Just take your copy of God's Word, which I hope you have with you today, and turn to the book of Acts chapter 11.
While you're getting there, let me say that I am thankful for the imperfections of this world in so far as they point us to the perfection of the world to come.
One day the earth will be lit by the radiance of Christ, and I'm confident that Wes' guitar will be fueled by Jesus' glory.
Amen.
This morning we are returning to our verse-by-verse exposition of the book of Acts, but before we do, I'd like to do two things.
Number one, I'd like to clarify what is meant by exposition.
Simply put, to exposit a text in a sermon is to make the main point or points of the sermon to be the main point or points of the text.
It's simply to explain what a text means.
Verse-by-verse exposition is a systematic working through a book or chapter or passage.
This is our general habit.
That's where we find ourselves in Acts chapter 11, having taken a break from our verse-by-verse exposition of the book of Acts.
Topical exposition begins with a particular topic in mind and then works out from a particular text concerning that topic what the Bible has to say about that particular topic.
Please do not be narrow in your understanding of expositional preaching.
There is a time and a place for both verse-by-verse exposition and for topical exposition.
But either way, true preaching is Bible preaching and therefore true preaching is expositional preaching.
Secondly, because it has been a number of weeks since we have been studying Acts together,
and because some of you weren't with us when we began our study,
I think it wise to give a brief summary of what we have learned so far in the second account written by Luke.
Luke's first account is the account of the life and ministry of Jesus on earth.
You know it as the Gospel of Luke.
Luke's second account is the account of Jesus' ascended ministry.
How it is that He is now building His church is the account that we find before us.
Remember that this book is our history.
It's our family history.
This is the church in its early days.
And we have in the telling of this story a lineage that's found within it,
which means it's incredibly precious for us.
In chapter 1 in the book of Acts, we see that Jesus ascends to the Father,
but not before promising to send the disciples the Holy Spirit,
the Helper that He had promised to them at the Lord's Supper.
In chapter 2, they receive the promised Spirit,
and the church is born through the preaching of Christ,
primarily through Peter.
And we saw the fellowship of the early church
and their devotion to the ways of the Lord.
The church expands in chapter 3,
after a famous beggar is healed,
and Peter preaches at the temple to the gathered crowd.
In chapter 4, Peter and John are arrested for teaching the people
about the resurrected Christ,
and they speak the Gospel boldly to the Sanhedrin.
Later in chapter 4, Luke records the sale of a field
and the donation of the proceeds by a man called Barnabas,
which we'll talk more about today.
In chapter 5, Ananias and Sapphira, a married couple,
also sell a field, but they are struck dead by the Lord
for withholding a portion of the proceeds and for lying about it.
Then, but later in chapter 5,
the apostles are arrested again by the Sanhedrin.
They're beaten, and they're charged not to preach Jesus any longer.
In chapter 6, the church selects deacons,
one of whom is a man named Stephen.
Stephen serves the church meals,
and he preaches the Gospel,
the latter of which finds him arrested again by this council called the Sanhedrin.
In chapter 7, Stephen defends his preaching
and indicts the Sanhedrin as being set against God,
which infuriates them,
and they have Stephen stoned, the first Christian martyr.
Stephen's stoning is overseen by a man named Saul,
who continues to persecute the church in chapter 8,
which scatters the believers from Jerusalem.
This is all held within the walls of Jerusalem.
Scatters the Gospel forth from Jerusalem.
They go about preaching.
We can think of it as gossiping the Gospel everywhere they go,
and the Gospel begins to expand to other ethnicities
through the preaching of Philip.
In chapter 9, Saul encounters Jesus on the road to Damascus.
He is converted,
and he begins to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
In chapter 10, a centurion named Cornelius, an Italian,
so this is outside the ethnicity of the Jews,
sends for Peter.
Peter is given a vision that informs him
that the Gospel is not just for the Jews.
Peter travels to Cornelius,
and he, being Cornelius and his household,
is converted and receives the Spirit.
And in the beginning of chapter 11,
Peter reports what happened with his vision
and the conversion of Cornelius' house
to the church in Jerusalem.
And the church in Jerusalem declares,
in verse 18 of chapter 11,
then to the Gentiles also,
God has granted repentance that leads to life.
And so chapters 8, 9, 10, and 11
are these kind of hinging chapters.
The story up to this point,
beginning in chapter 2,
has been primarily about Peter
as a minister to the Jews,
and we're transitioning across some chapters
to what the rest of Acts really is about,
which is Paul as a minister to the Gentiles.
We've got these chapters that transition
between the two.
And so that's where we find ourselves this morning,
beginning in verse 19 through verse 30.
So Acts 11, verses 19 through 30.
Now those who were scattered
because of the persecution that arose over Stephen
traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch,
speaking the word to no one except Jews.
But there were some of them,
men of Cyprus and Cyrene,
who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists
also, preaching the Lord Jesus.
And the hand of the Lord was with them,
and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.
The report of this came to the ears
of the church in Jerusalem,
and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.
When he came and saw the grace of God,
he was glad,
and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord
with steadfast purpose,
for he was a good man,
full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.
And a great many people were added to the Lord.
So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul,
and when he had found him,
he brought him to Antioch.
For a whole year they met with the church
and taught a great many people.
And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.
Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch,
and one of them named Agabus stood up
and foretold by the Spirit
that there would be a great famine over all the world.
This took place in the days of Claudius.
So the disciples determined everyone according to his ability
to send relief to the brothers living in Judea,
and they did so sending it to the elders
by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.
Beloved, this is God's Word to us.
It was written for His glory and our good.
We would all do well to listen to it this morning
in order to believe its promises
and to obey its commands.
Now as we're looking at historical narrative in this way,
Luke is a physician, but he's also a historian.
He's writing down an account of what happened.
This narrative form is not expressly meant to teach us,
as you might in one of the epistles.
I much prefer preaching an epistle.
One of Paul's letters are expressly,
the intent of it is that he's going to correct doctrine,
he's going to give application of doctrine.
And narrative is not necessarily that way,
but it has massive value as biography does,
because we get to peer into the lives of early Christians.
And if you read biography generally,
into the lives of Christians,
and we get to look at the way they followed Christ,
and we get to emulate the way that they followed Christ.
And so there are a number of characters in our text this morning,
and we would do well to pay attention
to the way that they live their lives,
and to consider how it is we should conform to their pursuit of Christ.
And so to do that this morning,
I would like for us to note four things about four characters in the text.
And the first is the proclamation of the gospel.
You see this in verse 19 through 21.
People had begun to travel, right?
The persecution of Stephen launched this advancing of the gospel.
You see verse 19 says,
Luke reminds us,
now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen,
Stephen was the catalyst that began this work,
traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch.
And if you can picture the Mediterranean Sea in your mind,
up in the far right corner of the Mediterranean,
this is where these things are.
Cyprus is an island, Phoenicia is a region,
Antioch is a city up in that corner.
A good distance they had traveled already.
And verse 19 tells us that,
in large part,
the disciples were just preaching Jesus to the Jews.
But verse 20,
some of them,
some disciples from Cyprus and Cyrene,
which is a region in Africa,
what they've gone north for,
I'm not really sure,
but there they are.
So disciples from Cyprus and Cyrene go to a city called Antioch,
and they proclaim the gospel to the Hellenists.
Now Antioch is the third largest city in the Roman Empire in this day,
second only to Rome itself and Alexandria.
It was a center of culture for the region.
There's also a vile place full of pagan worship and sexual immorality.
And it becomes,
and we're going to see through the book of Acts,
an incredibly strategic place of gospel advancement.
It becomes kind of a home base for Paul's missionary journeys
as he takes the gospel far and wide amongst Gentile people.
So in Antioch,
these disciples of Cyprus and Cyrene have begun to expand gospel proclamation,
be gone just those who are Jewish,
to the Hellenists.
Who is Luke referring to when he talks of the Hellenists?
Now back in Acts chapter 6,
you may remember this title.
Acts 6.1 says,
Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number,
a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews
because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.
So the Hellenists are believers.
These are new converts.
They're part of the church.
And there's a problem because the widows of the Hellenists are not getting food.
The footnote,
if you have an ESV or maybe another translation,
if you have an ESV,
look at the footnote from 6.1,
and it says of Hellenists,
that is Greek-speaking Jews.
So the Hellenists here,
as defined by the translators of the ESV,
or whomever added the footnotes to it,
calls the Hellenists Greek-speaking Jews.
Well, that seems inconsistent then, doesn't it?
Because isn't what Luke's saying is that
the disciples who went forward for preaching to the Jews,
except for some guys that weren't preaching to,
the Hellenists,
they were preaching to the Hellenists,
they weren't preaching to Jews.
Now, if you look back in Acts chapter 11,
the footnote says,
instead,
if you have an ESV,
or Greeks,
that is,
Greek-speaking non-Jews.
So in one place,
just a couple pages over,
they say that is Greek-speaking Jews,
or the Hellenists,
and in another place,
that is Greek-speaking non-Jews.
Isn't that fascinating?
And it really made me scratch my head,
because I said,
well, how in the world did they arrive at that conclusion?
How did the translators of the ESV Bible say,
in one place,
these are Greek-speaking Jews,
and in another place,
these are Greek-speaking non-Jews?
And to be totally frank,
I'm not sure how they arrived at it,
but I think this is how they arrived at it.
Let me draw your attention here
to a transition in language.
The phrase that we find in our text today
is that they were preaching the Lord Jesus.
And for us,
we might read right past that, right?
We understand Jesus to be the Christ.
We understand Jesus to be the Lord.
But there's a difference in the way
that Christ is being presented.
Luke is very precise here.
They're not preaching Jesus as the Christ.
They're preaching Jesus as Lord.
Acts 8.5
An example here.
Philip went down to the city of Samaria
and proclaimed to them the Christ.
He went to a people who were not ethically Jewish,
or kind of a mixed crowd,
but followed Judaism,
and he preached to them the Christ.
They understood.
The Old Testament spoke of a promised one,
a deliverer who would come
and take away their sins.
So they're preaching Jesus as the Christ to Jews
because they had a context of understanding for that.
But these Hellenists,
these non-Jew Greeks,
would have had no idea
if you came to them and said,
hey, Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ.
They would have said,
what are you talking about?
The Christ?
Who is this?
Messiah?
We have no frame of reference
for what you're talking about.
But they would have understood Lord.
They would have understood Jesus as Lord,
King,
Ruler of all things.
And it's important to note this
as we're talking about gospel proclamation
because this is the first place
we see contextualization.
Not that the message changes.
They didn't change who Jesus is,
but they spoke very specifically
about who He is.
They spoke the language of the people
that they were going to
in order to present Christ
to them appropriately.
Jesus is Lord,
and let us show you now
how He's the fulfillment
of Old Testament Scripture,
which you've not had prior to
us bringing it to you.
So it's a precious truth to see here,
and it's why I think
they can arrive at this idea
of Hellenists used two different places.
These are non-Jews
that they have now begun
to preach the gospel to.
Jesus as Lord.
And verse 21 says,
And the hand of the Lord
was with them,
and a great number who believed
turned to the Lord.
Beloved, we drove this last week.
If you were here with us,
we talked about gospel commission
and the charge that's placed
on the shoulders of all believers.
If you are a disciple of Jesus Christ,
it is your work to make disciples
of Jesus Christ.
We are meant to be proclaiming
the good news to everyone.
You talk about what you love.
No one's excluded from this.
Some are particularly gifted at it,
but no one is excluded
from the call to preach the gospel
and see people converted to Christ.
This is a responsibility
laid on all our shoulders.
But it is never effective
if the hand of the Lord
is not with us.
It is God who works
in our gospel proclamation
to bring about conversion
in the souls of men.
So, the question is asked, right?
If these people were meant to believe,
these Hellenists in Antioch
were meant to believe,
would they have believed
apart from the gospel proclamation
of these particular disciples
of Cyprus and Cyrene?
And my answer is yes and no.
I do not believe
that they would have believed
had someone not proclaimed
the gospel to them.
I do believe
that God intended
to save these people
and would have saved them
by the gospel preaching
of someone.
Someone would have come
and preached the gospel
to these people.
It was to the disciples
of Cyprus and Cyrene's
great benefit
that they were the ones
who did it.
They joined in the work of God
amongst these peoples
in this place called Antioch
and they got to see Him
convert people,
a great number of people,
to faith in Christ.
And this is where
we find ourselves.
God does not need you,
but He loves you
and He wants you
to be involved
in His purposes in the world.
There's no greater reward
than to be caught up
in the things of God
in this world.
So a great number believe.
Because they're preaching
and the hand of the Lord
is with them,
a great number believed
and turned to the Lord.
A great number who believed
turned to the Lord.
And we see a picture here
of repentance and faith.
And this is what Luke
is trying to communicate to us.
Not just mentally ascending
to the idea of Jesus as Lord.
Not simply saying in their mind,
that seems true,
but they actually have faith
that Jesus is Lord
and they turn to Christ.
They turn away from sin.
They turn away from the vileness,
from the sexual immorality
of the city in which they live
and they turn to Jesus as Lord.
These two things are inseparable.
The gospel is proclaimed.
People repent.
And they believe
because the hand of the Lord
was with them.
So we see these disciples
and their gospel proclamation.
And we should note that carefully
this morning.
Secondly,
we see the life of Barnabas.
The life of Barnabas.
And we get to learn more
about Barnabas later on
in the book of Acts.
I'm thankful for that.
But here we can get this picture,
this glimpse of the life of Barnabas
verses 22, 23, and 24.
This is the same Barnabas
from chapter 4
that I mentioned to you
in that very brief summary.
His name is Joseph.
You see in chapter 4,
Joseph,
who they also called Barnabas.
I'm not sure if it was
another name.
It seemed a lot of people
in this day had multiple names
or if it was a nickname.
It could have been.
Because it means
son of encouragement.
It's very possible
that the way in which
Barnabas lived amongst
those early disciples,
they had given him a nickname.
And they called him Barnabas,
the son of encouragement.
And it should be
no surprise to us
that when he comes
to these believers in Antioch,
he's sent to them
by the church in Jerusalem,
that he exhorts them.
He exhorts them.
The word exhort
can be a bit foreign to us.
It means to encourage.
It means to call to one's side
as if to say to someone,
come and walk the way I'm walking.
Come and be drawn to my side
and walk along with me
in the way of Christ.
And this is what Barnabas does
when he comes.
He exhorts the church.
In verse 24, Luke reports
that he was a good man.
He was full of the Holy Spirit
and of faith.
Why was he a good man?
Because he was full
of the Holy Spirit
and of faith.
And if Luke wanted to focus
on the divine enabling
of Barnabas' life,
he could have said
the key to him being a good man
was that he was full
of the Holy Spirit.
Or if Luke wanted to focus
on the human side,
he could have said
the key to him being a good man
was that he was full of faith.
Luke rightly says both.
He says that for him
to be a good man,
he must be enabled
by the Holy Spirit.
And for him to be a good man,
he also must have faith.
There's both a human element
and a divine enabling
in Barnabas' status
as a good man.
And this speaks to our
gospel identity, doesn't it?
Who we are in Christ
and the way in which
that motivates
the way that we live.
Over the past five weeks,
we've been talking about that.
We've been talking about
these four different C's.
Conviction, community,
character, and commission.
I told you it was going
to come back up
and you're going to get
so sick of hearing it.
But I hope it changes
the way that you live.
These areas of our life
that we throw ourselves into
and by the enabling power of God
we're made more perfect by them.
I want to show you those things.
Right here in this text,
these four areas of Barnabas' life
that we're also meant
to be excelling in.
So, quickly,
Barnabas' gospel conviction.
Verse 23,
when he came and saw
the grace of God,
he was glad and he did what?
He exhorted them all
to remain faithful to the Lord
with steadfast purpose.
Barnabas knew who God was
and that the ways of God
were more excellent
and so with steadfast purpose,
he continued to draw them
to the ways of God.
He also recognized
that he needed
a greater element of teaching.
Barnabas knew
that he was not an apostle.
So, who does he appeal to
to come and help teach
this early church in Antioch?
Verse 25,
Barnabas went to Tarsus
to look for Saul.
We're not really sure
where he's been.
He is Saul of Tarsus.
So, Barnabas heads
to his hometown,
which is not very far
from Antioch.
And when he found him,
he brought him to Antioch
for a whole year.
They met with the church
and they taught
a great many people.
Barnabas recognized.
He held deep convictions
and he recognized
that other Christians
needed to hold
deep convictions as well.
Barnabas,
in the area of gospel community.
Verse 22,
he was part of a church.
The report of this,
the conversions in Antioch,
came to the ears
of the church in Jerusalem
and they sent Barnabas
to Antioch, right?
He was part of that fellowship.
He had proven himself
amongst that fellowship
and he was sent
to help the church
in Antioch
because he was part
of the church
in Jerusalem.
Verse 23 says,
when he came
and saw the grace of God,
he was glad.
He was relishing
in the fact
that God had been gracious
to another people, right?
He came amongst
a new church
and it brought him joy.
Look at his character.
You can pick this up
in multiple places, obviously.
Luke has called him
a good man.
Let me give you
another example.
Verse 30,
there's some raising
of funds
for a future calamity,
a famine that's going
to happen.
So they raised funds
and they sent it
and they did so,
sending it to the elders
by the hand
of Barnabas and Saul.
Barnabas was a
trustworthy individual.
They could send
this great sum of money
with him to travel
to the elders in Judea.
And then Gospel Commission,
verse 24,
the last part of it,
and a great many people
were added to the Lord.
So as Barnabas
is amongst them,
exhorting them,
he's also proclaiming
the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We can learn much
from the life of Barnabas
as we observe it
just in this text,
much less in many
other places.
So we see the proclamation
of the gospel
by these disciples.
We see the life
of Barnabas.
Thirdly,
we see the leadership
of Paul.
the leadership of Paul.
Mentioned a moment ago,
right?
Barnabas sees a need,
recognizes he's not an apostle,
he goes to Tarsus,
looks for Saul,
brings him back,
and for a year,
they met with the church
and they taught
a great many people.
Now, in our text,
Luke calls him Saul.
You're familiar,
I think most of us
are probably familiar
with this transition
of name.
This apostle Saul
becomes the apostle Paul.
Does anybody remember
how that happens?
This isn't a
God comes and changes
his name situation.
Saul was Paul's
Jewish name.
This is his Jewish name.
Acts 13.9.
Here's the transition.
Saul becomes Paul.
Acts 13.9.
Simply Luke records,
but Saul,
who was also called Paul.
This is just after
Saul has been sent
with Barnabas
to the island of Cyprus.
Barnabas' home place.
Just after this,
you see this change
in the way Luke records.
And I'm fairly confident
that what's happened
is again,
Paul has contextualized.
He's now changed,
rather than been calling Saul
by his Jewish name
as he's been turned out
as a missionary
to the Gentiles.
He now goes by Paul,
which is his Roman name.
It's his Gentile name.
So he'd be more accepted
amongst them
to say to them,
I am part of Rome.
He's Jewish,
but he's also part of Rome.
And we can see in our text
that his leadership
was lengthy
and that it was expansive
for a whole year.
And they taught
a great many people.
And we can also see
that his leadership
was effective.
Then the verse 26 says,
And in Antioch,
the disciples were first
called Christians.
Now, why would I suggest
that his leadership
was effective?
Simply because in Antioch,
the disciples were first
called Christians.
This is because,
prior to Antioch,
Christians were called
followers of the way.
This is the standard thing
that Christians were called.
You can call yourself that today
if you'd like to.
People scratch their heads.
They might think
you're part of a cult.
Followers of the way.
It was in Antioch
that they began
to call them Christians.
And to be Christian
is simply meant
to be of the party of Christ.
To belong to Christ.
And in Antioch,
it was meant
as a term of derision.
This was not a positive thing.
This was a persecuting thing.
Unbelieving people in Antioch
were beginning to make fun
of those who claimed
to follow Christ
by calling them Christians.
They were beginning to suffer
for the name of Christ,
which means
they were following Christ faithfully.
So under Saul's leadership,
Paul if you prefer,
here it is
that these early Christians
are beginning
in greater effort,
broadening effort,
to be persecuted,
to be called Christian.
Praise God,
the term Christian
was meant
as a term of derision.
It became
a badge of honor.
Peter writes
in 1 Peter 4.16,
Yet if anyone suffers
as a Christian,
let him not be ashamed,
but let him glorify God
in that name.
The name of being
a Christian.
Belonging to Christ.
Being of the party
of Christ.
Christ.
Now,
no one in this room
or anyone today
is an apostle.
I'm not suggesting
that we look at the life
of Paul
and lead the way
Paul led.
No one here
is or ever will be
or will ever know
an apostle.
That is an office
that has been closed down.
But we are all still
meant to lead
in some form
or some fashion.
Some the way
I'm leading now
and give leadership
to a church.
Some in leading
a faithful friend
to Christ.
Some in walking
before their co-workers
in a way
that is an example.
We are all meant to lead
and we can look to Paul
as an example in that.
So we see the proclamation
of the gospel
by the disciples,
the life of Barnabas,
the leadership of Paul,
and fourthly,
the generosity
of the church.
So our fourth character
is the church
in Antioch.
And we see this
in verse 27-30.
So we see in these days
prophets came down
from Jerusalem
to Antioch.
Now Antioch is north
of Jerusalem,
but in these days
everything came down
from Jerusalem.
Both because it was
the center
of Jewish life,
but also because
it was on a hill.
So if you come down
off a mountain,
you're not very concerned
about the cardinal direction
that you came down.
But you would say,
I came down
off the mountain.
So this is what
they're talking about.
They traveled north,
but they came down
from Jerusalem
to Antioch.
And a man named Agabus
stands up,
foretells by the Spirit,
gives a prophecy
that there's going to be
a famine
over all the world.
And Luke includes for us
that this did in fact happen.
It took place.
The famine took place
in the days
of Claudius.
And as a result
of this prophecy,
the disciples decide
together
that they're going
to take up a collection
in order to alleviate
the suffering
of the brothers
living in Judea.
And they send it
by the hands
of Barnabas
and Saul.
There's much debate
over the gift
of prophecy today,
but wherever you may
come down on that matter,
which we won't get into
today for the sake
of time,
the gift was in fact
active at the time
of the church
in Antioch.
We can see that
to be clear here.
Somebody came
and they prophesied
that an event would happen
and it did in fact
happen.
So wherever you are
on that,
it did happen here.
And as a result
of that,
the disciples
were generous.
The disciples decided
that they should
take it upon themselves
to alleviate
the suffering
of their family members.
2 Corinthians 9.7
Wes quotes this
loosely to us often
as he talks about
our offering here.
Each one must give
as he has decided
in his heart,
not reluctantly
or under compulsion,
for God loves
a cheerful giver.
And you can see here
these disciples
determining everyone
according to his ability
to send relief
to the brothers
living in Judea.
Beloved,
we far too often
look for satisfaction
in this world
by things that we
purchase,
that we can have.
And I can promise you this,
that what you drive,
or the house
that you live in,
or the designer clothes
that you wear
will never satisfy
your soul.
We look far too often
fiscally
to satisfaction
that will never
ever come.
The other day
at dinner,
Judah announced to me
that he was going to live
a really,
really long time.
And I said,
really, Judah?
How do you know that?
And he said,
because every time
we go out on Papa's boat,
so his grandparents
on Sam's side
have a pontoon boat,
every time we go out
on Papa's boat,
I do this.
I said,
why does that mean
you're going to live
a long time?
And he said,
because we need air.
And I get lots of it
on Papa's boat.
I didn't correct him.
I just was cute.
We just laughed about it.
But he's seeking
to fill himself
with something
that he thinks
gives him life,
right?
And certainly air
does do that very thing.
But there's so much else
that brings life
to his little body.
Am I right?
In the same way,
we stand gaping
looking to satisfy
ourselves with so much.
And what you will be
ultimately satisfied with
when it comes
to your resources,
when it comes
to your money,
is generosity.
Richness toward God.
And I would suggest
that as we look
at this early church,
we think about
what we're holding on to
that we really ought
to let go of
for the sake
of the kingdom of God.
That we look at
how we can store up
treasure above
and not harbor
treasure here.
You're not taking it
with you.
There's a Charles Spurgeon
quote on the front
of your bulletin.
He said,
Giving is true having.
As the old gravestone
said of the dead man,
I really love this,
what I spent,
I had.
What I saved,
I lost.
What I gave,
I have.
So I would encourage you
as we consider that,
what can you give?
Even those of you
who are young
and in college
and working part-time jobs,
you have more
than many people
in the world.
How would God
have you be
more generous
in the kingdom?
So we see the proclamation
of the gospel
by the disciples
of Cyprus and Cyrene,
the life of Barnabas,
the leadership of Paul,
and the generosity
of the church.
And if we will stop
and be introspective
and consider,
right,
God's word to us
and what he means
for us to do with this.
There are many,
many applications
of such a text.
Lots of things
for you to consider
as you hold your life up
to the lives
of these people.
How does your life
measure up?
Are you regularly
and widely proclaiming
the gospel of Jesus Christ?
Are you full
of the Holy Spirit
and of faith?
Are you giving leadership
to others?
And are you generous?
Let's pray together.