Acts 11:24: For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and a considerable number of people was brought to the Lord.
On more than one occasion in the book of Acts, we read how Barnabas brought a considerable number of people to Jesus. But get this, Barnabas got described as a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and full of faith. Now here's what caught my attention this morning: this description of Barnabas should actually describe every believer in Christ
.
.Because Barnabas wasn't following a secret recipe to be a better Christian than others, on the contrary, he simply did what Jesus said during His ministry: If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me (Luke 9:23).
That’s exactly why Barnabas gets described as a good man, gets described as full of the Holy Spirit, and gets described as a man full of faith, not full of himself; he denied himself.
Barnabas took up his cross and followed Jesus, thus living in faith, totally surrendered unto Jesus. Oh and he was a good person. You know why? Because he was full of the Holy Spirit, and a person full of the Holy Spirit and faith. Yet what was described of Barnabas ought to be the description of all who truly live in Christ!
It's His goodness that flows from us and the Holy Spirit who leads, feeds, and teaches us to stay in His strength, and we walk in Christ's faith, fully believing what He did in us and also trusting Him for what He does in and through us. What we see in Barnabas is what John the Baptist testified of back in the day of Christ: He must increase, but I must decrease (John 3:30).
Barnabas was full of goodness, faith and the Holy Spirit.
Why do so many Christians settle for a little bit of goodness, a little bit of faith and a little bit of dependence on the Holy Spirit? Full means, well, full.
The consequence of a full life in Christ like Barnabas's was that the Holy Spirit would use our faith and goodness in Christ to live from, and just like Barnabas was a living, walking, talking example of Christ's work in him, a considerable crowd around us can also witness Jesus and be brought to the Lord.
Amen
See less