in Acts 13:1-12 God is advancing the Gospel message through His church at Antioch, through Paul and Barnabas.

2. Saul, who in Acts 13 is now called Paul, was set apart for missionary activity by the Holy Spirit. Paul was specially "set apart" (avfori,zw aphorizo) by God from his birth (Gal. 1:15); at his conversion to Christ (Rom. 1:1); and in Antioch for missionary service (Acts 13:2). The pattern for Paul's preaching was to go to the Jew first and then to the Gentile (Rom. 1:16; Acts 13:46; 17:2; 18:4, 19; 19:8).

3. The church responded to the leading of the Holy Spirit and together they both sent Paul and Barnabas out to do the Lord's work of sharing the Gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 13:3-4). The Holy Spirit works both in us and through us to accomplish His work in the world. It is a collaborative effort.

4. Sergius Paulus, the Roman proconsul, was positive to the Gospel message and wanted to hear what Paul had to say. However, Paul was opposed by Elymas the magician who tried to prevent Paul from speaking. Paul took an aggressive posture and spoke boldly against Elymas the magician and by divine authority made him blind for a short time. The sin of Elymas was that he got in the way of God's servant and Sergius Paulus who wanted to hear the Gospel and Elymas was punished for it. The last time we see temporary blindness in Acts was when Paul was made blind by God on the road to Damascus because he too was attacking God's servants, and he was humbled for his sin (Acts 9:8-9).

5. Spiritual opposition is a common feature whenever a Church is advancing with the Gospel message. Because we are in a spiritual battle, there are times when niceties must be set aside and boldness assumed. There is no place for soft rhetoric when dealing with enemies of the cross. It was by the guidance of God the Holy Spirit that Paul spoke as strongly as he did to Elymas the magician, and to find fault with Paul's words is to find fault with God (Acts 13:9-10). Luke records four encounters with the occult in the book of Acts, and strong language is used in the first two of those accounts (Acts 8:9-23; 13:6-11; 16:16-18; 19:13-17).

6. The Church at Antioch was willing to grow and change as the Holy Spirit guided them. They were willing to support others who were involved in ministry on an ongoing basis, such as Paul and Barnabas. The result was that they lost Paul and Barnabas from their church fellowship, but the Gospel went out and many people were saved. A healthy church should be willing to change and grow. It should support believers within and without with the resources for sharing the Gospel and helping others grow spiritually in their walk with the Lord. Today, face to face conversations, books, the internet, CDs, pamphlets, websites, and other means should be employed to share Christ when possible.