What If: Paul and Barnabas came to your city and stayed one full year?

[Mr. M]

Acts 11:21-24 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord. Then news of these things came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to go as far as Antioch. When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord. For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord.

25 Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul. 

26 And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year

they assembled with the church and taught a great many people.

And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

I believe we would act like Christians! 

That we would heed the word of exhortation that they always carried with them.

A word of exhortation 

Hebrews 6:11 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence 

to the full assurance of hope until the end>

Hebrews 13:1 Let brotherly love continue. 

2 Do not forget to entertain strangers,

for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.

 

Edited September 25, 2023 by Mr. M

[Neighbor]

Actually Paul came into my house and has stayed some 44 years now. He is still sharing with me the gospel by Paul of Jesus to the gentiles.

[Ray12614]

Without taking this too far off the rails . . . . Notice the phrase in vs 26 'they assembled with the church' . . . . 

Today many believers choose not to assemble with the rest of the church, so . . . Paul would have to go individually to their houses and teach them? How much longer would that take? From a purely logistics point of view, at best, that is at best a scheduling nightmare.

Today we have streaming of online teaching which can be good, but, it is a pale shadow of what in person teaching can do for us as we experience the corporate gathering together with the Lord and like-minded brothers and sisters. Anyway you cut it . . . its just not the same. Assembly is a precious experience that opens the door for impartation of anointed preaching and teaching 

So . . . what would happen today if Paul showed up in our cities???  I suspect many believers would be corrected, and rebuked for embracing worldly beliefs and practices. Most assemblies would ban him from visiting them. Communities would probably jail him for 'hate speech'. Finally, he would probably make the headlines of local news outlets and branded as a 'right wing conservative fundamentalist terrorist' and spoken against by 1/2 of the current churches. 

Interesting topic . . . 

[FJK]

If Paul and Barnabas came to my city I imagine they'd spend most of their time in jail while being prosecuted for hate speech.

[Mr. M]

9 minutes ago, Neighbor said:

Actually Paul came into my house and has stayed some 44 years now. He is still sharing with me the gospel by Paul of Jesus to the gentiles.

 

4 minutes ago, FJK said:

If Paul and Barnabas came to my city I imagine they'd spend most of their time in jail while being prosecuted for hate speech.

As @Ray12614 points out, they assembled with the/a church. Suppose this is your church. (See OP for the hoped for reaction). If persecution did arise against their words, would the church stand with them? Hopefully we as individuals already have had that opportunity in our lifetime. One year is time for a lot of growth in His (Holy Spirit's) strength. The opposition teaches to not trust in ourselves, but God, who raises the dead. 2 Co 1:9.

[FJK]

4 minutes ago, Mr. M said:

If persecution did arise against their words, would the church stand with them? Hopefully we as individuals already have had that opportunity in our lifetime.

If we haven't had that opportunity yet, I'm pretty sure we will in the near future.

We are in spiritually perilous times, ones that will surely test our faith to its maximum extent soon.

May we let the Holy Spirit guide us when it does.

[Neighbor]

Paul is with the church body today, at homes,  online, and at gatherings of two or three  or even many thousands; all by the awesome power that is Holy,  through the Holy Spirit, his gospel message is shared and followed by literally millions of individuals.

[OneLight]

1 hour ago, Neighbor said:

Actually Paul came into my house and has stayed some 44 years now. He is still sharing with me the gospel by Paul of Jesus to the gentiles.

Paul did?  We are told that scripture is Gods word, given through the Holy Spirit to those men whom He chose to write.  Paul may of penned the books, but they were not his words, but Gods words given to him to speak and write. 

To say Paul entered your house 44 years ago is the same as saying Mary, the mother of Jesus, entered your life when you accepted Jesus.  Words have meaning, be careful how you use them.  Both Paul and Mary cannot be part of our lives in the sense you make it sound.

[Neighbor]

2 hours ago, OneLight said:

Paul did?  We are told that scripture is Gods word, given through the Holy Spirit to those men whom He chose to write.  Paul may of penned the books, but they were not his words, but Gods words given to him to speak and write. 

To say Paul entered your house 44 years ago is the same as saying Mary, the mother of Jesus, entered your life when you accepted Jesus.  Words have meaning, be careful how you use them.  Both Paul and Mary cannot be part of our lives in the sense you make it sound.

Oh I disagree. I do credit readers of posts here ashaving the  the wisdom and discernment to know Paul did not literally come into my house, nor has Mary; however I'll share that an angel has physically done so.

Paul has spoken by command, and also  by permission. I hear in my heart as well as see with my eyes His words both as dictated and by his own pen all inspired of God via the Holy Spirit but none the his his words his vocabulary his style of presentation.

Paul's  words, more so than any other writers words gathered into the New Covenant portion of the Bible, lead me in my daily living experiences.

[Mr. M]

29 minutes ago, Neighbor said:

Paul's  words, more so than any other writers words gathered into the New Covenant portion of the Bible, lead me in my daily living experiences.

 

Here is what my hope would be in reaction:

 

15 hours ago, Mr. M said:

they assembled with the church and taught a great many people.

And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

I believe we would act like Christians! 

That we would heed the word of exhortation that they always carried with them.

Your response is valid, we have a wealth of Holy Spirit inspired teaching from Paul. I would point out that only a few were addressed to individuals. Most addressed the churches, and the teaching along with the doctrines and traditions being established were directed to the Body of Christ. The title proposes teachers coming to a city, with follow-up posts making it clear that they have come to address the Church in that city, and to dwell with them for one year, "teaching and admonishing". 

Your reaction to the proposition is that you would simply stay home. I find that odd, that there is no need for the fellowship of the saints, because we all have our own Bible in our own language now, so we can just stay home. The point I am driving towards is that the Church should anticipate FROM THE HOLY SPIRIT words of edification, exhortation and comfort regularly.

But as I am introducing in another thread "Teaching and Admonishing one another", there is ministry beyond preaching and teaching, and words of admonishment are found throughout the apostolic doctrine also, and this is badly needed in the church and the home. In fact, the words of warning issued that I have cited in that thread bear a certain urgency that would become clear to anyone who considers the warnings and abides in the Spirit. Let anyone who has ears, hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.