The Spirit leads the church as people of God faithfully serve and obey to the voice of the Spirit.

August 9, 2013 - Acts 13:1-12

    ^1 1-2 The congregation in Antioch was blessed with a number of prophet-preachers and teachers:

   Barnabas,
Simon, nicknamed Niger,
Lucius the Cyrenian,
Manaen, an advisor to the ruler Herod,
Saul.

   One day as they were worshiping God—they were also fasting as they waited for guidance—the Holy Spirit spoke: “Take Barnabas and Saul and commission them for the work I have called them to do.”

   ³ So they commissioned them. In that circle of intensity and obedience, of fasting and praying, they laid hands on their heads and sent them off.

   ^4-5 Sent off on their new assignment by the Holy Spirit, Barnabas and Saul went down to Seleucia and caught a ship for Cyprus. The first thing they did when they put in at Salamis was preach God’s Word in the Jewish meeting places. They had John along to help out as needed.

   ^6-7 They traveled the length of the island, and at Paphos came upon a Jewish wizard who had worked himself into the confidence of the governor, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man not easily taken in by charlatans. The wizard’s name was Bar-Jesus. He was as crooked as a corkscrew.

   ^7-11 The governor invited Barnabas and Saul in, wanting to hear God’s Word firsthand from them. But Dr. Know-It-All (that’s the wizard’s name in plain English) stirred up a ruckus, trying to divert the governor from becoming a believer. But Saul (or Paul), full of the Holy Spirit and looking him straight in the eye, said, “You bag of wind, you parody of a devil—why, you stay up nights inventing schemes to cheat people out of God. But now you’ve come up against God himself, and your game is up. You’re about to go blind—no sunlight for you for a good long stretch.” He was plunged immediately into a shadowy mist and stumbled around, begging people to take his hand and show him the way.

   ¹² When the governor saw what happened, he became a believer, full of enthusiasm over what they were saying about the Master.

The Holy Spirit could work powerfully when the people of God were obedient, actively seeking for the will of the Spirit through fasting and praying. The leaders of the church of Antioch were full of the Holy Spirit, and many of them were prophets and teachers. They ministered to the church according to the gifts of the Spirit, and they were also sensitive and obedient to the Spirit's leading. They sent Barnabas and Paul out to start the first church's mission to Cyprus. They only had one heart for God, i.e., Jesus' gospel message and name was to be exalted in Gentiles and Jews. 

The missionaries, Paul and Barnabas, were also full of the Holy Spirit. Paul proclaimed God's judgement on Bar-Jesus, who opposed against the gospel, and turned his eyes into blindness, just like Saul had experienced before from Jesus. Seekers were moved by the power of the Holy Spirit, and believed in what Paul and Barnabas had proclaimed. 

Dear Holy Spirit, You demand obedience from us first before we can become your instruments for bringing blessings to others. Strengthen our hands that we follow after you and faithfully serving people with prayer and faith. Your works can be manifested through our hands that only Jesus' Name, not ours, will be exalted in a way that is always beyond our imagination.