Discouragement | 8 Principles We Can Learn from Paul

How should we deal with discouragement and depression as believers?

The Lord has encouraging words for those who are struggling. In this episode, Brody walks through discouragement in the life of Paul and 8 principles we can learn from it. The darkness of sin and this fallen world will sometimes wear us down. 

When we’re in these seasons, we need to be looking to Christ and find strength in his Word. God is with you. Let’s fight for our joy and peace when we’re in the midst of hardships.

• Acts 17-18
• Lamentations 3:21-26

8 Principles from Paul in Acts 18

1. God will often use our hardships, experiences and difficulties to encourage others or help them through hard times.
2. Don’t sit around. Do something productive.
3. The most faithful thing you and I can do is preach Jesus to others.
4. Discouragement often comes on the heels of a great move of God.
5. The darkness of sin and the world will sometimes wear you down, weary you and discourage you. 
6. The Lord is with you, will never leave you, and will give you strength and courage. 
7. I need fellowship. 
8. I need a word from the Lord. 

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Today I want to talk about something that is not lighthearted, it's kind of heavy and I think it's something that every believer, every human deals with, but definitely every believer and that is discouragement. I want to talk about discouragement and I want to try to make some distinctions non-scientific, non-medical distinctions between discouragement and depression and the reason I want to do that. I think a lot of times people say I'm struggling with depression, or that person is depressed and it, and it could be that they are, but it could also be that they're just dealing with some discouragement. Discouragement is a reality for everybody, especially for everybody who's in Christ, and and I want to I've had my share of it and I would even say that I deal with it frequently, not not just a season or two in my life or a time here and a time there. It kind of comes and goes consistently in my life. And I think if you're moving forward in life and you're engaging in relationships and you're doing ministry, and especially if you're in any kind of leadership, that means if you're a mama to three toddlers, you're in leadership. If you're a business owner, you're a pastor. And especially a word for pastors today um, not especially, but, but a word that I think pastors will connect with. There's one portion of this talk, um, or this episode rather, that I think will connect with pastors in a very personal and real way.

Speaker 1: 1:35

What I'm not saying at any point in this episode is that people don't struggle with genuine mental illness, that that there aren't legitimate mental health issues that people have to work through and they might need anything from counseling to medicine, medical treatment, psychiatric treatment. I'm not saying that. None of that is real. What I'm saying is I think sometimes we're too quick to not identify that, as Christians, we're, we're we're facing a season of discouragement. It could be. When I say a season, in this episode I could mean a day, an hour, a week, a year, a stretch of time, but it's it's.

Speaker 1: 2:19

The idea is that everybody's going to face discouragement at times, and you could, I mean it doesn't even matter for semantics sake if you call it depression, but what I'm not talking about is clinical depression, and what I'm not doing is implying that. No, that that's not a real thing, because it is. I just want us to be. You know, the scripture says we should be sober minded and oftentimes I believe the enemy. You know we wrestle not against flesh and blood, and I think a lot of times we're discouraged and run down and beat down and we just need to lean into Christ and claim victory that he's made available to us, and that's what this episode is practically what we're trying to drive at, so hope it is an encouragement to you. Have you ever been discouraged? Are you discouraged? And then, if the answer to both of those is no, then just hang on. You're going to face discouragement, and so I want to learn some lessons from the Apostle Paul. That'll be very helpful and encouraging, I hope. So.

Speaker 2: 3:19

Stick with me and I want to welcome you to no Sanity Required from the Ministry of Snowbird Wilderness Outfitters, a podcast about the Bible culture and stories from around the globe.

Speaker 1: 3:36

I don't know if there's been a season in your life where you faced discouragement or frustration, maybe anxiety or depression. Some some of our listeners no doubt deal with legitimate depression. Uh, a well-known um Christian artist recently passed away and there's been a lot of talk around um this person struggling with depression. I have no idea what the cause of death was. I haven't drilled into it, um, but I've I've heard talk of depression and it's something that comes up a lot. We deal with students and and uh, student ministry. You see it a lot Kids that are just a lot of depression but probably more anxiety. And then you know, anxiety in a more clinical sense but then also just anxiousness anxiousness about life, and the scripture addresses it a lot. You'll see a lot of times in the Bible where, um the Lord has encouraging words for us. Jesus will say things like come to me all you that labor and are heavy laden and I'll give you rest.

Speaker 1: 4:40

Rest for your weary souls is what he's talking about. He's talking about you're under the burden of life. You're under the laborious task of buying groceries, changing diapers, getting kids to school. You're under the task of paying bills and always feeling like you're behind. You're under the task of disciplining a wayward child or an adult kid that's walked away from the Lord, and you feel the weight of that. Sometimes, um, the stress of life comes from other people's struggles and sin or um, or sickness or sorrow. But we all face it, we all, we all face it.

Speaker 1: 5:21

And if you have any leadership responsibility, uh, I don't know how you would be able to say that you go through any phase of life I mean week by week without facing discouragement, um, discouragement from criticism, discouragement from people that quit or move on or um, and sometimes it's good, you know, it's good that someone's moving on. Maybe it's time for the Lord to move them on, or or maybe they've got a better opportunity somewhere and you lose a person that way. Um, maybe discouragement if you're in, if your pastor has left and your church is now looking for a new pastor, that can be a tough season. I don't, I don't know what you might be facing this week, if and if maybe you're in one of those seasons that where it's just good, everything's good, you're flying high, life is good, things are going your way, kind of just a good season. But maybe not. Maybe you're in a season where you're struggling because there's there's something you know. I don't know I don't want to try to fill in the blanks what it might be could be financial, could be fertility issues for a, for a couple, could be um, you're facing potential illness, you know. Or or loss of a family member, I don't know. I don't know where you're at, I don't know what you're going through.

Speaker 1: 6:45

But it's easy to get discouraged and depression is a real thing and it overwhelms people. But the longer I've lived life and then dealt with these things in my own mind, my own heart, and then also the longer I've done ministry and dealt with it in other people's lives, the more I realize. I think what we face more often than depression is discouragement. But when we do face depression, the principles that are laid out in the're even having to figure out you know, medication and things like that. I would just encourage you that there's truth in what we're going to talk about today for that scenario. But for most of us, discouragement is just real man, like financial stuff, tax stuff. You know you're behind on a bill or you're, you're caught up but you can't seem to get any traction in terms of like savings or, um, whatever and it's always working from behind, could be again relational strain and nothing. Nothing creates discouragement for me more than relationship struggles and strains. And so I want to I want to drill into this and hopefully be an encouragement to you, and I want to look at a season of what I think was very difficult discouragement in the life of the apostle Paul.

Speaker 1: 8:18

We're going to be in Acts 18, but we're going to actually back up into Acts 17. What happens in Acts 17,? Let me just give you a summary. Paul is working with a guy named Silas and they're doing ministry. They go to a place called Thessalonica. The Lord moves, but there's a lot of conflict. So they see, and this is what happens a lot we get frustrated or discouraged, or even face anxiousness, depression, whatever it is when God is moving in clear ways. But then there's conflict. Paul and Silas are here. I mean, they faced conflict before. When they get to Thessalonica, they've just come out of prison. I mean they just got released. Um, like if you go to the end of act 16, paul and Silas get locked up and roughed up and then they get released.

Speaker 1: 9:18

And then, when they get released, they go right back to encouraging other believers. And then they, they go to this place called Thessalonica and they, they hit several towns and there's like three weeks where Paul is preaching and he goes because he had this, uh, in in in those days in the Jewish church you couldn't um a person with Paul's credentials. He was a Pharisee. He could come to church and he would immediately be given the stage so he could go up and talk. He had this authoritative voice. Imagine if you would a Muslim imam who became a Christ follower, but he was a prominent imam in the Muslim faith and he shows up to a mosque and everyone recognizes him and they put him right up front and they want to hear from him. So this is what Paul was doing. And then he'd get up there and he would preach the gospel. People start getting saved.

Speaker 1: 10:18

But then some people get so mad and like multiple times there would be riots. So a lot of conflict, a lot of people screaming, yelling, you know, pushing back, just a lot of conflict. That's what Paul faced. And so he's in this situation where anything he does is explosive. Anything he does when he preaches, it's explosive. The dead are saved and brought to spiritual life, but then the conflict or the pushback from the enemy is massive. And so it's like he's seeing great fruit and reward and great persecution and difficulty. And then he goes from Thessalonica to a place called Berea and something uh similar happens there, where there's a lot of um, there's a lot of fruit to ministry, but then there's also a lot of conflict. And so everywhere he's going, he's facing terrible conflict. I mean, imagine if everywhere you go you're it's it's borderline inciting a riot. You know, think about you. You look at people that are real polarizing figures, like um on certain college campuses. You hear when someone like Jordan Peterson or Doug Wilson goes to speak on a college campus, there's riots. Imagine if, everywhere you go, you face riots but you also face like endearing fans. So everywhere Paul would go, he would face hardship and difficulty, but he would also. He would also see great fruit.

Speaker 1: 11:53

And most of us can identify with to some degree in our lives. There are things we can be excited about and thankful for, even if we don't feel it emotionally, we can point to it and go. God's given me a loving spouse. God's given me a church family. God's given me, you know, food and clothing, and all my needs are met, whatever it might be. But then you go. But, man, I'm discouraged and here's why I'm frustrated, or maybe you don't even know why. It's just a spirit of depression or discouragement.

Speaker 1: 12:21

So Paul is kind of in and out of all this craziness. Then he goes to a place called Athens and when he gets to Athens a crazy thing happens and he ends up debating as the representative of the Christian faith. And the reason Athens is significant is in Athens. Paul ends up on a very public stage. It would be like debating on the biggest stage on TV. You know, think of, think of the halftime of the Superbowl, and, and they pan over and you're debating someone on a very hot topic like abortion or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, something like that, issues of transgenderism, and right on the halftime show of the Super Bowl, you're the one person by yourself standing there and debating a panel or a team of people. They've got the backing of the media or whatever. So Paul's in that situation. So he leaves Athens and and oh and. When he's there it's the first time you see this there's not a lot of fruit, very little. There's very little, uh, in the way of conversions. And so he leaves. He goes to a place called Corinth, and when he gets there, I'm just going to pick up reading here Then Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.

Speaker 1: 13:43

There he became acquainted with a Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently arrived from Italy with his wife Priscilla. They had left Italy when Claudius Caesar deported all Jews from Rome. Paul lived and worked with them, for they were tent makers, just as he was. Okay, I want to give you eight lessons, eight principles, and here comes the first one in these three verses. So Paul leaves all the conflict of Athens and he's discouraged Literally, he's just frustrated. He's discouraged Like listen to the last few verses of Acts 17.

Speaker 1: 14:14

When they heard Paul speak about the resurrection of the dead, some laughed in contempt, but others said we want to hear more about this later. That ended Paul's discussion with him, but some joined him and became believers. Among them were Dionysius, a member of the council, a woman named Demarius, and others with them. So you've got some people that are laughing and ridiculing him. And then there's a few conversions it's fewer than what you've seen anywhere else with Paul.

Speaker 1: 14:40

And then when he leaves Athens he goes to the city of Corinth. Then when he gets there, there's this couple named Aquila and Priscilla, and they have left, they've just left Rome under racial persecution, like an ethnic cleansing. So it says that this emperor in Rome named Claudius Caesar, he kicked all the Jews out of Rome. So if you were Jewish and you were in Rome, you got persecuted, you got displaced, you were sent into further exile. And so this couple, they end up going to Corinth and they were tent makers, which was a blue collar trade, I think, but like a high level, like it was a big industry, and so they had, they had this skill where they were able to make a living. So they moved to Corinth. So Paul comes to their home. They're beat up and run down. He's beat up and run down.

Speaker 1: 15:30

So here's lesson number one God will often use our hardships, our experiences and our difficulties to encourage others or help. Read that again. I'm going to include these eight observations in the show notes. God will often use our hardships, experiences and difficulties to encourage others or help them through hard times. So God uses the persecution that Aquila and Priscilla have faced to encourage Paul when he comes in under. You know he's been under a cycle, cycles of repeated persecution. It's a really wonderful principle. God may take something you've been through that's very difficult in your life a terrible divorce or breakup, a miscarriage, the death of a child, past addiction, whatever it is and then God uses that and some of you might've seen this God uses that to help encourage other people and I'm so grateful that God takes our brokenness and our difficulties and he uses them to grow us and then to impact other people. Here's the second lesson.

Speaker 1: 16:31

The second lesson is don't sit around. Do something productive, it says in verse three. Paul lived and worked with him, for they were tent makers. A lot of times, I think, people that are dealing with a season of discouragement end up, you know, um, end up wasting time and and maybe, maybe you, you begin to practice horrible dietary habits, maybe you begin to, um, you escape to your phone and you just sit and you and you and you spend hours playing video games or messing around on social media and scrolling through social media. Whatever it is. You know, I don't know what it might be for you, but that happens a lot and uh, and, and. So one of the things that I have found to be so productive and so helpful when I'm dealing with a season of discouragement is to get productive. Don't sit around, don't get lethargic and sit still. It says that Paul starts working with him.

Speaker 1: 17:28

So Paul, who is who spent the bulk of his adult life as a, as a, an orator of, a religious professor, an attorney, you know, like this high-level white-collar world he's lived in, he goes back to just getting his hands dirty and doing productive work, and I found this can be true. This might be, you know, maybe it's you're dealing with discouragement. Go work out, go for a run, go split some wood or run the weed eater. Just do some things each day that are physically productive and a lot of times that gives you mental space, I guarantee you. While Paul was working to make these tents, two things were happening. One, there was organic conversation happening between him and them that may have had nothing to do with ministry. They start talking about, you know, their favorite sports figures, or telling stories from their childhood, or talking you know, just that kind of conversation that you have with coworkers. The other thing is he probably had a lot of time by himself. I love to be on the mower or the chainsaw or the weed eater, because you can't hear anything. I always wear earmuffs because I've damaged my hearing from not wearing them for so many years and I love to just be in my thoughts. But I'm not sitting staring at the paint on the wall. In my thoughts, I'm being productive and letting my thoughts kind of go where they go. Be productive. That's the second lesson. Let's keep going.

Speaker 1: 19:00

Each Sabbath, paul would be at the synagogue trying to convince the Jews and Greeks alike. So lesson number three is the most faithful thing you can do when you're struggling with or faced with discouragement is to preach Jesus to others. When you're facing discouragement, proclaim Jesus and his victory to others. It says that Paul, in this difficult season, would go to the church on Sundays and he still had that potential or that authority and opportunity to preach the word of God, so he would go. Preach Jesus to others. When you're struggling with discouragement, talk about Jesus, tell folks about Jesus. I'd say if you're struggling with discouragement, talk about Jesus, tell folks about Jesus. I'd say, if you're struggling with discouragement or depression, go out, soul winning, go witnessing and sharing your faith with others. Okay, let's move to the next lesson. So, lesson number one God, use hardships to encourage others. Lesson number two a reminder don't sit around. Do something productive. Number three proclaim Jesus in these hard times. And let's get to number four. We're going to continue reading.

Speaker 1: 20:03

After Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, paul spent all of his time preaching the word. He testified to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. That actually goes with that last one. We did number three just to preach the gospel, preach Jesus. But they opposed and insulted him. And when they did, paul shook the dust from his clothes and said your blood is on your own heads. I'm innocent. From now on, I will go preach to the Gentiles. Then he left and went to the home of Titus Justice, a Gentile who worshiped God and lived next door to the synagogue. Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, and everyone in his household believed in the Lord.

Speaker 1: 20:36

Many others in Corinth also heard Paul, became believers and were baptized. One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision and told him don't be afraid, speak out, don't be silent, for I am with you. No one will attack and harm you, for many people in this city belong to me Okay, huh, this is. These next three are are, I think, so important? Lesson number four discouragement often comes on the heels of a great move of God. So Paul is seeing God move and people are coming to faith and then all of a sudden, he faces discouragement. How do we know that he faces discouragement, by the way? Because one night the Lord spoke to Paul and said don't be afraid, and there's an exclamation point Speak out, I'm with you, no one's going to harm you. You've got the word of the Lord coming to him to encourage him. And this is immediately following, like a bunch of baptisms, it says. Many in Corinth heard Paul, became believers and were baptized. God saw Paul move and immediately following that there was there was like difficulty discouragement. So discouragement often comes on the heels of a great move of God.

Speaker 1: 21:53

Lesson number five the darkness of sin and the world will sometimes just wear you down. It'll just wear you and discourage you. I think there's times where you're going, man, I'm just struggling right now. I'm in a funk, I'm in a fog of depression, I'm in a fog of anxiousness, or I just feel unhappy. Sometimes it's like we don't even know how to put words to it. I'm just discouraged, we don't know how to say that. Or maybe I have depression, we don't know how to say that. But you recognize there's a fog of of um, like unhappiness, like there's a loss of joy. Where's my joy? I don't feel joyful, I don't feel satisfied, just wrestling.

Speaker 1: 22:36

And and that's this fifth um lesson from acts 18 is that sometimes it's just the world wearing you down. I mean, you're living in a world if you're a mama and you're getting kids off to school or you're homeschooling and and you know, maybe you've got one in diapers still, and then one that's, you know, a little older and rambunctious, and then maybe one that's like the perfect kid. You know you're kind of all over the map with maturity and and then also personalities, and there's times where raising those kids, or maybe your mom of one child, but just raising a child in the darkness and brokenness of this world in this day and age, is just. Sometimes it just discourages and overwhelms you. In this day and age is just. Sometimes it just discourages and overwhelms you. Maybe you're someone who wants to be a mom and you can't like for whatever reason, the Lord has not yet opened your womb, and so you feel alone and discouraged, living in a fallen world heightens discouragement, especially in the mind of a believer. So sometimes the observation is I can't put my finger on it, I don't know why I'm struggling, it's just uh it. The world is dark. You know the world is broken and it brings discouragement.

Speaker 1: 23:47

But I love lesson number six. There's only eight of these. I love lesson number six. The Lord is with you. He will not leave you, he will give you strength and he will give you courage. It's a reminder. God comes to. I love it.

Speaker 1: 24:00

God comes to Paul in a vision one night and he hears from the Lord and the Lord says hey, I'm with you, man, I'm with you and nothing's going to happen to you. That I don't allow. It's very encouraging for Paul. The Lord is with him, he's not going to leave him and he's going to give him the strength that he needs. Listen, dear brother or sister whatever strength you need today for your journey, that strength is found in the Lord. It's found in the Lord. Whatever struggle you have, give it to the Lord. Whatever fear you face, lay it at the feet of Jesus. That's how this works and it's such an important thing. It's such an important thing to remember and be reminded of that, that there's peace with Jesus. You know, okay, let's continue. Um, um, let me keep going.

Speaker 1: 25:00

So Paul stayed there for a year and a half teaching the word of God, wow. So he continued to preach and proclaim the gospel for 18 months. So God gave him what he needed to do the task at hand. Sometimes the task at hand seems overwhelming. Imagine if, on the front end of this, god said all right, you're not going to just be here for a few weeks, you're staying here for a year and a half in this persecution and you're in this dark place. And Corinth was a horrible city. Oh, my goodness.

Speaker 1: 25:29

The, the sexual perversion and deviance. The, the pagan demonic worship. Like when people are worshiping pagan deities, it just brings demonic influence into a community. It's, it's, it can be overwhelming. And so the.

Speaker 1: 25:44

The seventh lesson that Paul shows us is that we need fellowship. You need the body of Christ. I need the body of Christ. We need the local church. I need my church. I need old friends and new friends and a common mission. I need people who can identify with me in my struggle and a common mission. I need people who can identify with me in my struggle, who can identify with me and where I've been, what I might be going through, people that just care about me. You need to be surrounded by people that love you and care about you, and if you're like man, I don't know I'm going to, I'm going to strange, we just moved, I'm in a new place, or I just I just came to a new college and you know, I'm by myself here and I can't figure out. Where am I going to go to church? What college ministry am I going to be a part of? Maybe something like that. Maybe it's your work just moved you. You know your work just moved you, and so you had to uproot and leave a church family that you loved.

Speaker 1: 26:36

I had this conversation, I was speaking this past weekend and I was, I was, uh, I preached at a church on Sunday morning and I got done and there was a lot of visitors. I think it's a church that's doing really well, growing and kind of moving in the right direction and not kind of they're moving in the right direction and and so I I got up and I and I said, hey, I'm not the pastor here, but this is an awesome church If you're looking for a home church, it's a wonderful community of faith and all the people there are just wonderful. I've preached there a couple times now and I love that church and there were people I met for the first time and there were people that I'd met before that I reconnected with, and several couples husband and wife couples. It was just a joy to meet, Um, and it's just a. It was a warm church. It was a warm church family, and so this lady comes up to me after the service and she's she's crying, and I'd actually preached from this same passage that I'm walking through with y'all right now.

Speaker 1: 27:39

It wasn't this message, it wasn't this, this talk, this. You know what I'm doing here with y'all right now. It wasn't this message, it wasn't this talk. What I'm doing here is different. What I talked there about was how Aquila and Priscilla used their home as a base of operations for ministry, and so the thrust of the message was using your family, your home, as a base of operations to reach your community and your world. That was the message. And, um, we looked at how Aquila and Priscilla were always on mission, everywhere you see them. In scripture, all seven times are mentioned. Man, they're getting it done. This is just a uh, a blue collar couple that, very wise, they had, you know, they they taught Apollo's doctrine when he was preaching and he was not doctrinally sound. They brought him into their home and showed him, you know. So that that was the, that was the thrust of the message, but I talked about as a church being a church full of people that are on mission.

Speaker 1: 28:34

Well, this lady comes up afterwards and she starts to share her story, and her story was heartbreaking, I mean, it broke my heart. She was, um, she's got three adult children who have all turned away from the Lord. She was a pastor's wife for a long time and her husband and her divorced just a few years ago because he committed adultery and had another woman. And so now she goes from being a pastor's wife, raising kids in a church and all the activity associated with that, to she's literally by herself. She's living in the Greensboro, winston-salem area, completely alone.

Speaker 1: 29:12

And she said, you know, I visit a few churches and they're so big and I just felt lost and she'd come to this church. And she said, I don't know, I feel a warmth here and the message really encouraged me that. So she, she was able to meet with the pastor and his wife at this church and I'm praying for her. Her name's Jenny. I'm praying that Jenny will J E N N I E. She said it's I E. I love that Um, and and so she.

Speaker 1: 29:41

She was just through tears sharing her pain, and a lot of it was. She's just in a season of discouragement. But I said, I told her, I said I want to encourage you to just jump in with both feet in this church and let this church love on you and you love on others and you become a part of this church community. We need fellowship when we're dealing with discouragement. We need fellowship. We need the body of Christ. We need the church. We need old friends and new friends. We need a common mission, people that are on mission with us. That's important. So press into the body of Christ when you're dealing with discouragement, because what you tend to do is you tend to want to withdraw to yourself.

Speaker 1: 30:23

And the last one, and I just want to share some personal struggles. I've been going through Just a little bit of transparency not total transparency, because a lot of confidential stuff that I'm carrying right now and it's not confidential on my part part it's. It's confidential on the part of those I'm praying for and and sort of trying to walk through things with just in the, in the role or the, the flow of ministry that God's put me in. But here, here's the eighth lesson. I need a word from the Lord, I need a word from God there in verses nine and 10.

Speaker 1: 30:55

Again, god came and spoke to Paul, paul's in this difficult season he's. You know, it's just the grind of ministry and life, and every time God moves, the enemy moves and he faces persecution. It's the most. This one is the most important thing for me day to day, because the Lord's given me his word and and and the word of God will sustain me. But I've got to press into it and I've got to press into it. Recognizing the word of God is sufficient me, but I've got to press into it and I've got to press into it. Recognizing the word of God is sufficient, it has authority for my life. You know the scripture says of itself, I think Hebrews four that the word of God is living and active.

Speaker 1: 31:32

It's a two edged sword. The Holy spirit will use that in my life to drive out sin and temptation, to conquer enemy territory. Other place, in another place, the word of God is called bread from heaven. It's meat for the muscle of my spiritual life. It puts meat on my bones spiritually and builds muscle. It's the cool breeze to a fevered spirit and like cool water to a parched soul.

Speaker 1: 31:59

The word of God is a powerful weapon in the war on sin. Satan runs from the word of God. I am emboldened by the word of God. The warring angels of God's throne never let God's word leave their lips. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our Lord stands forever. The word of the Lord is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. The word of the Lord hidden in my heart will keep me from sin.

Speaker 1: 32:24

God's word is profitable. It's useful in my life for reproof, for rebuke, for correction, for instruction and righteousness. It is by the word of the Lord that the oceans were laid out and the mountains were stood up. God's word was given to prophets, to save nations, rebuke Kings, bring hope and comfort to the poor, the destitute, the widow and the orphan. By his words, jesus cast out demons, rebuked hypocrites, healed lepers, forgave sin and brought hope to the sick and dying. God's word is completely sufficient, fully authoritative. It is to be wrestled with, but never negotiated with or compromised.

Speaker 1: 33:01

God's word has been given to me for life and godliness, for healing and comfort, and to invigorate and strengthen me in the day of trouble. God's word may be the still small voice after the storm, and it's sometimes the booming thunder from heaven, but to be sure, it is the word of God that will sustain me, insulate me from the cold and darkness of this world, bring oxygen to my spiritual lungs and freedom to my enslaved thoughts. The word of the Lord is for now and it is for forever, and it is critical that in it I find new mercies every day, strength to stand, wisdom for life and the sustaining power that God has promised me. The word of God, in a word, brings hope. I find it to be true that when I'm losing the battle with my flesh, having a negative attitude, not loving my spouse, my children, not serving others with Christ-like love the way he would have me to serve them, when I realize that those things are happening in my life, and when I realize that I might be facing discouragement more often than not, I can draw a direct line to the fact that I've neglected the word of God in my life. Maybe I've read it as an exercise, but I've likely not meditated on it and surrendered to it and worshiped God for it.

Speaker 1: 34:19

Listen to this beautiful word from Lamentations. This is one of my most favorite passages of scripture. But this I call to mind and therefore I have hope. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul. Therefore, I will hope in him. The Lord is good to those who wait for him, the soul who seeks for him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. And so that eighth one, that eighth lesson, is that I need a word from the Lord, I need to hear from God. So I don't know where you are this week If you're facing discouragement or depression. If you're not, you will at some point. You're going to face it. We all do.

Speaker 1: 35:10

These eight lessons taken from Paul in the book of Acts are very helpful. And and you can go on and read there's not an end to the story here, cause Paul moves from there to Ephesus and then starts a third missionary journey after he establishes a church in Ephesus. I mean, he gets to Ephesus and there's a riot. It's not like it ends here for Paul, but it's just kind of like a point in the story where we see him wrestle through and navigate through discouragement and fear and frustration. So again, lesson number one God will use our hardships, experiences and difficulties to encourage others to offer help through hard times. That's what Aquila and Priscilla taught us. They, they, they showed us what that looked like. Number two don't sit around. Do something productive. Paul got busy. He didn't sit around and feel sorry for himself.

Speaker 1: 35:57

Lesson number three the most faithful thing you and I can do is preach Jesus to others. Lesson number four discouragement often comes on the heels of a great move of God. I've seen that. Let me pause there on number four. I've seen this happen where, when I see God move, we have an incredible outpour to the Lord in ministry or in my own life personally, and then, bam man, it's like you get blindsided. Next thing you know you're discouraged. Why am I discouraged right now?

Speaker 1: 36:26

Lesson number three the darkness of sin in the world will sometimes wear you down. We're you discourage you. The Lord is with you. He will never leave you. We'll give you strength and courage. That's number six. Lesson number seven I need fellowship.

Speaker 1: 36:39

I need the body of Christ, the church. I need my church. I need old friends, new friends. I need a common mission, so I need fellowship. Lesson number seven. Lesson number eight I need a word from the Lord, most important thing for me day to day, that the Lord has given me and that he'll sustain me by it. The word of the Lord is living and active and I need it in my life. I need it in my life. I need a word from the Lord. God so gently and firmly came to Paul in his difficulty and spoke a word of encouragement. I love that.

Speaker 1: 37:09

I will close with the last portion, just last little bit of this part of the story where Paul, it says when Galileo became governor of Achaia, achaia, achaia, achaia I don't know how you say this word Some Jews rose up together against Paul and brought him before the governor for judgment. So right after the Lord promised him that he wouldn't leave him and that he'd be with him, paul gets brought in front of another official. You know, it's just like never ending. They accused Paul of persuading people to worship God in ways that are contrary to our law. But just as Paul started to make his defense, galileo turned to Paul's accusers and said listen, you Jews, if this were a case involving some wrongdoing or a serious crime, I would have a reason to accept your case. But since it's merely a question of words and names and your Jewish law, take care of it yourselves. I refuse to judge such matters. And he threw them all out of the courtroom. Then Take care of it yourselves. I refuse to judge such matters. And he threw them all out of the courtroom. Then the crowd grabbed Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and beat him right there in the courtroom, but Galileo paid no attention.

Speaker 1: 38:11

There's this, the way this, the reason I wanted to end, that is, the way this portion of Paul's story ends is just crazy. It's like God says hey, I'm going to be with you, don't worry, it's going to be tough, but don't fear, I'm going to be with you. And then, right, you know, right after that, they dragged Paul in front of the governor and he's like I'm a Jew, I'm a Roman official, you are Jews, I don't really know how your law works. Just, man, get out of here. I ain't got time to fool with y'all's mess. And so then they just turn and beat up the synagogue leader, and that's the end of the story. And then this guy says this guy, gallio, he didn't care, he's like, whatever, that's the world Paul was living in.

Speaker 1: 38:49

Whatever you're struggling with this week, I guarantee you it's not as difficult as Paul was dealing with. You know, and, man, I get I feel so sad for so many Christians who I mean I can think of people right now that have served alongside of us here at SWO and been faithful man, lead small groups and just the joy and love of Christ evident in their lives, and then they're just unhappy, they lose their joy and they can't figure out what's causing it, so they'll just kind of reduce it to well, I must be depressed. No, it's fight for your joy, man. Here's. Here's eight things you can do to fight for your joy, to fight for your happiness and your peace, and I hope you'll do it. I hope that you really will take it serious and that you'll fight for it.

Speaker 1: 39:35

So, um, hang in there. The battle is the Lord's, the battle belongs. That's a song that we sing here at camp. It's a favorite of people. Um, in this generation, the battle belongs, it's God's battle and he will give you what you need to be sustained and to be strong in the face of conflict. So hang in there. I do want to just say I said I was going to get transparent and I don't even remember if I ended up getting transparent with you, I think. But I think I was going to get transparent and I don't even remember if I ended up getting transparent with you, I think. But I think I want to close by doing that I'm in a season where, right now, I'm carrying several burdens that are just very heavy, very heavy for snowbird wilderness outfitters, very heavy for my family, heavy for my church and a couple of these burdens.

Speaker 1: 40:24

They can't be shared. Someone has come to me in confidence and they're wrestling through something in their own family, their own situation, and it is tough, man, it was. It was just evident this morning when I woke up, planning I've planned on on do it. It's funny, I've planned on doing this um episode for uh, uh, quite a few days now, because I just felt like you know what, if I struggle like this and I know a lot of listeners, everybody's got their struggles and we just need to be reminded of, of how we stay in the fight. And and sure enough, as soon as I decided that I'm going to cover this and talk about it, it almost felt like everything ratcheted up, you know, and it got more difficult and it's just it's.

Speaker 1: 41:08

It's the world we live in, y'all, we live in a fallen world and one day we're going to be with the Lord and Jesus is going to wipe, you know. God is going to wipe every tear from our eyes and we will weep no more. We will fear no more. We will be depressed or discouraged or anxious no more if we're in Christ. And so rely on that and lean into that and trust in that and rest in that and know that the Lord is sovereign and he has a plan for your life and my life and you can trust him and he's good. His mercies are new every morning and he won't leave you. And he has a plan for your life and my life and you can trust him and he's good. His mercies are new every morning and he won't leave you and he won't forsake you. So be encouraged with that truth.

Speaker 2: 41:49

And.

Speaker 1: 41:49

I hope that this week is a good week for you and that God uses this, this episode that we've done today. My prayer is that it would be something God would use in your life and just encourage you this week. Thank you all for tuning in. It means a lot. It's not lost on me that you take the better part of an hour out of your week and listen to no Sanity and I'm really grateful Please pray, as we are one week out now from our SWO24 staff arriving and man, we got a lot in store. I mean, we got a busy, busy summer and it's exciting.

Speaker 1: 42:25

I do want to give you some updates on some stuff happening at SWO in the coming weeks, but we're not quite ready to give updates. Um, but some, some stuff is stirring. God's doing some stuff here. We're we're poised for another phase and round of growth and expansion and, uh, couldn't be more excited. It's a very exciting time to be part of this ministry, so stay tuned and we'll keep you posted on all that. Love you guys Praying for you this week and just hope the Lord blesses you richly today and every day this week. See you next week.

Speaker 2: 43:00

Thanks for listening to. No Sanity Required. Please take a moment to subscribe and leave a rating. It really helps. Visit us at sw outfitterscom to see all of our programming and resources and we'll see you next week on no sanity required.