Acts 13, and so it is, I'm going through, I'm like, man, I understand this so much better because of our study in Ephesians. So it's always kind of neat to see where you are and when you are and how God ties all these things together. Acts 13. Pretty cool. We're not gonna get through this chapter. I have no delusions of grandeur to think that we will. because this contains a big old sermon in it that Paul gives, which is pretty epic, and so we don't want to give it the due that it has, but it's a key point. So we're ready for chapter 13, but I want to back up a little bit into chapter 12, just so we can keep our continuity, because Acts... continues on, you know, this is Anne, it's one thing after another. And so, at the end of chapter 12, we just talk about the angel who smites Herod and he poops out his intestines, you know, that's nice and gross, and the worms come and eat it, you know, so that makes Justin laugh, he's that way. But it's kind of a shameful thing because he's a shameful guy, you know, so God knows how to humble and bring things about. In verse 24 of chapter two it says, but the word of God grew and multiplied. An evil leader can be taken out. God can do it like that. Sometimes it's slow, sometimes it's sudden, sometimes it's over time. God works in all kinds of ways and it's all to his glory. So this one he takes him out. Room is then allowed in the world for the word of God to go out. For people to hear it. and many who are dead to awake. I was just reading this even now, just thinking, that's how the book of Revelation lays out. There's times where there's intense judgment that is going on, and then God calls things off for a little while, and there's a silence in the hand. They'll say you're in this space for a half an hour or something. Allowing people to be out of the midst of all the pressure that's been put on them and all the things that are going to have some time to think. I think God's given us a few minutes at least to think. I've been in contact with other pastors and other Christians and heard them say the same things. We've been given an opportunity where we're not just fighting for our life now, you know, that seems like the country has a chance of renewal to take a breath, for us to be able to Proclaim the gospel. What are we going to do with it? What are we going to do and not miss this opportunity for the opportunity for it to grow, you know? Many who are dead to the word Awake, and I think we even kind of see that trend in our world today that many were dead to those things or begin to be revived and not even just talking You know America things but that how God is moving and God is working, that evil's being exposed and things are being brought to light. And so I think in part of that, and when people's eyes awaken to it, the power of the gospel returns. We've lost some because we've sat on our haunches and we've done nothing. So now that, I guess God's on a roll. He's always on a roll, he's always on top. But we should be encouraged by that. We should have a boldness from that that we should claim and to go forth. And so as the word of God and as truth is given authority, let's take that authority and seize that authority and proclaim and preach the good news of the gospel. And so that's what happens. Verse 25, and Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, when they had fulfilled their ministry, and took with them John, whose surname was Mark. And so I wanna take a minute here, because this is gonna help us with the text coming up. And so, again, God's order's never out of order, and there's some subtle things that go on here I'm gonna point out to your attention, to just pay attention to this order right here, because it's gonna change. It's Barnabas, Saul, and then John Mark. Barnabas, we know, we've met him before, as we've gone chronologically through the book of Acts. He's the guy who sold his land on Cyprus and donated it to the disciples, which then sparks the idea for Ananias and Sapphira, said, we can do that, we can get some accolades too. That was the impetus of that. But it's his heart to do so. God puts it on his heart, he sells land that he has in a prosperous place. Cyprus is like a vacation island, it was kind of like the Mediterranean's Florida, it is to Indiana. And so he's like giving up profitable land to sell it to be able to support the church there. So he's there, chances are he's there at Pentecost, that he becomes a leader in the church. He speaks up for Saul when they're kind of questioning. We don't know. He comes up and testifies for him. So he's kind of been a big wheel in this. Saul we know, and we're gonna hear more about him tonight. Matter of fact, we'll see his name change. And so we've had his whole encounter. Matter of fact, a lot of it changes about him now. John Mark, we might not know as well. John Mark, in Colossians 4, it kind of talks about his relation with Barnabas. And then there's debate about that. It either says that Barnabas was his uncle, or Barnabas was his cousin. It depends on who you're reading, who's taking the Greek, and what they're saying it says. And so, he's either an uncle or a cousin. So either way, it's a pretty close relation. So they're related to one another. a relative. Look at Mark 14. Hold your spot here and act on the gospel of Mark. And I just bring up this weird portion to help it make some sense. Mark 14, we have a passage that a lot of people have questions about, and rightfully so, and it seems like it's only in the Gospel of Mark's account. Mark 14, verse 43, we'll just get a little run at it. It says, and immediately, this is when Jesus Christ is being arrested. And immediately, while he had spake, come with Judas, one of the 12, with him a great multitude with swords and staves from the chief priests and the scribes of the elders. And he that betrayed him had given them a token, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, same as he, take him, and lead him away safely. And as soon as he was come, he'd go a straight way to him, and he saith, Master, Master, and kissed him. And they laid their hands on him and took him. And one of them that stood by drew a sword and smote the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Are you come out? has against a thief with swords or with staves to take me? I was daily with you in the temple teaching and you took me not, but the scriptures must be fulfilled. and all they forsook him and fled. So this is a chaotic scene. They've come with their swords and staves. They're arresting Jesus because Judas has betrayed him. And so now Peter, we know it's Peter who takes the sword and he swipes and cuts off Malchus's ear. We know his name. Jesus reattaches it. And all the others, they see this crowd coming to arrest Jesus, so all the disciples flee. They all take off running. In that context, if everybody taking off running, verse 50, They all forsook him and fled, verse 51, and there followed him a certain young man having a linen cloth cast about his naked body, and the young man laid hold on him. So as they're running around and people are going, someone in the crowd of the mob that has gotten there has grabbed this young man and gotten a hold of his linen cloth, but this guy's not gonna be taken, so he snakes out of it, verse 52. And he left the linen cloth and he fled from them naked. I mean, this is how desperate he was to get away. He's like shedding off his garment and shoots out of there and runs away naked. And everybody's like, who is this? Why is this included in here? The Gospel of Mark is written by John Mark that we've just been introduced to here in the book of Acts. And many think John Mark is this young guy. He's like telling on himself. I was there that night. Yeah, I ran away. and I was desperate and they had a hold of me. But I was able to snake out and get away and I ran away naked. So they think it's him. We don't know for sure, but we summarize that's him because it's an embarrassing story that he kind of tells on himself. And I think it seems upright. So keeping that up front, we're back into Acts, and so you got Barnabas that we know, Saul that we know, and John Mark who's now introduced to it, who's a relative of some sort, either a cousin or a nephew, to Barnabas. And we know later that he writes the book of Mark, and so that's always good to keep in mind, too. John Mark has some rough days, but God uses him. And I think that's an encouragement to all of us. We can have some rough days. We can see like there's times where we're fleeting away and doing all we can do to get away, but then God turns around and uses us yet still, and so I think that's encouraging. So chapter 13, chapter 13 becomes a dividing point in the book of Acts. chapters 1-12 takes place in Jerusalem, Judea, and where the half-Jews are, the Samaritans. We've seen that Jesus kind of gave them that order in the beginning. You're going to go to Jerusalem, Judea, and the Samaritans, and then to the outermost parts of the earth. Chapter 13 through the end of the book, verse 28, which ultimately ends in Revelation chapter 4, is the outermost parts of the earth. And so the church begins in the book of Acts, the first 12 chapters are set in Jerusalem, 13 onward is everywhere else, is the church going and spreading across the world until we are raptured out in Revelation, but before Revelation 4, that was parts of the earth. And so it starts here, and it continues on, and it'll continue on until Christ comes to take it like the Ever-Ready Bunny. You know, it's a bunny. It's like the Ever-Ready Bunny. Remember that commercial? You put the batteries on him, and he keeps going, and going, and going. That's the church. It's going. It's spreading. It's not stopping. Some others divide it differently. They say chapters 1 through 12. is where Peter's the main character. This is the thing that shifts differently. And he kinda is, he's not like the central main character, but he's the one who comes up the most throughout all that. And then chapters 13 through 28 is where Paul is the main character, and that's true as well. So I think, why can't you have both? So it is both. It's where it's kinda shifted from Peter and shifting over to Paul as it goes out to the Gentiles. And so we're gonna notice that as a difference. They still have some interaction, but it's not as much. And so chapter 13, we're starting an adventure. that brings the gospel 1,994 years through time and 6,758 miles to get it to Trafalgar, Indiana, here and now. And so it started here in this little town of Antioch as it goes forth and it spreads, it gets all the way to here and now. And so the gospel's still going forth and is around the world today. All epic journeys begin with one step. And so that's where we are here in verse 13, or chapter 13, verse one, sorry. It says, now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers as Barnabas and Simon, who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manhem, which shall be brought up with Herod the Tetrarch and Saul. And so there's more in here than we think, but notice first that we're not in Jerusalem. The epicenter of the church, or the hub, has moved to Antioch, which is in Syria. It's kind of the way north part, kind of in the crook around the Mediterranean Sea. The church here, it starts out with at least five leaders that he tells us about. Three of them are prophets, experts tell me, and two of them are teachers, that there's an order in which they were written, which makes sense. And that through these five guys, we have, and then the church that is in Antioch, one thing has remained the same, we are one body, we are one Lord, we have one Lord, we have one faith, we have one baptism, we have one God and Father of all, and a common grace, which we just studied in Ephesians this last week. You know, those one things we all have in common, starts out there, that is still common with us today. These are our brothers and sisters. This is part of our family tree, which I think is pretty cool. Experts tell me that the first three are prophets. I forget their reasoning and all this stuff, but they look at all this stuff and they say, well, the first three and how they're listed are the prophets that tells us about. And the prophets we studied this week were gifts that were given to the church. And here, I think that these mean fourth tellers. They're proclaiming the gospel. They go forth to do it. And every once in a while, these guys might actually have a prophecy where they tell something in advance. The last two guys in the list are teachers. Barnabas we reviewed already he's rich they say the experts say by the way this is and by the way you take Barnabas throughout the scriptures he's taller he's a tallish kind of guy he kind of must be cut must be a good figure because they mistake him for a god several times oh you must be a god and they want to worship him He's bold in his faith and he's full of action. He's one who stand up and he's ready to stand up. He's a good, loyal, faithful guy. Barnabas is a good guy. He's one of the heavy hitters. If you were collecting baseball cards, you'd want a Barnabas. That was it. It's like, whoo, I got him. He's one of the heavy hitters. Simon. is one that you have to really kind of work with because Simon is listed in the Bible a lot and they're all different and yet they all have the same name. It's kind of like there's a lot of names that were just common during that time, they were popular names. It's like in my class, I think there was five Bryans. And it's like, Bryan who? That's why they all called us by our last name, Bo Butler. Just a lot of us, Bryan was a popular name apparently in the 1960s. And so, but John, you know, you got John the Baptist, you got John the Revelator, you got John Mark, you know, that's why Mark ends up going by Mark, because there's so many Johns. You know, I don't know how many Marys there are, you know, when you stand at the foot of the cross, I think there's at least three or four Marys that are there at one time. And there's lots of Simons, because there's Simon who's a disciple, or an apostle, but this isn't him, this is a different guy. Some argue that he's Simon the Cyrene. Simon the Cyrene is the guy that they pull out of the crowd when Jesus Christ is carrying his cross and he stumbles and falls. They're like, you! And he comes over and they make him carry the cross of Christ and takes him there. It seems like it's just a random guy that they grabbed. But it is an interesting point, and I think this know him, this is the guy. And it makes sense that here at the early church where Luke is doing the investigating and he's talking, and John Mark has already been associated with this group, and Matthew certainly did as well, the early church, they all know his name, and they even list his kids. He had the kid Rufus, and he had the kid Alexander. And so I think this guy went from obscurity into fame because he's the one who carries the cross of Christ, and what an impact must that be. I mean, that's one of my favorite songs in the 80s was Watch the Lamb. I don't know if anybody remembers that song, Ray Bolts, it's like... It's a shame the things that have happened to him, because that was a beautiful, wonderful song. I still enjoy it, you know. But it's like, as a singer, he has turned his back on the things about Christ, and in the right way. He still goes to church, but he thinks that he can be a homosexual and be happy and well done in the church, which is not true. And so I pray for Ray's conversion back to truth. But he wrote a beautiful song about Wasteland, about a guy who pulls and carries the cross. And the kids are confused, and daddy, daddy, what did we see here today? And he tells them, watch the lamb. It's a beautiful song if you've never heard it. It's a great message. It's a shame that Satan would attack the guy that way. But the interesting thing here is they list him, they don't list him as Simon the Cyrene, because they're telling us something else as well. Because I think he is Simon the Cyrene, that's my opinion though. But by telling him, calling him Simon the Niger, that's telling us that he's black, he's a black man. which is pretty cool when you stop and think about it. So the early church starts out diverse, and it seems like there's nothing about color that makes any difference to them. So it's like, you're right, and you're saved, and he has a position as a leader here early on. He's a leader, he's a prophet, he is a foreteller of the gospel. The next guy it lists is Lucius of Cyrene. Some argue that this is Luke, the writer of the gospel. Because they said Cyrene had a medical school and Luke is a doctor, so maybe this is him. But Lucius and Luke is not the same name, and I'm pretty sure Luke knows his own name, although we had someone run for president who said her name differently four or five different times. But different ways, but I think Luke and Lucius, you know, I think you generally say your own name right, you know. And so I don't think that's the case. Many argue that he's black as well, because he's also from Cyrene, and so, same as Simon, so that's possible. So you could have, out of this list of five, two of them could be black leaders, which is pretty cool. The next guy, I'm gonna say his name is Manhem, the way I try to look at the pronunciation, because I don't know how you say the E-A combo there, but Manhem is how I'm gonna say it. But look at the thing, it says, Manhem, which has been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch. What, what? He was brought up with Herod, that's the worm boy from the previous chapter. It literally interpreted, this thing that he was brought up with Herod the Tetrarch means he was the foster brother of Herod. So one of the leaders of the church was a foster child. And the story goes is that Herod the Great Before he starts out, this is the great, great, the Herod at first, the one who built the temple. His future was foretold by Asenian prophet. Asenes was another sect that we don't really have much interaction with them in the Bible. As in characters in the Bible, we have the Sadducees, the Pharisees, and the Asenes. The Asenes were more like monks. They were like a monastery that stayed off quiet. They are the ones who copied the scriptures that we find in the Dead Sea Scrolls. And so we know about them, they were there. But, they were monks, they didn't come out and engage a lot. But an Asenian monk, whose name was Manham, the same as this guy, he does a prophecy that Herod the Great is gonna rise to power. And so when he does rise to power, and things happen that this prophet told him, he wants to honor that prophet, so he takes his grandson, which is also named Manhattan after his grandpa. And he raises him in the family. And so he takes him as a honor, because this guy prophesied good things about me. Those things came true. I will take your grandson and I'll raise him with my sons and grandsons. And so he does. So that means he has the best education. He lives in the palaces, he does everything. And so he kind of gets adopted in a little bit like how Moses was in Pharaoh's house as well. Because he was associated, though, and he still had contact with his grandfather, man him here would have been hanging out with the Essenes a lot, and they think the Essenes had a lot of interaction with John the Baptist. And so, because it was this monk sect that was on the outskirts, John the Baptist traveled on the outskirts, chances are they heard him, and so he probably heard John the Baptist preach as long as others. Herod had gone to Antioch and had, adorned the city with a long colonnade. And so I don't know if some of the ruins of it are still left, but he had, Herod did a lot of architecture. So he builds these things. And so he was kind of known and famous in the town. So he, as Manhunt, as the great grandson here and part of the Herod family, probably had access and some little bit of fame locally of like, ooh, you know, his foster dad built this colonnade and so he's there in the city. And so he becomes a teacher in the church. So he becomes a believer and he's a teacher and all those there trust and love him and put him in that a place of responsibility, we only hear good things about him, which is pretty cool. Even from the highest office, hear this guy who's so proud of himself, you know, that gets eaten by worms there in the chapter four, because if I say, poops himself just in the last. And so, that his stepbrother, or his foster brother, becomes leader in the church, which is pretty cool. So God can save anybody from anywhere. And then we have a former Pharisee, named Saul, and him and Manheim are the teachers. He's not an apostle yet. He's a teacher in the church, probably because of his education, probably because he'd been trained under Gamaliel, probably because he understands the word like none of them do. And so like, yeah, this guy has risen to the top where now he is a teacher, gone from persecutor to now a teacher. So, verse two. And they ministered to the Lord and fasted. And the Holy Ghost said, separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work unto I have called them. Note the order again. He calls them out as Barnabas and Saul. Who is it that calls them? The Holy Spirit does, right? I wonder how. I don't know. Does the Holy Spirit say something? Is it an impression that comes on them? I'm not quite sure. But he calls them in the midst of it, right? These guys were doing their job. They become the leaders of this church. They're ministering. Ministering means to serve. They're serving their community. It means to aid others. They're aiding them in their faith. They're aiding them, chances are, financially as well, to like, hey, we can help you, we minister to you in that way. And so, that means, to minister to me is a public servant, you know, that they are serving publicly in the capacity through the church out in that way. It's in the midst of them being busy. It's never someone sitting on the side along, like, oh, all of a sudden I got called. It's someone who's already out there doing what they can do, serving God in the capacity he's given them that he calls them up to something else and moves them up again and again. So be faithful where you're serving. Continue being faithful, you never know when God might call you up and put it upon your heart. So however it is, it says they're serving and they're fasting, so they're praying, they're ministering, they're in the midst of the work, and it's clear that they all know, so it's not just like these two, like, hey, I got called, they're like, really? No, I think all five of them know, it's like, hey, separate me, these guys, and so the prophet, they pair a prophet and a teacher together. Barnabas was listed with the prophets, Saul's a teacher. Verse three, and when they had fasted and prayed, so they go back to what they're used to doing, so they take some time, but they break and deny their body, and they pray and ask the Lord, and they laid their hands on them, and they sent them their way, and so they surrounded them in fellowship, they continued their support by putting their hands on them, they prayed for them, they cared for them, and told them that they were gonna give them that prayer of support as they go forth. And so Saul and Paul start out on their first missionary journey. Chances are you've seen that in the back of your Bible, right? Paul's first missionary journey, Paul's second missionary journey. It's the part you look at when Brian's preaching on Sunday and you get bored with what I'm saying. And you turn to the maps in the back. You know, this is one of them you can see. And it maps it all out there. It's kind of neat to see how it goes around and how it tracks. And so verse four says, So they being sent forth by the Holy Ghost departed from Seleucia and from thence they sailed to Cyprus. And so they left Turkey, which is where that town was, and that's the coastal town as it goes, if you look at your little map on the back that you have marked. And then they go down to Cyprus, which is an island out in the Mediterranean Sea. Verse five, and when they were in Salamis, which is the first city that they come to, they preach the word of God in the synagogue of the Jews, and they had also John to their minister. And so John Mark is with them, he's gone with them as like a young apprentice. and this is important, that's why it keeps noting where he is. John Mark is a player throughout these things and it makes a big deal happens and so that's why these little hints are dropped for us. So they come to this first part of the island, their habit is going to be as they go around, They continue with the model that we've had laid out for us in the book of Acts to the Jew first and then to the Gentile. So they always go to the synagogue and they present to the synagogue first. The synagogue usually rejects them and then they go out and they preach to the Gentiles. And so they keep with the model that Christ gave them and they present it in that way. And so they go forth and we'll see that throughout the book of Acts as they do that. Verse six. And when they had gone through the isle of Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-Jesus. So when you're looking at your little map on the back, you see they've traveled from the west coast to the east coast. And so they've gone the whole length of this island. And the best that I could figure out by looking at it all, it looks like it's about a hundred mile trip. And so Luke is doing a pretty good job of condensing this down for us. He's not telling us every town that they preached at, but they preached all the way, and they go the whole length of this island, about 100 miles in length. The island might be a little bit longer, but they don't start out the very far right, because it has a little hook in it as it goes up. And they go out. And the people that say the Bible is boring have not read the Bible, right? They've not looked at this. I mean, how many people that would say it was boring because, you know, they say, I want to watch Game of Thrones, I want to see Lord of the Rings. We got a sorcerer right here. We have God of Word, Word of God going out, and the first thing he encounters is a sorcerer. He also tells us here, we got a little nod from Luke, it tells us through the Holy Spirit, he's a false prophet. And he has a name that kind of like strikes me bad, right? Bar Jesus. It's like, why are you slandering him already? But let's think if we can figure out what that means. And so we know enough Hebrew from reading our Bibles to know what his name means. And so what does Bar mean? So think of Simon Bar-Jonah. Son of, right, yeah, so he is son of Bar-Jonah. Yeshu, or Yeshua, and so he is Joshua, or Jesus, or Jesus, and so he's the son of Jesus, that's just telling us his name. And so, again, Jesus was a common name too, Joshua, because of Joshua, you know, so it gets handed down, like Judas was a very popular name as well, until Judas Iscariot, and then you don't name your kid Judas anymore after that. And so it's a Hebrew name, it tells us that he's Hebrew. It says he's a sorcerer. So what does a sorcerer mean? I mean, do we really mean like a sorcerer, sorcerer? Yeah, if you're thinking Merlin, you're thinking right, because that's what he is. If you're thinking, I don't know about you, but I like a good Arthurian tale. I like looking at King Arthur. I don't think I've probably read, I don't know, three or four books of King Arthur. I've looked at, I've watched all the movies, if it's a King Arthur movie. And they usually get, yeah, Merlin is a guy. Is he a good guy or a bad guy? I'm not quite sure. He's a magician, that's what a sorcerer means. It means he's a wise man, but not as in he has wisdom, but he has a wise man as a title. Think of the wise men who come to see Jesus at his birth that come from Medo-Persia, because that is a sect, that is a thing that was trained, that Daniel was a part of, that he had trained in that, so he's one of those guys. A sorcerer is someone who is a teacher, so he usually has a part where he is teaching, or he has a student. They're usually also considered priests, that they have some kind of office. They try to at least carry the air that they have some kind of religious something. They're usually physicians, because they always have some kind of potion, they're always doing something. They're trying to, I think of a Gandalf kind of a guy here as well. Astrologer, they look at the stars, they try to read something from there. They're called seers, that they can go into a trance or do something, tell you something. They're an interpreter of dreams. Again, that's where you get the tie in with Daniel going back to the wise men. They're called an auger, not something that drills a hole in the earth, but this was a Roman priest. that would try to tell you the will of the gods, and they did it by studying the sky. They would look at the sky, and they would read it. So if they saw a shooting star, and oh, this is an omen that tells you that, or if there's a certain way the stars were formed, because these astrologers do, they'll tell you, or if they would see a certain kind of thunder, or some kind of lightning, they would interpret that to tell you what your fortune was gonna be, or what was gonna happen, especially if a meteor, Birds flew, oh, there's a single bird, or there's a whole group of birds, and you just walk that way, and these birds went, they can make it say and tell you whatever, you know, it's like, they're making it up, I'm sure, but they're doing it there. And also a soothsayer, somebody who thinks they have insight of what's going on. So that's all wrapped up when you say sorcerer. A guy who's in all the dark arts, take it that way, this guy has studied all the dark arts. Like I said, it kind of ties back to Babylon, which they had been a collector of all that, which Daniel tries to steer them right and infuses good knowledge to them. When they see the star, they acknowledge and they're there. But there are kind of Daniel's contemporaries that gets drifted in this as well. So Luke tells us right out he's a false prophet. Most courts throughout history, we're talking any king court throughout Europe and everything else, always kept a Jew on staff because Jews, as Jewish people, probably going back to Daniel, they had the ability because Jews do things specifically, Jews with only consonants, they don't have vowels. We do that in our encryption today. First thing you do, take out all the vowels, then you bring it down to consonants, you know, because the vowels repeat themselves too much. and it'll give away your cipher. Jews know about codes, Jews know about ciphers, Jews know about, what's some of the stuff we look at, the acrostics and stuff that we see in the Psalms, all this secret writing that's part of what they have, they are cunning, God usually blesses them, they are smart, most lawyers are Jews, most doctors are Jews, most patents that are held in the U.S. Patent Office or most Pulitzer Prizes are owned and possessed by Jews because God has blessed them with intelligence that is there, so most people keep them on their court, even today, you know, and so we put them in high positions, you know, God has given them that, they still find themselves in those spots, and so these guys, this guy's doing that, he's putting him alongside the leader here, verse seven, try to get this in. And so he meets Simon, so he meets Bar-Jesus, verse seven, which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man who called for Barnabas and Saul and desired to hear the word of God. And so surges means an earth-born wonder. So this leader has a title equipped to him as an earth-born wonder. We think it's because he's like crazy smart. Because he tells us he's prudent, that means he's intelligent, he's wise, he's learned, he has understanding, he has some wisdom. And so they're like, he's an earth-born wonder. So he's curious, as an earth-born wonder, when you hear something new and something's coming along and who are these guys that sure upsets my local sorcerer here, I wanna hear what he has to say. So they call for Barnabas and Saul, verse eight. And Elmeas, the sorcerer, for so his name was interpretation, withstood them seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. So Elmeas is the wise man, that's what it means, the wise man, that's his Arabic name, or the Arabic version. So they think he's trying to kind of pass himself. Yes, he is Jewish, his name is Bar-Jesus, but he's also trying to pass himself off as an Arab, like he's got the wisdom of the desert as well or something. And so he kind of has both names that he is going by, you know, kind of that man of mystery, like a Rasputin. Who is this guy? You know, they're not quite sure who he was if you never looked into him. But he's a false prophet, so he tries to block the truth. Evil always hinders. It tries to stop, slow down, or repeat the truth. It tries to stand in the way. It tries to make it an obstacle. It tries to obscure it. It tries to hide it. You don't want to hear this. Go away and turn and don't look. Think of that for the next few months as we see things. As we watch things in our world because evil stands in the way of truth. You know, because truth exposes. Truth and progress, evil wants to try to hinder. It's satanic, it is evil. And so, in the book of Daniel, we saw spiritual warfare. When Daniel prays for an answer, and he sends the angel, but remember, the prince of Greece withholds Gabriel for a time until Michael come and engages in warfare and lets him get through. And then Gabriel says, I have to go back and fight him again, plus the next demon I'm gonna have to face, you know, the prince of Grecia, and I have to fight the prince of Persia. Yeah, I gotta fight all these guys, the prince of Persia and the prince of Grecia. So now Elmaus versus Barnabas and Saul. So now we have this demon-possessed guy who's going against these Holy Spirit-filled believers, Barnabas and Saul. So we're having a spiritual battle that takes forth. Verse nine, then Saul, who is also called Paul, this is the first time we get that cross-reference here, filled with the Holy Ghost set his eyes on him. And so that's when his name changes. His name is changing here. We'll look at that more just a little bit later. But he's full of the Holy Ghost, so now Paul, I'm gonna call him that from now on, is staring down Elmas, the demon-filled man. And I want you to notice how soft and how diplomatic Paul is. I want you to understand, and we should maybe copy how he does it, so verse 10. And Paul says, Oh fool of subtlety and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? And now behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him amidst in the darkness, and he went about seeking, seeking some to lead him by the hand. And so Paul is not very soft-spoken. He's not very diplomatic. He comes at him very, very hard. Is this the way we address sinners? Is this how we talk to them? Is this how Jesus talked to sinners? When Jesus talked to sinners, he did it with kindness and compassion, right? Well, that's not what this is. This isn't just a common sinner. This is someone in authority who's trying to hinder truth. That is different. That is way different than just your average sinner. You know, oh, we've caught this girl in adultery. He gives her kindness and compassion. This is someone who is trying to hinder truth. Yeah. Yep, it's direct. And then, and especially even like the teachers, you know, so you get the scribes and pharisees say, woe unto you hypocrites. He used a strong language. Woe unto you blind guides. Why did sepulchers, you fools, you blind, you serpent, vipers, the strongest language Jesus ever gave, he said to the demons as he commanded them away and to the religious leaders who were hindering and trying to block the truth. They were an enemy. They were an influencer of men. They were trying to skew the truth. Jesus had his harsh words for them. He did not mince around at all. It's like, no, it's better if you'd have a millstone tied around your neck and thrown to the deepest part of the sea. He called them out and he called it to it. So Paul is right. And Paul knows that. And Paul gets here and it fires up within him and he goes at him. Ephesians 4, we're gonna see when we get to that on Sunday mornings, the Bible tells us, be angry. It's all right to be angry. We should be upset about some things. Romans tells us to abhor evil. We are to be upset about evil. We are to abhor it and resist it. James tells us resist the devil, he will flee. We're to fight against it. As a church, it's what we're called to do as soldiers. We're not pacifists for pacifists' sake, but we are to go and resist these things. We don't seek war with men. We're trying to stop evil things, and so they do that. So verse 12, the genius, the boy wonder here is watching it, and verse 12 says, Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord. So he believes. And so we find this man's name, Sergius Polus, written in stones on that island in several places. There's even a coin that has his name on it there. This guy was a big deal on the island. He believed. He becomes a believer. Here we have it right here. And so William Ramsey, who was paid by the Atheist Society to go disprove the Bible because it was way too accurate in the Book of Acts, It says this man became a believer. Not only he became a believer, but he became a legacy of believer. His family became believers, and they influenced this island, which Sir William Ramsey becomes a believer as well. And so they become important Christians on the island, and this impacted them, and impacted the island, and impacted their leadership. And this man becomes famous for just being this good, intelligent leader, because he sees this, and he becomes a believer. His name is Paulus. And some say that might be why Paul started using that name, the first miracle that he does. He converts a man named Paul, Paulus. So this is Paul's first miracle, and things begin to shift, and we don't see things listed as Barnabas and Saul anymore, we see Saul and Barnabas, or Paul and Barnabas. He goes from being the second guy, the teacher, to being the leader, and he begins to do more miracles. And so, he calls down this first miracle, he calls blindness on him. That's what lost people are. The Bible tells us that they're blind. That's what they are spiritually, blind leaders of the blind, that they fall in the ditch. It's what Saul was. So maybe some of this, he sees this man in the place where he was. I didn't believe, and I was hindering, and I was in the way, and so out of a kindness he goes, be blind, because I was blind, and then I saw. We've seen that, right? I once was blind, but now I see. Because it's true in all of us, right? There was a time when we didn't believe. But all of a sudden, our scales fall off and we're able to see. So Paul, out of his kindness here, says, give him that. Give him blindness so that he might see. So some of it's compassion. Not only is it power, but it's compassion, to head down that same path. We have no record of our Jesus ever coming to faith. But we know his eyesight returns, because Paul even says here, in the kindness of this curse, let it be for a season. It's not forever. Saul has trouble with his eyes, we think, most of the time. Saul was his Hebrew name, and some think maybe, because he was a Roman citizen, maybe Paul was his Gentile name, his Roman name. Maybe that's why he uses it from this point forward as he goes forth on this missionary journey, and he's reaching out to us Gentiles, he uses his Gentile name, Paul, and not his Hebrew name, Saul. That might be, we know he liked that name, and we'll get that when he preaches his sermon, he makes some references to it. That'll be next week, or the week after next, next week we have a missionary. Because you know, when you start thinking about, oh, Paul's conversion, I remember, I know, I could tell you this story without even having to think about it, when Abraham's name gets changed, right, and how God influences, and you're no longer Abram, you're now Abraham, but I'm thinking back, it's like, when's the conversion story of Paul's name? It's subtle, it's slow right here, right? Yeah, if I'd ask you, you'd probably be like, oh, I can't remember that. But here's what happens. Does anybody know what Paul means? Little, small. I wouldn't have guessed that. But maybe that's why he took it. Because he's able, the persecutor of the church was able to perform a miracle and strike this man blind. And to hold himself accountable, he's like, don't call me small anymore, call me little. Call me small, that God would use a sinner such as I And anytime that God would continue to use him, he's like, I Paul, me little, me small. I think it's that. Because Paul's the one who says, I'm the chief of all sinners. I'm the least of all apostles. I'm the one that, you know, I shouldn't, you're all ahead of me. So he keeps himself small. He keeps himself little. So maybe it's all three. It's his first miracle that he does for a man named Paul. It's his Gentile name, and that he uses to lead among the Gentile, and maybe it keeps him humble by calling himself Paul, by calling himself small and little. It's probably all three. Verse 13 says, now when Paul, because this is what it calls him now, that's where the change was, it's very subtle, all of a sudden it takes over. His company loosed him from Paphos, and they came to Pergas, in Pamphylia, And John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem. And then verse 14 starts something different. But we need to make note of this, because John Mark leaves them. And not much is said here, but this becomes a big deal. Paul feels abandoned by John Mark. Barnabas is always gonna stick up for him, because he's a kid, you know, leave him alone. He's his cousin, or his nephew, or whatever it is. And so he's gonna point that out, that's gonna be a big deal. Luke inserts it here, like this is gonna be the rub that comes up later. But then we go into a sermon that Paul gives us that we'll dig into now. But a lot of interesting things that are buried in there. It's cool to see how it all starts, but I think the humility of Paul kind of strikes me. It's like I never really knew that. Also the strength that we have over darkness. The outrage we should have over evil. We should have a righteous indignation. God is. It's like, yes, God is loving, God is kind, but God is righteous and God is holy, and we should have that same kind of feeling. We get numbed by sin. It should still shock us. It should still appall us, and we should stand for righteousness, and I'm hoping that we take the crude and the rude that we're used to and we pull that back, and we get back to more like the 1950s or something like that, the golden age of America. Pray for something like that. Thanks for being here.