Sermon Central
-
Encourage One Another Series
Contributed by David Beirne on May 1, 2004 (message contributor)
Summary: Derek Kidner wrote: "What is done to you is not as important as what is done in you." Sticks and stones are not as powerful as words and attitudes.
Family Security
Encourage One Another
Various Scriptures
We come to our final message in this series. We based this on an acrostic I came across. John Maxwell described a study in which they were looking for qualities of a good, strong family, and they came up with these six Characterisitics of Secure Families:
S = Spiritual Bond
E = Express Positively
C = Consistently Discipline
U = Unite in a Crisis
R = Recognize Each Other’s Value
E = Encourage Each Other
Encourage each other. Why?
“What is done TO you is of little account when compared to what is done IN you.” –Derek Kidner
Sticks and stones may break our bones, but words and attitudes can kill us. The home that encourages produces people well-equipped to cope with life.
Encourage means to inspire with hope, courage, or determination. Are you injecting those in your family?
Our families are discouraged & deteriorating. In order to overcome the deterioration, hopelessness, lack of courage to change, we must adopt not just repetetive actions, but a whole new attitude.
Better than asking, “WWJD?” we’re going to ask some other questions to guide our behavior.
Let’s ask “Will this encourage or discourage?”
Let’s ask “Will this heal?” Whatever action Jesus took, it was the action that provided healing(will this heal? is a question raised in Buddy Scott’s book "Relief for Hurting Parents." Check it out of the church library.).
Let’s ask,“Will this give _hope_?”
“Will this inspire _improvement_?”
Replace the discouraging words of men with the encouraging words of God
That which Discourages: Anger & bitterness
That which Encourages: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." Luke 23:34
Discourages: Worry & Anxiety
Encourages: “...men always ought to pray and not lose heart,” Matthew 18:1
Discourages: Insults & Self-Hatred
Encourages:“forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,”
Discourages: Angry Thoughts Encourages: “...think on these things.” Fill your mind with what is truthful, pure, praiseworthy. Philippians 4:8
Dicourages: Cutting Off Connections, disowning them when they’ve failed you.
Encourages: When they fell asleep on Jesus, He came back with, “Stay here and watch." Mark 14:34
Discourages: Flounder In Guilt
Encourages: And Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise” Luke 23:43
Discourages: No Opportunity For Change
Encourages: “You must be born again.” John 3:7
Be the thermostat, not the thermometer. Set the temperature, don’t just react to what you feel. Make the atmosphere in your home encouraging.
