This is the inaugural episode of To Be Encouraged with Bishop Julius C. Trimble. In Episode 001 Bishop Trimble speaks about How to Persevere through Challenging Times with Faith.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble is the Resident Bishop of the Indiana Area of the United Mehtodist Church.

Bishop has the personal mission to encourage all people with the love of Jesus Christ to rise to their highest potential. It is his commitment to his personal mission that led Bishop Trimble to create the “To Be Encouraged” Podcast along with co-host Rev.Dr. Brad MIller.

Bishop Trimble says, “I am compelled by Jesus to share with you an encouraging word or two about Jesus, theology, the bible, the pandemic, the environment, racism, voting rights, human sexuality and state of the United Methodist Church.”

In Episode 001 Bishop Trimble speaks about how faith helps people to persevere through difficult times like the ongoing pandemic.

He talks about biblical faith expounding from Hebrew 11 that faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

Bishop speaks about prayer and love of neighbor and how our purpose as Christians is to love one another as key parts of living life of faith which helps people to preserve through challenging times. He goes on to talk about putting faith into action through works of service to others.

Bishop Trimble concluded the podcast by speaking about the upcoming episode of the To Be Encouraged Podcast which will feature his observations on the topic of persevering through challenging times in the church.

Bishop Trimble shared that creating this podcast was inspired by his wife First Lady Racelder Grandberry-Trimble. He dedicated the inaugural episode to a member of one of his former churches Mrs. Louise Oliver who inspired him with her life of faith.

To Be Encouraged with Bishop Julius C. Trimble is to be published weekly and is available at www.tobeencouraged.com and all the podcast directories.

https://www.inumc.org/bishop/office-of-the-bishop/

Hello good people. Welcome to the be in courageous

podcast with Bishop Julius C trouble. I'm pleased to be your

host for this podcast. My name is Reverend Dr. Brad Miller. I'm

a pastor and been about past for about 40 years of my privilege

to have Bishop Julius see trouble as my friend for a

similar length of time. We went to school together and have a

long ongoing relationship. And it's my thrill that to be a part

of his brand new podcast, which is called to be encouraged with

the bishop Julius C. Treble. You can get to this podcast by going

to the website to be encouraged.com. That's t o b e

encouragd.com. And also through Apple podcasts and other podcast

directories. But it's my pleasure and privilege to

welcome to the inaugural episode of the Be encouraged podcast

Bishop Julius C. Tribble Bishop, welcome to your own podcast.

Thank you, Brad. It's a great launch

this podcast and do it with a friend here. But we go back

aways, both through seminary and we had the same graduate school

where we earned doctorates from thank you for all your

expertise. And certainly for your guidance as we launched

this podcast. This is all about being encouraged. I think it

doesn't require action from the Congress or action from General

Conference for us to encourage one another. I'm the beneficiary

of many, many years of encouragement This year marks 40

years since I was first ordained I celebrate, that I would not be

have become a pastor or certainly not a bishop, ahead

have not been for encouragement all along the way. I first give

thanks to God and to Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior. For

this opportunity. I also want to give a shout out to my partner

and marriage and ministry. First Lady resell to Granberry

tremble, who often would say I'm excited and enthusiastic about

the Word of God, people of God, and the opportunity to encourage

others bread. So let's get started with the Be encouraged

podcast.

Well, let's do that. And we call this the to be

encouraged to podcast, Bishop treble, the theme that you have

in your life and your ministry, and even your personal mission

statement. It's all about being encouraged. Can you go there for

just a second about your personal mission statement? And

about how that informs what you do and everything?

Yes, my personal mission statement

predates me being a bishop or actually predates me earlier

earlier in ministry, and both my wife and I shaped mission

statements around helping others and encouraging others mine is

to encourage all people, notice I say at all, all people with

the love of Jesus Christ, to rise to their highest potential,

often, for short, people just know it is be encouraged. So

it's all about helping people rise to their highest potential

by the Ministry of encouragement. And I do that as

a disciple and follower of Jesus Christ. I don't knock other

religions or other faith expressions. I'm just on the

journey to be a faithful follower of Christ. And to

encourage others with that love that I think transcends all

cultures, all races, and all faith expressions.

Well, I think that's a wonderful mission

statement and informs everything that we're going to be doing

here and to be encouraged to a podcast and to tell the folks a

little bit what can they can expect? What kind of topics are

we going to address? What kind of people are we going to be

talking to what this is going to be all about? When people tune

in for a little bit to hear your voice?

I think this is going to be an

opportunity to hear me speak in some depth on on issues of

faith, on issues of Church and Society on issues of justice, of

love, of Scripture passages, we're going to hear from others

who are talking about contemporary issues and

challenges in our society, relative to church related

higher education, whether to you persons who are new in ministry,

how you navigate all of the quick chant trance transitions

and changes that are happening so fast in society, how can we

be fully human? And how can we also recognize that we can

contribute to the pursuit of Beloved Community? So a lot of

what I have to say and a lot of the people that we're going to

have on a podcast are going to help us drive that train towards

an understanding of beloved community as we talk about

contemporary issues of Church and Society.

And we're going to get to that just just a moment

here about faith and church and society. And in that process,

we're going to speak to Many of these issues that are the

forefront of our world right now. Racism, voting rights,

human sexuality, ecological issues, family, Faith Church,

the crisis in the church, all these type of things, we're

going to address those, all of those things aren't like,

Absolutely, I know heard this from

colleagues. Every Thursday, well, once a month on Thursdays,

I meet with other judicatory religious leaders in

Indianapolis, Indiana, representing a number of other

Christian denominations. And and in recent meeting, I heard one

of my colleagues say, I know that Joyce Joyce shared is

doubled. And sorrows shared is cut in half. That means that

whenever we have an opportunity to share joy or glory, sighting

or a blessing, that literally doubles its impact, because

we're multiplying it. And when we're able to share sorrow that

cuts that pain in that sorrow in half, I think is really

connected with Galatians, six and two, where the writer Paul,

or whoever, the writer of Galatians says, We have to bear

each other's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. So

part of what it means to be a follower of Christ is not just

to share the good days, but also the things that may bring them

sorrow. So for example, we've talked on a number of occasions

about the impact of the global pandemic, the people that have

been lost, the people that we know, that have been sick and

hospitalized, and how that has impacted our society and created

created disruption. And even in our worship experience and

worship gathering. Those are some of the things that we will

talk about.

Yes, we will. And just to so we're gonna do that

you said about sharing the joy it looks basically every week

Rumi coming to you to share a word of encouragement about your

life. And just to set the context as we move forward here.

Bishop Julius, he tremble is the Bishop of the Indiana area of

The United Methodist Church. And he'll say more about his

background as we go along. But he's been in mission and

ministry for 40 something years, he has really a heart for people

and heart for the church, but also heart for the matters that

matter. And the context we're at right now, we are basically

entering we're two years into this really amazing COVID

crisis, we're in what some people call the omachron phase

or wave of this more people are hospitalized now than probably

ever have been in the whole crisis we've had and it impacts

individuals it certainly has impacted my own family, the

people we know and and also our churches and the world and our

hospital staff and people that we deal with it so that can be

put that is one thing Bishop that can be pretty discouraging,

is dealing with that. We also have other situations in the

world with a with racism and voting rights and human

sexuality, all kinds of things, which can be discouraging. And

so let's talk for today and the next couple of weeks about how

do we continue to be in couraged. During discouraging

times, I think we can call this kind of be persevering with

encouragement. And today I want us to talk a little bit about

faith, a faith response and discouraging times and lets us

go there a bishop Oh, faith. What is help define that for us

here

are the Bible talks about the meaning of

faith. Faith is the assurance of things hoped from right from the

book of Hebrews 11 Faith is the assurance of things hoped for

the conviction or the evidence of things not seen. It is indeed

by faith that our ancestors received approval, we have to

believe that God exists and believe that our lives matter.

So I have faith in tomorrow. Not because I know everything that's

going to happen tomorrow, but I know that God will be present

with me and with us. Tomorrow. We are created in the image of

God David feel United Methodist theologian and ecumenical

officer for the United Methodist Church, as a new book and called

a call our purpose is love. And he reminds the reader that that

we have been created in the image of God means that we are

literally connected to God. And we are created to reflect God's

character, by loving God and loving neighbor often say if you

can't remember anything, core to the Christian witness in how to

be encouraged and to be an encouragement. Remember this

love God, love neighbor, love God, love me. God, this is I'm

getting I'm again, quoting from his book, our purpose is love.

God has a mission in the world. And love is at the heart of that

mission. So what's our responsibility? Well, in a word,

it's the spread, that transforming love, save salvific

love of Jesus Christ. And I think that can help us even

especially going through crisis and especially at a time like

this global pandemic. How do we demonstrate not vitriol, one

towards another, or not angst or anger, or frustration? But how

do we hang on to that faith and bolster each other's faith with

the medicine and message of love?

Well, that's a that's awesome that that's a

great book for us to refer to as well. What's the title of the

book and the author again, please,

David seal. Our purpose is love.

Our purpose is love. Now, here's my question

for you, Bishop, as we kind of unpack this whole thing about

faith in the midst of a pandemic, whatever challenges of

having this purpose of love and faith in a world which is

falling apart, it seems that sometimes and also where there's

a lot of folks, we may want to love them, but they can be kind

of unlovable sometimes. I'm getting somewhat getting with

you what are some of the challenges we have to this

situation of faith

and love? I think the challenge one of the

challenge, we have a whole notion of bringing about change

through proximity, Brian, at least Bryan Stevenson, who does

a lot of work around social justice and persons who've been

incarcerated, and he's done a lot with the Equal Justice

Institute. And his book, Just Mercy talks about proximity,

that in order to really address the change of problem, whether

it's racism, or whether it's whether it's a patriot, or

ideological difference, that there has to be a willingness to

get close enough to those other persons and close enough to, to

the problem or the challenge in order to address it. That then

in and of itself is a challenge. I often say that sometimes it is

necessary to pray at a distance. In other words, if you and I are

going to just blow up when we see each other, maybe I just

need to pray for you at a distance. Maybe I need to ask

God to do what you or I have been unable to do in terms of

conversation and commitment, or consensus. And so it's not easy

often say just because something is hard, doesn't mean we

shouldn't do it. It means we need help and doing it. So I

give thanks and praise to God that God does not expect to do

SPECT us to do everything by ourselves. I like the words of

the late Congressman John Lewis, who says Everybody can do

something. You don't have to do everything.

I think it's awesome what you're saying there

it's kind of faith in action, isn't it? You know, you we can

sit back and we can talk about faith, we can modificate about

it, even preach sermons about it, what have you. It's a

different thing to be engaged in active faith. So let's go there

for a second how can what are some practical means that we can

live out our faith actively what are some actions we can take?

I think participating in our local

communities, at every level, is one way we can bring actually to

our faith in in the Indiana conference United Methodist

Church, we have a movement I call it a movement called

children matter most basically, it is a ministry of

encouragement, saying to churches and individuals, if

you're close to a school, if you're close to wherever

children are, you can not only pray for them, but maybe your

you can embrace a ministry that has an impact on children, I

strongly encourage persons to consider becoming foster parents

that consider becoming adoptive parents. And if you're not a

foster parents, or adoptive parents, how might you be

supportive of those who are we have three children, three

children's homes who provide all kinds of services for the most

vulnerable and often difficult, difficult cases where children

have not don't have safe homes. And we have been supportive of

that I say that everyone can find something at a local level,

to be engaged in through our local congregations, through our

local communities through our boys and girls clubs, or any

organization that is having an impact for children, and or

others elder care, for example. Sure, there are all kinds, there

are all kinds of things that we can engage in, that are

expressions of our Christian witness as well.

I love that because we're really talking here about

connecting up with and reaching out to the most vulnerable of

our society, children and others who are underserved or in need.

And when you do that, I think we can eat, we can go to a

spiritual place when you live out your faith, you get affirmed

that okay? When we see that child served or that elder

person who has been comforted, there is a God, there is

something bigger, there is something bigger than just a

good deed done. There is a spiritual realm to this and

let's go there for a second let's talk about kind of

spirituality and faith in terms of perhaps even spiritual

warfare. Let's talk about what happens to people when they live

out of faithful life. Maybe something out of Scripture means

something of your own experience about the spiritual realm when

it comes to a life of faith and even going against the evil one.

So everything to say about that, I think

in the Bible, it talks about what

Galatians it talks about the, the work of the Spirit versus

the work of the flesh. And and there is this notion, it's not

just a notion, what we are up against not are in direct

spiritual forces in evil, often in high places. So I believe

that one of our greatest weapons, if you will, is our

foundation in prayer. Second Chronicles 714. If my people God

speaks to the writer, If my people who are called by my name

will humble themselves, and pray, then I will hear them from

heaven. So I think our first weapon, if you will, our first,

defense and offense is to be grounded in prayer. Often people

make reference to spiritualist related to our relationship and

our walk with God. Some people say they're spiritual, but not

religious. Some people and I heard what authors say when

people say they're spiritual, but not religious, they are

sometimes neither spiritual or religious. So when we say we

walk with God, often that's expressed through our particular

religion, I happen to be a Christian, who is a United

Methodist. That's my denominational expression. But I

also have a spiritual relationship, a spiritual, I am

working on my own spiritual growth, my relationship with

God, so that I might be fortified. And be prepared. As

my mother would say, when you leave the house, he was a put on

a whole armor of the Lord. Because wherever you go, you're

going to be faced with all kinds of challenges, the spiritual, as

well as the temple,

we run into folks, quite often, really, especially

during this time of COVID. And just a protracted time of

stress, not only COVID, but you know, economically and racially,

and all kinds of things are just happening in our world. But

someone will say something, and I know I've experienced this

recently, oh, my faith has waned, or I've lost my faith, or

my faith left me. So what do you think are some responses we can

make as Christians, men and women of faith church folks of

faith? What kind of responses can we make to folks who have

this experience either on our families, our churches, co

workers, so what somebody says, My faith is weighed, or my faith

is gone, I think we

need to listen. And we need to not

contradict them when they say my faith is rain or my faith is

gone. But this is an is an opportunity, personal

encouragement to say your faith may may have waned in your feet,

you may feel as though your faith is gone. But I want to

walk with you because I am evidence that God cares about

you. And so I'm an expression of your faith. So so as a friend,

or as a friend, or a witness, a Christian witness, we can

actually bolster someone's faith who says My faith is, is way my

faith is gone. I pray to God and this did not happen the way I

expected to happen. I was hoping that my loved one would be we be

with me for next year's anniversary celebration and they

die. My faith is is wane, your faith may have waned, but your

faith is not lost. Your faith is not lost, because it is not just

about our belief in God. I think it's also God's belief in us.

That's where where grace is so important. Read the unmerited

love that God has for us. The favor that has been placed

inside of us is still there, even when our fate has waned. So

the grace is not, Grace has not left us even when our faith is

weighing. And so it's a matter of living long enough. And

others often being the conduit for which God can resurrect, if

you will, that faith that spark that hope. And often when

people's say their faith is weighing is because hope has

been DAST. Yes, is is something something, something has

happened or something has not happened. That has das their,

their their sense of hope. Sometimes it's a season. It's a

season, and sometimes it is something that really requires

us simply walk alongside those person.

And certainly that's a time when someone comes

to us or we're aware that someone says My faith is wane or

my faith is lost. It's not the time for anything that could be

construed as condemnation or judgment. That's the time for

grace and love, and care and presence. And I think he used a

good word a few minutes ago listening as well, in terms of

this, because faith is challenged these days, I noticed

that Google does or Google does report you know, they're a

search engine report at the end of the each year and you're 21

They said what was the top searches in Google and the top

search item and Google for 2021 was the Raise, how can I heal?

How can I? And so I just think it says a lot about the hunger

that people have for a healing and wholeness and completeness

and dealing with a lack of faith and things of that nature. So

let's turn then from that kind of thing to what then can we

build on? What are some ways that people can build their

faith or free construct something here? Or what are some

practices or things that you do? Or that we can do that in the

church that help people build faith? You know, we there's lots

of images here on Hebrews 11. Look at that people who had Abel

and Noah and Abraham, someone who had their faith challenged,

and still came through, but time just like your take on this, how

do we build faith?

I've got Again, refer to our purpose is

love. It's the subtitle to David feels book, our purpose is love,

is the Wesleyan way to be the church. And one of the things we

know from the Wesleyan perspective, Wesleyan theology

is that small groups, or are the walking alongside people, the

Bible says Where two or three are gathered, where two or three

are gathered, we know that we can draw strength one from

another. So I think one of the one of the practices that I have

is to draw strength from others, through prayer, and through

covenant accountability. I have a cabinet group, a group of

folks, we all read the same daily devotional, the upper room

daily devotional, we follow the lectionary, the Scripture

reading for the day, and for the week, and we pray one for

another prayer partners, I think we could if we could multiply

the people that say that say, I pray for you, Brad, you pray for

me, then I know that, that I can, I can make it, I know that

I can make it not my and my faith can be bolstered and my

hope can be fortified. Because I know that I'm not walking this

life journey in isolation, couple

things that are just so important three things,

at least, from what you just shared their small groups we're

in, and a part of the small groups could be accountability

partners, and then also daily, the daily discipline of

Scripture and devotion. And I think that's so important to

building our faith because you can be disciplined even when you

don't feel like it, you know, I went and worked out this

morning, I didn't really feel like it in my local gym, you

know, a roll out of bed went anyhow, you know, and we tend to

want to have daily habits of eating and drinking and things

like that we got to do stuff on a daily basis, we do that that's

going to be good thing. But I think one of the things that's

different about our time here, and we can be creative a little

bit, and maybe certain things like to be encouraged Podcasts

can be helpful to people, is to find other ways to making that

connection. For instance, some people met in small groups,

Sunday school classes, what have you in person, and maybe more

more that's happening over zoom and things like that. We're

going to be very intentional about it. And so I just think

it's a part of what we need to be we have to be intentional

about our faith building personally. And with others go

with that for a second, how what are some ways that we can be

intentional in our faith building with other people?

Yeah, I was in a meeting just recently,

and, and during the course of the meeting, someone was saying

that they'd done something that, that they felt like a

disappointment to the group and so forth. And one of our

colleagues said, just stopped him and said, In the name of

Jesus Christ, you are forgiven. Oh, man. And it was such a

powerful moment. There was a little smile, and maybe even a

little laughter because, but but but but it was so meaningful,

but the sentiment was real, right?

It was real, it was real. Sure. And you

said the top Google search and 2021 was how can I heal? I

believe God can use a podcast, to communicate to someone that

they are loved. In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven.

Your healing has already started. And that's the message

that I think we can we can we can share. We can share that

without restrictions without cost that people can hear in the

name of Jesus Christ. Whatever you've done, you are forgiven,

go for sin no more. Begin your healing right now.

Well, that's awesome. And that also is a tool

for perseverance, a tool for perseverance that we can keep

going on to do to do that. And that's part of our mission. I

know it's part of your mission. Here is one of the reasons you

wanted to do that be encouraged a podcast just to be an ongoing

voice of encouragement for folks, and to speak it to their

life. And we're talking today about faith and we're going to

continue this process over the next couple of our episodes.

We're going to talk about perseverance and being

encouraged that about the church on another Episode and about

society how we reflect that in the future. Let's give a little

preview of that. How important is it that we persevere in our

church in our society, as just a tidbit of what we're going to

talk for the next couple of weeks?

I got churches are essential to the

healing of the world. Someone has said in the past, you know,

if your church disappeared, what would your community miss it?

And I hope the answer is yes, because I hope that our

churches, smaller, large, they're located, there was an

accident just recently of a helicopter, they crashed. Was it

in Philadelphia? I don't know if you saw that news. In the news.

Yes, I saw that. And people survive crash right next to a

church. I'd like to think that too often when they're so often

when their helicopter crashes, people don't survive. Right. I

like to think that there's something symbolic about that,

that next to the church, that somehow that the that God's

presence made a difference. And I pray that the pilot and others

will recover. From that accident, we are so important,

our witness, our church's witness, so important for people

to recognize that this life journey can happen full of joy.

Even when we are faced with all of the interruptions of life. I

believe that joy does not have to be compromised. Nor do we

have to assume that we can not walk this journey with others.

There's an African proverb that says if you want to walk fast,

walk alone. But if you want to walk far walk together, the

church is an opportunity. In fact, the only organization

that's really organized for people that are not already in

the church, our purpose, our purpose is really not for those,

but for those who have not yet not become part of it. So the

church matters tremendously. You hear me say that during the

podcast, but people inside of the church matter. And I'd like

to dedicate this first podcast, Mrs. Louise Oliver from

Cleveland, Ohio, a lay woman who passed recently in recent weeks.

I remember going to Cleveland, Ohio as a new pastor, then they

tend to call me a young pastor. Now now I'm an elder in the

church. But I remember coming in hearing her sing in the Gospel

Choir, leading a song, I got a row, spiritual, I got a room,

you got a room, all God's children got a row when I get to

heaven, I'm going to put on my robe. And I'm going to shout all

over God's heaven knees, Oliver, was just a wonderful spirit. And

she and her husband and her family were great encouragers,

to whoever the pastor would be. And when I came to be a new

pastor, God always plants people like that in the church. And I

was blessed by as Oliver, but also was blessed because she

made wonderful peach cobbler. She was a great, she was a great

cook. And she would say, Pastor, you know, I just want you to

know this a peach cobbler with your name on it over at the

house. And we will certainly make it an opportunity. So God

bless the encourages. You don't have to be ordained to be

embraced administrative encouraged and you don't have to

be a biblical scholar to read your Bible and allow that Bible

to inform your living. And Mrs. Oliver is an example of that.

And I dedicate this podcast to the memory of Mrs. Mrs. Oliver a

great encouraged her she and her family.

But she sound like a great, great role model for

you and what we're all about here on the be encouraged to

podcast with Bishop Julius C. Trouble. I want to remind

everybody that you can connect up to this podcast at the

website to be encouraged calm to be E, E and CLR ag ed, calm and

Apple podcasts in other places. So let me leave you with this

thought Bishop than I'd like for you to pray some of you will,

misses all of our sound like a great example of this. One of

the great passages about faith is from from Hebrews chapter 11.

And verses 39 and 40 say this all were commended for their

faith like this is all over yet none of them receive what I've

been promised. So it's God's plan something better for us. So

only together would they be made perfect.

I Lord. So would you

just speak to anything you want to speak to

about this and pray us out?

I think only together they will be made

we will be made perfect. God's presence is with all those who

have been faithful. And I believe that the Reverend Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr. People from our own family, people

famous and people that never made it to the headlines of any

any paper or article are cheering us on. From the great

cloud of witnesses. We are made stronger together in Christ

Jesus. Let me close let me close in prayer with the words of this

song, lead me, guide me along the way. For if you lead me, I

cannot stray. Lord, let us walk each day with the lead me. Oh,

Lord, lead me, Lord, lead us, guide us along the way. For we

know if you lead us we cannot stray. Lord, let us walk one

with another knowing that as we walk together in encouragement,

that we will be able to face the challenges of life and nothing.

Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our

Lord. Thank you. Oh God, for those who hear this podcast, may

they know that they are loved. And there is nothing they can do

about a man

friends. You've been listening to the inaugural

episode of the B and couraged podcast with Bishop Julius C.

Triple. Thank you for joining us.