Turning Our Homes Into Something Better--Encouragement

Turning Our Homes Into Something Better “Encouraging One Another”

Exodus 17:8-13 and Ephesians 4:25-32

Today we are in the final teaching on Turning Our Homes Into Something Better. Pastor Kellie started us off with “Dealing With Attitudes”, Pastor Toby last week preached on “Sharing The Load” and today I am speaking on “Encouraging One Another.” I’ll be trying to bring all three of the messages together in a final wrap up. You can watch or listen to the other messages on the website or on your smartphone. You can also watch us on Roku.

Think for a moment. When was the last time you were in a situation in which you did something and you really didn’t know if you had done it right or had done it well enough. Then somebody came along and said, “you did a good job on that.” When they said it, it gives you the power to breathe out with a sigh of relief. What you had just received was a word of encouragement. A word of encouragement pumps us up with a new found energy.

Words are powerful. Encouraging words can lift us up to new levels of possibilities. How many of us could use more words of encouragement in our homes? In our homes, we want people to do their best. We want them to do what’s right. We want them to succeed. Children want their parents to be the best parents in the world. Parents want their children to be the best they can be. Husbands want their wives to be the greatest thing that ever happened to them. Wives want their husbands to be their knights in shining armor. Kids just want to get along with each other.

So what is it that goes wrong to keep us from enjoying each other in the home?. Well we saw in the first week that that some of us needed some attitude adjustments. We saw last week that some of us were not doing our share of the load. The big mistake that we often make is that we try to get others to change, by using the wrong kind of words.

In most of our houses, there is a rule against using bad words. The only problem is, we don’t always recognize bad words when we hear them or more importantly when we say them. Oh we recognize curse words. As a matter of fact some of us will go ballistic, if one of our kids used a curse word while talking to us. I agree that noboby in the house should be using curse words, and four letter words, and the like. But as Christians, there are other bad words that violate the word of God, that we will use all the time.

In our New Testament reading, it says this “Ephesians 4:29-30 (NIV)

29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. Unwholesome talk, not only includes curse words, but any words that do not build others up according to their needs. So if I called you a “stupid idiot”, did I use bad words. If I told you, “you’re no good just like that sorry behind daddy of yours,” did I use bad words. If I get upset with you and yell out “I hate you, or I hate your guts” did I use bad words. Those words are usually more damaging in the long run than are some of the curse words.

As a believer, its great that you don’t cuss, but God is telling us to move to a higher level than that. The purpose of our words, is not to get something off of our chest, but to build up others according to their needs. Wow, that means having to think before we speak. That means putting the good of the other person ahead of my need to smack them upside the head verbally. Do you see why Jesus says, its tough to be one of his disciples, especially in the home. At home, we are more likely to let bad words come out, than we are at church, and that’s not a good thing. Because whether or not we striving to live for Jesus Christ is determined more by our behavior at home than it is at church.

The way to control bad words, is to make a practice of using encouraging words. People change quicker through encouragement than they will through put downs. When someone in your family blows it, what is more likely to come from your mouth? Words that put them down or words that encourage and build them up. Those words of encouragement can turn your home that day into something better. Bad words often do little to improve the atmosphere in the home.