Well, amen. Praise the Lord. Thank God for church. Thank God for church. I remember that night well. Had nothing. I don't want to disappoint you there, preacher. I had nothing on my heart till that moment, to be honest with you. We were praying for you all and just seeking to see what the Lord would have. for us all of us as a church of course and yeah I just remember just looking over the looking over the sanctuary there and saw you and your family and Lord just nudged me and said just just go just go ask that dear brother to give just give us your heart for Jesus share your heart with us for Jesus it's what he's been doing every day since we thank God for it and we bless the Lord for his goodness to us I'm a Appreciate Brother McBriar, thank you. Appreciate your wife, your family. I appreciate all that you shared with us. I too am going to take just a few moments. I appreciate you mentioning about being nervous. Something about preaching in your home church is just different. So I'm just going to take a couple of moments. I also appreciated your mention of how just a different tone of voice or a slightly different sounding letter in a different language can radically change what you're trying to express. Years ago, it wasn't long after we moved to Romania for those first nine years, we were out there, we hadn't actually started working in the prisons yet. At that point, there was a flood some miles down the road, and so a bunch of teens from the church and a group of us went down there to try and fix some fences, try and help some people clear up some mess in their homes, all the rest of it. So we did all of that, and I'd probably been there about six months. I had a grasp of a few words here and there, a little bit of market speak, how to order your vegetables and fruit and all that stuff. Well, the preacher said, would you come by, just be an encouragement, tell the church what all the teenagers did while they were there. I said, sure. He said, you need an interpreter. In my typical male pride, I said, no, I'm fine. Yep. One of those learning moments. Anyway, we got, I didn't share much. I don't even remember anything I shared that was of any worth. I guess there may have been something in there, but there's a Romanian, well, you know 2 Corinthians chapter five, therefore, if any man is in Christ, he's a new creature. All things are passed away, behold, all things become new. Well, that word for creature in Romanian is faptura. The word for steak is frittura. And with all of my heart, I told that church, if you're in Christ, you're a new steak. And they did what you all are doing now, and I had no clue why. I just kept on going, and that dear preacher never explained a thing until after I sat back down. I thought, what in the world did I say? Anyway, so that was a lesson learned. So I appreciated that mention too, my brother. That was good. That took me back to that day many, many years ago. That's 21 years or so ago now. Boy, that was, yeah, that was fun. And I appreciate the mention of Archippus. I appreciate the mention of that right there at the end of that letter. God, the God of heaven. Bird and Paul, boy, how often do we get toward the end of something and we're just ready to get it done and go? You know, I think about Mary and Joseph, they left out a little too soon and left their boy behind. And I think about Paul writing this letter here, if he'd just been ready to just get it signed and done, Archippus would never have been given that challenge and that encouragement. And one man, one man, the God of heaven will take his time. And just following up on what the preacher said, we ought never, ever, ever to minimize the importance of the one. I've said it before, but possibly, most likely, the most well-known scripture verse on the face of this planet, John 3, 16. I guess I would have preached it to the multitudes, but Jesus taught it to one, just one. And that in the dead of night, Really quite something. Appreciate that, Brother McBriar. Thank you. That was a good challenge. I want to ask you a question this morning. I'd like to start with this thought. Through this missions conference, would you be willing, from where we were at this morning, if you haven't asked this question already, I'm asking you to, would you do this now? Would you be willing to do this before God this week. Should you speak to me, Lord? Should you speak to me? I'll follow. That can be a scary question. You may have heard the Lord speak to you in different ways at different times down the road of life. You may be recently saved and you're not sure what it is to have the Lord break into your day in such a way and speak to you in such a clear way. None of that matters. The challenge is this. Would you be willing to come before a holy God this week? Say, Lord, I don't even know how I'd recognize it. I'm really not sure. But should you speak to me this week, I'll follow. And if you're like me and you just can't quite get there, The amazing grace of God, why don't you just say to him, Lord, should you speak to me this week, I'm struggling with it, but would you help me be willing to follow? And I promise you, he'll meet you there. I'd like you to keep that question before you during this week if you would. Preachers asked us if I'd just try and get across a little bit what it's been to be a missionary these 21 years and I've just been praying on that. And it was only last night, I'm thankful for Brother Willie Sparkman. God ran him across my path last night, asked about all of this and I said, I just need some help, I'm really not sure. And I know he and Miss Sue were praying about 10 o'clock last night, the Lord got things settled. I'm thankful for the prayers of the saints. We'll visit that this morning in just a little while. Acts chapter 13, verses 1 through 4. If you'd turn there with me this morning. Acts chapter 13, verses 1 through 4. These are the scriptures, of course, where Paul and Barnabas are sent out of the church on their first missionary journey. We'll look at different areas, some different scriptures around these verses in Acts chapter 13. We'll probably head back to chapter 11, look at a little bit of that as well. Some twenty-four years ago, the Lord began stirring in my heart, my wife's heart, that we just, we need to do more for the Lord. We really didn't know what that meant. We had no clue. We just knew that the Lord was stirring something in us. We just became unsettled. with what we were doing at the local church. We were trying to serve, doing as best we could, but something inside just didn't sit right. We had no clue what that meant, but now I know that was the blessed Holy Ghost beginning to stir, beginning to move. Another couple of years went by really praying that through, and all of that culminated in 21 years ago when we signed up and came with Rock of Ages to serve with ROA, I'd like to challenge you with this thought this morning, simple thought, stepping out into the call of God. Stepping out into the call of God. Let's read these scriptures, we'll pray, we'll go on from there. Bible says, Acts chapter 13 and verse 1, now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers as Barnabas and Simeon that was called Niger and Lucius of Cyrene and Menaen 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. When they'd fasted and prayed, they laid their hands on them, and they sent them away. So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia, and from thence they sailed to Cyprus. Our Father, we thank you again. I want to thank you for everything you've done in our hearts. Father, today, up until now, and not just in the Sunday school hour, Father, from the moment each one of us stepped onto this property, you've been whispering into our hearts and minds, wanting to lead us, woo us, draw us to you again. So Father, we thank you for everything you've done until now. Lord, if there's one thing you've laid deep, that you've sown deep in the heart of a saint today, I pray that you'd help that one to water that seed down. Lord, you continue to speak and to encourage and to lead and to guide. Father, in the coming minutes, we just ask one more time, Father, that you'd help us, please. Help us to be listening actively to what you would say, not just to us as a church, but to each one of us as your children. Father, we ask it In that precious, wonderful name of your Son, that mighty name of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Stepping out into the call of God, very briefly, just by way of introduction, very simply, the first thing you can see in these scriptures is an organized church. Verse 1, we find an organized church. Verse 2, we find an honoring of God as they, the church that was organized, ministered to the Lord. The very first thing we ought to be doing is honoring God before we do anything else. Beyond that, we see an awareness of prayer. Verse 2, they fasted. Verse 3, when they fasted and prayed, there's an organized church, there's an honoring of God, there's an awareness of prayer, and there's an openness to the leading of the Spirit. The Holy Ghost said, separate unto the Word. All these things must be in place for a saint of God if it's going to be done right to be stepping out into the call of God. Now, there's different levels. There's the pastorate. There's the office of pastor, the highest call on the face of this planet. We thank God for it. There's the role, the responsibility, the call of the evangelist or the missionary. There's various other roles within the church. There's Sunday school teachers. There's all the facets of the ministry of the local church. All of that, if it's done right, is to be led of God with an organized church. I understand that we might think, well, we're not very organized. All sorts of stuff happens last minute here and last minute. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about a preacher in place. I'm talking about a recognition of that pastoral authority. I'm talking about a submission and an honoring of God, an awareness of the need of prayer, and an openness to the leading of the Holy Ghost of God. All of these things need to be in place. It did get me thinking. It got me thinking back to when the Lord first called us out all those years ago. I remember back that church in North Wales back in the UK. I remember there was a season of prayer. where my pastor then, his name was Dave Cave. That was his real name. He's in heaven now. He was saved off the streets of Liverpool, drug addict, and God picked him up, saved him, and years went by. He became a pastor of that church, and when we first shared our burden, what we believed the Lord was doing, Brother Cave said to me, here's what we're gonna do for the next 12 months. You're gonna meet me at 6 a.m. once a month here at the church, and we're gonna pray. And that was what we did, and it became more regular than just once a month as time went by. But 6 a.m. at the church, at least once a month, he and I met together, not to discuss the hows and the whats and the wherefores, but simply to pray and ask God that he would lead and he would bless. And then came the sending out that we see here in the Scriptures. In verse 4, they being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia, from there to Cyprus. We read on, they went to Salamis, they preached there. went on to Paphos and on they went. It got me thinking about our way to Romania. My wife flew on ahead with the children and I stayed back a little while to clear out some things, but then there was a dear deacon of our church, Brother Derek, and he volunteered to drive a van over to Romania with me, and we passed through the Netherlands, Germany, we passed through Austria, Hungary, and on into Romania. Boy, that was a wonderful experience. That was about six straight days on the road, driving through all those countries. It was a wonderful time. I had a good time with the Lord last night, just reminiscing. And of course, we got to preaching, and then verses 6 and 7 we find in the chapters here opposition came and certainly that took me back to one particular officer that he would set the room up in that prison cell the same every time. He'd set me up here and the prisoners would be there and he would always sit behind and at some point you'd see the prisoners start sniggering and giggling and laughing and you knew what was going on back there. There was just opposition constantly and just, it was just, it was something. Then I ran over, I kept reading, and I came to chapter 14 in verse 9, where Paul says he's out ministering, and the Bible says in verse 9, the same heard Paul speak, who steadfastly beholding him, and perceived that he had faith to be healed. Said with a loud voice, stand upright on thy feet, and he leaped up and walked. Underline those words, and perceived that he had faith to be healed. Those are important words when you're in prison ministry, because you will find there are many time wasters deliberately trying to get you off in a corner and talk to you about the Bible, and they have absolutely no interest whatsoever in the gospel. They're just trying to stop you getting to the one that does. And it's important to pray that God would help us perceive those that are willing to be saved. those that are looking to be saved. It's interesting, those verses go on through chapter 14. There's suffering along the way that Paul and Barnabas suffered. Brother Bryce spoke about that this morning. The levels of suffering that we really have no idea about. And then verse 14, those last three or four verses of chapter 14, I absolutely love it. Paul at the end of his First missionary journey, 24, after they passed through Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia, and when they preached the word in Perga, they went down into Italia, and then sailed to Antioch, where from whence they had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled. There's a picture here of them returning to the sending church. Verse 27, when they were come, they were They gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them and how he'd opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles. There's your biblical principle for missionaries coming back and updating the churches, giving the reports, telling you all what's going on and how God has worked. But I love verse 28, and there they abode long time with the disciples. In these verses you see a return to the sending church, you see real updates on real ministry, but you see rest provided. by the saints. And I cannot tell you how precious it is to come on back in and just get to rest a while. We get back to our home and our sending church. We're talking about stepping into the call of God. And in the chapter that we're in, we're looking at this church in Antioch, I'd just like to take a visit to what happened before we reach chapter 13, verses 1 through 4. If we're not careful, we'll start reading those first four verses and almost unassumingly we'll get the idea that this church was always there. It's just something that's happening and they were just always there. But I'd like to look a little bit at what happened before this church happened to be there. I hope that it'll help a few of us as we move along this morning. First of all, reasons for the seasons of life, some reasons for the seasons of life. Go back with me to chapter 11 if you would. I want to read verses 19 and 20 of chapter 11. Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen, remember when Stephen was stoned, traveled as far as Phoenix and Cyprus and Antioch, preaching the word to none but the Jews only, 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." I want to say this morning that though everything may feel so scattered, God is sowing. Bible says now, they which were scattered abroad. There was a bunch of them ended up scattered because of persecution, because of trouble, because of turmoil, because of things going on in their lives that didn't make sense, things going on in their lives that they couldn't put together, none of it met, none of it worked together. They weren't just scattered, but they were scattered abroad. They weren't just struggling with where they were at, they wound up scattered out of their area, out of their home, out of everything that was familiar to them. And not only were they not just scattered, but scattered abroad. It just seemed so senseless. The reason for it was a man had died. A man had died horribly. Stephen, because of confessing Christ and preaching, was stoned to death. And because of that man getting killed, a whole bunch of others who weren't even necessarily involved, they end up scattered because of this man's faith. Sometimes you'll find yourself in a place where none of it makes sense. All kinds of things are going on. You're having to leave where you're at and head here or you're having to leave that situation and wind up in another situation and you didn't even have anything to do with it. You had no say in it. It had me thinking back years ago. When I tried to have everything lined up, tried to do everything I could, as right as I could, and there I was in my job, working hard, trying to honor God, married with a two-year-old, and my first wife died. It was that three-year roller coaster that made absolutely no sense of any kind at all, but out of that came a whole new direction for life. Some years went by, and God allowed me to to have a tumor found in my head, which wasn't cancerous, it was benign, but it filled every crevice in my head, it was big, much up here, it filled everything. But you'll catch that in a little while. They found a tumor in my head, it was a vascular tumor, it was one I almost died from a couple of times, and they eventually got that thing out after a couple of years, but God used that to challenge us as a family, are we willing to lay it down and just let God have his way? And then, through the years in Romania, we faced some particular trials that really, I guess, only we and God know about. But out of that, God brought us here. He used part of that as a means of seeing another man raised up and take that work who's still there serving today, and here we are today. All I'm saying is that sometimes in life, everything feels so scattered it makes no sense. But can I tell you this, that word scattered, best as I can find it, is the word diaspero, which means to sow throughout. And though it might feel scattered, there might be someone here this morning that you've wound up in this church because of a messed up life circumstance. You've wound up here as a part of Fundamental Baptist Church because of something that's happened back there that made no sense at all. Can I just tell you that though it may feel scattered, you may wonder, why in the world am I even here? It may be scattered, but God is sowing. Feels like not you're doing, it's out of your control, but God is speaking. They were scattered abroad, but the end of that verse 19 says, but they were preaching the Word. Just stay faithful to Him. It still might not quite make sense to you yet, but that's okay. Just stay faithful to Him where you're at. Feels like there's no direction, but God is orchestrating. Wish I could do that like Brother Mike does it, but I can't. Sorry for making a bad attempt, Brother Mike. You're just gonna have to forgive me. Feels like there's absolutely no direction, But God is orchestrating. They were scattered abroad, didn't know what was going on, but verse 21, and the hand of the Lord was with them. He was working. They were spread to Phoenix, Cyprus, Antioch. That's where verse 13, chapter 13, 1 through 4, we find this organized church. Everything looks great. We read it and we think, wow, look what God's doing. But that was born out of trouble. It was born out of strife. It was born out of a bunch of people that ended up, where in the world are we even going to end up? But God brought them together, orchestrated all of that together. I'll share this with you. I too am sad that Brother Mike Adams can't be with us. And I didn't ask his permission, but I'm going to do this anyway. Brother Mike can get a little message in here. There was a verse he shared with me many years ago when we're struggling with just none of this makes sense. None of this, it's not even as if the Lord prepared me for this. This is a really easy reference to remember. Just remember 1-1-1. Can you remember that? Remember 1-1-1. And if you can remember Ephesians, that would help. But if not, think of those four letters right there, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, and if you look through 1-1-1 of all of those, you'll find it. Might be the fourth one you find, but anyway. Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 11, speaking of Christ, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. Now we're not talking about a Calvinistic God that decides every last moment and minute of our movements and lives. In whom also we have obtained, there's your decision to get saved. An inheritance, therefore you're now predestinated, become like him. According to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, Brother Michael just simply said it like this. There was a day, I know heaven is just one eternal day, but there was some day in heaven in eternity past when God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost had a meeting about your life and you were not invited. It just means that God reserves the right to do and break into your life at certain points. Without your permission, without you asking Him, He reserves that right to break into your life and do what He will do in your life to get you where He needs you to be. He's not doing it to hurt you. He's doing it to help you. He's doing it to get you where He wants you to be so you can live the fullness of life that He has for you. Reasons, for the seasons of life. Secondly, the reality of the hand of the Lord. Everything seems upside down, we've read it already, but verse 21, the hand of the Lord was with them. The hopeless were won through them, and a great number believed and turned unto the Lord. Look at verse 22, then tidings of the things came unto the ears of the church which was at Jerusalem, And they sent forth Barnabas that he should go as far as Antioch. Look at that, here comes Barnabas. He shows up at Antioch. Why? Because those saints that had been scattered and they were struggling and battling with all that was going on, news of that had reached the church at Jerusalem. Thank God for the church. Thank God for the family of God. Somehow news reached that church and someone in that church at Jerusalem said, boy, they need some help. They need someone just to go and encourage them. Just to go tell them to keep going. Just to go tell them not to give up. And they sent old Barnabas over to the church at Antioch, the help that was sent to them, the hand of the Lord was still with them, the hopeless were still won through them, the help was sent to them, and how they were encouraged, He exhorted them all, who when He came, Barnabas, and had seen the grace of God, was glad and exhorted them all. Church, we need to be exhorting one another daily while it is called today. lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. We see how they were encouraged, and then we see a hearty challenge not to give up. Bible says, verse 23, the last part, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. Boy, I think of the times I've just been ready to give up. I'm ashamed of the times I've been ready to give up over these last 21 years. I probably couldn't number them. The times I've let myself get to that place. And there's times the Lord will take us to that place. We can rely on Him and Him alone. But oh my goodness, the encouragement that He brought. He exalted them all that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. First of all, there is a Purpose not of mind, but of heart. Preachers said, would that we would not be a missions-minded heart, but a missions-minded church, but a missions-hearted church. You realize missions isn't what we do, it's who we are. Missions should not be something we do. Missions should be something we are. It just is who we are. Missions is not the other side of the world. Missions is telling someone outside of those doors that Jesus loves you. It's just who we ought to be. It's a purpose of heart. He talks about cleaving to Jesus. Just staying on, that word cleave simply means to stay further. Just stand your ground. It means to remain in your place. Stand your ground with him and stay in church. And he's talking about cleaving to a person, to adhere to, to stick to, stick with Jesus. Reasons for the seasons of life, but there's the reality of the hand of the Lord. But then I look at the response of the church. Look with me at verse 27 of chapter 11. Barnabas has showed up. He's encouraging the people. And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch. So Barnabas shows up and then a whole other bunch decide, well, you know what? Let's all run over there. How many times have we all just taken a bunch and gone over to another church if there's a revival meeting going on somewhere? So what's going on here? How many times do we decide just to go be a blessing and a help to another church somewhere? In those days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch, and there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world, which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar, then the disciples, every man, according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judea, which also they did and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul." We're talking about the response of the church. Firstly, money was sent away for missions. Agabus, he's a picture of the visiting missionary. He's shown up at the church and he's telling them about a need. He spoke by the Spirit. There is a picture of a message for the church. And then the disciples decided to send. There's a picture of support that was sent out of that church because a man came by with a need and challenged them with that need. By the way, I'm almost tempted to say the beginnings of the first mission board are found in verse 30. which also they did and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul. But I'll leave that one with you. Missionaries sent away for missions, prayers sent up for the missionaries. You remember Herod started stirring things up, causing persecution, and Peter wound up in prison. Turn over the page, if it is over the page, turn with me to chapter 12, verse five. Peter, therefore, was kept in prison, but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. And when Herod would have brought him forth the same night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains, and the keepers before the door kept the prison. And behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him. A light shined in the prison. I love this bit. And he smote Peter on the side. He, come on, Peter, get up. and raised him up, saying, arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands, and Peter still couldn't quite figure out what was going on. The angel had to say to him, gird thyself, bind on thy sandals, and so he did. And he saith unto him, cast thy garments about thee, and follow me. Boy, prayer rescued the missionary from a mess, if I can put it that way. Secondly, prayer revealed to the church the mighty hand of God. See, the church weren't there to see the angel walk in on Peter. They were just there begging God's help. Peter showed up at the door, gets knocking on the door, and if you read the scriptures, I like old Rhoda, she couldn't even believe it was him. She hears his voice and thinks, oh my word, what in the world is going on here? She's been in there praying that God would set him free. In there begging God that he'd release him. And he shows up at the door and she doesn't believe God answered it. How often have we been there? They said unto her, Thou art mad. Those in the room too, but she constantly affirmed. They said it's his angel. Peter Conti's still there. Well, they opened the door and they saw him and they were astonished. And in verse 17, but he beckoning unto them with the hand to hold their peace, declared unto them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, go show these things unto James, to the brethren. He departed, went into another place. And as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers what was become of Peter. It's amazing, we read these verses and just read them as we read them, but can you just picture the scene? There's Peter knocking at the door. Rhoda's so excited, can't quite believe, is it him, is it not? They run in, none of that bunch believe that God's actually answered the prayer that they've been asking him to answer. And then they let him in, and they're so shocked, and the Bible says that he motioned to them to hold their peace. In other words, that whole church is saying, what in the world happened? What's going on? And Peter says, if you just would all be quiet a moment, I'll tell you. And he rehearsed everything that God had done, and that church would have been so encouraged about how God miraculously answered that prayer. Prayer rescued that missionary from a mess. Prayer revealed to the church the mighty hand of God. And prayer resulted in the lost mesmerized at the miracle. The Bible says that the soldiers, there was no small stir among the soldiers at what had happened. Would you turn with me just for a moment to 2 Thessalonians and chapter 3? As Brother McBriar was sharing this morning, he was speaking about some of the things that he and others that he knows have faced and battled. And I was thinking last night about how is it, one question that A preacher asked me was, just give us something of how we as a church can help the missionaries. Well, prayer is top of the list, but specific prayer is important. Second Thessalonians chapter 3 verse 1, Paul writing, finally brethren pray for us that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified even as it is with you." Boy, if that ever applied to us. We live yet in an area where the Word of the Lord may yet have free course. What Paul's saying is, it's not like that where I am. It's not like it is for you where I'm trying to get this Word of the Lord out. So would you pray that God will give the Word of the Lord free course, even as it is here in Livingston, Louisiana? And that way we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men, for all men have not faith. And I can only imagine what's going through Brother Meier's mind and all the men that he knows out on the field that we really have no idea what this verse means when we pray it, read it, ask God to help us. Verse 3, but the Lord is faithful who shall establish you and keep you from evil. How can you pray for our missionaries Pray number one, the Word would have free course. Pray number two, that we would be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men. And three, pray that the wanderers would find faith. But the Lord is faithful. Pray that as we are out speaking and sharing and trying to to preach the gospel to those around us that God would open the eyes to those that we speak to and preach to and share with. Prayer rescues the missionary. Keep praying. Prayer reveals to you what God is doing. Keep praying. And prayer results in souls getting saved. Keep praying. Money was sent away for missions. Prayer was sent up for the missionaries. Missionaries were sent out for the gospel. We're back to where we started in chapter 13 in verses 1 through 4, where we see an organized church. We see an honoring of God. We see an awareness of prayer and an openness to the Spirit. But now we also see a little background to this church. We see a little bit of what went on, of what had to happen for this church to be put together. I couldn't help but think of the last decades, and I don't know it all, and I don't want to know it all. But I know there's been some struggles and strife down the decades of Fundamental Baptist Church. But I know where God's brought the church today. And I know that people might walk in and look around and think, wow, this is, I hope, hope would walk in and think, wow, what a great place to be, and it is. But some stuff went on before this. Some things had to happen that God would bring all this together. Now we do see a little background of what this church at Antioch went through to get where they were. But to finish up today, look at who ended up at that church at Antioch. See, the Barnabas in chapter 13 and verse 1 is the same Barnabas of chapter 11 and verse 22. The Barnabas that showed up to encourage is the same Barnabas that was a missionary sent out of that place. Saul of chapter 13 and verse 1 was the same Saul of Acts chapter 9 who got saved and all Ananias didn't want anything to do with him until God told him it'd be alright. But here's what I want you to see. Chapter 13 and verse 2, as they ministered to the Lord. Oh, there's Saul and there's Barnabas, but there's a they there. No names mentioned, no life histories spoken about, but there is a they that showed up at this church. And the they of chapter 13 and verse 2, there will be some of those they's in chapter 11 and verse 19. Chapter 11 and verse 19 started with, now, they which were scattered abroad. There were some unknowns. There were some folks that didn't have their names out there. There were some folks that didn't get mentioned in the Scriptures. But there was a group of they who were scattered abroad, ended up in this church, and they don't even know why they are there. But here they are again in chapter 13 and verse 2. And they ministered to the Lord. They found their purpose. They've found their reason. They've found their place. And here they are. And if you're in this place today wondering, you know, I'm really not even sure how or why I ended up here. I just want to encourage you. There's a reason. It's not circumstance. It's not happenstance. God has orchestrated this to bring you to this place. Look at who ended up at the church. We've got Barnabas scribbled down. He might be a picture of the good man. No record of ill-doing, no record of a nasty past. He was called to go. Then we got Saul, the God-hater, set against the church, and all the things of God got saved and called to go. But then we've got the they. We've got the rest of the church who'd been through so much, wondering, why, Lord? wondering what's this all about? But they too were being called to go. I want to come back to where I first started this morning. Jordan, if you'd come up and play for us. I remember the night years ago, the Lord had been stirring our hearts. We were beginning to just wonder. It was so heavy on Violetta and I. We didn't know what it would mean, where God would lead us. But we were in a small meeting, as we would call it, a cottage prayer meeting at our home. And Brother Bill Hogg, he's in his 80s, he's still alive today. He came in and taught that night. And he was teaching through 1 Thessalonians, and he got to verse 5 and 24. And I've been asking the Lord, Father, I know you're asking us to do something, but I don't know how we'll make it. And I don't know even where to go or who to go with or what to do. I just don't know. I just know you're doing something. 1 Thessalonians 5.24 jumped off the page as I read it. Didn't hear another word that night of that Bible study. I just got stuck on that verse. Faithful is he who calleth you, who also will do it. You might look at that verse and think, well, that's a very general verse. It really doesn't give any specifics. No, but it answered my specifics. I said, Lord, I don't know how we'll make it. He said, faithful is he. Lord, I don't even know if it's you that's speaking to me. He said, faithful is he who calleth you. My third question was, Lord, who with, how, where, when, what? And he said, faithful is he who calleth you, who he also will do it. I didn't need to know any of those answers. I didn't need to know any of the details. All I needed to know God had been staring my heart, and He told me that night, the rest of it, you don't need to know it. You just need to know it's me. You need to know I'm faithful. You need to know it's me that's calling. And you need to know that I'll take care of the rest. You know what He's been doing the last 21 years? He's been taking care of the rest. I want to ask you this morning. Should God speak to you this week? Are you willing to follow? It's no reason to get afraid. Sure, we'll get a little scared about it, but it's not a knock-kneed fear. There is no greater life than stepping out into what God would have you do. There is no greater life. There's no greater fulfillment in life than letting God fulfill what He wants to do.