Good morning people living for the Lord,

Acts 11:22-24 News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

This is one of those passages that puts things so beautifully and so simply.

Here is a man who lived life in a wonderful God-honouring way and I think we see several things in here that would make a great mission statement for our lives.

Barnabas encouraged people to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. He firstly made it clear that all of life is based on our connection to the Lord. He also made it clear that relationship with God was never intended to be half-hearted or a component of life, but to be with all of our hearts.

We then read that Barnabas was a good person. He was a person who did other people good by the way he treated them and lived life. I think this is something that we can all do. I want to be a good person, not because I am striving to never make a mistake, but because it honours God and honours people.

Barnabas was also full of the Holy Spirit and faith. Barnabas was not content to dabble around the edges. No, he wanted all of God that was available to him. He was full of the Holy Spirit and I believe this is a continual acceptance of the Sovereignty of God in our lives. Because of this, Barnabas was full of faith. He trusted God and His Word to the point of action. It was not lip-service but life-style.

And look at the result: a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

I believe every Believer should desire to see people saved through them. This is dearest to the heart of God because it’s all about relationship with Him. He created people for relationship with Him. We should all commit to doing all we can to live lives that help make this happen.