Series Title DISSED
Sermon Title: Discouraged
ME: Today we begin a 3 week message series called DISSED. It is a series on how to move forward from the things that hold us back.
Let me first start by pointing out two important things concerning the word Dissed.
First of all the word begins with a prefix. The prefix Dis.
When you put Dis at the front of a word it puts that word into reverse. For example; ease becomes disease and content becomes discontent, appoint becomes disappoint…
So the Dis is dissed refers to all the setbacks in your life that try to stop you from moving forward. The setbacks that throw your life into reverse.
What kind of setbacks are we referring too?
So here is the second important thing about the word Dissed.
Dissed is really a slang for another word. It’s the word disrespected. Dissed means to be disrespected.
The dictionary definition of Disrespected is “to be thought little of “ or “made to feel less than”
There are so many ways people can disrespect each other.
When a person is not be listened to/ignored/interrupted/not included/ talked down to/these are setbacks that can easily stop you from moving forward with your life.
So in each of the next three weeks we are going to look at one setback that being dissed brings on our lives and see how to move forward from it
For our first week we are going to look at the setback of DISCOURAGEMENT.
I think that discouragement is the most common and the most universal response people have to being dissed by others.
I think this is true for both Christ followers and non-Christ followers
I think this is true for everyone here and for everyone who is not here.
I think it is true because discouragement is the response that those who disrespect others are looking for
People disrespect other people because they want to discourage them from doing something.
Examples:
In Marriages one spouse can disrespect the other in order to discourage them from speaking up for themselves
In work situations one co-worker can disrespect another co-worker in order to discourage them from getting a better promotion.
Discouragement is a huge setback to any one’s life because it results in both a loss of confidence and a loss of enthusiasm to move forward.
Its not only thinking I can’t move forward- it is also feeling that I can’t move forward.
The last thing I want to say about discouragement is that it is such a huge setback because it negatively effects not only our future but also our past and our present.
Here is how discouragement works through all our past, present and future life…
Discouragement brings a dissatisfaction with the past.
You look back at your past and all you can see is only regrets and failures.
Discouragement brings a distaste for the present
Discouragement has taken away your appetite for life. You can no longer taste Joy or happiness
Discouragement brings a distrust for the future
You can’t see your life in the future getting any better. Your discouragement has now given birth to disbelief
You live your life defeated
Q// So what do you do if you find yourself living your life discouraged?
The good news is that God specializes in helping discouraged people.
God has been helping discouraged people for thousands of years. And God wants to help us too.
In the OT (before the coming of Christ) God would send prophets to individuals or kings or the entire nation of Israel to help them out of their discouragement.
So today we want to look at one such OT Prophet and one such occasion where God helped an entire Nation out of their discouragement.
The Prophet is Isaiah and the occasion is found in Isaiah chapter 41:8-10
The prophet Isaiah himself like most of the Prophets in the OT often found himself being disrespected. Many times the Nation of Israel didn’t want to hear a word from God because they were deliberately living in rebellion.
Here in Isaiah 41 the nation of Israel has fallen into hard times. God sends the prophet Isaiah to the nation of Israel to help them out of their discouragement
(V8) A TASTE FOR THE PRESENT
“But as for you Israel my servant, Jacob my chosen One, descended from Abraham my friend.”
God begins the process of moving the people forward from the discouragement that holds them back by first giving them back a taste for the present.
How He does this is by reminding them of who they are to Him.
You get your appetite back for the present by remembering who you really are to God.
You are Israel my servant. You are Jacob my chosen one. You are descended from Abraham my friend.
If you are a Christ follower here today you are God’s servant, you are God’s chosen one and you may even be called God’s friend.
You are a modern-day Jacob. A modern -day Abraham.
You have lost your taste for the present because you have forgotten who you really are in God’s eyes.
(V9) A SATISFACTION WITH THE PAST
“I have called you back from the ends of the earth saying “You are my servant.” For I have chosen you and will not throw you away.”
The best way to find satisfaction from your past is to see it as the place where God has taken you from. Let that be your satisfaction. Don’t throw away your past as if it were all a waste. Your past be it good or bad is what brings you to God. Let your past serve you rather than you serving your past. God wants to use your past to make you the person He wants you to become.
If an all knowing God has called you and chosen you does He not also choose the past you come with too?
Don’t let your past keep you from God instead let your past bring you to God. You may be here today and because of your past you may feel you areas far from God as a person can be. But the word he gives through Isaac is that He calls us from the ends of the earth. God does not throw us away to the ends of the earth. He brings us back from the ends of the earth.
A TRUST FOR THE FUTURE. (V10)
Don’t be afraid for I am with you.
Don’t be afraid of the future. When you are afraid of the future you disrespect God. In your life you make God less than He is. God promises to be with us in our future. He does not promise a future free of problems. He does not say “Do not be afraid because nothing bad will ever happen to you.” But He does promise us a future full of God. He is saying to us “you don’t have to face the future alone.
Don’t be discouraged for I am your God
Don’t be afraid and don’t be discouraged. There is a difference between being afraid and being discouraged. To be afraid means to fear something bad is going to happen. To be discouraged is to feel I am a bad person.
I will strengthen you and help you.
God promises to give us both strength and help.
I will strengthen you in the things you can do and help you in the things you can’t do.
I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.
When things in life hold you back God wants you to remember He is holding you up.
The victory and you are both in the same hand. You are not in one hand and the victory is in the other hand.
The main point we see here in all three verses is that when you are discouraged let God install courage.
Let each Day encourage you.
V10
Monday = Do not Fear
Tuesday = I am with You
Wednesday = Do not be Discouraged
Thursday = I am your God
Friday = I will give you Strength
Saturday = I will help You
Sunday = I will uphold You with Victory
