When some of Jesus’ followers went to Antioch and began preaching also to Greeks, “[t]he Lord's hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.” (Acts 11:21) When the church at Jerusalem wanted to know more about what was going on they chose Barnabas to find out. This suggests he was both trusted and willing. Verse 24 calls him “a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith.”
Barnabas saw the “evidence of the grace of God” in how the church was growing in Christ and how it was blessed by the joint fellowship of Jews and gentiles.
God’s sovereignty is clear through this whole passage and because of the relationship Barnabas has with God, he is able to be a part of the unhindered spread of the Gospel through the early church. This is an encouragement to me because I know I too am part of God’s great design and plan for redemption. Reading about Barnabas and the benefit his choices were to the development of the early church, motivates me to also be in a close relationship with God so that I too will be able to recognize how He is working in the world and how to appropriately be a part of it.
Barnabas was so moved by the happenings of Antioch that he grabbed Paul and headed out to tell others. If the church today followed Barnabas’ example of surrender to Christ’s will, I believe each of our lives would look much different and we would probably be making a much larger impact for the Kingdom.
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