January 16, 2000
As seen in Acts 11, God often uses unnamed people to achieve striking expansions of Christianity. Alistair Begg looks to Barnabas’s response to God’s call to Antioch as that of one who embraced unrecognized obedience. In our own areas of ministry, we too must respond to God with humility, obedience, and praise, knowing that the Holy Spirit alone enables us to elevate God’s name above all others.
19mNow 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. 20But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists3 also, npreaching the Lord Jesus. 21And othe hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed pturned to the Lord. 22The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23When he came and saw qthe grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord rwith steadfast purpose, 24for he was a good man, sfull of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people twere added to the Lord.
Copyright © 2024, Alistair Begg. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.