Encouragement to Continue
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
o Good coaches have an intuitive understanding of when their players need to be pushed, prodded, and encouraged.
▪ Vince Lombardi, the famed coach of the Green Bay Packers, is said to have been one of the best in knowing when to do what.
● Once he decided to encourage his troops at a surprising time.
● They had just suffered a difficult road game loss on Sunday.
● The team fully expected Lombardi to take it out on them during the plane ride home.
● But his biographer records that instead of reprimanding his players for their mistakes (two fumbles and a punt blocked for a safety), he let them have a relaxing flight home, spoke spiritedly to them about how they would right themselves for the rest of the season, and later that night brought them all downtown to the Elks Club with their families for a turkey dinner.
● The biographer said: “The Old Man could be gruff, awkward, unrelenting, but now he showed another side.”
Called to Be a Blessing.
Called to Be a Blessing.
8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. 10 For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; 11 let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. 12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
The Need for Encouragement
The Need for Encouragement
Know that You are Blessed.
Know that You are Blessed.
13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled,
Trust Christ.
Trust Christ.
14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
Use this Opportunity to Witness.
Use this Opportunity to Witness.
15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil. 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.
Conclusion
Conclusion