have more questions Uh, but we'll have our discussions. Let's pause for uh, stop for 10 minutes and then we will come back So let's go in for a break. We'll continue at 10 o'clock. Thank you