Transformative Insights from Romans 12: Embracing the Gift of Exhortation

And we're going to get right into the book of Romans.

If you have your Bibles, turn with me to Romans chapter 12.

We're going to continue our do that is to not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our mind.

So the Bible tells us that it's about thinking the right thing.

So we think the right things, we believe the right things, and we get to a place in our life where we begin to do the things that God has called us to do.

And so he reminds us here that there are these supernatural gifts given to us by way of grace.

And he says that they're different, some people have different gifts.

And he lists those gifts starting there in verse number six.

And we've been going through some of these.

We saw the gift of prophecy.

We talked about the gift of ministry, the gift of teaching.

And this week we're going to be talking about the gift of exhortation.

And so we're going to talk about this word exhortation a lot here this morning.

And I think it's important for us to understand what that word means, because we can throw a word around a lot, but if we don't know what that word means, it might be confusing for the application.

And hopefully all of this is so that you can take this in, believe this in your heart, and apply it to your lives.

It is the role of the church to equip the saints for the work of the ministry.

You are the saints.

And so it's not just about getting head knowledge, but it's about getting the tools that you need for your life so that you can go live the Christian life, not just here on the Middletown Baptist Church campus, but around the whole world.

It might be for you in the workplace, it might be for you in your home, it might be for when you travel.

But the Bible tells us very clearly that we're to take these gifts and to show the world the truth of Jesus Christ.

And so every believer has been gifted by God's grace to serve within the body of Christ.

We are the body of Christ.

And some might be the hands, some might be the feet, but all of us are called to a specific purpose within the body of Christ.

And these gifts are not given for our own personal recognition, but they're given to us so that we can point people to Jesus.

So they're not talents that we just practice over and over again and get better at?

No, they're something that God has given us so that we can use them for the kingdom of God.

So they're spirit given motivations designed to strengthen the church and to ultimately glorify God.

And so as we continue here, Romans chapter 12, we're going to come to one of the most relational gifts.

I believe in the body, and that is the gift of exhortation.

And so we have some believers who are naturally gifted in proclaiming the truth.

Those would be the ones that are the, the proclaimers, the prophesiers, those that will tell people what is the truth.

And there's some that are called to carefully explain the truth.

That would be the teachers.

And so we have someone that says, this is right, this is wrong.

We have someone explain how to live that without in their life.

And then we see the exhorter.

The exhorter asks an entirely different question.

So, so the prophesier is asking, what is true?

The teacher is asking, you know, why is it true?

Or explaining some truths.

The exhorter asks a different question.

It's how do I help someone live out this truth in their life?

We need exhorters, we need preachers, we need teachers, but we need exhorters because the exhorter is someone who comes alongside of a believer and helps them move forward in the knowledge of the Lord and hopefully and ultimately the obedience to the Lord.

And so the truth that God gives us was never meant to remain in our minds.

A lot of times that's what Christianity looks like in America.

It's a, it's a very, what we would say is theoretical faith.

We talk a lot about what we believe, we talk about what we should do.

But the Bible challenges us not just to keep it in our minds, but, but to let it transform our lives.

And so in Romans 12, 8 it says, or he that exhorteth on exhortation.

And so it's all wrapped up into the proportion of our Faith.

What verse 6 says, the 1 who's prophesying according to the proportion of faith.

And I believe it's all tied to how much faith we have and how we exhort.

We should focus on that in our lives, with faith and with exhortation.

So Paul's command is simple.

If God has gifted you to encourage others spiritually, you should devote yourself to encouraging others spiritually, right?

It's very simple, it's very basic.

But if God has called you to exhortation, get busy exhorting.

And so a lot of times what happens is that we understand the gift, but oftentimes we don't know how to have that manifested in the body of Christ.

And so that's what this study's all about understanding, number one, what the gift is, number one.

Number two, understanding what gift that I have in my life that God has gifted me in.

And then what does that look like within the body of believers?

So what I would say is this.

Let's define what exhortation is.

The Greek word is a word called paraklesis.

You don't need to know that word, but what you do need to know is the meaning behind it.

It literally means to call someone to your side in order to help.

I'm going to say that again because there's a lot wrapped up in that definition.

The word exhortation literally means to call someone to your side in order to help them.

It carries a lot within that definition.

Yes, there's the idea of encouragement, and we'll talk about that.

But with encouragement comes comfort.

With comfort comes strengthening.

And with strengthening comes challenging and urging someone toward spiritual maturity.

So think about it this way.

It's encouraging with a purpose.

It's challenging with a purpose.

It's comforting with a purpose.

And the purpose is to move people in spiritual maturity to be more like Christ.

So it's more than saying everything will be okay.

So let's say there's someone here and they're weeping and they're going through a difficulty in their life, or maybe they're struggling with an addiction or a sin, and.

And we come alongside of them and say, hey, everything's going to be okay.

Well, that would be, in our system of thinking, an encouraging word.

But exhortation is more than just saying everything will be okay.

Biblical exhortation doesn't simply mean just to make someone feel better.

It actually means to help someone become better in the Lord.

Meaning this.

It might not be an okay circumstance, but here's how we can walk together through a difficulty and see the power of God working through this.

And so it means this to strengthen believers to continue following Christ.

So.

So we have to define this word exhortation because we don't use it in our everyday language.

And so the gift of exhortation is coming along, someone coming alongside of someone with that spirit given grace and to serve them in the body and.

And applying the word of God to their lives, stimulating their faith, calling them to courage, calling them to decisive action, so that both the believer and the ultimate church are strengthened for spiritual service, all for the glory of God.

So the idea would be this.

I want to strengthen somebody else so that they can serve the Lord, so that they can serve in their gift.

So it's similar to the Gift of ministry in the fact that I want to help somebody.

But with the gift of ministry, sometimes the gift of ministry is behind the scenes, providing resources for someone or doing something for someone where exhortation is challenging them to take a step further.

It's challenging them to trust in the Lord, to walk in his word.

And so the gift is focused on application.

The prophet proclaims truth.

The teacher explains truth.

The exhorter applies truth.

I want you to think about that, the application of truth, and ultimately helping someone else apply truth.

So the exhorter constantly asks these questions, what should we do now?

Now that we've heard the sermon, now that we've had the challenge, now that we've seen what the ministry is supposed to be, what's next?

Another question might be this.

How does this change our lives?

What the preacher just preached, what the class just went over, how does this change us?

What is the next step of obedience?

How do we help someone grow in our midst?

So the exhorter understands that information alone does not change lives.

I think we can all understand that within the church, information alone does not change lives.

We could talk about the Bible, we could memorize verses.

We can know every Bible story.

And some of you that grew up in a Christian home and maybe went to Sunday school and went to VBS's, you know, a lot of Bible stories.

But the Bible stories in and of themselves don't change our heart.

It's the application of the truth and it's belief in the truth.

And so exhorters understand that just facts don't change people.

It's the application and the faith behind it.

So we think about verses like James 1:22, but be doers of the word and not hearers.

Only an exhorter stands on that verse because an exhorter says, yes, we all know that this is true, but how do we live this out?

How do we help others live that out?

And so the, the theme verse would be this.

James 1:22, don't just be a doer of the word, or excuse me, don't just be a hero of the word, but be a doer.

So the exhorter helps believers become doers.

And so we've looked at this for the last three weeks and we're going to look at it again.

What does a spirit filled exhorter look like?

And what does a flesh filled exhorter look like?

Because we know that we can exercise in the Spirit and follow God's plan for our life in this grace and, or we can walk in our own flesh in our own wisdom.

And there's good sides to this and then there's negative sides to this.

And so let's look at the Spirit filled exhorter.

The Spirit filled exhorter is empowered by the Holy Spirit.

And when the exhorter is powered by the Holy Spirit, it becomes one of the greatest sources of spiritual growth within the church.

So a Spirit filled exhorter desires to help others reach their God given potential.

They'll see potential in somebody else and say, you know what?

I see where God is working in your life.

I see where God has gifted you.

Where can we go to focus on this?

How can we take some time for you to grow in your faith?

We're going to look at some examples of exhorters later, but this would be someone who sees potential in someone else and doesn't just say, well, hopefully someone works with them on that, but they take it upon themselves to say, you know what, I'm going to go and help that person take the next step in their faith.

And so some people see weakness.

An exhorter following the Spirit sees strength in people.

Another gift that they have is that they naturally encourage people.

Exhorters tend to be positive people.

They tend to look into someone's life and not see all the negatives and the flaws, but they see hope, they see potential, and they ultimately invest into that.

So the Bible tells us that in Proverbs 16:24, pleasant words are as a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and health to the bones.

We love encouragers because encouragers are the ones that come alongside of us and give us those words of confidence like, hey, you can do it.

Hey, you know what?

I saw you do that yesterday and that was a blessing for me.

And I know it was a blessing for other people.

Folks, we're going to need some encouragers and some exhorters this week at vbs because some of you, including myself, might be tempted to quit.

We might be tempted to get discouraged.

And so we need those exhorters to stand up and say, you know what?

I'm going to see the need and I'm going to help people by what I say and also by what I do.

So they understand that there's a need for encouragement.

And they're good encouragers.

They discern spiritual growth.

They look in someone's life and they say, wow, I've really seen you take steps in your Bible study.

I've seen you take steps in your service.

And growth excites them.

They want to celebrate victories.

They recognize spiritual maturity, developing and they continue to invest, they provide practical steps, they're action oriented, their counsel is practical.

They're not just like, well, hey, try to be better.

They say, hey, here's your five step process on how you can read the Bible better.

They give clear direction and instead of just saying trust in God, they walk through what it means to trust in God and come alongside of people and show that practical help that we all need in our life.

They prefer application over investigation.

They might not be like the teacher who loves to sit and read 20 books and know all the sources behind it and understand all the history behind it.

No, an exhorter might say, hey, you know what, I'll read one book about it, that's fine, I'm ready to go, I'm ready to move.

So, so they don't get as much motivation maybe with the, the study, but now they're ready to move forward.

They're ready.

They're, they're people built on action, so to speak.

So we have the exhorter who is like that.

They focus on people, they communicate clearly.

They see trials not as problems, but as opportunities.

I know that for me, sometimes I'll see a trial and I'll say, wow, that's a roadblock.

Well, that, that's a problem.

I don't know if I can overcome this.

I don't know if the church can overcome this.

But sometimes as an exhorter, they come in the spirit and they say this, hey, great, this is just an opportunity to see God working in your life.

And sometimes that frustrates us.

If we're not exhorters, we're like, how do you see the positive in this?

How do you see the glass half full when this situation comes up?

But they are going to be people who are going to see that as an opportunity.

And so Romans 8:28 is more than just a verse to them.

It's a perspective.

We know all things are going to work together.

We know that God is working in your life.

And so a hurting believer needs to recognize how the truth of God does play a part in their life.

But an exhorter is there to show them how that works.

Other decision makers, they usually finish what they begin.

They're driven by spiritual growth.

And so hopefully their goal, their ultimate goal as spirit filled exhorters is to see more people grow in the Lord.

I think that's an awesome cause.

I think that's the cause of the church.

I think we should be thinking about this.

I think that every single thing that we do within the church should Be centered around building disciples for Jesus Christ.

Let's not get distracted from the purpose.

An exhorter who's walking in the Spirit understands that everything that we're doing is built around the idea of leading people to Jesus and having them grow in their faith.

So that's a spirit filled exhorter.

What's a flesh filled exhorter?

Someone who is expressing their gift in the flesh.

Well, it's encouragement apart from humility, which quickly becomes what?

Manipulation.

So if I'm an exhorter and I want to help people and I want to move people and I want to challenge people, but my exhortation is not based in the Spirit, it's based in my flesh, what does it become?

Well, it doesn't become encouragement, it becomes manipulation.

I'm getting you to do what I need you to do over here.

I'm getting you as a resource and I'm encouraging you to help me or help this cause.

And so there is some danger in this because an exhorter very easily, when turned to the flesh, can be a manipulator.

So a fleshly exhorter may seek the praise of people.

It's all about praising me.

Look how many disciples that I have made.

Look how many people are in my ministry.

Right?

The exhorter just as much as they're a magnetic person and an encouraging person, so they can think about the praise being directed to them instead of Christ.

A flesh filled exhorter also can look inward instead of upward.

They become dependent upon people's responses rather than God's approval.

Folks, I'm going to tell you, that's a very dangerous place to be in your life.

If what you are doing for the Lord within the church is all about other people's approval and their support of you, guess what?

When people don't support you, you're going to be very tempted to turn away from the things that you know you should do to make people happy.

I'm going to tell you, one of the best things that I learned in my ministry was that I'm not going to gauge my faithfulness to the Lord by what other people say about my message or my ministry.

Because just as much as someone might enjoy your ministry, they might on the other side of things, not enjoy your ministry.

And if you say, well, you know what, if that person isn't praising me, I'm not going to do that anymore.

That's going to be a major issue when it comes down to the motivation in my heart.

So instead of looking inward, an exhorter should look upward for God's approval.

Sometimes exhorters fail to hear the whole matter.

They're just like, no, no, you don't need to tell me the rest of the story.

I know what your problem is.

Let me just tell you the steps that you need to fix this.

And they don't hear the whole matter.

They don't hear the answer of the whole issue.

They just go ahead and try to figure it out.

Sometimes an exhorter in the flesh will use scripture out of context.

They'll say, yeah, I know that verse probably doesn't mean this, but that really preaches well.

So we're just going to use this verse, okay?

Just going to apply this because it's going to help that person, right?

Their, their person that they're dealing with is their number one priority.

And they say, yeah, that's not about that.

But we're going to use it out of context because the greater purpose, well, that's a danger, right?

That, that is a, that is an offense to a teacher or a prophet, right?

We're like, no, you can't use that out of context.

But an exhorter says, hey, you know, we're going to try to force a passage into a situation that God never intended so that we can make that person believe a certain thing.

That's someone who's working in the flesh.

Maybe another way is that they could apply one solution to everybody.

Well, it worked with me over here, so it's going to work with you.

It worked with these people over here, so it's going to work with you.

No, there's different situations and there's different circumstances.

And though there's one truth, there's different ways in which some people understand that and need to hear that.

Sometimes an exhorter, ironically, will write people off because they're poured into someone.

And when someone turns their back on them, they go, they're dead to me now.

I don't need them anymore.

I need to invest in people who care about me.

I need to invest in people who are going to help me out.

And so a flesh filled exhorter is going to look at a situation and see if there's value to that person.

And then if there's not value to that person, they might write that person off.

Obviously, that's unbiblical.

We're going to talk about exhorters here in a few moments that we find in scripture.

People like Barnabas, people like Paul, people like ultimately Jesus, and we're going to see that they don't write people off.

We're going to see that there's patience sometimes and this is going to be a tough truth.

An exhorter who's walking in the flesh will feel vindicated when people ignore their counsel, like, well, told you so.

I knew that was going to happen.

I told you not to go that route and you did.

So you know what?

I told you so.

And they almost get a level of joy when someone else falls if they don't listen to their advice.

That's a flesh filled exhorter.

And so they might take credit for what grace has accomplished.

Folks, may we never, in whatever capacity we are in within the ministry, may we never take the credit for what God's grace has accomplished in people's lives.

I can't look and say, well, look what I've done with that person.

I've molded that person into being a good Christian.

No, it's the grace of God and the forgiveness of Jesus Christ that's changed that person.

Well, I've.

You've heard people say this.

I've grown this church to this size.

This has been my plans, my master plan.

No, it is only by the grace of God that anyone has what they have in their life.

And so a flesh filled exhorter might take credit for what God's grace has accomplished in.

In someone's life.

Growth always belongs to God.

The exhorter is simply a planter or a waterer, but it is God who gives the increase.

That's what 1 Corinthians chapter 3 tells us.

Sometimes an exhorter might be deceived by outward appearances.

Maybe they become overly opinionated because of their pride.

Maybe they become restless and need to take the next step in growth.

Maybe sometimes they draw people toward themselves.

Instead of having people drawn to the Lord, instead of bringing people to ourselves or to a ministry or to a movement, we should be bringing people to Jesus Christ because it is Jesus who changes people.

Not.

Not me, not a.

Not a movement.

And what we see here is that we must always, when we're talking to children, when we're talking to adults, when we're talking to the saved, when we're talking to the unsaved, it's always about Jesus.

Bring them back to the one who died on the cross for their sins.

Bring them back to the one who sacrificed everything.

That's what Romans chapter 12 is all about.

He says, I beseech you by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

What he's saying is this.

It is Jesus who died for you.

It is God who sent his only begotten Son for you.

So don't praise a man, don't follow a man, don't.

Don't draw people to you.

Draw people to Christ.

As even Paul says, follow me as I follow Christ.

It's always about him, folks.

When we get our eyes set on man, we can allow ourselves to get to such a place in our life where if that man fell or that woman fell in sin, that we fall and say, you know what, if God's not real to them, God's not real to me.

That's such a dangerous place to be.

Do not put your eyes on man.

Put your eyes on the Lord.

Man will fail.

We pray that they don't.

But the reality at the end of the day is that all of us are fallible human beings.

There's only one who does not make any mistakes, and that is our Lord and Savior.

And so we look to him, not the exhorter.

Sometimes an exhorter elevates experience over scripture.

Well, I felt this way.

This was a good moment.

So everything's good.

But hopefully we understand that our feelings don't dictate our beliefs, our feelings don't dictate scripture.

Sometimes you've heard it said this way.

Well, I'm reading the Bible and I know it says this, but because of what's going on in culture, I feel like that doesn't mean what it means anymore.

That's a very dangerous place to be.

Emotions and feelings are wonderful things, but it cannot be dictating our truths.

It's our truths in the word of God that dictates our feelings.

And so therefore there's beauty in salvation, there's joy in salvation.

But the joy and beauty in salvation doesn't come from the circumstances that we face in our life.

The joy and beauty of our salvation comes from the fact that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins and we don't deserve it, but he's given to us anyway.

So that is a problem with many flesh filled exhorters, is that it's a look at experience, not about the Word.

And then ultimately they neglect their own spiritual condition sometimes because they're helping other people.

They think that they can do what they want to do.

And ultimately we know that we need to take heed unto ourselves to not try to pick a piece of dust or a piece of wood out of someone else's eye when we've got a plank in our own eye.

To be an exhorter, we need to inspect our own lives to be where we need to be so that we can help other people be where they need to be.

So the question might be, well, what are some biblical examples of an exhorter?

Well, one that I think we should spend some time on is a guy named Barnabas.

If you turn with me to the book of Acts, Acts chapter 4, verse 36, we see that Barnabas, even by his name, is called the son of consolation or the son of exhortation.

And so Barnabas was living in such a way that his testimony publicly to other people was that he was known for his exhortation.

He was known for encouraging others.

And that tells us everything about the ministry that he had in his life.

He was a man who was focused on exhortation.

It was who he was.

It wasn't just something that he did.

It was who he was.

And so we're going to see in Acts chapter 4 and other passages like Acts chapter 9 and Acts chapter 11 that Barnabas had the characteristics of a godly encourager.

Acts chapter 4, verse 36 says this.

And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, his nickname was Barnabas, which is being interpreted the son of Consolations, a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus.

And so the Bible tells us here that he was surnamed, he was nicknamed Barnabas in the fact that he was known for his consolation or his encouragement or his exhortation.

Another passage of Scripture, Acts chapter nine, if you turn a few pages over, Acts chapter nine records after Saul's conversion that the church was afraid of Saul.

If you remember, Saul was a persecutor.

People knew that he was killing Christians, that he was imprisoning Christians.

He was actually on his way to do that when he was on the road to Damascus.

But everybody saw that there was danger with Saul.

But then we saw a guy named Barnabas come on the scene.

Barnabas saw the future apostle.

He pursued Saul when no one else would, and he introduced him to the other apostles and he became a bridge for Saul and his past and then ultimately God's future in the life of the Apostle Paul.

And so Barnabas saw potential in, in Paul.

And we're going to look at that here in Acts chapter 11.

So we have Acts chapter 4, who tells us who Barnabas is.

Acts chapter 9, who tells us who Saul is and who he has become.

And now we see Acts chapter 11, how this all comes together.

Acts chapter 11, verse 22.

We see that there's news of people getting saved in a place where called Antioch.

The news reaches the church in Jerusalem, that many people are getting saved in a place called Antioch.

And the apostles decide we need to send someone to investigate.

They could have sent a lot of different people, but they send a man named Barnabas.

Verse 22 says, Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem, and they sent forth Barnabas that he should go as far as Antioch and so say, we're going to send Barnabas.

Why do they send Barnabas?

Well, they send him because he's not known for criticism, he's not known for creating division.

He's known for being a man of exhortation and encouragement.

And they trusted that Barnabas, because of who he was and because of how he was following God, would strengthen the church and understand what they're doing and not discourage them.

Luke tells us in verse 23 who when he came so, so when Barnabas makes it to Antioch and had seen the grace of God, so he sees what God is doing there in Antioch, what was the result?

Instead of being jealous, instead of being divisive, he was glad.

And what did he do?

And exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.

So what does Barnabas see?

Barnabas sees God working.

The exhorter sees God working.

He didn't examine their methods.

He doesn't show up and say, hey Antioch, this is what we're doing in Jerusalem.

You guys are wrong, you guys are inexperienced.

We've got it all handled in Jerusalem.

So let me just tell you the church model that works.

No, he comes and he sees them already serving and worshiping the Lord.

And so he doesn't examine their methods, he doesn't look for their faults because that's what, what some people might do, you know, someone might show up to Antioch and they say, well you know what, I'm going to be a church auditor.

And these are some things that you probably need to set up.

No, he doesn't come and squelch their excitement.

He comes and he puts forth love and he exhorts them.

He recognizes God's grace among them.

And so spirit filled exhorters are able to rejoice when they see God working in the lives of others.

Folks, we should take that as an example.

When we see God working with other people, we should be excited.

It doesn't mean that they're going to look exactly like us.

It doesn't mean that they're going to be right at the same pace we are.

They might not even understand all the things that we understand.

But what we have to get to our minds is that if God is working in their hearts, that is a good thing.

We need to celebrate that, we need to encourage that.

We need to soak the fire that is the Holy Spirit in their life.

And so this doesn't mean that we ignore doctrinal issues, but it does mean that we should recognize God's hand working before we point out imperfections in people's lives.

So Luke tells Barnabas to.

Tells us that Barnabas exhorted them all.

That's there in verse 23.

Says he exhorted them all.

And then he tells them the.

He says, this is the purpose that I'm exhorting you that the purpose of heart that they would cleave unto the Lord.

The whole purpose of Barnabas's encouragement was this, to bring people more to Christ, to.

To bring people in a closer relationship with the Lord.

He didn't come in and say, hey, you know what?

I think you guys should be giving more.

I think you guys should be sending more.

Says the first step is just getting close with the Lord.

And that's really what the church should be.

The church should be a place where people find a relationship with Jesus and grow closer to him and all the other things are going to come about.

And so this is exactly what the exhorter does.

The exhorter says, I want to lead you to a better and more meaningful relationship with the Lord.

He didn't just congratulate them for doing well.

He encourages them to be more faithful, and he encourages them in that direction.

His goal was that they would persevere in the faith.

He wanted believers not to just make an emotional decision, but to stay steadfast in their walk with Christ.

And so great exhorters don't simply inspire people for that very moment.

What do they do?

They strengthen people for a lifetime of Christian service.

And that's what he does here.

Verse 24, it says a little bit more of a description of Barnabas.

For he was a good man.

So he had good intentions, he had good motivations.

And here's the key.

And full of the Holy Ghost and of faith.

He was a man of faith, and he was a man that was led by the Holy Spirit.

Folks, if we want to be the right people that God has called us to be, if we're gifted in the area of exhortation or gifted in whatever area, whether it be teaching or prophecy or mercy or giving, whatever the gift might be, the.

The purpose is to be filled with the Spirit and to Serve others as God has called us to serve.

And it says because of him being full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, what happens, the result, verse 24, and much people was added unto the Lord.

There's fruit when there's faithfulness.

And so Barnabas was a godly man.

We see that Barnabas loved the Lord.

We see that Barnabas loved his word and he pointed other people to do the same.

He looked like Christ within his lifestyle.

And he made other people look to Christ.

Barnabas recognizes the needs of others.

Remember Saul that we talked about before?

It says in verse 25 that Barnabas said, hey, I need to bring someone here with me.

So then departed Barnabas to Tarsus for to seek Saul.

So it's not just like Saul pops onto the scene and he goes, well, I gotta deal with Saul now.

No, Barnabas goes looking for this guy who is having really before this, a bad reputation, but now Saul is in Christ.

And so Barnabas says, hey, I heard about this.

I, I'm going to go seek after him.

An exhorter seeks after new apprentices.

An exhorter seeks after people who they can help and they can encourage.

And so what we see is that fleshly leaders try to protect themselves.

A spirit filled leader tries to develop leaders.

It's not all about insulating you like, okay, now I've got a ministry.

I got to protect this ministry.

No one can take this ministry.

This is mine.

This is everything that I have.

No, what biblical exhorters must do, what biblical leaders must do, is to train up other leaders and so pursue that as hard as it is, as as there might be failures, there might be setbacks.

And Paul is a guy here who was probably a risky choice for the next step in ministry.

But Barnabas says, no, it's not about me.

It's not about protecting myself.

It's about training other people with potential.

So verse 26, and when he had found him, he finds Saul.

What does he do?

He brought him unto Antioch, he brings him back.

He says, saul, come with me, come with me.

We're going to do this together.

And it came to pass that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church and taught much people.

And the disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.

And this says a lot here.

What this says is this.

Barnabas invests into people long term.

He invested in Paul, he invested in the people there at Antioch.

He stayed, he discipled, he taught.

He patiently waited beside the new believers as they matured.

He patiently waited next to Saul that time and said, saul or Paul Grow.

I'm going to be here with you while you grow.

And so real encouragement, if you can remember anything in the realm of exhortation, is this real encouragement or.

Exhortation requires a relationship, it requires consistency, it requires the presence of God to be in our midst.

And many believers want to inspire people, but many people are not willing to do the things that need to be done.

When it comes to the gift of exhortation.

Barnabas was willing to invest in people.

He was willing to risk, he was willing to pursue, he was willing to be patient.

He was willing to stay and see it through.

And the fruit of that is verse 26.

And the disciples were called Christians.

What does that look like?

Well, basically, Barnabas exhortation led to a healthy church.

What kind of church produces believers who become more like Christ?

A church that's grounded in truth, A church that's spirit led in their encouragement.

A church that is cultivating the the truth of God in their midst.

And so Barnabas encouragement, his exhortation led to a church that was strong and grounded in the truth so much that they were the first church that, that people called Christians, which meant little Christ, it meant like imitators of Christ.

And so they were living so boldly, so differently that people actually noticed that and was calling them the name that we call today Christian, which is a good thing, but back then was a derogatory term that basically said, oh, you guys are just little imitators of Christ.

And the idea would be this, that we should be known as different.

And being different means that we're going to invest in other people who, like Barnabas did.

And so as an exhorter, he multiplied the ministry of God.

Had he never encouraged Paul and went and pursued Paul and brought him back, many, humanly speaking, many people might not have heard the gospel.

Paul's ministry might have looked much different.

But because Barnabas invested in one man who eventually influenced millions, we see the fruit of one step of encouragement with other people within the church.

Encouragement and exhortation always multiplies.

And folks, I don't want to be a church that's grounded and stuck and we can't do anything.

The church is called to multiply.

The way that we multiply is by exhortation.

So there's some other biblical examples.

We see the line of exhortation happening.

Barnabas exhorts Paul.

Paul exhorts many churches, but we see individuals that he exhorts like Timothy, right?

2Nd Timothy 4, 2, preach the word.

And then he exhorts Timothy to exhort preach the word exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.

So what we see is that Barnabas exhorts Paul, then Paul exhorts Timothy to exhort others.

And we know that that line of thinking goes on and on and on.

And then we see that Paul also exhorted Titus in Titus, chapter 2, verse 15.

He says these things speak, and then he eventually tells him to exhort.

And so because of Barnabas faithful exhorting to Paul, Paul's able to exhort Timothy, Titus and many, many others.

And by way of extension in his writings today exhorting us, we know that Peter was an exhorter.

After experiencing Christ's restoration, Peter spent the rest of his ministry strengthening believers around him.

And we know that Peter was one who was restored to relationship with Jesus.

And ultimately he preached that restoration to others in his ministry.

Other people like Silas in, in the New Testament, Acts 15:32 says he exhorted the brethren with many words.

There's Old Testament examples like Aaron, who exhorted Moses in times of weakness.

And we see example after example.

But I hope that you've been seeing a theme throughout these past three weeks.

We're going to get to the very end and look at the perfect example.

And the perfect example is Jesus.

We always know that.

And, and, and that's something that we have to go back to because to be the type of exhorter that God has called us to be, we have to look to the perfect example.

And that is the example of Jesus Christ.

And throughout the Gospels, he continuously came alongside and encouraged people who were broken and fearful and hurting.

And he encouraged people like the woman at the well who was caught in her sin.

But he encouraged her with grace and with truth.

He encouraged a guy named Jairus, and he told him, don't fear, only believe.

He encouraged Martha in her grief.

He encouraged Thomas in his doubts.

He encouraged the disciples in the midst of the storm.

And he encouraged two disciples on the road to Emmaus that were hopeless.

And he pointed them to Scripture and basically told them all the scriptures point to Jesus, who is me.

And perhaps I think, like we said before, the greatest example of Jesus's exhortation is with a man named Peter.

Think about what Peter did to Jesus.

Peter denied Jesus three times right there at the very end, his big test, Peter's big test.

And if you remember, right before that, what did Peter say?

Jesus, I'll never deny you.

I'll die for you.

And this was Peter's big test.

And what happened?

Peter failed.

Many would have considered Peter a failure.

Many people would have disqualified Peter from ministry.

If a church member came to me and said, pastor, I'll never deny you.

But yet, in the midst of the battle, they turned their backs on me.

I would be tempted to think, well, I can never trust them again.

And Jesus could have done that.

But after the resurrection, you know the story.

Jesus sought after Peter, he pursued him, and he restores him.

Remember, he asked Peter three times.

I think there's.

Those three questions are meaningful because of the three denials.

He says, do you love me?

And of course, Peter's answer is that he does.

And then Jesus says, well, if you love me, he's going to then recommission him by saying this.

What?

Feed my sheep.

Jesus basically says, you're restored, you're forgiven.

Now get back to work.

You have a purpose.

You have a job.

Now, that's not a picture of exhortation.

I don't know what is.

Peter failed, and he could have stayed in that failure.

He says, I go back fishing.

I. I can't do this anymore.

Jesus pursues him and says, come back.

Do you love me?

And Peter says, yes, I love you.

And he says, okay, get to business.

Go back.

You're now recommissioned to preach the gospel.

So Jesus didn't ignore Peter's failure, but what he did do is he didn't allow Peter's failure to define his future.

And that's what an exhorter does.

An exhorter doesn't look at someone's past and say, well, now, you can't do anything for the Lord.

Now, though things in our past can certainly hinder our ministry in the future, the Bible does say that there is grace that can restore, and that's biblical exhortation.

Biblical exhortation is coming by someone and saying, look, your life might be different now because of this pain.

Your life might be different now because of this failure.

But now serve Jesus and how he has gifted you.

And so that kind of truth in exhortation transforms lives, transforms ministries, and hopefully it sends people back to faithful service.

Because how many people have walked away from God?

How many.

How many people have been tempted to walk away from the church?

How many people have been tempted to quit their ministry?

And it's only through godly exhortation that we can see people being restored or renewed in their service to the Lord.

And so why does the church need exhorters?

Well, because we might have a Peter out here who's made a big mistake, or we might have someone in the church that maybe didn't make A mistake of denying the Lord, but they're ready to quit because of many things that are going on in their life.

We need exhorters to come alongside of people like Jesus did.

Now, ultimately, we don't have the authority of Jesus, but what Jesus did is he came along, Peter, and said, yeah, you made a mistake.

Yeah, you failed.

But now I'm going to encourage you back into serving me.

Folks, what we can do is we can come alongside of people and say this, yeah, I know you're hurting, but God can still use you.

We can still apply scripture wisely to our lives.

We can still encourage people in their faith.

We can still challenge complacency within the church.

We can still restore the fallen.

We can still strengthen the weak.

We can still help believers take their next step in their walk with Christ.

And so that's why we need encouragement.

That's why we need the gift of exhortation in the church, because we all are going to need that step of rejuvenation in our life.

We're all going to need to have our focus realigned.

We're all going to need to be challenged in our complacency.

And it's just as Jesus came and pursued Peter, just as Barnabas pursued Paul, so we need to pursue opportunities within the church to exhort other people in their walk with Christ.

So many times we can get so distracted.

So many times we can just get so busy and say, you know what?

I don't have time for that, folks.

What do we have time for then?

If we don't have time for exhortation, what do we have time for?

Well, I have time for me.

You know what the reality is?

And I think I can speak freely here this morning.

I know I can.

We make time for what we want.

We make time for what we love.

We make time for things that are important to us.

So if exhortation is not important to us, if discipleship is not important to us, you know what's going to happen?

We're going to put everything else in its place.

Well, I can't help that person.

I need help myself.

You know, I can't even figure out my own life.

Well, biblically speaking, we need to figure out our own life so that we can help other people grow in their walk with Jesus Christ.

It's not a if I get time for it kind of ordeal.

Matthew chapter 28 tells us that we are to go and make disciples.

That's the point.

And with making disciples comes encouragement, comes exhortation.

So the church does not Just grow through preaching.

Even though church needs godly preaching to grow.

But it's not just godly preaching that grows a church.

You could have the greatest preacher standing behind the pulpit and preaching a wonderful, perfect message.

But yet if there's no exhortation, it's always going to fall short.

Because why?

Personal encouragement needs to happen every day within the church.

Some of the greatest sermons are not preached from behind a pulpit.

Some of the greatest sermons are preached with a conversation, one at a time, behind different places, in coffee shops, in people's homes, because that's where the real problems sometimes happen, and we need to address them in that way.

So if God has given you the gift of exhortation, use your words wisely for encouragement.

Because we can use our words for a lot of different things.

I can use my words to build somebody up, but I also can use words to tear other people down in person, right?

Like we all know, like everyone probably in this room has had someone come up to them and say something that has cut their heart and torn them down.

My parents used to tell me, sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.

So don't let those kids, what they say at school bother you.

And I know what they're doing.

They're trying to encourage me.

But we all know that words hurt.

Words can cut.

The Bible says that words are like a dagger.

So we can use our words for one thing, like, hey, I'm going to tear someone down to their face.

I'm going to try to cut them down.

But another way that we can use our words to tear other people down is behind their backs.

Because just because someone's not there doesn't mean that it's not tearing down that person's morale or maybe even tearing down that person's testimony to somebody else.

Folks, we can get into big trouble by gossiping about other people, by saying, look, you know what I heard?

That person has this problem in their life.

Pray for them.

Now what you've done is you've introduced someone else into the equation that doesn't need to be in the equation.

And, and now their heart has been stirred to a place of maybe bitterness towards that person.

So we can tear people down by what we say, but the Bible says something completely different because of the gift of exhortation.

What we're called to do is build other people up with what we say, encourage them.

You know what?

My parents used to tell me the same thing too.

And I think this is a biblical truth.

If you don't have Anything good to say about somebody, don't say anything at all.

Build them up.

Look into your heart about why you don't have something good to say about that person.

Because the truth is that we all should be gifted in some way to try to point out things in people's life that we can encourage them.

If we can't encourage them by what they're doing, what can we do?

We can encourage people with Scripture and point them to Christ.

You might look at someone's life and say, well, there's no way I can encourage them with what they've got going on.

I mean, Pastor, you see it.

It's like, well, you know what?

Maybe you can't encourage them by their circumstances, but you can encourage them with what Jesus Christ has told them in his Word, that he's never going to leave them nor forsake them.

You can encourage them with your friendship, you encourage them with your prayers.

And so the Bible says that we can encourage through pointing people to Scripture.

So call people towards obedience, remain humble, stay dependent upon the Holy Spirit, and ultimately understand that people may forget your advice, they may forget your stories, they may forget your ministry, but they will never forget what God has done in their life through your encouragement.

I can't tell you how many people have encouraged me, and I'm going to tell you I've probably forgotten about people who've encouraged me.

But I'm thankful for each and every person who exhorted me in my life by coming alongside of and challenging me and praying for me and giving me Bible verses.

And so we have to ask ourselves this.

Am I using my words to strengthen others or just express my opinions?

Most of us are really comfortable with expressing our opinions, and that's okay.

That's good.

You know that God has given us our opinions.

But in some ways, we need to be careful that we're not just expressing our opinions without building other people up and strengthening them in the Lord.

Another question might be this.

Do I point people to Christ or do I point them to myself?

Is my encouragement rooted in God's word or personal experience?

Am I faithfully walking alongside others in their spiritual journey, or am I just focused on what I'm doing?

Another question might be this.

Who needs a Barnabas in their life?

You say, well, I need a Barnabas right now.

Well, praise God, and maybe God will send you a Barnabas very soon.

But the question might be asked a different way.

Who can I be a Barnabas to this week?

Who.

Who can I encourage with what I say and what I do this week.

Maybe God is calling you to be that person in somebody's life.

Maybe God's calling you to pursue somebody like Barnabas pursued Saul or that Jesus pursued Peter.

Maybe you've seen someone, they, they've been taking some steps back in their faith, or maybe they've been just really discouraged.

Maybe they've had a lot of pain and suffering in their life.

Maybe come alongside of them and encourage them with a kind word.

Encourage them with a scripture verse, encourage them with your prayers.

And so ultimately, the gift of exhortation is a spirit given ability to come alongside of others, to faithfully apply God's word to their life and encourage them towards spiritual maturity.

So some proclaim the truth, some teach the truth.

Exhorters lovingly help people live the truth.

And so when exercised in the spirit and in humility, this gift strengthens individuals, unites the church, and brings glory to the Lord through having a healthy body of Christ.

And so if you can think of another picture here today, and then this is where we're going to end.

Encouragement is not just me yelling from across the room, hey, you got it.

Keep going.

I know that that can be a way that we can encourage.

That's, that's encouragement, but that's not exhortation.

Okay?

So let me give you an example.

When I'm not doing this as much anymore because of many reasons, and I'm going to give you all the excuses in the world, but I used to run a lot, okay?

And I used to get in these races and these races, like one race I did was like 13 miles.

And that 13 mile race was a long race.

And about three miles in, I was like, I'm going to quit.

Why do I need to do this?

No one's here, no one's watching.

I could just quit and no one would ever know and I could just walk home and go grab a cheeseburger and be done with it, okay?

But I'm like, no, I'm going to keep going.

I'm going to keep going.

And you know, every single time that I would get to a place where all the people were, they'd start cheering and they didn't know me, but they're like, hey, you got it.

You got it, man.

And in my mind I'm like, that's what I needed.

I needed their encouragement.

I'm going to get through it.

And so that would be encouragement.

And, and I would get to the end of the race and I would see the, the, the, you know, finish line right there, and everyone would be Cheering and all the energy would come and I'd run.

I'm like, I'm going to finish this.

I'm not going to quit in front of people.

That would be encouragement.

Exhortation would be this.

You guys came out to my race and you said, okay.

They said, you see me struggling about three miles left and my knees hurting.

I'm wobbling.

Exhortation would be like, all right, I'm gonna come.

I'm gonna do it with you.

I'm gonna put my arm around you, and I'm gonna carry you through this, and we're gonna talk it through, and I'm gonna coach you off and we're gonna get through this.

Now, some of you say, well, Pastor, I would have no capabilities of doing that for you, and I completely understand that, and I would never expect you to do that.

But spiritually speaking, all of us have the capabilities of coming by someone who's in that race and saying, you know what?

I've been there.

Come on, take your deep breath.

Ask the Lord for strength.

I'm here.

I'm going to do it with you.

And showing that the testimony is this, that just as God has gotten me through this, he can get you through this.

Some of you have gone through very, very hard times in your life, and you might ask the question, why did God allow me to go through that?

I don't know all the answers to everything that God does or everything that God allows.

But it may just be that God has allowed you to go through a difficulty in your life so that you can learn a lesson of his presence and his power, so that you can come along with someone else that's going through that and say, you know what?

God got me through this, and he can get you through this.

And that's encouragement.

And that's even more than encouragement.

That's exhortation.

So literally, think about coming alongside of somebody, and that is what exhortation is, to help them and to strengthen them in the truth of who God is and what he has done.

And so, church, may we be a church that is desiring exhortation to be the recipient of exhortation and be the givers of exhortation.

And ultimately understanding that all of these things are exercised through what God has exhorted us in.

Folks, you might not be a naturally gifted exhorter, but all of us are called to some degree to grow in that area in our lives.

But if you are a gifted, natural exhorter, make sure you understand to exercise that in the spirit without pride, clothed in humility and pursue those that God is putting on your heart.

So I would encourage you today, I would exhort you today to, number one, exercise the natural gift that God has given you in exhortation, or grow in that area if it's not something that you desire in your life.

Because why?

Because exhortation is an essential part of a growing, healthy church.

We must encourage, we must exhort.

And as Jesus is our great example, we know that he came alongside and he says, hey, take of my yoke.

Take, take of me all you that are weary and heavy laden.

He says, why?

Because I will give you rest.

That's exhortation.

Jesus says, take up my yoke.

Because when you try to do things in your own strength, it's impossible.

But when you take on the yoke of the Lord, guess what?

You're no longer having to do the work because God's doing the work for you.

God's the one carrying you through.

And that's biblical exhortation.

So if we can boil it down to this, and I think that this is the last verse that we will go to here today.

I say I think because you never know.

But let's see here.

Second Corinthians, chapter one.

I want you guys to see this, because I think that when we are tempted to think, well, you know what?

Why should I encourage that person?

Why do I need to take a step of faith to reach out to them?

And maybe they'll reject me, maybe they'll not listen to my encouragement.

Well, Second Corinthians, chapter one tells us that God is a God of all comfort.

See it there in verse number three says, blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort.

So Second Corinthians, chapter one, verse three tells us that number one, God in his character is a God of comfort and exhortation.

But then he says in verse four, who comforteth us in all our tribulation.

So if you're a believer, he comforts you, he encourages you, he exhorts you, why?

So that you can say, wow, man, I feel at comfort.

I feel at peace.

Well, that's the starting place.

But he says there's something more that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

Did you see that there?

He says, you are comforted by God, and that's a blessing.

But there's a purpose so that I can reach out and comfort and encourage those as well.

That's Exhortation.

So this morning, may we rest in the exhortation of the Lord in the presence of God in our life.

And may we exercise that exhortation with others around us.

I know it's a big word, it's a word with a lot of things tied to it.

But may we think about that.

May we meditate upon that word exhortation here this week and know what we are called to do when it comes to challenging and encouraging and praying for one another.

I'm going to ask if you're able to to stand with me, every head bowed, every eye closed as the music plays here this morning we have an opportunity to respond to the preaching of the Word of God.

We've heard a lot about exhortation here today.

Don't need to say anymore.

God has said what he needs to say here this morning.

But the question might be is what am I going to do about it?

What are you going to do about it?

Am I going to act in the challenge that God has called me to do, to be the exhorter that God has called me to be?

Folks, if number one, you need the exhortation of the Lord this morning, maybe you're like, I'm broken right now.

I can't help anybody in my own life.

Come forward right now and get the comfort of God in your life.

Get the exhortation that is offered to all as he is the God of all comforts.

Find that comfort and encouragement in Him.

But then from there, from there, understand that that's not just for me to hold, but for me to give and to share with others.

And so maybe you've been comforted by God throughout your life.

Maybe he has challenged you and encouraged you and taught you and discipled you throughout all of your life.

Now it's time to say, you know what?

I need to do that for others.

I need to share that with other people.

Maybe you've been the beneficiary of God's comfort, but you haven't shared it with someone else.

Maybe today you could commit yourself to that.

Or maybe you're doing all these things, but you just need to be encouraged in the Lord.

I'm going to tell you here today, keep up the good work, fight the good fight.

Contend for the faith.

Don't get weary and well doing.

For in due season we're going to reap if we faint not so.

May we continue in the truth of the exhortation of Jesus Christ.

If you need Jesus as your Savior this morning, it might be that you don't even know the comfort of God or the presence of God because you haven't trusted in the truth of God in the fact that Jesus came and died on the cross for your sins that he rose again on the third day and that he is offering the gift of salvation for you.

The Bible says as many as received him they became the sons or the children of God so may we receive that gift of grace today.

If you need any of that help today we've got some folks standing up here that are willing to help you and show you in the word of God what it means to trust in Jesus as your Savior.

Lord I pray that you be in this time of invitation working hearts and lives get us to a place in our life where we understand the gift of encouragement the gift of exhortation and the challenge thereof to share that with others.

Pray that you be in this time of invitation.

We thank you for all that you do in Jesus name amen.