#117: Encouragement

On episode 117, Tim explains why encouragement is so important to receive and to give.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome into episode one hundred and seventeen of Bring Heaven Down.
My name is Tim and I'm the host of this
daily devotional podcast. Make sure you hit that follow button
wherever you are listening to this podcast and rate and
review the show if you're willing to do that as well.
If you have a question a testimony that you would
like shared, email the show Bring Heaven Down number seven

(00:24):
at gmail dot com. I received this email on Tuesday
of this week from Mark and the subject of the
email is Hello from New Zealand. He says, Hi, Tim,
I'm Mark and expat New Jersey, Height and I've been

(00:45):
living in New Zealand for fifty years now. I'm eighty
one years old and long since retired. My wife Barba
and I like to listen to your Bring Heaven Down
podcast when we go to bed at night. We appreciate
your kind, gentle, down to earth approach to the Gospel.
I don't like being shouted at lol. We especially like

(01:09):
that you speak Jesus into our spirits to remind us
where our salvation comes from. We also like that you
sometimes bring the biblical perspective on current events that you
don't get from the secular press. I guess lastly, we
like that your podcast is only five to eight minutes
long because that's about the length of our attention span

(01:30):
at ten o'clock at night. So keep up the good work. Ten.
We appreciate you, Mark, Thank you for the email. I
wake up and I do this podcast and sometimes you
wonder just how much of an impact that you're having.
And it's encouraging to receive emails like that because it

(01:51):
reinvigorates my mind and my heart and my soul to
continue to do these things, because it tells me that
these podcasts are making a difference and to apply that
to everyday life. Life is a challenge, and there are

(02:16):
good days and bad days and days in between. But
in First Thessalonians, chapter five, it says this in verse eleven. Therefore,
encourage one another and build each other up, just as
in fact you are doing. And it's so easy to

(02:37):
be discouraged. You can easily fall into the trap of
negative self thinking and start questioning everything that you do.
Am I doing the right thing? Am I heading the
right direction? Am I living a life that is glorifying God?

(03:01):
Am I making a difference with the things that I'm doing?
And Encouragement is one of those ways where we can
build each other up as followers of Jesus because we
are called to live differently and look differently from the

(03:23):
rest of the world. That's what Jesus commanded us to do.
And when you do that, sometimes you start questioning if
the things you are doing are really different, or if
it's making any difference, or whatever the case may be.
And that's when we need to come together as followers

(03:47):
of Jesus and encourage one another. And one of the
best ways to be encouraged and to encourage others is
to have a sense of belonging, meaning belonging to a church.

(04:08):
When COVID hit in twenty twenty, it changed many habits
of people all around the country that were once church coers.
I'll just stay at home, rest in my sweatpants and
watch the computer screen because church is live, rather than

(04:30):
going into church itself. And by doing that, you are
not allowing yourself to receive the encouragement that we need,
and it doesn't allow you to give the encouragement that
you need to give to others. Encouragement is such an

(04:54):
important word today, not just encouraging others that you're doing
a good job or that they're making the right decision,
but encouraging others to stand firm in the faith when
life gets hard, to stand firm with your feet planted

(05:18):
in scripture when life gets really rocky. So I just
want to challenge you today to think about how you
can encourage someone else, and how you can put yourself
in a place to receive encouragement, whether that's joining a
Bible study or attending church regularly on a Sunday morning,

(05:42):
or whatever the case may be. Thank you for choosing
Jesus today, and I hope the Holy Spirit revealed more
and more about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.