(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Jeremiah 45, so it's a shorter chapter, isn't it there? Jeremiah chapter 45. So we are going to have to build around this chapter. Even though it's not very long, I think there's a lot that we can pull out of this. So let's start there in verse number three. Jeremiah chapter 45 and verse number three. Jeremiah 45 verse number three, it says, "'Thou did say, woe is me.'" Think about what this person is saying. "'Woe is me, for the Lord have added grief to my sorrow. "'I fainted in my sign, I find no rest.'" The title for the sermon this morning is Feelings of Discouragement. Feelings of Discouragement. And the one who is actually saying these words is Baruch. Baruch, if you may recall, is the assistant of Jeremiah. He's the one that is penning down the words as God is moving Jeremiah to speak the words of God. So we see that one of the men of God, well, two of the greatest men of God in the book of Jeremiah, of course, is Jeremiah number one and Baruch. And they have times where they feel discouraged. And I'm sure many of us, maybe some of you are feeling discouraged right now, but we've all felt discouraged in different points in our life. Maybe the lockdowns, the COVID-19, is bringing discouragement in your life. So I think we can pull a lot out of this chapter and learn about discouragement. So let's start there in verse number one, Jeremiah 45 verse number one. Now, before I start reading, I should just say, you may recall that in Jeremiah 44, I told you that the end of chapter 44 is the furthest we go in the Bible in Jeremiah's life. So when we get to chapter 45, we basically now we're going back in time and we're just filling in gaps. We're just bringing forth further details in what has already transpired in Jeremiah's life. So when you look at Jeremiah 45 verse number one, just pay attention, it says that the word that Jeremiah, the prophet, spake unto Baruch, okay? So this is something that Jeremiah is speaking specifically to Baruch. Now, go to Jeremiah 46, just very quickly. It says at the very beginning, the word of the Lord, which came to Jeremiah, the prophet against the Gentiles. So this is just another message that is going toward the Gentile nations. Look at verse number 47, sorry, chapter 47, chapter 47. The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah, the prophet against the Philistines, okay? Look at chapter 48, against Moab, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel. So he's preaching toward Moab. Look at 49, concerning the Ammonites, thus saith the Lord. So we have all these little other sermons that Jeremiah has been preaching throughout his life and they're recorded for us toward the end of the book of Jeremiah. So when we start chapter 45, Jeremiah actually has a message from the Lord toward his assistant Baruch, all right? So let's start there again, verse number one. It says the word of that Jeremiah, the prophet spake unto Baruch, the son of Neriah, when he had written these words in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah. So that reminds us that Baruch is the one penning down the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah's speaking, you know, the Lord is speaking to Baruch through Jeremiah and Baruch is writing this down and it's actually for himself, this chapter, okay? It says, and what time period is this? It says, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying. So when we read Jeremiah chapter 44, Jehoiakim's already out of the picture. It was during the King Zedekiah that Nebuchadnezzar came and, you know, overpowered Judah and Jerusalem, okay? So we're going back into time and it tells us this took place in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah. So I thought it'd be good for us to just go back a little bit in time. Let's go back a little bit, back to Jeremiah chapter 36. Keep your finger there in Jeremiah 45 and let's go back to Jeremiah 36 to give us sort of the timeframe of when Jeremiah 45 takes place, okay? So we've got to go back to Jeremiah 36. Look at verse number one. Jeremiah chapter 36, verse number one, which reads, and it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim. So it's the same period. Fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that this word came unto Jeremiah from the Lord saying. So we know that Jeremiah 36 is the same timeframe, or at least the same year as what took place in Jeremiah 45. Now drop down to verse number five in Jeremiah 36. Let's remind ourselves what took place in Jeremiah 36. Look at verse number five. And Jeremiah commanded Baruch saying, I am shut up. I cannot go into the house of the Lord. So you may recall there was a time when Jeremiah was banned, was prohibited from coming into the Lord's house, okay? And preaching God's word. Well, that's kind of like us now. We're banned from being in the Lord's house. We're shut up from being in the Lord's house. So what instruction does it give Baruch? Look at verse number six. Therefore go thou and read in the role which thou has written from my mouth, the words of the Lord in the ears of the people, in the Lord's house upon the fasting day. And also thou shall read them in the ears of all Judah that come out of their cities. It may be they will present the supplication before the Lord and will return everyone from his evil way. For great is the anger and the fury that the Lord have pronounced against his people. And Baruch the son of Nariah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book the words of the Lord in the Lord's house. So Jeremiah is unable to go to the Lord's house. We can say, well, Jeremiah's unable to go to church. Therefore he sends Baruch to go in his place to read out the words and this took place in the same year. Okay, so you can see what's taking place that Baruch is normally, you know, the wingman if you want to call that, right? He's a sidekick of Jeremiah. But this time Baruch's got to go out on his own. Jeremiah cannot minister in the house of God. Baruch has to step it up, right? And he goes out on his own, you know, preaching God's word that was given to him by Jeremiah. And so that's all we know. What we know in Jeremiah chapter 36 is that Baruch is just faithfully stepping up in his ministry. He's taking on a greater responsibility, being the main preacher in the house of God as they go there and he's being obedient. He does everything that Jeremiah asks him to do. That's all we know. And as we keep going through Jeremiah 36 we have a different timeframe, okay? But that's what we know that took place in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the King. Now, if all we had was Jeremiah 36, wouldn't we conclude that, boy, Baruch is just a faithful, godly man. He must be strong in the faith, empowered, right? Just leading the charge. He's ready to take on that responsibility that Jeremiah had for him. You would be left thinking, man, what a powerful man, right? No weaknesses. Look at him being obedient. Look at him going out there, you know, he's mental, his leader's not able to go to the house of God, but he's getting out there, he's preaching the words of Jeremiah. And yes, that's what he did. You know, of course, for a large chunk of his ministry, that's exactly what he did. But then we got Jeremiah 45, so go back to Jeremiah 45, and we know that Baruch is in a point of discouragement. Okay? So he looks like he's doing faithfully so well, but actually we learn he's discouraged. Baruch has become discouraged. So let's look at verse number two. It says, So what did Baruch say? So these are the words of Baruch. Woe is me now, for the Lord have added grief to my sorrow. I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest. I mean, boy, someone's saying these words, don't you think that person's very distraught right now, very discouraged? So what we learned from this passage is that going into the ministry, you know, you will have times where you may have great success, you know, doing God's Word and faithfully serving Him, but that doesn't make you immune from discouragement. You know, things can go bad in the ministry. People may turn against you. You may feel like you're not accomplishing what you want, what you think God wants you to accomplish, and you can turn around in the ministry and say, boy, woe is me. You know, I can't fulfill the ministry that God has asked me to do. I'm unable to achieve the goals that I thought I wanted to achieve in the ministry, and so there can be great discouragement in the ministry. You know, I often hear from different pastors that I talk to, and they tell me that the people in the church don't understand, you know, they don't reflect on how pastors can get discouraged, okay? Because usually when the pastor comes to church, right, he's gotta try to, you know, bring a bit of energy into the room, right? He's gotta be able to preach in the power of God, and obviously if the pastor or the preacher is depressed and cast down, it's gonna be very noticeable, and it might bring a downer to the whole church service, right? And so the pastor's job, you know, not to fake it, but to make sure that whatever discouragement he's in is just to get into the power of God. You know, whatever problems he might be facing, just understand that you're preaching God's people. God's people need to hear God's word, and so you go forth and you try to be faithfully strong for the people of God and to sing praise unto the Lord and to preach God's word with power, but you just never know where that preacher might be really feeling periods of discouragement. And so that's something that we can't forget. Please be praying for this pastor. Be praying for other godly men, other preachers that get behind the pulpit serving God, because God's ministry can get discouraging. You know, even just daughter-in-law soul winning, right? It can be discouraging getting out there, not seeing people saved, you know, people knocking you back, you can get discouraged, and you may feel like, you know, you wanna be a quitter. Now you might say, well, Pastor Kevin, of course, Baruch, you know, he's Jeremiah's sidekick. Of course he got cast down. Of course he got depressed, but not Jeremiah, because Jeremiah's been there in the ministry for decades. He's faithfully preaching God's word. God is, God's word is coming upon Jeremiah. Surely Jeremiah is not somebody that got discouraged. Well, just to remind you, please go to Jeremiah chapter 20. Jeremiah chapter 20 and verse number nine. Jeremiah chapter 20 and verse number nine, these are the words of Jeremiah. Then I said, this is what Jeremiah says, I will not make mention of him, speaking about God. Jeremiah says, I'm not gonna mention God anymore, okay? Nor speak any more in his name. I'm never gonna preach anymore, says Jeremiah. I'm never gonna speak of God anymore. I'm never gonna preach anymore, why? Because Jeremiah in Jeremiah chapter 20 because Jeremiah in Jeremiah chapter 20 got discouraged as well. He got cast down. He briefly quit his ministry, you may recall, right? He briefly quits it, but then he gets back on the program, okay? But the point I wanted to show you there is it's not just Baruch, okay? Yeah, Jeremiah 45 is specifically for Baruch, but even Jeremiah got cast down, depressed, discouraged in the ministry. And so what we can learn from this chapter is that all of us, even if you're not in the ministry, if you're just a servant of God, you're a saved individual, a child of God, you will go through periods of discouragement, okay? You may even feel discouraged in the Lord, right? You may feel the Lord is fire and things aren't working for you in life, right? Why is lockdown going longer than what we anticipated or expected? And it's easy to become discouraged. And so I hope we can learn something from this chapter. So let's go back to chapter 45 there. Jeremiah 45, look at verse number three. Jeremiah 45, verse number three. What can discouragement look like? Well, there's a lot of information there in verse number three. The words that Baruch says, first of all, is woe is me now, okay? Woe is me now. Of course, woe, I don't think we, I mean, I've never really met anybody like in my daily life when they're discouraged, they're going, woe is me, okay? Obviously, that's a sort of archaic way of showing distress, right? But woeing is an exclamation of distress, right? It's kind of like self-pity. Have you ever felt sorry for yourself, okay? Well, that's basically what Baruch is saying. He feels sorry for himself, okay? He feels that self-pity, he says, woe is me, okay? There's distress in his life. Then he says, for the Lord have added grief to my sorrow. So not only did he have sorrow, he says, now the Lord, I was ready sorrowing, now the Lord's added grief to my sorrow. What is grief? Grief is basically mental suffering, okay? It's all happening, it's not necessarily physical. You don't have to be suffering physically, but just mentally, you could be suffering mentally, that would be grief. Well, that grief has been added to sorrow, okay? What is sorrow? That's much easier. Sorrow is like sadness, but specifically sadness due to loss, okay? When you lose someone, you may lose a loved one, okay? Someone has passed on in your life, you will feel great, you know, feelings of sorrow. Sorrow has to do with loss. It may not be that you've lost somebody specifically, it might be that you've lost your job, okay? Or it might be, you know, you lost your finances, you've lost your possessions, maybe you've lost your reputation, you've lost your testimony, you've lost something that was meaningful in your life and now you're feeling great sorrow about that loss. You know, I don't know, maybe, you know, we've lost our freedoms, okay, since COVID. Maybe that's why a lot of us are discouraged and upset with that sorrow of just the usual normality, the freedoms that we were comfortable with, that we just took for granted, we've lost that and we feel periods of sorrow. Now, keep your finger there and please go to Isaiah 53. Please go to Isaiah 53. And, well, grief and sorrow are mentioned here. I want to just bring to your remembrance in Isaiah 53 that the Lord has felt these feelings as well, the Lord Jesus Christ. And of course, Isaiah 53 is a famous chapter on the crucifixion of Christ and his suffering, but Isaiah 53, verse number three, Isaiah 53, verse number three, speaking of Jesus Christ, it says, he is despised and rejected of men. Then it says this, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. So you have Baruch saying, you know, the Lord has added grief to my sorrows. Well, you know who was the man of sorrows? Who bore all the sorrows of this entire world, who put upon himself all the grief that he's been suffering in this world because of sin? Hey, that was Christ. He took on all the sorrow, okay? He took on all the grief. And it says, and we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed him not. So look at verse number four. Surely he have borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Notice that. It's not that he carried his own griefs and his own sorrows. No, it says he have borne our griefs and our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. Brethren, I just want you to be reminded, and this doesn't get preached too often, but we remember that when Christ suffered and was crucified, we say that he died for our sins, that he bore his sins in our body, and that is true. 100% correct, okay? He shed his blood so we could be forgiven of sins. But don't forget that sin has consequences, okay? Maybe sins that you've done yourself or sins that other people have committed to yourself or just in the simple fact that we live in a sin-cursed world and of course, things aren't gonna go perfect all the time. There's gonna be hurts and disasters that bring sorrows and griefs. So sorrows and griefs are a consequence of sin. Not only did Christ pay for our sins, but he paid for all the consequences that come with our sins. All the sorrow that you feel, okay? I mean, just think about your life. I don't know how long you've all lived. Think about all the sad times that you've had. Think about all the times that you've been able to say, woe is me, right? And there's been grief and sadness, and you've experienced that. You know, it can feel overwhelming, can't it? You know, it can be a little bit too much sometimes. You know, for many people in this world, they end up taking their own lives because they can't handle the grief and sorrow that they suffer with. But that's just your own grief and sorrow, okay? You know what? Then the person next to you, they've got their own griefs and sorrows that they suffer with. You know, all 7 billion people that live on this earth in this current generation, they all suffer with grief and sorrow, okay? And what about every generation that's ever lived from Adam to every generation that's ever going to live till, you know, God creates a new heaven and a new earth? You know, every individual person that's ever going to live on this earth has suffered some elements of grief and sorrow as a consequence of sin, okay? So not only did Christ pay for our sins, but he took on in his own body every single person's sorrow. Whatever you might be sorrowing and feeling grieved about right now, guess what? Christ felt that in his body. What you're feeling right now, whatever discouragement you're feeling right now, Christ felt that on the cross. He took on your sorrows. He took on our griefs, okay? It's not just the sins that we do. It's the consequence of sin. And many people don't even understand this, okay? So if Christ has already taken that in his own body, think about it. All 7 billion people in our generation today, all of that grief upon himself, we can sometimes not even bear our own griefs, our own sorrows. Imagine yourself just in this generation, just the 7 billion in this generation, you bearing everybody's grief and sorrow in your body. You are unable to do that. It will tear you apart. It will destroy your life. You wouldn't even be able to last one second if you had to bear everyone's griefs and sorrows on your body. And Christ has done that for us, okay? Not just this generation, but every single human being that's ever lived on this planet. So of course, this brings to the natural, you know, the logical conclusion here. If Christ has felt every sorrow and every pain, and he bears it for us, then when we're feeling that sorrow and pain, who do we go to? Of course, we go to Christ, okay? He knows what we're feeling. Whatever sadness you're going through, whatever sorrow and grief, Christ knows, he doesn't just know you're going through it. He knows what it's like. He's felt that same sorrow and that same pain for the same reason your suffering has been put on him some 2,000 years ago. He's felt it. This is why we have the Lord God. This is why he's so great and so amazing that we can go to him and say, Lord, you know my griefs. You know my sorrows. You know, you took them to the cross. Let me leave them with you, Lord. You give me your joy. You give me your presence. You give me your encouragement, Lord, because I need to be lifted out of this dark place in my life. But imagine not being saved, not knowing Christ. You know, not having somebody, not having the God of the universe to go to to bear those sorrows for us. It's a sad place, but we're Christians. We're being blessed to have a God that knows our sadness. What else does Baruch say? Jeremiah 45, verse number three, he says, I fainted in my sighing. So, of course, when we think about fainting, we think about when someone passes, you know, loses consciousness, falls down, we'll say that person's fainted. Now, yeah, that obviously would be an extreme form of fainting, but fainting is basically, you know, losing clarity. That can be, you know, if you're suffering, if you're saying, I'm feeling faint, it doesn't mean you're necessarily fainted, but you're just, you know, maybe your mind's a little bit messed up, right? You're feeling maybe a little bit dizzy, right? Unclear, not knowing the future, unsettled, right? Lack of information, lack of clarity, things don't make sense. That's what fainting would be here, okay? I fainted in my sighing, okay? And what is sighing? Sighing is, you know, breathing out audibly, you know, your sorrow, right? You know, you're feeling sadness and just audibly out of your mouth comes that sorrow and mourning and sadness that comes. And then he says at the end of verse number three, and I find no rest. Baruch is saying, it just seems like this is going to be my life continually. I can't get any rest, right? I mean, day after day, I'm feeling this sadness and this sorrow and this grief. You know, I assume for Baruch, the ministry was a little too hard for him, right? It got a little challenging, got a little bit tough. People were turning against him. They hated Jeremiah. They would not even allow Jeremiah to come and preach. And he's doing the best he can to continue God's word forward. But obviously he had many adversaries, many enemies against him, and it was just overwhelming for him. He felt like, when am I going to get rest from this? Maybe you feel that way. Maybe you feel like, when are we ever going to get rest from COVID-19, right? When are we going to have our normality? It just seems like we can't get back to our usual ways and this can cause burdens, you know, stress and discouragements. And I'll quickly read to you from Matthew 11, 28, the words of Christ, just as a reminder. Christ says, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. That's what this stress, this discouragement can feel, like this heavy laden, this heavy burden upon you. And you just don't know, how do I get this off? Well, Christ says, come unto me. And then he says, and I will give you rest. Okay, so Baruch's saying, I find no rest. Well, Christ says, I will give you rest. That's why when we are sad, Reverend, we must take it to the Lord, okay? God has provided Jesus Christ and He's provided the prayer and He's provided His Holy Spirit in our lives, so we can, with the help of God, with the strength of God, to get out of a period of discouragement, okay? To get out of a period of sorrow and grief. Then Christ says in verse number 29, take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. So resting in Christ, what do we learn there? Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. You know what helps us overcome the sadness in this world, the sorrow in this world? We learn of Him, we learn of Christ. Learn of me, said Jesus Christ. You know, that's what we ought to do. We go to His word, we hear some good preaching, right? We go to the Lord in prayer and we don't forget that Christ has borne your sorrows and your griefs. He knows what you feel, okay? But when you're far from God, it's hard to find that rest. When you're far from Christ because of unconfessed sin or because of just a general disinterest in the things of God, you know, you might be saying, well, we can't be in church, we've not been able to, what is that, is it seven weeks now? I don't even know anymore, okay? And we might feel like, well, you know, oh, get back to working with God when I can get back into church, no. If you say that to yourself, you will be discouraged. You will get into points of sorrow and distress, okay? You stay close to God, you learn of Christ, and He's gonna help you through those periods of sorrow. Don't forget that grief and sorrow, it's not, you know, the goal of a Christian is not just to overcome those areas of our life, but to learn through those areas, right, to grow in Christ in those areas. That's where we grow in maturity and knowledge of God when we are allowed to go through some levels of difficulty and allow the Lord God through His work and through His power and through His love and through His comfort and through His rest to get through that tough time. Let's go back to Jeremiah 45, if you're not there. Look at verse number four. Jeremiah 45 and verse number four. So Baruch is discouraged, okay? Verse number four. Thus shalt thou say unto him, God said to Jeremiah, this is what I want you to tell Baruch, okay, the Lord saith thus, behold, that which I have built, will I break down, and that which I have planted, I will pluck up even this whole land. You might be saying, how does that help Baruch? Like Baruch's really discouraged and upset, and God says, all right, Jeremiah, this is what you tell Baruch, I'm going to destroy Judah. I'm gonna pluck it down, I'm gonna break it down. I did plant it, but now I'm gonna pluck it down. I'm gonna destroy Judah because of Babylon. How's that gonna help Baruch's discouragement? I mean, I kind of like, if you're just reading that, you might be thinking the same thing, right? And just a reminder, why is God saying this to Baruch? Why is Jeremiah saying this? I'll just quickly read to you from Jeremiah 12, 17. And you know, God brings this passage up many times, okay, through the preaching of Jeremiah, just a few times. Jeremiah 12, so obviously this is much earlier in Jeremiah's ministry, Jeremiah 12, 17. It says, but if they will not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, saith the Lord, okay? Now I'm going to read to you from Jeremiah 18, verse number seven, Jeremiah 18, verse number seven, which says, and what instance I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to pluck up and pull down and to destroy it. So what I'm trying to say to you, brethren, is this. This was Jeremiah's message from the very beginning, from the very beginning of his ministry. You know, God told Jeremiah, I'm going to destroy Judah. You know, if they don't get right with me, if they can continue disobeying me, if they continue worshiping false gods and praying to false gods, I'm going to destroy this place. Okay, and now we have Baruch cast down, and what's the message to Baruch? The same message, God's going to destroy Judah. And again, the question might be, why would God say that? Well, I believe the answer to that is in verse number five. So let's look at Jeremiah 45, verse number five. Verse number five says, and seekest thou great things for thyself? There's the problem, okay, there's the problem. So God's reminding Baruch, I'm going to destroy Judah. It's all going to end, okay? This nation is not going to continue. They're going to die by the sword, the pestilence and the famine, and many of them will be taken into captivity, into Babylon. Nothing's going to happen in that land for 70 years, and then we're going to come back. But you know, this is disaster for Judah, okay? Don't forget Jeremiah and Baruch, they live here. This is their nation, and God is telling them, I'm going to destroy this place. But then in light of that, in light of God destroying this place, and seekest thou great things for thyself? See, this is what's getting Baruch upset. Baruch goes through a period of weakness here, and he wants great things for himself, okay? Great things for himself, but God's going to destroy this world. You know, this would be like us knowing that this is a wicked nation, Australia's wicked place. We know that this world is a wicked place. We know that God is judging this place, and one day is going to utterly destroy it as we read about it in the end times, and ask God, no God, I don't want to destroy this world, because I want to make myself great in this world. You know, God, I want to have great riches in this world. I want to be someone in this world. I want to be respected. You know, I want to be looked up to. And God said, God, don't destroy this place, because I want to do great things for myself. You see, Baruch for a period of time, was just like, boy, I can achieve more though. I can accomplish things here in Judah. And God is saying, no, I'm going to pluck it down. I'm going to destroy this place. And so Baruch becomes discouraged, okay, discouraged. You know, I'll just give you kind of a lesser view of this. You know, in your average Baptist church, we get taught that, well, Christ can come back at any moment, right? The pre-tribulation rapture, Christ is coming back at any moment, any time. And I remember just myself saying amongst myself, oh God, can you wait until I like get married? Like I kind of want to experience what it is like to get married and have a family and have kids. So Lord, can you just wait from coming back so I can do some great things for myself? Obviously that would be a lesser extent, but it's the same kind of thought, right? I mean, Christ coming back, even if it was a pre-tribulation, like Christ coming back is the greatest thing that can happen in this world. And like, we just don't understand, right? We know that Christ is going to come back. We know that God's going to pour out his wrath and destroy this place. And it's like, I said, well, just don't do it just yet because I've got so many things that I need to accomplish in my life. Well, you know what? When you understand that this world is going down the toilet and you know God is going to judge his place, and if your heart and mind is on this world, how great you can be in this world, then you are going to get depressed. You are going to become upset and full of sorrow, full of grief, okay? Because your heart's on the wrong things. See, Baruch's heart was about making great things for thyself, for himself. Let's keep going to verse number five. It says, seek them not. So how do we overcome discouragement, okay? Don't seek great things for yourself in this world. Reverend, you know, these are celebrities with all the money in the world, with all the fame in this world. They're not happy people, okay? There's a reason why they become alcoholics and they, you know, get addicted to all manners of drugs. And there's a reason why they just get married and divorced, married and divorced. They can't hold down a family, can't hold down a marriage. There's a reason why these people commit suicide, right? There's a reason why even though they're billionaires and millionaires, they still want more. They're never happy. You know, trying to make great things of yourself in this world brings no happiness. It just brings sorrow and discontentment. See, Baruch was feeling that way. God says, seek them not. Now, you might say, Pastor Kevin, I've heard you say behind the pulpit, you want to do great things for God, right? You want blessed up Baptist Church to be a great church and to be a soul-willing church. You know, you said you want new life Baptist Church to be a shining light on the sunshine coast. You said you want to do some great things like plant other churches and other places in Australia. Yeah, I want to do those great things, brethren. But you know what? Those great things are not for myself. Those great things are for the kingdom of God. We need to make sure that our mindset is on what can make God's kingdom great. How can I be used by God to do great things, not for thyself, but great things for the Lord God. So if you have the right mindset, you don't see great things for yourself, then you're not going to get as discouraged, as upset, when you see this world falling apart, okay? Look what God says, for behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, safe Lord, but thy life will I give unto thee for a pray in all places whither thou goest. Can you please turn to Luke chapter 12? Luke chapter 12 and verse 16. You know, sometimes I have people, Christians, ask me different kinds of questions, you know? And someone, maybe a new Christian might be working a job, and you know, where they're being paid very well, right? And they then maybe have spent some money on some nice things in this world. And they ask me, is it wrong for me to be earning this much? Is it wrong of me to have bought this product or bought that thing, right? But here's the thing, you know, if you just have the right mindset, your mindset is to serve God, then you know what? If God has given you a lot in this life, then praise God, use it to serve Him. It's not that having great things in this world is sinful, it's that Baruch's heart was in the wrong place, okay? He did not want God to judge his place, to judge this world. Listen, if you've been given a great position in this world, if you've been given great possessions in this world, if you've been given a great bank account in this world, just take that and say, well, this belongs to God. I'm going to serve God with what I've been given. It's not about becoming this poor monk or something, right? That's what Buddhists and Catholics and people like that believe, right? If I just get rid of all my possessions and I shave my head and I put on rags, now I'm really serving God or something like that. No, God gives us many riches. Abraham, a great man of God, was very rich. The Bible tells us that God blessed Abraham with silver, with gold, with servants, with cattle. You know, Abraham was a great man of God, okay? And yet he was also very wealthy on this earth. So it's not about being wealthy or being poor. It's just that if your heart is in seeking these earthly material things at the expense of the kingdom of God, then you will become discouraged, okay? Now, let me say something very clearly. I want to be rich, okay? I want to have a lot. You know where I want them though? I want them in heaven. I want to lay my treasures in heaven. I want the best mansion Christ can build for me, right? I want those streets of gold. I want my treasures laid up there, brethren. You know what, but those treasures up there, you know why, if there's any treasure up there, it's because we've set our mind upon God. We've set our mind upon the kingdom of God and we've laid up treasures there. That might very well come at the expense of doing, of course, great things on this earth for yourself. But Luke 12, verse number 16, we have the parable, very famous parable, and this is an example of a man who does great things for himself. Look at Luke 12, 16. And he spake a parable unto them, saying, the ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, what shall I do? Because I have no room where to bestow my fruits. And he said, this will I do. I will pull down my barns, look what he says now, and build greater. Boy, does this guy want to do some great things? Yeah, he wants to do some great things. He wants to build great. Is there anything wrong with building something greater? There isn't anything wrong with building anything greater. But what is it that he wants to build? And build greater, look at this. And there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods, and I will say to my soul, so thou hast much goods laid up for many years, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. Listen, there's nothing wrong with building. We've built this church. Blessed are Baptist Church to be built, okay, by Jesus Christ and has used his people to do this. Nothing wrong with building. Hey, I'm building my family. You know, I've got 11 kids on the way. If God willing, we can have more. I'm gonna continue building that house if I can, okay. But what are we building, brethren? This man wanted to build greater baths for just himself. Just like Baruch in that time of weakness, he sought how to, thou great things for thyself, all right. Look at verse number 20, but God said unto him, thou fool. And brethren, if you're living this life just for yourself, to just see how rich you can become, how wealthy you can become, what kind of name you can have on this earth, God has to say to you, thou fool. This night, thy soul shall be required of thee, then who shall those things be, which thou has provided? So is he that lay up treasure for himself, see, for himself, and is not rich toward God. We wanna be rich toward God. That's where the treasures are in heaven, brethren. We work for him, we serve him, we preach the gospel, we read his word, we keep his commandments, we do the best we can to live a godly life. We'll be laying up treasures, riches toward God in heaven, not in this life. Once again, there's nothing wrong with being rich in this life. If God has given you those things, you've worked hard, it's not like you've gambled and won the lottery or something, or you've cheated people out of their possessions, you've stolen people's inheritance or something like that wickedly. I'm not talking about that. I'm just saying if you've just been working hard, you've just done well in your life and you've just made the right decisions. You've counted every dollar, you've saved up, you've kept the budget, you've done well for yourself, praise God for you. But then use that to serve God. Maybe the Lord's allowed you to do that so you can sacrificially give to different ministries or to go sacrificially for a period of time to serve him in a greater capacity. Please go to Matthew 18. Go to Matthew 18, verse number one. Matthew 18, verse number one. I don't want you to walk away from this sermon thinking it's wrong to design great things. No, no, there's nothing wrong with designing great things. Look at Matthew 18, verse number one. It says, at the same time came the disciples unto Jesus saying, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Now, you could think, well, boy, man, you really think high of yourselves, don't you? Who's gonna be the greatest? But it's actually a good desire, right? It's a good desire to be great in the kingdom of heaven. Why is it good? Because it shows that you've served God faithfully, that you've given your life to in the service of God for the kingdom of God. That's what greatness in heaven represents, okay? But look at verse number two. Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. What is greatness in the kingdom of heaven? Number one, you need to be humble enough to admit that you're not good enough for heaven, okay? Like a little child, just acknowledge I need help, okay? That's why Christ came, he's our savior, he's our way to heaven. It takes humility to believe on Jesus Christ, right? It takes humility to acknowledge that you're not good enough for heaven. But not only that, if we stay as it were, as Christians, humble as this little child, the same is the greatest. It's not just entering heaven, but if we stay as Christians, humble, okay? Lowering ourselves before others, being in servitude for others, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And then Christ speaks in verse number five, and whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. You know, in church, when we can have church, right? There's often little children. And I would really encourage you, you know, please acknowledge the kids, right? When they come into the church building, say hello to them, make sure the children feel welcomed, right? It's not like church is just for the adults, and then the children just tag along. No, church ought to be for the children as well. They ought to feel welcomed as well. They ought to feel received, because if we receive a little child, we receive Jesus Christ as well. That's what makes you great. What is it to receive a child? It means you have to humble yourself. You can't look down on all those little kids, too much noise, you know, sticky hands from too much lollies or something, right? No, you know, you need to humble yourself, lower yourself, make them feel important, make them feel loved by the congregation, make sure they understand that they're loved by God. You know, you set a good example for little children. They're gonna grow up desiring to be in church. They're going to grow up desiring, hey, you know, it's important that when I become an adult, that I give attention to little kids as well. And so that's all about humility. If we can lower ourselves, not just to serve the brethren that are adults, but to serve the little children in the church, then God promises you that you'll be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And so it's humility that we need in this earth. If we're seeking a great name, great things for thyself in this world, then you're not gonna be the greatest in heaven. You'll make it to heaven, praise God, because you humbled yourself to be saved, but then you live a life where you're just trying to be some big shot in this wicked world. Well, you're not gonna be the greatest in heaven because to be a big shot in this world requires a lot of pride. It requires you to step on other people's toes. It requires you to take advantage of other people and you're not gonna be great in the kingdom of heaven. Being great in the kingdom of heaven requires humility. Now, we're still there in Jeremiah 45, verse number five. So if we're not seeking great things for thyself, then what are we seeking great things for? Again, we're seeking to do great things for God. Can you please turn to John chapter 14, John chapter 14, verse number 12. John chapter 14 and verse number 12. And these words, they just blow my mind, okay? These words from Jesus Christ. Let's read it together. John chapter 14, verse number 12. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, so if this is you, do you believe in Jesus? All right, then this is for you. He that believeth on me, the works that I do, shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto my Father. Boy, think about the works of Christ, okay? Christ says that if you believe on him, you'll do the same works that he did. Not only will you do the same works, he says, and greater works than these shall he do. Why? Because I go to my Father. Christ was going to die and ascend to the Father, right? Christ's ministry was only three years long. He accomplished a lot in three years, granted. He had thousands of people flocking to him, hearing his preaching, hearing his word, right? Preaching the gospel, seeing people saved, right? Christ had 12 disciples he had to train, personally train them. One became a betrayer, but he had 11 that were those that originally planted the first churches and they were preaching the gospel after Christ left, okay? Christ was able to accomplish a great lot of work on this earth, but he only had three years. I don't know how long you've been saved, but you know what, I've personally been saved since I've been four years old, okay? I'm 40 now, so I've had 36 years to do works for God. I don't know how long you've all been saved, but you know, if we consider how long we've got, yeah, we're not gonna have three years or thousands of people coming to Christ, but hey, you can be used by God where you can have your 10 saved in one year, you can have your 20 saved in one year, you can have your 30, your 50 saved in one year, your second year, another 50, your third year, another 50. Hey, you can build that up where you might be serving God for some 40 years, 50 years, 60 years of your life, you know, maybe more, and you'll be able to accomplish even more than what Christ did himself. It's an amazing thing to think that we can do such work, but if we're doing that work, and remember, we're doing great things for the Lord God, we're doing great things for the kingdom of God. I'll quickly read to you from 1 Corinthians 3.10. According to the grace of God, which is given unto me as a wise master builder, wise master builder, I have laid the foundation and another buildeth thereon, but let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. You know, we've all been called to be a builder. Paul says he was a master, a wise master builder, right? Because he laid the foundation. He's speaking to the Corinthian church. What he means is that he went to Corinth and had these people saved, and he started the church there in Corinth, so he laid, as it were, the foundation. But that foundation is Christ. Because it says in verse 11, for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. When you're building a house, you need the foundation at the very beginning, right? Paul comes to Corinth. There's no foundation. There's no church. He goes, he preaches the gospel. He starts that church as it were. He lays the foundation, which is Jesus Christ. But then he says that we all need to take heed. We all need to listen. We all need to think how we're gonna build upon that foundation of Jesus Christ. If you're saved, you've got that foundation, okay? Now what does God want? He wants you to build something great on that foundation. It says in verse number 12, now if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest. For the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire. And the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. Let's remind ourselves that there's coming a day that we're gonna be judged by God. We're gonna stand before the judgment seat of Jesus Christ. This is not about deciding whether your name is written in the book of life and being cast into hell. No, this is about saying, what did you build? You've got the foundation of Christ. What did you do with your life? How well did you build? We're all gonna have some wood, hay and stubble that when the fires of God passes through, it's just gonna burn down to the crisp, okay? So we ought not to just live our life for this world and just do what the average human being does in this world. No, that's just wood, hay and stubble. It's got no eternal value. When we think about building upon the foundation, we wanna build upon things that are gonna have eternal value. We need to build the gold, the silver, the precious stones, right, upon that house. And when you do that, brethren, and the fires pass through in judgment, God will be able to see just how precious your building was, how precious your life was. So please take this to heart. God wants us to build. God wants us to do great things, great things for ourselves as well, as long as it lines up with God's will, because it's the line up of treasures in heaven. That's for all eternity. Don't forget, we have a small period of time, a small window, 70, 80, 90 years if God allows, but then we have all eternity to live for, okay? We ought to be building for that life, okay? For the afterlife. Can you please turn to Psalm 126? Psalm 126. You might say, well, I know it's only 70, 80, 90 years, God willing. But I still need to look after myself, Pastor Kevin, right? I can't just have my focus constantly on just God's kingdom and God's work. I need to work a job and provide for my wife or provide for my family. Yeah, if you do that, you're doing what God wants. You are serving God if you're doing the basic things like that. Praise God. But don't get the mindset that if I just have my focus on the things of God, that I can't take care of my own needs, what did God say? He says, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. We need to make sure we have our priorities right, that we seek to do great things for God and then God will do great things for us. Look at Psalm 126, verse number one. Psalm 126 and verse number one. When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we will like them that dream. This is about being taken from captivity. So it's like the, you know, as it were, we're going from Jeremiah when the Jews were taken to captivity by Babylon, well, God turned the captivity. After 70 years, they were allowed to return. But notice verse number two. When our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing. You know, as I told you, the title of the sermon today was about discouragement. We're looking at discouragement. We'll look at these people. They were captive in Babylon, okay? God turns that captivity. Now how are they reacting? They're laughing. The tongue is with singing. Then said they among the heathen, the Lord have done great things for them. The Lord have done great things for us, whereof we are glad. So brethren, how do we become happy people? Truly glad, truly singing, truly laughing, having the joy in this life, even in lockdown periods, brethren. You know what we do? We keep our minds upon God. We serve Him and we wait for the Lord to do great things for us. If we just serve God, we do what He says. God will take care of our needs. We don't need to be concerned and worried about our own needs. Well, God, I can't serve you right now. God, I don't have time to read my Bible right now because I need to do some extra overtime at work to pay for my bills. Brethren, if you just serve God, you know, use your time wisely to serve Him, God will make sure that your needs are taken care of, that you have more than you need, that even when you're in a place of discouragement and sadness and sorrow, God can deliver you from such place where you can be back to singing and laughing and be filled with joy. Great things comes from God. Can you please turn to 1 Samuel chapter two, 1 Samuel chapter 12, sorry, 1 Samuel chapter 12, verse number 20. 1 Samuel chapter 12, verse number 20. We're coming to the period here in 1 Samuel 12 where King Saul has recently just been appointed king of the nation. And Samuel's preaching a sermon to the nation. And it says in verse number 20, 1 Samuel 12, 20. And Samuel said unto the people, fear not, ye have done all this wickedness, yet turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. Brethren, let me encourage you to not turn aside from following the Lord. Let me encourage you to serve the Lord with all your heart. Verse number 21, and turn ye not aside. And then, for then, should ye go after vain things, look at this, which cannot profit nor deliver, for they are vain. You see, when we turn from the Lord, then we sort of, as human beings, we fulfill, you know, we find fulfillment in accomplishing things. So either we find fulfillment in accomplishing things for God, or we're gonna try to find fulfillment in some of the aspects. But what happens is when you're far from God, you seek after vain things, things that cannot profit or deliver, they are vain. It's not about earthly things, worldly things. We're looking for, again, the riches of this world, the pleasures of this world, right? A name for yourself in a wicked world. But you know, you think there's joy there, but there isn't. It's vain, it doesn't deliver what it promises. It doesn't deliver. The only thing that delivers great gladness and happiness is serving the Lord God. Verse number 22. So it's my job as a preacher like Samuel to teach you the good and the right way. Verse number 24. Look at this. So Brevin, you know what? Sometimes we need to just stop and consider how great things he have done for you. You know, I know Australia right now, lockdown, one of the probably most locked down places on the planet, I think. I think that's what they're saying, right? But you know what? Again, we still have our homes. We still have food. We still have food at the groceries. Like if you're running out, I'm sure you have some money in your bank account. Even if it's 100 bucks, I bet you it's enough to get you through the week, okay? We still have our connections, our friends. We have the internet, we can connect. We have the live stream. Brevin, I know it can be frustrating and it can be discouraging in the world we're currently living in, but Brevin, you know what? We need to just go to the Lord and say, Lord, let me remember how you've blessed me. Let me remember the great things you've done for me. You know, you're married, my spouse, that you've given me as someone that I can share my life with. If you have kids, you have children, right? Even if it's just the one child. You know, praise God for this life that you've given me. And if you find yourself at home more than you normally are, well, thank you God for giving me extra time to spend with my family. I promise you this. When you die on your last breath, right? As you're passing into eternity, you're not going to turn around and say, boy, I wish I spent more time at work. It's not gonna come out of your mouth. Boy, I wish I spent more time making more money. That's not gonna come out of your mouth when you know that you only got a few seconds left to live. You know what you're going to desire? You're gonna either say one or two things. I wish I spent more time with the Lord. You know, I wish I spent more time on this earth that God gave me to serve Him because now I go into eternity where I can't serve Him anymore on this earth. Or number two, I wish I spent more time with my family. Wish I spent more time teaching my kids to love the Lord, to serve the Lord. I wish I spent more time just, you know, loving my family. But guess what? Lockdown gives us that opportunity, okay? Who cares if you don't see, you know, your neighbors and your community at the park when you walk, you know, the dog or something as much as you used to. But now you get the pleasure, the benefit of spending more time with your family. Use your time wisely. Thank God for the blessings, even though they may feel like discouraging times. If you spend your time, you know, fearing the Lord, you know, learning the truth of God, you know, and thanking Him for the great things He's done for you, you will overcome discouragement. The last thing I want to look at here, it's along the same lines. If you're still there in Jeremiah 45, verse number five, just the last words that Jeremiah says to Baruch. So again, behold, I bring evil upon all flesh, when our God's gonna judge the whole nation, save the Lord. But then it says, but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest. So it's a little bit tricky the way it's spelled out here. But you know, if you're praying, like if I'm a tiger and I'm seeking prey, I'm seeking, you know, food to nourish myself, right? You're seeking a rabbit or something, right? And that's your prey. You're going to prey upon that thing. Well, God says to Baruch, even though He's gonna destroy the whole of Judah, right? It's gonna be taken down. It says, thy life will I give unto thee for a prey. So, you know, you're not going to be able to, you know, desire, you know, the riches of Judah. You're not going to be able to desire a great name in Judah. No one's gonna turn around in Judah and think, man, what a great preacher Baruch was. But I hated the preaching of Jeremiah and Baruch, okay? But it says, but you've got your life, okay? What you're gonna be given is your life. And again, that may not seem like much, but we need to remember to thank God that we just even can take a breath, okay? That, you know, when you wake up this morning, when you woke up this morning, thank you, Lord, for giving me a new day. How many people passed away yesterday and thought they were going to see today? You get to see today if you're listening today, right? We ought to just be able to remember and thank God just for the very basic thing as life. God, thank you for life. Thank you that you've given me a new day. Thank you that you've given me time to serve you. Lord, thank you for the time you've given me today. Let me not take it for granted. Thank you for the breath that I can breathe, Lord. Thank you for the sunny day that we have today. Thank God for your life, okay? Now, we could look upon it in our terms and say, well, you know what? God has given unto us, sorry, thy life, we could say eternal life will be given unto thee for a pray. We have eternal life. You know, we will never pass away. We will never die. Christ says in John 11 25, Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die, believeth thou this. Boy, we've been given eternal life. Even if we suffer death in this body, we continue to live. You know, Pastor Stevenson preached that new life not long ago, and he said, and it's so true, you know, death in the eyes of God is simply you going from one place to another place. That's it, okay? From God's perspective, you've gone from earth to heaven. Praise God, you're still alive, okay? And praise God that that's, at least that's what God has given us. That's why it's so important that, you know, we preach the gospel to not just our community, but to our loved ones. Maybe lockdown gives us that chance to preach the gospel to those that we don't normally speak to about this. Maybe because we feel a little bit embarrassed, or we feel like it might cause some division, some conflict in the family. You know, being locked down allows us to speak God's word, preach the gospel. It's so important that, you know, if you have an unsafe spouse that you preach them the gospel, you show them, you know, eternal life. If you have children, you know, preach the gospel unto your children. Right, it'd be a beautiful thing if all I have, brethren, if all I have, you know, I've got the foundation of Christ, and I haven't done much for the Lord, maybe, but I know that in heaven I'm gonna see my wife again, that my kids are gonna be in heaven. Praise God for the life that he's given us. You know, I've been saying that so many times as Australians, we're just way too spoiled. We just think we deserve everything, you know, but boy, you know, the fact that we just have life is sufficient for us to say, praise God, thank you for the life that you've given us. And so the feelings of discouragement, you know, it's real. I'm not saying that you're a bad person or, you know, a sinful person if you feel discouraged. No, Baruch and Jeremiah are the greatest men at this time, and they're feeling periods of discouragement, okay? So remind yourself to draw close to God. Remind yourself not to, you know, desire great things on this earth, but seek to do great things for the Lord in heaven, and he will come, he will give you the rest. He will give you the encouragement so you can laugh, sing, and rejoice once again. Let's pray.