Rick Warren - When You Feel Like Giving Up - Part One

This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the audio broadcast ministry

of Pastor Rick Warren. Today we continue with a series

called how God Turns Setbacks into Comebacks. We're so glad

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Right now, here's Pastor Rick with part one of a

message called.

When you feel like giving Up.

You'd probably agree that it's always easier to start something

than it is to finish it. Right, It's easier to

get into something than it is to get out. It's

easier to fill your schedule than it is to fulfill

your schedule. It's easier to get into debt than it

is to get out of debt. It's easy to make

a commitment, it's harder to keep a commitment. And yet

life is really like a marathon because as time goes on,

people start thinning out. You know, at the start of

a race, it's always very, very crowded, but as the

race progresses, you have fewer and fewer people in. There

are wider spaces between the runners. And the reason why

is because in the race of life, we have setbacks.

And that's why we're doing this whole series. Life is

not easy. My goal during this series, as your pastor

who loves you, is to help you finish well. And

it's why I'm teaching this series on how God turns

setbacks into comebacks. Now, it's part of the character building

process where God wants to make you like Jesus that

he doesn't make life easy. He lets you experience the

things that happen in a broken world. Now, because we

all have setbacks, one of the great enemies of your

spiritual maturity is actually discouragement. Discouragement is deadly. It can

get you off track. When you have a setback and

you get discouraged, you can get set on the shelf.

Discouragement is common. We all get discouraged. It's powerful, it

is universal and involves everybody, and it is recurring. It

doesn't just happen one time in your life. Some of

you came to worship today feeling discouraged about something that's

been happening in your life. Well, today we're going to

look at a story that illustrates both the causes and

the cures for discouragement, and it teaches us what to

do when you feel like giving up. So, if you've

been discouraged, you picked a good week to come to church. Now,

the story we're going to look at us found in

the Book of Nehemiah, chapter four. By the way, if

you're in leadership in your business, or in government, or

in any kind of industry of any type or social area,

or if you're in management, you really need to study

this book Nehemiah. Now, the story of Nehemiah is the

story of rebuilding the city wall around Jerusalem. Now, the

background is after spending seventy years in captivity in Babylon.

That was during the days of Daniel. The Jews, the

entire nation of Jews who'd been taken captive and moved

over to Babylon, were allowed to return to their capital

city seventy years later, to Jerusalem. And when they got back,

it was a mess. It was in ruins. But what

was needed before they could rebuild the city was they

needed to rebuild the wall around the city for protection

because the wall had been torn down. And then once

they were protected by the wall, they could build everything else. Now,

the Bible tells us that everybody worked very hard at

the start, and they quickly rebuilt the wall to half

its original height. Once all the people got back home,

but the initial enthusiasm wore off and they got discouraged.

And they got discouraged because of four very common causes

of discouragement. And I think as we go through this

passage today, you're going to see yourself in summer maybe

all four of these causes of discouragement. So let's pick

up the story of Neemiah in chapter four, and Namiah

is narrating the story. Let's read it here. Neamiah four,

starting with verse six down to verse twelve. Them I says,

So we rebuilt the wall around Jerusalem until it had

reached half its original height because the people worked at

it with all their heart. But then, and here's where

it turns. Then the other tribes in our area heard

about our progress and how Jerusalem the walls were being repaired,

and how all the gaps were being closed, and they

became very angry, and they all plotted together to attack

Jerusalem and to create some confusion to stop the progress.

So we prayed to God for protection, and we posted

twenty four hour guards. But about that same time, the

people of Jerusalem began to complain.

And here's what they said. They said, we're.

Tired and we're worn out, and we can't keep up

this pace. Besides that, there's so much rubble and trash

to be removed. We now realize that we can't finish

this wall. Meanwhile, our enemies are threatening to kill us

in order to stop this work. Then those of us

who lived closest to our enemies, that's the Jews had

come back, but lived outside of the walls of Jerusalem.

Those who lived closes to the enemies kept reporting over

and over and over ten times that our enemies kept

saying it doesn't matter where you go, we will attack you.

You're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. Rick will be

back in just a moment with the rest of today's lesson.

You can sign up for Pastor Rick's free email devotional

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Did you know experts have discovered that gratitude is the

healthiest human emotion. It makes you more resistant to stress

and increases your overall happiness and satisfaction. In fact, study

show the more grateful a person is, the happier there.

That's the power of gratitude. The Bible tells us to rejoice, always,

pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances. So it's

clear that God wants us to develop an attitude of gratitude.

But we all know it's not always easy to feel grateful.

That's why Pastoric developed a Bible study called the Power

of Gratitude. This innovative study is filled with scripture, teaching, exercises, quotes, prayers,

and journal pages. As you go through the study, you'll

discover the many and often unique things you have to

be grateful for every day. You'll develop the lifelong habit

of expressing gratitude to God, a habit that leads to

true happiness and satisfaction. Will send you Pastor Rick's Power

of Gratitude Bible study to say thanks when you give

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people around the world. Go to pastoric dot com right

now to get your or you can call it eight

hundred six hundred five zero zero four. That's Pastorick dot com.

Or call eight hundred six hundred at five zero zero four.

Thank you so much for your support, and don't forget

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Today is the last day to get this great resource,

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Now back to more from God's Word with Pastor Rick Warren.

Now we're gonna look at four common causes of discouragement

out of this passage, and I want you to see

what happened. What happens first when it typically sets in.

When does discouragement sets in? Well, Verse six says they

worked hard on the wall, rebuilding it until it reached

half its original height. You might underline that half its

original height. Now, this is typical because discouragement sets in

at the halfway point, not at the beginning, not at

the end, but when you get discouraged is right in

the middle. For instance, let's say you're on one island

in Hawaii. Let's say you're on a Wahu and you're

gonna row a boat over to Maui. Well, where are

you gonna get the most discouraged. Well, you're not gonna

get discouraged at the beginning. You're not gonna be discourage

when you can see Maui. You're gonna get discouraged when

you can't see either shore. That's right in the middle.

You can't see where you came from. You can't see

where you're going. Typically, discouragement strikes at the midpoint of

a project. For instance, if you're climbing up a mountain.

Halfway up the mountain, you go, I still gotta get

to the top, and then I gotta get all the

way back. Have you ever been in a painting project,

like painting a room or painting your house. Halfway through

the painting, you go, oh, man, we still got half

to go and then we got to clean up. Halfway

through writing a book, you get discouraged. Halfway through college

you go, maybe he wasn't fit for college. Halfway you

know through the year you go this year's not over

the dog days of summer, halfway through your career, halfway

through your marriage, halfway through your life. That's called a

mid life crisis. That's when discouragement often sets in. Sometimes

you have it in little areas, but sometimes you have

it in big areas. Now, in this story, we have

a very clear example of the four kinds of setbats

that cause discouragement. I want you to write these down.

Here's what they are. Number one, we get discouraged twen

something takes longer than I expected. When something takes longer

than I expected, and that causes fatigue. Now, in this story,

the buildings would work very, very hard, and there's a

lot of physical work. They're physically exhausted. They're weary, they're

worn out. And in Neiamiah four, verse ten, the first

part of the verse that says this, they said, we're

tired and we're worn out, and we can't keep up

this pace. Some of you have been saying that this week,

I'm tired, I'm worn out. I can't keep this pace.

We've simply run out of energy. Now I know this.

I was talking to the guys who are taping this

right now, that the first part of this week was

very rough for me because of some issues in my

health and then a couple of crises that I had

to deal with as pastor the first eighty hours of

this week, I only got six hours of sleep. That's

not a good thing. And you know what, I was

worthless and I was ineffective because I couldn't really get

anything done. When you're tired, when you're worn out, you

can't even think straight. You know, studies show that most

Americans are sleep deprived, and the number one cause of

discouragement is physical and emotional exhaustion. Last week, in that

message on Elijah, I quoted Vince Lombardi, the great football coach.

You said, fatigue makes cowards of all of us, and

how amazing it is that things look better after just

a good night's sleep.

Now, this principle is true.

When things take longer than you think, you start getting tired,

you start getting weary, you start getting exhausted. If you

don't get your rest, you're gonna get discouraged. That's why

God created the Sabbath. Every six days, you take a

day off.

You know.

In agriculture, farmers rotate their crops because They know that

a field that's rested it hasn't had that year, hasn't

had a crop on it, that a feel's rested produces

a greater harvest. Some of you don't know who Frederick

Taylor is, but you ought to thank him. He say, why, Well,

in eighteen ninety three, this guy named Frederick Taylor did

the first scientific study of work habits, and he did

it in a steel mill. And mister Taylor proved that

people accomplish more if they take regular rest breaks. So

you need to thank Frederick Taylor for all your coffee breaks.

He's the guy who thought that up our best requires rest.

You know, the other day I learned that the reason

that bats can live twenty years, which is a long

time for small animals. Small animals don't live a long time.

Bats can live twenty years because they have the ability

to do deep relaxation. A bat can lower its pulse

from one hundred and eighty beats a minute to just

three beats a minute, and that extends their life. When

you're tired, you're much more vulnerable to all kinds of things,

including attacks from other people and criticism. It tends to

affect you more when people say things about you, and

you're full of energy and vitality, and bigger doesn't bother you.

But when people say things about you and you're tired,

it gets to you. Deuteronomy twenty five, verse eighteen. Look

at this verse. It says, never forget how the Malakites

attacked you when you were exhausted and weary, and they

struck you down those who began to lag behind. When

you're weary, when you're exhausted, you start to lag behind.

That's when Satan is going to attack you. Here's the

point that when you're tired, you're being set up for

an attack, and it may be an attack of discouragement,

maybe attack of temptation, and maybe attack of self pity.

And if you're tired right now, guess what, you're probably

going to be facing some attacks. How are you being

attacked right now? Fatigue makes you vulnerable. So the first

cause of discouragement is if you just get tired, you're

going to be more susceptible to discouragement when things take

longer than you expected. Now, here's the second kind of

setback that causes discouragement, and we see that in the

in the next part of this verse and it's when

something is more complicated than than you expect it then

I expected. In other words, you start out on a

project and discovery it's not only taken longer, it's just

a whole lot harder than I thought it would be.

And how long a project takes can cause fatigue, But

how complicated a project is can cause frustration. And both

fatigue and frustration can cause discouragement. Have you ever trying

to clean out a closet or or your files and

and and what you do is you sit down and

you dump all your files out on the floor in

your office, and you start trying to decide what to

do with all you've got, and and and you know,

work on it for a few hours, and then you go,

this is crazy. And then you just dump them all

back in into uh, into the files and throwback. You know,

in the way that we're you got discouraged. It just

was more complicated, you were having to make too many decisions.

I remember a couple of years ago we remodeled our house,

and I was amazed at how much trash and junk

they had to carry off, you know, just in remodeling,

broken bricks and dirt and dried mortar and rocks, and

that permanent porta potty and that wonderful smell that it

had all the stuff that had to be carried off,

just when we were trying to build something. You know,

here's the point. Anytime you try to build anything, a career,

a plan, a project, a life, a hobby, a family,

a marriage, ain't trying, and you try to build anything,

you're going to have some debris. And that is frustrating

because things take longer than you expect, and things are

more complicated than you expect, and that causes discouragement. And

that's the second back, a setback that the people faced

in Jerusalem. It was not only taking too long building

this wall was too complicated, and it was too much

junk and trash laying around. The second part of Nehabiah four,

verse ten says this second complaint said, we're tired. But

second they said, there's so much rubble and trash to

be removed, so much rubble and trash to be removed.

Now follow me on this. They get discouraged because there's junk.

The walls have been torn down, and there's piles of garbage, rubble, plaster, junk, trash, rocks,

layd all around and they can't even move. There's so

much rubble in their lives. You may not realize it,

but you've got rubble in your life. It could be

emotional rubble, it could be relational rubble. Too many relationships,

it could be you know, a material rubble. You've got

too many things in your life. You need to simplify.

So let me, on this day give you ris rules

of Rubble. This isn't in your notes, but how I'm

gonna give it to you anyway. Rix Rules of Rubble,

all right here they are. Number one, Rubble is a

part of life. In other words, you can't avoid it.

You're gonna have piles of trash in your life. You're

gonna have stuff that piles up in your life that

you haven't dealt with. And the bigger the pile gets,

the more frustrated you get by it. You're fatigued by

the work, but you're frustrated by the complexity of all

you've got to do. So rubble piles up. Ris Rule

number two, you have to clean it out of your

life periodically. You have to take out the trash emotionally.

You take out the trash by confession to God. Number three.

If you don't deal with it, it'll eventually take over. Let

me let you in on a little secret. You've probably

already figured this out. Trash multiplies when you aren't watching.

Have you noticed that.

It's just kind of mold? You know? Where'd all that

come from?

How do the dishes pile up so quickly in the kitchen?

How to close pile up so quickly in the bedroom?

And so many that multiplies while you aren't watching. Let

me give you a fourth roull of rubble. You don't

always recognize what's rubble in your life, but other people do.

Other people can see stuff in your life that you've

allowed to stay there that's really holding you back, that's

hindering you, And maybe you don't even see it because

you're so used to living with it that you don't

even realize it's rubble.

There's some stuff you need to clean out and clear

out in your life.

Some activities, some relationships, some things, some events, some bad attitudes,

some wrong thoughts, some misconceptions, mental, physical, emotional, spiritual rubble

in your life that you need to clear out. You know,

and a lot of people don't see it. We don't

see in our own lives, but other people see it.

In fact, sometimes it takes an expert to point it out.

By the way, that's why all those clean out shows

on TV you're so popular, where somebody comes in and

helps them organize and say, man, you've got trash all

over here. Let's get let's get your house cleaned out

and cleaned up. Question, what's the rubble in your life?

This was the second cause of discouragement in the in

the in the Jews of Jerusalem.

What's the rubble in your eye? It's the stuff that

keeps tripping you up.

You might write that down. The rubble is the stuff

that keeps tripping me up in life. It may be

a misconception, an attitude, it may be a habit.

It's the stuff that keeps tripping you up.

You're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. We are so

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Rick will be back to close out our time today.

But first experts have discovered that an attitude of gratitude

bolsters your health and happiness. So how do you practice

daily gratitude even when life is tough. Here's Rick to

tell you about a Bible study he's developed to help

you practice daily gratitude.

One of the things that God wants us to do,

and he says it over and over scripture, is to

practice gratitude. Did you know that gratitude is good for us?

The Bible tells us in First Essalonians five eighteen, give

thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you.

In Christ, Jesus. You want to know God's will is

for you right now? Is that you learn gratitude in

all circumstances. There's always something you can be thankful for.

In fact, I've discovered, and I've read many reports that

experts have told us that gratitude is the healthiest human emotion.

Did you know that gratitude makes you more resistant to stress?

Did you know that gratitude makes you less susceptible to illness?

Did you know that gratitude increases your overall happiness and satisfaction,

That gratitude gives your life more meaning and significance. I

don't know if you've ever noticed that the more grateful

a person is, the happier they are. That's the power

of gratitude. So I want you to live with the

attitude of gratitude, the attitude of thankfulness. Now I've put

together a brand new Bible study called the Power of Gratitude,

and in it you'll find scriptures and teaching and exercises

that will help you develop the habit. Cultivate the habit

of gratitude, discover how to state in God's will, how

to defeat discouragement, how to conquer complaining, how to reduce stress,

and how to experience God's blessing through gratitude. Friends, I

want to help you develop a deep and a profound

attitude of gratitude. The world is craving people like this,

and you will be able to experience all that God

has for you. So today, when you partner with me

by giving a gift, a financial gift to daily hope,

to help us take the certain hope of Jesus to

people all around the world, I'm going to have my

team send you the Power of Gratitude Bible Study. I

just want to say thanks to you. I want to

be grateful for you. You know your support is essential

for us taking the Daily Hope message of Jesus all

around the world.

So do that today.

Send us a gift and let me send you a gift,

and you'll be grateful and so God bless you.

We'll send you Pastor Rick's Power of Gratitude Bible study

to say thanks when you give a gift to help

Daily Hope take God's word to people around the world.

Go to Pastorick dot com right now to get your copy,

or you can just call eight hundred six hundred five

thousand and four. Today is the last day to get

this great resource, so don't wait. That's Pastorick dot com

or call eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four.

Thanks so much for your support, and don't forget to

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Be sure to join us next time as we look

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