Victorious Values For the 90s II, Endurance

We're actually mentioned to you that all the tapes from the week of breakthrough are now complete. I think we made 300 sets. So they're available to the tape ministry right after the service. I think there's like five or six tapes because several messages were longer and we included Sunday two weeks ago. So if you missed that, you'll want to pick those up and hear what the Lord's been speaking to us. Revelation chapter one, I, John, your brother, verse nine, I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. On the Lord's day, I was in the spirit and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet which said, write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea, it's not in there but I could say and Pittsburgh or this particular expression of the church in Pittsburgh, North Way Christian community. Mention the word endurance, endurance to most Americans and they automatically associate it with what? Right, sports or athletics, the marathon runners, the triathletes, the mountain climbers who go on for days with little oxygen, the Indy 500 driver who lasts those three or four hours and I guess that's all fine but how many of you just get a little tired about hearing about athletes and their great accomplishment? I do, I have to be honest and mainly I think because they get paid so darn much for doing it, you know, but there's a dimension of endurance that I want to talk about today that has to do with where you and I live folks, endurance spiritually. Most of us, if I had this thing figured out, sign on with the Lord early in life or at some point in our lives and we figure from that point it's all going to be great, right? That's what we figure, I mean we're told that pretty much, how many of you found the first year of being a Christian was probably your best? That's scary, isn't it? Oh, it's exciting and everything falls, you know, you feel free from guilt and you have joy in your life and this whole new thing is a discovery and it's wonderful and then the Lord begins to say, I got to make some changes now, you ever found that? A lot about your life that needs fixing up, a lot of things that need to be adjusted, you know, did you find that things that never used to bother you and now bother you that you do when you became, after a while? It's been so long for some of you, you're just looking at me like, I don't even remember but for some of the newer ones, you know what I'm talking about. Then you're told, well, you're part of an invading army now, you're no longer a citizen of the world but you're a citizen of another kingdom, all this stuff and suddenly anyone here would just say, being a Christian, walking the Christian life is not necessarily that easy, do I have agreement on that one? It can be difficult at times for us, this subject of endurance now enters into the equation because you see, without it folks, I have to say, I don't think you're going to make it through the 90s, I think churches will crumble, I think many Christians will fall to the wayside, Jesus seems to indicate that as the days get increasingly dark, the number of people who turn away will be increasingly higher, doesn't he? Think about the apostle John, if you think it was just for now, look at John, here's John, the man who walked with Jesus, the one that Jesus said was the disciple whom he loved, the one who laid his head on Jesus' chest, the one of all the apostles that seem to be most intimate with Jesus, it says here that he was on the island of Patmos, see he was about 70 years old when this was written, probably taking retirement, probably bought a condo there in Patmos, was setting up shop for a long, leisurely, restful, how many know Patmos was a place of exile, he was probably not doing all that well, and here he was, don't forget now, the closest apostle to Jesus, I mean close to him, you'd think that after all this, John would be blessed somehow, right, he would have gotten something for all of his labors and his sacrifices, here's what he says, he said, I'm here as a companion and brother, and look at the three things, these are our common graces on your outline, in suffering and in the kingdom and in patient endurance, church, listen, as long as you're a believer, those three things are going to happen in your life, suffering, how many of you know, there's always going to be something that's afflicting, that word suffering, by the way, means pressure, flipsus means affliction or pressure, as long as you're a Christian, there's always going to be things that you're dealing with in terms of the kingdom of God in your life, the rule of God displacing the rule of your old life, we got that in the overhead now, common graces, alright, and number three, there's always going to be a need for patient endurance, always, okay, suffering, the kingdom and patient endurance, where do you get that, well, look what it says, that are ours in Jesus, as long as you're in Jesus, there's going to be suffering, there's going to be the kingdom displacing the old and there's going to be patient endurance in your life, as long as you're in Jesus, you're going to have an experience of the three of those things, I wonder though, if we realize how important endurance is, if the Lord were to appear to you tonight, wouldn't that be wonderful, I'm going to be scared out of your wits, the Lord appears to you tonight and he says, Tom, Ken, Scott, what one thing do you want me to give to you, Mary, who knows what you'd say to the Lord, what would it be, Jim, let me complete your vision, that's not bad, Jim, you've been practicing that, it's good, complete your vision, what did the one record of this that we have in the Bible, what did that person say, who was it first of all, when the Lord appeared to someone at night and said, I'll do whatever you want, what one thing do you want, you think I'm making, this wasn't like a hard copy or something, when did he, who did he appear to, Solomon, you don't remember that, Solomon, he said that to Solomon, what did Solomon say he wanted, wisdom, now that's not a bad start, I've always heard that and said, well, if the Lord appeared to me, that's what I'd ask for, wisdom, I thought about that this week, maybe that was what Solomon really needed, you see, Solomon had been given a kingdom, wealth, power, I mean, his kingdom was the number one deal on the earth at that time, I could understand why as a manager of something already established where he was in control, Solomon would need wisdom, I'm not so sure that what we need, some of us anyhow, maybe many of us, what we need more than anything else in this day is endurance, maybe that's what I'd ask the Lord for, endurance to complete my vision perhaps in Jim's words, endurance to stand up when job interview after job interview after job interview is a slam door, endurance to hang in there when the ones that we love keep rejecting the Jesus that we love, endurance to believe that God isn't finished with his sanctifying work in our hearts, endurance to not quit when everyone else around us says, I can't take it anymore, I'm not so sure that in the 90s, that's the one thing that might be most necessary, you know, it's Jesus himself who said in Matthew 24, 13, he who endures to the end, what, will be saved, look it up, Matthew 24, 13, he who stands firm, who endures to the end will be saved, implying to me that some will not stand and therefore will not be saved, I don't know what you're resting your eternal security on, but it has to have something to do with endurance, then in the book of Hebrews, the Bible says that we will inherit all the promises of God, all the promises, the prophetic words, all the things of God on our lives, we'll inherit them through faith and patience, also translated endurance, that's how we receive from God, that's how we make it to the end of God's purposes in our lives, I have to say today, endurance is vitally important, church, for where we are, I have a sense in my spirit that the enemy would want to right now, in this little picture of our history as a church, want to so knock us off course, so discourage us, remember last week, take the courage away from us, that we would tend to want to just give it up, and walk away from it, or we can choose to be men and women of endurance, believe in God, that we're not going to quit, we are going to make it, we are going to fulfill God's vision for our lives together, I don't know today, there's probably most of you here, most of you here rather probably have already committed your lives to the Lord, but I'm probably also convinced that some of you right now aren't very content in that, you're in a category of what I'm going to call a drifter, I have four categories, we can just flash those up there, seekers, I'll skip that one in this service, I'll talk about drifters for just a moment, folks, this walk with, what does the word walk imply to you, point A to point B, yeah, I mean a walk means you're going somewhere, unless you're doing this, you could walk in circles I suppose, anyone here today feel like maybe there's some drifting going on, you're not sure of the direction of your life, and if that be the case, it's very easy to kind of just begin to settle in there and just sort of figure, well, you know, if God wants something for me, it's all going to happen anyhow, just let it go, and I want to say to you today, it's time, if that's where you are, if you're just kind of drifting without direction, it's time to rise up in endurance and believe God's word, don't you have a word, don't you know when God spoke to you and said, this is going to be your destiny in life, if you don't know that, start there, seek the Lord for that, and get out of your drifting, don't drift, don't drift, when you go to the ocean, you see great liners crossing the ocean or small fishing ships, and you also see pieces of wood that are what, drifting, doing nothing, may never be said that you drifted throughout your whole Christian life, there's another group here this morning, I'm going to call laborers, and that's many of you, hard working, sold out, saints of God, laboring in the kingdom, but you know what, I have to look out here this morning and tell you that I can say that some of you look weary, I mean fatigued, and I don't just mean from getting up, you know, 30 minutes ago, but you look tired, I have people tell me that now and then, there's so many needs out there, sociologists have a term for it now, it's called compassion fatigue, that the needs are so great, people really literally don't know where to start, I feel sorry for the presidential candidates, don't you, people want them to bring solutions to impossible problems, and I don't know how they make it through this ordeal of nominations and so, how about you today, there's so many needs in your family, you don't know where to start, so many needs around you in your little part of the world, that you're not sure, and you want to meet them, but you just, you're fatigued, how many of you would like to make one more commitment in your life, give me something else to be committed to, I'm just kind of like, gee, I'm bored, and there may be a few, and maybe more than I even perceive today, who are the fourth category, and that's the overcomers, that's the people out there in the kingdom of God, who've seen what it is God's called them to, and they've set their eyes on a goal that's out there, and they are walking toward it day by day, in encouragement, in confidence, in simple faith, that God's going to get them through to it, I have to say that Christians that I know in the world today, that's probably the minority of people, Paul said it very beautifully, he said in Philippians, and you're familiar with the passage, Philippians chapter 3, he looks down and he says, forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal, to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward, in Christ Jesus, you see folks, Paul knew something that I want us all to be reminded of, it's the people who make it to the end, that get the reward, how many people are runners here, or at least one time in your life, you were a runner, runners, alright, maybe running away from something, I don't know, but running, okay, a marathon is 26.2 miles, right, marathoners, if you run 25 miles, what do you get, a sorry, and a lot of sore blisters and painful muscles, you see, it's that way in our Christian life, somehow, let's all understand folks, we've got to run the full 26.2, don't give up what God's called you to do, let me end with just 5 things today, 5 things that you can do to cooperate with the Holy Spirit, simple things, the first one is look to the end and see the goal that's always before you, turn to Hebrews 12, would you flip over in your Bible just a few pages, look at Hebrews chapter 12, and I want you to see this important scripture, this could have been the text today, but I want you to see this also, therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders, and this sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance or endurance the race marked out for us, let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and the finisher or perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God, consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart, first thing that you can do to cooperate with the Holy Spirit to grow in endurance is to look to the end, if you focus on this short term, dear one, you are bound to be discouraged, I don't know anyone that gets what they want in the short term every time, fix your eyes out there on the end of what the Lord has called you to, if you're in a job search right now, fix your eyes on what that's going to be, and don't let the interim steps discourage you along the way, God has something for you, if you're raising toddlers, how many toddler moms are here, have you ever asked yourself the question, will this stage ever end, will I ever have sanity again, how many parents of teenagers are here, answer the question for them, no, right, I have three in my home now, three teenagers, I'm learning new languages, new priorities, you just have to, and I sometimes say, will they ever make it to adulthood when they're free and self-sustaining and independent, how many parents of adults are here, what's the answer, no, right, but there is a time, there is, a lot of conviction in that note, there is a time in the process where you see that they've accomplished that phase and they go on to the next one and you can just rejoice in that, how many parents of graduating seniors would say, well, praise the Lord, we've made that phase, look at the end, folks, fix your eyes, the Bible says here, may I point you to the fact that Jesus, verse 2, for the joy that was set before Him, what joy, I mean, what joy was Jesus talking about, was it the joy of suffering on the cross, it was the joy of His heavenly reward that the Father had said, son, you must obey and then you'll be seated at my right hand forevermore, Jesus fixed His eyes on that, if He had to do it, I have to say to you, I know I have to do the same thing as well, number 2, the second thing you can do is cultivate, what I'm going to call today, balcony people, where do I get that, balcony people, well, look at this, it says, verse 1, we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, I just see that as being up there in the heavenlies, there are people peering down looking on us, does that give you that image and where do people who sit up high looking down sit, in the balcony, I don't know, I thought it might help you to remember, cultivate balcony people, people who are there just to affirm you, to cheer you on, to encourage you, to help you to believe for God's best, when I talk to people who are having difficult times, who are in a cycle of discouragement, I often ask them, who's around you, who have you surrounded yourself with, you know what I often hear, I hear the names of people who I know are discouraged, who are negative, who are critical, who are unbelieving, I mean, nice people perhaps, but in that, maybe they themselves are in the midst of turmoil and they can't give encouragement, folks, if you're in a difficult time and you need endurance, don't surround yourself with people like that, because you won't make it, one of the reasons why we must restore the focus of small groups in our churches, far too few of us have a balcony group and when it comes time that we hit a bump in our Christian walk, we don't know where to go and if we don't know where to go and find that encouragement, we kind of feel like no one cares and so we just sort of drop out, third thing we can do is ask God every day, every day, discipline yourself every day to ask Him for endurance, Romans 15 and verse 5 says, may the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity, another thing I find is people in the midst of their struggles very often, it's then that they start to ask God for what they need, you know, wake up to the reality that the people who endure have built themselves up, so when the crisis comes, they have this strength of relationship to draw upon, you know, people who want to get in shape, they'll come up and say, hey, I'm going to go run North Park Lake this week, first time in 20 years I've run, and they get out and go about 300 yards and collapse in a heap, break, you know, some blood vessels or something, you see, when you want to be able to draw on those resources, it's wisdom to have built up that relational strength, so that when you call upon, someone said, crisis does not shape character, it reveals it, and I believe that's true, and so tell yourself, hey, I'm going to start now to read the Bible, how many people read the Bible every day, let me just see your hand, okay, remember the Lord is looking on those hands, okay, every day, wonderful, do it every day, how many pray every day, most all of your hands will go up, how many of you fast every day, just checking, yep, someone will say to me, well, I've got some problems, I'm going to go on a 21 day fast, they haven't fasted in 3 years, if I would say that, my body would say, you go on that 21 day fast, and I'll just die, I'm just going to stop right now, but if I have disciplined myself to fast a little bit along the way, and the Lord calls me to summon a little extra endurance, I'll have it, you understand, discipline yourself daily, all right, number 4, the 4th thing that you can do to cooperate with the Holy Spirit is to set aside the sin and entanglements, you see, even the greatest runners, even the greatest athletes will fall short if they are encumbered in some way, years ago when I was running, I was in a race, I had somehow, it was kind of silly, but somehow I got a stone down in my shoe, and for a while, you know, I blocked it out of my mind, I'll just make it, I can't stop and so on, and you ever had that happen, you just can't go on, a little tiny stone, I had to stop, take my shoe and my sock off, I don't know what it took, 30 seconds, 60 seconds, something like that, far enough to put me basically out of the race, folks, if there's sin in your life and you're just kind of carrying along, sin of attitude, sin of judgment, sin of disunity, physical sin, if there's something there, you're not going to endure, get it out of your life, get the anger out of your life, get the emotional entanglements worked out so you can endure, number 5, the 5th thing that you can do is to wear his yoke, Jesus said in Matthew chapter 11, verses 28 and 29, come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest, take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is, say it, easy and my burden is light. Some of us are wearing out, wanting to give up because we are wearing a yoke that Jesus didn't put on us, maybe out of guilt we've said yes too many times, maybe our lack of esteem causes us to always cave in when someone requires something of us, remember Jesus said my yoke is easy, back in those days, the days of the Bible, carpenters really didn't build homes so much in the sense, there wasn't a lot of wood going into houses, carpenters did a lot of specialty work and one of the things that they had to be very good at was to design yokes for the oxen, because it was critical that the oxen were able to labor, and a good yoke, a yoke that fit well, could be worn all day by the oxen and not chafe through his neck, if it didn't fit well, no matter how strong the oxen was, it wasn't long before he just began to cry out and wouldn't go on, and so it was very important, by the way tradition has it that Jesus as a carpenter made the most incredible yokes and was sought out for his skill in creating those, here he says in a spiritual sense, the yoke that I've created for you is easy, it doesn't chafe against you, it doesn't wear you out, folks if you're worn out today, ask yourself, am I wearing the yoke Jesus put on or am I doing something that I'm not meant to do, and you'll find that you'll be able to endure, five things then to cooperate with the Holy Spirit, let's put them all up, seek the end, see the goal, surround yourself with some balcony people who can encourage you and lift you up, daily ask God for encouragement, make it a discipline in your life, set aside the sin, the encumbrances, the weights that entangle, and wear his yoke, not a yoke that you feel you have to wear because someone's telling you to, if you'll do those things, you'll grow in endurance and you'll find that God will be there, seeing you through to the end, because he who endures to the end will be saved, let's stand and pray, thank you Lord.