Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.
If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.
Thank you for joining us today.
So, we're going to be looking in Acts chapter nine today, but before we get started, I just
wanted to mention, if you're not part of the children's ministry and going to the conference
that Betty had mentioned, and that's in your bulletin, I want to invite you, George Carey
and Gail want to invite you to this coming Saturday at 1 p.m.
It's a memorial service for his mother Patricia.
She is home now with the Lord.
And he had said, if you want to invite some people, you know, from the church could come
on out.
So, if you're around Saturday at 1 p.m., George and Gail have been part of our church from
the beginning, from our inception.
And George is behind the scenes all the time, in fact, he's right up there in the balcony
right now.
And the two of them serve in so many ways, but George is always just serving and serving
and he's helped so many ways of really keeping us in the times of media and broadcasting
and so forth.
And so, just cherish him and Gail.
And so, if you're available this coming Saturday at 1 p.m., come on out to here at this
church.
So, we're turning to Acts chapter 9 and let's pray and thank the Lord for moving powerfully.
I expect it, don't you?
You know, I don't like wonder, I just know if we want more of God, he always wants more
of us.
Father God, we ask you to move powerfully through your word.
Lord, we are just humble servants of yours and yet you bring us to be great like you
are because you are so great and to do wonderful things, signs and wonders and miracles in your
name.
So, Lord, we ask you to do a miracle within us today and help us see ourselves differently
as you see us and to serve you better.
In Jesus' name, amen.
So today's message is finding your fit in the family of God.
God created us, mankind, to be relational, to be in community, to need each other, hasn't he?
In fact, he said in Genesis 2.18, he says, it is wrong for a man to be alone.
And because it is, we're not to do this life solo, we're supposed to be in community.
And throughout every environment in our lives, we're always seeking to where we're going to
fit in.
I remember a friend of mine, his father was, I don't know whether he was an admiral, but
he was way up there in the Navy.
And so throughout his childhood, he was always moving around near different naval bases from
the west coast to the east coast.
And he moved, I forget how many times he said, over 15 times.
And every time he moved to another town or city, he had to kind of refit into the school
he was attending.
And he had to learn new friends.
And I can imagine how difficult that would have been, always trying to see where you
fit in.
And in a real way, every time you go to school, you have to see, all right, well, how am
I going to fit in here?
Who are my friends going to be?
As we get older, we go to work, and it's a new job.
We have to figure out, OK, where am I in the mix of this puzzle?
You know, how do I fit in here?
Whether we move and we move into a new neighborhood, what are the neighbors like?
You know, how can I fit in with them?
It's always the idea of fitting in with families.
You know, when you get married, those of you who have gotten married, you know,
well, I got to fit into this other family.
And, you know, you got to figure this thing out because, you know, there's always
a chemistry, isn't there?
In any community, there's a certain chemistry that you have to sort of learn
and then to figure out, oh, I get it.
I get the rhythm of this community.
OK, I see where I'm going to fit in here.
You know, when Jill, Jill and I got married, she was 19.
OK, she was a little child.
OK. And and so and our first like family gatherings,
she was she was blown away because we in the Bonners,
we talk loud, we talk a lot.
We talk over each other and we don't listen to each other.
That's just the way we communicate.
It's like, you know, nobody knows what anybody's saying.
But and so Jill is in the setting saying, I can't get a word in edgewise.
Like nobody listens to me.
I don't I'm not even going to bother anymore.
But over time, because she was the quiet one, everyone's Jill speaking, Jill.
And she's carried even more weight than the rest of us.
But, you know, over time, we became more and more
generous in listening to one another because she came from a family
that actually listened to each other and cared what the other one was saying.
So she had to learn that.
And and over time, I guess we all yielded in various ways.
But that's what it's like.
It's trying to fit in even with families, you know.
You know, and in a family of God, it's the same way, isn't it?
I remember when I I wasn't saved till I was about twenty nine,
but I grew up in religion, attended church.
And then after I didn't have to anymore,
because I was no longer under my parents authority in a sense,
because I moved out pretty young at Penn State.
And so from then on, no more church. Right.
And then finally, Jill was attending a Baptist church.
And I said, you know, I have to check this out.
She was going with our two sons at that point,
two and one, Zach and Jesse.
And I said, all right, I have to go.
So I started going to this church.
And in a sense, you know, they were so happy.
Like almost too happy, you know, and they were friendly
and they're excited to see me, which is weird.
They don't even know me.
Why are they excited to see me?
And they had a certain glow in their eyes.
And it was like almost like, what am I in here?
You know, like, what is going on here?
Because like, I just didn't feel like I fit in with this with this environment,
you know, because I wasn't used to people like this, quite frankly.
And then when I eventually got saved born again,
I realized, you know, these people are genuine.
Like they really are this happy.
They're not putting on a show.
And they really are excited to see me.
I don't know why, but they just are, you know, so they're they're genuine.
They're authentic.
But, you know, I still didn't really feel like I fit in because in a sense,
I felt like dirty compared to them because they just seem to have a nice life
and and everything was going well.
And they seem like they probably never had problems before in their lives.
How naive, right?
Like they couldn't relate to me.
What I have been through.
None of them went through that.
And then I matured.
And I realized everybody went through that because none of us,
none of us don't have skeletons in our closet or should I see them in the grave?
Right.
We all have a past.
No one's better than anybody else.
All of us came to Jesus because we are desperate, wretches.
No one is better than anyone else at the foot of the cross at the level ground.
And I realized the more I appreciate, like these people,
went through even greater trials and challenges than I did.
And look at them.
They're so joy filled.
No, I'm not saying all the time, but they have a perspective of life
that isn't contingent on their circumstances.
And once I really learned that, I said, you know what?
I fit in, I belong.
I belong just as much as anybody else because none of us deserve this.
To be in the family of God.
None of us deserve it.
Yet we've been justified to be in the family of God.
None of us earned it.
None of us are better than anyone else.
And once you really get that, you're like, well, then I belong.
I belong to be seated at the table of the believers.
Why not?
Why not me?
I belong here.
And really, that's half the battle is really just understanding that I belong.
You know, we're going to read today about a man named Saul.
We talked about him last week who had difficulty fitting in.
The hymn of all people, OK, the man who is probably one of the most
consequential leaders of the early church in terms of expanding the church.
He reached the Gentiles, you know, just after Peter did with with with Cornelius.
And and he did so many things for the King of God.
But in the beginning, he's like, I can't fit in.
And when you appreciate that, if he had difficulty, then no wonder.
Sometimes I have a difficulty fitting in.
But one thing.
Paul met a man named Barnabas,
the son of encouragement, a man who actually
helped him be acclimated with the early church.
He brought him in.
He saw something in Paul.
And he cared about him and he made sure that he connected.
And so we're going to talk a lot about Barnabas and really how, in a sense,
all of us have Barnabas is in our lives.
And perhaps we're a Barnabas to others and how the Lord uses so many different
kinds of people, but Paul actually finally was woven into the fabric
of the early church through Barnabas.
So you're ready.
Let's let's dive in to Acts, Chapter nine.
We're going to go from twenty three to thirty one.
And if you can recall real quick, last week,
Paul, then named Saul, was on his way to Damascus from Jerusalem to capture
the early saints, and they called themselves the Way, and he was going
to capture them and haul them away to Jerusalem, throw them in prison,
torture them, whatever else.
And on his way, the Lord met him.
He was blinded for three days.
Ananias came to him.
He laid hands on him, right?
And he received his sight.
But more importantly, he received the Holy Spirit.
He was baptized and immediately he went out preaching all over the place.
But then the Lord drew him down to Arabia for about three years,
administered directly in the spiritual realm to Paul so that he could
really get more equipped to spread the gospel.
Then he returned back to Damascus and he was preaching up a storm again.
And this is where we pick up in verse twenty three.
Now, after many days were passed, the Jews plotted to kill him,
but their plot became known to Saul.
And they watched the gates day and night to kill him.
And then the disciples took him by night and let him down through the wall
in a large basket.
And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples,
but they were all afraid of him and did not believe that he was a disciple.
But Barnabas, there it is, but Barnabas took him and brought him to the
apostles and Paul, he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road
and that he had spoken to him and how he had preached boldly at Damascus
in the name of Jesus.
And so he was with them at Jerusalem coming in and going out.
And verse twenty nine, and he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus
and disputed against the Hellenists.
They were Greek speaking Jews, but they attempted to kill him.
And when the brethren found out, they brought him down to Caesarea and
sent him out to Tarsus, which by the way, was his hometown.
Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee and Samaria had peace and
were edified and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of
the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied.
And so let's start with that last part there.
The gospel spread from Judea to Galilee and Samaria.
Actually, Samaria is in between those two places, but we have a little
map up there.
Thanks, Amy.
Right.
Actually, it's the first one.
But well, anyway, so, but so Jerusalem just above there is Judea and
then Samaria squished in the middle and then Galilee.
And so the gospel spreading out.
That's the idea, right?
And so that's a good thing that the gospel is spreading out.
And this point of Paul getting to Jerusalem and meeting the apostles was
recounted by him.
He actually went back and told the church in Galatia about this
incident.
Do you happen to have Galatians 1, 18 and 19 up there?
That would be the second slide.
So, okay, they're working on it.
That's all right.
Lord, just we ask you to help whatever technological issues are
going on and, you know, you have this all under control anyway.
So thank you, Lord, in Jesus' name, Amen.
So when Saul went to Jerusalem, he had met with Peter and he
eventually met James who James, the half brother of Jesus was
kind of like the leader at that point.
Peter did more of the ground, you know, the, the, the
evangelism.
He was more of the guy who was on the ground, boots on the ground.
And there's that picture of the spread of the gospel see from
Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and up to Galilee.
And then that next slide is when Paul is writing to the Galatians.
And he said, after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to
see Peter and remain with him 15 days.
But I saw none of the other apostles except James.
The Lord's brother.
You know, I just want to mention, it's interesting.
Paul, a lot of times kind of makes it a point of people
knowing that things he knows came direct from the Lord.
You ever notice that when he writes about those things?
He's like, you know, I'm not just, I'm not just repeating
what someone else told me.
I heard it from the Lord.
And I don't know, the Lord just gave me this right now
that I think it's important for you and I, when we pray and
ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate scriptures, right,
that when we read, we put the commentaries aside.
We don't listen to what somebody else says about it.
We just read and say, Lord, what are you speaking to me?
How much is that awesome when you do that?
Because the Spirit just really helps it resonate in your soul
that you can really connect with what the scripture says, you know.
And so in the same way that Paul just said, you know, I heard it
directly from the Lord.
And so so he recounts about this situation and see.
So now here, Paul, it's the second time his life is threatened.
Can you imagine that?
Like, you know, you just became a believer, OK, a few years back
and already you're in Damascus.
They're trying to kill you.
OK, now you're in Jerusalem.
They're trying to kill you.
But the Lord told him, this is what your life is going to be about.
It's going to be a tough life.
But he was a chosen vessel for this purpose.
You know, I don't envy his role.
Sometimes we look at people and say, I want to be like Paul.
I want to just like, you know, that that important, you know,
that all the angels up there know, know me and are celebrating me.
You know, I mean, that's a very prideful way to think anyway.
Right. But we just have this romantic view of ministry until you're in it.
Right. Have you ever been in ministry?
Suddenly, the idea of ministry is far less romantic and warm and fluffy.
It's like, well, that's just hard work.
That's all it is, actually.
But there's something in here that's a reward.
So so this is what Paul's life is going to be about.
And and so then Paul returns to Tarsus.
So if you could show that map up there, Amy.
Right there. So so far.
We see Paul left Jerusalem, went to Damascus,
gets blinded right about here, gets saved right about here,
goes to Arabia, gets taught, goes back to Damascus.
They try to kill him.
He's back to Jerusalem.
OK, and then they try to kill him again.
And then we have the next slide and it shows.
I just want to show this so you can kind of see he went to Caesarea,
which is a port city, which means he hopped on a ship and went back home.
OK, now, could you imagine so far, Paul's like he went to Jerusalem
to become more religious, to know the law, right?
To be like just like Gamaliel.
Like just just to be a lot of head knowledge and righteous, right?
Self-righteous in the law.
And suddenly he's a transformed person.
He goes back home and he's brand new.
Imagine what that would have been like.
You're a new person and you're seeing all the same streets.
You go back home, you walk into the same house.
Everything looks the same.
Except I'm not the same.
You know, there's a lot of missionaries when they come home from being abroad
and they come back and they feel like out of sort.
They feel like they don't belong in the States anymore
because they experience so many dynamic things and they changed on the mission
field and now they come back to all the same things.
And it's so different.
I remember this one family, they they served in Papua New Guinea.
And when they came back, you know, their father, actually, unfortunately,
the husband and their father died from an asthma attack in the jungle
running in Papua New Guinea.
They come back home and the one son David said, this place is like hell.
Like, really, he was going to school on the bus to public school.
And he's like, it's so evil here.
And we think of Papua New Guinea as probably, you know, there's witch
doctors, there's all kinds of things.
But he saw here as being really dark.
So anyway, so Paul goes back to Tarsus and he's walking around and he's different.
But imagine he's like saying so much was happening and I'm back here again.
Like, I'm just kind of, I guess, speculating that it must have been really weird.
You know, after that long trip he had been on now, it's just like
I'm back home, probably sowing tents again, right?
But there was something going to come because the Lord's never finished with us.
He's always preparing us for another place and that place for us.
And so as he's in Tarsus, meanwhile, Barnabas will never forget Saul.
He's the one who brought him in because Barnabas is a connector.
He's a networker.
He sees the potential in people.
He encourages them.
He connects them.
He sees the value in everyone and he has the ability and sense to say,
I kind of know where they would fit in perfectly.
Saul didn't fit in Jerusalem.
That's for sure.
Okay, because he used to be one of them.
Now they want to kill him because he's no longer one of them.
But he fit in in a new place.
So as the gospel started to spread to Antioch in Syria,
they sent Barnabas up there to check it out.
And he goes up and he goes, wow, this is amazing.
People are getting saved.
You know, this is great.
I know who would fit in perfect here.
Saul.
So we have when he went to Tarsus, if you could show Acts 11, verse 25, 26.
So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul and when he had found him,
he brought him to Antioch.
And for a while, they met with the church and and taught a great many
people and in Antioch, the disciples were first called Christians.
So he said, I know who I need and he went and he reached out looked
for Paul found him and he brought him with him.
That's what Barnabas is do.
Okay, they're inclusive.
He's just like Jesus.
Jesus was always including you feed them.
You walk on the water.
Come on.
Come on out.
Yeah, he's always inviting.
It's us who prevents accomplishing the things he's doing because he
wants us to do what he's doing, right?
And so Barnabas goes and he encourages.
He once again encourages Paul to come back and there they are
serving again.
And so I was thinking through this.
I was thinking what makes Barnabas so unique throughout scriptures.
You see his name only once in a blue moon, but he's always a link.
He's a link to someone else somewhere else.
He's a connector, you know, and so I thought it would be fun
to just look at some of the qualities of Barnabas that are unique
that are Christ like that all of us have benefited from someone
like this and I suspect all of us has been a Barnabas to
someone else.
First of all, he's a team player.
Barnabas sees the big picture.
He's not in it for himself.
He's not a solo.
He's not trying to do everything himself and can't get along
with anybody else and you know, that's a sure sign someone
who always needs to serve alone.
First of all, it's very lonely and probably there's an issue
of either pride or some something else that they just can't
get along with somebody else and so we see Barnabas.
He's first mentioned in Acts chapter 4 36 37 when he's actually
giving we have that slide if you could put that up Amy
when he actually is the first one noted.
Okay, thus Joseph who was also called by the Apostles Barnabas.
So his name isn't even Barnabas.
They called him Barnabas because the name means son of encouragement
or rest right and so they named them that right because he was
always so you you could do it.
Come on.
Come with me.
We can get this done.
They love people like that.
They make you feel so good around them just like like even
better than you are if you make it there.
Yeah, some people are kryptonite.
Okay, they just suck the energy right at you.
No one here by the way.
Nobody here but some people can but some people impute energy.
They just like you're around there.
You feel electrified like yeah, we can do this.
Let's do it.
You know, I think you love that.
You know, we had a small group of men yesterday that we
gathered together and as we were just sharing different things
you left like energized empowered motivated, you know, it's
so much fun being with a Barnabas because they see things
in you that you don't see in you.
And so Barnabas was the first one to sell the proceeds of
his land and bring it up and lay it at the Apostles feet.
So we see a lot of things here.
We see someone who is sacrificial someone who sees need
in the body.
He's a team player.
So he says, you know what I can help out here and not
only that but he sees authority as a good thing.
He doesn't go and start divvying out stuff wherever he
wants to he lays it at the Apostles feet.
In other words, you guys are in charge.
You know how to use this.
That's important.
That's an important thing to say you're in charge.
I believe you've prayed over these things and you know how
to apply these things.
You know, I learned a lesson the hard way one time when
we're on a missions trip in the Dominican and we had a
bunch of adults and kids, you know teenagers and they warned
us in the beginning.
Okay.
I don't know if you ever read the book when hurting when
helping hurts.
Okay, and it's about giving the wrong way.
Okay, not being thoughtful about how you're giving.
So anyway, they warned us.
They said, you know, when you come, you know, don't
just hand stuff out.
They're gonna be begging constantly and it'll make it
even worse.
Okay, but you know, if you have something you want to give
give it through the church.
Okay, so we served all week.
We built houses.
We did ministry.
We, you know, put roofs back on outhouses, you know,
they're all corrugated steel dirt floors, you know, and
so very primitive, you know, but it was such a great
was like 10 days.
We had a great time.
It was powerful and so we're coming down the mountain
on the bus barely making it down this mountain.
We get to the bottom.
Okay, and they had to stop for a minute.
And all these kids just swarmed the bus.
Okay, I mean they're surrounding the bus and they're
Americana, they're always singing.
They're always coming behind you and like, you know, because
they love us.
They really do and so they're crowding the bus.
Okay, and meanwhile one of the leaders, okay, looked
at he saw a young young man with like no shoes on and
he says, you know, what I'm gonna give my shoes and
he starts opening up a suitcase and me being a leader
that was not paying attention, not wise.
Okay, he pulled out the shoes and he pulled out some
other stuff before, you know, he's emptying his suitcase
bringing it out, giving it to all these people and more
and more are crowding the bus and then all the kids
are going to put out this and bringing it out and
once I'm like, wait, wait, wait, wait, whoa, whoa,
you know, everyone's just pouring out generosity.
Okay, so you're thinking what could be wrong with this?
This is beautiful, right?
So finally we had to move on so we left and we get home
and I get this phone call or text or email.
I forget, but what did you do?
What do you mean?
We did good things there.
Don't you remember the roofs?
Yeah, a crowd like almost attacked our church saying
where's ours?
Okay, and you know, we heard they're giving away shoes
we heard and they're just overwhelming swarming them
and they said we told you not to do this and and now
they're rebuking me and I got a little irritated.
I'm still immature.
What can I say?
And so I was like, what are you kidding me after everything
we just did and now you're like rebuking us because
we just did that long.
You know, so anyway, it was a little rift there for a
tiny bit of time, but you know, but they were right
because they were in charge.
Like why would I think that I know better than them?
It's they're on the mountain.
They're serving day in day out.
I'm just a pop in and pop out, you know, it's like I
don't live there.
They know I don't you know, and that's when I really
and by the way the kid with the nice new shoes.
Okay, when a bigger kid without new shoes comes along
where do you think those shoes are going and it's
probably not going to be a nice peaceful transition.
Right and this is what happens.
I mean people get really hurt on missions, you know,
in these countries because someone wants something that
you have, you know, so anyway, so I say all that
because Barnabas understood.
I remember being down City Hall and serving down
there with Jerry Dover and the gang and this guy
comes up and hey, can you spare it, you know, and
it's a homeless ministry and everything, but I know
about her now.
I learned something.
I'm like, so I found Kevin Johnson.
I'm like, what do we do here?
Do you give stuff away and they didn't really have
it.
They should and maybe they do now.
They didn't have a hard fast rule like we don't
or we do or but he goes, you know, you just got
to be discerning and thinking I'm like, well, I
don't know.
It seems like a no to me because I just don't know
where that will lead.
You know, you don't know if they're about to go
around the corner and smoke or shoot or whatever
else and so we don't know.
So it's just important to really to honor the authority
that serves in that ministry because they know
better than us and this Barnabas had definitely
really shown that that he's a team player.
He honors the coach coach.
What do you want me to do?
Okay, I'm doing it and that's that's to be really
commended.
What's another quality of Barnabas that we can learn
from?
He was an encourager.
Right.
In fact, we just learned that they named him the
son of encouragement.
It wasn't even his name.
We're going to call you encouragement from now on,
you know, and it's like it's like me saying to
Dan you owners, do you mind be calling it happy
from now on?
You're happy.
Okay.
Well, I don't think you'd mind that but maybe a
little but you know, it's like that was his nickname
in a sense Barnabas, but he really was an encourager.
I mean after all he brought Saul into the church when
everybody else was afraid of him.
He was an encourager.
He saw potential in people that others were afraid
of or didn't understand or didn't even notice.
He just cared.
Remember when Barnabas and Saul were going on their
first missionary missions trip and he got his cousin
John Mark and he said come with this.
So they went with him and somewhere along the line
and like Pamphylia suddenly John Mark, we don't know
why but he went back home.
He either got afraid.
He got sick something and he went home.
Okay, and he just couldn't follow through.
So then over time, they're about to take another trip
past the same area and Barnabas is showing up and guess
who he has with him?
John Mark and like Paul's like, no way.
You're not bringing him again.
He failed.
He's not accepted.
But what's Barnabas?
He's the son of encouragement.
He sees John Mark his cousin.
He'd probably been ministering to him, encourage him.
Look, you know, it's okay.
We all fail.
Don't we all fail?
We all mess up.
We all sin.
He was probably saying the next time we're going to
do this, right?
Here's the next time and Paul saying no.
Okay.
Now, this is mighty Paul, right?
Now, remember Paul came from a religious background.
So probably things were more black and white to him,
you know, and a lot of us came from the same thing.
You know, it's like, no, no that but Paul saw more things
like how do we how do we yield?
How do we blend these two?
How do we make this work based on the resources we have?
And so he wanted to bring his cousin but Paul didn't and
so so much that it's accounted for there and acts chapter
15 37 to 40 that they got in an argument and they split
up. Barnabas brought his cousin to Cyprus, his home
country and and Paul brought Silas up to his ministry up
to a new place and ended up in Antioch and all that.
So they split up.
But my point is in the midst of this, Barnabas saw potential.
He was forgiving.
He was an encourager.
And he said, no, we're going to get this the next time.
We're going to do this.
Even if Paul doesn't believe in you, I do now.
I have a question who was right?
You know, I mean now, I'm not saying anyone was wrong
because God has a way of using everything.
You know what I mean?
Like God allowed that to take place because he probably
wanted Barnabas and John Mark to go to Cyprus not with
Paul up north.
Okay, so but we see that of course that John Mark was the
Gospel of Mark.
He did some good things, right?
He wrote probably the first gospel.
They some believe, you know, he became tight with Peter.
He became tight with with James and with Luke.
I mean, he became a fabric of the early church because
he was given a second chance.
Barnabas saw that in him and so much so that over time
Paul cherished John Mark and he became his friend.
They became tight.
Paul actually shared so many things with Mark about his ministry
and he writes about him in many letters saying that like
he's a good friend.
In fact, he wrote to Timothy the last thing he ever wrote
in this letter.
He said only Luke is with me get Mark and bring him with
you for he is useful to me for ministry.
So Barnabas saw something in John Mark that not even Paul
did and that's important as a Barnabas to be able to forgive.
I can fall in both areas sometimes.
Sometimes I just say oh see here we go again.
Matt not this time, but other times I could be so over
you know, I just give him another chicken and they keep doing
the same thing again and again.
I'm like, you know, it's like we just have to allow the
Lord to figure it out.
We're all going to make mistakes even in a leadership.
You just say, you know, I should have seen that coming
but I aired on forgiveness and encouragement, you know,
and then the last thing that we can be encouraged by
Barnabas is that he was like Jesus.
He was like Jesus, you know, in fact, it's written about
him in Acts chapter 11 verse 24.
Says for he was a good man full of the Holy Spirit and
of faith and a great many people were added to the
Lord. I mean, there's Barnabas just just allowing the
Holy Spirit to guide him.
Are we going to get it right every time?
No, but when we do it's so sweet to see how God can
use John marks how he can use me.
You know, after failure upon failure to say know what
but I still forgive you.
You're still welcome.
You're still invited as the worship team comes forward.
I just would like to encourage us about some things.
How do we fit in?
How to fit in?
I have some just amazing takeaways here.
It's so just practical sense and yet so true spiritual sense
too. Just know that you do.
You know, just knowing that I belong not because I deserve
it, but because I was chosen by the King.
I was chosen.
I was adopted in.
I did nothing to earn anything, but I still belong.
I don't have to keep trying to prove myself.
Remember Peter always trying to prove himself before
he was really born again to Jesus.
Look, look, I can do this.
I'm going to look Lord.
Let me protect you.
Okay, because he was always trying to prove himself and
you know, we don't have to prove ourselves.
I love you know when people come in and they just just
like enjoy the fabric the chemistry of our community and
just allow that to really play out and they can start
to discern who everyone is what everybody does and then
they start to see a need and like well, I can do that if
you want me to do that, you know, as opposed to coming
in and saying no, I know I'm better than everybody in
here to do that, you know, and we've had that too, you
know, you really need me.
That's when you know, look out right because the Lord
doesn't need any of us.
He chooses to use us, but he doesn't need us.
You know, thank God.
He doesn't need me or we'd all be in trouble, right?
I'd be in trouble.
Next thing is recognize your Barnabas.
You'll recognize who the Lord has placed in your life
that is saying come on like come on in Colin, you know,
I remember when we first met we started having that
small cell group.
I'm just thinking man, he and Lara, they're just so
precious, you know, and just feeling like we want
them here and the Lord chose, well, they're going
to be part of you guys and it's so exciting to just
see people come in and just find their place and
find where they can best serve and fit in and be
part of the church family.
Just recognize your Barnabas.
You know, I love these sports that we've been getting
into recently other than the injuries.
Okay, everybody's limping or something else around
here, you know, but you know, the softball first
and you know, and then the soccer and now I hear
there's going to be pickleball and Ray, we got
to get you involved in that.
You can do some training there, but and whatever
else they're going to do, but like that that there's
people that suddenly says, well, I can do that.
I was just talking to Leo about his jujitsu.
Training and how people are getting plugged into
that and how much fun that is, you know, and and
just be able to enjoy one another's company, but
there's a place for everyone if we'll just like
see where he wants us and and recognize those
people who are the Barnabas is to us.
I've had so many over my lives.
It's just like my life that just, you know,
welcomed me in and introduced me to others and
then at that point, it's like I'm here, but now
you're meeting them.
I'm okay with letting go.
It's just like John the Baptist said, you know,
I must decrease but he must increase or vice versa,
but don't follow me anymore. Follow him.
Yeah, that's all all of us are.
We're connectors to Jesus Christ in the end.
Isn't it? We're all pointing to him just like
Jesus be the center of it all.
You know, that's really what we want him to
be the center of us.
He's the strong force that holds us together and
then finally be a Barnabas to someone else.
Are we paying attention to who's around us and
asking questions?
You know, I want to know more about you.
You know, where did you come from?
What was what's your story all about?
I love asking people, you know, like what they
do for a living just to kind of because I've
been in mortgages 40 years.
So I'm always asking that question.
Okay, and but like just figure out where they
spend their time all day what they do because
they don't listen to picture really great at
this, you know, and connecting people.
I love this whole idea of Barnabas because it's
not about Barnabas.
It's about the Lord being glorified through
his body of saints.
So let's stand up and we'll pray and thank
the Lord for moving powerfully.
Father God, we thank you Lord that you fit us
together in your family.
You have adopted us and we belong to you.
And Lord God, we ask you to just help us if
there's pride Lord that we're still trying
to prove ourselves to you and others.
Lord God, we don't have to strive for approval.
We don't have to strive for your approval.
We don't have to strive for other people's
approval Lord God.
You've already brought us in.
We already belong to you and you don't
throw anybody out.
So Lord God, we just ask you Lord to tear away
just to just burn away any pride that we feel
we need to prove we're better than someone else.
Lord God, Lord we ask you to help us not be
insecure on the other side of that coin,
not be insecure and timid and apprehensive
about volunteering in areas that maybe we're
not extremely comfortable with or maybe it's
been a long time since we've done those things.
But Lord, you know, if you if you want to call
us into something, it's you who will finish
the race Lord God.
You know, you who began a good work will
complete it in Christ Jesus.
Lord God, we just want to be at your disposal.
And if you want us to use gifts that we that
you've given us to serve you Lord God,
we don't want to be timid about it.
Just like Paul said to Timothy, you know,
he gave us a spirit of power, love and
self-discipline, not timidity and not fear.
Help us be confident in what you want us to do
Lord God and Lord help us be the Barnabas of
the church.
Help us see value in people Lord God and
not write them off.
Like perhaps even Paul did instead Lord that
you would help us see the real value and
significance that that you have for them Lord
and and see the reason for them to be plugged
in in their best place Lord God.
We want to be those who welcome in just like
you did Lord God.
You're always inviting people to your kingdom.
Lord God, you're always drawing them in.
Lord help us be those that draw people into
your kingdom to serve you Lord God.
We want to see others the way you see them even
better than ourselves.
Value them Lord God over ourselves and to long
to see you you that you use them in whatever
way you have.
So Lord, thank you Lord.
We love you.
We thank you for this body of believers Lord
and the great things you're doing in each one
of our lives.
We thank you in Jesus name.
Amen.
Thanks for joining us at Lansdale Life Church
as we praise God and discuss His word.
Don't forget to join us for worship live Sunday
mornings at 10 a.m. Eastern on YouTube.
Be blessed and have a great day.