The Encourager
Contents:
- Continental Philosophy: A Contemporary Introduction (Routledge Contemporary Introductions to Philoso.
- Select Your Gift Amount:;
- The Encourager Podcast.
- Black Tuna Diaries.
- Encouragement for the Encourager.
- Walking San Diego: Where to Go to Get Away from It All.
He could not defend Mark and be as compassionate as Barnabas. Paul was more hard nosed, but that too was a needed characteristic in the church, for there were con-men galore deceiving Christians. Barnabas was the type that would be taken in, for he was too open to give everyone a chance. The church needed people like Paul to protect the church, and so we see that all kinds of personalities are needed for balance. But we can thank God for those who are like Barnabas, for encouragement is a universal need.
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Many feel that it was the character of Barnabas that led the Christians at Antioch to be first called Christians. It could very well be that we owe the very name Christian to this Christ-like man. Gary Smalley in his book The Blessing tells of how one teacher gave him the encouragement he needed to change his life. When he was in grade school he could not get math, and it was still a problem for him in college.
He had to repeat geometry in his senior year and it looked like he was going to fail again. The teacher reinforced the sense of failure by putting the failing students along the back wall. One Monday he dragged himself into the class room to be seated with all the other failures in the back row.
Then his life was suddenly changed, for there was a substitute teacher. The regular teacher had been assigned to a different district. It is hard to believe that a teacher can make so much difference, but listen to the testimony in Smalley's own words, and you will feel the power of a Barnabas in action.
While I didn't realize it at the time, he actually. He did this by providing us. Whether that meant his staying after school to tutor us. Smalley goes on to say that the whole attitude of the class was changed, and at the end of the year everyone passed. He even received his first A in math. We have no idea how many lives this teacher encouraged. He was one of those behind the scenes people who never got his own name up in lights, but he encouraged others to go on and do their best so that they became famous and helpful to many others.
We tend to scold and criticize the weaknesses of children, but the approach of encouragement motivates children to go beyond their weakness and be over comers. The best people in care giving professions are those who see the opportunities to be a Barnabas. Barnabas went out of his way to encourage people. He put himself through great inconvenience and sacrificed what would have been best for him.
The surprising thing is that it is possible to be a Barnabas often by just saying words of encouragement. It sometimes cost far less in stress and tension to be an encourager than to be a discourager. Sherman Rogers, the industrialist writer, tells of the day he was made foreman of a logging camp in Idaho.
He was planning on firing a spiteful worker named Tony whose job it was to sand hill number two so the giant sleds would not run down men and horses working that area. The owner of the camp came to him before he took any action and said, "Whatever you do don't bother Tony. He's cantankerous and a holy terror sometimes, but I've never had a better sander. Not a man or horse has ever been lost on his hill. Roger's later that morning met Tony by the fire where he was warming sand to throw on the icy hill. He said, "Good morning.
I'm the new foreman. The boss told me what a good man you are. Tony had tears running down his face.
He said, "Why didn't he tell me that before? Thank you, thank you! That night Tony was the talk of the teamsters.
The next day he threw enough sand to cover a dozen hills, and he joked and smiled all day. He went on to become the superintendent of one of the biggest logging camps in the West. He said to Mr. Rogers many years later, "That one minute you talked to me back in Idaho changed my whole life.
Saint Barnabas Episcopal Church
Rogers only passed on an encouraging message. It cost him nothing, but the owner could have done it, but did not do it. He was not necessarily a mean man, but he just was not a Barnabas, for he did not realize what a difference it could make to a man to have some encouraging words. Masses of people could be encouragers, but they just never think about it, and never realize the power they have to encourage by simple acts of kindness and words of encouragement.
Barnabas never held a man's past against him. So what if you were a bloody tyrant in the past, and you hurt and killed innocent people? Such was Paul, but Barnabas took him in as a friend and encouraged him to a better future. So what if you were a coward and betrayed your friends in the past? Such was Mark, but Barnabas accepted him for what he could become and not for what he was, and he became great.
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Others looked to the past and said how awful, but Barnabas looked to the future and said how awesome. May God richly bless you for how you have refreshed us and may you not grow weary! Who are your e ncouragers? Send them a word of thanks this week. Just like all the other gifts they too need encouragement. They need to know their words have made a difference and have made a lasting impact! Notify me of follow-up comments by email.
Notify me of new posts by email. March 5, Encouragement for the Encourager. The encourager's heart is big as a mountain They want us too to drink from that fountain With love in their heart not thinking of self They encourage us often to get off the shelf. They're special in that their work goes right on When they move on to Glory to be with the Son The lives that they touch are inspired to be bold And follow the path that God has unrolled.
They touch all our lives and show us a light A new path to follow and a deeper insight He chose certain ones to help us along But for that one person you'd not hear this song. Others have encouraged me in the past. I recall specifically a wise, old pastor who encouraged me as a young fourteen year old boy.
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His arm draped over my shoulder and his encouraging words will always be remembered. So many Christians I come across want to be a pastor, or a missionary, or an evangelist, or a great Bible teacher, and these things are fine, if that is what God has called you to do. But what if He hasn't? Unfortunately, I have witnessed many who are in the pastorate, who in my opinion, missed their calling, and it shows. If you are one of those who really has a concern for the welfare of another, and just can't help yourself in trying to assist them, God has probably called you to one of His greatest ministries.
But as I said earlier, even if this isn't our specific calling, we can still practice this wonderful means of helping another brother or sister in Christ. Has anyone ever encouraged you to do better, or try this, or think about that? What a blessing it would be to pass it on. Besides, you may have functioned as an encourager with another, and never realized it. This is why we should be careful in what we say to others.
Here again, we see Barnabas living up to his name of Encourager. He understood what God was doing in bringing gentiles (non-Israelites) into. Some people are put on this earth to encourage the rest of us. In fact – each one of us can probably think of someone like that in our lives – and they are such.
They may just take it seriously. Another great thing about being an encourager, as the song says, is that their work goes right on after they leave this world. Lives go in new directions because of them. Someone will forever remember them, because of the light they helped to shine in another person's life.
A successful ministry will be developed because someone encouraged another.