Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, reading that song, Psalm 96, we want to do that, Lord, to ascribe to you glory and praise, Lord, that your greatness goes beyond our wildest imagination, your grace goes beyond anything we could ever ask, and Lord, help us to receive your grace with astonished gratitude, and then in turn, to look to the coming generations, to look to the generations and the nations around us, and to tell them about who you are, to tell them about your gospel. Lord, I thank you for this church, the Bible Chapel of Delhi Hills. Thank you for their testimony for you over these 40 plus years. And Lord, I pray that as they look at the future, that you would continue to work in them and through them in ways that maybe none of them could even anticipate yet. that you would work powerfully your glory in them and then through them to take your gospel to Cincinnati and around the world. Thank you for the privilege Gladine and I and Tom and Jane have to be here today. And I pray that you would empower us to serve these people well all for your glory. It's in your son's name we've approached you this morning. Amen. William Carey has been known for the last 250 years as the father of modern missions. Have you ever heard the story of how William Carey got involved in global missions? I think some of you probably have, but most of us is like, oh, it's kind of a foggy area in church history in my thinking. William Carey was actually, do some of you know what his vocation was, what he did for a living? He was a shoemaker. That should encourage us. That the father of modern missions was a shoemaker. back in the mid 1700s. So you picture in England in the mid 1700s this man who was a shoemaker, but God in his kindness put in the heart of William Carey a burden to see the name of Jesus Christ spread around the world. And in his shoemaking shop, he had a map of the world hanging above his workbench. And as the story goes, William Carey, as he repaired shoes and made shoes, He would weep for the nations. He would pray for the people around the world that he had never met, who were without Christ. I'm not sure how it happened, but he got involved with the London Missionary Society, and he would go to their meetings. And in one of the meetings, this shoemaker, William Carey, heard one of the leaders of the Missionary Society say, Who will go down to the heathen and take them the gospel? So can you picture this? A group of people, probably a lot of them well-educated clergy. And he says, who will take the gospel to the heathen? And this shoemaker, William Carey, said, I will go, but you must hold the rope. You must hold the rope. What does that mean? Well, let me just give you an illustration from our culture. If I say United States Air Force, even if you have no military background, what image comes to your mind right away? Planes, right? Planes and pilots. We think U.S. Air Force, planes and pilots. Maybe some of you have been in the Air Force. Do you know what percentage of the United States Air Force are actually pilots? I looked it up, less than 4%. So the United States Air Force, fewer than 4% of the people in the Air Force are actual pilots. So what did the other 96% do? What did the other 96% of the people in the Air Force do? They hold the rope. They hold the rope. It takes so many people to operate this military force that we know as the Air Force. And the great majority, the great majority of people in the Air Force hold the ropes so that that 4% can fly the planes. So how many people does it take to go to the mission field? You might say, well, a missionary. But how many people does it take to hold the ropes? It takes the church. It takes the church. And so here today in this One Day Missions Conference, we're talking about how a church, how a local church can be a sending church. What does it take to send missionaries from your own assembly? What does it take to send a missionary from your church to the mission field? Join me, please, in the book of Acts, Acts chapter 13. And we're going to use verses 1 through 3. And it's kind of our home base this morning. Acts chapter 13, the first three verses. And as you turn there, let me just say again what a delight it is for Gladine and me to be here with you. at the Bible Chapel. We do have fond memories of being with you here in the missions conference years ago. I think first time I was here was 2005 maybe. Back along there, I spoke to some of you men at a men's retreat too in West Harrison as I remember. And then the family conferences, a lot of good memories with you folks. So thank you for having us back today. I'm looking forward to getting to know Tom and Jane. Tom Wallin is one of my co-pastors at Christ's Covenant Church. He's our missions pastor. And the Lord has put in this man's heart a passion for Jesus Christ and a passion to see Jesus Christ known around the world. And I am just delighted this evening that I can interview him in your presence. Make a point to be here tonight at six. I'm sure you will go home glad you came, all right? So we're looking forward to getting to know Tom and Jane as well. And a public thank you. It's been almost 25 years ago that your church joined our church in helping to fund some missionary efforts, some folks that went out from our church. Thank you for that. Thank you for caring for them, not just with checks, but caring for them as people. We appreciate you folks so much there. Have you found Acts chapter 13? Do you have your Bible? Have you found it on your phone or a print copy of Acts 13? This is a pivotal passage. This paragraph they're going to look at today is so significant. In these three verses, we're going to read how God began to change the world. And I'm not trying to be melodramatic. I mean those words. In these three verses, we're going to see how God begins to change the world. Do you remember what Jesus said to his disciples right before he went back to heaven? He said, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses. If you want to join me in saying this aloud, you can. You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria, those go together, and to the end of the earth. If you read the book of Acts, do you know what the first seven chapters are? The first seven chapters of the book of Acts are Jerusalem. You'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem. And so we read Luke's historic account of how the followers of Jesus Christ made Jesus Christ known in Jerusalem. Acts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. And then we get to the next section, chapters 8 through 12. And you know what we read there? It's the gospel going to? Judea and Samaria. And so we're working out in concentric circles, aren't we? So here in these chapters, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, in the book of Acts, we're reading how the Holy Spirit moved upon Christ's followers to take the gospel to Judea and Samaria. But what about the end of the earth? What about the gospel breaking out of Palestine? What about the gospel breaking out of that home area and going to the world, to the end of the earth? Here it is. Here it is. Do you see the significance of Acts chapter 13, where the Holy Spirit is going to move upon a church, a church, to launch some of their own people to take the gospel to the end of the earth? Let's read it. Acts chapter 13, the first three verses, this is the Word of God. Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon, who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manan, a lifelong friend of Herod the Tetrarch, that's fascinating, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off. These simple three verses, this paragraph, is the beginning of a new era in which we find ourselves almost 2,000 years later. It's so significant. What do we know about the church in Antioch? Let's find out, let's get to know this church. Back up just a page or so with me to Acts chapter 11. And I would like to read aloud to you a fairly long section. I wanna read verses 19 through 26. And hear how this church got started. And as I read this, I would like you to make mental note of some characteristics of this church. What do you notice about this church? I'm reading now from Acts chapter 11, beginning at verse 19. Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who in coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists or we would say the Greeks, the Gentiles, also preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was on them, was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. And when he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose. or he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord. So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul. And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch, the disciples were first called Christians. If you wonder how we got that moniker, it was here. It was here in Antioch. So what did you notice? What did you notice about this church in Antioch? How did they get started? Well, you know, it doesn't sound like it was the result of some great strategic plan of a megachurch. It sounds like it was more of a grassroots effort. There were a number of Christians who moved from Jerusalem, that part of the country, up north to Antioch. We're serious today, Lebanon up in that area. They moved up there to escape the persecution. Remember when Stephen was killed? Saul of Tarsus, still an unconverted man at that point, was a collaborator in the execution of this preaching deacon that we know as Stephen. The church scattered because of persecution. God can use even hard times to spread the gospel, can't he? You know, we think about some of our brothers and sisters in Christ in other countries that are undergoing persecution. And I think the temptation sometimes is to say, oh, Lord, please relieve them of that burden of persecution. But if you talk to some people who are from those areas, they sometimes say, no, don't pray for that. Pray that the Lord would use us for his glory. And I wonder what we're going to face in our country in the coming decades. I don't tend to be a negative person, but I believe it could get harder in the future instead of easier to be a Christian. But might not the Lord use that to strengthen his church, to spread his church? And so people came to Antioch from other places, didn't they? And so we know it's kind of a grassroots effort, and there were Gentiles. Something else we can figure out about this church that apparently was a pretty big church. It's like Luke, when he wrote the book of Acts, he mentions it, what, like three times, that there were a great number of people. And so Jerusalem was the mother church of a lot of the early churches. But then we read about Antioch, and we say, wow, God's doing something special up there in Antioch. where there were a lot of people getting saved, the church was growing. It seems to be racially diverse, that there are people from other parts of the world, other races, other ethnicities. There were clearly Gentiles being added to the church. Something else you notice about this church is how well taught they were. You have to appreciate Barnabas, don't you? You have to appreciate this man. That as the Lord was saving lots of people and the church was growing, the burden on the teachers that were there would have been greater and greater. A lot of people to disciple, a lot of people to mentor, a lot of people to teach the truth about Jesus Christ. We need help. And so Barnabas, who does he go look for? Saul, Saul of Tarsus, whom we later know as Paul. But now he's still known as Saul. And do you know that this would have been the first experience Saul of Tarsus had of teaching as a Christian? Now when he was a Jewish rabbi, he probably did some teaching, and maybe Barnabas knew that. Maybe Barnabas knew this man is very well acquainted with the Old Testament. Now he's a Christian. Now he sees the Old Testament as being Christ-centered. He's up there in the boondocks up there. Why don't we get him down here? And so Barnabas goes and gets Saul and says, would you consider coming to Antioch? We could use your help. And so you can picture Barnabas and Saul discipling so many of these people. It was a well-taught church. And something else we notice is they're sensitive to the Holy Spirit. Now, I didn't take time to read verses 27 through 30, but if we were to continue our reading in chapter 11, we would see how this church was very compassionate toward the brothers and sisters who were undergoing famine or about to undergo famine. And they were sensitive to the leading of the Spirit. But let's go back to Acts chapter 13. And we're building a portrait of this church that was so pivotal in the expansion of the gospel globally. What do we know about this sending church? And what can we learn from this church here at the Bible Chapel, here at CCC and Winona Lake? How might our churches learn about being sending churches by looking at this, one of the very early sending churches? Let's add some more color to our understanding of this church by looking again at verse 1 of chapter 13. The Spirit records, therefore, is that there were these five prophets and teachers. Clearly, men who were gifted by the Holy Spirit, they were prophets, they were teachers, and if you wrestle, what's a prophet? I would just say, whether we might disagree on the details, we could all agree on the essence, and that a prophet is someone who speaks for God to the people, and so he speaks to God's people on behalf of God. Sometimes it seems like there's more of a spontaneity to that, where teachers might be involved more in studying, kind of like what Pastor Kevin does week by week, where he studies the Word of God and comes and feeds you so well. And as for 40 plus years. Yeah, prophets and teachers. But look at this group of guys that the Lord gathered together to lead this church, these prophets and these teachers. There's that guy Barnabas. Barnabas was a Jew originally from the island of Cyprus. But he'd been living in Jerusalem of late. But did you know Barnabas wasn't his birth name? That's not what his parents named him when he was born. His name when he was born was Joseph. But the people began to call him by a nickname. Do you have a nickname? Maybe some of you do. When I was a young man, I had a full head of flaming red hair. Don't laugh. I had a full head of flaming red hair. And my nickname was Torch. And someone who hadn't seen me in a long, long time saw me in a local restaurant, came up to me and said, Torch, do they call you Pilot Light now? That hurt. Barnabas earned his nickname. Barnabas. It means son of encouragement. That he was such a blessing. He was such a blessing to the church in Jerusalem that the people began to call him by a nickname. Hey, son of encouragement, good to see you today. How's it going, you know? Barnabas, a Jewish man who had a real heart for people. He's always serving people. And then there was this guy, Simeon. This is fascinating. Simeon, that's a Jewish name, isn't it? But it says he was from Syrena, North Africa, and he was also known as Niger. Niger is actually Latin for black. And it is quite likely that this was a black man who was converted to Judaism and then later converted to Christ. And he was a leader in the church. Lucius of Cyrene, another person from Cyrene. Cyrene was a city in North Africa, and he had a Latin or a Roman name, so maybe he had a Roman background. And then this guy, Manan, who was he? He was a Jew, but he had kind of a Greek-sounding name, and it says he was like, he was like a good friend of none other than Herod the Tetrarch. That was the Herod who had John the Baptist's head cut off. That's the Herod that wanted to interview Jesus right before the crucifixion, that Herod. Well, this guy, Manan, had grown up with him, maybe like a foster brother. And who knows? He might be an interesting person to interview in heaven, right? Like, Manan, I don't know much about you, but I'm fascinated. How did you come to faith in Christ? That here's someone who used to hang out with royalty. who came to faith in the King of Kings. And he's a leader in the church there. And then there's this guy named Saul, who soon will be known as Paul. So we see this church as having these leaders who are gifted by the Holy Spirit as prophets and teachers, and they're a diverse bunch of guys who obviously love Christ and love the church, and we're teaching them. And if we get to verse two, it says, this church is a worshiping church, a fasting church. What did the Holy Spirit do with this church? Now, if you're familiar with the Bible, you might read this and say, oh yeah, I read that before. But try to stand in their sandals for a minute. If you were a member of the church in Antioch, and the Holy Spirit says, I want Barnabas and I want Saul. I want you to send them off. And as a member of the church, what's the first thing to go through your mind? Holy Spirit, those are two of our pastors. Those are two of our pastors. Are you sure you want them? I mean, you know, here's brother so-and-so over here and brother so-and-so over here and we don't quite need them as much. Do you think maybe you could take them? The Holy Spirit says, I want you to send two of your most gifted teachers. I want you to send two of your most important people with the gospel. And the Holy Spirit says, to which I have called them. Now, even the tense there, to which I have called them, make me think that the Holy Spirit had already prompted the hearts of these two men. Maybe he had already prompted the heart of Barnabas and prompted the heart of Saul to take the gospel to the end of the earth. It doesn't say, but it could be that they had talked to their fellow leaders. It could be that they had made it known that we have a burden to take the gospel beyond our own region. Something we don't want to miss here, the Holy Spirit's doing this. And I think that if we're asking the question, how can our church be ascending church, we need to remember who God is. The God that we worship, the God we serve, is ascending God from cover to cover. When he made Adam and Eve, when he created Adam and Eve, he told them, be fruitful and multiply. Some of you finish it for me. And fill the earth. Fill the earth? What's that about? Well, image bearers, you and me, people, image bearers are like little mirrors reflecting the glory of God. Nothing, no one, no thing can reflect the glory of God like human beings. Human beings are special creations. Human beings are different than animals. Don't let the world tell you otherwise. Human beings are unique in that we are the designed mirrors of God's glory. All of creation reflects the glory of God in some way, but nothing like a human being. And God looked at Adam and Eve, and he said, fill the earth. Fill the earth. I want lots of mirrors. I want lots of mirrors reflecting my glory. Adam and Eve were, in a sense, to send the glory around the world. But they chose their own glory over God's, didn't they? And everything got messed up. But God never abandoned his plan, did he? And we could just pick some pivotal points in the history of the world. We think of people like Abram. And God says, I'm gonna make you the father of many nations. And I want you to be a blessing to all these nations. And here was this father, this man, this man who was a father to none at this point. He had no descendants at this point. And God says, I want you to send my glory through your progeny. And it took Abram's faith to become Abraham. And then those descendants of Abraham in the coming years were told that they were to be a blessing to the world. And Israel was to be a people belonging to God, to tell the world about God's glory, that they were to be a sending group. They didn't get it either, did they? But that was what God told them to do. And then failure after failure after failure of people not carrying out the mission of sending the God's glory. And so what did God the Father do? He sent his son. He sent his son. The author of Hebrews says, the exact representation of God. John says in John 1 that Jesus came to show us the Father. that Jesus Christ came to display God's glory. Jesus himself said, in John chapter 12, he says, for I have not spoken of my own authority, but the Father who sent me himself. That Jesus Christ was sent into this world. God's ascending God. He always has been. And then Jesus is going back to heaven, so what's he going to do? He's going to send The Holy Spirit, Jesus said, John 15, right before the cross, John 15, but when the Helper comes, the Comforter comes, whom I will send from the Father. Do you see this pattern from cover to cover? That God is ascending God. The point of the gospel, the point of mission, is for God to be glorified. I didn't put it in my notes, but what's that famous saying from John Piper? Missions exist because worship doesn't. He's right, isn't he? Mission exists because worship doesn't. The point of mission is worship. God wants worshipers. He wants people who honor him. He wants people to reflect his glory. And so he sent his son to redeem a people for himself, that we might be the image bearers that he intended for us to be, reflectors of his glory. He sends the Holy Spirit. And now the Holy Spirit comes to this church in Antioch and says, I want you to send Barnabas and Saul. How did that happen? How did the Holy Spirit do that? Luke doesn't tell us here. He doesn't tell us how the Holy Spirit did that. Maybe he prompted one of these prophets to say, I am impressed by the Spirit that we are to send these two men. But it says, what was the context? What was happening when this happened? They were worshiping and fasting. Praise God for ordinary prayer meetings. There's something good about just regularly getting together to pray. But this particular prayer meeting that we're reading about here in Acts 13, I wouldn't call it ordinary. They were praying and fasting. There's an intensity to this prayer, an intensity that led them to forego legitimate enjoyments of food and maybe drink. Other pleasures in life, they say, we have this burden on our heart. What were they praying? We don't know. But I wonder, I wonder, and that's all it is, but I wonder if that church was gathered there in Antioch in intense prayer, prayer and fasting, saying, Holy Spirit, what did you want to do with us? What are you doing, Lord? You're adding to our church multitudes of people. Our church is growing exponentially. And where we began as a small group of Jewish believers, now there's people of different races and different languages. There's Gentiles from various parts of the world, and we're all here in Antioch. Lord, what did you want to do with us? Why are you doing this to us? You're adding to our church in great quantity. People from different parts of the world, what are you doing with us, Lord? What do you want us to do? And the Holy Spirit said, send off Barnabas and Saul. He didn't say, give me your leftovers. He said, I want these men. Where were they supposed to go? Did you notice in those three verses it never says where they were supposed to go? But you know what the church did? They went back to prayer. They went back to prayer. It says that. They went back to prayer. than after fasting and praying. So what they had been doing, they continued. And what were they praying? Maybe they were wanting confirmation. Maybe some of the people said, Lord, are we hearing you right? Barnabas and Saul. Maybe they were looking for affirmation. Maybe they were interceding, saying, if we send these men off, Lord, there's no protocol, Lord. We've not done this before. We have no history to fall back on. There's no books on how to send missionaries. We've Googled it, Lord, and we're not coming up with any hits. You know, this church was entering new territory where they were asking the Lord, Lord, show us how. Were they interceding for these two much-loved leaders and say, Lord, guide Barnabas, guide Saul? Maybe they were praying for themselves. Saul and Barnabas are going to need your help, Lord. They're doing something that's not been done before, taking the gospel to the Gentile world. But Lord, we sure are going to miss them. Lord, would you help us here? Would you fill in the gaps? And then it says they laid their hands on them. Why did they do that? Understanding the Jewish background of this, I imagine a part of that was just blessing them. You know, you read in the Bible how sometimes a father or grandfather would put his hand on his son, or you think of Jacob putting his hand on Joseph's sons, and he was blessing them. And maybe this church was blessing these men, saying physically and with their words, we love you and we're with you. And maybe that was a way to show solidarity, You're going to the mission field, Barnabas. You're going to the mission field, Saul. And yeah, you're representing Jesus Christ. That's your primary mission. But in a way, you're representing us, too. You're representing us, too, as you're sending church, the church in Antioch. And we want you to know that we're going to continue to support you. We're going to support you with our prayers. We're going to support you with our words of encouragement. Maybe someone in the church could help with logistics. They knew of ships that were going to be sailing. finances, and so they send them off. They send them off, and we have a map to show you here, and it's not important you memorize the map, but this was Paul's first missionary journey. Now, so far as we know from the book of Acts and reading some of the epistles, there were about four of them, but you can see over here in the upper right-hand corner, Antioch. Antioch was not a coastal city, but there was a city, a port not too far away, maybe a day's walk, Seleucia. And Barnabas and Saul got on a ship and they went over to the island of Cyprus. And you can read in the succeeding chapters of Acts, Acts 13, 14, 15, you can read about their journeys, how they went across the island of Cyprus from one end to the other, from Salamis to Paphos, and then they sailed up to what we know today as Turkey, what was known then as Asia. in Galatia and they went up there and they began to spread the gospel in that part and then eventually retraced their steps along the way and they visited some of those churches up in Turkey again a second time to strengthen them and then they sailed back home. So here's what I want to show you from the book of Acts. When these missionaries were sent off was it kind of like well that's the end of that story? Not at all. This church that was holding the rope, the church in Antioch that was holding the rope for Barnabas and Saul, they stayed in touch, and Barnabas and Saul stayed in touch with ascending church. Let's just dip into the succeeding chapters and see what we can find. Is your Bible still open to the book of Acts? Look at chapter 14, Acts chapter 14, and look at verses 24 through 28. We're still reading about now he's known as Paul and it's not Barnabas and Saul. It's interesting how it's changed to Paul and Barnabas. But now Paul in Barnabas, it says, when they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia, and when they had spoken the word of Perga, they went down to Italia. And from there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had fulfilled. And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them. and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles, and they remained no little time with the disciples." And so here, Paul and Barnabas came back to their sending church, the church that was holding the rope, and they gave a report. And their report was fascinating. If you read what happened on the island of Cyprus, they had some phenomenal encounters for the sake of the gospel. And there were times when their mission was hard. And they come back to their sending church and they told those stories. You sent us out, the Holy Spirit used you to send us out. You've been holding the rope. We wanna tell you what the Holy Spirit's been accomplishing through your prayers, your words of encouragement, your support. And apparently it says there at the end of that chapter, they remained no little time with the disciples. It seems that they stayed in Antioch for maybe a year or so. So here these guys that were sent out are home now for a while, and they're not vacationing. They continue to serve the Lord by serving his people. Let's find out what else happened. Look at chapter 15. But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and to the elders about this question. And being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles and brought great joy to all the brothers. When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them. But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, it is necessary to circumcise them in order for them to keep the law of Moses. And so then you move into this whole debate of chapter 15, and God had to show his grace to the churches, plural. But what I wanted to point out there is these missionaries are home, and the church sends them again, this time to represent the church into a church council. And then in 1535, let's just read one verse more out of chapter 15. Verse 35 says, Paul Barnabas remained in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others. And so these men continued their ministry in their sending church. That rope was strong. If the church at Antioch was holding the rope for these missionaries, those missionaries loved and respected their sending church and they came home and they continued to serve. Let's just read one more passage, 36 through 41. After some days, Paul said to Barnabas, let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaim the word of the Lord and see how they are. Now, Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark, the guy that wrote the gospel of Mark. But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. And there arose a sharp disagreement so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus. But Saul, Paul, excuse me, chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. And so he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches." Now, in some ways, this is a tragic encounter, isn't it? Here are these two church leaders that had a disagreement, but do you see what the Lord did with that? The word spread more broadly. So even though it's kind of sad that these brothers had a disagreement over how to handle this young man named John Mark, The Lord used that disagreement to send two teams in two different directions. And so here, the gospel, I want us to appreciate what's happening here. So here, these missionaries that were sent out, they ministered the gospel all around that part of the world, first missionary journey, and then they came back. And as they came back, they continued to serve the local church they're sending church, preaching, teaching, representing them at a church council. And then they got sent out again on another missionary journey. If you read the book of Acts, there is this glorious account of how the Holy Spirit moved to continue to spread his gospel out farther and farther. And so you look even on the map we have here today, and you can see how Turkey, that's the most western part of Asia, right? And then Paul jumps over eventually to the city of Philippi. Now he's in Europe. That's Europe. And then going through Greece and Italy, and we know that the gospel continued to spread even after the New Testament era was finished. And today, I'm not saying all these people were converted, but today, over 2 billion people in the world claim the name of Christ. Now, a lot of those people aren't converted, but they would say, I am of the Christian faith. And so here, think about it, friends. This little group in Antioch, the Holy Spirit began to save lots of people. They're in Antioch. And this little Jewish church became a racially diverse church of Jews and Gentiles, people from various parts of the world who had congregated there because of persecution. And then the Holy Spirit says, OK, you've been praying. Lord, what do you want to do with us? Start sending them out. And God, the sending God, begins to send out teams. And if you think of the gospel getting sent out from that church of Antioch like throwing a rock into the eastern Mediterranean, that rock of the gospel that got thrown into the eastern Mediterranean began this ripple effect, didn't it? This ripple effect. And here we are 2,000 years later in Cincinnati, Ohio. And we are the spiritual descendants of this movement that began in Acts chapter 13. We are the spiritual descendants of what started in that church in Antioch. Now you realize the significance of what the Holy Spirit has done. Jesus said, when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, I will make you my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and the end of the earth. God used this church that probably had pretty humble beginnings, as initiators of a movement that continues on to this day. So, one more question, friends. How does the story of this sending church, the sending church of Antioch, impact the Bible chapel of Delhi Hills, or Christ's Covenant Church of Winona Lake, Indiana? How does that impact us? I think there's lessons to learn. One is, I think as local churches, we should realize that we need to cultivate a passion for Christ and a passion to make Christ known. We talked about that in our adult Sunday school class. To cultivate a passion for the gospel of Jesus Christ. That we, ask the Lord to work in our hearts in such significant ways, giving us the eyes of Christ, the heart of Christ, that we're talking to the coming generations about Jesus Christ in such a way that they value him and that he uses our church, not just for a year or two, but multiple generations to be churches that are passionate about sending the gospel around the world. So we look at Antioch and we say, Lord, make us. A church that demonstrates a Christ-centered, globally-focused culture. That the kids that grow up in our church should grow up with this idea that we're all about pursuing Christ, knowing Christ, and making Him known. I think we read the account here in Acts 13, and we need to say, Lord, make us a praying church. John Piper said something that was so good, I thought I'd just quote it for you here. Piper once preached this at Bethlehem. Because of a prayer meeting, the Spirit speaks. Because the Spirit speaks, apostles are sent. Because apostles are sent, churches are planted. Because churches are planted, missionaries are sent. Because missionaries are sent, the world is reached. It started in a prayer meeting. And so we ought to be praying churches The church here in Dale High Hills is a praying church, to be a praying church, to see that growing, for our church to be a praying church. But not only are we a praying church saying, Lord, use us for your glory, help us to spread the gospel of your son, but then to listen. How often do I pray and then I don't listen? To listen, what is the spirit doing? Is he prompting in certain ways? Is he leading in certain ways? Is he opening doors in certain ways? So are we listening to what the spirit's doing and answering our prayers? And then to deploy. And it's not easy to send out, as we say, the creme de la creme. Or in English, we say the cream of the crop. It's not easy to send the cream of the crop. I know a few of you here are acquainted with one of my former co-pastors, Steve Henry. Steve and I served together for 14 years. And there was a season in our church life where we were the only two vocational pastors in our church. And he was our missions pastor at that time, among other things. We both carried more responsibilities back in those days. We weren't as focused. And I can still, I can see it in my mind's eye. I can see Steve walking into my office one day and say, Larry, I really think God wants me on the mission field. And I'm thinking, humanly, but you're my right hand man, Steve. I mean, this church depends on you, Steve. Are you serious? And guess what we did? We sent him to the mission field. And he continues to serve to this day, now coaching another generation of missionaries, including a niece of ours and her husband. It's a ripple effect. I don't know what the Lord's going to do here at Doha Hills. I don't know what he's going to do at our church in the coming years. But don't be surprised if he says, I want your son. I want your daughter. I want this leader. I want this family in your church that's so precious to you. And then when the Spirit's leading in that way as a church, so you don't say, well, you know what, Lord? No, no, no, no, no, no, not my son, not my daughter, not my grandkids, not that leader, not that dearly loved family. But we say it's a sacrifice to send off some of our most loved. But the value of Jesus Christ is greater than our preference. The value of seeing Christ known exceeds our comfort. And if the Lord is moving in our church that way, Lord, we will deploy them, we will send them. And then as they are sent to hold the rope, that's an active thing. It's not a passive thing. You hold the rope. You send people from your assembly. You say, how can I hold that rope through my prayers? And it might mean that you read all the missionary letters. And I get so many these days that I have to just stop and pray right then before I move on to the next email, you know. Or I might forget. If I say I'll get that later, I might not. But you're reading those letters, and you're praying. You're holding the rope through prayer. You're looking at your budget, and you say, you know what? Could we bump up our giving? Because there's needs here. There's needs there. And you're thinking, you know what? I could write a letter. I could write an email encouraging them. They're back for a visit. You say, do you need a place to stay? Do you need to borrow a car? What do you need to supply your place while you're here? And you're thinking actively. as someone who's part of that 96%, as it were, how do you want to use me to hold the rope, Lord? How do you want to use us to hold the rope? And for those of you raising families, your kids grew up seeing that, that we're all about holding the rope. Are you ready, Bible Chapel, to hold the rope? Let me pray for you. Heavenly Father, we thank you again for your word. You could have left us in the dark, but you wanted us to know you. You wanted us to know ourselves. You wanted us to know how to be right with you through your son, Jesus Christ. And Lord, help us as we read your word that your spirit might take it and apply it in very practical, functional ways, not just in us as individuals, but in us as churches. And that your gospel would go out in powerful ways in the coming years, in the coming generations, until that day you come back. So come, glorify yourself at the Bible Chapel at Delhi Hills. Glorify yourself at Christ's Covenant Church of Winona Lake. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.