Acts, chapter 13, verses 1 through 12. Now there were in the church at Antioch, prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon, who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Menei and a lifelong friend of Herod the Tetrak and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart from me, Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I've called them. Then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off. So being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Susia and from there they sell to Cyprus. When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the Word of God in the synagogues of the Jews and they had John to assist them. When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar Jesus. He was with the Proconcil, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the Word of God. But Elymas, the magician for that is the meaning of his name. Opposed them, seeking to turn the Proconcil away from the faith, but Saul who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, use son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked, the straight pass of the Lord, and now behold the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the Son for a time, immediately mist and darkness fell upon him and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand and the Proconcil believed when he Saul would had occurred for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord. This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God, please be seated. Lord bless our time and your holy Word. The abref we pray that your spirit would move that we might see again the glory of the gospel. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Well children again, raise your hands and we'll get a ZQ in your hands right away. I promised you that I would be brief and I want to keep my word and I will be pointed because this passage is so rich and full, but it's easy to see what it is. I believe the Lord wants us to see today. Three things, the Holy Spirit speaks, the Holy Spirit sets apart and the Holy Spirit sins. Look with me at the text again, particularly at verse two of chapter 13. While they, now this is the church, the church at Antioch. Now what is this church known for? One thing is this, this was the first place where men and women who believed in Jesus were called Christians. The word Christian is not used in the Bible very often. The primary name for Christians is saints. Not because of what they do and how good they are, but because of the perfect Savior Jesus. But here they were called Christians, the very first place. When these men and women and children go all over the world, people are gonna know that they are Christians because of who it is that's inside them. So while this church was worshiping and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, point number one, the Holy Spirit speaks. The Holy Spirit speaks, he spoke then and he speaks now. Every one of the individuals who were standing up here, others in this body who have been called before, the Holy Spirit has spoken to you. How does he do it? Notice what I said, how does he do it? Remember the Holy Spirit's a person. The Holy Spirit speaks through the word about the word. He does it in illuminating the Holy Scriptures and illuminating our hearts and minds that were once dark and dead. And suddenly we find ourselves like this pro-Consul who says, I want to know about Jesus. And then there's those, the Lord, the Holy Spirit is called and sent to tell us. And we speak the word, God's word. So the Holy Spirit does speak. The Holy Spirit also sets apart. I'm already on point two. That's amazing. The Holy Spirit sets apart. There are individuals, 111, not counting the leaders who are going on the Florida trip, which really is a mission trip. 111 people who have been set apart at this time in this moment. That's why we've put their names in the Bolton for you to pray for them. Because they have been set apart by God through hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit to go. This is what that means. There's an internal calling. When they begin to hear about these trips, something begin to happen in them that said, I want to be a part of that. Young believers might have thought it's just to go somewhere and see something neat, but God's bigger than that. He works behind the scenes and suddenly their hearts begin to realize it's not just a sightseeing trip to Hong Kong or to East Asia or to Peru, but it is a calling to go and make the name of Jesus known. It's an internal calling. That internal calling is matched with an external calling. There are parents who are sending their kids saying, we trust the Lord to take care of you. It's frightening, isn't it? Parents, it is. But you trust the Lord that he's calling your child, your children, your grandchildren, he's sending them. You can trust him because he cares more about them than you. There's an internal calling and an external calling that affirms that the Holy Spirit speaks and sets apart. Point three, already. And I still have five minutes. Wow, the Holy Spirit is the one who sends out. Again, look with me at the text, verse four. So being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down and you see the places in which they went. The Holy Spirit is the one present, the same Holy Spirit that was calling, Saul and Barnabas, setting them apart is the same Holy Spirit that's calling these people and he's sending them to all of these locations that they may first be reminded of who they are because God is as interested in what he's doing in their lives is he is the people that they seek to go and proclaim. John 10 is the proof text for that, or Luke 10, I'm sorry. This is a remarkable thing. We need to go in the power of the Holy Spirit. Why? Because as you saw in the text as I read it, there are individuals, like Elymas, this magician, that seek to make the path of the Lord crooked, that seek to destroy. Let me tell you a story. My very first mission trip with PCPC was 10 years ago this month. I had arrived in January and was told that I would be going on the Peru mission trip. It was a call. I went. We went deep into the jungles of Peru, sailing down the Akulu River deep into the jungle, far from any city. And there was a ministry taking place where individuals had gathered orphans, street children, boys who have been left by their parents at a young age, who were into all kinds of real evil. But they've been essentially collected by loving saints, Christians, and brought down to the river, down the river to this orphanage, where they were caring for them, nurturing them, feeding for them, providing safety. And then we had the privilege of going and leading VBS and telling them about Jesus, and sending the news into the villages that surrounded that were extremely primitive. Next door to this orphanage was a witch doctor, a real witch doctor. He had somehow got a hold of a can of spam. And he was going ahead of us into the villages where we would be gathering kids and telling them to come. And he was telling the people there, the natives, that these individuals, these white people are fattening the kids in this orphanage and then butchering them and turning them into this food. That's really true, and it's really dark, and they believed him, what power to fight against, and we did, how, by pray. We prayed that the Lord would open the eyes of the people to see the deception of the witch doctor. We prayed for the witch doctor. I don't know what has happened to him, but we saw the Lord's power and people seeing through that deception and coming and we watched children come to saving faith. You see, all of those up here are going to encounter those who are evil, who seek to distort the truth of the gospel, but we can tell them all those who are going that we will pray because nothing can prevail against the church of God and he is going to accomplish his mission. If you don't believe me, then this afternoon, go and read Acts 12, and this is what you're going to hear, that the church was under great persecution. James had just been killed by Herod and now Herod had arrested Peter. And his Peter is sitting in jail and the angel of the Lord appears. The shackles fall off of his hands and wrists and he has moved past the guards and suddenly the gate opens all by itself and he is set free. Do you know what was happening at that moment? We're told in verse five of chapter 12, so Peter was kept in prison. This is before he was set free, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. Take this, brothers and sisters, this bulletin and use it all summer long to pray earnestly for God is using you and this church to help people hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. The one who speaks, the one who sets apart, the one who sins and lastly the one who saves by pointing and illuminating hearts and eyes to the Savior who died that we might be saved without the Holy Spirit's work. No one is saved, so what joy it will be for us to pray. One final thing, close to half a million dollars, had to be raised by this group, which meant between eight and over 10,000 perhaps letters have been sent out to many of you and others all over the world asking for prayer support. Isn't that a remarkable thing? And that's all money beyond our budget. It's money that generous people in the faith are giving for the sake of this message going out. What joy, what joy, I cannot wait to hear the stories of my brothers and sisters. John Piper said it years ago in this church very quickly, he said, when it comes to the mission of Christ, go, send our disobey. You and I are part of the going and we're part of the sending. May we never find ourselves in disobedience, but might be delighted and what the Holy Spirit can do.