Endurance ( Episode 21)

This week we talk about endurance. Life gets busy and we go through trials. But we can trust God is everything we do and endure our trials through Jesus alone. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey guys, welcome to the Hurts Podcast. I'm Peyton Hurt.

SPEAKER_01 0:02

And I'm Kelsey Hurt.

SPEAKER_00 0:03

And this week we're going to be talking about endurance.

SPEAKER_01 0:06

Endurance. Yes. Episode 21.

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Episode 21. Yes. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 0:12

I feel like we're a little rusty. Yeah. But we're not. We just came back from um another little trip. Yes. We went to Pennsylvania to spend the fourth with a college friend. I haven't seen her in over a year. So this past weekend it was good just to spend time with her and her family. And it really just brought about a lot of joy to my heart. Thank you too. Yeah. She has a couple of animals that we almost walked out of her house with.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Yes. No, and it was also 4th of July. So happy 4th of July. Just wanted to say, obviously, with it being the 250th birthday of America, what a great country we live in. It's awesome with the freedom and everything that we have here in this country. I'm so so thankful for it.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

Yes, I agree. The week, oh, speaking of if you heard that firework, yeah, fireworks still going on. The week prior, you Peyton officiated a wedding to our very good friends. Um, and that was really cool. It's such a beautiful celebration.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

Yeah, yeah. I'm super thankful for the opportunity too. And it was just really, really cool. Really uh great celebration, like Kelsey said. Great wedding.

SPEAKER_01 1:21

Other than that, I think it was just a fast week, a slow weekend, and we are back to filming.

SPEAKER_00 1:28

So before we get started though, I kind of wanted to say, because praying in on like on what our next topic was, um, it actually kind of flooded into my mind today because uh if you guys have watched on a weekly basis, uh Kelsey and I have traveled probably three three times, probably in the last like five or six weeks, and everything's just been like go, go, go, super busy. Um and just recently we are starting to like train with running um for a 5k.

SPEAKER_01 2:02

So when you sorry, go when you say recently, he literally means yesterday. We both decided it was like the drive home. We were like, I said, I want to achieve something, I want to have a goal and like achieve it. And so I was like, what if we do a 5k in November? So now that we're putting it out into the world, now that people know is what I mean. Yeah, we actually have to follow through. So we started training.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

Yeah, so we started training. So I don't know, the word endurance came to mind um because again, life has been busy, things have been very like just fast-paced, fast-paced. So um, you know, we're training for endurance for this 5k, and then all of a sudden I thought about like gotta just put this on my heart, like endurance as in um, you know, we go through difficult seasons, endurance through like our ministries, because um, I don't know, I just felt like as we've been very busy, we've just picked right back up and continued um in our ministries. Left off yeah, left off.

SPEAKER_01 3:03

Yeah. So endurance, uh, we're focusing on a couple of scriptures. I'm gonna focus on Hebrews 12, 1 through 3. Peyton's focusing on James 1. But to start it out, I'm gonna go ahead and read that. And in a prior episode, I think I mentioned it in some episode where this scripture is actually so important to me because in college it really helped me during my season of life. I'll get into that a little bit more later. But starting off, Hebrews 12, 1 through 3. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. So it uses the word perseverance, um, it mentions endured or endurance. Uh endurance means the ability to sustain a prolonged, stressful, painful, or difficult activity over time. So when we're saying that we're building our endurance for running, we're sore right after we're huffing and puffing, but we're trying to endure a difficult activity. Hi guys, you're gonna notice that the sound is different. Unfortunately, our last video cut off. So we're gonna start from where we left off. But just know that the device that we usually film on, the storage, sadly, says it's gone, even though it says we have enough. So stay tuned on how we upgrade and fix that. But for now, we're gonna have to film like this.

SPEAKER_00 4:47

Yeah, but it's gonna be good. It's gonna be good. Yep, we got it.

SPEAKER_01 4:50

We left off where I was talking about running and how the endurance that you need for it, you need to build strength, I believe. Um, so going back to the verse, in the verse, race is mentioned. So I don't believe it's mentioned in a competition sense because you know you race, you try to get first place. It's meant to symbolize the journey of life or faith that we were called to run. Um, and it also shows that we have a purpose by running this race. We are growing, we are growing in faith and we are striving to have a godly life and to spend eternity with Christ.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

Yeah, and I also wanted to touch on uh the beginning, verse one, where it says, Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. So I think of like running like a marathon or like an actual race, right? Like, you know, you don't want a bunch of weight on you. You want to, you know, you don't you just want to have your clothes and and the things that you have on.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

Less as possible.

SPEAKER_00 5:50

Yeah, and and I also think of entangled, right? I think of like, okay, running with your shoes knotted together, right? Like you don't want that.

SPEAKER_01 5:58

So um That's funny picture, right?

SPEAKER_00 6:02

Uh so like you you want to put that trust in Christ and continue to run that race with Christ.

SPEAKER_01 6:10

Yeah, that's great. And when we're talking about endurance, the the definition for endurance, that you can keep this in mind, is the ability to sustain a prolonged, stressful, painful, or difficult activity over time. So when we're training for the 5K, we're out of breath, we're huffing and puffing, we are sore, literally 30 seconds we get off the treadmill, but we're trying to build the strength or endurance to endure the race that we have our eyes on that we want to achieve. Um, and this scripture that I just read really encourages believers to persevere or endure through the pain and fatigue of life. I wanted to say some key takeaways um from the scripture, and I'm actually going to use my notes from college. I mentioned how important this scripture was to me in a recent episode or prior episode. Hebrews 12, 1 through 3 helped me through a really hard time. So I looked up on my notes, I typed in the scripture, and then all of these things came from the chapel service that I was at. Um, so they're very simple, they point straight to the scripture, but kind of to break it down, point one, we are surrounded. So when you run your race, it's a lot easier to have people by your side. I think of my good friend who just ran a marathon. I want to I want to run a marathon at some point in the future. But she had people come and cheer her on, and I'm sure that just lifted her spirit and encouraged her to keep going even when she was fatigued or when she was ready to be done.

SPEAKER_00 7:40

Yeah, the sense of community.

SPEAKER_01 7:41

Sense of community. Number two, just like Peyton said, throw off everything that starts to hinder you. What's holding you back? Uh, what's stopping you from having a full commitment to Christ? We've talked about how you can't have one foot in and then one foot in the world. It's not gonna work like that. Um, and some of the stuff weighing you down might feel familiar, uh, it might feel comfortable, but it actually drags you back, it inhibits you. And once you release it, you'll be able to run the race more freely. Number three, run with perseverance or endurance. Um, embrace resilience. So if you get knocked back down, or if you get knocked down, embrace the restoration, the rebuilding that the Lord has for you.

SPEAKER_00 8:23

And think about like who, like where you go when you get knocked down. Like, do you do you try to do it yourself? Do you try to get back up by yourself? Yeah. Uh do you have, you know, people like Kelsey said, you know, do you have people around you that are gonna pick you back up or cheer you on? Yeah, are you going to Christ? Are you digging into the word? Are you praying?

SPEAKER_01 8:45

Yes. Fix your eyes on Jesus. So when you're running this race, turn away from other things. What do you need to stop looking at? Dig into the word. Uh, the verse, verse three starts with consider him. It's pointing to consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, um, but also consider him every day. It's a choice to think about him, not just think about him, but act on um meeting him in prayer, um, going to the Bible and digging into the word. It's an act of choice, being godly and showing godly characteristics. And then lastly, just like the the scripture ends with, don't grow weary and lose heart. It would be easier to go back and do the old and familiar way, but Jesus has a new a new way. Run free, turn your back on what's not what isn't for you, um, keep moving forward. And then lastly, I ended with saying, we don't enter the race to escape the pain, but to understand how to get through it when it is there. So I thought that was beautiful. It kind of summed it up.

SPEAKER_00 9:46

Yeah, uh, I wanted to go back to point five where you said consider him, choose him today and every day. I think uh, you know, I want to go back to what Kelsey said reading verse three, where it says, consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow wary and lose heart. I think that um we look at what what Jesus did, uh, you know, carrying the cross for us, that that he endured that pain, um, you know, shedding the blood and being beaten. And uh, you know, it was just so difficult. I like it, I I couldn't imagine ever doing that, but but he endured that that pain and that suffering for us, yeah. Right? Nobody, nobody else but us. So um, you know, it's just cool to see to see that and just to think that that Jesus went um through that.

SPEAKER_01 10:38

So yeah, he endured it for everybody. So, yeah, that wraps up my section. I know Peyton's gonna dig into a few verses from James 1.

SPEAKER_00 10:48

Yeah, so I'm gonna dig into James 1, verses 2 through 4. So consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. So we see perseverance is very similar, the definition uh to endurance means the ability to keep going, to stay committed, and continue moving forward despite difficulties, delays, failures, or challenges. So I want to think of um, I want to look back at the verses we read. Consider up your joys my joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds. So looking at whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. So it's basically saying to have joy in your trials because the testing of your faith produces perseverance, which allows you to grow as a believer, right? Because the more that you go through difficult situations and can trust in the Lord, you are able to learn. Obviously, in life, the the more you go through things, the more um things that you experience, it's easier to go through those. So strength. Yeah, strength through that.

SPEAKER_01 12:11

Strength is built.

SPEAKER_00 12:12

Great.

SPEAKER_01 12:13

Alright, so then we wanted to hop into a character in the Bible who really showed endurance in his race, and our minds automatically went to Job. And to kind of set the scene, I'm going to read Job 1, 1 through 12. And if you don't know much about Job, I really encourage you to dig into his story because it's a very, very long race. And um, yeah, I'll go ahead and read a little bit. So in the land of Ooze, there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright. He feared God and shunned evil. He had seven sons and three daughters, and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the east. His sons used to hold feasts in their homes on their birthdays, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for them to be purified. Early in the morning, he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. This was Job's regular custom. This part also points to his deep care, I think, for his family. Verse 6. One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. The Lord said to Satan, Where have you come from? Satan answered the Lord, from roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it. Then the Lord said to Satan, Have you considered considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him. He is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. Does Job fear God for nothing? Satan replied, Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face. The Lord said to Satan, Very well then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger. So Job goes on, the story of Job, to um explain how Job lost his servants and his animals, died, um, and then his family, his sons and his daughters also died. And again, just of the amount of suffering that this man went through. Um but verse 21 in chapter one actually shows how um he was very upset, but yet he still said, May the name of the Lord be praised. Going on throughout the story, Job got to the point where his wife even told him to turn away from God in the most unkind way possible. Um his friends could hardly recognize him because of his suffering. They were also not the best friends, they did not have great advice.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

Yeah, his friends kind of turned their backs on him and thought that um because of what had happened to him, that he had had sinned or fallen short or had done something to anger the Lord. Yeah. Um so his friends weren't very encouraging to him.

SPEAKER_01 15:10

Uh Job still keeps his hope in God, though, and we can see that in Job 13, 15. And ultimately, God shows restoration in Job's life. In fact, he actually blessed him even more, and that says it in Job 42, 12. So Job is just such a great example of running the race with perseverance or endurance. And if you have not read Job or if you haven't read it recently, I really encourage you to go back and read it because it's just such an amazing example.

SPEAKER_00 15:37

Yeah, because Job literally, uh again, we see readings the the verses that Kelsey read through that um like the he had a hedge of protection, and and Satan had literally said that um, you know, that God had had blessed his hand to to give him the things that he had, and and um, you know, he had everything taken away from him and he stayed faithful through all that.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

Yeah. Um it's great.

SPEAKER_00 16:06

Yeah. So I want to share a personal story of a time that I uh had faced endurance. Um there was a time early on in my walk and early on in leadership. Um, and again, if you don't know, I do part-time uh young adults pastor, uh Kelsey and I lead a young young adults group. So um there was a time where this was again very early on, where after group, I was uh the enemy was feeding me lies that I was in the wrong spot, and and he was just kind of um destroying my identity in Christ, and um, you know, destroying my worth and myself, and and I was doubting that I was even in the right spot. Um and Kelsey got to see that, and you know, there'd be times where I where we would call on the way back, and I, you know, I expressed those to her. And uh, you know, thankfully I have I had Kelsey to encourage me, I had people um to go to to lift me up and encourage me, but I also had Christ to lean on um and you know, stay in the word and and praying and reading. Um, you know, I was able to pray for confirmation, and um, you know, God gave that to me and showed that to me through his word, um, through people or or through um just things that that people had said to me. Um so I think that just shows the importance of running the race with somebody else, having people around you to run the race with you and to to pick you up when you fall. Um, so yeah, that was a time that I went through a difficult season and trust in the Lord and and um endured through that.

SPEAKER_01 17:45

So for me, um, I've referenced it, I think, in the testimony, but my college years, I went away and I'm a very family-oriented person. So going away from college in and of itself was hard. Thankfully, the Lord sent me the bestest friends, the sweetest girls who uplifted me, kind of similar to what you said, doing life with people. Um, and in my time of healing from the hurt that I had experienced during that time, um, I was able to turn to the Lord, and it wasn't always easy. Um, I really relied on the Lord to carry me through things and fixing my eyes on him. But I remember the bad days, I remember the good days, and um just all that to say when you run the race, again, it's not going to be easy. I think there's a misconception sometimes that when you're a Christian, when you become a Christian, oh now my life's gonna be easier. It's not sadly. The devil has his schemes and he tries to tear apart um godly relationships, godly things, and so um that hedge of protection obviously would pray that over us, but all that to say running the race is hard, and so this is why using Hebrews 12:1 through three as such a perfect example of how we can run the race in a godly way, fixing our eyes on Jesus, and that leads to growth, and again, that kingdom mindset of how how important it is um in order to achieve what we're striving for, which is eternal life with Christ. So, all that to say, do you have something to add?

SPEAKER_00 19:11

Well, I was just saying through uh James um you know one, two through four, you get to see kind of uh you know what joy you get from from trials, um from seeing yeah, going yeah, fixing that on Jesus. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 19:29

So, our challenge to you that we leave you with as we wrap up this episode is to run the race with endurance endurance while fixing your eyes on Jesus. Uh dive into scripture, pray, get involved in a Christian community, um, worship the Lord, get connected. So that's all we have. Do you have anything else to add?

SPEAKER_00 19:48

No, I think that's it.

SPEAKER_01 19:49

Sorry again for the audio. Um, it definitely threw us off, and we had to film a couple of times running the race, if you will.

SPEAKER_00 19:58

Yeah, literally.

SPEAKER_01 19:59

But we did it, and um remember that we're on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, what you're watching us on, possibly.

SPEAKER_00 20:07

We also have an Instagram.

SPEAKER_01 20:09

Yep, it's called the Hurts Podcast. We just started that up. So if you want to give that a follow to kind of stay in touch with us, what we're doing, this podcast, and that's all.

SPEAKER_00 20:20

So have a good week, guys.

SPEAKER_01 20:21

Have a good week.

SPEAKER_00 20:22

Bye.