The Extraordinary Church at Antioch

Alright, let's take our Bible and let's turn back to the book of Acts. I say turn back to the book of Acts. It's been a while since we have been here. But tonight we will be in Acts chapter 13 and we will only cover the first three verses. Next week we will cover quite a few more, but tonight we need to spend all of our time in verses 1, 2, and 3. Now before we get into the chapter and the verses that we will divide, we need to understand where we are in the history of the church and in the progression of the church and also in the progression and the growth of the gospel and the work of the church.

I have been pointing to this transition every now and then for a while and we've finally gotten here. In Acts chapter 13 we find the church is at the dawn of a new day. We find the church is about to enter into a new era. And it is no overstatement to say that the history of the church and the progression of the church and the growth of the church will never be the same after Acts chapter 13. And this is all good, it's all wonderful, and it's all very, very exciting. Now let me explain a little bit.

If we go all the way back to the beginning of it all, Jesus told his disciples to remain in Jerusalem until they received power from the person of the Holy Spirit. And after the person of the Holy Spirit came upon them and in them, they were to be Christ's witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria. And he goes on to say, "Into the ends of the earth." You know I am quoting loosely Acts 1 verse 8. Then in chapters 1 to 7 we saw the preaching of the gospel and the birth of the church there in Jerusalem. And in Jerusalem the first church was born and the first church became what I have called several times the mother church.

And the church in Jerusalem was where the apostles were headquartered and where the growth of the gospel and the growth of the church would emanate. We've seen that. Then in chapters 8 to 12 we saw the preaching of the gospel and the birth of the church in Judea, in Samaria, in the area outside and beyond Jerusalem. And that leads us to where we are right here in Acts chapter 13. Starting at chapter 13 we see the preaching of the gospel and the spread of the church into all of the Roman world beyond Judea and Samaria. And this is a fulfillment of what Jesus said what happened at the beginning of it all. Remember Acts 1.8.

He told them that they would be witnesses to the ends of the earth. So at chapter 13 the church is at the door of the dawn of the new day. The church is about to enter into a new era. And as we will see the church will never be the same after chapter 13. And I said this earlier I'll say it again. This is all in a good way, an exciting way, and in a wonderful way. And after chapter 13 and beyond, the center of the spread of the gospel and the work of the church was not in Jerusalem and with the apostle Peter.

The center of gospel work and the work of the church shifted to the Gentile churches and really all over the Roman world and it centered on the ministry of primarily the apostle Paul. But the church at Jerusalem was not forgotten. They did maintain their prominence and importance even after the center of the gospel and church growth moved beyond Jerusalem. And we will see this in chapter 15 when the first great theological crisis hit the church. Now as we will see, God had a big plan to bring about the work of taking the gospel and the work of the church into the Roman world. And his plan involves certain people and a certain church.

And I want to point out how God used what we can see as the extraordinary as well as what many can see as the ordinary. If someone or something is extraordinary, that person or that thing is out of the ordinary. Well, they are noticeably different from what is generally found and experienced. If someone or something is ordinary, it's the opposite. That person or that thing is just ordinary. They are not noticeably different. They are basically normal in the course of time and events. I think you get it. Well, the extraordinary would be the apostle Paul and all those men surrounding Paul such as Barnabas, you see.

But the ordinary would be the church where all this work started. The ordinary would be the church at Antioch. But as we will see, the church at Antioch was anything but ordinary. Now if we were to play a little Bible trivia, if we were to play a little Bible quiz, most would know that the apostle Paul was the great apostle Paul. Most would know who the apostle Paul was. Most of what he accomplished. Most would know that he was the extraordinary. But most would not know much at all about the church in Antioch. If we were to ask, most would see Paul for who he was. But most would not even recognize who the church in Antioch was.

They would see it as ordinary. Now there's a lesson here. God uses what we can see as the extraordinary, the significant, or the one or the person of the church of influence. But he most often uses what can be seen as the ordinary. I'll give you an example. Many know of the famous missionary Jim Elliot who died as a martyr in the 1950s. He was an extraordinary Christian in many different ways. I don't know if you've ever read any of his works. I have. He would be considered an extraordinary Christian. Not just because he was martyred or killed for the faith, taking the gospel to a very dangerous tribe.

But one of my favorite missionaries associated with that group in that time is a missionary named Frank Drowne. And compared to Jim Elliot, Frank Drowne can seem ordinary. But if you study his life, it was more than ordinary. It was extraordinary. He just was a little different. And he didn't die for the faith. I'll show you another example. The church in Philippi, the Philippian church, it can come across as an ordinary church. They had no problems. They were small. They were insignificant. They were up in the north. They were very poor people.

But no church was used in the life and the ministry of the Apostle Paul like the Philippian church. So they were ordinary, but they were extraordinary. So tonight I want us to look at the extraordinary church at Antioch. And this church birthed extraordinary ministers as well as an extraordinary ministry. And they experienced an extraordinary movement of God and they had an extraordinary mission. This is how we'll break down the verses. I want us to make four observations. First, we will see the extraordinary ministers in the church. First one. Second, we will see the extraordinary ministry that they had. That's the beginning of verse two.

Third, the extraordinary movement of the Spirit of God among them and through them. We see that in verse two. And last, we will see the extraordinary mission that they were given. And that's at the end of verse two and verse three. So you can guess the title of the message has the word extraordinary in it. This is the extraordinary church in Antioch. The extraordinary church at Antioch. Let's read our verses. Verses one to three. Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers. Barnabas Simeon, who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manian, a lifelong friend of Herod, the Tetris Ark and Saul.

And while they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart from me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and they sent them off. So let's get started in the message. Number one, I want us to see the extraordinary ministers that we have here in the church. The extraordinary ministers that we have here. Now we have already seen the great leaders of the church in Jerusalem. We know who they were. They were the apostles and the apostles were led by the apostle Peter.

But right off Luke was inspired by the Holy Spirit to tell us the first and what can be seen the most important mark of this extraordinary church. Their leaders. There's a great lesson here before we move on. This is a life and death lesson that we must hold on to. This is a lesson for all of us and especially the church. The church rises and falls on its leadership. And God has always put leaders and leadership at the top of his list in his work on earth. We can go all the way back to when God used men like Moses to lead his people. But I come all the way back to the New Testament. I think about the seven churches in the book of Revelation.

All those letters were written to the pastors, the angels, the elders there in the churches. Ultimately to the churches, but where does he start? The pastors, the leaders. So we must remember that the church rises and falls on its leadership. God always puts leadership at the top of the list. That's a challenge for me. This is a challenge for our elders. This is a challenge for any leader in the life of the church. But here we have five men who are at the center of this extraordinary church. And although we know very little about most of them, as we will see, they were extraordinary ministers and leaders.

Now notice Luke lays them out in three ways. They were prophets, there were teachers, and then they were named men, particular named men. So let's start off with the prophets. First, the prophets. Now the New Testament prophets were a very important part of the apostolic church, and theirs was an important ministry. Now in many ways, the New Testament prophets were like the apostles. They declared the word of God, and they were part of those responsible for teaching the church and instructing the church and encouraging the church. And at times, the New Testament prophets received direct revelation from God.

We see this in Acts 11.28 and over in Acts 21.10-11, that they received direct revelation from God. And John MacArthur points out that in these two scripture references that I just mentioned, the prophets received practical revelation, not doctrinal revelation. And MacArthur pointed out that it was the apostles that received doctrinal revelation, but the prophets received more what's called practical revelation. But a question here. What happened to the New Testament prophets? And do we have prophets today? This is a subject that is confused and misled me, sadly, even good people and believers in the church.

But the office of the New Testament prophet was and is just like the office of the apostle. The office of New Testament prophet faded off the scene with the cessation of the temporary sign gifts. And just like the apostles, the New Testament prophet's office was replaced by the pastors and teachers and evangelists who were given to the church and those offices are seen in Ephesians 4, 11, and 12. Simply, the New Testament prophets were called of God. They were gifted of God to speak the word of God to the people of God and to build up the church of God.

And if we study the New Testament, we can see that their primary gift and calling was that of encouraging God's people rather than predicting the future. That needs to be repeated because some are confused there. If we study the prophets in the totality of the New Testament, we can see their primary gift and calling was more of an encouraging gift and calling rather than predicting the future. And in the New Testament, the prophets are seen helping God the church in certain specific situations as the Spirit led them. We see this in Acts 11, 27, and 28. Acts 13 here, verses 1 to 3.

Later on in Acts 21, 10 to 11, I mentioned those verses earlier. What they said and taught was carefully and seriously tested by the church and the leaders of the church. We see that in 1 Corinthians 14, 29, and 1 Thessalonians 5, 20 to 21. And according to Ephesians 2, 20, and Ephesians 4, 11 to 13, it seems that the New Testament prophets operated under the authority of the apostles and they were under the teaching of the apostles. But do we need prophets today? Well, the answer to that is no. Today, we need God called faithful pastors and elders and teachers and preachers and even evangelists to teach and to preach God's Word.

We don't need prophets today. Second, the teachers. Now, unlike the New Testament prophets, the teachers play a critical role in the church today. And they did that in the days of the church at Antioch as well. But the New Testament teacher's role and function is simple. They have the calling of God and they have the ability from God to give a clear explanation and understanding of the truth of God's Word. Let me restate that. The teacher has a calling from God and they have an ability from God to give a clear explanation of and a clear understanding of the truth of God's Word.

But a question, what is the difference in a teacher and a preacher? Well, in the Scriptures, the preacher is the man who teaches, but he just yells a lot. Is that what the Bible says? You ever heard somebody say that before? Well, jokes aside, there is a difference. And as we will see, as we continue through the book, we will come across that difference. But the difference between teaching and preaching is not in content. It seems that the difference is in style, delivery, and especially in the aim of the work. Let me explain.

As we will see, the two are often listed beside one another and one man can be gifted to do both, just like we see in Acts 15, 35. In his lectures to his students, Spurgeon touches on preaching and teaching. And I'm putting it in my words, it is very accurate. Spurgeon says, "Teaching is the clear, orderly explanation of biblical truth that informs the mind and grounds the believers in doctrine.

Teaching answers the question, 'What does the text mean?'" But preaching is the earnest proclamation of that truth with warmth, authority, and persuasion, impressing that truth upon the conscience of the man and calling for repentance, faith, and obedience. Preaching answers the question, "What must I do in response to the truth?" Let me go back over that. Spurgeon says, "Teaching answers the question, 'What does the text mean?'" While preaching answers the question, "What must I do in response to the truth?" And for Spurgeon, the difference was not in the subject matter, but in the aim of the purpose.

He taught that teaching enlightens, but preaching confronts. Yet he insisted that faithful pulpit ministry must unite both so that truth is understood and the hearts of men are moved. We need more and more good Bible preaching and teaching, teaching and preaching. And notice something, Grace Life Church. Look at what we have here. We have quite a few men who were gifted to stand in the pulpit and behind this podium to teach and to preach, to explain the truth and to confront us with the truth. And not only that, we have men who can sit in a small group classroom and do that.

We have ladies who can sit with ladies and they can teach God's Word, explain God's Word and press God's Word to the hearts and minds of ladies. We have men and ladies who can teach God's Word to our little ones, to our teenagers and they can press the truth of God's Word into their minds and their hearts, you see? And really and truly the church should be full of people who can handle God's Word. But then third, notice the name to men. Here we have five men named and it really seems that Luke is saying that all five were gifted as prophets and teachers. You see that? Maybe all of them had both gifts and colleagues.

Maybe some of them were more prophets and maybe some of them were more teachers. We really don't know the mix, you see? But we do know that they were all gifted ministers and that they could edify and encourage the church through the proclamation of God's Word. We have Barnabas. We know a lot about Barnabas. We've seen him already. He was a Levite from Cyprus, which means he was a Hellenistic Jew. His birth name was Joseph, but the apostles changed his name to Barnabas, which seemed to fit his gifting and his personality and his calling. The name Barnabas means son of encouragement, which is what he was, how he was gifted and how we see him.

He was very much an encourager. But now we see Simeon and Lucius and Manion. We know very little about these men. Luke does tell us that Simeon was called Niger, which means black. This seems to tell us that he was a very dark-skinned person, possibly from somewhere like Africa. One interesting detail about Manion, Luke tells us that he was brought up with Herod the Tetriarch, who is Herod Antipas, as seen in the Gospels. This word "brought up with" can be translated as "foster brother," which seems to tell us that he was brought up in Herod the Great's home along with Herod Antipas. That's pretty curious, isn't it?

Then we have Saul, who would later become the Apostle Paul. Of course, we really do not need to explain who Paul was. We will get into more and more of who Paul was and is as we continue in the verses. So notice what we see here. We can easily skip over this verse, but it's very important. We need to pay attention. Here Luke tells us of the leaders in this church, the men leaders of this church. These were ministers in this church. Some were and are more famous. Some were and are less famous.

But all were, as I see it, extraordinary ministers of the gospel in this local church because they were all used in an extraordinary way, an extraordinary work of God. Now in moving into some application, I want to point out two things that I grabbed from Jim Boyce. In his commentary on the book of Acts, Boyce points out that this was an integrated church staff and a multiple staff ministry. That's modern language, but he's very accurate. Boyce points out this was an integrated church staff and a multiple staff ministry. We have men of different nationalities and different races, and there were multiple men who were ministering in the church.

You see? Now notice what this says to us. That's healthy. That's healthy. That's what we should strive for. And that's what God has done for us here. We have many men who are gifted in so many different ways, who come from different backgrounds, who have different experiences in the life of our church. My gifting, my experiences are different than Keith's, similar as Keith's. And we can say the same thing about Tommy and Jared. Of course, I'm speaking to the elders. And then we have other men who have different giftings, different abilities, different talents that God has brought, who are leaders in our church.

So I guess what I'm pointing out is this. We have a diversity of all kinds of men who are leaders in different capacities. So the extraordinary ministers in this extraordinary church. Next number two, the extraordinary ministry. The extraordinary ministry. Notice how the different translations render verse two. The English standard says while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the legacy standard says, and while they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the King James says ministered. Notice that. The ESV says worshiping, the legacy standard says ministering. And here Luke tells us that the church was doing two things.

First they were ministering to the Lord. Now understanding this word ministering is the key to understanding what's taking place here. And ministering here, it means to serve, it means to do service, it means to do work, it means to do service and work even in a public capacity, even in a public office. So here we see that these five men were ministering. They were serving and they were working in their office and in their positions in the church. And the reading of verse one and two shows us that this is what was really happening. But notice who they were ministering to, the Lord.

Luke does not say they were ministering to members of the church. Luke does not say they were ministering to people in the community. They were ministering to the Lord. That's why the English standard says they were worshiping before the Lord. Now right here I want to ask us a few rhetorical questions. Is my primary job to minister to you first or is my primary job to minister to the Lord first? I've been in churches where pastors and ministers had to minister to people all day long. That was the primary job. Where are you pastor? Are you in the office? We came by Christmas Eve and you weren't there. Well what is my primary job?

As a pastor at Grace Life Church, my primary job is to minister before the Lord first. Keith's primary job is to minister before the Lord first. Our elders, our primary job is to minister before the Lord. All the men who serve in the life of our church, your primary job, our primary job is to minister before the Lord. And look, we must see that our temptation is to get it wrong, to get it in the wrong order. Yes, we are to minister to one another and we are to work hard in our service in the life of the church, but we are to minister to and before the Lord first, individually and corporately.

I like what John MacArthur says here and I'm quoting. He says, "It is critical to understand that God is the audience for all spiritual ministry." So church, we've got the new year before us. I know we've got a few days behind us, but in the new year that's before us, let's get our ministry in the right order. Let's get the right person first. Let's minister to our Lord first, okay? And if we minister to our Lord first, individually and corporately, then we will minister to each other as we should. Second, they were fasting from the flesh.

Now, here we see something that is almost never talked about, but something that is often talked about in the Bible, fasting. Now what is fasting? Years ago I was serving in the life of the church and the pastor was standing behind the pulpit and I don't remember the message he was preaching, but I do remember what he said when he was preaching.

He pulled out his wallet and he said, "I am leading my family and I am fasting from my Visa card." And then he went on to talk about how he had led them into grievous debt and he said, "I am fasting from my Visa card." Now I'll be honest with you, my stomach turned over about five different times for about five different reasons. That is not biblical fasting. It might be confession of sin, but what's fasting? From the scriptures, both Old Testament and New, fasting is the voluntary abstinence from food and sometimes drink for a set period of time for the purpose of first humbling oneself before and in devotion to God.

Fasting for the purpose of prayer, seeking God, seeking His will and expressing and living out a deep dependence on God. And within the Old Testament and New Testament, fasting is often connected with prayer, with great prayer, even passionate prayer, even emotional prayer. Here's some biblical examples for those of you who write down the verses and go back and study them. We see this in Nehemiah 1.4. You see this in Psalm 35.13, Daniel 9.3, Matthew 17.21, Luke 2.37, Luke 5.33 and Acts 14.23. Question or two, you may say, "Pastor, have you ever fasted?" Yes.

One of my habits is, is anytime I'm making serious decisions in the life of my ministry, the ministry that God's had for me, I've always prayed and fasted. Times when I have moved, changed, faced difficulties in ministry, faced changes in ministry, I would always fast and I have always fasted and sought the Lord, denied my flesh. I have ordered my life in such a way where I can do that and the desire is, "Lord, I've got to know Your will. I may feel one way. I may see things one way, but I've got to know Your will. I don't trust how I feel. I don't trust what I see and I don't even trust what other people say." Should we fast?

Individually and corporately, should we fast? Some of you've got monumental issues going on in your life. You've got lost family, lost parents, lost spouses, lost children. You've got sin in your life, sin in your family's life. You've got mountains before you spiritually and it could be the only way you're going to get victory through it, around it, or over it is by prayer and fasting. Should we fast corporately? This church did. That fasted corporately. In other words, this was a public, some kind of a public fast.

So here we see the extraordinary ministry of these five ministers and it seems the entire church, they were preaching great sermons, they were writing great books. It's not what they were doing. I'm sure if they preached, it was great. But Luke, inspired by the Holy Spirit of God, says their extraordinary ministry was before the Lord. Their extraordinary ministry was in worshiping, fasting and prayer, fasting and prayer and worship before their Lord. You know folks, it's sad when we see ministers blow it morally, get off the rails. It's sad when we see ministers shipwreck and they shipwreck for many different reasons.

But it could be that some shipwreck because they moved away from their primary ministry and their primary ministry is worshiping and ministering before the Lord. If you pray for me, please do. Pray that my primary ministry will be that I minister before the Lord, that I stay connected to the Lord, seeking the Lord, walking with God rather than preaching, ministering, serving, being a pastor. Because if I do the latter and forsake the former, I could be doing it more in the flesh. Now how does this relate to us?

Maybe we're not seeing the lost come to faith like we should, like we want, because we're not before the Lord in prayer and fasting and worshiping and prayer and fasting. I'm going to speak to more of this in our business meeting Sunday night with a few needs before us. So the extraordinary ministry in this extraordinary church. Number three, next, the extraordinary movement. The extraordinary movement. Let's look back at the verses. I'm aiming at the second part of verse two.

Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Sirene, Menea, and a lifelong friend of Herod the Tetris, Arkansas. And while they were worshiping the Lord in fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart from me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Now I will be rather short here, but it needs to be seen. As a matter of fact, some of the commentators I study kind of lumped this up with the other verses. But here we clearly have a movement of God in that the Spirit of God spoke.

We have a movement of God in that the Spirit of God spoke to the people of God, calling them to set apart Barnabas and Saul for the work that God had called them. You see the movement? So we have a movement of God in that the Spirit of God spoke to the church of God. And this was an extraordinary movement in that it was God speaking, God working to call them to an extraordinary mission that would change the church for forever. This leads me to a question or two to ponder. How did God speak? How did the Spirit speak? Did God speak audibly to the entire congregation? Was this a feeling or a hunch that Barnabas and Saul had?

To be specific, the text doesn't say. We can assume that the Spirit of God spoke possibly to and through one of the prophets, or maybe all the prophets. Again, that was one of the gifts of the New Testament prophets. They heard directly from God, often pertaining to the will of God for a specific person or a specific set of circumstances. So that's kind of a safe assumption. But notice the main point that we need to see here. It is not important how God spoke. It is important that God did speak. It is important that God did speak and he spoke clearly and purposely and the entire church knew it. That's the point.

Simply, we see an extraordinary movement of God in and among the church at Antioch and their leaders. God spoke and he called them to set apart two men for the work before them. Now before I move on, I want to point out three details here. The Spirit of God spoke and the people heard and they saw and they understood. You see, the Spirit of God spoke, the people saw, the people heard and they understood. First, the churches a whole saw and heard and understood this was God. Second, the leaders of the church, they saw and understood that this was God.

And then third, the men in question here or at the subject here, Barnabas and Saul, they saw and they heard this was God. And this took place all while they were worshiping before God in prayer and fasting and ministering to and before God, you see. And look church, there is a tremendous piece of insight here. Throughout the New Testament, we see that when God spoke and called men to work for him, he did that work in a local church. Let me say that again. There is a tremendous piece of insight we've got to hold on to. Throughout the New Testament, we see that when God spoke and called men to work for him, he did that work in a local church.

And we see this with the Apostle Paul, not just with Paul here in Antioch, but throughout his entire ministry was always attached to a local church. There's a couple lessons here. Beware of the man in the movement that did not come out of a local church. Beware and run from the independent minded, the independent born movements now and take comfort that when God works and calls the church to step out to a particular work, the leaders will know it, those being called to know it and the church will know it. Let me restate that.

Take comfort in the fact that when God works and calls the church to take a step to a particular work, the leaders will know it. Those being called to be a part of the work, they'll know it, the whole church will know it. That's what we see in Antioch. So this extraordinary movement of God in the church. And then last, number four, the extraordinary mission. The extraordinary mission. Look at verse two again.

"While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, 'Set apart from me, Barnabas and Saul, for the work to which I have called him.' And after fasting and prayer, they laid their hands on them and sent them off." Here we see the specifics of what the spirit said to the church. The spirit of God was calling the church to set aside two men, Barnabas and Saul, for a particular work. The spirit of God was calling these two men to a particular personal work. And what do we know of this extraordinary mission? What was it called? The first missionary journey. But another question.

Did the church, did Barnabas, did Saul, did they see and understand this to be the first missionary journey? No. Let me restate all that. What do we know about this extraordinary mission? What do we know it as? We know it as the first missionary journey because we have all of the scripture. But they did not know. Barnabas, Saul, the church, they did not know the full extent of this, you see? This leads me to make a statement and to give an explanation.

This was an extraordinary mission for this extraordinary church, not because they knew that this would turn into three missionary journeys taking the gospel and the church all over the Roman world. This was an extraordinary mission for this extraordinary church because God was at work calling them to send out two and they were being obedient to God's call. Do you see that church? Let me say that again. This was an extraordinary mission for this extraordinary church, not because they knew that this would turn into three missionary journeys taking the gospel and the church all over the Roman world.

This was an extraordinary mission for this extraordinary church because God was at work calling them to send out two and they were being obedient to God's call. Do you see that? Notice what Luke tells us took place as they embraced this extraordinary mission. First, this was a clear call. Noah Barnabas and Solomon, the church did not know the full extent of this call. It was clear that they knew who was being called and to whom they were being called. They were being called to go into the lost Gentile world. They knew that, but they didn't know where they were going after. So this was a clear call. Second, the confirmed call.

Here we see that they fasted and prayed more and they fasted and prayed more so as to seek God more, to seek God in his will more for these men in this work and to get God's guidance and get God's grace in this entire gospel enterprise. Notice the text says that they laid their hands on them. Now what does that mean? We can know what this does not mean. This does not mean that this laying on of hands imparted to them the Holy Spirit and the call to this ministry. These men had been saved before and they had been serving God for quite a while.

This laying on of hands speaks to an identification with what God was doing in this work and these men, you see. This was a confirmation of the work of God and the work that God was doing in the church and in these men. This was a unity. This was a unity in all of these things. The leadership in the entire church body was unified in the work and in the work of God that God was calling to set apart these men for. Then third, they committed themselves to the call. Here we see that after they fasted and prayed and fasted, they laid their hands on them and they sent them off.

This phrase sent them off, it simply means to set free, to release, to let go. Oh, I love how John MacArthur explains this. I'm quoting, he says, "It is clear from verse one that the Spirit, not the church, sent out the two missionaries. Since he had already sent them, all the church could do was cut the cord and let them go." Look church, big lesson here. When God calls a man into the ministry or into the mission field, when God calls a man and he calls his wife as well to go into the mission field, to go into the ministry, let me pause here. God calls men. We're going to study in 1 Timothy the role of women in ministry.

God never calls a woman to preach and to teach. We know that. But yet when God calls a man, he also calls his wife to be his helpmate and to be the one right by him. My wife has a calling in her life and that is to be my wife as I'm a pastor. But when God calls a man into the ministry or into the mission field, when God calls a man and his wife to leave a church because they are being called, it is clear that God is calling them and sending them apart for the work. It is clear to the church that God is doing this work. In the entire church not only sees it, but they participate in that work and they do two things.

First, the church sends them and second, the church releases them. So we see the extraordinary mission that God was calling Barnabas and Saul to and not only Barnabas and Saul, but the entire church. And I bet after Barnabas and Saul departed, they all broke their fasting and they had a great celebration and a fellowship meal. You might say, "Well, pastor, that's kind of a joke you're reading into it." Maybe they did. A couple of questions here for us to think about. Would we send out our best? I believe the day will come when we will send people out. They sent out their best. The other guys were great. They sent out their best.

Would we send out our best? Would we send out our children? So we see the extraordinary mission. And closing, here we have what I'm calling the extraordinary church in Antioch, but this is much more. We have an extraordinary church with extraordinary ministers. With extraordinary ministry, who embraced the extraordinary movement of the spirit among them. Notice that was all by grace. But if they had not been faithful, being faithful, well then they wouldn't have had this movement of God anyway.

They embraced this extraordinary mission and they were a part of the extraordinary work of God to take the gospel and the work of the church all over the Gentile world. And look, my prayer is that we do the same thing. You might say, "Pastor, we're a small church." They weren't very large. You might say, "Pastor, we don't have a lot of money in our church." They didn't have a lot of money. My prayer is that we'll be just like this one day. My hope is that we'll send people out just like they did. So we should work hard at being the extraordinary church that God wants us to be and then let the sending be in God's hands.