You may be seated. Alright, what we're going to do this evening is I'm going to invite you to turn once again back to Acts chapter 13. This morning obviously was, believe it or not, was an abbreviated version of the message, but given that we have missions conference coming this week, I think there is profit for us just to spend a little bit of time thinking about this passage and thinking about the church and what the church should be doing, and we touched upon that this morning, but I hope to be able to add just a little bit more to this for our time together this evening. I suppose, before I get into it, I do need to just put out this reminder. We now have all of the housing taken care of for missionaries, but the last I checked, Renata Reiner needed someone to take care of her Thursday meal and her Saturday meal, and then Saturday there was one other missionary, it may have been a single Guy Noah Haught, who needed someone who would be able to take care of his meal. And that could be in your home, that could be taking them out somewhere, whatever works for you is fine. But if you haven't and you're able, we encourage you to go by and sign up for that. And then also there is a sign-up sheet for Sunday. The church provides the main course, which I think is chicken and roast beef, if I remember correctly. But we ask you to bring side dishes, dishes to pass. So if you could sign up on that, that would be terrific. That way we can ensure that we have a variety and we have enough so that we can feed everybody that is going to be here, and especially the missionaries. We don't want them to go away hungry, right? So if you could go by and do that this evening, that would be a wonderful thing. All right, having said all that, we come back now to the book of Acts, chapter 13, the first three verses. And I'm gonna read those verses and then we will jump into the message from where we were this morning. Luke writes, now, there were in the church that was in Antioch certain prophets and teachers as Barnabas and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene and Manan, which had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. So this morning we began by thinking about what is the chief calling of the church? That's not a small question. That really is a very weighty question, isn't it? We should know the answer to that. I think we do, not just because of this morning's message, but it should be an answer that we have readily, on the tip of our tongue, always ready to give an answer, what is the chief calling of the church? What is the purpose of God for you and me as we live in this world? Now, there are a lot of components to that that we spend time on every week as we study the word of God, sanctification, et cetera. But it really boils down to, and we looked at 1 Corinthians 10, beginning in verse 23, it boils down to the overarching concept that everything we do is to the glory of God. And of course, that is that verse, whether we eat or drink or whatsoever we do, we do all to the glory of God. So that should be our chief motivation. We want to bring glory to God. And how do we do that? In the passage, he's talking about relationships, how we relate to those around us, and basically two thrusts. that we do not live for ourselves, we do not seek our own profit, that we are seeking the profit of those around us. And thus, we are willing by that passage to sacrifice our own liberty to gain the opportunity or not lose the opportunity to minister to our brothers and sisters in Christ, who may come from a background where they do not understand that they have the liberty that they have, and therefore their consciences, we could call them the weaker brother, the different phrases we could use, but the bottom line simply is they, in their conscience, do not feel they have the same liberty that we do. And we are willing to give up what we know we can do, Can I use an illustration here? I know that we can eat bacon. And what guy doesn't like bacon? I mean, let's just be honest about it, right? But at the end of the day, if I was with someone whose conscience was such that they did not think that I could eat bacon, then I should be willing to give up eating bacon to have an opportunity to witness to that person. to bring the gospel to that person. Now, you can say, well, how would that work? I'm using that simply as an illustration to say something that I know I have liberty to do, I should care enough for the other person to be willing to give up something so that I can have the opportunity, maintain the opportunity to minister to that person. And of course, two thrusts. One is ministering to a brother or sister in Christ. to edify them, to help build them up, to help them grow in Christ. And then, I think the primary thrust of the passage is to the unsaved. To be able to minister to unsaved men and women that they might be saved. And so, I do all to the glory of God, meaning that eating or drinking, I am going to eat and drink, not necessarily what God says is I'm able to eat and drink, bacon, But what I know in that circumstance and he talks about someone who says this meat was sacrificed to an idol in that passage and the idea is simply They come from a background where they would be offended because they cannot separate in their minds this meat is from an animal that was sacrificed to a false god. I used to worship that false god, and if I eat that meat, then I can't get away from the idea that somehow I'm still participating in worshiping the false god. That's that brother. I hesitate to call them weaker. I simply am saying they're growing in Christ and that's where they are and I should be willing to push that meat away and say I'm not going to eat that meat if it bothers you. Even though I know it's just meat. And this in a day when, frankly, they didn't have refrigeration like we have today. So where would you get the freshest cuts of meat? meat sacrifice to idols. Because if you go to the marketplace to buy any other meat, how long has that meat been there? And where was it? Prepared. You know, after you get all the flies off of it, then you can say, I guess it looks okay. But you knew if you got meat that came straight from the temple, this is fresh. This was from today. You understand what I'm trying to say? So the thrust of that is we do all to the glory of God. I am willing to not seek my own profit, but the profit of those around me. so that I might encourage fellow believers so that I might be able to minister to an unsaved person for Christ. And I touched on that this morning, but I thought it was worthy of just highlighting once again. So the challenge is simply this. We should have an active faith. Our faith is active, it's not passive. We are making choices every day in our interactions with other people. How can I minister to this person? That is an act of faith. How can I be a blessing to this person? An unsafe person? How can I work in the gospel of Christ? What is the best way? Some people you might be able to be forthright and just, you're a sinner. Some people you might need to spend some time just simply getting to know them, getting to know their circumstances, building a bridge of commonality so that you can get to them. Not everybody's the same, but it's having that mentality that says, I should be actively seeking for an opportunity to reach this person with the gospel. In the same way that I should be actively seeking, when I say I, not me as a pastor, but as believers, we all should be looking at our brothers and sisters in Christ and asking the simple question, how can I minister to this brother? How can I minister to this sister? How can I be a blessing to this person today? How can I encourage them? What do they need? They need a shoulder to cry on? Do they need somebody simply to pat them on the back and say, look, you are doing a good job? What is it that we need to do? How can I be a blessing to that person? There needs to be an active mentality. That's what I'm challenging for tonight and I tried to touch upon that this morning. So what is the chief calling of the church? Well, it's not only to care for its members. We are called to minister to one another. But in the context of missions conference, our chief calling is to reach the unsaved with the gospel. That is the commission that the Lord has given to us. It includes discipleship. We make disciples. So it includes that ministry to other believers in Christ and encouraging them and edifying them, building them up in the faith. That is a part of the Great Commission, but it begins with we take the gospel to the lost and we make disciples. Now God does the making, we understand that, but we are the instruments God chooses. And what a privilege you and I have that He uses us to share the gospel, to bring men and women to a knowledge of Himself. He could use rocks to do that, He could send angels to do that, He could write it in the clouds and the sky, but He chooses you and me. we have the privilege of being the vehicles through which the Spirit of God works. Someone has said, we are always in danger of slipping into a maintenance mentality in the church. I thought that was an interesting statement. His point was, we focus on maintaining our religious club and preserving our sacred traditions, and we forget that as the church, We are here to reach the lost. Someone put it this way, the Book of Acts is a constant indictment of mere maintenance Christianity. It's a constant goad and encouragement and stimulation to fan the flame of Advent. The Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost. Jesus Himself told us that, didn't He? And if He came to seek and to save the lost and we walk in His footsteps, then we too are seeking by His grace, with His help, Asking for boldness, asking for open doors, asking for the wisdom to know how to speak when we have a chance to speak, but that same sense of action should be a part of our spirit. Lord, how can I reach the people you bring across my path with the gospel of Christ? So, we cannot neglect our mutual calling to obey the Holy Spirit in promoting God's glory among the nations, by sending out workers called by God to preach the gospel. So we come to the book of Acts as we said this morning. Here we see a transition. Chapter 11, we see the church of Antioch. A major transition is now you have a church that is not simply Jewish in Jerusalem, but a church that is Jew and Gentile alike, together in one body, serving God together, regardless of their past cultural backgrounds. They are now brothers and sisters in Christ. And God builds a strong church there as a result of men having been sent out of Jerusalem because of persecution. The Spirit of God drives them out of Jerusalem. They probably would have stayed if not for God allowing those trials into their lives. It's a whole other message, but I hope you can connect the dots. In God's providence, He allowed the trials that drove them out and used them to plant a church in Antioch Paul and Barnabas take a gift to Jerusalem, a church that is suffering from famine, persecution, et cetera. They bring back John Mark, chapter 13, the next phase that we see no longer the acts of the apostles, but the acts of the apostle Paul. And so we see the story, and this is the way I like to think about verses 13 and beyond. Here's the story of a missionary church, the Church of Antioch. A church that willingly and purposefully, by the direction of God, separates a team to take the gospel purposefully to cities and towns and villages in Asia Minor, the first missionary journey, and then beyond that into Europe itself. A missionary team. God Himself, as I view this, He created the pattern when He had those men driven out, the diaspora we sometimes refer to it from Jerusalem to Antioch and other places. So he gave them the pattern. Here's some guys who traveled together and went to Antioch and they shared the gospel and people got saved. Now they are intentionally sending out a team that will do the same thing. This is the pattern. We see it provided for us right here in the Book of Acts. This is the pattern of missions that God has called the church. the church of today to be a part of. We should mirror this idea, this mission, this passion, this intentionality. So what do we note then? Well this morning we noted that God the Holy Spirit directs His church in the work of evangelism and missions. God gives direction. So the cause of world missions originates with God, not with men. We can only obey. Number two, so picking up from that, a call from God is essential. Now I just barely touched on this this morning, but I just wanna spend a little bit more time on this because I do think that this is important for us to understand, at least from my vantage point. This is not the first time that we think of a man like Barnabas being part of a missionary endeavor. Barnabas is from Jerusalem. The Church of Antioch was planted. Barnabas leaves the Church of Jerusalem and he goes to the Church of Antioch and he now joins himself to the Church of Antioch. We would say, strictly speaking, this is a missionary endeavor. He is going to help the Church of Antioch. I imagine, given the circumstances of their founding, they needed someone who had spent time with the apostles who could come and help ground them a little more deeply in the faith. That would make sense, wouldn't it? So God has brought Barnabas there. He has already been part of what we might consider a missionary endeavor. How about the Apostle Paul? I mentioned this morning that when the Lord sent Ananias to Saul, after opening Saul's eyes, that the Lord told Ananias in Acts chapter 9 that Saul is a chosen instrument to bear my name before the Gentiles, kings, the children of Israel. But later, and I didn't touch on this this morning, but later Paul, in chapter 22, is telling how when he first returned to Jerusalem, this was after his conversion, after he came to know Christ as his Savior, Saul goes back to Jerusalem, he's praying in the temple, he fell into a trance, and the Lord told him to get out of Jerusalem saying, I will send you far away to the Gentiles. So this idea of being part of a mission work, as we refer to it today, was not something foreign to Saul of Tarsus, whom we refer to as Paul, the Apostle Paul. At the very beginning of his walk with the Lord, he heard that this was God's purpose for his life. What I think is remarkable is he didn't immediately jump into it. He knew he needed preparation. He knew he needed to spend time. He knew he wasn't ready. He didn't know exactly when and how and where, but that was in God's hands. He knew God had called him. I'm confident of that. And here in chapter 13, all these many years later, we see his commission. He is commissioned now to actually go and do this. And here's the point. Missions should weigh heavily on the heart of every Christian because it is at the heart of what God has called us to do as a church. Missions is not just overseas. Missions is in the contiguous United States. Missions is in New York State. Missions is in the south in Florida. Missions is out west. Missions is everywhere. And the call that we have in Acts chapter 1 verse 8 is that we are to be witnesses We tarry until the Holy Ghost comes, that's what He told the disciples. But after the Holy Spirit came and you and I have the Holy Spirit, His presence indwells us and He empowers us. And after that, they were to be witnessed in Jerusalem, Judea, you know how that goes. So too, you and I echo that same call. So yes, we're called to be witnesses. We call that evangelism here in our local area. But by missions work, we should have a heart that is tender to sending out missionaries, supporting missionaries, praying for missionaries. We have a missionary of the week. Why do we have a missionary of the week? Well, because we're paying lip service to the idea that we have missionaries. Well, I hope it's not lip service. I hope that you take time and we try to publish their prayer letters. Maybe some of you these days, most of these folks send out their prayer letters electronically and you'll get them anyway if you signed up for them. But you can keep up with what's happening. You can pray for them with some level of knowledge about what they're facing, what they're wrestling with, what their needs are. We should have a heart that is tender because we are literally partnering with folks who have been sent out into the world. We may not be the sending church for every missionary, but we are partnering with their sending church. and partnering with those missionaries to accomplish what we see as the heart of the chief calling of the church. We all can't go, but we can partner with those who can. And it should be important for us to do that very thing. It is on God's heart. Someone put it this way, there are only three possibilities in life, speaking about Christians, there are only three possibilities. We are either goers or senders, or we're disobedient. I mean, there really is no other choice. Either we're going or we're sending or we're disobedient. I don't think we want to be disobedient, do we? So we all can't go, but we can help send. We can help support those missionaries, and we can help support God's work here in our Jerusalem, and we can help support God's work out there. And so I hope that that is something that we prayerfully consider. A call from God, however, is essential, and spiritual gifts that He provides are essential to those who are called. So this is part of what I wanted to touch on tonight because I think this is important. I believe that a man should not go into pastoral ministry, you could say mission work, unless he senses God's call to do so. Now what do I mean by that? I mean that it's not simply, hey, you know what, I think I'd like to be a pastor. I think I'd like to try mission work, just see how it works out. Here's what is most likely going to happen if you have that kind of view. When the battle gets intense, when the fire gets hot, you're going to find something else to do. And I can say that because I've been in ministry enough years that there have been those seasons when the fire really got hot. And if it was not for a real sense that this is God's call upon my life and I can do nothing else, then there have been seasons when I would gladly have done something else. But you need that call, and that's true for missionaries. because they're going to face times on the field. Read the prayer letters from the Smiths in Papua New Guinea. When you read the battles that they fought, when you read the troubles that they have, only a real sense of the call of God has kept them on the mission field and brought them through the heartaches. that they have wrestled with. It is necessary, otherwise we will grow discouraged and quit. Now I don't mean by this hearing a voice from heaven. Spurgeon defined a call like this, an intense and all-absorbing desire. In any case, it was a strong sense that I cannot be satisfied doing anything else with my life. When I was saved a short period of time, really. I had a growing sense, just to give my own testimony to this effect, I had that growing sense that God's call was upon my life to be a pastor. It isn't that I didn't have other options in life. It isn't that I didn't have other wishes of things that I had planned to do with my life. But it was that sense that this is what God's call upon my life was. And so I yielded to the Lord to say, if this is your will for my life, then I am willing to give my life to you. Martin Lloyd-Jones made this statement, and I thought this was interesting. I have always felt when someone has come to me and told me that he has been called to be a preacher that my main business is to put every conceivable obstacle that I can think of in his way." Now, I think you understand what he's saying there. He wanted to make sure that this young person who said he was called to ministry was indeed called from God and not simply having an emotional experience. We talked about feelings a little bit this morning, right? Sometimes, and I know, how can I say this without sounding too critical, but simply making what amounts to a critical statement. I have been in church services where preachers have appealed emotionally and some guys are really good at putting emotional appeals out on people and almost guilting people to come down the aisle and to give their lives for ministry. And there are manipulative techniques to do that. Maybe I go too far in the other direction because I don't really like to put pressure on you to make a choice because you should make a choice not because I put pressure on you but because you are responding to the Spirit of God who is working in your heart through the Word of God. That is a response that comes with real life change and not being mommy called, daddy called or the church twisted my arm. Now I say that to say this, my prayer is that God will raise up from our church young people who will first of all say, Lord, I am willing. So I can say this to parents. Are you willing as a parent to say, Father, if you so choose my child to be a missionary or to be in the ministry, then I would yield them to you. I'm not going to hold them back. I'm going to encourage them to love you and serve you even if it means that my grandkids are thousands of miles away one day. I know I have friends, pastor friends whose grandkids live far away. I have grandkids that live three hours away. That's the furthest they are. I have three grandkids that are right here. They live closer to the church than I do. I'm happy for that. But my prayer has to be, Lord, wherever you send my children, I pray they would simply have a tender heart. And that's my prayer for our young folks and for people of any age. Because God can call you to missionary work when you're in your 50s. or 60s. Can he do that? There are many examples where folks have yielded themselves and been used of God in their golden years. So the point is being willing. And I hope that we're willing, and if we're willing, then I believe that God is the one who then has to move on our heart and give us that sense, that all-absorbing desire as we find Spurgeon speaking of it. A calling from God is essential. Just to elaborate on this just a little bit further. I was bi-vocational in the ministry for many years. It was necessary, small church, southern West Virginia, out in the boonies. And so I had to work to put food on the table and a roof over our heads. And I thank God that we were able to do that. But there came a point when I had built and fostered relationships in the business world where I was being approached by other people in various businesses saying, hey, we would like to partner with you. Now that brings up a whole other slew of questions, of course, but the point was, I reached that point where I had to make a choice. If I choose to really embed myself in the business world, I can provide better for my wife and my children, and boy, their life could be a whole lot better. that I'll never be satisfied, because that's not God's call for my life. And so I had to make a choice, and I thank God for a wife, and of course the kids probably didn't have much choice, they had to go with mom and dad, as we went fully immersed in the ministry, because that was God's call, and I could do nothing else and be satisfied. And that's what I'm trying to say, that this call from God is essential. They were responding to God's call. The Holy Spirit said, separate unto me Saul and Barnabas. and they obeyed because that's all they could do. And then we know the rest of the story. And then number three, God the Holy Spirit directs in His work. So the Spirit had a distinct work in mind for Barnabas and Saul to do, namely to bear His name before the Gentiles, before kings, the children of Israel, Before they left Antioch, notice verse 3, and when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. This is what we consider the commissioning service. They were commissioned to go. What did the church do? They fasted and they prayed. And then they sent them out. They sought the Lord's direction. before they ever began. They didn't just, okay, this is what God wants, and let's get on a boat and go somewhere. Where do you start? How do you begin this work? Where do you go? They could go in a lot of directions from Antioch. And so they sought God's face. And verse four puts it this way. So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia, and from thence they sailed to Cyprus. So the first leg of the missionary journey, the very first missionary journey that we have in scripture, was from Antioch to Cyprus. I wish Brother Deterese was here so we could say, Cyprus! And he would smile and say, I told you it was an important place. But the reality is, it was an important place. That was the first leg, and then from there they went up into Asia Minor. But the point is, they were sent out by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the one who directs in his work. Thus the cause of world mission originates with God, a calling from God is essential, and the Holy Spirit directs. And then the next main point, the Holy Spirit's direction comes through our worship as we said this morning. And here's the point that I wanna make that I didn't hit strong enough this morning. It's so easy to get so busy in serving the Lord that we fail to take time to meet with the Lord in worship and prayer. Does that make sense? Does it make sense that we can get so busy serving that we neglect time alone with God? Can that happen? It does happen, doesn't it? Has it happened to you? Well, you know, I serve at the church. I do this, and I do this, and I do this, and my life is so busy, I don't have time to be with the Lord every day. I don't have time to read my Bible. I don't have time to pray. You know, I do pray. I pray three times a day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. That's multiple prayers, right? But here's what I'm driving at. Don't get so busy serving, because we could argue you're not really serving, you're just busy. Because service comes through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, and we experience the empowering of the Holy Spirit as we spend time alone with Him. So it is important to understand that this is part of what we're called to do. Under the direction of the Holy Spirit, we must be busy worshiping Him. And I am convinced that it is as we are busy doing that spending our personal time with God, worshiping God in spirit and in truth, gathering with God's people for the purpose of honoring God by seeking to worship Him and please Him. It is as we are doing that, not out of a sense of duty, not out of a sense of busyness, but out of a sense of love for our God, that in the course of doing that, Proverbs 3, he will direct your steps. He will send you in the direction that he will have you to go in. And you'll turn around one day and say, wow, I never thought I could do that. I mentioned, and this is an opportunity for me just to mention him one more time, I mentioned that the gentleman who replaced me as pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Gilbert, West Virginia, actually Horsepen, West Virginia, who, his name was Duane Klein, and we were distant cousins of some sort. That's another story for another day. But he, in our church, when I pastored there, was a gentleman who sat in the back pew. I couldn't get him to pray. He could barely get him to talk above, you know, because he was just so shy. And he wrestled with different theological issues. But God gave me the opportunity to work with Duane, to pray with Duane, to help Duane. But the day that my family and I left, he was still sitting in that back pew. Within just a short period of time, a matter of just a few short years, he was the pastor of that church, standing in the pulpit and preaching. If you had asked me, how could he ever do that, I would have said, not him. But isn't God wonderful? Because God could raise him up. I've often told people, I had to get out of the way. In that circumstance, I had to move on so that Dwayne could stand up. And he actually was the longest serving pastor in that church was Brother Dwayne, who passed away a couple of weeks ago. I praise God that he raised Dwayne up to do that. and that he had a heart that was yielded to God and willing to do something that was totally out of his comfort zone. And I say that simply to say this, if you spend time alone with God, and you spend time worshiping God, and if you truly seek the face of God, then you could be a Dwayne. Something that today you would say, I could never do that. You could very well be one down the road in a very short period of time. who could be doing that very thing and doing a work for God that you could only perhaps wish or dream that you would be able to do. So it is necessary. Now, I'm just gonna touch on these next two points very quickly and we'll be finished for the evening. So thinking about the church, thinking about their worship, They had, the leaders, these five men had to be busy about the work of teaching the church body to know God through the Word of God. They were teachers of the Word of God. The passage says that they had the gifts of prophet and teachers. Just a quick word on this. The description and function of New Testament prophets, we have to acknowledge this because There are those who want to ascribe something to New Testament prophets that I don't see in the Bible. There were New Testament prophets. Very clearly, they're mentioned here. The thought of today is, well, a New Testament prophet is someone that God would speak through, but they weren't always right. And so it's okay if we have people today who claim the office of prophet who are wrong more often than they're right, but they're still prophets and you still should listen to them. Well, I have a problem listening to somebody who's wrong more than they're right. I mean, I don't have a whole lot of confidence that what you're saying really is true if you have that kind. I know weathermen make a living doing that, all right? and weather ladies, I suppose, meteorologists, but that's not the way it works when we come to the Word of God. You can't have those same kind of, you know, well, there's a 70% chance that God wants you to do this. You're either right or you're wrong, and if you're wrong, the Old Testament standard still applies. What do we do to prophets in the Old Testament who were lying? You stone them to death. Now I'm not saying let's get stones and go and stone these people so don't misinterpret me. But I am saying don't give them the time of day. Here's what the Bible says in Ephesians 2.20. The church is built on the foundation of the prophets and apostles. Let me ask you a question. What's the first thing you do when you build a house? You put down a foundation. Well, let me ask you, you lay the foundation for your house and you start building the house and you start erecting the first floor of the house and then as you get ready for the second floor, do you lay another foundation? How can you lay another foundation? It's not another foundation if it's on top of the first floor. The foundation is what the house sits on. What is the foundation of the church? the apostles and the prophets. And here's what I'm driving at. There is a foundation that has been laid, the Bible tells us, that foundation is the ministry of specialized men in that first iteration of the church following the day of Pentecost, the apostles and the prophets. When they died away, so did the office of apostle, so did the office of prophet, why? Because we don't need people to build a foundation anymore, they built it. Now we need workers to come behind them and continue to build the church on the foundation that they laid. The foundation of a house has to be strong and it has to be built on something strong. What is the foundation of the church built upon? Christ. The rock. And so we have the solid rock and the foundation of the church built upon that, built upon Him, and then you and I are to come along and do the work of the church, the work that He's called us to do, obeying the commission He's given to us, hearing the calling and obeying the calling that He has provided, and we're building on that foundation. We no longer need prophets and there are no modern day apostles. You can put it by your name, that doesn't make it so. That just means you are audacious enough to claim something that nowhere else is seen in scripture. And historically, we know that when the apostles died away, there were no other men standing up claiming apostleship. It was a specialized office. and it no longer exists. But the foundation is sure, the foundation has been laid, and now what we do today, what preachers and pastors and teachers and what you and I do in our personal time with God is through our study of the Word of God, we are part of building the church. on that very foundation. So we are to explain and apply the Word of God to teachers. And then one other thing I want to share about an observation from this passage. How many men are mentioned here in these first three verses? Did you count? It's not a trick question. There are five. The first two we meet right away, Barnabas and Saul. We know Barnabas and Saul. We know they both came from strict Jewish backgrounds. But in addition to those two, we have a gentleman named Simeon who had the nickname of Niger. Niger means black. He probably was dark-skinned. Some think that he is Simon of Cyrene who carried Jesus' cross. We can't prove that. Could have been, but we don't know that. We'll find out in heaven, but it is very likely that he was dark-skinned. I think that's important to say, you know, in this first integrated church, integration of Jews and Gentiles, it was an integration of colors as well. Because that is the beauty and the genius of the church. Menaen is the Greek form of the Hebrew name, Menahem. It means comfort. And did you notice what we learn about Menaen? Verse 1 says, which had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch. Who was Herod the Tetrarch? We know him by another Herod name. This is Herod Antipas. What is significant about Herod Antipas? Well, he had a little thing going with John the Baptist, remember? Cutting off John the Baptist's head. That was the friend that Manahan grew up with, that Herod. That means he came from a privileged place. He came from a rich, high social position. And yet here he is as one of the leaders in the church of Antioch. That's the body of Christ. That is the work that God is doing. That He could take someone from a strict background like Saul of Tarsus, someone like Simeon who very well could have been dark-skinned, Manaan who grew up decidedly in the wrong place for us to consider there would be any sensitivity to the things of God. But at the end of the day, these men, the fifth one was Lucius from Cyrene in North Africa. He was, we consider, maybe one of the original evangelists who helped found the church. But the point is, here you have five different men And they're working together to accomplish the work of God. Different backgrounds, different social strata, different cultures. They're not all Jewish. Some were likely Gentiles, because it's a mixed church in that sense. But God brought them together, and in Christ, they are simply brothers. Isn't that the beauty of the church? It doesn't matter whether you have blue eyes or brown eyes. It doesn't matter whether you have dark hair, blonde hair, gray hair, or no hair. Because in Christ, we are brothers and sisters. In Christ, we are the redeemed of God. In Christ, we share a bond. that goes beyond the bloodlines that people so want to exalt in this world. We are the sons and daughters of God. That's the church. That's the beauty of the church. And together, we can yield to God's call. And we can accomplish His work. And He is the one, praise God, He is the one who does the work. And He does it through us. And so one day, though we may win crowns, what do we do with those crowns? What is the church, the four and 20 elders that we believe represent the church in the book of Revelation, what do they do with their crowns? They lay them at the feet of Jesus. Why? Because we acknowledge He is the one who is worthy. He is the one who did the work. I'm simply an old rusty screwdriver. that has seen better days, in the hand of the Master, He can take me and accomplish something great. Not because I'm great, but because the Master is great. That's true for every one of us, isn't it? In the body of Christ, we have a bond and we have a shared calling. And by the grace of God, might we do that. Not just because it's Missions Conference Week and you gotta have a Missions Conference message, right? But because this really should be our heartbeat, folks. Actively praying, God, help me to have a tender heart for the lost. And who knows? I told a couple of guys today. The baptistry water, did you notice this morning, did you kind of get a hint that it was cold? Peter can testify to that fact. He was the last one in and he reacted more than they all did. His voice went up higher. But I told a couple of guys today, I said, you know, I am praying that we have to use the baptistry so much that we can say to the deacons, we just need to get a hot water heater and dedicate it to the baptistry. Wouldn't that be great for future people getting baptized? It would, but what's even more important is not the hot water heater heating up the water, what's more important is that we see people coming to Christ. and we have to continue to use the baptistry. And how is that going to happen if we are obedient to do what He's called us to do? So may God bless us with a wonderful missions conference. As I said this morning, we're praying that we will be able to add at least a couple of missionaries They don't have to be here from this week. They could have been a missionary from the past that's been here. That's really up to the church, and we'll talk more about that between now and June when we vote on that budget. But be in prayer that the Lord will help us to be drawn to the missionaries that we need to partner with, that we have that comfort level of partnering with, so that we can increase the opportunity that we have as a church to get the gospel out to the world around us. May God help us to do that. Let's close in prayer. Father, I thank you for the opportunity that we've had to be here this evening, the opportunity to be in your Word, the opportunity to think about this idea of missions. Lord, you sent these men out And they made a difference. They, in many ways, we could say that the result of these first missionary journeys and all that followed after that changed an empire and changed the world. And Lord, I think every one of us here tonight, we are of European descent. And so our forefathers were impacted ultimately through the ministry of these men sent out from the Church of Antioch. Lord, we pray that you would allow us to make a difference in the world in which we live, in the day in which we live. Father, it isn't how big we are, it is our tenderness and our willingness to obediently seek to fulfill the commission you've given to us. Help us, Lord, with the missions conference that we might honor you through this and that you would help us to partner with more missionaries and help us to have a heart for right here in West Seneca and Western New York. Father, we would truly have a heart for unsaved men and women. looking for opportunities most may reject and most will. Father, how wonderful when you bring across our path and give us those divine appointments with a heart that the Spirit of God has already been working within and you give us the privilege of harvesting that fruit. We pray that you would help us to be harvesters in your vineyard for your glory. Thank you. Bless us through this week.