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Hey, man, so John chapter 21, so we're in the last chapter of the Gospel of John and the second-to-last Sermon, so we're gonna look at the first part of John chapter number 21 this evening Where Peter and the disciples are out fishing look it down at verse number one of John chapter 21 We're only gonna get a few verses in here. We're gonna go to about Three verses in and just take a look at what happened here. Look at verse number one So Jesus has resurrected from the dead and he's shown himself twice so far to the disciples Peter has seen Jesus At this point and he is out fishing with Some of the other disciples look at verse number one of John chapter number 21 after these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberius and on this wise he showed himself So this is the third time the Sea of Tiberius is another name for the Sea of Galilee, which is the Large body of water. It's kind of it's a lake really it's a it's a large lake that is I don't know a hundred or so miles north Northeast of Jerusalem look at verse number two it says there were together Simon Peter and Thomas called Didymus and Nathaniel of Cana and Galilee and the sons of Zebedee that's James and John and Two other of his disciples so you count that up. There's seven of them here. So seven of the twelve Disciples are here Simon Peter sayeth unto them I go a-fishing They say unto him we also go with thee they went forth and entered into a ship immediately and that night They caught nothing. So you say what's the problem here? So Simon takes seven of the twelve disciples fishing after Jesus has risen from the dead What's the problem turn to Matthew chapter number four to get some context? on where Peter has come from remember Many of the disciples were fishermen and Peter and his brother and also James John were fishermen look at Matthew chapter number four and This is where we see Jesus calling the first two disciples Andrew and Peter look at Matthew chapter four in verse number 18. You say what's the problem with Peter going fishing here in? Verse number three of John 21 Matthew 4 18. Well, let's get some context here in Jesus walking by the Sea of Galilee So again, this is where he found them All right This is where he found the disciples the first disciples that he called when he started his ministry Says Jesus walking by the Sea of Galilee saw two brethren Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother Casting a net into the sea for they were fishers and he sayeth unto them follow me And I will make you fishers of men and straightway they left their nets and followed him turn to Luke chapter I'll just read for you Luke chapter number five in verse number 11. We get another Account of that same story. It says when they had brought their ships to land They forsook all and followed him. All right, so look these were commercial fishermen These guys were fishermen for a living when Peter said I go a fishing He wasn't talking about getting a pole and a tackle box and sitting on the shore They were going out in ships and they were casting nets and they were making a living Fishing and Jesus said stop doing that follow me and in Matthew chapter 4 and again in Luke chapter 5 We see that they left everything to follow Jesus and here kind of this odd thing you say what's the problem is There's this odd event where after the resurrection of Jesus Christ where Peter has seen the resurrected Jesus He drops that and he goes back Fishing and not only does he go back to fishing. He brings six of the disciples with him Alright, so in Luke chapter 5 verse number 11. It says they forsook all I mean they told their families They told their dad that they fished with They you know, they told Zebedee that hey, we're out of the business I mean, can you imagine your two sons coming to you and just being like we're out now and we're following This guy, I mean so just a pre sermon thought for you This isn't what the sermon is about what while it easily could be about this But they forsook all the question for you is do you have to have you forsake at all? In your life. Did you have to forsake all to come to church tonight? Did you have to like leave everything? Behind just to come to church tonight, you know No, you didn't is the answer and the problem is is today is the overall problem compared to the disciples that forsook all in Matthew chapter 4 Luke chapter number 5 is today people can't forsake anything That's the problem today. All right. So what tonight though? I don't want to talk about forsaking thing tonight I want to talk about what Peter did I want to talk about what Peter did and how he took over half the disciples with him when he went and he just went back to his life of fishing so tonight I want to talk about Discouragement and just just I have a positive spin on the the sermon. I want to talk about discouragement versus Encouragement. All right. I want to talk about discouragement versus Encouragement so first of all The first point I have is a very quick one because it's very similar to what I preached on last Wednesday where I talked about Faithfulness versus fearfulness So the first thing that you need to understand is that discouragement being discouraged it happens to everyone So before you know, we're so hard on Peter. There's a lot of Unflattering stories in the Bible about Peter. All right, but Peter He does get things together and he does end up doing great things of course with his life But the point is Peter got discouraged But it's normal to get discouraged people get discouraged every Christian especially in their Christian life and their spiritual life will go through Discouragement it happens to everyone So if you say I'm discouraged and what's wrong with me. The answer is nothing is wrong with you people get discouraged It's very simple. All right people go through cycles of encouragement and Discouragement life is life is peaks and valleys I mean life isn't just all great all the time. I mean, that's that's fake. That's not real Okay, but what matters is what direction you take when you are discouraged and that's what I really studied Focused on in you know, the doubting Thomas sermon on faithfulness versus fearfulness. So somebody that's faithful It's not that somebody that's faithful never gets discouraged It's that they remain faithful through there's discouragement they it's not that they never get afraid It's just that that doesn't define what they do Somebody that's fearful that fear defines what they do. It's the same thing with discouragement. It's not if discouragement Comes to you and you let that discouragement Define what you do. That's a problem. And that's what happened to Peter. Peter got discouraged and He changed action he changed course and not only that but the second point I want to you to see tonight is that Peter discouraged others When he could have been an encouragement to others Peter was a discouragement to others. Now look people in general Underestimate their ability here people underestimate their ability To encourage or their ability to discourage because every single person in this church every single person in a family every single person out in the world has the ability to encourage people or discourage people Just by what they do It's a powerful thing that all people have and look Peter. He just led people out of the Christian life here and It's not a good thing instead of preaching the resurrected Christ. You say what's the big deal? They went fishing. Well, what's the I mean the big deal is what were they supposed to be doing? What's the very next chapter in the Bible? They were supposed to be doing and Starting the acts of the Apostles That's the that we studied through that entire book and we know what they reset themselves and got back to it We know what they accomplished That's what they were supposed to be doing When the angel in Acts chapter 2 says why eat why do you stand there and just gazing? I mean, that's the urgency of the situation They were not supposed to go back to their homes and their their old businesses and all those things They were supposed to get moving in the Christian life They were start there's they were to go and preach the resurrected Christ They were to go out and do what we do and they were supposed to get started doing that now So, I mean I was thinking about this. I was thinking about this turn that turn to 2nd Timothy chapter number 4 Turn to 2nd Timothy chapter number 4 I was thinking about this as I was I was walking through the park and I was looking at I don't know why this thought came Into my head. I think I was thinking about this sermon Well, I was walking through the park looking for those stations that we're going to go to on Today and I was just thinking like what's the point of this church? I Was thinking like what's the point of this church? Yeah, I get it that you know Hebrews 1025 I've preached that to you like I don't know a thousand times, you know not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together Like the manner of some is like you're supposed to come to church But I was just thinking like just from a practical standpoint like what's the point of this church? Like what would happen? Like what would happen if like we just didn't have a church What would happen look at 2nd Timothy chapter number 4 in verse number 2? 2nd Timothy chapter number 4 in verse number 2. I mean I get it It's a command in the New Testament the New Testament talks about individual churches But all that aside like what would happen if there wasn't churches What would be the result if you just think about that for a second? Well, the first problem would be this I mean the first point of a church is to Solidify and preach doctrine. That's that's the reason for the church That's why one of the reasons God set up the local New Testament Church Look at 2nd Timothy 4 verse number 2 where he's telling the pastor here He's telling a pastor preach the word be instant in season out of season reprove rebuke exhort with all wrong suffering and Doctrine he's saying, you know, look the pastor is gonna have to go and you're gonna have to preach things This is one of the main reasons for a church is so people can hear doctrines Because you say well, why can't people just hear doctrines themselves because the people won't want to hear the doctrines That's why if you read this verse there's a lot of negative things in here. I mean reprove rebuke You know with all I mean instant in season and out of season The problem is is that people won't just want to you know, read things and apply things in their lives that are out of season That's why God sets up a church with a qualified man of God to preach the word whether it's popular or whether it's not Right window which a lot of it is not today. All right, but people wouldn't do that without a church They wouldn't hear that I mean, that's the point of the preaching is for a pastor to get up and teach doctrines Of the Bible to the people and to remind look it's really good It's really it's really to remind you of doctrines that you should already know Because you're reading the Bible yourself and you're learning things yourself I mean, hopefully the only time you open a Bible isn't like when the Bible is being preached to you You should be reading the Bible should be learning the Bible learning those doctrines But really a good pastor should teach you those doctrines You should know those doctrines, but then he should show you how to apply those doctrines to your life And that's an important part of church and he should show you He should teach you how to apply it and he should show you how to apply that doctrine a good pastor the Bible says should be an example to the flock a good pastor should be an example of Those doctrines of those teachings, you know It wouldn't work if I just like stood up here and was just some hypocrite and just taught you all these things from the Bible And then like my life was a train wreck. I mean that wouldn't work Because nobody would follow that so the pastor is to preach the doctrine. He is to teach the doctrine He is to show you how to apply the doctrine and then he is to be an example of that applied Doctrine all right. Well, no pastor is perfect I'm certainly not perfect, but this is the idea one of the reasons of the church now turn to Acts chapter 14 So I'm I'm just walking and I'm thinking about what if there was no church if there was no church doctrine would fall apart Like it would just there would be no doctrine if there was no local church If there was no local church with a pastor preaching from the Bible there would just be I mean just look Look even if there is I mean look at how many churches are preaching false doctrine When there is a local New Testament Church, imagine if there was no, you know real local New Testament Church with an actual candlestick in it What chance would the actual truth have and the answer is none Turn to chapter 14 in verse number 21. Here's another reason for The church. All right. I was just thinking about what if there was no church Well, if there was no church there would be no fellowship you say well, what's the point of that? I mean, here's the point is So we can feel like we're not alone so you can be a Christian that believes these doctrines and applies these doctrines and you can not be alone in your Christian life because Look, you're gonna be peculiar if you're doing this, right? You're gonna be separated if you're doing this, right? You're gonna be peculiar if you're doing this, right people are gonna, you know, put you through tribulation tribulation Put you through persecution if you're doing this, right and look that's tough to do alone. That's tough to do by yourself and God knows that Jesus Christ knows that look at Acts chapter 14 verse number 21 Look what they did here in Acts 14 verse 21 It says when they had preached the gospel to that city So they just went out and they just had a whole day of over days of soul winning and I'll just preach in the gospel And taught many they returned again to Lystra and to Iconium and Antioch Confirming these are the churches. These are separate churches Confirming the souls of the disciples and exhorting them to continue in the faith You see that it doesn't say confirming the souls of the disciples like getting them saved again It's the same like shoring them up in their spiritual life They're going out and they're just preaching the gospel to all these different places and then they're meeting back at their local churches to do what to just Exhort Themselves to continue it says They're exhorting themselves. You know what that means? They're encouraging themselves because maybe there are some people that knock some doors that they just got the door slammed in their face all day long Well, they came back and they saw that the other group had a lot of success and you know what that encourages you That builds you up that confirms your soul and that we must look at this exhorting them to continue in the faith Maybe some people got beat up out there Maybe some people got arrested. Maybe people got smacked around in this time. Look this wasn't you know 2024 America here we're talking about the Roman Empire. All right, there was violence there I mean pretty much violence. It was I mean, I don't want to say it was the Wild West But I mean it was it was a violent time. All right, look it says through much tribulation It says exhorting them to continue in the faith and that we much through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God So what are they doing? They're exhorting the people that had a difficult time that had maybe got hurt and maybe somebody even got killed Out there, but they're exhorting them and they're saying look Jesus told us this Jesus told us that we're gonna have tribulation Jesus told us that we're gonna be persecuted if we actually do what he told us to do and they're just Exhorting and building each other up. They're encouraging one another where in their local churches they went back to their local churches and refit artillery Before they went back out. Look at verse 23 and they were ordained them elders in every church and they prayed with fasting They commended them to the Lord on whom they believed and after they passed through Pisidia they came to Pamphylia and when they had preached the word in Perga they went down into Atalia So now they're out soloing again and then sailed to Antioch from whence they had been recommended to the grace of God For the work which they fulfilled so they go out and they hit these other cities again And when they were come and what did they do and gathered the church together They rehearsed all that God had done with them and how he had opened the door of faith under the Gentiles and there they abode A long time with the disciples. So what do they do? They went back to Antioch They went and they hit all these other cities and they rehearsed You know what that you know what that's explaining that they did This is what you all do After you go out soul winning on Sunday when you come back and you're all sitting together and I am watching everybody out in the fellowship Hall before church on Sunday evening. What are you doing? You're rehearsing what happened? You're talking about how it went out there went good for them and not good for them And these people got six people saved and remember that day. We got 18 people saved I mean that was quite a rehearsal but you're sitting out there and then what are they doing? You're just encouraging people and not it doesn't even matter. I Mean look I personally when I go out and I don't have anyone talk to me at all I look forward to coming back to that rehearsal because I look for because I know like hey If I'm taking one for the team here I know somebody's getting somebody saved right now and it's always works that way you come back and During the rehearsal you hear that like another group had a lot of success just got into a hot spot of people and And got a bunch of people saved and it's just great. But look, what are they doing? They're encouraging one another So this is another huge reason for the church For the exhortation for the encouragement of the Saints so we can encourage one another in Hebrews 3 Actually turn there go to Hebrews chapter 3 verse 13 Hebrews chapter 3 in verse number 13 Hebrews chapter 3 in verse number 13 The Bible says this it says but exhort one another daily While it is called today lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin you see As I'm thinking about what is the point of the church the point of the church is doctrine to solidify and to keep people in Doctrine, but it's really also to encourage people among the brethren It is to encourage people to continue in the faith And look if there was no church where people were encouraged to go soul winning and people were encouraged to stay in the Christian life Stay spiritual stay connected with God. They wouldn't do it and what would happen they would fall into sin It would fall into sin this is why many times people fall out of church had first fallen into sin so We're a small church. We're a small growing church, but what I want to point out tonight is because we are not a huge church with hundreds of people in it each individual person has a higher percentage of responsibility to encourage or to discourage It's very important for a church, especially one that is not a huge church Everybody has the ability to encourage and everybody has the ability to discourage So look how do you how do you encourage? How do you encourage let's talk about that let's talk about that in just the context of our church all right How do you or just just a church? How do you encourage people in church? You're like do you want to be an encouragement, or do you want to be a discouragement? I mean hopefully no one's like I want to discourage people but people misunderstand and people don't realize how easy it is to discourage people and Also, how easy it is to encourage people and that's what I want to show you tonight because look It's not to encourage people folks It's not hard to be on the encouraging side of things Just think about I mean the first the first way the first main way to encourage people in a church Especially it's super. I mean it's important in every church, but it's especially important in a smaller church is to participate That is the that is the main reason just think about participate in what participate in everything It's important. I mean you just think about soul winning, and I'm really glad that we have like this is not a problem here We have a high participation in soul winning here and guess what that's encouraging because soul winning Can be a very discouraging experience at times, but as long as there's a lot of people in your church that go soul winning It's like it's an encouraging thing no matter What I mean you go out And you have what would normally be like just if it was just you soul winning and you were the only one That lived in Fresno that went soul winning and he went out and nobody wanted to talk to you And everybody was just like get out of here, and you did that for two weeks It was just super unreceptive for two weeks. I mean do you go two weeks sometimes without getting somebody saved? sure I Mean in Fresno if you go so winning a lot That's that's kind of a long time to go without getting somebody say, but it's possible to go two weeks Somebody said look by yourself. That's very discouraging But with a church, it's You go out, and you just get a really rude neighborhood, and it's kind of funny I mean, it's not it's just like it's just like water. It's like water off a duck's back When you have a lot of people doing what? participating Participating so soul winning is a big one, and I'm very very thankful especially since it's the first work I am there. I am super. I hate saying this word, but I'm super proud of our church. You know what I mean by that I'm super proud of our our soul winning participation It is my goal It is my goal that that everyone in this church would become a soul winner and would go go So any at least once a week, that's my personal goal You know I you know I most weeks I go twice a week and guess what my wife. She would never want me to say this, but my wife She goes, and I've actually tried to back her off a little bit, but she goes so winning most times with my daughter three times a week She goes more than I do You know why she does that first of all she likes going so winning because I've talked to her about this I'm just like I don't want you burning yourself out. You're working too hard at this. She's like well I like going so winning I like to go and I just don't want so I'm kind of watching to make sure she's not working too hard Getting stressed out or anything, but she doesn't mainly because she likes it number one and number two she wants to be an encouragement To the ladies of the church, and that's why she does it. I'm sorry to bring this up I know that you don't like that, but I want to point that out. It is important that you know we encourage One another and you know so she goes so she can be an encouragement to others all right look There's all kinds of other things that I could bring up How about this one like I don't know why but like sign-up sheets is another one Sign-up sheets let me tell you how I used to operate when I went to Verity Baptist Church with sign-up sheets whenever I don't know why it's so hard to get Baptist to sign up for sign-up sheets It's it's it's impossible, but whenever there was any kind of event in Verity Baptist Church I made sure that we signed up right away. I Mean that's how I operated I don't even know what it was many times or when it was I would just tell my Wife sign us up right away. Why because I want people to see that there's people signing up for the church activities I want people to look at the sign-up sheet and see oh There's a lot of people going to this thing because why because it encourages people And you know what it encourages the pastor's wife Who's? organizing many of those Activities so I mean that's just another thing just like but people don't sign up I don't know why people don't sign up for sign-up sheets I I have all kinds of theories I don't even know if I should mention them But I mean it takes a commitment to put your name on a sign-up sheet I think that's the main thing you have to kind of say like you know what I'm just gonna do that thing But you know what it's an eight. I want you to know like it's an encouragement to people It's not a nothing burger when it's out there. You know participation Marks encouragement to a church and that shows that people are going to participate all right Here's another one. I'm gonna embarrass some people here. Here's another one singing You know singing encourages people singing encourages people And I think our song a new song leader is doing a great job by the way but singing encourages or discourages people so you know if People don't sing it can be discouraging especially to visitors Especially to visitors that come in and They came from a church with purple lights and smoke machines and rock bands And they come in here, and we sing the old hymns, but we don't sing them though We sit here we sit here right You know I know you're not seeing because your lips aren't even moving So here's a here's a positive and a negative spin on this You sit here, and you have your your hymnal open and your I Mean here's the thing the hymnals already open why not sing That's the positive spin on it the negative spin on it would be just close your hymnal If you're not going to sing no don't close your hymnal you're already halfway there You you took the time to open the hymnal you turned you turned to the actual song And you're not singing But here's the thing you say well my voice isn't good. Do you think my voice is good? No one here thinks my voice is good But here's the thing if you've ever been a big church if you ever been a big church And you've heard that that great singing at a conference, and you're saying man. This is awesome Guess what none of those people the vast majority of those people do not have good voices Most people don't have good voices, but when they all sing together. It sounds good. It's like a miracle But we have to sing so what we have more of a responsibility because we're a small church So everyone carries more of a weight, so what we should we should sing we should participate in The singing and guess what when people hear a small group of people singing in a building You know what that will encourage people so the more you sing the more that encourages the person next to you to sing the more That encourages other people in the church to sing. It's an encouragement Be an encouragement. I mean it's men's preaching night sign up preach Participate all these things are super important for encouragement I mean just activities in general activities in general. I mean people are just like well you know The more people that don't go to activities the more people that will not want to go to activities and That's what we kind of need to understand It's it's more the more people that are faithful to those things and guess what the more people that are faithful to activities the more activities there will be That's another thing that we need to realize because we're just not going to have a bunch of activities that people don't come to Because guess what that's discouraging it's discouraging so Participation is huge for a church of our size everyone kind of bears You know more responsibility on top of that all right, so look Peter also Peter also He was a leader He was a leader, and this is another thing that you need to recognize the more of a leader that you are The more ability you have to encourage or to discourage people So that means that the higher up the food chain you are in whatever Organization your family whatever the more of an encouragement or discouragement you can be Peter was a leader That's why he was able to take like two-thirds of the disciples with him He took you know over half of the entire you know force To just quit and just go fishing with him, so I mean you know I've heard this statement I've heard this statement before that Complaints Complaints should only go up have you ever heard about ever heard this statement You should never like what it's saying is you should never complain down to people like say I'm a boss, and I should never just go to the people that work for me Just complain you know about you know the the company or whatever and you know they say complaints should only go up But I mean I kind of understand that statement because it would be a huge discouragement to the people below you but Complaints I mean they really shouldn't go up either As you think about it if you go to work and just do nothing but complain to your boss And where's that gonna get you you know it's not gonna get you anywhere right so complaints are Just discouragements right I mean your boss would just think you're a complainer You're just going to discourage people below you and that's what Peter. Did is he discourage all the people Beneath him all right There's really no place for complaints, so Lee as leaders turn to first Peter chapter number five First Peter chapter number five is you know husbands moms everyone's a leader in one way or another Church members church members that have been here for longer than other church members look a church member That's been here for several years is going to have much more ability to encourage people or Discourage people than somebody that just came here three months ago. It isn't really free to thrive and doesn't really come that much You know those type you know that the person that's been here, that's a mature Christian They have a much stronger ability to encourage or discourage people Then people that are newer to the Christian life, and they're just kind of getting rolling on this thing But what those are the people newer people are the ones that will be easily discouraged By the older people look at first Peter five of verse number five when I say older people I mean Spiritually older look at verse number five it says likewise you younger submit yourself unto the elder yay all of you be subject one to another and be clothed with humility for God Resists at the proud and give it grace to the humble It's talking about you know younger people submitting to the elder, but really we could apply this to spiritual maturity as well so you have a bunch of people that look up to you as A Christian that look up to you as a more mature Christian you have the you have a lot of power look I'm not the one that can encourage people in this church folks I'm not the only one that can discourage people in this church So keep that in mind that you all have an incredible ability to encourage or discourage People and spiritually immature people newer people visitors. They don't come much They have much less influence, but they're much easier to encourage and also discourage I Mean it's there's a responsibility to becoming a mature Christian There is a responsibility that lays upon our shoulders people look up to you People look up to you And you know look at somebody that that they look at as a mature Christian or a more mature Christian And they look at somebody that would get backslidden or fall away, and they say if they can't make it What chance do I have? If this person that's been doing this and been saved for years if if they can't do this What chance do I have when I just started? But also you know you can be that encouragement So look the influence is more both good and bad turn to John chapter 21 go back to verse number four John chapter 21 look at verse number four So now Jesus sees them and look at verse number four it says, but when the morning was now come Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus Then Jesus say unto them children have ye any meat, and they answered him no, it's interesting that he called them children there He doesn't usually call them children. I wonder why that was Just you know like He's just think how many times he said to correct Peter and correct James and John and all these and now He's literally risen from the dead and here. They are and he's just like what in the world And what did he tell them about the children he's like unless you believe like little children He's just like children What are you doing? What is going on the book of Acts is right is right around the corner here, and you guys are out fishing without any clothes on Hopefully he was completely naked by the way, that's just another point, but the point is I Want you to understand the importance of encouragement tonight alright and the importance of staying away from discouragement I mean you think I have to think about this folks You know when it comes to this church not everyone has you got to think about it You're going to kind of get outside yourself not everyone has what you have not everyone You know some people have children some people don't some people are married some people are not some people have forsaken a lot To come to the church like this some people have forsaken Much more than others to come to church and look they want to grow and to thrive So we need to make sure that we are on the encouragement side of things and not the discouraging side of things to encouraging people Let's look at some contrast to encouraging people you say I want to be an encouragement to an encouraging people church is a priority To discouraging people it's an option and You will see that with people that are discouraging and Encouraging and in order for a church to grow In order for a church to grow The encouraging people must win over the discouraging people. This is my battle This is my battle. I'm trying to encourage people I'm trying to encourage people Grow this church encourage you encourage you to stay in church keep soul winning keep doing the things that you're supposed to do Encourage you to make friendships encourage you to you know get things right in your life Encourage you to do the things that I preach in the Bible. I'm trying to be an encouragement and what I Have to outweigh the discouragements That's my job. Well, and people will say this people say it's sort of Acts chapter 2 turn to Acts chapter 2 People will say this well, well God grows the church God grows the church Well, okay. I mean agree God grows the church and they get that from Acts chapter 2 But let's look at Acts chapter 2 and look at verse number look at verse number 44 actually 45 the end of Acts chapter 2 But In order for the church to grow because this is the this is the famous verse that people use to say God grows the church The last verse where it says praising God and having favor with all the people and the Lord added to the church daily Act should be saved So they're getting people say those people get in the church and God is growing the church the Bible says great That's exactly what should happen But look at the verses before It says and they sold their possessions and goods and part of them to all men as every man had need and they continuing daily With one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house did eat their manner with gladness and singleness of heart This was an encouraging group of people right here So yeah, God added to this church daily But this was a hundred percent what we're talking about here when I say church is a priority For the encouragement people the people on the encouraging side of the coin is it these are the people that sold out a church for it to grow needs more people that are sold out than are not and The sold-out must win over the people where it's just like yeah, I think maybe I'll go today Maybe I won't I think maybe I'll be a sole winner this week and maybe next week. I won't Those people are encouragement one day. They're a discouragement the next and Those people they cannot win Because in Acts chapter 2 where God was adding to the church daily. It was nothing but encouraging people They literally forsook everything. I mean they were all in one accord and they were just going after it There was nothing it's a prerequisite to God growing the church So my point was this is what I'm up against is I'm trying to get that prerequisite. So God can grow this church Maybe that's a better way of saying it. That's what needs to happen. The encouragements need to outweigh the discouragements And then you have people we have people years ago that are no longer here. We have people years ago Where they will go around and what don't be this person you go around like, huh? You know, why isn't this church growing? As they go around like, you know Discouraging people they're going around like asking the question like well You know shouldn't the church be growing and you know I don't know the church isn't the church isn't growing and they're going around behind everyone the church isn't growing Growing according to them in their own mind and why isn't the church growing and one of them gave me a book I'm like how to grow a church and we're just like, you know, hey keep the book stop discouraging people Stop being a discouragement Stop going around and just you know, trying to tell people something's wrong with the church. Why don't you just be an example? Why don't you just be a mature Christian? Why don't you be faithful to the church? Why don't you go so any? Why don't you come out and just be an encouragement to your brothers and sisters in Christ? And we'll get this prerequisite out of the out of the way and God will grow the church daily That's how it works Look if you've ever said if you've ever said in your mind like I wish this church was bigger or You know, I wish the singing was louder in this church if you've ever said this in your mind I I'm not mad at you I wish there was more activities But look if you have ever said these types of things in your mind and you are not on the encouraging side shame on you Because all you need to do is just get on the encouraging side of the coin and God will add to the church So I just want you to reflect this evening which side are you on I Mean I talked a lot about the church, but think about this your family. Are you an encouragement to your family? This is really easy. It is so It is so much easier to be an encouragement to your family than it is in a church because guess what? In your family, I'm talking to the men here in your family Who's who's discouraging your family? Who's discouraging your family men? Look if there's somebody outside your family that's discouraging Look women get discouraged much easier than men They're the weaker vessel so If somebody outside your family is discouraging your wife and discouraging your children you need to fix that You need to take care of that You need to handle that but you know who the person that discourages their wife the most usually is you As you go home and you complain about your job and you complain about the church and you complain about everything in your life And pretty soon like she doesn't even know why she's discouraged. She's just discouraged Because she's like, oh man, here's this here's this strong person And he's just like he's all bent out of shape. What chance do I have? So men are that I believe husbands are The look and I made this mistake myself. I made this mistake myself where I just go and I just I just vent to my wife About something and pretty soon I realize like all I'm doing is discouraging her That was a mistake. It's bad leadership. We need to be encouraging you'd be encouraging to people so There's no place for complaints who am I gonna complain to I don't know God he probably doesn't want to hear it either though Complaints what's the point? Complaints should just stay with you and then you should just put things into action that need to be taken Complaints nobody nobody wants to hear it Nobody wants to hear it and it'll damage People so look it's easy to encourage your family. You're upset about something. You're depressed about something You're not really sure about what you're gonna do about a particular situation in your family. It's fine It's fine. The Lord's gonna work it out I'm gonna do this and you know just calm people down take the reins Show yourself to be a leader and encourage your wife and your children They're the weaker people that they're who you're supposed to be taking care of. So look if your wife is is Discouraged if your children are discouraged Check yourself. Make sure you're not being discouraging yourself And then if it's not you if you're nothing but encouraging and they're still discouraged Well, there's discouragement coming in somewhere. You got you got out. You got a hole in the boat somewhere You need to find it. All right, but it's much easier to manage a Family because it's easy to most of the time. It's it's us guys that are being the discouraging ones Just need to be positive and look. I mean there's always things to be positive about You know, I'm gonna preach a sermon on on America on Thursday on the 4th of July and we tell you something. There's always something to be positive about Sometimes I think we get too negative Sometimes I think we focus on the negative Too much and you know what, you know what focusing on the negative will do there's plenty of negative things to focus on There's always negative things to focus on you could watch the news and just get depressed every single day of your life But that would be discouraging and That could knock us out. So let's get back to Peter Let's get back to Peter He discouraged some people and guess what folks encouraging especially in a church Get this across to Encouraging especially in a church. It doesn't take a leadership class. I Don't have to create a spiritual leadership class in us meet once every two weeks or whatever for you to be an encouragement It doesn't take a leadership class. You don't have to go out and read a dozen Self-help books. It just takes continuing on That's all it takes. It just can't takes moving forward when times get tough You just keep going That's how you encourage your family that's how you encourage your church what times won't be tough forever And you always have to remember that life's got you down. Don't let the negativity change your course. It's that simple I mean health problems marriage problems job problems Money problems and a guy tell me one time if you got money problems. Those aren't really problems If money can fix it he said it's not a problem But there's real problems in life, but the point is in bad times look getting out of church in bad times It's gonna make it all worse it's gonna just Exponentially make everything worse in bad times you just stay the course and that's all you need to do to encourage others and Once you encourage others, you will start to feel better Once you start thinking about Encouraging others and you get your head off of yourself. This is a major problem with depression right here people that are depressed They're just self-focused They're focused on themselves. You just focus on if you're depressed and you're down and things aren't going well Just go to church and help out a brother and sister in Christ and guess what in church to be an encouragement in church You don't have to be a Bible scholar You don't have to be a Bible scholar Garrett's sermon on Sunday night was perfect you don't have to have all the answers You don't have to have all the best things to say as a matter of fact, most people should say less Just sitting there and saying nothing and listening to somebody is encouraging It's encouraging to have somebody to come to church and you had something bad and you just talk to somebody about A bad time that you had or something that happened in your week and just have that person just not saying anything at all They don't have to give you some sage advice on anything and they just listen to you But they actually listen they don't have a leaf blower They listen to you. They care about what's going on and guess what by saying nothing and just standing there and Actually just caring They're encouraging That's how easy it is That's how easy it is. Just be present I Remember during kovat during kovat this was the epitome of this for me during kovat coming to church Was like it just made everything Okay, because I felt like this country that I thought I knew was flipped on its head I was like everybody's gone insane. People are going along with all this. This is just crazy, but I came to church And everything was okay because I was like, you know what? I'm not the only one I'm not the only one that thinks this way But folks that's how easy it is to be an encouraged of people encouragement to people in this Christian life It's easy to do and it's a hugely important thing that we do just be present just be there just hear people Show up Very simple. Let's bow our heads and have a word You