Speaker 1: Hi, it's Pastor Jonathan and thanks for downloading the FBC Elderado Sermon Podcast.
Speaker 1: We hope today's message will challenge and help you take the next step as you follow Jesus.
Speaker 1: So you probably are familiar with the Iditarod dog sled race, but few of you know of another race, a race that begins just one week prior that covers the exact same course.
Speaker 1: One difference though when you compare the two races the Iditarod dog sled race is a team sport, right, a musher with a team of dogs While the other race, the race that begins one week before and follows that exact same red line from Southern Alaska to Northern Alaska, is a solo sport.
Speaker 1: So for the last 20 or so years, a carefully selected group of endurance athletes have competed in a race that's called the Iditarod Trail 1000.
Speaker 1: So, without the aid of man's best friend, competitors attempt to travel from Anchorage to Gnome.
Speaker 1: That means all by himself or herself.
Speaker 1: The racer endures driving, snow blizzards, temperatures that plummet to negative 50 degrees Fahrenheit as they travel 1000 miles.
Speaker 1: At the beginning of the race, an athlete is given a choice when they sign up.
Speaker 1: They can choose to make the journey on bike, a bike that's outfitted with snow tires.
Speaker 1: They can choose to cover the 1000 miles using cross country skis, or they can choose to cover the 1000 miles on foot.
Speaker 1: 1000 miles on foot from Anchorage to Gnome.
Speaker 1: And here's the thing no matter which mode of transportation they choose, the racer has to carry all of their own gear and equipment.
Speaker 1: Think about that the dog sled race the dogs pull the sled and this trail race, the racer pulls the sled behind them, whether they are hiking or biking or skiing.
Speaker 1: In 2023, 27 competitors sign up to compete in this race.
Speaker 1: 13 crossed the finish line.
Speaker 1: That means 14 of them somewhere along the course decided I'm not going to make it.
Speaker 1: So.
Speaker 1: The first person in 2023 to cross the finish line needed 17 days to run that race.
Speaker 1: They were on a bike.
Speaker 1: The 13th person in 2023, the last person across the finish line.
Speaker 1: They required almost 29 days to reach the finish line.
Speaker 1: They were on foot, and now that I did a trail 1000, it totally makes sense why the promoters of the race call it the world's longest, toughest race.
Speaker 1: Does anybody want to go sign up for it?
Speaker 1: As you listen to the description of that race, maybe you thought to yourself it wouldn't ever even cross my mind to sign up for a race like that.
Speaker 1: I could never do that.
Speaker 1: I don't like cold or camping.
Speaker 1: I don't even like to lug my groceries from the carport to the kitchen, let alone across an entire state.
Speaker 1: You think to yourself I don't like driving a thousand miles.
Speaker 1: Why would I ever want to ski, walk or bike 1000 miles in the snow?
Speaker 1: Think to yourself I would never, ever, ever sign up for that race.
Speaker 1: But what if I told you that the world's longest, toughest race doesn't even give you a choice At the end of the race?
Speaker 1: One year a competitor was asked this question.
Speaker 1: He was asked was this the hardest thing you've ever done?
Speaker 1: And this was his response.
Speaker 1: If we go to the next slide, if we are talking about life stuff, then no, I've had personal challenges that dwarf this race.
Speaker 1: Think about it.
Speaker 1: Think about your life.
Speaker 1: Think about a single mom that you know who juggles kids and bills and work and household chores.
Speaker 1: She's in the midst of a race that is far more difficult than 30 days in driving snow.
Speaker 1: Or you think about husbands and wives who've just been married for decades.
Speaker 1: You're in the middle of a race that is more difficult than the Auditorat Trail 1000.
Speaker 1: Because, like, being married isn't easy, raising kids is a challenge.
Speaker 1: Being old isn't very fun.
Speaker 1: Yet you run and go and go and live every single day.
Speaker 1: Or some of you, you just lost your spouse unexpectedly and you're trying to move into the next section of the race and endure.
Speaker 1: To another chapter of the race, or to students in the room.
Speaker 1: You go to school every single day and sitting in class just isn't your jam.
Speaker 1: You're not up for it.
Speaker 1: Or maybe you struggle with friends.
Speaker 1: You don't know what you want to do with your life.
Speaker 1: You don't feel like you fit in, but you just keep going, day after day after day.
Speaker 1: Or you think about teachers in the room.
Speaker 1: School's been in session.
Speaker 1: What?
Speaker 1: Two weeks?
Speaker 1: Right, two weeks.
Speaker 1: And you've got kids in your class that are already pushing you to the brink.
Speaker 1: You've got to endure it till the end of May.
Speaker 1: You can't give up.
Speaker 1: You have to keep running the race.
Speaker 1: A race like the Auditorat Trail 1000 is a perfect metaphor for the life that all of us live on this earth.
Speaker 1: Life is the world's toughest, longest race.
Speaker 1: Scripture agrees with that comparison.
Speaker 1: Hebrews chapter 12 puts it this way.
Speaker 1: It says and let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.
Speaker 1: The key word in Hebrews chapter 12, verse one, is that word endurance.
Speaker 1: Endurance tells us that our life isn't a sprint.
Speaker 1: Our life is a marathon.
Speaker 1: It tells us that the days of life can often feel long, monotonous.
Speaker 1: It's like when you're a young mom and you go to the grocery store with your toddler, and your toddler won't stop screaming.
Speaker 1: They refuse to sit in the buggy and you think everyone is staring at you and you feel like you just want to shout.
Speaker 1: When will this ever end?
Speaker 1: Or you're stuck in a job that isn't fulfilling and you wonder when will I get my chance?
Speaker 1: Or you find it hard to leave your home, or you have an extended stay in the hospital, or you live in a nursing home and you wonder yourself when will I ever get out of here?
Speaker 1: When days are long, it's really easy to feel like the day is overwhelming, isn't it that when the days are long, life feels overwhelmingly messy and even overwhelmingly meaningless, and that's why we need endurance.
Speaker 1: Endurance also tells us that life is not this even flat course, that all of our lives will have uphill climbs, each of our lives will have uneven rocky terrain, there'll be gusting winds, and there will be moments and circumstances in each of our lives that are so daunting and so confusing it's easy to want to give up, and that's why we need endurance.
Speaker 1: In the realm of sports, you gotta define endurance this way Athletic endurance is the ability to retain a standard of physical performance for an extended period of time, especially in the midst of hardship.
Speaker 1: That's athletic endurance.
Speaker 1: That's the endurance of that trail race that we've mentioned earlier.
Speaker 1: But you and I, while it's nice to have athletic endurance, really what we need is spiritual endurance.
Speaker 1: Spiritual endurance here's how I would define it Following Jesus, especially when the days are long and life is hard.
Speaker 1: When the days are long, here's what I know is true about my own life, and so imagine it's probably true about your life.
Speaker 1: When days are long and overwhelming, it becomes really easy to replace healthy habits with unhealthy habits.
Speaker 1: It becomes really easy to replace times reading God's word, times in prayer and times in personal worship with binging, binging Netflix and sometimes in prayer, in personal worship, with binging, binging Netflix and binging on food and binging on YouTube and binging on cable news, like we just feed ourselves more and more and more stuff.
Speaker 1: Or we replace those healthy habits with buying something new, new clothes, a new car, even if it puts us into even more debt.
Speaker 1: Or you come home from work every day and the days are long and the only way you know how to make it through the day is to have one more drink every single day when you get home.
Speaker 1: Or maybe you just live because the days are long and this spiral of speculation.
Speaker 1: All you do is play out in your mind all the ways that life could go wrong or bad, instead of living in the present.
Speaker 1: And when hardship emerges without spiritual endurance, there's what happens we cut corners Without spiritual endurance.
Speaker 1: That's when we make small compromises in our life, because we all will eventually choose the path of least resistance, and that path always places us in the current of culture, in the rushing, torrent current of culture.
Speaker 1: It's vital that you and I develop spiritual endurance so that when the days are long and I promise, if your days aren't long right now there will be a day, there will be a season in life when your days are long, when life is hard.
Speaker 1: Your life may be really easy right now, but I promise you there will be a day, there will be a season, an extended season in life when your life is hard, and maybe your days are long right now and your days are hard right now, and you understand exactly what I'm talking about.
Speaker 1: But no matter who you are, in the season of life that you're in, you need spiritual endurance so that, even when the days are long and life is hard, you can glorify Christ with your life, so that you can be a witness for Christ in the world, so that you can bring honor to Jesus when you go to work and when you go to school and when you go to the ball field.
Speaker 1: We have to recognize the necessity that all of us, if we wanna follow Jesus in this world, we are going to need to develop spiritual endurance.
Speaker 1: So this morning, as we continue our study, dear Church, we're gonna look at Jesus's letter to the church at Philadelphia, and in Jesus's letter to the church at Philadelphia, he highlights what I believe are three keys for spiritual endurance.
Speaker 1: So the church at Philadelphia is a church that has nurtured spiritual endurance within itself already, but I think we can learn from what Jesus encourages them with, what they've gotten right and so that we can apply it in our own life, and that their endurance would be something we see developed and nurtured within each and every one of us.
Speaker 1: So the three keys that Jesus, I think, lays out for us for spiritual endurance are this motivation, dedication and celebration, motivation, dedication and celebration.
Speaker 1: So let's turn the first key motivation, revelation, chapter three.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna read verses seven through nine.
Speaker 1: And it says this to the angel of the church in Philadelphia right, these are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David.
Speaker 1: What he opens, no one can shut, and what he shuts, no one can open.
Speaker 1: I know your deeds, see.
Speaker 1: I've placed before you an open door that no one can shut.
Speaker 1: I know that you have a little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
Speaker 1: I will make those who are the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews, though they are not but are liars, I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.
Speaker 1: In verse seven, at the beginning of this letter, jesus uses three phrases to identify himself, to introduce himself to this congregation of brotherly love.
Speaker 1: First, jesus says that he is holy.
Speaker 1: More literally translated, he is the holy one.
Speaker 1: Throughout the Old Testament, there is one being, one entity, one person who is called the holy one, the one true God of Israel, the living God, the God who made a covenant with Abraham, the God, who is the God of the Exodus and part of the waters of the Red Sea.
Speaker 1: Jesus says I am the holy one, I am God.
Speaker 1: Listen to me.
Speaker 1: But not everyone in Philadelphia shared this belief.
Speaker 1: You know Jesus.
Speaker 1: He identifies a group of Jews who lived in the city of Philadelphia and he calls them what?
Speaker 1: The synagogue of Satan.
Speaker 1: There is a group of Jews who are hostile to the church, who reject the idea, the notion, the belief, the universal truth of all the universe that Jesus is God, and so they attack God's people, they make life difficult for the church.
Speaker 1: They make sure the days for a Christian are what long the days for a Christian?
Speaker 1: They are hard.
Speaker 1: Jesus reminds this congregation that he is God, because he doesn't want them to compromise, he doesn't want them to forget the fact of who he is.
Speaker 1: He is God.
Speaker 1: And then Jesus says that he is true.
Speaker 1: Better translated, he is the true one.
Speaker 1: Jesus is authentic, he is genuine.
Speaker 1: And that's so significant when you consider this synagogue of Satan, because for centuries they had been looking for the true, the real, the genuine Messiah, and for centuries there had been men who had arisen within Israel who said they were the Messiah, but they were fakes and they were frauds and they were phonies.
Speaker 1: Their claim was unfounded.
Speaker 1: And so when Jesus says I am the true one, he is saying I am the Messiah.
Speaker 1: Jesus is Messiah, he is God's anointed one, he is the one who has come to bring God's kingdom and salvation to this earth.
Speaker 1: And then Jesus says he says he holds the key of David.
Speaker 1: He holds the key of David.
Speaker 1: So the background of that word of introduction is this little known story that's recorded in the 22nd chapter of Isaiah.
Speaker 1: In that chapter, a man named Eliachim is elevated by God to become the chief of staff for King Hezekiah.
Speaker 1: So in that role as chief of staff, eliachim would control who had access to the throne room of the king, who could enter in to his presence Within the kingdom.
Speaker 1: That is a position of importance and it's a position of authority.
Speaker 1: To symbolize the weight of that position, then he receives this giant, one of a kind key that he has to carry on his shoulder.
Speaker 1: It's too heavy for his hands, too big for his arms.
Speaker 1: He has to carry it on his shoulder.
Speaker 1: It's placed on his shoulder, but something happens.
Speaker 1: The key is transferred to a new owner.
Speaker 1: Jesus is the new and greater Eliachim.
Speaker 1: Jesus holds that very same key.
Speaker 1: But Jesus grants access not to an earthly king in his throne room, but to the throne room of his heavenly father.
Speaker 1: The throne room of his heavenly father.
Speaker 1: Because he holds the key.
Speaker 1: He is the one who allows men and women to have a relationship with God.
Speaker 1: In John 14, chapter six, jesus says I am the way, I am the way.
Speaker 1: No one comes to the father except through me.
Speaker 1: Jesus, by his cross and resurrection, has opened the door that leads to the throne room of his father, a door that leads the way to eternal life in the kingdom of God.
Speaker 1: Only Jesus can open that door.
Speaker 1: And once Jesus opens that door, no one can close it.
Speaker 1: Do you hear what that means?
Speaker 1: It means anyone, anyone.
Speaker 1: If they put their faith in Jesus Christ and receive the free gift of salvation, anyone can have a relationship with God.
Speaker 1: And that was so important to those people who lived in Philadelphia.
Speaker 1: Because the synagogue of Satan, they believed, if you weren't a member of the synagogue, you couldn't have a relationship with God.
Speaker 1: And she's like no, no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 1: You don't hold the key to David, the key of David.
Speaker 1: I hold the key of David.
Speaker 1: I am the way.
Speaker 1: I am the way because of my cross and resurrection, because I lived a perfect life.
Speaker 1: I died a synatonic death.
Speaker 1: I rose again on the third day.
Speaker 1: I opened the way to the father.
Speaker 1: Jesus begins with those three words of introduction, because it's only when we see clearly who Jesus is, that Jesus is God, that Jesus is the Messiah, that Jesus is the way, will we have the right motivation to develop spiritual endurance.
Speaker 1: No other motivation is up for the task.
Speaker 1: You will not develop spiritual endurance if your motivation is to raise your kids in church.
Speaker 1: You will not develop spiritual endurance if morality is your goal.
Speaker 1: You won't develop spiritual endurance if you want to live a blessed life, your best life now, you won't develop it.
Speaker 1: Following Jesus, especially when the days are long and life is hard, will only occur when you're motivated by Jesus.
Speaker 1: It's why Hebrews 12, verse two, tells us that in the midst of running a long and tough race, you need to fix and focus your eyes on Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: We fix and focus our eyes on Him, on Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: We fix and focus our eyes on Him in times of personal Bible study, in times of prayer and moments of worship.
Speaker 1: We fix our eyes on Jesus when we fellowship with other believers, when we serve within our church, when we gather in this room, in this space for corporate worship, each week, here again, to develop spiritual endurance.
Speaker 1: Jesus must be your motivation.
Speaker 1: You must be motivated by the fact that Jesus is God, that Jesus is the Messiah, that Jesus is the way.
Speaker 1: No other motivation is up for the task.
Speaker 1: Now let's go to key number two, dedication.
Speaker 1: Back to Revelation three.
Speaker 1: Read verse, verse 10.
Speaker 1: Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.
Speaker 1: First thing I just want to point out Jesus doesn't promise the avoidance of trial or tribulation in the life of His church.
Speaker 1: He doesn't promise avoiding those things.
Speaker 1: He says I will protect you in the midst of them, even as they are occurring to you.
Speaker 1: That judgment, that trial, that moment that puts you at the edge In God's final judgment of unbelievers.
Speaker 1: You're going to see it happening around you in this world, but you're not going to be overcome by it, because you are saved by me.
Speaker 1: I will protect you.
Speaker 1: Now the word dedication isn't explicit in that single verse, but it's present, if you notice.
Speaker 1: In that verse there's this phrase you have kept my command.
Speaker 1: The phrase you have kept my command.
Speaker 1: That phrase also appears earlier in verse eight.
Speaker 1: The translation you have kept my command doesn't truly capture the weight of what Jesus wants to when he is describing the life of the church at Philadelphia.
Speaker 1: He's not just saying you have kept my command, he is saying you are persisting in obedience Every single day.
Speaker 1: You are obedient to me, and that reminds me that I must be daily dedicated to obeying Jesus Christ If I want to develop and nurture spiritual endurance.
Speaker 1: I must obey Jesus when it is easy.
Speaker 1: I must obey Jesus when it is hard.
Speaker 1: I must obey Jesus when it does not make sense.
Speaker 1: From the moment that I wake up and roll out of bed to the moment I walk through my office or the hallways at school, till the moment I lay down and close my eyes, my dedication must be to persist in obedience.
Speaker 1: If we'll go to the next slide, we'll go forward.
Speaker 1: That's a runner.
Speaker 1: His name is Hella Hella Sebebe, and he knows a thing or two about dedication.
Speaker 1: So Hella grew up playing soccer in on dirt fields in the country of Mali and it was always his dream to play professional soccer.
Speaker 1: So he gets this opportunity to move to the United States into attend college and he's a pretty good Division I soccer player.
Speaker 1: And then he graduates and he hopes to sign a contract in the United States for playing professional soccer.
Speaker 1: Well, the team he thinks he's going to sign with they call him one day and say, hey, it's just not going to work out, we need to sign some other players.
Speaker 1: And like his dream in that moment is crushed.
Speaker 1: Like he goes back to those dirt fields in his home country and he thinks I've worked for all of this and it is for nothing.
Speaker 1: And he is at this super, super low point in life.
Speaker 1: He doesn't know what he's going to do next.
Speaker 1: And then he decides he's going to dedicate himself to running and he decides that he is going to commit to running for at least 10 minutes for the next 14 days and that's all the way back in the year 2017.
Speaker 1: And now the year is 2023 and Hela has run at least two miles for over 2000 consecutive days, rain or shine, sleet or snow, 105 outside.
Speaker 1: He's out there running and running.
Speaker 1: He's also run a 100 mile ultra marathon and he also channeled his inner force gump and he ran it across the United States, and his dedication to running, I think, teaches us something about our own dedication when it comes to obeying Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: His dedication began with simple short runs two mile runs.
Speaker 1: So, too, our obedience to Christ begins with simple acts of obedience, and a good portion of our obedience to Jesus falls into that category.
Speaker 1: Simple acts of obedience Just think about how you speak to the people closest to you in your life, relationally and in proximity to you.
Speaker 1: How do you speak to them, how do you think about them and how do you treat them.
Speaker 1: Simple acts of obedience.
Speaker 1: Think about what's on your mind and what's on your screen when no one is around.
Speaker 1: Simple acts of obedience, because obedience in the ordinary moments of life prepares us for obedience in those extraordinary moments, the moments right now.
Speaker 1: Maybe you don't think you could ever obey Christ and do what he's asking you to do.
Speaker 1: You know it prepares us for those moments when we obey Christ and he pushes us out of our comfort zone.
Speaker 1: To go on a mission trip, to witness and share Jesus with a friend, to speak out on behalf of Jesus and to defend Jesus publicly.
Speaker 1: To pray in front of a group of people, to stand up for someone who's being bullied or mocked.
Speaker 1: What's your 100 mile cross country act of obedience?
Speaker 1: What's it going to be?
Speaker 1: Maybe you already know what it is, but listen to be prepared to endure that act of obedience.
Speaker 1: It takes thousands, right Thousands, of ordinary, daily acts of obedience where you come to trust not in your own strength, but in the strength of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: Cooperating with the Holy Spirit and really that's the key to obedience is learning to cooperate with the spirit of God.
Speaker 1: Not to rely on your own strength we talked about this last week not to rely on your own strength, but to cooperate with the spirit of God, who is nudging you and wants to empower you to obey Jesus.
Speaker 1: So motivation for spiritual endurance Jesus, only Jesus.
Speaker 1: Our dedication we're dedicated to obeying Jesus.
Speaker 1: And now celebration, verse 11, I am coming soon.
Speaker 1: Belong to what you have, so that no one will take your crown, the one who is victorious.
Speaker 1: I will make a pillar in the temple of my God.
Speaker 1: Never again will they leave it.
Speaker 1: I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God, and I will also write on them my new name.
Speaker 1: Whoever has ears, let them hear what the spirit says to the churches.
Speaker 1: Ultimately, our spiritual endurance looks to the future.
Speaker 1: It anticipates a great celebration.
Speaker 1: The opening statement of verse 11 is one of my favorites in all the Bible.
Speaker 1: I am coming soon, jesus.
Speaker 1: He can't come soon enough.
Speaker 1: He's our motivation and he's returning.
Speaker 1: And the reality of his return is why we can and we must endure in preparation for that celebration.
Speaker 1: Because he passes out some party hats.
Speaker 1: He goes here's your crown, here's your crown, here's your crown, here's your crown.
Speaker 1: First Peter, chapter five, verse four, tells us the crown that he gives us is a crown that will never fade away.
Speaker 1: He promises to all those who attend you will not receive presents, but you will receive my presence.
Speaker 1: You will be pillars in the temple of God, you will be firmly established in the household and in the kingdom of God and nothing will remove you from God's presence and God's future.
Speaker 1: And then, at the party, jesus, he likes to play a game.
Speaker 1: He plays the name game.
Speaker 1: He has all of his friends around and he looks at them and says I've got three names I want to give for you.
Speaker 1: I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't worry about what your mom called you, I don't worry about what I'm going to call you.
Speaker 1: And he says I'm going to put the name upon you of your God, of my God, because you're his child.
Speaker 1: I'm going to write upon you the name of his city because you're going to be citizens in his kingdom forever and ever and ever.
Speaker 1: And I'm going to write upon you my new name.
Speaker 1: Funny thing, we don't have a clue what that name is.
Speaker 1: It's hidden from us in the present, but it will be revealed to us in the future.
Speaker 1: But the name that Jesus writes on us, that is his new name.
Speaker 1: It's just a reminder, one more reminder that we are in relationship with him, that we belong to him and to be a part of that future celebration.
Speaker 1: That's proof positive that you've endured to the end.
Speaker 1: Thank you that you followed Jesus, especially when days were long and life was hard.
Speaker 1: But we also, in the present, we look forward to that day because why, jesus, you can't come soon enough?
Speaker 1: Jesus is who we're waiting for.
Speaker 1: Jesus is who we are living for here again, even when the days are long and life is hard.
Speaker 1: So the Littlerock Marathon is going to be held next March, like it is every single year, first weekend in March.
Speaker 1: Don't worry, I'm not signing up.
Speaker 1: I've thought about it before.
Speaker 1: I even had training plans multiple times, but I've never carried it through.
Speaker 1: Something's always come up.
Speaker 1: It's just like too long, too hard.
Speaker 1: Half marathon, full marathon, I'm not going to do it.
Speaker 1: Maybe someday and maybe when you hear the word marathon again in your head, it's that I'd never think about signing up for a race like that.
Speaker 1: But again, what if your longest and toughest race isn't a marathon?
Speaker 1: You signed up for.
Speaker 1: It's the life that you were called to live on this earth, and that is why you need spiritual endurance.
Speaker 1: And as we develop spiritual endurance, don't ever forget what Jesus endured for you.
Speaker 1: Hebrews, chapter 12, verses two and three Jesus, he's the pioneer and perfecter of faith For the joy, said before him.
Speaker 1: He endured the cross, scorning at shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Speaker 1: Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Speaker 1: Jesus endured the cross for the world, for his church, for our salvation.
Speaker 1: Because he endured so much for us in this world, we are going to endure for him, we are going to pursue him, we are going to live for him so that we can honor him and glorify him and be a witness for him.
Speaker 1: Especially when the days are long, especially when life is hard, let's stand together and pray, friends in the room, as you bow your head and close your eyes.
Speaker 1: We have to develop spiritual endurance before the days are long and life is hard.
Speaker 1: We have to work on it consistently throughout our lives.
Speaker 1: So think about what's motivating you in your relationship with God right now.
Speaker 1: Is it anything other than who Jesus is, that you want to know him more?
Speaker 1: He is God, he is Messiah, he is the way.
Speaker 1: So I pray, god, we would fix and focus our eyes on Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: Can you think about tomorrow morning, when you wake up, what's going to be the first simple act of obedience?
Speaker 1: Jesus is calling you, calling and asking you to fulfill.
Speaker 1: Is it going to be how you speak to your kid or how you answer your parent?
Speaker 1: Is it going to be how you reply to that first email that's in your inbox, or how you think about the driver who cuts you off?
Speaker 1: What's that simple act of obedience?
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit empower us to be dedicated to God.
Speaker 1: What's that simple act of obedience?
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit empower us to be dedicated to obeying our Lord and Savior, jesus, we need your strength to obey.
Speaker 1: And can you imagine the day when Jesus comes back, when the celebration begins, when our faith becomes site?
Speaker 1: Heaven and earth are made new.
Speaker 1: All those who are in Christ are raised from the dead to resurrection life.
Speaker 1: We celebrate.
Speaker 1: We celebrate what Jesus will do in the future.
Speaker 1: Jesus, we believe you will come again.
Speaker 1: We can't wait for that day to arrive.
Speaker 1: We can't wait for it.
Speaker 1: We want to be ready for it.
Speaker 1: So we're going to endure in the present to honor and glorify you with our lives, no matter what occurs.
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit, nurture that endurance within us.
Speaker 1: Pick us up when we fall down, lift our eyes to heaven when our eyes hit the ground.
Speaker 1: And, jesus, we remember what you have endured for us.
Speaker 1: You endured the cross.
Speaker 1: You endured the cross, and what you endured is so much more than what you are asking us to endure in this world.
Speaker 1: It's sometimes hard to remember it, sometimes we don't want to admit it, but we know it's true.
Speaker 1: You endured so much for us and so we just want to live for you.
Speaker 1: And this morning, if you don't yet know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, if you want to know how to endure when the days are long.
Speaker 1: How to endure when life is hard?
Speaker 1: It all begins by putting your faith and hope and trust in Jesus Christ Amen.