Part 1 - 05-13-19

Fortifying our Foundation pt. 1 Brother Bennett.

Opening Prayer: Father God, thank You for this blessed day, for allowing us to come together in worship and reverence of You Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit we pray You open up the ears and eyes of all those within the sound of Your word this morning, may Your word penetrate their hearts this day. We know You are the foundation, Lord Jesus; it is upon You we the body are being built, strengthened, and encouraged. Let us learn today how we can help develop, support, and encourage our brothers in Christ and how we can be an example of these things to the people around us. I thank you, God, for allowing me to be a vessel for Your holy and mighty word. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray let the body say, Amen.

Benediction: N/A

Title: Fortifying Our Foundation Part 1
Teacher: Brother Bennett
Date: May 13, 2019
Song: "I Need You"
Attendance: 6

Premise: How we strengthen and sanctify the body to be the light in the darkness.

Opening Prayer: Brother Bennett (attached)

Sermon: Good Morning! It is a joy to see everyone here today. This morning we will begin a message titled, Fortifying our Foundation. This will be Part 1 of this message. This week, we will be focusing on strengthening one another and how we can encourage one another in the body. This is the "offense" Part of the message. Next week, Lord willing, we will discuss the defense.

Let us turn in our Bibles to Ephesians 2:19-22 (read),… "Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit." The Church, Christ's body, is a living entity with Christ as the Head. 1 Peter 2:4-5; (read). We are a holy temple indwelt by God. In this body, this living body, this holy temple, He reveals His glory and His light.

Matthew 7:24-27; 16:18 (read); The Church is built upon the Rock which is Christ. In Matthew 7, we have to remember Jesus is talking to Jesus here. In Hebrew, the word "rock" always refers to God. This applies to Matthew 16:18 also. Peter is not the Rock.

The holy temple is set apart from the World and is dedicated to Him for sacred purposes. The more the body grows, the more set apart we become, the brighter and bolder the light becomes. Today we will learn how to fortify our foundation. How do we fortify our foundation? In so glad you ask, dear brothers. We fortify our foundation by creating a community of believers who lovingly encourage and admonish one another. Let's turn to Hebrews 10:23-25 (read);…. "let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds…encouraging one another." Encouragement is the focus in verses 24-25, And it will be our focus in the first part of this message. We will be going over four ways by which we may be an encouragement to others, specifically believers. Let's turn to Acts 4:32; We will be using a man named Barnabas to help us better illustrate these 4 points. For those of you not familiar with who Barnabas is. We first meet Barnabas in the corrupts good morals." We must extend friendship to share the relationship; we must first have a relationship. This begins first with God to us, then God through us.

Let us turn to Acts 11:20. Our third point is 3). We encourage others by building partnership; Let's read Act 11 verses 20 through 30; (read) The Church at Jerusalem chose Barnabas to go to Antioch to investigate the public preaching to the Gentiles there. First, he went to Antioch and encouraged them to love and good deeds, and then he went and partnered with Saul. In partnering with Saul, Barnabas encouraged Saul, but together they encouraged and taught the Church at Antioch. In addition to this, they also brought famine relief to the Jerusalem Church. Let's look at verses 29-30 (read); Uniting with other believers in Christ for the ministry, or to perform deeds to help others in need, is a great encouragement to one another, and is also a blessing and encouragement to those the partnership serves.

Notice the chain reaction here, the Church at Jerusalem, partnering with Barnabas, sent him to the Church at Antioch. Barnabas knew what a blessing Saul would be to the new believers in Antioch, partnered with Saul, then they were used as that team to bring back food and supplies to the Church at Jerusalem.

Getting back to the initial partnership. Barnabas remembered how Saul boldly professed Christ, arguing against the Hellenistic Jews. Remember, Barnabas introduced Saul to the disciples but no sooner was Saul introduced to the disciples than he was sent away to his home in Tarsus. Let's reread Act 9:27-30 (read); Barnabas remembered Saul, and he was anxious to encourage Saul and the new believers in Antioch. Barnabas wanted to give them the benefit of Saul's teaching. Barnabas was an encourager, and Saul was a teacher, and together they were a powerful team. This is not to say these men of God could not do both, but this is what they were gifted in. By partnering with Saul, Barnabas encouraged Saul in the faith. We, too, must partner with other believers in Christ for the sake of the ministry and one another. Whether that is helping put together a Sermon, teaming up to help minister to the lost, writing or creating artistic expressions of the faith, or just helping someone in need. Doing ministry together is a double blessing.

We must also be mindful of who and what we partner with. 2 Corinthians 6:14-16; (read); This entire Chapter talks about ministry and the proper way to do ministry. Let's turn to Ezra 4:1-3 (read); Every attempt to revive God's word in the book of Acts. He was a Levite and native of Cyprus. His name was Joseph before the Apostles named him Barnabas. Does anyone here know what the name Barnabas means? That's correct, "Son of Encouragement." Let's learn why the Apostles gave him this name, and in doing so, learn how we too can be a Son of encouragement. Let's read Acts 4:32-37; Our first point 1) We are an encouragement to others by practicing stewardship, Barnabas, the Son of Encouragement, in his generosity, is practicing stewardship. This example of encouragement we see in Barnabas is shown to us in sharp contrast to the greed and hypocrisy of Ananias and Sapphira in the very next Chapter. They were moved by the example of Barnabas but sadly then desired man's praise for this similar act of generosity. In wanting recognition from a man, they lied to God. Typically when we think about stewardship, we tend to correct it with our bank account. We think about handing over money, and both the definition and connotation become negative for many of us. While giving money to the Church, including the idea of tithing, is certainly an aspect of stewardship, it doesn't capture the whole concept. The Biblical concept of stewardship began with Adam and Eve and, developing more in the New Testaments, God is the owner and provider of all. I Chronicles 29:11-16 I Corinthians 10:26 (read). Collective responsibility was given to humankind to have dominion over the earth, care for it, and manage it for its glory. He expects that we, regardless of vocation, will exercise responsible stewardship, on his behalf, every day that we live.

A Steward is someone who cares for the person or property of another. We, my dear brothers, are Stewards of what Christ owns, the very body we live. I Corinthians 6:19-20 (read). How do we care for this body he owns? Do we take care of it? Do we use it as a vessel of honor and light? He desires and has purposed it to be? By eating healthy, exercising, not polluting our bodies with harmful things, we are a good steward of God's property. By spending your time concerning the things of God. This is one way. We encourage one another to love and good deeds.

When we practice good stewardship, we also encourage others to reverence God, as they see us reverencing God. We also encourage others to trust in Him as they observe the fruit and blessings that are His promise. Proverbs 3:9-10. Malachi 3:9-12 (read); God is faithful, and He keeps his promise. Lastly, good stewardship encourages others with a new and proper perspective of how the body functions Acts 4:34; 1 Corinthians 12:25-26 (read). We encourage others as we care for one another by being good stewards of what and who Almighty God has entrusted us.

Let us turn to Acts 9:23-27; our Second point is 2) We are an encouragement to others by extending friendship; let us read Acts 9:23-27; (read) We all struggle somehow. Sadly depression is all too common in the world today, especially in prison. A recent study showed that 70% of Americans today suffer from loneliness. We have all these electronic devices designed to help us communicate and connect, and yet all these people are lonely. That is, to say the least, interesting. These realities are not unique to American or this present time. The Bible is filled with people who faced the inevitable difficulties of life and living by faith. Job, Joseph, Daniel, Jeremiah, Jonah, David, Peter, Paul, and of course, the Lord Jesus. These men, just like you and I, all faced the difficulties of life and, as a result, felt discouragement, despair, loneliness, and depression at the deepest level. Let us turn to 1 Samuel 23:15-16 (read)… "and he encouraged him in God." I chose this particular passage of Scripture as it parallels the Scripture for our second point. David had been in the wilderness because King Saul was trying to kill him. Like David, the Apostle Paul had just escaped another attempt on his life. The Apostle Paul was now trying to seek fellowship with his brothers in Christ. He desired and needed the very fellowship and encouragement David received from Jonathan. At this time, Paul was very new to the faith and very much needed to be encouraged and received by the Brethren. Barnabas, Son of Encouragement, know this. And so he encouraged Paul, and the other Apostles, by extending friendship to Paul.

The World is full of deceit; we all have witnessed this first hand. We must be discerning, we must be Cautions, but we must exercise love by extending friendship, especially to other believers. This is the example we see in Barnabas' Son of Encouragement. The Lord wants each of us in the body of Christ to be a channel through which He can strengthen and encourage others. Hebrews 10:24; 13:1-2; (read); Primarily, the focus is on other believers as this is who these verses are written to remember; we are talking about fortifying our foundation. Jesus is our example, and He did spend time with sinners. Luke 5:29-32 (read). Even though he extended friendship to the lost, He did not mingle with them in their sins or do anything that would compromise His testimony but instead used these occasions to teach, rebuke, bless, and encourage. Dear brothers, we must be mindful. As I Corinthians 15:33 tells us, "Do not be deceived; by bad company in the book of James Calls true and undefiled religion, will stir up the opposition of the enemy Satan and those who work with Him. We are called to be separate from the lost and ungodly people of this World. We will discuss another aspect of this in part 2 of the message.

Let us turn back to Acts 11:23-26; to wrap up part 1 with the final point 4) We are an encouragement to others by building leadership. Let's read verses 23-26; (read); Barnabas had encouraged the new believers at Antioch, and now it was time to teach them. He could have done this by himself but not like Paul. Barnabas knew Paul, at this time still called Saul, was an amazing teacher called by the Lord for this very purpose, not to mention he knew Saul could use the experiential knowledge of leading and teaching. So Barnabas set out to find Saul to encourage him by helping build his leadership. And Barnabas knew the Apostle Paul could richly bless the new believers with the Word of God. This was a two-fold blessing. Sometimes encouraging others, building them up to lead, requires we put them out front. We are called to honor one another in the name of love and for the sake of the gospel. Romans 12-10 (read). One way we honor one another is by helping build and encourage one another in the gifts and abilities Almighty God has given them. And like Barnabas, this sometimes means we have to play the background. I heard the late great Pastor Adrian Rogers say, 'It takes grace I can tell to play second fiddle and play it well."

One way we grow in the faith is by leading, by teaching what we have been taught. I Corinthians 3:4-3; Hebrews 5:12-14 (read). It is true; we lose what we do not use. New believers are not to remain babes in Christ but are to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 3:17-18; Ephesians 4:14-16, (read). Leadership is built and is the result of growth in each member of the body. Each of us can encourage one another by building leadership in one another. Like Barnabas, we must be mindful of other members' abilities, and in this, we must pour into them. This is how we fortify our foundation, dear brothers, by being an encouragement to one another.

This part of the message is the offensive strategy that is purposed to strengthen us. It also sets us apart as the light, but primarily it is to strengthen us as the body. This happens as we exercise them.

Next week will learn the defensive strategy, focusing on setting us apart and protecting the body. Thank you for joining me today in worship. It is my hope and prayer this message blesses you.

Closing Prayer: Brother Bennett