Be A Barnabas

Acts 4:32-11:25

Be A Barnabas

Introduction

A. I’m sure you all remember my Roommate Barnabas

B. I had so much fun getting to know him while we shared an apartment

C. One night we were talking about his name

D. Actually he has about 20 names.

E. I asked him one night to tell me all his names It was amazing

F. I never knew that you could have that many names

G. I am not sure when he picked up Barnabas

H. When he got the name Barnabas he did not know what it meant

I. He then started to study the Bible

J. He found out that Barnabas meant Son of Encouragement

K. He liked his name so much more after that

L. Why did he like his name?

M. We are going to look at Barnabas of the Bible today

N. WE are going to see why My Barnabas liked that name

O. WE are going to look at Barnabas’s

a. Open Pockets

b. Open Acceptance

c. And Open Speech

I. Open Pocket (Acts 4:32-37)

A. Explanation

1. Read 4:32-37

2. Notice what is going on here

3. There functioning in a way that had never happened before of since then

4. The church is acting as a unified group

5. There was not a division; they were all working toward the same goal.

6. Now notice in hear there is a man named Joseph

7. Now the Apostles Got board of calling him Joseph and gave him a more appropriate name

8. Barnabas which means son of encouragement

9. Look what Barnabas does

10. He sells his land and give the money to the apostles

11. Wow! I am sure that the apostles were encouraged with this rather large gift.

B. Application

1. So what can we learn from this?

2. Pastor Dan are you telling me to sell my house and give all the money to the church?

3. Are you telling me to give all that I owe to the church?

4. Lets see hear, it said he sold a field, I imagine his home was not on the field it was an extra piece of land he owned

5. But, this gift is a sacrificial gift

6. We do not like to talk about sacrificial anything

7. We do not like that word sacrificial

8. God never commands you to give up everything and become homeless, you have to have some common sense

C. Illustration

1. WE have a girl working at the Lighthouse right now who loves to give sacrificially. The first time that I heard about her she was living in a tent. She was doing this not because she could not afford a house it was simply a way to try and live cheep. What she does with that money that she saves she gives it away.

2. We serve a God who promises to supply all our needs

3. It takes a big step to give sacrificially

4. Give it a try, you might find out that you like it

5. Follow Barnabas’s example be an open pocket person

II. Open Acceptance

A. Explanation

1. Now lets review some of our Bible History, In Particular, Paul or Saul

2. Now Saul as we remember hated that Christians hated them so much in fact that he killed many of them. Remember two weeks ago Stephen, Saul was part of that

3. Well Saul experiences this what has came to be known as Damascus Road Experience

4. Let pick up the story from there (Read Acts 9:19-31)

5. Lets key in the part about coming to the apostles.

6. Now the apostles did not trust him, hey give them a break a couple weeks ago he was trying to kill them, would you trust that guy?

7. But there was Barnabas. Barnabas the encourager

8. He convinced the apostles to let Paul join them

9. So Paul got to tell them his story and gain acceptance

10. If it were not for Barnabas, think about how the history of this world would be different. If the apostles would not have gotten to know Him, wow, He changed the world

B. Application

1. How can we apply this to our lives?

2. We need to be Barnabas’s

3. Nobody wanted to trust Saul

4. Nobody wanted anything to do with Saul

5. However, Barnabas was willing to risk his reputation

6. Willing to just give this guy a chance

7. We are to judgmental

8. WE tend to think, why should we deal with this person, he isn’t a good person

9. You know what people change

10. God changes people

11. Do not stand in the way of a changed life, do not discourage them

12. Be an Encourager

13. Be a Barnabas.