Encouragement from the Lord
November 25, 2018 Morning Service
Immanuel Baptist Church, Wagoner, OK
Rick Boyne
Message Point: God gives encouragement to His children.
Focus Passage: Haggai 2
Supplemental Passage: Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary. (Isaiah 40:31 NASB)
Introduction: A word of encouragement can make all the difference. One fond memory I have of my birth father was when I was in Boy Scouts. We had gone on a campout next to a large pond in an old quarry. One side had a gentle slope where we could go fishing and the other side had a nice cliff from which to jump into the water. Being a chubby adolescent, I was insecure about swimming to the other side of the pond just to jump into the water. Well, I did it and it was fun. The whole troop decided to go back to the original side of the pond and everyone took off swimming. I started across and found myself starting to panic as I ran out of steam. My birth father was watching me and began to holler encouragement to me. He said things like “you can do it;” “just a little bit further.” etc. It really made a big difference to me and I seemed to gain some strength from it. Words of encouragement are a big deal.
I. A Call to Take Courage in the Lord
a. Take courage AND WORK (vs 4)
b. God is with us (vs 4)
c. What is to come is greater than what has been (vs 9)
II. A Call to Holiness
a. Sanctification cannot be transferred (vs 12)
b. Defilement can be transferred (vs 13)
c. Sin and disobedience “contaminates” all of us (vs 14)
d. From now on, God will bless us (vs19)
III. A Call to Confidence in the Future (vs 20-23)
a. Most of this encouragement is to both the time of Christ and the Second Coming
b. We have already seen the heavens and earth shaken with the arrival of Jesus
c. We breathlessly await the return of Christ
Application/Invitation: Let’s look at the second point again: a call to holiness. Is there some secret sin that you are harboring? Is there something in your life that defiles you, your family or even our church? Confess it now. Repent of it now. Ask God to take it from you. We are commanded to be holy!
