In my spare time, I like to do a bit of baking and cooking.
And the other day I was making a pavlova - And I like to say that Pavlova is a really healthy meal in and of itself - it has limited fat (just disregard the cream), has a lot of protein (because of all the egg whites), and what’s even more - it has fruit on it! What more could you ask for!!
But what would a pavlova be without egg whites and sugar? Well, nothing.
What would coffee be without coffee beans? Just hot water - not coffee.
What would tennis be without a ball? Just not tennis!
And - What would a church be without Jesus? It’d be nothing. It might be a nice social club at one level - but if you take Jesus out of the church OR if we try and do church in our own strength. Then it’s not going to work out well.
But today in Acts 11, we’ll see a whole new group of people come to know Jesus and grow because they kept their eyes on Jesus.
Wide Evangelism is Empowered by Jesus
Deep Discipleship comes from being Encouraged in Jesus
Generous Support come from being United to Jesus

Wide Evangelism [vv.19-21]
Luke begins this section with a bit of a throwback to chapter 8 where he describes the stoning of Stephen. 
Stephen was the first person to be killed because of believing in Jesus, this then led to intense persecution in Jerusalem which led to the scattering of the early converts all around the countryside. They went everywhere!
But this also had a positive side-effect.
As they were running away, they continued to preach the word wherever they went!
And in Chapter 11 today we get more of a zoomed in picture of how that played out.
V19 “Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, spreading the word only among the Jews. Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus.”
The Gospel is going out over 500km away!
That’s pretty much from Toowoomba to Gladstone!
But it’s not just going out geographically, but also ethnically. 
Yes, some did just spread the word to the Jews only but some of those unnamed faithful disciples spread the word even to the Greeks in Antioch.
In the First Century - Antioch was the 3rd biggest city in the empire. 
It was a significant hub for trade and travellers and was near the sea - there was a port nearby. 
The estimated population of Antioch in the first century is about half a million. Just for a bit of context - Toowoomba has 130,000 people. 
So here are the new converts in this absolute epicentre of activity; with all sorts of paganistic religions around. What do they do?..// 
They keep on proclaiming the Good news of Jesus.
The hand of the Lord was with them; their ministry was extremely fruitful! Many people came to know the Lord and turn and believe in him!

Now just notice how unremarkable but amazingly remarkable this is.
These people spreading the news aren’t anything extraordinary. They aren’t even named! But they are faithful people who tell people about Jesus.
They aren’t described as having amazing programs; or phenomenal speeches; or all the correct answers; or even a degree in theology! No, just everyday people like you and me telling people about Jesus.
Jesus is their core message; and Jesus is the one who is with them giving the growth.
He is the subject and object of mission - that is we proclaim him;
He is the source of Mission - that is we only have good news because of him;
He is the goal of mission - we want people to come to know him; and 
He is the sustainer of mission - we can only do it in his strength and with his help.
And when I say mission - I don’t mean only paid missionaries - no I mean the thing that all believers should be involved in. Telling people about Jesus on whatever frontlines he has placed us!
But here’s the great news - we don’t have to be remarkable. We don’t have to be amazing evangelists with a great speech and fantastical methods of bringing people to him…we just have to be us..
People who have been so captivated by the beauty and grace of Jesus that we want others to see just how amazing He is.
People who love Jesus and who want our friends to meet him! 
People who pray intentionally and continuously pray for people to know Jesus
It’s not up to us to change hearts; it’s not up to us to convert the masses; but just introduce people to Jesus. He is the one who changes hearts
And as we go out, we don’t go by ourselves - but we go in the power and with the presence of the Holy Spirit.
In Antioch it’s just amazing to read about the amazing fruit that comes when people do this. Many people come to know Christ.
We may see that here. It’s amazing to see just how much fruit there is, and what God is doing here
On the other hand we might not see that; perhaps still even after years of praying and proclaiming for a loved one or for a workmate - they still haven’t turned to Jesus
But we don’t know what number conversation we are that leads them to coming to Christ; we don’t know how many people are praying for that same person.
But we do know that God is the one who changes hearts. So we just keep on fervently praying and faithfully and patiently proclaiming and partnering with the Spirit.
And then when people do turn - encourage them in Jesus which leads to deep discipleship.

Deep Discipleship [vv.22-26]
News of this remarkable ministry reached the church in Jerusalem and so they sent Barnabus to go and check out what was happening.
Barnabus was first introduced to us earlier in Acts where we were told that he was called “son of encouragement”. 
And we are told in V24 that he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith.
Now this doesn’t mean that some people are more full of the Holy Spirit than others; or than Barnabus was somehow extra spiritual
No, this is just Luke describing Barnabus’ character as a leader in the church. He had a deep faith which presented itself in his maturity.
Luke doesn’t point out how qualified he is, but he points out how Godly his character is.
And when Barnabus saw what the grace of God was doing, he gave thanks, 
He recognised that for people to come to Christ and for the church to grow - It will only be because of God’s grace.
So then - here we have a mass of people that have turned to Jesus. Now what? What’s the next step? 
Go deep with Jesus. Barnabus encourages them to remain true to the Lord with their whole heart.
This is the sum of his ministry - Encouraging people in Jesus!
I used to train people how to make coffee.
And in these sessions I would get them to a certain point [hopefully] where they got what they had to do; they followed all the steps; and all they needed to do was practise.
And they would practise for a bit with me just looking over their shoulder placing different orders; looking over their technique, encouraging and correcting them, and reminding them of the steps I showed them before
Reminding them to be faithful and remain true to the proper way to make coffee!
Well this is what Barnabus was doing on a much grander scale and with a much more exciting thing than just barista training. He was pointing the new disciples to Jesus and encouraging them to simply remain true to Jesus.
It seems bit ordinary doesn’t it…There’s no 10 step plan; there’s no program; there are no blogs - 
Barnabus simply tells the church to keep on doing what they are doing! Keep on being faithful to Jesus!
V22 “News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.”

Growing as disciples isn’t that complicated. Going deeper with Jesus doesn’t mean doing stuff for Him. He doesn’t give us a list of things to check off; but he wants us to simply remain true to him with everything
Some practises and habits can be really helpful in helping us remain true to him. 
Patterns such as Gathering every Sunday; going to a small group; 
serving alongside one another; having fellowship with one another mid-week, daily bible reading and prayer - all of these things can help us reorientate our lives back to him.
And all of these should be with the goal that we go deep in our relationship with him. Grow deeper as disciples; maturing as disciples who go on to make more disciples.
Long term faithfulness and remaining true to Jesus can sometimes be hard work…it doesn’t look all that fantastic or spectacular or remarkable…but it bears so much fruit. 
It’s like water dripping on a rock. We might not see the progress but drip by drip - we are growing deeper into Christ. 
And because of Barnabus’ simple ministry among them (and the grace of God) - the church continued to multiply and grow! The end of V24 “a great number of people were brought to the Lord”
It continued to grow so much that Barnabus needed some reinforcements!

So he went on his 210Km trek to Tarsus to look for Saul. 
Previously in Acts, Barnabus had spoken on behalf of Saul to the Apostles who were naturally afraid of him, urging them to meet with him and accept him. Saul was intensely persecuting the church but having met Jesus, he was especially chosen to spread the Gospel to the Gentiles.
So he seems like a decent choice for Barnabus in this Gentile region of Antioch
They eventually meet and then come back to Antioch
And they stayed with the new church for a whole year. They wanted to form deep relationships with God’s people there.
They worked side by side - they gathered with the local congregations there, which would have involved singing psalms, reflecting on the good news of Jesus, sharing in the Lord’s Supper together and have time together over meals
Also they were involved in teaching people. Educating people on who Jesus is and the significance of what he had done for them.
And must have been effective. Because we get the note here at the end of V26 that “the disciples were called Christians first at Antioch”
In Australia we love a good nickname for people. Whether it’s their name shortened or lengthened or something completely different - we use nicknames so much that I often forget what people’s real names are!
But there’s only one real rule for nicknames - you’re not allowed to give yourself a nickname. Someone else has to give it to you!
In Antioch - this is sort of what happened to these disciples! They weren’t given a nickname but the title of and the name of Christians. 
They lived in such a way that reflected Jesus; they proclaimed the name of Jesus so much that people gave them the name OF Jesus! Of Christ. 
Belonging to Christ 
They were noticed to be followers of Christ by their actions and words - and then marked out by their name.


Now I wonder if we’ve ever really stopped and thought about what it means to be given the title of ‘Christian’? What does it mean to be marked out as one of Christ’s by our name?
When we are called Christians, we are labelled as one of Christ’s. As someone who belongs to Jesus! 
And so this also comes with responsibility doesn’t it?
The son or the daughter of someone successful or rich or in the limelight has the responsibility of living in a way that shows just how good the family is!
There’s a weightyness to it!
And taking on the name of Christian has a similar responsibility - of showing off just how great Jesus is!
It comes with the weightiness of being representatives of Jesus…of living in a way that’s worthy of the name of Christ!
Not to earn favour with Jesus but to show off how amazing he is!
So on our frontlines whether people know that we are Christians or not - we have an amazing opportunity don’t we?
On the one side - there is the opportunity to turn people away from Jesus if we don’t act with love and grace and if we don’t live in his ways.
But on the other hand - there’s the opportunity to show the love and grace of Jesus in our interaction with others; in our work ethic; in our hospitality; even in the way we own up to mistakes - to show just how great he is!

And this will be the natural fruit of deep discipleship. Of coming once again back to how amazing Jesus is. Of faithfully and simply remaining true to him with all our hearts.
And another fruit will be generous support.

Generous Support [vv.27-30]
V29 “The disciples, as each one was able, decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in Judaea. This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabus and Saul”
This is really quite remarkable and a sign of their maturity as believers already.
They had heard in V27 that there was going to be a need through the prediction of Agabus, and they were proactive in supporting their fellow brothers and sisters
And this famine actually happened! Josephus - a first century historian - records that there were quite serious food shortages in Judea because of drought in this time.
But notice - the church in Antioch weren’t told to give money by the brothers and sisters in Judea. They weren’t demanded by the church to share what they had - but it was their own initiative!
Because they had been so captivated by how Christ had been generous to them, this then spilled over into being generous towards others.
There wasn’t a set amount of money each person had to give, but they gave as much as they were able.
And it’s the same for us. We give and we support the local church and other organisations- not out of obligation; or because of some rule; but because Christ has given of himself for us.
His sacrifice and generosity in giving up his own life for us should shape how we are generous with each other with what we have - that could be with our time, and/or our finances, or our homes as places of hospitality.
Christ has given us his all and so he calls on us to live as living sacrifices to him. Knowing that all that we are and everything that we have - is for him!
And this will be a natural outworking of us growing even more in gratitude for and growing even deeper in relationship with Jesus.

And in fact, Jesus and what he has done for us in the Gospel should shape everything we do.
It should shape our wide evangelism. Letting people know about the great love of Jesus, praying for people to come to know Jesus; and doing this all in the strength and help of Jesus.
We don’t have to be extraordinary, but simply let people know who he is!
It should shape how we mature - simply remaining in Jesus with all our hearts and encouraging others to do so! Using the opportunities and patterns and habits that we have to point us back to our great saviour
This doesn’t seem all that remarkable - but long term faithfulness bears amazing fruit
It should shape how we use our finances and resources - giving and helping our brothers and sisters in need and supporting the work of ministry.
Because Jesus has been so generous to us - In dying in our place, in giving us all of himself - we are called to do likewise.
Because the simple news that Jesus is Lord of all; that Jesus has taken away sin and conquered death isn’t overly complicated; but it’s stunningly beautiful and transformational.