The Power of Encouragement 2Timothy 4:9

    Anh Thanh Sunday Morning Message on 2 Timothy 4:9

When we encourage someone:

1. There is divine order and direction to do and say His will. Paul mentions that his calling, and purpose in life is not because of my degree, or experience in the field. Paul's purpose for his own life was to kill the Christians, so opposite of God's calling on his life. However, God called him back onto the right track . So before we can bring encouragement to others, we need to know what way we are going! How can we encourage someone if we don’t even know our own paths? This will only bring discouragement. 

2. Grace, mercy, & peace. Going to church, or serving God is not about our own needs. We need to have the best intentions and motivations when encouraging someone. Is it to boost our own self confidence? Or is it to accomplish some vain goal? What is it? Lets glorify God!

3. Appreciation. Serving God with a pure conscious, no selfish gain. Thanking God for one another. Sometimes we let our pride go before our true intentions of encouragement. Learn to appreciate the people who give, or serve within the ministry. How can we encourage one another if we don’t appreciate them. The principle of encouragement has a lot ot do with appreciation!!

4. Prayer. To effectively encourage someone, we need to pray for them. We don’t know what people are going through, and it is only by the Holy Spirit can we know to pray for those who need it most. Paul openly and expresses his thankfulness for Timothy, and he is praying for them day and night.

5. V 4. Mutual affection for one another. You cannot affectively bring encouragement to someone if you don’t really love them. Paul's love for Timothy was like a Father & his Son. Paul truly wanted to see Timothy.

6. Affirmation. You affirm of God's calling in their lives. He's reaching into Timothy's spiritual life. Brining one another into a place of victory over what God HAS done in their live. When people are down, and depressed, we need to be reminded of what God has done in their lives. This is so they will be uplifted to continue knowing what God WILL do in their lives!

Words of Encouragement. What Paul does for Timothy, we need to be able to do for one another Timothy today! Find encouragement to give to others! Only when we come before God to see what he desires to speak through us, then we can uplift someone.