Time to be Desperate

Desperation vs. Despair

Desperation has been on my mind for several weeks

Building prayer

Internal battles

Personal study time

A. I felt the need to address the word and place it in our hearts as we consider our roles as men of God.

B. Desperation is not despair although despair can lead to desperation if we put our trust in God.

I found desperation 0 times in the Bible

I found despair 7 times, but the meaning of both words are in the text.

2Cor. 4:8 We are rafflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;

Ps. 10:17

O LORD, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear

C. Despair is an utter loss of hope.

D. Desperation is the feeling that you have when you are in such a bad situation that you are willing to take risks in order to change it

E. Our world, our homes our churches are somewhat a mess. As men of God what are we willing to do to make a change?

F. Although we need desperation in every area of our lives, the 3 areas I would like to focus on is our home, our church and outside of the church.

Hezekiah

Open your Bible to Isaiah 38

King of Judah from 715-BC-686. Received throne from father Ahaz

2 Kings 18

He removed the high places, and he smashed the stone pillars; he cut down the poles of Asherah worship and demolished the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for up to those days the Israelites were offering incense to it and called it Nehushtan.

Hezekiah started out very strong like many of us

However the sin of pride and not considering the future was his downfall.

His desperation came upon a prophecy give from Isaiah that his death was eminent. His desperation was self-focused and less about the future of Israel. Read verse 1-3

Verses 9-14 describe his anguish, whereas verses 15-19 describe his thankfulness and praise and desire to pass this down to his children.

Eventually Hezekiah would make prideful mistakes in giving Assyria who was invading, many gifts, such as the gold off the temple doors, to appease them. He would then give Babylonian leaders a look in to all of Judah’s possessions as if they were his own. Isaiah would prophesies that all of these possessions would now end up in Babylon.

So Hezekiah started out strong and in the end he would fail Israel and his son Manasseh would bring the sins of Ahaz into a nation of idolatry.

We as men of God need to do better. In many aspects we have a failing nation, failing church and failing homes.

There needs to be desperation in who we are as men of God. How we are seen in our communities, in our churches and in our homes is so important. Do those that we influence see the same person as we seem to be at church, as they do in their particular realm? By our actions are we glorifying God at work, in the home, on the freeway and even at church? Are we lifting one another up, praying and fasting for our brothers and sisters, or is church just a social gathering?

A. Homes- We need to fulfill our identity as men of God in the way we love our wives and children. We are to be the true leaders of the home, which includes serving, loving, showing the daily desire to honor God with prayer, Bible study and reverence.

Ephesians 5:25 ESV

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,

Ephesians 6:4 ESV

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

We cannot be strong, men of God if we are not desperate in our own homes.

B. Church

The church is full of broken people, some desperate and some just lost. As men of God in the church we need to be seeking these people out and encouraging, lifting and praying for them. We need to connect and disciple. Many in the church do not see anything of value outside of the church and many do not even open their Bibles outside of the church. If they don’t see the love and desperation inside of the church, how will they grow to become desperate, or will they simply disappear into worldly despair?

Hebrews 3:12–14

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.

C. Outside the church

Outside the church we find a lost world struggling to find identity and purpose. They have little to lean on but their idols, which may be entertainers, politicians or family or false prophets. It is an empty society full of sinful pleasures, suicide, depression among other mental issues. As men of God we need to be desperate in our love for the lost and very careful in our actions and words. We need to be willing to share Christ to those that cross our paths. They can push us away or spit on us, but they can never come to Christ if we aren’t willing to share. This is our calling as men of God. This is why we are called to God. We cannot be desperate for only our self-preservation as Hezekiah was. We need to be desperate for our homes, church and the outside world.

Matthew 28:16–20

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

I pray that all of us can and will be desperate men of God seeking to do what we have been called to do and to be. If our identities are in Christ we need to rise up and be more Christ like. We are not called to be weak as the world has the toxic masculinity theme seems to present. We are called to be warriors, leaders and strong men of God in every aspect of our lives. Let us be seen by the world and by God as something much different than the world.

Amen