Acts 13:1-12

Continuing in our mission's emphasis for this

month, we are going to be this morning in the

book of Acts chapter 13 specifically. If you

Acts 13 · chapter mention

get a copy of the scriptures and you'd like to

follow along there in Acts 13, we'll be looking

at the beginning of the book. This was a book

that was written by Luke. the same author of

the Gospel of Luke. He was a physician. He was

a careful historian. He was a master in the Greek

language, which certainly helped as he wrote

this book. It had quite a following and was able

to reach many. He was the only Gentile author

of the Bible, interestingly enough. He was a

companion of Paul on many missionary journeys.

This book was written likely in the early 60s

AD. We end chapter 12 with slightly little context

so we understand how we got here to chapter 13.

As we end chapter 12 of the book of Acts, we

see two important events set the stage for this

next chapter of the book. First, King Herod,

who had persecuted the church, was struck down

by God for pride and opposition to the gospel.

His death signaled that earthly rulers who opposed

God would not stop his mission. Secondly, we

see the Word of God continues to spread and grow

despite persecution. Barnabas and Saul, we find

at the end of chapter 12, return from Jerusalem.

They bring John Mark with them. And these closing

verses of chapter 12 prepare us for a new chapter

in church history that we will unveil here in

chapter 13, which is the intentional launching

of missionary work to the Gentile world. This

book of Acts was written to show how the message

of Christ spread from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria

to the uttermost parts of the world. That's Acts

1 .8. It highlights the work of the Spirit, empowering

ordinary believers to take part in God's work.

In fact, we see the first half of Acts primarily

focusing on Peter, the church at Jerusalem, some

Gentile work through Peter and through Philip,

and then the second half of the book mainly focusing

upon Paul and his Gentile missionary journeys.

This is a real turning point here in Acts 13.

We see a few main points we want to look at this

morning, the role of the church as we see this

movement of the gospel, the immediate spiritual

battle, and then the power of the Holy Spirit.

So let's start in verse 1 here, the role of the

church, verse 1. The text says, Now in the church

that was at Antioch there were certain prophets

and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon, who was called

Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manan, who had been

brought up with Herod the Tetrarch, and... So

to study the Acts of the Apostles is to study

the continuing ministry of Jesus Christ. The

events recorded in the book of Acts here are

the ascended... works as Christ has ascended

the disciples here on earth, we see the gospel

begin to be proclaimed, transcending boundaries

and empires and kingships and moving to the other

ends of the earth by the time we get to the end

of the book. We find in this passage the act

of church planning and missionary efforts are

starting in and from the local church. Derek

Thomas would put it this way, the church was

never meant to be idle. The gospel is meant to

be spread to the ends of the earth. And while

the mission to Gentiles is not necessarily new,

you probably remember from earlier chapters in

the book of Acts, there had already been a breakthrough,

if you will, to the Gentiles occur. Philip and

his witness to the Ethiopian eunuch, and then

also Peter as he met with Cornelius there and

the Holy Spirit fell upon them. But the focus

of our text now shifts to the city of Antioch

squarely and off of Jerusalem. is what we see

a shift in the Acts narrative. And what is new

is that we see a local church, for the first

time, was led to see the need for a witness beyond

themselves to the larger world, and they commissioned

missionaries to carry out that task. This church,

Antioch, although not talked about quite as often,

had a very large influence on the expansion of

the gospel. We see the focus moved off of Peter

here and on to Saul and Barnabas and many missionary

workers who had come alongside Paul in his subsequent

journeys. Verse 2, As they ministered to the

Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, Now separate

to me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which

I have called them. Now, I believe this is an

extremely important verse, and it's very significant

that when we read verse 2, we find a church here

at Antioch that had already gathered. They were

already regularly gathering. They were already

worshiping the Lord, and they were already fasting.

This was a church that when they gathered, they

did not gather for entertainment. They did not

gather just for... church attendance. They gathered

to worship. It was intentional. They were fasting.

They were praying. They were seeking God's will.

And what we know about Barnabas and Saul is that

they were not random choices. They were not newcomers.

These were men who had already been doing work

in the ministry. In fact, at the end of chapter

12, we saw they had just returned from Jerusalem.

They were qualified. They were available to teach

and had been in the work for many years. We see

the entire church, most likely here in verse

2, the congregation of Antioch gathered for worship.

But there's a directive here that while they

were worshiping, the Holy Spirit directs this

community of believers to set apart Barnabas

and Saul. Well, we see a church who was worshiping,

they are open to the Lord's leading, and we see

the Spirit of God direct the community in this

way. We see throughout the entire book of Acts,

it is God who took the initiative in every new

development of the Christian witness. But Antioch

was not a random selection of a church to launch

these missionaries out of either. This was a

church who had prepared themselves for the Lord's

work. They were available and they were willing

to do their part. In the labor, they had fasted,

they had prayed, they were seeking divine leading,

and they were anxiously expecting to hear from

God Himself. And we must understand that this

time in the book of Acts, fasting and praying

were an integral part of worship. But this church,

they were deeply burdened about where they should

go, what they should do next in obedience to

the great commission of our Lord Jesus Christ.

They turned to God in prayer. And I love that.

They were burdened. They turned to the Lord in

prayer. And their need, their love for the lost

drove this church to prayer. And then in prayer

drove this church to missions. They had a vision.

They had a desire. Without vision and desire,

we will never see great advances in the cause

of the gospel without first seeing a church on

its knees in prayer before Almighty God asking

the Lord, what is His will? Show us what it is

and empower us, Lord, to do it. It will never

just happen randomly and on our own. We're not

just going to amble into it, but it is intentionally

seeking God's face and His will. Verse 3, Then

having fasted and prayed and laid hands on them,

they sent them away. So the Holy Spirit is impressed

upon them in verse 2 that Barnabas and Saul were

to be set apart for the work of what we would

call today missionary work. The congregation

here in verse 3 responds in faith by first praying

and then laying on of hands. The laying on of

hands is still practiced in the church today.

It is a symbol. Many churches will lay hands

on someone when they are ordained into the ministry,

when they are commissioned into full -time missionary

work. But what does that really mean? What is

the significance and the symbolism of the laying

on of hands? Because it's not something we do

often. There is no actual power in those hands

that conveys anything from one individual to

another, but it does represent the blessing of

God, and it's a rite that dates back to the earliest

times in the Christian community. The reason

for the laying on of hands here with Saul and

Barnabas is that they are about to begin what

we will later call their first missionary journey.

But this did not just happen by chance. This

was nine years after Saul had been converted

on the road to Damascus. As much as David was

prepared in the pasture against a lion and a

bear to eventually go to battle with Goliath,

the Lord had been preparing Saul these nine years

for the work that laid ahead. The church laid

their hands on them as a sign of consecration.

They separated these men out for the task that

the Holy Spirit had given them. They fasted in

accordance with the teachings. of Jesus, and

this fasting changed the course of human history.

From this point forward, Christianity would invade

the heart of the Roman Empire. It would invade

and transform the very capital that even amidst

persecution, it would invade the city of Rome

itself. This gesture of laying on of hands was

more than just a symbol of the congregation's

endorsing of Barnabas and Saul. They were separating

them for the task that the Holy Spirit had called

them to, and they had proven themselves faithful.

They were commissioning them into full -time

missionary work. Now we see a repeated theme

here in the first three verses of this text,

and it is how vital the local church is to missionaries.

not just to support them while they're already

on the field, while that is important, but we

see the first commissioned missionaries here

and that the church of Antioch had gathered to

pray. Why? Because they were burdened for the

loss. They'd already taken up love offerings

and sent that back to Jerusalem and to poor believers

and things like this, but now they're burdened

for the uttermost parts of the world, not just

those churches that were already established.

And they pray and they fast and they ask the

Lord. What he would have them do. And the Holy

Spirit responds by cutting out these two men,

Saul and Barnabas, to full -time missionary work.

That they would carry the gospel literally to

the utter ends of the known world at that time.

We see the faithfulness of this church. We see

their desire. We see their vision. And it imparts

to us that we might be a church here at Mamre

that has a vision. that we would have a desire

for missions, that we would be a praying church,

that we would be a church that looks for the

Holy Spirit to move. May we have our hearts prepared

in a condition that when the Holy Spirit moves

upon us in a certain way, we would respond and

we would react, that we would get behind people

that God has called into particular ministries,

into the mission field, and we would rally behind

them. And friends, may we be a church that is

sending and supporting. God, help us that we

not only get people to the mission field, but

that we then support them after they're there,

more so than just financial giving. Friends,

there are lost souls all over the world, and

I pray that that mission work starts right here

with us in Kitzhill, Ohio, at Mamre Baptist Church.

R .C. Sproul would say this, we can commission

people. But we have no power. We can license

and we can ordain and we can send people on sacred

tasks, but unless the Holy Spirit anoints them,

their labors will be in vain. Let's look at our

second section this morning, the immediate spiritual

battle. We see Saul and Barnabas here going out

in verses 4 -8. So being sent out by the Holy

Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and there

they sailed to Cyprus. And when they had arrived

in Salamis, they preached the word of God in

the synagogues of the Jews, and they had John

Mark as their assistant. Now they had been gone

through the island of Paphos. They found a certain

sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew whose name was

Bar -Jesus, who was with the proconsul, Sergius

Paulus, an intelligent man. And this man called

for Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the

word of God. But Elymas, the sorcerer, for so

his name is translated, withstood them, seeking

to turn the proconsul away from the faith. This

text starts out with some geographical details.

We'll break them down real quickly. Luke tells

us that it was the Holy Spirit that sent these

disciples, Saul and Barnabas, John, Mark, with

them to help on their mission first to Cyprus.

They traveled, they sailed specifically, if you

guys will go to the next slide, about 60 miles

to Cyprus from Seleucia. And when they get there,

they immediately begin to preach to the Jews

in the synagogue. This is a model that Paul would

follow through most of his future missionary

journeys also. He would give the gospel first

to the Jews, and then he would turn to the Gentiles.

But they quickly encounter a false prophet here,

a man whose Jewish name was Bar -Jesus. And he

seemed to hold a very important position. In

the local political structure, he was very close

to the proconsul there. That proconsul, a term

for someone who was an administrator over a Roman

senatorial province. This bar Jesus, we're told

in the text, associated himself with the ruler

of Cyprus. He was present when Sergius Paulus,

the proconsul, who was invited to hear the word

of God. and it had been proclaimed already on

the rather large island of Cyprus. Sometimes

we read about Paul's missionary journeys, and

we read these things like Saul and Barnabas go

to the island of Cyprus, and that doesn't really

resonate with us. We hear that as one place.

The island of Cyprus was quite large. It's almost

150 miles long. It's about 60 miles wide, and

there's about six major cities that would have

been there in the first century A .D. So it's

not like they just hit Cyprus and worked in one

place. They would work their way. through multiple

cities on the island of Cyprus and minister through

there. This Bar -Jesus, it is important. Luke

does describe him here in the Greek as someone

who was a charlatan, someone who was a trickster,

one who claimed false power. His name here written

in the original Greek is written in the derogative

connotation. The Romans, though, did value and

put great power and revere on one who had so

-called powers as Bar -Jesus. claimed to have.

So he had sort of found himself in a position

of political power. Bar -Jesus is a representation

of a common enemy that we see on foreign fields

with missions. They see someone as Saul who is

a potential threat and stood to oppose the teaching

of the Word of God truly at all costs, as we'll

see as we move through the text. Let's look at

our third section this morning. We see the power

and the authority of the Holy Spirit on display.

Let's read verses 9 and 10 together. Then Saul,

who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy

Spirit, looked intently at him and said, O fool

of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil,

you enemy of all righteousness, you will not

cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord.

Two immediate things to notice here in the text.

First, this is the first time in the book of

Acts that we see Saul now referred to as Paul.

Secondly, we see that he is not acting on human

emotion. He is not acting on feeling. He is filled

with the Holy Spirit, and that is so very important

with what he says and what he does. We find Paul

here trying to give the word of God to this Roman

senatorial administrator, Sergius Paulus. He's

interrupted over and over again by this false

prophet who is trying to do everything he could

to impede the presentation of the gospel to this

important political figure. He was trying to

prevent him from having a favorable response

to it. And while it is not uncommon on the mission

field or even on a mission trip to experience

spiritual warfare, it should be expected. Barnabas

and Saul were very new to this, but may I say

it is very dangerous business, as Bar Jesus would

soon find out, to attempt to prevent the going

forth of the gospel. This response that Paul

gives is very direct. It kind of surprises us

a little bit. Paul's letters through the New

Testament, we find someone that generally admonishes

believers to be gentle, kind, patient, long -suffering,

merciful, not always combative in that sense.

He mirrored our Lord who was humble, who was

meek, but... Those in a position of power when

they rose up against our Lord Jesus and began

to resist the truth of God, Jesus called them,

the Pharisees, the children of hell. Whitewashed

sepulchers with an outward veneer of holiness

but inwardly full of dead men's bones. It was

our Lord who tossed temple tables yet without

sin when the temple had been made into a den

of thieves for lucrative trade displaying a righteous

indignation. What Paul does here, he calls this

false prophet. or Jesus, the son of the devil,

acknowledging that he is in direct opposition

to God himself. Why was Paul so moved? Well,

certainly he was filled by the Spirit. But this

is an apostle who would spend much of his time

in jail. He would spend much of his time being...

beaten and finally executed because he loved

the lost so dearly, willing to go to the utter

ends of the earth to reach them. He cared about

their eternal destiny. And, church, I would pray

that we as a church would be awakened with that

kind of passion that we see here that marked

this first... missionary effort of the Apostle

Paul when confronted with those who were hindering

the gospel that would not step aside, that were

impeding it, going forth to those who desired

to hear it, Paul spoke straightly and said, you

child of the devil, get out of my way. Stop hindering

the gospel. To give the word of God is very serious

business, but to hinder it, to oppose it, to

oppose God himself, Paul minces no words. Look

at the action in verse 11 and 12. And now, indeed,

the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall

be blind, not seeing the sun for a time. And

immediately a dark mist fell upon him, and he

went around seeking someone to lead him by the

hand. And then the proconsul believed when he

had saw what had been done, being astonished

at the teaching of the Lord. Sometimes we see

in the book of Acts, The inevitable punishment

came swiftly, as it did for Ananias and Sapphira.

Paul's prediction was immediately fulfilled.

The irony here is that one, Bar -Jesus, who claimed

to have vision into the future and powers, is

now begging someone to lead him by the hand because

he can't even see in front of him to take a step

here on this earth. Just begging for someone,

he would be blinded for a limited time. the same

exact moment, we see this Roman senatorial administrator,

Sergius Paulus, having heard the Word of God

presented and seeing the work of God in front

of his face, we are told he was astonished at

the teaching of the Lord, that it was the Word

of God, not the act of blindness that moved him

to belief. God gave him ears to hear and gave

him eyes to see. The miracles were made possible

by the Spirit often providing an opening for

faith. As we look through the book of Acts, church

Christianity has nothing to do with the magic

and superstition of this world, but its power

and the power of the Word and the power of the

Spirit overcomes them all. And this theme will

return in Acts. Luke leaves us with a major result

of this first mission stop on the island of Cyprus,

the conversion of a prominent Roman official.

So now what? We're left with the question, what

is the church's role in missions? Well, the roles

are as a corporate body. They are as individuals

and they are as families within the body. In

fact, Acts 1 .8, the original sending here, but

you shall have power when the Holy Spirit has

come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me

in Jerusalem. and in Judea and Samaria and to

the end of the earth. If we look at the biblical

model from the book of Acts, missions starts

at home. It starts with us. It starts with our

own church. It starts in our own city. It starts

in our own county, region, state, and then to

the uttermost parts of the earth, the global

missions program. Church, we have many. in our

church who are part of global missions organizations.

We have some who are part of local mission organizations.

And we have people here that have efforts outside

going out of this church. And I'm thankful for

that. But we see here through the Scriptures

that God works through His people to accomplish

His purposes. We have to ask ourselves every

now and then when we look in the mirror, where

is my heart in this? And it's a humbling question

and thought sometimes. Am I really moving forward

in kingdom work? Or has it maybe slipped into

performance? Has it just become church attendance?

Has it just become checking boxes? Is it just

about writing a little memo line for Faith Promise

on my check and sort of checking that box each

month? Friends, we have to look at ourselves

and we have to ask the hard question, have I

fled to the cross as my only hope in life? And

death, because if we run to Christ, He alone

is our gateway to heaven and to everlasting life.

It is the Holy Spirit of God that motivates us

to do missional type work. We have no doubt seen

in this text the Lord's hand, but we also see

that there must be human involvement. It is our

God who takes great pleasure in working through

ordinary people. gifting them and enabling them

to be the vehicles and the conduit in which he

desires them to be extensions of the kingdom

of God. And you say, I don't know. I don't know

if that can be me. Friend, take heart. God uses

us in our frailness. He uses us in our brokenness.

He uses us in our weakness. And He uses us as

the broken vessels that we are to accomplish

His purposes. There are so many days where I

feel Eden in my bones and I say, God, I just

don't know. It's not on you, friend. It is through

the work of the Holy Spirit of God who will indwell

you and empower you and enable you to do works.

greater than you ever thought possible in His

name and for His ultimate glory. We see here

that the church at Antioch played an active role.

If you consider just for a moment the leaders

there at that church, they were listed in verse

1 of the text. You find a group of people here

who obeyed the Word of God. They heard the voice

of the Holy Spirit. They had no technology. They

had no cell phones. They had no internet. What

caused them to go to Cyprus and the surrounding

inland cities in addition to call the Holy Spirit

their own engagement, their own prayer, their

own fasting? The church at Antioch was keenly

involved in behind Saul and Barnabas from the

word go. The believers laid hands on them. They

commissioned them. They recognized and they authenticated

this call. of missionary work for Saul and Barnabas.

They were not engaging in just freelance, independent

work, going wherever their inclinations led them.

These men were delegates of God. And the church

of Antioch recognized that and laid their hands

on them. They approved of their work. And it

was through that local church that they were

commissioned. And it was to the church of Antioch

that they would then come back and give a report

later in Acts 14. And they would report all that

God had done. And they would say and would testify

how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.

And it was that local church that modeled for

us what it was to co -labor. with missionaries.

Once they sent them onto the field, it was not

just laying hands on them and praying for them

and hoping for the best, but it was a true co

-laboring while Saul and Barnabas out doing the

work. This was a church who was sending those

who were sent. And you find a church who was

not only praying for them, they were collecting

offering for them, sending support to them, giving

them supplies, writing letters to them, touching

base with them, sending helpers out to check

on them and take things and hear back from them.

It was an active co -laboring between the sending

church and that missionary together. But the

church played an active role. We see that Saul

and Barnabas and the church at Antioch were always

led and empowered by the Spirit. This was not

just something they thought would be a good idea.

But as they were led... They went by the Holy

Spirit many times on Paul's missionary journeys.

He would have a desire to go here, and the Spirit

of God would say, no, go over here. Friends,

in our church, we should be praying diligently

about who we are supporting as missionaries,

what levels of support that we are supporting

them at, praying for them not just in our corporate

gatherings, but in our homes, praying about missionaries

and for them with our children, giving them that

exposure at an early age. not be just a little

dot that we put on the memo line of our check

or just a little bit of cash that we put in the

faith promise collection once a month we should

speak of missionaries in our homes our churches

our sunday school classes our wednesday night

meetings often It should be on our minds. Each

home has the ability to pick a missionary family

or multiple missionaries that they can get really

excited about, that they can pray for, that they

can talk about, that they can email, that they

might even support individually, that they might

labor over to be truly involved in missions,

work, and outreach, that co -laboring that we've

seen in the text today. Church, at this point,

we are the senders of global missions, but we

are responsible for so much more than just sending

financial support. A church is to be involved.

Missions is to be a collaborative effort. The

number one fear that I hear from missionaries

and struggle that they have when they're on a

forum field is being forgotten. And that doesn't

mean they don't get a check every month, but

that's all they get. That's all they hear from

most churches is just financial support. They

don't feel the prayers. They don't feel the love.

They don't get the emails. And it's almost like

they're on an island and they're isolated and

short of financial support. They're almost on

it on their own when they don't feel that co

-laboring as it's intended to be here from the

Scriptures. We find here lastly as we start to

land the plane a little bit this morning, missions

and evangelism must be the heartbeat of the church.

Missionary endeavors are the responsibility of

the entire church. It's not meant for just a

select few who might be missions -minded or have

some kind of heart for missions. Derek Thomas

would say, not to have a heart for missions is

the same as not having a heart for Jesus Christ.

Now those are strong words, but Paul in Romans

10 would put it this way, How then shall they

call on Him in whom they have not believed? And

how shall they believe on Him in whom they have

not heard? And how shall they hear? without a

preacher, and how shall they preach unless they

have been sent? Missions are at the very heart

of God. It declares what brought the Savior into

the world and what drove Him to the cross. It

is the beating pulse of the Almighty for the

souls of men and women. For an individual to

be called towards missions reveals an indifference

of what lies at the center of God Himself. Church,

I would challenge us all to look introspectively

and ask some very serious questions about our

involvement in the work of missions through prayer,

financial support, writing emails of encouragement,

volunteering, going on short -term missions trips

like Jeremiah 38, or perhaps even some of you

here this morning considering long -term missions

involvement. Take this encouragement. Our world

is as needy as ever. Our Lord said 2 ,000 years

ago the fields were white and ready for harvest,

but the laborers were few. There are unreached

people groups all over the world, and certainly

while some are set apart to be global missionaries,

each and every one of us will leave these church

doors today. And each and every one of us has

an opportunity to make a lasting impact in the

spaces that we go on a daily basis. In our homes,

in our families, in our workspaces, there are

lost souls that need to see, hear, and feel the

love of Christ. Each and every one of us has

an opportunity each day. Friends, we have family

members, loved ones, workplace associates that

need to see the gospel lived out through my life

and your life each and every day. There are people

right here within earshot and stone's throw of

this church that need Christ. Friends, let us

pray together, labor together, that it starts

in Jerusalem and it starts right here with us

in Kitzhill, Ohio. May God burden us for all

of us to be involved at whatever level that is,

first in Kitzhill and then to the uttermost parts

of the world. You say, how? We can never accomplish

anything, friends, on our own. It must be through

God's strength and for His glory alone. To God

be the glory for His wonderful Word. Amen. Pastor,

would you come and lead us in the table this

morning?