Build Up “One Another”

Put-downs came very easy.

you know what a Put down is?

a disparaging remark, a slight, a jibe, a diss, an insult a critque or critism.

I don’t know why but as a child I could come up with putdowns in an instant

lightening speed.

I remember in the 80’s there were competitions…a back and forth… on who coulld come up with the best Diss

It was really an effort to see who could tear down the other person the best.

To counter this my Mom had a rule.

Any time you gave somone a “putdown”......you’d have to give them 7 “put Ups”

that was hard

very hard.

At the Time, I don’t know if my mom realized this or not but she was doing some soul training on us.

Harvard Research

Finds Employees Need a 6:1 Positive Feedback Ratio to Perform Their Best.

According to a Harvard study, the average employee ideally needs 6 positive pieces of feedback for every negative review received.

My mom added 1 for good measure.

As humans we tend to focus on the negative things we can remember far more easily than the positive.

This negative view has disatrous results

To be successful in Life you can’t focus on the negative

Focusing on the negative will produce negative results

Focusing on the Positive will produce positve results

Pastor Trevor wrote a book and created a campaign on 40 day negativity fast

If you find dealing with things a negative light is a constant battle for you, I’d encourage you to talk to Pastor Trevor about His 40 day Negativity fast

Yes the natural inclination of humans is to emphasis the negative and dimish the positive.

But that’s not How God has called us to live

We need to rise above the negativity and flourish in the positivity.

Jude 20–23 NASB95

20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. 22 And have mercy on some, who are doubting; 23 save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.

The 1st Step in being built up is to take responsibility yourself.

Build yourself up on your most holy faith

Please don’t rely on others to do this for you.

First take on the responsibilty for youself

Its utterly impossible to buid someone up who continualy tears themselves down

I remember when my kids were little TJ & Ashlyn would pain stakenly build towers out of blocks

Cass thought it was great fun to charge the tower and knock it down.

they had no chance

becuase it so much easier to destroy than it is to build

For this to work, you have to put in the effort to build yourself up

So how do you do Build yourself up?

1. Pray in the Spirit

Jude 20 NASB95

20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,

Romans 8:26–27 NASB95

26 In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; 27 and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

2. Fully Trust the Lord

Jude 21 NASB95

21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.

Proverbs 3:5 NASB95

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding.

Romans 12:2 NASB95

2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

3. Cultivate Christ’s heart

Jude 22–23 NASB95

22 And have mercy on some, who are doubting; 23 save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.

Matthew 22:37–40 NASB95

37 And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 “This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 “The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

We can't be afraid of being "contaminated" by the world. We need to love our holy God and strive to have the heart of Christ – holy, set apart and fully dedicated to the Father's will alone

4. Have the fear of God

Jude 23 NASB95

23 save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.

In our drive to rescue others from sin, we still need to be careful not to fall into sin ourselves

Galatians 6:1 NASB95

1 Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.

Proverbs 9:10 NASB95

10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

5. Hate Sin

Jude 23 NASB95

23 save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.

We should learn to hate sin in the same way God hates it. If we are followers of Christ, we should strive to hate sin and despise its passing pleasures.

So once you do you part its much easier for your brothers and sisters to do their part

Because you’ve never been called to do this alone.

Romans 14:19 NASB95

19 So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 NASB95

11 Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.

What does it mean to Build someone up?

Simply explained

It’s helping someone see God’s reality as their reality.

that’s it.

Its calling into being that which God has ordained

Building up others means to edify, encourage, and uplift them so they will be strengthened inwardly to persevere despite difficulty.

What does it mean to Encourage one another

Encourage means “to give courage”

courage is the ability to do what God has called you to do

Encouragement seeks to infuse difficulty with meaning.

Without that sense of meaning, hope and the will to go on fades.

Pastor Trevor will share more on this in January

So what does it mean to build on another up?

well 1st off it a mutual thing

you build someone up and they build you up.

I think we all have people in our lives that seem to continually require needing be built up.

these are generallly people who are not doing the 1st step of building themselves up.

that’s ok for a season,

John 16:33 NASB95

33 “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

but eventually they should mature to place of being able to build you up as well

because it inteded to be reciprical

I hope and pray I build you up every time a speak to you

and many of you have made the effort to build me up as well

Thaank-you for doing that

Realizing that one reason the Lord saved me was to be His ambassador to a hurting world by being a Spirit-filled encourager

2 Corinthians 5:20 NASB95

20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

I must realize I have been blessed with all the richness that being in Christ brings in order to be a blessing and encourager to others.

I need to commit to being an encourager because it is what God desires and people need.

Good knowledge of God’s Word.

Believers are to build each other up by speaking appropriate truth from God’s Word.

You see in the early Church they believed Jesus would return soon.

they beleived Jesus would return before they died

but when they started to die, they started questioning what would happen to those who died before Jesus returned

Paul writes to set straight their concerns

1 Thessalonians 4:13–5:11 NASB95

13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. 15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words. 1 Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. 2 For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. 3 While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; 5 for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; 6 so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. 7 For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. 8 But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. 9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.

We are called to use the word to build people up.

not as a tool to tear people down!

Accepting and valuing God-created uniqueness and identity in Christ.

Once I accept and value who I am I can accept and value others for who they are as unique people of worth and dignity as God’s image-bearers.

Every believer has worth as a blood-bought child of God.

Discouraged people have, in a sense, lost themselves and need to be built up by reminding them they are unique and God’s handiwork

Ephesians 2:10 NASB95

10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Having the ability to see past others’ short-comings and letting go of their failures.

Building someone up does not mean we condone their short-comings and failures.

We just can’t let their past failures deter us from encouraging them now.

God doesn’t work like that so neither should we.

shouldn’t wait for, or expect perfection in others before encouraging or praising them because then I wouldn’t encourage anyone.

Look for the gold

Allowing your body language to express that you accept and value that person.

I have never seen a true encourager with a sour expression or who wasn’t ready with a warm hug where appropriate.

Our whole demeanour needs to reinforce my words of building up.

Refusal to gossip or speak evil of others

Gossip and slander tear others down and are the exact opposite of building up.

They are totally inconsistent with being a true encourager.

We must replace tearing down others in our thinking and speech with building them up to others.

Acknowledging that the fears that weigh the discouraged down are a real response to situations but they are not truth.

A credible and courageous encourager empathizes and acknowledges someone’s fears but chooses to step in and lead them away from those fears and discouragement by building them up with truth.

Realizing that God is always at work in lives and situations even if I can’t see it.

This is a foundational truth to believe in order to be able to build others up.

God is at work in all things

Romans 8:28 NASB95

28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

Knowing and sharing this is a source of great hope.

Seeking to grow in and develop these perspectives will help fulfil purposeful building others up.

Ask Holy Spirit what you can say or do to show that person they have value

Share with them what Holy Spirit is telling you about them

Build one another Up