Persistent & Consistent

Persistent & Consistent

What a Week

08-15-2021

Intro -

Wow what a week it has been

Have you ever had those weeks or months where it has been a whirlwind of just everything

You have some amazing highs and then you have had weeks where it just seems like you have been kicked in the mouth

I have had some awesome mountain top experiences and then had those times when it has felt like i have just been kicked in the mouth

I had this great sermon planned for 2wks ago

I got to church felt sick to my stomach and my ear was all sorts of plugged up

Went home, got to thinking that sermon was just for me

It was on persistence

And church I need to confess that I have not been

I am still a work in progress

2 Thursday ago men’s Bible study was awesome

We went out of there ready to face things, and take back out families or at least I was

Then it was like we got kicked in the mouth

My wife’s Grandma Verna passed away last Sunday

I spent all day Monday in 100 degree weather to come home to pack and leave for Pittsburg the next day for a viewing

Please hear me in this but I want to share with you

I have made this drive i bet a million times, maybe just maybe some of those times with my eyes closed

While we are driving

We witness a horrific accident

We stop and I run to help

This young man did not make it

So we make our way to Pittsburg

We make our way to the viewing

Only to find out that Randis Aunt Sherry had passed away earlier in the day

Church please hear me this is not a pity party for me or for Randi

I am not sharing this with you to gloat

I am sharing this with you because I know some of you have just been kicked in the mouth

I know some of you are absolutely struggling with life right now and need to hear this

First I want you to know that when you are kicked in the mouth

Remain persistent

I confessed to you earlier that I did not

I told you that guys Bible study was awesome and we men were ready to fight for our families, and pray with them and read with them

I dropped the ball

My own time with Jesus went down

Our prayer time stopped

Church all because we had just been kicked in the mouth

The world will tell you it is ok to wallow in your being kicked in the mouth

But the Word tells us we are in a battle for our lives, for our families

So get up and fight again

We must remain persistent

Psalm 119:9 NASB95

9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word.

It doesn’t say how can a young man keep his ways when it is convenient or when he is on the mountain top

So church even when you who are walking with Jesus and have just been kicked in the mouth, stay persistent

Even when you don’t want to read your Bible

Do IT

Mark 1:35 NASB95

35 In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.

Same thing here

Even when you don’t want to get up and spend time with Jesus

Do IT

Don’t ever think you are to busy, or to experienced of a Christian to think you can survive with out your time with Jesus

Church you and I are to remain persistent

To stick with it

I am here today to confess that I did not do this after we had just been kicked in the face

So I began to pray about what the sermon was going to be about

Would we continue in Galatians?

Would I use the sermon I had prepared?

Would it be a sermon from Psalms?

Then on Friday night, I was still thinking over it

Encouragement

Proverbs 3:5 NASB95

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding.

See I am betting most of us have had a time when you have been kicked in the face

When you have lost all breath, and you really don’t know what to do next

Scriptures call us to Trust in Jesus

To not lean on our own understanding or Google’s understanding

I think sometimes when we have been kicked in the face, our flesh wants to take over and we want to figure things out

We want to analyze things and figure out why this or that happened

We want to know why things are happening

Maybe we start to google things

Scripture calls us to trust in Jesus and not our own mind!

Isaiah 41:10 NASB95

10 ‘Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’

Wow

See these are scriptures you need to memorize for when you are kicked in the face

I think we have heard that in the Bible it says Fear Not or Do Not Fear some 365 times, one for each day

To know that God will strengthen you

Some of you need to hear that this morning

To know that God will help you

Some of you need to hear that this morning

To know that God will uphold you with His Righteous Right Hand

Some of you need to hear that this morning

You need to be encouraged that God is a good God

Even through the pain and suffering in your life God is still a good God

You don’t need to know why this or that are happening in your life

You do need to trust in Jesus

You don’t need to google it

Then you need to not fear because God is still very much God

Some of you need to be encouraged this morning

Mike Tyson said that everyone has a plan till they are punched in the nose

For Christians everything is good till we are kicked in the mouth, and then we are looking around stunned and shocked

And not knowing what to do

Then we start to really question God

The house church in Afghanistan has received letters from the taliban saying we know where you are and we know what you are doing

The churches response is ok

They are remaining persistent, and constant

Isaiah 40:28–31 NASB95

28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. 29 He gives strength to the weary, And to him who lacks might He increases power. 30 Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly, 31 Yet those who wait for the Lord Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.

God is a good God who loves you

What an encouragement this is

That when you and I are tired God is there to help us

God is there to light us up

Because God is a good God

Church this is where we run when you have just been kicked in the face

Not to google, not to social media, not to the world

Church we run to Jesus

As believers we are to remain constant in our faith, and persistently seeking the Lord

For those of you here who do not have a personal relationship with Jesus

God is such a good God that He made it possible for you and I to have a personal relationship with His

John 3:16 NASB95

16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

See God loves each and everyone of you enough to send his own son to die on the cross for you

You may ask why he needed to die on the cross

Romans 3:23 NASB95

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

See you are a sinner

You have missed the mark

You have sinned in your life

because of that sin you cannot enter into a relationship with God who is pure and holy

You also cannot deal with the sin problem on your own

Romans 5:8 NASB95

8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

God dealt with your sin problem and my sin problem

Because of Jesus’s death on the cross we can have a personal relationship with Jesus

Romans 10:9–10 NASB95

9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

That if you and I confess that Jesus is Lord and turn from all the other lords in our life

Confess that we have sinned and turn from that sin

To physically turn from that sin and run to Jesus we will be saved

We will have a personal relationship with Jesus

Church do you understand this morning how good of a God we serve this morning

CLOSING

So maybe you are here this morning and have never repented and trusted in the Lord with all your heart

I would invite you up front to speak with someone and they can show through scripture like I just have that if you repent and trust in Jesus you can walk out of this place a new creation, you can walk out of this place with hope, and peace, and healing for your soul this morning

Or maybe you already have a personal relationship with Jesus and you have been kicked in the mouth

You simply need to spend sometime at the altar in prayer this morning

The altar is open