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So anyway, when we looked at Acts 13, there were 52 verses in this book of Acts. There's no way I'm going to keep that within an hour. So I thought let's cut it in half, well not even half. Let's focus on the first 13 verses. I think there's enough to preach from here. And if you look at verse number four, it says, So they being sent forth by the Holy Ghost. The total for the sermon tonight is sent forth by the Holy Ghost, sent forth by the Holy Ghost. And here we're going to see Barnabas and Saul, who will be named Paul in this chapter. They've been sent out by the church in Antioch, sent out by the Holy Ghost to do a great work amongst the Gentiles and start other churches. Now before we get straight into it, because this is chapter 13 is a chapter where Paul starts becoming the main protagonist. I'm not sure if that's the best word to use in the book of Acts. So it's kind of been Peter as the main character right throughout the book. But chapter 13 is where it really changes and starts focusing on the life of Paul as the primary. And let's just backtrack a little bit. Let's understand where we are at this point in time. If you come back with me to Acts 11, come back with me to Acts 11, just for a bit of context about the life of Paul here in Acts 11, verse number 19. And of course, the church in Antioch, Acts 11 and 19, it says, Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen, traveled as far as Phoenas and Cyprus and Antioch, preaching the word to none, but unto the Jews only. And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus. So you can see that as the persecution is causing the believers to go different places, they're preaching the gospel, but they're focusing on the Jews. But now in Antioch, they start speaking to the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus. Look at verse 21, The hand of the Lord was with them and a great number believed and turned unto the Lord. So now the Gentiles are being saved significantly, right? Verse number 22, Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem. And they sent forth Barnabas that he should go as far as Antioch. So the church in Jerusalem says, All right, Barnabas, we need you to go. A lot of our Gentiles being saved there in Antioch. And so they send Barnabas there to Antioch. And by the way, the reason they sent him is because they can, he can actually speak the tongue, the local tongue. He's originally from Cyprus himself. So he's familiar with the area and the languages there. He's obviously more accustomed to that area. So they send him forth to go. And what I believe, and I believe, like I gave my suggestion, I guess in Acts 11. But when you look at Acts 11, and then you look at Acts 13, and you put them side by side, you can definitely see a doctrine that I strongly believe in. And that is churches start churches. Churches establish churches. Because from Antioch, they send Paul and Barnabas to start churches. All right, that's clear. Everybody agrees with that. But what we also see here is believers getting saved in Antioch, you know, or sinners getting saved in Antioch. And then they send Barnabas from the church in Jerusalem. And after they send Barnabas, now that group of believers is referred to as a church. So it looks like Barnabas on the official, you know, permission by the church in Jerusalem is establishing this group of believers as a church. Because as we continue in verse number 23, who when he came and had seen the grace of God was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart, they would cleave unto the Lord. So he's coming there to edify and strengthen this group of believers. Verse 24, for he was a good man and full of the Holy Ghost, and of faith and much people was added unto the Lord. Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus for to seek soul. The reason he went to get soul in Tarsus is they needed more church leaders. Okay, they needed, we soon see in chapter 13, he's a church leader. Okay, they need more church leaders to help this group of believers. In verse number 26, and when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church and taught much people and the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. All right, so Barnabas gets sent out there, all right, from his local church. Antioch is now established as a, the Antioch brethren establishes a church. Barnabas says we need another teacher, we need another helper. He goes and gets soul not far away, comes back and they're there for a whole year. All right, teaching much people. Then we get to Acts 13, come back with me to Acts 13. All right, and Acts 13 verse number 1. Now, they were in the church that was at Antioch, certain prophets and teachers as, so now we have examples of these prophets and teachers as Barnabas. Okay, now normally in the Bible when you start to see these names mentioned and they mention like the first name in the order is normally the one that's kind of the main, you know, maybe the main teacher, the main, maybe the leader. And often in the Bible when it has a group of names, the first name is that kind of person that, you know, that's maybe a little bit more elevated in his work and ministry. All right, so it says as Barnabas and Simeon that was called Nigar and Lucius of Cyrene. And now the next character is really interesting and Manaen which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch. So Manaen, this guy who's one of the leaders, one of the prophets and teachers in the church was raised up or brought up with Herod the tetrarch. And then it says and Saul. So you see Saul is one of these prophets and teachers in this church. But anyway, back to Manaen there, he was brought up with Herod the tetrarch. He's the same Herod that caused John the Baptist to be beheaded. He had taken, you know, the Herod that took his brother's wife, all right, and John the Baptist preached against him. Well, interesting. Like, you know, now I don't believe they're brothers. I think if it said and Manaen which had been, I would have, I think the Bible just said, you know, the brother of Herod the tetrarch. I think the Bible would be pretty clear about that. But then it says here which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch. So it sounds like that they were raised together, maybe a stepbrother. We don't really know, you know, it's not very clear. But these two are raised up together, which is really interesting, you know, raised up. And, you know, this brings to light another, you know, I won't get you to turn there. But in Mark, in Mark 6, when we have the story of Herod, and, you know, the daughter, I guess his stepdaughter, you'd call it, you know, was dancing and he, you know, made a vow that he would give, you know, half his kingdom even if that was her desire. And he asked for her desire, she consulted with her mother, and they said, give me the head of John the Baptist. Remember that? And if you remember the story there in Mark 6, it says that Herod was exceeding sorry. He's exceeding sorry, like, man, that's like, like, he's willing to give half the kingdom. And like, you know, this is a guy who's already arrested, that's already in prison because he's preaching against him. But there's like sorrow, there's like regret. Oh, man, you know, what have I committed to? But the Bible says because of his vow, he eventually he carried it through anyway. And that's always made me wonder about that story. You know, why was he exceeding sorry? And then we also have the story, a retelling the story in the book of Matthew. And the book of Matthew also captures that he was sorry about it. Why would both Gospels capture that story about him being sorry? Like, you know, what he and I just, I've always kind of wondered just out there. And then we get to this part where he was raised together with Menean. And Menean is now a leader in the church there in Antioch. So again, this is just my thoughts, just I'm throwing it out there. I think that whoever raised these two boys was probably a woman trying to teach them the things of God. You know, I think as they grew up, I know, Herod the tetrarch was raised by Herod the great that tried to kill Jesus Christ. And that was his dad, right? Not maybe not raised, but you know, that was his dad. I'm not sure how they probably had many wives and you know, who knows nurses. It could be a nurse, could be someone, you know, some type of nanny or something that raised these kids up. But whoever raised them, I see, my impression is that she must have taught them something of the Bible, something of the scriptures, where Menean himself is, you know, gets saved and is plugged into a great church and leading that great church. And then King Herod the tetrarch, which obviously has went a bad way. But I kind of like, I've always wondered, why was he exceeding sorry? You know, why? I guess he thought, man, this is a man of God. Like you probably recognize this guy is a man of God. I don't like what he's preaching. I'm not, you know, in favor of him, but to go and kill him. Oh man, you know, it's probably something that within him really bothered him to do such a thing. And it's probably because they were raised by somewhat of a godly or at least a God fearing woman. But anyway, then we have Saul mentioned at the end of Acts 13 and verse number one. Now what's really interesting about this church is it says there are certain prophets and teachers. This tells us something about this church. Some period of time has gone past. All right, we know that it was in chapter 11. It was a newly established church. But by the time we get to Acts 13, some period of time takes place where there are now multiple leaders. There are prophets, there are teachers sharing the preaching load there in the church. Now keep your finger there and come with me to Ephesians chapter four, please. Come with me to Ephesians chapter four, Ephesians chapter four. And Matthias, when you get a chance, if you can bring me a cup of water. Thank you. Ephesians chapter four and verse number 11. Ephesians chapter four and verse number 11. The Bible says and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. So what I see here in Ephesians, the church in Ephesus, you know, when you read different epistles of churches, you can clearly see where some churches are matured and doing really well and some churches that are really doing really badly. Okay. Now the Ephesus church is largely doing quite well. Okay. And so, you know, there's these teachers being told that, you know, God gives these prophets, these teachers for the edifying of the saints. Obviously, like all of these roles, when you look at the prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, these are all people that are essentially preaching God's word. Regardless of how you chop and change that total, how you view this, they're all preaching God's word. And so this tells me that the church in Antioch, at this point, is no longer some, you know, immature church. It's no longer really, it's had time to grow. There's been some great preachers. There's been Barnabas. There's been Saul. There's been other men that have grown up and, or maybe at, maybe sent, but I don't know where all these men came from. Maybe sent from the church in Jerusalem to help that church out. But there's been a number of leaders now with a level of maturity, which is why they're now ready to take the next step of sending others to start other churches. Okay. If we continue there in Ephesians 4 and verse number 13, it says, till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of a stature of the fullness of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the slight of men and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. But speak in the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. You can see these prophets, teachers, pastors, and all this is given that we may grow up. Okay. Grow up into Christ. And again, I look at this passage and I think about the church of Antioch. It must have grown up. There's a maturity. Some time has progressed. They've learned, they've grown. Some of these men have become leaders in the church. If we continue verse number 16, Ephesians 4 16, for whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every man, every joint supplier, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. Edifying in love. Okay. So how does the church grow? How does it mature? How does it edify in love? You know, if you remove love out of the equation, our church will not mature. It's not going to grow. Okay. Now, the reason I'm making a big point about this is, you know, I want you to understand why I have certain beliefs or practices as a pastor. You know, I don't have this idea that, look, I have in my heart, I know that, you know, if it was the Lord's will tomorrow, I know I could start a church in Melbourne tomorrow. If it's the Lord's will. You know, I know I could start a church in WA, in Perth somewhere. I know it's possible. Okay. But at the same time, the title for the sermon was sent forth by the Holy Ghost. The question isn't what is possible or what I would like. The question is, is the Holy Ghost sending forth these people? Is the Holy Ghost desiring a ministry? Is the Holy Ghost desiring a new church? Is that what he desires? And that's really what I want us to focus in today. But one thing I truly believe that in order to be able to send out people, ordain people into the ministry, start new churches, we need church maturity. I truly believe that. Like, I don't believe I can just start a church, you know, and just, all right. You know, it's not like we've Oprah, right? You get, what is that? I don't know. You get a car, you get a car, you get a car, you get a car, you all get cars. Now, I don't think we have that Oprah Winfield mentality when it comes to sending people out. You go start a church, you be a pastor, you be a missionary. You just go, you want to do it, go, go. Everyone gets to go out and start. No, there needs to have a level of maturity and growth. You know, we've grown up into Christ and we're edified in love. We can definitely say this person has a love. This person has a love for God's people. This person has a love for the kingdom of the Lord. This person is being sent by the Holy Ghost. This is clear and obvious. And the reason I think this is so important to me is, I've seen people's lives get destroyed, you know, and I don't want to keep rehashing the story going back a few years ago now, but I've seen a man go inside a church, right? And I lost church members that went to this church. Excited, we've got a church, a new IFB church. Back then, that's kind of the mindset, right? And for it all to crumble within six months. And not just to crumble, but for people's faith and their walk with the Lord to crumble. For brethren to be made shipwrecked, you know? And I just, my heart goes out. You know, it's like, how? Why? Well, I know why. Because it was not a sending of the Holy Ghost, okay? It was not a work. Like if you go out and just like, let's just try it. Let's just test it out. No, no, there's no testing of the Holy Ghost, right? The Holy Ghost is sure. He's going to provide the needs. He's going to fulfill the task, right? I mean, if you go out inside a church and it all crumbles in three months, it all crumbles in six months. I'm just telling you, it's not of the Lord. It's just self-willed people. And I never wanted to be a self-willed pastor. I wanted to stop at these 13 verses. I think there's a lot we can learn in this story, okay? You know, going back to one of my old churches where I served for nine years, my pastor said, we would love to send you. We would love to ordain you, okay? But we just don't agree with your end times position. If you could just change just three and a half years back to the pre-tribulation position, there's nothing else stopping us from sending you out as a pastor. Well, I had already seen the scriptures and it's clearly a post-trib pre-Raph rapture. You know, I'm not going to alter God's word just for my personal desire of being a pastor, right? If that's the condition of the church, I'm going to respect that man. He's a great pastor. I love you very much. And you know, but at that point I realized the Holy Ghost is not going to send me from this location and I'm okay with it. Like, I'm not thinking it's the pastor, right? You're the problem. I'm thinking, no, the Holy Ghost doesn't want this to take place at this point in time. Eventually I found another church, all right, who actually believe the same as I do on the end times. Not that I really care about, it's not the main thing of my life, right? But you know, I realized that would not be a hindrance. And after being there for about three years serving that church, you know, the decision was made to ordain me and send me out here. And you know, for me, I have a clear conscience. Because when my former pastor said to me, we can't ordain you. And some of my church friends, some of my brethren said to me, well, just go start a church anyway. Why do you need the blessing of the pastor? Just do what you need to do. What would that demonstrate? A self-willed man, right? Look, church is not going to send me, church is not going to ordain me. I'll just do it myself. We'll just, I'll just start my own church. And brother Callum will ordain me as a pastor or something like this, right? The congregation will ordain me. Look, look, I don't want to be self-willed, right? It's like, well, Lord, if that's, you know, and for me, it was like, well, Lord, if that's not going to work out, like if there's no other way, I guess you don't want me a pastor. Kind of made me sad. I prayed to the Lord. Lord, if that's your will, then take away the desire, please. Because it hurts me to want to be a pastor, to have the desire, but not find a way forward that this can proceed. Well, the Lord opened doors and, you know, eventually I was sent out by my church. But the thing about that is, and we're going to look at this soon, is that it wasn't just a decision of one man, the pastor, or the bishop to send me out, right? It was the other men. The other men all approved. The other men said, yes, we should send him out. We should send him to the sunny coast. Yes, I'm in agreement with this decision, right? That there is a unity, right? A decision where everybody's on board. And even other men on my ordination got up to, you know, give a testimony about my life, how I had affected them, why they were in favor of me being sent out. You know, this was clearly a unified decision. And I believe what is so important is that you do it for your local church, unified decisions. And when that happens, it is of the Holy Ghost. You're being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, not just by me, man, not just by a church body, but by the Holy Ghost himself. And if you come back with me to Acts 13 and verse number 2. Acts 13 and verse number 2. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, separate me Barnabas and soul for the work where unto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. So you see here, they're just serving the Lord faithfully in the church, they're coming together, they're praying, they're fasting, I assume they're praying here, they're fasting. And the Holy Ghost now, you know, I don't think anyone would say, they audibly heard the Holy Ghost speak. But obviously there was a pressing on their heart, a pressing on their soul, you know, where they say, look, you know what? We need to continue expanding God's Word. We need to reach other places with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We need to go and edify other brethren that are out there and establish other churches. You know, the Holy Ghost is speaking through them that he has set aside Barnabas and soul. Now this makes a lot of sense. Barnabas was already sent by the church in Jerusalem to help that Antioch church get established. Barnabas has experience. Soul has the zeal. Like it's a good combination, right? Barnabas is the organizer. He's got experience. He's willing to work with people. He's able to get like the rejects of society, like soul and bring them back and be accepted by, you know, by the believers and all this. And soul, as we know, many of us know, the life of soul is very zealous man. All right. Hard working man. Combine these two together, you've got a great team that's able to get out there and start another church. You know, go and do some great things for God. Now the Holy Ghost said, separate me Barnabas and soul for the work where I have called them. So what happens? And when they had fasted and prayed, or they did pray, sorry. I knew they prayed. There we go. Fasted and prayed. They laid their hands on them and sent them away. There's something about fasting. And, you know, I'll tell you a quick story, right? Yeah, I've shared this before. Around Baptist church, going back months and months ago, I was reached out, you know, pastor, are you able to help us? And I had contacted the pastor at the time and I had not heard back. So I kind of left it alone. I'm not going to interfere in other people's matters. But there was a time when I was just fasting. I was praying and fasting for completely other reasons. Okay. I can't remember what the other reason was right now, but I was praying and fasting. And I think by the second day of my fast, crown Baptist church came to my heart. I'd not even thought about them. I've never thought about anything. Like I just, it just came upon my heart. And so I rang and I contacted them and they were about to make a huge mistake. You know, they were looking at, ordain another man who is not right in the gospel. Let's put it that way. All right. And when I heard the news, I was like, boy, guys, you better be sure about what you're doing here. Here's what I know. And they're like, yeah, I think you're right. And they looked into it and they dodged a bullet. Let's put it that way. But I don't, if I wasn't praying and fasting, I don't think that would have happened. You know, it seems like when you're in this period of time, when you're seeking the Lord for some answers in some direction, the Lord puts things on your heart, you know, and shows you a way that you've just not thought possible, or you just not really considered, you know, like this. And, but hey, once the Holy ghost has confirmed that, they're praying, they're fasting, all the leaders of the church are on the same page here, right? They're on the same page because it's the Holy ghost that's making the decision. They lay their hands on them, on Saul and Barnabas, and they send them away. They're going to go and now embark on their new ministry to preach the gospel and start churches. Now, keep your finger there and come with me to 1 Timothy 4, okay? The laying of hands, we call this ordination, right? When the pastor, a leader, an apostle, in the times of the New Testament, we don't have apostles today, obviously, you know, would lay their hands on another man and send them out, give them the office or whatever it is, we know that today as ordination. That's the name we give it. And this laying of hands is a principle found throughout the whole Bible, from the Old Testament to the New Testament. You know, when Moses was leading the church in the wilderness, and it was time for them to go into the promised land, Moses took Joshua, brought him before the people, laid his hands on him and appointed him the new leader, the one that would spring them into the land flowing with milk and honey. And so even in the Old Testament to the New Testament, we see this concept, the laying of hands. But who's laying the hands? Is it the church congregation? No, it's the leaders, it's the prophets, right? We saw that the prophets and the teachers, it's authority. Authority is ordaining authority, okay? It's a top-down ordination that we see in the Bible, not a bottom-up, not a congregation ordaining a pastor or a missionary. It's the leaders, it's those of an office that are ordaining men to start a new ministry. Well, in 1 Timothy 4, we know this, and we saw this on Sunday, these are pastoral epistles. In 1 Timothy 4, verse number 14, 1 Timothy 4, verse number 14, it says, neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. So Timothy was ordained by the presbytery, not by Presbyterian Church. The word presbytery basically means a group of leaders, a group of leaders, all right? There were several men that went to Timothy, they laid their hands on him and ordained him pastor Timothy or whatever it is, right? And in that process, as they laid their hands on him, a gift was given to Timothy. It's a gift to preach, to study, to read God's word. Okay, it enhances that man's ability to understand the scriptures and to teach the scriptures. And so we see that. Now, so we've seen in Acts 13, a group of men, several men, ordaining Saul and Barnabas. We see Timothy here, also he got ordained by a group of men. Now I got ordained by one man. One man laid his hands on me and sent me out, okay? So people make the argument, well, that's not a proper ordination. I've heard that said, okay? You need the presbytery. You need a group of pastors, right? To come alongside and to ordain you. Well, 1 Timothy is not the only pastoral pistol that we have. We also have 2 Timothy and Titus. So if you come with me to Titus, please, come with me to Titus in Titus chapter one, Titus chapter one. Now we've got pastor Titus. And in Titus chapter one verse number five, Paul says to Titus, For this cause left I, I singular, thee, in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders, or pastors if you want, in every city, as I had appointed thee. So now we have not a group of, not the presbytery, not a group of leaders, but we have I Paul appointed Titus, okay? Into this work, into this position, into this labor, for the purpose that he would set things in order, and ordain elders that thou shouldest set in order, thou singular set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city. So we have another practice here. We have Saul or Paul ordaining Timothy one on one, sorry Titus, and then Titus singular, is there to ordain other elders, all right? So what do we learn by looking at the pastoral pistols combined with Acts chapter 13, is that when a man is ordained, either way is okay. A one-on-one ordination, okay? Or several leaders, and teachers, or other pastors, you know, great, you know, if there are several that want to lay their hands on that man, and send him out, great, but they're both legitimate, is what I'm trying to say, okay? One is not more legitimate, or one is not one better than the other, okay? Moses once again, one man ordained Joshua into his position as the leader over Israel. So it's not that this is how you got to do it, where we see how it can, one thing we definitely see how it's got to be done, is leaders ordaining leaders, okay? Ordain men, or ordaining other men, okay? Top down, leadership through a church, okay? These things are clear for us to see. Now, obviously, if a church only has one leader, one pastor, well, one man can do it. If a church has one pastor, several teachers, for example, and we have men that get up here to preach, at that point, when you get up to preach, you're a teacher. You're teaching God's Word, aren't you? You know, we can have other men that come together with that man in authority, lay their hands on that individual, and send him out, ordain him into a position, into ministry. Come back with me to 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy 5, 1 Timothy 5. So either way is okay. Obviously, depending on each church, and what each church has to offer, you know, will depend on how that man gets ordained. But 1 Timothy 5, 1 Timothy 5, verse number 22, look at this warning, lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins, keep thyself pure, keep thyself pure. There's a reason why I keep preaching on a pure conscience, a clear conscience, so important to me, all right? Especially as a pastor. Now, if I'm going to lay my hands on a man and send him out, it cannot be done suddenly or quickly, okay? Urgently or something like this, right? We need time for that man to be proven. You know, if a man comes up to me from Melbourne, says pastor, I heard you want to start a church in Melbourne. You're going to start a church in Melbourne. I want to be the pastor. I'd like to be sent out, please. I'd like you to place your hands on me and ordain me. I'd be like, I don't even know who you are. I do want a church in Melbourne. I would love to see that, but I don't know who you are. I can't suddenly name, because you might go and in six months destroy the faith and the lives of believers. And the Bible tells me, don't be a partaker of other men's sins. Meaning that if you don't get proven, if I don't have a clear conscience, if I can't say you are a godly man filled by the Holy Ghost, if I can't say, you know, that our church is unanimous in sending you out, then I'm not going to suddenly lay my hands on you. We need to do it carefully. This is serious business to ordain men and start churches. And I think you guys know, I like to joke around. I'm sarcastic and I'm a bit silly sometimes, a bit immature sometimes from my age. Even sometimes I joke around my kids and my kids are like, come on dad. I feel like I'm too mature for my kids sometimes. But look, when it comes to God's work, I'm serious. This is serious business. Serving the Lord in his kingdom is serious business. And if it was God's will for me not to be pastor, if there was no way, then I just have to accept that's it. That's the will of the Holy Spirit. It's not about being self-willed. It's not just about starting a million churches as soon as possible. No, it's got to be the work of the Holy Ghost. Okay? We're being sent out by the Holy Ghost. So the pure conscience is so important. Now you say, pastor, what if someone is in our church? I won't mention a name because I don't want to offend anybody. But brother, not Timothy, right? Tim, no, not Timothy. Brother Timothy has been serving faithfully for the last five years, pastor. You know, his life's in order, his family's on, everything looks awesome. He knows the Bible. He's a sole winner. You know, he loves God's people and he has a desire to be a pastor. And everyone's on board with churches. Let's send him out pastor, you know, let's send him to Melbourne, right? Here's the one that's going to be the one that can get that group together. When we lay our hands on him, we pray and we fast and we pray. And there's a unanimous decision. This is the man that the Holy Ghost wants to send out. And we send him out. And in six months, he crumbles. In six months, he destroys the church. In six months, people's lives are made shipwrecks. Well, my conscience is pure though. My conscience is clear. I did what I possibly could. I called his boss. How's he in the workplace? I called his old pastor. Hey, how was he at church? Oh, he was great. I did my due diligence. I did all I possibly could. All right, I didn't lay my hands suddenly on him. But he still went out and destroyed everyone. Well, at that point, I have a clear conscience. It's what more could you, what more can I do? It's kind of like when we go door to door soul winning, right? We preach the gospel. We ask them if they believe it, if they're ready to repent, turn from their false beliefs and trust Christ as their Savior. And they say yes. And they excitedly want to call upon the name of the Lord and they do. Praise God, we've done what we can. We count them as saved. But is it possible out there that someone's just going through the motions and just agreeable and just without faith calls upon the Lord, not believing, just says he does. It's possible. But what more can we do? If that man dies and goes to hell and never put his faith in Jesus. I mean, it's not like we've done what we can. It's not, you know, there's not much more you can do. And your conscience is clear. You did what you possibly can, right? Same thing. We do our due diligence. You know, this man so faithfully has proven himself. Obviously, that means that a larger percentage would mean that he's successful in his ministry, because it's the Holy Ghost. But even men that are sent by the Holy Ghost can really mess things up because at the end of the day, we're all sinful creatures. You know, we all battle with the flesh. And as much as the Holy Ghost can push us to do our work and to serve him, the flesh can always get in the way and destroy things. But I want to show you that how important it is that we take this seriously. Churches start churches. Pastors ordain pastors, okay? And when we do things in the proper way, it is not a man sending another man. It's the Holy Ghost which is sending forth that man, okay? It's not just a church that's sending that man. It's the Holy Ghost sending that man. There's a reason why new life is still running after eight years. We've had good years. We've had bad years. We've had growth. We've had reduction. But we soldier on, okay? There's a reason why in six months it didn't all collapse, all right? It's because it's of the Holy Ghost. And it's not that I'm this amazing man. I just know, man, if it was just me, this would have collapsed. Not in six months, maybe two months, okay? If it was of me, but because it's of the Holy Ghost, somehow the Lord God enables this church to continue moving forward, doing great things for him. Can you come with me to, oh sorry, come back with me to Acts 13. Acts 13 and verse number four. Acts 13 verse number four. It says here, so they, that's Saul and Barnabas, Barnabas and Saul. So they've been sent forth by the Holy Ghost a second time, just to confirm, all right? This isn't just men working. This is the Holy Ghost. Being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed into Seleucia. And from thence, they sailed to Cyprus. So Seleucia is like a port city. So there they can catch a boat, okay? And they can sail to the Isle of Cyprus. You know, I don't know where Cyprus is. It's kind of south of Turkey. Think of where Turkey is today. That island at the bottom, that's Cyprus, okay? So that's where they're headed to go. Why are they headed there? There's only one reason why, Barnabas. Barnabas is from Cyprus, all right? There's like, all right, the first place we're going is my hometown. I'm going to where I know people, my friends, my relatives. They need to hear about Jesus, right? The people that I've grown up knowing. And so they sailed off to Cyprus to start off with. Now there is another passage. Keep your finger there. Come with me to Acts 20. Come with me to Acts 20. Because there is, I'm trying to really hop on about this being sent by the Holy Ghost for a reason, okay? Because when you get to Acts 20, Acts 20. And this is where many self-ordained men turn to. Men that didn't do what I did. Men who went to a church and the pastor said, I'm not going to ordain you. And instead of being like me, well, Lord, if it's your will, it's going to happen. If it's not your will, it's not going to happen. But I got to do it the right way, Lord. They said, I don't care about that. I'm just going to do it myself. I'm just going to get amongst a group of friends and we're just going to start our own church. Well, they'll often, and I'm not, you know, I'm not talking everybody. I mean, it's hard to generalize everybody and paint everybody with a broad brush. But generally, these are the verses that people turn to. In Acts 20, verse number 26. Acts 20, 26, these are the words of Paul or Saul. It says, wherefore I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men. This verse actually goes hand in hand with my sermon on Sunday. You know, blood on the watchman's hand. He goes, I'm a watchman. I'm pure from the blood of all men. Why are you pure from the blood of all men, Paul? Verse 127, this is why. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. I've taught everything. All right, so man, if you guys mess up, it's not my fault. All right, I'm pure from the blood of all men. Verse 128 though, take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost have made you overseers. The watchman, overseers is the word bishop. Okay, the Holy Ghost have made you overseers or bishops to feed the church of God, which he have purchased with his own blood. So what we see here is bishops, pastors, overseers. Who made them overseers? The Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost have made you overseers. So this is what happens. A man says, oh, I know the Bible well, no church will send and ordain me. But I just feel like I really have to do this. The Holy Ghost has made me an overseer, right? So they go and they start their church and they call themselves pastors. Or they get the congregation to ordain them pastor, all right? And they say, it's all the, well here pastor Kevin. These men were sent or ordained by the Holy Ghost. They were appointed not by a church. They're appointed not by another pastor. They were appointed by the Holy Ghost. Well, yes. Okay, that's true. Okay, that's why when you read Acts 20, you should have read Acts 13. Is that normal when you read a book? Chapter one, chapter two, chapter three, chapter four, chapter 13. Before I get to chapter 20, I should have read chapter 13. So when the Holy Ghost makes you an overseer, what is the process that he uses? Oh, the local church. Oh, leaders. Okay, leaders, appointed leaders in the local church. That's how the Holy Ghost works. That's how you are sent forth by the Holy Ghost. So when you get to Acts 20, it's no debate. You should have known what the Bible said earlier. And in fact, if you're making Acts 20, your proof text for being self-ordained, this proves to me you are a self-willed man. A man who is a novice who doesn't understand the Bible because he would have read chapter 13 to understand what chapter 20 means. So why are you passionate about this, Pastor Kevin? Because I had to make that decision for myself. Oh, Pastor Kevin, if your pastor doesn't ordain you, just do it yourself. No, I can't do it. I can't work against the Holy Ghost. Oh, you know, I've got good intentions. Everyone, you know, most believers that really mess up in life, just it's good intentions, but against the will of God. But I had good intentions. It doesn't matter. All right, good intentions does not make you successful. Doing it God's way is what makes you successful. Now, I gave my story about studying this church here, your life out of this church, doing it the right way. And I believe it's the Lord's work. We're still here. We're still faithfully serving him. And then what is it? I can't remember how many months afterwards, maybe eight months after we started new life at this church, the situation developed down in Sydney where brethren were leaving their church that I really cared about. And I thought, well, can I serve these guys? I can travel down maybe once a week. I know Sydney. It's where I live. It's where I come from. It's like Barnabas. Let's go to Cyprus where I come from. That's where my heart is, right? Okay, well, Lord, would you allow me to come and help them and serve those brethren? Is that your will, Lord? I don't know. I have no idea, right? So I go to the men of this church. Men, what do you reckon? This is the situation. This is what I'm willing to do. You know, what do you think? And I promise you this, if the men in my church said, Pastor, bad ideas. I don't think this is right. I would never have done it. But guess what? All the men that I spoke to, and we weren't that big of a church, just said, you know what? Yeah, if you can, if they're willing to get behind it, let's do it. And if you can be a help to them, let's do it. Guess what? That church still continues today. After seven years with a part-time pastor, that church is still going strong. Churches start churches. Otherwise, it's going to collapse, and it's going to destroy the faith of the brethren. It's going to destroy their lives. Things have to be done properly. They're still going, praise God. I've got teachers, not an official title, but on Sundays, they rotate between five men. I think it's five men, four or five men, rotate, preaching. The feedback that I'm getting is they get better and better and better as the years go by. That should be expected. The more you do it, the better you should get, right? And I'm hoping the Lord, maybe within that group of men, would raise up a pastor and take over that church in due time. But we're not going to suddenly lay hands on a man. We wait for the Lord's timing, do things properly. And then the situation of Crown Baptist Church comes up, right? Do things properly. And then the situation of Crown Baptist Church comes up, right? I get a call, can you help us? Do you have someone you can send? I'm like, oh, I don't know, man. I don't even have someone that can pass the blessing of the Baptist Church, you know? And I said I was praying and fasting. They came to my heart, helped them dodge a bullet, learn more about their pastor, meet up, talk to their pastor. We know the same people. We have the same friends. Our roots go back to the same church. And then I find out one of the church members there. I took his soul with me for the first time. He got his first soul saved together with me. The guy that I gave the story with jumped on my back and almost broke my back because he was so excited about the first soul that he's got saved. Like, Lord, are you putting this together somehow? Then I think about the Hobbins family, right? And they haven't really got a good church in their area. Well, this is a church that's a two-hour drive for them. Instead of coming here six or seven hours drive up here, there's a two-hour church for them. Is it for them, Lord? And from what I understand, they're attending maybe once a month, something like that now. I got a man baptized down in Sydney at Blessed or Baptist Church, a man who lived in Tamworth. Tamworth is only about an hour's drive to Port Macquarie, something like this. And I went to preach there the other day. That man turns up. Man, I got baptized down in Sydney. Says, I want to come to this church when I can. Praise God. Why are these things coming together? It's like ligaments coming together and forming something, right? And then we've got another brother who frequents. He's got family. Oh, you guys know him, brother Hayden. Some of you guys know him. He's from Port Macquarie. His family is there. He's often at Port Macquarie to visit his family. But now he can visit his family and go to church. And then we have another man in our church that's been talking about years about moving to Port Macquarie. You know, relocating there because his family and friends are all in that area, the support network. It's like, maybe this is of the Lord then. I don't know. But here's what happened. It's not just me deciding whatever I want to do. I brought it to this church. It's a new life of the church. What do you think? Mixed response. Some yes, some no. Main no's are concerns for me. Pastor, you're overworked kind of ideas. Not like, you know, some wickedness or something like that. Like concerns, which are good. Praise God. So I said, okay, maybe it's not going to do, it's not for me then. You know, if it's not a unified sort of thought behind it. Then I presented to Blessed Our Baptist Church. And when I do, that church is 100% united. We need to go and help this church out. We need to see them as a little brother. This is going to help us grow as a church. And as I presented it down at Blessed Our Baptist Church, two of the men said, oh, go and preach, pastor. I'll go. I'll travel there and go and preach for them. The other man, yeah, I'll do it as well, pastor. And then as I'm presenting, I think a third man actually. I think it was three, three men. I think two men, sorry, two men. And then throughout the week, throughout the week, I then get messages and calls, pastor, I'm willing to go as well. Pastor, you want me to go and preach? I'll go help them as well. It's like, man, Blessed Our Baptist Church is 100% behind this church. They want to go and help them. They want to go and establish and strengthen those believers. This weekend, eight plus seven, 15. 15 of the brethren from Blessed Hope this weekend, from Blessed Hope, went to Crown Baptist Church. All right, they had a soul winning marathon, five salvations. Never before seen in Port Macquarie, like these kind of numbers, right? Five salvations. It's like, you know, and we're not talking about the preachers going to preach. These are other families in that church that say, you know what, I'm going to go and be an encouragement to that church. It's a four and a half hour drive and five hours on the way back because of traffic. All right, you're losing nine hours in a day to get up there, to encourage the brethren and come back. Now, here's the thing, if Blessed Our Baptist Church said to me, I don't know, mixed bag as well, right? Some yes, some no. I would have said, nah, I just can't get a unanimous church support behind this ministry. Now, honestly, I just said, look, love you guys. Call me if you need help. You know, you guys need to soldier on though. And I will do my best to be a loving brother. We'll be praying for you. But I just can't get behind you guys at this point in time. I can't be the one. You might need to find another pastor. Now, I don't know, it's soldiering on. All right. And I'm sharing this with you guys because I want you to understand that, you know, being a pastor, studying churches, it's serious. We've got to be careful about how we do things. And when you think logically, for new life to be the support network for that church, Crown Baptist Church, it's very hard. It's like a seven hour drive for us. But for the Sydney guys, it's four and a half hours. It's more doable. It can be done in one day. You can drive up in one day, drive back and get back to work on Monday. It's more achievable for that church to be there to support them. And there's other things. Say, is it of the Lord? Well, here's what's interesting. There was a man in our church at Blessed Hope Church that needed work. And then one of the brethren at Port Macquarie had a job that needed to be done in Sydney, which needed the exact qualifications and skills that this man in Sydney has. And now he's got work there to go and help that brother from Port Macquarie for a project in Sydney. These things start to connect, right? And that same man has a brother who's not been in church in a long time that turned up for church on Sunday at Blessed Hope Baptist Church. Things start to connect. Things start to, you know what, Lord, I don't even know. I don't know what your plans are. You know, but all I know is it's of the Holy Ghost. And the Lord, you know, Holy Ghost, new life is not the one that's going to be able to support them. But Blessed Hope Baptist Church is going to be the one that supports them. The Holy Ghost knows that. It's not one church is better than the other church. If not for new life, Blessed Hope would not exist. If not for new life and that process, Crown Baptist Church would not be supported now by Blessed Hope Baptist Church. All right? But it's about doing things right. Not according to our wisdom and our desires. It's by doing it by the Holy Ghost. And the church is important. If we ever need to embark on a work, a new church, a man, forever, we need to be a praying and fasting church. We need to be mature and not children being tossed about with every wind of doctrine. And if I don't get a universal agreement, it's not going to go ahead. All right? When it came to the Fiji, everybody was on board. New life, Blessed Hope, praise God, great work that was done. All right? These things, man, I think are really important that we listen to the leading of the Holy Ghost. And it needs to come from all of us combined as we pray and meditate on what the Lord wants for our church. Come back with me to Acts 13, Acts 13 and verse number five. Acts 13 and verse number five. I've lost track of time. I'm sorry if I'm over an hour. I've only done four verses. How am I going to get through 52 verses in one one anyway? Let's continue. Verse number five. And when they were at Salamis, so that's in Cyprus, they're in the soil of Cyprus, right? So they've gone to a town called Salamis. They preached the word of God. Right? So they've gone to a town called Salamis. They preached the word of God in the synagogue of the Jews. And they had also John to their minister. Now, this John is well accepted, not by tradition, but accepted by people that research the movements of these men, but also historical records. Like this is pretty good. I can't prove it to you from the scriptures. Okay. But it could be wrong. But what I'm trying to say is that is universally in general, it's not a controversy whatsoever that this John that came to help them as well is John Mark who wrote the book of Mark. That is pretty well accepted. There's not like sometimes with James, like when you read the name James in the Bible and the people kind of like, I think it's this James. I think it's this James. It's something it's not very clear, but when it comes to this John and I can't prove it to you, like I said, but it is quite universally accepted that this is John Mark who wrote the book of Mark. But now we have another helper. John comes to their aid to help them preach there in Salamis. And verse number six, it says, And when they had gone through the isle unto Pathos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-Jesus. That means son of Jesus or son of Joshua. Okay. Verse number seven, which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man who called for Barnabas and Saul and desired to hear the word of God. So this deputy, this man, this politician, Sergius Paulus had this prophet. Okay. Had this guy that he was learning the Bible from, a false prophet whose name was Bar-Jesus, right? A certain sorcerer. But he hears about Barnabas and Saul and their success of preaching the gospel. And he goes, man, I want to hear it from them as well. He's got a false prophet that he listens to. But you know, this guy's really seeking God. He's just got a really bad preacher. Okay. But he's excited to hear about Barnabas and Saul and look at verse number eight. But Elamas, the sorcerer, for so is his name by interpretation. So Bar-Jesus is his Hebrew name and Elamas is, I believe his Aramaic name. Okay. By interpretation, we stood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. Then Saul, who also is called Paul, be it of the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him. So this is the first time we're introduced to Saul as Paul. And from this point forward, we always know him as Paul. Okay. Now, why Saul and why Paul? Quite simple. Okay. So we know of King Saul in the Old Testament. So we know it's a Hebrew name, right? Paul, guess what? Paul is a Latin or Roman name of the same. Okay. Saul and Paul, same name, but in Hebrew it's Saul. In Latin or in Roman, it's Paul. Now a way you can know that is again, what's the name of this deputy? Sergius Paulus. Okay. So the reason, now this is just my belief. This is what I think. The reason we've known him as Saul up to this point is because he's been dealing mainly with the Jews. So as he's going about and introducing himself, you know, I am Saul. All right. But now as he starts to deal with the Gentiles, well, the name that you are more familiar with is Paul. Okay. It's like someone might be in South America and the name is Pedro. Right. And so they're living in South America. They're talking, Pedro, Pedro. Yeah, yeah, Pedro. But you come to Australia and you go, what's your name? Pedro, Peter. You guys, it's just easier for you guys to know me as Peter. All right. It's the same kind of idea. Okay. As he was doing his, you know, dealing with his ministry with the Jews, Saul, and now that is in the Gentile world and the, you know, Romans, you know, cultured, they better know him as Paul. So from this point forward, as he continues to work there with the Gentiles as his key ministry, we know him as Paul. Well, that's at least my belief anyway. Verse number 10. And said, so he fixes his eye on his false prophet and said, O fool of all subtlety and all mischief, look at this, thou child of the devil. Paul says, you are a reprobate. It's not just a false prophet. It's not just a misguided sorcerer. This is a reprobate. Child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness. Will thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? So he's perverting the right ways, meaning that he's kind of preaching half truths. Well, it is faith alone on Jesus, but you've got to repent of your sins though. Like he's not like completely teaching something completely different. He's perverting God's word. He's kind of preaching God's word, which is why this deputy is excited. He wants to know about God. He's seeking the Lord. He thinks he's a legitimate teacher, this one. You know, by the help of the Holy Ghost, Paul is able to recognize him as a reprobate, a child of the devil. Now, if you can quickly come with me to Acts 8. Come with me quickly to Acts 8. I know. Sorry guys. Thank you for your patience. Now, I don't want you to take this verse and go, okay, that means every sorcerer and every false prophet is a reprobate and I can just go and call them a child of the devil. No. Okay. Remember Acts 8. Okay. Acts 8 and verse number 9. Got to turn there actually. Acts 8 and verse number 9. Actually, as we were singing the hymns, this verse came to my head. So I thought I better add it. Acts 8 verse number 9. It says but there was a certain man called Simon which before time in the same city used sorcery and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one. So here's another sorcerer, Simon. Drop down to verse number 12. But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ that were baptized both men and women, then Simon himself believed also and when he was baptized, he continued Philip and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done. All right. So not every sorcerer, okay, is a child of the devil. You need to understand that, right? You can't just take verse number chapter 13. I now have the authority to call everyone that practiced the mystic arts or whatever it is or false prophet or reprobate. Not necessarily. Some of these men are just, they can be saved. Okay. But somehow under, you know, leading of the Holy Ghost, Paul was able to identify this man by Jesus as a child of the devil. Verse number 11, please. And now behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately they fell on him amidst and a darkness and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand. So Paul pronounces a curse upon him and the God and our Lord God honors that and blinds this man. Okay. Now for what purpose? For this purpose. Verse number 12. Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord. Now, when Paul and his couple, let me just read that. So the reason he was blinded is that the deputy could go, okay, now I can see the power of God. This was a false prophet all along. And these guys are the legitimate ones. So he believes, right? Maybe it was like, maybe it was believed and works, but I was like, nah, it's just believed. So he's believed, right? He gets it right. And this man gets saved. Verse number 13. Now, when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia. So now they, Perga, Pamphylia is modern day Turkey. So they leave the island, they go to modern day Turkey, and then it says here, and John, that's John Mark, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem. So John Mark says, all right, I helped you in Cyprus, but now it's time for me to go back to Jerusalem. Now this becomes a really important part later on, as we continue reading through the book of Acts, because a great division, a great dispute takes place between Paul and Barnabas about John, okay? And this is what led them to have an argument between themselves, is John returning back to Jerusalem, but we'll deal with that at the end of the day. Anyway, brethren, thank you for your patience. Total for the sermon today was sent forth by the Holy Ghost. And I hope you can see, at least with this pastor, with this man, that church to me is serious. You know, the process by which we start churches and ordain men is serious business. We need to make sure we're listening to the leading of the Holy Ghost, all right? Being sent forth by the Holy Ghost. Let's pray.