Sunday July 29 2018

Sermon :“Encouragement Part 2”
  Pastor Kim Wenzel

Encouragement Part 2

A Call To Persevere

 Hebrews 10:19-25 NLT

¹⁹ And so, dear brothers and sisters,^[f] we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. ²⁰ By his death,^[g] Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. ²¹ And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, ²² let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.

²³ Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. ²⁴ Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. ²⁵ And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

Encouragement To Be Faithful

 The Core of People

2 Timothy 1:3-9 NLT

³ Timothy, I thank God for you—the God I serve with a clear conscience, just as my ancestors did. Night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. ⁴ I long to see you again, for I remember your tears as we parted. And I will be filled with joy when we are together again.

⁵ I remember your genuine faith, for you share the faith that first filled your grandmother Lois and your mother, Eunice. And I know that same faith continues strong in you. ⁶ This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you. ⁷ For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.
⁸ So never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord. And don’t be ashamed of me, either, even though I’m in prison for him. With the strength God gives you, be ready to suffer with me for the sake of the Good News. ⁹ For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus.
 

 The Man And Woman Sin

Genesis 3:8-13 NLT

 8 When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man^[a] and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. ⁹ Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

¹⁰ He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.”
¹¹ “Who told you that you were naked?” the Lord God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?”
¹² The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”
¹³ Then the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?”

 1 John 4:18  NIV

¹⁸ There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment  (consequences). The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

Footnotes

f. Hebrews 10:19 Greek brothers

g. Hebrews 10:20 Greek Through his flesh.

a. Genesis 3:8 Or Adam, and so throughout the chapter.

  Encourage one another daily, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness,” Hebrews 3:13 tells us,  "You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God". First Thessalonians 5:11 says, “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact that you are doing.” Throughout the Bible we see instructions to encourage one another and verses that are meant to encourage us. Why is encouragement emphasized in the Bible? Primarily because encouragement is necessary to our walk of faith.
Encouragement makes it easier to live in a fallen world in a holy way. Encouragement makes it easier to love as Jesus loved. Encouragement gives hope. Encouragement helps us through times of discipline and testing. Encouragement nurtures patience and kindness. Encouragement makes it easier to sacrifice our own desires for the advancement of God’s kingdom. In short, encouragement makes it easier to live the Christian life.

Today's Verse

Matthew 7:13-14
Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that
leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow
the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.