Little Christs - The Book of Acts

In this Bible Story, Saul and Barnabas team up to advance the gospel in Antioch. Saul is still learning about what it truly means to walk with Jesus, and Barnabas acts as a brilliant mentor and friend. This story is inspired by Acts 11:19-30. Go to BibleinaYear.com and learn the Bible in a Year.

Today's Bible verse is Acts 11:26 from the King James Version.

Episode 226: As more men and women came to faith in Jerusalem, more were beaten and thrown into jail. Because of this, many believers scattered across the Roman Empire setting as far as Cyprus and Antioch for safety. In these cities, the gospel began to break out from being a Jewish-only message, now Greeks and Hellenists were receiving Jesus too! The attitude of the believers in the city was so helpful that people began to refer to these followers as little Christs, a name that has stuck with us for generations.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let us pray, and it came to pass that a
whole year they assembled themselves with the church and taught
much people, and the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.
Thank you for giving me the heart of Barnabas Lord,
Thank you for allowing me to encourage and to speak

(00:22):
life into all those willing to listen as I grow
and evolve in my faith. I pray that my life
would be a beacon of hope and a model for
others to follow. As you begin to expand your number
of believers around me, I pray that we would operate

(00:43):
in such a way that people can see the resemblance
of Christ in our every day actions and deeds. Through this,
I pray that revival will break loose in my city,
in my state, and in my country. I pray that
we would make such a noise that the whole world

(01:04):
will look in our direction and wonder where we get
our joy, our peace, and our power from. When asked,
we will rejoice because you are now giving us the
opportunity to share the greatest love story ever told, the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. In Jesus' name, Amen, listening to

(01:33):
these daily prayers strengthens your relationship with God. Continue hearing
from the Lord by listening to today's Bible in a Year,
brought to you by Bible in a Year dot.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
Com Little Christs. In our last story, Peter discovered that
the Kingdom of God expanding to more than just the Jews.
Through his interactions with Cornelius, Peter began to learn that

(02:06):
God was going to extend his reach to all the nations.

Speaker 3 (02:11):
Now we see the Church expand and grow despite persecution.
Everywhere the Family of God goes, positive change follows, and
the believers begin to create a reputation that would echo
thousands of years into the future.

Speaker 4 (02:29):
We're so glad you joined us on the Bible and
of your podcast today. The Bible any of your podcast
is an outreach of PowerPoint Ministries and can only come
to you each week through the support of listeners just
like you. Your support today is so important that we
want to thank you for your gift by giving you
a copy of my book called The Jesus Book. It

(02:49):
is a powerful guide that shows how every book of
the Bible points to Jesus and how his living word,
the truth of God's Word, will transform your life. You
get a copy of the Jesus Book. Simply go to
Jack Graham dot org slash Jesus. That's Jack Graham dot
org slash Jesus, and thank you for your support. In

(03:12):
our last episode, we heard how God showed Peter that
the Gospel of Jesus Christ is meant for everyone, all nations,
not just the Jewish people, but people everywhere. Peter then
shared the Gospel with the household of a Roman centurion
named Cornelius, and his whole family came to faith in Christ.
The good news of Jesus was beginning to spread beyond

(03:33):
the Jewish world and Jerusalem, and now the Word of
God is moving throughout the earth. Today we'll hear how
more non Jews around the world began to embrace the Gospel,
and as the church grew, Barnabas was sent to Antioch
to strengthen and encourage the new believers. So let's listen
now to today's reading from the exciting Book of Acts.

Speaker 3 (03:55):
The heavy clanging of chains echoed through the streets of Jerusalem.
Vers and Jesus were rounded up like cattle and thrown
into prison for their faith. Soon, the jail cells were
overflowing with people singing psalms and praises to God. So
the violence increased. Men were fed to lions, and women
were ripped away from their children. Whoever did not receive

(04:18):
a beating received humiliation. So the people of God scattered
to the outer regions of the Roman Empire. Believers in
Jesus fled to Cyprus and Antioch for safe haven. Before
the Word was only preached to the Jews, but now
there were rumblings of the revival erupting forth from the Hellenists,
who were Jewish Greeks. So many started coming to know

(04:41):
Jesus that the Apostles sent Barnabas to go and lead them.
They needed someone rational yet caring. They needed a man
strong enough to lead, but gentle enough to comfort others.
Barnabas was all of these things and more. God had
appointed him with a sharp mind and saintly heart. It
was this mind and heart that resonated with Saul. Barnabas

(05:04):
had taken Saul under his wing and discipled him the
two spoke of God, Jesus, the Word and miracles. Slowly
Saul was growing in the power and wisdom of Christ.
The Hellenistic believers created an infamous reputation in Cyprus and Antioch.
When there was a great famine in the land. The
disciples of Jesus sent a great deal of resources to

(05:27):
meet the city's needs. Believers worked day and night to
ensure everyone was fed and clothed. People observed their self
sacrifice and kindness. They saw thousands of people being fed
and hundreds of people being healed. The gentiles noticed that
there was something strange about them. They looked and acted

(05:48):
like Jesus himself. They were like little Christs. Thus people
began to refer to them as Christians.

Speaker 4 (06:00):
As we begin today's reading, we see that the Gospel
is on the move. The Church is on the move.
The persecution that came as a result of faith in
Jesus Christ has now scattered the church in Jerusalem. As
believers now moved from their safe haven from Jerusalem to
the uttermost parts of the earth, They're going to places
like Cyprus and Antioch. Though many of the believers were

(06:24):
still stuck in the mindset that the Gospel was for
a select group only and therefore only preached the word
to people who were religious, there were others who, like Peter,
understood that there was a much greater mission, a broader mission.
So in Acts eleven, verses twenty and twenty one, here's
what we find. But there were some of them, men

(06:45):
of Cyprus and Sirene, who, on coming to Antioch, spoke
to the Helenists, also preaching the Lord Jesus, and the
hand of the Lord was with them. And a great
number who believed turned to the Lord. Helenis were Greek
men and women. They were gentiles, and we see that
as they heard the good news, they also received it
by putting their faith in Christ and following him. The

(07:08):
Church is multiplying and now is experiencing an explosion of
growth in these distant cities. This, of course was great
and all a part of God's plan. And when the
Church in Jerusalem received the news that people were being
saved at distant places, they sent a trusted brother in
Christ to help strengthen and instruct these new believers. Barnabas

(07:30):
was one of these men. He was known to be
full of faith and filled with the Holy Spirit. He
had been the first in Jerusalem to welcome Saul, who
became Paul in his miraculous conversion, And so when Barnabas
saw the need in Antioch, he went to Tarsus to
find Saul and bring him to Antioch. And together these
men taught the believers for an entire year, and their

(07:53):
teaching paid off. These followers of Christ stood out from
the crowd in Antioch. Their generosity and kindness did not
go unnoticed, and soon they earned a moniker little christ
or Christians. This is the name now with which we
are so familiar, and it began back at Antioch when
the believers there were first called Christians because of their

(08:15):
christ Like attitude and actions. Today's reading reminds us of
the importance of discipling new believers in the faith, and
that this is something that takes time and intentional investment
by more mature believers. Barnabas knew that the believers in
these places needed to be instructed in the faith so
that they would remain true to the Gospel and to

(08:36):
the Word of God. He also understood that Saul, though
he was highly educated in Jewish law and tradition, needed
a mentor in his new faith, someone to walk with him,
to encourage him and prepare him for the ministry to
which God had called him. We all need a Barnabas
or two in our lives and we should also seek
to be a Barnabas to others, encouraging, mentoring, and bringing

(08:59):
people up in their faith. This reading is also a
reminder of what it means to be called a Christian.
This is not simply a group or a club that
we joined. We are called to reflect Christ into the world,
to remind people of Jesus that people will see Christ
working in us and therefore call us Christians. Let's pray together,

(09:21):
Dear God, how we praise you for your goodness and
your grace in taking the Gospel to the whole world
and including all of us who believe in trust in You.
Help us, like those believers in Antioch, to remind people
of Jesus, to be models of Christ in the world,
so that when people see our good works, they will
glorify God and believe and follow Jesus himself, For it

(09:44):
is in his name that we pray. Amen. Thank you
for listening to today's Bible into Your podcast, and before
we go, I wanted to let you know that the
Bible into Your Podcast is an outreach of PowerPoint Ministries
and can only come to you each week through the
support of listeners like you. Your support today is so

(10:05):
important that we want to thank you for your gift
by giving you a copy of my book called The
Jesus Book. This book is a powerful guide that shows
how every book in the Bible points to Christ and
how you can better read and understand the Bible and
how God's Word transforms our lives. So to get your
copy of the Jesus Book, simply go to Jaggraham dot

(10:27):
org slash Jesus. That's Jaggraham dot org slash Jesus and
thank you for your support.