Please turn with me to the book of Romans chapter 12. Follow along as I read verses 11 and 12. Romans 12 verses 11 and 12. Not lagging in diligence, serving or fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer. The message is how to overcome trials and serving God until your last breath. Or for the rest of your life. There's a plaque over my office door that says, it's not how you start that matters. That's how you finish. Many of you know that many of you have seen that plaque. And what we find in verses 11 and 12 of Romans 12. Is a command and an encouragement to serve God consistently, not only with zeal and fervency, But consistently, and I think we all from time to time manifest zeal and fervency in our service to the Lord and in our walk with the Lord. But I think also we're all wanting to do this consistently, faithfully, steadfastly. with resilience as we walk with God and serve the Lord. We want to reduce the extreme lines on the chart of service and fellowship with God, make them more consistent at a high level. So by way of brief review, Romans chapter 12, as many of you know, contains teaching for practical Christian living. In our last two messages, we looked at the responsibility of serving God with zeal based on the first phrase of chapter 12 and verse 11, not lagging in diligence or zeal. And you'll remember that chapter 12 and verses one and two addresses our relationship with God, that vertical relationship between the believer and the Lord. And then the rest of the chapter speaks to our relationship with others in verses three through eight. Our responsibility to believers in verse 14 and verses 17 through 21, our relationship to our enemies. And then we've been in the fourth place. for several weeks addressing our responsibility in serving others. And this responsibility, we see in chapter 12, lists a number of general duties that we have in our relationship with other believers. And these are listed in verses nine through thirteen and in fifteen and sixteen. So we're right in the middle of looking at one by one our responsibility to other believers in verses nine through thirteen. We are presently in verse eleven and twelve, which we hope to finish up today. Well, in the first place, then. Verse eleven B. Looks at. fervent in spirit serving the Lord. The titles for these four points are taken directly from the scripture itself. And remember, we're talking about how to be fervent, how to be zealous, how to be godly and holy consistently until our last breath in serving the Lord. We all serve God from time to time, but it's often the case that we go astray. We get complacent and lukewarm. So the exhortation here in chapter 12 is for us to be zealous all the time. We're to be fervent in spirit when we serve the Lord, not just sometimes, but all the time. And of course, our Lord's death on the cross and the power and grace and strength that comes from his death by faith in Christ renews us daily and the strength we need to serve him fervently and zealously day by day. We mentioned previously that the first phrase in verse 11, not lagging in diligence, is better translated not lagging in zeal. But all three exhortations in verse 11 are closely connected. We read not lagging in zeal, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. The first two phrases focus on the quality of our serving the Lord. The object here is serving the Lord, and we're told that the character of our service is to be zealous and fervent in spirit. Constant zeal and fervency in spirit must always characterize our service to the Lord. Zeal, though, must be regulated by God's wisdom and prudence, tact, judgment, diplomacy. And always we must have the goal of the glory of God in our service, not self-interest, not selfishness, We must look at everybody, not through our own eyes and what we can get out of people for our own benefit, but through the eyes of Christ for the glory of God. The motive driving our zeal and fervency, of course, is love for Christ. As we read in 2 Corinthians chapter five, the love of Christ constrains us, which also was emphasized in verse nine. Of chapter 12, let love be without hypocrisy. So purity. In our love for God and for one another is often and primarily the motive in serving the Lord with zeal and fervency. Now to be fervent in spirit means literally that we're to do everything for the glory of God. Nothing for ourselves to consume upon our lusts. To be fervent in spirit means that our hearts are to be engaged and involved fervently and zealously in everything we do. This means as an employee, you're a Christian employee. And therefore, you're to work at your job zealously and fervent in spirit as unto the Lord. As a father, you're to look at your role zealously and fervently And you are to have that attitude as not only a father in your duties and responsibilities in teaching your children and training them, disciplining them, but also in your role as a husband. It's hard to do, to divide up the little time that we have among all of our roles and responsibilities so that we're faithful as an employee, as a father, and as a husband, as a friend, as a church member. Unless you have determined ahead of time that you're going to commit your all 110% to serving God with fervency and zealousness. The only way you're able to be faithful as a zealous, fervent believer in approaching these responsibilities is if you give your all to them. There's very little room for Wasting time. We're called to redeem the time. I have never met a person who is able to be fervent and zealous as a church member, as an employee, and to do these things, not only as a husband, a father, a church member consistently, faithfully, day in and day out, week in and week out, year in and year out, without giving themselves completely to it. One hundred and ten percent. with little or no time left over for worldly entertainments, which are wrong anyway, or other things. To be fervent in spirit. Means that our activities in the church and outside the church as witnesses for Christ, sharing the gospel as church members, using our gifts to edify the body, using hospitality, Being zealous and diligent in serving the Lord in our relationship with believers and otherwise all of our activities. Participating in evangelistic activities in an organized way in the church or in a one on one individual situation. And every other church responsibility attending the prayer meetings and so forth are to be done with earnestness. Some of us would be able to be a little more faithful in our church responsibilities if we were zealous and earnest and not lazy. And slothful in approaching serving the Lord because God commands in verse 12 and verse 11 that we are to be diligent or zealous and fervent in spirit when we serve the Lord. This fervency and earnestness does not have room to encompass other earthly worldly duty duties that would crowd out the joy and the responsibility we have in serving God. Is that not true? We need to be more diligent than. Diligent zealous the Lord Jesus was very zealous. The Bible says zeal for his house consumed him. So if we took our major responsibilities in life and gave ourselves over to them with zeal and earnestness and fervency, we would be able to maintain consistency. But things of the world and things that are secondary priorities tend to crowd out God and his weightier matters and priorities from the top of the priority list. And you and I are in a constant battle and making choices. What is more important? What is more important? Things of the world that we don't necessarily have to participate in or the things of God. Okay, let's move on then to the second Phrase of verse 11 be serving the Lord. Remember, first and foremost, we were saved to know God, to walk with him and to serve him. That's our number one responsibility. He says we're to be fervent and zealous in the character of our service, but we are called to serve who serve God. Yes, we serve many people in that responsibility. But first and foremost, we serve the Lord. We must remember when we make choices with our time and what we do with our resources, which time is a is a greater and more important resource very often than money. His eye is always on us, he's watching us as we make these choices, he's watching you as you profess to serve him. Serving the Lord means that you're accountable to him for everything that you and I do. You may be doing wonderful with the Lord and then all it takes is one session where you sit down in front of a worldly program on cable or Internet and 95% of the strength and power and grace of God is diluted from you and your spiritual bloodstream. We're accountable to God for everything we do. Because we serve the Lord, we must be careful what we look at and what we bring into our minds as objects which control our thoughts for an hour or two or three. Because whatever we think, that's what we become. And in serving the Lord, we've got to remember as well that. Our motives should be to please him in everything that we do. In everything that we do, we are to please God and perhaps some of us. And the choices and commitments we've made with our time. And the things we are doing during that time are not pleasing God. We need to take inventory. of the quality of our service to the Lord. We need to have purity in our affections when serving the Lord. Because it's an awesome privilege to serve God. God doesn't want us to serve him half-heartedly. He wants us to be absolutely zealous and fervent. He wants us frequently to be reminded about the reasons why we're serving him because Christ died for us and we're not our own that every gift talent and skill that we have has been given to God for the purpose of glorifying him directly through worship and service and evangelism and indirectly and everything else we do because he sees that are in our intentions are simple and also our motive is pure. And as other people observe our character and our witness, God is glorified indirectly through word and through lifestyle. We are called to be perfect. You say, well, Pastor Joe, you know, we're not perfect. It amazes me how often that we ourselves make excuses for not aiming at the highest target God wants us to aim for. and we kind of psychologize ourselves out of a lifestyle that would aim for perfection. I know we're not perfect. I know that the weakness of the flesh often hinders us, but the way we remain faithful and consistent and resilient in a high level of serving God is by being renewed in our goal, which is perfection and serving God. Walk with God every day in prayer. We're repenting of those defects in our motives and our service of all these weaknesses. And the Holy Spirit strengthens strengthens us and renews us by his grace to aim once again for perfection. And that process needs to be taking place every day, every day. But after a few days or a week or two of not being renewed in the spirit by the word and prayer. Our expectations are lowered and we accept mediocrity and lukewarmness right. As a normal approach in serving God. God's concern first about the quality and condition of our heart our attitude our motives. That's what springs zeal and fervency to higher levels when we are renewed in the spirit. But if we reverse the priorities of our service where first we do the activities, we evangelize, we do this, we do that, and then we worry about our motives and the condition of our heart and our quality relationship with God and with people, we've got our priorities backwards, right? The same is true with worship. We just don't show up at the assembly of the saints cold and dry and unprepared if we expect to have a powerful worship experience where the Holy Spirit reaches to the depths and core of our being and changes us afresh and transforms us afresh from the inside out so that we leave the worship service as someone who has gone through a metamorphosis anew by the power of the Holy Spirit where the spiritual priorities are put back in their proper place. What an awesome privilege it is to serve the Lord. When you look at the metaphors and types of the Old Testament concerning the perfect conditions that the priest had to achieve before their service was acceptable, the ritual washings that are described in the Pentateuch, the perfect cleansing of their garments, the week of preparation leading up to their turn as the lead priest offering up the sacrifices every single aspect of their external duties had to have a proportionate preparation in their inner man or else they were unacceptable and very often leprosy or some other disease would follow would come upon a priest or someone in service because they neglected this preparation. What are we doing here at Christ Bible Church? God is a holy God. He's holy. He's almighty God. And He has made provision in the Lord Jesus Christ for us to come into the holiest presence of God. But we must do so according to the conditions and rules He has established for us to approach Him. And just because we're in the New Covenant now and we have all this freedom and instant audience with the King does not mean that we come into his presence cold and dry and falling asleep. And we would never fall asleep at a lecture at a university that we're paying $200 a unit for. We go out of our way if we had an unavoidable appointment to make sure we got the notes or we'd sit down with a student and have the student tutor us for that. But what about God and his interests and his rights and his concerns when it comes to worshiping him, when it comes to serving him? What will you say to him? On that judgment seat of Christ for believers, where our works are tested by fire, And we will have so much regret as we review our works, some of us, not all of us, thank God. And see, so much of it, wood, hay and stoll, burned up because our hearts were not in serving God. Because we were so lethargic and apathetic and lackadaisical in approaching the service of the King of Kings, who upholds all things by the word of His power right now and has loaned you your next breath and your next heartbeat. and has saved your never-dying soul so that you don't have to burn in a lake of fire and brimstone forever, who has seen fit to preserve you from falling away from the faith into destruction and reprobation, and has preserved you through your worst times, and has still used you in spite of yourself and myself, and yet Our remaining corruption is such that there is a level of forgetfulness and blindness that can influence our minds and control our thinking for very long periods of time where the goodness and grace and kindness and patience of God is completely blocked out from our memory for very long periods of time in these matters. So it's an awesome privilege to serve the Lord. We serve the Lord and we're to do so fervent in spirit. If there's anything and anyone to get excited about when we worship, it's the Lord. We're to have fervency in spiritual activities. It's dreadful to have words sung during our hymn singing time that are barely audible. Our singing is not driven very often by fervency, by zeal for the glory of God. As I use my intellect, my voice, my thoughts, my imagination, I'm reading the words of the hymnal and I'm so prepared in the Spirit that God the Holy Spirit comes alongside of my spirit, quickens me so that I'm illuminated and therefore able to take hold of the doctrine and theology in the words of that hymn, and he applies it to my spirit in a powerful way so that my heart is melted where I stand. My lip quivers and I cannot sing another word, and my head falls to my chest and tears well up in my eyes, and I'm worshiping the Lord. I'm worshiping. Fervency in worship as we sing, as we pray, I shouldn't have to hear a low-grade snoring from a guy who's sitting in the same row as I am during the pastoral prayer. Spirit should be so conditioned by preparation that the slightest amount of power and grace and truth in the prayers should wake me up, should grab hold of me and pull me in and cause me to be engaged as one with the one who is praying or leading in prayer. The same thing is true with the preaching of God's Word. We should be so spiritually vulnerable and sensitive to the truth of God's Word that when we come into the sacred meeting that our hearts, therefore, are open and ready for God to speak to His people. As the psalmist said, We will hear what the Lord will say or speak. He will speak truth or peace to His people. He's worthy. This is how we serve Him. With fervency in worship. Fervency in evangelism. We should be engaged. We have an opportunity to witness somebody asks us of a reason of the hope that is in us. You're a Christian? Oh, you go to church? And sometimes our response betrays our indifference and our forgetfulness of the glory of our commission to bring the free offer of the gospel of good news to lost souls. The only message that God has ordained for the salvation of souls, for the release of these souls from spiritual prison, is bound up in the Gospel of Jesus Christ alone. And we as believers, we as Christians, are given the supreme honor and privilege to represent that Gospel through word and lifestyle, to be ambassadors As Paul said, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes. We should be seized with the glory and power of the message we proclaim instead of being shoulder shrugging Christians that appear to be indifferent to the message that we preach when we have an opportunity to proclaim it. Oh, yeah, I'm a Christian. Have a nice day. When someone expresses interest in the gospel, and that interest is sincere, God the Holy Spirit has put that thought and desire in that person's heart and mind. Because the Scripture says the world hates God. The nations rage against the Lord and against His Christ. And they hate Him and everything He represents. So for an ungodly, vile, wicked, self-serving, selfish, sinner who has been a slave of self and sin all his or her life, who approaches me and expresses the slightest interest with pure motives in the gospel. It should arrest my attention. It should open my eyes. It should cause me to think and begin to pray, oh God, could it be possible that this person I've been working alongside for a year, five years, ten years, You're answering my prayers. You're awakening them. It should cause our hearts to tremble with faith and hope that even with the scantiest evidence that this one would be saved. And to zealously, yet with wisdom, Not like a bull in a china shop setting up a platform in the middle of the office floor when someone expresses the slightest interest. No, wait for the break time. Wait for your day to end. Use wisdom. But don't let zeal be extinguished because you have to wait a few hours before you get off work. I remember one time about 30 years ago I was working for my brother. This is actually about 23, 24 years ago when our first church first started. We only had four families, very small. So I was bivocational and I was working for my brother unloading big trucks. He owned a company which installed office partitions. And I had been praying for this one or actually all the workers. They would go off during lunchtime and drink beer and I would go in my van and get on my face and cry out to God in prayer for their souls and for opportunities to witness to them. And then I'd read my Bible while I'm eating a sandwich that my wife made for me. And I'd go back freshly armed. But I remember that I began working with this man for a few days unloading big tractor trailer trucks of office furniture. And I began to pray for his soul. And I determined, I said, God, on this job, I don't want to initiate a conversation about the gospel. Though I want to witness them, I want you to move in them in a way that they would ask me about Christ. And lo and behold, that's what happened. Man after man after man. The first one began with this fellow I was mentioning who was helping me unload the truck. And we were working up a sweat. And he was whistling worldly songs. And I was just praying for him the whole time and meditating on the Word. And on the third day, finally, he said, Are you a Christian? And I answered my prayer. And so while we were working and unloading the truck, I was witnessing to him. And I didn't miss a beat. I was zealous as an employee. Didn't miss a beat. And he asked me for a Bible. So we need to be fervent in spirit when we serve the Lord. But next, we see secondly, rejoicing in hope. Verse 12a. Now, as in verse 11, the three statements in verse 12 are closely associated and related. The end of the verse has the main object in view to be steadfastly in prayer and the way we become steadfastly in prayer is by rejoicing in hope and by being patient in tribulation. Now, when we talk about rejoicing in hope, we're talking about the hope of future glory. In other words, we rejoice in the hope of future glory. And we rejoice in the hope of eternal life. Even though we haven't arrived yet, this glory and this eternal life is in the future, in a sense. But we rejoice in it now, and very often we need to rejoice now because nothing else will provide comfort and consolation in our trials except the future glory that we will receive. that will be revealed to the faithful Christian who is patient under tribulation, a glory that will shortly be revealed. As we read again in Romans 5, 2 and 3, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God, and not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing the tribulation produces perseverance. And then again in Romans 15 and verse 13, Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. So the Holy Spirit comes alongside during tribulation and reminds us, Joe, your flesh is crying out in pain. Your pride is screaming for relief. You're being greatly humbled in this tribulation, aren't you? But remember, Joe, your future is full of glory. Glory above, glory below, glory on every side. Unending, nonstop, uninterrupted glory for eternity. And suddenly your mind is taken off your circumstances and your pain and your embarrassment at your persecution, and it's immersed in the future glory that awaits you. And your spirit begins to revive. And you begin to have a worship service with the Lord Jesus. Colossians 127 reminds us to them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Yes, Christ in us often does come and remind us of the glory and the hope of that glory that is before us. And then thirdly, We read in verse 12, be patient in tribulation. What are tribulations? Trials. Well, they're whatever hurts us or grieves us. Now, these, of course, these trials and tribulations should be ones that someone else brings upon us or circumstances bring upon us or those which seek us out and find us rather than suffering because of our own sins or because of the consequences of our sins. But in general, tribulations are whatever hurts us or grieves us. That's not our fault. And Christians will go through many tribulations for the scripture says through many what tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. If you're in the spirit and suffer tribulation and trials, the first thing that you're reminded of is the theological truth that tribulation and suffering is normal. If you respond to tribulation as if it's a strange thing, something that you should not be experiencing, then you're not. You're not thinking correctly, either you're. doctrinally ignorant or spiritually, you've got a blind spot because the scripture says in James 5, 10 and 11, my brethren, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as an example of suffering and patience. Indeed, we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the intended end by the Lord, that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. And so the goal for all of us as Christians is for the Lord to develop our faith, to grow our faith to the level where we can serve God consistently, faithfully, whether we're in tribulation, trials or not. that we would not diminish in fervency of spirit in zealousness and serving the Lord in any context whatsoever as an employee, as a father, as a church member, a mother, a single person that we can develop faithfulness and consistency serving the Lord with a high level of fervency of spirit and zeal and diligence. In season and out of season, whether it's in tribulation, or otherwise. That is the goal here unto the rest of our life. And God says that if you do this, you will bear much fruit. You will learn the secret of being a mature Christian. Will Christians go to heaven who live inconsistent lives? Yes, yes, absolutely yes. But God has provided a way for us not to live an inconsistent life. One day we're faithful, the next day we're not. One day we're faithful. God has us all in the school of Christ, in a training program where he's teaching us consistency from the beginning of our faith, from the day of our salvation to the end of our life. Some people in church, you look at them in serving, they may not be very educated, not very rich, but they are there every single time when they need to be there. Doesn't matter how rich or knowledgeable you are, the color of your skin or any other ethnic or any other consideration. Consistency and faithfulness knows no boundaries. The Holy Spirit teaches us consistency. I can call out a couple of people, several people right now as examples in our congregation. I'm not going to do it because I'm not going to embarrass you. And I want to point us to the Lord Jesus Christ as the example. But when the Lord works in a way where he enables us to follow his own example of faithfulness and consistency, we need more of this in church members. We see people, believers, serving God in situations where it's not really convenient for them to do so. They have to go out of their way. and exert a great effort to be faithful in everything that God calls them to. And that's the goal of God for all of us. Now, you could take that goal and you could set it aside for now. You can even forget about it or you could just put it on the shelf and say, well, well, right now I got so many things going on in my life and I don't even want to think about that. But I'm going to tell you what right now, God is going to bring you full circle back to that principle. That he has an expert, skillful way of implementing that truth back into our life and penetrating it and pushing us with it. That it doesn't matter what's going on in our life. He's trying to teach us to be faithful in spite of difficulties and troubles and having to juggle many responsibilities. We need to be patient in tribulation. Now, I want to talk about patience for a minute, because some of us are not very patient. We live in a society that is impatient. Our culture is probably the most impatient culture in the entire world, in America. Everything, it seems like, in the advertising world, in the consumer world, is centered around instant gratification. You can have anything you want now, no waiting. But the Christian life is just the opposite. It's the antithesis of the philosophy of merchandising and advertising and consumerism today. The most important things, it seems like, in the Christian life that God teaches us, he teaches us only through having long patience. And if you and I don't have that patience, we're going to come up against an issue and a question that we don't want to even think about. And that is, am I even a Christian? Because we set up conditions and we say to God, God, I can't. I need to be delivered now from this trial. Well, I need to have a husband now. I need to have a wife now. I need to have this thing now. I can't wait for it. But God who created us knows best concerning the timing of when we should obtain anything we need. Now look at Moses. Moses' time for him to be recognized as a deliverer of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage was when he was 40 years old. Now, 40 years old seems to me to be a very reasonable time. In Israel, once you attain the age of 40, you are considered at the elder age, where you are wise and you live long enough to gain enough experience and knowledge where you have something to say to people of worth and usefulness. But God looked at Moses and said, uh-uh. Moses, you need another 40 years. And after that second 40 years, Moses didn't want what he originally sought after. He argued with God. Did he not? Didn't you read that in Genesis and Exodus? He argued with God. No, use my brother. Use somebody else. Leave me out here with these sheep on the backside of the desert. I'm happy. I'm content. So God took another 40 years to get all the fleshly self-centered zeal, and a lot of his zeal was based on pure motives, too, for the glory of God. He was willing to suffer affliction with the people of God than even to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. He was willing to be identified with the Jews, a slave nation, and relinquish his status and credentials and recognition as a prince within Egypt in Pharaoh's household, an adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter. many of his motives were noble, but God looked deeper past the nobility of many of his motives to the character and quality of his personality and his heart. And God knew this man still had 40 years of deep heart surgery to take place. God has blessed me to go to Nigeria for the last 13 trips in 20 years. And it never amazes me. It's a wonderful experience. It has been for me. Because I have man after man at the pastors' conferences approach me, and they want to be sponsored to be a pastor. And they want all of these things now. And they're not willing to be patient. and wait on God to prepare them and train them however long it takes to be a pastor. And I shake my head and I think they're as qualified to be a pastor as that rock. And many of them aren't even converted. It's sad to say. And so we need to learn patience. Patience. You know, you're learning to be patient when you finally become content in your situation of trouble and difficult circumstances and you're no longer trying to change the circumstances. You let go of it. And not only grudgingly, but your attitude changes towards it. You say, OK, I can actually live for another 10 years and be content until God is ready to change it. You know, when a bird is caught and put into a birdcage, what does it usually do? It just flies, flapping its wings like crazy, banging up against the cage wall, right? Trying to get out. Flying wildly up and down in the cage. You ever see that, young people? Beats against the cage with its wings and its But after two or three minutes, it finally sits quiet on the perch in the cage, right, and begins to chirp and sing again. What's the what's the point? Well, so it is with us when God first brings tribulation in our life, we wildly flutter up and down and eventually tire out of that fleshly energy and resistance and complaining. We tire ourselves out trying to get free of the trouble and the circumstances. And so we're sitting there like that bird perched in the birdcage. Finally, calming down. Some people never seem to learn to be patient like that, that they're not going to get out of their circumstances if God puts them in there. But they seem to have the same knee jerk reaction as the bird again and again, pushing, resisting, no. And they complain from beginning to end until the trial is gone. But others seem to learn to be patient through their trials. And after a while, they learn to adapt to the restrictions and confinement that the trials bring into our life. They learn to see the confinement and the restrictions as a blessing from God to teach us patience, that we can even serve him consistently and faithfully day in and day out. in a situation of great affliction and produce fruit to God for his glory. And though our feet are placed in the stocks, we like the apostles have learned to sing praises to God in tribulation. That's what God is working in each one of us to produce. And that's the character that preaches to the world and says to the world and communicates to the world, we're different than you. The Holy Spirit teaches us to rejoice in tribulation. The world never does that. The world looks at pain as bad and pleasure as good. And of course, humanly speaking. We we in our natural man consider the same thing, but when God brings us into a situation where to trials, sore, painful, humble, humiliating trials. The Holy Spirit gives a spiritual understanding to see to the core of that tribulation and why God has brought that into our life. He's brought me into a tight, limited, confined space in this trial, forcing me to trust in Him alone. No one else being able to get me out of that situation but God. And the Holy Spirit teaches, okay, I'm not going to be able to get out of this situation. All right. I'm going to have to learn patience. I'm going to have to look to the Lord. I'm going to have to wait on God. I'm going to have to get actual Holy Ghost produced peace so I don't get stressed out every day in this box, this place of confinement. I'm going to have to get joy. I'm going to have to get love, peace and joy. so that I could even be content in this situation if God wants me to be here for another five years, for another 10 years, for another 15 years. Some of us know nothing of that because we're Americans. And because we're Americans, the freedoms we have have provided for us so much space around us, above us and below us, where the Constitution protects my freedom. Nobody can come up and persecute me to a certain extent. Without the law backing me up and saying, I can't speak, I can't, I have my rights. I have my Second Amendment rights. And the Second Amendment sometimes is the worst thing possible for believers who see everything through the Second Amendment and they slam their fists down and say, I have my rights. But what if God wants to take away your rights for a little while to teach you patience? You've got to see things not through the American Constitution but through God's Constitution, the Word of God. And often the two are in conflict with each other. Therefore, be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain? You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brethren, unless you be condemned. Behold, the judge is standing at the door. My brethren, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as an example of suffering and patience. Indeed, we count them blessed to endure. You've heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord, that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. And so some of you who are going through the tribulation and trials, you need to look to the end by faith that God is very compassionate, merciful, and he will deliver you in his time. And by the way, along the way, until you reach the end of that tribulation and trial, he will give you enough grace, enough grace that is sufficient for you to remain content, even joyful in that situation. Because things are going to get worse, and we need to learn patience now if we haven't learned it. Read Revelation 13, 7-10. It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given over every tribe, tongue, and nation. All who dwell on the earth will worship Him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity. He who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword." Here is the patience and faith of the saints. The end of that description of end times persecution ends with Those who survive, and it's the patience and faith of the saints that help us survive. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, James 1-2 says, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. Let the trial go through to the end. God's way. Without you short circuiting it and missing the blessing and growing in patience because you can't handle it anymore and you're just going to throw up your hands and do things your way. Hebrews 6, 11 and following says, and we desire that each one of you show the same diligence. Now, he's saying that we need to maintain that level. Of diligence, the same diligence, the same zeal. That's the word to the full assurance of hope until the end. Are you hearing me? Some of you are walking and with the Lord as if you're not going to make it. But God says show the same high level of zeal, diligence, faithfulness, consistency to your last breath until the end. That you don't become sluggish. Don't take your cues from complacent Christians. Don't be sluggish. Take your example from the Bible. Imitate those who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises. For when God made a promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no one greater, he swore by himself, saying, Surely, blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you. And so after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. There was a period of 15 years where God didn't speak to Abraham and he just had to be patient Looking back 15 years and that whole time clinging to that original promise, because he never heard a word from God since then. And then add to it the compounding factor of God telling Abraham, go and sacrifice your son. After he received the promise, God said, go sacrifice your son. If it wasn't for patience, Abraham wouldn't have made it. Of course, it was the grace God gave to Abraham to be patient, of course. But we need that patience to make it to the end. How can we be patient in tribulation? How can we? Number one, don't murmur or complain against God. God's the one who brought the trial into your life. For a good purpose, all things work together for good. Number two, don't give up hope of deliverance. Don't give up. Don't throw your hands up in your heart and say, that's it, I give up. I'll just kind of smugly kind of coast. No, God has to have your heart in full submission to him, in agreement with him. about the trial, concurring with God. Yep, God, your wisdom is right. As painful as this trial is, here's this boss, here's this person in my life, and this person is so far less educated, so far less experienced, so far less knowledgeable, and in every other way than me, and you put them in my life to teach me and to humble me, and I can't go around this person? Yep. Yep. Don't give up hope of deliverance. Remember, God took Joseph from that place in the dungeon as the lowest of the low from there to be the prime minister. He could do that in a day, in a second if he wants to. He has you there for a reason. Don't use fleshly ways to try to get out of tribulations that God will only bring you back to. Number three. Be patient and even for be content with them. Learn contentment. It's a spiritual gift to say, God, I'm content. I can go another year with this heavy weight on my back, with this heavy heart, as long as you lighten my load spiritually and otherwise. And even can I suggest this number five, be thankful for your tribulations, even at the beginning, you're thanking God with a double tongue. Oh, I'm in pain, but God, I thank you. Yeah, right. Oh, I thank you, God. I think and keep thanking them and asking God for grace. And sooner or later you begin to understand and feel what you're praying. And that thankfulness turns into real appreciation, real gratitude. And then that turns into praise. And lo and behold, you find yourself praising God by the spirit steering of your prayer in the right direction for the circumstances that you're in. We can even praise God. Because eventually, by being patient, our tribulations will change into mercies. Look at what happened with Job. Look at the end of Job. Look at the end of Joseph. Look at the end of David's situation. God turned the tribulations into blessings, even situations that do us much good in the end, spiritually. Because tribulation is really unavoidable in this life. There's no way you can get around tribulation as a Christian. It's ordained of God. And God tells us that we're to suffer like Christ and follow his example to which you are called. And to suffer for Christ's sake and follow his example has wise purposes behind it. And even though we don't understand what those purposes are by faith, we trust that in the omniscience of God. We could never out think God and give God alternative reasons to not have tribulation in our lives. That would actually be smarter and make more sense than the reasons God determined that trials should come into our life. So by arguing with God, oh God reverse this, it's not going to work because his reasons are the best, because he's perfect in knowledge. And he's always looking out for our good with 100% motive. Why? Because God is kind and compassionate and merciful. He won't give us more than we can handle. And this life is a probationary state where we're in a constant school that is bringing fire and tribulation our way to burn off the dross, just like gold is put in the fire to burn off the black spots that eventually, when gold is purified, it makes it more valuable, more usable, more tradable. And consolations are provided through faith in Jesus Christ to get us from the beginning of that trial to the end of it. But even in the end of it, the results of the tribulation are glorious when we, with spiritual understanding, derive a tremendous benefit spiritually that we were not expecting. Very often we expect just to be able to get through the trial and then wipe our sweat off our brow and say, I'm glad I got through that one. And then we turn and we think about it and we say, wow, I'm not the same person spiritually. I was before I went through that trial. I'm so much the better for it, so much more patient, so much more mature, so much more understanding of other people who go through similar trials, so much more kind and generous and good because of it as a Christian. And we don't expect that, do we, sometimes? Well, let me close very quickly with number four, the end of verse 12, continuing steadfastly in prayer. As I said, this last clause in verse 12 governs the interpretation of the first two. Perseverance produces prayer or perseverance in prayer, I should say, produces joy in hope and patience in tribulation. You persevere steadfastly in prayer. Your hope is going to be renewed and your patience is going to grow and your complaining will be taken away. In other words, a consistent prayer life individually and corporately is essential in maintaining our joy and patience when undergoing trials. Otherwise, what we think is joy can be mere fleeting feelings. And what we consider patience in tribulation can actually be stoicism. These two words continuing steadfastly are very meaningful in the original. Continuing means that and is a word that means keep on going, don't stop. Now, steadfast would think you would think would be redundant and unnecessary, repetitious word, because you already said Continuing, he might as well have just said, continue in prayer. But no, he added a word that that lends much more weight to this duty. Continue steadfastly. Well, don't both of those adjectives mean the same thing? Yes. Well, what is God doing? Well, he's repeating himself. And whenever he repeats himself. Either by using two different adjectives to say the same thing or saying a statement twice like, verily, verily, I say unto you. He's doing it for emphasis. He's putting the spotlight on the absolute importance of prayer. Because it is through the channel of prayer that we will receive these spiritual blessings and strength that God will not communicate to us and bestow upon us any other way. Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with Thanksgiving, Colossians 4.2 says. Let me give you an illustration. You know, ever see a water pump? Many people in rural areas, farmers and so forth in the old country, the old days, they had this water pump. They didn't have running water from kitchen sinks like we do. They had these wells dug in the backyard and they erected this brick round thing around the hole in the ground and they put water, a water pump. So you go out to the water pump to get your water and it was often used, you know, to water most things or to drinking water and so forth. But when people use that water pump, it didn't require a whole lot of effort to pump water if you use the water pump on a regular basis. Because if you use it on a regular basis, the water settles at a very high place in the water pipe. So the next time you go out and you pump water, all you got to do is pump once and the water comes out. Because if you pump it a lot, the water stays high in the pipe. But if the pump hasn't been used for a while, the water tends to settle down in the pipe, going all the way down to the lowest part of the well. And so when you want water and you haven't used the pump for a while, you've got to stand there and pump for 15 minutes with great effort to finally draw that water back out of the pump. What's the lesson? So it is with prayer. If we are steadfast and consistent in prayer, where every little circumstance, every little trial, every little thought about somebody's need or evangelistic opportunity awakens within you a disposition to pray, a knee-jerk prayer to God. You become so used to praying that almost all your desires and your thoughts turn into prayer. It's easier to pray. You don't have to pump that handle for 15 minutes. You're not as awkward and even preparing to pray. But if we neglect prayer, it's difficult for us to pray, just like the water in the well when it gets low. God tells us to pray always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. But everything, everything by prayer and supplication, let your request be made known unto God. Epiphras is a good example who prayed for the Colossian believers. Epiphras, who was one of them, a bondservant, greets you always laboring fervently for you in prayers that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. We're in another school called the School of Prayer, and God is teaching some of us to be prayer warriors, to be intercessors more and more so that we can not only pray for each other, but to pray without ceasing. It doesn't mean that we pray every second. Because we have to shift our thoughts and other things from time to time. But there are prayers that are not spoken, heartfelt groans to God, or even prayers that are not even thought through, we just go out to God in prayer, grieving and sighing before the Lord. Let me give you an illustration about the importance of steadfast prayer. You've heard of a sailor's compass. Without a compass, those sailors are in big trouble. And when the ship is tossed about by the waves, when they look at the compass, the needle on it that's always pointing north, the needle wiggles. Ever see a compass that if you shake it, the needle wiggles? All right. But once the shaking stops, the needle always comes back and points north. That's where the needle always wants to go, it's got like this magnetic connection to the pole that it's pointing to. Though it's shaken, it's got this magnetic connection, it's always pointing north again when the shaking stops. So, in a similar way as Christians, We can be very busy about other things that need our attention. We have to take our mind off prayer. But if our heart is right with Christ and we maintain short accounts with him and a close walk with him in the power of the spirit, though our lives get distracted, our minds and thoughts get distracted, like the compass that's shaken and the needle is bouncing all over the place. But because we've got this magnetic connection with the Lord, we're right with God. The Spirit has an open heart to move back and forth and up and down in my heart. As soon as the shaking stops, my prayers are going back north again. The needle is pointed north. We've got this homing device, this magnetic connection with the Lord. We're praying. Get off work, go to your car and instinctively you're praying, oh Lord, you're praying on your way home because that morning God renewed grace in you in your morning devotions and that magnetic connection remained unbroken, even though during the day on your job or whatever you have to do, frequently your mind is on this and that and the other thing. But the needle always points back north. when your mind frees up. So do we continue steadfastly in prayer. I want to close with a pretty strong statement and evoke the strongest language I can as a minister of the Church of Jesus Christ. that God is in a school to teach us how to overcome trials in our service to God. Until our last breath. We need to be fervent in spirit, zealous. In serving God. And we need to continue steadfastly in prayer. God promises to Enable us to rejoice and be patient through the channel of prayer, he will bestow grace upon us to do this. But I cannot tell you how important individual and corporate prayer is. And there's a point where as a pastor, I just have to stop exhorting and stop reminding because the Holy Spirit has to put it in the hearts of God's people to do it. And I have to be patient as Christ is patient with his church. and not judge, but sympathize. Because I myself am a man and I myself know how difficult prayer in the spirit is and how difficult it is sometimes to overcome the obstacles that prevent us from praying, coming to the prayer meeting, coming to the cell group prayer meeting and Bible study. I understand that and I do sympathize with you. But in this school of training us to be consistent and faithful, We've got to do so in prayer, and I exhort you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to obey His command. He commands us to be steadfast in prayer. It's not an option, and there's a reason for it, for our own good, our own spiritual health. And if you have not yet been obedient to that command, and I realize sometimes there are good reasons why we can't, not going to go there at all. There are good reasons why we can't, but I'm exhorting you and I'm pleading with you to reexamine those motives and those reasons and to honestly ask yourself, can I be at the prayer meeting? Being inconvenienced is not a good reason to stay away, to be inconvenient. You say, well, it's going to take me a lot, lot harder for me to get there with a family than is if I was single. That's not what the Bible is saying. God says be steadfast in the prayer. Well, I got other things I'm doing on Sunday. What things? Are they more important? Well, I've already committed to this, this, this and this, leading right up until church. Why have you committed yourself to do things that don't necessarily need to be done on the Lord's Day when the Church of Jesus Christ is gathering in a sacred assembly to offer to God praise and adoration and worship that you and I as a believer will offer to him for eternity future. What is keeping us from God's house of prayer? He wants us to be joyful in his house. What is it? We need to be consistent. And if we keep making excuses that are not legitimate, not talking about the ones that are, And I'm not judging any of you because you're not there. I don't know. That's my take. I don't know. It's between you and the Lord. But you need to take this command and go and have dealings with the Lord over it. Not only corporate prayer, but daily prayer. When you wake up in the morning, walking with the Lord. Prayerlessness is sin. Samuel said God forbid that I should sin against the Lord and ceasing to pray for you prayerlessness or a lack of intercession and other forms of prayer is sin. If God commands us to pray and to persevere and be watchful in it to be consistent in it from day to day both in a corporate and in an individual sense to not do what he commands is it sin. And if we've made excuses that really we are blind to, even though we think they're good reasons and valid reasons, we need to see the evil nature of that reasoning and repent of it and come back to the Lord. Can I say that in love to you? Can I say that in love? It's not that I've earned the right as the pastor of this church for 24 years. It's because if what I'm saying is true, then your conscience needs to be captive and bound to the word of God, not to me, not to be loyal to me. So you need to really pray about this because it could be one reason why we're not growing spiritually where the way in which the Lord wants us to be. So but thank God we have the patience of Christ and the forgiveness of Christ and the love of Christ who was so kind and forbearing with me and you. And don't you just love the Lord Jesus because of he's endured with us. for so long, but he's not going to give up on us. Let's pray. Thank you, Lord, for your grace to each and every one of us, your patience and mercy. Help us, Lord. We're weak. Weak sheep. We don't listen well. We don't remember well. We don't obey very well, except sometimes when it's convenient for us. Forgive us, God. Have mercy. Have mercy upon each and every one of us. Teach us how to be fervent in spirit serving the Lord. to rejoice in hope, to be patient in tribulation, and to be steadfast in prayer. It's hard, Lord, in America, in our culture, in our community, in our homes, with the responsibilities we have, the checklists of everything we have to do. We don't have enough time to do everything. And plus, be this perfect Christian in all these roles and responsibilities. Not that it's not right. It is right to be what you command us to be. But Lord, we're so weak and forgetful and undiscerning and we just don't have the will and the strength to do what you command us to do, or even the desire. Can some of us, Lord, confess that today? We'll even have the desire to sit patiently in a prayer meeting, to hear prayers of people, repetitious and otherwise, where we just roll our eyes before you and say, oh, I can't, I can't handle this. Forgive us, Lord, of impatience and making excuses Your grace, you said, can enable us to overcome and even to love our enemies when they pray. Forgive us, O God. We're a needy people. Give us your grace, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.