Unshaken: Chapter a Day

Acts 11 Discussion

• Pastor Plek

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A heated question opens the door to a wider church: why did Peter eat with Gentiles? We walk through Acts 11 as Peter offers a careful, story-driven defense that doesn’t demand authority but invites understanding. The room falls quiet, then erupts in praise as the church recognizes a simple, seismic truth: God grants repentance that leads to life to the Gentiles. That moment reshapes mission, identity, and generosity all at once.

From there, the scene shifts north. Scattered believers plant seeds from Phoenicia to Cyprus and Antioch. Some stick to familiar ground, speaking only to Jews, while others brave the cultural gap and share the good news with Greeks. The Lord’s hand is clearly at work as large numbers believe. Barnabas arrives, sees grace, and knows the church needs more than momentum—it needs formation. He goes to Tarsus to pull Saul off the sidelines, and together they spend a year teaching a great many people. Antioch becomes a learning community and a mission launchpad, and the public gives this movement a name that sticks: Christians.

A prophet named Agabus then foretells a famine under Claudius, and the church responds with calm, practical compassion. Each person gives according to ability, and relief is sent to believers in Judea through Barnabas and Saul. Faith meets planning; revelation meets logistics; unity becomes visible in open hands. Along the way we wrestle with prejudice and fear, celebrate patience in leadership, and rediscover how God uses both courage and common sense to move the gospel across borders and back again in mercy.

If you’re hungry for a clear map of how truth, teaching, and generosity can transform a city, this conversation will steady your steps. Hit play, share it with a friend who loves Acts, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway so we can keep learning together.

Text us at 737-231-0605 with any questions.

Pastor Plek:

And welcome back to a chapter day. Keeps the devil away. I'm Pastor Pleck. That's Pastor Holland. We're talking Acts chapter 11. We're gonna outline it. We're gonna observe it. We're gonna interpret it, and then we're gonna apply it. Starting with Acts 11, 1 through 3, we've got Peter faces criticism in Jerusalem. They are not happy about the fact that he hung out with Cornelius and they want answers. Well, uh Peter defends his actions and recounts the whole event. Almost feels like you're reading Acts 10 all over again. In verses 4 through 18, then they sort of go, wow. Then to the Gentiles also God has re granted repentance that leads to life. Then verses 19 through 21 reveals that the gospel spread to Antioch. And it went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch preaching only to Jews, but then some of them, those from Cyprus and Cyrene, began to speak to the Greeks. And then that started a whole uh new number of people turning to the Lord. And then you got Paul, Barnus and Paul and Antioch, verse 22 through 26, and many are added to the Lord there. And then eventually, uh the last bit, 27 through 30, we have the big prophecy of famine and the relief that would be sent uh to those specifically in Jerusalem. All right, let's get into some observations.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, I think it's interesting. Like you said, it's like retells the whole thing. Yeah. The previous chapter, which, you know, there weren't originally chapter divisions and um passage headings and stuff like that. So this is just straight up like the exact same story two times. And I think that's interesting, and I kind of love it.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, it's like I'm gonna rewrite this just in case you thought I was paraphrasing before. Uh-huh.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah. And it adds a little bit more in it. So, like, you know, it says here in um, let's see. Uh, versus where is it where it where he brings up Oh man, I just had it.

Pastor Plek:

As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us.

Pastor Holland:

No, the part where he says, um, okay, here it is, verse 14. Um, he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household. Now in chapter 10, it didn't say specifically that he would be saved, right? You were even talking about was he saved beforehand or was he not? And so here you get a little bit more information in the retelling, he was not saved. And now after hearing the gospel, he was saved. And so um, you get a little more information in the retelling and a few different details. It kind of reminds me of how we have like, you know, we have four gospels that each one, you know, kind of gives a little bit um uh different details or different perspective, or similar how you have like um uh Kings and Chronicles or Samuel Kings and Chronicles, you know, you get multiple perspectives.

Pastor Plek:

So yeah, I like that. Um I I love also when after Peter speaks, uh, verse 18, when they heard these things, they fell silent. They had nothing else to say. And then eventually, like, I guess I'm on board with this. Yeah. Uh you you sort of watch the entire, it was like a group, like, mmm, okay, we change our mind. Yeah. That I thought that was fun. Yeah, that's cool. And then those who are scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far. I think you get a scene change here, because I don't think it's they are called in and immediately they're sent out. This is a scene change. Like, yeah, it's just it just kind of gives us an update on all how the gospel is being spread from the Acts 1.8 um uh theme verse to here it is being lived out. It's now getting to Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, all along the coast of the Mediterranean.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah. And and you get the name, another observation, you get the name Christians here for the first time. You know, previously, when it talked about a few chapters back, Saul persecuting the church, it called them um followers of the way. And now here in Antioch, they're called Christians. Um, and so you see where that phrase comes from, where the layers are.

Pastor Plek:

And Christian is sort of a pejorative term, I think. It means little Christ. And so I think they were like, oh, you cute little Christians. Uh and we were like, Yeah, sounds good. Yeah, which I love that. Um, I the the verse I highlighted personally was verse 25. So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for fall, to look for Saul. Um, I I thought that was cool. The report, so the the reason was he came from up to Antioch and he came and saw the grace of God. He was glad that he exhorted all that remained faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and full of faith. And a great many people were added to the number, and add to the Lord, and he good then he's like, aha, I need to get Sarsa Sar, I need to get Saul from Tarsus. Yeah. I I thought that was, you know, kind of it is Tarsus is near Antioch. Remember, they saved his life by sending him home. And if you're Saul, you'd be like, you feel benched. Yeah, right. Like you, I mean, it wasn't like he was you know not excited about sharing the gospel, but wherever he went, it brought so much attention it put everybody in danger. So, like, you know, why don't you not preach the gospel? And so he now Barnabas is like, time to go again. Time to get him. And so it might be for someone here, like you're you might have had a calling for ministry and it felt like you got sidelined for a season. And it might be that the Lord is is being getting ready to call you out of that, and you just need a Barnabas to come find you and encourage you to go and do that.

Pastor Holland:

That's cool. I I also I think it's so interesting, you know, all the Jew Gentile stuff here. Yeah, and you know, it says that those who were scattered because of the persecution, um, they were speaking the word to no one except Jews. And you're like, okay, was this fear? Was it prejudice? Was it a little bit of both? Um, and if you think of like what it was like before Pentecost, you know, all Old Testament history, the surrounding nations, they were they were enemies. They were followed demons. Yeah. Followed demons, you know, at war, you know, finally David fought his whole life to gain some peace. And then Solomon got to experience a time of peace. Um, but then after that, war again, you know, surrounding nation nations um conquering them, Babylon, Assyria.

Pastor Plek:

And so what you're seeing here is the Pax Romana and the ability to share the gospel across different ethnicities, and you'd only have it in this specific time period.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah. And the the the how God ordained, you know, this time in history for this to happen. And you know, the the Jews, it's like they're like, hey, these are our enemies. We have some prejudice because, well, they try to kill us all the time. Right. Um uh, but also from the beginning, Israel had always been called, you know, and Isaiah calls Israel a light to the nations, right? Israel had always had the role, it was meant to bring all the nations into the light of God by teaching them. Um, and so they're hesitant and they're fearful or maybe prejudiced, but they're also like this was always the intention. It's not a new plan, um, but it's just now like, hey, the plan's working. Gentiles are coming to Christ. It's awesome.

Pastor Plek:

Okay. Now, the the part that I am sort of interested in that changed the subject is look at verse 29. Okay. Or 28, 27 through 30, really, but uh Agabus stood up, said there's gonna be a great famine. So the disciples determined everyone according to his ability to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. And they did so, sending it by to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul. Now, were there two famines? Because Saul, when he writes 2 Corinthians, uh, remember 2 Corinthians 9, 7, each one must give what he decided in his heart, not reluctantly under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver. He's kind of rebuking them, saying, Hey, don't forget to um have your donation ready for the famine that's in Judea, because we're going to support that church. Yeah. Here you and and maybe this had the the it he's foretelling it because it hasn't happened, because uh the famine hasn't happened, it would happen during the days of Claudius. Um, but do you think that's the famine that would one day be paid up by uh Barnabas and Saul?

Pastor Holland:

How much of a time gap would that be? Um The days of Claudius when uh when is that? Yeah. Uh trying to think, it seems like it's a separate event to me. Um because this is like these those would be decades apart, but maybe it's the same one. I mean, yeah, I guess the you know, uh how who knows how how um so uh this visit here um is put around 45 to 47 AD.

Pastor Plek:

Um and I think the about fifty-seven AD is when the the other famine is. So maybe there was a couple famines.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah.

Pastor Plek:

And so this was a normal thing.

Pastor Holland:

The reign of Claudius was forty-one to fifty-four AD.

Pastor Plek:

Oh, okay, interesting.

Pastor Holland:

Um, and so the famine historians believe the famine took place between 45 and 46 or 47. So, but then Second Corinthians was written 50th. Yeah. A decade or so later. Right?

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, yeah.

Pastor Holland:

Um yeah, so it seems like two different things.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, it has to be two. So it must have stunk to have lived in Judea, which might have been the blessing to be sent on mission to leave a famine area. Just throwing that out.

unknown:

Yeah.

Pastor Plek:

Sometimes you're sometimes when you have to leave home, it's not because you're being punished. It's or you know, like it's because it's gonna ultimately benefit you.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah. I I mean, I imagine a famine wasn't like the craziest thing. I'm sure there's like numerous famines that came. Um, and you know, we don't think about that as much with industrial revolution, all the kind of developments we have with um mass crop stuff and grocery stores, and yeah, um, but dealing with being prepared for a famine.

Pastor Plek:

Well, you know and I think famine, I think people dying of starvation. Yeah. And so uh to have multiple, like in in within 20 years, two famines, man, that's brutal. Yeah. All right. Uh okay, let's get into um some uh truths about man. I don't know if we got into everything there, but we'll we'll probably get into it. Uh yeah. Um, I love how there are prophets among men. How about that? Yeah. Agabus is a prophet who predicts, forthells a famine that's coming. Yeah. Um, and that's that's different from you know writing more scripture into the Bible. He's just saying here's an event that's gonna happen, and you know if it's gonna happen or not based on it happening.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, right. Yeah. Um prophet with like a lowercase P. Yeah. Not uh, you know, he's not writing scripture, he's giving, you know, uh he's divine revelation from God. He's foretelling something that happened. Yeah. Uh yeah, that's cool. Um, I also think what it teaches about nature of man, you know, again, just this idea of like fear and prejudice, and um, you know, they're only they're only going to the Jews, whether that was easier or more comfortable, or they were afraid, or they were prejudiced. Um, but clearly God was was wanting to move move them beyond that.

Pastor Plek:

Uh how about that we need more than just a word to understand something. The people weren't good with like Peter saying, like, hey, we are now good with Gentiles now. He had to tell a whole story.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, and had to make it make sense and show that it was from God. Like, in some sense, I'm like, yeah, that I'm I'm with it.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, but but like the like but he was Peter. Like, what else do you want? Peter says it, Peter, you do it. But here, Peter, he's not upset that they're asking questions. He's not like, I'm in charge. This is what we're doing. Shut your mouth. He's like, he goes into great detail, as we know, because he pretty much repeats all of Acts 10 in Acts 11. And I think that's really cool that he is patient with people who are trying to understand something different in him.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, he's got the heart of a teacher and a pastor.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah. Um, yeah, because I don't know if I would have I've been like, I had a vision. What do you want? Uh um okay, what about um man's response to the gospel uh should be joyful and unifying when barriers fall? Like when when you go across um cultural, traditional, even demonic lines, there should be a great rejoicing. And and I just think of uh in in the United States today, there's a lot of uh ethnic ghettos, and I mean by ghetto, like just group collection of people. Like when I live in Japan, I lived in an American ghetto, like everyone there was kind of American. And and so what I see here is like even the United States, there's a it's difficult to go into those areas because you're different, you look different, you smell different, you eat different, and so to go, there's a huge celebration of overcoming um ethnic divides.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, definitely. Um, I love that they uh they stayed a whole year, verse 26. Nice, met with the church and taught a great many people. Um, and you know, they didn't stay there forever, right? But they did stay there for a year and really got a lot done while they were there. Antioch really gets established.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah.

Pastor Holland:

Um, so it's uh I guess going to the character of God, um uh God was not just about reaching individuals, but establishing churches in different cities that would really um influence the whole society, the whole city there.

Pastor Plek:

All right. How about yeah, uh how about God uses opposition and then question to clarify and confirm his will. Like it's okay to ask questions if you come with the right heart. Uh, and that's how the church kind of got behind Gentile believers. Yeah.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah. I love um to the Gentiles, also, God has granted repentance that leads to life. Um, you know, they're having this realization, but this is a doctrinal teaching here about the character of God, his um salvation is to all people.

Pastor Plek:

Um, I love that God empowers his people in mission, but then also mercy because he gives this revelation that was. I mean, here he says Acts 1.8, you know, uh wait in Jerusalem and then the Holy Spirit will come upon you and you'll receive power and you'll be my witnesses, Jerusalem, Jesus, Mary, then the earth. But then Agabus gets a word from the Lord and says, Hey, we need to send relief from the world back to Judea.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, right.

Pastor Plek:

So it's like this, hey, you've gotten the blessing of salvation. Now send back. And I think there was intense that was an intentional thing that we need to bless those that first gave us the word. And so God is the author of the famine. Yeah. And he's the one that lets them know. So as the gospel expands beyond um the local congregation there in Judea, it is then now challenged to support back where the gospel originated from. Yeah, man, that's good. Um shall we get to some application? Yeah, application. All right, remember it's sin to confess or avoid, a promise to claim, an example to follow, a command to obey, or a knowledge to believe. What you got?

Pastor Holland:

The thing I'm thinking about, the example to follow is, you know, when it says when they heard these things, they fell silent. And you know, it's like the gears are turning and they're like, crud, we um we got to change how we think. Yeah. And I think that's such a great, you know, there are times when uh you realize, like, oh crud, I've been doing things wrong. I've been thinking about this doctrine wrong. I've been thinking about this church practice or this way of, you know, um interpreting this or whatever. There, there's times in your walk with Jesus where you realize, like, oh dang, I was wrong. And um, you know, to and then embrace, you know, and just to be like, okay, well, I want to believe the right thing now. They glorified God and said, okay, I guess Gentiles, you know, I love that.

Pastor Plek:

And I think that is especially in a time where doctrine for the most part has been set aside. I think there's a revival of caring about doctrine in our country at this, you know, at this recording date. Um but people have been doing stuff wrong, and now to change that after what you grew up with, what you learned your whole life, to kind of to go against that in some against might be a hard word if it might not be that big of a deal, but in some areas it is, it's a big deal for people to to change the way they think about certain doctrinal issues, and here they do do it, which is cool. Yeah, that's good. Um, how about again, command obey, preach the gospel boldly to all people? Yeah, like they went among the Greeks, they preached from there, and uh, and I appreciate that God gave them uh people from Cyprus and Crete, or was it Cyprus and Cyrene? Cyrene. I mean, that's all across the Mediterranean. He gave them people to then go to the Gentiles. Yeah, and it sometimes it takes a unique person to go to across a cultural barrier.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah. I really like the kind of mixture of divine revelation and then like um wisdom and planning and foresight of God reveals there's gonna be a famine, um, but then they act on that according to their, you know, wisdom and understanding, saying, okay, since there's gonna be a famine famine, we need to plan ahead. We need to be financially wise, right, and we need to be uh generous in our hearts. Um so the response is like sometimes it feels like you choose between like faith or logic. And that's just not how it's presented in the Bible. Um, you know, it's like uh there's sometimes when acting in faith is paradoxical. It seems to go against logic, but a lot of times it's going hand in hand. It's saying, hey, my faith in God's word yields this logical response of I want to be wise and generous, store up food, preparing for a famine to help the people who are in need. I love it.

Pastor Plek:

Um, how about sind do uh avoid or confess, confess any prejudice or legalism? Yeah. Um and avoid criticizing God's work that's happening in unfamiliar ways. I think I think sometimes we can that's a good one. We can really start to criticize things that I and I think there's a difference between unorthodox and heretical. And I think sometimes we have a tendency to to to criticize criticize that which is not we find in our own orthodox belief system.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah. Uh I I think just the example to follow. I was getting at this earlier, but just to say it more plainly is um be generous, send relief to people who need it. Yeah. And plan to set aside resources um to help people outside of you know your household, um, whether it's in your church or in your community, you know, just be prepared to be generous.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, the other one example to follow, be like Barnabas. Yeah, go find Saul a second time. Go he went and got him the first time, and he went and got him the second time. I love that. And he's always going and getting Saul. I love that. Hey, thanks so much for joining us. We'll see you next time on a chapter a day.

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