Monday, May 20, 2019
Meanwhile, the believers who had been scattered during the persecution after Stephen’s death traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch of Syria. They preached the word of God, but only to Jews. However, some of the believers who went to Antioch from Cyprus and Cyrene began preaching to the Gentiles about the Lord Jesus. The power of the Lord was with them, and a large number of these Gentiles believed and turned to the Lord. When the church at Jerusalem heard what had happened, they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw this evidence of God’s blessing, he was filled with joy, and he encouraged the believers to stay true to the Lord. Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and strong in faith. And many people were brought to the Lord. Then Barnabas went on to Tarsus to look for Saul. When he found him, he brought him back to Antioch. Both of them stayed there with the church for a full year, teaching large crowds of people. (It was at Antioch that the believers were first called Christians.) Acts 11:19-26
It is God
who ordains people to the ministry, setting apart those whom He has called to
give their lives in calling others to faith in Christ. In the ceremony we see the hands of the
ordained (bishops, and other clergy) placed on the head of the candidate as a
symbol of that calling, consecrating the blessing of God. But, there is a great and largely unseen
force at work also…the Barnabas effect. The art of blessing from “behind the scenes”
is truly a magnificent thing to discover in life. Most of the encouragers I know seem
effortless about it; it is a gift that flows as naturally from them as the joy
you see on an infant’s face when she first notices that shiny, dangly mobile
above her crib.
Christians
were scattered out in all directions from Jerusalem because of persecution told
everybody about Jesus. It spread from
being a new sect of Judaism into an everyone welcome movement. Gentiles began flooding into the faith at
Antioch, and Barnabas was sent to check out the reports. What this encourager of the first order found
made his heart leap for joy…the fulfillment of prophecy that, through Abraham’s
line all the world would be blessed.
Barnabas stayed just long enough to encourage and support the revival,
but couldn’t wait to go get Paul. When
the Apostle arrived at Antioch the floodgates bringing tons of new Christians into
the fold required the next year to train and turn-loose for ministry.
While it
was God at back of all the events, orchestrating, and moving people by His Spirit,
Barnabas was the nexus God used to hold it all together and cross-pollinate
goodness, joy, and obedience throughout the process.
The
importance of encouragement cannot be underestimated. I have seen, firsthand, how the Barnabas
effect changes first the life of those who would minister…but the trickle-down result
of the spiritual mid-wife, encouraging the new believer from the womb of being
born-again is the miracle of the Great Commission in action. Without Barnabas there would be many still-born
of the faith, and very few effective evangelists.
From this
preacher’s perspective, my undying gratitude to all the Barnabas saints in my
life…my bride, Missy, Anne, Mom, Thom, Rodney, David, Kenneth, Don, Marshall,
Jennifer, Carrie, Sarah, and a truly great cloud of others.
For You Today
Scripture tells us that winning people to faith in Christ is the work of
all who would be obedient
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, And he who wins souls is wise. Proverbs 11:30
Barnabas
encouragers fill a big gap in what the evangelists among us cannot do nearly as
well as those called to pave the path to Heaven with encouraging words and
ways.
Go to VIDEO
[1] Title Image: Pixabay.com
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from The New Living Translation©
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from The New Living Translation©
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