The 12 tribes of Israel, and Paul and Barnabas

Key verses
Matthew 9:37-38 - Then he [Jesus] said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

Genesis
Another curious reading in Genesis - today we find out that Manasseh and Ephraim are adopted by Jacob as his two sons.  This got me thinking about the 12 tribes of Israel, because Jacob already had 12 sons, and I knew that these two sons of Joseph figured in there somewhere.  After some digging, I got to Numbers 34.  Here God tells Moses which people will assign the inheritance of land to the tribes.  Reuben and Joseph are not mentioned, and Joseph's first two sons are.  If you want to read an outside article on this, check out http://www.gotquestions.org/twelve-tribes-Israel.html.

Acts
What a perfect story to demonstrate mob mentality.  In Acts 14, we read about Paul and Barnabas' ministry in Lystra.  They healed a crippled man and the crowd thought they were Hermes and Zeus, which both Paul and Barnabas quickly denied.  Here they are cheering Paul and Barnabas, and then a couple verses later, the Jews from Antioch and Iconium come around and persuade the crowd over to their side (which is against Paul and Barnabas' Messianic message), and the crowd goes from cheering for these two to nearly killing Paul by stoning him!  You've got to have a tough hide to be a missionary.

Persecution and ministering

Isn't it amazing that Saul, only a short while after having persecuted the church, could then minister to the very people who he had first persecuted?  I'm thinking of today's reading in Acts 11:19-30.  This passage begins with "Now those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch..."  and later this passage reads "Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch...".
I've highlighted some key words here.  Saul had been intensely involved in the persecution of Stephen and his fellow Christians.  Then those who had been persecuted went to Antioch, and then Barnabas and Saul go to Antioch as well, staying there for a whole year doing ministry in Jesus' name.  Isn't that incredible!  That transformation is what can happen when God gets involved in our work and we allow him to be the force behind our ministry.  Saul had a lot of trust to build up with the people he was ministering to, as they had firsthand experience with who he had been before he himself became a believer.
If you think you can't follow through on the mission God has given you, think of this Barnabas/Saul story.  If God worked in the heart of Saul and the hearts of his audience to be able to bond together and learn from each other, God can work in your situation as well.