0:13 Last few Wednesdays we have been considering on the subject of encouragement, encouraging one another and even last Sunday also we heard about that you know encouragement 0:32 comes from the Lord and uh everybody in this world, small children, youth, old people, even people on people who are sick and those who are on deathbed, they all need encouragement 0:52 and a word from a doctor can bring such a u encouragement to The patient when the doctor says that you're going to be all right in a week's time, you know, his body starts responding positively, his cells become more active. His 1:09 emotions, you know, they all work towards that goal and healing comes by just a word. Even if sometimes the doctors may give just dummy medicines, placeos, 1:28 but the patient believes that you know the doctor has given me the right medicine and that sort of mindset heals a person's body and emotions and we all need that like we heard last Sunday that encouragement is like 1:45 oxygen. We all need it. Who doesn't need oxygen? The moment we stop taking oxygen, we are finished. The moment we stop receiving encouragement, our growth is stunted and we become susceptible to so many diseases 2:05 and things like that. And it's only a matter of time before we whatever you say it. You know, we live in a world which is full of pessimism and uh skepticism 2:24 and full of discouragement. Every morning you open up the newspaper, what do you read in the newspaper? You don't read any encouraging words in the newspaper. Everyday's uh TV channels, media is all you know filled with 2:44 bad news. News of robbery here, scams there, decoy and murder, earthquake and famine, floods and molestation and 3:01 cheating and all sorts of evil. only you read about. Is there any newspaper called good newspaper? I haven't come across any good newspaper. They're just called newspaper and they only give you the news and most of them 3:19 is only bad news and rarely you get some good news like once in a while the government um decides to revise their pay commission or something like that. that may happen once in five years or something like that. No, that may be good news for the 3:37 government employees. So what good news we have in this world? You know I was looking the other day in the concordance the words encouragement, exhortation, consolation, 3:55 comfort, etc. And I found that all these words have the same common root. This comes from the same root word which the Lord Jesus referred to the comforter, the Holy Spirit. It's the 4:13 same word. So when you and I comfort somebody, you know what we are actually doing? We are doing or rather cooperating in the ministry of the Holy Spirit. We are cooperating with the Holy Spirit. When I encourage somebody, the world is 4:33 full of discouraged people, disheartened people, they are downhearted, they have so many problems. But who is there to encourage them? God has entrusted that to us his children in 4:50 the church. We are not to be like those around us in our offices who are all the time complaining, grumbling, murmuring. That should not be named among us. So we are supposed to be encouraging one another in the place of work, in at 5:08 home, in the neighborhood, especially husband and wife relationship. Are you the kind of person who is always nagging your life partner or you're the one who is always encouraging them, strengthening them? Are you supportive? 5:29 You know, we need it so much encouragement. We need it so much. The Bible says in Hebrews 3:13, it says, Hebrews 3:13, 5:46 it says, "Encourage one another day after day." That means every day. Why? Because verse 12 says, "Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you an evil unbelieving heart in falling away from the living God." You 6:04 know how does falling away start? It says here the falling away starts when you know unbelief enters into our heart. 6:21 It says lest there should be in any of you an evil unbelieving heart. Unbelieving heart is not just unbelieving. It is an evil heart. Because of that you know we may fall away. In view of 6:39 that the next verse says encourage one another day after day as long as it is called today. That means once the word today stops, you can stop encouraging one another. As long as the word today 6:55 is there in your life and mine, we are to encourage one another. When the word today stops and the day stops, the time comes to an end, then there is no need to encourage one another because we will be in the presence of the Lord. 7:14 And even in Hebrews 10:25 it says Hebrews 10 25 or rather from 24 I would like to read 7:32 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and to good deeds. So in other words, let us consider how to encourage one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling 7:47 together as is the habit of some. See, in the I mean 2,000 years ago, Paul wrote about this. It's the habit of some people. What is their habit? They would like to forsake 8:06 the assembling together. They don't like to come together for meetings. And if they come, they come very late. That only shows where they are and which which direction they are going into. A person who has no 8:25 interest to come interest to come to the meetings. The person who drags his feet to come to the meeting. The person who comes late and uh goes away without meeting people. It's all an indication of something very serious in your heart. Brother, sister, 8:43 just examine yourself. This is not from God. This ought not to be so in our midst, much less in those who claim to be born again. Let us not forsake our assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more 9:03 as you see the day drawing near. When we see the day drawing near, we need to do it more often than before. And the word of God is very clear. Let there 9:22 not be in any of you an unbelieving heart. An unbelieving evil heart. And we we think unbelief is something, you know, something not so very serious. But the 9:39 Bible calls it an evil heart. Do we see it that way? If there is unbelief that can gradually drag me down and down and down until I miss the bus. God is very careful. 9:57 Sometimes we wonder why God doesn't care for us. It is not that God is not interested in you but it is us. It's we who are not interest who are not interested in the Lord. The Lord is eagerly waiting. He says in 10:17 the old covenant that all day long I stretched forth my hand for my people but they are an obstinate people stubborn people. They don't want to come to me. Even Jesus said in the in John's gospel he said you search the scriptures. 10:34 Those very scriptures speak about me but you are not willing to come to me about whom your scriptures are speaking but you're not willing to come to me he says but you wonder why my prayer is not answered why God is not answering my 10:52 prayer Job says in Job 23:10 he says in the living Bible it says he knows every detail of what is happening to me every detail means every detail. He knows every detail of what is happening to me. Means he knows everything about you. Like the psalist 11:12 says in Psalm 139, he knows my thoughts from afar and the words of my mouth. He knows before I speak, he knows what I'm going to speak. He knows my going out. He knows my coming in. Nothing is hidden from his sight. 11:30 Everything is laid bare with whom we have to do. You know the um prophet Isaiah in the old covenant he said in Isaiah 40 in Isaiah 40 he said 11:48 why do you say in verse 27 why do you say oh Jacob and assert oh Israel my way is hidden from the Lord and my justice due me is escaping the notice of my God. You see sometimes we wonder why is it 12:07 that God has you know in another translation it says my ways he he doesn't take notice of my ways. It says in another translation my way is hidden from the Lord and the justice that is due to me escapes the 12:25 notice of my God. Is that true? We say like that but it is not true. Go back to the previous verse, verse 26. It says, "The Lord tells us, lift up your eyes on high." 12:43 Take some time, brothers and sisters. Go out in the night and look up and see who has created these stars. The one who leads forth their host by number. He calls them all by name. 13:01 because of the greatness of his might and the strength of his power and not one of them is missing. Do you see the sovereignty of God there? Billions and billions of stars and planets and 13:18 heavenly bodies in space. Not one of them escapes the notice of God. You know that. And today we have on this planet about 7.3 billion people and the Bible says that he has counted the number of hairs 13:38 on each one's head. Do you believe that such such with such intensity our father loves us? One it is one thing to believe that God knows the I mean God knows how how many uh strands of hair I have but it's quite another thing to know that 13:58 God has numbered each one of them. Like we heard the other day, brother Zach telling, God knows hair number 849 fell on the pillow today from your head. I mean do do I believe that such a 14:17 insignificant thing that we don't even look at that a second time but God knows that know so many hairs from your head fell to last night and we think our justice is it's escape the notice of the almighty God. Oh, he's 14:37 so busy and he's he's only interested in listening to so and so's prayer and so and so's prayer and these great men of God. What about me? Me a cog in the machine, a small fry. Oh, how in the 14:51 world God will listen to my prayer. Brother and sister, your prayer will not fall to the ground. God knows even in the Old Testament it says in Exodus when the Israelites cried 15:10 a sigh in their heart you know what is sighing sighing is taking a deep breath and something like this when you are so grieved and you don't know what to say your heart is full of grief and you don't know how to express it you're 15:28 sighing it's beyond words. And it says God took notice of that and then he called Moses to he commissioned him to set them free. God knows like Job said, he knows every detail of what's 15:48 happening to you and to me. Let's be established in this. You know, we are not forgotten. God remembers us. God called small boy Samuel by name Samuel. Samuel. 16:07 After 13 years, God again called Abraham. After Ishmael was born, God didn't speak to him for 13 years. There was absolute silence. Not a word from the Lord. But the Lord remembered his promise and he said, "Abraham." 16:25 He called him by name. And we read about Peter also. Peter denied the Lord not once, not twice, three times. And he thought he's finished. He said, "I'm going fishing. So it's enough. I think I had enough 16:44 here. I don't think this is this kind of ministry is for me. I'm good only at fishing. I better go." And he went and he went and slogged the whole night. The whole night this experienced fisherman 17:01 tried and tried and tried and not one small jingy. They say know what is that? He didn't get even a small um what is jingi called in English? 17:20 Prawn. Yeah. Not even a small prawn he got in his net. And the morning the Lord comes and says, "Have you caught anything?" I said, "No." Then the Lord miraculously fills their 17:37 net with a huge hall of fish. Just think about that. You may be struggling today wondering, "I've been praying for this. I'm praying for this particular sin that is bugging me down and bugging me down. Lord, when in the 17:52 world will I have victory over this? Yeah, don't give up, brother and sister. Your victory is just around the corner. God is not deaf. He has heard your prayer. One of these days, he will you will get a breakthrough. God will fill your net 18:11 with full of fish. You will have victory over the very sin that is bugging you down. You will put your foot on the neck of that and say, "This is the heritage of the sons of God." 18:29 Romans 16:20 says, "The God of peace shall crush Satan under your feet." How many of you believe that? If you believe that, say, "Amen." Amen. The God of peace shall crush this particular evil habit or this particular sin that 18:48 is bothering me year after year pulling me down. This will come under my feet one of these days. The Lord has said it and it shall be so. Say that. Confess your hope and the Lord is with you and he will see that your confession 19:08 brings forth result. And you know many a time we think our troubles are too much for us and we think we are the only ones going through this kind of 19:26 problem and we are the only ones having this problem. But it is not true. The Bible says, don't think it's strange, brothers, when you encounter various trials, the same trials are being accomplished in other brothers and 19:43 sisters also. The Bible says that means the things that you are going through, somebody else also is going through. And Paul says that he says in two 2 Corinth 2 Corinthians 4:17 he calls them 20:02 know he calls them momentary light afflictions. He says what are these momentary life light afflictions that he is talking about. If you want to know about these momentary light afflictions that Paul is speaking about go back to 2 Corinthians 20:19 11:24-27. you read at home or maybe I'll read it for you just see what he what he went through and how how he calls these things as momentary light afflictions. 2 Corinthians 11:24 he says five times I 20:37 received from the Jews 39 lashes means 195 lashes I got from the Jews five times and three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned, 20:55 three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I spent in the deep. Imagine spending one whole day and one whole night getting marinated as it were in the ocean 21:13 for 24 hours. I have been on frequent journeys in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, 21:33 dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren. I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, 21:46 often without food, in cold and exposure and all these things. He calls it momentary light affliction. To put it in today's terms, it's like mosquito bite. Have we gone through these things? Not 22:05 even 1% of what Paul has gone through. I don't think we have even missed one meal. Not voluntarily. I mean, we have not starved even one meal. Just imagine this great apostle, an ambassador for Christ. He says he went often times 22:24 without food and in hunger and thirst, cold exposure and to exposure. That means he didn't have proper clothing, no proper blanket to cover himself. He tells Timothy, "Please bring that cloak 22:42 which I left at Trrowass. I think bring it mean he didn't have a spare sweater or whatever you call it to cover himself from cold." And this is an ambassador. I I shared some time back about even the 23:00 poorest country in the world will not be as poor as the apostle Paul who claims himself to be an ambassador for Christ. You know what he says? He says in one of the translations it says we manage I 23:17 managed with only one set of underwear. Can you think about that? this great apostle and compare him with these flashy prosperity gospel preachers 23:34 who are a stink in today's christryendom flaunting their wealth and spending money whom you know poor widows and orphans have 23:52 given for their ministries spending them lavishly. Just compare them with this man of God of whom the Lord said at the end, well done. You finished your course. Come up higher. And he calls all these things momentary 24:09 light afflictions. And when you're going through your trials and temptations, brothers and sisters, remember you are not alone. There are others also going through the similar circumstances, 24:26 temptations, trials, difficulties and we have one another. God has given us to one another and God has come down himself in the form of the Holy Spirit. He said, "I will send you the comforter. I will not leave you as orphans. 24:45 Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Believe in God. believe also in me, he said. And uh one last word like to close with this in one Corinthians, 25:03 sorry, 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 3 and 4. 2 Corinthians 1:3 and 4. Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The father of mercies and God of all 25:23 comfort. See, God is called the God of all comfort. All means all who comforts us in all our afflictions. 25:42 Not in some afflictions, not in most of the afflictions. But it says, "Who comforts us in all our afflictions?" Why? So that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the 26:00 comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ's Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. 26:18 As your sufferings increase and abound proportionately, the Bible says, "Our comfort is abundant also through Christ." Don't be disheartened. 26:35 God is with you. God is on your side. And the Holy Spirit is in you to help you, to lift you up, to comfort, strengthen, and establish you. And may the Lord comfort us with his holy spirit 26:52 and with his word. Amen. I don't know how many of you have noticed says the father of mercies and god of all comfort father 27:09 he wants to encourage us and Jesus the second person of the trinity you know it says in one in John chapter 14 verse 18 27:29 I will not leave you comfortless or another translation says I will not leave you without encouragement that really challenge me and the Holy Spirit see that same word paricle is used is an encourager 27:48 that blessed my heart this week father in heaven wants to encourage me Jesus Christ The son of God wants to encourage me and the Holy Spirit wants to encourage me. And after all that, don't say, "Brother, I'm discouraged." You 28:02 don't have to be encouraged. Open yourself to the Lord. Lord, encourage me, Lord, daily. And when you have a diary, write it down. Today, the Lord encouraged me with this verse. And if you write down like that, 28:21 you will have a small journal. and you'll have something to give to others. And I must say the Lord encouraged me this week also. You know, one of the highest of human duties they say is the duty of encouragement. You know, encouragement and faith go 28:40 together. Encouragement brings out the best in others. Encouragement builds healthy selfesteem. And uh in this connection I was thinking of Nemiah in the Old Testament. We can 28:57 just turn to book of Nemiah. I have been a fan of Nemiah for many many years and I continue to be a fan of his. See Nemiah was a great man. He had a burden to build the walls of Jerusalem. 29:17 He was concerned and he saw the terrible condition he was in. He prayed. Then he gathered the people. He motivated them. You know what's the mark of a leader? They say a leader is one who inspires confidence in us. And by the way, the 29:37 word namir means God is comforted or we can say encouragement. And you should see what Na did. They were all discouraged. Things were pretty bad. He saw a need, laid out a plan, then assembled the people of 29:54 Jerusalem. He shared his vision. And this look at this vers Nemiah chapter 2 verse 17. Neme was not a like they say one man leader. He was a he was a team man. 30:13 And he said unto them, you see the distress that we are in Nehemiah 217, how Jerusalem lies waste and the gates thereof are burned with fire. Come, let us build up the wall of Jerusalem that we be no more reproach. He stirred 30:32 them up. He challenged them. He encouraged them. He didn't say, "No, God's given me. I'm going to do it." and verse 18. And they said, "Let us rise and build." And see 30:50 verse 20, you know, before that Nema had enemies. They were always trying to frighten him, threaten them, discourage him. Verse 20, then answer an eye them the enemies and said unto them, the God of heaven, he will prosper us. 31:06 Therefore, we servants will arise and build. Nemiah spoke words of faith and we want people like Nemiah in the church who speak WORDS OF FAITH. GOD'S going to help me. And uh we read further down and then you 31:25 see in chapter chapter 3 is a wonderful chapter because there is mention the names of all those who worked to build up the walls of Jerusalem. You may think it's boring, but the Holy Spirit has recorded everyone who worked 31:38 wholeheartedly. And then chapter 4, as usual, the enemies try to discourage Nemiah. And uh chapter 4:E14, it says here, "And I looked and rose up and said to 31:57 the nobles and to the rulers of the people, be not afraid of them. Remember the Lord. That's a good exhortation or good word to tell everyone. He is great. Yes, the job is hard. We 32:15 have many enemies. But remember God, he's bigger. He's great. He's awesome. So don't be afraid and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives and your houses. Brothers and sisters, that's how we must 32:37 speak words of faith. And verse 20, Ne said our God shall fight for us. Don't magnify the problem. You know we have lots of problems but David said 32:57 magnify the Lord. It's a question of our perspective our vision. Yes all through life there will be problems but the Lord is so great. He can handle every problem. name as it were way put new courage in the people and you know the the Bible 33:16 says they finish the job in record time in 52 days they finish the job someone said burdens are lighter when everyone works together work gets in faster when everyone works together everyone in the body of Christ is important 33:33 everyone God's given a job to do and uh I read somewhere They said 90% of the work done in a church is done only by about 10% of the people in the church. I'll repeat again 33:53 this is true in both small and mega churches. 90% of the work done in a church is done only by about 20% of the people in the church. If a study is done at any church, brothers and sisters, would your name be 34:13 counted in the 10% category or 90% category? Last week I told you a story about Jim. I hope you remember I was challenged by the story. Today I want to tell you a very small story about a young boy called Tim. 34:32 He was studying in a school. He was not so regular to the church. But one day the youth leader just visited him and invited him to get involved in the youth work. Tim did not know that 34:50 just one small visit by the youth leader inviting him to join the youth group would make such a difference. Tim was so challenged. He started coming to the meetings, youth meetings. He got 35:07 to know the Lord. And later on, he even began to serve the Lord. All because one youth leader went and encouraged one young boy. Don't tell me brothers and sisters, you've not any ministry in the church. 35:25 Today, I want to ordain a ministry to you. All those who want a ministry, you you can have a ministry of encouragement. Who stops you from visiting many brothers and sisters? Don't tell me you're not an elder. Oh, we got 101 excuses to be lazy and to do 35:44 nothing for the Lord. Jesus said the harvest is plenty. Look around. You'll get a ministry. Just look around. See who I can encourage. You know, I'm just saying this to show you how 36:03 one small thing you do in the church can be so useful. Don't always think of coming here and preaching. Not all can preach, but all can encourage. Will you pray, Lord, give me a ministry of encouragement? And I want to tell you, 36:20 God will answer your prayer if you're earnest. Not like, Lord, if it's your will, Lord, give me. It'll never happen. And I'm telling you all this general kind of pray which your will Lord give me. No unless you're desperate and say 36:33 Lord I want to encourage somebody. I want to be an encourager. I want to keep on encouraging till I die. I want to be an active encourager. Then something will happen. A mother was watching the football game of his son's 36:51 class. She was quiet for most of the part of the game. And suddenly she saw her son running with the ball to score a goal. And then she got excited and she said, "Run baby, run." And started cheering 37:10 her son. And he scored a goal. Brothers and sisters, you can be a cheerleader. Don't wait for a pulpit ministry in this life that we live for God. We 37:29 need many cheerleaders. Let's encourage and cheer one another. Ask the Lord to make you cheerleader so that the work of God can continue. And discouragement is a reality. Just like the taxes, 37:48 we need an environment of encouragement and healthy cheering. Our home and church should be a place where our spirits are lifted up. I want to say once again, Jesus said, "Lift up your heads. The fields are white. Look around, 38:04 brothers and sisters in the church. See whom we can encourage." You'll be surprised how many people need a word of encouragement. Encourage your Sunday school teachers. They are working for your children. Encourage the youth leaders. Call them 38:23 for a cup of coffee and say, "Brother, thank you for encouraging my teens and young people. You can write some small notes to them." They say, "Notes written to acknowledge and encourage others are worth the wait in gold, silver, and platinum. 38:40 A word of praise and encouragement can change someone's lives. Try that from today. Don't just be a passive, lukewarm, cold, average kind of brother. Say, "Lord, I want to be an encourager. I want to be 39:00 like Nemiah. I want to stir up the brothers and sisters." And I'll tell you, God himself will encourage you. God will strengthen you. and God will bless you. Okay, I want to show you one more brother who encouraged others much in the Old Testament in 2 39:17 Chronicles chapter 32. Again, I was blessed this week. 2 Chronicles chapter 32. His name is Hezekiah. You know, he was a good king. He was doing well. Suddenly a big army, king of Assyria came to fight 39:35 against him. you know, with one lakh 85,000 soldiers and you know, if you're a king and when a huge army comes to fight against you, it's not easy the time. And verse seven, 39:54 look what Hezekiah did. He told them, all the captains and others, be strong and courageous. Be not afraid, not dismayed, for the king of Assyria, nor for the all the multitude that is with him. For there be 40:11 more with us than with him. Equivalent of New Testament words, he greater is he that in us than he that's in the world. With him, verse 8, is the arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord 40:29 our God to help us and to fight our battles. And the people rested upon the words of Hezekiah, king of Judah. Will you pray? Lord, make me like Nemiah. Lord, make me like Hezekiah. To tell the brothers and sisters, don't 40:46 be afraid of the devil. Don't be afraid of the lust in your flesh. Don't be afraid of all the trials. God will see you through. God's got a good plan for you. The enemy will not triumph over you. 41:03 And this king went to Isaiah the prophet and they prayed. And you know the Lord did a supernatural thing verse 21. And the Lord sent an angel which cut off the all the mighty men of valor and the leaders. So he returned with shame. In 41:22 other place it says one lakh 85,000 soldiers all of them God wiped them off one stroke brothers and sisters oh may God give us grace to speak words of faith just 41:40 imagine in this church let's say we are about 400 people all 400 people speak words of faith what will happen I tell you we will not be the same think Think of times when your husband or your wife is encouraged. Maybe he lost his job or is struggling 42:00 with work. Think if you can draw near to him and say, "Honey, God is with us. Take courage." Your words can breathe courage and strength in the 42:17 hearts of people who feel hopelessly overwhelmed. You know one more example we saw that briefly last week but I just want to highlight again David 1 Samuel 17 42:33 here Golth was defying the armies of the living God and King Saul and all the others couldn't do anything but David was watching he said who is this chap to defy the armies of the living God he said I'll go and Right? And he went to the king. The 42:53 king said, "You are a small boy." But David gave his testimony. David had a hidden life with the Lord. 17 1 Samuel 17 verse 34, he says, "Your servant kept his father's sheep, came a lion and a bear, and took a lamb out of 43:10 the flock. I went after it and smote it and deliver it out of his mouth, and it rose again me. I caught it by his bear and smote it." This thy servant slew both the lion and bear. This answer was a Philistine shall be as one of them 43:23 seeing as defiant the harm of the living God and this is what it means to testify. David did not say oh I got so much trials and he didn't cry. Verse 37 he said the Lord that delivered me out of the power of line and power 43:43 bear he will deliver me of the hand of this Philistine. That is faith. Don't look at all your problems and your difficulties. Look at the Lord. See what the Lord can do for you. And see what David said in in verse 45. I come to you coming to me with a spare 43:59 and shield. I come to you in the name of the Lord, the God of armies of Israel whom you defiled. This day will the Lord deliver you into my hand. I will smite you and take your hand from you. And I will give the kakas of the host of the 44:13 Philistine this day into the fall of the air and the wild beasts of the earth that all the earth may know that there's a god in Israel and all this assembly shall know the lord saves not of the sword and spear for the battle is the 44:26 lord's and he will give you into our hands and we know how the lord helped David conquer Goliath and later on you know when he was facing I mean when his wives wives and children were stolen. You know, David was discouraged, but he 44:49 remembered all that the Lord did for him. Psalm 34, I'll bless the Lord at all times. No, whether I feel good or not. And he said, magnify the Lord with me. And he started praising the Lord. And he encouraged himself. And the Lord 45:05 gave him victory. Are you feeling down this morning? Praising God is the path to encouragement. Brothers and sisters, again I say unto you, praising God in the midst of trials and difficulties, 45:23 problems which look so great, say I magnify the Lord. Someone said when you make God bigger, you make your trouble smaller. Oh, don't magnify all the trouble. Don't magnify the devil. Say praise is the language of 45:41 faith. If you want to strengthen your faith, begin to praise God. And I believe as we learn to praise the Lord, as faith comes into your heart, you'll you'll overcome all discouragement, gloom, and depression. And the Lord will 45:59 help you. Brothers and sisters, keep on speaking words of faith. Keep on speaking words of encouragement. Keep on praising the Lord so that everybody can see that you're an encourager. You're an overcomer. You got faith in the Lord. 46:16 Oh, may God change our lives, our speech, and the way we testify. And may you may you be a useful brother and sister in the church. Amen. We know this well-known verse in 1 Thessalonians 5:11. 46:33 Therefore, encourage one another and build up one another. In another translation, it says, "Build each other up." What a what a wonderful uh encouragement Paul gives uh to the Thessalonian church and to us today. 46:52 Encourage one another and build each other up. That is a ministry God wants every member in the body of Christ to do for other members in the body. I want to just share uh a few examples very briefly of how the 47:11 apostle Paul uh encouraged two three young brothers. We know it well but I thought we can remind ourselves of that. And that encouragement made them to go on and complete a a great ministry for God. The 47:30 first one, it's not a well-known brother in Colossians 4:16 and 17. Colossians 4 verse 16 and 17. Paul is writing this letter and he's 47:48 saying,"Now when this epistle is read among you, see to it that it is read also in the church of the Lodians and that you likewise read the epistle from Ludacia." And while Paul was sending this letter to the Colossians, there was one young 48:07 brother that came to his mind and Paul wanted to encourage him. Paul knew God had given him a gift. And Paul mentions in verse 17, "And say to Aripus, take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord that you may 48:25 fulfill it." There was a personal word of encouragement to Archipus that Paul sent. Paul could see that God had entrusted a a gift, a ministry to Archipus. And through this letter, Paul encouraged him to to go on and complete 48:43 that ministry that God had given him. Imagine what a comfort it would have been to Archipus as he sat in that church listening to the letter being read. How much it would have stirred his heart a letter from the great Apostle 48:55 Paul telling him, "Brother, complete the work God has given to you. God has given you a gift. Go on and complete it." And the next example in 1 Timothy chapter 4:14, how Paul encouraged young Timothy in his first letter to him, 1 Timothy 4:14, 49:15 do not neglect the spiritual gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the presbyter. Timothy was a young man and we all know Timothy was very timid and very shy and he was probably ministering to people 49:32 much older. his age and he was thinking Lord how will they see I'm a young man how will they look upon my youth but God encourages Timothy Timothy God has given you a gift exercise it use it God will help you let nobody despise your youth 49:49 don't think you are young no God is able to give you ability grace and a gift to build up others who are even older than you and he repeats that we don't need to turn to that in 2 Timothy 1:6 six. In the last letter he writes to him, Paul 50:05 says, "Stir up that gift that is in you." And uh one last example in uh 2 Corinthians 2 uh we can quickly turn to that. 50:19 2 Corinthians 2 verse 12 and 13. I was encouraged reading this portion chapter 2 12 and 13. Furthermore, when I came to Trrowaz to preach Christ's gospel and a door was 50:39 opened to me by the Lord. Here we read that the Lord had opened a door of ministry to the Apostle Paul here in Trrowass. But yet Paul had a concern for a young brother Titus. I had no rest in my spirit because I did not 50:56 find Titus my brother. But taking my leave of them, I departed for Macedonia. We see here even though the Lord had opened a door of ministry for Paul here. Paul thought of Titus and he wanted to go and encourage Titus and he and he 51:11 left for Macedonia to find Titus. Paul found him, encouraged him, and Titus also went on to do a great work for God. We read that how useful he was to so many churches that Paul could send him to. 51:28 So we can I I I see from these examples that the Lord wants to encourage us individually. Some of us here who have a gift whom God has given a gift to, let us use that gift for the church. Let us use that gift to build up the body of 51:46 Christ. Let us not sit back and say there are other brothers doing it. No, the Lord wants you to exercise your gift and encourage somebody, build up faith in somebody, bring comfort to somebody. Let us all do that. Whatever the gift 52:01 God has given us, let us bring it to the Lord this morning. All of us, we have some talent, we have some gift. Let us bring it to the Lord and say, Lord, I have this gift or talent you've given me. I want to use it for you and I want 52:13 to use it to build up the body of Christ that you've placed me in. Amen. What um especially encourages me um is that Jesus has called me by name to do something for him. Uh and that that's something that that really 52:33 encourages me. We heard that verse that Jesus is my glory and the lifter of my head that I can really take that personally. He's talking about me. He's saying sur you know I'm the one who can lift up your head and I can be the glory 52:45 in your life. And for each of us if we can take that word to our hearts. He's calling me by name. Uh Hebrews 3 verse1 says we are partakers of a heavenly calling. Partakers of a heavenly calling. And this you know lifter of my head. If we 53:05 can understand it in two ways. One way is that yeah we're discouraged. our head is down and he's the one who lifts my head but also that he wants to lift me up from the earthly things to the heavenly and both these things go hand 53:17 in hand as long as I am occupied with some problem on earth it's very likely I'll be discouraged but God is the lifter of my head he says look up look at me look at my glory look at the stars look at my great works uh and this is this is you know what 53:37 what encourages me I was thinking of three people that God encouraged. One was Elijah the prophet. He did a great work for God. Uh this is his one Kings chapter 19. He did a great work for God and then he was running. He was scared because Queen 53:55 Jezebel was threatening him. What really encouraged me is the way God spoke to him in this situation. He was in a cave and God said, "What are you doing here, Elijah? what are you doing here? What are you doing here in this discouraged place? 54:11 This place of discouragement. And he said, I've been very zealous for you. The sons of Israel have forsaken your covenant and uh they've torn down your altars. They've killed all your prophets. I'm the only one left. I'm 54:24 alone. And says God passed that way. And the mountain was rent. The rocks were blown apart. There was an earthquake. There was a fire. This is the God that we serve. If we lift up our eyes and we look at, you know, who he is, his great 54:44 power. There is nothing that is beyond him. He can overturn kings. He controls the forces of nature. He controls all circumstances. And what's wonderful is that when he spoke to Elijah, he spoke in a small, still voice. This 55:00 great, powerful, awesome God speaks to us in a small still voice. the voice of the Holy Spirit in our heart like a dove. Brothers and sisters, we should we should tremble because it's a small voice that we need to hear. 55:17 And this God who can do all things, God of all power, God of all strength, speaks in a small voice saying, "What are you doing in this place of discouragement? Get up. Go appoint Elijah." And and by the way, there are 7,000 other people who have not, you 55:31 know, you're not alone. According to our need, God is able to speak to us. Another person, we can turn here. Mark chapter 10 verse 49. This is the blind man, Bartameus. He was a beggar. He was not a servant of God. He was nothing. He was nobody. 55:51 Okay? He was blind. He was a beggar. He didn't have anything. And he heard that Jesus was passing that way. and he started shouting saying, "Son of David, have mercy on me." Uh, and Jesus stopped and said, "Call him here." So, what what encouraged me 56:09 is once again the way that, you know, the message was passed on to him. So, in in a couple of translations, it it reads like this in in in NASB, it says, "Take courage. Stand up. He's calling you. He's calling you. You're the one that 56:24 he's calling. Stand up. Take courage." The Living Bible says, "You lucky fellow." Come on. He's calling you. Brothers and sisters, just think of God's call on our life. We were blind. We were poor. We are We were wretched. 56:40 We had nothing. And then lucky fellow that I am, God called me. Our message Bible says, "It's your lucky day today. Come on, get up. Jesus is calling you." Brothers and sisters, when I sit here in this church, I cannot deny 56:56 that despite whatever I've done, God has called me and he's called me again and again. And even, you know, after he's called me and saved me, lifted me up, when I've failed him, when my heart has gone cold, he's called me again and he's 57:09 opened up my eyes and the first thing that I see is him. And it says about Bartameus, it says he followed him glorifying God. When his eyes were opened, he saw Jesus. He followed him glorifying God. Yes, brothers and sisters, Jesus is the 57:27 one who calls us by name and calls us to follow him. And when we hear that voice, you lucky fellow. It's your lucky day. Today I'm speaking to you. I'm calling you, not anybody else. See, that's why encouragement is often, you know, needs 57:41 to be one-on-one because we I mean, maybe you're sitting here in this crowd. But when one brother comes to someone else and says, "You, you know, you only God is calling you. Come uh it's your lucky day." I was thinking 57:55 of one more person, Mary, the sister of Martha. We know that she was also discouraged when her brother uh fell sick and died. And in John 11:28, Martha came and said secretly, nobody else knew, "The teacher is here and he's 58:12 calling for you." And she jumped up and left everything and ran to Jesus. And we know that, you know, her life was restored and she poured out the anointing oil which is, you know, the perfume of which blessed everybody uh 58:25 and continues to bless us even today. That was Mary. She was discouraged but God restored her you know and that one person to who came and said yeah Jesus is calling you by name. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. That 58:42 song that we sing um it says the same love that opened eyes to see is calling us all by name. He's calling me by name. The same love that was crucified is calling us all by name. Brothers and sisters, let's remember that we are called for a heavenly 59:02 calling. Let's be part of the group of people that's willing to call others and say that yes, God is calling you as well for a heavenly calling. Amen.
