Title: Let's Be Like This
Contents
The Jerusalem church started as a gathering of 120 people praying together in Mark's upper room, and in an instant the number grew to 3,000 and then to 5,000. However, this Jerusalem church had forgotten one important mission that it had to do as a church. It was a missionary mission. Before Jesus was resurrected and ascended into heaven, He said to His disciples: Matthew 28:19-20, “Go ye and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”
However, the Jerusalem church was satisfied only with its own revival and growth and forgot its mission. So the Holy Spirit shook the Jerusalem church upside down so that it could take on this important missionary mission. A great persecution took place in the Jerusalem church. Peter is in prison. Deacon Stephen was stoned and martyred. James was cut by the sword and was martyred. Because of this great tribulation, the church members in Jerusalem reached the land of Judea, Samaria, and even Antioch. As the gospel was preached in the Antioch region, many Gentiles believed and came back to the Lord. For the first time in Christian history, a Gentile church was established in Antioch. The news spread to Jerusalem, and a man named Barnabas from the church in Jerusalem was sent to Antioch as a representative. Because of Barnabas, the church in Antioch quickly revives. Consider what kind of person Barnabas really is.
1. Barnabas was a good man.
2. Barnabas was a man filled with the Holy Spirit.
He was a man who had the Spirit of Jesus Christ living and working in his heart. What does full mean? It means overflowing. There are two characteristics that appear in a person filled with the Holy Spirit. First, those who are filled with the Holy Spirit have the power to boldly testify of the Lord Jesus to others. A person who testifies to Jesus. The second characteristic is a lot of love. It is plentiful. May we, like Barnabas, be filled with the Holy Spirit so that we can boldly testify of the Lord Jesus and use our love to help those in need.
3. Barnabas was a man full of faith.