Acts 13 Bible Study: Paul’s First Missionary Journey | Set Apart for Me

Acts 13 begins Paul’s first missionary journey as the Holy Spirit calls the church at Antioch to set apart Barnabas and Saul for the work of spreading the gospel.

But this Acts 13 Bible study is not only about missionaries leaving home. It is about a church learning to open its hands.

Throughout the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit moves first and the church struggles to catch up. Philip preaches in Samaria. The Ethiopian eunuch is baptized on a desert road. Peter enters the home of Cornelius and watches the Holy Spirit fall upon the Gentiles. But in Acts 13:1–12, something changes. For the first time, a local congregation hears the Spirit before the journey begins and willingly releases its own leaders into God’s mission.

“As they served the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’” — Acts 13:2

The church at Antioch was led by an extraordinary gathering of prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen, and Saul. Different histories, cultures, social positions, and personal stories had been gathered around one table by the grace of Jesus Christ.

Then the Holy Spirit asked that church to release two of its strongest teachers.

The church opened its hands—and the gospel left home.

Barnabas and Saul travel to Cyprus with John Mark and proclaim the Word of God in the synagogues. In Paphos, they encounter Sergius Paulus, a Roman proconsul who wants to hear the gospel, and Elymas the sorcerer, a false prophet determined to stand between a searching man and the truth.

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Saul confronts Elymas, and temporary blindness falls upon him. The scene deliberately echoes Saul’s own experience on the Damascus Road: darkness, helplessness, and the need for someone to lead him by the hand. Paul does not give Elymas death. He gives him darkness with an expiration date.

It is during this confrontation that Luke writes, “Saul, who was also called Paul.” The church released him, the road revealed him, and the mission to the Gentiles moved forward.

This Christian sermon and Bible study explores:

• Paul’s first missionary journey • Barnabas and Saul being set apart • The multicultural church at Antioch • The calling and sending of the Holy Spirit • Worship, fasting, prayer, and discernment • Elymas the sorcerer and Sergius Paulus • Saul becoming known as Paul • Barnabas as a mentor and apostolic leader • Christian calling, surrender, and mission • The difference between loving God’s gifts and trying to own them

Barnabas built a place large enough for Paul’s calling to grow beyond him. That is not Barnabas losing. That is Barnabas succeeding.

A faithful church does more than gather people. It releases them.

A faithful leader does more than build a ministry. A faithful leader builds a porch large enough for another person’s calling to outgrow the builder.

What are you holding so tightly that the Holy Spirit may be asking you to release?

What could God do with it if you opened your hands?

Join us for this verse-by-verse Acts 13 sermon about Paul, Barnabas, the church at Antioch, the first missionary journey, and the Holy Spirit’s continuing work through ordinary congregations willing to pray, listen, release, and go.

Throw the like in the offering plate, tithe your subscribe, and join us as we continue walking through the Book of Acts.

The Spirit is still speaking.

The gospel is still moving.

And grace can travel farther than anything fear could preserve by holding it.

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