We All Need Encouragement!

Intro

Illus: My professor who put his hand on a man’s shoulder for encouragement. He was told later that was what prevented his suicide.

YOU NEED THE CHURCH!

Last week I talked about how we can encourage one another in the face of rejection.

So, I would like to take this time to do so now, as your pastor.

The church is a place of encouragement.

Yet, it takes personal disciplines on our part to remain in a place for others to encourage us.

What are some things you can do to be an encouragement to others?

How can

We need to keep moving (24-25)

Acts 14:24–25 ESV

Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia. And when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia,

Ended up in Antioch and finished what is called his first Missionary Journey

Look at your Bibles and look at the map for Paul’s first missionary journey.

Stay focused on the mission - Glorify, Grow and Go

At TPC our prayer is that you are being impacted through Word, Sacrament and Prayer in all of these areas of your life.

Stay disciplined

Word, Sacrament and Prayer

Means of Grace

Word, Sacrament and Prayer

Charles Hodge - ST

Systematic Theology Chapter XX: The Means of Grace

The phrase is intended to indicate those institutions which God has ordained to be the ordinary channels of grace, i.e., of the supernatural influences of the Holy Spirit, to the souls of men. The means of grace, according to the standards of our Church, are the word, sacraments, and prayer.

FOG reminds us as members that our goal is to be “diligent” in the use of these means.

Systematic Theology Chapter XX: The Means of Grace

The phrase is intended to indicate those institutions which God has ordained to be the ordinary channels of grace, i.e., of the supernatural influences of the Holy Spirit, to the souls of men. The means of grace, according to the standards of our Church, are the word, sacraments, and prayer.

RESPONSIBILITY OF CHURCH MEMBERS

4.4 Church members are required to:

A. Make diligent use of the means of grace.

These things help us remain focused on Jesus Christ

These things help us remain focused on

builds up our faith

reminds us of our salvation, the benefits of being adopted, and the rewards obtained by His death burial and resurrection.

A body that does not exercise.

STAY on TASK and Keep involved in the things of the church. “Diligent” use of the means of grace - this will equip you to be an encourager.

2. We need to embrace support

Paul and Barnabas go back through these community churches to encourage and support

Acts 14:25–27 ESV

And when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia, and from there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had fulfilled. And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.

Acts 14:

Mutual encouragement

Church lifted up their missionaries

Missionaries reported what God was doing

Glorifying God in the work done through them by God

We have talked about how we are called to do His work

We have discussed how we can encourage one another

We need to be aware this is how God works and open to receiving it

We need to support our missionaries and ministries that are doing the work of God

We need to welcome support and encouragement from our fellow workers in Christ

Some of us only view ourselves as supporters

Some of us need to be ready for the fact that we may need to be in receiving mode

Missions: We support missionaries. This is a good passage to show how & why we operate this way. God sends missionaries out and we support them in prayer and finances.

Mission’s conference is coming up May 5th-7th. Pray, Invite and show up.

Not only will you see how to support and hear reports about what God is doing, you will also be encouraged.

App: How do we receive support? We should come often to the things of the church ready to receive encouragement. We should also seek ways to be an encourager to those outside of the church.

We need to be balanced in mutual support. At times we need to encourage and other times we need to receive encouragement.

Illus: POLLEN SEASON: But this is an important time in God’s creation. The bees that come and seek the sweet nectar of a flower, take with it when it leaves, the pollen necessary for producing new flowers elsewhere. It isn’t intentional on the bees part, but it is on God’s part. The tiny hairs on the bees legs grab the pollen and carry it with it as it flies from flower to flower. The bees is staying busy and on task. While it is there is a mutual effect, growth for the bee and the flower.

This is the relationship between the church and the believer. The body of Christ and the individual. We stay focused and diligent in the use of the means of grace and God will use us to be en encouragement to those around us, even if we are not aware of it. Stay focused and a part of the church and embrace the fact that you are supporting and may be supported by your fellow Christians.

How does God do this? He opens doors of grace.

3. We need to look for open doors.

God opened a door of faith to the Gentiles

God does not change, but how he operates in this world may

People are not all saved in the same manner or same circumstances

Yes, faith comes from hearing, but how this works is often different

Paul an Barnabas where aware of this new open door

Open Doors

Hosea 2:14–15 ESV

“Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.

Valley of Anchor

Hosea

“anchor” means “trouble”

God will use opportunities in men’s life to provide a door of hope

May be a time of trouble in man’s life

Open doors are God’s way of extending His grace to people.

App: As individuals we need to look out for open doors. As a church body we need to establish things when God opens a door.

We cannot do this if we are not trained to look for those open doors.

Mixing the unclean with the clean. This is a strange concept as Calvin points out.

Jews of the time understood the laws against tainting the clean with the unclean.

We today in church can sometimes have this mindset.

Augustine calls the church a corpus permixtum. “mixed body”

Visible church includes the invisible church & unbelievers. It is a mix of wheat and tare.

Jesus:

Matthew 13:24–30 ESV

He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”

God uses his church to extend his grace and provide open doors, let that be our focus.

Conclusion:

The church is a place of encouragement for the Christian:

Helps us keep moving - being disciplined in the faith and practices that help us cling to that faith.

Helps us receive support in or time of need - the church is a place for the needy.

Helps train us to see open doors - God uses his church, his people, to minister as he opens doors to those whom he calls.

YOU NEED THE CHURCH! AND THE CHURCH NEEDS YOU!

Jesus Christ as the head of his church has established it to be a living and active community of believers, symbiotic, for the mutual encouragement of believers and the hope for the lost.

Illus; Jesus to Peter

Jesus encourages Peter. Peter then understands his role as a disciple as more than a missionary. He is an encourager, a model for others, a witness for Jesus, etc . . . His work on earth impacts the heavens.

Peter then goes on to complete an earthly ministry of sharing the gospel and encouraging believers. Peter writes:

1 Peter 2:9–10 ESV

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

1 Peter 2:9-1

God is using you to encourage the saved within his church and the lost without through the gospel.

Illus: My role as a handyman. Hated the job but loved being able to minister to people.

The church of Jesus should be an encouragement to its own people and to the world.

It is a place where we can practice disciplines that encourage us in our faith and a place that can employ ministries that intersect with people who are lost that God may use us to call to himself.

Be involved in his church. With his people.

Be available to be used by God.

Be a FAT Christian:

Faithful - seeking to walk with Christ

Available - comes to services and ready to get plugged into learn and serve

Teachable - humble and hungry to learn