PT-2 "The Growth" (Acts 11:22-26)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/29/2018 7:59 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                Focus:  PT-2 “The Growth”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 11:22-26

            Message of the verses:  “22 The news about them reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas off to Antioch. 23 Then when 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; 24 for he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And considerable numbers were brought to the Lord. 25 And he left for Tarsus to look for Saul; 26 and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And for an entire year they met with the church and taught considerable numbers; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.”

            Once again I want to look at the reputation that Barnabas had as we look the last part of verse twenty-three where we read “and began to encourage them all with resolute heart to remain true to the Lord.”  What a wonderful thing to do to encourage believers, and in this case new believers to remain true to the Lord.  Every pastor desires to see spiritual growth to young believers in the Lord, and a person may be five years old and be a young believer or they could be 90 years old and be a young believer in the Lord, but in either case both are new in the Lord.  John MacArthur writes “The apostle John wrote, ‘Let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning.  If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father (1 John 2:24).  ‘If you abide in My word,’ Jesus said, ‘then you are truly disciples of Mine’ (John 8:31).  It is through the Word that the Holy Spirit, the resident truth teacher (1 John 2:27), instructs believers.”

            As we have been following the progress of the churches growth throughout the book of Acts from the first day of the church we see Luke continues to give up to date accounts of the growth of the church as seen at the end of verse twenty-four “considerable numbers were brought to the Lord.”  He does not give numbers any more but does show his readers that the Spirit of God is working to bring about new birth in the church.  Because the harvest was growing at a rapid pace Barnabas decided to go and find Saul so he left for Tarsus to find him in order to help disciple these new believers in Antioch.  John MacArthur writes that it was a difficult task for Barnabas to find Saul as the Greek word Anzeteo (to look for) “suggests a laborious search on Barnabas’s part.  The Greek lexicographers Moulton and Milligan said anazeteo is used ‘specially of searching for human beings with an implication of difficulty.’”

            We see in verse twenty-six that Barnabas did catch up with Saul and he brought him to Antioch.  These were two gifted men who worked together well in the spread of the gospel, especially on the first missionary trip, and also in the teaching at Antioch.  They stayed together teaching this church for a entire year in order to meet with the church to preach and teach them.  I have to say that it is with great pleasure that I go to a church that going on 200 years has preached the Word of God, however there are far too many churches today that do a poor job teaching the Word of God or perhaps don’t even bother teaching it at all.  When we studied the sixth chapter of Acts we saw that because of the growth of the church that the first deacons were used to wait on tables to feed widows in order for the apostles to continue to teach the Word of God to the new believers.  

            At the end of this section Luke adds the historical footnote that “the disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.”  John MacArthur writes “The term means ‘of the party of Christ’ and was used in derision.  Peter encouraged those who suffered ‘as a Christian,’ to ‘not feel ashamed, but in that name [to] glorify God’ (1 Peter 4:16).  What was a term of derision, through, soon became a badge of honor to the early church.  The historical Eusebius relates the account of the martyr Sanctus, who replied to all his torturers’ questions simply, ‘I am a Christian’”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  One of the reasons that I write these Spiritual Diaries is to make sure that I stay in the Word of God each day in order to learn from His Word through the power of His Spirit.  I put them onto my blogs praying that the Spirit of God will take what He has taught me and pass it on to those whom He moves to look at these Spiritual Diaries.  Part of my prayer each time I place these Spiritual Diaries onto my blogs is that the Spirit will use them to glorify my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to bring about new believers and to cause believers to grow and also if revival is needed that the Spirit will use these Spiritual Diaries to accomplish that too.  I continue to pray that the Spirit of God will send these Spiritual Diaries around the world and it is my pleasure each day as I place them onto my blogs to see the countries that the Spirit of God has sent them that day. 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust that the Spirit of God will continue to use these Spiritual Diaries to bring honor and glory to the Lord each day as people read them, and that He will receive all the glory.

Memory verse:  Psalm 143:10 “Teach me to do Your will, For You are my God; Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.”

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Timothy” (1 Timothy 1:1-2).

Today’s Bible question:  “What new testament writer described himself as ‘The servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James’?”

Answer in our next SD.

1/29/2018 8:38 AM