“Lift Off”
Several weeks ago an American Idol contestant said something like this before facing the judges, “I’m doing this for my best friend who died 4 years ago.” They showed pictures of her and her friend laughing and doing things together. Then, crying she said, ‘She was the only one who believed in me…’ after her performance the judges gave her a ticket to Hollywood. I don’t know if she’s made it to the next round but at least she succeeded in what she had gone to do…and all because, in her mind, a friend lifted her up with vision and encouragement.
Because we live in the Canaveral area we are used to the ‘lift off’ idea, the time the space shuttle or rocket is being powered into space. Lift off is the moment the initial vertical take off happens. One great thing about family, whether blood related or friendship based, is the times when we lift each other up. So often people find themselves ‘down in the dumps’ and sometimes all it takes for them to refocus is a moment of encouragement and sends them in the right direction. There’s so much of life that discourages.
QUESTION: WHAT’S DISCOURAGING? (get answers from crowd)
POSSIBLE ANSWERS: Not reaching your dreams (you come to the point in your life when you know you’re not going to go as far as you had hoped); family arguments; failure; dealing with difficult people whose purpose in life seem to be to make your life miserable, trust me, there are people everywhere who want you to feel as lousy as they do; lack of funds (whether at home or at church or business, when there’s little money to go around (to pay bills and to play and use for entertainment) it’s discouraging; when there seems to be no relief in sight (from an illness or from the control of an addiction or from a bad situation). Life can be painful.
“A cheerful heart is good medicine but a crushed spirit dries up the bones” Prov 17:22
The New Living Translation puts the second part of that verse this way,
“A broken spirit saps a person’s strength.” NLT (sucks the life out of you; makes one brittle)
Having a crushed spirit is awful, you don’t feel like doing anything when you’re down. But having a heart that’s been encouraged is a good thing; it’s soothing and therapeutic. The Hebrew word for medicine was used of removing a bandage and seeing that the wound is healing. Lifting people up has powerful healing effect. So, how do we encourage others? There are various ways.
1. Empower them- it’s what Jesus did.
7 “Calling the Twelve to him, he sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits.” Mark 6:7
1”When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, 2and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.” Luke 9:1-2
Can you imagine the disciples doing what they had seen Jesus do, taking charge of demons and restoring sight to the blind and miraculously seeing sick people get well? They had to be like, ‘Oh yeah’ and high-fiving each other. Of course you and I cannot empower people that way but we can
Teach and equip folks to help them succeed: from cooking to general car maintenance to giving tips of better ways of doing certain things or fixing projects; or teaching someone how to budget. People you consider family have talent and ability but sometimes they don’t have the tools or the know how. Give it to them. Success breathes confidence and confidence makes one feel good.
Recently I had a toilet water leak so I ventured to fix it. I had never removed a toilet from the floor or seen what lies underneath that beast. But my friend Sheila (who owns a plumbing business) gave me some tips and direction and I reluctantly went at it. I was also told to buy something called a wax gasket so I could install it to the pipe flange…WHAT? Flange sounds like Flan and we eat that where I come from. Trust me I had absolutely no clue but I reluctantly went at it. I removed the commode, looked at that hole in the ground and went, ‘Oh Lord.’ Talk about gagging but I was cool and pressed on; I scraped the old seal on the floor and made the whole thing look pretty and at times I called on my friend Doug with questions about the ‘fa-lange’ and he actually came over for a few moments to direct me and I finally put it all together and when I flushed it worked like a charm with no leaks. Flushing felt awesome. Success! I did it! But I was empowered by my family, my church family. There are things you know how to do well, use them to empower those you love. Second, don’t only empower them but also
2. Inspire them
Last week we were talking about how much the Lord loves you and me and what great purpose He has for your life and that He has equipped you with all kinds of talents and abilities so you can be useful for Him. It’s inspiring. Jesus took a rough around the edges, uneducated fisherman and for three and half years developed and inspired him. First the Lord changed his name,
“Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which, when translated, is Peter)” John 1:42…not sure why Jesus changed his name to Peter other than to give him a new image. That’s what the Lord does with us. He saves our soul and changes us then an extreme makeover family edition begins as He works through us to develop our relationships. God has incredible vision for your life and mine. Jesus also changed Peter’s destiny,
31”Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. 32But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” Luke 22:31-32
This last Scripture has to do with the time when Peter would deny knowing the Lord 3 times before the crucifixion and how he would rise one day to lead the New Testament church and Peter did. The fisherman became Jesus’ ‘go to guy.’ Who would have thought it? But the Lord Jesus saw pass Peter’s rough/tough exterior and saw a leader in there. There may be a leader in you.
Someone said that mining gold is like developing people. When gold is mined several tons of dirt must be moved to get an ounce of gold. But one doesn’t go into the mine looking for dirt, one goes looking for gold.
Bring out the gold in everyone you know and love. Find what shines in members of your family, look for the best in them and think of ways to help bring that out of them.
Jesus Christ was a master encourager! Check out what He told His disciples,
12 “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” John 14:12-14
That’s encouraging. The Lord was talking about you and me doing great things. Have you been following the winter Olympics? All the athlete know is that he/she has a shot at a medal. Believing that one day he/she will stand on the podium for their country as the flag is raised is their inspiration. Go America…so far we have more gold medals and are beating every other country in medal count.
All you need to know as a child of God is that God has made you a champion and that when you pray and trust God your possibilities are endless. With the Lord ‘its never too late; its never over; is never the end.’ God gives us the edge, God favors us, with the Lord’s help we can succeed.
Remind those you love of the possibilities before them, that they can do it, that they have it in them (whatever they set their hearts to) and that God is on their side. Tell them to trust Him with their hopes and dreams and goals.
“How good is a timely word!” Proverbs 15:23b (sometimes all we need is a reminder, or a word of encouragement, or a word of vision)
Help your people succeed, empower them, inspire them,
3. Compliment them
Jesus Christ was full of compliments for people. When Peter said that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Lord called him blessed (Matthew 16:16-17). When a woman came and poured expensive perfume on Jesus’ head the Lord defended her and praise her actions; He called what she did beautiful (Mark 14:6). When a woman by the name of Mary chose to sit and listen to His teaching Jesus told her she did good and chose wisely (Luke 10:41). And, after we’ve served God faithfully down here on earth and we get to heaven, the Lord is going to lock eyes with us and say, ‘well done good and faithful servant’ (Matthew 25:23). Compliments!
Every day look for opportunities for complimenting someone. There’s not enough of that going around. Make it happen today.
COMPLIMENT GUIDELINES
• Be intentional- everyday look for opportunities for complimenting someone. There’s not enough of that to go around. Make it happen today. Compliment your wife, kids, friend, make them feel special. Set your mind to do it.
• Be specific- that’s how the apostle Paul was about complimenting his friends, he said Mark had been helpful to him and that Luke was the only one that had stayed with him through tough times (2Timothy 4:11). About a guy by the name of Epaphras Paul said, “I vouch for him, I put my stamp of approval on him” because of his hard work in ministry (Colossians 4:13). It’s good to be specific on your compliment. Pick out things that person does well and brag on them. Say things like ‘you have a sharp mind’ or ‘thanks for remembering’ etc.
• Compliment for no good reason- we usually compliment and say something nice for something someone does well. How about complimenting for no good reason or saying ‘you’re amazing’ just because of who that person is. Paul called Luke a dear friend (Colossians 4:14) and Timothy and Onesimus were like his sons (Philemon 10; 2Timothy 1:2). Solomon wrote, “Favor refreshes like a spring rain” Proverbs 16:15 NLT (a spring rain cools a day off and helps in producing good crops); people feel great when you show favor and love towards them.
• Use positive facial expressions- a great part of communication is non verbal. Your eyes, your face what does it reveal when you talk or look at someone? I never forget my youth minister at FBC, Orlando, Rick Blythe. He constantly loved and encouraged hundreds of teenagers in that group including me. He would see me and light up. He would have his eyes and mouth opened wide as if totally excited to see me. One day I was leaving and he called me out across that big room where we met, pointed to me and said, ‘Hey George Jorge (that’s what he called me) YOU ARE SPECIAL!’ When you talk to your kids, light up. When was the last time you lit up because of your wife? Husband? Parent? Whomever you are, be encouraging!
• Saturate people with praise
Compliment work! Charles Schwab said, “I have yet to find the man, however exalted his position, who did not do better work and put forth greater effort under a spirit of approval than under a spirit of criticism.” (Raising Positive Kids in a Negative World, Zig Ziglar, p. 53). You may not see immediate results but don’t give up telling people good things about them; they are listening and eventually it will have an impact in their lives.
The background of the powerpoint I’ve been using today is of a certain type of bamboo called the Phyllostahcys Moso. The fascinating thing about the Moso bamboo is that you plant it and water it and the first year you hardly see any results. But you keep watering and caring for it and the second year nothing happens. On the third year you water it some more and protect the small plant and…nothing much happens. On the fourth year you water it some more and yet there’s hardly any change to the plant. Sometime on the fifth year, however, you water it and take care of it and all of a sudden in a span of about 5 to 6 weeks there’s ‘lift off’ and the Moso grows as high as 90 feet. The question is asked, did it take it 5 weeks to grow the Moso bamboo? or almost 6 years? It takes all five years of watering and caring.
Empower, Inspire, Compliment, believe in people…and we’re just scratching the surface. You can encourage through example, sometimes a hug or a pat on the back does the job, or giving a surprise gift to remind someone how special he/she really is. We have a red plate in our home, the ‘YOU ARE SPECIAL’ red plate we set on the table sometimes to encourage on of our family members. Do what you can. Do all you can and watch family lift off.
