morning church. Open your Bibles to the book of Acts. Our text today is Acts chapter 11 verses 19 through 26. Let's pray. Father in heaven as we open your Word today, would you open our hearts, open our minds, open our ears to hear and our eyes to see. Allow your Word to find entrance, to mold us, and to shape us into the glorious image of Christ. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Acts 11 beginning in verse 19. Now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, preaching the Word to no one but the Jews only. Some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who when they had come to Antioch spoke to the Helleness, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them and a great number believed and turned to the Lord. Then news of these things came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem and they sent out Barnabas to go as far as Antioch. When he came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged him all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord. For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and a great many people were added to the Lord. Then Barnabas departed from Tarsus to Vortarsus to seek Saul. And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And so it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. This is the Word of the Lord. All right in our text today we see that Luke brings us back to the persecution that arose immediately following Stephen's death. And in that persecution we were first introduced to Saul of Tarsus. So between the introduction of Saul of Tarsus and the persecution that arose to this point when men of Cyprus and Cyrene go to Antioch to preach to the Gentiles and Barnabas brings Saul to Antioch to join the work. Luke gives us a detailed sketch. So we have in Acts chapter 8 the introduction of the persecution. Acts chapter 9 we see the conversion of Paul. Then after a period of time a Paul attempts to go up to Jerusalem to join the disciples they reject him and he goes to Tarsus. They get him out of the city. He has to escape and they put him on a ship and he sells to Tarsus. Then Luke records all of the things that happened with Peter when Peter is eventually led to Cessaria and he preaches to the household of Cornelius. So Peter in Cessaria preaches to a Gentile household. He makes his way back to Jerusalem gives the report and the men were silent but ultimately they glorified God. They were ready to contend with Peter because he ate with Gentiles but after they heard everything that had happened and that God had poured out his spirit upon the Gentiles in the same way that he had the Jews. They glorified God. And then Luke shifts the story and he takes us back to the persecution where our text picks up today and he does that to remind us how the gospel got from Jerusalem to all these different parts after the persecution are with the persecution. The believers in Jerusalem were scattered and that word scattered there is the same word that seed is scattered by the wind and God literally scattered them to the winds and they went with the seed of the gospel preaching the Christ and here Luke tells us that it was this persecution that ultimately compelled men or propelled men as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch preaching the word but they preached the word to no one but the Jews. These were believing Jews, disciples of Jesus that were scattered like seed in the wind to regions as far as those named here by Luke and as they were scattered they went preaching the gospel of Christ. Well let's look at Luke names three regions Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch. Phoenicia was a strip of land about 120 miles long and probably around 12 miles wide. It was along the western coast of Asia or it was the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It was north of Israel and it was west of Syria. Today what was called first century Phoenicia or ancient Phoenicia, it's a very ancient region lies mostly in the country of Lebanon so modern day Lebanon basically was ancient Phoenicia. Cyprus they were scattered to Cyprus. Cyprus is an island in the far eastern Mediterranean Sea. Cyprus is about 60 miles off the western coast of Syria and it's as close as 40 miles to the southern coast of Turkey. It was a region that southern coast of Turkey was a region called Solisia. Solisia in southern Turkey was the region where the city of Tarsus was. So when Paul fled Jerusalem and got on a ship and sailed to Tarsus he sailed to the southern coast of Turkey to a region called Solisia to his hometown of Tarsus. It was very near Cyprus. The island of Cyprus is where Barnabas is from. Then you have the city of Antioch named here. With the persecution they were scattered as far as Antioch. Antioch is an ancient city that was founded about 300 BC. Not nearly as ancient as many cities that you read about in the Bible but as ancient in terms of us 300 BC so about 2,300 years ago this city was founded. It was one of the generals of Alexander the Great who built the city found this city and it became the capital of Syria. If you know your history and I hope my history classes do you know that Alexander the Great's empire was divided between his four generals after he died and one of those generals was the Solusid dynasty. Solusid was his name and this city of Antioch is named for this general this dynasty and it was the capital of the Solusid Kingdom who controlled all of Syria. Ultimately they if you've ever heard of a guy a bad guy named Antioch is Epiphanies he came from this family the Solusid family. The founder of this city actually welcomed Jews there and gave them positions and promotions equal to the Greeks because he wanted to draw Jews to this city. Antioch was also the third largest city in the Roman Empire it was a very large city only Roman Alexandria Egypt were larger and so Antioch was not only a large city but it was also a very important cultural and trading center it set 15 miles inland from the Mediterranean Sea but there was a river that flowed through it the Orantus River and they made a port so that you could sail up from the sea and Antioch became a port and it became this very important trading center so if you could imagine the Jews were welcome there at its founding so I had a large Jewish population it was a very large city third largest in the Empire it was a trading center it's where perhaps there and other ports but that would have been no doubt one of the major trading centers for instance where the silk road all the silk coming from China would have been brought there there would have been trade routes that culminated there and Antioch so it was a very international city lots of Jews but also many people from many different nations by New Testament times there were many Hellenistic Jews in Antioch prime to hear the gospel there were also very many Gentiles prime to hear as many had become Godfhears remember that's what Luke called Cornelius he was a Godfhearer the Hellenized Jews were devout Jews but the Hellenist or the Hellenized Jews were Jews that had lived in what was called the Diaspora so over the history of Israel the northern and the southern kingdom they were invaded as judgment by God because of their sin and idolatry and they were carried away captives throughout the known world and beyond I'm sure and when Alexander the Great ruled the world he Greekified the world we call it Hellenized the Greeks were also called the Helines and so many Jews who lived in many parts of the world whether it was in Mesopotamia and Babylon or the Persian cities or in Rome or in the Greek cities or Greek colonies all across the Mediterranean Sea those Jews remained devout in their faith but they adopted Greek culture and Greek language to the degree that by 250 BC they had to translate the Hebrew Old Testament into Greek it's called the Septuagint it is it would have been the scripture more than likely many of the writers of the Bible and the people we read about in the Bible would have used because there were so many Jews who lived dispersed throughout the world who did not speak Hebrew because they lived in a Greek culture with a Greek language though they remain Jews they were Greek in culture these are the Hellenists the Hellenist Jews Antioch was filled with these Hellenist Jews and so Jew or Gentile Antioch was a city that was primed for the gospel after the persecution that arose over Stephen those who were persecuted went out from Jerusalem to these regions and as they went out Luke says that they preached the gospel to the Jews only so Luke is reminding us that up to the time of the persecution and even immediately following the persecution the gospel had only been preached to the Jews now after the persecution we see Philip goes to Samaria and preaches the gospel to the Samaritans and then he preaches to the Ethiopian unit and then Peter preaches to Cornelius so we see this progression verse 20 tells us however there were some of them men from Cyprus and Cyrene who when they had come to Antioch spoke to the Helladist preaching the Lord Jesus now the overwhelming consensus among the commentators is the Hellenist here referred to Gentiles Greeks uncircumcised Greeks this term Hellenist is also used to describe Hellenist Jews but if you look at the text and you see the contrast that Luke is making here God sent Hellenist Jews to a Hellenist city with the gospel to disciple the nations or to disciple Gentiles to preach to the Gentiles those who were scattered traveled to these regions but some of them preaching only to the Jews but some of them you see the contrast those who were scattered went to Phoenicia Cyprus and Antioch preaching only to the Jews but some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene who when they had come to Antioch spoke to the Hellenist these were Gentiles uncircumcised Greeks to who they preached the Lord Jesus we've already identified where Cyprus is Cyprus is that island in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea near the coast of Syria Cyrene was a city in North Africa it was 300 miles west of Alexandria it was a significant city in many ways and like Cyprus it had once been a Greek colony and now was under Rome's authority and it was it also had a large population of Hellenist Jews remember from Matthew's gospel in Matthew 2732 in his gospel account he names Simon of Cyrene who was recruited by the Roman soldiers to carry the cross of Christ Simon of Cyrene would have been a Hellenistic Jew and he may have been visiting Jerusalem for the feast of unleavened bread which required every male to appear before the Lord in Jerusalem or he may have been a member of synagogue of freedmen which was basically a synagogue that was made up mostly of Hellenistic Jews which meant they would have conducted the service in Greek instead of Hebrew when Paul said I am a Hebrew of Hebrew Paul was a Hebrew he spoke Hebrew he read Hebrew he preached in Hebrew he was not a Hellenist he spoke Greek also probably Latin but he was a Hebrew he worshipped God in Hebrew the Hellenist Jews couldn't speak Hebrew they couldn't read Hebrew so they worshipped God in the Greek language that they had been immersed in in Greek culture and so Simon of Cyrene was either a Hellenistic Jew living in Jerusalem or in that area a member of the that synagogue or he was visiting but it's interesting that he was a man from Cyrene who carried the cross of Christ it's not unreasonable to think that after the crucifixion of Christ after Pentecost that Simon of Cyrene if he did live in Cyprus went back to Cyprus along with many other Hellenist Jews who came to Jerusalem for the feast and encountered Jesus Christ and the gospel of Christ that those men went back and they preached the gospel to their brother and their in Cyprus and so now we see men from Cyprus and Cyrene become vital in establishing the church in Antioch and its ministry to the Gentiles and verse 20 presents the contrast of those who preached only to the Jews with those men of Cyprus and Cyrene who went to Antioch and preached to the Gentiles some Jews preached only to the Jews but these Jews went to Antioch and they preached to the Gentiles perhaps they heard of Peter's episode with Cornelius or perhaps they took it upon themselves whatever the case was the gospel was now going to the Gentiles and the Lord blessed their work verse 21 we see that the increase comes from God verse 21 and the hand of the Lord was with them and a great number believed and turned to the Lord here is a climax in Luke's narrative concerning the advance of the gospel the establishment of the church in Antioch became a staging ground a new beach head if you will for the advancement of the gospel in a new offensive to take the gospel to the ends of the earth which is what Jesus commands in the Great Commission go therefore making disciples of the nations baptizing them in the name of the Father son the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 1 verse 8 he tells to the disciples in another version of the Great Commission go and Terry in Jerusalem and wait until you are in dude with power from on high for you shall receive power to be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and Judea and all Samaria into the ends of the earth well that's what's happening here God is causing his church to fulfill the Great Commission and how did he motivate them he used persecution to motivate them to leave their comfort zones and to take the gospel and they did and here it says the hand of the Lord was with them and a great number believed and turned to the Lord here in verse 21 he's talking about Gentiles God bless the efforts of these these believing Jews from Cyprus and Cyrene as they went to Antioch and preached to the Gentiles to the nations God blessed their work and a great number believed and turned to the Lord and so here is this new staging ground for the gospel to be taken literally to the Cyphe of the nations to the ends of the earth and it would only increase from there we can see the progression God used from Jerusalem after the persecution Philip goes to Samaria he preaches the word to the Samaritans they're filled with the Holy Spirit then he encounters the Ethiopian unit and baptizes this single Ethiopian down in the desert then Philip is carried away and he ends up in Caesarea the very place Peter's going to go after him and encounters Cornelius now what Luke doesn't tell us is how all of this was connected did Philip meet Cornelius did we matter but we know that God didn't send Philip to Caesarea for no reason just as he didn't send Peter so we see this in the scripture after Peter providence and preachers to the house a household for more of those to as well defenders some to cesseria and god the finally directs Brad quickly. The Gentiles. Were these men preach. Or an anti-Octocin. We don't know that. In a very. It doesn't matter which came. It's all happened. We created. Bring. The ad liver it. The best possible. We see laid out here was pre-mustful is now to the nations. The seed of the world is now being. Lyach was a perfect seed to go forward as a alguma. culture they can And so these Using the gospel Us were sin abound grace abound Was a city known to be most wicked it was known for its never ending night life It was no Mission to Apollo in a Goddess or demigod as if you will Follow wanted and as she ran from Apollo she was turned into a laurel tree and so the temple to Apollo there in Antioch that was a few miles outside of town this temple devoted to him had laurel And it had temple Was a very perverted Case in lifestyle in They engage in these practices It anti-ion Gospel But also Really across the world Many cultures and people True base for spreading the gospel Presented great Opportunity for us to make Also great need to be done right So His church to take the As And made disciples look and forms a Great number number We are all part of the same In verse 22 we see Luke writes in In news of the And they sit out Barnabas to go All of this was done From Cyprus and Mission Just like Peter didn't ask permission and you notice from our last Waiting for him and they're upset that he broke the law and he had table fellowship with Gentiles In the home of Gentiles But after they heard what God had done they glorified God Here they find out what's happened in Antioch that the word of God has been preached by Jews to Gentiles They send Barnabas to find out what's happening Why Barnabas he's a Hellenous Jew he's from Cyprus He fit very well with what was happening there in Antioch He also had the right personality, I believe Those men from Cyprus and Cyrene had been converted by men who were preaching the Lord Jesus The same gospel that saved them they were now compelled to preach to others God specifically moved on those who would without hesitation preached the gospel of Christ To disciple the nations in other words they would without hesitation preach to Gentiles God was aiming for Gentiles no longer only individuals or households But he was aiming to see mass conversions and large numbers of people come to faith and be Disciple so he sent disciples to one of the largest and most influential population centers in the massive Roman Empire The church in Jerusalem heard the news and sent Barnabas to Antioch to find out what was happening The news not only intrigued them I believe it excited them after Hearing what had happened with Peter and the Gentiles We can safely assume this as they had already received the report from Peter about his own encounter and they glorified God as a result of Salvation coming to the Gentiles and this would surely cause them to glorify God and to rejoice And so we are to rejoice in our work and in the good works of Others and this is what Barnabas did when he came and had seen the grace of God He was glad and encouraged them all That with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord Luke doesn't give us a lot of detail here about what Barnabas told them But what he does tell us he did do informs us about what he did not do When Barnabas came to Antioch and saw that grace he was glad He rejoiced in the work of God that was taking place there He was not jealous. He was joyful Luke does not give us a lot of detail About this encounter with these believers, but he does tell us that Barnabas saw the grace of God Meaning that the grace of God was evident. It was obvious for Barnabas I believe it was obvious for all to see So Barnabas was glad That is a simple statement, but it's pregnant with meaning From that simple statement we can conclude a lot of things He was glad. He was not mad. He was not jealous. He was not disappointed. He was very encouraged He wasn't disappointed. Jellis or mad that they didn't check with the Jerusalem church before starting this work How refreshing in our modern setting that we see very often when it seems like churches are competing more than they are Working together to achieve The great commission of Christ to disciple the nations This is why Barnabas was glad He encouraged them all Luke writes notice he did not correct them He did not scold them or point out what they could do better or should not do He encouraged them not some but all Specifically he encouraged them all that with purpose of heart. They should continue With the Lord in other words keep doing what you're doing You guys are doing awesome. God is blessing you keep doing what you're doing If it's not If it's not broken don't try to fix it Barnabas gets there and he sees the blessing of God on this work. He's like man. This is awesome You guys just keep doing what you're doing Just stay with the Lord with purpose of heart That with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord Barnabas is called the Son of encouragement That's what his name means remember his name was Joseph's But they change his name to Barnabas meaning Son of encouragement And this is exactly what he does. It's this is pure encouragement true to his name to build up believers and to build up the work in the church there in Antioch Verse 24 where he was a good man full of the Holy Spirit and a faith and a great many people were added to the Lord They sent Barnabas Because they understood who this man was and they understood that this could be a very This could have been a very difficult situation But the son of encouragement goes and he sees the hand of God's blessing upon the work there And he uses his man you guys just keep doing what you're doing Barnabas was not only the son of encouragement Luke writes In his description of this man that he was a good man full of the Holy Spirit and a faith And he used his gifts to encourage the church at Antioch He would leave them but he would leave knowing that God was blessing the work there And so he encouraged them to continue with purpose of art in the work of the Lord Luke concludes verse 24 And And it to the Lord In other words God truly was bringing the increase Antioch then in verse 25 Luke writes then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to see From Jerusalem to Antioch to find out what's going on there He sees what's happening He's encouraged he encourages the believers there and then he leaves Antioch and he goes to Tarsus Looking for the Apostle Paul he knows that's where Paul is he knows Paul he knows that's Paul's hometown When he left Paul last After he helped Paul escape from Jerusalem from the Jews and they put him on a ship He knew Paul was sailing to his hometown Sailing to the southern coast of Turkey he knew he would be in Tarsus And so Barnabas departs Antioch and goes to seek Saul in Tarsus Seeking the work taking place or seeing the work taking place in Antioch Barnabas knew just who to bring on board to help that work Achieve even greater success That's why he goes to get Saul of Tarsus The distance from Antioch to Tarsus was not far it was only about 60 miles And being that close Barnabas saw out Saul We're not told why Barnabas left to seek Saul but we can logically assume some of the reasons Barnabas knew Saul he bouts for him in Jerusalem Barnabas knew that God had called Saul to minister to the nations the Gentiles And seeing the work in Antioch Barnabas knew that this was a place for Saul Antioch could use the gifts that God had placed in the life of Saul of Tarsus to make disciples And to stand boldly in the truth of the gospel against the opposition that Barnabas And all of them knew eventually would come The persecution quieted in Jerusalem but it was not over And the Judaizers would be relentless in their efforts to try to bring the Gentiles Convert them to become Jews and keep the law of Moses We'll read we read this throughout Paul's letters. We're going to see it in in the book of Acts as we continue through So Paul was the right man and Barnabas knew it We have every reason to believe that Barnabas was led by the spirit of God to seek Saul and to bring him to Antioch The fruit bears out that truth Jesus said of false prophets and false teachers. You'll know them by their fruits Well, the same is true for faithful preachers and faithful teachers of the gospel who consistently do the work Of making disciples and preaching the truth. You'll know them by their fruit If you just if you're wondering about someone or something if you just wait long enough The tree will bear fruit and you'll know what you got there And if it's not the right kind of fruit then run away from it as fast as you can The fruit was obvious for Barnabas so we saw it out Saul to bring another gifted laborer into God's field We are to join the work that God is doing and this is what Barnabas and Saul did they joined the work that God was doing Verse 26 and when he had found him he brought him to Antioch So it was that for a whole year They assembled with the church and taught a great many people and the disciples were first called Christians and Antioch Barnabas found Saul and brought him back to the city and Luke tells us that they work together assembling with the church teaching a great many people They assembled with the church. This is significant because now you have You have Jews and Gentiles assembling together worshiping God Following the Lord Jesus Christ as one body This is what you see in Antioch you see a picture of one unified Body of Christ both Jew and Gentile And we'll see that as they assembled they were teaching a great many people Luke records We'll see as the story continues to unfold that Antioch became and it's an extremely strategic place in terms of the gospel going forth to the nations No doubt that God chose this city and these men to not only begin this work But to carry it on and to see it grow and spread across the entire Roman Empire truly before Jerusalem and the temple would meet their end in 70 AD The gospel will have gone to the ends of the earth as it was known in the Roman Empire and even beyond Saul who we will soon See called Paul saw also called Paul same person Different not named some people believe Saul was his Hebrew name some people believe Paul was his Greek name but it's the same person From this point on in the book of Acts You will see that he is known as Paul up into this point. He's been called Saul Saul of Tarsus from this point moving forward. He will be known to us as Paul But the Apostle Paul and Saul of Tarsus are the same person so Saul or Paul saw the work of God and he joined it knowing this is where he was to be For us today the decision is much easier because of the work that has laid such a foundation and the fact that the gospel has permeated the world It permeates our world our culture and ways that we don't even realize because we take it so for granted We see God at work all around us We would have to look very hard to find a place where God is not working That was not the case in Paul's day As the gospel had not yet gone across the globe The gospel has gone across the globe around the globe More times and you can count by now So what would be difficult is to find a place where God is not working I personally do not believe that place exists. I believe God is working everywhere That means we have ample opportunity all around us to join in the work that God is doing There is no shortage of work and there is no shortage of need The need for the gospel is great is great today It's as great today as it ever has been In many ways we are seeing nations and peoples returning to the pagan idols of old Only under different names with different modes of worship and manifestation The result of such deceptions Though are the same It doesn't matter what you name that idol it doesn't matter what you name that False God or demon The result is the same the wages of sin is death There is a way that seems right to a man But the end thereof is death and destruction and it is death and destruction that men will experience if they do not Come to trust in Christ The only wise king the only savior He alone is the way The truth and the life There is no other way to the father except through Me Jesus said those are the words of Jesus Jesus called himself the way the true the life he said I am the only way He didn't say I'm one of many ways I am the only way The work we all are called to do is to make Jesus known and to make disciples Of the nations the same work Barnabas and saw and the men from Cyprus and Syrene were doing the same work Peter was doing the same work They were doing Disciple Need to be complicated It's not complicated Telling You in continuing Over the word of God Without the word of God Know this book Just take the book Much pastor Jeff about the Bible haven't read it much Read together Who wants to read with you Heather, is you pray together Be being discipled You This word from these Hear it for yourself It's not worth just putting You won't You So I coming to The word is so important. That's why we have Sunday school and Bible study So why we preach and teach The word of God because that's how you're going to be molded and shaped Into the glorious image You Is no shortage of work and there is no shortage of need And we are called to do the very same things that the early church was called to do To make disciples if you are washing your mind and filling your heart with the word of God every day You will have a deposit You will have a reservoir to draw from when you have those conversations with people As you put the word in God knows how to draw it out Just realize it has to be in you for God to draw it out of you Go to the word and keep going to the word every day Soon you will have an ample supply for God to use Through your life Discipleship is not complicated, but it can be hard work It takes time it takes a lot it takes patience it takes commitment it is also a great joy a great joy Witnessing someone grow up in Christ and go from spiritual babe to one mature in the faith is in immense joy To be a part of I pray you will enter into that joy you will join that journey for yourself and with Someone else it is building up Jerusalem it is building up you it is the joy of the Lord and it is your strength and the Strength of those around you In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit amen amen Here is your church We read the accounts in the Bible, but we don't always read considering the full context of what we're reading We come to believe that God works in ways that Perhaps he actually does not We often read the Bible failing to consider the spans of time or the occasions When someone was not healed or When God worked through someone not named or when God didn't move miraculously We failed to consider all the people that are not named in the pages of scripture who did incredible works of God that were vitally important for God's plan and purpose People who are faithful day in and day out and mostly small things Yet those small things made huge differences for every Big event for every major thing we read about on the pages of scripture there are countless other events Small events that led up to and made those huge events possible We tend to be drawn to the flashy we want to see the big thing that makes the big difference If not the huge thing God does indeed do big huge things And from time to time even for us to see and to experience ourselves But I believe that is by far the exception and not the rule Most often God brings about big changes in small ways Do not despise the day of small beginnings do not despise the small Things for they make the greatest difference over time If you've ever had a bad day in a trust you have Think that think about How very often it's it's that small thing that can Just change the whole Tenor of your day Not a big thing Just a small thing And we give place to those small things that end up Making a big difference In our day that works not only in the negative that works in the positive That's why the Bible tells us to not despise the day of small beginnings And If making disciples seems overwhelming just remember how you eat the elephant You just eat it one bite at a time and they take a while But if you just keep chip it away at it one bite at a time eventually It won't be there anymore the task will be done Start small start where you can and be faithful and be consistent And be committed Join in where God is working. He's working all around you be faithful in the small things And before you know it you will have made a bigger difference than you could have ever Imagine Amen Let's sing our thanks to God Praise him all creatures here be low Praise him above the heavenly host Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost Amen The Lord bless you and keep you the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace the Lord bless you The Lord be with you The Lord bless you and be with you