& 13:1-3 An end & a beginning
Acts 12:18-25 · Vern Peterman · Oct 15, 2017
Acts (2017-18), No. 38
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/49266821743

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Good morning. We're going to be stepping our way through the passage that Courtney just read for us, Acts 12.18-13.3. We've kind of spanned the end of and the beginning of different chapters here.

Just to review, what we'd seen earlier in chapter 12 was, just in one verse, 12.2, the execution of James, the only apostle to have had his death recorded in the New Testament. And by the way, from all that we know, James was the only one of the apostles to die in Israel. all the rest from any record that we have died somewhere else outside of Israel and in some cases quite a ways away from Israel. An example would be Thomas who died on the the east coast of India. We have then in contrast to that Peter and the account there in chapter 12 telling us about Peter also having been captured under command of King Herod Agrippa, Herod Agrippa I, and Peter, however, being miraculously released.

And so we saw that last week. He was put under guard by, and the scripture is very explicit here, four sets of four soldiers. So, by the way, that's maximum security in terms of how the Romans customarily did their security, and even went a measure above that, as we'll soon see. But nonetheless, through the work of the Lord, through an angel, Peter was released from captivity even with guards, two guards chained to him and other guards at the gate.

He went past them all and wasn't discovered as we'll see until the morning and wasn't discovered as missing. Peter went to one house where Rhoda was so startled and amazed that she didn't recognize that she should have opened the door. Instead, she recognized his voice and went off to tell the others. They didn't believe her until they finally came and opened the door. And lo and behold, there was Peter. And so then Peter went from that house off to another place undisclosed.

So as we step into this passage, Acts 12.18-13.3, this passage has four parts. I thought about putting some strange hand in there, but that's a little freaky. Anyway, so the first question is, what happened to our prisoner Peter? This is the shock of the Romans when they discover that they have been completely surprised and in spite of extraordinary security measures, have lost track of where this prisoner Peter went. Next, King Herod Agrippa loses his grip. He may have the name Agrippa, but that doesn't mean that he holds on to his grip. He loses it.

Thirdly, the church at Antioch gets it all together. And then fourth, the church at Antioch sends three together. So we get those four parts as we step through each of the parts of this passage. Acts 12.18 goes like this, now when day came there was no small disturbance among the soldiers as to what could have become of Peter. So the angel really did a number on these soldiers. Imagine these soldiers who are, they've been given and assigned this extraordinary measure of security.

Ordinarily you would just simply have, here's a jailer and he's got a couple soldiers at his command. If you were to step up the security, the stepped-up security, standard security, would be one soldier chained to one prisoner. It was typically the right hand of the prisoner, left hand of the soldier.

That was how they did it. In this case, they had two soldiers chained up to Peter. That was double standard Roman security. Then they put him in a locked jail cell with guards at the outside of the gate. So that would be maximum security. But to top it off, they went above that and instead of having just one set of guards for the night, they had four sets of four. And it's explicit.

The words right there in the original language, four sets of four, 16 guards. And why would they do that? So they have rotating shifts and you wouldn't have guards get all drowsy, right? You'd have rotating guards go on shifts, and you'd have guards that were fresh would only be on watch a few hours, and then they would shift with the next set of guards. In this case, that didn't work. Not only do the soldiers, when they woke up or the morning came, have no idea what could possibly have happened to Peter, they disappeared, they knew instantly that they were in really, really big terminal trouble.

So here's the punishment if you got caught sleeping on watch. Minimum punishment is you have your clothes set on fire. Maximum punishment, which was carried out here, is you're executed if you lose your prisoner. This is why, as we're going to see in chapter 16, the jailer, when he asked Paul, what must I do to be saved, has got his sword out. Because why? You lose a prisoner, you're going to lose it. Your head, most likely. So, it meant the death penalty. These guys were shocked. This prisoner, Peter, as we saw, was miraculously released from this extra-high security prison situation. Now, let's ask this question. Can people devise a security level that keeps God from letting someone free? The answer is no. It doesn't matter. Give it the best you've got. Even today, use high technology. Is God threatened by high technology?

No. If the angel walks up to the gate and doesn't get the keys out, but just opens the gate, the lock, multiple times we saw that happen with Peter. He had the shackles on his hands unlocked. The gate that held him in the cell, unlocked. The gate out onto the street, unlocked. The angel never touched a thing. Locks, technology, none of that's going to stop the Lord.

God, by a series of miracles, intervened to have Peter escape from these extra high security measures above Roman military standards. So here's the amazing thing. James was taken. Peter lived by a series of miracles. A series of miracles. So we could ask the question why. As a matter of fact, here's question one.

Couldn't God have preserved both James and Peter from the murderous intent of Herod Agrippa I? Yes. He could have, couldn't he? Couldn't God have killed Herod before he killed James and tried to kill Peter? Couldn't God have done that? Yes, he could have, most certainly. Couldn't God have prevented all of the persecutions of the apostles and the rest of the church, which in fact took many lives? Couldn't God have just prevented that?

How about if Saul had a road to Damascus experience when he first got out of the house on the day of Pentecost? Could that have happened? Yes, it could have. Yes, I could have. Why didn't God do that? Couldn't God have converted Saul to become a believer much earlier and prevented the horrific deaths of faithful believers in Christ? And the answer is most certainly yes. Why doesn't he do that? Do you know when I'm going to answer that question? I'm not. Not today. It'll be answered in a few weeks. On the day when we get an extra hour? Come that Sunday, then we'll answer these. Okay, so Acts 12, 19.

When Herod had searched for him and had not found him, he examined the guards in order that they be led away but to execution, when he went down from Judea to Caesarea and was spending... then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and was spending time there.

Okay, so here's this Herod guy. And by the way, we mentioned this is Herod Agrippa, his father Was Herod Antipas the one who had John the Baptist beheaded? Right? Herod Antipas' father was Herod the Not-So-Great. Can you imagine the Herod family reunions?

Oh, what a time! Scholars can't agree whether or not he had nine... I'm talking about Herod the Great had nine or ten wives. They debate that. Who knows? Herod may have even debated that, right? So you got Herod the Great, who's the not-so-great, right? So you got that. He would terminate wives, terminate sons. Herod Antipas, he never knew his father. His father was killed by Herod the Great, under the command of Herod the Great, when he was age three. So he actually grew up without his dad in the picture. And so you can imagine the Herod family reunions.

Oh, you made it! Which doesn't mean you got here. It means you got to live, right? So anyway, it must have been quite a time. And it turns out that was also a good place to find a spouse. So anyway, really weird bunch of people. We're not going to be done. I mean, this Herod guy is going to die in this passage. We're not going to be done with the Herods. We're going to run into three of them towards the end of the book of Acts, and they're really weird. They're weird. Get ready. Brace yourself.

Here are the cities and places mentioned here in this passage, and particularly we want to make a point of Caesarea. So going from Jerusalem to Caesarea, Caesarea was this Roman military post on the coast of Israel, north of Jerusalem, as you see on the map.

And here's what it would have looked like, an artist's rendering, looking from the south. They had a well-guarded naval facility there, a port facility on the Mediterranean on one side, and then they also had a good walled city that was largely a military base. You also had other people of Jewish and Greek background there that were in various kinds of support functions. including, as we'll see later on, Philip, the one who is the evangelist who went to the Samaritans. He lived there. And so we're going to run into this city of Caesarea a few more times as we go through the book of Acts. And it will be right there where Paul will be imprisoned for two years, as we'll soon see. So anyway, Herod, this guy looked high and low. He ordered these way above standard security measures, because he didn't want to be embarrassed as it happened before, where all twelve apostles got loose, right?

What he really wanted was to kill Peter, as he had James, the brother of John. That's what he had in mind, and that's exactly what he wanted to carry through with. Nobody thwarting him, not even God. After conducting his own search, because it said, I'm sure the soldiers desperately searched, he conducted his own search. He didn't find Peter.

He said to the guards off with their head, kind of reminds, well, never mind. Anyway, so off with their heads is the way it goes. He perhaps executed just the four on duty, or he may have said, I just killed a bunch of them. We don't know exactly which one, perhaps all 16.

So he went from Judea, the capital of which was Jerusalem, to Caesarea. And governors and kings who ruled over the areas that included Caesarea and Jerusalem tended to call Caesarea home. And that's what Herod Agrippa apparently did as well. This was also the pattern of Pontius Pilate. By the way, an engraving of Pontius Pilate was found in that little amphitheater that you see in the foreground of this picture. So anyway, it's confirmed it's not just something in the Bible about whom we have stories. But at any rate, so this was a pattern common to the rulers in that era.

So here's Caesarea, which is a Roman military base in Port City. There was plenty of protection for someone who sought protection from people, so that was a safe place to be. rather than to be spent all the time in Jerusalem where the Romans were significantly outnumbered by the Jews, especially when the Jews were having a feast or festival.

Here's Acts 12.20, and now he was very angry.

So what else is new, right? With the people of Tyre and Sidon, with one accord they came to him and having won over Blastus, the king's chamberlain, they were asking for peace because their country was fed by the king's country. So pick up what's going on here.

He was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. We're not told why he was angry, but if your name is Herod, I guess you don't really need a good reason, right? So he was angry with them. These were port cities north of Galilee along, again, the eastern Mediterranean coast.

Your map there that's on the front page kind of gives you the bigger picture perspective on that. So they're worried about this, and it tells us at the end why. They're worried about this because, first of all, Herod is this just angry fellow who might be angry for no apparent reason.

And so they're trying to figure out, how do we reverse this situation? So one of the things they do is to win over, blast us, the King's Chamberlain. We don't know how they did that, but it was essentially a political move. How do we work, you know, to get things turned around with this guy Herod Agrippa?

And they were asking for peace because the country was fed by the king's country. So the thing to remember here is that the area around Galilee, which was under the command of Herod Agrippa, was the breadbasket for Tyre and Sidon. Tyre and Sidon did not have as much agricultural production capacity in their area, and so they significantly relied on the area around the Sea of Galilee and the hills surrounding it for a lot of the agricultural production. So that was the reason they were very concerned that they might get their food cut off and get into a starvation mode if the food didn't come from Galilee that was under the command of Herod Agrippa. So here we have Tyre. and Sidon, and so we get the picture of where those are located in the big picture here. Now, so here's Herod. King Herod was very angry with these people.

Again, we're not told exactly why, but he was just angry, and in fact he was just angry a lot. Just no particular reason, but that was a family tradition. He was angry enough to kill. So this is not, I'm angry at you and I'm going to hold a grudge. I'm angry at you and I'm going to express it and you're not going to like how it's expressed and you might not live very long. That was the typical way he did things. And we're not told exactly why, but it was a family tradition to be murderously angry.

Here is Herod the not-so-great. He is angry that the Magi did not come back to him, and so what does he do? Kill all the babies in Jerusalem. So that's his way of dealing with it. I could tell you more stories about Herod's anger, only they would be sickening. There are actually many more stories outside of the Bible, and it's really nauseating how horrific were his murderous revenge and commands for execution.

Now, so there's politics in the mix. Now, a couple of things I have to mention. You might say, well, is that correct English? Well, actually, there is or there are both correct. The worst thing about the politics is the politics and the worst thing about the politics is the ticks. You know, I don't like ticks anyway.

So, getting into good with Blastus the Chamberlain, that was the strategy of the residents of Tyre and Sidon. In other words, they're thinking, how do we turn this guy? He really hates us. How do we turn him around? And so they say, well, we can't go directly at him because he'll just cut our heads off.

So let's go in with Blastus, who's otherwise not mentioned in any of the literature. So Dr. Luke has a unique indication of this guy's name. So he knows the politics, which is very interesting. So they got in good with Blastus the Chamberlain, who's the guy who's in charge of the king's royal chamber, right?

And so their strategy is to, okay, let's get this guy on our side and maybe he can arrange to get Herod on our side. So that would give them the approach to King Herod and that's exactly what the people wanted. Why? because they wanted to eat. Eating is nice, right? And so they wanted to eat, and if they had Herod mad at them, it meant they wouldn't eat, and that they wouldn't like.

So northern Israel, especially Galilee here, was a breadbasket for these countries, and that's the reason why. These port cities were particularly situated for trading. They did a lot of trading out on the waters there, the Mediterranean. And on the east, they were well known for their forests, but not so much for their agricultural land. And so that's why they relied on Galilee for their food.

Here's Acts 12, 21 and 22. On an appointed day, Herod, having put on his royal apparel, took a seat on the rostrum and began delivering an address to them. The people kept crying out, the voice of a god and not of a man. Okay, so what are they doing? They first got this thing set up with Blastus and now they're trying to butter this guy up. So let's see how this turns out. So one of the things we see is Herod had everything right and everything wrong.

It turns out Herod Agrippa was well connected. Herod Agrippa I had been raised with boys who were later to become the upper crust of Roman society His boyhood friends were Emperors Caligula and Claudius. Those were his boyhood buds. Talk about name dropping. Oh, I'm good friends with the Emperor. Oh, that's got to help, right?

So in terms of political connection, he had it all right. And it turned out for him the breakup of the kingdom after Herod the Great because what they did is they said Herod the Great's got various sons and so we're going to break the kingdom up and have those various sons rule over parts of what their father had. So they broke things up. Things came together here now with Herod Agrippa so that he actually ruled over the same United Kingdom that his grandfather, Herod the Great, had ruled. But that, in fact, was bad.

So the people said, oh, this is the voice of a god and not a man, which is, of course, what are they doing? They're trying to gain his favor because they want to eat? Because they like their heads. They'd at least like to keep their heads attached to their body, right? So that's what they're doing. And so they're trying to butter this guy up. And so he says, this is not the voice of a man, but the voice of a God, which is just so they could eat and keep their heads.

For centuries, however, many pagan cultures had declared or entertained the idea that a ruler was deity. It was considered a measure of loyalty. to, for instance, have some kind of a dedication proclaiming Caesar to be a deity. It didn't matter which other deities you had, but Caesar was a deity.

And later on that became required by law that you do that. But that really had been carried on for centuries. The Egyptian pharaohs were considered deities. There was that kind of a connection essentially for centuries throughout the Mediterranean and throughout the Middle East. The Jews did not go for this, but the pagans certainly did, and those of Tyre and Sidon were pagan. They were of Canaanite background.

Here's Acts 12.23, "...and immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died." Now, I've eaten worms, but I've not been eaten by worms. So this is different. By the way, it was quite a while ago that I ate worms, just so you know. Anyway, so here's this circumstance. This guy, he's being told, this is the voice of a man. Not the voice of a man, rather, but the voice of God. and the Lord decides to do something. So here's an angel of the Lord who's certainly under the command of the Lord. God does not have wild angels, right? Doesn't have stray angels.

Caused Herod to be eaten with worms. So this is an immediate parasitic infection. We would certainly not volunteer for this. There are several things about this that are spiritually fascinating. as long as you're not the one being eaten by worms. I mean, it's kind of amazing to look at it and say, wow, this is, and it appears to everybody else like this is something natural that happened. But it is apparent from scripture that this is not something that was begun naturally, but instead something that God initiated.

Now, we might wish that God would do that with every self-obsessed politician, but then we might not have any politicians at all, right? So God is the one who decides these things, isn't he, right? God is the one who decides these things. Could God simply terminate any politician that he decided he didn't like? Yes, he could, right?

Why doesn't he do that? We're not going to answer that today. That'll be in a few weeks. You'll have to come on November 5th. Okay. So anyway, here's Acts 12, 24 and 25, and that finishes the chapter, but not our passage. But the word of the Lord continued to grow and be multiplied, and Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, when they had fulfilled their mission, taking along with them John, who was also called Mark.

Okay, now this is actually a very momentous Very momentous set of verses here. This term, the word of the Lord, It means a message about Jesus, is essentially how that comes across. It ranges in some cases as we read through the book of Acts, with rare exception.

Sometimes it actually means the spoken word that Christ says, but in most cases, and those we have referenced here at the top of the slide, it's referring to the word of the Lord, meaning the message about Jesus. It has a range of meanings and the simplest meaning is the presentation of the gospel that one must believe in order to be saved. That Christ died for your sins, was buried and rose again, the simple gospel That is, in some cases, what they're referring to as the Word of the Lord. In other cases, it goes on to more extensive teaching and is more equivalent to what's called the faith, that is, the teaching, the whole set of teachings of the Apostles. So depending on the context, it can mean the gospel or a larger set of teachings of the apostles. The primary meaning in this passage is the gospel of salvation. So the gospel of salvation was going out. This is what it's referring to here. So that went to more and more places and to more and more people.

If you can imagine, put yourself in the place of people who lived in the pagan world at that time, and if you believed in the gods, and by the way, there were people who didn't, okay, if you believed in the gods that the Greeks held to, those gods didn't love you. They never loved you. You had to work for, earn everything you ever got from them, and they never blessed you. Those gods never blessed you.

To have the Word of the Lord come, here is a God that pays the price Himself for you to have a relationship with Him, and blesses you without your earning it. To the pagan mind, that was mind-boggling. That was amazing. We'll see more of that as we continue on. This is why it would spread to these people.

It's like, wow, a God who really loves me. A God who will pay the price. I don't have to make sacrifices in the temples day after day after day. I don't have to make sacrifices. Why? Because He paid the sacrifice so that I could have a relationship with Him and He loves me unconditionally and He blesses me unconditionally. It just doesn't get any better than that.

Here's the mission that they're talking about back in Acts chapter 11 verses 27 through 30. The words go like this. And so this is the mission that's being fulfilled as described in Acts 12.25.

So 11.27 through 30 reads like this.

Now at this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch and one of them named Agabus stood up and began to indicate by the Spirit that there would certainly be a great famine all over the world. And this took place in the reign of Claudius. buddy of Herod Agrippa, right? And in proportion that any of the disciples had means, each of them determined to send a contribution for the relief of the brethren living in Judea, where the famines were often far worse. And this they did, sending it in charge of Barnabas and Saul to the elders. Notice it's the elders this time, not the apostles.

But this is the mission. that is fulfilled and said to be fulfilled in Acts 12.25. They collected funds from churches in other areas, they brought them to the elders in the church in Jerusalem, and thus they completed their mission. So they'd gone to these churches.

Now what's interesting is in 1st and 2nd Corinthians, at the latter part of that, this collection for the aid of others were given principles in those two passages. That's one of the reasons I'm really glad for this 1st and 2nd Corinthians class, is that they're taking the time to go through and lay out those principles. Those are very valuable and important. They're grace-based principles of giving. as opposed to what the world typically gives, and actually as opposed to what many churches customarily will give. So anyway, so that's spelled out here, and that's what they're operating by here.

Once these funds were delivered by Barnabas and Paul to the elders of the church in Jerusalem, they had completed their mission. The only elder of the church in Jerusalem that we are sure that we know by name was James, the half-brother of Jesus. So, and we're going to find that he shows up again in Acts a couple of times. Then they returned to the church at Antioch to resume the ministry that they had there, and as we're soon going to see, to then begin another ministry that they didn't have.

This is an archaeological reconstruction of Antioch. On the Orontes River, this is from the second century, but it gives you an idea of the character and extent of the city. There were some changes from the first century, but this is close. And here would be another picture of that archaeological reconstruction. So this is an archaeologist going through and taking the archaeological information and doing a drawing to reconstruct what would that look like.

Here again, we have the places that are included. So here's Antioch. at the kind of the north end and to the east end of your map there that you have on page one, and then Jerusalem at the southern end there. So going between those and the time between those would take about roughly two weeks, going between them. So Jerusalem to Antioch, about two weeks.

So Barnabas and Saul, as we go through Acts, we're going to see a very interesting pattern come up. When we see the names together, the sequence initially is Barnabas and Saul. In fact, the way it was earlier in Acts, in Acts 4.36, we were first introduced to Barnabas, whose given name was Joseph. Barnabas was a nickname, means son of encouragement. So that's where he's first introduced. Saul is first introduced as an unbeliever who is approving of Stephen's martyrdom.

But here, so we see their names are Barnabas and Saul in sequence. Once Saul becomes a believer, we're going to see that the names as we saw them here are Barnabas first and then Saul. Soon we'll see Saul in Barnabas, that's what we'll see in Acts 13-42, and then Paul in Barnabas, and then the Saul name drops off, and Barnabas even drops off, and it was just Paul.

So a very interesting set of transitions there. And so we'll see that, we're kind of in the middle of that, we're going to see that again as we continue our way through the book of Acts. We also have another fascinating personality, John, who was also called Mark. Now, over time, people have called me Vern. They've also called me other things. I won't repeat most of them. But anyway, but John, who was also called Mark.

So one of the reasons why you see this pattern in the Bible is there are often names commonly given, and so the Bible differentiates between them. Example, in Israel, the name Mary was a name given to one out of every five women. So that's why you'll see, you know, it'll be this Mary and that Mary, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and Mary the mother of this one, and Mary Magdalene, and so it'll be, you know, one differentiation or the other. In here, because there's also other Johns, including John the Baptist and the Apostle John, this is the designation that we'll see and accept in context where it's very clear.

So John, who is called Mark, is identified, and this is the middle of three different times. He is going to end up being a very significant person, and you're going to be very glad that you found out about him, because he has a very interesting story. So we'll be looking more at him. He'll either be called John or Mark in the rest of the book of Acts, but it'll be clear from context which one we're talking about. And he also shows up in other New Testament letters, and so we'll see that as well. We're about to learn the great and momentous things about this guy, what scripture records about this John who is called Mark. and about Barnabas and about Saul, who will be called Paul, and about ministry. So that's one of the things we have to track is keep track of the names. There'll be some name changes and areas where simplification will mean it'll be John who was called Mark will only be one time more after this.

Here's Act 13.1, and now the word Antioch and the church that was there, prophets and teachers, Barnabas and Simeon who was called Niger, and then Lucius of Cyrene and Menean who had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch and Saul. Alright, so let's step our way through this.

One is that you'll hear the word prophets referring to prophets in the Old Testament and that is correct. New Testament prophets were same name but were not of the same order and the same gift. New Testament prophets were not the same as the Old Testament prophets. These were prophets who spoke because of the lack initially of the New Testament. At first there was no New Testament at all, and then as the documents began to be written still, it took a while to write them all and to collect them all.

So these prophets were given this gift as a temporary measure in lieu of or in place of the New Testament until the New Testament was complete. Teachers, however, were gifted by the Spirit to teach the Bible all the way from the very beginning, from the time of the apostles, and that gift continues now, especially since we have the New Testament. So until the time when the Lord calls us home at the time of the rapture, and I hope that we don't get to finish this message, I would be just fine if the Lord took us all.

I don't know whether my clothes would be folded or not, and I don't care. I hope that I would have them on. Anyway, I won't go into that. Okay, so there's prophets and teachers here. And so they're named, and so this is very interesting. So you have Barnabas and Simeon, Lucius and Manian and Saul. So let's go through those names.

So here's Joseph, nicknamed Barnabas, and after that introductory name of Josephus in Acts 4.36, that's the only time you see his name, otherwise called Barnabas in the entire rest of the New Testament, his nickname, Son of Encouragement.

He was a Levite, which is important to keep in mind. That means he had background, he worked alongside the priests in the temple. At intervals, when he had that assignment, he worked alongside the priests in the temple, having complementary duty. That is, everything else required in the temple that the priests didn't do, the Levites did. Lots of things like that. So they would be very familiar, however, with all the things that the priests would do, and all the other procedures in the temple.

He was from Cyprus, which is something we'll see show up again. Then Simeon, probably initially the Jewish name from the tribe, pronounced Shimeon, also called Niger, most likely because he was dark-skinned, a North African, and he may not have been very dark skin, but enough so that they would make that differentiation. So that would be most likely the identification, which also tells us something else, that people in the church would move around to different places. And so you would have people of different ethnic background. We certainly see that in this name list here. Next, we have Lucius, who is from the North African city of Cyrene. So here's another person from North Africa.

Here, near what is now called Benghazi. If you heard that name, it's very nearby. Cyrene is an archaeological city. Benghazi is the modern name. But anyway, it's very nearby. So this would be Lucius. Next, Menean brought up with... Now, so this is interesting.

Here's Menean brought up with Herod Antipas. Remember, he was the one who was a son of Herod the Great. His father, that his Herod Antipas' father had been killed under orders from Herod the Not-So-Great, as they call him. But Herod Antipas, who had not known his father since his father was killed when he was age three, Manian was brought up with him. So he was brought up with the guy who had John the Baptist beheaded.

This guy was very well connected Obviously, being a Christian, he decided, I'm going to go that direction rather than being of the political upper crust. Then, so in terms of locations here, here's Cyprus. Here's the island of Cyprus. We're going to see this show up. This is the place where Barnabas is from. This is also the place here where we see one of these guys is from. And also, in addition to that, Cyrene, way over here on the North African coast. It's currently in the country of what is now Libya. And again, the closest modern city would be Benghazi, right nearby. And so that would be Cyrene.

Alright, here's Acts 13.23, and while they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Lord said, Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work which I have called them. And then when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. Now, something that is interesting, they're ministering to the Lord. We often think of ministering to the church body and the various needs in the church body. Here they were ministering to the Lord, so here are these five men particularly, it seems them and probably others with them, and we think of them ministering to the believers there, teaching and perhaps other ministries. So they taught the truths contained in the Old Testament, adding to the teachings given to the church which had begun with the apostles and prophets, lacking the New Testament.

With this Acts 13.1 we see these didn't just minister to the church body at Antioch here, they certainly did that, but they also ministered to the Lord. They each individually had a relationship with the Lord, and jointly they had a relationship with the Lord.

We call that fellowship with Him, and at least that's the start. This is all called fellowship plus. Ministering to the Lord is not based on the Lord needing anything from us. One of the things that happens here in the church body, we have needs, don't we? And the ministering is to deal with, starting with spiritual needs here in the church body, and sometimes dealing with other needs, as we most certainly have. The Lord doesn't need anything, and yet there is a ministering to the Lord.

What is that? He, not only are we called to have fellowship with Him, He should be praised and adored and thanked. By the way, why is He thanked? Because He is given to us graciously. We're not given salvation with an IOU, right? Okay, now that you're saved, that's wonderful, here's how you're going to pay the Lord back. No. All we can do is thank Him. That's what's appropriate. He is to be glorified because He deserves it and He always intended it since before He said, let there be light. Our ministering to the Lord isn't based on His needing anything or anything that we owe to Him. we cannot pay him back, not even close.

Fasting, which by the way was done in the Old Testament, we have a bunch of quotes at the top of the slide there, fasting was done in the Old Testament regularly, particularly towards the latter half, but it is now entirely under grace. Same Action on the outside, grace motivated on the inside. See the difference? It's not, what are the rules about fasting? It's fasting under grace, not under law.

It says, set apart for me, so the Holy Spirit said here, means that the Holy Spirit communicates By the way, there are those who have been brought up with the idea that the Holy Spirit is a force. You'll sometimes hear the Holy Spirit referred to as an it. That's not biblically correct. Here is the Holy Spirit saying, speaking, communicating. He is the third person of the Trinity. He is the one through whom God communicates truth significantly and instruction and godly direction to us.

Set-apart, here's a word that means set-apart, the quick word is holy or a saint. Set-apart for a godly and holy purpose and mission. So that's what he's saying. Set-apart for me, it doesn't say take these guys and set them apart and put them in a closet. Set-apart for me for what? For this mission that I have for them.

Also see that God had called them for His particular work, which we're going to see soon what that is. It was fasting and praying, laying on of hands, things that we could do. Those are no substitute for the specific direction given from God through the Holy Spirit. No matter how holy something looks on the outside, sometimes you hear about people fasting and laying on of hands and they're doing holy stuff, but that doesn't mean that the Lord has directed things. It's possible for us to do things that look saintly and holy, But it's not really the Lord doing the work. Here it's very clear that these things were done and the Lord is in fact doing the work.

One of the other points we make here is we're called and then we're called. Each believer, each one of us is called into fellowship with Jesus Christ. This is 1 Corinthians 1.9. Every single one of us, no exceptions.

Within that, each one of us also has tasks and roles and ministries have been called to, and those are put as entrusted to us as a stewardship. We as a church body have one another entrusted to us as a stewardship. But that entrusting with a stewardship is something that doesn't happen. separate from the calling with which we've been called, that is fellowship with Jesus Christ. God never says, okay, I've entrusted this to you and check back with me after a while when you're done. These things that he has entrusted us with are always done in parallel with our continuing fellowship with him.

Let's pray. Lord, we thank you as we look at this passage and we see how you moved in the church body and through these four parts that we've seen. This is a varied passage. At the same time, we see that you have entrusted these people with certain things and you've entrusted us as well. We look to you in the midst of that, knowing that you don't delegate things to us, but in the midst of things, you want us to fellowship with you. You want us to be doing things empowered and enabled and energized by your Holy Spirit and under your Spirit's direction. We just thank you for the insights that we have from this passage. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.