Please turn to Acts chapter 11. Acts chapter 11, starting at verse 19. This is God's holy word. Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them. And the great many who believed turned to the Lord. The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, for he was a good man full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and a great many people were added to the Lord. So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch, the disciples were first called Christians. Now in these days, prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. And one of them, named Agabus, stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world. This took place in the days of Claudius. So the disciples determined everyone, according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul. Let us pray. Lord Jesus, we ask that you might bless us this evening with your word. As we see your hand at work here in this passage in drawing, up many to saving faith. We ask that you would bless us this evening with this word by the power of your spirit. Amen. Has it ever occurred to you that Christianity is an Eastern religion? It is. It's true. The ancient land of Israel is part of the continent of Asia. And yet the church has grown throughout history in such a way that Christianity is considered a Western religion. But this is only because it has always been God's intention to make his kingdom spread as wide as the world. You and I are a part of this two millennia progress of the kingdom of God as King Jesus draws men and women to saving faith. You are recipients of this grace, which started 2,000 years ago in that faraway land on the other side of the earth. As you can see from this passage, It does not matter how you ended up becoming a Christian. This passage displays people coming to faith in what we may say are somewhat irregular ways. It does not matter. As long as you have faith in Jesus Christ, you will be saved. And if you believe no matter how you ended up hearing the gospel or coming to saving faith, that was God's plan. For your salvation, many of us have odd and interesting stories of how we came to know the Lord Jesus Christ. Kind of doesn't matter. God is accomplishing his work. Jesus has included you in his glorious kingdom. Jesus has been discipling you. And now you are being invited to participate in the work of the kingdom. What we see in this passage is that Jesus continues to build his church as he brings a great number of Gentiles to faith and salvation in Antioch. We look first at verses 19 through 21 at the Gentile harvest. If you remember all the way back in Acts chapter 6, I don't know how many moons ago that was, Stephen, you'll remember, was selected, elected, as one of the seven first deacons. Full of the Holy Spirit and full of wisdom, he shared the good news of Jesus among Greek-speaking Jews. He was even performing signs and wonders among the people. He taught among those at the Synagogue of the Freedmen and from Jews from many different cities and nations who happened to be there. But some of them rose up and began disputing with Stephen. Eventually the leaders stirred up the people and they seized Stephen and brought him before the council of the Jews in Jerusalem. And there he had the boldness to proclaim the gospel to the Sanhedrin. But when they heard his words, they were enraged. They cried aloud and stopped their ears and rushed at him. They dragged him outside the city And they stoned him to death. In Acts 8, 1, we read this. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem. And they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Now, fast forward. That brings us to this passage here, Acts 11, verse 19. And there arose on that day, excuse me, Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch speaking the word to no one except Jews. Here we learn that that persecution was severe enough that the disciples were scattered far and away beyond just Judea and Samaria. These Jews, who believe in Jesus as the Messiah, fled their homes, their livelihood, everything in order to preserve their lives. Some went to Phoenicia. This was the group of people who lived northwest of Israel along the Mediterranean coast in cities like Tyre and Sidon. Some went across the Mediterranean Sea to the island of Cyprus. which was about as far northwest of Sidon as Sidon was north of Jerusalem. That's a bit of a trek. And some went to Antioch, which was the third city in importance in the Roman empire behind Rome and Alexandria. So Antioch was a particularly significant and important and large city. It served as the gateway between East and West. Initially, these Christian Jews only spoke the word of Jesus to other Jews. But there were also men of Cyprus and Cyrene. Cyrene is a city in North Africa. who also spoke to Hellenists. Now, Hellenists, as a footnote in your Bible may tell you, a footnote in my Bible says, these are simply Greeks. That is, Greek-speaking non-Jews. Hellenists were Gentiles. They are pagans. And they were preaching the Lord Jesus to them. This part of Acts chapter 11, is connected to the first half of the chapter because it is building on the same theme. The Gentile harvest has begun. Yes, under the preaching of Peter, Cornelius and his household were brought to faith and made members, full members of the church as they received the Holy Spirit. But now the nations are being brought to faith in Jesus Christ. It is not confined to Jerusalem or Judea or Samaria. or the ancient borders of, say, the United Israelite monarchy at its largest. It's far beyond this now. This is happening even independently of Peter and the other apostles. The gospel at this point now has gone truly global. Now, children, I'm sure you've heard the word Gentile, and maybe you wonder what this word means. The word Gentile is really simple. The word Gentile simply means non-Jew. The word Gentiles just refers to the nations, the nations of the world which are not Jewish. In fact, there's no special word in Hebrew or Greek for Gentiles. The word just means nation or nations. So think about this. Christian Jews shared the gospel with unbelieving Jews. But even outside of the knowledge of what happened with Peter and Cornelius, they began sharing the gospel with Gentiles. This is organic growth, you could say. It wasn't the result of some planned evangelistic program. You have Christian Jews fleeing from Jerusalem because of persecution there, ending up in Antioch. You have Christian Jews traveling from Cyprus and Cyrene, perhaps those who had come to faith as a result of the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem when Peter preached in Acts chapter 2, you know, all those people who had come for the Feast of Pentecost, heard Peter preaching, saw all these wonderful, miraculous works and the Spirit descending upon the church, and many, many believed. Well, they eventually went home. They are just here now, joyfully sharing the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ. They do this in spite of their circumstances. Some of them are fleeing for their lives. Fleeing for their lives, and here they find themselves in Antioch, and rather than merely being concerned for themselves, finding a place to live, they're sharing the gospel with Gentiles. They do so indiscriminately. They aren't stopping and thinking, well, here is this pagan guy, He couldn't possibly understand the concept of the Messiah, or salvation from sin, or all the other theological ideas and historical facts of the Bible, these Gentile pagans who know nothing of the scriptures. They aren't thinking, well, I'm not going to talk to him because he couldn't possibly understand my worldview. Did Jesus intend for the gospel to be exclusive to Jews. No. The Great Commission of Matthew 28 is proof he intended this message to be proclaimed to all the nations. Jesus Christ shed his blood for all those whom he intended to save. This includes Jews. It includes Greeks, it includes Romans, it includes Germans, it includes those who are Dutch, it includes those who are Scottish, English, American, whatever, Ugandan. People of every nation, tribe, and tongue are called to faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. It is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, even John the Baptist understood this, the sin of the world, not just the sin of Israel. But those of every nation. Jesus life and death and resurrection, his obedience, his atoning death, his powerful life, all this was for every sort of person. There's no limit, no boundary, no exclusive claim. You know, when we say that Jesus is our Savior, or Jesus is my Savior, that is not intended to limit Jesus in the sense of saying He's not other people's Savior. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. The hand of the Lord is a metaphor to describe The Lord's power and might to bless the ministry of his people as they share the gospel, even among Gentiles. Friends, is the hand of the Lord with us? Is the hand of the Lord with us? Do you believe that your unbelieving family member, unbelieving neighbor, or coworker, or classmate, is outside the realm of the possibility of salvation. How we act through the week, who we talk to through the week, who we share the gospel with through the week, this will be the answer to that question. Pray, pray that the hand of the Lord, his power and might would be with us. Pray that the Lord would open doors of opportunity. Pray that the Lord would enable us to be faithful. Pray that the Lord will work and save in unexpected ways. Pray that the Lord will add to his church a great number who turn to him in faith for salvation. This kind of thing still happens today. Jesus Christ is adding to his church Second, verses 22 through 26, the nations discipled. The church in Jerusalem heard of the wonderful work of the Lord in adding to his church in Antioch, adding believing Jews and Gentiles. Much like what happened in Acts 8, when the apostles heard that Samaria had received the word of God, They sent, and in that case, they sent to them Peter and John, the apostles Peter and John. So here the leaders send representatives to confirm what had taken place in Antioch. But instead of sending an apostle or two, they decide to send Barnabas, the son of encouragement. He goes there. He travels up to Antioch. He sees the grace of God and we read that he is glad. He doesn't chide them for operating outside of the authority of those in Jerusalem. He doesn't do that. This is an organic spread of the gospel. He sees God's work and can say nothing against it. Someone comes to faith, It's like what Paul, some of Peter, some of Paul. No! Irrelevant how you ended up believing. All that matters is that you believe the truth of Jesus Christ. Barnabas sees it and he rejoices in the work of God. God is working all around us. We don't see it. And he exhorts them to remain faithful to the Lord. Three times in this passage, verses 21, 24, and 26, the text speaks of a great many people who have come to know the Lord. There are so many who have been added to the Lord that Barnabas himself decides he needs help. One guy can't handle teaching so many people. Jesus had proclaimed in the Great Commission, teach them to observe everything I have commanded you. So Barnabas goes to Tarsus, which is not too far from Antioch, to find Saul, otherwise known as Paul. He brought him to Antioch, and the two of them instructed the new believers there for an entire year. The church needs teachers. The nations need to be discipled. New converts need to be taught. Imagine converting to Christianity in today's world in this contemporary culture, coming from a place of knowing absolutely nothing, nothing about Christianity or Jesus or the Bible, and coming to a place of faith. These people need to be taught. Time needs to be spent with them. There is a lot that needs to be learned about everything. Theologically, about how to live, morally, ethically, there's so much. Together, we are all working towards the discipling of the nations. We do this Lord's Day by Lord's Day in our worship services and through our regular preaching. We do this Lord's Day by Lord's Day in our Sunday school classes. That's what they're for. You know, sometimes we're gonna have people in our classes who are new converts. They're gonna need some extra attention. They're gonna need extra time. That's fine. That's great. That's glorious. Feed them. Give it to them. We do this as we participate in the broader work of the church. We are in a wonderfully organized denomination. It's not perfect. By any means, it's not perfect. But it's wonderfully organized. We have home missions, foreign missions. We have Christian education going on. We are all participating in this work. You should go ahead and learn about the work of the broader church. We support the church through prayer, through giving, just like we do every Lord's Day evening as we read about our home missionaries and our foreign missionaries. These are the people we are supporting. It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians. It was here that the distinction between Jews and those who believed in Jesus as the Messiah became so pronounced that the general populace of Antioch gave them this new name. And whether or not this name, Christian, was intended to be derisive It may have been. We don't know. It doesn't matter. Much as the Herodians were those who were loyal to Herod, so Christians are those who are loyal to Christ. Finally, third, the fruit of Gentiles, verses 27 through 30. So around that time, prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. We must remember that the church's ministry is founded on the ministry of the apostles and prophets. And prophets, in this context, does not refer to Old Testament prophets. It refers to New Testament prophets. These prophets ministered during the time of the apostles prior to the completion of the New Testament scriptures. So just imagine this, OK? They don't have a New Testament, OK? There is no New Testament. And so we have glorious treasure in the fact that we can each have multiple copies of the Bible in several different translations, some with piles of notes, some with no notes. However we want to carry it, we've got it. Back then it was not so, especially in the apostolic church. They had one or two letters. Over time, they began copying them and circulating them so that over time, they all had access. Every church would have access, their own copies, to all the New Testament scriptures. But in the meantime, they needed someone to instruct them. That's what the apostles and the prophets in the New Testament era were for. Now that the scriptures are complete, we don't need any apostles or prophets. A prophet named Agabus came to Antioch and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine. In the days of Joseph, a great famine came over the world, and his family was preserved because of Egyptian grain. So here are the fruit of the nations, that is, the fruit of Gentiles, is going to flow into the city of Jerusalem for believing Jews there to sustain and preserve their lives during the famine. This famine took place in the days of Claudius. In 8045, a major flood of the Nile destroyed the Egyptian harvest, which caused the price of grain to rise dramatically for several years. Also, there was a severe famine in Judea from AD 46 to 48. We don't understand what a famine is here in America, at least not to the same degree. But the Lord intended to preserve his people in Jerusalem, and he did so through the gifts of primarily Gentile Christians. Presumably, mostly, Christians in Antioch. That's where the prophet went to foretell this famine. Consider what Paul wrote in Romans 15. We read this earlier, starting at verse 25. At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem, bringing aid to the saints. For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. Why are there poor saints in Jerusalem? Of course, they're persecuted. They're rejected. They're thrown out. They're not helped by the synagogue anymore, the synagogues in that area and the temple. They are cast out. For they were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings. That was not the same event in Romans that Paul is talking about, but it is the same principle. Spiritual blessings were brought to Macedonia and Achaia and Rome, which originate among the Jews. And so it is appropriate to provide material blessings to those who have blessed us spiritually. This principle continues even today. So we support the work of the regional church through the Presbytery of the Southeast. We support the work of the whole church through the ministries of the General Assembly. Diaconal aid is available at the congregational level, at the regional level, at the national level. We have our own Board of Deacons here in our church. We have a Diaconal Committee at the Presbytery level and at the General Assembly level. In short, we are called to be a blessing to our brothers and sisters who are in need. And we have plenty of opportunities to provide that support. The same principle is happening today in our church. And we're all encouraged to participate in it. But there is something particularly special about this passage, something, I can use this word, I defined it, eschatological. Eschatological. Isaiah 60 verse 5 foretells the day when the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the nation shall come to you, that is to Israel. Isaiah 66, 12 speaks of the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream coming into Jerusalem. There are many other passages, of course, that has many layers of fulfillment. But this passage describes the first fruits of the fulfillment of the eschatological abundance of the nations flowing into the kingdom of God under the reign of Jesus, the King. You know, the Queen of Sheba, who brought her goods, her wealth, to Jerusalem. So here, the same thing, the eschatological fulfillment of that prophecy is happening in our passage. Yes, our willingness to be an aid and a help and an encouragement to other Christians in need, even in the midst of our own fellowship, You see, when you see a brother or sister in need here, you consider the need. You may want to go to the deacons. You may want to go to the session. But maybe you are meant to fulfill that need. This is an eschatological sign, a sign of the end of the ages, a sign that we are in the last days. The fruit and wealth and glory of the nations is flowing in. for the sake of Jesus Christ. King Jesus is being glorified by all of this. So when we give to the church, and as the church utilizes these funds to promote the gospel, and to disciple the nations, and to provide for poor Christians, we are all participating in the fulfillment of these prophecies to the glory of our Savior, Jesus Christ. So we see a wonderful picture here of the church expanding, right, at a rapid rate, of the church being discipled and taught through Barnabas and through Paul, and also of this glorious fellowship of caring for one another, even those you've never met, never met. It's Christian love. We love and serve one another. Jesus Christ is building his church today. Amen. Let us pray. King Jesus, we pray, continue to build your church. Do so in power and in might. We pray, lay your hand upon us. Use us. for the glory of your name. Amen.