The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
Acts 12recap of James killed by Herod, Peter delivered, Herod struck dead and eaten by worms
1 Now about that time, King Herod stretched out his hands to oppress some of the assembly.
2 He killed James, the brother of John, with the sword.
3 When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This was during the days of unleavened bread.
4 When he had arrested him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads of four soldiers each to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover.
5 Peter therefore was kept in the prison, but constant prayer was made by the assembly to God for him.
6 The same night when Herod was about to bring him out, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains. Guards in front of the door kept the prison.
7 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side, and woke him up, saying, “Stand up quickly!” His chains fell off from his hands.
8 The angel said to him, “Get dressed and put on your sandals.” He did so. He said to him, “Put on your cloak, and follow me.”
9 And he went out and followed him. He didn’t know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he saw a vision.
10 When they were past the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened to them by itself. They went out, and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.
11 When Peter had come to himself, he said, “Now I truly know that the Lord has sent out his angel and delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from everything the Jewish people were expecting.”
12 Thinking about that, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was called Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying.
13 When Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a maid named Rhoda came to answer.
14 When she recognized Peter’s voice, she didn’t open the gate for joy, but ran in, and reported that Peter was standing in front of the gate.
15 They said to her, “You are crazy!” But she insisted that it was so. They said, “It is his angel.”
16 But Peter continued knocking. When they had opened, they saw him, and were amazed.
17 But he, beckoning to them with his hand to be silent, declared to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. He said, “Tell these things to James, and to the brothers.” Then he departed, and went to another place.
18 Now as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers about what had become of Peter.
19 When Herod had sought for him, and didn’t find him, he examined the guards, and commanded that they should be put to death. He went down from Judea to Caesarea, and stayed there.
20 Now Herod was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. They came with one accord to him, and, having made Blastus, the king’s personal aide, their friend, they asked for peace, because their country depended on the king’s country for food.
21 On an appointed day, Herod dressed himself in royal clothing, sat on the throne, and gave a speech to them.
22 The people shouted, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!”
23 Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he didn’t give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died.
24 But the word of God grew and multiplied.
25 Barnabas and Saul returned to Jerusalem, when they had fulfilled their service, also taking with them John who was called Mark.
prophets and teachers at Antioch listed: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen, and Saul
1 Now in the assembly that was at Antioch there were some prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen the foster brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
every tribe, tongue, and nation around the throne singing with one voice
9 They sang a new song, saying, “You are worthy to take the book, and to open its seals: for you were killed, and bought us for God with your blood, out of every tribe, language, people, and nation,
every tribe, tongue, and nation around the throne, cited alongside Revelation 5:9 as the vision for Christian diversity
9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no man could count, out of every nation and of all tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.
sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went to Seleucia, sailed to Cyprus, proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues at Salamis, with John Mark as helper
4 So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia. From there they sailed to Cyprus.
5 When they were at Salamis, they proclaimed God’s word in the Jewish synagogues. They had also John as their attendant.
found magician Bar-Jesus at Paphos, confrontation with Elymas, proconsul Sergius Paulus summoned Barnabas and Saul, Paul filled with the Holy Spirit struck Elymas blind, proconsul believed being amazed at the teaching of the Lord
6 When they had gone through the island to Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar Jesus,
7 who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of understanding. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul, and sought to hear the word of God.
8 But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith.
9 But Saul, who is also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fastened his eyes on him,
10 and said, “Full of all deceit and all cunning, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?
11 Now, behold, the hand of the Lord is on you, and you will be blind, not seeing the sun for a season!” Immediately a mist and darkness fell on him. He went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand.
12 Then the proconsul, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord.
Barnabas and Saul are called apostles, referenced as a coming development
1 In Iconium, they entered together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spoke that a great multitude both of Jews and of Greeks believed.
2 But the disbelieving Jews stirred up and embittered the souls of the Gentiles against the brothers.
3 Therefore they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who testified to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.
4 But the multitude of the city was divided. Part sided with the Jews, and part with the apostles.
5 When some of both the Gentiles and the Jews, with their rulers, made a violent attempt to mistreat and stone them,
6 they became aware of it, and fled to the cities of Lycaonia, Lystra, Derbe, and the surrounding region.
7 There they preached the Good News.
8 At Lystra a certain man sat, impotent in his feet, a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked.
9 He was listening to Paul speaking, who, fastening eyes on him, and seeing that he had faith to be made whole,
10 said with a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet!” He leaped up and walked.
11 When the multitude saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voice, saying in the language of Lycaonia, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!”
12 They called Barnabas “Jupiter”, and Paul “Mercury”, because he was the chief speaker.
13 The priest of Jupiter, whose temple was in front of their city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, and would have made a sacrifice along with the multitudes.
14 But when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of it, they tore their clothes, and sprang into the multitude, crying out,
15 “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to the living God, who made the sky, the earth, the sea, and all that is in them;
16 who in the generations gone by allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways.
17 Yet he didn’t leave himself without witness, in that he did good and gave you rains from the sky and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.”
18 Even saying these things, they hardly stopped the multitudes from making a sacrifice to them.
19 But some Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there, and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul, and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.
20 But as the disciples stood around him, he rose up, and entered into the city. On the next day he went out with Barnabas to Derbe.
21 When they had preached the Good News to that city, and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch,
22 confirming the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that through many afflictions we must enter into God’s Kingdom.
23 When they had appointed elders for them in every assembly, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had believed.
24 They passed through Pisidia, and came to Pamphylia.
25 When they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia.
26 From there they sailed to Antioch, from where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work which they had fulfilled.
27 When they had arrived, and had gathered the assembly together, they reported all the things that God had done with them, and that he had opened a door of faith to the nations.
28 They stayed there with the disciples for a long time.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
The pastor preached from Acts 13:1-12, tracing the sending of Barnabas and Saul from Antioch and their confrontation with the sorcerer Elymas on Cyprus. He wove in reports and photographs from a recent trip to South Africa, showing the same pattern of gospel advance still at work. The service also included the Lord's Supper.
What was said
Acts 13 opens right after the events of chapter 12, where Herod died and the word of the Lord kept multiplying anyway. That forward momentum is the context for everything that follows. The church at Antioch, where believers were first called Christians, had developed a diverse group of prophets and teachers: Barnabas from Cyprus, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius from Cyrene across the Mediterranean, Manaen who had been raised as a foster brother to Herod Antipas, and Saul. The pastor paused on that diversity, noting that the vision of Revelation 5 and 7 is every tribe, tongue, and nation around the throne singing with one voice, and that this should shape how Christians think about who belongs in the work of God.
While this group was serving the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit spoke and told them to set Barnabas and Saul apart for a specific work. The pastor was direct that fasting here is not simply forgetting to eat while preparing a message. It is an intentional setting aside of physical appetite to listen for what God will say. After fasting, praying, and laying on hands, the church sent them out. The same sending, the pastor noted, happened here at First B when hands were laid on Brooke and Anders for their trip to Zambia.
They began in Cyprus, Barnabas's home territory, going from Salamis on the eastern end of the island to Paphos on the western end. Starting where your guide knows the land and the culture is itself a kind of wisdom, and the pastor connected that to the way the church has sent missionaries home to the places where they already speak the language. In Paphos they encountered Bar-Jesus, a Jewish false prophet and magician who had the ear of the proconsul Sergius Paulus and was working to keep him from the gospel. The pastor pointed out that a Jewish man practicing sorcery had already rejected what he should have known from the law, and that the pattern in Acts is consistent: self-promotion and the pursuit of personal glory meet the resistance of God.
Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, stared the man down and spoke directly, calling him a son of the devil and accusing him of making crooked the straight ways of the Lord, the exact opposite of what John the Baptist was sent to do. The judgment that followed, a temporary blindness, mirrored Paul's own experience on the Damascus road. Sergius Paulus believed, and Luke is careful to say what convinced him: he was amazed at the teaching of the Lord. The miracle authenticated the message, but the message was the point.
The pastor then walked through photographs from the trip to South Africa, where he and Tanya visited Crossroads, a ministry run for thirty-one years by Mahindra Singh, who was born into a Hindu priestly family and came to faith when God healed his sister. He described feeding programs, a school started by a woman named Mavis in an informal settlement, the Hope Center whose concrete foundations First B helped fund years ago, and a Bible study led by TD, who is HIV positive and has been teaching Zulu and Xhosa grandmothers the word of God for over a decade. Women who had been Sangoma witch doctors and Shembe priestesses were standing up in that room and giving testimony that the word of the Lord is real and true. The same dynamic on Cyprus in Acts 13, a sorcerer losing ground to the plain proclamation of the gospel, is still happening.
The sermon closed at the Lord's Supper. The pastor tied the whole movement together with the hymn sung earlier in the service: freely, freely you have received, freely, freely give. The proconsul believed because prophets and teachers were willing to be sent. The women in Durban believe because TD was willing to show up and say, just tell me where you need me. The word of the Lord continues to grow and multiply.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
Pastor Nathan described the prophets and teachers at Antioch as a remarkably diverse group, from Barnabas the Cypriot to Simeon the black man to Manaen who grew up in Herod's royal household. What does that diversity tell us about how God builds a church, and what does it challenge in how we think about our own congregation?
The Holy Spirit told the church at Antioch to set Barnabas and Saul apart for a work He had called them to, and the church responded by fasting, praying, and laying hands on them. What does that process say about how a local church ought to be involved when one of its own is sent out?
Speaker 1Good morning, everybody. Hey, there's just a few but fervent right now, but maybe we can sing some of them in. Would would you help me do that? If you'd stand, we're gonna sing There's Power in the Blood. That's a good one to get the blood pumping.
And, him, you're welcome to sing if you want to. Okay. How about you can sing right there too if you want to. Okay. There's power in the blood.
Here we are.
Speaker 2Would you be free from your burden of sin? There's power in the blood. Power in the blood. Would you or evil a victory win? There's wonderful power in the blood.
There is power power wonder working power in the blood of the lamb. There is power, power, wonder working power in the precious blood of the lamb. Would you be free of your passion and pride? There's power in the blood, power in the blood. Come for a cleansing to Calvary's tithe.
There's wonderful power in the blood. There is power, power, wonder working power in the blood of the lamb. There is power, power, wonder working power in the precious blood of the land. Would you be whiter, much whiter than snow? There's power in the blood, power in the blood.
Sin stains are lost in its life giving flow. There's wonderful power in the blood. There is power, power, wonder working power in the blood of the lamb. There is power, power, wonder working power in the precious blood of the lamb. And last, would you do service for Jesus, your king?
There's power in the blood, power in the blood. There's wonderful power in the blood. There is power, power, one wonder working power in the blood of the lamb. There is power power wonder working power in the precious blood of the lamb. Okay.
Speaker 1I got a confession to make. I know that song. I've known that song my entire life. I know that last verse even part that I skipped and left out. I got fixated on something.
Power is one syllable kinda and power is two and I started looking at those words and going, do I know this song? I'm leading this song. How can I not know this song? There is power in the blood. It's the way I sing it if I'm not looking but I look and I was trying to read it.
I said last week and I'll say it again. Sing it like you mean it. Right? Sing it like you mean it. Whatever helps you to sing it with more gusto.
The old rugged cross. Here we are. Approaching Easter.
Speaker 2On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross the emblem of suffering and shame. And I love that old cross where the dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain. So I'll cherish the old rugged cross till my trophies at last I lay down. I will cling to the all rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown. Oh, the old rugged cross so despised by the world has a wondrous attraction for me.
For the dear lamb of God left his glory above to bear it to our So I'll cherish the old rugged cross till my trophies at last I laid down. I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown. In the old rugged cross stained with blood so divine, a wondrous beauty I see. For it was on that old cross to pardon and sanctify me. So I'll cherish the old rugged cross till my trophies at last I laid down.
I will cling to the old rugged and exchange it someday for a crown. To the old rugged cross, I will ever be true. It's shame and reproach gladly bear. Then you call me someday to my home far away where is glory forever I'll share. I'll So I'll cherish the old rugged cross till my trophies at last I laid down.
I will cling to the all rugged cross and exchange it someday for
Speaker 1Amen. Y'all can have a seat. I have a few announcements. First of all, is Awana is on a, okay? Awana is on this Monday night, tomorrow night in the evening.
05:45 is kind of registration time, 06:00 to get on a sure enough start. So Awana is on tomorrow night. It is hero night, so dress like Carl Clemmer. He did that to me in the first service. It's pretty cool though.
The it's hero night, really. Dress like a hero. It's Awana Zone, 06:00. VBS, my favorite. I mean, I love every theme of the VBSs, but I think this one's fun.
Road trip. I love a good road trip. Everybody knows it. Road trip, on the go with God. It's getting us from where we are to where we need to be.
Fun stuff. There are a lot of parallels. At June twenty third to twenty sixth, if you want to put it on your calendars, nine to twelve. It says PM but I think it means AM. I think.
I'm not sure. We'll change that before next week. There's a QR code if you want to sign up, you could check the time for yourself. Missions moments, you all started doing this particular style of missions moment while I was gone. So in the first service when I saw that, I thought who does that?
And Carl says, you do. So Eric and Becky Watt. Eric and Becky Watt are missionaries and they have been for a long time. Their particular ministry that they that they run is run ministries, reaching unreached nations. Now, they have not spoken here as much as many of our other missionaries but when they come in, they often do like an evening with the Watts and we'll go.
If you wanna be connected to them, let me know and I'll connect you to them. They're fantastic. Some of the most encouraging people I've ever met. Jim Watt attended here for a long time. Eric is Jim's son.
Becky, daughter-in-law Jim has passed now. They are two of my favorite people in the world and they're working all over the world. And the particular network of churches that they help is the Antioch family of churches and they draw the name from the church at Antioch that we'll be seeing today in Acts 13. So the Antioch family of churches. I went one time on a mission trip with Eric and Todd Seaton actually went to and we went to Nepal, and then we went to some undisclosed location in the Mid East, and we met for Bible translation.
We had taken lots of different things to help with Bible translation, and we met with about 20 ish people in a safe house and we discussed translating the scriptures into native tongues. And each one of those guys was representing at least one other language, some of them two, three, four, five, six, some of them. And this is one of the things specialize in with the Antioch Family Churches and run ministries is they really pay attention on praying for God to save people from the darkness and so it's a beautiful thing to see when when there's a bad guy who drops literally his sword because the hand of Jesus withheld his him swinging it. And now that guy's on the on the side of God and the right. It's a beautiful thing to see.
Amazing stories. If you wanna get connected with them, talk to me and I'll connect you to them. Hey, that's my first missions moment. I will do a little bit more of that from our trip to Africa in the sermon. If you wanna get any more information on events or what's happening, you can do that QR code or you can just go to the website firstbjackson.org.
If you do anything other than .org, you might end up in Jackson, Mississippi. Jackson Hole Men's Alliance is meeting this Wednesday. So this is the we postponed. It's not the first this time just because of spring break, but it's the first one that we'll get to. The Wednesday this month, April 9, and it's men's group that meets Jackson Hole Men's Lights.
It's not just First B, but it's a great group of guys coming together at 06:30 in the morning, and we will share a little bit of scripture. Usually, what we do is share a little bit of breakfast and do a testimony, but I guarantee you the testimony will contain some scripture. And Nick, our very own, Nick Stern is gonna be sharing his testimony Wednesday. You ought to be there. I'm looking forward to it.
And that's it. Anybody have anything as deletion, suggestions, anything? No. If you would stand up, we're gonna sing to the one is the one who is worthy. I'm gonna take a deep breath and we're gonna sing a hymn of praise to the lamb of God.
Speaker 2Your only son, no sin to hide, but you have sent him from your side to walk upon this guilty son and to become the lamb of God. Oh, lamb of God, sweet lamb of God. I love the holy lamb of God. Oh, wash me in his precious blood. Christ, the son of God.
Your gift of love they crucified. They laughed and scorned him as he died. Humble king, they named a frog and sacrificed the lamb of God. Oh, of God, sweet lamb of God, I love the holy lamb of God. Oh, wash me in his precious blood.
My Jesus Christ, the lamb of God. I was so lost I should have died, but you have brought me to your side to be led by your staff and rod and to be called a lamb of God. Oh, lamb of God, sweet lamb of God. I love the holy lamb of God. Oh, wash me in his precious blood.
Speaker 1I'm overcome. I'm overcome. That song got me like three times and then where it transitions from my Jesus Christ, the lamb of God is keep on doing this lord till I am just a lamb of God till that's my defining characteristic. Whoo. Not the lamb but a lamb of God.
Freely, freely. Here we are.
Speaker 2God forgave my sin in Jesus' name. I've been born again. In Jesus' name. And in Jesus' name, I come to you to share his love as he told me to. He said, freely, freely, you have received.
Freely, freely give. Go in my name and because you believe, others will know that I live. All power is given in Jesus' name, in earth and heaven. In Jesus' name. And in Jesus' name, I come to you to share his power as he told me to.
He said, freely, freely, you have received. Freely, freely, give. Go in my name and because you believe, others will know that I live. Amen. Y'all can
Speaker 1have a seat. God, that song is encapsulates so much, Lord. It is our missionary mandate. Freely, freely we have received, freely, freely we should be given in Jesus name. Lord, with our time, with our talents, with our resources, I'm invite the ushers to come down the aisle right now.
This this is a worship through giving time, Lord. It's the offering time, but I think about how it is that you've given. You've poured into each one of our lives in different ways to accomplish different goals. That whole idea about form following function is not just the bow house, it's you, Lord. Form follows function.
You have specifically wired each of your people to do a specific job. Lord, may we be doing that job freely, freely, just because of the way that you have wired us supernaturally. In Jesus name, I pray that you'd bless the gifts that you have given and the gifts that are being given right now to do your kingdom's work, the gospel would advance. Your will done in your way, Lord, that's what we're praying for. In Jesus name, amen.
Amen. Thank you, Judy. Amen. Okay. Here we are up to Acts 13.
Acts 13 is where we start because why? We stopped in 12 last week but I am so so so full right now. The trip to Africa was very good for Tanya and for me, and the trip we actually made a trip Friday and yesterday, we rode over to Sheridan for a seminar on Friday, and we rode back last night after supper. It's seven hours to share it. But we got to spend some time in on engaging the culture was a seminar with doctor Daryl Bach, who Tanya has called her best friend for the last fifteen years.
Every time she said, oh, what if my best friend think about that? That's who she's talking about. And so when we were over for Kathy Flickinger channels hospice care and her funeral, we went over and we're walking around the church and trying to kind of plan out how things would go for the funeral and something that Tanya saw, she said, I wonder what my best friend would think about that. And her best friend is doctor Darryl Bach, she's never met this guy. He wrote a two volume set of Luke that is 2,000 pages long.
And when I was in seminary, she was in a Bible study where she read every single page of that 2,000 pages and and she agrees with the guy and she's flipping and a lot of times with commentary, she go, I don't know about that but this guy, they just agreed. She started calling her best friend. So while we're over there, she said, wonder what my best friend would think of that. And the pastor said, who's her best friend? What's going on with this person?
And I said, doctor Darryl Bach. He said, he's coming in April. And Tanya said, oh, we're doing that. So Tanya got home from our missionary journey to Africa and then back through Georgia, Alabama with Paschal. She got back Thursday evening at 08:30 and we went to Sheridan the next day for a conference and we got back last night at 02:15, got into bed at three.
That makes more sense of the whole song service, doesn't it? But the word of the Lord continue to grow and be multiplied. This is where we were leaving off last week. There's one more verse but Herod was killed. I'm no, sorry.
Yes, he was but that's not first. James was killed. Okay. James was killed by Herod and it made the Jews happy so he arrested Peter but Peter was delivered. So, James' death and Peter's deliverance and then, the assembled crowd gave glory and honor.
Oh, the voice of a God and not of a man from Tyre and Sidon's representatives to Herod, Agrippa the first, the king who set himself up in resplendent beauty, all glory to him, and when he did not rebuke the crowd for giving the glory due to God alone, he was struck by God and he was eaten by worms and died. Yeah, that's last week's message and this is what follows that story. James' death, Peter's deliverance, Herod's death, and then but the word of the Lord continued to keep on moving forward. It grew and it multiplied And Barnabas and Saul, this is the last verse of that chapter. Barnabas and Saul, recognize the order there?
Barnabas, the encourager, son of encouragement is what the name means. His actual name was Joseph. Barnabas and Saul. Saul is the home name of the guy we usually call Paul and Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem to Antioch. They had been on a short term mission trip taking relief, aid, money to the people who were starving in Jerusalem.
When they had fulfilled their mission to Jerusalem, they came on back to Antioch and they took along with them John who was also called Mark. Remember last week, John Mark's mama's house is where Peter decided he ought to go when he was delivered? Yes, that John Mark. Now, Acts thirteen one. Now, there were prophets and there were teachers.
These were serious church folk, right? Prophets are the people who speak forth thus saith the Lord. Sometimes, yes, it is foretelling the future but way more often, it is thus saith the Lord or the Lord has said and proclaiming his word. So, not just foretelling the future but foretelling his word, that's what a prophet does. Teachers help explain that.
I never knew I was a teacher. That's weird, isn't I can't help but pick stuff apart and share it and you know, engines or whatever it is. I can't help but pick stuff apart and put it back together and and talk about it but Crystal's waving her hand. She can't help it. Just Tanya, that's who she is.
There are a lot of us here who are teachers. Specifically, prophets and teachers over. Two of the offices in the church that Paul describes in August. Ephesians four eleven. Gifts to the church.
Prophets and teachers. There were prophets and teachers at Antioch. I mentioned the Antioch family of churches with run ministries and Becky and Eric's work. They called it the Antioch family churches for a reason. We're gonna see what was it it says in chapter 11 that the Christians were first called Christians at Antioch, okay?
So, it's an early church. If you remember back to chapter 11 when Carl preached a few weeks back several couple months ago now. He said that Antioch, Barnabas was a believer. He's the one that sold land early in Acts and he sold land and he gave the proceeds to see the church get going in Jerusalem but he went back home or he went back to Antioch and he knew that Antioch needed a really good teacher. So, he went out in search of and he found Saul of Tarsus and he brought him back to Antioch.
Now, they've been there a while now. Now, there were prophets and teachers at Antioch. Here is Antioch. It is the Eastern Northeastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. It's probably 18 or 20 miles inland, maybe not quite that far.
Now, there are prophets and there are teachers in Antioch and in the church that was there, this is the local representation of the greater all believers in all times but it's the local representation of the body of Christ in Antioch. In the church that was there, there was Barnabas. We know Barnabas. We were introduced to him. Every time we see him, he's encouraging and he's very very helpful and he's very pastoral.
Every time that we see him. Even in the future in Acts, we'll see him being very pastoral towards John Mark. Right? He's very very caring and he seems to recognize what it is that the church needs and he went and got Saul and brought him back. So, he is from Cyprus that makes him a Cypriot.
So, Barnabas the Cypriot is one of the prophets and teachers at the church at Antioch and there was also Simeon who was called Niger. Simeon who was called Niger. Niger means black in Latin. So, Simon who was called black in Latin. Almost everybody agrees that Simon was a black guy.
This is a very diverse group of people and I I want to say for just a minute, you all have heard so much on the news about DEI and when people say it, they just spit on the ground and they rub their foot. They just hate to hear DEI, DEI. That means an unqualified person has a no, no, no, no. In Christianity, you have got to get that out of your head. You've got to because the envision narrative for all of Christian Christianity is Revelation five nine and Revelation seven nine where every tribe, tongue, and nation is standing around the throne and they are all singing with one voice.
Holy, holy, holy. If the Lord God almighty. He's the only one that's worthy to be praised. Simeon was a black guy with Barnabas, the son of encouragement and Lucius of Cyrene. That's a Latin name.
If you don't know where Cyrene is, you might think, oh, everything happens right there on that eastern edge of the Mediterranean, but not so. Cyrene is all the way over at the the bump on the top of Africa. If you look at an Africa map, you're drawing it out. There's one bump right there. Cyrene is right there.
So, that's a long way from Antioch. I put Paul's first missionary journey and we know
Speaker 2it wasn't because he was
Speaker 1already sent from Antioch to Jerusalem and home but we still call it the first missionary journey. Cyrene, for Lucius, to be serving as a prophet or teacher in Antioch, he's already on his his missionary journey. That's already happening. The gospel is there and it's taken root. By this point, we have had apostles come and check things out.
We know that it checked out. Hey, this works in Gentile territory too. Duh. That's what the whole Old Testament says. You're supposed to be a light to the nations and Jesus said, you're going to go from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts and now we're seeing that happen.
It's beautiful. Now, Lucius of Cyrene, that's a Latin name. He most likely was Roman and he's serving at Antioch. They're all Roman provinces at this point. And then there was Manaen, and Manaen, that's a Hebrew name but it's a Latinization or hell a Hellenization of a Greek translation of a Hebrew name.
So he is maybe a Hellenistic Jew, probably. We can say that with some certainty because of the next sentence. It says, who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch? Now Herod remember, Herod Agrippa the first last week was Herod the great's grandson. Herod the tetrarch is also Herod Antipas.
Herod Antipas is the one who had John the Baptist beheaded. He is the one who kind of indifferently went along with Jesus' crucifixion. Herod the great is the one who killed all the babies. He didn't want anybody to be king of the Jews. Right?
He's the king of the Jews. Then, so was Herod Antipas was in charge of Galilee and Perea. And since Jerusalem is not in Galilee or Perea, he kind of he just said, whatever you want to do with him, Pilate, but they became friends from then. This guy was brought up as a client king or a puppet king under Roman overseeing. Manaan had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, Herod Antipas.
Think foster brother. He wasn't just brought up at the same time near the same place. He was brought up in the household. This dude, Manaen, grew up in Herod the great's court with Herod Antipas as a foster brother. He's royalty.
So do we see a diverse group? Actually, there's one more guy. But Barnabas, son of encouragement, Simeon is a black guy, Lucius is from across the Mediterranean quite some distance, and Manaen who was brought up as a foster brother with Herod Antipas and then there's Saul who's a teacher and all of these guys are serving. They are prophets and teachers in the church at Antioch. So, I was gone, we had other people that were prophesying.
They were sharing the word thus saith the Lord. We had other teachers while I was gone who were saying Psalm 86, Dustin, right? Psalm 86, this is what it says. The need and the character of God. Wow, that's beautiful.
Saul, rounds out the list. Barnabas is at the front. Saul, Barnabas and Saul in that order. While they were serving the Lord and fasting, they were serving the Lord as prophets and teachers doing what they did in the context of church there and they were fasting. Commentaries are funny.
Sometimes, read a commentary and you think, I agree with that like Tanya's best friend. We agree with him all the time. But occasionally, you'll hit one and you go, that's not what that means. And fasting, there was one that we read this week that said, Tanya and I read these together sometimes. We read this week and it said fasting in this sense was just he was preparing, they were preparing their message and they forgot to eat.
No. That is not what fasting is. Fasting is an intentional abstaining from food, physical food for a while in search of deeper spiritual understanding and for a time, you set aside your heart in specific. So, while they were serving the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, this is why they were fasting. They were listening for what the Holy Spirit would say and he said, set Barnabas and Saul apart from me for the work to which I've called them.
That is vague. It's not vague to set them apart. That's clear as a bell but then it says, set them apart for whatever it is I'm calling them to. And Saul and Barnabas are in the same order. Barnabas and Saul actually, apart from me, for the work to which I've called them and then, when they had fasted, this could be, it could just be those guys that are listed, four, five guys that are listed but could just be Barnabas and Saul.
It could be the whole church but when they had all fasted, they prayed and they laid their hands on them and they sent them away. In chapter 14, they will actually be called apostles. The verb for this sending away is they were sent out apostolos. They're apostolos is a noun but they were sent out. When they had fast and prayed, they laid their hands on.
We did that last week. We laid our hands on. Y'all didn't see it because it did in the first service but we laid our hands on Brooke and on Anders and we sent them to Zambia with the blessing of this church believing that the Holy Spirit has sent them out and so, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, recognize that. It's not just a group of people that did this. It's not just a a diverse group of people that did this.
The Holy Spirit had said, set them apart. I'll show them where I need them to go. Send them out and so being sent out by the Holy Spirit. Almighty God was behind this whole thing. That's good to remember.
Heaven involvement on earth. Then, they went down to Seleucia. That brings us right down to Earth because Seleucia is the coastal town that is let me see. I'll keep going. They went down to Seleucia and from there, they sailed to Cyprus.
I'll give you that in a minute. When they reached Salamis, here it is. So Antioch is inland a bit, Salucia is a coastal town, it's got a harbor and a place for ships to leave out, and they went from Salucia to Salamis, it is not Salamis, it's Salamis. It's a place of peace, it's a harbor of rest, a harbor peace on that edge of the of the island of Cyprus, the eastern edge. It's an entry point and that's where they went first, and it says that what they did when they got there was they began to proclaim the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews.
They began to proclaim the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. Now, think back to Saul's Damascus Road conversion and what Jesus had to say to him then and what he had to say to him in the few next few days while his blindness healed when Ananias came to him. He said, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Right? This is the risen Jesus.
Why are you persecuting me? Who had Saul been persecuting? The church. Jesus said, that's tantamount to persecuting me. Whatever you do to them, you've done to me.
Persecuting them is persecuting me, Jesus said. And so he said, you're gonna be my mouthpiece. You're gonna be my guy who goes to the Gentiles. Now, you might say Antioch is Gentile territory, it is, but a lot of those guys had some Jewish background. Even the royal guy was royal Jewish royalty.
Right? When they reached Salamis, they began to proclaim the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. Why is he doing that? He's the he's the instrument to the Gentiles because this is what he knows. Saul had been a very, very observant Pharisee and he understood the law very, very well.
And if you're gonna get anybody on your side, you wanna describe and give a chance at Messiah to the people who ought to recognize him first, to the Jew first and then to the Gentiles. So this is their theory. Here we're gonna go into the synagogues of the Jews and they also had John as their helper. That's John Mark. If you think back to 12/25, it says and they brought along John Mark.
They brought John Mark from Jerusalem back to Antioch. Remember, John Mark's mama's house is where Peter walked to when he was delivered by the angel. John Mark also has come along with them. That name keeps coming up because it's going to be a point of division in a couple chapters, right? This is something that we need to be aware of.
Missionary enterprise is not easy. It's difficult. It's difficult. Anytime that you undertake do a great work for the Lord, you're going to receive opposition. Some of it will come in the form of absolutely external pressure and of other will be friendly fire and internal pressure.
That happens. Missionary meltdowns are common because it's not easy work. There's a lot of spiritual stuff. It's not against flesh and blood that we wrestle but against spiritual places on on spiritual powers on high. And so, it's not easy and we'll see that in how God we'll see it in how Barnabas and Saul get together over John Mark or get apart over John Mark.
Sorry. When they had gone through the whole island of Cyprus as far as Paphos, here we are. Salamis is on the eastern end and Paphos is on the western end and they went through the whole island. I just squiggled that. That is not a road.
I don't know what the terrain of Cyprus is. I know a lot of missionaries who have lived for a time in Cyprus. Salamos to Paphos, they went, it says all over the island and think about that. They went all over the island with Barnabas who is from where? Cyprus.
He knows the law of the land, he knows the culture of the people, he understands what's going on, and it seems seems like a pretty good place to start with somebody who knows what's going on. Y'all remember Florine and Violetta very well, I'm sure Florine and Violetta. Where do we send them? Home. We sent them back to the place where the and we sent them.
We did. Y'all did. We sent them to a place where they spoke the language and they understand the culture and they were able to do the work that God had called them to do. Barnabas and Saul and John Mark worked their way from Salamis to Paphos and they found there in Paphos a magician. We have seen this term before in Acts.
We saw it Simon the magician was earlier in Acts. Remember Simon the magician was the guy who wanted to buy the power of God. Ho ho ho. It's not He's not just a power. He is the third person of the trinity.
He is God. You cannot buy God. They found a magician here, Empaphos, who was a Jewish false prophet. Magician and Jewish do not go together. That's one of the things that we see very clearly from the Old Testament, very clearly from the law, very clearly from Saul going to see a seer.
Do you remember when Saul the king went and he went to consult a witch or a magician or a sorcerer or a seer? When he went to the oracle, that was an absolute affront to God Almighty. It was a point of pride, it was a point of trying to control your outcome yourself, and it's a very very bad thing for Jews. They should have known better, this guy should have known better, but he was doing it for self. Every time we see pride and every time we see someone seeking to enrich themselves or glorify themselves or lift themselves up as awesome, we see God resist that in the book of Acts.
And every time we see anybody who humbles themselves, we see God use them. And so, they found a magician. He's a Jewish false prophet whose name was Bar Jesus. Bar means son of and Jesus, son of Jesus. He had taken the name son of Jesus.
Maybe. He's trying to work off of Jesus's popularity as a miracle worker. He's the son of that guy who did all those miracles you've heard about. At this time period, we don't know, you know, mid forties. We don't know if the word about Jesus had spread far enough exactly to have somebody try to capitalize on the name but Jesus means he saves his people from their sins.
Right? Salvation is what it means and so, he could've just been calling himself the son of salvation. That sounds like a pretty good name for a magician. You know, magicians always go, Byron the great or so and so the magnificent or the beneficent or whatever. Jewish false prophet, magician whose name was Bar Jesus, son of Jesus or son of salvation.
That'll come up in a few minutes. Who was with the proconsul? He was his right hand man. He was beside, had the ear of Sergius Paulus. Sergius Paulus and Luke says, this guy is a smart guy.
He's a man of intelligence. We might look at this and say, if his right hand man is a is a magician, maybe he's not a very smart guy. But Luke is giving us a picture of who this is. Bar Jesus, the Jewish false prophet is sneaky, underhanded, deceitful, and he has the proconsul's ear. It is a proconsul.
Some people say, oh, well, that time period, my blah blah. It was a proconsul on Cyprus and it would have been in one man's hand. The province of Cyprus was one whole province and this guy was the guy who was in charge. This man, Sergius Paulus, was the one who summoned Barnabas and Saul. There it is again in the same order.
Barnabas and Saul. Barnabas is a hometown guy. Saul's an outsider. Not too far outside, Tarsus isn't that far away but this man summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. That's a great thing when you're a missionary.
If somebody says, hey, we've been hearing what you're doing all around the place. Come tell us the story you've been telling them. So, I'm sure they were excited for this invitation but but Elymas, that Elymas is means it's it's the it's also bar Jesus goes by Elymas, wise, magic guy. Elymas, magician for so his name is translated, was opposing them. He was opposing Barnabas and Saul.
He was opposing the advance of the gospel and seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. Anything but that. Don't listen to them. If they get your ear, that means I don't have your ear. So, he's trying to keep Sergius Paulus.
Who is a smart guy? From from hearing about the faith and they're trying to turn him away from it but Saul, who was also called Paul. Finally, we get to call him Paul. This is the place right here and from here on out, it's Paul. Here on out, it's Paul.
Saul who was also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, stared at him. That is the most aggressive thing you can do. I'm going to. He just stared, bored a hole through him. It said, and it seems to have lingered for a moment.
Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit and I want you to key in on that clause because it matters. I think that generally, what Christians are known for is being pretty harsh in our society. Whether we deserve it or not, Let's say, we're I think of myself as being fairly a soft touch. Generally, what we went to this engage in the culture thing about was was how is it that we engage the culture and a lot of it's about listening and asking questions and listening and listening and listening and see why people stand where they stand before we start saying thus saith the Lord. Don't say don't say it, just understand them a little better before you say it.
Saul who's also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit stared at him and he said, you are full of deceit and fraud. Boom. You son of the devil. You're not son of Jesus. You're not son of salvation.
You are a son of the devil and you are the enemy of all that is good and holy. You are the enemy of all righteousness. Will you not stop making crooked the straight ways of the Lord? The opposite of what John the Baptist was sent to do. Make straight the way of the Lord.
Make it understandable for people as one of the congregants in Martin Luther King's church would say, make it plain. He was obfuscating things and making it harder to understand. And if you get secret knowledge or if you understand secret knowledge and nobody else can really understand this, you're setting yourself up. Paul recognized that filled with the Holy Spirit staring at him. You, you're full of deceit and fraud.
I mean, most magicians, it's a it's slight of hand. It's illusion. It's not real. Don't though underestimate the possibility that demons are involved in some of the stuff that he's doing. There is there is a spiritual realm and we're not wrestling against flesh and blood, but there are powers in places and stuff happens.
And he was probably manipulating. Actually, I could go into it, maybe next week I will go into a little bit. There are folks right now in the world who are doing that. In Uganda, there's one guy in particular who calls himself prophet so and so, His biggest church in the whole country of Uganda and he's he's, you know, prophesying election results and prophesying this kind of thing and he's promising prosperity gospel for everybody. It's terrible.
But that's the kind of stuff that Elimas was doing. Paul keeps on with his little monologue here and says, now, behold, look at this. The hand of the Lord is upon you and you will be blind not to see the sun for a time. Think about this. This guy is a seer who will not be seeing.
And immediately, a mist and a darkness fell upon him and he went about seeking someone to lead him by the hand. He was groping in the darkness. And then, it says, the proconsul believed when he saw what happened and if you think, well, that bothers me. It bothers you. If you keep reading, we'll we'll keep reading.
But the proconsul believed when he saw what happened, you might think that that proconsul was listening to a magician and then he saw a better magician or at least that that would be his perspective because this is the first truly straight up Roman pagan that we know about that was exposed to the word of God. He's exposed to the word of God. He invited them in and then this whole thing happened. It says, pro council believed when he saw what happened time wise but he what he believed was he was amazed at the teaching of the Lord. So, somebody that can parse in a culture what the word says.
The word of the Lord is what he called for. The word of the Lord is what they brought and then this little miracle just happened to authenticate the message of the word of the Lord that they were bringing forward. Okay. I didn't give you fair warning on this, but this is a report from South Africa. We went to three countries while we were in Africa.
South Africa was the first one. Let me back up a little bit. It's not my first missionary journey but we I was sent when I was in seminary 2010. We came here for the summer in October. I went to Cape Town and Mahindra is on the left and Bob is on the right.
Mahindra Singh, both of these guys were born Hindu. They were born Mahindra and Krishna. Right? And and Mahindra's little sister got sick and they put her in the clothing that she put for the death paw in the middle of the floor and she was sick and she was going to die. And one of the siblings that said, there's a Sunday school teacher down the road that said that God has the power to heal.
Might as well. Invited him in, God healed his little sister. Whole family converted. They were a family of priests. They owned the temple.
The Hindu temple in Durban, South Africa. They owned it. And they he was the he's the next priest. Set aside for the work of all the millions of gods of Hinduism. But, when God Almighty healed his sister, family converts and Mahindra becomes a believer.
He has been in the Lord's service since his teenage years. He has been working for Crossroads for thirty one years. Started by missionaries and nationals, and he is a national that's been running it for thirty one years. Bob Naidu, born Krishna when he converted in his teen years, he just skipped Robert altogether, went straight to Bob. So, Krishna Naidu became Bob Naidu.
I met them in 2010. They were sent as stewards or they were called upon to be stewards at the Lausanne World Congress on Evangelization. I was sent by the seminary to be a steward just helping people with we knew a lot about what was going on and they didn't and so the 5,000 people who were the the actual delegates to the convention, we were just stewards that helped them out like waiters and waitresses kind of. And so they were security, crack security team right there, Bob and Mahindra. They took us around and showed us some of the things that Crossroads is doing.
Cape Town was our first stop, Cape Town is where Bob lives, Mahindra lives in Durban. When we came here, I knew two people in South Africa. That is goat heads. That's goat heads. They call these walkie talkies because of the jawline.
It's the grossest thing I saw the whole trip. But this is the cheapest food that you can eat, and they were for sale and people are chopping them. I have video too. It is pretty rough. That's in an informal settlement, you know about those in South Africa, and this lady, Mavis, started a school because there was not one in this informal settlement.
It was a school for elementary school kids. Right before that picture was snapped, you all have heard this a 100,000 times probably as Americans. When you get together and you stand a little too far apart, what do people say? They say, act like you like each other. And everybody moves together towards the center to take the picture.
I don't think Mavis had ever heard that before. One of them said, act like you like each other and she reached up to hold my hand. But Mavis and there's Bob and Tanya and me. And Tanya won over two out of three of these kids, but the guy in the red was not having it. He was not having it.
He was not convinced. Yeah. This was another thing, an initiative that they have going in Cape Town. Now this I just put this up here to remind me. I know that that doesn't make any sense to you.
But scripture union is sort of like young life. Scripture union, it's sort of like a wanna too, but it's for teens, for middle school and high school, and they do camps, and they train adults and youth leaders to minister the word to young people. Scripture union is something that Crossroads is supporting and something that they brought us and we sat in on, something that really impressed both of us. We loved it. Now, going from Cape Town, which is the only place that I thought was as pretty as Jackson.
It's gorgeous. It's wonderful. But going from Cape Town, we're going to Durban. This is airport Mahindra and Tanya and I are going, and this is Bob and Mahindra, my only two friends in South Africa when we moved here. Two years after we moved here, a year and a half after we moved here, there was some little bit of trouble.
We did when I got here, I realized we had a missionary in South Africa in Durban who lives ten minutes, ten fifteen minutes from Mahindra. She needed a soft place to land. Like I said, you undertake to build a church, a hospital, a school, or help a community and you're gonna have difficulty and there was some difficulty there. And even the chief of the tribe of that she was ministering in was calling for peace and it was a difficult time. And so getting the call here at the church, what do we do?
We thought it necessary to send a representative so I went down there. Before that though, I called Mahindra and said, can you give her a soft place to land? He said, yeah, I can do that. Tell me more about her. I told him, he said, we've been praying for somebody like her.
She worked for him for three years and she was cared for and and she cared for them and they did a great job. A great work for the Lord. You'll see some pictures of stuff that she had established or started under the guidance of the Holy Spirit while she was there. This is Bob Mahindra with me at the airport and then Tanya said, act like you like each other and all of them tried to grab my hand. Yeah.
It's pretty fun. That is Grace Church in Umhlanga Rocks, South Africa and Penny who is here with us today. That's her church when she is not here. That's where she is. Your husband may be there today or may have been there today.
Shanghai now. Okay. I was in Shanghai now. They're all over the place. But this is their church there.
The interconnectedness of all of this. The interconnectedness in acts. You see John Mark's name, you come up, you see these other names. It's amazing how connected this little community is to all over the world. And this place is the home of the largest mosque in the Southern Hemisphere.
It's right next door to the Islamic propaganda center, propagation society for the propagation of Islam. It's a strategic place to be ministering the gospel. This is Tanya's good friend, not her best friend, but her good friend. And this is mine. Crossroads helps to feed these kids and educate these kids.
They do schools and feeding programs. This is called the Hope Center. The Hope Center, when I was there in 2014, was just a piece of land that had been given and they had dug foundations and the rains came and silted them in. And the worst thing when you're building is to have the rains come and silt in your foundation. So they dug them out again, didn't have any money for concrete, but they were hopeful and they dug them out again, getting ready, but the rains are on the way, gonna be there in a week, probably two weeks.
And I went out there, I saw this place, they were already meeting there, hope center was already established as the name and I called home and said, hey, can we send something to get some concrete in these holes so they don't they don't silt in again? Yep. And so first b, y'all did the foundations for that that building for the church behind it and for this trailer over here and some of the construction, That is the hope center. It's a place where the community come together, big cross on top and this lady, TD ministers the gospel to the go gos, the grandmothers. AIDS has been very very hard on everywhere, but it's been very very hard on South Africa.
TD is HIV positive. She is a wonderful minister of the word of God and she teaches grandmothers God's word. She teaches them to read if they need it. She speaks Zulu and Kosa and English. Kosa.
I still can't do that. Kosa. These ladies, one of them is raising her hand and we're there singing God's praises and sharing testimonies. And when somebody has a testimony, they stand up and they sing a short little song, and everybody joins in the song with them, and then everybody else sits down and they carry out their testimony. And I thought that was just wonderful.
This is where TD actually lives, the Hope Center, so she and her family live there, adopted family live there. And they also have a bakery on-site, an oven on-site where they do some baking for the community. This is the road that got there and got us away from there. This other community is named Madoni. It was a small little settlement, also kind of informal settlement.
They started first right there, the people who had kind of started to gather when Melissa Landis was there, she started teaching a little Bible study under a Madoni tree. Madoni is a kind of fruit. So, she met under a Madoni tree. They named the community after where the church first met, Madonna. And this is a church behind us that they are working on right now.
This is up the hill from there, another long set of dirt roads to get us there in Woodway, somewhat something like that. This is another group. T. D. Went with us and T.
D. Was leading this Bible study and these ladies, some of them had been Shembe priestesses. Some of them have been Sangomas, witch doctors. And there's a group about 12 ladies in the room and TD is teaching them from God's word and the testimonies were amazing. This lady sat completely silent the whole time until the time for the first testimony and she stood up.
We hadn't heard one peep out of her. She looked a little bit incredulous honestly and I thought, well, what's this gonna be? I've seen this look before, you know. I'm pastor. I've seen this look before and she stood up.
She sang a little part of a song and then she gave testimony. I've got a video of it, it's eight minutes and forty four seconds long, if you want to listen to the Zulu, it's wonderful. And then after it's over, Teddy sums up and she said, this lady says, I used to be a healer, Sangoma witch doctor and a Shinbe priestess, and then God sent Luwanza who is TD into this area and she shared with us the word of the Lord and I carried it home. Do you hear the sorcerer in there? Here's the word of the Lord.
Instead of rejecting or trying to enrich herself, she heard something and she said, this is real. This is true. And her testimony was that it is real and it's true and it has had a profound effect on her life and on her kids lives and on her grandkids life and on the community and she recognizes it and she's grateful to God for having sent TD who, like I said, HIV positive. She came in to work for Crossroads like eleven or twelve years ago and she said, I I I have to share the word of the Lord and I hear that's what y'all are doing and Mahindra said, we don't really have anything to pay you and you know, people just showing up off street. You kinda gotta think about, is this for real?
And she said, just tell me where you need me. I I wanna start here, but you tell me what you need me to do. Worked for him for seven months, he said, I think I'm gonna start paying you. So she's been with him like eleven to twelve years, maybe more than that. And she's ministering a community with about a 150 other HIV positive people.
It's really decimated. It's really really cut down on the size. This is that group of or this is a different group of ladies. Oh, no, that's a group of ladies right there that were there. These There's a pizza company.
The pizza company donates dough. They call themselves dough naders. Yeah. And that group of ladies did get some food stuffs before they left. This road keeps on going.
The next group of ladies, the word of the Lord, they had the word of the Lord. They understood the word of the Lord but what they needed was safe and secure housing and so how might we serve you? The answer to the question was, listen, it sets us up for theft and it sets us up for sexual assault and other things to not have a safe secure home. So, what we need is homes. And so, they had ramshackle huts, but homes is what they needed.
And so, he said, well, if we could do something about the blocks, could you build these? Yeah. So they actually got them block molds and cement and sand and water. And the ladies themselves mix the cement sand, put it in the block molds, set them out to dry. They are working on Houses Number 17 And 18 right now.
There's Crossroads, Bucky, the truck behind there. This is one of the babies in the community, one of the mamas in one of the houses, and then this one again. Tanya did not went over the kid in the red shirt before, and this one Mahindra says was scared to death. That's called the Tanya effect. It is not true in any way, but I think that the giant gringo was probably more of a problem than Tanya.
But that kid was a little suspicious donator again. And this is Tanya and TD and I didn't ask for permission to share that, so I'll just get past it. And then we got to the office. We got to the office of Crossroads like the last day we were there. They're always out kicking up dust.
Did you know the word deacon is derived from a word that means kicking up dust? People who are getting stuff done. I love that. This is back, flashback to 2014. 2014, when Melissa was down there and the chief in Duna, that's the chief of the little town where she was ministering, the little place out in the rural sticks around Durban, and this guy was basically the proconsul.
He is the chief in Duna. If you wanna do any ministry or anything in his place, you have to go to him. If you want any land there, you gotta go to him. If you want to have a party, you gotta go to him. So, when you come into town, you gotta go see this guy before you can help anything else.
So Mahindra knows all the traditions. He's from there. He's not Zulu, but he's from this. He knows he's been working with them for thirty one years now, sixteen, seventeen years then. He knows how things go.
We gotta go see the Nduna on the way in to see Melissa and the people she'd been working with, and we gotta talk to this guy first. So, we did. Mahindra recognized by the Holy Spirit that what was necessary for that guy is to know Jesus, to renounce his ancestor worship. I was blown away by the moment. Right?
This is 2014. I went down there thinking I was doing one thing and then here I am with this guy and I'm just thanking God that he saved this guy. He did. That guy prayed to receive Jesus and to renounce all of his ancestor worship. And so the difficulty that we go through as missionaries to do is well worth it.
Humility before God on the part of Mahindra. I'm not talking about me. I'm talking about him. It's amazing to see that and we see this in scripture and we go, oh, and the proconsul believed. We go, oh, that's what happens in the Bible.
That's yeah. You gotta tell the story. This is what happened. This is still happening. If we will be prophets and teachers, if we will proclaim thus saith the Lord, this is what he has said.
This is how it works that Jesus's body and blood matter. We're going to communion next. The proconsul believed what when he saw what had happened, being amazed at the teaching of the Lord. I have been absolutely filled lately with the goodness of God and how he is still using human agency to get his word to go forward. Freely, freely, we've received.
Freely, freely, we should give. I'm gonna ask the ushers to come forward and Judy, if you play something pretty, I might jump over there and sing something with you. We're going to a time of communion and like I said, I'm just full from being on the on the trip and seeing things with fresh eyes is one thing but I'm amazed. I might have to go do something else. There they are.
Excuse me just a second. Sorry, Ray. No problem. God almighty, like I said this, lord, I'm amazed by you. I'm absolutely amazed.
It comes up a lot in Acts because it's a great word to see what you're doing and then just be overwhelmed. Our minds are blown. Lord, but I I am praying that you'll give us a glimpse of what you have been doing, what you are doing, what you want us to do, that lord, we'd be walking it out following behind you. I also am overwhelmed with the forgiveness that you offer and the grounds upon which that forgiveness may may be made available. You, Jesus, walked out a perfect life in complete submission to the spirit, following after the will of God and you lived in the very unique position of having been the only sinless one.
The only one with a perfect record has sacrificially and voluntarily laid that record down for anyone who would ask in humility to receive it. So Lord God almighty, we come together as the body of Christ. We seek after you. We want to serve under the submission of the spirit to fulfill the will of the father. Thank you Jesus for coming and for walking it out.
We thank you for this little cracker representation of your body that we are going to distribute right now. We ask that you'd bless everyone in the room that partakes and everyone that doesn't. Lord, I pray that you would be working on them by some of us who are. In Jesus name, amen.
Speaker 2When I survey My richest gain, I count but loss and poor content on all my pride. Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, save him the death of Christ my God. All the vain things that charm me most, I and sorrow meet. O'erthorns composed, so rich a crown.
Speaker 1This Jesus said at the last supper on the night that he was betrayed, he said, this is my body which is given, voluntarily is given for you, take this and eat of it and do it as often as you will in remembrance of me. Lord Jesus, I pray that we would feel the depth of the sacrifice of your innocent blood, having walked out a perfect life, not failing probation as Adam did, not failing as everyone since else has you, Lord, the perfect lamb of God given voluntarily. Lord God, I pray that you would bless this cup, little plastic cup of grape juice that is a representative of the blood of Jesus that was spilled, innocent blood that was spilled for us on our behalf. Everyone who would ever believe and trust in him. In Jesus name, we we pray that you'd bless this cup as we distribute it.
Amen.
Speaker 2And far too small. Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.
Speaker 1Amen. Now, in the same manner that he had taken the cup, he also I mean, that he'd taken the bread, he also took the cup. He said to his disciples there and he's still saying to us today, this is the new covenant. This is the new covenant in my blood. That old covenant was if then covenant.
If you will, then I will and God almighty, the new covenant said, I will. Jesus said, this is the new covenant in my blood. Take this, drink it in, do it as often as you will in remembrance of me. Amen. Paul says that as often as we do this, we proclaim the Lord's death which is an end to sin and the dominion of darkness.
Each time that we do this, we proclaim the Lord's death until he comes again. In Jesus name, amen. Would you stand with me? I think we're just gonna close with the Doxology. Jesus, there is a savior's great.
Maybe we sing it next week. Can we do that? Can you hit a g
Speaker 2chord? Praise. Sorry. Here we go. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
Praise him all creatures here below. Praise him above ye heavenly host. Praise father, son, and holy ghost. Go in peace.
