18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.  1 Thessalonians 4:18

11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.  1 Thessalonians 5:11

A. Our Need for Encouragement and Edification

1. Our spiritual health depends upon their practice: 1 Thess. 5:11

2. Our spiritual responsibility dictates their practice: Romans 12:3-5

3. Our spiritual survival demands their practice: Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Today

B. Our Ministry of Encouragement to One Another

1. By words

God’s Word

Romans 15:4, John 20:19

– To fellow sheep needing lifted up in times of failure and falling: Job 4:4

– To fellow sheep needing the light of understanding in a dark world: Psalm 119:130

– To fellow sheep needing hope in a hopeless world: Psalm 119:147

– To fellow sheep needing truth in a world of unrestrained relativism: Psalm 119:160, Col. 3:16

Our Words

– Of thanksgiving for one another: Romans 1:8, 1 Cor. 1:4, Phil. 1:3-4

– Of affirmation to one another: 1 Thess. 1:7, Philemon 7

– Of praying for one another: 2 Thess. 1:11, Luke 22:31-32

2. By example: 1 Thess. 2:9-12, Phil. 1:12-14, Philemon 4-7

3. By presence: Rom. 1:9-12, Heb. 10:24-25