{"id":1780,"date":"2022-05-22T13:26:10","date_gmt":"2022-05-22T18:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/?p=1780"},"modified":"2022-05-22T13:26:10","modified_gmt":"2022-05-22T18:26:10","slug":"barnabas-a-friend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/2022\/05\/22\/barnabas-a-friend\/","title":{"rendered":"Barnabas, a Friend"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
\u201cStudy to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.<\/strong>\u201d
2 Timothy 2:15 <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Gospel message began to spread out of Jerusalem\nafter Stephen\u2019s death. This event let to the church being persecuted. One of\nthe great persecutors of the church, Saul, met Jesus and was saved on the road\nto Damascus. There was a drastic\nchange in Saul when he met Jesus \u2013 for even his name was later changed to Paul.\nHowever, it took time for the Believers in the church to recognize and\nunderstand this fact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God gave a couple of men that helped during\nthat time. One was Ananias, whom God sent to speak with Saul first. This was\nimportant. Remember that Ananias had a message from God that Saul was chosen by\nGod to \u201cbear my name before the Gentiles, and kings,\nand the children of <\/strong>Israel<\/strong>\u201d (Acts 9:15). Keep in mind that Saul had been one of\nthe religious leaders, a Pharisee, having been trained and taught in the Old\nTestament Scriptures. Saul later declared before the council, \u201c\u2026 Men and<\/em> brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a\nPharisee \u2026<\/strong>\u201d (Acts 23:6). He was a Pharisee, taught in the ways of\nthe Pharisees in the \u201cJews’ religion.\u201d Although\nhe knew the Old Testament Scriptures, he needed to understand them anew after\nhaving believed Jesus was a fulfillment of those Scriptures. It would take time\nand much study to prepare for the task Jesus had for Paul\u2019s life \u2013 to be the\nApostle sent to the Gentile people. As we can read in Galatians, when he left Damascus,\nthere was a three-year period that Saul was taught by Jesus, enabling him to\npreach the Gospel (see Galatians 1:10-19).\nThose three years were very important. He had to know and understand the Gospel\nmessage before he would be able to share it with others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After those three years of learning from\nJesus, Saul returned to Jerusalem.\n\u201cAnd when Saul was come to <\/strong>Jerusalem<\/strong>,\nhe assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him,\nand believed not that he was a disciple<\/strong>\u201d (Acts 9:26). Saul was an unusual case \u2013 for he had been a\nviable threat to Believers, also called disciples of Jesus. Remember: he had\nbeen on a mission to arrest and kill them. Because of this, most Believers were\nafraid of Saul. Understand that they did not believe that he had become a\ndisciple. \u201cBut Barnabas took him, and brought him<\/em> to the apostles,\nand declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had\nspoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus<\/strong>\u201d\n(Acts 9:27). Nevertheless, see that God gave Saul an ally, a friend, in\nBarnabas. Do you remember Barnabas? He was one of the many Believers who sold\ntheir possessions, lands and houses and brought the money to the apostles (see\nActs 4:36-37). The early Believers\nhelped one another. This is yet another opportunity that Jesus was able to use\nBarnabas: he was a vocal friend of Saul\u2019s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the new Believers were going out\nfrom Jerusalem into the surrounding\nareas, they still only told Jewish people about Jesus. There was a report that\nwas sent back from Antioch to Jerusalem\ndeclaring many believed and turned to the Lord. When the report was received,\nthey sent Barnabas to go to Antioch.\nRecognize how Barnabas is described here: \u201c23. Who, when he came, and had\nseen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of\nheart they would cleave unto the Lord. <\/strong>24. For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith: and\nmuch people was added unto the Lord<\/strong>\u201d (Acts 11:23-24). He faithfully taught the people, and many more\nbelieved in Jesus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read what happened next: \u201c25. Then\ndeparted Barnabas to <\/strong>Tarsus<\/strong>,\nfor to seek Saul: <\/strong>26. And when\nhe had found him, he brought him unto <\/strong>Antioch<\/strong>. And it came to pass, that a whole year\nthey assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the\ndisciples were called Christians first in <\/strong>Antioch<\/strong>\u201d\n(Acts 11:25-26). Barnabas went and\nfound Saul. They worked together, teaching the people about Jesus. It was at\nthis time in Antioch that the\ndisciples were first called Christians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly thereafter, we understand that God\nhad a special job for Barnabas and Saul. \u201cAs they ministered to the Lord,\nand fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work\nwhereunto I have called them<\/strong>\u201d (Acts 13:2). And the people sent them \u2013 just\nas God wanted. When Saul begins his ministry to the Gentiles, he is no longer\nknown as Saul, but Paul. \u201cThen Saul, (who also is called<\/em> Paul,)\nfilled with the Holy Ghost \u2026<\/strong>\u201d (Acts 13:9). This began the First Missionary\nJourney of Paul and Barnabas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is very important for each person who becomes a Christian, to learn\nthe truths found in God\u2019s Word \u2013 so they will be able to share those truths\nwith others (\u201cStudy to shew\nthyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly\ndividing the word of truth<\/strong>\u201d 2 Timothy 2:15). This takes time, and\nmuch reading of the Bible. A good Christian friend helps tremendously! Just as\nBarnabas helped Saul (Paul).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you one who has shown\nyourself approved unto God, a workman, and even a friend, who will share the\nGospel of Jesus?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Gospel message began to spread out of Jerusalem after Stephen\u2019s death. This event let to the church being persecuted. One of the great persecutors of the church, Saul, met Jesus and was saved on the road to Damascus. There was a drastic change in Saul when he met Jesus \u2013 for even his name […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[318],"tags":[932,933,345,9,505,80,185,301,357,302],"class_list":["post-1780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-picture-with-verse-and-blog","tag-barnabas","tag-believers","tag-christians","tag-friend","tag-gospel","tag-jesus","tag-saul","tag-study","tag-truth","tag-workman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1780"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1780\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1782,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1780\/revisions\/1782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}