09/29/2021 - Bible Study

okay all right here we go thank you um you jesus okay oh oh oh foreign hey [Music] oh good evening everyone it's time for us to begin tonight's services we will be beginning by singing hymn 48 hymn 48 and afterwards brother henry lanier will lead us in prayer anywhere with jesus i can safely go anywhere he leaves me in this world below anywhere without him dearest joys would fade anywhere with jesus i am not afraid anywhere anywhere fear i cannot know anywhere with jesus i can safely go anywhere with jesus i can go to sleep when the darkness shadows round about me creep knowing i shall weaken nevermore to rome anywhere where jesus will be home sweet home anywhere anywhere fear i can not know anywhere with jesus i can say flee go let us go to god in prayer i'm a holy and righteous father in heaven it is at this time that we come before you thanking you once again for blessing each and every one of us with life health and strength and allowing us to had the opportunity to come out tonight and kept us safe as we proceeded to do so we thank you so much for jesus your only begotten son we thank you for the death that he care that he said that he died on calvary's cross for each of us all of our sins we pray to god that as we are here together we pray that we will continue to be humble by studying your word we pray for those who are sick those who are shut in and for those who have lost loved ones we pray that you will continue to be with them that you may give them the strength that they need that they may endure their afflictions as we prepare to go to our classrooms this evening we pray that we come with our minds set to listen to your word and at the thanks that we are taught through our bible studies that we may apply them to our everyday life continue to be with us in jesus name we pray amen now before our announcements will notice him 118 118 count your blessings when upon life billows you are tempest toss when you are discouraged thinking all is lost count your many blessings name them one by one and it will surprise you what the lord has done count your blessings name them one by one count your blessings see what god hath done count your blessings name them one by one count your many blessings see what god hath done so amid the conflict whether great or small do not be discouraged god is over wrong count your many blessings angels will attend help and comfort give you to your journeys and count your blessings name them one by one count your blessing see what god have done count your blessings name them one by one counter many blessings see what god have done [Music] good to have everyone with us this evening we are thankful that you're able to be out with us um just a couple of updates on our prayer requests um it was posted on realm that ramona lawson has coveted um she is at home and recovering well and artie says she's feeling much better so hopefully that will continue for her sydney guest went to the doctor today and she's been diagnosed with pericarditis which just gives some feels like chest pains and tightness in the chest and stuff but they say it's probably related to a possible previous infection but just needs some rest and anti-inflammatory so hopefully that will resolve for her quickly but she's at home so requesting prayers on her behalf also our prayers were requested for frank quez mitchell one of our newer members his mother farlister mitchell passed away and she was a member over in at the azalea drive church of christ in south carolina she passed away back on september 23rd so keep franquez and his family in prayers also the berry family whitney berry family um is needed of some meals and there is a meal trained link and schedule set up for whitney berry i mean you can see that on realm um so if you're interested in helping out and bringing the family some meals it says between now and october 10th so over the next 10 days or so we're going to be trying to help out with that so please check that out if you're able to help with that need also keep barry and melanie hatchers one of our mission works they work in indonesia there was an update on realm so please read over that but keep them in prayers as they continue in their work there in indonesia that's all the updates on that we're looking forward to our services this sunday one change for this weekend we had a seminar that was supposed to start friday night and that has had to be rescheduled so the seminar will not be this weekend it's going to be the following weekend so it will start on october 8th friday october 8th instead and go 8 through the 10th so friday night saturday morning the 9th and then on through our sunday morning services on the 10th so please take note of that rescheduling of our seminar so no seminar this weekend but we will have our regular service at bible classes at 9 00 a.m on sunday morning and worship at 10 and please continue to remember to wear a mask when you're in the building at all times that is all the announcements i have at this time we'll have a song and prayer and be just his star classes uh him before we dismiss the classes will be 743 743 we'll work after brother lance darden will lead us well jed hickson will lead us in prayer o land of rest for the eyesight when will the moment come when i shall lay my armor by and dwell in peace at [Applause] [Music] till home comes will work till jesus comes we'll work to jesus come and we'll be gathered home i sought at once my savior's side no more my steps shall roam with him i'll brave death's chilling tight and reached my heavenly home we were till jesus comes will work to jesus comes will work till jesus comes and will be gathered home let us pray dear heavenly father we're so thankful for the opportunity that we have to be here tonight we're so thankful for your design of the church and the opportunity we have to come together to gather to be encouraged and to study your word pray that you will be with each one of us as we head to our bible classes that will have open hearts to the word that where necessary we will change our lives and make make those improvements and we pray that we will be encouraged by the things that we study tonight and that we'll be able to carry those out to face the temptations of this world and to be prepared to share with others we're mindful of all those that have been mentioned that are ill we pray that you would provide the things they stand in need of physically pray that you would help us to be an encouragement to them and service to them to uplift their spirits as well we're so thankful for your son jesus the sacrifice that he made that makes all things possible especially the forgiveness of our sins we ask for that forgiveness tonight for any who may stand in need of it so we can be in a right standing with you moving forward and as we study this evening we pray all these things in your son jesus name amen you hey good evening uh time to get started here with class and thankful for everybody's presence tonight if you're in the building good to see you physically those are there joining us online good to know that you're with us uh as we study god's word this is uh week four the second study from the fourth chapter of the barnabas factor so we will be wrapping up chapter four tonight we'll be starting on page 50 is kind of where we will begin and we will kind of cover the ten things to remember as we kind of summarize this first part of the book this sunday we will start part two and jamie will be taking over and teaching part two of the book and then ultimately eric will be teaching part three of the book and so we will begin that this sunday um i don't think it was announced from the pulpit tonight but many of you probably saw in realm and maybe i just missed it but that we the seminar is not this weekend after all there was just some mix up with some dates so that is going to be pushed a week so we will have bible class like normal in here and in the back and then in a week we will have a course egg co-joined bible class for everyone that's an adult so this sunday we will continue with our regular study i'd like to start tonight with a couple little anecdotes just as we kind of uh summarize the importance of encouragement and knowing that we as christians um should be encouragers and that's kind of what the first four chapters in a way to kind of summarize is is to understand that encouragement is a christian ministry and something that we need to be about and so after we finish with the first four chapters we should understand that there's a need that is something that we are obligated as christians to be out doing and then in the next section again how should we use our body because it talks about five different uh body parts how we should utilize those to be encouragers and to improve our life as encouragers and then looking at some biblical examples of encouragement so that is kind of the direction of the study so again we'll end tonight just recognizing that there is again a need for us as christians to be encouragers one anecdote there's a story told of a man in a small town and he's an older man and as he lived in the town he always had positive things to say didn't matter what it was about or who he was dealing with he always found opportunity to say encouraging and positive things so much so that a lot of other people they were kind of annoyed by it because they had a tendency and a desire to gossip a little bit talk behind people's backs say some negative things and so they actually were frustrated by this man because of how encouraging he was finally in this town there was a there was a time when this dog this vicious dog in town had um gone about and he was attacking people and causing all kind of havoc in the uh in the town and they they thought finally we're going to be able to find opportunity to get this man to say something negative because again who can say anything positive about a dog that's been attacking people biting people and terrorizing the town so they go to his house just wanting to hear what he has to say about this dog and when the townspeople got there hoping they were going to get something negative from the man he paused and he thought what can i say about that dog and he said that dog sure did have pretty teeth so even though the dog was terrorizing doing these terrible things the dog ultimately is put down for what it did he still had something positive to say another story again just kind of an anecdote to think about as we think about the importance of our being encouragers is a story of two men that were in a hospital and the one man he was able to sit up and be by a window so he could look out the window and see the goings on of the world but the other man because of his injuries had to lay flat on his back but day after day the man that had the opportunity to look out the window would tell him of everything he was seeing he talked about the the park that was outside the birds that were outside the dogs that were being walked couples that might have been walking arm and arm outside the window and just all these beautiful things that he was observing and sadly after a time the man in the the bed by the window passed he passed peacefully but he passed nonetheless and so the other gentleman asked the nurse can you please move me closer to the window can you please put me in the bed close to the window and she complied and moved him closer to the window and again because of his condition he wasn't able to sit up very well but he struggled and through the difficulty and pain of sitting up he got himself propped up he was able to look out the window only to see the side of a building and he asked the nurse he says how and why did this man always tell me these wonderful things that he was seeing out the window and she replied i guess he was just trying to encourage you and so again our words can be very powerful we can encourage people with our words inspire them keep them going and again encouraging words might be disturbing to others bothersome to others because we're always being positive but that's what we should be as christians even those people that are our enemies we're told of course that we should do what give them drink give them food be kind be polite even to our enemies and it will lump coals of fire upon their head we need to make sure that we treat everybody kindly and do our best to seek their good and what we can do to encourage them in our lives so beginning on page 50 as we kind of summarize this first section of the book there are 10 things to remember about being encouragers and number one it says remember to encourage others the way you would want to be encouraged we talked about this a little bit on sunday matthew 7 12 is of course what we call the golden rule and the idea there is do unto others as you would have them do unto you and that's how we should encourage we all need encouragement at some time and when we feel down how do we want to be picked up what do we want to be said how do we want to be encouraged we need to likewise have that same approach to those around us and and we just need to always think about that like i said sunday and all of our different relationships and we'll talk a good bit about relationships tonight but whether it's your marriage whether it's your relationship with your children relationship with coworkers or of course fellow christians or just man people that you may not even know we need to be striving to do unto them as we want done unto us and that would solve a lot of our problems and definitely would solve a lot of problems in the world if we treated people that way so it definitely is as we've given it the moniker it is the golden rule for sure number two number two it says remember that people are inclined to treat you the way you treat them and that kind of goes back to the golden rule and it says the passage this year is luke 6 38 he says given it will be given to you good measure pressed down shaken together and running over will be put into your bosom for the same measure that you use it will be measured back to you so again what you put in the effort you put in that will kind of be measured back to you there's a saying if you want a friend you have to be a friend if you want to have people to encourage you if you want to have people that are companions you need to have that same approach with people there's some people who turn around and think i don't have any support i don't know who to go to about this and a lot of times they haven't maybe built those relationships to be a friend or to have a friend you have to be a friend turn in the book of proverbs chapter six want to look at a few passages related to this idea of we need to think about how we treat others because that's how it's probably going to be brought back to us proverbs chapter six is where i want us to begin in verse number four proverbs chapter six and verse number four like i say typically i would have you all read but people at home wouldn't really be able to hear you proverbs chapter six verse four that doesn't look like what i wanted give and give no sleep to your eyes nor slumber to your eyelids okay all right that wasn't what i was wanting i don't know what i wrote that down for um let's go to proverbs 27 17. i know why i wrote that down proverbs 27 17. so i'm not sure what i have proverbs 6'4 i don't it could have been could it have been 4-6 that's probably a good verse 2. too do not forsake her and she will preserve you love her and she will keep you okay that's about relationships kind of but that wasn't what i wanted either so we'll just we'll just kind of move on from there but proverbs 27 17 probably a passage you're familiar with and it says iron or as iron sharpens iron so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend the idea here is you obviously have to have two pieces of iron i haven't done a lot of sharpening of iron implements or tools myself but that is the concept here if you only have one and it gets dull what are you gonna do it's just gonna stay dull you don't have anything to work with so the first part of this to me when you look at this is you've got to have friends you need to have relationships you need to have people that can then sharpen you the other thing is to sharpen there's both going to have to be work being done both pieces of metal are going to go against each other and both will then be benefited and that's what friendships are about in relationships and we see from the very beginning as we've talked about god didn't think it was good for man to be alone makes a help me then of course become children involved and then ultimately the design of the church we see the necessity for the the encouragement that we receive obviously there's leadership and roles within the church and we have different things that we should do within the body and so understanding we need these reciprocal relationships to do each other good we can hold each other accountable that's a good thing that is definitely a part of this we can also um to do this we're obviously gonna have to know each other very very well and that's part of what we've been talking about also is not spending just trivial or trite time with each other but spending real time so that we feel comfortable talking about things that can then build relationships where we can benefit one another and it does anybody remember our times from sunday how long do you have to spend to go past being just an acquaintance does anybody remember that's the far end he said 200 hours up here to go just from an acquaintance to kind of a friend i think it was 50 was the first step then you have to go to actually be considered a friend you have to go to 90 hours and then to be considered a close friend and somebody that has even a more deep relationship that's where the two out 200 hours comes in so you think about the time that we spend together here it's probably not adequate that's why we do design different fellowship opportunities that's why we encourage have people into your homes when you're invited go into people's homes you know get to know each other go out and eat with one another to develop these relationships so that again we can have a more meaningful way of hopefully sharpening each other holding each other accountable and also when we talk about criticism i think there's a place for it and again it can be beneficial to criticize but again you've got to have that relationship and also on the flip side you've got to be prepared how are you going to handle the criticism and when we talk about this iron sharpening iron again it's for your good it's for your good and when it's a friend you're going to take that very very differently because if you look at the passages before they give some ideas of hearing maybe conversation or criticism from other people and they're not as positive look at verse 15 it says a continual dripping of a very rainy day and it can and a contentious woman are alike so again that type of approach to hearing for somebody not positive and then verse 16 whoever restrains her restrains the wind and grasps oil with his right hand so again negative the way you're going to hear those things but when you hear from somebody you're close to somebody who's a friend you can take that in a more positive vein than you might from someone else so again building relationships very important turn to uh first thessalonians chapter two first thessalonians chapter two and beginning in verse number one and look at paul's words here first thessalonians chapter two verses one through twelve so paul writing here to the church of thessalonica here he says for you yourselves know brethren so he's talking again to christians that our coming to you was not in vain but even after we had suffered before and were spitefully treated at philippi as you know we were bold in our god to speak to you the gospel of god in much conflict for our exhortation did not come from error uncleanliness nor was it in deceit but as we have been approved by god to be entrusted with the gospel even so we speak not as pleasing men but god who test our hearts for neither at any time do we use flattering words as you know nor a cloak of is covetousness god is witness nor did we seek glory for men either from you or from others when we might have made demands as apostles of christ but we were gentle among you just as nursing mothers cherishes her own children look at that um that kind of relationship as he talks down through here building each other up teaching the gospel not seeking glory from others making sure that our approach and what we're doing is because we care and again of a nursing mother cherishes our own children think about how close a relationship that is verse number eight so affectionately longing for you this is again the relationship longing for you we were pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of god but also our own lives because you would become dear to us again share the gospel because we care then also give of yourself and spend time and build each other up why not for our own good and that type of thing but because you'd become so dear to us we're wanting to benefit you verse number nine for you remember brethren are labor and toil for laboring night and day that we might not be a burden to any of you we preach to you the gospel of god you are witnesses and god also how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe as you know how we exhorted or encouraged and comforted and charged every one of you as a father does his own children so again look at the relationships and the words paul uses here the relationship of a mother the relationship of a father that you would walk worthy of god who calls you into his own kingdom and glory again relationships building those relationships and this kind of closeness is so so important for us as christians any thoughts or comments at this point before we go further here any thoughts or comments number three remember that your time town and treasure treasures are heavenly um trust for encouraging others it should be encouraging to us first of all that god gives us so much charge you think about in the very beginning genesis chapter 2 verse number 26 we're told that we have or man was adam you have dominion over all the animals god entrusted him with that that should be encouraging to us how much god trusts us that he put us in that position secondly if you think about the church god trusted that the church could function without a headquarters and all those things the headquarters of course being heaven and christ being the head of the church but each congregation you can have an eldership and deacons and have those members that work under them he entrusted us with that so as we look at all the treasures and things that god has given us that should be encouraging to us that we were entrusted with these things he entrusts us to be examples he knows you can do what i've asked you to do you can go out and be a light you can go out and be the salt of the earth he also entrusts us with the gospel as we just saw paul talking about we can take that out and we can carefully teach it we can very lovingly teach it and that's why he gives the great commission he trusts us with all these things so remember we have the talents and abilities god has shown us that he trusts us with all of these things we a lot of times discourage ourselves i'm not capable of and you fill in the blank and sometimes it's because maybe we don't want to do i think sometimes sometimes again we don't think we have the ability but like we've talked about a lot you've got to practice you've got to go out and try these things and put these things into action and step out of your comfort zone but god trust us god trust us and in first in philippians 1 20 and through 25 we've talked about these passages before paul says i i want to go on to be with god you know that that's going to be great gain but it's more needful for me to stay here he recognized the need he recognized that he had ability and he had opportunity to do good we need to appreciate the same in our own lives the encouragement that we can provide to others and god trusts that we can do it god trusts that we can do it number four remember to prize people above everything except faithfulness to god and that again is kind of what we've already talked about the importance of relationships and the older we get the older i've gotten at least i recognize that more and more part of it of course you get married and you should prize that relationship and you should nurture it and we just had a marriage seminar and talked about the imp because that's the beginning of a home and we talk all the time about how the home is what then makes good communities good communities make good schools good schools make good and it just keeps reaching out the world and where it's falling apart a lot of times goes back to the home but the relationship that begins there with marriages that's important and then you get to have kids and you you start to appreciate relationships more and more and more when we look at christ think of all the relationships that he had you go through his ministry and we see in matthew chapter 19 we see when the little children come what do the disciples try to do when little children come keep them away don't get you don't don't bother them he actually rebukes them and says no let the children come and he even goes further to again like he always does teach and say like you know the the kingdom of heaven is likened to a child it's it's that's what it's we need to be like we need to be innocent but he lets those children come he blesses those children he actually rebukes his disciples he wants that relationship he wants that relationship other relationships we see him in the book of mark chapter 2 if you want to turn over there and jesus as we've seen we see in many different places he's not just with christians he's not just with people that are you know godly and his disciples and those types of people but very often he would be found with tax collectors and sinners and tax collectors is pretty much synonymous with sinners it seems like in the new testament and he would be with these people and they would question why is your master eating with those tax collectors why is your master associating with that kind and very plainly when jesus hears this and jesus knows they're saying these things he says they're the ones who need what mark 2 17 what's it say believe it's 2 17. that not right there we go those who are well have no need for a physician that's not to say we need to obviously be out being involved with sinners in the sense of doing what they're doing but we do obviously have to be among the lost we have to be among those who are sick if we are going to be able to give them the medicine that they need which is obviously the gospel and the example that we can be to them relationships so we had relationships with children he had relationships with sinners and then eric's been preaching the woman at the well and already we've looked at the relationship that's built there and it's not a relationship that should have happened as eric's talked about when i say it shouldn't have happened in our eyes or even in the eyes of the people of the time because of race because of gender shouldn't have been a relationship that should have been happening but christ looks beyond that and again has a very deep conversation he doesn't even really respond as eric talked about sunday to her i'm a woman and i'm a samaritan you shouldn't have any dealings that matter to him relationships relationships and ultimately what's delivered the gospel the gospel everything that he does the relationships is to build the other people up and to make sure that the message is clear and that the message is taught to these people and then of course the the story of the good samaritan the question is who is my neighbor and ultimately the end of that story the idea is everyone's your neighbor we shouldn't look at again race we shouldn't look at gender we shouldn't look at socioeconomics it's just about building relationships so that we can share the gospel so we need to appreciate that as encouragers just understand how important relationships are all right so so important that we're out there building relationships where we can because again it's going to give us opportunity to plant seeds it's going to give us opportunity to build rapport with people uh and it's just it's just hugely critical that we're building relationships so that's number four build build build relationships the verse that uh aubry has here mark 12 29 to 31 says the first of all the commandments is hear o israel the lord the lord our god the lord is one and you shall love the lord your god with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind with all your strength this is the first commandment and the second is like like it it is this you shall love your neighbor as yourself there is no other commandment greater than these and again who's my neighbor all mankind is out there is our neighbor and we need to make sure that we're seeking them and we're we're building these relationships any thoughts or comments at this point anything anyone would like to share about halfway through our reminders here as we wrap up this section all right yeah absolutely those of you at home couldn't hear willie taught about relationships he built people obviously that he wasn't familiar with the first within his community and i've seen that here you bring people and i've met people that you've brought and again building those relationships he said then when he was sick when he came back you know was able to be among them again where have you been and people are you build these networks and there are people that are concerned about you and look out for you and that's important and again obviously the body of christ that is again the design of the church to be that family and then again though we need to be reaching out to others and we hopefully can can show them and exemplify what we have in the church a lot of people don't have the network that we do a lot of people they have a very small group of people and it's because maybe they work somewhere where there aren't many people or they don't associate with those people maybe their physical families aren't very big but then the church family and that's always an encouraging thing to you hopefully but also it's encouraging to other people that look and go wow where'd you get the food hey who's that that came by who's that that visited you people out there will start asking oh that's my church family those are the people from my congregation well man there's been so many of them and they did this and they did that that is an opportunity for us to then reach out to others as well when they see that so yes building these relationships we kind of build that network of people around us any other thoughts or comments number five remember that every act of encouragement is an act of love of for god if someone says i love god this is first john 4 verses 20 and 21 if someone says i love god and hates his brother he's a liar for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen how can he love god whom he has not seen and in this commandment we have um have from him that he who loves god must also love his brother so understand again what it says they're very very important is that we are again when we're out encouraging people and interacting with people and building these relationships it's an act of god it's showing the love of god that should dwell in us and we should then emanate that in all that we do so we need to appreciate again it's a ministry that we as christians should feel the obligation to do because again we should love god with all our strength soul you know mind as it says but then our neighbors should be the next outpouring and again if we say we love god but don't love our brother calls us a liar that's a sharp word i don't think many of you if i came and said you're a liar would would be would take very kindly to that i say that to my students sometimes because if you cheat on a test what are you basically doing you're lying you know and they don't see it that way sometimes i go if i walked up to you and called you a liar a lot of people would take an offense to that obviously and understandably when you cheat and put other people's answers you're lying you're saying this is mine when it's really someone else's and so again to be called a liar is is a big deal and so for us to say we love god but not necessarily reaching out and building these relationships we need to make sure that we understand what we're saying number six remember that every act of encouragement is an act of love for christ so again we wear the name christian that's what we wear no not that we literally of course being a coach and a former athlete you know you'd wear your name across your back but that's what we do as christians we should have that name on us so to speak not again literally but people should recognize who we are and so our actions should then reflect on christ we should walk worthy we should walk upright we should honor the sacrifice that he made and of course who he is as god and we need to make sure because otherwise we bring offense on christ we bring offense on the church if we're not careful the verse here from matthew 25 40. let's go ahead and turn over to matthew chapter 25 and we're familiar with this uh passage where again he's talking about all these things where were you when where were you when christ says beginning here uh let's see let's start in verse number 34 then the king will say to those on his right hand come you blessed of my father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world for i was hungry and you gave me food i was thirsty and you gave me drink i was a stranger and you took me in i was naked and you clothed me i was sick and you visited me then the righteous will answer him saying lord when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you drink and again we know the next part when you did it unto the least of one of these you did it unto me so again christ expects us to be out there serving others and encouraging others and doing these things then the righteous will answer him saying lord when we do did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you drink when do we see you a stranger and take you in or naked and clothe you or when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you and the king will answer and say to them assuredly i say to you and as much as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren you did it unto me so again depart from me obviously those who do not do these things so again christ specifically says we need to be serving our neighbor and when we do that we ultimately are serving god and doing what he would expect of us any thoughts comments at this point this is all pretty basic stuff yeah walter what's that mm-hmm uh-huh um help us well walter was saying those of you couldn't hear either in the back or at home and again he said to himself first i think a lot of us could maybe say this that idea of being we are of course slaves to christ he said that's a harsh term that is what scripture says or bond servants which would be equivalent paul says that over and over but being bound to doing what's better for others consistently is very difficult to do it's very tiresome you know whether it's a time commitment a financial commitment whatever it is that you are sacrificing and they benefit and you don't which is again probably why in the book of galatia says grow not you know do not grow weary doing good you know it's hard sometimes to see it it's hard sometimes to have the energy to always do those things and we will fall short i think we could all say that we're guilty of that and again we can't do everything i think we got to be careful i think there's a balance i understand what you're saying but beating ourselves up about every single thing that maybe we didn't do you know and and that type of thing we we just got to be careful about that anybody else thoughts about that because again we can't help every beggar we can't help every person who comes and asks for whatever assistance um just we can't i mean just we're not we don't have the energy the money whatever it might be yes okay yeah and just say in the different situations that's very true you may not see the fruits of your labor you may touch a situation then somebody else might have it may come into your you know field of vision or opportunity and then maybe you add something else to it and we may not always see the fruits for our labor but when opportunities arise we do need to try to serve but again we can't do everything we can't do everything yes um yeah and that and we talked about that i was trying to look back in my notes i can't remember what week it was but we talked just about that that again we do have abilities we may not have the same ability so to speak as others but again it goes back to god trusts us god knows that we can do and again it may be at a different level in different situations but again we do have that ability to do and we need to you know do what we can do what we can and again some of that is it's maturity it's growth you know and hopefully we get better at certain things as we move forward in our christian walk you know we talk all the time and i've heard eric i know say this you know when people pray and say help me to be a better christian well first of all there's nothing better than a christian we understand the ideas i'm hoping to mature as a christian i'm hoping to you know do things better than i maybe have in the past whether that's my own study whether that's teaching others whether that's my prayer life whether that is reaching out and serving you know whatever different capacities that might be but again it's practice it's effort it's growth just like anything else that we've got to appreciate in our christian walks other thoughts or comments all right number seven and i don't know if this makes you feel any better the way aubry puts this when we just said you can't do everything but then he turns around and number seven he says remember that one day so his idea kind of of judgment remember that one day you must account for every relationship god has placed in your care and so that can be a little bit daunting and so again we need to appreciate number one the importance of relationships and then secondly how do we nurture those relationships how do we treat those people that we come in contact with that right there should though make you really think about that we are going to be held accountable for those things um the verse he has here says moreover is required in stewards that one be found faithful and stewards a lot of times we think about money but you have a stewardship of a lot of things in our lives that we have responsibility for dealing with the way that god would expect us to so again just appreciate value and recognize the importance of relationships as we go about each and every day of our lives because everything we do is ties to some relationship ties to some sort of relationship any thoughts number seven all right number eight try to get all these in and end um on time here number eight remember encouraging is it daily and i like the way he says this it's a privilege it's a privilege we've talked and i've said this many times we need not look at things as obligations but look at things as opportunities and i think i did say earlier that being an encourager as a christian is an obligation and again we ought to change that being an encourager as a christian is an opportunity because we have something that everybody needs we know the fi we know the steps unto salvation we know the way to have good marriages we know how to parent we know how we know how we know how because we have god's word and so we need to again value the opportunity that we have but he also puts another word on there that a lot of times scares people not only is it a privilege or an opportunity he says but it's a responsibility responsibility always comes with consequences which kind of goes back to the last one and so we need to understand we will be held accountable which again is why we need to be working at this together as a body as a family to encourage one another to keep on keeping on to uh to criticize and admonish when necessary to to improve things and then also to teach others you know if you struggle in a particular area you're not sure how to handle a situation come and ask come and ask somebody who might have experience there and see what they can do or again have that conversation and talking together you might be able to be built up in in in such a way as to figure out the best way to handle a situation so again opportunity privilege to be an encourager and then ultimately though we are responsible for this job as christians to be encouragers number nine let's turn to the book of second corinthians and let's read here these passages or it is here in the book i don't guess we have to turn there if you have your book but ii corinthians chapter 1 verses 3 and 4 says remember that god encourages us so that we may encourage others so again we've talked a lot about that in this in this first four chapters of this book that we should recognize why we should be encouraged is because of the hope we have and how fearfully and wonderfully made we are and all of those things we should be encouraged god has encouraged us so that we can then be encouraging to others first corinthians excuse me second corinthians 1 verses 3 through 1 3-4 reads blessed be the god and father our lord jesus christ the father of mercies and god of all comfort who comforts us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by god we need to again be the vessel of comfort for others why because we know that god has comforted us and does comfort us continually if we go to his word um we're told that you know his mercies are new every i mean every day no matter how much we struggle each day keep getting better each day get keep uh you know one step in front of the other as we might say so very very important god encourages and comforts us so we then in turn can comfort and encourage others number 10 number 10 remember that the church assemblies and we talked about this sunday as well the opportunity that we have we talk about wednesday nights like we are here tonight and we're glad you are and you know kind of speaking maybe somewhat to the wrong people because if you're here on wednesday you're probably here on sunday too but every opportunity that we have to come together is an opportunity to encourage one another an opportunity to be encouraged and often times as we've said doing the encouraging can be just as much encouraging to you as it is the one you're encouraging so being here and being seen is encouraging to others i can't tell you how many people here that i've spoken to and you can tell they may be having it rough or it might not have been easy for them to get here but to me that's that much more encouraging that they made the effort they saw the importance of being here the value of being here so don't think about well i'm just an older person and nobody will really notice or care if i'm not there or i'm just you know everybody being here is an encouragement to someone else and i can't tell you how many times i've said that to certain individuals when i'm talking to them about how you do well this hurts and that hurts and the and i'm like well man to be here that's such an encouragement to me because you made that effort you showed the importance that this is for you to be here and that's encouraging to me and so we need to appreciate never never dis value the importance of being among your brothers and sisters and again back to what we kind of started with here we're going to sharpen each other iron sharpens iron when we're here together and then if we're ever going to build those hours up this is part of it but not all of it if we're ever going to build those hours to get these relationships where they need to be we've got to be assembling ourselves together we've gotten to a point of course where a lot of things are being done online they're being done through zoom and what has been lost there is you know the physical contact that we have with each other and while there's value in being able to still receive the word something about being together all right something about being together so again i know there's still concern about you know everything that's going on but just encourage as much as we can get together i know more and more groups are trying to do activities together we just encourage that as much as possible because again it's just hugely valuable to be together any other thoughts as we get ready to wrap up trying to get this all in before i turn the class over yes yeah willie just again emphasizing when you can't be with people how encouraging it is when people make the effort to come and see you and so again that does build up these people and the thing is it's going to be reciprocated you know you may not be the one needing the visiting or needing the encouragement at the time but there will be a time there will be a time and so seek the opportunities when you're able and then hopefully it'll be able to be reciprocated and that's one of the other things you know and i've even heard classes and sermons about this when you have a need don't push people away you know you you have a right to your privacy i'm not saying you've got to let people all into your business but understand it's hard for christians not to serve it's hard for christians and that's good that they have the zeal and the desire so don't feel overly vulnerable because again we have times when we're going to be low and you know have needs and be willing to let those people come in and serve and you know do you some good do themselves good and also they're they're learning like we've said a lot in here every time you serve you're going to get a little bit better at it and a little bit better at it and learn what to do and maybe what not to do because we do learn from mistakes and i've said this many times teaching and things when i was growing up and jamie could probably attest to this as well i don't know how many times i got drugged to visit somebody and as a kid i say that you know or now as an adult i say drugged to visit somebody that's how you felt like oh my goodness we're going to visit somebody because back back then of course we did a lot more you know knocking doors and actually showing up at places and most of you that know my dad it wasn't going to be a short visit and so we'd show up at people's houses and i thought sometimes i can't believe we're doing this you know i'm thinking how embarrassing kind of how scary are these people you know who's going to be on the other side of the door because all we have was a card you know the visitation card and we'd go into some of these places and i remember some of them not being the you know some of the nicest places but we'd go in and we'd sit and we'd talk and we would get to know these people and then of course we'd talk about the bible some and in trying to build these relationships and i look back on it now and go wow how much i value watching that because i didn't say much you know i kind of looked around the place you know as a kid and maybe they had a dog or a cat and i watched it and you know i just did whatever but the the experience so getting your kids involved in these different things i know same thing with nursing home singing which we haven't done in a long time i did that as a kid growing all the way up and then when we do it here i love seeing the little kids come all of these things we're teaching and encouraging them and their opportunities to learn and also it starts to build break down that fear if you're an adult and you're afraid to go and visit somebody or you don't know what to say or you don't know how to handle it pray you haven't trained enough and so again i appreciate getting that all the way along so right now if that's still something you need to work on go with somebody hey i want to go visit i want to learn take somebody with you encourage them to go and do those types of things practice here in the building if somebody says a prayer and you think they did a good job make a point to go up after service say you really did a good job of that prayer that'll build them up and also it's a little opportunity for you to get a little bit better at that and so look for these opportunities to encourage and to practice these things if it's something that you're not comfortable doing at this point any closing comments all right chapter five on sunday so chapter five is about the mind of an encourager so be reading that page 57 the mind of the encourager thank you very much you

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Length: 70min 58sec (4258 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 29 2021