Overcoming Discouragement: full transcript and answers

▶ 0:01 Good morning thank you for joining us this Sunday morning my name is Blake Fambrough I am the assistant principal here at mountainside academy and due to the crone of ours we’re not able to meet as a congregation so we appreciate you joining us and as a I want to emphasize as a church and as a school we’ve been praying fervently for our leaders for our medical professionals for our doctors for our nurses the people on the front lines that are fighting this coronavirus we’re praying that they will that God will give them wisdom to to find a cure and a treatment to annihilate this coronavirus off the face of the planet so with that being said I know we’re under a unique set of circumstances but turn to your neighbor turn to your computer screen turn to your phone and tell them God is good tell them God is in control of this situation and today is going to be a good day okay.

▶ 1:05 Today I want to talk to you about overcoming discouragement. Overcoming discouragement right now the world is gripped gripped by fear by discouragement due to this coronavirus so I’m going to talk to you about overcoming discouragement so I would love for you to turn turn to open up your bibles turn with me to numbers chapter 21 verse 4 numbers chapter 21 verse 4. And I’ll start reading then they journeyed from mount hor by the way of the red sea to go around the land of edom and listen to this and the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way one translation says the soul the people was very much discouraged because of the way it continues in verse 5 and the people spoke against God and against Moses why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness for there is no food no water and our soul loathes this worthless bread verse 6 so the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and bit the people and many of the people of Israel died therefore the people came to Moses and said we have sinned for we have spoken against the Lord and against you pray to the Lord that he may take away the serpent’s from us so Moses prayed for the people verse 8 then the Lord said to Moses make

▶ 2:35 a fiery serpent and set it on a pole and it shall be that everyone who is bitten when he looks at it shall live and verse 9 so Moses made a bronze serpent put it on a pole and so it was if a serpent had bitten anyone then he looked at the bronze serpent he lived I. Want to talk to you a day about a subject that is needed in this time of crisis in the world and in America I’m going to talk to you about discouragement the destructive power of discouragement we treat it like it’s no big deal when someone is discouraged discouragement can be devastating in someone’s life so I want to talk to you about overcoming discouragement in my text it says the soul the people were very discouraged because the way that God was leading them the next verse in the next verse says that the serpent’s were released because of the discouragement because of the murmuring because of the complaining so anytime someone creates an atmosphere of discouragement in her lives and does not take it seriously it’s just a matter of time before serpents and demonic powers are released into that atmosphere discouragement starts to separate people and Satan knows that when he can start to separate us and divide us he can conquer us.

▶ 3:56 Discouragement produces embarrassment in someone’s life the Bible says in the text the people not the God’s crowd not not the Devil’s crowd was very much discouraged so God’s crowd was very discouraged not not the Devil’s crowd but God’s crowd was discouraged so what causes discouragement in the text listen it says here the people were discouraged because of their were discouraged because of the way. Because of the I’m sorry because of the pace of God because of the way of God and because of the why of God they were complaining about why-why-why every day this hot desert all these areas all these areas began to birth discouragement in their lives and they begin to compare themselves with other people and what what should put you on your feet praising the Lord is when you stop comparing yourself with other people and we need and you need to remember where you came from remember where you started remember how far God has brought in you just look at all the good things the Lord has done for you you should that should get you excited you’re healthy enough to listen to this message you’re healthy enough to be in the presence of the Lord we have a lot to be thankful for start comparing your problem with the great power and the great greatness of Jesus another area of discouragement discouragement is

▶ 5:26 born when we try to force fruit out of season in the Bible there is seed time and harvest and a lot of us want to go directly from seed to the harvest we want we want success instantly the Bible says little by little God works on us he works on us to make us more like him and it takes time we have to have patience but a lot of us want instant success and we when when we sum some of God gave some of us instant success we would go from glory to goofy real quick so we need to be patient with the Lord he’s slow to anger he wants to work on us little by little we cannot force fruit out of season Bible says in Galatians 6:9 and let us not be weary in well-doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not so in due season fruit is produced father’s in Galatians 4:4 but when the fullness of time had come God sent forth his son born of a woman under the law so but when the fullness of the time had come the point is the promise of God in your life has eight table on it and you cannot force that time or you’ll start to get discouraged and discouraged can be very disappointing in your life we have to trust the timing of God God is never never late he’s too loving to make a mistake and he’s too wise to be

▶ 6:57 unkind as a matter of fact he’s not too late right now what’s what we’re going through anything everything that’s God promised in your life he can double up in one day he can double up right now everything that you ever ever could possibly imagine good that could happen in your life could happen right now and it could be a phone call away that’s why you can’t quit we can’t give up the moment we give up is the moment we lose symptoms of discouragement are a loss to vision if you’re a discouraged you start to lose your vision of about life and direct the direction needed you need to go and where God’s taking you it starts to become blurry and unclear that’s when the enemy will send confusion into your life and throw you off throw you off track to not live for Christ the Bible says God is not the author of confusion but he’s the author of peace he’s the only one that can truly help you in your time of crisis discouraged people start to lose passion they start to lose enthusiastic do see as I’m about life our attitude needs to be as long as I’m here on earth as long as I’m here right now I need to enjoy it as long as I’m here I’m gonna live I’m gonna live for Christ I could worry and fret about everything that’s going to happen bad to me but the Bible says in Psalms do not fret it only leads to harm so I have learned in my life that I need to enjoy today I need to be happy today this is the only day I had the only time I have so I might as well enjoy it for the

▶ 8:27 day that I have right now today is the Bible says today is that today is the day the Lord has made I will rejoice and be glad in it so that with me today is the day the Lord has made I will rejoice and be glad in it isolation is another symptom of discouragement it says in Proverbs the Bible says in Proverbs if a person isolates himself he rages against all logic the Devil wants to isolate you to devastate you the Devil wants to isolate you to devastate you he wants you to start pulling away from your family he wants you to start pulling away from your loved ones he wants you to start pulling away from your friends he wants you to start pulling away from church and listen when you feel least like coming that’s a sign when you need to get there the most when you feel least like coming that’s the sign you need to get there the most when you feel least like praising Jesus that’s when you need to praise him the most when you feel least like praying praying to Jesus that’s the that’s the time when you need to pray the most to him another symptom of discouragement is paralysis and this this the stories in the Bible Elijah when jezebel said she was going to kill him Elijah got discouraged he got very discouraged and he could not make a decision that’s why God asked him in a cave a discouragement in first Kings 18:21 it says how long will you hop between two opinions discouragement will paralyze you Elijah was paralyzed he could

▶ 9:57 not make a decision discouragement if you’re discouraged people that are discouraged can’t make clear they can’t make decisive actions to get out of the discouragement discouragement well it will halt your your advancement it will cause you to murmur it will cause you to complain and discouragement affects your speech and your words can become negative you can have a whining the self-pity oh woe is me attitude it’s it’s the attitude of no one likes me I’m gonna go outside meet worms that type of attitude and one of the most tragic things that can happen to a Christian is they become they can become negative 10 spies in the book of Joshua 10 spies said that week we cannot defeat the enemies we cannot enter into the into the promised land and guess what they didn’t enter in the promised land but two of the spies Joshua and Caleb they said we can’t overcome we can defeat the enemies be strong be a good courage be not afraid and that and and they did enter into the promised land what they said was a self-fulfilling prophecy prophecy in their life so in other words what comes out of your mouth determines what you can do and what you can’t do when we start fearing the Lord in keeping his commandments serpents start running away they start jumping back into the hole that they came from the doubt the Devil is a defeated foe defeated foe he’s the one that needs to be in the back alley of hell sucking on a maalox bottle he is already defeated we are more than a conqueror through Christ’s discouragement causes loss

▶ 11:28 of inspiration it causes loss of motivation loss of aggression and we need aggression at this time we need aggression to be able to fight this this coronavirus we need people on the frontlines to have courage and to be bold and just and to stand up for this silent enemy that were that that’s attacking us you know as it’s attacking the whole world so if your get up and go is is got up and left you’re discouraged. Discouragement produces cowards you will not be strong and courageous if you’re discouraged you will not take risk you will not try again you’ll give up discouragement it means you take the courage out of someone’s life God did not save you so that you can be a failure God does not sponsor flops or manufacture junk and we need to have an expectation listen we need to have an expectation for God to perform a good work and when I was growing up one of the fitmom one of my most favorite shows and this is referring to expectation one of my favorite shows was the price is right I loved the show when bob barker would say I love the part when bob barker would say and you’re in the next contestant on the price is right and then someone it wasn’t so much when they the favorite part for me was when they won the car or the grand prize it was when he said you’re the next contestant on the price is right and then when they got their name called they would

▶ 12:58 jump up and down they were excited they would run down run down the aisle they weren’t they had an expectation for good things that were going to happen and that’s the expectation that we need to come up we need to have an expectation like it says in Luke chapter 3 for a new Revelation in our lives a new hope a new confidence a new determination a new and a new joy and a new anticipation of the good things God is gonna do for us vava says in John 1:3 it states John the Baptist he was baptizing Jesus and there was no doubt in John’s life that Jesus was the messiah he was the chosen one he was the coming one he was the solution to their problems and he actually John the Baptist turned around and told the crowd he said this behold this is the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world however months later John the Baptist was in prison he was Jesus wasn’t there with him he didn’t have the presence of the Lord he didn’t have any of the goosebumps and he started to doubt things discouragement started to enter into his life so much listen to this so much he turns to his guys and says I want you to go find Jesus and asked him are you the one so hold on now this is John the Baptist the one who said Jesus was the messiah he’s the coming one he’s going to save the world from their sins and now he’s having his sending his guys out to go find Jesus and asked him are you the one it says in Matthew 11:3

▶ 14:30 they said to him are you the coming one or do we look for another John the Baptist was so discouraged he was doubting whether if Jesus was the real deal and if it could happen to John the Baptist it can happen to you king David was discouraged it says in Psalm 73. 1 through 2. Truly God is good to Israel even to such as are of a clean heart and in verse 2 look at verse 2 but as for me my feet were almost gone my steps had well-nigh slipped he’s starting to backslide it says he continues in verse 13 he is envious of the foolish the wicked are prospering and he’s envy of all this but the key point of that is verse 2 it says but as for me king David this is a discouraged guy he’s saying but as for me this christianity thing doesn’t work for me but as for me on the exception to the rule it this is not working for me he’s a discouraged guy so the question is how did this how did he get here what have to do is you have to go back a chapter to Psalm 72:20 in it states the prayers of David the son of jesse are ended.

▶ 15:44 So the important part is the door to discouragement is prayerless. The moment you stop praying is the moment when discouragement enters into your life that’s what happened to king David he stopped praying in discouragement started to enter in it to his life so what’s the remedy for discouragement. Is to start praying and to start sharing your gifts God has given you the Bible says in James 5:16 the prayer of a righteous person is very powerful and effective that’s a very comforting verse knowing that God hears our prayers he answers our prayers we can cast our cares upon him he listens to us when we talk to him he wants to hear from us Bible says also in first Kings 19 through 16 this is Elijah Elisha got discouraged and he prayed and God told him start sharing your anointing start sharing your gifts that God has given you start sharing the greatness that God has given you start pouring your greatness and your gifts into someone else that’s when you know you’re when you’re sharing the great when you share your greatness is when you start pouring your greatness and the other people you’re not great until you start sharing and pouring your greatness into other people in the discouragement starts to disappear from your own life you’ll get so busy encouraging other people and freshing other people that you’ll start to forget you’re even discouraged in the first place and the Bible says God will make a room for your gift if you think I don’t have a gift God says in Proverbs he will make a room for your gift so in closing if you’re

▶ 17:15 discouraged you need to look up and you need to lift up Jesus Moses obeyed God and put a bronze serpent on an elevated pole which represent words which represents Jesus on the cross why the serpent because it’s the curse and Jesus was on the cross and he took all our pain he took our suffering he took all of that junk and he put it on the cross and he died for us and he rose on the third day that so we can live free we can have eternal life we can be healed and healed here on earth we can live by the fruits of the spirit here which is love joy peace patience kindness goodness gentleness in self-control all of those things God has given us because he sent his son on the cross so that we can live free from sin and live a righteous life and then he can bless us because he wants us to have good success so we have to look for help in the right places and someone without God can’t help you much someone without God cannot help you much so you have to look higher if you get don’t get shook up look up begin to pray begin to praise Jesus big start attending church Jesus is greater than this coronavirus start sharing your gifts start sharing your talents what what someone else that God has given you and you start pouring your greatness into someone else and it will revolutionize your life now listen the Devil wants to convince you he wants to convince us that this

▶ 18:46 time we’re not gonna make it that this time God is going to fail you that this time we’re going under that this time it’s not going to happen but this time we’re just not going to be able to get through this so my message to the Devil is this my past is forgiven and it’s forgotten the best is yet to come and this time no matter what I’m going through God is with me and he will not fail. Amen.

▶ 19:21 So the key points here is to overcome discouragement start sharing your gifts start praying to God he’s the only one that can truly help you in your time of need and he wants to bless your life and also at the same time due to this crisis that were going through the message of hope for the people that are that had the coronavirus God is the great physician he’s the great healer there’s no limit to him he can cure you from the coronavirus he can help you in the time of need and like I was saying earlier that we are praying for the ones on the frontlines that they will attack this coronavirus and accurate treatment will come to where we will completely destroy the saw the face of the planet and we can go back to normalcy so I want to everyone at home I want everyone to close their eyes and bow their heads and pray after me because it says in John I’m sorry in James 5:16 the prayer of a righteous person is very powerful and effective God listens to our prayers he answers our prayers we can cast our cares upon him so join me in prayer at home.

▶ 20:26 In Lord Jesus we thank you for your word we thank you for your truth and we thank you for your son and Lord we ask you that you give us wisdom and the time of need Lord we know at this time that we’re in a crisis and we need your wisdom wisdom from above in order to make the right decisions in order to make the right calls we ask you that you put your hand of protection around the then the doctors the nurses the medical professionals and the people on the frontlines fighting the coronavirus protect them we ask you that you heal the ones that are that have the coronavirus we ask you that you be with our leaders our our political leaders the people that are leading leading us in making decisions that they will that they won’t that God will give them wisdom to make the right decision then the right call to protect the people we ask you to do that you will help them find a cure and a treatment for the coronavirus to where we can get back to to normalcy Lord Lord we thank you for the ability to be able to have the fruits of the spirit in our lives the ability of the ability to not only love ourselves but love others in Lord before we go we ask you that you protect us in the week going forward bless what we put our hands to and again we thank you for the blessings that you’ve done for us in our lives and we thank you and we say this prayer in Jesus’s name amen.

▶ 21:55 So again guys I want to thank you thank you for joining us we appreciate your being able to listening to listen to the message we’ve been streaming our services live via facebook so we think you have a good way we wish you a good day today and thanks again you. You.