The lesson is the responsibilities of missionaries and President Pittman has done me the honor of allowing me to teach this very near and dear to my heart and you probably, I'll probably have occasion to mention my dad more than once as we go where I have observed missions on a very close-up, personal basis, but we'll also, I'm not just gonna talk about how Dad did it or how others do it, we're gonna look at how Paul Barbas did things and some biblical principles about the responsibilities of missionaries. Now, the, let me get, hello, oh, you gotta turn it on. All right, there we go. So we're in Acts chapter 14 with the responsibilities of missionaries. We're in the setting here, chapter 13, 14, is the first missionary journey of Paul and Barnabas. And I've got a map here. I can't really point. I've got a laser pointer here, but I can't really get turned around to point, so we're going to, I'm gonna trust that you can maybe pick these things out as we go through. Last week's lesson left off with Paul and Barbara's working in pay folks. Now, if you see the island of Cyprus, There in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, it's purple in this map, you'll see the little town there along the bottom side called Paphos, and it mentions there that the proconsul Sergius Paulus was converted there. And also, there was the sorcerer that tried to, I think, bar Jesus, that tried to hinder the work there. Well, they did their work in Paphos, and following that, then they sailed north, and you can probably tell they didn't walk along that blue line, but that's, the coast there in Antioch and they sailed over to Cyprus and made their way on by land through Cyprus and now they're sailing north up to that tan colored area of Pamphylia it's called and they came to the city called Perga. Now you may have heard the name Pamphylia, and you see other familiar names, Galatia, Asia, Macedonia, Achaia, Cilicia, you may remember those from reading through the Book of Acts. Well, now they're in the city of Perga, and later on, Paul is going to expand his, to the West. He was in Achaia, he was in Macedonia, and all the cities there in Asia. He ministered in all those places. But this time, on his first journey, it's rather limited, so they're not going real far out. I don't know if that's by design, but there were times when Paul would try to go somewhere and it said the Spirit hindered him. So he was just following the leadership of the Lord. His companion on this journey is Barnabas. Now at Perga, I mentioned Perga here, this is where John Mark decided to turn around and go home. I don't remember if it's been mentioned in our lessons. We don't get to mention everything, every detail. of the scriptures when we go through these lessons, but John Mark was accompanying Paul and Barnabas. He was a nephew of Barnabas, and he was with them as they started out, and he was gonna be their, he was sort of like an intern, maybe, or a missionary in training. Well, by the time they got to Perga, for whatever reason, John Mark had had enough. And I guess he missed his Nintendo or his mama or something. For whatever reason, he went back. It was, we can assume, I think, and rightfully so, by the remarks of Paul later on, that it was not for a good reason. It's not like he had business to attend to or the mama was sick or something. He just, he left and he got tired of this missionary stuff that they were doing, and so he left and went home, and just to throw this in for good measure, that John Martin is the very reason that Barnabas did not go with Paul on the second missionary journey, because Barnabas was determined to take him again. And we can assume that he told Paul, look, he's grown up. He made a mistake, but we ought to give him a second chance. And Paul said, no, I ain't having that. And so Barnabas took John Mark and left on his own missionary journey. And that's the very last time we ever hear the name of Barnabas mentioned in Scripture. But John Mark became one of the gospel writers Paul later on had to admit, bring John Mark when he done because it was profitable to me and the ministry. And I don't have time, I got more to say this morning than I got time to say it, but I just wanted to put that in there. And so the second missionary journey, Silas accompanied Paul. But this time it's Paul and Barnabas. From Perga, you see the blue line extending on up there to a town called Antioch in Pisidia. That's about 100 miles north. It was over some very rough terrain. It was through areas that were known to be filled with Robbers, there was an increase in elevation from Perga up to Antioch. The difference in elevation was 3,600 feet. And they're making this journey entirely on foot as far as we know. So these were very rough conditions. And serving the Lord is not always In 2 Timothy 2-3, Paul told Timothy, thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier, Paul briefly describes some of the difficulties that he encountered in this region. He said, persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch. This is not, there's a difference now. This is not the Antioch where their home church was over in the land of Palestine. This is Antioch in Pisidia. And he says, these persecutions and afflictions came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra. All these cities will be mentioned as we go through. He says, what persecution I endured, but out of them all the Lord delivered me. So, take note of that. He said the Lord delivered me out of all of these persecutions and afflictions. Now, that's a praise to God. It is not necessarily going to do that. We had occasion in the last month or so to mention Jim Elliott and those who were with him there in Ecuador, and they went in good faith to try to establish mission work there among that one particular tribe, and they got killed for their efforts. I don't think it was a suicide mission. I don't think they expected, really, to be killed. They knew there was danger, but they were slain. So there's times that God does not choose to deliver his servants out of their afflictions. Well, let's go on. They arrived in Antioch of Pisidia. I think I got another map here, yeah. They arrived in Antioch in Pisidia. As I said, don't confuse that. The other Antioch was over there, close to where you see the Syria label, look to the left and up a little bit, you'll see Antioch. That's where their sending church was. And that's important that they had a sending church. They didn't just go off on their own. Remember that the Spirit spoke to the church and said, separate me, Martinus and Saul, or Paul, for the work to which I have called them. And so they had a sending church. Now they're in Antioch in Pisidia. Paul had a long established practice of beginning his ministry in a new city by attending the synagogue on the Sabbath day. And sometimes he would do that like three Sabbaths in a row. And in Acts 13, 15, after the reading of the Law and the Prophets, he's sitting there, he's being quiet, minding his business as he should. After the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on. Has anybody got anything they'd like to say? That's like sticking to a dog, to Paul. Did he have something to say? He most certainly did. In fact, that begins there in, let's see, what verse? is the WMB speech starts in verse 16. This is the longest recorded sermon of Paul. Now, he preached longer ones, I'm sure. You remember Eubicus falling out of the window. That service lasted until midnight. And Eubicus falling out of the window sort of broke up the sermon, I think. But anyway, this sermon that's recorded is the longest record of a discourse that we have from Paul. And let's see, here in Antioch of Pisidia, the missionaries encountered some enthusiastic acceptance and also some very zealous opposition. But in spite of the resistance, there were many converts As far as we know, there was a church established there in verse 48 of Acts 13. And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord, and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. Oh, I wish I had about an hour to expound on that verse. I love that verse. It reveals the sovereignty of God. Those that were ordained to eternal life are the ones that believe. Well, eventually Paul and Barnabas were run out of Antioch in verses 15 and 51, but the Jews, it said, stirred up the devout and honorable women. Not that all the Jews were against Paul. There were many Jews that were saved, but these are the strict Jews, the ones that didn't want to hear anything about Christ. The Jews stirred up the devout and honorable women and the chief men of the city and raised persecution against all of Barbas and expelled them out of their coasts. But they shook off the dust of their feet against them and came unto Iconium. So they were run out of Antioch. Even though they had successful ministry there, it was obvious they weren't going to be able to continue. And so they shook off the dust at their feet. That was something Jesus told his disciples when he sent them out. He said, if the town won't hear you and you try and try and they won't receive you, shake off the dust of your feet and go somewhere else. And so that was sort of a symbolic gesture that, look, today we would say we're washing our hands of this town. Well, in those times they shook off the dust of their feet and they came to Iconium. Let me go back here and see if we can find that. You'll see that Iconium is the next stop there on the blue line. The blue line is the outbound portion of Paul's missionary journey. So, Paul and Barnabas went from Antioch to Cyprus, up to Perga, by land to Antioch and Pisidia, and now, after being run out, they're over on their way to Iconium, and they flee there, probably to avoid being killed. And here in Iconium, once again, there were many that came to faith in Christ, and there was also the same kind of opposition that they had faced in Antioch. And in fact, there were people from Antioch that followed Paul to continue their persecution. And so they were planning to stone Paul and Barnabas. So they moved on to Lystra. And you can see Lystra is not very far from Iconium, just underneath there. And at Lystra, after they had healed a crippled man, suddenly the missionaries find themselves being This is right after the cripple man was healed. And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lyconia, the gods are come down to us in the likeness of men. This is a turnaround. First the people wanted to stone them. Well, now they're being lifted up as gods. And they called Barnabas Jupiter, and Paul Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker, And we can learn a lot from that verse that as they went around, no doubt Paul was the one that did the majority of the preaching and the teaching. And Barnabas was there as a helper. And we don't know if he did any of the preaching, but Paul was the chief speaker. Well, it says, then the priest of Jupiter which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands under the gates and would have done sacrifice with the people. Now, this was, you know, Paul and Bartholomew obviously didn't want to be stoned. But they didn't want to be worshipped either. And they strenuously resisted being worshipped. They didn't want to be put on that pedestal. As soon as they rent their clothes, they were totally flustered by this and protested, saying, no, no, no, no, no. Don't be worshipping us. But in this, I think we can see the tendency of the masses to put certain so-called ministers on a pedestal. perhaps one that they don't belong on. The names that come to mind, Benny Hinn, Joel Osteen, Kenneth Copeland, you may have heard those names. And I mean, those men are practically worshipped by their followers. And you can see that even back in the days of Paul Barnabas, charismatic leaders, I don't mean charismatic in tongue talking, I'm talking about those that had charisma, that if they choose to do so, they can allow themselves to be elevated and buffed up. Paul and Barnabas, I don't have time to read it all, but they protested very strenuously. Well, right on the heels of that experience of people trying to worship them as gods, We have the stoning of Paul. They finally did get to him. There came certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, like I said, they were following him, who persuaded the people, and having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead. Now, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up and came into the city, and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derby. I think it very possible that this was the occasion that Paul described in 2 Corinthians 12. And if you know the passage, it says, such a one caught up in the third heaven. And he described, he said, I saw things that were not lawful for men to utter. And I think that this is probably, and this is my opinion, but I think this is probably when that took place. And in fact, I think it's likely that Paul actually did die at this stoning at Lystra. they didn't leave anything to chance when they stoned someone. And I think that he actually did die there at Lystra and was brought back to life. And again, that's just my opinion, and you're welcome to have yours if you'd like. Well, that brings us to our lesson outline today, and that's the responsibilities of missionaries. I know that's a rather long introduction, but I wanted to fill in some gaps there. So now we move on to searching the text, and the first responsibility that we see as a missionary is to establish converts. Establish converts. Let's look at verses 21 and because when they had preached the gospel to that city and had taught many, They returned again to Lystra, to Iconium, and Antioch. If we could go back to the map, but we're not going to do that, you'll see that at the town of Derby, they turned around, and they went back to Lystra, and they went then to Iconium, and then back to Antioch, Antioch-Vissidia, and it says that When they did that, in verse 22, confirming the souls of the disciples and exhorting them to continue in the faith and that we must, through much tribulation, enter in the kingdom of God. So they are going back and visiting people that they have won to the Lord along the way. Now, the Great Commission, and we'll pop it up here in a minute, the Great Commission does not tell us to win converts. We're told to make disciples. Now, that involves winning converts, obviously. But we're not just only to seek to say, well, you know, I won 15 people to the Lord this week. None of them come to church, and we couldn't get any of them baptized, but I mean, they're saved. That's not the goal of the Great Commission. Come on. You know these verses. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and Son and the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. That's Matthew 28, verses 19 and 20. Now, I want to make a point here that Jesus is speaking not to 11 disciples individually. church. He's speaking to the 11, but he has said some in the church, first apostles. The apostles comprised the first church. And so he's speaking to the church, not only that particular church, but also to the church as an institution in the generic sense. He is speaking to all the churches that would follow. That's why we have this passage preserved. and from every other true church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you say, well, how do we know that he wasn't just talking to the 11? He wasn't talking to individuals. How do we know he was talking to them in their church capacity? Well, first, it would have been logistically impossible for these 11 men to carry out the commission. He says, go ye therefore and teach all nations. 11 men are not going to be able to do that. I showed you the map, and that was just the known world at that time. There were nations beyond that. So logistically, these 11 men could not have carried out this commission. There's a second thing, and that is it would have been chronologically impossible, because he says, lo, I am with you always. As you're doing this work, he said, I'm with you always, even under the end of the world. Well, these men did not know how much time would pass before the end of the world, but we now know that it's been at least, what, a couple thousand years. These men are all dead and gone, but the churches of the Lord Jesus Christ continue on, and that fulfills the promise that Jesus made in Matthew 16, 18. I will build my church, that's in the continuing sense of the verb. I will build, I will be building my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. In other words, my church will be here when I return to commence the events of the last times. So, the church, working through pastors, evangelists, missionaries, members, like us, the church goes about to carry out the commission. And the goal of the commission is not merely to gain converts. As I said, that's the first step. You can't disciple someone that's not saved. So you have to get them to the point where they trust Christ as Savior, but that's just the first part of the vision. go on to be a disciple, become a member of a Baptist church? Well, no. But that should be our ultimate goal. Not only to win people to the Lord, but to disciple them and bring them into a fellowship with one of the Lord's true churches. And that's God's perfect will, I believe, for every Christian. And of course, there's more after that, but we're just trying to contain to an attainable goal here in our teaching. And so, he says here that there's three things we need to do. He says, go ye therefore, first of all, and teach all nations. Now, there's two different words translated teach here, two different Greek words. This word, teach, is completely different than the next one, which says teaching them to observe. When he says teach all nations, this word means to disciple. I'm reading now from Strong's lexicon. He says that is to enroll as a student. The word disciple, in the verb form, it means to make a follower. So we're not just to get people to repeat the sinner's prayer, so to speak, and then move on. No, we are to make disciples, teach all nations. That word teach, that's what it means, is to make disciples. Now secondly, Yes, make disciples. Secondly, we are to mark. And that is baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. This is done by authority of a true church. Joe Blow doesn't have the right to go out and dump somebody in the creek and that be a valid baptism. No, it's done by the church. authority of the Lord's Church. And by baptizing them, they submit to baptism, and then we are, in the process of baptizing, we are marking them. They are making a public declaration of their association of, and how they are identifying with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Well, then thirdly, we are to mature disciples. And here's the second word, teach. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded, Jesus said. This word, teaching, is the word didasko, and a form of that word is even used today in didactic. You may have heard that. Well, that's instructing. It's teaching them what they need to know in order to serve the Lord properly. Now, how is all this done? It's done through preaching and teaching. Notice the verses again, verses 21 and 22. It says that after they had reached Derby and done what they were gonna do there, they went back, they returned, they retraced their steps, through Lystra and Iconium and even back to Antioch, putting themselves in danger, no doubt, from those that were persecuting them. But what were they doing? They were confirming the souls of the disciples. See, they weren't content with just winning converts. It says, first of all, they confirm. The word confirm means to support further or to strengthen. New converts need guidance. Guess what? Us old converts need guidance sometimes, too, don't we? But especially those that are new in the faith. And you should always look for a way to help them. We have new converts here at the church. Look for ways to encourage them and confirm, it says. But not only did they confirm, There in verse 22, confirming the souls of the disciples and exhorting them to continue in the faith. The word exhorting means comforting. It means encouraging. And of course, confirming and exhorting, they overlap in this. But sometimes we need exhortation. Now we, I mean, most of the time, We need our pastor to teach and preach and explain God's word and expound on the word. But every once in a while, we need Bob Jones to come in with his three points in a poem and encourage us to keep on keeping on. And not that our pastor doesn't do that too, but that's, see, there's the confirming, but there's also the exhortation. But let's go on to the second point now. We are to establish churches. Look at verse 23. And when they had ordained them elders in every church and had prayed with fasting, they committed them to the Lord on whom they believed. It goes on, they passed through Pisidia, came to Pamphylia, and when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down into Azaliah. So the goal of most missionaries, and mission were, should be to establish and eventually organize New Testament churches. Now I know that there are some missionaries that have specialized ministries. One that comes to mind is Brother Cecil Fayard, who works in the ship to shore ministry. But I guarantee you, I know with Fayard well enough to know that he is encouraging those to whom he ministers, even though they're from the far flung places of the world, he is exhorting them, encouraging them to get into a local church where they can serve the Lord in the manner that God has laid out for us to serve him. And we believe that churches have the authority How does a church get started? Well, unfortunately, many people believe that a fellow can just decide, I'm going to go out and start a church. And he starts, he may have good intentions, but he's out there, and he wins his soul to Christ, and takes him down to the river, maybe, or his swimming pool, and dunks him in the water, and says they're baptized, and he gets a few of them together, and says, well, we're a church. The Bible, and I think has some very specific teachings about how a church comes into existence. And we have that, part of that here in chapter 14 of Acts here. Usually the work of starting a church is done through a missionary that is sent from established church. Addison Baptist Church has many, what we call, daughter churches. And there's one right now in Mestizona, Brazil that was organized in, I believe it was February of 1972. under the authority of Addison Baptist Church. And Dad went as missionary to that area, and as folks began to get saved, he baptized them by the authority of Addison Baptist Church. not just on his own, but he was authorized by this church to do the mission work and to baptize. And then, when the time came, when there was enough people gathered together, then they organized the church. A man doesn't, I can't emphasize this enough, a man doesn't just decide he's gonna start a church. He seeks the proper way to do it. whom he agrees doctrinally and in practice and who is willing to authorize him or to send him out. And a church generally you know, looks at a man to see does he have the right gifts? Does he exhibit the gifts of a pastor, teacher, missionary? Is he able to do this work? And I've known times when men were turned down because they did not exhibit really the proper gifts to be able to do that. And I've known other missionaries that did not the church observed what they were doing after they had gone out and determined that this is not working. And that's why we had church authority. and why it's necessary to do that. One reason why it's necessary. So then this man goes out as a missionary, and as he wins the lost of Christ, he baptizes them. As I said, that's by the church authorization, a very, very key point, and he begins to build a congregation. Now, we call that a mission, and the mission is meeting, and at some point, The Sending Church, in this case, as the Baptist Church, in our example that I gave you with Deb, and the Sending Church, and the Missionary, and the Congregation, the Mission Congregation, agree that it is time for the Congregation to become a church on their own. And so, then they are... The home church releases that congregation to constitute, or what we call organize, into a new church. Now, that is the way that most Baptist churches of like faith and order to us conduct themselves. Is that exactly the way that it was done in the time of Paul? I think it would be foolish to think or try to prove that the churches of Paul's day did things in exactly the same manner and with the same procedures that we use today. I'm not sure that they would have understood the concept of a congregation being in mission status. When the church of Messina, as I mentioned, was ready, when Addison was preparing to organize them, Addison had a business meeting here in this very building. And the church voted. to authorize this congregation to become a church. Now, did that happen in every single time? Did that happen in these churches that we read about here? It says in verse 23, they had ordained developers in every church. So they had churches established along the way there in those cities that we studied on their route. Was there a business meeting that took place at Antioch, the home church, and they authorized these missions to become churches? I doubt that. This is a procedure that has been adopted, and it's a good procedure. So we have communications now that they didn't have. back in Paul's day. So, they may be a little bit different, but I think that the principle of church authority has been intact since the church at Jerusalem established its person. offspring, which may have been that church at Antioch. And then the church at Antioch authorized Paul and Barnabas to go out and start these churches, to win converts, to baptize them, and to start the church. You say, well, when did these believers in one city, when did they actually become a church? I can't answer that exactly. We're not told the mind of God or the mind of Paul even in doing this, but the church authority was there. These churches were established under mission work done by the authority of Paul and Barnabas. And so, as long as we keep church authority in mind, some procedures might vary a little bit, you know, between churches. But as long as we believe that churches are started by churches, I believe that's very, very important. And the key, I think, is the authority to baptize when we send a man out. And, of course, Addison started other churches. There was a church at Aurora. And there was a church down in Louisville, I believe, under Brother, his name was Ray Sexton. And so we have experience in these matters, but always it's under the authority of Addison Baptist Church. Now, I've got to get on, because I'm out of time, and I'm going to take some more anyway. Thirdly, establish contact. Establish contact. Verses 26 through 28, they sailed to Antioch, then sailed to Antioch. They didn't go back through Cyprus. They came back down to Perga, retracing their steps, but then they sailed on over to Antioch. They did not go back through Cyprus. They sailed to Antioch from, listen to this, from whence they had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled." There's that church authority again. He's emphasizing it over and over and over. They were authorized by the church at Antioch. Verse 27, "...and when they were come, and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how He had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles." We're talking now about reporting back. Reporting back. It is important that missionaries report to their sponsoring and supporting churches. We sponsor one missionary, that is Brother Isaac Heil, and then we support other missionaries. They have their own home churches, but we join in in supporting them, and I shouldn't say we expect, but missionaries should be willing to report on their work. If you invest in the stock market, the reports are in the paper every day. Churches that invest in the work of missionaries, sponsoring or supporting, they have the right, I think, to expect reports from those missionaries. All of us, our spouses, our bosses, if we have them, the employee to the boss, the boss to the corporate structure, whatever. Look again at verse 27. It says, and when they were come and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done. Now, I mean, something happens halfway around the world, five seconds later, we know about it. There's very little excuse, I think, for a missionary who does not regularly report on his work. When we were in Brazil the first time, which was 1969 through 1972, the only viable way of communicating with anyone in the States was by regular mail. It took about six days to get a letter from there to here. You say, well, why didn't you just, what about phone calls? We were there three years at that term, and Dad made exactly one phone call in all that time. Why? Because the rates were about $35 a minute. Now we pick up our cell phone and it doesn't cost us anything beyond the monthly charge, but it was about $35 a minute. He called one of the grandparents, I don't remember which one, when my baby brother was born, and three minutes total, that is the entirety of the time that dad was in direct contact with anyone here. in the United States. And so the three minutes total. Now we have FaceTime, we have email, we have instant messages and all that. So there's no excuse for not reporting. Unfortunately, it's an area where some, not all, not even most, but some missionaries fall short. And not just, we're not just reporting on finances. That is part of it, but soul safe, pastoral training, churches established. And then you got the furlough, which would fall into this category of reporting. Most missionaries, especially foreign missionaries, enjoy and need a furlough from time to time. The frequency and the duration is agreed upon with the home church. Some missionaries do not require furlough as often. I think Brother Mike Craiglow, Brother Judd Hatcher, they're more Brazilian than they are American. They had grown up in Brazil and they're more at home there than they are here in the U.S. Others that don't have that background may need to return to their native culture for a break to see their relatives. to have a time for refreshing and recharging and reporting to the churches. We should not begrudge missionaries their furlough time. Notice again verse 28, we didn't read it. They abode, there they abode long time. with the disciples. It was a long time before they went back out, before Paul went back out, but he had accomplished a lot. He rehearsed it to the church and they were refreshed by it. What good news they would have enjoyed when Paul came home. One question that came up that this is not to be answered out loud. How are you involved in the work of evangelism and discipleship in the church of your membership? Think about that. How are you involved? What can you do to be a blessing to someone? I'm way over time. Let's bow for prayer. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for the instruction of your word that lays out for us how we're supposed to do these things. what the responsibilities of the missionaries are. And pray, Lord, that you would help us to follow the guidelines of your word, but most of all to be diligent about making disciples and establishing churches and doing the mission work that you have called