10 episodes
First Baptist Church Bartow First Baptist Church Bartow
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- Religion & Spirituality
First Baptist Church exists to develop disciples who love God, love the church, and love others. Find out more at www.bartow.church.
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“The Journey to Cyprus” (Acts 13:1-12)
Do you remember what is going on in the Book of Acts?
In Acts 11, we learned about the rise of Antioch as a city of Christian influence. We also learn that Saul and Barnabas became teachers and influencers in the city of Antioch.
We learn in Acts 12, that Saul and Barnabas came down to Judea with an offering from the church in Antioch. While there, James is put to death, and Peter is jailed. Yet, Peter is miraculously set free by the power of an angel of God.
At the end of Acts 12, we see Saul and Barnabas make their way back from Jerusalem to Antioch.
Today, our passage picks up with Saul and Barnabas back in Antioch.
Before we read our passage, let’s go to God in prayer and ask Him to speak to us.
(prayer)
Ok, let’s look at this passage together. Look at Acts 13:1-12:
1 Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen, a close friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
2 As 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 Then after they had fasted, prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them off.
4 So being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. 5 Arriving in Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. They also had John as their assistant. 6 When they had traveled the whole island as far as Paphos, they came across a sorcerer, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. 7 He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul and wanted to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the sorcerer (that is the meaning of his name) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul away from the faith.
9 But Saul—also called Paul—filled with the Holy Spirit, stared straight at Elymas 10 and said, “You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery, you son of the devil and enemy of all that is right. Won’t you ever stop perverting the straight paths of the Lord? 11 Now, look, the Lord’s hand is against you. You are going to be blind, and will not see the sun for a time.” Immediately a mist and darkness fell on him, and he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand.
12 Then, when he saw what happened, the proconsul believed, because he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.
By the way, church. I mentioned a few weeks ago that the attention of the Book of Acts would soon shift away from Peter and the twelve apostles towards a focus that is primarily upon Paul. This is that time. As we continue through Acts, you will see the primary focus will be on the ministry that God accomplished through Paul.
So, in today’s passage we will read about a journey that Saul and Barnabas take as one of their very first missionary journeys. Today’s sermon is entitled “The Journey to Cyprus.”
So, let’s learn about this journey.
First, we see that . . .
I. Saul and Barnabas are set apart.
We learn right away in verse 1 that there were several different prophets and teachers in Antioch, including Simeon, Lucius, Manaen, Barnabas and Saul.
Then, in some way (we don’t know specifics), the Holy Spirit of God spoke to them and told them to set apart two of these prophets and teachers for a work to which God was calling them.
Of course, we are familiar with these two who are set apart: they are our friends Barnabas and Saul.
Notice what the church does: verse 3 says they did four things:
1. They fasted – That is, they went without food in order to turn their focus to God.
2. They prayed – They spoke to -
“The Three Angels of Acts 12” (Acts 12)
Listen, church: God’s mission cannot be stopped.
I want to tell you the story of a man named Min-jae, a man from North Korea.
Min-jae became a follower of Jesus during a lengthy business trip to China in 2004.
Five months later, after being baptized and receiving his own small Korean Bible, Min-jae returned to North Korea. As he prepared to leave China, someone from the church made a bold request: Would he accept a shipment that included ten hidden Bibles once he returned to North Korea?
At first, he declined. He was already nervous about bringing his own small Bible into the country. If border guards caught him, he could be tortured or killed, or end up in one of North Korea’s notorious concentration camps.
As he agonized over the decision, he remembered that he had given his life to Christ, and it was no longer his own. He decided to trust his Lord.
“Now I believe in God, and in God, everything is possible,” he thought.
The shipment arrived a few months after Min-jae’s return to North Korea. At 1 a.m. on a morning in November 2005, he approached a boat along the bank of the river, praying for God’s protection and guidance with every step.
After retrieving three large vinyl duffle bags, he hoisted them onto his back and ran toward his home in the dark. Once inside the relative safety of his home, he opened the bags to find them tightly packed with pants. But wrapped randomly within the clothing were 10 small Bibles. Min-jae decided to keep the dangerous books hidden until God led him to the right people.
Then, as he walked through his village one day, he heard a man whistling a Christian hymn. Min-jae made note of where the man lived and decided to deliver some Bibles to him that night under cover of darkness.
After midnight, Min-jae rewrapped eight of the 10 Bibles in the pants and left them at the man’s front door. He didn’t leave a note for fear that it could be traced back to him.
Months later, Min-jae returned to China with the intent of defecting, but in November 2006 he was arrested and extradited to North Korea.
In prison, he met a former friend who had been arrested because of his Christian faith. And as they talked, Min-jae came to realize that the man he gave the Bibles to was his friend’s uncle. That man had also been arrested and was being held in a different cell in the same prison.
Min-jae’s friend told him that his uncle had given the eight Bibles to relatives, who had then committed their lives to Christ. The entire family of 27 people began to gather secretly at night to worship God and to read and discuss the Scriptures. But one night, a neighbor overheard the believers singing hymns and reported them to authorities. The secret police raided their home and arrested everyone, including his friend and his friend’s uncle, and sent them all to a concentration camp.
Min-jae was released after seven months in prison, and in 2014, he successfully defected to South Korea.
He remains concerned — even feeling a bit guilty — about the Christian family suffering in a concentration camp. After all, he supplied the Bibles that helped lead to their imprisonment. Still, he knows that God ultimately provided the Bibles and that he is with them as they suffer in His name.
“I just want for North Korean people to hear the gospel and share the gospel,” he said. “That is my only prayer.” (this true story was taken from the ministry called “Voice of the Martyrs”)
Church, God’s mission cannot be stopped.
God’s mission could not be stopped in the Book of Acts, and it cannot be stopped today.
As we continue our study in the Book of Acts, let us read about some of the difficulties of the early Church, and how God’s mission pressed on.
In our study of Acts 1 -
“The Rise of Antioch” (Acts 11:19-30)
In the 1500s there was evidence of a small native settlement in Florida that was labeled Rio de la Paz. Later that settlement would disappear and a group of Black Seminoles would establish a settlement in the area named Minatti.
Still later, a settlement would be established named Ft. Blount. The community would undergo several different names, including Peace Creek, Peas Creek, and Reidsville. However, in 1862, the community would come to be known as Bartow, Florida.
The late 1900s was a period of growth for the city of Bartow. In 1885, the Florida Southern Railroad opened in Bartow. A year later, the Bartow branch of the South Florida Railroad, connecting Tampa and Orlando, was completed. In 1887, Summerlin Institute, the first brick schoolhouse south of Jacksonville, was built.
By the turn of the century, Bartow had become the most populous city south of Tampa on the Florida peninsula – larger than Miami or West Palm Beach.
As the city grew, a number of industries moved into the Bartow area. In the first few decades of the 1900s, thousands of acres of land around the city were purchased by the phosphate industry. Bartow would become the hub of the largest phosphate industry in the United States. Polk County was the leading citrus county in the United States for much of the 20th century, and Bartow had several large groves.
Well, that’s just a bit about the rise of Bartow. I’m grateful to Wikipedia for some of that information.
It’s interesting to learn about the rise and influence of a city. Today, we’re going to learn about the influence of another city. Today’s sermon is entitled “The Rise of Antioch.”
Let’s read the passage for today and learn about this city.
Let’s look at Acts 11:19-30:
19 Now those who had been scattered as a result of the persecution that started because of Stephen made their way as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. 20 But there were some of them, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks also, proclaiming the good news about the Lord Jesus. 21 The Lord’s hand was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord. 22 News about them reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to travel as far as Antioch. 23 When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged all of them to remain true to the Lord with devoted hearts, 24 for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And large numbers of people were added to the Lord.
25 Then he went to Tarsus to search for Saul, 26 and when he found him he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught large numbers. The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.
27 In those days some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 One of them, named Agabus, stood up and predicted by the Spirit that there would be a severe famine throughout the Roman world. This took place during the reign of Claudius. 29 Each of the disciples, according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brothers and sisters who lived in Judea. 30 They did this, sending it to the elders by means of Barnabas and Saul.
Join me now in prayer as we seek to hear from the Lord.
(prayer)
Ok, let’s learn what is so significant about Antioch.
First, notice that . . .
I. Barnabas travels to Antioch.
Luke starts off in verse 19 by giving us a bit of a refresher. We need to recall that after Stephen was killed for his faith, persecution broke out, and the people of the early Jerusalem church scattered.
You may recall that Acts 8:1 says, “On that day a severe persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were sca -
“Let Me Explain” (Acts 11:1-18)
I want to tell you about a time that I was accused of something. My family and I were driving to my brother’s wedding in Texas. Well, if you’ve not driven in Texas, you may not know this, but the speed limit is like 150 mph or something. Anyhow, I was driving rather fast, and a police officer had a car pulled over. I couldn’t get over, so I hugged the far side of the lane that I was in so that I wouldn’t be close to the police officer’s car. After it was safe to do so, I veered back a little to center my car in the lane. Well, wouldn’t you know it, that police officer finished what he was doing and then pulled me over. He said it looked like I was swerving. He wanted to see if I was impaired while I was driving. My wife, Jennifer, had a smirk on her face because she always has an opinion about my driving. But I could not believe that I was being accused of poor driving. So, I said to the officer, “Let me explain.”
In today’s passage, Peter is going to face an accusation and he is going to explain what happened. Today’s sermon is entitled, “Let Me Explain.”
You may recall from last week what happened in Acts 10. If you were out last week, that’s ok because Acts 11 provides a bit of a recap from last week’s passage.
So, let’s look at the passage in Acts 11:1–18:
1 The apostles and the brothers and sisters who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. 2 When Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, 3 saying, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.”
4 Peter began to explain to them step by step, 5 “I was in the town of Joppa praying, and I saw, in a trance, an object that resembled a large sheet coming down, being lowered by its four corners from heaven, and it came to me. 6 When I looked closely and considered it, I saw the four-footed animals of the earth, the wild beasts, the reptiles, and the birds of the sky. 7 I also heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’
8 “ ‘No, Lord!’ I said. ‘For nothing impure or ritually unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 9 But a voice answered from heaven a second time, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call impure.’
10 “Now this happened three times, and everything was drawn up again into heaven. 11 At that very moment, three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea arrived at the house where we were. 12 The Spirit told me to accompany them with no doubts at all. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we went into the man’s house. 13 He reported to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa, and call for Simon, who is also named Peter. 14 He will speak a message to you by which you and all your household will be saved.’
15 “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came down on them, just as on us at the beginning. 16 I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 If, then, God gave them the same gift that he also gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, how could I possibly hinder God?”
18 When they heard this they became silent. And they glorified God, saying, “So then, God has given repentance resulting in life even to the Gentiles.”
Let us go to God in prayer and ask Him to speak to us now through this passage and through this sermon.
(prayer)
Now, let’s identify three sections of this passage and listen to what God might be teaching us:
First, we see . . .
I. The accusation
Verse 1 points out that the news of the Gentiles coming to God had spread all throughout Judea.
Remember, Judea is the region surrounding Jerusalem.
You may remember this map , which contains -
“God’s Vision for His People” (Acts 10)
Have you ever been in a situation where favoritism was shown?
Perhaps you felt like you were passed over for a job or a job promotion because of favoritism.
Perhaps you felt like you didn’t make a sports team or a position in a club or band because of favoritism.
Perhaps you felt like your parents were stricter on you because of favoritism.
Favoritism isn’t fun, is it?
Have you ever thought about this question: What if God showed favoritism?
That wouldn’t be good, would it?
Well, let’s look at a sneak peek of this passage. In Acts 10:34 Peter says, “Now I truly understand that God doesn’t show favoritism.”
It’s good to know that God does not show favoritism.
Well, let’s figure out what led up to this moment in the passage. Today, we’re going to learn about “God’s Vision for His People.” That’s the name of today’s sermon.
Join me in prayer; then we’ll dive into Acts chapter 10.
(prayer)
Ok, we’re going to cover all of Acts chapter 10 today. It’s a lot to cover, so let’s get into it.
We’re going to learn about four elements from this passage.
First, let’s learn about . . .
I. Cornelius’ vision
Let’s look at Acts 10, verses 1-8.
1 There was a man in Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment. 2 He was a devout man and feared God along with his whole household. He did many charitable deeds for the Jewish people and always prayed to God. 3 About three in the afternoon he distinctly saw in a vision an angel of God who came in and said to him, “Cornelius.”
4 Staring at him in awe, he said, “What is it, Lord?”
The angel told him, “Your prayers and your acts of charity have ascended as a memorial offering before God. 5 Now send men to Joppa and call for Simon, who is also named Peter. 6 He is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea.”
7 When the angel who spoke to him had gone, he called two of his household servants and a devout soldier, who was one of those who attended him. 8 After explaining everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.
Here, we have this man named Cornelius. We learn a few things about him, don’t we?
We learn that he lived in Caesarea. As a reminder, this would be Caesarea by the Sea, not Caesarea Philippi.
We learn that he was a centurion. A centurion is a commander in the Roman army who would have commanded around 100 soldiers.
We know that he was a member of the Italian Regiment.
Now, to me, this sounds like he was a member of the mob, but that’s probably not what this means.
Rather, the Italian Regiment probably referred to a specific regiment , either containing soldiers from Italy or a regiment which originally started in Italy.
We also learn that Cornelius was a devout man whose entire household feared God.
What this descriptions means is that Cornelius was a man who respected and sought after the God of Israel, the one true living God.
He prayed to God, and he even showed charity to the Jewish people.
That’s a little about who Cornelius is. Now, let’s see what happened to Cornelius.
We learned in verse 3 and following that Cornelius had a vision from an angel of God.
The angel says to Cornelius in verses 4 and 5, “Your prayers and your acts of charity have ascended as a memorial offering before God. Now send men to Joppa and call for Simon, who is also named Peter.”
You see, Cornelius feared the Lord and was seeking the Lord, and the Lord was about to reveal Hims -
“Peter Travels and the Lord Works”
Let’s recall where we left off in the Book of Acts because we’ve been out for a couple of weeks.
You may remember that Saul went to Tarsus to escape being killed, and the Church in Judea, Galilee, and Samaria was experiencing peace and was strengthening.
You may also recall that I said much of the remainder of the Book of Acts would focus on Paul, which is true.
However, before we focus on Paul, we’re going to go back and learn some more about the continued ministry of Peter.
So, let’s look at our passage today, which is Acts 9:32-43:
32 As Peter was traveling from place to place, he also came down to the saints who lived in Lydda. 33 There he found a man named Aeneas, who was paralyzed and had been bedridden for eight years. 34 Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and make your bed,” and immediately he got up. 35 So all who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.
36 In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which is translated Dorcas). She was always doing good works and acts of charity. 37 About that time she became sick and died. After washing her, they placed her in a room upstairs. 38 Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples heard that Peter was there and sent two men to him who urged him, “Don’t delay in coming with us.” 39 Peter got up and went with them. When he arrived, they led him to the room upstairs. And all the widows approached him, weeping and showing him the robes and clothes that Dorcas had made while she was with them. 40 Peter sent them all out of the room. He knelt down, prayed, and turning toward the body said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, saw Peter, and sat up. 41 He gave her his hand and helped her stand up. He called the saints and widows and presented her alive. 42 This became known throughout Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. 43 Peter stayed for some time in Joppa with Simon, a leather tanner.
Let’s pray together before we go any further.
(prayer)
So, we see Peter was active in ministry. He was traveling outside of Jerusalem, going place to place, and ministering in the name of Jesus Christ.
Today’s sermon is entitled “Peter Travels and the Lord Works.”
So, let’s look at our map again. Here’s where we see Peter travel in this passage.
Ok, here’s Jerusalem. While going from place to place, Peter traveled to Lydda (also called Lod), then to Joppa.
Later, in another passage, we’ll find out that Peter will travel to Caesarea.
Well, what is Peter doing as he is traveling? He was ministering to those he encountered. He was doing miracles in the name of Jesus, and many were coming to know Jesus as Lord.
So, let’s look at what is happening in this passage in a little more detail.
First, we see that . . .
I. The power of Jesus led to people being healed.
There is no doubt that the power of Jesus was at work in this passage, right?
We see two miraculous healings through the ministry of Peter.
First, we learn about the healing of Aeneas.
Aeneas was paralyzed; he had been paralyzed and bedridden for eight years.
So, this was a legitimate physical disability, not some minor thing.
Yet, in verse 34, Peter simply says, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and make your bed.”
What happened next, church? Verse 34 says, “immediately he got up.”
Sometimes God chooses to work immediately, doesn’t He?
Peter told Aeneas to make his bed, which probably referred to the mat that he was lying on.
So, Aeneas was healed! He went from constantly lying in a bed to instantly making his