Continuing in our mission's emphasis for this
month, we are going to be this morning in the
book of Acts chapter 13 specifically. If you
get a copy of the scriptures and you'd like to
follow along there in Acts 13, we'll be looking
at the beginning of the book. This was a book
that was written by Luke. the same author of
the Gospel of Luke. He was a physician. He was
a careful historian. He was a master in the Greek
language, which certainly helped as he wrote
this book. It had quite a following and was able
to reach many. He was the only Gentile author
of the Bible, interestingly enough. He was a
companion of Paul on many missionary journeys.
This book was written likely in the early 60s
AD. We end chapter 12 with slightly little context
so we understand how we got here to chapter 13.
As we end chapter 12 of the book of Acts, we
see two important events set the stage for this
next chapter of the book. First, King Herod,
who had persecuted the church, was struck down
by God for pride and opposition to the gospel.
His death signaled that earthly rulers who opposed
God would not stop his mission. Secondly, we
see the Word of God continues to spread and grow
despite persecution. Barnabas and Saul, we find
at the end of chapter 12, return from Jerusalem.
They bring John Mark with them. And these closing
verses of chapter 12 prepare us for a new chapter
in church history that we will unveil here in
chapter 13, which is the intentional launching
of missionary work to the Gentile world. This
book of Acts was written to show how the message
of Christ spread from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria
to the uttermost parts of the world. That's Acts
1 .8. It highlights the work of the Spirit, empowering
ordinary believers to take part in God's work.
In fact, we see the first half of Acts primarily
focusing on Peter, the church at Jerusalem, some
Gentile work through Peter and through Philip,
and then the second half of the book mainly focusing
upon Paul and his Gentile missionary journeys.
This is a real turning point here in Acts 13.
We see a few main points we want to look at this
morning, the role of the church as we see this
movement of the gospel, the immediate spiritual
battle, and then the power of the Holy Spirit.
So let's start in verse 1 here, the role of the
church, verse 1. The text says, Now in the church
that was at Antioch there were certain prophets
and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon, who was called
Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manan, who had been
brought up with Herod the Tetrarch, and... So
to study the Acts of the Apostles is to study
the continuing ministry of Jesus Christ. The
events recorded in the book of Acts here are
the ascended... works as Christ has ascended
the disciples here on earth, we see the gospel
begin to be proclaimed, transcending boundaries
and empires and kingships and moving to the other
ends of the earth by the time we get to the end
of the book. We find in this passage the act
of church planning and missionary efforts are
starting in and from the local church. Derek
Thomas would put it this way, the church was
never meant to be idle. The gospel is meant to
be spread to the ends of the earth. And while
the mission to Gentiles is not necessarily new,
you probably remember from earlier chapters in
the book of Acts, there had already been a breakthrough,
if you will, to the Gentiles occur. Philip and
his witness to the Ethiopian eunuch, and then
also Peter as he met with Cornelius there and
the Holy Spirit fell upon them. But the focus
of our text now shifts to the city of Antioch
squarely and off of Jerusalem. is what we see
a shift in the Acts narrative. And what is new
is that we see a local church, for the first
time, was led to see the need for a witness beyond
themselves to the larger world, and they commissioned
missionaries to carry out that task. This church,
Antioch, although not talked about quite as often,
had a very large influence on the expansion of
the gospel. We see the focus moved off of Peter
here and on to Saul and Barnabas and many missionary
workers who had come alongside Paul in his subsequent
journeys. Verse 2, As they ministered to the
Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, Now separate
to me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which
I have called them. Now, I believe this is an
extremely important verse, and it's very significant
that when we read verse 2, we find a church here
at Antioch that had already gathered. They were
already regularly gathering. They were already
worshiping the Lord, and they were already fasting.
This was a church that when they gathered, they
did not gather for entertainment. They did not
gather just for... church attendance. They gathered
to worship. It was intentional. They were fasting.
They were praying. They were seeking God's will.
And what we know about Barnabas and Saul is that
they were not random choices. They were not newcomers.
These were men who had already been doing work
in the ministry. In fact, at the end of chapter
12, we saw they had just returned from Jerusalem.
They were qualified. They were available to teach
and had been in the work for many years. We see
the entire church, most likely here in verse
2, the congregation of Antioch gathered for worship.
But there's a directive here that while they
were worshiping, the Holy Spirit directs this
community of believers to set apart Barnabas
and Saul. Well, we see a church who was worshiping,
they are open to the Lord's leading, and we see
the Spirit of God direct the community in this
way. We see throughout the entire book of Acts,
it is God who took the initiative in every new
development of the Christian witness. But Antioch
was not a random selection of a church to launch
these missionaries out of either. This was a
church who had prepared themselves for the Lord's
work. They were available and they were willing
to do their part. In the labor, they had fasted,
they had prayed, they were seeking divine leading,
and they were anxiously expecting to hear from
God Himself. And we must understand that this
time in the book of Acts, fasting and praying
were an integral part of worship. But this church,
they were deeply burdened about where they should
go, what they should do next in obedience to
the great commission of our Lord Jesus Christ.
They turned to God in prayer. And I love that.
They were burdened. They turned to the Lord in
prayer. And their need, their love for the lost
drove this church to prayer. And then in prayer
drove this church to missions. They had a vision.
They had a desire. Without vision and desire,
we will never see great advances in the cause
of the gospel without first seeing a church on
its knees in prayer before Almighty God asking
the Lord, what is His will? Show us what it is
and empower us, Lord, to do it. It will never
just happen randomly and on our own. We're not
just going to amble into it, but it is intentionally
seeking God's face and His will. Verse 3, Then
having fasted and prayed and laid hands on them,
they sent them away. So the Holy Spirit is impressed
upon them in verse 2 that Barnabas and Saul were
to be set apart for the work of what we would
call today missionary work. The congregation
here in verse 3 responds in faith by first praying
and then laying on of hands. The laying on of
hands is still practiced in the church today.
It is a symbol. Many churches will lay hands
on someone when they are ordained into the ministry,
when they are commissioned into full -time missionary
work. But what does that really mean? What is
the significance and the symbolism of the laying
on of hands? Because it's not something we do
often. There is no actual power in those hands
that conveys anything from one individual to
another, but it does represent the blessing of
God, and it's a rite that dates back to the earliest
times in the Christian community. The reason
for the laying on of hands here with Saul and
Barnabas is that they are about to begin what
we will later call their first missionary journey.
But this did not just happen by chance. This
was nine years after Saul had been converted
on the road to Damascus. As much as David was
prepared in the pasture against a lion and a
bear to eventually go to battle with Goliath,
the Lord had been preparing Saul these nine years
for the work that laid ahead. The church laid
their hands on them as a sign of consecration.
They separated these men out for the task that
the Holy Spirit had given them. They fasted in
accordance with the teachings. of Jesus, and
this fasting changed the course of human history.
From this point forward, Christianity would invade
the heart of the Roman Empire. It would invade
and transform the very capital that even amidst
persecution, it would invade the city of Rome
itself. This gesture of laying on of hands was
more than just a symbol of the congregation's
endorsing of Barnabas and Saul. They were separating
them for the task that the Holy Spirit had called
them to, and they had proven themselves faithful.
They were commissioning them into full -time
missionary work. Now we see a repeated theme
here in the first three verses of this text,
and it is how vital the local church is to missionaries.
not just to support them while they're already
on the field, while that is important, but we
see the first commissioned missionaries here
and that the church of Antioch had gathered to
pray. Why? Because they were burdened for the
loss. They'd already taken up love offerings
and sent that back to Jerusalem and to poor believers
and things like this, but now they're burdened
for the uttermost parts of the world, not just
those churches that were already established.
And they pray and they fast and they ask the
Lord. What he would have them do. And the Holy
Spirit responds by cutting out these two men,
Saul and Barnabas, to full -time missionary work.
That they would carry the gospel literally to
the utter ends of the known world at that time.
We see the faithfulness of this church. We see
their desire. We see their vision. And it imparts
to us that we might be a church here at Mamre
that has a vision. that we would have a desire
for missions, that we would be a praying church,
that we would be a church that looks for the
Holy Spirit to move. May we have our hearts prepared
in a condition that when the Holy Spirit moves
upon us in a certain way, we would respond and
we would react, that we would get behind people
that God has called into particular ministries,
into the mission field, and we would rally behind
them. And friends, may we be a church that is
sending and supporting. God, help us that we
not only get people to the mission field, but
that we then support them after they're there,
more so than just financial giving. Friends,
there are lost souls all over the world, and
I pray that that mission work starts right here
with us in Kitzhill, Ohio, at Mamre Baptist Church.
R .C. Sproul would say this, we can commission
people. But we have no power. We can license
and we can ordain and we can send people on sacred
tasks, but unless the Holy Spirit anoints them,
their labors will be in vain. Let's look at our
second section this morning, the immediate spiritual
battle. We see Saul and Barnabas here going out
in verses 4 -8. So being sent out by the Holy
Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and there
they sailed to Cyprus. And when they had arrived
in Salamis, they preached the word of God in
the synagogues of the Jews, and they had John
Mark as their assistant. Now they had been gone
through the island of Paphos. They found a certain
sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew whose name was
Bar -Jesus, who was with the proconsul, Sergius
Paulus, an intelligent man. And this man called
for Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the
word of God. But Elymas, the sorcerer, for so
his name is translated, withstood them, seeking
to turn the proconsul away from the faith. This
text starts out with some geographical details.
We'll break them down real quickly. Luke tells
us that it was the Holy Spirit that sent these
disciples, Saul and Barnabas, John, Mark, with
them to help on their mission first to Cyprus.
They traveled, they sailed specifically, if you
guys will go to the next slide, about 60 miles
to Cyprus from Seleucia. And when they get there,
they immediately begin to preach to the Jews
in the synagogue. This is a model that Paul would
follow through most of his future missionary
journeys also. He would give the gospel first
to the Jews, and then he would turn to the Gentiles.
But they quickly encounter a false prophet here,
a man whose Jewish name was Bar -Jesus. And he
seemed to hold a very important position. In
the local political structure, he was very close
to the proconsul there. That proconsul, a term
for someone who was an administrator over a Roman
senatorial province. This bar Jesus, we're told
in the text, associated himself with the ruler
of Cyprus. He was present when Sergius Paulus,
the proconsul, who was invited to hear the word
of God. and it had been proclaimed already on
the rather large island of Cyprus. Sometimes
we read about Paul's missionary journeys, and
we read these things like Saul and Barnabas go
to the island of Cyprus, and that doesn't really
resonate with us. We hear that as one place.
The island of Cyprus was quite large. It's almost
150 miles long. It's about 60 miles wide, and
there's about six major cities that would have
been there in the first century A .D. So it's
not like they just hit Cyprus and worked in one
place. They would work their way. through multiple
cities on the island of Cyprus and minister through
there. This Bar -Jesus, it is important. Luke
does describe him here in the Greek as someone
who was a charlatan, someone who was a trickster,
one who claimed false power. His name here written
in the original Greek is written in the derogative
connotation. The Romans, though, did value and
put great power and revere on one who had so
-called powers as Bar -Jesus. claimed to have.
So he had sort of found himself in a position
of political power. Bar -Jesus is a representation
of a common enemy that we see on foreign fields
with missions. They see someone as Saul who is
a potential threat and stood to oppose the teaching
of the Word of God truly at all costs, as we'll
see as we move through the text. Let's look at
our third section this morning. We see the power
and the authority of the Holy Spirit on display.
Let's read verses 9 and 10 together. Then Saul,
who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy
Spirit, looked intently at him and said, O fool
of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil,
you enemy of all righteousness, you will not
cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord.
Two immediate things to notice here in the text.
First, this is the first time in the book of
Acts that we see Saul now referred to as Paul.
Secondly, we see that he is not acting on human
emotion. He is not acting on feeling. He is filled
with the Holy Spirit, and that is so very important
with what he says and what he does. We find Paul
here trying to give the word of God to this Roman
senatorial administrator, Sergius Paulus. He's
interrupted over and over again by this false
prophet who is trying to do everything he could
to impede the presentation of the gospel to this
important political figure. He was trying to
prevent him from having a favorable response
to it. And while it is not uncommon on the mission
field or even on a mission trip to experience
spiritual warfare, it should be expected. Barnabas
and Saul were very new to this, but may I say
it is very dangerous business, as Bar Jesus would
soon find out, to attempt to prevent the going
forth of the gospel. This response that Paul
gives is very direct. It kind of surprises us
a little bit. Paul's letters through the New
Testament, we find someone that generally admonishes
believers to be gentle, kind, patient, long -suffering,
merciful, not always combative in that sense.
He mirrored our Lord who was humble, who was
meek, but... Those in a position of power when
they rose up against our Lord Jesus and began
to resist the truth of God, Jesus called them,
the Pharisees, the children of hell. Whitewashed
sepulchers with an outward veneer of holiness
but inwardly full of dead men's bones. It was
our Lord who tossed temple tables yet without
sin when the temple had been made into a den
of thieves for lucrative trade displaying a righteous
indignation. What Paul does here, he calls this
false prophet. or Jesus, the son of the devil,
acknowledging that he is in direct opposition
to God himself. Why was Paul so moved? Well,
certainly he was filled by the Spirit. But this
is an apostle who would spend much of his time
in jail. He would spend much of his time being...
beaten and finally executed because he loved
the lost so dearly, willing to go to the utter
ends of the earth to reach them. He cared about
their eternal destiny. And, church, I would pray
that we as a church would be awakened with that
kind of passion that we see here that marked
this first... missionary effort of the Apostle
Paul when confronted with those who were hindering
the gospel that would not step aside, that were
impeding it, going forth to those who desired
to hear it, Paul spoke straightly and said, you
child of the devil, get out of my way. Stop hindering
the gospel. To give the word of God is very serious
business, but to hinder it, to oppose it, to
oppose God himself, Paul minces no words. Look
at the action in verse 11 and 12. And now, indeed,
the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall
be blind, not seeing the sun for a time. And
immediately a dark mist fell upon him, and he
went around seeking someone to lead him by the
hand. And then the proconsul believed when he
had saw what had been done, being astonished
at the teaching of the Lord. Sometimes we see
in the book of Acts, The inevitable punishment
came swiftly, as it did for Ananias and Sapphira.
Paul's prediction was immediately fulfilled.
The irony here is that one, Bar -Jesus, who claimed
to have vision into the future and powers, is
now begging someone to lead him by the hand because
he can't even see in front of him to take a step
here on this earth. Just begging for someone,
he would be blinded for a limited time. the same
exact moment, we see this Roman senatorial administrator,
Sergius Paulus, having heard the Word of God
presented and seeing the work of God in front
of his face, we are told he was astonished at
the teaching of the Lord, that it was the Word
of God, not the act of blindness that moved him
to belief. God gave him ears to hear and gave
him eyes to see. The miracles were made possible
by the Spirit often providing an opening for
faith. As we look through the book of Acts, church
Christianity has nothing to do with the magic
and superstition of this world, but its power
and the power of the Word and the power of the
Spirit overcomes them all. And this theme will
return in Acts. Luke leaves us with a major result
of this first mission stop on the island of Cyprus,
the conversion of a prominent Roman official.
So now what? We're left with the question, what
is the church's role in missions? Well, the roles
are as a corporate body. They are as individuals
and they are as families within the body. In
fact, Acts 1 .8, the original sending here, but
you shall have power when the Holy Spirit has
come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me
in Jerusalem. and in Judea and Samaria and to
the end of the earth. If we look at the biblical
model from the book of Acts, missions starts
at home. It starts with us. It starts with our
own church. It starts in our own city. It starts
in our own county, region, state, and then to
the uttermost parts of the earth, the global
missions program. Church, we have many. in our
church who are part of global missions organizations.
We have some who are part of local mission organizations.
And we have people here that have efforts outside
going out of this church. And I'm thankful for
that. But we see here through the Scriptures
that God works through His people to accomplish
His purposes. We have to ask ourselves every
now and then when we look in the mirror, where
is my heart in this? And it's a humbling question
and thought sometimes. Am I really moving forward
in kingdom work? Or has it maybe slipped into
performance? Has it just become church attendance?
Has it just become checking boxes? Is it just
about writing a little memo line for Faith Promise
on my check and sort of checking that box each
month? Friends, we have to look at ourselves
and we have to ask the hard question, have I
fled to the cross as my only hope in life? And
death, because if we run to Christ, He alone
is our gateway to heaven and to everlasting life.
It is the Holy Spirit of God that motivates us
to do missional type work. We have no doubt seen
in this text the Lord's hand, but we also see
that there must be human involvement. It is our
God who takes great pleasure in working through
ordinary people. gifting them and enabling them
to be the vehicles and the conduit in which he
desires them to be extensions of the kingdom
of God. And you say, I don't know. I don't know
if that can be me. Friend, take heart. God uses
us in our frailness. He uses us in our brokenness.
He uses us in our weakness. And He uses us as
the broken vessels that we are to accomplish
His purposes. There are so many days where I
feel Eden in my bones and I say, God, I just
don't know. It's not on you, friend. It is through
the work of the Holy Spirit of God who will indwell
you and empower you and enable you to do works.
greater than you ever thought possible in His
name and for His ultimate glory. We see here
that the church at Antioch played an active role.
If you consider just for a moment the leaders
there at that church, they were listed in verse
1 of the text. You find a group of people here
who obeyed the Word of God. They heard the voice
of the Holy Spirit. They had no technology. They
had no cell phones. They had no internet. What
caused them to go to Cyprus and the surrounding
inland cities in addition to call the Holy Spirit
their own engagement, their own prayer, their
own fasting? The church at Antioch was keenly
involved in behind Saul and Barnabas from the
word go. The believers laid hands on them. They
commissioned them. They recognized and they authenticated
this call. of missionary work for Saul and Barnabas.
They were not engaging in just freelance, independent
work, going wherever their inclinations led them.
These men were delegates of God. And the church
of Antioch recognized that and laid their hands
on them. They approved of their work. And it
was through that local church that they were
commissioned. And it was to the church of Antioch
that they would then come back and give a report
later in Acts 14. And they would report all that
God had done. And they would say and would testify
how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.
And it was that local church that modeled for
us what it was to co -labor. with missionaries.
Once they sent them onto the field, it was not
just laying hands on them and praying for them
and hoping for the best, but it was a true co
-laboring while Saul and Barnabas out doing the
work. This was a church who was sending those
who were sent. And you find a church who was
not only praying for them, they were collecting
offering for them, sending support to them, giving
them supplies, writing letters to them, touching
base with them, sending helpers out to check
on them and take things and hear back from them.
It was an active co -laboring between the sending
church and that missionary together. But the
church played an active role. We see that Saul
and Barnabas and the church at Antioch were always
led and empowered by the Spirit. This was not
just something they thought would be a good idea.
But as they were led... They went by the Holy
Spirit many times on Paul's missionary journeys.
He would have a desire to go here, and the Spirit
of God would say, no, go over here. Friends,
in our church, we should be praying diligently
about who we are supporting as missionaries,
what levels of support that we are supporting
them at, praying for them not just in our corporate
gatherings, but in our homes, praying about missionaries
and for them with our children, giving them that
exposure at an early age. not be just a little
dot that we put on the memo line of our check
or just a little bit of cash that we put in the
faith promise collection once a month we should
speak of missionaries in our homes our churches
our sunday school classes our wednesday night
meetings often It should be on our minds. Each
home has the ability to pick a missionary family
or multiple missionaries that they can get really
excited about, that they can pray for, that they
can talk about, that they can email, that they
might even support individually, that they might
labor over to be truly involved in missions,
work, and outreach, that co -laboring that we've
seen in the text today. Church, at this point,
we are the senders of global missions, but we
are responsible for so much more than just sending
financial support. A church is to be involved.
Missions is to be a collaborative effort. The
number one fear that I hear from missionaries
and struggle that they have when they're on a
forum field is being forgotten. And that doesn't
mean they don't get a check every month, but
that's all they get. That's all they hear from
most churches is just financial support. They
don't feel the prayers. They don't feel the love.
They don't get the emails. And it's almost like
they're on an island and they're isolated and
short of financial support. They're almost on
it on their own when they don't feel that co
-laboring as it's intended to be here from the
Scriptures. We find here lastly as we start to
land the plane a little bit this morning, missions
and evangelism must be the heartbeat of the church.
Missionary endeavors are the responsibility of
the entire church. It's not meant for just a
select few who might be missions -minded or have
some kind of heart for missions. Derek Thomas
would say, not to have a heart for missions is
the same as not having a heart for Jesus Christ.
Now those are strong words, but Paul in Romans
10 would put it this way, How then shall they
call on Him in whom they have not believed? And
how shall they believe on Him in whom they have
not heard? And how shall they hear? without a
preacher, and how shall they preach unless they
have been sent? Missions are at the very heart
of God. It declares what brought the Savior into
the world and what drove Him to the cross. It
is the beating pulse of the Almighty for the
souls of men and women. For an individual to
be called towards missions reveals an indifference
of what lies at the center of God Himself. Church,
I would challenge us all to look introspectively
and ask some very serious questions about our
involvement in the work of missions through prayer,
financial support, writing emails of encouragement,
volunteering, going on short -term missions trips
like Jeremiah 38, or perhaps even some of you
here this morning considering long -term missions
involvement. Take this encouragement. Our world
is as needy as ever. Our Lord said 2 ,000 years
ago the fields were white and ready for harvest,
but the laborers were few. There are unreached
people groups all over the world, and certainly
while some are set apart to be global missionaries,
each and every one of us will leave these church
doors today. And each and every one of us has
an opportunity to make a lasting impact in the
spaces that we go on a daily basis. In our homes,
in our families, in our workspaces, there are
lost souls that need to see, hear, and feel the
love of Christ. Each and every one of us has
an opportunity each day. Friends, we have family
members, loved ones, workplace associates that
need to see the gospel lived out through my life
and your life each and every day. There are people
right here within earshot and stone's throw of
this church that need Christ. Friends, let us
pray together, labor together, that it starts
in Jerusalem and it starts right here with us
in Kitzhill, Ohio. May God burden us for all
of us to be involved at whatever level that is,
first in Kitzhill and then to the uttermost parts
of the world. You say, how? We can never accomplish
anything, friends, on our own. It must be through
God's strength and for His glory alone. To God
be the glory for His wonderful Word. Amen. Pastor,
would you come and lead us in the table this
morning?