SON OF A.........ENCOURAGER (ENCOURAGEMENT)

All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. ³³ The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great blessing was upon them all. ³⁴ There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them ³⁵ and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need.
³⁶ For instance, there was Joseph, the one the apostles nicknamed Barnabas (which means “Son of Encouragement”).  Acts 4:32-36

So imagine this....you are shadowing Peter and John who had recently got released from the joint (jail) and they gather with other believers to tell of their adventure, and how they suffered for the sake of spreading the Gospel.   There  is no weeping or wailing, but rather a celebration of the saints that count it a joy to suffer for the ADVANCEMENT of the GOSPEL of JESUS CHRIST.  Following their account they go in, NO REALLY GO IN(to) prayer thanking and asking GOD boldness to preach His word, that they may perform miracles, signs, and wonders through Jesus.   After this prayer the place they were in shook, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they began preaching with boldness......WOW...but wait for it.

Because of the Spirit uniting those in attendance in heart and mind, they felt what they owned was not their own.   Let's stop here, because I think this where we disconnect.   Pastors all over the globe (some in places where preaching can cost them their lives.) pray for the boldness of the Holy Spirit and let's just say offering & or sign ups for (you fill in the blank) aren't as favorable as GOD would have it.  WHY is that?  Could it be that we aren't united in heart and mind?   Could it be that a few people are so they endeavor to REACH and do?  Could it be that we spend too much time being skeptical vs. simply Giving Ourselves & Our Possessions away?

I find it phenomenal that ALL THE BELIEVERS were united.  Following the their feelings of sharing EVERYTHING they had...that GOD's BLESSINGS was upon them ALL.  So you have a BODY that is selling out for the advancement of GOD's kingdom and then Joseph being in the assembly, having heard the prayer....that was a prayer of/for COURAGE comes in obedience to GOD and gets named....not the son of courage, but the SON OF ENCOURAGEMENT!

Courage:  the ability to do something that you know is difficult or dangerous.
Encourage:  to make (someone) more determined, hopeful, or confident


How cool is that....they prayed for the ability to do something (preaching, teaching, healing, miracles) that was dangerous, and God blessed them with someone with His spiritual DNA to make them more

determined, more hopeful, more confident in what He's called, and calling them to do!   I don't know about you.....but this is what WE ALL NEED!  An Encourager is a DIFFERENCE MAKER!   While we can all use one here's what the WORD OF GOD SAYS to each of us:

Eph 4:29 Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.

1Thess. 5:14  Brothers and sisters, we urge you to warn those who are lazy. Encourage those who are timid. Take tender care of those who are weak. Be patient with everyone.

Hebrews 10:25  And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

All I'm simply saying is Barnabas was an ordinary guy, that believed in an Extraordinary God an encouraged others by his actions.....we can all use a little extra encouragement, and GOD calls us to do so.  I  know some people that's their gift, but just because it may not be your gift doesn't mean you can't make it a discipline to do so.  WHO WILL YOU REACH OUT to and ENCOURAGE today? LGLP365

CAN I BE SPIRITUAL W/O Engaging in CHURCH FELLOWSHIP

Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. (Matt. 16:18)

 

 

Pictured above is and was my first exposure to "church" as it were growing up as a little kid.  The name on the building isn't as important as the impression and foundation that had been laid in me as a curious sponge of a boy.   It was here that I spent most if not all of my Sunday.  It was here I experienced the strange thing of "speaking in tongues."  It was here that I was reminded that "kids were to seen, not heard."  It was here I saw my grandmother & aunt serve as ushers.  It was here I wondered, " do they have to breathe heavy as they are closing their message?"    It was here I wondered " I will I ever understand what they are speaking/preaching/teaching about?"  It was here that I remember zoning out between Sunday school & morning worship....because it seemed to be BORING!  It was here that I that I remember hearing juicy gossip about the deacons, the mothers, and anyone else that came in.   It was also here that I learned to detest (almost to the point of hate) this institution but someone deposited a seed of the love of JESUS CHRIST in me although I didn't even know what that was.

 

Why tell you all this.....?  Because had I not been brought up in this dysfunctional body I'm certain I wouldn't be where I am today.   See the verse above was stated by JESUS CHRIST, and it was the first mentioning of the word CHURCH.   It was the Ekklesia (church) is where Christ wanted the broken of this world to come to learn and know about Him and in turn become a koinia (fellowship) where together we'd be the CHURCH ALIVE.   The CHURCH ALIVE in the sense that because of His Spirit in us we'd BE THE BRIDE, THE CHURCH HE's coming back for. 

Often because of the very things I experienced as a child up above we as a culture have opted out of church.  Their gossiping outside the walls of the church, who wants to be a part of that?   I had a young lady that came to the oil change that was a PK ( Pastor's Kid) that was done with the hypocrisy and couldn't understand the preached word, I can think of other things one may want to do with their time.    But not just going to one, but even becoming one.   Let me explain how....If the seed (JESUS CHRIST) that was planted in me never got watered & challenged by people of FAITH it would've simply shriveled up or choked out and died.   This is where some people who grew up being made to go to church are.....they've given up on going, and by giving up on going, they aren't becoming the church either.   See Christ's idea of us developing into this thing called the church meant it was to be done around other like-minded believers.   Others that would challenge us in our areas of lack.  Others that would challenge us to see what the WORD of GOD says about how we are to engage foreigners.  Others that would challenge us what does the word of GOD say about loving our neighbors and what does that look like.   Others that would love us when we didn't deserve to be loved because they too were once there.  Others that would challenge us in our marriages seeking happiness over the prescribed holiness.   Others......Others.....Others.....see one doesn't become what CHRIST intended without warming pews, seats, or rubbing shoulders with other broken individuals.

 

So to answer the question....is NO!  In order to be & grow  in your spiritually that isn't done in the context of books, or videos.   That's done in the context of being in the community (koinia) of others that desire to grow in the Spirit of Christ so that together they get to enjoy blessing the world with the FRUITS of His Spirit.  LGLP (see you tomorrow for shaping of our spiritual life) 

FRANTIC LIVES: SAVED FROM and FOR

²⁹ But the people of Israel had walked through the middle of the sea on dry ground, as the water stood up like a wall on both sides. ³⁰ That is how the Lord rescued Israel from the hand of the Egyptians that day. And the Israelites saw the bodies of the Egyptians washed up on the seashore. ³¹ When the people of Israel saw the mighty power that the Lord had unleashed against the Egyptians, they were filled with awe before him. They put their faith in the Lord and in his servant Moses. Ex. 14:29-31

 

Then God gave the people all these instructions:

² “I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery.

³ “You must not have any other god but me  Ex. 20:1-3

 

Can you imagine what it would be like to be born into slavery?  Not ever knowing what it means to live free?  Your parents, parents were slaves, and all you ever knew was being told what to do, when to do it, how to do it, when to eat, when to sleep.....and seeing friends, and family members treated harshly?   Some of which were killed by their masters for the most trivial of things.   Watching your mother or sisters sexually assaulted and being powerless to do anything, because you have watched what happens when someone rose up in opposition. 

 

The Israelites, God's chosen people, had chosen against GOD and found themselves under the heavy hand of Pharaoh serving many different gods, and after a turn of events Moses appears on the scene offering them something that they had only heard of, some dreamt of....freedom.  I don't know about you, but freedom would be scarier than being in captive, which is the mindset of some inmates that have been institutionalized over half of their lives.   They don't know what it means to pay bills, be responsible for their day, to exist in a society where someone isn't watching your every move and breathing down your neck....but GOD instructed Moses to lead his people out of captivity into FREEDOM, the wilderness and then into the promise land.

 

I don't know what prison you have been in...but is it possible that you have to, developed an institutional mindset about being FREE from:  DRUGS, ALCOHOL, PORN, CUTTING, LYING, STEALING, PHYSICAL/VERBAL/MENTAL/EMOTIONAL/SEXUAL ABUSE, ETC....whatever it is GOD offers each of us FREEDOM because HIS SON JESUS CHRIST paid that debt, and wants you  in a right relationship with the FATHER.  But GOD didn't whisk the Israelites across the RED SEA...they had to WALK, and upon them taking those steps of faith...HE KNEW THEY HAD NO IDEA about what it meant to be FREE, so He blessed Moses with the Commandments, and the first of them was HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME!

See what GOD wanted them to remember was that HE was the ONE who saved them from another year, another decade, another generation of slavery.   The purpose in freeing them, and bringing them into the WILDERNESS was JUST SO that before bringing them into the PROMISE LAND was so that they'd develop a WORSHIPFUL LOVE RELATIONSHIP with the very ONE that delivered them.   The same applies to each of us....HE OFFERS FREEDOM in JESUS CHRIST if we'd take a few steps of FAITH in HIS direction.   Some of us have been so accustomed to being enslaved to ___________________________ (also known as other gods) that we have hesitated at the opportunity to be free.

 

So each day that we are graced to see.....There is an open door that GOD offers to us all, and if you really desire to be free....STEP ONE after taking that walk is making sure that GOD is FIRST!  LGLP

PREQUEL: HOUSTON WE HAVE A PROBLEM

You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. ² For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. ³ They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. ⁴ They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. ⁵ They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!  2Tim. 3:1-5

 

 

If a picture is worth a thousand words, what word (the first one) that comes to mind when you look at this one?  This is a screenshot from the movie "Gravity" featuring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney and while I have not yet seen the movie, I can tell you I'd like to....and the word that comes to mind for is fear, or panic, or a canned phrase..."Houston we have a problem...!" The actual quote from Captain James Lovell aboard the Apollo 13 was "Houston we've had a problem..." which is different than the present tense phrasing.  The actual quote suggests that little things have been going wrong for a while, and now it's reached it's critical mass.

 

The Apostle Paul had mentored/disciple a young pastor Timothy and in his second letter to him he felt compelled to inform him of a problem that was up ahead.  There would be people that essentially were posers....impostors (he said they'd act religious).   We are currently living in the times, and have been for decades, even generations of our cultural times worsening.  Just go down the list of thing Paul referenced and you may not have to look further than your own home, your own family or across the county.....but they are real, present, and palpable so what are we to do?   One of THE MOST frustrating things as follower of Christ is when I see other followers of Christ MAD, ANGRY at the WORLD for acting like the WORLD.  We have the tendency to EXPECT people who clearly don't know CHRIST or His principles to govern themselves like we are supposed to.  Yes, I said like we are supposed to because we are too busy ridiculing, brow beating, Bible thumping the lost instead of actually loving them as we are actually commanded to.

 

So both phrasings work....."We've had a problem and We have a problem..." So what are we to do?  We got people in love with themselves and their money.   They laugh at God and make fun at those that believe in such.  We have (and also ourselves are)  disobedient/ungrateful children (young and grown).   We consider nothing sacred (Sabbath....let's just start there).  We/They can be unloving and unforgiving to the point of terminating relationships (so glad Christ didn't and doesn't terminate our relationship with Him).  We/They slander others (check your twitter feeds, and Facebook shares and rants...grow up!  By the way the grow up was to the said believers.....Christ wouldn't post that...so don't think He gets any glory from yours.)  We/They have no self control......(Christmas....over spent did ya?  Had to much to drink on New Years?  You fill in the excess blank......) and the list goes on and on.......so what is one to do that is a believer?  SO GLAD YOU ASKED:

 

Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before. ¹² Then people who are not Christians will respect the way you live, and you will not need to depend on others.  1Thess. 4:11-12

 

Over the next few days I want to walk through what our response as a group of followers of Christ should be regarding the current state of affairs.....with our first being that our Ambition/Goal should be to live a quiet life by: 

 

 1) MINDING OUR OWN LIFE (BUSINESS)!

 

Now before you think I am remotely encouraging or suggesting you clam up, take refuge in ignoring those outside of your property address.....I am SO NOT!  What I am though saying is spend less time (to NO TIME) criticizing OBAMACARE (Affordable Health Care if I'm honoring), Your unsaved ______________________ (uh they are a child of GOD too, even if they don't know it yet...that's where you come in.), the Gov't  (don't like ours.....move) ....etc. etc.....but rather make sure as for you and your house.........YOU ARE SERVING  (maybe you  didn't hear me YOU ACTUALLY ARE SERVING THE LORD, not yourselves)  THE LORD. 

 

Start with you....is JESUS really LORD of your life?  How do you know that He is.....simple:  Do you do WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS DO?  Are you a TITHER?  DO YOU SEEK/ATTEMPT TO ACCOMPLISH THE GREAT COMMANDMENT & GREAT COMMISSION DAILY?  These are just a few.....but probably biggest because TRUST is key to the success in any of them.   If you don't trust Him with your money or your life, then He's really not your LORD.  So before you attempt to criticize all of the things you are FREE TO......check yourself first, then check your home.....between the two there should be a enough grace to deal with, oops....LOVE those outside of your home.   LGLP2014