COMING OUT OF THE PIT (Psalms 40:2-3)
INTRODUCTION:
A. WE ALL GET DISCOURAGED
1. How many of you have ever been in the PIT of discouragement?
2. How many of you have ever been in the PIT of despair?
illus. THE BIRD THAT LOST ITS SONG
There was once a little canary that was such a happy little bird, His song would fill the whole house with joy and happiness. Every morning he would start singing and would sing until it was bed time. One day the woman of the house decided to take a shortcut cleaning his cage, so she got the vacuum cleaner out and proceeded to vacuum up the mess. The phone rung and she ran to answer it leaving the vacuum running. All of a sudden there was an awful sound as the little bird was sucked into the vacuum. The woman ran and opened the vacuum and rescued the little bird, but the trauma was too much for little tweety, He survived, but never sang again. It’s easy to loose your joy and forget how to sing.
C. HAVE YOU LOST YOUR SONG?
1. Have you lost your song today?
2. Has the devil sucked you up in some dark vacuum?
3. Has the devil caused you to lose your song?
4. I'll tell you most of us have been down in the devil's dark vacuum.
5. The devil's done his best to get you discouraged.
6. The devil's done his best to get you to give up and quit!
7. He's done his best, but His best isn't good enough
8. You see, we serve a God who's greater than any devil.
9. He sucks us up, but we just keep coming out!
10. When you come out of the devil's dark vacuum...
11. When you come out of the devil's pit...
12. You've got to clean out your mouth...
13. You've got to wipe your eyes...
14. You've got to shake yourself...
15. And then you've got to trust God to give you a song again!
TEXT:
Psalm 40:2-3 (KJV)
2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
3 And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.
I. DON'T STAY DISCOURAGED
A. DON'T LET THE DEVIL STEAL YOUR SONG
1. That little bird never sang again.
2. He just got up on his little perch and stared.
3. He was in shock.
4. Some of us get shocked when bad things happen to us.
5. We get discouraged and we want to just give up.
6. But God wants you to sing again.
7. God puts a new song in your heart and it's up to you to sing it.
8. The devil has sucked you into a dark vacuum.
9. So what!
10. Trouble has come.
11. So what!
B. GOD IS ALIVE
1. So what if trouble has come?
2. Our God is the Living God!
3. Our God is alive!
4. Clean out your mouth, wipe your eyes, brush yourself off...
5. And get ready to sing.
B. Jeremiah GOT DISCOURAGED (Matt.11:2-11)
1. God knows you're going to come through it.
2. You may be in the furnace, but you'll come out without the smell of smoke.
3. You may be in the lion's den, but God has sent an angel to lock their jaws.
C. ELIJAH GOT DISCOURAGED (1Kings 18 & 19)
1. Perhaps you've had some mighty victories in your life...
2. Then, you got discouraged.
3. Quit beating yourself up over it.
4. Quit crying over it.
5. Clean out your mouth, wipe your eyes, dust yourself off, and sing!
D. DAVID GOT DISCOURAGED (1Sam.30:1-6)
1. David had an army.
2. They went out to fight a war.
3. While they were gone, the enemy burned their town and took their wives.
4. When David's army came back, they were ready to stone him.
5. But, the bible says, "David encouraged himself in the Lord..."
6. If you don't have anyone else to encourage you, just encourage yourself.
.
7. David was almost ready to give up.
8. He had been anointed to be the next king over Israel.
9. But, now he was discouraged.
10. He could have given up.
11. He could have just quit!
12. It was the most discouraging moment of his life up to that point, but 72 hours later he was sitting on the throne.
13. Can you praise the Lord this morning?
14. If you're discouraged, can you praise Him in the midst of discouragement?
CONCLUSION:
If you're discouraged...
If you're upset...
If you've just found yourself in the pit of despair...
Clean out your mouth, wipe your eyes, dust yourself off, and sing!
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