WEBVTT 00:00:06.528 --> 00:00:11.236 At this time our children are dismissed for our children's church. 00:00:11.236 --> 00:00:15.592 If you'd like to go down ages three to six our leader is right out the door. 00:00:15.592 --> 00:00:22.672 You can follow her down and have a nice children's church lesson. 00:00:22.672 --> 00:00:23.074 Today. 00:00:23.074 --> 00:00:35.067 The rest of us will continue in our sermon series in the Acts of the Apostles and if you didn't get a sermon outline and would like one or would like to borrow a Bible, our ushers would be happy to help you right now. 00:00:35.067 --> 00:00:35.929 Just raise your hand. 00:00:51.100 --> 00:01:03.432 We've been in the book of Acts for quite some time and, if you remember, the book of Acts basically is about earliest Christianity, unfolds the story of how the early church grew by conversions to Jesus Christ. 00:01:03.432 --> 00:01:09.132 That's, following Jesus' mandate to his apostles to be his witnesses. 00:01:09.132 --> 00:01:20.974 And so far in the book of Acts the gospel has penetrated beyond Jerusalem into Judea, samaria and is now spreading in our story to Asia Minor. 00:01:20.974 --> 00:01:39.968 Last time, in Acts, chapter 11, luke gave us a picture of the church that began in Antioch, and if you remember Syrian Antioch, there's going to be another Antioch we'll talk about a little later but here's Jerusalem. 00:01:39.968 --> 00:01:53.647 And when the persecution started the disciples began moving forward through Judea and Samaria and now they're up in Asia Minor and everywhere they're going, they're telling people about Jesus. 00:01:53.647 --> 00:01:56.409 People are believing in him and are born again. 00:01:56.409 --> 00:02:06.930 That's what Luke is telling us in the book of Acts, and last time when we looked at this church in Antioch, luke presents it. 00:02:06.930 --> 00:02:11.329 It stands out as an example for what a growing church is all about. 00:02:11.329 --> 00:02:21.759 And last time we learned that a growing church grows because people are doing evangelism and then discipling new believers. 00:02:21.759 --> 00:02:23.969 We learned that a growing church is a praying church. 00:02:23.969 --> 00:02:25.698 We learned that a growing church is a praying church. 00:02:25.698 --> 00:02:32.461 We learned that a growing church is a sending church and we learned that a growing church is a giving, generous church. 00:02:32.461 --> 00:02:42.908 Now, today, right in the middle of the passage we looked at, we're going to look at the most important ministry in a growing church. 00:02:42.908 --> 00:02:53.247 I believe important ministry in a growing church, I believe the most important, and I think that's why Luke zeroes in on it. 00:02:53.247 --> 00:02:56.253 We're going to read the passage and then talk about it for a few minutes today. 00:02:56.460 --> 00:02:57.421 Acts, chapter 11. 00:02:57.421 --> 00:02:59.824 I'm going to begin at verse 19. 00:02:59.824 --> 00:03:15.462 So then, those who are scattered because of the persecution that occurred in connection with Stephen made their way to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch speaking the word to no one except Jews alone. 00:03:15.462 --> 00:03:29.174 But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks, also preaching the Lord Jesus, and the hand of the Lord was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord. 00:03:29.174 --> 00:03:54.040 The news about them reached the ears of the church in Jerusalem and they sent Barnabas off to Antioch, and when he arrived and witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced and began to encourage them all, with resolute heart, to remain true to the Lord, for he was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and considerable numbers were brought to the Lord. 00:03:54.040 --> 00:04:08.314 And he left for Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him he brought him to Antioch and for an entire year they met with the church and taught considerable numbers, and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. 00:04:08.314 --> 00:04:12.431 Now, at this time, some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 00:04:12.431 --> 00:04:35.668 One of them, named Agabus, stood up and began to indicate by the Spirit that there would be certainly a great famine over all the world, and this took place in the reign of Claudius, and so in proportion that any of the disciples had means, each of them determined to send a contribution for the relief of the brethren living in Judea. 00:04:35.668 --> 00:04:41.293 And this they did, sending it, in charge of Barnabas and Saul, to the elders. 00:04:41.293 --> 00:04:51.851 Right in the middle of this passage is Luke's description of what was happening in the church in Antioch that began to grow exponentially. 00:04:51.851 --> 00:04:55.762 We're introduced to the ministry of Barnabas. 00:04:55.762 --> 00:05:03.925 We're going to look at three things that will help us understand his very important ministry in a growing church. 00:05:03.925 --> 00:05:11.730 First, we'll look at what his ministry is, why his ministry is important and how we can do that ministry. 00:05:12.319 --> 00:05:17.410 In Antioch, jewish disciples of Jesus began witnessing sharing the gospel to Greeks. 00:05:17.410 --> 00:05:23.151 The Greeks were idol-worshiping pagans. 00:05:23.151 --> 00:05:36.809 They had never read the Bible, had any connection to the faith at all, but they shared the gospel and many of them started believing in Jesus and were saved. 00:05:36.809 --> 00:05:48.807 When news that these pagan idol-worshippers were coming to faith in Jesus, the church in Jerusalem sent Barnabas Okay, get over there Now. 00:05:48.807 --> 00:06:04.786 He sent to confirm what was happening, that the gospel was breaching new, very profound barriers cultural, racial, religious, ethnic barriers. 00:06:04.786 --> 00:06:18.380 Not just Jews coming to faith in Jesus, but Gentiles too. 00:06:18.380 --> 00:06:23.608 And when Barnabas arrived in Acts 11.23, he had three responses to what God was doing there. 00:06:23.608 --> 00:06:30.923 He witnessed the grace of God that, through faith in Christ, god was receiving these unenlightened pagans to himself. 00:06:30.923 --> 00:06:37.562 Second, he rejoiced at what God showed him that the gospel of Jesus was for everybody. 00:06:37.562 --> 00:06:47.415 And third, he began to encourage those who believed in Jesus, and we're going to talk about that today. 00:06:47.415 --> 00:06:57.420 It's easy to read this passage and just pass by what Barnabas is doing. 00:06:57.420 --> 00:07:08.654 The name Barnabas, of course some of you know, means son of encouragement or son of comfort, and when Barnabas saw what was happening, he began to encourage these new, brand new pagan believers in Christ. 00:07:09.980 --> 00:07:17.314 Now the English translations differ on what Barnabas is actually doing here. 00:07:17.314 --> 00:07:24.353 Some translations translate verse 23 as he's encouraging them. 00:07:24.353 --> 00:07:29.009 Other translations translate as he's exhorting him. 00:07:29.009 --> 00:07:30.273 Well, what is it? 00:07:30.273 --> 00:07:33.305 It's both. 00:07:33.305 --> 00:07:48.470 When you have English translations just keep this in mind and you're looking at different translations of a verse and they render one word differently in all of them. 00:07:48.470 --> 00:08:02.589 When that happens, it means the Greek word used there has a range of meaning that is too rich, too broad to be conveyed by one English word. 00:08:02.589 --> 00:08:05.103 And what that means. 00:08:05.103 --> 00:08:15.180 You've got to take a closer look, think about it, ponder it, study it, and so let me do that for a minute. 00:08:15.562 --> 00:08:20.709 The Greek word being used here for encourage or exhort is the word parakaleo. 00:08:20.709 --> 00:08:31.307 It has the prefix para, which means to come alongside a person, to be next to you, near you. 00:08:31.307 --> 00:08:38.033 We use the prefix too Paralegal Paramedic. 00:08:38.033 --> 00:08:40.366 Come alongside, help. 00:08:40.366 --> 00:08:52.631 The para prefix means to be standing with someone, to be sympathetic, gentle, helpful, tender. 00:08:52.631 --> 00:09:10.308 The word kaleo, on the other hand, means to call out, to direct people to a goal, to a truth, like a coach or a teacher, someone with authority to give directions. 00:09:10.308 --> 00:09:15.730 Kaleo is a strong, forceful word. 00:09:15.730 --> 00:09:20.890 It is telling people what to do and why. 00:09:20.890 --> 00:09:23.687 Sometimes it's translated exhort. 00:09:23.687 --> 00:09:33.169 Now, when you put para and kaleo together, you can feel there's a little tension in the word. 00:09:33.169 --> 00:09:43.033 When you say parakaleo, it is a strong, tender word. 00:09:43.033 --> 00:09:46.986 Let's get our head around that one. 00:09:46.986 --> 00:09:53.783 That's what we're going to try to do today, because this is the most important ministry in a growing church. 00:09:56.129 --> 00:09:59.884 Parakaleo here's what it is. 00:09:59.884 --> 00:10:07.653 It's a sympathetic, loving insistence on the truth. 00:10:07.653 --> 00:10:11.085 That's what it is. 00:10:11.085 --> 00:10:15.890 It's speaking the truth with love Another way to put it. 00:10:15.890 --> 00:10:22.390 You can see both aspects really in the way Luke puts it in chapter 11, 23. 00:10:22.390 --> 00:10:25.149 When Barnabas arrived, he witnessed the grace of God. 00:10:25.149 --> 00:10:35.668 He rejoiced and began to encourage parakaleo them with resolute heart Remain true to the Lord. 00:10:35.668 --> 00:10:42.600 You can also see it expressed further on in Acts 13. 00:10:42.600 --> 00:10:48.003 I mean, this word is all over the New Testament the next time you look at it. 00:10:48.003 --> 00:10:56.195 Remember this Acts 13, 42 to 43, here's how my translation put it. 00:10:56.195 --> 00:11:01.562 As Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people kept begging that these things might be spoken to them. 00:11:01.562 --> 00:11:15.892 The next Sabbath, when the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and the God-fearing proselytites followed Paul and Baris who, speaking to them, were urging them to continue in the grace of God. 00:11:15.892 --> 00:11:17.506 They were parakaleo them. 00:11:17.506 --> 00:11:29.870 So the word gets translated a lot of different ways, but those two ideas are in it Strong, tender word, truth and love. 00:11:29.870 --> 00:11:33.926 You can't have one without the other and have a good ministry. 00:11:33.926 --> 00:11:34.849 You cannot do it. 00:11:37.640 --> 00:11:44.784 Now let's look at why the ministry of Parakaleo is so important for the growth of the church, for the health of the church. 00:11:44.784 --> 00:11:49.629 The ministry of parakaleo is so important for the growth of the church, for the health of the church. 00:11:49.629 --> 00:11:52.277 The ministry of parakaleo is sandwiched, if you notice, in this passage. 00:11:52.277 --> 00:11:57.032 It's sandwiched between two other ministries in the church. 00:11:57.032 --> 00:12:00.847 The first one Acts 11, 19-21,. 00:12:00.847 --> 00:12:02.451 You have the ministry of evangelism. 00:12:02.451 --> 00:12:06.390 People are sharing Christ and the gospel with others and people are turning to the Lord. 00:12:06.390 --> 00:12:10.120 Well, jump down On the other side. 00:12:10.120 --> 00:12:12.500 This is Acts 11, 25, 26,. 00:12:12.500 --> 00:12:23.265 You have the ministry of instruction, discipling them, and right in the middle, right between those two ministries, you have the ministry of encouragement. 00:12:24.701 --> 00:12:30.802 It's not an accident Barnabas shows up and starts doing parakaleo ministry. 00:12:30.802 --> 00:13:01.126 That was his gift when he arrived, witnessed the grace of God, rejoiced and began his ministry to encourage them all with resolute heart, remain true to the Lord, loving truth. 00:13:01.126 --> 00:13:14.092 The ministry of perikaleo, or encouragement, exhortation, is an intense, personal, loving ministry to others. 00:13:14.092 --> 00:13:25.265 It's encouraging believers to grow in the Lord, to turn their lives over to Him and trust Him, be faithful to him. 00:13:27.043 --> 00:13:40.192 In fact, when God called me into the pastoral ministry, this was the verse God gave me for my future ministry. 00:13:40.192 --> 00:13:47.932 This was it and would define what my ministry would be, or hoped to be prayed it would be. 00:13:47.932 --> 00:13:50.226 I wanted to be like Barnabas. 00:13:50.226 --> 00:13:59.868 I wanted to encourage Christians to remain true to the Lord, to be surrendered completely to Him. 00:13:59.868 --> 00:14:02.629 That's been my passion, my entire ministry. 00:14:02.629 --> 00:14:05.285 It comes through a lot of what I preach. 00:14:05.285 --> 00:14:06.870 I can't help it. 00:14:06.870 --> 00:14:16.927 I want you to see how important Barnabas' ministry was in Antioch, acts 11.24. 00:14:18.659 --> 00:14:27.352 Barnabas, it says, was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith and considerable numbers were brought to the Lord. 00:14:27.352 --> 00:14:29.865 Don't miss this. 00:14:29.865 --> 00:14:33.607 It may sound like Barnabas is leading people to Christ. 00:14:33.607 --> 00:14:34.770 He's not. 00:14:34.770 --> 00:14:41.750 He possibly is, but that's not the point of this verse. 00:14:41.750 --> 00:14:47.722 He didn't go down to Antioch to evangelize, preach or baptize people. 00:14:47.722 --> 00:14:49.947 They didn't send him for that. 00:14:49.947 --> 00:14:53.453 He went down to encourage him. 00:14:53.453 --> 00:14:54.860 That's why they sent him. 00:14:54.860 --> 00:15:01.187 As a result, you know what happened. 00:15:01.187 --> 00:15:03.909 Other ministries went into hyperdrive. 00:15:03.909 --> 00:15:06.873 They exploded. 00:15:06.873 --> 00:15:13.145 Evangelism, growth, discipleship took off. 00:15:13.145 --> 00:15:20.203 Encouragement was a ministry that turbocharged every single other ministry in that church. 00:15:22.928 --> 00:15:32.590 One commentator wrote on this passage we cannot grow into the people God designed us to be except in the soil of encouragement. 00:15:32.590 --> 00:15:41.727 In other words, we need to be surrounded by people who are parakaleoing us I'm not kidding, listen to me. 00:15:41.727 --> 00:15:45.557 People who are not just affirminging us I'm not kidding, listen to me. 00:15:45.557 --> 00:15:49.390 People who are not just affirming us oh, we love you. 00:15:49.390 --> 00:15:56.188 And people who are not just impatient and harsh that they give advice too quickly. 00:15:56.188 --> 00:16:10.469 We need to be surrounded by people who are giving us the truth wrapped in love or we won't grow. 00:16:10.469 --> 00:16:12.365 We will not grow. 00:16:12.365 --> 00:16:15.785 Let me explain why. 00:16:17.860 --> 00:16:28.955 Because most of us I'd say we all tend to be very insecure in our faith, in our relationship with the Lord. 00:16:28.955 --> 00:16:30.846 You know we're not perfect, we're sinners. 00:16:30.846 --> 00:16:33.106 It makes us very insecure. 00:16:33.106 --> 00:16:46.754 We don't want to be vulnerable to anybody, and so what happens is we're constantly spinning ourselves to look in the best light to others and to ourselves. 00:16:46.754 --> 00:16:54.251 We're always justifying, excusing ourselves, saying you know, we're not that bad. 00:16:54.251 --> 00:17:14.751 But when you get around someone like Barnabas, who you really know loves you, he or she will not let you get away with it. 00:17:14.751 --> 00:17:28.289 If a person comes to you with just the truth but is not patient and kind, you're just going to dismiss them and you won't grow. 00:17:28.289 --> 00:17:52.349 On the other hand, if someone just comes to you and loves you and affirms you and never challenges you with the truth, what you're going to do is use that to think you don't have any flaws or blind spots or sin, and you won't grow. 00:17:55.941 --> 00:18:05.429 Hebrews 3.13 tells us that sin is deceitful and one reason why we need each other to be parakaleoing one another. 00:18:05.429 --> 00:18:08.625 Sin is deceitful. 00:18:08.625 --> 00:18:10.807 It wants to remain hidden. 00:18:10.807 --> 00:18:39.694 That means the sin that is most distorting and disrupting in our life would be, by definition, the one we recognize the least Hides itself, which means we'll be in denial like an addict. 00:18:39.694 --> 00:18:43.730 An addict to our sin, our self-justification. 00:18:43.730 --> 00:18:56.050 Which means, unless there's an intervention, people around you who know you and love you and who know how to encourage and exhort you with the truth. 00:18:56.050 --> 00:18:58.766 You won't change. 00:18:58.766 --> 00:19:01.011 You won't. 00:19:01.011 --> 00:19:13.009 You'll either dismiss them or you'll use them to think more highly of yourself than you should now. 00:19:13.069 --> 00:19:24.769 The reason Barnabas Parakaleo ministry is so hard is because nobody in their natural temperament is like this except Jesus. 00:19:24.769 --> 00:19:27.946 Extremely hard ministry. 00:19:27.946 --> 00:19:36.152 We fall off the pericaleo beam on one side or the other. 00:19:36.152 --> 00:19:39.346 When we're around other people we do, I've done it. 00:19:39.346 --> 00:19:47.510 We're happy to give instruction and advice but we're not very patient or kind or loving. 00:19:47.510 --> 00:19:57.832 Or we're loving and affirming but we're not really being truthful or firm enough. 00:19:57.832 --> 00:20:03.631 The pericleo beam very hard. 00:20:03.631 --> 00:20:07.184 Balance is hard. 00:20:07.184 --> 00:20:10.169 Very few people are good at parakaleo. 00:20:10.169 --> 00:20:18.846 We have a hard time, you see, joining truth and love together, something we learn. 00:20:18.846 --> 00:20:26.309 We learn because it's how Jesus, how the Holy Spirit, ministers to us. 00:20:26.309 --> 00:20:27.432 We'll talk about it in a minute. 00:20:27.432 --> 00:20:29.747 That's who we learn it from. 00:20:32.362 --> 00:20:43.467 As soon as Barnabas shows up and begins his parakaleo ministry with truth and love, people start growing, things start happening, ministries take off. 00:20:43.467 --> 00:20:48.611 It's like adding fertilizer to a rich soil. 00:20:48.611 --> 00:21:07.239 Unfortunately, no church hires a pastor of encouragement or has a department of pericoleo, or has the department of pericoleo. 00:21:07.239 --> 00:21:13.182 You know, encouragement this word is like salt at a meal. 00:21:13.182 --> 00:21:14.064 Sit down to eat. 00:21:14.064 --> 00:21:17.488 Here's your meat, you eat that. 00:21:17.488 --> 00:21:20.491 Here's your potatoes, you eat that. 00:21:20.491 --> 00:21:22.934 Here's your vegetables, you eat them. 00:21:22.934 --> 00:21:23.895 Finally. 00:21:23.895 --> 00:21:25.017 Here's your salt. 00:21:25.017 --> 00:21:25.298 You eat that. 00:21:25.298 --> 00:21:26.199 Here's your vegetables, you eat them. 00:21:26.199 --> 00:21:27.099 Finally, here's your salt, you eat that. 00:21:27.099 --> 00:21:45.678 No, you put it on everything else, makes everything else taste better, everything, unless you have high blood pressure. 00:21:45.678 --> 00:21:46.140 But that's a must. 00:21:46.140 --> 00:21:54.180 Encouragement salts everything. 00:21:54.960 --> 00:22:05.811 Look, I am in the ministry today because someone parakaleoed me and it wasn't because of any sin or anything but involved. 00:22:05.811 --> 00:22:14.191 You have to be willing to humble yourself and receive instruction when it's given to you in love, not dismiss it. 00:22:14.191 --> 00:22:40.089 After graduating from college and I began teaching high school, I also started teaching a single adult class in our church and after a while a friend came up to me and said Jim, I really see the Holy Spirit in you and you need to keep doing this. 00:22:40.089 --> 00:22:47.807 But then he also said but you know what you need help in your Bible study. 00:22:47.807 --> 00:22:53.489 You should go to seminary, learn better how to study your Bible properly. 00:22:53.489 --> 00:23:09.144 Those words, love and the truth that I needed to hear, propelled me into ministry propelled me in the Christian life. 00:23:09.144 --> 00:23:12.049 Not long after that I went to Dallas Seminary. 00:23:12.049 --> 00:23:17.242 I wanted to learn to be a better student teacher of God's word. 00:23:17.242 --> 00:23:22.849 I credit this person back at that time. 00:23:23.150 --> 00:23:32.010 Now this parakaleo stuff happens all the time, a lot of different ways, a lot of different circumstances. 00:23:32.010 --> 00:23:40.652 We've got to put the two together or we're not going to grow. 00:23:40.652 --> 00:23:44.589 We have to have somebody who loves us enough to tell us the truth. 00:23:44.589 --> 00:23:49.426 That's what Jesus is to us. 00:23:49.426 --> 00:23:54.945 Encouragement happens all the time, though, in regular conversations. 00:23:56.605 --> 00:24:01.067 If you do parakaleo ministry, you're not just a parrot saying I hear what you're saying. 00:24:01.067 --> 00:24:02.031 I hear what you're saying In sympathy. 00:24:02.031 --> 00:24:02.875 I hear what you're saying. 00:24:02.875 --> 00:24:05.462 I hear what you're saying In sympathy. 00:24:05.462 --> 00:24:06.666 I hear what you're saying. 00:24:06.666 --> 00:24:07.670 I hear what you're saying. 00:24:07.670 --> 00:24:13.771 You're not just a detective pummeling someone with questions. 00:24:13.771 --> 00:24:25.248 You're not just a florist saying everything's beautiful and lovely, so glad, you're happy. 00:24:25.248 --> 00:24:30.926 You're not just a drill sergeant here's what you need to do. 00:24:30.926 --> 00:24:36.903 And you're not just a judge you did what? 00:24:36.903 --> 00:24:51.412 No, you're someone who sees the work of God and the need for growth in that person. 00:24:51.412 --> 00:24:59.387 You see it, you don't ignore it. 00:25:02.681 --> 00:25:23.307 To encourage and parallel in conversation might look something like this You're talking with somebody who's having a hard time or whatever, you tune in and really listen and then you summarize what that person said so well that all they can say is that's what I was trying to say. 00:25:23.307 --> 00:25:28.555 Yeah, sympathetic, tender. 00:25:28.555 --> 00:25:34.028 And then you push back with the scripture. 00:25:34.028 --> 00:25:35.711 What do they need? 00:25:35.711 --> 00:25:44.078 Correcting, comforting, affirming with the truth. 00:25:44.078 --> 00:25:50.259 Hear and listen, but don't miss the other part. 00:25:50.259 --> 00:25:52.605 Don't do one without the other. 00:25:52.605 --> 00:25:53.386 It doesn't work. 00:25:53.386 --> 00:26:06.532 People are not going to grow and encourage you as someone who is transparent enough about their own struggles that people feel free and open up to you. 00:26:06.532 --> 00:26:13.650 You're not just speaking from high and money, and I'm way up here, way beyond you. 00:26:13.650 --> 00:26:26.051 No, I get it, I struggle too, but you're not so transparent that it's all about you. 00:26:26.051 --> 00:26:31.424 This is hard. 00:26:31.424 --> 00:26:33.165 This is hard. 00:26:33.165 --> 00:26:36.750 I've worked on this and worked on this for years and years. 00:26:36.750 --> 00:27:11.601 I'm still working on it, trying to disciple people, help people want to love them with the truth, and I felt the need to talk about this because the church in Antioch just propelled me, because it's my life, ministry, verse, and I said man, if we're going to grow Individually, spiritually, if we're going to grow as a church, we need Barnabases willing to step out, to learn this. 00:27:11.601 --> 00:27:16.357 Do it well, all the other ministries will take off. 00:27:18.470 --> 00:27:26.642 Real pericaleo ministry, though, truth and love, can only happen in person, face-to-face. 00:27:26.642 --> 00:27:35.210 Why? 00:27:35.210 --> 00:27:45.682 Because when you're speaking the truth in love, the love part largely comes across non-verbally your face, your demeanor, your tone, your spirit. 00:27:45.682 --> 00:27:49.247 That's where love comes across. 00:27:49.247 --> 00:28:04.932 Now, truth comes across mainly through the words, but your love is expressed through nonverbal things, and you have to do this ministry in person. 00:28:04.932 --> 00:28:15.605 It's not enough, it's never enough, to put a smiley face on the end of your text. 00:28:15.605 --> 00:28:16.490 It's not going to work. 00:28:16.490 --> 00:28:19.234 That's not the way to do it. 00:28:19.234 --> 00:28:29.630 Someone has said the Internet is a friend of information, but the enemy of reflection. 00:28:29.630 --> 00:28:34.450 It's a friend of weak relational ties. 00:28:34.450 --> 00:28:38.390 It's an enemy of deep face-to-face intimacy. 00:28:38.390 --> 00:28:41.675 It is so. 00:28:41.675 --> 00:28:45.242 That brings us now to the precipice of despair. 00:28:45.242 --> 00:28:49.614 In this sermon. 00:28:49.614 --> 00:28:53.382 Nobody does perikaleo well, yet we all need it. 00:28:53.382 --> 00:28:57.701 How do we do it? 00:28:57.701 --> 00:29:02.346 I'm glad you asked. 00:29:03.769 --> 00:29:05.784 What is interesting is that Barnabas was really good at this ministry. 00:29:05.784 --> 00:29:10.661 That's why the leaders in Jerusalem sent him there. 00:29:10.661 --> 00:29:19.076 Luke tells us why he was so effective Acts 11, 23, 24,. 00:29:19.076 --> 00:29:33.333 When he arrived, witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced, began to encourage them all, resolute heart, to remain true to the Lord, because he was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. 00:29:33.333 --> 00:29:41.644 I could spend a couple of sermons just talking about that, but I won't. 00:29:41.644 --> 00:29:46.576 Barnabas could do this, because I'm going to zero in on. 00:29:46.576 --> 00:29:50.364 He was full of the Holy Spirit, just like it began in Acts 2. 00:29:50.364 --> 00:29:53.318 Filled with the Spirit, ministry exploded. 00:29:55.451 --> 00:29:57.880 This isn't just a throwaway line about Barnabas. 00:29:57.880 --> 00:30:06.480 The reason he was incredibly good at helping people this way is because he was filled with the Spirit, the Holy Spirit. 00:30:06.480 --> 00:30:10.251 And here's what you, we all need to know this. 00:30:10.251 --> 00:30:25.344 The night before Jesus died, he told his disciples he was going to send his Holy Spirit to them, and you know what he called the Holy Spirit, the paraclete paracaleo. 00:30:25.344 --> 00:30:47.069 Paraclete, parakaleo the comforter, the counselor, the exhorter to bring them truth and love from Jesus in their hearts. 00:30:47.069 --> 00:30:53.923 What's happening, as he's trying to tell them this is he's telling them he's leaving and they're clueless. 00:30:53.923 --> 00:31:00.101 And he says at this point one of the saddest things he ever said. 00:31:00.101 --> 00:31:06.157 He said have you been with me so long and yet you do not know me? 00:31:06.157 --> 00:31:14.481 He knows they're not ready for the darkness and trials to come. 00:31:14.481 --> 00:31:22.824 So how does Jesus fill them with courage? 00:31:22.824 --> 00:31:28.077 Well, he doesn't scold them or shame them. 00:31:28.077 --> 00:31:30.663 You guys should know better. 00:31:30.663 --> 00:31:43.374 He doesn't just affirm them oh, you guys are so great, climb every mountain, you can do it. 00:31:43.374 --> 00:31:48.636 He doesn't do that In order to encourage them. 00:31:48.636 --> 00:32:05.536 He's going to send them the encourager, the paraclete, who is going to tell them the truth, with love deep in them. 00:32:08.311 --> 00:32:18.923 The scripture tells us that it is the Holy Spirit's ministry to help us know and experience the love of the truth of God in our hearts Romans 5. 00:32:18.923 --> 00:32:23.634 And experience the fullness of parakaleo. 00:32:23.634 --> 00:32:30.471 Ministry of the paraclete is what propels us to minister to each other in that same spirit. 00:32:30.471 --> 00:32:32.733 That's what it did with Barnabas. 00:32:32.733 --> 00:32:50.632 And the only way you'll ever be a person who overcomes your lack of balance and giving truth and love is for you to receive and experience the Holy Spirit, filling and encouraging you with the truth and his love. 00:32:50.632 --> 00:32:51.913 It's the only way. 00:32:51.913 --> 00:32:55.259 It's the only way we really understand grace. 00:32:55.259 --> 00:33:02.134 Yes, I'm a sinner, but yes, you love me and you died for me. 00:33:02.134 --> 00:33:04.278 That's right. 00:33:06.861 --> 00:33:17.001 The Holy Spirit is given to everyone who believes in Jesus for the gift of eternal life, and Jesus repeated this over and over again in the Gospels. 00:33:17.001 --> 00:33:23.903 But this is what Jesus promised twice in the Gospel of John, chapter 3. 00:33:23.903 --> 00:33:28.470 Listen to it again John 3, 14 to 16. 00:33:28.470 --> 00:33:40.061 As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so the Son of man must be lifted up so that whoever believes in him will have eternal life. 00:33:40.061 --> 00:33:49.342 For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 00:33:49.342 --> 00:33:56.256 Believing in Jesus means believing that he will keep that promise. 00:33:56.256 --> 00:33:56.978 That's what it means. 00:34:02.555 --> 00:34:06.900 I trust him, the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus sent to love and guide us, parakaleo us. 00:34:06.900 --> 00:34:12.425 He does that mainly through the word of God. 00:34:12.425 --> 00:34:15.773 The Holy Spirit meets us here. 00:34:15.773 --> 00:34:20.338 The Holy Spirit is going to speak truth to us and love to us from God. 00:34:20.338 --> 00:34:22.496 Don't miss this. 00:34:22.496 --> 00:34:27.340 This becomes the Holy Spirit's mouthpiece. 00:34:27.340 --> 00:34:46.795 This becomes the Holy Spirit's mouthpiece and we'll sense it, experience it right in our hearts when we hit the passage Whoa, god loves me, or whoa whoa, I am a sinner, I confess that, and then you're forgiven. 00:34:46.795 --> 00:34:51.621 It's like that's the dynamic. 00:34:51.621 --> 00:34:54.958 Now the Holy Spirit is in you. 00:34:54.958 --> 00:35:01.001 If you're a believer in Jesus, he's in you to help you understand the truth and to know you're loved. 00:35:01.001 --> 00:35:17.239 But you also need to know all of us need to know the danger we are in without having believers in our midst who will love us and tell us the truth. 00:35:18.731 --> 00:35:20.177 Listen to Hebrews, chapter 3. 00:35:20.177 --> 00:35:26.947 Take care, brethren, meaning Christians who have received the Holy Spirit. 00:35:26.947 --> 00:35:39.579 Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God, but parakaleo one another day after day. 00:35:39.579 --> 00:35:40.501 Why? 00:35:40.501 --> 00:35:46.041 As long as it's called today, so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 00:35:46.041 --> 00:35:48.576 It's that important. 00:35:50.250 --> 00:35:53.380 Deceitfulness means being in denial. 00:35:53.380 --> 00:35:59.141 We are deceived about some things that are wrong with us. 00:35:59.141 --> 00:36:07.233 We need help exposing it and asking God to help us in it, all of us. 00:36:07.233 --> 00:36:19.701 The only way we are ever going to grow is when somebody parakaleos us, loves you, me, and tells me the truth. 00:36:19.701 --> 00:36:26.559 You may not like to hear it, but if it's done in love, receive it. 00:36:26.559 --> 00:36:27.733 Receive it. 00:36:27.733 --> 00:36:30.755 Don't dismiss it, or you won't grow. 00:36:30.755 --> 00:36:36.594 Our need is so great. 00:36:36.594 --> 00:36:44.041 Hebrews 3 says we need this on a daily basis. 00:36:48.530 --> 00:37:04.771 So if you want biblical encouragement, if you want someone to help you experience God's love and truth in your heart, then first of all you need the paraclete, the Holy Spirit whom God sends to every single person who believes in Jesus, his Son. 00:37:04.771 --> 00:37:07.590 So could I urge you, if you don't know where to start. 00:37:07.590 --> 00:37:08.092 Start there If you're not sure. 00:37:08.092 --> 00:37:08.193 Believe in Jesus who son? 00:37:08.193 --> 00:37:09.275 So could I urge you if you don't know where to start, start there If you're not sure. 00:37:09.275 --> 00:37:15.771 Believe in Jesus, who is the giver of eternal life, and receive the paraclete, the Holy Spirit. 00:37:15.771 --> 00:37:16.371 Let's pray. 00:37:17.152 --> 00:37:24.302 Father, thank you for your word for Jesus, for your Holy Spirit. 00:37:24.302 --> 00:37:26.945 You've not left us alone. 00:37:26.945 --> 00:37:32.579 You sent Jesus to die in our place and raised him from the dead. 00:37:32.579 --> 00:37:39.057 Then you sent your Holy Spirit into our hearts to be our encourager, our comforter, our truth teller. 00:37:39.057 --> 00:37:47.699 Help us to respond to what you're trying to, how you're trying to help us grow. 00:37:47.699 --> 00:37:56.360 Raise up in this church, father, encouragers like Barnabas, so we can grow up in Christ, in truth and in love. 00:37:56.360 --> 00:38:08.735 And, as the Apostle Paul said, lord, help us to comfort and encourage others with the same encouragement and comfort we receive from you. 00:38:08.735 --> 00:38:10.842 I pray this in Jesus' name, amen.