Encourage One Another

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Yes, thank you very much.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Did an excellent job there.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Should I try again?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Okay, we'll try again.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Yeah, I'm wondering because when I practiced on uh Thursday

Pastor Dale Tunnell: it was so loud

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I was kinda worried it'd be too loud.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Yeah, they're saying

Pastor Dale Tunnell: turn me up.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Well, I don't know.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You're supposed to turn that on.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I come up here with it on and you control everything back there.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Yeah, it's on.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And you got batteries.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He's on.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I'll tell you, the devil's working hard, isn't he?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Yeah, can I hear me here?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Testing?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Yeah?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I hear something here.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: But you guys don't hear me out there, huh?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Okay, that's all right.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: They'll figure it out.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Um

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I'll turn these things around

Pastor Dale Tunnell: so then you can hear those.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Yeah.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Keep working at it?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Okay.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Yeah, is this one on?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Turn them both on so that we can uh get some squealing going on.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Yeah.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Testing

Pastor Dale Tunnell: testing?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Testing, testing?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Something's working there.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Although I'd hate holding this thing.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Is it working yet?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Still not working there, huh?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Okay.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Wow, this'll be an extra challenge today.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And my remote control

Pastor Dale Tunnell: ran away.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I would

Pastor Dale Tunnell: tell you

Pastor Dale Tunnell: actually

Pastor Dale Tunnell: again

Pastor Dale Tunnell: like

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Yeah, I'd rather use this.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Can I use the pulpit

Pastor Dale Tunnell: mic?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I'll make myself stand still.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I'd rather do that than

Pastor Dale Tunnell: yeah, there we go.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Every day

Pastor Dale Tunnell: of the week

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Monday through Friday, I receive an email

Pastor Dale Tunnell: entitled Mikey's Funnies.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I signed up for Mikey's Funnies

Pastor Dale Tunnell: over

Pastor Dale Tunnell: 30 years ago

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Do you know how many funnies

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I have in my email?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Yeah, this week on Friday he wrote this.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Says

Pastor Dale Tunnell: this weekend

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I will be off on Monday.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He says, I want to remind you, Armed Forces Day is for those who are still in uniform.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Veterans Day is for those who

Pastor Dale Tunnell: hung up

Pastor Dale Tunnell: their

Pastor Dale Tunnell: uniform.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Memorial Day is for those who never got out of their uniform.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We need to remember those

Pastor Dale Tunnell: individuals

Pastor Dale Tunnell: who have fought bravely for us.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Now I will share with you the funny that he sent.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And this

Pastor Dale Tunnell: one

Pastor Dale Tunnell: is in quotation marks

Pastor Dale Tunnell: because it is not

Pastor Dale Tunnell: funny.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: It was raining cats and dogs, and I was late for my physical training.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Traffic was backed up at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and was moving way too slowly.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I was probably going to be late, and was growing more and more impatient.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: The pace slowed almost to a standstill as I passed Memorial Grove.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: The site built to honor the soldiers who died in the Gander

Pastor Dale Tunnell: airplane crash, the worst redeployment accident in the history of the 101st Airborne Division.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Because it was close to Memorial Day, a small American flag had been placed on the ground next to each soldier's memorial plaque.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: My concern at the time, however, was getting

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Yeah.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Just wanted to make sure you were awake, so

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I'm still here, my headset.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: My concern.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Yeah.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Yeah, that's what it was like on Thursday.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: My concern at the time, however, was getting past the bottleneck, getting out of the rain, and getting to my physical therapy on time.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: All of

Pastor Dale Tunnell: a sudden, infuriatingly, just as the traffic was getting started again, the car in front of me

Pastor Dale Tunnell: stopped.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: A soldier, a private, of course, jumped out of the

Pastor Dale Tunnell: pouring rain

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and ran over toward one of the grove

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I mean toward the grove.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I couldn't believe it.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: This knucklehead was holding up every one, for who knows what kind of prank.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Horns were honking.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I waited to see the chewing

Pastor Dale Tunnell: out

Pastor Dale Tunnell: that I wanted to give him

Pastor Dale Tunnell: for making me late.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He was getting soaked to the skin.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: His BDUs were plastered to his frame.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I watched as he ran up to one of the memorial plaques,

Pastor Dale Tunnell: picked up the small American flag that had fallen to the ground in the wind

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and the rain, and set it upright.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Then slowly he came to attention, saluted, ran back to his car, and drove off.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I will never forget that incident.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: That soldier, whose name I will never know

Pastor Dale Tunnell: ,

Pastor Dale Tunnell: taught me more about duty, honor, and respect

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Than a hundred books or a thousand lectures.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: That simple salute, that single act of honoring the fallen brother

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and his flag, encouraged me

Pastor Dale Tunnell: For my mission.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: It said, I will never forget.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I will keep the faith.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I will finish

Pastor Dale Tunnell: the mission.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I

Pastor Dale Tunnell: am an American soldier.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We thank God for examples like that.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: On this

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Memorial Day.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Examples like that

Pastor Dale Tunnell: can

Pastor Dale Tunnell: encourage us.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: As has already been mentioned today, we are talking about encouragement

Pastor Dale Tunnell: in our one-another series.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We have been talking about one-anothering, the Bible texts in the New Testament that talk about

Pastor Dale Tunnell: how

Pastor Dale Tunnell: we are supposed to relate to one another.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: It's it's very good

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and it's it's excellent for us to say we need to accomplish the mission.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: That there's a world out there that needs to hear it.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: But friends, if we bring the world out here, out there, in here, and we don't know how to relate to one another

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We're in a bad way.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Statistically speaking, they tell us

Pastor Dale Tunnell: That

Pastor Dale Tunnell: it

Pastor Dale Tunnell: between forty

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and fifty percent of our church is exiting the back door.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And the number one reason is not theology.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: The number one reason is not because they've lost their faith in God.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: The number one reason is because

Pastor Dale Tunnell: of the way we treat one another.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: This

Pastor Dale Tunnell: one

Pastor Dale Tunnell: anothering, how

Pastor Dale Tunnell: we relate to each other, is

Pastor Dale Tunnell: important

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Now I know what some of us say.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We say, oh, their skin is too thin.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Can't they take it?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: The reality is

Pastor Dale Tunnell: they probably have been taking it for quite some time.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And sometimes after you take it for quite some time, it's

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Would sure be if you had some

Pastor Dale Tunnell: good, if you had some words of encouragement.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I feel sorry

Pastor Dale Tunnell: for there are

Pastor Dale Tunnell: sound booth individuals.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I'm picking on them today, okay?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I feel sorry for them

Pastor Dale Tunnell: because the only words they tend to hear from us

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Is when things go wrong.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I mean, I know some of us we

Pastor Dale Tunnell: we may say a few words of encouragement

Pastor Dale Tunnell: once in a while.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: But the reality is

Pastor Dale Tunnell: the words they hear, the words they remember

Pastor Dale Tunnell: is

Pastor Dale Tunnell: My

Pastor Dale Tunnell: battery pack's not working.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: The words they tend to hear is, why was there ringing in my ears all during the service?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: The words they tend to hear

Pastor Dale Tunnell: are the negative things that we tend

Pastor Dale Tunnell: to say.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I remember my dad

Pastor Dale Tunnell: my dad loved to sing.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: In fact, his

Pastor Dale Tunnell: when he would talk on the CB, his handle on the C B was Singing Cowboy.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And so I grew up with him singing all the time.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And there was a a song I I

Pastor Dale Tunnell: did I write it down

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Yeah, a Dean Martin song.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: But the phrase that I remember him singing, I I think the song is

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Lay Some Happiness on Me.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: But the phrase I remember him singing, and he would sing it often, was, Tell me I'm great, and I'll be greater.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Fill me up, and I'll fly.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I remember my dad singing this, and as I got to

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I mean, as a kid, you just kind of hear these songs.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You know, he

Pastor Dale Tunnell: sang all kinds of songs.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: But as I grew up, I realized the kind of person that my dad is.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: His love language is

Pastor Dale Tunnell: words of affirmation.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And so

Pastor Dale Tunnell: he was

Pastor Dale Tunnell: singing this song

Pastor Dale Tunnell: to

Pastor Dale Tunnell: his family, his wife

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and children.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Trying to give us a message of

Pastor Dale Tunnell: encouragement

Pastor Dale Tunnell: If you give me encouragement, I can do even better.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: First Thessalonians

Pastor Dale Tunnell: five, verse eleven.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Says, Therefore, encourage one another

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and build each other up, just as

Pastor Dale Tunnell: in fact you

Pastor Dale Tunnell: are doing.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Encourage each other

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and build each other up.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Some of you I know uh have been into sports.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Some of you are are runners.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I told you before that I have runs

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Uh

Pastor Dale Tunnell: there was a period of time when I was a runner.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I don't know if I should say it that way.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I still do some running, but I have not entered any uh

Pastor Dale Tunnell: long

Pastor Dale Tunnell: distance runs lately, but I I like the part about running when it comes time to run

Pastor Dale Tunnell: because there are lots of s

Pastor Dale Tunnell: often

Pastor Dale Tunnell: spectators along the way.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And the spectators are out there clapping and cheering

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and and saying, You

Pastor Dale Tunnell: got this, you can do it.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Keep going.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You've made it this far, you'll hit the finish line.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Keep moving.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And they are speaking.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Words of encouragement.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Words of hope.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I

Pastor Dale Tunnell: when you go to a uh a sports event, when you go to one of their arenas.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You

Pastor Dale Tunnell: you the the team that you are cheering

Pastor Dale Tunnell: for, you

Pastor Dale Tunnell: you say those words.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: If you go to the baseball game, they they play the organ

Pastor Dale Tunnell: there and they try and get you excited.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And

Pastor Dale Tunnell: that you sing for your for your home team.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You you cry out to the batter that's up there.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You say their name.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Those are are words of encouragement.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I remember the first time my dad was invited to

Pastor Dale Tunnell: to preach.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: At a predominantly black church.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I was a kid in in Oklahoma and my dad, I mean, to me, he was the greatest preacher in the world.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and he he told

Pastor Dale Tunnell: excellent stories and I I love

Pastor Dale Tunnell: to listen to him

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and

Pastor Dale Tunnell: but the one thing that I really liked about my father

Pastor Dale Tunnell: is that when it came twelve o'clock he'd stop.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I don't know how he did it.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I mean

Pastor Dale Tunnell: sometimes he would only have ten

Pastor Dale Tunnell: or fifteen

Pastor Dale Tunnell: minutes to talk, but when he came

Pastor Dale Tunnell: twelve o'clock

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He'd try and find a way to wind it down.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Now he may go a little bit over, but I remember going to that that predominantly black church with him, and when he stood up to preach, it was five minutes to twelve.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And

Pastor Dale Tunnell: my brother and I were like, what's dad gonna do now?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We

Pastor Dale Tunnell: know

Pastor Dale Tunnell: our father, and we know that he

Pastor Dale Tunnell: cannot only preach a five-minute sermon.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: That

Pastor Dale Tunnell: just wasn't in him.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And so it got to 12 o'clock and our

Pastor Dale Tunnell: our

Pastor Dale Tunnell: we were listening, we were watching.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: What's dad gonna do?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He kept going with his sermon.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He got to five after 12, and all of a sudden

Pastor Dale Tunnell: somebody shouted out, Amen!

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And as soon as somebody said

Pastor Dale Tunnell: amen, another person said, preach it to us.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And as soon as they said those things, my dad had a little bit more energy

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and he started

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Going a little longer and after another couple of minutes

Pastor Dale Tunnell: people were crying out, tell us what you mean

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And boy, he got to go in there and they got to talking to him, and that conversation went back and forth and back and forth.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And my dad managed to make it all the way to past 1230.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He gave them the full message that he had prepared.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Because they were encouraging him.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: It was the words of encouragement that got him, in his words, motivated

Pastor Dale Tunnell: to

Pastor Dale Tunnell: share

Pastor Dale Tunnell: the gospel that he had planned on that day

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Why don't we usually do this?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Why don't we often share?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I wrote down a couple of reasons we don't usually share.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: It's number one.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We don't want to give people pride.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We don't want to give them any reason to be proud.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And so

Pastor Dale Tunnell: we don't speak those words of encouragement.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We don't say those words of of hope, those words to

Pastor Dale Tunnell: to

Pastor Dale Tunnell: to motivate them, because

Pastor Dale Tunnell: we know what happens when a person gets proud.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: They

Pastor Dale Tunnell: turn into a Lucifer

Pastor Dale Tunnell: that becomes a Satan.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And we don't want to help people do that.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And so

Pastor Dale Tunnell: we are less likely to

Pastor Dale Tunnell: speak

Pastor Dale Tunnell: those words of encouragement.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Second one is

Pastor Dale Tunnell: successful people get encouragement all the time.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I mean the reason they are successful, the reason they've gotten to the place they are

Pastor Dale Tunnell: is because

Pastor Dale Tunnell: somebody is

Pastor Dale Tunnell: is telling them successful things.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Telling them encouraging things.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And so

Pastor Dale Tunnell: if I add on to that, then they

Pastor Dale Tunnell: they will get proud

Pastor Dale Tunnell: because

Pastor Dale Tunnell: they are receiving that.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I'm going to tell you something.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Most people

Pastor Dale Tunnell: do not hear encouraging words

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You're cashier at Walmart.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Oh yeah, you do that yourself.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Um

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You get what I'm saying.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You're cashier at the at this

Pastor Dale Tunnell: grocery store.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: That's not you.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: They don't hear the encouraging words.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: They hear when they do it wrong.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: But they don't often hear the encouraging words.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: In fact, I have gotten to the place where, you know, if I'm going to a a restaurant or if I'm going to a hotel, I don't read the reviews.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Now

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Cheryl says

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I should read the reviews.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: She says, oh, this one says, you know, and she'll read the reviews and she'll say, oh, we don't want to go there.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We don't want to go there.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And I and and

Pastor Dale Tunnell: My philosophy is

Pastor Dale Tunnell: the people that write reviews, why would a person write a positive review?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I mean, if you're going to write a positive review, they have to have gone above and beyond my expectations

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Now, if a person goes above and beyond my expectations, I might write them a positive review.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: But let me tell you, they slip up.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I'm deducting a star.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And they slip up twice, you

Pastor Dale Tunnell: you get my what I'm saying here?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And we begin to deduct the stars.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: It's really easy to get stars deducted.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: It's really hard to get stars added.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Those words of encouragement

Pastor Dale Tunnell: are

Pastor Dale Tunnell: important.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Going back here, 1

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Thessalonians 5, God tells us, therefore, encourage one another.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: What are we supposed to do?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Encourage one another.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Encourage one another.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Who needs encouragement the most?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Ah, I like that answer.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Good answer.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Everybody.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Look at the person on your right

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Look at the person on your left.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Those people need encouragement.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Look at the person behind you.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Those people need encouragement.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We need to be encouraging one another.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: This is a

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Do I say a command from God?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: That we are to be encouraging.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: to each other.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Why?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Because

Pastor Dale Tunnell: God

Pastor Dale Tunnell: is

Pastor Dale Tunnell: an encourager.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: God

Pastor Dale Tunnell: is

Pastor Dale Tunnell: an encourager.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Why don't you

Pastor Dale Tunnell: open your Bible there?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: John

Pastor Dale Tunnell: chapter 14.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: John

Pastor Dale Tunnell: here.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: This is the part where Jesus is with his

Pastor Dale Tunnell: disciples after the footwashing.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Starts off with

Pastor Dale Tunnell: let

Pastor Dale Tunnell: not your heart be troubled

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We often remember that one.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Let not your heart be troubled.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: So I want you to remember

Pastor Dale Tunnell: in that context of

Pastor Dale Tunnell: let

Pastor Dale Tunnell: not your heart be troubled.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I'm going away to prepare a place for you.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: God

Pastor Dale Tunnell: says this, verse 16.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He says, and I will pray the Father, and he will give you another.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: What's

Pastor Dale Tunnell: your version say?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: If you have the the New

Pastor Dale Tunnell: King James, he says helper.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: If you have the King James, it says Comforter.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: If you have the NIV, it says

Pastor Dale Tunnell: All of a sudden I can't remember what the NIV says.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Counselor.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Um

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I'm gonna go back here.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Look at verse 26.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Verse 26

Pastor Dale Tunnell: says, But the helper

Pastor Dale Tunnell: The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that He said to you.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Turn the page, chapter 15.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Verse

Pastor Dale Tunnell: 26.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: But

Pastor Dale Tunnell: when the helper

Pastor Dale Tunnell: comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father,

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He will testify of me, and you will also bear witness, because you have been with

Pastor Dale Tunnell: me

Pastor Dale Tunnell: from the beginning.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Turn the page again, chapter 16, verse 7.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Says, nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: For if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: But if I depart

Pastor Dale Tunnell: ,

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I will send him

Pastor Dale Tunnell: to you, and he will come and convict the world of sin and of righteousness

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and of judgment.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Jesus here promises in these verses

Pastor Dale Tunnell: that the Holy Spirit is going to come

Pastor Dale Tunnell: When Jesus goes away.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Now he's trying to give them words of hope.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He's trying to give them words of affirmation

Pastor Dale Tunnell: that the helper, the comforter, is going

Pastor Dale Tunnell: to come.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Now I'm going to tell you a little bit of Greek.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Perikletos

Pastor Dale Tunnell: is the word for

Pastor Dale Tunnell: counselor, or is the word for comforter, or is the word for helper

Pastor Dale Tunnell: in each of these verses.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Now

Pastor Dale Tunnell: they translate it different ways

Pastor Dale Tunnell: with different versions.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: But as you look through Scripture.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: The

Pastor Dale Tunnell: verb form

Pastor Dale Tunnell: of that word, pericaleo

Pastor Dale Tunnell: ,

Pastor Dale Tunnell: is

Pastor Dale Tunnell: mostly translated

Pastor Dale Tunnell: to

Pastor Dale Tunnell: encourage.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Now

Pastor Dale Tunnell: think about that for just a moment.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: In other places in Scripture, when that verb form of that word comes along, it's used to encourage, to encourage, to encourage

Pastor Dale Tunnell: So if you go back to those verses, you can read them, an encourager is going to come.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: That's exactly the role of the Holy Spirit.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: That encourager, synonym, comforter, synonym, helper.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Is coming.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: That's what it's talking about.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: That's what I mean when I say

Pastor Dale Tunnell: God

Pastor Dale Tunnell: is an encourager.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Jesus at this time

Pastor Dale Tunnell: was trying to encourage the disciples

Pastor Dale Tunnell: They were afraid.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: They were fearful.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I mean, they were so afraid there in John, few verses,

Pastor Dale Tunnell: few chapters previously, Jesus wouldn't go

Pastor Dale Tunnell: certain places.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He was leaving the area of Judah and going to Galilee.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Because he was afraid, they

Pastor Dale Tunnell: were afraid of what was happening there in Judah.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And he was

Pastor Dale Tunnell: he was leaving that

Pastor Dale Tunnell: because people were trying to to kill him

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Jesus here is trying to comfort the disciples and say that when he is going away, someone is going to come.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: The Holy Spirit is going to come.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And that Holy Spirit is going to be an encourager in their life.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Do you need encouragement in your life?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Ah, then you and I should be praying for the Holy Spirit in our life.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We

Pastor Dale Tunnell: should be pleading with God to give us the Holy Spirit

Pastor Dale Tunnell: if we need

Pastor Dale Tunnell: encouragement, if we need

Pastor Dale Tunnell: synonym, comforter

Pastor Dale Tunnell: If we need

Pastor Dale Tunnell: synonym

Pastor Dale Tunnell: helper

Pastor Dale Tunnell: in our life, we should be asking for

Pastor Dale Tunnell: the Holy Spirit.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Second

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Peter

Pastor Dale Tunnell: chapter one, verse twenty-one.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: One of the ways that the Holy Spirit

Pastor Dale Tunnell: encourages

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Second

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Peter

Pastor Dale Tunnell: chapter

Pastor Dale Tunnell: one

Pastor Dale Tunnell: verse

Pastor Dale Tunnell: twenty-one

Pastor Dale Tunnell: says, For prophecy never came from the will of men, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Or

Pastor Dale Tunnell: as a new international

Pastor Dale Tunnell: version says, holy men of God spoke as they were carried along

Pastor Dale Tunnell: by the Holy Spirit.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Holy men of God spoke as they were encouraged

Pastor Dale Tunnell: by the Holy Spirit.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: That's trying to tell us that prophecy, words from the Bible, were given to us as

Pastor Dale Tunnell: a means of

Pastor Dale Tunnell: encouragement.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: If you want to be encouraged, if you are praying for the Holy Spirit

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and you are

Pastor Dale Tunnell: want to be encouraged, read the Bible.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: God

Pastor Dale Tunnell: 's word

Pastor Dale Tunnell: is supposed to bring us hope.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: It's supposed to bring us encouragement.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Second Timothy chapter 3, verse 16

2 Timothy 3:16

Pastor Dale Tunnell: says, All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: How much is scripture is given by inspiration?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Where does that inspiration come from?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: God

Pastor Dale Tunnell: the

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Holy Spirit.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: That's one of the roles of the Holy Spirit.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: is

Pastor Dale Tunnell: to carry men along so they can be inspired to write this

Pastor Dale Tunnell: word.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And

Pastor Dale Tunnell: when I say this word, I should say specifically he's talking about there, this Old Testament part.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Because that's what it's referring to when

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Paul writes

Pastor Dale Tunnell: there

Pastor Dale Tunnell: all

Pastor Dale Tunnell: scripture.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: That Old Testament part is given.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Or

Pastor Dale Tunnell: the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We need to be reading God's word

Pastor Dale Tunnell: if we need

Pastor Dale Tunnell: encouragement, because that's one of the ways the Holy Spirit encourages us.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Now

Pastor Dale Tunnell: if you're questioning that, turn your Bible to Titus

Pastor Dale Tunnell: chapter 1

Pastor Dale Tunnell: This is where Paul is writing to Titus

Pastor Dale Tunnell: when he tells

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Titus

Pastor Dale Tunnell: to go throughout the the province there and to ordain elders

Pastor Dale Tunnell: or ordain

Pastor Dale Tunnell: pastors

Pastor Dale Tunnell: in the various areas there to

Pastor Dale Tunnell: for church leadership

Pastor Dale Tunnell: This is what Paul tells Titus

Pastor Dale Tunnell: about

Pastor Dale Tunnell: the pastor.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He said, he, that's talking about the pastor, the church elder, he must hold firmly to

Pastor Dale Tunnell: to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can

Pastor Dale Tunnell: encourage others by sound doctrine

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and refute those who oppose it.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: How's the leadership supposed to be using the word?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: As

Pastor Dale Tunnell: encouragement

Pastor Dale Tunnell: This is supposed to encourage us.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Now lest you think that's a mistake

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Second Timothy chapter

Pastor Dale Tunnell: four, where Paul is trying to encourage Timothy and hi

Pastor Dale Tunnell: his role as a a

Pastor Dale Tunnell: a leader there in the church.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He says, Preach

Pastor Dale Tunnell: the word.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Be prepared in season and out of season.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Be prepared when?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: All the time

Pastor Dale Tunnell: to preach the word.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Correct.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Rebuke.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And what's that next word?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Encourage.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Encourage.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: That's what preaching is for.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: To correct, rebuke, and encourage

Pastor Dale Tunnell: with great patience and careful

Pastor Dale Tunnell: instruction.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: The Holy Spirit seeks to encourage us with these thoughts.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: The Holy Spirit tells Paul to write to

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Timothy and to Titus

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and tells them the

Pastor Dale Tunnell: role of what God's word

Pastor Dale Tunnell: is supposed to be in the life of the church.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Now, in the place where Paul talks about this the most

Pastor Dale Tunnell: It's in the book of Hebrews, where he talks about encouragement.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Hebrews chapter 10.

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He talks about encouragement here.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: This is where he

Pastor Dale Tunnell: If you want to say

Pastor Dale Tunnell: wax

Pastor Dale Tunnell: is eloquent on encouraging.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Hebrews chapter 10

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Verse 25

Pastor Dale Tunnell: says, Let us not give up

Pastor Dale Tunnell: meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: But

Pastor Dale Tunnell: let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the day approaching.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Now, when COVID

Pastor Dale Tunnell: came

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I got a little bit worried when they told us we could not meet together as a church.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I mean, my fear was, what are we going to do with this verse?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: If the end of the world is coming, and the world is telling us, don't meet together, and this verse tells me, let us not give up meeting together.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Who am I going to obey?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We have to

Pastor Dale Tunnell: we have to make a decision.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Now I'm going to tell you, that doesn't mean we have to make foolish decisions.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Okay?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: That doesn't mean we have to come together in this building, in this church, in this place for a meeting together.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: That means we can be wise and we can meet together in other places, in other ways, in other forms.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: But I'm going to tell you, this meeting together

Pastor Dale Tunnell: is

Pastor Dale Tunnell: important.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: All

Pastor Dale Tunnell: the more as you see the day approaching

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Paul says

Pastor Dale Tunnell: we are to meet together for what purpose?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Encourage one another

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Now I am so thankful that we have the the video cameras.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I'm thankful that there are people that watch online

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and watching people preach and listening to sermons online, it can be a boost to your soul.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: During the week.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: But there's just something about Sabbath.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I mean, something special about

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Sabbath

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I mean

Pastor Dale Tunnell: last year we we took our

Pastor Dale Tunnell: our ten

Pastor Dale Tunnell: year old grandson

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and we went to

Pastor Dale Tunnell: were

Pastor Dale Tunnell: we in Spain on Sabbath?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: What do you do on Sabbath

Pastor Dale Tunnell: in a foreign country?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Well, according to grandma and grandpa, we go to church.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We get to church there in Spain

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and

Pastor Dale Tunnell: There's nobody that speaks English.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Or if they speak English, it's

Pastor Dale Tunnell: fifteen, twenty

Pastor Dale Tunnell: words of English.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And so we're sitting there, we listen to Sabbath

Pastor Dale Tunnell: school, and boy, do you know what?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: There's this wonderful thing called Google Translate, and I just turned that on, and it gave us live translation as we were going along there.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I'd never had that before.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I'd been to lots of other churches and never used that.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Wish I had.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Had had it.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: But I'm just going to say, even if I didn't have it, that was the place to be.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I mean, there is encouragement

Pastor Dale Tunnell: getting together with the brothers

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and sisters of the Seventh-day Adventist

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Church, even if you don't understand anything.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: There's just

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I don't know, just a blessing that you get.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Especially when you see them pull out their

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Sabbath

Pastor Dale Tunnell: school study guide.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And you know, I know what they're studying.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Oh, I wish I could speak their language.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I would have a word or two to share.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: But

Pastor Dale Tunnell: you know that you're you're part of something bigger than

Pastor Dale Tunnell: yourself.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You know that you're part of something bigger than your local church.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You know that you're part of something bigger than

Pastor Dale Tunnell: America.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: There are other individuals that are out there that are worshiping on the seventh day, worshiping the God of heaven, the maker of heaven and earth.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And your heart is just blessed by that.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: It is encouraged.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You are strengthened by that.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: So I encourage you if you go and visit other countries, even if you don't speak the language,

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Go to church on Sabbath.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We were in one country.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We showed up on Sabbath

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and the people out, they could speak English.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And the people asked us, what

Pastor Dale Tunnell: are you doing here?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And I say, we're on vacation in this lovely paradise that you have.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: What are you doing here today?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Well, it's Sabbath.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: This is church.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: It's God's holy day.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: When other individuals come, we hear about it after they have left the island.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: What are you doing here?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I'm here to worship with.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Oh, Cheryl

Pastor Dale Tunnell: was

Pastor Dale Tunnell: so

Pastor Dale Tunnell: embarrassed.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: They took me up

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and they

Pastor Dale Tunnell: got me on the platform

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I was

Pastor Dale Tunnell: so blessed

Pastor Dale Tunnell: because sitting in the pews, the

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I mean

Pastor Dale Tunnell: not pews, the the area was just packed

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and it was so hot.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: It was stifling

Pastor Dale Tunnell: hot.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I got up there on the platform

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and they had a fan.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And there was no one

Pastor Dale Tunnell: pressing

Pastor Dale Tunnell: on my side.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And I could feel the air go around me.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And even though there was

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Somebody special preaching that day.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Oh, it was a blessing to be in church.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: It was a blessing to worship with other individuals.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: God

Pastor Dale Tunnell: has a special blessing for us if we will meet together.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Now

Pastor Dale Tunnell: it doesn't have to happen in church.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I'm going to tell you, the day may come where it may be against the law to come to a church.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Like during COVID time or something similar, worse

Pastor Dale Tunnell: coming up, or

Pastor Dale Tunnell: who knows what.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Get together in your home.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Get together with

Pastor Dale Tunnell: other believers in places where you can share, where you can encourage, where you can uplift one another.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: This is what Paul says.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Let us not give up meeting together.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: If you read the context there, if you have your Bible open, that's great.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I'll put it on the screen for you there.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Verse 22.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Let us draw near to God with the

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Sincere heart and with a full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Paul is telling us we are to

Pastor Dale Tunnell: grow in faith.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Secondly, verse 23, it says

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who has promised is faithful.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: This meeting together is to remind us that we have a hope.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Do we have a hope?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We do.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Keep going, and let us consider how we may what?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Spur

Pastor Dale Tunnell: one another on towards love and good deeds.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: This is to be an in

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I know you don't think of it that way.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You may have the mentality that I have.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: When I think of spur, I think of these things I wear on my cowboy boots.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: When I uh

Pastor Dale Tunnell: you know, when you ride the the horses and things and the

Pastor Dale Tunnell: those those spurs

Pastor Dale Tunnell: are you use on the horse to

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Encourage them.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Now we don't like that kind of encouragement, do we?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: But that's the terminology, that's the the word that

Pastor Dale Tunnell: that's used to

Pastor Dale Tunnell: encourage us.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: toward

Pastor Dale Tunnell: love and good deeds.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: That's what we're supposed to do

Pastor Dale Tunnell: when we come together.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We are to help each other

Pastor Dale Tunnell: grow in their faith, grow in their knowledge of who God is, grow in their their ability to trust God.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: grow in their hope of what God has for us, and grow in their ability to love and to perform good deeds.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: That's our purpose for coming together.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Verse twenty five

Pastor Dale Tunnell: says, let

Pastor Dale Tunnell: us not give up meeting together

Pastor Dale Tunnell: for those reasons.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Why'd you come to church today?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I hope it was to get some words of encouragement.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: So

Pastor Dale Tunnell: that you can be spurred a little bit.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Or

Pastor Dale Tunnell: as we often say, so that you can have your toes stepped on.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: So that you can be motivated to do those things that you know that you need to be doing, so that you can be encouraged to grow in your walk with God

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Paul gives us another example of this

Pastor Dale Tunnell: when he was riding to the third

Pastor Dale Tunnell: the church of Thessalonica.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Church of Thessalonica

Pastor Dale Tunnell: was facing some problems.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Those individuals had come out of

Pastor Dale Tunnell: paganism.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And when they came out of paganism, they had been taught that Jesus was coming.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: What's the word we use?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Soon.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Yeah.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And that Jesus was coming soon

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and that they were going to be caught up in the clouds to be

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Jesus.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: But as

Pastor Dale Tunnell: time went on, Jesus's

Pastor Dale Tunnell: that word

Pastor Dale Tunnell: soon

Pastor Dale Tunnell: was not what they thought soon was, and some of their membership had been dying.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And they

Pastor Dale Tunnell: were worried about those individuals that had died

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and were not alive to see Jesus come in the clouds of glory.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And so they were asking questions.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Is

Pastor Dale Tunnell: this real?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Paul writes to them in First Thessalonians.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He tells them, brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Or I like that other word that he used in a different translation.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Do you know what that word is?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Ignorant.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He says, I don't want you to be ignorant.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I don't want you to be uninformed.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Now you know what an ignorant means.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: That's a person that is not informed.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I don't want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind

Pastor Dale Tunnell: who have no hope.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He's encouraging them.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He

Pastor Dale Tunnell: tells them what's going to happen to those people who have fallen asleep.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He says, according to the Lord's word.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: According to what?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: The Bible, according to what's been written, according to the documentation that we have.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: There's a reason that he points back to this.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: The Holy Spirit has been doing something with this.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You need encouragement?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Read the word.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He says,

Pastor Dale Tunnell: According to the Lord's word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: will

Pastor Dale Tunnell: certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command

Pastor Dale Tunnell: with

Pastor Dale Tunnell: the voice of the archangel, with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: After that

Pastor Dale Tunnell: we

Pastor Dale Tunnell: who are still alive and are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Oh, don't you love this picture?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And

Pastor Dale Tunnell: so we will be with the Lord forever.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Paul could

Pastor Dale Tunnell: have stopped there.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He had given them

Pastor Dale Tunnell: present truth.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He had given them the

Pastor Dale Tunnell: theology that they needed to correct their misunderstanding of what was taking place.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He could have stopped there, but he didn't.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: What's the next word?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Yeah, therefore

Pastor Dale Tunnell: encourage

Pastor Dale Tunnell: one another with these words.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Paracaleo.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: That verb form

Pastor Dale Tunnell: to encourage.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Therefore, encourage one another with these words.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: These are the kind of words that are supposed to bring bring hope.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: These are the kind of words that are supposed to bring encouragement.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: These are the kind of words that are supposed to bring motivation

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And these are the kind of words that are supposed to spur us on towards

Pastor Dale Tunnell: good

Pastor Dale Tunnell: deeds, love

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and and good deeds, uh to to do action.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Does it work?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: For some people.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Does it work?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Sometimes.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: What motivates you?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Is it

Pastor Dale Tunnell: words of encouragement?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I mean

Pastor Dale Tunnell: you you

Pastor Dale Tunnell: have this balance.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: What what motivates people?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I mean

Pastor Dale Tunnell: some people are are motivated by by the the

Pastor Dale Tunnell: these words of encouragement

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and some

Pastor Dale Tunnell: people are motivated by a a quick

Pastor Dale Tunnell: swift kick in the pants.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Well, you know, what motivates you?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: The carrot that they're holding in front of you or somebody chasing you?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Right?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Which one's going to motivate you more?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: It depends on the situation.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: It depends on what's going on.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Paul is is trying to encourage us.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Paul is being used by the Holy Spirit to

Pastor Dale Tunnell: try and encourage us, to try and motivate us, to try and

Pastor Dale Tunnell: get us to move in the right direction.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Are we listening?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Proverbs

Pastor Dale Tunnell: says similar things.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Cheers him

Pastor Dale Tunnell: up.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Keep going here.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Proverbs sixteen, verse twenty-four.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Pleasant words are

Pastor Dale Tunnell: what?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and healing to the bones.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: What kind of words do we need to hear?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: What do we need to

Pastor Dale Tunnell: happen in our life?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Story is told about

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Jan Potterowski.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He was having a concert.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He was a concert pianist.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And there was a family that wanted to go and and listen to his concert

Pastor Dale Tunnell: because they had a young son that was about seven years old.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: who

Pastor Dale Tunnell: was learning to play the piano.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And so they took him to the concert

Pastor Dale Tunnell: so that he could

Pastor Dale Tunnell: see a master at work

Pastor Dale Tunnell: at the piano.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: They didn't have the best seats, but they got there early.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: They were sitting, they were on an aisle.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And

Pastor Dale Tunnell: somehow the parents got distracted

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and the the the boy got up and he made his way to the

Pastor Dale Tunnell: piano that was on the stage.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And

Pastor Dale Tunnell: he

Pastor Dale Tunnell: went up to the piano and he sat down on the piano bench.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He had done that before in

Pastor Dale Tunnell: practicing and things, and so he knew what a piano was for.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He knew what the piano bench was for.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: But when he sat down there.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Nobody seemed to notice.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: So he put his hands out on the keys and he began to play the song that he had recently learned.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Chopsticks.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: How many of you know chopsticks?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Yeah, a few of you taking piano lessons, huh?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And the moment he starts playing chopsticks, all of a sudden everybody that's there a little bit early

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Their eyes turn to the piano.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: They look at who's playing, and they see the young boy sitting there on the bench playing chopsticks

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And mom

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and dad sitting there

Pastor Dale Tunnell: when they see their son, can you imagine what they feel?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: The pianist

Pastor Dale Tunnell: sees what's happening, and he sneaks up behind the boy

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and he whispers in his ear, Keep playing.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And he reaches his arms around the boy, and he begins to accompany the boy

Pastor Dale Tunnell: as he is playing

Pastor Dale Tunnell: chopsticks.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Oh, I can think of a lot of ways that that could have ended differently.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I

Pastor Dale Tunnell: can think of so many thing

Pastor Dale Tunnell: ways that could have ended differently.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You think about the boy and that boy's love

Pastor Dale Tunnell: for music afterwards.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You think about the words of hope, the words of encouragement, the words of affirmation, that

Pastor Dale Tunnell: just spoken by the pianist, just

Pastor Dale Tunnell: as the boy was sitting there playing.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Chopsticks.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: The words of hope.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: The words of affirmation

Pastor Dale Tunnell: As the pianist

Pastor Dale Tunnell: simply said, Keep playing.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Well my slides disappeared.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Okay, yeah.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: One more Bible text.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Proverbs 25.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: A

Pastor Dale Tunnell: word

Pastor Dale Tunnell: aptly spoken is like apples of gold.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: In settings of silver.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: A word

Pastor Dale Tunnell: aptly spoken is like apples of gold

Pastor Dale Tunnell: in settings of silver.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Who can

Pastor Dale Tunnell: you encourage this week?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Homework assignment, okay?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Who can you encourage this week

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Who needs to hear the right words?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Who needs to

Pastor Dale Tunnell: be motivated in just the right way, the words of Scripture?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Who needs to be encouraged by the Holy Spirit?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: This

Pastor Dale Tunnell: week.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Ah, at least do it once.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Twice would be better.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Ah, let's make it a good three times, okay?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Oh, there's seven days in the week.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Why not just go for seven?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Who can you encourage

Pastor Dale Tunnell: this

Pastor Dale Tunnell: week?