Bro. Chris Shares Some Encouragement

I'm here with brother Chris Carter, and we're going to be talking about what does it mean to be an encourager? How can you be an encouragement to other people today? So, Chris, thank you for being here. To start off, why don't you set this up for us?

Okay. Thank you, Lance. I love this topic of encouragement.

When I think of the word I think of Elton Trueblood, who was a marvelous spirit, Phil Quaker, he actually left instructions to leave just four words on his gravestone. And the words were he was an encourager. And I don't think there could be a better epitaph, especially in a world like ours that is filled with discouraged errors, and filled with discouragement. Then he was an encourager, and I have known both some gifted, discouraged years, over my lifetime. But thankfully, I've known more gifted encouragers, I can think of a lot of people in my life that I can name to you, that have encouraged me. But if there's any encouragement in me, it's because I have been encouraged by so many people, including the Lord. And when I think of encouragement, I always embrace the thought that it only takes a spark to get a fire going. And encouragement is that spark that some people need in their lives to really, to really Blaze higher and hotter than they ever have before. So we're called to give what we've received. And sometimes we're called to give what we need. So we so what we need. And I think of Dr. Lloyd Ogilvy who said, what you wish to ignite in others must first burn within yourself. And so as always, pray God let your encouragement burn within me, because others need the encouragement. And if I'm burning, then I'll have something to share with them.

Well, Chris, let's start with a really broad question, just to kind of hone in on the perimeters of what we're talking about today. What is encouragement?

Well, I have to tell a story to lead into this. And it involves Bob Cousy, who's the legendary Boston Celtics Hall of Famer, it said that his teammates love to play with him, because he loved to spread the sugar. And I love that expression. He scored a lot. But he didn't live to score, he lived to be the assist man, he lived to get the ball in the hands of his teammates any way that he could. That's what he really thrived on. And I would just say an encourager is one who lives to spread the sugar. To encourage means literally to assist others in whatever way they need help. And this implies that we must be in relationship with others, or you're not going to know how they need help. So you that the context of encouragement is being in relationship with other people, because it's only in the context of relationship that you're going to know what, where people hurt, what makes people happy. So you really have to be in that relationship in order to know what's going on in their lives. And, and that takes some intentionality because you have to be you have to get close enough to people to really listen. And that predicts, or implies that, that you notice their needs, and that you're concerned about them. So that's that's sort of, I would also say, Lance, that encouragement is one aspect of God's nature.

The scripture says that he's the father of compassion, and the God of all comfort, some translations actually use encouragement, in place of comfort. God is the ultimate encourager, but we are his assistance in this ministry. So we're the assist people, we can't do it. But as God works in our lives, and we recognize people's needs, then we want to offer them the same encouragement that God has offered to us. And I actually think that people who are who have the spiritual gift of encouragement, they see that they part of their existence is to be a part of God's healing ministry, for the sake of others. So we want to be a part of his healing team to use another basketball metaphor, say, and that's what I see it as, so I could I could talk about that forever. I could go on whatever you want me to do.

No, that was great. That's a lot to unpack there. So let's, let's work back to kind of the beginning of what you were saying about how it's relational. How do we know when somebody is in need of encouragement? A lot of times people may be struggling with depression or any number of things, but they don't wear a banner that says I'm struggling right now. They may put on a face that says I'm being brave right now you don't know something's going on. So how can we be attuned to those kinds of things?

Well, I think one is is that we pray that God will give us an awareness of what people are dealing with. And you're exactly right. People don't write on their forehead, what they're struggling with. But most of us Now to say most not everyone, but most people are fairly good at hiding what they're struggling with, we build these defense mechanisms in and we build walls and we won't, we're prideful. So it's hard for us to just say this is what I'm struggling with. But for people who are encouragers, they usually have an intuitive gift of observation. So they're usually able to observe the rhythms and patterns of people, especially if you're in a regular relationship where you can note, if somebody shuts down for a longer period than they normally would, that you, you might want to check on them. If people look abnormally tired, even more than they normally look, then you can notice that you can notice tone, you can notice body language, facial expressions. And then I think when you're when you're in when you are an encourager, you usually hold people in your heart, and God sometimes will simply let you know that there, you need to reach out to this person. There's a need there.

You've told me just in our brief conversations in passing before, you've told me about being stopped in a restaurant or something like that, and somebody just lets the floodgates open and starts telling you their story. What's going on? How do you be aware of those situations? When you're out in public? If you're grocery shopping or at a restaurant, you know, in the waitress might need some encouragement? How are you aware of those things?

I think people want you to show a genuine interest in them. And there. You could overdo that by being too personal. And digging too hard and asking people questions that cross the line.

But most people just to ask their name. I know sometimes at dinner, my brother and I've done this for years, and he does even more regularly than I do. If we're ordering. And we know we're going to pray and ask God's blessings and thanks over the food. A lot of times at the end of the order, we'll say to the waiter or waitress is there is there anything that we can lift you up in prayer about it's been amazing, just a genuine expression. Be quiet for a second, it's amazing. The number of people that will tell you their life story, just from a simple question of can you can you tell me what if you have any need for prayer?

One of the themes that I'm picking up on in your answers is that it's it's taking yourself out of the equation? In a sense, it's putting a focus on other people. Is that accurate?

It absolutely is accurate. And I think, again, going back to the definition of encouragement, at least one definition is to assist God in His ministry of reaching out to others. So this the whole ministry of encouragement is, is for the sake of others. And it represents the heart of God, His nature is to encourage and comfort people in their need.

And we all have needs, whether they're spoken or unspoken.

I think this question I'm about to ask, and I know the answer.

And I think everyone else will say this is a dumb question. But I want to get to something. I want you to elaborate on this.

As Christians, where is our source of encouragement to come from?

Our individual source? Yes, arrangement? Yeah. So as we encourage others as we're encourager, Well, it's interesting that you say that because there's a there's a psalm that where David mentions that he encouraged himself in the Lord. And I love that passage, because it reminds you that in order for you to be a spark in someone else's life, you have to receive your encouragement from the Lord primarily. Now, God will send other people to you to add fuel to the fire. But there are no substitutes for our own time with God, where we pour out our needs to God. And he empties us of negative emotions sometimes, or he ministers to those emotions, and he fills us back up. So in our time with God, we exchange some things that are we really don't want to have control over our lives. He exchanged that those things for things that are, are healthy and holy, and they remind us that we're a love child of God, no matter what we're going through, and, and when that happens, then you immediately began to shift after you've had your time with God, you shift into being able to look towards someone else's needs or you don't live a self, you move from a self centered life to a other centered life because of God.

A lot of times when I think about an encouraging person, I think of somebody just the cliche of a very sunny disposition, that they're, you know, probably an extrovert.

Maybe they're always happy every time you see them. That's just not the case. For a lot of people. A lot of people are introverts or it's hard for them. To be outgoing or they just, they may be they may suffer from depression or other things themselves. So being encourager may be hard. So, as a Christian, where do you have to be an optimist just to be an encourager?

I don't think so. I think that God can use introverts, extroverts, have sunny dispositions and melancholy dispositions equally. And I have an example of that. When I first entered ministry, I was on a very, very small salary, I ended up living in the attic of an older couple. The man was an extrovert, the wife was a severe introvert and also struggled with depression regularly. But she was also a spirit filled woman. And they, she would often read me, after living with them for a year and a half, she could notice my, she observed the way I was in my patterns and how they were different. And oftentimes, she would offer to pray with me. And she would she and her husband would lay hands on me. And they would pray for God to anoint me and bless me and help me with in the ways that I was struggling, and she was the most she was the kind of person that would have had a hard time speaking to somebody in the grocery store, or having a conversation. But but she knew me regular, you know, she knew me, and we had an opportunity.

So you may not be able to encourage everybody, but God may just give you one person to zero in on if you're an introvert.

If you're somebody like that, is there any shame in not being more encouraging?

Not at all, not at all. And of course, the greatest encouragement we can give people is to pray for people. And so even if you're not able to talk or speak regularly to someone, to, to live the intercessory life is to really to encourage people, you approach God on their behalf, and ask God to minister to their needs, when you don't know how, or when you feel very limited in what you can say, Well, Chris, I'm off to your horn for a second, I have to do this. You're one of the more optimistic and kind people I've ever met in my life. When I see you always pat me on the back, have a big smile and check in on me. And that's why I thought to ask you to have this conversation because you are an encourager in my life. Were you always like this? Were you always that kind of person?

Well, I came to invite Christ into my heart at eight years old. And that was both a joyous time and a sad time, there was a lot of conflict going on in my family life and my family of origin. And so I think to answer your question, I did desire to be an encouragement, to be an encourager from a young age, and a lot of it was, was a fellowship with my own pain. I was trying to figure out even as a young man, how do I deal with the pain on the inside of me, which made me super sensitive to cues of pain in other people's lives. So God uses sometimes our own experiences of struggle in order to to help us but also to say, hey, I can build this can be a bridge of ministry, to other people win that I've never heard that that term fellowship of paying, can you talk more, but that's very fascinating. Can you talk more about what that's like and how people can become an encourager out of that?

Yeah, I think that that how we see ourselves is very important when we're talking about encourage being an encourager, John Claypool, who was a an ex Baptist pastor converted to, to be an Episcopal priest. He wrote a little book called tracks of a fellow struggler. And in that he talked a lot about the pain that he had experienced losing a child, and how he actually began to, to have real resentment towards God that God had taken his 13 year old daughter, out of their lives at such a young age, she was such a pure gift to them, like they loved her so much. It took about three or four years for God to work in his heart, for him to realize that he could be thankful for the time that he did have with his daughter, 13 years. And then he began out of the depths of his own pain, to try to love others who were in pain in the head experienced loss in their life. So God God does use that.

So would you say that you think when painful and grieving moments happen in our lives, it's God presented us an opportunity, a very specific opportunity to be an encouragement to someone else's life, I believe it is to happiness can be a shallow word, but I still like the word. There's something that resonates with us.

Everybody wants to be happy. And I think we often think that happiness is has to do with a certain set of circumstances.

But it really doesn't, it really has to do with a certain set of attitudes. of you know what I'm saying. So it's really about how you how you view your circumstances. And that takes some time. We don't always start out seeing those painful circumstances. And that's why I encourage all of us, and I have to do it as well, to live my pain and my questions and my heart to God. And if we faithfully do that, transparently, then God He honors us praying what's in our hearts and not what we want to be there. And that's I love that definition of prayer is that God wants us to tell him what's in us, not what ought to be in us.

And that's he just wants us to be honest. And he, he seems to transform that that that genuine transparency into transformation somehow.

What is your going back to your story a little bit? What was the growth that you saw in yourself as an encourager growing in your faith?

Well, I gave my heart to Christ at eight years old.

And thankfully, I had a lot of people that were investing in me even though the our family of origin was struggling at the time. And I kind of struggled to till I was about 15, or 16. And then I was really just desperate, I asked God, I said, you need to please fill me with your Holy Spirit I need I need something more, you know, in my life, because I feel desperate.

And I was searching for who I was, and, and how to deal with all of that. And I don't remember your question.

It was tell me about your own journey to becoming the encourager that you are today, just the steps that you've seen in your life where you've been more successful and encouraging others?

Well, largely, in the reading of the Scripture, there are a lot of references to the Ministry of encouragement into the spiritual gift of encouragement. So it seems like that in most people have this experience, I thank you, you sort of God kind of Ranger, he kind of calls your number, as you're reading scripture sometimes. And he says this, this is something that you want, or this is something that I want for you. And it just seems like anytime that we talk about encouragement, that's just a place that I land. And so I thought, Lord, that's not an accident you speak to is in different ways. So that seems to be a part of who you who you're calling me to be. And I want to get into that I want to surrender into that. And you have to show me how to do that.

At some somebody, I imagine this questions popping into people's head as they're listening, if they're thinking, Well, I don't have the spiritual gift of encouragement. I, you know, how does this apply to me? You know, I can assume that not everybody is going to have this gift. And it's going to be in varying levels, that they're going to have the gift of encouragement.

So what do you say to people that this isn't their spiritual gift?

Well, I think it's with any of the spiritual gifts, not just encouragement, but God does. The scripture says that he distributes the gifts as He wills. We know that. But that doesn't mean that we're not responsible to pray, to be used in ways that God would want us to be used. So I may not have, I don't have every gift. But we all have the Holy Spirit, if we trust in Christ, that the Holy Spirit is given as a gift. And all of these gifts live within the Holy Spirit. So even though you might not have the gift of encouragement, the Holy Spirit can use you in any gift as there's need. So if there's somebody in front of you, and you're the only one there, God's not going to withhold that gift of encouragement from somebody who needs it, he can use somebody who doesn't think they can be used in that gift, if they're surrendered and yield it to him. He can use them beautifully in that way. So I think we limit God by saying, I don't have that gift. You know, I have the gift of evangelism.

So that means I don't have to share the gospel with anybody.

But that's just not true. You can, you can pray for God to use you and opportunities to share the good news, even though it might not come easy to you. You might not know exactly what to say, but God always uses our humble efforts to him.

You've kind of touched on this next question already a little bit, and I want to go a little deeper on it. What is the biblical rationale for being an encourager? Because I can think of this as a moralistic ideal, where you want to be a positive person, because this is all you have, and you want to make everybody else's. So what's the biblical rationale for being an encourager? Verse, The moralistic aspect of it, we don't have time to look at every scripture. But as I thought about this topic, I thought of Isaiah 34. All the way from Isaiah, one to Isaiah 34. If you read through those chapters, there's a tone of discouragement there. It's gloom and doom all the way But beginning in chapter 35, there's a shift and we move from gloom and doom to what I would call bloom. And God just begins to put so much hope in His people Israel. And Isaiah prophesies that there will be a future glory of Zion and the people of God. And he says that we are to receive the father's encouragement, and he sort of baptizes that point to be a part of his encouragement to others.

In chapter 35, he says these words, he says, encourage the exhausted. If you think about the word exhausted, it means the one who has nothing left in his hand or heart. Exhausted means just nothing left. And then he says, and strengthen the feeble.

The feeble are those who totter waver, they're bereaved, or grieving, or they are cast down.

And so that you asked me while ago about observing things, we talked a little bit about that.

If you are a prayerful person, and you observe people's cues, you can see it when people are cast down. So we're called to encourage and that means to go to one side to help to console or strengthen, literally encourage entourage it means to put the heart back in somebody.

So they've lost their heart. And it's interesting that Jesus in His ministry on the earth, it's recounted in Acts chapter 10, verse 38, but the scripture says that he went about ministering to those who had lost heart. And I thought, there it is, right there, they've lost heart, they have nothing left in their hand, they have nothing left in their heart, some circumstance in their life, some chronic issue, some crises in their life has just absolutely taken their heart out of them. And Peter says that God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and power and he went about doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him. And you hear all over that, that Jesus literally as he went person to person, town to town, he was in the ministry of giving their people their heart back. And so that really is the biblical precedent. There are others like First Thessalonians chapter five, verse 11, where Paul says to the church at Thessalonica, keep on encouraging one another.

Acts 10:38

And I like that because we it's kind of like eating, you need it regularly. So we need to it's one time of encouragement is all is not enough. We need regular experiences of encouragement in our lives. And he says, here's kind of a sub definition. He says, build one another up, just as you are also doing one other passage that's directed to the church from Hebrews 1024 and 25.

He says, let us consider, and I love that let us be thoughtful, let us reflect let us plan how we can be encouragers to others, how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds. And the idea of spur can have a negative or a positive connotation. But in this passage, it's positive. He means how can we as members of the Body of Christ, how do we intentionally motivate others?

That's exactly what it means.

And he says, part of the way we do that is we meet together, he says, Let us not forsake meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing and I think when I think of the pandemic, I can't help but think that in all of the thankfulness we have for technology, for live streaming, for watching TV at home, that there really is no substitute for real connection in the body of Christ, that he's asking us to come together to observe one another, and to encourage one another. And he says, he says that, but let us encourage one another. And all the more as you see the day approaching, which is the day of His return. So that that's part of the biblical prep precedence. I'd love to share a little more at some point about the the references in Acts that the Scripture makes to Barnabas, the son of encouragement. So I'll let you lead me in that when you want me to do that.

It's good to talk about let's go ahead and jump in. Tell me about Mars.

I love Barnabas, tell me about their 13 references to Barnabas and you have to kind of break it down and see what the gift of encouragement means in the scripture. But the first thing that it says about Barnabas is that he was Paul's right hand man. So there again, you got this, you have this theme of an assistant in every way to the journey of others. He probably had the gift of helps that gift spiritual gift often goes with a gift of encouragement. He's just somebody that they love to help.

I mean, they live breathe and want to help. You probably met people like that, that just say, tell me what I can do for you.

And that's that's, that's part of that gift. So in saying that he was his right hand man, it implies or explicitly says Barnabas did not have to be number one in anything. But he could be number two or number three or number four, and that people can work behind the scenes with joy, and be a part of God's ministry of encouragement. So that's the first thing. Second thing is that encouragement has an aspect of self sacrifice and generosity in it. And that's in Acts 432.

When the scripture says that believers shared their possession with other believers, they and this is so powerful Lance in chapter four, verse 32, they shared everything they had, the Scripture says, And Barnabas was the perfect example that's lifted out of that passage, he sold one of his favorite pieces of real estate, and brought the money and put it at the apostles feet, so that they could have the funds to travel and spread the gospel. So that's just that self sacrifice and that generosity. And as a result of that spirit, the Scripture says, as they share the gospel and testified to the resurrection of the Lord, God's grace was upon them all that listen to this, and there was no needy, there were no needy persons among them. God met the needs Barnabas, you could you could say it another way, not just self sacrifice and generosity.

But Barnabas showed sympathy for those in need. And we live in a time when needs may not be as obvious. You know, some needs are obvious when people are without in an observable way.

But sometimes people lack something on the inside. And we need to have sympathy for people and empathy for people when they're in need. We don't need to judge them. We don't need to tell them what will fix their problem. We need to show them the love of God in a tangible way. Barnabas also when you think of encouragement, he inspired Paul's influence. If you think about this, when Paul was converted, he was an outsider trying to get in. He tried to join the believers at Jerusalem and they were so afraid of him because he had, he was the persecutor turn, preacher. And he was ABS he was loving and lifting up the message that he had tried his whole life to abolish, he was killing Christians. So the other people, other believers that we don't want him in Jerusalem, we don't have any to do with and we're going to end up on the chopping block. Well, Barnabas had observed the conversion of Paul Saul on the road to Damascus, he knew the story. And he had witnessed Paul share the Gospel. And the scripture says that then the Church throughout Judea, Galilee in some area enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened and encouraged by the Holy Spirit. It grew in numbers and lived in the fear of the Lord, the healthy respect of the Lord. All that came about because one man Barnabas said, Give this man a chance, he is the real deal. And God use that platform. Or he used that love of Barnabas had for Paul to give him a platform to spread the Gospel across the world. And I think that's so great to be an inspiring presence for someone else. A couple of other things.

He was an encourager of faithfulness to God when he arrived at Antioch, which was where Christians were first called Christians. He witnessed to the grace of God he rejoiced in Scripture says He began to encourage believers. And you say, how did he encourage them?

He had a specific message that went with his spirit of encouragement. He said, remain true to the Lord with all of your heart. That was a specific way that he tried to minister encouragement to a congregation of people that were persecuted, scattered and hurting. They were literally suffering for the cause of Christ. And he says, Don't Quit being faithful, remain true. Last couple things, he was spirit filled, though with the fruits of the Spirit.

Acts 11 says he was a good man for the Holy Spirit and faith and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. And I love that because when I think of encouragement, I think it really is a ministry of the Holy Spirit. That the Holy Spirit works in and through believers to build the body of Christ. And it's an important ministry. He was adaptable and flexible. You see how that works into encouragement. People who are really rigid, sometimes struggle with encouragement because they try to control their circumstances. Encouragement works better if you're a free, flowing vessel for the Lord because then you You don't mind being interrupted, you see your ministry for the sake of others more than you do. I've got to get my thing done. And so you don't mind being tapped on the shoulder by the by the Lord saying you need to pay attention to this person because they'll, they won't be here long in your project and wait. So encouragement usually puts people over projects. He was fully devoted to Jesus, the leaders of the church often sent men like Paul and Barnabas to encourage other churches. And I love the what it says, men and women who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. So there was an element there were to be encouraged, or you can't hold on to yourself, you have to risk and you might not do that perfectly, you may mess up. And you have to just weigh is is stepping out towards someone, not knowing what kind of response you're going to get. Is it worth it? And and I would say Barnabas would say yes, it is.

And last thing is he was a friend to others x 1526. In fact, the Scripture calls Barnabas, a dear friend. So he was concerned about others, whether it be Paul or any brother or sister in need in the church. And so I think being a friend is part of that ministry.

You can't encourage people unless you're their friend, Chris, I'm gonna be honest, I think you can take Sunday off. I think you just gave your sermon for the week. So I'm so sorry.

No, no, that was that was wonderful. Thank you for sharing that we can beat any of that out. You all know, that was so much better than any question I could have asked. That was wonderful. Thank you for sharing it all out. It was wonderful. I loved it. Wow. So there you go.

There's Chris's sermon for the week.

Well, it's really not my sermon for the week. Well, we're on the weekend. So one of the ways other people can encourage I have modern ways. So I'm gonna get to that question. Yes.

That's, that's one of the last questions I have. So just a couple more questions I have. So one of the things when I think about the opposite end of what it means to be an encourager, is avoiding slander. I think it's specifically in the south. And I know it's not just here, but we love to gossip, we love to share behind closed doors. And that's the opposite of encouragement.

Sure is, can you elaborate? I can, I think it went. And I know, we're going to talk more later about how you can encourage others, but the very first thing that I would say is buy the words you speak, which means it obviously there's there's a converse truth there that the words you speak can also have the opposite effect, they can be very discouraging to people. And because words are, they can be a honeycomb, they can be sweet to the soul. And they can be healing to the bones, the Scripture says. So we have to, we have to be aware of our own tendency that's in in all of our natures, to talk about others poorly. And we should pray God, help me to abstain, refrain from the temptation to speak evil about someone. Because when we do that, God is always the eternal third listener. So no one else may hear us say that. But God hears it. And so we don't want to speak poorly about one of his children, any more than we would want some one of someone else to speak poorly about us. So if I often wonder how many times God would like to interrupt us because of how we're talking about one of his children?

What is the line when you are encouraging someone? What is the line between encouragement and needing to speak truth into the situation?

That's a powerful thing. I think we have to make sure that our encouragement is more about the person and not about us. Because sometimes we don't want our encouragement to come from just a needy place within us so that we can that because there is a natural, it's almost like an endorphin. When when you encourage someone else, I usually walk away feeling like, Hey, I'm a part of what God's doing in their life. But we have to be careful that we that we will speak not just the, the words that will make people feel good, but that we will speak the truth in love that that's just as much a ministry of encouragement is to be able to value someone enough to speak to them a message that God has laid on your heart and to do it humbly to say, You know what, this is what the Lord's laid on my heart. I could speak the same to myself, but I love you enough to speak what God's laid on my heart. And I hope you'll be able to receive it if not now. In some time when God prepares you for that, we've talked a lot about being an encouragement to others, but what about when we need encouragement? What about when we are the ones that are exhausted and empty? didn't need to be filled up. How do we ask others for encouragement?

Well, I think that we talked about friendship. And I think it's important that, that we understand that, that we so what we need to which I said earlier, we so what we need, and we saw what we've experienced. But sometimes we simply have to be in relationship with other people. And we have to risk being known. And that way we understand both sides of this thing. And sometimes we just have to simply be honest about where we are with people. And I think most people really respect that. That, you know, that's been my experience that people they're not wanting you to be a cheerleader, that doesn't always encouragement doesn't always mean, cheerleading. Sometimes it can mean, being a prophetic voice in someone's life and saying, This is a pattern I've noticed. And, and I want to share it with you. People have done that with me, and it's not always easy to hear. But I've found it usually very redemptive. There's been something that God did with that word, if I if I'm willing to lift it to him and say, Is there any truth into what's being said? How can you use this?

Well, let's end with how can we encourage others got it? Well, I said by the words we speak, the Scripture says in Acts 20, verse two that Paul travel Macedonian, I love this part, speaking many words of encouragement to the people in the midst of an uproar. And I thought, Man, what a picture of our world today that lots of folks are in an uproar today. So everywhere we go, God goes with us. And he can use us to speak words of life into in light into, into heavy and dark situations. He says, Say to those with anxious heart, it's Isaiah 35. That means speak it out. The words we speak are very important. He's given us mouths to proclaim His wonderful deeds, and to, to proclaim as good news into the life of people. So we have to be courageous enough to take courage and fear not tell people, the Lord will save you put your trust in Him. And that's just a great encouragement to people. And then Paul says in Ephesians, 429, speak what is helpful for building others up according to their need, not ours. But their need, that it may benefit those who listen. So I think that's that's one of the ways that the words we speak another way is, by the words that we write, you mentioned, people who might be introverted or may not have a gift of language comfortability with sharing vocally or verbally with people. But they don't have to the words that we write can be just as powerful. And Paul wrote letters. In fact, X 1532 says, The people read it, and we're glad for its encouraging message. So I thought there really is the words we write are so important. I have in my office, I've got a the biggest three ring binder you can imagine, of letters that I have received and letters that I have written over the years that have been an encouragement, and occasionally, not that often, but I will, if I'm really struggling, I will open that binder up. And I'll read those letters and find them is just as encouraging. Today, as they were, as they were then. And I like it, it's it's not an obligatory note that we're talking about. But one where the love of God so swells up in our hearts is we're actually holding the pin that when we think of somebody else, we are so thankful for them. That the love of Christ leaks out our pin.

That's just the way I look at it. So it's you, they're actually in that room with you.

Spiritually speaking, their own your heart, you're visualizing their needs, who they are the gift they are, and then you're you're wanting to be a mouthpiece for God in that moment to lift them up. And we think that that might be common for people to do. I read about a lady who had a severe headaches and she was a teacher who'd been plagued with severe headaches, discovered that she had a brain tumor and our chances of survival were only 2%. So she took the next little bit off, to write some books and to to do some artwork that she'd always wanted to do. Before she had this major surgery with 2% Up 2% chance of surviving. Well, unfortunately, she died in in the surgery. Her eyes went to an AI bank in Bethesda, Maryland, a young man aged 28 went from darkness to sight. That young man was so grateful that he wrote to the eye band by iBank thanking them for existing and they reported later that it was only the second thank you note that they had ever received after giving Out 30,000 eyes.

And I thought we've got to encourage one another more by writing to one another third by our presence. That's, that's, that's kind of not saying anything, not writing anything. But by permeating the love of God in a way that people vicariously experience it. They just, they just feel loved. We had a funeral today for Ralph Pope. One of the things his wife said, he permeated love. People felt it in his face, in his words, and in His presence. I thought, wow, it's just just a powerful witness. So our presence and there are many examples in scripture of that Paul said to the Ephesians, I'm sending a tickets to you for this purpose, that you may know how we're doing, and that he will have the opportunity to encourage your hearts by his presence. So that that's just an example of, are we the kind of people that God can send to encourage someone it by our presence, even if we don't know what to say? My heya Angelo said when you're dead and gone, people will not remember you by what you did or even said, but how you made them feel.

Everybody remembers how you make them feel. Fourth prayer. Well, actually sacrificial giving, I mentioned prayer, sacrificial giving. We already mentioned that Barnabas gave sacrificially, it's it's giving sometimes that which we would want to hold on to. There's a story about a bus bumping along the back road in the South. In one seat, an old man set holding a bunch of fresh flowers across the aisle was a young girl whose eyes kept going back and forth again, looking at that man's flowers. And the time came for the old man to get off the bus.

And impulsively he did something so unnatural. He thrust the flowers into the girl's lap. And he said, I can see you love the flowers. And I think my wife would like for you to have them out, tell her I gave them to you. The girl accepted the flowers. And then she watched the old man get off the bus and walk through the gate of the small cemetery. He was on his way to lay him on the grave. And he thought that girl needs a more. So that's a sacrificial giving. We can only be encouragers if we're givers even in tough times, we have to keep giving sacrificially. And then lastly, by our prayers, were to pray for one another's encouragement, all kinds of scriptures on that land, second, Thessalonians, 216 and 17. And then the last one, my favorite is by our smiles and our hugs.

We stopped smiling at others as a way of expressing love and joy for the gift that people are to us. But I think when we think of life without people, it wouldn't be much life. And so the face of man was built for smiles and thereby he is blessed above the critters of the field, the birds and all the rest. He's just a little lower than the angels in the skies. And there's and the reason is that he can smile there in his glory lies. A smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks. And we all need a little help with that at least I do. Think I do too. Mark Twain said rankle should merely indicate where your smiles have been. So we've got it. We don't smile enough and we don't hug enough. Paul in Acts 21 Not only spoke words of encouragement to believers in Macedonia, but the scripture says He embraced them.

He hugged them. One of my favorite stories is about a twin girls that were in an indifferent incubators when they were born. One was very healthy, the other was dying. They broke all hospital rules to be to put both of the children in both of the babies in the same incubator. The healthy infant threw her arm over the sick infant and all of the vital signs returned to normal within a day in the article was entitled rescuing hug. Let us not forget to embrace those whom we love, or those whom are in need. encouraged the exhausted and strengthen the feeble. Say to those with anxious heart, take courage, fear not, because the Lord is with you. And He will save you.

Chris, I don't think we can come up with a better place to end than right there. I probably wore you out. No, that was this has been fantastic. Chris, I appreciate you coming on and talking with us today. I hope we can be an encouragement to someone and hope you can learn from Chris ways to be interactive. judgment to others so Chris thank you for your time today Thank you brother Lance