Overflow: Week 4

Well, welcome to Church of the Cross, saying my name

is Andrew.

If you're new, I'm so glad that you decided to

be here today. I want to pray and invite you

to pray with me as we prepare to hear from

God's word.

Let's pray.

Father, God, thank you for your grace and your presence. God,

thank you for all that we are celebrating today. God,

thank you for the lives that are being changed, people

who are being saved, families that are being transformed because

of the power of Jesus. And so God, right now,

in these next few moments, we have come to hear

from You, We have come to experience you. We have

come with open hearts and open minds for more of

You God. So in the name of Jesus, we silence distraction,

we silence doubt, we silence fear in the name of Jesus,

so that we can receive more of your love today.

And we pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

This message series that we've been in is called Overflow,

and we're looking at the Book of Acts in the Bible,

which is all about the first century Christians, the first

church that Jesus launched before he returned back to Heaven.

Many of these people knew Jesus. Many of these people

walked with Jesus. And if you look at Acts closely,

you will find that Church at the Crossing shares a

lot of things in common with the Book of Acts.

There's similarities between the Church of Acts and Church of

the Crossing.

Let me highlight a few of the similarities. First, the Church.

Of Acts baptizes a lot of people. Well, as we

saw today, we are baptizing people and there are more

people already signing up for baptism next month.

Praise God that you we can celebrate that. Please.

The Church in the Book of Acts was a multi

ethnic church, many languages, many nationalities.

Church at the.

Crossing is becoming a multi cultural church. In fact, there

is while I'm speaking, there is a Spanish speaking translator

speaking into a rage, so some of our Spanish speaking

folks can hear what I'm saying. Today, we are becoming

multicultural here at Church of the Crossing.

Just like the Book of Acts. In Acts, the Church

cared for those in need, those.

Who were marginalized. Here at Church of the Crossing we

care about our neighbors. Just yesterday, our neighborhood market was

open on Saturday, and we hosted a free legal aid

clinic and there were more than sixty families served, who

got groceries, who got legal support. That's just like what

the Book of Acts was doing. In Acts, chapter six,

you read about the church taking care.

Of the widows in the church.

Just this week, I met with a volunteer leader who's

organizing a team who's going to be helping serve some

of our women, some of our widows, our single moms

in our church this fall with some yard.

Cleanup and leaf removal.

Church at the Crossing is becoming like the Church in Acts.

There's a lot of similarities. And can I tell you

what the defining.

Characteristic of the Church of Acts was That the prominent characteristic.

They were united. The Church in Acts was united.

Let me show you look at Acts four, verse thirty two.

All the believers were one in heart and mind. No

one claimed that any of their possessions was their own,

but they shared.

Everything they had with great power.

The apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the

Lord Jesus Christ and grace. God's grace was so powerfully

at work in them in them all. This church was united.

They were in one heart, one mind. They were united.

They were together. And Church of the Crossing is a

united church. I believe there are two things that unite

Church of the Crossing. We are united by the Gospel,

and we are united for a mission. This is what

unites us. The text that we just read, it says

the apostles were testifying to the resurrection of Jesus.

This is the gospel. The gospel unites us.

And if you're listening to me, and you might have

some confusion you know about what the gospel is, or

you have not heard the gospel, let me.

Share as clearly and simply as I can.

The gospel. Gospel means good news. There's the good news

of Jesus. Listen to me. It's the good news of Jesus.

But it starts with some bad news. The bad news

is that you and I are sinners. We are all sinners,

and because of our sin, we're separated from God and

we deserve to die and spend e turnity in hell

because of sin, and there's nothing we can do about it.

That's the bad news. But God, in his love, here's

the good news. God in his love sent Jesus, who

lived a perfect life, no sin. And then Jesus offered

his life as a sacrifice. He paid for our sin

when he died on the cross. Jesus died the death

that you deserve, so you can live the life that

he deserves. And when Jesus rose from the dead, he

secured your eternal life in heaven. So if you put

your faith in Jesus, you will be saved. This is

the gospel. The gospel is what unites.

Us and reunited for a mission.

The text we read just it says that God's grace

was so powerfully at work in them all.

God's power is at work in us.

Were united for a mission to bring the gospel to

our community, to bring the good news to our neighborhoods,

to point people to Jesus, to bring light into darkness.

This is our mission.

Church at the Crossing is a united church. I love

my church. Do you love your church? I love my church.

In fact, did you know that our church helped choose

the name for my son.

My son's name is Shepherd.

He's about eight months old, and our church helped name him.

I'll tell you the story.

So before Shepherd was born, Lorne and I did not.

Have a name selected. We did not have any unity

about which name to pick.

We had three names in mind, and when Shepherd was born,

I tested out each of the names with him. I

tried calling him each name, and when I called him Shepherd,

I think he responded. I think he moved his eyes

and tilted his head, and I think he liked the name.

But we were still undecided. In fact, when the birth

certificate people came into the room, we pushed him out.

No, come back later. We'll give you a name when

we're ready.

That next morning, Daryl from our church, who's the chaplain

at the hospital, came to visit us, and he did

not know what name.

We were thinking about.

He only knew him as baby Miller, and so Daryl

prayed for baby Miller, and then Darryl recited Psalm twenty.

Three, The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not lack.

And then later that afternoon, pastors Jose and Patricia from

our church came to visit us, and they did not

know what names we were thinking. They only knew him

as baby Miller. They prayed for baby Miller, and then

Jose recited Psalm twenty three, The Lord is my shepherd,

I shall not lack. So we knew his name must

be shepherd, And so his name has this story. His

name has significant meaning for us because our church helped

name our baby boy in Acts chapter four. We're gonna

meet somebody who has a very significant name with a

powerful meaning.

Look at Acts chapter four with me. God's grace was

so powerfully at.

Work in them all that there were no needy persons

among them. From time to time, those who owned land

or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales

and put it at the apostles feet, and it was

distributed to anyone who had need. Joseph A Levi from Cyprus,

whom the Apostles called Barnabas.

Everyone say Barnabas.

Barnabas, which means son of encouragement, sold a field he

owned and brought the money and put it at.

The apostles feet. So here we meet Barnabas.

And Barnabas sold some property, and he donated all the

money to the church for the mission of the gospel.

He was a generous person. And what is his name me?

The text tells us that Barnabas means son of encouragement,

son of encouragement. From here on, Barnabas is always called Barnabas.

Never again is he called by his given names. You're

gonna read about him twenty three more times in the

Book of Acts, and he's always called Barnabas because he's

so encouraging, he's so helpful, he's so supportive.

And so here's the big idea today.

I want to share one message, one point that I

want all of us to remember today.

Be like Barnabas. This is the main point today. Be

like Barnabas.

And so I'm gonna ask you, and I want to

hear you say, who do you want to be like Barnabas.

I believe Barnabas was so encouraging, so supportive.

So on mission that he just got this nickname, Son

of Encouragement. Do you know somebody that is so encouraging,

somebody that you feel so good, they lift your mood.

Like you just want to be around that person.

I have a relative like that, my uncle Marty, and

he is just so encouraging that I want to be

around him as much as I can. I look forward

to seeing him and talking with because he encourages me,

he believes in me. My uncle Marty's a pastor at

another church and he encourages my ministry. Last year, he

texted me that he was in Indianapolis for a day,

and I moved my schedule around and changed things so

that I could go have lunch with him, because I

just want to be with him.

He's so encouraging.

When I was eighteen years old and considering moving to

Pennsylvania to intern out of church, I called Uncle Marty

and he encouraged me to go for it.

He's wise, he's discerning.

When I was thinking about moving to Indianapolis to a

church at the Crossing, I called Uncle Marty.

And he encouraged me to go for it.

He gives me wisdom and counsel and advice, and I

just love hearing from him. The church needs people like that.

Your family needs people like that. Where you work, where

you go to school needs people like that. Where we

live needs more people like Barnabas Church of the Crossing.

It needs people like Barnabas who are encouraging and support

church unity.

So let me hear you.

Who do you want to be like Barnabas? Want to

be like Barnabas. Now, Barnabas is not the only person

that we meet in this text.

In Acts chapter five, we meet a couple.

Named Anonyus and Saphira, and Anonys and Saphira are completely

different than Barnabas. When I read Acts chapter five, it

makes me think about some of those memes that are

on the internet.

There's these memes that say there are two types of people,

two kinds of people.

Like here's an example. Let me let me see you

raise your hand. How many of you have a clean inbox?

Okay? How many of you have an overwhelming inbox? Right now?

All right, let's let's see this one. There are two

types of people. How many of you have one alarm

on your phone? How many of you have multiple alarms?

Very good? Now here's a controversial one. When it comes

to string cheese.

How many of you peel the string cheese? And now

how many of you are savages? All right, here's the

last one. Here's the last one. Uh, well, this one.

There's three types of people. If you're number three, see

me after. I'll recommend a therapist. For Acts chapter five,

there are two types of people. There are those who

read AX five and there are those who skip AX five.

You'll see what I mean. Look at ax five with me.

Now, a man named Annonius, together with his wife Saphirah,

also sold a piece of property with his.

Wife's full knowledge.

He kept back part of the money for himself, but

brought the rest and put at the apostles feet. Then

Peter said, Annonius, how is it that Satan has so

filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy

Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money

you receive for the land. Didn't it belong to you

before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't

the money at your disposal? What made you think of

doing such a thing. You have not lied just to

human beings, but to God. When Annonis heard this, he

fell down and died, and great fear seized all who

heard what had happened. Then some young men came forward,

wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.

When I read Acts chapter five, this is what I

feel like inside.

Now do you understand why I said?

There are those who read Acts five and those who

skip Acts chapter five. Obviously Peter has never been to

a church leadership conference. I mean church leadership one oh

one tells you do not confront people about their sin

in the middle of the offering. People dropping dead in

worship is not a good church growth strategy.

Let's keep reading in verse seven. About three hours later,

his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.

Peter asked her, tell me, is this the price you

and Annonias got for the land?

Yes? She said, that is the price.

Peter said to her, how could you conspire to test

the spirit of the Lord? Listen, the feet of the

men who buried your husband are at the door, and

they will carry you out. Also at that moment, she

fell down at his feet and died. When the young

men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out

and buried her beside her husband. Great fear sees the

whole church and all who heard about these events. This

is a bizarre and disturbing story. This is unusual, and

if you feel a little tension as you read this,

I understand that Biblical scholars have offered multiple interpretations for

Acts Chapter five. Some scholars say that it's allegorical that

the story is fiction or embellished greatly in order to

prove or make a big theological point. Personally, I reject

that interpretation because I don't see allegory in the Book

of Acts. The Book of Acts is written as a

historical account of actual events.

It's written based on eyewitness testimony.

Allegory is not a part of the literary style in

the Book of Acts. Some scholars say that this They

interpret this as embezzlement.

That Antonius had.

Previously agreed or made a contract with the church to

donate a certain amount of money or one hundred percent

of the sale, and then he changed his mind and

he held it back. He was like embezzling, And that's possible,

although it's a little bit speculative because if you look

at verse four, Peter says, didn't it belong to you before.

It was sold?

And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal?

You have not lied just to human beings.

But to God.

And so Peter points out that Antonius could have done

whatever he wanted with his money, and so the sin

was not holding back money.

The sin was lying. Just want to be clear, he

could have done what ever he wanted with his money.

The sin was that he lied about it. And then

there's the holiness interpretation.

And the holiness interpretation is that God did something so

drastic and so extreme in order to demonstrate his holiness

and his righteousness and how seriously he takes sin.

Because this is a young church, this is a new church.

This is a church with many new converts who are

who are new to faith, and so God wanted to

establish his holiness, protect the unity of the church, and

establish the authority of the apostles. An Anysins of Fire

had ulterior motives. An Anysins of Fire we remotivated by ego.

They wanted to look impressive. They wanted to cheat their

way to get incredibility and getting recognized and being a

celebrity in the church. This text teaches you and me

that we have a choice.

When you read Acts chapter five, you have a choice

to make.

We can be a church of people like Ani and Sephirah,

or we can be a people like Barnabas. We can

be a church full of Anonis and Sophira, or we

can be a people like Barnabas.

So I want to hear you tell me who do

you want to be like Barnabas.

I want to make a few observations from this text today.

First observation, Barnabas overflowed with encouragement. Annius and Sophira were

overcome by lies. The name Barnabas means encourager, son of encouragement.

In this word encouragement, that's part of Barnabas's name. It

comes from a Greek root word peracletos. If peracletos means encourager, advocate, comforter, helper, peracletos.

It's the same word that Jesus uses to describe the

Holy Spirit. In John fourteen, Jesus says, the helper peracletos.

The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name.

He will teach you all things and bring to your

remembrance all that I have said to you. The Holy Spirit,

the paraclitos, he's our comforter, our encourager, our helper. And

so here's Barnabas. He's called son of encouragement, perakleitos. Barnabas

is so encouraging, he's so helpful, he gets a nickname

like the Holy Spirit.

People see Barnabas and.

They say, that guy's walking in the spirit, that guy's.

Overflowing in the spirit of God.

Don't you want to be a person who overflows in

the Holy Spirit.

Don't you want to be a.

Person who overflows with God in your life. Don't you

want to be a person that when people have encountered you,

they've encountered more of God. Don't you want people to

say of you, that person is walking in the spirit

of God, that person is overflowing, That person is a

lot like Barnabas.

So tell me, church, who do you want to be

like Barnabas. Our church is so encouraging. We have a

lot of Barnabas like people in our church.

There was a time that I was having a pretty

rough week, and it's the weeks that we've all had,

those weeks where just stressors keep piling up and compounding.

I had an important deadline to meet in that week.

I was fighting off an illness in my body. And

then one day I got a little bit blindsided by

some not so good news. And so when I got

to Sunday, I was walking into Sunday.

Discouraged and emotionally worn out. But God sent me some encouragement.

That Sunday morning, a man from our church stopped me

in the hallway and he said, Andrew, I just got

to tell you how much you mean to me.

He said, I gotta give you a hug and I

love you. And this man had no idea how discouraged

I felt that day.

Later that same day in the lobby, another man in

our church, he stopped me and he gave me a

huggy He said, I love you. He had no idea

what was going on in my week that week, And

I felt the Lord say to me in my heart, Andrew,

your heavenly father sent you to earthly fathers to give

you a hug when you need a father's encouragement. That's

what it looks like to overflowing encouragement. That's what it

looks like to be like Barnabas, to encourage and to

support and love the way that Barnabas does. So if

we want to be like Barnabas, we got to overflow

and encouragement. If we want to be united, we got

overflow and encouragement. And so I'd like for us to

do a brief exercise. I'd like you to note some

things today. If you're taking notes on your phone, or

if you have the devotion book with this series, go

ahead and take that out with pen and paper. There's

a couple questions I want us to write down and answer. First,

how do you like to receive encouragement. Please write this down,

make a note. How do you like to receive encouragement?

Maybe you don't want to hug you don't want anybody

to hug you, But maybe you like encouraging words or

a gift of appreciation.

How do you like to receive encouragement? Next, think about

who can you encourage?

Holy Spirit, would you bring to mind right now, someone

that each of us can encourage.

Is it a relative or a coworker? Who can you encourage?

A neighbor? Who can you encourage? Oh, I don't know,

maybe maybe a pastor. I'm kidding. I'm kidding, Like who

can you encourage?

Let God bring someone to mine? Now, write down how

are you gonna encourage them? You're gonna send a text,

or you're gonna make a call to somebody that you

could treat to coffee lunch?

Like, how are you gonna do it? Be intentional?

And then finally, I'd like us to write down, most importantly,

when are you gonna do it?

Put it, put a time on it.

I'd encourage you to do it today at the very least,

Do not let a week go by.

Do it this week.

Encourage somebody point them to Jesus encourage them. Like Barnabas,

we can be an encouraging church. We can be a

church that lifts each other up. We can be a

church full of people who are encouraging you. And I

can be people like Barnabas. So tell me, church, let

me hear you. Who do you want to be like Barnabas.

Barnabas overflowed and encouragement. Notice what we read in verse nine.

Peter's talking to Sephira, and he said to her, how

could you conspire to test the spirit of the Lord?

And Annius and Sepia conspired. They conspired to lie. And again,

just to be clear, their sin was not holding back

some of the money. Their sin was lying. They said

that they gave one hundred percent.

That was a lie. That was the sin. They conspired

to lie.

See, Barnabas had an anointing, an anis and Sephirah had

an agenda.

And an isicense of fire. Conspired because they had an agenda.

They manipulated things, they misrepresented things, they twisted things. They

had an agenda. When I was pastoring in Pennsylvania, a

member of the church there reserved and rented some of

the church facility for an event, and it was common

for people to use the church facility for like birthday parties, graduations,

things like that. But the church leadership did not know

what this particular event was about.

It was a little bit vague. And then the day

of the event came and it was scheduled for the evening, and.

That morning I learn what the event was about from Facebook.

This event had an agenda. This event was a gathering.

Of parents and people in the community to protest the

local school board.

And just to be clear, it was not a moral issue.

It was a difference of opinions and administrative things, and

this group was gathering to protest and air their grievances.

And so I was reading comments.

Like gather at the church for our protests, gather at

the church to speak.

Your mind and to stand up for your beliefs.

And this presented a divisive issue in the community.

This was like a.

Powder keg that could distract the church, and the church

could get sucked into supporting an agenda that's not the gospel.

So thankfully, church leadership got in touch with the leader

of the event and explained that the church can't, you know,

be involved in this and we gracefully and work together

and found another venue in the community, a banquet.

Hall where the event could happen. And the event went

off well in the church state.

Focused in a nisens of Fhira had an agenda that

would compromise the mission of the gospel now in a

nice and Saphira lived two thousand years ago. We've come

a long way in two thousand years. I mean, we've

come a long way from Antonis and to fire, and

I mean I I mean we would We don't see

people pushing agendas today in our cuture anymore.

We of course we do. I mean, there's there's I

heard there's something coming up in November. It happens every

three years, every every four years. Yeah, Yeah, there's an

election coming up. And everybody's got an agenda.

Politicians, campaign parties, special interest groups all have an agenda.

There's talk shore, there's cable news that has an agenda.

There's podcasts with agendas. You know, there are some podcasts

that they're agendas to talk about other podcasts. Everybody's got

an agenda. And I want to tell you that Church

at the Crossing does not have an agenda. Church at

the Crossing has.

A message and his name is Jesus.

Church at the Crossing is focused on Jesus. We are

not gonna be distracted by an agenda. We are not

gonna preach an agenda. We're gonna preach Jesus in the gospel.

That's why Pastor James and I are committed to preaching

about Jesus, not an agenda. We stand on the word

of God. The Bible is our primary source of truth

and church. Let me tell you, if we're gonna remain united,

we got to get our eyes focused on Jesus.

We got to concentrate on Jesus. Church.

We all have diverse backgrounds, we all have different opinions,

but there's a couple of things that we're united on.

You want to know what we're united on. First, we're

all sinners. That's one thing that unites us.

We are all sinners. And Second, Jesus is our only

hope for salvation. That's what unites us. That's what unites us.

And so I want to hear you say it, who

do you want.

To be like Barnabas Barnabas. The difference between an agenda

and an anointing is that God, God gives the anointing,

and an isis of fire. They had an agenda, But

Barnabas had an anointing. And let me tell you where

his anointing took him. In Acts chapter fourteen, Barnabas gets

ranked as one of the apostles.

He gets ranked with Peter and James and John.

He rises to the level of the apostles because he

has an anointing.

He has everything that he needs.

I want to tell you that an agenda will sabotage

your anointing and distract you from your assignment. You have

been anointed by God's spirit. You have been appointed for

his assignment. You've been anointed for the Kingdom of God.

If your faith is in Jesus, you have been anointed

to do great things. You've been anointed to lead your family.

You've been anointed to lead in your workplace and in

your school. You've been anointed to serve and ministry. You've

been anointed to bring light into darkness. Do not be

distracted by an agenda. You've been anointed to do great

things in the name of Jesus. You've been anointed to

pray for the sick. You've been anointed to serve the poor,

you've been anointed to reach your neighbor with the gospel.

You've been anointed by Jesus. Do not be distracted by

an agenda. I don't know about you, but I want

to walk in the anointing of God. I want to

walk in God's favor. You're anointed for a purpose, You're

anointed and appointed for an assignment. You could tell the

difference between an anointing and an agenda by the question

that you ask see anonisk as a fire asked what

can I get?

What can I have? What can I get?

When I was serving at a different church, remember years

years ago, there was a local politician in the community,

like a township official, who would very occasionally sporadically attend

to the church, which was great, but it's just very sporadic.

He might every few months slip in the back after

worship started, and.

Then he'd get up and leave before service ended. Just

very very sporadic.

Except every few years around the same time of year,

he would show up early more frequently, and he wasn't

on the greeter team, but he acted like a greeter

out in the lobby and in the parking lot. And

then I found out that he was doing the same

thing out of another church in the community, and then

a third church in the community. See when his election

term came around, he was making the rounds. He had

an agenda and an iceense of fire. They asked, what

can I get? Barnabas asked, what can I give?

What can I give? How can I give you?

See, an anointed person doesn't need to get anything because

God's anointing is everything that they need.

God's anointing is everything that you need.

You may not have everything that you want, You may

even have some disappointment, but if you're anointed by Jesus,

you have everything.

That you need.

You may not have the money in the bank account

you want, but if you have an anointance, you have

everything that you need. You may not have the health

that you want, but if you're anointed, you have everything

that you need.

You may not have the career that you.

Want, you may not have you may not even own

the home that you live in, But if you are

anointed by God, you have everything that you need. Barnabas

was anointed. He had everything that he needed, so he

was able to give freely. He was able to give

without reservation. Barnabas didn't hold anything back.

In fact, Barnabas gave more than money.

He gave trust, he gave influence. He did not risk

self preservation. In Acts chapter nine, you'll read about a

man named Saul, and Saul hated Christians. Saul went door

to door arresting Christians and putting them in prison until

in Acts chapter nine, Saul had a dramatic conversion. And

when Saul became a Christian, he tried to join the

other disciples. But the other disciples, Peter, James, John, all

those disciples were afraid of Saul. They did not believe

his conversion was sincere, except for Barnabas. In Acts nine

that says he Saul tried to join the disciples, but

they were all afraid of him, not believing that he

really was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought

him to the apostles. See, Barnabas held nothing back, He

didn't try to give into self preservation. Barnabas advocated for Saul.

And you'll read that Saul has a second name. His

name is Paul, and Paul became a great leader. Paul

traveled preaching the gospel, starting churches. Paul wrote most of

the New Testament that we have in the Bible.

And it all.

Started because Barnabas, the son of Encouragement, welcomed Paul.

He held nothing back, gave it all for the mission.

Barnabas gave everything that he had, he held nothing back,

And Jesus did the same thing for you and for me.

Jesus held nothing back. Friends, listen, Jesus saw you in

your disappointment. Jesus saw you in your brokenness. Jesus saw

you in your bitterness.

He saw you in your addiction and in your sin,

and he said, I love that person.

I want to redeem them, I want to rescue them.

And Jesus held nothing back for your sake. Jesus put

it all on the line when he died on the

cross for you to save you.

And so if your faith is.

In Jesus, you are anointed. You have an anointing. Walk

in that anointing, you can be a person like Barnabas. Church,

tell me, who do you want to be like Barnabas.

Barnabas and an Eyes and Saphirah. They wanted quick success,

They wanted to make a quick name, but they ended quickly.

This is the final observation in our text, and an

Iisen Sephirah ended abruptly. Barnabas, however, was just getting started.

And an Icon.

Saphira they flamed out. They didn't last long, they burned out.

They came to a quick end. And now in an

Issen Safier they're a warning. But Barnabas was just getting started.

You'll read throughout the Book of Acts, Barnabas is always

on the front lines of what God is doing. Barnabas,

from this moment on, he goes on to advocate and

bring Paul in. He goes with Paul on missionary journeys.

Barnabas goes to Antioch to help the church in Antioch.

Which later became the headquarters of Christianity.

Barnabas helped negotiate an agreement between the Jewish Christians and

the Gentile Christians. Barnabas traveled more than eight cities, preaching

the Gospel and sharing about Jesus and starting churches.

You see, Barnabas was just getting started. He was living

on the front lines. If The Book of.

Acts was made into a movie, Barnabas would win the

Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor because wherever Barnabas goes,

he's supporting, he's helping, he's serving. Barnabas is supporting what

God's doing moving the mission forward. You see, Paul gets

a lot of attention and acts, and almost every time

Paul gets highlighted, Barnabas is right there. He's like the

best supporting actor. I just learned about an actor named

Walter Brennan. Walter Brennan acted.

In movies many many, many many years ago.

But before Walter became a actor, he served in World

War One, and sadly, in World War One there was

chemical warfare and the mustard gas damaged Walter Brennan's vocal

cords permanently, and he had this very raspy, scratchy, uncomfortable

voice because of those injuries. Later on, when he got

into acting, one day he was doing some choreography training

and his acting partner accidentally kicked Walter in the mouth

and he lost all of his teeth. So, what kind

of acting career can this person have with an unreliable

voice and missing teeth. Well, it turns out that he

had a really successful career. He used that distinct and

unique voice and his toothless grin to create some of

the most unforgettable characters in cinema, and by the end

of his life, Walter was awarded three Academy Awards for

Best Supporting Actor, more than anyone else in history. No

one in history has won that many Best Supporting Actor awards.

He used what he had to do great things. You

can use what you have to do great things.

You've been anointed by the spirit of God to do

great things. Barnabas could be called the best supporting actor.

But Barnabas was just getting started. Church at the Crossing

is just getting star. There is more for us to do.

There is more people who need the gospel. We're just

getting started. There are more to be baptized. There are

more children who need Jesus. We are just getting started.

There are more marriages that need healed. There are more

neighbors to serve. There are more addictions that need set free.

We are just getting started Church. There are people who

need saved, souls that need redeemed, and lives that need changed.

We are just getting started.

Barnabas was just getting started, and he lived a life

under the anointing of God.

And let me share how.

The Bible summarizes Barnabas's life in Acts eleven. They describe

Barnabas as he was a good man, full of the

Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people

were brought to the Lord.

Don't you want your life to be described like this?

Don't you want your life to be described as full

of faith, full of.

The Holy Spirit. Don't you want to be known as

a person who was like a Barnabas? Tell me who

do you want to be like?

When I read about the Church of Acts two thousand

years later, I wonder, years from now, what will they

say about the people at church at the crossing? Years

from now, what will they say about you and about me?

How will they describe us? Years from now?

May they say that we were good people? May they

say that we were full of the Holy Spirit. May

they say that we were full of faith? If you

agree with me? Would you stand? If you're able?

May they say that we loved Jesus. May they say

that we were united? Stand if you agree.

May they say that we lived by the gospel, that

we lived on mission.

May they say that we loved Indianapolis like Jesus.

May say that we were a people like Barnabas, So

let's pray.

Let's pray.

God, Holy Spirit, Come, Holy Spirit, anoint us. I believe

that the Lord wants to release more anointing today. And

if you want to receive more from God, would you

just hold your hands in front of you to receive,

just as a posture of surrender, as a posture of humility.

Oh God, would you release more anointing today? Would you

release more favor today?

God? Would you anoint us with boldness to point people

to Jesus. Would you anoint us with courage to speak

the gospel? God? Would you anoint us with power to

pray for the sick?

Would you anoint us that we may see many who

do not know you come to faith. God, Annoy every

marriage and every parent here who's leading their children to

know Jesus.

Annoy every home. God.

God, we pray for more of your anointing. Release more

of you You're anointing. God, anoint us the way you

anointed so many Christians. Before God, we thank you for

the gift of Jesus. We thank you for his sacrifice.

And it's in the name of Jesus we pray.

Amen.