Acts 11:25-30\u00a0<\/b>\u2013\u00a0Then Barnabas went to Tarsus\u00a0to look for Saul,\u00a026\u00a0and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first\u00a0at Antioch.\u00a0 27\u00a0During this time some prophets\u00a0came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.\u00a028\u00a0One of them, named Agabus,\u00a0stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world.\u00a0(This happened during the reign of Claudius.)\u00a029\u00a0The disciples,\u00a0as each one was able, decided to provide help\u00a0for the brothers and sisters living in Judea.\u00a030\u00a0This they did, sending their gift to the elders\u00a0by Barnabas\u00a0and Saul.<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cThen Barnabas went to Tarsus\u00a0to look for Saul,\u00a026\u00a0and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 Barnabas went to look for Saul.\u00a0 It is interesting to note how scholars will consider why Barnabas went to look for Saul.\u00a0 We tend to project how we would do something onto others.\u00a0 So those who rely first on our minds figure that Barnabas considered Saul\u2019s great scriptural scholarship and so went to get him.\u00a0 Yet, there were plenty of knowledgeable teachers in Jerusalem.\u00a0 Barnabas could have went south to Jerusalem, but instead went north to Tarsus.\u00a0 It seems more likely that this \u201cgood man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith<\/i>\u201d was guided by the Holy Spirit to seek out Saul.\u00a0 The smart choice was to get known and degreed teachers from Jerusalem, whom he could easily locate, to come to teach these new converts.\u00a0 The \u201csmart\u201d option was not the well-educated but not Christian experienced new guy.\u00a0 Surely the Holy Spirit reminded Barnabas that the Lord had called Saul, soon to be Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles.\u00a0 Saul had his conversion experience about ten years previously.\u00a0 The first try of Paul of sharing about Jesus was not to the Gentiles, as he had clearly been called.\u00a0 His first two tries at ministering were to the Jews, and both times he had to flee as they were going to kill him.\u00a0 He had ended up in Tarsus and while it is hard to imagine that he was not talking to the people there about Jesus, for the most part, it seems that Paul had been set aside for a time.\u00a0 We know it is not unusual for God to prepare His servants to be used.\u00a0 Moses went through forty years of preparing.\u00a0 It would seem that the Holy Spirit reminded Barnabas of Paul and sent him to bring this ten-year bench warmer to Antioch.\u00a0 It was his time to be put into the game plan.<\/p>\n
Barnabas did not have an address in which to find Saul.\u00a0 The word translated as \u201clook for\u201d in the NIV and \u201cto seek\u201d in the KJV has a meaning of searching out.\u00a0 More specifically, to desperately search, like a parent searching for a lost child.\u00a0 In fact, the only other time this word was used in the New Testament was in\u00a0Luke 2:44<\/b>\u00a0when Mary and Joseph were frantically searching for Jesus after He was not with them after the Passover feast in Jerusalem.\u00a0 So Barnabas was trying desperately to find where, after these many years, Saul was.\u00a0 When God sends you, you look till you find.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 Barnabas, the great encourager and comforter, worked with Saul, the powerful man of scripture who came to Jesus through a supernatural encounter with Jesus, and God blessed them in teaching the brothers and sisters of Antioch.\u00a0 Saul was off the bench and God was going to use him powerfully. How grand it must have been for those in Antioch to study and be blessed by Barnabas and Saul!<\/p>\n
\u201cThe disciples were called Christians first\u00a0at Antioch.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 The term Christian was a description for those who followed Christ.\u00a0 Just as the \u201cian\u201d was used of people who followed Herod and were called Herodians.\u00a0 This also illustrates that \u201cChrist\u201d (Meaning Messiah) was already a proper name for Jesus.\u00a0 They were called Christians, not Jesusians.\u00a0 Jesus was known as being known as the one called Christ.\u00a0 Praise God!<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring this time some prophets\u00a0came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 Here is where those who lean on wrong tradition will hurriedly point out that yes there were prophets in the church then, but not now.\u00a0 They cannot accurately use any scripture to establish that the office of the prophet has passed.\u00a0 The gifts of God to bless the church then, are still for the church now.\u00a0 The prophets blessed and encouraged the people then, and the office is still the same for the church now.\u00a0 Good things these are gifts from God the Holy Spirit and not from the doctrine of men!<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of them, named Agabus,\u00a0stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world.\u00a0(This happened during the reign of Claudius.)<\/i>\u201d In those days, to say that something effected the entire Roman world was taken the same as one would say something effected the whole world.\u00a0 For them, Rome had control of most of it.<\/p>\n
Agabus said that a famine was coming and it would spread over the entire Roman world.\u00a0 Two famines did hit and the effect of them were felt throughout the Roman Empire at different times.\u00a0 In Jerusalem the famine struck them about 34 AD.\u00a0 The prophecy was given during the reign of Claudius, but famine did not come during his reign.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe disciples,\u00a0as each one was able, decided to provide help\u00a0for the brothers and sisters living in Judea.\u00a030\u00a0This they did, sending their gift to the elders\u00a0by Barnabas\u00a0and Saul.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 The new brothers and sisters heard of the coming famine and decided to take up an offering for those in Jerusalem.\u00a0 They were in a position to do so.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s notice that they did not decide to buy weapons, and food and store water and then go to locations they could defend against anyone who might be coming in need and asking for help.\u00a0 No, they said we have, let us give.\u00a0 They did as the Lord would do.\u00a0 Can anyone who truly has the love of God within, the love that brought Jesus from Heaven to earth, can they truly horde food and water and shoot someone who comes with need for their selves and their families.\u00a0 Is that the love of God?\u00a0 No, anyone who has the love of God within gives.\u00a0 Those who don\u2019t have the love of God don\u2019t give.\u00a0 Anyone who does not have the love of God does not know God (1 John 4:8<\/b>).<\/p>\n
Saul may have wondered what was happening to him.\u00a0 He knew the Lord called him to be the Apostle to the Gentiles, yet he was not being used.\u00a0 Saul needed to be patient and allow the work of God on him to have its full effect.\u00a0\u00a0 He had to trust God and His plan.\u00a0 \u00a0We also, may go through times of preparation.\u00a0 Let us likewise trust God and His plan for us.\u00a0 This is infinitely better than trusting ourselves and our plans.\u00a0 God is good and He loves us.\u00a0 Let\u2019s trust Him, praise God!<\/p>\n
Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/i><\/p>\n
Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Acts 11:25-30\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Then Barnabas went to Tarsus\u00a0to look for Saul,\u00a026\u00a0and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first\u00a0at Antioch.\u00a0 27\u00a0During this time some prophets\u00a0came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.\u00a028\u00a0One of them,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[82,100,106,94,17],"class_list":["post-1659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-acts","tag-john","tag-luke","tag-micah","tag-psalm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1659"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1660,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1659\/revisions\/1660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}