Jack Jurgens's Ministry Library

Ministry on Acts 11.

[0:00] Good morning everybody and I have to say that I’m humbled to be together with you at this, 80th conference of Midland Park Assembly and I would like to thank everybody not only for coming but for paying such a attention reverently to the word of God. We saw an example and as As Joseph said, we like examples.

So we saw an example of a young man who was looking after God and he was looking after Godliness.

I’d like to see now an example of a group of people who are looking after Christ and being Christ-like.

So come to the New Testament please in Acts chapter 11.

Acts chapter 11, Acts chapter 11, verse 19.

Are going to see the birth, the growing in numbers.

[1:11] And growing in quality of the church in Antioch.

[1:18] Chapter 11 of book of Acts, verse 19. Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen traveled as far as Venice and Cyprus and Antioch, preaching the word to none but only the Jews, unto the Jews only.

And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which when they were come to Antioch, speak unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus.

And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned unto the Lord. Then tidings of these things came onto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem and they sent forth Barnabas that he should go as far as Antioch who, when he came had seen the grace of God was glad and exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord for he was a good man and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith and much people were added unto the Lord then, departed Barnabas to Tarsus for to seek Saul. And when he has found him he brought him unto Antioch and it came to pass that the whole year they assembled themselves with that church and taught much people and disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.

[2:43] In these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch, and there stood up one of them, named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be a great dearth throughout the world, which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar. Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judea, which also they did and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul. And to chapter 13 please, just the first few verses. They go to Jerusalem, they leave the relief there, the aid, and they, came back. Chapter 14 last verse 25. When Barnabas and Saul had finished their mission, they returned from Jerusalem, taking with them John, also called Mark. In the church of Antioch, now they were in in the church that was in Antioch certain prophets and teachers.

[3:42] As Barnabas and Simon was called Niger and Lusus of Cyrene, and Manhane which has been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch and Saul.

As they ministered to the Lord and fastened, the Holy Ghost said, separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.

And when they had fastened and prayed, they laid their hands on them and then sent them away.

And as I said, we have seen a godly man. And I like to present a Christ-like church.

[4:19] And actually as we see through the New Testament gathering of Lord’s people, we see them with troubles and challenges.

But the church of Antioch I think is a perfect, almost perfect example of how the church of God should be.

A local church, a local assembly.

Antioch was a very important city, was founded and was called after the name of one of the generals that came after Alexander the Great.

There was many Antioch in that time. Actually, we find more than Antioch in the New Testament.

Was a third city in the Roman Empire.

Was a very metropolitan city. Was almost half a million of population.

When we consider that, comparing to the number of worldwide population, it’s quite a huge number.

As a large population of Jewish origin as well. And then, as I said, it was a center of commerce, was a religious center as well.

And actually, Rome wanted to make Antioch like an eastern Rome.

[5:36] What happened in this city? When we consider the verse 19, it goes parallel with with Acts 8.

Those who are scattered because of the persecution that came with Stephen. And then chapter 8 says, Philip went to. So we have a parallel passage, two parallel passages. We’ll see later the similarities but just as a start they were scattered, because of persecution those who live godliness will be persecuted but the persecution that happened in Jerusalem, didn’t extend them actually made them a spawn they went everywhere, Preaching the good news and as they went, these people went here to Antioch, they were preaching to the Jews, to their fellow people.

But it says some of them were preaching to the Greeks, they spoke to the Grecians.

[6:44] First of all, we see that there is no name in this group of people and that speaks of humility.

They’re all together and there is no one of them who was the first or who was the leader.

They were all preaching, not only humility, but we see the involvement of everyone.

They all felt responsible to share the good news.

But what have happened in Jerusalem, how Christ died for their sins, how he rose again and how he was the Messiah, the Lord.

And they were all united, obviously, as one body. As they were sharing responsibilities, they all felt the burden.

[7:37] There were three brothers and they were partying together. They came all together.

They said, we’re going to have a big party and we’re going to bring the wine together.

So all the food came and as they brought the wines, they put them all in a big jar.

And one of them thought, listen, the wine is going to be put in the big jar. I’ll bring water.

Or they’ll mix with the others and nobody will recognize anyway.

Nobody will realize that.

And then all the tables are spread and here comes a big jar of wine.

And as they’re pouring the wine into the cups, there’s only water.

All of them thought the same.

[8:26] I’ll not bring my contribution. That will not be noticed.

But wasn’t with them in Antioch. There is no name because everyone put his weight on.

And not only that, not only no name, there is no discrimination.

They were Jews of diaspora. They were going back, maybe not into their homes, but anyway, they were going because of their persecution.

We have to realize that Judaism is not an outreaching or it’s not an outgoing religion.

You are born a Jew. You cannot become a Jew. But this one are different.

This one, they’re actually, they’re more loving than Peter. Remember Peter?

God had to, the Lord has to intervene. And Peter had to say, Lord, I’m not getting defiled by them, by going the house in Cornelius.

[9:27] They preached the gospel with no discrimination. They were talking to the Greeks that actually they considered Lord by themselves.

They didn’t consider themselves higher than others.

But they went down and shared what they had in their hearts.

Not only no name, not only no discrimination.

But we have one message, two audiences.

It says that they preached to the Greeks.

[10:03] They spake unto the Grecians preaching the Lord Jesus. Structurally is the same structure as I said in Acts 8.

In Acts 8 it says, verse 4, it says we’re scattered and preaching the word.

We’re scattered and preaching Christ unto them. And we have preaching the word, preaching, the Lord, preaching the Lord Jesus. As I said, one message, two audiences. The message, if you see in the book of Acts, the message that the Jews or the apostles were preaching to the Jews, to their fellow citizens, was Jesus of Nazareth.

[10:49] He is the Christ. He is Messiah. He is the suffering one and he is the glorious one.

He came, yes, we killed him, but God has given us another chance to accept him.

And that was the message to the Jews. But to the Gentiles was something in a way different.

The Greeks wouldn’t, the Gentiles, people like us, not interested in Judaism, they would say, Messiah, who is he? Here’s the promised one that God is going to send, that he has sent it actually, to us. He said, to you, but not to us. So the message to the Gentiles was, as Peter would say to the Cornelius, the word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all and that was the message to the Greeks, to the Romans, to the Gentiles. Jesus Christ as the Lord of all and he is the Lord, he is the Curious.

[12:06] And the hand of the Lord was with them and a great number believed and turned unto the Lord.

And we can see the divine approval on what they’re doing.

The hand of the Lord. Nehemiah will write the hand of the Lord.

Ezra will write the hand of my God.

And it’s time of returning. It’s time of rebuilding. It’s time of revival.

And what happened in Antioch was not planned, was not programmed.

But it was an organic growth of people who shared the gospel in their simplicity.

And the result was a great number, a great number. They believed and they turned.

They believed and they turned.

I think that today we need to see people turned and not only believing.

See, the other day I met David for the very first time. Actually, we were late.

And as we were meeting him, you know, we greeted. Imagine if I could have said, David, listen, while we were coming, the tire went flat.

And while we were trying to change the tire, a truck came and threw us into the side of the road.

And this is why we were late. And David would say, what? A truck against you?

[13:35] Where are the signs? Where is the evidence?

[13:41] And we have been stuck by a power that is way greater than a truck.

Where is the signs? Where is the evidence of life-changing power of God?

They believed and they turned.

They turned.

[14:06] And this is how the church has started, how the local assembly here in Antioch have started.

Let’s see now how it expanded. It says that the news of this arrived in Jerusalem, and Jerusalem sent forth Barnabas. The time of these things came under the ears of the church, which was in Jerusalem and they sent forth Barnabas. Again the same structure we find in Acts where the gospel arrived in Samaria and the news of it arrived in Jerusalem and Jerusalem sent somebody, actually sent Peter to see how the things were there, Peter and John. And again in Acts 11 we have the apostle of the brethren that were in Judea heard that Gentiles received the word of God and then they were questioning. So there was something new here, historical. The Gentiles in the beginning of the Samaritans and then the Gentiles trying to accept the gospel, trying to receive, the good news. So Jerusalem sent Barnabas. Why they sent them? Oh to check who are these people, that claim that they believe in the same Messiah, in the same Lord as we do. And there they sent Barnabas. Why they sent him? They sent him to check actually. Why Barnabas?

[15:32] There are reasons, I think, why they sent Barnabas. First of all, he was a Cypriot.

He was a Cypriot, the same as these people here. But more than that, I think that there are qualities in Barnabas, and that’s because they sent him.

[15:51] Barnabas is a pivotal character in the life of the early church.

We see him here and there.

It’s not a main character, but I would say it’s a key character.

Find him first time Acts 4, where he had a piece of land.

He was a Levi, he sells it and brings the money into the feet of the apostles.

But actually he was called Joseph. And they changed his name in Barnabas, the son of consolation.

Or actually, the one who walks near to you.

Barnabas was the son of consolation.

[16:34] I think today we need Barnabas and that’s why the reason they sent him there, the missionaries that they were translating the the bible into an african tropical country, they were they were translating first corinthians chapter 3 and they were showing to the locals you see where paul says that he writes that paul uh planted and apollo watered and they said, perfect pole a wise man he plants a pole water we don’t know what watering is because if it rains every day there is no need for irrigation there is no need for water so they couldn’t understand this concept and as they put it into the local language they said pole planted and a poles put the stick where this This plant could live.

And I think today we need people who are like sticks. And as we see the young plants growing, people who walk near to us.

And this is why they sent Barnabas.

[17:45] The quality of him. And we saw him not only in Acts 4. We don’t have time to develop it.

Saw him in Acts 9. Again we have a young fellow, young guy, young fellow, Saul of Tarsus. We, know him, he was a persecutor of the church and then he miraculously gets saved. And he, tried to speak to the brethren, he tried to join them. They were afraid, rightly so. And, And it says that Barnabas took him and brought him to the Apostles and declared unto them how Paul or Saul have sinned the Lord and the way.

Barnabas took Paul, Saul, and brought him to the Apostles.

[18:35] Because he was a son of consolation, he was doing what he did his best.

Supporting people, encouraging people and he saw this young guy with potential and actually he was risking his reputation saying this I know him, he’s genuine and he brought him, draw near to him, encourage them.

I wonder if we today would have had the epistles that the apostle Paul wrote if we would not have Barnabas and then he went there and he was full of spirit and he was full of faith because he was full of spirit he saw the grace of God they sent Barnabas, and he saw the grace of God.

[19:37] The Spirit of God recognized the work of God.

Actually, Barnabas didn’t see the differences but they were in Antioch. We have to realize, that the assembly there in Antioch was different from the assembly from the church in Jerusalem. In Jerusalem they’ll speak Hebrew.

Their singing was different. With their way that they have built up But they would know the Old Testament in that perfect inside out.

The church in Antioch, they were brand new Christians. But Barnabas saw salvation in them.

He saw the grace of God.

And he was glad what God and what the Lord was doing in their lives.

Because when Barnabas left Jerusalem to go from Jerusalem to Antioch, He led Jerusalem to Jerusalem and he saw there and what he did, he exhorted them.

He exhorted them because he was the son of consolation.

[20:48] He encouraged them. He encouraged them to what? To remain true to the Lord.

And as another another version puts it, encourage them to remain true to the Lord with devoted hearts, true to the Lord biblically, with devoted hearts.

And that is actually the temperature of your truth.

You can be biblically as we heard, but cold. said you have to be true to the Lord with a devoted heart with open heart, and we see the effect much people much people was added unto the Lord the result of good separate care the result of good encouragement much people were added unto the Lord the growth the start of the church the, growth numerically. Let’s see how they grew in quality.

[21:52] Barnabas, he departed for Tarsus and he found to seek Saul. We have found him.

He brought him to Antioch and it came to pass that the whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and they taught much people and the disciples were called Christian first in Antioch.

Humility of the servants. Barnabas realized that physically he was insufficient.

It couldn’t deal with the hour. The day is only 24 hours. I can’t. The thing is growing here.

A ministry is growing. I can’t cope anymore. So I need somebody else.

Where do we do that?

I’m not sufficient. Not only physically But only even spiritually. I’m not a great teacher. I need a teacher.

I am yes, someone who looks after the souls, I’ll take care of them as a good shepherd, but I’m not a teacher, Barnabas says.

So he gets, he gets soul and brings him.

And he brought him into Antioch. Let’s speak about this guy, not the apostle, but this guy here, Saul of Tarsus. Every time that we see him until this point, but even a bit after.

[23:17] It seems that he put himself into the hands of the others. Acts 9 says, as then disciples took him by night, let him down by the wall in a basket.”, Again, verse 27, Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles.

You see, they take him and bring him down.

He took him and brought it to the apostles.

And then Acts 30, 9 30, which when the brethren knew, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him forth to Tarsus.

See, it’s a young man.

But the others seem that they have an influence in his life.

And not only an influence, but tell him what to do.

And Paul will say, hold on. Where is my saying in all this? They tell him, Saul, go there.

Saul, come here.

Do this. He said, what? Hold on.

Do I have a saying in all this?

[24:14] It seems that he didn’t have a saying in all this.

Because he trusted himself into the hand of others. We are the young man like Saul today.

That will hear what more mature believers will ask them to do and they’ll do it.

Saul was like that. He left himself to be carried around in a way.

He was faithful in small things.

And for that reason God used him mightily and he became faithful in big things Much people were added. Much people were taught. It says.

[24:57] Most people were taught in Antioch. All those who were added, all those who were added were taught.

They were taught into the scripture, they were taught in the Bible.

It’s nice to see all this process of growing, not only numerically but even in quality.

And obviously, those who were taught, they were different levels.

You see, I still remember bringing my second and third child into home.

When they came home, we didn’t put them on the table with Luke, who’s our firstborn.

I don’t know. We kept them in their cradle. We didn’t give the same food, it was different.

And the same was happening here. Those who believed were taught, but there were people who were more advanced.

And obviously the food was different. Those who were added were taught all of them according to their needs.

And what happened?

It says, for the very first time in Antioch, this is historical, they were called Christians first in Antioch.

The character of Christ, that godliness that we heard in the life of everyone, every single believer.

[26:24] Alexander the Great was a great general and his custom was to walk in his army by night.

And one night actually they got him there as he was walking in the fields in the camp, and they brought a guy that he was caught in sleep.

[26:50] Suddenly, Alexander the Great asked him, he said, son, what is your name?

And the guy caught him sleeping said, my name is Alexander.

[27:04] He said, listen, son, you change your name, or you change your behavior. You cannot carry my name and be caught in sleep.

They are called Christians. They were called like Christ. They saw their life. They saw their godliness.

They saw their how behaving.

It’s like Christ. We have to bring honor to the name that we carry. And there were prophets who came from Jerusalem and Agabus was one of them and he was saying that a great famine was going to happen in Judea. And what they did, we see the fellowship here among the assemblies. There are at least two reasons why they gathered money. There are many but at least two. First of all, as a Gentile church they were giving to the church in Judea, a Jew church, to show that they’re one now in Christ, that there is no Jew, that there is no Gentile, there is one body. But there is another reason I believe.

[28:27] Because they’re showing their gratefulness. The gospel came from the Jews and they are showing their gratefulness to those people, to those believers who are bought with the same price by the same blood the blood of the Lord Jesus and we see the results actually in Acts 13. Barnabas and Saul they come back from Jerusalem, and as they were together in the church in Antioch there are certain prophets and teachers there, was a was a multicultural church there were different people Simon was a was a black person maybe a Ethiopian Jew and there was Lucius Cyrene of Cyrene he is Latin North Africa maybe more today, Libya. So it was a multi-ethnic church where different people, there were Jews, there were Gentiles, there were blacks and whites and different others. And actually.

[29:34] All of us come from different backgrounds. Our stories are different, but that was not their weak point. That was their strong point. Unity in Christ, is not based on ethnicity, on social group, on cultural background, but is based on the Lord alone and that is why the Lord put the blessing on this gathering. They’re one in Christ. Dependency from the Holy Spirit as you are ministered to the Lord and fastened, the Holy Ghost said, separate Barnabas and Saul.

Willingness to obey.

They send the best.

They send the best.

[30:26] The best teacher and the best shepherd. They send them out there.

And as the church in Antioch was praying to understand the voice of God, they all agree.

And as Mr. Darby says, they let them go.

Let them go to a new thing for the very first time. A church is sending missionaries, not because they are forced as in Jerusalem, not because of… but just a structured team effort to bring the Gospel somewhere else.

[31:08] A church who grew not only numerically, but even in quality.

We all love strawberries, at least some of us. You see, I’ve started to grow strawberries.

And as you have them the first year, after sometimes it seems like a shoot comes out of it comes out of it and goes into the ground again and the new plant starts and again after the second year another shoot comes out and a new plant starts. This is.

[31:49] How the strawberries grow. You don’t scatter the seeds and this is how the churches grew in the New Testament. Barnabas and Saul went and a new church start and so on. And because these people hear, they are godly people and these people here heard the voice of God in their lives. They were motivated to bring the gospel everywhere in effort that was lead it under the Holy Spirit and a, power of God. If we want to be, to have assemblies with a nice taste as strawberries, maybe we should think now to start Auschwitz and starting somewhere, in you. Amen.

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