We Encourage

You're listening to the My Morning Devotional Podcast, episode 1579. Today's Devo is called We Encourage.

Hey there, we're the Alessies, a ministry family working together in our church in Miami, Florida. And if you're like us, when days get busy and to-do lists get longer, it can be hard to find devotional time. That's why we've partnered with our friend Allison to produce a five-minute daily dose of heaven. This is the My Morning Devotional Podcast.

Well, welcome back to the My Morning Devotional Podcast. We are wrapping up or getting close to wrapping up this week as we're talking about why we go to church. And I pray, my heart and my prayer is that this has blessed you. This has encouraged you, but also this has brought a real revelation and new understanding of why that we go to church every single Sunday. Whether you don't go to church or whether you are a every Sunday attender, then I pray that this blessed you. Because I think it's good for all of us to know the why behind Sunday morning or Saturday night, whenever you go to church. Today we want to talk about the value we bring as believers when we go to church. So I think we've seen the last couple of days, it's because we belong to the church. We talked about how we worship out church. We talked about last week how we grow, but or yesterday we talked about how we grow. But today, I want to talk about the value that we bring when we physically step in the room on a Sunday. First Thessalonians 5.11 says this. Therefore, encourage one another and build each other up as you are already doing. So this might be for somebody that's already doing this. Keep on going. But I want to speak to us about when we go to church on Sundays, that it's not just a moment for us or a time for us to be encouraged. You see, I think a lot of times naturally we think that church is all about I go and I receive and I get the word that I need. I grow. We focus just so much on I grow in my understanding of the Lord, I go, I receive, I leave. And what's actually starting to happen in the Christian community that I've really seen is that we've become consumer Christians, where we go to church or we will find a church that meets our every need. I will go to it if I'm happy, if it makes sense to me, if it works for me, if my family is getting met with all of their needs. As long as I am fulfilled and my cup is full, I go to that church. That's the church that I like. But what happens when you go on a Sunday and maybe the message was just an average message? Or maybe the worship team did not sing the songs that you like. Or maybe the pastor said something that probably rubbed us the wrong way. How do we see church that way? What we can't do as believers is see church as consumers. I go and I consume the word of God and I'm good. No, part of why we go to church is to give into others. First Thessalonians is telling us therefore encourage one another and build each other up. When was the last time? And when I was writing this, it hit me. So I'm asking myself this question too. But when was the last time we went to church on a Sunday and we thought, who can I encourage today? When was the last time we walked up on a Sunday and thought, who can I help build up and strengthen today? Because for me, when I get to church on Sunday, I've got to sing, I've got to do this, I gotta get to this post, I gotta make sure the team is rallied. I I want to make sure everybody's on their Ps and their Q's and we're ready to go. But in that hustle, I'll walk right by somebody that needs encouragement. And I'll leave that Sunday and think, man, I didn't get what I needed. When I passed 10 people that needed something from me. And so I think we need to think about church a little bit differently. When we walk through the doors of church, we're encouraging people. Life can be challenging, life can be very hard, but that's why God designed the church the way that He did. God created His church, created the body of Christ. There's a reason why He calls us the body of Christ. It's because we all have different members and parts that we are all a different part of the body, but we're all needed to work together. So we need one another. And it's not that we just need each other's gifts, we need each other's encouragement. We need to strengthen one another. If you serve on a team on Sundays and it's a very intense team, maybe you serve on a media team somewhere and you know when you get to church on Sunday, it is like World War III in the back office. You got to get those lyrics up. And if they're wrong, man, you got to get it up on time. But maybe that Sunday before you walk in, get yourself ready and say, Lord, who can I encourage today? Maybe it's the lead team. Maybe it's the staff member that you think, oh, they don't need to be encouraged. But ask the Lord to place people on your heart for you to encourage every Sunday. Why? Because it takes the attention and the focus off of us and it puts it on God's people. Remember, God always tells us, love the Lord with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul. And then he says, love your neighbor as yourself. So if you need an encouraging word every Sunday, if you need something from church every Sunday, God says, love your neighbor as you love yourself. So if you need it, they need it. And whatever you need on a Sunday, turn it towards what do others need. This is a challenge we're all gonna do. It's Thursday, so we got a couple days until Sunday. Let's all challenge ourselves this Sunday to walk into church ready to encourage and strengthen somebody around us. Come on, let's pray. Father, thank you for your people. We thank you for the people that you've placed in our lives, and we thank you for the church that you have placed us in. Whether it's large or small, God, we just thank you that you've called us to this house. You've called us to plant ourselves in this house, not just to receive, Lord, but to give. And I pray that you would remind us all that you would put it in our hearts and in our minds and our spirits this Sunday to encourage your people, God, because you've called us as the body of Christ to build each other up. So thank you for it all in Jesus' name. Amen.

So there you have it, your five minute daily dose of heaven. Thank you so much for tuning in today. We pray these devotionals empower you to take on your day. If you've found value in this devotional, share it with a friend, leave a comment or review for us on the app you're using right now. Until tomorrow, we pray that your latte is strong, but your love for Jesus is stronger.