Building Steadfastness in Our Lives

Good afternoon, everyone. Nice to be here with you again. Hopefully everyone had a good feast.

Kind of a sad thing, but it seems like a distant memory after two weeks of trying to catch up at work. But it was a wonderful time, relaxing time, great time to be with others, and hopefully everyone else enjoyed the feast just as much. What are some of the first memories that you have of the world around you? Bigger things that went on in the world beyond just what was going on in your own life, your neighborhood, or your house. It's interesting some of the things that we remember, and actually, as I was thinking about this sermon, one of the earlier memories that strikes me of really absorbing something from television was actually an earthquake. It was a 1971 Sylmar earthquake in California. I don't know who else is here is old enough to remember that, but I was born in 66. I was about five years old when it happened, and I can still remember on TV, and it was our little 13-inch black and white TV that we had perched in the corner of the room. And I can remember these pictures of apartment buildings with the entire front sheared off of an apartment where I could see immediately into this apartment. And as a five-year-old, it just really made an impression on me in terms of an earthquake, and it kind of scared me in terms of natural disasters and earthquakes in particular. I don't mean to trigger people if people have earthquake fears out there. Karen and I lived in Southern California for a number of years, so we've actually experienced several ourselves, including the 94 Northridge earthquake and the aftermath of that. That happened on January 17th of 1994. And there's certain things that you just remember. To me, there are sensations that I associate with earthquakes. First, it sounds like there's a freight train coming. It's going to run right through the house or the building that you're in. And then there's a shaking, which sometimes just feels like it's never going to stop. And afterwards, almost like an eerie still, and at least back then in the 90s, car alarms going off everywhere. If you remember the old car alarms, we'd flick them and they'd beep. And after an earthquake, there'd be house alarms, car alarms, everything going off, and you'd sort of emerge and try to figure out what was going on. And after that, aftershocks. And the aftershocks, at least for Karen and me, were probably the most disturbing, because every time the earth shakes again, you're not sure if it's just one jolt or if it's just going to keep going on and on like it did before.

And so, you know, it can be a very frightening thing. And it probably strikes at the heart of a lot of people's fears, because the one thing that we look at as the most stable of anything is the earth. We even talked in, you know, our modern terms of speech about being grounded, meaning somebody who's really solid, because they're not going to move. We talk about people being shifty, and that's not typically a good thing. Ironically, we heard in the sermonette about mountains, and we look at mountains as being something really sure and fast. Ironically, mountains are typically produced by earthquakes. We can mow that one over for a little while. A little unusual.

We would like to talk a little bit on this topic today, and the topic specifically spurred from the end of the sermon last week, if you'll turn with me to 1 Corinthians 15.

If I recall correctly, Mr. Thomas ended with this scripture. Often when people say last scripture, it's that impulse. As a kid growing up in the church, my ears perked up as soon as someone says last scripture. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 58, Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. And of course, last week, Mr. Thomas talked about everything that comes before that, that, therefore, the resurrection, the truth that we have, that just as Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, so we also will be raised, is something we put our hope in. I'd like to focus today on what comes after that, therefore, what it is that we're supposed to do. We have that knowledge of the resurrection, and we have that understanding that we've come away from the feast with, as that's been refreshed in our minds, and that is being steadfast and immovable.

So what does it mean to be steadfast? It's not really a word that we use very much today in modern English. We don't really see any campaign commercials out there that says, vote for steadfast, Steve for Senate, because nobody would really understand what in the world that means. It's just not, I don't know if you can think of the last time you used the word, steadfast. So what is it? If we look in dictionary.com, since I guess I do have a dictionary somewhere on my bookshelf, but I probably haven't opened it in 10 years. According to dictionary.com, some of the different meanings that go along with steadfast are fixed in direction or steadily directed. An example given is like a steadfast gaze, and somebody's staring at something. The second definition is given is firm in purpose, resolution, faith, attachment, etc., as a person.

So like a steadfast friend, somebody who can be counted on all the time and not go away.

Other definitions include unwavering, as in resolution, faith, or adherence, or being firmly established as an institution or a state of affairs, or to be firmly fixed in place or position.

To get the idea, all of these definitions of steadfast kind of hang together in terms of being solid, immovable, fixed in place, not going anywhere. Thesaurus.com provides some synonyms such as abiding, adamant, ardent, dedicated, faithful, inflexible, intense, relentless, resolute, rigid, unflinching, unswerving, unwavering. We get the idea. In the Bible, similarly, there are a few different words that are used in the original Hebrew or the Greek for the word steadfast. The Hebrew word is kaiyam, q-a-y-a-m, for anyone who wants to look for that later. In Greek, there are two different words. One is hedraios, which is transliterated h-e-d-r-a-i-o-s, hedraios, and the other is ebaios, b-e-d-a-i-o-s. And those words have essentially the same meaning. This is actually a word that's pretty steadfast in its consistency in terms of the meaning of the Greek and the Hebrew. Hedraios refers to firm or immovable, literally means seated. So the idea that somebody's just seated there firmly and is not going to be shifted out of place. But baios has an additional meaning to it besides meaning stable and fast. It can also refer to something being enforced, like a law being enforced or a law being valid, that same word that's used for steadfast in the Greek. So in brief, being steadfast is being established, being fixed, being immovable in nature. Let's look for a few minutes at some verses in the Bible that talks about steadfastness as a quality that God has, because it is actually a quality that's associated very much in the Bible, not only with God but with His Word and His way of life as well. Let's start in Romans 4. We'll read a little bit here about how steadfastness is associated with God. Probably not a surprise. We think about it. We think about God inherently as being reliable. Romans 4. We'll start in verse 13. Here we read, For the promise that he would be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. It's talking here about the promise made to Abraham, and that promise was not only physical blessings, but much more importantly, that through Abraham Jesus Christ would come, through whom salvation would be available for everybody.

In verse 14, For those who are of the law or heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of no effect. Because the law brings about wrath, for where there is no law, there is no transgression. Therefore, it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all of the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. In this passage, the word sure comes from that Greek word babaios, which means steadfast. The whole point being made here is that faith that we have in the grace of God to bring us to salvation, and the promise that comes to us is something that's steadfast, something that's sure, something that's fixed and immovable. And so what's being associated all the way back to the time that God first made this promise to Abraham, that through him all of the nations of the earth would be blessed. The promise of Jesus Christ was something that was sure and steadfast. A quality that God has, that when he says something will be, it will be that way, and we can count on it. Let's look at another example here, talking again about the words of God. This time the words that he inspires to be spoken through his prophet. 2 Peter 1. We'll read 2 Peter 1 in verses 16 through 21. 2 Peter 1, starting in verse 16.

Here Peter writes in his epistle, For we did not follow cunningly devised fables, when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to him from the excellent glory. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And we heard this voice, which came from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain. So Peter's talking here as a disciple how he was with Jesus Christ when he was baptized. We also remember that he was up on the mountain at the Transfiguration and heard again the Word of God talking on the mountain when he was there for the Transfiguration. In verse 19, he's comparing it then to the Word of Prophecy. So we have the prophetic word confirmed, and this word confirmed again is the Greek word babaios, which is translated steadfast in other places, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place. Until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. So again, associated in this case the Word of Prophecy, the word that God gave to his prophets, as we see written in the Bible, and referring to it as steadfast. In this verse translated in this case, the New King James as confirmed. So again, confirmed, steadfast, immovable, the fact that prophecy is something that's given to us by God, and it will come to pass, regardless of what people might think or interpret in their own private interpretation. Let's look at one more incident here where these words are associated with different qualities of God and his word. That's in Hebrews 2. Hebrews 2, we'll read verses 1 through 4. Hebrews 2 verses 1 through 4.

Here the author of Hebrews says in verse 1, Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.

For the words spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward. How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard him? God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit according to his own will. We see here a steadfastness associated with God's words. The different elements of God, the words that he speaks, the words that he gives through others, all of it confirmed and steadfast and reliable. So these scriptures, among others, demonstrate that steadfastness is a quality of God, something that's inherent in what he does, what he says, and what he is. It's part of his being. That's why we have a God that we say we can count on. We can have faith in God because he's immovable and fixed, not something that will change, something that can be relied on, no matter what. Now, not surprisingly, as we shift gears then to the next section here, think about its steadfastness as a quality that we need to develop as Christians as well. As we see in all parts of our life, the qualities of God are things that are exposed to us, shown to us through the Bible, through the Holy Spirit living within us, God living within us, and his nature, his way of being, should express itself through us if we're living by his Spirit. And steadfastness is one of those qualities that should come through. How many have heard of the abbreviation, or I guess it's an acronym if we're being accurate, called VUCA?

VUCA. Yes, I am speaking English. VUCA. I've got a friend of mine. He's actually passed her out in Arizona. We were talking about this at the feast, and he reminded me. I heard it in a class I took at work years ago, but VUCA is an acronym first used in 1987, drawing on the leadership theories of Warren Bennis and Burt Nanis to describe or reflect on four things, which spell out the word VUCA when you abbreviate it. Number one, volatility. Number two, uncertainty. Number three, complexity.

And number four, ambiguity of general conditions and situations. The U.S. Army War College introduced the concept of VUCA to describe the more volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous multilateral world perceived as resulting from the end of the Cold War. More frequent use and discussion of this term began, according to Wikipedia, from 2002, and derives from this acronym from military education. There are books written out there. There are seminars you can take that all stress the fact that we're living in a VUCA world, a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world. And they're all about how in the world we navigate that world. As Christians, actually a point like this two weeks after the Feast of Tabernacles is probably a great time to talk about this because I don't know what your lives are like, but certainly in my life it's like you go to the feast, you've got this island of tranquility, some level of stability and calm, you're grounded in God's Word, you're talking with and meeting and spending time with not only family but friends and brethren in the church and really focusing your eyes on something different in the world around you. What is it that happens when you get back from the feast?

VUCA is probably a good way to say it, right? You realize how volatile, how uncertain, how complex, how ambiguous the world is, especially if you step away from it for a little while. You take a break from it. The same thing is probably the case when you take a vacation. I think it's much more stark at the feast because we really sink our time and our mind and our attention into God's Word. We come back, we're really struck with the fact that the world that we live in is anything but steadfast. It's changing. It's ever changing. It's complex. It's ambiguous. It's hard to keep track of everything that's going on. In the middle of all of that, we have a stability that lives inside of us through God's Spirit. It's something that we need to think about, we need to nourish, and we need to further develop. Let's look at 1 Peter 5 and look at a few instances here about how this idea of steadfastness is applied to us as Christians and the way that we need to live our lives in a VUCA world kind of rolls off the tongue like that. 1 Peter 5, we'll read verses 8 through 11. 1 Peter 5 starting in verse 8. Here again, Peter writes, Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

And we often think about that Scripture as describing the things that go on in our world today, because there are so many pitfalls. I've heard it described once for our young people as you're walking down a hall, and there are all these doors on the right hand and the left hand. Behind all these doors are these pitfalls that you can fall into. And the challenge in the world that we have is not to open those doors and go down those raffles, as you will, those things that Satan has waiting for us that can draw us away so quickly, but to keep our eyes focused and moving forward in his way. Verse 9, Resist him steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world, but may the God of all grace who called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To him be the glory and dominion forever and ever. Let's think about that contrast for a minute, because what is it that God wants for us? What is it that his word should do? What is it that his spirit should be building within us? Look back at what's written there in those words in verse 10. After we've suffered for a while, we are to be perfected, established, strengthened, and settled. Are we feeling that in our lives? Do we feel that spirit of God within us doing those things for us despite all of these things that are swirling around us? I know, having gotten to know all of you over the course of the last six years that we've been here, that absolutely that's happening in people's lives. And it's encouraging to see as people struggle with different trials, as good things and bad things happen and we move forward in life, we can see if we look inside ourselves, if we look around at others, that if we're grounding our life on God and on Jesus Christ, we are being established. We're being strengthened and we're being settled. It's not always comfortable. It's not always fun when it's happening. Like it points out here, sometimes it happens through suffering, but it's that establishment that being fixed and being settled that God wants to work within us. Turn with me, if you will, to Colossians 1.

Colossians 1. We'll see Paul writing in a similar vein to the Colossians.

Colossians 1. We'll start with verse 21.

And you who were once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now he has reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight. So talking about that process of conversion, the fact that Colossians, like we've done, have given their lives to God, been forgiven, repented of their sins. Verse 23, if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister. So again, focusing very much on the fact that being steadfast, grounded, not moved away. Talking about the proximity that we have to have to that hope that's within us. Whenever we see hope written about in the Bible, it is a very specific thing. It's not this sort of wishful thinking that we might think of, but hope is very directly tied to Jesus Christ, the resurrection, and the destiny that we have through those promises. So again, talks about here being steadfast, not moved away, and grounded. Look at one last section that talks about this as well, and talking about moving and drifting versus being fixed.

Let's look in James 1. James 1, we'll read verses 2 through 7. We see a trend starting here as we read through these scriptures and talking about the difference between being fixed and established, being immovable, and being grounded, and drifting or wavering. James 1, and we'll start in verse 2.

James 1 verse 2. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all liberally and without approach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.

For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man and unstable in all of his ways. And so here we see the contrast that's drawn out between having faith, having patience, and taking this time to be established, and being double-minded and wavering, being like a wave of the sea, tossed to and fro. So very much this contrast is being driven between moving around, drifting. We talk about people sometimes as drifters, don't we, as opposed to people who are grounded. And it's not a pleasant association. You don't want to be known as a drifter, somebody who's just moving from place to place and kind of doing whatever they can to survive.

And here as well, talking about not wavering, not being blown about like a wave of the sea. And we know, again, going back to this concept of Luca, there are so many winds and waves that are out there trying to blow us around. We need to go back to God, back to his spirit, and ask him to ground us, to fulfill in us what's talked about in Peter, to settle us, and to help us not to be moved.

Now, being fixed, immovable, and established doesn't mean that we don't change. I think we know that. It means that we're fixed on God's way of life. But we are changing in ourselves. These scriptures talk about moving towards perfection, and we have to understand perfection properly. Perfection, when it's talked about in the Bible, is not in terms of the fact that we can somehow purify ourselves, but it's about becoming complete. The idea, the word that's behind perfection, is one of becoming complete. And we're moving down this road of being more and more complete Christians, more and more complete models of Jesus Christ, as we go forward in our Christian walk.

And so it doesn't mean that we don't change. In fact, it means quite the opposite, because we have our eyes on that fixed goal, which is Jesus Christ, and the way that he was, we try to move towards it. The Bible uses the analogy of running a race, and I want to read a story that I think illustrates running the race and being steadfast in that process as we're moving through the race. And I'll thank my friend Bill Bradford, who used this in a sermon he gave at the feast.

It's a striking story, not one that I'd heard before. I'd heard the quote from it in the past, but not the story. I hope you'll find it compelling, too. There are a lot of versions of this story out on the internet, which is a true story, by the way. This one is from thedealer playbook.com. In the summer of 1968, the Olympic Games were in full swing in Mexico City. As usual, crowds from around the world gathered to support their country's elite athletes. Those athletes trained for years to compete, each with the hope of stepping onto the podium to graciously receive their medal. But I'm not going to share the stories of those who won that year.

I'm going to share the story of one who lost, and in the most obvious way. I want to talk about the marathon runner from Tanzania, John Stephen Aquari. As I'm sure all athletes do, John prepared for months, if not years, to compete at the Olympic level. He was coached, he practiced, he ran, and then ran some more. For all intents and purposes, he checked all of the boxes to ensure that he was ready for the Olympics, and even more prepared to take his place on that podium to proudly wave his country's flag.

It wouldn't be easy, however. John was stacked up against 56 other marathon runners, each with the same mindset to win. There was an unforeseen obstacle in John's way, though. The altitude of Tanzania is vastly different than that of Mexico City, something John wouldn't have had the means to prepare for before the Games. While competing in the marathon, John began to cramp up due to the high altitude. During a jockeying for position amongst his fellow competitors, John was hit and fell to the ground, severely injuring and dislocating his knee and taking a harsh blow to his shoulder. With 23 kilometers left of the marathon, that's well over 10 miles, John had a decision to make. In agony, would he surrender to defeat, or would he finish what he started? A voice from within urged him to carry on. Picking himself up, John stumbled along, continuing the marathon as if his life depended on it. After the sun had set, and after the medal ceremony, and after most of the crowds had gone home, John finally finished, crossed the finish line. In fact, a camera crew was sent out to document the final phase of John's race after receiving word that there was still a runner out there that was about to finish. As expected, John came in dead last, with a finish time trailing the winner by over an hour. John lost, but he also won. You see, rather than providing every excuse in the book and blaming his ferocious defeat on his seemingly unfair disadvantage, John made the history books for another reason. When asked why he continued on, John simply replied to the interviewer, my country did not send me 5,000 miles to start the race, they sent me 5,000 miles to finish it. Now, if we're looking for a motto for this year as we move out from the Feast of Tabernacles and move into the winter and everything that's going to come through the conclusion of silly season here in the United States into the winter, this is the motto that we need, isn't it? My country did not send me 5,000 miles to start the race, they sent me 5,000 miles to finish it. And that's really the story for us as Christians, isn't it?

You know, we think about the end of the old man, we were baptized, we were the pence of our sins, but at the end, that's really the beginning. That's the beginning of our Christian walk.

And we're not called in order to be baptized and be forgiven of our sins. We're called to be completed. Paul talks about finishing the race. He looked back on his life and saying that he was proud of the way that he rightfully proud, not boasting, but when he looked back, that he had taken the Holy Spirit, he'd used the Holy Spirit, he'd done things that God willed at him, and he'd run his race strongly. And that's the race that we're in. We're in to finish the race.

So let's move this in then to the last part of this message, and that is how do we develop steadfastness in our lives? I think now that we've defined it, we've seen that it's an element that God has, an essential part of his nature and his word, something that he wants in us to be steadfast, to be grounded, to be immovable. How in the world do we do this? Especially in a world that's shifting around, as though there's pretty much a steady earthquake going on all the time around us, all the things that are changing. So I'd like to look at three elements, and I've just called them the anchor, the roots, and the foundation. The anchor, the roots, and the foundation. I'd like to put these forward as the three ways that we can build steadfastness in our lives, the way that we can become immovable and fixed on God's way. Let's think first of the anchor. Let's turn to Hebrews 6, and we'll read verses 17 through 21. Hebrews 6 verses 17 through 21.

Here again, the author of Hebrews is talking about the promises of God that come through Jesus Christ.

Comparing the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, as parts of Hebrews do, Hebrews 6 verse 17. Hebrews 6 verse 17.

There's a little bit of symbolism being used here. For those of us who might not recall it right off the top of our minds, the way that the temple was constructed, the way that the tabernacle was constructed before that. There was an outer courtyard. There was a building itself for the tabernacle in the wilderness, a temporary building that was built of wood slats and animal skins and things like that. And then there was an inner area even inside of there, which was called the Holy Apollis. And that was separated off by a curtain, and it could only be entered, we might remember, once a year on the Day of Atonement by the High Priest after he had completely cleansed himself.

If we remember, though, one of the miracles that happened at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ was in the temple, the permanent temple, that veil, that curtain, ripped miraculously in half.

An incredible symbol of what it was that Jesus Christ's death did, where it took away the mediation of a physical priesthood, and it allows us to come right into that Holy Apollis directly to God with nothing in between us.

And that's what's being referred to when we talk about the presence behind the veil. We talk about Jesus Christ having entered that place and become the High Priest. That's why when we pray, we pray in the name of Jesus Christ.

Through his death, that veil was torn. It is through him as our High Priest, rather than a physical priest, that we can go directly to the throne of God. We do that, as we know, in prayer.

And let's rewind then to verse 19, talking again about hope, the hope that we have in Jesus Christ, the hope that we have in a resurrection and his kingdom coming. We have it as an anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast.

Sure and steadfast is an anchor. So one of the things that people would do, and I think they still do now, I've seen this on documentaries before, I believe, is you don't always just drop an anchor off the side of the ship wherever you are.

Because if you're in a sandy area, that anchor might drag across the bottom. It's not unheard of, especially in older times, to take actually a boat out with the anchor, connected by chain or rope or whatever else to the ship, and to drop it in a place where that anchor can be a fit.

And so you might actually take out a rowboat, take it out where there's a huge coral reef, a bunch of rocks on the bottom of the water, and you'll drop the anchor there so the anchor can grab a hold of something. And now that ship is anchored, and it's anchored to a point that might not be right beneath it. It's actually anchored to a point that might be some distance away from it, because you know it can be held sure and fast.

If a storm comes, if currents flow, if winds come, the boat will not drift away because it's held solid on that anchor point. I think that's a good analogy when we look at what we have to do as Christians, because again, if our hope is in Jesus Christ, our hope is in the resurrection and the kingdom of what Jesus Christ brings for us, that's a place away from us. We have to set our anchor out there, and we have to remain connected to that anchor. That's why boats don't have fishing lines, ships don't have fishing lines connecting the anchor to the ship, right? If you've been on board a ship, you can usually hear those anchors clunking as they drop the anchor, because you hear that chain going over. You use a very big, solid chain to connect to the anchor, because the last thing you want is to be separated from it. So, as we think of the ways that we have to build steadfastness in our life, the first one is to be anchored, and to be anchored to the hope that we have in Jesus Christ. We pray for the kingdom to come every day because of that. That's why it's in the model of prayer. We're fresh off the feast, and we've really focused our eyes on that hope that we have of salvation for us, yes, and for the entire world. And that's something that we have to remain strongly anchored to. As I was preparing this message, one of the synonyms or definitions, I guess synonyms for steadfastness that I didn't read, was stubbornness. And it led me to think for a few minutes, what is the difference between being steadfast and being stubborn? What is the difference between being steadfast and being stubborn? And I think it lies within this concept of anchoring. Because if you're stubborn, you can anchor yourself to all kinds of things. People are stubborn about all kinds of silly things, aren't they? Don't put the garbage can on that side of the desk. It belongs on the other side of the desk. It's all the silly things that we need things done this very certain way. And why? Well, just because, because I've always done it that way, because my mom told me it's that way. But that's different than being steadfast. Being stubborn, it's a matter of what you're anchoring to. Because when we're anchoring, when we're being steadfast, we're anchoring as we read in this passage in Hebrews, to God's Word, to his way and to his promises. And that is very different than being stubborn. And so, the first point, the anchor, we need to be anchored to God's promises and things that he's shown us. The other two, I think, connect very closely to this. Let's move on and talk about the roots.

John 15. This is a passage we read at Passover every year. And let's think for a moment about the roots, because this leads us to steadfastness as well. Something else we often think about as trees, being pretty solid. Even a car, we had an incident happen this summer. There was actually a young person who was under the influence and went skidding across a road, missed a turn, and slammed into some trees not far from our house. And it's amazing how a tree, even, you know, a fairly small diameter tree, a 12-inch diameter tree, could stop a car going 50, 60, 70 miles an hour. It's not a pleasant thing. I'm grateful, in this case, that no one was killed in that accident. But a tree with the roots down deep in the ground is very strong and solid and can withstand even something like a car going into it. John 15, verse 5, thinking about the roots.

So, our root system, we're connected in through Jesus Christ as the vine. He's the one who is grounded and fully established. He's, as we know, divine. He's the Son of God. He's been resurrected. He's there in heaven at the right hand of God. And we're connected through to Him. And if we continue to use that connection, if we stay connected to Him as the vine, that is the way that we can continue to remain steadfast.

What does that mean? That means every day coming before God in prayer through Jesus Christ, asking for forgiveness from our sins through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And making sure every day that we're connected that way. That's how we reign steadfast, is by remaining part of the vine being connected very closely to Jesus Christ. Let's turn to Colossians 2. There's another passage here. I'm going to read this in the New Living Translation, because it attaches even more closely to this idea of roots and being rooted in Jesus Christ.

Colossians 2, and we'll read verses 6 through 10. Again, I'm reading here from the New Living Translation. I like the way it words this passage. Colossians 2, verse 6. And now Paul writes, Just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow Him.

Verse 7. Let your roots grow down into Him, and let your lives be built on Him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth that you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. Verse 8. Don't let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that comes from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ.

For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body, so you are also complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority. Talking about being rooted, and very specifically being rooted in Jesus Christ and building our lives on Him. And all of these other things that are being talked about in verse 8. You know, we think about the empty philosophy of the high-sounding nonsense that comes from human thinking.

I didn't realize they had Facebook back in the days of Colossians. That's essentially what it's... You know, we think about our VUCA world, all this stuff swirling around us. But what we have to be careful of is, where do the roots lie? You know, we have roots and we have branches, figuratively speaking, just like a tree does. And our branches go out in all different directions.

They're supposed to. We're supposed to be lights to the world. We're supposed to be out there interacting with people. But we're also supposed to know our roots from our branches, and where they're planted. And though our branches might go out into different parts of the society around us, like we're being lights as we're touching other people, as we're interacting with them in positive Christian ways, we also have to remember that those are not our roots.

Those things are swirling around us in this world. The philosophies, yes, the politics, and everything else that's going on around us in the world, are not what we sink our roots into. Our branches might reach out into those places in appropriate ways, but our roots have to be deep in Jesus Christ, in His way of life, in the forgiveness, in His way of doing things, and not becoming invested in all of the other shifting and moving things that swirl around us. And I think what's at the core of this in the end is exactly, again, what we come to at the feast, which is God's way of life in the end is bringing a government and a way of ruling the world that's going to bring unbridled, prosperity, happiness, peace, and a fulfillment to the entire world.

And there's only one way that those things can happen. Those things can only happen through God and His way of life. The things swirling around mankind has devised all kinds of things, some great, some not so good, some totally destructive. And as we try to cast our way about and try to live our lives and rule our civilization, but our roots go down into God and Jesus Christ, who has the one way that we can really live successful human lives.

So we have to drive our roots deep into that. That's the second point that I wanted to make in terms of building steadfastness in our lives. The third one, the foundation. The foundation. Matthew 7. This is a thought, a concept that goes into things that we talk about in day-to-day life as well, in terms of building on a rock, building on a stable foundation.

In all kinds of different parts of life, we think about that. Certainly anyone who's ever seen a house be built or a large building be built, we think about the foundation that's being built on, because it's going to determine how long that house might stand. Matthew 7, starting verse 21. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven, he who does it. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in your name?

And then I'll declare to them, I never knew you, depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. Think about some of the most frightening words to hear. When you come before Jesus Christ and say, I did not know you. And he says a very specific reason for this, and a dividing line between those that he knows and those he doesn't.

That's verse 24. Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him into a wise man who built his house on the rock. Who was steadfast. And the rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew, and beat on that house, and it did not fall because it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew, and beat on that house, and it fell, and great was its fall.

So what's the dividing line here? We want to be steadfast. It's made quite clear, and that is to not only hear the words of God, but to do them. To put them into practice in our lives. We hear this, we read this in so many different ways across the Bible.

Whether we hear about bearing fruit, whether we hear about or read in James about, you know, show me your talk about faith, and I will show my faith by my works. People are told over and over, it's written in the Bible, that we need to do the words that are written here. Also in James, we talk about looking in the mirror, and being a forgetful hearer. It's like looking in the mirror, seeing your face is all dirty, and then turning away and not doing anything about it. That's not, again, why we were called. If we want to build this steadfastness, this foundation, like somebody building a house on a rock, instead of on solid sand, or on shifting sand, we have to not only hear the words, but we have to do them.

If you look inside of our lives, and as we're going forward, make sure that we're practicing God's way, in addition to reading and hearing these words. So in conclusion, let's finish where we started. I'll use this again as the last scripture, two weeks in a row. Should we make a challenge? See if we can make it three weeks in a row. So we'll start where we ended, which is where we ended. We'll end where we started, where we ended, in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 58.

1 Corinthians 15, 58. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. So the world around us is vucca. It's volatile, it's uncertain, it's complex, it's ambiguous. Even the earth itself, which we think of as solid, shifts and moves. And yes, sometimes it quakes, much as we wish it wouldn't. God and his word, by contrast, are steadfast, and we need to grow in that same quality.

And let's remember three ways—it's not the only three ways, but certainly three ways—that we can build that steadfastness in our lives. Having the hope of God's kingdom and his promises as our anchor, being rooted in Jesus Christ and in no other philosophy or belief, and strengthening our foundation by putting God's Spirit to use and doing the things that we hear in our lives. David. To borrow the words of John Stephen Aquari, we were called not just to begin this race, but to finish it.