Don't Give Up!

Back to Swing and Reaping

FRirst God gives us a precept -

Now God gives us a primise.

Galatians 6:9 KJV 1900

9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

2 Thessalonians 3:13 KJV 1900

13 But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing.

Reasons why we Faint

1: We Neglect our Motivation.

It is interesting to contrast two churches that are commended for “work, labor, and patience”

1 Thessalonians 1:3 KJV 1900

3 Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;

Revelation 2:2 KJV 1900

2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:

There are 2 different christians here.

Both are Laboring for God. That is, obedient, tithing, resisting, fighting fight, running the race...

One of these christians gives up - forsakes his first love.

The Other does not grow weary and continues.

What is the different?

Only 1 is called a lobour of LOVE.

Colossians 3:23 KJV 1900

23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;

The church at Ephesus had actually left its first love and was backslidden (Rev. 2:4–5).

Why?

The answer is seen in the commendation to the Thessalonian church: “Work of faith, labor of love, patience of hope.” Not just work, labor, and patience, but the proper motivation: “faith, love, and hope.”

How easy it is for us to work for the Lord, but permit the spiritual motivation to die. Like the priests of Israel that Malachi addressed, we serve the Lord but complain, “Behold, what a weariness is it”

Malachi 1:13 KJV 1900

13 Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! And ye have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of hosts; And ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; Thus ye brought an offering: Should I accept this of your hand? saith the Lord.

2: We Faint When we Forget our Devotion to the Word.

Psalm 119:116 KJV 1900

116 Uphold me according unto thy word, that I may live: And let me not be ashamed of my hope.

Proverbs 3:8 KJV 1900

8 It shall be health to thy navel, And marrow to thy bones.

What happens to a man who does not eat, for days - he grows weak and weary.

I think lots of christians are weak, are weary, are tired, or giving up, because they forgot one of the most well known of Jesus teachings.

Matthew 4:4 KJV 1900

4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Listen to His words: “Man shall not” is not just a commanded, its a reality.

The man who neglects God word is the man who has forgotten that he has a spirit. He thinks only in term of the material.

3: We Faint when we neglect prayer.

Sometimes we faint because of lack of prayer.

Luke 18:1 KJV 1900

1 And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;

Prayer is to the spiritual life what breathing is to the physical life, and if you stop breathing, you will faint.

Isaiah 40:28–31 KJV 1900

28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, That the everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding. 29 He giveth power to the faint; And to them that have no might he increaseth strength. 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall: 31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings as eagles; They shall run, and not be weary; And they shall walk, and not faint.

4: We faint when we try to go it alone.

God has told us that it is not good for man to be alone. We need help, we need encouragement, we need support.

Doctors have for years noted the remarkable difference between children who receive support and encouragement and those who do not. Those that are support outperform those that art by heaps and bound.

As a pastor and a leader, i know the need for support and encouragement. Its not praise we are after its appreciation.

I always think to the story of Moses.

Exodus 17:11–12 KJV 1900

11 And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

Aaron and Hur supported Moses when his hands grew tired. And all of them prospered a s result.

Let me tell you something, there are amazing people at this church who will encourage and support you, who will hold up your hands so that you can have the victory.

5: We faint due to lack of rest.

God places great emphasis on the importance of rest. God sees it as a time of reshreshment and renewal and recovery. The Sabbath is that commanded in the Old Covenant. And while Jesus is our sabbath, the reality of rest is still important.

Philippians 2:25–30 KJV 1900

25 Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labour, and fellowsoldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants. 26 For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick. 27 For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. 28 I sent him therefore the more carefully, that, when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful. 29 Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness; and hold such in reputation: 30 Because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me.

Here is a christian man, who was very ill, but notice what made him il: V 30. The Work of Christ made him ill, because he served without though of himself. Now that may be commendable on one hand, but it is also, as Paul says, foolish on the other.

What good is a burnt out worker? What prophet is Christian so exhausted that he can no longer do the work of an evangelist?

Mark 6:31 KJV 1900

31 And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.

REST: God’s Best Require Rest.

Recover Engage Surrender Trust