Minister: Pastor Marv Vose
An Encouraging Word
Acts 13:13-16, 26-33
Every so often, I am invited to speak at someplace other than Sunrise. Very often it is a church, but sometimes it's a civic function or a service organization. It's always a pleasure to do. But I've been doing it long enough that I've seen a kind of pattern emerge. They very seldom tell me what to talk about. They may give me a topic or general theme, but that's as close as it gets. But almost always they will tell me how long I have to talk. Isn't that interesting? They don't care much about what I say, but they really care about how long I say it!
Have you ever noticed that sometimes, when a pastor is talking too long, he or she will look at their watch? Do you know what that means? When they look at their watch? (pause) Absolutely nothing!
I was doing a wedding rehearsal one time and the whole wedding party was standing at the front of the church with me. We were going through the order of their wedding and kind of kidding around. It was a great young couple and we were having a good time. So, just to give them a hard time, I said, "And at this point, I will give my 45 minute sermon." Well, the best man turned white as a sheet. He obviously thought I was serious. So he said, "Uh, Reverend, I think you misunderstood the bride and groom. I think what they said was that they wanted a 4-5 minute sermon, not a 45 minute sermon!"
Paul's invitation to speak was just the reverse of mine. They didn't seem to care about the time limit. But what they wanted was a message of "encouragement." And I guess if the word is encouraging enough, you really don't mind how long it is. In fact, the longer the better! What they were saying is, "Do you have anything constructive to say? Can you build us up or will it put us down? Can you say something that will help us? We might ask today, "Do you have any good news for us or is it more of what we hear from everybody else?
Wouldn't it be great if we could screen our conversations that way? Can't you just imagine sitting down at coffee break and say to one of your co-workers, "Before we start this conversation, are you going to say something positive today or is it going to be more of the same old whining and complaining that you usually do?" We don't say that, because that person wouldn't be our friend much longer, but it is really tempting isn't it?
We've kind of lost that ancient concept of blessings and curses. At one point in history people had a very strong sense that words could bless our curse. In fact, if someone hurled a verbal curse at you, you would want to duck or move aside, so the curse wouldn't hit you. The idea was very concrete. But the truth is that words do have incredible power-for good or ill. Words still have the power to bless or curse. They still have an impact in all kinds of ways and in all kinds of situations and for all kinds of recipients.
There are actually some people who think that plants respond to words of encouragement. Isn't that crazy? But they do. One lady was such a fervent believer in talking to her house plants that when she was gone, she would ask her husband to talk to the plants for her!
Her husband wasn't exactly a fan of plants and he grumbled that he would feel silly talking to plants, but she had to take her trip anyway.
When she got back, everything was just fine and she asked, "Did you talk to the plants while I was gone?"
Her husband gruffly replied, "No, I did not. But I did read the paper out loud in the morning and the afternoon and if they wanted to listen, it was up to them!"
You may have your doubts about talking to plants, but most of us would agree that children thrive on words of encouragement! They need it. They crave it! It makes such a difference in their lives.
Dr. Norman Vincent Peal writes about one of the most influential people in his young life. It was a school teacher named George Reeves. George was a big man-probably 220 pounds and a bit of a character. He had a very stern appearance but it covered a heart of gold. One of the teacher's most important lessons to his young pupils was about attitude. He would often write on the black board-in large, bold letters-CAN'T! Then he would turn to his students and ask, "What shall I do now?" Before long they learned what the answer was supposed to be. And in a loud chorus, they would reply, "Knock the "T" off ‘can't!'" Then with a bold sweep of the hand, he would do just that. He would erase the "T." Then he would conclude by saying, "Let that be a lesson to you. You can if you think you can!" Then in a rough, growly voice he would say, "Don't you ever forget it either."
Obviously, that lesson was not lost on the young Norman Vincent Peal. In later years, he became a Methodist minister, eventually went to New York City and wrote book after book about the power of positive thinking. For many people, he became the most influential religious writer of the last century. And he did it all by putting the power of faith into contemporary language. In other words, he consistently spoke a word of encouragement.
Quite frankly, we adults are not really that much different than children. We need those words of encouragement as well. They have their impact on us, too. Ken Chafin, another well-known religious figure of our day tells of those trying days when he was just beginning his seminary education. Ken had grown up as a poor boy in Oklahoma, from a family that had never known education or sophistication. But it took some encouragement to get him through seminary. He was in his second year, and quite frankly, ready to drop out. He was taking second-year Greek and first year Hebrew and it was almost too much for him. (Just to give you some perspective Ken had been asked to dropout of a Spanish class in college, because his professor didn't think he knew enough English to be able to study Spanish!)
It was at this lowest point in seminary that his pastor came by for a visit. Ken was ready to tell him he was going to quit. But over lunch, his pastor said, "Chafin, they tell me you're doing great!"
"Oh?" said Ken.
"Yeah," said the pastor. "Professor Northcutt says he's thinking about asking you to be his grader."
"He is?"
"He says if you keep doing as you are now you'll probably be asked back to be on the faculty one day."
Ken said, "I went back upstairs and studied for three years."
Encouragement is such a marvelous thing. It is so powerful that I can, even in very small doses, change a life. It can change the course of a life. It can shape a person. Now I know that sounds like an overstatement, but it's true!
I was visiting a service club one day and sat down by a man who introduced himself. I asked him what kind of work he did and he said he was a dentist. To make conversation, I asked him how it had happened that he had become a dentist. He got a kind of sheepish grin on his face and hung his head a little, but he told me that story anyway. He said, He was in the military and had been assigned to work as a dental assistant. He knew almost nothing about what he was doing, but he was trying to do it anyway. The dentist he was assisting had to clean up some blood and asked his assistant to wash out the blood-soaked cloth. He went over to the sink and by mistake, turns on the cold water and washed out the cloth. The dentist praised him for that saying, "Most people try to wash blood out by using hot water, but you were smart enough to know that you need to use cold water." My new friend concluded, "It was at that point that I decided to be a dentist!" Amazing, isn't it?
There is a marvelous power in speaking a word of encouragement and all of you have the power and the opportunity to exercise that ministry. The power of encouragement is yours. I'm not suggesting that you use that power to manipulate people or control them. That would, of course, be un-Christian and inappropriate. We are called in this ministry to build up people, not use them.
But there are so many opportunities to speak a word of encouragement, if we are willing to watch for them. And we do have to pay attention. We have to train ourselves to see those opportunities when they come.
Take, for example, children. Most of you who are parents expect your children to behave properly. If they behave properly, then they are doing what they are supposed to do and there is no need to say anything about it. That is certainly the way I was when our children were little. But if we work at it, we can catch our children being good and compliment them for it. I know it is a radical idea, but we can do it and it does make a difference.
Even with our children's friends. One young man was "going out" with a girl for the first time and he was really nervous about meeting her parents. When he got home, his Mom asked him how it went.
And he just gushed. He said, "Oh, Mom, I think her parents really like me. Her father offered to drive me home three different times!"
We can do it with our families. How easy is it to start to take family members for granted? Who thinks to thank a spouse for what they do? Anyone say thanks for the spouse bringing in a paycheck? Or paying for dinner? So many opportunities to say an encouraging world!
We can give an encouraging word to those we work with. Our colleagues need those words more and more as the workplace becomes more and more stressed and more and more complicated.
Andor Foldes tells of being 16 years old and in the midst of a personal crisis because of problems with his piano teacher. Then the renowned pianist Emil von Sauer came to Budapest and asked for Andor to play for him. Emil was the last surviving pupil of Franz Liszt's.
So Andor put his heart and soul into the pieces he played-everything from Bach to Beethoven. After he was done playing von Sauer stood up and kissed Andor on the forehead. He said, "My son, when I was your age I became a student of Liszt. He kissed me on the forehead after my first lesson, saying, ‘Take good care of this kiss-it comes from Beethoven, who have it to me after hearing me play.' I have waited years to pass on this sacred heritage, but now I feel you deserve it.
Beethoven's kiss miraculously lifted him out of his crisis and helped him to become a world renowned concert pianist. Jut one kiss.
You and I have something much better than Beethoven's kiss. We have something even better than human words. We have the divine word of God spoken in Jesus Christ and through the power of the Holy Spirit. In our scripture, Paul went on to speak a word of encouragement. He said, "We tell you the good news: What God promised our fathers, he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus." How's that for a word of encouragement? God promised and God fulfilled the promise! God worked in Jesus. God raised Jesus from the dead. God continues to work in and through us. And because of God's great work in us, we can speak the Good News to others. We can speak a word of encouragement in the midst of a world that needs it so desperately.