Scripture

And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

~Hebrews 10:25, NLT

Quote

One of the most neglected responsibilities among believers today is to neglect encouraging one another.

~David Brickner

Hebrews 10:25 is one of my favorite verses and that is probably true of a lot of preachers. I walked into DBC on Easter Sunday {I was late} and people we sitting in the isles. The place was packed. If they had been singing, I would have marched to the front because I hate sitting in the back but Joe David was well into the message and I knew I would be a distraction so my grand children made room for me in the back. Wow, what an encouragement to have a packed house? What a shoot in the arm! What happened the following Sunday? It went right back to normal with a lot of empty seats. Empty seats are discouraging to preachers but who cares? About 80% of Baptist don’t care if they discourage their pastor or not; matter of fact, they could care less. Every Sunday should be Easter. Our buildings should be packed every time we meet for worship. Of course worship attendance is just one way you can encourage others.

All too often, we are too sparing in our praise. No one is more guilty than myself. Unless you are one of the grand kids, you probably don’t get a lot of praise from me. I am not bragging, I am confessing. I have made some very regrettable mistakes by failing to encourage others. I tried to correct and instruct when I should have encouraged. I read in the OUR DAILY BREAD some years ago about a person who committed suicide from lack of encouragement. The man was an accountant and he had faithfully worked for a firm for 25 years and not one time had he been thanked for his loyal service. He was single and lived alone. He literally became so discouraged that he shot himself. His suicide note mentioned the fact that he despaired because he had never gotten any encouragement from his boss or the firm. I think about all these kids growing up in blended families and foster homes: how much encouragement do they get. To be honest with you, I failed in this area myself.

It takes effort to give a sincere compliment. We cannot lie or flatter. Our encouragement needs to be sincere. I have always been fascinated by the supposed subtlety of these folks who think they are so much more intelligent than you that they can pay you a “Left handed compliment” without you knowing. For instance: “That’s the best sermon I’ve ever heard you preach.” Why not say, “That’s the best sermon I ever heard”? Because that is not what they meant. You can tell by the tone of their voice when they are being sarcastic. It is their way of saying, “You’ve preached a lot of sermons, most of them weren’t much, but you’ve finally preached one I approve of.” Why not simply say, “Pastor, that was a good sermon.” If he laid and egg, just say, “Pastor, we love you, have a great day.” I will here this one a lot next Sunday. People assume that pastor’s are stupid but we are not: we can detect sarcasm, at least sometimes. You know what a horse does when a fly gets on their hip; they use their tail to swish it away. The horse doesn’t jump, run or exert great energy, just swishes that tail and goes right on eating his oats. Horse flies use to annoy me but I have learned to ignore them or be entertained by their pride and arrogance. I chuckle on the inside and think…“You moron, do you really think I am that stupid.” {You are right, they do} Be an encouragement, not a smart Alec. He takes more effort but you get a better result.

Extra

Today marks the beginning of the second third of 2023: one third is now history. Even winter flies by when you get my age. All my garden seeds are out of the ground including the okra, but they don’t look very good; they need warmer nights. A couple of 80 degree days wouldn’t hurt. The most amazing thing is that my tomato plants look better than everything else. Other than the garden, the cool weather suits me fine. It will help on the power bill and my A/C in the office is out. I’m on my fourth unit. I have tried Walmart, Olie’s, and Lowe’s. I have not found one yet that will last more than two years. They just don’t make good appliances anymore.

I didn’t get to preach yesterday morning but I had the time of my life last night: thank You Jesus. There is nothing like GRACE and last night was pure grace. To God be the glory, great things He has done. So loved He the world, that He gave us His SON; who yielded His life an atonement for sin, and opened heavens gates so that all believers could go in. Praise the LORD for our GATEKEEPER. I have a blog coming out on this subject soon but I had to go ahead and share this thought.

Pray for Gregg and Traci. They go back to Little Rock on Mother’s Day {May 14}. Pray for Melanie and Brent Mitchell. They are going to MD Anderson in Houston on May 8 I think.

Have a great day and thanks for reading the blog.