How to Use God's Power of Encouragement

Brethren, there's about 250 odd days or so to go. You're probably wondering to go for what? That's definitely not to go to the feast. There's a bit more than that. If you work, you just have a feast. It's another year to go. And this year was early, so we're probably talking about another 360 days to go to the feast. Well, you probably don't even know this, so I wouldn't expect it. But there's about 260 odd days or so to go. Until June 1st, which is when, in South Africa, they have the world's greatest ultra-marathon.

It's called the Comrades Marathon, and it's a big event. They have a clipping level. You can go onto a website. You can just go there. Comrades marathon. You get a correct date. And they clip it at 18,000 entries. After 18,000, they don't expect any more people to run. At the moment, they already have over 10,000 people that have enrolled. Look at this. From yet, in June, there's still a while to go. They've already got 10,000 people enrolled. This marathon goes from Durban to Pitta-Maddensburg.

So, one year goes from Durban to Pitta-Maddensburg, and the other year goes from Pitta-Maddensburg to Durban. Side roads, up-down hills, etc., etc. So, one year is uphill, the other is downhill. But they're still ups and downs, you know? And it's 55 miles. It's a 55-mile marathon. It starts at 5.30 in the morning. 5.30 in the morning, the gun goes. I mean, people just are there, either there or if not, they're on TV just watching that Sunday morning, watching that marathon.

Sunday morning or whatever they will be, it happens. It can be, I think, it's a public holiday, so it doesn't matter. Anyway, so, an amazing thing is, it's a 12-hour marathon. 12 hours. I mean, there's some people that after 4 or 5 hours have ran 55 miles up and down the hill, and then get, like, gold medals, and then you get a silver medal for whatever number of hours, and then a bronze medal. But then, the point is, you've got to make it within 11 hours, 39 minutes, and 59 seconds, because at the 12 hours, the gun goes. And if you make it one second afterwards, you just haven't made it.

But the thing is that it's so amazing about that marathon, and that everybody is cheering for everybody. You know what I mean? There's not a winner, it's just, they're just cheering. People line up the streets to say, go, go, go, go! They have stations with water and this and that and that.

And for 55 miles, that's like nearly 90 kilometers, people are there just cheering. And you see, and they have this on TV live the whole day. You can watch it the whole day. You sit at home and watch it in South Africa. It's live. And you can see people, they cheer, they cheer, and they go through. And obviously, you see, the first at the beginning, they have the front runners, you know, of the four or five hours, the front runners, the first man, the first woman, whatever. But then, it's the buck of the people, the buck. And the people are cheering. And the people you are running, and somebody next to you is struggling, and you as a runner, you stop and you help the other person as a runner, and you help the other one.

And then you run with the other one, holding others' arms, and they just help one another. It's just a unique opportunity of seeing people helping one another, because you just want to help them to get to the end. And it's not saying, I'm running so that I get there first. No, because the honor is to run and complete the race. And everybody there is encouraging one another to make it. And it is so discouraging, indeed, to see somebody, I mean, you see somebody who's been running for 10, 11 hours, and they run into the stadium, looking.

And then they say, I'm not going to run. On the other side, you see others that they come up and help them right to the end to make it. That is so encouraging, really, to watch them after 11 hours and like it five in the afternoon, because it finishes at 5.30, because it starts at 5.30 in the morning, 5.30 in the afternoon.

There is people, people are glued to TV just watching those lost few. I think it's so encouraging to see a race like Congress, because their encouragement just helps those people make it. Brethren, you and I are in a race, but our race is American, because you can run the fastest. But if you don't reach that end, and you've got plenty of time, you've got 12 hours, you've got plenty of time to do that. But if you don't reach that end, that's all you've got. And our Christian race is a marathon. We gotta overcome and reach the end.

It's not good to run, and then when you're 65 years old or 75 years old, you give up. That's not good. You just gotta keep going, because it might just be you've gone into the stadium. It's just those last hundred yards. Come on, it's right there! You can smell it! And people give up. And you see it right there, some people give up.

Brethren, we are in a race. It's a marathon. Our race is a marathon. I don't think common rights is the world's super marathon. The world's super marathon is the Christian mark. That is the world's greatest ultramatic. And there are many events around in the world. You could, events are catching up, watch the news, and you see what's happening to our country, and you can only cry. You can only cry, because you know what's coming. The gauntlet has gone down, and that's it.

You can only cry. You see events in the church, you see people giving up or going in different directions, and you can only cry. Because the end of the race is right there. Think about 6,000 years. What are we? A couple of years from it? 10, 20, 30? I don't want to say times. We've done, but it can't be much longer than that.

On the scope of 6,000 years, what is that? It's the last minute, if you think about a day, it's the last minute of that race, of that marathon. This is not the time to give up, but some will. You know, you think about Christ. He came out and lived, and he suffered, and right at the end of his life, right at the end of his life, after the foot washing ceremony, what did he do?

Look at John 17, verse 4 with me, please. John 17, verse 4. He gave a sermon to his disciples, and then at the end of that, he gave what I would call his lost prayer in public. His lost prayer. This is truly the Lord's prayer. This was Christ's prayer. And in verse 4 of John 17, he says, I have glorified you, Jesus Christ, I have glorified you, God the Father, on earth.

I have finished the work. He's basically saying, I've ran the marathon, and I've completed it. I've done the job. He hadn't quite finished. He still had to suffer a few, you know, a few more hours, but he had done the basic job, laid out the basic things. He had to have completed the job, which he had given him to do. Now, we're talking about the mind of Christ. But what is the mind of Christ? Amongst that is, the mind of Christ is one that will finish the job.

If he's got a job to do, he will do it, and he'll finish it. That's his mind. Because the eye is the very case where he had to suffer the maximum that could be, and he finished it and did it. Now, Christ is the head of the body, which is the Church of God. And so, you and I are part of that body. The head has a mind which says, I'll finish the job, which means the Church will finish the job. The job will be finished. The bride will be ready. The job will be done.

The question is whether you and I will be part of that body to be able to finish it. And that's your choice, and it's my choice. It's our capability to make our own decision. We have a job to do. We have a work to do. It's our God-given responsibility that He's given us a work to do as a team in God's Church. We are a team. If you play team sports, and now Samantha plays volleyball, and every member in that volleyball team is going to play. If you've got one that just doesn't play and keeps dropping the ball, wow!

What's going to be the result of the team? We have a team job collaborative work to do, and we're going to finish that work. But in that process of doing that, in every game there are ups and downs. You can be playing a game, and you might feel a bit discouraged. But what are you going to do? Come out, let's get together. All right, encourage one another, let's get back. When you see the team is down, take time out, get the encouragement, and get going. Get that comfort as we heard in the sermon there. Get that comfort, and let's get going. And then, let's go on. And you and I can be discouraged by many things, like any sports, you can get many things discouraged.

One person dropped the ball, the other one did this, the other one whatever. Oh, okay, and we'll now let's get together. The world is around us. I mean, why are we discouraged? It could be our problems with the flesh. It could be the world, society, politics around. It could allow you. It could get so wrapped up in what's happening. And hearing the news all the time here, is it authorized?

It says, I just want to switch off the news. I don't want to hear it anymore. I want to turn the station. I want to listen to something else, because I'm just tired of hearing the same thing. It could be Satan that is attacking the church or attacking you, and he's got so many ways that's discouraged. It could be health. Maybe you have had certain health issues, but that's a discouraged one.

Getting old, and these little eggs and beans are becoming more prominent. That's getting discouraged. Well, maybe even financially, you just can't make ends meet. You've got to cut down, you've got to cut down, and this is discouraged. Could have marriage problems, problems around, problems with the family, problems with whatever. You could be the ultimate one in death and the family, some sort of grief.

And that's discouraged. We all can get discouraged. I could get discouraged. We all can get. We all do. We all do. None of us is immune to it. We all. But you and I need to learn to use God's Holy Spirit, the power of God's Holy Spirit, to be encouraged and to take encouragement. And that's my purpose today, my sermon today, to talk about the you and I need to learn to use God's Holy Spirit, the power of God's Holy Spirit, to be encouraged. And so today we're going to look at three areas that can help us to be encouraged.

And I really appreciate the sermon, because I mentioned a number of very valid points that can help us to be encouraged, but I want to be comforted. But I want to mention three areas, not specific points or things to do, but just generic areas. And so that you and I don't give up through this country. So that we don't give up. So that we complete this ultra-marathon all the way to the end. And so the very first one is that you and I need to take ownership of our own emotions.

We need to take ownership of our own level of encouragement or discouragement. Sure, there's a lot of problems out there, a lot of grief that can affect us, whatever it is. People problems, as I mentioned, society, our own fleshly weaknesses, our own continuous fall, and you've got this trial and you keep falling, and we just, yes, we've got it really out of the car.

We've really got it. We've got a problem. Let's... that's it. We've struggled with this long enough. Let's now out of the car. We have got a car. That's it. We've got out of the car. We've struggled with it long enough. We've got to take ownership. Now, it's easy to blame. Oh, in this society, particularly in this country, there's a big blame game. In this country, it's somebody else. That's why suing is such a big thing, because you've got to blame somebody.

It's somebody else's problem. Before you go to sue, it's never my problem. It's somebody else's problem. So you've got to sue somebody because it's their fault.

And so, we've got to take accountability for our own discouragement. Sure, you all have plenty of excuses. I have plenty of excuses to be discouraged. There's plenty of things around us that I can be discouraged for. But you know what? I've got to take accountability for myself. I've got to realize it's my responsibility to allow these things to affect me or not. I've got to be self-accountable for it.

Some people feel that other people need to encourage us.

Oh, but you're not encouraging me. It's your fault!

Now, obviously, we do need to encourage one another, and I'll get out of that in a later. But the point is, when we feel that we need to be encouraged by others, we're not taking accountability of our own responsibility. We've got to take accountability. If you and I are always dependent on others for encouragement, that encouragement will only be temporary when that person gives us that encouragement. And then we'll wear off. And therefore, we may never be encouraged all the time. So we need to take that ownership. I want to let you to please look with me at the example of David in 1 Samuel chapter 30.

1 Samuel chapter 30. I'm going to start reading from verse 1. Now it happened when David and his men came to Ziklek on the third day that Amalekites had invaded the south and Ziklek attacked Ziklek and burnt it with fire. So they went into this town and burnt it with fire. And they had taken captive the woman, and those were there from small to great. They did not kill anyone, but carried them away, and it was captive, and went away. So they went into this town. Think about your neighborhood, your own area. They went into your neighborhood, and they destroyed everything. They burnt your house, they burnt your car, they burnt your area where you lived. Everything around you they had gone, and your wife and your children they took gone. And you came in there, and your loved ones were gone, and everything was destroyed. Your PC, your iPad, everything was gone. Your cell phone was gone.

And so David and his men, verse 3, came to the city, and there it was, burnt with fire, and their wives, their sons, and their daughters had been taken captive. Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept, until they had no more power to weep.

Did they get discouraged? Did they get sad? Yes, they did. And they just cried. And yeah, it's good, too. Just let it out, cry, and let that discouragement there, but not allow it to rule over you. Now, this is continued there. In verse 5, and David's two wives, he know him, the Jez of Rulites, Jez of Rulites, and Abigail, the widow of Nabal, the Colonelite, had been taken captive. Now, David was greatly distressed. I mean, he was really anxious. I mean, this was really stressful. I mean, would you? I mean, of course you would be. I mean, your wife was gone, your children were gone, your house, everything was destroyed. Because of all the people who spoke of starting him, or now even more, it's David's fault. They all blame me. It's your fault. And because it's your fault, we're going to wipe you out. We're going to kill you. It's my fault? Am I the cut's cut? It's your fault. You should have saved ya. You should have... Who could have kissed them? You see, it's so easy to blame others, and when things are wrong, that's what the others do. They start even blaming David, and that's David's fault. Because the soul of all the people who grieve, every man for his sons and daughters. But look at David, what he does now. David took ownership of the situation, and he took control of his emotions. And he said, but David strengthened himself. He turned to God, he's the Lord. He's the Lord. And he doesn't just stay discouraged. He took ownership of that situation with God's spirit and says, I am not going to allow this to get me down. Yes, it is discouraged. Yes, he did weep. Yes, he did cry. But he took ownership of the situation and said, I'm going to call on God on this crisis, and I'm not just going to allow it to wipe me out. He took ownership of it. And you and I can do the same thing for God's Holy Spirit. You and I can take ownership of this and say, all right, I'm not going to let it go down. I can strengthen myself with God, with God's help and move towards.

Then David said to a diaphragm, the priest, a Himalayk son, please bring the ephod. Yeah, to me. The ephod was that thing that had all the pearls and they could ask God and God would... I don't know how it worked, but somehow said yes and no. You know, one went lit up and everyone didn't. Whatever. It was just amazing. And so, Abiathar brought the ephod to David, and David inquired of the Lord, saying, How shall I pursue this truth? Shall I overtake them? Anyosity, pursue for you, shall surely overtake them, and without fail, recover all. Reverend, you and I can do the same thing. You and I have access to God's throne, with God's Holy Spirit, and we can pray and ask God for wisdom. As we read in James, he says, when you have problems, ask for wisdom. Not doubting, but in faith, and God will give it to you.

Reverend, David could have said, look at all the straws. Oh poor me. Oh poor me. And just he arched in the dumps, but he took ownership of it. He says, no. More I can do.

Look at James. We mentioned James a moment ago, but look at James chapter 1. James chapter 1 verse 2 through 4. James 1 verse 2 through 4.

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into very straws.

I'm not saying today, but count joy that this happened to you and your family and to you. But it's hard. It's hard to count the joy. But he says, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience, produces endurance, as it's in a margin, endurance. It's that endurance that you have in a marathon race. It's that patience, that endurance, that perseverance, that stick-to-ittiveness to run that marathon till the end. And let that endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect, that you and I may be mature, like Christ is mature, the mind of Christ, the maturity of Christ, and complete, like enough. And then that's your essence. If any of you lacks wisdom, go and ask for it. Not even. If you lack wisdom, you went and asked for it. And you got to ask for it. You and I need to do the same thing. And you and I can do something. We can do the same. We can take ownership of whatever trials we have and go to God, realizing that, yes, it is a trial, but in the end, we'll make us better people. It's only a marathon. There's only a few seconds in this race in the big picture of things, only a little bit, a few more years to go in the 6,000-year marathon. And we just got to keep going there for a little longer. You and I need to look at the positive and say, right, the positive. That's why it says, count it all joy. He was looking at the positive. Look with me at Proverbs chapter 15 verse 13. And Mary's heart makes a cheerful countenance. But a sorrow of the heart, the Spirit is broken. Sure, there's been a lot of sorrow. We all have sorrow. David had a lot of sorrow. And yes, the Spirit was broken. But don't let it stay broken. Look at the positive. Get that heart. Mary, look at the positive somewhere. Because that will change your whole outlook. Control it. Take control of it. Take ownership and control it. Also in Proverbs, look at 18 verse 21. Proverbs 18 verse 21.

It says, death and life are in the power of the time. You know, there's this thing that says, sticks and stones may hurt me, but the words will never, whatever, do. That's a lie. Because death and life are in the power of the time.

That's a lot of power. Death and life. Now, what is the time? What are the words? Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Look, 645. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. And that mouth that speaks has the power of death and life. But the source of those words are the words in our minds and in our hearts. And that's a merry heart is good like a medicine. That's another proverb you can look up. So, in fact, it's now been proved that if you think negative things, I'm not going to go into the scientific things. If you, that sort of person, go there and search and you'll find it's true. But it's now been proved that negative thinking, it's toxic. When you judgmental of other people and you've got negative thoughts, it hurts yourself more than other people. Because it affects yourself. Somehow those negative thoughts in your brain trigger some sort of a chemical reaction that releases certain chemical things in your body that affects the cells of your body. That's why it says a merry heart is good like a medicine. Because when your heart and your positive thoughts are positive, you release certain, there are names for it, but in doctors or whatever it's called, it releases certain things in your body and those things affect you in a healthy way. So don't allow that discouragement to loss. Take control of it and allow, look at the positive. Look at the positive. And that's why you and I need God's Holy Spirit, because God's Holy Spirit helps us through that. Look at one example in Romans 12.

I'm spending a little longer on this specific section, because it's so important a lot of people don't take ownership of their own problems. But in Romans 12, it's talking about presenting your bodies of the lean sacrifice, and then it's talking about spiritual gifts, gifts of the Holy Spirit. And look in verse 6. Having them gifts, having them gifts, differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them. So you and I have gifts, and God's Spirit gives us gifts. When you and I were baptized, God has given His Holy Spirit to you. When He has given the Holy Spirit, He has given you certain talents that you may not know yet. And then it describes various, but in verse 8 it says, He who exhorts in exhortation.

What is exhort? As we heard in the sermonette, it's interesting to look at some of the Greek words. The word exhortia in Greek is parakleio. Parakleio means encourage. It can be translated as encourage, console, comfort. Comfort. It can be translated as comfort, as consoling somebody, as encouraging somebody. It also can be translated as beseeching, begging and pleading. It's got like two main meanings, but today we're focusing on this meaning of being consoling, exhausting, encouraging. In other words, it's pleading to be encouraged, to be comforted, to be positive. And God's Holy Spirit, one of the spiritual gifts of God's Holy Spirit, is encouraging. It's encouraging other people. It's exhorting encouraging other people. And if you have that talent, use it to encourage, in exhortation. And some have it more than others. But sometimes we need to use it to improve it. You may have a talent to play the piano, but the more you play the piano, the better you get. Right? It takes practice. And maybe you don't have a lot of skill in encouraging us. But the more you encourage, the better you will get. And so God's Holy Spirit is a spirit of encouragement. And so use it in encouraging. It says He's given us His gifts. That's His grace to us. That's His goodness to us. And His encouragement is a great, very positive, gracious gift. So use it to encourage. All right. So it's a gift that God uses. Now look at something that you may have not noticed. And I want you to look at Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5. So He's asked to get to God's word and pull out these little nuggets, these little jewels. And He has another jewel that you may have not noticed. Maybe you have it. Maybe only I noticed it recently, and I think it's a jewel to read. But, well, I hadn't noticed it that way. And I noticed it preparing the sermon. And I said, wow, it's talking about the Beatitudes.

And the key Beatitude is that in the first place we must humble ourselves. It's an attitude that you and I need to have. That's the first Beatitude. We need to worship. We need to humble ourselves. And the next one is we need to mourn. And when we mourn, that means you sorrow, but Godly sorrow, true Godly sorrow, is repentance. It's permanent change. We mourn for what we are and what we do so that we repent. And He says, and when we mourn, when we repent, it becomes... You know it's the same word as absorbed in Greek. Parachleio. You'll be encouraged. You'll be comforted. You'll become sorrowed.

Why? Because God is a great encourager.

And when you repent, when we first are humble, and through that humility, then we chant and admit our things, our wrong things, and we chant and repent, then God gives His Spirit to those that obey Him and will be comforted by His Spirit. I thought I had never seen that connection to that until I was preparing the sermon. That to me was a little night. Maybe you had seen it. But we all learned from one another. I just seen that that's part of being encouraged. And I hope you can see that in first place you have to take accountability. That's the first area. But the second area that helps us to understand encouragement is that God is the great encourager. David, turn to God. You and I need to take ownership and then turn to God for encouragement, because God is the great encourager. Now, you all are probably familiar to when people go to a hospital and their blood sugar is low or whatever it is, or they dehydrated when you do, they give this little plastic bottle and intravenously they give them some fluid directly into the veins to get them going. You know, God's only Spirit. It's God's way of intravenously injecting into our heart encouragement.

Because through God's Spirit, He writes it into our hearts and into our minds His law. And we obey, and as we obey, He gives us a spirit, and as we soar, that encourages us. Come for us, please.

We are encouraged by God's only Spirit. God is the great encourager. Turn with me to a man that became very depressed, and that is Elijah in 1 Kings 18. So let's start Chapter 18 of 1 Kings just to get the context.

1 Kings 18.

1 Kings Chapter 18.

That was the situation of Elijah.

And just to get the context, there were a lot of false prophets in Israel. And then in verse 19, yeah, of Chapter 18, it says, 18-19, Now therefore send and gather all men to me on Mount Carmel, the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, that is, of, let's call it in modern day, of Mary, of Virgin Mary. That's really what it is, is the woman they worshiped who eat a Jesuit unstable.

So people were worshiping a false God. They were worshiping God, yes.

And how do you say, bring them together? And then look at in verse 24, it says, then it tells them, now you guys call on the name of your gods, and I'll call on the name of the Lord. And the God who was by fire, he is God. And so all the people said, well done! Let's do this! Great! Let's do this! Great! Let's do this! Yeah, we'll see who's doing the zoos, as we'll say today. Let's do it. So they did. And look then at verse 27. And so it was at noon. Now they were doing it. There was a reading of a day, praying past. That Elijah mocked and said, hey! Cry loud and shout loud and pray loud and make more noise. Take a band, make noise, make a whole band and drums and sticks and make more noise. Because he's God, you know, and he's meditating. He's deep in thought. So you need to make noise to wake him up to actually get him out of his meditation. He's in one of these meditating trances, you know, wake him up, make a lot of noise, shout louder. Oh, he's busy. You see, he's actually shocking something. He's busy. He's on a journey. Oh, he's traveling. So, you know, maybe you need to make more noise to wake him up. Oh, perhaps he's asleep. Could be even smaller, who knows? You've got to wake him up. You've got to make a lot of noise. He must be awake. So he is mocking them. And then, obviously, nothing happened. And then you read a little further in verse 33. That then came the time of Elijah to do his bit. And he put wood, the wood in order, and he cut the bowl in pieces and laid it on the wood, and and poured four water pots with water and poured it on the burnt office on the wood. So he filled it up with water, filled this up with water. And then he said, Hey, that's not enough. Put the second top, put more water into this. So he did the second top. And they did it. Then he said, No, no, this is not enough. Put a third top, put more water into it. And so the water ran all around the altar and also filled the trench with water. And it was the time of offering, of the evening offering, the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, Now look at his prayer. His prayer is probably shorter than 70 words. Now, you and I don't need these big, proud, boastful, long prayers that sound like a whole sermon, but just short, succinct, to the point. He said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known this day that you are the God of Israel, and I'm your servant, and that I've done all those things at your word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that those people might know that you are the Lord God, and that you have turned their hearts back to you again.

Then, that's a short prayer. He said that and said, Amen. That's it. I'm finished. Short and sweet. Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed a burnt offering. I mean, the fire came down from heaven, burned everything up, the wood and the stones, I mean, even burnt the stones, right, and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. When all the people saw this and fell on their faces, he says, The Lord is God. The Lord is God. There's no doubt. So now, Elijah had just performed a great miracle. Not Elijah, God, through Elijah. And I think it will be the time to be encouraged. The time to be encouraged. But you see what happens. It's like a minister or somebody, you know, you do a job and you do something, the work is done, and then you look back, and there's nobody. You go and do all the Beyond Today programs and do all the announcements about the Kingdom of God seminar, and you look back, there's nobody that booked or enrolled.

Do you think that's encouraged? It can be discouraged. And the same thing to Elijah. God made this great miracle, and what did the people do? They went back to do the same thing, worshiping the false God. They did not change their ways. Elijah said, wow, I'm here by myself. I'm here by myself. Elijah became discouraged. And therefore, reading chapter 19, and I have told you Isabel all that Elijah had done, also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword, and Isabel sent a messenger to Elijah.

So let the gods do to me. And more also, if I do not take your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow, about this time, she said, you are going to be dead meat by tomorrow. Just like you killed these other prophets, you're next. But in 24 hours, you zapped. And Elijah said in verse 4, He himself went on a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat under a broom tree, and he prayed that he might die.

Was he discouraged or not? He was discouraged. He was discouraged to the point of saying, please, I just want to go. He said, it's enough. It's enough, God. Take my life. For I'm no better than my father's. I'm nobody special. I'm doing God's work. I'm doing this. And people are not repenting. People are not changing. The world keeps going on as it is.

But you see, then God encouraged you. You see, then he lay and slept under a broom tree, and then an angel touched him and said to him, arise and eat. Come on, don't be discouraged. Come on. There's some food.

There's some drink here. Take it. And so he looked, and thereby his head was a cake, and he came to him from Coles, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank, and he went back to sleep. And the angel again came to him a second time and said, Sir, why'd you come? He touched him again. He said, arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you. And so he arose, and ate and drank. You know, when he got to the shop, you're going to see these energy drinks?

You know, you'll never see these energy drinks, and take this energy drink for the next five or six hours. You really like it. What do you call that? These little bunnies on with this. Or do you mean? It's energized by the jeez. Well, he took this energy drink that angel gave him through God, and that fed him for forty days and forty nights. Now, forget about these energy drinks. These are lovely.

These are lovely. This was forty days and forty nights. That he said. And he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as horror, the manner of God. And then he went to the cave, and he spent a night to caress, and the old word of the Eternal came, and then he says he came in his little voice. And God then encouraged him in his little small voice, and he said, you can read that in verse 15, Lord Satan, go, go back, and anoint Hazel, king of Syria, and anoint Jehu, the son of Nisha, king of Israel, and Elisha, the son of Shethet, available, you shall anoint as a prophet in your class.

I'm going to give you rest, and I'm going to give you hope. You don't have to continue. Be encouraged. Don't be down. Because, he says in verse 18, you're not alone. There are another seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every month there are questions. There is no question. In other words, don't be discouraged. Your work has borne some fruit. God encouraged him. God is the source of encouragement, of ultimate encouragement. We saw in the sermon that, I think, Mr. Fauci went to 2 Corinthians chapter 1. Let's go back in there. 2 Corinthians chapter 1. This is, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort, of all encouragement, the same word.

Who compers it, who encourages in all our tribulation, that we may have the comfort, the encouragement, to be able to comfort those who are in trouble. With the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. So, brethren, there's a lot that we can do and be encouraged. Look in chapter 7 of the same book. 2 Corinthians chapter 7. Verse 5 to 7. 2 Corinthians 7, 5 to 7. For indeed, when we came to Macedonia, our bodies had no rest. But we were troubled on every side. We had a lot of troubles. We could have been, we were very distressed. Outside with conflicts, inside with fears.

We had fears inside. Nevertheless, God who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of darkness. We were encouraged by darkness. He came. And not only because He came, but also by the comfort, by the consolation, by the encouragement with which He was comforted in you when He told us, You see, brethren, we encourage one another. God encourages, and as God encourages the Spirit, we encourage one another. We encourage one another.

You know, one thing that sometimes we forget is what Jesus Christ said in John chapter 14 verse 16. John 14 verse 16. And this again is after the quick washing on when He was taken to the brethren just before He died, on the night it was betrayed. In John 14 verse 16, He said, And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another helper. Do you know what the word for helper is in saying in written? It's a kingdom which is a similar word, a sign of root, as paraklaya, which is encouragement. God will give you another encourager, another helper, another comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, that He may abide with you forever. God's only Spirit is that intravenous injection of encouragement that you and I receive upon baptism that will be with us as an encouragement forever. So brethren, you and I need to take ownership that we are responsible, to not allow us to be discouraged, but to be encouraged. Secondly, we need to look to God as our great encourager through His Holy Spirit. And thirdly, we need to then put that to practice and encourage us. Let's look at some examples in the New Testament of how this happened. The first one I have is in Acts 11.

Acts 11 is when was the beginning of the work going to the Gentiles. And then, it's talking here about in Antioch. That's chapter 11, verse 21. Barnabas and Saul were at Antioch. This is Antioch of Syria. And that was like the advice, the headquarters where Paul left for his journeys from Antioch.

And look here in verse 21, And when the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the eternal, the news of these things, when people turned and changed, it was a repentance that people came to church, and all these things, they became an encouragement to them. And then, they sent out Barnabas as far as Antioch. So when the news came to Jerusalem of what was happening in Antioch, they sent Barnabas. And when Barnabas came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all.

He portrayed, paracletus, paracleta, encouraged them all, with that purpose of heart, that they should continue with the Lord. For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit. That's Holy Spirit, which is an encourager. And he was exhausting one another, using that gift of his Spirit to encourage one another, full of the Holy Spirit and fight. So, there's one example that God, the brethren in Jerusalem were encouraged.

When they saw the changes in Antioch, they sent Barnabas, which was a man of encouragement, to God, encourage them to keep going! And then you know how they had problems with the Gentiles coming in and some of the Jews, then saying, well, you've got to circumcise, you've got to keep the ceremonial things as far as the Gentiles need to do that. And then they had the Acts 15 Conference.

And at the end of the Acts 15 Conference, which is at the end of chapter 15 of Acts, in verse 30, it says, And when they were sent off, because they had finished the conference and they were sent off, they came to Antioch, because they had this letter to send back to Antioch with the decision of the ministers. And when they had gathered a multitude together, they delivered a letter with that decision of the ministers.

And when they read it, they rejoiced over its encouragement. And now, Judas and Silas themselves being prophets also exhorted. It was encouraged and strengthened the brethren with many words. So brethren, there's many ways that we can encourage one another. Yeah, where brethren being encouraged by ministers, there are also times where Paul was encouraged by brethren. You know, look at Romans, chapter 1. In Romans, chapter 1, we have a situation that Paul had never been to Rome. In Romans, chapter 1, Paul had not yet been to Rome. But he received the word about how the brethren were doing well.

So in Romans, chapter 1, verse 11, For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift. So he wants to impart to the Romans a spiritual gift. What spiritual gift is that? Is it speaking in tongues? Is it speaking Russian or Portuguese or Japanese to them? They wouldn't understand. There's no benefit in that. He does not edify the body. I could talk to you now in a pecans, but I'm not going to edify you by speaking in that tongue. I could speak in two-year tongues.

I could speak in Portuguese as well. They will not edify you. But encouragement will edify you a lot more. That is a valuable spiritual gift. And look at him. He wanted to impart to the Romans a spiritual gift so that you might be established, so that you might be more strengthened and be established. That is. Now he explains that is.

He explains what the spiritual gift is. That is that I might be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith, both of you and me. That is the spiritual gift you want to impart to them. Encouragement and to encourage one another. Now Paul ended up going to Rome. You know, after the third trip, he went back to Jerusalem. He then became a prisoner. And after all those things, he went back to Rome. And he went through Shukarek and then he finally got to Rome. Now when he got to Rome, he'd seen Acts 28, which is probably on the same page in your Bible, just one page back, 28 verse 15.

Acts 28 verse 15. And from there, when the brethren heard about us in Rome, he had finally got to Rome. He was a prisoner. He had been through Shukarek and all that. Finally got to Rome to see these brethren that he wanted to encourage. And he was now a prisoner. When he got there, when the brethren heard about us, they came to meet us as far as the API forum and the three years. And when Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage. He was encouraged by the brethren because the brethren came and saw him.

Brethren, we can encourage one another. We can encourage one another. We all need encouragement. But the ultimate encouragement comes from us taking ownership and us relying on God's own Spirit. But nonetheless, we need to use that Spirit to encourage one another. And that is encouragement.

You all have probably read the scripture in Hebrews chapter 10.

And you've probably read it in many different ways. But I want to look at it now in Hebrews chapter 10 verse 24 and 25.

I want to read it to you under this context of encouragement. In Hebrews 10 verse 24 and 25 says, Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good words. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. It was not forsaking of us coming to church on the Sabbath together, as is the manner of Son.

But encouraging, exhorting, encouraging one another. And so much more, as you see the dying of Persia. You see the Christian fellowship that you are not sharing in church and off the church when we talk to one another. That is encouraging to one another. And that encourages us one another for another week. We get another injection of God's Holy Spirit and gives us strength for another week. Particularly as we see the day of judgment approaching.

Particularly as we see that day approaching.

In the same chapter, look at the same book in chapter 3, Hebrews 3 verse 12-30. It's actually talking about the Sabbath, because if you look at chapter 4 verse 9, it says there, Paul remains a rest, a Sabbath keeping for the people of God. Right here, Paul is talking, there remains a keeping for the people of God. That's Paul writing in Hebrews saying verse was written like the year 48-49 AB. That means round about 20 odd years after Christ died. He was saying there remains a Sabbath keeping. He's talking about the Sabbath. And you can read in the context of the Sabbath day, etc. It's clearly, it's that. It remains that. But just before that, preempting that, he says in chapter 3 verse 12, Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in the imparting from the living God. But I exhort one another daily while it is called today, because today is in capital. He's talking about the Sabbath while today is the Sabbath. Lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

Did we read over it? Let's go back again. But exhort one another daily. And it was encourage one another daily while it is called today. And it was encourage each other on the Sabbath.

That's why it says don't forsake the assembly of yourselves on the Sabbath to exhort one another.

Brethren, you and I can be discouraged by many things that are happening around us in the world. Whatever they are, our problems, our flesh, our problems at work, our problems at college, whatever it may be, you and I can get discouraged. There's a Satan. He may have health issues, may have financial issues, may have marriage issues, may have deaths, and those that are dear to us. We never know what the person next to you and I is struggling with. We'll never know.

But if you're in the sermon yet, there are certain things you and I can do to help us overcome that, to be encouraged, to be comforted. But there are three areas that you and I can use what's of the Spirit. The first one is to take ownership of our own decision not to be permanently discouraged, but to really take strength and take ownership of our own emotions. Secondly, seek God for His only Spirit of encouragement, because God's Spirit is a helper, is a Spirit of encouragement. And thirdly, put that to practice. Don't quench that Holy Spirit. Use it. Stir it by encouraging one another, thinking about others, writing letters as we heard in the sermon yet, or founting more, visiting more, writing a card. We've got cards there. Make sure you make an outing there and write to encourage people. But particularly as we encourage one another, young with Christian fellowship on the set. We all have a job to fix. We all have to remain faithful in this marathon to the end. But you and I are being trained to be helpers. Helpers of others' joy. But being helpers, that is to be encouraged in the family of God, to encourage people that will come in the world tomorrow from the most stressful situation that the world would have come through, will be there to encourage those people in the wonderful world tomorrow so that this world will then become the ultimate paradise.