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Collierville First Baptist Church
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So the character we're looking at today is named Barnabas, Barnabas.
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Dr. Erwin Lutzer in his book, When a Nation Forgets God, wrote this.
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He said, "I believe that the spiritual climate of America will never be changed unless we have ordinary people living authentically for Christ in their vocations among their neighbors and in positions of influence.
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We cannot look to a man or even a movement as much as to the common person who is committed to Christ and living for him."
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Listen, the sovereign God, if you're in this room today and you're a born again believer, the sovereign God has placed you in a workplace.
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He's placed you there to make a difference. If you're a student, he's placed you in your school. If you're on an athletic team, he's placed you on your athletic team. If you're in the band, he's placed you in the band. But he's done all of that so that you can make a difference for the kingdom of God. Now here's the good news. You don't have to be famous and you don't have to be extraordinarily gifted in order to make a difference for Jesus and the kingdom of God.
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Last week we focused on Stephen.
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Stephen was not one of the 12 apostles that Jesus chose to be with him. He was a deacon and he embraced spiritual authenticity, he had biblical insight and he had personal courage. And God used an ordinary man like Stephen to take an extraordinary stand for Jesus
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and he paid with his life. He was stoned to death because he refused to compromise. What a difference maker he was.
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Today, we look at the man by the name of Barnabas. Luke wrote about him in the book of Acts.
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And he introduces us to him in the fourth chapter.
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In Acts chapter four, verse 36 and 37, we read this. Now Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth who was also called Barnabas by the apostles, like Barnabas was his nickname.
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And the name Barnabas means son of encouragement.
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So the apostles watched Barnabas serve the Lord and minister within the confines of the church and outside the church and they were amazed, they were struck by his ability to be an encourager to people.
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And the Bible says in verse 37, and he owned a tract of land and sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.
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Now here's what the Lord wants us to know about this man by the name of Barnabas. He was a Jew and he grew up on the island of Cyprus.
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He was named Joseph by his parents.
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He was from the tribe of Levi
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and he was known as an encourager and he was a generous man of God. That's what those verses right there in Acts chapter four revealed to us about Barnabas. Now I'm not sure when Barnabas was saved.
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I don't know if it was on the day of Pentecost. I don't know if it was earlier in his life. I don't know, but one thing is for certain.
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The Lord Jesus Christ transformed this brother from the inside out and he turned him into a kingdom difference maker.
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Now as we follow the developing story of Barnabas' life and ministry, he's mentioned again in chapter nine of the book of Acts.
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Now Saul who held the cloaks of those who had stoned Stephen had become an oppressive persecutor of Christians and of the Christian church.
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The religious authorities sent him to Damascus, Syria for the sole purpose of arresting Christians, bringing them back to Jerusalem, maybe even killing some of them, but tormenting many of them with persecution.
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Now on the way, something happened in Saul's life that he had no clue was coming his way. You see, he thought Jesus was a fraud.
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He thought all that the Christians believe about Jesus was a bunch of hocus pocus.
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But I'm telling you on the way to Damascus, the resurrected and ascended Christ appeared
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to Saul and Saul believed in Jesus was totally converted and transformed. And when he got to Damascus, Ananias, a believer in the church, began to work with him and began an early discipleship with him. And do you know what happened?
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Saul who went to persecute Christians in the church in Damascus began to preach in the synagogue there in Damascus and Saul preached that Jesus was the Messiah, the son of the living God.
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And I'll tell you the Jewish people
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didn't know what to make out of him, but I'll tell you what, he was driven out of the city. The Jews tried to kill him.
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Remember the story from the time you were in preschool, Sunday school about Paul being let down or Saul being let down from the wall, an opening in the wall and was able to escape. Well, when he escaped, he went back to Jerusalem.
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And here's what happened when he got there. In Acts chapter nine, verse 26 and 27, the Bible says when he came to Jerusalem, he was trying to associate with the disciples,
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but they were all afraid of him,
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not believing that he was a disciple.
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I guess they were wondering what was Saul trying to schmooze them into believing that he was a Christian when in essence what he was trying to do was set a trap. He was trying to be a wolf in sheep's clothing and he would turn on them the moment he felt was a proper moment.
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And so they didn't have anything to do with them. They were very wary of Saul of Tarsus.
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But Barnabas really lived up to his name. The Bible says in verse 27, but Barnabas took hold of him
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and brought him to the apostles and described to them how he had seen the Lord on the road and that he had talked to him and how at Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus.
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Now Barnabas really lived up to his name, the son of encouragement, didn't he? He sought out Saul and he asked him to tell him his story. And do you know what? He could have easily turned his back on Saul just like the leaders had done, but he saw and saw some potential that the others could not see. They saw a problem, he saw potential.
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And so he believed Saul and then he went as an advocate for Saul before the church leaders and convinced them that he was legitimate, that he had truly been born again and that he was now a follower of Jesus.
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Now, as a result of that favorable testimony, the leaders of the church began to accept Saul as one of them.
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Now, the next time Luke mentions the name of Barnabas was in connection with the heaven-sent revival that broke out among Gentiles in a place called Antioch.
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In Acts 11, verses 20 to 26, listen to what the word says.
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But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene,
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who came to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks also, or the Gentiles also, preaching the Lord Jesus.
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And the hand of the Lord was with them. And a large number who believed turned to the Lord.
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The news about them reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem.
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And they sent Barnabas off to Antioch. Now, this tells you how important Barnabas was to the New Testament church.
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They could have sent Peter, they could have sent James,
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but they chose to send Barnabas to check this out. Because see, this was really out of the box for them.
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The Jewish people believed that the gospel was only for the Jews.
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And to think that God had come down in miraculous power, saving power there in Antioch of Syria and saved a bunch of Gentiles was really rocking their world.
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And so they sent Barnabas to check it out. Verse 23, "Then when he arrived and witnessed the grace of God," notice what he witnessed. He witnessed the grace of God, the unmerited favor of God. Let me tell you, when you see somebody saved by the grace of God, it's hard to spin it any other way than a miracle of God.
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The Bible says, "Then when he arrived and witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced
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and began to encourage them all with resolute heart
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to remain true to the Lord. For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And considerable numbers were brought to the Lord. And he left for Tarsus to look for Saul."
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Now Tarsus was quite a little journey away. And what Barnabas thought, he said, "Look, this is more than I can handle by myself. I need some help. And I know just who to go get to help me." And he went and got Saul of Tarsus, the man who had been saved by Christ on the road to Damascus,
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the man that Barnabas stuck his neck out for there before the leaders of the church in Jerusalem.
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So he left for Tarsus to look for Saul. And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And for an entire year, they met with the church and taught considerable numbers. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.
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Now Barnabas was a spirit-filled, godly man. He was full of joy. And he loved the Lord from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet. He was a gifted encourager.
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As such, he was open to the idea that God could color outside the line, so to say, that God could save anybody God wanted to save, whether they be Jew or Gentile.
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And he was okay with that.
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He preached the word with a resolute heart and people were blessed and encouraged.
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He was willing to invest in Saul and to give Saul a chance to hone his preaching skills.
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He, along with Saul, were entrusted with a special offering that the church at Antioch took up for the poor people in Jerusalem because a great famine was coming according to a prophet who gave that prophecy there in Antioch.
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We're taking up a great offering next week. It's our harvest offering. Open pray that you will seek the Lord and ask him what he would have you to give to our harvest offering next week.
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Now notice in verses 29 and 30, "And in the proportion that any of the disciples had means, each of them determined to send a contribution for the relief of the brethren living in Judea.
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And this they did sending it in charge
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of Barnabas and Saul to the elders."
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Once again, we see the integrity of this man by the name of Barnabas.
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He was a true difference maker and the leaders of the church recognized that.
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And they took up this offering. Now you know, now listen, let's be honest.
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You know if you send a sizable offering with a guy,
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you know you trust him, right?
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And they trusted him. So Barnabas and Saul began their journey to Jerusalem with this love offering that the church had taken up for the poor people who lived in Jerusalem.
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What an amazing testimony to this guy. Now he never made the A-team as far as church leadership goes, but this brother was certainly a difference maker. He never wrote a book in the Bible. You won't find any book in the New Testament that has his signature on it as the author of that book. Not in there.
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I'll tell you what, he was a difference maker. I'm telling you, you don't have to be great or talented to be a difference maker.
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That's the good news. Now, as his story continued to unfold,
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we discovered that he became a part of a leadership team at Antioch and was even chosen by the Holy Spirit himself to be a part of the first missionary journey that that church took.
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Acts 13, one through three. The Bible says, now there were Antioch in the church that was their prophets and teachers.
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Barnabas, there he is. Simeon, who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, Manan who had been brought up with hair of the tetrarch and Saul of Tarsus.
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Verse two, while they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, I quote, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul "for the work to which I've called them.
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"Then when they had fasted and prayed "and laid their hands on them, they sent them away." Now, let me tell you this. The Lord cannot do anything through you until he does something in you.
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And I'm tell you what, he had done an amazing work in Barnabas and in Saul of Tarsus.
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Now, John Mark, the young cousin of Barnabas, joined them on that first missionary journey.
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This was a golden opportunity for Barnabas to use his spiritual gift of exhortation or encouragement to preach the word and to continue to disciple both Saul and his young cousin, John Mark.
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Now look at Acts 13, verse nine. The Bible says, "But Saul, who was called Paul." Now, can I be very honest with you? It's been very hard for me to call Saul, Saul.
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My natural inclination is to call him Paul, but there came a point in time when under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, as Luke began to write out the book of Acts,
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he quit calling Saul, Saul, and started calling him Paul.
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Now, Saul was his Hebrew name.
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Paul was his Roman name.
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And from this verse on, from verse nine on, Paul is referred to using his Roman name, Paul. And I thank God for that, because now I don't have to say Saul anymore.
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His kingdom impact can be traced to the investment that Barnabas made in his life.
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Now, when this first missionary journey was over,
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Paul and Barnabas went back to Antioch and reported to the church all that God had done.
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Eventually, as you might expect, some false teachers showed up in Antioch, the church there.
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And they began to muddy up the gospel.
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They began to say, look, if you're a Gentile, you really cannot be saved by grace through faith in Christ alone.
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You've also gotta be circumcised and you gotta keep the Mosaic law if you wanna be saved. So what they were trying to do, this group of heretics had come in and they were trying to get the Gentiles to act like Jews in order to be saved.
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Now, Paul would say, I mean, Peter would say later at the Jerusalem Council that even we as Jews can't do that. And we're asking Gentiles to do that.
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Oh man, what an amazing moment this was. But Paul and Barnabas sprang into action quickly.
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Look at Acts chapter 15, verses one through two.
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So men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren, unless you were circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.
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And when Paul and Barnabas had great dissension and debate with them,
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the brethren determined that Paul and Barnabas and some others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders concerning this issue. Once again, we see that Barnabas, even though he was an ordinary person, not a superstar,
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he rose to the top and the church leaders that had sent him to Antioch to check things out,
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the church leaders in Antioch who had sent him to Jerusalem with a love offering, now the church leaders send him back to Jerusalem to try to iron out this thorny theological problem.
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It's amazing.
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Now, look at this, look at verse 12.
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All the people kept silent.
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When Paul and Barnabas had great dissension, they sent him to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders. And when they got before the apostles and elders there in Jerusalem, verse 12 says, all the people kept silent.
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Look at this, they were listening to Barnabas and Paul as they were relating what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles on their mission trip.
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At one of the most crucial moments in the life of the early church,
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Paul and Barnabas rose to the occasion
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and defended the faith that's been passed down from generation to generation and to hash out this theological issue with the leaders of the church.
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Barnabas was a minor character
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who became a major difference maker.
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We desperately need, listen, in the church today, hear me.
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We desperately need a pipeline of ordinary Christians who will be fully devoted to the Lord Jesus Christ and to the explosive growth of his kingdom.
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I want you to hear me now. I've said it several times. To be a difference maker, you do not have to be a superstar.
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You do not have to be a silver-tongued orator.
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You do not have to be famous.
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You just have to be willing,
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willing to put your life on the line for Jesus and the kingdom of God.
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And that's what Jack Davis is doing.
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He's not a superstar, but you know what? He loves Jesus and he's willing to get out there and teach the Bible to a group of young men. And I praise God for that. We need more of that.
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Now next, I want you to see how the Lord used Barnabas to encourage his cousin, John Mark.
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Look at Acts chapter 15, verses 35 to 41.
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But Paul and Barnabas stayed in Antioch, teaching and preaching with many others also, the word of the Lord.
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After some days, Paul said to Barnabas, "Let us return and visit the brethren in every city in which we proclaim the word of the Lord and see how they are." Verse 37, look at this.
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Barnabas wanted to take John, called Mark along with them also.
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But Paul kept insisting that they should not take him along who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. See, on the first missionary journey,
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John Mark had gone with him. He was a young man, a young believer.
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And he went with these two veterans, Paul and Barnabas.
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And somewhere along the way on this journey, he got homesick. Maybe he was a mama's boy, I don't know. But he got homesick and he left them on the missionary journey and he went back to Jerusalem to his home.
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And now here's the second missionary journey
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and Barnabas wants to carry John Mark with him on this journey and Paul raises up and said, "No, no, no, he can't go, he's a quitter.
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He's a quitter."
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And the disagreement got so sharp between them
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that notice verse 39,
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"There occurred such a sharp disagreement that they separated from one another and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus.
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But Paul chose Silas and left being committed by the brethren to the grace of the Lord. And he was traveling through Syria and Cilicia strengthening the church." So now instead of one mission trip,
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we got two mission trips.
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We got Barnabas and John Mark going on a mission trip.
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And we got Paul and Silas going on a mission trip.
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It amazes me that the story of Peter had not gotten around to Paul, maybe not yet.
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You remember Peter denied Jesus three times
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right in Jesus was going through the kangaroo trial that would determine his ultimate crucifixion.
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And he beat himself up, man, he failed miserably.
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But you know what Jesus did with Peter?
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He didn't give up on him. When he was resurrected from the dead, he sought Peter out and he restored him to ministry.
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And here we see Paul wanting to take a young believer
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who had so much potential and cast him aside.
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But I'm so glad Barnabas was there.
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And Barnabas took his young cousin, took him with him and helped him to believe in himself again.
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Barnabas as a son of encouragement saw potential in John Mark when all Paul could see was a problem.
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So he took him under his wing and discipled him
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because of Barnabas influence in John Mark's life, he became a difference maker in his own right. Now here's what's interesting.
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Later on in Paul's ministry,
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he recognized and affirmed John Mark as being a valuable minister of the gospel in Colossians 4.10, which was written after what we're talking about here in the book of Acts.
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The Bible says, "Aristarchus, my fellow prisoners, "sends you his greetings." And also Barnabas' cousin Mark.
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Mark.
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Mark was with them serving Jesus
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about whom you received instruction if he comes to you welcoming. And then listen, just as Paul was about to die,
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2 Timothy chapter four, it is Paul's swan song.
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He's about to die. Now listen to this. Here's what he writes in 2 Timothy 4.11, "Only Luke is with me." Paul was in prison dying.
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"Pick up Mark and bring him with you "for he's useful to me for service."
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Oh, isn't that wonderful to hear?
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Hey, look, can I tell you this?
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Don't be too quick to give up on people.
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Don't do that.
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Man, if God could take John Mark who quit on the first missionary journey and restore him and repurpose him in ministry, he can do the same for anybody.
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So taking the example of Barnabas,
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I wanna challenge you with this goal.
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Every person in this room, this is the goal.
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Make encouragement your platform for ministry.
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You say, well, my ministry is teaching or my ministry is service. My ministry is whatever it is, make the platform for your ministry encouragement.
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Now, in one of the Peanuts comic strips,
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Linus has just written his own comic strip
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and he wants Lucy's opinion. Bad idea, Linus.
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Lucy, would you read this and tell me if you think it's funny?
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Lucy, would you do that for me? She says yes. And in the next frame, you see Lucy patting her feet
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and a little grin comes across her face and she looks at Linus and says this, well, Linus, who drew this?
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And Linus pokes his chest out and says with a big grin on his face, well, Lucy, I drew this comic strip.
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To which Lucy says, well, I don't think it's very funny.
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And in the final frame, Lucy takes the comic strip that Linus had drawn, she crumpled it up and she threw it aside.
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And in the final frame, Linus picks up his comic strip, straightens it out, throws his blanket over his shoulder and says to Lucy, big sisters are the crabgrass in the lawn of life. (Congregation Laughing) And let me ask you a question.
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Are you the crabgrass in the lawn of somebody's life?
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Are you known for pessimism or optimism?
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Today is your chance to flip the script
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for your life. Today is a day when you can make encouragement,
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your platform for ministry.
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But did you know that we are commanded in the New Testament to be an encourager?
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It's not an opinion, it's not a suggestion, it's a commandment from the Lord.
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In 1 Thessalonians 5, 11, listen to this. Therefore, encourage one another
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and build one another up, just as you also are doing. In Hebrews 3, 13, but encourage one another day after day, as long as it's still called today, so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
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You realize there are people in this church,
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there are people in your sphere of influence,
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there are people in your family, there are people who go to school with you young people,
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there are people that you work with,
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and they need somebody to speak an encouraging word over them.
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Will you be that person?
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Will you flip the script and make sure that you make
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encouragement your platform for ministry? I'm gonna close by sharing with you three ways
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that you can be an encourager who makes a difference for the kingdom. You might wanna jot these down. Number one, and I've got them in order, okay? Number one, connect with the Lord.
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I'm telling you, listen, if you don't hear anything else, I want you to hear this.
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The Lord Jesus can do nothing through you until he does something in you.
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You gotta connect with the Lord. Well, what does it mean? It means you repent of your sins.
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You may be here today,
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and this Christian thing is something that you've never really given much consideration to.
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You've heard about it.
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You may have a Bible at home,
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you don't read it, but you got a Bible at home.
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And the Lord has brought you here today, not by accident.
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You're here by the providence of God. You're here because he loves you,
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and he wants you to hear this message.
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He wants you to hear this invitation.
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You realize that God loves you so much that he sacrificed his son on the cross of Calvary
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in order that your sins could be forgiven,
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and that you could find new life in him through his glorious resurrection.
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Repent of your sins, commit your life to Jesus by faith.
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Hey, listen, there are no extra things that you have to do. You don't have to be circumcised to be saved. You don't have to keep a list of rules and laws to be saved. You have to believe in Jesus with all your heart.
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You have to commit your life to him. And then you stay close to the Lord by reading your Bible,
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by praying, by being an active member of a Bible Believe in Christ Honoring Church. Look, if you're not an active member of a Bible Believe in Christ Honoring Church, I invite you in just a moment to come to one of our staff members and tell them you wanna be a part of this church.
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Come to one of our staff members and say, "Today I wanna receive Jesus as my Savior and Lord. "I wanna connect with him for the first time in my life,
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"and I wanna stay connected to him."
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Number two, make generosity a priority.
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Can I tell you this?
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You will never be a legitimate difference maker if you're stingy with your time, your talent, and your treasures.
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Never.
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In Matthew 6, 19 to 21, Jesus said, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth "where moth and rust destroy, "and where thieves break in and steal, "but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven "where neither moth nor rust destroys, "and where thieves do not break in or steal. "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." No, listen, in verse 24, Jesus said this,
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"No one can serve two masters,
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"for either he will hate the one and love the other,
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"or he will be devoted to one and despise the other." You cannot serve God and wealth.
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The smartest thing you can do in your life as a follower of Christ is to be generous,
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to be generous with your time.
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It takes time to do what Barnabas did with Saul and with John Mark, it takes time.
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You gotta be generous with your resources.
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Be generous with your service.
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And here's the third and final one.
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Invest in other people.
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Discouragers see the worst in others.
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Encouragers see the best in others.
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Take a risk on people.
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Risk it, that's what Barnabas did.
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Man, he put his neck on the line when he stood up for Saul,
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when Saul had come back to Jerusalem.
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Listen, he took a risk
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when he carried John Mark on his missionary journey.
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You see, he didn't view John Mark's failure as final.
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As a result, I got to thinking about this. As a result of the encouragement of Barnabas,
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we have 14 books of the 27 books in the New Testament, in our New Testament.
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Paul wrote 13 of them and John Mark wrote one of them.
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Amazing.
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The difference we can make if we just get outside of our comfort zone, if we don't keep God in a box,
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and we're willing to invest in people's lives.
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Hey, somebody believed in you.
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Somebody invested in you.
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Somebody encouraged you along the way. You ought to thank God for it. You ought to thank God for them.
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I read about a little boy, Jaden Hayes.
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CBS did a special on this little boy.
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His dad died when he was four.
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His mom died when he was six.
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And he was placed into the care of a guardian.
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Jaden was heartbroken, as you can imagine.
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But he's decided that he wanted to make people smile.
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So Jaden went to his guardian
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and he asked him to buy some inexpensive toys that he could walk on the streets of Savannah, Georgia and pass them out to people
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just to cheer them up.
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And the guardian bought a bunch of these little toys, maybe rubber ducks or something like that, or little dinosaurs. And little Jaden would go down the streets of Savannah, Georgia and he had hand people, whether they're adults or children, he'd hand them a little dinosaur or rubber duck.
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And the effect, the impact on people's lives was amazing.
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They would smile.
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Many of them would reach down and give little Jaden a hug.
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But he chose to make a difference in people's lives instead of focusing on his misery, he chose to make it a ministry.
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There's not a person in this room
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who cannot be a difference maker.
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You say, "Well, I got a career, I'm too busy."
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Well, if you're too busy to be a difference maker, you're too busy.
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I encourage you, go out and be a Barnabas this week.
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Be a Barnabas, be an encourager in someone's life this week. Find somebody that you can speak a word of encouragement, find somebody that you can believe in and nurture along the way. (Congregation Laughing)
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