Thank you for tuning us in. I'm Darrell Bailey, Servants for Christ, as we continue on in our wonderful series, The Life of the Apostle Paul. As we get back into our study, we're going to deal with about maybe seven or eight parts of Paul's first missionary journey that this covers Acts chapter 13 and Acts chapter 14. And so, As we look at Paul's first missionary journey, part one, from AD 47 to AD 49, we're going to be dealing with this scripture of Acts chapter 13, verses 1, 2, and 3. I know that's not much scripture, but we want to be able to deal thoroughly with this particular message because it deals with a lot of the calling of Paul and Barnabas in their missionary journey. And so let's open with a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we're so thankful for the Word of God. And before we even read it, we ask your blessing upon it. As we read it, may it go out and find a lodging place in the hearts of the people that listen to the Word. They need to receive something, Father. Lord, a word of truth. That God, as they listen to it, they begin to look at their life and apply it to their own heart and life instead of someone else. Oh me, Lord, as we say, because Lord, we're out there to try to imitate you and to be a mirror image. of carrying the gospel to the world. And so help us to be more like you each and every day. Forgive us of our many sins and shortcomings. And we pray for all of our family members, those Lord, that they still haven't got it yet. They still haven't figured out anything yet that you're the greatest of the great. And Lord, that you're the champion of all mankind. But Father, they try to get in the ring every time and fight the battles that they cannot win. Thank you for being our champion. Thank you, Father, for knocking the living daylights out of the devil, the demons of hell, and every other enemy that comes against your child, the King of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, every born-again believer across this country. Now, Lord, let your power, let your wonderful spirit go forth from the teaching of the Word of God, and it'll touch a heart, and it'll show them what they need, instruct them, guide them, As you begin to have them lay hands on Paul and Barnabas, lay hands on someone through the Spirit of God and direct their path and guide them in the right path that they need to go. And Father, Lord, I'm glad that, Lord, that the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. So touch us and bless us with your presence in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. All right. Here we see Paul's first missionary journey. All right, when we look and we begin to realize that from the life of Paul, we begin to see here that when the Jews saw the multitudes that were filled with envy and spake all kinds of things against Paul and them, Paul and Barnabas, they were very bold in some of the things that they did when they went out. You know, everywhere you go, you were not welcome. And it was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to the Jewish people. But seeing that Paul wanted to take the gospel to the other ends of the world, the 13th chapter of Acts begins the third major division of the book of Acts. And so when we look, we realize that the Bible tells us, it says, but ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and under the uttermost part of the earth and so we see that that begins out how that the witnesses they begin in Jerusalem and so in chapters 1 through 7 we see that in chapters 8 through 9 We look at Judea and Samaria about those areas. Remember, I always tell my class and people, it's about people, places, and things. People, places, and things. Acts chapter 1-7 dealt with Jerusalem, but in Acts chapter 8-12, it dealt with Judea and Samaria. But when we come to chapter 13, where it states the first of the missionary journeys of Paul and Barnabas, we realize that he said to the uttermost parts of the earth. And so we begin in chapter 13 of the Book of Acts. And out of it, we begin to realize that as we look at this, we see that Paul is getting in the foreign mission section of the Book of Acts. He's launching a message of the gospel, the good news about Jesus Christ. what salvation is all about to the ends of the earth and in the process we realize that as you hear the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ and as we begin to start out he begins in a place called Antioch now we know that Antioch is in Syria later on there's a Pisidia Antioch which is in Turkey that's later on but he starts out in Antioch Paul in the city of Antioch. He's been brought there by Barnabas to assist him in the teaching of the Word of God to these new converts. And when people receive Jesus Christ as their Savior, the Lord and believers baptism, and they become a part of a local congregation of the body of Christ, then they begin to systematically be taught the scriptures. And you know what? As you go through those things, The first picture of the missionary action in the world that paints a graphic picture of just what missions and evangelisms involve for every one of us is basically that we look at all of ourselves as a missionary. Now I want to ask you, what is a missionary? Huh? What do you think a missionary is? A missionary is a Christian so in love with Jesus Christ that he desires nothing more than to live for him and to make him known to others that are around him. That's what a missionary is. That's you and I. That's every born-again Christian across the face of the earth. And so here in the foreign mission section of the book of Acts chapter 13 in Antioch, everything begins in Antioch. Thank God, hallelujah, when we begin to look that Antioch was launching out the missionary movement of the world. Now Jerusalem was what we might call the mother church. That's where everything began. Antioch could well be called the missionary church, a church that somehow had a heart so large that it could include the world. And so churches, we all have special emphasis. special areas that seem to be upon our heart. The Church of Antioch seemed to have been a church that had the world on its heart, hallelujah. It wanted the whole world to hear the good news about the Lord Jesus Christ. They had a story that they wanted the whole world to hear, hallelujah. But there were some people who feel, you know what, I'm not sure where I'm going to really get all this, but maybe the Jerusalem Church was as responsible to bring forth the Great Commission of our Lord and Savior as anyone else. and it was possible that the Holy Spirit moved from the city of Jerusalem and the church there in Antioch because the Jerusalem church became a little bit narrow I don't know what happened but it started out in Jerusalem in the church in Jerusalem hallelujah maybe their evangelistic get up and go and gas ran out a little bit Maybe they didn't have quite the soul winning emphasis that they should have had. And if that's true, that means that God moved on. God does move on. Did you know that? Oh, yeah. Yeah, God will move on. And if you mess up something in your church, you're going to find out very quickly how God moves on. God will move on very fast. Oh, you think you've got everything right? Oh, no. God will just leave your church and leave it like it is and move on down the road. And you can just stay and keep on doing what you're doing, because it ain't doing not a bit of good if you're doing it outside of his will. And so something happened in the Jerusalem church, and all of a sudden, because they didn't have the soul and desire, God moved on out. And hallelujah, because whatever happened in the Jerusalem church, then God moved on to Antioch. And we know from history that the church of Antioch became worldly and lost its evangelistic fervor, and from there, God moved on again. And then Ephesus seemed to become the next great center of all of the great soul winning and missionary work that we know that the New Testament tells us that the Church of Ephesus left its first love. And so God, what did he do? He moved on. Oh, yes. And then we know that Constantinople became a great center of the Christian faith. All that were wrong finally got religionized. And so because of that Constantinople became a great center of the Christian faith. And yet feminism froze the fervor of the church. And so what happened again? God moved on. Oh, man. And then what do we know about church history? Why, Germany? No, hang on. Before that, Rome. That's right. Rome became the great center of the faith. And a lot of challenges went out and the church was persecuted and the church tradition was placed in place their own scripture. And so what happened? God moved on. And then we know that Germany became a great center of the Christian faith. Hallelujah. And how that we know that Martin Luther began to do a great thing and he translated everything out of the out of the text to where the people could read it. And yet skepticism and unbelief invaded the believers in Germany. What do you think happened? God moved on. Oh, yeah. And then England became a great center. of the worldwide evangelism and missions. And we know that the deadness began to grip the Church of England. And so what happened? God moved on. And so I'm glad all of this. Jerry Vines says, hallelujah, the great an evangelist and pastor for many years. Dr. Jerry Vines, we want to send our flowers of love and thanks out to Dr. Jerry Vines and for the man that would take time to invite all pastors down to Jacksonville, Florida for the pastor school. He's been around all of the churches. He's eaten with all of the pastors. He's been with all of the associational missionaries. Dr. David Franklin, hallelujah, praise God. Boy, thank you, Dr. Jerry Vines, for your love and your kindness and the many years of service that you've given to the gospel. And God came into America, and America became a great center of evangelism. and soul winning and great center of missionary work, hallelujah. And I wonder sometimes now that the wellingness and the prosperity and the materialism is gripping the hearts of God's people in America. What do you think is going to happen? God's going to move on. Oh yeah. And so we have the story of the world that is needed to be heard, hallelujah, of all the things that are transpiring, of all the things that are taking place across America. We see the route of Paul and Barnabas on their missionary journey. and their evangelistic methods and message hallelujah and so it started with the call of the Holy Spirit who instructed the prophets and teachers at the church in Antioch of Syria to separate Barnabas and Paul for the work that he called them to do with fasting with prayer and laying on of hands that the two men were sent and to begin to take place amen and so as we look and begin to realize that of all the things that the Lord is doing in our lives today. God, as we see this passage, it begins the most daring and challenging step ever taken by any organization in the history of the world. The Christian church launched forth a deliberate effort to carry the gospel forth to the whole world and commission his first two missionaries for the deliberate purpose of going to meet the world's desperate needs for Christ. And so we see that here as we said in the book of Acts verses 1 through 12 dealt with Peter but in verses 13 through 28 it dealt with Paul. Jerusalem in chapters 1 through 7. Judea and Samaria chapter 8 and 9 in verses 9 through 28, all of the world, hallelujah. And so we look and we begin to realize that some tremendous powerful things begin to begin to take place as we look at the first missionaries of the great church, a church that reached out to all. And I would say the Antioch church Listen, let me tell you something. Because of the Jerusalem church, because of the Antioch church, because of all those churches, even though God moved on, the gospel got to you and it got to me. Somebody did what they were supposed to do. They took the gospel to where it needed to be. And so, hallelujah, I'm so glad each and every one of us as we look and we begin to realize that God wants to do some great works in all of our lives. Amen. God is wanting to get our attention. And so we see that as we go forward, God is trying to do the very best with the preaching of the gospel that he can. Amen. And I thank God as we look at all of the things that the Lord is wanting to do for us, amen, as we go forward and begin to realize that everything is going to start out here in Antioch and Seleucia. and it'll go from Antioch to Cyprus, from Cyprus to Pergaea, and from Pergaea to Lystra, to actually to Turkey over in Pisidia, Antioch, which is in Turkey, over into Iconium in Galatia, and so on into Derbe. That's another story though, as we look at it. Right now we're dealing with Antioch and we're only dealing with verses 1, 2, and 3 as they prepare for the journey of the first missionary journey. We'll be talking about all of these others later on. I'm glad John Piper, an American New Testament Baptist theologian, pastor and chancellor and seminary of Minneapolis, Minnesota, said, and I quote, more and more believe that this book is in the New Testament to prevent the church from coasting to a standstill and entering a maintenance mode with all the inner wheels working, but going nowhere. You see, we've got to accomplish something. And when we look at Paul's journeys, then we look at Syria in this area right in here if you'll see my mouse moving and here in this area or we can do better than that we can uh we can make uh go right in here we can even do this we can even draw around here with this as it starts out it'll go from Syria to Cyprus and it'll go from there on up into Turkey But before we go any further, let's pause right there. Look at what it looked like back then. But notice in this area of Syria, what it looks at now. Syria, we've got Turkey all in here in this area. And so Romania, Yugoslavia, Macedonia, all of this Greece, all of these areas that we're in right now that we look at, And so Paul's journeys as we got it filled in with Antioch right here, knowing that as everything for the church started right there and it began to go forward and all of the different things that we have today, all the modern cities that jump in there and all of this. Now, when you're dealing with over and here you're dealing with a variety of different the Mediterranean Sea, the Iconian, the Adriatic, the Aegean, every bit of this that you're dealing with. Matter of fact, Turkey has four different coasts that's on it just itself. And so here, as we look at a close up of where the area is, you say it's right in Antioch of Syria of where everything began to start out with the missionary journeys of Paul's first journeys that he did in this area of Antioch right in here that we see. And so we look again that as they start out and they go from Antioch. It has a lot of places that it goes, but it actually goes out from Antioch to Salamis, to Pappos, and goes around this way, comes on around, and then comes back around, comes back to Antioch, comes back into Jerusalem. We're going to get in and cover each one of those as we go further on, as we look at all of the places that are there today. Nicosia, where all of the modern areas, you see Jerusalem right down here and Joppa and so Tel Aviv, the airport, all of this that we look at to try to get our bearings as we come around and begin to picture everything that is in Antioch in Syria itself. When you look at this picture in Antioch, you begin to realize that it's the ancient city located on the Oratos River near the Amana. mountains in Syria, the land of four cities of Seleucia, Papua, Laodicea, and Achaea. They were all founded by Lasucius, the first of Nectar Victor between 301 and 299 BCE. Some credit for the city's initial founding as Antigonea to Antagonists, the first, the one-eyed who lost the area to Seleucius after the battle of Appius in 301 BCE. Now, there's a lot of history all in these areas. There's no one that's fought more wars. But we look at the journey of Paul and Barnabas. They're the travelers, Paul, Barnabas, John, Mark. The three of these are involved in this travel that's taking place. And the main route is Cyprus in Turkey that they go into on this first missionary journey. Now, the distance is about 1400 miles that they'll be going. Antioch in Syria, the Holy Spirit sets apart Paul and Barnabas to preach the Word of God. And John Mark goes along as their helper. And as we look at this, Antioch, the church, was God's choice to become the mission and the evangelistic center of the world. But God was now ready to send his word to the entire world. And the first three phases of the Great Commission had to be launched. The disciples of Christ had born and left a witness in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria. And now it was time for a witness to go into all the world. and reach out even to the uttermost part as Acts chapter 1 verse 8 is what I started out with for every one of you to challenge you. And the significant fact that stands as a warning to every church across America, God had to choose some church other than the Jerusalem church to launch the worldwide mission. Remember, he says, if you ain't going to keep on, I'm going to go on and I'm going to go somewhere else. And he says, I'm going to go and I'm going to do what needs to be done. And he started out and all of a sudden, because of whatever reason that somebody else wasn't doing what they should, he moved on. You see, God ain't afraid to move on. And so. We look too many today are too prejudiced and held too many feelings against the rest of the world, like the Jews, the Jews says we don't want the Gentiles to have our gospel. They refused to freely and wholeheartedly commit themselves to the world missions and evangelism. They refused to repent of their exclusiveness and the traditional, formal approach to God. God had to bypass the Jerusalem church. He says, you know what, I'm going to move on. and his mission upon the earth. Note what that means. A warning to every believer. Some leaders, other than the Jewish leaders, had to be chosen to launch God's purpose on earth. And the Jewish leaders had proven too slow in launching out before liberty and the freedom of God's spirit. They, too, had waited too long to repent of their sins. God was ready to move out into the world and to move on. God had no choice but to raise up other leaders that would commit themselves, their lives, to the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so the Antioch church was diverse, a church that reached out to everyone, that was clearly seen in the men that are mentioned. Barnabas was a wealthy Cyprian, a man born and reared on the island of Cyprus. And Simon of Niger, the name Niger means black, referred to the complexion of his skin. He was probably from Africa. And the name is also a Roman name, which shows that he moved about in the Roman society. Some people out there say that suggested commentators that Simon of Cyrene was carrying the cross for Jesus of Mark chapter 15, verse 21. You know, maybe that's stretching it. Lucius of Cyrene, he was probably the one of the poor persecuted believers who had fled to Antioch for safety. And so he was one of the founders of the great church. And when he arrived in Antioch, he and the others began to share Christ immediately. You can go back in Acts chapter 11 verses 19 and 20 and read about that. Minayan, he was one of the higher classes of society being a foster brother to Herod of Antipas. This is Herod who had tried Jesus and murdered John the Baptist. Saul of Tarsus, he was one of the religions of society and although he was considered the leaders, Saul's deep love for the Lord and driving commitment began to go beyond what the Lord's calls would lead men to go out. They set off from Antioch to Seleucia. Now, I'm not going to get into all of that this time. I'm just going to deal with verses 1, 2, and 3 because of the time frame. I'm doing an introduction with this. When we look and we begin to realize that everything from Salamis Papos on Cyprus, they sail from Seleucia to Salamis, The Pappos owns Cyprus, and in Pappos, Paul confronts a sorcerer named Elamus and blinds him. And from this point, the Bible calls him Paul rather than Saul. And so they're in Antioch again. They go from Antioch to Salamis to Papphos, from Perga to Papphylia. John Mark deserts the group and returns to Jerusalem. And so, Barnabas and Paul travel on to Perga and Pamphylia, which is Turkey today, and then on to Antioch in Pisidia, which is Turkey. There you go. Look at it as the lines go up. And so, from Antioch of Pisidia of Turkey today, Paul preaches his longest recorded sermon and many people begin to respond. And so, these men, all of them, where their diversity of backgrounds and social standings show just how much the church at Antioch reached out to everyone throughout the community. It reached out to all classes of people, all needs, all nationalities, all races. No one was excluded. Everyone was invited to Christ. Welcome into the fellowship and the ministry of the church. Hallelujah. Which is the way it should be and always be. The church at Antioch was a ministering church. And because of these churches, you and I We have the gospel today because of that. Go ye, therefore, into the highways, and as many as you shall find, bid to the marriage. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the 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. And so every one of us have our marching orders. Every one of us are commissioned. Every one of us are ambassadors for Christ. And so the first missionaries were gifted with a very special gift. What? The Holy Spirit. They were gifted as prophets. They were gifted as teachers. And so we see as these leaders, they go further out into the city. The Lord calls Paul to focus his ministry on the Gentiles. Now, All of this, even though I'm doing this, I'm going to get back to the scripture. Now, there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers as Barnabas and Simeon that was called Niger and Lucius of Cyrene and Menaion, which had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch and Saul, which is Paul. We see our characters before us and we see that the spiritual gift of teaching is the gift of understanding and communicating the Word of God, of edifying believers in the truth of God's Word. It involves understanding, interpreting, arranging, communicating the Word of God. The gift of teaching is given to all believers who commit his or her life to the Word of God and sharing its glorious truth with God's people. Now I want to take time to remind you again what our mission is. You say, you're not at our church. No. But this is the mission for all churches, and that is to share the word of God with the world, to support the belief of the minister, layman, understanding the preaching, the teaching of the word of God, to prepare everything that we can to lead men, women, boys and girls, to give their hearts and lives to Jesus Christ and to secure them for eternal life. And I'm going to tell you something. We need to be able to ensure that we minister to the needy of the world. And last but not least, provide Jesus Christ his proper place which his word gives every one of us. Men, you are the spiritual leaders of your home and you need to be there. And so that's exactly what we see. We look back at a missionary, Vincent Donovan, was a Roman Catholic priest from the United States. He was ordained 1952. He was a spirit, spirit and missionary to the Tasmanian for 17 years of the 1960s and 70s. And I quote him, he says, the day that we're completely satisfied with what we have been doing on that day, we will know that we're wrong, that we have made the greatest mistake of all. Because every one of us, our purpose is to take the gospel out to the world. And so the first thing that we talked about in verse one is they were members of a great church, a church that reached out to everybody. It doesn't matter who they were. It reached out to all of them. They were noted as they were gifted. They were gifted teachers. And so, as they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me, Paul and Barnabas, for the work whereunto I have called them. The Bible says, And whatsoever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord, and not, listen, not unto men, knowing that of the Lord, that ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for ye serve the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, it was because of their faithfulness where they were that God knew that he could trust these men to do greater things for him. Now. God calls those who are faithful where they are. I'm going to say that one more time. God calls those who are faithful where they are. I'm glad that Paul said more was required in Stuart's that a man be found faithful. And you know what he said in 1 Corinthians, he said, for you are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. And so Paul said, therefore, my beloved brethren, be you steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. And so as every man hath received the gift, even so minister. the same one to another as good stewards on the manifold grace of God. He tells us that in 1 Peter chapter 4. And so we look and we begin to realize what happens when the church seeks God. Oh, listen, I'm going to tell you something. Divine guidance begins to become readily available. God's will becomes known because when you begin to seek God, That divine guidance will make itself available to you. And it will give you what you do not have. It will equip you with what you need. God calls those who are faithful where they are. And I'm glad, mercifully, the church avoids one of its greatest mortal enemies, complacency. Every one of us can get so complacent that we're not about the Father's business. We're not doing what we should. And so They were called while ministering and fasting. Amen. And so they had come together to discuss the matter of the world evangelism. They were fasting. They were praying over the matter. God can use only those who sense the desperate needs of the world. They sense the need so deeply that they will set food and everything else aside. in order to seek God's face. How desperately God needs men and women like you today that are listening to my message, who will fill the gap, men and women. What a tragedy, generation after generation has rolled in upon the other and the world is still unreached. Where are those? Where are those that want to be faithful in ministering right where they are? Who will be concerned that they will set food and everything else aside for prayer, that they will fast and they will do exactly what they need to do, when they need to do it, praise God, because that's exactly how it's supposed to be. And so they receive a Pacific call. They were set apart by the Holy Spirit. So we see that call came from God. They were to be set apart for the work chosen by God. When God called me to pastor, I knew that he did, but I ran off. I was in Mexico doing some missionary work for two weeks with the Hands and Feet Ministry. Over there were good old Sam Simpson, my brother in Christ that I love with all of my heart, hallelujah. And man, and you know what? We got challenged over there and have the team come down with a virus when we got down at the Texas Turnpike. And it hit us. And when we got to the Hacienda over in Mexico and began to do the work, half the team was on IVs. When we took the other team, we went over there. We put some long 16-hour days in. I ain't exaggerating. And without much water. And we'd get done with that long day of pouring concrete for the foundation, doing the rebar, tying it in, putting scripture all in there. And when we got back, we weren't done. We went on into a city that night and did vacation Bible school in a different city every night after a work day, every day for two weeks. You talking about getting close to the Lord. You better believe I knew. I knew when the Lord turned my eye to the left when he turned it to the right. Boy, I'm going to tell you, I ain't never been more in a place of purpose that time than I know in all my life. And all of a sudden, I still was going on. And then after we got back from the vacation Bible school after that long day, we'd have a prayer meeting. So you're talking about a long 16-hour day. Man, but God is good. Amen all the time. Woo, praise God. Man, we get back over there and man, I was in that meeting and God sent these Spanish women. These Spanish women came over there and one of them, the oldest one out of said, can we talk to you? And I said, sure you can. And that lady said, the Lord has let us know that God is calling you to be a shepherd. You don't think I didn't know what they were talking about? Woo, praise God. They were right on top. They were in another country. They were another language. God began to speak through them. You know what I did when I got back? Absolutely nothing. I run. I run. Man following the deacons. Ohio senior and them, they tracked me down. Hallelujah. And they called, and I came by, and I gave in because I knew. I knew the calling. I knew the Holy Spirit. I recognized God's power. I knew the power of God. I know the purpose of God. I know his strength. Hallelujah. And so how desperately God needs men and women who's going to fill the gap as these men did. The tragedy that generation after generation have rolled in upon the other and the world is still unreached. And so we're concerned that even before we eat that we set aside everything for prayer I'm glad that Luke says and he spake a parable unto them to this end that men are always to pray and not to faint I'm glad John said hitherto you have asked nothing in my name ask and he shall receive that your joy may be full and so Paul said, praying always with our prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching there into with our perseverance and supplication of all saints. He said in Thessalonians, pray without ceasing. And so these first missionaries received a pacific call that the Holy Spirit begin to do a great work, that he set them aside. And when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. That's why I wasn't going to just fly by these few verses. Because the call came from the Holy Spirit. And they were set apart. And there were several things that every believer and minister of the gospel need to pay attention to. The Holy Spirit calls the believer to serve God. And Paul and Barnabas were not called by the church. They weren't called by the other leaders. by their own determination. The words of Christ were as true for Paul and Barabbas as they were for the first apostles and for us today. Because in John chapter 15 verse 16 the Bible says, ye have not chosen me but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain. And so the Holy Spirit was not calling Paul and Barnabas to a life of witness. Every believer is called to be a witness for God. Every born again Christian is called to be that witness. The Holy Spirit was calling the men to a specific task, to a lifetime commitment to ministry. These two men were never again to lay believers They were given their lives to serving God as full-time worldwide evangelists and missionaries. And the call of the Holy Spirit comes at a Pacific time. There is a definite time that when the Holy Spirit speaks to that believer's heart and mind and the voice and the will of God are so unmistakable that the call of the Holy Spirit is for the believer to be his, to be possessed by God's Spirit. and to be separated, to belong to the Holy Spirit of God, to allow the Spirit to live and to move and to have his being within the believer's body, and to be possessed and infilled and guided by the Holy Spirit of God, to be controlled completely by the Spirit, and to be completely surrendered to the Spirit's will and use. That's why you don't rush through 1, 2, and 3, because the call of the Holy Spirit involves work. and the work he has chosen for the believer to do. The believer is separated to work, to do the work of the ministry, to do the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ that he tells us in in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 12. And so here the first missionaries bade their mission in prayer and fasting and they did not launch out immediately because the new call was too momentous. the face of God had to be sought, and for a deep sense of his presence and power, for the direction of his will. All of a sudden, we look and we see, not for the praise of men, but the first missionaries were commissioned by the church, and it was the official meeting of the church called for the Pacific purpose of commissioning Saul and Barnabas. Now, anytime that a missionary goes somewhere, they go to a commissioning service. Before I even went to the little trip over there with them teenagers for two weeks to do the foundation, you're talking about Man, when we poured that foundation that Sunday morning, I looked up over there and there was a Mexican gentleman that came over to the church and we had a cross outside and he had his big giant sombrero on and he went over there and he had his head bent and he was praying to almighty God, hallelujah. You talking about feeling good knowing that we laid the foundation in the word of God, hallelujah. And so we see that the church was not calling the dissettling for these two men apart, but the Holy Spirit had sent and called these men apart to the ministry. And so committing its support and prayers We went to a commissioning service and more from there. We went over to Mexico and they give us the thing says don't be going over there and using tobacco and everything because you're a witness for the church and you're a light for the church and whatever you reflect when you go on foreign soil that you need to reflect Jesus and his love praise God. And so I'm glad that the church was called upon to acknowledge and commission these men to the work of God, whom they set before the apostles. And when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them in Acts chapter six, verse six, that talks about Timothy talks about neglect, not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the press battery. And I'm glad, hallelujah, that as Timothy said, lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sin, but keep thyself pure. You know what? He goes on further, he says, wherefore in 2 Timothy he says, wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. And so, they being sent forth by the Holy Spirit presents the Spirit not only calling them, but sending them as well. Due to the cross, the Holy Spirit now has a far greater latitude to work within all of our lives. And so, representing a journey of approximately 100 miles as well, Cyprus was the boyhood home of Barnabas, where he no doubt still had many friends that we see. What happens when the church seeks God as we continue? As Christ's followers are released, as they're sent off for mission, for faith, they find forum for expression. Hallelujah. What happens when the church seeks God? God shows up. Did you hear that? When you seek him, God will show up and the church avoids complacency and faith finds a forum for expression. And all of a sudden, the movement of Jesus begins to expand out and the work of the gospel begins to take form. Because every one of us, when we look and we begin to realize that what the Lord is wanting to do. They bade their mission in prayer and in fasting, praise God. each and every one of us as we look and we begin to realize that God was so good. They were commissioned by the church as we said and as I get ready to close out in a minute and begin to look at all of the different maps that place us, I'm glad that God has a map for us right where we're at today. God wants to do some great work in all of our lives and I hope and pray that as you listen to the Word of God, as you continue to do something and contribute, as these two men went on their journey to start out with the Word of God, I hope that you are at a local church and that you're starting to do what God has called you to do before it's too late. Father, we thank you for this First Missionary Journey Part One of the life of the Apostle Paul. Now touch all those. And I pray that I made a special emphasis to not rush through these few verses of 1, 2, and 3 because of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit did a great thing, and the Holy Spirit is still doing a great thing today to reach out and to work through the lives of your church. But I hope, Father, that you have not moved on with America. You've not moved on with Georgia. You've not moved on with Taylorsville or Cartersville, but you are still doing a great work among our churches and our families to this day until you come back to rapture the church out and to take us on for the marriage supper of the lamb. And Jesus is marvelous. Mighty name. Amen. God bless you. Thank you for tuning us in.