The Church Member of My Dreams

Pastor, teacher, and author Adrian Rogers has introduced people all over the world to the love of Jesus Christ and has impacted untold numbers of lives by presenting profound truth, Simply Stated. Thanks for joining us for this message.

Here's Adrian Rogers. Here's a pattern for the new time religion which is the all-time religion and ought to be the every time religion, and we're thinking today under the general heading of that all-time religion, under the specific heading, we're thinking the church member of my dreams. Now, what would a pastor's dream church member be like? Well, I'm going to show you in just a moment what he would be like and if you take God's word and open here to Acts chapter 3, Or, I want us to begin reading in verse 36.

And Joseph, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, which is being interpreted the son of consolation, a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and bought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet. Now, the church member of my dreams would not be the apostle Paul. Oh, I'd love to have Paul, I suppose, in the congregation, but I'd certainly hate to have a congregation full of Pauls. You talk about being intimidated when you preach, but I just don't believe I'd enjoy preaching to a congregation of Pauls, and I sure wouldn't want a congregation of Simon Peters.

Can you imagine what that guy would be in a business meeting? I mean, I love Peter, and I'm glad God made Peter. I believe God made one because we needed him, but only one because he's the only one we could stand. Thank God for Simon Peter. He's a great guy, but I just don't believe I'd like a church full of Simon Peters. I believe that if I could have the church member of my dreams, it would be this man, Joseph, that I just read to you about, only that's not what they called him. They called him Barnabas. That is, that was the name he was given. What today we would call his nickname was Barnabas. And the word Barnabas is interpreted son of consolation. Well, you say, what's so great about that? Well, the word consolation is the word parakletos.

It's the same word that the Holy Spirit is called by, the comforter. Well, what does that mean? It literally means encouragement, encouragement.

Now we're getting to the bottom line. What was so great about Barney? They nicknamed him encourager. They said, you are Barnabas. You are the encourager.

You are the son of consolation. You're the guy that encourages us every time we're around you. Now, I don't really believe they even called him Barnabas. If I know this guy like I think I know him, they called him Barney. Oh, Barney, the guy that everybody loved, he was a great encourager. You see, folks, if there's anything that people need today, it's encouragement because there's so many folks who are discouraged.

So many people are so low they could sit on the curb and dangle their feet. They are discouraged and they need to be encouraged. Did you know that in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 3 that God is called the God of all comfort, but literally it's the same word, the God of all consolation, the God of all encouragement. Friend, if you are discouraged, God didn't do it.

The devil did it. The devil wants to get you discouraged because, folks, if he's got you discouraged, he has you set for failure. Discouragement is the dark room where the negatives of failure are developed. Now, if you're discouraged, the devil is on your trail.

If you're encouraged, you can do almost anything. In the Football Hall of Fame, there's a helmet hung up there. It belonged to Bobby Lane. And underneath that helmet, it says this, Bobby Lane never lost a football game. Time just ran out.

I like that. Here's a man who just believed that it could be done. He was a man that kept the fires of encouragement in his heart, and therefore he was able to encourage other team members. Thank God for people who have the gift of encouragement, who know how to encourage people. Paul told the Thessalonicans, comfort the feeble-minded.

The word feeble-minded there means the small-souled, those people who are discouraged. He's saying, encourage the discouraged. If there's anything that we really need in this day and time, it is those who know how to encourage other people, and that's the gift that Barnabas had. Barnabas had the gift of encouragement. He was a great encourager, and therefore I want you to see five characteristics in his life. We're just going to do a little character study on Barnabas today, and I want you to see five characteristics in his life that I pray God he'll put into my life and into your life.

Number one, an encourager is a load lifter. Look if you will, and again in this passage of Scripture, beginning in verse 36, Acts 4 verse 36, and Joseph, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, which is being interpreted the son of consolation, that is the son of encouragement, a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus, having land sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet. Now what had happened is this, that there was a great distress in the land of Jerusalem at this time. You see, revival had broken out, and many people wanted to know what was happening, and they just poured into the city of Jerusalem. Many of them became Christians, and they decided to stay and to learn more and more about the faith.

They had no homes to sleep in, there were no hotels, they were not a wealthy people, just many of them just common ordinary people, and beside that this early persecution arose immediately. And so many of these people had no place to go, nothing to eat, it was just turmoil, and there was a great need for financial resources and immediate need. Now Barney had some property, he said, I know what I can do, I've got a piece of land, it's a valuable piece of land, I can sell it easily. And he sold the land and he brought the money and he just gave it to the apostles, he said, here, this ought to help. Now what he did was this, he saw a need and he moved in to meet that need. He saw a load and he decided to lift it. You see, the apostle Paul later wrote, bear ye one another's burdens. That's what an encourager is, he just lifts burdens from people. You say, well, I don't have any property to sell.

Well, you don't have to have property to lift a load. Maybe you have love that you can give. Maybe you have wisdom that you can give. Maybe you have advice that you can give. Maybe you have time that you can give. Maybe there's a mother next door that's got a sick child. Maybe there's somebody that you know who has an elderly parent whose mind is leaving them. Maybe you have somebody that you know whose child has leukemia and who needs somebody to babysit a little bit. Maybe there's somebody that you know who just lost their job and needs somebody to loan them a car or something like that. You see, we all have so much to give. If we'll just think about it, there's somebody that we can say, look, if you've got a need, I believe I could help you.

Would it be wonderful just to be in a church full of people who want to lift somebody else's load and bear somebody else's burden? That's what this man, Barnabas, did. He just had land and he sold it. By the way, listen, Barnabas knew the difference between ownership and stewardship. A lot of us think we own what we own. We don't own it.

We're only stewards. It needs to be available to the Lord if the Lord wants to use it. You say, well, Barnabas lost what he had.

No, he didn't. As a matter of fact, he still has it because the only thing we carry to heaven is what we've given away. Barnabas still has it. You see, look, folks, true wealth, when it's divided, multiplies. True wealth. I went to the mayor's prayer breakfast and there was a man there, a multimillionaire who has a tremendous business. He said when he was just a kid, he decided he's going to make God his partner and he entered into a solemn contract with God that 51 percent of everything he earned would go to the Lord.

God would be the senior partner earning 51 percent. This man has so been blessed, but he said something that stayed in my mind. He said so many times we tell people if you'll tithe, if you'll tithe, you'll be able to do more with the nine-tenths after you've tithed and God will bless the 90 percent. But he said if you really think about it, it's not primarily the 90 percent that God blesses, it's the 10 percent that God blesses that you gave. You see, it's not the seed that's kept in the barn that increases, it's the seed that is invested that increases.

It's that which you give away, it's that which you invest, it's that which you sow, it's that which you plant that multiplies and comes back again and again and again and the way to get is to give. And here was a man who didn't give to get, he gave, however, to lift a load. He was an encourager. I thank God for the Barnabases in this world today who are load lifters. Let me tell you another sign of a Barnabas, a son of consolation.

Not only is he a load lifter, but friend, he is a friend finder. Would you turn to Acts chapter 9 and look with me please? In Acts chapter 9 for a moment, the episode that I'm going to read to you now is right after the conversion of Saul who became Paul.

Now Saul, you know, was persecuting the church. Jesus appeared to him, he was converted, and now I begin reading in Acts 9 verse 23, and after that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him. To kill whom? To kill Paul. Why did they want to kill Paul? Well, they felt that Paul was a traitor, a turncoat. Paul had been persecuting the church and now he lines up with the church.

And so they think of him as a turncoat and they're going to kill him. But verse 24 says, but their laying await was known of Saul and they watched the gates day and night to kill him. Then the disciples took him by night and let him down by the wall in a basket. Can you see this once proud Pharisee huddled in a wicker basket, going down over the wall of Damascus, trying to escape the city for his life?

Now notice verse 26, and when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he has said to join himself to the disciples, but they were all afraid of him and believe not, he was a disciple. Now here he is, his former friends want to kill him. Now he needs to go and be with the Christians in Jerusalem and they're afraid of him.

He's in no man's land. They're suspicious of him. They don't think he's really been saved.

They feel about him like some folks felt about Charles Colson, the Watergate hatchet man. They said, that guy couldn't be saved. We don't really believe he's saved.

And so he's kind of a man without a country. But now notice verse 27, but Barnabas took him, just to underscore that, but Barnabas took him and brought him to the disciples and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way and how that he had spoken to him and how he preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. Now what did Barnabas do? Barnabas was a friend finder. Here was a man who needed a friend. Barnabas went out and found him and became a friend to a very lonely new disciple. Now folks, I want to tell you, there are a lot of new Christians who need somebody to find them and to be a friend to them. There are a lot of people who need an encouragement. Do you know what the new Christian needs?

Oh folks, the new Christian, if anybody needs encouragement, it is a brand new Christian. And so many times they feel like it's so hard to break into our churches, and especially if they come from a different background, a different culture, a different socioeconomic status, they feel like, oh, I'd love to be a part of that group. I'd love to go to that party. I'd love to be in that class. I'd love to stand around and just laugh and tell stories and jokes like these guys do.

How could I get in? Oh God, give us some Barnabases who reach out and find these people and bring them in and be as it were a people pollinator. That's what an encourager is. He's a friend finder. I heard about a man who went into a bookstore and he saw a book entitled How to Hug. So he bought it.

He thought he'd learn how. But what it was was an encyclopedia starting with how and it went all the way to hug. Now, we need some books that teach us really just how to hug. Can't you see the big fisherman putting a bear hug on old Saul and just and loving him and saying, come on brother, you're one of us. We love you.

God bless you. John Stossel on ABC's 2020 did a program and in that program he talked about little babies who need psychoanalysis and psychotherapy. Little babies. Little babies not yet one year of age whose psyches have been warned and these children who were psychologically harmed were children who lived in homes where there was no eye contact, no laughter, no cuddling, no touching, no caressing, no stroking, the things that little babies need. And these little babies deprived of that had maladjustment as little babies.

And then this is what this program went on to say and this was the line that struck me. They said it is impossible to spoil a baby the first year of life. I mean, you just keep on giving that love.

You can't give too much. Just keep on giving that love. It's just impossible to spoil a baby the first year of life.

They need that love and those babies who receive that love, that eye contact, that care, that caressing, the first year of life grew up to be so well adjusted, had love to give and demanded less than other babies who didn't receive it. Now, friend, I want to tell you not only is that true in the physical world, that is true in the spiritual world. The most important year is that first year when a person comes to know Christ, when he's a babe in Christ and a church like this needs to be filled with Barnabases, people who will find a friend and embrace that friend and bring him into the fellowship. Barnabas was called an encourager. He was a friend finder. And I want to tell you another reason that Barnabas was an encourager.

Dear friend, he was an encourager because he was a bridge builder. Would you look here in Acts chapter 11 with me for a moment and verse 20? Acts chapter 11 and verse 20.

Well, let's begin in verse 19. Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose after Stephen traveled as far as Phoenice and Cyprus and Antioch, preaching the word to none but to the Jews only. And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which when they were come to Antioch, spoke unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord. Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem, and they sent forth Barnabas that he should go as far as Antioch, who when he came and had seen the grace of God was glad and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord, for he was a good man and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith, and much people was added to the Lord.

Now what had happened is this. A revival meeting broke out in Antioch. The gospel fires are beginning to burn. The Christians had been persecuted. Many of them left Jerusalem. Some of them went to Antioch. They began to tell the story of the resurrected Lord. People believed, and revival fire got started, and there was an upheaval. That city was turned upside down and inside out for the Lord Jesus. Now word of that revival went back to Jerusalem, to the headquarters, back where the apostles were. And they said, look, a lot of folks, a lot of Greeks are getting saved over there in Antioch. Well, they said, we wonder, is that true fire or wildfire?

Is that of God? I mean, you see, it had no apostolic credence to it. They had not approved it. They had not initiated it.

They had not watched over it. They said, we wonder, is that real Christianity? Is God really blessing there? Should we approve it? We better send somebody to investigate, and who do you think they sent?

You guessed it. They sent Barney. Now Barney goes up there, and Barney, the Bible says, was a good man, full of the Holy Ghost and of faith, and he saw there the grace of God. He saw God moving in such a way. He said, my goodness, this has the unmistakable stamp of authority, authenticity, and God upon it. And what he said is, the Bible, he said he just exhorted them.

Boy, he said, you've got it. Praise God. Hold on to Jesus.

This is wonderful. And old Barney's just going around slapping backs, hugging, saying hallelujah, praise the Lord. This is of God. This is of God. And the Bible says he just exhorted them to go on with the Lord. Now here's the important thing I want you to see about Barney.

He's a bridge builder. Over here in Jerusalem is what we're going to call traditional Christianity. Even though it's young, it's old enough now to have tradition to it. I mean, the apostles are here, and they know exactly what God is doing. I mean, these are the Jews. Over here in Antioch, here's something that's just spreading.

It is brand new. These folks back in Jerusalem didn't start it. They didn't control it, and it's among the Greeks, and it has a little different form, but it's the same thing. Now here's Barnabas. Barnabas comes from that group, but he knows this group. And what he becomes is a bridge builder. He's a fellow who sees what God is doing here. He knows what God has done there. He knows the old. He sees the new. He believes in the tradition, but he believes in the frontier, and he just sort of is used of God to mold it all together.

He's a bridge builder. And old folks, let me tell you, we need that kind of a person in our church. You know what's wrong with so many churches today? They look at something new, and they say, we've never done it that way before. We've never done it that way before.

There are three kinds of church leadership. There are risk takers, caretakers, and undertakers. Now, there are a lot of people who don't want to be a risk taker. I mean, they like it all just like it is, and they don't want anything new. They don't want anything to disturb them. Come wheel or come woe, our status is quo.

They just like it just like it is. They're back in Jerusalem. But old Barney, Barney has a vision. Barney says, hey, God wants to do something wonderful, and God is doing something wonderful. Thank God for the encouragement that he gave them and also gave the folks back in Jerusalem. You know, when we got ready to move our property here and to move out east before we bought the land we now call Canaan, we just prayed, and we soaked that in prayer, and we really felt it was of God, and it had, in my mind, the unmistakable stamp of God upon it. We had a church business meeting here to tell you folks about it, and this building was so filled with people. They let down the back walls there, and the people spilled out into the foyer, and they were standing in the doorway, standing around the walls. You couldn't get anybody else in with a shoehorn, and it was just that crowded. And people were wondering, is this new bold breakthrough, is that God's plan for us?

This new departure, does God want us to do that? And in those days, a lady in our church stood up here. Her name is Emily Wilson. She's one of Bellevue's finest. She'd been a member of Bellevue since Hector was a pup. I mean, way back there, you know, and she'd seen the buildings built, and she'd been with us. Her husband, former chairman of the deacons here at Bellevue, he's now in glory, Brother Roy. She stood up there, and she said, I want to speak for some of the older folks.

You know, older folks don't like change very much. She said, I want to speak for some of the older folks. And she told of the memories and the blessings and the things that God had done for her in her life here at this church, and how every one of these walls and halls are almost sacred to her. But then she talked about what she'd seen and felt and heard in her heart and her mind, and she said, my friends at Bellevue, I want to tell you that what our pastor tells us about has the stamp of God upon it. People ask me, are you going to participate, and this is what she said. She said, you better believe I am. Well, I said, thank God for that.

Oh, I just felt the courage come up in my heart, and I said, oh, thank God for that. If that lady just knew just how much that one statement, you better believe I am, did for my own heart. That's an encourager. That's a person who's a bridge builder who can take the past and link it to the future, who can take the old and link it to the new, who can take the traditional and tie it to the frontier and say, we can do it, not think of reasons it can't be done, but reasons it can be done. That's the kind of a guy, an encourager, old Barney was.

You have to love him. Two pastors were talking. One of them said, do you have any committees in your church? He said, I got a lot of committees. He said, you have any standing committees?

He said, sure. He said, we got standing committees, sitting committees, and committees lying down. He said, we even have a bucket committee. He said, what's the bucket committee? He said, well, whenever we think of anything good and great and grand and glorious, there's a self-appointed bucket committee. They come and pour cold water on it.

They just simply say, it can't be done. Oh, God deliver us from the bucket brigade. God give us some Barney's, some people who say, yes, God's in it, and it can be done, and it will be done. What is a Barnabas? I'll tell you what a Barnabas is, friend. A Barnabas is a guy who's a load lifter. When he finds a need, he moves in to lift that load. A Barnabas is a friend finder. He goes out and he finds the lonely and those that nobody else seems to pay any attention to. He puts his arm around that person and brings him over and says, come on.

We want you to be a part of the group. A Barnabas is a bridge builder. When there's a bridge that needs to be built over troubled waters, he says, I'll build that bridge, and I want to bring people together for the cause of Christ. I'll tell you what else a Barnabas is. I'll tell you what else an encourager is. My dear friend, he is a disciple developer.

Notice now in Acts chapter 11 and verse 25, and then the Bible says, and then departed Barnabas to Tarsus for to seek Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch, and it came to pass that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church and taught much people, and the disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. Now here's what Barney does. He looks around. He says, my goodness, look what is happening here. These folks need to be taught.

They need somebody to develop them. I mean, we've got to get some wine skins to put this new wine in, and so he says, I know just the fellow. It's that guy Saul. Now remember, he doesn't see with the eyes we see. It's not the apostle Paul that he sees. It's just that new convert that he sees right now. That's all he sees.

He says, I wonder where that fellow is. Boy, he'd make a dandy teacher. I mean, he's got the gifts. He's got the ability.

With his background, I know what he could do. I wonder where he is. Oh, some folks say he's down in Tarsus.

Well, you stay right here. I'm going down Tarsus. Have you seen Saul? Have you seen Saul? Oh, there he is. Saul. Hey, buddy, come over here. Saul, man, let me tell you what has happened. Man, revival has broken out in Antioch. I mean, listen, there are folks there, hundreds, thousands of them getting saved. Saul, they need a teacher, and buddy, you're the guy who can do it.

I've already seen. Listen, God has given you an uncanny insight into the Word of God. You have the ability. Hey, Saul, come on, buddy. I want you to go back there, and I want you to teach those folks.

You can do it. Saul goes back. He becomes such a proficient teacher of the Word that the people are first called Christians at Antioch because he so infuses them with Christ. Now what this man did was to find a disciple and find hidden talent and buried gifts, and he develops them and brings them out.

Now you see, in every church there are people like that. There are people who need to be found. They need to be discovered. They need to be encouraged.

They need to be developed. They have gifts, and they have abilities, but it takes a Barnabas to find those people. Now Barnabas, he just played second fiddle. You don't hear much about Barnabas. Some of you never heard about him until I began to preach about him today. Paul wrote 13 books in the New Testament, and later on I'm going to show you another man that Barnabas influenced who wrote one book in the New Testament, the Gospel of Mark.

More than half of the books in the New Testament are there through the influence of this man named Barnabas. Isn't that wonderful? Now he's just kind of playing second fiddle, but yet he's a man who knows how to encourage people.

He was a man who could find talent. I thank God for those who encourage me. Listen, I've had people who encourage me. When I was first a young man, I could not consider myself as a preacher. I remember when somebody called on me to lead in prayer in public, and I just said, I'm sorry.

I can't do it. I was embarrassed, and they were embarrassed, but I thank God for people who put their arms around my shoulders and said, you can, and they encouraged me. I was reading about a 16-year-old boy. He dropped out of school at 16. You know why he dropped out? His teacher said he was mentally deficient. He couldn't learn anymore. He had learned all he could learn. They said, son, the best thing for you to do is to just get out of school and get some kind of a job, manual labor. And this boy got manual labor.

He got a job, and from the age of 16 to 32, he had had 67 jobs. He couldn't do anything, 67 times. He had failed.

They said he's just too dull. He can't learn. And then somebody looked at him, and somebody said, you know, that boy has talent. That boy has latent ability.

There's something in him that's different. I believe we ought to give him an IQ test. They gave him an IQ test. Do you know what his IQ was?

161. He was a genius. They said, son, you're brilliant.

You begin to study. At 32, he was a dunce. At 33, he's a genius. Do you know what he's doing now? He is a scientist working with laser technology at a respected position and a high salary because somebody looked at a person who had a buried talent and had enough gumption to say there's something in that boy.

Let's get it out of him. I wonder in the spiritual realm if there might not be some people like that. I wonder if there are not some people who could sing and some people who could teach and people who could preach and people who could do all kinds of things. And an encourager is not necessarily the fellow who does it himself, but God give us some barnabases, some people who say, there's a fellow named Saul down there. I believe that Saul could do it. Saul, come here, son. Here's a job that you ought to do.

I see it in you, and you can do it. Stood by his side to encourage him. No wonder they call this man Barney. No wonder they called him encourager because, dear friend, he was a load lifter. He was a friend finder. He was a bridge builder. He was a disciple developer. But I'll tell you one other thing about him that I really like. This is the last thing I want to mention. He was a failure fixer.

He was a failure fixer. I want you to see something here with me for a moment. Look in Acts chapter 15, and I begin reading now in verse 36. Acts 15 and verse 36. And some days after, Paul said unto Barnabas, let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they do. And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark. But Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia and went not with them to the work. And the contention was so sharp between them that they departed asunder, one from the other, and so Barnabas took Mark and sailed unto Cyprus. And Paul chose Silas and departed, being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God.

Now here's what happened. Paul and Barnabas have linked up now to become missionaries. And on the first missionary journey that they're going on, Barney says, you know, I have a nephew whose name is Mark, and Mark was, John Mark was Barnabas's nephew. He said, I have a nephew who'd like to go. He's interested in missions.

Paul said, fine, bring him along. Well, when things got started, Mark quit. I mean, he just dropped out. I don't know why he dropped out. Maybe it was too hard on him. Maybe he was afraid. Maybe he was homesick. Maybe he was spiritually discouraged. Maybe he was backslidden.

I don't know, but I'll tell you this much. What happened is this, that John Mark went home to mama. Now they're going on a second journey, and Paul says, come on, Barney, let's go check on the churches.

Barney says, fine. I'll get Mark. Paul says, no, you won't.

Oh, yeah. Mark needs... No, we're not taking Mark. But listen, Mark, no, we're not taking Mark.

Mark's a quitter. I'm not going to be encumbered with Mark. You can't depend on Mark. You can't count on Mark. We're not taking Mark. Paul, I believe we ought to take Mark. We're not taking Mark.

Well, all right. But I'll tell you what, Paul, there's some good in that boy. He's a failure. He's a quitter. Yeah, but there's some good. I don't care.

We're not taking him. And they agreed to disagree. The Bible says the contention was sharp.

You know what happened? Barnabas said, all right, I'll take Mark, and you get somebody else. And so Paul and Silas went their way, and Barnabas and Mark went their way. I mean, these are brothers. They just agreed to disagree.

I mean, and they really felt strongly about it, good men who differed. But now Barnabas takes this failure, this boy, this coward, whatever he was, this backslider, reaches down and lifts him up and puts his arm around him and says, come on, John Mark. You've got good stuff in you, son.

You can do it. I want to tell you that was the same John Mark who later wrote the gospel according to Mark. Thank God for that. He was the same man you read there in 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 11 when the apostle Paul was in a dirty, dark, damp Roman prison. He said, only Luke is with me. Go get Mark and bring him.

He's profitable to me in the ministry. I need him. Isn't that wonderful? Of the one man in all the world Paul wanted when he was in prison, he said, bring Mark.

Bring Mark. Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad there was somebody who found a failure and fixed him and salvaged him? There's a boy whose daddy died when he was five years old. This boy dropped out of school when he was 16. He had already lost two jobs by the time he was 17. The time he was 18, he got married. By the time he was 19, he had a little baby.

By the time he was 20, he and his wife were separated. From that time on, he tried to make a living. He tried to be a railroad conductor. He failed. He got in the army and he washed out of the army.

He applied to law school. He couldn't make it. He tried farming. He couldn't grow a thing in the world. He tried to be an insurance salesman. He couldn't be an insurance salesman.

He tried even to kidnap his little baby and get his little baby in his own arms. He couldn't even do that. Finally he got a job as a dishwasher and a cook. He couldn't do anything else.

He finally talked his wife into coming back to him and together in a little cafe, they cooked and washed dishes. When this man got to be 65 years of age, he retired and he got his first social security check for $105. On the day that check came, he looked at that check and it so discouraged him. He said, now, I've been a failure all of my life, a dishwasher. I can't do anything. I can't make anything work and now the government is going to have to take care of me and decided he would commit suicide at the age of 65. He went out in the backyard of his house and sat under a shade tree and began to write out his will and then he got to thinking, why should I be such a failure? Isn't there anything I can do?

Isn't there anything I know how to do? He said, one thing I can do better than most folks, I can cook and an idea came to him. He went down to the local bank and borrowed $87 against his next social security check and he went down to the supermarket and bought some chicken and some boxes. He began to fry that chicken the way only he could fry it and he went from door to door in Corbin, Kentucky, selling that chicken. You've already guessed, Colonel Harlan Sanders, Kentucky Fried Chicken King at 65, a failure, ready to commit suicide, couldn't do anything, imminently successful, known the world over.

The country was 65. He was speaking one time and a boy asked him, said, Mr. Sanders, how much money do you have? He said, son, I don't know. But he said, if I want it, I can have it. If I want it, I can afford it.

Anything I want, I can buy. Now, I'm not interested in selling fried chicken today, don't misunderstand me. What I'm trying to tell you is this, listen to me. That man wasn't a failure when he decided he wasn't. Have you decided that you're a failure? What you probably need is some Barnabas to tell you you're not, to put his arm around you, thank God for a Barnabas who founded John Mark and a man that even Paul wouldn't have anything to do with and said, come on, son, we love you, we're going to give you another chance. Would you like to be the church member of my dreams, would you?

Would you say, God, make me a Barnabas? Oh my God, help me to be a load lifter. God show me somebody's load I can lift. Lord God, help me to be a friend finder. Help me to find a friend and bring them into the bunch. Lord, help me to be a bridge builder. Lord, not a troublemaker, but a bridge builder. Oh God, help me to be a disciple developer. Help me, Lord, to find somebody that needs encouragement, somebody who has gifts and abilities and to urge them on.

God help me to be a failure fixer. If there's a John Mark that you know, some deacon, some preacher, some teacher, some Sunday school worker, some choir member, some servant of Jesus who's failed, wouldn't you like to be a Barnabas to that person? Wouldn't you like to go and say, hey, listen, God's not finished with you. He's the God of the second chance. Father, I pray today that you'll seal this message to our hearts in Jesus' name. Amen. If you would like to learn more about how you can know Jesus or deepen your relationship with him, simply click the Discover Jesus link on our website, lwf.org. For a copy of this message or additional resources, visit our online store at lwf.org or call 1-800-274-5683. Thank you.