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 Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.

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 If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.

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 Thank you for joining us today.

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 Good morning, everyone, and thank you for venturing out in the torrential rains this morning.

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 We are having some technical difficulties, so hopefully it'll come up eventually, but if not,

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 I'll do my best to kind of wing it without the PowerPoint, right?

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 Hey, first I got to give mad props to Danny Jackson. How about it, right?

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 That is not an easy thing to do, to get up and talk with what was it, an hour and a half

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 preparation. Yeah, he did a phenomenal job, and Holy Spirit really spoke through him.

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 Chris is not still out with Vertigo this week, just so everyone knows. He's in his family

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 or away on a planned vacation, and according to Texas from him, he's feeling much better,

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 and we'll take a moment just to pray for him. Lord, we thank you for Chris and Jill,

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 Lord, and the ministry here, Lord, and our leadership here, and we pray for Chris right

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 now. Lord, you just continue to heal his body, Lord, and whatever it was that calls this

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 Vertigo, Lord, you would just bring complete healing to him. All right, well, we are in

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 Acts this morning still, and I know it only seems like we've been in it for, I don't know,

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 what, five or so months, but we're really 18 years into it, okay? So we're, this is Acts 13 is about

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 18 years since the beginning of Acts, and I know sometimes, like, when I'm reading things, I kind

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 of lose sight of the context of the journey and how things are happening and all that, but

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 Acts 13 really is a bit of a turning point in Acts, so just as a quick kind of recap on things,

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 you know, after Pentecost, you know, the gospel, you know, was spreading throughout Jerusalem and

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 Judea. They were being persecuted, especially following the stoning of Stephen, you know,

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 they scattered outward, I mean, you know, because imagine, it's kind of hard for us to imagine,

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 you know, imagine that, that, you know, your life is literally in physical danger

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 for presenting the gospel, but that's how they were. Saul, who was once, you know, the most

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 fierce, you know, persecutor of the church had an encounter with Jesus, and in Acts 10,

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 oh, hold on a second here, I think I lost, how do I do this all the time? Like,

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 hold on a second, folks, lost my hair. There it is, all right. So then in Acts 10 through 11,

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 Peter's encounter with Cornelius, and, you know, unmistakably clear that the gospel now is going,

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 going to the Gentiles, and meanwhile Antioch, which is what we're going to talk about this morning,

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 part of it, at least Antioch, Antioch emerged as a thriving center for believers in that time.

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 And Barnabas actually brought Saul there to help him teach, which we are going to talk a little bit

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 about, and 12, we're going to be doing a little hopscotch here with verses. I'm going to be doing

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 part of Acts 13 today, and next week, John's going to pick up on 13, and then Chris is going to

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 jump back and do 12, like he had planned to do last week. So 12 will close out with Barnabas and Saul

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 returning from Jerusalem back to Antioch. They were completing a relief missionary

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 work to them, and they're bringing with them John Mark. So that same, and John Mark is going to be

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 with them, you know, as we kind of walk through the first part of 13 here, and John Mark, who's

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 mentioning here, is the author then of Mark. You kind of get confused with characters sometimes,

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 at least I do, you know, they mentioned when they first called him. I remember when I was first,

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 when I first, very first, started reading the Bible and getting through it. Imagine that, never

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 reading the Bible or getting through any of that, and it was like, okay, is this John the Apostle?

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 Is this John the Baptist? Is this who? Who are all these Johns? So it really became kind of

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 confusing, but this is John Mark, and he's going to be with Paul and Barnabas through this. So

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 Antioch, what we know about Antioch, you know, when Jerusalem, you know, heard,

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 Acts 11 talks a little bit about this. So again, this was what seems like just a couple chapters

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 back, two chapters back, was really kind of a couple years back, that there was a revival

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 going on, and you know, the non-Jewish people were coming, Gentiles were coming to the Lord,

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 and God's Spirit was really being poured out there, and they asked Barnabas

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 to go, and Paul went as well. So they were there for about five years.

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 So let's read, and we're not up, are we? Yeah, okay, that's all right, we'll wing it here.

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 So Acts 13, one through three, let's start with. So now the church at Antioch, there were prophets

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 and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon, called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manium, who had been brought up

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 with Herod, the Tetra, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit

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 said, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work which I've called him. So after they had

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 fasted and prayed, they placed their hands and sent them off. So they were in God's presence,

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 and notice that they were worshiping and fasting. So before we get into it, let's get into the,

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 oh, here we go, look at that. Hey, I'm gonna exit out of here and just kind of start over again.

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 Well, we were close, and maybe we'll get there. So before we get into this, let's look at the

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 characters who were involved here. Antioch, as we read here, is a pretty remarkable

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 church, and the leadership that they talk about here, different ethnicities from different

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 geographies, different political backgrounds, and they're all together kind of worshiping

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 in unity. I won't talk too much about Paul because we all know Paul's story, but Barnabas,

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 let's talk a little bit about Barnabas. So his original name, as we know from Scripture,

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 was Joseph, but the apostles renamed him Barnabas, which means son of encouragement.

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 And as we get through Acts and read about him, we understand why that is. He was a Levite

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 from Cyprus. So that, if you're up on your Old Testament, you know how important that is. I mean,

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 the Levites were the worshipers. They were the ones who let out in battle with their music,

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 and they were the ones that cared for and took care of the temple. So that's a really important

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 side. He was Jewish, obviously, and he was in a perceived role. Acts 4.36 tells us that he was

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 generous and committed to God, to Jesus. He sold a field and gave the proceeds to the

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 apostles to support their work. Acts 4.37 tells us about that. He believed in Saul

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 before Saul believed in himself. When Jerusalem believers feared Saul, they were afraid of him

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 as well. They should be. Barnabas personally brought him to the apostles and vouched for him.

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 That's in Acts 9.26-27. So Barnabas, what a love about Barnabas. You know, he wasn't always,

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 and he didn't always need to be the center of attention, the center guy. He was often the guy

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 kind of behind the scenes, making things happen or helping someone or encouraging someone to go out

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 and do things. So the second guy, this guy to me is probably the most interesting character here,

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 Manonin. So it gives just a slight mention of who he is and you're kind of left, you know,

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 saying he was what? He was with Herod? So he was brought up with Herod.

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 It says that he was in it. Some translations say he was an advisor. Some say he was a friend,

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 but he was connected. The Greek word there, centrophos, it means that they were kind of

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 raised together, almost nurtured together, educated alongside of one another, almost kind of in this

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 royal, royal childhood. So it's kind of hard to get all that into, you know, a singular translation.

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 Now, it's not Herod the Great, okay? Herod the Great died shortly after the birth of Jesus,

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 but it's his son, Herod of Antipas, who became the ruler in Galilee. And he's the one who executed

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 John the Baptist. He's the one who questioned Jesus during his trial. So he was a bad dude.

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 So when you say, okay, this guy was friends with Herod, it's like, what happened here? You know,

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 how did this happen? And you know what? We don't have any answers to that. We don't know. We don't

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 know what his conversion story is. We don't know what happens. We do know at the time when Acts,

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 I mean, when Luke wrote Acts around 39, 40 A.D., the Roman Emperor Caligula stripped Herod of all

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 his power and they banished him actually. So we don't know the circumstances of how he came

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 to know Jesus, but it had to be a powerful story. I wish we did. We know. We also know that he had a

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 very, very influential family. He had to have had an influential family. He had to have come from,

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 you know, a royal background. So very interesting character here. Simeon called Niger.

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 So Simeon is a traditional Hebrew name. Niger is a Latin translation that talks about, you know,

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 okay, he was a dark skin. So most likely of African descent. There are biblical scholars

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 that suggest that he could potentially be the same Simeon, the Simeon of Cyrus who carried Jesus's

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 cross, but that's speculative. Lucius of Surin. Surin is North Africa. It was a major, major Greco-Roman

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 city. It's modern-day Libya, just so we know, kind of get context of where it is. Very, very large

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 Jewish population. But because it was kind of in this, you know, from a Greek-speaking Roman

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 province, it was very Hellenistic. You know, and if you get a chance, you know, on your own,

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 study the difference in Hellenistic Jews versus, you know, Jerusalem-oriented Jews or those who

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 did, you know, really were committed to the temple. They were Jews who were very

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 influenced during the occupations that they had gone through. It was very, very,

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 very interesting to understand the difference between the two, but they were Hellenistic.

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 He was most likely Hellenistic, so he would have understood the Gentiles. He would have

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 been a great candidate for doing what he's doing here. He was most likely one of the unnamed

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 pioneers in Acts 11, where it talks about this revival that went along. So, okay.

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 I had a really, really good graphic here. I was going to kind of show you some stuff. I'll just

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 kind of describe it to you as we're going through here. There's a powerful sequence

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 that's going on that we read here in this chapter. You know, they started out with worship

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 and they were praying, and they were fasting, and then they were kind of hearing God. So,

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 this group of leaders in this group of church, they were really being present with God. So,

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 God's direction to them and God's voice to them really came through his presence.

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 So, they were there with God. They were worshiping. And, you know, when I think to

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 myself in my own personal experience, I know that some of the clearest directions

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 don't necessarily come from, hey, God, can you help me with this, or can you give me a direction

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 with this specific thing in my life, or can you kind of bless this journey that I'm going on,

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 but it's just from being in his presence and then him revealing what he has for me.

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 So, you know, understanding the nature here, that they were called.

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 They were in God's presence and they had this calling. So, it says,

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 to which I have called them or chosen them. You know, it literally means this idea or this sense

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 of, you know, calling someone towards oneself or what God has within us or what he's doing

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 within us. So, this calling, summoning or inviting them or appointing them to participate in

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 what God, that's what was really happening here. It's a deeper, it's deeper than, it's a much,

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 much deeper meaning than, hey, I've got this job for you to do. Okay, it's this calling. He knows

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 that they were chosen, you know, to go. So, and guess what? There's really good

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 news behind that. We're all chosen. God has something very specific for each one of us.

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 Ephesians 1.4 says, for he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless

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 in his sight. John 15.16 says, you did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you

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 so that you might go and bear fruit, fruit that will last. That is exactly what's happening here.

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 God is saying, I have chosen you to go forth and bear fruit. And he has these plans for all of us.

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 Romans 8.30 says, and those he predestined he also called or chose. He also justified.

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 And he also justified, he also glorified. So, he has predestined work for all of us to do.

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 Predestined a mission or calling for all that. But so often, I know for me, I'll often reverse that.

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 I'll make plans that I have, that I want to do, and ask God to bless that.

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 And that's not at all what's happening here. They are seeking God first and then allowing God's plans

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 to shape within them and what they are doing. So, when we think about the idea of being present

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 with God and being in his presence before we make those plans, Moses said in Exodus 33.15,

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 if your presence does not go with us, do not send us.

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 Samuel said in Samuel 3, he learned to hear God before being sent by God.

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 And Isaiah said a similar thing in Isaiah 6. He saw God first, then he heard. Whom shall I send?

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 God said, so there's a pattern here of presence before purpose, being in God's presence first,

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 and then the purpose coming after that, the mission coming after that. They were ministering

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 to God first in what they were doing here. Fasting can quiet us.

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 Fasting can quiet other things that we hunger for. Fasting makes us present with God.

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 Doesn't necessarily, you know, make God more accessible or make him more present,

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 but it makes us more attentive to him. Doesn't make him more available to us,

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 just makes us more attentive to him. So, God gave them a calling, right? Not a roadmap.

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 The Spirit simply said, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.

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 There was no itinerary, no warning of what was to come, and no promise. They were present with God

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 and God called them. Acts 13, 4-5.

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 The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there

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 to Cyprus. When they arrived in Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish

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 synagogues. John was with them as their helper. Now, envision this map of the Middle East,

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 okay? Just close your eyes and envision this great map that I have here.

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 So, they started out on the coastline in Antioch and they went about 15 miles south

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 to Seleucia. Then they got on a boat and they sailed about 130 miles. 130 miles to Cyprus

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 and they landed in Salamis, which was a major commercial city there in Cyprus.

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 So, I like to ask questions of myself as I'm going through this thing and I say,

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 why did they go to Cyprus?

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 So, five years earlier, we read that there was part of a major movement in Antioch and they

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 have here is we've got this beautiful reversal happening. So, let's read that real quick. It's

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 Acts 11, 19-21. You want to follow along? Now, those who had been scattered by the persecution

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 that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch,

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 spreading the word only among the Jews. Some of them, however, men of Cyprus and serene,

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 went to Antioch to begin to speak to the Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord

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 and the Lord's hand was with them and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.

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 So, there was something exciting happening and Cyprus was a part of starting this movement.

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 They were a key part. So, this is a great reversal. How often does this happen? We've

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 seen this happen so many times and I remember talking to a close friend of mine who was a

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 missionary down in Mexico. He's been down there for 40 some years and he told me once,

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 like 15 years or so ago, he's here. Yeah, they sent me as a missionary down to Mexico.

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 Now, I send missionaries up to the United States. So, it's kind of this reversal of things. So,

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 Cyprus had helped bring the gospel to Antioch and now Antioch sends Barnabas and Saul back to Cyprus

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 with the gospel. So, Cyprus was why it was familiar territory to them.

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 So, why they might have gone there. God's calling was on. Barnabas was a native

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 of the island. Acts 4 tells us geographically and strategically

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 they begin their mission in familiar territory. Strong Jewish communities in there

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 and obviously the Gentiles as well. So, scripture tells us that they went right to the synagogues

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 to start. So, why again? Why start in the synagogues, guys? Well, Paul was a trained Pharisee.

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 So, he was… What would be a good… I don't know. Somebody uber-brilliant today that travels

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 the world as a speaker who just is leaps and bounds above all of us as far as intellect go.

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 He trained under Gamaliel who was one of the top. It would be like, okay, this guy is a student

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 of the greatest. Acts 22 tells us this. So, rather than… Paul had great credentials for synagogues.

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 No synagogues going to look at a guy named Saul and say, yeah, we don't want you talking here.

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 They're going to say, this is really something special to have him here. So,

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 Paul's initial reception when he would speak at these synagogues, again, this is happening

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 every year, was often… They were often very, very receptive to the gospel. They were often

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 very, very in line with what he was teaching because he was basically saying they knew the

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 story, okay? They knew the story of what God was doing and he was basically saying,

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 Jesus is simply the fulfillment of this story. And they were receptive to that.

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 Conflict didn't really come in at these synagogues until

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 Gentiles would get integrated. There was this argument as to how do the Gentiles fit in

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 to what we're doing here? Are they full-fledged Jews? Are they kind of

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 stepchildren to the process? How did they all fit in? There was conflict when he would preach

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 at a synagogue and all of a sudden hundreds, if not thousands of people would show up the next day

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 flooding the place. It creates problems, right? So, these are as problems will come in logistical

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 challenges, let's call them. So, Jews, they knew the law, they knew the prophets, they knew the

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 promise of the Messiah and Paul was basically saying, this is it. And this is written in

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 Romans. He says first to the Jew and then to the Gentiles. So, Paul started with the people

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 who already knew the story. So, you know, God is sending them,

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 but God can send us sometimes and we kind of just tuck it away, right? We don't really do it. So,

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 when someone sends you, there's a certain level of action that's required.

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 So, they immediately took action. You know, they heard what was happening and they went.

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 But when God gives us direction and when God asks us to do things,

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 Spirit-led doesn't always mean that he's going to give us a full plan as to what we're doing,

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 but it also doesn't mean that there's no strategy behind that. You know, when God calls us to do

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 something, they put a strategy in place. They went to where they felt God was calling them.

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 They went to the synagogues and God didn't show, he didn't show Barnabas and Saul everything that

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 was waiting for them. We're going to get to that in a minute, some of the things that happened.

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 So, we shouldn't necessarily require that from God. If God is putting a calling in your heart

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 and you're waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting until you get a little bit more detail,

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 maybe God is saying, just go and take some action on whatever that is. So,

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 they were worshipping, they were hearing, and they were being sent. So, Acts 13,

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 6-8 says they traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish

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 sorcerer and a false prophet named Bar-Jesus who was an attendant to the proconsul, Sergius Paulus.

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 The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear

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 the word of God. But Elamis, that's the second name for Bar-Jesus, the sorcerer, for that is what

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 he opposed and tried to turn the proconsul from his fate. So, the proconsul was saying,

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 hey, I want to know more about this. And Bar-Jesus is saying, no. So, before we kind of

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 get into this opposition that we're going to talk about, I want to, again, look at these

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 characters that are here. You've heard me say many times when I come across something in

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 scripture that just seems weird. You've got to do some digging there because that's an arrow

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 directing you somewhere. So, when you think of this Bar-Jesus character who is a Jewish sorcerer,

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 something's not quite right there, right? Because this would be a clear, clear breach of Torah.

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 Torah clearly says that paganism is a no-no. So, Bar-Jesus was acting in paganism,

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 so it kind of makes it an oxymoron to say he was a Jewish saucer, right? So, this is something

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 that's explicitly prohibited in Torah. Deuteronomy 18 10 through 12 says, let no one be found among

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 you who practices divination or sorcery. So, clearly, he was not acting or moving in God's way or even

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 kind of walking in his Jewish heritage. I mean, his Jewish past, he was just kind of clearly opposing

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 what God was doing in here. So, the second question I would ask myself is, well,

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 who would listen to a Jewish sorcerer? How and why? Why is this guy taking him in as such a confident

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 confidant? And there are many, many people in this world today that masquerade or call themselves

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 believers, and they walk in complete contradiction of what Scripture says. We know that. It's all

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 around us, but yet there are people that kind of bring them in and believe what they're saying

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 in a spiritual way. So, the occult is everywhere. People like to bring their own self-definition

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 of what God is and put it above what Scripture says. People celebrate what Scripture says

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 is sin or blasphemy before God, and these people get put in places of power. So, when I ask the

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 question, how or why would somebody be listening to this guy? Well, I've just answered my own

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 question. It happens all around us, and it's still happening today. So, who is the second guy here?

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 Lucius Sergius Paulus. So, he was a high-ranking Roman aristocrat who served as the proconsul

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 or the governor of Cyprus during the reign of Emperor Claudius. So, it would be in the mid-40s

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 there. So, what makes this guy, to me, a really, really interesting, fascinating character is

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 historians and biblical scholars have pointed to this for centuries that Luke's account is wrong.

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 It's just historically wrong. They would say that Cyprus was originally governed by a low-level

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 official. So, it wasn't really this... in other words, it would not have had a governor.

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 And now we know, and I love this. I don't need evidence.

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 When someone says, show me evidence, you know, if Jesus... if Jesus was really who he was,

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 we wouldn't even have left some evidence. And that might come back to that as always, well,

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 we need faith for if we have evidence. But I love when evidence comes into play, because it's just

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 kind of... it makes you feel good. See, the Scripture was right here. So, archaeology has now

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 unturned, overturned Roman records, like legitimate Roman records that have proven that under Augustus

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 Caesar, he changed Cyprus into a senatorial province. So, what Luke wrote was exactly now

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 historically correct and aligns with Scripture, right? So, not that we need that, but it's kind

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 of fun to see, isn't it? So, through both biblical narrative and concrete archaeological evidence,

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 we see now this guy was an important guy, all right? Lucius Sergius Pauls was an important

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 guy. So, let's pause here for a minute and talk about... obviously, he was important to the

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 reasons. So, Acts 9.15 says, the Lord gives Ananias a direct prophecy about Paul's life mission.

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 Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine, God is saying, to bear my name before the Gentiles and

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 kings and sons of Israel. So, in this particular exact situation, Paul is fulfilling prophecy in

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 his life, or God is fulfilling prophecy through Paul's life that was spoken over him. They're

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 saying that Paul is going to be the guy not only to bring the word to the Gentiles, but he's going

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 to speak before kings. He's going to speak before high, influential people, and this is being

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 fulfilled. He was one of them. Think back to in the original leadership of Antioch,

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 there was other high-level, influential people there. So, Paul is like saying, okay, this is

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 kind of my thing here that God has called me to. Plus, we know that through Scripture,

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 Paul was eager to get to Rome. Paul didn't look at those in authority and those kind of high up and

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 those as influential as more important, and we shouldn't either. But the reality is,

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 some of these people, when they become enlightened, when they have an encounter with Jesus,

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 they have the ability to influence so many more people. You think about guys like Russell Brand,

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 it's like, how many gazillion of people follow this guy? And this guy is just

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 proclaiming the gospel in a loud, loud way. He's transformed his podcast and all of his media.

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 He is proclaiming Jesus. He had an encounter with Jesus. He has had the ability to influence

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 others. Think about others in Hollywood like Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt,

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 who are out there with their faith. So, again, we're not to hold them in higher esteem,

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 but God uses people like that in a powerful way to influence people, influence the kingdom

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 for him. And Paul was a part of this. And God was breaking through. When you think about all of

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 these, he's breaking through today when we look at people of influence that he is reaching. But

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 Cornelius, the centurion, this is a guy who was in charge of thousands, thousands of people.

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 You think of the Philippian jailer in Acts 16. You think about Capernaum's centurion in Matthew 8.

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 God was impacting this. And think about all of those Roman officials that literally witnessed

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 the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. So God was doing a movement among these people,

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 and Paul was just being obedient. Acts 27, 23, 24 says, last night an angel of God,

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 to whom I belong and whom I serve, stood beside me and said, do not be afraid, Paul.

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 You must stand trial before Caesar. And God has graciously given you the lives of all

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 those who sailed. This is when he was in an accident. So, you know, this idea of this

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 pathway to breakthrough, you know, we've got worship and fasting, we've got the hearing,

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 we've got the sending, and now we've got this opposition that's happening right in front of them.

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 So they're kind of, you know, cruising through here, you know,

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 on the way to doing these great things for God, and all of a sudden, boom,

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 they're trying to reach this guy, and bar Jesus steps in and says, yeah,

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 I'm going to oppose this. So, opposition oftentimes appears where God is working.

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 If there's no opposition, sometimes you've got to scratch your head and ask yourself

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 if God is in it. Not that he's not. But more times than not, where God is moving,

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 and God is doing great things, there's going to be opposition. So, Sergius Paulus,

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 he wanted to hear the word of God. He wanted to hear the gospel. And as soon as he said that,

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 bar Jesus turned and said to the pro council, you know, he tried to turn him from faith,

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 so he did not want this happening. So the timing matters here is what's happening.

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 And the enemy almost always attempts to intervene where the kingdom is moving

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 forward towards breakthrough. And this pattern is something that's been all throughout.

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 Bible. You think of Moses, you know, when he was called to do what he was doing,

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 all the resistance that he had in Egypt and all of the resistance that he happened

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 out in the desert. I mean, it was just a thing. When you think of Nehemiah,

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 as he begins rebuilding, you know, opposition happened. When you think of David, when he

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 was anointed, opposition from Saul and others. You know, when you think of, you know,

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 John the Baptist, when you think of Jesus, when you think of the apostles,

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 everywhere where God is really moving forward, there is opposition.

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 So we don't want to just stop when we have opposition. We want to push through this

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 opposition to get to where God is calling us. So along the way, in this message,

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 and in this mission, in this calling, we're going to have opposition,

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 and we've got to break through it. So the finishing part of scripture here,

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 Acts 13, nine through 12, then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit,

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 looked straight at Laimas, who was part Jesus, and said,

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 you are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right.

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 You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery.

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 You will never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord.

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 Now, the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind for a time,

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 not even able to see the light of the sun.

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 Immediately, mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about seeking someone

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 to lead him by the hand. When the proconsul saw this, when Sergius Paulus saw this,

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 he saw what happened to him, and he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching of the Lord.

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 Amen. Praise God.

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 So Paul immediately puts the enemy in his place, and what do we have here now?

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 This pathway, worshiping, fasting, hearing the word of God, they're sent,

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 they come into opposition, and now there's breakthrough.

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 So Paul puts him in his place, and the other thing that just stuck out to me, he put him

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 in his place in a very familiar manner, and there is a level of irony here.

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 How he deals with bar Jesus is pretty much exactly how Jesus dealt with him.

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 There are some striking parallels here, not just the blindness, but there's some striking

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 parallels here from Acts 9, where Paul is converted to the bar Jesus story here.

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 So both of them oppose the gospel, right? So Paul tried to stop Christianity.

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 It was his mission to stop this movement. Bar Jesus tried to stop God moving forward

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 where he was. Both were confronted with divine authority that they could not deny.

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 They were both confronted with this authority. Jesus confronted Saul,

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 and he was filled with the Holy Spirit. Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, confronted bar Jesus.

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 Both were struck blind, so their physical blindness exposed what?

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 Their more deeper spiritual blindness.

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 Both had to be led by the hand, almost identical language that's used in each of these scriptures.

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 Now, in both, blindness was temporary, bar Jesus was blind for a time, leaving open to the possibility

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 that he saw the power being demonstrated here and received it. So there's just a level of

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 irony, and you just kind of maybe imagine Paul's kind of winking a nod as he's going through,

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 as he's going through. So let's think about some of this stuff. So

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 when God calls us forward into something, when he puts a calling on our lives, when he sets us

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 apart for something specific that he has, when resistance happens, it doesn't mean that we're

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 going the wrong way. Sometimes, this is a whole other teaching, but so often we program ourselves

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 to follow this open door, closed door philosophy, which really is not a strong biblical concept to

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 look at. So when resistance happens, it doesn't mean you're on the wrong road. And when we come

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 to a closed door, doesn't necessarily mean that this isn't where God is calling us to be. Resistance

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 can be just what we need. Opposition oftentimes centers around something that God is doing that

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 he wants us to participate in. When we respond to opposition, and this is a hard one for me,

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 when we respond to it, we have to do it through the spirit, not through emotion,

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 and not through our own physical abilities to do. We have to do it through God's presence and God's

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 spirit, and sometimes that's hard, because we can be in a moment. And we know when things happen,

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 in a moment. When we're caught up in what's happening, it can be very difficult to center

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 ourselves on what God has for us in that moment. God can turn obstacles into opportunities.

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 So when we have an obstacle in front of us, when we have that resistance that's in front of us,

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 God can turn that into an incredible opportunity for us. And sometimes the greatest

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 breakthrough isn't the change in the circumstances, but it's the changed lives.

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 It's what God is doing with his kingdom and his presence in others. So when we think about this

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 idea that breakthrough is on the other side, and it all starts with obedience.

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 Following what God has for us. Acts 13, for me, it reminded me, God's greatest moments

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 often begin, almost always begin quietly in worship, in prayer, and in fasting.

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 You guys can come on forward worship team.

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 The quiet moments before God is when these things are born. So like Barnabas and Saul did, they were

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 in prayer and they were worshiping. So they didn't know what waited for them in Cyprus. They didn't

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 know about Sergius Paul. They didn't know about Bar Jesus. They didn't know about any of this stuff.

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 They only knew that God had called them. And in their obedience, they went. So obedience

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 doesn't always mean becoming a missionary and going and doing what we like to think of as big

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 big things. Obedience can be making a phone call that God is calling you to do. It can mean

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 walking away from something that you're into or involved with, something that's important to you

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 that God has you something else significantly bigger. Obedience can mean stepping into

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 things that are incredibly uncomfortable for us. Things that make us,

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 things that get us kind of out of our element, so to speak.

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 Obedience can mean serving someone

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 that maybe nobody even notices. It can mean these smaller things.

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 I don't think, I don't think when Danny got that call last week, he was too terribly comfortable

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 with teaching on an hour and a half. I know I wouldn't have been. I probably would have

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 been fumbling through some old sermons and saying, hey, can I recycle this here for something? So

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 it means being available when God calls us.

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 The challenge here in Acts 13 for us is to stay close enough to God to be present with

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 Him, to be in His presence, that we can hear from Him. It's to be courageous enough

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 to go when He calls, even though we don't necessarily have all the details of things,

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 to be faithful and to be strong in God's Spirit when opposition and resistance happens for us,

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 and to trust Him enough to believe that beyond this resistance, beyond this opposition,

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 God's kingdom is breaking through.

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 Lord, we just thank you, Lord, for the opportunities that you put in front of us,

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 and we pray, Lord, that you give us a heart of obedience, Lord, that when we are in your presence

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 and we hear you and we're with you, God, that when you present these things to us, Lord,

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 that we're obedient enough to take action on them and go. Give us those ears to hear, Lord,

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 and give us courage, God, to face opposition when it's square in front of us, Lord. Help us not to have

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 a mantle of fear when these things come against us, Lord.

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 We know that your Spirit, your power, overcomes all fear, Lord, and help us to push through God

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 to that breakthrough in the kingdom that you have waiting there for us, whatever that may be.

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 We give you all the glory and the honor, Jesus,

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 and all the praise in Jesus' name. Amen.

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 Thanks for joining us at Lansdale Life Church as we praise God and discuss His word.

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 Don't forget to join us for Worship Live Sunday mornings at 10 a.m. Eastern on YouTube.

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 Be blessed and have a great day!