Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world so that all may know Christ. Join us now for a portion of one of our services here at Kerwin Baptist Church, located in Kernersville, North Carolina. This will be our main scripture at first, at least, and then we'll jump to something else. Verse 11.
It says, Wherefore comfort yourselves together. and edify one another. even as also ye do. And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you.
Now I want you to be careful as we follow that you notice That he says, listen, it's expected. It's not a request, it's a command. Comfort yourselves together. And the way you do that is to edify one another. And as he introduces this subject, Everything he is saying now through really the end of verse 15, especially, builds off of this, okay?
So look at verse 12, to know them which labor among you. and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you. and to esteem them very highly in love for their works' sake. And be at peace among yourselves.
Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak. Be patient toward all men. See that none render evil for evil unto any man, but ever follow that which is good, both. among yourselves And to all men.
Now you can hold your place if you want to look at it. These will be on the screen also. Two verses here in Hebrews, I would call it a supporting scripture, verse 24. Let us consider one another to provoke unto love. And to good works.
Now, Baptists are, they didn't finish that verse. They consider one another to provoke. But this says we are to provoke unto love. and to good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. as the manner of some is.
but exhorting one another. Edify, exhort, encourage. It's all meant the same way, and so much the more as ye see the day. Approaching. You know, in church, everyone you meet is either fighting a battle, bearing a burden.
or facing a breaking point. Just everybody. Everybody has some kind of a battle going on in their life. Their family, their job, their work, their personal life. God calls us.
to be encouragers, not discouragers. God calls us to lift up, not pull down, to help, not hurt, to lift, not load. To lift up, not low down. It's one of the biggest needs, and by the way, and let me just say this: I think it's one of the biggest purposes. That God laid on my heart years back about our internship program.
And I'm thrilled that CJ's here tonight, and he is one that way back in the beginning days of that. Um really, you know, unfair to him, we probably didn't. You know, there's just so much going on. We're trying to grow this church and hang on for dear life. And it's just, man, jump in, let's just work where you can.
And we try to be a bit more organized now and make sure that they get a vast amount of experience in different areas. But one of the biggest reasons we bring interns is, is because we want to build them up. We want to edify them. We want to encourage them. You know, when you're going to a Christian college, oftentimes, and many of them that we've had in as interns are studying for ministry of some sort.
Listen, they're going to get torn down enough. when they get to where they're going. One of our ministries here is to build them up, to edify them, to encourage them, to equip them. And I appreciate so much you helping us with that. I want you to notice a couple things in 1 Thessalonians 5, and then we're going to kind of get to the main gist.
As it begins in verse 11, I'm going to give you just a number of things just to show you here about encouragement from this passage. But then I'm going to spend a little more time in the book of Acts. About this man Barnabas, okay? I want you to notice, number one, we see the command of encouragement, verse 11. Wherefore comfort, not, you know, consider comforting one.
No, comfort yourselves. together. It is our job. as fellow believers. Our job is to encourage, it's a command.
It's not a request. And may I just say this? If you understand that, it should change how you talk to people. It should change how you speak to people and treat people in church. I will tell you this, and I probably don't brag on them enough.
They're all busy individuals and I try not to take as much time as, you know, we, our deacons and myself, pray together on Sunday mornings before we come out here. And we also get a lot of things done so that we don't have to take another whole night away from our families to meet. And we talk about things, and when that's needful, that's what we do. Um I will say our deacons, all of them, have always been Um encouragers. I'm sure there's things that I don't know about this one, you know.
And, well, I don't know. Let me think. You know, I'm sure we've never had a fight. We've never had an argument. I'm blessed.
I don't have bad memories of deacons. I have good memories of deacons, at least here. And when I say they're encouragers, it's a command. Whether you're a deacon, whether you're a Sunday school pastor, a teacher, whether you're a choir member. Whether you're a greeter.
It's a command to encourage. That's our purpose. That's one of our purposes, is to encourage one another. And we need to remember that. Notice, secondly, I want you to see the companionship of encouragement.
Edify one another. There is a companionship here. I'm to encourage you and you're to encourage me.
Sometimes you need it, sometimes I need it, sometimes we both need it. And usually we both need it. And usually in a building, everyone needs it. But that's the companionship here. It's not like, you know, that in these special gifts of the Spirit, God's only called certain people, maybe three or four people per church, and they are to do the encouraging.
Nobody else has to, but God has four set aside. No, no, no, no. It's just a blank statement. We are to encourage each other, edify each other, comfort yourselves together. That's the companionship of it.
It's: I help you when you need it, and you help me when I need it. It's why we need church. Number three, I want you to see the compassion. Of encouragement. Look at verse 12.
And we beseech you, brethren. to know them. which labor among you. May I say that you might say, you know, preacher, I like to encourage people, but I just don't know often when people need encouraging, and I'll tell you why, you don't know them. We haven't taken the time to get to know each other.
We haven't taken the time to be friendly and ask some questions and show some interest. He said, notice this. How are we going to edify one another if we don't even know one another?
So he says, know them which labor among you. And then he goes a little further, and are over you in the Lord. Leaders, leadership in a church. Listen, for some reason a church thinks leadership's supposed to get to know me. In the Bible, You're supposed to get to know your leadership.
You're supposed to make the effort. Listen, they got 500 people. And you got one pastor, one youth pastor, one whatever. And what it means is this: that if you're going to encourage them, you're going to have to get to know them. And you can't get to know them by sitting back, leaving it up to them, and then complaining if they didn't shake your hand.
I'm the last person to leave here on Sunday mornings. I shake everybody's hand I can. But if they don't come by me, I'm not going to meet them. Does that make sense? And what we're saying is this: he said, listen, you're going to have to, in order to encourage people and build them up, you're going to have to know them.
You're going to have to put forth that effort. And not only that, the people, notice what he says here, I love this, that are over you in the Lord and admonish you. People that feed into your lives, people that teach, people that minister. It's our job to kind of get to know them. and to learn how to encourage them.
I want you to notice, number four, the courtesy of encouragement. Look at verse 13. and to esteem them. Not just get to know them. But to esteem them Very highly In love.
For their works' sake.
Now, don't you love. The Word of God. Think of how it is said here. I love this. Even if you don't like them.
He says, esteem them highly in love for the works' sake. You know, I might not like their personality, and they just might not be a person that I just automatically gravitate towards, but they're making an effort to minister. They're making an effort to work. They're making an effort, and you know what? I need to encourage them, if nothing else, for the work's sake.
The fact that they're willing to work, I need to encourage them. I love that. Esteem them very highly. Listen, we could probably talk to your kids. And find out who you esteem very highly.
And who you don't. I used to think, you know what, I'm just going to go sit in the elementary department. And I'm just going to start talking to these kids. Can I ask you something? Do your mom and dad like the pastor at this church?
And I decided I don't want to do that. I might not like what I hear. It's just better for me not to know. Notice the courtesy. Be courteous.
Esteem them highly. It's like, yeah, but listen. God does not say here, esteem them highly if they deserve it. He doesn't say esteem them highly if they do everything you think they should. He doesn't even say esteem them highly if they agree with you.
He just said, listen, for their work's sake, esteem them highly. in love. Notice number five, I need to get off that one pretty fast apparently. I want you to notice number five the cooperation. of encouragement.
Verse 13, he says, Be at peace among yourselves. Learn to cooperate with each other. You know, one of the biggest ways to encourage people is not to fight with them. One of the biggest ways to encourage somebody is Is not to get into something with them, not to criticize them. Not to antagonize, not listen.
One of the biggest ways is to learn to be at peace. God did not say here, learn to agree. He did not say, learn to see things the same way. Are you all with me tonight? Say amen.
Isn't the Bible great? Listen, you're to edify one another, but you need to understand. You might not agree, you might not, but you need to learn to do what it takes. to be at peace. For us to create an environment of encouragement at Kerwin Baptist Church, we're going to have to be at peace with each other.
And I believe it's possible. I do not think it's possible for us to agree on everything. And I do not think it's possible for us to see everything the same way. I just don't think that's possible. But I do think it's possible for people that really, truly love the Lord.
to be at peace. I want you to notice number six, I want you to see the cultivation of encouragement. Look at verse 14. He says, We exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly. Wait a minute.
Now just think about that. Part of encouraging sometimes is to have to have tough love.
Sometimes the way to encourage is to be honest. To call wrong wrong, to call sin sin. Can I have an amen? But remember the Bible says speak the truth in love. It means that I can love somebody enough to to be honest and tell them, listen.
I love you. I would do anything I could to try to choose never to hurt you. But I believe I would hurt you worse right now if I didn't say something to you. that I'm really concerned. I really feel like you're going the wrong direction here.
You see, that means that many times you and I, we've got to cultivate. We've got to build up people. We've got to turn over the ground.
Sometimes we have to deal with some issues. Listen, encouragement isn't just flattering somebody. Encouragement is helping build up somebody. Yeah.
Sometimes we have to cultivate that. I want you to notice Number seven, I want you to see the comfort. of encouragement. He says comfort. The feeble-minded.
Now, I've done a little studying on feebleminded. I got a doctor's degree and studied it again. Didn't learn anything new. I thought maybe something magical happened with that. There's a lot of ways that we could describe this and take this, but Listen, sometimes there's just going to be people that If truth be known, you would say, listen, you just need to get a grip.
You make an issue of everything. You're bothered by everything. And it's very easy in a church setting to get that way. It really is. But what God teaches here.
Is that sometimes there needs to be compassion. in our encouragement. That although This kind of seems ridiculous. It is what they need right now. And maybe right now the feeble mind means they're just not strong enough, they're just not mature enough, whatever the case might be.
You and I are to sometimes make the effort come out of ourselves. and comfort people. that need it. I want you to notice, number eight, the commitment of encouragement. Verse 14, he describes this.
He says, support the weak. Uh you listen. In the church setting, this is the way church was meant to work. We're to encourage each other, and encouragement isn't just, hey, I happen to walk by, I'm just going to say something nice.
Well, that that might be a very small part of encouragement. But encouragement takes commitment. Encouragement means this isn't just a one-time thing.
Now, I believe as church members, listen, we're not always going to be around everybody all the time, and there might be a time it's just somebody comes down our path in the class with us, in a ministry with us, whatever. And we should always be mindful to look for a way to help encourage each other. But notice this: support the weak, which means sometimes you're going to have to continue to give effort when you think probably they should be over this by now, and they should be beyond this by now, and they shouldn't need my help by now. But sometimes you're just going to have to keep helping.
Sometimes it's just going to take a commitment for you to encourage them. They're going to need it more than you would think they probably would. And here's the whole point. Almost all of us at times in our life, we have been that person. Yeah, yeah.
We were just weak. And somebody had to care enough. to support And to commit to keep working and trying and giving. to help.
Now, number nine. I want you to notice the challenge. encouragement. Verse 14, be patient toward. Amen.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's not easy. That's not easy. There is a challenge. If you're going to see your role at a church. as God says it is.
That my job is not just to come to church and get what I think I need. This isn't all about me. It's about loving one another and praying one for another, all these different things, and it's about encouraging one another. You're just going to have to learn to be patient. Here's what he said.
Not towards the ones, certain ones, the ones you like. Toward all men. And I'm going to tell you, God loves you enough, He's going to keep bringing that person by you. That's right, Terry. Terry happens to be mine.
You know, you just never, you never know. In fact, let me just say this when I say God says we've got to be patient toward all men. Many of you.
Somebody's name or picture or face just came up. You know it's a challenge for you. You know Yeah. I can deal with a lot, but oh my goodness. I get it.
And sometimes, like remember before, Sometimes you have to warn the unruly.
Sometimes somebody is just Milking your encouragement.
Somebody, somebody, sometimes they don't really want to encourage, they just want attention and they want to bring you down with them. Listen to me, there is a limit, there is a level. Don't think I'm sitting here saying, listen, just open up your wallet, say, take whatever you want. That is not what I'm saying.
Okay. I'm not saying, well, listen, I'll just sacrifice time with my family and I'll just come over to your house and just listen to you whine and complain every night of the week for a month. No, I'm not saying that. I'm saying we're to do our best to encourage each other. And we are to be patient towards all men.
But at some time, you got to be honest, and the best thing for them is to be truthful. And that would actually encourage them more than us just sitting back enabling what they're doing. I want you to notice number 10, I want you to see the control of encouragement. What do you mean? It means you are going to have to exercise some control.
And look at verse 15. Listen, God put this in here for some reason. See that none render evil for evil. unto any man. You see, it just might be that you become an encourager and you become a person that reaches out to others, and somebody's going to take advantage of it.
And somebody's going to do you wrong. Treat you wrong, you're going to bend over backwards and do everything for them for six, eight, twelve months. And the one time that there's something happens and they don't like it, they'll turn on you and they'll get on you after everything you've done, after all the money you've spent. And here's the whole point: God is saying this: God is not saying, oh, you have to just keep it. No, no, no, no.
He just said, well, you have to be careful of when that happens. You have to learn a lesson, listen, you tried to help, but what we have to make sure is that I don't render evil for evil. At that point, my way to encourage them is not to give back to them what they just gave to me. And it takes control. And that is part of encouragement.
I want you to notice. Number 11, the conviction of encouragement. Our encouragement should lead people somewhere. It should help get them. to a destination.
We're not encouragers just so, oh, they have a little bit of a smile on their face. No, no, there's a reason, notice. But ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves and to all men. We are always trying to lead people better. We're always trying to take them higher.
We're always trying to get them closer to the Lord through encouragement. And that's the conviction of it. We have to make sure that we always follow that which is good. That's a moral conviction inside of us. And here's what I mean.
I have watched people at church decide. They're going to pick somebody, pick a family, pick a person. I am determined to encourage them. And they spend so much time with them that that person pulls them down spiritually. You're like, what, that happens?
Oh, yeah, that happens. I could give you some examples, and you would know who they are. And I'm not going to do that. I've watched people literally, I want you to help us pray for so-and-so. I'm just, listen, I'm burning for them.
I'm going to just spend time with them and I'm going to help them before long.
Now they're out of church.
So, you're going to have to have some conviction. Ever, always follow that. Which is good, which brings us to number 12. And just for the remainder of our time, this is the last one. But I want you to learn some things about this man, Barnabas.
Number 12, I want you to see the characteristics. The best way I could show you this. It is to show you somebody in the Bible what they did to encourage. And Barnabas is the master. of encouragement.
And I want to show you some things. And I'm going to use this, there's other passages, but in Acts chapter 11, I want to show you some things. that maybe would help us Apply this, how to put this into action. to learn to encourage one another.
Now just think about this. If we all encourage one another, everybody would always leave church encouraged.
Well that that's Some of you are trying to do the math. Trust me, I've already done the math. If we all encourage one another, we're all leaving encouraged every time we're at church.
Okay, let me just go on here. The characteristics of encouragement. Acts chapter 11. If you want to turn there. I'm going to show you some of these passages, and let me give you the context if I can.
In verse 19, it says, Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen. Traveled as far. as Phoenix and Cyprus and Antioch. Preaching the word to none. But unto the Jews only.
Now let's just stop right there. What's going on? Stephen was martyred. Stephen was persecuted. And what we know later in history is there was a gentleman there that when he was persecuted.
And when Stephen was stoned, there was somebody that that had a great impact on. Who was it? Paul Okay.
So I want you to see how scripture connects with scripture here, okay?
So when this happened, guess what? Instead of what they thought, we're going to persecute Stephen, it's going to stop this. Instead, it furthered the gospel.
So it said, now they traveled as far as Phoenix and Cyprus and Antioch, and they were preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only. But look at verse 20, and some of them. Were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which when they were come to Antioch spake unto the Grecians. Greeks, Gentiles. Preaching the Lord Jesus.
So Stephen's martyred.
Now the gospel spreads, and they're preaching it to the Jews. But some Greeks Some Gentiles were listening and they got the gospel, and then they began to preach and teach to people that weren't only Jews. Notice this. Look at verse 21. And the hand of the Lord was with them.
There were some church leaders. that were very against preaching to the Gentiles. That the Gospels to the Jew only And they were wrong.
Now they were limited on what they knew, and there was a mystery of the gospel, and all that was going to be made known. But here's what's interesting: God's hand was with them. even though they didn't agree with it. Guess what I found out? There's a lot of people who don't do it the way I would, and God's blessing them.
So the last thing I'm going to do is just start ripping them apart. But now notice this. I love this. The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned unto the Lord. Then tidings of these things came into the ears of the church, which was in Jerusalem.
They hear this happening. And they probably know how this might could go. And they decide to send somebody to this. They sent forth Barnabas. That he should go as far Is the anioc.
Now verse 23. Is where we're taught this lesson. When he came. All right, Mr. Encourager.
is showing up. Here's people just been saved. And already you got a perfect storm happening.
Now you got Greeks and Grecians and all this stuff, they're getting saved, and also now they're with the Lord, and you got. people that feel differently about this. The church at Jerusalem finds out and they send Barnabas. I want you to notice, number one, what do we learn from Barnabas as we dig into it? Number one, be spiritually sensitive.
One of the best ways for you to be an encourager is for you to learn to be sensitive spiritually. Why, preacher? Look at verse 23. Who when he came notice this and had seen The grace of God. When Barnabas showed up and he saw what was happening, These individuals who the gospel wasn't even being preached to were accepting the gospel, getting saved, and sharing it with others, and they were getting saved.
And many had turned to the Lord. Here's what's interesting: Barnabas noticed what others might have missed. What others might have passed over, and it was this: that the grace of God was at work in these people. Here's my whole point. Barnabas was one that was so spiritually sensitive.
He was able to recognize when the grace of God was at work. Instead of finding something to judge and criticize, he was able to sense. when the Holy Spirit of God was involved. Encouragers, listen to me. Encouragers must learn to see what God is doing, not just what people are doing wrong.
Amen. Yeah, amen. Try? Amen. I don't think some of you got that.
Let me say it again. Encouragers must learn to see what God is doing, not just what people are doing wrong. A lot of Christians are very good at seeing what people are doing wrong, but what they're not very good at is being able to recognize when God is doing a work. While you're over here criticizing what you don't like, you don't even see that God's doing a great work in this person's heart. Yes, they might be rough around the edges, and yes, maybe they don't know all the things.
But if you're not careful, because we think we're so spiritual, we will literally squelch somebody before the grace of God can work in their lives. Barnabas shows up, and instead of something that they weren't familiar with and something that was out of the ordinary, he shows up and sees the grace of God. Say, preacher, what does that mean to me? It means, listen, as an encourager, you need to be spiritually sensitive at what's going on in a person's life. And instead of jumping in and telling them everything they're doing wrong, what you need to do as an encourager is you need to be able to recognize: wait a minute, God's doing something in them.
I know they might have messed up and blew it here, but God is doing a work. And if you can't see the grace of God in somebody, you can't encourage them. You say how do I do that?
Well well first, number one you gotta look be look beyond faults. See progress, not perfection. Look for God's fingerprints of grace in a person's life. And mom and dad, can I give you a little... A freebie on this one.
We're not teaching on parenting. But you better be very careful about mom and dad instead of thinking your whole role is to see everything your child's doing wrong. And to correct that, do you know one of your main roles as a parent Is to try to see and sense what the grace of God is doing in the lives of your children. Right. And to encourage that.
to strengthen that. If we're not careful, we parents aren't even going to see God's grace. And our kids. What I see here in Philippians 1:6, look at this, being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it under the day of Jesus Christ. Do you hear that?
What Barnabas realized is God has started a work here, and any work that God starts, God will keep going. That's God's grace. And when God has started something in somebody, you might give up on them, but God hasn't. Thank you for listening today. We hope you received a blessing from our broadcast.
The Kerwin Baptist Church is located at 4520 Old Hollow Road in Kernersville, North Carolina. You may also contact us by phone at 336-993-5192. or via the web. at Kerwin Baptist Church.com. Enjoy our services live and all our media on our website and church app.
Thank you for listening to the Kerwin Broadcast today. God bless you.
