Battle Fatigue - Pastor Jeff Schreve

today on from his heart with pastor jeff shreeve he continues his timely series we are soldiers because in the grueling spiritual battles of life it's not uncommon for those in the lord's army to get exhausted today you'll learn what to do when you suffer from battle fatigue [Music] little boy was in church he was one of those little guys that had kind of some trouble sitting for long periods of time any parents have any kids like that here that's why we have children's church but we're glad to have our kids in here and to do once a month big church for our children but this little guy was in church and the sermon was going long we don't know what that is but but he understood what that was and that sermon was going along and the preacher was really getting into it he was kind of circling the runway you know when circling the the the the airport where he's getting ready to land but he hadn't landed yet and it's like when is this thing going to be over and this is how he uh ended his message he said to the congregation he said what do you want god to do for you and there was a pause and then he asked again what do you want god to do for you and the pause and it was quiet and he asked a third time a rhetorical question what do you want god to do for you and the little boy couldn't stand it anymore and he blurted out i want god to let me go home that kid was suffering from sermon fatigue you people don't know anything about that but in some churches they have sermon fatigue well we're in a series called we are soldiers and we're learning about being a good soldier of christ jesus as paul told timothy suffer hardship with me as a good soldier of christ jesus and today we want to talk about battle fatigue hey what do you do when you're in the army of the lord and when you're in the battle the lords you're fighting the lord's battles you know we wrestle not against flesh and blood paul said but against the rulers against the powers against the world forces of this darkness against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places we're to put on the full armor of god so we can stand firm against the schemes of the devil but what do you do when you just get weary in the war when you get tired in the battle when you get discouraged because you're praying and things aren't happening and you're you're believing god and nothing's coming about and you just get ah i just feel like quitting i feel like giving up i don't know if i can do this anymore that's called spiritual battle fatigue and hey if you have ever felt like that or if you feel like that now good news you're not alone two of the greatest old testament saints they felt like that moses prayed as he led the people of god and as he was in the wilderness for so long he prayed god i can't do this anymore god please if i have found favor in your sight kill me now moses prayed that ask god to kill him elijah he prayed that in first kings chapter 19 he had defeated the the prophets of baal on mount carmel's a great victory but right on the heels of that jezebel the evil queen she's coming after him and she said i'm gonna kill you and so he runs away and he finds himself under a juniper tree and he says lord i'm no better than my father's it is enough oh lord take my life now you got some heavy hitters in moses and elijah both of them prayed that god would kill them why because they had battlefied those are the two guys that appeared with jesus on the mount of transfiguration moses and elijah you don't get any any greater in your usefulness for the lord than moses and elijah but they had battle fatigue so if you're here today and you have battle fatigue you're not alone in this thing called spiritual battle fatigue now in the book of nehemiah god had commissioned nehemiah laid upon his heart as nehemiah prayed that he was to go back to jerusalem he was the cupbearer to the king in the king of persia he was to go back to jerusalem and rebuild the wall of jerusalem now if you remember your bible history nebuchadnezzar the king of babylon had come into jerusalem in 586 bc and had broken down the wall and destroyed it and came against the temple of god solomon's beautiful temple and burned it with fire and wrecked it and ruined it and took a bunch of people captive and brought them back to babylon and they were in captivity for 70 years and then at the end of 70 years medo-persia had taken over babylon and cyrus the great allowed the jews to go back to jerusalem and zerubbabel led about 42 000 43 000 jews back to jerusalem and what they did when they went back there is they rebuilt the temple and that took place in 515 bc the rebuilt temple and that was very very important because that's the heartbeat of jewish life is the temple where they sacrifice and they worship god but the walls were still down and the walls stayed down for 140 years until god put it in nehemiah's heart you go back and you rebuild the wall as it seemed like a massive task so he went back he got the people excited they're going to rebuild the wall he's like man we're going to do this this is going to be awesome it was very important in that day to have a wall around your city so that people would feel safe in the city so they wouldn't feel like we're sitting ducks for anybody that comes in you know it's like having a house that doesn't have doors on it you wouldn't feel very safe there and so they needed walls around the city and nehemiah got them to rebuild the wall and they came to the halfway point and they got tired and they got weary and they got fatigued in the work it says in nehemiah 4 10 the strength of the burden bearers is failing yet there is much rubbish and we ourselves are unable to rebuild the wall it's like signing up to say hey i'm going to climb mount everest you get all jazzed about doing that and then you get halfway up the mountain and you're like and there's there's more mountain here and i don't think i'm going to be able to do it and our strength has failed battle fatigue hey what do you do when you're experiencing battle fatigue whoa what does god have to tell us well he in nehemiah chapter four he gives us four reasons why we get battle fatigue why we get so discouraged and why we uh tend to want to throw in the towel four reasons why and why we come to that place and then how we overcome in that experience first of all battle fatigue comes when we listen to lies nehemiah chapter four verse one now it came about that when sand ballot heard that we were rebuilding the wall sand ballot was the governor of samaria to the north heard that we were rebuilding the wall he became furious and very angry and mocked the jews sand ballot did he it was in his best interest for jerusalem to remain weak he didn't want walls around the city because if walls around the city uh took place and the jerusalem became strong that would weaken his political power and would probably weaken his ability to make money so he had a personal agenda there he became furious and mocked the jews and he spoke in the presence of his brothers and the wealthy men of samaria and said what are these feeble jews doing are they going to restore it for themselves can they offer sacrifices can they finish in a day can they revive the stones from the dusty rubble even the burned ones ha now tobiah the ammonite the ammonites were the enemies to the east of jerusalem now tobiah the ammonite was near him and he said even what they are building if a fox should jump on it he would break their stone wall down nehemiah says hero are a god how we are despised return their approach on our own heads and give them up for plunder in the land of captivity do not forgive their iniquity and let not their sin be blotted out before thee for they have demoralized the builders battle fatigue discouragement they're demoralized they've been insulted it's awful and their strength is failing and they're feeling like they're unable and they want to quit battle fatigue comes when we listen to the lies now what was coming at israel and the people of god doing this great work what was coming at them was ridicule by people that didn't want to see the work of god take place what nehemiah was led to do was so critical and so strategic and so important now we look at it we think a wall around the city that doesn't sound too spiritual i mean teaching bible studies that sounds a whole lot more spiritual than building a wall but building the wall was very strategic and very important and very spiritual it was a god work and the enemies surrounding jerusalem didn't want it built and so they began to ridicule now i think it was thomas carlisle who said this ridicule is the language of the devil that's how the devil speaks he speaks in ridicule and mockery he he tries to make fun of the christian who wants to walk with god he makes fun of the of the young man the young woman who says uh true love waits and i'm not going to have sex until i get married and he he will bring people to mock and ridicule and make fun of a person who has that commitment and you know some people can stand bravely against bullets but they collapse in the face of laughter and they can't take it when people laugh at them and all those barbs that were coming their way all the things that sand ballot and tobiah was saying they were lies it was ridicule and it was a lie but it it sounded like oh well maybe maybe they're right uh i guess i guess we can't do this i guess we are uh this is just a pipe dream i guess this is just a crummy wall and if a fox jumped on it uh god forbid it would all fall down and and so the people began to believe that listen your battle fatigue and your discouragement and your desire to want to quit will really ramp up when you start listening to lies you cannot allow yourself to do that hey the way to overcome the battle fatigue that comes from listening to lies is to overcome it with the truth jesus said and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free the truth shall set you free david said in psalm 15 that the righteous man speaks truth in his heart and our world is filled with lies and so we have to constantly come back to the word of god to hear the truth of god in our hearts because it builds us up and it strengthens us and it helps us to see what is the real story here what is the real situation you overcome the true the lies with the truth jesus said in john chapter 4 take care what you listen to take care of what you listen to what are you listening to you're listening to the truth you know lots of times we we don't take care of what we listen to and we listen to things on the television on the radio and on your ipad or whatever you listen to things that cause you to fear that cause you problems that cause you to wonder when i was in college i had a friend of mine he worked at getty oil company for a summer job and he said that he had a guy that worked in the cubicle next to him and he was listening to country and western music and a particular song that says and still you wonder who's cheating who who's being true who don't even care anymore who's going right with some folks tonight whose car is parked next door you know some of you remember that song larry sims that's one of his favorites and and so he's listening to that song i'm not making this up he's listening to that song and he's like you know i wonder who's parked next door and when i'm at work what's my wife doing caused him all kinds of angst because he started to wonder about his wife to see whose car was parked next door take care of what you listen to and take care who you hang out with because if you hang out with people who are negative who are faithless who always point out uh that the glass is half empty and has a crack in it and there might be some glass chips in there stay away from that if you hang out with folks like that you pick that up and you start seeing life as oh yeah this is negative this probably won't work you know the the 12 spies that went into the land to spy out the land ten of them were negative only two of them had faith caleb and joshua the ten spies came back and said well it's good land but we can't go in that land because there are giants in that land joshua and caleb said hey the bigger they are the harder they fall god will be with us and we can go listen in your circle of friends you better have some joshuas and some caleb's in there all you hang out are or with the 10 faithless spies you're in trouble because bad company corrupts good morals and he who walks with wise men will be wise but the companion of fools suffers harm battle fatigue comes when we listen to lies secondly battle fatigue comes when we lose our strength verse six so we built the wall and the whole wall was joined together to half its height for the people had a mind to work they were at the halfway point now it came about when san bala tobiah the arabs the ammonites and the ashtodites heard that the repair of the walls of jerusalem went on and that the breaches began to be closed they were very angry and all of them conspired together to come and fight against jerusalem and to cause a disturbance in it verse 9 says but we pray to our god and because of them we set up a guard against them day and night thus in judah it was said the strength of the burden bearers is failing yet there is much rubbish and we ourselves are unable to rebuild the wall they had lost their strength their strength was failing they were at the halfway point now you know when you as i mentioned you're climbing the mountain and you get to the halfway point and there's so much mountain left that you just ah can't do this anymore it's like as i've read never experienced this personally those that try and run a marathon you know they always talk about hey when you run a marathon you're going to hit a point where you hit the wall and you've got to push through well these guys building the wall had hit the wall and they got to the halfway point they said we can't do this anymore i like what it says in the message bible for nehemiah 4 10 but soon word was going around in judah the builders are pooped the rubbish piles up we're in over our heads we can't build this wall battle fatigue comes when you just get physically exhausted you just you can't see things clearly anymore you're just so tired that it just seems overwhelming now the way to overcome losing your strength you overcome it with physical rest you have to rest your body you have to rest your mind you weren't made i wasn't made to go go go go go all the time it was vince lombardi the great football coach of the green bay packers who said fatigue makes cowards of us all when you just get so tired jesus said to the disciples when they were ministering and they were winning people to the lord he said in mark chapter 6 verse 31 but so many people were coming and going that jesus and the apostles did not even have a chance to eat then jesus said let us go to a place where we can be alone and get some rest and there are needs everywhere they couldn't even eat the people were coming and coming and coming and jesus said hey we need to take some time for some r and r let's go to a lonely place and rest a while why because you guys need it and we need it and jesus in his humanity he needed it he couldn't go 24 7. we weren't built for that you know in the ten commandments resting on the sabbath is one of the commandments six days shalt thou labor but the seventh day you shall rest and many of us don't heed that command and we go go go and when you go go go you run down run down run down run down and then fatigue makes cowards of us all there's a greek proverb that says if you you will break the bow if you keep it always bent if your bow has always got tension on it if there's always stress on it you're gonna break the bow so here's the question in your life how tight is your bow do you have times where there's just down time do you have times where you have margins if you don't battle fatigue will come in and it also not only with physical rest but it's overcome with reliance on god see when we rest our bodies as the lord says to do we are to six days show you labor the seventh is a as a sabbath unto the lord and you're gonna rest and cease from your labor on the seventh day you're not only to rest your body but you're to recharge your spirit and you're to fill up and that's why uh we we meet on uh one day a week to really recharge we come together as a church in a big group to recharge and to be encouraged and to sing the praises and to hear from the lord that's important scripture says in isaiah 40 29 he gives strength to the weary and to him who lacks might he increases power battle fatigue it comes when we listen to lies it comes when we lose our strength thirdly battle fatigue comes when we lose our focus verse 10. thus in judah it was said the strength of the burden bearers is failing yet there is much rubbish and we ourselves are unable to rebuild the wall and our enemies said they will not know or see until we come among them kill them and put a stop to the work and it came about when the jews who lived near them came and told us ten times they will come up against us from every place where you may turn then i stationed men in the lowest parts of the space between the wall the exposed places and i stationed the people in families with their swords spears and bows it comes when you lose your focus battle fatigue now the enemies sand ballot tobiah the ammonites the ashdodites the enemies all around jerusalem that didn't want the wall up they were saying we're going to come at you we're going to attack you we're going to kill you they told them that 10 times and it was one of those things where it's like man we're doing something it's so hard and there's so much opposition and you know when i signed up for this nehemiah when you know when i said yeah i'll do it i signed up you gave me a t-shirt you know we're part of the wall builders and i was really excited but now i'm i'm looking at dying and i don't know if i'm ready to do that i mean they said they're coming and man i i think i better quit it's too hard we're unable that happens to us and it happens because we lose our focus and and our eyes were on the lord when we started but then they get on other things and especially on the scary things and we look at this enemy and we hear these voices and and you know at any moment they're going to come and attack you nehemiah said in verse 14 when i saw their fear i rose and spoke to the nobles the officials and the rest of the people do not be afraid of them remember the lord who is great and awesome and fight for your brothers your sons your daughters your wives and your houses one of my favorite verses in the old testament nehemiah 4 14 do not be afraid of them remember the lord who is great and awesome and fight and fight hey why do we get battle fatigue why do we get so discouraged because we lose our focus we get our eyes off the lord we forget that he is great and awesome the way you overcome that kind of battle fatigue is to remember the lord to recount and put him first and foremost in your mind you remember who he is you remember what he has said you remember what he has done you remember who has commissioned you that's why i said earlier in this service regardless of who becomes president of the united states of america my god is in charge he sits on his throne jesus christ is king of kings and lord of lords the lord sat as king at the flood but yes the lord sits his king forever we need to remember that listen i'm convinced that it's important for a christian to know what's going on we need to be abreast of the news and let's face it uh mainstream media that they don't tell you the news the way it really is everything is slanted and so you got to find some kind of news source that's going to give you the real picture that doesn't have an agenda but if all you do is listen to news news news news news you get to be pretty jaded about life you start to think man i need to go uh live under a rock somewhere and check out and you know just build a bunker and get a bunch of ammunition and guns and and just protect my family and it can make you just afraid we don't need to live like that we don't need to be like that remember the lord who is great and awesome and fight and how do we fight as christians we fight on our knees we don't fight with our hands we fight on our knees as we pray we fight as we stand up stand up for jesus you soldiers of the cross now we know in the bible that when you step out to do something for the lord that your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour he's going to come at you and what is the language of the devil it's ridicule it's threats it's it's to try and get you afraid so you back up and quit you know when peter got out of the boat he wanted to walk on the water with jesus lord if it's really you bid me come to you on the water and jesus said come and peter got out of the boat and he walked on the water to jesus and the scripture says everything was going good until seeing the wind he became afraid it was a stormy night and no doubt an unkind wave slapped him in the face and seeing the wind he became afraid and began to sink and he cried out lord save me and jesus so ye of little faith why did you doubt i'll tell you why he doubted because he took his eyes off the lord you take your eyes off the lord and you look at your enemy and you look at your surroundings and you focus in on those and you forget the lord who is great and awesome you're going to fear and you're going to want to leave your post and you're going to want to say this is too hard hey remember the lord who is great and awesome and fight you don't quit you don't leave you fight you stand firm against the schemes of the devil resist the devil and he will flee from you david when he fought goliath he's just a kid just a teenager peach fuzz on his chin and he fought goliath and what did he have he had a sling and a stick and a pouch with five smooth stones that's all he had he went up against nine foot nine inch goliath no one on israel's side wanted to face off with that guy and when david stepped out on the battlefield goliath saw him and he disdained him because he was a youth and goliath who is a picture of the devil he says who is this this shepherd kid that's coming to me he says come to me little boy i'll break you up in pieces and feed you to the pigeons and he cursed david by his gods and that's a picture of the devil wanting to get us oh no this i shouldn't have done this i should have never gotten on the battlefield i i need to leave now i'll run hide under the tent david didn't do that david remembered the lord who was great and awesome and he fought you come to me with a sword and a spear and a javelin but i come to you in the name of the lord of hosts the god of the army of israel whom you have taunted he says this day the lord is going to deliver you into my hand and i'm going to cut off your head big boy and we're gonna feed the arm the bodies of the armies of the philistines to the beasts of the field and the birds of the air so that all the earth may know that there is a god in israel remember the lord because he's great and he's awesome that word means terrifying our god is a consuming fire it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living god we need to remember that god is that kind of god he's the lord of hosts yahweh sabael the god of angel armies and he is undefeated is the all-time undefeated heavyweight champion of the universe and he will never be defeated and all we need to do is line up with him and he will see us through hey it's overcome by remembering the lord and then lastly battle fatigue comes when we lose our value in the mission we lose our value you know they came at the people and nehemiah had them fight and he stationed people and they were ready and they were there and the enemy never came ten times they said we're gonna come after you you're not gonna be ready and aware and we're just gonna come after you they never came but the enemy didn't give up and in chapter six the enemy comes again at nehemiah and it says in verse one now it came about when it was reported to sand ballot tobiah to gisham the arab and to the rest of our enemies that i had rebuilt the wall and that no breach remained in it although all at that time i had not set up the doors in the gates the wall is completed but the gates aren't in and so the project is still under completion it says in verse two that sand ballad and gisham sent a message to me saying come and let us meet together at in the care of him in the plains of ono but they were planning to harm me so i sent messengers to them saying i am doing a great work and i cannot come down why should the work stop while i leave it and come down to you and they sent messages to me four times in this manner and i answered them in the same way come down to the plains of ono and nehemiah said oh no no no i'm not coming there they're planning to harm me and i love what he says in verse three i am doing a great work how can i leave the work to come down to you hey when do we get battle fatigue when do we get so discouraged it's when you start thinking what you're doing doesn't matter doesn't have value doesn't make a significance and it would have been easy for the people who were building the wall with nehemiah to look around at jerusalem it wasn't the same jerusalem solomon's temple had been burned and destroyed and they rebuilt the temple under zerubbabel but that temple wasn't anything like solomon's temple as a second ray temple here we are and we're building and there's a second-rate temple the city is just not the same the wall is not as good as it used to be nothing's as good everything it's just crummy it's just junk ah that's where the devil wants you he wants to get you to think what you're doing doesn't matter and it's just crummy and it's just second grade and it's just junk let me tell you something if you are walking with god and you are where god wants you to be in your life in your family in your job you are doing a great work for the lord because that's what he has called you to do as i said building a wall is not super spiritual but it was super important and it's what god wanted them to do we we sometimes think well you know what i'm doing doesn't matter yeah jeff i got a dead end job and and you know i just don't like what i'm doing and so it you know god god can't be in this because it's such a dead-end job if god has placed you there then shine and share where you are bloom where you're planted you're doing a great work for the lord to be his salt and his light listen some of you especially you moms young moms whether you work outside the home or whether you stay a stay-at-home mom i believe with all my heart that the hardest job on the planet is being a mom anybody else believe that it's a hard job to be a mom man it is so kids tend not to be very appreciative of mom when they're little and you wear yourself out and you're changing dirty diapers and you're cleaning the kitchen and you're doing laundry and it's over and over and over again and you just think what am i doing here let me tell you what you're doing here mom you're doing a great work you're doing a great work because you're raising up boys and girls who will know the lord and love the lord and walk with the lord you're doing a great work you need to remind yourself of that that's a great work and god is pleased with you as you do that work [Music] the story is told about sir christopher wren sir christopher wren the architect who built st paul's cathedral in the late 1600s early 1700s and the story goes this way sir christopher wren was walking on the job site and uh talking to some of the workers they didn't know who he was he was kind of incognito to these guys the the guys that were doing the more manual labor jobs and he went to the first guy and he says to him the laborer what are you doing he says i'm cutting stone i get five shillings a day. went to the second guy he's on a wheelbarrow he said what are you doing he said well i'm hauling off the debris and stuff like that i they pay me five shillings a day he went to the third guy doing a menial labor job he said what are you doing sir he said i am working with sir christopher wren to build a cathedral to the glory of god that's what i'm doing see he saw that what he was doing was a great work and you need to see what you're doing whatever it might be that's a great work you know we have people right now in our church who are taking care of little ones so that we can be in here and they can think you know how many times do i have to change diapers how many times do i have to wipe runny noses i mean how is this spiritual hey what they're doing is a great work it's a great work because it allows others to hear the gospel and to know that their kids are being taken care of battle fatigue comes and discouragement comes and wanting to quit comes when you lose your value in the mission so it's overcome by seeing that you're doing a great work and it's overcome by working together we need one another and in nehemiah's day they needed one another and chapter four goes on to say this in verse 16 and it came about from that day on that half of my servants carried on the work while half of them held the spears the shields the bows and the breastplates and the captains were behind the whole house of judah they worked together those who were rebuilding the wall and those who carried burdens took their load with one hand doing the work and the other holding a weapon as for the builders each wore his sword girded at his side as he built while the trumpeter stood near me and i said to the nobles the officials and the rest of the people the work is great and extensive and we are separated on the wall far from one another at whatever place you hear the sound of the trumpet rally to us there our god will fight for us they begin to pull together and work together how do you combat the idea that what you're doing doesn't matter you begin to work together with others you begin to see that we were made for one another that's why church attendance is so important and church participation and church involvement is so important because in church you encourage one another you love one another you spur one another on to love and good deeds we're not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together as is the habit of some but we're to do it all the more come together all the more as we see the day approaching and i believe the day is approaching of christ's return battle fatigue you experiencing some vital fatigue heard a true story about a man named mr darby mr darby lived during the days of the gold rush he had an uncle who was in colorado who went there to find gold and he began to mine and excavate and he found some gold and he reported back to his nephew he said hey get some machinery and let's come and let's let's find our fortune in gold i found a small little vein in this in this cave and so we can dig out this and we can make good money but i need more equipment and so his nephew he came and he helped his uncle and they began to dig and they found some gold and they found enough gold to keep them going and to keep them excited but then as they were excavating and digging the gold vein dried up and they dug and dug and dug nothing and they dug and dug and dug nothing and dug and dug and dug more and more and more nothing and they were just amassing debt and so they just decided let's just quit there's nothing else for us we we need to cut our losses and so they sold their equipment to a junk dealer and the junk dealer bought it for pennies on the dollar he bought that equipment they left the junk dealer before he took the equipment and just sold it for parts he had somebody come in and check the mine an expert come in and look at the mine and the expert says there's still gold in here and he began to dig and no lie three feet from where darby and his uncle had quit digging he found gold and that man made millions of dollars what's the point of that story some of you are here and you're ready to quit because the going has gotten tough and you're getting afraid because all the things are coming against you and you're so worn out and you're so discouraged and the strength of the burden bearers is failing and you want to quit don't quit keep going victory comes to those who refuse to quit the bible says a righteous man falls seven times and rises again don't quit don't listen to the lies of the devil trust god no matter what remember the lord who is great and awesome and fight listen in order to win the spiritual battle you must have power within and that power only comes from the lord so here's the big question does the lord live in your life has there ever been a time when you've truly surrendered your heart to him now if not that can happen today with this simple prayer just say from your heart lord jesus i need you i know that i'm a sinner and i'm lost and i can't save myself but jesus i believe that you are god in the flesh i believe you died on the cross and rose again on the third day and right now jesus i ask you to forgive me of all my sins to come into my heart to be my lord and savior and i promise to follow you all the days of my life my friend if you'll pray that kind of prayer and mean it the lord will come in and your life will never be the same i would love to hear from you to know that you're watching to know that god is using this broadcast to make a difference in your life to know that you just prayed that prayer to receive christ as savior and lord please call that toll-free number take the time to let me know what's going on hey you really are important to god and you're important to us and we're here for you from his heart is the viewer-supported broadcast ministry of dr jeff shreeve who believes that no matter how badly you may have messed up in life god still loves you and he has a wonderful plan for your life you can find out more about the plan when you go to from his heart.org [Music] you

Channel: From His Heart Ministries

Views: 2,954

Rating: 4.8987341 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: r8jY3ndWjbQ

Length: 40min 22sec (2422 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 16 2020