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Thank you worship team for leading
us in worship. Thank you for your faithfulness
in doing this every week. And I hope and pray that as you
have worshiped even in your homes that this has been a blessing
to you. And I just want to thank you all for your love and support
during this time. I've received so many emails
and text messages and calls just encouraging us in our work. You're
part of the team. Thank you for that. Thank you
for encouraging us. Thank you for supporting the
work of Riverview Church. And of course, our prayers go
out to our frontline workers who have been serving us so faithfully
during this time, to all the paramedics, EMTs, firefighters,
police, all those who are working at hospitals. serving those who
have contracted this virus, and of course, our prayers go out
to the families of those that lost loved ones. But we feel
like we're coming out of it, amen? Things are opening up again. June 14th is the day that we're
reopening, and we are trusting God for a great restart to our
church here at our Bonzell campus. With that in mind, let's have
a word of prayer as we talk about God's word today. Lord, thank
you for your word. Thank you how it changes us and
informs us and teaches us. And I pray, God, that your Holy
Spirit would change us from the inside out. We love you, Lord,
this is all for you, and we pray this in Jesus' name, amen, amen. Well, we've been in a series
entitled Unstoppable, talking about the birth and growth of
the New Testament church as the book of Acts has portrayed it. And last week, we talked about
2020 vision, Peter's vision of a sheep that came out of heaven,
that talked about all of these unclean animals, and God said,
Peter, arise, kill, and eat. And Peter said, no way, Lord,
I've never eaten those things. And God told Peter, don't call
unclean what I have made clean. And at that moment, some servants
from the household of Cornelius came by, they took him to this
Roman centurion's home, a Gentile, who was in the eyes of Jews an
unclean person. But Peter realized that this
vision of the sheet had more to do with people than with animals
and what to eat. As Cornelius and his entire household
came to faith in Jesus Christ, came to faith in Christ, changed
their lives, and not only their lives, but their eternities. And my hope and prayer would
be everyone listening today would know beyond a shadow of a doubt
that you're a believer in Jesus Christ, that you have placed
your faith and trust in the work of Christ on the cross. And you
know that it's not by good works that you get to heaven, but it's
by faith in Jesus Christ and his work for you on the cross.
that by faith in Christ, you are saved. And the moment you
put your faith in Jesus Christ, your sins are nailed to the cross
with Christ. You're forgiven. Your sins are
wiped away. You're made as white as snow,
holy in God's eyes because of the sacrifice of Christ on the
cross. And Peter saw this amazing vision
and it's a great lesson for us. Today I wanna talk about this.
I wanna talk about the beauty of encouragement. There's a guy
by the name of Barnabas that pops up throughout the book of
Acts and I love this guy. I wanna talk about him a little
bit today because the quality that he exhibits, it's so important
in the church. Think about your life. Think
about people that have impacted your life. I would imagine that
none of you would tell me today, hey, Mel, I was so changed by
this person that rudely criticized me, that blatantly attacked me
and put me down and embarrassed me. No, those aren't the people
that change your lives. The people that have changed
your lives are people that have encouraged you. They've exhorted
you. They've challenged you in love.
I know that's true of my own life. The people that stand out
in specific moments in my life in which I remember being changed
and having another aha moment in my walk with Christ, those
people that brought those moments to my life were people that encouraged
me. that loved me, that wanted the best for me. And Barnabas
was like that. And I wanna talk about the power
of encouragement today. Encouragement is a wonderful
biblical quality that should dominate the communication of
every follower of Christ. Barnabas, an early believer in
the church, was such a follower, and he sets a great example for
us. I wanna ask you today, are you
an encourager? Barnabas had an amazing impact,
a wonderful impact in the early church because he truly was an
encourager. I'd like you to turn your Bibles
to Acts chapter 11. We're gonna pick it up at verse
19. Acts 11 verse 19, it says this. Now those who were scattered
because of the persecution, remember persecution's going on, the believers
are scattered, they left Jerusalem, but they took the gospel with
them, that arose over Stephen and Stephen's death and his murder,
they traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch. Antioch was north of Jerusalem
in the region of Galatia, which is now, I'm sorry, in Asia, which
is now modern day Turkey today. And it was there that a church
was planted, the first Gentile church. And they spoke to the
Hellenists, these people that went there, also preaching the
Lord Jesus, and the hand of the Lord was upon them. There was
a revival in this Gentile church in Antioch, north of Jerusalem.
The hand of the Lord was upon them, and a great number who
believed turned to the Lord. All these people were coming
to faith in Christ. The report of this came to the ears of the
church in Jerusalem, and they sent, who were they gonna send
to encourage these new believers in Antioch, this Gentile church?
They wanted to send someone who would make a great impact in
the lives of these Gentiles. Who did they send? They sent
Barnabas to Antioch. When he came and saw the grace
of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all, another word for encouraged
them all, to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose,
for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.
And a great many people were added to the Lord. A great many
people were added to the Lord because of Barnabas's encouragement,
his ability to build people up, to teach them and instruct them.
See, biblical encouragement is the act of giving hope, comfort,
courage, or support to someone, being motivated by your love
for Christ. See, because of your love for Christ, you want to
encourage other people because you know that Jesus Christ has
encouraged you. That's what it says in Philippians
chapter two, amen? It says this, so if there is
any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation
in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, and he goes on
and says, if there is any encouragement in being in Christ, Have the
same mind, he says in the next phrase. Have the same love towards
one another. And of course, there's an encouragement
in knowing Christ. I hope you are encouraged today
that you are a follower of Jesus Christ. Yeah, there's troubles
in the world. Yeah, there's a pandemic going
on. But we are in good hands, amen? We are in the hands of the Almighty
Creator God of this universe, Jesus Christ. That should encourage
you today. That should fill up your life
with encouragement. Even in the midst of a trial.
And you're so filled up with encouragement that you want to
encourage others. See, that's what biblical encouragement
is all about. You want to comfort someone. You want to build someone
up. You want to strengthen someone.
Because you've been comforted by the Lord, you've been built
up by the Lord, you've been strengthened by the Lord. And you want to
do that in the lives of others. That's exactly what Barnabas
was like. And I want to look at Barnabas in the various places
that we see him in this book of Acts. We actually see him
back in Acts chapter 4 when the church was just an infant, just
started. And what Barnabas did in the
very beginning was he gave of his resources to encourage others. Let's look at the passage. It
says this, thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas,
which means son of encouragement, a Levite, a native of Cyprus,
he sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money
and laid it at the apostles' feet. See, what Barnabas did
is he took something that was his and sold it and said, I wanna
use my resources to encourage others. I wanna use my resources
to encourage others. That's what encouragement entails. Someone who is a person that
has a generous spirit, that loves to share. Now, it may not be
a piece of land. It may be time. You might say,
well, Mel, I'm a busy person. I don't have time to give time
to other people. See, that's not a generous spirit.
If you're so busy that you can't serve others, the word of God
is pretty clear, then you're too busy, you need to cut out
some things in your life. Because there should be a desire
in our lives to be like Barnabas, to have a generous spirit. He
took the land that he owned, sold it, laid it at the apostles'
feet, trusted them, and said, hey, meet the needs of other
people with these resources. And by the way, his name was
changed by the apostles. Do you see that in the text?
It says this, who the apostles called Barnabas, bar is the word
for son, nabas is the word for encouragement, son of encouragement. This Barnabas that the church
in Acts chapter 11 sent up to Antioch to encourage the new
believers, he was an encourager all the way back here, Acts chapter
four. In fact, he was so good at it,
He was so good at it, the apostles renamed him Barnabas, Son of
Encouragement. I wanna ask you today, if your
friends were to give you a new name that reflected the kind
of person you were, what would they name you? Son of Criticism,
Daughter of Criticism, Daughter of Putdowns, Son of Putdowns,
Son of Insults, Would that be the name? Or would people around
you say, oh man, son of love, daughter of love, son of encouragement,
daughter of encouragement. Would that be the name that people
would give you? What is the trait that dominates
your life? What I love about Barnabas, and it was so needed
in the early church, and by the way, it's needed in every church. I am so grateful for all the
encouragers that are at Riverview. People that encourage them, people
that are serving here at Riverview, whether it's in the children's
ministry or the adult ministry, the men's ministry, the women's
ministry, the donut ministry, we all love to encourage them,
don't we? Wherever it's at, the youth ministry, children's ministry,
so many ministries, and forgive me for not having the time to
name them all, but to encourage people around us, to build them
up by your generous spirit. And if there's someone that's
hurting, you have time for them. I have time for you. It could
be a generosity of resources, of finances, But it also could
be a generosity of the gifts and abilities God has given you.
Gifts that you have that can be used to build up others. Do
you have a generous spirit today? Do you have a spirit that says,
yeah, God, I want you to use my gifts to build up others,
my resources to build up others, the time that I have to build
up others. If I see someone that's hurting,
help me, God, to not look the other way, to cross the street
on the other side. but maybe to pray with a brother
or sister here at Riverview that's hurting, or to give a call to
someone that's discouraged and down, to have a generous spirit,
that my time is to be used to serve the Lord. My talents are
to be used to serve the Lord. My resources, my finances, used
to serve the Lord. That's my primary concern. That's
what Barnabas was like. That's why he was so important
in the early church. In Acts chapter 11, he was the
one person they picked to send up to this new church and encourage
the believers that are there. I can't emphasize enough how
important encouragement is, how important it is to be a son or
daughter of encouragement. Think about how you are with
your spouse, or if you have kids with your children or grandchildren.
You know, I get it. Sometimes you get frustrated
with someone and your flesh wants to act up and you want to attack
someone. But the Bible wants us, Jesus
wants us to forgive and not to allow our anger to get out of
control. but to be a person that sees the good in someone and
encourages them to be generous with that, to have that generous
spirit that Barnabas has. And if someone were to give you
the name, what is the nickname they would give you right now
for the quality of your life? I love what it says in 1 Thessalonians
5. It says this, therefore encourage one another and build one another
up just as you are doing. And we urge you, brothers, Admonish
the idle. Encourage the fainthearted. Help
the weak. Be patient with them all. Do
you get the theme of that entire passage? Encourage one another. Build one another up. Another
way of saying encourage, right? Build one another up. Are you
building people up around you? And we urge you, brothers, admonish
the idle. Encourage the fainthearted. There
it is again. Encourage the faint-hearted.
Help the weak. Be patient with them all. All
of those qualities are qualities that are found around the quality
of encouragement. It's all part of that same picture.
It's a beautiful mosaic. of what we are to be like as
Christians. You might say, well, Mel, I'm
such a good criticizer. I have the gift of criticism,
I'm so good at it. I can go to any church service
and find out what's wrong with it. I can see any person and
find out what's wrong with them and let people know. Church,
Riverview Church, we all know there's no gift of criticism,
right? There's no spiritual gift of criticism. there is a gift
of encouragement. And when you think about encouragement,
you know in the back of your mind, it's always coupled with
love, right? You don't really encourage someone
when you hate them. That doesn't go together. It's
a loving attitude that's the foundation of why you encourage
others. And that love comes from the
God of agape love, of unconditional love, who encouraged us and loved
us even when we didn't deserve it. See, the first word encourage
is the word parakaleo, called alongside. It's the picture of
the Holy Spirit. Jesus calls him the paraclete
in the Gospel of John. but it's also a picture of how
we should be. We're called alongside others
to encourage them, like Barnabas did. The next word, encourage,
in verse 14, is actually a different word. It's paramoutheomai, which
is a different look at the word encouraging. It's to comfort
someone. To comfort someone. You see it
by what the next words indicate. Encourage the fainthearted. We've
all been fainthearted at times. We've all been a little bit exhausted
at times spiritually. But if you're like me, I've had
believers that have come into my life and have encouraged me
when I have felt fainthearted, when I felt like, oh man, can
I really make it through? Can I do this? Can I live for
the Lord like he wants me to? To have that comforting attitude
that loves to build up people, not rejoice when you see someone
hurting, Barnabas was that kind of person right from the beginning.
He was there to serve others in the church. He had that beautiful
attitude. So here's the lesson. Use your resources for the glory
of God and the edification of others. Do you do that? Use your
resources for the glorification of God and the edification of
others. Here's point number two I love
about Barnabas. We see in Acts chapter nine, Barnabas appears
again. It's this, encourage others by seeing the potential, the
best in them. Remember the story of Paul, the
apostle, coming to faith in Christ and no one believed it. The other
apostles were afraid to meet him. They're like, wait a minute,
that's the guy that's persecuting the church. I don't want to meet
him. He's probably faking it. He's probably going to act like
he's a Christian, find out who we are, then arrest us all. But
Barnabas doesn't react like that. I love what it says in this passage.
When Paul had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples.
Hey, I'm a believer, disciples. Wait, why are you running away
from me? Oh wait, come back. He couldn't join the disciples.
They were afraid of him. They didn't want to be around him.
They were all afraid of him for they did not believe that he
was a disciple, but Barnabas." Don't you love that? I love the
buts of the Bible, don't you? But Barnabas, but the son of
encouragement. What did he do? He took him and
brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road
to Damascus he had seen the Lord. See, Barnabas put his own safety
at risk. He saw the potential in Paul.
He believed the best in Paul, that Paul was telling the truth. Do you see the best in someone?
Do you see the potential in others? Barnabas saw the potential of
this person that knew the Old Testament inside and out. He
believed that this person had come to faith in Christ. Maybe
he did a little investigation on his own before he met Saul,
but he had the courage to meet him, to bring him to the other
disciples and tell the story of how Paul had come to faith
in Christ. I love that about Barnabas. welcoming
into the body of Christ. You know, we say we're a friendly
church at Riverview Church, right? That we're a friendly church.
May we always reflect the love of Christ, that everyone that
walks on campus, on the church campus, feels the love of Christ,
that we're all like Barnabas, that we reach out to people and
welcome them. If we don't know them, we can go up and say, hi,
I don't know you. My name's Mel, what's yours? To show the love
of Christ, I can't tell you how much that means to people when
they are new here at the church and they're just walking up to
the building for the first time and there are people that are
welcoming them, receiving them, that you are a Barnabas reaching
out and believing the best in someone, seeing the potential
in that person that's come to the church. We don't know their
background yet. We're just getting to know them. We're gonna welcome
them because we know the power of God to change lives. How do
we know the power of God to change lives? Because he's changed mine
and he's changed yours. And we've seen that power in
action. And we want others to experience that as well. See, Barnabas believed the best
in Paul. welcomed him, introduced him
to the other disciples. He wasn't afraid of him. And
so here's the key, reach out and connect people with the Lord
and with one another. The best that you can do, reach
out to people, connect them with the Lord and to one another. Maybe while you're on the patio
here at the church, this person's new, hey Bill, come over here,
I want you to meet a new person. I want you to meet this new,
hey Jane, come over here, there's a new person I want you to meet.
Start connecting people with one another. Help them to see
that we truly do have a love for people like Jesus loves people. He died on the cross for everyone.
That's what I love about Barnabas. He wasn't afraid. I'm gonna reach
out to Paul. I'm gonna find out what's going
on. And I'm gonna introduce him to all the other apostles who
were so afraid, didn't wanna meet him. He trusted the Lord.
He trusted God in that process. And he helped Paul connect with
other believers. Here's the third thing. I see
in the life of Barnabas. Encourage others to grow stronger
in their walk with the Lord. We're back to chapter 11 right
now. Just spilled my water. We're back to chapter 11 right
now. He was sent to Antioch, and what did he do? He goes up
there and encourages them, exhorts them in their walk with the Lord. You know, that is the ultimate
encouragement, by the way. Yeah, it's nice to welcome people
to church. It's nice to reach out to people. It's nice to be
nice to people at the market, around town, but here is the
ultimate encouragement to point people to Jesus, to help them
in their walk with the Lord, just like Barnabas does here
in Antioch in that first Gentile church. He exhorts them in their
walk with the Lord to stay close to the Lord. I wanna ask you
as a parent today, some of you might be parents out there, is
the number one passion you have for your children, for them to
know the Lord and to walk with the Lord, even better than straight
A's, even better than being the high scorer on the basketball
team or the soccer team or the football team. Your desire, your
greatest passion, your greatest joy, what you're most concerned
about is where your kids are at spiritually, and they know
that. They know that's your passion. See, that's what Barnabas longed
to do when he went to Antioch. He longed to exhort these new
Christians to stay strong in their walk with the Lord, to
challenge them in that way. to remain faithful, and then
he says this in verse 23, remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast
purpose. Don't give up. Don't think about
giving up. Man, you're in this walk, and
yeah, there are times when it's gonna be challenging, don't give
up. Remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, because
the reality is, you will not regret it. You won't regret it. The greatest encouragement you
can be to someone is to encourage them lovingly in their walk with
Christ, just like Barnabas did here in Antioch. That was how
he exercised his gift of encouragement most perfectly, I believe, in
that he encouraged people in their walk with God. Friends that you have, do they
know that's your passion? Do they know that the most important
thing to you is to know that they're still walking with the
Lord? That you're praying for them and you want to encourage
them and they can encourage you, because by the way, encouragement
is a two-way street. I'm sure Barnabas, as he was encouraging
the church, they were encouraging him, saying, Barnabas, thank
you for challenging us to remain faithful with steadfast purpose. It's amazing how God blesses
you so much more than he even blesses those that you minister
to. Because you're amazed that God can somehow use you to encourage
others. Are you concerned about that
in the lives of others? Like Barnabas was. He loved going
to Antioch and encouraging the believers. See, Antioch was right
up there in the northern part of this area here. Here's Jerusalem,
here's Antioch. He went up there and encouraged
these believers. And it says this, the report
came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, they sent Barnabas.
That's the one person they picked. And what did he do? Exhorted
them all to remain faithful. That's what we wanna do in our
walk with Christ. 1 Thessalonians reiterates that
teaching. We exhorted each one of you and
encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of
God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. Riverview
Church, let's be concerned about where people are at spiritually.
It's not enough for people to think, oh, what a nice person
that person is that goes to Riverview. But to take it beyond that, like
we talked about a little bit last week, question evangelism.
Talked about that in my devotional this past week. Question of angels,
I'm asking, hey, what do you believe about Jesus? I wanna
know, where do you stand with that? If you stood before God
today and God said, why should I let you in heaven, what would
you say? To go beyond just the reaction that your friends have
that you're a nice person. but to be very concerned about
where this person is at spiritually. That's the greatest way to encourage
someone, is to be that witness that can point them to Jesus
and allow God to do a work that will ultimately change their
lives. That's what encouragement is
all about. So prioritize your passion to see others walk more
closely with Christ. And when that happened, we see
in the text here in, the book of Acts, it says this, after
they sent Barnabas, and a great many people were added to the
Lord. There's a power that comes with
encouragement. A great many people were added
to the Lord. Why? Because they don't see that in
the world. Encouragement is so lacking.
People are so good, I don't know if you're like me, when I was
a kid, man, you're too tall, too thin, nose too big, ears
too big, always something to something. and your self-image
is so damaged. But when people encounter those
that have been changed by the love of Christ, there's a power
in encouragement. There's a power in encouragement.
A great many people were added to the Lord. Here's number four,
it's this. Encourage others by connecting them with God's work
and ministry. Encourage others by connecting
them with God's work and ministry. In the same passage that we're
in, Acts chapter 11, Antioch is exploding with Christians.
What does Barnabas do? Barnabas After they had heard
him challenge them to remain faithful and do that with steadfast
purpose, he goes off and finds Saul. When he found him, he brought
him back to Antioch. For a whole year they met with
the church and taught a great many people. He had to get Paul
involved in this. Paul, you've got to come to Antioch.
There's a great work happening. You need to see this. He connected
Paul with an amazing ministry. I love what it says in Hebrews
10, 24 and 25. Let us consider how to stir up
one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet
together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another all
the more as you see the day drawing near. That we're not to neglect
getting together with one another, but we're to come together and
begin to connect people and ministries And maybe Bible studies that
bless you. Hey, you gotta come to this Bible
study. I love this Bible study. You'll be blessed by it. Barnabas
did that in the life of Paul. Hey, come to Antioch. You gotta
see what's going on. Come and help me teach these
people. I need you. I gotta connect you in this ministry.
I love that quality about Barnabas. He wasn't there saying, hey,
these people love me. I'm gonna do this all by myself. I'm gonna
be the superstar teacher here and do this all by myself. No,
he brings Paul, who was a gifted teacher, to Antioch and connects
him with this vital ministry. So help others to see how they
can be used by God to change lives for Christ. Help others
to see that. Not only here at Riverview, but
wherever you encounter Christians, when you see qualities in their
life that challenge you. Here's the last thing today.
Encourage others by your forgiving and positive spirit. Barnabas
goes on a missionary journey, the first one with Paul. This
is what they do. Paul and his companions set sail
from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia, and they brought
along with them a guy by the name of John, also known as John
Mark. He's the same Mark that wrote
one of the gospels. They brought this young guy with,
he hadn't written the gospel yet, he was a young man, they
brought him with on the first missionary journey, but during
this missionary journey, it was a two-year journey, John Mark
abandoned, left Barnabas and Saul, Barnabas and Paul. He abandoned
the trip. He quit. And that angered Paul. It angered Paul. But Barnabas
still saw the potential in this young man. Later in Acts chapter
15, we'll touch on it later, Barnabas wanted to take with
him John called Mark on the second missionary journey that they
would go on. But Paul thought it best not to take him with
because he had withdrawn from them and had not gone with them
to the work. and there arose a sharp disagreement.
So they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and
sailed away to Cyprus. See, Barnabas was all about,
hey, this guy's a young guy. I see potential in him. I forgive
him for abandoning us. I want to give him a second chance. I want to give him a second chance.
Paul would have none of it. And there was such a sharp disagreement
between Barnabas and Paul that they separated. But we later
find out that Barnabas was right. How do we know that? Well, because
this is what Paul writes later on in the book of 2 Timothy.
This is his later opinion of that same young man. He says
this, Luke alone is with me. Get Mark. Yeah, you know the
guy that abandoned us, that quit on us? Barnabas, you took him
and gave him another chance? Barnabas, you were right. Get
Mark and bring him with you for he is very useful to me for ministry. Very useful to me for ministry. I love that aspect of encouragement
that Barnabas demonstrates. He gives this young man a second
chance and Mark would later go on to write one of the four gospels
that we find in the Bible. All because Barnabas didn't allow
him to stay a failure. But he allowed him to take part
in another missionary journey with Barnabas. So seek to break
down tensions and walls between people. Forgive people. Give
them another chance. Don't hold grudges. Paul was
wrong. Barnabas was right, because he
had a heart to encourage people. Now what? Let me go through it
quickly. I want to encourage you to give words of sincere
affection to those around you. That's how we can encourage.
What do those words look like? Hey, I love you. Do you say that? It breaks my heart when someone
tells me, I have a family member, a relative, that told me when
she grew up, she never heard the words I love you from her
father, ever in her whole life. Do you tell people around you,
sincerely, I love you? Do you tell your spouse every
day, sincerely, I love you, to encourage your spouse? See, that's the foundation of
the Christian life. That agape love. Encourage your
spouse. I'm thankful for you. I thank
the Lord for you. Those are encouraging words.
I'm proud of you. I missed that one up top. Words
of sincere affection. Here's the second thing. Words
of genuine affirmation. Hey, I want to see you do this
or that. I see that gift in you. Why don't
you try that? You should work with the kids
at Riverview. You have a real gift with children. Keep going. You're a great teacher. You're a great servant. You're
a great administrator. Keep going. Affirm what you see
in others. That was excellent how you taught
those kids that lesson. They were hanging on your every
word. Can you be that encourager? Can
you encourage your spouse like that, genuine? That was great
how you just took the kids and spent time with them. They loved
that. That was so good. to be an encourager. Here's the
next thing, words of edifying correction. Hey, let me show
you something that might help you. You're not quite doing it
right, it's okay, but let me show you how you can do it even
better. To me, that's always been a real encouragement to
me. Let me show you how you can do that a little bit better.
Really good, keep giving it your best effort, you're really improving,
here's something you can try. Say it in humility and love,
when you have, an insight into something that someone else is
doing, not to say with a prideful spirit, but to go over to that
person, come alongside that person, and be that loving encourager
to that person. Those words of edifying correction.
And lastly, words of lasting commitment. Hey, I'm here for
you. I will always love you. You can come to me with any problem. Parents with children, sometimes
you have a kid that goes off from walking with the Lord. I
still love you, but you know where I stand. You can come to
me without any problem, and I'll give you as best I can the perspective
of what the Word of God says and the wisdom that God gives
me. You can come to me with any problem, I'm always here for
you, I'm always loving you. Even if I don't approve of everything
you do, if you have an adult child like that, to be that kind of encourager
to that adult child. In the home, to be there and
tell the kids, I am here by your side, I want to see you grow
up to be the young man, the young woman that God has called you
to be, that kind of encourager. You can probably fill in the
exact scenarios better than I can. But church, we need to encourage. We need to encourage. We need
to be encouragers. Encouragers are needed. So when
we come back together again, let's be sure to be like Barnabas,
that son of encouragement. Riverview Church love you. Two
Sundays away from being back together again. And I'm excited
about what God is going to do. Let me pray together with you.
Lord, I thank you for Barnabas. Example of someone who impacted
the church early on. And I'm sure there were many
people in the church that said, I wanna be like Barnabas. I wanna encourage
people like Barnabas does. Lord, may we have that same attitude.
And Lord, we love you. Thank you for the opportunity
we have to be part of your family. And we give you all the praise
and all the glory because you deserve it. And all God's people
said, Amen, amen. River Church, love you. Live
this week. All for Him.
May 31st
| Sermon ID | 61620171147161 |
| Duration | 37:21 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Language | English |
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