Acts 11:19-30

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.

Acts 11 · chapter mention

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.

Acts 11 · chapter mention

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.

Acts 11:19–30

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,

Acts 6 · chapter mention

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,

Acts 11 · chapter mention

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.