March 30, 2025

#269 - Acts 11.19-30 - Planted by God: How Antioch Changed Christianity Forever

In this in-depth episode of the AL Pastor Podcast, Pastor Brian dives into Acts 11:19–30, exploring how the early church expanded beyond cultural boundaries through persecution, ordinary believers, and the power of God’s hand. Discover the miraculous birth of the Antioch church, the first significant multiethnic Christian community, and how Barnabas and Saul’s faithful discipleship shaped believers into what we now call Christians. This passage not only shows God’s sovereign plan turning persecution into purpose but also emphasizes the timeless truth that God’s church grows through His power, His people, and the proclamation of Jesus Christ as Lord.

Show Notes
Transcript

Introduction (0:06–1:25):

Introduction of AL Pastor Podcast and Pastor Brian.
Passage covered: Acts 11:19–30.
Acknowledgment of repetition from recent sermon at Arvin Assembly of God.
Mention of key commentaries utilized: Stanley Horton, Eckhard Schnabel, Leon Morris, Craig Keener.

Main Idea (1:25–2:52):

Central Thesis clearly stated and repeated:
- "God builds His church by His power, through His people, with the preaching of His Word, faithful discipleship, and Spirit-led teamwork."
Emphasis on God’s sovereignty and human participation in church growth.
Clarification: The church grows by God’s hand, not human entertainment or marketing strategies.

Contextual Background (3:02–4:35):

Historical context connecting to Acts 10–11 (Cornelius and Gentile inclusion).
Mention of persecution and scattering (diaspora) after Stephen’s martyrdom as God’s intentional planting for mission.

Detailed Setting: Antioch’s Cultural and Historical Significance (4:35–12:29):

Antioch as the third-largest city in the Roman Empire.
Infamous for idolatry, debauchery, wealth, influence:
- Cultural syncretism (Greek, Roman, Egyptian gods, Emperor worship).
- Notorious sexual immorality (temple prostitution, drunken rituals).
- Recently rebuilt after a significant earthquake funded by Caesar and Herod.
Large Jewish population (~60,000); ethnically and religiously diverse city.
Role in preservation of early biblical manuscripts (papyri).
Antioch’s neighborhoods named after pagan gods, highlighting its deeply pagan identity.
Antioch becomes the site of the first prominent multiethnic Christian community, first called "Christians."

Exposition of Acts 11:19–21 (12:29–27:22):

Verse 19:

Believers scattered by persecution initially preach to Jews only.
Luke views persecution not as defeat but as part of God’s sovereign mission strategy (Diaspora = "planting seeds").

Verse 20:

Major shift: Jewish believers from Cyprus and Cyrene intentionally share Christ with Gentiles (Greek-speaking Hellenists).
These are ordinary immigrants, multilingual, bicultural Jews—perfect for cross-cultural mission.
"Preaching Jesus as Lord": significant cultural-political statement in a Caesar-worshipping world.

Verse 21:

The key theological anchor: "The hand of the Lord was with them."
Emphasis: growth is due to divine presence, not human techniques or charisma.
Genuine conversions highlighted, with intentional repentance and true life transformation.

Barnabas, Model Christian Leader (Acts 11:22–24, 27:22–58:10):

Verse 22:

Jerusalem church sends trusted Barnabas to Antioch.
Barnabas is known for generosity, spiritual discernment, encouragement, and being a "bridge builder."

Verse 23:

Barnabas sees "grace of God" evident—possibly spiritual gifts, transformed lives, genuine conversions.
Joyful encouragement and call for intentional steadfastness in Christ ("purpose of heart").

Verse 24:

Barnabas’s exemplary character: "good man, full of Holy Spirit and faith."
- Moral integrity, spiritual dependence, and rooted in Scripture.
Result: significant growth and conversion ("great many added to the Lord").
Practical application: Leadership should prioritize character and Spirit-dependence over charisma.

Discipleship Priority (Acts 11:25–26, 58:10–1:14:07):

Verse 25:

Barnabas intentionally seeks Saul (Paul) from Tarsus to assist in Antioch’s discipleship.
Saul is strategically chosen: highly educated, bold preacher, uniquely equipped for Gentile mission.

Verse 26:

Deep, systematic, ongoing discipleship ("assembled...for a whole year"):
- Daily teaching, community life, doctrinal grounding.
Outcome: believers first labeled "Christians" (distinctive Christ-centered, multiethnic identity).
Detailed exploration of "Christian" label significance historically, culturally, spiritually.

Prophetic Ministry and Generosity (Acts 11:27–30, 1:14:07–1:30:44):

Verse 27:

Prophets from Jerusalem arrive in Antioch, illustrating the early church’s acceptance of prophetic ministry.
Explanation of prophetic ministry:
- Primarily "forth-telling" (proclaiming God’s truth), occasionally "foretelling" (predictive).

Verse 28:

Prophet Agabus predicts widespread famine (confirmed historically by Jewish historian Josephus).
Famine in "days of Claudius Caesar" historically documented, underscoring Scripture’s accuracy.

Verse 29–30:

Antioch church responds with practical generosity, offering financial support to Judean believers.
Offering is voluntary ("each according to his own ability"); a model of genuine generosity.
Significant unity illustrated: Gentile believers financially support Jewish brethren, highlighting early Christian unity transcending ethnic divisions.
Barnabas and Saul trusted to deliver funds, demonstrating accountability and practical Christian love.

Pastoral Applications (1:14:21–1:16:14):

Clear, practical imperatives for listeners:
1. Be Available – God uses ordinary people who are willing and obedient.
2. Be Rooted – Commit deeply to Scripture, avoiding shallow spirituality.
3. Be a Participant – Active engagement in mission, not passive spectatorship.
4. Be Spirit-Led – Prioritize dependence on God’s presence, power, and guidance.

Closing Remarks (1:16:19–1:30:44):

Emphasis on Antioch’s transformative impact on Christianity globally.
Invitation to listeners to engage deeply, reflect, and provide feedback.
Encouragement towards ongoing, intentional biblical discipleship and spiritual growth.

Final Call to Action (1:30:44–End):

Pastor Brian’s personal invitation for feedback/questions from listeners.
Closing reminder to subscribe and continue engaging with AL Pastor Podcast.

0:06

You're listening to Al Pastor, the show that helps you love God, love your neighbor and eat more

tacos.

0:14

I'm your host, Pastor Brian.

Welcome to the show.

0:20

Hey friends, I want to welcome you to this podcast.

We're going to be walking through Acts Chapter 11, verses 19, and my hope is that we're going to get

0:30

through the rest of the chapter.

Looking forward to getting into chapter 12.

0:35

There's some really, really exciting stuff that's going to be going on in chapter 12.

We're going to see an imprisonment of Peter.

0:43

We're going to see the death of King Herod.

So really looking forward to that.

0:48

So I want to start the week off with a clean slate and be officially all caught up today.

Praise the Lord for that.

0:56

Now, I got to give you a warning for those of you that are part of Arvind Assembly of God.

Much of what I'm going to be talking about today I covered in my sermon.

1:05

So I'm not going to say, as I said behind the pulpit, yes, it is going to be very, very repetitive,

but that's OK.

1:11

I have just a little bit more.

I'm in a relaxed environment here.

1:15

And of course, this is not a replacement for the preaching of God's Word.

I, I love podcasting, but I got to tell you, preaching is something entirely different.

1:25

So again, Acts Chapter 11, we're going to be starting in verse #19 here's the premise of this entire

section of Scripture from 19 down to 26.

1:37

And I've got to give credit where credit is due.

Often times I can't see a lot of this stuff behind the pulpit, not only because of time, but also

1:44

because we're a bilingual church.

So it's hard to take some of those liberties to say it, but I'm, I'm really, really grateful.

1:52

This is kind of a conglomeration not only between Stanley Horton's commentary also heavily relied on

Shambo, which is the Zondervan exegetical commentary, a little bit of Leon Morris out of what is

2:06

called the New International Commentary of the New Testament, and of course, Doctor Craig Heener's

exegetical commentary on the book of Acts.

2:16

And so really some beautiful information.

I feel privileged to have the opportunity to comb through these different materials.

2:25

But here's the main idea.

God builds his church.

2:29

Yeah.

I want you to notice I said his church by his power through his people with the preaching of his

2:37

word, faithful discipleship and spirit LED teamwork.

So I'll probably be repeating myself in that particular phrase throughout this podcast, but this is

2:47

God's church that we're talking about.

It's his power, it's his people, and it's His word.

2:52

And so our responsibility as believers, you and I, is to engage and participate in faithful

discipleship and to be spirit LED.

3:02

We'll unpack exactly what that means.

The church is is not growing here in the book of Acts because of entertainment or professional

3:12

marketing.

We're seeing that it doesn't spread through human plans or programs.

3:18

Now, I may seem like a cynic or critic, but what we're reading in Acts is really kind of a

disconnect from what we see happening in the body of Christ today.

3:30

Jesus needs to come back.

That's all I'm going to say about that.

3:33

But what we're seeing here in the book of Acts is that the church grows when God's hand is at work,

when he moves through ordinary people who are willing to go where he sins, where where he says, I

3:47

want you to be planted.

And they begin to speak the truth about Jesus.

3:52

Now, here in Acts 11, we read about a church that was not planned by a group of leaders, but it was

planted by God himself.

4:01

Now, this is going to be highly significant because we're coming off of the heels of Acts Chapter 9.

I'm sorry, Acts chapter 10 and the first half of Chapter 11.

4:12

And what was that all about?

Let me bring this to your remembrance.

4:15

It was the episode with Cornelius and with Peter.

Highly, highly significant because Peter was entrusted as he had the keys of the Kingdom to unlock

4:26

the door to the Gentiles.

And this is a huge deal because up until this point, there really was minimal, minimal activity.

4:35

We've seen the salvation of the Samaritans.

We see a glimpse of the Ethiopian eunuch.

4:39

But this right here is something entirely different.

And so as Peter comes to the realization, we could also say the revelation that God is God's plan,

4:51

his economy of salvation was is also to include the Gentiles.

There's going to be some implications for that, but God goes ahead and and does something incredible

5:05

right here in Acts Chapter 11.

Now, what's interesting to me is it was planted by God himself.

5:15

He is the he is the one that is depicted here, as I will emphasize throughout the text, as being the

taking the initiative.

5:23

Yes, people are participants.

And the people that we see kind of spark this revival, this outpouring, this soul winning campaign,

5:34

whatever kind of label you want to slap on it, they're not famous.

So that, in other words, this didn't start by famous apostles, but by unnamed believers who had been

5:43

scattered by persecution.

And of course, we're going to see the setting, which is the city of.

5:49

Antioch, now Antioch.

I didn't have a whole lot of time to be able to to also dive into this into in my sermon.

5:57

Not that it isn't rofitable, but let me just say this for some of you that kind of become stagnant

in God's word.

6:05

There are some things that are worth studying out.

Antioch is one of them.

6:09

It was the third largest city within the Roman Empire.

They were incredibly famous for their level of debauchery that they would partake in.

6:18

You might say, well, what do you mean by that?

Well, they if you can make a Roman blush, you've got something going on.

6:25

Now the Roman world was wild any which way you look at it.

But but here in Antioch, it was kind of a mix, a conglomerate.

6:33

They still had idols and statues and would worship some of the gods from Egypt like Isis and several

others.

6:42

They also had Greek gods and Roman gods beside the emperor worship.

So this was a mishmash, however you want to say it of.

6:50

Different deities.

The word technically that we would use is, is syncretism.

6:56

Everything was kind of blended together.

And when we begin to talk about the debauchery, if I was to be very specific.

7:02

And there's no reason that I can't.

I'm not being censored here in any way.

7:07

That would have to deal with drunkenness and of course, sexual promiscuity.

Often times at the Pagan temples, one of the sacraments would be to engage in sexual rituals with

7:21

what would be known as a temple prostitute.

So you'd go and you would make your offering.

7:26

You would participate in some, you know, quote UN quote, what they would call a love feast.

There would be a sacrifice of animal because blood is always involved as in these particular

7:37

instances.

And and then a a lot of tipping back and then of course, free love.

7:45

No, folks, this is not the 70s.

We're talking about the 1st century here.

7:51

So Antioch was a very large, very, very large.

City.

7:56

And it was also very wealthy city as well.

In fact, it was so wealthy, so influential that things would rise and fall just depending on how

8:08

things were going in Antioch.

Coincidentally, just before this particular episode episode that we're jumping into here in in Acts

8:16

Chapter 11, there had been a pretty large earthquake, sizable earthquake.

Now please realize back then they didn't have an earthquake Richter scale and so we have no way of

8:28

determining the exact magnitude of the earthquake.

But from what we're told from various historians that it it wiped out the majority of the city.

8:39

And so there was some some big renovations that occurred.

And Caesar himself contributed into the renovation.

8:47

He was able to provide what we would call Roman pillars or colonnades that line the street.

King Herod himself also made great contributions to help rebuild this city.

8:59

There was an amphitheater, there was gymnasiums.

This was a this was a large and influential city.

9:07

In fact, down the road we are going to see that Antioch themselves, the church that rose, spring up

as a result of God.

9:15

Planting it himself had a hand in the preservation of God's work.

Now I'm still kind of studying that out.

9:23

I've got that tabled for now, but I picked that up in case any of you were wondering, instead of the

Lexum Geographical commentary, if you have access to that.

9:33

I need to check to see if that's a resource that's available to with our logo subscribers with the

license from the church.

9:40

But again, that's the Lexum Geographical Commentary and the author made a snippet about the

preservation of God's word.

9:47

Now Alexandria, which is down in North Africa near Egypt area, they also had a hand in the

preservation of God's Word.

9:56

Now what do I mean when I say the preservation of God's Word when it comes to specific papyri?

I have a hard time saying that.

10:06

By the way, I'm not a papyriologist.

Oh boy, the.

10:13

The scrolls that were that were written on the New Testament, and so a number of these were

preserved.

10:19

And actually came out of Antioch, which helped contribute to the validity and the dating of the New

Testament.

10:27

So that is pretty cool.

So we are not only seeing where the term Christians first had been applied to this group of

10:35

believers here in Antioch, they made some major and significant contributions to the faith that you

and I participate in today.

10:46

Really.

10:48

Incredible.

Trying to think here off the top of my head, what else is there going on in Antioch?

10:54

Well, all the, the other thing that I had read, I thought it was interesting worth sharing is that

every block, so I can't remember the exact number of blocks.

11:03

It's somewhere around like 5000 city block, something of that nature.

They were all named after different Roman gods.

11:10

So you would go into these neighborhoods and you would go into like Zeus Block or Artemis Block and.

All these different gods.

11:16

So it was this was continuously and constantly in your face.

And so this was a city that also had a very significant gentile population.

11:29

Estimates vary, but upwards of possibly around 60,000.

Give or take this.

11:35

Please hold these numbers loosely, of course, of Jews that populated in the city.

In fact, when Jews would populate a city, they would often take up large city blocks or there would

11:46

be a special quarter where they would all kind of get together.

If you're, if you've ever heard of anything in New York or even like in LA, but like in New York

11:56

specifically, you've got different, you've, you've got different neighborhoods, right?

And that that had that have a conglomerate or where everybody flocks to a different ethnic groups.

12:09

And so it'd be much the same even here in ancient Antioch.

So again, with that all being said, large, highly large, significantly large population of Jewish

12:22

Jewish people that had settled there for various reasons.

Let's go ahead and get into our text.

12:29

As we get into verse #19 we really open up a new chapter in the story of God's plan of redemption,

the history of redemption, and especially how the gospel begin to spread.

12:43

And I think that it is worthwhile to note that Luke does not start off with victory.

He starts off with suffering and Stephen, if you remember, had been killed and some intense

12:58

persecution had broke out.

This was a painful moment in the history of the early church.

13:05

This is when the when Saul had come in persecuting them, he'd arrested both men and women.

Families had been forced to vacate their properties to go seek refuge in other cities, all for the

13:18

sake of identifying as a follower of Jesus Christ of walking.

The way and so these believers had been scattered from their homes.

13:27

But it's interesting to me because Luke doesn't describe this particular moment as a defeat.

Instead, he shows us what might look like a set back was actually part of God's sovereign plan.

13:42

What seemed like trouble was really an opportunity to live on mission.

Let's read the verse.

13:51

It says now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Steven traveled as far as

Phoenicia, Cypress and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but the Jews only.

14:05

And when we had opened up with this in church, I just had a well of emotions arising at me.

And you might say, well, pastor, why do you get so emotional?

14:16

Well, it's because part of getting into the text is to feel what the text is communicating.

And this verse is so precious to me because to think of people that had suffered at the hands of

14:28

persecution who had been forced to pick up and leave for me.

I think of a family and maybe they have several kids and they might say, mom, dad, why are we

14:37

moving?

Why don't, why can't I see my friends?

14:40

Where are we going?

And they have to pick up and start over in life.

14:45

And so this is the context of what is going on.

And so it says after those who were scattered, this word scattered here, as I've gone over in a

14:55

previous podcast and I've gone over it in Bible study and even on Sunday mornings, is the word that

we get diaspora from.

15:02

And there is an indication here that it is, it is God who has done the scattering.

It literally means the word.

15:10

The word means to be planted like seed.

And so as Luke opens with this phrase now that those who were scattered after the persecution, This

15:23

is no accident.

He's reminding us when the death of Stephen LED these believers to be pushed out.

15:31

But here's the thing in God's hand, they weren't just pushed, they were planted.

I love that now Jesus had already promised in Acts chapter one, verse 8, that the gospel would go

15:43

from Jerusalem to to Judea, to all of Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

And here in Acts 11, we see the fulfillment of that promise.

15:54

The gospel is moving forward and maybe you are finding yourself like you've been pushed out of your

comfort zone.

16:05

Maybe you're in the season of uncertainty, not sure what God is doing.

Maybe it's painful.

16:11

It could be in your your finances or in your health or even in your relationship.

I want you to know that God can be using this moment to position you and to place you exactly where

16:23

he wants you.

And you might say, well, what would that be?

16:26

It would be for his purpose.

That is the beauty of this verse.

16:31

These folks, although persecuted, they carried the word of God with them.

The Bible says that they traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch.

16:41

These were not small places.

These were important cities.

16:45

They were they they were full of business and culture and religion, especially Antioch, as we've

already talked about.

16:53

And and these people spreading the gospel are nameless.

The in other words, they're not famous apostles.

17:02

And often times you and I with this is just the tendency of the human heart as we begin to read

things in the Bible, we create distance from what we read in our own lives.

17:14

And we might say things like, well, you know, I'm not an apostle and I'm not a prophet or I'm not an

evangelist.

17:21

And listen, no, most of us are not.

But here in Acts Chapter 11, these are everyday, ordinary people that have committed to following

17:31

Jesus, and God is using them.

Wherever they went, the word of God went with them.

17:39

It says that they were preaching the word to no one but the Jews only.

Now at first glance, the gospel stayed within their community, so they shared with people that look

17:53

like them, that spoke the same language, that shared the same traditions.

And I need to say this, this isn't wrong, this is just the beginning.

18:04

God was not finished.

He would soon stretch them.

18:09

He would soon call them into mission far beyond their comfort zone.

And what would that be, by the way?

18:16

It is to reach every nation, every tribe and every tongue.

So for you and I today, I want you to know it's OK to begin with where you feel comfortable.

18:28

I'd liken it to riding a bike.

If you're first learning to ride a bike, you're not going to go out and in the middle of concrete

18:34

and try to learn to ride a bike, right?

If you have a small kid, know, what are you going to do?

18:38

You're going to take him out on some small grass and and you're going to push them out on the bike

and if they fall yeah they might get a little burn or a little grass stain on their jeans or

18:48

whatever they're wearing but it's a soft landing.

That's the idea from what we're from what we're reading.

18:55

So I want you to know it's okay to begin with where you're comfortable with those that that look

like you and talk like you, maybe those that you're even in relationship.

19:04

But listen, it doesn't have to stop there.

If God is calling you and I believe that he does for all of us.

19:13

We are to reach across those those lines that may not be comfortable for us to do what to share his

word with somebody from a different background of different culture.

19:26

Now Acts Chapter 11, verse 20, it says, but some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene who when

they had come to Antioch spoke to the Hellenist preaching the Lord Jesus.

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Now this verse marks a very, very important moment.

Again, the language that I'm going to use is the the, the history of salvation, the plan of

19:51

redemption from the foundation of the world.

And in verse #19 the gospel had only been shared with the Jews.

19:57

But right now, right here in verse 20, the message begins to break out and cross those cultural

barriers that we've been talking about.

20:08

Now it's significant to me because there are no angels, there are no visions in this scene, there

are no apostles, there are no miracles, just ordinary, everyday faithful men and women of God who

20:19

were willing to speak to people about what Jesus had done in their lives.

Now the Bible also goes on.

20:28

It says that some of the men were from Cyprus and Cyrene.

Now, again, think about this everyday, ordinary people.

20:37

These are Jewish believers from outside of Israel.

In other words, they're immigrants.

20:42

They were raised in a different culture, most likely they were bilingual and they were familiar both

with Jewish and Greek customs.

20:52

And so God had been preparing them If, if they were to sit down and reflect on the history of their

life, they would say like Esther, like I, I, God has brought me up for this very moment.

21:06

And so through their life experiences, through their, their, their good times and bad times, God

could use it all.

21:15

Now Cyprus was an island and this is in the Mediterranean Sea happens to be the place where Barnabas

is from.

21:22

And Cyrene was also a city in North Africa.

And so again, to reiterate this point, these men knew how to move between different worlds.

21:33

I was, I was kind of kidding around a little bit behind the pulpit, pulpit.

But they know both the synagogue and the street.

21:41

They knew the traditions of the Jewish people, but they also knew the marketplace.

And this is what really impacts me the most, convicts me the most.

21:52

God often times uses people just like this who might seem insignificant and even nameless to make

some of the biggest impacts in the gospel.

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And so you don't need a title to be used by God.

You just need a testimony.

22:12

Has God done anything in your life?

Has he been good to you?

22:16

Has he saved you?

I've got good news for you.

22:19

You've got a testimony.

Now let's go on.

22:23

It says when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenist.

So at first the believer shared the gospel only with the Jews, but now they're speaking to

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Hellenist, that is Greek speaking Gentiles.

This is this is a very, very, very bold step.

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Now the word that is used here for the word spoke.

And I got this directly out of Shamble, out of the Zonervan exegetical commentary.

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It means an intentional ongoing communication.

In other words, it wasn't a one time event.

23:00

They weren't going around whispering in the shadows about Jesus.

No, they were clearly proclaiming him to people who had never heard the gospel.

23:10

Now that word preaching is also significant.

So again, I would I would have you note the word spoke not a one time event and ongoing is imperfect

23:18

in its tense.

And then of course the word preaching that word is the word that we get to evangelize from.

23:24

Now it is different from being a herald.

So it is different in the sense of preaching behind a pulpit.

23:30

This is the idea of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ.

Now that is not to say that it wouldn't include preaching, but it has nothing to do with style or

23:39

tone or anything like that, but it does mean that they are sharing the gospel.

This is a a defining moment.

23:50

This is a moment of courage.

It's a moment of breakthrough.

23:53

It's a moment that is going to change the church forever.

You say really?

24:01

Yes, really.

This is a turning point.

24:04

Why?

Because Jew and Gentile will become one in Jesus Christ.

24:13

I want you to notice their message.

They were preaching the Lord Jesus.

24:19

They weren't preaching religion.

They weren't preaching tradition.

24:23

They weren't preaching rules.

They were preaching about a person, Jesus as Lord.

24:31

I went on a little bit of a tangent this morning behind the pulpit and I think it's important to

kind of reiterate this as well.

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There is very little preaching today.

Doesn't mean that there isn't.

24:42

There certainly are from faithful preachers behind the pulpits today.

There are many of them, by the way.

24:49

But speaking generally speaking, from my observation and from my experience, there's very little

preaching that Jesus is Lord.

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What do I mean by that?

Most of the time, Jesus is presented as like kind of an addendum.

25:06

He is a lifestyle enhancement.

Just add Jesus into some of the things that you're doing and you know, yeah, I get it.

25:15

Like we're called to be fishers of men and Jesus is the one who cleans the fish.

I get all of that.

25:21

But Jesus is much more than a life enhancement.

He is a life changer and a life transformer.

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And if anybody is in Christ, they are a new creation.

We are called not to add him into our life as as as life enhancement.

25:38

We are called to die, to lay down our life and to make him Lord.

Now this title to say at this moment, in this city and in this time frame, Yeah, I want to connect

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us into the text, into that culture.

This had weight because in the Roman Empire, where Caesar was called Lord, to say that Jesus is Lord

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was to declare he is the true king, He is the highest authority, the only savior.

And so these believers, they were not adding Jesus to it.

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The list of gods.

And by the way, there were many, many, many.

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They are announcing his supremacy.

And as we will read as we walk through the New Testament, this will be costly.

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And so here's some of the questions that I have for us.

When we talk about Jesus, do we present him as Lord?

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Do we present Him as King or maybe just somebody that can help us feel better or somebody that can

give us a better life or somebody, somebody that can give us joy and peace and happiness?

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You see, the power of the gospel is found not only in what Jesus does.

Now, Jesus can certainly do those things.

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Please don't misunderstand me.

Jesus does give peace.

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Jesus provides love.

Jesus can do all of those things, but the true power of the gospel also lies in who he is and Jesus

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is Lord.

All right, let's go to verse 21.

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It says in the hand of the Lord was with him and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.

Now verse 20 shows us what the believers did preaching Jesus.

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OK, crossing these cultural barriers, cultural lines.

Verse 21 shows us what made it fruitful.

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Now notice it wasn't strategy.

It certainly wasn't personality.

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They weren't trending on Instagram or whatever social media platform it it it.

It wasn't some dynamic charismatic speaker.

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It wasn't persuasive techniques or or or sociological experiments.

It was the hand of the Lord.

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The hand of the Lord was with them.

This one verse, this phrase is the theological anchor to the entire passage.

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The church grows when God moves, and the hand of the Lord was with them.

Now in the Old Testament, the hand of the Lord, it meant God's power in action.

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That means God's power to heal, his power to save, his power to deliver and get this, his power to

even judge.

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And so in Acts right here, it means that God himself was active and present as the author, the

initiator, and he will be the finisher by the way.

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He is working through his people.

He is empowering their obedience to be a witness, and he's drawing hearts to himself.

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Now Luke is not giving us a systematic manual on outreach techniques, but instead he is pointing us

to something.

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Far.

Greater what might that be it is to the presence of God himself and in fact this this phrase the

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hand of the Lord echoes Acts chapter 4 verse 30.

This is when the early church had prayed, listen to this prayer.

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They had said, God, stretch out your hand to heal that signs and wonders may be done through your

through the name of your holy servant Jesus.

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This isn't clever evangelism.

This isn't hopping on the hype beast train and riding the waves of trend.

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This was God at work.

And when God's hands move, hearts are changed.

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The Bible goes on and it says that a great number believed and returned to the Lord.

Now we need to really, really make sure that we sit on this for a moment because these are not

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casual curious listeners that make made what I affectionately call that little hand raised, raising

that chubby little hand and being identified.

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Yes, I see that.

I see that hand.

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That's not what we're talking about.

These aren't folks that were sitting there and they pulled out their pin and their connection car

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and they checked that little box and says I've decided to dedicate my life to Jesus.

Now am I saying that God can't work through any of that?

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No, absolutely not God.

Despite our our somewhat foolishness at times, God can.

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Still bring about some genuine conversions as a result, so please.

Don't misunderstand me, but what I want us to really sit on and meditate and understand that when

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the Bible says that a great number believe they became believers, men and women who trusted in

Jesus, who turned from their old lives to follow him.

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Now to believe in the Bible, and especially right here to believe it means much more than just

having an intellectual ascent or it means much more than just nodding your head and agreeing with

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the message.

It means that you are staking.

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You are resting your entire life on the truth of who Jesus is.

That is the life, the the death, the burial, the resurrection and the ascension of Jesus that you

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are banking on that now to turn to the Lord is very, very peculiar language.

It is the language of repentance and conversion.

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It is the language of the prophets and and I want to remind you of Acts chapter 3 verse 19.

Peter had said, repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out.

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So again, they didn't add Jesus to their lives as a cultural flag to where like I'm American, I'm

Christian, I've, I've, I've, I've, I carry a gun, I'm the Second Amendment.

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I mean, this is what we would call like patriotic Americana here.

No, they surrendered.

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They gave their lives to King Jesus.

And so when we share Jesus, here's the thing.

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I think that we need to have this down deep in our hearts.

We don't need people to just show interest right, because that's all that's going on today is like,

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you know, if you want to know, I'm not trying to tell you that I know it all.

I certainly there's very little that I actually know the more that I know, but today it's it's all

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about clicks.

It's all about how to manipulate the algorithm.

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It's all about how to get eyes on you.

Doesn't matter where it's at.

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It could be on social media and it could be in the churches.

We're not interested in getting people interested.

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We are looking to see people become converted, for their lives to be transformed.

And so we're not looking for crowds, we're not looking for numbers, we're looking for conversions.

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And can I tell you something?

Only the hand of God can open blind eyes and soften hearts.

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Only God.

And so the results come from God, not from people, not from clever techniques.

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Now the believers were faithful to preach, and God is the one who made their message effective.

You know, it's interesting because in First Corinthians chapter 3 verse 6, Paul says I planted,

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Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.

Isn't that true?

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And isn't that still true today?

Success in ministry, in church, and even in your personal life isn't about how many people respond.

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It's about how faithful we are to preach Jesus and to rely on the Spirit.

Now the harvest belongs to the Lord of the harvest.

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And so when you begin to think about soul winning, when you begin to think about church growth or

revival or missions, if it doesn't begin with this phrase that we just read the hand of the Lord was

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with them, then we're missing the point.

We might as well pack up and go home, as one author puts it in, call it in the in, in cultural

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captivity.

I'm trying to think of this author's name.

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I can't think, I can't think of their name off the top of my head.

But they said that we are aping the world, that really the world is no different than a corporation

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or or nice polished marketing strategy.

And So what are we trying to communicate when we begin to boast in our metrics?

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And I believe that that's what is reflected right here in Acts Chapter 11.

We've got to leave these things to God.

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And so let's remember what God so far has used to build the church.

It started in persecution.

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It's spread through ordinary people.

It has crossed cultural boundaries.

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It is centered on the message of Jesus Christ as Lord and it is.

It is successful because God's hand was with them.

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And so God builds His church by His power through His people, with the preaching of His Word,

through faithful discipleship and spirit LED teamwork.

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Verse 22, it says the news of these things came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem and they sent

out Barnabas to go as far as Antioch.

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Now as the church begin to grow in Antioch, the the word of what was happening, it spread quickly.

And this is just me and I'm, I am, I'm interjecting kind of the way that I see it when we look at

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the bigger, fuller context.

We've just came out of Peter in Jerusalem giving a report of what happened with Cornelius.

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And do you remember that little scuffle?

They said, hey, you went in and ate with uncircumcised derogatory term, right?

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And then Peter had to take himself in those six witnesses and he had to explain to them, they're

like Peter, you've got some explaining to do, man.

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And so after Peter got got done, they said, you know, essentially they're like, all right, if, if

this is God, then this is God.

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And they praise the Lord for the work now new now, no sooner.

I mean, they, I, I don't even know yet.

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I believe that some of them might have like, you know, I'm not saying they were disingenuous and

praising the Lord.

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That's not what I'm saying, but I believe they they need to just sit on this.

They needed to process this and no sooner as if, as they still begin to think and wonder, much like

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Peter was thinking up on that rooftop, like Lord, what does this mean?

And then all of a sudden, knock, knock, knock.

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There's three guys and and the Lord says the Spirit sent them do.

All.

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Don't doubt a thing, right?

I think this is the the parallel of that.

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No sooner after this incident, all of a sudden some news came down to Jerusalem.

And guess what?

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We're not talking about just one guy in one household up in Caesarea.

We're talking about Antioch here.

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And what's going on in Antioch?

Well, there's revival happening because a bunch of Gentiles are getting saved.

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This is absolutely incredible.

And so verse 22 here really introduces a key transition.

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God is moving in a new place and the church in Jerusalem, they, they, they get the W for this.

OK, They send one of their most trusted men at the time, one of the good brothers.

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His name is Barnabas.

They're not sending out a.

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A critic, they're not sending out a committee, a committee or an inspector.

They stand Barnabas and his very name means son of encouragement.

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And so he is there.

They sent him out to support and strengthen.

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So it's like, hey, good job handclap for the church at Jerusalem.

Now, Barnabas, let me tell you a little bit about this guy Barnabas, because he he's got a great

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reputation.

From Acts chapter 4, if you remember, he was very, very generous.

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He's sold a piece of property and he came and laid it at the Apostle Suite.

And so this generosity wasn't to be seen.

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It wasn't to climb the social hierarchy ladder of success.

No, he did it because he genuinely wanted to be a help to what this moment was happening with with

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folks turning to the Lord after the day of Pentecost.

He also believed in other people when others doubted.

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You remember in Acts Chapter 9 wasn't that it wasn't too long ago when the apostle Paul when when

the folks in Jerusalem even doubted that he was a true disciple.

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But then all of a sudden here comes in a good old Barnabas and he says, hey, he says Paul Saul, come

with me.

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The door was locked If it was solved by himself a Barnabas.

No, no, he had the keys.

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He opened that door and he said let me introduce you to a guy begin to give testimony and he he

believed when other people doubt it also right here in this chapter we see that he is full of the

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spirit will unpack exactly what that means here in just a minute.

He's a bridge builder between cultures and so the Jerusalem church, they chose wisely.

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They are sending someone who would bless what God was doing, not get in the way.

They want somebody who can bring addition, not subtraction.

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And you know this is really what it looks like when the body of Christ comes together and works

together.

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One group might preach, another group might send a, another group might help the gospel spread.

Another group might fund this project or send this project.

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There is a variety.

Of things that we are seeing.

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Demonstrated and illustrated all throughout the book of Acts.

It is beautiful and some and and so in verse 23 it says when he had came and seen the grace of God.

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He was glad and he encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the

Lord.

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I want to tackle this phrase that that he saw the grace of God.

He saw some kind of tangible evidence that God was at was at work, not just signs of growth.

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In other words, he's not just looking at the numerical value behind the people.

There was something.

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That was tangible.

Now I have scoured, I'm trying to think here off the top of my head, how many different commentaries

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I I did a really casual one this past Wednesday, but then I was able to sit down.

I said, let me go through and see.

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Let me give you let me give you some names of the heavy hitters.

I've already gave you something like Shamble and Keener, another guy by the name of Darrell Bart,

42:28

Darrell Bach.

I apologize.

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That's from the Baker exegetical commentary.

And so when I say heavy hitters, I mean scholars that are serious about.

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This work, and that's just a few, there was a total of about 10 in total.

And I tried to say, OK, what do these men of God think about this phrase?

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When Barnabas came and saw the grace of God, well, our discipleship guide, Stanley Horton really is

kind of unique.

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And the reason that he is unique, and I'm not saying that he has a bone to pick or he has a

theological high horse to ride, but Stanley Horton is actually one of the few that believes that

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there was an evidence of the grace of God through the Gentiles demonstrating particular gifts of the

Spirit.

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Now you might say, well what does that mean and unpack it for me.

Well, let me bring your mind back to the previous chapter in Acts chapter 10.

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What did God do with Cornelius in his household?

Peter.

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He gave the stamp of approval to Peter in that moment.

Now was that a one time event just for the Gentiles?

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No, this is an ongoing experience.

But what happened to them?

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He heard them speak in tongues and magnify God.

And so at that point, this is what we would call the proverbial shutting of the mouth.

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Peter couldn't say a word.

There's no room for doubt at this particular point.

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Yep, God, God, they're they're part of the family God.

Look at them.

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They are speaking in tongues.

They're magnifying God.

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So now I had explained this on the previous podcast.

Noah was here with me.

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It is and it's worth repeating.

It is very, very important.

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The tongues was not the the evidence in the sense that they had been saved.

In other words, we don't move forward today and say, well, I don't know if you're saved or not.

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Do you speak in tongues?

Oh, you don't, sorry, you're not safe.

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We don't do that.

OK.

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This was something that God was doing in orchestrating for the Gentiles at this particular time.

Why?

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Because of the deep rooted theological belief system that had been ingrained in the Jews.

What is that?

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Well, you need to be circumcised.

You need to follow Torah when it comes to the dietary laws.

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You need to observe the fast festivals and the Sabbaths and all of those things.

No, no, no, no, God was, God was taking out his, his, his big guns, his cannons, his bazooka.

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And he says, Oh yeah, get a load of this.

The Gentiles, they're speaking in tongues.

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Now, what does that have to do with this?

Well, out of all of these scholars, most of them seem to kind of brush by it now and cannot give you

45:14

conclusive 100% proof.

Can I tell you that this is what Barnabas saw?

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He saw a bunch of Gentiles running around speaking in tongues.

No, no, that's, I can't tell you that with absolute certainty, but I do think that that's part of

45:29

it.

I think there were a number of factors that were involved.

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I think that he saw people that may be forming like pretty, pretty abundant because think about

this, Barnabas is a convert from the island of Cyprus.

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In other words, he's.

One of these Jews, that is, that could function both in the street and the synagogue.

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So he's familiar with Jews.

He can look right and be like, OK, what happened to you, buddy?

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Like Mr. Gentile over here.

I mean, you don't have to be a rocket science to kind of figure that out now.

46:01

So there the conclusion is this is.

I don't know, but all I can do is give you my opinion.

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I think yes, yes, yes, and yes to all of it.

I think that they're very well could have been some operations and gifts of the Spirit.

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He, I think he saw them attending church.

I think he saw a hunger and thirst for righteousness.

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By the time Barnabas got up there, you got to realize it's not like Barnabas snapped his fingers and

he's in Antioch.

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You know, these Gentiles probably been saved for a month, maybe a couple of months already by the

time he gets up there.

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And so he.

He is, he's going to, he sees the evidence of the grace of God.

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I hope that helps you.

I know it doesn't settle it, but listen, I'm OK, I'm OK and I hope you're OK.

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I ain't got, I speak in Okie now.

I'm just going to say I ain't got to know everything.

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Well, that's really kind of the truth.

I don't have to know everything and whatever it was.

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Is good enough for me.

He saw the grace of God.

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But notice how he responded.

The Bible says that he was glad.

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In other words, he was joyful.

He was thankful.

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And you know what?

That's really the heart of the way you and I should be today.

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Somebody is.

We should be known as someone who rejoices when what?

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When God gets the glory, not when a.

Person or an individual or a church gets credit, but it's when God gets the glory.

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You say, well, what do you mean by this?

Well, he solved the grace of who?

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The grace of God.

In other words, God's getting the glory, and for that.

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He is joyful and I get joy when God gets glory because it's not about you and it's not about me and

it's all about Him.

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And so when God has a move, he doesn't need your name on it.

He doesn't need your brand on it.

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All that is needed is the hand of the Lord and the name of Jesus Christ, because in the end, he's

the only one who's going to get the glory anyway.

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Let's go on.

It says that he encouraged them all that with purpose of heart, they should continue with the Lord.

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Now, Barnabas wasn't there to entertain them, right?

He was there to encourage them to strengthen their faith, to call them to keep walking with Jesus.

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Now the word purpose of heart here, that phrase, it means a deep, steady, intentional commitment.

Now, he wasn't just saying keep going.

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He is saying much more than keep going.

He's saying yes, keep going, but stay rooted, stay focused, stay faithful to the Lord.

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And you know what?

Every single one of us needs this reminder.

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And so let me do that for you right now.

Don't quit, don't drift, don't lose heart.

49:07

Stay focused, stay committed to Jesus, read your Bible, pray, share your faith with others.

Let your love for Jesus be more than just an emotion.

49:19

We are so emotionally driven.

Let it be a choice that you make every day and and you agree with Paul that it is no longer I who

49:28

live, but Christ who lives in me, crucify that flesh daily.

And so people like Barnabas, we need a Barnabas in our life that can tell us, come on, keep on

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going.

You're going to make it.

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Just just keep on sowing, keep on plowing that word of God in your hearts.

So I want you to notice that Barnabas, he saw grace, he he shared joy and he spoke strength.

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And when grace is evident and grace is growing, leaders like Barnabas want to make sure that it

keeps going.

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Now let's look at verse 24.

It tells us a little bit more about Barnabas.

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It says, for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great many people were

added to the Lord.

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Now Luke pauses here.

It's almost like a parenthetical statement.

50:29

And he tells us why Barnabas was such a blessing to the church at Antioch.

Now.

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It wasn't his status or his skills.

It was his character.

50:40

He it's, it's who he he was when no one was watching and the presence of God's Spirit that was

working through him.

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And so this verse is both a summary of his life and it's a model for Christian leadership.

It says for he was a good man.

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Barnabas, in other words, was a man of deep character.

Now in the Bible, a good man is somebody who's morally upright, somebody who is compassionate and

51:07

devoted to other people's well-being.

And so he wasn't just nice, he was full of integrity.

51:16

His goodness was visible in how he took an interest in helping and equipping and supporting other

people, how he handled leadership, how he honored God and gave him glory.

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And can I tell you that God is still looking for leaders who are good, not just gifted?

We have turned giftedness into idolatry.

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Today it's all about who can move across crowd, who can preach the best or the smoothest and, and,

and what we need today is our people, men and women of God, full of character, not just charisma.

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And so leaders who are humble, honest and holy are what's needed the most today.

Now gifting can certainly open up doors, don't misunderstand me.

52:08

But it is character that determines.

The long haul, it is character that determines whether or not you're going to stay.

52:18

Now notice the source of this.

Because, you know, we can stand back and say me, you know, maybe, maybe Barnabas, maybe this was

52:27

just the way he was.

Brought up maybe?

52:29

He just had good parents.

Or maybe maybe this was just his genetic disposition or he had some kind of predisposition of being

52:39

a good person.

Well, those things definitely could be true, but the Bible tells us the reason he was full of the

52:46

Holy Spirit and a faith.

Now I want to tackle this first phrase.

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Barnabas was spirit filled Now in a, in a nutshell, foundationally speaking, I didn't have time to

be able to get on this because I was coming to the end of my sermon.

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Now spirit filled definitely means that that yes, you, you know, you're, you do all the things

necessary.

53:08

We would specifically say as Pentecostals that you're praying in the Holy Spirit, that you're using

that heavenly language to be spirit filled.

53:16

And while that is true, there is actually a bigger, I believe bolder expansion of this.

For him to be spirit filled means that he wasn't relying on his own natural abilities, his own

53:31

strength, his own thoughts, his own clever methods.

He was humbly and totally and completely dependent upon God.

53:41

He walked in relationship with him.

What did Jesus say in the Beatitudes?

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Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of God, right?

So what does that mean to be blessed?

53:55

I mean to to be blessed to be poor in spirit.

That means to be completely dependent upon God.

54:03

And if you want to know the biggest factor of what we would call quote UN quote being spirit filled.

It would be absolutely dependent upon God.

54:13

Yes, there are other, there are other contributing factors to that.

Yes, I agree.

54:17

We pray in the Spirit.

I mean, that's why Paul says I, I pray in tongues more than all y'all.

54:23

Yes, you do those things.

But in this particular case, Barnabas, hey man, he's just like I need Jesus, I need the Holy Spirit.

0:00

I I can't lean on my own understanding.

54:34

And so this spirit guided his decisions.

The Spirit empowered his ministry, the the Spirit shaped his heart.

54:41

But I also want you to notice that he was full of faith.

He was full of faith.

54:47

Now what does that mean Now to every single one of us is given the Bible says a measure of faith,

right?

54:54

And I don't know about you.

I'll be the first to raise my hand to say, you know what?

54:59

I need some more faith in my life.

Well, I've got some good news for you because the Bible says that faith comes by hearing and hearing

55:09

the Word of God.

And so when it says he's full of faith, guess what?

55:14

That means that he knew God's Word, he had God's word, he believed in God's promises, He believed

that that in God it is yes and Amen.

55:24

He believed the Word, he trusted in God's plan.

And so as he's stepping into a new place, a place like Antioch, he's doing it because he believed

55:36

that God could do nothing but fail.

That greater is he that is in me than he who is in the world.

55:43

And so he had faith.

He was.

55:47

Full.

He was full of faith.

55:49

So can I tell you?

I mean, this isn't rocket science, guys.

55:52

You need faith.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God.

55:57

If you're going to take up that shield of faith and withstand all the things that the enemy is going

to throw at you, I think you're probably going to do it just like Jesus did it when he was tempted

56:08

in the wilderness.

Do you?

56:09

Remember what Jesus did?

He lifted up that shield of faith and he said it is written.

56:16

He did that three times.

The devil tried to throw the Word at him.

56:18

But guess what?

The author and finisher of our faith, Jesus Christ himself.

56:23

He wielded that shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit as well, right?

The word of God.

56:31

Now God doesn't need impressive people, but he does use and need surrendered people.

The Bible goes on, it says not only was Barnabas full of the Holy Spirit and and, and of faith, but

56:45

it says a great many people were added to the Lord.

So we're seeing blessing on top of blessing.

56:53

So what's the result of Barnabas showing up in the in the result of his presence and the result of

his encouragement and joy?

57:00

It it, it, it, it, it, it is conversion as a result.

I mean, think about this.

57:06

His life, his teaching, his encouragement, all of it helped to bring.

More people to faith in Jesus Christ.

57:15

Now notice that they weren't added to the ministry of Barnabas, they were added to the Lord.

And so every every single one of us need to ask, am I helping?

57:29

Others right?

Because I think we can all be a Barnabas.

57:32

Is my life helping others move closer to Jesus or are are people being added to the Lord because of

my witness?

57:40

See, we don't just need good leaders, we need believers.

Just like Barnabas who lives are, are so full of the Spirit that other people are drawn to Jesus.

57:51

And so God used this man powerfully, not because he had the most talented, not because he was the

most gifted, but because he had a dependence upon God.

58:03

He was good, he was full of the Spirit, he was full of faith.

And because of that, many people.

58:10

Were added to the Lord.

Now Barnabas wasn't the main attraction, but he was the kind of person that God loves to use

58:20

somebody that will constantly point people to Jesus.

All right, let's go through verses 25 and 26 here.

58:30

It says then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him to

Antioch.

58:38

So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people, and

the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

58:52

All right, now Barnabas knew something that I believe you and I need to.

Get a hold of.

59:00

I believe we need to get this solidified, cemented, whatever kind of analogy you fill in the blank.

But here's what we need to know that when souls are saved, when God is moving, discipleship must hey

59:15

hear me, must capital M.

Capital U, capital S, capital T must be a priority when, when God is moving, we have to make this

59:25

priority.

And So what does Barnabas do?

59:28

He realizes this.

He goes after Saul.

59:31

I mean, think about it, The man who once persecuted the church, but now God has called to reach the

Gentiles.

59:37

And so Barnabas leaves Antioch.

He had to.

59:40

Travel over 100 miles and not only that, there's some indication that he had to find Saul.

He didn't know exactly where he was, but he had to find him and bring him back.

59:50

Some commentators going to a little bit more detail.

They speculate that maybe he wasn't in Tarsus.

59:56

Maybe he was ministering in some other local communities.

Not far.

1:00:00

It would be like going from Arvin to Georgia or we Patch or wherever.

But he would he like.

1:00:05

The thing is, is that he had to find him.

And so he went out searching for Saul.

1:00:10

And here's the thing, he knew that Saul was a trained teacher right here.

This is this is the, this is what God had been preparing him for his entirely life.

1:00:21

He he was a bold evangelist.

Remember what happened in Damascus?

1:00:25

He had to be lowered down through a, a basket.

Why?

1:00:28

Because he was telling people to bend the knee to King Jesus, right?

He went into those Jewish folks and he said, hey, the Messiah is here.

1:00:35

You need to repent, you need to be converted and then what happened in Jerusalem by the time he got

to Jerusalem after the the church didn't believe that he was disciple and Barnabas had to get him

1:00:45

in.

He went into the synagogue of the freedmen.

1:00:49

He went to the hell and it's most likely and he began to preach Jesus.

He's.

1:00:53

Saying the same thing.

Bend the knee to Jesus.

1:00:56

This.

I mean, when we say this man is bold, that is an understatement.

1:01:00

And so Barnabas knows this, right?

I mean, talk about a, a mix, a mishmash of two personalities, because I mean, you, you really can't

1:01:10

get that.

These are two extreme polar opposites.

1:01:12

Barnabas, I mean, son of encourage.

And I just picture Barnabas like coming and loving on people.

1:01:18

I mean, you know, God, God wires us all differently.

I, I, I got to confess to you, I, I can probably identify with the apostle Paul a whole lot more.

1:01:28

I've got to strive to make myself more, more like Barnabas.

I picture Barnabas, it's like good cop and bad cop, man, because here, here Paul's coming in.

1:01:36

He's got the baseball bat, he's got the, the, the gospel bazooka.

And he'll go in, he'll knock him down.

1:01:43

And guess what?

Barnabas is going to just come, come alongside love on them, kiss their wounds and say, hey, you're

1:01:49

going to be OK.

Now he's the, he's the belly rubber.

1:01:52

Sometimes I, I make fun of churches.

I'm like, man, most folks won't come to church unless you rub their belly and you give them a

1:01:58

doughnut or something, Right?

Well, that's Barnabas.

1:02:00

Barnabas would probably be in that ministry.

And there's nothing wrong with it.

1:02:03

I mean, you need both.

So I find it fascinating that God had already orchestrated this, this, this, this relationship

1:02:16

between Paul and Barnabas.

And so I mean, think about it.

1:02:19

Barnabas is like, he's going, all right, we got a bunch of Gentiles getting saved here and I'm

encouraging them to follow Jesus.

1:02:26

And guess what's happening?

More people are getting added, added to the Lord.

1:02:30

So he knows like we got to do something.

We got to get these folks discipled.

1:02:34

And so he says, well.

I'm going to.

1:02:36

Go get me the apostle Paul and he still saw here.

I've I've said this not only on the podcast, but in Bible study.

1:02:44

I'm ready for it to switch from Saul to Paul.

But anyway, let's go on.

1:02:50

It says for a whole year they assembled with the church and they taught a great many people.

Now this right here is one of the clearest pictures of long term discipleship in the early church.

1:03:06

Now Barnabas and Saul, they committed to the church in Antioch.

In other words, they met regularly.

1:03:11

They taught clearly and they invested deeply and so.

They didn't just have a Bible study and leave.

1:03:20

Like, all right guys, peace out, I'm going to bounce.

Nope.

1:03:23

They planted truth in people's hearts.

Discipleship takes time.

1:03:31

It takes patience.

Now, if we were to be able to.

1:03:35

Reconstruct what did this look like, right?

And it's pretty obvious, and it's pretty evident.

1:03:42

I don't want to assume that it is for you, but if we go back and we look at the pattern throughout

the New Testament church, especially in Acts chapter 2, verses 42 through 46 and following, we know

1:03:53

that they begin to meet daily in the temple courts and from house to house.

They were breaking bread.

1:03:59

They were fellowship.

This was what what we would call deep discipleship.

1:04:03

And there seems to be an every indication that if they were there meeting for a year, they probably

met daily.

1:04:08

Now does that mean they had a church service every day?

No, but I believe that they were having they were teaching the word here for for teaching is where

1:04:18

we get the word didactic from and that that would be a systematic kind of a A.

Line by line.

1:04:26

Type of a of a Bible study.

Now we'll get into the difference of that maybe here in a minute when we look at some of the

1:04:33

prophets that come in verse 27.

But this is this is work.

1:04:38

This is this is where, this is where the real action is right now.

I want you to imagine now, I'm not saying that anybody like can orchestrate salvations because

1:04:48

salvation only comes from the Lord.

Only God can change your heart.

1:04:52

But what happens today in modern evangelicalism is, you know, we create the most compelling

environments and we, you know, have our, our 27 weekend services across seven different campuses.

1:05:06

And every time we follow the same script, right?

Every head bowed and every eye closed, nobody looking around.

1:05:13

And if, if today you've never given your life to Jesus Christ, I want you to just slip up that hand,

right?

1:05:20

And So what we call this is like it's, it is, it's social engineering.

And we turn the lights off so that we can lower people's barriers and inhibitions.

1:05:29

We play the music just so that we can begin to manipulate them just a little bit and let their guard

down.

1:05:35

And it listen, folks, it's, it's fully scripted.

This is, this is marketing one O 1 church planting one O 1.

1:05:42

Now, whether or not you agree with it, that is beside the point.

I'm not here to debate the, the, the, the merits of this particular method.

1:05:49

I just particularly have opted out of that guys, I have opted out.

I have exited.

1:05:55

I have exited the system.

But here's the point.

1:05:59

Here's the point.

I want you to think about that.

1:06:03

Imagine that all of a sudden you got, you know, let's just look at the way the our humble brags

today, you know, let's go back to this.

1:06:14

Across 14 different campuses in 27 services this weekend, we saw 896,000 people commit their lives

to Christ.

1:06:24

Now, obviously I'm exaggerating, but what happens next?

Like really, what happens next?

1:06:30

Well, we hope to see you next week.

Fill out a connection card, we'll send you a text message and we'll tell you your next steps.

1:06:36

We got baptism waters, we'll have the water warm.

We've got a T-shirt that says that you have you are sold out, that you've went all in or you're

1:06:44

going public, whatever it is, right?

And we're going to dunk you next week, folks.

1:06:49

That's not what's going on here.

Let me let me tell you that I want to bring you back and I want to remind you that these folks

1:06:55

believed and they turned to the Lord at great cost and great expense.

And there is there is some incredible evidence of these people what it means to follow Jesus in the

1:07:08

1st century.

This is this is this is not something to be taken lightly.

1:07:13

So Barnabas understands this.

And So what do they do?

1:07:18

They said we have got to disciple them now instead of saying come back next week.

They're meeting every day.

1:07:26

They're I, I, I can't tell you exactly how they did it.

I don't know if they went into the town square.

1:07:31

I don't know if they went house to house.

But listen, discipleship is imperative.

1:07:36

It is a must.

And by the way, what is the Great Commission that we find that Jesus told us?

1:07:41

He said to do what he said, to go into all the world preaching right.

And preach this gospel, making disciples, teaching them making make make disciples of all nations,

1:07:59

baptizing them in the name of the.

Father the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all.

1:08:05

That I have commanded you.

Now I want you to think about this.

1:08:08

Up to this point, it's only been Jews that are getting saved.

Now when these Jews start getting discipleships, it's a whole lot easier.

1:08:15

You know why?

Because they're already familiar with God's Word.

1:08:18

They're, that's the scripture they're using.

Now think about these Gentiles.

1:08:22

You got these Gentiles saved.

And it's like, remember what happened with Cornelius?

1:08:26

He went down and bowed and started worshiping at the feet of Peter.

That's what we call like that's a little messy right there right now.

1:08:33

No harm, no foul, Cornelius.

We know that you, you know, didn't, didn't mean it that way.

1:08:38

But think about this now.

Think about the utter responsibility.

1:08:42

Like, hey, all right, let's start.

And they're going to go through and they're going to be dependent.

1:08:49

So they are teaching and they're going to teach for the entire year, the entire year.

It's absolutely incredible.

1:08:59

This is massive.

Now teaching and discipleship and walking with others is how a church becomes healthy.

1:09:12

And it is how a church becomes strong grounded in and on God's Word.

Now I want.

1:09:22

You to see the result of this because they were found faithful not only in preaching the word but

also in deep discipleship.

1:09:34

It says that the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

Now this is the understatement of the year.

1:09:44

This is massive guys.

Now the word Christian, it means belonging.

1:09:51

To Christ now.

There is much debate and speculation and we cannot I cannot give you a conclusive 100% answer on

1:10:02

this, but most likely it came from outsiders who noticed that these gentiles both both Jew and

Gentile.

1:10:12

By the way, I should add, they had formed a new kind of community that was centered entirely on

Jesus.

1:10:22

Now, previously up to this point, there had been various names that have been been able to identify

the people of God, and they could be called the Saints, they could be called disciples, People of

1:10:36

the way, which is my favorite by the way, people of the way because they're walking the way.

But at this moment, something is.

1:10:43

Happening in Antioch, and it's because previously the Jews had been looked at as Christianity was

just a sect, a sect of Judaism.

1:10:55

That's how that's how the followers of Jesus were viewed.

What do I mean by that?

1:10:59

Well, there are certain sects of Judaism, Phariseeism, Sadduceeism.

There was zealots, there were the community at Qumrah known as.

1:11:11

The Essenes.

These were all different sects.

1:11:15

SECTS.

Wow, I almost couldn't spell that.

1:11:19

I was trying to visualize him here.

This is something different.

1:11:24

Who if this came from the outside, there was a recognition that hold on time out.

This is not normal.

1:11:33

What's not normal about it?

Well, we got all these gentile.

1:11:37

Like, look at all these Gentiles and look at these Jews.

Hey, they're no dummies in the 1st century.

1:11:43

You don't mix.

Even if you were a Jew living in Antioch, you could, you know, be out in community.

1:11:48

You could have some small casual, you know, interactions here and there.

But what's going on here?

1:11:55

They're getting together, they're talking, they're singing, they're studying, and they're breaking

bread together.

1:12:01

Oh, no, this isn't this is something entirely different.

So I want you to notice the phrase they are first called Christians at Antioch.

1:12:13

Now for several years Christianity will still be identified as a sect of Judaism, but that will be

short lived because the Jews themselves will campaign as far up as Caesar to remove that exemption.

1:12:32

And you might say well what?

What does it?

1:12:33

What does that have to do anything?

Well, the Jews were one of the few minority groups in the world, Roman world that were exempt from

1:12:41

bending the knee annually, offering incense and saying Caesar is Lord.

They were one of the few and for many, many, many years that exemption would be granted to the

1:12:55

followers of Jesus.

But here we see God in his Providence saying no.

1:13:02

And this is not that.

These folks, Jews and Gentiles, they're centered on Jesus.

1:13:14

So the true church.

The true church.

1:13:17

It doesn't just carry a name, it reflects a new identity.

What God is doing, by the way, this is what God foreknew.

1:13:28

This is what God had predestined from the foundation of the world.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.

1:13:37

He told Abraham in you, and from your seed I will bless the whole earth.

And so this what we are witnessing in Antioch, the world will never be the same.

1:13:53

You and I owe our heritage a debt of gratitude to what God did in this section of Scripture bringing

Jew and Gentile together.

1:14:07

Now the question comes to us not just as individuals, but even collectively as a church.

Will we be the kind of people that God can use?

1:14:21

Will we we be the kind of church that God builds?

And I want to give us just a few practical tips.

1:14:31

Here's the first one.

If we want God to use this, if we want God to build his church, be available.

1:14:40

Listen, you don't need a platform.

All you need.

1:14:45

Is a yes.

And whatever God wants to do with you, say, Lord, I'll do it.

1:14:50

Whoever you want me to talk to, I will talk to you and I will carry your word with me.

So I tell you, be available.

1:14:59

Be open to God.

Here's the next thing.

1:15:02

Be rooted, rooted in His word.

Don't settle for shallow faith.

1:15:10

Don't you do it.

Stay in God's Word, stay in the Scriptures, be teachable, be discipled, grow deep roots in the Word

1:15:22

of God and be a participant.

Here's the next one.

1:15:26

Be a participant.

Be part of the mission.

1:15:29

This being part of the body of Christ isn't about spectating.

It's not a transaction you make.

1:15:37

It is a relationship that you enter into with God and with other people.

Be a contributor.

1:15:45

Don't be a spectator.

God is calling all of us to build together as He builds His church.

1:15:54

And here's the last thing, be spirit LED.

Ask the hand of the Lord to be with you.

1:16:01

Be humbly dependent upon Him.

Don't be wise in your own ways.

1:16:08

Don't lean on your own understanding.

Be absolutely dependent upon Him.

1:16:14

Move in His power.

What a beautiful passage of Scripture.

1:16:19

I'm going to finish finish out Chapter 11 here because I need to and I have to.

It's only just a few verses and then we'll wrap this up on this beautiful Sunday evening.

1:16:35

All right, verse 27.

It says in these days, prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch.

1:16:41

Now, I've got to be completely honest with you because I'm, I'm coming up at a loss.

I've read, read several.

1:16:47

So I have actually a note to myself on this particular passage of Scripture in my Logos Bible

software.

1:16:53

I want to know more.

I want to know, OK, who determined who's a prophet and who's not and what's going on here?

1:16:59

But I'll give you at least the gist of it and, and at least from my understanding.

But I, of course, I encourage you to study it out yourself.

1:17:07

So in these particular days, prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch.

There, evidently we're going to see in other parts of Acts 2 that there was what we would call the

1:17:18

fullness of the fivefold ministry in operation at the early church.

You say, what's a fivefold ministry?

1:17:25

Some call it fourfold, some call it fivefold, but it comes out of Ephesians chapter 4.

These are the gifts that God gave to the church for the equipping of the Saints.

1:17:35

To some he gave apostles, to some he gave prophets, some to be evangelists and pastors and teachers.

The reason some debate on four and five is because some will lump pastors and teachers in together.

1:17:48

They say, you know, there really isn't.

You can't differentiate between a pastor and a teacher, but I lean towards the five fold.

1:17:55

And you'd say, well, why?

Well, I believe that every pastor should be a teacher, but I don't believe that every teacher is

1:18:03

supposed to be a pastor, if that makes sense.

I also believe that most of these functions overlap Apostolic apostolically speaking.

1:18:13

So what's going on here with the prophets?

Well, these were in function in and in office and in operation just like apostles.

1:18:20

Now I really need to do this.

Of course, I'm going to add it to my To Do List, but possibly I need to go over from the theological

1:18:29

position, at least from an Assembly of God doctrinal standpoint.

We call these position papers of why we do not OK as a movement fellowship a denomination.

1:18:41

I know people kind of kind of kind of scoff or gawk at the word denomination.

Technically, we're not a denomination, but at the same time, we're not fooling anybody.

1:18:50

We really are.

We are a cooperative fellowship, but at least from a doctrinal standpoint.

1:18:56

We do not recognize formally the office of apostles and prophets, but they were functioning in the

1st century.

1:19:06

So let me tell you a couple things about prophets.

Now earlier I had kind of hinted at the ministry of teaching.

1:19:12

So there's a difference between teaching and preaching.

What's the difference?

1:19:16

Teaching the word there is where we get didactic.

It is a systematic.

1:19:21

Now, I personally, you might find this strange.

I don't think I'm a very good teacher.

1:19:28

It's not because I have low self esteem or anything like that.

It's because I have a hard time.

1:19:32

If you put a blueprint in front of me, you put a bunch of notes and you want me to go to systematic,

listen, I'm going to have a hard time.

1:19:40

In other words, like if you got a Lesson plan, guess what?

I ain't following it.

1:19:44

You don't believe me as doggo as Nancy as because even when they translate, you know what their

biggest frustration is?

1:19:50

They'll say, pastor, you gave me some notes and you didn't follow any of it or you went off on this

way.

1:19:54

You went off on this way.

Well, now am I, am I saying that teachers don't do that?

1:19:58

No, but that's more of preaching and that's more of the of what we would also call the prophetic.

Am I calling myself a prophet?

1:20:05

No, no, no, stay away from me.

Get behind me or Satan, right?

1:20:11

No, I'm not saying that.

But let me explain here.

1:20:15

So the difference between teaching, teaching systematic, kind of line by line, linear way, preaching

is declaring the mind of Christ.

1:20:23

It's heralding, it's it's more of a proclamation.

It is a declaration.

1:20:27

It is.

Resounding the truths of God.

1:20:30

Now preaching can have elements and it should have elements of teaching in it, but generally

speaking it is a thus sayeth the Lord, just like just like prophets.

1:20:43

So in these days prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch.

Now, biblically speaking, the way that we would.

1:20:49

Define the ministry of a prophet is the majority of the time.

Now I'm not just saying this.

1:20:54

I've said this for many many years, but we also find this from Stanley Horton and his acts

commentary.

1:21:01

He says the primary ministry of prophets are is 4th telling, not foretelling.

You say what's the difference?

1:21:11

Well, the difference is foretelling is predicting the future.

There's a difference.

1:21:15

We're not talking like Nostradamus, we're not talking Mama Cleo, we're not talking astrology.

No, we're talking about predicting the future.

1:21:23

History that was written in advance under inspiration of God.

That's what we're talking about when we say foretelling.

1:21:30

Now 4th telling is taking the mind of Christ, what God has to say from His Word, and expounding upon

it.

1:21:41

So now, now we're mixing in both preaching and teaching along with the prophetic.

For 4th telling declaring.

1:21:50

And we could also think of this as, as kind of this why I said there's so much overlap in the

fivefold ministry.

1:21:56

There's there's an element of evangelism and elephant, a pastoring, an element of preaching,

teaching, all of those things.

1:22:02

That's the primary function of a prophet.

Now from time to time we also see the foretelling in this happens to be one of the cases right here

1:22:12

in Acts Chapter 11.

So let's read about it.

1:22:15

Did I confuse you yet?

Hopefully I didn't, but you know, in I was a little bit hesitant to go not that I'm going ultra deep

1:22:24

by any means, because I do want to do a podcast on that, at least from the official standpoint of

the Assemblies of God.

1:22:31

But normally I would like to have, I would like to be looking at somebody so that I can discern if

they're getting me or if they're not, or if everything I'm seeing is flying right over their head.

1:22:42

But anyway, so in these particular days, prophets came from Jerusalem.

What's their duty?

1:22:48

They're not coming up.

They're saying, oh, we're going to predict the future.

1:22:50

They're going to do essentially the same thing Barnabas was doing.

They're going to strengthen, they're going to, they're going to encourage.

1:22:55

What's the purpose of prophecy is for the edification and exhortation of the church.

It's to build up.

1:23:01

So they're coming to lend a hand.

These prophets are coming.

1:23:04

And then so evidently and in the course of of time in the course of these services, whether they're

gathering in large public gatherings or from house to house, one of them stood up in verse 28 and

1:23:16

his name was Agabus.

Now he will we will see him pop up again towards the end of the book of Acts.

1:23:24

But this particular man Agabus, he stood up and he was showed notice here.

Now the source showed by the spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the

1:23:36

world.

Now famines were not unusual to the 1st century, but this great famine and then the indication of.

1:23:45

All the world.

Is highly, highly significant.

1:23:49

Now there are skeptics and cynics about the Bible and they would be like, well, really all the whole

world actually, it did this this particular famine that we believe that this is in reference to did

1:24:00

touch their world.

When I say their world because like, you know some you know how you've met these kinds of people.

1:24:06

Well, technically speaking, the whole world would include South America.

Was there a famine in South America?

1:24:14

Was there a famine in Antarctica?

No, dumb, dumb.

1:24:18

It wasn't.

It wasn't a famine like that.

1:24:20

Their world is the whole Roman world.

So this is a great famine.

1:24:25

And then it said which.

And then Luke's like, and not only did they predicted, so he's because remember this Luke is writing

1:24:33

some years later after these events.

Obvious, right?

1:24:37

And so he says they predicted it and coincidentally it happened.

And then Luke just throws out this phrase in the days of Claudius Caesar.

1:24:46

Well, guess what?

There was a famine.

1:24:50

And skeptics and critics want to deny it, but we've got a guy who's not even a Christian.

He was a Jewish man.

1:24:57

His name, his name is Josephus, and he dog, he was a Jewish historian under the payroll of Rome

itself.

1:25:06

That was controversial, but that's a different podcast.

He documents that even Claudius Caesar's mother, was so concerned about this famine that it was so

1:25:19

widespread, in other words, throughout the whole Roman world that she herself was moved to go help

her friends because guess what?

1:25:31

They've got some.

Rome had some close friends, you say where?

1:25:34

Well, in Jerusalem, who were the friends?

It was king, the Herod dynasty, the Herodians.

1:25:40

So she brought down relief to Jerusalem.

And so coincidentally in verse #29 it says then the disciples, each according to his own ability.

1:25:52

I love that.

Each according to his ability.

1:25:54

In other words, they took up an offering and they weren't fleecing the flock.

What do I mean by that?

1:26:00

Hey, I need you to sow $100.

I need you to sow $1000 to get the seven blessings of Passover and you will receive your own.

1:26:11

No, they weren't doing that right.

It says the disciples.

1:26:14

These are the followers of Christ, both Jew and Gentiles, according to their ability.

Maybe for some it was a dollar, maybe some it was 10, maybe some it was 100.

1:26:26

They determined to send relief to the notice the phrase here.

The brethren, hold on a second.

1:26:33

Do you see the beauty in this?

Because I, I want us to process this.

1:26:40

So let's sit on this for a moment.

The disciples, this is the church that is now made-up of Jew and Gentile.

1:26:47

And you mean to tell me that they're all going to send an offering and they're going to send it down

to Judea.

1:26:53

Well, let me explain to you why.

And then let me explain to you the implications of how incredibly serious this is now in Judea.

1:27:00

The believers that are there, the believe the, the disciples, they're in a we're going to read in

the very next chapter.

1:27:06

They're in a tumultuous time.

They had experienced several years of peace, but also they had also suffered persecution as the

1:27:14

beginning of this chapter had indicated.

Right now, because of this persecution, many of these believers had been cut off from their

1:27:24

vocation.

The temple system.

1:27:26

The church was completely reliant upon the generosity of those that have begun even selling property

and laying it at the apostles feet.

1:27:35

But when Saul came in and in the the phrase that had been used, if you remember, he wreaked havoc.

That's like a wild boar running through your garden, through your vineyard.

1:27:44

He wreaked havoc and it probably the most of the resources at this time.

I'm not saying the church was broke or anything like that, but they had really, really been been

1:27:56

depleted and these believers outside of their own resource government speaking right because you're

in there.

1:28:08

What was the government?

It was Judaism, it was the temple system.

1:28:15

They were kind of up a Creek.

And not only that, the famine was, and although the famine had been widespread across the Roman

1:28:23

world, it seems to have been, it had particularly hit the area of Jerusalem and Judea pretty hard.

Now, why is that?

1:28:33

Well, from a practical standpoint, the flow of goods and services, Jerusalem would be kind of low on

the totem pole, geographically speaking.

1:28:46

And so they would have been hard hit.

So I want you to think about this, receiving an offering from now, people that maybe you might know,

1:28:55

a few people that had been dispersed from the persecution, scattered, planted by God, but now you

got all these folks that you've met.

1:29:02

You don't even wait.

Like Gentiles, they're sending money to help talk about a thing of beauty, and so they're sending it

1:29:11

to the brethren's dwelling in Judea.

I would encourage you.

1:29:16

Circle that word, brethren.

A circle, that word.

1:29:19

What is that?

Brothers and sisters?

1:29:23

Not by ethnic, not by blood, not by, you know, a national identity or ethnic identity, but what is

it?

1:29:32

Brothers and sisters.

United under the name of Jesus Christ, verse 30.

1:29:39

This they also did and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.

Wow, this is a beautiful chapter.

1:29:54

Acts Chapter 11.

I want to thank you so much.

1:29:58

I'm looking up at my recording software to see how long has it been.

Oh boy, it's an hour and 30 minutes.

1:30:07

Well, if you made it this far, I congratulate you.

I do thank you for tuning in.

1:30:14

I am really, really excited to get into chapter 12.

I feel like we're feel like we're doing good.

1:30:21

If there is, I say this all the time and I mean it.

Let me know.

1:30:24

If you did make it this far, would you let me know?

Would you comment on whatever platform you're listening to or send me a text, whatever you're more

1:30:31

comfortable with, But let me know like, hey, I made it.

And then also if there's anything you've got some questions on, hey, send me, send me a text, send

1:30:40

me an e-mail, whatever you want to do.

But thank you.

1:30:44

Thank you so much.

Let's stay rooted and grounded in God's Word.

1:30:56

Thank you for listening to Al Pastor with Brian Overturf.

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1:31:03

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1:31:19

Until then, we'll see you later.