The Encouragement of Eternal Life

Introduction: We were given an assignment to give a word of encouragement on a particular truth of scripture; to encourage a brother or sister in Christ on the truths of that topic, and how setting our eyes on Jesus bring joy. It was such a wonderful assignment for me, for as I wrote, I was being encouraged by the truths of scripture. I hope this too may bring you encouragement!

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Encouraging others with the Truth of Eternal Life (Romans 6:23)

Assignment: Why does this subject matter, matter?

Romans 6:23

'For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.'

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Today, if you're struggling with a lack of joy; if discouragement racks your soul;if you're burdened from the hardships you're experiencing; if you're anxious for the things that lie ahead, I urge you  brethren to remember with me the truth in the hope of eternal life (Titus 1).

Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.' (Psalm 73)

Is the weight of sin, weighing you down? Why, oh soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed?
Remember the hope we have in God, join me in the praise of Him, our Savior and
our God (Psalm 42:5). The hope of eternal life means that death will be destroyed forever.
Our Savior will wipe away the tears from every face and remove His people’s
disgrace (Isaiah 25). How I yearn for the day when I am free from that disgrace, that sin - the
day of eternal life. Rejoice with me now brother, that we will be changed from the corruptible
and clothed with incorruptibility (1 Cor. 15)!  Death will be swallowed up in victory through
the blood of our Savior, Jesus Christ - Thanks be to God who has given us victory over death
in Jesus Christ our Lord. OH! At that time there shall be sin shall be no more, “there shall be
no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it.”

Today we groan inwardly, waiting for that adoption, but remember with me brother, the
sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be
revealed in us (Rom. 8). While now we see dimly, we will then see face to face, and while now
we know in part; we shall then know fully, even as we have been fully known by the maker of
all things (1 Corinthian 15). Oh to dwell on the truth that at that time we shall see His face!

Grudem writes in his Systematic Theology, “But more important than all the physical beauty of the
heavenly city, more important than the fellowship we will enjoy eternally with all God’s people from
all nations and all periods of history, more important than our freedom from pain and sorrow and
physical suffering, and more important than reigning over God’s kingdom - more important by far
than any of those these will be the fact that we will be in the presences of God and enjoying
unhindered fellowship with him (Revelation 21:3-4).”

Oh what love was poured out through Christ in his free gift towards us for eternal life!

Lyrics From the last verse of “Never Cease to Praise”  

When that day arrives, and the race is won, When our griefs give way to deliverance.

We will fully know as we’re fully known, All our groans will end as new songs begin.

And a multitude from every tribe and tongue,   

Wearing robes of white, will stand before Your throne,  

And our hearts will be so consumed by You That we never cease to praise!

Word of Encouragement: John 14:16-17

"And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you."

“Jesus is our enthroned prayer partner and the Spirit is our indwelling prayer partner”  
http://snmwin.wordpress.com/2011/11/14/praying-with-the-spirit/










It is important to realize that we have the Spirit who helps us as we come before the throne of Grace, helping us glorify the Father. 

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving. It's a time to be thankful and we look back on the happiness we've shared, the memories made, even the things we own.  I am enamored by it all, and I look to my God and praise Him for the things I have to be thankful for - the abundance of things.  Yet I cannot help but think about what Paul wrote about to the saints in Philippi.
At the time when Paul lived, if there were such a day of stepping back and giving thanks for such accomplishments in life, Paul would've had it all.  Prestige among the Pharisees further enhanced by his desire to crush the rising threat that apostles posed in sharing the Gospel.  His lineage traced back as a pure bread Jew and in the worlds eyes he was seen as righteous and incredibly blessed. Yet, it wasn't until he truly encountered the Lord on that road to Damascus that he realized the true feeling of thanksgiving - grace.
That grace lead Paul to become like those he persecuted.  It enabled him to discredit all those things that he might've previously been thankful for and say, "Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord..."  What causes such a radical change? Grace.
While, like most people today, I do look at all the blessings in my life, the great wealth I have that far surpasses physical (the love and support of family and friends), I find it hard to say that even those things I count loss.  Is it true?  Do I count all loss for the sake of the knowledge of Christ? On my own, no - but by the power of Christ in me, yes.  I have nothing but my Savior, my God, to be thankful for - all things that are of any worth in my life come from Him and Him alone and I look to Him with all the praise I can offer. "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain."  Therefore, I know for me this means I must go - to go and live fully for Him, dedicating my life to Him.


There has recently been an overwhelming feeling of grief for those in severe poverty - while I'm thankful for the abundance around me, people starve.  I need to have a fast and prayerfully consider where the Lord is leading me with this compassion - a fast to draw near to my God and to empathize with those who have no choice in not eating.  It is of not small consequence that the word of God calls the saints out to minister to the broken.  When there is a God for whom all thankfulness is for, we must share that love!

His Will in Motion [A slight Background]

Thailand.  A few years back it was on my mind - I thought the beaches looked beautiful and the landscape seemed to be an escape;  I wanted to go.  Soon my selfishness got pushed to the side with that, but my compassion for the country didn't leave.  After studying abroad in China I was fascinated by Asian Countries - and South East Asia, specifically Thailand, stood out in my mind.  As I planned on going on a mission trip with Global Expeditions, I was torn between going to Thailand and Dallas, but God wanted me in Dallas.  While at Dallas it became so clear to me that the Lord is calling me into missions - possibly over seas missions.  I was in Dallas learning about how great God's providence was.  As I prepared to leave, I needed to also prepare for spending the rest of my summer at my second home, Keswick.

America's Keswick is a place of rejuvenation, where the Lord uses the immersion of Christ centered living to draw me closer to Him.  After 2 years of serving there on summer staff, ministering to the guests and reaping the benefits of being surrounded by fellow believers, it was easy to understand what it meant to be in a true community.  On the first day of Keswick this past summer, I met my dorm Supervisor, a wonderful sister in Christ.  Upon meeting her I found out that she was a native of Thailand.  "I think I'm being called to Thailand..." I blurted out, expressing my shock that of all people to be meeting, right after my Dallas mission trip, I would meet someone who was from the country that had consumed my passions for the past few years. 
So what ends up happening is that she tells me how she had went to a Christian school in Thailand, and she gives me the contact information.  Turns out that Chiangmai Christian Fellowship has internship programs and my dorm supervisor asks if I could go for a summer long "Vision Trip." 
As we anxiously await the reply, I pray that my parents would let me go.  A mission trip with no organization leading it? My father is strict and I needed to honor his wishes.  He told my sister that there was no way I would be going as he drove her to Keswick.  Yet when I finally got to talk to him, and my wonderful dorm supervisor told him about the ministry, his response was, "I think... you should go..." That very night we heard back that CCF would be accepting internships.  Praise God for His providence! 

Since then, every week my Savior reminds me of His purpose in me going to Thailand this upcoming summer. It seems like everywhere I turn I'll find another connection to Thailand - leaving me with no room to question God's will.  What shall I say? What shall I do?  Questions still plague me, but the Lord is faithful with those as well.  

Jeremiah 1:4-7

Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying: “ Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations."  Then said I:  “ Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.”  But the LORD said to me:

“ Do not say, ‘I am a youth,' For you shall go to all to whom I send you, And whatever I command you, you shall speak.  Do not be afraid of their faces, For I am with you to deliver you,” says the LORD. 

Just like God had ordained Jeremiah to be a prophet before conception, the Lord has also set apart plans for those in His everlasting Kingdom, plans to further His kingdom.  'Do Not Be Afraid,' He tells me, time and time again, for if He has great plans for His children, He will carry them out, equip us for them, and lead the way.  He is the great I AM - what have we to fear!? Therefore, I write to express the Journey my Savior leads me on as He prepares me for Thailand this summer, and whatever mission He has in store for the Future.  Praise be to GOD! AMEN. 

Word of Encouragement: Hebrews 10:24-25

"And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching."

Yes, let us continue in community, uplifting our fellow believers in exhortation and loving on one another with humility.  Let us not forsake our fellowship in Christ! 

Community

C.S. Lewis points out that the saying, "God is love" requires more than one being involved, for how can you love with no one to love? In the very nature of the trinity of God we see the perfect Unity of God - a great love between Father, Son and Spirit, and when God created man, he wanted to see that Unity played out - Unity with man and others as well as a Unity with Him.  

Genesis 2:20-22 

"... But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.  And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept: and He took one of his ribs ... Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man."

The passage continues to explain that the man and woman shall become one flesh.  Yes, this is the perfect portrayal of marriage, the Unity of Man and Wife, but consider why God wanted a comparable helper for Adam.  God, a Holy Triune God, wanted the Unity He shares for eternity to be experienced in His creation.  As man was created in the image of God, we were created for that Unifying Bond that the Father shares.  

In John 14: 7 we are amazed to see that we can know the Father through His Son, because we are brought into the perfect bond of God.  We, as the elect of God, are Unified in the Body of Christ.  We're created for that community composed of believers.  Therefore, we must be unified.  James doesn't say lightly, in James 5:16, that we should confess to one another and pray for each other - that is a bond within the body, a bond built on mutual trust and the Love of God.  That is a "Passionate Fellowship."

I know that it is easy to fall into the trap of feeling as weekly attendance at church and maybe some scattered bible studies is enough fellowship, but its important to analyze the bonds we have with the believers in our lives.  Do we have fellow Christians we can go to and ask for prayer? Ask for help? And we know, that stemming from they're love for Christ and us, they will respond?  Would we act that way towards anyone?  Do we have a bond with believers that will hold us accountable? As I ask myself those questions I have to crawl once again to my Savior, asking Him to help me to have those bonds.  I need to ask that I can have the mind like Him that is described in Philippians 2:3-5, where I place others before me for the sake of the community of believes I'm in.  

The Lord is good. He has ordained our paths before we were even conceived, and He desires for us to be surrounded by a body of believers so we may encourage one another.  This is incredibly important as we seek to do His will in our lives, because it is in community that we are refreshed.  We see Paul's struggles to resist sin as he describes it in Romans 7, and he had a group of men to support him, how much more so if the world pressed down on him without his friends to be praying over him!  We need that community in order to run the race set out.

The challenge is to Step out of our Comfort Zones, step out of our fear of Trusting people, and go seek that Deep Fellowship of Community with 2 or more believers - people we can open up to and share where God is taking us, people we can love in the Unity of Love that God has within the Trinity and for us - we who've been grafted into that trinity.  Yes. It's hard.  All people inevitably let us down because of sin, but with community comes forgiveness, so learn to forgive as Christ forgave.  When we have this bond within this community of believers, we can go forth with a support system.