One Another Week 2: Encourage One Another

Welcome to the Generations Church podcast. We're so glad you've chosen to join us today.

Whether you're listening on your way to work, at home, or wherever you are,

our prayer is that this message would encourage your heart, strengthen your faith.

Let's jump into today's message.

So we're in a series that we've entitled One Another, and last week we talked

about the foundation of these one another's.

What are the one another's? There's a bunch of phrases in Scripture where it

will give an instruction, love one another, encourage one another, serve one another.

And so we're taking a look for about four or five weeks about the one another's

that we find in Scripture.

Last week, we started out with the foundation that we are called to love one another.

And we looked at John chapter 13, and we saw that Jesus said the world would

John 13 · chapter mention

know we are his disciples,

not by the services we have, or not by the incredible music,

or the kids programs, or anything that we are able to do.

He says the world will know that we are his disciples by the way we love one another.

One another. And we looked at John 13.

We talked about how Christian community begins with sacrificial Christ-like

love that chooses commitment towards one another over convenience.

You see, love isn't just something that we feel for someone or that we even

feel for one another here at the church.

It's something that we have to actually put into practice with one another.

And before we move on to the topic of encouraging one another.

I think it's really important and I think it would serve as a great reminder

for us as well to be reminded what true, godly, Christ-like love indeed looks like.

There are no slides for this scripture because I added it this morning,

just the prompting of the Holy Spirit,

but I felt like we needed to gather around, to kind of huddle and take a look

at what love is, because if love is the foundation,

for unity and if love is the foundation for encouraging one another and for

building one another up, then it's probably a pretty good thing that we understand

what love really looks like, right?

How it is functioning in the body of Christ.

And so if you have your Bibles, turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 13 and

1 Corinthians 13 · chapter mention

follow along. And we're gonna read verses one through eight together.

I really liked how the New Living Translation phrases this.

So I'm reading out of that this morning for this particular section of scripture.

And it says this, Paul says, If I could speak all the languages of earth and

of angels, but didn't love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God's secret plans

and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains

but didn't love others, I would be nothing.

Do you see? He's gathering these things that we look at us, man,

these are high attainable things in the Christian faith, like faith.

And like, we want this, but he's like, if you don't have this basic thing called

love, then none of it matters.

It's a gong. It's a symbol. And really what it is, is it's annoying,

isn't that? Like you hear a...

It's like that. It says, if I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed

my body, I could boast about it.

But if I didn't love others, I would have gained nothing.

And then we go into this list of characteristics that are knitted on blankets

and on needle points and given to people at their weddings.

Love is patient.

Love is kind. Love is not jealous.

It's not boastful. It's not proud. It's not rude. It does not demand its own way.

It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.

Verse 6, it does not rejoice about injustice, but rejoices whenever the truth wins and.

Verse 7, love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful,

and endures through every circumstance. Say every, every.

That means it leaves nothing out. Every circumstance, if we have the love of

Christ in our hearts and lives, it will endure through every circumstance.

Verse 8, prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will

become useless, but love will last forever.

We know the importance of love. We read about it throughout scripture.

We know and we've been taught that love is the evidence of Christ in our lives,

yet somehow we still struggle when it comes to unity within the body of Christ.

And I'm convinced that until we love one another better, we will never see the

great things that God has in store for us, both personally in our own lives,

but as the body of Christ and as Generations Church.

Why are we still tripping? And I don't mean it tripping like,

yo, man, you're tripping. You be tripping. No, I mean like we're stumbling,

we're falling. Why are we struggling in those areas?

I believe, and I'm convicted by the Holy Spirit this morning,

that it's because we're still wrestling with this whole how to love people with

the love of Christ rather than the love that comes from me.

I want to love you guys, not in the power of Jeffrey's love,

but in the power and the love that comes from Jesus Christ.

And so today we're taking that next step because if love is the mark of the

church, that people are going to know us by our love, then encouragement is the way that love speaks,

because here's the reality people around you people in the row in front of you

behind you across the other side,

people walk in here and they are fighting battles that you are unaware of,

all of us walk in here and,

we we put a mask on that says hey welcome to church how you doing lisa great

i'm fine how are you i don't know why i suddenly talk like mickey mouse But listen,

Oh, we got to stop.

With the masks. We got to be real with one another. It's okay.

When you're having a dark moment, text somebody, I'm in a dark place. Pray for me.

We've got to start being real with one another.

Some of us are exhausted by our responsibilities. Some of us are discouraged

in our faith. Some of us are quietly drifting.

Some of us are showing up smiling, but we're barely hanging on.

And maybe that describes you this morning. And so today we're going to talk

about what it means to encourage one another,

and how we can put it into practice in our church and in our homes and in our

relationships and in our everyday relationships.

As I studied these passages that we're going to look at this week,

something stood out to me.

Before we're told to encourage each other, we're reminded about what Jesus has done for us.

And that matters because encouragement needs something solid to be built upon.

I can tell you, hey man, hang in there.

But you might be wondering, what the heck am I supposed to hang on to?

You don't know my situation.

As believers, we have the answer. That should encourage you.

You should, man, woo, yes! We

have the answer that every single person is looking for, and it's Jesus.

Jesus has made a way for us to come to God. We have forgiveness through him.

We're not facing life alone because of him. And so whatever happens here on

this earth and in this life that you're living, Our future, if you know him, our future is solid.

Our future is secure in him.

Now listen, that doesn't mean that the diagnosis that you get from the doctor

isn't frightening or terrifying.

It doesn't mean that those bills are just going to magically go away or they're not real.

It doesn't mean that the grief you're walking through in this season isn't real.

But what it does mean is that those things don't get the final word in our lives.

You with me? They don't get the final word over us.

And sometimes we need, I would say most of the time, we need another believer

to sit by us and remind us of what we already know is true.

But because we're in the middle of something, it can be really difficult to see it for ourselves.

When I'm in a situation and I'm walking through a dark time,

that dark time is kind of like right here, isn't it?

Like it's up in my face and that's all I see.

And so I need a brother or a sister to text me or call me or say, hey, I know this is here,

but don't forget to look beyond at what God has done and what he's going to do today.

In the future. We need one another.

So this morning, we're going to begin in Hebrews 10. And then in just a few

minutes, we're going to look in 1 Thessalonians 5. And as we read through these

two passages, I want us to think about two questions. These two questions.

Where do I need encouragement today?

It's okay to be selfish. Write this down on your paper.

Where do I need encouragement today? Think about it. God, what part of my life

do I need encouragement?

Do I need encouragement in my relationship with my spouse? Do I need encouragement

in my financial areas? Do I need relationship with a child?

Do I need encouragement with my health? Do I need encouragement with grief?

Where do you need encouragement today? And then question number two,

who has God placed in my life that I can encourage?

Both are important. So if you're ready to jump in, let me hear you say, I'm ready.

I'm ready. All right. Hebrews 10, we're going to read verses 19 through 25.

While you're turning there, let me give you just a helpful tip about reading

your Bible. I said this last week, we've got to slow down when we read the word

and we got to pay attention to the context.

And so what comes before verses 19 through 25 in this passage. And what is the context?

If we ask that, it's going to help us to understand. Well, just before these

verses, the writer explains that the priest kept offering sacrifices daily for sins.

And then they could only take that sin away and it wasn't good for tomorrow's

sin. Like it didn't cover everything.

But now Jesus has come and he's died and he's conquered death and he's paid

the atonement. He's paid for our sins.

And so that we don't have to go to a priest to get our sins forgiven.

We go straight into the throne room. That veil, that curtain to the Holy of

Holies has been ripped down. It's been torn apart.

And now we have access to God.

Man, that's a big thing.

We have access to him.

Jesus offered himself once and for all.

And then he sat down at the right hand of the father and his sacrifice was completely

and totally sufficient.

There is no amount of sin that you can out sin the forgiveness and the mercy

and the grace of God. Aren't you grateful for that?

Don't ever get caught and say, but you don't know what I did.

I've done so much. I did so much damage. I did this or I did that. Yeah?

Point him to the cross. Jesus did this. And it far outweighs any sin or shame

or guilt that any of us could ever have.

Because of what Jesus has done, the author says, this is how we are going to live.

He says, therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have boldness to enter the

sanctuary through the blood of Jesus, He opened for us a new and living way

through the curtain, that is through his flesh.

And since we have a great high priest over the house of God,

let us draw near with the true heart. I would circle these action words. Let us draw near.

And how do we draw near? With a true heart. And we draw near with full assurance

of faith, with our hearts sprinkled

clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water.

Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering,

since he who promised is faithful.

And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works,

not neglecting to gather together as some are in the habit of doing,

but encouraging each other and all the more.

See, encouraging one another, that's the starting place. And all the more as

you see the day approaching.

If you're taking notes, the first thing I want you to see this morning when

it comes to encouraging one another is that, number one, encouragement begins

with our confidence in Jesus.

Verse 19 says, we have boldness. Thank you.

Enter into the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus. Verse 22 says,

we draw near in full assurance of faith because of Jesus, because what he did

on the cross, we can come to God.

Encouragement begins with our confidence and our awareness that God is near.

Be encouraged this morning. Whatever you're walking through,

whatever you're facing, you don't face alone.

You walk through it with Almighty God, and He is near.

And the author says, take confidence in knowing that.

Have faith in knowing that you are with Him, that He is with you, that you're not alone.

That's where encouragement begins. We don't encourage one another just by saying,

hey, everything's going to be just fine.

It might not be. We encourage each other by reminding one another that because

of Jesus, we can come to God with whatever we're facing. What do you face?

What is that whatever? Fill in the blank in your life. There is nothing that

you will ever walk through that you cannot go to the Lord Jesus Christ about. Nothing.

When someone is discouraged, they need more than just stay positive.

They need to hear that Jesus has not abandoned them.

He never will abandon them. When someone feels guilty over their sin,

they don't need us piling up more shame on them.

They need to hear that Jesus is right there, that they can have forgiveness in Christ.

When we get wore down from trying to be good enough, you ever been there?

I'm just trying to do everything. I'm trying to be enough.

People don't need another lecture about trying harder. they need to be reminded

that Jesus has already done it for them.

And there's nothing that they could ever accomplish when it comes to eternity on their own.

You see, the greatest encouragement that we can give someone is to point them back to Jesus.

That's the greatest thing you can do. Point them back to Jesus in whatever situation

they're walking through.

And maybe you're here and you've gotten news from the doctor that scares you.

And maybe you've lost your job. Maybe you're wondering how you're gonna take care of your family.

Maybe you're a mom who just feels like it's never enough for the kids and you're

just trying your best and you wanna be the best mom, you wanna be the best wife,

but you go to bed at night feeling like you've fallen short.

I want you to hear this. Because of Jesus, you can come to God right where you are.

You come to him right where you are. Bring him your fears. Bring him your questions.

Bring him the things you're even afraid to say out loud.

You don't have to pull yourself together and get yourself perfectly cleaned

up and have this perfect Christian life before you come to him.

He just says, come, man, come as you are.

Church, sometimes encouraging someone starts with just sitting next to them

and saying, hey, I don't know what you're going through, but I'm here for you.

If you need anything, I'm here for you. How can I pray for you?

I don't want you to face this alone.

Something I've tried to do more and more as I'm having conversations,

how many times do we have a conversation and then we say, you know,

hey, I'm going to pray for that. I'm going to be praying for you.

We say that and then we go about our busyness, don't we?

So instead of saying that, I did it on the phone yesterday. I was talking with

my sister. She was sick in bed.

And I started to think, well, I'm going to tell you I'm praying for you.

And I just said, hey, Julie, can I just pray for you right now?

And I just did. I prayed for her right then and there. Probably shocked her

into health. I don't know.

But what we have to do is approach people.

What does that tell you? And if I approach you and say, hey,

can I pray for you right now?

Other than, hey, what's up, Paul? I'll be praying for you, brother. Praying for you.

Let's go to him right. He's here. Jesus is here. Let's go to him right now.

Number two, encouragement helps us hold on to hope.

Man, don't we, isn't that what we're looking for in life? I just need some hope.

I need a little bit of something that's going to tell me things are going to be okay.

That's going to work out. Verse 23 says, let us hold on to the confession of

our hope without wavering since he who promised is faithful.

Notice where our confidence rests. Our confidence does not ever rest in ourselves.

It rests in the one who is faithful, verse 23. Our hope rests in God's faithfulness,

even when our circumstances are uncertain.

There are weeks when it's easy for us to talk about trusting God,

and there are weeks when you're praying and you're waiting and you're wondering,

and it feels like nothing seems to be changing.

Maybe you've been praying for your child for years. Maybe you've been praying for a child for years.

Maybe there are weeks when you're just wondering why you don't see anything

changing and life just continually gets harder and harder and harder.

Maybe you look around and wonder whether serving God is even making a difference.

It's in those moments we need people who will hold on to us.

Need to be careful about the promises we make, though. We can't promise someone

that they're going to get that job or that they're going to be healed or,

that that relationship is absolutely going to be restored the way that they hope.

Instead, what we do is we go to Scripture and we remind them that God has promised

and is faithful to his promise.

We can remind them that Jesus has secured their future and that their suffering,

is temporary, that there's something coming so much better.

Sometimes we just need to open up the Bible with someone and remind them of

the promises that affect them in their lives and in their situation.

You see, encouragement helps someone keep trusting God when giving up feels

like it's their only option.

Think about your own life.

Have there been times when you felt like giving up and then you get a text or

you get a phone call or a simple conversation at the right time hits you.

And suddenly you're reminded of the promises of scripture, the promises of God.

And suddenly you're back on track and you're like, man, you're right.

God is faithful. God is still good. God still has a good plan for my life.

I haven't done something that has disqualified me from God's good things.

Our words may not change their situation, but they'll leave knowing that you

made a difference in their life.

God can use you to do that for someone else.

Number three, encouragement requires us to pay attention.

To pay attention. Verse 24, and let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works.

I'll be honest, when I see that word provoke, usually I'm thinking of a negative

thing like, oh, that child is provoking me.

Provoke is usually this negative thing, right?

But here it's a good thing. It's initiating. It's cheering them on to love,

encouraging them to good works.

He says, let us consider one another. Consider calls us to give thought to one another.

Comes from the Greek word, kentnoeo.

It means to pay deliberate, careful attention to one another so that believers

may encourage love and good works to each other.

When we come and we gather together to worship and to have fellowship.

We aren't to come here, just what can I get out of this? Yes,

we all want a word from God, from his word.

We all want to feel the presence of God in the Holy Spirit, but we ought to

come in here asking God, God, how can I deliberately pay attention to those around me?

How can I meet the need of someone who's in here today?

How can I go up to that person I don't know and remind them that they're here

because you want them here and because you have something for them.

And I want them to know, I want them to leave feeling encouraged.

I want them to leave feeling that you had a word for them.

It seems so simple, but encouragement always starts with simply paying attention to those around us.

Less thinking about me and more thinking about we.

We've got to come in here with that thought, like, I wonder how that person is doing.

I wonder who might need my support. I wonder who might need to be encouraged

to take that next step with Jesus, maybe to start a life group or to start a

class or to start a ministry or to just start serving,

or to go to newcomer's class,

to give on board, to get off the sidelines.

God wants to use you to encourage the next person beside you or across the room

to take the next step of their faith.

We consider one another. When we come in here, we look around and see who's missing.

We call them. Man, I missed you today.

I missed you. And man, God spoke to me about this and I just want to pass this along to you.

And you don't have to know everybody. You don't have to be best friends with

everybody to come up to someone and just say, hey, how you doing?

I'm Joe and I just want to encourage you. Anything I can be praying for you about this week.

They might say, I'm good. Or they might just break down in tears and let it all out.

Either way, you leave and that person knows I was cared about.

I was noticed. I was seen.

Notice the purpose here is to help one another grow in love and good work, Scripture says.

Encouragement helps someone take the next step.

And sometimes it means having a loving, difficult conversation.

Sometimes it's just, I care about you. I'm concerned about you, can we talk?

Encouragement can bring comfort, but it also can call us back to obedience.

Ooh, we're stepping on toes there.

Oh, I haven't seen you in church for a while. What's going on?

It's needed. It's desired.

It's necessary in the body of Christ.

Tell someone, hey, I noticed you're always serving coffee. Thanks for doing

that, by the way. Appreciate you doing that.

You keep me awake during those long, boring sermons. It's an important job.

Maybe it's just say, hey, Hey, thanks for watching the kids today for pouring

into my kid today, for doing youth group.

When we pay attention, we begin to see opportunities to build each other up.

We've got to come in here looking for ways to encourage and to build people up.

Number four, encourage means showing up. What?

25 tells us not to neglect gathering together, but to encourage each other,

to show up for one another.

You see, there is a direct connection between being together and building each other up.

Let me just be honest. Those people that say they feel disconnected or they

don't feel like they're connecting, oftentimes, and I would say most of the

time, it's because they're not coming on a regular basis.

You're never going to feel connected or encouraged when you're only here once

a month or once every five weeks or once every six weeks or once every six months.

When we gather, we receive encouragement from one another.

And we've got to challenge ourselves to not just love one another,

but to encourage one another on this journey.

Life, I don't need you tell you this? Life is hard.

It's hard. And we need each other to encourage and to build each other up.

And as I was studying this, I'm not going to go into a lot of depth,

but encouragement is that mouth-to-mouth, that face-to-face,

that you're interacting with someone.

But that building each other up, that is a shovel.

That is brick by brick. It's putting action to that encouragement.

It's walking across.

Saying, hey, you need a babysitter? You guys need a date night?

We got it. We'll take her. You guys go out.

That's building into people's lives.

We've got to be the hands and feet of Christ. And don't stop short.

It's a great thing. And some of you are amazing at words of affirmation and encouragement.

Man, I speak that language and I hear that language. So it helps me when I hear

people encourage, encourage, encourage, but we've got to go deeper in that.

And we're called to build each other up.

Showing up goes beyond Sunday morning.

You got me? You feel me?

It's the phone call you've been putting off. It's a meal.

It's sitting at a hospital room or checking in after a difficult appointment.

It's following through when you say, hey, if you need anything, I'm here for you.

We've got to go the extra mile.

You may not be able to solve their problems, but you and I can help others carry their burdens.

Be burden bearers with people.

And I think the Holy Spirit put 1 Corinthians 13 on my mind so much this morning

and last night as I was just praying through this stuff, because none of that is going to happen,

and none of it's going to matter if it's not built on Christ,

if it's not built on the love of Christ.

Something else I noticed is that.

Every time the Bible talks about encouragement, it seems that it's based on

what Christ has done, past, present,

but it always keeps in view and envision our future glory and eternity in heaven.

We should be encouraging people that this moment is but for a moment.

You're going to get through this. I'm here with you as we walk through this.

I know it's hard. I know it's heavy. I know it's really, really painful what you're going through.

And when I say I want to walk with you through this, I really do mean I want

to walk with this burden you're carrying.

Sometimes we allow pride to stick in our craw and we say, I'm good.

Thank you for caring, but I'm good. What if we were honest with each other and

said, you know what, Pastor Jeff or whoever, I'm discouraged.

I'm struggling. I need help in this area.

Writer points us towards Christ's return. And as we wait for Jesus,

we need to keep helping each other follow him. Don't let those around you struggle alone.

The second passage that I wanted to read from, and yes, we're ending.

I know Vikings kick off in, you know, 40 minutes.

In 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verses 9 through 11, Paul's been talking about the Lord's return,

1 Thessalonians 5:9–11

and how believers should live in expectation that we're waiting with anticipation

for that glorious day, right? Jesus, come quickly.

And he says, I want you to have this connection with the reality of Christ's return.

In Hebrews, Jesus opened the way to God.

But now we're drawing near and we're holding on to hope and encouragement.

And Paul says this, for God did not appoint us to wrath. You want to be encouraged?

Think of this. Before the foundation of the earth was created, God chose you.

Chose you. You were lost, now you're found. You were headed to hell, now you're free.

He said, God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

who died for us so that whether we are awake, he's saying whether you're alive

or whether you're asleep, he's saying when you die, we may live together with him.

I got some good news and bad news. The good news is when you die, you're not really dead.

The bad news is you're going to have to put up with one another and put up with me for all eternity.

Right? Some of you are like, oh man, I should have rethought this.

And then he says, we're together forever, guys. We're together forever.

Therefore, there it is, because of that, because you've been appointed to life and to heaven,

encourage one another with these words and build each other up as you are already doing.

I don't want to just fly through that as you are already doing.

I know you guys are trying.

I see it.

You're already doing these things.

But Paul reminds the believers,

that we've got to do more.

We've got to cross the aisle. We've got to cross the street.

We've got to go into our neighborhood. We've got to love,

the people around us, even when we think they're difficult, even when we think

they're wrong, even when we think I'm right.

Bring you back to the two questions we started with. Where do you need encouragement today?

If you're struggling and you're here, let someone know.

You don't have to share every item in your secret life, you know, but let someone in.

Let a trusted believer know what you're carrying.

I mentioned this a minute ago, but I think one of the greatest mistakes we make

as Christians is failing to allow other believers into our lives in an honest and a real way.

Can I encourage you this morning, be real when it comes to your struggles.

Be real with your battles. Be real and open about your fears.

Allow someone in to pray with you and to walk beside you.

And then question number two, who has God placed in your life that you can encourage?

Just think of one person.

One person before this week is over offer help offer a word of thanks or a reminder

from scripture or a promise from scripture,

give them practical help and follow up how'd that appointment go how's the job

search going remember and i know guys it's hard i talked to most of you on a Sunday.

And it's hard to remember every single appointment and everything that's going on.

But we've got to do our best because we're called to love one another and to

encourage one another and to build one another up.

And that's how we put the love of Christ into practice.

Because of Jesus, we can come to God. Because God is faithful, we can hold on to hope.

And And because we belong to one another, we can help each other keep going. Let's pray.

Father, we are overwhelmed with your goodness. We are overwhelmed with your

greatness, with your faithfulness, with your forgiveness.

Thank you that you sent Jesus to die for us.

That we can come to you with our burdens and with our struggles and with our

trials and with our pains, with our fears.

And it doesn't overwhelm you. It's not too big for you. We're never too far gone from you.

So God, we draw near to you. We cast our burdens on you.

We ask as we fall more and more and more and more in love with you,

that the world would see our love for one another, that it would cause them

to give you glory, Father.

And that as we become more like you, that you would help us to encourage one

another, to build one another up, to remind one another that we can draw near to you,

that you are faithful to your promises, that no one will ever,

ever walk through this journey or life or struggle or disease alone.

Give us your love so that we can encourage and build one another up so that you receive glory.

In Jesus' name, amen.