(A Living Challenge) Encouraging Your Brother — Dale Gish

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Jonah’s Cry for Salvation

We were sitting there singing and I was just thinking, well, I'd like to hear another song. I just love to sing, There's Power in the Blood. I think about how lost I was. I think about Jonah down there at the bottom of the sea in the belly of the whale.

That's about as low as you could get. You know what he cried out down there? He said, salvation is of the Lord. That was his declaration. Did you ever read that in the book of Jonah? Clear down there at the bottom of the sea, salvation is of the Lord.

He said, out of the belly of hell, cried I. And do you know why he said salvation is of the Lord? It's because nobody else could reach him down there. And God spoke to the fish and it spat him up on dry ground.

And I just trust that God can reach down to wherever we are through a yielded heart in each of us. And there's salvation there. Can we just sing a couple of verses of There's Power in the Blood? Why don't we stand?

And let's sing it with joy.

Let's sing it with conviction. And let's sing it to our God. Would you be free from your burden of sin? There's power in the blood, power in the blood. Would you all reveal a victory win? There's wonderful power in the blood.

Would you be free from your passion and pride? There's power in the blood. Would you be whiter, much whiter than snow? There's power in the blood. Would you do service for Jesus, your King?

You may be seated. If there's anything that would bring us together to the foot of the cross, and just look up together and be one. That's all. Amen. Well, I'm going to tell you this evening, I had more on my heart to continue on from this morning.

I had more that I wanted to share. I have more to share. Didn't near all come this morning. This book is full. When the Holy Spirit guides and brings discernment from the Scriptures, I'm going to tell you, God in the cloud by day, I'll just say it that way, and in the pillar of fire by night, God never moved forward.

God has blessed me with a family. One evening it was time to go from the place where we had been, so we got in the van and we started our journey home. A few miles down the road, I realized that we were not all there, and it smoked my heart.

I hit the brakes. I turned around, because I'm not about to go home when we're not all together, because we're a family. That's where I feel like we may be this evening. I want to shift gears a little tonight.

I want to shift down. I don't want to leave anybody behind, because we're a family. Oh, that we could hear each other's hearts. So, we gather tonight in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we greet you in the gentleness of our Lord.

I like what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 10, verse 1. He said, I beseech you by the meekness and the gentleness of Christ. That's a good beseeching, brothers and sisters. And that's the way I'd like to stand here this evening, and beseech us that we would love one another out of a pure heart, fervently, and encourage one another along the way.

Let's go forward together, in the kingdom of God. I'd like to remind us that we are a building fitly framed together. I'm going to say that these are building blocks. And here we are. And you know, I myself might have a tremendous weakness in this area.

I might have great need here. I might not be all that good of a building block. I might be a flaw. I might have tremendous imbalance in this area of my life. It looks like a reject. But the Word of God teaches us that God hath placed each member in the body as it hath pleased Him.

And the brother that God has placed beside me might have a tremendous strength in this area where I am so weak. And the brother that He placed over here on this side of me might balance me out right here in this area.

And I balance him out. God does that. We're a building fitly framed together. And the Word of God says that we've been compacted together. You know, the shocks of life, the vibrations and the disappointments of life have compacted us together and we're a tight fit so that the enemy can't get any wedge driven in between us.

I have a burden that that's the way it would be here. So, I'm going to beseech us this evening by the meekness and the gentleness of Christ that we love one another out of a pure heart, fervently. That we be encouraged in the Lord.

You know, when a barber uses only sharp tools, he's not going to have very many customers for long. They're going to go somewhere else. They'll stop coming. There are times when the barber simply needs to use some cream.

He needs to use some soothing oils. Some lotions. And when he uses those things combined with sharp cutting tools, he has happy customers. And they become very beautiful people. Very attractive people.

And I believe that there's a parallel in that for us as Christians. I feel like we've been having some fairly sharp messages lately. And I didn't feel like we needed another one tonight. As I tried to hear from God, sometimes we just need a Savior with some soothing oils.

We need the balm and Gilead, brothers and sisters. And so, I trust that by God's grace, we can come that way this evening. So, let's pray. Holy Father, we come to you tonight. We think of the song we sang this morning that says, Speak to me, Lord, that I may speak.

And I was just thinking, that's the only time we ever have any right to speak at all. Is when you have spoken to us. And we desire to pass it on with the gentleness and the meekness of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

We have read in Peter, Father, where it says, If any man speak, let him speak as of the oracles of God. Oh, Father, that we might speak that way. Wisdom. We know that the natural man, Father, receiveth not the things of God, for they are foolishness unto him.

Neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned. I pray that we would be spiritually discerned this evening, so that we can hear each other's hearts. We want to hear your heart, Father. But we want to hear each other's heart, too.

Christ’s Gentleness Toward the Bruised

It's all a part of the big picture. The body of Christ. All the members connected to the head. We worship you tonight, Father. Have your way. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. The scriptures say of our Lord that a bruised reed will he not break, and smoking flax will he not quench.

That's a good scripture to meditate on if you want to get an accurate picture of our Lord. Jesus will not destroy a broken blade of grass. That's amazing. He won't pinch out a flickering, dying wick. Can't you just see Jesus bending down to straighten up a broken blade of grass that others have trampled on?

And in a way that seems a little strange, but the scriptures make a pretty strong connection between people and grass. Surely the people is grass, Isaiah said. And if we're honest, we do get bruised. We do give advice.

And it's not taken. Good advice. We do get hurt. We do get broken. And so I trust that tonight we can be like Jesus toward each other. There are times when our faith flickers and threatens to go out. At least there's times when it doesn't shine as brightly as at other times.

And you know we can put on a front. There's times when we can make it look like we're never discouraged. We can make it look like we're always on top of things. But there are times when those kind of people are more of a nuisance in the kingdom of God than they are a blessing.

Because they're not honest. We need to be honest. You know, Paul in the Scriptures was honest. He got discouraged. And it's almost like he wanted us to know that he got discouraged. He said, I would not have you ignorant, brethren, of the trouble which came to us in Asia.

How we were pressed out of measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. And I don't know how you are, but to me, that's discouraged. Pressed out of measure. That's a lot of pressure. So that we despaired even of life.

And you know, I marvel that the Apostle Paul would even let himself get into that condition. I mean, he was a man who had seen the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what Paul said. Have we not seen Christ? He had had direct revelations from God.

He had been caught up to the third heaven. He had seen things and heard words not even lawful for a man to utter. And you know, brothers and sisters, if you had done that, if you had been there, that would be a tremendous deterrent to discouragement.

It would. And Paul had done that. There was a clear calling on his life. He knew exactly what God wanted him to do. And with that clear of a calling, and with that clear of an anointing, I marvel that the Apostle Paul would even let himself get that discouraged.

Pressed out of measure. Above strength. So that he despaired even of life. And Paul said, I wouldn't have you ignorant of that. I want you to know that. That happened to me too. But here tonight, lest you think I'm laying the foundation for discouragement, and that it's okay to be discouraged, it's perfectly fine and normal.

Don't worry about it. I say, God forbid. No, indeed. Yes, it's probably normal. And yes, it happens. And no, we're not going to cover it up. But we need to know that discouragement is a tool of the enemy.

I heard a little story a while back. It just said that a man had a dream or something like this. And he went into the storehouse of the devil. And he saw it was clear full of bags of seeds of discouragement.

And he asked the devil, why do you have so many bags of discouragement? Why don't you have seeds of other things? And the devil said, because of all the things that accomplish my purpose, those seeds grow the best in the hearts of the Christians.

We don't want any of that among us. We need to get out of it. Discouragement is a dangerous thing. It opens the door to many temptations, to bitterness, and all kinds of emotions and temptations. We need to get out of that horrible pit.

And so I say, let's not just read about Paul being in discouragement. Let's keep reading and see what he did about it. There are times when we need to just simply spread our wings of faith and be a butterfly.

Amen? And rise above the things that bog us down. I believe I would like to turn to that passage of Scripture. Let's just turn and read it. It's 2 Corinthians 1. I'd just like to look at verses 8 -10.

God’s Comfort in Discouragement

Paul is speaking here about the God of all comfort. He understands our trials. And we are able to comfort each other in every trouble with the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. So Paul is talking about being strengthened and comforted here.

In verse 8 he said, For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble, which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life.

But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God, which raiseth the dead. And for a Christian, there's two sides of discouragement. There's the situation that got you there.

And that's very real. But there's the other side too, that he can trust in God, which raiseth the dead. And when he can switch his focus, that pulls a man out of discouragement. It always does. And he speaks here in verse 9 that it is the sentence of death.

I believe what he's talking about here is that discouragement, that kind of pressure, is the sentence of death to our spirituality. That's what he's saying here. Verse 8 describes his discouragement. And verse 9 calls it the sentence of death.

And there's not a one of us can handle that, brothers and sisters. Discouragement and despair is a sentence of death to your spirituality, and it will not lead us to life. We need to get out of that condition.

And Paul says in verse 10, speaking of God, who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver, in whom we trust that He will yet deliver us. And I don't know what all that Scripture means. It may have more than one meaning.

But I believe Paul is talking about discouragement having a sentence of death to his spirituality, and God delivered him from that. And he was very honest. He said, He's delivered me from it in the past.

He's delivering me from it now. And He's going to have to deliver me from it again in the future. He knows that life is tough. Life is rocky. Pressures come. And God is the deliverer of those feelings.

So, our desire this evening is that we be encouraged in the Lord. I think I would like for that to be the title of the message. Encouraging your brother. And that includes your sister. Encourage means you give courage to someone.

You build up their courage. You give them courage. That's what encourage means. Discourage means you take someone's courage away. You lower their courage level. Depression is when all their courage is gone.

And brothers and sisters, that's a dangerous place to be. Our desire this evening is that we would be encouraged in the Lord. And I want to emphasize in the Lord. That is a great grace of life. To be able, in whatever situation you're in, to be able to take your eyes off of the things around you.

To take your focus off of the situation you're in. And just fix your gaze upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Upon God the Father. And the joy of forgiveness. And the beauty of holiness. And the empty tomb. And the cross of the Lord Jesus.

And bring all that back into focus. Oh, there it is again. I almost forgot. I mean, we're that way. And we need to be able to take our focus off of the situations around us. And get our priorities straight again.

You know, when we're in a mess, often times we like to focus on the mess. We just focus on that thing. And we look up at God and we just... Our focus is on the mess. And you know, we need to turn that thing around.

I've heard it said that we gaze at the problem and glance at God. Well, we need to gaze at God and glance at the problem. We just need to turn the thing around and it makes a world of difference. It really does.

That's what David did when he was at Ziklag. You know, David and his men came home from battle one day and their city was burnt with fire. And their wives and families were gone and had been kidnapped.

And they were not there. And they did not know where they were. And the men were so discouraged that they thought about stoning David. And while the men were getting ready to stone David, the Word of God says that David encouraged himself in the Lord.

And I seriously doubt if he did that by looking at the situation around him and on where they were going to stone him. He fixed his gaze upon God. That's what Stephen did. And I don't think he forgot about the situation he was in, but he changed his focus.

I trust that God can give us that grace. And I want us to know that we don't just do that when things are bad. You know, we get that mentality. When things are bad, just get your focus up here. Brothers and sisters, we need to do that when things are good.

I have heard people say that things are going well. Everything is going their way. And they just say, I'm encouraged in the Lord. But are they really encouraged in the Lord? Or are they encouraged that everything is going their way?

You know, the test comes down the road a little ways when everything turns around and goes the other way. Are you still encouraged in the Lord? Or were you just encouraged because everything was going your way?

You know, my father had a poem that he liked to quote when I was a little boy growing up. And a couple of those lines really stuck with me. It said, if you can meet with triumph and disaster and meet, treat those two impostors just the same.

If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two influences just the same. You know, we need to take our eyes off of all of that, good or bad, and get our courage from the Lord. That will even out our walk with God.

That's what Job did. It didn't matter if God was serving him at his table, or if God was yanking the tablecloth and everything on it came crashing to the floor in pieces. Either way, Job said, the Lord gave it.

The Lord took it away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. He wasn't going to get his courage from the good or the bad of things down here. He was going to get his courage regulated from God. I trust that we can do that.

Bearing One Another’s Burdens

Now, I say that knowing that God does need to be our focus. That is part of the armor that we have against discouragement. That's the shield of faith that we have that will not let our situation regulate our courage in the Lord.

But I also know that no man is an island. We greatly affect one another. We can encourage each other, and we can discourage each other. And you know, there are times when our brother or our sister is discouraged.

And we can lift our shield of faith and protect our brother. Jesus did that. Did you know that? Jesus didn't judge a man when he was at his lowest point and in his hardest trial. A bruised reed will He not break.

Instead, He came to their defense with His own shield of faith. That's a lesson that we need to stamp on our hearts, I believe. Jesus used His own shield of faith to protect a hurting brother. You think about the fatherless and the widows in the Scriptures.

Kind of a defenseless category of people. God is very defensive of those people. He doesn't justify their sin, but He does give them protection. You think about a man like John the Baptist. John the Baptist, there was a point in his life where he got extremely discouraged.

He was in prison. He was confused. And his faith was flickering big time. It was almost smoking flax. If you read that account. I mean, there was a point where he sent his disciples to ask Jesus, Are You He that should come?

Or should we start looking for somebody else? I mean, that was John the Baptist. That was the one who leaped in his mother's womb before he was even born because he knew that Jesus was the Christ. That was the man who cried out with conviction, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

Because he knew that Jesus was the Christ. But there was a point where he was in prison. And he was discouraged. And he was confused. And he wasn't even sure if Jesus was the Christ. And brothers and sisters, I can just hear us today.

You know, old John needs to repent and get right with God or he wouldn't talk like that. But Jesus didn't do that. You know what Jesus said when John was extremely ugly spiritually? When John was at his lowest point, Jesus said, There's never been born of women a greater than John the Baptist.

He's a prophet. That's what He is. Yea, I say unto you, I'm more than a prophet. What a shield of faith. And I just want to say, if you would do that more here at Charity, and I think I'll add this because this is on my heart.

If you at Charity would do that a little bit more for us at Cleveland, and if we at Cleveland would do that a little bit more for the brothers at Ephrata, what a blessing that would be. That's a burden that's on my heart.

Just to take a few minutes for a special phone call. Just take a few minutes to send a card with a prayer. You know what I think we're talking about here? Pure religion and undefiled. Our first son Caleb died.

He died at birth. You know how that is. Kind of like the death of a vision for a while for a young couple. There was a point there where the cards started rolling in. We got over two dozen one day. And we didn't get that many every day, but lots of cards came for lots of days in a row.

We had lots of cards. Got to the point where the mailman said, what's going on here? Do you think we received courage from that? Do you think we received some strength to go on? Do you think from those cards it kind of changed our focus a little bit off of our misery onto the beauty of fellowship?

It did! And it'll do it again. I was just thinking, if there was someone here at charity that's discouraged, and they got ten cards in the mail one day, and several more the next, and the phone rang a few times, and a couple of cars drove in and left supper, what would that do?

I mean, that's practical Christianity. I think that we need to let that sink into our hearts. And I know there are some who do well with that. But I also think that we could use that prompting. So may God have His way with that.

And prayer, brothers and sisters. We need to pray for each other. I want to just look here. Are we still at Corinthians 1? We read in 8, 9, and 10 there about Paul's trouble and how God delivered him from the sentence of death, and He knew He would do it again.

But look at verse 11. It says, "...Ye also helping together by prayer for us.". I believe that the prayers of the saints praying for Paul in his time of pressure helped bring him out of discouragement.

If I could use that word there. "...Ye also helping together by prayer for us.". And we need to pray in faith. You know, I had a brother show me a verse one time. I'll show it to you. It's in Philemon.

You can turn to Philemon just before Hebrews James. Paul was in prison. That's where he was. And the Colossians were praying that he would be released so that he could come and visit them. And in verse 22, Paul writes a letter to them and he says, "...But withal, prepare me also a lodging.

For I trust that through your prayers I shall be given unto you.". You know, there's a lot of faith in that verse if you look at that very closely. Paul said, I'd like to come. And I'm putting some faith in your prayers.

Thank you for praying for me, but prepare my lodging. Get my bed ready because I believe in your prayers that I will be released and I'm coming. Could we pray that way for each other? I had a brother show me that verse and I just said, Thank you God.

Praise the Lord. You know, if we pray that way in faith for each other, that will do something to a fellowship. And you know what you're going to do when you pray that way? You are going to rejoice when God answers their prayers.

What a picture of the family of God. When we do these little things, these little acts of kindness, acts of thoughtfulness, hold each other up in prayer that way, we just simply give courage to each other.

The Armor of God Against Discouragement

We encourage each other in our walk with God. Now, I would like to challenge us one more time this evening as we think about arming ourselves against discouragement. When there's discouragement, I believe it's an indication that there is a battle.

And when there is a battle, there is an enemy. And when there's an enemy in a battle, we need some armor. And so I want to just make a little point here concerning arming ourselves against discouragement.

There is an armor that we have as children of God against the emotions of the flesh. Against the flesh being in control and regulating our courage in the Lord. There is an armor of God that He has provided for us.

Ephesians 6 tells us to put on the whole armor of God. And we need to do that because they have power against the enemy. But to take a look at this, let's turn to 1 Peter 2. There is something here that I would like to consider.

And what it is, it's the mind of Christ. That's what we're headed for. You know, if we have the mind of Christ, that means that we think like He thinks. That means that we see things as He sees things.

And I'm going to bring that a little closer home. That means we see our brother like He sees our brother. You know, I marvel at that. There's Scriptures that are a good meditation. And one of them, I believe, is in Colossians where it says that He may present you.

Holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight.

That's an awesome verse for me because I know myself. And I say, now wait a minute. I know myself better than that. And He can present me faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy?

That's awesome. And I want each of you to rejoice in that. But I tell you, God brought me to a screeching halt right there when He revealed to me the joy of that verse. It's like He came down and said, wait a minute.

Your brother gets to stand there too. Your sister that you don't really appreciate. There's power in the blood. Don't take that promise just for yourself. Spread that thing out into the fellowship. And I don't want you to take it all to yourself either.

I get to stand there too. Praise God, there is power in the blood if I get to stand there faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. But let's look in verse 21 of chapter 22. I was going to say this, that when we have the mind of Christ, that is a tremendous deterrent to discouragement.

Peter deals a lot here with suffering wrongfully. And I believe that's an area that we don't do real well in. I'm just going to kind of lay that out here because I believe it's connected so often to discouragement.

We don't do real well in suffering wrongfully. Here in America, suffering wrongfully is almost extinct. It's almost unheard of. And it has its effect on us in our churches. And maybe it's because we haven't laid down our rights.

Maybe it's because the flesh is not completely metamorphosized. But I believe that our unwillingness to suffer has produced lots of frustrated Christians. Just stay with me on this for a minute. Just simply because we are not prepared to suffer.

If in our mind, we don't think we should suffer, we've got the answer figured out, we've heard from God, and maybe we have, but we want this thing to go through. Then when suffering comes, suffering wrongfully comes, discouragement is going to nail us good.

But on the other hand, if we're planning on it, it can actually bring joy when it comes. And that's tremendous. Let's look at 2 Peter 2, verse 21. For even hereunto were ye called. And I just want to stop there.

Because there is a calling upon our life. God has placed a calling upon our lives. This is one that the world will never get a hold of. This is something that we have that will set us apart from the world around us.

This calling. For even hereunto were ye called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow in His steps. And I want to tell us this evening that when we are not prepared to receive what we have been called to, it will bring us to discouragement.

It will bring frustration. What I'm leading up to is the armor that we have from God against discouragement. Let's read it in chapter 4, verse 1 right here. It says here, For as much then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind.

For he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin. There is armor in that verse, brothers and sisters. Arm yourselves with it. It's the mind of Christ. I'll read it again. As Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind.

For he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin. I want us to think for a minute. How much of our discouragement is based on the fact that things did not go the way that I thought that they should go?

How much of our discouragement is based on the fact that it's not fair? And I've been cheated. Or I know better than my brother. How much of our discouragement is based on that very thing? We need to be honest.

Those things are not the mind of Christ. Christ did not fight it when things did not go His way. You know what He did? He committed Himself unto Him that judgeth righteously. That's a beautiful response that the mind of Christ will produce in us when we suffer wrongfully.

Revenge does not belong to us. God said it. Vengeance belongs to Him. It's mine, He said. And so let's let Him have it. I would like to read yet in chapter 2. I just want to read verses 19 -21 or 2. It says, This is thankworthy... and this is the mind of Christ now.

This is Christ's mind. This is armor against discouragement. This is thankworthy if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it if when you be buffeted for your faults you take it patiently?

What if when you do well and suffer for it, you take it patiently? This is acceptable with God. For even here unto where ye called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow in His steps.

Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth. And look at verse 23. Who when He was reviled, reviled not again. When He suffered, He threatened not, but committed Himself unto Him that judgeth righteously.

I believe there's armor in that verse. I believe the mind of Christ is in that verse. And I believe that when we bring that mind of Christ into our fellowship, it's going to have a tremendous effect. When you sit down and try to talk through some things that are hard to talk about.

When you have differences of opinion, I get to stand there too. There's some room for variation. And I'm not making room for anything. That's not my heart, brothers and sisters. I'm in here my heart. There is room to sit down and share hearts.

Let's give each other room to make a mistake. I'm going to be honest with you this evening. I'm weary. I love each one of you so much. I would just like to close with a couple of stories. I want to remind us that we belong to God.

Miriam and the Camp That Would Not Move

This church belongs to God. It doesn't belong to anybody here. Jesus said, upon this rock, Jesus Christ, I will build My church. My church. And so we belong to God. And in closing, I would just like to tell a couple stories.

And one of them, I love Bible stories. I really do. I appreciated the children's lesson this morning. But there's one story about Miriam. Miriam was the sister of Moses. And she sinned greatly against God by speaking evil against her brother Moses, the servant of God.

And God was very displeased with her and He smote her with leprosy and she was cast outside of the camp. Miriam. Leprous. Outside of the camp. And I want us to consider something of the heart of God here that I think would be good for our fellowship.

The whole camp of Israel never moved forward while Miriam was outside the camp. God in the cloud by day and God in the pillar of fire by night determined when the camp moved forward. Amen? And it never moved.

You can see something of the heart of God here. That that camp never moved while Miriam was leprous outside of the camp. And Aaron pled to Moses on her behalf. And Moses pled to God on her behalf. And people were praying.

And what an intercessory chain on behalf of Miriam for a hurting soul. The whole camp never moved. And you know, God honored that chain of intercession. He healed her leprosy. And when she was back in the camp and when she was back in fellowship, I'll just say, then the cloud by day began to move.

I think we see something of the heart of God in that. Is there a hurting brother among us? I feel like that's why God stopped me from proceeding on this evening. We don't want to go forward. We don't want to leave one of the children behind.