Speaker 1: This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the audio broadcast ministry
Speaker 1: of Pastor Rick Warren. Today we continue with a series
Speaker 1: called How God Turns Setbacks into Comebacks. We're so glad
Speaker 1: that you've joined us today. Now, if you know someone
Speaker 1: who needs some encouragement right now, be sure to invite
Speaker 1: them with a text or a phone call to listen
Speaker 1: along with you. Now, in just a few minutes, we're
Speaker 1: going to tell you how you can get a very
Speaker 1: special set of Bible scripture cards hands selected by Pastor
Speaker 1: Rick to bolster your sense of gratitude and increase your happiness.
Speaker 1: You can find out more by going to Pastorick dot
Speaker 1: com while you listen to today's message. If you want,
Speaker 1: you can just text the word hope to eight hundred
Speaker 1: six hundred five thousand and four for more information. That's
Speaker 1: the word hope to eight hundred six hundred five thousand
Speaker 1: and four. Right now, here's Rick with part two of
Speaker 1: a message called when you feel like giving Up.
Speaker 2: I remember a couple of years ago we remodeled our house,
Speaker 2: and I was amazed at how much trash and junk
Speaker 2: they had to carry off, you know, just in remodeling,
Speaker 2: broken bricks and dirt and dried mortar and rocks, and
Speaker 2: that permanent porta potty and that wonderful smell that it
Speaker 2: had all the stuff that had to be carried off
Speaker 2: just when we were trying to build something. You know,
Speaker 2: here's the point. Anytime you try to build anything, a career,
Speaker 2: a plan, a project, a life, a hobby, a family,
Speaker 2: a marriage, ain't trying. And you try to build anything,
Speaker 2: you're going to have some debris. And that is frustrating
Speaker 2: because things take longer than you expect, and things are
Speaker 2: more complicated than you expect, and that causes discouragement. And
Speaker 2: that's the second back, a setback that the people faced
Speaker 2: in Jerusalem. It was not only taken too long building
Speaker 2: this this wall was too complicated, and it was too
Speaker 2: much junk and trash laying around. The second part of
Speaker 2: Neamiah four, verse ten says this second complaint said, we're tired.
Speaker 2: But second I said, there's so much rubble and trash
Speaker 2: to be removed, so much rubble and trash to be removed.
Speaker 2: Now follow me on this. They get discouraged because there's junk,
Speaker 2: the walls have been torn down, and there's piles of garbage, rubble, plaster, junk, trash,
Speaker 2: rocks layd all around and they can't even move. There's
Speaker 2: so much rubble in their lives. You may not realize it,
Speaker 2: but you've got rubble in your life. Could be emotional rubble,
Speaker 2: it could be relational rubble. Too many relationships, it could
Speaker 2: be you know, a material rubble. You've got too many
Speaker 2: things in your life. You need to simplify. So let me,
Speaker 2: on this day give you ris rules of rubble. This
Speaker 2: isn't in your notes, but how I'm gonna give it
Speaker 2: to you anyway. Ricks Rules of rubble all right here
Speaker 2: They are. Number one, Rubble is a part of life.
Speaker 2: In other words, you can't avoid it. You're gonna have
Speaker 2: piles of trash in your life. You're gonna have stuff
Speaker 2: that piles up in your life that you haven't dealt with.
Speaker 2: And the bigger the pile gets, the more frustrated you
Speaker 2: get by it. You're fatigued by the work, but you're
Speaker 2: frustrated by the complexity of all you've got to do.
Speaker 2: So rubble piles up. Ris Rule number two. You have
Speaker 2: to clean it out of your life periodically. You have
Speaker 2: to take out the trash emotionally, you take out the
Speaker 2: trash by confession to God number three. If you don't
Speaker 2: deal with it, it'll eventually take over. Let me let
Speaker 2: you in on a little secret. You probably already figured
Speaker 2: this out. Trash multiplies when you weren't watching. Have you
Speaker 2: noticed that it's just kind of mold? You know? Where'd
Speaker 2: all it come from? How do the dishes pile up
Speaker 2: so quickly in the kitchen? How to close pile up
Speaker 2: so quickly in the bedroom? And so many that multiplies
Speaker 2: while you aren't watching. Let me give you a fourth
Speaker 2: rule of rubble. You don't always recognize what's rubble in
Speaker 2: your life, but other people do. Other people can see
Speaker 2: stuff in your life that you've allowed to stay there
Speaker 2: that's really holding you back, that's hindering you, And maybe
Speaker 2: you don't even see it because you're so used to
Speaker 2: living with it that you don't even realize it's rubble.
Speaker 2: There's some stuff you need to clean out and clear
Speaker 2: out in your life. Some activities, some relationships, some things,
Speaker 2: some events, some bad attitudes, some wrong thoughts, some misconceptions, mental, physical, emotional,
Speaker 2: spiritual rubble in your life that you need to clear out.
Speaker 2: You know, and a lot of people don't see it.
Speaker 2: We don't see in our own lives, but other people
Speaker 2: see it. In fact, sometimes it takes an expert to
Speaker 2: point it out. By the way, that's why all those
Speaker 2: clean out shows on TV you're so popular, where somebody
Speaker 2: comes in and helps them organize and say, man, you've
Speaker 2: got trash all over here. Let's get let's get your
Speaker 2: house cleaned out and cleaned up. Question, what's the rubble
Speaker 2: in your life? This was the second cause of discouragement
Speaker 2: in the in the in the Jews of Jerusalem. What's
Speaker 2: the rubble in your eye? It's the stuff that keeps
Speaker 2: tripping you up. You might write that down. The rubble
Speaker 2: is the stuff that keeps tripping me up in life.
Speaker 2: It may be a misconception, an attitude, it may be
Speaker 2: a habit. It's the stuff that keeps tripping you up.
Speaker 2: Rubble can be the trivia that waste your time, that
Speaker 2: waste your energy, that keeps you from accomplishing what's most important.
Speaker 2: They had a job to finish finish the wall. So
Speaker 2: we can't do it because there's so much trash laying around.
Speaker 2: We can't even get to rebuild the wall. What do
Speaker 2: you need to do? You need to just tell God
Speaker 2: about the rubble in your life and ask for help.
Speaker 2: Psalm twenty five eighteen says, Come Lord and show me mercy,
Speaker 2: for I feel helpless and overwhelmed and in deep distress.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope rip will be
Speaker 1: back in just a moment with the rest of today's lesson.
Speaker 1: You can sign up for Pastor Rick's free email devotional
Speaker 1: at pastorick dot com. That's pastorick dot com.
Speaker 3: Do you want to be happier, healthier, and more resistant
Speaker 3: to stress, then you need to develop an attitude of gratitude.
Speaker 3: In fact, the Bible says we're to rejoice, always, pray continually,
Speaker 3: and give thanks in all circumstances. But it can often
Speaker 3: be difficult to feel grateful. So to help you, Pastor
Speaker 3: Rick hand selected fifty two verses to bolster your sense
Speaker 3: of gratitude and increase your happiness. This set of beautifully
Speaker 3: designed cards will help you memorize scripture so you can
Speaker 3: recall God's word when you need it the most. You
Speaker 3: can also use them to minister to others. Give one
Speaker 3: to a friend and write a personalized note of encouragement
Speaker 3: on the back. If a scripture really speaks to you,
Speaker 3: frame it, put them in places where you can read
Speaker 3: them during the day for encouragement. And today, when you
Speaker 3: give a gift to help daily Hope take the hope
Speaker 3: of Jesus to a world in need, we'll send you
Speaker 3: the gratitude scripture card set to say thanks. Go to
Speaker 3: Pastorick dot com right now to get your copy, or
Speaker 3: you can call eight hundred at six hundred five zero
Speaker 3: zero four. That's Pastororick dot com. Or call eight hundred
Speaker 3: six hundred at five zero zero four. Thank you so
Speaker 3: much for your support, and don't forget to let us
Speaker 3: know which radio station you heard to soun.
Speaker 1: Now let's get back to today's lesson. Here on Pastor
Speaker 1: Rick's Daily Hope.
Speaker 2: So I'm twenty five eighteen says come Lord and show
Speaker 2: me mercy, for I feel helpless and overwhelmed and in
Speaker 2: deep distress. If you're feeling helpless and overwhelmed and in
Speaker 2: deep distress in your life right now because of something
Speaker 2: that's holding you back, that's rubble and you need to
Speaker 2: deal with it. We're gonna look at the costs of
Speaker 2: cure in just a second. But here's another setback. Here's
Speaker 2: a third setback that will cause you to be discouraged.
Speaker 2: And it happened in Neamyah and day, and it's gonna
Speaker 2: happen to you. It's when I start to doubt my
Speaker 2: own ability. When I start to doubt my own ability,
Speaker 2: then this causes a sense of failure. Now when you
Speaker 2: add that to fatigue, you got fatigue, and you got
Speaker 2: frustrated fatigue it's taken too long, frustration, it's too complicated,
Speaker 2: and then you start having a sense of failure. Well,
Speaker 2: now it's getting serious. I'm going to get discouraged. That's
Speaker 2: the third part of Nemiah four, verse ten. The people said,
Speaker 2: look at this. The people said, we now realize that
Speaker 2: we cannot, not will not, we cannot finish this wall. WHOA,
Speaker 2: what just happened? The New American Bible says, we will
Speaker 2: never be able to finish this wall. What happened? They've
Speaker 2: already built half of it. Why all of a sudden
Speaker 2: they decided that they can't finish it. I mean, I said,
Speaker 2: they've already built half of it. But now they've lost
Speaker 2: their confidence. You know, now they felt they're filled with
Speaker 2: self doubt. Now they're questioning why they even started. Now
Speaker 2: they said, you know, you know, I was foolish to
Speaker 2: even think about doing this. You ever felt that way?
Speaker 2: Why did I take this job? Why did I get married?
Speaker 2: Why did I make this move? You start second guessing yourself,
Speaker 2: You start doubting yourself. You start filling yourself with feelings
Speaker 2: of failure and like I can't do this. You lose
Speaker 2: your confidence, You start feeling like your failure because of
Speaker 2: the frustration and fatigue, and they feel the failure. They
Speaker 2: are unable to finish the task as quickly as they
Speaker 2: originally planned. And the result is their confidence goes in
Speaker 2: the toilet, It goes down the drain. They lose their heart,
Speaker 2: they lose their enthusiasm. Now, let me ask, as a
Speaker 2: pastor who loves you, a real important question. How do
Speaker 2: you handle failure? How do you react when your plans collapse?
Speaker 2: How do you react when it's taken longer than you thought?
Speaker 2: It's more complicated your thought? And you start doubting do
Speaker 2: I even have the ability to do this? What do
Speaker 2: you do?
Speaker 1: Do?
Speaker 2: You give into self pity and you have a pity party.
Speaker 2: Poor me, everybody hates me, nobody loves me. I'm gonna
Speaker 2: go eat worms. You have a pity party and you
Speaker 2: invite you me and myself and I, or you start
Speaker 2: complaining and he starts saying it's impossible. Are you start
Speaker 2: having the feeling about the time I make ends meet
Speaker 2: somebody moves the ends, or do you start blaming other
Speaker 2: people and say, well, they let me down or they
Speaker 2: didn't tell me how hard it was gonna be. When listen,
Speaker 2: If at first you don't succeed, you're normal. You're normal.
Speaker 2: Nobody succeeds at first. Successful people simply see failure as
Speaker 2: a temporary setback. This whole series is on learning the
Speaker 2: spiritual quality of resilience of trusting God for a comeback.
Speaker 2: There is no comeback without first a setback. And that
Speaker 2: setback maybe this third one, where you just start doubting
Speaker 2: your own ability to go. I don't think I'm even
Speaker 2: up for the task. I don't think I can do this.
Speaker 2: I don't think I can finish what I've started. Now,
Speaker 2: finally there's a fourth setback, and we see this in
Speaker 2: this next verse, and it is this you start to
Speaker 2: give up. You feel like giving up when the opposition
Speaker 2: grows stronger. Now, when you start a progress a project,
Speaker 2: probably nobody even cares, they don't even notice, and so
Speaker 2: you don't have any opposition. Usually it starts, but as
Speaker 2: you start growing, you start being effective. The opposition people
Speaker 2: aren't going to like the changes you make in you,
Speaker 2: the changes you make in your marriage and your family
Speaker 2: and your job, the things you're trying to do for
Speaker 2: the Lord, and the opposition starts coming against you the
Speaker 2: more visible you become. And guess what, the moment you
Speaker 2: put your shingle out and say I'm open for business,
Speaker 2: somebody is going to start throwing rocks at it. And
Speaker 2: that causes fear. So now we've got a combination of fatigue, frustration, failure,
Speaker 2: and fear. That's enough to discourage anybody. Now let me
Speaker 2: give you the background of this. There were enemies in
Speaker 2: and around Jerusalem who had moved in when the Jews
Speaker 2: had been taken captive and moved to Babylon for seventy years.
Speaker 2: And when the Jews were allowed to come back to
Speaker 2: their homeland, they did not want the Jews moving back.
Speaker 2: And two, they did not want the wall built around
Speaker 2: the city because it couldn't be attacked, it couldn't be
Speaker 2: taken advantage of, they couldn't victimize the people. And so
Speaker 2: the enemy tribes around Jerusalem had a number of tactics
Speaker 2: they used, and if you go read the Book of Neemiah,
Speaker 2: here's what they did. First, they just created the builders,
Speaker 2: and they said, what are you guys doing? You can't
Speaker 2: do this. Do you like to be criticized? No, nobody does,
Speaker 2: So they criticized the builders. And then the second thing
Speaker 2: they did in the book of the Demiah is they
Speaker 2: ridicule them. They actually made fun of them. Do you
Speaker 2: like being ridiculed? No, you do not. Nobody likes to
Speaker 2: be the brunt of somebody else's sarcasm or the joke
Speaker 2: or the butt of a joke. So they criticized their ridiculed.
Speaker 2: The third thing the enemy tribes did is they threatened them,
Speaker 2: and they actually said, we're going to kill you. They
Speaker 2: threatened them with their lives. In verse eleven them chapter four,
Speaker 2: it says this, meanwhile, in spite of all these other
Speaker 2: three facts, it's taking too long, it's too complicated, and
Speaker 2: we don't know what we're doing, and we don't doubt it,
Speaker 2: we doubt our ability. It says, meanwhile, our enemies are
Speaker 2: threatening to kill us in order to stop this work. Now,
Speaker 2: this is a legitimate reason to be discouraged. Might die
Speaker 2: if we finished this project. Now, it's not just frustration
Speaker 2: and fear and fatigue. It is literally a legitimate reason
Speaker 2: that we might die. But I want you to notice
Speaker 2: in this next verse, verse twelve, who got discouraged first?
Speaker 2: It was those who were listening to the enemy, those
Speaker 2: who were listening to the wrong people. They weren't listening
Speaker 2: to God. They were listening to the non believers. They
Speaker 2: were listening to the world, not to the word Neamiah four.
Speaker 2: Verse twelve tells us why they had got discouraged. Then
Speaker 2: those of us who lived closest to our enemies. Underline
Speaker 2: that those of us who lived closest to our enemies
Speaker 2: kept reporting over and over ten times. This is the
Speaker 2: power of repetition that our enemies kept saying over and over.
Speaker 2: It doesn't matter where you go, we will attack you. Now,
Speaker 2: I want you to listen very closely. If you're discouraged,
Speaker 2: If you keep hanging out with negative people, and you
Speaker 2: keep constantly listening to negative talk radio and watching negative
Speaker 2: talk news, and listening to negative talk chatter on social media,
Speaker 2: guess what it's going to infect you with fear. Some
Speaker 2: of you need to go on a diet of negativity.
Speaker 2: Stop filling your mind with negative words from television, radio, news, internet,
Speaker 2: social media, says, those who live closest to the enemy.
Speaker 2: If you're listening to everything that's bad and all the
Speaker 2: news today is bad news about our economy, about our world,
Speaker 2: about everything about the government, everything, you're going to get discouraged.
Speaker 2: You're going to become fearful, and fear is going to grow.
Speaker 2: Let me ask you personal question. What secret fear is
Speaker 2: causing you to be discouraged. Fear of criticism, you know,
Speaker 2: A fear of embarrassment so you hesitate to take a
Speaker 2: big step of faith. A fear that you're not capable
Speaker 2: of the task before you. A fear that you have
Speaker 2: to be perfect, that you have to be flawless. A
Speaker 2: fear that nobody will love you if they knew the
Speaker 2: real you. A fear that you can't handle the pressure.
Speaker 2: You've got some hidden fears. I'm sure of that, because
Speaker 2: we all do. Comes as a result of sin in
Speaker 2: the broken world. Now, how do you know when it's
Speaker 2: fear that is discouraging? Oh, it's real simple. You have
Speaker 2: an intense desire to run, to escape, let me out
Speaker 2: of here, And they said, let's just get out of here.
Speaker 2: Let's run away from a situation. So we've got fear,
Speaker 2: and we've got frustration, and we've got fatigue, and we've
Speaker 2: got a sense of failure, and we've got fear. Those
Speaker 2: four things line up to cause discouragement in your life.
Speaker 2: What is God's cure when you feel like giving up?
Speaker 2: When you're at the halfway point in a project in
Speaker 2: your life, in your ministry, in your marriage, or whatever.
Speaker 2: Where do you find the strength and the motivation to
Speaker 2: finish whatever you've started, what God has started in you?
Speaker 2: The Bible says, being confident of this, that He who
Speaker 2: began a good work in you will bring it to
Speaker 2: the day of completion. In Jesus Christ, how do I
Speaker 2: keep on going when I feel like giving up? Well,
Speaker 2: I'm glad you're thinking that question, because you do the
Speaker 2: three things that Nehemiah did when he led the people
Speaker 2: to finish the wall. And here the three things that
Speaker 2: he did, and you need to do these same three
Speaker 2: things to turn the setbacks from fear, for frustration, fatigue,
Speaker 2: or failure into a comeback. Number one first thing Niamiah did.
Speaker 2: First thing you need to do reorganize whatever's not working,
Speaker 2: maybe something in your life, maybe something in your family.
Speaker 2: Maybe something in your business and your job. You may
Speaker 2: be doing the right thing, but in the wrong way.
Speaker 2: A lot of times when we get discouraged at what
Speaker 2: we're doing, we think, well, why must be doing the
Speaker 2: wrong thing. No, you may be doing the right thing,
Speaker 2: you're just doing it in the wrong way. And God says,
Speaker 2: I want you to do it differently. Keep doing what
Speaker 2: you're doing, just do it differently. Neiamiah four p. Thirteen
Speaker 2: says this, So I stationed armed guards. This is Niamiah
Speaker 2: narrating in I stationed arm guards at the most vulnerable
Speaker 2: places of the wall, and I assigned people by families
Speaker 2: with their swords and lances and their bows. Now, let
Speaker 2: me explain what's going on here. Neamia says, Okay, guys,
Speaker 2: we've got enemies who want to attack us. So here's
Speaker 2: what we're going to do. Half of you are going
Speaker 2: to do the work working on the wall, and the
Speaker 2: other half of you're going to stand guard. And then
Speaker 2: we're going to switch and the other half will do
Speaker 2: work on the wall and the other half will guard.
Speaker 2: What's you doing. He's just coming up with a new plan.
Speaker 2: They did not give up on the goal. They just
Speaker 2: devised a new strategy. Here's the point. Whatever you're discouraged
Speaker 2: at right now doesn't necessarily mean you need to stop
Speaker 2: doing it. Doesn't mean you're doing the wrong thing. It
Speaker 2: may be mean you're doing it in the wrong way.
Speaker 2: Nea Mayah said, we got to change the way we're
Speaker 2: doing this, And maybe you need to change the way
Speaker 2: you're doing your schedule, change the way you're doing your diet,
Speaker 2: change the way you're doing the way you're relating to people.
Speaker 2: Should the natural temptations to give up on the dream? No, no, no,
Speaker 2: no no. So let's just get personal. You got a
Speaker 2: problem right now, well, don't give up, just change your
Speaker 2: way to it. You deeply in debt, well, then you're
Speaker 2: going to need to reorganize your budget. Are you out
Speaker 2: of shape? You're going to need to reorganize your lifestyle.
Speaker 2: You're eating patterns? Are you over committed in your schedule?
Speaker 2: You're gonna need to reorganize your time. Where do you
Speaker 2: need to do what Neomi did? Reorganize whatever's not working.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. We are so
Speaker 1: happy that you've chosen to study along with us today.
Speaker 1: If you'd like to receive hope and encouragement every day
Speaker 1: delivered right to your inbox. Then sign up for ricks
Speaker 1: free daily devotional by going to Pastorick dot com. Right now,
Speaker 1: Rick will be back to close out our time today.
Speaker 1: But first, experts have discovered that an attitude of gratitude
Speaker 1: bolster your health and happiness. That's why Pastor Rick created
Speaker 1: a special set of fifty two scripture cards to help
Speaker 1: bolster your sense of gratitude so you can experience the
Speaker 1: life God meant for you to live. Here's Rick to
Speaker 1: tell you more.
Speaker 2: Friends, one of the most powerful ways you can transform
Speaker 2: your spiritual life is to memorize scripture. God tells us
Speaker 2: in Proverbs seven, verse two, guard my words as your
Speaker 2: most precious possession, write them down, and also keep them
Speaker 2: deep within your heart. Now you may not think you've
Speaker 2: got a good memory, but the truth is we all
Speaker 2: remember what's important to us. For instance, you remember phone
Speaker 2: numbers and dates that you care about. I've heard people
Speaker 2: say they can't memorize anything, yet they can quote a
Speaker 2: song lyrics from their childhood, or they can rattle off
Speaker 2: a statistic for their favorite baseball player. You see, memory
Speaker 2: is a skill that you can learn, and it's also
Speaker 2: a muscle that you can strengthen. In fact, study after
Speaker 2: study is shown that memorizing scripture will cause your brain
Speaker 2: to have a stronger memory in other areas too, So
Speaker 2: when you memorize scripture, you're actually benefiting a lot of
Speaker 2: other areas in your life. Now here's how I want
Speaker 2: to help you memorize God's Word. We've put together a
Speaker 2: new packet, a new set of cards with verses from
Speaker 2: the Bible for you to memorize. And these are good,
Speaker 2: easily memorizable versus. And you can put these cards around
Speaker 2: your house, or you can put them on your refrigerator,
Speaker 2: or tape them to the mirror where you brush your teeth,
Speaker 2: or you can put them by your bed, or in
Speaker 2: your car and the visor. It doesn't really matter. But
Speaker 2: they're very beautiful and they will keep these Bible verses
Speaker 2: God's Word before you every day, helping you to memorize
Speaker 2: the Word of God. I hope you'll take advantage of
Speaker 2: this new resource.
Speaker 1: This set of beautifully designed cards will help you memorize
Speaker 1: scripture so you can recall God's word when you need
Speaker 1: it the most. You can also use them to minister
Speaker 1: to others. Give one to a friend and write a
Speaker 1: personalized note of encouragement on the back. If a scripture
Speaker 1: really speaks to you, frame it, put them in places
Speaker 1: where you can read them during the day for encouragement.
Speaker 1: And today, when you give a gift to help Daily
Speaker 1: Hope take the hope of Jesus to a world in need,
Speaker 1: we'll send you the gratitude scripture card set to say thanks.
Speaker 1: Go to Pastorick dot com right now to get your copy,
Speaker 1: or you can just call eight hundred six hundred five
Speaker 1: thousand and four. That's Pastorick dot com. Or call eight
Speaker 1: hundred six hundred five thousand and four. Thanks so much
Speaker 1: for your support, and don't forget to let us know
Speaker 1: which radio station you hurt us on. Be sure to
Speaker 1: join us next time as we look into God's word
Speaker 1: for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor
Speaker 1: Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.