Everyone Has A Story. What’s Yours?
Story. The biographical story of Wilma Rudolph a Negro American who was only 4 lbs when she was born–they thought she would die! She lived, but she got polio–they thought she would never walk again! .She was twelve before she could walk without a brace. She went on to win three Olympic gold medals the first year women were allowed to participate in track and field in the 1960 Olympics in Rome. Her commitment to her dream, her hope, her courage–they all give us hope! Perhaps other stories of true heroes who believed in themselves against the odds can offer hope.
There are many stories of encouragement of people having overcome difficulties and for some extreme tragedy. People cope differently. One might loose a farm from a bush fire and loose a child or spouse, some suffer abuse or sickness and the list goes on and on and some will give and be depressed for the rest of their lives while others will overcome and rebuild
| Story. Joseph Scriven was a man acquainted with grief. Born in Ireland, he aspired as a young man to follow in his father’s footsteps as a Royal Marine, but his poor health made that impossible. Then he fell in love and was engaged to be married, but his fiancée drowned before their wedding could take place. To put as much distance as possible between himself and that tragedy, Scriven then moved to Canada. While living there, he became engaged again, but his fiancée became ill and died before they could be married. In his grief, Scriven determined to devote himself to a life of service. He was especially known for carrying a saw and cutting firewood for people in need. Scriven received word that his mother was ill. He couldn’t afford to return to Ireland, so he sent his mother a poem in the hope that it would comfort her. The poem began, “What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!” He later submitted a copy of his poem to a religious journal, where it was published. A few years later, in 1866, he died. Later it was composed as a Hym |
What’s Your Story?
For those who know Christ we have this promise
Romans 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Note: not all things are good but things do happen in life and some things like rape, molestation, beaten up etc are nor good, are evil and not of God, yet He can still work out your life for good.
God does not give you a lobotomy. He does not erase your memory but He does give you the ability to live beyond where you were.
David Who Later Became King Of Israel Also Has A Story To Tell
His story starts like this. The Philistine King of Gath sends the giant Goliath out to challenge Israel and David defeats him and becomes a warrior in King Sauls’s army. He becomes so popular that Saul tries to kill him so he flees to the Philistines and becomes best friends with the king of Gath’s son and fights for him. He gave some land for David and his family to live. After some years some philistine princes said to the king’s son what if he is a spy for Saul. Saddened he told David to leave and they remained friends. His fleeing Saul is found in 1 Samuel chapters 27,28 and 29.
Then as he returns home the rest of his story begins.
1Samuel 30:1 Now it happened, when David and his men came to Ziklag, on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the South and Ziklag, attacked Ziklag and burned it with fire, 2 and had taken captive the women and those who were there, from small to great; they did not kill anyone, but carried them away and went their way. 3 So David and his men came to the city, and there it was, burned with fire; and their wives, their sons, and their daughters had been taken captive. 4 Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept, until they had no more power to weep. 5 And David’s two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite, had been taken captive. 6 Now David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was [a]grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.7 Then David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech’s son, “Please bring the ephod here to me.” And Abiathar brought the ephod to David. 8 So David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them? ”And He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all
PAINTING A PICTURE OF DAVID. David an anointed man of God, set apart for Gods purposes and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David and stayed with him from that time forth.1.Sam.16:13. God chose him because man sees what he sees but God looks on the heart.1.Sam.16:7. He had killed Goliath the big ugly giant the man with an attitude,9.ft tall wearing a bronze t-shirt. His spearhead was as big as the size of a house. He said to David am I a dog that they send a boy to fight me with sticks and David I curse you by my Gods. David says Don’t you worry about the sticks ugly, the bigger they are the harder they fall, off comes your head With your own sword in the name of the Lord God of Israel whom you defiled. See 1 Sam.16. The people sung Davids’ praises. The women of Israel came out with tambourines and instruments and they sang and danced for joy saying “Saul has slain his thousands And David his ten thousand. 1 Sam.18:7
Can you imagine David grieving? Oh God I love you, I serve you, I am anointed, I have the Holy Spirit, I am a man of God. What have I done to deserve this?
How his heart must have sank. He must have felt, drained and defeated. Verse 4 he cries till he had no tears left You ladies will understand that, sometimes when something has happened to you, you have cried till you can’t cry anymore. (It’s okay to grieve your losses, just don’t get stuck there)
Psalm. 56:8. In anger cast down the peoples, O God! You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle; Are they not in Your book? 9 When I cry out to You,
David Gets The Blame. Next verse 6 he was greatly distressed. (strongs. 3334 yatsar a prime root to press, to be narrow If something is pressed it is flattened, made narrow. When I put my foot on a bug, and pass, his guts come out. As a person, you are an emotional being and sometimes when you feel like the bottom has fallen out and you are all cried out, distressed, you feel like you have been pressed out flattened, and it’s like your guts has been ripped out.
They blamed him, not only that they are thinking of stoning him. No encouragement is coming from them, its not your fault How do you feel when everyone blames you.
- You’re the best youth leader the church has had till something goes wrong.
- You’re the best pastor the church has had till you say something that somebody does not like.
- You’re the best player on the cricket team. Play a few too many bad games of cricket and you’re axed.
Everyone was grieved in soul. V.6. 4784 grieve, bitter NIV and others say bitter in spirit. they wanted someone to pay.
“The path of sorrow, and that path alone, Leads to the land where sorrow is unknown, Spurgeon
WHAT DOES DAVID DO?
1. David Encourages Himself. DOES DAVID BLAME GOD & GET BITTER? NO!.
Next in last part of verse 6 encouraged himself in the Lord KJV & strengthened NIV.
There is no one here to pray and fast with him,
How Do You Encourage someone.
1. A friend comes and says, I know what you’re going through, be strong, God is with you. He that dwells in the secret place shall abide under the Shadow of the almighty. Ps.:91. I will pray and stand with you etc.
2. Or he might say, this might sound hard mate, but I love you and you are wallowing in self-pity, and enough is enough, you need to trust God and move on.
Response. His response might be, when sharing with someone later, I went to my friend for help and he didn’t understand, he told me to get over it, no one understands how I was hurt I have a right to be bitter. That’s his opinion God says forgive, or he can say you’re right I need to move on, this mess is doing me no good I am stuck and paralysed. This too is encouragement.
Encourage. –chazaq. 2388. From prime root to fasten upon, to seize, be strong – be encouraged to establish & strengthen ( be recovered, repair, return, strengthen self, take hold, withstand, continue.) Lets fasten upon & sieze hold of what god has to say to encourage & strengthen ourselves.
Page.3.
YOU NEED TO ENCOURAGE YOURSELF.
And where there is no encourager, you have to learn how to get alone and give yourself a good talking to! You have to learn how to pray for yourself and to quote God’s promises to yourself!
- No one likes me but God does, He is all I need. Greater is He that is in me than He that is in the world. God has a good plan for my life etc. David would have said Lord you have a good plan for my life. It was you my God who sent Samuel to anoint me to be King. It was You who was with me when I killed Goliath, it was You who has led me thus far and You will continue to be my God.
- The scriptures are now written for us that says the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord Ps.37:23
- Or they that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength, like the eagle. They shall run and not grow weary. Isa.40:31
Joke. Turkeys (Might say Lord its hard to fly like an eagle when you’re hanging around a bunch of Turkeys’ all the time, but Lord teach me how to fly.
- However, I may need to grab myself by the shirt collar and say Kevin pull yourself together and move on, you’re stuck in self-pity. But I am hurt. Kevin shut up and listen. Move on. Yes Lord. That’s right Lord, greater is he that is in me than He that is in the world.
David when looking back on his life in
Ps.138:3 “In the day when I cried out, You answered me, And made me bold with strength in my Soul.
Ps.103. Praise the Lord Oh my soul and all that is within me praise His Holy Name.
When you are pressed flat, your insides have been ripped out, and you have no more tears to cry and everyone either blames you or has left you, you need to say, I have to recover, I will repair, I will withstand and continue, I will grasp hold of, seize, fasten on to what God has to say.
Panic, Fear and Dread would have taken over David’s life had he not encouraged himself in the Lord.
HOW ?. A thought starts and if it is not stopped by trusting the Lord and encouraging yourself in the Lord it will turn into imaginations, where your mind runs wild, and it soon turns into a stronghold in your life, to the point where you are stuck and paralyzed. Fear and devastation controls you
2. David Enquired Of The Lord. Next in verse 8 he inquired of the lord. (Consulted) We need to do the same. After encouraging and strengthening ourselves in the Lord, we then need to say what now Lord, what do you want me to do, and be like David do it! Sometimes we want the Holy Spirit to speak to us and we haven’t even done the last thing He told us to do. You might say I know God has called me to be a missionary, but I don’t want to be one. It has to be His will not ours.
Scripture. Ps.30:5.“Weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning”
Did you hear that joy cometh? Change is on the way. Learn how to rise up and say “What does not destroy me will only make me stronger! No day lasts forever. This to shall pass. In the meantime, it will only drive me closer to God.. Come on start talking to yourself. Your weakness can be the discovery point for strengths you never knew you had
3. David Lives Beyond Encouragement.
1Sa 30:18 David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and David rescued his two wives. :19
Nothing was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that had been taken.
David brought back all. :20 David also captured all the flocks and herds, and the people drove the
livestock before him, and said, “This is David’s spoil.”
He went on to become King and wrote many Psalms of which encourage us today.
Ps.23.The lord is my shepherd.
THE DAY MAY COME WHEN THERE IS NO ONE TO ENCOURAGE US.
The Love of many will grow cold Mt.24:11-13
Perilous times in the last days, persecution, false prophets, evil men. 2.Tim chap.3
The only thing that may be left is that we encourage ourselves in the Lord
Illustration. There is a story of one man who had been imprisoned in a Chinese prison for being a Christian. He had no scriptures to comfort him, or no other Christian to speak an encouraging word. For sharing the good news of Jesus in the prison they made him clean out and scrub the toilets. One officer who hated God had a Bible and would take a page with him to the toilet wipe his bottom with it and drop it in the pan. The man of God saw the wet paper took it back to his cell, cleaned and dried the scriptures. Over a period of time he had the whole book of Romans to encourage himself in the Lord. Praise God he lived beyond encouragement.
Watchman Nee spent twenty-five years in prison in China for being a Christian, where he encouraged himself in the Lord and wrote most of his writings in there.
CHALLENGE.
1. When all your friends are gone, if persecution comes, or if you are blamed for something will you become bitter and flounder or will you encourage yourself in the Lord or will you flounder and sink like a man who fell into a creek and can’t swim.
2. What vision, what dreams has God birthed in you, that you haven’t continued in because of discouragement and disappointment? You need to encourage yourself in the Lord, leave your paralyzed state behind and press on towards the goal the prize, and fight the good fight of faith.
Illustration. It is said that Thomas Edison performed 50,000 (sic) experiments before he succeeded in producing a storage battery. We might assume the famous inventor would have had some serious doubts along the way. But when asked if he ever became discouraged working so long without results, Edison replied, “Results? Why, I know 50,000 things that won’t work.” Today in the Word, August, 1990.
Victory always goes to the man or woman who’s willing to “fight one more round!”
Say After Me.
I will encourage myself in the lord
I will encourage others in the Lord
Daniel 11: 32“Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery; but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.
Extra Stories.
Adoniram Judson (August 9, 1788 – April 12, 1850) was an American Congregationalist and later Particular Baptist missionary, who worked in Burma for almost forty years. At the age of 25, Judson was sent from North America to preach in Burma. All for Burma: Adoniram and the three Mrs. Judsons
Adoniram Judson couldn’t sleep. In fact, the noises coming from the room next door were so disturbing that he feared for the life of the person there. When morning broke, 20-year-old Judson learned from the innkeeper that a man had indeed died of an illness in the neighbouring room overnight. Judson was stunned to discover that this man had been none other than his college friend Jacob Eames. As a student, Eames had led Judson to doubt his childhood faith. Now, reeling from Eames’s untimely death, Judson reconsidered his commitment to God. He soon enrolled in seminary and dedicated himself to mission service. In 1810 he and his classmates established the country’s first mission society, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (a Congregationalist group).
Visiting the Hasseltine home as part of this effort, Judson was smitten with the family’s youngest daughter, Ann. He soon proposed marriage, asking Ann’s father: They were married in 1812 at the ages of 24 and 22, and immediately set sail for India to join a Baptist organization.On their long voyage, the Judsons studied the Bible and embraced Baptist convictions. The Judsons settled in Burma and embarked upon Bible translation and evangelism efforts. They endured multiple challenges: illness, living in a foreign culture, their children’s deaths, and Adoniram’s imprisonment. Soon after Adoniram was released from captivity, Ann, who had sacrificed her health for his welfare, passed away at age 36. Her sacrifice and the many letters she had written home describing their endeavours made her one of the most beloved missionary heroines America has ever known. After an extended period of mourning, Judson resumed his missionary work in a different part of Burma. In 1834 he married Sarah Boardman (1803–1845), the widow of another American missionary there. Together they evangelized and translated the Bible among the Burmese and the Karen peoples. After 11 years and the birth of eight children, Sarah too died, a victim of a “wasting disease,” one of many illnesses that so often ravaged early missionary communities. Judson returned to the United States on furlough and commissioned popular author Emily Chubbuck (1817–1854) to write a biography of Sarah. Soon, to the surprise of many, Adoniram and Emily announced their engagement. Some Americans were scandalized at the idea of Judson marrying a much younger woman whose vocation did not seem as honourable as those of his previous wives. However the pair married and served happily together in Burma until Adoniram’s death in 1850. Emily passed away four years later. The legacy of Adoniram and the three Mrs. Judsons encouraged thousands of Americans to faithful Christian commitment and led many to serve as missionaries themselves. For more on the lives of the Judsons, see Christian History issue #90.
Why a Muslim Mom Followed Jesus. Preaching today.com
In his gripping memoir. Daniel Nayeri recounts the gripping story about why his mother became a Christian.
She grew up in a devout and prestigious Muslim family. She was a doctor and had wealth and esteem. But eventually, she would forsake all of that to follow Jesus. She was forced to flee for her life from Iran, eventually settling in the U.S. as a refugee. When people ask her why, she looks them in the eye with the begging hope that they’ll hear her, and she says, “Because it’s true.” Why else would she believe it? It’s true and it’s more valuable than $7 million in gold coins, and thousands of acres of Persian countryside, and 10 years of education to get a medical degree, and all your family, and a home. And maybe even your life. My mom wouldn’t have made the trade otherwise. If you believe it’s true, that there is a God, and he wants you to believe in him, and he sent his Son to die for you—then it has to take over your life. It has to be worth more than everything else, because heaven’s waiting on the other side. That or my mother is insane. There’s no middle ground. She had all that wealth, the love of all those people she helped in her clinic. They treated her like a queen. She was a devout Muslim. And she’s poor now. People spit on her on buses. She’s a refugee in places where people hate refugees. And she’ll tell you––it’s worth it. Jesus is better. It’s true … Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again. The whole story hinges on it.
The Bible says my King is a seven-way King
He’s the King of the Jews
He’s the King if Israel
He’s the King of righteousness,
He’s the King of the ages
He’s the King of Heaven,
He’s the King of Glory,
And He’s the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, that’s my King!
Well I wonder if you know him?
David said “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows his handywork”
My King is a sovereign King. No means of measure can define his limitless love. No far seeing telescope can bring into visibility the coastline of his awesome supplies. No barrier can hinder him from pouring out his blessing
He’s the greatest phenomenon that has ever crossed the horizons of this world.
He’s God’s Son
| His office is manifold His promise is sure, His life is matchless, His goodness is limitless, His mercy is everlasting, His love never changes, His word is enough, His grace is sufficient, His reign is righteous, His yoke is easy And his burden is light I wish I could describe him to you I wish I could describe him to you Yes He’s indescribable He’s incomprehensible! He’s invincible He’s irresistible! Well you can’t get him out of you mind And you can’t get him out of your head You can’t outlive him Well the Pharisees couldn’t handle him Pilate couldn’t find fault in him The witnesses couldn’t get their testimonies to agree Herod couldn’t kill him Death couldn’t handle him And the grave couldn’t hold him Yes that’s my King For thine is the Kingdom, and the power and the glory, forever and ever Amen Well I wonder do you know him? |
He’s the sinner’s saviour
He’s the centrepiece of civilization
He’s the loftiest idea in literature
He’s the fundamental doctrine of theology
He’s the miracle of the age
He’s the only one qualified to be Saviour
I wonder if you know Him
He supplies strength for the weak,
He’s available for the tempted and the tried
He sympathizes and he saves,
He strengthens and sustains,
He guards and guides,
He heals the sick,
He cleanses the lepers,
He forgives the sinner,
He discharges the debtors,
He delivers the captives,
He defends the feeble
He serves the unfortunate,
He regards the aged
He rewards the diligent
And beautifies the meek
I wonder if you know him,
Well, my King is the key to knowledge,
He’s the wellspring of wisdom,
He’s the doorway of deliverance,
He’s the pathway of peace
He’s the roadway of righteousness,
He’s the highway of holiness,
He’s the gateway of glory
Do you know him?
