True Encouragement - Biblical Style

A seminary professor was vacationing with his wife in Gatlinburg, TN.

 

One morning, they were eating breakfast at a little restaurant, hoping to enjoy a quiet, family meal.

 

While they were waiting for their food, they noticed a distinguished looking, white-haired man moving from table to table, visiting with the guests.

 

The professor leaned over and whispered to his wife, "I hope he doesn’t come over here."

 

But sure enough, the man did come over to their table.

"Where are you folks from?" he asked in a friendly voice.

"Oklahoma," they answered.

"Great to have you here in Tennessee," the stranger said. "What do you do for a living?"

"I teach at a seminary," he replied.

"Oh, so you teach preachers how to preach, do you?

 

 Well, I’ve got a really great story for you."

 

And with that, the gentleman pulled up a chair and sat down at the table with the couple .

The professor groaned and thought to himself, "Great ... Just what I need ... another preacher story!"

The man started, "See that mountain over there? (pointing out the restaurant window).

 

Not far from the base of that mountain, there was a boy born to an unwed mother.

 

He had a hard time growing up, because every place he went, he was always asked the same question, ’Hey boy, Who’s your daddy?’

 

Whether he was at school, in the grocery store or drug store, people would ask the same question, ’Who’s your daddy?’

He would hide at recess and lunchtime from other students.

 

He would avoid going in to stores because that question hurt him so bad.

"When he was about 12 years old, a new preacher came to his church.

 

He would always go in late and slip out early to avoid hearing the question, ’Who’s your daddy?’

 

But one day, the new preacher said the benediction so fast he got caught and had to walk out with the crowd.

Just about the time he got to the back door, the new preacher, not knowing anything about him, put his hand on his shoulder and asked him, Son, who’s your daddy?

The whole church got deathly quiet.

 

He could feel every eye in the church looking at him.

 Now everyone would finally know the answer to the question, ’Who’s your daddy?’

"This new preacher, though, sensed the situation around him and using discernment said the following to that scared little boy ...

 

"Wait a minute! I know who you are. I see the family resemblance now. You are a child of God. "

With that he patted the boy on his shoulder and said, "Boy, you’ve got a great inheritance. Go and claim it."

"With that, the boy smiled for the first time in a long time and walked out the door a changed person

. He was never the same again.

 

Whenever anybody asked him, ’Who’s your Daddy?’ he’d just tell them, ’I’m a Child of God.’"

The distinguished! gentleman got up from the table and said, "Isn’t that a great story?"
The professor responded that it really was a great story!

As the man turned to leave, he said, "You know, if that new preacher hadn’t told me that I was one of God’s children, I probably never would have amounted to anything!"

 

And he walked away.

The seminary professor and his wife were stunned.

 

He called the waitress over & asked her, "Do you know who that man was who just left that was sitting at our table?"

The waitress grinned and said, "Of course. Everybody here knows him. That’s Ben Hooper. He’s the former governor of Tennessee!"

That was A word of encouragement!!

Someone in your life today needs a reminder that they’re one of God’s children

 

We all need affirmation of God’s love for you.

 

One thing that we know for sure about early Christian worship services is that at some point in the service there was an affirmation of forgiveness of sins.

 

It would have been through a reading of Scripture or just and elder in the Church telling you this – but it was key.

 

To know that you are forgiven and that you are important to God.

 

Today I want you to have some assurance of some things in your life before you leave here today.

 

In a world that wants to turn you upside down and make you feel like something is wrong with you I want you to know some positive things before you leave.

 

 

1)   1^st of all – God’s word will always be reliable

 

Isaiah 40: 8

8 The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever

 

God’s word will always accomplish its purpose

 

When God decrees something or promises something it will happen.

Isaiah 55: 10-11

 

"For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater ; 11 So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth ; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

 

God’s word comes from Heaven and will accomplish what it was sent to do.

 

Just as surely as the water brings about growth of plants – God’s word will come and bring life and change things.

 

So today as we consider things you should be assured of – we should start with knowing that God’s word will accomplish what it sets out to do.

 

Now let us turn to our text today.

 

Last week we looked at the episode at Lystra.

 

We are still in the first missionary journey of Paul that started at Antioch in Acts 13

 

At Lystra a healing turned the city upside down.

 

The people thought Barnabas was Zeus the greek mythological god and they thought Peter was Hermes the messenger god of greek mythology.

 

They get whipped into a frenzy and they finally stone Paul and leave him for dead.

 

In our passage today we are picking up with Paul getting up and going back into the city and leaving that place.

 

Paul and Barnabas are in city of Derbe when this passage begins.

 

Derbe was in Asia Minor which is in the modern day city of Turkey.

 

Acts 14: 21-22

21 After they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, "Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God."

 

1.    As Christians we need all the encouragement we can get!

 

Our text tells us that we are going to go through tribulations if we are in God’s Kingdom.

 

Knowing this we must encourage each of us.

 

As you can tell, I have talked a lot about this lately because I am convinced that so much of Acts is an example of this  - Encouragement

 

You probably think that I have lost my mind preaching three different times about encouragement but I really think it is that important.

 

We live in a time that sees people that just want to tear you down and tear each other down.

 

We need encouragement so much today – so many people are dealing with tough times in church – we need to be encourages of one another.

We need encouragement because it’s easy to become discouraged.

 

Paul tells us in Galatians:

Gal 6:9
9Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

1st Corinthians 15:58
58Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

It is encouraging to know that God can work things together for His Good purpose.

The hard part is just letting go and trusting God to do this.

If you think about it that is why God has given us the church, a place to be encouraged.

Encouragement is a very dominant theme in the epistles.

Paul obsessed with building up the local churches.

He realized there was only so much he could do so part of his strategy was to transfer this concern to others.

 

We can see this in the Acts of the Apostles.

 

Time and Time again we see Paul encouraging a local Church – He has this foremost on his mind sometimes:

 

Colossians 2:1&2
1I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. 2My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ,

 

Paul didn’t care about his own circumstances but wanted the churches to be encouraged. 

Many believe that Paul was in prison when he wrote the book of Colossians.

 

Here is Paul in prison but see his heart for encouragement:

Colossians 4:7&8
7Tychicus will tell you all the news about me. He is a dear brother, a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. 8I am sending him to you for the express purpose that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts.
We are, you and I, commanded to encourage one another as in

 

To the church at Thessalonica Paul says the following two things:

 

1st Thessalonians 4:18
18Therefore encourage each other with these words.

1st Thessalonians 5:11
11Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

Have you ever thought what is encouragement?

What does the Biblical word for Encouragement mean?

 

para-kalao ( to call alongside)- literally to walk alongside each other.

 

You can see in the roots of this Greek term the idea of bearing and walking together through the tough times.

Webster says it this way : to encourage :give courage, hope or confidence, to help, give comfort, be favorable.

Encouragement is not just something you can say to anyone, its something special.

Encouragement in the Christian sense is not:

“I love your dress or You played a good game Friday night or even your children are very well behaved”

These thins you could say to anyone if it were true about them.

We come closer to understanding what encouragement is when we realize how closely the word of God is associated with encouragement in the New Testament.

 we can see that in these scriptures…

 

Now remember my first point- The Word of God is something that we can rely on – we can bank on and we can be encouraged by the Scriptures.

Know this as we read:

It is God’s word that brings about true encouragement for us all:
Acts 20:32
32“Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

 

God’s word can build you up and actually give you a place among God’s saved.

 It is through God’s word that the message of salvation comes and brings to you the knowledge that God loves you.

Ephesians 4:14-16
16From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

God’s word can build up the Church and bring about unity

1st Thessalonians 2:11&12
11For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, 12encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.

  HOW did Paul do these things?

 Vs. 13 tells us

13And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe.

 

STRENGHTING the Saints

 

Going back to our passage today – Acts 14 – Paul and Barnabas went about strengthening all the Churches

 

They were strengthening them by encouraging them – equipping them.

 

We Equip each other every time we come together – We EQUIP each other by filling each other up with the Love of God. 

 

If we do this it is amazing the power that it brings.

 

But here is the last point I want to leave with you – You never know when someone might need encouragement the most.

 

You never know when someone really needs to be picked up.

 

I wanted to end by recalling the story of a man named Horatio Spafford.

 

In 1873, he and his family of 4 kids decided to go to London from New York to join the evangelistic movement in England.

 

At the last minute, Horatio was delayed but sent his family by boat anyway.

 

 On November 2nd, the ship Horatio’s family was in sank – his wife survived, but all four of his children died.

 

 Upon hearing the terrible news, he boarded the next ship out of New York to join his bereaved wife.

 

During his voyage, the captain called him over and told him that this it was at about this point in the journey where his children perished.

 

Horatio then returned to his cabin and penned the lyrics of one of the greatest Christian hymns ever written.

 

It’s called It is Well with my soul:

 

When peace like a river attendeth my way;

when sorrows like sea billows roll;

whatever my lot, God has taught me to say

It is well, it is well with my soul.

 

Today I want to leave you with a passage of comfort for you.

 

No matter how bleak things are – it is my job and charge as a minister to give you God’s message of hope.

 

31What then shall we say to these things ? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things ? 33Who will bring a charge against God's elect ? God is the one who justifies ; 34who is the one who condemns ? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. 35Who will separate us from the love of Christ ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword ? 36Just as it is written, "FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED." 37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

One of the most beautiful passages in the Bible.

 

I want you to leave here today and know this –

 

If you are a child of God – God loves you, he wants what is best for you.

 

He wants to bring you safely home to Him in Heaven.

 

Nothing in this world can take that away from you.

 

Nothing can take away the fact that God loves you, and sent His Son to die for you.

 

Nothing can take away the fact that he wants you to be with Him for all eternity.

 

Now if these words of Scripture cant encourage us then I don’t know what will.