Kind of piggybacking a little bit off the sermonette today, you know, approximately in similar fashion, I attended a teen camp recently as well. Approximately a month ago, I had the opportunity to serve at not Hye Sierra, but Camp Cotubic. And it was a wonderful opportunity. I'd never been to a United Youth Camp before, and I got to see firsthand this zone Mr. Cook mentioned. It's a wonderful thing if you've never been to camp or if you've never really looked into this zone, I guess concept or zone idea. It was remarkable to see how the young people interacted through this place and through and in this safe environment. It was truly remarkable and truly wonderful. You know, this safe environment is built through this zone that Mr. Cook mentioned. And it's this thing that we've created and produced, really modeled after what we see the future and the kingdom of God to be in the future. This wonderful place where we have all these different elements. And what they do is they produce all sorts of good behavior and good opportunities for the youth. You know, one of which, you know, one thing that this zone produces is an environment where encouragement can thrive, encouragement. It thrives in this type of environment.

And I was thinking about this, and if you got Mr. Myers' email this past week, you know, our chairman of the council, he sent out a letter. And he touched on encouragement a lot because, you know, we all need encouragement in our lives from day to day. You know, whether through trials or tribulations, or when we feel like maybe we're alone or we're really down and out on our lucks. You know, we need that encouragement. We need that through those difficult times.

You know, as we take the opportunity today, I'd like to look into the topic of encouragement and see that really it is a necessary action in the lives of Christians. Really, encouragement is a responsibility of Christians because we have this responsibility to encourage one another and to help build each other up, not tear each other down, or not get on each other's nerves, but instead to build up and to encourage. As a way of introduction, let's turn over to the Book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah 4. We're going to start today by looking at the antonym. So, we're going to be looking into encouragement today, but let's look at the topic of discouragement as we start. In Nehemiah 4, we see an event that is recorded for us of the rebuilding of Jerusalem, rebuilding of the wall. In Nehemiah 4, we're going to look through and use this as a lens and see some elements or some causes of discouragement in the lives of the Jews that had returned from captivity. So, if you're familiar with the context, Nehemiah 4, this is the Jews that had returned from captivity, and they're starting, and they're working on, maybe not necessarily starting, but working on rebuilding Jerusalem, rebuilding the wall around it. Let's start in verse one of Nehemiah 4.

Nehemiah 4:1-2 "But it so happened, when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, that he was furious and very indignant, and mocked the Jews. And he spoke before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, "What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they complete it in a day? Will they revive the stones from the heaps of rubbish, stones that are burned?"

You see, when they had started begun building, we see some criticism happening. So, one cause of discouragement that we can take from this beginning section is something I'm titling unproductive criticism. Unproductive criticism, because sometimes criticism is helpful, right? If we love each other and we come in a loving attitude, there are such a thing as constructive criticism, criticism that is meant to build up and to help and to support one another. But in this circumstance, we see unproductive criticism. You know, there are these people that are mentioned here. You have Sanballat and you have Tobiah mentioned later, and then you have some sort of army of Samaria, and they start bringing criticism. They start bringing criticism against the Jews. They call them out. They call them feeble Jews, you know, "What do they think they're doing? They're weak, they can't do anything." They talk about, are they going to revive these stones, these stones that are burnt?

You look in context and in near East, in Middle Eastern culture, there was this idea that burnt stones would have been maybe sometimes they thought about them as curse stones, you know, stones that had been burnt either by fire or by taking over a town. And so, they're saying, "Are they going to revive these stones? Are they going to go quarry new ones? They don't have time for that." Because as we see, they're going to be planning a sort of attack. But nevertheless, they're bringing criticism. You know, if we continue reading in verse three.

Nehemiah 4:3 It says, "Now Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, 'Whatever they build if even a fox goes up on it, he will break down their stone wall.'"

So, even bringing more criticism. Now, this fox, and if you interpret it like that, even a fox goes on it, it'll break it down, the building. The building of the wall would be so lacking that even a fox could break it down. You know, this is one cause for discouragement that, you know, people all around us could bring criticism in our lives. And that can cause us to become discouraged, and it's the opposite of encouragement in our lives. Let's jump a little bit in the story. We're going to look in verse 10.

Nehemiah 4:10 It says, "Then Judah said, 'The strength of the laborers is failing, and there is so much rubbish that we are not able to build the wall.'"

So, one more cause of discouragement that we can see from this event. If you take the beginning of this verse it says, "The strength of the laborers were failing." Partner that with the end it says, "And we're not able to build the wall." Another cause of discouragement that we can learn from this event is the cause of discouragement that is led by an exhaustion or being worn out or fully tired with a certain event. So, just simply exhaustion. You see, as work continues, you can look in verse six, it talks about, "So we built the wall, and the entire wall was joined together about half of its height." So, maybe they're about 50% done. And they're almost that end where they're complete, but then exhaustion starts to set in. They start to get tired and worn out, and they don't think they can do it. They become discouraged. I don't about you guys, but for me, I find it's quite hard to finish products or projects.

You know, I used to...in my former line of work, you know, I was a computer scientist, a software engineer mostly. And, you know, I was given maybe a new project to do. I'd have something exciting to do, a whole new system, or a whole new setup for something, and I'd be really excited about the job. I'd be ready for it. I'd be working so hard, I'd be giving it over 100%. I'd be working evenings and everything. But then after a while, exhaustion starts to set in. I become tired and I become worn out. And that's when it becomes discouraging. You know, you start to get that discouragement. "Am I even going to finish this project?" "I don't really even want to finish this project anymore." We can see the Jews maybe taking that type of a position. The strength of the laborers is failing, he mentions. They become discouraged because the exhaustion starts setting in. Another cause for discouragement we can see in this section as we're jumping into our topic of encouragement, we'll get to the positive. If you look at 10b, the second part of the verse, it says, "And there's so much rubbish..." Lost my place.

Nehemiah 5:10 "And there is so much rubbish that we are not able to build the wall."

So, another cause of discouragement that we need to be on the look for is the abundance of rubbish in our lives. The abundance of rubbish. You know, here we can see the Jews began to doubt. They had the part that the strength was failing, but also the abundance of rubbish because there's too much rubbish. Rubbish is a funny word. It reminds me of a British term. I think it is a British in origin. Well, not origin, but British use it more than not, especially in their slang, but rubbish, right? Garbage, heaps of stone and dirt and destruction, and all sorts of things. Mortar, dust, all the rubble that would've been left over from the captivity before.

You know, we can parallel that to our lives. You know, do we have rubbish in our own lives bringing us down? You know, really weighing us down that we don't keep our mind focused on where we need to go. You know, maybe it's financial, financial rubbish. Maybe we've made some bad decisions in the past, and we really have that following with us, weighing us down. Maybe it's family or work or friends. We can have all sorts of rubbish in our lives. You name it, and we have it. All sorts of baggage that seems to follow us around and really begin to weigh us down and to cause discouragement in our lives.

You see, if we start to focus too much on ourselves, that's when that becomes discouraging. Instead, we should be focusing on God. You know, what God can do through us partners well with the flashlight analogy that Mr. Cook was talking about. You know, God being that light, and we're that instrument of people seeing that light. You know, what can God do through us, it's regardless of any rubbish that we have around us. You know, these are some of the things that I wanted to point out in this story. We're going to actually turn back to this in a little bit. Take a look at the reverse of this through this event. But there are many of causes of discouragement in our lives that we need to be careful about, that we need to make sure that we're not weighed down by discouragement in our lives because this world is discouraging. More than not, when you look out in a world around us, it can be quite disheartening, but we know that we have positive examples and good things to lean on. But there are many examples and many causes of discouragement in our lives. These are just a few, and we're using the lens of Nehemiah 4 here that we're going to take a look at a little bit later.

But encouragement, like I said at the beginning, is a much-needed action in our lives. It's a much-needed action. But the question could be asked, "What is it?" What is encouragement really? It's simple to say let's be encouragers, or you should encourage one another more, or I need to encourage people more. But what really is it? So, I thought it'd be good to jump into a little bit of the definition and see how the Bible uses words that have been translated and convey the meaning of encouragement. If we're talking about English, the etymology of the word encourage comes from an old French word. And it really means to make stronger or to hearten, to really build up the heart, you know, in a metaphorical sense, to make strong the innermost part of a person. That's what it really comes from. If we look in the Bible, we see two main languages used in the Bible. We see Hebrew and we see Greek. Let's look in the Hebrew.

There's a term in Hebrew called "hazak." Hazak. And it's used 266 times. We see it throughout the Old Testament. And what it means is it means to become strong or to strengthen if it's a verb form. You could prevail or harden, to be courageous at times. And even the meaning is to be sore, like a severe punishment. Even the term harden is this word, if you remember when it talks about Pharaoh hardening his own heart or God hardening Pharaoh's heart or the people hardening Pharaoh. All those times, the harden is that same word. And so, we get this meaning of strength or harden. There are four derivatives of this word in the Hebrew that are all used throughout the Old Testament, but they all relay the same concept, to strengthen or to be strong. Sometimes it's even to mean force, like a strong force. Turn with me, if you would, over to Joshua 1. Let's look at example where this Hebrew word is used.

Joshua 1:1 "After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, saying..."

Alright, let's pause there. Here we see a little bit of context in the situation, a time of uncertainty, the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord. This would have been no doubt, a very trying time. In my mind, I can't see Joshua being uncertain here or not being uncertain, if you can follow my double negative there. But it's a time of uncertainty. Even in both modern and ancient times, times of uncertainty usually balanced around when power transitioned, right? It's always a time for revolt and civil unrest, especially when the transfer of power was not dynastic, when it wasn't a son or a daughter of a king or queen. You know, those are the times of uncertainty.

And Joshua, no doubt in my mind that he would have been thinking, "What are we going to do next?" And I know we've had these instructions from God. We have the promised land and we know Joshua was strong of faith, but I can't help thinking that maybe he had an opportunity at least to become discouraged. It would have been a trying time because he was going to be replacing a man that was serving God, a servant of the Lord, as it says. You know, he could be asking, 'How are we supposed to make any progress? The man that was so great that you used to lead us out of Egypt is now dead. He's dying." But in verse two, we see some guidance and some strength from the eternal. In verse 2 it says.

Joshua 1:2-4 "Moses, my servant..." So, this is the eternal speaking. It says, "Moses, my servant, is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all of these people, to the land which I am giving to them, the children of Israel. Every place that your sole of your foot will tread upon, I have given you, as I said to Moses. From the wilderness to this Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory."

So, here we see some guidance from the internal. This is where you are to go. This is what you are to do. And this is what you're supposed to go for, go towards now. Go towards the promised land. Here are the same promises I gave to Moses, I'm giving them to you, is what He's telling him. And it's through this direction and through this guidance that Joshua receives strength. And he receives this strengthening of heart, these concepts of encouragement.

Joshua 1:5-9 "No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and of good courage, for to these people you shall divide as an inheritance the land, which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses, my servant, commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."

The Lord is giving Joshua encouragement here. Joshua receives encouragement. And this strengthening of heart, he receives courage for these unknown times. And how does he do that? How is Joshua strengthened in this little section of text? Well, he is receiving promises from the Almighty God. That's one way. But here we see two main aspects. One, it's by God's presence being promised with Joshua. He says, "I will never leave you nor I will forsake you." He's promising the presence with Joshua. And also, He's promising a power that God promises to all those that obey Him, that follow His ways. Talks about not turning to the right hand or the left of the Book of the Law, but staying straight and narrow on the path that is truth. You know, following God and obeying Him. And He gives us a promise of power, a promise that He will not leave us nor forsake us.

You know, we can partner this with, you know, Paul or in the New Testament when it quotes this section's scripture and applies it to the church, this same very promise. "I will never leave you nor will I forsake you." You know, it just reminds me of the special music, never alone. We have a God that is willing to be there to back us up when we're in that corner. We're never alone. And He will do that. And that's how Joshua is strengthened.

And we can be reminded of this. And we can be strengthened, we can be encouraged from this that He will not leave us nor forsake us. You know, throughout this passage, that Hebrew term “hazak” is used several times. It's that be strong and courageous. It's the "be strong" part. Let's strengthen who we are, let's encourage, let's...it's that being strong and of good courage. And it's through the Lord being with him, Joshua, and by extension us, we can be encouraged by this and through obeying God's instructions. That's the Hebrew term that's most likely and most often translated into this concept of encouragement or being strong or strengthened.

All right. Let's look at the Greek example. In the Greek, we have the word paraklesis. Paraklesis. It's used 29 times, and it's usually translated in courage or consolation, or exhortation. Sometimes it's even with an urgency. That's a unique example, but paraklesis. And it means a calling near to yourself. So, it's this idea of calling someone near to you as a summons, if you would, especially for help. You would bring them to your side. You're giving them comfort, refreshment, some exhortation, or admonishment.

But the root word is where I want to dive a little bit deeper. The root word of paralysis is parakaleo. Parakaleo. Let's try that. And that one is used a little bit more times, and that's the root of the word. And that means in the same fashion, to call to one to your side. You call for them and you summon them. It's done in a way of exhortation, so it has that same meaning. And if you're familiar with any of the Greek, there's an interesting word that also has a very deeper root word, parakletos. If you're familiar with that one, that's the one that's labeled comforter. Now, that's the one that Jesus Christ promised that would come and comfort us and call us aside to God's presence, right? Very wonderful imagery that we can pick up from these Greek words that these writers in the New Testament are using. You know, they're using the language they had to work with at the time. And these are inspired words of God. And it means to call someone to your side and really bring them along with where you're at.

You know, when someone is discouraged, you know, when they're in that low of mind and they're in that small part that they've never been before. Maybe they're off in the ditch, maybe they've left the path. You know, as someone that's not in that troubled state, you call that individual to yourself, and you help bring them aside with you. You say, "Come with me. Share with me in where we need to go. Walk besides me, walk with me." And you help them. It's that invitation or that summons, as it talks about, to include that individual with yourself in something you're doing. You know, it's not necessarily to show them of how great you are. "Oh, you know, come to me. I'm not discouraged right now." Because if we're being honest, we all get discouraged from time to time.

But thankfully, we're not all discouraged at the same time. Because the one that's encouraged at the moment will help bring the others aside and walk us in that same path. It's largely to remind the individual that's in the down and the low parts of where they once were in their life. It's to remind them of where they were once walking. Come walk back on this path. Focus on God. Come and be encouraged. Walk with us. Let's turn to an example of this phrase being used, this Greek term parakaleo in Colossians 2. Paraklesis is the one used in Colossians 2. Colossians 2. We're going to start reading in verse one.

Colossians 2:1 "For I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh." So, we see here an example that Paul uses all throughout his writings, sharing with them the conflict and the struggle that he has in his life. He says, "I want you to know the great conflict I have." He's sharing with them the struggle and the fighting. The great, the geek, the Greek impression, excuse me. And it comes out in the new King James there, the great conflict. It relays this idea of a great and intense struggle, that it's some agony of a conflict.

You know, Paul, all throughout his life, especially after his calling, he was a man that had many conflicts. He had many trials and things he was fighting for. Here we see that he had a great conflict mainly manifesting in fervent and ancient prayer for these people. You know, if you're familiar with Paul's timeline, this would have been a prison epistle when he is in prison. So, he couldn't go to them face to face at that time, but he's calling to them and he's sharing with them the conflict that he has, that he's praying fervently for them. For them not to be led away. Colossians and many of Paul's writings is to warn them against false teachers and bringing in these false doctrines that now we can look back in history and see the beginnings of Gnosticism starting to start. You know, he's warning them of all these fake teachings and these false teachings.

So, he has this great agony in this conflict, and he's trying to help them, and he shares with them his conflict. Why does he do this? Why does he tell them, "I have great agony, an agony of conflict for you?" Well, if you're reading ahead, or if you know the topic we're speaking of.

Colossians 2:2-5 "That their hearts may be encouraged." He says, "That their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Now, this I say lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words. For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ."

You see, Paul does this. He shares with them. He brings them aside along with where he's at for encouragement, to strengthen them up, to help strengthen their heart. He does it to bring them comfort and a confidence to the people in Colossae and Laodicea. They would have shared this letter. They were kind of sister congregations, if you want to think of it like that. But he's reminding them of their place in the work of God. You know, sometimes as a member of the church of God, we can kind of forget that we also have a work to do, that we're part of the work of God. See, Paul is sharing with them his conflict to help pull them to himself along his side, and to bring them in the work. And he even says, "Steadfast rooted in Jesus Christ." We're going to see that a little bit later here.

But this example of the Greek usage is about bringing the people aside, bringing them along your side. An example, as they're going through troubles and trials, they have false teachers coming in, they had false people bringing false teachings. And Paul hadn't seen them face to face. You know, he says he's absent in the flesh, but he's with them in the spirit to bring this idea of unity. Unity, an intimacy of friendship. That's what Paul is trying to get out here, that we are in this together. We're in this together. And that is very encouraging to somebody that is discouraged, that they're not alone. That they're not fighting against all these evils all by themselves.

Yes, we have a caring God that loves us and never leaves us, and we have a Lord that mediates for us and sits at God's right hand on our behalf and talks to us. You know, we have this God that loves us and cares for us. But not only that, we do have family in the church that are supposed to look out for one another. It's our responsibility to encourage one another. You know, and to encourage one another is to bring each other to our side and bring us along that path. That's what this Greek is getting at.

Another thing we can see from this example in Colossians is that encouragement, true encouragement leads to action. True encouragement to one another leads us to action. Let's continue reading in verse 6.

Colossians 2:6-10 "As you, therefore, have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you are all complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power."

You see, true encouragement leads to action. He says, "Continue to walk. Walk in this way." You know, don't just rely on your past service or what you've done in the past, let's walk forward. "You're in this with me." Paul is saying, "You're in this work with me. I'm bringing you to my side. Let's walk in Christ. Let's be rooted in Him, rooted in Christ." You know, this isn't just seeing someone that's down and discouraged. Maybe they're in the gutters, metaphorically, and it's not just appeasing them. "Oh, it's going to be okay. You're all right. Let's get through this." Those are good phrases. I don't mean to belittle them, but it's about getting them up and moving again. Let's get back up to where we were. Let's get back up and walking towards God on this path. Can't think again of...it just can't...I can't forget. I'm thinking again of Dr. Ward's letter. Talked about, we're on this path. We're walking towards eternal life. You know, when people are down, you bring them up and bring them aside and help them towards getting back to where they were.

You see, to truly encourage someone is to fill someone with enthusiasm. Enthusiasm to move forward, to not stay stagnant. Let's get back up and let's work at it. Sometimes it's to overcome. You overcome a trial or some type of tribulation that we currently are in. Sometimes it's just to endure that problem. Let's have the strength to endure and to continue moving, regardless if this certain issue gets resolved. Let's endure together. You know, there's a scripture that reminds me of that scripture to bear one another burden. Bear one another's burden, right? We are there as a close-knit family in unity and trying to help encourage one another on the same walk.

As this is happening, you know, this can be a great reminder. You know, a great reminder that as we walk in God's ways, God walks with us. And He never leaves us. He gives us the promise several times throughout John's letters talking about...you know, Jesus Christ even says that the love of God, nothing can snatch you out of His hand. You know, God is not going to leave us. We can leave God. We can turn our back on God, but God has promised to stay with us if we stick with Him. You know, understanding what encouragement is and how it's used in the Bible is important. We see this imagery of walking together, bringing someone along your side and helping encourage them. It's a wonderful thing to understand. The question then can be, how do we implement this? How do we encourage one another in our daily lives? Because we do get discouraged from time to time, don't we? So, how do we do this? All right. Here are some practical usages...practical usage of encouragement.

All right. Point number one, strive to listen. Strive to listen to the individual that's sharing with you. You know, striving to listen is incredibly important. You know, sharing your troubles with one another can be an incredibly intimate thing. Something that you need that requires a safe environment. An environment where you feel like you're not going to be ridiculed or judged against by whatever is going on in that one moment, right? It requires that you be in a close relationship with someone, and it requires that the person listening has ears to listen, that they're fully in tune and ready for what you're saying. You know, it's not just good enough to hear the words, we must listen and really hear or listen what the person is saying.

You know, when someone is sharing with us, we must be taking interest in listening to their words. And that is incredibly encouraging when someone is truly listening to us, isn't it? It's incredibly encouraging. When it seems like somebody has dropped what's going on in their life, and they're just truly listening to our problems for that moment, and they're really just taking it in, that can be incredibly encouraging that someone cares about me, specifically, that they want to listen, that they're willing to help me and walk with me through that moment.

You know, when listening, one thing to keep in mind is it's important to stay on track. Important to stay on track with where the individual is going. You know, I have this problem and I'll admit myself. You know, sometimes I can be labeled as maybe the type of problem-solver personality. You know, sometimes my mind is racing thousand. However minds race. Really fast. I'm tripping over phrases that don't mean anything, so I'm just going to skip them. Mind is racing really fast, and the person is talking and I'm listening, but then I start to go a little bit quicker. "All right. Your story is a little boring. Where are you going? Where are you going? What solution can I provide to you?" And I got to remember myself, no, stay in line with where they're going. Amber can attest to this, that I try to "Okay. What's the solution? Let's just provide the solution. What's the end problem, and let's get to the solution."

Sometimes that's not always that's necessary. You know, sometimes the person doesn't want or need an answer in that immediately moment. You know, maybe they don't need that at that right moment. You know, maybe they just need someone to listen to. You know, my former job, I had a coworker. He's now the manager in that department. He was incredibly good at this. He was a great listener. You know, whether I had trouble with projects or certain things, maybe I couldn't...Maybe I wasn't writing something as efficient as it should be, or maybe I couldn't find the solution to this certain problem, I would go talk to him.

He was my coworker at the time, and I would talk about the problem and he would listen and we'd go through the problem. I'd explain my code and how the problem is being presented, why it's not working, and he would listen. And a lot of times he wouldn't even provide a solution. But while working through the problem, while talking to him, I would come to the solution myself. A lot of times I would leave that interaction like, "Thank you, Brian." And he'd go, "I didn't do anything." Because he didn't give a solution, but he listened and he allowed us to talk it through. It's a remarkable example of sometimes people just need you to listen. And so, we should strive to listen. There's a remarkable example of this in the Bible in Acts 4. Maybe a little bit of this is speculation, but Acts 4, I'd like to think there's a remarkable individual concerning this skillset of listening. Acts 4. Let's start in verse 32 for some context.

Acts 4:32-35 "Now, the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul, neither did anyone say that any of his things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. And with great power, the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. Nor was there anyone among them who lacked. For all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them and brought them the proceeds to the things that were sold and laid them at the apostles' feet. And they distributed to each as anyone had need."

So, we see a remarkable event taking place. People were given a spirit of compassion and willingness to sell the things they owned and to share it amongst their brethren. A remarkable example of this, you know, a lot of people will look at this and say, you know, do parallels bring communism and socialism? That's not what's happening here. This is about an attitude, a personal attitude of willing to give your things over to a greater cause, not a forcible taking by government. But that's a tangent. But this is the context of the story that we're going into, and this individual here we have listed in verse 36.

Acts 4:36-37 “And Joses, who is also named Barnabas by the apostles, which is translated a son of encouragement, a Levite of the country of Cyprus having land, sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.

Here we see the introduction of a gentleman name Joses. He was known as Barnabas. And as it says, the translated is the son of encouragement or consolation. How remarkable would that be to have the nickname, son of encouragement? That really speaks to his character, that he was such an encourager, somebody that was such a cons...cons or an encourager, that he would be the literal son of it. That would be his nickname.

In fact, I can't think of a time in the New Testament when he's referred to again as Joses or Joseph. It's always Barnabas. That's a remarkable example in and of itself. But another thing that's interesting about Barnabas is when you look through the New Testament scriptures, it's rarely recorded of a specific quote that Barnabas says something. We do know throughout the New Testament that he did speak and he did teach. You know, so he did speak, he wasn't mute. But it's barely recorded of him saying a lot. We don't have any letters from Barnabas. You know, there's a letter out there that's attributed to Barnabas, but it's not part of the canon. You know, God didn't inspire for it to be saved if he did write any letters. It's not part of the Bible. So, he didn't write any letters like Paul, but he did help Paul. So, it's interesting to look and see that Barnabas didn't quite say a whole lot. Let's turn to Acts 9. So, I'd like to think, because through this scenario, and we'll see here in Acts 9 that Barnabas was a great listener. Acts 9:26. And you can bet Paul was very appreciative of the character Barnabas had.

Acts 9:26 "And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him and did not believe that he was a disciple." So, the context here if you remember, Saul, who later renamed Paul, he would have been persecuting the church, stoning them. He was part of Stephen's death, one of the first deacons in the church, New Testament church. And he was on his way to go get letters to arrest more Christians, but he was struck down in blindness and started his conversion.

Acts 9:27 "But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. And he..." so Barnabas is speaking here, "declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that he had spoken to Him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus."

So, he...let's see. So, he was with them at Jerusalem coming in and going out. Here, we see a remarkable situation where Barnabas steps outside and he encourages the other apostles to let Paul join them. This would have been a scary moment because Saul would have been persecuting them. But Barnabas, no doubt listened and he watched and he saw God working through this individual, Paul. And because of that, it was through his listening that he encouraged the other people. Encouraged them that Paul should be alongside, and Paul was accepted. And so, we should strive to listen when we're trying to encourage one another. We should strive to listen to one another.

Another practical way that we can encourage one another is we need to focus on the positive. Focus on the positive. We said one was striving to listen, now it's focus on the positive. You know, often when we get discouraged or when we're not in the happiest of moods, you know, we can get wrapped up in what's off-kilter or what's not quite level, you know, what's out of place. I remember an illustration in this child-rearing book that was loaned to me recently. It talks about focusing on the positive instead of always the negative in your child. There's a time and a place for the negative, so don't get me wrong. But it talked about focusing on the positive in a moment.

I remember this illustration they were talking about this father comes home from an errand or work or whatever, and he pulls up in the driveway and his little son or daughter comes out and he says, "You know, Daddy, Daddy, I learned to play the trumpet today and I want to be a musician. That's what I want to do in life." Well, the father, he can respond one of...well, two major ways. The father can simply shut him down and say, "Well, that's ridiculous. You know much money you're going to make as a musician?" You know, sometimes there is good money in a musician's salary. But he could shut him down and really shunt the moment, and he can focus on the negative of an aspect, or he can bring up a positive. "That's so wonderful, son. You learned to play the trumpet? I never could play the trumpet." Or, "I did for a couple of days as a sixth grader, but I never kept that up." And that's what you could focus on. That you learned the trumpet. That's amazing. You're focusing on the positive. So, the book, I always remembered that lesson, that illustration. Let's go to Psalm 27 for an example of this.

If you turn with me to Psalm 27. Chapter 27 of Psalm is a wonderful chapter that relates well to this topic of encouragement, but we're specifically going to read verse 11. Starting in verse 11.

Psalm 27:11-13 "Teach me Your way, O Lord, and lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies. Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries for false witnesses have risen against me, and such as breathe out violence. I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living."

You see, without the positive outlook, we can lose heart, we can become discouraged, we can come to a lower position in our life. But relying on the positive, understanding that God is working in our lives and He hasn't left us, He will not leave us. Focusing on that positive, we can become encouraged. You know, we must focus on the positives in our own individual lives, but when helping each others, when encouraging each others, we should help others see the positive in the negative circumstances they're in.

And this has to be done in the right and wise manner. You know, with a loving attitude towards them and with tact. You know, we must use the appropriate sense of it. But allowing the person to focus on the positive can be incredibly encouraging. You know, reminding those people that God is always with them. He's always involved. You know, everything...you know, all things work for good for those who are called according to God's purpose. Romans 8 talks about that.

God is always working out the better in our lives. You know, there isn't the time that He turns away. You know, Jesus Christ says, and it's recorded in Matthew that God numbers the hairs on our head. If He cares enough and He knows enough the number the hairs on our head, of course, He loves us, and of course, He cares for us. And He's not going to leave us. He takes care of the birds and the different metaphors that He uses. He's going to take care of us. It reminds me of a familiar scripture in Philippians 1. It talks about being confident of this very thing, that He who began to work in you will finish it to the end. You know, God has begun a work in each and every one of our lives. He has called you, He's given you the invitation to His way of life. He's going to finish that work. He won't leave you. And that's incredibly encouraging. And helping people focus on that when in tough times can be encouraging as well.

Another practical way that we can encourage one another is we can help provide perspective. Help provide perspective. You see, encouragement is all about perspective. Sometimes we must look at the bigger picture of things. You know, I've heard it relayed that when an individual is sad or they're crying, and say, they have to wear glasses. You know, they see really well with their glasses, but when you're crying, everything kind of gets fogged up and you got to remove your glasses, you got to clean your eyes, you know, maybe hide from your wife you're crying. You know, if that ever happens to anyone else, I don't hide. But, you know, maybe you're crying, you got to remove your glasses. You don't quite see physically very well anymore.

The analogy can be made spiritually as well. When we're discouraged, we don't quite see like we should. And so, having an individual in our lives that can provide the perspective in that right moment can be helpful. Can be helpful to provide the perspective of seeing clearly. You know, once that grieving time is over, help the individual to remember God's plan in this moment. To remember the overall picture, the big picture, what God is truly working out, but as on a mankind scale but also as an individual level. We can see an example of this in Esther 4. If you turn with me to Esther 4. Esther 4:13.

Esther 4:13 "And Mordecai told them to answer Esther. 'Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king's palace any more than all the other Jews.'"

So, let's pause right here. If you're familiar with this story of Esther, you know, Mordecai is Esther's uncle or a family member, and he's raised Esther and he's helped her along. And there's this time when Esther has been risen to the queen of all the land, and there's a tricky plan that's going to wipe out the Jews and exterminate them, a holocaust of sorts, but Mordecai gives this answer back to her because she's not sure what to do. Does she reveal she's part of this...does she reveals she's a Benjamite, part of the Jews? And Mordecai says, in verse 14.

Esther 4:14 "For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"

You know, Mordecai was confident God would deliver his people, but also he was trying to help relay, "Maybe God had placed you in this position for such a time as this." He was providing that perspective that Esther, who knows, this is, could be why you're in the place at this time, reminding her of the big that God will be there for his people and He will provide. Let's turn to Proverbs 12. Turn with me if you would, over Proverbs 12. You see, providing perspective should be done with the right words.

Proverbs 12:25. "Anxiety in the heart of a man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad."

That's that encouragement, a good word makes it glad. You know, we should respond with good words. Providing perspective from God's word, right? As Christians, God's word should be the lens of which we focus most of our conversation. You know, our advice or our wisdom should be funneled through God's word. This is the lens of which we should look at. You know, providing that good word from the source that is God's word.

You know, we don't necessarily have to quote scripture all the time, but having those principles in mind. And that brings us back to the notion of how Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit, the comforter. You know, it talks about the Holy Spirit will bring to remembrance all the things that you've learned in that moment of need, right? God helps through His power to bring to remembrance what to say in that moment, or how to encourage one another, how to provide that perspective. That's another effective way that we can provide encouragement to one another is we could provide perspective.

Last one I'll mention. Another way that we can do this is the appropriate placed humor. Appropriate placed humor. If you don't know me, I like to see or hear people laugh. I think laughter is a great medicine, and it's a wonderful opportunity we have. And one way that we can encourage one another is to appropriately placed humor. It's not about standup comedy or trying to drive at getting that laughter, and not about seeking laughter. Let's turn to Proverbs while we're in there, to 25. Proverb 25:20. We see, because it has to be done at the right moment and the right time. You know, these practical examples have to be in the right moment and in the right manner. Proverbs 25:20, we'll see a simile in doing this in the wrong moment.

Proverbs 25:20 "Like one who takes away a garment in cold weather and like vinegar and on soda, is one who sings song to a heavy heart."

So, we must remember that it must be in the right moment. He says these similes of removing coat in the winter when you need it, you're going to remove it in the cold times. And then like mixing acid with a base, it's going to be very unproductive. It's not going to work out well. So too can singing songs, you know, trying to bring in joy and laughter at the wrong time. You know, singing songs to somebody who has the heavy heart at that moment. You know, let them grieve. There's a time for grieving. But a good example of how this can be done at an appropriate time.

If you have a close relationship with someone, you know, when losing a loved one, you know, when somebody dies, when we've lost someone dear in our life, a good opportunity to bring some humor in is to take a trip down memory lane, to go through at the appropriate time with a close friend or a family member. You maybe go through a photo album and look through all these times and bring up laughter and happiness with memories that you had with the individual who died. You know, bringing back those funny moments. And this can introduce just a little bit of humor in a dark time, you know, helping encourage those during those hard times. And understanding how to do this is an art, it's not a science, it's not something I can give you step by step. But relying on God and His inspiration and His wisdom, you know, praying for that wisdom of how we can do this correctly is key, but just using that appropriately placed humor, lightning the moment. You know, not making it a spectacle or anything, but just lightening the moment. And there can be great encouragement in that. Great encouragement in that. Let's look at Proverbs 15:30. So, understanding it has to be done at the right time, let's look at Proverbs 15:30.

Proverbs 15:30 "The light of the eyes rejoices the heart, and a good report makes the bones healthy."

You know, lightening the moment, you know, bringing light of the eyes rejoices the heart. A good report, you know, encouragement or a good thing to say really makes the bones healthy, makes them strong, you know, brings strength to our lives and health to our bones. You know, you can think this is metaphorical, but it could be literal as well. You know, doctors say all the time laughter is the best medicine, right? Laughter and good moments instead of dark moments can bring health to an individual. Can really bring us up and to help us when we're discouraged.

You see, brethren, because these are some practical ways that we can encourage one another and we should encourage one another. But as a body of believers, as a family, you know, we need to encourage one another, bringing each other to ourselves and alongside ourselves into where we're walking. However, you know, we aren't always perfect in this. We don't always step out and try to encourage one another as we should. Now, we're not perfect, sometimes we can fail at this action.

So, this leads us to the final conclusion. There isn't a level of individual responsibility with encouraging and encouragement in our own lives. Let's turn back to Nehemiah 4. Nehemiah 4. I said we'd turn to it. Turn back to it, I guess because there is a level of individual responsibility with encouraging ourselves. You know, when we find times where we're discouraged or we're pulled out, maybe we're not walking on the path as we should, we should look at our lives and see where we can resolve these causes of discouragement. So, we began today by looking at causes of discouragement through the lens of Nehemiah 4. Let's look now at some resolution to discouragement in Nehemiah 4. All right. Let's look at verse 9. Verse 9. If you remember the story, we had all these people bringing unpredictive criticism, really arguing at the Jews, trying to distract them.

Nehemiah 4:9 We have, "Nevertheless, we made our prayer to our God, and because of them, we set a watch against them day and night."

So, the first point, a resolution to discouragement in our lives is let's call upon God. Call upon God. You see, prayer is a powerful tool in our spiritual tool belt. We need to use prayer in our daily lives. You know, prayer is our lifeline to God.

If you think about it, prayer, when you're getting down on your knees or you're bringing up something, you have a direct line to God. You're coming into the very holy presence of God because of what Christ did. You know, we can go directly before the creator of all that is created. That's a remarkable opportunity that we need to take advantage of, that have those conversations with God. And we should never be taken for granted. So, when you do get discouraged, and when you get bogged down by maybe too much criticism in the world around you, or maybe it's perspective and other individuals maybe, you know, maybe you have a perspective of so and so that they're just not doing what they need to be doing, that can be discouraging sometimes. Well, let's make sure that we call upon God. You know, we call out to God in prayer for help. Another resolution to discouragement in our own lives, let's turn to verse 13.

Nehemiah 4:13 "Therefore, I positioned the men behind the lower parts of the wall, at the openings, and I set the people according to their families, with their swords, their spears, and their bows."

You know, if you find yourself discouraged or too brought down in the world around you, take a moment to back up and reorganize. Here we see the people being repositioned and put in different areas closer to their family units with their weapons. You know, let's back up and reorganized. Take that time to relax and rest whenever you need to.

Get away. Find a little bit of time with your family. As the people of God understanding what the Sabbath means to us, hopefully, we're not taking the Sabbath day for granted. You know, part of the Sabbath day command is to rest and to relax, to make sure that you're getting away from those discouraging times. You know, Hebrews talks about stirring up a spirit of one another into love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. Really using this opportunity to come together as a family and to regroup and to resolve discouragement in our lives. Another thing that we can see from Nehemiah 4 if we look at verse 14.

Nehemiah 4:14 "And I looked and arose and said to the nobles, to the leaders, and to the rest of the people, 'Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord...'" Sorry, "Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.'"

So, when you become discouraged and you call upon God and you take a moment to reorganize, and you're still a little bit discouraged, another thing to keep in mind is we should think on God more and less on self. It says, "Remember the Lord, great and awesome." Now, we should remember God, less on ourselves.

There was a lady that died several decades ago, Corrie Ten Boom. If you're familiar with her, she was of Dutch origins, I believe, and her and her family had helped the Jews during Nazi occupation. You know, they were caught, I believe they were Christians, and they were caught, and they were put into a concentration camp. Her, her sister, and her father, I believe. I believe she's the only one that survived the concentration camp. And so, she went through these stressing times. All these as kind of context and backup. But there's a quote that's attributed to her, and it says, "If you look at the world, you'll be distressed. If you look within, you'll be depressed. But if you look at Christ, you'll be at rest." You see, if we focus too much on ourselves or on the world around us, we can be discouraged. But if we focus on God and Jesus Christ, we can have that rest. We can be encouraged in those sad and dark times. Finally, another resolution to discouragement in our lives, just look at verse 15.

Nehemiah 4:15 "And it happened when our enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had brought their plot to nothing, that all of us returned to the wall, everyone to his work."

The final point in resolution to discouragement is return to work. Let's get back to it. It's important to get back to our work and to not stay on that discouraged path. You know, having work is important. Finding something for our hands to do and doing it with all of our might, you know, whether it's the formal tasks of a job or just getting our mind off the discouraging times. You know, getting our minds off the trial in that moment, you know, finding that work to do with our hands, that can be incredibly encouraging. You know, distracting us from the discouragement around us.

You know, I mentioned in the beginning, encouragement is an important action for our lives today. As Christians, we do have the responsibility to encourage one another, to really help one another in our walk and in our walk towards eternal life. You know, even looking at the daily news, this world can be discouraging. You know, I pulled up some news articles this morning as I was thinking about an introduction to different things to this message, and they're very discouraging headlines. I think they do that on purpose. And I know that there are algorithms that give me news articles that I'm likely to click on. So, maybe that says more about me than about the media. Let's remember that sometimes.

But this world can be very discouraging. So, let's remember to ask God for His inspiration, because as Christians, with God's spirit, we can be the instrument that God uses to encourage one another, encourage the lives of each other on our daily journeys. So, let's pray for God's inspiration and wisdom, knowing how and when to encourage one another. Let us strive to encourage each other more and more as each day progresses. And so, in the midst of a dark and discouraging world, let's be lights. Let's also be a people. And more than that, let's be a family. A family of encouragers.