Gospel Carriers in Word and Deed

In one paragraph

Carl walked through Acts 11:19-30, tracing how the early church spread the gospel outward from Jerusalem, and drawing out what that pattern means for First B today. The passage covers the founding of the church at Antioch, the ministry of Barnabas and Saul there, the prophecy of Agabus, and the relief offering sent back to Judea. The passage opens with believers who had been scattered by...

Read together

1. Acts 11:19-30 the main passage preached through
2. Acts 10 referenced as background for Peter's vision of clean animals
3. John 3:16 paraphrased as the gospel is for whoever believes, God gave his only son that whoever believes would not perish but have eternal life

Talk about it

1. Pastor Carl talked about God using Stephen's persecution and death to scatter believers and spread the gospel, saying 'God doesn't waste our suffering.' Has there been a time in your own life when God used something painful or difficult to accomplish something you didn't expect? What was that like?
2. Pastor Carl said we shouldn't underestimate the power of our own witness, and that even a simple story like the blind man's, 'I was blind, but now I see,' can connect the dots for someone else. How comfortable are you sharing your own story, and what holds you back?
3. When Barnabas arrived in Antioch and saw what God was doing among the Gentile believers, he celebrated it rather than critiquing how they did things differently. Are there places in your own life, whether other churches, other Christians, or other ways of doing things, where you find it hard to simply celebrate what God is doing?
4. Barnabas went and found Saul because the church in Antioch needed gifts they didn't already have. Pastor Carl said 'not one person has all the gifts' and 'God purposely designed us so that our gifts would be working together.' Where do you see your own gifts fitting into what this church is trying to do, and where do you sense a gap that someone else needs to fill?
5. The believers in Antioch heard about a coming famine and responded by sending relief to people they had never met in Judea. Pastor Carl called this 'radical love and generosity and sacrifice.' When you hear about a need, what helps you move from awareness to actually participating, and what tends to get in the way?