Amen. Okay, don't sit. We're going to go right to our passage this morning. If you could open your Bibles, if you have a Bible. In the book of Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 1. Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 1. As for the reading of God's word, if you could stand please. Are you already standing? Good. Hebrews chapter 12 verse 1. Let's see what God says to us this morning. And it says, Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witness, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which do so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our fate. who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Let's pray heavily, Father. Thank You, Lord, for this passage of Scripture. Thank You, Lord, for Your goodness and Your love and mercy. And Lord, I pray, Father, that Your Spirit will console and touch the hearts of every person here this morning, that we find Your peace this morning, even at the event that just went on, Lord. is out of our control, but Father, just give us peace and give us a state of mind in which we can listen to the Word of God this morning. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. So we had to change our order of service in a dramatic way this morning, and I apologize for that, but let's look here at this passage of Scripture. And the title of the message is, we are called to persevere. Persevere. Unfortunately, there are many Christians who quit. They quit for whatever reason. They quit, they give up because their faith is very shallow, very small. They give up on God, they give up on church, they give up on the Bible and they quit. Sometimes because they don't understand why they are hurt. they don't understand their pain, they think that God doesn't love them anymore because they're suffering, discouragement, all kinds of things that causes people to quit. Some people can be discouraged at the job site and say, I don't want to work here no more and they quit, you know, because whatever reason and sometimes they regret it. I have people that work with me that they quit, left and they came back and they said I should never left in the first place. But it happens for all kinds of reasons. Be careful in the job site because in the job site there's always those naysayers. They cause you to quit, but they don't quit themselves. They stay there. Same thing in churches. Be careful to those Christians that encourage you to leave. They don't leave, they make you leave. Be careful with that, okay? So there's all kinds of reasons why people quit. But God in the Bible doesn't call us to quit. He calls us to persevere. God doesn't want us to be quitters, okay? We shouldn't be quitters. We should be people that we press on against the current of this world, okay? So the Christian life is not a stroll through the park. It's not. Not as a hundred-yard dash. It is a long-distance marathon, and we are called to run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Anyone of you ever run a marathon? You probably might want to go to Boston tomorrow and watch the Boston Marathon. It's the Patriots Day, right? Yeah, the marathon is tomorrow. It's not tomorrow? It's in April. Oh, it's in April. I'm wrong. OK. All right, thank you. I was passing wrong information. All right, so. But anyway, when they have the marathon, just go and check it up, see what the marathon is. So many people will quit during the marathon. They can't go the long distance and they stop in the middle. And fortunately, there are many who will. So if you ever run the marathon, you agree with me that during that run, many things will happen. All right? Your body will get tired. You will experience cramps and aches. Your mind will tell you to stop and quit. You will get thirsty for sure. You even doubt yourself that you were able to finish the race. So get this, in our Christian marathon, we can run with joy and gratitude of heart for what the Lord has done for us. But during the journey, even with all the joy, we can share many tears and many pains in all kinds of circumstances. Been there? Been there? You say, well, nothing bad happens to Christians. That's a lie. That's not true. Look at me, I battled cancer. Some of you have battled cancer too and other diseases. You say, where was God? God was there the whole time. So, as Christians, we are not simply called to put our faith in our Savior at a moment in time, but we are called to persevere. Perseverance is a major theme throughout the New Testament. What does it mean is that we are called to persevere as Christians. Why does the Bible talk so much about perseverance? Let's talk about the subject this morning. Why does God talk about perseverance? Number one, if you have the outline there, whatever you want to write down, or just listen, God does not promise an easy life. All right, interesting. God promised that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved from their sin. That's a call. God promised that he will have a place for us of eternal rest, a new heaven and a new earth. He promised that. What God doesn't promise is an easy life. If some pastoral bibs says that he does, he's lying to you. All right, he does not promise easy life and all of us know that. We go through hard times in life, don't we? Life hurts many times. and hurts bad many times. How many of us have cried? I think all of us have cried. Don't be ashamed of that. Sometimes life hurts and it's so down that tears come down. It happens. I've never been ashamed of crying or try to hide my tears. So folks, Life is not easy. Actually many times life is extremely painful to live. Yes there are times of great ease, happiness and joy in our lives on which we have some great and sweet memories but there are other times on which we just want to forget that we live through them. Ever been there? It hurts so bad that you don't even want to think about it. Perseverance is important, first of all, because God does not promise you an easy life. Some preachers will promise you an easy life if you come to Jesus for salvation, but God never promised that. Maybe they make life for you easy, but God never promised that. Never. Okay? So, have you ever heard a preacher say something like this? Just come to Christ and put your faith on Him and all your problems will be over. Until you leave the church and you go home and you know the problem, the bills are still there to pay, right? Your car may not start in the parking lot, right? And here is a problem to resolve. See, problems, we live in a troubled world. We live in a world where sin abounds and wickedness is in every street that we go through. We live in a world where the heart of man is desperately wicked. We cannot have peace on that. People say, oh, we have peace. No, we don't have peace. You know, I work in a place only if you know what I know. You would say, goodness, there is no peace. No, there is no peace at all. You know, he's thinking about, you know, when the president is full of information, when a new president is elected, you know, they tell him all those stuff, and the guy, you see how he ages about two years? When he gets all that information, he goes, oh, I thought the presidency was such a good position, until he gets all that responsibility. Well, I got the same in my job, not as severe as that. I know things that I can't tell anybody. We have no peace in our world. There's no peace. But God calls us in the midst of all this to persevere. We really shouldn't say things like that, because like this thing, your problems will be over, because they're not true. Certainly, I believe your life will be better if you come to Christ, but that doesn't mean that your life will be easier, okay? In fact, in some ways, it could be even harder when we come to Christ. And for some Christians, they suffer horrendous ways when they become Christians, things that they never experienced before. So why is that that God doesn't promise us an easy life? God promised peace with him, God promised salvation to us, God promised a place in heaven with him, a new heaven and a new earth, but God does not promise easy life. Letter A, why did not God promise easy life? Number one, Letter A, we live in a falling world. Well, one reason is because we live in a falling world. Paul talks about this in Romans chapter 8 verse 18. It says, For the earnest expectation of the creature were aiding for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity not willingly, but by reason of him who had subjected the same in hope. Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty. of the children of God. You see the comparison Paul makes here in his verses? Paul compares this world with the next and describes that this world has our present sufferings. Now it's not even, we can't even compare to what is coming for us. You know can you imagine a body with no sin, that thoughts is gone, evil is away from us, sin is away from us. We live in the presence and the glory of the Lord but in this world we do not. Folks, this is a world that has been cursed by sin. And we see sin in the lives of people all the time. All the time. See, God created this world, a good world, but sin Messed up everything. We live in a falling world with sin as a factor of our relationship with God, our relationships with each other, and our relationship to the created order. The entire creation is subject to frustration because of sin and waits for the day when God will restore creation and make all things right. But in the meantime, this is where we live. God doesn't promise easy life because he knows we live in a falling world. Let me start in this way. Sin hurts, sin kills and sin destroys. We live in a world that is filled with sin and because of it we see the effects of sin everywhere. We saw the effect of sin right here this morning. That's what sin does. It puts hate in the heart of man. Sin is a ugly thing. So ugly that God told Adam and Eve, get out of the Garden of Eden. Expel them out of there because of what they have done. They did not understand, but they did it. So we should, let it be, we should expect trials. Because you were Christian, don't think that everything is going to go away. It's not going to go away. There's problems of life. There was tribulations of life. There's times when you're so discouraged, you don't even want to get out of the chair anymore. Been there? This time you say, well, I just want to go to heaven. I just want to leave this world because this world does not have nothing to offer me. That is true. This world has nothing to offer us Christians. That's true. But we're here for a purpose. It would be good in the moment we got saved that God would take us to heaven. Boof, gone. Glorious day. But God didn't do that. God wants us to be a light in this world and be the salt of the earth. See we have a promise given to us in the midst of trials and tribulations and pains of life God says this is I want you the way I want you to be I want you to be like this so we should we shouldn't expect that word is wrong we shouldn't expect we should I'm sorry we should expect trials trials will come Actually, Jesus said plainly, John 16, verse 33, Jesus said plainly, in the world you will have tribulations. So, you know what? Don't be surprised that we have problems. Don't be surprised that you're hurt. Don't be surprised that you get sick. That's problems of life. Jesus knew that for the Christian, the world spells trouble. The world stands opposed to God and Christ and so the world stands opposed to those who would follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen, this is not a surprise to us. We know this to be true. So when you stand up for Jesus in your faith, you will face opposition. Not only from the other people, but from the spiritual realm as well. The Bible says that we are involved in a great spiritual battle, and everyone who takes a stand for Jesus will face persecution. Well, in some parts of the world, some people even die for the name of Jesus. Here in America, we experience a lot of verbal persecution. Don't preach to me. Don't bring church here. What kind of music you listen to? This music doesn't fit here. Been there? I heard all that. Even been mocked because I don't work on Sunday. Somebody has said to me yesterday, oh, you know, you're losing a lot. That was yesterday. You're losing a lot. What do you mean I'm losing a lot? You double time, you're losing a lot of money. I said, no, I'm not losing because I never even thought about it. It's not in my calendar to actually work on Sunday. I go to the house of God and said, and you should do the same thing. Well, you're stepping over the line. because I said you should go to church on Sunday. So he's criticizing me because I don't go to go to work on Sunday, but he didn't want me to say you should go to the house of the Lord on Sunday. What a world we live in, isn't it? Let me give you an example. When Paul and Barnabas, who were some of the first missionaries, brought people to Jesus, they were quite clear about this. We read in the book of Acts, look what it says, Acts 14, 21. And when they had preached the gospel to that city and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, confirming the souls of the disciples and exhorting them to continue, here's the word, in the faith, And that we must through much tribulation enter to the kingdom of God. See, Paul and Barnabas were not surprised about tribulation. They experienced that. Now we should never think that we are the only ones experiencing trials. Every person experienced trials in this life one way or the other. Sometimes trials come in truckloads. Sometimes they come here and there. But for sure trials will come. You got that clear? Sometimes they come on truckloads and they dump right in front of your yard, boom, deal with it. Sometimes they even come knocking your door. You open the door, he said, I'm trouble, I'm here. Sometimes that's the way it happens. And the trouble says to you, you better let me in because I'm not walking away. That's trouble. We cannot say no to trouble because it comes sometimes it comes here and there but sometimes we get overwhelmed we don't know what to do with it. So perseverance God does not promise an easy life. Number two God doesn't promise to be God does I'm sorry God does promise to be with you. God doesn't promise you an easy life, but he does promise to be with you. And that's why I like to say that although becoming a Christian would not necessarily make you a easier life or life easier, but it will make your life better. You have dealt with trials in the past. You might be dealing with trials today. But let me tell you, when troubles come on you as a Christian, you know how to deal with them better. Let me give you an example. When we came to America, my mom got very, very sick. We didn't know a word of English. And it was like, we were here for about two weeks. And my mom in Portugal had been in the hospital for over six months at one time. And we suffered quite a bit because we were little kids. And I remember how hard it was on my dad. And our thoughts as kids were like, oh no, we're going back to the same thing. So my mom was here in the hospital for almost three weeks. And it was hard on us. We didn't know how to speak English. We didn't know what went on with my mom. We tried to get information. It was bits and pieces. It was very hard. And we'll remember, in the hospital, I mean, I was already, I was 19 years old at the time, but I was already, but it was very hard to deal with it. Well, I got saved. after that years later my dad he's the one who gets very sick extremely sick we thought we were going to lose him it was trouble but I tell you what we dealt I dealt with that trouble much different than I did when was my mom because God was there sustaining me and I was an example and encouragement to my sisters which do not know the Lord You follow that? It's much easier to face our troubles when God is with us. Okay? Letter A, He gives us His peace to endure in the midst of troubles. I think that one of the greatest encouragement of life is that when we know that we have someone that we know that cares about our predicaments and our situation. When you have that, It gives the strength to face the tribulations of life because they do come, folks. But think with me for a second. God promised that He is with us and that we are never alone in the battles of life. First of all, He gives us His peace. Look what it says in Philippians 4, verse 6. Be careful, be anxious for nothing. For in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. He said when you are Christian, when you are a child of God, when you know God is with you, even in the most trying times of life, when life really hurts and we feel like you're just right there in the mud, we experience the peace of God that the world does not understand. you ever been in a place sometimes that you talk with this talk with this talk with that and it's good to talk with people and the end of the day you still feel miserable and you don't know where to run and you say wow this is so awful I already talked with a hundred people today I talked about everything about my life and guess what I'm still in the mud and only God understands There's a lot of things in life that are bigger than you, but you can't take comfort in the fact that nothing is bigger than God. Nothing. When you bring your request to God, you know that God heard you when you ask Him with faith, and God cares about you. Okay? Let it be. He gives you His presence. Not only does God give you His peace, but He also gives His presence. You know how many times in the midst of tribulations, we forget God altogether. God never left. You're the one who forgot him. You follow that? We're so submerged in our problems that God has gone out of the picture. He didn't go away. You made him go away in your mind. It is easy to get led that way. Nobody cares about me. Nobody cares if I die, not even God. We're lying to ourselves. Look what it says in Matthew 28, 20. That's a promise that God made to you and me. When you are going through the white, hard trials of life, you can take comfort in the fact that God has promised never to leave your side, never to leave you, never to forsake you. You may not be able to see Him visibly with your physical eyes, but for sure believe that God is there to comfort you and to guide you along. You probably read about the footprints in the sin, right? Poem before where the person looked back at his life and saw two sets of footprints in the sand and asked the Lord about it. And the Lord said that the second set was the Lord walking with him through life. And then the person noticed something strange. He noticed that whenever he had met particular difficult trials of life, there was only one set of footprints. So he asked the Lord, why is one set of footprints there? Why you left me all by myself? And the Lord answered, I never left you. The one set of footprints you see are mine, not yours. I was carrying you. God does not promise you an easy life, but he does promise to be with you to your troubles. The sweetest time of me with the Lord is when I was dealing with cancer. It was like I could feel his presence next to me. Because I was beaten down, discouraged. I thought I was going to die. I was not, listen folks, you preach the word of God and you're afraid of dying. No, I'm not. I'm ready to go to heaven. Here's my thought. I had two kids in college. I had a little one at home. Who's going to care for them? My thought was about others, not even about me. Because I knew I was going home to be with my savior. So my prayer was for them. I have my wife, I have my kids. So how? My thought is, Lord, how this is going to happen? Who's going to take care of them? Lord, let me live so I can take care of them. So it's more about them than me. But it was a time of trial. Oh, yes, it was. So hard because when I hear somebody dealing with cancer, it hurts me. Especially when they go through the chemo and the chemotherapy and all the therapies that they do. It's a hurtful thing. Can you imagine you taking chemotherapy to a point you can't even drive your car? You can't put your arm in the steering wheel because your arm is too heavy. You don't have the strength to put your arm up. So you have to put your knee to hold your arm. That's how weak I was. But the Lord got me through. He carried me through. And some people say, why did you go to work? Because I didn't want to be home and feel sorry for myself. So I went to work. and the Lord carry me through. I went to church because you know why? I didn't want to miss church because every Sunday I thought was my last Sunday. I want to be there with my church family. I wanted to worship the Lord. I see in those hard times of life that we understand God is there with us. The problem is many times we forget Him. We forget Him. Believe me, you might not be in trouble right now, might not have no troubles in your life, but let me tell you, they will come. Be prepared because they will come. How are you going to face it? You can face it alone and forget God, or you can put God there and say, Lord, I'm going through a hard time right now, but I know you care about me and you love me and you're helping me all along. Look at the blessings that comes your way, even in the midst of trial and tribulations. Count the blessings, that's God working for you. Maybe look at it this way. The doctor that took care of me was retired. The doctor came out of retirement, took care of me. When I was cancer-free, he retired again. You say, that's coincidence. No, I think that God worked in that man's life and he worked on other people. But God used him to take care of me. You have to have faith to believe that. People can say what they want to say, but you know what? My faith is very strong and I believe that. So, God does promise to be with you. He does promise to be with you. Number three, God promised great benefits to those who persevere. Folks, life is full of surprises, curveballs, situations that are totally out of our control. Life sometimes is hard to live. Life sometimes is painful and difficult in many aspects. Discouragement kicks in. They don't want to throw in the towel and to say I'm done many times passes our mind or the minds of many people. Yes, the Christian life is not easy to live in this world, but God rewards those who persevere. Those who even through pain and suffering and discouragement keep on going. Folks, I play sports. I know how it is when you look at the scoreboard and you're losing by five, especially in soccer. You say, oh, we're doomed. We lost. We're gone. Oh, there's no sense. But you know what? It's hard to look at the scoreboard and say, we still can do it. You know, many times we ever come to that scoreboard and did it. Many times we have done that. So guys, you know what? Let's man out right here. Let's do it. And we did it. But many times we get out of there with our heads down like, oh, this was bad. You know? You know what? Didn't mean we quit. Can we get in the field and get it going in the following week so we try to get better to the other team that comes along. But let me tell you, so is the Christian life. Life hurts. Bible goes one way, church goes another way, God goes another way. I'm done with this whole thing. You know what? I go to church, I love God, I give tithes and offerings and look what God's doing to me. God's not doing that to us. God is not the author of evil. But God promised to be with us through those hard times. You see, We will pass out of this life one way or the other. We have an appointment with our maker. But until then, God is with us. The Spirit of God is in you if you're a believer. So God promised great benefits to those who persevere. Jesus is an example and encouragement to us of this. He knew about the cross, but he never gave up. He persevered all the way to the Calvary's cross. And we can say, thank you, Lord. Because you persevered, I can go to heaven to be with you. I can experience the peace that you give me because you persevered on that cross. Imagine if Jesus quit. There'll be no salvation. The Apostle Paul suffered so much, but he persevered and kept on going. Peter suffered quite a bit, but he persevered. John persevered quite a bit to a point that they put him in exile to the island of Patmos, but he persevered to the Lord. What I try to say to you is that these people didn't give up on God, and we should not give up on God. That's the worst thing we can do. Listen, if we think life is hard being Christians, imagine those who are not Christians. You think their life is perfect? Their life doesn't hurt to them? Don't be a big nose person, but listen to what people talk. Pay attention to what people talk. They're full of trouble. Sometimes we think all these people are so... They're full of trouble. You listen to them. Listen, if life is hard for the Christian in this world, imagine for the non-Christian how hard it is. Oh, but these people have it all together. Look what they have. They have cars, they have money, they take vacations, do all that. Yes, and they have the pain too. And the discouragement is just like me and you. Listen, folks, I live in this world for a long time already, okay? Half a century, okay? Does money help? Yeah, all right, all right, yeah. All right, money help, but money doesn't fix all the problems. The rich die too, you know that, right? And the rich suffer too, right? I mean, the other day I saw a country singer that, I'm not going to mention the name, that I used to listen to in my early years. The guy doesn't even know he's in this world. What happened with his money? Well, it was being used to taking care of him, but he doesn't even know he's in this world. You see, the rich die too. So letter A, your faith is shown to be genuine. One benefit according to the Bible is that your faith is shown to be genuine. Listen to 1 Peter 1 verse 6, it says, Wherein we greatly rejoice through now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through the manifold temptation. that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold, that perished through it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." So, through perseverance, what we do, our faith should be genuine. Just be faithful to the Lord. Be faithful. Let it be. Perseverance develops character. Did I give you point number three? I did give people number three okay so point number three was I was a little confused here no point number two God does promise to be with you okay point number three God promised benefits to those who persevere okay I'm sorry so your faith is shown to be genuine and let it be persevering develops character we don't like hardships I don't like hardships do you? I don't. I like nice and ease. I don't like hardships. You know one thing I don't like? I don't like to drink coffee on the run. You might say, that's silly. I don't enjoy that thing. You just swallow the thing and you go like, am I done with this thing? I like actually to sit down and enjoy and sip the thing until... So is life. I like ease. I don't like hardships. I don't like headaches. Some people said, I have a headache. Well, take some Tylenols or some whatever it is. And they say, well, I tried to battle this one. Oh, just give me the stuff, because I don't want pain. People tried it, and two days later, oh, I still have a headache. Just take something for it. Sometimes you got migraines, a little different. But anyway, so perseverance develops character. Don't you know it's through the trials of life that we learn and appreciate life? Sometimes, you know, I think we, Our generation, we did a disservice to our kids. Give them everything. We give them everything. They don't appreciate what they have. My kids don't understand my hardships. They don't. They don't understand our hardships. I remember we were paying a mortgage. My wife got to a car accident. I had to go find another job to be able to pay the mortgage. Otherwise, the bank was going to take the whole thing. We didn't have money. It was that hard. Oh, you guys misused the money. Really? If you don't have it, you don't have nothing to pay for. So you know what? Sometimes, you know, they don't understand the hardship, but you know what? Hardship teaches us to appreciate life. When I live in Portugal, I walk barefooted. So is almost everybody else. You say, why you walk barefooted? Oh, because it was nice and sunny skies. No, we didn't have money to buy shoes. There was none. was not by choice, it was by, that was the way of life. There was no money to buy shoes, so we all bid for it. And in the summer, we were like this, ah, ah, we jumped because the pavement was so hot. John, you know, right? You remember that? So pavement was so hot, you know? On Sunday, we had a pair of shoes, good pair of shoes. You don't want to know my pair of shoes. One time I went to church with one shoe was brown and the other shoe was black. Why that? Because I like to play soccer and I destroy the shoes. You know? And the bottoms had holes. I used to walk in the rain. I used to walk like this. You know, so I didn't get my feet wet. But they say like, wow, what kind of? Listen, it was everybody. We were poor to the core. But you know what? When you have it, then you appreciate what you have. Because you know it's in there. No, we were not homeless, we were not. But, dude, we were close to that. Life was hard. One pair of pants for the whole week, one pair of pants only for Sunday. Remember one time my mom was crying because, you know, I went to play soccer after, you know, me and soccer, we're good friends. So I went to play soccer and I ripped my pants, my Sunday pants. My mom was crying. My mom said, oh, I'm going to get a pair of pants for you for next Sunday. You only have one pair of pants. I did not understand. I was like, I was just because I won the game. The following week, I go to church with the pants with the patch on. That's the best thing she could do. And she cut it out of one of her dresses to put on me. So you can imagine how it really matched. So today, we have the clothes to match everything. You say, well, where did you come from? Well, you don't want to know. But I believe that perseverance develops character. It's through the hardships of life that we learn to be grateful and thankful for what we have. Listen folks, I am grateful that I know my Savior. I'm grateful that I am a Christian. I'm grateful for what Jesus has done. You know what? You say, Pastor, you're very passionate about it. I am! Because I appreciate it. I am glad that Jesus went to Calvary's Cross to pray for my wickedness. Aren't you? Look what James said in James 1 chapter verse 2. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations. Know this, that the trying of your faith worketh patient. But let patient have a perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. You see, it's true triumphs of of great trials and tribulations of life that we learn to appreciate life. We treasure what we have. I know we live in a country on which the marketing is buy, buy, buy, buy, buy because you deserve. Even if you buy, buy, buy, we appreciate what you have. Because believe me, a lot of people in this world that don't have. and they would love to have just a bit piece of what you have. So the keys for perseverance, lamp number four. Number one, persevering people experience failure, but just like everyone else. So sin and striving are common for men. Joseph went through it. Persevering people try and fail and sometimes it's their own fault. Other times it's other people's fault. But let me tell you, they experienced failure like everybody else. Listen, don't you ever come to the point in your mind or let anybody tell you that because you were Christian, life should be easy for you. That is not true. That's not Bible. Okay? Life hurts sometimes and hurts hard. But let me tell you, we do fail. People who persevere fail. Because why? Because we're not perfect. You follow that? None of us is perfect and we failed the Lord many times. With our words, with our actions, with our thoughts, with our attitudes. But let me tell you, we fail but we get up and we go again. Okay, you say, I'll do that. Okay, you're running the marathon. A guy is about 50 feet ahead of you. And remember, marathon is endurance. You set your pace, and you try to beat your opponent with your pace. You see the person 50 feet ahead of you, and you go, I'm gonna pass him. And you just out, and you pass him. And when you pass him, you out of gas. And he passes you and laughs at you. You see what I'm saying here? You failed. But we don't quit there, we keep going. I said, I'll catch up to you, let me set my pace again. That's the Christian life. We fail, we get up, we get again. You follow that? Okay, so number two. Persevering people choose not to live in the past. Unless we choose to live in the past, and you know people do, God has an answer for every one of those things. But we have to allow Him to be Lord in our lives, and we have to choose not to live in the past. Paul was able to forget the things which in the past, because he had already went through them, but he was looking forward to the future. Let me put it this way. Things happen to you. Doesn't mean we're going to forget them. You just don't want to live that same thing through it again. You follow that? Okay, so you made a horrendous mistake. You know why? You tripped and fall and you hurt yourself. You don't want to go through the same hole and say, I'm going to fall again. Ha ha, now I'm going to hurt myself again. You just don't want to do that. What, you're going to forget the past? No. But we don't go to the past. We live forward. We move forward. So persevering people choose not to live in the past but live in the present because the present just sets the pace for the future. Number three, persevering people decide to keep on moving. One of the worst train disasters in history happened in Spain in 1944. It was a long passenger train with an engine on each end of the train. It was on its way through the tunnel when the engine stalled. So the engineer in the rear engine started up and started to go back out of the tunnel. Meanwhile, the engine in the front tried to get the train out of the tunnel moving forward. So the trains were pushing in two different directions, and the train didn't go anywhere in that tunnel. That's what happened to the people. They all died of carbon dioxide. So Philippians 3.14 says, I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. So we have to keep on moving forward. And the only way we can do that is to decide who is going to be in charge. Is it be me or be Jesus? You say, how Jesus? Allow God to be God in your life, to be Lord of all in your life. Number four, persevering people take one day at a time. Okay, you can't live in the past, you cannot live in the future, but you live in the present, right? That's what we're doing right now, we're living right now. You know, we take one day at a time. We plan for tomorrow, but we don't live in the tomorrow. Follow that? Is it wise to plan for tomorrow? Yeah if you look at Proverbs even the ants plant for tomorrow. Right? Even little ants they plant for tomorrow. It is wise God wants to plant for tomorrow. But it doesn't mean you're going to make it tomorrow. We live today. We live in the present. We live today, this moment. We don't even know if we'll make it to the end of the day. But it's wise to live for tomorrow. So you know persevering people take one day at a time. I live today and if I live tomorrow I will live tomorrow. Here's a really profound truth. It may sound really simple, but we need to understand we live today, not tomorrow or not yesterday. God gives each one of us a 24-hour period on each day, and we live on that day. Okay, number five, persevering people know that God's strength is available to them. One day, a tiny boy was playing and digging in his sand pit when he discovered a large rock. Listen to this. He carefully dug around and with a huge effort rolled it to the edge of a descent pit. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get the rock over the little wall. He struggled and he struggled. to lift it over, but it just rolled back off his fingers and he couldn't move it. Finally, he burst into tears. All this time his father had been watching from the window and suddenly he appeared next to the little boy. Son, he said, why didn't you use all the strength you had available? I did, Daddy. I used every bit of strength I had. I'm out of strength. I can't do it anymore. No, you didn't, son. You did not. You didn't use all your strength. The little boy looked at daddy and said, dad, I did. And he said, he didn't ask me to help you. Then his father went down and lift the rock over the wall. If we open ourselves up to God's strength, we can do any task He has set before us. Philippians 4.13, I can do all things through Christ who strengthened me. You see, problems will come. Tribulations will come. Discouragements will come. They will come. Pain will come. But through Christ. We can do all things. We might not be able to move that rock, but God can. We might not be able to move that mountain, but God can. You follow that? We have to have faith enough to believe that and we persevere believing that God can do what we cannot do. So what is it in your life that you think that nobody can do or you cannot do? God can do it for you. But don't ever think that God is a fast food restaurant. He's not a fast food restaurant. You slap your hands and boom, he's there. That's not the way it happens. God does it in his time. That's what God does. We have to believe that. See, in the meantime, what do we do? We persevere because God is with us. Listen, there's all kinds of situations in life. Let me conclude this morning. Don't you quit. When things go wrong, as they sometimes will, when the roads you win trotting seems uphill, when the funds are low and the debt are high, when you want to smile but you have no sight, when cares are pressing you down a bit, rest if you must but don't you quit. Life is strange with its twists and turns as all of us sometimes must learn. and many a failure turn about when we might have won had we struck it out. Don't give up. To the pace seems slow. You may succeed with another blow. Success is failure, and is failure turn aside out. The silver tide of the clouds of doubt, and you never can tell how close you are. It may be near when it seems so far. So stick to the fight when you hit the hardest. It's when things get worse that you must not quit. There was a woman or a man that tried to climb Mount Washington, and it did, and it was a bad, bad storm. It came to a point, I think it was she, if I'm mistaken, I hope I'm not mistaken. She quit, he or she quit, give up. When the storm went away, the house was right there on top of the mountain. She quit too soon. She lost her life doing that. Don't quit, persevere. Don't give up. Persevere. Life is hard. Life hurts. Yes. And we think, why am I living for? You're living for Jesus. Don't quit. Don't quit. Yes, sometimes we get frustrated. Sometimes we say, why, Lord, I'm the only one hurting. Why, Lord, I'm the only one with problems. Why me? Why me? You know, if you look at the world, you're not the only one. It's thousands out there. Don't quit. Don't give up. God is with us. Persevere like a good soldier. Keep on going for the Lord and the Lord will bless you along the way. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for perseverance. That's the Christian life. And pray for my brothers and sisters here this morning and those online as well. They will persevere. that the thought of giving up on you never come to their mind. Lord, if we have a hard time living in this world as Christians, what about those who are not Christians? When hopelessness hits their heart, where do they go? At least we have you, Lord. We thank you for that. In Jesus' name. Amen. If you could stand, please. Sing a song of invitation this morning. page 214, all the way, My Savior Leads Me. All the way my Savior leads me, what have I to ask beside? Can I doubt His tender mercy, who through life has been my guide? Have we peace, divinest calm? Are you hurting this morning? You have some sickness in your life? You need a job? You have doubts in your life? You're about to throw in the towel and quit and say, I'm done with life altogether. I'm done with this Christianity. Hear me. Don't quit. Don't quit. Press on for the Lord. Think about it. If you have a heart as a Christian, what about those who are not Christians? God loves you. God wants you to press on. Don't give up on Him. Because listen to me, He never gives up on you. He's with you all the way. Think about it. He's with you all the way. See the blessings around you when life hurts. It's God working on your behalf. You say, but Pastor, why does He take care of me when I'm hurting? He does. In His way, not in your way. Let's learn from persevering, from the pains of life, how good our God really is. We have a good God. And let me tell you, life sometimes is really, really hard to live. Really hard. Let me tell you this, there was a time in my life I used to walk almost two hours to go to work. First thing in the morning, get up early to walk to work. And at night, Walk back home. God took care of it. I said, well, but you know where you live, it's nice and sunny skies every day. Yeah, and when it rained, it poured. You know, like the gates of heaven just opened and boom on you, and you were walking. To work you went. Perseverance helps you to appreciate life. God is good. He's always good. He's always good. All the way, my severely, let's sing one more verse, our last verse. All the way my Savior leads me, Church when the impet I tread, Gives me grace for every trial, Feeds me with the living bread. Though my weary steps may falter, And my soul a thirst may be, Gushing from the rocks before me, Flowers spring of joy, I see. Gushing from the rocks before me, Flowers spring of joy, I see. Let's pray heavily, Father. Thank You, Lord, for Your goodness. You're so good to us, Lord. Forgive us when we don't appreciate You. Lord, you're always there for us, even in the most difficult moments of life, you're there with so many blessings, and we many times fail to see your goodness. Lord, may we persevere. May we never quit on you. May we always look to you when life is good and when life is bad, because we live really in a falling world, in a wicked world. with sin abounds. Lord, I pray for my sisters online, those that are here, my brothers as well. Lord, they will persevere, they will never quit on you. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.