If you would, please open your Bibles this morning to Acts, Acts chapter 13, the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 13, that's on page 1172 in the Pew Bible. We're turning to this text this morning because in our worship together this morning we are going to ordain men to serve as officers in the church of Jesus Christ, whether elder or deacon. And in so doing, we will be following a pattern that was set down by the apostles that we're going to see on display here in Acts chapter 13, in the opening verses, where we have a snapshot of Barnabas and Saul being called to serve an office. There we'll read the account of the work of the Lord to bring them to that place. And then in the chapters that follow, we see their work unfold in chapters 13 and 14. So we're going to read just the opening verses, 13, verses 1 through 4, and then jump to the end of this missionary journey to see how it all closes up back at their church. And from that, we want to give our attention this morning. So let's listen as we read from the Word of God, chapter 13, Acts. Beginning at verse 1, hear now the word of God. Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon, who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manan, a member of the court of Herod, the Tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart for 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 sent them off. So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. Turn now to chapter 14, verse 21. In the intervening verses, we have the story of their missionary journey to Cyprus, from east to west, across that island, and they went as far as the city of Derbe, which is where we find them in chapter 14, verse 21, taking up the text again, when they had preached the gospel to that city, that is to Derbe, and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, that's Antioch and Pisidia, it's a different one, they strengthened in the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. And when they had appointed elders for them in every church with prayer and fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. And they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia, and when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Italia, and from there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had fulfilled. And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. Here ends the reading of God's word this morning. Well, we jump to this word in the middle of Acts, but we must remember how Acts began, and that was with Jesus' final words to his disciples before he ascended into heaven. He left them with this promise. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. Acts is Luke's account of the fulfillment of that promise. In chapters 1 through 7, he tells of their witness in Jerusalem. Chapters 8 through 12, of their witness in Judea and Samaria. And now here in chapter 13, he begins his account of their witness to the end of the earth, a mission that continues today, of which we are the recipients and the beneficiaries, countless generations later and thousands of miles away. Because of what happened on that day in that church, the door was opened for us to be added to the children of Abraham, to become people of God through faith in Christ, To hear the gospel, to believe it, to be saved, to be established, and to be sanctified and prepared for glory. That's all a consequence of what we're going to look at this morning. So in these three verses, Luke sketches a momentous turning point in the history of redemption. It's so brief we would jump over it, but it was a turning point with consequences that are profound. And in these three verses, we find three points that show us how Paul and Barnabas, or Barnabas and Saul at this point, were called to serve in office. You have those points in your bulletin which follow the three verses. Verse 1 tells us how they were called after providential preparation, how it was after the Lord had prepared them for this service. Number 2, they were called by divine designation, by the Word of God Himself, by the Holy Spirit. They were appointed to this office. And number three, they were called to serve in office through church consecration, through the public ordination within the congregation. And so we take up those points in verse 1, where Luke invites us to remember what we didn't read but we should know about the preparation God had made for this church for that day. According to chapter 11, after Stephen was stoned in Jerusalem and Paul joined the persecution of the church. Saul, I should say. Many believers fled from Jerusalem. They ended up in Antioch, which is north, in what we call Syria today. It was Syria then. And over the years following, during which Paul was converted on the road to Damascus, most of those who went to Antioch were Jewish and they spoke Hebrew or Aramean and they spoke to their own. They were a very small group, a very small church, really no presence to speak of, until we're told some men came from Cyprus and Cyrene. Cyprus, the island off the coast of Syria. Cyrene, the north coast of Africa. Greek speakers, they show up in Antioch, and they start preaching in Greek, and the church starts to grow. They're preaching to people in their own preferred language. And many believed. And news came to Jerusalem, and Jerusalem sent Barnabas, a servant in that church. They sent Barnabas there to minister in that congregation. And now in our text, verse 13, verse 1, Now, about two years after Barnabas arrived, more than a decade after the stoning of Stephen, there was a church in Antioch, a church established such that there were prophets and teachers. They were men of renown, men of gifting, men of leadership. We might call it a seminary town. They had a lot of men that were noteworthy and leaders. We're told that together, these prophets and leaders, they're called out for our attention because they were the ones that opened the word of God to God's people. At that time, the Old Testament only, they would open it, expound upon it, teach and lead according to it. And the prophets had an additional task until the New Testament, as we know it, was completed. The prophets still continued to have the Word of God from the Holy Spirit. And we have an occurrence of this in our text, where the prophets received the Word of God. Well, Luke names five. That might be exhaustive. There may have been more. We don't know. But he lists just five. A diverse group by their names. Barnabas, we know from earlier, he was a Jew. He was from Cyprus. He was a Greek speaker. There's Simeon, who was also a Jew called Niger because he was dark-complected, perhaps from Africa. Lucius of Cyrene was a Gentile. He also was from Africa. Manan was a Jew, raised like a Gentile in the courts of Jerusalem. He was part and attached somehow to the household of Herod. Perhaps a prince. Perhaps a lifelong friend of Herod. We don't know, but he was close. He was important. And here we find him in the church of Antioch with a bunch of nobody. Because that's what God does with his people. He makes us all somebody in Jesus and nobody in ourselves. And then we have Saul, last of all. What do we know about Saul? We know a lot about Saul after this. What do we know about Saul before this? He was a Pharisee, he was a Jew, he persecuted the church, and he'd been converted on the road to Damascus. But by this time, chapter 13, verse 1, each one of these men was recognized in the church as being spiritually equipped and particularly gifted. They were the leaders that were being looked to. Barnabas is described earlier as a good man full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And we should consider all these men to fit that profile. And of these five, we're given details on three in the names of two, Barnabas and Saul, first and last. And that's for a purpose. Luke wants us to recognize these two men are of import to this story. And they're listed in that order on purpose because Barnabas was a prominent man. He was a servant in the church. He was well known for distinctive, merciful, encouraging servants. Before he had been sent to Antioch for about 10 years, he was in Jerusalem. His real name was Joseph. His given name was Joseph, but they called him Barnabas, son of encouragement. He's the guy you wanted around. He was a landowner. He sold his property to provide for the poor in Jerusalem. A man of mercy. The other end of the list we have Saul, listed last. No details. At that point in his life, you wouldn't recognize him. We think of Paul, the great apostle. At this point he was Saul, the rumor at the edge of the world. Everyone knew his story, but nobody knew who he was. He was away in Tarsus, up in Turkey. While Barnabas was in Jerusalem, Saul was converted on the road to Damascus and he started preaching in Arabia and in Damascus and he was very bold until they tried to kill him and then he ran to Jerusalem. And when he got to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples. He tried to join the church there, but they wouldn't have him. They were afraid of him. They didn't think he was really a disciple. They suspected he was an undercover agent, if you will. And there's Saul. He's gone to the mother church. And they don't want anything to do with him. And here comes Barnabas. The son of encouragement. And what does he do? He takes Saul under his wing. He takes him to the apostles. He tells them Saul's story. Saul evidently doesn't say a word. Barnabas tells of his conversion. He tells of his bold preaching. And they give him a license. And he's preaching in Jerusalem. Until they try to kill him. Paul had a way of doing that. And so what did they do? The brothers sent him to Tarsus. That's a nice way of saying they sent him home. Go home. You're causing too much trouble here. And that's where Paul was for another seven years. In God's providence, these two men, Barnabas and Saul, share a past. A past that touched for perhaps two weeks in Jerusalem. through which God was preparing them to come together for a ministry they would do together in a way that neither one could possibly anticipate, possibly expect. While Saul was in Tarsus, again, sent home, Barnabas was sent from Jerusalem to Antioch preaching, teaching, the church was growing, he was overburdened, and so what did he do? He reached out to Saul. He went to Tarsus. He traveled to Tarsus to get Saul to bring him back to help him in the church. Son of encouragement. And we read in Acts 11.25 that for a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And that's the story behind this verse, that in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians. This was an important church in the history of God's redeeming plan. And these two men had been prepared through all kinds of completely different circumstances to come to this city, to this church, to establish something really important, really profound. They had been providentially prepared for what was to happen. And so we turn to verse 2, where Luke zooms in on one of their worship services here in Antioch. A particular service where by divine designation, specific men were appointed to specific tasks. Something new happened in this worship service. He says that while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, Now, we just read over that. We don't think a thing about fasting. It's not something that we do. Well, perhaps some of you young people have fasted the 30-hour fast to raise money for those who are really hungry. Perhaps you fasted for a blood test or you fasted for a few days to lose some weight. You've done something for your health through fasting. I dare say that few of us, if any of us, have fasted in order to enhance our prayer life. It was an established practice among the Jews in the early church and even still around the world today. And it was a way of focusing the mind, focusing the heart and the will to remove the distractions and the hungers of this world, so to speak, to focus on heavenly things, to focus prayers of particular importance, prayers of particular urgency in a way that were undisturbed. It was a way of crashing the gates, if you will, of heaven with something that was urgent. And that's what they were doing. How long they've been doing it, we do not know. This may have been the only service. This may have been the 30th service. We don't know. But that's what they were doing. They were earnest. They were asking God for something. We're not told what it is. We have no details about it. But the answer opens the door for us to understand. And the history that follows makes it clear that what they had been praying for was how and through whom they as a church could take the gospel of Jesus Christ beyond Judea and Samaria and launch it into the world. They had that mindset. They knew the Great Commission and they knew the promise of Jesus and they wanted to do it. And they were praying. And in their fervency, we read that the Holy Spirit answered. He spoke to them and revealed to them God's will. Set apart for me, Barnabas and Saul, for the work to which I have called them. From the five men who were prepared, the five men who were identified, the Spirit called to. Barnabas and Saul, he called them for himself. He called them for his purposes. We don't know how perfect the prayers were of the saints, but God's answer is perfect. Barnabas and Saul were divinely designated, they were called, they were appointed by the Holy Spirit for a new and a particular work. They'd been serving as prophets and or teachers, now there was a new work. In chapter 14, verse 14, Luke calls them both apostles. First time we hear about apostles other than the twelve, he calls them apostles, the apostles Barnabas and Saul. Paul refers to himself that way in Romans chapter 11. He calls himself an apostle to the Gentiles. He was received that way in Acts chapter 15. And we should consider Barnabas the same, an apostle to the Gentiles. In fact, when Paul defends his apostleship to the Corinthian church, he uses Barnabas at his size. He says he compared himself and Barnabas to all the other apostles. They're on par. Different locales, different times, same mission to different people. The office of apostles. So the call they received was the Holy Spirit's call. And the work they would do would be the Holy Spirit's work. And during that work, they would function as equals, apostles to the Gentiles, but their roles would change. Remember the first meeting of Barnabas and Saul? Barnabas did all the talking. It wasn't long after they left Antioch that Paul became known as the chief speaker of the two, the main talker. And so the team, Barnabas and Saul, before they got too far out of Dodge, was Paul and Barnabas. And that's how we know them. They were ordained to the same office for the same purpose and they were equals. We hear them reporting at the end of chapter 14 when they got back to Antioch, they reported on the Spirit's work in them. They reported all that God had done with them, all that God had done in them, through them, for them, to them. It was all God's doing. And how He had opened the door, a door to faith, to the Gentiles, to the nation that continued across time and geography and has come to Escondido. And we pray, Lord willing, it will go on from here elsewhere. This door has been opened and has not yet closed. So we see that the Holy Spirit issued the call and he was going to accomplish his work. But there was something for the church to do. The Holy Spirit commanded the church to do something. He said to the church, set apart these men. The word that we translate set apart is the word that informs the word we use, ordain. It means to set apart, to consecrate, to ordain, to a particular task. Distinct from the usual, the customary. And so what the Spirit was doing was calling the church to a visible expression, a visible confirmation of what the Holy Spirit was doing. This is the Spirit's work. He is the agent, but the church is his means, and the means that he establishes for the church to set apart these men. And so they are visibly confirmed through the church's consecration, through ordination. And so in obedience to that command, in verse 3, chapter 13, then, after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off. Again, they prayed and fasted. Again, their prayers were fervent. We're not told what for. We're not given the substance, but it's hard to imagine these prayers not being filled with thanksgiving. Thanksgiving for the five men to select from and the two that were chosen. And lots of petitions, lots of supplications. These men would need the grace of God to carry them, the gifts of God to equip them, the strength of God to carry them, the protection of God to preserve them. They prayed fervently. And when they had finished praying, then they laid hands. They laid their hands on them. Through this visible act, a mundane, normal, simple act. There's no magic in it. There's no power in it. It's a visible confirmation of what's really going on. And that's the Holy Spirit's calling men who have been prepared. And he's appointing them to an office that is in service to him. And these men have been raised up within the context of the church. No man is an island. If you belong to the body of Christ, you're a member of the body of Christ, and these officers have come up in the body of Christ, and it's the body of Christ, the church, that is, to ordain them, to put hands on them, and to send them out, so to speak, to free them to do their work that they're called to do. And so we see that finally, the last words in verse 3, is that the church sent them off. In their case, they literally left. But in their leaving, they were released from other duties, They were entrusted to the Lord's grace and they were freed to pursue particular duties to which they had been called. Now that was then and this is now. They were ordained as apostles and we don't do that anymore. The Holy Spirit spoke to them. Direct revelation, we don't have that anymore. How does this apply to us? Well, if nothing else, it's a greatly encouraging remembrance of what God did a long time ago that has benefited us today. In these three verses, we see the manifold wisdom and the boundless grace of God to orchestrate all these circumstances, all these details, all these appointments, all these gifts and preparations to bring Barnabas and Saul together, to establish the church in Antioch, to open the door and free the mission of the gospel to come to us today. And that's enough. That's enough. But there's more. we see in this text a pattern that has been replicated and applied throughout the history of the church for how to call men to serve an office. In chapter 14, we already hear echoes of what happened in chapter 13. In chapter 14, verse 23, we are told that Paul and Barnabas appointed elders, They designated elders in every church. In fact, there is no church. A church can't exist. A church can't continue without elders being ordained to govern that church. So they appointed elders in every church. They did so with prayer and fasting, and they committed them to the Lord. Does that sound familiar? It should. They're already doing it again. And the next generation of ministers, Timothy and Titus, when we read the pastoral epistles about them, we read that Timothy's call was confirmed in the church. He was ordained in the church when the elders laid hands on him and when Paul laid his hand on him. We shouldn't see that as two separate occasions. That's likely the same ordination. And Paul introduced Titus to the Corinthians church as one who had been appointed by the churches. Designated and sent out to travel with Paul. We see the same pattern. And so before the apostolic era is closed, Paul leaves instructions through Timothy and Titus for how the church is to recognize those men that God has prepared in His providence to serve an office in the church. Paul provides character profiles that we're very familiar with, that you saw in your chair and care and in your handout for the congregational meeting this year that you're reminded from 1 Timothy chapter 3 and Titus chapter 1 that an overseer, an elder, must be, and we have a character profile. And likewise, deacons must be, and we see a character profile. Why are we given that? We're given that to know what kind of evidence that we should look for in our time and in our place, to recognize those men that God has been working in to prepare for the callings that he has for offices in the church. Now, again, the Holy Spirit doesn't speak directly, but the Holy Spirit still designates those who serve. He's always done so through means. In this episode in Acts 13, he did so through the prophet that uttered the word of God. In Acts 6, the means were the congregation that selected men filled with the Spirit and shown to be wise. In Acts chapter 1 they did so with lots between two men who had the qualifications to serve as an apostle bearing witness to the baptism through the resurrection of Jesus. So different means have been used and in our day we continue to use the means of election in which you congregation are the means through which the Holy Spirit selects some to serve out of all who've been prepared. If we remember, sometimes we can be discouraged when the sum get chosen and I'm a man who's been prepared and I'm not called. You need to remember Paul, the great apostle Paul, served in obscurity for more than a decade before he was called to this prominent task by which we remember him. He served in obscurity and Barnabas who was known greatly and widely over time this is all we have left of Barnabas. The Lord uses his man and his time for his reasons for his purposes and you can trust that if you've been prepared you will continue to be prepared. The Lord will have his way for you when it's time for you. But because we live apart from the direct revelation of the Spirit we have to be more careful about those men we consider prepared. And so this instruction that Paul gives to Timothy and Titus brings this warning. Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands. Don't rush into that. Why? Because unlike the Holy Spirit, we can't see the hearts of men. We can only see it bubble up and flow over and show itself in their lives. And so we have to be patient to observe. We have to be patient to observe. And Paul explains in 1 Timothy 5, he says, the sins of some people are conspicuous. They're obvious. No question there. But the sins of others appear later. They take time to show. So also good works are conspicuous. They're easy to see. But even those that are hard to see will eventually show up. And so the point is to be patient and wait and watch. And be watchful. Each year we do this. Each year we're called to, this is a continual task. in the congregation. Be always mindful and looking and watching. Who are the ones serving among us that the Lord is preparing to show this character? This need not be a last-minute decision in December. This need not be a thing that you wake up one day and say, oh, it's time for me to serve. This is an ongoing need of the church and the Lord will raise up men and He calls on all men, even now, you young men, to desire this office. It's a noble thing. And to do what you can to receive this preparation, the preaching of the gospel, the training that's offered in the church, reading, meeting with your elder, not because you have to, but because you want to. Believe me, they would love that. This pattern that we see in Acts 13 that was replicated by the apostles, replicated through Titus and the elders in the churches and deacons in Acts chapter 6 has come down to us across the ages today. It's in our church order, as a church, how we will do this. Do we follow this pattern? We nominate men to serve who meet the biblical requirements of the office, who have the profile, who look to us prepared. And they are divinely delegated by this congregation when we elect. We cast our ballots. Some are chosen, some are not. You need to know, and I hope you believe, that there's not anything we can do on our ballast that's going to supersede or circumvent the will of God by His Spirit for His church. It's not going to happen. And finally, the church consecrates them. The church ordains them. Elders and deacons shall be ordained with the use of the appropriate liturgical form before entering upon their work. And today, that's what we're to do. That's what we're set about to do. we're going to set these men apart to the Spirit for the Spirit's work, and we're going to lay hands on them as a visible confirmation of what we are convinced is an invisible spiritual call to serve the Lord by serving His church. And so we will do so and we will pray, as the church did in Antioch, that we will pray and we will entrust them to the Lord to the grace of God to help them fulfill their calling and to pray that we will submit ourselves to them to mere men sinners like us saints in Christ imperfect but that we would submit ourselves to them as they serve on behalf of and in reliance on the Holy Spirit who is at work in them and through them for the well-being of this church Thank you.