How To Experience Encouragement

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Amen.

Amen.

Let's pray together, church.

Lord, we uh we agree with that.

We say that with our lips and with our lives that you're worthy of all of our praise.

So we've entered into your uh uh we've entered your gates and we've come into your courts today to give you what is rightfully yours.

That is our praise and our worship.

Now it's our attention and our affection as we open up your word.

Holy Spirit, illuminate the scripture.

Uh it's not just words recorded by men, it's the breathed out word of God that it has power to transform us, to renew our minds, and to cause us to get in sync with you, who you are and how you are in this world.

So we become the fragrant aroma of Christ to those who are perishing.

So, Holy Spirit, be in this moment now.

Arrest our attention and harness our affection for your glory and for our good.

We pray in Christ's name when everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

You can have a seat.

If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open it up to Acts chapter 20.

Acts 20 · chapter mention

Acts chapter 20.

Acts 20 · chapter mention

If you don't have a Bible, don't sweat it.

It'll come up on the screen behind me.

And if you're visiting today, we're preaching through the book of Acts.

We typically are teaching through the book of the Bible.

It's called expository preaching.

We do that because we think that's that way you nourish a congregation over the long haul.

Instead of hopping from topic to topic to topic to topic, uh, you just go and you have to think about, and I have to teach about things I normally wouldn't teach about.

Today's an example of that.

Not that I'm against that, but my mind just doesn't, I'm like, doesn't everybody get that?

But actually, not everybody, I would say most people in this room, this world, do not get enough of what we're gonna talk about today.

So I let me just tell you, I want to talk about how to experience encouragement.

How to experience encouragement.

I think the apostle Paul was great at it, the way he structured his life and his ministry, so much so that in other letters that he recorded, he would say, Hey, I can't wait to be with you, to be mutually encouraged by each other's faith.

Now, what does your faith have to be like for the apostle Paul to say, you know what?

I want to get coffee with you because your faith encourages me.

No pressure there, okay?

But you have to understand the end game for Paul.

Otherwise, his behavior doesn't make sense, all right?

His priority was that people would keep going in the faith long after he is gone.

He does not want people's uh lives to be a monument to himself or his ministry.

He wants to leave behind Christians whose life is a monument to both God and the gospel.

This is why he not only preaches the gospel, but he consistently and constantly follows up with those who have believed the gospel.

And he does that to encourage them in the word and with the word.

It's not a pep talk, it's not self-help advice, it's consistent and constant exposure to the word.

That's what you're gonna see in these 12 verses I'm gonna read.

Acts chapter 20, uh, starting in verse 1.

Acts 20 · chapter mention

It says, after the uproar ceased.

Now, if you got a pen, underline that little phrase right there.

Because you're gonna find yourself in this world in some uproars.

And they're not gonna cease when you want them to cease.

But you gotta be able to say, say to yourself, hey, this is not gonna be forever.

After the uproar ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them, he said farewell and departed from Macedonia.

When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece.

There he spent three months.

And when a plot was made against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia.

Sopater, the Berean, the son of Pyrus, accompanied him.

And of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus, and Gaius of Derby, and Timothy and the Asians, Titicus and Trophimus.

These went on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas.

But we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread.

That's the Passover celebration.

And in five days we came to them at Troas, where we stayed for seven days.

On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with him, intending to depart on the next day.

And he prolonged his speech until midnight.

You're welcome, by the way.

There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered, and a young man named Eutychus, sitting in the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer.

And being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead.

But Paul went down and bent over him, and taking him in his arms, said, Do not be alarmed, for his life is still in him.

And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while until daybreak.

And so he departed.

And they took the youth away alive and were not a little comforted.

We'll just stop right there.

I won't preach so long that you'll fall out of a third-story window this morning.

But I want to just say, speak to this, how to experience encouragement.

There's four things in the text I want to point to.

Number one, you have to keep the proper perspective.

You have to keep the proper perspective.

Now it starts off with after the uproar ceased.

Now, if you weren't here a couple weeks ago, then last week we had Ross King.

Did you enjoy Ross King last week?

What a great gift that guy is.

He's just quirky and funny, and he writes songs that you're like, oh yeah, I relate to that.

But anyway, it was a couple weeks ago we talked about, you say, after the uproar ceased, what caused the uproar?

Repentance, okay?

The apostle Paul was preaching the gospel with such uh uh clarity, and people were responding with such clarity that it began to threaten the economy of the silversmiths.

You remember they would they would make they they their living was made of, they'd make these replicas of the temple of Artemis.

Now, some of you I tried to describe it to you, I said it's one and a half football fields long, 75 yards wide, but uh it doesn't do it justice.

Now, it was sacked and destroyed by an invading army, but we had renderings from back that day when they built it.

And so this is what the temple of Artemis looked like.

This is Silversmith, those columns are 60 feet tall.

And Silversmiths would go into intricate detail and basically like a souvenir shot when you'd leave.

But this wasn't a souvenir, this was an idol.

They worshiped the fertility goddess that lived there.

This is the temple of Artemis.

Artemis was the goddess of fertility.

If you wanted to have a lot of kids, you want to have prosperity, you want to be successful, you would get a little silver replica of this.

And this was a cottage industry.

Paul so preaches the gospel, remember, that these people that had these idols, they said, you know what?

Idols made with human hands are not gods.

And they're like, Really?

Like, oh, absolutely.

But God is a living God.

He's real and he's personable and he's personal.

And people forsook their idols so much so that Alexander the Silversmith gathered these people and said, Hey, this guy's cutting in our market share.

We got to do something about this.

And remember, they flooded a theater.

Now, not like the AMC out here on the uh on 99 or the fountains or first colony 24.

Uh the the the temple is not there, but the theater that they they went into is still there to this day.

And here's what it looks like.

Now, these people were smart, they built that, the the back edge back there is ground level.

It's basically like a bowl.

And so when you stand down the bottom of it, the acoustics are incredible.

You don't need a microphone.

You just talk and it's like your voice is amplified through a microphone.

This is the theater that they they filled, it holds 23,000, 25,000 people.

And they were an angry, hostile crowd.

Now, when the Bible says after the uproar ceased, the uproar was caused by repentance.

Now, it's hard for us to fathom a response, this kind of response from sinners, because we as a country are committed to the therapeutic rehabilitation of sinners.

And here's the thing about sinners they don't need rehabilitation, they need to repent and renounce their sin.

Because as long as you can just therapeutically rehabilitate people, they don't need a savior.

They don't like we just say about, they don't need a savior, they don't need repentance, and they sure don't need to renounce anything.

It's just explain to me how to feel better about my life with all my particular and favorite sins as a part of that.

But I just want to say this.

Can you imagine a world where people are so convicted and they repent to such a degree that businesses begin to shut down, they begin to go out of business, okay?

Now, now see, we want the results of repentance in America.

This is why, against my better judgment, let me say this again.

We want the results of repentance in America, but we don't want the responsibility of having repented.

Uh, against my better judgments, I watched both the Republican and the Democratic National Convention.

Not every bit of it.

I watched the certain speakers I wanted to see.

I watched the two candidates talk, and I listened.

My wife's like, What are you doing?

And I said, I'm listening for my word.

And the word I was listening for was repent.

And y'all are like, uh, you didn't hear that.

No, no.

Because what I heard was politicians on both sides, okay, making promises and policy.

And one said, I don't have any policy, just select me, and then I'll tell you what the policy is going to be.

And I just thought, whoop, danger, danger.

But anyway, I was just, I would vote for the person who would get up and just say, you know what?

I could make a lot of promises and I could I could write out a bunch of policy and have poly rooms full of policymakers, but the court, just imagine this at the Democratic or the Republican National Convention, they're both equally divided, equally sinful.

Just imagine someone saying, our problem in America is we need to repent.

I can't give you what only repentance can.

And so I turned the channel and I was disillusioned that I was like, okay, here's the deal.

But again, I just want you to keep the proper perspective.

The Bible says after the uproar ceased, there's all kinds of uproars in your life, okay?

It may not be one that, like Paul was in where they filled a theater full of people, you're like, we have got to do something about this person.

He is killing our business, okay?

We work at the idol factory, and he's teaching people the good news of Christianity that anything made by man is not real.

It is not a God.

And these people went berserk, and you say, Well, it's not like that.

Yeah, but uh uproars come in many shapes and sizes.

You will have all kinds of uproars, and you may be in one right now, and I just want to say this what you're going through, the uproar you're in right now will not last forever.

And don't acclimate to that.

Don't start convincing yourself this will go on forever, therefore I have to be in charge.

I can't trust anybody.

I gotta take matters into my own hands.

Uh it's the only way I ensure the outcomes I want to see happen.

And I just want to say the uproar will not last forever, and you can trust God and you can know God in the midst of the uproar, okay?

So you got to keep the proper perspective.

Here's one of the things Paul never got in a hurry and he never freaked out.

He never got in a hurry.

We read right there, I mean there's five days here, 20 days here, and just like leisurely, you know, some of it they traveled by boat and that never got in a hurry.

But he just was like never surprised.

Matter of fact, later he'll say in the book of Acts, all I know is the Holy Spirit testifies to me that uh affliction and hardship awaits me in every city.

If I got that message from God, I'd be like, Well, I ain't going to any cities, I'm staying home.

But regardless of what the uproar was, he was faithful and consistent all the way through it.

Okay?

So keep you got to keep that in mind.

Keep the proper perspective.

The second thing I want you to see is that you work towards a balance.

You work towards a balance.

Look at verse one.

After the uproar ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them, he didn't tell them, hey, you won't believe what they did.

People are not encouraged by you complaining about how hard your life is.

That doesn't really glorify God.

After encouraging them, he said farewell and departed from Macedonia.

When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, this dude is all about encouragement.

Matter of fact, if you skip down to the last verse when it says, after the kid falls out of the window and they think he's dead because he was dead, Paul raises him back to life.

Look at verse 12, it says, And they took the youth away alive and they were not a little comforted.

That word comforted is the same word for encouragement.

It's a Greek word parakaleo and basically means to call a to call somebody to your side for the purpose of encouraging them.

I mean, it's all through the book of Acts.

When I say work towards a balance in the book of Acts, you see Paul spending as much time encouraging new believers as he did sharing the gospel with unbelievers.

Uh this is why the word encouragement appears 27 times in the book of Acts.

There's 28 chapters.

Now it doesn't appear in every chapter, it appears in some chapters, like this in chapter 20, multiple times.

But I just want to want you to see this.

And we I think we miss, we lose sight of this because it was such a practice of his, and he worked towards this balance of preaching the gospel to unbelievers, but also encouraging believers.

Because if we don't practice encouraging other believers, strengthen them spiritually, and what happens over time is you have you begin to uh notice a bunch of disillusioned, uh underdeveloped Christians.

And so it affects our evangelism.

But here's how it affects our evangelism.

When you go to share the gospel with somebody, they look at Christians and they go, No, wait a minute.

If I believe your gospel, that's what my life is going to look like.

No, thank you.

I don't want that.

And what they should see in you and me is this Zoe life that the Bible talks about.

This life that Jesus talked about in John 10, 10, and when he said, I am come, and I come so you can have life and have it to the full.

There's a fullness to the life that is available only in Christ.

And that's what people should see in us.

And it only happens when we are not just sharing the gospel of unbelievers, but we are consistently and constantly encouraging uh other believers.

This is what you see in Paul's ministry.

Why?

I think one of the practical reasons that he just knew the power of encouragement.

He just knew the power of encouragement.

I was telling Wade Burgess this week, we were talking about today, and I told him, I said, I had a college roommate in my senior year that was awkwardly encouraging to me.

Like he would, we'd be sitting there, I'd be studying, and he'd say, Hey, tell me when you're gonna take a break.

I want to tell you something.

And I thought he was gonna tell me something about him and his girlfriend, or him and his flag football team went in murals, or blah, blah, blah.

No, he I'd say, okay, I'm I'm I'm I'm gonna get a cup of coffee, what's going on?

And he would pick up a piece of paper and he would say, Hey, I I wrote down some things that I see in you and I want to encourage you with them.

And I would say the same thing every time.

I hey man, you could just you you I just that that's good.

I appreciate dudes don't do that.

And he would say the same thing back every time shut up and listen.

And he would read.

It wouldn't be one or two, it would be six or seven or nine.

And then we graduated college and went our separate ways.

He went to Kansas City to go to seminary.

He would call me on the phone and say, I got seven things I want to encourage you with.

You know what catfish skinners are?

Those little things you put you grab the skin of a catfish and pull it off.

That's what it felt like to me, just being skinned alive.

Because my wife's like, Why is it so hard for you?

My native environment is adversity.

I'm an orphan, bring it on.

But just all unmitigated affirmation.

And it wasn't like you're awesome.

It was like you're faithful to the word.

I call places that you've been and they say, Man, that guy preaches the Bible.

Even when it's hard to hear, he's faithful to the Bible.

And Joey Butler would weep as he told me these things.

And I'd be like, Okay, Joey, that's three or four.

That's another shut up, I've got four more.

Wow, I was hoping you'd say that.

You see, Paul understood the power of encouragement.

Encouragement does five things, okay?

Let me just tick them off for you.

Number one, it provides awareness.

It provides awareness.

What do you mean?

It increases our awareness of how other people experience us.

There were things about me I didn't understand, I didn't realize until Joy would point them out.

And I was like, Oh, yeah, I guess I do do that.

Huh?

It provides awareness.

Secondly, it creates belief.

When we believe in others, they're reminded that it's okay for them to believe in themselves.

We, I just I flew home last night to be here this morning.

We moved our daughter into her apartment, uh, which is nicer than my house, by the way.

I'm not bitter or anything.

I'm moving stuff in and I'm kind of going, what?

This island is bigger than my bathroom.

Just in your kitchen.

But I digress.

Uh uh, but uh on the way, we we we we drove.

I I'm too old for the 10 and a half hour John.

So we drove to Slidale spent tonight, went to eat the Waffle House.

That's all there is in Slidale, Louisiana.

Uh no, that was my requirement, okay?

And and our our waitress was waiting on us and she was chatting us up, and I just said, Hey, what are you doing?

And she said, Well, I don't live here.

I I lived in a town, excuse me, the parish one over.

Because if you're from Louisiana, they have parishes.

I don't understand that.

Maybe you can explain it to me sometime.

And I said, Why'd you move?

And she said, I needed a change of lifestyle.

And I was like, Ooh, you said that in an interesting way.

Uh and my wife looked at me like, do not be nosy.

I'm not nosy, I just want to know how to pray for her.

Uh and so we're we're we're talking, and while we're she's talking, I had the Holy Spirit in me kind of going, we're gonna bless her.

So when I got the tip, and I said, I got the check, and I said, Hey, can I pay her the credit card?

She said, Absolutely.

Uh, and so I put the tip on there, and I just walked off, and she came to our table with tears here.

She goes, Oh my gosh, I just want to say thank you.

I said, It's okay.

Uh, I don't really do well with encouragement, but keep it to you.

No, she said, You don't understand.

I I'm starting over and I'm picking up as many shifts as I can because I'm fixing to start EMT school and I'm I'm not gonna work at the Waffle House forever.

And I'm like, You shut your mouth, lady.

What's wrong with this?

It's a career.

She said, I'm going to EMT school and I'm just trying to make as much money as I can.

You have no idea.

This is so, and she said the word, this is so encouraging to me.

And my wife leaned over and said, What did you give her?

And I said, Two dollars.

It's a big deal here to wife laughs.

And she's like, You did not.

It creates belief.

When you believe in other people, they're reminded that it's okay for them to believe in themselves.

This is what I want you to understand.

It's the power of encouragement.

Here's the third thing encouragement does it builds confidence, it reminds people that what they do and how they do it matters.

Encouragement builds confidence.

Here's the fourth thing, it improves attitude.

It improves people's attitude.

Sometimes people are the way they are because they just haven't been encouraged in a long time.

And I'm not saying lie, be phony.

I'm saying be authentic, be genuine, genuine, because encouragement rarely demotivates somebody.

No one comes home from work and says, How was it?

It was terrible.

My boss spent 10 minutes telling me how great I am and how much he loves I'm at this company.

That doesn't happen.

Think about our culture, this cancel culture where people are looking to catch you getting it wrong.

Here's the last thing it does it promotes action.

Now you may think, ah, how does encouragement promote action?

People who have increased awareness, belief, confidence, and this improved attitude, they take action.

They can't help themselves.

They cannot help themselves, okay?

This is the power of encouragement, which by the way, it's also why we have midweek classes.

We want to call you alongside of us.

We want to call you to different teachers and say, midweek classes, if you're new to our church.

So we have uh we have 10 weeks in the fall, about eight or nine weeks in the spring because the schedule is wonky.

But basically, we meet on Wednesday nights.

They start this Wednesday right in this room.

We'll have a catered meal from Chick-fil-A because that's God's will for Christian chicken.

Amen.

Uh and you your moms are like, yes, honey, take dinner off the list.

Uh uh, and then we have different classes.

I want to draw your attention to one of them.

There's a bunch of them.

I just want to draw your attention to one.

It's called the Christian story.

Uh, and people always ask, why do we have what are they called core classes?

Because core classes are like, they contain some of the core beliefs of Christianity.

We want everyone in our church to take all these core classes.

So if you've not taken this core class and you're like, I don't know what I'm gonna take, take this class.

And here's why.

Because here is the the things that are covered in the class, okay?

Uh, not encouragement.

Uh, the the next slide.

Basically, uh, and this is why we teach.

You can put them all up there if you would, guys.

Put all 10 of them up there.

I think there's 10.

Uh uh basically, it starts off.

We talk about different things.

We talk about the doctrine of election, the gospel call, regeneration, conversion, which is faith and repentance.

Keep going, fellas.

Uh, get to number five, justification, a right legal standing.

Now, here's the thing: that that that's the class, and you're like, ah, now if you're thinking, I don't understand any of that, say amen.

Yes, this is why we teach the class.

Look at me.

Let me draw your attention to number five.

This happened to me not too long ago, okay?

Number five, justification, right legal standing.

Now, we don't talk about it like this in the class.

We will we'll say, hey, this is the word justification.

This is what it means.

Uh, somebody rolled up on me who went to the college I went to, like 15 years after me.

Rolled up on me, justification means just as if I had never sinned.

It means I'm fully forgiven for everything I've done.

Well, this person rolled up on me uh and some uptight Baptist and said, Neil McClellion, is it true that you were an ETBU, you and your friends blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.

Now, if you're in this room and you've got things in your past that you wish to God nobody ever brought up, say amen.

You need to understand justification because guilt don't work on a forgiven man.

She's all had her finger out and she goes, Is it true that you and your friends blah blah blah blah blah?

And I'm not a defensive person, and I'm not gonna lie.

I said, Oh yeah, that's absolutely true.

We did that, but we took the monkey and the mannequin back so nobody got harmed.

How many of you are curious?

Raise your hand.

I'm not telling you.

And so I said, Nobody got hurt.

The monkey didn't get hurt, we put the mannequin up in the store.

She's like, Well, that's not much of a Christian example, and now you're in ministry.

What do you think about yourself?

Aren't you embarrassed?

And when she said that, my my theology of justification rose up in me.

I said, actually, I'm not embarrassed at all.

You should be embarrassed because you're trying to roll up on me like I don't know how many years after the fact and make me feel guilty for something I was not only forgiven for years ago, but I've been justified in the eyes of God.

So I don't care what you think about me.

And she was like, Are you serious right now?

And I said, Yeah, I'm very serious.

This is called double jeopardy.

You cannot, you cannot put me on trial for a crime for which I've already been acquitted.

Now, it wasn't immoral, it was maybe kind of illegal, I don't know, but nobody got hurt.

Well, I just she couldn't help herself.

She goes, I just want you to know it is hard for me to believe that you're in ministry.

And I said, You know what's hard for me to believe?

That you're a Christian.

What makes you say that?

I don't think you understand the doctrine of justification.

I'm not being arrogant.

I'm not being haughty.

I'm just telling you, I understand justification.

I don't think you do.

You want to air your sins out in front of me?

And let me tell you which ones I have a problem with?

That's none of your business.

That's between me and Jesus.

I said, I've been forgiven for everything.

Everything I did in jest or in fun.

We didn't have softball and water polo and football when I was there.

We had like two sports, and one of them was inturals, all right?

We had to come up with our own fun.

What are you saying?

I'm not going to feel bad about this.

You could talk to me the rest of the night.

I'm not going to feel bad about this.

Are we done?

Well, you've not changed my opinion.

I said, I don't care about your opinion.

I don't live in light of it, and I sure don't live in the shadow of it.

She just kept looking up and down.

She looked up and down so much, I said, Am I getting taller?

Now look at me.

This is not about pithy little comebacks.

This is about the freedom that you find in the doctrine of justification.

And so if you are not in a class yet for midweeks, you should take the class called Christian Salvation.

Because you understand it's not just I prayed a prayer.

Like I was flying back on the plane yesterday and the poor flight attendant on Southwest, she's like, sir, would you like some more coffee?

I said, I tell you, every time you pass me, bring me another cup of coffee.

And she goes, What are you reading?

I said, Oh, this is so good.

It's a little book.

It's called, the book is called Conversion, How God Creates the People.

And the lady was like, Can I can I ask what you're reading?

And I said, Yeah.

But I thought about the class because a lot of times we we confuse sincerity with genuine salvation.

Uh I brought you a quote from the book.

Again, uh, this just redounds why you should understand Christian salvation.

Uh, this is a quote from the book.

But what happens when we think faith saves us?

Sincerity becomes paramount.

We begin to think of faith as a single act, a prayer prayed, a decision made, a card signed, a hand raised, rather than a whole life orientation.

The trouble is we can never be sure if we were sincere enough.

So insecurity follows and a culture of rededication develops.

Anxious children pray the prayer over and over.

Youth rededicate themselves at every youth retreat.

Adults do the same.

All are hoping that this time the expression of faith will be sincere enough.

When I understood my salvation, it set me free.

So this lady rolled up on me with her finger, and did you think it's funny about that monkey and that man?

We didn't harm the monkey.

We just painted him, okay?

He's fine.

And then we washed him off when we were done and took him back.

Shut up, that's not funny.

Actually, it was really funny.

You weren't there, it was hilarious.

And you don't feel bad.

I mean, she stumped, you don't feel bad?

I said, I don't feel bad at all.

I'm not gonna feel bad right now.

I'm fixing to go to dinner.

I'm not gonna think about you when this is over.

So say everything you want to say.

Why?

Because I've been justified.

I'm not afraid of you and anything you bring up.

Give me a break.

Is your whole life going around pointing out to other people's sins?

Do you not have a mirror in your house?

What does that mean?

I take that as a no.

Here's the third thing.

Y'all got me wound up that I got to get back to the Bible.

How do you experience encouragement?

Now, by the way, again, it's not about being smart mouth.

I'm not really a smart mouth person.

I believe, and when I understood justification, look at me.

I sat down on the inside.

When people roll up on me, did you?

I just agree, and my wife is like, what?

Oh yeah.

Alan 1987.

That's when all that happened.

And the monkey was fine, or you pee to people.

Don't ask me after church, I'm not gonna tell you.

Here's the third thing.

You surround yourself with, how do you experience encouragement?

You surround yourself with encouraging reminders.

Listen to verse 3.

This is what it says.

This is where we check out.

He says, there he spent three months.

He never got in a hurry.

There he spent three months.

When a plot was made against him by the Jews as he was about to set self for Syria, you know what the plot was?

The Jews figured out if we get him on a boat, he can't escape.

We'll kill him.

Throw him overboard.

He decided to return through Macedonia.

Sopater, the Berean, son of Pyrrhus accompanying him.

And of the Thessalonians, there was Aristarchus and Secundus and Gaius of Derby and Timothy.

And then he got the Asians.

Got to have some Asians, amen.

The Asians in the room were like, yeah, fight on, brother.

Tychicus and Trophimus.

These went on ahead and were waiting for us at Troes, but we sailed away from Philippi during the days of unleavened bread, and in five days we came to them at Troes, where we stayed for seven days.

So he lists off seven people.

Now, if I said the name Kevin Hart, would you know who Kevin Hart is?

Say amen.

If I said the plastic cup boys, would you know who they are?

Say amen.

I lost you there.

This is the plastic cup boys.

I brought you a picture.

The little short guy, that's Kevin Hart.

Okay?

There's guys around him, eight of them.

They're called the Plastic Cup Boys.

These are the people he rolls with.

These are his business partners.

These are the comedians that he said, I want you to open for me.

They fly on a private jet together.

He he puts money in their pocket.

He looks around, and Kevin Hart says this.

He said, When I'm with my boys, they have a car business.

They buy classic cars.

I saw, I watched a show one time.

Kevin Hart bought a$650,000 car.

And I thought, I need to be a comedian.

No, these are his guys.

Now, why am I telling you that?

Take that down in the back because y'all are just staring at that, like, why he have Kevin Hart up here?

Here's why.

He surrounds himself because he said, I know that I've made it because these guys are making it.

He surrounds himself with reminders, uh, with these encouraging reminders.

Now, why do I tell you that?

Because these seven people listed off.

These are not just going to say, and the Asians, not like, oh, we need some Asians because it's going to be multicultural.

No, look at me.

These seven men that travel with Paul, they all come from regions where he's preached the gospel.

So, regardless of how bad it gets, how big the uproar is, look at me.

The apostle Paul is surrounded by seven men who came to faith because he preached the gospel in their city.

And he's constantly reminded, I'm not crazy.

I'm not crazy.

I have a friend David Guyan.

David Guyon's been here before led worship.

Lives in San Antonio.

David Guyon used to call me on the phone.

And when we talk, he still says it to this day.

But he would call me on the phone and say, Hey, I just want to tell you today, you're not crazy.

And I at first I was like, should I be insulted by this?

And he said, No, you preach the real gospel.

You've preached the kingdom gospel, not some legalistic formula.

And people are not going to like that, but you're not crazy.

You're going to set people free.

I mean, he was telling me this 20 years ago, and I'm like, oh, okay, uh, I'm not crazy.

But then there were days that got hard.

Now guess what?

I'd hear whose voice I'd hear in my head?

I'd hear David Guy and going, Hey, you're not crazy.

You're not crazy.

Keep going.

God's honoring, He's going to continue to honor what you're doing.

Let me ask you this: who do you got in your life?

Who are you surrounded by that reminds you you're not crazy?

High school students, who do, who, what girls, what girl, what girlfriends do you have in your life that say, hey, you're not crazy breaking up with him?

I know he's hot and cute and whatever the word for this week is, but that he ain't right for you.

You did the right thing.

You are not crazy.

You're not missing out.

You're not being passed over, you're being protected, and you're being prepared for what is to come.

You're not crazy.

Surround yourself with encouraging reminders.

Who do you see, or what do you see on a consistent basis that reminds you to keep going?

Here's the last thing I want you to see in the text.

How do you experience encouragement?

You do things that are encouraging.

It's verses 7 to 12.

Verse 7 says, On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart the next day.

He prolonged his speech until uh until midnight.

Now, he didn't just, it's not just a long-winded preacher.

He was leaving the next day, and the people said, Give us all you can.

And he said, Yeah.

So they had a meal.

Part of that meal was communion, what we call communion, the Lord's Supper.

Uh uh, and so do things that are encouraging.

Paul did two things that were very encouraging.

Number one, he went to church.

Now you may be thinking, You're supposed to say that.

You're a preacher.

No, no, no.

Look at verse 7.

It says, on the first day of the week.

The first day of the week is Sunday.

Before this, before Christ resurrected from the dead, Christians would meet on Saturdays, but which is the last day of the week, but because Christ rose on Sunday, it moved it to the first day of the week in honor of the resurrection.

This is why church happens on Sunday.

Now, there's seven-day Adventists and some other people, they said, Oh, we go to church on Saturday.

We go to church on Sunday simply because it it we commemorate the day on which Christ rose from the dead.

So when I say do things that are encouraging, Paul did two things.

He went to church.

And secondly, uh, he demonstrated a graceful response.

This is the part that we don't talk about much.

It said, look at verse 8.

There were many lamps in the upper room where they were gathered, and a young man named Eunicus, sitting by the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul was talking still longer.

If you've ever fallen asleep in church, say amen.

If you've ever fallen asleep, but I was preaching, say amen.

Look at me.

Look at me.

I hope it was a good sleep.

Yeah.

Because somebody about a year ago, somebody sent me, this went viral.

Some preacher in, I think in Oklahoma, some little church where they believe the Bible, they're mad about it.

Some guy fell asleep and the preacher walked out of the pulpit, walked over, and said, Hey, hey, don't you fall asleep.

You said, I'm important.

Somebody said that to me, and I said, Uh, you're not important, dude.

You're insecure.

And then he goes on just to belittle his whole congregation.

I was like, this is terrible.

This guy needs to quit, okay?

But what do you mean when I say a graceful response?

This guy, now the Bible tells us, gives you a little hint.

It says they were gathered there, and there were many lamps uh in the upper room where they were gathered.

That means it was warm in the room.

And he was like a pot smoker at the Sonic.

He was like trying to keep his eyes open and he just nodded off.

Fell out of a third-story window, hit the ground, and was dead.

Paul's not like an insecure preacher.

Like, what do you think?

I'm not your English teacher.

You should have paid attention to me, boy.

Paul goes down there and just takes him in his arms.

Afraid, whatever.

And he says, Oh, his life is his life is still in him.

Relax.

It's all good.

He goes upstairs and eats some more.

He's clearly not worried about it.

And then he teaches some more.

And then the story ends with this verse.

Verse 12.

And they took the youth away alive and were not a little comforted.

That's the word paraclear.

Not a little encouraged.

In other words, they were greatly encouraged.

Paul could have been like an insecure preacher nowadays.

He said, Hey, you better look.

He's like, hey man, I'm up here riffing.

Y'all want me to talk as long as I can until I leave tomorrow?

I'll talk all night long.

Because he talks to the till dawn the next day, which I'm not about to do.

Amen.

And he said, Well, what's the big deal?

When's the last time you got a great graceful response from somebody?

Because one of the things that Paul's graceful response goes over, not bothered.

Praise this kid's raised from the dead.

Life's put back in him, and the people are not a little comforted.

They're greatly encouraged.

He, I want to end on this note.

Encouragement is not intended to stay in the realm of intention, it is intended to be spoken, to be experienced.

I asked somebody just yesterday, I said, Hey, would you, appreciation, would you rather hear it or taste it or feel it?

And he said, Well, I'd rather taste it or feel it.

Something tangible.

Yeah.

So here's what I want us to do, okay?

I'll give you something practical.

If you were going to spiritually encourage one person this week, who would it be and what would you do?

If you're going to spiritually encourage, spiritually encourage, keep phrase, one person this week, who would it be and what would you do?

I told you earlier we moved, we moved our daughter into her apartment in Birmingham for her senior year of college.

Uh we're moving in, and she's trying to think of a way to say, okay, y'all got all my stuff in there, you can leave now.

And I said, because I'm reading the room and my wife's like touching everything, and hey, you want an asking question?

Hey, moms, they don't want a bunch of questions.

They want all their stuff in there, they want to know you're gonna deposit that money in their accounts they can spend it, and they want you to leave.

And so I'm like, hey, baby, you got everything?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Short answers.

And I said, Hey, why don't we leave, go back to the hotel and come back and get you for dinner?

That'd be great.

And because she wants to get it all set up.

She gets it all set up.

We go to dinner, we drop her off.

The next day we go to pick her up and we have to carry some more stuff up there.

And we had to get that load of groceries and load the fridge and this, that, and the other.

And she said, You want to see my room?

I said, Yeah, I'm up to see your room.

I'll go in there.

She's got a nice bed and everything, all this stuff.

And then she's got these pictures or frames on the wall, ice glance up.

And she said, Dad, did you notice my wall?

And there's pictures and things she's made and this and that.

And then framed is a note I wrote her when she was a sophomore in college, which would be two years ago.

And I was like, Oh, babe.

And she goes, Do you remember this?

And I said, She goes, It was why I lost my keys.

She lost her car keys four states away.

Called me freaking out.

Oh my gosh, dad, I can't believe I lost my keys.

I'm so stupid.

Blah, blah, blah, blah.

I said, Don't talk to yourself like that.

You're not stupid.

Hey, babe, this is measles.

This isn't cancer.

I got another, I got another key to your car.

You can get it.

Yeah, but the key to the dorm is$35.

Sanford Bear, stop stealing from me.

Them keys cost$2 to make.

Well, they said they're gonna teach you a lesson I'll teach them a lesson.

Ah.

I said, babe, here's the deal.

I'm gonna FedEx your key to you.

Don't worry about it.

Get another key to your dorm, just put it on your student account.

We'll pay for it.

Take a deep breath.

This is gonna be fine.

Not only did I know the fact, but I wrote her a note.

I ain't gonna tell you what I said because none of your business.

It's kind of like the monkey, none of your business.

And so, but my daughter, two years later, has it framed on her wall.

Now I got to the FedEx up here, and the guy said, When you even get there, I said, What's the price?

Does it matter?

He goes, Yeah, it's a big difference.

You know, you get there by the end of the day tomorrow, it's this much.

You get there by two o'clock in the morning, it's this much.

To get there at 10 o'clock in the morning, I said, I don't care how much it is.

You take visa, I want it there at 10 o'clock in the morning.

He said, Sir, well, two is cheaper, and the end of the day is even more cheaper.

I don't want my daughter feeling what she feels right now for a nanosecond longer than she has to be.

Can you get it there immediately?

How much is that?

Oh no, sir, we can't get it there immediately, of course.

We can get there, or so we can get it at 10 o'clock in the morning.

And it's this much.

And I just held out the plastic.

I said, There you go.

I want it there at 10 o'clock in the morning.

Called her the next day.

I said, Hey, baby, did you get your keys?

Yeah, dad, I got my keys.

Thanks for my note.

I said, Hey, babe, this is not cancer.

This is measles.

She said, What?

I said, This is measles.

It ain't that important.

See, sometimes the uproar feels so big, it's like, oh my gosh, the end of the world is coming.

Let me tell you something.

Some people, it's so overwhelming, they think they have what's called suicidal ideations.

Kind of like, you know what would solve this?

If I just ended my life, that's why I don't want to be here anymore.

Look at me.

Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

The uproar will cease.

I don't care.

You're like, man, all hell's breaking loose.

The devil himself is beating down my front door.

He can't be there forever.

The uproar is gonna cease and you're gonna go on.

And by the way, my friends over here to go to Dutch Brothers every Sunday, you're gonna get married one day, you're gonna have kids, the knucklehead boys you go to school with, you're not gonna remember their names.

They're losers.

You should go to school tomorrow and just go, you're all losers.

I hate every one of you.

Don't speak to me.

I'm focused on my academics and maybe being here in front of me, but I digress.

Yeah.

Look at me, I'm done.

Look at me.

The uproar, whatever it is, it's gonna cease.

It doesn't have authority over you.

It only has authority over you if you give it authority over you.

But the uproar is going to cease.

And in the meantime, there's a lot of encouragement to be experienced.

The Bible says in Proverbs, those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.

If you want to be encouraged, make a habit of encouraging other people.

Let's pray together.

If you're a guest, just relax.

We like to teach the Bible and then give you some space to think about it.

So I'll uh some questions come up on the screen, and this is for your consideration.

You can take a picture.

Don't try to write them all down.

Just take a picture and talk about it at lunch.

Talk about it in your community group when they meet next.

Let's just spend just a minute thinking about what we've heard today.

Lord, thanks for the example of the Apostle Paul, one of the greatest preachers of all time, but he's also great at encouraging believers, building them up in the faith with the faith, exposing them to the word consistently and constantly, not beating them over the head with it, but teaching in such a way that people are like, oh man, can you come to our house and talk all night?

And if a guy falls out of the window and dies, God will raise him back to life.

God, that don't let it be lost on us that the people in the book of Acts are so hungry for the word to be explained to them.

We want to be a word-hungry, God-hungry people.

Lord, I pray that people that never take it a class here or sign up for a class.

They don't have to know all the words.

No one's gonna talk down to them or over their head, make them pray out loud or do anything they're not comfortable with.

We want to encourage people in the word with the word.

So when they get into conversations with somebody that starts talking about, I could never be forgiven for all that I've done.

We just, in our own language, just espouse a beautiful doctrine of justification without using the word doctrine or justification.

And that person's encouraged.

That person's a little more hopeful that forgiveness is real and it's available because God's personal and He's done something about your sin.

So, Holy Spirit, be over us today.

Thanks for this word.

Thanks for Stephen being here.

Thanks for Stan and Gigi, who go around the world encouraging people.

Lord, we're glad that we get to be a part of sending them and them being a part of us.

But we just love when we get together, we get to be the church together.

Capital C.

That's humbling and encouraging.

So thanks for that.

We say all this in Christ's name.

And everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

If you're our guest today, let me say thanks for being here.

You're always welcome, okay?

If you have any questions of anything you saw or heard today, some of our pastors will be available down front.

We'd love to answer any questions you may have.

I'm gonna ask Stephen if you would, just to be available.

You may want to come and speak a word of encouragement, or you may have a question for him uh about what his work is like.

God's been there 17 years.

Uh just consistently plugging away, investing in the people of Lyon, France, okay?

Uh and so, but if you have if you're a guest, our guest today, all we ask of you, you just text the word welcome to that number on the screen behind me that gives us a record of your visit.

We'll shoot you a text back.

We just want to help you take the next step on your spiritual journey, okay?

We've always got stuff going on in the life of our church, so check out our video announcements for this week.

Here's a look at what's happening at Grand Parkway Baptist Church.

Hey church, because of God's provision, progress, and presence, our church is growing numerically.

That numerical growth necessitates growth to our physical plan.

The time has come for us to expand our children's building to provide ample room for preschool, children's, and the bridge ministries.

The cost of this expansion will be$2.6 million.

And to address that cost, we are having a hilarious Sunday on October 6th.

What we're asking each of us to do is pray, listen, and obey by giving whatever God tells you to give.

This is not in lieu of your tithe, but instead it's an offering which is above and beyond your tithe.

Every penny given will go towards this expansion.

On October 13th, we'll share what we received in the hilarious Sunday offering, and then a path forward as it relates to expanding the children's building to meet our growing needs.

Thank you in advance of October 6th for praying, listening, and obeying.

This week, our midweek studies begin with Tuesday mornings for women only and Wednesday nights for all adults, kids, and students.

Be sure to register for those classes and the midweek meal by going to Grandparkway.org slash midweeks.

If you have any questions or would like someone to pray for you, find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.

Also, you may be wondering because you're nosy rosy, what's a stack of books down here on the stage?

Uh, these are our new devotionals.

They start their September, October, November.

If you've never used one of these, basically it's just a half page each day, has a Bible verse, kind of gives you a little paragraph to get your mind leaned in the right direction.

These are free.

We'd love you to come take one or two, take as many as you will use.

Uh don't take them and give them out as Christmas presents because that would be grinchy, okay?

Uh but anyway, this is a great way to get your day started or ended on a spiritual note.

These are free and available for your taking.

We'd like to conclude our service with a spoken blessing.

So if you would stand to your feet, hold your hands out.

May the word of God find a resting place in you.

And the nooks and crannies that you hope nobody knows exist.

God knows exists.

And he wants his word to reside there so you be encouraged.

Not afraid, encouraged.

Understanding more today than you did yesterday, but not as much as you will tomorrow.

Because God's not done encouraging you, not calling you to himself to make you more like himself.

Depart now and give yourself to participate in this process.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Bless you.