I want you to open your Bibles with me. I'm gonna do something a little different tonight. You didn't know it, but God dealt with me all the way down the road and Brother Donnie was singing wall of prayer. And Brother Brian looked at me and said, thank God I'm surrounded. And I had a brand new message that I was gonna preach tonight, but what he didn't know was, As strange as it was, coming down the road, the Holy Ghost told me to go back to that text. And I'm going to preach it again. Amen. Most of you, I used to worry about preaching the same messages in the same place, but if it's been over a month, You forgot what I said anyhow, amen? And so, it's been well over a year since the Lord let me preach that. And I want you to go back in your Bibles to Acts chapter number 14. And I'm just gonna mind the Lord tonight and preach it again. Thank God for the church tonight, amen? Acts chapter 14, verse number 19, the Bible said, And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch, and I call him, who persuaded the people, and having stolen Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead. Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, He rose up and came into the city. The next day he departed with Barnabas the derpy. If God will help me tonight, we'll go back to that phrase where it said the disciples stood round about him. And I want to preach on this thought. Thank God I'm surrounded, amen. Thank God I'm surrounded. Let's pray together. Father, I pray God tonight, as we go back to this familiar text, that you'd make it fresh and make it real to us again. Lord, thank you for your word and the fact that it's alive. God, I pray you'd speak to every heart through your word tonight. And Lord, I pray you'd use us for your honor and your glory. Encourage hearts tonight, and we'll thank you and praise you in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. You might have heard me tell the story, but I was in a hotel room preaching for Brother Jared Dixon's father in St. Mary's, Georgia, and I was going through the book of Acts, Brother Dean, and my devotions, and I came to the text that I just read in your hearing, and I just read by it. I remember when I preached the last time and I preached this message, Brother Brian said, well, I just always read that they just stood there. And that's what I read that morning, Brother Brian. And the Holy Ghost just pressed pause and said, go back and read that again, amen. And the Bible said that Paul was drawn out of the city and stoned and left for dead. Now, the situation Surrounding his stoning is rather interesting. He was not stoned for a crime he committed. Rather, in the preceding verses of our text, we find that Paul goes into that city and he finds a man and the Bible said, Brother Daniel, that he saw that that man had the faith to be healed. He was a lame man and so God uses Paul to raise that man up and they all just think it's wonderful, Brother Dean, so much so that they want to build altars and sacrifice and worship the Apostle Paul. And Paul did what most baptists won't do. He stood up and said, wait a minute, it's not about me. I didn't do it. And he began to declare Christ and give God the glory and public opinion changes. That quick. Well, we know something about that, don't we? Amen. And public opinion changed, and so they stoned the apostle Paul, and they leave him for dead. But there's a faithful group of disciples, Brother Brian, and the Bible says, howbeit that disciples came and stood round about him. I want you to see, first of all, that there is the attack of the enemy. Paul was under attack not for doing wrong, but for doing right. Amen. For standing with Jesus. Amen. For giving God the glory. And we've got mixed up in our heads sometimes. We think if we live for God, everything ought to be peaches and cream. There ought not ever be any battles. We'll go through things and we'll say this in our minds. We'll say, well, now, Lord, you know I'm being faithful. Well, that's exactly why the battle came. That's exactly where the attack came from, amen? The devil hates our faithfulness and he wants to destroy it. So he'll make sure there's plenty of rock throwing going on. Amen. There is the attack of the enemy. When it says that they stoned him, it means to throw rocks with the intent to kill. May I tell you tonight, the enemy intends to kill you. He means to kill your testimony. He means to kill your influence. He means to kill your joy. Amen. Oh Lord. And he means to leave us for dead. Paul was a force to be reckoned with for the gospel. And by the time the enemy got done, they left him laying there, Brother Donnie, supposing he had been dead. It looked like it was over. But I'm glad tonight there's not only the attack of the enemy. I didn't come to spend much time on that tonight. I've spent enough time on it in recent months. But I'm glad to thank God not only was there the attack of the enemy, there was an assembly encompassing. The Bible said, howbeit the disciples came and stood round about him. I don't know about you, I love my King James Bible, but I don't use the word howbeit in regular conversation. So I had to look that up and make sure I understood what that meant. When's the last time you used the word how be it? In our modern English it means however. They left him for dead, but then the Holy Ghost Brother Brian said however. However, the disciples came and stood round about him. Glory to God for the times in my life, and it ain't been long ago that it looked like it was over. The enemy had left us for dead. It looked like everything was done. It looked like the devil had his way. But then the Lord made sure to insert a Holy Ghost. Thank God for the times in our life when the enemy meant for us to be a head man and the Lord come by and said, Hail Abra, I'm not through yet. It's not over. Thank God for the holy. Hail Abra's in our life. Hallelujah. Oh, bless his name. You know what I've been doing the last couple months? I've been living in the however. Hey man, it was supposed to be done. It was supposed to be over. And the Lord come by and he said however. Hey man. Oh Lord. I had such an awful time. I can't even tell you how awful it was. I went to the doctor, Brother Donnie. And our doctor is also a pastor's wife. He's one of our supporting pastors. She knows us well. She asked us how it was. And I couldn't even articulate it. And I began to try to talk to her. She said, listen, she said you You either had or are having a nervous breakdown. I remember a time, Brother Brian, that I wasn't sure I was still going to be here. But there was a holy however. There's an old saying of God, We all called Mama Bear. Her name's Miss Carolyn. Miss Carolyn called me one day and she said, Preacher, how's in my prayer clauses? She's around 85 years old, Brother Brian. She said, I believe the Lord showed me something. I said, well, what is it? And she said, the Lord showed me that the intent of the devil for all this, the intent of the enemy was for you to have a nervous breakdown and never preach again. She began to cry and she said, however, I've been in the throne room. And it's all going to be alright. Can you imagine as they left Paul laying? how happy the religious establishment was. They hated him. They got what they wanted. By the way, I want to live such a life and have such an impact for Christ that when I die, Brother Dean, they throw a party in hell and say, thank God he's finally gone. That's the kind of life I endeavor to live. Amen? And they thought it was over with. And those faithful disciples said, you know what boys? We can't get him up. But we can't just let him lay there by himself. The least we can do is go stand around him and wait on the Lord. to do what we can't. We can't leave him laying by himself. Oh, Lord. Don't you know these men were busy? It would have been more convenient for them just to say, well, we got so much to do. I hate that, but we must go on. Either way, that's what most Baptists do when somebody ends up being left for dead. We'll talk about it at the local fellowship and we'll go out to dinner and say, did you hear? But we'll leave them laying. Can I tell you something very profound? If they hadn't have took time out of their busy schedules to go stand by him when he was laying, they wouldn't have been there when God raised him up. They wouldn't have got to see God raise him up. And so they said, well, we can at least go stand by him. And one of them said, well, boys, I don't know what to do, but The Lord got up and he's alive and well and that same spirit that raised him up lives on the inside of us and so, but the only thing I don't do is pray. So I can see as one of them began to pray. And one of them said, well you know boys, in the darkest hour of his life, it was Paul's habit to sing. So somebody ought to sing. They probably turned to what they called them Hallel Psalms, and Psalms of praise, and began to sing. And one of them said, well, to quote some scripture. And the other one said, I'll just stand. I'll just be here. Can I say this about being surrounded? Paul had been beaten until he was unconscious. To the point that they just supposed that he was dead. He was probably not even aware that he was being surrounded. But he was. He was in such a shape they weren't going to get a thank you card. They weren't going to get all kinds of recognition for standing there, Daniel. But they did. Brethren, the Bible said, a friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. I wonder how good of a job we do surrounding people that are under attack. People that are broken, people that are going through trouble or turmoil. I would ask you two questions. Have you ever been surrounded? I have. A lot of you have done a lot of it. Brother Donnie text me right after it all happened. I did not have the strength to respond. But I did read it. And you know what I believe? I believe my brother was doing his best to build a wall of prayer around our family. Every time we talk to Brother Brian, he not only asks about me, he asks about Jesse and Blakely. And I know you pray for us regularly, and we don't really know all that's going on, but y'all know how long Jesse's suffered with all of her health issues. Three days ago she got up, Preacher, and she smiled and she said, I feel normal for the first time. Might have been longer than that now, four or five. I asked her this morning, I said, how do you feel? She smiled and said, I still feel good. Here's what I believe, even in times we didn't see it, there was some faithful disciples somewhere Glory. They had us surrounded. During them days that me and Brother Dean hung out so much, I stayed as broke as a convict on crack most of the time. That's the truth. I moved away from home for the first time and was living in Roslyn, North Carolina. Mama thought I was crazy for following the Lord to do it, I think. So I wasn't gonna call home. Everything had to be wonderful, you know. And I'd go into church, and Brother Dean would say something like, I've been praying for you today. And slip $100 bills in my pocket. Hug my neck and walk off. You know what he was doing? He's standing round about. Have you ever been surrounded? But then I got another question. When's the last time he was doing the surrounding? We get so busy with our own stuff that we don't have time to encourage somebody else. That leads me to my last point. Not only was there an ally of encouragement, I mean, excuse me, an attack of the enemy, an assembly encompassing, but there was an ally of encouragement because there came a day when he rose up and he left the place that was supposed to kill him. Thank God. That day was supposed to be his last one. But if I read my Bible right, brother Daniel, the verse said, and the next day. Glory. I ain't saying I ain't sore. I ain't saying I still ain't recovering. But I'm in my next day. Hallelujah. Yes, amen. It ain't over friend. And the next day. Hallelujah. Just believe God. Just surround the people that you know are hurting. And by His good grace, and for His glory, there will be a next day. Amen. The third thing we see is not only the attack of the enemy and assembly encompassing, but we see an ally of encouragement. So the next day he departed with Barnabas. Barnabas' name means son of comfort, son of consolation, or son of encouragement. Thank God for the Barnabases in our life. I can't say this for everybody, But do y'all know that I have never hung up the phone with your pastor and not been encouraged? Never. I don't know what y'all call him, but I say thank God for Barnabas. We talk about these Bible heroes like they're superhuman or something. We almost seem to think that old Paul just rose up and then he just jumped and ran to Derby. I don't believe that's how it happened. If you've been stoned to the point that they think you're dead, when you finally do get up, you're going to be in some pain, friend. And I could see old Barnabas put his arm around Paul. And he said, Paul, I know you're hurting. But there's so much work to be done, we've got to go on. But Paul, I'm not going to let you walk by yourself. I'm going with you. And when it gets to be too much, when you've gone as far as you can go, since we're going to be together, Paul, and you just endured the beating of your life, you just lean over on me, and I'll help you up. Glory, hallelujah. There was an ale of encouragement. I've had some Barnabases and thank God for them. But I want to be one. And if you'll determine... I tell you the trouble with a lot of preachers is they're so busy trying to be Paul, They'll never be Barnabas. God ain't called me to be Paul. My job as an evangelist, especially when it comes to God's men, is to be Barnabas. My wife can tell you I get calls on a weekly basis of men that say something like this. If you didn't pick up the phone, I would have nobody to talk to. And if you'll let the Lord be the Lord of your life, even the things that are supposed to kill you, He can use to enable you to be a Barnabas. Because you know what happened to me the other day, Brother Brian? The pastor called, and he's weeping on the other end, and he said, I don't know if you've ever been here before, but I'm in the middle of a nervous breakdown, and I'm not sure I'm going to make it, and I think I might just leave the ministry. Do you understand anything I'm saying? I said, hold on a minute. And I took the phone off my ear, and I said, whoa! I said, brother, I've already been there and done that, and I'm wearing the t-shirt, but I promise you God will be enough. There will be a next day. Pray on. Preach on. Believe on. Let God be God. He'll be enough. And I wept and prayed and cried with my brother. And I realized that God was so good, He took that circumstance that was supposed to make me Brother Bitter and made me Brother Barnabas. Glory! Hallelujah! Amen. Joke's on the devil, honey, because what he tried to use to take me out is now being used to encourage somebody else to go on for the glory of God. Amen. He'll use what's supposed to make you bitter to turn you into a Barnabas if you let him. Amen. I don't know about y'all, but tonight there's one Barnabas in particular that I sure am missing. She's coming down the road, Brother Brian, and we was talking about how it was gonna be so weird to come in here knowing Miss Maury was gone. She's one of them people that her very presence I want to encourage you. One of my favorite memories is singing When We See Christ and watching her walk around and shout. She saw what she was shouting about with her own eyes now. She's looking at Him right now. She's probably one of the ones crying, But will there be another Miss Maury? Will there be another saint whose very presence just encourages us? There's an elderly saint from my parents' church. And she's in the nursing home now. She's losing her mind. She still knows who everybody is. She's just sleeping. And 25 years ago, my pastor that I grew up under passed out index cards with all the young people's names on them. And she got my name. And the last time I seen her, about two months ago, Brother Brian, she said, every day for 25 years, I've turned my kitchen table into an altar and I've begged God to bless you and put a hedge about you. Hey, glory. I had told her months ago about what had happened to us. Last time I seen her, you know what she said? She'd been praying for Daniel. If she saw Daniel tonight, she wouldn't even know him. She'd been praying for him. I'm trying to tell you. There's people that have surrounded us, been allies of encouragement. We don't even realize, but that's what they've been. And everybody wants to talk about what the preacher will get if the judgment seat and the rewards and this, that and another. Here's what we know, Brother Brian. Before He calls us up, if He does call us up, He'll call some faithful with us that pray and agonize, but God gave and nobody's seen. Hallelujah. Thank God I'm surrounded tonight. I'll say this in closing. We had better make sure that we're not the one throwing the stones. They're supposed to come from the unbelievers, not the believer. Now unless you get the wrong idea, accountability is not stone-throwing. Standing against sin is not stone throwing. But there's even a right way to do that. And a right spirit and a right attitude. I don't know about you, but I've been hit with some stones. And after they hit me, I picked them up and they said things like righteousness. There's some people that were taking a stand. They threw enough stones to leave me for dead. God deliver us. God deliver us. I want to say this though, when we talk about that, people tend to get overwhelmed about what's wrong with the church. Honey, there's too much right about it to give up now. Too many people have surrounded me. Hallelujah to God. The very day that all that come crumbling down, people from around the country that I hadn't even talked to started sending me and Jesse messages and saying stuff like, we've been burdened all day. We've been praying all day. What is it? You know what they were saying? We got you surrounded. Thank God it's good to be surrounded. And may I say this? Paul's very name means small. All of us are too small to live for God by ourselves. We need a faithful group of disciples When I read that, Brother Brian, and it dawned on me, I said, glory to God, there's the church. That faithful group of disciples that stood round the belt. We don't know who their names are, but I guarantee you one thing, they're known in heaven. We don't know who stood there, but the God of heaven, he knows who was surrounding Old Brother Paul. I want to do some surrounding and I want to be a Barnabas. God help us tonight. Old Paul got revived because some people stood around and didn't leave him like they found him. God help us to do the same. Whoever's going to play a verse of invitation, I'm done tonight. He said, are she going? Praise the Lord. I think he's pointing at you, but I have no idea. Amen. He's going to play. They're going to pray. Others might need to come. Maybe you need to be surrounded tonight. Maybe you've been attacked by the enemy and left for dead. We'd be glad to surround you this evening. Maybe you've had some Barnabas's in your life. Some folks that encouraged you along the way. There wouldn't be nothing wrong with coming to an altar just to thank God for them. This room's full of Barnabas's for us. Y'all have faithfully loved and prayed for and supported our family. And I want you to know that I thank God for all the times you've surrounded us. Hallelujah. Amen. Bless his name. So, Yeah . . . ♪ ♪ Six. Six. Six. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. and help you in a new way. I hope you picked up something from that tonight. I'll tell you, I've been in the altar before and just, you know, go to pray. Somebody come and put their arm around you. Just get in there with you and praise. You mentioned some of, you know, Miss Maury going on. We got several Barnabases and Barnabinettes, amen. We got several of them around here. God's been good to us. We would have never made it if we hadn't had those people standing around us. I love that. I love that message. It helps me so much. Thank God I'm surrounded. Amen. Thank God I'm surrounded. And just keep praying for the Lord to help some people get up, some people to rise up, stand up again. That's what revival is. Amen. Brother, thank you. Thank you guys for being here. You want to go back there in the back? You want to stay up here? All righty. Let me get that off of you there. Brother Carl, if you would dismiss us in prayer and we're going to Head on out, gotta take him to Applebee's tonight. He's craving some wonton tacos. You've never had them, you just don't understand, amen. But Brother Karl, if you would, pray. you