In Acts 11.23, we are told that Barnabas “arrived in Antioch and witnessed the grace of God and he rejoiced”. It was visible that God was at work. Today we will look at what Barnabas witnessed and then also hear of how those in our congregation have witnessed the grace of God in their life recently. Let us rejoice and be encouraged.

God wants us to be gospel-centric Christians. According to today's text, that means for us to be cleansed from racial slurs, ethic put downs and all alienating behaviors. The gospel is for all and may we be loving instruments that bear it to the world. On this Father’s Day I cannot think of a better trait than being a gospel-centric Dad that is non-alienating, but loving all with the gospel.

Jesus wants us to have hope that things can turn around. That is the message of Acts and the kingdom of God. Things will turn around because Jesus is alive, He is in charge of the world and He butts in and changes things. That is what we have seen in the last couple of weeks in Acts and continue to see today, as the church is experiencing lives that get turned around. Let us have hope today that things can turn around and that God wants even to use us to be those that help others turn their lives around.

How can you and I in a post-Christian society have steadfast hope? The apostle Paul’s story of conversion gives us the answer. Paul, known as Saul before he comes to know Christ personally by faith, was filled with the desire to threaten and slaughter Christians. It literally was the air he breathed. He was the foremost of sinners in the sense that he was tearing down the work of God. Yet God was merciful and showed His patience in saving Saul in a sudden and unexpected conversion.

As we have been taking a journey through the book of Acts since the turn of the New Year we have seen God’s mission to spread His kingdom reign through a new society called the church, who are called to be witnesses of God’s Son, Jesus to their city and beyond to the remotest parts of the world. Philip is one of Christ’s disciples who has been called to God’s mission and to show the presence of the Kingdom of God through His life. God wants to scoop us all up by His Spirit daily and use us to spread a passion for His glory and the supremecy of His name among the world.

Have you ever just sat back and thought about the impact the gospel has on people? It is life-changing and life-altering. The gospel in the first century was changing lives and it was met with different responses. In today’s Scripture text, we see the response of anger and hate with persecution against the church. We also see lives truly changed, but then we also see one attracted to the phenomenon of the supernatural and miracles and signs.