Acts 12:20-13:3

Well, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. It's so good to have you today. This is where every day you and I, we get together, have a little bit of coffee, we get into God's Word, and we grow in our love for the Lord together.
In this year, 2021, we'll make it all the way from Acts to Philemon. We're at Acts chapter 12. I'm going to finish that up and get a little bit into chapter 13, just three verses. Why don't we go ahead and have some coffee? We'll pray and we'll get into the Lord's Word. Let's pray. Oh, Father, we rejoice in your goodness towards us. We thank you for your love for your people. And Father, we pray that as we read your word today, Lord, we pray that we would follow after you. We pray that we would be taught by you in Jesus's name. Amen. All right, here we go. We're going to go to Acts. We're going to go to the book of Acts. verse 20, and we'll go all the way to chapter 13, verse 3. It's only a few verses. Let's go ahead and read.
Now Herod had been angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, but they came to him with one accord, and having made Balastus, the king's personal aide, their friend, they asked for peace, because their country was supplied with food by the king's country.
So, on a set day, Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them. And the people kept shouting, The voice of a god, not of a man! Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died. But the word of God grew and multiplied.
Well, this is one of those really interesting stories that is actually substantiated by non-biblical literature. So if you go to Josephus' Antiquities, I got it written down here, Josephus' Antiquities, chapter 19, paragraph 344. I remember I read this a couple years ago.
Herod goes out, and he's dressed in this crazy silver-type raiment, and the sun is shining down upon him, and he's standing there as if he was a god. And what happens? Dead. Dead. That's what happens. And so this is just one of those remarkable stories that Herod, who had been persecuting Christ, trying to destroy the church, who had arrested Peter, and had put the guards to death when the angel had released him, now goes out, presuming like somehow he's some sort of God, and the Lord says, no. No, you're done. So his reign ends. I love how chapter 12 finishes, but the Word of God grew and multiplied. The Word of God cannot be chained. Even through persecution and suffering, no, the Word of God continues to go out. Okay, then, verse 25 through chapter 13, verse 3.
And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their ministry, and they also took with them John, whose surname was Mark. Now, in the church that was at Antioch, there were certain prophets and teachers. Barnabas, Simeon, who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Menaean, who was brought up with Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, Now separate to me Barnabas and Saul. for the work to which I have called them. Then having fasted and prayed and laid hands on them, they sent them away."
Oh, what is this part talking about? Well, A, what is this about? This is Saul and Barnabas. They had been sent from Antioch down to Jerusalem to carry a gift for them. Remember, we had talked about that in chapter 12, where they had gone to take money so that people could buy food. There was a famine prophesied. And so they go and they take that gift, and now they're going back to Antioch. And so it gives us a little bit of insight about what's going on in the church in Antioch.
There's primarily four different prophets or teachers. You have Simeon, you have Lucius, you have Manian, and you have Saul. Now, man, I wish the scriptures sometimes were three times longer so we could know more about these guys. But it's important to note here, Simeon is a man of dark complexion.
That's what the Latin word here means. And so, well, it's Latin translated into Greek. This is the word that we get the n-word from, and this is a Latin word. It's just what it is. Now, obviously, in the American context, this word was taken and used in a prejudicial way, but it does show you that in Antioch, amongst the leaders and prophets of the church, was this dark-skinned complexion of a man. But then you also have another man who's from North Africa. You have Lucius of Cyrene. Cyrene is a city down on the on the coast on the Mediterranean in North Africa, in what's today Libya. And then you also have Barnabas, that son of encouragement who was sent up. And you have Saul.
So you have four prophets and teachers who are there. And they're fasting. And they're praying. And what happens while they're fasting and praying? The Spirit tells them, set apart Paul. set apart, or sorry, set apart Saul, set apart Barnabas and sinned them. They're set apart for the Spirit and so they pray more, they fast more, and that's exactly what they do. They lay their hands on them and they go. They're being sent by the Spirit hand laid on them by the elders of the church, by the prophets and teachers of the church.
And they're going to go. It's interesting, too, just to note that they were fasting and praying. Remember, Jesus was asked by the disciples of the Pharisees, why do your disciples not fast? John's do. Why don't yours? And Jesus says, well, the bridegroom is with them.
It's not fitting for them to fast, but He wasn't always going to be with them, and then it would be appropriate for prayer and fasting as it is today. This is, in many circles, a lost Christian art, praying and fasting. Well, best verses for these, I'm going to, in my Bible, I had verse 23 underlined and verse 24. I have verse 24 double underlined, but the Word of God grew and multiplied. And then I also have, let's see, I would underline in my Bible verses 1 and 2 for verse 13.
Well, what are we called to do? Well, are we humble, and are we those going out with the Word of God? Are we like Herod, Herod Antipas, who was all about his own glory, was all about his own stuff, was all about his own pride, and ended up being eaten by worms? Or are we about the glory of God? Are we about someone like Menaeus who even though he was a foster brother of Herod Antipas would forsake the palaces and would go to someplace like Antioch to go tell people of the good news of Jesus Christ. What's your life about? Let's go ahead and pray.
Father, we thank you so much that though this world might try to crush your word, your word cannot be chained. Lord, we thank you. that you are even this day sending out your good news to the four corners of the earth, that the whole globe is being filled with people who are learning of you and professing you, and even though they are in prison, they are singing with our hearts joyously to you. Lord, we pray that we would be such people. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, may the Lord bless you today. May you have comfort and joy in Jesus Christ. May you listen to the teaching of the apostles and the prophets. And may you always walk with the Lord. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye.
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