Building Bridges

Building Bridges

Bible: Acts 9:17-27

Reading

[Barnabas] told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the
Lord had spoken to him (V.27).

A new guy turned up at our Sunday morning church service. He had long, spiked hair in several colours. He dressed in dark clothes and had lots of piercings and tattoos. Some of the regular church people just stared with their mouths open. Others just gave him that, ‘It’s good to see you in church, but please don’t sit next to me’ smile. Yet there were some who went out of their way to welcome and accept him.

They were bridge builders. Barnabas was that bridge builder for Saul (also called Paul). When Saul arrived in Jerusalem three years after becoming a Christian, many of the church people were afraid of him and doubted he had really given his life to Jesus (ACTS 9:26). And Saul didn’t receive a warm welcome for good reason. Before he’d become a Christian, his job had been to round up Christians to imprison and sometimes kill them! But Barnabas saw God’s work in Saul’s life and became a bridge between him and the rest of the church (V.27).

Saul needed someone to come alongside him to encourage and teach him, and to introduce him to other Christians. Barnabas was that bridge. As a result, Saul became an important part of the leadership of the early
church. He was helped to share Jesus more freely and bravely. Sometimes new Christians or our non-church friends may need a Barnabas in their lives. We are to be a bridge to bring them into God’s family.

BE A BRIDGE OF ENCOURAGEMENT

TO SOMEONE TODAY.

Youth Edition – Our Daily Bread Ministries