Called and Sent | Erin Shetler

Episode Summary  
In this message from Acts 13, we see how the church at Antioch listened together, fasted, and responded when the Holy Spirit called Barnabas and Saul to be sent out. This sermon invites us to consider how God speaks, how community helps confirm calling, and how making room for God can shape our next faithful step.

Key Takeaways  
- Fasting helps create intentional space to pay attention to God and listen for his voice.  
- Calling is often discerned in community, not just in isolation.  
- God may confirm calling through desire, gifting, and the encouragement of others.  
- Faithful obedience can be costly, but God uses it for mission and encouragement.  
- God has purpose for every believer, even when the next step feels unclear.

Key Moments  
- [03:58] Acts 13:1–3 introduces the church at Antioch and the sending of Barnabas and Saul  
- [10:48] Fasting is highlighted as a regular part of the church’s worship, prayer, and discernment  
- [17:11] The church confirms a calling God had already placed on Paul and Barnabas  
- [21:55] A practical turn: what this story means for personal calling and the role of community  
- [28:52] Invitation to trust Jesus and respond to God’s call through prayer

Scripture References  
- Acts 13  
- Acts 13:1-3  
- Acts 13:2  
- Acts 13:3  
- Acts 1:8  
- Acts 2  
- Acts 9  
- Acts 13-14  
- Matthew 14:28-31

Reflection Question  
Where might God be inviting you to make more room for his voice and take one faithful next step in response?

Connect With Us  
If this message encouraged you, subscribe, share it with a friend, and pass it along to someone who may need clarity or encouragement in their calling. We’d also love for you to stay connected with your church community and keep leaning into prayer, discernment, and mission together.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 6:19

You hear me? There we go. Good to be together. Let's all say we're going to begin by saying when you're like beauty in my broken head.

SPEAKER_04 7:52

I've got true love instead of joy. There's freedom, though you've captured me. I've got joy instead of morning. There's beauty in my broken nest. I've got true love instead of me. There's freedom though you've captured me. I've got joy instead of me. You give me joy down deep in my soul. You give me joy down deep in my soul. There's beauty in my brokenness. I've got true love instead of pain. Though you've captured me, I've got joy instead of me. You give me joy, down deep in my soul, down deep in my soul, down deep in my soul. Never been so free, caught in your life for me. Never been so secure knowing your heart loyal. I've never been so free, caught in your life for me. I've never been so secure knowing your heart law. Never been so free, caught in your life for me. I've never been so secure knowing your God me joy, down deep in my soul, down deep in my soul, down deep in my soul, you give me joy, down deep in my soul, down deep in my soul, down deep in my soul, you give me joy, down deep in my soul, down deep in my soul, down deep in my soul, you give me joy, down deep in my soul, down deep in my soul, down deep in my soul. Let the key of my heart be the mountain where I ride, the fountain I drink from, oh, he is my soul, let the key of my heart be the shadow where I hide, the answer for my life. Oh, he is my soul, you are good, good, oh, you are good, good, oh, you are good, good, oh, you are good, good, oh the king of my heart be the wind inside my sins, the anchor in the waves always my soul, let the king of my heart be the fire inside my veins, the anchor of my veins, always my soul. You are good, good, oh you are good, good, you are good. You're never gonna let never gonna let me die. Your praises as we welcome you together, Jesus, you we find a true and firm foundation. There's no need to fear, no need for hesitation.

SPEAKER_03 15:03

Your praises and you again, Jesus.

SPEAKER_04 15:15

Lift him high above the heavens over every situation that surrounds us, sing the name with expectation, for the God of our salvation is among us. Lift him high above the heavens for every situation that surrounds us. See his name with expectation.

SPEAKER_05 15:56

The God of our salvation is among us, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, lift him high above the heavens, for every situation that surrounds us.

SPEAKER_04 17:01

Sing his name with expectation for the God of our salvation lives among us, save to him high above heavens, over every situation that's around us. We live for you, Jesus, the name above every other name, Jesus, the only one who could ever say, Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe, we live for you. Holy, there is no one like you, there is none beside you. Open up my eyes in a wonder. Show me who you are and fill me with your heart, and lead me in your love to those around me. Worthy of all the praise we could ever bring, worthy of every breath we could ever breathe, we live for you, Jesus, the name above every other name, Jesus, the only one who could ever say, Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe, we live for you. There is none beside you. Open up my eyes in wonder. Show me who you are and fill me with your heart and lead me in love to those around me. Holy, there is no one like you, there is none beside you. Open up my eyes in a wonder. Show me who you want and fill me with your love and you can those around you.

SPEAKER_01 24:33

Please join me as we continue our worship and prepare for communion through the shared reading of Scripture. Relationships with one another have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance as a man. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave the name that is above every name. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth. And every tongue acknowledged that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. We now turn towards communion, the Lord's Supper. We share in this meal each week, participating in the meal that Jesus shared with his disciples, and keeping his life and death at the center of what we do. Communion is for anyone who says that they are a follower of Jesus. You do not have to be a member of this church, and you can find the communion elements in the back as you walk in the door. On the night that he was betrayed, Jesus took the bread and we had given thanks. He broke it and said, This is my body given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Let's eat the bread. Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me. Let's drink the cup. God, thank you for sending your only son to here on earth. To live and die for our sins, Lord. That even when we did not deserve it, you still loved us. Thank you for what that means to us today, Lord. And it changes the way that we live our lives every day. Thank you for doing that. We love you a lot, Lord. Amen. You can go ahead and grab a seat. If we haven't met, my name is Luke Nickel. And the kids are dismissed, by the way. If we haven't met, my name's Luke Nickel, and I'm so glad that you're here. Uh here at Lakewood Vineyard, we are a church that is reimagining faith. Uh, whether this is your first time at church or your thousandth time, we believe. Um nope. Or you're not sure what you believe. Uh yeah, it's funny. Um, we're really glad that you're here. And if you're visiting today, there's welcome cards uh next to you, and you can fill one of those out, and we promise we won't bombard you. And you can also scan the QR code on the chair in front of you. Uh, but those are just helpful ways for us to connect with you, and we promise we won't reach out uh a million times and overwhelm you with messages. Uh, as well as if you've been here a long time, those Kinect cards and the QR code is a great way to sign up for baptisms or ways to serve uh and just let us know information. Um, and so please feel free to use those tools around you because they're super helpful. Um and just by showing up and filling out one of those Kinect cards, we give $10 to the Greater Cleveland Food Bank for every new one that's filled out. So just by being here, you're already making a difference. And here at Lakewood Vineyard, we like to say, give us five. Uh it's our way of saying maybe just coming one week isn't a great way to figure out what kind of a church we are and if it's a good fit for you. So come back four more times uh and just see what we do here regularly and if if it's a good fit and a good feel for you. Um and we'd love to be with you along that journey through those five weeks. So another thing that we're gonna be talking about today is to the meet the connections team every Sunday before the music starts and before someone gets up here and starts talking. The connections team is the people that are welcoming you in as you walk in the door. They're learning your name uh and they're approaching you and hopefully making you feel welcome and glad to be here. And one of the people on that team right now is named Adam. And Adam started uh serving just a few months after coming to Lakewood Vineyard for his first time, and he started serving because he felt like he wanted to welcome other people to this church in the way that he had been welcomed when he walked in the door. Uh, and that's what you can do, and you don't have to be good at singing or playing an instrument or feel like you're really good at hanging out with kids. Um, but you can just be a part of the team that is reaching out to people and making them feel welcome, like this place could be their church home. Um and if you're looking for an easy way to actually connect with this church, this is one of the few ways and best ways that you can do that. Uh another save the date is our end of summer cookout uh for vineyard kids, Saturday, August 22nd, 4 to 8 p.m. Yes, bring the whole family. Uh we're wrapping up our summer with a family hangout at the cannels. Yep, there you go. Thank you. Uh we'll have water play, a swing set, and a big yard to run around and bring your whole family. So please, RCP to that so we can know how much food to bring and all those sorts of things. So please, RCP is always super helpful. Um and for everything that we have going on in this church, you can always check everything out at vineyard.news. Um, you can also do that by scanning the QR code. Uh and as well as part of our worship, we now uh enter into a time of offering. We give as a response to God's generosity towards us, as a way of saying that we give God our whole life, and that includes our finances. Uh and so one of the things that we're talking about this morning is uh one of the things that people give to every month uh as part of their giving to this church is Tom and Anya Wadsworth. Uh, and they're on the board here at Lakewood Vineyard, and they're a part of this congregation, and they've been on a travel for missions trip uh with the wider vineyard movement. And they just wrapped up a multi-country trip, a family camp in the for the Baltic Vineyard Churches in Latvia, uh meetings with church ministries, um, and they're it all carries a real risk. It's really it's a difficult time for all those things. Um and then they were finally, they sat down with a group of pastors and their families, and they prayed with them one-on-one uh just about general hard things that have been going on for them. And so one of those things that you give to here at Lakewood Vineyard is that is one of the things that we uh partner with them financially in. And so just by giving to Lakewood Vineyard, you are helping support things like that. But if you're new here, there is no expectation for you to give. Uh, but if you attend Lakewood Vineyard regularly, uh, we invite you to give generously. And there's three ways to give on the screen. Yep, amazing. And then you can also give in the black box in the back of uh this general space. Um and so if you haven't already considered, if you would consider setting up recurring giving is super helpful for the church to plan out uh financially what is coming in. Um if you would pray with me for the offering. Lord, I thank you that you give to us and bless us generously, Lord. We are just grateful for the things that we have in our lives. Would we give to you our whole lives, Lord, and we would not hold back. We love you a lot, Lord. Amen. And now I'm going to invite up a good friend of mine, and soon to be yours, Aaron Shetler.

SPEAKER_00 33:24

Good morning. Just lower this down. Maybe I won't. It's actually fine where it's at. It's great. Don't mind us. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Lakewood Vineyard. Uh, my name is Erin. Thank you. That's good. That's good. Um, I'm so glad you're here today. Um, whether it's your first time or you've been here for a long time, I'm just really glad you're here. Um and I would like to meet you if you want to say hi after we're done today. Um so typically I serve about half the time in our kids' classroom in the elementary room. So I just want to acknowledge that I appreciate that everybody is sitting in your seat and all of you are mostly upright at the moment. Uh and I think most of you are looking at me. So that's a win, and I appreciate that. Um so thank you for that. Um as we are continuing on in our series in the book of Acts this morning. Um, as I was preparing for this morning, um, just looking in the book of Acts. Today we're in chapter 13 and talking about two guys, Saul and Barnabas, getting sent out from their church um as missionaries. Um, just thinking about the idea of calling from God and discernment of what that is in your life. Um, and how do we how do we do that? So just really thinking about that in my life and how I've gone through seasons where it felt really clear maybe where God was uh calling me to at the time and maybe times when it didn't feel so clear. I wasn't sure. I didn't think I was hearing something clear from God. Um so yeah, just it's a an important topic and one that I'm glad that you're here as we talk about today. So I'll pray as we get started, God. Um just thanks that you're here with us this morning. Thank you that you see us and you know us, God. You know each individual here. You're bigger than all of us, that you know and care so deeply about each of us. Um that we would each learn more of your heart and call for each of us. Thank you that you're with us, God. Amen. Amen. Okay, so let's remember we have been in this series on Acts for a while now. Um so I'm gonna briefly remind us where we are in the book of Acts. So in the beginning of Acts, the author who is Luke is recounting how Jesus rose from the dead and promised his disciples that his Holy Spirit would come and empower them to be his witness or to tell people about him in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. He commissions the disciples or he identifies them, sets them apart to do this. Jesus then ascends to heaven and at Pentecost sends his Holy Spirit to fill the believers with his Holy Spirit, and the church is born. So this is the early Christian church, and this is what we've seen happen so far in the book of Acts. The church then, so this is happening in Jerusalem, and then the church spreads out and scatters into the surrounding areas, um, mostly through adversity and persecution, is how things get kind of spread around in the beginning. But the good news starts to reach people who at first everyone assumed were outside of this message, people who were not traditionally seen as being part of God's people, the Gentiles. So we're seeing the church spreading geographically, spreading culturally to more diverse people than initially were believed to be a part of God's people. And then in Antioch, we have the first big multi-ethnic church, which is where believers were actually first called Christians. So that brings us to today. We're picking up in Acts chapter 13. We've seen all this movement so far in the book of Acts. And then at the beginning of Acts chapter 13, um, we're seeing these first Christian missionaries, Saul and Barnabas, who get sent out to the ends of the earth that Jesus was referring to earlier. Um, Saul, who during the period of this time comes to be called Paul and Barnabas, who are leaders, have just returned to Antioch from Jerusalem after delivering aid money to help with famine relief. So the church was in Antioch was already established. They go to Jerusalem to deliver money to help them because there was a famine going on. And then Paul and Barnabas have just returned back to Antioch. So that's where we're picking up. So I'll read for us here from Acts chapter 13, verses 1 through 3. It says, Now in the church at Antioch, there were prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Menaeon, who had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. So we have um this church at Antioch and its leaders, and they are after God's heart. They are a group of people coming together, paying attention to what God is doing, and saying, What is he calling them to? And they're doing it. They're really doing the stuff. So we have just seen they went to Jerusalem to deliver money there to help the people because they knew that they were going to be struggling. Um, they are preparing to send people out as missionaries, they're really doing the stuff. So let's talk about how the church positioned themselves to be after God's heart and to do those things and hear what he's calling them to and then doing it. So they were a diverse community. So in verse one, we get a picture of what the leadership of the church was like here. And they are certainly a diverse group. So we have Saul, who, like I said, will become known as Paul here, um, who only a short time ago was persecuting Christians, has a major conversion, and is now leading the charge for Jesus. So he's one of the people. We've got Barnabas, who is a Levite or descendant from the tribe of Levi, who's from Cyprus. Um, his given name meant son of encouragement, so he is known as a really big encourager. Then we have Simeon and Lucius, who are from Africa, and Menaeon, who it says was raised alongside Herod Antipas, who was the ruler of Galilee during Jesus' ministry and trial. So these two were raised together and had two very different paths that diverged. So Menaeon ends up one of the leaders of the Church of Antioch, Herod ends up not the best dude. So um, these are the leaders who we see in this church of Antioch who've got that are listed in this passage. We've got Saul, Barnabas, Simeon and Lucius, and Menae. So Antioch leadership was not one voice. It wasn't this echo chamber of people who all had the same thoughts and ideas, um, grew up in the same place, were all discipled by the same people. Um, it was five very different people who were gathered around Jesus. Have you ever led with people who are different from you, or even like been in a group project or something where everybody's like coming from a different place and trying to do something together and achieve a common goal? Um this was likely not easy or simple work that they were doing here. They were very different backgrounds coming together and working toward this very uh noble and important vision of spreading the mission of Jesus. They were united in the essentials, Jesus, and their diversity or their wide backgrounds allowed them to have a bigger vision and less chance that one person is gonna have a narrow vision or several people with the same thoughts and ideas, and that they would then miss what God was calling them to. So we've got a diverse background of people that lets them have kind of this bigger picture of what God might be calling this church to. And these leaders also give a picture of the ethnic and cultural diversity represented in the church at the time. So Antioch is a was a very large city in what is now Turkey of about half a million people at the time, and they had around 18 different ethnic groups represented there at the time. So it's a major cosmopolitan area of the Roman Empire. However, in spite of this wide variety of cultural groups, they mostly kind of stuck within their own groups and within themselves. Um, so lots of different people, but really kind of living in their own, staying in their lanes for the most part. But then in the Church of Antioch, we see Jews and Gentiles coming together over their shared belief in Jesus as the Messiah. So we see this kind of melding together of different people from different backgrounds, all searching and hearing from the Lord. How did they manage this? Um, and we might still ask that today. How do we manage that? How do we manage being in community with people who are different from us, who have uh a different a different history with church maybe than us, a different background, maybe no history with church, um, like the Gentiles in this day? Some people were really learning about Jesus for the very first time. And these Jewish people were, you know, had grown up knowing about God and hearing all these things and were in community with these folks who were really just really new to the faith. So how do we do that? It seems like they listened for God's voice together and tried to do to the very best of their ability what they believed that he was saying. So next we've got, we're gonna look at uh verse two a little more closely. It says, 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. So the church was worshiping and fasting when the Holy Spirit spoke. In the Bible, we see God speak to people in a wide variety of ways. Um prophetic words, dreams, visions, um, a burning bush, perhaps. If you are have been around church, you've probably heard of different ways that God has spoken to people in the Bible. If you're new to church, we believe that God still speaks today. We believe that God um can speak through a prophetic word um from a fellow believer. We believe he may speak to you in dreams through scripture, through worship. Um, there's not a formula or a code to break that we as Christians can use to cause God to speak. But we often see in the Bible that when people devote themselves to the Lord with an extra measure of attention and really make room to hear from him, that God expresses himself. So that's what we see happening here. The believers at Antioch were worshiping the Lord and fasting, and they hear from the Holy Spirit, and he says, Set apart for me, Barnabas and Saul. For the work to which I have called them. So we've got this diverse community, and they are listening together. They're listening to hear from the Lord. And we see from these verses that fasting seems to be part of the life of the church. So here it says they're worshiping and fasting, they hear from the Holy Spirit, and then we already read before the next verse says that they prayed and fasted and then sent out the two um Saul and Barnabas. So fasting seems to be part of the life of the church. They're fasting and worshiping, and then they return back to fasting and prayer after they hear and before they send out their leaders. So what is fasting? Fasting, when Christians participate in fasting, we are abstaining from something in order to make room for something else, something like food or maybe TV, social media, um, suites, gossiping, sleeping in, I don't know, whatever it is. If you are have participated in a Lenten um fast, one of those things might be what you have done. But when we fast, we are fasting to make room for something else. It's not just the point, it's not the absence of the thing. The point is what we are making space for when we take something away. So each time we notice the missing of the thing, that's a cue for us to pay attention to God. Um, and it's amazing how powerful of a tool this can be to help us reorient ourselves to the Lord. Um, so if you're fasting from food, each time you feel hungry, maybe you say, huh, it's lunchtime. I feel hungry, but I'm fasting. So let me use that time to pray. Or if it's if you're fasting from TV, if it's a time when you'd normally turn on the TV instead, maybe I'll just sit quietly, or maybe I'll take a walk and listen to God, ask him what he wants me to pay attention to this week. Or maybe, you know, I'm waiting to pick up my kids from school and it seems like a really good time to just like scroll on my phone for a few minutes and avoid maybe having the same two to four minutes of small talk for the fourth day in a row at school pickup. I mean, that's not me personally, but maybe you have experienced something like that, especially if you're an introvert or an extrovert who's tired. Maybe you've experienced something like that. Um, so anyway, in a moment when I might, I mean, when you might typically hop on your phone to scroll or whatever, taking a moment to be present to the people around you and saying, God, who here might need some encouragement today, would you highlight someone for me? Or just listening to God and seeing what he might have to say in those two minutes. It's like it seems so small, but when we can take the that little bit of time, and instead of either checking out or doing something um that's not bad on its own, it's not bad. But it's amazing what can happen in those pieces of time when we consciously say, Oh, I'm not doing that. God, I'm gonna give this a little bit of time to you and ask you, what can you do with it? Um, when we make intentional room for the Holy Spirit in that way, we can trust that it's worth it. We know that it's worth it. Maybe you hear a call to international missions for two of the strongest leaders in your church, like the folks at Antioch did this day. Or maybe you get reminded to go ask another parent a pickup about that thing they told you about before that was really tough that you wouldn't have thought of if you were scrolling on your phone. Or maybe you don't hear any specific thing, but you feel encouraged and reminded of the Lord's presence and that he's there with you and that you can talk to him at any time. Like that's such a good reminder for me when I um when things like that happen and I am either in a season where I'm more intentionally taking times throughout the day that I might norm might not typically pray or be quiet before the Lord. It's such a good reminder to me that he is always there. Like he's not only there when I choose to pay attention or choose to listen or choose to talk to him. He's always there. And it's just a good reminder that when I choose to do that more often, it's like, oh yeah, he's there all the time. He's not just listening when I'm speaking or when I'm paying attention. He's there always. So fasting is one of the many ways that we can make more intentional room for God to speak to us. We see the Church of Antioch doing this. Fasting is not the only way. Like I said before, it's not a magic code to get God to speak in that moment, but it is one of the ways that we can pay more attention to the Lord and what he might be saying. So, Acts 13, 3, again, it says, So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. So the church is fasting and worshiping. They hear from God to set apart Barnabas and Saul for the work he has called them to. And then they fast and pray some more before laying hands on the two of them and sending them off. So Paul and Barnabas were set apart by God and then sent out by their church community. Sent them off can also be translated as let them go or maybe released them from their responsibilities in order for them to go and fulfill their calling abroad. So that word could be translated a few different ways, but it's saying the church is releasing them to go do the things that God is calling them to. And this cost the church something. They really sent out their best. So Paul and Barnabas were two of the strongest leaders of the church. Um, and they the church said go. They heard the Lord speak and they said go. This is a picture of the trust and faithfulness of the church at Antioch. They said, Yeah, these two who are really leading us here, they're part of our leadership team. And this church is like new, right? This is not like a really established church where they've got, I mean, they have strong leaders, but they're not, this is not a church that's been around for a really long time, has a good tradition of how they do things. This is a new church and a new movement. And they say, Yes, God, this is what you're doing. Take our two best. We're sending them out to go tell people about you. They're sent by the Holy Spirit via this local church at Antioch. Paul had already sensed this call individually. So the church's word to send them out wasn't new information, it was a confirmation. And we see this in the language of the verse when God says, when the Holy Spirit says, for the work to which I have called them. So it's indicating that he's already called them. Now he's asking the church to set them apart so that they can go fulfill what he's called them to. Paul heard the call individually previously, the church is confirming it, and then the calling is confirmed also in us through an internal sense of desire and internal senses of God's prompting. So Paul is called by the Lord in a really dramatic way. We heard, you know, the story of Paul's conversion, he's really dramatically called to the Lord to go and show the Lord to the Gentiles. And that call is God's, you know, prompting internally to Paul of what he is to go and do. And then he gets this external confirmation later from his church community saying, We're setting you apart. We'll send you. Another way that we get confirmation of God's calling on our life is, you know, the things that you're good at. What Paul is good at bringing people to Jesus, we find, you know, at first he was good at persecuting people who believed in Jesus and putting them in jail. He was good at that too. But fortunately, um things changed. And he now is really good at telling people about Jesus and going into places where the message of Jesus isn't known yet. And he, you know, throughout the rest of the book of Acts, we'll continue on. But the stories just in chapters 13 and 14, which is kind of where we are today, there's so many stories of Paul and Barnabas going out. They go to all these cities, they speak in the synagogue first to the Jewish people, usually, and then to the Gentiles. They get persecuted by the Jewish people because they're trying to include the Gentiles who were not Jewish before, and they say, Okay, if you guys, if you're not in on this, we've got to move on and tell the Gentiles about this. So they want more people to hear the story of Jesus and to come to know and trust him. So Paul's really good at this. So one of the ways that we are can be confirmed in our calling is the things that we're good at. That doesn't mean that, you know, if you think God's calling you to something, but you're not an expert at it already, that doesn't mean that he's not calling you to that. But there's an in if there's an interest and a passion and God's put it on your heart, and or maybe it's something that you're gifted at, and God might want to use that to bring glory to him and maybe to bring other people to know him. So we've got a diverse community who is listening together, and then Saul and Barnabas, Paul and Barnabas are sent out. So Paul and Barnabas go on to preach the gospel across many cities, facing a lot of persecution and adversity. Paul is stoned at one point. They stay true to the call of the Lord. So they have all this persecution, they're traveling around, they are telling people about Jesus, they're commissioning others to lead churches, they go back to the same cities again where they were persecuted and kicked out of. They, Paul, gets stoned and kicked out of this city and then wakes up, goes back in to the city, and then the next day they move on. He's just like, they're just doing the things they're they're wise, but they're unafraid to do things that seem risky because they are confident that it's what Jesus is calling them to. And the Holy Spirit uses them to reach so many people. We see their faithfulness over and over again, and they are doing this with the purpose of spreading Jesus' message and encouraging believers. So, what what do we do with this? We see Paul who this is like a mega story, right? In the Bible. It's like, okay, Paul did this, and you know, there are still certainly people today who are called to international missions to go to places where people have not heard of Jesus. There are certainly people who are called to that. Maybe you are called to that. If that's a passion in your heart, then get prayer today. There are people who do that still, and that is still needed in this world. But sometimes it could be hard to read the story and say, okay, what do I do with this? How does this, how do I take this and use it in my life and make it important? So one of the things that seems important to me from the story is the idea of community. So having a community around you who can listen to God on your behalf and speak truth to you, who can who people who know you and who know your heart and who also know God and know his heart and can listen on your behalf, and people who can speak to you in love and truth about what God might be saying. It's also community to be encouraged, like to be around like-minded people. And when I say like-minded, I don't mean, you know, people who are the exact same as you. I mean people who believe the same important things that you do and who can encourage you in your faith and who can help you listen and listen on your behalf. God, what are you calling me to? So being in community seems like an important part of hearing from God and being encouraged and confirmed in what he might be calling you to. What else can we do with this? We learn that listening for God's voice is important. How do we do that? If you if you are not a person who grew up either in faith or in a faith that talked about hearing from God like today, um, that might sound really strange or weird, but we believe that God still speaks today. And God can speak in any way that he deems uh appropriate in in any given time. But there are ways that people hear from the Lord, and there are things that we can do to help prepare ourselves to hear those words. So, spiritual disciplines, things like um praying, worshiping, things like fasting, like we talked about earlier, um, things that help position our hearts in a way that says, God, you're here. I want to hear from you. What do you have to say? And like I said, maybe you hear something really big, maybe you hear something seemingly not big, or maybe you just receive an encouragement from the Lord of, I'm with you, I see you. Um, like I'm here with you, I care about you. Um, and that is never a bad thing. So being in community, listening to the Lord, and being able to send people out, um telling others what you see and hear for them, and then encouraging them to do that. That's one thing that I take from this story. So the Paul and Barnabas are sent out by their church, and that cost them something, the church. It cost them two really strong leaders, and um, but they weren't afraid to say yes to what they heard God saying, which was set them apart. I have things for them to do. I've already called them. Now you have to set them apart for this. So being able to hear from the Lord and say, like on behalf of other people, and to say, yeah, go do this thing. I I see this in you, and I'm encouraging you in that, go do this thing. So being in community, listening for God, sending people out, these are the things that we see in this story. And Paul and Barnabas are a really good example of these things. And we see that we see their commitment to spreading the gospel. And I would encourage you to just take that as an example of this is what they did back then. That might not be exactly what I'm doing today, but God has something for me. God has something for me to do. So there's a few people, a few groups of people as I was, you know, preparing and thinking about this story, there are some groups of people that came to mind that have been on my heart this week. So if you either don't think that you have a call from the Lord, or you think maybe you might have a call from the Lord for your life, but you have no idea what it could be. You're like, I don't even know what that means. Is he gonna call me? Like, my phone is gonna ring. Like, is he calling? What's happening? Maybe you just don't know. Those people have been on my heart this week. And the message that I want to tell you is that God does have a call for your life. God's got something important for you. And it may not be international missions, it may not be um, you know, getting stoned and persecuted because of your beliefs. Hopefully it's not. Um, but it might be being a friend or an encouragement to someone who doesn't know Jesus yet, and that person finds out through you, oh, this is where this is where they find their hope. So if you are a person who either you desire to know what God has for you or and you don't know what it is, or you just have never really considered that, I would encourage you to get prayer today. Another group of people, um, the worship team can probably go ahead and come on up too, and we'll um get ready to wrap up here. But um another group of people who have been on my mind this week is maybe people who have heard a specific call from the Lord before, um, but now it feels unsure or it feels difficult, or something has gone wrong or changed significantly. And you're asking, uh, what now? Or maybe this actually wasn't the thing, or maybe I maybe I maybe I heard incorrectly, maybe this is not what um what I was supposed to do. Um I think that the Lord wants to encourage you today and say that he sees you and he's with you and he still has a call for you, and that it's not if you are earnestly uh listening and trying to hear from the Lord and do what he has, then it's not wrong. And that he will speak again. Um, and the last group of people that have been on my mind this week is just people who uh have not accepted Jesus as your savior yet. And maybe, you know, hearing this, if that's you and you're hearing all this and saying, like, I don't even know if I believe in God, what's this call, like calling, I would just encourage you to imagine what might it be like to imagine a God that loves you and a God that died for your sins and wants to be with you and has a call for your life. So if that's you today, um, I just want to invite you, you can pray that prayer today. If you are ready to say, Jesus, I trust you and I want you to be my savior, that's a prayer that you can pray today. We can say, God, this life that I'm living is yours. I want you to be my king. I can't do it on my own, and I want to hear what you're calling me to. You can pray that prayer today. Um, so if any of those things um seem like they might fit a situation that you're in right now, we would love to pray for you. Um, the prayer team will be up on the sides um of the stage, and we have people who would love to pray with you. So if you um if any of those things that I talked about sound like I you they you identify with that and you would like to get prayer, please come up. Um, or if there's anything else, we would always love to pray with you. So I'm gonna pray and then we will move into some worship here. God, I thank you that um you do call us. I thank you, God, that you see each person and you know each person's heart, God. Could you be with us as we worship, Lord?

SPEAKER_02 1:04:35

Let's all stand as we sing. And we're gonna uh uh we're singing the song Oceans, and uh Noelle, if you could bring the first slide up. You know, the the lyrics really align with what what Aaron's talking about is this idea of calling and like God speaking, and so like you know, you remember this is talking a lot the song kind of imitates and resonates with Peter stepping on the water, right? And saying call me out upon the water. The great unknown, right? And like oftentimes the way we respond is we uh we take steps out towards Jesus. As we take a step towards Jesus, it's like it's a risk, and then we things can get clearer sometimes as we walk towards him to say yes to the call, or sometimes it gets more difficult, right? Like Peter thinks we see the winds in the waves, but yeah, we still call to take those steps out towards later in this call, we'll talk about we have to take steps towards Jesus for our own self. But exactly take those steps towards Jesus, take steps towards other people as well, too. So encourage you like Aaron's prayer that's what it is. I feel like God's created me for more because the answer is He has created you for more. He's created me for purpose, significance, and meaning. What is it that maybe you've taken me for? So I think uh we love to invite you to receive prayer.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:24

Take me deep in that weakness. I trust you come in faith. I trust you. I say your name. All these energy. I do love to my steps. This is my story. This is my soul. And he answered. I sought the Lord. And he heard, and he answered, I sought the Lord, and he heard, and he answered. That's why I trusted. That's why I trusted. I sought the Lord. And he heard any answer. I sought the Lord. And he heard any answer. I sought the Lord. And he heard any answer. That's why I trust him. That's why I trust him God. I saved one. I trust in God. I save.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:37

And we're gonna sing that bridge again. But I know for some of us this morning, just any songs that we sing, sometimes they can feel like, man, I am feeling this right now. I feel like I know that I sought the Lord and I answered. And this is a lifelong experience. Maybe you have a reason that those things have happened. You're like, yeah, brother's about to go, and I sought the Lord. And I don't feel like I'm hearing anything. I saw the Lord and I'm still trying to figure it out. Maybe a declaration of faith. If you're familiar as a Bible person, one of the things that we find in the Psalms is that there's often these things where people are saying, God, where are you? And in the same song, he says, God, you're gonna rescue me there. So with this song, it's like a declaration of faith. It's a statement of saying, God, even though I don't know yet, even though it doesn't feel like you've answered me yet, I know that I'm gonna say you're going to answer me. That makes sense that it's a statement of faith and God. That is who you are. This is who you are. I trust you. You're gonna answer me. You're gonna answer my prayers. You're gonna give me guidance and direction. So let's go back into that bridge.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:03

I sought the Lord, and he heard, and he answered, I sought the Lord, and he heard, and he answered, I sought the Lord, and he heard, and he answered, That's why I trusted, that's why I trusted, I saw the Lord, and he heard, and he answered, I saw the Lord, and he heard, and he answered, I saw the Lord, and he heard, and he answered, that's why I trusted, that's why I trusted God, I saved the one He will never fail. I trust in God. I say one day.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:28

Just like the song says, We say we trust you. We trust that you'll do what you say you'll do. You will speak. You will call us. You will be with us.