 Midweek Service 29 th April 2020 APC Counting our blessings – “The Gift of Encouragement” Welcome and Introduction Good morning everyone and welcome to our midweek prayer and reflection. It’s been lovely to chat to you all on the phone over the last week and I’m really thrilled that everyone and their families seem to be doing well. Congratulations to Richie and Lisa on the birth of their little baby girl Ella. We look forward to meeting her in the days ahead. Today I want to begin a new short series “Counting our Blessings” as we think about some of the gifts God gives us that we can enjoy every day, even in lockdown or while socially distancing. It’s my hope and prayer that reflecting on these will help us maintain our spirits at a time when we’ve all been feeling them dip. Today we will be thinking about the gift of encouragement. But to begin as always, let’s take time to talk to God. Let’s pray Opening Prayer Loving God, we thank you for the countless blessings we have received, the innumerable good things that surround us every moment of every day- so much beauty, variety and interest to inspire us and instruct us. Loving God, for all you have given, receive our praise. We thank you for everything you have given to us through Jesus Christ, for everything we see of you through Him – your great love constantly reaching out to us, your care and compassion that never ceases, your mercy that is never exhausted, your eternal purpose which slowly but surely is coming to fulfilment. Loving God, for all you have given, receive our praise. Loving God, forgive us that we are so rarely content, that we fail to appreciate how fortunate we are, that we lose sight of what we have through dwelling on what we might have had or are currently missing. Loving God, for all you have given, receive our praise. Teach us to count our blessings, to recognise all that is good around us, to be truly content in all circumstances, to realise that your love will never fail us, and your grace will be sufficient for all our needs. Loving God, for all you have given, receive our praise. In the name of Christ, Amen. Let’s say the Lord’s Prayer together… Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread, And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those who trespass against us, And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil, For Thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory, For ever and ever, AMEN. Bible Readings Acts 9: 19-31 Saul in Damascus and Jerusalem Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. 20 At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. 21 All those who heard him were astonished and asked, “Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?” 22 Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah. 23 After many days had gone by, there was a conspiracy among the Jews to kill him, 24 but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him. 25 But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall. 26 When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. 27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. 28 So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 He talked and debated with the Hellenistic Jews, but they tried to kill him. 30 When the believers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus. 31 Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers. Acts 16: 11-15 Lydia’s Conversion in Philippi 11 From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day we went on to Neapolis. 12 From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days. 13 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 14 One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. 15 When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us. Reflection “The Gift of Encouragement” In 1853 a young man was born in Zundert in Holland. His father was a Lutheran pastor and after he left school he worked for a firm of art dealers in the Hague. In 1873 he moved to take up a position in the London branch of the firm. He fell in love with Ursula Loyer, his landlady’s daughter. She was already engaged and simply laughed at his affections for her. For consolation the young man turned to Jesus. He found such blessing in this, that soon he was taking meetings for the local Methodist minister. In 1877 he returned to Holland to train for the ministry. Finding the academic study too strenuous, he moved to a newly opened school for evangelists in Brussels. He soon found great success in preaching to the poor by dressing like a peasant and living in their company. He was concerned for their needs, he washed their clothes, he cared for their sick, consoled their dying and led them to Christ. Despite following Christ’s example and despite the success of his efforts, the church leaders of his day would have nothing to do with him and forced him to leave the ministry. Eventually he even lost his faith. He returned to the world of art dealing and even tried his hands at painting. One of his paintings depicts a bible open at Isaiah 53. Nearby is a candle that has gone out. In front of the unused bible is a well-read novel by Emile Zola entitled “La Joie de Vivre”. That young man was Vincent van Gough. If he could paint as he did, just think of what a preacher he would have been, if only someone had got alongside him and offered him encouragement. That’s what I want to speak on this morning- the gift of encouragement. I want to stress upon you the importance of being encouraged and of being an encourager. I want to encourage you to give thanks to God for the people in your life who have been an encouragement to you. And if you haven’t already done so, let them know how much their support has meant to you. When we read down St Paul’s list of gifts that the Holy Spirit gives his people, it’s easy for us to miss the gift of encouragement. This is not the gift you find theologians arguing over. It’s not the gift people are writing books about. It’s not spectacular and it doesn’t receive much headline news. For that reason it’s a gift that gets forgotten or isn’t desired as much as some of the others. But I want to remind you this morning that encouragement is one of the most precious gifts we can give and it is one of the most blessed gifts that we can receive. In order to appreciate its importance we need to take a few moments just to think about its potential. So let me share with you another true story… A college professor had his sociology class go into the Baltimore slums to get case histories of 200 young boys. The sociology students were asked to write an evaluation of each boy’s future. In every case the students wrote, “He hasn’t got a chance.” Twenty- five years later another sociology professor came across the earlier study. She had her students follow up on the project to see what had happened to these boys. With the exception of 20 boys who had moved away or died, the students learned that 176 of the remaining 180 had achieved more than ordinary success as lawyers, doctors and businessmen. The professor was astounded and decided to pursue the matter further. Fortunately, all the men were in the area and she was able to ask each one, “How do you account for your success?” In each case the reply came with feeling, “There was this teacher…” The teacher was still alive, so the professor sought her ought and asked the old, but still alert, lady what magic formula she had used to pull these boys out of the slums into successful achievement. The teacher’s eyes sparkled and her lips broke into a gentle smile. “It’s really very simple,” she said, “I loved those boys.” The bible also gives us a number of wonderful examples of people who were encouragers and how their efforts made a huge difference in the lives of others. In the Old Testament we read how King Saul knew that David, who had killed Goliath and was popular among the people, would be a future threat to His Kingdom. He tried to kill David on more than one occasion and forced him to become a fugitive. But in the midst of this, Saul’s son Jonathan became a faithful friend to David and offered him the support and encouragement that he needed during this very difficult period. In the book of Acts, we hear about two other amazing encouragers- Lydia and Barnabus. Lydia was a business woman who worked in the fashion industry selling specially dyed purple cloth. One day at an open-air prayer meeting she met St Paul. After listening to his message she became a Christian. One of her first responses was to encourage these visiting preachers. She invited them to come and stay at her home. The significance of this simple act was that from this base, Paul and Silas were able to preach the gospel throughout the region of Philippi. As a result new churches were started in Philippi and from these churches the gospel eventually spread throughout the whole of Europe. Through her willingness to encourage and show hospitality, Lydia became God’s highway to a whole continent! Barnabus whose very name means- ‘the son of encouragement’ blessed the church by selling land that he owned and giving the money to the apostles for the work of spreading the good news of Jesus. He was the one who stood up and vouched for Paul when he became a Christian. This took courage. After all, Paul, or Saul as he had been known, had been the arch enemy of the Church. He had ordered the imprisonment and deaths of many believers. It was no wonder that many in the church thought that Paul’s request to become a Christian was simply a way to sneak in and have more of them arrested or put to death. But Barnabus was willing to stand up before the apostles and give evidence of how he had personally witnessed the change in Paul’s life following his spiritual experience of meeting Christ on the road to Damascus. It’s interesting to wonder what would have happened if there had been no Barnabus. Would we ever have had all of Paul’s letters to the different churches in the NT with all their teaching, encouragement and advice? Barnabus didn’t have the writing gifts of St Paul but through his ministry of encouragement he ministered to Paul when no-one else wanted to know him and Oh how the letters came! We never know where a word or act of encouragement will end! Barnabus never knew that millions of copies of Paul’s letters would be found in the 21st century in hotel rooms, family homes, doctor’s surgeries, army barracks, ships at sea, prison cells and children’s schoolbags! He didn’t know that through these letters billions of people would find new life in the risen Christ. But it’s the same for us, we never know just how important that gift of encouragement will be. I know a teacher who a few years ago found an envelope in his pigeon hole in school. His name was hand-written on the front which was strange. He got an even bigger surprise when he opened it. It was a letter from a former pupil. It read something like this, “Dear Sir, You may not remember me. I was very shy and a bit awkward looking. My time at school was not a happy one because the other boys bullied me. In fact, because of this I became depressed and considered taking my own life. I knew you were a Christian and because of the way you treated me I decided to become a Christian too. That is the only thing that helped me through and stopped me from attempting suicide. I just wanted to say thank you and to let you know that I am still following Christ. Yours sincerely, Alan. This morning I want to encourage you again to be an encourager. All of us need encouragement. All of us can be encouragers. This is what Christ was and this is what he wants us to be. What’s more God will amaze us by what he will do through a few simple acts. So let’s pray that God will open our eyes to the needs of those around us. Let’s ask God to give us the wisdom to know how best to be an encourager. Let’s pray that through our efforts that people will be encouraged. Let’s pray that through our encouragement people will be attracted to God. Who is God asking you to encourage today? How might you do that? Who has encouraged you over the years? Have you told them? Prayer The suffering and bereaved
Vulnerable in society
Residential facilities
Wellbeing of society
Business and the economy
Closing Remarks Thank you for logging on again. I hope you have found today to be an encouragement. Do join me again on Sunday morning when we will be reflecting on the gift of friendship. Don’t forget to look at our church website or on Facebook for latest information. Keep everyone in your prayers and look out for anyone you can help. So let me close with a benediction after which, as always, I invite you to join me in saying the grace together… Benediction As you leave this place may the Living Lord go with you; May he go behind you, to encourage you, beside you, to befriend you, above you, to watch over you, beneath you, to lift you from your sorrows, within you, to give you the gifts of faith, hope, and love, and always before you, to show you the way. So may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all evermore, Amen.
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