Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch), and Saul.Now in the assembly that was at Antioch there were some prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen the foster brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers, Barnabas, and Symeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen the foster-brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
4 sermons cite this verse
… They gather together there. in Acts chapter 13, verses 1 through 4. They gather together to pray, all the leaders of the church, and while they're praying, the Spirit comes down and says, set apart Saul and Barnabas, Paul and Barnabas, to go on some missionary journeys. And so they prayed, and they fasted, and they laid their hands on them, and they sent them off. And the first missionary journey of Paul came about as a result of concentrated time of gathered prayer in the church. And that missionary journey had a pretty huge impact. This really started the whole mission movement that we see throughout the rest of the book of Acts. Churches being started everywhere as a result of gathered prayer. All these books that we have written in the New Testament to those churches, all coming as a result of that time in prayer where they gathered together and corporately made prayer a priority. That's something we're diving into, exactly how this looks at the church of Brookhills, and we're going to play it out some next week, what it means to be a church that gathers together for prayer. …
May the Lord add a blessing to the reading and hearing of God's holy word. Let's place a tag here as we continue in our series entitled The Truth About the Church. This has been a wonderful examination of the book of Acts as we have looked at the history, the heritage, the origins, and how the Holy Spirit was and is speaking through what we know as the faith community we currently today call the church. For today, we want to look at this idea of being set apart. Being set apart. We have often heard this word, being set apart, within the faith community. Being set apart, being anointed, being consecrated. The religious language that we hear, but sometimes we are not clear about the meaning of this idea of being set apart. That one way of looking at it is this, is that to be set apart is to understand your call and to be sensitive to how the Spirit is speaking in your life. Everyone, I say to you, everyone, under the sound of my voice, has been called. …
4. Thus David was unquestionably born of God or ever he was anointed king over Israel. He knew in whom he had believed; “he was strong in faith, giving glory to God.” “The Lord,” saith he, “is my Shepherd; therefore can I lack nothing. He shall feed me in green pastures, and lead me forth beside the waters of comfort. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me.” (Psalm 23:1.) He was filled with love; such as often constrained him to cry out, “I will love thee, O Lord, my strength: The Lord is my stony rock, and my defence; the horn also of my salvation, and my refuge.” (Psalm 28:1.) He was a man of prayer; pouring out his soul before God in all circumstances of life; and abundant in praises and thanksgiving. “Thy praise,” saith he, “shall be ever in my mouth:” (Psalm 34:1:) “Thou art my God, and I will thank thee; thou art my God, and I will praise thee.” (Psalm 118:28.) And yet such a child of God could and did commit sin; yea, the horrid sins of adultery and murder. 5. And even after the Holy Ghost was more largely given, after “life and immortality were brought to light by the gospel” we want not instances of the same melancholy kind, which were also doubtless written for our instruction. Thus he who (probably from his selling all that he had, and bringing the price for the relief of his poor brethren) was by the apostles themselves surnamed Barnabas, that is, the son of consolation; (Acts 4:36, 37; ) who was so honoured at Antioch, as to be selected with Saul out of all the disciples, to carry their relief unto the brethren in Judea; (Acts 11:29, 30; ) this Barnabas, who, at his return from Judea, was, by the peculiar direction of the Holy Ghost, solemnly “separated from the other Prophets and Teachers, for the work whereunto God had called him,” (Acts 13:1–4, ) even to accompany the great Apostle among the Gentiles, and to be his fellow-labourer in every place; — nevertheless, was afterward so sharp, (Acts 15:35, 39, ) in his contention with St. Paul, (because he “thought it not good to take with them John,” in his visiting the brethren a second time, “who had departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work,”) that he himself also departed from the work; that he “took John, and sailed unto Cyprus;” (Acts 15:39; ) forsaking him to whom he had been in so immediate a manner joined by the Holy Ghost. …
9. And it is a means not only of turning away the wrath of God, but also of obtaining whatever blessings we stand in need of. So, when the other tribes were smitten before the Benjamites, “all the children of Israel went up unto the house of God, and wept, and fasted that day until even;” and then the Lord said, “Go up” again; “for to-morrow I will deliver them into thine hand.” (Judges 20:26.) So Samuel gathered all Israel together, when they were in bondage to the Philistines, “and they fasted on that day” before the Lord: And when “the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel, the Lord thundered” upon them “with a great thunder, and discomfited them; and they were smitten before Israel.” (1 Sam. 7:6.) So Ezra: “I proclaimed a fast at the river Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and for our little ones; and he was entreated of us.” (Ezra 8:21.) So Nehemiah: I fasted and prayed before the God of heaven, and said, Prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man:” And God granted him mercy in the sight of the king. (Neh. 1:4–11) 10. In like manner, the apostles always joined fasting with prayer when they desired the blessing of God on any important undertaking. Thus we read, (Acts 13.,) “There were in the church that was at Antioch certain Prophets and Teachers: As they ministered to the Lord and fasted,” doubtless for direction in this very affair, “the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul, for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had” a second time “fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.” (Acts 13:13.) …