'ENCOURAGE IN THE LORD'

Rev. Brent Russett

By Rev. Brent Russett

Pastor of Sunnyside Wesleyan Church in Ottawa: 

http://www.sunnysidechurchottawa.com/                

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PODCAST LINK to CFRA broadcast - Sunday, October 7th, 2012:

http://proxy.autopod.ca/podcasts/chum/6/8870/good_news_021_oct07.mp3
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Broadcast Notes:

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‘Encourage in the Lord

            Good morning and welcome to Good News in the Morning. This morning our theme is encouragement. My name is Brent Russett and it is my hope that after listening this morning that you will both be encouraged, and you will be encouraged to encourage.

            There's an old fable that says the Devil once held a sale and offered all the tools of his trade to anyone who would pay their price. They were spread out on the table and each one labeled. Hatred, malice, envy, despair, sickness, sensuality - all the weapons that everyone knows so well. But off to one side lay a harmless looking wood-shaped instrument marked "discouragement." It was old and worn looking but it was priced far about the rest. When asked the reason why, the Devil replied, "Because I can use this one so much more easily than the others. No one knows that it belongs to me, so with it I can open doors that are tightly bolted against the others. Once I get inside I can use any tool that suits me best."

            Discouragement comes to us all from time to time. This morning I want to take you into the life of David. If you have ever read the Psalms you will know that David had his times of discouragement. Those kind of times come to us all.

            I remember I was a young single pastor in the mid 1980’s. It was my first church. I was far from home, I was far from friends. Things were not going well in my personal life. Things were a struggle in the church and I was feeling discouraged. I was wondering if I should continue to be a pastor, if I should continue on in ministry at all.

            After a particularly bad night, - why is it that the demons of self doubt, and past failure, seem to assault one most after dark. – after a particularly bad night I got a call from one of the dear old ladies in the church. Gertrude Shaw. She was one of the no nonsense, set in her ways person with a heart of gold. That morning, she came knocking on my door and said I was praying, and I really feel like God is leading me to give you a hundred dollars.

            Things financially were tight in that church. Before I was a minister, I worked for the Alberta Government. When I became a minister I took a substantial cut in pay. I wasn’t making much more than a 1000 dollars a month. But it wasn’t the 100 dollars that made the difference – it was that God cared enough about me to provide in this way. To me it was confirmation of  ministry and confirmation of who I was personally. That is encouragement – the word means “to install courage”. I took courage that day.

            Have you ever been in those places where you needed encouragement? Maybe you are there right now.

            David was in one of those times of discouragement. He was on the run from King Saul. Saul had been disqualified from kingship by God. He knew that David was going to the next king – Saul wanted to, no he felt like he needed to kill David.

            David carried a heavy load. You need to remember that at best he is in his early 20’s.  He had already, through no fault of his own attained outlaw status. Here is what the Bible says

1 Samuel 22:1–2 (NLT)

So David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. Soon his brothers and all his other relatives joined him there. ² Then others began coming—men who were in trouble or in debt or who were just discontented—until David was the captain of about 400 men.

            What that means is that he became the captain of a whole lot of trouble makers. That is a load to carry as well. These men employed moving quickly from defensible position to defensible position to keep from being detected.

            So we pick the story up in 1 Samuel 23.

1 Samuel 23:1–3 (NLT)

One day news came to David that the Philistines were at Keilah stealing grain from the threshing floors. ² David asked the Lord, “Should I go and attack them?”

“Yes, go and save Keilah,” the Lord told him.

³ But David’s men said, “We’re afraid even here in Judah. We certainly don’t want to go to Keilah to fight the whole Philistine army!”

            So David hears of how the enemies of Israel are attacking Keilah. So he asks the Lord, should we go and fight. We don’t know how he asks, or how he hears from God – but I will tell you this, the men that he was leading – they were certainly questioning if he had heard from God.

            They said, we are afraid of the relatively weak Israelite army and you want us to fight the Philistines, a much larger army. So he goes back and enquires of the Lord again, - and God told him the same thing. So they go and rescue the city of Keilah. So David, after some arm twisting took his men andd and they beat the Philistines and delivered Keilah.

            But they are now inside the walled city of Keilah – and David knows that if Saul finds him there and if the city betrays him – he is trapped. So he again inquires of the Lord and asks – are the people of this city going to betray me – And God tells them, yes they will betray you.

            Imagine being David, you are running for your life. You take up a battle that wasn’t yours, because it was the right thing to do, and then the people that you rescue – are going to betray you. Now that is discouraging.

            So David and his men run again. This time they run to the desert of Ziph.

1 Sam 23:14 David now stayed in the strongholds of the wilderness and in the hill country of Ziph. Saul hunted him day after day, but God didn’t let Saul find him.

            Saul is hunting for him day after day. The narrator says God didn’t let Saul find David. But in case you haven’t noticed you don’t have someone narrating your life in the present. It is only with the luxury of hindsight that the narrator can say what he did. He is the leader of a band of non compliant ruffians. He is betrayed by people he went out of his way to help. He is living rough in the wilderness, only one step ahead of the person who wants to kill him. David is carrying the load of fugitive. Talk about discouraging.

            It is into the middle of all this trouble and uncertainty that Jonathan enters the picture. Jonathan was Saul’s son and David’s best friend. They had made a pact at the beginning of Saul’s madness that they would be friends and protect each other and their families.

            So Saul has his army out searching for David. Jonathan is part of that Army. But he sneaks away to find David. This was something that a friend could do. And this is what is recorded.

‎‎16 Jonathan went to find David and encouraged him to stay strong in his faith in God. ‎‎17 “Don’t be afraid,” Jonathan reassured him. “My father will never find you! You are going to be the king of Israel, and I will be next to you, as my father, Saul, is well aware.”         

            The word encouraged there, actually means – strengthened his hand through the LORD. Look how Jonathan did that.

            He showed love to David by going out of the way to meet with him. He urged him, “don’t be afraid”. He understood that debilitating effects of fear. Courage means doing what is right in the face of fear. The only way you can not fear or walk in the face of fear is to have a measure of faith.

            Jonathan says, you are going to be king of Israel. Even my father knows you are going to be king of Israel. God has called you to be king of Israel. If God’s has said it is going to be so, Saul is not going to catch you. He then encouraged David by reminding him of the promises of God.

            He also encouraged David by saying, when you become king, I am going to be right beside you. David, I am going to stick with you through all this trouble. I don’t care what my Dad says about you, I don’t care what anyone says about you. I am going to walk with you.

18 So the two of them renewed their solemn pact before the LORD. Then Jonathan returned home, while David stayed at Horesh.

            The two of them affirmed their friendship – and went their separate ways.

            Jonathan loved David by going out of his way. He reminded David of the promises of God. He unpacked for David, what those promises meant is that he wasn’t going to be caught. He affirmed his friendship and then he left.

            The Bible calls that encouragement. The bible calls what Jonathan did, strengthening David’s hand through the Lord. The bible calls that, helping David to find strength in the Lord.

            This is quite different than what many people think about as encouragement.

             A song that I love, and a song that reminds me of some great movie moments is “Lean on Me.”

Lean on me/ when you’re not strong/ I’ll be your strength to help you to carry on/ it won’t be long,cause we all need someone to lean on.

            Great song – but it is not what Jonathan did for David. Jonathan didn’t encourage David to lean on him, he encouraged David to lean on God. Our goal when we encourage one another, when we instill courage in each other is to lean on the Lord.

            I believe that our high interconnectedness gives us incredible opportunities for encouragement, and it also creates the distinct possibility of warping encouragement. We can phone, text, facebook, or email. That creates possibilities – but it also creates expectations. People should be contacting/encouraging me.

            If you are one those people who are living in the wilderness like David right now. If you are prone to discouragement, and carrying a heavy load. I want you to know that you need to lean on Jesus more than other people. It was easier for David, because Jonathan was more than a phone call away. David didn’t expect him to be there all the time. But the time they had was precious.

            Encouragement, strengthening their hand in the Lord, is we go out of our way to connect with the person, we remind them of the promise of God. We state what we believe God for that person. We assure them our ongoing love and we leave.

MUSIC HERE – How can truly say? Accapella (We have seen his glory) 2:24

            As we look at our story the question is - Did Jonathan’s encouragement change David’s situation. No. Did it help him along the journey – yes. I believe it did.

            Now remember David has fled to the area of Ziph.

1 Sam 23: 19

‎‎19 But now the men of Ziph went to Saul in Gibeah and betrayed David to him. “We know where David is hiding,” they said. “He is in the strongholds of Horesh on the hill of Hakilah, which is in the southern part of Jeshimon. ‎‎20 Come down whenever you’re ready, O king, and we will catch him and hand him over to you!”           ‎‎21 “The LORD bless you,” Saul said. “At last someone is concerned about me!              

            When Jonathan left, the situation got worse. The men of Ziph betrayed David. And what is worse Saul makes them feel spiritual for doing so. Oh the Lord bless you. You are so spiritual for helping your king. You care about me. You’re so loving. Non spiritual people will make you feel spiritual for non spiritual activity.

 How do you think that made David feel. Well fortunately we don’t have to guess.

‎‎Psalm 54: title For the choir director: A psalm of David, regarding the time the Ziphites came and said to Saul, “We know where David is hiding.” To be accompanied by stringed instruments. 

‎‎1 Come with great power, O God, and rescue me! Defend me with your might.          

‎‎2 Listen to my prayer, O God. Pay attention to my plea.        

‎‎3 For strangers are attacking me; violent people are trying to kill me. They care nothing for God. Interlude     

            David prays this prayer.  It is obvious that he is still burdened. But this does not sound like discouragement to me. This sounds like he his taking his burdens and putting the full of their weight on God.

            What had encouragement done. What had strengthening his hand in the Lord done. It allowed David to put the full weight of his burdens on God.

            I want you to know that wherever you find yourself God can handle the full weight of your burdens.

            The Psalm then says Selah or  interlude. Let me tell you what goes on in the interlude. Saul now knows for where David is. Saul comes after him with a vengeance.

1 Sam 23:26

‎‎26 Saul was going along one side of the mountain, and David and his men were °on °the other side, hurrying to get away from Saul. As Saul and his °forces were closing in on David and his men to capture them,           ‎‎27 °a messenger came to Saul, °saying, “Come quickly! The Philistines °are raiding °the land.”       

            So David escapes because Saul was called away to fight the Philistines.

            Here is the rest of Psalm 54

‎‎4 But God is my helper. The Lord keeps me alive!        ‎‎

5 May the evil plans of my enemies be turned against them. Do as you promised and put an end to them.       

‎‎6 I will sacrifice a voluntary offering to you; I will praise your name, O LORD, for it is good. ‎‎

7 For you have rescued me from my troubles and helped me to triumph over my enemies.     

            God came through for David. David laid his full weight on God and God came through. And it was Jonathan that helped him to do that. Jonathan strengthened his hand in the Lord.

            He went out of his way to connect with David. He reminded David of the promises of God. He stated what he believe about God for David. And he assured him of his ongoing love and then he left.

            Now let me just add a caution about this kind of encouragement. When you are reminding people about the promises of God, do not give platitudes – it has to be authentic. It is not encouraging at a funeral to quote the verse, “All things work together for good.” Not helpful.

            But it might be helpful, depending on the situation to say, “I know that God is with you, and I know that he is going to get you through this. I know that he is going to come in strength for you.”

            Don’t give pat answers, but help people lean on Jesus.

            How about you people? Who are the people you could encourage this week. Who are the people you could strengthen their hand in the Lord.

            It may be writing an email – or a hand written letter. It may be making a telephone call or a visit.

Encouragement, strengthening their hand in the Lord, is we go out of our way to connect with the person, we remind them of the promise of God. We state what we believe God for that person. We assure them our ongoing love and we leave.

Let me pray that God will help you to be encouraged:

Lord, Thank you so much for the fact that you give encouragement, and that we can lay the full weight of our burdens on you.

I pray for those who need encouragement; that you would give them faith to do just that, to put their problems in your hands.

And I ask, Lord that those who can be an encouragement, that you would bring to mind the people that they should encourage this week.

I ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

May you know Jesus Christ personally and profoundly.  May the Holy Spirit reside deep within your heart.  And may the heavenly Father surround you with His constant and abiding and accompanying love.

Rev. Brent Russett

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To listen to the above broadcast, click on the following link:

http://proxy.autopod.ca/podcasts/chum/6/8870/good_news_021_oct07.mp3