For The Person Who Has Everything: Encouragement

Speaker 5: Well, good morning, Restoration Church.

Glad to be together.

Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas.

Uh, it's gonna be a great month, a great season, hanging

together and worshiping together.

I want to, uh, just, just say from me to you, water baptisms are next week.

These are some of the most important fun services that we have all year.

We've got 14 people, 13 people, 14 people signed up for water baptism

next week across our locations.

Um, always so much fun as you hear of, uh, some true stories about

how Jesus has changed some lives.

So that's happening next week.

If you haven't had a chance to sign up, it is your time.

It is your time and uh, you can do that through the church center

app or at the new here welcome center Uh area at your location.

We are one church.

We have services together Here in dover and in bethlehem milton and

plymouth dover you put your hands together for the other locations

We had a great time at the worship night Last week in Bethlehem and uh, thanks

for everybody who made the trip up there.

Thank you Bethlehem location for hosting us.

It was a special time and uh, heard some great testimonies

out of that night as well.

Um, I, the, for, for the next couple of weeks, I'm gonna do something for you

guys, um, because I don't have a YouTube channel that I want you to know about.

So, during, during our times, every, uh, every week during service, I'm

gonna, I'm just gonna give you a, a, a holiday gift giving guide and,

uh, just a few things that either I've received or that I've given.

That I think are worth, I think they're good, I think everybody would want them.

So, um, so, so, don't be annoyed by me.

Um, but this morning's gift, alright, I've been carrying this thing

around with me for a few years.

It is a Gerber knife, and what it has in it is, are exacto blades.

So replaceable exacto blades.

So I got this a few years ago from my mother in law and I have loved it.

I, I, I'm with it every day unless I misplace it for a month or two.

And uh, when it gets dull, you just change out the blade.

So with this and, and buy a hundred exacto blades with it.

I mean, it's under 30 bucks for this gift.

Plus it's got the built in screwdriver and bottle opener for

when you're traveling in Africa.

Listen, this thing is killer and amazing.

Alright?

And Gerber has a lifetime warranty, so I broke my very first one I

ever got, took a couple pictures of it, they sent me a brand new one.

And a lifetime warranty, I believe.

So there's your gift guide.

Next week, we'll do something for the children.

And, uh, then we'll do something for the ladies the week after that.

But honestly, ladies, if you, um, if you're a crafter and you

use an X Acto knife, this is much cooler than that dangerous open

blade that you've been carrying.

So get yourself something that closes.

Now for this next few weeks through the Christmas season, We are, have this series

titled for the person who has everything.

And we have that kind of that question.

What do I even give this person?

I don't know that they need anything.

But there are some things we can give them that are greater than possessions.

There are things we can give them that are greater than a Gerber knife.

And today, I want to teach and, and, and to teach you to

give the gift of encouragement.

Give the gift of encouragement.

Most of the time, as individuals, we're not feeling very encouraged.

Thank you.

We are feeling discouraged.

We overcooked the turkey.

We're discouraged.

The people we invited to church didn't come.

We're discouraged.

We didn't get the promotion we applied for.

We're discouraged.

We're discouraged.

Our marriage is in a rough spot.

We're discouraged.

We're, uh, we lead a serve team and the serve team people didn't show up.

We're discouraged.

We are leading a song on stage and we sing horrifically out of tune.

We're discouraged.

You're leading a circle.

Nobody came that week.

You're discouraged.

You stepped on the scale thinking you lost 10 pounds and you gained 7.

You're discouraged.

We tend to be more discouraged than we're encouraged.

Is that true for anybody here?

There are some things in scripture about encouragement.

So I want to show you two scriptures right off to just help set the

stage for encouragement, that encouragement is a good gift to give.

First, in Proverbs 16, 24, Kind words are like honey, sweet to

the soul and healthy for the body.

Kind words for you to share.

Kind words with someone you live with.

Kind words with someone you work with.

Kind words with someone that, that teaches you.

Someone that's an authority over you.

Someone that's an authority, or someone that you have authority over.

These, uh, you can, uh, You, if you wanted to, and we didn't have time

this morning, but you can, uh, there are neurological studies done, brave,

brainwave studies done, that when you tell someone no, and you use a discouraging

word, how it fires different parts of the brain, but when you tell them kind

words, how it fires up other parts of the brain, how it releases positive

chemicals within the body, that it literally feels good because it is doing

good things in your body to hear that.

Your body reacts to it in a very positive way.

The next scripture in Proverbs 12, 25, it says, Worry weighs a person down.

An encouraging word cheers a person up.

Give the gift of encouragement.

Now, encouragement, as we talk about in the Bible, it isn't

focused on complimenting someone's haircut, or telling them how

good their homemade salsa tastes.

Those are great things, positive things, um, a way to, to bless another person.

But biblical encouragement goes deeper than that, and that's, you,

you kind of intertwined in the two.

We don't, we want to make sure that we're not just focusing on the

externals, but that we're also focusing on the internal, uh, character of

people, and also making sure that we're helping each other according to.

So if you've got your Bibles, open up to Hebrews chapter 3.

Hebrews 3 · chapter mention

Encouragement that we want to talk about today is the type that's going

to help others walk with Jesus.

The type that is going to help people finish their race.

Because when we made the decision to follow Jesus, there

now becomes an opportunity.

All kinds of discouragement that happens trying to get you to stop before you

start Trying to get you to quit before you finish trying to get you to kind

of be a one and done That you made a decision to follow jesus, but it affects

no one beyond you No one beyond you.

This week we were, uh, we were talking with someone, the pa uh,

the pa we were, uh, here on Tuesday.

The pastors and I were together and we were talking with someone else and

asked them, what book are you reading?

And they said they were reading The Screwtape Letters, which

is this famous book by C.

S.

Lewis, which we would recommend to you to read as well.

And it's a fictional, story of two demons interacting.

Uh, uh, this, this higher ranked demon, who's the uncle of a lower ranked demon.

And the whole story is about, um, trying to get this demons been assigned to

get someone to never believe in God.

And he keeps failing because then they believe in God and then they follow God.

Then they start praying and they, and the letters are going back and

forth, but their uncle's saying like, You're embarrassing me.

You're, like, I, I put your name up for this position, and now they're

praying, now they're reading their Bible.

You've got to do something about that.

And then as it goes on, then the uncle becomes very infuriated because,

listen, it was bad enough that they came to know Jesus, but now their

family members are knowing it.

Like, you, you, you, I'm not gonna be able to protect you.

Like, there's bad things happening for you.

If you don't get this, immediately.

And it's, uh, uh, a fictional, uh, parable helping us understand the spiritual realm.

Some of you would recognize that, hey, when I made the decision to follow

Jesus, things went very bad afterward.

Or every time I make an attempt to follow Jesus, things go bad.

I'm going to give up.

Well, that's exactly what they're trying to get you to do.

That's exactly what the enemies of God want you to do.

They don't want you to discover the John 10 10.

Abundant, overflowing life.

They don't want you to experience forgiveness and freedom.

They don't want you to experience love and unconditional love.

They don't want you to know God.

And so discouragement comes after all of us.

Comes after all of us.

And in Hebrews chapter 3, kind of chapters 1, 2, and 3 leading up to the

Hebrews 3 · chapter mention

passage we're reading, it is The author of Hebrews talking and teaching about

how Jesus is not like anyone else.

Jesus is uncreated.

Jesus is God.

Jesus is part of the Trinity.

Jesus is above all.

He has all authority in heaven and earth.

And some of this we talked about at worship night last week, but,

but Paul's writing about this.

And so he talks about, hey, Jesus is not like an angel.

Angels are powerful.

Angels are supernatural.

Angels are created by Jesus.

Jesus is the uncreated one, but angels were created.

He's not equal.

They're not his rival.

Which means that a fallen angel named Satan is not equal.

He's not a rival.

The other thing that he goes and talks through is he mentions one of

the famous people in church history, in Jewish history, the name of Moses.

A mighty, mighty, powerful prophet, a mighty, powerful man of God,

who saw God, who spoke to God, who spent time alone with God, had

audible conversations with God.

And he says, Jesus is greater than Moses.

He's greater than him.

Moses was created.

Jesus is uncreated.

Moses was used by God.

Jesus was created.

is God.

So he sets all that stage up, trying to help people understand when we're

following Jesus, we're not following some other guy from another religion.

We're not following, um, someone who, who has an equal.

And he goes on into this passage about our faith and walking with Jesus

and about encouraging one another.

So Hebrews chapter three, go down to verse number 12.

We'll read verses 12, 13, and 14, and I'll be reading it in the NIV.

Listen, see to it, brothers and sisters.

So he's, he's talking to people who've said, yeah, I'm

a Christian, I follow Jesus.

See to it, Christians.

That none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.

But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of you

may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.

We have come to share Christ, if indeed we hold our original

conviction firmly to the very end.

See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving

heart that turns away from the living God.

We need to look at our heart, evaluate our heart.

There's a part of looking at our neighbor's heart, our

friend's heart within the church.

Encourage one another daily as long as it's called today.

Couple things about discipline that this scripture talks about

that I want to teach today.

One is having a discipline of encouragement.

A discipline of encouragement, is a habit of encouragement.

He says, encourage one another daily.

As long as it's called today.

Encourage one another daily.

In case that's not clear enough.

What day is today?

Is today, today?

Yes, then today's the day you need to encourage another person.

We encourage.

We tend to put things off, we tend to schedule things for later,

we tend to say, I'll get to it.

But he's saying encouragement is so important that if it's today, it's

the day to encourage each other.

He's teaching us.

To develop a practice, a discipline, a habit of encouraging

someone else every single day.

This is for every follower of Jesus to say, I am going to

encourage another believer today.

Every single one of us carries and acts on that practice.

Sometimes people mope about not receiving encouragement.

Amen.

But this is not our focus.

It's not about receiving.

It's about giving.

And the command is not to receive encouragement daily.

The command is to give encouragement daily.

Make encouragement a daily discipline.

For some of you, it is very, very easy.

You are encouragers, and, and it's so natural to you that when

I say to you, wow, you're such an encourager, you're shocked.

I am?

I didn't know that.

No, you are.

And everybody is like, yeah, that person.

I think we could all think of five to ten people in our church across locations, and

we'd come up with, um, with very similar names of people who are encouragers.

For some of us, it's naturally, but for others, they gag they, not exactly.

What I have to do, and what I'd encourage you to do, is to put it in your calendar.

To use that digital calendar and to make note to practice putting in that

habit of encouraging someone every day.

A calendar to send a note, an email, a text, a phone call.

I have to remind myself

to encourage others.

I have to remind myself to encourage my wife, my kids.

The church staff, I have to remind myself that.

Not because I don't think good things about them, but because it's not in

my nature to communicate that way.

But scripture has called me to act in a way that's not natural, and

I must be obedient to scripture.

The second thing, which I've already kind of touched on, but

it's the command of encouragement.

Paul commonly challenged the churches he led, and the churches

he started, Two, and this is found in 1 Thessalonians, Encourage each

other and build each other up.

Encourage each other and build each other up.

That Christians are Encouraging other Christians and Christians are building

up other Christians Perpetually, non stop, more and more, greater and greater.

And this is not just something that's relegated to people who have

encouragement as a spiritual gift.

So there is a spiritual gift of encouragement that those people function

with a greater grace, a greater ability.

Probably some of the names that we'd all think about are people

who have that spiritual gift.

Uh, Barnabas in scripture is, is likely someone who had that spiritual gift.

He was given the nickname Barnabas.

Son of encouragement.

Alright, so it kind of gives you an idea.

If you've got a nickname of Encour, of encourager, then

you probably have that gift.

But all of us are called to encourage in a similar way.

Some people have a spiritual gift of giving.

It seems like it's very easy for them, very natural to them.

They have ability to give more and more and more and, and they're, they're.

It's very easy, but all of us have a command to give.

So even though someone, uh, has the gift of it, and it's very easy,

it does not take us off the hook.

All of us are called to share our faith, but some have the gift of evangelism, and

so they, what takes us, uh, what's very difficult sometimes for us to do, they've

already done it, you know, 45 times.

So here's, let's talk about this.

Why is encouraging others so important?

Why is it a command for us?

It would seem like of all the things that scripture would call us to

do for encouragement to be really hammered on over and over again.

Why is it so important?

One thing is that our key, and one important thing, probably the most

important thing from this scripture, is that encouragement From other

people, from other believers, keeps our hearts close to Jesus.

In the passage we just said, it said, uh, it, it mentioned our heart two

different times, that you haven't, you can, to protect against an

unbelieving heart and a hardened heart.

And encouragement helps other people from having an unbelieving heart

and developing a hardened heart.

I want to look at a couple things real quick.

About what are some ways might an unbelieving heart show up in your life.

Because, again, remember, he's talking to a church.

He's talking to people who follow Jesus.

So, this idea of an unbelieving heart amongst people who confess they believe,

It's kind of, it's a little bit confusing.

Why would, how could they have unbelieving hearts if they say they believe?

But often times, what happens in our heart happens way before our head.

And in our heart, our heart has started to not believe.

Our heart has wandered and gone astray.

Even though our head and our function practice is, um, is still the same.

Here are some things, I'll put these on the screen for you.

Number one.

Doctrine so these are again.

I'm talking to the believers.

I'll explain these for you But for someone who's who's gone to church for someone

who's following Jesus But you begin to maybe you don't even sense it yourself

But others can see it in you weakening doctrine that you no longer see the Bible.

You no longer see scripture As the authority and you're no longer studying

scripture to find out what to believe.

You're studying blogs to affirm your belief.

That's a sign your, your doctor's weakening.

'cause you're looking at a YouTuber, or a TikTok or, or a blogger of

someone that you never met before to determine what scripture says,

instead of studying scripture.

To find out what it says.

And we see this happening in our country, across churches,

in every single community.

Across denominations, Um, Uh, It is, it is, Uh, a rare, more of a rare

thing to find the church that says, we will align ourselves to scripture,

rather than saying, scripture is going to align to our beliefs.

The second thing is rigid dogma.

Dogma is a set of beliefs that, um, that are kind of outside of the scripture.

Alright, so dogmas can be kind of positive things, they can be negative things,

they just are, but when you're rigid about them, usually that's a bad thing.

We need to be rigid about our doctrine, not about our dogma, and when you get

those things reversed, it's showing an unbelieving, hardening heart.

So, an example of, uh, of a dogma, like a positive dogma that

Restoration Church has, is this.

We have loud music.

We have loud music.

It is something that we do, something that's important to us, something

that we do that believes, glorifies God, something also that keeps us

from having to hear you sing, alright?

So, so it, we believe that with loud music and soft lights, and dim lights,

it'll help other people to worship God.

So, that's why we do it.

We do it to help you worship God.

And, it's a, it's just something we believe.

It's not in scripture.

But sometimes people have a dogma that it's wrong.

Well, you shouldn't have lights, you shouldn't have dark ceilings,

you shouldn't have dark rooms, you shouldn't have loud music.

Those things are wrong.

Well, is it in scripture?

Absolutely not.

In fact, there's more, there's more evidence toward loud music.

It talks about clanging cymbals and, and, and it talks about loud music.

More in scripture than it does about somber music.

So that's an example of a dogma that, that we could say, Hey, whether

it's soft or it's loud, no problem.

We have a, we have a flexibility in how we worship.

But when you begin to say it must be done this way and the other way

is wrong, rigid dogma is wrong.

And another example of this is, uh, uh, you've made, uh, well, the principle is

you've made minor things, major things.

And an example of this would be the names of holidays.

And let me, let me get on my soapbox here for a minute.

And sing Jesus Freak to you.

No, let me get on my soapbox here for a minute.

And every holiday, we have people in our church wigging out, wigging out.

And I apologize for such old terminology.

But, but, freaking out because we either used the word Halloween, or

Easter, or even Christmas, and that somehow using those words has caused

us to compromise something about this.

Whatever you want to call Easter, call it that, but don't be rigid about it.

There's nothing in scripture here that talks about that, or Halloween.

Or Easter, or Fair Food Sunday, or President's Day.

Because it's a minor thing, it does not matter.

And now some of you are getting all wound up like, Whoa, I got an email

for you, I've got an email for you.

You are so wrong.

Listen, it doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter.

When Paul showed up to a pagan town, There was idols everywhere.

Idols everywhere.

And he says, hey, I see this idol right here to an unknown God.

Let me tell you about, about this idol right here.

His name's Jesus.

We'd be freaking out.

You can't call Jesus an idol.

You can't call Jesus an unknown God.

And it's the principle of use the language of the culture to

communicate the glory of God.

We say Easter because that's what people understand.

They have no flippant idea what Resurrection Day is.

We say Halloween because they don't know what Reformation Day is.

We say Christmas because the birth of our virgin Immaculate Savior

does not make any sense to them.

We don't go into another language and speak foreign language to them.

We use their language to help us to open up conversation about who our Savior is.

That's the biblical principle, and that's

The doctrine, not the dogma.

Next one is this, compromised convictions.

And again, this is for the Christian.

All right.

So you're following Jesus.

You made a decision to follow Jesus.

Some of us have been serving him for 3, 4, 5, 10, 25, 65 years.

And are there things you previously would not do that now you're doing?

Think about that for a little bit.

Things you previously would not do that now you're doing.

Now, for some things, we realize we've been taught dogma and not doctrine, and

so when we discover a doctrine that we've been rigid, we can change it and adapt.

An example of this was, in my lifetime, uh, I went to churches,

not Restoration Church, but I, I was part of churches where the ladies

were not allowed to wear pants.

So, some ladies are wearing pants, but in their lifetime,

they never would have before.

Some men are here today, and for the first 15 years of walking with

Jesus, they only came to church in a suit and tie, and now they don't.

Well, that's not in scripture.

So, they begin to say, oh, I've got freedom here.

Now, there's other things where there are a personal conviction, you know, I

cannot do this, but yet, if you evaluate yourself, you are doing these things.

I remember being four years old, and we lived on Horn Street in Dover,

and I get in, my dad had bought this red Chevy Sprint, and I get in, in

it, and it's this tiny car, even for a tiny kid, it was a tiny car.

And my dad had a note.

on the brand new car.

Don't smoke in the car, which is a note to his wife.

Don't smoke in the car.

And I remember, um, sitting in the car and he's like, son, smoking is bad.

Don't smoke.

Smoking is not a good thing.

And we drive off to wherever we're driving.

Fast forward all these years later, all these years later, many

years later, my mom doesn't smoke.

My dad does.

It's It's kind of one of those things where, what has happened, where something

you were, you were so, like, this is not for me, I cannot do this, to now

you're like, yeah, I kinda, I do this.

Those are something you have to really evaluate, really evaluate.

Why did you make the change?

Is it because Is it because of growth or is it because of compromise?

And, and sin is so treacherous that it can convince us otherwise.

Here's the last one.

It is decreasing grace.

Um, we find ourselves functioning with less grace toward other people.

You are less patient, you are more judgy, you tend to blame others

instead of accepting any blame.

These are signs of hardening or unbelieving, growing unbelieving hearts.

Encouragement protects heart.

Encouragement can protect hearts from these things.

Encouragement keeps us going.

And allows us to function and to finish the race that we are called on.

Here's the last one.

The outcome of encouragement.

Couple obvious and beautiful and most important ones.

One, encouragement can lead to repentant.

And that's what we want for people to turn away, to turn back to Jesus.

It's what we want for you to turn away from those other things, to turn to Jesus.

for joining us.

Encouragement can lead to salvation because sometimes we've wandered so far.

Encouragement, and let me encourage you, pray to Him, give your life to Him,

let Him back in your life again today.

It's what we want for you.

Another outcome of encouragement is found in the scripture.

Also, it is persevere it.

It says that they will hold on until the end, hold on until the end, that we won't

give up, we won't give in, we won't quit.

We'll continue following Jesus through everything, through every moment

of discouragement, through every temptation of sin, through every

difficulty, through every storm.

Encouragement helps us to keep going forward.

The Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.

C.

Has, uh, has a collection of things that President Abraham Lincoln was carrying

on him the night of his assassination.

And one of the articles that he had on this person was worn out because

he had opened it and closed it many, many times and it was worn out.

And it was a newspaper clipping.

That celebrated his accomplishments as president.

And it read in that article, Abraham Lincoln is one of the

greatest statesmen of all time.

We can obviously see that one of the reasons it was so worn out is because

he was pulling it out to remind himself.

And the great difficulty of the Civil War, when, when Hey I'm President, and half the

country, uh, uh, secedes, in the darkness, in the attacks, in the questioning, every

decision he made, they'd be questioning, and questioning, and questioning.

There was, uh, people not wanting him to run for a second term and

all of the difficulty of that.

He carried that article.

Abraham Lincoln is the greatest statesman of all time.

We have critics as well.

We have spiritual critics, we have critics in our family, critics sometimes within

the church who don't want you to step out, who don't want you to step forward,

who don't want you to step into what God has for you, and And some, listen,

we've got to encourage each other.

Keep on the race that God has for you.

And because of the critics we have, our Bibles should be worn out,

remembering what God has said about us and what God has said to us.

That when the critic comes, you're not a good mom.

You're not a good dad.

You're not a good employee.

You're not a good Christian.

You're not, that we would pull up our scripture.

And say, God, what do you say about me?

God, what do you say about my future?

God, what do you say about my, uh, about my gifts, and about my

calling, and about my assignment?

God, what do you say?

And to wear it out, reminding ourselves of what Jesus says.

And here's the last thing, and, and the band can move into position.

It says to encourage one another daily, And I mentioned earlier,

we should not be complaining that other people aren't encouraging us.

That's not the command.

All right, take the focus off yourself.

You need to say, am I, who have I encouraged today?

That's your responsibility.

But you know what?

You are supposed to be encouraged daily and God wants you to be encouraged

daily, but not from other people.

He wants you to be encouraged by Him.

That we are looking to Him for our daily encouragement,

not looking to other people.

This keeps our hearts pure, helps us from being self centered and selfish, from

being resentful, from all kinds of things.

And we're able to pour out of His encouragement to encourage others.

And the Holy Spirit is, He's got a couple of names in the Bible,

a couple of describing names.

The Comforter, The Comforter.

The advocate, the encourager.

He wants to encourage us.

And so when it says be encouraged daily, the Holy Spirit wants

to encourage you daily.

Here's what, here's what He wants you to do.

Here's what God wants you to do.

To have a Bible.

If you don't have a Bible, we'll give you one for free.

Just go to the New Here area in the lobby, they'll give you a Bible for free.

This isn't just a book.

This isn't just, uh, just a collection of writings.

This is God's Word.

He wants to supernaturally use this book to encourage you every day.

This is why we read it every day, not to be religious, not to, uh, not

to check it off the box, not to look cool to the Christian girl we're

trying to get to go on a date with us.

We read it every day so God can speak to us through it.

The other thing is every day to pray.

And you have your list of things you're asking God to do, but also prayer is

about conversation, to really talk to him.

Don't just say, check, check, check, check, check, check.

But to say, here's how I'm feeling.

Here's what I'm going through.

Here's what I thank you for.

Here's what I'm grateful for.

And to take a moment and pause.

Uh, earlier this year in the soul series, we take, just take five

minutes of silence every day.

Five minutes, have nothing on, nothing on just silent.

Don't even talk.

Just listen.

Because He wants to encourage you Himself to speak in a still, small voice to

your heart, to your mind, to bless you.

We give encouragement to other Christians every single day.

And we receive encouragement from Jesus through His Word and

through prayer every single day.

You close your eyes, let me pray for you.

We just ask you right now, Jesus, to encourage us.

There, there are things we're discouraged about, things that we're resentful

about, things that we're struggling with.

Encourage us.

For the people going through a hard time, it's not forever.

Encourage them with that.

For the people who are trying to rebuild their life, tell them your

promises and encourage them with that.

For the people who, um, who, things are going well, but they feel like maybe no

one's noticing, tell them what you notice.

Encourage them with that, Lord.

God, you have a word for every single one of us in our church.

You have something every day that you want to tell us, something special every

day that you want to share with us, through your word and through prayer.

And I pray, God, we will make that a discipline.

A discipline not just to give encouragement, but a discipline to receive

encouragement from you every single day.

And we pray this, Lord Jesus, in your name.

Amen.