Marcus Mecum - The Power of Encouragement - Part 2
In Romans 8, there are seven questions that it says a conqueror asked. The first one was, "What shall we say in response to these things"? Referring to so much suffering. The second question was, "Who can be against us"? The third one was, "If God has given us his son, will he not graciously give us all things"? The fourth was, "Who will bring charge against those whom God has chosen"? The fifth question was, "Who then is the one who condemns"? The sixth question was, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ"? The seventh question is, "Shall trouble, hardship, persecution, feminine or nakedness or danger or sword, any of that separate us from the love of God"?
And there's one response to all seven questions, and it's not limited to those seven questions. In one way or another, the author here, Paul, is trying to explain to us whatever your question is, whatever your concern, whatever your worry, whatever your battle, whatever your struggle, the answer is found in verse 37, and it begins with a "No". No. All those things that are coming against you, don't have the final say. It says, "No one or nothing shall have the final say in all things you are more than a conqueror through him who loves you. And I am convinced neither death nor life, angels nor demons, present nor future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation".
If it's been created, he's saying, God at the end wants you to know none of that. If you can see it, touch it, feel it, understand it, none of it, not one thing. No demon in hell can separate you from the love of God. Why? Cause we're more than conquerors. Whatever you're facing, whatever is going on, whatever the circumstance looks like, the answer is always victory for you. If God before you, who can be against you? Give no place to the devil, in Jesus' name. David was being attacked by king Saul, so he ended up banished from the palace. He's living on the run and he ends up going to this cave that became his home. So he's in a dark, lonely, isolated place in life. He's lost pretty much everything. And while he's in this place of discouragement and depression, the Bible says, "400 men are attracted to him".
Now, notice the kind of men that were attracted to David in that place. It says, "They were discouraged, discontent, in debt and in distress". They're drawn to David. All these people that had a negative vibe about them they are drawn to David in this place of his life where he's defeated in many ways. Now, David, we know was anointed, we know David was a Psalmist, he was a worshiper, he was a singer. We know David loved God. We now he had a heart after God. We know that David is a giant killer, no question about it, David is an amazing person. But life has turned in a negative direction, and these people come into his life and instead of David turning them, they begin to influence David.
And David, the Bible says five chapters after this, begins to say things in discouragement, like, "I'm gonna die by the hands of Saul. I'm not gonna make it. There's no way I'm gonna survive this. There's no way I'm gonna make it out of this. This is the end. This is it. It's over. It's done. It's finish". And then, in the next chapter, chapter 30 he rides into Ziklag, his house is being burned down. His wife Abigail, in the Hebrew that means joy, has been kidnapped. So someone's kidnapped his wife, his joy is gone.
In verse 6 of that chapter, David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. In other words, in the end, watch this, these discouraged people, these negative people that David thought, "Well, you know what, I'm gonna hang out with them. What's the big deal? No big thing. It's just, you know, those are my friends. You know. That's my group, that's my crew. I understand that they're a little, little messed up, but that's my crew". And he goes and he starts hanging out with them and the very people that he thinks he can hang out with that are negative about everything in life, now they turn on him. Which is normally what will happen by the way in case you wanna know.
That person that's negative about everybody else, they're gonna turn on you too. They're turning on David, and David looks everywhere he can find no hope. And so, the Bible says, "He encourages himself in the Lord". His home is burned to the ground, nothing but discouraging people are around him, so negative they've got rocks in their hands about to kill David. His joy is gone, his wife has been kidnapped, he can't find encouragement anywhere and so he learned a valuable lesson, he learns to encourage himself in the Lord. Because there's power in encouragement. And you and I have to learn to do the same thing. Why? Because if you don't, we give place to the devil and the Bible says, "As you who has a renewed mind, you're a new person. You put on that new mindset that's in Christ".
You and I are to not live in a place where we're just focused on the negative, we're supposed to turn our eyes to him and realize that God, in some way or some form is "Working all things together for your good". And many of us, we come into church like this and you're hearing sermons like this. And I already know the feeling, I already know the sense of it, I already know what's going on in your mind. Because you're hurting. It's not a figurative hurting, it's not like a little, you know, a little bit of hurt here. You're overwhelmed. You are broken. I understand. I sometimes preach sermons and on the inside I'm so broken and sad and, "God I'm trying to help them and I don't why I can't get help".
I have been in so many dark places myself, where I'm having to be on the front row and say, "God, I'm just gonna encourage myself. I'm gonna encourage myself. Don't nobody else know, but you know and I'm gonna encourage myself". And I just showed up to talk to some of you who came in today and you think that you're an isolated situation and you think, "Why is this happening to me"? Don't give place to the devil, if you can do nothing else, learn to encourage yourself. That's why the Bible says, "You put on the garment of praise". You have to put it on. It's a choice you make to roll out of the bed and say, "I'm gonna put on the garment of praise, I'm gonna focus on the good, I'm gonna focus on him, I'm gonna get a vision of victory even in this situation".
The Bible says you do all that because it combats the spirit of heaviness. It makes the decision to say, "I'm gonna praise God in spite of what I'm up against. I'm gonna worship him anyhow, I'm gonna praise him not because I see the victory, but because I know in my heart that it's on the way". And somebody here just needed to hear from me today, to learn how to encourage yourself, it's changing, it's shifting, it's not gonna stay that way. The sun's gonna rise again, you're gonna have some good days again, you're gonna laugh again, you're gonna dream again in Jesus name, you're gonna love again. Encourage yourself, in the Lord.
The Bible says "David, after that goes to his men and he says, if we will pursue, we will recover all". Notice, because David became encouraged, his men became encouraged. Which says that, if I'll get encouraged in my soul, that even those who seem discouraged around me, I can turn things. They don't have to turn me I can turn them. If you're the leader of your home, listen, you have the power of encouragement. Think about this, I love that they call Barnabas, the son of consolation or the "Son of encouragement". In other words, "He's the offspring. If you look upline and you ask, who's his daddy"? His name is encouragement. He's the son of it, all of us are the offspring of something and somebody.
And if you look up, are you the sons and daughters of encouragement? Or are you the son and daughters of it's never gonna work out, it's always gonna be bad, it's always gonna be messed up. And I'm not being hard on you, I'm just saying you gotta have something on the inside of you that when you look, up you say, "God is my father, and God knows, and God is on my side". You know what the Bible says? That David and his men, they got their families back. David got Abigail back, he got his joy back. The enemy was whispering, "It's over, it's done, you're finish, give up. What's the use of going on"? But, the Bible says he ended up getting it all back. And I just want someone here today to know that, "Weeping may endure for the night but joy is coming in the morning".
I get the tears, I get the heartbreak, but joy is coming to your home again. In the Old Testament, the tabernacle would have been, for lack, just for our time today. This would be the church that God pastored. So if you wanna know how God would pastor a church, I wanna show you real quick. This is how God pastored his church. You guys ready for it? You guys ready? So, I'mma have seven guys come out, these are seven friends that are gonna help me illustrate how God pastored the Old Testament tabernacle. This is how God set it up, this is who he instructed them to do it and so, and so, the first person that you'd run into, you wake up, you get ready, you know, you find your way to the tabernacle.
You're walking up the sidewalk, you're walking into, and you'll come to the gatekeeper, the gatekeeper's name is Jaffna, and Jaffna, his name means, "God is giving". Everybody say, "God is giving". One more time, say, "God is giving". And so, this is the gatekeeper and in just a minute, we're gonna come to church together. And when we come to church and I run into the gatekeeper, he's gonna say? God is giving. Nice, nice, nice. The next person you would run into is Jahun Ohanan, and he was the worship leader, the singer. And his name in the Hebrew means "God is gracious". It's actually Jehovah is gracious, if you look it up, but God is gracious. Everybody say, "God is gracious". Okay, very good. So I'm gonna come to you and you're gonna say? Nice, nice, nice.
Okay, the next person you'd run into is, Johasacow. He was the preacher, that's a name isn't it? And his name in Hebrew means, "God is strong". Everybody say that with me, say, "God is strong". So, when I come to you, you're gonna say? Nice, nice, nice. Then you would run into Jahiha, he's the keeper of the ark. And his name in Hebrew means, "God is alive". Say that with me. "God is alive". So, when I come to you, you're gonna say? God is alive, very, very good. Y'all with me so far? Okay, we're just gonna, we're going to the old, this is the church God pastored. You may not have to be your church. You can go to that bummed out, depressed, sad, everybody, you can do that if you want. That's just not the way God set it up.
So, then you have Jahdia, he was the priest. And his name means? God is knowing. Because God knows, God knows. My God, you're big, okay. Then you had Jedadia, he just served, he was a layman. No office, just showed up to God's house and serve and his name means, "God is my friend". God is my friend, isn't that good? God is my friend. And so, then finally, you're on your way out of church and you'd run into the man who oversaw the store houses, his name was Johanafan. And his name means, "God will provide". God will provide, God will provide. So, when I come to you guys, you guys know what you're doing, right? You guys got it? You feel good? You need to double check? Okay, alright.
So, I roll out of bed, I wake up, I'm going to the Old Testament tabernacle. I had a tough week, I mean it's been a difficult week. Things have really come against me in my life. I'm not just saying it. It took everything I had just to get to church. I'm broken, I'm down. And I come to the front door of the church, and I run into the gatekeeper and he says. God is giving, wow. Sounds like a cliche to me. Why are these people, this happy-clappy stuff, I'm just not really into that. They don't understand the real world. And so, I go a little bit further and I run into the worship leader and he says. God is gracious. God is gracious. Doesn't feel like he's gracious to me. I mean, no one has any idea the stuff I'm going through.
This, God is giving, God is gracious'. That's not happening with me. So, I go a little bit further into it, and the preacher starts preaching and he says... God is strong, but I'm weak. But I'm vulnerable. But I barely got out of the bed to get to church. God's strong? Come on, man. I need some real people. God's strong? Not strong in me. Where's that strength for me? Goes a little bit further, runs into the priest and he says... God is alive. Not alive in my life. Not doing nothing for me. Go a little bit further. And I run into this layman and he says... God is knowing. Yes, he is. Your traps are insane. I mean, insane. Praying for a transfer, you know, there's a transfer.
"I know you wanna say, 'he's alive'. I know you wanna say, 'he's strong and he's gracious, he's giving'. But you don't know what I'm going through. You don't know what I've done. You don't know where I've been. You don't know the kinda week I've had. They don't know. These people don't get it. They don't really know". Maybe we don't, but he does. He knows. "Well, if he does know, if he knows me, the real me. He wouldn't want anything to do with me".
So, I go a little bit further and I run into this layman who says... God's my friends? "Like, God, like would wanna hang out with me? He'd wanna spend time with me? He's interested in me? He's curious about me? Maybe he wants to hear from me. Maybe he's missing me. Maybe I crossed his mind". David had that thought, he said, "What is it that God would be mindful of me? But he's my friend. I don't know if he could be a friend with someone like me". You know the reason they crucified the Lord of glory? It says because he was a friend of sinners. Not the religious folk, not the people that have it all together. He's your friend.
"Well, I mean, that's great, but it doesn't change my situation. It doesn't change that I came in here one way, and I hear all that stuff, but it didn't change anything". And then I get ready to leave and I see the guy who oversees the storehouses, and he says... God will provide. This is what I want you to see, in God's church he made sure there was no place for the devil. No matter how you came in, how down it was, how discouraged you were, everywhere you turn you got a message of victory. A message that God is giving. He's gracious. He's strong when I'm weak. He's alive even when I don't feel it or sense it. He knows my deepest, darkest, most desperate things that I wish weren't a part of who I am. He knows. And in spite of all that, he's my friend. He sticks closer than a brother. What are you talking about? And he will provide.
"You don't know my need"? God knows your need and he will provide, and he is able. And you see, this is the thing. The point is not that we don't come in one way. The point is when God puts us in place, however people come in, they're not to turn us, we're to turn them. They're not to turn us to their negative situation, we're supposed to, "I get it. I get it. But let's just keep focusing on he's giving, he's gracious, he's strong, he's alive, he knows, he's your friend and he's got your back. You're good, by the way. And he will provide".
I'm saying this because we have people every single week that get up extra early and they hold signs, and they go into the parking lot, and they greet. And they're back at the welcome center and they usher, and they check our children in. And they watch our children, and they run small groups. And they're out doing outreaches. They're all over the place doing things throughout the week. You come in here, there's the ushers, there's the worship team, there's people behind the scenes, running cameras. They're back there running technology to make sure that people can see by the thousands, what's happening here. And there's people, right now answering phones for people that are calling in from our television program to pray with them.
And then there's people who respond to all the letters that we get from those who are incarcerated and then we could just keep on going, and going, and going. All the different things that are happening at all times, to care, and love, and pray, and lift, and encourage. And I just wanna say to all of you who makes God's house an encouraging place for the broken to come, for the wounded to come, for the downtrodden to come, thank you so much that they can come in here. And even though they're in a negative place, we learn how to encourage them until they get to the point where they say, "I'm not gonna stay here. I'm not gonna stay that way. I know God can lift me out of it, in Jesus name".
In closing, I heard a story years ago about a six-year-old girl who had trained and worked and practice to sing a very special song to her church. And she begins, the piano player starts to play. She starts to sing and she's terribly off-key. She knows it. She can see the look on people's face. She can see the look on the piano player's face and so she's just embarrassed. Mouth's dry, lump in her throat, but the piano player encourages her and starts to play again. She starts to sing again, and again, she's off key. Everybody can sense it. Everybody is uncomfortable. So, he starts again, a third time, she tries, she is still, she can't get her nerves back. She is completely off-key. And so, she's sad. She's about to give up. And the piano player starts a fourth time.
This time the congregation can see what's going on. They can see how sad, how broken, how scared, how afraid, how worried, how confused she is. 'Cause she's failed. She's practiced. She's worked, but she has failed. But the fourth time the congregation starts to sing on key. And the louder they sing it helps this young girl get on key. And then as she begins to sing, she begins to get more and more confident. She begin to find that strength in her voice. And all of a sudden, the congregation falls out and she finishes the song and blesses them.
And what I'm trying to say, it is a normal thing for people to come in and they're off-key. Life has gotten the best of them. And our job is to not throw people away, and give up on people just because they come in, and this season of their life they are in a struggle, and this season of their life they're going through this or that. Our job is to encourage them until they get back on key. Until they find that strength, until they find their voice, until they find that gift that's on the inside of them to make a difference in their world. And then, we can pull back and we can be encouraged by the change that's happened in their life. You know, it's our job, as people show up, is to help turn people. "Why"? 'cause that attracts the Holy Spirit.