in this way. All right, let's take our Bibles then. We are looking at Acts 13 this morning. Let's have a word of prayer again, and let's look to the Lord. Our Heavenly Father, we open up the Scriptures here this morning. And as we do so, we come with heads bowed and hearts humble before thee that, Lord, we need thee, Lord, to instruct us and to teach us. We pray as we look at this portion that, Lord, you'd exercise our hearts and minds to benefit From the reading here, Lord, help us to be submissive to the will of God and help us to be sensitive to thy will. And so, Lord, this morning, we pray genuinely. Help us, Lord, to lift our eyes onto the fields that are white and ready to harvest, as Christ puts it. Lord, there are many souls across the world. There are billions of people. who need Christ. Lord, we rub shoulders with maybe a few, but Lord, it's a very small representation of the teeming billions who are dying without Christ and inhabiting hell forevermore. Lord, we pray you will strengthen the church at home, that we may strengthen our evangelism. across the world. So, Lord, for your glory, that there will be a multitude to praise thy name. Lord, bless our home denomination. And Lord, be with us here this morning. We pray, Lord, that in years to come, there will be from this congregation, the people who go to the mission field, who surrender their life. We pray, Lord, for a new generation to assemble in this building. A generation, Lord, who will see, Lord, not only need hear and learn, but the need across the world. Lord, may this be like Antioch that we're reading about this morning, a congregation sending forth missionaries and servants to go into all the world and preach the gospel. Lord, for that to happen, there needs to be the salvation of a new generation. We think of the children, Lord, who come in and out of this building over the past decade or so. Lord, many who have come and sat under the Word. Some have made professions of faith. Some, Lord, have made no profession. We pray, Lord, that yet the Word which has been sown in children's meetings, in Sunday school, in services here amongst our children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, we would see the Word of God not returning on to the void, but accomplishing that where to thou hast sent it. So, Lord, for us this morning, stir our our hearts, help us, Lord, to have a larger vision of the work of God as a whole. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen. Now, I want to read just those first three verses with you in Acts 13. Now, there were in the church that was at Antioch, certain prophets and teachers as Barnabas, Simeon, Lucas, Manin. And Saul, verse 2, And they ministered to the LORD, and fasted. The Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul from the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. Acts 13 opens up a whole new section in the book of Acts. I know you don't see that when you read through it, but this is now a significant shift in what we've been doing so far. As we have read from chapter 1 right to chapter 12, the most of the events have been around Jerusalem and people leaving Jerusalem, The saints that were from Jerusalem going here and there, we have been looking mainly at Peter and the apostles and the persecution there. However, Chapter 13 now opens up the missionary work of the early church, where missionaries are now commissioned to go and spread the gospel. The focus from here on in actually is on Paul. Right from now to the end, there will be other chapters where we go back to Jerusalem and so on, but the bulk now of our study It's focused upon the Apostle Paul. In fact, the bolt of the New Testament now involves this man, the Apostle Paul. Big shift, then, when we come to chapter 13. Look with me please at verse 1, and I want to clearly identify the location. Verse 1, now, there we're in the church that was at Antioch. Antioch is well north of Jerusalem. It is an outreach work. The saints from Jerusalem have already went there, and they've established a church there, but now, We're not thinking about Jerusalem. We're not thinking about Israel. We are thinking about a place called Antioch. Would you for one moment just go back, because I want to show you how this church in Antioch began. Just go back to chapter 11. A couple of weeks ago, we studied how this church began. I hope you can remember. If not, I'll try to jog your memory. Acts 11 and verse 19. Now, They which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen traveled as far as Phinehas, Cyprus, and Antioch. So here's how the church was established. There were saints who left Jerusalem. All right? Why did they leave Jerusalem? Well, here you have the spread of the gospel. What motivated them to leave was not their desire to see Antioch and people saved. They didn't leave because they were compelled to go and share the gospel at Antioch. No, they went to Antioch because they were chased away. They were persecuted. Do you see that in verse 19? They were driven out of Jerusalem. That was their motivation. God and his sovereignty drove them into Antioch to build the church there. Furthermore, look at their method, because verse 20 says, And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus. That was their method. They were focusing on presenting Christ. They wanted to get the people to put faith in Christ. And that was then their message, all right? Trust in the Lord. We're looking at the spread of the gospel, what motivated them, persecution, the method was preaching, and the message was Christ. Look at the success now of the gospel, because verse 21 says, Do you see that? God's hand was with them. Number believed and turned on to the Lord. I hope you've been thinking about that phrase, is the hand of God with you? Has the hand of God been with you since we read that verse, that passage a couple of weeks ago? Well, that's what happens. And then of course we have the supporters of the work because verse 22 tells us that Barnabas arrived and Barnabas went for Saul and Saul and Barnabas were in Antioch and they were preaching the gospel. And if you go to verse 26, Look at the very end of verse 26, where we read that the disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. So that's the beginning of the church, which we're looking at here this morning. So go back then to our text, which is Acts 13. And in Acts 13 verse 1, we are told now a little bit about this church that has obviously been flourishing, growing, and developing. Now, they were in the church that was Antioch, certain prophets and teachers. Now, let me just walk through that with you for a moment here. This church possessed mainly two roles, prophets and teachers. Now, what were prophets doing there? Why were there prophets? Okay, what was a prophet? A prophet, for example, in the Old Testament, think of the prophets in the Old Testament, the ones you'll know best, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Micah, Amos, Jonah, Various other prophets who were there. Noah was a prophet. Abraham was a prophet. David was a prophet. Maybe less viewed as prophets, but they were. But furthermore, You had the school of the prophets. 1 Samuel, and it's either 1 or 2 Kings, talks about the school of the prophets. So there was a college, and that college was teaching the prophets. And the prophets, essentially, were men who would reveal the word and the mind of God. Sometimes they received direct communication from God, such as Moses. God spoke to Moses directly. And Moses, as a prophet, would go and preach to them the truth. Prophets very often told the future with great accuracy, particularly the likes of Isaiah and Jeremiah. You think of their prophecies about the incarnation and so forth. So that's what prophets were. They were teachers. God was working through them. God was revealing truth to them, and they would teach the people. Now, why are there prophets in the New Testament church? Should we still have prophets today? If they were in Antioch, a Christian church, should we be expecting in our day and generation, as some people claim, that God has given them extra-biblical revelation? What that means is God is speaking to them through visions and dreams and revelations. Should that still be happening today? Well, it was happening here, wasn't it? What's the difference? Well, I can say to you with certainty and with confidence, no. If people are coming to you with extra biblical revelation, you should do one of two things. Number one, ask them to repent. Number two, show them the door. All right. Because the prophets here were still functioning because the Bible wasn't complete. The church at Antioch did not have the scriptures. Paul had been recently saved. He hadn't even begun his missionary journeys. So the New Testament was not yet written. For example, the gospel of John wasn't written because we have just read here about John who was the minister to Saul and to Barnabas. So the gospel wasn't there yet. The church is a long way to go before it's established. And so the Lord had prophets in that day. Just go back a couple of chapters again, chapter 11. We didn't get to look at this verse when we studied chapter 11, but let me just highlight it to you now. Acts 11, verse 27. And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem on to Antioch. That's why I'm saying the first 12 chapters are all about Jerusalem and the word spreading from Jerusalem. Now the word has spread to Antioch, we're looking at the word spread from Antioch. So verse 28, And there stood up one of them named Agabus. and signified by the Spirit that there should be a great dearth throughout all the world, which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar." So this prophet arrived at the service, he made this prophetical statement that there was going to be a dearth, And that dearth did come to pass. However, verse 29, here's how they responded. So when they were told this word of prophecy, verse 29 says, That's funding, grants, money. determined to send relief onto the brethren which dwelt in Judea, which also they did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul. And that's essentially what we do in the mission board. We're not prophesying the future, but what I mean is when we hear of droughts or sickness or whatever, we send humanitarian aid. to help brothers and sisters here, there, and yonder. And I would just even take the opportunity to encourage you, because this verse makes it very clear that there should be humanitarian aid coming from those who are able to give it to those who do not have it. So I would encourage you, give to things like the Mission Board, the Missionary Council, because that's what we're doing. We're supporting works across the world in their preaching of the truth, but also relieving those who have physical needs as well. Anyway, going back to our text this morning, which is Acts 13. Here you have the Antiochian church. They have prophets here, and they have teachers, and they are teaching the Word of God and prophesying. Now, I want to take some time just to look at who these prophets actually were. Look at who the prophets and teachers were in Antioch. The first one you know in verse 1. Now these were, sorry, now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers as Barnabas. So Barnabas you know. Barnabas was the encourager. Barnabas was the man who, we'll go back actually to chapter four and let me just remind you a few details about Barnabas. Barnabas is in Acts 4 and the verse 36, an exemplary man, Verse 36, and Joses, who by the apostles was named Barnabas. So that's his nickname, if you like. That's what they called him. His parents didn't call him that, but they called him Barnabas, which is being interpreted the son of consolation or an encourager. He was just called the encourager. A Levite and of the country of Cyprus. Cyprus, you know where Cyprus is. Verse 37, having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet. So here's a man. He is an encourager. He is a man who is practically surrendering what he could to the work of God. And there he was selling his property, his land, whatever it was. And of course, when Ananias and Sapphira, in the next chapter, when they saw that, they pretended to do the same. They were not like Barnabas, but they wanted to have the reputation of Barnabas. So they gave, apparently, what they had got from the seal of property, but of course it was a lion at the seat and so on. Anyway, go with me to chapter 11, Acts chapter 11. Try and stay with me as we look at these. I'm trying to give you context, trying to build up or put flesh on these words we find in verse 1. So Acts chapter 11, verse 22. So the Antiochian church has been developing, saints from Jerusalem have went there, and so the Presbytery decided to send their encourager. That was Barnabas, verse 22 of Acts 11. Then tidings of these things. That is how souls were conceived in Antioch. "...came on to the ears of the church, which was at Jerusalem, and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch." So that's why he's in Antioch. The presbytery sent them. We're told in the following verses then that he was the one exhorting them to go on with God, to cleave to the Lord. Verse 24 says that he was a good man. He was full of the Holy Ghost and of faith. Much people was added then to the Lord's work. He wasn't jealous when he came and found the work going on, not at all. He embraced it and got into it. He was involving himself. He was doing what he could to curry the work of God on. You know, some years ago, just as I read that, I read two books of a man called Ichabod Spencer. I've mentioned him to you before. Ichabod Spencer was a very godly man and remarkable, genuinely notable amongst men. And what was most notable was his counsel and his teaching of people, because perhaps there may be a service, he might be there, he might be the preacher, or whatever the case was. And after the service, there might be several people who would stay for counseling. Now, I don't mean one or two. I mean there were services where there was about a hundred people all standing in a line to be counseled by him. And people observed how he counseled. He was fit to counsel them all within about 10 seconds each. And what he did was this, he was asked, how do you do that? How do you counsel with such precision? Because the people who were counseled, every one of them, went out deeply broken, deeply moved. Now, granted he was a special man, but he said, well, here's what I do. I will ask them one question. And in that one question, I will detect what's wrong with them. I don't give them the cure. I never give them the cure. I simply endeavor to do what the Holy Ghost is doing. And what he meant by this was, what he meant by that was simply this. If someone was being convicted over a particular sin, let's say, well, I don't know, whatever sin you want to mention. They have come to God's fence and they say, listen, I've broken God's law and I'm doing whatever. He would never say, all right, let's have a wee prayer and we'll ask God for forgiveness. He never did that. He said, you're right, that is a sin. And that sin will take you to hell. And he showed them how that sin grieved God. And every time the person went away, the way he put it was like this, when the Holy Ghost has put a sword into someone of conviction, he would not be the one to pull the sword out. He would want to drive the sword down further, working with the Holy Ghost, not against the Holy Ghost. And there is such a thing, you know, when we see people, we think, okay, this person is showing like they want to get saved and we're quick to give them the cure. Then and when we ought to be quick to do the work of the Holy Ghost. If the Holy Ghost is convicting, you endeavor to drive that conviction home. If the Holy Ghost is bringing someone to Christ, you invite them to come. Be sensitive to what the Holy Ghost is doing. Anyway, back to our text here. I'm saying that, why am I saying that? It's because we're talking about Barnabas here, a man who was filled with the Holy Ghost, and because he was doing the work of the Holy Ghost, many people were brought to faith. Let's go back to our text then, Acts 13, please. Acts 13, thinking about this Antioch church and the prophets and the teachers that were there. The first one was Barnabas. The next one there is called Simeon. That was called Niger. So you can think on Nigeria. All right, I'm not saying he's from Nigeria, but that's how you pronounce the word, and it means black. And so you have a man here who was identified by his skin color, and that's there for us to show us the different ethnicity, the ethnic diversity that is found in this church. This man was from the area of Africa. Was it from the Nigeria area? We've no idea. Nigeria wouldn't exist then as a country. However, that seems to be what we're talking about here. The next man is called Lucas from Cyrene. Again, a man not from Jerusalem. So again, it's emphasized here how this church is different from what it was at Jerusalem. Not only had you these diverse ethnicities, look who else is here. A man called Manin. He was from the house of Herod. Herod, remember last week, was the man who had put to death James and who tried to put to death Peter and failed to do so. Now, there were many Herods. This man was brought up with Herod the Tetrarch. We find from the wording here, it suggests that he may or may not have been a blood relative, but he certainly was brought up in the house of Herod. What an unexpected church. What an unexpected gathering. They're not all from Jerusalem. They're not apostles. They're not even men who come from Christian backgrounds. But here you have a church built up of diverse individuals. Simeon, Lucius, Marim. I have to think of that third man particularly, brought up with Herod, the tetraarch. That's amazing. Brought up in a home that was thoroughly perverse, corrupt, debauched, vile and wicked. He was brought up in an awful, power-hungry, bloodthirsty, liberal, disgusting family whose sins were abundant. They did whatever they wanted to do and brought up their children the same. However, here's a man brought up in that very family, the sea of the rescued by the grace of God. I would compare him to Moses. Moses, okay, of the Jews, of course, but he was brought up in Pharaoh's house. However, God had his hand upon Moses. I want that to encourage you. Because in our day, we see an awful lot of children brought up in deep sin and deep wickedness. And then they go to, whether it's school, and they're going to hear things there that aren't Christian. And they watch TV all the filth of the day. They listen to music. They live in unsaved homes, never darken the door of a church. And you wonder how on earth could God ever rescue young people and children of the generation coming up? Let this man encourage you. This man's a leader in the church, yet was brought up with no gospel influence whatsoever. There's a very encouraging church here, a vast array of interesting individuals. And then the last one, of course, you know, look at the end of verse 1, the last name there is Saul, and that is Saul who we know as Paul. Now, that's something of the church in Antioch and the prophets and teachers, they were there. But look at their activity. Look with me at verse 2. What were they doing? As they ministered to the Lord. That's not resting free, isn't it? They're ministering to the Lord. The idea there of ministering, whether it's ministering to your neighbor, ministering to people, ministering to the Lord, it means you're giving of yourself. You're sacrificing something. You're exerting your own efforts for something or for someone else. There's a cost, a sacrifice. You're putting yourself last and whatever else first. And on this occasion, we are told they were ministering specifically to the Lord. Now, I think on this occasion, in all likelihoods, it's the context of prayer because we're told in that verse too, as they minister to the Lord and fasted, They're fasting. And what do you do with fasting? You fast and you pray. You fast and you pray. So fasting is the deliberate setting aside of everything possible, even your necessary food, so you can dedicate yourself to prayer. That's what fasting is, all right? That's important to understand. Sometimes, Fasting is said to put an edge on your prayer. You could be praying and praying and praying, and I've heard it said before, if you want to put an edge to your prayer, try fasting. I would deeply challenge that statement. I would challenge that. How can you possibly add an edge to your prayer? What do you do when you pray? You leave your burdens, desires before the Lord. And Christ is our mediator. So the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, takes our prayers and He adds them. He presents them within the Godhead. How do you think not eating will make that any more effective? So it's not that fasting is some kind of magical influence upon your prayer. I see fasting as simply setting everything to the side so that you can pray, so that you can pray. The emphasis is not on the fact that you're not eating. The emphasis is on the fact that you are praying. So for example, if you took, say, a week to fast, Well, it'll be good for your health in some way. Well, we're not awake right enough, but fasting is good for your health in different ways, and I understand that, I appreciate that. But the emphasis in the Bible here is you don't find people fasting only, they're fasting and praying. The emphasis is on the prayer, and the fasting indicates a time to set everything into sight, even your food, so you can focus on prayer. And that's what's happening here. As they minister to the Lord, I see that as being prayer. They fasted, all right? helpful statement there. Here's a church that is deeply hungry for the advancement of God's kingdom. So much so, they've laid their food to the side. And as they did so, the Holy Ghost spoke to them. See here now the communication from God. We've been thinking about the company that's gathered here in Antioch and who they were and what they were doing. Think now about the communication. And they ministered to the Lord and fasted and the Holy Ghost said, separate me, Barnabas and Saul, for the work we're onto I have called them." That is a really fascinating text when you come to the study of the Holy Ghost. Here were men earnestly seeking the Lord, and during that time of earnest intercession, the Holy Ghost said, I want two of your men to be missionaries. What's intriguing here is the language. It was the Holy Ghost speaking to them. And I want you to see, because sometimes you miss this, see the importance and the influence of the Spirit of God. Because it's the Spirit of God said that I have called them. I have called them. It is the Spirit of God who is observing the work of the church. God the Father has planned this. Christ as the overseer and the one who purchased it is working this out, but he does it through the Holy Ghost. And so the Holy Ghost said, I have called Saul and Barnabas. Just for a moment, let me show you the work of the Holy Ghost here in New Testament church. That's why we should be so fervent in praying the Holy Ghost would bless and advance and build the church. Look with me please, chapter 8 and the verse 29. We read here, then the Spirit said all to Philip, Go near and join thyself to this chariot. So here is the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch. And it was the Spirit of God was speaking to Philip and said, Philip, you go over there. It's the Spirit of God who guides as to who goes where and who does what. Look with me also in chapter 10 and the verse 19. While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee, arise, and so forth. So the Spirit of God instructed Peter to go on to the Gentiles. Look with me at chapter 15 and the verse 28. For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things. So the Holy Ghost is instructing the presbytery on the actual decisions they were making. So that's why a presbytery is looking to the Holy Ghost, doesn't want to grieve the Holy Ghost. Chapter 16, verse 6. Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia. Did you read that? They were forbidden. The Holy Ghost said, do not preach the word in Asia. Isn't that interesting? Well, that was a spiritual evening on that occasion for Paul. It's not that the Holy Ghost forbade the eternal ministry of God's Word in Asia. Far from it. However, there was a period when Paul wanted to go to Asia and God said no. I'm sure we're all aware of individuals and people, they want to go and share the gospel somewhere, and the door doesn't open. That was the case with Paul. Paul was a finite man. He made mistakes as well. He thought his mind would be good to go to Asia. The Holy Ghost said, no, it's not. I want to go somewhere else. So the Holy Ghost, I just want you to see right now, the Holy Ghost is leading, is directing the work. Now, really quickly, come back to Acts 13 here. And let's get to our final point and wrap this up. Acts 13, we have thought about the company gathered, the communication from God, looking at the commission to the work. Because verse 2, and I must admit, if I was in this Antiochian church, I think my heart would have sank. Because the Holy Ghost said, separate me Barnabas and Saul. Now, they were significant individuals. These were the kind of men you would want to have in your church and to stay in your church. These are the kind of men you would not have wanted to lose. However, the Holy Ghost said, separate them. And look at what happened in verse three. And when they had fasted and prayed, they laid their hands on them and sent them away." So what you have here is a little Paul and Barnabas, Paul, that tremendous Teacher of truth. There was not another teacher in the New Testament era, Sea of Christ, who taught like Paul. Nor was there an encourager like Barnabas, Sea of Christ himself. And they're losing those two men. Big blow to the church. But look at how they handled it. Verse 3, and when they had fasted and prayed. I'm showing you that again because that emphasizes What verse 2 is talking about when it says ministered and fasted, it's identified for us in verse 3 that they prayed and fasted. So that's what they did. They sought the Lord. They prayed for God's blessing upon this mission. They prayed for God's hand to be upon it to provide the need that that would leave in their church. But what I find most intriguing here is look at verse 3 at the very end. It says, they sent them away. Look at verse four. So they being sent forth by the Holy Ghost. Now you can't see it in English, but in Greek, the word sent is two complete different words. So in verse four, you have the Holy Ghost literally sending. He's giving the command, go. The Holy Ghost has sent them. So he's pushing them out. But in verse 3, the word sent is actually the word released. So our translators, could I put it that way, at the end of verse 3, they released them. You see, the church in Antioch didn't send them. They didn't want them to go. But they wouldn't refrain from God's will. And so they allowed them. to go. You see the difference? They were released by the church and sent by the Holy Ghost. Now, I was thinking about that this week, and we have men from our denomination, one of them I mentioned this morning, who is leaving our shores. You have the Reverend Patrick Beggar, who will be here on Wednesday evening. It's a loss to our church here in North Maryland. He leads a vacant church. Not only that, but he was the editor of The Vision, and he has done an excellent job. Whatever you've been reading in The Vision for the past few years, he's the man who has been organizing that. He didn't write it all, obviously, but he's asking various of our ministers for articles. We would submit them. He works through it all. He puts his own stuff in. So he's working very hard for us, but now he's leaving. And there's a void here. There's a gap. Now, we have a man to take up the vision magazine. We're looking for a man to fill his pulpit, but there's a loss there. Another man is Reverend Jonathan Crean. So the Reverend Jonathan Crean is the son of the Reverend David Crean. Reverend David Crean, no strange as pulpit. He's filled the pulpit in my absence on many occasions. Well, he's leaving to go into Asia for us. Paul in the Bible wasn't sent to Asia, but Reverend Jonathan Crean is. And again it's a big loss to our denomination at home. His church actually was in Donegal and that church will be vacant when he leaves and he worked very closely with me on the mission board. Very often Jonathan and I were working together on matters about the mission field. So it's a loss to us that he's leaving these shores. What do we do? Well, thinking about that as I look at verse 3 here, our duty is to release those whom God has called. But I want to go further than that this morning. We ought to be praying, and here's perhaps the burden of the message, that we would be like this Antioch church. that we would be a sending forth church, that we would be strong enough at home to send laborers all over the world. I want to highlight to you right across our denomination, we've had a strong missionary presence, and we do have several missionaries, but there are billions of people on earth, billions, and we have a few missionaries. but will not be able to send missionaries out until the home churches are strong enough to send them. numerically, financially, intellectually, all of that. There has to be a structure at home to send the missionaries forward. So in a very real way, for the mission field to flourish, there must be strength at home. But I'll go furthermore, that a church that has no interest and no desire in sending out missionaries and raising up workers, a church that forgets about that will be a church that will dwindle away and die. We need to be a church whose primary purpose is to see God's name praised. Psalm 67. Across the earth, in Lorne, in the UK, in the south of Ireland, in Africa, wherever you care to mention, that ought to always be our burden. We want to see people raised up to praise God. And to do that, there must be a thrust from us. pray, to wrestle, to fast and pray, to see God's will. I can't force anyone to do that, but that's our duty. How like the Antioch Church are we? This is a new church, a diverse church, a model church. We pray, and there's more that could be said, but we pray that we will be like the Antioch Church for the glory of God. Now, let's have a word of prayer together. And then we'll sing more hymn and of course after the singing.