Feb. 28, 2025

Encouragement

A discussion about encouragement.

Show Notes
Transcript

A discussion about encouragement.

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Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is

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the Theology Central podcast, making Theology Central. All right, ladies

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and gentlemen, we're going to try this. I'm not I'm

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not very hopeful I have I'm very skeptical that this

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is going to go well, but we're going to give

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it a try. All right. Is that's the best I

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can do? So good afternoon everyone. It is Thursday, February

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twenty seventh, twenty twenty five. It is currently five three

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pm Central Time, and I'm coming to you from the

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Theology Central Studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. I

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almost wanted to call this the Discouragement Studio, the discouragement Headquarters,

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or maybe I should say the Encouraging the encouragement Headquarters,

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but no, no, no, no, there's no encouragement to be

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found here today because we're going to be talking about discouragement.

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But I'm supposed to be talking about encouragement. Actually I

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don't know what I should be talking about. But here

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we are. You were there, I'm here, I'm live, so

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we're going to do our very best. Now. Earlier today,

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we had kind of a discussion about encouragement. Discouragement the church,

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is it encouraging discouraging? And we kind of had a

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discussion about that, ladies and gentlemen. That discussion did not

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go as planned. In fact, there was a moment in

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the middle of that discussion where I picked up my

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iPad I looked at my analytics screen to see how

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many people were actually listening to me live, because I

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was very tempted at that very moment. I think I

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was thirty minutes into the broadcast, just stopping the broadcast,

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just stopping. If one or two people were listening, they

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wouldn't know what happened, just star up, delete and say,

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you know what, let's just move forward. But once I

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looked at the numbers, I'm like, there's way too many

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people listening. I've I've got to keep going. I don't

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want to keep going. But by the time, the more

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I talked, the more well discouraging it became, the more

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discouraged I felt. Even though I was trying to talk

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a little bit about encouragement and discouragement, I was becoming

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more discouraged as I was speaking. Now, why did that happen? Well,

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let's do this. Let me define discouragement. Now I know

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we're gonna talk about encouragement here, and we're gonna we're

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gonna listen to an illustration about encouragement that I was

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supposed to play in the last broadcast, which I never

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got to. But let's let's talk about what discouragement is

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you ready, discouragement? Discouragement is the loss of confidence, hope,

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or motivation due to difficulties, failures, or negative influences. Discouragement

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is the state of feeling disheartened, defeated, or weary. Discouragement

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is the state of feeling disheartened, defeated, or weary. Now,

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one of the questions I asked in the last broadcast,

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what are your greatest sources of discouragement? What are the

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great sources of discouragement in your life? And one of

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the great sources of discouragement for me, one of the

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great ones, and many of you know this about me,

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is I have obviously a seizure disorder. Everything that happened

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to me in the military. I'm not going to tell

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the long story, but I have a seizure disorder, and

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coming with that, all those seizures are neurological issues. Yeah,

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you see, I can't even speak correctly today, and well

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That's exactly one of the things that happens when I'm

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having I don't know, I want to call it a spell.

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When I'm going through this like a peereriod of time

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where my head is not quite feeling right. Everything seems fuzzy.

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I describe it as being like underwater. I can't seem

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to get clarity of thought, Like I'm talking, but I

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don't feel like I'm I don't know if what I'm

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saying is making sense. There's just like it, and it

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feels like you have all this pressure in your head

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and you just feel like you don't feel confused, but

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you just you feel pain, like the head hurts. You

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don't feel clarity. You feel like you're underwater. You can

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you can see the surface, but the more you swim,

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you can't quite get there. So if I'm talking, it's

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like I feel like I'm trying to get to I'm

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trying to get to the top of the water, but

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I can't quite get there. So then I get frustrated

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because I'm trying to get my point across. But then

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even if I'm getting my point across, I don't feel

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like I'm getting my point across because now there's now

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you got a feeling and your head's hurting and it's

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all fuzzy and foggy, and oh man, you talk about

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discouraging it can be. Oh, I mean, there's no other

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way to describe this. I mean, hey, that's okay. I mean.

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The good thing about being a podcaster is I can

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I can offend people. Like there's things you're not supposed

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to say in church because we all have to pretend

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that everything is wonderful and great and we can't be

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honest and real. But I can be honest and real.

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There's times I just want to I just want to

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smack this side of my head with my fists. I

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just want to. I want to just start pounding myself,

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Go what is wrong? Snap out of it? What is wrong?

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Because you can feel that it's not right, but you're like,

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maybe if I just hit it real hard, it'll it'll

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do a reset. Sometimes the only thing that can happen

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is drop have a seizure, and then it's like it

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resets the brain and then it's like now you know,

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for twenty four hours, forty eight hours, it's miserable, but

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then it's like, oh, I'm not underwater anymore. The sun

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is shining. I have clarity of thought. I can think,

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I can think like and when you're broadcasting, you want

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to be able to you want to be able to

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pivot right there. You want to be oh, this thought, this, this,

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you want to be able to do that. But when

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your brain is not quite working correct, you can get very,

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very discouraged. It's a feeling of being disheartened. It's you

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feel defeated, you feel weary. So for me, I have

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this medical condition that is a constant source of discouragement,

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in fact, one of the primary sources of discouragement. It's

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up there. Okay, I don't know. I probably could list

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three things, but that one is very is up there,

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and it's been I mean, I've been having the problem.

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I try to explain it to people. Everything that went

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wrong with me in the military. Everything happened was what

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January of two thousand and three, If I remember correctly,

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it was Friday. It was a Friday afternoon, and then

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by by that Monday, I mean I thought it was

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going to die before the weekend was over. By Monday, yeah,

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I mean, everything went horribly wrong. But from that moment

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that January two thousand and three, I don't think there.

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I mean I have basically had a migraine since two

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thousand and three without ever any serious relief. Ever, it

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just goes from less to intense, mild to intents like

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it never it never stops. And for the most part,

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hey stop wanting about it, stop complaining about it. This

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is the way life works. Deal with it. Just do it,

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and I do a good job. Right, I turn on

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the microphone, I broadcast, I broadcast. I don't let it

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control me. I don't let it stop me from doing

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what I want to do. I don't try to let

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my seizure stop me. But sometimes I'm not smart right

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because what I have a tendency to do when I

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feel ah, I feel my head's not right. Then I

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get mad, then I get ticked off. I'm like, you're

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not gonna stop me, So I'm gonna go sit in

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front of that microphone and I'm going to broadcast. And now,

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almost inevitably, it doesn't go right. Now, even if from

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your side, I don't know what you hear, you may say,

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well you sound. You have more clarity when you're going

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through one of those problems than when you don't go

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one of those problems. Okay, fine, you can say what

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whatever you want. But for me, no matter what I do,

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it doesn't matter if I talk for thirty minutes, forty

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five minutes, an hour and fifteen minutes, it doesn't matter

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what I do. When it's all said and done, it's

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gonna feel like a train wreck, a disaster, because in

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my mind things are I'm sitting there while I'm talking,

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having this debate. Wait, does that sound right? Does this

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even make sense? What point am I even making? I

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don't even know if I remember what point I'm making.

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And it's like I think I'm gonna have a seizure, right,

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like all of that's going on. So it can be discouraging.

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So for me, one of the greatest sources of discouragement

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is a medical condition that is not ever going away.

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As the doctors have often said to me, you have

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a seizure disorder, and it will probably be the thing

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that kills you. You're gonna drop have a seizure, and

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that's gonna be the end. Okay, well, wonderful, thanks, that's

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very encouraging. I very much appreciate your honesty. Okay, right,

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But but it can be it can oh, it can

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drive it can drive me crazy. And and because I

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have this, and just remember discouragement as a state of

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feeling disheartened. It's a state of feeling disheartened, feeling defeated,

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or feeling weary. It can become I can become very

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weary in it, just like, oh man, what am I doing?

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And it just because yeah, all these thoughts. Some of

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the key aspects of discouragement a sense of hopelessness or despair.

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I mean, there's been times with my seizures, because I

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mean there's been times I've gone through periods of time

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where I've had so many. You talk about hopelessness, you

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talk about despair, feeling way down by failure, setbacks. Well,

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it's not so much failure, but it's setbacks because you

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have this happening, a loss of motivation or will to continue.

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Oh I've been there. Okay, Being criticized, rejected, or ignored, Now,

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that can happen. You can get discouraged with, especially in broadcasting, right.

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You get criticized, You get emails telling you you're trash

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your car, you're stupid, you're an idiot, you're wrong, you're

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a heretic, you're you know, getting death threats, Okay you yeah,

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that can be that can way you do being rejected? Well,

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yeah I felt I felt that being ignored. Yeah, you

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can feel that experiencing disillusionment, disillusionment due to unmet expectations.

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If you have an expectation that, well, this is going

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to go this way, or this is going to go

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this way. I mean, this is one of the things

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that can be Life itself can be a source of discouragement.

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Why because you have unmet expectations. I think wherever it

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can be in a relationship, it can be a stage

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in life, it can be a job, it can be

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a career, it can be a hobby. You have certain

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expectations that this is the way it should be, and

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when all of all of those expectations just blow up

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in your face and yet it's not that way, well

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then there's disillusionment. It can depending on your stage of life.

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You may be in a perpetual state of well I

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did not expect it to be this way, and you

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live in a perpetual state of disillusionment, which is a

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form with just a state of discouragement. So what is

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your source of discouragement? So going full blown you just

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confession times that's definitely one of mine. Definitely, and I

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hate it and I loathe it. But at the same time,

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then I could you know then and see this is

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where people are gonna get irritated with me. See people

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will say, well, look to Christianity, look to God, and

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it will remove that discouragement and give you encouragement. But

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at the same time you got to remember, Wait, Christianity

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says to do all things without grumbling and complaining. Well,

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I just spent eleven minutes grumbling and complaining about my situation.

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So am I committing a sin? Wait? Be content and

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whatever state you find yourself, am I content? No? I'm

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not content? So am I in sin? See? Sometimes Christianity

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can even be more discouraging because you can be discouraged

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and then find yourself in a state mentally, emotionally then

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that you're not in line with God's word. So then

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now you have more guilt and sin heaped upon you.

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That was some of the points I was trying to

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make is that inherently sometimes not just the church. I

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mean I didn't get into just Christianity itself, but you

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can find yourself like, man, I know I'm discouraged, but

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I should be doing this, and I should be doing this,

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and I should be doing this, and I should be

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doing this. Well I'm not doing this. Well now I'm

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discouraging that I'm not doing this, and now I feel

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guilty and fore shame. What is your source of discouragement? Now?

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In contrast to discouragement, we have the idea of encouragement. Now,

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encouragement is defined as encouragement is the act of giving support.

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That's you being encouraging, the act of giving support, confidence,

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or hope to someone. Now, So, in a sense, let's

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kind of change us up a little bit, because it's

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funny that the definition of encouragement goes not with the

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state of being encouraged, it goes with the idea of

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encouraging someone. So just remember in your life or my life,

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let's just go ahead and state this. We, as human beings,

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we are a source of discouragement or encouragement. Right. We

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are a source of leading people to a loss of confidence,

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destroying their hope, destroying their motivation, helping them feel disheartened,

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helping them feel defeated, and helping them become weary. We

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can become the source of literally making things horrible for someone.

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We can literally be the thing that just discourages someone,

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breaks them apart, tears them apart, tears them down, puts

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them in a horrible situation where they constantly have to

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feel And well, no, you should not want to be

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a source of discouragement. I should not want to be

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a source of discouragement. I think sometimes as Christians we

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like to justify that I'm just offering rebuke, I'm just

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offering I'm just being godly. Well there's a time for that,

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But there's a time you're just being discouraging and destroying

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someone and you know, kicking them while they're down. So

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are you a source of discouragement? Am I a source

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of discouragement? I think a lot of times I am

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a source of discouragement. But yeah, that's because I tend

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to be negative and jaded. But just just just make

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sure this is very important. You don't want to just

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try to be encouraging by offering people false hope and

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lies and misrepresenting reality. That doesn't help either. Okay, so

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how about being encouraging, Well, we go back to Encouragement

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is the act of giving support or confidence or hope

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to someone. When you are encouraging, you are supporting someone

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you're building up their confidence. You're giving them hope where

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there is no hope. But again, don't give them false hope.

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See now I do not. I get very frustrated. And

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this is another thing I have a problem with the

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church in Christianity. I think a lot of times it

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offers fraudulent hope to people. It gives them, it rips

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versus out of context. It gives them hope and promises

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that are never going to come to the way that

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you're being sold them, which you give them a temporary

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sense of encouragement, which only leads to even worse discouragement.

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Encouragement involves strengthening, uplifting, are reassuring a person in times

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of struggle, uncertainty, or hardship. Now, it's interesting. Encouragement really

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is to find here more and being encouraging than being encouraged.

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So I think if we try to work this definition

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out a little bit better, then if you are encouraged,

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if you if you are in a state of being encouraged,

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then then I think you would you'll feel uplifted, You'll

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feel confident, you'll feel you'll feel strength, You'll I think

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it'll be the op obviously be the opposite of being discouraged?

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But are you and couraging? Now, when we talk of

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encouragement as something you do, you're providing emotional or spiritual strength.

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You're offering hope and reassurance. You're affirming someone's worth, ability

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or potential. You're reminding someone of truth and purpose, and

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you're motivating perseverance through difficult situations. Now, okay, what you see.

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What is if I put encouragement, we're gonna get the

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same thing. What is it to be encouraged encouraged? Let's

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see what happens here? What is it to be encouraged?

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To be encouraged means to be strengthened, uplifted, or given

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renewed confidence, hope, or motivation. So, if you are in

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a state of encouragement, you have emotional strength, you feel uplifted,

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you feel more confident to face challenges, You gain a

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refreshed perspective or c and difficult situations. If you are

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in a state of being encouraged, if you are encouraged,

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you're in a state of that. You have emotional strength,

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you have mental renewal, you have motivation to continue, you

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regain the will to persevere through struggles. You have hope

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and reassurance. You find peace or comfort, often through truth

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or support, and then if you're encouraged, you receive affirmation, guidance,

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or confirmation from someone else encouraged or discouraged. Now, what

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is your source of encouragement? I talked about my sources

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of discouragement, right, what then are our sources of encouragement? Now?

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I think inevitably we tend I think this is true.

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I think we tend to look to I think we

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tend tend ten we tend we tend to look to

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others for encouragement. I think that it's constantly where we

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look to encouragement. So I wonder if this here's kind

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of a question. Should we find encouragement in others or

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should we find encouragement in objective truth? Because I think

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in evil I mean, maybe I'm wrong. Inevitably, whoever you

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look to for encouragement, can they always provide it, especially

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if they're going to be honest, because sometimes I mean,

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I mean, I wonder do we get more encouragement from

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someone telling us the truth? Or do we get more

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encouragement from someone making us feel better? Things are going

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to get better? Well, if I'm being honest, with you.

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I don't know if anything's going to get better. Well,

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God's going to do this. I don't if God's going

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to do anything to help you. Right, Hey it's all

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gonna work out? Well, no it may not. You may die.

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But if we have someone come along who just tells

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us yes, see, that makes it very difficult. So what

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is your source of encouragement? What is your source of discouragement?

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I shared my source of discouragement, encouragement. There's a part

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of me that wants to say, what's going to encourage

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me is truth? Right, What's going to encourage me is

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is the reality of God and the truth of imputed righteousness,

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because see, those things are immutable, those don't It doesn't

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matter what anybody else says, It doesn't matter what anybody

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else does. And maybe I'm nervous to ever consider people

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as a source of encouragement, even though and maybe in

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some ways I want to, But maybe there's a part

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of me that doesn't want to. And maybe because maybe

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because of the way I was raised, Right, I mean,

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we won't go through the horrible stories, right, because then

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it just sounds like I'm trying to get sympathy, right,

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But I mean whoo, there was no encouragement happening, And

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I don't to even call it discouragement would be the

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biggest understatement in the history of the world. It was

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almost mental and physical torture at times. Right, So, so

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then if you can't look to your parents for encouragement,

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then a good portion of the things I experienced in school.

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Now I did have some teachers I would think would

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be a source of encouragement, but the most part, the

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entire public education system was nothing but one big source

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of discouragement. And then when I got into the church,

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I really but I can look at periods of my

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church life where it's been absolutely some of the most

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discouraging moments in my life. I mean absolutely message, So

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is it fair to look to people to be the

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source of encouragement because their center sinners, they have their

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own problems. I don't know. Now, why are we talking

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about all of this? Well, not only because I wasn't

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happy with the last broadcast, because this all started at about

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four o'clock this morning listening to Insight for Living with

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pastor Chuck Swindall Charles Windall, and I was I think

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it was I don't know, maybe it was two days old,

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two days old episode, three days old episode, and well

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to be fair on the insight for living For those

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don't know, Charles Stanley's like, I don't know, eighty ninety

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years old now, right, So they're the broadcast is still

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pulling from his older stuff, you know, from the seventies, eighties, nineties, don't.

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I don't know how. I don't know what their what

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their art guives look like. But they're pulling from a

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long time ago. And this is a message he was

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doing on encouragement encouragement. It's broken into three parts. This

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was part one. I skipped all of the introductory material,

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all of that, and I'm just going to begin where

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the sermon begins and he's going to give a definition

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about encouragement. All right, So I want to play this.

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I want you to hear it, and then we can

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just we'll just kind of throw out some additional thoughts

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here on encouragement and discouragement, and well we can see

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if we come to if I can come up with

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some good concluding remarks. Here are you ready? Here we go,

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Jock title today's message, strengthening your grip on encouragement.

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In a large church, there are times that we have

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to simply take a long look at where we are

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going and determine some direction so that we might remain

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a family, a meaningful, functioning, healthy family. For this reason,

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we've dedicated the present series to the purpose of helping

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us remain healthy, giving us some direction before God as

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we search his word for hope and direction. Two sundays ago,

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we talked about priorities as a local assembly, and we

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landed on four of them that are essential for us

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to remain healthy. We must remain biblical, We must be authentic.

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Our ministry must be characterized by a graciousness and compassion,

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and of course, we must remain relevant in touch with

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our times. Last time we were together, we talked about

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the value of involvement. We discussed spontaneity, we discussed accountability.

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We saw in the scripture even the basis of our

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being vulnerable with one another, not keeping each other at

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arms distance, but remaining close to one another, having a

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gesture that reaches out rather than pushes people away. This

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is very, very important as we think about involvement in

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our growth and in our ministry. Today, I want to

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talk about encouragement. The basis of this message is in

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Hebrews chapter ten Versus nineteen through twenty five. As some

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of you know, I took a few days off last week.

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To all fascinating points those four things the church needs fascinating.

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But now he's going to talk about encouragement. Now, I

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think he's going to be kind of structuring this. And

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Encouragement

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