DiaCast/OakHills: Encourage One Another

well we're hoping you'll be that ice-cream truck in your world that you'll deliver happiness and joy and encouragement everywhere you go we're issuing the hundred happy people challenge some of you have already jumped on the bandwagon even though we don't officially start until tomorrow don't you just go get ticked off at these people who just get happy early here's somebody email me from northwestern Wyoming fly Sunday February the 1st greetings from northwestern Wyoming this morning I woke up early unable to sleep my mind was on all the work to be done I still have a 10 foot tall mountain pine Christmas tree that needs to be taken down there are not enough hours in the day it seems as I was about to hit the shower I turned on the live stream to find max in front of a hundred happy people banner and I stood there watching the whole lesson immediately pondering all the things that I could do to make people happy how I used to do more of that when I had more time I was grumpy after a 70 hour work week and a lot of work still to be done so I decided to make a difference and then she goes on to explain some of the things she did for example she delivered freshly baked chocolate chip cookies to for widows at the nurses home nursing home frowns turn to smiles and boredom to conversation so Laurie in northwestern Wyoming if you're tuned in in this service thanks for being a word of encouragement we kick it off tomorrow keep it up hear from the head of school at Buckner Fanning Christian school right here in San Antonio Sharon Newman your message on happy people inspired me so much that I shared it with the school on Monday morning the students and faculty readily accepted the challenge and I can already see the results all students are journaling each day there are many kind words shared as we pass each other on the sidewalk one mom shared with me that her ten-year-old son complimented the employee at Sam's who was bringing in the carts he said you are doing a really great job of bringing in the carts thanks for doing that that's good for a ten-year-old to be doing that in it she was very surprised but then she remembered that he had accepted the challenge and I'm hoping that you'll accept the challenge as well as our guide during this special series of lessons we're looking at nine excuse me eight of the one in other passages in the New Testament and today we turn our attention to really the one that would start all of the others is in 1st Thessalonians chapter 5 in verse 11 therefore encourage one another and build each other up let's pray and then we'll get to work and so father for this splendid opportunity on this beautiful day that you've given us to come and just listen to you we thank you what could this be a moment in which we really hear your voice we pray for Randy and Rosen Frazee as they're traveling to South Africa protect them father and strengthen them and bless that trip have mercy upon the one who speaks for his sins are many help us to see Jesus in just Jesus through Christ we pray amen your bible is replete with verses that encourage you to be an encourage or Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 25 says let us not neglect our meeting together as some people do but encourage one another 2nd Corinthians 13:11 encourage one another be of one mind live in peace Hebrews 3:13 encourage one another daily as long as it is called today so that none of you may be hardened by sins deceitfulness so we launched this hundred happy people challenge and we begin with the topic of encourage one another it's really at the heart of this one hundred happy people challenge here's how it works set out to create a hundred extra mile moments over the next forty days beginning tomorrow you have one more day to be cranky but tomorrow begin creating extra mile moments go the extra mile make someone happy do something a little extra just a little more than you typically would have done stretch yourself challenge yourself do this for a hundred people do this a hundred times over the next 40 days between February the 9th and March 20th and then share your experience others want to learn from you maybe in your neighborhood group or on twitter at hashtag hundred happy people keep a journal in which you list the names of people in the ways you tried to brighten their day we've even created a special email address so that you can send me your email addresses I mean your email addresses you can send me your messages and tell me what is happening as you're helping people get happy and maybe we can share some of those with the whole church hundred happy people at Oak Hills Church calm the most commonly were commonly used word in the Bible for encouragement comes from a really interesting Greek word that means to come alongside and call forth para Kaleo Kaleo is to call para PA RA is to alongside so the idea is when you encourage someone you come alongside them in their life and you call forth you call out your summons the good that is within them even the English word right defines itself encourage you put courage we're in in somebody you don't discourage you don't remove courage but you deposit courage I think God is all about depositing courage he's all about encouraging in the scripture he's called the father of encouragement second Corinthians 1:3 blessed be the God and father of there's a form of that word Pericles the God of encouragement the God of mercies Jesus is called the source of encouragement Paul said we pray that our Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father will encourage you and help you always to do and say the right thing the Holy Spirit encourages us when Jesus introduces us to the Holy Spirit he calls the Holy Spirit the Paraclete the Paraclete the one who comes alongside and calls it's actually an idea of an advocate or one who defends you the scriptures encourage us Paul says the scriptures were written to teach and encourage us by giving us hope even the Saints who have gone before in some fashion are encouraging us therefore since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to light to the life of faith let us strip off every weight that slows us down especially the sin that trips us up and let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us and so in some fashion those Saints are like spectators in a great stadium in there pulling for you they're saying go go go so you tally all this up the father is the father of encouragement Jesus is the source of encouragement the Holy Spirit is called the encourage ER the Scriptures exist to encourage us in the Saints encourages do you think heaven is all about encouragement I do too just look at the way Jesus encouraged Peter the Apostle how many of you remember Peter the Apostle he's known as the Apostle with the foot shaped mouth he often said things he later regretted or boasted when it was not appropriate but still Jesus saw something in the heart of this crusty fisherman that was worth calling forth and so he came alongside and he called forth the good within him look at this story when Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples saying who do men say that I the Son of Man am they said some say John the Baptist some elijah others Jeremiah or one of the prophets he said to them but who do you say that I am Simon Peter answered and said you are the Christ the Son of the Living God jesus answered and said to him blessed are You Simon bar Jonah for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my father who is in heaven and I also say to you that you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it and I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven this conversation took place in Caesarea Philippi in the setting helps us hear Caesarea Philippi was a very international multi-ethnic City it was located on the northern plains of Galilee right on the border it was a melting pot of cultures in skin colors and religions caravans would come from as far north as Ephesus as far south as Ethiopia every possible food was served there and every possible deity was worshipped there consequently can you imagine the culture shock for these homespun disciples of Jesus it would be kind of like a kid from West Texas going out to Los Angeles for the first time hearing things he had never heard seeing things he had never seen well Jesus right in the middle of this maelstrom of religion and cultures gathers his disciples around them in a horseshoe and says who do people say that I am oh and they all perk up well some say your song so some say your so-and-so some singers so-and-so and then he looks at him and he says but who do you say that I am I just sense that they weren't quite as quick to speak maybe they ducked their eyes or looked away maybe they cleared their throats finally Peter spoke up these may be the most astounding words that have ever been spoken by a human being he looked at that penniless rabbi from Galilee who had grown up in Nazareth and he said you know what I think you're the Christ I think you're the son of the Living God and he used that word Christ that means Anointed One it's more than just a good person he was basically saying I believe that you are the the one sent from God on a special mission now what did Jesus do Jesus looked at him and said blessed are you blessed are you simon barjona in today's parlance he was saying gimme five you nailed it way to go I'm so proud of you I can see him throwing arms around that burly fisherman and just squeezing that maybe they did a chest bump I don't know and then as if that wasn't enough he said I know you're simon barjona Simon the son of Jonah but from now on you're Rocky your rocket Peter Peter Petra from the Greek word Petra rock upon this rock I will build my church upon this confession of faith if you have this rock like faith then I'm gonna give you a rocky name from now on you're Peter you're rocky I'm thinking Peter might have blushed with embarrassment the disciples from then on when they saw him said hey man you're Peter Jesus would come up and put an arm around him and say you're my rocky you think that meant anything to Peter to be affirmed in that way what was Jesus doing he didn't have to go to all of that right what was he doing well what he was doing was encouraging him he was building him up that passage again from 1st Thessalonians chapter 5 therefore encourage one another and what's the phrase build each other up do you know what it's like to tear someone down the opposite of that is to build them up you come into relationships with a wheelbarrow full of rocks you're a Mason and you can stack those and cement those within the character the person you can build them up you can edify them you can stabilize them with words and encouragement you build someone up I think we live in a world that is hungry to be built up I think we live in a world that needs encouragement a little boy said to his dad hey dad let's play darts I'll throw the darts and you can yell wonderful all of us need to hear wonderful every now and then here's why there is a discouraged meant tidal wave that is flowing around our world we are victims of a discouragement conspiracy every day billions of dollars are spent on the Airways in print and over the Internet to discourage you advertisers in order to sell you something have to convince you that you are lacking they have to convince you that you are deficient in some area in order to sell you face cream they have to convince you that you're wrinkled in order to sell you something with which to change your hair color they have to convince you that your hair is ugly if you have hair to sell you clothing they have to convince you that your what out of fashion so some of the brightest minds on our planet are working 24/7 and they're pouring money into the media for one purpose to convince you that you're old you're ugly you're chubby you're smelly everything is working together to try to convince you that you are needy by the end of the day you're pretty beat up add to that the day-to-day challenges that come of a difficult marriage or being laid off at work or just the traffic all the little stubs and bites and hurts and bruises that we get just from being alive and the result is a lot of us need somebody to look at us and say you know what you're wonderful would you be that person would you would you take seriously this opportunity that God gives to you and me to encourage others would you tell people the truth would you go face to face with this evil spirit of discouragement and in the name of God empowered by the presence of Jesus Christ tell people the truth tell them you're made by God you're known by God you're loved by God you're chosen by God God is for you God is with you God has a dream for you God has a future for you somebody needs to tell the truth and you can be that somebody you can bring the rockie out of the Simon by coming alongside them and calling forth that which is good now the Bible is really practical when it comes to how to encourage somebody I've got a few ways if you'd like to fill in the blanks I would encourage you to fill in the blanks here's an idea when you see somebody greet them kindly greet them kindly every gathering of people has two types of attitudes some people come to a gathering with the attitude that says I'm so glad you see me other people show up with the attitude that says I am so glad to see you anytime you head into a group or before you head into a conversation just say lord help me to be that second person and summons up a sincere greeting that says something like I'm so glad to see you Jesus was never so practical as when he told his disciples when you knock on a door be courteous in your greeting how practical of our God to say when you talk to somebody give them a courteous greeting did you know that every one of your epistles has something to say about greet one another greet one another I remember when I was in high school as a teenager the Bible class teacher showed us this verse in Romans 16:16 that says greet one another with a holy kiss we teenagers perked up at that one you don't have to do the kissing that's kind of a cultural thing but you should extend your hand and give a warm handshake you should have eye contact you should be sincere you should say you know what I'm really glad to see you some time ago I read about a man who for his entire married life made it a practice to not remove his hat when he came home until he had found his wife wherever she was in the house and asked her about her day no wonder his marriage lasted for 40 years grete kindly number two listened intently listened intently a desperate lady once came to see Jesus she was out of money she was out of hope she was out of health she was even out of friends she had for 12 years suffered from a blood disorder that created an issue of blood she was considered unclean the doctors couldn't help her and they ostracized her meant she couldn't go to church she couldn't even live with her family she had been cut off Jesus was coming through town and and so she assumed he could help problem he was surrounded by people and she wasn't supposed to be where people were still she overcame her fear while Jesus was walking through town she walked toward the crowd it was a crowd of people they were celebrating who Jesus was and the leader of the synagogue was taking Jesus to the leaders house where the leaders daughter was dying so it was an urgent trip still she came she threaded her hand through the crowd and she reached out and she touched the hem of His garment have you already heard this story when she touched the hem of him what happened she was healed she touched just the edge of his garment and he felt power go out of her he stomped everything he said who touched me the disciples might have thought he was kidding because everybody had touched him it was a crowd of people but there is touching and there is touching and she had touched him she might have been hesitant because she wasn't supposed to go around touching people she was unclean but Jesus wouldn't move until he got an answer to his question who touched me and finally what happened in mark chapter 5 in verse 33 he tells us she came shaking with fear and knelt down in front of Jesus now look at this then she told him the whole story how long do you think it had been since anyone had listened to her story Jesus took time to hear her whole story city leaders were pulling awning the disciples were hurrying hurrying him a girl was dying but Jesus stopped everything he wanted to he gave her his full uninterrupted attention and he heard her whole story and finally he said to her daughter be of good cheer your faith has made you well now go in peace it's the only time in the Gospels that Jesus called a woman daughter he encouraged her he blessed her he didn't have to hear her whole story did he couldn't he have healed her and then just kept going on his mission maybe he wanted to heal more than just her body maybe he wanted to heal a wound that was in her spirit when you listen to somebody when you stop everything when you mute the television when you close your laptop when you close the door when you set aside your cell phone when you lock your eyes on somebody and you listen to that story you are giving to them one of the rarest of gifts your undivided attention that encourages them you can do that you don't have to go to college to learn to do that you don't have to have any special training to learn to do that you already know how you just do it so I'm so excited for somebody who this week is gonna receive this great gift from you as you listen intently another idea prays specifically prays specifically be specific in your praise there's a passage in the book of Hebrews that says let us consider how we may spur one another on in love and good deeds we consider in other words were this is premeditated praise there is a spontaneous praise that's random and very genuine but there's also I'm gonna find so-and-so and I'm gonna give him or give her some encouragement I witnessed this a few weeks ago in our office I was walking with Randy Frazee to his office to attend a meeting when out of nowhere here comes some one of our other ministers Greg Hawkins he ambushed Randy he came out of another hallway and grabbed Randy and said Randy I need to talk to you and he began telling Randy how great the manuscript was that Randy had just finished Greg had just read it now Greg is taller than most people in our office he towered over Randy Randy looked up at him Greg looked down at him and so that Randy would not look away Greg did this he placed both hands on Randy's face he held his jaw his face right there and he just looked at him and he it was a water hose it was a fire hydrant it was a Niagara of encouragement you nailed it it was great I can tell you worked hard it was wonderful I felt encouraged and I didn't even do anything you seldom see Randy speechless Randy was speechless that's called specific praise try this call somebody on the phone and say would you give me a hundred and twenty seconds in which I can tell you what a great person you are they're gonna be blown away and then you just let it fly oh you've always been a good friend you showed up at the baseball game thanks for encouraging me I appreciate the way and just just just let it go you're gonna have so much fun you'll want to do that all day long practice specific praise parents your children are hungry for praise they come home thirsty just dry from all the comparisons of going to school all the comparisons of being a middle schooler or high school if they come home and they have a mom or a dad that takes them in and just gives them a word of praise because they trust you they trust you fill them with praise and then lastly celebrate oh oh oh I forgot this I want to read you a journal entry from my own hundred happy people journal from last fall here's a tip I found I found this phrase and I used it on the 14th today the hostess who seated me in their restaurant was especially thoughtful the place was packed yet she was unflappable she led me to my table gave me a smile handed me a menu my response to her now is my favorite go-to response for a hospitality worker are you this nice to everyone are you treating me special that's a good line you can use it she blushed you know you change the trajectory of someone's day when you encourage them did you know that yuichi their day may be going down but one word from you it starts going up all because you were kind you encouraged I'll wrap it up here one more celebrate generously celebrate generously my wife Deena lund does this every Sunday she'll tell me when I get home that was your best sermon ever she's been saying that for 33 years how many sermons is that she always says that was your best sermon ever not in my mind I don't I don't get logical and say well it can't be honey because of you no you can't say that I say yes yes I receive it absolutely we can do that celebrate everything celebrate every good grade celebrate every finished report celebrate every cooked meal celebrate every good night's sleep just celebrate everything with others be a source of encouragement the Apostle Paul said this I didn't skimp or trim in any way every truth and encouragement that could have made a difference to you you've got every encouragement that could have made a difference you got years ago I became friends with a preacher in Houston after we shared a meal we had a delightful visit he said do you text we old people ask that question though you young people assume it he said do you text as if to say do you know how this thing works I said well I'm learning and say heat so so we swapped phone numbers he said I'm gonna send you a text and I said great so I got a text from him about three or four days later and then the text message he said I hope you don't mind but in our text messages I'm not gonna call you max I'm gonna call you Mighty Max you know what you can never be too sophisticated grown-up or mature that you don't appreciate somebody who gives you a name like that that's encouragement to call somebody mighty bring the Peter out of a Simon come alongside and call the best out of someone and when you do you'll be doing the work of encouragement you'll be doing the work of God amen let's pray thank you Lord that you have encouraged us today and thank you that you are for us thank you that you care Lord we receive your instruction and now we ask you to help us to fulfill it we're excited as we look for opportunities to encourage other people we want to be the kind of people just like you were Jesus we want to be people who bring encouragement who tell people they're doing well who bring help in hope father we don't want to tear people down anymore we want to build them up help us Lord we know you will because this is your will and so we're excited about the way your gonna answer this prayer through Jesus we pray and all God's people said

Channel: DiaCast

Views: 2,789

Rating: 4.878788 out of 5

Keywords: Max Lucado, Oak Hills Church, #100happypeople, 1 Thessalonians 5:11, Hebrews 10:25, 2 Corinthians 13:11, Hebrews 3:13, 2 Corinthians 1:3, 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

Id: QH5ExudHxZ4

Length: 33min 3sec (1983 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 22 2015