We've been here at St. Paul's, the Barnett family.
We've been here for three months.
And one of the things that was not written into my contract,
but strongly suggested, was to take part in a thing called park runs.
Has anybody heard of park runs?
Yes, some people.
What park runs are they?
They happen at 7 a.m. on a Saturday morning.
And lately it's been quite cold at 7 a.m. on a Saturday morning.
And it's a 5K run.
And there's actually a number of people from church that do it.
And you could do it too, if you like.
And so I was heavily encouraged by the team to join.
And look, it's nice to get out and run first thing in the morning.
It's pretty cold and exhausting.
But it's all about the last 200 meters.
Not just because they are the last 200 meters,
but also what happens on this run is you kind of,
you crest a hill and you come down these last 200 meters
and there is the finish line.
And there are all these people standing there shouting encouragement.
You can do it.
Come on.
Don't stop now.
Why are you lying down?
Get over that line.
It spurs you on.
It helps you put on a boost of speed to get over the line.
It is great to be encouraged.
And it's great to encourage.
It is great to build up.
And it is great to be built up.
Because our words are powerful.
They can spur people on.
They can encourage.
They can build up.
But our words can also tear down.
Our words can cripple.
You are a hopeless runner.
Don't even bother finishing.
We're going home.
You can walk home.
I wonder which of these two is the more natural way of speaking for you.
Is it encouraging or is it tearing down?
Is it speaking in passive, aggressive ways that damage?
Pointing out people's faults and niggling at one another.
When we come to the Christian faith, it is often described as a race.
It's not quite the same as a 5K park run at 7am on a Saturday morning.
But the whole life.
The race following Jesus is not over in 30 minutes.
It's 30 years, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 years.
And in that time, we may fall down.
We may stumble.
And we are going to need to be picked up many times in our lives
if we are to make it to the end.
That last day when we either meet Jesus when he returns
or we die and we meet Jesus.
And the challenge for us today is to think about
how we use our words as we run this race.
It is easy to tear down, to cripple,
and to cause people to stumble with our words,
not even thinking about what we say.
It is much more difficult,
but so important to be shouting encouragement to one another
as we head toward Jesus.
And so let me pray as we have a look at God's word
as he speaks to us today.
Let me pray.
Dear Heavenly Father,
we ask that you would help us to consider our words,
help us as we consider how we encourage and build up one another.
Lord, we know that you love us so much.
Help us to love each other with our words as well.
And we ask this in your Son's name and for your glory.
Amen.
And so we're going to be considering why we should encourage people,
and then there'll be some helpful tips to encourage people.
And so firstly, encouraging one another is what Christians are supposed to do.
Hebrews chapter 10, which was read for us,
is this great passage of the Bible,
which explains what the sacrifice of Jesus has done
and how it brings forgiveness.
And so the author gets to the implication in verse 19.
And it starts with therefore,
because Jesus has sacrificed himself.
His sacrifice is once for all.
We don't need to continually make sacrifices.
Therefore, we are to do these things.
And the author of Hebrews has the phrase,
let us,
and he has the phrase since.
So have a look from verse 22 with me.
If you've got your Bibles open,
if not, please open them.
And if you need a Bible.
So since we have confidence to enter the most holy place,
two,
let us draw near to God.
Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart
and with the full assurance that faith brings,
having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience
and having our bodies washed with pure water.
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess
for he who promised is faithful.
And let us consider how we may spur one another on
toward love and good deeds.
Not giving up meeting together,
as some are in the habit of doing,
but encouraging one another.
And all the more as you see the day approaching.
There are three commands,
three lettuces,
if you like to eat lettuce.
There's three let us.
First of all,
let us draw near to God.
Let us hold to the hope we have in Christ
and let us encourage one another
and spur on and build up.
Now, I'm sure that if you've been in church
for any length of time,
you've heard of those first two.
Drawn near to God.
Run away from your sin that so easily entangles.
God has done so much for you.
Don't chase after other things
and hold to the hope we have in Christ.
Don't hope that other things will bring you joy.
These are very common themes in the Bible.
And they're things we talk about here
at St. Paul's regularly.
But it's the third command that we're going to focus on.
The author of the Hebrew adds
that we should be encouraging one another,
that we should be spurring one another
to love and good deeds.
It's right up there in importance
with drawing near to God
and holding to the hope in Jesus
to encourage one another
and to draw near and hold hope.
And we see the same theme
running through 1 Thessalonians
that Adrian read from chapter 5.
He died for us so that
whether we are awake or asleep,
we may live together with Him.
Therefore, encourage one another
and build each other up
just as in fact you are doing.
Encourage.
Build up one another.
This is what a Christian does
because Jesus has died for us.
Just like obedience
and sharing the gospel
are the right response
to God's love and grace,
so is encouraging one another.
Now, you may not know this
about Steve Jeffery,
but he is actually
a pretty good runner.
You might not know.
He's been away.
He's probably been running a bit.
I don't know if he's beaten his PB.
Maybe we can ask him later.
He has.
Congratulations, brother.
But not only is he a good runner,
he knows how to run.
And so on my first park run,
on my first time running the park run,
Steve was running next to me.
And it was encouraging
and also quite annoying
because I had to stay with him.
He's like,
come on, keep running.
Don't stop.
I was like,
oh, I just want to lie down a bit.
And I'm not sure if you run,
but I always run faster
when I'm running with someone else.
As we run the Christian race,
as we are heading to Jesus,
how great is it
that we can run alongside one another?
It does not need to be a lonely run,
but it's a partnership.
And look, let me plug community groups again.
These are a great place
to run the race together.
having people in your corner,
standing on the sidelines
or next to you as you run,
encouraging you
when following Jesus is hard.
It's hard to be a Christian.
You encourage them
when they stumble
and your brother or sister
fall into sin
and they do something stupid
and you pull them out.
They can challenge you
when sin takes over.
They love you in despair,
laugh with you
when you are laughing
and cry with you
when you are crying.
Christians are saved
and united with one another
to encourage one another
and to build up each other
as we run this race.
And so that is the first reason
why we run.
We run because
that's the first reason
we encourage one another
and that is because
it's what Christians do.
The second reason
is because the end is near.
So these two passages,
Hebrews 10, 1 Thessalonians 5,
they give us another reason
to encourage one another.
Hebrews 10,
let us spur on one another
to love and good deeds
and encourage one another
all the more
as you see the day approaching.
That day is that day
when Jesus returns.
1 Thessalonians 5,
because the day of the Lord
is coming,
we should therefore
encourage one another
and build each other up.
Both of these passages
tell us to encourage
and build up one another
because the end is near.
It's just like those last
200 metres of that park rung.
We are close to the end
of this race.
Now we don't know
when the day of the Lord is.
We don't know the day
that Jesus will return.
And in the same way,
we don't know
when we will die.
We don't know
when God will call us home.
But what we do know
is that Jesus could return
at any moment.
It could be
this minute.
I feel like pausing
for a whole minute
and saying that I won't.
Now the end might not
feel like it's soon.
It might feel like
it is a long way away.
But because it is soon,
we need to be ready.
We need to be waiting
for Jesus to come back.
We need to be expecting
Him to come back.
And we need to be
encouraging one another
to keep trusting in Jesus.
Keep drawing near to Him.
To keep holding on to God.
We need to have
another person focused
that says,
I'm going in this direction.
Come with me
as I follow Jesus.
And so we encourage
one another
because the end
is near.
And third,
we encourage
and build up
one another
because the race
is hard.
Hebrews 3 says,
encourage one another
daily
as long as it is
called today
so that none of you
may be hardened
by sin's deceitfulness.
Encourage one another
because our sin
wants to deceive us.
We live in a time
when we are distractible.
I've read some studies
recently
and they suggest
that our attention span
because of technology
is now shorter
than a goldfish.
I'm not sure
how you feel about that.
I'm not sure
if you feel like
I'm going to go
and beat those goldfish.
but our attention span
is now
less than nine seconds.
It is easy
for us
to get distracted.
We are just easy
to get distracted
and it's easy
for us
to get distracted
by sin.
Running
in the wrong direction.
Instead of following
Jesus
we turn around
and want to chase
something else.
We're to run
following Jesus
obeying him
because he died
for us
but we turn around
and we chase
our selfish desires
that war within us.
In that direction
I'm not pointing
at anybody in particular
in that direction
is all the money
and power
that I can have.
If I have all the money
I want
I can have all the things
I want
and if I have power
I can be in control
and I can chase
all the sex
that I want.
The race
following Jesus
is hard
and so we need
people
to encourage
us to keep going.
We do it
in general ways
to everyone
from up front.
I'm hopefully
encouraging you
right now
to keep running
the race
but we also
need the people
in our lives
to keep pointing
us to Christ
and to say
following Jesus
is worthwhile
even when
it is hard.
But we also
need encouragement
in our lives
because we also
receive many
hard words.
We live
in a broken
world where
everything calls
us to despair.
Everything
points out
that this world
is broken.
It calls us
to selfishness.
Sin
it steals
our joy
our bodies
are breaking
down
our plans
falter
our dreams
die
our
resolves
weaken
our
perspective
dims
there is
suffering
there is
persecution
there are
trials
it is pretty
simple
life
can suck
being a
Christian
is not
always easy
there are
very real
problems
in our
lives
we might
find it
easier to
just
sit down
and think
this race
following
Jesus
is just
hard
life
is busy
so
maybe
I'll just
have a
week off
church
and it
turns into
two weeks
maybe I'll
just
stop going
to community
group
because I'm
tired
and all
these things
end up to
isolation
and distance
from the
people
who help
us keep
going
we need
to build
up
we need
to encourage
and we
also need
to be
encouraged
because when
encouragement is
absent from
church
when encouragement
is absent
from us
as people
we'll feel
unloved
unimportant
useless
and forgotten
God knows
that we
are people
who need
a daily
reminder
of his
grace
and so
he calls
us to
encourage
each other
every day
until
his son
returns
so we
encourage
first of all
because it's
what a
Christian
does
we
encourage
because the
end is
near
and we
encourage
because life
is hard
but what
does this
look like
now that
we know
we are
to do
it
what does
it actually
look like
to encourage
someone
let me just
quickly read
the start
of a couple
of Paul's
letters
the welcomes
to his
letters
I'm not sure
if when you're
reading Paul
you just
skip through
the start
of Paul's
letters
and get
to the
good stuff
let me
just read
from
1 Corinthians
1
I
always
thank
my
God
for you
because
of his
grace
given
you
in
Christ
Jesus
for
in
him
you
have
been
enriched
in
every
way
with
all
kinds
of
speech
and
with
all
knowledge
God
thus
confirming
our
testimony
about
Christ
among
you
therefore
you
do
not
lack
any
spiritual
gift
as
you
eagerly
wait
for
our
Lord
Jesus
to
be
revealed
that's
1
Corinthians
3
tell me
if you
pick up
any
themes
as we
go
through
Philippians
1
I
thank
my
God
every
time
I
remember
you
in
all
my
prayers
for
all
of
you
I
always
pray
with
joy
because
of
your
partnership
in
the
gospel
from
the
first
day
until
now
being
confident
of
this
that
he
who
began
a
good
work
in
you
will
carry
it
on
to
completion
until
the
day
of
Christ
Jesus
1
Thessalonians
1
we
always
thank
God
for
all
of
you
and
continually
mention
you
in
our
prayers
we
remember
before
our
God
and
Father
your
work
produced
by
faith
your
labor
prompted
by
love
and
your
endurance
inspired
by
hope
in
our
Lord
Jesus
Christ
lastly
Colossians
1
we
always
thank
God
the
Father
of
our
Lord
Jesus
Christ
when
we
pray
for
you
because
we
have
heard
of
your
faith
in
Christ
Jesus
and
of
the
love
you
have
for
all
of
God's
people
the
faith
and
love
that
spring
from
the
hope
stored
up
for
you
in
heaven
did
you
get
any
common
thread
anyone
it's
not
rhetorical
you can
shout
out
at
me
that's
all
right
yes
what
was
a
common
thread
praise
Jesus
Paul
thanks
God
he
makes
it
really
clear
who
he's
thanking
he's
thanking
God
that's
the
first
way
that
we
to
think
about
encouragement
we
thank
God
and
Paul
makes
it
really
clear
who
gets
the
glory
the
glory
all
goes
to
God
these
aren't
words
to puff
up
someone's
head
to make
their
ears
too far
apart
from
last
week
and
second
he
tells
them
what
they're
doing
right
the
Colossians
church
in this
case
they're
trusting
God
the
Thessalonians
are
working
hard
the
Philippians
well
they've
been
great
partners
so
thank
God
tell
them
what
they're
doing
right
and
third
Paul
acknowledges
that
it's
all
God
who
enables
them
to
do
this
it's
God's
gift
from
Colossians
their
faith
sprang
from
heaven
their
faith
was
not
from
themselves
this
is
a
great
picture
of
what
building
up
and
encouraging
another
person
could
look
like
can
you
imagine
if
you
were
these
churches
and
you
got
that
letter
from
Paul
that
would
have
been
wonderfully
encouraging
start
with
thanking
God
be
specific
but
we
do
need
to
be
careful
to
be
encouraging
and
building
up
in
the
Lord
and
not
just
building
up
a
person
in
their
self
confidence
and
their
own
ego
because
flattery
and
encouragement
are
two
different
things
flattery
or
even
compliments
can
be
a
motivation
to
be
liked
I
could
say
who
can
I
pick
on
Adrian
you
just
your
haircut
is
just
glorious
your
head
is
just
a
beautiful
circle
and
look
at him
he's
smiling
he's
going
red
in
the
face
but
it's
flattery
he
feels
nice
and he
likes
me
that's
all
that
interaction
is
flattery
can be
superficial
it is
quick
it's
immediately
satisfying
look
he's
still
smiling
that smile
might be
there for
another
30
seconds
but
encouraging
and
building
up
is
loving
truth
telling
we live
in a
time
where it's
really
easy
to be
encouraged
and built
up in a
little
way
by social
media
you
post
a
picture
or
you
write
a
comment
in
the
hope
that
you
will
get
liked
I
really
want
people
to
like
this
pretty
picture
of
myself
I
spent
four
hours
putting
on
makeup
got
the
right
filter
in
this
modern
socially
connected
world
the way
that we
affirm
and
encourage
one
another
is
just
by
clicking
a
button
and
saying
yeah
I
like
you
and I
like
this
photo
so
here
you
go
I've
affirmed
you
I've
built
you
up
aren't
I
a
good
friend
no
number
of
likes
is
going
to
satisfy
a
person
even
if
I
get
100
or
200
likes
there's
always
a
desire
for
more
maybe
if
I
put
another
photo
up
tomorrow
with
a
cute
dog
I'll
get
even
more
likes
maybe
take
the
right
photo
of
my
food
I
wonder
what
would
happen
what
would
happen
right
now
if
I
took
a
photo
a
selfie
of
myself
with
all
of
you
beautiful
people
and
put
it
up
on
Facebook
I
wonder
how
many
likes
we
could
get
I
wonder
how
people
would
respond
to
that
so
I
want
to
do
this
experiment
if
I
can
I
want
to
see
how
many
likes
I
can
is
anybody
give
consent
to
taking
a
photo
it's
kind
of
hard
to
get
all
of
you
in
so
which
part
of
the
church
should
I
get
these
ones
here
there's
no
one
here
sitting
in
this
spot
how
about
I
if
I
come
down
and
do
this
okay
now
I'm
not
going
to
encourage
you
to
go
and
like
it
if
you
see
that
photo
on
Facebook
later
it's
up
to
you
but
clicking
on a
photo
is
easy
you
can
come
back
tonight
to
church
and
see
the
results
but
it
is
much
harder
than
just
clicking
on
a
button
to
actually
encourage
someone
encouragement
that
says
I
thank
God
for
the
person
he
has
made
you
to
be
I
appreciate
you
and
I
appreciate
how
you
serve
with
the
gifts
that
God
has
given
you
it
is
much
harder
than
clicking
like
but
it
is
also
much
more
important
it
speaks
to
the
person's
heart
it
speaks
to
the
person's
skills
and
the
way
God
has
made
them
and
we
might
think
look
I'm
just
not
good
at
that
speaking
words
of
love
that's
not
my
love
language
I'm
not
good
at
that
so
it
doesn't
matter
I'll
love
people
in
other
ways
I
won't
speak
to
them
but
I'll
buy
them
a
gift
God
tells
us
that
we
need
to
speak
words
of
encouragement
and
to
build
up
one
another
now
one
of
my
issues
personally
has
been
that
my
sense
of
humor
means
that
I
often
make
jokes
at
other
people's
expense
you
can
know
if
I
like
you
because
I'll
put
you
down
and
make
a
joke
at
your
expense
that's
historically
Adrian
smiling
at
this
isn't
that
a
shame
that
he
knows
this
it's
really
hurtful
because
what
I'm
doing
is
I'm
tearing
someone
down
making
a
joke
about
them
laughing
at
them
to
build
myself
up
I
have
sarcastic
humor
that
jokes
oh
you're
great
at
something
you're
you know
Adrian
you've
got
a
circle
for
a
head
or
whatever
I
said
before
and
that
got
a
cheap
laugh
but
I
put
people
down
to
build
myself
up
I'd
like
to
blame
all
the
sarcastic
English
humor
I
watched
growing
up
but
it
is
just
my
fault
it
is
something
I
still
struggle
with
putting
other
people
down
to
make
myself
feel
more
valuable
so
I'm
really
aware
of
it
and
there's
another
name
that
people
use
for
it
these
days
they
call
it
banter
I
don't
know
if
you've
heard of
the word
banter
young
men
in
particular
will
rip
into
each
other
and
say
all
kinds
of
hurtful
things
but
they
argue
it's
playful
it
doesn't
matter
we're
just
joking
around
what
are
the
words
that
are
coming
out
of
our
mouths
are
they
designed
to
build
up
or
do
they
tear
down
at
the
expense
of
someone
else
encouragement
is
shared
in the
hope
that
it
will
lift
someone's
heart
towards
God
it's
evidence
of
God
working
in
their
lives
to
help
them
see
how
God
is
using
them
it
points
a
person
to
God's
promise
that
assures
them
that
all
that
they
face
is
under
God's
control
let
me
encourage
you
make
encouragement
a
daily
discipline
for
some
here
encouragement
is
just
what
you
do
some
people
are
really
great
encouragers
you
may
be
sitting
here
going
yeah
I'm
great
at
encouragement
I'm
already
good
at
this
but
I
think
for
many
of
us
you're
more
like
me
we
tear
down
because
it's
far
easier
we
need
to
make
it
a
daily
discipline
to
encourage
to
text
to
email
or
even
do
it
in
person
and
we
need
to
pray
to
God
to
show
you
who
needs
encouragement
you
never
know
who
in
your
life
is
really
struggling
who
is
stumbling
who
needs
to
be
contacted
and
when
you
do
a
be
specific
don't
just
stumble
around
and
say
I'll
keep
picking
on
Adrian
you're
great
I
think
you're
good
be
specific
like
Paul
was
with
the
churches
encourage
your
pastors
encourage
Steve
you
can
even
send
Steve
a
text
encouraging
him
right
now
you
can
encourage
and
thank
God
for
your
community
leaders
your
community
group
leaders
the
people
who
serve
you
morning
tea
and
soup
because
it's
soup
Sunday
today
encourage
and
thank
them
when
Steve
preaches
next
week
give
him
specific
encouragement
let me
challenge
you
don't
just
say
good
sermon
pastor
don't
just
come up
to me
after
church
and say
something
just
because
I'm
telling
you
to
now
either
be
specific
when
we
encourage
and
build
up
people
and
let
us
be
praying
that
God
would
create
a
culture
here
at
St.
Paul's
of
encouraging
and
building
up
one
another
that
we
would
speak
loving
words
that
are
specific
pray
that
God
would
use
it
like
a
fan
to
a
flame
to
build
us
up
in
love
with
one
another
and
let
me
just
put
a
little
caveat
here
be
really
wise
when
you're
encouraging
and
building
up
someone
of
the
opposite
sex
make
sure
you
stay
away
from
any
language
that
could
be
perceived
as
flirtation
now
this
week
as
I've
been
preparing
this
message
I've
been
really
challenged
by
this
and
so
I've
been
trying
to
encourage
as
many
people
as
I
could
and
so
maybe
you
received
a
text
from
me
this
week
so
I
sent
a
couple
of
people
a
text
I
found
it
really
easy
to
send
out
texts
to
say
hey
Adrian
I
didn't
send
you
a
text
but
let
me
pretend
I
really
thank
God
for
how
deliberate
you
are
in
mission
and
it's
great
that
God
has
gifted
you
with
those
skills
I've
been
sending
out
those
texts
and
then
I
tried
to
do
it
in
person
with
someone
and
it
was
really
awkward
it
was
really
weird
I
love
the
person
that
I
was
speaking
to
but
it
was
just
like
oh
hey
Adrian
this
is
awkward
and
the
person
I
was
speaking
to
said
oh
that
felt
really
awkward
someone
else
in the
room
said
oh
that
was
awkward
and
so
does
that
mean
I
just
go
okay
from
now
on
I'm
just
going
to
send
you
a
text
I
don't
encourage
in
person
you
know
if
I
see
someone
really
struggling
I
go
into
a
room
and
send
them
a
text
no
we
just
need
to
be
better
at
I
just
need
to
practice
because
I
think
it
would
be
easy
for
us
to
leave
here
today
thinking
yes
I'm
going
to
become
a
great
encourager
but
the
reality
is
that
for
us
we
will
forget
by
dinner
we'll
forget
by
after
we
have
soup
Sunday
for
lunch
I
want
everyone
to
practice
this
right
now
so
let
me
encourage
you
take
out
your
phone
and
I'm
going
to
give
you
two
options
I
want
you
to
visualize
it
someone
that
you
are
going
to
encourage
and
write
down
what
you
are
going
to
say
so
you
can
either
write
down
what
you're
going
to
say
there's
pens
in front
of
you
there's
cards
in front
of
you
write
it
on
the
back
of
your
hand
take
those
cards
in front
of
you
I'll
give
you
this
once
use
these
for
a
different
purpose
that's
okay
write
down
encouragement
or
if you
would
prefer
get
your
phone
out
and
send
someone
a
text
right
now
I'm
actually
not
joking
we're
going
to
do
this
right
now
I'm
going to
take
out
my
phone
in a
minute
and I'm
going to
send
someone
in this
room
I haven't
decided
yet
I'm
going to
send
someone
a
text
encouraging
them
and the
model
for
us
I
really
thank
God
for
you
Nick
do I
have
this
you
want
to
go
back
a
slide
brother
I
really
thank
God
for
you
I
really
appreciate
how
you
use
your
gifts
and
that
you've
been
given
by
God
so
I
could
say
to
my
darling
wife
hey
Alyssa
I
really
thank
God
for
you
and
how
he
has
made
you
an
awesome
wife
and
mother
God
has
truly
blessed
me
richly
now
that's
not
that
hard
that
didn't
feel
that
awkward
nobody
else
shouted
out
that
was
awkward
you
know
hey
Frank
just
wanted
to
let
you
know
I
really
thank
God
for
how
he
has
made
you
a
great
encourager
really
appreciate
it
cheers
bud
so
we're
going to
do
this
right
now
get
your
phone
out
write
down
a
piece
of
paper
we're
going to
practice
this
because
we
need
to
so
take
your
time
don't
think
too
much
just
send
it
don't
overthink
it
I
haven't
received
any
messages
yet
but
that's
okay
I'm
going
to
pray
for
us
and
then
we're
going
to
come
to
a
time
of
communion
heavenly
father
lord
you
love
us
so
much
you
love
us
with
an
unbelievable
amount
of
love
father
we
thank
you
so
much
for
the
life
the
death
and
the
resurrection
of
Jesus
lord
thank
you
that
we
get
to
be
a
people
that
are
brought
into
your
family
loved
forgiven
united
humbled
before
you
and
lord
we
ask
that
you
would
help
us
to
build
up
one
another
help
us
to
be
encouragers
father
we
ask
that
this
would
be
a
fan
to
the
flame
of
our
community
that
we
would
grow
in
love
for
one
another
and
that
we
would
grow
in
love
for
expressing
it
to
one
another
give
us
the
gift
of
encouragement
help
us
be
like
Barnabas
the
son
of
encouragement
to
not
just
come
to
church
and
go
home
but
to
speak
words
of
love
to
see
deeply
how
you
how
you
have
gifted
to
appreciate
what you
are
doing
in
other
people's
lives
as
you
even
continue
to
work
in
our
lives
Lord
and
we
ask
all
of
this
in
your
son's
name
and
for
your
glory
amen
another
wonderful
way
we
have
of
encouraging
and
building
one
another
up
is
in
the
Lord's
Supper