Resilience and Perseverance

. Last Sunday we spoke about two underrated aspects of the character of Jesus that were actually integral in Jesus doing what he was able to do for humanity.

. and those two things were “consistency and reliability” Jesus was always consistent he never changed he never contradicted himself and he did and fulfilled every single thing that he said he was going to do.

. These two things are just as integral for us as they were for Jesus, if we as individuals want to share the truth of Christ to those around us, and as a church to make a lasting impact on our community that last for many years to come, we as the believers and as the church need to be consistent and reliable!

. I'm going to repeat the statement i made last week and also a month or so ago because i believe this statement is important for us to get into our brains and our hearts, and all this talk about the character of Jesus and also our character can be looked at in light of this statement.

. “Becoming established and living in the blessings of God and functioning in the spiritual gifts, does not come without a genuine attempt on our behalf to live a holy and righteous life.”

Hebrews 12:14 NKJV

Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord:

. Today i would like to focus on to more aspects of the character of Jesus, these two are spoken about much more often, however not usually as aspects of the Character of Christ.

Resilience and Perseverance!!!

. There is no doubt in my mind that Jesus showed continuously these two things!

. just think of the amount of times that Jesus was opposed during his ministry, the religious zealots of the day were continually at him for doing something wrong.

. and many times people wanted Jesus dead

Matthew 26:59 NKJV

Now the chief priests, the elders, and all the council sought false testimony against Jesus to put Him to death,

John 10:31 NKJV

Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him.

John 10:39 NKJV

Therefore they sought again to seize Him, but He escaped out of their hand.

. Despite the continual attempts at his life Jesus continued to do what he was called to do, and in the same way so did his disciples chances are should Jesus have been caught in any of these moments the disciples would have been as well.

. So we see this resilience from Jesus then displayed in his disciples after his death and resurrection as each of them in different ways face death threats and the reality most of them where killed in the end for proclaiming and preaching the truth.

. and were did they learn and develop the resilience to go through all of this? from watching and walking with Jesus himself!

. Resilience really is the ability to recover and bounce back or adjust easily to misfortune or change. for example the lose of a loved one

.( When we crashed the van in Uganda )

. The second thing is perseverance, which is defined really as “the continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure and opposition.

. and really we could use some of the same examples as we just did with Jesus for resilience, but i want us to look at how Jesus persevered with those he choose as his disciples despite the at times seeming failure and inability to understand.

. Think about it like this Jesus was aware of what he came to do and he was aware that he only had a limited amount of time to be able to train and develop those who would continue on as leaders and apostles of the faith once he was gone.

. and there where many moments that Jesus had to persevere with his disciples seeming inability to grasp the truth.

Matthew 17:17–21 NKJV

Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.” And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

. These where some of the people Jesus had chosen to follow on from him and he wished for them to understand but points out that it was their unbelief that meant they were unable to help in this situation.

Matthew 15:16–18 NKJV

So Jesus said, “Are you also still without understanding? Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man.

. Personally i hate repeating myself and get frustrated!

. These are just a couple of examples and there are more in scripture, my goal is to try and paint this picture for you, that despite the challenges Jesus faced his character shone through and resilience and perseverance were another two integral parts of his character.

. to finish today i want to show you one more scripture, in this scripture the apostle Paul, is trying to show this group of people who were giving up because of fear and because of persecution the cause of Christ.

. and in truth were not showing these two characteristics of Jesus.

Hebrews 12:3 NKJV

For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.

. we all get tired and weary at times, but this i find strength and encouragement in, that Jesus was resilient and persevered through more than i will ever have to and i know that i can do it with his strength.

.LETS PRAY FOR THIS HERE TODAY!