The POWER of worship, prayer, and Fasting

March 19th 2023

Series: The Book of Acts

Sermon Title: The POWER of worship, prayer, and Fasting - Acts 13

Topic: Journey through the book of Acts.

Key Passages: Acts 12: 25, Acts 13: 1-3, Acts 9: 26-27

Sermon Blurb: In this message, you will see the power of keeping God at the center of our lives and church. How we need to be a people of prayer, fasting, and worship. You will also learn some cool things about some Biblical characters.

Sermon:

Hello Family Church!!!!!

Family Moment

Welcome back to our study through the book of Acts!

Grab you Bible and open it up to where we left off in Acts 13.

As you are getting there….

Let me catch up any guests we have today.

The book of Acts is all about the church that was launched by Jesus shortly after his resurrection and return to heaven.

We have seen the church growing like crazy!

We have seen the culture the church was born in trying to destroy it, to no avail.

We have seen the other religious organizations around it trying to destroy it.

But God is God….and God’s church will never be stopped.

PAUSE

Just like how we saw last week!

Last week Peter, one of the early church leaders and a friend of Jesus, was throwing into prison for sharing his faith in Jesus.

And God sprung him out of jail in a REALLY cool way!

If you missed that go to our website and you can listen to it later today.

PAUSE

Here is what we are going to do today.

We are going to read through part and then we will circle back, walk through it again slower, break it down, and apply it to our lives.

But I know I said Acts 13…..but let’s start with the last verse of Chapter 12….

Acts 12: 25 When Barnabas and Saul had finished their mission, they returned from Jerusalem, taking with them John, also called Mark.

Pause here for a minute and let’s make sure we all are on the same page.

Let’s start with who are these people.

We first meet Saul in Acts 8 & 9.

In Acts 8 we see Saul leading the murder of Christians.

Saul back in Acts 8 is more or less the chief anti-Christian police.

In Acts 9 Jesus comes to Saul and radically changes Saul’s life.

Saul turns his life around and heads in the OPPOSITE direction.

Saul shifts from destroying Jesus’ church to preaching and building Jesus’ church.

A RADICAL life shift.

PAUSE

Barnabas we also first meet in Acts 9….if you want to look Acts 9:27.

Barnabas was the guy who help Saul get connected to the early church leaders….

Because the early church leaders FEARED Saul, just like any of us in this room would fear someone like Saul.

I mean think back to Nazi Germany…

Imagine you are a Jew…..

Imagine the CHIEF Nazi hunter suddenly said, “I AM A JEW!”

Raise your hand for me if you were a Jew in a country where Nazi’s were exterminating Jews….raise your hand if you would trust the head Jewish hunter that said God appeared to him in a vision and now he wanted to help you Jews….

Anyone……

I didn’t think so….

PAUSE

The early church had the same struggle with Saul.

They didn’t think he was really on Team Jesus!

And in steps this guy named Barnabas.

Let me read it from Acts 9.

Acts 9: 26-27 When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. 27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus

Even after Saul was baptized, the apostles were still afraid of him.

They refused to accept him.

But a man named Barnabas believed Saul.

So, Barnabas brought Saul to the apostles and explained what had happened on the road to Damascus.

After this, Saul was welcomed as a true follower of Jesus.

Then…. Saul and his new friend, Barnabas, took off on a preaching tour.

They went to share the good news of Jesus through:

Judea, Galilee, Samaria, Tarsus, Cyprus…

They even preached on an Island!

PAUSE

So here in verse 25, they had finished their mission…

What that means is AFTER the church finally accepted Saul was a legit Christian.

They sent Saul and Barnabas to preach and teach in all those places…

And they did….

So, they came back to the home church for their next assignment.

BUT….

They also bring along this guy called John Mark….

So, who is he?

Well…..there is some debate but there are some things we know for sure.

John Mark, we first met last week in Chapter 12.

When Peter escaped from Prison we see he went to John Mark’s mother’s house in verse 12 of chapter 12.

To make dive a little deeper here for you deep Bible folks!

Many scholars speculate that this was the start of a long-standing relationship between John Mark and Peter.

Which later led to John Mark recording Peter’s account of Jesus’ life and ministry in the Gospel of Mark.

He was clearly in leadership circles in the early church and as we see here even travelled with Saul and Barnabas.

He will come up again in the near future actually causing Saul and Barnabas to fight…but we will get to that later….

One last cool thing on John Mark…

If he was, in fact, Mark the Evangelist, then according to the early church, John Mark was also the first bishop of Alexandria.

Which also means he was the FIRST person to establish a Christian church in Africa.

PAUSE

I know that is a lot from one little verse…

But see here at Family Church we love to dive deep in the Bible.

We love to make sure that NO ONE feels like an outsider.

We love to make the playing field level.

PAUSE

So….let’s keep reading……

Acts 13: 1-3 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.

Just one quick note…

We won’t dive into who those additional people are because they don’t have any larger role in the future.

PAUSE

Let me share something cool about the church of Antioch.

One Antioch is a real place, because we are talking real human history here.

But the church in Antioch was the FIRST Christian church to witness to the Gentiles in its own city, we see that in Chapter 11 of Acts in verse 19.

What that means for those of you who are newer to church is that this church was the FIRST church to think about reaching OTHER people groups.

At the start of the church it was Jewish people that followed Jesus.

So these Jewish people’s FIRST inclination was to reach the people like them….AKA Jews.

That was NOT God’s plan…

That was their plan.

And God had to correct that narrow-mindedness that we naturally have.

But see in Antioch they got it right!

They did NOT just try to reach Jews! They actually tried to reach ALL people for Jesus!

Which is the SAME thing we should do today.

PAUSE

Another cool thing about this church is it became the FIRST church to send missionaries into the larger world.

Antioch was the first church to catch the vision of “foreign missions.”

Something we love here at Family Church!

Which is why we here at Family Church have churches planted in other countries and ministries in other countries!

We are just a church trying to live like the first church!!!

PAUSE

2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.

Ok….let’s pause here…..

So the early church is showing us we should…

Worship….

We should fast….which we preached about earlier this year…

We should pray….

We should HEAR from the Holy Spirit!

We should DO what the Holy Spirit calls us to do!

We should commission people and send them out on missions….

So, the question is….

Do we do that as a church?

Or the better question….do we do that as an individual….

Are you a person who worships?

Are you a person of prayer and fasting?

Do you know how to hear from God the Holy Spirit?

If God is prodding you in life do you listen to him and follow?

PAUSE

Church it is no mere coincidence that they were fasting, praying, and worshiping when a word from the Holy Spirit became clear.

“Set apart Barnabas and Saul for the work I have called them to.”

God wants us to help others worship him!

That's what is happening here!

Barnabas and Saul are going to leave this worshiping community to bring worship to NEW places!

A thriving…worshiping…loving…church is not easy to leave.

Ask our missionaries, leaving Family Church is hard…..

It is hard to leave here and go out into the remote Amazon jungle to reach people for Jesus and have NO other people like us around Jason and Krystian!

It is lonely to be a missionary!

It is lonely for their children..

It is a HARD life.

I mean Jason has caught malaria more times than I can count!

Being sent out…is NOT easy….

PAUSE

If you have grown to love a people, and especially a people gathered for worship, leaving them is hard.

But do we just live our lives doing what is easy?

Do we stay just because it is comfortable?

PAUSE

What we see the focus of Saul, Barnabas, and the early church were focused on was a movement of church planting!!!

The result of their going out was a movement of church planting that changed the Roman world.

Everywhere they go…. Churches sprang up!!!!

People began to worshiped Jesus Christ!!!

People began to lay their lives on the line for Jesus!!

On that day of fasting and worship in Antioch……

I really do NOT think these five people realized what they were about to unleash on the world!!!!

PAUSE

Let me pose a question for you all to ponder…..

If I FULLY followed God’s leading in my life, what would that look like?

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Repeat

I want to encourage you all to think about that.

If your focus was NOT your sports.

If your focus was NOT your career.

If your focus was NOT your relationship.

If your focus was NOT on your wealth or debt.

What if you REALLY focused on hearing from God and following God.

What could your life look like?

If there was NOTHING tying you down in life….

And you could do ANYTHING for God…..

What would that look like?

PAUSE

I want to encourage you all to ponder that.

Saul’s life was transformed into something totally different.

PAUSE

What does God want to do in your life…..

And if as I say that you are thinking I HAVE NO IDEA!!!!

Can I make a suggestion as how to know….

Can I do that church?

Put verse 2 back on the screens….

The answer is in our Bibles….

2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.

Do you see it church?

The Holy Spirit…

The Spirit of God spoke AFTER a time of worship and fasting!

Every single January we preach about the importance of fasting in our lives…..

And yet I know…..

The majority of us…don’t EVER fast….

We don’t willingly set aside things in our lives and replace it with more time with God.

We don’t set aside things in our lives that are a critical part of our daily lives…like food….

With the purpose of setting that aside and seeking God and God’s direction….

Church over and over and over in the Bible we see the POWER of fasting and seeking God in worship.

Can I encourage you….

If you do not hear from God.

If you have no idea what God’s direction for your life is….

Can I encourage you to try fasting!

Try seeking God in a greater measure and see what happens.

And if you have no idea what Fasting is…please just go back and look at sermons in January and you will see a whole sermon on fasting.

PAUSE

Go back to where we started today…. Acts 12….verse 25….put that up on the screens….

Acts 12:25 When Barnabas and Saul had finished their mission, they returned from Jerusalem, taking with them John, also called Mark.

Act 13: 1-3 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.

2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.

Stop and think about this……

Saul and Barnabas just got back from a SUCCESSFUL missions trip!

Saul, Barnabas, and some of the other leaders in the church get together to worship to goodness of God through all of that!

But they are also clearly SEEKING the will of God for the next phase of their ministry…..

Worshiping…..

Fasting…..

Seeking God……

I think the burden to know what was next from God is what drove them to fast!!!!!

The desire to know, "Where do we go from here as a church?"

They were fasting to seek the leading of the Holy Spirit to direct their next mission.

Or to put this in business terms….

They were inviting GOD into their strategic planning meeting to guide it!

They were asking GOD to lead their SWOT analysis!

PAUSE

They were hungry enough for God's leading that they wanted to say it with the hunger of their bodies and not just the hunger of their hearts.

PAUSE

This group fasting changed the course of history.

It is almost impossible to overstate the historical importance of this moment in Antioch in the history of the world.

Before this word from the Holy Spirit there seems to have been no organized mission of the church beyond the eastern seacoast of the Mediterranean.

Before this, Saul had made no missionary journeys westward to Asian Minor, or Greece, or Rome, or Spain!!

Before this Saul had not written ANY of his letters, which are in the Bible now.

EVERY letter we have in our Bible were the RESULT of Saul’s missionary travels beginning here!!!!

PAUSE

So here is where Pastor Bob, our missions pastor, would interject the importance of going on mission trips.

Which I will 100% agree with!

Church every adult listening to this message needs to go on a mission trip before you die.

Parents….can I implore you….make sure to send EVERY one of your kids on a missions trip BEFORE they graduate high school.

Grandparents….can I implore you…. Help your grandkids ALL go on a missions trip!

Mission trips change people’s lives!

Mission trips can change people’s eternal destiny!

Pastor Bob went on 1 mission trip and it changed him from wanting to go to college for politics to becoming the most incredible missions pastor in the world can I get an amen?

Saul…was not the Paul we all know today before he started going on mission trips…..

PAUSE

This moment of prayer and fasting resulted in a mission movement that would make Christianity the dominant religion of the Roman Empire within two and a half centuries!

This started the ball rolling that flipped the Roman world for worshiping all kinds of God’s to only Jesus!

This mission trip would yield 2.2 billion adherents of the Christian religion today……

After this it lead Saul….to write 13 out of the 29 books of the New Testament….

The result of the ministry that was launched in this moment of prayer and fasting is mind boggling!!!!!

PAUSE

So, let’s wrap this up today…..

I think is it fair to say that God was pleased to make worship and prayer and fasting the launching pad for a mission that would change the course of world history.

So, the question for us today….

Is there a lesson there for us?

How can this apply to us?

And that leads us to our live application today…..

And it is going to sound a LOT like last weeks message….

Because it is almost identical!

Because the root goal is the same….

Let me give you your life application today…..

And for those of you who are new, or newer, to Family Church.

We love to end our messages with a application point to your life.

Something that you can take away from the message and apply to your life this week.

This week’s life application says this……

Life Application: God has a plan for your life. Spend some time this week praying, fasting, worshiping, and seeking God’s direction for your life. Write down what you feel God is calling you to do and share it with someone else. As a result of today’s message, I will ____________________________.

Maybe your I will statement is I will:

Try to fast for the first time in my life! Maybe I will go on a mission trip!

Maybe I will try to start listening to God.

Maybe I will ask God to speak into how I operate at work or school.

Let me encourage you to write down one simple thing you WILL do as a result of what you learned this week….

And watch what God does!!!!

Let’s Pray…..

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