... Adrian Rogers was a motivator, an encourager, and a leader of the faith. He was also passionate about presenting scriptural application to everyday life circumstances, and you'll hear that in today's message.
Now, let's join Adrian Rogers. If I could just model and mold a church member, I mean the church member of my dreams, what would he be like? Well, he would be like the man that we're going to read about today, a man named Barnabas. Now, Barnabas was not his real name. His name was Joseph, but he had a nickname.
Do you have a nickname? Nicknames have a way of sticking. This man's nickname was Barnabas. If he lived today, doubtless, we wouldn't call him Barnabas, we'd call him Barney. And actually, the name Barnabas means encouragement. Here was a man who had a gift, and his gift was the gift of encouragement. He was an encourager. The Bible calls him here the son of consolation.
Look at it, verse 36. And Joseph, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas. When it says by the apostles, he was surnamed Barnabas, that means that's a name that his parents did not give him, but the apostles looked at him and said, look, look how he encourages other people. We're going to give him the nickname Barnabas, which is by interpretation, the son of consolation. Now, the word consolation is a word we don't use very much today, but it actually means encouragement.
So, here's Barney, who is the son of encouragement. He was a Levite and of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet. Now, the word encouragement, or consolation, is the Greek word that we get our word parakletos, or the word for the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is called the comforter. He is called the paraclete.
The Greek word parakletos, it's the same word. And so, here's a man who is doing for other people what the Holy Spirit does for the child of God, who comes inside us, alongside us, to encourage us, to give us comfort, to give us hope, to give us help, to get us on our way. I've come to live long enough to see that there is not a mother's child in this world that does not need encouragement.
You know that is true. I love to be encouraged. I need encouragement.
I'm so grateful for people who encourage me. And I tell you, I don't like to be around discouraging people. Now, sometimes we have to. Comes with a territory.
The fleece come with a dog. I don't like to be around discouraging people. Some people I know are like a drink of water to a drowning man. I mean, they're just, they're discouragers.
Now, here was a man, thank God, who could lift your spirit. You know why discouragement is so bad? Discouragement opens the door for all other kinds of sins and failures.
Somebody said discouragement is a dark room where the negatives of failure are developed. Did you know in the Bible, the Bible calls God the Father of all encouragement? Let me give you a verse before we get into our text. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, the God of all comfort. That's the same word. It's the same word that is used here for consolation. And the word comfort, the word consolation, actually means encouragement. God is the God of all encouragement. That means that God has cornered the market on encouragement.
He's the God of all of it. God is the God of all encouragement. The devil is the sinister minister of discouragement. Discouragement comes from the devil.
Let me tell you, discouragement is a major cause of failure. Bill Glass, who's a pro football player, I watched him when he played for Baylor University. Bill Glass, a mighty man of God, has a prison ministry. Bill Glass was preaching to 1,000 inmates, and he said, I want to ask you a question. How many of you, those of you who are here in prison, how many of you had a father who told you, one of these days you're going to end up in prison? Almost every one of them lifted his hand. Think of that.
One of these days, you are going to end up in prison, and that's exactly what they did. Discouragement is such a cause of failure. I love people who believe it can be done. I want to be surrounded by people who believe it can be done.
In the Football Hall of Fame, there's a man, Bobby Lane, and underneath the picture it said, Bobby Lane never lost a football game, just ran out of time. I like that. I believe that we need to encourage one another. There's a scripture, 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 14. Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. Now, I want to take a phrase out of that, comfort the feeble-minded. When you think of a person who's feeble-minded, what do you think of? Someone who's senile? You think of somebody who is mentally handicapped? That's not what the word here means. The word here, feeble-minded, actually means someone with a small soul, somebody who is small-souled. It means somebody who is discouraged, and what he's saying here is encourage the discouraged.
That is a command from Almighty God, and there's so many people who need to be encouraged, some in your own family. You ever eat peanuts in the comic strips? Lucy is talking to Charlie Brown. She said, Charlie Brown, people put their deck chairs on the cruise ship in different ways. Some people put their deck chairs so they can see where they're going, and so they face it this way. Other people put their deck chairs so they can see where they have been, and they face it this way. Some people put their deck chairs this way so they can see where they are. How do you do it, Charlie Brown?
He said, I can't get mine unfolded. There are a lot of Charlie Browns in this world, and they need to be encouraged. I want to give you today five ways that you can be an encourager, and if you will take these five ways and do these five things, you will be, precious friend, the church member of my dreams. Five ways that you can be a Barnabas.
Five ways that you can encourage people in your family, in your neighborhood, in your school, on your team, and wherever you go. And we're going to find those five things. They're things that Barnabas did. I'm going to take from the book of Acts five places where Barnabas encouraged other people. All right, are you ready for these five things?
And I want you to put them in the first person. So here's point number one. I will encourage others by practicing stewardship. I will encourage others by practicing stewardship. Now I've already read verses 36 and 37, but let's read it again. And Joseph, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, which is being interpreted the son of consolation, that is 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 here was a man who had much to give. There was persecution in Jerusalem, and there was poverty in Jerusalem, and there was a need. Barnabas, who was an encourager, saw a need, and he moved in to meet that need.
Now Barnabas knew there was a difference, and I want you to listen to this carefully. There's a difference between ownership and stewardship. Now many of us just made your own ownership, but what we're really doing is just managing the affairs of God. We don't really own anything.
And by the way, talking about that, I'm going out of town tomorrow. I need some money. I forgot to get any money. I really need $100. Wally, you got 100 bucks? Do you? Can you give it to me, will you, son?
Can you just carry around $100 like that? Thanks. Well, it's good to have church members like that. Now let's see, where was I?
Barnabas saw a need, and he moved in to meet it. I know I'm not going to get anything else done until I explain that. Boy, Wally gave me that $100. It's mine. I gave it to him before the service. I said, Wally, when I asked for it, give it back. He was just giving back to me that which is already mine.
Isn't that right? I gave it to him. I had every right to ask for it back, right? What do you have that God has not already first given you? Doesn't he have any right to ask for it if he placed it in your hands?
What do we have that we've not received? Here was a man to whom God had given much, and he saw a need, and he moved in. Now, I went to the mayor's prayer breakfast some years ago, and there was a man, a businessman, a godly businessman named Stanley Tam, and he said many wonderful things, but he said one thing that I whipped out my pen, and I wrote it down in a hurry lest I forget it. I want to put it in your mind right now what Stanley Tam put in my mind.
He said this, and listen to it. It is what you sow that multiplies, not what you keep in the barn. It is what you sow that multiplies, not what you keep in the barn.
Now, if Barnabas had kept this money, we would not be talking about him on this particular part right now. Well, you say, Pastor Rogers, I am not rich. I have nothing to sell, and therefore this doesn't apply to me.
Oh, yes, it does apply to you. There's more than money to give. You can give love. You can give help.
You can give time. You can give wisdom. I was reading over here in Acts chapter 3 verse 6. We read about some other apostles. They're not rich like Barnabas was. Read there in Acts chapter 3 verse 6.
There was a man lying at the gate who needed help. What did Peter and John say to him? Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I unto thee. God's not going to ask you to give what you don't have or you're willing to give what you do have. Love, time, help, prayer, ministry. You see, an encourager is a person who understands that he or she is a steward of that which God has placed in their hands, whatever it may be. We have a ministry here at Bellevue called Car Care. We have a group of men who are mechanics who set up shop and the widows in our church who don't know much about getting their automobiles assessed, the oil changed and all of these things can bring their automobiles there and these men get their hands greasy, stick their head beneath the hoods of those automobiles in the name of Jesus to minister to these widows. Such as I have give I unto thee. There are so many people in our world today that need to be encouraged.
And so the Bible says in Galatians chapter six and verse two, bear one another's burdens. Friend, just say I will be an encourager by practicing stewardship. Whatever I have when I see a need, I'm going to move in to meet that need and you will encourage somebody. I know there's a neighbor next to you that needs some help. I know there's a person in your school that needs some help.
I know there's a friend that needs some help. Why don't you in the name of Jesus move alongside that person and say such as I have give I unto thee. If you do, you'd be acting like Barnabas. Now here's the second principle.
I will encourage others not only by practicing stewardship but I will encourage others by extending friendship. Now you're in the book of Acts, fast forward to chapter nine and look if you will in verse 22. But Saul increased the morn strength and confounded the Jews which dwell at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ. You understand that Saul had been an enemy of the church and now he is a friend.
He's been saved and he's preaching Jesus. And after many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him. But their lying await was known of Saul and they watched the gates day and night to kill him.
They said as soon as he comes out, we're going to kill him. Then the disciples took him by night, that is Saul, and let him down by the wall in a basket. Now this had been the mighty Pharisee, this man with so much zeal to destroy the church of Christ and here's a man with so much authority.
Now I see him humbling himself, sitting in a basket, imperatively being let down over a wall at nighttime and when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he is saved to join himself to the disciples. But they were all afraid of him, underscore that. Why shouldn't they be afraid of him?
He'd been having them killed, in prison and everything else. And now he's between these people who want to kill him, on the one hand, and his own brothers and sisters in Christ who are now afraid of him. And the Bible says, and they were all afraid of him and believe not, he was a disciple. But now look in verse 27, but Barnabas, underscore that, but Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way and that he had spoken to him and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. Thank God for Barnabas. Now, what was Barnabas doing now? Barnabas is extending friendship. He is encouraging Paul by extending love and friendship. Paul needed somebody to love him. Here he is, he's lost all of his old friends and his new friends are suspicious of him.
So he's in between. Chuck Colson of Watergate fame, called the hatchet man, gave his heart to Christ. Nobody would trust him.
He said, well, it's just a political ploy. It's foxhole religion. There he was, his former president now in disgrace, his boss, but there were some friends that put their arms around Chuck Colson early and I was one of them. Paul met him early and encouraged him in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I thank God that I had enough gumption and had the ability and the opportunity to do that. Here is Barnabas who finds a new believer and makes a friend out of him. Somebody said a friend, a true friend is somebody who comes in when everybody else goes out. You know what is wrong with many churches? We don't learn how to befriend the new believer.
We think we're having fellowship, but many of our churches are sacred societies for snubbing sinners. We need to practice friendship and we need to take these new believers and encourage them. Barnabas said, look, you don't have to be afraid of Saul. He's been saved.
Welcome him now. And I can see old Simon Peter reaching out and giving to Paul a big old bear hug and saying, welcome, brother. Friend, that's what the church of the Lord Jesus Christ needs today. We need some Barnabas. Did you know that psychologists tell us that 70% of today's population, 70% suffers from chronic loneliness. That didn't sink in, did it? 70%.
Seven out of every 10 people that you see, according to some statistics, are suffering from loneliness, chronic loneliness. Paul was included by a man named Barnabas. Now here's what he wrote. Romans chapter five, verses five through seven. Now the God of patience and consolation, that's encouragement.
Now listen to it. Now the God of patience and encouragement grant you to be like-minded one toward another according to Christ Jesus, that ye may with one mind and with one mouth glorify God, even the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore receive ye one another as Christ also received us to the glory of God. Paul knew what it was to be received. He knew what it was to be encouraged. So you have more than money to give. You can give friendship. Why don't you ask God, God give me a new member in church that I might encourage. A newborn Christian, newborn babies need love.
John Stossel, ABC fame, you watch him on television. I did a documentary on ABC's 2020 and he talked about how psychiatrists are giving psychotherapy to newborn babies or to babies that are not yet a year old. And some of these babies are older than a year old, and they're being given psychotherapy. And these babies who are hurt or harmed emotionally are babies who have never, for whatever reason, received eye contact, who have not been touched, who have not been hugged, who have not been kissed, who have not been held close. And these babies were developing at a very early age, psychological problems. And they had statistic proof to show that those babies don't receive this love in the very first year of life, grow up to be cold and indifferent and some of them brutal. And so they're actually giving psychotherapy to little babies.
Now here's the kicker in the whole thing. That program said this, that it is virtually impossible to spoil a baby the first year of his or her life. You can't give one too much love. Now you can spoil kids, but it is virtually impossible to spoil a baby the first year of his life.
All of the love, all of the attention, all of the hugging, all of the kissing, all of the coddling you want to do, just do it. And I want to say correspondingly, it is virtually impossible to spoil a newborn Christian. Love him. They need to be loved.
They need to be included. May God give us a church full of Barnabas. You want to be a Barnabas? Friend, then you practice stewardship and it goes beyond money. You want to be a Barnabas? Then you practice friendship. You want to be a Barnabas?
Here's the third thing I want you to say about yourself. I will encourage others by building partnerships, by building partnerships. We're talking about stewardship, friendship, now partnership. Think, if you will, in Acts chapter 11, beginning in verse 20 and reading about four verses here now. What has happened in the early churches, a revival has broken out in Antioch and God is just doing incredible things in Antioch.
Now watch verse 20. And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which when they were come to Antioch, spake 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 those things came unto the ears of the church which was at Jerusalem, now watch it, and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch, who when he came had seen the grace of God and was glad and exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they should cleave unto the Lord, for he was a good man and full of the Holy Ghost and faith and much people was added unto the Lord.
Well, what has happened is this. Revival had broken out at Antioch. The headquarters of the Christian church at that particular time was in Jerusalem and the Word of God was going out from Jerusalem, beginning in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth. And so they find out who are these people there in Antioch? What do they believe? Are they right or the orthodox? Is this a cult?
Is this a breakaway movement? We need to send somebody down there to investigate to see if they're really of us. Who should we send? Who do you think they chose? They chose Barney. Said, Barney, go down there and check that bunch out, will you? And old Barnabas goes down there and he says he saw the grace of God.
Have you ever thought about that? How do you see the grace of God? What color is it? What size is it?
How much does it weigh? Friend, I tell you, when you get in a service where God is present, you'll see the grace of God. I don't know how to measure it, but I tell you, it is there. You can tell when God is on the congregation. He walked in there and said, Good night, God is all over this place.
He saw the grace of God and he went back and he reported and said these are brothers and sisters and we need to get with them. He was not a divider. He was not a wall builder. He was a bridge builder.
It's easier to build walls than bridges, by the way. But here was a man who got people together. He encouraged others by building partnerships. I'm so grateful for people who encourage us and who get people together rather than dividing people.
Somebody asked me the other day, he said, what's one of the major epics in your life? As you look back on your life, I said asking the church to move from the old location to the new location. Friend, I'm telling you, when we decide to do that, how many of you have come to Bellevue after we've moved? Let me see your hands. Take them down. How many of you were here before we moved?
Let me see your hand. Friend, there are more people who have come after we moved than were here before we moved according to this very accurate survey I've just done. You don't understand what a monumental thing that was. And I've often told people an idea is one of the most fragile things in this world and at the same time one of the most powerful things. We were trying to build downtown. We could not buy the property. We could not get the space. There were all kinds of monumental problems, but we did not want to put a lid on the growth and stop the growing of this church. We said, oh, God, what should we do? Where should we go?
What are we going to do? And we were still moving heaven and earth to build downtown. I was in Orlando with two other men in my church, of this church, of your church, and one of them is now in heaven. His name is Billy Mills, dear man of God, Morris Mills' brother. We were in the airport with a former associate pastor, Bob Sorrell, and Billy Mills was there, now Childress.
We'd been down there to look at some churches that were building worship centers. That night I spent a sleepless night, and I'm a sound sleeper. George can tell you, when my head hits the pillars, the light's out. But I just wrestled with God all night.
I've often said I had a rock for a pillow. And God seemed to be saying to me, you need to go out and buy some acreage and move everything. Now, folks, that may sound just, oh, yeah, sure, that's what we should have done. I want to tell you it sounded about four-thirds insanity.
I said four-thirds. I hope you get that after a while. To do it. But there was a little idea in my heart and in my mind.
I met those guys in the airport, the Orlando airport, and I said, gentlemen, I want to ask you a question. The next morning before we flew back, what would happen? Just put in parentheses and brackets everything we have and own right now, just put it out of your mind so you can think freely. Everything downtown, everything we planned to do, all the money we spent planning and all of that, just put that out of your mind.
What would happen if we moved out in the northeast part of our county on Interstate 40 and just bought some raw acreage and moved? Now, folks, it was not a conviction to me at that moment. It was only an idea. It became a conviction as we thought about it and prayed about it and wrestled with it. But it was an idea that was so fragile that if those men that I respected so much said, preacher, that's crazy, I would have probably said, you're right, forget it.
I never will forget. Our children said, are you serious? I said, I'm serious, I want us to think about it. Billy Mills said, I'll tell you one thing, pastor, it would be easier to raise the money for it. Brother Bob, you were there.
We all sit on the airplane. We almost got like the school kids giggling just thinking about it. I'm so grateful that they didn't step on that idea because it became a conviction. Then I'm as certain as I stand here that it was God's plan and God's will and God has blessed it and multiplied it in such an incredible way. Did you know there are people who can be so negative? They can't believe anything big.
They can't understand a vision, something from God or even give God a chance to give a vision. No, here was a man named Barnabas and others like an Al Childress and Billy Mills and so many of the men in our church. Folks, I want to tell you something. One of the great things of Bellevue Baptist Church, and I'm not taking anything away from our ladies, I thank God for them, God has given us some laymen who are towering giants for God. They love God, they love this church, they love the pastor, they love one another and I just thank God for the wealth in this church of Barnabases. We've got a bunch of them and I'm so grateful. You see, a Barnabas encourages others by building, by building partnerships. Three kinds of people in the world, they're those who are risk takers, they're those who are caretakers and they're those who are undertakers.
I'm so grateful for people who encourage. One pastor was talking to another pastor and he said, how many committees do you have in your church? He said, oh, we've got the committee for this, committee for that, committee. He said, do you have a cold water committee? He said, what's a cold water committee? He said, well, the cold water committee, that's when anybody has a good idea they come and pour cold water on it. Guy said, yes, I've got one of those in my church.
As a matter of fact, I can tell you who the chairman is. Thank God for Barnabases who don't go to see what's wrong and why it can't be done. You want to be a Barnabas. All right, here's the fourth way.
I will encourage others by developing leadership. Now go, you're still in Acts chapter 11 and look if you will in verse 25. 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 Barnabas is in the middle of this again. Now he goes to look for Saul again.
Why did he do this? Well, Barnabas, when he came down there, he said, look at all of this, look what God is doing. They've got all this wine, they need some wine skins. They need somebody with an organizational mind. They need somebody with spiritual insight.
They need somebody who is a leader, who can lead all of this. I know who it is. I know. It's that same man, Saul. He's the man. We've got to get him down here to Antioch. Saul can lead this bunch. And so he says, Saul, get over here.
I need you, son. There's a job to be done and Barnabas did not have the gift to do it. Barnabas was not a leader. He was an encourager.
He didn't try to build a bunch of folks called Barney's boys. He had enough sense to know that he needed somebody else. And he saw this man with hidden talents. He knew that Saul had spiritual gifts that needed to be developed and put to work. And so he sent for this man and developed a leader. Paul never forgot that. You know what he wrote in Romans 12, verse 10?
Be kindly affection one to another with brotherly love in honor, preferring one another. Barnabas was content, content to let Saul take the leadership. Now, he had been deputized. He'd been sitting down there. But he says, no, not me. I'm not the one.
Saul is the one. And Barnabas stood on the sidelines as he helped find a leader, a godly leader. It takes more grace than I can tell to play second fiddle and play it well.
But that's what this man did. He's not trying to build it around himself. He is developing leadership. And, friend, we need to raise up some leaders and they're all over, but we need to discover leadership and teach people to lead, find leaders, single them out, develop them and equip them and send them out. Not everybody's a leader.
Barnabas wasn't a leader. He was an encourager. We have a ministry in our church. That's helping people to discover the spiritual gift and to move into places of either service or leadership or both.
Some people have the gift of developing leaders. Did you know that Barnabas never wrote a book in the Bible? But there were two people that he encouraged who wrote books in the Bible. For example, the apostle Paul wrote 13 of the New Testament books, and we're going to learn later on that Barnabas encouraged a man named Mark who wrote the Gospel of Mark. Pretty good.
Pretty good. From a human viewpoint, from a human viewpoint, we may never have had the 13 books that Paul wrote of the Gospel of Mark. Now, I know God could overrule and get some other Barnabas. I'm saying that Barnabas was the man that God used to develop leadership. Do you see why I say that we need some Barnabases in our church? All right, now here's the fifth thing.
Here's the fifth thing you will do. I will encourage others by rebuilding relationships. Now, go to Acts chapter 15. We're going to find Barnabas again.
We're going to find him still encouraging people. Acts 15, verse 36. And some days after Paul said unto Barnabas, let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we preach the Word of God to see how they do. That is, we're just going to go back and retrace our steps, our missionary journey. And Barnabas determined to take with them John whose surname was Mark.
We call him Dave, John Mark. But Paul thought it 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 sharp between them. Can you imagine Barnabas and Paul now having a contention?
Well, they did and it was a sharp one. And they departed asunder one from the other. So Barnabas took Mark and sailed under Cyprus and Paul chose Silas and departed being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God.
What's the background? Well, there's a young man whose name was Mark, John Mark. And he went with Paul and Barnabas on the first missionary journey. Mark somewhere along that journey got homesick or afraid or something. He wanted to go home and hold mama's hand. He said, I don't want to be here anymore.
Count me out. And at Pamphylia, he said, goodbye, guys. I am going home. Boy, it got all over Paul. Paul thought that quitter, that slacker, that shirker, that mama's boy, whatever he is, all right. So Paul and Barnabas just went home.
Later on, they wanted to go back and retrace the steps. And Barnabas says, okay, I'll get Mark. Paul said, don't get him. No, he's all right.
No. Hey, he quit. He dropped out. You can't count on him. I don't want Mark. Barnabas says, now look, Paul. He said, don't you now look me.
Listen. Paul said, I am not going to take him. Barnabas said, okay.
Okay, I'll take him. You go that way, I'll go this way. Sometimes those things happen, don't they? But here's old Barnabas' heart. He knows this boy had failed, but he also knew that failure is not final.
And so he wants to mend a broken relationship. He takes old John Mark, and he continues to nurture John Mark. Later on, Paul is in a filthy Roman prison.
Time has passed. Put in your margin. 2 Timothy 4, verse 11. Here's what Paul writes. Only Luke is with me. He says, take Mark and bring him with thee, for he is profitable to me for the ministry. Hey, bring old Mark. I need him. How about that?
How about that? This is the guy that Paul wouldn't have anything to do with. He said, bring him. He is profitable to me for the ministry. How did that happen? Because there was a man named Barnabas who refused to let go of a good man named Mark and failed.
There are many in this church who have failed, and they need you to restore that relationship. One day as a kid, I shinnied up a coconut tree down in Florida to get a coconut. I mean a big tree. Had my arm around a palm frond, just a kid, trying to unhook a coconut. The palm frond came loose, the coconut came loose, and I came loose.
Down to the ground. I fell on the grass, but this left arm fell on the sidewalk and splintered my elbow. It was awful.
I'm lying there on the ground writhing. My brother was there. You know what my brother did? He ran all over town saying, hey, hey, hey, Adrian fell, Adrian fell.
Ha, ha, ha, ha. He didn't do that. I tell you what else he didn't do.
He didn't stand there and say, Adrian, you're the stupidest thing I've ever seen. Couldn't you see the palm leaf was yellow? Why you don't love that tree like that?
Why don't you wait till the coconuts fall? No, he didn't give me a lecture. I tell you what else he didn't do, and I'm so glad he didn't take out a gun and shoot me. Boom. Got a broken arm. He's no good anymore. No, my brother came alongside of me and gave me some tender, loving help.
Thank God I've got that arm again to use. We're in there, people who fall, and they don't need us going around saying, did you hear about so and so? They don't need us going around reporting.
They don't need lectures. Somebody said the church is the only organization, the only army in the world that shoots its wounded. No, we need some Barnabases, and the Bible says in Galatians chapter 6 and verse 1, ye which are spiritual restore such a man in the spirit of meekness, if any be overtaken with a fall, and the word restore actually in the Greek is the word for setting a bone.
Tender, loving care. Now, let me tell you something. Your church, wherever you are, you need some Barnabases. Now, don't you be looking around, friends, saying, I wonder if some of these people will be Barnabases.
I ask you to write the notes and put it in the first person. I will encourage others by practicing stewardship. I will encourage others by building friendship. I will, I will, I will, by the grace of God and for the glory of God. Will you say, God, make me a Barnabas?
Will you? Now, you may be something else. You may also be a Paul. You may be a John Mark, but be, among all things, a Barnabas. How did Barnabas get to be Barnabas to begin with? How was he such a good man to begin with? Well, the Bible says very clearly and very plainly that Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Ghost and faith. He was a good man. Why was he a good man? He was a good man because he was full of the Holy Ghost. Why was he full of the Holy Ghost? Because he was a man full of faith.
And that's what we're talking about right now. We're talking about faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Would you trust Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior? Pastor Rogers, will Jesus save me today?
Yes, he will, if you'll trust him. Would you pray a prayer like this? If you're not saved, if you're not heaven-bound, if you're hell-bound and you need to be saved, and you are hell-bound if you're not saved, no matter how good you are, would you pray, Dear God, I'm a sinner.
I'm lost. I need to be saved. Jesus, you died to save me. If I would trust you, Lord Jesus, I turn from my sin to you. I trust you today as my Lord and Savior. I give you my life. I receive you as my Lord. Save me, Lord Jesus. 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.
