Ps Darin Browne brings life changing messages from Ignite Christian Church Woombye, Australia, packed with scripture and powerful teaching that will change your life forever!
Episodes
Monday Dec 07, 2015
Monday Dec 07, 2015
Text:
2 Corinthians 4:16-18
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,
as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
We have looked at broken hearts, heartaches and hard hearts, but today, and particularly at this time of the year, I want to talk about something that affects us all.
Who came here today hoping to be discouraged? Who came hoping to have their hopes dashed and hoping that, during the service, they would totally lose heart for living? No one, right. In fact, most of you are here to receive the opposite, to be encouraged and built up.
But the truth is, even if we try hard, even with the best of intentions, all of us at some stage lose heart. Some call it discouragement, some call it running out of steam, but losing heart is something we all face at some time.
There is an old legend that tells of how on one occasion the devil put his tools up for sale. Each item was marked with a price. There was hatred, envy, jealously, lying, pride, and several other items. Yet there was one item that was well worn, yet was marked at an extremely high price. A buyer pointed at the item and asked, ''What is the name of that tool?'' The devil answered, ''That is losing heart.'' The buyer asked, ''Why have you priced it so high?'' The devil replied, ''Because it is more useful to me than other tool. It is badly worn because I have used it so much.''
Losing heart is a well-used tool of the devil. If you have been a Christian for any period of time most likely there has been a time when you found yourself discouraged, not in sin necessarily, not evil or rebellious, just simply losing heart. Maybe that's you right now!
WHY DO WE LOSE HEART?
There are times when we get discouraged or lose heart. We feel like the circumstances of life are mowing us down. We feel like everything that is happening to us is a scythe cutting our feet out from under us or is like a knife that is cutting down our hopes, goals, and ambitions.
Unless you're the energiser bunny, running at full pace forever is not likely to be a reality. So why do we lose heart, and what sort of things discourage us in our lives and our walk with God?
1. TRIALS
In the passage we looked at before Paul talks about losing heart. It is interesting the look some verses earlier to identify one of the causes he faced...
2 Corinthians 4:8-9
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;
When thing come against us, especially when they do so again and again, that's when we start to lose heart.
So what is it that has smashed into you again and again?
Is it a broken heart, is it a particular person, is it your family or your work? Perhaps it's a persistent disease like chronic allergies, cancer or even a battle with mental illness. If this thing hits you hard enough and long enough, and repeatedly enough, you will start to lose heart.
2. WEARINESS IN DOING GOOD
Galatians 6:9
And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
The Greek word for "give up" is eklyo which means literally to faint, to grow weary, to dissolve, to weaken or become faint hearted. It refers to exhaustion to the point of feebleness.
Doing good for others is a great thing, but I can tell you that your good works and intentions are often thrown back in your face but the very people you are trying to help! Their self centredness seems to trump your good works. When this happens enough, you become weary in doing good, and you can easily lose heart.
3. TIREDNESS
Have you ever run or played sport and been so tired you can't think straight, and you cannot even coordinate your arms and legs?
In our house we are currently staying up sometimes all night settling my beautiful granddaughter, and the next day I am tired, weary and struggling to function at work.
Late in the year, school functions on, Christmas parties, family events, everybody just gets tired. You don't have to be doing super spiritual stuff, you just get physically tired.
Exodus 17:12
But Moses' hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side.
Moses was not tired in spirit, he was just physically tired. If you get tired enough you can often lose heart.
Isaiah 40:30-31
Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
4. BEING LET DOWN BY OTHERS
If you trust people, even good people, it is likely that they will let you down at some point. When they do, you can lose heart.
Maybe you have trusted a politician who goes back on their promises. Maybe a friend who turns on you or believes a bad report about you. This one happens to me at times, and it can make you lose heart.
Perhaps you trusted your partner in life and they betrayed you, maybe had an affair, maybe spoke badly of you without cause. Maybe your children have let you down or grown apart from you.
Maybe even the church has hurt you and let you down. Perhaps they promised things they could not deliver, or maybe they tried to control your life. Maybe they just we're not there when you needed them. Perhaps a pastor offended you.
All of these things can cause you to lose heart, but here's the advice of God's Word...
Psalms 118:8
It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.
5. REPEATED FAILURE
We all fail, in fact failure is a good thing when it is part of the learning process. But you suffer enough failure, enough rejection, enough discouragement and you can easily lose heart!
Gideon is a good example. When the Angel visited him, he was threshing wheat in a wine press, because he feared the Midianites. Let's tune in to the conversation between the Lord and young Gideon...
Judges 6:13-15
And Gideon said to him, “Please, sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?”
And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.”
Enough failure causes a loss of heart, and a feeling of wanting to give up before you even start! It's ok, it's normal, but you don't want to stay there!
6. SETTING THE BAR TOO HIGH
Isaiah 29:13 (NIV)
“These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.
Man's laws will sap your strength and cause you to lose heart, but God's rules are Spirit and bring life
Romans 7:6
But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.
Many people set almost impossible standards of holiness and behaviour, then lose heart when they never reach perfection in the rules that they, not God, demanded of themselves.
Before you make blanket rules, make sure God is in them. Some are easy... Should I commit adultery? Of course not, God's Word tells me that it sin. Should I listen to JJJ radio? That's a whole different thing!
Look, we all need aims and goals to move ahead in life, but ask God what He wants you to do, don't make up your own, impossible to achieve, pharisaical, pseudo religious laws that will cause you to fail and lose heart!
7. DISOBEDIENCE
When you are in sin and disobedient to God, you will grow apart from Him, and that will cause you to lose heart because you lose hope.
Psalms 66:18
If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.
Sin separates us from God, and then we start to lose hope, and consequently lose heart.
SIGNS OF "LOSING HEART"
A. LACK OF PERSISTENCE IN PRAYER AND BIBLE STUDY (NOT SO VISIBLE TO OTHERS)
While there are many signs of losing heart that people can see, this is one that many people keep well hidden.
Jesus clearly equates your prayer life with losing heart...
Luke 18:1
And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.
Most often, the first sign that you are losing heart is sporadic prayer and quiet times. Strong Christians always spend much time in prayer...
Colossians 4:2
Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.
A sure sign that you are losing heart is when you "don't have enough time" for prayer and Bible Study. If your quiet times slip, you start to lose heart, and the closer you are to the Lord, the more full of joy you will be, regardless of circumstances!
B. GROWING WEARY IN DOING GOOD (VISIBLE TO OTHERS)
As we saw before, Paul equates losing heart with doing good. If you find you do not have compassion and love towards others, chances are you are losing heart.
C. FORSAKING THE FELLOWSHIP OF BELIEVERS
Church should be a place where are encouraged. It should be a place where you connect with like minded people, and out of church you can reach out to and minister to people across the street or around the world.
Hebrews 10:24-25
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,
not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
When you start to lose heart you almost always start to move away from fellowship and isolate yourself from the church. When you do this, you can't bless others or have others bless you in the church.
How many people, good people who love God, are disenfranchised from church today. They may have been youth leaders, worship leaders, elders or even pastors, but so many fine Christian men and women are so hurt and so discouraged by the church that they have forsaken meeting with believers.
When you lose heart, you start to isolate yourself, and a sure sign of losing heart is not wanting to go to church.
THE SECRET TO NOT LOSING HEART
1. REALISE THAT BEING WEARY IS NOT A SIN, BUT LOSING HEART CAN BE
Being tired isn't sin, it's normal, especially at this time of the year. But if you let that tiredness change you, if you let your stress and weariness penetrate your heart so you begin to lose heart, this changes everything.
You become cynical, touchy, on edge. You get snappy and even depressed. That's what losing heart looks like to those around you.
Get tired... Sure. Lose sleep... Probably. But lose heart? We must never lose heart!
2. STOP AND APPRECIATE WHAT YOU HAVE
You have so much. We are the lucky country, despite what the media tells you!
Materially, most of us have so much. With our social security system, there is still poverty, sure, but not on the scale we see in other nations. Much of our poverty is due to addictions or mental illness. I've stood in a slum in India. We have nothing like that here.
In fact experts tell us that nearly half the world lives on less that $2.50 a day.
Great weather, a wonderful place to live. While we are complaining about heat and humidity, northern hemisphere friends tell me about snow and freezing conditions.
What about your family, your work, your ministry...
2 Corinthians 4:1
Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.
Think of all the opportunities you have to serve and bless people. Appreciate what you have and who you are. The greatest sin of the western world is an ungrateful spirit!
3. UNDERSTAND THAT WHEN YOU ARE WEAK HE IS STRONG
2 Corinthians 12:10
For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Paul suffered persecution, insults, slander, poverty, discomfort, loneliness, fear, being let down... But he could say those words.
It is not about you! It's always about Jesus, and it's about Jesus Christ in you. That's the power source to stop you losing heart. Not you, Him!
4. PRESS ON
We live in a society that tells you you deserve to be happy and comfortable. We don't learn to press through the pain barrier, we give up. "Oh, it's all too hard!" We proclaim!
When you are standing on the podium you forget the pain. You forget the hours of toil, discomfort, time and energy you invested into your sport. The hours of practice, the discipline, the pain.
Philippians 3:13-14
But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Don't give up! Don't lose heart! The pain is temporary, but realising your goals in life lasts a whole lot longer, and your eternal goals last forever!
5. SET YOUR MIND ON THINGS ABOVE
Colossians 3:2
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
How do you do this? Simple, get into God's Word and get to know Him even more. Fill your mind with not just goodness, but Godness! Turn the TV off, get off Facebook and get serious about quiet times, Devotionals, prayer, church and fellowship.
Filling your mind with the right things is how you renew your mind, and when your mind is renewed, you never lose heart!
2 Corinthians 4:16-18
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,
as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
Are you tired today? Are you losing heart, even just a little? Now is the time to be renewed inwardly as you open your heart to God and let Him revitalise and restore your flagging, tired heart.
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