Bella Vista Church of Christ

06/23/2019 P.M.

Living Perseverance

1 Peter 1.1-2 –6-9 & 2.11-12

Tonight… We’re gonna do things a little differently…Our lesson will be short… As we make room for our Young People who went to El Salvador to report on their work… Talk about their experiences.

Sunday Evenings… We’re taking our lessons from Jeff’s study of Revelation.

We can’t read Revelation chapters two and three without noting that Christianity is a religion of Perseverance… Each of the Seven Letters contains an admonishment from Jesus to…

• Remain faithful…

• To not give up…

• To keep-on-keeping-on…

Jesus says… Remain faithful unto and until death and I’ll give you the Stephanos Crown… The victor’s crown… Of eternal life.

Perseverance means…

• To persist…

• To endure…

• To maintain…

• To never give up... In spite of the difficulties… In spite of the obstacles placed before us.

Webster uses such words as…

• Steadfastness…

• Persistence…

• Continuance…

• Determination…

• Grit…

• Tenacity.

Perseverance is from the Latin… Literally meaning… Through severity.

Here it is church… We need to remember this… There can be NO PERSEVERANCE unless there is the SEVER… SUFFERING… TRIALS… TEMPTATION… DIFFICULT TIMES.

The SEVER must be present or else our word has no meaning.

Perseverance is our maintaining faithfulness in timeS of difficulty… It is keeping-on-keeping-on regardless of what might be happening to us or around us.

When I think of Biblical Perseverance… I think of Caleb…At age 85 he was still FAITHFUL… in His service to the Lord.

Reminds us of Polycarp… A disciple of the Apostle John… Who at age 86 was quoted as saying… “Eighty and six years have I served Him and He has done me no wrong… How can I blaspheme my King who saved me”…This statement was made as they lit the fires taking his life for NOT ACKNOWLEDGING CAESAR AS LORD AND KING.

Then there were those faithful UNTO AND UNTIL DEATH in Hebrews chapter eleven…

• Enoch…

• Noah…

• Abraham…

• Isaac…

• Jacob…

• Moses…

• The Prophets…

The Hebrews’ Writer says… Time would fail me to mention them all.

I believe Perseverance was found in John Wesley’s diary… Listen as I read!...

• May 5th preached in St. Ann’s… Was asked not to come back…

• May 5th PM preached at St. John’s… Deacons said get out and stay out…

• Sunday May 12th… Preached at St. Jude’s… Can’t go back there either…

• Sunday… May 12th PM… Preached at St. George’s…Kicked out again…

• May 19th… After preaching, the Deacons called a special meeting and said the decision was that I could not return…

• May 26th preached in a meadow… Someone turned a bull loose during the service.

• June 2nd preached on a street corner at the edge of town… Asked to leave.

• Sunday June 2nd… Preached that afternoon in a pasture… 10,000 people are there to hear me.

Indeed… Perseverance is… Faithfulness…Persistence… Not giving up… Regardless of the difficulties placed before us.

Let’s note what God says about our subject…

Jesus said In Luke 9.62... No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the Kingdom of God.

In Matthew 10.22... He says... He who stands firm to the end will be saved.

Ephesians chapter six tells us to put on the whole armor of God… Then admonishes us to stand firm… Keep Alert with all perseverance.

Hebrews 12.1... Therefore... Since we’re surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses... Let us throw off everything that hinders... And the sin that so easily entangles... And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

James 1.25... The man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom... And continues to do this... Not forgetting what he has heard... But doing it... He will be blessed in what he does.

Revelation 2.10… Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.

There can be no doubt that… As His children… God desires perseverance.

Next… We note four things we need

to become a people and person of Perseverance…

First… We need TRIALS…

Listen… There can be no perseverance unless we experience the SEVERE… Unless we experience… Test… trials… Troubles… Suffering… It’s a part of our definition.

Last Sunday Evening we heard Paul say… Everyone who will live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

1 Peter 1.7 tells us that our faith is proved genuine when we are faithful… Perseverant in fiery trials.

James says… Blessed is the man who maintains under trials… He’ll gain the crown of life.

Secondly… We must have TRUTH.

Perseverance is holding on to truth.

If we don’t have truth, there’s nothing… To persevere in… To be faithful to.

We’re not talking about being perseverant in a sport… Perseverant in some other discipline… But Perseverant in TRUTH!!...

• When obeyed… Truth sets us free from sin…

• Truth sanctifies us…

• When we walk in the light of truth…The blood of Jesus continues to cleanse us.

Knowing and practicing truth is the faithfulness Jesus is calls us to in our text.

TIME is a necessary component of perseverance.

The very idea of Perseverance needs time to be what it is.

Time is what perseverance is about… Without it there is no such thing… Faithful unto and until death

Number four is trust.

• Perseverance in trusting in Jesus…

• Perseverance is keeping our eyes on Jesus…

• Perseverance is NOT BECOMING WEARY IN DOING GOOD…

• Perseverance is allowing God to guide us…

Proverbs 3.5-6 reads… Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

Indeed… Developing the art of perseverance… We need… Tests… Truth…Time… Trust.

What else do we need to know about LIVING PERSEVERANCE?...

First… Those who persevere will EXPERIENCE FAILURE.

• Noah got drunk and exposed himself to his three sons…

• Abraham gave his wife to another man to save his own hide…

• Jacob was a liar and a cheat…

• Moses committed murder…

• David… Adultery and Murder…

• Peter denied Jesus…

• Paul says… He was the worst of sinners.

Listen church… We will fail in our trying to be faithful to the Lord…

But…But… Failure is not the end… John tells us we can erase our failures and have a fresh start… A new beginning… If we will acknowledge… Confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness

Secondly…We must not live in the PAST.

Looking back… Focusing on our past failures or our past accomplishments…is a sure way to kill perseverance.

Listen… How do we know if we are living in and with our past sin failures?

Let me tell you… When!!… When…

• Anger…

• Resentment…

• Hate…

• Regret…

• Guilt…

• Shame…

Still play in our mind.

Listen…I hear people say… Ha… You just need to get over it…. Just forgive yourself…We can’t forgive ourselves… We don’t have the resources to do that… Only the blood of Jesus can forgive sins.

What we do need to do is accept God’s forgiveness and move forward.

Hear Paul!!… One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus.

We must continually… MOVE forward… CONTINUE TO GROW… spiRitually

Paul said… I PRESS ON toward the goal…

Peter said… ADD… ADD to your faith virtue… Knowledge… To knowledge self-control… steadfastness… Godliness…Brotherly kindness… And to brotherly kindness love.

Then he tells us these must be EVER INCREASING.

Church… Not only must we not backslide… WE MUST NOT STAND STILL.

We cannot rest on the… Good deeds... The ministries… The Christian Graces added… The Fruit of the Spirit produced… In our life yesterday…But today.

Jeff talked about this… This morning. This church… Or we personally… Cannot rest on our past accomplishments or former Kingdom Ministry.

Listen… We are not… Cannot… Live in the past… Or in the future… We are… Trapped… Trapped… In the current moment… And God demands faithfulness in themoment… this moment.

Number four…We must know that GOD’S STRENGTH IS AVAILABLE TO US.

Listen to these Scriptures…

Ephesians 3.20… Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!

Hebrews 13.20-21… May the God of peace… That great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever.

Philippians 1.6… Be confident of this… That he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

John 15.5… I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

Indeed… God is at work in us…

• Let us recognize this fact…

• Believe it!!...

• Accept it!!...

• Make use of it!…

May we depend upon God to help us LIVE IN PERSEVERANCE… AMEN?

His nickname was Sparky…

He wasn’t the brightest kid in school…

In fact he failed every subject in the eighth grade.

The next year… he flunked… Latin… Algebra… English.

He wasn’t good at sports.

Kids rarely talked to him.

He never had a girlfriend…

He loved to draw cartoons… Even dreamed of one day working for Walt Disney… But after sending some of his work to them… They turned him down.

That was when he decided he was a complete loser… And decided to tell his own loser story in cartoon form.

Today… We know this man as Charles Monroe… Sparky Schultz…Creator of the Peanuts Comic Strip.

Here it is audience… We are all losers… AMEN?... Our sin failures have positioned us there…

• But God wants to change us in The New Birth…

• Forgiving us…

• Giving us a fresh start…

• A new beginning…

• And continual forgiveness as we walk in the light of His truth.

Come enjoy the gift of God’s grace as we stand and sing this song together.