Victory on the other side of Discouragement (Isaiah 35)
Intro: Let’s talk about discouragement
George Washington after suffering major defeats at Brandywine Creek and Germantown finds himself facing one of the worst winters in history. He has 12,000 troops Left to fight the entire British army and winter’s howling breath is breathing down his neck. He goes into a desolate barren valley at Valley Forge Pa. To spend the winter and try to recuperate from the stinging defeats that the enemy has given him. There is no shelter for his men at Valley Forge, His army is naked and starving to death as “old man Discouragement “ comes to sow his seeds of defeat. It looks Like total defeat and it appears that the new nation the United States of America will completely annihilated by the Bitter winter and the British army .YOU TALK ABOUT DISCOURAGEMENT!! But there is a man in the camp; his Name is Baron Von Stuben. He trains and shapes the army into a fighting force. He encourages them to get up and go on. They win major victory at Saratoga then on to Yorktown
AFTER EVERY DISCOURAGEMENT THERE IS ALWAYS A
VICTORY IF YOU ONLY BELIEVE
Text: God Will Comfort His People
35 The desert and dry land will become happy; the desert will be glad and will produce flowers. Like a flower, 2 it will have many blooms. It will show its happiness, as if it were shouting with joy. It will be beautiful like the forest of Lebanon, as beautiful as the hill of Carmel and the Plain of Sharon. Everyone will see the glory of the LORD and the splendor of our God.3 Make the weak hands strong and the weak knees steady.4 Say to people who are frightened, “Be strong. Don’t be afraid. Look, your God will come, and he will punish your enemies. He will make them pay for the wrongs they did, but he will save you.”
5 Then the blind people will see again, and the deaf will hear. 6 Crippled people will jump like deer, and those who can’t talk now will shout with joy. Water will flow in the desert, and streams will flow in the dry land.7 The burning desert will have pools of water, and the dry ground will have springs. Where wild dogs once lived, grass and water plants will grow. 8 A road will be there; this highway will be called “The Road to Being Holy.” Evil people will not be allowed to walk on that road; only good people will walk on it. No fools will go on it. 9 No lions will be there, nor will dangerous animals be on that road. They will not be found there. That road will be for the people God saves; the people the LORD has freed will return there. They will enter Jerusalem with joy, and their happiness will last forever. Their gladness and joy will fill them completely, and sorrow and sadness will go far away.
1. People who faced discouragement and overcame
1) Joseph
a. Hated by his Bros.
b. Put in a pit
c. Sold into slavery
d. Falsely accused of rape
e. Put in prison
Victory (made a ruler over Egypt)
2) Moses
a. Fled Egypt after he murdered a man
b. Told Pharaoh let my people go (got no straw for brick
c. The Red Sea ahead the army behind
d. The people’s sin while he was on Mt. Sinai
e. Sins of Miriam and Aaron
Victory (seen the Promised Land )
3. Hannah
a. Childless (heartbroken; like a drunk)
b. Gave up Samuel
c. Victory 3 more sons and 2 more daughters
4. David
a. Family taken hostage
b.Son dies
c. Ammon rapes Tamar (Absalom’s sister)
d. Absalom kills Ammon
e. Absalom rebels
Victory (David a man after God’s own heart)
5. Mephiboseth-the son of Jonathan; the grandson of King Saul
a. Hiding down in lo-debar . His father and grandfather have been
Killed in battle with the Philistines.
b. He is crippled in his feet and
c. David, a man his grandfather hated and persecuted has become
King of Israel. David has summoned Mephiboseth to stand before him. According to tradition every new king killed all the
Heirs of the old king
TALK ABOUT DISCOURAGEMENT
He knew his head was about to roll !!!
6. Jeremiah
Put in a pit for preaching the Truth
Victory (removed from the pit/ Zedikiah and his sons
7. Nehemiah
a. Came to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem
Sadballet / Tobiah tried to hinder the work (a fox will
Tear it down
Victory the walls were rebuilt
8. Peter
a. Denial of Jesus
b. Victory at Pentecost
9. Paul and Silas
In prison and beaten
Earthquake and people saved
Conclusion: Rev. 3: 5 He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.
A/C: Are you going through a time of Discouragement
Joy comes in the morning
The darker it seems the lighter it is
Cast your cares on Him; He cares
Mark 11: 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins."
Only Believe your ship is coming in
Calvary
