Herbert W Armstrong

   There's one name I want to turn to in the New Testament which I find interesting. If you will turn with me to Acts chapter 4. And verse 36. Perhaps we don't think too much about this particular man's name as far as a definition is concerned. I think there's a rather interesting definition that we find here with this person. Acts 4:36. "And Joseph, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas," and then we have a parenthetical expression here, "which is by, uh, which is being interpreted, the son of consolation, a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus."

   So the Bible takes a little bit of time here to actually define the meaning of this name Barnabas. We aren't just told that his name was Barnabas, and that's it, you know, like John or Tom or Henry, what have you. But we're told that the Bible takes a few words to do this, that, that this man's name means son of consolation. Bar in the Aramaic, meaning son, and the Nabas, N-A-B-A-S, meaning consolation. Or perhaps other synonyms could be used, such as exhortation or encouragement, or words of that nature.

   And I think that's rather interesting that, uh, Barnabas, one of the apostles, one who worked with Paul for a period of time, and then we don't hear too much about him, must have been known for this trait in his character and personality. Uh, we don't find here that his name is the son of a scowl. Uh, we don't find here the long-faced one. We don't find this discourager. We find rather that here is a man who originally was called Joseph or Joseph.

   But I would assume that because his personality and character is such that over a period of time, they said, "Let's change this fellow's name. He's not named properly. He's got a smile on his face. He's always got a friendly word. He encourages us. He pats on the back. I think he should be called the son of encouragement, the son of consolation." So we actually changed the fellow's name. I think that's rather interesting and significant.

   We have people in the Church of God, I'm sure many of you can think of some of them, maybe even friends of yours. And we look upon these people as being people with maybe the bright smile. Or maybe the, the one who has a friendly disposition, always has a kind word or a pat on the back for you. People who can encourage and uplift and say nice things to us, that really make our day and make us feel like, well, I can go out and I can conquer, I can work on my problems. Life is not all that gloom and doom, after all. I can work on these things. I think Barnabas must have been such an individual.

   I can think of people, uh, you know, for example, uh, I hope you don't mind my mentioning names. They are here, most of them. But a person like Dean Wilson. Uh, most of us know him. He's the fellow that always has a smile on his face. I don't know if he was born with it or what, but it's always there, and it's etched in concrete, I guess, by this time. Uh, but the fellow doesn't have a pessimistic bone in his body. He's filled with optimism, a rays of hope. Everybody I've known who has worked for him has, has thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated that. He looks through life with, as we say, rose-colored glasses. And I think anyone enjoys being around a person like that.

   And of course, uh, Dean Wilson, I guess, is somewhat of a, of a byword of that kind of personality, and that doesn't knock the individual one little bit. I think that's very fine. Dean Blackwell is another one somewhat that way. Uh, you know, those who have gone through his classes, particularly those, uh, in the Pastoral Administration classes or relative to the ministry and so on. I've looked at his reports relative to seniors who are graduating. And I, I've yet to see him say anything bad or negative about anybody. And, and you'd almost think that all of these seniors who are graduating are perfect. They're going to be the world's greatest minister, and they have fantastic abilities and talents and all of that. You know, if you ever need a letter of recommendation, if Dean Blackwell knows you, get the guy to write one for you. He'll do a fantastic job because that's just again the way he is. I don't think he sees anything bad in individuals. Again, I don't knock that. I think that's a very, very fine and wonderful thing.

   We had Carlton Green speaking here yesterday, and I, I, I hope I don't embarrass him by talking about him. But there's one thing about, uh, Carlton Green. Uh, I don't think he embarrasses, at least I've never seen him blush. So, uh, I'll just say a few words about Carlton Green. You know, he, he's the kind of person that, uh, you can't be around our Carlton without being happy yourself. You can't be sad-faced around him as a person. His personality, his disposition is such that it rubs off on you. I enjoy being around him, and everybody I know feels the same way.

   And so there are people that we come in contact with, different personalities, and we react to their personality either for good or for bad. But I'm trying to bring out more the, the positive this morning rather than those who may adversely affect us. We react to them. They have an impact upon our life, our character, our personality, the things that we do. I think that's fine. I think that's the way it should be. Of course, the question is, how do others react to us? You know, we react to them, but, but what is our role in all of this? How do others react to you or me as an individual? How do we, uh, impact their life as far as the good I hope that we can exude in our personality and character?

   President Carter, uh, some time ago, I was reading in Time Magazine, acknowledged that he was inspired to achieve things in his life above and beyond what he thought were his natural abilities and talents because of the inspiration given to him by Admiral Rickover. And, uh, I don't know the full extent of that. Uh, maybe he would not have become president of the United States had it not been for Admiral Rickover. Uh, but at least the man had an impact upon his life, and, and he went above and beyond what he thought he could do. Perhaps he thought he was limited in certain areas, but the man inspired him and said, "Go above and beyond that," and he did. He is now president of the United States.

   So we find that we can, and, uh, we find people do acknowledge their indebtedness to others. That indebtedness that has led them to success and to achievement in life. All of us in the Church of God are very much the products of the personality and character of Mr. Herbert Armstrong and Mr. Garner Ted Armstrong. Now I don't think we should apologize for that. I know some are going to say, "Oh, you're an Armstrongite," you know, when you make that kind of statement. Well, that's their problem, it's not mine. I don't apologize for it one little bit. In one sense, if I could use this word in the right kind of way, I'm proud of the relationship that I and all of us have had relative to our association with both Armstrongs. I'm grateful for that, and I don't apologize for it. I don't feel bad about it. I'm glad their personality has rubbed off and their character has rubbed off, their faith has rubbed off. And the fine example that they have set has rubbed off upon me and others in the Church of God.

   I, I wouldn't be apologetic by saying, you know, if I were living in Abraham's day, I'm glad to be with the person. And, and associate with him and have his personality rub off on me. I don't think anyone would, would apologize for that, or David or Peter or Paul or Barnabas or anybody else. I don't think we should apologize or be negative about saying that Mr. Armstrong's, both of them, for that matter, their personality and their character has had an impact upon us. We have been inspired and we have been encouraged by them.

   But again, let's come down to us as individuals. Do we inspire? Do we encourage, and especially to those that we love the most in this life? Maybe our children, our wife, our husband, our friends, and so on. I wonder if we really do realize the full extent of the responsibility that we all have and can have in stimulating one another to greater growth and developments in the Church of God as spiritual lives in the way that it ought to be.

   And so I want to concentrate this morning in this sermon on the subject of encouragement. Maybe in, in many respects, many more of us can become people like Barnabas, sons of, and please allow the extent of the, uh, extension, I should say, of the translation, sons of encouragement. I think all of us ought to, uh, to aspire to be more like Barnabas in that particular sense. I think we ought to weigh how much we do strive as individuals to achieve the success and growth and development, and especially among those that we love the most in this particular life.

   Now, you know, if you had a scale, you know, balance of some kind, and, and you can put, uh, on these two sides of the scales, various things. Of course, I'm talking about abstract things, but let's look at it from that point of view. If you could put on the two sides of the scales encouragement versus the times in which you as an individual, or myself too for that matter, on the other side in which we have criticized, which would be the heaviest in our personal relationship with other individuals? Do we encourage more than we criticize? Or do we criticize more than we encourage? How about as far as praise? And compliments rather than always finding faults. Again, which is going to weigh the heaviest in your relationship with other individuals? Do you praise more than you find faults, or do we always seem to find more faults and we never seem to find too much good about individuals?

   Do we express appreciation and gratitude to other people as we ought? Or do we perhaps even just remain silent about the good things and fine things that other people are doing for us and take it for granted and never take the time to say thank you, I appreciate that. I'm grateful for what you have done for us. I think we need to weigh these things. I think we need to look at our life and our impact upon other individuals and see how we're balancing between these two categories.

   In Proverbs chapter 15, if you'll turn back there with me. Proverbs the 15th chapter. And verse 23. Proverbs 15:23. We read here, "A man has joy by the answer of his mouth. And a word spoken in due season, how good it is." And the latter part of that translation by Moffatt reads, "A word in season, what a help it is." How good it is, what a help it is. You know, the individual who can come up to someone else, someone else, and give him hope. Give him faith. Give him encouragement, put his arm either literally or figuratively around him and say, "You know, things aren't all that bad. Things are going to work out and, uh, you know, let's trust, let's have faith, and let's have confidence," and brighten up the person's day. That's what it says here, a word in season at the appropriate time, it means the time of need. What a help it is.

   You know, it's no good in that sense encouraging someone since maybe it doesn't need to be encouraged, but the person who feels down and out and weak and despondent, that's the time that we need to encourage the individual, a time that's seasonable in that sense.

   I'm really convinced that a person will be much more inspired to success if he is praised for his accomplishments than if he is only criticized or condemned for his weaknesses. Now I, I know that I'm, I'm leaving a lot of things unsaid this morning and intentionally. I, I can't take the time to qualify everything. I can't take the time to talk about the other side of the coin. I know there are times to criticize. I know there are times to discipline, to correct, and, and to cry aloud as it were. I know that, but I'm not emphasizing that today. I'm looking at, uh, the heads, not the tails as it were today, and that's all I'm going to concentrate on, so please forgive me if I don't qualify everything I say. I know there are times in that sense to point out mistakes, but I'm also saying that we need to encourage more than we do, and we can inspire growth if we will praise more than we do, if we will encourage more than we do.

   There, there's a syndrome that I'm sure all of us are familiar with. I call it a syndrome. Many of us do. Relative to the Ambassador Clubs and the Spokesman's Clubs. And particularly, let's say an individual has spent a lot of time in preparing a speech. And, uh, maybe he's spent many, many hours in, in thinking about it, planning it, maybe even researching into it. Frankly, if he does nothing more than read the proverbial Reader's Digest article, at least he's done that, but you know, the fellow's put some effort into it, and maybe especially in the Spokesman's Clubs. Even just the effort perhaps of getting up there and speaking for six minutes is a monumental accomplishment.

   But at least the individual feels in his own heart and mind and sincerely, I, I put a lot of effort into this speech. I, I put my whole heart and being into it. I've done all I possibly can, and he gives his speech and, and perhaps he feels that he's, you know, done a fine job and he sits down, then. The man we call the evaluator, and sometimes you wonder how in the world he got that name, but the man who's called the evaluator gets up and says, "Well, now, um, I thank you very much for that speech." They always begin that way. "But I have a few things I think you can work on. Now your organization was not all that hot, uh, your logic was definitely lacking, uh, your grammar was poor, uh, your gestures were almost nil," and on and on it goes like that, you see, and you know, this is bad and that is bad and the other is bad and so on, and maybe he winds up saying, "But you know, apart from that it's a pretty good speech."

   I've heard that so many times, uh, so many times in Ambassador Clubs and Spokesman's Clubs. Maybe some of you have heard it yourselves and been so discouraged after that when you thought at least you've done your best. Oh, you, you know you're not the world's greatest speaker, uh, but at least you, you felt you did as good as you could with what you've got to do with, and here you're raked over the coals and in essence told that it, uh, it really wasn't all that bad. But you kind of feel it was, and maybe, I don't know, maybe sometimes that's why some of our Spokesman's Clubs and Ambassador Clubs don't have the success they ought to. It's because we don't encourage as much as we ought to. We don't say those things that are going to uplift and help the individual. We don't take the time to look for the good in what he has said or his technique or whatever else it may be.

   Some of these things obviously are relative. As I say, the individual who has just gotten up there for 6 minutes without his knees knocking too much and finished the speech and given something in that way is praiseworthy. And should be acknowledged from that point of view. Again, we all know that many of us have suffered through that. Uh, many of us have gone through that kind of experience. It's not often that pleasant. But the question is, again, for us as individuals, when we get up, do we evaluate or do we criticize? What is our approach? Do we encourage the individual? Do we try to inspire him to do a better job next time by pointing out his strengths? The way he can build and capitalize on that.

   What I'm talking about takes effort. It's easy to look at any speaker and find dozens of faults with him. Anybody can do that. Takes no effort whatsoever. But to look for ways to encourage, to find his strong points, to develop that and show him how to improve and to inspire him to be even a better speaker next time, that takes effort, that takes work. It's not easy. But that's what we have to learn to do. And I feel that very often to take the easy way out and, and again I, maybe I'm being overboard, uh, I don't mean to say that we all do that or that we always do that, but all too often it does happen. So we as individuals need to learn to get friendly and helpful words to show the good, the value of what the individual is doing, something we learned from him to encourage him for, for next time.

   In Isaiah chapter 50, Isaiah the 50th chapter. And verse 4. We read this, Isaiah 50:4. "The Eternal God has given me the tongue of the learned. That I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary." Maybe we don't know how. It talks here about knowing how to do it. Maybe we don't have it by nature. Maybe we as individuals by nature are more the type who find fault and criticize and, and look on the pessimistic side of things. Maybe we are that way. Isaiah says, God gives me, God has given me the ability, the knowledge to know how to do it.

   So if we don't know how to do it, let's not just take it for granted. Well, I'm that way. I can't change. I can't improve. Ask God to give you more of that knowledge, that ability to be able to inspire and to encourage, not only for the weary, of course that's what I was talking about here, but just for everybody. Again, the word in season to go up to the individual who is in need, who does have problems, and to feel and to know I can uplift that person. I can brighten his day. I can become more the son of encouragement as Barnabas was. Pray for that. Ask God to give you that as a tool in your life, and especially with your loved ones.

   We have so many, so many ways even here at the festival. But especially in our daily lives in which we can encourage individuals. I just think of one illustration. As festival director here for the first time, I, I've been looking at the figures of attendance that we have had, and, uh, I, I don't know all the factors here, and I certainly don't intend to make sweeping condemnations or anything of that nature, and especially not you because I mean you're here, so why should I be angry at you and mad at you for being here, you know. I'm not even mad at those who aren't here for that matter, but, uh, it seems to me that the attendance variations are much more dramatic here than other festival sites I've been to.

   Now yesterday morning when Mr. Ted Armstrong was here, we had about 3500 people in attendance, and, uh, some of those were co-workers who were invited in, you know, the public, and I, I, I think that was excellent that we had that kind of attendance. And, uh, you know, as far as that is concerned, the excellent sermon he gave, I don't want to knock that or play that down in any way whatsoever. I'm very, very happy and encouraged over the sermon he gave and the attendance we had at that time.

   But what I did find myself, and again I don't know all the circumstances, a little bit strange was that by the afternoon, uh, we only had about 2500 in attendance, 1000 fewer than in the morning. And I would say from the estimation of our attendance so far today we have about 1500 in attendance. And, uh, I, I, I don't know why, frankly, and, and so I kind of wonder again, maybe there's some very right and valid reasons why our attendance has dropped off 2000 since yesterday morning. I don't know. Maybe they heard I was speaking, so that'd be a pretty good reason not to come, I'm sure.

   But at any rate, we've dropped off quite a bit. Now what I wonder is, can we not encourage maybe some that are not here to be here? I, I would dare say that many of us, maybe most of us know someone who's not here today. I don't know where they are, again, maybe their reasons are valid, but maybe they're at Magic Mountain today, or maybe they're down at the beach, you know, it's cloudy and dismal here. Maybe the sun's shining down there. I don't know. Maybe they've gone to the mountains or the desert or whatever it may be. Do we know individuals that we could encourage in the right kind of way?

   Now you see, we can have two approaches. We can condemn people either openly or in our minds. They should be here, you know, that kind of approach, and I'm here and I'm nice and I'm righteous and all that, and they should be as righteous as I am, and they ought to be here. Maybe we could condemn other people. Uh, should we go up to them and you know, call them names perhaps and say you aren't spiritual or imply that to them and condemn them for not being here? Well, no. In fact, that's just the very opposite of the kind of approach I would like to get across today.

   Over in Hebrews chapter 10, it speaks about, uh, an approach that we can and ought to have toward individuals relative to assemblage. Hebrews 10:24. It says, "Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works." And it goes on to even expound on one part of that, "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is." So apparently Paul spoke about problems in his time that I'm speaking about today. He went through the same thing that we've been going through. So he says, let's not do that as the manner of some is. But it says, "Exhort one another." Encourage is basically what that word means. It doesn't mean to condemn. It doesn't mean to hold a club over their head. It doesn't mean to be more righteous than they are, but to encourage them, exhort them, "and so much the more as you see the day approaching."

   This is what I feel that we ought to do. I, I don't know why they're here. Again, I do understand that many would not be here for very, very valid reasons. Of course, many were in the public and we would not expect them here. But on the other hand, I wonder if we cannot encourage others to be here for the other services. I certainly feel that again, I repeat, Mr. Ted Armstrong gave a fantastic sermon on the family yesterday, very meaningful and very timely, and I felt very, very valuable. But on the other hand, we had 1000 fewer yesterday afternoon. 1000 people were not here to hear what Dr. Hoeh had to say. And I feel sorry for those people. Uh, you were here and you heard it, and you were inspired by it. A lot of food for thought to go home and think about what he said. I, I felt he had a very excellent and dynamic sermon. And I really feel sorry for those individuals who weren't here, and I think we should in the right kind of way be encouraging others to be here for the services of God in attendance and hearing what God's ministers have to bring to us during this period of time.

   Mr. David Anton is going to be speaking in the sermon tomorrow morning. And I think we should have people here to listen to what he has to say and to be encouraged themselves and inspired by what he is going to say, things that are going to be helpful to their daily lives and meaningful to them. Maybe certain valuable keys they need to know they would not have otherwise. I think we need to encourage them to be here and Dr. Wainwright, who is speaking, I believe it is on Friday, and frankly, I don't remember the schedule too much beyond that in my wretched memory. But anyway, we have a number of other speakers. Mr. Kelly is coming from Tucson, he's over there now, and I think he speaks, two more times. Uh, here at the festival, uh, in Pasadena. I, I think we, uh, should encourage these people to be here and listen to what the ministers of God will say for them.

   Again, I don't think we should antagonize them. I don't think we should be in a condemning attitude, but to encourage them. Uh, maybe in one sense I, I should, shouldn't be saying that because if, if we do it and more people are here, I'm, I'm afraid that I'm going to wind up as the minister who spoke to the smallest group of people. And that's not gonna look too good on my record, but anyway, maybe you can wait till after the Sabbath, maybe you'll have a lower attendance or something. Well, I'm joking, uh, please, I'm joking, Mr. Anton.

   Now, please encourage them, those you may know, and we hope that we can have more in attendance. Uh, I, I just found it rather strange because, uh, the attendance has fluctuated and varied so much here more than other sites I've been to, but again, it's a different site I know that.

   Let's go on here. II Corinthians chapter 1. Speaks here about in II Corinthians 1 about many things Paul and the ministry were going through. Their problems and difficulties, their persecutions. The beatings and many of those physical adversities they were enduring for the sake of the work at that time. It says here something we can learn from this and an approach we can have toward others as we go through these experiences in life. II Corinthians 1:3. "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord, of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Father of mercy and the God of all comfort."

   Now here we find something about the mind and nature and the approach of God. We don't find here that he is called the Father of criticism. We don't find here that he is called the Father of gloom. We don't find here the Father of discouragement. Well, he is called the Father of mercy and the God of all comfort. This does not say that God doesn't correct us in times of need. This does not say that God does not rebuke us when he needs to. We know and understand that, and I think most of us, uh, apply that fairly automatically. But here is a part that we don't apply as much as we ought to and a part of the mind of God we need to look to that God is the God or the Father of mercy and the God of all comfort "who comforts us in all of our tribulation."

   And very often he does not take that tribulation from us, but he puts his arm around us as we suffer. He gives us that help and that encouragement, that inspiration we need, deliverance, uh, you know, eventually certainly is going to come, but in the meantime, God is a God who comforts us. He doesn't leave us by ourselves. He doesn't leave us without encouragement. He doesn't leave us without inspiration. He helps us in these things. "That we," and here's the important thing I want to apply to us as well, "that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble." That's the approach we ought to have. To know, not only those who are in need in that regard, but to know how to do it, how to comfort them, how to encourage them, how to uplift them. Many people we know as individuals are very, very gifted in that regard, but all of us can do it. We need to learn how to do it, but all of us can and ought to do that. "So that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God."

   So again, that's the kind of approach that we need to have. To be able to uplift individuals and put our arms around them and say things that are going to help them in their lives.

   How about praise? How about compliments? Are you afraid to give praise? Are you afraid to say that was a great job? That was just fantastic, you know, that, that's beautiful. Uh, the thing you did, I, I really do appreciate that and, and it, it's a real fine thing. Are we afraid to praise? Are we sometimes feel, well, if I say that it'll go to his head. He'll be all vain about it. Well, should that stop us from praising people? I don't think so.

   In Proverbs 27, let's go back there and see what, what it says here relative to the matter of praise. Should we give it? Should we receive it? If someone praises us, what should our approach be? You know, they kind of oh shucks for nothing, you know, should that be our approach, but maybe it did take a lot of effort and work to make it and produce it. Should we have a sense of false humility about it? Should we be afraid to receive praise, and should we above all be afraid to give it? Proverbs 27:2, "Let another man praise you and not your own mouth."

   Now here's what God says. Don't go around bragging about yourself. Don't go around and say, "Hey, look at this beautiful painting I made here. Or, look at this great job I did," you know. God says, don't you praise yourself. This says let another man praise you. It says, let him do that. Allow him to, permit that to be done. Nothing wrong with that. We don't have to blush and hide our head when someone comes up and says, "You know, you've got a beautiful garden. I, I, I, I love your yard."

   Uh, last night, I don't, I don't know, maybe I shouldn't even mention this because it's personal, but it was such a shock to me. Uh, we were sitting in a restaurant, uh, the Great Scott in Arcadia. Uh, you know, having been in, uh, England for many, many years, we enjoy going to British restaurants, at least, uh, pseudo-British restaurants maybe, but, uh, we were sitting there. I have, uh, many arrows in my quiver. We have 5 children, and, uh, sitting there at a table in the, in the Great Scott and, uh, there was a couple next to us and after they finished, uh, this lady came over to our table and said, "I would just like to express my appreciation for the way your children are behaving," and she said, "We have 2 children, and I just can't believe that your 5 can behave like this," you know, and, uh, so I was flustered. I, I didn't know what to say except thank you, you know.

   But, uh, you know, I, I, I don't think anyone has to say, maybe I shouldn't even mention that. Maybe it seems like I'm praising myself, but I, I just mention that from the point of view that should we be embarrassed if others do praise us and, and try to pretend that they were not that way. Because if we try to pretend we're not that way, I guess what we're saying is, well, you really don't know my kids, they're all monsters, you know. And, uh, I don't practice the principles of child rearing and don't believe in that sort of thing and, uh, and all the rest of that. I guess obey the laws of God and so on. I guess that is all we would acknowledge if we don't want to receive that praise.

   To receive the praise is as far as I am concerned, merely an acknowledgement that at least we're trying to serve God and some of those fruits are self-evident. And I, I think if we are serving God, there ought to be a few fruits of that service. And some of us ought to receive some praise from time to time if we are serving God. I, I believe that's going to be that way. But again it says don't praise yourself, "a stranger and not your own lips." Let somebody else do it. Well, a perfect stranger did that last night and, uh, still can't get over it, but anyway, it never happened before. Maybe that tells you something too, I don't know, but anyway.

   The point is that this gives us confidence. Of course, it makes your kids feel good, doesn't it? Yeah, the lady comes up there and she says these things and they're full hearing. And I didn't feel like saying to my kids afterward when I look at kids, "Don't let that go to your head." I, I, I don't feel I should take that from them. Uh, I, I, I think we can have the right approach to that. So, uh, you know, they're smiling and beaming about it, you know, it kind of made their evening and, uh, I think that's a good thing. It gives us confidence. We need it.

   Do you, do you ever wonder in your job if you're doing it properly? Does your boss, does your foreman ever tell you, say, "Joe, that, that's a great job you're doing. I really appreciate that and, uh, you know, among my, my workers here, you're certainly one of my best, uh, you, you, you rate very, very high with me." What sort of reaction would you have to a boss like that? I think you'd stand up a little bit taller and your chest out a little bit more and I think you'd, I think you'd do a better job even yet, and I think you'd get an awful lot more work out of you. I think we as individuals do need that encouragement. I think we find it helpful.

   How often do we go through life? Whether as wives, wondering if we're doing a good job in the home, as husbands, whether we're doing a good job as a husband, as children, whether we're accomplishing and doing those things that please our parents, whether maybe even as church members that we're receiving even praise as we ought from the ministry, you know, from time to time, and so on. I think we all will readily acknowledge, yes, I do want to be appreciated. I find these things helpful to me and inspiring to me and effective to me, and I feel I can go on and do a better job because of that. Well, if we want it, if we would like to have it, do we give it? Do we impart those feelings and those thoughts and those words to other individuals? We shouldn't just be on the receiving end. We want feedback. We want to know how we're doing, but do we indicate to others how they are doing? And the kind of job they're doing and praise them. And really point out to them with gratitude the kind of job they're doing.

   Of course, let me again qualify this. No one wants a lie. No one wants empty flattery. We want to be told that which is right and true and honest. So I understand that. But at least to have someone notice and appreciate what you have done is right and proper, and it is right and proper for you to acknowledge that to other individuals. Right praise will encourage and enable you to do a better job. It will stimulate you as far as the type of work you do.

   I saw something on the news the other night on television. It's relative to, uh, a problem that the St. Regis Paper Company is having. Maybe some of you saw the same thing. Apparently the, uh, the company had been having some problems with the quality of the paper bags they were producing for supermarkets. Bottoms dropping out, I don't know what all, and there was low morale with the employees and everything, so management and labor got together to try and figure a way to solve this particular problem.

   And what they came up with was this. Prior to this time, uh, let's say on the bottom of the paper bags, maybe you would notice this sometime. It would have just a little printed statement "inspected by 10563." That's the person's number. That's all it would say. But they found that if they would personalize that, that this would, would inspire the workers to do a better job. So what they did was to change the logo at the bottom "inspected by Jane Doe."

   And you know this made a complete turnaround in this paper company. Morale became high. The quality of the product improved tremendously. You know, kids would go home or to their school and say, "Hey, did you see my mom's paper bag? You know, that's her name down there. She's the one that did that one," you see, and they come back and say, "Mom, I told all the kids about your paper bag." Of course that would uplift her and she'd go back to work and do an even better job because she was no longer a 10563. She was Jane Doe or Mary Smith or whatever else her name was, and it was tremendously stimulating to her and to the individuals working there and financially to the company. Everybody benefited just by that kind of stimulus.

   Again, we can make these things so, so abstract, I guess we could not take the time to acknowledge the accomplishments of the individual to the extent that, uh, they become impersonalized. And they lose interest in what they're doing. I wonder how much we may do that even among ourselves.

   I was speaking with, uh, Roman Borek the other day before the festival regarding the auditorium, the care of it, and so on. And he told me something and maybe I'm giving away one of his trade secrets. I, I apologize if I do, but he'll, he'll find another one if so. And he would say, "You know what we do around here at the auditorium relative to children." Of course, normally you think, well, if he finds children misbehaving, one of the ushers grabs the kid, picks him up by the collar, and you know, sticks his finger in his face and said "don't do that again," you know, that sort of thing.

   Well, no, that's not what he said at all. He said, "We instruct our ushers that if they find children in the auditorium behaving properly, that our ushers go up to them and they kneel down and they shake their hands and they say 'thank you for not running in the auditorium. Thank you for taking care of the chairs. Thank you for the respect and so on you're giving to this building and the facilities.'" And those kids, I guess once they get over the initial shock, you are radiating and they're smiling and they're happy and, and so what's going to be the end result? Those kids aren't going to run in this place. They're not going to mar up the place. They're gonna take care of it because they've been encouraged and stimulated by that kind of reaction.

   Again, we can criticize, you know, look to those things that are being done wrong, maybe by the few. And we've had announcements made in the auditorium relative to the disposable diapers. And not standing on the onyx and that kind of thing. I would certainly hope that none of us would have the impression that all of the members are doing this kind of thing. By no means is that the case. And now we do have ushers around to, to ensure that those things are not being abused. We're not stupid and gullible, you see, but we try to be as unobtrusive as possible.

   And, uh, so we, we don't certainly have the attitude that, uh, every woman who goes into the, the bathrooms with her nappy bag over her shoulder is some kind of phantom, uh, diaper disposal down the toilets, you know, or something like that, so we, we don't have that attitude at all and basically as I said even earlier, uh, the vast majority, 90, 95, 99% of all of you are treating these facilities in a right and proper kind of way, and we appreciate that.

   And sometimes when we make these announcements that things are not always as they ought to be, really we're talking about the 1% or 2 or 5 perhaps or something like that and not the vast majority. And then so I, I, I think we should not only in that sense, this is what I'm trying to do this morning, not only point out, hey, there's something done wrong here and something done wrong there and you shouldn't be doing that. I feel that from time to time we ought to take the time to say, you're doing a great job. We appreciate it. And because I think that's going to inspire you and I think we're going to have our facilities even better taken care of, and that's what we want after all. We want the facilities well cared for. We want the trash picked up. We don't want things lying around. So if we could encourage one another to do that rather than gripe and fuss and criticize and find fault and call people names, I think we can get a far better response and have a smile on our face and go away in the right kind of approach and attitude.

   I saw a little girl yesterday afternoon over in the student center, just behind the information, uh, booth area. Cute little girl, frilly dress, blonde curls, you know, probably about 3 years of age. And here she was on a sofa there bouncing up and down like she was on a trampoline. Now I could have said, "Hey kid, what are you doing over there," you know, really raised my voice and stuck my finger to her face and of course she would have hopped down, but she would have gone off screaming bloody murder to her mama and they'll tell you what would have happened to me.

   So I could have had that kind of approach. And maybe that would be the normal first reaction. I'm gonna get that kid's attention. That kid's not gonna get away with that kind of abuse of God's property and so on, you know, all kinds of thoughts come to your mind. I'm really going to let her have what for. Well, I didn't do it that way. So we find if we can have a right approach and give people the benefit they're going to approach things and do things in a proper way, then by and large we're going to find they will. Because I think basically people in God's church certainly do have God's spirit and want to take care of things, and you know, we forget from time to time, we become unconcerned and casual, and that's when we make our mistakes. So we can have this other approach. I think we're going to have far greater success.

   Proverbs 27 and verse 21, just over from the last reference. Proverbs 27:21. "As the fining pot for silver and the furnace is for gold, so is a man to his praise." In other words, just as a refinery and the fire, as it were, the smelting pot brings out the beauty and the radiance and the quality of gold and silver, so in the same way, the best of a man is brought out by praising him. It’s what it says. Doesn't say the best is brought out if you grab him by the cuffs of his coat lapel and say straighten up and fly right. Now maybe there are times in which we have to do that sort of thing. This says the best of a man is going to be brought out by encouraging him.

   You know, if you want to discourage a person, if that's what you'd like to do, then here's what to do. Don't ever praise him. Don't ever say anything that is going to complement his accomplishments. If you want him to be discouraged. If, if you like a person to be well aware of his inadequacies, if you would like for him to feel inferior, be sure you only point out his mistakes. And never the good that he has done. Well, who wants to do those things? Who wants to do those things? I think it's self-evident. If you want a person to feel that he is incompetent, then make him feel he can never do anything right. We don't want to do those things, so I think we need to learn to think about the opposite approach.

   What I am merely saying here again to qualify this to a certain extent. Yes, there are times to correct and point out mistakes and things of that nature, but all I am saying here is let us at least give equal time to encouragement. That's all I'm saying. Now maybe we feel that, uh, you know, on the scales as I mentioned earlier, that we ought to give an ounce of correction. I think we ought to give at least an ounce of encouragement then. Maybe 2 ounces. Maybe we ought to give more encouragement and praise. You know, what should the balance be? I'm not trying to define that, but I, I am just saying, well, let's, let's be sure that we're balancing the two, whatever it may be, that we're giving some of the one as well as of the other.

   And sometimes we feel an obligation to correct. I think this sort of goes through our mind that we see something our children are doing wrong and we say I must correct that. I just cannot tolerate that kind of thing. OK, that's fine, that's good. That's, you know, our approach, let's do that. But do we also feel on the other hand, that when he is doing something good and proper, I must compliment that. I must praise him for the good that he is doing. In other words, do we feel the same responsibility and obligation to praise and to encourage that we feel is our duty to correct and rebuke and criticize? Fairness, equal time, equal amount. That's all I am saying. I'm not trying to define what that may be.

   Over in Proverbs 12:18. Again, I spoke earlier about how it's so easy to criticize but so hard to encourage. This is basically what we find here in Proverbs 12:18. "There is, there is that speaks like the piercings of a sword, but the tongue of the wise is health." This is what we do find that, that the person who is always critical, always hostile, always angry, and I'm using this, this word always, perhaps that's an exaggeration, but nevertheless, you know what I mean. It pierces and it hurts. But on the other hand, the person who will use wisdom and think before he has the approach he's about to have. If he uses that wisdom, and what he says is going to be helpful or healthful to the individual. You need to think about it. What should my approach be? Can I find a way to encourage this person rather than just finding fault with this individual?

   And you know, with you and me, chances are the ones that we encourage the least are the ones we love the most. Isn't that true? I mentioned about the little girl I picked up yesterday, and I have to ask myself the question. Would I have had the same immediate response to one of my own children that I had to that stranger, that little girl? I'll leave that unanswered.

   But you kind of wonder, you know, maybe the first reaction we have to our own kids, you know, how often this happens, you know, "What's going on in there? What are your kids doing?" Uh, you know, maybe it's silent, you know, so the first thought you had, ah, they're doing something bad. Now why is it that parents think that whenever there's silence in a room, something evil is going on? Well, maybe oftentimes evil is going on, but maybe on the other hand this is a rare exception, but why should we always assume, "Hey kids, it's quiet in there. What are you doing?" Yeah, we, we seem to have that. Uh, let's think about our approach. Let's think about the way we're going to react to things.

   You know, when it comes to children especially, and I, I am somewhat talking about this, and Mr. Ted Armstrong spoke about the family yesterday. But you know, children need encouragement, especially in those early formative years of their life in order to have the confidence they need in life. Now, basically in the home, the family, we, we shelter them, we wrap them in a cocoon and, and we take care of them, but sooner or later they're going to go out into the cruel, hostile world. And they're going to need a lot of confidence to face that world. They can't always have mom and dad there to make decisions and to shelter them and so on. So we're going to have to give them that confidence early in life and throughout their youth until they can have that approach themselves and go out and face the world.

   So what is often the approach that we have toward our children? Let's just take one or two illustrations. Have you ever looked at a 4 year old's coloring book? It's kind of interesting, isn't it? Now, here are the lines that are there and you look at the way the crayons have gone. A 4 year old on rare occasions will get the color in the line. On most occasions, the purple, the red, the green, or here, there, and yonder, it almost looks like an abstract painting of some kind. It certainly doesn't, you know, it's not the type of work that you would do. The color selection, the way they fit the lines, the, the firmness, and so on and so on, uh, you know, maybe it's kind of hard to find anything praiseworthy about it.

   But on the other hand, it's relative, is it not? That 4, 4 year old child is not you. Now I, I dare say all of us ought to be able to color quite well. But, but how about that 4 year old child who is just learning and doesn't have the dexterity and all the rest of that? Can we find ways to compliment that little child? Or do we say, "What is wrong with you? Can't you get anything straight? Look at these lines. You're supposed to have a crayon inside the line. It goes here, there and yonder. That's the lousiest picture I've ever seen in my life." Is that the approach we ought to have, or rather say, "My, that's great. That's great."

   It's not great in an absolute sense, by any means, but relative to that child's ability and talent at that time, it certainly is. And to encourage the child to say, "My, you know, look at that and, and some of your colors, maybe some, at least some are just, just what they ought to be," and try and find things that are great and, and help the child and, and, you know, work with the child as time goes on. But how many times do we give them bad comments and maybe even to the point they feel like quitting and giving up, they don't want to do it anymore because after all, all they ever hear are negative things.

   Have you ever heard children say, maybe even yourselves at times, "My parents never seemed satisfied with anything I ever did." Now I, I'm using certain words there, you know, "my parents never see," the exaggeration, but at least it gets the attitude, "seemed satisfied with anything I ever did. I felt I could never please them." So many children have felt that way relative to their parents. Maybe some of you have from time to time, and I think that is a very, very tragic indictment against the approach that some parents have had.

   In Colossians 3:21, we find a warning here in Colossians 3:21 from the apostle Paul relative to us fathers because it does apply more to the fathers than anybody else. Colossians 3:21. It says, "Fathers, provoke not your children to anger lest they be discouraged." Mothers don't do this as much as fathers do, and that's a fact. So, so you fathers listen for a little bit because I'm talking to you. I'm not talking to the women, you can shut off right now if you want to. No, don't, but, uh, but fathers, this, this is our problem.

   Uh, you know, talks about wives and mothers, uh, in other places, but right here we're talking about the problems we fathers have. We fathers, especially with our sons, want them to succeed. We want them to be great. We want them to have accomplishments in life. And in that kind of desire, which is basically at least the motive is right and proper, we go to an extreme and we expect too much perhaps too soon or maybe even certain abilities that we may possess that that particular son or daughter may not possess at that time. And so we get discouraged. We feel they're not doing as they ought to. We lose our temper maybe, we become angry with them, we criticize them, and they are discouraged. They don't want to do it any longer because our approach has been wrong. Again, maybe the motive has been right, but the approach has been wrong.

   Again, I'll, I'll make a confessional and talk about one of my sins and, uh, maybe some of you are like this, maybe, maybe none of you are. I don't know, maybe I'm the only one like this at all, but I'll say this. I, I always enjoyed in my youth working with model airplanes, model boats and so forth, and anything with my hands. I guess most boys have enjoyed that. So my sons come along and, uh, they're young and obviously I want them to do the same thing. So you know, here's my 5 or 6 year old son and so I go down to the store and I buy a model airplane to bring home. Of course now they're made of plastic, in my day there were balsa wood and so on, but the principle is still the same so.

   You know, you, you, you have excitement in your mind as you bring this model airplane home, this, uh, little P-51 or something like that, and because you visualize, you know, he's, he's gonna sit down there and he's gonna make a beautiful plane and it's gonna look just great. He'll paint it and you can almost see it in your mind's eye, he'll hang it from his, his room on this string and, and so on. Well, I suppose all of us fathers have done that sort of, at least I did, but they know you're not like me, but.

   So, uh, you bring the model home, you set it down before the kid with the glue and all that, you've got a big smile on your face and earnest expectation of this great masterpiece that's going to come out. And you look, and after a while your smile gets straight. And pretty soon a frown comes on there. Here's a wing that goes in upside down and catty-cornered, and the landing gear is, you know, twisted around, it'd never even take off if it had to, and here's this Picasso abstract monstrosity that the kid is developing there.

   So, so I, I'll just say this, reach over there and say "give me that thing. Let me show you how to do this." The kid get discouraged, you see, so, uh, I, I'm impatient in that regard, and I confess that, but again, maybe none of you fathers went through that kind of experience, but I have on many occasions.

   So what I had to finally do is to buy models, give to my kids, and walk out of the room, and, uh, eventually they come out with a great big smile on their face and here's this hideous looking thing. And so what do you say? Well, you compliment them because they've had fun, they've had enjoyment, they've had pleasure. One wing is straight, and what's wrong with that? So we find things that are good and wonderful and some of the paint is on properly and then at least they will hang from the ceiling, but none has crashed yet.

   But with the point being too that, that as time has gone on, as my children have grown, that they now can make good models. This is, this is the thing you see, they don't make these weird looking things any longer, but they make nice ones and the wings are on properly and they're not blobs of glue all over the place and, and paint strewn all over, uh, you know, what is the Braniff that has this one airplane's painted all these weird colors and so on, you know, some of my kids' models looked almost the same way. I could have made a fortune, I guess, anyway.

   Uh, so, so they've improved, but the thing is, you see, if you can learn to encourage your children and to praise them and find ways to look at the good that they're doing, obviously as time goes on they will improve. The point being they learn to model not by watching you do it perfectly, they learn to model by doing it themselves.

   Girls learn to cook. Maybe by scorching the water, I don't know, uh, or whatever else they're cooking, uh, maybe they make a lot of mistakes and things boil over. Should mom say, "Get out of this kitchen. You can't do anything right?" Well, she never will if that's the attitude. Well, uh, say the soup tastes good. Maybe the potatoes are burnt and the beans are horrible, maybe, maybe the soup's OK. So let's, let's talk about that soup. That's just great. That's terrific. And it's one of the best soups I've ever tasted. We'll give the credit to Campbell's later on, but at least right now, let's, let's get some honor and credit to the girl who has done it.

   So the thing is, how can we expect people to do their best when we only tell them about the worst? Now we want them to do their best, so if we want them to do their best, let's praise them when we get it. That's not always, uh, you know, just be finding the faults. Now, on the other hand, we don't want their worst, do we? Let's not always show it when we find it.

   To illustrate this, we've all heard the story about the 12 year old lad who never said a word in his life. Absolutely speechless all the first 12 years of his life. Finally one morning at the breakfast table, he spit out his porridge and says, "Yeah, that stuff is terrible." And so his parents said, "Hey, great Johnny, this is terrific. You can talk. Why haven't you spoken before this?" And he said, "Well, the porridge has always been good up until now."

   How about the housewife? You know, the husband comes home, you've worked, you slaved your fingers to the bone and all the rest of that and try to make it spick and span. He comes home and never notices it, never says, "Hey, you know, this place looks great and it's clean and neat and tidy and we appreciate it and it's a fantastic job." I mean, you know, you, you housewives know how many times you hear praise relative to that if you ever do, you know. You go out and you have your hair done. And, uh, you're just sure that hubby is going to come home and just call you a raving beauty and just fall over, you know, in a dead faint with this, uh, this Aphrodite's there and so on because you, you tried your best, but you come home and you say, "Hey, like my hair do?" "OK." You ever hear anything like that, you housewives?

   But, but you let your house be untidy a little bit, uh, you know, some things aren't as they ought to be, and he walks in the door, the first thing he says, "What's going on in here? This place is a pig sty. What you been doing all day?" I think we, we know what I mean. This is the illustration I'm trying to get across. All too often we don't give the praise. We take it for granted. We're like the 12 year old kid. Everything's been fine so far. Why should I say anything about it? It should be obvious why we should say something about it. We shouldn't just wait for those things that are wrong, those things that are improper. We should be looking for those things that are right and as they ought to be.

   I'm going to conclude with an attitude that, uh, Mr. Swisher gave at the Feast of Tabernacles in Tucson a couple of years ago when I was there. He made a statement which impressed me at the time. He didn't elaborate upon it, but it did impress me. He said, uh, just in the passing part of the sermon, "God has faith in us." And I, I, I stopped to think about that for a while. We've often stressed in sermons the faith we need to have toward God. Yet have we ever thought that God has faith in us? And maybe it's self-evident in one sense, but if you thought about it that way. God has faith in us.

   God has entrusted to all of us a great deal. And the word trust means faith. Take your children, for example, his potential sons. Yet he has entrusted those sons, his sons into our care. Obviously, everything we do in the life of that child is going to have an impact, not only here and now and in his future, his happiness and so on, but his potential to be a son of God. Now God has entrusted his sons into our care. Now God wanted to be on the safe side. He should have put them into the care of angels who would do a perfect job and not make any mistakes. Well, God put them into our care knowing that we would make mistakes.

   The same thing relative to the church. God has not brought angels down to make the broadcast, to write the articles, to preach to the churches. God has reared up human beings. In spite of our mistakes and fallibility, God has brought us and allowed us to do that. I've made numerous mistakes in the ministry. And God has permitted it. He didn't strike me before I did it and said, "Hey, wait, wait a minute, you're going the wrong way. I don't want you to make that mistake." God has allowed me to.

   I don't know if any other ministers have ever done this sort of thing, but I remember about 3 1/2 years ago, I stood up in a church in London, England, which I was pastoring at the time, and I said, "I don't know what's wrong with the critics that we seem to have around who can't count Pentecost." And I said, "We have these, these people and we seem to get them from time to time, they can't count from or anything like that and, and we've kept Pentecost on Monday and we always will. We'll never change to Pentecost Sunday, never."

   Well, 3 weeks later, I went to the church at London and I said, "You'll never guess what." Well, I'm glad to say I don't know if any other ministers have made those blanket dogmatic statements. Uh, maybe we should learn to say we will never do this, maybe. And that's a definite maybe, but you know, we learn things.

   Well, God has allowed us to make mistakes. This doesn't mean that God has abdicated his authority. He is still, Christ is still the head of the church, but he has given us tremendous latitude. He has given us the authority to bind and to loose. And there's a tremendous amount of range in that particular area.

   Some have been bothered by, you know, mistakes, whether real or imaginary, that we have in the church, maybe Pentecost, divorce-remarriage as we call it, so on and so on. You know, God is not afraid to let us make some mistakes. And I don't think we ought to be afraid as individuals to let our children make mistakes or to let our friends make mistakes, or wife or husband. I'm not saying, let me qualify this, that we should be indifferent or casual or tolerant of evil, and God certainly is not either. He does still have some very close reins upon us, obviously he does.

   I'm just saying that God encourages us. He doesn't always chastise and beat us down. Obviously we learn from the mistakes we make. We correct them. We try to deal with them, we grow, we develop. But again, as I said, a child learns to color by coloring. A child learns to model by modeling. A child learns to sew and to cook by sewing and cooking. God is teaching you and me how to rule, how to reign, how to govern, how to relate to other people by doing those things. Sure we're going to make mistakes, lots of them, but we should learn from them because just as that child eventually does learn to color and model and so on, likewise we can.

   So God has not condemned his church for what we either did not know nor could see at any particular time. These years, God has blessed us. He's encouraged us. He's praised his church, continues to do so and will continue to do so. Of course he has corrected us from time to time, but on the other hand, he has also praised us.

   I'd like to turn just finally to one scripture. Because it indicates the attitude of the apostle Paul, I think an attitude that we can have too. And looking to other individuals and what we expect from them. In the book of Philemon. The book of Philemon and Paul is requesting and asking something from this individual. He wants him to do something which could have been very difficult, even financially a bit of a problem, to release a slave, a slave who had run away. Paul, I'm sure could have used his authority as an apostle of God, but he didn't do that. On the other hand, he was not of the attitude, "Well, I don't know what Philemon is going to do. I'm not so sure he will obey me."

   Notice the apostle Paul's approach, and I would like to see more of us have this approach toward our children, to our family, and one to another. In Philemon verse 4 (Philemon 1:4-6). "I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers, hearing of your love and faith which you have for the Lord Jesus and toward all saints." So notice that, that he doesn't have the approach, "Well, I don't know about your logic, I don't know about your organization. I don't know about your hostility, this and that and the other." He only has praise. He only has compliments, not flattery, not lies, these are true statements. He says, "I know you have your love. I hear about it, your faith, which you have toward Christ and the saints, that the communication of your faith may, may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus."

   It was there because of the spirit of God, but it still was in him. I think again that we should assume, basically in that sense, not to be gullible, not to be deceived, not to understand human nature, but on the other hand, to assume that the people who have the spirit of God are going to do the things that God's servants want them to, that God wants them to if approached in the right way.

   And so Paul finally concludes relative to that instruction, verse 21 (Philemon 1:21). I'm not taking the time for the whole context, but just to show his approach to the individual, the way he wrote to him, the words he said in the selection of those words. Verse 21. "Having confidence in your obedience, I wrote unto you, knowing that you will also do more than I say."

   Now Paul meant that. I guess you could say he used a bit of psychology too on him, and I'm sure that Philemon when he received the letter subconsciously, maybe consciously would go about and say "I want to please Paul. He has honored me. He has treated me not as an inferior but as an equal. He has respected me, he has praised me. I want to do these things, not because I have to, but because I want to and I want to go above and beyond his expectations."

   And I believe we can do that with our children. I believe we can do that one with another. I believe that we can receive that kind of response from individuals. So to encourage as we ought to as individuals. It is not easy. It is a very, very real challenge, but I am convinced that the attitude or the approach of encouragement has been a very neglected tool in our individual lives. But I do believe that this tool, if used more and more by us, will lead to long lasting growth and spiritual development and especially among those that we love the most. And when you stop and think about it, isn't that what we're after? So let's use that tool. Let's encourage.