en-cour-age-ment \in-’ker-ij-ment\  n 1: something that almost everybody wants but few know how to give

It’s more than a sympathy card. What the Bible envisions for  church communities is an atmosphere that:

• urges
• admonishes
• exhorts
• cheers
• inspires
• charges
• and yes, comforts.

Encouragement is a multi-dimensional ministry to keep us all moving forward “so that (we) would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls (us) into His own kingdom and glory.”

Have you stopped moving?  How did you get stuck?  Was it grief?  Confusion?  Indecision?  Loneliness?  Rebellion?

Encouragement is just the nudge you need to get out of your stuck-ness!

Listen in by clicking the links below:

Just the Nudge You Need  Encourage1

Who Needs a Nudge?  Encourage2

His Very Name was Nudge  Encourage3

Where to Find Comfort  Encourage4

The Needy Never Nudge  Encourage5

You Don’t Say!  Encourage6

16,000 of What Kinda Words? Encourage7

From the PBS special “The Blues”:
On a lonely night in 1903, W.C. Handy, the African American leader of a dance orchestra, got stuck waiting for a train in the hamlet of Tutwiler, Mississippi. With hours to kill and nowhere else to go, Handy fell asleep on a hard wooden bench at the empty depot. When he awoke, a ragged black man was sitting next to him, singing about “goin’ where the Southern cross the Dog” and sliding a knife against the strings of a guitar. The musician repeated the line three times and answered with his instrument.

Intrigued, Handy asked what the line meant. It turned out that the tracks of the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad, which locals called the Yellow Dog, crossed the tracks of the Southern Railroad in the town of Moorehead, where the musician was headed, and he’d put it into a song.

It was, Handy later said, “the weirdest music I had ever heard.”

Readers of the Bible might have a similar experience when they come across Ecclesiastes. Solomon definitely sounds a blue note, but what’s the effect?

I believe as we chase down the the themes of futility with Solomon’s guidance, we’ll also chase away the illusions that alienate us from God.

Life is hard to handle and impossible to hold. Let’s let the book of Ecclesiastes counteract the youthful folly that there’s meaning in life, AND maturity’s cynicism that says because there’s no inherent meaning, there can be no joy!

Chasin’ the Blues (1:1-11) Eccl1.1-11

LIfe’s Grand Buffet (1:12-2:26) Eccl1.12-2.26

Solomon’s Billboard #1 (3:1-15) Eccl3.1-15

Bite Your Tongue (3:16-5:7) Eccl3.16-5.7

Follow the Money (5:8-20 Eccl5.8-20

If You Know What’s Good For You (6:1-7:14) Eccl6-7.14

What You’ve Got Comin’ (7:15-29) Eccl7.15-29

“Da Man” Bringin’ You Down? (8:1-17) Eccl8

If I’d Only Known (9) Eccl9

What a Fool Believes, He Sees (10) Eccl10

Intrepid? or Intimidated? (11:1-6) Eccl11.1-6

Joie De Vivre (11:7-12:7) Eccl11.7-12.7

Who are these blessings for? Originally proclaimed by King Jesus to the Jewish heirs of kingdom promises, these transcendent virtues are directly applicable to believers in this church age who will, because of the cross, also participate in kingdom blessings.  They represent what kingdom citizens look like now, while we continue to wait for the millennial age.

Is the blessing now or in the future? These people are to be considered blessed now for having God’s seal of approval which will ultimately be rewarded.

I’m calling this series:  “Settling on Plan Be” where “Be” stands for the beatitudes.  Plan “A” is where we are strong, and successful, and satisfied in ordinary terms.  It’s the most natural thing in the world.  But it is strangely out of order for a kingdom that’s not of this world.  And so as we sit at Jesus’ feet and listen, I hope we will forget “Plan A” and settle on “Plan Be.”  God’s “Plan Be” is a compelling vision for Christ’s character being formed in you.  It’s you at your best–the glory of Christ shining through the uniqueness of you.

“Settling on Plan Be” planbeintro

“Blessed Desperation” planbepoor

“When God says, ‘Good Grief!’”  planbemourn

“Giant Strength, Gentle Touch”  planbemeek

“Happy are the Hungry” planbehungry

“Merciful Heavens!” PlanBeMerciful

“No Posers” planbepure

“The No Bull Peace Prize” PlanBePeacemaker

“When Outcast is Cool” PlanBePersecuted

“Will I Ever Be Good Enough?” PlanBeGoodEnoughmp3