Sunday Worship Service March 1, 2026

Prelude
Call to Worship Psalm 37:4
Hymn JBC # 278 There’s within my heart a melody
The Lord’s Prayer
Hymn JBC #515 When peace, like a river, attendeth my way
The Prayer Time
Offering
Scripture Acts 11:19~30
Prayer
Sermon “As Each One was able”
Prayer
Hymn JBC# 656 Give of your best to the Master
Doxology JBC # 673
Benediction


At the beginning of today's passage, it says, "the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed”
This refers to the incident described in Acts 7, in which Stephen, a believer and evangelist of Christ, was killed (martyred) for blasphemy.
Stephen had not blasphemed. He was killed because of the wickedness of the Jewish authorities of his time.
The authorities could not recognize the true God revealed through Jesus Christ, and so they killed Stephen, who preached about Jesus Christ as Lord.

Stephen is said to be the first Christian martyr.
　The martyrdom of Stephen sparked a great persecution of believers in Christ, as was written at the beginning of Chapter 8. Today's passage continues from there.
The martyrdom of Stephen was a very tragic and sad event, and as a result many Christians were no longer able to remain in the capital, Jerusalem, and were scattered abroad.
However, on the other hand, this (the scattering of believers in Christ to various places due to persecution) also became an opportunity for the gospel of Jesus Christ to spread throughout Israel, and eventually beyond Israel, to the world.
Today's passage tells us that those who were scattered abroad (believers in Christ) initially spoke the Word only to the Jews there.

In previous weeks we have already read about the conversion of the Gentile Cornelius and his family and friends, which took place through Peter's encounter with the Gentile Cornelius.
However, today's passage tells us that the work of spreading the gospel to Gentiles (foreigners) other than the Jews was carried out by many believers other than Peter, who was the leader of the church, and other than Paul, who would later become a key figure in evangelism to the Gentiles.
Verse 20 for today's passage says, "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."
"Those among them who came from Cyprus and Cyrene" refer to Jews who were born and raised abroad, outside of Israel.
As depicted in the Old Testament, due to the rule of Israel by the Assyrian and Babylonian empires, many Jews were scattered to far-flung foreign lands and lived there.

Today's passage says that Jews with such a background (and who had come to believe in Christ) began to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to Greek-speaking people (that is, Gentiles, foreigners, who are not Jews).
Because they, foreign born Jews, came from overseas, far from Israel, their views of and ways of interacting with Gentiles (foreigners) were likely different from those of Israel-born Jews (who believed that they should not associate with Gentiles).
Since they were originally raised in a foreign culture, they likely had more open-minded feelings and ideas.
And in today's context, they (the overseas Jews) are portrayed as the people who took the important first step in spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the world.
A desire arose among them to speak the word of God to the Gentiles as well.

This was natural, given the very essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ: the Word of God and the joy of salvation in Jesus Christ cannot be contained within one person or one nation.
Faith in Christ brings people overflowing joy, which naturally spreads and spreads far and wide.
The gospel of Christ is the word of life that gives life to all people.
Just as the gospel of Christ was spread throughout the world by Jews from overseas outside of Israel, we hope to be used as instruments in the work of spreading the gospel of Christ.
What's even more important here is what verse 21 says.

21 The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.

It is written that through their preaching, many people turned to the Lord (began to believe in God).
And this is not because they (the evangelists) were excellent or wonderful believers or because they preached zealously.
Of course, they were enthusiastic and eager to tell people about Jesus. I believe their enthusiasm moved people.
However, the Bible tells us that many people were raised up there who believed in God and turned to the Lord, because the Lord helped those people (the Lord's helping hand was with them), and many people were raised up who believed and turned to the Lord God.
　In our lives of faith, in our missionary work, and in the many other things we do in life, I think we are prone to be caught up in visible results.
Even in church activities, we plan evangelistic meetings and other events outside of Sunday services in the hope of attracting more people to church, and try to invite them, but the reality is that the number of people coming to church and those who believe in Jesus does not increase as much as we would like.

However, since the main actor in spreading the gospel is God, Jesus, we can have hope that God is surely working with us, and that people who will believe in His Word will continue to be raised up in ways and at times that we do not understand.
Let us not be discouraged by quick and visible results, but first let us rejoice in the gospel of Jesus Christ and live the gospel ourselves.
And let us continue to worship at church, share the Word, and thus serve in the work of spreading the gospel.
　In today's passage, news spread to the capital, Jerusalem, that Gentiles had also believed in the gospel in the church in the city of Antioch.
So the church in Jerusalem sent Barnabas to Antioch, where he rejoiced to see that God's grace was being extended to the Gentiles as well.
Even Barnabas could see that the believers in the church of Antioch were rejoicing in God. When God's grace is received and shared with joy, the joy of the people is surely visible.

Barnabas then urged the believers in Antioch, to whom God's grace had been given, to "remain true to the Lord with all their hearts."
It is very important that Barnabas encouraged them in this way.
When Barnabas saw the believers in Antioch, he confirmed that God's grace had indeed been given to them.
However, it is not that once you believe in God in this way and receive His grace, everything will be smooth sailing.
No matter how filled we are with God's grace, no matter how much we decide to believe in God, various temptations or trials will inevitably come our way that will shake our faith and try to separate us from God's grace.
Therefore, Barnabas taught and encouraged the believers of the church in Antioch, saying, "Stay in the faith," and "The life of faith will not always go smoothly. Hardships will come, but stay in the faith."

We still need that encouragement today. When we gather at church and share our faith life together, we can encourage each other and join forces and pray for each other so that we can continue to remain in the faith.
Each of us is weak, and if we are alone, we will lose our faith.
But even when we are weak and tired, if we have a family of faith, friends, and church members who can support and encourage each other, we can help each other. We can pray for each other.
Let us take to heart Barnabas' words of encouragement to the church in Antioch, "Remain true to the Lord with all your hearts” as words directed to us as well.

　Beginning in verse 27 of today's passage, it is written that the prophecy of a great famine was made by a man named Agabus through the "Spirit."
In fact, at that time, the believers of the church in Jerusalem were greatly affected by the famine and seemed to suffer greatly.
　So the believers in Antioch decided that it was their duty to help the believers of the Jerusalem church. They must have made this decision after praying and discussing it together.
They decided to help their brothers in Judea (the members of the Jerusalem church) “as each one was able” (verse 29).
At that moment, they made a very ordinary, yet warm and loving decision to "help according to what each of us can do."
Earlier, I said that each of us has weak faith and that we may lose our faith alone.
But even in times like these, we can support each other by doing what we can, each according to the strengths and gifts we have been given.
Each of us has been given unique gifts that are best used when offered to others and to God.
Faith among those who believe in the same God and belong to the same community leads us to share each other's burdens and pain.

We can also confide our burdens and pain to our family of faith and ask them to pray for us. At that time, the practice of our faith is the very simple act of "reaching out to help (each one another) according to our ability."
In a sense, this is of course simple, but it is not always easy to do. How can we put into practice the idea of ​​supporting each other according to our respective strengths?
It is through the words of the Bible and through prayer, through the Word and prayer, and with the Word and prayer at our center, that we continue to remain in the family of faith (the church).
By continually receiving and sharing God's Word together and continuing to pray for one another, we can put into practice what God is urging us to do.
Our faith, our growth, and our work of evangelization will always move forward in this way, even if at times it may seem like we are retreating or declining.
However, the hand of God in our Savior, Jesus Christ, and God's help are with us. With God's help and strength, let us also take each step forward of faith.