How I Can Persevere

Welcome to this edition of PowerPoint with Jack Graham. A conversation with the children of Israel to rebuild the broken down walls around Jerusalem. But as could be expected, to deter, to hinder, to dishearten, to lose heart, to lose courage. There are three New Testament words that describe discouragement. The apostle spoke of being pressed at every hand and being taken down but not taken out. And then he goes on to describe the inward life being renewed. He said though the outward person is perishing, the inner person is being renewed every day. And so he said therefore we do not lose heart. When Jesus spoke in Luke chapter 18 he said pray and do not lose heart.

And so we are challenged in this passage of scripture to stay encouraged rather than to be discouraged even when times and pressures are difficult. Beginning in verse 1 of chapter 4, now when we read the story of Samaria, what are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves? Will they sacrifice?

Will they finish it up in a day? Will they revive the stones of the heaps of rubbish and burn ones at that? And Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him and he said yes, what are they building?

If a fox goes up on the wall, he will break down their stone wall. So Nehemiah responds in verse 4, here O our God, for we are despised. Turn back their taunt on their heads and give them up to the plundered in a land where they are captives. Do not cover their guilt and let not their sin be blotted out from your sight for they have provoked you to anger and in the presence of your builders. And after this passionate prayer, verse 6 tells us so we built the wall. And all the wall was joined together to half its heights for the people had a mind to work.

Right in the middle of the project, the wall is nearly halfway up. Along came the critics, the opponents, the saboteurs and discouragement begins to set in. I want to say that discouragement should be expected. You should expect discouragement to show up because every great work of God every great opportunity is followed by opposition.

Did you know that? Someone said when God opens the windows of heaven to bless us, Satan opens the doors of hell to blast us. And any time you attempt to do something great for God to advance His kingdom, you will meet with opposition because Satan doesn't take it lightly that his own darkness or kingdom is being invaded and that the church of the Lord Jesus is advancing. We are told that Satan has numerous strategies and tactics and techniques in order to attack us. That he lies, that he murders, that he steals, that he accuses and we therefore are not to be ignorant or unaware of these tactics, of these strategies. Knowing that Satan is on the prowl, ready to exploit us, ready to taunt us, ready to test us, we need to be forewarned that we may be forearmed. Now the tactics as you expect these are numerous and we could mention many but in this case came criticism and ridicule, taunting and threatening. They were doing a little bit of trash talking here.

If a fox climbs up on this wall, it's going to fall down. Sometimes we can even be taunted and laughed out of our commitment to Christ. Rather than standing for Christ in our schools or even in our offices, we are afraid of the leers and the jeers of those who don't know Christ and their criticisms and therefore we don't stand. After criticism came skepticism. They said this is never going to be done. Who do these feeble Jews, and the words feeble there means weary and worthless. Who do these worthless feeble Jews think they are? Have you noticed when you attempt to have something great in your life, if you have a great dream that comes from God, if you have an idea that you want to pursue, if you have a passion in your heart, there will always be some who come along and say it can't be done. You're wrong.

You can't do this or this is the wrong thing to do. And many people fold like a cheap accordion when they face criticism and skepticism. Not only this but there was rumor later on they falsely accused the Jews and said we're going to attack you, we're going to kill you, we're going to destroy you. And the scripture says they repeated this again and again and again ten times they repeated it. And you know if you hear a rumor long enough you start to believe it. A rumor is so contagious like criticism is contagious and skepticism is contagious. And I'm simply pointing out to you that there will always be some who say you can't have a great marriage or your kids are not going to turn out the right way or your finances are never going to come together or you're never going to live for Jesus Christ the way you claim.

There will always be some to arise and oppose the work of Christ and when it happens just remember who's behind it that Satan is at work and he has colleagues in this college of criticism that will always be there to try to stop what God is doing in your life. Discouragement expected. Discouragement you should detect it.

In other words you need to see it for what it really is. And in the case of the Israelites so long ago and in our case even today there are various ways that discouragement can hurt us. One is physical fatigue. Look down in chapter 4 and verse 10 in your text it says in Judah it was said the strength of those who bear the burdens is failing. And there is too much rubble.

By ourselves we will not be able to rebuild the walls. What is happening here? The children of Israel have been working now for over a month. Night and day. And they are physically tired. Physically exhausted. Fatigue is setting in. They get tired. When you get physically tired you are then prone to disappointment and discouragement. When the work is getting especially difficult you start running on empty.

Feeling like you're on the fuse. And life can be depleting. It can be draining. And when you are tired I'm talking about physically tired you are vulnerable to an attack of discouragement. There is a physical limitation.

To every one of us. And there is a powerful spiritual connection between the mind and the body. And if you exceed your physical limits and you don't take time to rest. If you don't get the proper exercise. If you don't eat the proper diet. In other words if you don't take care of your body it won't belong to you will not have a body to work.

And this is exactly what is happening here. Jesus once said come apart and rest awhile. Jesus knew the importance of taking time out to rest physically. And so because they were physically fatigued and tired they began to be discouraged and so will you.

Pacing yourself in life is essential if you're going to win. But not only was there physical fatigue but there was mental frustration. We see that again in verse 10. They said we're never going to get this job done. We're never going to finish the task. Do you see what is happening? Because they're physically fatigued they're now getting mentally fatigued and frustrated. The vision of what they were doing is fading. The buzz word of our day is burnout. Burnout is typically not working too hard but it's working with no sense of accomplishment.

That's a set up for discouragement. Working hard and feeling like you're not doing the right thing. Burnout is when we work and work and work at the wrong thing rather than the right thing without purpose. And if we work without purpose therefore we work without passion. But if you have a sense of mission in what you're doing.

Calling in your career. Commitment in your marriage. Whatever the goal. If you have a sense of purpose in that then you will have energy to get up every day and do it. You will not burnout but you will do it.

You will burn on. Set godly goals for your life and pursue them and continue to pursue them. Family goals and career goals. Set them that are doable and measurable and then do it to the glory of God. But you see what happens when we get discouraged is we get physically tired and then we get mentally frustrated and then here's what happens next.

There is spiritual failure. It's your daily time to connect with God. He'll give you the ability to live a godly life and fulfill his plans for you in the coming year. And we'd like to help you walk even more closely with the Lord in the year ahead by sending you Pastor Graham's 180 day devotional moments in the word. It's our way to thank you for your gift today to help proclaim the gospel to more people around the world through PowerPoint. So call now to get your copy of moments in the word when you give. Call 1-800-795-4627. That's 1-800-795-4627. You can also text the word PowerPoint to 313131.

Text PowerPoint to 313131. And don't forget to visit Jack Graham.org where you can shop our e-store, give a gift online or sign up for Dr. Graham's free daily email devotional. Our website again is Jack Graham.org. Now let's get back to today's message, How Can I Persevere? What happens when we get discouraged is we get physically tired and then we get mentally frustrated and then here's what happens next. There is spiritual failure. Look again at verse 10. There's too much rubble and by ourselves we're not able to build the wall.

And verse 11 says and our enemies said they will not know or see till we come along and kill them and stop the work. Now they're considering failure. They're going negative. Just so much rubbish and we're too tired and we can't do it and this is a recipe for discouragement. I'm too tired. I'm too sick. I'm too sick and tired. I'm too sick and tired of being sick and tired. Negativity is contagious.

And by now this negativity is spreading throughout the camp of Israel. But let me remind you that everyone in life faces fatigue. Everyone faces failure. Everyone faces the potential of frustration. But what makes the difference in those who win and those who lose, those who succeed and those who fail is how we handle the tough times.

We can wallow in self defeat and pity. We can quit and give up or we can go on and find strength to go on. And I challenge you when discouragement sets in to detect it for what it is, to identify it and then move forward. So that brings me to the final point of this message and that is discouragement rejected.

So how can I reject it? When I detect discouragement creeping up into my soul, into my heart, into my life, how can I get up when I am down? Let me mention several ways that come right out of this passage of Scripture. How Nehemiah led the children of Israel to get up when they were down. I want to be like Nehemiah to you today.

I want to help you up if you're down. Number one, look up. Now that's simple.

That's what Nehemiah did. In verse four, look at it again. He said, Hear, O Lord our God, for we are despised. And then he began to pray this passionate prayer saying, God, these folks are after us, but I'm turning them over to you. They're taunting us. They're threatening us.

But I'm telling you all about them. He didn't go deal with them. He didn't get in their face. He got in God's face. And he talked to God very passionately.

He didn't panic. He prayed. He said, Lord God.

And later on, down in verse 14, he said, Do not be afraid of them, talking about these adversaries. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome. Fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes. Remember the Lord. Remember the Lord.

Cry out to God. Because when you do, when you spend time thinking about his greatness, contemplating his goodness, remembering his promises and his provision in his life, considering his great love, we remember, we have seen his power in our lives. Amen? We have experienced what God can do in our lives. And those discouraging times are times to remember who God is and what God can do. You know, the opposite of fear and discouragement is not courage. It's faith. It's trust in almighty God. In Romans chapter 8, the apostle Paul says, When we are afraid, we're no longer to live in this spirit of bondage unto fear. But now we are to cry out to our Abba Father, Daddy Father.

We run into the arms of our God. So look up. But not only look up, but show up. In verse 6, we discover that the people had a mind to work. They had a heart to work. They kept on working at Nehemiah's instruction and inspiration. They refused to give up in spite of the criticism and the complaints and the threats and the taunts. They would not give up.

And neither should we. Why are we so often ready to quit? People quit their jobs. They change their careers. They leave their church.

They walk out on their marriages. All because they face the inevitable times of disappointment and discouragement that we all face. We all face times of discouragement. But that is the time to keep showing up. Not to give up, but to show up and do what God has called us to do.

Quitting is not an option for the Christian. Later on, there was a group of conspirators that came against Nehemiah and the Israelites. And they tried to get Nehemiah to come and negotiate a settlement on this thing. They said, let's have a meeting down on the plains of Ono. An unusual name. Ono.

The plains of Ono. They said, Nehemiah, come down here and talk with us. Leave your job. Leave your work. Leave the children of Israel.

Come and talk with us. And of course, this was just another plot. This was just another setup. So what did Nehemiah say? He said, Ono to Ono.

That's what he said. He said, I'm doing a great work here and I'm not going to come down. You just keep doing the work that God has called you to do. And don't come down. Don't lower yourself to the taunts, the threats, the evil that is around you. Alright, here's another thing.

Team up. That's what the children of Israel did. In verses 13 and 14, look at this. When our enemies heard about it, that it was known to us and God had frustrated their plan, we all returned to the wall, each to his own work. And from that day on, half of my servants worked on constructions and half held the spears, shields, bows and coats of mail. And the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah. You see what's happening here? They're teaming up.

They're getting back together. And there were those who worked in construction. There were those who held a sword and guarded the construction. They're now a band of brothers and sisters who are saying, I got your back.

I got you covered. And Nehemiah was wise enough to fan out the workers on the wall and he later expanded this and many of these were carrying a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other hand. He was both practical and positives. They were one in faith and one in the fight. Sometimes when we're tempted to be discouraged, we need to remember that what we're doing is bigger than just ourselves and our own fight and our own battles. That we're all in this together. God has given us his church and the church of the Lord Jesus Christ will prevail.

He said the gates of hell will not prevail against my church. The point is, we ought to hang around people who are positive, people who have faith. You know what discouraged people often do? They get around other discouraged people. That's the worst thing you can do. Get around the encouragers and then fill up.

You want to get up? Fill up with God's Word and God's Spirit. Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord who is awesome and great. You know, sometimes when I feel myself getting blue or getting down or getting discouraged, you know what I do? I want to advise you to do the same thing that I do and that is to run.

Do not walk. Run as fast as you can to the Word of God and remember the Lord and the promises of God. So look up and show up and team up and fill up with God's Word and God's Spirit and finally lift up. You see what is happening here with the children of Israel? They are banding together once again and I love the end of verse 14. It says, who is great and awesome and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters and your wives and your homes. Fight for your families. Our husbands, our wives, our children are at stake and we must fight for our families and lift them up. When we're discouraged and when we think we're defeated, that's the time to get up on our feet once again in the power of Jesus Christ and start giving and lifting others.

You never know what a tender smile, what a warm embrace, what a firm handshake, what a loving look will do in a person's life. I want to challenge you this week, whoever you are, discouraged or encouraged today, to make it your project this week. To find someone who's failed, find someone who's fallen, find someone who's in need of Jesus and lift them up. Let's stop walking past hundreds and hundreds if not thousands of people each week who need the touch of a loving Christian. Let's stop getting so into ourselves and let's get into the lives of others. Let's get over ourselves and in the power of Jesus Christ, lift up the fallen and care for people who need us. And guess what's going to happen in your life? You're going to find that old discouragement and that old defeatism just vanishing away because there's so much joy in serving the Lord. You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message, How can I persevere? Looking ahead to a new year can fill you with expectation, but it can also fill you with desperation. What if things get worse?

What if the world gets crazier? What if you don't have the strength to face what comes your way? It's through spending daily time in God's word that we find the strength, peace and hope we need. And we want to help you do that by sending you Pastor Graham's 180 day devotional Moments in the Word.

Moments in the Word is our special thanks for your gift this month. So call to request your copy today. Call 1-800-795-4627. That's 1-800-795-4627. You can also text the word PowerPoint to 313131. Text PowerPoint to 313131. And don't forget to visit Jack Graham.org where you can shop our e-store, give a gift online or sign up for Dr. Graham's free daily email devotional.

Our website again is Jack Graham.org. Pastor, what is your PowerPoint for today? How do you get up when you're down? Look up.

When you're down, look up. It's a simple thing really, but that's exactly what Nehemiah did when there was opposition to the rebuilding and the reconstruction of the wall around Jerusalem. Listen to his prayer. It's a powerful prayer in Nehemiah 4.4. Hear, O our God, for we are despised.

Turn back their taunt on their own heads and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives. Well, that's quite a prayer, isn't it? Nehemiah didn't waste time or divert from the task at hand dealing with all the criticism he was receiving from those who were opposing the rebuilding of the wall. Instead of trying to handle all of this on his own, you know what Nehemiah did? He went straight to God.

Nehemiah recognized that God could do a better job of dealing with his enemies than he could, so he just gave it all to God. So the next time you're down, the next time you're discouraged, the next time you are opposed or criticized, let me give you the best piece of advice that you could ever hear. Run straight to God. Cry out to him. Now, how simple is that?

How basic is that? And yet how true it is. So often we try to figure out everything on our own.

We try to fix things ourselves. And then we come to the end and say, well, I guess it's come down to this. I guess I'm going to pray now. Well, don't make prayer your last chance.

Make it your very first choice. Somebody said, if you look behind you, you'll be defeated. If you look ahead of you, you'll be distressed. If you look around you, you'll be discouraged. But if you look above you, you will be determined. Hebrews 12, 1 to 3 tells us this, Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or faint-hearted. So when problems come, problems with people, with pressures, with whatever, take it to the top. Go to the Lord. Tell Him all about it. Look to Him.

Look up and overcome the disappointments that you face in life. And that is today's PowerPoint. Remember, when you give a gift to PowerPoint, we'll send you Dr. Graham's 180-day devotional, Moments in the Word, as our thanks. Call 1-800-795-4627. That's 1-800-795-4627. You can also text the word PowerPoint to 313131. Text PowerPoint to 313131. Join us again next time as Dr. Graham brings a message about what it takes to win the spiritual and personal battles of your life. That's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham.