Is God using you to Bless Others? – Acts 11

After Stephen had been martyred for his faith by the religious Jews, the church began to experience persecution in Jerusalem.  The church spread out beyond Jerusalem moving North to Antioch.  As the believers in Christ dispersed, they became a witness to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and to the power of God that changes peoples lives.

When a person comes to Christ, they receive the Holy Spirit being baptized into the body of Christ.  Having received the Holy Spirit, the believer in Christ will then experience being filled with the Holy Spirit.  A person filled with the Holy Spirit is given the desire to worship, to love, to do good, and to bless. 

Barnabas was one of those early Christian leaders who were filled with the Holy Spirit becoming a father to many in the early church.

The gospel had traveled to North reaching Antioch.  In Antioch a great number of people placed their faith in Jesus.  The church decided to send Barnabas to Antioch to be their pastor so that he could instruct them in the faith.

Once Barnabas reached Antioch the first thing he did was to encourage them in the faith.  The text then says that he was a “good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.”  The phrase was the same one used to describe Stephen who had been stoned by the religious Jews. 

Barnabas began to bless those around him by using his gifts to build up the body of Christ so that they were encouraged in the faith.  As the work proceeded, he realized that he needed some help and went to Tarsus to find Paul.  Paul agreed to assist in the work and went to Antioch to serve with Barnabas for a year. 

In Antioch the believers in Christ were first called Christians.  The early Christians made a powerful impression and were recognized as followers of Jesus.  The Christian community in Antioch was important to the early church as a result.  

The love in that early Christian community can clearly be seen.  Paul went on three missionary journeys and all of them included Antioch as one of the stops.  Paul wanted to encourage and be encouraged by the believers in Antioch whom he had gotten to know and grown to love.  

When Agabus prophesied about a coming famine, the believers in Antioch were quick to help their brothers in Christ found in Judea.  The love found in that community was overflowing beyond that community and reaching out to bless their brothers and sisters in Christ who were suffering.

Is your love overflowing to others?  Are you a blessing to others?  Are you consistently talking about the things that God is doing in your life?  A person who knows the love of God being filled with the Holy Spirit will be a blessing to those around them.