As the COVID-19 crisis wears on and continues to interrupt our lives, it’s easy to become discouraged and want to give up. But as a believer, you have God’s presence to lead and sustain you through your difficulties. In Part 4 of the “The Courage to Stand” series, Dr. Stanley points you to key biblical principles that can give you the boldness and courage to press on. This sermon was recorded before COVID-19. For the protection of our staff members and the community, we are currently following safety guidelines by practicing social distancing. We appreciate your understanding.
how do you respond when you find
yourself dealing with situations that
are very painful
in fact you get rejected somebody walks
out on you
you feel like they were dishonest with
you
they didn’t tell you the truth you feel
lonely
you feel hurt very discouraged
when you think about all the things that
happen to people and
the reactions we have how do you feel
you just want to say you know what i
don’t have to put up with this anymore
and you just decide i’m going to i’m
going to walk away i quit
i give up i don’t have to do this
i don’t have to stay here how do you
really and truly feel
because you see as a follower of jesus
christ
giving up it’s not who we are
surrendering is not who we are throwing
in the towel is we say
that’s not who we are as a follower of
jesus christ we have the right to expect
the best from him
he has the right to expect the best from
us
and so when i think about giving up that
just
it doesn’t fit who we are and if you’re
in the process right now
giving up on your marriage giving up on
your job
giving up on your children giving up on
your financial situation
whatever the situation may be before you
give up
you stop and ask yourself the question
does this fit
who i am as a follower of jesus and this
message is all
about listen it’s all about
keeping on keeping on and that is to
have the courage
to keep on keeping on and if you will
listen carefully
and apply these points that i’m going to
lay out before you
you don’t have to give up and quit there
is an
answer and a solution to what god wants
to do in your life at this point
no matter what it is so i want you to
turn if you will to
second timothy and this fourth chapter
and
paul is writing to the young pastor
timothy
and giving him some wonderful advice
he’s coming to the end of his life
now in fact paul
dies around 67 a.d he’s
killed by nero the emperor and it’s
interesting that the very next year
nero committed suicide and so he’s
encouraging
uh timothy at this point and beginning
in chapter 4 and verse 1
i solemnly charge you in the presence of
god and of christ jesus
who is the judge the living and the dead
and by his appearing and his kingdom
preach the word be ready to listen be
ready in season and
out of season reprove rebuke exhort
with great patience and instruction for
the time will come
when they will not endure sound doctrine
but wanting to have their ears tickled
they will accumulate for themselves
teachers in accordance to their own
desires
and will turn away their ears from the
truth and will turn to myths
but you be sober in all things
endure hardship do the work of an
evangelist fulfill your ministry
for i am already being poured out as a
drink offering
and the time of my departure has come
i have fought a good fight i’ve finished
the course
i’ve kept the faith in the future there
is later for me the crown of
righteousness which the lord the
righteous
judge will award to me on that day
and not only to me but also to all who
love his appearing
now this is his challenge to young
timothy
uh as i said he is a young pastor and
now
we find him
listening to the apostle paul give him a
warning and a challenge
and a word of encouragement that no
matter what he goes through you don’t
give up and you don’t quit
and as i think about all the characters
of the new testament for example
no one fits the qualification of a one
who never quits like the apostle paul
when you think about his life and think
about
how he lived it out here’s someone who’s
stayed with them challenge no matter
what happened
and you may be one of those persons
today who wants to quit
and you think you have a pretty good
reason to quit you have a good reason to
walk out
you may legitimately and reasonably
think well i don’t have to do this and i
don’t stay here
and i think of many pastors that i’ve
talked with over the years
who’ve said this is what’s going on in
my church and i decided
i don’t have to put up with this i don’t
have to keep doing this i don’t have to
live like this
i don’t like to have my family treated
this way i don’t i don’t have to do it
and when they ask me what i think is
sort of here’s what i tell them
yes you do you have to do what you’re
doing until god
tells you to do something else and paul
is encouraging timothy he says now look
there’s going to come a day
when they’re not going to believe what
you’re saying they want someone to
tickle their ears to make them feel good
but you stay steady steady sober calm
in the situation you keep doing what god
has called you to do
and then he talks about his own life
because of what he’s been through in
life
now when i think about what paul
suffered in life you have to ask the
question
what motivated him to keep on keeping on
when everything in him would have said
quit but there’s something
that paul knew something that he did
that every single one of us
need to understand in our life because
we’re all going to be tested
or have been tested once so many times
to just say you know what i don’t have
to put up with this i quit i give up i
walk away
now the tragedy is that many people
use that same phrase when they walk away
from their marriage from their children
or into the college education say you
know what i quit
or into some particular job they don’t
like because they think it’s a little
uh too difficult or it doesn’t suit them
quitters
they’re plenty of quitters and yet
quitters don’t get anywhere in life
people who give up don’t get anywhere in
life so i want us to look at the reasons
the motivations
that paul had to keep going when the
going
got very rough and we’ll talk about some
of those issues so
the first one i want us to notice here
is this
one of the things that kept paul from
giving up and kept him keeping on
keeping on
was the awareness that god was with him
and i think in the second uh corinthian
letter
and the 11th chapter this is a very
challenging chapter to me when i think
about
what paul went through what he suffered
and yet he never gave up
no matter what he experienced in life so
if you look at that 11th chapter for a
moment this is a familiar chapter to
most christians
but a lot of people who hear this will
not be but paul
says for example he was arguing they
were criticizing him for who he was and
he said
in verse 22 are they hebrews so am i
are they israelites so am i are they
descendants of abraham
so am i then he says are they servants
of christ
i speak as if insane i more
in far more labors and far more
imprisonments
beaten times listen without number
often in danger of death five times i
received from the
jews 39 lashes three times i was beaten
with rods
once i was stoned three times i was
shipwrecked
a night and day i have spent in the deep
i’ve been on frequent journeys and
dangers from rivers dangers from robbers
dangers from countrymen
dangers from the gentiles dangers in the
city dangers in the wilderness
dangers on the sea dangers from among
false brethren i’ve been in labor and
hardship
through many sleepless nights in hunger
and thirst
often without food and cold and exposure
apart from such external things there is
the daily pressure
on me of concern for all the churches if
you and i had been what he’d been
through
i wonder how many of us would have
survived that and so
what is it that made it possible for him
to survive that now he was listen
he had a lot of reasons to give up and
quit but he did not why
because of his awareness that almighty
god
was with him and when i think about the
the things that so many things that the
apostle paul said
about god’s presence with him he said
for example in acts 23
he’s going through a difficult time he
says the lord
stood by him he knew he knew the lord
was with him the lord stood by him
and he said to him on another occasion
don’t be afraid
i am with you and so all through
paul’s epistles we are continually
reminded that god is with us if i should
ask you if you believe
god is with you you probably say yes but
do you claim that
when times are tough do you remind
yourself that no matter what’s going on
and who’s treating me this way
almighty god is with me he said i will
never leave you
nor forsake you now either i have to
believe god will do what he says he’ll
do
or i don’t if i begin to question him
i’ll begin to consider
giving up in some situations if i
believe
what he says is true and that he’s true
to his word i’ll not give up
no matter what’s going on and often
times
we give up watch this oftentimes people
give up
right before victory is about to break
loose
right before opportunity stares them in
the face
they’re willing to give up people are
willing to give up
right before there can be a conciliation
right before things can change they want
to give up that’s why it’s
dangerous to ever give up because when
we give up in a situation we’re giving
up on god
he says i’ll never leave you nor forsake
you as long as you and i are walking in
his will and his way
it doesn’t make any difference how tough
it gets if we don’t give up we’re going
to be rewarded
think about this he says shipwrecked all
these times a day and a night in the sea
and over and over and over again
the jews tried their best to kill him
they tried to trap him they tried to
kill him they did everything imaginable
to get rid of him and yet you find him
in jail rejoicing in the lord and
praising god for what he’s doing in his
life
you know why because paul never
felt listen he never felt rejected by
jesus
or that jesus christ was absent in any
situation that he was in
the awareness of his presence will take
you through things
that nothing else will a second thing is
this
he the experience of god’s strength
within him
whenever you feel weak and you see when
we feel weak
and worn and then these things hit us we
are more prone to give in to them and to
give up
he talked about the strength that was in
him
and when you think about all these
experiences that he survived
he had to understand and experience the
strength of almighty god
three shipwrecks beaten all of these
many times
jailed there was he was a frequent
visitor to the jail and so all of these
things he’s experiencing
how did he experience it he had strength
but he was not necessarily a strong man
physically
probably a little short fellow and
sometimes
the evidence is that his eyesight wasn’t
all that good but he had
strength and what was that strength the
same strength that you and i have
to go through any situation we face in
life and that is the strength of
almighty god
now most of us know the verse when paul
said in
philippians i can do all things through
christ who strengthens me
listen he was aware of god’s presence
and being aware of god’s presence he was
aware of the
strength that god released in him
in that awareness of his presence no
matter what you’re going through what
you’re facing
you have the strength of god within you
because you have the holy spirit
living inside of you and that’s what
jesus promised his disciples
he knew that they were going to be
tempted to give up he knew they were
going to go through times
that would seem impossible and he said
the holy spirit will be in you with you
and upon you
and he will empower you strengthen you
to do whatever the father called you to
do
every single one of us has within us
adequate strength
to do the will of god you may say well i
don’t feel like i do
you may not feel like it but the truth
is are you claiming it
and you can have you can have spiritual
gifts and spiritual blessings
if you don’t claim them you don’t
understand them and if you don’t
understand them
you can experience them and so one of
the things that kept the apostle paul
from giving up
keep on keeping on was he experienced
the strength of almighty god in his life
when he stood in councils and they
criticized them
and wanted to crucify him if possible
everything they did
he never gave up he never quit now did
that mean that he
that he always just stood like a man i’m
sure there were times
when he was frightened for the moment
and this is why the lord would say to
him
uh here i i am beside you i’m going to
be with you in this
no matter what you what you’re going
through
and so when i think about his prayer for
example for the ephesians
he was encouraging them to pray for the
strength
that god that third chapter the strength
that god would give them
for what he called them to do and then
when he talks about
putting on the spiritual armor how does
he start that in the sixth chapter of
ephesians he says
be strong in the lord and in the power
of his might
and then he tells us even before he gets
to the armor which he talks about a hell
no salvation
they get to protect their mind the
breast men of righteousness to protect
our emotions
and this girl of truth so we’ll always
stand in the truth and he talks about
the sandals of salvation
always ready to go and then he talks
about the sword of the spirit the word
of god and then above
all else he says and above all else the
shield of faith
he starts out saying be strong in the
lord in the power of his might
that’s what you and i should start every
day with the awareness
that god is with us today and that we
have the strength of god to face
anything and everything and anybody and
everybody
no matter what the situation is because
listen it isn’t our strength it’s his
strength
if they go on my strength or your
strength some days we wouldn’t get up
but it’s the strength of the lord that
is it’s watch this it’s the divine
energy of god it’s the power of almighty
god within us
and that doesn’t mean you won’t have
difficult situations and circumstances
but he will enable us
to live through it no matter what and so
what kept him from giving up when he had
so many
reasons to give up was his awareness of
god’s presence you and i need the same
when likewise the same thing with him
and that is
we have the right to experience the
strength of god you have the holy spirit
living within you that is you have god
on the inside
and he’s watch this he’s not going to
call you watch this carefully
he’s not going to call you to do
anything face
anything experience anything without him
giving you the strength to do it
he says he causes all things to work
together for good to those who love him
to those who are called according to
this purpose and sometimes he allows us
to get in situations we think oh god
i don’t know that i can handle this why
does he allow some of those things
because
it gives him the opportunity to show us
how real he is
how faithful he is how powerful he is
and how adequate you and i
are when we put our trust in him and
that’s what
that’s what paul is is saying here in
these passages
then of course somebody says well now
how am i going to how am i going to have
that kind of courage
well two things and i said every single
sunday on purpose
if you’re gonna have courage in your
life
and you’re gonna understand that god is
working in your life
you’ve got to be in the word this is
this is the mind of god
this is the heart of god this is the
spirit of god
here’s here’s where we find all the
gifts of god
what god is up to in your life if i
neglect the word of god
and neglect spending time with him i’m
not going to be strong
it’s the word of god because as i read
what he says
when i read listen going through some
difficult time and thinking god
forget it and i come to this verse he
says god causes all these things to work
together for good
because i have called you then i can i
don’t have to give up
why i know that whatever i’m facing is
tough as it is
my god because he’s always truthfully is
going to turn it for my good
there are some things i cannot figure
out how god turns for good but he does
he listen he never said understand me he
said trust me
just trust me and that is the key and
the apostle paul
certainly knew what he was doing in his
relationship to god
he didn’t give up he didn’t quit he just
kept moving along trusting him
then of course the assurance of his will
for us there’s nothing that’s more
reassuring
to keep us from giving up than knowing
that we’re in the will of god
and this doesn’t mean that you have to
be preaching the gospel somewhere but
whatever god’s will is
but this point in your life you don’t
give up you don’t quit
and he said for example he knew where he
was when he faced all of these
situations he says
he says the father sent me to preach the
gospel not necessarily to baptize but to
preach the gospel
and he said for example in the 13th
chapter of acts uh he gives us a
in that 47th verse uh
he says assuring us that he knows what
god has called him to do
he says for example that god said to him
i’ve placed you as a light for the
gentiles
that you may bring salvation to the ends
of the earth
paul knew exactly where he was in life
once he was saved he knew exactly what
god was up to he said god says
i’ve called you to preach the gospel and
i have i have made you a light to the
gentiles because
first of all the gospel was only being
preached to the jews
and so because of the way they treated
him and because they rejected him
he just brushed it off of of his clothes
and said i’m going to the gentiles
because that’s exactly what god intended
for him to do
so the issue is this if i’m going to be
able to keep on keeping on
i’ve got to know that i’m i’m doing what
god says do
how god says do it when god says do it
and where he says do it
i don’t even have to understand why it’s
always good to understand why and most
of the time we will
but if if you want if you want to have
the strength that you don’t give up
and you don’t quit and remember what i
said how many times people
give up and quit right before the
blessing
right before god opens the door they
walk away from the opportunity
right before god settles an issue in a
marriage oftentimes somebody walks away
and so that gives up all pop all
possibility
of renewing that marriage you can just
go through illustration after
illustration
you don’t give up because you may give
up at the very time
when the best that you’re looking for is
there waiting for you
and the apostle paul knew that he
understood
he was in the will of the father and for
example wherever he went
god was there guiding him and leading he
was uh on the second missionary journey
he was about to go
uh east and preaching the gospel and the
spirit of god cinel wants you to go west
if he had gone east you and i would not
be where we are today but he
but the spirit of god spoke to him and
then likewise
when the lord spoke to him made it very
clear
where he was he gave us the same
promises
listen paul doesn’t have a saying paul
didn’t have a single promise we don’t
have
and remember this paul didn’t have the
new testament he had the old testament
and then he had the sayings of jesus but
he didn’t have it down like you and i
have it
on the printed page and so when i come
to this question of
what god is up to here’s a here’s a
verse i always come back to
in psalm 32 8. he says i will teach you
in the way
which you should go i will guide you
with my eye upon you
he didn’t say i’d make it easy but he
said i will teach you the way you should
go you don’t have to give up and quit
you don’t have to wonder what’s going on
i’ll show you that and then in proverbs
3 5 and 6
he says trust in the lord with all your
heart lean not to your own understanding
you may not understand it
in all your ways acknowledge him he says
i’ll direct your path
we don’t have to give up and we don’t
have to quit and we don’t have to wonder
what to do
god has already assured us of his
guidance and direction
then the overflow the overflowing joy
that fills us for example
and the apostle paul is such a beautiful
example of that because the
uh the book of philippians for example
is all about joy and here he is in jail
not doesn’t have very long to live and
what is he talking about
he’s talking about joy he starts off
talking about
where he is and what’s happening in jail
and that
he says i want you to know brethren that
my circumstances have turned out for the
greater progress of the gospel
and how is that true because all the all
the guards that came in to guard him
he just shared the gospel with them and
so one after the other
and so he said before long the whole
pretarian guard
knew that he was there and it heard the
gospel of jesus christ
and you find you find the sense of joy
throughout
paul’s writings and he says rejoice and
again i say rejoice
he comes to the fourth chapter and he’s
still rejoicing and he’s still in prison
why because he knew the father was with
him he knew that he was doing the
father’s will
and he knew that he was following
god’s plan and purpose for his life had
it been tough it had been
by the time he got to this place he
either had a thousand reasons to give up
and quit
wouldn’t think about quitting why for
the simple reason
he knew that he was doing what the
father had called him to do
so i would simply ask you this um
do you do you rejoice
you say what do you mean by i mean do
you have any happy moments when things
are tough
can you just say thank you jesus praise
the lord i just want to bless your holy
name
can you rejoice in the lord when things
are tough or do you say
god why do you let this happen to me
father why don’t you answer my prayer in
other words you know you and i can argue
with god
and that doesn’t somebody says well god
must get angry no he doesn’t he realizes
we’re just human
we make mistakes and heroes a lot of
things we don’t understand
but you know i’m over here and um i’m
wondering why things the way they are
over here
and god’s over here and he says look
when you get up here you just wait
you’re going to be so glad you didn’t
jump off the table
here you are and i’ve been waiting for
you because i have the best for you
listen to this god has the best for his
children
anything less than that anything less
than that
is not of god now that doesn’t mean
there won’t be difficulty hardship and
trial
for us just like there was for the
apostle paul but he’s going
to turn it for our good if we respond in
the proper
fashion so this is why he could rejoice
even in jail
and even in his message he’s telling
them to rejoice even he’s
close to death and knows that he is and
he’s talking about rejoicing in the lord
then of course the life-changing lessons
that god teaches us
you think about how much truth you know
you know if you just come to church
sunday after sunday after sunday and
you take notes week after week after
week and in the first service two uh
people came down the aisle one of them
said i’ve been
watching in touch for 24 years i haven’t
said 27 years and taking notes
i think about how much truth i know
they’ve heard
if they’ve listened they’ve heard truth
that the truth that the truth that the
truth after truth that’s the truth after
truth that’s the truth
and this is why i said you write it down
write it down write it down
but the apostle paul he was an awesome
student of the word of god
and on one occasion it says for example
he hadn’t been saved very long
he went to instead of going to jerusalem
and talking to the apostles
he went to arabia to get by himself so
that
god could teach him the truth and when
you think for a moment
if we didn’t have the epistles of the of
paul what we we know about
sanctification
salvation uh substitution or death of
jesus
the atoning death of jesus however what
we know about
declared righteous before almighty god
all the doctrinal things that we believe
we wouldn’t know it if the apostle paul
had not lived it did not give up kept
going
and kept learning and learning and
learning and teaching in those days
and so much of what what he has written
to us he wrote from a jail cell
i mean when i think about having been
through all that instead of sitting in a
jail moping about
how difficult things are and oftentimes
his
followers supposedly his followers would
be outside the jail criticizing him
when he’s in the jail doing what the
will of god it was for his life
and so you can you can have a morbid
moping attitude you can rejoice in the
lord
always no matter what’s going on so let
me ask you a question
have you ever been in trouble and god
said do it yourself
has he ever said i’m leaving you i’m
going to let you handle it
you you take care of it i’m i’m finished
with you moping and groaning and griping
and
and wondering where i am no
he just lets us mope and groan and
whatever it might be
then when we get serious enough to get
right with him
what does he do he always comes through
and we understand
as that old song says we understand it
better by and by
god loves you he wants the best for you
and when i think about
why people give up they give up because
they don’t know him they give it because
they don’t believe it they don’t trust
him
they feel hopeless instead of thinking
my hope is in
christ in christ alone my hope is built
on nothing less
but jesus christ and his righteousness
you know when people say well
things are just not going my way ask
yourself this question
if things aren’t going your way before
you give up quit ask yourself this
question
i wonder if things are going god’s way
and i’m out of his will
i don’t understand it and he’s up to
something i’m not aware of
it just may be that what you’re going
through that’s difficult and tough and
you want to quit and give up
is the very thing god is using to draw
you to himself
cause you to cling to him open your eyes
help you to see who he is and what he’s
up to in your life
and teach you to apply the truth all of
us know more truth than we probably
apply
so i’m going to ask you this when you
take notes for example on sunday morning
you go and put those notes somewhere
i hope you put them all in the same
place but
do you ever pull them out during the
week
do you ever hear anything i know you do
do you ever hear anything
uh on sunday during the week you think
oh god i needed that
well where are your notes
are you fumbling around trying to figure
out where they are
the apostle paul listened he loved
what god taught him and so in jail
instead of moping around
and having a pity party what’s he doing
he’s thinking about you and me now he
doesn’t know 2000 years later we’re
going to hear this and see it
but what is he doing god is leading him
to write down
what god is teaching him and what he’s
experiencing
in a cold roman jail sale he could just
be complaining
but listen he didn’t give up he didn’t
quit and he didn’t have words to say
about nero and all the rest of them
he listen he applied what he knew
where he was what he had to apply in
order that those
who followed him would know the truth i
see about apostle paul
hallelujah praise god that he didn’t
give up and quit
and and that he he wrote it down so you
and i
have it to live by then of course the
fruit his truth has produced through him
he said for example on his missionary
journalist the churches were growing
one thing the churches were growing and
they were they were
increasing in membership all the time
and if you’ll think about it he wrote
these epistles to these churches the
corinth
the philippi the galatians to the romans
and so forth
and uh if you turn to the book of
corinthians and you just read that book
that was no pastor would want to be the
pastor of the first baptist church in
corinth or any corinthian church that
that was a terrible crowd
they were they were guilty of about
everything you can think of and if you
read the book of corinthians
it’s all about his correcting this sin
and that sin and the other
did he give up no and think about this
when he would establish a church and
leave a few people
then he’d come back around the second
and third missionary journeys sometimes
when he came back
they were just in the mess they’d let
false teachers come in
and um they didn’t know what they
believed sometime and they fussed and
thought
just like people do today at some point
you’d think paul would say you know what
enough of this
three missionary journeys and y’all are
still acting like this
and yet the gospel survived and 2000
years later
we were worshiping the lord jesus christ
and sending missionaries all over the
world
preaching and teaching the word of god
and our names are written in the lamb’s
book of life
and you and i are eternally secure
because of the gospel
so we’re encouraged by what he wrote and
what he suffered
then for example the reward he’s
promised us one of the reasons that we
should never give up
is thinking about what god has provided
for us
and if you’ll notice in this passage we
read a few moments ago to
ii timothy he said to uh
timothy in the future there is laid up
for me the crown of righteousness which
the lord the righteous judge
will award to me on that day and not
only to me but to all who love
his appearing paul knew
he had an awesome reward coming and you
say well i don’t think i have any
let me ask you a question you raise your
children to be godly
big reward love your husband or your
wife
reward you do your best to reward
do your best in school reward share your
faith reward
stand up for the truth reward give to
the lord’s work we just go on and on and
on the thousand ways god can reward his
children
and you see there’s not a single
legitimate reason
for a child of god to give up and quit
and throw in the towel
listen you have god on your side he’s
not only on your side he’s living within
you
he’s promised to be there he’s promised
to be with you always
and he’s promised to enable you help you
strengthen you
encourage you in every circumstance of
life
so when people say well you know if you
just understood what i was going
through well maybe i do maybe i don’t i
know somebody who does and that’s god
and god understood whatever you’re going
through before you ever started going
through it
and listen he’s ready and willing to
equip you
so that you won’t give up right before
the best
happens in your life and the reason i
repeat that is because i’ve seen that so
many times
in so many different ways in people’s
lives and i’ve seen in my own life
when i think oh god and right before i
think lord i can’t handle any more of
this
that i’ll open some awesome door and i
thank him and thank him in thanking that
he didn’t let me give up and quit
because he never intended for us to do
that
so i’m saying to you because god is
saying to you whatever you are facing
in life at this moment no matter how
difficult it is
how tough it is how discouraging it is
and all the reasons and the evidence you
have for walking away and all the
all the proof that you have that things
are wrong remember there is a god in
heaven
and if you’re saved he’s living within
you and that god
will take you through whatever you’re
facing in life
no matter what you don’t get listen
watch this
you say well i’m giving up i’m giving up
on my job i’m giving up on this i’m
getting
no you’re giving up on god as a follower
of jesus when you give up you’re giving
up on him
your boss or your marriage somebody else
can’t do for you
you’re giving up on god you don’t give
up on the supreme
listen the supreme power
in the whole universe you don’t give up
on it and the one who loves you
enough to have given his son to die on
the cross you don’t give up on him
so remember who you’re giving up on and
when you do
you won’t give up well i think
also the vision of the cross always
before us
that’s what paul said the vision of the
cross always before him
and he makes an awesome statement in
this sixth chapter
of galatians and when you
listen to what he says here and you look
at the light that he lived
and here’s what he says he says in the
14th verse
but may it never be that i would boast
accept that one thing he says except in
the cross
of the lord jesus christ through which
the world has been
crucified to me and out of the world he
said the cross
has made it possible for me to survive
any and everything
because it’s at the cross the atoning
death of jesus christ
purchased our salvation at the cross the
atoning death of jesus christ
purchased everything we have it’s the
atoning death of jesus christ that shed
of his blood
that makes our forgiveness a living
reality
jesus didn’t give up he didn’t quit
though he must have in the flesh
at times been discouraged but not in the
spirit you know why because he and the
father were absolutely one
and he knew that nothing could conquer
him because he was god
in the human flesh you don’t give up you
don’t quit
and around us today that lots of people
want to give up there lots of people who
want to quit they can give you some
some rather um
shall we say good reasons from their
perspective
while they should walk away from a
situation of why they should quit
but not in god’s viewpoint he has the
best for us and he’s willing to give us
the best
but he doesn’t bless quitters it won’t
happen
christ sacrificed his life for our
salvation
and when i look at the scriptures and
see what jesus did he didn’t give up
i can’t give up the apostle paul didn’t
give up we can’t give up
and here’s the issue he will reward us
for not giving up
the reward may not come to glory or you
may be rewarded
today or tomorrow or next week or next
month or next year
he doesn’t overlook our obedience
our faithfulness our loyalty our
devotion and to our keep on
keeping on then of course naturally
our love and devotion to jesus christ
that should keep us
keeping on no matter what and paul said
in a beautiful way in philippians he
said
for me to live is for christ to live for
me to die
is my gain so think about that isn’t
that really what you and i want for our
life
that we want to live the kind of life
that when people meet
us it won’t take them long to hear jesus
in our voice
it won’t take him long to see christ in
our actions
it won’t take them long to feel the love
that you and i feel for them
he said for to me to live is christ
that was his whole perception for to me
to live is christ and he says not to die
i gained by that but for me to live is
for christ to live
and so if i should ask you do you love
god naturally you’d say you do
do you love him enough to serve him oh
yes do you love him enough to suffer for
him
well it depends on what that is
no if we love him
we won’t give up we won’t quit when the
going gets rough
when the suffering gets hard the pain
becomes intense
we don’t give up and we don’t quit we
keep going because
jesus kept going the apostle paul kept
going and the teaching of scripture is
that you and i
keep going likewise and paul talks about
he talks about god being rich in mercy
and grace and love toward us and he is
and so many of god’s people oftentimes
they want to give up and quit and i’m
saying to you don’t give up and quit
ask god to give you wisdom and to give
you strength
to keep going and i can think of some
people in my own mind
heart that been through very very
difficult times
and i wondered how they made it through
because they trusted god because they
believed the very things that we’ve
talked about here maybe
didn’t think about them in that way but
if you had asked them
do you think that god is with you yes
do you believe he’s listening to your
prayers yes are you reading the word of
god
yes you could just go right down the
line and all the things we’ve said
they would have said yes to and yet
nobody ever laid it out
as a principal laid it out in an outline
for them
so let me ask you a question today
what are you tempted to give up on
what are you tempted to walk away from
are you willing to say to him lord
i’m hanging in here no matter what
because i know that if i’m in here
you’re in here with me by my side
to see me through and once in a while
i’ll put something on the back stream
because i just want you to see with your
eyes i can say it
but look at this for a moment because
here’s the reasons people give up
and the way they give up listen because
when they
face situations they face them fearfully
afraid hopelessly they don’t see
their way clear because they’re looking
through the eyes of fear
rebelliously they don’t like it they
don’t want it that away
and so what happens
fearfully hopelessly rebelliously or you
can look at those situations
courageously
and the next simple phrase i have up
there is this
we make the choice we make the choice
of how we live through the difficult
times in life
and it’s my prayer that whoever you are
if you’ve never trusted jesus christ as
your savior
i can tell you you’re not going to make
it
you may say well i have so much money
you can lose it
you i have great health you can lose
that i have a great family you can lose
that
you can lose anything and everything
listen
but if you’re saved by the grace of god
you can’t lose that
you can’t lose your salvation you can’t
lose your relationship to almighty god
and god has called us to trust him as
our savior through jesus christ
lay our life before him and allow him to
live his life through us
and to demonstrate to the world that
jesus christ
is who he says he is he will do what he
says he’ll do
and he’s more than capable of fulfilling
that promise
i would plead with you don’t walk away
don’t quit don’t give up don’t throw in
the tail
as people say but just tell the lord
lord
i’m going to trust you to see me through
this i don’t know how
but i’m going to trust you because you
said you will never leave me nor forsake
me
and god i believe you always tell
the truth father how grateful we are
that you have placed within us your very
self and the person of the holy spirit
to equip us to do anything and
everything you would have us to do
in such a way we don’t ever have to quit
and give up
we want to keep on keeping on because
that is the
image that jesus leaves us in the image
of the apostle paul
and multitudes of saints who’s gone
before us
so i pray for any and every person here
this morning
who is feeling tempted to give up
who’s feeling tempted to quit who’s
feeling tempted to walk out
to walk away to lay it down to lay it
aside
to turn around that you would remind
them there are many reasons not to
there are many reasons to stay steady
and calm as paul would say to timothy
and to keep moving on and trusting you
moment by moment and you said you will
cause all the things that may tempt us
and tries to quit
to turn out for our good if we’ll trust
you and we just want to say thank you
for that
in jesus name amen
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