Encouragement and Appreciation
1 Samuel 25:1-13 Luke 17:11-19 Pastor Appreciation Day GNLCC 10/21/2001
When you ask for the name of a great apostle in the Scriptures, the two names that most easily come to mind are the Apostle Paul and the Apostle Peter. But one apostle that plays a critical role in the New Testament is the Apostle Barnabus. Barnabus’s name means “Son of Encouragement.” W hen the Apostle Paul was first starting out in his ministry, he became very discouraged. Before Paul became a Christian, he had a reputation of arresting Christians, putting them in jail, and voting in favor of them being put to death. Christians were terrified of him. When Paul became a Christian, many believers thought he was putting on act. They felt he simply wanted to get their names, find out where they live, and then sick the dogs on them.
Paul was very discouraged after becoming a Christian, because the people he use to hang with hated him as a traitor, and the people he wanted to hang with all thought he was a phony. Along comes the Apostle Barnabus whom God sends to be an encourager to Paul. He embraced Paul when no other leaders would. When the Christians were terrified, again Barnabus comes with words of encouragement to them which removes their fears. His encouragement led to their acceptance of Paul, and the possibility for ministry for the Lord greatly expanded.
Barnabus’s original name was Joseph. But when the church had a financial need, he went and sold a field that he had and brought the money to the apostles and laid it at their feet to be used for others. He may have been the first to do so, since he is the only one named. From that moment of personal sacrifice on his behalf, Joseph became Barnabus, the Son of Encouragment.
Paul and Barnabus worked for a year together in Antioch with the first Gentiles to give their lives to Christ. Under their ministry so many people had their lives changed by the power of Christ, that believers were first called Christians in Antioch. “Look at those little messiahs running around” were the comments made by those outside the faith.
When Paul was journeying though the rough area of Pamphylia, wondering if it could get much worse in terms of travel and living conditions, Barnabus was ther by his side. When Paul was ran out of the in Pisidia, they had to run Barnabus out too because he was preaching just as boldy. He was there to encourage Paul when they were chased out of Iconium. They both were targets of an assassination plot for preaching. When Paul was stoned in Lystra, Barnabus was there to encourage him and to help him get back up. They even went back into a city together that they had been kicked out of previously. It was Paul and Barnabus together who encouraged the new disciples to remain true to the faith. They said, “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.”
Everybody that is involved in ministry needs a Barnabus in their lives to keep them going in times of difficulty and to keep them laughing when things are going well. We are very proud to say that you, the congregation of Glenville New Life Community Church and the saints at New Life Fellowship are our Barnabus in ministry. We have come a long way as a church. Other churches in our denomination look at us and marvel at what the Lord has done in our midst. It could not have happened without the encouragement that you have provided to us as your leaders.
When we first started out in ministry, there was an elderly saint who did not hear to well or see to well, but she came to church almost every Sunday regardless of the weather. Her name was Mrs. Elliott. It wasn’t that she expected to hear a dynamic message each Sunday. I heard her tell another member, “we have to come to church so as to encourage the minister.” Nothing encourages us like your presence. We are encouraged when you show up for worship, for Life-Sharing and Pioneers, for bible study, for marriage sensation, for sisters in the Lord, for singles meeting, and for men who excel. Barnabus did not send Paul his greetings from a distant, he was there by Paul’s side when he was able to be there.
We are encouraged by your willingness to serve the Lord by giving of yourselves in our young people through youth the music, teaching, and outreach ministries of the church. You see our purpose is to equip people for the ministry of Jesus Christ. The ministry of Christ comes in so many forms. We are encouraged by those of you who do so many things in the background and never need to be noticed for it. Some of you will grab a broom or a mop in an instant when you see there is a need. Some of you are eager to be the support people in your organization. You may never sing a solo, but you’re faithful to the choir, because you want it to be the best it can be for Jesus Christ. You’re like Barnabus willing to be in the background for the Lord.
In our Old Testament reading, David was going through a very difficult period in his life. King Saul was pursuing him to put him to death. David had gotten a group of about 600 men to follow him, and they made up his army. David had to find a way to try to keep these men fed. As they were traveling, they came to an area called Maon. A Man by the name of Nabal lived there, and he was very wealthy with 3,000 sheep and a 1,000 goats.
No doubt, by the size of David’s troops, they could have gone in and taken whatever they wanted from the shepherds. Some of the men probably wanted to do just that. But David insisted they take a different approach. Raiding bands would often come and steal from large herds, but David set up his men in such a way that others were afraid to attack Nabal’s flocks. Wild animals would often sneak in and grab an animal or two and run for it, but not while David’s men were there with the flock. It’s hard to calculate the amount of money Nabal saved by having this free protection or the amount of money saved through no loss of livestock.
Then came the time of shearing the animals in which the money was made from the wool. It was a time of rejoicing and celebration for the workers. David sent a few of his men to make a request on his behalf. He said, “Now Mr. Nabal, we heard that its celebration and cash in time. All the time we were with your shepherds, we never mistreated them, we made sure nobody them, and if you count your animals, you will see that not a single one of them his been missing since we came on board. Now whatever you think our labor was worth to you, send it by these men to us.”
Nabal basically said, “I don’t know who you are, I didn’t ask you to do it, and I’m not going to give you a dime, so quit wasting my time.” Have you ever gone out of your way to do something for someone, and hope they would show a little appreciation for what you have done, only to hear the same kind of remark.s “I did not ask for it. I do not owe you anything.” Nabal suffered from a severe case of non-appreciaitis. It is a disease that hits when we fail to appreciate what others have done on our behalf whether we requested it or not. Within 24 hours, this man who thought he had it all, and did not have to give up anything, had a massive heart attack and was dead within ten days. Non-appreciaitis had killed him off. Some of us have lost some great opportunities in life because we allowed ourselves to be inflicted with the disease of non-appreciaitis.
Jesus ran into the same problem in one of our New Testament texts. There Jesus was minding his own business as he entered a village. A group of 10 men with the disease of leprosy started yelling at him from a distance. Because of their disease, they were kept in isolation from everybody else. The only friends they had were each other. They wanted to be healed, and they knew Jesus was there only hope. They took the initiative and started yelling, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us! Jesus looked at them with a tremendous compassion for them in his heart. He said to them, “Go show yourselves to the priest.” As they went, the ugly sores on their bodies began to heal, the twisted hands began to straighten out, the blotches of skin color began to change, and they began to look just like everybody else.
They began to scream and yell, and give high fives. They began to think what they were going to be able to do now. They probably ran to the priest to get that stamp of approval. All of the ten did, except the one. The one remembered what his life had been, and that somebody had come along and made a difference. That somebody was Jesus. Before he could think of how he was going to enjoy himself, he had to go find the one who made it possible. He went back to Jesus, and this time instead of yelling at a distance, he fell right at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. That one brought joy into Jesus’ heart.
Jesus says, “Something is wrong here. Were there not 10 people healed. Where are the other nine. Did everybody so quickly forget about God and saying thank you Lord, except for this foreigner. You see the one who came back to say thanks, was supposedly the one that did not even know God. This man’s heart was filled with appreciation. Saints have you ever been so grateful for a gift, that you forgot about the Giver It was because he returned with appreciation that Jesus told him, “Rise and go, your faith has made you well.” Learning to be appreciative of what God has done for us, and what others do for us is a major step forward in being made well.
When members in our families show appreciation for what we have done it makes us want to do even more. When a boss shows appreciation for the work we do, it makes us want to be even better employees. When we show appreciation to God for what the Lord has done, God delights to do even more. Wouldn’t like for God to be able to brag on you, like He bragged on Job. “Have you seen my servant Job lately.”
When people look at where the Lord has brought our church from to where it is today, they think there is a formula or a plan that can be easily reproduced. But a lot of what has happened here is do to the abundance or appreciation that exists in this congregation. You have demonstrated your appreciation to us again and again and again. We have appreciated your willingness to strive to be faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ.
We appreciate that we are your pastors. You did not have to choose us, but being led by the spirit, you believed that God had sent us here to make a difference in your lives. We appreciated your commitment to us, that as God prospered you, you in turn would be a blessing to us. We started out each as ½ time pay position, while working full time. But we believed God and that ½ time went to ¾ times, and on to full time. It took us 7 years to get to two full time positions, but because of your love for us and our love for you and the faith we had in God, we made it. We are humbled that each month many of you vote in remembrance of that commitment you made to us, by contributing to the pastor’s full time salary fund. That fund does not increase our salary, it simply makes our salary possible. We are honored to say, Glenville is the only church of our size membership in the Presbytery that pays for two full time pastors.
We appreciate that we are part of a church that had made us feel as though we were a part of their families. We have had wonderful dinners in your homes, and on your lawns, after baptisms, weddings, and graduations. We have had many of you not wait for a holiday to do something nice, you simply baked us a cake or a pie and brought it to church. Others have given us gift certificates to go out and eat. We really appreciate you giving us enough work to do to keep us running in order to run off all the calories you have attempted to have us eat.
We appreciate your acceptance of us and our family as not being perfect, but striving to show how Christ works in a home. We have brought in numerous kids with all kinds of behavioral problems, but your arms have accepted and received them all. You’ve even graciously accepted out dogs Faith and Hope. You’ve allowed us to show you, that we have had the same family struggles that many of you have had.
We appreciate your adoption of us as your own children. How many of you women have had to stop Pastor Rick and untwist his tie or remind him to comb his hair. Many of you have noticed that Pastor Toby’s purse has been in need of serious repair or that her calendar was falling apart, and instead of saying something, you simply went and got another one.
We appreciate your willingness to look out for our emotional, physical, and spiritual health. We have had sessions that have always been willing to give us whatever time off we requested when we requested it, or to send us to whatever conference we wanted to attend to grow in the Lord. We will never forget Session and the Lay Pastors demand, that we stay away for another week at the time of death of our brother, and forbidded us to even think about worrying about the church during that time.
We appreciate your willingness to grow in God. We are church willing to look beyond yourselves in order to impact the lives of others. Some of you are making some real sacrifices to bring our New Life Center into being. Every time we as a congregation have accepted a challenge in faith, we have worked together to make it happen. We appreciate the Spirit in this church, that if God has called us to do something, God will make a way for it to get done. Not having something has never kept us from getting a vision and believing that with God, all things are possible.
We appreciate being pastors of a church which boldly declares, “Our purpose is to bring people into a right relationship with God, and to equip them for the ministry of Jesus Christ, by teaching the word, and by providing opportunities to worship, fellowship and serve God in a loving and caring community.”A. OT Reading—David Difficult Period In Life
1. Saul Pursuing To Kill Him
2. 600 Men Army—Got To Feed Them
3. Traveling To Maon Nabal Very Wealthy
4. 3,000 Sheep 1, 000 Goats Could Take It
5. Raiding Herds---David Troops
6. Wild Animals—David Troops
7. Nabal Saved $$$ Nabal –No Lost Animals
B. The Time Of Shearing & Celebration
1. Wool, Making Money, Slaying Animals
2. David To Mr. Nabal, Proper Treatment
3. Protection Service, Nothing Missing
C. The Reply From Nabal
1. Don’t Know You, Didn’t Ask, Get Lost
2. Ever Did Something With No Appreciation
3. Same Remarks Thrown Back At You
4. Nabal Suffered Severe Case Of non-
Appreciaitis
5. Disease Hits When We Don’t Appreciate
6. It Was All His---24 Hr Heart Attack 10 Days
7. Non-Appreciaitis Had Killed Him
8. Ever Lost Great Opportunities Because Of NA
D. Jesus Ran Into Problem Of NA
1. Minding His Business Entering Village
2. Shout Of 10 With Leprosy From A Distance
3. Kept In Isolation—Separated—Jesus Only
Hope
4. Jesus, Master Have Pity On Us
5. Jesus—Compassion—Go Show Yourself
6. As They Went—Ugly Sores, Twisted Hands,
Skin Blotches---Back To Normal Again
7. Yells, Screams—High Fives , What They Will Do
8. Ran At Top Speed---All But One
9. Remembered Somebody Had Made A Difference
10. Had To Go Back To Jesus—Not At A Distance
Fell At His Feet & Thanked
E. Jesus Was Puzzled By It All—Where Are The 9
1. How Could They So Quickly Forget
2. Ever Loved The Gift & Forgot The Giver
3. Rise And Go, Your Faith Made You Well.
4. Learning To Be Appreciative—First Step
F. The Power Of Appreciation
1. In Family, From The Boss, From God
2. Let God Brag On You—Have You Seen
H. Key To Our Church Success—Not In Formula
1. Due To The Abundance Of Appreciation
2. Your Appreciation Of Us, Ours Of You
I. Appreciate Being The Pastors Of This Church
1. Choose Us, Believing The Spirit Of God
2. Appreciate Your Commitment To Prosper Us
As God Prospered You!
3. ½ time ¾ time Full Time 7year Journey
4. Your Love For Us, Our For You, Both For God
5. Humbled By Your Monthly Vote-Full Time
Salary
6. You Chose To Make Us High Priority.
J. Appreciate Being Included As Family
1. Dinners, homes, lawns, baptisms, weddings,
birthdays, holidays
2. Cakes, Pies, Certificates, Cash,
3. Plenty Work To Get Rid Of Calories
K. Appreciate Your Acceptance Of Our Family As
Not Being Perfect—But Striving To Show Christ
1. Brought In Many Kids Through Foster Care
2. Received Our Dogs Faith & Hope
3. Saw We Have Similar Family Struggles
L. Appreciate Your Adoption Of Us As Your
Children
1. See Us As Pastors—You As Parents
2. Pastor Rick’s Ties, Cloths, Hair, Shoes
3. Pastor Toby’s Purse, Calendar—Replaced
M. Appreciate Willingness To Look Out For Health
1. Emotional, Physical, & Spiritual
2. Sessions Yes—Time Off, Conferences, Support
3. Session & Lay Pastors Demand—Take A Week
4. Forbidden To Do Any Worrying
N. Appreciate Your Willingness To Grow In God
1. Look Beyond Ourselves To Impact Others
2. Sacrifices For The Life Center
3. Acceptance Of Faith Challenges
O. Appreciate The Spirit In The Church—Try It For
God
1. Not Having Something—Not Enough
P. Appreciate Being A Part Which Boldly Declares:
Our Purpose is to bring people…….
