WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Acts 11: 19 – 26


It can be quite interesting to find out the meaning of names. For instance, my name Geoffrey means God's peace. I guess it makes sense (sort of). Barnabas means encourager, Saul means prayed for, Christian means one who sticks to Christ, and of course the big one Jesus Christ means Savior Messiah.
With the access we have today to information, I am sure, that if there is interest, we can all look up the meanings of our names. Check it out and see if your parents got it right.

Beyond this fun little exercise, we can learn quite a bit about the actions of the people in the Bible by their names, and the stories they are involved in.
after the death of Steven (means crown), the believers were scattered fearing for of their lives. Wherever they went, they brought the word of God with them teaching the Good News of Jesus to the Jews they found there.
Surprisingly, the church in Jerusalem began to hear of the conversion of many gentiles to Christianity, and they wanted to find out the how's and why's.

19 Now those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, telling the message only to Jews.
20 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.
21 The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.
22 News of this reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.

I find it interesting that when the leaders of the church heard about these conversion stories, they sent out a trusted fellow Christian whose name means encourager to find those who were doing this wonderful deed. I

23 When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.
24 He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

So he went on a search to find the man, or men, that were involved in the telling of the good news.

25 Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul,
26 and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.
This was just the beginning. From here the name of Jesus was carried to the world, and people came to believe.
If ti weren't for those guys way back when, where would we be today?