# The Story of Antioch - The Book of Acts

An episode of [Kids Bible in a Year with Julia Jeffress Sadler](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1696638708), 15 Apr 2024, 11 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/f8ddd7fd-69c6-48d0-804f-b4d6010c327c/8b966c00-2d52-462d-8db0-b4d60170fae2/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=14e8ed60-20b2-4d5c-a832-b4d6010c3283

Join Julia Jeffress Sadler as she takes us on an incredible adventure in Episode 196. Join us in today's episode as we explore how Antioch, a typical Roman town, turned into a buzzing center for early Christians. Discover how Barnabas and Saul helped the community grow in faith and love, making Antioch famous for being the first place to call Jesus' followers "Christians." See how they came together to help others during a famine, showing everyone what it means to care and share! Sign up to receive Kids Bible in a Year devotionals in your inbox every weekday: https://www.kidsbibleinayear.com/ Get ready to experience the Bible designed specifically for children with the official KidsBibleinaYear.com podcast, led by Julia Jeffress Sadler. This captivating audio series presents the age-old wisdom of the Bible in an engaging format that will captivate your kids. Each episode Julia translates biblical teachings into real-life applications, making Bible comprehension a breeze for young minds. And if you want more Christian resources and content, you can download the Pray.com app. Pray.com is the digital destination for faith, offering over 5,000 daily prayers, meditations, bedtime Bible stories, and cinematic stories inspired by the Bible. For more resources on how to live a successful Christian life, visit Julia Jeffress Sadler's website at https://ptv.org/julia/. This episode is sponsored by Little Passports. Visit LittlePassports.com/blessed and use promo code BLESSED to receive 20% off. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene,
[0:04] Speaker 1: who when they had come to Antioch preaching the Lord Jesus,
[0:08] Speaker 1: the hand of the Lord was with them. And a
[0:11] Speaker 1: great number believed and turned to the Lord. Dear God,
[0:17] Speaker 1: thank you for building your church and your people. We
[0:21] Speaker 1: are so thankful to be a part of your forever
[0:23] Speaker 1: church and to be used by you to help those
[0:26] Speaker 1: in need. Thank you for the freedom we have to
[0:29] Speaker 1: worship you and tell others all about what you've done.
[0:33] Speaker 2: In Jesus' name, amen.
[0:38] Speaker 3: Thank you for praying with us today. The Kids Bible
[0:41] Speaker 3: in a Year podcast is sponsored by Little Passports, delivering
[0:45] Speaker 3: monthly activity kit subscriptions that help kids explore the world,
[0:49] Speaker 3: cultivate curiosity, and discover new interests with hands-on crafts and
[0:53] Speaker 3: activities in cooking, science, crafts, and more. all with a
[0:57] Speaker 3: unique cultural twist. Visit littlepassports.com slash blessed to learn more
[1:02] Speaker 3: and save 20% with code BLESSED.
[1:11] Speaker 4: The Story of Antioch In our last story, Cornelius, a
[1:17] Speaker 4: Roman soldier, had sent for Peter, and Peter received a
[1:20] Speaker 4: vision from God with all kinds of animals on a
[1:24] Speaker 4: sheet and was told, Do not call unclean what I
[1:29] Speaker 4: have called clean. And the gospel was opened to the Gentiles.
[1:34] Speaker 4: In this story, the church in Antioch will be visited
[1:38] Speaker 4: by Barnabas and will become the first time Jesus' followers
[1:43] Speaker 4: are called Christians, as inspired by Acts.
[1:51] Speaker 1: Hi, it's Julianne Thompson, guest hosting for Julia Jeffress Sadler here.
[1:56] Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Kids Bible in Ear podcast. God
[2:00] Speaker 1: has opened up salvation to the Gentiles. And as we'll
[2:03] Speaker 1: soon hear, the Church of Jesus Christ is growing bigger
[2:07] Speaker 1: and stronger every day. Today's story is going to teach
[2:12] Speaker 1: us all about the kind of Christians we want to
[2:15] Speaker 1: be in our own cities. So listen close.
[2:21] Speaker 4: Antioch was a town to the north of Jerusalem. It
[2:24] Speaker 4: had been a typical Roman town for quite a while
[2:27] Speaker 4: and was unsuspecting of a town that would become important
[2:30] Speaker 4: to the church. Yet that is what happened. After an
[2:34] Speaker 4: event in Jerusalem where Stephen became a martyr, many followers
[2:39] Speaker 4: of Jesus sought to move somewhere else. Many of them
[2:42] Speaker 4: found that Antioch was just the place. When this mass
[2:46] Speaker 4: migration of Jesus followers happened and they all arrived in Antioch,
[2:50] Speaker 4: they went about normal life. getting jobs and having church
[2:53] Speaker 4: in their homes. However, they really only interacted with others
[2:58] Speaker 4: outside of the faith to the bare minimum, though in time,
[3:02] Speaker 4: this too would come to change. After the people got
[3:05] Speaker 4: comfortable in the town, they would on occasion invite some
[3:09] Speaker 4: of the non-believers to come to church with them. Many
[3:12] Speaker 4: of these people became believers, and they too would invite people.
[3:17] Speaker 4: Soon the town had believers all over the place. Every
[3:21] Speaker 4: so often, the leader of the church would send a
[3:24] Speaker 4: brief letter to the main church in Jerusalem. In one
[3:28] Speaker 4: of these letters, the leader was overjoyed to say many
[3:31] Speaker 4: had come to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. When
[3:35] Speaker 4: the church in Jerusalem got this letter, they were skeptical,
[3:39] Speaker 4: as they were not sure if non-Jewish people could really
[3:42] Speaker 4: accept Jesus. So they sent Barnabas. Barnabas' arrival was a
[3:48] Speaker 4: bit of a surprise to the church in Antioch, but
[3:51] Speaker 4: they welcomed him with open arms. As Barnabas traveled around
[3:55] Speaker 4: the city meeting all the believers, he came to see
[3:58] Speaker 4: that things were very good and that the new followers.
[4:01] Speaker 2: Of Jesus truly did believe.
[4:04] Speaker 4: He felt the need to stay and support the city
[4:06] Speaker 4: and all the new believers, so he left for another
[4:10] Speaker 4: town promising to return soon. Everyone was full of the
[4:14] Speaker 4: Spirit and constantly growing, even in the absence of Barnabas. However,
[4:19] Speaker 4: when Barnabas returned, he had a friend with him named
[4:23] Speaker 4: Saul from Tarsus. Together, they would go preach and teach
[4:27] Speaker 4: to all the believers, increasing their understanding of God. They
[4:32] Speaker 4: had even more people come to know Christ. It was
[4:35] Speaker 4: a truly wonderful time. It was here that they were
[4:39] Speaker 4: called Christians for the first time. One evening, God spoke
[4:45] Speaker 4: through Agabus, a prophet, and warned of a famine to
[4:49] Speaker 4: pass on the world. The followers brought together what they could,
[4:53] Speaker 4: and the local leaders then asked Barnabas and Saul to
[4:56] Speaker 4: take the supplies to Judea to help their brothers and
[5:00] Speaker 4: sisters there.
[5:05] Speaker 1: So, if you've ever wondered how the church first started
[5:09] Speaker 1: or how we got to where we are today.
[5:12] Speaker 2: You probably get it now.
[5:14] Speaker 1: And since as God's children, we are the church, today's
[5:19] Speaker 1: story is extra special. We're first introduced to a city
[5:24] Speaker 1: called Antioch. This was a place just north of Jerusalem,
[5:28] Speaker 1: mostly full of Romans. It was known for two things,
[5:33] Speaker 1: good businesses and a lot of immortality. That's just a
[5:37] Speaker 1: big word that means lots.
[5:39] Speaker 2: Of sin and disobedience.
[5:41] Speaker 1: So why did followers of Jesus decide to go there? Well,
[5:46] Speaker 1: if you remember, a man named Stephen was killed in
[5:49] Speaker 1: Jerusalem simply for stating that he believed in Jesus. He
[5:53] Speaker 1: was the first martyr, someone who was killed because of
[5:57] Speaker 1: their faith. Because of what happened to Stephen, many believers
[6:01] Speaker 1: feared for their lives. So they wanted to spread out
[6:04] Speaker 1: and go somewhere they felt safe. That happened to be Antioch.
[6:08] Speaker 1: But that's not the only reason. The Bible tells us
[6:11] Speaker 1: that until this time, the gospel was only preached to Jews.
[6:16] Speaker 1: These men who went to Antioch decided it was time
[6:19] Speaker 1: to start preaching to the Gentiles as well.
[6:22] Speaker 2: They had heard about.
[6:23] Speaker 1: Cornelius and they understood that God was offering salvation to
[6:27] Speaker 1: everyone in the whole world. These men were so brave.
[6:31] Speaker 1: The Bible tells us that the hand of the Lord
[6:34] Speaker 1: was with them. No wonder they had so much success.
[6:39] Speaker 1: These men and women moved to Antioch, got jobs, had
[6:43] Speaker 1: church in their homes, and for the most part, stuck together.
[6:47] Speaker 1: But after a while, they began inviting friends to come
[6:51] Speaker 1: into their homes for church. Those friends came to believe
[6:55] Speaker 1: in Jesus and brought other friends. Those friends did the
[7:00] Speaker 1: same until the church was growing at a really fast rate.
[7:05] Speaker 1: The church in Jerusalem heard about what was happening and
[7:08] Speaker 1: sent Barnabas to get the scoop. Once he saw what
[7:11] Speaker 1: was taking place, the Bible says that he was glad.
[7:16] Speaker 1: He saw the grace of God there, and it made
[7:18] Speaker 1: him happy. And I bet it dawned on him, who
[7:22] Speaker 1: would be the perfect person to help encourage all these
[7:25] Speaker 1: new believers in Jesus?
[7:27] Speaker 2: Saul, of course! Now, Saul had been in Tarsus for
[7:32] Speaker 2: 12 years.
[7:34] Speaker 1: That's a long time, right? He was quietly living, sharing
[7:39] Speaker 1: his story, and encouraging those in faith. Perhaps God used
[7:43] Speaker 1: those years in Tarsus to prepare him for what has
[7:46] Speaker 1: to come in Antioch. That is a lot of work
[7:50] Speaker 1: and a lot of new believers. Well, Barnabas brought Saul
[7:54] Speaker 1: to Antioch, and the Holy Spirit continued to blow through
[7:58] Speaker 1: their city, bringing many people to God and growing the
[8:02] Speaker 1: church more than ever before. And as we heard, it
[8:05] Speaker 1: was here in Antioch where believers in Jesus were first
[8:09] Speaker 1: called Christians.
[8:11] Speaker 2: In the Latin language, the Indian, Ian, means party of.
[8:15] Speaker 1: In other words, Christian means party of Christ. It's also
[8:21] Speaker 1: translated as Christ ones. These Christians in Antioch brought supplies
[8:26] Speaker 1: to help those in need due to a famine. God's
[8:29] Speaker 1: people were coming together and they had everything in common.
[8:33] Speaker 1: There was still so much work to do and there
[8:36] Speaker 1: were still so many.
[8:38] Speaker 2: People to tell. But with the Holy.
[8:41] Speaker 1: Spirit on their side, who could stop them now?
[8:46] Speaker 2: Thank you for listening.
[8:48] Speaker 1: Stop for a moment and tell God in your heart
[8:51] Speaker 1: how happy you are to be a part of his church.
[8:54] Speaker 1: It's still alive and well today and it will be
[8:57] Speaker 1: until he comes to get us. Be sure to join
[9:00] Speaker 1: me next time because Peter is busting out of prison
[9:03] Speaker 1: and walking past 16.
[9:05] Speaker 2: Soldiers with the help of an angel. Really, he is.
[9:10] Speaker 2: And don't forget, the.
[9:13] Speaker 1: Bible is the best story ever told. It's God's story
[9:16] Speaker 1: to you, and it's all true.
[9:19] Speaker 2: Loved what you heard?
[9:20] Speaker 1: Pass on the joy to someone you love, and together
[9:23] Speaker 1: let's bring these messages to more kids and their families.
[9:27] Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Pray.com Kids Bible in a Year.
[9:30] Speaker 1: For more inspiring stories and wisdom to last a lifetime,
[9:33] Speaker 1: download the Pray.com app for free today. Thanks for listening
[9:45] Speaker 1: to Kids Bible in a Year. I want to invite
[9:47] Speaker 1: our adult listeners to check out my other show, Unapologetic,
[9:51] Speaker 1: God's Truth on Today's Topics. It's unfiltered, important, inspiring, and
[9:57] Speaker 1: we have awesome conversations and amazing guests such as Candice
[10:02] Speaker 1: Cameron Bray, Vice President Mike Pence, Dr. Robert Jeffress, Shannon Bream,
[10:08] Speaker 1: Maddie Pruitt, and so many others. We are helping you
[10:12] Speaker 1: have conversations that empower you to have bold faith in
[10:17] Speaker 1: a broken world. You'll be excited, inspired, and encouraged in
[10:21] Speaker 1: your faith as you check out Unapologetic. Remember that you
[10:25] Speaker 1: can tune in wherever you get your podcasts and on Pray.com.

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