The Benjamites came out of Gibeah and cut down twenty-two thousand Israelites on the battlefield that day. But the Israelites encouraged one another and again took up their positions where they had stationed themselves the first day. The Israelites went up and wept before the Lord until evening, and they inquired of the Lord. They said, “Shall we go up again to fight against the Benjamites, our fellow Israelites?”
The Lord answered, “Go up against them.”

• Judges 20:21-23

He appointed military officers over the people and assembled them before him in the square at the city gate and encouraged them with these words: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater power with us than with him. With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people gained confidence from what Hezekiah the king of Judah said.

• 2 Chronicles 32:6-8

But my mouth would encourage you; comfort from my lips would bring you relief.

• Job 16:5

You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encouragethem, and you listen to their cry,

• Psalm 10:17

He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.

• 1 Thessalonians 5:10-15

But encourageone another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

• Hebrews 3:13

As for the title, a quiz cannot be encouraged.  It is an inanimate object.  But you can encourage those taking the quiz.  And we can encourage one another.  Then, there may be those out there who would wish to encourage me to stop writing these quizzes.

This quiz came to me soon after making it through a four-day power outage.  It seemed a lot different than the three-week power outage in Mississippi during an ice storm.  For one, it was winter instead of a warm trend in the Spring, but there were four of us in the house in the ice storm.  It was before the days of internet in the home and cellphones.  We encouraged each other.

This time, I was alone with my thoughts.

All questions come from verses with the word “encourage” in them, or a variant due to singular or plural forms or verb tense, like encourages or encouraged.

The questions are in biblical order, and like many quizzes, the verse in the Bible Reference is where the word “encourage” is located, but it might take reading more before or after to find the answer.

The Questions:

	Question	Bible References	Answers
1	Moses was told to encourage whom because he would lead the Israelites to their inheritance.
2	What encouraged Gideon before he attacked the Midianites?
3	A messenger came to David to tell of a setback in their attack of the city of Rabbah in Ammon.  David said for the messenger to tell Joab to be encouraged and the press on with the attack and destroy the village, but only after he heard that one particular person had been killed.  Who was that person, the husband of a woman who was pregnant?
4	The Scriptures state that Ahaziah, the only surviving son of Jehoram, did evil in the eyes of the Lord, encouraged by his mother.  Who was his mother, and as a bonus who were his mother’s parents?
5	In Isaiah 41, Isaiah speaks of the metalworker who encourages the goldsmith.  Then the one working with the hammer spurs on the one working with the anvil.  Even someone nails it down.  What is the thing that these cooperative people are making?
6	Who does Jeremiah encourage to not listen to the dreams that people have?
7	What does Ezekiel say about the false prophets among the exiles?
8	What was the name that the Apostles used for Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus?  And what does that name mean?  Hint: He went to Tarsus and encouraged Saul to go with him to Antioch of Syria.
9	In Paul’s greetings to the Romans, what does Paul say encourages he and them mutually?
10	Paul tells Timothy to correct, rebuke, and encourage.  Those do not seem to go in the same sentence, but Paul encourages Timothy to do those three things using what two attributes of his own.  What are they?

Not all “encouragement” is good encouragement.  There are two questions above that reflect “bad” encouragement.  When we encourage someone to do something naughty, that is otherwise known as temptation.

God does not tempt.

And we should not tempt.  We do sometimes when we condone bad behavior.  We should set an example and when we make one of those unintentional mistakes, we might tempt someone else to follow.  We are not perfect, but we should be a good example in public.

Then, maybe our public persona can teach our private persona a few things…

Bible References:

	Question	Bible References	Answers
1	Moses was told to encourage whom because he would lead the Israelites to their inheritance.	Deuteronomy 1:38 and 3:28
2	What encouraged Gideon before he attacked the Midianites?	Judges 7:11
3	A messenger came to David to tell of a setback in their attack of the city of Rabbah in Ammon.  David said for the messenger to tell Joab to be encouraged and the press on with the attack and destroy the village, but only after he heard that one particular person had been killed.  Who was that person, the husband of a woman who was pregnant?	2 Samuel 11:25
4	The Scriptures state that Ahaziah, the only surviving son of Jehoram, did evil in the eyes of the Lord, encouraged by his mother.  Who was his mother, and as a bonus who were his mother’s parents?	2 Chronicles 22:3
5	In Isaiah 41, Isaiah speaks of the metalworker who encourages the goldsmith.  Then the one working with the hammer spurs on the one working with the anvil.  Even someone nails it down.  What is the thing that these cooperative people are making?	Isaiah 41:7
6	Who does Jeremiah encourage to not listen to the dreams that people have?	Jeremiah 29:8
7	What does Ezekiel say about the false prophets among the exiles?	Ezekiel 13:22
8	What was the name that the Apostles used for Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus?  And what does that name mean?  Hint: He went to Tarsus and encouraged Saul to go with him to Antioch of Syria.	Acts 4:36
9	In Paul’s greetings to the Romans, what does Paul say encourages he and them mutually?	Romans 1:12
10	Paul tells Timothy to correct, rebuke, and encourage.  Those do not seem to go in the same sentence, but Paul encourages Timothy to do those three things using what two attributes of his own.  What are they?	2 Timothy 4:2

It seems that we have a problem with carrying out the Great Commission.  In our zeal to not offend people, we do not warn them against the things in their lives that are harming them, things that will keep them from salvation.

We need to let people know what sin is and how sin can affect their lives in a negative way, even beyond being a barrier between them and God.

We can talk to the people in love, but isn’t it love that drives us to help these people find Jesus so they can be saved?

Yes, there is a delicate balance here, but in many ways, what ends up happening is that we say nothing.

And in saying nothing, are we not encouraging people to remain in their sin?  Could it be that some of these lost souls have never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ because their Christian neighbors were afraid they might offend them?

Do we go to Heaven and tell Jesus that we had good intentions or do we tell Jesus that there were bumps in the road, but I stayed the course, and I pray that my efforts bore fruit?

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The Answers:

	Question	Bible References	Answers
1	Moses was told to encourage whom because he would lead the Israelites to their inheritance.	Deuteronomy 1:38 and 3:28	Joshua, son of Nun
2	What encouraged Gideon before he attacked the Midianites?	Judges 7:11	While spying on his enemy, Gideon listened to the Midianites who had dreams of total destruction.  They were afraid of Gideon before he ever attacked.
3	A messenger came to David to tell of a setback in their attack of the city of Rabbah in Ammon.  David said for the messenger to tell Joab to be encouraged and the press on with the attack and destroy the village, but only after he heard that one particular person had been killed.  Who was that person, the husband of a woman who was pregnant?	2 Samuel 11:25	Uriah the Hittite
4	The Scriptures state that Ahaziah, the only surviving son of Jehoram, did evil in the eyes of the Lord, encouraged by his mother.  Who was his mother, and as a bonus who were his mother’s parents?	2 Chronicles 22:3	Athaliah, daughter of King Ahab of Israel and his wife Jezebel
5	In Isaiah 41, Isaiah speaks of the metalworker who encourages the goldsmith.  Then the one working with the hammer spurs on the one working with the anvil.  Even someone nails it down.  What is the thing that these cooperative people are making?	Isaiah 41:7	An idol
6	Who does Jeremiah encourage to not listen to the dreams that people have?	Jeremiah 29:8	The exiles in Babylon who have been told lies by false prophets that they would be going home soon, but Jeremiah had heard from the Lord that it would be 70 years.
7	What does Ezekiel say about the false prophets among the exiles?	Ezekiel 13:22	Encouraging the people to not turn from their evil ways and thus be saved.
8	What was the name that the Apostles used for Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus?  And what does that name mean?  Hint: He went to Tarsus and encouraged Saul to go with him to Antioch of Syria.	Acts 4:36	Barnabas, meaning son of encouragement.
9	In Paul’s greetings to the Romans, what does Paul say encourages he and them mutually?	Romans 1:12	Each other’s faith
10	Paul tells Timothy to correct, rebuke, and encourage.  Those do not seem to go in the same sentence, but Paul encourages Timothy to do those three things using what two attributes of his own.  What are they?	2 Timothy 4:2	With great patience and careful instruction.

Whether you did well on this quiz or, ummm, not so well, for the first video, here are the Blackwood Brothers singing More about Jesus Would I Know.

Here are the Cedarmont Kids singing Lord, I Want to be a Christian.

Here is Fountainview Academy, from British Columbia, Canada singing Near to the Heart of God.  And I wonder if any of the ladies slipped and fell during the “other takes.”

Here is 200-member mass choir singing I Am Thine, O Lord.  It was recorded for Classic Hymns for their “Sweet Hour of Prayer” album.  I have written before about being in Jamshedpur, West Bengal, India.  My boss and I were teaching at a nearby steel mill and our driver took us to a small Church of Northern India church near our hotel.  Oddly, they used the liturgy and hymnal from the Church of Southern India.  But when we sang this hymn that takes this choir less than four minutes to sing, this little church took three times that long.  Each nearer became “Ne-ah-ah-ra-ah-ah,” not totally non rhotic.  Hey, the organist may have never seen the music before, so he went through it slowly.

Why did I choose these old hymns?  I was thinking of encouragement, and wouldn’t hymns of hope and aspiration be an encouragement?  So, I pulled out my Hymnbook of 75 years ago and found these.  They still convey a message of hope and aspiration.  I hope they have encouraged you.

If you like these Saturday morning Bible quizzes, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Saturday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.