Learning To Share

Well, it is good to be back together, isn't it? It's good to be back in God's house and fellowshiping together with God's people. It's just wonderful to be out, isn't it? But especially in this place together again. It's great to see you this morning. One of the most important lessons to teach young children is how to share. We are born selfish. That's a part of our sin nature. Whatever make up as simple human beings, we are born selfish. We have a tendency to think everything is mine. Put to a three children in a room with a group of toys and this is what they will sound like. Focus on the screen for a moment and you'll see this is what those same children will sound like. No sound. They won't sound like that. I promise you. Those of you who are familiar with finding Nemo know exactly what they were saying. I see a lot of knots. Say it with me. What were they saying? Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, exactly. We are just like those seagulls. We are born that way. We come into this world saying mine, mine, mine, mine. And we have to get over that because I've seen that in churches. I've served. I've seen it in my own life. The tendency to say mine, mine, this is my church, my ministry, my seat, mine. We have to learn how to share not only as children but also as God's people. The biblical word for sharing is the word fellowship. The word translated fellowship in our English translations, the verb coin on that. Oh, and the noun, Quenna Nia, both mean to share. Literally, if you look them up in a Greek lexicon, the first meaning you'll find is to share or to participate in. That's exactly what the words mean. The word fellowship means to share our lives together, to participate in a common life, to share together our lives in Christ. That's what fellowship is all about. To have a common life and to share that common life with one another. Well, how do we express that in the church? How do we really participate and enter into fellowship? We are doing a series on Sunday mornings broken as it is by the weather. We're doing a series on the five purposes of the church called refocus. And we're seeking to refocus on the purposes of the church. The first one we looked at was the purpose of worship. And we saw that when we worship, we love Christ. Worship is the expression of our love and adoration to him. But when we begin with that heartbeat of the church and the heartbeat of ministry, which is worship, we must quickly then move also to fellowship. The next circle of involvement and purpose of the church is fellowship that sharing together that participation in a common life and a common love for our Lord. How do we do that? How do we fellowship? How do we participate in the fellowship of the body? Well, Hebrews chapter 10 tells us. So let's open our Bibles to Hebrews chapter 10, just a couple of verses this morning in verses 24 and 25 in a letter that was written to a group of first century Christians simply known as the Hebrews. And this group of believers in the early church were facing persecution. In fact, persecution was so intense because they were Hebrews, because they were Jews, and they had turned to Christ. They were kicked out of the temple. They were kicked out of the synagogues. Many of them lost their jobs. Some of them were kicked out of their own families. And so there was intense persecution for these Hebrews. Because of that, many of them were tempted to go underground and undercover in their commitment to Christ. And they were willing to say many of them that, okay, I'll be a Christian, but I'm going to be a silent believer. I'm going to be an undercover Christian. I'm not going to be open and bold about my witness for Christ. In fact, if I even go to that church, I probably suffer persecution. So I'm not going to go to the church. I can still be a good Christian and not gather together with other believers. And the writer to Hebrews says, no, you can't. That we are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. Notice what he says. They're in verses 24 and 25. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another. And all the more as you see the day approaching. How do we participate in fellowship to a group of believers who faced persecution? The writer says, you are to be reminded of not only your blessings in Christ. That's most of the book, at least up through chapter 9, but beginning in chapter 10. You're also to be reminded of the blessings that come from the fellowship of believers, from the community of believers. There is strength, there's power, there is encouragement, there's blessing that is to be found in that fellowship of believers. So that the church is to be a place that is in Oasis in a world that has very little to offer, those who claim Christ, very little to nourish the soul. The church is to be a place of renewal in a world of hurt, but that renewal that Oasis can never be experienced if we are not sharing our lives together in true biblical community and fellowship. Okay, how do we do that? The writer tells us, four things he says you've got to do in order to experience true genuine biblical fellowship. Let's focus on those four steps, the biblical fellowship this morning. The first way we enter into fellowship is by coming together. Now at the risk of confusing us, I'm going to start with verse 25 rather than the verse 24. Okay, so verse 25, the first step really is by coming together. He says in verse 25, let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing. Obviously addressing a real life situation in real time where people were saying goodbye to the church and they were forsaking. The words are very strong word here. Let us not give up. The word give up is a Greek word which means to forsake, to abandon, to turn your back on. Now we might look and say there's a pretty good reason for these people to abandon the church to turn their back on up to leave it. They were being persecuted. I mean, their lives were being threatened. It's probably not the case with anyone here this morning. But there are many reasons why people give up or abandon or turn their back on coming together. Lots of reasons why people do that. People leave churches for many different reasons. Some because of fear of what's being said or done. Some simply leave because of an ignorance of the importance of the word of God and the fellowship of God's people. They've lost sight of how important it is to be under the preaching and teaching of the word of God and the strength that that gives to our spiritual lives and to our focus in this world. Some people just lose their sight of how important it is to be under the word of God and the fellowship of God's people. Sometimes people abandon the fellowship and the coming together of God's people just because of laziness. Let's face it. Sometimes we just get lazy, don't we? And we just quit coming or we start to slide back in our coming simply because we are lazy. We just don't put forth the effort to do it. With some folks it's worldliness and sin that begins to crowd out and choke out any desire to be with God's people. And so sometimes the attitude of living according to this world's philosophy of life and the desire of for worldly things and for sin crowds out, chokes out a desire for the word of God. With some people it's something else, it's wrong priorities. Life gets filled up with so many things, so many involvements, so many engagements, so many appointments, and pretty soon spiritual things begin to be pushed back to the back burner and you miss a service here and there and then you miss a couple of weeks and pretty soon you've turned your back on God's people and the coming together of God's people. Sometimes it's a problem that people have with others. Satan loves to do this, Satan loves to sow little seeds of discord and difficulty that keep people away from the assembling together and the coming together. Satan just loves to sow that kind of thing and there are any number of reasons why someone may get kind of offended by something or something that is said or done or I wasn't treated right or something happened and I'm just not going back. I remember a cartoon I had on my door one time and by the way I am going to get back to putting cartoons on the door. I had someone tell me with John we can put up with mediocre preaching but we need the cartoons on the door. So it's not a real high priority right now but it will come, I promise. But I remember a cartoon I had one time that had the pastor and his wife sitting on the front row of the church and he leans over to his wife and says my ear is hurting. Two rows back. White leans over to her husband and says the pastor has an ear ache. Two rows behind them, husband leans over to his wife and says the pastor has a hearing aid. Two rows back, wife leans over to her husband and says the pastor is having trouble hearing. Two rows back, husband leans over to his wife and says the pastor has a double ear ring. And on the back row an elderly couple got up and said that's it. I'm out of here and they walked out. You know sometimes in the point of that little cartoon is sometimes if we would just communicate with one another about what we perceive to be hurts or slights or words that were maybe not intended like you heard and we just communicate about those things. A lot of that could be saw but that keeps people a lot of times out of church and away from the coming together of God's people. There are lots of reasons why that happens to people and I just want to ask you the question are we here yet? You say well yeah I'm here and I braved a lot of snow and ice to get here and I commend you for that and I understand that but are you really here? Are you really here? You know when you take those same small children that have trouble with mine mine mine somewhere in the car you always hear the refrain are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? I want to ask are you really here yet? Are you really committed to being a part of this church body and coming together? Or are you letting any number of things one of those things or more that I mentioned or something else keep you away from coming together? There are two reasons why this is very important. Two reasons why it is very important that we come together as God's people that we not abandon or forsake the coming together as the writer to Hebrew says. One reason is it blesses others when you come. When you come to church and I trust you're coming for other motivations to receive God's word to be growing to really engage your life with other believers but when you show up it says to everybody else this is important to me the Lord is important to me this body of believers is important to me it is a blessing to other people when you are not abandoning the fellowship of God's people just two Sundays ago I watched as Mickey Blizzard walked in that door under the carport and walked across the lobby hardly able to walk she just got out of the hospital that Tuesday with a blood clot in her foot and all the issues she was facing medically with cancer in its advanced stages she wanted to be here wanted to be here now I'm not suggesting if you have a communicable disease you spread it to everybody and you show up if you're that sick but for someone in her condition with that inconvenience personally to even walk to be here show to heart that's where I want to be I want to be with God's people are we here yet you realize how important that is what it says to other people I can't tell you what that did to my heart to see her walk in and to know that she was here because she absolutely wanted with all of her heart to be with God's people that blesses other people I look out among this congregation and I see people who are braving not only the elements but own physical limitations to be here scheduling difficulties some of your work all night and then come to church on Sunday morning you don't know what a blessing that is to people who know that you don't want to challenge an encouragement that is to others so it blesses others when you are coming together as a body in Christ but it also blesses you second reason why this important it blesses you and that's really the meaning of the writer here to the Hebrews because the whole context is this you will find strength and encouragement and purpose to keep going in the midst of fierce persecution if you come together I don't mean to get mystical with this but there really is a spiritual synergy an energy that is shared together that you gain from coming together we do not do well spiritually in isolation now I know there are people who say I can worship God out in the woods not and be a biblical Christian you can't I mean you may worship God out in the woods for sure but the Bible says don't forsake the coming together of believers we need each other and we do not function well in spiritual isolation withdraw pull off to yourself and you will begin to lose some of that fire that you get from the fellowship of other believers exactly why the writer said this to the Hebrews don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together it's the habit of some to do that don't do that we're going to see in a moment he says there are lots of things that you gain by the encouragement and challenging of each other and so forth there are lots of reasons not just those two but lots of reasons why this is very very important one pastor went to see a church member who'd been out of church for a while and when he walked in the man knew why he was there why he was coming to talk with him about not being in church and it was a little bit awkward and the pastor wasn't sure how to broach the subject and the man was kind of hanging he said and they sat down in front of the fire the man just kind of sitting there in the pastor trying to think of a way to get started in the conversation and then the pastor just took a pair of tongs off the fireplace and reached into the fire and took a live coal pulled it out and set it on the hearth and they just both sat there looking at it for a moment no we're pretty of a few moments that solitary coal had lost its fire and brightness and a darkened and lost its warmth the pastor got up left never said a word but the message was communicated clearly our fire burns out when we are in isolation and not connected with other believers so we must come together the writer of the Hebrew says do not abandon that do not forsake that don't turn your back on coming together the first stage in fellowship is you've got to be here you've got to be here to have fellowship with other believers coming together is the first step but that's not the only step in fact nothing of this nothing else can happen unless you start there but if you stop there you don't really get the true fellowship either it's not just showing up in church that provides fellowship there are three other steps at least the second one in this text is we participate in fellowship by connecting by connecting not just by coming together but by connecting look at verse 24 and let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds I want to camp for a few minutes on that word consider the first thing I want to say about it is you cannot consider if you don't connect you can't consider if you don't connect now by connecting what I'm talking about is being a part of a web of relationships getting connected with people getting to know people so that you can begin to feel a part of the church you feel like this is my church I'm beginning to really share my life with other people I'm really beginning to participate in that common life that we have together that's what I mean by connecting but you cannot consider if you don't do that now the word consider it's a very important and strong word for us to look at the word consider we may think of consideration being kind to someone being courteous to someone and if that's what you think this word saying you've missed it entirely this word consider is a very strong word which means careful observation and attention to it means that you rivet attention on other people it means literally that you make a vital interest to you their spiritual welfare that you focus attention on others you simply cannot do that without getting to know them can't do that you cannot rivet your attention on them you cannot really give strong consideration to them if you don't become a part of their life if you don't get to know them so you cannot consider in the biblical sense of the term having that kind of spiritual impact on others if you don't connect if you don't begin to form webs of relationships so we need time together we need to be able to get to know each other for that to happen now here's where the message is going to get real practical this is the how to section okay a couple of weeks ago we were talking about worship the how to is right at the end it's going to come right in the middle or depending on how long this goes toward the beginning of the message but it's coming right now here's the how to of connecting fellowship is a two way connection there's a responsibility that the church has in connecting there's a responsibility that the newcomer has in connecting and I want to get very practical with this and help us all to understand how we can begin to connect with each other so that genuine fellowship can begin to happen okay you come together got to be together first but then you got to start connecting and there's more to it than that but if you don't connect you can't go any further so connecting getting to know each other is a very practical thing let me start with us as a church for those of us who've been here a while for those of us who are the church Johnson Chapel here's what we need to do to make connecting possible we need to take the initiative to welcome new people we need to take the initiative to welcome new people when when you're here for a while in any church for a while you begin to take everything for granted you know where everything is you know the layout of the building you know where the restrooms are the water fountain is you know where you're supposed to go when you come to a certain event you know where your Bible fellowship meets you just kind of know the lay of the land and you take that for granted do you remember what it's like to walk into a church for the first time it's the same way you feel when you walk into a new store for the first time and you know how it is when you kind of walk into a store and you're not sure where things are you're not sure what the layout is you don't know what departments are where and you're not sure where you're supposed to go to find something and so you kind of disoriented and you just start going up one row down the other maybe if you're like maybe you start with the right hand to go up one down next and all the rows but rather than looking for the size but you're trying to figure out how does this place work it's the same thing you feel when you go into a new doctor's office I went to a new doctor back in October I believe it was and and uh walked into the the doctor's office and there was a whole row of people that I assume were receptionists and I came to found out later to find out later it was for different doctors I didn't know that I walk in I don't know where to go I don't know where the doctor is I'm supposed to see office is kind of confusing huge room all these ladies there sitting at this huge long desk and so I just kind of stood there be wildered looking I guess and one of the ladies finally looked up at me and said what do you want I'm not so I'm here to see doctor so down here okay all right I'm in that direction and so I found my way down that way and finally figured out where I was supposed to be and still a little bit disoriented about the whole thing but that's confusing it's the same way when you go into a new restaurant you're not sure if there's a counter where you're supposed to wait and somebody's supposed to you know get your name or if you're supposed to go ahead and seat yourself and you're kind of looking around how's this place laid out where am I supposed to go you know it's kind of disoriented that's the way it is for people when they walk in a church for the first time you remember that genius I went to a fast food restaurant years ago in a neighboring town I won't even tell where but it was a neighboring town and and we walked in and there were only it was nobody else in place there were only two employees and after I experienced what I experienced understood why not only two employees and they're standing at the opposite end of the counter from the door we came in they're just sitting there talking you know just jabbering chatting about whatever so we walked up to the counter and stood there for a few moments and they keep chattering and we kind of settled our feet and made sure we were right at the counter so they'd know we were there to do something and they just kept looking finally one of them looked over at us with a kind of look that said what do you do you think you are and I was so tempted to say I am a customer I pay your salary I'm here to order something I didn't thankfully but we stood there a few more minutes and even after that look of disgust they never made an effort to move over to take our order so we turned around and walked out did we ever go back to that restaurant no uh-huh did you know there are people that may come in those doors back there and sit in here for a few weeks and then they're gone because no one's making the initiative to connect it is our responsibility as church to take the initiative you say well it's a little bit awkward I know it is awkward for me too believe it or not really is so could I just give you a few lines to use in cases awkward for you can I do that I thought it was going to be very practical okay so when you see someone that you do not know go up to them and say I don't think we've had the privilege to meet just start with that I don't think we've had the privilege to meet or say hi I'm and give your name and hopefully they will give theirs now that's just a couple of ways you can begin to initiate contact with people you don't know now I know what some of you are thinking because I've thought the same things well if I introduce myself then the next time I see them they're going to expect me to remember their name and I won't remember their name and I'll feel awkward and embarrassed and okay so here's here's what you do when you introduce yourself to someone go ahead and say to them now would you just let's get this out of the way in the beginning just tell me your name the next five times we meet okay just let me tell me your name let's have a little fun with this okay and I know what some of the others of you are thinking because I've thought the same thing I'm liable to walk up to someone and introduce myself and find out they've been here for 10 years or they're a charter member you know and you know I've got really awkward then okay here's what you say if you go up to someone and they say well I've been here 10 years you know like who are you you're the new and just say to them you're a charter member and you're still alive just you know have a little fun with it try to loosen up a little bit don't let it bother you I know some of the others if you are thinking if I go up and introduce myself to someone then they're going to be looking for me the next time and they're going to expect me to be their best friend and they're going to want to be at my house every Friday night for the next six months and I just can't handle that my way of relationships is full I've got all the friends I can take I can't have I don't have any more connections left okay then for for you people who are new if someone introduces themselves to you go ahead and tell them I promise you I'm not going to be at your house every Friday night for the next six months okay not looking for that you know you know what I've learned I've learned that if you are friendly to people and try to introduce yourself and try to welcome them in the longer they come the more they have a way of finding their own friendships you can't be a close friend to everybody here nobody can do that they will have a way of finding their own way in if we welcome them and take the initiative to have them in so let me challenge every Bible fellowship to go after new people assign someone in your Bible fellowship if you need to to go after new people so there is a responsibility we have after church look for people you don't know not just your friends but if you come across someone you don't know take the initiative to introduce yourself when we have an after church fellowship like we had a couple of weeks ago find someone to sit with that you don't know or if that doesn't work out then get up and move to someone after the meal and begin talking to people introduce yourself take the initiative that's the responsibility we have as a church but let me say newcomers also have a responsibility this is a two-way connection so could I give some suggestions to newcomers as well about what I think would be helpful to you quickly four things number one come to other services in Sunday morning Sunday morning is a big crowd it's hard to get to know people we're in we're out it's hard to really connect but if you start coming on say Sunday night or Wednesday night then you will find more people to connect with people see your face more often they begin to recognize you that people get to know you better that way now I'm not legalistic with that I've never been one to say you're not a spiritual person if you don't come three four five times a week but you will help yourself become more acclimated to the church if you will come more frequently than just Sunday morning second thing I would like to ask of newcomers is that at some point you fill out a visitor's card now I'm told it's going to be very practical here I'm putting application to what we're reading here in Hebrews maybe not the first time you come not necessarily saying that you may want to kick the tires a little while just find out what this is about but at some point please fill out a visitor's card you know why that initiates that jump starts our assimilation process assimilation is a word that simply means we want to draw you in we want to help you become more comfortable with this being your church and get to know people there is a well-defined process we've developed several years ago and we're working on tweaking it now I promise you we will evaluate every element of it carefully but it all begins with that visitor's card and the visitor's card basically says to us this is who I am it's where I live we're not going to put you on you know somebody's mailing list or sell that someone else what it does for us is it helps us to be able to connect with you we will send you a letter of welcome we will find out from that visitor's card if you have children we'll have children's pastor contact if you have teenagers who have student pastor contact you pastor Simmons heads up that whole process of getting the letter out and getting the word to other people that you need to you need to connect with these people we will try to connect you with a Bible fellowship on the basis of that visitor's card and let a Bible fellowship know this is a person you want to be interested in contacting now we don't do that perfectly I promise you we will be evaluating every aspect of that assimilation process and it includes some other steps as well but it won't start it won't even really begin unless you go out of his card so we would ask at some point do that and that will help you become more assimilated into the church third thing newcomers can do is get involved in a Bible fellowship I cannot stress really how important those are the Bible fellowships are the hub of ministry praying for missionaries and fellowship Bible fellowships what we call our Sunday school classes and that's a fellowship of a smaller group of people than what you'll find on a Sunday morning or maybe even a Sunday night or Wednesday night smaller group of people that you can begin to get to know and sure we need to do a better job of connecting with new people but you will help yourself if you'll find a Bible fellowship to get involved in fourth thing you can do get involved in a church ministry the smaller the group that you get involved in the better the easier it will be to get to know people and so get involved in a church ministry of some kind um gene and I have I think come to understand this a little better in the last year and a half we really have we we became church members we became those people that walked into a church for the first time not as pastor and wife just as plain old john and jeannie and we we were there we were disoriented we walked in we didn't know where to go we didn't know what to do went in time for Sunday school have no idea where any classes meet in faith Baptist church now I had the advantage of knowing the senior pastor he looked over and saw me came up to me and said you know greeted and said I said we were looking for a Sunday school class he said was one meeting right over here we didn't know who taught it we didn't know what age class it was we went we stuck that very day the associate pastor the worship pastor came up to us and said you you guys saying I think maybe the senior pastor kind of glued him in the fact we liked music and so he said you think join the choir and so next Sunday we're in the choir we didn't even join the church yet we we did within a few weeks but they had a process but we were in the choir you know what that's where we began to get to know people that's how I got to know Earl and Tim and Pat they were bases in the base section that's how I got to know them and we would practice twice a week and so we had a lot of time together and so I got to know those guys I got to know their families and their hurts and their jobs and what was going on their lives because it was a small group of people now one of our goals for the future is a small groups ministry the smaller the group gets the easier it is to get to know people and the more genuine fellowship becomes but right now you'll get in a Bible fellowship you'll get involved in a ministry you will help yourself get to know people better so let's both work together on this two-way connection okay we will do our best as a church to do our best to better greet you and welcome you and assimilate you into the body but you've got to take some steps too to make that a little easier so let's meet together on this two-way connection we genuinely involve ourselves in fellowship we participate in fellowship by connecting third way we do that in fellowship is by challenging by challenging look back at verse 24 again and let us consider focus attention on get to know people how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds the words spur one another on is what I'm talking about here with challenging each other it's a very strong word the King James word is a word provoke and so I want you to know you are allowed to provoke people here at Johnson Chapel you're allowed to provoke people some of you don't need any encouragement you're good at that this is such a strong word it's only used one other time in the New Testament in this form and that's in in Acts chapter 15 and verse 39 where Paul and Barnabas are in the Bible says they had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company Barnabas took Mark and sale for Cyrus that's when they were starting on their second missionary journey and John Mark had gone on them with the first one and he bailed out at some point and went back to Jerusalem back home and so second missionary journey comes up and Paul says or Barnabas says let's take John Mark and Paul says no way am I taking that guy with me again and they got to do a sharp disagreement I mean so sharp that they parted company they went separate ways that's the only time the word is used again in the New Testament it's used negatively there in Acts it's used positively here in Hebrews there's one other time another form of the word is used and it was the the provoking in Paul spirit when he saw the idols in Athens but the idea is to be deeply moved about something and to challenge someone about something literally Paul and Barnabas were in each other's face about this now in a positive way what the writer of Hebrews is saying is that genuine fellowship is happening not only when you come together and you begin to connect but the next step is when you begin challenging each other when you really begin interacting with each other in your life sharing your lives together to the point that you can challenge someone in their walk with Christ and you begin to share in their life you begin to challenge them provoke them spur them on to love and good deeds such a sharp contention here there in each other's face but there's a good way to do that there's a good way to challenge one another and I would suggest to you this there is tremendous power in just a word or an action you see it's not just a deep sharing all the time although that's great and that ought to be happening but it is sometimes just the power of a word the power of a word of encouragement of a word of challenge of just a challenge by your own action for people to keep going when you see someone who's struggling and having difficulty but don't quit they keep going doesn't that encourage you doesn't that challenge you to say wait a second look at their commitment to Christ I can be committed to Christ to challenge you Dr. Larry Krab well known Christian psychologist written a lot of books one of my professors at Grace Seminary I'll never forget him telling this story told the story about how he was a kid he was in a church that often encouraged young men to take their first step toward really being involved in the life of the church and involved in ministry of the church they would encourage him to take their first step with that by praying in the church service and so at a certain age they would be called on to pray and that was kind of their initiation into this is how you start serving the Lord in that the kind of church he was in and he said you know as a kid I stuttered terribly so the day came I think it was 16 years old when one of the leaders of the church the end of the service called on Larry to pray and he said it was awful I stuttered my way through the whole prayer I got everything confused I had the Holy Spirit dying for our sins I had you know Christ coming as our comforter I had all kinds of stuff mixed up my theology was terrible he said I just struggled my way through the whole prayer stumbled over words was searching for the word amen finally remembered it and said it and I got out the side doors quickly as I could and started across the parking lot I was humiliated and he said I heard a voice behind me and I recognized as one of the elders of the church he was calling my name and he said oh boy he said I know it's coming he's gonna straighten me out dress me down for what I just did and he said he turned around and that man walked up to him and patty him on the shoulder and said Larry I've been watching you for a long time and I believe God has great plans for you I hope you'll always serve the Lord and love him just keep living for him and Larry Krab said that word of encouragement changed my life I was a young man who was walking out of the church that day ready to quit and those words of encouragement brought me back and kept me growing you see sometimes the power of just a word or an action on your part can change someone's life so by challenging one another we involve ourselves in genuine fellowship and then lastly by comforting by comforting we participate in genuine biblical fellowship by coming together by connecting by challenging but also by comforting look at it in verse 25 let us not give up meeting together as somewhere in the habit of doing but here it is let us encourage one another the Greek word is a word which is also translated in John 14 and 16 as comforter paraculato the paraclete our comforter the Holy Spirit the idea has the the meaning of encouragement it's not comfort is in the Bible is not just come around someone when they're grieving it's that but it's more than that it's also to encourage someone and there are many ways you can encourage others lots of ways you can encourage others you can speak a good word to someone an encouraging word a helpful word a positive word to someone who's wavering rather than kicking them down rather than being harsh you know the Bible says that Jesus character was such that he would not break a bruised read and he would not quench a smoking flax if you ever wonder what that's talking about it means when there is a read a read you know a literal read beside a river that's bent over some people just go ahead and snap it off finish it off and some of us do that with our words the people who are bruised we just finish them off some people are just about ready to give up they just have a little bit of a flick or a flame left and we just snap them out Jesus wouldn't do that and neither should we you can comfort you can comfort someone with an encouraging good word you can lift someone up by lending a strengthening hand when they're about ready to give up by challenging them to serve the Lord by challenging them to keep on just like that elder did with Larry Krab by praying for people by greeting them warmly by telling them you appreciate them and why you appreciate them there's so many ways you can encourage encourage other people Alexander Solzhenitsyn was a Russian Christian who was serving in labor camps in Siberia for years and years and during the Cold War he was one of the Russian prisoners that was released in the pressure the United States was putting on for human rights and so he came to the United States and immigrated here and he wrote the book Gulag Archipelago which described the conditions of people who were in labor camps in Russia at that time the Soviet Union and he tells a story about how one day living in those terribly inhumane conditions physical deprivation he was so weak physically and emotion he was ready to just give up and he knew if that day when he was shoveling his pile of dirt that if he just leaned on his shovel and quit the the guards would probably beat him and he was so weak he would probably die and he was ready so he just leaned on his shovel and he said another believer who was working beside him real quickly took his shovel and made a picture of a cross in the dirt and then scratched it out before the guards could see it and so as Jannitson said that looking at that cross just for a brief moment gave him such hope and strength spiritually that he kept on and he lived and he lived to be able to tell his story and encourage believers in this country to pray for suffering and persecuted believers across the world lots of ways you can encourage others but I want to ask you this morning in closing when it comes to challenging when it comes to encouraging comforting others do you know a teddy I've told this story before I think I've told it here in years past but it's a story which never never fails to challenge me along these very lines of using words and actions to encourage someone when they're about ready to quit Teddy Stoward was a fourth grade student of the teacher by the name of Miss Thompson Teddy was unkempt he was dirty he was way behind the other kids academically didn't smell good the other kids made fun of him in that fourth grade class and Miss Thompson herself kind of shied away from him he didn't pay me much attention didn't really enjoy being around Teddy nobody did until it came close to Christmas time and Miss Thompson learned the story that Teddy's mother had died within the last year Teddy was just making it from day to day and had no hope no reason for living gave no effort toward anything Christmas break was coming and the kids brought packages the last day of school to gifts to put on Miss Thompson's desk and most of them were brightly packaged and wrapped in beautiful bows and Teddy's was in a brown paper sack and she was opening the gifts she came to Teddy's and opened up that brown paper sack and pulled out an old rhinestone goddy bracelet with half the rhinestones gone and a cheap bottle of perfume the other kids started snickering but somehow Miss Thompson just having heard of his background saw the importance of that moment she took that bracelet and put it on and just ood and odd over it and splashed on some of the perfume and then went on to the next gift and thank Teddy for his gift he managed to come up to the front after school that day and say Miss Thompson you smell like my mama and the bracelet looks nice on you and I'm glad you like my gifts and turn and walked out when he walked out Miss Thompson got on her knees and confessed to God her neglect of that little boy who needed her so much and decided then and there she would be a different kind of teacher from that day on she began to meet with him after school and tutoring and work with him and he quickly caught up and even surpassed the other students by the end of the years at the top of the class and he seemed to have a hope for living again she kept communication with him over the next few years and eight years later she got a letter from him said, Dear Miss Thompson I'm graduating second in my class did you ever believe that love Teddy four years later she got another letter Dear Miss Thompson they tell me I'm graduating first in my class from the university love Teddy another four years passed some letters in between but this letter four years later Dear Miss Thompson I am now theodore Stallard MD can you believe that love Teddy P.S. I'm getting married this summer would you come and sit where my mother would have said and she did you see she had invested in a little boy's life who was at the end of his purpose and meaning for living and turned his life around I believe there are people who walk through those doors like that and they come in this church it may be here for the first time and some of them come because they're searching they're seeking they're at their end of their rope and they come seeking some kind of help some hope some meaning some purpose and if they come like that for a few weeks nobody ever speaks to them nobody takes the initiative to say hi I'm I don't think I've had the pleasure of meeting you did you know just those simple words might keep a person from walking out back to hope and despair and never coming back there's a lot more we can do but those simple words may begin the process of coming together and connecting and challenging and comfort so that in that heart and in our church is born and flourishes genuine biblical fellowship would you pray with me please Father please help us to realize that there are hurting people they're searching people and there are people who are just new who maybe have moved into the area maybe looking for church Lord help us never to think in terms of mine help us to realize this is not my church my ministry my class my seat my place oh God help us to realize that you have put us to reach out to others to welcome others to greet others to let others know that we are here to share in their lives Lord I pray that we will become even more than ever before a church of genuine fellowship in Jesus name we pray amen