Sunday 21st April

Lawrence Kirby shared a message titled,
'Courage: Cultivate and Share'

At KIC we are all about encouraging, equipping and empowering people for LiFE [Living in Freedom Everyday]

If you are being encouraged, what is that for you?
Being given courage to have another go even after failing again and again?
Despite failure, people believing you can do it?

You can impart courage to others
Bravery is not just an absence of fear - Sometimes fear and cautious awareness is what keeps us safe, so to try and be rid of it completely is not entirely helpful and healthy.
Acknowledge the fear and do the next right thing anyway.
Courage is an internal resilience that helps you to still do what you know is right, despite the fear.
To have courage is to strengthen your internal world

Deuteronomy 31:6
"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

1 Chronicles 28:20
"David also said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the Lord is finished."

Joshua 1:9
"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Isaiah 41:10
"So do not fear, for I am with you;
    do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
    I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

Encourage yourself in Lord by knowing He is with you wherever you are and whatever you're doing
If you don't have the awareness that God is with you, you will lack courage
When we lean into God being with us, we can find the strength in him to keep moving
If He's called you, He goes with you
Our personal feelings can discourage us from doing the right thing
God's responsible for what happens when we take the next right step
We don't want to lean into our insecurities, but instead into what Yahweh says about us.
God says to us: 'In the mission I'm giving you, I will never leave you nor forsake you.'
Courage comes from knowing God's presence
It's a heart strength that we can cultivate

Encouraging others: What you have, you can pass on to others, to strengthen them!

Isaiah 35:3-4
"Strengthen the feeble hands,
    steady the knees that give way;
say to those with fearful hearts,
    “Be strong, do not fear;
your God will come,
    he will come with vengeance;
with divine retribution
    he will come to save you.”

Sometimes we need others around us because we don't have the capacity in ourselves yet

Deuteronomy 15:7-8
"If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them. 8 Rather, be openhanded and freely lend them whatever they need."

If we come across people in need, we need to be soft hearted toward them and offer what we have to encourage them.

You can do it! We are with you, we believe in you!

There is an invitation to be an encourager

You have Holy Spirit inside of you, so do not let "I don't have that Spiritual gift" be an excuse for not encouraging.

Let us be a community that encourages each other into all God's called us to be!

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You can watch the full message below: