How to Persevere and Be Encouraged In The Local Church in Anxious Times

Brad Miller: 00:00:00

My name is Reverend Dr. Brad Miller and it is my

Brad Miller: 00:00:02

pleasure and privilege to host the Be encouraged podcast. With

Brad Miller: 00:00:10

Bishop Julius tremble. He has a mission to bring an encouraging

Brad Miller: 00:00:14

world word to the world that is discouraged. And today we're

Brad Miller: 00:00:19

gonna be talking about encouragement in the local

Brad Miller: 00:00:22

church, Vishal Tribble, welcome to be encouraged with Bishop

Brad Miller: 00:00:27

triple.

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:00:28

A Thank you, my friend, Brad, it's good

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:00:30

to be with you as we stepping into a new year, ending up the

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:00:36

first month and stepping into the second month of, of 2022.

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:00:42

God is able to keep us and we've got to help keep care of each

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:00:47

other.

Brad Miller: 00:00:49

Well, that is an awesome way for us to get

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started here today, bishop and the whole theme of your podcast

Brad Miller: 00:00:55

is to help people to be encouraged. And as we embark,

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especially the first few episodes, this is episode number

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two, which is awesome. They've made it through number one and

Brad Miller: 00:01:03

episode number two, would you just remind us again about your

Brad Miller: 00:01:07

mission statement that you have, which is kind of the foundation

Brad Miller: 00:01:10

of what we're doing here on the Be encouraged podcast?

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:01:14

Yep, thank you, Brad, this has been

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:01:16

my mission statement for some years now. And it's just

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:01:20

blooming like a flower. My mission statement is to

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:01:23

encourage all people with the love of Jesus Christ to rise to

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:01:28

their highest potential. And often people just hear me say be

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:01:32

encouraged, which is something that I try to share in, in, in

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:01:39

the church and outside of the church, as I engage people, in

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:01:43

relationships, and as I engage people, just in their day to day

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:01:47

lives. People have been encouraged.

Brad Miller: 00:01:50

Absolutely, because it is because a lot of

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encouragement needs to be done. Particularly in some of the

Brad Miller: 00:01:57

areas that you have an interest in and you have an interest in a

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lots of areas of life. We'll be talking about those throughout

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the course of our weekly conversations here on the Be

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encouraged podcast, we talk about lots of things, but really

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you are a bishop of the Church of The United Methodist Church.

Brad Miller: 00:02:14

And therefore you have a responsibility to the church,

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both the church in terms of The Connectional denomination

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system, but particularly to the local churches in Indiana, where

Brad Miller: 00:02:25

you particularly serve it all everywhere. So let's our

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conversation today is going to be about the church,

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particularly the local church, and particularly how the local

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churches, kind of taken some hits, especially the last couple

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years it's a there are churches that are struggling, there are

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churches that are closing. And there is a lot of pressure on

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churches with the pandemic and all the other issue that going

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live politically, socially, the culturally all kinds of things.

Brad Miller: 00:02:55

Let's talk about the church a little bit. I know what some

Brad Miller: 00:02:59

things say about this. But I'm really interested Bishop and

Brad Miller: 00:03:02

what how you define church.

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:03:09

Churches is the people of God. When we

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:03:12

gather, and when we are scattered church, we often think

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:03:15

of churches, the worshipping congregation are the gathering

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:03:19

of people who are followers of Jesus Christ. And that is true.

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:03:24

But we are the people of God. When we are gathered, we are the

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:03:27

people of God when we are scattered. The church is also

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:03:34

from a biblical standpoint, the body of Christ, a theological

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:03:39

standpoint, we are the body of Christ, we are the living

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:03:42

expression of Jesus Christ in the world. Those of us who

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profess to be Christians are followers of Christ, and

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:03:50

participate in local congregations. We've we have a

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:03:54

community of faith, often people refer to churches, their their

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:03:58

place, their community of faith,

Brad Miller: 00:04:01

their community of faith. And so that's kind of

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describes what it is. My next question is, what is the church

Brad Miller: 00:04:09

for and what's our purpose right now, in particular, in our

Brad Miller: 00:04:12

context today?

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:04:14

I think our purpose is to be an

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:04:16

instrument of God's grace, to be to be love, in real time, with

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:04:23

real people who have real problems, who have real hopes

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:04:27

and aspirations we are we are, we don't save people, but we

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:04:32

introduce people to the Savior, Jesus Christ. So I like the

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:04:39

image of the church as an instrument of God's grace. God

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:04:43

is using we who are in the church for to carry out God's

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:04:49

will, that everyone might live with hope and have opportunity

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:04:54

for for life eternal.

Brad Miller: 00:04:57

That's a very well said. and very much kind of

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along the line of what we understand kind of definition

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wise and what to do. And yet you know, the church is a part of

Brad Miller: 00:05:09

our world and our world has taken some lumps in the last few

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years and in churches are involved with what's going on in

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the world and just kind of give me your take bishop on the state

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of the local church, how how healthy is it? How's it doing

Brad Miller: 00:05:27

mitts the pandemic other things? You're out there, you're

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visiting local churches, you're part of the life and you have

Brad Miller: 00:05:33

connections all over the place. what's your what's your view of

Brad Miller: 00:05:36

the state of the church?

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:05:38

Well, I think that that church has been

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:05:41

battered, I think you may have mentioned that in early in the,

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:05:44

in the podcast, the church has been battered. I would say it's

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:05:49

not tattered, though. It hasn't been battered. We've obviously

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:05:53

faced that these last two years going on past two years now

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:05:57

bread, something we we never faced before. That churches

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:06:03

actually closing not because of a tornado or hurricane or a

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:06:07

flood. But closing because of a global pandemic, closing from

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:06:12

the sense of not being able to gather on a regular basis, many

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:06:16

of our ministries have been disrupted. So the church has has

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:06:21

been battered, like the society has, as well. And one of the

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:06:25

challenges has been this whole notion of what what I've talked

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:06:30

about his his his resilience. The church is and has been, for

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:06:37

our communities, what many refer to as endure an enduring

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:06:41

institution, an institution that's been around a long time,

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:06:45

and will continue to be around and enduring institution. So

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:06:49

it's not the church is not a fad, or a fashion that comes and

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:06:54

goes, but it has been battered, it has faced some. So we've been

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:07:00

in a storm. Yes, a long, prolonged storm, if you will.

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:07:04

And the resilient resilience is the capacity to withstand

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:07:09

adversity, the ability to bounce back from difficulty, the

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:07:15

capacity to experience recovery. Even though we've been in a

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:07:20

storm, that's not over yet. Sure. So the churches that I've

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:07:26

been inspired, I've been I'm preaching this Sunday, preach

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:07:29

the last couple of weeks. We'll be preaching over the next

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:07:35

several months in local congregations across Indiana.

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:07:39

And in every place bread every place. I've seen the, the both

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:07:44

the hunger, and the enthusiasm and the thanks the gratitude

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:07:49

that people have just to be back together. It's not the same. I

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:07:55

never imagined that this this quarter of my ministry that I

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:07:59

would be going to churches, where we all would be wearing

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:08:02

surgical mask. I mean, who could have dreamed anything like that?

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:08:06

It's that people would be the surgical mask, and that we would

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:08:10

be practicing social distancing, and almost seems contradictory

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:08:16

to Church itself, social distancing, and are we not

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:08:19

supposed to be coming together? So it's been a it's been a

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:08:23

challenging time. Sure. But it's also been a time of resilience,

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:08:28

where the church has proven once again, that, as Jesus says, Upon

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:08:36

this rock, Peter, I have built my church and the gates of hell

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:08:40

shall not prevail against it. So the church is an enduring,

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:08:45

lasting instant tution that has Holy Spirit resilience, I call

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:08:51

it

Brad Miller: 00:08:52

I want to come back to all of this, as you

Brad Miller: 00:08:55

mentioned, the, the biblical passage there and also about

Brad Miller: 00:08:59

resilience, and but you know, this is nothing new is that the

Brad Miller: 00:09:03

church would be challenged. You know, I went, you know, to talk

Brad Miller: 00:09:05

about Paul's writings to the church at Corinth, and Ephesus,

Brad Miller: 00:09:09

and, you know, in Philippi, and so on, he was all about dealing

Brad Miller: 00:09:14

with issues at the time, wasn't it? You know, and so, you know,

Brad Miller: 00:09:18

we, there was conflicts within the church, there was

Brad Miller: 00:09:21

persecution of the church, there was issues around giving and

Brad Miller: 00:09:26

resources, there was issues around faith and other things

Brad Miller: 00:09:30

like that. So, what are some of the lessons you mentioned one

Brad Miller: 00:09:33

there, what do you think are some of the biblical lessons we

Brad Miller: 00:09:37

can learn either from Paul's writings or other parts of the

Brad Miller: 00:09:39

Bible or the work of Jesus, which can really speak into a

Brad Miller: 00:09:43

church or a church leadership there may be feeling a little

Brad Miller: 00:09:46

bit okay. Here, you know, we've got to keep going. We got to

Brad Miller: 00:09:49

persevere in the midst of all this, we're weary. What are some

Brad Miller: 00:09:52

of the biblical lessons here?

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:09:53

Well, I think that we got to not just

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:09:55

start with with the Epistles or the god But lessons, but from

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:10:00

the very beginning, remember that this is the Church of God,

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:10:05

the God who the God who the giving God, the God who gave his

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:10:08

only Son, that, that whoever believe it would not perish but

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:10:12

have everlasting so this is still the Church of God

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:10:15

Deuteronomy says reminds us, which is a message Brad, I

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:10:19

really think we need today somebody needs to hear this

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:10:21

today, you are not doing this alone. We're not doing church

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:10:26

alone. This is not this is not an invention of, of some

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:10:29

scientist said, Hey, let's come up with an institution. We are

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:10:32

we are doing that which is been ordained and initiated by the

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:10:37

Creator, Deuteronomy 31, Verse eight says the Lord, God's self

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:10:43

goes before you and will be with you. He will never leave you nor

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:10:48

forsake you. Now that's repeated again in the New Testament. But

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:10:51

this is Deuteronomy, do not be afraid, do not be discouraged.

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:10:56

God will be with you. It's hard. That's a hard message. But we

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:11:02

need to kind of remind ourselves, wait a minute, God

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:11:05

has already made some promises that even when you get to a

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:11:09

pandemic that you never even had conceived could be God has

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:11:13

already promised I will be with you, and will not leave you. So

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:11:18

I don't think that that didn't expire, when we when we get the

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:11:22

book of Malikai. Or when we started Matthew, therefore, the

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:11:28

writer of Hebrews says, we got a run, run a marathon race. Yes,

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:11:34

since we're surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses,

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:11:37

Hebrews twill, let us throw off everything that hinders the sand

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:11:41

it so easily entangles us, let us run the race with

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:11:45

perseverance. It's in the Bible perseverance, the race that has

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:11:50

been given to us some translations say bread, the race

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:11:53

that's been handed to us, or the race that's been marked out for

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:11:57

us. So we are picking up the baton is the church in 2022.

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:12:02

From first century church from the beginning of God from from

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:12:06

Pentecost, yes, we're picking up the mantle and running the race

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:12:10

of faithfulness. And we're not doing it alone. We're not doing

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:12:16

it alone.

Brad Miller: 00:12:18

And there's obviously a lot of guidance

Brad Miller: 00:12:19

there for us about how we do it as well, for instance, you know,

Brad Miller: 00:12:23

talks about we're talking about to neither Jews, not Greeks, or

Brad Miller: 00:12:26

folks, whether it's differences or whatever, you know, within

Brad Miller: 00:12:30

the body or the pressures from outside the body. And, but those

Brad Miller: 00:12:35

are real pressures there nonetheless, and real, you know,

Brad Miller: 00:12:38

people get siloed in all kinds of ways being racially or

Brad Miller: 00:12:42

socially, economically or politically, or what have you,

Brad Miller: 00:12:47

technologically all kinds of things that are impacting the

Brad Miller: 00:12:50

world. So what do you think are some of the, you know, you met

Brad Miller: 00:12:53

you hear about some great things from the Bible here? What do you

Brad Miller: 00:12:56

think are some practical applications for churches, you

Brad Miller: 00:13:00

know, that are maybe feeling the pressure feeling the stress a

Brad Miller: 00:13:03

little bit or for pastors or church leader? What are some

Brad Miller: 00:13:06

practical ways that we can help to reconnect and reignite

Brad Miller: 00:13:12

passion for Jesus in the church? Or what are some ways that

Brad Miller: 00:13:14

you're seeing out there, there's some good things are happening.

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:13:18

I think there's a resurgence in people's

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:13:21

interest in hunger to participate in, in prayer

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:13:25

partnerships, and to participate in small group accountability

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:13:31

studies. And now a brand with with Zoom calls, and with

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:13:36

telephone, smartphone technology, we can stay

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:13:39

connected, and really take on the mantle and responsibility of

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:13:46

all of us to become acquire, if you will, an army if you will

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:13:50

have encouragers. So what I'm seeing is people saying, well,

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:13:55

what is it that we can do we know that we know, we're

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:13:58

constantly being told what we cannot do? What is it that we

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:14:01

can do? Maybe we can embrace children, we've got an

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:14:07

initiative in the Indiana conference, United Methodist

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:14:10

Church of children matter most, maybe we can find ways in which

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:14:13

we can be supportive, that the school systems are being just

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:14:17

battered, teachers are exhausted with this in school, out of

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:14:22

school, lost time because of virtual learning. So I think

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:14:28

there are things in which we can do that we all do. And the main

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:14:34

thing we ought to do is is pick up the mantle of prayer and

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:14:37

encouragement as a individual calling but also as a calling of

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:14:44

the church.

Brad Miller: 00:14:46

I think that's awesome, but I'm what I'm

Brad Miller: 00:14:48

hearing you also say Bishop is the churches, the place the

Brad Miller: 00:14:54

vessel, if you will, where that can happen, you know where and

Brad Miller: 00:14:58

can be very practically done. And, you know, intentionally

Brad Miller: 00:15:01

done, not just saying you're praying, I mean, but to actually

Brad Miller: 00:15:06

write a card or make a goal, or a email or a Facebook, post

Brad Miller: 00:15:11

whatever have that say, Hey, I am praying for you, if I'm, and

Brad Miller: 00:15:15

I'm going to be accountable to you that I'm going to check in

Brad Miller: 00:15:18

with you, you know, once a week or something, just let you know,

Brad Miller: 00:15:21

I'm here for you that whatever that would be. And that could be

Brad Miller: 00:15:24

in some organized fashion in a small group, within a church, or

Brad Miller: 00:15:29

maybe one of the beauties of technology is that even as you

Brad Miller: 00:15:33

know, I are speaking on a podcast, I can go throughout the

Brad Miller: 00:15:36

world, you can make connections with people, not only in your

Brad Miller: 00:15:40

local church body, but you can make interpersonal connections

Brad Miller: 00:15:43

with people who you have some affinity with whatever, maybe

Brad Miller: 00:15:46

people like to ride bicycles, or whatever it would be. But you

Brad Miller: 00:15:49

can make some of those connections, as well.

Brad Miller: 00:15:51

Absolutely. Yeah.

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:15:53

And I'm sorry, this is an opportunity,

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:15:56

an opportunity for us to saturate the, the social media

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:16:01

platforms with spiritual encouragement. I see a lot on

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:16:05

social media that it has nothing to do with lifting people up.

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:16:09

It's you know, we're expressing our opinions about everything

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:16:12

from politics to pollution, but or we're chasing celebrities, no

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:16:20

knock on celebrities, many celebrities are saved folks, as

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:16:23

well. But I think we could saturate social media with

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:16:27

spiritual blessings and spiritual encouragement. We can,

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:16:31

as you mentioned, you know, my mother still still is a card

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:16:36

writer, I have sisters and brothers, and a spouse who we

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:16:40

still send notes, I still send handwritten notes is right, call

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:16:45

me old school. People, people are receptive to knowing

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:16:50

somebody today. In fact, somebody wants to know right

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:16:52

now, today that they are loved, and they are a child of the Most

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:16:56

High God. And I'm saying that with with my friend, Brad, as

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:17:00

we're, as you're, you're interviewing me, or we're having

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:17:03

this conversation or knowing somebody, somebody who's always

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:17:07

looking for a sign or waiting for a signal. And hearing us

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:17:11

talk about hope and talk about faith and talk about hanging in

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:17:16

there may be just that sign that somebody has been looking for.

Brad Miller: 00:17:20

Yeah. And to be intentional about it. That's,

Brad Miller: 00:17:23

that's great. I think it's also perspective, bishop in the

Brad Miller: 00:17:26

church would maybe be a place where people can get some

Brad Miller: 00:17:29

perspective outside of the pressures that they find in

Brad Miller: 00:17:32

their life. And I was reading Hebrews 12, this morning, and I

Brad Miller: 00:17:38

came across a phrase that just struck me about what our

Brad Miller: 00:17:40

conversation is about it about, kind of talk a little bit about

Brad Miller: 00:17:43

enduring, hardship, and for and discipleship. And basically, I'm

Brad Miller: 00:17:47

paraphrasing here, but to talk about how you can have a

Brad Miller: 00:17:49

mountain of fear, or a mountain of joy, to come on, come on,

Brad Miller: 00:17:56

come on, and how you can look at it. And so we got this mountain

Brad Miller: 00:18:01

of fear that's been, you know, all around us for a couple years

Brad Miller: 00:18:04

now. And beyond that, of course, but I think the church is the

Brad Miller: 00:18:07

place where we can transform that into a mountain of joy if

Brad Miller: 00:18:10

we, if we choose to. So let's go with this for kind of bring us

Brad Miller: 00:18:15

out here, Bishop, let's, you know, your podcast your message,

Brad Miller: 00:18:20

as we indicated, the top here is all about encouragement to a

Brad Miller: 00:18:24

discouraged world, that discouraged world is that

Brad Miller: 00:18:26

mountain of fear. What's your word of encouragement today for

Brad Miller: 00:18:31

the church? And for folks who may be listening to us today?

Brad Miller: 00:18:35

What's your encouraging word today?

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:18:38

Well, there's a there's an old gospel

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:18:40

song, I don't know all the words, I will have to come back

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:18:44

to you. But it's, it's entitled, Lord, don't move this mountain.

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:18:48

Give me the strength to climb, though move the stumbling block.

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:18:53

Let me let me let me overcome and be an overcomer. My hope for

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:18:58

Word is that I saw this on the wall when I was at a Catholic

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:19:01

retreat center doing a retreat, center and painful moments, we

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:19:06

ought to trust God. In difficult moments, we should seek God. But

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:19:13

every moment, we should think. And Brad, I like what you said

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:19:17

about a mountain of fear or a mountain of joy, a mountain of

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:19:21

despair or a mountain of hope. It was maybe Martin Luther King,

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:19:27

Jr. was it not a safe carve out of this? This this mountain of

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:19:32

despair of a mountain of hope so indeed, we need to trust God in

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:19:38

difficult times. But in every time, we ought to start with the

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:19:42

spirit of thanking God. Why should we be thanking God

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:19:45

because God has said that we are not alone. And that even though

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:19:50

we may know, suffering, suffering does produce

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:19:53

perseverance and perseverance produces character according to

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:19:57

Romans and character produces hope. and hope will not

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:20:02

disappoint us.

Brad Miller: 00:20:03

Awesome. What a great place for us to conclude

Brad Miller: 00:20:06

our conversation here today Bishop How about having a prayer

Brad Miller: 00:20:09

for the church and for others who may need a word of

Brad Miller: 00:20:11

encouragement today?

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:20:12

Sure. God bless everybody today, Lord God,

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:20:16

we thank you for loving us. Sometimes as my wife would say,

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:20:20

even when we don't act, lovable Lord, we thank you, oh god for

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:20:24

for caring for us for claiming us for counting us worthy. Oh,

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:20:30

God, we thank you for the handprints of grace and mercy

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:20:33

for our sacred worth that cannot be taken away by bullies, or by

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:20:38

those who seek to define us other than anything other than a

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:20:42

child of God. Bless us, oh God, and those who are sick, we pray

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:20:47

for healing. Those who are mourning we pray for comfort.

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:20:50

Those who are looking or in experiencing depression and

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:20:55

discouragement. We pray oh god, that they would be still and

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:20:59

know that you are God and you are present. Oh God, we pray

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:21:02

that the love that you have showered upon us would be so

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:21:05

overflowing, that we can help ourselves, but love others. This

Bishop Julius Trimble: 00:21:10

we pray in Jesus name. Amen.

Brad Miller: 00:21:15

Amen. This has been B encouraged with Bishop Julius

Brad Miller: 00:21:20

C triple an encouraging word for a discouraged world.