In this lesson, we will learn that encouragement is not the responsibility of a gifted few but the responsibility of the entire family of God. That means you.

We’ve all heard the old spiritual “It’s me, O Lord, Standin’ in the need of prayer.” But how many of us live this way? Judging others is a job best left to God. He alone knows our hearts and our motives; He alone is qualified to judge.

Pastor Chuck Swindoll inspires us from Hebrews 10:19–25 to faithfully and consistently give words of life to others.

You never really know who is in need of encouragement. Encouragement spurs us on; affirms us. A word of kindness, an arm around the shoulder, a note, a phone call, a random comment said in passing... genuine encouragement never fails to help.

As we look at Abraham’s life as a whole, we’ll be reminded that he was as much a sinner as he was a saint, and we’ll find both warning and inspiration.

By way of introduction, we want to get our foot in the door of this series by looking at the great biographical chapter in the New Testament—Hebrews 11—which has been called “God's Hall of Faith.” These men and women lived lives worthy of being remembered, so let's remember them—for they, being dead, still speak.

In the previous lesson, we studied several faithful men from the Reformation era. Time failed us, though, to tell the whole story of the greatest difference maker of that period, Martin Luther. Let’s pause for a while at his portrait and draw courage from his example of faith.