Pastor Jon Burgess
June 10, 2018 - W1823

I want to thank all those who signed up for our Generation Jesus Prayer Challenge, Every Wednesday at Noon in June, to pray for our young people. Statistics show that 85 percent of those who come to know Christ meet Jesus between the ages of 4 to 14—that tells me that the most strategic time to reach our young people is during the summer, when we have Vacation Bible school and summer camps. We want to be praying into that because we can’t go in person where we haven’t gone in prayer! 

My joy is full when I found out the results of our Vacation Bible School last week (this whole area was transformed); almost 100 children attended, 75 volunteers served, and 38 children came to know Jesus as Savior! I'm so encouraged by that especially because in watching the news and seeing what is going on with our young people in our country, it tends to make us feel that we’re losing this battle but...

This weekend’s message (continuing our Ohana Factor series) is about encouragement—we need encouragers in our lives!

In 1 Thessalonians 5:10-11, Paul says, “He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” 

It wouldn’t have been necessary for Apostle Paul to tell us to build each other up if life wasn’t tearing us down, or to remind us to encourage each other if our tendency was sometimes rather discouraging than encouraging. The word encouragement comes from a French word for “putting your heart back into something, putting courage back where it has been taken from.”

Some of us may have lost our courage or lost heart, and my prayer is that you receive the encouragement of the Holy Spirit and know that God has not only called you to be an encourager, but to encourage you right here, right now!

There are three ways we will learn to be an encourager from the Apostle Joseph. Isn’t he one of your favorite apostles? You may be thinking, “I don’t know an Apostle Joseph.” The reason we don’t know him by Joseph is because he’s known by his nickname Barnabas, which literally means son of encouragement. We will learn from him how he encouraged those around him. I’m praying that we would get a vision on how we might be a source or a force of encouragement in these very discouraging days in our country; that God will drop a person into your heart that you will actually encourage before the week is out!

1. Encourage Through Timely Provision.

Nothing is as encouraging as receiving provision when we think there is no way to pay for that bill, no way to fix that car, no way to be able to send our children to college; then, all of a sudden, some encouragement comes through in a timely provision! This is how we’re introduced to Barnabas…

Acts 4:33?37 NIV says, “And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them.” (Just let that sink in. We’re surrounded by need and yet at the birth of the church in the book of Acts, no one needed anything.) For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need. Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.”

It doesn’t tell us the specifics of what the money went to, but we get a general description: Those who were willing to be led by the Lord took what they had and gave it to God; there was no need in the church!

Over the last couple of weeks, I had an opportunity to visit a few other churches and spoke at a couple of churches in Washington State and Oregon. I always brag about you because you are one of the most generous churches I know—whether it's helping our neighbor islands with the floods in Kauai or the volcano on the Big Island, or our Future and a Hope building initiative for a parking lot. Every time the basket is passed, you give and provide for needs not only on this island, but also around the world! It’s always wonderful to see how the body of Christ is moving in different places!

Often people tend to know more of what the church is against than what it is for. Wouldn't it be great if we had a nickname of "a bunch of encouragers"? What if we were being Jesus to everybody and ended up with a reputation: “Every time I'm around that woman, she's always encouraging me,” or “Every time I'm around that man at work, he's always encouraging.”

I would love it if we could become a force of encouragement to this city, island, and world in every relationship that God brings across our path through simple ways of timely provision.

God may be tapping on your heart now saying, “Hey, I want you to help out that person.” When you do, you are now close to the heart of God and being used in a way they may never forget. What would happen if we all held loosely to what we owned and tightly to the One who owns us?

2. Encourage Through Prophetic Perspective.

In the Old Testament, in order to get the people back on track, the prophets would speak as God’s voice and bring judgment to the people for their sins.

In the New Testament, the prophets are actually used to encourage and exhort the people of God with prophetic words. We're no longer under judgment because of what Jesus conquered for us on the cross. We can hear from God—He still encourages and exhorts with prophetic words to call us back to His word.

Many times we get stuck in the muck and mire of worries and fears that are in front of us, and God wants to give a prophetic perspective—to lift us up high and say, “This is what I'm doing on the other side. I want you to see this for your family and your church.”

Many scholars believe that Barnabas was also a prophet because he was known as an encourager, and prophets encourage. They would go to churches and speak a prophetic word encouraging the people of how God was about to use them in the future.

Barnabas had the prophetic perspective gift for a Christian killer named Saul that no one else had—Paul who wrote the majority of the New Testament. There was only one man who was able to build the bridge between the persecutor Saul and the apostle Paul with the church—our man Barnabas!

Acts 9:26-28 NIV says, “²⁶ When he (Paul) came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. (None of them have the prophetic perspective, but someone began to build a bridge to the Christian church. If someone were killing people that you know and love, you probably will not want to hang out with the guy.) ²⁷ But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. (How did he see what no one else saw? How did he recognize the work of God in this former murderer, religious zealot against God, and that he was designed by God to plant churches? Barnabas was the only one who saw that.) He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. ²⁸ So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.”

What if God wants to use you to speak prophetically in the same way with your family, your business, your school, or a friend? I believe God will speak through you to encourage someone this week. What if there are people right now that don't even know Jesus yet, that you will see something in them that no one else sees, that God will give you a prophetic perspective over a situation where everyone else is panicking and fearful, but He will show you something through prayer, and you will be able to rally everyone else.

3.  Encourage By Simply Being Present.

You realize how encouraging it is to have you here? Because it would be really lonely if I were here all by myself! There’s a bunch of people in your life that you didn’t even know that just by you being in the room with them, you’re encouraging them—just being present!

Acts 11:19, 22-24 NIV says, “Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word…News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.”

I pray this would be a description of us: He was a good man; she was a good woman. When someone is very discouraged, you would be the one they’re hoping will call. You will be able to see what the Holy Spirit is doing even in drastic times—in desperate situations. To be an encourager takes courage. It takes a willingness to not only reach out and release, but also to be sent out.

Take a moment this week and write an old-school card. Maybe take a moment, instead of sending a text, say, “Hey, meet me for lunch.” Say it to someone that God will put on your mind right now that really needs some encouragement, and God will speak through you in a way that may seem simple to you, but would be profound and exactly what they need.

How do we become encouragers? How can we become willing to do whatever God calls us to do? All you do is say, “Yes” to faith and “No” to fear.

Questions:

1. How will you be an example of an encourager?

2. Who will you encourage this week?

3. What encouraging gestures/words can you share with others?

4. What examples of encouragement can you share with others?

5. How will you make sure that you are holding yourself accountable to being an encourager?