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a. We remind each other of God's promise.For one example, Paul is writing to a discouraged church. The whole church is worried because they are expecting Jesus to come back any minute. Some of their relatives have already died. They're all sad and saying, \they've missed Jesus%u2019 coming. They died before He came back.\18 Paul states these magnificent promises about the coming of Jesus. He said, %u201cDon%u2019t worry about the dead; they are the ones who will rise first. Therefore, encourage one another with these words.\you, don't use trite statements or preach to him, but remind him of God's promises. He has promised to always be with us, hear every prayer we utter, take away our sins if we confess them and lay them before Him, give us strength in time of need, and never allow us to have more put on us that we're able to bear. Those are magnificent promises and when reminded of them you will have the courage to go on.b. Granting genuine forgiveness. Paul, when writing to the church in Corinth, said there was a brother who was in some really deliberate and awful sin but he repented and some of them were holding him at arm's length. \that he will notbe overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.\comfort is that same Greek word, paracollatosthat could just as easily be rendered encourage. See, forgiveness has to be visibly extended in order to be received.I love the story of the fellow who went to the counselor because his marriage was having trouble. The counselor said, \wife gets historical.\historical. She brings up every bad thing I've ever done.\in your marriage, but some people can. You must forgive to be forgiven.Clara Barton, the founder of the American Red Cross, was a gracious lady, and on one occasion was reminded by a friend of hers of what someone had said about her that was so awful, so slanderous. Miss Barton said, \said, \three or four minutes. Finally, Clara Barton interrupted and said, \distinctly remember forgetting that.\conscious choice to not let it affect the way we treat that person or anyone related to it.Sometimes and in some places, people repent of their sins, but they're made to feel like second-class Christians. You know that's not right. If you do that to someone else, you're not only not encouraging them, you're discouraging them. Immediately following a list of people of great faith the Hebrews writer states \since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.\David, Jephtah, and many others, but it includes all those that are living, too. Let's cheer one another on in that rank.