And the Lord bless us together
as we continue our meditation in the Acts of the Apostles chapter
11 and we'll commence this evening from verse 19 down to the end. Well we read these verses together
this evening and what we read is they which were scattered
abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen traveled
as far as Venice, Cyprus, Antioch, preaching the words to none but
unto the Jews only. And we should recognize here
that these people had been witnesses of what had happened to Stephen
when he'd spoken so clearly about the Lord Jesus Christ. And because
of the words that he spoke, they were so angry, the Jews were
so angry that they rose up and cast him out and stoned him to
death. Now these people would have been very aware of that,
and yet you see the Spirit of God still moved them so they
were willing to go and to travel, and these places were a good
distance from each other, Phoenicia, Cyprus, Antioch, and what were
they doing? They were preaching the word
to none other but the Jews only. And so they were fearless really,
they may have been fearful inside, but they were fearless in the
operation of preaching the gospel to these people. And some of
them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which when they were come to
Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus. And of course, that's the great
secret and that's a great blessing. And that's the most important
thing in preaching the gospel is to preach the Lord Jesus,
to preach of him, his great work of salvation and to direct people
to the need there is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ so that
they might be saved. And so here they were then faithfully
preaching the Lord Jesus. Well were they left by themselves
Well, they're doing it in their own strength. No, God was with
them. And we're told this, and the
hand of the Lord was with them. Well, how important that is.
And how important it is still today that you and I in our lives
find the hand of the Lord is with us. We don't want to do
anything or go anywhere without the hand of the Lord being with
us and upon us. Because if that is so, then there
will be blessing. And there was here. The hand
of the Lord was with them and the result and a great number
believed and turned unto the Lord. Well, what a glorious time
this was in the church. Well, it was a time of rejoicing.
It was a time of blessing. It was a time of opposition.
It didn't have it easy. The Christians have never had
it easy and never will have it easy. The Church of God are told
that it's through much tribulation that we enter the kingdom, but
nonetheless, We are to go forth and to declare the great and
glorious truths of the gospel, speaking and preaching of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And so many turned unto the Lord. And the tidings of these things,
well, it was good news, wasn't it? The tidings of these things
came unto the ears of the church, which were in Jerusalem. Now
that was quite a long way away. And yet you see the good news
traveled And the good news came back to the church, which was
in Jerusalem. And they rejoiced in it and sent
forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch. And they sent him forth to encourage
and to help the brethren as they declared and preached the gospel
there. Who, when he came and had seen
the grace of God, was glad. And are we not glad today when
we see the grace of God? What does it mean? It means when
we see God's work appearing, there's nothing more glorious
and wonderful than to see the work of God appearing. And so
here were these people, they rejoiced. These tidings and these
things came unto the ears of the churches at Jerusalem, and
they sent forth Barnabas to Antioch, who when he came and had seen
the grace of God was glad. and exhorted them all, that was
purpose of heart, they would cleave unto the Lord. Yes, there
was this exhorting, encouraging them in the path, in the way
that they were, in the operation that was being fulfilled. He
came and encouraged them in it, not to stop, even if there was
adversity, they were to press on. They were to preach the unsearchable
riches of Christ. And so, He exhorted them that
with purpose of heart, they would cleave unto the Lord, keep close
to the Lord, and how necessary that is for us today, to be found
keeping close unto the Lord. You see, dear old Peter, when
he followed afar off, he wasn't close to the Lord. And what happened? Well, he was left to his own
sad heart's fear. of being apprehended himself
and so he denied the Lord Jesus Christ those three times. Well
it's a good instruction, an exhortation for us today to cleave unto the
Lord, to see that we may be found living close to the Lord. And
so we read about him, he was a good man and full of the Holy
Ghost and of faith and much people was added unto the Lord." Well,
that's a good description, isn't it? It's a wonderful favor to
be described like that, to be full of the Holy Ghost and of
faith, faith of God, faith toward God, that living faith, that
saving faith. And the evidence was that this
man was wonderfully blessed with it. And so then departed Barnabas
to Tarsus for to seek Saul. And when he had found him, he
brought him unto Antioch, It came to pass that a whole year
they were assembled themselves with the church and taught much
people. That must have been a blessed year, wasn't it? Remember here,
some of them were hearing the gospel for the first time. You
know, we think of that as amazing. It's still amazing today. There
are many people today that have never heard the gospel and need
to hear the gospel for the first time. What a blessing it is if
we're able to proclaim the truth of the gospel and many may hear
it many may come and join to hear it and as it were hear the
gospel for the first time and it be a wonderful blessing to
them and so here we see Paul and Barnabas here preaching the
gospel in Antioch for this year and we note that here in this
place was the first area where the people were called Christians
A Christian is a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well,
we may be called Christians in an outward way, but how necessary
it is if we are true Christians in an inward way, that we are
truly a Christian, a Christian moved by the Spirit of God, taught
by the Spirit of God. What a blessing it is then if
we're not just a Christian in a name only, but are a Christian
taught by the Holy Spirit and brought into fellowship and union
with the Lord Jesus Christ. And then we read, in those days,
there came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch, and there stood
up one of them named Agabus and signified by the spirit that
there should be great dearth throughout all the world, which
came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar. Here was a man raised
up to prophesy and tell them what would come, and so it came
to pass. Then the disciples, every man according to his ability,
determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judea."
And here we have an example of sending relief, and it's still
needful today. Our brethren in other countries still need relief,
and it's good when we're able to help them and to send relief
unto them, which also they did, and send it to the elders. by
the hands of Barnabas and Saul." Well, it's good, isn't it, to
read of the Lord's blessing in those early days of the church
and to know that many turned unto the Lord. And we're thankful
today that we worship the same God who is able to do great and
wonderful things for us. May we observe the wonderful
work of God.