Encourage the Fainthearted

Encourage the Fainthearted
1 Thessalonians 5:11-14
Cancer survivor: “Friend therapy a big factor in recovery”
Phil Smart: “Success is more than just selling cars.”
Why we need each other…
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up.

“One another” passages …
1 Thessalonians 4:18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
1 Thessalonians 5:11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another, just as you are doing.
1 Thessalonians 5:14 admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.
Heb 3:13-14 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.
Heb 10:24-25 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another…
Encouragement …
The act of inspiring others with renewed courage, renewed spirit, or renewed hope …
“Para kalein” (to call alongside)

What it takes to be encouraged …
What encourages you ?
1 What we sense by attention
Job’s friends Eliphaz, Bildad, & Zophar came to encourage Job in his despair … sat with him seven days in silence
What we sense by attention
Jesus in home of Mary and Martha … commended Mary for choosing the good part (Luke 10:38-42)
What we sense by attention
We are encouraged by a friend who shows they care by being a good listener …
2 By hearing encouraging words ..
Proverbs 12:25 Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad.

2 By hearing encouraging words ..
British troops holding out at Dunkirk broadcast message: “But if not …”

2 By hearing encouraging words ..
Daniel 3:17-18 If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. 18 But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up."
2 By hearing encouraging words ..
Nathanael Hawthorne lost his job, but was encouraged by the words of his wife that now he could write …
3 By reading encouraging words ..
We are encouraged by cards friends take the time and love to write …
3 By reading encouraging words ..
Soldiers are encouraged by cards they receive from anonymous people …
4 By what we feel from others ..
Luke 5:13 Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed." Immediately the leprosy left him.
4 By what we feel from others ..
Encouragement is like a car that comes alongside and gives us a jump start …
Encourage the Fainthearted
1 Thessalonians 5:14