Well, good morning. I bring you greetings from Emmanuel Baptist Church in Midtown Sacramento. Gotten to know your pastor a little bit through the fraternal, and so we're sorry that he's sick, but appreciate the opportunity to bring you God's word this morning. It will help you. to follow along if you have your scriptures open to Acts chapter 13. Acts chapter 13, and before, I know it's your practice to stand for the reading of the word. Before you stand, let me just remind you, when we compare Acts chapter one with Luke chapter one, and we try to understand what the whole purpose of both Luke and Acts are, we see that Luke made this point about writing to give certainty. to give confidence. And this was about, in Luke, it was about all that Jesus began to do in his life, his death, his resurrection, his teaching, his ministry. And so Acts follows up on the gospel of Luke to teach all that Jesus continues to do. from his reigning heavenly throne as king. And so the book of Acts we could summarize in this way. We should be confident King Jesus is expanding his kingdom and he's doing that by establishing churches here in this age. So as it's your practice, please stand for the reading of God's word if you're able. Acts chapter 13. 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, 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. So being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews, and they had John to assist them. When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But Elimas, the magician, for that is the meaning of his name, opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time. Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. Then the proconsul believed when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord. Verse 13. Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem. But they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. After the reading from the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them saying, brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it. So Paul stood up and motioning with his hand said, men of Israel and you who fear God, listen. The God of this people, Israel, chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt. And with uplifted arm, he led them out of it. And for about 40 years, he put up with them in the wilderness. And after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance. All this took about 450 years. After that, he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for 40 years. When he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, I have found in David the son of Jesse, a man after my heart, who will do all my will. Of this man's offspring, God has brought to Israel a savior, Jesus, as he promised. Before his coming, John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as John was finishing his course, he said, what do you suppose that I am? I am not he, no, but behold, after me one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie. Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation. For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, they fulfilled them by condemning him. And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he appeared to those who had come with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us, their children, by raising Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, you are my son, today I have begotten you. And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way, I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David. And therefore he says also in another psalm, you will not let your holy ones see corruption. For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption, but he whom God raised up did not see corruption. Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. And by him, everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. Beware, therefore, lest what is said in the prophets should come about. Look, you scoffers, be astounded and perish, for I am doing a work in your days, a work that you would not believe, even if one tells it to you. As they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath. And after the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who, as they spoke with them, urged them to continue in the grace of God. The next Sabbath, almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him. Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, it was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you, since you thrusted aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life. Behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth. And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord. And as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region. But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium, and the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. Friends, God has spoken to us in his word. Let's respond to him in prayer. Father, we ask that you would now send your spirit, that we might see your son working even now from his heavenly throne. We ask that you would illuminate our minds and stir our affections and align our wills and give us confidence in your word and in your spirit to establish and strengthen churches. And we ask that you would do this and grant us joy in being fellow workers for the truth. We ask in Christ's name for his sake, amen. You may be seated. Before we get into Acts 13, let me catch you up on where Acts 1 to 12 has been. Let me, in fact, catechize you, if you will, let me for a moment, not your Westminster standard catechism, but just a few questions about the book of Acts. Question one, why did the Spirit write and preserve Acts? So if you could sit down this afternoon and read the entire book of Acts, how would you answer that question? Why did the Spirit write and preserve Acts? I think it's this, I think it's to give the church confidence that King Jesus is on his throne, and he's expanding his kingdom. I mean, just think back to chapter one in the book of Acts, where in verse three, Jesus is said to present himself alive after his resurrection, after his sufferings, by many proofs, and he appeared to his disciples for 40 days, and what did he teach for 40 days? kingdom of God. And then in verse 6 it is the kingdom that the apostles want to know is this what you are going to restore now? Are you going to restore the kingdom? And the entire book of Acts closes in chapter 28 verse 31 with Paul in Rome for two years. And what does he teach for two years? Well many things but it is summarized as proclaiming the kingdom. Well, let me ask you this question then. How exactly is Jesus expanding his kingdom in this age? Well, he answers that question when the disciples wanna know, are you restoring the kingdom now? He gives them this promise in verse eight that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon them. And what were they to do with that Holy Spirit power? They were to be his witnesses from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the end of the earth. You see, so King Jesus is on his heavenly throne, he's still king, he's still expanding his kingdom in this age, and he's doing it by establishing and strengthening churches. The means that he does that, in fact, is the progress of the word, and we'll think more about that this morning in Acts chapter 13. In fact, you can track the progress of the word of God spreading, expanding, multiplying disciples in the book of Acts. There's these summary statements in so many chapters, chapter six, chapter nine, chapter 12, our own chapter 13, chapter 16, chapter 19, chapter 28. You get these glimpses of summaries that the word keeps spreading. that promise that Jesus gave in chapter one is happening. He's fulfilling his promises. The word of God is spreading and it's accomplishing his purposes. Well, final question. How exactly does the kingdom and church relate in the purpose of acts? You remember in Mark chapter one, Jesus says, the kingdom has come near. Repent and believe in the gospel. You see, so as Jesus' servants spread the word of God, the Spirit descends and saves the people of God, churches are born, and the kingdom of God just keeps expanding, visibly. The churches make God's rule visible. It is our lives being transformed in the image of God, in the redeemed image bearers of Him conformed to the image of Christ. It is our words as we speak the word of God to one another that God's kingdom, His visible rule, His audible rule is made known and proclaimed in this age. In other words, Jesus' kingship is seen and heard in this age primarily, not exclusively, but primarily in and through local churches. Well, that's a bit of the big picture of Acts. Let me catch you up on what's been unfolding in Acts 1 through 12. I mentioned that Acts chapter one verse eight is sort of a guide. Jesus gives this promise that the spirit would come and descend and embolden and empower his disciples to spread the word from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the end of the earth. And so the first six chapters of Acts What's happening? Well, the authorized apostles are establishing the church in Jerusalem. And then starting in chapter six through chapter eight, that word spreads out of Jerusalem into Samaria. We have this geographical movement. The beginning, the foundation of the church is in Jerusalem. This is exactly what Ephesians 2.20 tells us. The church is established on the ministry of the apostles and prophets. And so it starts to move in Acts 6 through 8 out of Jerusalem into Samaria, and then Acts 9, this conversion of Saul, the so-called apostle to the Gentiles. Now, starting in Acts 9, right after Paul's conversion, we have Jesus launching his last apostle, the last authorized apostle to launch the Great Commission, the Gentile part of the Great Commission. And so Acts chapter 10, all the way to the end of the book, is tracking the Spirit's work of spreading the word to the Gentiles. In Acts 11, we're reminded that there's this persecution in Jerusalem. The believers flee north to Antioch. In Acts 12, King Herod kills the apostle James and puts Peter in prison. So now we're down two apostles. And why is it then that we open here in Acts 13 with a list of all these prophets and teachers? This young church gifted with this plurality of ministers, of teachers, of prophets. You see what's happening in Acts 13 by noting several prophets and teachers in Antioch is that when, you remember when Judas died? And what did the apostles say? They quoted Psalm 109 and said, we must replace him. We need another apostle. But why is it that in Acts 11 and 12, when Herod dies, I'm sorry, when Herod puts James to death, why is it there's no replacement for James? Friends, this book, this chapter of Acts is part of this transition. out of the apostolic age into what we might call the missionary age of the Great Commission. Yes, Paul is also an apostle, but now Barnabas is added to his team, and even John Mark, and they will be sent to Gentile territory. You see Acts 13 transitions us out of the apostolic age, still of the great commission, into this missionary age. You remember in Matthew 28 when Jesus commanded all authority in heaven and earth is his, and he said in Matthew 16 that he made this promise, I will build my church. And he gives this great commission, this command, to His apostles, which they then pass on to elders of local churches, to missionaries, to keep spreading the Word. You see, so let me just summarize. Acts 1 through 12 shows us how King Jesus founded His church on the apostles. But starting in Acts 13, we begin to see how Jesus expands his church by using missionaries. In other words, the great commission after the apostolic age is carried on by churches that are led by pastors, by elders, and these churches send out spirit-empowered missionaries to spread the word. And in this way, King Jesus is expanding his kingdom. And this should give us confidence. It should give us joy. Whatever else we see going on in the culture, in the world, that makes us feel hopeless, this is the main point this morning. If you just wanna meditate on one simple point of Acts 13, it's this. Be confident the Spirit establishes churches. Be confident the Spirit establishes churches. And what we're gonna do is we're just gonna unpack four essentials for how the Spirit establishes churches. These four essentials should have this effect of giving us certainty. giving us confidence in the very word of God that he is accomplishing his purposes and even hell cannot prevail against him. So first, be confident. The spirit establishes churches by sending servants, by sending servants. Look at the first four verses. In verse two, the Spirit directs the church and says, set them apart for this work, this work to which the Spirit has called them. And then in verse four, it's the Spirit that is identified as the very agent who sends the missionaries. But whatever other participation the church plays in affirming and sending them, it is first and foremost the Spirit of God that is at work to raise up people for God's work. I mean, this is exactly what we see in Matthew 9. Pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. It is the work of God first and foremost. It is the Spirit of God first and foremost. So let's just observe a few characteristics about these first missionaries. We're mainly gonna be looking at the first 14 verses just to think about these first missionaries that the church in Antioch sends out. First, these missionaries are not rookies, they're seasoned servants. By this time, Paul had between 12 and 15 years of ministry experience. By this time, Barnabas had a decade of ministry experience. You remember back in chapter 11 when the church, there's this persecution and, I'm sorry, in chapter 11, it's outlined for us that because of the persecution and because of the believers landing in Antioch, that the church in Jerusalem says, well, we need to see what's going on here. So they send Barnabas, this encourager, this gifted exhorter, this gifted preacher. Barnabas, go down and check out what's happening in Antioch. Encourage the saints there. He goes, he sees the work of God, he's preaching the word of God, and the church keeps growing. So he goes and recruits Paul. In fact, when Barnabas goes to Antioch, the first time from Jerusalem, he doesn't even go by himself. He takes John Mark with him. And then these servants are not only seasoned, but they're spirit filled. Look at verse nine. It says that they were filled with the spirit. Paul himself is filled with the spirit to do what? To confront this magician, this false prophet. The same language is said about Barnabas back in chapter 11. Barnabas was a man, a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith. You know, when you and I think about filling something up, if I told you to fill up my cup with water and it was just over the brim where that bubble's about to spill out, and I said, no, no, please fill it, you'd look at me like I was crazy. It's full, if I pour any more, it's just gonna overflow. But that's not how scripture talks about the filling of the spirit. In this way, the filling of the Spirit is not for regeneration, it's for this task of the Great Commission. We need to constantly be filled again and again and again with the Spirit of God. In verse eight of chapter one, we already thought about this, when Jesus said, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you to be my witnesses to the ends of the earth. You remember in Acts chapter four when Peter and John were released, but they were warned, don't speak to anyone anymore about this name Jesus. And what were the believers doing? The believers were praying Psalm two and asking God for boldness to speak his word about Jesus. And so in Acts 4, verse 31, no sooner had the believer said amen to that prayer, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and what did they do? They continued to speak the word of God with boldness. These were bold men who were filled with the Spirit. Friends, missionaries are not perfect Christians, but like pastors, they must be exemplary Christians. They must be filled with the Spirit, because new Christians on the mission field will both hear what is coming from the mouth of missionaries, but see what is in their lives. This is why Paul told Timothy, keep a close watch on yourself and on your teaching. Well, not only are these first missionaries Spirit-filled and seasoned servants, they also serve together on teams. You know, back in chapter 11, when a great number in Antioch believed and turned to the Lord, and Jerusalem hears about this and sends Barnabas, he brings John with him, John Mark. He sees God's grace, he exhorts them, the church grows more. He goes, and we learn this in 11.25, he goes and recruits Paul. And then now look at verse 13, the first few verses again. Notice this list of prophets and teachers. We have Simeon and Lucius. These are brothers from Africa. We have Paul and Barnabas who are Greek-speaking of Jewish descent. We have Manan who's a noble of Jewish roots, maybe even serving in politics because of his relation with Herod. There's this whole diverse team of leaders in the church. And it's Antioch, this young, young church that the Spirit selects to kickstart the Gentile mission to Europe. It's Antioch, these two missionaries, Paul and Barnabas, and notice verse five. Look down at verse five, they take John Mark with them, even though the Spirit calls Paul and Barnabas particularly, they're gonna take another apprentice with them, someone else to train, someone else to invest in, someone else to give experience in this work. Of course, we learn later that Paul and Barnabas disagree over John Mark, so Barnabas takes John Mark with him, and Paul recruits Silas, he recruits Timothy, he recruits Luke, who's writing this. Why am I making this point? Because there's over 100 names connected with Paul in the epistles and acts, and 38 of them he calls his co-workers, his fellow workers. You see, friends, there's an application here for us. for each member of the church. Paul was regularly identifying, recruiting, training, and serving with others. Paul identified men like Timothy and Titus. He invested in them. He sent them to strengthen the church in Ephesus and in Crete. And we all have the privilege of identifying God's grace in each other's lives. We might think, oh, well, it's just the pastors who recognize and ordain and affirm new missionaries, new pastors, new elders. Yes, but it's us as just normal members of the local church who first see the Spirit of God working in one another, loving one another. Those gifts from the Spirit working are recognized by other fellow members and affirmed and encouraged. We all have this privilege and responsibility. Well, not only are these missionaries filled by the Spirit and serving on teams, they're also scripture servants. Look at verse nine again. When Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit, what did he actually do in verse nine? We get caught up in this kind of curse that happens upon the false magician, the false prophet, this wicked man. But notice what Paul actually does with this filling of the Spirit. He just speaks words. He has the power of speaking the word of God. And notice in verse 10, look at the actual words that Paul speaks in verse 10. You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness. He talks about making the straight paths of the Lord crooked. That is language straight out of Proverbs 10 and Hosea 14. Here's a limus, this, who's opposing the teaching, and Paul takes language from the Old Testament and prophetically speaks against. He's using scriptural language. Paul's spirit-given power, as throughout the whole book of Acts, is the power to speak the word. Well, these missionaries were not just scripture servants and seasoned and spirit-filled and serving together on teams, but they were also sent geographically. They were sent abroad. We notice this in verses four through six. Multiple times it says they were sent. It says they sailed twice, they traveled by land. In verses 13 and 14, again, it talks about their geographic movement. I know it's common today where people wanna say we're all missionaries. We need to be on mission and we're missional. And we can understand that language. We need to be faithful evangelists. We need to be faithful in our local churches. But the English words mission and missionary have to do with geographic movement. It's this sending to another place, another country, another language. You see, Paul traveled almost 9,000 miles on foot. That's like walking across the U.S. almost three times. If we add his other means of travel, he traveled almost 15,000 miles. You remember in 2 Corinthians 10 when Paul says, we were the first to come all the way to you, Corinth, with the gospel. He goes on to say, our hope is that Corinth, as your faith increases, our area, our geographic area of influence may be greatly enlarged so that we may preach the gospel in lands beyond you. See what he's doing in 2 Corinthians 10? He's saying, as Corinth, this new geographical place that the gospel has come, as Corinth, as the church in Corinth matures in faith, that they will then help send the gospel even further afield to a new geography. And this is what we see in the book of Acts. The first journey in Acts 13 is more evangelistic, but as we come to the end of the first journey, we learn that the second journey is more church strengthening, more discipling. Paul says, let's go back to the brothers and strengthen them, encourage them, establish them. So friends, I just wanna encourage you, if you're, I would say if you're under 40, but let me say if you're under 56, that's a random number. Just this week I was reading about the Southern Presbyterians in the 1800s who sent a 56 year old woman to Congo, Africa, to serve as a missionary. So if you're under 56, pray. If you're not a member of a local church, join a good local church. Consider thinking about serving as a missionary. You know, it was 18 years ago that I began training for missions work. I came to faith in my early teens, but it's been 25 plus years that I've been thinking and praying if the Lord might give opportunity to serve as a missionary, but it's been the last 18, starting in 2003, that I began actively training and getting the education needed to serve as a Bible translator. 18 years. Maybe it will take 10 or 15 or 20 years for you to be thinking, to be praying, to be trained, to be equipped, to be affirmed, to be educated, all that comes with sending a missionary. But so what? Then you have 10 or 20 years to serve the Lord abroad. Begin praying, identifying God's grace in one another's lives who might, maybe the Lord would even raise up someone from this congregation to serve abroad. Well, this has all been part of this first point, that the Spirit is establishing churches by sending servants, by sending servants. Second, second, be confident. The Spirit establishes churches from churches, from churches. At first, we're told that it's the Spirit who sets them aside, who identifies them, but then we're told that the church participates in this. Look at verse three. They, that is the church, sent them off. And later again, the same thing is said in Acts 14, that Antioch had commended them for the work. This work of identifying, of affirming, of commending, of sending, of supporting a missionary is the work of the church. In Acts 11, even backing up before Antioch's happening, Jerusalem sends Barnabas down to help this young church in Antioch. And then this young church in Antioch is now used to send the gospel further abroad. I mean, Antioch is 300 miles north of Jerusalem, so Antioch's a great place to reach Europe. It's a great place to be a new mission-sending base, as the missionaries of old used to call it, a mission station, a place from which you can reach out into neighboring languages and tribes and peoples and nations for the progress of the gospel. You see, look again at verse two where the church was busy worshiping the Lord and fasting. Verse three, and after fasting and praying, they affirmed and sent the missionaries off. You know, we're not told exactly how this happened. We're not told how the Spirit communicated to the church. It doesn't say a voice came from heaven like at Jesus' baptism. It just simply doesn't say that. It doesn't even say that Jesus visibly appeared and spoke audibly like happened in Acts 9 with Saul's conversion. No, it just talks about the Spirit confirming, affirming, the Spirit somehow convinces the church in Antioch that Paul and Barnabas are to be sent off as missionaries. Likely it was through one of the many prophets listed in verse one. That was the work of prophets to receive divine revelation from God and then communicate it to the churches until all of revelation could be inscripturated. And this is the only direct imperative that we even see the Spirit give to a church in Acts. This is the Spirit directing the mind of the congregation to affirm these two missionaries. It's a unique moment in redemptive history where the Spirit launches the church's mission to the nations from this young church. Don't miss the point of these first few verses. I know we've been belaboring over these first few verses, but it's Paul and Barnabas, these experienced missionaries who are affirmed and sent by a young church. Acts shows us that it is churches who send missionaries to plant and strengthen churches. We all get to participate. Some of us go and the rest of us stay and send and labor on this side, supporting them financially and in prayer and with spiritual oversight. We have the same Great Commission. We have the same promise from Jesus. We have the same Spirit. But now we have the full canon of all of God's written word as our instruction manual on how to do this, on how to participate as fellow workers in the truth. So first, we should be confident that the Spirit is establishing churches by sending servants. Second, we should be confident that the Spirit is establishing churches through churches Third, and this will be the longest point. Third, we should be confident. The Spirit is establishing churches through the written word spoken. Through the written word spoken. Look at verse 15. What we're gonna do is just, I'm gonna highlight very briefly the content of Paul's sermon. Starting in verse 16, all the way through 47, we have the only recorded sermon by Paul in the book of Acts where he's in a synagogue. And we know Luke does not like to waste words, so if Luke takes the time to record a sermon, we can have a generally safe conclusion that Luke wants us to understand this is probably Paul's standard outline. If Paul goes into a synagogue, this is what he's gonna preach. Something very similar to this. In fact, when you take this sermon and you match it against Peter's sermon in Acts 2, It's very similar in terms of the outline. It's very similar in fact to 1 Corinthians 15 when Paul describes that Jesus died, he was buried, he was raised, he appeared and so we preach and so you believe. That great gospel summary in 1 Corinthians 15 is the summary that we see Paul expand on and delineate here in Acts 13. So let me just summarize first briefly the content and then I wanna spend more time thinking about the medium of the message instead of the content of the message. First, what is the content of the message? It's really five parts. God sent him, they killed him, God raised him, witnesses saw him, we proclaim him. This is the five-part gospel summary that Paul explains in Acts 13, again, very similar to Peter's sermon in Acts 2. First, God sent him, and then more or less explanation of who it is that God has sent, the promised Savior King. So first, God sent him, they killed him, or in Peter's case, he was speaking to the actual people, so he said, you killed him. God sent him, they killed him, God raised him. Witnesses saw him. and we proclaim Him. And then this call, so turn from your sin, trust in Him. Friends, this is the Gospel. What Paul unpacks here by summarizing whole portions of Israel's history and quoting the Psalms and quoting Scriptures, this is the Gospel. This is the Gospel that we believe as Christians. And friends, if you're here this morning and you're not a Christian, this is what we hope you will believe. This is why we hope you will entrust yourself to to the Lord Jesus Christ, that God himself is our holy creator, and he's our judge, and he made us in his image to love him and to worship him. He made us in his image to have joy in him, but we've rebelled against him, we've rejected him. We don't love him like we should. We don't follow his commands, even though his commands are good for us. This morning we read the commands to one another. We heard those commands. We've all rebelled, we've rejected Him, and yet God in His kindness and His love came, He sent His Son, Jesus, the Christ, the promised Messiah, the promised King, fully God and fully man. The one who takes upon Himself sins, who acts as a substitute for sinners. The one who lived a perfect life, always obeying God's law, always loving the Father. the one who died in place of sinners and who was raised triumphantly from the grave, taking upon himself the sins of those who trust in him, of those who turn from their rebellion against him. This is the gospel that we believe, this is the gospel that ensures our forgiveness and our right standing before the Father at judgment day. This is what we preach, this is what we believe, this is what the scriptures teach us. And friends, it's this broad outline that I've just summarized. I wanna now focus our thoughts on the medium. How is it that we have the gospel? How is it that we have the truth? What is the medium that God has chosen? In other words, the form that God has chosen to preserve and protect this message, this gospel, this truth? It's the written word. It's the written word spoken. It's not drama, it's not video, it's not even oral memorization to pass on a few bits and trues of scripture. No, it's written scripture, proclaimed, memorized and summarized and proclaimed. We see this in the fact that the Spirit is directing Luke to write down this message that you and I are benefiting in reading today. I just want us to go very quickly through this sermon and notice the emphasis on the written word spoken throughout this passage. All the way back, starting in verse two, the Spirit is speaking to the church and Luke is recording it in writing. Luke's not just saying, well, I'm gonna memorize a little bit of this, and then I'll pass it on to my disciples, and then they'll pass it on to their disciples, and then that happens for 2,000 years. No, Luke writes it down. And in verse five, when they taught God's word in the synagogues, what did they preach? They preached the written word. When the false prophet Elimas opposes them, what is he opposing? He's opposing the teaching of the written word. In verse 10, when Paul rebukes Elimas, what does he rebuke him with? I mentioned earlier, from Proverbs 10 and Hosea 14. And when the proconsul was astonished, what is it he was astonished at? The teaching of the word. In verses 14 and 15, Paul and Barnabas go into a synagogue and what happens in a synagogue? The word, the written word is read aloud and then they're invited to teach, to give a message. So Paul stands up in verse 16 and we get this sermon where Paul preaches the Old Testament written word. He tells them, listen to his teaching. So he's now orally gonna proclaim what is preserved in writing. In verse 16, sorry, in verse 26, Paul says, this message of salvation has been sent to us. Well, how was the message of salvation sent? In the written word. It was recorded in the written word. I mean, yes, first God proclaimed to his prophets in the Old Testament, and yet they wrote it down. And God even took his own initiative in the Ten Commandments to write them himself. Writing is very important to God. In verse 27, we're told that the utterances or the spoken words of the prophets are read every Sabbath in the synagogues. And in verse 29, Paul preaches the events of Jesus. What does Jesus fulfill in verse 29? The written word, those promises recorded and preserved in writing. In verse 32, Paul says, we bring you the good news that God promised. Are you getting the point? Where was that promised? It was recorded in writing in the Old Testament law and prophets and writings and Psalms. In verse 33 it says that Jesus has fulfilled what is written and then he goes on to quote Psalm 2. In verse 34 he quotes Isaiah 55. In verse 35 he quotes Psalm 16. You see, friends, as he comes to verse 40, Paul warns his listeners, and he says, what is said in the prophets, listen to them. In verse 41, he quotes Habakkuk 1. And besides direct quotes, Paul summarizes whole portions of written scripture. What God was doing with Israel. What God was doing in raising up kings, and the final king, this descendant of David, Jesus, the Messiah King. And in verse 44, the whole city, almost the whole city gathers to hear what? To hear the word taught. This word that's now being written itself, this new revelation, new covenant revelation. In verse 46, it says, we are turning to the Gentiles to preach the written word. And what is Paul's justification for going to the Gentiles? Look at verse 47. He quotes Isaiah 49, which we tend to think of as the promise of the servant, the true Israelite, Jesus. And yet Paul takes that and says, we're part of the Lord Jesus Christ's commission. He quotes Isaiah 49 and says, this is our justification for going to the Gentiles. And in verse 48, what do the Gentiles do? They rejoice, and what do they glorify? Look at verse 48. They rejoice and glorify the word. In verse 49, we get another progress report, that the word is spreading throughout the whole region. See friends, let me summarize this point I've been belaboring by just walking very briefly through that. Churches need to send missionaries to translate the written word as part of the Great Commission. New disciples need the word to be established as a church. I mean, it's embedded in the very Great Commission of the Lord. Go make disciples of all nations, baptizing and teaching them to observe what I have commanded you. New disciples need to hear the word. They may not even be able to read. But someone has to go and read it to them. Proclaim it to them. Help them sing the word, pray the word, and practice the ordinances. New disciples need the word. And Paul says we need the word in evangelism. He says in 1 Corinthians 1, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save. God's chosen means of saving sinners is taking the written word and orally proclaiming it. And Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10, these things happened in the Old Testament as an example, but they were written down for our instruction. So both for evangelism and discipleship, we need the written word of God translated into the languages of the world where God is saving and sanctifying a people for himself. And you guys know this, this is nothing new. This is in your own confession, chapter one, paragraph one. It's in our confession in Emmanuel as well. The second London and Westminster standards have the exact same language. In chapter one, this is a modernized English version, but you'll hear all the phrases from Westminster standards. To preserve and propagate the truth better and to establish and comfort the church with greater certainty, against the corruption of the flesh and the malice of Satan in the world. The Lord put this revelation completely in writing. Therefore, the holy scriptures are absolutely necessary because God's former ways of revealing his will to his people have now ceased. Friends, what if God's money and God's people and God's time were spent on God's strategy? Sending servants with the written word translated and spoken or sign language. And this is also what your confession and ours says in the same chapter, chapter one, paragraph eight. Not all of God's people know these original languages, the original languages of scripture, Greek, Aramaic, Hebrew. Not all of God's people know these languages, so the scriptures are to be translated into the common language of every nation to which they come. In this way the word of God may dwell richly in all so that they may worship him in an acceptable manner and through patience and the comfort of the scriptures may have hope. And yet here we are, 7,387 languages in the world, and only 710 have a Bible translation. If you're doing the math, that's less than 10% of the world's languages have scripture in the language that they best understand. Friends, I'm not saying that we're all called to go. Some go, but according to Romans 10, the rest of us are good senders. It might be a good question at lunch to talk about how we're honoring God and being good senders. If we're affirming God's grace in each other's lives, thinking about who might be the next that we could send. If we're sending and supporting good works that are helping to do biblical missions. Paul said in Romans 15, I make it my ambition to preach the gospel. And then he quotes Isaiah 52. Because it is written, those who have never heard will understand. So I just want to ask you, what is your ambition? Maybe you're five or 15 or 55. What is your ambition for the Lord? To be a more faithful disciple? Yes, of course. As a mother, as a father, as a brother, as a sister. Whatever your role, whatever your job, your responsibility in family and in life and society. Yes, we want to be faithful disciples in those ways, but also what are our ambitions primarily, especially for the Lord and for the progress of his word in the world and part of the Great Commission? Well, we've seen three essentials for establishing churches. First, the Spirit uses churches to send servants to speak the written word. Fourth, this will be very brief. We should be confident the Spirit establishes churches by saving sinners. The Spirit establishes churches by saving sinners. Our confidence is in God the Spirit. It is God the Spirit who establishes churches. It is God the Spirit who saves sinners. Look at verses 48 to 52, just the final verses of Acts 13. In verse 48, as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. That is the work of the Spirit. We have a way to participate in that by sending missionaries to translate and preach the word, to establish churches, but it has to be the Spirit of God who grants faith and repentance. And in verse 52, that's exactly what happens. God the Spirit grants faith. Listen to the way, again, the confession articulates this. It's in chapter 14 of your confession, paragraph one. The grace of faith by which the elect are enabled to believe so that their souls are saved is the work of the Spirit of Christ in their hearts. Faith is ordinarily produced by the ministry of the word. This is what we believe, friends. Our task is to obey what he's given us. to be faithful members of a local church, to preach, to pray, to disciple, and to send those who will go to new languages, new people groups, new nations. Well, we've looked at four essentials that give us confidence that King Jesus is on his throne, he's expanding his kingdom through the spirit-establishing churches. What I wanna do is I wanna close with this brief story of Ann Robertson from the 1800s. This comes from a book called Her Story, I commend it to you, it's a great devotional. Her Story by Diana Severance. And it's, each day is just one page. Throughout church history, one page a day, and it covers women of faith in all of church history. Women who've been faithful mothers and missionaries and Bible translators, just godly women. It's a wonderful devotional, it's called Her Story. This is about Ann Robertson. From her father, Anne had the conviction that the Native Americans needed to have the Bible in their native language. In Georgia, her father had begun translating the Bible into Cherokee. He wrote a Cherokee grammar. But her father's translation work and the grammar and the printing press were all lost when the boat carrying them and their possessions sank in the Arkansas River. Anne knew that the loss of this translation meant much to her father. The press was recovered, and they eventually established the first printing press in Oklahoma. When Anne was 15, she was sent to an academy in Vermont for her education. She became proficient in Greek and Latin. In 1846, Anne returned to help her parents in Park Hill, the mission station. And in 1850, Anne married William Robertson, a Presbyterian minister and teacher. And they moved to the Tullahassee Mission near present day Muskogee, Oklahoma. The couple had four children while at the Tullahassee Mission. And Anne learned the Muskogee language, spoken by the Creek and Seminole Indians. And she helped in all aspects of the mission. With her husband, she oversaw the boarding school with 100 students. Listen to this last part. Anne was often ill. She was sick. But she used those periods of forced inactivity to study the Greek language. With her husband, she translated a number of school books, hymnals, Christian tracts, but her real delight was translating the Bible from the Greek. The first edition of the New Testament in Muskogee was printed in 1887, and she continued biblical translation work, translating the Psalms, the historical books. She revised the New Testament five times before she died in 1905. Her labors provided the words of life to the Creek and Seminole Native Americans.