<\/p>\n
\nAct 11:19-26<\/span>\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0Now 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.<\/span><\/a>\u00a0But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus.<\/span><\/a>\u00a0And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.<\/span><\/a>\u00a0The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.<\/span><\/a>\u00a0When 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,<\/span><\/a>\u00a0for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord.<\/span><\/a>\u00a0So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul,<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and 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.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
In Acts 11, the number of Gentile believers in Antioch was growing. When the believers in Jerusalem heard about it, \u201cthey sent Barnabas off to Antioch\u201d (v. 22). Remember Barnabas, the Son of Encouragement? We met him in Acts 4 when he gave a gift to the church and inspired other members to give. Then we saw him again in Acts 9 when he stood up for the newly converted apostle Paul. So when the church wanted to send somebody to encourage the new Christians in Antioch, of course they sent Barnabas. \u00a0 Verse 23 says, \u201cWhen he arrived and witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with resolute heart to remain true to the Lord.\u201d Barnabas understood something that is still true today: New Christians are in danger of falling away from the faith because they haven\u2019t yet developed the spiritual roots they need to stay strong. It\u2019s important to encourage and nurture new believers so they don\u2019t become discouraged when problems arise. \u00a0 After Barnabas\u2019s arrival, \u201cconsiderable numbers were brought to the Lord\u201d (v. 24). Barnabas realized he could not handle this exponential growth on his own, so he colored outside the lines of tradition by hiring the first church staff member in history. Barnabas brought Paul to Antioch, \u201cand for an entire year they met with the church and taught considerable numbers\u201d (v. 26). \u00a0 Notice the primary activity of Barnabas and Paul: They \u201ctaught considerable numbers.\u201d The church at Antioch got together to hear the Word of God taught. Barnabas and Paul understood that the only way these new Christians were going to survive in a spiritual cesspool like Antioch was to be taught God\u2019s Word. \u00a0 That\u2019s true today as well. Being grounded in God\u2019s Word is the only way we will survive in our culture. If we don\u2019t know the Bible, then we will be susceptible to discouragement and temptation and swayed more easily by unbiblical ideas. God\u2019s plan is for us to grow strong through the teaching of His Word. (Jeffress)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Act 11:19-26\u00a0\u00a0Now 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.\u00a0But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord … Continue reading “71.e. Act 11:19-26”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-200145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-prayers"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200145"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":200148,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200145\/revisions\/200148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}