Are You The Most Discouraged Person In The Church Meeting — Sandeep Poonen

Enduring the Christian Life as a Marathon

It's extremely important that we prepare for the long haul, not for the short run. It's a marathon, not a sprint. And we were reminded in the very beginning from different passages, blessings that we've heard.

Did you think the coronavirus would be as long as it did back when we shut down in March? Have you seen the layers of different challenges as the weeks have turned into months? I know I looked forward to working from home, and I still enjoy working from home, but it's a little older than it used to be.

And I know it's a little older, much older for the children. The children enjoy more than some of us, maybe who are introverts or have so much technology to keep us going. Children thrive on that connection.

And so there's so many different areas to how we may deal with it, but we have to keep going. We have to know this is a marathon, and it's extremely important to remember. I want to remind a couple of truths.

Watering Others Through Discouragement

Proverbs 11 .25. Dear brothers and sisters, please remember Proverbs 11 .25. And I'll tell you how Proverbs 11 .25 has proved true in my life. Proverbs 11 .25 says this. He in second half of Proverbs 11 .25 is he who waters others will himself be watered.

I'll tell you how I have experienced this verse. Because I have been forced to water others for the last 10 years, and I don't get to take a week off. And I have to show up, and you guys know this, some of you have been around almost all 10 years.

I have to show up on Sundays, and I have to say something. And you think there have not been Sundays when I don't want to say anything? You think there are Thursdays when I don't want to say anything?

You think this is a magical experience for me all along for the last 10 years? You think it was, you know, floating on water for Jesus or anybody? No. You read the writings of Paul too, he'll tell you, man, I was beat up beyond despair.

I needed encouragement. I was despairing. And then God sent Titus. And you see some of the struggles, and I'm not even, you know, being stripped right for the gospel. I'm just having normal life happen to me.

But it's no different, dear brothers and sisters, at times they're weak, so you don't feel like saying anything. There is a difference though, right? Sometimes as a parent, you don't feel like you have much to give, but you got your children.

You got to give them something. You don't feel like cooking food, they got to eat, got to come up with something. And it's in the body of Christ too, in the family of God. You may not feel like cooking, but God says, they have got to eat, they're children.

Because of that, I've had to water others. And I've had to go to God sometimes with absolutely nothing to give. Absolutely blank. But I say, God, these children are here. These brothers and sisters of mine are here, they have to give them something.

And unfortunately, they're stuck with this donkey. Unfortunately, they're stuck with this empty well. But they came and they're all here and they need to give them something. And again and again, I drop my pitcher into a well that is empty.

And I bring it back up and I pour it out and there's water. I don't know where the water comes from. But God again and again has proved faithful. When many times I drop the pitcher into the well and it's empty.

And I say, God, there's nothing here for me to give to anybody. And it's like that woman who had a little bit of oil left. And God said, get all the pitchers. Get all the pitchers from all your neighbors.

And start pouring. 2nd Kings chapter 4. And she poured from a little bit of oil and she kept pouring. Dear brothers and sisters, this is a picture of what God wants to do through your lives. When you think you have no much oil left, pour.

Water others. Make a commitment to the Lord that you will water others. And you'll find yourselves watered. I can't tell you the number of times when I've spoken a word. And there's been no doubt in my heart that that word was for me.

Not that I speak theory. But a lot of times God shows me things and God needs to remind me of it. I'm convinced about it, but God needs to encourage my heart through it. I can't tell you the number of times somebody has mentioned my name and said something that I've said.

Feeding on God's Word in Times of Need

And it has been a reminder to me of what I'm convinced about. But it was a present word for me. You know, Jesus. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 4, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by words that proceed from the word of God.

Jesus was fed by words of God. Which words from God are they we're talking about? These are words in the Old Testament. Who spoke those words? Jesus himself. God was the living word. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.

It was Jesus speaking through Moses, through David, through Daniel. And here Jesus is in 2 ,000 years later in human form. And Jesus's words of speaking to Jesus and building him up. He needed to be fed by the own words he spoke through David.

Through the words that he had spoken through Moses. These are the words that God spoke to God, to Jesus in that time. God sometimes needs to use your own words to encourage you later on. And the way we prove that we believe, 2 Corinthians chapter 5, I think it's verse 5 and 6, we memorize it.

I believed, therefore, what? I believed, therefore I spoke. I believed, therefore I spoke. And Abraham believed and he spoke by changing his name from Abram to Abraham. And he believed and therefore he circumcised his whole household.

He believed and he did and he believed and he spoke. There's something about watering others that dear brothers and sisters, the one who probably needed to speak today was the one who was most discouraged.

Speaking Faith When You Feel Empty

Let me say that one more time. Dear brother and sister, the one who probably needed to speak today, I don't know who it was. It may have been me. I don't know. But I'm in constant need of encouragement.

That I know. But the one who needed to speak the most today was the one who was most discouraged. You needed, or I, whoever it was, we needed to water others. Just a drop. Just a drop from an empty well.

God is still on the throne. That's all I wanted to say to you. Or I'm so glad that God has not given up on me. He's still working on me. That's all I wanted to say. I don't know what you should have said or could have said out of that one drop of water.

But oftentimes the one who most needs to speak is the one who's the most discouraged. Not because you got some great prophetic word to give to other people. We don't. It's the ordinary drop of water that God sees us wanting to give out of an emptiness in our lives.

And God says it's that five loaves and two fish that will feed 5 ,000. It is that water that has got no business being served in a wedding feast. That will be turned into wine. All of these going to the stores to get second grade wine is useless.

But a drop of water that is done in obedience to God and in service to God and his people, God says I can touch that and make that into wine. And so dear brothers and sisters, if you are discouraged, come to Bible study.

Especially if you're discouraged, come to Bible study. And if you are especially discouraged, speak what you believe to be true about God. Not about you. Speak what you believe to be true about God. If you don't believe anything to be true about God, then of course don't speak.

But he is there to be spoken of in his word. He still died 2 ,000 years ago, whether you've had a bad week or a good week. He still is opening his arms for you as a father, whether you had a good week or a bad week.

He still is willing to fill you with the Holy Spirit, whether you had a good week or a bad week. He still says, seek my face, whether or not you had a good week or a bad week. Oh Lord, you're beautiful.

Your face is what I seek. And when your eyes are upon this child, your grace abounds to me. That's a song from Keith Green that we sing. Some of you may sing that song. Oh Lord, you're beautiful. Your face is all I seek.

But when your eyes are upon this child, Lord, your face is all I seek. And when you look at me, your grace abounds to me. This is the kind of gospel we can share. I didn't tell you anything about my life.

I just told you, Oh Lord, you're beautiful. Your face is all I seek. And when your face is on this child, your grace abounds to me. And I bless somebody with it. This is the prophetic message without even trying.

That we're not trying to bless other people. We're not trying to give fanciful words to other people. We're not trying to explore the text in all kinds of beautiful ways or crazy ways. There's a time for that.

There's a time for teachers to do all that, not knocking it. But the ordinary water that we give to other people is, especially if we have nothing to give. That's when we have to give a sacrifice of thanksgiving.

Offering Sacrificial Thanksgiving

That's when we say, Lord, may the words of my heart and the meditations of my heart, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing to you. Lord, here's a sacrifice of thanksgiving.

This is not an easy thanksgiving for me to give. This is not a thanksgiving on a good day. It's not a thanksgiving because I got my bonus. It's not a thanksgiving because my child finally accepted Jesus.

This is a sacrifice of thanksgiving because it's going from bad to worse. So now it's a real sacrifice. Before it was just a thanksgiving, but now there's a real sacrifice. Like Abraham has to offer Isaac as a sacrifice.

It's not, I got 5 ,000 sheep and let me give you one sheep. No, Lord, this is my prized Isaac. I got nothing to give. Now I'm going to say a few words on a Thursday or a Friday or to my children. When you are discouraged, when you're being tempted and you've got nothing to give, dear brothers, sisters, that's the time to speak what you believe.

This is what will show that God is present in our midst. It's not deep Bible studies, dear brothers and sisters. It's the pain of Abraham being 75 years old and he spoke. Then it's the pain when Abraham is 85 years old and he speaks.

That's 10 years of pain. Then Abraham speaks when he's 95 years old and there's pain. That's 20 years of pain. Then it's 99 years old and Sarah and Abraham are speaking. Noah is speaking, a preacher of righteousness after 100 years of building the ark.

There's pain in that sacrifice as he's driving the nail into that ark. Oh, year one was good in building the ark. He was all excited. Year 20 was pretty good. But after 100 years, there's pain in that sacrifice.

Dear brothers and sisters, there's pain in that offering. Now is the time to speak with more boldness, with more brokenness, of course. That'll come. With more confidence in what God is trying to do in your life.

Hope against hope, he believed, Romans 4, 18, about Abraham. And throughout scripture, we're hearing that. Dear brothers and sisters, it's a marathon. It's a marathon. Let me end with Psalm chapter 27.

Psalm 27: Faith While Under Assault

I referenced that song, When I think about that song, I'm reminded of Psalm 27, verse 8. When you said seek my face, my heart said to you, your face, O Lord, I shall seek. What do you think about Psalm 27?

Take some time to meditate on Psalm 27. And you'll see an interesting contrast. You'll see David having almost a weird combination of evil and good. In Psalm 27, verse 1, he's like, the Lord is my salvation, whom shall I fear?

That sounds like a song of thanksgiving you can give. That sounds like a great song of thanksgiving. Well, then just keep reading verse 2 and 3. And he's like, wait a minute, it's not that easy for him to say verse 1.

Because evildoers are coming to devour my flesh and a host and camp against me. So now it's huge trouble. It's like almost he went from this great, beautiful verse 1 to this horrible verse 2 and 3. And then you go back to verse 4.

And this is another beautiful praise. We make songs out of verse 1, we make a song out of verse 4. One thing I have asked of the Lord, one thing I seek, that I may dwell in the house forever. Beautiful upbeat song.

Then verse 7, he's like, oh here, oh my God. Again, it's like I'm crying out to you, be gracious to me. Then it says verse 8, this beautiful song again of triumph. Oh Lord, when you said seek my face, your face I said I will seek.

Then it's back to Lord, don't hide your face from me. I don't know where you are. Verse 10, my father, my mother have forsaken me. Don't let deliver me. Verse 12, oh the desire of my adversaries. He's being beaten up on every side.

It's in the middle of these verses that you find Psalm 27 verse 1. You find Psalm 27 verse 4. You see Psalm 27 verse 8. You see Psalm 27 verse 13. I would have despaired until I believed that I would see the goodness of God.

This is David getting rocked and beaten up from trials. But he's crying out in this despair, in this great discouragement. You've got David saying Lord, the only thing I seek is to seek your face. Because I'm getting beaten up on every side.

Lord, I would have given up. I would have despaired. Verse 13, if I hadn't known that I would see you in the hope of the living. And he closes that whole chapter of Psalm 27 with this verse, wait for the Lord.

Waiting for the Lord With Courage

Wait. Wait dear brothers, wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage. Wait for the Lord. There's no resolution. There's no resolution in Psalm 27. This is not a Psalm of a resolution.

His resolution is just wait. Wait expectantly. And we don't know the end of the story in Psalm 27. And so dear brothers and sisters, that's my encouragement to you. Wait. Do you have rivers of living water coming out of you?

No. Wait for the Lord. Have you seen the Lord answer to you in your moment of despair or trial? No. Wait for the Lord. Is the trial going on longer than you thought you should? Wait for the Lord. And you'll have assaulting trials here and there.

You'll be feeling overcome by your emotions or discouragements. Go to Psalm 27 verse 1 and cry it out. Go to Psalm 27 verse 4 and speak it out in your Bible study times like this. And share it with your wife.

Psalm 27 verse 8. I don't know what's going on all around me. But the Lord said seek my face. And my heart said to you, your face Lord will I seek. And we have to keep crying out these verses in the middle of being assaulted from this feeling or that feeling or that trial or this situation or this bad news or this good news or that WhatsApp message or that email.

And wrap it all up with wait for the Lord. Dear wife of mine, wait for the Lord. Dear husband of mine, wait for the Lord. Children of mine, wait for the Lord. I don't know the answer but we're going to be strong and we're going to take courage.

We're going to wait for the Lord. Dear brothers and sisters, we want to be men of courage. We want to be women of courage. It's a big word for me. It's a very big word for me. You go to the battlefield and you'll find out courage.

And we have the battlefield of our lives. And the devil is a very deceitful being. More deceitful than we can imagine. The only way we're going to get through it is if we have courage. Wait for the Lord.

He, we have courage in him. Not in ourselves. But God has not given us a spirit of timidity. That's the absence of courage. God has given us that spirit of power and of love and of discipline. Let's not lose heart.

Let's have courage. Dear brothers and sisters, I don't know if it's the first inning or the eighth inning in the baseball game. I don't know if it is mile one or mile three or mile 26. I have no idea.

Jesus is coming soon. I just don't know if it's mile three or mile 26. But all I know is it's a marathon and we have to keep hoping and waiting in the Lord. And keep speaking out, especially, especially if you're discouraged.

Encouraging the Discouraged to Speak

Dear brothers and sisters, let this Thursday Bible studies and all of our Bible studies be dominated by the discouraged ones. That you will be the most eager to share. Not big, big fanciful words. Not theoretical truths, but in the midst of Psalm 27, all the troubles.

One little truth. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? I'm done. I don't have anything more to say. I can go telling you all about all my hosting camping. I'm not here to waste your time on that.

I just want to tell you the Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? And I pray that that may be the. Voices of courage that we will hear in the days to come. Amen.