to our PowerPoint presentation. I have an outline tonight. And I'm excited about this message. I believe it could be very helpful to you tonight if you deal with discouragement and depression in your life. These are some principles found in God's word to deal with that spiritually and give you some help. And I hope you'll Pray that prayer, have thine own way, Lord, have thine own way, amen? And really let God have his way. Now, this whole middle of the section of the book of Nehemiah is continuing on dealing with the devices of Satan, remember? The tricks of Satan. how Satan wants to hurt us, how Satan wants to destroy us, how Satan wants to hinder the work of God. 2 Corinthians 2.11 says, lest Satan should get an advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices. So remember, whenever you try to do something for God, the devil is there to fight you. The devil is there to trick you, to try to disrupt what God wants to do in your life. And we saw last, yes, it was last Sunday, man. It's been a lot of preaching between last Sunday and this today, so remember, There was derision or mockery in how he tried to ridicule the saints of God through Sanballat and Tobiah. Remember that? The Ammonite and how they tried to attack the people of God and the work they were doing. Let's go to chapter 4 verse 7 and we'll continue on with the story tonight. I'm sorry. Verse 10, we dealt with 7 to 9 last week. We'll go in verse 10 and we'll read down to the end of the chapter. Nehemiah chapter 4, 10 through the end of the chapter. And Judas said, the strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed and there is much rubbish so that we are not able to build the wall. And our adversary said, they shall not know, neither see, till we come in the midst among them and slay them and cause the work to cease. And it came to pass that when the Jews which dwelt by them came, they said unto us 10 times, from all places whence ye shall return unto us, they will be upon you. Verse 13, therefore said I in the lower places behind the wall and on the higher places, I even set the people after their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows. And I looked and rose up and said unto the nobles and to the rulers and to the rest of the people, be not ye afraid of them. Remember the Lord, which is great and terrible. and fight for your brethren, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your houses. And it came to pass when our enemies heard that it was known unto us, and God had brought their counsel to naught, that we returned all of us to the wall, everyone unto his work. And it came to pass from that time forth that the half of my servants wrought in the work, and the other half of them held both the spears and the shields and the bows, and their Habergians, and they and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah. They which builded on the wall, and they that bear burdens, with those that laid it, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon. For the builders, everyone had his sword girded by his side, and so builded. And he that sounded the trumpet was by me. And I said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, the work is great and large, and we are separated upon the wall, one far from another. In what place, therefore, you hear the sound of the trumpet, resort ye thither unto us. Our God shall fight for us. So we labored in the work. And the half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared. Likewise, at the same time said I unto the people, let everyone with his servant lodge within Jerusalem, that in the night they may be a guard to us and labor on the day. So neither I nor my brethren nor my servants nor the men of the guard which followed me, none of us put off our clothes, saving that everyone put them off for washing. Let's pray. Father, tonight, as we deal with this subject of discouragement, we pray, Father, that your Holy Spirit will be the one teaching. Open up our eyes, open up our hearts for understanding, Lord, to receive the truth of your word. And, Father, we pray tonight that this could be a help to everyone that's here. And, Father, there may be some discouraged for one reason or another in their life. So Father, we just pray that you give us scriptural answers for the problems that we face today. And we'll thank you for it in Jesus name. Amen. So think about it. Whenever you rise up to build, whenever you rise up to do the work of God, the devil is right there to try and stop you. And one of his devices is this discouragement. Discouragement. Right in the middle of building the wall. You see that? And they got tired. Someone came up and said, we can't do it. The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed. There is much rubbish. We're not able to build. We can't continue this. We're tired. We're worn out. The job is too big. Did you ever get discouraged in something? Of course you do. We all get discouraged in these things. Amen? We all face it. But really, discouragement is like a disease. It's a bad disease. Because it's universal, it's recurring, and sadly, it's contagious. It's contagious. and that's why we need to guard. One thing tonight, we'll be looking at the cause and then the cure, but aren't you thankful tonight? It's curable, amen? Discouragement is curable. So this chapter speaks to us how to get up when you are down. How to get up when you are down. And so they said, let us rise up and build. And the devil says, let us rise up and stop them. That's what the devil's going to do. He wants to stop you. See, the people had a mind to work, but the devil has a mind to wreck, wreck you. And think about your family. Think about your business. Think about your work. Think about your physical health. Think about your Bible study. Think about trying to win people to Christ. Satan wants you to be discouraged in every one of those areas. That's what he's doing. But I want you to understand this. Discouragement is never from God. Discouragement is never from God. God is the God of all comfort. Second Corinthians 1.3 meaning God is the God of encouragement. He's not discouraging you. So when you're being discouraged, it's from the work of the devil. It's his attack. So I want you to see with me tonight some of the causes. Obviously, in one passage, you don't exhaust everything about discouragement, but I think you'll understand and maybe even identify in your life why discouragement comes. Number one, the causes of discouragement. Number one is fatigue. Very simple, fatigue. They were worn out. Look what it says in verse 10. The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed. They were worn out. This should tell us something. They were tired. And they were tired of carrying the load. That's what happens. And you may, well, right now, just admit that you just get tired. You get fatigued. You get worn out. And that's when the devil comes to attack you. When you're tired, when you're fatigued. Now, don't think you're more spiritual than Jesus. You know, we got people, some men maybe around here. I don't know if it's around here. You think you're more spiritual than Jesus, that you can just work, work and work and work and never stop. Jesus is the Son of God and He got tired and Jesus rested. Don't think you're more spiritual than Jesus, that you can do more than Jesus. Amen? The Bible says even the youth shall faint. Even the youngest, the strongest are going to faint and will utterly fall, Isaiah 40, 30. You know, you get physically tired, you can get discouraged. And you know what? Well, we'll get to that later. And take time to rest. Obviously, you know the cure of this one, right? But we'll get to that later. I want you to see when you can get discouraged. Look at verse six. So we built the wall and the wall was joined together unto the half thereof. So what happens? Half the project is done, and you get discouraged. You ever get discouraged? Right in the half, right in the middle of doing something. And that's what the devil wants. He wants you to look at, no, this is too much, it's too long, you're just wore out, and you need to give up. That's what he says. So we need to be aware of this. You've heard of Vince Lombardi, one of the greatest football coaches ever. He said this, fatigue makes cowards of us all. So let's just understand, you could be discouraged because you're just worn out, you're fatigued. Understand that and deal with it. Number two, frustration. They were weighted down. They weren't just worn out. They were weighted down. Look at verse number 10 again. Look at verse number 10 again. The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed and there is much rubbish. There's much rubbish. You have any rubbish? You know, it just seems like there's so much here to deal with, to wade through, to get to the stones, you know, those stones that you could actually use for something. And you got to deal with all the rubbish. And you could be dealing with all the rubbish. And what happens? You get discouraged. Amen. Because Dealing with the rubbish isn't a glamorous job, is it? It's tedious. It's not easy. It takes time. It takes dedication to deal with the rubbish. And so, just admit it tonight, all of our lives collect rubbish. All of our lives collect rubbish. And in order to get through it, to build something in your life, you need to deal with the rubbish. There's theological rubbish, unfortunately. There's moral rubbish. There's emotional rubbish. There's a lot of rubbish. And we need to deal with that rubbish. You got to sort through it. You got to face it. Remember, I was talking about this morning of commitment. You really have to be committed to deal with your problems biblically. And in order to do that, it takes time. It takes dedication. It takes seeking the Lord. It takes searching the scriptures. It takes confessing and actually being honest and transparent and saying, you know, I need help. And that's, isn't that what's sad about people? We're so proud, we don't want anyone to know. But you really need help. We all need help. Let's just get over the pride. That's rubbish. Pride is rubbish, amen? And so they were in the middle of it and they got frustrated. There's too much rubbish here. You ever get frustrated? that your problem's too big for you and there's too much rubbish in the way and you just can't go on. Then there's fear. Not only were they weighted down, they were wrought up in fear. And that's what happens, you know, the enemy wants to bring that fear in your life. Look at verse 11. Our adversary said they should not know, neither see till we come in the midst among them and slay them and cause the work to cease. So the enemies, you know, think about the devil. When's he gonna come to you when you're tired? when you're worn out, when you're all weighted down, when there's too much rubbish and then he's going to attack you with anxiety and fear. Isn't that right? He knows when to attack and he's going to put it in your way and you're going to be emotionally disturbed. You're going to be fear, you know, fear and he's, he's, he's going to make sure, you know, someone's questioning you, someone's attacking you, someone's questioning your motives and you know, they're bringing that into your life. But I think about Jesus. Now, Jesus said this in John 15, 20. Remember the word that I said unto you, the servant is not greater than this Lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. So we have to be ready for this. But he wants to get you all burdened down with fear. Burdened down with fear. Because think of how it all works together. Fatigue, frustration, fear. How do you feel now? Discouraged. I don't want to go. I don't even want to get out of bed. That's where the devil wants you. And then, failure. Failure. They were written off. Now, it's one thing when your enemies come in and say, You know, we're going to work, you know, we're going to attack you and we're going to get you. You know, we didn't work this other way, but we're coming at you another way. We're going to get you and the devil is going to be fighting that way. They're going to make he's going to make threats. But isn't it sad when your own friends and family attack you? That's what happens now. In verse 12. Isn't that sad? And it came to pass that when the Jews, the Jews, which dwelt by them, came, they said to us ten times, listen, not just once, but ten times. They should have been the ones supporting them, encouraging them, but instead, ten times they come and also attack them. They said unto us 10 times, from all places when she shall return unto us, they will be upon you. You can't do this. And that's where as a church, brethren, we need to protect this and we need to protect one another. You shouldn't have to come into the house of God and have someone attacking you and questioning you. This is a place where we should have encouragement, not discouragement. Amen. Be careful your comments. Be careful your criticisms. Be careful the way you treat others in the house of God. Because it can discourage. In fact, it can just someone can quit and just leave the church because of this stuff. And that's what they were doing. You know, the devil's going to see to that. But listen, what I'm getting at is be prepared. They're gonna tell you, no, you can't do it. How many times are they gonna tell you? No, you can't do it that way. You're a failure. You'll never get it done. Be careful. This is what the enemy wants to use. He wants to use attitudes like that, comments like that, because that's opposed to faith, amen? We walk by faith, not by sight. If it's the work of God, we can do it. But we have to do it in his strength. We have to do it believing him in faith. So we see some causes. It's very clear how the devil wants to work. Now we see the cure. The cure. And this is where tonight I hope that you could, you know, maybe you're discouraged with your children, you're discouraged with your marriage, you're discouraged with your schedule, you're discouraged with your job, you're discouraged. Whatever your discouragement is, there's a cure. God has an answer, amen? There's a physical cure and this is where you have to think about tonight. You need to renew your strength. Do you know a lot of times? The answer is you need to rest. You need to come apart a while. You just need to go to bed. You need to catch up on your sleep. You need to rest your physical body. Verse 21 and 22, you have, remember, Nehemiah is working with the wisdom of God and the hand of God was upon him. So he had this idea. So we labored in the work, and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared. Likewise, at the same time, I said unto them, Let everyone with his servant lodge within Jerusalem. Amen. It's too far for you. You know, you're going to be working all day. Then you got to walk. You got to go all the way home. Then you got to come back to work. No, just stay here. Just get some rest. Amen. Sometimes, and I know we don't like to hear this, but it is worthy of saying, sometimes you need some rest. Sometimes you need to change your diet. Sometimes you need to just start exercising. Get yourself physically back and fit. There's nothing wrong with these things. The Bible addresses them. I'm not going to take time. That's not the message tonight. Sometimes you just need to go to the doctor and get a checkup, you know, go to the doctor. See, it may be physical. It may be physical. Your discouragement could be because you're just wore out and you got health problems and you need to kind of shore those things up and get some rest, get your health back under control because that could be discouragement to you. It may be physical. It also may be emotional. That's not easy, is it? Well, let me tell you, God has answers both for the physical and the emotional. That's where it takes some wisdom and some time. I think of Elijah. Remember 1 Kings 19? And Elijah, he's running away. I mean, he had a great victory. And then all of a sudden, he slays the 450 prophets. And he runs away from Jezebel. He's running away. I don't know what happened there. But anyway, he gets fear in his heart. And he's running cross-country to get away from her. He wants to die. He gets so discouraged, but really, you know, she threatened him. She basically said, I'm going to make you a foot shorter. I'm just going to take your head off. Amen. So really he's worn out. That's what he is. He's wore out. He sits under a juniper tree and he says, God, I want to die. But you know what? Aren't you thankful God didn't answer that prayer? Sometimes God doesn't answer those foolish prayers. God, take my life. I want to die. And the truth is, he didn't want to die. Because if he wanted to die, he would have let Jezebel kill him. So he ran away from her. So he really didn't want to die. And you know what God said? You're not gonna die. You're gonna lay down and sleep. Lie down, son, sleep. Wake up and eat, son. Lie down again and sleep, son. Wake up and eat. I'm gonna take care of you. I'm gonna recover your health. I'm gonna get you back to where you need to be. And that's what God did with him. The Bible said it is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows. For so he giveth his beloved sleep, Psalm 127,2. And maybe that's what you need. Simply sleep and rest and recovery of your physical strength. Amen? And then we see something else. There's an organizational cure. You know, remember all that rubbish? That's what I think. You know what I liked about this week up in Oklahoma was these men have been involved in counseling for so many years. They can basically sit down and put on a board. This is your problem. Okay. Number 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Do this. This is how you deal. And they expound the scriptures. It's all in there. They can boil that all down to what you need to do before God and make it so clear and concise. And that's what I'm saying. You got a problem, get some answers. Rethink your strategy. Organize your life. Deal with the rubbish. There's answers. You can find answers. You don't have to just wallow in that discouragement. The Bible says here in verse 13. What did he do? Nehemiah was that man, was he not? The enemy said, we're going to slay them. We're going to kill them in verse number 11. The Jews come in and attack them and question them. And then he says, verse 3, therefore said I in the lower places behind the wall and on the higher places I even set the people after their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows. And then he goes on. You see, he sat down and he got a plan. He had to rethink his strategy. He had to get out a notebook, pen and paper, and just sit there before the Lord and say, Lord, this is my problem. I need some help. And start thinking, OK, I'm going to have to start doing this, this, and this, and dealing with my problems. And if you can't get any answers, then get some help. Someone who can give you some answers. So he sat down and he's saying, we got, okay, these people are now quit. They're discouraged. I got to rethink this. Evidently we're doing something wrong. If they're discouraged, we're doing something wrong. And that's what you need to think in your personal life. If you're discouraged, you're doing something wrong. You have to rethink it. You have to change your strategy, amen? And this means setting aside time. You see, that's what got you in the first place. You didn't think you had any time. You don't have time to deal with it. That's just the work of the devil. So you got to sit down now and make some time. You have to define what is the rubbish? Where are these stones that I can build with? What are they? Amen. Find those stones. There's an Italian by the name of Parieto. There's the Parieto principle. He says this, 20% of what you do produces 80% of the results. That's important to know. 20%, that means if you can get it right, if you can take time and really figure this out, you put 20% of effort into that, you're gonna have 80% of good results in your life. You see, it's not as big as you think it is. It's not as difficult as you think it is. The devil has you believe in that lie. We need to sit down and get refocused. Sit down and find out God's strategy here. And you got to have some God-given goals. And you say, well, what are they? God can help you. Amen? Spend some time alone. Take out a notebook. Write down the things God's dealing with you, some areas of your life. And think about what you can do to refocus, to get that different strategy. And that's one of the great cures of discouragement. Amen? And then I think another one is a spiritual cure. And I know what we've talked about is more like a practical type thing, but it's still in God's word. But we have a spiritual cure and this is revive your spirit. Yes, you need to renew your strength. Amen. You need to rethink your strategy. But you also need to revive your spirit. And this is what he's telling them in verse 14. Think about how he's reviving the people. He says, And I looked and rose up and said unto the nobles and to the rulers and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them. What does he say? Remember the Lord. Amen. Remember the Lord. He's great and terrible. And fight for your brethren, your sons and your daughters and your wives and your house. Listen, brethren, is there not a cause? You need to get some things right because you've got a family, you've got some children. You know, get things right in your life. There's a cause here. Fight for it, amen. Why? Because God, He'll fight for you, amen. And you know what? God's terrible. You know what that means? He's terrifying to the enemies. He's terrifying to the enemies. Amen. Praise God for that. So you have to remember the Lord. I think of David. Remember, David, that that was tough, you know. His own son turned on him, stole away the kingdom. He has to leave town. And as he's leaving, you know, he's getting attacked. But the Bible said that David encouraged himself in the Lord. David encouraged himself in the Lord. And I think that, you know, it's not, you're not going to encourage yourself. Don't try to go out and get all these, you know, self-help books. You're not going to do that. Let me just tell you, when it comes to addictions, you can't do it. When it comes to addictions, you're not going to get help from the government programs out here. You need God's help. God is the answer. And even dealing with our own problems of discouragement, God is the answer. We need spiritual help. And when you get discouraged, you need to be encouraged in the Lord. That's 1 Samuel 36, if you want to write that down. David encouraged himself in the Lord. Let me tell you a few things to encourage yourself in the Lord. And I think it says it right here. Remember the Lord. Amen? Remember the Lord. Let me call to your attention, number one, think of God's goodness in the past of your life. How good has God been for you? Amen? Think of how faithful he is. You know, tonight would have been a good night just to take time and thank God. But we can do that. So think of all that God has done for you. And you may need to take out some paper and write this down. If you battle with discouragement, then you need to write it down. You need to keep remembering it and reading it and rehearsing it. How faithful, count your blessings, amen? And psychologists even admit this, that being thankful and being grateful is one of the healthiest emotions you can possibly have. You know why? It's impossible to be thankful and discouraged. We heard some things this week that if you're having difficulties in your marriage, then you need to take out a three by five card and write down three times a day what you're thankful for about your wife or your husband, a praise. And you have to do that every day. You see, instead of dwelling on the negative, when you start praising and becoming thankful for what your spouse does, for who they are, for what God has done in their life, for the good things that they do, instead of just sitting there dwelling on, well, they didn't do this, they didn't do that, and I don't like this about them and that about them. If you sit there and dwell on that all day, where's your marriage gonna end up? I'll tell you where, in the rubbish. in the rubbish. So remember God's goodness. You want to revive something in your life? Remember the goodness of God. Amen? Secondly, think of God's promises of His closeness to you right now in the present. Amen? I think of so many verses how God said, I'm going to be with you. I will never leave you nor forsake you. The Lord is your refuge. The Lord is your defense. The Lord is your mighty tower. God is our defense. Amen. God is a present help in time of need. God is there. Remember that. Amen. And then, think of God's faithfulness for the future. You know, God has so many promises. He's been so good to us in the past. He promises now He's with us. And then there's so much that He promises about the future. And I think of one is Philippians 4, 13, that you can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth you. Amen. God will help you. That's a promise for the future. He's going to finish the work that He's begun. God is faithful to perform the work that He's begun in us. Amen? You know what fear is? And anxiety? It's simply this. Forgetting God. You just forgot God. That God is. Simply, God is. The New Testament tells us, For God hath not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and a sound mind. Psalms tell us, The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? Amen? Corrie Ten Boom said this, Look at the world, you'll be distressed. Look within, you'll be depressed. Look at Christ, you'll be at rest. you'll be at rest. Now, don't think you've come to the wrong church. There's a psychological cure, amen. Resolve your success. What do I mean by that? No, I didn't change doctrine. It's not the power of positive thinking, although there is power in the way you think. And that's what I want you to see. You know, Paul says that whatsoever is good and honest and pure and if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, you know, think on these things. It is important what you think biblically. But you need to resolve in your mind and your heart success right now. Verse 15, And it came to pass, when our enemies heard that it was known unto us, and God had brought their counsel to naught, that we returned all of us to the wall, and every one unto his work. Amen. You see, God delivered them. And here's what you need to say. By the grace of God, I am going to do this. And by the grace of God, I'm going to have success here. By the grace of God, we're going to get victory here. Amen. That's what I'm talking about. I'm not talking about positive thinking. I'm talking about faith. Believing God and trusting God and knowing He will give you the victory and He will see you through and He'll bring you out. Amen. I know the situation may look bleak. The enemies may be laughing. The hounds of hell are marching against us, but remember the Lord and stand up and get back to the task. You know, and that's what you remember Elijah there when he's all discouraged. You know what God told him? Get up and go do the work of God that God called you. Get out of bed and do what's right. You know, when you're down, get up and just keep doing right. And you know what I mean by that is this. You're not looking for your, you're not gonna change your emotions. You know what you're gonna do? You're gonna keep doing right and let God change your emotions. Because doing right is what's gonna change your emotions. That'll save you a lot of money with the psychiatric ward at the hospital, amen. Just listen to God, amen. Nehemiah said, we're going to do it. Get up and build. You're never gonna feel your way into the work, but you're gonna work your way into a feeling, amen? And that's what I'm talking about. Get yourself back to the job. Get some rest, amen. Change your diet maybe. Get some exercise. Resign from being the sovereign over the universe. Let God have control, amen. He's the sovereign, not you. You can't fix it anyway, amen. Let God be God and give it back to Him. Tell him you're having trouble sleeping. God's going to work on that. God will help you. The Bible says He gives His beloved sleep. Let's deal with it. God can deal with it. Amen? Give yourself some time. Some time to really think and meditate. What am I doing? What am I doing right? What am I doing wrong? What do I need to reorganize in my life? I need to get some stones out of this rubbish. Amen. I need to start building again. Then put your eyes on the Lord. Remember the Lord. Because you can't look into the face of God and have fear. Amen. So look at the face of God. God hath not given us this spirit of