How Do You Rub People?

We all need and desire encouragement. We all feel the discouragement from many sources in the course of one week.

I was encouraged yesterday by many people. Some complimented the message, some complimented a story that was told. I never get any compliments about my hair style...go figure!

I want to thank each of your for your encouragement upon me! I feel blessed each week to minister here at United.

I need to say that after yesterday's sermon, I received several interesting pieces of feedback. Some of the questions came from Barnabas selling his property to help the poor and needy in society. Some came from asking about the Last Days. I enjoy talking about the topic of the day and helping others to think outside the box.

VARIOUS QUOTES:

"Write your criticisms in dust, your compliments in marble."

“Once I did bad and that I heard forever; Twice I did good, but that I heard never.”

The scripture reading this week was found in two places:

-Hebrews 10:25 "exhort (encourage) one another, even more as you see the Day approaching." The Day is speaking of the Day of the Coming of Jesus Christ.

-Acts 4:36-37 36 For instance, there was Joseph, the one the apostles nicknamed Barnabas (which means “Son of Encouragement”). He was from the tribe of Levi and came from the island of Cyprus. 37 He sold a field he owned and brought the money to the apostles.

We came away with 3 ways to be a better encourager:

1. Be a person that brings BLESSINGS to others

-Barnabas sold the field, brought the money to the apostles and it was dispersed to the needy

-We should see the need, do what we can to help the need and bring a blessing to others

-MONEY is not the only thing that brings blessings to others! 

Sick people don't need money—they need a word of concern.

Lonely people don't need money—they just need a few minutes of time.

Hurting people don't need money—they just need a touch on the shoulder.

Discouraged people don't need money—they just need a sentence of hope.

2. Be a person who breaks BARRIERS to others

"And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, and did not believe that he was a disciple." (9:26) 27 Then Barnabas brought him to the apostles and told them how Saul had seen the Lord on the way to Damascus and how the Lord had spoken to Saul. He also told them that Saul had preached boldly in the name of Jesus in Damascus.

-The Christian church had a hard time accepting the former "Saul of Tarsus" because of his past

-Barnabas was more interested in Paul's future than he was his past

-Paul was now a Christian just like they were and Barnabas was breaking barriers for him!

-We need each other to help and hold each other up!

Illustrate: I was reading the other day about the human spine. When the spine is supported by surrounding muscles, ligaments, and tendons, it can be used as a mighty lever for manipulating the body and lifting incredibly heavy objects. Yet, when that same spine loses the support of those soft tissues around it, it will buckle under a load of just five pounds.

You can take an isolated human spine from a corpse, and put no more than five pounds of pressure on it, and it will totally collapse. 

3. Be a person who builds BRIDGES for others

Acts 15:36-40: "Then after some days Paul said to Barnabas, ‘Let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they are doing.

Now Barnabas was determined to take with them John called Mark."

But Paul insisted that they should not take with them the one who had departed from them in Pamphylia, and had not gone with them to the work.

Then the contention became so sharp that they parted from one another. And so Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus;

but Paul chose Silas and departed, being commended by the brethren to the grace of God.

And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches."

WOW! Barnabas helped Paul to be accepted but now Paul would not have mercy on John Mark? Yes, that is how it goes sometimes. We all have negative people in our lives that we must get over. 

Some of us are like Charlie Brown:

CHARLIE BROWN COMPLEX: Some people always have a Lucy in their lives! You can never do anything right around that person.

I remember one cartoon where Lucy put her hands on her hips after Charlie Brown had made another mistake, and said, "Charlie Brown, you are a foul ball in the line drive of life! You're in the shadow of your own goal post! You are a miscue! You are three putts on the 18th green! You are a 7-10 split in the 10th frame! You are a dropped rod and reel in the lake of life! You are a missed free throw, a shanked nine iron, and a called third strike! Do you understand? Have I made myself clear?" Have you ever had a Lucy around you? Well I have.

You can make it! Some of you need to be encouraged and some of us need to keep on encouraging!

COLONEL SANDERS: There was a boy whose dad died when he was five years old. This boy dropped out of school after the sixth grade. By the time he was 17 he had lost job after job after job. He married at 18, had a baby at 19, and was separated from his wife at 20.

He became a railroad conductor, but he got fired. He joined the Army, but he washed out. He became a farmer and lost his shirt. He applied to law school but got turned down. He became an insurance salesman and couldn't give it away.

Finally, he became a dishwasher and a cook in a two-bit restaurant. One thing he was able to do was to finally persuade his wife to come back to him and together they made a living cooking and washing dishes in this little restaurant. At 65 years of age he retired. He went to the mailbox and got his first Social Security check that had a grand total of $105. This 65 year old man was so discouraged he decided to commit suicide.

He went under a shade tree, wrote out his last will and testament, determined to end his life. Well, somehow his wife found out about his scheme and confronted him, and said, "Let me tell you one thing you can do, I believe better than anybody I've ever known." He said, "What's that?" She said, "You can cook." He said, "Do you really think so?" She said, "You're fabulous."

Well that gave him an idea. He went down to a local bank and borrowed $87 dollars against his Social Security check. He went to the supermarket, bought some chicken and some boxes, fried it with a special recipe he had developed on his own, put it in boxes and began going door-to-door in Corbin, Kentucky selling his chicken.

It became so popular he came up with the idea to try to sell it to restaurants. Well, guess what? He was turned down 1,014 times before a man named John Y. Brown tasted his chicken and said, "I'll go into business with you." That man's name was Colonel Harlan Sanders, the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken. What was the secret?

• Same man, same recipe, same ability, same chicken. The only difference—a word of encouragement. 

Looking forward to seeing you the next time at United Wesleyan!!