 Beginning at verse 1 here, and reading to verse 3, Mark, rather Acts chapter 13, I'll begin reading at verse 1. Luke writes, Now, in the church that was at Antioch, there were certain prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon, who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Menahin, who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 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. Then having fasted and prayed and laid hands on them, they sent them away. Now, I'm going to give you again a little background for those of you who perhaps haven't been with us through the weeks here, and we've been studying through the book of Acts. I've gotten into the habit of giving some background so that those who may be here for the first time might be able to receive some things and have a context for all of this. And so, I'll begin by saying after Jesus' resurrection, he gave marching orders to the church, and the orders that he gave were very simple. He said, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Now, they had orders, and they had a message. It was the gospel. They were to go, and they had a message. So they had orders, and they had a message, but they were lacking one thing, and the one thing they were lacking was spiritual power. You have a message, and you have an order, but you need help to be able to fulfill this, and so the power was supplied to them on the day of Pentecost. So they received spiritual power to preach. They also received spiritual power to perform miracles, to perform works. So the combination of preaching and works had caused the gospel to explode, and as we looked at the first few chapters of Acts, we saw that within a short time, multitudes had come to faith in Jesus Christ. But along, excuse me, along with the people coming to faith came opposition. It was demonically inspired. The religious group called the Sadducees ordered the apostles to stop preaching in the name of Christ, and as we've seen, they even put them in jail because they refused to stop. And then the devil used a very old tactic, if you can't beat them, join them. And so false believers entered into the church. We saw how Ananias and Sapphira had sold property, but held back part of the proceeds, claiming that they gave everything to the Lord, but in fact were lying to the Holy Spirit, and for that they were judged for doing so. Now after that, a flesh-motivated division occurred. The Hebrew Christians and the Hellenistic Christians had a conflict. The Hellenistic, the Greek culture and the Greek-speaking Jewish people, the Hellenist widows were neglected. But then again the problem was solved by the bringing up of the first deacons in the church. Then Stephen became the first Christian martyr. Great persecution was intensified, and we saw how that Saul began hunting down Christians, and the persecution simply pushed the believers out of the city of Jerusalem. So we saw how they were scattered throughout the regions of Judea, and into a little bit to the north in a region called Samaria. But as they were scattered, according to Acts 8 verse 4, they went everywhere preaching the Word. So now Samaritans and even Gentiles are being added to the church. In spite of the opposition, according to Acts 12-24, the Word of God grew, and the Word of God multiplied the church. It was because of persecution that the gospel had reached the city called Antioch, which is approximately 300 miles to the northeast of Jerusalem. In Acts 11 verse 19 and 20 it says, those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, preaching the Word to no one but the Jews only. But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus. So this shows us how far the gospel is now reaching. A church has been planted. Believers are strong in God's Word. And what happens is Antioch sends relief to Jerusalem because there's a famine. Again, that revealed their faith because the faith was demonstrated by concern for others. This is a multicultural church. It was made up of Bojew and Gentile. Again, that reveals that there's no division allowed over culture. They're neither Jew. There's neither Gentile. But we're all one in Christ. In Ephesians 2.13 and 14 it says, in Christ Jesus, you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace who has made the two one and has torn down the dividing wall of hostility. And so the church is healthy. The church is thriving even under persecution, even under infiltration, even under cultural division, the church is thriving. And that's what we're going to do now. We're going to pick up our study here in chapter 13 to see what's going on. Now it says in verse 1 of chapter 13 in the church that was at Antioch, there were certain prophets and teachers. Barnabas, Simeon, who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Minayin who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch and Saul. And so I want you to see this. I'm going to take this apart for you. I'm going to show you a few things. Again, keep in mind that ordinarily I would be teaching this to a leadership class or I'd be speaking to pastors. I'd make it a bit different, but it's essentially very similar, almost the same. And I hope that this ministers to all of us as we look at this. So I want to pick this up. It says that there were certain prophets and teachers. So the prophets and the teachers gave instruction and direction to the body of Christ. It seems that prophets are a separate category from the teachers. In the book of Ephesians, the Bible tells us in chapter 4 verse 11, he gave some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists and pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry. And so you have apostles and prophets in the early church. Now the prophets and the teachers were the ones who gave instruction. And it seems that the prophets were in a separate category from the teachers. The prophets would give revelation as well as direction. And being a prophet implied that they had a direct message that they would give from God. It was especially necessary because the New Testament had yet to been compiled. So there was no New Testament as we know it in the early church. What they used was the Old Testament and the prophets would speak a revelation for that moment. Sometimes they would speak concerning what is happening now and then other times they would speak of future events. And so you have the prophets. You have one that we've already seen, his name was Agabus. He's the one in chapter 11 who had prophesied a famine that would later occur. And you see him again in chapter 21. He was recognized as a prophet. While the teachers have a different ministry, the teachers would explain and illustrate Scripture and give the fundamentals of the Christian faith. This message from God came to the people in other words in a more systematic way. And that meant that the teachers would spend time searching the Word as they knew it. They would spend time in prayer and they would spend time in meditation and reflection and then they would present those things to the people who are coming to hear. Now the Bible tells us that the apostles and prophets were the foundation of the church. Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone. In Ephesians 2 19 and 20 it says, You are no longer strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints, members of God's household built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. So pastors and teachers were the ones that God would use to ensure the continuation of Christianity because the church was intended to continue for the centuries until Christ returns for the church. And so it was intended to continue until he returned. That's why in 2 Timothy 2 verse 2 Paul said the things that you have heard me say are among many witnesses and trust these to faithful men who will be qualified to teach others as well. And so a pastor teacher, an instructor in the body of Christ is to be a model of the faith and the gift of teaching is a gift that provokes people to learn. In Titus 2 verses 7 and 8 Paul said it like this to a pastor named Titus. He said show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works and in your teaching show integrity, dignity and sound speech that cannot be condemned so that an opponent may be put to shame having nothing evil to say about us. And so the pastors, teachers are there to equip the saints. The apostles were the foundation. The prophets would declare the word of God in a revelation way. The pastor teacher was the one who would take what was there in the Old Testament and as it grew into the New Testament and would communicate that to the people. And so in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers. And now you have their names given to us, Barnabas. Simeon who was called Niger. Lucius of Cyrene in Manan who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch and Saul. So you have a number of names. We already have been introduced to the one named Barnabas. He is the one who ministered to believers in Antioch in chapter 11. We haven't seen the name Simeon. He's also called Niger. And this is interesting because the word Niger is Latin for black. And so that tells us that this is in reference to his color. He was a black man and the leader in the church is perhaps one commentator pointed out a North African. You had Lucius of Cyrene. Cyrene is a city in Libya, Northern Africa. And then you have a guy by the name of Manny Manain. I'd rather call Manny. He's a foster brother of Herod Antibus who was the tetrarch of Galilee and Piraeus. Now you know him. He was the one who put to death John the Baptist. Manain was a man of influence. That reveals the reach of the gospel. Then you have Saul. Now Barnabas had invited him, Saul, to come and minister in Antioch. We saw that in chapter 11. We'll look at this a little deeper in a moment. Notice verse 2. It says, As he 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. I want to develop this with you. I want you to notice first in verse 2. Notice how it says, As he ministered to the Lord. How do you minister to the Lord? Recently I was speaking something about blessing the Lord and somebody asked the question, How do you bless the Lord? Isn't it the Lord who blesses you? How can you use a phrase like that? Bless the Lord when in fact he's the one who blesses you. And that's an honest and a good question. Well the word bless means to praise. And so you praise the Lord. Bless the Lord, O my soul. And all that is within me. Bless his holy name. It's a manner of praise and worship. But how do you minister to the Lord? Isn't it the Lord who ministers to us? When I was first began to pastor as an ordained minister back in 1979, that was one of the questions that I grappled with. How do I minister to the Lord? What does that mean? Well the word minister is an Old Testament concept. It speaks of priestly temple service. So when you see that they minister to the Lord, ministering to the Lord is speaking of worshipful service to God. So when you're serving the Lord, ministering to the Lord, it's actually a sacrificial service that brings honor and glory to him. You see ministry includes all Christians. Not just certain gifted ones. We need to remember that all of us have been called by God. If you're born again, all of us have been called by God to minister. Every one of us, not a single one of us, is excluded. We're all in spiritual warfare and there are no conscientious objectors in a spiritual war. And so what? Hey, I heard that. And so what we are is we're aware that we have gifts and services that we do to the Lord. There's no way you want to sit the bench. I don't know how many people here used to play sports or continued to play sports or pretend that you do play sports. But I can tell you, I never was the guy who wanted to sit the bench. I didn't want to put on a uniform, sit there and get my snow cone later on. Though I did enjoy this, the cherries were good. But I didn't want to do that. I wanted to dirty the uniform. I wanted to do something. I wanted to play. I didn't want to sit the bench. There are a lot of Christians who love sitting the bench. They do. There's another one. And so it's true. They kind of sit the bench. But every one of us has been called to serve the Lord. In whatever category or ability you might have. He's the one who gifts you. He's the one who calls you. That's what we're looking at. And there are no special heroes in the church. We have to be careful with that one. We really have to be. Because we have a tendency of lifting up people to a position they ought not to have. We are all a team. And not one of us is more important than the other. We all serve the same God. We all receive rewards from the same God. Now there are different positions in the body of Christ. And some have more authority. That's pastoral roles. That occurs. But the pastors know better qualitatively than anybody else. And I think it's very, very dangerous. Especially in these last days when people are looking for heroes to put that person on a pedestal. Because the higher you lift him up, the more he's going to be tempted to fall. And the further he will fall. That's why you pray for it. That's why you lift up those who serve the Lord amongst you. But there are no special heroes in the body of Christ. In 1 Peter 2, 4 and 5, the apostle said it like this. He said, As you come to him, the living stone, rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him, you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. There are no special heroes. We work together. Now that doesn't mean we don't honor faithful ministers. In 1 Timothy 5, 17, Paul said, The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor. Especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. It means we work together to serve the same God. Now, this reveals that ministry is centered on pleasing and serving God. They were ministering to the Lord. We need to understand that. Ministry is not simply meeting people's real needs or their felt needs. Ministry to others is built on and it flows from a relationship we have with God and our service to him. You see, ministry is at its core the worship of God. And when true ministry occurs, God receives all the credit and he receives all the glory. I am the Lord. That is my name. And my glory I will give to no one else, neither my praise to graven images. You shall have no false gods before you. So ministry is to God. That's who we minister to. Psalm 1151 says, Not to us, oh Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory because of your mercy, because of your truth. Not unto us, but unto you. May you receive all the glory. And so this is what's taking place. Now notice in verse 2, they were fasting. That speaks of a serious seeking of the Lord. So fasting is normally abstaining from food for a spiritual purpose. That's to reveal to us separation and intensity because they're seeking the Lord for guidance. Now as this is taking place, notice again in verse 2, the Holy Spirit said, Now separate to me, Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Separate. Now, it's the Holy Spirit who is guiding them. It comes through a prophetic word by the Holy Spirit, but he's giving them direction and he says separate. Now the word separate means to appoint. It speaks of setting apart for a purpose. So this is going to give us insight, especially to some who may be listening to this message perhaps in this room right now or online or perhaps later on. This gives us a little insight into how the Holy Spirit moves the plan of church. Now I want you to see again in verse 2, Luke says it occurred as a minister to the Lord. So the call came during the season of worship, prayer and fasting. It did not come through what we today call strategy sessions. It did not come through what is called today team building. It did not come through what is referred to now as vision casting. It was not due to creating a team and it didn't result from doing what is called and this may be something that's unfamiliar to some, but it didn't come because somebody did what is called a demographic study. A demographic study is simply looking into areas and saying what is the need there? Oh, I see they have a lot of this particular culture or that particular culture or this culture and what we'll do is we're going to get a team made up of people of the same culture and we'll send them in. That's going on a lot today. That goes on a lot today where people say well let this heavily Hispanic place so you ought to get yourself a Mexican in there. And that's just not, that's just not, I didn't start this fellowship year ago, but I'll say it openly as I'm thinking about it. I did not start this fellowship so we'd have a Mexican church. I wanted to see a church. I wanted to see God move amongst the people. Now sometimes people think oh, that's a Mexican pastor therefore it's a Mexican church. No, I was watching the thank you pastor, David we only had one white guy say thank you. That was not prearranged. That's just the way it happened but I was cracking up for a service I saw it and I said what's going on here? No, that's not what you do. Listen, you seek the Lord, you pray, you're intense, Father what should we do? You don't say look I'm thinking of will you come and join me, will you come and join me, will you come and join me? We're going to need a worship team, we're going to need children's ministry, we're going to need assistance, we're going to need secretary. That's not how this church began. It comes by the power of the Holy Spirit and the word of God as it's presented people are drawn who have those gifts and qualities and they do that work and that's how it works and that's what's happening here. You see, they're not saying well you know I'll open up a Bible and talk to you if somebody comes we'll give it a shot, that's not what's going on. They were seeking the will of the Lord as they were worshiping him and the call was given through spirit filled worshipful mature Christian leaders. Now in the scripture we see that there are different designations of spiritual maturity. You see babies in Christ, you see children in Christ, you see young men in Christ and then you see what are called fathers or fathers and mothers, but you see fathers and the fathers are the elders and in 1st John 2.13 John said it like this, he said I write to you fathers because you've known him who is from the beginning. These were men who knew the ways of the Lord, they were elders, they were mature spiritually, they were in prayer, they were fasting the Spirit spoke and directed they knew the ways of the Lord they walked in the Spirit they knew the voice of the Lord when he spoke these were men who were acquainted with the ways of God they weren't novices, they weren't hungry just to do something these are men who were prepared Now notice that the Holy Spirit said separate to me so there's an official recognition by trusted leadership the body of Christ trusted these men and would trust that they were being sent out you see that's an official act of sending out missionaries there are some men who go out and there are others who are sent out and there's a difference between the two they were sent out and their accountability went beyond prophets, teachers and the congregation it was firmly planted in the relationship with the God who sent them in Galatians 1 verse 1 Paul said it like this he said Paul an apostle sent not from men nor by a man but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead later on in 1st Timothy 2 verse 7 he said for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and speaking the truth in Christ not lying a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth they had a relationship with God they want to see God move they're fasting and praying seeking the Lord the Holy Spirit spoke it wasn't some kind of planning session it was a spirit and they were separated for the work to which God called them it says they were separated for the work the word work is a Greek word and it means the labor so ministry is work it's not a hobby and it's not a recreation in 1st Thessalonians 5 12 it says we urge you brethren to recognize those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you a second thing he said the work to which I have called them it is God who determines the target now many churches are built next to another church because they can draw people from that church and they can grow quickly but Paul gives us a model in Romans 15 20 where he said I have made it my aim to preach the gospel not where Christ was named in God's foundation so God has said I want you to go to this area and do this work there they haven't heard my name and that's what's taking place notice he says for the work to which I have called them ministry is not a one man show ministry is a team effort remember that Jesus sent the disciples out two by two he went out in teams why because the work is too big for one person and here this is different than it was 42 plus years ago now when we first started we didn't even have children's ministry we only had three or four kids and they were all mine basically in the church and so Marie was a children's minister she had tissues taking care of our brats we had a couple other ones and that was about it we needed help we could do certain things ourselves but you need help you know in this fellowship here you know where we are now you know we have people in the parking lot and sometimes they may be irritating to some people because they're saying could you park here no I want to park over here okay there's a driveway go out no they but you need them and then you walk in and you go to a children's ministry and you've got all of these people who are caring for our children who spent time this week praying for them and preparing thank God for them you have people standing at the door when you walk in who are saying hi would you like to be seated here and all of that you know the ushers and all our worship team our worship teams that we have and I think that God has blessed us with our worship team I really do beautiful worship teams but you might be interested most of you know but you might be interested to know that there's only one paid staff member on that and that's Jared the rest are volunteers the rest do work and other things and they come here to worship God and lead us in worship aren't you grateful for that I am I'm grateful for those things and that's how church works so you may have a senior pastor but you have staff that are holding my hands up and caring for us and caring for you and doing ministry and counseling and teaching and all of those things I can only do one thing I can only do a certain amount of things and so I needed a team and that's what they have and that's what the church is supposed to have the church is supposed to have people who are working together for the work of ministry who are laboring together for the sake of Jesus Christ and for his glory and so he says I've sent them not just him not just those two but the teams that are going to go out and do the work and so that's what happens it symbolizes unity because they're going to work together and it also reveals to us accountability and so it says having fasted and prayed and verse 3 they laid hands on them symbolizing the anointing and the sending they sent them away so verse 4 being sent out by the Holy Spirit they went down to Seleucia and from there they sailed to Cyprus 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 and so they send them out now Seleucia is a port there by Antioch and they left for Cyprus an island in the Mediterranean Cyprus had a large Jewish population and there were many Greeks there it was also known for its promiscuity and for its religious superstition it says in verse 5 they arrived in Salamis that's where they first made salami sandwiches mark that down very good I'm sorry and pray I don't know where these things come from I really don't they preached the word of God now Salamis was on the eastern side of Cyprus so they're traveling through Cyprus and they're ministering in the synagogues notice they had John as their assistant John is John Mark Barnabas' cousin and he's assisting we've already seen that he is their assistant Peter Rower so John went with them he wanted to relieve the load of ministry he was there for practical needs he'd make the lodging arrangements make sure that those things were met he would come alongside of them perhaps even record the events as a scribe and so they're traveling verse 6 now when they had gone through the island of Paphis they found a certain sorcerer a false prophet a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus a proconsul, Sergius Paulus 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 but Alimus the sorcerer for so his name is translated withstood them seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith Saul who is also called Paul filled with the Holy Spirit looked intently at him and said oh 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 and now indeed the hand of the Lord is upon you and you shall be blind not seeing the son for a time immediately a dark mist fell on him and when he went around and he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand he was also believed when he saw what had been done being astonished notice at the teaching of the Lord now we're going to spend time in a second study I mentioned to you that you actually have two parts two different studies this will be the second one now notice verse 6 they have found a certain individual now they ended up in the city they're on the island of Cyprus from Salamis they traveled west they ended up in Paphis Paphis was the seat of provincial government it was a Greek settlement known for the cult of Aphrodite and here they encounter a man who's called Bar Jesus but he's also known as Alimus Alimus is Arabic for a wise man now notice that Luke doesn't refer to him as a wise man Luke says he's a Jewish sorcerer and he calls him a false prophet he's an apostate Jew he's employed by a man named Sergius Paulus what he is is a court magician he interpreted dreams and he practiced the occult Alimus was acquainted with the word of God but he didn't care for it nor did he heed it and he knew that the Bible forbids sorcery but he disregarded it so when I say that somebody says okay what's wrong with sorcery come on what's the big deal about sorcery why can't you practice astrology why can't you go to the card reader or have your palm read why can't you consult psychics why is that wrong well to attempt to discover the future on your own is to bypass God's sovereignty and ability to reveal the future to attempt to do it yourself is demonically inspired there are certain things that belong only to God in Deuteronomy 29 29 the secret things belong to the Lord our God but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever that we may do all the words of this law the future is under the authority of God and it is he who reveals it as he wills in Daniel 2 verse 22 it says that God reveals deep and secret things he knows what is in the darkness and light dwells with him the New Testament reveals sorcery as a work of the flesh now I grew up in a home that was not a Christian home my mama was not a Christian though she had a Christian interest you know she had she had hidden her Bible my dad didn't want the Bible in our house so mama that's the only thing I know she did that really was in opposition to something he said she had hid her Bible because she wanted to read it but my mom didn't understand it like many who have a Bible in the house never read it don't really understand it I have been raised like many of you as I look out into this congregation some of you may have been raised in a similar way and I'll use an example when I was a little boy I would stand by the door of my bedroom and I would put my hand on the light and then I would start to run I'd turn off the light and take two steps and jump into my bed because Kukui was underneath it and he was going to grab me how many guys know that did any of you yeah yeah yeah the Kukui right I was scared and I actually did that for a long time I would run I did it just the other day I don't know what no I but I was brought up like that you know that's the way you keep your kid in bed I guess during the time my mom was raising us you know just how Kukui's there so they won't get out of bed at night because he's going to grab your ankles drag you under the bed and who knows what's going to happen to you see so that was something I grew up with a little superstition my mom told me about the evil eye when I was a little boy I was very ill actually I was a baby my mom said that I was an infant less than a year old and she said I had this terrible fever so she went to a woman who was there in the apartment complex she lived in and this woman was a witch and so she took an egg and rolled it all over my body so that the infection would go in the egg and then she broke the egg in a bowl and this blood was in it right and that was a bruja that's my mom believed in that see so I was raised with superstition it was just part of us you know I didn't believe in it well maybe the kukui but not the egg you know and so that's just part of your culture that's part of what happens there's a lot of different cultures that have similar kinds of things those are mythologies and superstitions but they're magical and demonic and you don't realize it you don't realize what it is but that's what it is and so people say why don't you go to somebody to read your poem or read your ring when I first got saved I went to share with my aunt about the gospel I had just gotten saved but I knew enough at that point to know that psychics that's not something you get involved in I went to my aunt's house to share with her about Jesus and all and there's this woman who is sitting there I still remember I didn't even see where she's sitting she was sitting to my left there and my aunt Nadine's telling me she can read your future just give her your ring and I said no why not I said because only God knows the future because I had been taught that already within a very short time God knows the future who are you I'm not going to give you my ring anyway you'll probably steal it so the Bible the Bible teaches and I'm not doing a full story study on this but that sorcery is a work of the flesh it's a demonic attempt inspired by the enemy to know the future that only God holds in reserve for himself and determines to reveal it to whosoever he wills so when you go to these astrologers or you read that little it's just you know I'm just reading and whatever I don't really believe it oh I'm a Leo or whatever you know when you're reading when I met Marie my girlfriend became my wife the day I met her I've told you this before so many of you haven't heard it I'm sitting with her talking to this girl the first time I ever talked to her is right after a Bible study she had come to my study and she says to me what's your sign and I said the fish and she goes oh you're a Pisces and I said no I said the ichthus I said I don't believe in that garbage that was our first conversation the first conversation God said she needs to get saved and I said okay I'll disciple her but that was so common and the college kids she was in college at that time the college kids were into the sorcery astrology magic we used to drop mushroom we used to drop acid because we thought we would open the portal of something spiritual for us to connect with the other we didn't even call it God it was the other there's something out there a power out there that we want to connect with and you can do it psychically through dropping drugs we did that I did that as an 18, 19, 20 year old you're thinking you're going to connect with something greater than yourself and you have these hallucinations thinking that you are sorcery sorcery is an act of the flesh in Galatians 5 19 through 21 the works of the flesh are evident and he gives all of these works including sorcery the word sorcery in the original language is pharmakea pharmakea speaks of drugs because the sorcerers would use drugs in their practices so it's a work of the flesh and according to Revelation 22 14 and 15 blessed are those who do his commandments that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter through the gates into the city but outside are dogs and sorcerers sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters and whoever loves and practices the life so this sorcery is a sin that is keeps you from heaven there's a sorcerer it's strictly forbidden while Paul is speaking to Sergius Paulus notice verse 7 refers to him as an intelligent man that means he has an inquiring mind he's learned, he's intelligent he's wise, philosophic and he desires religious instruction he's intellectually honest he's open to hearing what the gospel has to say he's not a believer but he's fair-minded and he's open well Alimus in verse 8 withstands him, why? because Alimus knew that if Paulus would get saved that Alimus would influence over Paulus also he's a non-practicing Jew so he's opposed to the message that's being presented anyway you see some religious unsaved people get angry when you're preaching to their friends they can discourage people from answering invitations they can even keep them from going to church or listening when someone is sharing the gospel sometimes they get angry sometimes they interrupt church services sometimes they storm out after my left here I stood up, flipped me off started saying all kinds of dirty words to me and stormed out and I told John if you do that again I'm going to fire you because they actually do that they do, they get upset, they storm out well Alimus is doing that he's upset and so what happens verses 9 and 10 Saul who is also called Paul this is the first time you see him called Paul filled with the Holy Spirit looked intently at him and said oh full of all deceit and all fraud your enemy of all righteousness will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord how unloving for him to say something like that how could he be so judgmental how could he be so harsh how could he be so critical listen Alimus is religious isn't that all that matters as long as you believe in a God or some power up there why is he being labeled deceitful why is he being called wicked because he sought to turn the pro-consul from here in the gospel because he sought to prevent the truth from mentoring that man's mind so that that man could be set free and as a result of that he revealed himself as what would be called the son of the devil in John 8.43 and 44 Jesus said it like this why do you not understand my speech because you are not able to listen to my word you are of your father the devil and the desires of your father you want to do he was a murderer from the beginning because there's no truth in him when he speaks a lie he speaks from his own resources he's a liar and the father of it so he says will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord you see what happens is false prophets change the way to come to God in Matthew 7.13 through 15 Jesus said it like this enter by the narrow gate for why does the gate broad is the way that leads to destruction there are many who go in by it difficult is the way which leads to life and there are few who find it beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly they're ravenous ravenous wolves this is from the mouth of love itself watch out and so in verse 11 the hand of the Lord came upon him and he says you shall be blind not seeing the son for a time and immediately a dark miss fell on him and he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand the darkness of his soul is now experienced by his physical eyes the blindness is temporary out of grace toward him you see when he regains his sight perhaps he'll come to faith in Jesus but the proconsul verse 12 believed when he saw what was done the miracle worked a wonder in him he grabbed his attention and as a result he was astonished at the confirmation that was given to the message of the gospel and he came to faith in Christ how serious is God for us to come to faith in him we see in this passage here he is intensely serious that we come to faith in him we all have a darkness within us without Christ but when we come to Christ then the light shines upon us and from us because the Holy Spirit uses us for his work and so we see here the way you plant a church but we also see here a warning at those who would try to stop the work of God all we need to do is ask ourselves what side of this do we land on