[0:00] Well, good morning. I am truly excited to be here this morning, to share from God's Word with you, and to come and to just to be among you again. And I have to say that every time I come here, there are so many new faces that I have a difficulty remembering your names as it is, never mind if there's more faces, but it's really a joy for us to be here.
[0:27] And I'm here. I am Dwayne Wolfe. By the Lord's grace, I pastor a Countryside Community Church in the Crete, along with Pastor Ken Wiebe and our youth pastor, Chris Schmidt.
[0:42] And we do our best in teaching and pastoring and encouraging a congregation there, and we have the privilege of coming around and to seeing the rest of our conference.
[0:56] And it is a joy for us to be here. I'm here with my wife, Lori, and we've spent many years with Wayne and Sadie and walking alongside them in ministry, and it's been a short time we've been able to walk with Brother Henry here as well.
[1:14] And just to say and to see that this church is growing and filling, it warms a person's heart. It's hard not to be overwhelmed with emotion to see that God is at work here in this church among you.
[1:29] And that is awesome. You know, I have to just say I appreciate the song leader, the way that you were vulnerable, and the way you expressed this morning that there is a song that tugs at your heart.
[1:47] And it's the reality is, can we and do we give everything to the Lord, or where is this worldly pull on us as we live in this world and we enjoy some of the fun things in this world, and yet not to allow that to be our motivation, our main draw.
[2:06] I appreciate that. And I just want to encourage you to continue to share and to share your heart. I can't find you right now, but I'm sure you're here somewhere.
[2:17] And God will use that in a mighty way. So this morning I have maybe a bit of an unconventional message for you, as I want you to look more at a character study.
[2:34] I want you to walk through the recordings of Luke in the book of Acts, and we look at a man, a character, and just the example that he was or is to us, and the example that he was to the early church.
[2:55] Maybe you haven't ever recognized this man as a key, fundamental, someone who is at the very core of survival of the early church, and also at the core of this book being written in the way that it is written.
[3:16] And this man's name is Joseph, or Jose, as we had in our translation this morning. But you will not ever know them or hear him as Joseph or Jose, because this is the only verse that addresses him by his given name.
[3:33] We all know him as Barnabas. And we see here in this scripture that the reason why he has been given this name is because it is a name given by the apostles, and it means son of encouragement.
[3:50] I just want you to kind of walk through this a little bit and say, why did this guy get this title? It is early in the church, and they've already recognized him as a gifted man, a man that has extreme potential and value to the church.
[4:09] But let us just unite in prayer as we begin. Father, I just want to thank you for this morning. Lord, and I pray that you will just speak through me. Lord, I pray for clarity, and I pray that as we walk through the book of Acts, that we see not only the marvelous work that this man did, but the faith that this man had, the conviction this man had, and the heart that this man lived by, that it can translate into this is who we can be and who we need to be.
[4:42] Father, we just give you thanks for this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. You know, maybe a little background of where this message comes from.
[4:52] It's born out of some discouragement. A few weeks ago, as we were going personally through a very busy time, and you know, you get wore out.
[5:07] You get kind of to a point where your tank is empty. And I was sitting in the office with my colleagues, and one of my colleagues shared that he too, he was empty.
[5:19] He was wore out. He was tired. And then my other colleague came into the office, and we were having coffee, and he says the same. And we were just gentlemen. We are the ones that are kind of the ones that feed.
[5:32] We need to be able to feed the congregation. We need to be filled with encouragement so that we can feed our church. And we just kind of had this conversation, but how do we do this?
[5:46] And that led me on a path of finding encouragement from the Scriptures. As you read in Proverbs 12, in verse 25, it says, Proverbs 16, 24 says, Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.
[6:16] Proverbs 25, 11, So we see the value or the effect that these words have on us as we walk through our day, as we walk through life.
[6:33] And we have this heaviness that's on our heart, but yet it's by a good word that makes him glad. And here we have this dearly church, and it's in the beginning stages, and we understand as they lived somewhat in a communal kind of setting, they all shared things, and they were all willing to share.
[6:53] They all came together, and they brought things, and they shared. And yet it's of importance for Luke, as the writer of the book of Acts, and it was after some years, it was after many years that Luke sat down and said, I need to write down and write a historical account of the church.
[7:12] That is our book of Acts. So here Luke is, after many years, he's sitting down, he's recording, these are the things I remember. And he's writing that the church, they would bring these things together and lay them at the apostles' feet, and they would distribute as need.
[7:27] But then he names one. He says, and in verse 36, And Jose, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles, which is translated son of encouragement, a Levite of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet.
[7:44] So often when I'm reading through Scripture, and I see that, first of all, there's a statement made, that's kind of an umbrella statement, and there's one that is kind of highlighted. And I'm asking the question, okay, why?
[7:56] Why was Barnabas highlighted? Why? What is the motivator of Luke to highlight Barnabas?
[8:10] And as we read through the rest of Acts, we get to see the character of Barnabas. We get to see who this man really is, and then we understand why Luke found it of necessity to write.
[8:26] And here we have the early church, and Barnabas is obviously, he is coming to this church with his whole heart. He's coming to the church saying, I love you guys so much that I am willing to give anything that I have of value.
[8:40] I'm giving to the church. I'm making a full commitment to the church. All that I have is to the Lord's. And as we continue through, as we go through, and we see this man, he's always kind of in the background.
[9:00] You don't really see much more of Barnabas until we get into chapter 9. What happens in chapter 9? There's this man named Saul.
[9:13] And this man, he was confronted by the Christ. And he was converted. And this man Saul was on the way to Damascus, and there he met Ananias, and he had this encounter with Ananias, and he was baptized.
[9:27] But here's this man Saul. He persecuted the church. We know Saul. We know some of the workings of Saul. We know the fear that the church had for this man Saul.
[9:39] And here God comes, and he converts Saul, and he brings Saul to Ananias. And after a little bit of time, God brings Saul into Jerusalem to the apostles.
[9:52] And when he is confronted with the apostles in Acts chapter 9, and a little bit later, we have this description.
[10:16] Oh, I'm in chapter 7. That's why it doesn't make any sense. Because there, Paul wasn't preaching yet. So in Acts chapter 9 here, here Paul is preaching, and he's preaching Christ, and he's converting people.
[10:29] People are coming around and saying, this man obviously knows something of the Lord. He knows of God. And Saul is gaining momentum. He is learning more, and he's teaching more earnestly.
[10:40] And in verse 26, it says, And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him and did not believe that he was a disciple. So Saul, he's preaching Christ out in the outskirts of Jerusalem and beyond, and he's making a difference.
[10:58] And yet when he comes to Jerusalem, he comes to the mother church, if you will, and the apostles, and they still have a fear of who he was and the things that he did, and they kind of held him at arm's length and said, Sorry, Saul.
[11:14] We just can't quite trust you. We know who you were, and you say you were this, but there's just too much history here.
[11:24] There's too much of a pain that you have caused. I think it's best that you just kind of stay on the outskirts. Don't show yourself in the Jerusalem church. But in verse 27, who stands up?
[11:41] It says, But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles, and he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road and that he had spoken to him and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.
[11:53] So he was with them at Jerusalem, going in and going out. On whose reputation was Saul invited into the inner circle? On the reputation of Barnabas.
[12:05] Barnabas stood up and he said, I believe in what the Lord has. I believe the Lord has done a marvelous work in this man, and I'm going to stand up, and I'm going to make myself vulnerable before you, and I'm going to vouch for this man.
[12:25] Wow. Can you imagine? Can you imagine? Someone coming into your church, someone who you know has a past, someone who you know the whole church has a fear and has a hesitation.
[12:39] They don't even want to sit with you at the same table. Who of us is going to be like this Barnabas? Who of us is going to stand up in faith and say, I believe the work of what the Lord has done in this man's heart, and I am going to stand up for him because I believe God will do a good work.
[13:06] Most of us, me including, I think our initial reaction is we're going to stay with the group. We want to stay where it's safe. We want to stay where I know that I have a little bit of support, that if I say something, I know my buddy is going to help me out.
[13:20] It says, but Barnabas took him. Barnabas knew the reputation. Barnabas knew the repercussions that could come, the impact it could have to his ministry, and yet he had faith in what Christ had done.
[13:37] He had faith in what Christ could do in this man, Saul. So we just see this character of Barnabas. We see the full commitment that he has to the church.
[13:49] We see the full commitment that he has to Christ, to this Savior, the one who has saved him. And we hear, and we read further on, that Saul, he continued to preach, but there was huge opposition to him.
[14:12] So the apostles had accepted him in, but yet the congregation hadn't. And as we read in verse 29, and he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Hellenists, but they attempted to kill him.
[14:25] That's a little bit of, we don't want to have you here. We don't typically receive that kind of a reception or a dismissal. Sometimes we've been told we haven't been appreciated, but never has anybody even thrown anything at me.
[14:41] And yet here, he was speaking the truth, and they attempted to kill him. And when the brethren found out, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him out to Tarsus. That's his hometown.
[14:53] So the apostles heard his story. The apostles were willing to take him in on the word of Barnabas. And Barnabas stood up for him, for Barnabas is a man of faith, a man of clarity, a man of godly conviction.
[15:12] And when they had spent some time, they sent him back home. And we have very little, very little writings of what Saul was doing in between in this, the time span of when Barnabas dealt with him and he was able to meet with the apostles and then he was sent to Tarsus.
[15:31] We have very little interaction of what Saul was doing in this time. We have also very little interaction of what Barnabas was doing in this time. And we get into Acts chapter 11.
[15:45] And as we read through the dialogue in Acts, we hear that there was, there was the, the gospel was being shared. The, the apostles and then the dispersion after the stoning of Stephen, the Christians, they were first forced out under persecution.
[16:00] And there was a lot of churches that were growing and there was the, the gospel was being shared. But it was, says here in Acts that they kept themselves only to the Jews except for a small group of the, those from Cyprus and from another place there.
[16:16] They were willing to go out to the Hellenist into some out of the Gentile territory and to preach the gospel. And as we pick up the story in Acts chapter 11 verse 19, it says, And now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch preaching the word to no one but the Jews only.
[16:39] But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.
[16:51] So here's this, this revival that's happening in this, in this land by these faithful men. You know, they don't even have names but they were faithful men and they preached the word. And news comes back to the church.
[17:07] News comes back to Jerusalem in verse 22. It says, Then news of these things came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem and they sent out who? They sent out Barnabas.
[17:20] Why Barnabas? Because he was a faithful man filled with the Spirit, full of conviction and he encouraged people.
[17:31] Let's read on. And for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith and a great many of people were added to the Lord. This is just a direct recording of who Barnabas was.
[17:48] It says, And then Barnabas, I missed the piece. Nope. And many were added to the Lord. And then Barnabas being overwhelmed with all the work that's there, he says, Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul.
[18:03] And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For it was that, so it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and they taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.
[18:17] So here we have, first of all, Barnabas is the first one who is engaged with the church. He gives of him, of his own to the church. He's invested in the church. We have the conversion of Saul.
[18:29] And Saul preaches and teaches and he comes to Jerusalem. He's rejected by the apostles. Barnabas stands up for Saul. He is then allowed in. He is threatened with death, sent to Tarsus.
[18:41] And Barnabas being sent to this new church and he is there and he is overwhelmed with the response of the gospel and he says, I need a helper. And who does he go to?
[18:53] To the one that is rejected by the apostles at first, knowing that this man has had an encounter with the Lord. He has something of value in ministry. So he goes out to Tarsus and he finds him and he brings him into Antioch and together, they work together in the church and they encourage the church and it says, and the church grew exponentially.
[19:18] But who's the leader in this ministry? Have you ever thought of Paul being Barnabas' apprentice?
[19:29] Have you ever thought of the fact that Barnabas is actually the leader in the ministry? Barnabas here is the wise man. Barnabas is the one that is filled with conviction and spirit.
[19:42] Barnabas is the teacher. He is the leader and Saul is the follower. He is the helper. It's an amazing story when you really get into it and you see this character of Barnabas and as we continue to read through here and they are there for a whole year and Saul is under this apprenticeship, if you will.
[20:04] We have this idea. We understand what an apprenticeship is where you have someone who is fluent, he is experienced, he is taught as a, well, my example is a mechanic.
[20:17] Me being a journeyman automotive technician, in my former life and I own this business and we would hire people and they would work under me and the whole purpose was for me to train them and as we train them and as they become more experienced and more fluent in the work, they get the training and now we are equals.
[20:39] You know, I think that's where we really have an issue in our humanity. we have this issue of I am still the leader and we have these other people that are coming up and they are actually more talented than you.
[20:51] They are better mechanics than you. They have a better understanding of diagnostics than you and yet, accent the boss. And so you kind of keep them suppressed and we don't allow them to lead.
[21:04] This is, I believe, it's a huge issue in our churches where we have people who come up and they have promising gifts, they have talents, they have passion and as leaders we suppress them because it's meanestade.
[21:19] This is my spot. And we fail and we fail in this transition of leader to apprentice. As we read here in chapter 11 and together just notice in verse 25 as Luke writes it says, And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem and they were, they had fulfilled the ministry and they also took with them John Mark whose surname was, no, they took with them John whose surname was Mark.
[21:49] And now in the church at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers, Barnabas and Simeon who was called Niger and Lusis. Why not just Bill or Cyrene and Manon who had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch and Saul and they ministered to the Lord and fasted and the Holy Spirit said, Now separate to me Barnabas and Saul for the work for which I have called them.
[22:13] And then fasting and prayed and laying hands on them they sent them away. So here we have Barnabas and he has brought his protege, he has brought Saul to the table and these are now leaders within the larger church section and the Lord is separating them getting them ready for another missionary journey.
[22:32] and the Lord is saying first of all let's take Barnabas the leader and we'll take his apprentice we'll take Saul we'll put him among there and we'll also take this other one we'll take John whose surname is Mark we'll take him we'll put him on on the same train and we'll send them out and they went out to Cyprus and there they are they're teaching and they're moving on and as we get into verse 8 it says but Elimaeus the sorcerer for his name is translated withstood them seeking to turn the procouncil away from the truth then Saul who is called Paul filled with the Holy Spirit looked intently at him this is a transitional verse it is from here on that Luke always refers to Saul as Paul it is from this verse there is also a transition made in the leadership of the missionary team from here on in Luke always refers to them as Paul and Barnabas before that they were always
[23:33] Barnabas and Saul Barnabas was the leader and Saul having had the teaching and the the encouragement just the the infilling of this love by Barnabas he is now ready to take lead he is ready to take charge and here it is they have a confrontation and as Luke writes it he makes the transition from Saul to Paul and Paul stands up and he looks intently at him and says oh full of all deceit and fraud you son of the devil you enemy of all righteousness you will not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord and Paul the now Paul he continues and he leads through this missionary journey journey but not all goes well as we we see in in verse 13 and now when Paul and his party set sail from Epaphos and went from Perga to Pamphylia and John departed from them returning to Jerusalem so we are we're familiar with the story where they were on this missionary journey maybe we weren't familiar with the fact that Barnabas was the leader in this journey there is the transition and now it is
[24:57] Saul Saul is the leader in Barnabas and here we have John John called Mark he now departs and he leaves and we understand from scripture that Paul was not happy Paul was actually quite distraught discouraged about this this lack of faith this lesser character of John that John Mark would now take and he would just go back and be influenced by the cares of the world and yet we read that Paul and Barnabas they continued and they continued to go on and we also see this transition in Luke and his writings as he goes from Barnabas and Saul to now it is Paul and Barnabas the team structure has changed as we read in verse 46 of chapter 13 it says then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said it was necessary that the word of the Lord should be spoken to you first since you rejected it and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life behold we turn to the Gentiles so here is the transition of their ministry as well but it is being led by Paul
[26:12] Paul being the one called to the Gentiles but yet Barnabas isn't fighting for the position Barnabas isn't fighting Paul at any place it is we don't see anything else of Barnabas other than the one that's walking behind him walking beside him and encouraging him and says come on Paul you got this you got this and he says Paul really just dig down deep in the spirit and you continue to preach and you stand strong stand tall for the word and for the gospel this is something we don't see well in our churches we don't see this transition happening well and yet we have a beautiful transition here in the scriptures but not all is always well and it just you know kind of stays there awesome and and we don't have any hiccups and any bumps in the road as we continue on in Acts chapter 15 there were bumps
[27:17] Acts chapter 15 we can start at verse 35 and again we just see the character of Barnabas as he was steadfast it didn't matter what the popularity was of Paul it didn't matter what the the outlook was Barnabas was steadfast to the truth as we read in verse 36 and then then after some days Paul said to Barnabas let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing do you see the heart of Paul do you see the heart that has transformed from the soul that stoned Stephen to death the one that stood strong stood solid on this is tradition this is the way we have it you cannot deviate from tradition this is the way it is and he was a hard man and here we have a transition into Paul he is a man that has a desire and a compassion for the churches for the people that they have ministered to says let's go back let's go back and let's let's go see them and let's encourage them where do you think he learned that from what does
[28:25] Barnabas's name mean son of encouragement and here is Paul that was Saul the apprentice of the leader of the man Barnabas now his heart is to go back and to encourage the churches but in verse 37 now Barnabas was determined to take with him John called Mark uh oh but Paul insisted that they should not take should not take with him the one who had departed from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work then the contention became so sharp that they departed from one another and so Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus but Paul chose Silas and departed being commended by the brethren to the grace of God and he went through Syria and Sicilia strengthening the churches the work of the Lord didn't stop the work of the Lord actually went through doubled we now had two teams that would go but it came from a sharp contention meaning they were not happy with each other they were at odds the relationship between
[29:34] Barnabas and Paul was actually somewhat broken they left somewhat in a huff Barnabas said I'm going to take John Mark why because this man has value yeah he he broke off from us over here he had a human a humanistic viewpoint and it took him away from the ministry but I believe that God has some value what does Barnabas do with this John Mark he brings him back into ministry he is willing to stand up for John Mark even when Paul sharply rebuked and said no this man has no value to the ministry he departed he left us hanging Barnabas says God needs this guy God has something in store for this man and we need to bring him along we need to restore this man back into the ministry we need to help this man back on his feet and get him back into the service of the
[30:36] Lord for we don't know what the Lord has for him yet but we will see and here is this man of encouragement because I can just imagine you know we don't have it in scripture and yet I can imagine that here's John Mark he goes home and he is utterly defeated he is discouraged he is bored possibly even depressed has any one of you ever stepped out from a role in ministry and you feel you felt like you left your people hanging and you went home because you couldn't handle it and you went home and it's just a terrible feeling in your gut I've experienced that so here we have John Mark who we have no idea how he is feeling yet I imagine him not to be encouraged I imagine him to be discouraged and he gets the call probably it was a text message from his buddy Barnabas he says hey we've got this journey going off this way and you know why don't you get your boat ready let's let's go and his whole being just gets back up and says oh
[31:46] I love the Lord so much I know I deserted you guys over here but I want to redeem myself I want to be engaged in the work of the Lord and Barnabas is saying I got you brother I'm standing with you I'm going to walk alongside you I'm going to restore you I'm going to pour into you until you are able to stand by yourself and that you can go on and you can encourage and you can bring somebody else alongside you as you minister and we see that this is what happened we don't have the actual recording of John Mark and Paul's interaction where they came back together and they were united and they were all happy together but we have Paul writing to Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 4 it says Luke is with me and get Mark and bring him with you for he is very useful for me in the ministry he's very useful for me in the ministry what do
[32:51] God why don't you go and get this man this man named Mark for he is very useful to me and also there's more instruction in Colossians chapter 4 and verse 10 it says Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you and Mark the cousin of Barnabas concerning whom you have received instruction if he comes to you welcome you if he comes to you welcome him so Paul is given instruction back and says if this man John Mark comes to you you welcome him there's a special welcome there for him he deserted me there was a time when
[33:57] I had nothing that I wanted to do with him but he has been restored our fellowship our relationship has been restored and when he comes to you you welcome him you make a special welcome for this man because he is valuable to the work of the Lord it is this man that wrote the gospel of Mark in our New Testament it is this John Mark that was restored into ministry after having fallen short he was restored by the love and the encouragement of Barnabas and he came back and he was useful in the ministry and he wrote one of the gospels just imagine if there hadn't been a Barnabas just imagine how empty our scriptures would be if there hadn't been this man Barnabas that was willing to stand up for these men was willing to stand up for the potential that they had in the Lord because this man he was good he was full of the spirit he was faithful he was committed to the church and he was willing to stand up to the crowds he was willing to stand up against popular opinion and say
[35:14] I risked my reputation for this man because I believe God has something in store for him let us take him in can you imagine what the bulk of our New Testament would be if Saul had not been mentored had not been loved and encouraged by a man like Barnabas and had been pulled into the inner circle of the apostles and had been given his proper right and proper state in the ministry as he went out as he taught and as he led as he planted churches and as he wrote half of our New Testament I know that our God can work in any ways possible to fulfill that what he needs to have fulfilled and yet he used the man of faith he used
[36:15] Barnabas he used the man of character he used the man that had a heart filled with compassion for other men we don't read in the scriptures that Barnabas was your theological doctrinal teacher we read in scripture that he was the character of encouragement we read that Paul was the doctrinal teacher and we see that Barnabas is the one that was behind him and Barnabas was the people worker and Paul was the teacher we see that Barnabas is the guy that would go around and he would see the broken hearted he would see the ones that were disconnected he would see the ones that needed just some time and he spent time with them and he brought them back into the church he brought them back into a useful ministry Paul says and he's very useful for me concerning Mark I believe this is our role this is our job as believers we are to be like
[37:24] Barnabas we have in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 it says therefore encourage one another and build one another up just as you are doing but to fulfill it in a greater span he says that we are doing it a little bit he says do it more do it more in Hebrews chapter 10 you turn with me to Hebrews chapter 10 starting at verse 19 just a beautiful portion of scripture of an encouragement to the brethren to the sisters and to the church as a whole starting at verse 19 it says therefore brethren having boldness to enter the holiness by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he consecrated for us through the veil that is his flesh and having a high priest over the house of
[38:29] God being that Christ has done everything Christ has fulfilled the whole mandate everything is done it is completed the plan of salvation is done let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful without wavering as we read through and we study the life of Barnabas we see that Barnabas was unwavering in his faith Barnabas did not or he was not swayed by the group he was not swayed even by the powerful persuader Paul he was not swayed he stood steadfast in that which was his conviction which was his hope Christ but then there's 24 it says let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works let us consider one it doesn't it's not just a meaning of a ponder
[39:41] I'm thinking about Henry and that's just where I leave it no it's let us really consider how can I come to him and how can I talk with him how can I sit with him how can I stir up this love for good works in him how can I encourage him how can I push him out of his comfort zone so that he can make this bold expression of who Christ is that he can preach the Lord with no reservation how can I stir up this love in his work or in his life that's what this verse means it's not just a thinking about someone it is a physical go be with them talk with them sit with them walk with them push them encourage them draw them in pull them alongside you work together with it is an action to stir up love and good works not forsaking the assembly of ourselves together as is the manner of some and you know here in the last number of years in the dreadful
[40:59] COVID years this portion of scripture we all memorize this piece or this half of this verse right oh for sure we shouldn't forsake the assembling of ourselves together that was the matter of or the other ones but listen to the last half of this verse it says but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching you know this word exhorting I used to think that this was a this was a heavy handed this was like even worse than a rebuke if someone would come to exhort me that was like that was a serious beat down the word exhort is an encouragement it is an encouragement with a direction or an encouragement to a good work it is I want to come and I want to encourage you to lead Bible study I believe you can do it I believe the Lord will work through you I want to encourage you to take part I see that you have a gift in this I want to encourage you to do this work in the church that's what an exhortation is it is an encouragement with a direction and we are to exhort one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching we see this in the life of
[42:17] Barnabas we see that this is who this man was this is what he did and we reap the benefits as we read through the New Testament of the faithfulness of potentially one man as he worked tirelessly in the leaders of the early church and he had a heart that was just so full and so tender and filled with passion and compassion as they worked for the Lord so I want to encourage you as you go from here be conscious have an intention to seek out someone whom you can encourage seek out someone who you can say not only have a good day and you slap them on the back and you go on have an intention to sit down with this person have a conversation stand with these people when there is difficulty when their reputation has been broken when they have let you down come back to them and stand with them encourage them stir up this love within them for work in the church why we read in proverbs chapter 12 it says anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down but a good word makes him glad why proverbs 16 gracious words are like a honeycomb sweetness to the soul and health to the body why proverbs 25 a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver maybe you are the one that needs the word of encouragement today maybe you are the one that is sitting there and you are internally you are broken and you're stuck and you need some man of faith to come alongside you and put his arm around you and say
[44:25] God has something for you because you are very valuable to him in his work may the rest of you now be like the Barnabas and you can encourage one another and build into not only this church but build into your community build into your families build into the families beyond the river beyond the road and continue to spreading the word of the Lord in deed and in word by loving them and encouraging them and be like a Barnabas and also that comes back around and allow people to encourage you when you are the one that is hurting and someone is asking you how are you doing tell them the truth tell them the truth men let's be vulnerable let's allow the word of the
[45:47] Lord to encourage us to build into us to bring us and to re-engage us into the work of the Lord through someone else that is there to help us let us be like this Barnabas and let us go out and let us re-engage in the word and in the scriptures and allow God's word to flow richly may it move us may by his spirit may we endeavor into things that we never thought were possible because in us they weren't but through him they are I pray you be encouraged this morning let us pray father I thank you for this morning I thank you for who you are Lord that you are the God almighty the one that has not only created this this world that we live and all that we see but you also sent your son to die for us knowing that we are sinful beings and out of ourselves we can never live a life in eternity with you but through your son by the shed blood we have the opportunity to live and to walk and to worship together with you father we thank you for that lord and
[47:01] I pray that you will move within our being that we would love each other so much that we would take the time to stir up love in one another that we would speak these words of encouragement to one another lord I pray that we would be like this Barnabas in the lives of our brothers and sisters in our church in our community and in our families oh lord we just thank you for your word and we thank you for your spirit this morning in your name we pray amen