Pastor Jon Burgess
August 18, 2019 - W1933

Encourage One Another

Our One Anothers

Pastor John Burgess

August 17 & 18, 2019

Aloha, New Hope! Don’t you love the way that songs bring encouragement? There’s something about songs that brings joy to our faces, that I have often taken for granted and overlooked. When you think of it, encouragement and joy are rather simple things, but they can make the biggest difference to those who need them! Keep encouragement and joy in your mind as we continue Our One Another series—we will see how God calls us to Encourage One Another!

The word encouragement in French literally means to put encourage and strength into. We live in a discouraging world and are constantly being discouraged! Remember, God is not suggesting or giving us an option—He is commanding that we encourage one another! 

Thessalonians 5:10 NIV, “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.”

Life has a way of tearing us down, but we are called to build each other up! This is one of the reasons that at New Hope we are always inviting you to find a place to serve. There is actually a circular thing that happens:  When we encourage others through serving, God ends up encouraging us! Did you ever notice that? Let’s look at Jan’s story:

[Video – Jan Malapit]

My sister invited me to attend New Hope in 2000/2001. I came to church and began volunteering with Children’s Ark for a few years; from there, I volunteered with the Video Team for more than ten years. I discovered that my purpose here was to help usher in the presence of God! When I see people lifting up their hands in worship, that brings me joy—knowing I’m doing my part in God’ plan! 

But serving will test your character, and it isn’t always filled with joy! At first, there were things I didn’t like about volunteering, and I was challenged. But, any time I felt down, there were always people around who encouraged me. 

I am so amazed by all the talented youth that we have here; and when I look at them, I think to myself, “I’m sure they would prefer to be somewhere else instead of church; yet, here they are showing up!” God speaks to me through others, and He will speak to you through serving others, and they will encourage you. That is the joy of being around godly people!

[End Video]

Thank you, Jan! Thank you also to our group of over 500 volunteers who show up each week! 

Jan felt encouraged by encouraging others—as she built up others, she felt the Lord building her up! God is conveying a powerful message to us: Encouragement does not come naturally; it comes intentionally! Whenever we feel we have nothing left to give, God will put a heart of courage in us, and we will be able to encourage others! 

1. Encouraged to Let Go! 

Encouragers have a spirit of encouragement and will motivate by saying, “Let’s go,” but they will also say, “First, let go!” 

Take a moment to think about the people in your life who encourage you in at least one of two areas:  When they see that you are clinging to something that is dragging you down, the encouragers tell you, “Let go of it!” When you are too timid to take a leap of faith and step into an adventure, the encouragers will be there with you and say, “Let’s go. Let’s do this together!” 

In order to be an encourager, we must first recognize what is keeping us from moving towards God’s plan for us—Change! It’s common to not like change because we don’t want to let go, as there’s an innate tug of logic convincing us that change is bad, and many cling to the familiar!

We need encouragers to tell us that it’s okay to let go of familiar things that tear us down, that we need to remove the old to make room for the new! There are three things that we must let go, in order to continue on our path towards our purpose:  

a. Old Security 

What makes you feel secure? It could be financial security, thinking that everything will be okay if you have a certain amount of money; another might be emotional security, when you are so focused on guarding your heart that you are afraid to inspire others. Barnabas will give us an example of what it is to let go of old security and grab on to a new security in Jesus Christ: 

Acts 4:33-37 NIV, “And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. 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 sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.”

In the early days of the church, the people were invited to give of their own volition—there was no standard or guideline for tithing. In this passage, Barnabas sold a piece of land that provided for the church in such a way that all the new Christians (who were exiled from their Jewish communities for following Jesus) were persecuted and had no place to go; yet, there was no need in the community because Barnabas, the son of encouragement, had encouraged everyone through their giving to find security in something else besides what they owned. 

If we cling to and seek security in the things that we own, eventually, those things will own us! No matter how much we feel we’ve already given, none of us will ever out-give God. We can encourage and care for each other to give what we have.

In addition, there are also other ways to give, such as, offering our time to help someone in need, or to give forgiveness. Let go of old securities and go towards God and grab hold of Him! 

b. Old Identity

An example is Paul, whose name was actually Saul. He was responsible for splitting churches and families apart, and while Stephen was being martyred for his faith, Saul just stood there. Amidst these acts, Barnabas saw something in Saul that no one else saw, and stood up for him!

Acts 9:26-28 NIV says, “²⁶ When he [Saul] came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. ²⁷ But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. 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.”

An encourager is able to help someone leave their old identity behind, and step into their new identity. Many people still define themselves by past sins, failures, and faults and associate their name with past discouragements. Be reminded that Jesus changed your name and any past discouragements you are tied to!

Steve Fierros is one of the business leaders in our community and has been serving the church in various ways by giving generously and supporting our ministries. I have never seen him without a huge smile!  One morning we were having breakfast here at church and he shared his story that I just need to share with the rest of you:

Steve grew up without a dad and was raised by a single mom. He had difficulty providing for his family and he began to feel that he would never have enough, as a poverty mindset crept in. Also, many people did not know how to pronounce his last name and made fun of him. This angered him so much and led to many fights! Over time, he was convinced that he was just an angry person, that he would never have enough, and that he would always be alone! 

One day a beautiful girl invited him to church, and Steve accepted Christ into his heart—yet, he kept the old identities of his life. When he was about 21 years old, he had a job working the night shift alone and spent most of his time thinking about the names people were calling him. He started to believe that no one cared about him or even saw him, and he even considered hurting himself! At that very moment, the Young Adults pastor called him at 1:30 in the morning! (Steve didn’t know him very well.) He heard the pastor saying, “Hey, Steve. I was just thinking about you and felt I was supposed to give you a call.” Right then, in the middle of the night, Steve felt the arms of Jesus reach through the random call and surrounded him, and heard a voice that told him, “I see you, son. You aren’t fatherless anymore.”

Steve reminds us that even though life is tough, encouragement can make a great difference. Encouragement comes to different people in different ways. In order for Steve to go forward, he also needed to let go of…

c. Old Injuries 

I love how raw and unadulterated the word of God is—it shows us that, even with the amazing unity between Barnabas and Paul, they had an injury that they had to work on:  

Acts 15:36-39 NIV says: “³⁶ Sometime later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.” ³⁷ Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, ³⁸ but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. ³⁹ They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus.”

They split up.  Paul would not have it!  He was injured by John Mark's abandonment in their first missionary journey, and could not move past the old injury and refused to give him a second chance. But the good news is that scripture actually tells us that Paul came around confirming Barnabas as an encourager and saw that John Mark deserved a second chance. In 2 Timothy 4:11, Paul described Mark as a man of great service to him; and in Colossians 4:10, he told the church in Colossae to make sure you welcome this man of God.  Paul would go on to become a great apostle; and John Mark would go on to write the Gospel of Mark. 

Old securities, old identities, and old injuries become part of a pattern that hurt people will hurt others and injured people will injure others. Instead, let’s be part of a different pattern that says, Healed people will heal others! 

2. Encouraged With Let’s Go!

Become an encouragement to each other, and not just say, “Let go!” but "Let's go!"because God has a glorious future for us!  

Acts 11:19, 22-24, 25 NIV says: “¹⁹ 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…²²News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. ²³ 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. ²⁴ He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.²⁵ Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul.”

The church in Antioch was having a great revival with many Gentiles coming to know Christ and many were baptized in the Holy Spirit! Barnabas realized that he needed help—so he looked for Saul! 

Encouragers don't wait for people to come to them—they go to them! The wording look for Saul in Greek means to search and scour up and down.  In the middle of a great revival Barnabas traveled to find Saul because he understood that the only way to keep this move of God going was to invite Saul to join him and say, “Let's go! Let's do this together!” Each of us is amazingly strong in our own right—but none is as strong as all of us combined! Let’s go toward the glorious future that God has for us! 

STUDY QUESTIONS:

1.     What would your encourager ask you to let go? What keeps you from moving forward?
2.      Where do you seek security that causes you to resist faith?
3.      What is your purpose? How do you think God will speak to you?
4.      In what ways can you stop pointing at others and turn blame into God’s blessings?
5.      What special talents has God given you that are meant to share with others?