We take an invigorating journey through Acts 11, where we unwrap Peter's experience with Cornelius and the Apostles' reaction to Gentiles receiving the word of God. We confront the challenging divisions that arose among the circumcised believers and invite you to engage with us as we turn verses 1-18 inside out.
Imagine the power of the Holy Spirit actively reshaping the New Testament Church. This episode takes you on a deep contemplation on how Jewish believers grappled with the salvation of the uncircumcised, and how the Holy Spirit became the evidence of believers across all nations. From Jesus' teachings to Nicodemus about spiritual rebirth and baptism, to reflections on how the Holy Spirit propels the growth of the New Testament Church, we explore it all.
Finally, we take a profound look at how Jesus fulfills the Old Testament law, cutting through the cultural identity of the Jews, and the implications of His perfect and sinless death on the cross and resurrection. Learn how to apply principles from the Levitical Law to our lives and how living set-apart lives is at the heart of our worshipful obedience to Him. As we examine the mission of Paul and Barnabas in Antioch, we challenge you to think about the role of Christian missions in your life and the importance of dispelling myths and misconceptions in our churches. Enjoy this stimulating conversation and let the inspiring journey of learning and growth of Paul and Barnabas ignite a fresh perspective in your own ministry.
We take an invigorating journey through Acts 11, where we unwrap Peter's experience with Cornelius and the Apostles' reaction to Gentiles receiving the word of God. We confront the challenging divisions that arose among the circumcised believers and invite you to engage with us as we turn verses 1-18 inside out.
Imagine the power of the Holy Spirit actively reshaping the New Testament Church. This episode takes you on a deep contemplation on how Jewish believers grappled with the salvation of the uncircumcised, and how the Holy Spirit became the evidence of believers across all nations. From Jesus' teachings to Nicodemus about spiritual rebirth and baptism, to reflections on how the Holy Spirit propels the growth of the New Testament Church, we explore it all.
Finally, we take a profound look at how Jesus fulfills the Old Testament law, cutting through the cultural identity of the Jews, and the implications of His perfect and sinless death on the cross and resurrection. Learn how to apply principles from the Levitical Law to our lives and how living set-apart lives is at the heart of our worshipful obedience to Him. As we examine the mission of Paul and Barnabas in Antioch, we challenge you to think about the role of Christian missions in your life and the importance of dispelling myths and misconceptions in our churches. Enjoy this stimulating conversation and let the inspiring journey of learning and growth of Paul and Barnabas ignite a fresh perspective in your own ministry.
Welcome to the Be Disciple podcast with your host, cal Morris, dakota Smith and David Glavin. We are here to talk about Acts, chapter 11. Today, welcome to the podcast Guys, how's everybody doing?
Speaker 2:Doing well, David. What's going on, brother?
Speaker 1:Doing well. Awesome. I got to get a new flow with the intro with David coming on, so three hosts instead of just Dakota. Oh hey, dakota, how are you Now? We get another person, which is good, but ministry has been good this is week. What Four, four, four now David. We're almost a month in to David being on staff here at Ottawa Bible Church, and so we've actually haven't been in the room together much. Yeah, sickness, sickness.
Speaker 2:Sickness, all kinds of things.
Speaker 1:So we haven't actually had like a full week altogether. Ministry it's kind of been fractured a little bit, but that's why we have a staff, because then things can continue moving and things can get done, because we have multiple people to lean on, and that's a good thing. We want more people to be in ministry and to help us and to continue to proclaim the gospel. So and that's why we're on this podcast so we're excited for David to keep becoming a part of this and starting to be on the podcast and see what the future brings for more ways to get more content out there educational content on the Bible, so people can learn and grow, and so you as listeners can have more to go to. So I'm excited.
Speaker 2:Yeah, one other thing too. Here, ottawa Bible Church, of course, we're walking through the gospel of Matthew right now. So, while this podcast is used to have conversations through scripture to teach you how to do that with somebody else, also in this, in the same breath, we want you to come on Sundays. We want you to listen to the preaching of the Word of God. We've got all kinds of things here. We've got something called the OBC Academy, where we're actually training you to interpret the scriptures for yourself, and all kinds of events for the family to equip you and the family for how to respond to the culture. So our services are at 9 and 11. Every single Sunday, we've got a catered breakfast in between both services. Every single Sunday, we pack out our gym and we just encourage you to join us. More about us can be found at OttawaBibleChurchcom. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And you can also obviously find our podcast on any platform, but I want to encourage you at the beginning of the podcast this time, instead of at the end, to go on to your podcast platform, whether that's Apple, spotify. If you could rate us on there, five stars Throw it at comment.
Speaker 2:Nothing less better put on five.
Speaker 1:What that does is it actually exposes the podcast to more people by you participating in not just sharing it but commenting and rating it, because then it pushes it up the chart for people to hear. So a way for you to help our ministry is just to go do that. It'll take you a couple seconds, submit that and that'll really help just expose the podcast so people can study God's Word with us and bless people more with God's Word. That's all we really want.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it gives a greater awareness Ratings should just naturally go up now that I'm on it anyways, that's what we were wondering.
Speaker 2:That's what we figured. You know, recently, the numbers have been up bro.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we were just like. You know what, if we hire David, our podcast is going skyrocket Through the roof. So, yeah, no, our podcast has been doing well lately. It's been a lot of fun. Thank you all who are listening, but let's go ahead and pray and we'll have. How about we have David pray this time?
Speaker 2:You want to jump in? You want to listen? Yeah, let's pray.
Speaker 1:And then we'll get into Acts 11.
Speaker 3:It's bow our heads, fellas. Lord, we come to you this morning and we thank you for this time that we have to discuss your Word. I thank you for these gentlemen, your servants, kyle and Dakota, for their vigor and their excitement in the ministry, for what's going on here at Ottawa Bible and in our community, and for the listeners, lord, that are growing. Lord, just the things that you are doing, so excited that we can be a part of it, that you are using us, and I pray that you will continue to make us willing, preparing our hearts to be willing to willing, ready and able to speak your word boldly as we sharpen ourselves, our spirit growing in faith. Lord, we just pray for this firm foundation that we can stand on and pray for each and every listener and their personal walk in growth as they go through this with us, and we just give you thanks in Jesus' name, amen, amen.
Speaker 2:So today we're going to be in all of Acts, chapter 11, one section is verses 1 through 18 and another is verses 19 to 30. And the reason why we're taking the whole chapter is because the first section here Peter is actually recounting exactly what just happened between him and Cornelius and the Gentiles coming to faith. So because it's somewhat repetitive, I think biblically it functions with great importance as a testimony. But for the sake of the podcast and because we've already had a lot of discussions on this very event, it's necessary for us to move through it faster and then for the second passage to go a little bit slower. So I'm going to take verses 1 through 18 very quickly, just going to read it. We're going to find just a handful of things and then use that to launch into the final section of the chapter.
Speaker 2:It says this now the apostles and the brethren who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. Then, when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those who were circumcised took issue with him, saying you went to uncircumcise men and ate with them. But Peter began speaking and proceeded to explain to them an orderly sequence saying I was in the city of Joppa Prang and in a trance, I saw a vision, an object coming down like a great sheet lowered by four corners from the sky, and it came right down to me. And when I had fixed my gaze on it and was observing it, I saw the four-footed animals of the earth and the wild beasts and the crawling creatures of the birds of the air. I also heard a voice saying to me get up, peter, kill and eat. But I said by no means, lord, for nothing unholy or unclean has ever entered my mouth. But a voice from heaven answered a second time what God has cleansed no longer consider unholy. This happened three times and everything was drawn back up into the sky.
Speaker 2:And behold, at that moment, three men appeared at the house in which we were staying. Having been sent to me from Caesarea, the Spirit told me to go with him without misgivings, and these six brethren also went with me and we entered the man's house and he reported to us how he had seen the angels standing in his house and saying Send to Joppa and have Simon, who is also called Peter, brought here and he will speak words to you by which you will be saved, you and all your household. And as I began to speak. The Holy Spirit fell upon them, as he did upon us at the beginning, and I remembered the word of the Lord, how he used to say John baptize with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit, for God gave to them the same gift as he gave to us also, after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I, that I could stand in God's way. When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying Well then, god has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.
Speaker 2:So, brothers, you know this is somewhat of an accounting, but there's also a dilemma. There's some conflict, light conflict, tension here within the church. What are some of your initial reactions to the text? Let's make some observations.
Speaker 3:Well, I think current application I mean we have. What are the concerns of the Jewish believers, the circumcised believers One? It kind of reminds me of this thing we have in our own culture with, you know, politically, the student loan, forgiveness. You know people who are like well, I've been faithful and I've paid off my debt, and all these people who haven't are now gonna be forgiven. You know the Jewish believers are like well, you know.
Speaker 2:I got circumcised for this you know they should have to do that.
Speaker 1:But, I man, we.
Speaker 2:Should do another podcast just on that very topic economically speaking man, that's how we get some reviews.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I, yeah. I mean I agree. There's Jewish people who clearly have been like one. We've been through a lot. Look at our history Now. A lot of that was because they failed to follow Christ or follow God in those times and ended up in slavery multiple times and all of that sort of thing. But I could see how like man our history is rooted. We are God's people and how hard that could be to make the shift to one to be born again.
Speaker 1:That it isn't about the circumcision, it's about a spiritual rebirth in which Jesus talks about with Nicodemus right, a Pharisee who says you know, you have to be born again. Nicodemus, it's not what you're doing now, that's gonna get you saved, it's believing in me, and so that's important for them to know and I love that. He points out what Jesus taught about baptism. Right, john was baptizing through water and we do baptize with water today, before a different reason, for similar reason, but not for salvation. But it's the baptism of the Holy Spirit in which Jesus allows to happen through his death and resurrection, as the Holy Spirit comes down onto the believer and dwells in the believer and then baptism occurs through water as a proclamation of your faith. So I love how he pointed that out, because now it's not about circumcision, uncircumcision or any other type of requirement, it is just the Holy Spirit as the evidence in your life of being a believer.
Speaker 1:And it's not about a people group, it's about all nations, and so it's powerful to see. The Holy Spirit isn't like, well, we're only gonna come dwell with the Israelites. No, the Holy Spirit is gonna dwell within anybody who believes, anybody who repents and believes. So I think that's the message here that Peter's giving to these Jewish people because Cornelius himself and this household and these men receive the Holy Spirit who are not Israelites, and Peter's making that clear. God loves all people, not just Israel, even though Israel is special. Israel is God's chosen people for a purpose. He promises them things and those are all true, but the Gentiles also are offered the same salvation through Jesus Christ. And that's us today sitting here. I mean, we're sitting here because of what Peter is bringing to these people, ensuring that God is here to save all people who repent and believe, and I think that's a very important message.
Speaker 2:Yeah, maybe just one other thing that I wanna say. Well, two, I suppose, one that's a little bit more micro in nature, the other is more macro. But I think if you're looking at this text, you see the Spirit in verse 12, the Holy Spirit in verse 15, the Holy Spirit again and 16, the Holy Spirit is mentioned as a gift and verse 17. I mean, there's a surrounding conversation and it's as if one is being reminded all over again, right, and, by the way, at the end of chapter 10, it speaks of the Holy Spirit being a gift. But it's as if you're reading Acts and you're perpetually reminded that the book of Acts is called the book of Acts because it is the Acts A-C-T-S of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the one propelling the growth of the New Testament church and is the one bringing about the incorporation of the Gentiles, which has been God's plan all along. So we can't forget about that. We can't ever not hit on that enough times, like we've gotta keep touching on that. But one other thing too.
Speaker 2:I think sometimes, especially in a lot of these New Age movements, there's this idea that the church needs to keep evolving and reforming and letting go of things I mean doctrinally speaking, and a passage like this is often used as like justification for that, because the argument goes like this well, if God gave the book of Leviticus and you had this Levitical law of ceremonial law, of clean and unclean and all this stuff, and then now if God is getting rid of it, that means that the word of God must not necessarily be eternal, that it must not necessarily be something that is for all people for all time.
Speaker 2:And there's a problem in that thinking. It's not that God was getting rid of his word, it's that he fulfilled it in Christ. He didn't come to abolish the law, but he came to fulfill it. So what's really happening here is that we find Jesus is a fulfillment of the Old Testament law. So, as you're bound up in Jesus, now you go with his new plan within the new covenant and we kind of even talked about it this last Sunday from the pulpit. Jesus is not coming to put new wine into old wineskins, he's coming to start something fresh by his spirit. So lest I continue and I continue to be long-winded, there's a lot happening here, but it does prepare us for more movement in 19 to 30.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I wanna remind us too about the acts of the Holy Spirit. Isn't just an ax.
Speaker 2:That's true.
Speaker 1:It starts in Genesis, chapter one, verse two. That's true, and so the works of the Holy Spirit have always been at play. The Holy Spirit has always been working. This isn't just all of a sudden a thing, that happened in Acts at Pentecost. The Holy Spirit was there during creation, before creation and in the heavens, because the Holy Spirit is God right. The Holy Spirit has been there with the prophets, has been there with the kings and the judges. The Holy Spirit has always been moving and directing in God's plan and doing the work within people. He's given the gift of administration to the judges, as he's giving the gifts to the apostles.
Speaker 1:The Holy Spirit is also a he, not an it right. It is God himself acting in the spirit through people, and so we just have to see that the Holy Spirit was active with Jesus. He was active there with the baptism of Jesus. He was active when he goes out into the wilderness. The Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness right after the baptism with the temptations. So we just need to be aware of that. Yes, acts is a huge place in which the Holy Spirit is moving for the early church, but the Holy Spirit has always been moving and has always been putting out God's plan, and so I want us to recognize what the Holy Spirit has always functioned as, which is to do the work in which God wants within the lives of people, including Jesus when he walked on this earth. And so the Holy Spirit is active in moving today, just as he has been since before creation, and that's a powerful thing to think that the Holy Spirit indwells in you, the believer, to work through you in the same way that he has been working for eternity.
Speaker 3:And when we think about responding to the Spirit. I mean the Spirit, the characteristics of the Spirit, the same that we see Jesus responding in his ministry, where Jesus is acting in such a way to Gentiles, like with the Centurion, when the Centurion said my servant is sick and needs healing, and Jesus and says but you have the authority, I'm in authority too. I say go here, go here. And Jesus said it'll be done as you said. But then he said your faith is my memory.
Speaker 3:For exactly that I'm paraphrasing but your faith is great and better than all the Jews of this day, and I think that cuts to the cultural identity of so they do have a lot, that they're the the Jewish community of the time, just in Jesus. But also here, where the Spirit is moving, it is cutting through a lot of their cultural identity that they are the people of God, they, they believe they're the chosen ones and they've gone through this. You know history of ups and downs and well, like a Legacy of failure really. But I mean they still they're the chosen people of God and now Jesus is moving and the Spirit is moving in such a way to invite other people into that. So that is, that's breaking some pretty sturdy bones, spiritually speaking, in there.
Speaker 1:Oh, and Israel was meant to be the light to the world, the example of holy living.
Speaker 3:And they failed at that.
Speaker 1:They missed it yeah and so when you talk about fulfillment of the law, jesus, the perfect one right, had to be the Fulfiller of the law. He had to come down incarnate to do that because his people could not. And the whole point was Jesus fulfills and Saves and so that we can live in obedience to him and it's available for all people. And I think that's so important when it talks about the law and why don't we follow the Leviticus in a way that the Levites did and things like that? Because Jesus fulfilled it for us. He did the work and he was perfect and he was sinless and he died on a cross and rose from the grave saying I am the Son of God, I am God, and so that's that's so important for us to understand as we look at scripture.
Speaker 2:That lends of the fulfillment of the law well, and just in case anybody misunderstands, on the other side of things, we still do live by Leviticus. It's still the inspired word of God work. We don't have to offer up sacrifices and wear our clothing in a certain way, and you know, I mean we're not obligated directly, but by principle. We are to live holy set-apart lives. Our worship on Sundays and all throughout the week is to be of the heart and is to be, you know, unstained by sin and same principles. It's just now made complete in Christ. So we borrow the principles and we live it out as a covenant community of faith.
Speaker 1:So yeah, that's what Jesus sermons are in Matthew.
Speaker 2:That's exactly what it is living out the law.
Speaker 1:You're at the heart, not necessarily the rigidity of following the things exactly like the, the Pharisees were, and then pointing out everybody's inability to do so. And so that's important for us. One is pastors because we Can be, can become that way. It's easy, it's easy to be in God's word, to Demand that people follow Christ in such a way, but not be caught up in the Legalism or the, the pharist, cynical type of mentality of you're not doing enough. Yeah, that can. That's a dangerous place to fall into. A lot of those sacrificial rituals wouldn't really fly today.
Speaker 3:Anyways, you know, I mean, yeah, killing animals in a way that they did.
Speaker 1:I mean, we do kill animals in Kansas, though. We do hunt, we do hunt.
Speaker 3:We don't drown birds and cover them in blood.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Well, I haven't talked to you guys recently.
Speaker 2:So, verses 19 through 30. We now see. I love the response at the end of 8, 18. Well then, god has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life. Just maybe one more thing here this is not the last time we will see a tension about the Gentiles coming to faith. You know, we get to the Jerusalem Council in chapter 15 and there's gonna be an issue With the Gentiles in being a part of the body of Christ. So, but for now we pause on that and then we continue with the text itself, verse 19.
Speaker 2:So then, those who were scattered because of the persecution that occurred in connection with Stephen made their way to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except to Jews alone. But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks, also Preaching the Lord Jesus, and the hand of the Lord was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord. The news about them reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem and they sent Barnabas off to Antioch. 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, for he was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and a faith, and considerable numbers were brought to the Lord and he left for Tarsus to look for Saul, and we need 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.
Speaker 2:That stops at verse 26, and I think that's a good place for us to take a break as well. So 19 to 26 guys. What's now taking place with Barnabas?
Speaker 1:We could have talked a little bit about Antioch, the area. Give a little historical background.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I've memorized all this information by heart.
Speaker 2:Or I'm just looking at my footnotes here. I have known, though, in the world of Missiology, the study of Christian missions, that that what these Christians did, and reaching the city of Antioch is often used as somewhat of a, you know, a blueprint for missions. Today, you go to the inner city, you minister to as many people as you can, and then what starts inward moves outward, although I again with the book of Acts, it's not necessarily Dece, it's not necessarily Necessarily prescript, descriptive Let me speak this morning it's not necessarily prescriptive in nature, sometimes it's just Descriptive. So the problem, you know, with taking this as a blueprint every time for a missy logical approach, is that one size doesn't always fit all.
Speaker 2:Nevertheless, the city of Antioch is on the Orntis River, about 300 miles from Jerusalem, and it was the capital of the Roman province of Syria. It was the largest city in the Empire, with a population of about 500,000 people, certainly a massive city for that day. Antioch was one of the cosmopolitan centers of the world of that day, in a center of commerce, and Celusia was at sea port, about 16 miles away, replacing Jerusalem as the number one Christian city. It was the center of the early missionary activity of the church. So Maybe what's really unique about it is many Christians. The majority of them dwell in Jerusalem. Now they're dwelling in a Gentile city.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean even in this first part, about some of the movement. Yeah, it talks about Stephen again. You know, stephen was Killed for proclaiming the gospel. We know that early on in Acts. And so there was this dispersion. But the some of the people who dispersed were only talking to Jewish people because they felt that those were the only safe people to Talk to about this kind of stuff.
Speaker 1:But then we have a group of men, it says, that came to Antioch and Started speaking to the Greeks, the Hellenists and preaching the Lord Jesus.
Speaker 1:And so we have two kind of groups one that are Maybe a little hesitant to go outside of the Jewish community Because of the fear of persecution, but then we have some that are clearly not and who are like no, we're gonna, we're gonna spread the gospel, because one we just we just heard about what happened with Peter, and, and Peter Just said that the Holy Spirit is dwelling amongst Gentiles, they can believe, they can repent and believe, and so I think we have a movement here.
Speaker 1:We have two different groups of people that it talks about one sticking to the Jews, one going to the Gentiles, and so I just want to point that out. That's gonna be, you know you're gonna see one ministries of the Apostles Paul and Peter to different groups Sometimes, sometimes falling into the again the trap in which Peter just clearly talked about. Peter's gonna fall into that trap again of being amongst the circumcised and kind of treating them with more favor than the Gentiles, and Paul will come along and Kind of call him out on that later on. But so we have these groups of people on there who they're ministering to and I just find that interesting because that'll kind of be a Theme throughout the rest of the book of Acts and it's not just as a random thing that's happening like you see.
Speaker 3:so you know, with Jesus you had Gentiles that were following and came for healing and just we're hearing what was going on and kind of following the, the fabric you have gotten intentionally speaking to Gentiles, intentionally inviting the apostles to inviting, telling them to go.
Speaker 1:Yeah, In verse 21, it says with those it says, and the hand of the Lord was with them, those who were preaching to the Greeks, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. Well, it didn't say that about the ones going to the Jews, I mean, it said that to the ones going to the Gentiles. So I think we see the result of them, their hearts, saying no, the message of the Gospels for all people, and the Lord is blessing that.
Speaker 2:It also kind of indicates that, by way of God's spirit and his ministry, the ministry went first to the Jews, but there's a window of time that you as a culture and as a people have at large to respond to him. I mean, there was movement in the Jewish community. We just learned that the Christian community was originally in Jerusalem, but as you continue to branch out, it's almost like there's these first indications since earlier on in the book of Acts that the Jews continue to reject. Maybe one other side note, though, other than the fact that God is starting to move to the Gentiles, is I find it really amazing that God is utilizing Stephen's death. Still, you know, I mean, these people were scattered abroad and they're preaching the Lord Jesus, and what you do with the message is what you do with it, but I mean God receives glory in the preaching no matter what. So I mean this event and the loss of Stephen's life propelled and catalyzed more proclamation. That's important for us to remember.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then we have the church in Jerusalem, which you could say is kind of the center right now or not now today, but in this passage of the church itself and they send Barnabas to investigate what's going on in Antioch. I think of the Pharisees and their investigations right throughout the Gospels and how they kind of went and investigated things. We see the church kind of sending Barnabas to do the same, Like what's going on in Antioch? There clearly seems to be conversions. Let's go check that out, let's make sure that's real, let's confirm it, whatever that may be. And so they send Barnabas, a trusted individual, to go and to do this work. And I find that interesting. I mean, you think about today and missions. You know we want to go and confirm what's been going on, what's going on in this country or in this tribe or village, and we hear the Lord's moving. Let's go see what's going on, let's bring that report back to our churches here in America and show that the Lord is on the move around the world. I think that's important. We see Paul's going to do that many times send people.
Speaker 1:I think there's something there about sending, sending, sending, confirming, sending, confirming. That's a part of the Great Commission and that's what Barnabas is going to go do and here and go to Antioch. And then he says when he came he saw the grace of God, he was glad. Wouldn't it be amazing to be Barnabas, to go and just be like, wow, this is awesome, what is the Lord doing here? And just the excitement that you have when you show up and you clearly see the Holy Spirit's moved, like Barnabas got to just go and experience that. Go and be glad in it and have joy in the experience of people coming to salvation in Jesus Christ. Like what a cool thing to go do I mean that would be fun for to be any believer to go to a group of people that's maybe unreached and see just Jesus just transform a people. So I think that experience would be awesome to go and do that today.
Speaker 3:And Barnabas was the right person to send too. I mean, his heart was aligned with what God was doing, so he wasn't one going into that situation critically and that he was going and looking for.
Speaker 1:He's clearly trusted by the apostles, trained up in some way by the apostles or taught following the commands of Jesus. So, yeah, I mean I think he would have went in with the right heart. I mean he was looking and he saw the grace of God, that's what he was looking for. He clearly knew what that was.
Speaker 2:You know, some may be able to make the argument which says that Barnabas was the 13th apostle. Now we know that there's only 12 apostles. I get it, but if you could make an argument for 13th one, it's Barnabas, I think, even more than than than Matthias when they casted lots for him. Because Barnabas is actually and I don't remember the exact reference there is one place here in the book of Acts where he is actually called an apostle, but I think it's just in the lower case, a sense, in the sense that he is a sent one. But because he's close with Paul, he helped with Paul's conversion. I mean, I have a note here that says he convinced the apostles of the genuineness of Paul's conversion.
Speaker 2:Number one, number two he represented the apostles at Antioch and recognized that the movement there was the work of God, what we're reading in this very section. Number three he and Paul were sent by the Spirit on the very first missionary journey. And then, lastly, he defended the work among Gentiles at the Jerusalem Council on chapter 15. So we know that Barnabas, his name, means son of encouragement, and I just picture this guy. He is so enthralled when God is doing something. He is so zealous when God is doing something, that he is able to see it with his own eyes, and it's like, if you want to send a guy, you want to send a guy who's excited about the gospel and that's what we've seen him.
Speaker 1:And I like, as you talk about something that's descriptive, at least kind of seeing what Barnabas did with Saul or to become Paul, he went and got him right, because he's been gone for a little while, learning, growing in his faith.
Speaker 1:And then he brings him to Antioch for a year. It's almost like Barnabas is like I'm going to go get him because I need him to see this, I need to train him up in whatever's happening in Antioch. We need this. Whatever the Lord's moving in the people here, we want to see it, we want to recognize it and then we want to be able to go and do it. So there's, I think there's something that Barnabas saw as an opportunity for him to learn and to grow, because we're going to see Paul's journey of planting churches and missionary work and Paul will say this is his like one of his first experiences going and seeing how the Lord works within a, within a large city of Antioch, how the Lord is moving and growing.
Speaker 1:And then maybe there's not much description here about how it was organized. I mean, paul writes a lot about church organization and leadership, but I think they're learning that here within this, this, this situation. Now it's all about the word, it's all about the Holy Spirit and preaching, but I think Paul is learning. I think this is the place that he's still in, even though he's extremely smart, well educated, has the Holy Spirit. I think Paul is on a learning experience with Barnabas, and that's to me again.
Speaker 1:It says for a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people and an Antioch, the disciples were called Christians. I mean, yeah, this is the beginning of something that the rest of the New Testament, and I think that's an exciting marker in Acts, because now, from this point forward, we're gonna get letters all throughout the New Testament about what Paul did and who he sent and who he traveled with and all those sort of things. So this is a marker of the Christians and the Christian Church being established in Antioch and now whatever replication of this Paul's gonna go and try to do in all other places.
Speaker 2:I think maybe this is a good place to actually land the plane on the episode, even though we didn't get to verses 27 to 30, but maybe we could have this brief conversation, I know, just between the three of us as pastors here. No doubt we can say that we've been witnessing the grace of God here, ottawa Bible Church, for the last three years or so, but we also have, philosophically speaking, a motive to plant churches. We're not fully sure what that looks like, but you get the sense. Just as this was preparatory in nature for Barnabas and Paul, in the very same sense there's a lot of what's going on here where we're getting to witness healthy ministry and what's taking place and people are coming, they're growing in the word. We're seeing a lot of things that are going right and I think we need to get that down first before church planting takes place. And I mean this is an open conversation already amongst the elders.
Speaker 3:But the fact is, is there's there's a reality to the fact that God has each of us here right now, learning and soaking it all in so that more mission can be done later yeah, I think the, the church and we're talking about being sent in and the church and it's called to, to go and to plant churches to proclaim the gospel, but I think also, you have, I think there's like, maybe a small microcosm of like within the church because, because I think, specifically within the Christian church today, we have a lot of work to do.
Speaker 3:There's a lot of myths, misconceptions and cultural, cultural misconceptions that have bleated into the church and I think we have a lot of healing to do in the local church but in our community. So I think that, even as as a church, who is healthy, who is growing, who is seeking the Lord biblically to minister to our Christian brothers and sisters and other churches as well, so just the lost within our churches, who are following a culture that is lost and broken, to bring them back to the Lord, much like, I think, the Jewish community that had to see what the Lord was doing and breaking free from you know some of those things. Absolutely, yeah, I mean on that?
Speaker 1:no, I mean something that that I was thinking about this last week. I there's a there's a church down in Princeton, just south of us, that that needs the pulpit to be filled. Every now and again I'm going down there. Brandon Sands is preaching at Pomona Lake. This next Sunday too, we're gonna have, and then their services here at Ottawa Church.
Speaker 1:We're not just preaching the word in this building and and that is that is great. That's what we want. We want to live, sit in our community. We want the word of God to be heard all around us, not just in Ottawa Bible Church. We want every church in this community to truly preach the word of God. Like you're saying, we want everyone to be equipped in really knowing God's word and then proclaiming it. We want to get rid of all the junk, all the lies, the false teaching, the bad motives of people, sinful motives. We want to rip all those out as much as we can and just and just continue to preach the word and elevate God's word.
Speaker 1:And so, yeah, I mean I see Paul and Barnabas here in a place of learning and growing for the purpose of going and proclaiming God's word. And what's cool about this is it wasn't Paul and Barnabas that went to Antioch first. It just says disciples that's right followers of Christ and people we don't even know their names went to Antioch and proclaim the gospel on mission, went to live, sent, and Paul, barnabas were in the chair. The church in Jerusalem was like, hey, we need to go check that out. We need to go see what Jesus is doing, because the words being spread there and we're not even there. The apostles weren't even there and there's this huge up. I think God's showing the apostles. Look, I got this.
Speaker 1:I can do this without you, right and I think that's that's it's showing that God is on the move through his people who have the Holy Spirit and dwelling in them is awesome. And they went to go check it out and they were glad and Barnabas encouraged and and preached the word and exhorted them and and helped them grow and then went and got Paul and said, hey, come check this out and spend a year here and we're gonna keep growing and encouraging these people and then eventually we're gonna, then we're gonna go. So I think that's a cool thing to look at as a way, like you said, prescriptive, descriptive. You know, not every situation is like this, but we learned from this and Paul Barnabas learned from this, and so that helps us at least gain some wisdom, godly wisdom in how we go about doing ministry in our own local church and then outside of our walls per se yeah, well, if anything, it gives us a pattern to look for.
Speaker 2:It's not necessarily that it has to happen, but we definitely have to witness the grace of God each and every time, regardless of what the Lord is doing like.
Speaker 1:It's got to be his grace well, we, we had a meeting the other week with a church planter and he really, I think, spoke some wisdom to us. You know, when it we're thinking through church planting and how we're gonna do it and what, what numbers or markers should we look for as we plan and grow and get to that place? And it was interesting for him to say you know, of course there's. There's always a like, a risk. Right, your man, you're trying to do some risk management a little bit, but at the same time he's like yeah, this is God's church, it's not your church and it's not your risks to necessarily mitigate. The Lord will take people and move them as he wants to move them.
Speaker 1:So if you're looking for a number to hit or something, it's like I don't know, it depends where you're going. You could just send 20 people and that's a small church, going to a community and then going to proclaim the gospel. Why do you need 50? Why do you need more than that? Like, just trust God with the people that he's sending and God will move in that church. And so it's just the wisdom of like okay, trying to get out of my risk mitigation mind and just sending and going now. Does there need to be planning organization, sure, but to not allow too much to just get in the way of sending when we're supposed to be sending and just seek God's wisdom in it and be ready to go when he says go, amen. Well, thank you guys for listening to the be disciples podcast. We'll continue in acts the next time. But again, share with your friends, your family. We want people to hear God's word. Be encouraged by, to help you with this week and you can use this to disciple others. Have a blessed week.