2. We’ve been learning that:
God gave His blessing to the expansion of the church into the Gentile world.
none are excluded from the salvation offered through Christ Jesus and it is through faith in Jesus that one gains access to the salvation he offers.
the leadership of the early church saw God leading in this way and were quick to get behind it.
Today, we’ll see how members of the early church took this learning and began applying it missionally in how they lived.

3. “Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews. Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord. News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.

4. “When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. 

5. “During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch
“During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.) The disciples, as each one was able, decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in Judea. This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.”

6. As followers of Jesus fled Jerusalem after the death of Stephen and with Saul on their heels, they took the message of Christ to the corners of the Roman world.
A number of these Christian men and women headed northward through Phoenicia and across the Mediterranean to Cyprus, preaching to the Jewish communities there.
They initially only preached the good news of Jesus to the Jews of the towns they happened upon because, early on the message and ministry of Jesus was interpreted only as a fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel and therefore, it was a message nearly only pertinent to Jews.

7. Some of the followers of Jesus, men from Cyrene and Cyprus, reached the town of Antioch and began preaching to the Greeks found there.
The resolution of the church leaders in Jerusalem that “even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life” (Acts 11:18) began to be put to the test.
The result of preaching the good news to Gentiles was amazing; the gospel very quickly began to take root among the Greeks in Antioch.
It’s almost as though the Greek audience had been primed for this revelation of Jesus.

8. The church in Jerusalem heard the Greek converts in Antioch and dispatched some key leaders to help tend the church in Antioch.
Antioch was:
a city of great importance and home to royalty.
third largest city in the Roman world
home to a strong Jewish population
a very cosmopolitan place, where people of all sorts of ethnicities ended up together.
was known for having a lax morality

9. To this chaotic place, the church in Jerusalem sent Barnabus.
Why send Barnabus?
Barnabus was a Cypriot Jew by birth, one who had been raised in a cosmopolitan environment.
Barnabus was known as a peacemaker and encourager.
Barnabus “was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith”.
Barnabus the right man for this job, and under the Holy Spirit’s guidance, the church at Jerusalem agreed to send him to Antioch.

10. Barnabus’ presence in Antioch only amplifies what God has already been doing by His Spirit – “a great number of people were brought to the Lord”.
At the very height of his success, Barnabus “went to Tarsus to look for Saul”.
Barnabus’ choice to summon Saul was rooted in a commitment to disciple-making.
There’s an underlying concept of humility in Barnabus’ choice of Saul, for shortly we will learn that Barnabus begins leading from the second chair, allowing Saul to step into his God given calling.

11. Antioch became a veritable hot-bed of Christianity, rivalling even Jerusalem.
Whereas the church of Jerusalem remained largely an ethnic Hebrew church, in Antioch, we see the development of a cosmopolitan Christianity, a church made up of both Jew and Gentile; a church where a focus on Jesus was all that mattered, a place where all other distinctions were dropped at the door.
The pagan world of Antioch picked up on this, jokingly referring to these followers of Jesus as “little Christs” or Christians.

12. Agabus, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, prophesied of a large scale famine within the Roman world, most likely fulfilled during a recorded famine of AD 45 – 48.
Barnabus and Saul organized a collection for those in the grip of the famine and the church in Antioch offered relief to Judean Christians.
Agabus’ prophecy alerted the church in Antioch to the potential suffering of Judean Christians and the church responded to relieve their suffering as if it were their own.

13. As did Barnabus and the church at Jerusalem more generally, are you willing to get behind a movement of God’s Spirit, even if it challenges some long held ideals?
Are you willing to get wholeheartedly behind anything God is doing? Am I willing to get fully behind God’s work in this community?

14. Are we serious about disciple–making or if we are concerned with building our own little kingdom that we can remain regent over?
From the earliest moments of the church, following Jesus was not about power, position or accolades. It was instead about investing in others, empowering them and seeing others succeed, all the while giving glory to God for any increase.