Are You Enduring and Learning From the Journey?

Could you please be seated? I have the opportunity to introduce a man who served in the ministry for over 40 years. He's a local pastor of Phoenix, Northern Arizona, Sholo, and Hawaii, and also my father the last 34 years. Mr. Jim Tuck. Well, thank you, Mr. Tuck. My son Jonathan gave a sermon up in Oakland right after I spoke, and I said, when he came here, he was a little boy, and now he's preaching at me. I suspect I'll be hearing some preaching from this one as well. But anyway, it's exhilarating to be here. The first time we were able to hug one of our grandchildren before church, which is wonderful. It's a wonderful experience to do that, and we want to hug more of them. But happy Sabbath to all of you! So good to see everyone. Good to be here. It's almost surreal for us to be here. As a matter of fact, we were saying that walking up the front here into the building. December will have been 15 years ago that we left. And I guess, like Douglas MacArthur said, I shall be back. So here we are. Brethren, have you ever endured something that was a difficult experience, but afterwards you appreciated what it taught you? I'm sure all of us have been down that road, haven't we? We didn't like what we had to go through, but we really appreciated what it offered to us in terms of our experience. When Israel left Egypt, things for a long time didn't go very well. In fact, the whole Bible is about Israel, and the difficulties they had in the wilderness. The reason why they didn't go well, brethren, is because they did not obey God. Because it didn't have to be as bad as it was. It's like Mr. Beckett mentioned about David. David having to fast in the situation where his son was on the line, and of course, the outcome of it didn't turn out too well for David. It didn't have to be the way that it was, even in the life of David. But it's harder for us if we don't learn the lessons. It just always is. That's our axiom. I'd like you to go over to Deuteronomy 8 with me. Deuteronomy chapter 8 will get right into the message here today. But in Deuteronomy chapter 8, and begin with just verse 1 here, I want to show you something today to talk about at least some things. I want to tell you a little bit about myself. I know some of you have not heard some of my background, but I want to mention a little bit about myself in terms of that experience that I've had.

As I think I mentioned to you last time, I was baptized in 1968. So we're rolling around to quite a few feasts and quite a few festival seasons now after a long period of time. But let's begin in Deuteronomy chapter 8 and verse 1. It says here, God told Israel, Every commandment which I command you today you must be careful to observe. You know, very often God admonished Israel, be careful in what you're doing. Be careful to observe that you may live and multiply and go in and possess the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers. And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way. Don't forget who it was that led you, that brought you along the way. You know, who was there for you all along the way. These 40 years in the wilderness. Now that's a long time to wander. You know, men tend to not ask directions, but you know, but that's still an extraordinary length of time not to to be able to find your way. No, it was purposeful. God allowed them to go through that. To humble you and to test you. The reason they went through 40 years of this, it was to humble them and it was to test them.

But what was the reason for that? Why did God, you know, keep teaching these lessons for 40 years? It surely didn't take 40 years to learn these lessons. Well, actually sometimes it does. To know what was in your heart, God wanted to know again their hearts. And here's what he says, whether you would keep his commandments or not. You know, was this a, you know, sort of a short-term type of obedience? Or was this really something that you were seriously going to do? That you were going to live this way. So he humbled you and allowed you to hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know. Nor did your fathers know that he might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. That's the lesson God said. I want you to learn that. Man lives by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

And he goes on to say here, and this would put clothiers out of business, but he says, your garments did not wear out on you. Nor did your foot swell those 40 years. You know, some of the shoe people would go out of business with this kind of thing. You wouldn't have to have any orthotics. You wouldn't have to have anything. You know, the feet didn't swell. The garments didn't wear out. And you should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you. Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God to walk in his ways and to fear him. So God made them wander all those years and got them through the difficulties that they had. Like I say, it didn't have to be as bad as they were. If Israel had only obeyed, you know, they would have not have suffered as much as they did. But it was to teach them, to test them, that they would learn through those things that they endured, that they went through, that they experienced. And so, brethren, you know, when I was first called, I never ever thought that we'd be here in this time. I thought, you know, all of you who came into the church back in the 60s or the 70s, didn't we think that things are going to wrap up in the 70s? And then when that didn't happen, we thought they were going to wrap up in the 80s. And I think pretty much after that, we gave up in terms of when we thought it was going to wrap up, and we started putting our nose to the grindstone and just doing what God says, and let him work that out. But God was testing us all along the way to see what was in our hearts, whether or not we would obey him. Whether it was a sort of a fly-by-night thing, or it was something that was real to us. When Jesus was teaching his own disciples, he told them this. He said, He who endures to the end shall be saved. You know, Mr. Scriber gave a four-part series about lessons he had learned over the 40-plus years that he has had in the ministry.

And the purpose, of course, of all of those lessons, brethren, is to teach us always to obey God's commandments. To do what God says, in spite of what happens. In spite of what happens, we have to obey God. Whatever obstacles come in the way, we must obey God. And why? So things will go well with us in our lives. And you have to be honest with yourself, brethren, when you and I are not doing what God commands, that's when the troubles come. That's when the troubles come. So the purpose of what I want to talk about this afternoon with you and share with you this afternoon is to ask you this question, brethren. Are you faithfully enduring and learning from the journey to the kingdom of God? Are you enduring it? Are you allowing yourself to learn the valuable lessons that you must learn as we journey to the kingdom of God? And the title of the sermon is, Are you enduring and learning from the journey? We have to learn from the journey if we are going to be in the kingdom of God at all. You know, I first heard the truth when I was about 16 years of age. I don't even know if my own sons know some of these things. At least, they may not remember them.

I was in high school. I think it was my sophomore year and I had a friend of mine. His name was Ricky. Ricky and I were just very good friends. We tended to work out together. We did track type things, pole vaulting and high jumping and all of that. We became friends that way. As usually happens, friends tend to spend a light night with each other. Ricky stayed overnight at our house sometimes and I would go over and spend the night at his house as well.

One time I was over at his house, well, it was actually the first time, and we were in his room, and he had a stack of Plain Truth magazines. I thought, about this high. So, he'd been taking the Plain Truth for a long, long time. On top of the stack was a Plain Truth that had pictures of the Japanese tankers. It talked about how Japan was going to be a super tanker, basically a big country in the future. That was when, by the way, you had everybody joked about Japanese products. Remember, if it was from Japan, you joked about it. It's like when they produced the Datsun. People joked about it and said they didn't call it the Datsun pickup or the Datsun vehicle, because they called it Datsun. It took a very short while for them to make the car, and it was almost like it was a plastic car. My uncle had a car like that, and it looked like, quite frankly, it looked like a sardine can. But he liked the little truck. It was a very small pickup. But I took that magazine, I started thumbing through it, and I said to Ricky, I said, can I use this? Because I had a speech when I was in sophomore in one of my speech classes, and I was trying to find something to talk about. So anyway, I took the article and I gave a speech. You know, about Japan and their future economic development. And that's how it all started. That's how my interest in the plain truth started. And, you know, I was also the editor of the newspaper that year. You know, at the high school I belonged to, attended, and I would write articles for the newspaper. It was a very small paper, in fact, mimeograph. You remember the old mimeograph type things? It was that kind of a newspaper. So I started learning little things like that. But little did I know, my friend knew much more than he even expressed. Somehow or another, we both began to get interested in religion, you know, in the Bible. And to make a long story short, we ended up attending the Free World Baptist Church. You know, so, and you know, don't ask me why. Frankly, everybody in the South is a Baptist. You know, usually, you know, when you're born you're a Baptist, but basically. But anyway, we went to a Free World Baptist Church, and I started reading the Bible. Big mistake.

I happened to read the commandments. You know, I got to Exodus 20, and I read these commandments, and it came to one scripture that really threw me for a loop. It was about the Sabbath.

Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. It talked about not doing any work on the Sabbath and so forth. Well, we were still going to the Free World Baptist Church. And on the way back home in the car, I looked over to my buddy and I said, because I could see people as we were driving along working on their lawns and so forth on Sunday. And I said, why are all these people working on the Sabbath? And my friend blurted out, because today is not the Sabbath. He said, Saturday is the Sabbath. And right away, I don't know why it made sense to me. I said, of course. If they knew that today was not the Sabbath, they would, of course, refrain. If they knew it was the Sabbath, they would refrain from working. So they must be deceived about it. And so the very next week, he and I, I said, we got to start keeping the Sabbath. So we ended up at the Church of God's Sabbath day on Waldron Road in Fort Smith, Arkansas, of all places. And anyway, that's how I started keeping the Sabbath. And my friend, by the way, he goes up to the front of the steps, and there were people standing out front. And he said, is this Armstrong's bunch?

Is it Armstrong? Because I really didn't know Herbert Armstrong at that time. And, but you know what they said is, no, but we're similar to them. So we started attending there and learned a lot of things. Again, I made the mistake of continuing to read the Bible. And I learned eventually about the Holy Days. And I told my friend, I said, we need to be keeping the Holy Days. I mean, it's in the Bible.

It's right here in Leviticus 23. We need to be doing it. And so anyway, we started studying more about that. And we learned some other things. We crossed over the topic of sacred names as well. That was something I embarked on a six-month study of that, by the way, and came to the conclusion. God did not expect us to speak Hebrew. And, you know, so it was a matter of time before. But within six months, I looked at my friend. I said, you know, we're in the wrong place.

And I said, I don't know where we're going or where I'm going, but I'm not in the right place. Because they weren't observing the Holy Days. They didn't understand some of the fundamental truths I felt that would make them God's church. And my friend said, well, I know where I'm going. I said, where are you going? He said, I'm going to the worldwide church of God. And frankly, again, I did not know anything about, by that time, of course, I knew about Herbert Armstrong.

And I have to mention to you that my dad, in watching all of this, was not too impressed. Not too impressed with it. And anyway, I thought, I don't know if I want to go over there. He said, well, I've talked to the pastor and he says, we can come. So we head over to Jenny Lynn, to where the worldwide church of God was meeting, and walked in. And that's where I mentioned to you, I looked at the pastor and I said, I never want to be one of those.

And God wrote it in a book. And of course, he said, I will see about that. And so that's how I started attending the worldwide church of God. And I began to learn, of course, more and eventually applied for Ambassador College. But I was baptized in 1968 in a cold creek near Van Buren, Arkansas. And I'm telling you, it was cold. You know, when the snow melts in the mountains and it comes down the stream, it looks like a nice pool to be baptized in.

But I'll tell you what, I remember my baptism mainly because I was froze to death. But reminded me of the story about the guy who was going to be baptized and the pastor was taking the man and his wife. And it was pretty cold outside. And the pond was frozen, so they cracked the ice. And they waded out in the pond. Of course, they were shivering. And anyway, the man's wife was on the shore of the pond.

And the pastor laid him back in the water and brought him back up and baptized him. And he asked the man, he said, are you cold? And he said, no. And the man's wife shot it from the shore. She said, pastor, put him back under. He's still lying. So anyway, that was nobody shot it from the shore. But I was baptized at that time. At the same time I was going to Northeastern State University. I was majoring in pre-medicine. I was going to go into medicine. And as I mentioned earlier, my dad did not much like the church.

He just did not. He was angry with me. In fact, there came a point where he practically disowned me. We didn't talk for a couple years, in fact. But anyway, one thing I remember particularly is the first time I drove to Unleavened Bread was up.

We drove from Fort Smith to Little Rock, Arkansas. It was about 150 miles up there. And I had a rusted out 1960 model Chevrolet Impala and a 348m engine. Of course, that was very important to have. Anyway, all new, brand new, recap tires. So we got back. My friend and I got back from Unleavened Bread. I had to go to Northeastern. The very next day I had a zoology test, by the way, where I had to identify through a microscope individual cells. I had to say basically what these cells were. And you know, if you don't get any sleep, it's kind of hard to do that. That night I did not sleep very much.

And I'll tell you why. Because on the way to Northeastern State University, I had two flat tires on my brand new recaps. My dad was angry with me, so he wouldn't come up and help. Because I'd gone off to that church, you know, and he thought I was being foolish. Mom ended up driving up and helping with it. I think I squeaked by with a C on the test because you had to be there to know how hard it was to actually do some of the things that had to be done for that particular test. So I started obeying God and going to college. Of course, sometimes it's difficult doing some of those things.

I remember one of the challenges that I had when I was at Northeastern is the very day that I had a major exam in chemistry was none other than the Day of Atonement.

You know, Mr. Beckett talks about the Day of Atonement. I remember, well, my first Day of Atonement. Anyway, I had a Dr. Ireland who was the professor of the chemistry class. I explained to him that I was keeping Yom Kippur, as I called it, and I would not be able to take the test. He said, well, if you're not here, you flunk it.

I said, you know, is there no religious allowance? He said, no. If you're not here, you just flunk it.

If I fail that particular test, it's kind of hard to be a medical doctor if you don't do well. Chemistry, Enzoology, and some of these things. It was very important to me.

So anyway, I told him, I cannot be here for that test.

Of course, I fasted. I prayed. I asked God to help.

Next week, I went to the chemistry class. My professor came over and said, he said about that test, he said, don't even worry about it.

So God intervened. And then he said, why? Because everybody flunked the test.

He said, just do well on the next one.

And I aced the next one, and he and I were buddies from that time on.

But anyway, he was very understanding after that time. He eventually, I had to tell him I was going to transfer and go to Ambassador College. He did not want me to go. He wanted me to remain there and do some things there at Northeastern.

But I put it before God. Do you want me to go to Ambassador? Do you want me to continue with this pre-med at OSU? And of course, he didn't let a piece of paper fall from the sky and say, go to Ambassador. It would be nice, wouldn't it, if you got that kind of a notification? Okay. Then I said, well, God, okay, I'm going to apply for Ambassador. And if you want me to go, I'll get accepted. And I got accepted. And so I went to Ambassador in 1970 in the fall, hopped on a Greyhound bus with $500 in my pocket. And when I got down there, I ended up working on the landscaping department in Big Sandy for extra money to pay the bills.

I met my wife in Big Sandy as well in my senior year. Back in those days, by the way, you could not actually date someone seriously until you were a senior in college.

So I was very faithful in that department. She was not, by the way. She was a...

You were in your junior year. So, no, ladies could do that, I guess, but men could not. We couldn't do it. But anyway, we met there. And she, of course, is my love of my wife, and I appreciate her very, very much. But I was sent out in June, I believe it was, of 1974.

I was told I was going to go to a Harrisburg or to Oklahoma City to begin with, but in the graduation line, they told me I was transferred. So I did so well in Oklahoma City that they transferred me. No, I went to end up going to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where they had been a major problem up there. Some of you remember back in... How many of you were around in 1974?

Okay, remember the associated situation, associated church of God, churches of God back east?

Well, the church where I was sent had been devastated by that, and they had dropped from about 600 people down to 190 people back in those times. So they sent me up there to work as an assistant, as a trainee, and so the pastor and I, we would go out visiting, and I would be gone from 10 in the morning to one at night. You know, it was a long day. And the good thing is that, you know, my wife and I had not married by that time. I wouldn't have been home anyway. I was always gone visiting, but the church, by the way, grew there from 190 to over 325 in just a couple years. It just grew, and we were visiting people right and left. I mean, just so many people to visit. And Joan and I married in January, 2000, I mean 1975. Let me get that right. After she graduated from college, I wanted her to graduate from college, and so she was able to do that. The next year, next summer, I was actually ordained on the Day of Atonement, 1975. And they were doing big layoffs in the ministry at that time, and the cutoff was that if you were not ordained, you would be laid off. And so it ended up—I stayed in the ministry. Other men who were trainees, who had not been ordained, ended up, you know, being laid off at that particular time. Many of them were picked up later on, but but it turned out that I remained—my wife and I remained in the full-time ministry. And, you know, the other thing I would say is we didn't expect this so quickly, but in 1976 of October, they asked me to go down to Huntsville, Alabama, to be the interim pastor. I remember that Mr. Dart says, what we want you to do is to go down there and be sort of the caretaker. So I envision myself to be a janitor with, you know, a chain with keys, and I'd just be sort of caretaking the church. Well, that caretaker situation turned into eight and a half years of caretaking, so we stayed there for eight and a half years. Then we were transferred to Boise, Idaho, and we were there for seven years. Pastored up in Boise, we pastored Ontario, Oregon, and Baker as well. Then in 1992, we came and we started pastoring the Phoenix East congregation. Our boys, of course, Sean and Stephen. Stephen was born in Athens, by the way, Alabama, not Greece. Sean was born in Decatur, and Jonathan was born in Nampa, Idaho. So they've been born in different locales, but they were young boys when they came here.

In 2001, December, we were sent up to the Oakland-San Jose congregation, so we pastored up there. In the interim of all of these churches, by the way, when we were here, we pastored Yuma for a little while. We pastored Northern Arizona for a little while.

Right now, of course, up in the Bay Area, we pastored Stockton for a while. We still pastored Hawaii, by the way. Hopefully someday we can say aloha from this pulpit, and they'll be connected with us. But anyway, that's been our journey in our life. Brother, what is your history? What's your history? What is your journey on the path to the kingdom of God? Each of us could tell our own story, could we? We all have our own tale to tell. You know, God brought us through the trials, whatever they were. And I don't want to go through and mention all the trials that we went through through those years. Let me just be frank that there have been some very wonderful highs, and there have been some pretty bad lows during that time. And some of you who are old-timers know what I'm talking about. You know what the past has been sometimes, and how difficult it has been. But one of the things I have learned that one of the fundamental elements of being a Christian, brother, is the characteristic of endurance. People can talk about being Christian all day long, and there are a lot of people that claim to be Christians. Quite frankly, we know that are not. But it's all about endurance and perseverance in the truth.

Thomas Edison was one of the greatest inventors of all time. He said many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. In other words, they snatched defeat out of the jaws of victory rather than the other way around.

You know, they actually had to basically snag defeat and wrestle it to the ground and hang on to it.

Hopefully, brethren, we're not that way. Vince Lombardi said this, the difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will. A lack of will. You've got to hang on. You've got to hang on for dear life in your calling. An old Winston Churchill, the bulldog of Britain, said this, continuous effort, continuous effort, not strength or intelligence, is the key to unlocking our potential. You know, Churchill, who said, never, never, never give in. And the British, of course, dug in their heels, and they were not going to give in and lose, of course, to Adolf Hitler. Let's go to Hebrews chapter 10 over here. Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10.

So again, fundamental, brethren, to longevity in the church as members, fundamental to the ministry, as a matter of fact, is endurance, perseverance.

But Hebrews chapter 10 over here, and down in verse 36, the apostle Paul says, he says, for you have need of endurance. I believe in the King James it says perseverance. You have need of perseverance. So that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise. You know, the golden ring, as it were.

That you can achieve the goal that you're seeking.

And then it says, yet a little while, and he who is coming will come and will not tarry. Let's keep that in mind, brethren. We may not know exactly how long it's going to take before these things wrap up, brethren. But if we have a mind and the attitude of enduring, we can be sure he is coming. We are one year closer to the return of Christ.

And, you know, it would be a shame. It's like my mother used to talk about the man who swam halfway across the ocean and decided it was too far and he turned around and swam back.

Hopefully, brethren, we're not going to, you know, again, go halfway or even more than that, and turn around and go back to the world and to society out there. The Greek word for perseverance, by the way, or endurance is steadfastness. It means steadfastness.

It means constancy, being constant in doing those things that we need to do, enduring, in obedience. You know, one of the great purposes that God has called us is to train us to be teachers, that we would grow spiritually speaking. No, God did that for Israel. That's why He made them wander in the wilderness for 40 years. He wanted them to grow from a slave mentality people into a nation. And they did. It took time for that to occur. And for a while, as long as you had people like Joshua that were at the helm and leading, things went pretty well for them. So, brethren, we as God's people must again endure. Christ said, those who endure are the ones who are going to be saved. You know, Peter talked about—I'm not going to go to this—but over in 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 6. You can write it down and read it later.

But he talked about what you could do as a Christian and never fall, never give up. So that you can endure. He talks about different characteristics or traits that we have to add, one to another. But here he says, to knowledge, he said, add self-control. To self-control, perseverance.

Or endurance. And to perseverance, godliness. Of course, it is a step-by-step things that we have to do if we're going to endure to the end.

You know, Mr. Beckett was talking about the Day of Atonement and how we are instructed to do things a certain way. And God wanted people to be careful to do as he commanded to do on the Day of Atonement.

God's people have to be committed. And that's what the Day of Atonement is about. It's about commitment, isn't it? About God's people enduring and being committed to obey God, no matter what.

You know what? What I've learned, brethren, myself, over the period of time that I've been associated with God's truth and God's church is that godly character-building requires time. It just requires time. There are no 90-day wonders in the church.

You know, sometimes we do point to people that come to the church and they grow real fast, but there are no 90-day wonders. I look at some of you here that are attending—I remember, you know, back again in the 90s, you've grown immensely. I hope we all have grown, brethren, in many, many ways. But, you know, godly character-building takes time.

Most of the great patriarchs, you go back and you look at the history of them, brethren, they had to serve God, you know, 40, 50, 60, 70 years, some of them.

And, of course, they did not see the promises, as Hebrews 11 says, because God wanted them to grow. He wanted them to change and develop. So, it's surprising to us, brethren, that God didn't wrap up things in 1972.

And He didn't do it in 82. And He's probably not going to do it next year, either. You know, it shouldn't be surprising to us, because we all have a lot of growing to do as God's people.

So, Paul chastens Christians, you know, over in the book of Hebrews. He says, for when the time you ought to be teachers.

Now, we've been in the church 20 or 30 years, we should be able to teach.

We should know where we speak when we talk about the Scriptures. But he says, you have need to want to teach you again, which be the first principles of the oracles of God. And he talked about how that some were in need of milk, and they couldn't handle strong meat. You couldn't talk to them, frankly. You know, sometimes people, and evidence sometimes that people can eat the meat. You know, what was that old advertisement? Was it Wendy's? The old lady asked the question, where's the beef? You know, some people can't eat the meat. They just can't. Is when we get our feelings hurt so easily. We wear our emotions on our cuffs, you know, and where somebody brushes against us. You know, we get angry about it. Remember when I was going to high school, I had a, there was a fellow moved in from the Chicago, and somebody brushed up against him at the at the high school where I went. And anyway, the guy from Chicago pulled out a knife, and it made an impression on me. Don't mess with those guys from Chicago. That's what made the impression. But, you know, I thought to myself, man, you're wearing your emotions on your cuffs. Somebody just brushes against you. Now, I was from Roland, Oklahoma. That's where I went to high school, by the way. The culture capital of the world. Of course, you've heard of it. But, but anyway, you know, we should not wear our emotions on our cuffs.

You know, but are we learning, brethren? Are we growing? Can we teach after a period of time? We should be able to. Are we able to endure long enough to learn how to teach?

You know, it's like we need to teach our children to sit long enough to listen so they can be taught. You know, that's what, of course, sometimes is the problem in school, isn't it? Kids can't. So, antsy, they can't be taught. Well, brethren, we have to be able to endure so that we can learn, because learning takes time, and character building takes time. The Bible says, when the Son of Man comes, shall he find faith? You know, the implications of that verse, brethren, is that many simply will not endure to receive salvation. It takes time to learn the basics of being a Christian. It takes time to learn our personal part in the church, and in due time, we do find out how we fit in the church. God puts us in the church as it pleases him, not us. And you know, in the process, we develop Godly character. We develop Christ-like character, and that doesn't happen overnight. But it does happen if we learn to endure and learn. The Bible says, many are called, but few are chosen. And the reason why is so many fizzle out before they can learn. You've got to endure. You've got to persevere. So I've learned again that character building takes time.

I've learned also that character building involves mistakes. I've made a lot of mistakes, and I'm looking at a lot of people who've made a lot of mistakes.

And if you don't think you have, you're kidding yourself, because you have. You've made a lot of mistakes. True spiritual growth, brethren, cannot occur unless we make mistakes. And in spite of those mistakes, we get up, we dust ourselves off, and we move on. And we try to do better next time.

You know, God knows you make mistakes. He knows it. He knew you were going to make mistakes when he first called you. But he wants you again to get up and move on. We learn about ourselves every time we make a mistake. Every time we fall. It's like you ever notice a little baby when they first start to walk? You know, a baby, when they're crawling, they don't stand up and say, well, it's time to walk, you know. And then they run around the track a quarter mile. And, yeah, this walking's easy. Know what happens is you've got these babies, they've got wobbly legs, you know. And, of course, that mom and dad are excited when they take their first step.

But you know what happens when they try to walk the first time? They fall down. And the more they walk, the more they are able to do that, you know, the less they fall down. The same is true with us. The better we learn about ourselves and how to coordinate ourselves, how to be familiar with ourselves, the less we fall. I hope you're falling less now than you did when you first came into the church. The problem is, when we first came into the church, we didn't know how many times we were falling, did we? We were falling a lot. But character building involves mistakes in our lives. But true spiritual growth, again, only occurs if we learn from our mistakes and then move on and strive to obey. This is a story I want to read to you that is very touching to me.

It's any of you have ever been down south. Sometimes people dig wells. I had an uncle, T, who dug his own wells. But he had animals, he had donkeys, and he had all kinds of animals. But sometimes the animal will fall into a well. Here's the story I wanted to pass on to you. One day a farmer's donkey fell into a well, and the animal prayed piteously for hours at the bottom of the well. The donkey tried to figure out what to do. The farmer himself wondered what to do. What was he going to do with that donkey? He couldn't just lift him out.

And so the farmer finally decided that the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered over anyway. He needed to fill that old well up. It just wasn't worth it to retrieve that old donkey, he thought. So he invited all of his neighbors over, and they all took shovels, and they started throwing dirt in the well with a donkey at the bottom. At first the donkey realized what was happening, and he braided even more. Then, to everyone's amazement, he began to quiet down. And each shovel that went down into the well and landed on the back of the donkey, the donkey would shake it off, and then he would step up. And they kept throwing the dirt into the well, and every time the donkey again would shake it off and step up. And to the amazement again of the farmer and the friends, eventually the well got filled, and the donkey stepped out and ran off into the barnyard.

The moral is, brethren, if the world throws dirt on your back, if you've got problems that come up in your life, shake it off and step up and move on. It takes, again, that, brethren, for us to build righteous character. Now, don't let the mistakes get you down. Don't get discouraged. Don't allow yourself to retro-gress in your relationship with God. One of the things that God was displeased with the Ephesians is that they left their first love. We can't do that, brethren. We've got to keep pushing forward as God's people. If we, as God's people, allow problems to weigh layers and cause us to give up, again, we've missed out on that very important, valuable element of perseverance and endurance, and we cannot attain our goal. I've learned right character also involves developing right habits. You know, they used to say that if you do something 30 days, then it becomes a habit. I'm not so sure about that, but, you know, it probably is true to one degree or another. Vince Lombardi, by the way, the Green Bay Packers legendary coach, said, once you learn to quit, he said it becomes a habit. And I think that that is true. If you learn to quit, it will become a habit.

So, brethren, learn to develop the right habits, and don't be a quitter. Don't give up.

One of the things that we're told, brethren, about the Holy Spirit, it is the Spirit of God is the Spirit of a sound mind. And, you know, the phrase sound mind in the Greek means self-control. So, God's Spirit allows us, if we allow it to work in us, will allow us to control ourselves. Even if we make mistakes, we can control ourselves. That's the difference, again, between us and the animal world. And, you know, the phrase sound mind in the Greek means self-control. So, brethren, learn to engage in good daily habits as you seek your goal of the Kingdom of God. Bible study, pray, and be the Spirit of God. And, again, we've got to exercise that day by day, brethren, in enduring and in persevering. So, brethren, learn to engage in good daily habits as you seek your goal of the Kingdom of God. Bible study, prayer, fasting occasion, meditation every day. You know, when you go for a walk or whatever, you sit somewhere by a stream or in the mountains or just outside your house. Meditate. Think about God in His way. Always have God's way in your mind and your thoughts. You know, and persevere with those things. Don't give up. Don't give up. Persevere in them. You know, it's like sometimes I've heard people say, you know, I've tried these things and they don't work. Well, the problem is, yes, you may have tried them, but have you persevered with them? Have you continuously done them and endured with them? Because the fruit will come in. You think about the farmer. The farmer, if he plants his seed, he stands out there for a day or two and he doesn't see anything come up, but he says, well, I guess nothing's happening. What kind of farmer is that? Same is true with us. You know, if we sow seeds in our life, wait for it to come up. And if you've done your job, it will come up. It will come up. Learn to have that patience, again, to wait. And again, that has to do with perseverance, doesn't it? Endurance, patience, having patience. One of the interesting things I don't know if you heard about this man I can't remember where he was from. I think it was India or somewhere. Oldest man in the world, 145 years of age. And so, I think it's a very interesting thing. Someone asked him what had allowed him to live that length of time. Because at this time, he'd like to die after 145 years. But anyway, they asked him what he would credit his living all this time. You know what his answer was? Patience. Patience. And you know, that's an interesting thought, isn't it? Learning as Christians to be patient. Of course, not only maybe we'll live longer, in our lives we'll be much more pleasant. And you know, we will then grow and we'll attain the goal of the Kingdom of God.

You know, one thing I've learned also, brethren, in my time in the church and the ministry, I've learned that if you want to persevere, you have to be around people who don't quit.

The worst thing in the world for you to be a persevere and one who's going to endure is to be around quitters. So make sure, again, that you stay around people that have the desire to endure to the end. Let's go to Hebrews chapter 10. It should be close to where you are there. In verse 24, verse 24 here, it says, "...and let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works." Well, we've got to help each other, encourage each other.

But notice, not forsaking the assembly of ourselves together as a man or some, but exhorting one another so much the more as you see the day approaching.

So, brethren, we have to encourage each other. Again, if you want to be one who endures and perseveres to the end, you've got to be around those who are doing the same thing.

That don't give up. That are not quitters.

You know, another thing, brethren, I have learned as well is I've learned that it's important to keep your eye on the goal. You know, I had a book I read a number of years ago I was so impressed with, called The Power of Focus, and I read the book and felt compelled to buy it and give it to my sons, because I think it really ties into our calling.

Then we need to learn to keep our eye focused on the goal of the kingdom of God. There's a lot of stress, a lot of distractions in the world that are out there.

Satan is all the time laying down obstacles in front of you.

Old Henry Ford, who, of course, pioneered the car industry that we are so familiar with in this country, he said obstacles are those frightful things we see when we take our eyes off the goal.

So as God's people, we have to always keep our eye on the goal of the kingdom of God.

Let's go to Philippians chapter 3 over here. Philippians chapter 3. Again, there are a lot of things that can occur in life that can take our eyes away from the goal that we have in front of us. We just cannot allow that to happen. You know, think about the Apostle Paul. If there was somebody who could be distracted in his day, it would have been Paul. I mean, it's hard to keep your mind on what you're doing when you're being chased by a band of people that want to kill you. You know, people that are out to stone you or would like to see you thrown in prison and put so far back in a prison that takes a slingshot to feed you. Paul had to face that kind of thing, being shipwrecked and all the other stuff that he had to go through. But in Philippians chapter 3 and verse 12, Paul says, not that I've already attained or am already perfected, but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus also laid hold of me, which is, of course, being a part of the Kingdom of God. Again, many are called, but few are chosen. Those that endure, those that persevere, the ones that are chosen. He says, brother, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. Certainly not to forget the good lessons we've learned in the past, but, brethren, to put the past behind and to look to the future.

You've had to do that, haven't you, here in the Phoenix metro area?

In a way, you have a new beginning. You're a new church.

And perhaps putting two congregations together is not an easy proposition. But, you know, God's people, if God's Spirit is working within us, will make it work.

They will make it work. And the church will be better for it.

The church will grow as a result of it. All of us will grow as a result of it.

And, of course, as far as Joan and I are concerned, we're looking forward to working with all of you. Because, in a way, this is a new chapter in the history of Phoenix.

You know, we were sandwiched into the book that's going to be written, I'm sure, someday about Phoenix in the past, but we're here to be back here with you again. And we're really appreciative of that. And, you know, what we have to do is we have to forget those things in the past, and we have to reach to the future as well. Seek the kingdom. That's what the most important thing to do in our lives. He says, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. And it says, therefore, let us, that's every one of us here, brethren, in this room, let us, as many as our mature, have this mind. Forget the past. Again, don't forget the good lessons, but let's press toward the future. Forge a new future. And if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you, it will be revealed. Whatever else that God wants us to know. So Paul, brethren, had to keep his eye on the goal of the kingdom. That's why he was able to endure all the things he went through. You know, being beaten himself three times and near death.

And having to, in fact, eventually lose his own life and martyrdom.

He had to set his eye on the goal and think about that. And think about what Jesus Christ himself had to endure, brethren, so that we would have the opportunity for salvation. Suffered more than any other man.

Went through so much more than we can even imagine, so that we would have the opportunity for salvation. And to be forgiven, to give us a chance, brethren. So, brethren, be consistent, persevere, and walk in the Word of God. And in that course of doing that, pray without ceasing.

Let prayer, you know, be the way you go forward in your life. Let's go to Hebrews chapter 3. Hebrews chapter 3. Hebrews chapter 3. Hebrews 3. And down to verse 12.

It says, it says, Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief and departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it's called a day, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. So it says, For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end. That's that big word, if. If we endure as God's people. And I trust, brethren, that we will.

Brethren, at the beginning of this sermon, I said, Well, why? Why do we want to endure? Why do we want to persevere? Let's go back to Deuteronomy 8. Deuteronomy chapter 8. So God tested Israel, ancient Israel. He pulled them through the proverbial keyhole backwards, didn't he? But why? Why did He want them to persevere through that whole time? And endure through that whole time? Of course, to learn to obey God always. But when we read the remainder of what it says here, let's notice what he says. After he told them that he was wanting them to learn to live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God and to keep the commandments, in verse 4 it says, For, or therefore, the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land. This is going to be a wonderful place you're going to go to. You're going to be a part of a land of brooks of water, of fountains of springs that flow out of the valleys and the hills. We've been to Egypt, by the way, and that land was not quite like that. But this was a special land that basically watered itself. And it said, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey, a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of those hills you will dig copper. Got all the resources for you. But notice what he said. Why? It's important for you and me to learn through perseverance and endurance when you have eaten and are full. Then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which has given you. Beware that you do not forget the Eternal, your God, by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes, which I command you today. Lest when you have eaten and are full, you have built beautiful houses and dwell in them.

So the reason why God took them through all of that, brethren, we was going to bring them into a land that was unbelievable. It was a magnificent land. To them, it would have been a utopia that they were going to be brought into, compared to Egypt. But imagine, brethren, if He was bringing a bunch of slave mentality people into that kind of a land.

What if, again, God brought slave mentality people into that land? Basically, the land would be filled with cutthroats. It would be filled with liars and horemongers and thieves and people who had no regard for anybody else. What kind of a world would that be? What kind of world would that be?

You know why God is doing the same thing with us, brethren? And there's probably a whole sermon you could give out of this. But is the reason why God wants you and me to be particular about what we're doing and how we're living to learn to persevere and obey God, to build that holy, righteous character, brethren, is He's going to bring us into a world that is going to be perfect. But it wouldn't be perfect if it was like this world. And unless, brethren, we are a people that have been changed, transformed by God's spirit and God's laws and commandments, we won't be there. So the kingdom of God would not be the kingdom of God if we didn't have holy righteous character. So, brethren, it's incumbent upon us, brethren, to do that, to build that character. I began my journey in 1968. I learned a lot, even as a young boy growing up, as it were. I didn't grow up in the church, by the way, but learning, you know, from a young age, I made good progress. I learned a lot. But, you know, having a good beginning is not sufficient.

Not sufficient. You're having a good beginning is not sufficient.

We need the virtue of perseverance and obeying and growing. Like the Bible says, you have need of endurance so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.

Brother, what God is going to give us is so, so stupendous and wonderful beyond our wildest imagination in the millennium and on out beyond that. Brethren, it's incumbent upon us that we learn to persevere and to build that character so that we can be there. So why persevere? That's why. Why obey? That's why. Let's make sure we do that so that we can be there in that wonderful kingdom of God and be there in that future that God has revealed in His Word.