Good morning, Church. Open your Bibles to Acts, chapter 13. Let's pray. Father in heaven, as we open your word this morning, would you open our hearts? Would you open our hearts to your word? Would you allow it to find entrance, to mold us, and to shape us, and to transform us into the very image of the Lord Jesus? That we or people, your Church in the earth, would be a glorious witness that we would truly be Lord Jesus. As you said, we are the light of the world and the salt of the earth. May our lives, in our short time of visitation on this earth, truly make a difference for the glory of your name. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen. Acts chapter 13. Our text will be verses 1 through 3 this morning, Acts chapter 13 verses 1 through 3. Now in the Church that was at Antioch, there were certain prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon, who was called Niger, Lucius of Serene and Manean, who had been brought to the Church. They were brought up with herred the tetrarch and saw. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, Now separate to me, Barnabas, and Saul, for the work to which I have called them, then having fasted and prayed and laid hands on them, they sent them away. This is the Word of the Lord. Acts 13 is present a new chapter for us in the Book of Acts. In verse 1 here it says, now in the Church that was at Antioch. We've already been introduced to the city of Antioch. This city was in Syria, where the believers were first called Christians. This is the place where people were first called Christians. It wasn't necessarily a positive thing. It wasn't necessarily derogatory, but it's where that name that identifier came from. Up to this point, in the Book of Acts, Jerusalem has been the city in view. Jerusalem is where the New Testament church was birthed on the day of Pentecost. It was on the Jews, on the lost sheep of the house of Israel, that the Holy Spirit was first poured out on the day of Pentecost. So in the first seven chapters of Acts, we see that the church is almost exclusively Jewish. Then starting in Acts chapter 8 through Acts chapter 12, which we just finished Acts 12, we see a transition taking place. God poured out his Spirit in that time of transition, which began with the persecution of the church. And that persecution of the church began with the martyrdom of Stephen. When they stoned Stephen to death after that, persecution erupted and the church was scattered. And then the Holy Spirit was poured out in Samaria, upon the Samaritans. Then we looked at Peter who went down to Lida and to Japa and was ultimately led by divine appointment to the house of Cornelius. And God poured out his Holy Spirit on that group of Gentiles in the home of Cornelius there in Cessaria. So the church was no longer exclusively Jewish. God had brought in the Samaritans, He had brought in the Gentiles also in that. We saw that Philip baptizes the Ethiopian Unic and the Gospel is given to the Ethiopian Unic and He takes it back to Ethiopia. Speaking of Ethiopia, I'm going to introduce you to my friend here at the end of our sermon who came here today from Ethiopia. How about that? He wouldn't be here if that Ethiopian Unic had not received the Gospel from the mouth of Philip. Very possible, that's true. But he did by God's divine appointment. And so we see this transition from Acts 8 to 12 where the church in Jerusalem is no longer a Jewish church. But when they got news that the Gentiles had also received repentance under life, Luke records that they glorified God because of this. And that brings us to Acts 13. And in Acts 13, the focus will shift from Jerusalem and the Jews to Antioch and the Gentiles. The remaining chapters in Acts will highlight God's move among the Gentiles. Antioch will become the center of missionary activity as the church there sins out Barnabas and Saul as the first missionaries with the express purpose of discipling the nations. We also see that there was great diversity in the church at Antioch. As the third largest city in the Roman Empire, Antioch hosted a diverse population. The church consisted of Jews and Gentiles from all over the known world. We know this from the list of prophets and teachers that Luke supplies in his account here in the Book of Acts. I don't think it was accidental that God chose Antioch to be the city from which he would propel the missionary effort to evangelize the world and disciple the nations. Luke writes, beginning here, there were certain prophets and teachers. Prophets proclaim or speak forth God's word. They also foretold events. An example we've already seen from the Book of Acts was Agabas, who foretold a famine that would come upon the land. The historical record that actually happened will come to him again later in the Book of Acts and he will foretell the arrest of the Apostle Paul. As he warns Paul not to go to Jerusalem, Paul says, I must go to Jerusalem. He did. Teachers not only proclaim God's word, but they expound God's word under the teaching of the Holy Spirit. Not all teachers wore foretellers of events. Therefore not all teachers were prophets. Luke says, there were certain prophets and teachers. If you remember when we covered Acts, chapter 11, verse 27, I spent much of the message talking about prophets. And I pointed out that the popular conception of a prophet is often limited to the foretelling of future events. And we see from the scripture both old and New Testament that was indeed part of what the term prophet included, but he didn't cover the meaning entirely. The central idea of the word prophet is one to whom God reveals himself and through whom God speaks. The revelation may or not relate to the future. The prophet is always foretelling God's word, but not foretelling events. And in that regard, it is very often said today because we do not have prophets and apostles as they existed in the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament. We do not have prophets writing scripture, which is what they did in the Old Covenant. And we do not have apostles writing scripture, which is what the apostles, including the Apostle Paul did as they wrote their letters. These letters were inspired by God. Peter says that. Peter calls Paul's letters scripture. We do not have prophets and apostles like that today. We do have men who foretell who proclaim God's word and where does that word come from? It comes from right here. It comes from your Bible. This is God's word. This is God's holy and inspired word given to you so that you too can proclaim God's word. Just as the prophets of Old did. Remember Moses said, all that all of God's people would prophesy. Well, when God poured out his spirit on his church on the day of pinnacost, he gave all of his people the same spirit that Moses had. Now that he has given us the Canon of scripture, we call the Bible, we can proclaim the inspired, holy word of God. And I pray that you do. Luke tells us who these certain prophets and teachers were in the church at Antioch. And the list reveals the diversity that existed in the church. He lists five men, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manian and Saul. Barnabas was a Levi from the island of Cyprus. He was a Jew. We were introduced to him earlier. It was Barnabas who they sent up from Jerusalem to Antioch to find out what was going on there because of the report that the gospel was being preached to the Gentiles. And once in Antioch, then Barnabas leaves there to go find Paul because he says, I know the man perfect for this job, for this work. And he goes to Celicia to Tarsus and finds Paul and brings Paul back to Antioch. Simeon who was also called Niger or Nageer is thought to be Jewish because Simeon was a Jewish name. He's called Niger or Nageer because that word means black, which indicates he was likely a dark-skinned individual, likely from Africa. There's nothing that the scripture tells us about him. We have no more information. Then there's Lucius of Cyrene. He was likely a Jew from Cyrene. Cyrene was a country in northern Africa. And he was called, if it's the same Lucius, Paul's kinsman at the end of Romans in Romans 16-2. This individual, Manain, was said to have been brought up with Herod the Tetrar. Herod the Tetrar is Herod Antipas. This is not Herod the Great who had all the babies killed at the birth of Jesus. This is Herod Antipas, the next Herod in line who had John the Baptist beheaded. The indication here possibly means that this man, Manain, would have been suckled along with Herod. That phrase translated brought up with means to be nourished with. In other words, this man would have sucked from the same brass that nourished Herod. So the wet nurse that nourished Herod would have been the same wet nurse who nourished this man. They grew up together as foster brothers. This word also means a foster brother. And what that tells us here is that this would have been a man of means. He would have been well educated. He would have been in a position of power and influence. So it wasn't just the poor of the poor who were becoming Christians. God was touching all realms of society. His gospel was impacting all realms of society. This is how the nations will be discipled. We see this later in the book of Acts when Paul is giving the gospel to the household of Caesar. And then finally, there is Saul. Saul was listed last here, but will soon become first. First shall be last and the last first. As Luke's record in the remaining chapters of Acts will highlight the journeys and the experiences of Saul who will also be known as Paul. This is the Apostle Paul. These were the prophets and teachers, some of them in the church at Antioch. All of these men indicate not only diversity of culture and geography, but social status. This is consistent with the words written by the Apostle Paul and Galatians 328, where there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. The gospel is the great equalizer. Again, he writes in Colossians 311, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised. Barbarian, Schithian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all. The sinful tendency we see growing even within the church of the Lord Jesus Christ that wants to separate and segregate people because of their ethnic background or their cultural origin is not...it's sinful. It's not consistent with the gospel, it's not consistent with the teaching of Scripture. What do you do with Scriptures like this, in Galatians and Colossians, when you want to separate and segregate everybody and say only people of the same color skin should marry, only people of the same cultural background should marry. God did not create that system. Now the Bible says in Ephesians 2 that God has created in Himself one new man. That one new man is made one in Jesus Christ. We have men in the church trying to take us back to the very sinful things that Paul had to deal with and the writers of Scripture had to deal with at the beginning of the New Testament church. When they said, well, you Gentiles can be saved but you got to stay with your people and you can't mix with us Jews. Now we have Gentiles saying, well, us Gentiles need to stay together and we shouldn't mix with those Jews. It's the same sin just reversed, but it's sin, plain and simple. And the church needs to repent of it. Unfortunately, it's become very popular today but don't be deceived by the lie of Satan because that's exactly what it is. It is a lie of Satan. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ is unified and made one under the headship of Christ. We are of one blood, the blood of Christ, we are of one spirit, the Holy Spirit of God, we are of one body and one baptism, the body of Christ and the baptism into Christ by the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead. Yet in our unity we also have great diversity that God created when He created man and made him every tribe, every tongue and every nation. God created such diversity among humankind, yet He unifies us with our diversity in Jesus Christ, our Lord, and the head of His body, the church. Verse 2, as they minister to the Lord and fasted the Holy Spirit said, now separate to me, Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. As they minister to the Lord and fasted the word ministered here is the same word used to describe the service and the work of the priest in the tabernacle as they ministered before the Lord. Now since pinnacost and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit there is what the Scripture calls the priesthood of all believers. We see this in the book of Revelation where the Lord says, we are kings and priests unto our God. Yes, you are a priest, you are a king according to the Bible. The priesthood of all believers is a real thing. Now that they here, I don't believe is just the five guys mentioned, I believe the church ministered to the Lord and fasted as they were seeking direction from God, the Holy Spirit concerning the work that He had appointed. Now since pinnacost and the outpouring we are part of the priesthood of all believers. In Christ and the new covenant you have the same anointing of the Spirit as the prophets, the priests and the kings under the old covenant. They no doubt ministered to the Lord in worship and prayer, these are this they ministered to the Lord, they ministered to the Lord in worship and in prayer, but Luke also informs us they fasted. I believe it is safe to say we need more prayer and more fasting in the church today. This is especially true as we conduct the business of the kingdom and wage spiritual warfare against the kingdom of darkness. That is what when Jesus said, occupying till I come, that's literally what that phrase mean, be busy about the business of the kingdom until I come. Well we don't know when the Lord Jesus will come but we know He will come. So we don't have to know when He will come, we just need to know that He will come. And you also need to know that He placed you on this earth, this is your time of visitation on this earth. And during your time of visitation on this earth, you and I need to be busy about the business of the kingdom. That's what Jesus said, we must be doing. And while we are busy about the business of the kingdom, we also need to realize that we are in the midst of a spiritual warfare. We have an enemy who resists us, who opposes us. Yes, he is a defeated enemy. But that does not mean he does not still oppose us. At the end of World War II, the Axis forces were defeated. Germany was defeated, Japan was defeated. My dad was caught in the Battle of the Bulge, the Germans were defeated, but they were very deadly in their defeated status as were the Japanese. Just because we have a defeated enemy does not mean he is not still dangerous. He is. And the greatest danger he poses is deception. That's always been his greatest danger. The greatest danger associated with him is deception. He cannot deceive the nations any longer. The Gospel is going forth, the Gospel is working 2,000 years after Pentecost. This is a very different world than it was 2,000 years ago. Covered with darkness, the light has gone around the world. There is still much darkness that needs to be dispel, but we live in a world that has been shaped by the Gospel largely so much so, especially in this nation, that we don't even realize it anymore. But we need to realize the power of the Gospel. And in the power of that Gospel we should not minimize the fact that we are in a spiritual battle. The commitment to fast is a commitment to set yourself, your time and your appetites apart for the Lord. As we see in this verse fasting was a way to separate yourself from the things of this world and devote yourself to prayer and a time of a time with God. Fasting under the direction of Scripture and the Holy Spirit is something that can be spiritually profitable as well as transforming. That being said, there is much work we have already been separated unto that God has called us to do. In other words, you don't need to pray and fast about everything God's called you to do. You have His Word and if it's in His Word you don't need to pray and wonder whether you should do it or not. If it's in His Word you don't need to fast and say, God are you sure you want me to preach the Gospel? Are you sure you want me to make disciples? Let me just pull aside and take some time and pray and fast about that. No, He has clearly commanded you and what He has clearly commanded you in His Word, you don't need to pray about that. You just need to go and obey and do it. Namely He has clearly commanded us to disciple the nations and we will not accomplish that great commission though apart from times and seasons of prayer and fasting. We are in the midst of real spiritual warfare and to think we are not or to minimize that reality would be a deadly mistake. It seems much of the church has already made that deadly mistake but it is never too late to correct course. Then Paul, I mean Luke pins these words, the Holy Spirit said, the writer of Hebrews, and Hebrews chapter 1 verse 2 reminds us that in these last days God has spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed air of all things through whom He also made the worlds. He made and upholds all things by His Word, who is His Word, and the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God and there is nothing made that was made without Him. And they had in verse 14 of John 1, John pins these words and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Who is the Word made flesh that dwelt among us? It is the Lord Jesus Christ. How has God chosen to speak to us in these last days through His Son, the Word of God? This Bible is not Jesus but this Bible contains the Word of God and Jesus is God. Jesus is the Word who was and was with God. Jesus is the Word who is God, who was made flesh to dwell among us. So when you read this Bible, you are reading the words of God, the very God who spoke words and spoke everything into existence. And if God ever stopped speaking, the world as we know it would just go away. Jesus Christ is the Word made flesh and He is still speaking to us by His Word. You have the Holy Scripture and abundance in our nation. We have Bibles everywhere. I've got stacks of them in my office. Yet there are places on this planet who don't have even one copy of the Scripture. You are blessed. Do you know that? You have so much light abounding all around you. Do you even know how blessed you are? Are you so used to living in the light that you don't even know you're living in the light? There are people living in the light and they think they're in darkness? No. We don't know what darkness is. We don't know what true darkness is because we are so used to living in the light we can't even comprehend what true darkness is. That is the goodness and the grace of God. We live in a nation with the abundance of Scripture all around us. But if we don't avail ourselves to the Word of God, it does us no good. If you don't avail yourself to His Word, you will never hear Him speak to you. There are people who want to hear God in their ear but they refuse to open His Word. When we have such an abundance of Scripture, abundance of revelation all around us, why would God speak into our ear if we will not even bother to open His Word? It would be different if we lived in a place where we did not have the written Word. But we do. So stop waiting for God to speak into your ear because He's not going to do it. Open your Bible and read the Word of God and receive God's Word. Hear God's Word. Read it out loud and you will hear the Word of the Lord to you. How do we know what the Holy Spirit has said? We know what the Holy Spirit has said because it will be confirmed in this Word. The Holy Spirit will never direct you in a way contrary to His Word. If you don't know what His Word says though, how are you going to know what Spirit is speaking to you? John says there are many spirits out there. Test them and see whether they be of God. How are you going to test them if you don't test them by this Holy Word? It's why we continually point you to the Word. Go to the Word. Christian, go to the Word. When you avail yourself to the Word of God, you avail yourself to the wisdom of God. You do not need to hear the Holy Spirit tell you everything you should or should not do. But if you have the wisdom of God that comes from a healthy fear of God and a true hunger for His Word, you will have such wisdom to inform you concerning anything you may face in this slide. That's why James says if you lack wisdom, ask God. He'll give it to you. And the best place to find God's wisdom is right here. God gave us a whole book, it's called The Proverbs. A whole book filled with wisdom. Don't wait to hear the Spirit, dive into God's Word and live there, making it your meat, making it your drink, and you will never lack a Word from God. Nor will you lack wisdom that comes only from its inspired content. God has given you a priceless gift and giving you His holy and inspired Word contained in the completed canon of Holy Scripture. You may not like everything contained in His Word, but He commands that we obey all that He has commanded. Now separate to me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. This directive came to those who ministered to the Lord and fasted. They came to know the Holy Spirit was instructing them to separate to God Barnabas and Saul for the work to which He had called them. There is much detail that Luke does not give us, but He gives us enough detail to know that it was through prayer and fasting that the church and Antioch received instruction from the Lord concerning the work Barnabas and Saul were called to. And Saul. Saul was listed last here. They were called already as they ministered to the Lord. As they fasted, God called Saul in Barnabas. He called them that they would be sent out. They already had the Word of the Lord. It was already given to them. And God says, now separate to me Saul and Barnabas for the work which I have called. The Holy Spirit separated Barnabas and Saul. This directive came as they ministered to the Lord as they fasted as they prayed. Now there is a lot of detail as I said that Luke did not give us here. What we do know is that they prayed, they fasted. They already had the Word of the Lord from the Old Testament scriptures. They had the words of Christ to His disciples, discerning what would be consistent with God's Word. It would come to them through God called you and God calls me today to the same. To the same work, to disciple the nations. No doubt God has called us in a far different time and in a far different place. Yet what He has called us to is not really far different. We are called to disciple the nations. That is a big mission that can sound and seem overwhelming. It is kind of like eating the elephant. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. If you try to imagine eating the elephant once it is impossible, it is overwhelming. If I understand that the way I eat the elephant is one bite at a time, over time it is not as daunting. It is the same when it comes to discipling the nations. If I think of discipling the nations, I may have visions of trying to go to some remote or far corner of the earth to preach the gospel to a strange or unknown people. It can seem unrealistic if not impossible. When we talk about discipling the nations, our mind goes very different places. Most often it goes right past our neighbor, right past our family, right past the person standing in front of us. We don't equate our family, our friends, or the person standing right in front of us. We don't equate that with discipling the nations, but it absolutely is. In fact, that is where we must begin. If you think of evangelizing your neighbor or your coworker or the person you just met, discipling the nations may not seem as unrealistic or impossible. In fact, if you think about how many people you come in contact with and how often God provides an opportunity to give a witness, it becomes even less daunting. I was with Gitan of this week in Frazier, and every time we would go to HB or somewhere, it didn't matter where we were at a restaurant. And I was convicted when everyone Gitan met. In fact, he did this twice, two different restaurants. He tells the waitress, he said, he actually told the hostess one time before we were seated. He said, we are going to eat, but before we eat we're going to pray. And the guy is looking at him like, okay. And he said, and when we pray, is there anything you would like us to pray for you? And he's like me. He did that with the waitress on Friday night. He said, we're getting ready to pray for our food. Is there anything we can pray for you? We're Christians. And she said, yeah, pray for my three children. And so we did. And my point is this, God gives us opportunity everywhere. It's all around us, but we miss it. We're blind to it because we get so caught up in our, in whatever we're doing, I do the same. I do the same. And I thought, wow, I need to slow down and take time and have eyes to see the opportunities that God puts right before me. If I can give witness to the stranger right before me, if I can give a witness to Christ to them, I don't know how God's going to use that witness. I may never see them again, or it could be a divine appointment in the beginning of a relationship, a discipleship that contributes to the very command of Christ to go and make disciples of them. You know that does include the nation you live in, the people you live among, the people you encounter every day. Consider that discipling the nation begins right where you are, and with those, God has placed all around you. And when you do that, you realize that discipling the nations may never require you to leave home. You may, but God can use your faithfulness right where you are to accomplish His purpose even to the ends of the earth. You and I are commanded to fulfill what we call the Great Commission. Your faithfulness is much like eating the elephant. The good news is you are not eating the elephant alone, and you will not even need to see it all eaten in your lifetime. You and I simply need to be faithful over the part God has called us to do during our time of visitation here on this earth. And we believe or did that, we would see great fruitfulness, great accomplishment in seeing His kingdom come on earth even as it isn't heaven. Verse 3, then having fasted and prayed, they laid hands on them and sent them away. Then having fasted and prayed, when they had fasted and prayed again, I don't believe this is the same prayer and fasting that they did to identify Barnabas and Saul. I believe once they identified Barnabas and Saul, and they were getting ready to consecrate them and send them forth, they prayed and fasted first. As they understood how important this work was to consecrate, to set them apart for God's holy purpose. This shows not only the seriousness of such a calling and consecration, but their utter dependence upon God's providential hand to govern and to move all things according to His will. This was an act of faith toward and reliance upon God. They didn't just send them out haphazardly, they prayed, they fasted, they knew that God must go with them, that God must direct their steps, that God must govern all in order for their mission to be successful. And so they prayed and they fasted and they laid hands on them. This was not an ordination but a consecration. The act of laying on hands was symbolic, yet it was powerful. It was a physical act that conveyed a real spiritual truth, laying on hands to consecrate someone or something to God in His service was powerful. It communicated the truth and the magnitude of the calling and the work they were being separated unto. They were not only to be set apart for the work, they were being set apart unto God for the work, thus the praying and fasting for the purpose of consecration and sanctification. There was a holiness associated with such praying and fasting and laying on of hands. There was a holiness associated with this calling, they were entering into. They all felt the magnitude of what was happening as should we in our own way. And they sent them away. Thus begins the first missionary journey of the Apostle Paul, who also is called Paul. And Barnabas set out from Antioch with the blessing of the church there to evangelize and to make disciples of the nations. This would be the first of three missionary journeys detailed in the Book of Acts. Some say there was a fourth journey that's alluded to in the epistles. But at the end of the Book of Acts Luke describes three missionary journeys. This is the first of those three. The church in Antioch did not send them away until they had fastened and prayed and laid their hands on them. And only then did they send Barnabas and Saul away. Again this indicates how serious the consecration of Barnabas and Saul to this work actually was. The work of discipling the nations began in earnest right here. This was not just some symbolic ceremony. They prayed and they fasted. They laid hands on them. It was an indication of blessing and covering for these being sent out from the church. They were sending them out yet maintaining the spiritual bond and authority that provided a proper covering and protection for Barnabas and Saul. We live in a culture today where there is resistance to accountability. This is as true inside the church as well as outside. Believers do not want real accountability. We use words such as liberty and freedom as a license to do what we feel instead of what God commands. Perhaps if we spent more time in prayer and fasting we would not only be more agreeable to accountability but convicted of its necessity and the protection it provides to all who happily submit to it. God's word and God's spirit will provide the ultimate source of accountability and final authority but that accountability was ordained by God to be exercised within his body the church. It's why so many people are resistant of the church. Why so many people want to call themselves believers but don't want to be member of any church? We watched the movie The Great Awakening. If I could make every American watch that movie I would set them down in a chair for two hours and I would make them watch it. I highly, highly recommend you rent it and you watch it. The Great Awakening. It is the story of George Whitfield and the Great Awakening in America and his relationship with Benjamin Franklin. It's a true story. And when George Whitfield asked Benjamin Franklin what church do you, where do you worship? What church in Benjamin Franklin said I am a friend to all churches but a member of none. Well that's the way that's the way many people are today. That's not what God has ordained. We want to believe that's okay but it's not okay. It's not okay. God calls you a family. God calls you a flock. Families have heads, flocks have shepherds, armies have commanders. We're described as all of those things every way that God describes his people is in a corporate setting with accountability built in. Sheep without a shepherd are in danger. An army without commanders is just a bunch of men not able to do anything meaningful. Christ has sent you and me into this world not to be conformed to it for we are to no longer be conformed to this world. Rather we are to be transformed. He calls us and commands us to present our bodies as living sacrifices unto him. And we are to be being conformed to the image of Jesus. That means we are to no longer be conformed to this world but we are to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. And that renewal is to be according to his word, according to his truth by the work of his spirit. I acknowledge that as easier said and more difficult to be done. It requires separation and consecration. It requires prayer. Yes, even fasting. It may even require the laying on of hands. All of this that we may be consecrated to God, that we may minister to him, that we may enter into prayer and fasting to be sent forth in his name, to do his will, to keep his commandments, and to see his kingdom come and his will be done in us, in our families, in the church, in all of this earth. Even as it is in heaven, in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen. Let us prepare to come to the Lord's table. If you are a baptized member of Christ's body, whether young or whether old, you are welcome to this table. Here is your charge. We have much work to do. You have much work to do. There are souls, a family, and friends, and neighbors, and nations that hang in the balance. What you do and what you fail to do matters. Perhaps God is calling you to a time of prayer and fasting, that He may reveal His will to you from His Word and by His Spirit, that He may separate you for the work to which He has called you, that He may send you out in His name, with His authority to do His will. Does that sound overwhelming? Well, just take one step, then take another, and then take another, and before long you will be amazed by how far He will take you by His grace. Amen. Let us sing our thanks to God. Praise God, the new hall, let us sing loud. Praise Him, all creatures, hear me low. Praise Him above the heavenly host. Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. The Lord be with you. Amen.