The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
Acts 11:19-30the main passage preached through in full
19 They therefore who were scattered abroad by the oppression that arose about Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except to Jews only.
20 But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus.
21 The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.
22 The report concerning them came to the ears of the assembly which was in Jerusalem. They sent out Barnabas to go as far as Antioch,
23 who, when he had come, and had seen the grace of God, was glad. He exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they should remain near to the Lord.
24 For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and many people were added to the Lord.
25 Barnabas went out to Tarsus to look for Saul.
26 When he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they were gathered together with the assembly, and taught many people. The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.
27 Now in these days, prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.
28 One of them named Agabus stood up, and indicated by the Spirit that there should be a great famine all over the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius.
29 As any of the disciples had plenty, each determined to send relief to the brothers who lived in Judea;
30 which they also did, sending it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.
quoted briefly before a worship song: 'I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus'
8 Yes most certainly, and I count all things to be a loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them nothing but refuse, that I may gain Christ
cited to explain that giving should not be under compulsion but a predetermined matter of the heart
1 It is indeed unnecessary for me to write to you concerning the service to the saints,
2 for I know your readiness, of which I boast on your behalf to them of Macedonia, that Achaia has been prepared for a year past. Your zeal has stirred up very many of them.
3 But I have sent the brothers that our boasting on your behalf may not be in vain in this respect, that, just as I said, you may be prepared,
4 lest by any means, if anyone from Macedonia comes there with me and finds you unprepared, we (to say nothing of you) would be disappointed in this confident boasting.
5 I thought it necessary therefore to entreat the brothers that they would go before to you, and arrange ahead of time the generous gift that you promised before, that the same might be ready as a matter of generosity, and not of greediness.
6 Remember this: he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. He who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
7 Let each man give according as he has determined in his heart; not grudgingly, or under compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver.
8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that you, always having all sufficiency in everything, may abound to every good work.
9 As it is written, “He has scattered abroad, he has given to the poor. His righteousness remains forever.”
10 Now may he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, supply and multiply your seed for sowing, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;
11 you being enriched in everything to all generosity, which produces through us thanksgiving to God.
12 For this service of giving that you perform not only makes up for lack among the saints, but abounds also through much giving of thanks to God;
13 seeing that through the proof given by this service, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the Good News of Christ, and for the generosity of your contribution to them and to all;
14 while they themselves also, with supplication on your behalf, yearn for you by reason of the exceeding grace of God in you.
closing benediction: 'May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with this hope by the power of the Holy Spirit'
13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, in the power of the Holy Spirit.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Pastor Carl preached from Acts 11:19-30, picking up where Ray left off in the ongoing series through Acts. He traced the early church's expansion from Jerusalem northward to Antioch, and drew out what that movement means for First B today.
What was said
The passage opens with believers who had been scattered by persecution after Stephen's death. Rather than treating that suffering as a setback, Pastor Carl pointed out that God used it to carry the gospel northward into places it had not yet reached. The blood of the martyrs became the seed of the church, and the suffering that no one would have chosen turned out to serve a purpose larger than anyone could see at the time.
As the gospel reached Antioch, some of the scattered believers began sharing it with Gentiles as well as Jews. The power of the Lord was with them, and a large number believed. Pastor Carl paused on that phrase and pressed the congregation not to underestimate the weight of a personal witness. A simple story about what God has done, like the blind man's "I was blind, but now I see," can be the thing that connects the dots for someone on the edge of faith.
Jerusalem sent Barnabas to Antioch to see what was happening, and the choice was deliberate. Barnabas knew Gentile culture, and when he arrived and saw the evidence of God's blessing among these new believers, his first response was joy, not a correction about how things were done in Jerusalem. Pastor Carl held that up as a model, and named it as something he values about First B: when God is at work in other churches and in the community, the right response is to celebrate it.
Barnabas then traveled to Tarsus to find Saul, because he recognized that the body needed gifts he did not have. The two of them stayed in Antioch for a full year, teaching large crowds. Pastor Carl connected that consistent, patient teaching to what happens not just from the pulpit but in small groups, on job sites, and in homes, noting that the men's Thursday lunch group was an example of the word doing its work in close community.
The passage closes with a famine predicted by the prophet Agabus and the Antioch church's response: they took up a collection and sent it back to Judea through Barnabas and Saul. Pastor Carl found that detail striking. The gospel had traveled north from Jerusalem to Antioch, and now the fruit of that gospel came back south in the form of relief. He connected it directly to a recent event: a missionary partner in Uganda whose organization was robbed and a guard beaten, and how First B's missions team heard about it and immediately began looking for ways to respond, including building a visit into Ray and Tanya's current trip to Africa.
Threading all of that together, Pastor Carl offered an acrostic as a practical frame: take the gospel with you, remember it is for everyone, rely on the Holy Spirit rather than your own persuasion, encourage one another the way Barnabas did, look for other believers whose gifts complete what you lack, and participate when you recognize what God is already doing. The point was not a checklist but a posture, the same one the early church carried from city to city as it grew.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
Pastor Carl pointed out that God used the persecution and death of Stephen to scatter believers and spread the gospel, and said 'God doesn't waste our suffering.' Has there been a difficult or painful season in your own life where you later saw God working through it for good? What did that look like?
Pastor Carl said we should not underestimate the power of our witness, and used the example of the blind man whose whole testimony was simply 'I was blind, but now I see.' How would you describe your own story of faith in plain, simple terms like that? What holds you back from sharing it?
Speaker 1Check. Check. Check. Hey, Josh. May I have a couple of batteries?
I got a morning, everyone. How are we doing? Good morning. Great to see you. I'm fantastic this morning.
Thank you for asking. Would you stand and join us in song? Let's let's warm up to the Lord with this way so we're not picking up the time. Oh, of course. They gave me my own microphone.
Wow. Softly and tenderly.
Speaker 2Is calling, calling, oh sinner, come home. Should we tarry when Jesus is pleading, pleading for you and for me? Why should we linger and hear not his mercies?
Speaker 1Amen. You can have a seat here for a moment. Isn't that a beautiful song? Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling. May I I've got a confession here.
Sharing announcements is not one of my strengths. It just sounds like me reading a script, and I'm not very good at it. So I'm going to say this, first b jackson.org. Everything you need to know there is on that website. Nick Nick does a great job of keeping us informed.
I will say this, this coming Sunday at excuse me. This coming Wednesday at 06:00 is a community worship night at Gateway Church. The the different churches in town have gathered together, and we'd like to have a worship night. And so that'll be a Gateway 06:00. If you love to worship in song, please know that you're invited to join us.
Do I have another one?
Speaker 2You said six. Is it
Speaker 1six or 06:30? 06:00. Thank you. 06:00. And do I have do I have anything else there on announcements?
Is on. Is on. That's true. We had some new members this morning at the the 09:00. Sylvie, or you might know her as Ruth.
And then also John and Christy Hammond. And that was wonderful, just to invite them into the fellowship of the of the church. But other than oh, and another one. That that's it. I'm so glad these are up here, or else I'd forget everything.
But the missions team put this in front of us. They want to just put a picture of our missionaries and and prayer in front of us each Sunday morning so we're familiar with them, so that we know them, we're reminded on their top of mind, and also that we can pray for them. So while they're here and we see Dave and Kim Hatfield's picture here, may I take a moment to pray for them? And Lord, we do pray for Dave and Kim. Lord, I've I've I've been there to Kenya and know that it is a rough environment, and yet they are shining with the gospel and the love of Jesus so brightly there.
Lord, there are difficult things that that Kim and Dave face from day to day, and we pray, Lord, that you would fill their hearts with joy, that you would give them strength and endurance for each day. Lord, that you would bring and assemble a team together as they are searching and as for for the staff and as they continue to grow in number, Lord, that you would go ahead of them, that you would bless them. We pray this in Jesus' name. And also, as Ray and Tanya plan to make a stop there as well, that they could be an encouragement to Dave and Kim, that they could be filled up because your saints are caring for them and praying for them. Would you sustain them in Jesus' name?
Amen. I think that's all I have for announcements. Shall we sing again? The greatest thing in all my life. I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus.
That's from Philippians three eight.
Speaker 2The greatest thing in all my life is knowing you. The greatest thing in all my life is loving you.
Speaker 1You know, I love that song because to know him is to love him, to love him is to serve him. There's a progression there that that goes. What if it were today? Amen. There are a lot of different runs in that song, isn't there?
This is the worship through giving part of the service, and we've got a couple ushers here, I believe. And I don't say this enough, but if you are new to first beat, if you're new to first b, please don't feel obligated to give or just been considering. Get to know the heart of the church. Let us get to know you. Second Corinthians nine tells us that giving shouldn't be under compulsion, but it's a predetermined matter of the heart, deciding what we have wanted to give in advance.
And so we don't ever want you to feel to to be obligated to give. Before Judy plays, Steve, may I ask you to pray this morning?
Speaker 3You bet. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, like we just sang in the song, the best part about life is knowing you. You told us you are the way, the truth, and the life, and and boy you are. And now we just come to worship you in this way to give you some of our gifts and tithes and offerings.
The things that this world chases the most, we gladly give to you because there is no one like you. Jesus, we praise you for who you are and ask that you would accept these gifts of our our guide gifts and tithes, but also our lives. Help us to crawl into these plates too and do whatever you want us to do. In Jesus name, amen.
Speaker 1Quite a bit here. Thank you. Thank you. And good morning, everybody. How are we doing?
We're picking up in Acts chapter eleven nineteen through 30 today. I'm just picking up where Ray left off. And if you're just joining us in Acts, let me catch you up to speed. It's about the birth and growth of the Christian church. As simple as that.
It really is. The birth and growth of the Christian church, it is fast paced. It's exciting. It's chronological. I love Luke's authorship of this book.
And what's been grabbing a hold of me lately is, just how applicable it is for today in light of of just so much. How how the gospel was and is and it's still going forward. And today, we begin with let me see if this is gonna work for me. Not quite. There it is.
We begin with meanwhile, meaning, while while Peter was in Joppa, and he had a vision of pigs in a blanket. Does anybody understand that joke? Because of the sheet. My wife said this morning, Carl, not everybody understands that. But Peter had a vision of all the cloved animals, and God says, listen.
These are clean now, including pigs, so pigs in a blanket. Yeah. It's all in chapter 10 if you if you wanna read it. You didn't know how funny I was, did you? Yep.
So while that was happening, and Peter explains to these doubting believers who are going, I I don't know. Should we be sharing this with Gentiles too? Peter is saying, absolutely, you should. The gospel is for everyone, Jew and non Jew. And this is the message really that he had.
There's peace with God through Jesus Christ who is Lord over all, and he shows no favoritism. Ain't that wonderful? The good news for everybody. So while this is happening, the believers who had been scattered during the persecution after Stephen's death traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch Of Syria. Wouldn't you know it?
Ray even made us a map today. Wasn't that nice of him? And some of you are map people, and you go, I need a visual. Okay? I can't just imagine this in my head.
And I and I'm with you there too. But there it is. The good news is going forth. The good news is going north. And God uses something terrible, something awful, and that is Stephen's persecution and his death as a means to carry his worldwide plan of salvation to all who would believe.
You've heard the expression, the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. What was meant for evil, God used for good. And and I really do. I wanna pause there to say that I think that's an important takeaway for us today. That God can use an awful situation, and he can use it for good.
That God doesn't waste our suffering. We wouldn't choose it. We wouldn't wish it on anyone. And yet, God can use that suffering. He can use persecution.
He can use a terrible and awful situation to accomplish his purposes. And so I think that, there's comfort in that as well, that God, you're using all things, even things that we don't understand, to accomplish your purposes for his glory and our eventual good. Sometimes it doesn't feel good right now, but for our eventual good, God is working all things. But as the church scatters, they're bringing the good news with them. They're gospel carriers.
And what is the gospel? Jesus is the Messiah sent from God. He came. He lived. He taught, he ministered, he died a sacrificial death on our behalf for our sins, and then he rose again, and he ascended to heaven, and he sent his Holy Spirit.
He came, lived, died, rose, reigns, and sent his Holy Spirit. Just in a short little right? But that's the gospel. That's the good news of the gospel. And there's peace with God through Jesus Christ.
And he offers his love and forgiveness to everyone who believe who whoever believes in him. That's the good news of the gospel. So as they are going, just like Jesus commissioned him, look at this. They preached the word of God, but only to the Jews. As this holy nation, this chosen people, the gospel was first revealed to the Jews.
But God's plan all along was that they would be a light to the nations. That they would be a light to the nations. First to the Jew, the good news would first come to them, and then through them to everyone else. But this is a new era. This isn't happening right away.
Right? And but some of them were doing just that. Look at in 20. Some of the believers who went to Antioch from Cyprus and Cyrene began preaching to the Gentiles about Jesus. They didn't make a distinction between Jew and Gentile, and they shared with whomever would listen.
And look at this. And the power of the Lord was with them. And a large number of these Gentiles believed, and they turned to the Lord. Keywords here, the power of the Lord was with them. This wasn't a human just a human effort.
Right? This was an act of God working through ordinary men and women who simply shared their faith and trust in Jesus. Gospel witnesses. Gospel witnesses. Side note, may I just say this?
Let's not underestimate the power of our witness. Let's not underestimate the power of our witness. We don't know. Right? We don't know what God knows.
We don't see what God sees. We don't know what he has been doing and preparing in someone's life. Right? We don't always see that. And the power of God and your witness, your story about how God has changed your life, and sometimes that can be so simple.
Like the blind man. Listen. I was blind, but now I see. That's his story. Boy, that's not hard to tell, but how impactful was his story.
Right? Your story may connect the dots in a person's life for them to come to faith in Jesus. You might be that catalyst for them to turn the corner or rather to turn toward God. So may I just put that on your your plate this morning? God can use us in in powerful ways if we're willing to just simply share witnesses.
22. And when the church at Jerusalem heard what had happened, they sent Barnabas to Antioch. Barnabas, the son of encouragement. A Jewish man, but he was from a Gentile area, which means he knew the culture. He knew the people.
He lived with them. He understood them. And I think this was a very wise strategy to send Barnabas. Some might say, well, why didn't they send Peter? Peter might not have been the guy at the time, or maybe he was back in Jerusalem enjoying the benefits of now being able to eat bacon.
I know that I would. Right? Because now all animals are clean. I'm the bacon and the, you think, joke. But, a good strategy to send Barnabas going up there.
Tell us what's happening there in this big melting pot of a city. Right? Jews, Greeks, Romans. There's business. There's wealth.
There's power. You know what else there was? A lot of different religions. Little g God religions. This was a place where the gospel could really shine, and it did.
Go on up there, and look what happens when Barnabas goes there. When he arrived, he saw the evidence of God's blessing and it filled him with joy. The evidence of God's blessing. Think about the evidence of God's blessing. Well, his love, his joy, his peace, his patience, his kindness, his goodness, his faithfulness.
Those that's absolutely evidence of God's blessing. But the spirit of Christ in Barnabas was bearing witness with the spirit of Christ and these new Gentile believers, and Barnabas finds himself saying, this is a marvelous thing that God is doing among us. This is a wonderful thing that God is doing among us. And he didn't tell them what to do, or how to run their church, or say, hey, that's not how we do church in Jerusalem, friends. He didn't say that.
Barnabas saw the evidence of God's blessing, and it filled him with joy. Let me ask us this morning. When we see the evidence of God's blessing working in other churches and in our community, do we celebrate it? Do we applaud that? Because we ought to.
We really do. Just like Barnabas here. Something that I I I really appreciate and love about First Be is that we're not a territorial church. Meaning, we when we see God at work in our community and around the world, we celebrate it, and we wanna be a part of it. And Lord, help us to continue to be that kind of church where our doors are literally open all the time.
It's a wonderful thing. And look at this. This is one of my favorite parts of this verse. He encouraged the believers to stay true to the Lord. Such a simple but profound word for the people of God.
Friends, believers, stay true to the Lord. Keep following after him. Remember the good news of the gospel that he brought you out of darkness and into the glorious light of his son. Remember these things. 24.
Barnabas was a good man. He was full of the Holy Spirit and strong in faith. I tried to go back to the Greek, and it it really just says that. He was a good man. He was full of the Holy Spirit, and he was strong in faith.
But really, when you think of a Barnabas like that, isn't that winsome? Isn't that attractive? I like that. I wanna be around a Barnabas. And look at this.
And many people were brought to the Lord. Many people were brought to the Lord. Consider this, that his Christian witness, his Christian witness, that was a catalyst in bringing other people to faith. They saw Christ in him, and it drew those people to the Lord. And may that be said of us that people can see Christ in us and go, I I would like some of that.
I would like more of that. What what is that peace that you experience? What is that joy that you experience? Why are you remaining calm when peep you know, people are are are are are their hair is on fire. What what's what is going on in you that makes you that way?
It's a perfect opportunity to be able to say, it it really is because of Jesus. It really is because of him. '25, Barnabas. He went to to to to Tarsus to look for Saul. And I think this was another wonderful strategic move on the part of the church.
They had an encourager, Barnabas. He knew the culture. He knew the people, but they needed a Paul. They needed a teacher, an evangelist, a prophet. They knew some they needed somebody else in the body of Christ to make a more complete picture of the church.
And 26, look at this. When he found him, he brought him back to Antioch. Here's a map again. I know some of you are map people, but consider this, just the distances today, okay, between these different places. Right?
That would have been, like, 80 miles. 80 miles in that day. And they're not, you know, hopping on a plane or taking a road trip. Travel could be grueling at that time. And I would imagine often dangerous, and yet they go, this is worth it.
This is worth it. The Holy Spirit is stirring our hearts, and we need other parts of the body of Christ to to complete the work that that God's given us. And so that's what they did. And look at this. Both of them stayed there with the church for a full year teaching large crowds of people.
Consistent teaching of the word of God over time. I found this interesting that that word teach often is associated with Jesus' ministry, where he taught crowds, he taught his disciples, he taught individuals about the kingdom of God and about the fulfillment of scripture. Consistent teaching along the way. And it's not just teaching from right here. It's teaching in your small groups.
It's teaching on a job site. It's teaching in a home when you're caring for someone. It's meeting with individuals and sharing what you know to be true about Jesus. Just studying the word of God together. And, preaching and proclaiming is very important.
It absolutely is. But just as important, it is to, in our small groups, think of our men's group on Thursday, and a group of men come over lunch. And honestly, nobody's really even eating. I think their the the soul food right there, it seems to be enough. And and everyone seems to get engaged, and we begin to hear from one another, and we hear how they're learning from the scripture, and we get to hear their take on it or their experience of it.
And it's a beautiful, beautiful thing. Consistent application of the word of God over time. Big groups, small groups, whatever it is, the word does the work. We really do believe that here. The word is living and active.
We believe it's enough. But it does have to be taught. It does have to be presented. It has to be explained. '20, it was at Antioch that the believers were first called Christians.
They were called a lot of things before this. Disciples, saints, believers, brothers, witnesses, and now Christian, Christ ones. Christ ones. Those who sought to be like Jesus. And during this time, some of the prophets traveled from Jerusalem to Antioch.
Here's a map again. You map people. This was about 300 miles north of Jerusalem. So even if a person averaged about 20 miles a day, it would still take about fifteen days of actual walking. Think Nick Stern on his little you know, not little, those long journeys on the Camino that he does.
This is a lot of walking, but, you know, consider you get to know someone pretty well on a trip like that. You got a lot of time to talk with one another, probably be praying together. In '28, one of these prophets, Agabus, he stood up in one of the meetings and he predicted by the spirit that a great famine was coming to the entire Roman world. And this was to, was fulfilled during the reign of Claudius. And it wasn't just recorded by, by Luke.
You can look back at extra biblical records from Josephus and Tacitus, and and it records the famine too. These things really did happen. Luke gives us a an accurate historical account. But Agabas, a prophet, he predicted this would happen by the spirit. I know sometimes it can make people uncomfortable.
Oh, by the spirit, you know, in prophecy and things. I I would describe myself as charismatic with a seat belt. But I I would imagine I would imagine really though that it looks something like this. As they met together, right, and there was this prophecy happening that it probably looks something like this. Don't stifle the Holy Spirit.
Don't scoff at prophecies. Test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good, and stay away from every kind of evil. I would imagine their gathering looked a lot like that as they were listening to this prophet speak and prophesy about the famine that was coming. And look at this, 29, the believers responded.
The believers responded. The believers in Antioch decided they were gonna send relief to the brothers and sisters in Judea, everyone giving as much as they could. As followers of Christ, right, they were saying, what would Jesus do in this situation? What would Jesus do? And they responded with radical love and generosity and sacrifice too.
This they did, entrusting their gifts to Barnabas and Saul to take to the elders of the church in Jerusalem. And I think this is so awesome that the good news, it came from Jerusalem. Right? Went north to Antioch, and then the evidence of their faith in Jesus went back to Jerusalem just like a boomerang in the form of relief during that famine. That's the scripture.
That's that's what I've got today. Just that chunk of scripture right there, and I'm gonna stop for there for now. I have some application. I'll say this before that. Ray's gonna pick up, from there when he comes back in a few weeks.
Brad will be teaching the next two weeks, and then the week after that, one of our missionaries, Anders Olsen, will be sharing. But I want I I I wanna say that the application from this text leapt off the page at me this week. And I'm amazed at just how timely it is sending Ray and Tanya to Africa for a missionary encouragement tour and right here, right now in Jackson, Ohio, Wyoming for us. And so I'm gonna share this little acrostic with you. And it's it's trout.
That's that's not even a word. But I it's it's it's not. Yeah. I even looked it up. Maybe it's a word.
No. No. That's just what the the the first letter starts with. But there are application points nonetheless. So t for take.
T for take. Take the gospel with you wherever you go and word indeed. I think that we can draw from the text. As the believers were scattered, they brought with them the spirit of Christ wherever they went. They let their light shine.
And church man, encourage us to do so. Let your life shine. We meet here. Yes. The spirit of Christ fills us here, but we go out from here.
And what do we take with us? Spirit. We do. Let's be doing that. Let that light shine.
R for remember. Remember, the gospel truly is for everyone. We all have barriers, don't we? We have barriers that make us less inclined to share with this person or that. Let's remind ourselves, God so loved the the world.
The world. Can we see every person as a precious soul created in the image of God? Do you see that? As you go out into your workplaces, where you are, where you do life, do you see each person as a precious soul created in the image of Jesus? It's a good question to ask ourselves because it's when we do that, I begin the barriers start to the barriers start to come down.
God gave his only son that whoever believes in him would not perish but have eternal life. That's the message we carry with us. R for rely, to rely on the Holy Spirit's lead. God really is doing the work. We're just the messengers.
We're just carrying the message. The Holy Spirit does the good work of convicting and convincing. We're not typically arm wrestling people into faith. Right? What we are asked to do is to rely on his power and simply share the gospel.
We're just the messengers. E for encourage. Encourage one another and build each other up. You know the verse. But let's ask ourselves, in light of hearing from Barnabas today, how can I be a Barnabas?
How can I be a Barnabas? Who needs to hear a word of encouragement? Answer. All of us. We all do.
For real. And some of you say, you might say, that's not a real encouragement. But you can still have a good word for somebody. Who needs to hear that word? Stay true to the Lord.
Keep following after him. Listen. I know this is a very, very difficult season in your life. God truly is good. He will lead you through.
I'm here to walk through this with you. I'm praying for you. How can I help? How can I serve you? These are encouraging things to hear, whatever it is.
Can we take just a moment? Just a moment. Because we got plenty of time here. It's it's gonna be a short sermon. Let's let's let's take a moment here to pray and ask the Lord.
God, who could we encourage this week? Maybe it's today, maybe it's this week, maybe you've laid somebody on our heart and our mind that needs a word of encouragement. And Lord, when we feel stirred in that way, would we just take that step of obedience and respond immediately to offer that word of encouragement, that help, that prayer, whatever it may be, whatever it is that you're prompting us to do. Thank you God for the body of Christ. Thank you that we're all working together to accomplish your purposes.
It doesn't depend on on on on one of us. And we all in here have different circles of influence. And I'm asking, Lord, that in our circle of influence, that you would impress on us who it is we need to call or to encourage, pray for, just like Barnabas would. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Here's another. Look for other believers in the body of Christ to join you on the journey. Not one person has all the gifts. We were not made that way. God purposely designed us.
Purposely designed us so that our gifts would be working together. Just like Barnabas needed a Paul, we need one another. I just wanna tell you right now, I need you, body of Christ. I do. I need you, your gifts, your particular gifts.
And some of you might think, I I I don't even know what those are. I I'm not sure. I've I've I I don't know. But maybe just try something. Maybe maybe service is your gift, where you're an acts of service person.
You may not say a lot, but you sure can do a lot. Maybe you're words of encouragement person. Maybe you're a mercy person. Maybe you're an administrator. My wife is an incredible administrator.
She can get things done much faster than I can. But what is it that God has gifted you with? If you're a teacher and you like to teach small children. Uh-huh. What is that gift?
And if you're wondering what it is, try something. Try something. But we need one another. I need your gifts. One body, many parts, and we need one another.
P for participate. Participate as you recognize what God is doing. I believe that's coming right out of the text from verse 29. Participate as you recognize what God is doing. One quick story here as as I I begin to wrap up.
My sweet, sweet mom, her name is Sandy, and she has a best friend named Lisa. And they pray they pray together, and they share verses almost every day. They're always sending verses to one another. I often get to be the recipient of these verses. I love it.
Sweet, sweet, praying, godly women. And Lisa, she has a son named Jonathan. And Jonathan is a missionary at a place called Eagle's Wings Children's Village in Uganda. They share Jesus and meet the needs of orphaned and impoverished children, a lot like what Dave and Kim Hatfield do. And in fact, they're only ten hours from where Dave and Kim Hatfield are in Kenya.
But that's a picture of their website. I know you can't read all of that, but that's just a picture from their website. Last week, it was a Saturday. Last Saturday, a group of men broke into the organization. And long story short, one of the guards was beaten severely.
Many valuable things in in that place were stolen. The guard was brought to the hospital. He is now recovering. He's in better shape. But it was an awful, awful thing that happened.
And so I got that news on Saturday, and Sunday I came in, and just in passing, I saw the mission team was meeting in the library. And and I said, hey. Listen. Can I can I just share something with you? Would you pray for this situation?
And not only did they pray, later on, they said, we I think we can do more. I think we ought to do more. And so let's send a financial gift. And then Ray and Tanya said, well, we're in Africa. Let's just build it into one of our stops.
They plan to meet, this man, Jonathan. I haven't met Jonathan. I only know him through through my mother's friend. I mean, these are loose connections here. But we, first b, we recognize the work that God is doing, and we wanna be a part of it.
Whether it's relief or encouragement or whatever is needed, that is something I love about the heart of our church. I just want to tell you that. It's how much I I love the heartbeat of of first b. That whatever it is, we wanna be a part of it when we see God moving. And you are a loving and generous and spirit filled church.
May I just tell you that? Do you hear this often enough? Because it's so true. You are loving and generous and spirit filled church. And I'd like to be a Barnabas today and encourage us to participate as we recognize what God is doing in our homes, in our small group, in church, in neighborhoods, in workplaces, our town, our nation, around the globe.
Whatever God is doing, wherever he is moving, let's ride that wave and consider how we can participate. So that is the word of God from, Acts eleven nineteen through 30 today. And I'll invite Judy and Emily, if you would come back up, I I'd love to have a closing song. And while they're coming up, may I pray? Could we just pray together on what we've heard?
Lord God, we thank you for this very timely and applicable word today. And we want to be your gospel carriers in word and deed wherever we go. God, we know we blow it sometimes. We really do. But that point of the gospel is that we didn't live a perfect life, you did.
And, you died a sacrificial death on our behalf because of our sin. And, then you rose to life triumphantly. You ascended to heaven. You sent your Holy Spirit. And now here we are, the church, the body of Christ, continuing on in this day the work that you first gave us.
God, would you help us to remember the good news of your love and forgiveness? That's for everyone. Would you help us to rely on your Holy Spirit knowing it's not all on us. We don't save people. God, you do the saving.
We rely on your Holy Spirit. We just share the message. You're the one who moves in power. Would you help us to encourage one another? Lord, some people need a word of encouragement today, maybe even this afternoon.
Would you stir our hearts toward them? And would you help us to look for one another within the body of Christ? We don't single handedly have all the gifts. They're shared because you meant for us to use them together. And so, Lord, would you help us to look for one another in the body of Christ to continue to carry out the mission.
In Jesus' name, thank you for inviting us to participate in what you're doing. Amen. This is such a fitting song too.
Speaker 2Take my life. Lead me, Lord. Take my life. Lead me, Lord. Make my life useful to thee.
Take my life. Lead me, Lord. Take my life. Lead me, Lord. Make my life useful to thee.
Take my life. Teach me, Lord. Take my life. Teach me, Lord. Make my life useful to thee.
Speaker 1And Lord, we do make that our prayer, and we make that our song. Would you make our life useful? Lead us. Would you teach us? Would you send us out from here, Lord, to be lights?
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. And I wanna share this little benediction too. I thought this was so fitting for today. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him.
When we trust in him, that's when we are filled up with joy and peace, so that you may overflow with this hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
