Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Good morning. 9:45.
[00:00:08] Good morning. Hey. If I have not met you, my name is Michael Fueling. I'm the lead pastor here at the village church. And before I say this out loud, I do have three kids, so you can say this back. Happy Father's Day.
[00:00:20] Thank you. I had to tell the 8:15. I'm like, you. You can say it. And it sounded weird. So thank you for saying it as I said it out loud.
[00:00:28] When our culture celebrates something God celebrates, we like to just take a moment and say we want to reinforce that and say, dads, we love you, dads. We honor you, dads. We are thankful for you, dad. Second.
[00:00:47] Second to God, there is no greater influence on your child's life than you. This is not pandering, it's not patronizing. It's not even exaggeration.
[00:01:00] You matter way more than you think or understand. In the Book of Malachi, chapter 4, verse 16. It's in the Old Testament, and it was written roughly 400 years before Jesus was even born. It's one of my favorite verses in the Old Testament, says this, and he, the coming Messiah and his ministry. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers.
[00:01:28] It's been said that in a home, when a child becomes a Christian, about 3% of the time, the rest of the family will become Christians. It's been said that when a wife becomes a Christian, approximately 17% of the time, the rest of the family will become a Christian. But when a father becomes a Christian, 93% of the time, the rest of the family become Christians. Now, I have hunted and hunted and tried to find the.
[00:01:53] The origin of these stats, and I cannot find it. So here's what I want to say. Anecdotally, it lines up when we see a father make the most important decision that any man or woman or student or child can ever make. To come before Jesus and say, I'm a sinner. I believe in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Be my God. I want you to forgive me.
[00:02:16] We see that the reverberation, not just in their own family, but in their generational legacy is unbelievable. And so, dads, for those of you who have made the decision to trust in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, you are creating a legacy. And you're giving your generations after you the greatest fighting chance to be people who love God and spend an eternity with him.
[00:02:40] So, again, we love you, we are thankful for you. And so everybody who's got a dad in this room, go out of your way to think about how you can show the honor and the love that you have for your dad if he is still around. So at this time, what I want to do is I want to take a moment and I would love to pray for the dads in this room. There's some rules, okay?
[00:03:01] If you are sitting next to somebody that you know and you know is a dad, I want to invite you to put your hand on their shoulder or their arm and pray for them. But I have to tell this every time.
[00:03:14] If you don't know them, don't touch them.
[00:03:18] Fair enough.
[00:03:20] All right, let's pray. Father, I thank you for every dad in this room.
[00:03:27] Lord, I thank you that we have the privilege to lead, provide and protect to the glory of God. I thank you that as we do this well, it is just a reflection and image of your perfect leadership provision and protection over us and our family's life.
[00:03:43] And Lord, as all men do when we fail, I thank you for the blood of Christ that forgives us and. And I thank you for the Holy Spirit that points us back to our true heavenly father. As moms and dads, as parents, as leaders, Lord, none of us are perfect. And when we fail, we get to point people to you, the perfect leader, the perfect provider, the perfect protector. So I just thank you for that. I thank you how for every one of us, you are continuing to transform us from one image of Christ likeness to another. And so, God, I pray for our dads. I pray today would be a day where they feel honored and they feel loved. I pray you give each one of us even just the right words so that we can really communicate to their heart the impact that they've had on us if we have access to them and they're still alive. And so, God, I pray today would be a day that even pushes us as men and fathers to love you more and to be even more like Christ as we dig into your word. So, God, thank you for dads, and thank you that you are the perfect heavenly father and the privilege that we have to point people to you by our. Our love and leadership. We thank you. We pray all this in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:04:53] Amen.
[00:04:54] After the service, after dad, we have a. If you're. If. If you're a dad, we have a small gift for you on your way out. All right, welcome to week four of our series called ministry training. Okay, so in the first sermon of the series, I briefly. I only spent like 45 seconds on it. And as I was teaching it, I was like, man, I got a whole message on this.
[00:05:21] So what I want to do is I want to go deeper into this principle that I shared with you in week one. I could not find the source, but somebody once said spiritual authority turns whispers into thunder and small actions into soul shaping moments.
[00:05:42] So every person in spiritual authority could be a mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, pastor, elder, small group leader, one on one mentor.
[00:05:51] We have to come to grips with this principle.
[00:05:55] Spiritual authority makes all of your words land heavier and it makes, for better or for worse, all of your actions to echo longer in the hearts of the people that we love and lead. And it is our desire that when people are in our orbit that we want to be a blessing to them and not a curse. Can I just get an amen from everybody in this room? Like, I don't want you to walk and be a part of my life and have your life be worse for it. I want those of you who are in the orbit of my spiritual leadership to be blessed by it. And I know you feel the same way about your own. So what we're going to do this week is we're going to take a one week hiatus from second Corinthians. And what I want to do is I want to talk to you about how as spiritual leaders, we bless people with our words. And I have great news for you. You might be like, I'm just a kid or I'm not a spiritual leader. Guess what? The Bible commands all of us to use our words to bless. Amen. So we're gonna learn how to do that together.
[00:06:49] I wanna share with you a biological truth that changed the way I see and use my words as a leader.
[00:06:58] It goes like this. Words literally change another's reality.
[00:07:05] Hormones, mental state, and or emotional state.
[00:07:12] If you are a spiritual leader to those you lead, your words are imbued with unusual power to actually change reality for the people that you lead. So listen to Proverbs 16:24.
[00:07:27] Gracious words are like a honeycomb.
[00:07:32] Sweetness to the soul and health to the body. So when there is a sincere, truthful, encouraging word spoken to another person, it actually causes physiological and hormonal changes in the other person. So here's just a snapshot of some of the hormones that go into action when you decide to give someone you love a genuine, truthful word of encouragement. Words of sincere encouragement stimulate the release of oxytocin. This is called the bonding hormone. And what it does is it creates a really powerful connection between you and the person you're with.
[00:08:11] If it is released while you're with them. So kissing makes oxytocin release. Even just holding hands causes you to be hormonally bonded in a way to that person. When a woman gives birth, her body releases an unusual amount of oxytocin, binding her to that child. And every time a woman breastfeeds, she is rebound again as her body releases more oxytocin, so she is bound to that baby. Now, striking study has recently come out about golden retrievers. Okay, golden retrievers have a mutation in their genes, so so that they have more oxytocin than any other dog. And they have a mutation that allows them to actually process and feel oxytocin more than any other dog. Which is why every single time, like your golden retriever runs up to you, like they are bonding to you again and again and again, and it makes them the most loyal, loving dog, apparently on the planet. I don't have a golden retriever, but I have a golden doodle. And I've watched this doodle have the golden attachment to my wife, who lives and dies for this woman. And every time she's in his presence, his life is complete. Oxytocin.
[00:09:25] Words of sincere encouragement. Lower levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, which in turn decreases stress and anxiety, and in that moment produces a sense of calm. Words of sincere encouragement. They stimulate dopamine, creating feelings of happiness and, and well being. And this also plays into the brain's reward system so that we are likely to repeat that for which we are encouraged. And so if something is good and right, as a spiritual authority, we want people to repeat good and right things. And so we encourage, and we call those things out. Words of sincere encouragement release serotonin, which regulates mood, increases feelings of happiness, and reduces even just temporarily, the excitement experience of depression in someone. Not only this, encouraging words are now known to lower one's heart rate and blood pressure. And this is striking. Studies are now being done on encouragement and its benefits to the overall immune system, making you more and more resistant to disease. Isn't that crazy?
[00:10:26] Look at Proverbs 16:24. Again, gracious words are like a honeycomb. Sweetness to the soul and health to the body.
[00:10:37] I want to draw your attention to two words in Proverbs 16:24. The first is honeycomb. So in the ancient near east, honey was both food and honey was medicine.
[00:10:50] But like encouragement from other people, honey is rare.
[00:10:58] Honey was seen as a luxury item. In fact, it was rare enough that when the Israelites were going into the promised land, it was called the Land flowing with milk and what? Milk and honey. And this was a rarity. It was a luxury. It was a gem. Now, have you ever noticed when somebody speaks to you with sincere, genuine, truthful encouragement, when it's done, you feel surprised?
[00:11:31] Oh, me? Who me? What?
[00:11:35] The majority of people rarely receive personalized, intentional encouragement.
[00:11:46] If you are part of a local church family. And by part of it, I mean, like, you're involved, you're engaged, you're in a small group or something, you're around people, you're in proximity to people. Like, they're able to speak into your life. And it's more than a week or two or a month, but you're beginning to build some relationships. What you're gonna find is that the church has, like, just statistically more people who are gonna look at you and encourage you and call out what God has put into you. Like, it's more and more a part of our ethos as a church. But guess what, Church, as you go out into the world, most people do not have communities, places, spaces, and relationships where anyone looks at them and says, I see you.
[00:12:23] I see what God has put into you.
[00:12:26] I affirm who you are. I just want to say that thing that you did, that was really special.
[00:12:32] Most people have no one in their life that is going to do that for them other than their mom and dad, if they have a good relationship with them, and if their mom and dad are courageous enough to actually lean in on a regular basis and build them up. Which means as a believer, when you enter into somebody's life and with sincerity, you're genuinely able to call out what God has put into somebody. You're giving that person in that moment just a glimpse of how God actually sees them. Because for most people, they don't get it. I want to draw your attention to another word here. And the word is actually word. Proverbs 16 says this. Gracious words.
[00:13:13] Gracious words are like honeycomb sweetness to the soul and health to the body. So we don't live in the old covenant, we live in the new covenant. But before Jesus, when the old covenant was in play, there was this interesting concept where the words of a father or a spiritual leader were seen as prophetic in the life of those they lead.
[00:13:38] And amongst God's people.
[00:13:40] It seemed that God honored the prayerful blessing that and words that a father would speak over his children. And there are two primary ways that dads would do this in the nation of Israel. The first is that the name you gave your child, that God would often honor that name. And that name would actually seem to predetermine that child's destiny. So if you really didn't like one of your kids, you can give them a bad name. And it seemed like God would come alongside of them and he would honor the name and honoring the dad spirit, spiritual authority in that home.
[00:14:14] There is also an example of this, that at the right time, at the right age, a father would go to, usually starting with his oldest son and would give a blessing. The blessing would usually come along with it would come some sort of a promise of inheritance that would be his. And then you get the second born, the third born, et cetera. And so this was like an intentional moment for a father to gather his children together. And then it's seemed that the blessing, he would speak over his children, that God would honor his spiritual authority and that blessing would come true in their life.
[00:14:48] In the New Testament, it doesn't appear that God is giving fathers that level of authority where he's like, whatever you say, I'm going to come behind you and I'm going to do it. I wish he did, right? Most dads, like, I would love that kind of control. And at the same time I get really nervous for some dads would name their child.
[00:15:07] But it doesn't change this fact that when a dad speaks over his kids, blessing or cursing, these words become a part of our spiritual DNA. So a dad repeatedly says to his son, you're a failure, just like your uncle.
[00:15:29] Of course the kid hates it. And the kid says, oh, I'm not a failure. I'm going to rise above this. But these words become a part of the kid's DNA. And there's this weird thing, it's like a self fulfilling prophecy that we become the curses that are spoken over us even though we hate them so very much.
[00:15:45] And then a parent says, you're a gift from God and I just love being around you. And so kids grow up with these words and they get this idea that like, wherever they go, everyone's gonna like them because there's this confidence that is put in them. And these words are part of their spiritual danger DNA and they take them with them every everywhere they go.
[00:16:06] Scripture teaches at least four different ways that we can bless with our words. And I want to take a few minutes and I want to make this as practical as we can. Here's the first blessing that we can give through our words. Spiritual maturity.
[00:16:20] My empowering words can accelerate someone to deeper levels of spiritual maturity.
[00:16:28] 1 Corinthians 14:3 says that the one who prophesies, and let's just break this down to its simple thing, the one who speaks forth God's word. Do you all have access to God's Word? Do you all have the ability to take God's Word and to speak it over someone's life? Yes. The one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and for their encouragement. And the imagery here is that every person is like a building and that you, with every word, you're putting another brick on this building so that as you speak, you're forming the person and bringing them to completion. Paul picks up the same analogy. Verse Ephesians, chapter 4, verse 29. He says, Let no corrupting talk. This is actually literally gangrenous talk, talk that gets in and kills whatever touches. Let no gangrenous, corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as good for building up. You get this idea of brick by brick. Every word you say is another brick in the soul of the person you're with, especially those you lead spiritually.
[00:17:24] And these words shouldn't just build up, they should fit the occasion that it might give grace to those who hear, in other words, that it might accelerate them spiritually, that God would move inside of their heart because of the words that you're saying.
[00:17:40] One of the privileges of spiritual leadership, you've heard me say this multiple times, I'm going to keep saying, is that we get to pray for the people that God gives us spiritual leadership over, and we get to call out what God has put inside of them.
[00:17:56] Most of us cannot see who we really are.
[00:18:02] The voices of culture, friends, demons, our own mental lies are just so unbelievably loud.
[00:18:15] The voice of a spiritual leader breaks through that chaos.
[00:18:22] I want you to look at 2 Timothy 1:6. This is the Apostle Paul, and he's ready to Timothy, a young pastor, but he also calls Timothy his spiritual son. So this is a mentor relationship.
[00:18:33] He says, for this reason, I remind you, Timothy, to fan into flame the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. And so sometime in the past, Paul had prayed over Timothy, and this was a moment that Timothy's going to remember.
[00:18:51] And he called out the gift of God on Timothy. He laid hands on him, he prayed over him. And this was a pretty important moment for Timothy. He was probably calling him into pastoral ministry. And this was like a big deal.
[00:19:03] Well, for us as leaders, we think to ourselves, okay, I did it. It's done. But it's interesting is Paul understands the need for repetition, because it's really easy to forget who you really are. And so even in this letter, he puts this into writing. I want you to go back, Timothy, to that moment I remember. I want you to remember what I prayed over you when I laid hands on you. I was calling out what God put into you. And I don't want you to forget who God made you to be. This is one of the privileges of spiritual leadership. Blessing number two is joy.
[00:19:32] My truthful words can help move someone from anxiety to a place of peace and joy.
[00:19:39] Proverbs 12:25.
[00:19:42] Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down. Amen.
[00:19:47] But it's not just men, it's women, it's students, it's children.
[00:19:50] But a good word. I love this, but a good word makes him glad.
[00:19:55] Spiritual leaders know this anxiety is a dirty liar.
[00:20:00] What if? What if? What if? What if? What if? What if?
[00:20:04] And so, as spiritual leaders, we get the privilege to enter into people's sometimes most anxious moments.
[00:20:09] And we have two awesome weapons that we bring into people's most anxious moments.
[00:20:16] Truth and reality.
[00:20:20] Because what anxiety does is it makes you throw out reality, live in a false world, and you just ignore and push truth away. And we get this privilege to gently enter into these moments and to ground people, to give them an anchor as the winds and waves of life try to pull them back and forth and to ground them in what is true and what is real. Now, here's the deal. People have different levels of anxiety. And one conversation anchoring somebody in truth and reality is not gonna remove all their anxiety. But what you can do in those moments is give someone even just a moment of relief, even just an hour of I'm gonna live in this moment of truth and reality instead of all the what ifs and the more truth in reality over time somebody gets, the more of a powerful weapon it becomes to deal with anxiety.
[00:21:05] Lesson number three.
[00:21:07] Healing.
[00:21:09] My empathetic words can accelerate the healing process.
[00:21:13] Proverbs 12:18. The tongue of the wise brings healing. Don't you want to be wise with your words and accelerate the healing process in people? I do.
[00:21:24] Or 2 Corinthians, chapter 1, verse 4.
[00:21:28] God who comforts us in all of our afflictions, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. And so, spiritual leaders, here's what we know.
[00:21:41] Every trial you go through, every heartache you experience, every pain you endure, it's not just for you and God. It's not just for your transformation. It's. It's future ministry that God's gonna bring into your life so that as you get through the healing process, you already know all the dumb things that people said to you in the middle of that grief and trauma. And you know what not to say. You already know all the scriptures that helped ground you in truth, in reality. You have an edge in these things. And so sometimes what I'll do is if somebody's going through something and I know that I have never experienced it, I'll go out of my way to connect them to somebody who has. So the ministry of your past pain, you can bring comfort into their circumstance now, because I'm telling you, there is nothing more powerful than, like, pain speaking hope, truth, and reality to somebody in the middle of it. It's powerful.
[00:22:30] Isaiah, chapter 50, verse 4. The Lord has given me the tongue of those who are taught that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary.
[00:22:42] Blessing number four. Tender hearts. My gentle words can soften a hard heart. You ever been in a fight with somebody and you're like, man, their heart is hard, so you thought you'd try to soften it by getting aggressive. How'd it go?
[00:22:56] Not well. All right. Proverbs 15, 4. A gentle tongue is a tree of Life.
[00:23:03] Or Hebrews 3:13.
[00:23:05] But exhort one another. This is interesting. Every day, how often are we supposed to use our words for exhortation? Every day, as long as it's called today.
[00:23:15] That none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. And so spiritual leaders understand that as we speak truth and reality, we are preventing hard hearts towards each other and to the Lord.
[00:23:29] There's a psychologist. His name is John Gottman. He's not a Christian, but he's a researcher, and he's done some actually pretty incredible research on marriages, love, relationships, et cetera. And he wrote a book called why Marriages Succeed or Fail.
[00:23:43] And after decades of research, he came up with this really powerful concept. It's called the magic ratio. And here's what it is.
[00:23:52] The magic ratio is 5 to 1. In other words, as long as there are five times as many positive interactions between partners as there are negative, the relationship is likely to be stable.
[00:24:07] Now, if I were to sit down with most of you and say, would you like your marriage to flourish, not just be stable, but to flourish, you go, yeah, absolutely. And then if I were to ask most people, what do you think the ratio is, positive words to negative words? Like, how many positive words does it take to counteract the power of a negative word? Most people, like kind of old conventional wisdom would say 2 to 1.
[00:24:29] Wrong, 5 to 1. Which shows you the power of a negative critical word by someone you are in close proximity to, let alone the power of a critical negative word from a spiritual authority.
[00:24:44] Early on in ministry, I learned a really important lesson.
[00:24:49] Most of us, most of what we truly feel and most of what we truly think is left unsaid. We just don't say it.
[00:24:58] I started really. It was kind of a cheesy practice. But we'd go on staff retreats and there'd be four or five of us, and we'd be driving. Usually it's an hour and a half, two, three hours away and back. And so on the way back, we would do this thing where everybody had to sincerely encourage each person in the car. So we'd go one person at a time. And it was like, if you don't like encouragement, it's absolute misery, right?
[00:25:20] But at the end of it, here's what happens. Your heart softens.
[00:25:26] We're knit together.
[00:25:28] And all these really encouraging, truthful, positive things that we see in each other, they all get verbalized. And so the questions are, how has God used them in your life? Or what have you seen God doing in their life? It's very simple.
[00:25:43] And the net result is that we are in truth in reality, not manipulation and truth in reality bound together in our actual, real love for each other.
[00:25:54] Most of what we truly feel and think is left unsaid. But for the believer in Jesus, this is not how we function. And for the spiritual leaders, especially the people under our leadership need to know. They need to hear regularly what they mean to us. And we need to be able to use our words to encourage. So I have three. So what's for you? The first is the longest.
[00:26:15] Being great at using your words to build up requires growing four muscles. And here's the first muscle.
[00:26:23] It's the muscle of noticing, specifically the muscle of noticing the good amidst all the hard in this life.
[00:26:32] Can you raise your hand if you've been to Mackinac island in Northern Michigan?
[00:26:36] Okay, so you'll know this, right? You go to Mackinac island and you get off the boat, what is the first thing that you smell?
[00:26:44] Manure.
[00:26:45] Right? It's so powerful, just hits you in the face. I mean, it is strong because there's no engine vehicles there. So it's horses, walking or bikes. Those are like your options on Mackinac Island. But something really funny happens because after about 15 or 20 minutes, your brain says smelling this is useless. And so your brain shuts off your smell. And now you can enjoy all the Mackinac island fudge and the walking and the desserts and the candy, right? But here's a little trick about Mackinac Island. It goes away after 15 or 20 minutes. You'll even forget that you're just literally walking on top of manure and urine from horses all day long. You won't even process it.
[00:27:28] But if you stop and you go and you tell your brain to smell it, guess what?
[00:27:35] It comes right back. Now, some of you are thinking, what does this have to do with encouragement? You're gonna remember this illustration.
[00:27:43] We go through life and our brain tunes out all the incredible things that people are doing, the things that God has put in them. We're just like kind of going day by day by day. And all you have to do is turn on your noticer. And when you turn on your noticer, you'll start seeing the Lord is up to something in their life. Wow. I really appreciate that thing they did. Wow. Like, I have seen them grow quite a bit. Wow. I really.
[00:28:10] Wow. This is striking.
[00:28:13] He's a really good dad. She's an incredible mom. Do you see the way that kid, like, honored their parents? Like, if you just sniff in a good way and you start noticing, your brain will turn on and you will start seeing all the ways that God might be moving. The muscle of sincerity is number two.
[00:28:30] My rule is simple. If you don't mean it, don't say it.
[00:28:34] If you have manipulative motivations, don't say it. People see right through that. If you're trying to just make somebody feel better with a lie, don't say it. Because they're going to know and they won't believe the truth later when you tell them.
[00:28:47] But there are a few things as powerful as a sincere, kind word of encouragement. Number three is the muscle of discernment. Now, most of you have this, but there's a few of you who don't. So I'm going to say it out loud.
[00:28:58] Knowing the right thing to say to the right person at the right time, that is a skill. Here's an example. There's only one woman in the world where I'm going to comment on her body, and it is my wife and no one else. So we just don't comment on other women's bodies. Ladies, can I get an amen from this one right now? You can comment on their glasses. That's an accessory if you have a close relationship, maybe their hair, but that's, like, the limit.
[00:29:21] The big encouragements, right? They do require some level of relationship. And so when we start giving big encouragements to people we don't know, we might be crossing a line. And number four, the muscle of courage.
[00:29:36] Why is it so hard to look at someone you love and just say what is in your heart?
[00:29:46] Men especially.
[00:29:48] This is challenging for us. So we men, we're really good at starting new habits and patterns when it comes to hobbies, working out, I don't know, buying toys, whatever, we're like, we'll gladly start new things.
[00:30:05] But for us to move from not using our words to using our words. Let me reframe this. Starting new habits. Relationally, it's really hard for us.
[00:30:17] And if you've been around, you've heard me say this, I'm gonna say it again. Here's why it's hard.
[00:30:22] Because when we start new relational habits, what we're doing in that moment is admitting my entire life with you up until this moment, I have failed at this relationship habit. The act of beginning is an admission of failure. And guess what? Most guys don't like to do fail.
[00:30:39] And so we look at each other and we just say, get over it.
[00:30:43] No. But, like, now it's time to just rise up and to become the man in this area that God has made you to be. At first, using your words for encouragement, it takes guts. It's hard at first. It's unnatural. You might even, like, your voice might quiver. You might have to just put it in writing to start because, like, you just don't know how to use your words. Writing is also an acceptable form of encouragement. Everybody can get an amen on that one as well, right?
[00:31:08] It doesn't matter how it's delivered. The whole point is that it's delivered 98% past your math. But I think it's really fair. 98% of your encouragement should be about small, normal things.
[00:31:22] Sweet hat.
[00:31:24] Your shoes are awesome.
[00:31:27] Thanks for doing that. That was meaningful.
[00:31:31] I saw that.
[00:31:33] And here's one of my favorites.
[00:31:35] Your kid is awesome. You want to build me up, Tell me how great my kid is, but don't lie, because I'm going to know if you're lying, because I live with him. Okay, for those of you who are brand new to this, two simple words that you can just start wielding like a champ.
[00:31:51] Thank you.
[00:31:53] Thank you. Thank you. There are so many opportunities to say thank you, and it's just the simplest way to begin to build the muscle first. Thessalonians 5, 11. Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up just as you are doing so at number two.
[00:32:09] How are your ratios in your top five relationships? Let me give you three category of relationships. Three categories.
[00:32:17] Your spouse, your kids, your friends, five to one.
[00:32:24] Lastly, number three.
[00:32:27] Receive from Jesus those whom he sends.
[00:32:31] Some of us, we don't do encouragement well. We just shut it off. We're like, no, that's not good.
[00:32:36] Learning to receive encouragement.
[00:32:39] Learning to receive truth and reality about how another person sees you. Learning to receive a gift that they give you, the gift of their words. Like, we need to be able to figure that out. So here's a simple response.
[00:32:50] Thank you.
[00:32:51] It's so easy, guys. Thank you, everybody. Say it with me. 1, 2, 3.
[00:32:56] Thank you. You can all do it. Look at that. This is great.
[00:33:01] The most encouraging word anyone will ever give to you. And if you're a Christian in this room, guys, you all have the ability to do this.
[00:33:10] The most encouraging word or message you will ever receive is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
[00:33:17] And so I want to just take a moment as we close here, and I just want to encourage you.
[00:33:22] God loves you very much.
[00:33:26] He made you, he designed you.
[00:33:30] He put so much intentionality into you. And your sin has caused you to run from him and you are separated from him.
[00:33:37] And on Father's Day, your heavenly Father loves you and he is offering you forgiveness. Think of the prodigal son who runs away, does all this dumb stuff. And the moment this Father sees him from a distance, run to him and is like, here, like, come home and throw us a party for him.
[00:33:52] And I just have great news. I don't know who you are, what you've done, how far you've run, but your heavenly Father is offering you great encouragement. Son, daughter, you're welcome to come back home. And this is what I love about God. He does not tell you if you're good enough, then you can become part of his family. No one's ever good enough. Give me a break.
[00:34:09] What he does say, though, is if you come home and you apologize for your sins, do you believe in life, death and resurrection of Jesus? You get once for all, forever forgiven.
[00:34:17] You get the Holy Spirit, you get confidence of eternity, and God adopts you as his son or daughter. And so if you're here, and that's the decision that you wanna make today, I just wanna invite you, you can tell God right now in your heart and your mind, you don't have to have, like a magical formula. Tell him you're sorry and you believe in Jesus life, death and resurrection for your sins. And if you're here, and that's a decision that you wanna make today, I wanna encourage you. Tell someone you came with. We wanna help you figure out what does it mean to now be a son or daughter of the Most High King. Amen. Village church Amen. Let's pray.
[00:34:49] Father, I want to thank you for your leadership in our life.
[00:34:54] You, we prayed this earlier. You're the perfect leader, provider and protector.
[00:35:00] You offer us forgiveness and adoption. And so God, we just, we receive that and we are so thankful and we worship you for it.
[00:35:09] Lord, would you teach us and train us how to use our words to build up, to build people up, to draw out of them what you've put inside of them so that we can be more and more like Jesus? We love you so much. And we pray all of this in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.
