The Why and How of Encouragement

I want to welcome everybody, welcome those that are online. And I do hope that the message that I'm going to be bringing will, in the days, maybe even the weeks, months, years ahead, become a blessing to you and something that you can attach to and grow in. I'd like to begin this message by sharing a story. And it's a real life story, actually, but it will be the foundation of the message that I'm going to bring. Sandhill cranes, and there is such a crane called the Sandhill Crane, and they fly great distances across vast continents at the time. And they have three remarkable qualities. Allow me to share them with you if I may. The first quality is that they rotate leadership. No one bird stays out in front all the time. That bird goes out in the front, guiding the way, and also breaking the gravity that will come upon the rest of the flock. Number two, they choose leaders who can handle turbulence, just as I just mentioned, breaking the wind, breaking the breeze. Number three, all the time one bird is leading, and the rest are honking their affirmation to encourage the lead bird to be more than the moment, and to finish the job. Again, just as Mr. Miller was bringing out in his first message. Again, I don't know up in Minnesota, Joel, if you have Sandhill cranes, but we do know you have the Canadian geese, and they operate very much in the same way. The bottom line that I want to share with you today, and this message is not just simply for the birds, even though my name is Robin. The bottom line is this. Are you with me? And can we understand this point? If the birds can do it, we can do it too. And that is the theme of today's message to you. It's about encouragement. It's about encouragement. I'd like to share a couple of assignments with you first. We're going to make this interactive. You don't have to get out of your seats. You don't have to raise your hands. But I just want to put down a few thoughts to bring you into the message, to integrate you to where I am at so that we can go together for the rest of the message. So the first one is this. I'd like you to complete the following in your mind. You're not going to be able to jot this all down. I'll be sending out my notes later anyway. I just want you to kind of get it here. But please complete the following. Are we ready? Because there's going to be about five steps, and you center on one. And I just want you to kind of, there's a fancy word. I want you to cogitate on it. Complete the following. Number one, I find encouraging others is, number one, natural.

Number two, fairly easy.

Number three, be honest, rather difficult. Number four, more honest, very difficult. And number five, perhaps honest, can simply not on my mind.

Think that through for a moment. Don't raise your hands on any of them, please. Now, beyond that now, beyond that then, what do you consider encouragement to be? What is encouragement?

What's your definition? I want you to think about a moment. When you think about it, encouragement is simply putting and placing courage into another human being. I want you to really think that one through. Encouragement is placing encouragement into another human being. Simply put, it's being God's person at God's time to lift up God's children.

You, and you fill in your name, become God's vessel. Vessels are designed to pour out matters on other objects. You become God's vessel to pour out his love.

Now, with all that introduction, you may be saying, well, I'm the one who needs to be on the receiving end, and not the giving end, Mr. Weber. Can we turn this message around? What about moi, like Miss Piggy, remember?

What about me? And that may be very, very true, but once you have received encouragement, from above, from another vessel that God is using to where they put courage into your life, you then have a responsibility to pass that on. And that is very, very important. Some, to be honest, when you think of the gifts of the Spirit, may have the gift of encouragement. Understood. But that should not limit you and me once we have experienced it from another person. And we have a responsibility, as we're going to go to Scripture and find out to pass it on. That is, if you follow these three things, and your spiritual eyes are open, number one, you see the need. Number two, you are willing. And number three, you make yourself available as the touch of God on another human being. So today, let's understand the need, the importance, and the calling of each of us as followers of Jesus Christ, to reach deep into ourselves, reach out where we see the need. And number three, to reach in where people might be lifted up, encouraged, and to know that they're not alone. So for a few minutes, we're going to allow our fingers and our hearts to do some walking through the Scriptures to develop a framework about what spiritual encouragement is all about, our responsibility to be able to do that. Join me, if you would, in Isaiah 40. In Isaiah 40, let's just lay down a marker here, OK? Isaiah 40, and picking up the thought in verse 1.

Isaiah 40 is in the Old Testament. Isaiah is an Old Testament prophet. But in Isaiah 40, there is a messianic prophecy. And we are not going to read all the many, many, many verses. We're just going to look at first one, just kind of a marker to where we begin. It's a messianic prophecy about Israel being restored, Jesus Christ coming to this earth, that there is a Messiah, and that there is hope in the future. And notice how it begins in Isaiah 40 and verse 1. It says, comfort, yes, comfort, my people, says your God. And that comfort will ultimately come when God sends his son to this earth.

And the ultimate comfort only comes at the first coming, but more so at the second coming. So we take a look at that. Let's see what that Messiah would say later on when he did come, if we'll join us in John 1633. Just going to lay down some markers here for a moment, then be able to build upon it. Now please understand, John 1633, written before us, is actually what Jesus said on the last night of his humanity. And he's speaking to his disciples. And notice what he says in John 16. Pardon me. And it says here, let's start in verse 32. Indeed, the hour is coming, and yes, has now come that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave me alone. And yet I am not alone. Very important. Because the Father is with me. These things I have spoken to you that in me, you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation. But notice, be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. A lot is happening here, not only on that evening, not only what would transpire over that night, or into that next day. And he told them that as followers, as disciples of Jesus Christ, that there would be troubling times, that there would be challenge, but that he would be there. Like he just mentioned for a moment, all of us in this about tribulation. Can we talk? All of us have experienced losses. We've had frustrations in life.

We've lost your job.

We've perhaps lost a dear friend that we grew up with, or we came into this way of life with, and that had always been there. And for one reason or another, they had to move. And that vacuum has not been filled.

We also look at the aspect of death. Death of a loved one.

Death of a spouse. Death of a child. Parents.

Some of us have experienced divorce, which in its own way is a death of a relationship. Some of us have been hampered by serious illness. That perhaps at this moment, God has not chosen to fully heal us of.

Perhaps you can identify one of these in your own life. The question I have for you and all those various ones that I just mentioned, can I maybe just ask you to all stop for a moment and think, who came alongside of you at that time during those moments in life? And helped lift you up. Was there somebody there? Were you that person for somebody else? Or did we just think that for chance, somebody else will take care of that? And that opportunity, that time when the tide comes in, that's what opportunity means. Opportunity means that there's a time when the tide would rise, this Greek, the tide would rise, and you could bring the ship into port and unload your product. Have we in some way over the years, and even our way of life in which God has blessed us so much, have times kept the product of encouragement stored in us, giving it to somebody else to do, knowing that Sally or Anne or Joe or Bill, perhaps they just have that natural gift of encouragement, everything's going to be all right. And thinking about all this, maybe challenges where people didn't come your way, and you were left alone holding the bag of discouragement, and sometimes reality that's in life, what do you wish had been different?

Did you ever have a time in your life when family or friends, perhaps a whole congregation, were not accessible or emotionally available to tap upon? You that have gone through these certain circumstances, and all of us that have lived many decades of life have some of these circumstances, we might ask, how did that make you feel?

Allow me to be frank. Encouragement is as essential as water and food and air itself. People can live 40 days without water.

Excuse me, they can live 40 days without food. They can live up to 10 days without water. They can live up to, I haven't got this one yet, they can live up to five minutes without air. But none of us can live without hope. Now, I know that our hope ultimately is that which is above, that we're in contact with. But the point I want to just share with you is that God allows that hope to come down to us sometimes simply by the touch or the voice of one individual. And we'll be talking about that a little bit later.

Without hope, without hope, we grow or die with or without it.

You might want to jot this line down. Simply put, encouragement is oxygen to the soul. Encouragement, putting courage in that God by his grace allows you to be his vessel. He says, who, me, me? Yeah. What's your name? What's your calling? Each of us need hope. You know, when you think about life itself, to have encouragement, you think, going back to life as humans from our first baby steps, baby is kind of easy to take care of because it's not going anywhere for a while. Then all of a sudden, baby starts. I'm not doing the Trump dance, OK? Just be careful here, OK? I started going like this, OK? I go like this, uh-oh. So anyway, the baby's kind of wiggling and jostling. And then all of a sudden, begins picking itself up against a piece of furniture, right? And then back to the furniture, like this, and kind of moving like this. And then that day comes, right? That day comes when all of a sudden, it's launch. And the baby's kind of like this. And what are the parents doing? They're waiting. They are so excited. And they have their arms open.

And that gives that baby encouragement. It has a target. There's mama. There's papa. That's hope. And then there's the first time when you learn how to ride a bike. And most likely, one of your parents was there with you. Learning to ride a bike back in the 1950s is probably a little bit different than today. My dad, being a marine, took me up to the top of a hill, put a football helmet on me, and launch. That was it. Hello? Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Different world back then. We're men. I don't know if the girls got that treatment from your parents, but that's the way it went. And then we were given hope sometimes as we went into situations like jobs. There was an encouraging mentor, even in our marriages, where somebody would come alongside of us. And they would ask, how is it going? And that they would give encouragement. And to let you know that maybe as a young couple, you were not going through anything else, that everybody else wasn't going through, that boy meets girl, and wonderful, wonderful. And then you recognize, you know, there's something a little bit different between a boy and a girl. There are some different life forces that are happening. And how are we going to bring that together? And maybe you had a wise parent, or a wise friend, or perhaps a pastor that helped you through that. So we have all of those things. What I want to share with you next is John 14.6. John 14, verse 6.

Oh, pardon me, John 14.16. This is, again, the last night of his life. And it says, and I will pray the Father, and he will give you another helper, that he may abide with you forever. Here, Jesus was speaking about the coming of the Holy Spirit, which is actually the spirit of his Father and himself, but no longer from afar, but embedded in us. But it says here that I will send you another helper, other translation, say a comforter. Well, if we have a helper, if we have a comforter, we're talking about one that is going to bring forth encouragement. In fact, the very Greek word for this is paracletos, paracletos, which means one who literally walks alongside of you.

I remember reading, I think it was a Tom Sawyer, where he's whistling down the dark, or he's doing a stick against the fence that he painted.

He wanted some noise, and he wanted some company, whether it's a whistle or a noise. And what God is saying is here, he provides one who literally walks alongside of us. You say, OK, Weber, so that's good, but how does that come to me? Remember the story of Barnabas? And Barnabas had a name. We call him Barnabas, and his actual name was Joseph, J-O-S-E-S, Joseph, a man of Cyprus. But his nickname was Barnabas, and he was called the Son of Comfort, the same comfort that Jesus Christ is talking about here. You might say he was Mr. Holy Spirit Man. That's what they were saying. They're saying because he would come along and where Barnabas was, he would extend. He would reach out. He wanted to help others, whether it was a man called Saul, who was now cozying up to the early church, whether it was later on the church at Antioch that he oversaw for a long time, even before Paul came back. And he would come back with a good report. He'd be there to encourage them, or whether it was later on with John Mark, when they all came to odds that he stood by this young man that perhaps had made a mistake along the way and bailed out for a while. But his encouragement was to stay with him, that later on that same young man that Paul kind of said into story would later on become the story in Paul's life, when at the very end he says, send Mark to me. How important is that? Join me if you wouldn't process on the 511. We're building to a few points, and then we're going to give you some practical steps. First Thessalonians 5.

And let's pick up the thought if we could in verse 11. Paul speaking, Paul writing, therefore comfort each other and edify one another just as you also are doing.

The word edify is another way of talking about an edifice. What is an edifice? An edifice is a building. And so what Paul is saying here is therefore comfort each other and build up, develop something more than it was. Let it grow just as you also are doing. Now with all of that, now we go to the verse that we want to really center on, 2 Corinthians 4. 2 Corinthians 1. And picking up the thought in verse 2. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now it says grace to you. And again, grace comes from the word kaddas in the Greek. And Hebrew at his favor. And this is how the epistles always start, that you have already received a gift from God. And with that gift of God comes peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and of all comfort. Now notice this. This is the deal. Who comforts us in all of our tribulation that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves also are comforted. In other words, we cannot be stingy with God's grace. Grace is something that flows from God, comes through us, and we are then to offer that to those. The bottom line, when you really look at the structure and what God is saying is we are a vessel. And the Spirit of God needs to be poured out. His Spirit needs to be poured out, come through us as a conduit, and be able to touch others that are in a challenging time. And when we look at this, he grants us his understanding. Yet who is the ultimate comforter? Ultimate comforter is. And why he chooses his great love and wisdom to comfort us so that we can comfort others. Bottom line now, now we're going to get down to recipe. How then do we encourage? There is a wrong way, and there is a right way. Sometimes we've probably been encouraged, and we might feel as if someone is working off of a list, some kind of a star system. I remember back in Sunday school, in the old days, we'd learn a verse, and we'd have stars. I have a star. Oh, I notched another one up. Got to tell everybody about it. This is not about a project. This is not about a star system. Look what I have done. Or somebody that's seeming to be doing out of pride or self-righteousness. One thing I want to share with you when you share encouragement, the last thing somebody wants to feel like is a project.

They don't want to feel like a project. They're a human being that needs encouragement, and that's what we need to remember. A true encourager is sincere, is genuine, and is motivated by the love of Christ with no thought of return. No thought of going to somebody else and telling another person, oh, look what I did. This is not an encourager. It is not about them. It's about the person that needs encouragement. And you're sharing a part of God's story in you with them to lift them up. One thing that we need to recognize is that encouragement is looking honestly at life. It's not to meant to gloss over suffering. Hear me now in this place. It's not meant to gloss over suffering, but in times to give that challenge or suffering meaning and the courage to endure it. Being honest, being honest is a part of encouragement. Remember what it says in Proverbs 27 and verse 6, faithful are the wounds of a friend. And when you're giving encouragement or you're talking to somebody, remember what Shakespeare said, where he said, those that do not have the scars have not felt the wounds that put them there. So there's a realism there of what you can do in encouraging somebody. Being honest is a part of that encouragement. Why? Because then that person who needs comforting can better direct their own energies.

Many years ago, I was bedside with a lovely lady.

I'll put it this way. Having been the pastor of Bakersfield, you'll know what I mean when I say this, knowing a lot of the people that are up in the Central Valley. She was an old oaky. She'd come west during the Great Migration. And she was a very, very old oaky.

And I was at summer camp, and I was coming down to 99. And one of her daughters called me up and said, she's in Delano, can you stop by?

And I stopped by, and lovely lady, just a salt of the earth kind of oaky lady, just down home when you know the Central Valley. And I was at her bedside, but for a few minutes.

And it's an awesome responsibility to try to give an encouragement, and yet to be honest at the same time. She said, Mr. Weber, I can't breathe. And they said, there's going to be time when I can't breathe.

And I said, Olita, I know that. I know that.

But my encouragement to you is, remember if but for a second, if but for a moment, if whatever comes is to think ahead and to recognize the glory and the privilege and the honor that you're going to have.

And I just talked to her about that for a moment, that sometimes we die for a moment that we might, by God's grace, live with him forever.

That was my counsel. Sometimes I've found, having now been in the ministry almost 50 years, that comes at a time of reality, you can anoint people so often so much, and we recognize what God is allowing, and that people are older, and that people are going to die, unless you've met somebody that hasn't died yet.

And so you have to come to a reality statement. You have to measure your words, measure your heart, and you come alongside somebody, and you ask for his wisdom in painting a picture, giving them hope beyond the moment that they're existing. I'll share another story with you a little bit later. And this is one of the major reasons why we are together. Join me if you would in Hebrews 10. In Hebrews 10, verse 19.

And pick up the thought in verse 19.

Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter, I don't think that's what I want. Excuse me a second. Yeah, it is what I want. Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest blood of Jesus by a new and a living way, he consecrated for us through the veil that is his flesh. And having a high priest over the house of God, with all of that stated, with that foundation, verse 22, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. And let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he promised is faithful. And let us, here we go, and let us consider one another. This is the growing grounds in order to stir up love and good works.

Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting. That means encouraging one another and so much more so as you see that the day is approaching.

We've been called, we've been called not just to study doctrine. We have been called not just to study prophecy and learn about what other people are or who they might be in the future. That can be well. That can be all right. And that's good. But we have been called to be vessels of God's holy spirit as God allows and as we move in to touch another human being to remember that. Let me give you some practical steps in all of this, because otherwise it's simply theory. I'm going to give you just four quick points. Number one, and what I want to share with you this, and you hear me many times when Susan and I, before we come to services on Sabbath, whether it's here or somewhere else that we're going to, and we're thrown into a, we are not thrown, we are placed into one of our houses of worship in our home, whether it's Redlands, whether it's South Vegas or here. We pray that God will guide us, that he will allow us to be sensitive to the needs of others that maybe we didn't necessarily plan to sit down and talk to, but that we are available, that we are sensitive, that we know that there might be a need out there, and conversely, that we might be served and helped by others that we might need. It's a two-way street. It's not just about Mr. Pastor and his wife. We're all in this together in this human fishbowl. So with that stated, number one, an encouragement is the power of words. Number one, words. A few words one way or the other can build up or take down. It has been said that 3 billion people go to bed hungry around the world every night, but that 4 billion people go to bed starving, starving just for one word of encouragement.

And because they meet discouragement, we live in a world that is increasingly moving away from God. It is fractured, and people are in a rush. And have you ever noticed, this is an old phrase I've used before, the thoughtless are rarely wordless. The thoughtless. So if we're going to encourage, it's going to take God's spirit, the funnel of that comfort. Sometimes less is more. And to make sure that what you're sharing is going to be of encouraging. You know, you just look at the examples in the Bible. You think of how encouraging were Job's friends? Hello. How would you like to have them over for dinner tonight? Tell me about all your problems.

How about Mrs. Job? Job, hubby, curse God, and die. Thank you very much. But then what about Jesus Christ, who is our example, who is the one foundation of the body, the scattered ones that he has brought together to be his vessel. When the woman was brought to him, few words, big moment. The woman that was caught in adultery was brought to him. And what did he say? The greatest encouragement of all. Where are your accusers? First line, comma. Go. Second comment. Three. And sin no more.

That woman was under a death penalty in that society at that time. But God, through Christ, used her as an example of grace and favor and encouragement. And just the right words. Freedom, liberty, this close to death.

And she was liberated. And those words stayed with all of us forever. It takes wisdom from above. Join me if you would in James 3.17. In James 3.17, a book of wisdom.

Pardon me.

In James 3.17, notice what it says here. But the wisdom that is from above is pure, peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy, and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. And this is right after the whole story about the tongue. We need to use wisdom. We need to use the same wisdom that's in Proverbs 25.11, where it says that there is a word that is fitly spoken. A word. Maybe not even a paragraph. It says a word, which is important. A part of that wisdom is to comprehend your personal gift offered to another when speaking. And before you speak, famous line that our parents taught us when we were young is to stop, to look, and to listen.

That's your first personal gift to put out in front of the person. Your full attention. I think I mentioned in a sermon recently, and I just wrote it up in the column that will be appearing later and in the Beyond Today, have you ever been with somebody, and you're pouring your heart out? This is really important. You're at your breaking point. And it's like this person has a timeout clock, like this. You know you don't have their attention, but you're still pouring out your heart, hoping that they'll break and you can get this symbiosis going. And then the cell phone rings. You're pouring out your heart. Be right over. And they're gone. If you're going to talk to somebody and be used by God as a vessel, you want to stop. You want to look. You want to look at somebody in the eye. And you want to listen. And it's that famous maxim of Stephen Covey. First seek to understand before you seek to be understood.

Where is that person coming from is so very, very important. Beyond that, sometimes there are not words.

And sometimes the encouragement that you have is simply to stand by somebody. Just stand. Just show up.

And sometimes, as it says at a photo, it's worth a picture. It's worth 1,000 words. A hug is worth 1,000 words that they know that you care enough. And you may not have the answers. You may not have all the good words at that time, but you are there. I'm going to finish up at that point later on. Understand something about encouragement. You don't have to be a PhD. You don't have to be a DDD. You don't have to be a ZZZ, whatever degree.

The most important thing about encouragement is presence. Simply being there, simply showing up. They know that you care. You may not even have the words, but you're there. Presence is important. Number two. Number two, simply put, dropping a line. Dropping a line to pick someone up. Drop a line. Send a note. Send a letter. Let somebody know that you didn't see them at services. Let them know that. A letter travels where perhaps you can't be. It gives love. It gives encouragement. It's kind of like an extension cord. You can't be there, but that little note, that little letter, that little email will let people know that somebody is thinking about them. And not only that, but a note will be remembered and reviewed perhaps often. Did you think and consider that most of Paul's epistles were letters of encouragement? Number three, the importance of touch. And I cannot overstate the importance of touch. Skin is a critical link to our emotional well-being, which is a bridge to spiritual well-being and back. It is the difference between our humanity and being a robot. And just simply being a machine is our skin. We know that there have been many studies. You've read them. I've read them about babies that are not handled. I see the three little ones out here today, which is it's nice having some children today. But we know that babies that are left alone that are not given touch, are not given feeling. They oftentimes can grow up with psychological challenges. Well, we're all the children of God. We're just growing up. But people need that touch as well. Babies are not the only ones that need touch. People at every stage need to be touched till the day that they die. And we are children of God. I'd like to read a letter to you for a moment.

I was going through my file. I shared this with Susan last night when I found it. I'd forgotten about this. I hadn't forgotten the event, but I didn't know I had the letter. This letter is 20 years ago to a member in our church that died. Very good. Friends, some of you might have remembered him. We'll talk about that in a moment. But that's why I say, you send a letter, and sometimes that letter of encouragement, the same letter of encouragement, that person will, if you send them a note, send them an email, they may hold on it.

I've been holding this for 20 years. It was all the way down, about 4,000 emails or attachments down, and I found it. And you know what? It encouraged me to be able to encourage you. You then be the vessel of God to touch somebody, to know the words to say.

And I'd like to share this with you for a moment. The proof is in this pudding. This is about Mr. Fred McAmis. I don't know if any of you remember Fred, out of Garden Grove. Remember long ago and far away, I was the pastor of Garden Grove. And Fred was a dear friend and a fellow servant right there. And Fred died. But I think a lot of the points that I'm going to bring out about caring and how to approach things is important. Susan and I were not able to be there for some reason, so I sent this letter to be read at Fred's funeral.

And so I read it, and I've done that before, when somehow I'm out of town. Or maybe I was back in Cincinnati at the time, which I wish I'd been there, but said this. Our friend Fred McAmis. It was 10 years ago that we first met Fred McAmis, and it was three days ago that we said, until we meet again.

It is interesting how life goes around in circles. When we first met Fred, it was in a hospital as he was recovering from heart bypass surgery. And it was once again in a hospital where we came together because of a recent heart and stroke episode. Fred McAmis was a gift to Susie and me. He was our friend. You might say our buddy. I've often said it's not our responsibility to choose God's family, but to accept those he brings into our lives.

I'm glad that God brought Fred our way to love, and in turn to be loved by him. Fred was family. Just comfortable, if you know what I mean. Over the last 10 years, Fred faithfully served from behind the scenes, the entire Southern California church community. His quality maps guided us all to holy day high services. He faithfully executed his responsibilities in obtaining for us quality facilities to observe God's festivals.

And he served faithfully as our head usher at the Escondido Peace Site. But more than this, at a personal level, he gave Susan and me his friendship. He touched us. He took us with simply where we were at as Robin and Susan. And we returned the favor in kind. God doesn't always place his saints into our lives that are brought to us in tidy packages, with designer wrappings, with shimmering bows and ribbons. Some of us need a lot of understanding and a lot of love, because in this world, we've never perhaps received it.

Fred needed unconditional love, and we loved him. I know all of you did too. Whenever he and Susan would get together, they would have wonderful talks about what they were learning and striving to accomplish in their walk with Christ.

Iron does sharpen iron, and sometimes, many times, hearts need to bolster hearts. Last Wednesday night, I wish all of you could have been with Susan and me as we walked to in a room to see him. With all that he had been through, he noticeably jerked his head toward us and gave the most beautiful smile, and he reached out his hand.

We held that hand because he wouldn't let go. He told him how special he was to us and to God. We reminded him of the wonderful promises of God and that no matter what would come his way with the minutes and the hours and the time yet ahead of him, it would be worth it, every stroke going upstream. I could tell he understood, for there is a language of the eyes when lips can no longer move.

For him to be alive, to be conscious, to be gracious to us, even when physically strapped, and to share those precious moments remembering the loving promises of God was no less than answered prayer. It was sad, but it was good. It is what life is all about, being there for one another.

You, the brethren of Garden Grove, have always been so good at that. Please continue in that way. For there are other friends out there waiting for a visit, waiting for a warm hand, waiting to hear about the promises of God, even in their darkest hour. So Susan and I say, find a Fred. Find a Fred, for there are more coming towards us, and love him or her for what he or she is, and not for what you think they ought to be.

Our Fred, the original one, would like that.

I don't think it was an accident. I've had this in my files for 20 years. Once I saw it, oh, I wrote it. But it was for such a time as now that I might share it with you. Because there are more Freds that are out there, and Fred arenas, how's that, ladies? There are Fred arenas, and there are Freds. There are Joes, and there are Sallies, that we ask for the sensitivity of God's Holy Spirit to move us, and to recognize that there's a need. And presence is so very important. You may not even have the words, but just showing up and giving encouragement to somebody. I see today people out here that are going through life, and yet you show up on the Sabbath day. You show up on a Bible study in Zoom. People show up even if they can't come to church because of where they're feeling. But I oftentimes see people show up here. Some of our older members that show up. And Susan and I are kind of finding it's not really exciting getting old. Not everything works anymore all at once. Come on. Get going.

Ow.

And yet you show up.

People that are older than we are showing up.

I never take that for granted. When I was a young person, I think I was 23 when I first started speaking in church. Susan, who I'm going to talk about in San Marino AM Church. And I was just beginning to speak. I've been doing it for 50 years, and I'm still trying to learn how to speak. But there is a gentleman on the front row, and his name was Mr. Stanley Miranda. And Mr. Stanley Miranda was 60 years older than I was at that time. And whenever I spoke, remember I said helping is not necessarily flattery. But so I understand that when I was saying this, Mr. Miranda would come up six years older. He's calling me Mr. The Culture at that time. Mr. Weber, that was just a wonderful sermonette.

Now I kind of took what he said in half of it, Stanley.

But young men and young women need that sometimes. They need that push from behind. They need to know that there's somebody out there cheering for them, praying for them, showing up to listen to them. And that continues in each and every one of us today because we have been comforted from above that we might be God's vessel. Now you say, oh, yeah, Mr. Weber, you and Mrs. Weber, you go into hospitals, or you say, no, no, I'm not used to it. We need God's spirit. When I go into a hospital room, I normally say a prayer, count to three, take, now you know the system, say a prayer, count to three, and take in a breath because as I go into that room, I don't know what I'm going to be dealing with. It's never easy, but it's needed, being God's servant, to be with somebody that's in a challenge. Never underestimate. Never underestimate how you touch people.

And some of you know that I'll write you sometimes and say, we missed you this week because each and every one of you are very special in our congregation, and we miss you when we don't see you.

Send out a note. Hope you're doing OK. Hope you're doing all right. We miss you. That's simple. Presence is so important. So with all that said, I hope this has allowed you today to know a little bit about encouragement. And one last thought I'd like to share with you is simply this. Never downplay.

Never underestimate how God is going to use you to make somebody else's life different. Never underestimate that, that you're a tool. You say, well, I'm 80 years old. You say, why has it taken so long to get here and to do this, to be this? Why couldn't I learn this when I was 20 or 30 or when I was more mobile or I was doing this or that? I'm going to share this to conclude with. You talk about encouragement. I mean, underlined with a star on it in all caps. Somebody at the end of his days, there was a man that walked up a hill outside of the walls of Jerusalem, a man that shouldn't be there, a man whose worst thing that he ever did was be perfect. And he was nailed to a piece of wood. He was being jeered.

He was being taunted. He was being ridiculed. And he knew that would come. The prophecy spoke about that in Isaiah 53. But there was one individual that was seven feet up in the air with him. The other individual on one side didn't have anything to do with him. But the individual next to him said, talking to the other thief of the two thieves, this man does not belong here. This man does not belong here. And remember me when you come into your kingdom. I have a question for you. Think of the word touch. And he couldn't touch him because all their hands were nailed to a piece of wood. But I ask you this question. As the son of man, not only the son of God, but the son of man, do you not think that Jesus of Nazareth was touched? That at the very end, that there was somebody that close to him as he was dying, that knew what he was about, and that he could make it to the end. And then with the job that he gave him, to be able to say, it is finished.

And I commit my spirit into your hands. A thief, a criminal, touched Messiah once and forever to set us an example that is never too late to be God's tool, to be God's instrument.

Amen.