Posts Tagged ‘Chuck Swindoll’

How to Overcome Impatience! (Right Now)

Posted: May 15, 2013 in Sermon on Fruit of the Spirit
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
1

article-new_ehow_images_a01_uh_tn_teach-child-patience-800x800Police arrested Evelyn Mills Moore from Kings Mountain for beating another woman with a Bible. She was charged with inflicting serious injury. Police said she was a real Bible-thumper. Apparently Mrs. Moore did not possess the fruit of the Spirit of patience. But do we?

Chuck Swindoll wrote of this common scene: It’s dinner-out-with-the-family night. You’ve fasted most of the day so you can gorge tonight. You’re given a booth and a menu but the place is terribly busy and two waitresses short. You’ve drunk your water and everyone else’s in your party and still no order is taken yet. You’re delayed. How do you respond?

Jesus said, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34).

J. Hudson Taylor, famous missionary to China, used to gather new missionaries around him when they arrived in China, so that he could have a personal talk with them, giving them instructions on orientation. On one occasion he took a new worker with him into a Chinese eating-house. As they sat at the little table, Mr. Taylor filled a glass with water—right up to the brim. While they were talking, to the young recruit’s astonishment, the senior missionary struck the table with a sharp blow and the water spilled out onto the table.

“Now,” said Mr. Taylor, “You will get many a jolt and many a hard blow here in the work. Be prepared for that, for remember that when you get a jolt like that, there will spill out of you by that jolt, what is in you.”

1. God is Patient

Just about all the Fruit of Spirit are attributes of God. He can produce this fruit in us because these virtues are in Him. God is patient or longsuffering. Many times in the Old Testament, it is said that God “is slow to anger.” For example: Exodus 34:6-7; Nehemiah 9:17; Psalm 86:15; 103:8; 145:8. In 2 Peter 3:9, God is said to be longsuffering with sinners “not willing that any should perish.”

Christ was patient with His enemies. Jesus was falsely accused in Matthew 26:57-63 by slanderous witnesses the night before His crucifixion. They drummed up lies against Him. How did the perfectly innocent Son of God respond? “Jesus held his peace.” Peter, who was standing at a guilty distance, perhaps had this scene in his mind when wrote to persecuted believers in 1 Peter 2:21-24. Peter wrote:

For even hereunto were you called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judges righteously: Who his own self bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes we are healed.” None of us is perfectly innocent when we are falsely accused and yet we unlike Christ revile our accusers.

God is patient with sinners so the converted sinner will be patient with other sinners. This was Paul’s testimony in 1 Timothy 1:12-16. God patiently endured Saul’s blasphemy so Paul could with great patience win blasphemers.

2. We Can be Patient if we are Forgiving

We are patient when we are forgiving. Jesus used the word “patience” twice in one of His parables on forgiveness. The parable is in Matthew 18. Peter wanted to limit how many times he forgave someone. But Jesus taught in the parable just as God doesn’t limit how many times He forgives us, we should not put boundaries on our forgiveness. Just as God is patient with us and forgives when we ask so ought we exercise patience with others and forgive them. In the parable the king forgave an exorbitant debt when asked by his debtor. But the newly forgiven debtor would not forgive a much less debt when asked by one of his subordinates. Jesus then pronounced this powerful lesson: “Should not you also have compassion on your fellow servant, even as I had compassion on you?”

Later Paul would write a similar principle but connect this patience of forgiveness to the ministry of the Holy Spirit. In Ephesians 4:30 (See study “Stop Living Like Unbelievers”), Paul commanded, “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption.” Grieve is a hurt that comes from those we love who injure us.

J. Oswald Sanders wrote, “Grieve is a love word. One can anger an enemy, but not grieve him. The words are mutually exclusive. Only one who loves can be grieved, and the deeper the love the greater the grief” (The Holy Spirit and His Gifts, p. 92).

What are some of the sins that grieve or wound the Holy Spirit who dwells in us and infinitely loves us? Sins that result from not forgiving others: Bitterness, wrath, anger, quarrelling, and slander.

James A. Steward told of a woman who used to testify that she never got angry until she was provoked.

Paul’s remedy for impatience is the same as Jesus’. Paul ended his discussion on grieving not the Holy Spirit by giving us the key to victory: “Be kind one to another, compassionate, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.”

Is your impatience the result of nursing an unforgiving spirit? Has your mate, or parent, or child or close friend or co-worker pained and offended you? Remember how much God has forgiven you and daily forgives you. Now let’s return this favor and forgive those who have upset us. Because patience is the fruit of the Spirit, we can’t be grieving Him with unforgiveness. We must yield to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to produce in us His love for others.

Someone wrote sarcastically. If we don’t become patient there is one consolation: The Lord can use us to help others become longsuffering.

In Kimberly, South Africa when diamonds are being treated and polished, they sometimes break. Instead of throwing away these smashed diamonds, the workmen use them to polish other diamonds.

Let’s be the diamonds being polished and more and more conformed to the image of Christ instead of the broken and useless diamonds whose only purpose is to polish others.

Resources:

Assurance of Salvation

Posted: April 17, 2013 in Salvation
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
0

Tony Evans says, “A great spiritual malady permeates the church of Jesus Christ today” (Totally Saved, page 145). Evans calls this spiritual disease ADD: Assurance Deficit Disorder. Many good people lack assurance of salvation.

When someone comes to me who is not sure about his/her salvation, I respond in one of two ways:

1. If I don’t think the person is saved, I tell him how to be saved and help lead him to Christ.

2. If I think the doubting person is saved but is lacking assurance, I ask him to read 1st John over and over again. John wrote his first Epistle to help believers with assurance according to 5:13. John uses the word “know” 39 times in First John. The word “know”  is found over 700 times in Scripture but the word “guess” is not found once.

Theologians teach the doctrine of preservation of the saints. More commonly it is called “Eternal Security.” The Bible, however, calls this truth “Eternal life” as in 5:10-11.

But there is a Difference between Eternal Security and Assurance of Salvation

The Gospel of John was written so sinners would believe Jesus is the eternal Son of God and possess eternal life (20:31). John wrote his First Epistle so believers who are already eternally saved would also enjoy assurance of their eternal life (5:13).

A. It is possible, therefore, for a believer to enjoy eternal life and but not assurance of salvation. Tim Challies quotes Don Whitney’s six examples of doubts with which Christians struggle.

There are many examples:

1) John the Baptist in prison sent his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the one that should come or do we look for another” (Matthew 11:2-3).

2) Doubting Thomas on resurrection Sunday said, “except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe” (John 20:25).

3) G. C. Morgan quit preaching for two years because of doubts.

4) Believers who suffer ill-health or nervous disorders. Sometimes women going through the change of life and men going through mid-life crisis doubt their salvation.

5) Believers who had no great emotional experience at conversion. I had a very emotional conversion but one of teachers at BJU, Dr. Robert Bell saved at age 3 did not. But he was just as much saved as I was because salvation is not based on feelings but faith.

6) Believers brought up in false teachings find it difficult not to let that false teaching cause doubts. John addresses false teaching in 3:7 and 4:1. Some teach that if you sin you lose salvation.You can be saved today and lost tomorrow, they say. One day you are a Peter and the next day you are a Judas. Read John in 1:8-9. What about those who were raised in church and once believed the truth but now disavowed the truth? John says they were never believers to begin with in 2:19. Also in 2:15, if they forsake God for the world they were never believers. Paul would have agreed with John when he wrote, “Demas has forsaken me having loved this present world.”

7) Believers living out of fellowship with God. John writes about fellowship in 1:7. But if we are out of fellowship our sins are not cleansed and our communion is broken and it is like being unsaved as far as the blessings of God in our life are concerned. For example, our prayers are not answered just like the unsaved do not have their prayers answered (Psalm 66:18). About the carnal Corinthians, Paul said, “are you not carnal, and walk like men (unsaved men) (1 Corinthians 3:3). Bill Slick has a great article at CARM on assurance of salvation and he discusses this point.

B. It is also possible for people to have assurance (a false assurance) of salvation but not eternal life. John Piper addresses this issue in The Agonizing Problem of Assurance of Salvation. 

It was this possibility that caused Jesus to rebuke the religious people of His day (John 5:39-40). They are like the foolish man who built his house on the sand. Some church members have built their lives on the sinking sands of church membership and good works.

Charles Spurgeon heard a preacher spiritualize the text in Leviticus 11:16. He was preaching truth just from the wrong passage: “The owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind.” The preacher said that the owl is a very small bird when plucked; he only looks big because he wears so many feathers, so many professors are all feathers, and if you could take away their boastful professions there would be very little left of them” (Lectures to My Students, page 107).

There are Three Tests or Evidences in First John for Assurance of Salvation

1. The Moral Test: Do I obey Christ and live righteously (2:3-6)?

2. The Social Test: Do I love one another because I love God (2:7-11)?

3. The Doctrinal Test: Do I believe Jesus is God’s Son (2:18-27)?

John repeats these three tests, but this time he expands on them.

1. Moral Test: Do I obey Christ and live righteously (2:28-3:10)?

2. Social Test: Do I love one another because I love God (3:11-18)?

3. Doctrinal Test: Do I believe Jesus is God’s Son (4:1-6)?

The last repetition of the three evidences give the order in which they occur in ours.

1. The Doctrinal Test: Do I believe Jesus is God’s Son (5:1a)?

We must believe that Christ was incarnate (4:1-3). We must believe that Christ is God (4:15). We know this because we know God’s Word (5:13).

In 5:1, John says faith Christ produces the irreversible new birth. That should give us assurance. Just as physical birth is irreversible so is spiritual birth. Nicodemus asked Jesus, “How can a man when he is old be born again? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb and be born? Jesus replied, “No, that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

Bill Maher, the atheist comedian, was debating Bill O’Reilly about Christianity and they both got it wrong. Bill Maher said he could not believe in a God who put people to death for working on Sunday in the Old Testament. The Law dealt with the Sabbath not Sunday(Exodus 31:14). Bill O’Reilly said most of the Old Testament was not literal. Have we studied God’s Word so that we could answer these men?

George Whitfield, the great British evangelist, was speaking to a man about his salvation. He asked him, “Sir, what do you believe? “I believe what my church believes” the man replied. “And what does your church believe?” “The same thing I believe.” “And what do both of you believe?” the preacher inquired again. “We both believe the same thing” was the only replied he could get.

2. The Social Test: Do I love one another because I love God (5:1b-2a)?

A. Love for God is the first evidence of salvation (5:1a).

When someone makes a profession of faith, I don’t ask them, “Do you feel saved?” but “Do you love the Lord now?” Before salvation we feared the thought of standing before God at the judgment. Look at the change salvation brings according to 4:17-18. Now with Fanny Crosby we can sing “I want to see Him and look upon His face and sing the story ‘Saved by Grace.’”

B. Love for God results in love for God’s people or family (5:1b-2a).

Do you love Christians (3:14)? Would you rather be with believers or sinners (2:19)? Every church service is like a family reunion.

 3. The Moral Test: Do I obey Christ and live righteously (5:2c-3)?

Believers do not live in sin because they love God (5:2c-3). This gives us assurance.

In John’s first statement of the Moral test in 2:3-6, he said Christ life on earth at His first coming was our example: “He that says he abides in him ought himself also so to walk even as He walked” (2:6).

In John’s expanded second statement of the Moral test in 2:28-3:10, he said Christ’s second coming should motivate us to live holy lives. There are two potential responses to Christ’s future return in 2:28-29: confidence if we have passed the Moral test or shame if we have not passed the moral test. The coming of Christ should encourage us to live righteously (3:1-3).

In 1937, the famous Golden Gate bridge was completed. At that time it was the world’s longest suspension bridge. The entire project cost the U. S. government $77,000,000. During the process of constructing the first section of the bridge, very few safety devices were used, resulting in 23 accident as workers fell helplessly into the waters far below. The toll was so significant, something had to done before the second section was built. An ingenious plan was arranged. The largest safety net in the world (it alone cost $100,000) was made out os stout manila cordage and stretched out beneath the work crews. It prove to be an excellent investment in view of the fact that it saved the lives of a least ten men who fell into it without injury. Furthermore, the work went 25 percent faster, since the workers were relieved from the fear of falling to their deaths. God has stretched out beneath the believer His everlasting arms (Chuck Swindoll).

Do you have these evidences of salvation in your life? If so, take these proofs of salvation and help someone else who is struggling.

Crock Pot Christians (James 5:7-9) Part Two

Posted: April 8, 2013 in Sermons on James
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
0

The great New England preacher Phillips Brooks was known for his calmness and poise. His intimate friends, however, knew that he too suffered moments of frustration and irritability. One day a friend saw him pacing the floor like a caged lion. “What is the trouble, Dr. Brooks?” asked the friend. “The trouble is,” replied Brooks, “that I’m in a hurry, but God isn’t” (Jeremiah, page 166).

Warren W. Wiersbe, “Impatience with God often leads to impatience with people.”

James addresses this weakness in all of us. James is answering three questions about patience

1. What is Patience? (See Part One)

2. How Long Must We Be Patient? (See Part One)

3. How Can We Be Patient? 

A. By Strengthening Our Hearts (5:7-8) (See Part One)

B. By Working and Waiting With Others (5:9)

We must wait and work with others according to 5:9. The farmer had to work with his helpers. We can’t grumble at others because the waiting and work is difficult. If we don’t stablish our hearts there will be strife in our hearts (James 3:14-16) which produces strife between believers.

James forbad holding internal grudges here. Holding a grudge or unforgiving spirit is not patience. The same word is “groan” in Romans 8:23 where it refers to our internal desire for our glorified body.  In James 4:11, he forbad what internal grudges leads to “speaking evil one of another. He that speaks evil of his brother, and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law.” These believers are not only critical of other believers but they are even critical of God’s law, which forbids criticizing.

If you have an issue with a believer the solution is not complaining about that believer to other believers. Jesus instructed us how to settle the issue in Matthew 18:15-17: You go that person alone and settle the problem. There is great heartache when Jesus’ instruction is ignored.

Preacher Blackburn told the story of a woman who gossiped about her preacher. She so ruined his reputation that he had to resign from the church. She finally was convicted of her sin and all the damage she had caused her church and her pastor. She went to apologize to him at his house. He took her up to a second floor room and took a down pillow. He opened the window, unzipped one end of the pillow and shuck out all of the hundreds of feathers, which the wind caught and blew in as many directions. Then the pastor asked her to go retrieve all the feathers. She replied, “That is impossible.” The pastor responded, “It is good that you have asked for my forgiveness, but it is also impossible for you to retrieve all the gossip you have spread about me and undo all the damage you have caused to my testimony.”

James reminds us again that the Lord is soon coming back. But in this context, James wants us to remember that Christ is returning as a judge. If you are judging and criticizing believers beware the Lord is returning as your Judge. The Judge is standing ready to push open the doors to the courtroom. If you are being judged, be strengthened, for the coming Judge will right all wrongs and injustices that have been committed against you.

Christ is the most perfect example of someone unjustly suffering according to 1 Peter 2:21-25. When He was falsely accused, He did not retaliate, but committed His life to Him that judges righteously.

Chuck Swindoll spent a couple of hours a week reading to a blind young man named John. Swindoll related this incident. One day I asked him how he lost his sight. He told me of an accident that happened when he was a teenager and how at that point, he had simply given up on life.

“When the accident happened and I knew I would never see again, I felt that life had ended, as far as I was concerned. I was bitter and angry with God for letting it happen, and I took my anger out on everyone around me. I felt that since I had no future, I wouldn’t lift a finger on my own behalf. Let others wait on me. I shut my bedroom door and refused to come out except for meals.”

Swindoll said this young man was an eager learner and an earnest student, so I had to ask what had changed his attitude. He told me this story. “One day, in exasperation, my father came into my room and started giving me a lecture. He said he was tired of my feeling sorry for myself. He said that winter was coming, and it was still my job to put up the storm windows. He yelled, ‘You get those windows up by suppertime tonight and he slammed the door on his way out.’”

“Well,” said John, “that made me so angry that I resolved to do it! Muttering and complaining to myself, I groped my way out to the garage, found the windows, a stepladder, all the necessary tools, and I went to work. ‘They’ll be sorry when I fall off this ladder and break my neck . . .’ but little by little, groping my way around the house, I got the job done.”

Then he stopped and his sightless eyes misted up as he told me, “I later found out that at no time during the day had my father ever been more than four or five feet away from my side” (Charles R. Swindoll, Job: A Man of Heroic Endurance. W. Publishing, 2004, p. 224).

The dad did the tough thing to get his son to stop being bitter at God and others for his plight. Yet the father in love was there to help his son each step of the way back to usefulness.

Crock Pot Christians (James 5:7-9) Part One

Posted: April 8, 2013 in Sermons on James
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
0

God doesn’t microwave Christians to maturity, He crock pots them. It takes time to grow to maturity. For that reason, James commands us in 5:7 “Be patient therefore brethren.”

The only time I won a trophy was when I was preaching at a church that was going to have a men’s chili bean cook off. I put all of my stuff in the crock pot on Saturday night: Hamburger and Jimmy Dean sausage, chili powder, onions, tomatoes, etc. Later I threw in several different kinds of beans. It was rough that night waking up to the smell of chili beans cooking. But I won the cook off. I could have gotten up Sunday morning and thrown all of that stuff in a large frying pan and wiped out something quickly but I would not have a tasty dish.

We don’t like being patient. We despise waiting. In Florida a man billed his ophthalmologist $90 for keeping him waiting an hour.

A man’s car stalled on the freeway and no matter what he did, he could not get it started. Traffic was backing up and most everyone was taking it pretty good naturedly, except one guy in a pickup truck who was just laying on his horn. The driver of the stalled vehicle walked back to the driver of the pickup and said, “I’m sorry, but I can’t get my car started. If you’ll go up there and give it a try, I’ll stay here in your truck and blow your horn for you” (David Jeremiah, Integrity, page 166).

Patience is not the same as a type B personality or a laid back disposition. Patience is a fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22). Patience is a characteristic of love (1 Cor 13). Here is the hard part; patience is the result of hardship (Rom 5:3).

The believers James is writing to was enduring great hardship for the Gospel (1:1). They had been scattered from their homeland and now they were oppressed by hostile landowners (6:1-6). James condemns the hostility of the rich toward believers.

James connects his condemnation of the persecutors to what he now says to these persecuted believers with a “therefore.” In light of all their hardship, James says, “therefore” be patient. James answers the following three questions about patience.

1. What is Patience? (5:7)

James states three times we need to be patient in 5:7-8. Patience means to be long tempered with people instead of being volatile. You can’t have a short fuse and be patient. We don’t retaliate. We do not seek revenge. James said in 5:6, that these believers had not resisted or wrongly responded to the hostilities of the rich. We don’t lash out at our enemies. In not resisting their enemies, these believers had obeyed Jesus’ instruction in Mt 5:38-44. There are many references to Jesus’ sermon on the mount in James letter. James apparently was greatly impacted by the teaching of older half brother and Savior. This is where James probably got this truth.

2. How Long Must We Be Patient? (5:7)

James says we need to be patient “until” the coming of the Lord. For then people will no longer mistreat you and the Lord will right all wrongs. James uses the example of the persevering farmer. No crop springs up over night. The farmer has to pull up weeds, plow the hard soil and sow his seed. He must also wait on God to send the rain and the sunshine. The farmer both works and waits. He works 12-14 hours a day while he waits for the harvest. And when harvest season is over, he has to start the process all over again. No farmer sows one season and reaps for the rest of his life.

James makes application to you and me in 5:8: “Be you also patient (like the farmer).”

W. A. Criswell said years ago our government had sent a great tonnage of wheat to starving India and the picture on the front of the newspaper showed the wheat that was to be planted for a harvest. But the hungry hordes tore apart the bins, seized the golden seed, and consumed it in their starvation. Criswell thought how tragic that instead of patiently waiting for the harvest when the seed was planted, they were seizing in and destroying it (W. A. Criswell, Expository Sermons on the Epistle of James, 91).

Not waiting has serious consequences. Whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap. We finally reap for our patient response to mistreatment at the coming of the Lord not next week.

3. How Can We Be Patient? (5:8)

A. By Strengthening Our Hearts

“Stablish your hearts for the coming of the Lord draws near.” Notice we are told to stablish or make strong our hearts. Not God. In 1 Thess 3:13, however, it is God who stablishes or strengthens our hearts. But He doesn’t strengthen us without our cooperation. This is like the farmer pulling up the weeds, plowing the soil, and sowing the seed. This is hard work.

I grew up part of the time with my grandfather who was a tenant farmer. I watched him kill hogs, ring the necks of chickens, and shear sheep. I slopped the hogs. I also spent the night at Cleo Steed’s when he was a dairy farmer. They got me up around 4 in the morning. Farming is hard work. Strengthening our hearts is also hard work.

We must pull up the weeds of sin: Heb 12:15 “Let any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled.”

We must sow God’s Word in our hearts. David wrote, “Your Word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11).

We must fellowship with His Son. “If we walk in the light as He is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:7).

We also must work and wait “for” the coming of the Lord draws near. Before James wrote about waiting “until” but now he writes about waiting “for” or “because of” the coming of the Lord. The possibility of the any moment return of Christ should impact our lives now: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God and it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. Every man that has this hope in him purifies himself” (1 John 3:2, 3).

According to 1 Corinthians 15:58 the coming of Christ is the working hope. When we give out the gospel our labor is not in vain.

The Gideons give out little white New Testaments to all the nurses in America. One nurse had one of these little white New Testaments in the pocket of her uniform one day and the outline of it was seen by one of her patients who was a lost man. He thought it was a package of cigarettes. So, seeing it there in her pocket, he asked her what brand she used. She told him it was no brand, took it out, and held it up for him to see and explained that it was a little New Testament, the Word of God. She asked if she could read to him out of it. He gave her permission, and as time passed she read to him again and again. And under the influence of the Holy Spirit the man was wonderfully saved. He confessed his sins, asked God to forgive him, and received the Lord Jesus into his heart. As the days passed, this Christian nurse had a strange impulse to go see the man. So she went to his room, and as she stood looking at him, he sat up in bed. He seemed to be looking at someone standing at the foot of the bed. Then he raised his arms and cried, “My Lord and my God,” fell back, and his spirit was translated to heaven (W. A. Criswell. Expository Sermons on the Epistle of James, page 94). The coming of the Lord should strengthen our hearts to keep giving out the Gospel which will not return void.

We will continue answering questions about patience in Part Two

Book Review of Andy Stanley’s Communicating for a Change (Lesson Three) Create a Map

Posted: December 6, 2012 in Book Review of Communicating for a Change, Book Reviews
Tags: , , , , , ,
0

Stanley’s lessons so far in his book Communicating for a Change are Lesson One: Determine your Goal and Lesson Two: Pick a Point.

Once you have picked your point you, you need to introduce it, support it, and apply it to your audience. Stanley does this with his sermon map: ME, WE, GOD, YOU, WE. This is a relational outline verses a informational outline.

ME is the Orientation.

This is where you connect to the audience by admitting your personal struggle with the one point of your sermon. I would add that you would convey that God is helping you with this struggle.

WE is the Identification.

This broadens the struggle from me to the entire audience. Stanley says, “Don’t transition from WE to the next section until you feel like you have created a tension that your audience is dying for you to resolve.” This is what is traditionally called the Interest Step in the introduction. Stanley says that Chuck Swindoll, Bruce Wilkinson, or Rick Warren believe that “seventy to eighty percent of the Gospels and Epistles are application oriented.” Therefore, Stanley concludes “Application isn’t a section of the message, it is the context of the message.” The We puts the sermon in the context of application.

GOD is the Illumination.

“Now for the meat. The Bible part. The God part. The text!” The transition to the GOD part can be made with, “Well the good news is, we are not the first people to struggle with this.” Stanley says, “Don’t just read the text. Don’t just explain the text to death. Engage the audience with the text. Make it so interesting that they are actually tempted to go home and read it on their own.”

YOU is the Application. 

This is the “So what?” and “Now what?” part. There are several ways of making application. There is the concentric circles of relationships that applies the sermon to my family, the entire church, or those in the marketplace.

You can also apply through the various stages of life: teenagers, college students, singles, newlyweds, parents, and empty nesters.

WE is the Inspiration. 

The second We is where we cast the vision of the entire church body applying the sermon. It is a moment of inspiration. It is where the preacher dreams out loud. “Dream on behalf of your church families, singles, kids, churches, the kingdom. This is where you remind your audience that the Scriptures were given not just as a means of making our individual lives better. They were given so that as a body, corporately, we could shine like a beacon of hope in our communities, our neighborhoods, and in the marketplace. Imagine what WE could do together.”

Sermon: Great Opportunities Brilliantly Disguised as Impossible Situations (Acts 12:1-17)

Posted: August 27, 2012 in Sermons in Acts
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
0

Chuck Swindol wrote, “We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.”

John Walsh, the host of the T.V. reality program America’s Most Wanted, in 1981 had his 6-year-old son Adam abducted outside a Florida shopping mall. Adam was found two weeks later murdered. John Walsh and his wife Reve, were devastated and angry.

They wanted to sue the department store from which Adam had been abducted. When Adam first disappeared, no one at the store wanted to help them find their son and they later discovered that a security guard who worked there had actually ordered 6-year-old Adam out of the store. The Walshes were outraged. But the Walshes soon dropped the suite. Instead, John Walsh focused on solving the growing problem of child abduction.

In 1984, Walsh cofounded the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an organization that works to prevent child victimization. This organization has a program called, “Aide Adam” which has been implemented in 1300 stores. When a customer reports a missing child, a storewide alert is announced, and a description of the child is given to designated employees, who then search for the child and monitor the exits. If the child is not found in 10 minutes, employees contact the police. This organization has helped parents to recover more than 48,000 missing children.

The Walshes did not curse the darkness they lit a light. They did not run from their problem, they ran to their problem. They did not focus on the cloud but the silver lining.

What is your problem? Is it physical, financial, relational, personal, or spiritual? In Acts 12, Peter is unjustly imprisoned. Are you incarcerated in a prison without bars?

1. Is Our Problem a Humanly Insolvable Problem?

A. This was the 5th and the worst persecution. Peter’s life was not getting easier, but more difficult.

The First Persecution: In Acts 4, Jewish leaders threaten Peter and John

The Second Persecution: In Acts 5, Jewish leaders beat all the apostles including Peter

The Third Persecution: In Acts 7, the enemies of the gospel martyr Stephen, the deacon

The Fourth Persecution: In Acts 8, the entire church is persecuted and scattered

The Fifth Persecution: In Acts 12, the church’s first preacher is murdered and Peter is arrested. This is Peter’s third imprisonment and this time it is maximum security on death row. Peter was surrounded by 4 guards and bound by 2 chains. This was the last day before his execution.

B. Is your Problem Humanly Insolvable?

Some believers really have the kind of problems as did Peter. Others only think they do. Have the authorities threatened us? Some believers wilt under the slightest criticism. Have we been beaten with rods? What would really be good for some of us is to visit the ICU of High Point Regional or Brenner’s Children Hospital at Baptist Hospital and stand for a few minutes in the rooms of people dying of brain cancer or some other terminal disease. Or go to the family waiting rooms of the ICU and watch family members come back from their loved one’s room where they had held back the tears but now can’t hold them back any more.

Has anyone threaten to kill any of us? Go to Voice of Martyr’s website and read about present day martyrs. A friend of mine who has done mission work in Egypt, told me of a believer who was witnessing and caught by the Muslim authorities and stripped of his clothing and hung upside down for a week in a solid concrete room where he was fed but defecated on himself for a week. When released, he was told, next time you are caught, you and your family will be killed.

Have we been forced from our home as fugitives for our faith? Have any of us been homeless for Christ?

2. How Are We Responding to Our Problems?

A. By Praying to the God of the Impossible. How can we pray to the God of the impossible?

1) In Acts 12:5b, the church prayed “without ceasing.”

In Luke 22:44, this word is used to describe Jesus praying in the Garden. He prayed “earnestly” or desperately. The other option is to worry. Worry has never helped solve any problem it only compound the problem.

2) The church prayed corporately.

Luke writes that “the church” prayed. There is closet room prayer and there is prayer room prayer. On Wednesday evenings we pray corporately. The early church prayed corporately in Acts 1, 4, and 12. Warren Wiersbe has a little but book entitled, Something Happens When The Church Prays.

3) The church prayed specifically.

The church prayed “for him.” On Wednesday evenings we pray for pastors. E. M. Bounds wrote, praying for pastors would help the preacher. It would also help the listeners. “Preaching never edifies a prayerless soul.”

4) The church prayed patiently.

For one week they prayed up to the last night before Peter was to be put to death. Why did not God answer on the first day instead of the last? For their sake. They needed the practice. For Peter’s sake. He needed the testing. For our sake. We needed an example. “It is always to soon to stop praying.”

B. By Resting in the Promises of God in Acts 12:6

1) How was Peter reacting in prison the night before his death?

He was sleeping. He was resting on the promise Jesus gave in John 21:18 that Peter would not die until he was old. You and I also have promises: “For with God nothing shall be impossible.” “You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind in stayed on you.” Are these promises a soft pillow for your weary mind at night?

2) Are you resting or resisting?

Instead of quoting verses to God and praying to God are you talking to every one else? Are you reacting like a mature, adult believer or like a babe in Christ? The answer is in 1 Corinthians 3:1-3. If instead of praying and claiming God’s promises we are envious, causing strife and division because of our gossip and complaining then we are reacting not as Peter but as immature babies.

At one of John MacArthur’s pastor’s conferences, a pastor walked out on the platform dressed like a big baby. All he had on was an adult pamper, a bottle in one hand, a pacifier around his next and the Bible in the other hand. His sermon was on Christians who act like babies.

3. How Does God Respond to Prayer and Resting on His Promises?

A. He intervenes (Acts 12:7-11)

Someone said, “A humanly impossible situation is the platform from which God loves to work.”

Thomas Watson, the puritan preacher wrote about this miracle, “The angle fetched Peter, but prayer fetched the angel.”

B. God did not do what is possible for us to do. God miraculously removed the chains. But Peter had to put on his clothes, shoes, and coat. We must pray, rest on His promises and then He will do the impossible.

C. God answers prayers in one of three ways.

1. He says no! James was not delivered (12:1, 2) but Peter was (12:11). God said, “No, I will not spare his life but I will bring him home.”

2. God says yes. When a sinner prays, “Lord be merciful to me a sinner” God immediately answers with a “yes”. When we believers confess our sins according to 1 John 1:9, God instantly answers our prayers with a “yes”.

3. Other times God says not now but later. This is the case with this praying church.

4. What Should We Do However God Intervenes?

Tell others and give God the glory. Peter told others the good news and gave God the glory in 12:17. When you text, tweet, face book, email, phone call, stand around and talk to believers, share the good news of what God is doing and give Him the glory.

This passed week, we had a friend of one our members saved at the cottage prayer meeting on Thursday evening, over 200 men responded to our Men’s Breakfast, 30 preachers and eleven churches participated in our conference. This morning the man saved is coming forward plus our new student ministries pastor and wife are coming to join our church. Tell others this good news and give God glory!

6 Marks of Leadership, Mark Six, “The Leader Handles The Opposition of Personal Attacks” (Nehemiah 6:1-14) Part 3

Posted: April 6, 2012 in Six Marks of Leadership
Tags: , ,
0

It helps leaders to have a sense of humor.

Spurgeon would occasionally find a nasty anonymous letter lying on his pulpit when he would stand up to preach. There would a letter but no name. One day he got to the pulpit and there was a piece of paper with one word written in large letters … “idiot” … So Spurgeon said, “Normally I get letters without signatures, but today I got a signature without a letter.”

I hope Nehemiah possessed a sense of humor because he also received nasty, anonymous letters. One such letter is recorded for us to read in chapter six. If you like to read other peoples mail you are going to like Nehemiah 6.

Nehemiah was the consummate lay leader

1. He Showed concern for God’s work (Nehemiah 1:1-4

2. He Prayed for God’s people (Nehemiah 1:5-11)

3. He Followed his leader (Nehemiah 2:1-8)

4. He Motivated his followers (Nehemiah 2:9-20)

5. He Organized his work (Nehemiah 3:1-32)

6. He Handled his opposition (Nehemiah 4-6)

A. He handled opposition from without (4) Ridicule and threats from the enemy which produced discouragement

B. He handled opposition from within (5) Selfishness from believers

C. He handles opposition from without (6) Personal attacks from the enemy

Sanballat and the other enemies once again attack God’s work but with a new strategy: Attack the Leader. “Sack the QB”; Shoot the officers; kill the snake by cutting off its head.

The enemy lauches a three prong attack against the leader:

1. The Enemy Opposes the Leader with Compromise (6:1-4)

A. The opposition comes after a great accomplishment (6:1)

B. The opposition comes disguised as an opportunity (6:2)

To the request to stop his great work and meet in Ono, Nehemiah said, “No!” Most leaders have “To Do” lists. I write one out every Monday. Most leaders need to write out a “To Not To Do” list. I am not talking about a “To Not To Do Sin” list, but a “To Not To Do Good” list. Good can take the place of best in our lives. Lee Iacocca is an example in “Good to Great” pages 131-133

Nehemiah kept saying “No!” in 6:4.

2. The Enemy Opposes the Leader with Rumors (6:5-9)

Someone defined gossip as “news you have to hurry and tell somebody else before people find out it isn’t true.”

A. The source of rumors is usually unknown.

B. The content of rumors is wrong.

C. The result of rumors is hurt. The intent of this slander was to hinder Nehemiah from doing God’s work. Chuck Swindoll, “I am personally convinced that the number one enemy of Christian unity is the tongue It’s not drink, not drugs, not poor homes, not inflation, not TV, not even a bad church program—-it is the tongue” (Hand Me Another Brick, page 131). God’s thinks so also. Just read Proverbs 6:16-19. Some believers need to get a post it, write 3 of the 7 things God hates and stick it on their cell phones. Who is ultimately hurt by rumors? The person who spreads them. God blessed Nehemiah not Sanballat and company.

D. The response to rumors is two-fold (6:8-9). Deny the rumor to the person spreading it. Pray for God to give you strength. You will need it.

3. The Enemy Opposes the Leader with Peer Pressure (6:10-14)

Nehemiah refused to run (6:10-11). When appeals to compromise did not work and rumors did not hinder, the enemy reverted to threats in 6:10. Nehemiah refused to run from his great work in 6:11. Nehemiah’s ratings in the polls bottomed out in 6:14. Nehemiah prayed in 6:14 and went back to work in 6:15.

Warren W. Wiersbe writes that Bible teacher G. Campbell Morgan on more than one occasion was the target of savage gossip that accused him of unfaithfulness to the Christian faith. His usual reply was, “It will blow over. Meanwhile, I go quietly on with my work” (Be Determined, page 76).

6 Marks of Leadership, Mark Six, “The Leader Handles The Opposition of Personal Attacks” (Nehemiah 6:1-14) Part 3

Posted: April 6, 2012 in Six Marks of Leadership
Tags: , ,
0

It helps leaders to have a sense of humor.

Spurgeon would occasionally find a nasty anonymous letter lying on his pulpit when he would stand up to preach. There would a letter but no name. One day he got to the pulpit and there was a piece of paper with one word written in large letters … “idiot” … So Spurgeon said, “Normally I get letters without signatures, but today I got a signature without a letter.”

I hope Nehemiah possessed a sense of humor because he also received nasty, anonymous letters. One such letter is recorded for us to read in chapter six. If you like to read other peoples mail you are going to like Nehemiah 6.

Nehemiah was the consummate lay leader

1. He Showed concern for God’s work (Nehemiah 1:1-4

2. He Prayed for God’s people (Nehemiah 1:5-11)

3. He Followed his leader (Nehemiah 2:1-8)

4. He Motivated his followers (Nehemiah 2:9-20)

5. He Organized his work (Nehemiah 3:1-32)

6. He Handled his opposition (Nehemiah 4-6)

A. He handled opposition from without (4) Ridicule and threats from the enemy which produced discouragement

B. He handled opposition from within (5) Selfishness from believers

C. He handles opposition from without (6) Personal attacks from the enemy

Sanballat and the other enemies once again attack God’s work but with a new strategy: Attack the Leader. “Sack the QB”; Shoot the officers; kill the snake by cutting off its head.

The enemy lauches a three prong attack against the leader:

1. The Enemy Opposes the Leader with Compromise (6:1-4)

A. The opposition comes after a great accomplishment (6:1)

B. The opposition comes disguised as an opportunity (6:2)

To the request to stop his great work and meet in Ono, Nehemiah said, “No!” Most leaders have “To Do” lists. I write one out every Monday. Most leaders need to write out a “To Not To Do” list. I am not talking about a “To Not To Do Sin” list, but a “To Not To Do Good” list. Good can take the place of best in our lives. Lee Iacocca is an example in “Good to Great” pages 131-133

Nehemiah kept saying “No!” in 6:4.

2. The Enemy Opposes the Leader with Rumors (6:5-9)

Someone defined gossip as “news you have to hurry and tell somebody else before people find out it isn’t true.”

A. The source of rumors is usually unknown.

B. The content of rumors is wrong.

C. The result of rumors is hurt. The intent of this slander was to hinder Nehemiah from doing God’s work. Chuck Swindoll, “I am personally convinced that the number one enemy of Christian unity is the tongue It’s not drink, not drugs, not poor homes, not inflation, not TV, not even a bad church program—-it is the tongue” (Hand Me Another Brick, page 131). God’s thinks so also. Just read Proverbs 6:16-19. Some believers need to get a post it, write 3 of the 7 things God hates and stick it on their cell phones. Who is ultimately hurt by rumors? The person who spreads them. God blessed Nehemiah not Sanballat and company.

D. The response to rumors is two-fold (6:8-9). Deny the rumor to the person spreading it. Pray for God to give you strength. You will need it.

3. The Enemy Opposes the Leader with Peer Pressure (6:10-14)

Nehemiah refused to run (6:10-11). When appeals to compromise did not work and rumors did not hinder, the enemy reverted to threats in 6:10. Nehemiah refused to run from his great work in 6:11. Nehemiah’s ratings in the polls bottomed out in 6:14. Nehemiah prayed in 6:14 and went back to work in 6:15.

Warren W. Wiersbe writes that Bible teacher G. Campbell Morgan on more than one occasion was the target of savage gossip that accused him of unfaithfulness to the Christian faith. His usual reply was, “It will blow over. Meanwhile, I go quietly on with my work” (Be Determined, page 76).

The Divine Cure for Depression: Part 2, Sermon on Psalm 42:6-11

Posted: March 28, 2011 in Sermons
Tags: , ,
0

 

“Emotional depression has rapidly become a major health problem, not only among adults, but even among children and teenagers. It is reported that there are two thousand suicides a day around the world, and many of these are caused by depression. More than four million people in the United States each year need special medical attention because of severe depression. When unsaved people are discouraged or depressed, they often resort to various means of escape—drugs, alcohol, entertainment—but then discover that they have not really escaped themselves! When the show is over, or the ‘high’ is ended, they are worse off than before.” (Warren W. Wiersbe. Meet Yourself in the Psalms, Wheaton: Victor Books, 1983, 66).

But believers are not immune from the battle with depression!

The Psalmist in Psalms 42 and 43 knew the bitter taste of depression and discouragement.  Three times David pours out his deep feelings in a word for word refrain or chorus:

“Why are you cast down, O my soul” (42:5, 11; 43:5).

The Psalmist found the remedy in God. In these two Psalms, the author refers to God thirty-seven times.

The language is so similar to David’s in other Psalms that the author was very likely David. David writes when he is in exile away from the house of God where he loved to worship God. He expresses his discouragement as a fugitive from corporate worship in 43:3-4.

We know David was in exile twice:

1. The first time David was forced to flee for his life was when his boss, jealous king Saul, attempted to kill David after David killed Goliath and became more popular.

The work place can be a place of great drama, politics, favoritism, disappointment or even depression.

2. The second time David was forced into exile was when his rebellious son, Absalom usurped David’s kingship and David had abandon his throne.

Instead of our place of residence being “Home Sweet Home” or “No There is no Place like Home” family can be the most painful, depressing place on earth. For example, couples who are emotionally divorced but not yet legally divorced.

David writes a song with three stanzas where he pours out his complaints to God. But because he took his burden to the Lord, the Lord helped David work through his problems.

There is a progression of dealing with depression in these three stanzas:

1. The Believer is in a Spiritual Drought in 42:1-5. This part of David’s prayer song is mostly negative written by a dried up brook. David is struggling with hopelessness. Almost every day is a bad day.

2. The Believer is in a Devastating Storm in 42:6-11. Now David battles panic as if drowning in a flood. The second stanza is a mixture of negative and the positive. David vacillates between the two. One day David feels he will be rescued and the next day he has another panic attack.

3. The Believer is in a Dark Cave in 43:1-5. David twice was in a dark, lonely cave surrounded by his enemy Saul and his army according to 2 Samuel. The last stanza is mostly positive with faith in God.

Let’s work through these three phases one at a time.

1. The Believer in a Spiritual Drought (42:1-5) by a dried up brook.

2. The Believer in a Devastating Storm (42:6-11). Now David is perhaps north by overflowing Jordan at the foot of Mount Hermon. When the snow melts it causes a flooding Jordan River.

 

A. The First Wave of Depression (42:6-7)

 

1) Unlike his first phase, which was by a dried up brook, now David is engulfed in an overwhelming storm.

2) In the first phase God turned off the water faucet of blessings. In the second, he turned on the fire hose of trials. Jonah quoted this verse when he thought he was dying in the great fish’s belly (Jonah 2:1-3). Wave after wave pounds him and a strong undercurrent keeps pulling David back under the water.

Have you ever been at the beach and the tide was up and you kept walking into the tall waves which kept knocking you off your feet. You were no match.

Someone said, “Trials do not come single file, but in battalions.” A battalion is a military unit of around 300–1,300 soldiers. The Christian battle is like fighting terrorism. In WW II our enemy was primarily Hitler. In the Vietnam it was the Vietnamese. Now our enemies are in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Iran, Syria, and even cell groups in America.

Not only the world, the flesh, and the Devil, but God is thought to be our enemy: “Deep calls unto deep at the noise of thy waterfalls: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.” It is as if one waterfall did not drown the believer so it summons the next waterfall, “I didn’t get him it is your turn.” But these waterfalls and waves and billows are God’s. Has God conspired with life to destroy me?

B. The Proper Response to the first wave of Depression (42:8) “Yet” it is as if David comes up for air and blurts out, “the Lord commands His love….”

1) There has been mark advancement from the first phase in 42:1-5.

a) In his first bout, he “remembered things” (42:4). Things he used to possess and enjoy that were no longer his.

b) In his second bout, he “remembered God” (42:6). He may have lost something or someone or everything but he had not lost God.

2) In his first phase, his days and nights were filled with tears (42:3). He was always on the verge of crying. Thank God he has moved beyond that. Now he sees God’s control (42:8). No, God is not conspiring with life to defeat and drown you. God has made a commitment to grow and mature you which requires the storms of life.

C. The Second Wave of Depression (42:9-10) takes David back under water.

 

1) As in each phase David accuses God: “I will say unto God my rock, ‘Why have you forgotten me?’” A rock can be a fortress for us but rocks don’t speak. And God was both to David. God was his silent partner. David knew mentally God was his rock but emotionally he was not feeling it.

2) The reason David thinks God is silent and unresponsive is because of the constant attack of Job’s friends. In David’s case his enemies were jealous King Saul and his rebellious son, Absalom. The overwhelming flood in which David is about to drown is his enemies’ verbal attacks. We find David lamenting about hurtful words in all three phases:

a) In 42:2-3, their words cause us to weep at night. Let’s skip to the third stanza and come back to the third.

c) In 43:1-2, their words are ungodly and deceitful. We need God to vindicate us because their words are false.

b) In 42:9-10, their words are like knives that pierce and break our bones. Their words affect me physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Listen to Chuck Swindoll on Psalm 42: “I have a ‘churning place.’ It’s in my stomach. . . on the upper, left side, just below the rib cage. When disturbing things happen, when troubling words are said, when certain letters that contain ugly words or extremely critical comments are read, the churning starts” (Charles R. Swindoll. Daily Grind 1. Dallas: Word Publishing, 1988, 120).

D. The Proper Response to the second wave of Depression (42:11)

 

Have a serious conversation with yourself and ask yourself some serious questions: “Why am I depressed?” “Why am I drowning?”

Martin Lloyd-Jones put it this way, “Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself” (Spiritual Depression: Its Cause and Cure. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1965). Just get a wireless earphone and preach to yourself and nobody will know what you are doing.

a) Here is the first point in your sermon to Self : Is my depression because of disobedience like in Jonah’s case.

b) Here is the second point in your sermon to Self: Is my depression because of obedience like in Paul’s case in Acts 27.

c) Here is the third point in your sermon to Self:

1. Hope in God not possessions not things (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)

2. Hope in God not people who disappoint like a jealous King Saul or rebellious Absalom. What will help us when we are disappointed by people is to remember we also disappoint. David prays for God to deliver him from disappointing and depressing people. But did David ever disappoint people? Absalom rebelled and disappointed him. But David also rebelled and disappointed people. Had David disappointed Absalom? What about the time Absalom put his brother Amnon to death for raping his sister and fled for his own life and stayed in Geshur for three years (2 Samuel 13:39).

David was actually glad that David put Amnon to death after all the penalty for rape in the OT was capital punishment. But then Absalom came back to Jerusalem to be reconciled to his father in 2 Samuel 14. But David refused to speak to his son for another two years. Finally, Absalom forced his Dad to see him. For five years, David refused to speak to his son. But shortly afterwards, Absalom rebelled against his father in 2 Samuel 15 which led to David’s exile.

What did Jesus teach us to pray, “Forgive us our sins for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us” (Luke 11:4).

What did Paul teach us in Ephesians 4:32 “Be you kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another even as God in Christ has forgiven us.”

The Divine Cure for Depression when you think God is plotting your defeat is to remember God loves you and is sovereignly using the storms to perfect you.

The Divine Cure for Depression when you the enemy is about drown you with verbal attacks is to set yourself down and preach this three point sermon.

Six Marks of Lay Leadership: Mark Six “The Leader Handles The Opposition of Discouragement” Part 1 Nehemiah 6

Posted: February 12, 2011 in Uncategorized
Tags: ,
0

1. The Opposition of Ridicule (4:1-6)

2. The Opposition of Threats (4:7-9)

3. The Opposition of Discouragement (4:10-23)

The criticism, insults, and threats finally took their toll on Nehemiah’s workers and discouragement set in. What caused their discouragement? They focused on their weaknesses, the rubbish of the torn down wall, their inabilities, and the enemy instead of concentrating on wall that would protect them, their families who needed their ministry, what they already accomplished, and the Lord who was great and awesome.

Chuck Swindoll tells an incident in the life of the great inventor Thomas Edison. Thanks to his genius, today we enjoy the microphone, the phonograph, the incandescent light, the storage battery, talking movies, and more than a thousand other inventions. But above and beyond all that, he was a man who refused to be discouraged. His contagious optimism affected all those around him.

His son recalled a freezing December night in 1914. It was at a time when still unfruitful experiments on the nickel-iron-alkaline storage battery, to which his dad had devoted almost ten years, had put Edison on a financial tightrope. The only reason he was still solvent was the profit from the movie and record production.

On that December evening the cry of “Fire!” echoed through the plant. Spontaneous combustion had broken out in the film room. Within minutes all the packing compounds, celluloid for records and film, and other flammable goods were in flames. Fire companies from eight surrounding towns arrived, but the heat was so intense and the water pressure so low that the attempt to douse the flames was futile. Everything was destroyed.

When Edison’s son couldn’t find his father, the son became concerned. Was he safe? With all his assets going up in a whoosh, would his spirit be broken? After all, he was 67—no age to start all over, thought his son. Then—in the distance—young Edison saw his father in the plant yard running toward him.

“Where’s Mom?” shouted the inventor. “Go get her, Son! Tell her to hurry up and bring her friends! They’ll never see a fire like this again!”

Early the next morning, long before dawn, with the fire barely under control, Edison called his employees together and made an incredible announcement: “We’re rebuilding!”

He told one man to lease all the machine shops in the area. He told another to obtain a wrecking crane from the Erie Railroad Company. Then, almost as an afterthought, he added, “Oh, by the way. Anybody know where we can get some money?”

Later he explained, “We’ve just cleared out a bunch of old rubbish. We’ll build bigger and better on the ruins.” Shortly after that he yawned, rolled up his coat for a pillow, curled up on a table, and immediately fell asleep” (Hand Me Another Brick, pages 82-83).

Nehemiah in the face of equal discouragement likewise said, “We are rebuilding.”

Maybe you are discouraged as you face rebuilding a relationship with your mate, or renewing your walk with the Lord or just rebuilding your life which is a mess. Nehemiah shows us how.

1. Who Gets Discouraged?

A. Leaders.

Judah, in 4:10-11, the tribe who would produce the Messiah according to Genesis 49:8-10 was spreading discouraging words. Yes, even leaders can experience discouragement. Charles H. Spurgeon had his fits of depression.

B. People with negative friends

In 4:12, the Jews who lived near the enemies were listening to these discouraging people. We know from chapter three that some of the Jews lived outside of Jerusalem. The residents of Tekoa, Gibeon, and Mizpah were listening to the naysayers and being defeated by them.

“It’s important to note that the discouraging information came from people who lived ‘near’ it. You cannot constantly hear negativism without having some of it rub off on you. If you are prone to discouragement, you can’t run the risk of spending a lot of your time with people who traffic in discouraging information” (Hand Me Another Brick, page 84).

2. Why Do We Get Discouraged? Notice that each of the reasons for discouragement is self-centered.

A. We focus on our weakness “The strength of the burden bearers is decayed.”

God’s people were agreeing with the ridicule of God’s enemies in 4:2: “What do these feeble Jews?” Remember Elijah wanting to die when he was physically exhausted?

B. We focus on the negatives “There is much rubbish. They are like the 12 spies who Moses sent to check out the land promised to them by God. Ten of the spies focused on the giant obstacles and two, Joshua and Caleb, focused on the flowing milk and honey.

Moses recounts the impact of the 10 negative spies: “For when they went up unto the valley of Eshcol, and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, that they should not go into the land which the Lord had given them” (Numbers 32:9).

The result of the negative discouragement was 40 years of wandering in the wilderness of an entire generation instead of conquering the Promise Land.

C. We focus on our inability “We are not able to build the wall.”

They had already built the wall to half way.

D. We focus on the opponents “Our adversaries said.”

We remember the cartoon character Pogo saying, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” Here is one person’s response to that I found on the internet. “Yes, my greatest enemy is not the old woman in my neighbourhood who is always finding fault with me, my enemy is not my step mother, my enemy is not my boss nor my fellow staff who is always reporting me to my boss, my greatest enemy is me. You see, most times when I attend church and we are asked to bind the enemy, most times, I feel reluctant because I know I can cause myself more harm than 1000 enemies put together. I know you want to ask me how you are your greatest enemy. If you refuse to work when you are supposed to work, you are plotting your own downfall, if you have a meeting that will lead to a major contract but you don’t make it to the meeting, you can’t blame anybody for not getting that contract, If you are always late to work and your boss sacks you, you have no one to blame. If you are always sleeping on duty and that gets you suspended from work, no one is to blame but yourself. All I am saying is, you need to start taking responsibility for your actions instead of trading blames.”

In Part 2, I will discuss How Can the Leader Deal With Discouragement?

Older Entries