Live Free with Josh Howerton - The Generous Life // Acts 11:22-24

Episode Date: December 9, 2024

Have you ever noticed how generosity can change not only others' lives but your own? Today, we dive into the story of Barnabas, known as “the Son of Encouragement,” who demonstrated the power of a generous and other-centered life. In Acts, we see Barnabas journey to Antioch, where he witnesses God’s transformative work and encourages new believers. His faith and generosity show us that a truly fulfilling life focuses on serving and uplifting others. Join us as we explore why the best way to fill ourselves up is to pour ourselves out for others.   For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's Word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, what's up, everybody? Happy Monday. Thanks for starting your week with us on the Daily Drive. My name is Bro, and it is great to be back with you. And a big shout out to my man Carlos for all the awesome stuff last week. I mean, he is such a great, I mean a great guy. And it's so grateful for him and all the people that we have on our team. We've been walking through a book in the New Testament section of the Bible called the Book of Acts. It's the history of the church, these Jesus followers who ended up changing the world. And while there is story after story,

amazing people, the chief character of this whole movement is the Holy Spirit of God. I mean, the book really could be called the Acts of the Holy Spirit, because as he blows into their lives and empowers them and encourages them and comforts them and opens up doors for them and equips them, they make a difference. We left off midway through Chapter 11, where we see the good news of Jesus, breaking down barriers and changing the lives of all kinds of people who were formerly considered like outsiders. The gospel, which simply means the good news, had traveled about 300 miles north of Jerusalem with the church with birth

to a place called Antioch. Now, Antioch was the third largest city in the Roman Empire. It was heavily influenced by Roman and Greek culture and all their variety of pagan gods. It was a crazy and dark culture. But lots of people there were hearing about Jesus now, and they were connecting to the true and living God, and as a result, their lives were changing.

And it's there in Antioch that we get introduced to one of my favorite guys in all the Bible. And even though this guy doesn't get as much notoriety, oppress, because of him, the good news of God's love eventually makes it all the way to us. So I want to spend some time just talking about him. So let's pick it back up in Acts chapter 11, beginning in verse 22. When the church at Jerusalem heard what had happened, they sent, here's our guy, Barnabas, to Antioch. When he arrived and saw this evidence of God's blessing, he was filled with joy, and he encouraged the believers to stay true to the Lord. And I love this description of Barnabas.

It says Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit, and strong in faith, and many people were brought to the Lord. So when the apostles, Jesus' original 12 disciples minus Judas, when they hear about how God was now including all people into his kingdom, that the good news of Jesus was touching all kinds of lives, they say to each other, you know what, somebody needs to go up to Antioch and see if this is real. You know what, James, maybe you ought to go check. You know, John, why don't, Peter, you know what, you had some recent experience with all of this, so why don't you...

Oh, hang on a second. You know who would be perfect? Barnabas. Oh, man, you're right. That's a great idea. That dude would be such a blessing of those people. And they were right. He was.

because Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit, and strong in faith. Now, his name is actually Joseph. That was his birth name. Barnabas was just his nickname. Y'all got any nicknames? I've had a few, some less than flattering. In fact, pretty much anything that rhymes with bro has been used to describe me. And I'm sure you know people like I do that you only know them by their nicknames.

I saw a young guy just the other day. I hadn't seen him probably more than 10 years, and somebody pointed him. out to me and I said, hey, that's catfish. Still not sure of his real name. He'll always be catfish to me, as well as all the guys I ran track with back in the day as Pucci and Buttney and Toad. I never did know their real names. So even though his name is Joseph, everybody calls him Barnabas, which by the way is a very cool nickname. Back in chapter four is a description about how the early church was absolutely thriving. And thriving, by the way, in the politically oppressive heavy-handed Roman Empire. And it says this, all the believers were united in heart and mind.

And they felt that what they owned was not their own. So they shared everything they had. The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God's great blessing was upon them all. There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need. 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. He sold a field he owned and brought the money to the apostles. So there you have it. Joseph, aka the Son of Encouragement, Barnabas, a good man full of the Holy Spirit

and strong in faith. There are some qualities that just stand out about this guy to me that just made me think, man, I was sure like to be a whole lot more like that guy. And one of the character traits is what we just read about. He was a generous guy. So you got this early church trying to get off the ground. They got a limited budget. They're not yet even like a 501c3 organization, just a bunch of people trying to pool the resources to help other people. And Barnabas, I'm sure wanting no credit whatsoever,

probably not even happy with Luke writing that line into the story. And he's not motivated but like getting a tax right off. He starts to think, you know what? I have been so blessed. This world isn't my home anyway. I live for a higher kingdom. I think I'll sell this piece of property and see if that might help get us rolling and perhaps help some other people too.

You see, encouragers are always outwardly focused. The world does not revolve around them. They just live lives of gratitude. And as a result, they are generous with their time, their energy, their words, their prayers, their money, their stuff, always thinking, how can they help somebody else? You know what a lot of us are discovering that when Jesus said things like give and it'll be given to you,

followed up by, in fact, it's so much better to give than it is to get. When Jesus said all that, he wasn't unpacking a sermon about tithing. He was just stating a fundamental law of life, that generosity is simply the best way to live. And many of you know what I'm talking about, because I'm guessing a bunch of us. We're formerly self-centered and stingy, but now we're experiencing the fun and the fun and freedom of a generous lifestyle? I mean, when you know that you're spending a sizable chunk of your income, building an orphanage somewhere in the world, when you're using your resources to feed and clothe kids around the world and in your own city, when you're bringing hope to inmates and

victims of sex trafficking and the homeless, when you are advancing the cause of the local church of Jesus all over your community and beyond, it is such a deeply satisfying thing. You know, there's all kinds of secular studies that show that the happy, people in life are those who serve other people and just generously give themselves away. See, the enemy of our soul is convinced most in our culture that life is all about you. But here's the deal. You can get you exactly the way you want you, and you still won't be happy. You see, the reality is we cannot acquire, consume, compare, purchase, renovate, or even exercise our way to happiness. As long as you are all about you, then you

will never be happy. There will always be this huge piece missing from your life. A huge piece that your creator, the God who made you put in you. You see, we might not be able to consume, acquire, or purchase our way to happiness, but we can serve and give our way there. I mean, there's a ton of research that reveals this big-time connection between happiness and other-centered living. In one study was done at the University of Chicago, people were ask, what are the most fulfilling jobs or careers? Guess what kind of jobs were at the top of the list? Vocations where you teach others, help others, care for others, and protect others. And the other thing they found was that there was no income level associated with job satisfaction. Once a

person reached a point where they could basically eat and pay their bills and live indoors with a flush toilet, they were happy with their job. And as they added more and more income, there was not a significant increase in their happiness. The happiness, the deep level of satisfaction, came from living beyond themselves, serving and giving to others. Then there was another study done over in the UK. They did 40 different studies, like over a 20-year period, asking, is there a connection between happiness, health, generosity, selflessness, and serving others?

Well, the answer came back a big time, yes. And these weren't people who, like, volunteered once a year for something, but these were people just carved out time to make generous living their lifestyle. I mean, somewhere in their church, their community, somewhere else in life, they chose to consistently volunteer, serve, and give. Studies show that those people who just generously lived beyond themselves had less depression, less heart disease, less stress, and they enjoyed higher levels of satisfaction, contentment, and happiness. So you might be thinking, well, I don't really get that. I mean, how can living selflessly make myself happier?

How can empty in myself leave me feeling so full? Dang, it is counterintuitive. I mean, on the surface, it doesn't make much sense. And that's why most people don't live that way. But those who do will tell you, the absolute best way to fill yourself up is to pour yourself out. You see, we've been made in God's image. So we have been divinely pre-engineered to give ourselves,

away because that's what he does. And that kind of generosity defined Barnabas. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and strong and faith. Well, I have a few more observations about this guy, and we'll talk about those tomorrow. But why not find a way today? Just to live generously and give yourselves a way. It really is the best way to live. I'll see you back here tomorrow. Have a great day. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays and Sundays. For more information about all the digital ministries of Lake Point, visit lakepoint.combe.

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