By Rev.
Brian Wilkie
Pastor of St. Andrew's Christian Community
Rockland, Ontario
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PODCAST LINK to CFRA
broadcast - Sunday, November 2nd, 2014:
Broadcast Notes:
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‘Sharing Encouragement’
Welcome to Good News
In the Morning a program of words and music bringing a Christian message of
hope and encouragement to those who are looking for intelligent meaningful and spirited
approach to faith and to life.
This program is
sponsored by Good News Christian Ministries PO Box 184 Rideau Ferry, Ontario
K0G 1W0. I'm your host today, Brian Wilkie of St. Andrew's Christian Church in
Rockland. As always I want to start by thanking you our listeners. We are so
grateful for your encouragement and support. Please remember that you can
always visit our website for materials to encourage and support you in your
Christian walk.
If you miss an
episode of the show you can go to our website and download the podcast or the
MP3 of our broadcast. Mark November 7 on your Calendar! On that evening our
Friend Don Hutchinson will be addressing the importance of Our faith in
Politics, at St. Timothy’s Anglican Church. This event is a chance to raise
funds for Good News Christian Ministries, and for us to meet some of our
listeners face to face. Details can be found on our website.
God give us much encouragement through Jesus Christ and He encourages us to share that encouragement with others. And this is precisely what Paul writes about in the book of Philippians, chapter 1 verses 27 to 2:4;
'Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of
the Gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you
in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one
man for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who
oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you
will be saved -and that by God. For it has been granted to you on behalf of
Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him, since you are
going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I will have.
If you have any encouragement from being united with
Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any
tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded,
having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of
selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than
yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to
the interests of others.'
Paul writes these
words to the Philippians church at a time when he himself is undergoing a time
of suffering and which he has been experiencing the comfort and encouragement
of Christ through the Holy Spirit, and through the fellowship of believers. Although
he’s a little distant from that fellowship being in chains, and yet he encourages
the Philippians to do as he’s doing, to share encouragement with others, even
in the midst of their own suffering.
This is an important theme for Paul. A very practical one for him and important enough that he considers it worthy of communicating with the Philippians as he himself faces trial.
Well, let’s take a
look at how this can be important in our lives, and how this can be applied in
our lives, as we consider together the way that God reaches to us with his
encouragement, and how he calls us to encourage others. We’ll get a look at
this in a few moments, but first I’d like you to hear a testimony from The Rend
Collective Experiment, a song called, Christ
Has Set Me Free, from their Album, Homemade
Worship. Will you listen to it with me?
As we heard that
testimony from the writer of that song-Christ Has Set Me Free- we heard a
message about the difference that God has made in his life, and he’s sharing
the encouragement that he has received from Christ. Before we can share
encouragement, before we can carry on with the encouragement, comfort,
tenderness and compassion of God, we have to remember what we have received
from him.
Have you received any
encouragement from being united in Christ? Have you received any comfort from
his love? Have you had any fellowship with his spirit? Have you experienced
tenderness and compassion from God? What a wonderful and exciting adventure it
is to take some time to think about how you have received these things from
God.
Paul is speaking of
it himself when he speaks of the calling to share in the suffering of Christ, knowing
very well that he is going to be saved; and be saved by God. You see – some
people don’t go through any difficulty and they don’t go through any difficulty
with regards to the Gospel, because they’re not pursuing God. Jesus said to his
disciples,” the world will hate you because it hated me, because they
persecuted me, they will persecute you. So there’s a particular kind of
suffering that a Christian goes through that the rest of the world doesn’t
experience.
But Paul takes
comfort in this by being reminded of the truth of Christ’s words. When he goes
through suffering for the sake of the gospel, He remembers that Christ also
suffered. When he goes through difficulty, he knows that Christ anticipated
this and laid up for him a promise. A promise of treasure in heaven, of eternal
life, of grace and peace. And so when he sees himself going through
difficulties that other people don’t, he’s reminded that those people are on a
path leading to destruction. But he’s on a path leading to life. It seems
perhaps like an odd way to find comfort, to think that the suffering itself is
an indication of the truth of God’s word. But by knowing what Jesus has said, by
storing the word of God in his heart, he’s been able to find comfort.
Have you found
comfort or encouragement? In difficult times when you’ve been going through
problems yourself financially or health wise. Have you faced some persecution,
or some road blocks in your life because of your faith in Christ. Have you gone
through those kinds of things, and while feeling frustration and discouragement
you remembered the promises of God? Perhaps it was listening to a radio show
like this one some years ago, when you were going through a difficult time. Perhaps
it was going to your church and hearing a message from your pastor. Perhaps it
was opening your heart to a close friend and receiving from them some reminder
of God’s grace. Perhaps it was even in their silence as they just listened, as
you became more and more aware that you had a good friend, a good friend that
God had given you, to help you through this time.
Perhaps your
encouragement came in fellowship with the spirit when you were just in prayer
and you felt a warmth or a reassurance as you prayed with God.
Have you received
encouragement from being united with Christ? Have you sometimes stopped in the
midst of trouble and remembered that it’s not always going to be this way: That
Christ is going to deliver you, if not in this life, in the next?
Have you experienced
tenderness from God? When you first discovered that God loved you that he
forgave you for your sins. Did you experience it at that time, the tenderness
and compassion of our Lord?
Did you come to that
point where you were ready to put your trust in him because you knew he loved
you? Were you ready to accept him as Lord because you saw the good things he
had done for you, because you had received such a blessing from him? Is that
part of your testimony: that God helped you and you were lifted out of the muck
and the mire of your life?
Isn’t it wonderful
when we can remember those times?
I encourage you in
times of prayer, if your felling that God hasn’t been too close recently; I
encourage you to ask God to help you remember. God know it’s difficult to remember.
He tells his people, the people of Israel, over and over again. ‘Remember what
I have done for you. What I have done for your ancestors. What I have done in
your day and days gone by. And remember I’m the God that never changes and I
will be with you in the days to come.’
God encourages them to remember over and over again and that must mean God knows that it’s difficult sometimes to keep in our mind the thing that are of first importance. And of first importance is God’s grace towards you. So sometimes when I’m praying, I tell God I’m not that good at remembering all of your goodness. I’m pretty good at complaining Lord, but I really need your help to remember all the good things that you’ve done. And when I do, I remember:
I remember that time that
I first experienced the love of God in a time of prayer in a youth group, back
more than 30 years ago, if you can imagine. The time when somebody took the
time to sit down and talk with me about the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and I
found answers to the questions I had about the meaning of life. And I was able
to commit myself to Christ.
I remember the times when I’ve been down and thought I wasn’t going to make it through, and God held me and carried me. You probably had times like that in life too.
I also remember the
times when prayers have been answered. So often we pray and we don’t see what
God is doing, but to remember those times, the times when I prayed for someone
and they actually got better. The times when someone told me that the message I
gave made a difference in his or her life. The times when I sat down with
somebody and was able to give them comfort and knew that God was using me.
Remember those things in your life, remember how God saved you, how he made
himself known to you. Remember the dark valleys he’s taken you through and the
times when you have survived what you thought you couldn’t endure. God has done
so much for each of us, if only He would help us to remember, and He will.
I hope you’ll take
some time after I’m done this message to think more about how God has
encouraged you. But I want to turn to the idea of God’s call to us to encourage
others. And before we change that topic I’d like you to listen to another song
with me. This song is from Carolyn Arends’ album, “I Can Hear You”, and it’s her testimony about how all is well with
her soul. The song is called All is Well.
Well I really enjoy
Carolyn Arends’ messages, and this older song of hers, All is Well, is a
beautiful testimony. Very much like the hymn that is by the similar name.
Are things well with
your soul? When God has encouraged you and comforted you, when He’s shown
tenderness and compassion to you, He has loved you with His everlasting love,
and He’s also taught you something. He’s taught you how the God of the universe
gives comfort and encouragement to you and I. He’s taught us what tenderness
and compassion look like. He’s taught us what fellowship, what close intimate
connection with another person can be like. He’s taught us so much in order
that we can be like Him. “Have the same mind as Christ.” Have the same love as
Christ, “being one in spirit and purpose,” because God has taught us as He has
lifted us.
What is it that
actually encourages you in your walk with God? The funny thing about fellowship
with the Spirit is how often the Spirit comforts us without any words. Just
knowing that God is near. Just the assurance that we are loved. Just the
remembrance of care and the closeness of His presence. And yet this is what
we’re told when we go to minister to others. That very often it’s far more
important that we listen then to say anything or try and fix the problem. The Spirit
listens to our need. The Spirit intercedes for us in ways we don’t understand,
and the Spirit seems to be so rarely willing to speak, instead ready to listen.
I think that we find in our times of need the
friend that is just able to sit with us listening to our need or sitting with
us in silence. When Job, in the Old Testament, was struck with so many
disasters in his life, his friends came, and they came to comfort him. The best
part of the friends time is when they sit with him in silence. They’re
thinking. They’re worrying about their friend. They’re sharing his suffering
and sorrow and they just sit in silence. When they start to talk they start to
make mistakes. They start to give Job foolish counsel. They start to give him
trite answers and commonplace pat responses to his need. Instead of comforting
Job at this point, they’re actually making him more troubled. They’re ladling
quilt upon his sorrow. They are telling him things that are of no importance.
They make things worse for a while. Now one of his friends, a fourth friend,
speaks up and does give some wisdom. But when all is said and done, God speaks
to Job and says, ‘you’ve heard a lot of foolishness today. And you’ve said a
few foolish things as well’, and Job receives from God some comfort. Not an answer
to his questions, but just the encouragement of knowing that there is a God who
is sovereign over all the earth, over all his needs, and is with him, even in
the midst of this disaster.
Sometimes I listen to
that story of Job and I think about the times I’ve tried to fix people’s
problems, instead of just listening to them. God does sometimes help me fix
problems. But sometimes He just lets me know He loves me. God has show
encouragement to us. When He reminds us to endure, just showing us Christ’s
endurance, then we know that we can make it. God doesn’t call us all to
impossible things; He calls us to things that are very possible in His hands.
You’ve learned a lot
from God about being encouraging; about giving comfort and showing tenderness
and compassion. You’ve learned a lot from God about being a friend, for you
have such a friend in God. And Paul calls us all to make his joy complete by
being like the Lord who has given us all these things.
So let’s go out, not
just seeking comfort for ourselves, but learning from the comfort we’ve
received to bless others.
Today I’d like to
pray with you that we would have wisdom in this area. So would you bow your
head with me?
Almighty God, once again we thank you, you have given us
comfort and encouragement through Jesus Christ. We thank you that He is worthy
of all trust, all honor, and all praise. Lord we thank you that He’s shown us
how to be compassionate. And we pray, Almighty God, that you would move us by your
Spirit to live out the compassion and love of Christ so that our friends who
know Christ, and those who don’t, will come to see that there is great encouragement
and comfort available through you and through your people. We ask all this in
Jesus name. Amen
Once again I want to
thank you, our listeners, for your encouragement and support. We do thank you
because you keep us on the air week by week. We want to encourage you to
support our ministry financially. Your gift can help us to continue to meet
that one vital expense, the cost of broadcasting, which enables us to reach
you, today, and over 7000 listeners in the Ottawa River Valley. If you can
please make a cheque payable to Good News Christian Ministries and send it to
P.O. Box 184 Rideau Ferry, Ontario K0G 1W0. We will be happy to send you a
receipt at income tax time. I also want to encourage you mark November 7 on
your Calendar! On that evening our Friend Don Hutchinson will be addressing the
importance of Our faith in the political realm, at St. Timothy’s Anglican
Church. This event is a chance to raise funds for Good News Christian
Ministries, and for us to meet some of our listeners face to face. Details can
be found on our website.
Now to conclude our
program, I’d like you to listen to the song by Delirious, King of Love, from their collection Deeper.
I do pray that the
Lord will hold your heart and you would know Jesus personally and profoundly.
May the Holy Spirit reside deep within your heart, and may the Holy Father
surround you with His constant and abiding and accompanying love.
Good News In The
Morning is produced in the Studios of News Talk Radio 580 CFRA.
- Rev. Brian Wilkie
St. Andrew's
Christian Community, Rockland,
Ontario
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To listen to the above broadcast, click on the following link:
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