PRAY IT!!! B|Neighbors

JR Miller wrote that "One of the essential qualifications of leadership is large hopefulness."  As we progress in our B|Neighbors:  Our Hope Is Right Here sermon series, I'd like to propose that one of the essential qualifications of neighboring like Jesus is large hopefulness.  Hope in Christ.  Hope in each other.  Hope for all.

Last week, we concentrated our prayers toward lives that would intersect with people rather than just run parallel to them.  But what happens when this actually happens and life gets messy?  Or inconvenient?  Or uncharted?  What happens if God orchestrates an intersection with someone that you don't care for all that much?  Or perhaps someone who has been less-than-nice to you in the past?  Or perhaps someone who is perfectly pleasant, but you feel above them some how?  Or perhaps it's not the person that scares you, it's the intersection itself!  The list of possibilities is endless... you get the idea... 

We need more prayer.

In Philippians 2:5, we are urged by Paul "In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus." 

We need more prayer and we need constant Jesus.

Not only was Paul the recipient of the transformation that comes from encountering Jesus, he appears to have blossomed under the encouragement of Barnabas.

Barnabas... who was he?  He is referenced in Acts as Joseph, aka "son of encouragement" who sold a field and laid the money at the disciples feet (a stark contrast to Ananias and Sapphira).  In Acts 9:26-30 we read about how Barnabas was the one who took Paul and brought him to the other disciples who Paul had attempted to join but they were scared and skeptical of his sincerity and authenticity.  Barnabas was the one who declared to them that Paul encountered Jesus and as a result was now preaching boldly.  Barnabas INTRODUCED Paul - the changed Paul - to those who were still carrying old opinions of him.

Does it GET any more encouraging than that?! 

Barnabas intersected with Paul.  Those are some great verbs.  Took... brought... declared... These are neighboring words.  These are the actions of encouragers.

We need more prayer.  We need constant Jesus.  And we need to be willing to trustingly take the risk to encourage someone who may have hardly had the chance to demonstrate change yet.

Here's the thing... Either Jesus transforms or He doesn't.  Either we believe it or we don't.  We cannot go around proclaiming transformation and freedom through Christ but continuing to keep people we know boxed up in the prison of their previous characteristics, screw-ups, disappointments, and sins.  Jesus has provided them the opportunity to be freed up.  So.  Should.  We.  Is it risky... sure.  Could people hurt or disappoint us?  Sure.  But big picture, I'd say it cost Jesus the most on the cross... so... maybe it's not as risky as we think it is.  Just sayin'...

Barnabas' name is mentioned throughout Scripture, often in conjunction with Paul.  Sometimes his name is listed first, then second.  But there's not a whole lot more to be found on him.  There's no book of the Bible that appears to be authored by Barnabas.  Ponder this in relation to Paul.  Paul and his accounts... Paul and his letters to... There's a whole lotta Paul when you page through the New Testament.

We need more prayer.  We need constant Jesus.  We need to be willing to trustingly take the risk to encourage.  And we need humility. 

At PoC, we have a team of encouragement "ninjas" who engage in various missions of encouragement.  They are stealthy.  They don't bask in any limelight.  They serve willingly, joyfully, and humbly as they help create a culture of encouragement at PoC. 

Barnabas... the fact that when I flip through my Bible and do my various searches, I find very little on him, speaks volumes.  It begs an important question when we think about discipleship.  Am I praying enough?  Connected to Jesus constantly, enough?  Am I trustingly-risky enough?  Am I encouraging enough?  And:  Am I humble enough? 

Beautiful discipleship can result. 

But we can't stop there.

If we're not protected in prayer, if we're not connected to Jesus, it just might sting that someone who possibly used to persecute us is now flourishing, while we may be taking a back seat.  And we do not want our own insecurities to spring up and damage God-led growth. 


We must have the same mindset as Jesus.


RA Torrey wrote this about prayer:  "Oh, men and women, pray through; pray through, PRAY THROUGH.  Do not just begin to pray and pray a little while and throw up your hands and quit, but pray, and pray, and pray, and pray, until God bends the heavens and comes down."

This week, let's pray through.  Encouragement and neighboring is a process.  It's long term.  It matters.  Let's settle in and pray it up.

Our hope is right here.

Dear Jesus,
Stick close to me, constantly.  Invade my thoughts and actions.  Help me encourage.  Help me be humble.  Help me "free" people from the corners and cages I have put them in and actually "see" people for who they have become thanks to You.  Bind up any whisper of the enemy that calls me to jealousy.  Continue to orchestrate my life so that I intersect with people rather than just run parallel to them.
Amen.

Blessings,
Pastor Celia

PoC|Coverage - 6pm tonight!  Try it, you might like it!