Destroying Your Discouragement

Destroying Your Discouragement

Nehemiah 4:4-14

From the series "Slaying The Giants In Your Life"

Introduction:

Most of you have never heard of Lawrence Hanratty, who was named the "Unluckiest Man In New York City." (Profiled in the Los Angeles Times)

A Nearly electrocuted to death in a construction site accident in 1984. For weeks he lay in a coma, with his lawyers fighting for his liability claim-until one of them was disbarred and two of them died. Hanratty’s wife ran off with her lawyer.

Hanratty lost his car in a terrible crash and when the police left the accident scene, he was robbed. Later, his insurance company fought to cut off his worker’s benefits; his landlord tried to evict him. He suffered from depression/agoraphobia. He took an oxygen canister with him where ever he went, and took 42 pills a day for his heart and liver ailments.

b A city councilman took up his cause, neighbors began to rally around him. Incredibly, Lawrence summed his life this way: "There’s always hope.

*Would you be able to talk about hope after a string of calamities like Lawrence’s.

*Accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative during low points?

The dictionary defines dicourage as "to deprive of courage, to deter, to dishearten, to hinder."

You can lose hope

Nations can lose hope as well......darkest days of Israel & Judah

*The Babylonians destroyed the holy city of Jerusalem, carrying its loot and people into captivity...dispersed across the nation. There’s always hope. A ruler by the name of Cyrus took the throne and began to allow the Jewish exiles to return home to begin to rebuild the walls of the city.

Nehemiah was the architect of building discouragement into hope.

We’ll begin a series of messages entitled "Slaying the Giants In Your Life" with the lesson "Destroying Your Discouragement."

Nehemiah 4:4-14

Hear us, O our God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads. Give them over as plunder in a land of captivity. [5] Do not cover up their guilt or blot out their sins from your sight, for they have thrown insults in the face of the builders. 6 So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart. 7 But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the men of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem’s walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry. [8] They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it. [9] But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat. 10 Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, "The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall." 11 Also our enemies said, "Before they know it or see us, we will be right there among them and will kill them and put an end to the work." 12 Then the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times over, "Wherever you turn, they will attack us." 13 Therefore I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families, with their swords, spears and bows. [14] After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, "Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes."

Nehemiah had to deal with discouragement. (ETS)

The principles to dealing with discouragement never change. (ESS)

I hope you’ll take at least one biblical response to your discouragement. (Objective)

a What will you do to destroy your discouragement this week?

b Lets look at two actions that Nehemiah took to deal with discouragement.

The first action that Nehemiah took to deal with discouragement was recognizing discouragement.

There are four factors that lead to discouragement

1. The first factor is.....FATIGUE.

Neh. 4:10 10 Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, "The strength of the laborers is giving out, ........

The wall builders would work for 52 days of back breaking labor...and they were right in the middle of the project.

*1/2 way through, they got tired, wore out...fatigue sets in.

You can clean your house all day long, help the kids with algebra all night, do laundry after that....depressed, worn out, fatigued.

(IL.) Vince Lombardi observed, "fatigue makes cowards of us all." He was right.

2. The second factor is.....FRUSTRATION.

Neh. 4:10 10 Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, "The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble.........