About this episode

We're back from summer break! In this episode, we open Acts 13 as the story of the early church turns from Peter to Paul. While the leaders of the church in Antioch are worshiping and fasting, the Holy Spirit speaks: "Appoint Barnabas and Saul for the special work to which I have called them." After more prayer and fasting, the church lays hands on the two men and sends them out, and Paul's first missionary journey begins.

We follow Barnabas, Saul, and John Mark to the island of Cyprus, where they preach in the Jewish synagogues first, from Salamis all the way to Paphos. There they meet Sergius Paulus, a Roman governor who wants to hear the word of God, and Bar-Jesus, a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet who tries to keep him from believing. Filled with the Holy Spirit, Saul, now called Paul for the first time, confronts the sorcerer, who is struck blind, and the governor believes.

Join us as we explore what it means to be sent by the Holy Spirit, why the gospel went to the Jews first, how fasting and prayer prepare us to hear from God, and the striking parallel between Paul's own blindness on the Damascus road and the blindness that falls on the man who led a governor into spiritual darkness.

← See all Book of Acts episodes in order