This post is available on You Tube: https://youtu.be/BRAo34j9ljA

Acts 13:4-12 If you don’t haven’t read the passage yet, here’s a link: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2013%3A4-12&version=NIVUK

Ok bits and pieces to notice before we dig in to what God is pointing out to me this morning (and remember, this word of God is alive, so one day he will show you one thing and another day he will draw your attention to something entirely different in the same passage.  This is why we each need to read it ourselves and ask God what he wants to say to us.)

I like the way it says they were sent on their way by the Holy Spirit.  Wasn’t it the church that sent them? Yes, because the Holy Spirit made it clear that was what they should do! The church can be the voice of the spirit for us when the church is seriously seeking God. 

We hear John was with them. Most people agree this was John Mark, the guy who would later write the book of Mark.  Keep him in the back of your mind if you don’t already know his story.  He has some ups and downs in his storyline.  It’s encouraging to people like me who get it wrong about as often as I get it right.  God still uses people who screw up.  

Also, when they get to Cyprus they start by speaking in the synagogues.  Just because the word of God was spreading to the Gentiles doesn’t mean God dropped Israel.  He still loved them, still called them, still gave them every opportunity to come to him. 

So all of that is worth noting, but then we have this deeply uncomfortable situation with this guy from Paphos who was an attendant of a high ranking Roman governor. The governor started hearing about Barnabus and Paul and wanted to hear their message.  It sounds like he was becoming convinced of its truth. But this sorcerer was trying to keep the governor from believing their message, and well, Paul had words for him.  

This sorcerer, Elymas, had a lot of influence with the governor Sergius Paulus.  It seems he was a bit of a spiritual advisor, but he was twisting and perverting the message of the gospel for his own purposes.  Paul was having none of that.

He calls him out and Elymas is suddenly stricken temporarily blind. Sound familiar? Paul knew well that sometimes God uses physical blindness to help us notice our spiritual blindness.  

But let’s notice the intensity with which Paul goes after Elymas.  For sure, Paul was a passionate guy. But nothing gets him more worked up than when people of influence twist the word of God and do things that make it harder for others to find the truth.  He calls him a “child of the devil and enemy of everything that is right.” 

Tell us what you really think, Paul.

But honestly, it’s one thing for a person to make their own choice.  God offers us freedom to accept or reject him.  There are consequences to that decision.  Massive ones, but that’s our decision. But he is really not ok with a person who then tries to lead others to reject him.  

This is a warning for people who don’t believe in God and might want to convince others to do the same (some of the new atheist types come to mind).  But it’s also a warning to us who are believers, especially those of us who make a point of the fact that we are believers in front of the people we live and work among.  This is a warning to me.  I’m here, trying to get people to read their Bibles and get to know Jesus.  I’m talking about how much I love him and how he has changed my life.  People know that, on some level, I represent Jesus.  Y’all it’s a little scary because, yes I am proud of the gospel.  I am not ashamed to represent Jesus in my various spheres of influence, but I need to be SO careful not to MISrepresent Jesus.  Paul’s reaction to Elymas is a demonstration of how God feels about people who lead others away from, instead of towards, him. 

I need to be so very cautious about the way I live my life and I need to BEG God to help me because I can’t do it without divine intervention. Like actual divine intervention!