Ephesians 6:18

But why not?

You can stop the boat with you, don't you?

If it's a busy one, please.

You're taking a boat with you.

Cause you're taking a boat without a worry.

You're taking a boat with you.

And you're taking a boat with you.

Thank you.

Good morning, Rayla.

Go ahead.

Cherise says she wants to welcome everybody.

Yeah.

I was amused and filled with joy by the way people were anticipating what was about to happen.

I was watching people starting to rise out of their seats and cutting their conversations and turning their attention to the stage.

And I just, I praise God for that.

So good morning, everybody.

Thank y'all for coming and worshiping us this morning.

Let's bless the Lord together.

May I call before I ever call?

Thank you.

I'm a hurricane, a hurricane escape

It's every through the atmosphere

You're the longest peace

You cannot fail, the only thing I've found

Is through it all, you never let me down

Don't hold back, relentless in person

And every time I come face to face with you

And the tide waves crashing over me

You chase me down You seek me out How could I be lost when you have caught me found? Chase me down

You seek me down You seek me out How could I be lost when you have caught me found? Chase me down You seek me out How could I be lost when you have caught me found? Chase me down You seek me out How could I be lost when you have caught me found? Chase me down You seek me out How could I be lost when you have caught me found? Chase me down You seek me out

How could any ocean you rest on me now?

Like a tidal wave

Cushing over me

Cushing into me

Your love experience

Like a hurricane

But I can't escape

Cushing through the atmosphere

Your love experience

Like a tidal wave

Cushing over me

Cushing into me

Your love experience

Like a hurricane

But I can't escape

Cushing through the atmosphere

Your love experience

Cushing through the atmosphere

I can't escape

Cause your love is fierce

Always

Cause your love is fierce

Always

Your love is fierce

Amen

Yes, I will be more bliss

Without Your goodness

How can I be desperate

Without Your love

A slave to the darkness

If it wasn't for us

Would You have won me

With Your kindness

Chased me down

When I was lost

Where would I be

If it wasn't for us

Oh, thank You

Thank You, Jesus

I'm so blessed That we're bursting On Your mercy Be my song For the glory

Today's The Lord, the one by He even greater what I've sacrificed For my freedom Hallelujah, Lord, for the Path to achieve life The way I've diseased for my career I remain in prison And I'm so blessed BELL, for my career I'm so blessed for my life Wow Wow Wow My goodness, Jesus, I was col Abst갔 my ship to wrap my Vietnam Your lives equality fees

Hallelujah

Jesus

Hallelujah

With your hands

Hallelujah

Play your strength, song.

Play your debt, tribe.

The time of sin is on the cross,

clean your skin and snow.

Play your strength, song.

Play your debt, tribe.

The time of sin is on the cross,

clean your skin and candies.

Play your strength, song.

Thank you, Jesus.

I was a priest.

Now I'm not with your love for my freedom.

Hallelujah.

Jesus, I'm not a priest.

I'm not with your love for my freedom.

Hallelujah.

Thank you for the cross.

Amen.

Thank you.

You know my name You know my name You know my name

You know my name You know how you walk with me And know how you talk with me And know how you tell me

that I am your own Yes, you know my name You know my name You know my name You know my name

and know how you speak with me And know how you know how you talk with me And know how you tell me

And I am your own

Yes, you know my name

You know my name

Yes, you know my name

And oh, how you walk with me

Oh, how you talk with me

And oh, how you tell me

That I am your own

Oh, how you walk with me

And oh, how you talk with me

And oh, how you tell me

That I am your own

Oh, how you walk with me

And oh, how you talk with me

And oh, how you tell me

And oh, how you walk with me

So no fire can hurt me

No battle can turn me

No mountain can stop me

Because you hold my hand

No fire can't help me

No battle can't hurt me

No mountain can't stop me

No fire can't hurt me. No battle can turn me. No mountain can stop me. Cause you hold my hand. I'm walking in your victory. Cause your power is within me. No giant can defeat me. Cause you hold my hand. You hold my hand.

Cause you hold my hand. You hold my hand. You hold my hand. And oh, how you walk with me.

And oh, how you talk with me.

And oh, how you tell me.

That I am your own.

Yes, you know my name.

You know my name.

And oh, how you walk with me.

And oh, how you talk with me

And oh, how you tell me

That I am your own

And oh, how you walk with me

And oh, how you talk with me

And oh, how you tell me

That I am your own

One last time

You know my way

You know my name

Yes, you know my name

And oh, how you walk with me

And oh, how you talk with me

And oh, how you tell me

That I am your own

Yes, come on, praise Him

Thank you, God

Thank you, Lord

Keep that going, come on

Father, kindness

And oh, how you talk with me

You brought me out of darkness

Thank you, God

Thank you, God I can help you I can help you I can help you I can help you I can help you I can help you And all your blessings in me

And all your promises are blessed

Come on!

It's beautiful, Savior, you have brought me

You pulled me from the ashes

You have broken every curse

And blessed Redeemer

You have said things kind of

Lord, I can't help you

Because faithful you are

Faithful forever

Faithful you are

All your promises are blessed

And faithful you are

Faithful forever

Faithful you are

Yes, you are

All your promises are blessed

I will rest

In your promises

My confidence

Is your faithfulness

And I will rest

In your promises

My confidence

Is your faithfulness

And I will rest

In your promises

My confidence

In your faithfulness

And I will rest

In your promises

In your faithfulness

And I will rest

In your faithfulness

And I will rest

In your faithfulness

And I will rest

In your faithfulness

And I will rest

All your promises

Are blessed

All your promises

Are blessed

All your promises

Yes and amen

For all your promises

Yes and amen

For all your promises

Yes and amen

I will rest

In your promises

My confidence

Is your faithfulness

I will rest

You give me rest Father

In your promises

My confidence

Is your faithfulness

And I will rest

Come on fill the room

In your promises

My confidence

Is your faithfulness

I will rest

In your promises

My confidence

Is your faithfulness

I will rest

In your promises

My confidence

I will rest

My confidence

In your faithfulness

I will rest

In your promises

My confidence

In your faithfulness

I will rest

In your faithfulness

I will rest

In your faithfulness

All your promises

In your faithfulness

You're such a good father.

Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you for your constant pursuit of my heart.

Thank you for everything you're doing in my life.

Thank you for that yes and amen.

Thank you for everything that you were coming after me for.

Thank you for telling me that I am worthy of your love.

We love you so much. And we're not going to stop. Come on, don't let it stop. Keep praising them up. This side is getting it. This side is getting it. Come on. Thank you, Father. Amen. We can do enough for you, Father. We worship you. We praise you. We lift you high. We glorify your name. We thank you so much for everything you're doing in our lives.

All we can say. All we can say is, we need you. We need you. We need you. And just thank you for always being there when we call. You will never leave us.

Amen. Yes. Thank you, Father. We just love you so much. Thank you for loving us, showing us that love, showing us how to love, showing us what love is, showing us what love means.

It's only words without you, Father. And just thank you for being that for us. Amen.

On this beautiful morning, I get up here and I say welcome, but I just want to share with you, as I saw each one of you come in the door, I saw Ms. Zena rushing in.

Man, she has such urgency in her spirit coming in. And then I said hi to this one and good morning to that one and hug this one.

It felt like a great coming together, a great gathering. So each time we get a chance to worship together, it enhances the total worship experience for each one of us.

So everyone here, you are welcome in this house. And I am grateful. We are grateful that you chose to be here on this morning.

It really is an amazing experience to see my brothers, my sisters in Christ and get to hug you and love on you and bless the Lord for this fellowship.

So we just welcome you, welcome you, welcome you to the Rhema family and to this service on this morning.

Let's give God some glory for the fellowship of believers, for the coming together under one God and to honor and to serve him.

And then we're so grateful for our visitors. Visitors, we love that you came and you chose to be with us on this morning.

So you, we call you family too. Visitors, welcome to Rhema Community Church on this morning.

On the back of the chairs, visitors, you will see cards where you can connect with us.

We just want to get a little information so we can stay in tune with you, so you can stay in tune with us.

So if you don't mind, go ahead and fill out that visitor card and put it to the churches to the left or the right of me and in the back, and we will connect with you.

So we're very grateful for our visitors.

I want to get a few announcements for you on this Wednesday as we all hunker down and make decisions and pray.

We will not have Wednesday night Bible study, so we want to give everybody a chance to make their decisions.

But we will not have Wednesday night Bible study, and the Lord will say the same.

We'll be back on track next Wednesday, right?

So, yeah, so join us next Wednesday for Bible study.

It's an amazing experience.

We want to highlight something that's going on in the community with Rhema Community Church.

The Good News Club, praise God, is full.

The registration, 60 kids have registered for the Good News Club in the community.

Let's give God some glory for that.

Because that's 60 more children who get the chance to interface with the gospel, interface with men and women of God.

That's 60 more families impacted by the gospel.

That's 60 more people in the community that get to spread the good news, right?

So that's amazing.

That seed is planted, and that seed gets the opportunity to grow, and God gets the opportunity to give increase to it.

So we're very excited about the Good News Club and what God is doing there.

So let's give God some glory for that.

Yes, he is so worthy.

And if you still want to volunteer,

we as a church have sent out into the mission field.

And Jeff and Stephanie Imperial and their son Michael are over in Cologne, Germany.

We are the sending church for them.

They were teachers here in Glynn County, laid everything down, sold everything,

and put the rest in storage.

And some of it's in bins back here in the back of our church

as they are serving the Syrian refugees who are coming across

and needing to know who Jesus Christ is.

And also for Kansas Robinson who is over in an undisclosed area

doing CrossFit during the day and sharing Jesus every chance that she gets

in an absolute Muslim environment.

And so I just want to just take a moment.

I've asked Shannon, she's one of our key people in our outreach ministry,

to just offer up a word of prayer for them as we continue.

All right, let's pray for this this morning.

God, we thank you for the Imperials.

We just thank you for the blessing that they were to us when they were here

as part of our church body.

We thank you that they're still part of our church body as they are ministering in Germany.

We thank you for all the opportunities that you have given them recently over the summer,

opportunities to visit family and to go to a conference there in Germany.

And we just pray that you would continue to be with them and just open doors for them

as they make relationships or form relationships, develop them.

As Jeff coaches football, as Michael enters sixth grade coming up really soon,

as Stephanie cooks with other women and provides food for refugees,

you have provided so many amazing opportunities for them to connect with people in their city.

And we just pray that that would continue and you would deepen relationships.

We pray that you would keep them all healthy, especially Jeff,

as he battles arthritis and orthopedic injuries and needs surgery soon.

And, God, we pray that you would heal him, that you would restore him,

that you would allow him to find the health care that he needs there.

We pray that you would strengthen them as a family, individually and as a family,

that you would give them Christian fellowship there,

that you would just continue to allow people to pour into them

as they pour into the people around them, their neighbors and refugees

and just people that they've developed relationships with.

We pray that you would just lead and guide them as they are seeking to develop maybe a trauma healing ministry

because so many people that they have encountered have a lot of trauma in their background, God,

and you would use that as a ministry opportunity.

We thank you for them and for just all that they're doing for your kingdom.

We pray also for Kansas,

and we just pray that you would continue to open amazing doors of opportunity for her

as she ministers to women in the Middle East.

We pray for the women at the gym that she encounters,

that you would just continue to give her opportunities to minister,

that they would open up to her,

that you would give her many opportunities to speak about you.

We thank you for the amazing relationships that she has already formed,

and we pray that you would continue to give her just the ability to learn the language,

and we thank you for everything she's learned already.

We pray that you would keep her safe,

that she would be encouraged,

that you would give her community there,

Christian community and friends,

and we just thank you for everything that she and the Imperials mean to us

as a church family.

Just please remind us to continue to lift them in prayer on a regular basis,

and we love you in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thank you, Shannon.

It is time we want to dismiss our children K-5 through 5th grade.

You guys will follow Mr. David out the door there,

and Jimmy.

Jimmy.

I appreciate you guys being here this morning,

and today has just solidified the fact that I am not a prophet.

I stood here earlier this morning.

I said, well, with the storm bearing down on us,

and the holiday weekend,

there's going to be 17 people in church today.

So I am not a prophet.

So there you go.

If I tell you to bet on this,

don't bet on that.

So anyway,

I do want to apologize about,

if you can see my shirt,

there you go,

I was holding Caroline this morning.

She had one of those big peppermint things in her mouth,

and I'm talking to somebody,

and they said,

did you not see that your daughter is drooling down your shirt?

You know,

those peppermint,

so all that,

so I went over there with that blue dawn,

but yeah,

it didn't work.

So anyway,

kid life,

right?

There we go.

Welcome again this morning.

We are taking a break in our study on the expository look in the book of Genesis.

We began last week,

KKC.

I need some wind in my sails. I need something here. The founder of Chick-fil-A, Truett, Kathy, was quoted as saying, if you are breathing, you need encouragement. That was one of his favorite famous quotes. And I really I really find that every one of us needs to be encouraged. If you want to grab your Bibles, open up to Ephesians chapter six. We'll get there in a minute. But, you know, we can we can pull from the menu of a hundred different reasons why.

But we all tend we can all find ourselves stuck in disappointment. We said that last last week we had three words that we kind of looked at disappointment, discouragement and depression.

They also they're all in the same family, but they're very different, very different. You can be disappointed and discouraged and you're not depressed.

We tend to throw that. I'm just so depressed. You know, you're not depressed. You are simply just we're all disappointed.

I'm disappointed. I'm disappointed every week. I disappoint someone every week that that that goes without saying.

But all of us find ourselves there and we live in an environment that's so unpredictable.

Things are so unpredictable. Every last one of us at some point gets discouraged.

Do we not? We find ourselves in that place.

And the question is whether or not we're going to be discouraged.

It's the question is, what do we do with all of that?

How do we deal with that? How do we stay above what we said last week was what the hope line?

When you lose hope, that's when you fall into depression.

How do we lose? How do we get and stay above the hope line?

You know, I come here every Sunday Sunday and I can I can read some of your body languages.

I know some of you well enough.

Some of you, your shoulders are slumped.

You look like you look like you've just had it.

You're distracted.

You haven't smiled in a long time and meant it.

Some of you.

And some of you need to look at your neighbor and say, he's talking about you right now.

You know, you know, there's a lot of pain out there.

There's a pain all around us. I get it.

And there's a special place for people who have come alongside of us.

Is there not? And encouraged us at just the right time, just the right way, just the right moment.

But the deal is this.

We need to make people a priority.

We need to make a difference in other people's lives.

And so we have to be careful that we don't procrastinate in helping other people as well, too.

I struggle with this personally.

There have been times in my life that I don't leave enough space in my life for people to intercept me

and for me to minister to them and to be a blessing to them because I'm so stinking busy.

God has sent someone across my path and I didn't take advantage of it.

We can get so task-oriented and driven by what we need to do and fill up our calendars.

And unfortunately, the hurting people around us, we don't have a time to be a blessing to.

And instead, what we're doing is we're shepherding our tasks.

We're not shepherding other people.

We're not ministering to them.

We're shepherding our tasks.

We can get so busy to want to accomplish what's in front of me,

we actually forget about the most valuable, air quotes, commodity we have.

That's people.

People.

That's the most valuable commodity that we have.

And I know it sounds like a strange thing as a pastor,

but you can start being more excited about what you want to do for people

than the people whom you want to do it.

You understand what I'm saying?

Sometimes I can get so, I'm so excited, I want to do this.

I lose sight of that at times.

And so encouraging others is also an investment in our own encouragement.

We need to see that as well, too.

It's the law of sowing and reaping, okay?

If you give of yourself to bless someone else, it always comes back to you.

It really does.

Ecclesiastes 11.1 says,

If you bless someone and somehow God will bless you,

encourage you in a way that you never saw coming.

And so we need to make the most of the opportunities that we have to encourage each other.

The opportunities that God gives us to breathe fresh wind in someone else's sails.

To not be so self-focused.

You know, I've been in the ministry about 20 something years, and I think, help me out elders here, this month, September, we're going to have a little celebration at the end of this month.

This month is the sixth year that we have been in this location, right? Yes, year six, that we have been in this location since God called us to plant this church.

I had served in different capacities in different churches over the 20 something years, but I never served as a lead pastor or a senior pastor ever before.

It was never really on my radar, but I knew God was calling us to plant this church.

And so when we did that, I reached out to some men of God, men of faith, who had been down this road a long time.

And I asked them, you know, some important questions, got their input.

And one of the things that all of them said to me is, they said, it will take three to five years before the church, even though it's a church plant,

three to five years before the church will ever, ever embrace you as their pastor.

They'll allow you to be their preacher, but it'll take that to be their pastor.

And I just kind of blew that off because I thought, I got pretty good relational skills.

They don't know, they missed out on something, but I'm okay with that, you know.

But it just, and the church was always welcoming of, of the whole concept, what we were doing in my family from the very beginning.

But I found out that they were right, that it takes time to be their pastor.

And the reason why is because people need to feel that you are prioritizing them.

And I can tell you the day that it really hit me here, that I really felt like I was the pastor here at Rhema Community Church.

We were about three and a half years into this venture, and I remember pulling up into the parking lot out there,

and the thought crossed my mind, it just hit me.

I actually love these people more than I love what I think we could do for them.

And it grabbed me.

That's when I knew God was really calling me to shepherd.

All this to say, we have to be very careful.

If you're going to encourage others, if we call ourselves Christian,

we have to make sure that we are prioritizing individuals.

We're prioritizing people.

We're pouring into them.

We're wanting to be a blessing to them.

If for no other reason than this, one day, it'll be your turn.

And you'll want someone to be a blessing to you.

I mean, haven't you ever had that moment where you're like,

well, it sure would be nice if somebody would come along and blow some wind in my sails.

I'm not throwing a pity party.

I'm just being real.

I'm hurting.

I'm down.

You know, so we all come across, we all come across those who, who are, have been discouraged or maybe discouraged.

And, and, and, and we, and we tend to ask ourselves the question all the time, how can I lift their spirits?

How can I be a blessing to them?

We've all seen it.

You know, someone's hurt.

Someone's gotten that email.

Okay.

There's been this articulation of pain and struggle.

And you think, you know, man, that, that person's really below the hope line.

I can see that in their lives.

How do you help that person?

How do you, how do you encourage them?

I want to share, what I want to share with you today is that you do not need a PhD or a master's degree in counseling to really help someone.

You don't need that.

Okay.

It's not that difficult, but we do need to keep several things in mind here this morning.

Okay.

I think that there are two gifts that we need to give to people to be encouraged.

Folks who are threatening or are below the hope line.

Two gifts that we need to give them.

And I'll explain in a second.

But one is we need to give them the gift of you.

The gift of us.

The gift of you.

Okay.

I alluded to this last week.

We're going to drill down into it this week.

But the second thing that we need to give them is we need to give them the gift of hope.

And I got several parallels or banners under this.

But what does it mean by giving them the gift of you?

Okay.

There are three underneath the banners underneath this.

The gift of you.

Someone's down.

They're struggling.

They need some help or something.

What do you do?

The first thing to do is we need to pray for them.

We need to pray for them.

This is the very first place to start in encouraging someone is to pray for them.

And hear me on this because we have trivialized prayer.

We have absolutely trivialized it.

And we throw out that phrase.

Oh, I'll pray.

I'll pray for you.

I'll pray for you, brother.

I'll pray for you, sister.

You know, I need you to hear me this morning.

The most important thing you could ever do, you could ever do.

with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints and also for me. Also for me. Let's just talk about the context here because you may think, well, wait a minute. What does this have to do with encouragement? Isn't Ephesians 6 all about the spiritual armor? You're absolutely right. He's talking about spiritual warfare. He's talking about being attacked by the enemy. He's talking about wearing the armor. But what's interesting is what he says is that the thing that is the foundation

of all of this, whether it's the foundation of all of this, whether it's the helmet of salvation, whether it's the breastplate of righteousness, whether it's the shoes of readiness by given by the gospel of peace, any, all this stuff, the foundation of all of that, he says is pray, pray. He says, pray at all times in the spirit. And Paul says, and also I'm not immune to discouragement. I'm not immune to it. I want you to pray for me. Pray for me as well. I'm not immune to attack by the wicked one.

Church, I need you to hear me as well. Church, I need you to hear me on this this morning. The greatest thing you could ever do for anyone is to pray for them. Because when you pray for them, you are calling for God to send the resources of heaven to that person, to their situation, to their circumstances. You are praying for God to send his resources in on that situation. That's what prayer is.

We need to seek God on behalf of other people. And I'll talk about this in a few minutes. But ultimately, we are not the source of anyone's encouragement. We're not. We're not the source. God is. We may be a vehicle for it. We may be a pathway for it.

But, you know, the greatest thing that anyone could ever do is, you know, I don't know what to say to them. I don't know how to respond to this. I can pray.

I can earnestly pray. And I mean this with all my heart. The greatest gift that anybody could ever give, Curtis Geary, is to the gift of prayer.

To pray for me. To pray for them. And you know, there, this may sound corny, but it is so true. There have been times in my life where I have literally, I promise you, literally and physically felt the prayers of God's people in my life.

I have felt the prayers. Somebody has said they're praying for, I have felt that. I hope that you have felt that in your life.

A resounding amen just comes over your soul. As you know, people are petitioning God on your behalf. That means something. That brings encouragement. Real encouragement. Because God is the source of all encouragement.

Prayer. Prayer. The work of life is prayer. The work of change is prayer. You know, so one of the greatest gifts that we could give to anyone who's struggling and going through a hard time

is to call upon God is to call upon God to bring heaven's resources to bear on their set of circumstances, where they are and how they're hurting.

But the second thing that we can do under the banner of giving, the giving the gift of you is to be with them. Be with them.

Turn with me a few pages to the right to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5.

If someone is hurting, be with them. 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 14.

Paul writes this,

And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the faint-hearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.

Now, although the text doesn't say it here, all of this stuff really presupposes proximity.

It presupposes proximity, okay? To be with them. You know, you don't have to say an awful lot.

There's been a loss in someone's life. Show up for them. Just show up for them. Be there for them.

People need the strong support that our presence can give them.

And through our presence, they need to feel the reality of the Savior's promise.

I will never, ever leave nor forsake you.

That's how they feel the promise of Jesus coming true in their life.

Just by the power of our presence.

Being there for them. Being there for them. Allowing Jesus to love them through us. You know, I'll say something about this in a second but don't be compelled to give a speech. Like you have to give a speech. The thing to do is to be with them first. You know, and I'll say something about this in a second but don't be compelled to give a speech. Like you have to give a speech. The thing to do is to be within faith.

physically emotionally be with them expressively and you may not even know what to say but they

need to feel that you love them and you care about them and there may be distance okay but

and you can't be with them always but if you know someone is hurting stay in touch with them until

this they are they have gotten through this dark place in in their life let them and also let them

know you're not a burden to them let them know that when people are hurting resist the temptation

to treat them like it's a burden i'll give them a call yeah i guess i can reach out to them

or treating them like it's your duty it's my dude i checked the box off i called luann i asked her

how she was doing she said fine i guess fine i'm not being with her that way you know but the third

thing we need to do under this banner of giving them the gift of you is we need to listen to them

really listen to them listen listening communicates value it communicates value

i can't tell you even even on just the greeting greeting sometimes i learned a long time ago

in church how sometimes i can come in on sunday mornings and i'm talking to somebody they're

telling me something it's before service starts and i'm thinking oh i can't get sideways i gotta

keep my mind on where my sermon is they're unfolding this whole scenario what's happened to them

okay and someone else has got my attention over here and i'm going yeah i'm distracted by them

i'm not i'm not valuing the conversation that these people are trying to have

i've i've learned the hard way there are times you're just going to have to tell this person

hold on i'm talking to joe right now joe you have my my full attention that that that that

that it just expresses value that's why when the lord says you know i don't want you to seek my seek

my hand i want you to seek my face when you seek the face of god there is value in that you have god's

full attention he has your full attention there's something beautiful in that

like many of you i've had to learn how to be a good listener i'm not always a good listener

i'm getting it down better but you know um resist the temptation of trying to put some sermon

together resist the temptation of trying to put some speech together proverbs 10 19 spells it out

it says that when words are many transgression is not lacking but whoever restrains his lips

is prudent sometimes you can start talking so much that you make a fool of yourself

sometimes people don't want you to say anything they just want you to listen

don't feel compelled to give this uh speech or have this amazing insight the pressure is not on you

to do that the pressure is the the call is just to simply listen sometimes sometimes the better part

of wisdom says shut your mouth

if you don't know what to say don't say just listen to them listen to them but as christians we feel like

we have to have these packaged scriptures and we've got to have these biblical action points you know

you don't have to do that not then not then listen to them okay let them let them tell you the burdens

of their heart let them tell you you know where they are you know what's going on so that when it

when it becomes time when it becomes god's time to speak you're now speaking from a place of being informed

and you're allowing the spirit to to move you

and that's this is what i mean about listening it says be patient as you listen

being patient with them all the script the scripture says

now what they say be patient make sure you listen to what they say

and not how you're going to respond to what they say you with me on that

you know resist the temptation to to listening in such a way i'm already putting my response together

they haven't even finished telling me everything but i've already got the response put together

i've got i've got a package deal of what

focus on them don't be distracting it's not about you

it's about them trying to bear their souls and let you know where they are

assure them that you can be trusted

that you know that you are a safe place first and foremost and we'll talk a little bit more about this but listen it's not always necessary to share your opinions and advice you know especially the first go round we need to be very careful that when we don't give insight that when we do give insight you don't always come across as though here's insight and I'm speaking for the Lord you don't know that

you don't know that you be careful about sharing your opinions and advice but this is the first thing that we do is we give them the gift of ourselves okay I mean the gospel the gospel is is is is incarnational right the gospel is Jesus is living in us in us and we want want God to love them through us we want him to lift their burdens through us and may wear his hands and feet so we're going to pray for them we're going to we're going to pray for them we're going to we're going to we're going to

pray with them we're going to be present with them just like Jesus would be and we're going to listen to them but that's not the end of it that's not the all that's just empathy all right that's just empathy empathy is not necessarily encouragement empathy is not necessarily encouragement okay to sympathize with someone doesn't necessarily mean you have encouraged them it's part of it it's necessary but empathy is not necessarily encouragement as I said last

last week encouragement encouragement means to inspire what courage to inspire courage and it hints at inspiring movement movement it means to infuse courage into someone so we give them ourselves but secondly we give them the gift of hope we give them the gift of hope you're not you're not just listening to them although that is important okay you you you've prayed for

them okay that's that's very important but and you're you are with them that's very important but now they're still down in that funk they're still encased in disappointment okay so what do you do how do you put courage into them I think that the first thing you do is you resource them you resource them it's it's too long to put on the on this on the screen but I want to encourage you to go home and read the story in Exodus chapter 18 we're going to go back to earlier in Exodus in a minute

but in Exodus 18 but in Exodus 18 in this passage God has just used Moses to deliver the children of Israel okay out of Egypt and they've been brought through the Red Sea and all that experience and all that stuff and there are 2.5 million Israelites that Moses is responsible for okay 2.5 million and so his father-in-law comes to him Jethro and he checks in on his son-in-law to see how things are going

and Moses is doing and Moses is giving him an update in a version of all that's happening so the next day Jethro comes out and he's observing Moses and what Moses is doing and Jethro says in so many words man you're nuts you're absolutely nuts Moses was listening one by one to all the complaints and all the issues and all the problems that the people had that needed to be solved

2.5 million of these issues and problems okay and it's almost as if Jethro says Moses you ain't gonna make it brother you're not gonna last 72 hours if you keep this up okay this is nonsense so Jethro gives him a plan he resources his son-in-law he gives him a plan to deal with the issue and to encourage him to encourage him we need to come alongside people listen to their hearts

and to pray for them and to pray for them and to pray for them and to pray for them and to pray for them and we're there with them and then we go back and we pray through this thing and we think it through and the Lord may give us some ideas on how they can take some baby steps to begin to get through this how can we resource people how can we help them in this you don't just weep with them that's a wonderful thing to do absolutely you don't just hold their hands up hold hold their hands you know that's it that's a good thing to do that but the whole idea of encouraging people is to get them

above the hope line above the hope line right we got to get them back up there and we do that by resourcing them helping them to look at taking some steps and so another thing that we need to do and I see this as primary I know I mentioned the other first but this is primary

You need to feel that you're present with Him and all that.

But that's not to say that you don't give them the Word of God.

Okay?

That's not to say that.

Okay?

In fact, you don't encourage anyone unless you point them to the Lord.

You don't encourage anyone.

The help that you give them, that you can give them, or that I can give them, is really only temporary.

It's only temporary.

And I would suggest that your help could ultimately be devastating if it's not anchored with the truth of God's Word.

It would be devastating.

We need people to come along.

And listen, nobody ever helped anyone long term.

Long term, when we go around acting like we're the source of someone's encouragement.

And I've seen that happen a lot.

They need me because I'm the source of their encouragement.

I'm not the source of my wife's encouragement.

I'm not the source of my children's encouragement.

The Lord is.

The Lord is the source of their encouragement.

So we have to help people go vertical.

We've got to help them in that situation.

Help people understand there is one who is perfect.

There is one who loves them.

There is one who is constant.

There is one who cares for them perfectly.

And God's Word has never, ever, ever failed.

It's never failed.

We have to get to a place where we, and help them get to a place where we don't just hear that intellectually.

But it's something that we feel viscerally.

Man, it's in my soul, God's Word.

It just never fails.

Never fails.

That's why I love the benedictions in the Bible.

If you ever read the benedictions that are given to us in the Scripture, the benedictions serve a two-fold purpose.

One is a commissioning.

And the other one, at the same time, these benedictions are sources of words of encouragement.

You know, as they close out.

So often, you know, Peter and Paul, they have all these hard writings and everything.

And at the end of these writings, they give a benediction.

Why?

It's obviously to lift your soul vertically, okay?

It's where your hope comes from.

It's where your strength comes from.

And in Hebrews 13, it bears it out.

The writer says this, Hebrews 13, beginning in verse 20, says,

Now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead, our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good, that you may do his will, working in us, that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.

Amen.

Do you see what he's doing in this passage?

He's taking their hand, and he's lifting their hand, and he's placing their hand into the hand of God Almighty.

That's how we bring about real encouragement to people.

That's how it really takes place.

All this other stuff, to pray with them, to be with them, to listen to them, that's the grabbing of the hand.

That's the grabbing of the hand.

But you just don't hold their hand, but you help them to lift their hand and to place their hand into the hand of God Almighty.

That's how you bring about real encouragement in people's lives.

Because then, we want their testimony to be how God met them at their lowest moment, at their lowest point.

God met me.

You know, angel, help bring me to the Lord.

Angel didn't encourage me.

God did.

Used angel?

Absolutely.

But God brought me encouragement through his word.

Through his word.

We talked about that last week.

How encouragement comes from just, encouragement comes from what?

The scriptures.

We find the encouragement that we need to get through these things, you know.

How is it that David, King David, could stand back and say, you know, I've been young, and now I'm old, and I've seen the righteous, but I've never seen the righteous forsaken, nor have I ever seen them begging for bread.

You know, he says that.

I'll tell you how he says it.

Because he'd been brought to the brink of begging for bread before.

He'd been brought to the brink of feeling forsaken, running for Saul, 16 years, all this stuff.

But yet, God used his word to get him where he is.

That's why David could say, although I haven't been forsaken, God's never given up on the righteous. And that's the difference between those of us who are decidedly Christian.

All of life. All of life. All of life. God is using all of life, every circumstance, every situation, to make us more like Jesus.

That's the hard part, but it's true, to make us more. He's using all things in life so that the beauty of his word comes shining through, through us.

And is that comfortable? Not always. Is it pleasant? Not always.

I wouldn't sign up for it, but I wouldn't trade it for anything else.

Where else would I go? Only you have the words of life, Jesus.

Where else would we go to find our true encouragement, encouragement that lasts except through the Lord?

Also under this banner of giving them hope, keep this in mind, we need to help them move.

Help them move. This is so important, okay?

I know this is counterintuitive, but what we have to do is to help them to do what they can.

Do what you can.

And sometimes you need to intervene, okay?

Listen, and for a brief moment, for a brief moment, you may almost need to be like a surrogate will for them.

You understand what I'm saying here?

But you don't need to stay in their place.

Hear me on this.

Their will, their will to act needs to be strengthened, okay?

And so the whole point of encouragement is movement.

And the way you get out of a bad situation is not sitting there in your situation and constantly analyzing the badness of your problem.

How did I get here?

Why does this always happen to me?

Why is all this stuff happening?

Encouragement means that you are moving.

And again, I know this is counterintuitive to what some of you maybe heard in school or whatever, but listen.

Analysis is not the solution.

Analysis is not the, analysis is important.

Yes, okay?

But analysis is not the, there are people who have been struggling with depression for years because they thought that insight was going to solve their situation.

Insight is important.

I'm not, I'm not discrediting that, but listen to me.

Listen to me.

Verbs.

I want you to turn to somebody next to you.

You say, say verbs.

Verbs.

Verbs lead to deliverance.

What are verbs?

Some of the English teachers helped me out.

What is a verb?

An action.

A what word?

I sit on my deaf word, I feel sorry for myself word.

That's what a verb is.

A feel sorry for myself word.

No, it's not.

It's an action word.

and listen

before I quote this little verse

and back up in Exodus 14

15 okay

just want to set this up for you

the children of Israel have been released

from bondage and I can just imagine

they've seen all these great miracles

all of these plagues and stuff that have happened

okay and God has again

delivered 2.5 million

Israelites okay

and they're going toward the promised land

it's a wonderful thing

they get to the Red Sea

they get to the Red Sea and the Egyptians

change their mind

and they're coming to kill

every last one of them

and you have this massive

army behind you you got the Red Sea

in front of you and listen

I'm not throwing rocks I would have been

I would have probably been in this group too that said

hey Mo Mo you didn't hear from God

you didn't hear from God

you must have had a

bad whatever last night

and you got some heartburn

and so they are coming to kill us

I can swim

but I can't swim that far

you didn't hear from God

okay

so they're either going to kill us

or we're going to drown

and Moses says

stand back and see the salvation of the Lord

is anybody else with me

okay

Thank you.

read it every day sometimes the most compassionate thing and the most helpful thing that someone will ever say to you is the thing that you don't want to hear but it's God's medicine for you and this is what happens God says to Moses the Lord says to Moses why do you cry to me why you cry oh stop your praying stop praying to me that's what he says stop praying why do you cry to me

tell the people tell the people of Israel tell the people of Israel to go forward tell them to go forward tell them to go forward there's water there I don't know if you notice that I said tell them to go forward stop trying to handle my business stop in other words in other words do what you can do what you can and let the miracles that's my department let the miracles do what you can

some of you aren't moving because you can't see a way out some of you are permanently discouraged because you don't see a way out and I don't mean to blame the victim here not at all but God is saying you don't need to see a way out you don't need to see a way out I didn't ask you to see a way out I told you to do what you can can you just step here for me

just right here just right here and let me show you what I can do with just that can you just step there with me

you know it may be small it may seem insignificant to you but do what you can do what you can you know are you just

going to sit there and just be overwhelmed by what in your mind is inevitable well this is just going to happen

it's not it's not why should I why should I it's not going to work out it's not it's not going to work out

listen God defines inevitability God is in charge of the inevitability why he is sovereign he's in charge of

inevitably well this is inevitable you don't know that you don't know that who died and made you part of the

trinity seriously but we act like that sometimes you know sometimes we are too rational for our own

stinking good you know so what God is saying to the children of Israel is I'm trying to use

your discouragement to be a powerful mile marker for your encouragement and listen speaking as a pastor

right now I'm not telling you any stuff that I ain't been through I'm not saying this is for you

guys it ain't for me God's been beating me up my wife can tell you I have gone I have gone from

disappointment to discouragement this past week with some news coming across my table

I'm not depressed but I'm soon I'm very very very very discouraged

I'm mad I'm mad I'm mad it's not right I shouldn't have to go we shouldn't have to do this

I get it I get it I get it I understand it you know so many times I have come to church here on

Sunday mornings and I have had tears streaming down my face whether I'm in a parking lot whether

I'm walking around the facility praying uh before church starts and I'm just weeping absolutely weeping

because of maybe something my family is going through because of a burden that I have that I just I just

can't share with very many people and so there's there's a heaviness on there and I get to this

place and I'm weeping and I'm broken and I and I have this stuff going on and I'm telling you the

Lord is faithful and he speaks to me and he says Curtis I'm just asking you to put one foot in front of the

other stop worrying about step seven put one foot in front of the other do the next right thing

just the next right well what no just do the next right thing do what you can and that's what we

have to help people do now if they don't want to help themselves you can't make them you can't make

them

don't you quit

don't

do what they can God tells the children of Israel tell us no step forward move forward and if they had not move forward we would not have recorded the miracle that God did to take the text place that brings about salvation I wonder how many miracle stories are stopped in our lives and the lives around us because we

we have deified our disappointment you know we have deified our discouragement there are just listen to me there are just times in your life where you just have to plow through how bad you feel can anybody bear witness with me you just have to plow through how bad you just have to get up in the morning you just have to get in the shower you just have to shave

your face and you have to shave your face and you have to shave your face and you have to get in your car and you have to go to that place that's sucking the life out of you and allow the Lord to sustain you and in that faithfulness there is encouragement that comes how do I get encouragement I hate this place how do I drive away being encouraged today unbelievable am I the only one I mean I love my job don't get me wrong but there are days I'm like oh oh Lord

I had a pastor I had a pastor I had a pastor you used to tell me all the time Curtis man ministry would be a blessing and a breeze if it wasn't for the people they will get on your nerves they will drive you crazy they will be critical of everything you say preach say do write blah blah blah and they'll tell you that they love you brother

Lord sustain me please in the name of Jesus right there are times that you just have to come alongside of people and put their arms around them and say I got I'm sorry man I'm so sorry I don't have any words for you Josh what you're going through but what can we do today just today what can we do what can we do right now

what is one step what is one step that we can take well it's not much but I could I could call summer and tell her I was sorry that's a great that's a great place to start well it's not much but I could no it is much that is much help people to do what they can to do what they can to take another step you can't solve their whole problem but you know we can at least start walking here can you step

step into this with me a little bit can you do this a little bit and then what happens is you do this little step and you little step and you walk with them and then you allow them to you allow them to walk with you and you take them by the hands and you say look look at that look what God did remember when you were over there isn't God amazing isn't God amazing and then you're writing your own psalms and you're putting David out of the book man you got you got greater joys and greater

praises to give him than David ever did now don't send me an email that I don't like the word of God I'm saying that we have to rewrite the word of God that's not what I'm saying that's not what I'm saying but listen as we close to encourage to encourage someone also doesn't mean that you control them by the way all right I think we need to say that this morning because some of us some of us have a high control personality some of us some of us are fixers

you know we're fixers we're problem solvers and you can have very dominating personalities you got to be careful with that be careful of hyper controlling people who are down some of us are caretakers by nature okay and we have and we have to be careful that we don't smother people I just need to help you I need to I need to breathe please right

ever been there you know I had a friend of mine I had a friend of mine years years and years ago they they went to church somewhere else but they had they had a he and his wife had delivered a baby and the baby lived for about an hour and a half and passed away and there was some complications

instead of setting the other

child is not what has happened to your child today is not God's condemnation on you I wanted to punch that man right in the mouth I want he probably had the best intentions in the world but sometimes we need to shut up and sometimes we just need to be present and we're not smother people not try to control people

smother people in the name of compassion of course right yeah you know listen listen what do we say what do we say brings about deliverance a minute ago somebody say verbs come on people verbs bring deliverance here's the thing you've got to keep the verbs on their side of the fence these aren't your action words they're their action words

help them help them help them to take those steps but they it's not you know you might have to step in to be a surrogate will for a moment but you don't live it out through them that's called enabling

that's called enabling so you didn't know you're gonna get all this through through it through a church thing you thought you had to pay your counselors big money for all this stuff right yeah

sometimes we have to do what we don't want to do in order to experience the freedom that we long for that's movement

you may not want to but you may not want to do this but it may be the very thing you need to do two things i want to encourage you with and we're going to we're going to wrap this up

listen um who around you who around you has fallen below the hope line

are you asking god for that are you are you looking are you asking god to give you that peripheral vision for those who are hurting who are all around you

and secondly pray that god will use you to encourage someone to be a blessing to someone to bless someone

and by the way one of the things i try to do when someone you know when someone comes to your mind comes

to your heart make the call you even if it's just you know hey ernie man i'm i'm headed to a meeting real

quick i don't need to take a bunch of your time i just want you to know you and your family were on my heart

and mind i just love you just praying for you i hope you have a good day man hope you have a good

day be faithful in those those things don't mean much yes they do so god brings about someone in your

mind in your heart you know you know it brings a burden send them a text just send them a text a piece

of scripture that god has been showing you in your quiet time just send them that just say if nothing else

just send them in the scripture and that let you know you don't know you don't know how god's going

to minister to them through that scripture he made me you know you thought it was for you in the morning

but that may just be the medicine they need today that's being with someone that's being sensitive to

those around us as god moves our heart to be spiritually faithful in those things to be obedient

it doesn't sometimes it doesn't take much it really doesn't one of the things i love that

taylor's doing i encourage him to do it and uh he's doing he's being faithful maybe some of you have

been recipients he's he's writing notes to some of you encouraging you for serving and doing different

things that's huge that's old-fashioned nobody does that anymore that by the way young people is

where you get a piece of paper and you write a lot of these encouraging things you fold it in half

you put it in the mail you put a stamp or you give it to your mom and dad let them mail it for you okay

and people open it up and they say man you can't spell but i love your heart

bless their heart right everybody's got to bless their heart right

let's learn how to be responsible to the needs around us staying sensitive to the spirit of god

and in doing so we learn how to love well we learn how to love well one of the things i want to do as

the worship team comes up before we celebrate communion is i'm going to put a slide up here and

one of the things we're trying to get uh some of our home group uh to do they've asked for some uh some

discussion questions on their on their nights um can you throw that up for me woody what are some of

the tangible ways we can do a better job of giving the gift of me

to

you

ask the elders to come forward um I think Tom is out of town today and so Bobby have to go to work he got called in okay David come on up Foster's here Joe Joe Joe um we are going to celebrate communion today we do this here in our church by what we call intinction what is called intinction and the invitation is you don't have to be a member of our church you just have to

be a member of the body of Christ a member of the body of Christ you are a member of his church born again believer now if you have a child that's here with you and they have never received Jesus Christ it's a great opportunity for you to be able to pour into their lives what this really means to give your life to the Lord we ask you as you come forward we'll direct you in a moment to come down to the middle aisles spend some time where you are in your seats before you come down um spend some time in your seats afterwards or at the altar

go to our prayer room go to our prayer room I would love to be able to sit and pray with you as well too but you come down and a piece of bread will be broken off for you simply hold your hands out and you'll be told that this is the body of Christ which is broken for you then you'll just walk over to the next station which is the cup representing the blood sacrifice that Jesus Christ made

and so we celebrate this today with a thankful heart because there has been no greater encourager that has ever come upon the face of this earth than Jesus Christ himself God so loved us in such a way that he encouraged us but in such a way that he sent his only son

he encouraged us he encouraged us because he showed us that this is this is a life you could never leave this is what I desire of you this is the life I desire you to leave but this is a life you could never leave but here's the thing you don't have to I've led it for you all you need to do is fall upon call upon the finished work of Jesus Christ and that's what we do today so in the final night that Jesus was with his disciples and took the bread and he

broke it broke it and he said this is my body and he said this is my body broken for you take each of you do this in remembrance of me and likewise during the meal during the cup of redemption he said a new covenant I have for you

this is the blood

that I shed for each of you

for the forgiveness of your sins

for without shedding of blood

there is no forgiveness of sins

the word is clear on that

there had to be an atoning sacrifice

there had to be a perfect sacrifice

and Jesus is taking

to drink each of you

and to give him thanks and praise

this day

I want to encourage you

to spend some time where you are

ready your hearts

the scriptures are very clear

who may ascend the hill of the Lord

but those with clean hands and pure hearts

prepare yourself

to come to the Lord's table

we will give you the invitation in a moment

come to the Lord

we will give you the invitation in a moment

Thank you.

Amen.

Thank you.

Ephesians 6:18

Scripture

Outline