Community Provides Encouragement For A Second Chance!

January 23

Community Provides Encouragement For A Second Chance!

Most of the second chances that have been given to me, have not resulted in much that is new or different than before. 

However, there is one exception.  When I am surrounded by a group of friends, by a loving family, or by a Christian brother and sister, I find that most of the second chances I am given bear abundant fruit.

Being in community with other people provides the kind of encouragement and accountability and support I need to live into the second chance that has been given to me.  Let’s focus on the role of encouragement when we are living into our second chance.

In I Timothy 6:12 Paul writes; “Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”  Paul struggles to understand how we can live a good life, how we can enjoy the gift of salvation, and how we can grow into the likeness of Jesus without being surrounded by “…the presence of many witnesses.”

Paul knows that if we want to grow, if we want to achieve a goal, or if we want to be better at whatever it is we want to be better, we will need to be surrounded by friends, family, and other Christ-followers.  We need one another for encouragement and support while living into our second chance.

In Hebrews 10:24-25 we hear; “And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

We need to be surrounded by a community (i.e., group) of people who will encourage us when we are disappointed or discouraged or disillusioned.  We need people who will challenge (provoke) us and support us when our resolve is diminishing or our commitment is growing weak.

Community provides encouragement for a second chance!

When we are given a second chance, we often fail to take full advantage of that gift.  Instead, we look to our previous failure, we focus on the mistake we made, or we obsess on the wrong we did or that was done to us.  A community of people who care about us will encourage us in the right direction when we are beginning to give up on our second chance.

The first Christian church was started in the city of Jerusalem a few months after Jesus was executed.  Peter preached a sermon that resulted in over 3,000 men giving their lives to Jesus as Savior and Lord.  That number does not include their wives and children.  Obviously, the first church was a mega church!

But, there was something in that huge church that was not lost on those new believers; they needed community (a group of Christ-followers) to encourage them with this second chance at life and faith.  In the book of Acts, Luke describes what was happening in the new church.

In Acts 2:40-42 we hear; “And he (Peter) testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.’  So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added.  They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”

All of those who had been given a second chance at an abundant life were committed to gathering with one another for fellowship.  In other words, the people in this huge church understood the importance of encouraging one another.  They gathered in small groups to encourage the disappointed, to support the discouraged, and to challenge the wayward.

Their hope and prayer was to encourage one another to live into the second chance they found through faith in Jesus as their Savior and Lord. 

One of the things we learn about that first church is it was filled with joy and wonder at the stories of the second chance given to them by Jesus.  In other words, when they gathered in community to encourage one another, delight was overflowing in their hearts.

I invite you to sit down with a friend this week.  Talk about how you can encourage one another to live into the second chances God is giving to each of you.   

Take Delight In The Lord!

Doug