Acts Chapter 13, 1 through 5.

Now there were at Antioch in the church that was there prophets and teachers,

Barnabas and Simeon, who was called Niger, and Musis of Cyrene, and Manayon who had been brought up

with Herod the Tetriarch and Saul. And while they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy

Spirit said,

Set apart for me, Barnabas and Saw, for the work to which I have called them.

Then when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.

So being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus.

And when they reached Salamamus, they began to proclaim the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews.

And they were also head John as their helper.

I'll begin by asking your forgiveness for making this different this morning because I believe in the word of God, I believe in preaching, an exposition and expository exultation at the center of worship and I'm not going to do a lot of it this morning because I sense that we're at a defining moment in the life of our church and I'm going to spend maybe 10 or 15 minutes on this text and I'm going to step back and tell you why.

I believe it's a defining moment, what three providential strands are coming together at this time, the critical nature of it,

and how you can fast and pray tomorrow towards God's leading in it.

Father, I ask for your help in the brief handling of this text, and the more expansive

explanation of this moment in the life of our church, I ask that I speak nothing but the truth and I speak it in a way

that will be music to the ears of your people in giving life and hope to their souls and that you will be the center of it and that it will all feel blood bought by a

glorious Savior that we learned about last week and that you would move in this congregation to do the kind of calling that we're about to talk about

and that more would be done than we could ever imagine for the cause of Christ here and around the world because we've taken

the moment to do what we do this morning.

Through Christ I pray, amen.

Three observations from this text. Number one, the Holy Spirit chose a couple of these teachers and prophets for a new ministry while they were worshiping and fasting.

Let's read that and make sure you see it.

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