Be Encouraged

A quick recap of our foundation, starting with what we believe.

We believe - the Bible to be the inspired Word of God, and our only infallible authority.

We believe - that the Lord Jesus Christ and the Bible should have pre-eminence in the church, home and each person's life. By doing this, there is a joyful, useful, and victorious Christian testimony.

We believe - that we are commissioned by our Saviour to..."Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." We want to witness effectively in Douglasville, and to all parts of the world.

We believe - that the Lord Jesus Christ has left a legacy of joy to all who would commit their life to Him.

We believe in being joyful here on earth and through all eternity.

Then we talked about the strategic plan.

MISSION Lifting up Jesus, winning souls for the Kingdom of God.

VISION Be a place where people come for enlightenment, encouragement, and empowerment to advance and enhance the Kingdom of God.

GOALS To win lost souls for Christ through evangelism. To biblically educate Christians through sound Scriptural teaching and preaching. To equip Christians spiritually, physically and financially through comprehensive coaching.

And now the core values.

The first being Bible Knowledge—Become familiar with the truth of Scripture through regular attendance at Worship Service, Sunday School, and Bible Study.

The second Prayer—Communicate with God daily.

The third, Excellence—Maintain the highest ministry standards that bring glory to God.

And now if you’ll turn in your Bibles to the letter Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus; the book of Ephesians the first chapter, versus 15-18, reading from the NLT.

Eph 1:15 Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God’s people everywhere, 16 I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, 17 asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. 18 I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.

As we’re coming near a close on our foundation rebuilding series, today’s message is the fourth of our core values and that is

Encouragement—Give hope to people who need hope.

I would venture to say without reservation that at some point in every person’s life they have needed and wanted encouragement.

From the infant learning to smile, clap, talk or walk

to the child in an athletic competition

to the adolescent taking a test

to the young adult about to get married and have a family

to the middle aged person who may be changing careers

to the senior who may be retiring and moving to where their grandchildren are

Everyone at every stage of life has needed or wanted encouragement to go to the next level, to take the next step, to enter the next phase of life. And as disciples of Christ, we are no different.

From the person who just got saved,

to the usher seating his first congregant

to the hospitality person serving her first meal

to the choir member singing a solo

to the musicians on the instruments

to the pastor preaching a message.

Some people think because you’re a believer, you’re not supposed to get nervous, that your life is supposed to be problem free but…

Jut because we’re saved,

just because God is our refuge and strength,

just because I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength

just because we know that we belong to an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God

The truth is, there are still times when we need encouragement. From those who appear to be the strongest to the weakest, no one is exempt from that need.

So what does it mean to encourage? According to Merriam Webster it’s

to inspire with courage, spirit, or hope

to attempt to persuade

to spur on

to give help or patronage to

To inspire, persuade, spur on, and give help, all ways to encourage someone to be their best, to do their best, to try their best.

Who determines what your best is? Well you do. You have to take an honest look at yourself and your service and determine, did I, am I doing my best or am I doing what’s comfortable for me? Uh oh.

Your best does not necessarily mean it’s going to be comfortable, in fact I’d be willing to say your best is going to stretch you, it’s going to challenge you, it’s going to push you outside your comfort zone, because to do your best,

you have to study

you have to think

you have to learn and

you have to grow

Here’s the thing, we don’t know what our best is until we try, and sometimes we don’t know what our best is until what we do doesn’t work. Some may call it failing.

Here’s some food for thought, failure only happens when you quit. Just because something doesn’t work the way you wanted it to doesn’t mean you failed, it may be that it needs tweaking. If you hit a wall, stop, back up, assess the wall and determine if you need to go over, under, around or through it to get to the other side.

Evaluate, what part of the process worked, and what didn’t. What needs to be thrown out, what needs to be kept and what needs to be changed.

Now here’s a challenge for you. When we start encouraging others we sometimes get to a place where we must decide what or who is right and what or who is wrong.

When it comes to the right and wrong of life and of the church, we default to the Bible to find the answer. Paul tells us in verse nine, “God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding Christ—which is to fulfill his own good plan.

So what’s his plan?

“At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.”

So, isn’t encouraging to know that as a united believer with Christ, as a follower under his authority, not only do we have an inheritance, but everything will work out according to his plan.

This tells us if you want a fail safe guarantee, follow Christ’s plan, because he makes everything work out according to his plan.

To know the plan, you must first know your purpose. Our purpose is to bring praise and glory to God and God gave us the Holy Spirit to help us do just that.

Everything we do, everything we think, everything we are should bring praise and glory to God.

So as we come to our text what we know from reading the beginning of the letter, is that it is written to the saints, it is written to the believer and not just to the believer, Paul said to the faithful follower.

So if you’re not a believer right now hold on you’ll get an opportunity a little later and I encourage you to choose Christ today. And for those of you who are not a faithful follower of Christ, I encourage you to do better, make a commitment and honor that commitment.

As Paul typically does in his letters, he begins by identifying himself, then who the letter is addressed to. Paul gives praise, (as should we) to God

Why— because he has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms

Why — because we are united with Christ.

When did he do this? Before he made the world.

Why did he do it? Because he loved us and because he chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. Without fault, that means perfect in his eyes.

You ever see the look in a parent’s eyes when they watch their child do something for the very first time, like at a instrument recital, or band performance, or dance recital. There is such pride there, even when they make a mistake, they are so proud to see their child perform. Even though they may be nervous or scared they still muster the courage to perform.

When Eddie was little his daycare did a Christmas play and we quickly learned what child belonged to what parent, because for most of the kids we couldn’t hear or understand their line. So as we strained to hear and understand, there were those who would ask, “What did they say”, at which time the parent of that child who had been working with them restated the line. And then it was Eddie’s turn and standing confidently in his innkeeper’s costume, shaking his little finger, with conviction he loudly proclaimed, “There is no room in the inn.”

The parents in the audience said, well I heard that and Pastor Ed and I said, as we beamed, “That was ours.”

Before he got there and as we practiced with him at home, we encouraged him that he could do it, we told him to make sure he spoke loudly so we could hear him, and he did it.

Despite the fact we couldn’t hear some of the kids, the parents saw no fault. It’s the same with God the Father; He sees us through His Son’s blood, He sees us through the blood of the Lamb and we are holy and without fault in His eyes.

God already decided to adopt us. He already made provision for us, even though we never deserved it, he gave us mercy. He showed mercy by giving us what we didn’t deserved and His favor or grace by not giving us what we did deserve.

We deserved to be punished for what we said — but grace said that’s my child and I’m going to give them love instead.

We deserved to die for our sins — but grace said no, I already paid for that sin and that one and that one too

We deserved to suffer with sickness — but grace said, no with my stripes they are healed

Mercy gave us everlasting life instead of being “thrown into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” forever.

Not only do we want encouragement to do, we want encouragement or praise when we complete something, especially the thing that was difficult, but we overcame the obstacles that threatened to get in our way and stop us, even if one of those obstacles was our self.

There are times when we have to be our biggest fan, and other times when we can be our worst critic.

And so Paul let’s us know through his example, we need to pray for each other. Verse 15 begins Paul’s prayer for the saints at Ephesus. Keep in mind, this is only for the faithful saints.

I’m going to keep emphasizing that word faithful, because I don’t want their to be any misunderstanding about who Paul is talking to. My goal is to encourage those of you who are not here yet to strive and keep moving toward it, keep pressing toward that mark. And for those who are there, my goal is to encourage you to continue on that path and reap the blessings and benefits that come from being faithful.

To be faithful means to be dependable, devoted, obedient, sincere, steadfast and trustworthy.

So Paul begins his prayer, “Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God’s people everywhere.”

You see only those who are faithful will have strong faith that will never waiver.

It is a faith that will always believe that God is who he says he is and that he will do what he said he will do.

It is a faith that will always believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that he is God, that he came to Earth in the flesh, born of a virgin, died, rose again and ascended back to the right hand of the Father where he is now interceding on our behalf. A faith that believes Jesus is God.

It is a faith that will always believe that Holy Spirit came to be our comforter and guide and to dwell or live in us. A faith that believes he is God.

It is a faith that will always believe in the triune God, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, who are one, yet separate.

It is a faith that believes no matter what happens in this world, God is still in control, that he hasn’t left us nor forsaken us. Strong faith, but not only that; how is your love for God’s people?

Are you yelling and cursing at the person who cut you off in traffic. How are you treating the clerk in the store? How are you treating your family?

When you pray, are you praying the Lord bless your house only and leaving out everyone else?

Love is an action, how are you expressing love for those around you?

Then Paul said, “I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly” This goes back to our core value of prayer and pray without ceasing.

We should give thanks for the people God places in our lives, there is a purpose for every interaction we have be it good or bad. We can always learn from others, sometimes it’s what to do, sometimes it’s what not to do and sometimes it’s letting us know what we need to pray for.

What is Paul praying for? He tells us in verse 17, “asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, [here it is] to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God.”

His prayer is specific, again as ours should be. He’s praying God gives you, the faithful believer, spiritual wisdom and insight. Why would he pray that?

Because there are forces all around us that bring thoughts to our minds

thoughts to confuse us

thoughts to make us think God is not who he says he is

thoughts to make us doubt the Bible

thoughts to make us doubt our salvation

thoughts to make us doubt ourselves

thoughts to make us doubt our faith

thoughts to make us doubt that Jesus is God

thoughts to make us doubt…

And the only thing that may get in the way more than fear, is doubt.

You may pray with Holy Ghost boldness, but if you doubt God will hear or answer, your prayer is of non-effect.

You may enter a race, but if you doubt you will win, you won’t.

You may study for the test, but if you doubt you will pass it, chances are good that you won’t.

You may believe there is a higher power, but if you doubt that it is God, you will be lost.

Why does Paul want you to grow in spiritual wisdom and insight? “… so that you might grow in you knowledge of God.”

We should continually grow in our knowledge of God so that we will not be tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine. Know, that you know, that you know, what you know, so when someone comes to you with a lie, you can identify it and know what the truth of the Scripture is.

Paul’s prayer continues with, “I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.”

Flooding happens when something overflows. Paul is praying that their hearts will be flooded or overflowing with light which is the knowledge of God so you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called.

This hope is not for everyone, we have to go back to verse one this text, this hope is only for the faithful believers, to those he called, to his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.

What a picture. When we think of an inheritance, we typically think of money, houses, possessions, something of value to the holder.

But Paul is telling us that his faithful, called, holy people are his rich and glorious inheritance. Paul is letting us know that the faithful followers are of value to God.

Think about it. Isn’t it encouraging to know that the God of the universe, the God who created everything there is, calls you his rich and glorious inheritance.

David said it this way in Psalm 8 - “O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens… 3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; 4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?”

It’s important to know who you are to God, to know how much you mean to him, to know what he gave for you, to know what he sacrificed. He gave his one and only Son who sacrificed his life for you.

His one and only. I am my mother’s only child and she was, dare I say my most fierce defender. With her 5’2” self, there was nothing negative anyone could say about her one and only child. My mother was going to defend and protect her baby girl no matter what. And if my mother, who was human, had that kind of love for me, how much more love do you think God has for those he created, for those who are his faithful believers, for those who know their purpose is to bring praise and glory to Him?

What do we value? Encouragement— It is our desire to give hope to people who need hope.

Throughout Scripture we see examples of encouragement.

Eli encouraged Samuel as he trained him for the Lord’s service.

Elijah encouraged Elisha

Mordecai encouraged Esther

Ruth encourage Naomi

Paul encouraged Timothy and Titus

Jesus encourage the disciples

God encouraged Jesus

And there will come a time when you will have to do as David did and encourage yourself. We find his story in 1 Sam 30

David encouraged himself in the Lord when the Amalekites came to Ziklag and took their wives, sons, daughters, and possessions including his and burned the city.

David prayed, he got his answer, they pursued them and got back everyone and everything that had been taken.

Sometimes there won’t be anyone to turn to and you will have draw from the well within you and tell yourself that you can do it.

Just remember the order, first David sent for the ephod and he asked God what to do and God gave him his own good plan.

David received his marching orders and he went after what the Amalekites had taken.

It’s important to note that the men were exhausted, they had cried until they had no more tears to cry, but 600 went with David anyway. But when they got to the brook Besor, 200 of them were so exhausted they couldn’t go on.

That tells you that even when someone has skin in the game, they still may not have the stamina to go with you. It’s wasn’t that the 200 who stopped didn’t have wives, children and possessions who were taken. It was that they lacked the commitment to continue on. Their bodies were controlling their actions.

Not everyone who starts with you will finish with you, go without them. Run the race that God set before you and be faithful in your race.

Four hundred men continued with David and they got some help along the way. God will have someone others deemed insignificant be of great value to you.

The Amalekites left a man for dead because he got sick. David gave him food and water and nursed him back to health and the very man the marauders left to die is the one who led those who would be the cause of their demise.

Be careful how you treat people, remember they all belong to God. They may not be his faithful believer yet, but eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love him.

The man thought worthless, the man left for dead led David and his 400 men to where the Amalekites were celebrating their victories and David went into their camp and fought all night and the whole next day.

They got back everyone and everything that was taken, even the families and possessions of the 200 who didn’t go with them. Be kind and don’t leave out those who couldn’t continue with you.

To the objection of some, David shared the spoils with the 200 who started but didn’t go to the battle. While you may indeed have to leave some behind as you run your race, don’t leave them out of the victory celebration.

Encouragement, we all need it, we all want it. In our text, this encouragement was for the faithful believer. If you’ve never accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, prayer is where your journey of being a faithful believer begins.

Father, God, I confess that I am a sinner, I believe that Jesus is our Son and that he died for my sin. Jesus please come into my heart, I give you my heart, be Lord of my life. In your name I pray amen.

If you prayed that prayer for the first time, welcome to the family. Now find a Bible teaching, Bible teaching church in your area and begin your journey and be prepared, because it doesn’t stop until you see Jesus face to face.

If you live in the Douglasville area and would like to make this your church home we’d love the opportunity to work with you and for you to work with us to fulfill the perfect plan of God.