This week we will be talking about encouragement and have a quick recap about what we learned from studying Micah on Saturday. I have been greatly encouraged over the past few weeks as I have gotten to know many new faces and seen strong commitment to Christ and to each other at Turtle Prayer, this weekend’s Dig-In, at church, and around campus. I pray that we will continue to love and serve each other wholeheartedly. I exhort those of us who have found a firm community here at Caltech to reach out to those who have not yet found Christian community. Consider the wonderful blessing it is to be with fellow believers and how encouraging it is to spend time with each other; share that gift and blessing with your friends because you care about them and love them.
Encouragement and hope come ultimately from God, through His Spirit (consider Ephesians 5:15-21 and Hebrews 13:9) and in the work Jesus accomplished on the cross. Hence we can encourage each other simply by living out scripture in our lives (1 Thessalonians 3:6-10). Encouragement is not a passive process, nor is it simply our words: we encourage through our actions (1 John 3:18) and our involvement in each other’s lives.
We will consider how we can encourage each other by reading Job 2:11-13, Romans 12:15, and Psalm 88. We encourage by understanding each other well enough that we can encourage according to our brother’s a sister’s needs (Ephesians 4:29). Therefore we will discuss how we encourage with the freedom that Christ gave us and not in compulsion (Galatians 5:1, Romans 14:13-23, Philemon 14) and see how rebuke relates to encouragement (Galatians 6:1, 1 Timothy 5:1-2, Proverbs 27:5). We will also identify some pitfalls to avoid as we encourage each other by examining Proverbs 27:14 and Job 42:7-9. Finally, we will also look at some of the specific ways to encourage our leaders and teachers in Galatians 6:6 and Hebrews 13:17.
This week we will also begin to tie together all the topics we have been talking about this term—living life as a Body (1 Corinthians 12), building honesty and openness (James 5:13-16), dealing with conflict (Matthew 5:21-26,Matthew 18:15-20, Ephesians 4:25-28)—and relating these topics to how we encourage each other.
I exhort you all to put into practice what we have been covering in Large Group (so that we may love through actions and not simply through words), to spend time with each other so that we may encourage each other and grow in love together, to check up on your friends to support them (especially in the wake of midterms!), and to invite friends to have community with other believers.
