Sermon Learn To Encourage Yourself

Sermon Title: “Learn To Encourage Yourself”

Last week we said 2021 is about maximizing our potential and if we are going to maximize our potential in 2021 then we are going to have to be “a better me.” We am going to have to look seriously in the mirror and check on ourselves and if there is anything that we need to improve on then we must be serious about it and ask God to give us the help and the strength that we need to make the change. After all of the hell that we have been through there is absolutely no reason for us to be mean and ugly to each other but we must be the best that we can be.

Depression is real among us and several people are going through. Suicide is up. Drinking and drug use is up. People are just sick and tired of being sick and tired. So if I’m going to improve myself this year, I must learn to encourage myself by speaking God’s Word into my own life. I must practice motivational speaking into my own life. I must speak the Bible and other positive motivational resources into my own life. This is key and vitally important as we move forward.

This morning my brothers and sisters, I want you to take the time to encourage yourself. You can’t wait for someone else to do it. This is the season that we are living in. We can’t wait for things to return back to normal, but we must go and take back everything that the enemy has stolen from us. We can’t get back the 400,000 lives back that Satan has stolen from us, but we can move forward and reclaim back some of what life use to be.

Everyone has suffered to some degree and everyone is feeling depressed from time to time. Depression is real, and it comes out in so many different ways. But we are closer today to getting our lives back than we were just a few months ago. God is showing us through small signs how things can become in the very near future, but we must be wise and diligent and not get in too much of a hurry. We must learn to do what David did during his time of crisis. We must learn to encourage ourselves.

Background: During this time in history, David’s life was in turmoil. Saul, his king had turned on David. For a long time David had been King Saul’s right hand man. David got him out of a jam when facing the giant Golalith and David was also instrumental in helping King Saul maintain his sanity, for he would play soothing music on the harp to calm down Saul’s raging madness. However; at this point, David is camping out with a know enemy, the Philistines. Achish, the Philistine king, trusted David to fight with him against Saul, but the other leaders out-voted Achish. And, so David is between a rock and a hard place and decides to return home to a place called Ziglag.

*Have you ever been between a rock and place? Have you ever been in a situation were it seemed as if no one wanted you? This is precisely were David was at this point in his life.

If others around you don’t know your worth and value, the devil understands your worth and value. He is not interested in destroying you before he can use you. He does not want to annihilate you too quickly. He wants your worth. He wants your praise and he wants your worship. He wants your time and your money. He wants your health and your wealth. He wants your dedication and your commitment. He wants you to bow down and worship him. Notice verse 1:

And it came to pass, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the south, and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire; 2And had taken the women captives, that were therein: they slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away, and went on their way. You better know your worth and you better know who you are in Christ.

(1.) THE ENEMY KNOWS WHAT YOU ARE WORTH

As a leader or child of God, you must be ready for ridicule. Your decisions may not be popular with others all the time. However, you have been called to be decisive. Others will start out with you but when the pressure is on or things go sour, saints and friends will turn their backs on you. Nevertheless, know that all things work together for good, to those who love the Lord, and are called according to His purpose.

David’s men fail to understand that He was walking by faith. After all, that is what we are commanded to do. And that’s really all we can do, any way, is trust in God. Also what appears to look like defeat may not be defeat?

3So David and his men came to the city, and, behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken captives. 4Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep. 5And David's two wives were taken captives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. 6And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters:

(2.) BE PREPARED FOR RIDICULE WHEN WALKING BY FAITH

but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.

The text does not specifically say what David did to encourage himself, but I can imagine the first thing He did was get from around all the negative talk from his so-called friends to a place where he could hear from God. Some times you have to steal away to Jesus and away from people to become restored in your life. David was a worshipper, so I can imagine that he began to worship and praise God until he entered into the Holy of Holies. It was there that he could get into God’s presence and there he could receive God’s power.

(3.) BEFORE YOU CAN GET READY TO RECLAIM WHAT THE DEVIL HAS STOLEN, YOU MUST ENCOURAGE YOURSELF FOR THE BATTLE

If God says that you can reclaim what the enemy has stolen, go for it. If God confirms through His word and in your spirit, expel the enemy and recover all.

. 7And David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech's son, I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod.

The ephod, the high priest’s apronlike garment which contained the Urim and Thummim, the sacred stones used to discern the will of God (cf. Ex. 28:30).

And Abiathar brought thither the ephod to David. 8And David enquired at the Lord, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them?

And he answered him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all. 9So David went, he and the six hundred men that were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those that were left behind stayed.

PURSUE, OVERTAKE AND RECOVER…

God wants us to have dominion in the earth over all devils, unclean spirits, and demons.

Listen to what Mark 16:14-20 has to say… Demons on the earth

Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. [15] And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. [16] He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. [17] And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; [18] They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

So going back to David’s inquiry, Shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake them? The answer to the question is…Yes.

Covid has been around long enough. We must aggressively go after the enemy in prayer and fasting and get our lives back. The devil ain’t going to give our lives back easily. Satan is going to keep on attacking us with this pandemic and all the problems associated with it. So we must encourage ourselves.

(4.) IF YOU GET A CONFIRMATION FROM GOD, GO FOR IT

You cannot allow the quitters; doubters and unbelievers hold you back from your destiny. You cannot allow them to strike fear in your heart and cause you to not pursue the enemy in battle and reclaim what is yours. And remember that worship must always precede battle.

10But David pursued, he and four hundred men: for two hundred abode behind, which were so faint that they could not go over the brook Besor.

(5.) LEAVE THE FAINT BEHIND

Don’t wait on the faint. They will catch up later. But all of you who are strong, encourage yourself and stay in the fight, stay in the battle and fight on until victory is won.

11And they found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and he did eat; and they made him drink water; 12And they gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two clusters of raisins: and when he had eaten, his spirit came again to him: for he had eaten no bread, nor drunk any water, three days and three nights. 13And David said unto him, To whom belongest thou? and whence art thou? And he said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite; and my master left me, because three days ago I fell sick. 14We made an invasion upon the south of the Cherethites, and upon the coast which belongeth to Judah, and upon the south of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire.

(THERE IT IS) THAT WAS DAVID’S ANSWER..

15And David said to him, Canst thou bring me down to this company? And he said, Swear unto me by God, that thou wilt neither kill me, nor deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will bring thee down to this company.

16And when he had brought him down, behold, they were spread abroad upon all the earth, eating and drinking, and dancing, because of all the great spoil that they had taken out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah.

The Lord has given you authority over the enemy. In addition, the Lord will allow you to kill or destroy that thing that was stealing from you.

17And David smote them from the twilight even unto the evening of the next day: and there escaped not a man of them, save four hundred young men, which rode upon camels, and fled. 18And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away: and David rescued his two wives.

(6.) MY 6TH AND FINAL POINT IS WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN AUTHORITY OVER THE ENEMY

CONCLUSION:

19And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor any thing that they had taken to them: David recovered all.

20And David took all the flocks and the herds, which they drave before those other cattle, and said, This is David's spoil. [KJV]

I believe that at this time, the body of Christ must pursue enemies of the cross and the enemies of life and good health like never before in prayers and supplications and in fasting.

We must motivate ourselves to continue fighting by faith against Covid-19, social and racial injustice and fighting against poverty like never before.

We must also, pursue the enemy, overtake, and recover everything he has stolen from us like never before.

It’s time that we go into the enemy’s camp.

It’s time that we take back our lives.

Covid don’t care about us.

We have to come together

and fight against Covid from a unified position.

It’s time that we take back everything for Jesus.

Satan is in the earth illegally.

The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof

and we have been given dominion.

Hell was made for the devil and his angels,

and hell is where he belongs.

So let’s take it all back.

Take back our joy

Take back our peace

Take back our praise

Take back our health

Take back our wealth

Take back our families

Take back our churches Take back our schools

Take back our nation

It’s time to use our parameters of authority in the earth to:

Cast out devils

Speak in tongues

To not fear serpents

Lay hands on the sick

PURSUE, OVERTAKE, RECOVER ALL

Encourage yourself, when there’s no one else.

There’s a poetic illustration about encouragement that goes like this:

I saw them tearing a building down,

A gang of men in a dusty town.

With a “yo heave ho” and a lusty yell,

They swung a beam and the sidewall fell.

I asked the foreman if these men were as skilled

As the men he’d hire, if he were to build.

He laughed and said, “Oh, no indeed.

Common labor is all I need.”

For those men can wreck in a day or two,

What builders had taken years to do.

I asked myself as I went my way,

Which kind of role am I to play?

Am I the builder who builds with care,

Measuring life by the rule and square?

Or am I the wrecker who walks the town,

Content with the role of tearing down?

Green, M. P. (Ed.). (1989). Illustrations for Biblical Preaching: Over 1500 sermon illustrations arranged by topic and indexed exhaustively (Revised edition of: The expositor’s illustration file). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.

The Bible says,

3Now there were four men who were lepers at the entrance to the gate. And they said to one another,

“Why are we sitting here until we die?

4If we say, ‘Let us enter the city,’

the famine is in the city,

and we shall die there.

And if we sit here,

we die also.

So now come,

let us go over to the camp of the Syrians.

If they spare our lives we shall live,

and if they kill us we shall but die.”

5So they arose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians.

But when they came to the edge of the camp of the Syrians, behold, there was no one there.

6For the Lord had made the army of the Syrians hear the sound of chariots and of horses,

the sound of a great army,

so that they said to one another,

“Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites

and the kings of Egypt to come against us.”

7So they fled away in the twilight

and abandoned their tents,

their horses, and their donkeys,

leaving the camp as it was,

and fled for their lives.

8And when these lepers came to the edge of the camp,

they went into a tent and ate and drank,

and they carried off silver and gold

and clothing.

These 4 lepers had to encourage themselves. Encourage yourself this morning.

Repeat I shall live and not die,

Life and death is in the power of the tongue.

I am the head and not the tail,

I am above and not beneath,

I can do all things through Christ which strengths me.

Repeat what Deuteronomy says;

1“And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God,

being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today,

the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.

2And all these blessings shall come upon you

and overtake you,

if you obey the voice of the Lord your God.

3Blessed shall you be in the city,

and blessed shall you be in the field.

4Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb

and the fruit of your ground

and the fruit of your cattle,

the increase of your herds

and the young of your flock.

5Blessed shall be your basket

and your kneading bowl.

6Blessed shall you be when you come in,

and blessed shall you be when you go out.

7“The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you

to be defeated before you.

They shall come out against you one way

and flee before you seven ways.

8The Lord will command the blessing on you in your barns

and in all that you undertake.

And he will bless you in the land

that the Lord your God is giving you.

9The Lord will establish you

as a people holy to himself,

as he has sworn to you,

if you keep the commandments

of the Lord your God

and walk in his ways.

10And all the peoples of the earth

shall see that you are called

by the name of the Lord,

and they shall be afraid of you.

11And the Lord will make you

abound in prosperity,

in the fruit of your womb

and in the fruit of your livestock

and in the fruit of your ground,

Take the time to encourage yourself don’t wait on nobody else.