Paul and Barnabas go directly to Antioch in Pisidia (Acts 13:14-52). This is the first sermon by Paul that we know of, and it shows what is important to him.

Paul shows that through Jesus our lack has been overcome. The law does not cancel out our failing (sin) (Acts 13:38), but through reconciliation with God we receive forgiveness.

After a week of good dialogue and contact, jealousy arises. Paul and Barnabas are negated. Not for theological reasons, but out of pure envy.

Joseph’s brothers in the Old Testament were also envious and no longer had a kind word for him (Genesis 37:4, 11).

Paul quotes Isaiah 49:6 and announces that they will now turn to the gentiles (Acts 13:47).

Those who can rejoice in God despite opposition will be filled more and more with the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:52).

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Suddenly, the Holy Spirit (and not the church) called Saul and Barnabas to a new ministry. They went to the homeland of Barnabas in Cyprus.

In the Roman provincial capital, they were warmly welcomed by the governor Sergius Paulus. Cyprus thus became the first country in the world to be ruled by a Christian.

Elymas, the governor’s counsellor, shows how Satan wants to divert people from the path of faith. As a deceiver and enemy of all righteousness, he perverts the straight path of God (Acts 13:10). The movement of Jesus’ disciples was called “the way” at that time (Acts 9:2; 24:14).

Elymas earns what he is spreading: Darkness. Paul performs the first miracle. Now the name change takes place (verse 12). In resistance Saul becomes Paul – in resistance we are formed. Paul does not become proud, but small. Saul means the one who is prayed for. Paul means the little one.

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Peter visits the saints in Lydda (today Lod). The city lies on the road from Jaffa to Jerusalem. It has been an important transport hub since ancient times.

In Acts 9:32, the believers in Jesus are referred to as saints for the second time.

Hananias had previously referred to the believers in Jerusalem as such in the same chapter (Acts 9:13).

Whoever invites Jesus into their life, the Father and the Son come to them through the Holy Spirit (John 14:23). The person is thereby sanctified and, according to biblical usage, is a saint.

In 1 Corinthians 1:2, Paul writes: ‘To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours.’

According to Paul, anyone who prays to Jesus is a saint. Holy means destined for God or belonging to him.

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Saul was let over the city wall of Damascus in a basket. This allowed him to escape (Acts 9:25).

Verse 23 says ‘after many days’ they decided to kill Saul. Galatians 1:17 says that Saul was in Arabia and returned to Damascus.

Paul probably spent some time in Petra. For in 2 Corinthians 11:32-33, Paul writes that King Aretas had the city gates in Damascus guarded. King Aretas IV ruled over Nabataea from 9 BC to 40 AD.

It is most likely that Paul had spread the gospel in Arabia-Petrea, outside the Jewish-Roman power. The king wanted to arrest him, but Saul went back to Damascus, where he was known and recognised.

Jesus’ message causes offence. Saul now faces this himself.

He was not trusted in Jerusalem (Acts 9:26). Barnabas, the ‘son of consolation’, stands up for Saul. In Damascus, Saul argued with the Jews on the basis of the Holy Scriptures. He behaved differently with the Greek Jews in Jerusalem. They were used to philosophical thinking. Everything had to sound ‘logical’ to them. So it is said that Saul ‘argued’ with the Greek Jews. Philosophy has open back doors in the way of thinking and speaking and philosophising leads to no end.

But Greek and Hebrew Jews agree on one thing: this man could become a global danger. He must die. Saul has to flee again. He goes to Tarsus, his home town.

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Turning to Jesus is not the happy ending of a story, but the start of a new life as a learner of Jesus.

Saul is immediately ready to do what Jesus tells him. Hananias, on the other hand, someone who already knows Jesus as Lord, initially has a big ‘but’ (Acts 9:13).

Firstly, Saul needs the ministry to himself. The unknown Hananias allows to be sent and goes in the name of Jesus to the man everyone is afraid of.

Then Saul begins to witness that Jesus was not a failed prophet, but the Son of God (Acts 9:20 / a title for the Jewish Messiah cf. John 11:27) and the promised Saviour (Acts 9:22).

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Although baptised, the believers in Samaria have not yet received the Holy Spirit. Only through the prayer of the apostles from Jerusalem do they receive the Holy Spirit.

This is where something new begins: not only Jews believe in Jesus, but also half-Jews.

This could have been the reason why the Holy Spirit only came to the believers in a conscious step and through the apostles Peter and John. The laying on of hands by the apostles connects the Jesus movement in Samaria with the church in Jerusalem.

Paul describes the sign of the Holy Spirit as follows: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy and peace; patience, kindness and goodness; faithfulness, forbearance and self-control“ (Galatians 5:22-23).

The Holy Spirit also gives us a longing for God: “Lord, I long for you!” (Psalm 25:1).

He gives a childlike trust in God. Galatians 4:6: “But because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!”

And an inner certainty (Romans 8:16: “God’s Spirit himself gives us the inner certainty that we are God’s children.”)

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In Samaria, there is an influential and respected man named Simon who uses magic powers. However, his motivation is not to serve the people, but to gain power and honour. Simon is enthusiastic about the power that emanates from Philip. That is why he is baptised with others (Acts  8).

Simon does not seem to have received the Holy Spirit. It is possible to believe with the head without the heart being touched by the Holy Spirit. A renewal of the heart is needed.

By Simon, it is clear that his thinking has not been renewed. He remains in his magical thinking. He wants to use God. He is jealous and wants to buy spiritual gifts with money. But Jesus teaches: ‘Freely you have received, freely give’ (Matthew 10:8). Simon is not interested in serving, but in earning.

When Peter uncovers his misbehaviour, Simon only wants to be spared the consequences of his transgression. Although he is baptised, he does not repent. Justin, the martyr (100-165 from Samaria), later reports that Simon separated from the church and founded his own movement.

Faith is more than intellectual acceptance. Faith means receiving the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit and being changed by him.

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The kingdom of God does not spread through planning and strategy, but through persecution (Acts 8:1-25).

Philip is one of the seven deacons (Acts 6:5) who were expelled from Jerusalem.

Philip comes to an important city in Samaria. It is possibly Sebaste, the capital of Samaria, or Sychar, the “religious capital” of the Samaritans on the eastern slope of Mount Ebal. Jesus was also received there a few years earlier (John 4:5-42). It is an area shunned by the Jews, where believers in Jesus find peace from their persecutors. Others probably go to relatives in Judea.

Instead of resigning and doubting God’s love, the exiles see their persecution as an opportunity to proclaim their faith.

Wherever they are, they live and proclaim their faith.

Jesus’ promise is fulfilled: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses (martyrs) in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

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