Living on the Edge

Chip Ingram: Today on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, are you feeling discouraged right now? I mean, does it feel like what you do doesn't really matter? I mean, it's hard to get the drive and the passion to just continue to do what you believe God has prompted you to do. Well, you're not alone. Discouragement comes at all of us. And today, we're going to learn how to overcome it. Stay with me.

Dave Druery: Welcome to Living on the Edge. Today Chip Ingram takes us into Nehemiah chapter 4 as he continues an important lesson about dealing with discouragement. The wall is half done. The workers are exhausted. Threats are coming from every direction. So what does Nehemiah do? We're about to find out. Open your Bible to Nehemiah 4, beginning in verse 1. Chip is giving us the four specific causes of discouragement, straight from this passage. Then showing us what Nehemiah actually did when everything was falling apart. Now, here's Chip Ingram with his message titled, Grow a Courageous Soul.

Chip Ingram: Well, open your notes and I want to dig in chapter 4 because I think this issue of discouragement is so, so critical. And I've put it in the metaphor of boxing. We're going to look at the enemy's first punch to thwart God's program in our lives, and it's the jab of ridicule and criticism. When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews and in the presence of his associates, and the army of Samaria he said, "What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore the wall?" You can hear the sarcasm in his voice. "Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring stones back to life from those heaps of rubble burned as they are?" Tobiah, another one of the bad guys, the Ammonite, who was at his side said, "What are they building? If even a fox climbed on it, he would break down the wall of their stones." And then Nehemiah, you're going to find in just a minute, is going to respond. And he's going to respond the way that we need to respond. But I want you to see here ridicule and criticism. Notice the aim is at their worth. It's sarcasm. So Nehemiah, how did he respond? He says, "Hear us, oh God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads, give them over as plunder in the land of captivity. Do not cover their guilt or blot out their sins from your sight, for they have thrown insults in the face of the builders. So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart." He prayed. And prayer is one of those avenues of grace. It's not that big ought to, have to. It's the actual privilege of keeping company with God in His presence, being transformed by Him, claiming promises about what you're dealing with, and then standing on those promises and watching the Spirit of God take the word of God and change people's hearts and circumstances. That's how God has always worked. And here we see it with Nehemiah. Well, the enemy's second punch to thwart God's program in our lives is the uppercut of discouragement. Follow along as I read verses 7 through 12. "But when Sanballat, so the wall's half built, and Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the men of Ashdod heard that the repairs of Jerusalem walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed, they were very, very angry. They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it. But we," notice again, "prayed to our God and posted a guard at night to meet the threat." "Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, 'The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there's so much rubble that we can't rebuild the wall.' Also, our enemies said, 'Before they know it, or before they see it, we will be right there among them and we will kill them and we will put an end to the work.' Then the Jews who lived near them came and told us 10 times over, 'Wherever you turn, they will attack you.'" You see what's going on here? Let me give you the four things that flow right out of this passage that will absolutely discourage you. The four causes of discouragement. Let me give you all four and then develop it. The first one is loss of strength. "The strength of the laborers is giving out." And write down the keyword, fatigue. The second is notice the loss of vision. Notice what they say, "There's so much rubble." They're half done. But all they see is that there's all they can see is what's left to do. And the keyword is perspective. The next thing is notice there's a loss of confidence as a source of discouragement. Look at the phrase there in verse 10. "We cannot rebuild the wall." You're half done, but we can't do it. And the keyword there is faith. And then finally, look at verse 12, "The enemy will surprise attack you." Ten different times, they have a loss of security and fear. When you get tired, when you lose perspective, when your faith begins to waver, and then when you have fear, let me tell you something. You get discouraged. See, courage, courage is even though there's fear, even though there's opposition, courage is the willingness to step out trusting God and to do what you know is right, even when everything around you or inside you is scaring you to death. And so what is discouragement? Dis is just removing the courage for you to hang in there. So you want to give in, or you give up, or you start going through the motions? I told you the story about going to seminary, my third year. Let me tell you exactly where I was. I was sitting in my seat. It was in theology class. The teacher was Dr. Charles Ryrie. And so you should listen to him because he wrote his own Bible, the Ryrie Study Bible. Brilliant, brilliant guy and really enjoyed his class. And where I went to school, they had these large lecture halls where, you know, that went down like stair steps with these long things. And so there's probably a couple hundred guys in the class. And, uh, have you ever been so tired and so discouraged that you go into like a stupor? You just and I, I can't, you know, I probably didn't get my money's worth. I couldn't tell you a thing he said because all all I remember doing is sitting there going, I can't do this anymore. I was fatigued, probably going on four, maybe five hours sleep max, but four a lot. For probably two and a half years. I had lost perspective completely. My calling. Who cares about my calling, man? I'm just, life stinks. I only had one year left, but it was like, I can't do one more year. My faith has faltering, my confidence. Then I was afraid. I just think, you know what? I I probably won't be a good pastor anyway. And I, I was in that stupor and I was just sitting like this, and apparently the class had ended. And everyone was gone. Because as I sat there, I felt this tap on my shoulder. And I looked up and it was Dr. Ryrie, and I looked around and no one was in the room. And God used him to save my life and save my future. It was a very short conversation. In fact, it was a one-way conversation. "Chip?" "Yes, sir." "Don't make any big decisions in the next 24 to 48 hours." "I don't care what's due, go home and get two or three good night's sleep and two or three good meals. And don't make any decisions." "Yes, sir." And I figured he wrote the Bible, I ought to do what he says. And you know, I had of course a big paper due and I just, you know, okay. And I slept deeply for two or three nights. Got two or three, four really good meals. And it was an amazing thing. God reminded me that, "You've been you got three years under your belt. I called you to do this. Here's the plans that I have for you." And you know what? I re-upped. How about you? Which one of these things is causing you to get discouraged? For some of you, maybe you just need to stop. What, what if you just said, "I, I need, I need to rest up. I need a good meal. I need a couple good workouts. I need to not make any decisions. I got to get off this treadmill. I got to stop. I got to get perspective." When I went away, sometimes I, I want to get too much done too fast. And so the very first day, I mean, I had so many thoughts. And so in the afternoons, you know, I study all morning, then in the afternoons I try and take a walk with Theresa. In fact, we did it every day. And, and so the very first day, I remember walking and walking and walking. We walked about 25 minutes, and we turned around, walked 25 minutes. And we got about, you know, to like the 40-minute marker. And Theresa said something like, "Wow, aren't these trees beautiful?" And I looked up and I realized I had walked 40 minutes, I had not noticed the trees, I had not noticed the mountains, I had not noticed my wife, I had not noticed, you know, we had a little chit-chat. I, I mean, My little brain and I was going, going, going, going. And I remember just stopping and saying, "You know what? Ingram, just lighten up. What you need to do is stop." And I watched the trees. And for the next 24 hours, I just spent time with God and shut off all the media and said, "I, you know what? I, I'm going to trust that by the time I head down this hill three or four days later, that you will give me crystal clear idea of what you want to say to your people." And, um, and you know what? I took a nap that afternoon. I got a workout later that day. I ate good. I limited how much of that box I watched. And I just, it was amazing. It's amazing. The renewal that happens. Nehemiah's response teaches us how to come off the ropes and rule the ring. Let's look at verses 13 to 29 or to 20, actually, and, uh, just, just notice some very specific things he does. He says, "Therefore," okay, he's discouraged, the people have lost it, they, they, they think we're done. It's not going to happen. There's threats. And you know, all the murmuring now. Nehemiah is hearing, "God, we can't keep building this, you know, Bob already left, you know, he and his family, they took off." And I mean, if you've ever been a leader and and things are falling apart, it's not a good situation. Especially if you're the like the head of the family, male or female, but you're the head of the family and or you're the head of a ministry, or you're the head of a project at work.

Dave Druery: You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, and we'll continue our message in just a moment. We're in the middle of Chip's series, You Were Made for More, How to Discover God's Purpose for Your Life. If you'd like to catch up on any programs you've missed or share a message with someone who needs to hear it, every program is available free at livingontheedge.org. You'll also find study resources and bonus content from Chip. That's livingontheedge.org. Well now back to Chip.

Chip Ingram: Notice what Nehemiah does. "Therefore, I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall in the exposed places, posting them, notice, by families with their swords, spears, and bows. After I looked things over," notice evaluation, notice families are together, relationships. "I stood up and said to the nobles, to the officials, and to the rest of the people, 'Don't be afraid of them.'" Stop being afraid. Why? "Remember the Lord who is great and awesome and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes." In other words, what's at stake? Let's remember why we're here, what we're doing. "When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it, we returned to the wall, each to his own work. From that day on, half of my men did the work while the other half were equipped with spears and shields and bows and armor." This, this this is real warfare. For many of us, this will translate into spiritual warfare. "The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah who were building the wall. Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and they held a weapon in the other hand, and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked. But the man who sounded the trumpet stayed with me. Then I said to the nobles, to the officials, and to the rest of the people, 'The work is extensive and spread out, and we are widely separated from each other along the wall. Whenever you hear the sound of the trumpet, join us there.'" So he's saying, look, you know, we're stationed here, we've made preparation, we're ready to fight. You got people protecting you here. We've gone to the most strategic vulnerable spots, but we don't know where it's going to happen. When you hear the trumpet, that's where we're going to gather. Very strategic, very clear. He has a plan. He goes on to say, "So we continued the work with half the men holding the spears and the till dawn from the first of dawn till the stars came out at night." Translation: there are times that you bust it in your life, in your ministry, in your walk with God. And it starts at dawn and it ends when the stars come out. "At that time, I also said to the people, 'Have every man and his helper stay inside Jerusalem at night, so they can serve as guards by night and workmen by day.'" And then notice this modeling. "Neither I, nor my brothers, nor the men, nor the guards with me took off their clothes. Each had his weapon even when he went for water." Now, let me give you four very practical things to do when you're discouraged. And for some of you, this can't come too late because today was like a discouraging day. Or maybe it was a very depressing day. Or maybe you're thinking about some stuff, and what I've shared tonight is like unbelievable. You're saying to yourself, that's exactly where I am. Number one, be proactive. Notice, Nehemiah did not wait around wondering, I wonder if they're going to come? I wonder when? I wonder what's going to happen? He was proactive. Do something practical and positive. Notice that he put people in the places where they were most vulnerable. Notice that he, he got a mindset of battle. It wasn't just getting the work or the task done. He realized, there's a battle going on. There's a battle going on for your soul. There's a battle going on for your family. There's a battle going on for your sexual purity. There's a battle going on for the ministry that God, it's a holy ambition, and Satan wants to cut you early and hard. And so you got to be proactive. And so, for me, this can mean taking a walk, writing a letter to encourage someone, texting someone that I care about, that I'm thinking of, just haven't thought about him in a while. In other words, do something positive. I, I will go work out. I'll listen to Christian music. I'll call someone that I know very well and say, "Hey, this is Chip. I'm discouraged. Would you just listen?" And they do. But you got to do something positive. Discouragement and depression are like a cloud. And when the cloud comes on, you can, you know how you can kind of feel it coming? And you're sinking, and you're sinking. And there's something deep and ugly in our souls where there's something almost like self-pity and it's coming down, and it's really hard, and this is terrible place to be, and I really hate to be here. But I am. I am. And well, someone, you know, when you get to about here, you need to get, "Man, I'm putting this off. I'm not going there." And it's a choice. You don't feel like going there. It's rousing and asking the Spirit of God to give you courage. Second, remember who's on your team. He says, "Our God will fight for us." You're God's child. You're loved. You matter. He's got a plan for you. He loves you. He's got a ministry for you. Remember who's on your team. Remembering God's great faithfulness in the past will empower you to trust Him for still greater things in the future. Now, that's what the Psalms are all about. Third, fight, fight, fight. Notice he says, "See what's at stake. Fight for your mothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, your homes, your brothers." Fight! We've lost that. If you haven't noticed, there is no easy way to accomplish anything of any value. The reason so many of us get sucked into the tube is because it's something that we can do completely passively. That's why kids who watch a lot of TV early and play lots of video games often have real problems thinking because they can't wait on anything anymore. You got to fight. It takes, you, your will is like a muscle. And you ask God, I don't feel like doing this. And, you know, when, when I gave in to that. You are either a slave of your body or your body is a slave to you. That's what the Apostle Paul said. I will make my body my slave. Your body, your appetites need to do what you say, not you doing what it says. Otherwise you're a prisoner. I have to watch this. I have to drink this. I have to eat this. I have to be with here. I have to let people use me here. I have to let people walk all over me. I have to, I have to, I have to. You're not a victim. Fight, fight, fight. And you know the areas where God is speaking to you. And then finally, never fight alone. He put them in families. He put them together. He put them with someone behind them to protect them. What we know from Scripture and experience is the people that get connected, and I don't mean just going to a small group. You can go to a small group and keep it superficial till Jesus comes. The people that get connected in a small group, who learn to minister, who roll up their sleeves and do something for other people that's bigger than themselves together, who share hearts, who share God's word, who tell one another the truth, who hold each other accountable with a gentleness and a love. Those are the people whose lives progressively with all the ups and downs that you're going to have and I have, are transformed and become like Jesus. And by the way, that's the game plan. That you be conformed to the image of His son. You have a heavenly Father who thinks so much of you. He thinks, I mean, because He's infinite, if you think of all the sand there is in the sea, all the stars, the billions and billions, His thoughts toward you are that many. You. Not somebody else. You. Because you matter, because you're loved. He died for you. He rose from the dead. He has a plan for you. And He invites you, come into Me. Walk with Me. Let's do life together. But He's going to show up certainly in the pages of Scripture, but the Spirit of God lives inside of me. And the Spirit of God lives inside of you. And when we sit around together openly and honestly and can put aside our pride and our ego and allow the Christ in me and the Christ in you to share with one another, we're shaped and loved. The way He's going to hug you, now you might have a big supernatural experience and praise God, I'm for as many as I can get of those. But most of the hugs I'm going to get from God are going to have flesh on them. They're going to be a regular person. And when God listens to me, it's often going to be through the ears of a kind, compassionate person. And so what the enemy wants to do is get you off by yourself. And when you're alone, you get discouraged. And when you get discouraged, you do stupid stuff. And you're vulnerable, and we all do. But do you hear my heart? God has a holy ambition. What's yours? What's yours? Our dream, because it's God's dream, is to mobilize 100% of the people to discover the God-shaped dream that He's forming in your heart and have you connected with other people and doing something that you would say three to five years from now, I could never imagine that God could use an ordinary person like me to accomplish His love and grace in extraordinary ways with others.

Dave Druery: You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. He'll wrap things up with some final thoughts in just a moment. Today Chip walked us through four things Nehemiah did when everything was falling apart. He was proactive, he reminded his people who was on their team, he called them to fight for what was at stake, and he made sure no one was fighting alone. That last point is so important. He grouped his workers by families. The people who make it through hard seasons aren't the most talented, they're the most connected. If you're in a discouraging season right now, we hope today helped. To go deeper and get some clarity on how God has wired you for this fight, try the free online assessment we have available at TheRealYou.org. It's designed to help you understand your God-given strengths and purpose completely free. You know, this ministry exists for one reason, to help Christians actually live like Christians, not just believe the right things, but let those things reshape how they think, how they treat people, and how they show up every single day. That's what this study is about, and it happens because people just like you believe this mission is worth supporting. Join us today with a gift of any amount. Give online at livingontheedge.org or call 888-333-6003. And if you'd like to connect with a community of people on the same journey, find us on Facebook and Instagram at Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. And for the full uncut version of Chip's messages, subscribe to The Chip Ingram Sermon Podcast, available wherever you listen to podcasts. Well now here's Chip.

Chip Ingram: I just want to remind you that this idea, this holy ambition that we've talked about, it's not just for me or or people in ministry. It's for every single one of you listening. You know, in it we went through a a process that God uses. He dislocates your heart. I mean, you start caring about something, and then you realize you can't do it and you develop this broken spirit and you come before God and pray and and then at some point he has you take this radical step of faith to say, okay, Lord, I I'm going to give it a whirl. And then he asks you to develop a strategic plan and often he brings other people into the mix so you get the help that you need. And then you make a very personal commitment and say, God has really called me to do this and this is my part on the wall of God's Kingdom and this is the part that he wants me to play. And then finally when you do that, as we've talked the last couple days, um, boy, you need a courageous soul because it really does get harder before it gets easier. But here's what I would say, more important than anything else. Ask God to show you what he wants you to do with your life that is holy, that makes a difference in loving others, that makes a real impact whether anyone else sees it or not. My wife's holy ambition for at least 25 years of our journey was a very specific role that she would have with our children. She wasn't visible, she wasn't famous, but it's exciting to see her holy ambition that all of her children would be taught of the Lord. Um, let me encourage you. Whether it's launching something big or something inside your house. Ask God for your holy ambition and then do it.

Dave Druery: I'm Dave Drewey, inviting you back for Chip Ingram's next message and a question worth unpacking. Do you actually believe you're God's masterpiece in the making? Listen and find out next time on Living on the Edge. Today's program is produced and sponsored by Living on the Edge.