Nov. 06, 2022

At the beginning of Acts 13, the church in Antioch followed the Holy Spirit's leading and commissioned Saul and Barnabus to take the Gospel to the gentiles. Early in this first missionary journey, they visited the town of Pathos. Here they experienced strong opposition to their preaching by a false prophet and sorcerer, Bar-Jesus. Opposition to the Gospel is to be expected as Satan doesn't want to see those who are condemned and living in darkness set free in Christ! Bar-Jesus sought to keep the Gospel message from being shared, but Saul, "...filled with the Holy Spirit..."  confronted this evil head-on and the result of the Holy Spirit's work is miraculous!

Scripture tells us that - as believers in Jesus Christ - we have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit. But we see in this passage that Saul had not only received the Holy Spirit, but was filled with the holy Spirit. In the second half of this message, we go to scripture (Ephesians 5:18) to learn how each of us can be filled with the Holy Spirit, just like Saul.