Encouraging One Another - Part 2

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Thursday, November seventeenth. The Bible instructs believers to be encouragers.

Today's podcast covers many practical suggestions for reaching out to others and building them up. How many of you know who Barnabas was? He was called the Son of Encouragement. And let me tell you what he did. And the reason I'm telling you this is because I want you to remember this.

You never know whose life you're going to impact and the awesome impact. Barnabas, when he heard that there were lots of people in need of early New Testament church, he brought a piece of property and laid the money at the feet of the apostles. Barnabas, first time you hear of him.

And so, the next thing you know, Barnabas is used by God to do an awesome thing. When Saul of Tarsus was persecuting the Christians and killing Christians and tearing them out of their homes and putting them in prison, then he got saved on Damascus Road. Well, the Christian church at that time would have nothing to do with him.

They were scared of him. And when they said that this Saul of Tarsus had been converted, they didn't believe it. They had wanted nothing to do with him, Barnabas. Talked to the apostle Paul, who was only Saul of Tarsus at that time, and began to get a hold of his heart and recognize that he was genuinely saved, that his Damascus Road experience was a true experience, and that he had now had changed and he was a friend of the church, and he was a Christian. He was the one who stuck at his neck, but the apostle Paul introduced him to the apostles and went to bat for him and said, this man is saved, he's called to God, let's accept him. Barnabas. And so, I ask you, who was Barnabas? I don't know who Barnabas is.

I'll tell you who he was. He was an encourager. That's why his nickname was Barnabas, Son of Encouragement. And what I want you to see is this, Barnabas didn't, he didn't know all that because he went with Paul on his missionary journeys and so forth. But he would never have imagined what would happen, and he would never have imagined that his willingness to take the courage and the motivation to help this man who was rejected by the church to be accepted, and then look what happened to the apostle Paul. And so, when I look at Paul's life, he was an encourager. Remember when they stoned him and left him for dead in Lystra? He got up, next few verses, he's encouraging people.

You remember when he had the shipwreck? In Acts, when that whole account of the shipwreck takes place, here's what you find Paul doing. He's encouraging them to eat, encouraging them to stay on board because if anybody escaped, the Romans would kill whoever's in charge.

And so, four times, what is he doing? He's encouraging, encouraging, encouraging. And when you read the epistles, that's who he was.

You don't see him condemning, the only folks he condemned, the same folks Jesus condemned, that was Sadducees and Pharisees who were just hypocrites anyway. But he was an encourager. And so, when he challenges us to be an encourager, it isn't something other than he himself. And so, I look at all these passages and I go back to Barnabas again, Son of Encouragement. Barnabas, Son of Encouragement, that's a fantastic title.

So why all this emphasis about encouraging? Well, first of all, it's a major theme in the Scriptures. And then, of course, Jesus was an encourager. And I think one of the most dramatic times was when He was walking along out of Jericho and this poor, blind beggar. And I love the King James Version when it says Jesus was passing by and they were telling Barnabas to be quiet, shuttered, because He was saying, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. And finally, the Bible says in the King James Version, and Jesus stood still.

Not for some officer or some politician, but for a poor, blind beggar who was on the bottom rung of society. Jesus stood still and He said to him when Barnabas came, Barnabas, what do you want me to do for you? He said, I want you to heal me, give me my sight. And that's exactly what Jesus did.

Because you see, He was sensitive. He was an encourager. We're to be encouragers.

It's the gospel, it's the New Testament, it's the principles. And the truth is, all of us need encouragement to walk the faith. There's nobody here that doesn't need encouragement at some time or the other for some reason or the other. When you make a mistake, don't you want to be encouraged? You may blow it bad, you didn't mean to, but you don't want somebody to condemn you. You want somebody to at least understand why you did it.

Maybe there's something going on in your life you don't even understand yourself. And then of course, isolation from the encouragement of godly friends is very dangerous. The devil is always there to trap you, to trip you up any way he can. And it's the encouragement of godly friends who sometimes see things we don't see.

And they warn us, lest we find ourselves falling in Satan's trap. We have to, we need to be encouragers. And sometimes you may have to say to somebody, I know this is not my desire to get into your life and into your business and so forth. Because I'd just like to give you a word of encouragement. I don't know anybody who would reject genuine encouragement unless somebody is absolutely committed to living a life of disobedience. And what it means is this, if I encourage somebody, I want to build them up.

I want to build them up in some way. In other words, if there's an area of their life in which they're weak, I want to help build them up. And the truth is, what I do every Sunday in my heart, my heart's desire every Sunday, is to build you up by the Word of God.

To build you up, to lift your spirit, to get you confident and bold and brave and emboldened about your testimony and your witness because of what Christ is doing in your life. I want you to understand the truth, which is the foundation of it all. I want you to have the courage to stand up for the Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to have the courage to speak out when you need to speak out. Be wise enough to be quiet till the right time to speak out.

That's what I'm about. And all of us ought to be about the same thing to the degree to which God has given you the circle of friends or people you work with whose life your life can influence and impact. And it also means showing caring concern for people. If I really and truly want to encourage somebody, I need to show some kind of genuine caring. That is, I'm not going to do this for you because I want you to do this for me.

That is not what we're talking about. What I'm talking about is that I see something in you that I can help in some way, some fashion. That's what I want to do. And then of course, as we say, it's a positive motivator. What makes the difference in the lives of many people, will they succeed or fail, is the encouragement of someone else. And I can remember the times my mom would encourage me when I didn't do very good in some area of school. She never said, shame on you, you should have done better. She said, now I just want you to do your best. You just do your best and that'll be okay. She never condemned me for a poor grade. She never condemned me. She just said, I just want you to do your best.

What did that do? It made me want to do my best. My best wasn't nearly as good as my fellow students in lots of ways. But my mama said, she wanted me to do my best and if that's what she wanted, that's what I was going to do.

It wasn't the best, but it was my best. And sometimes you don't need a sermon. You just need the opportunity to express it and the courage to express it to somebody who needs just a word from you.

But we're living in a society when most people have major problems, difficult problems of all kinds. And if ever the church, the body of Christ, needed to be an encouraging body, this is the time we certainly need to be there. And think about this, when you see somebody heading in the wrong direction, they may not like your encouragement.

That's not the issue. You and I are responsible to be encouraging. There are many ways to show encouragement.

I'm going to give you twenty-five. And the first one is this, you can call someone and encourage them with, on the phone. Or secondly, you can text them, if that's the best you can do. And that's better than nothing, but you can text them.

That's not my preference. But that's what you, one way you can do it. Then of course, you can write a letter. Say a lot more in letters, more personal. And then of course, there's a sincere compliment.

You really look fantastic today. Then of course, you can say to somebody, what would you have me pray for you about? That's a whole lot better than saying, well, I'm praying for you.

But what would you have me pray about? Or you can just let somebody know that you're praying for them. Then you can fulfill a need in someone's life.

You know that there's maybe a financial need or some emotional need. And one of the ways you want to encourage them is let them know you're going to help them at that point. And then give somebody time. You want to encourage somebody, give them time.

It's one thing to say, well, I hope you get along well and so forth, and never have any time to sit down. And sometimes a very brief conversation, ten minutes, changes somebody's whole direction in life. And then of course, point them to some applicable Scripture. And you, listen, you ought to have a few Scriptures on your tip of your tongue that you can hand out any time.

And I'll tell you one of mine, it doesn't make any difference who I meet, if they bring up something, I can give them this. Psalm thirty-two, eight, I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go. I will guide you with my eye upon you. Everybody needs to hear that. I will guide you with my eye upon you. Psalm thirty-two, verse eight.

And so, some applicable Scripture is very, very encouraging. And then of course, just tell them the truth. Sometimes somebody asks you something, just tell them the truth. And oftentimes you'll hear them say, well, thank you for being truthful about it with me.

Because lots of times people want the truth, and listen, now watch this. Sometimes they won't like the truth. I'm to be truthful and honest no matter what. Then you've got to be forgiving.

If I really want to be an encourager, I've got to be forgiving. And then of course, you've got to love them. There are different ways to love somebody. And one of the ways you'd love somebody is you can tell them. There's something about I love you that comes from a sincere heart that's powerful. I love you.

There are three words that takes about a second to say that. I love you. I can say, I love you. I love you.

I love you. You can say it in all different kind of tones, and it means what you say. And if I really want to encourage somebody, and sometimes people be so sweet to me about different things, and my response is, I just love you.

You know what? I want to encourage somebody, and I want to encourage me in some way, and I have to express it. I could say, I thank you, but that doesn't set any reason. I do love them. I love their expression. I love their spirit. I love their attitude. I love their courage to say what they mean and what they feel. Then of course, be a good example to them. You want to encourage somebody, be a good example, because listen, everybody's looking for a good example, whether it's of a pastor or their boss or another mother or another young man or woman, be a good example to them. Then likewise, give godly correction, and in other words, if you love somebody and you really care, you want to give them godly correction.

Sometimes people in that process are making a mistake, and you may say to them, I just, I really care for what's going on in your life, and I'm thinking about you, but I just want you to know that I've been praying for you, and if you keep heading in the direction you're going, you're going to make a terrible mistake. You're going to make a terrible mistake. You're going to make a terrible mistake. You're going to make a terrible mistake. You're going to make a terrible mistake.

You're going to make a terrible mistake. There are ways that you can say something to correct somebody's direction, you say it lovingly. And then of course, if you want to show encouragement, listen to them, and not many folks have listeners.

And I think that's the one thing that really got my attention one day in this family that I happen to know about. And this young lad told me, he said, you know, one of my problems is nobody listens to me in my family. So, what do you mean? He said, well, you know, I'll start talking and they interrupt me, and next thing you know, I might as well just go away. Just to be listened to.

Now, you think about this for a moment. Suppose nobody listens to you. You may have something important to say or it may be something that's not important. But would you not agree that just to have somebody listen is awesomely encouraging? And then of course, you give them your full attention and the best way to do it is look them square in the eye and say, happy to meet you, glad to see you, thanks for coming, or whatever it might be. And so, it makes a difference when we do that. And then of course, be patient with them. We have to be patient with people. And be patient means I'm willing to wait till they say what they want to say or till they have the courage to express what they're feeling. And then sometimes you may have to cry with them. If you're going to encourage them, you may have to cry with them. Not have to, but find yourself weeping with them because of what they're going through. And then agree with them when it's appropriate. Yes, you're exactly right. I think that's a fantastic idea. I agree with them, and all of us need some of that at times. Then give them a meaningful gift.

Give them something meaningful. And I'll tell you, someone gave me a very meaningful gift. It's a kneeling bench.

So, I can just kneel down on that. It's brown leather. It's absolutely beautiful, just the right size. It didn't cost a lot of money, but it was one of the most meaningful gifts I've ever been given. Somebody knew enough about me or heard me say enough about kneeling to pray.

They took the time to find this old piece of wood, polished it a lot beautifully. It wrote on the back on the bottom of it, obey God and leave all the consequences to Him. So, I'm kneeling on that principle every day.

Praise the Lord. And you know what? What does it say? It says, they were thinking about me.

That person wouldn't have to say a word, but it was an absolutely very, very appropriate, meaningful gift. Then, an affirming look. You've had people, they affirmed what you were saying or what you were doing, and you can look at people and see that. And then, sometimes they just need for you to pass on some helpful information. And my friends and I were shopping the other day, and I saw this young lady, and she had one of these things on her hand that's control her hand. And my hand had been hurting me for some time. And I said, what's that for? She told me, and what had been going on, and this, that, and it was hard for her to do her job.

She had this brace on and so forth. I said, I can help you, because I had the same kind of problem, and somebody's really helped me. So, we took time to give her this doctor's telephone number, and I know he'll help her. And so, somebody took the time to share something with me, then I want to pass it on to somebody else, very helpful information. And then, to express loyalty to somebody. You know what?

I really appreciate what you do. I just love that. You know, count on me. Just loyalty. And there are not many folks I think today who are really all that loyal. And then, loving those whom they love and care for. For example, if you're my friend, I love you.

I'm going to love the folks who love you. And I think about children. And I think about the society we live in, and how many of them feel very little love. And we need to take advantage of loving people who are related to people we love. Then, I think assisting somebody in an area in which they feel inadequate is a very helpful way to show encouragement. And I have some staff members that if they weren't right by my side at times, my work on the computer would be a total disaster. Because I don't understand some of that.

Some of it I do, and I keep learning. But there are people I depend upon, and I think there's something healthy about good interdependence on each other, not just somebody who wants to do everything. If you love somebody, you want to be helpful. And then, the last thing I would say. You want to be an encouragement? Say, amen. Amen. Here's all you have to do.

And that's smile. That's the easiest way I know to be an encouragement. And I would say to you, wherever you are and you're listening to this message, it doesn't make any difference who you are or where you are. You can be an encourager when Jesus Christ is in your heart, because there's something that just bubbles up and flows out when He's there. You can encourage the people around you to trust Christ as their Savior. You can encourage your family. You can encourage people you work for. You can encourage your friends. You can encourage everybody.

In one of those twenty-five ways, surely you can be an encourager. It begins with trusting Jesus as your personal Savior. That is, asking Him to forgive you of your sins based on what He did at the cross. He shed His blood.

He died on the cross. He made it possible for you to be forgiven. What we do is ask and surrender, and I would encourage you to do that. He will encourage you every day of your life if you let Him do it. Thank you for listening to Part 2 of Encouraging One Another. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.