A Word of Encouragement
Pray.
This morning I want to speak on the topic of Encouragement. I personally believe it is the most essential ingredient , other than Jesus Christ, in the life of every believer.
Encouragement keeps people moving forward. Encouragement keeps people feeling positive about what they are doing, it keeps them refreshed. In contrast Discouragement often times frustrates people into quitting something, whether it be for the Lord or in a secular sense.
I am here this morning to tell you that Encouragement amongst the church body is essential if it is going to succeed.
As Christians, we will walk out into the world in about an hour or so. And the world is ready to discourage you, not as a person but as a follower of Jesus. Fueled by the devil, the world hates Christians. Satan will send people constantly to you, to DISCOURAGE you. And many times Satan has caused a Christian to give up. He or she simply gets tired of the Attacks of Discouragement and they succumb to those discouraging words.
But here’s the problem. See, what we must understand is this, Satan’s job is to Discourage God’s children and he does it well. BUT it is our JOB to ENCOURAGE our fellow believers, and the sad fact is many of us don’t do that and Satan’s Discouraging Words often times out number Our Encouraging Words.
Our Encouraging Words are the Antidote to Satan’s Discouraging Words.
Now ask yourself this question before we get started here this morning, When is the last time you spoke words of encouragement to another person, especially to a fellow believer?
Or is your conversation always about YOU. What’s wrong with you, What you are doing, How much you have, How much you don’t have. I personally believe we could ALL become better Encouragers especially to our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
I want you to open your Bible’s to the book of Galatians in the NT. And look at chapter 6:10.
We are commanded here in this verse, at every opportunity we have to do good unto all men ESPECIALLY unto them who are of the household of faith.
The household of faith is another term for the church family. We are told at the moment of our salvation God is our Father in Matthew 6:9.
And we are His children according to 2 Cor.6:18. So understand, once you accept Jesus as your personal Savior, you are never alone. You may be an only child, but if you are a child of God , You are a part of a huge family. You are surrounded by a family on earth with unending fellowship and an eternal home.
Psalm 68:6 says, God sets the solitary in families. Meaning God takes the lonely individual and places them in a large, beautiful family at the moment of their salvation.
Folks, we’re family. We are the household of faith.
Let me drive this point home clearly with the verses found in Luke 8:19-21.
Vs. 19 Then came to him his mother and his brethern and could not come at him for the press. Vs. 20. And it was told him by certain which said, Thy mother and thy brethern stand without, desiring to see thee.
Vs. 21. And Jesus answered and said unto them, My mother and my brethern are these which hear the word of God and do it.
Jesus said, anyone who hears, receives and obeys the word of God is my family.
And we are told here in Galatians 6:10 to do good to every person but ESPECIALLY to our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
And how much better can you do for someone than to offer an Encouraging Word? Some would say money, and there are times when that is necessary. Some would say, by performing a physical service, maybe cutting grass for someone, fixing a household item, etc, which at times is necessary and wonderful for someone to do, BUT I believe on a daily basis, there is nothing better than a simple word of Encouragement.
Legendary Basketball coach, John Wooden wrote of having learned from his dad the importance of encouraging others with a kind spirit. Wooden grew up in Centerton, Indiana . Gravel pits were scattered around the area and farmers would often take their mules to the pits to haul out loads of gravel to use in building roads. Some pits were deeper than others, and it was sometimes tough for a team to pull out a wagon filled with gravel.
One steamy summer day, wrote Wooden, a young farmer about 20 years old or so, was trying to get his team of horses to pull a fully loaded wagon out of the pit. He was whipping and cursing those two beautiful plow horses that were frothing at the mouth, stomping and pulling back from him. Dad watched for a whild and then went over and said to the young farmer, Let me take em for you.
The farmer seemed relieved to hand over the reins. John watched as his dad started talking to the horses and stroking their noses with a soft touch. He slipped between the two horses and started walking alongside them, holding their bridles and bits while talking calmly and gently to them.
As the horses settled down, he stepped in front of them and gave a little whistle to start them moving forward as he held the reins. Within a few minutes those two massive horses had pulled the wagon out of the gravel pit as easy as the sun coming up. John Wooden, the most winning coach in college basketball history, said, he never forgot that lesson.
We need that same horse sense in the way we treat our brothers and sisters in Christ. Nothing good comes from being difficult or demanding. A little love and encouragement can often lift others out of their pit.
It won’t take you long to find someone in Need of an encouraging word. Take pastors for one, who gets criticized more than a pastor? How about a Sunday School teacher, A deacon, Anyone playing a part in God’s ministry is battling Satan on the front lines and NEEDS uplifting encouraging words to continue.
You may not always agree with everything I say, But I don’t claim to be perfect, Lonnie, in there teaching the children will not do it perfectly, Andy functioning as our deacon here will not always do things perfectly, Michelle may not clean perfectly, Paul may not pick the song that you would have picked on a particular Sunday,
But I’m here to tell you right now, Agree or Disagree, Instead of throwing out Discouraging Words of Negativity, Try a word of Encouragement. It is essential for the growth of our church. It’s essential for this ministry and it’s essential in the growth of every individual that walks through the door of this church, in their relationship with Jesus Christ.
I once read that the most encouraging word spoken is the word spoken to yourself.
You may be someone that struggles in this area of speaking an encouraging word to someone.
If you are, the first thing you must do is encourage yourself first. And how do you do that? You encourage YOURSELF in the Lord and must do so consistently through His written word.
This book is a book of encouragement.
Romans 15:4-5 Tells us that Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the ENCOURAGEMENT of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God who gives endurance and ENCOURAGEMENT give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus.
We are told the scriptures were written for our Encouragement and we learn that God is the One that will Encourage your life as you study His Word and learn to know Him better.
So first encourage yourself through God’s Word. That is what we are doing right now. And once you receive encouragement from God, Pass it ON.
I will guarantee you something. If you meet a Christian that constantly encourages others, They are a student of the bible, They attend church regularly and they have a wonderful relationship with their Savior.
See, that is why the world discourages because they have no where to draw Encouragement into their lives. We have God. We have the resource.
We have no excuse. And we should be encouraging everyone we meet, ESPECIALLY our brothers and sisters in Christ. There are hurting people everywhere.
I would even go as far to say, Someone in here this morning could really use an encouraging Word.
A simple pat on the back. A simple hang in there. A simple Way to Go brother. Whatever.
One little word can change a person’s day. A simple text message on a Tuesday Afternoon to someone, Thinking of You.
Who doesn’t like to still receive a Card in the Mail?
I said, Wednesday night at our service, that Ron’s testimony of salvation ENCOURAGED me to keep doing what I’m doing. That ONE
Remarkable moment out did every bad thing that has happened to me in the past year. I need that, not to stroke my ego, Because God receives all the Glory and Honor for what took place in Ron’s life, but I need to be encouraged, YOU, need to be encouraged.
I want to close with one verse that wraps all this up nicely.
Flip your Bible over to John chapter 16 and look at verse 33 with me.
Jesus speaking said, These things I have spoken unto you, THAT IN ME YE MIGHT HVE PEACE, IN THE WORLD YE SHALL HAVE TRIBULATION, BUT BE OF GOOD CHEER , I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD.
Jesus tells us here, the world offers the Christian trials and tribulations, He offers Peace, and then HE tells us to BE OF GOOD CHEER, because He has already won the war.
After His death , burial and resurrection, Jesus said in Matthew 28:18, All power has be given unto Me in HEAVEN and in EARTH.
Jesus is our Savior. He has ALL power in Heaven and In Earth, He has already Over come every thing this world has to offer. There is not one temptation, not one trial or tribulation that He is not capable of delivering you from.
If that is not enough to encourage you here this morning, I don’t know what is.
Remember, FIRST, encourage yourself. Who here would testify to the fact, that the more they read their Bible, the more they pray and the more they attend church, they feel discouraged.
Discouragement will come in your life, when you drift from the Lord.
So stay strong in the Truth of God’s Word, that will Encourage you And Once you do that
Share what God has given you. Encourage others. In whatever way you want to, either with a kind word, text, a card a phone call, whatever way you desire, But do so.
I’ll close for real with a true story.
One day a family was going out to pass out gospel tracts in their neighborhood. A father, mother and a young boy. And so they did, until they came to this one particular home. The home of an elderly man, that nobody really cared for. A grouchy man that yelled at all the neighborhood children, just a real mean man.
The parents were going to skip the house and the young boy asked why. And after hearing their reason, the young boy still wanted to go up and knock on his door.
So he did, he knocked once, NO answer. He knocked again, No answer. He knocked a third time and still no answer. So he left the track in his screen door and left.
The elderly man did not answer because, he had been battling several things in his life that nobody knew about, Finances, health and depression.
Before the boy began to knock at his front door, this man was in his attic standing on a chair with a rope around his neck getting ready to hang himself.
And he heard the knock at the door. But he ignored it, still getting ready to hang himself, he heard the second knock. Starting to wonder who it was, he said, who cares and still proceeded to hang himself and then the third knock came and His curiosity got the best of him and he decided to go down and see who it was. And when he got to the front door, nobody was there, but he found the gospel tract in his front door.
He read it, He believed it and he received Jesus into his heart at that very moment. True Story.
Don’t for one moment think that one act of encouragement can’t change someone’s life.
This morning, Let us all find encouragement in Christ Jesus and then let us all be diligent about sowing seeds of encouragement into the lives of those around us and according to our text verse in Galatians 6:10, especially to our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
Let’s pray.
