Perseverance
Notes
Transcript
What mission has God called you to today? I fully believe God always has a task for us. It could be studying His word to learn more about Him, spending more time in prayer, being more selfless by helping people. You may feel called to strengthen your marriage, start a ministry, kick an addiction, or be there for somebody that is struggling or may not even have a relationship with God.
What is the task God has placed on your heart? How many times since God put that thing on your heart have you felt like giving up? You decided to be more healthy, so you woke up planning to eat nothing but chicken, lettuce, and water all day. By mid afternoon you were done with it, maybe forever, and on the sonic app ordering chili cheese fries and ice cream for a pre-supper snack on the way home.
You’ve given this quest all of the energy you had, but it’s been a long and grueling day so now you are ready to throw in the towel. Maybe it is something that you have been trying, praying for, and believing in for a long time, but absolutely nothing has changed. You feel like you’ve got nothing left.
Today we are talking about our third virtue in this series. Perseverance. Look with me, if you will, at what the book of Hebrews says about perseverance…
35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. 36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 37 For, “In just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay.”
When you feel like giving up, know that “in just a little while” God will come through. Our great God, who loves you very much, is rarely early, but He is NEVER late.
Pray
I don’t know about you, but I am excited because I desperately need to hear what God has for me today. People have really been struggling the last few years and we can all use a little perseverance. Struggling with work, money, health, family.
In 2020 my journey for better health hit a giant wall and I have had a very hard time with perseverance. In the last six months the pendulum has been making huge swings one way then the other. I will do great and start losing weight, and then crash hard and gain all and more back.
I’ll be doing good, then something stressful will happen with our insurance. I’ll get back on track, then start working on the house night and day. I’ll reign it back in, then some other minor thing will turn into something life changing, we end up having to pray about big decisions, or Macayla will visit but is only willing to eat pizza sticks and no bake cookies.
I’m ready for what God has planned for today. Your story is probably completely different, yet oddly similar. So hopefully, you are ready for some good news too. You know God has more for you. You know He’s not done. You are tired of settling for less. Tired of settling for that temporary comfort ice cream brings because you know that “in just a little while, He who is coming will come and will not delay.”
A lady by the name of Angela Duckworth set out to find what drives people to hang in there and reach their goals. She wanted to answer the question, “Why do successful people succeed?” So she went out and did some research to find out. She studied three different groups of people to see what it takes to stay the course in the face of tough challenges.
First, she went to West Point Military Academy. She went to find out, of the cadets, which succeeded and which were the first to drop out. Why? What made them stick it out?
Then she looked at teachers in some of the toughest inner city school districts. Which ones didn’t last and which ones thrived?
Third, she studied National Spelling Bee contestants. These students can spell the most complicated words in the dictionary. Who could endure the stress? What would make them stick it out through the 72 letter words and the pressure?
She found a couple of things. First, she discovered that the successful people didn’t stick around because they were smart. Their most important quality WASN’T their “IQ” (Intelligence Quotient). Since I am looking for good news I could stop right here. This is great news for me!
The most important quality wasn’t IQ, but instead, their most important quality WAS “AQ” (Adversity Quotient). In other words, their success wasn’t just about how smart they were, but how much they could overcome. Angela wrote a book called “Grit” and in her book she said this…
“Grit is passion and perseverance for long-term goals.” -Angela Duckworth
It’s BOTH passion, being excited about it, AND perseverance. Not just perseverance for the short term goals like making it through the day without ice cream, but the long-term goals. Showing up, when it would be much easier to just walk away.
Today we are going to look at a story in scripture that draws a picture of perseverance. If you are taking notes or want to follow along in your bible we are going to look at the sixth book in the bible in the sixth chapter. Now, I know you are getting nervous. You’re wondering, “What kind of church is this? Is this how he studies?” Those of you close to the front are wishing you had have joined everyone in the back this week.
If you are really starting to sweat let me answer your next question. “Are we going to look at the sixth verse?” Sixth book, sixth chapter, sixth verse?… No. Sigh of relief. Those of you who have thrown in the towel are wishing you kept it to wipe the sweat off your brow.
Don’t worry, we aren’t that kind of church. Pastor Steven Furtick taught about perseverance from this passage and I love the memorable insight he gives when he says, “Don’t Stop on Six.” If you will turn to Joshua chapter six, we are going to see that this is great advice…
1 Now the gates of Jericho were tightly shut because the people were afraid of the Israelites. No one was allowed to go out or in. 2 But the Lord said to Joshua, “I have given you Jericho, its king, and all its strong warriors. 3 You and your fighting men should march around the town once a day for six days. 4 Seven priests will walk ahead of the Ark, each carrying a ram’s horn. On the seventh day you are to march around the town seven times, with the priests blowing the horns. 5 When you hear the priests give one long blast on the rams’ horns, have all the people shout as loud as they can. Then the walls of the town will collapse, and the people can charge straight into the town.”
Why do we often give up? Why do we stop on six when God promised something great at seven? Let’s look at two reasons we often give up even though we may be so close to the finish line. If you are taking notes, sometimes we give up because our perspective is limited…
OUR PERSPECTIVE IS OFTEN LIMITED.
OUR PERSPECTIVE IS OFTEN LIMITED.
As a city, Jericho wasn’t really that big. You could march around it in about an hour. It’s difficult to see perspective in this picture, but it might help. The problem with marching around it wasn’t that it was going to be a long and exhausting journey. The problem wasn’t the size of the city, the problem was that the walls were high.
The Israelites were so close to the promise, but the walls stood in their way. These tall walls made the promise feel unobtainable. Maybe you can relate. You know what you want, you know where you want to be, but all you see are walls. Your problems are keeping you from the promise. The obstacles keep tripping you up.
You’re on a mission to get out of debt, then something expensive breaks. You want to be a Christ-centered family, but it hits the fan every Sunday so you’re cussing all the way to church. You try to mend relationships, but it just ends up being a shouting match.
Our perspective is often limited.
Think about the Israelites. Verse one says that the gates of Jericho were TIGHTLY SHUT. No one gets in, no one gets out! Then the very next verse changes perspective. The Israelites couldn’t see a way in, but God says, “I have given you Jericho.”
They couldn’t see a way in, but God speaks as if it already happened. He is the only one who can speak in the past tense before the present reality. He is the only one who can tell you what is when what is isn’t yet.
Is there an area in your life where what He says is different than what you see? God says that you are healed, but maybe you still feel broken. That He will bless you, but you don’t feel blessed. You feel forgotten! He says that you are an overcomer, but you just feel overcome.
Maybe, like the Israelites marching, your perspective is limited. You have no confidence because you don’t know the end of the story. God wants you to make seven laps, but this sixth one never seems to end.
The unfortunate thing about this story is that when we study it, we pull it out of a larger story in condense it. It’s actually much more similar to your story than you think. This isn’t just a story about a seven day hike around a small city. At this point the Israelites had spent more than forty years wondering in the wilderness waiting for God to take them to the land He promised them.
Forty years! Shrinking Joshua’s experience down to a 7 day story is like saying, “Joshua was addicted to drugs and porn, but then he prayed and now he’s fine.” Sounds great, but there is much more to it than that. We can’t simply look at someone else’s success to set our own expectations. How could we know the price they paid along the way? The pain they endured? We can’t even begin to imagine the battles they fought in private or the personal sacrifices they had to make.
Why is it so much easier to simply give up when giant walls stand between us and the promise? One reason is that our perspective is often limited. If you are taking notes, sometimes we want to give up because our progress isn’t always obvious…
OUR PROGRESS ISN’T ALWAYS OBVIOUS.
OUR PROGRESS ISN’T ALWAYS OBVIOUS.
Imagine how frustrating it must have been for the Israelites to not see any progress. The gates were shut tight and what were they doing? Something that seemed pointless. They spent decades waiting for God to come through. Trusting in His promise. They trained for the coming battles. They were ready to go to war, but what were they doing? Going on a walk!
10 “Do not shout; do not even talk,” Joshua commanded. “Not a single word from any of you until I tell you to shout. Then shout!” 11 So the Ark of the Lord was carried around the town once that day, and then everyone returned to spend the night in the camp.
14 On the second day they again marched around the town once and returned to the camp. They followed this pattern for six days.
Six days! Walking around the town without saying a word! No, “How’s your family doing with this whole Jericho thing?” No, “Hey, did you see that massive lizard under that rock?” No, “Do you have any lip balm, the sun is tearing me up today.” None of that. Not a word.
It reminds me of going to church as a kid, but as many of you know, the church I grew up in was like this story. Nobody talked. It was sitting there for a couple of hours in what was mostly silence. If you think I am boring, you should experience that! One hour felt like five! As a kid, that is borderline torture.
I’ll never forget when my brother broke the silence one time. He fell asleep on his arm as he leaned on the bench in front of us. When his arm fell, so did his head. It hit the wooden bench with a loud, echoing thud! Suddenly we went from staring at 40 hairdos to 40 faces.
Sometimes we just need to see a little progress! We can handle difficult things if we just know that we are a little closer to the goal. Today you can download apps that let you do what they call “gamifying your life.” What you do is create a task list in the app and as you mark stuff off the app celebrates by treating your life like a video game. You will actually “level up” like in a video game.
Just think of how much easier marching around Jericho would have been if after each lap they would have heard “level up” music. How much easier would it be to keep going if they felt like they were accomplishing something? Simply hearing video game level up music could have been super motivating for a warrior. This is what you hear when you level up in the video game called “Skyrim”…
Skyrim Level Up Theme
It’s frustrating when there is no end in sight. You want to do the right thing, but it’s difficult when it doesn’t seem to make a difference. It is so much easier to honor God when it feels like it’s working. It’s so much easier to do the right thing when it pays off.
They say it’s easier to keep dieting when you see progress. It’s easier to keep paying down debt when you see the number dropping and you know that you can eventually be free. It’s easier to fight for your marriage when things keep getting better and you see that their is hope. It’s easier to serve God by serving others when you see it make a difference in people’s lives. It’s easier to keep fighting against that sin when you see the battles get fewer and less painful.
As long as we see progress, we can handle it. Joshua’s men are walking around Jericho without seeing any progress. Not only do they not see progress, but Joshua tells them not to even talk. Don’t give a war cry, don’t raise your voices, don’t even say a word. Why? Why would Joshua keep them from talking?
He knew that sometimes your mouth is your worst enemy. Your mouth is going to say, “This is too hard. I can’t! I will never be able to! This is bad! Now this has gone from bad to worse!” When your mouth gets in the way, sometimes you have to tell yourself to shut up and start trusting. Shut up and pray. Stop talking, start loving. Start forgiving.
When your mouth starts wondering when something is going to happen for you, it could be interrupting something God wants to do IN YOU. Because…
God often does something in you before He does something for you.
Don’t stop on six. When you are tempted to quit, remember why you started. When all you can see is the wall in front of you, don’t give up on your calling because you may be closer than you think. The goal might be just on the other side of that wall. Don’t stop on six.
Florence Chadwick was the first woman to swim the English Channel both ways. In 1952 she decided to swim the twenty-six miles of water between Catalina Island and the California Coastline. Fifteen hours into the swim a thick fog set in clouding her vision. As all she could see was the wall of fog, she completely lost confidence. Exhausted and discouraged she decided to quit. After climbing into the boat she found out that she had swam twenty-five miles and was only one mile from the coastline.
Never stop on lap six. You may be much closer than you think.
36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.
You’ve been walking, praying, fighting, believing. Lap one… Lap two… Lap three… Don’t stop. Don’t stop. You may be on lap six without even knowing it. Don’t give up. You are closer than you think. I want to leave you with one final thought from scripture before we pray…
9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Pray