Sarah, a podcast listener writes in with a really great question for you, Pastor John, here

it is.

Pastor John, what's the difference between flattery and encouragement?

We are called to encourage one another, but also not to puff one another up and pride.

So how do I know which one is which?

What would you say to Sarah?

You could not do better after the Bible than getting a copy of Sam Crabdry's extraordinary

book called Practicing Affirmation and I love the subtitle.

God centered praise for people who are not God.

Sam mustered a battery of biblical passages and gave such a compelling argument for praising

people in a God-centered way that it's significantly altered how I think about this.

This is quite a remarkable book.

I don't think there's another one like it.

So I'm giving it yes, a very high recommendation just for the sake of not all the other practical

applications of the biblical data that Sam has brought together in a way I've never seen

anywhere else.

So that's an advertisement with joy.

There is such a thing as flattery.

Not all getting is good, so we have the word greed, right?

And not all giving is good, so we have the word bribe.

Praise which involves both getting and giving may not be good and so we have the word flattery.

The Greek word for flattery, Kolakaya occurs one time in the New Testament.

...