Do Not Lose Heart
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Today I would like to speak to you on the topic DO NOT LOSE HEART
I think I am qualified to speak on this topic because I have lost heart
Yes there were times in my life when I went through some bad times and I have lost heart
I want to ask you a question today
Have you ever lost heart?
Have you ever encountered situations in your life where you just wanted to throw in the towel
Life is not always easy
Life is hard
I would say life is harder when you are a Christian
If you think that just because you serving God and doing all the good things and that God is going to keep you free from pain and sorrow
Think again
Some of the most spiritual people go through the most hardships in life
Some Preachers say Come to Jesus and all your troubles iwll be over
That is a lie straight from the pit of hell
Jesus never promised a trouble free life
In fact he said the total opposite
33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
As long as we are still in this world you going to have trouble
I dont care if you are apostle....if you are Prophet ....If you be Pastor....Evangelist
As Long as we on this earth we are going to have problems
Plenty Problems
Talk about Maria, Peeran
We need to also stop judging people when they going through problems
Job and Ailah
My message today is do not lose heart but here’s the thing
It easy to lose heart because of the words other people might be saying to you when you going through your problems
Some people should just keep their mouths shut because while they might mean well with their words
It causes more harm and destruction than anything
Life and death is in the power of the tongue
Let us be there for people in their trials so they do not lose heart
The Sermon Notebook: New Testament Do Not Lose Heart (2 Corinthians 4:16–18)
Did anyone come here today hoping, praying, longing, for someone to sing something, pray something, or preach something that would strip all your hope away?
• Did anyone come here hoping to be discouraged?
• Did anyone come here today hoping that someone would knock all the wind out of your sails?
• No! Nobody came here for any of that.
No one came here saying, “Preacher please hurt me. Please strip away all my motivation for serving the Lord. Please discourage me. Please defeat me.”
I know that none of you came here for that
You came to church today hoping to find hope
Now I believe that when we come to church on a Sunday - we should be filled with hope after we leave this place
We live in a Society today where we only hear all the negatives that are happening
We have people who are killing us with their words
We have people who we work with who are Vipers and they just out to cut our throats
But I Believe when we are among God’s people on a Sunday
We should not be scared to be around them because they are gossips
We should be scared to tell them our problems
When we around people we should leave their presence with Hope
As Christians we are dealers in Hope
Yes we don’t deal drugs but we deal hope
Sometimes even if you have to confront a brother or a sister or even correct them
We ought to do it in a way that they feel a sense of hope
Even when the Word of God is preached and we don’t say WOW but we say OW - people should feel a sense of hope after hearing it
Billy Graham once said, “The greatest need in our world today is the need for hope. We thrive on hope, we rejoice in hope, we witness in hope, knowing that experience works hope. ‘Happy is he . . . whose hope is in the Lord his God (Psalm 146:5).’ There is hope for the future. It is centered in the Person of Jesus Christ who died for our sins and rose from the grave and is alive now. I have staked all that I am or ever hope to be on Him. “
Today I do not know what you are going through
I want to let you know that there is hope for you no matter what your situation is today
I am happy to see Tabitha today leading in Worship
Last Year around this same time she almost lost her life
The Devil tried to take her life today
Just seeing her here today is a witness and a testimony that we can have hope
Last Year she almost lost her heart but today she has her heart
Whatever your situation is today - do not lose heart
You have a hope and we have a hope because of Jesus
I pray that after this sermon is over you would leave here with hope
If you came here depressed I pray you will leave with joy
If you came here sad, I pray you will leave happy
If you came here feeling worthless I pray that you will leave feeling worth
If I told you there was a secret that would allow you to have hope in this world, would you want to know what it was?
• In a world that is so filled with hopelessness, discouragement, and defeat, if I told you that I knew a way you live your life every day and not “lose heart”, would you refuse to hear me tell you that secret?
• Of course not! That is why we are here.
When we look at CNN and what is being shown with Israel and Palestine we can be feeling a sense of hopelessness
If we are seeing stress in our job we can feel down
There are things that we are facing right now that can cause us to feel hopeless but I want you to know that once Jesus is on the throne we have a reason to be hopeful.
Some of you might be saying well it easy for you to talk about hope cause everything going well with you…
Well I wish that was true
Next month my Job contract comes to an end and we not sure what is happening
How Bosses tell us to pray and keep our hopes alive cause they are doing all in their power to get us renewed
All we can do is not lose heart because the same God who got us renewed 3 years ago is the same God who can renew us this year
We can’t lose heart
I just said that to show that all of us might have battles we facing that nobody knows about
WHEN LIFE SEEMS TO FALL APART DON’T LOSE HEART
Let us see what encouragement we can get from the Word of God about not losing heart
Scripture
Scripture
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Background
Background
Just to give a little background to this text - It was written by a man called Paul to the Corinthian Church.
Paul was formerly called Saul and he was an enemy of Christians
He used to kill them but then God transformed his life and made him his messenger who now Encourages Christians to live for Jesus
This is Paul’s 2nd letter to the Corinthians who were going through hard times and were having to deal with False Prophets in the church and Paul wanted them to know that when they are suffering in whatever way there is a God of comfort who can comfort them so that they can comfort others
Paul knew suffering was a part of the Christian life
Paul was a man who was beaten and who was thrown in Jail for his faith
Most Pastors won’t tell you this but we will have hard times
Someone said if you are a Christian and everything just keeps going nice for you and you never have struggles then we need to wonder if you really a Christian
Because you will have problems because you have an enemy who is the Devil and he does not want you in a state of joy but in a state of sorrow.
I am saying to you today to not lose heart
The Devil wants you to lose heart today
He wants you to think That God is your enemy
God does not love you
God is out for you
Do not lose heart
Do not lose heart
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
Paul is telling us we do not lose heart in our circumstances
This scripture is where we get the song I’m trading my sorrows, I’m trading my pain.
I am pressed but not crushed
Persecuted not abandoned
Struck down but not destroyed
I am blessed beyond the curse
For His promise will endure
That His joy's gonna be my strength
Though the sorrow may last for the night
His joy comes with the morning
it is in verses 8and9.
The King James version says we faint not..
This is an amazing statement for a man like Paul to make because of all he had been through
He was saying that no matter what comes our way - do not give up
Do not lose heart
The Sermon Notebook: New Testament Do Not Lose Heart (2 Corinthians 4:16–18)
It is so easy to lose heart isn’t it? It is so easy to come to a place where you are ready to throw in the towel, lay down your burdens, to just quit.
It seems to me, just from reading what the Bible says about the life of Paul that it would have been easy for Paul to “lose heart”. But, he says, “we faint not”. That little phrase is in the “present tense, active voice”. Paul is saying “I never lose heart”! He isn’t bragging. He is making a simple statement of fact. Paul had discovered a spiritual secret that enabled him to be encouraged even in the midst of circumstances that would have discouraged anyone else.
Sister Susan talking to me a time
The truth is if you doing things for God and impacting and changing lives - expect pressure
If you throw in the towel the pressure might ease up a bit
We have an enemy but Paul saying do not lose heart because your God is bigger than your enemy
If you are in church today and you are beginning to lose heart - it is ok to feel that way
We are all human - we all feel that way at times
I remember when Neisha lost her mom and her brother that wasnt easy
She started to lose heart
It is expected
I remember when Susan nearly lost her grandson
I beleive the times when our brothers and sisters begin to lose heart - we need to be there for them
None of us can say - oh I never get discouraged , i always filled with joy….I always happy
If that is you then I think Diandra needs to do an assessment of you and see if you ok
Paul wants us to get to that place where we can say I do not lose heart…..
A struggle we all deal with
A struggle we all deal with
All of us can lose heart because our outer man is perishing
The Sermon Notebook: New Testament Do Not Lose Heart (2 Corinthians 4:16–18)
The “outer man” refers to the fleshly part of us. It encompasses both the body and the mind. The results of aging in the body and sin in the mind conspire to strip away joy, hope, and peace of heart and mind.
One news we all struggle to deal with is the fact that we all getting older and our bodies are not as healthy as they used to be
When we were younger we could stay up all night but age catching up with us - we knocking our earlier
None of us like to get a bad report from a doctor
But it happens and it can cause us to lose heart
27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,
We are all wasting away
The Sermon Notebook: New Testament Do Not Lose Heart (2 Corinthians 4:16–18)
We will waste away, and we will die.
- We might die of old age, and slip out into eternity in our sleep.
- We might die as a child, or a young adult.
- We might have a sudden heart attack.
- We might get cancer and waste slowly away.
- We might be consumed by Alzheimer’s.
- We might die suddenly in a car wreck.
- We might be struck by lightening.
- We might leave this world in any of ten thousand way, but we will die.
You don’t have to be defeated.
- You don’t have to become a statistic.
- You don’t have to be one of those people who used to walk with God.
- You don’t have to be one of those people who used to go to church.
- You don’t have to be one of those who used to be faithful
You can reach a place where you do not “lose heart”. You can reach a place where you can press on in spite of what presses you down
There is a way we can live that can help us to keep on keeping on.
WHEN LIFE SEEMS TO FALL APART DON’T LOSE HEART
Reason 1 - the inward man is being renewed
Reason 1 - the inward man is being renewed
We do not lose heart because the inward man is not decaying every day
The outward man that we see will get worst and worst each day but not the inward man
I dont care how much gym you go to you cant stop the outward man from decaying
All this makeup and dye you ladies like to use - does not change the fact that your body is getting older
All the tablets and supplements we take wont stop the outward man from getting worst
The inward man is not like the outward man
It is being renewed daily
The inner man is given new strength to face the trials of today
The Sermon Notebook: New Testament Do Not Lose Heart (2 Corinthians 4:16–18)
The “inner man” is “renewed” every day, but we need to understand that this is not a onetime drink that guarantees us daily strength and renewal. The Lord is offering us a fountain from which we can drink every day
The Sermon Notebook: New Testament Do Not Lose Heart (2 Corinthians 4:16–18)
The car of your life was not meant to run on yesterdays gas. You need to refill the tank every day.
- Your spiritual metabolism cannot survive on yesterday’s meals. You need to eat fresh food today.
The Sermon Notebook: New Testament Do Not Lose Heart (2 Corinthians 4:16–18)
It means you need to fed on the Word of God every day.
- You need to pray to the Father every day.
- You need the fellowship of the saints every day.
- Going to church once a week, or once a month will not get the job done.
- You need a fresh supply every day!
No wonder so many Christians lose heart each day
They give up on doing things that can strengthen their heart
Some people quit church and don’t go anywhere
We come to church so we can have people around us who can encourage us , who can pray with us, who can be there with us through the storms of life
When we come to church we pray for each other in groups
People come to church looking so happy but when you into groups you realise how much problems people have
You could have a Merciless Benz but if you dont put Gas it is useless
It needs to be filled
In order for our inner man to be renewed it needs filling day by day
Today you are in the gas station and I am trying to fill you up with the Word of God
Stop neglecting the gas station
Reason 2 - Our Afflictions are Light Compared to the Glory
Reason 2 - Our Afflictions are Light Compared to the Glory
17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,
Whatever we are going through right now is light compared to the Glory God has for us in heaven
Now i know some of you would be going through some seriously bad times that you may not think is light but when compared to what God has in store it is light
Women make a baby
8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself.
Now he is saying the pressures he had is light
It is light when we see it through an eternal perspective
God has a place prepared for you
There will be no more pain, no more sorrow, no more cancer, no more COVID
Paul has a PHD in suffering.
2 cor 11 Paul lists all the ways he has suffered
Acts 14 Paul is stoned but the next day he is preaching
The Sermon Notebook: New Testament Do Not Lose Heart (2 Corinthians 4:16–18)
What Paul is saying is this, the problems of life that seem so heavy right now, the troubles that seem as if they will never end, the burdens we think will break us under their weight, are really just weighty “for the moment”. He tells us that compared with the “eternal weight of glory” that we will experience when we arrive home in Heaven, everything we face here is “light and easy”.
Stripes.
· Prisons.
· Beaten.
· Stoned.
· Shipwrecked.
· Perils of waters.
· Robbers.
· In perils of my own countrymen.
· In perils of the Gentiles.
· In perils in the city.
· In perils in the wilderness.
· In perils in the sea.
· In perils among false brethren.
· In weariness and toil.
· In sleeplessness often.
· In hunger and thirst.
· In fastings often.
· In cold and nakedness.
Our affliction is light compared to what others suffer.
· Our affliction is light compared to what we deserve.
· Our affliction is light compared to what Jesus suffered for us.
WHEN LIFE SEEMS TO FALL APART DON’T LOSE HEART
Reason 3 - We are fixed on what is unseen
Reason 3 - We are fixed on what is unseen
If we want to lost heart we will keep our eyes fixed on what is seen
We seeing all the doctors report - we seeing all the problems that is happening
We look to Social Media and we get depressed with what we are seeing
When we keep our eyes on the seen we get down - when we keep our eyes on the unseen who is God and his Glory we can have a hope
I beleive Sister Maria was this type of person
In the midst of her trials and her tribulations she used to keep her eyes on God
She Knew that Death would nver take her joy away but will bring her Joy
She knew that no matter what this life threw at her - it was nothing to what she was yet to see
She held on to this by faith
Sister Maria never losed heart because she focused on the Unseen
The Sermon Notebook: New Testament Do Not Lose Heart (2 Corinthians 4:16–18)
The secret for “not losing heart” is maintaining the proper perspective. Ask the Lord to help you to get your eyes off what you can see and to help you to look beyond this world to the glory awaits in His presence.
We need to ask God to help us see the unseen
When all I see is the battle, You see my victory
When all I see is the mountain, You see a mountain moved
And as I walk through the shadow, Your love surrounds me
There's nothing to fear now for I am safe with You
So when I fight, I'll fight on my knees
With my hands lifted high
Oh God, the battle belongs to You
And every fear I lay at Your feet
I'll sing through the night
Oh God, the battle belongs to You
We need to keep our eyes on the Unseen
In 2 Kings Chpater 6 one of Elisha’s servants was panicking cause they were surrounded by armies and Elisha prayed to God so that God will open his eyes to see the Unseen
We have a host of Heavenly angels on our side
When we look at the things which are seen, all we see is our light affliction, and then it doesn’t seem very light! But when we look at the things which are not seen, then we see and appreciate the eternal weight of glory.
Conclusion
Conclusion
PRAYER, PEOPLE, PRESENCE
My Story about Losing Heart
The Sermon Notebook: New Testament Do Not Lose Heart (2 Corinthians 4:16–18)
Some are discouraged today. Others are losing heart and quitting on the Lord. You do not have to be one of them! There is hope and help in the Lord Jesus Christ
WHEN LIFE SEEMS TO FALL APART DON’T LOSE HEART
