April 11th, 2024
by Karen Hoover
by Karen Hoover
Consider Jesus
Bailey Horn | April 7, 2024
“Flatter me and I may not believe you. Criticize me andI may not like you. Ignore me and I may not forgive you, but encourage me and I will not forget you.” (William Arthur Ward)
We're diving into this whole thing of "one another” and we handed out to you this little Jesus
guy. This is to remind us that in our relationships with one another and as we relate to one another, we are to have the same mindset as Christ. We are to act like Jesus as we commune, as we fellowship, as we relate, as we live, as we struggle, and as we disagree at points with one another.
Something that I feel is so absent at points from churches is encouragement. Would you agree? So often, we live in a relationship with one another but really we just exist around each other. Not actually with each other. There's a big difference between living around people and
living with people. There's a big, big difference. When you're living with people, your relationship with them is going to have every aspect of what a relationship is — including encouragement.
I want you to think about it. When's the last time? When's the last time somebody, especially a believer, sat you down and just encouraged you? No, I want you to really think of the last time that happened. When was it? Was it a month ago? Was it a year ago? Five years? Ten years? Fifty years?
Scripture commands that we encourage one another — and not just encourage one another,
but build each other up. Get your Bible out.
1 Thessalonians 5:11
Therefore, encourage (comfort) one another and build each other up (edify) just as in fact, you are doing.
“Therefore”
What is this word “therefore” there for?
1 Thessalonians 5:4-10
But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day (talking about the day
of the Lord) should surprise you like a thief. You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others who are asleep but let us be awake and sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.
We, as believers, have a hope through our salvation in Christ. We can be assured of our salvation in Jesus and because of that, we encourage each other. Have you noticed that there's trial in the world? This is our encouragement. We will face trials in this life. We will experience suffering. We will experience these things, but we have hope in our salvation and the fact that this earth is not our home but rather, as Paul says in Philippians, we are citizens of heaven. That is hope.
“Encourage” or “Comfort” One Another
Three ways we comfort each other
With Our Words (Ephesians 4:29)
With Our Hands (1 Peter 4:10)
With Our Fellowship (Hebrews 10:24-25)
“Build Each Other Up”
Matthew 7:24
Therefore everyone who hear these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. Rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat up against the house yet it did not fall. because it had the foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man.
When you're doing a building project, you need to be three things
Slow
Smart
Strategic
Building up the church requires the same strategy. We have to be slow —slow to speak, slow to anger. We have to be smart — smart in the way we build up. We have to be strategic — strategically thinking ahead.
Building Up the Church/The Agenda
As your pastor, my agenda is to grow people in the faith, to shepherd people in the faith. My agenda is to not change everything that we are doing to get young people in. It’s not my agenda. The one thing that I'm focused on every single day when I come into the office here to this church is build people up in the faith. So… Will you join the team and be a part of what God is doing here? Will you join me in using our gifts for good to build up the church? Will you join me in faithful prayer as a team?
Blessings,
Pastor Bailey
We're diving into this whole thing of "one another” and we handed out to you this little Jesus
guy. This is to remind us that in our relationships with one another and as we relate to one another, we are to have the same mindset as Christ. We are to act like Jesus as we commune, as we fellowship, as we relate, as we live, as we struggle, and as we disagree at points with one another.
Something that I feel is so absent at points from churches is encouragement. Would you agree? So often, we live in a relationship with one another but really we just exist around each other. Not actually with each other. There's a big difference between living around people and
living with people. There's a big, big difference. When you're living with people, your relationship with them is going to have every aspect of what a relationship is — including encouragement.
I want you to think about it. When's the last time? When's the last time somebody, especially a believer, sat you down and just encouraged you? No, I want you to really think of the last time that happened. When was it? Was it a month ago? Was it a year ago? Five years? Ten years? Fifty years?
Scripture commands that we encourage one another — and not just encourage one another,
but build each other up. Get your Bible out.
1 Thessalonians 5:11
Therefore, encourage (comfort) one another and build each other up (edify) just as in fact, you are doing.
“Therefore”
What is this word “therefore” there for?
1 Thessalonians 5:4-10
But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day (talking about the day
of the Lord) should surprise you like a thief. You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others who are asleep but let us be awake and sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.
We, as believers, have a hope through our salvation in Christ. We can be assured of our salvation in Jesus and because of that, we encourage each other. Have you noticed that there's trial in the world? This is our encouragement. We will face trials in this life. We will experience suffering. We will experience these things, but we have hope in our salvation and the fact that this earth is not our home but rather, as Paul says in Philippians, we are citizens of heaven. That is hope.
“Encourage” or “Comfort” One Another
Three ways we comfort each other
With Our Words (Ephesians 4:29)
With Our Hands (1 Peter 4:10)
With Our Fellowship (Hebrews 10:24-25)
“Build Each Other Up”
Matthew 7:24
Therefore everyone who hear these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. Rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat up against the house yet it did not fall. because it had the foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man.
When you're doing a building project, you need to be three things
Slow
Smart
Strategic
Building up the church requires the same strategy. We have to be slow —slow to speak, slow to anger. We have to be smart — smart in the way we build up. We have to be strategic — strategically thinking ahead.
Building Up the Church/The Agenda
As your pastor, my agenda is to grow people in the faith, to shepherd people in the faith. My agenda is to not change everything that we are doing to get young people in. It’s not my agenda. The one thing that I'm focused on every single day when I come into the office here to this church is build people up in the faith. So… Will you join the team and be a part of what God is doing here? Will you join me in using our gifts for good to build up the church? Will you join me in faithful prayer as a team?
Blessings,
Pastor Bailey
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