Patient Endurance

Good afternoon, everyone. I have to say that this is the most comical seating arrangement I've ever seen. You usually do have the front row empty, but I've never before seen three rows, so I will say we did bathe, and those of us sitting in the soft seats are enjoying ourselves, even if only for two hours or hour and a half or whatever. So I hope everyone's well. Hello to those online. We're going to be traveling, right, to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles, different places around the world. That's extremely exciting. And while we're going to be there, we're going to be looking forward to the Kingdom of the Kingdom. It's a critical key for being resurrected into the Kingdom.

I'm going to be talking about this fascinating Greek word that describes this very thing. It's a word that I think you're going to see is used in a lot of the most commonly quoted verses in the New Testament.

These powerful words, these scriptures we read very often. Turn to Matthew 24 verses 9 through 13. The challenge, I think, with this Greek word is, first of all, it's translated as different English words, so we don't recognize it, and then we limit it through the English words it's translated by. Matthew 24 and verse 9. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.

And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. The focus on today is that word endures. It's a guaranteed promise, right, from Christ, who is the being that makes resurrection possible. So we have to endure a world which is going in the wrong direction. What does that look like? When we think of the English word endure, right, we can think, okay, I'm just going to grit my teeth, I'm going to put my shoulders to the plow, I'm going to tough it out, I'm going to survive, right?

That could be the way we take this word. We can have this image of somebody who's just hunkering down in a storm, they're miserable, but they're trying to just wait something out. Turn to Romans 2 verses 5 through 8. Romans 2 5 through 8.

Gutting things out could be admirable, but I will tell you the Greek word that we're reading for endures holds an expectation that goes way beyond it. Romans 2 starting at verse 5. But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart, you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to each one according to his deeds.

Eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality, but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness, indignation, and wrath. So you see two paths are being described here that we have to select between. We should want the first path, right? Because we're told the path to eternal life is through patient continuance in well-doing. Patient continuous is the exact same word as what we read for endures before. And by that whole concept of in well-doing, this involves more than just sitting and waiting around, come what may, and striving not to get angry because we have to wait.

That's now what's being described here. Okay, we'll look at one final example of where this word is used to describe it being critical for the kingdom of God. And you'll find there's others that I will use later that mention the same concept. But turn now to Luke 8 verses 11 through 15. Before I define the word and describe it, I want to have these well-known verses for you to think on. What we're stepping into now is Christ explaining the meaning of the parable of the sower and the seed. So you all have planted seeds.

When a farmer plants a seed, he doesn't go out the next morning looking for a sprout. Right? And we know that it's going to be months potentially before the real benefit of that planting comes and we get it bears fruit. Luke 8 and verse 11. Now the parable is this.

The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are the ones who hear. Then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. But the one on the rocks are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy.

And these have no root who believe for a while and in time of temptations fall away. Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. But the one that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.

So like a game show, Jesus Christ is saying, you've got four doors. I'll show you three you shouldn't pick. God has a plan for his first fruit. And God has also given the world over to the adversary, which is why so many seeds do not make it all the way to bearing fruit. So to succeed, we must bear fruit with patience. That word, patience, is the same word that we read in the other two verses. The world wants to win a lottery, right? Get a lot of money. Think about a hundredfold increase to one of your investments. That wouldn't be bad, right? A hundred dollars down, 10,000 out. But what we're told here is that God's people should want patience to receive a hundredfold spiritually. Okay, so what is this word? The word patience in the New Testament is usually translated in two ways. One is macrothumia, which is m-a-k-r-o-t-h-u-m-i-a. It was actually read in one of the verses that Peter, I mean, that Peter, that Bill mentioned. But this speaks of some stoic firm resolution to endure pain, to tolerate suffering for as long as is needed. It literally means being long-tempered or having a long fuse. So, you know, you have this long fuse, it's used to don't explode. It's oftentimes used in relationships to people. This is not the word we've been reading. The Greek also has a word which is h-u-p-o-m-o-n-e. Now, I've heard people growing up with Good Southern Action called that hoopamoni. You know, that doesn't really sound very Greek, right? That's kind of like, well, y'all, hoopamoni! Good to see y'all here today. So I decided I tried to look into how the right way to pronounce this was. And I looked at credible sources online with audio files, four sites, four pronunciations. So, the best I could do, no clue if it's right, but it's hoopomone. But if you want to spell it in your notes, because it's h-u-p-o-m-o-n-e, if you want hoopamoni to know how you're spelling it, that's the right way to spell it, probably. But I'm going to try to refer to it as best as I can to how the Greeks might have said it. So it comes from this combination of words for under, like under something heavy, and the word for remain, endure, or continually abide in a place. So, in essence, it's literally saying abiding or remaining under, in this case spiritual control, regardless of the trials we face. It's this courageous, this hopeful perseverance and expectation of God's actions, regardless of the difficult circumstances that we go through in life.

The word's used around 30 times in the New Testament, and it's translated, like I said, translated different ways, right? You're going to see it as patience, endurance, patient continuance, perseverance, steadfastness, and standing firm. So that's why we don't even spot the word in all the different places that it's given to us. But it describes this quality, this characteristic of forward-looking, the ability to focus on what's beyond the current pressures so that you don't surrender to the circumstances, right? You don't surrender to the trial that we're going through. It portrays this picture of some unflinching bearing up under a heavy load, and it takes whatever we're going through, because we are going through things while this happens, but then it transforms it and makes it an opportunity for God to bless it in our lives. So we see where we're heading, and we're able to look to it with encouragement, with hope. That's what this portrays. So how are you doing with this word? It's not easy, right? Are you able to avoid swerving from your deliberate spiritual focus even in the favor? If we have opportunities to give up in the face of trials or struggles, then God is looking to see if we have the hupalmane to endure to the end. It's a testing trait. But with that, I want you to realize the key thing that hupalmane is to understand this steadfastness. That is called for in a believer is not something that we can achieve on our own human strength. It requires God's supernatural strength. The power is available to us, though. It's given to us by God who has all the strength and the power in the world based on our willpower. It's not based on our need, but it's provided based on God's divine supply. And that's why it's this triumphant thing that can deal with anything life can deal with us.

What you find when you find this word is it's very commonly linked to three of the most critical Christian values that are described. So let's look by looking at the close connection between hupalmane and faith. Connection between hupalmane and faith. So you remember Jesus talking about the end times in Luke 18.8 where he said, when the Son of Man comes, will he really find faith on earth?

He's asking, will he really find living? This was a serious question. This is meant to connote a potential answer of no. People these days have faith. They do. But it's very often in science or politics and the ultimate goodness of people in dogmas, religious dogmas, and all of these presuppose an idea, maybe you put like an ideal outcome of humans, what we want to have happen. If you'll turn to Hebrews 10 verses 35 through 38. Hebrews 10, 35 through 38. So we all know Hebrews 11, right? The faith chapter. And it begins with the statement, now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. So humanity wants what God has to offer. Peace, a vibrant life, prosperity. But we don't always trust God to show us how to get it.

That's our challenge along the way, isn't it? We want things our way. So having living faith exemplified by patient endurance is what the author of Hebrews stresses as being exceptionally critical just before he lists all of these heroes of faith in a couple verses in Hebrews 11. We'll start reading in Hebrews 10 and verse 35. Therefore, do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward, for you have need of endurance, who culminate, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise. Okay, so what does this tell us? After we have received the Word of God, but it doesn't just stop there, we put it in our hearts, but it doesn't just stop there. After we've actively lived out our convictions so that we let nothing pull us away from our faith, that's when it will come to pass that will receive the promise for words of God.

So what gives us the strength and the confidence to achieve this? Verse 37, For yet a little while, and he who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith, but if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him. So there's this critical link between faith, the assurance of a future thing, right, and patient endurance, waiting with confidence and trust. They're very closely linked. Living faith is not something that's all in our heads, right? It's not this emotional thing. We're not this just emotional being or a cloud of intellect that just floats through life.

Living faith combined with endurance takes what we think, what we feel, and put it into action, even during trials or suffering or testing.

Faith is this active living trust in and this relationship with our Father Creator, and that's what allows us to patiently endure, to steadfastly endure any kind of combination of the definitions that we see used with that word. But I'd argue that a key reason that we don't patiently endure is we feel doubt, such a natural human emotions. Why it showed up Garden of Eden very, very quickly. Faith is the substance of controlling doubts and fears.

If you want to say that a different way, faith is a reliance on God that goes beyond doubts and fears.

Same concept. So faith combined with hupomanay is this test of wills. And as humans, our problem is we want everything done our way, right? I mean, that's just kind of how we think. That's our default nature, and that isn't the same as faith in God's will. So we have to believe with certainty that God's will for us is truly what is in our best interest.

Otherwise, we're going to take things into our own hands, right? We're going to try to make things happen according to our will. Turn to 2 Thessalonians 1 verses 3 through 5. Our will is like the dark side of the force, if you want to put it that way. I've got good Star Wars reference here. I've got a Star Wars credit in there. But no, we work hard to change events back to our way. That's our human nature along the way, and it's hard to let go and let God. 2 Thessalonians 1 and verse 3. We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as is fitting. Why? Because your faith grows exceedingly. In the love of every one of you, all abounds forward toward each other, so that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience, who pomade, and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure. And just for clarity, this is a different word here for endure. This is one that means to hold oneself up erect, which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which you also suffer. So again, we see this strong connection between faith and patient endurance. It's what helps us while we endure trials. So it's important we realize how easily humans can judge God on our own desires. You don't like to put it that way, but I really think that's what we do a tremendous amount. And when this happens, it's us bringing God down to our level. It just robs and reduces God and exalts ourselves because it worked the way we wanted it to. And then we say, God's with us because it worked the way I wanted it to. Well, that's not really submitting to God's will at that point. Faith involves more than believing, but living every thought and action of life based on it.

And Christ is our Savior, and we must have faith in Him. We must realize that His salvation is a gift, and He's the one we trust with, even if we don't get it at different times.

This changes how we live and what we do when we feel that way. We who culminate, right, by standing on the Word of God, by confidently doing what we're told to do, regardless of the situation. Let's pivot to the second key spiritual virtue. Patient endurance builds hope.

Patient endurance builds hope. If you'll turn to Romans 8, verse 24 through 25, we all know our amazing hope that we have, right? We're going to go and spend a week at the feast celebrating that very thing. A chance to share in God's glory, to have eternal life, spiritual power. It's the hope we committed to at baptism. Romans 8, verse 24. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. That we're perseverance is who culminate.

We see it draws its power and its encouragement from Christian hope.

We need to wait our hope with this eager perseverance and continuance, and not, like I mentioned with the other definitions we humanly use, like apathy or fatalism. That's not what we're being asked to do. Our hope is to be this anchor in our lives, not to give up, not to throw up our hands along the way. And I want you to know, Satan is going to try to get us to do that. The Bible is full of examples of that. Remember that our Christian hope is different from the world's hope. And the reason it's different is because our hope reflects this absolute certainty of future good, the uplifting concept. Romans 12, verse 12. Rejoicing in hope, patience in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer. The word patient is hupomenet. So again, you see the link here. We all hope the kingdom will come before we have to suffer terribly, sure. But whether it's challenges of health or aging or going through terrible suffering, we need to reflect our perspective in a spiritual character by exhibiting hupomenet in what we do, in our attitude, in the way we deal with things.

Our cheerful faith is motivated from our hope in Jesus Christ. All right, let's go on to the third connecting spiritual value. You could probably get ahead of me of where I'm going. But hupomenet is a key aspect of godly love.

If you will turn to 1 Corinthians 13, 4-6, I actually wondered if Bill was going to go there because you'll see the word kind mentioned in there. At the very end of the love chapter in verse 13, it says, It now abides faith, hope, love, these three, but the greatest of these is love.

What I hope you're seeing is how critically linked patient endurance is to all of these. You can't exhibit and truly have any of them in a long-term way. So now we're going to see this word sneaking in again. In the love chapter, one of these verses we've read many, many times, describing what agape in action looks like. 1 Corinthians 13 and verse 4, Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not parade itself, is not puffed up. Does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked. Thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth. Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and the capstone endures all things.

That word endures is who culminates.

The ultimate expression of love.

And this is about our walk. This is about us reflecting Jesus Christ, which is what we're trying to do, right? Do we express this type of patient love toward others in our lives? Fill whoever you want, your boss, your spouse, your kids.

Turn to 1 Thessalonians 1 verses 2 through 3. 1 Thessalonians 1 verses 2 through 3. I love how this next verse is going to weave faith, hope, love, and patient endurance together and show the link between them. And I'm going to go ahead and read this from the New International version.

1 Thessalonians 1, starting in verse 2. We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance, who Paul may name, inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

So faith and hope combine to give us optimism. That makes us more resilient. And when we then show God's love or let God's love prompt us in the way we treat others and meet their needs, we're becoming the servant God wants us to be. I want you to stop for a second, though. We're replying that word to us. I want you to think about patient endurance and the patient endurance of God.

Because God, and I'll show you verse that is going to highlight that very much next, but think of how He treats us and what we appreciate so much about Him and what we need to learn about from Him. An attribute of God that's repeated over and over throughout the Old Testament, is like this chorus of a pop song, is God is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. And that's hugely encouraging, right? Because if God treated us for what we deserve, we'd be in a lot of trouble. How much poupomene God shows us is breathtaking, it's inspiring, it's overwhelming. But it's also important not to misinterpret this display of patience in God's part. Because God's patience or His slowness to anger does not dismiss His ultimate judgment.

Rather, His patience provides an opportunity for us to repent.

That's what His showing of poupomene to us is all about.

The fool says there's no consequence as to what I have done. The wise man recognizes the opportunity to repent and seek reconciliation with God while there is still time.

Turn to Romans 15, verses 4-5.

Just an example. As an employer, you don't fire an employee the first time they make a mistake. Right? That'd be silly. And why does that? Because we know in the long term the benefits they're going to bring to an organization once they learn what they're supposed to be doing. The fact God doesn't smack us down immediately when we go astray is not because He doesn't care, it's because He cares very deeply. He wants us to succeed. Romans 15, verse 4. For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience, the poupomene, and comfort of the Scriptures, which is an interesting way to look at the Scriptures, to think there's a patient endurance in the Scriptures, might have hope. Now may the God of poupomene, the God of patience and comfort, grant you to be like-minded toward one another according to Christ Jesus. See, so this patience of Jesus Christ and the Father are the source in the pattern for our patience and endurance that we're supposed to show to each other. That's our model. We're to be like-minded and exhibit that same kind of patient endurance they do. And that means that we're slow to anger. That means that we let poupomene deal with the irritations or the upsets and the disappointments that come at us every day.

We can do this because we keep the big picture in mind, the long-term goal like Christ did when He was on earth. Also, please understand the Holy Spirit does not make you patient.

The Holy Spirit does not make you patient. Rather, it strengthens you so you can put on patience. It's a different perspective. For example, the Holy Spirit helps you understand the truth, to see the big picture of the plan of God, both for you, for all of mankind, for each other. And that big picture thinking is this essential element of patience.

God is all-powerful. He embodies pure love. He knows what we do not, so we learn to trust Him.

Even if we're facing tests and trials, that perspective then, we use where we go forward. But it's hard when we face what feels like the unfaceable. That, we now come to the testing point, right? That ultimate testing point and validation of who prominent. And that's its connection to trials and suffering. How it connects to trials and suffering. And really, this is how God evaluates our entire relationship with Him. A lot of humans start their religious journey in hope of the promises of God, and fear of the consequences that are promised for sin. So faith seems a better plan, a better path. But if our spiritual journey is motivated most by receiving good and avoiding bad consequences in this life, you're going to fail. See, we have rewards that are promised beyond our wildest imagination. But those are received when we're resurrected as eternal beings.

The Bible makes very, very clear that we are going to face challenges and tests.

The idea that when we get it all together, that our trials will lessen is a falsehood. God promises trials and suffering to test and to refine us in this life. So suffering calls for patient endurance. It puts it to the test. It manifests it in our life. That's why it's like the shaping thing that you'll see even as we talk in Revelations and read Revelations 2 and 3. When Christ is pointing out the churches in Revelation, He highlights people who show upomene. Turn to James 1 verses 2 through 4, another very well-known scripture you've seen quoted many, many times. To have the characteristics of upomene means we have the incredible capacity to turn trials and troubles into greatness and glory. Do we love God unconditionally for who He is? That's one of those things. It's a lifelong learning, right? Do we love matters? Then this verse will feel incongruous to say, I'm going to count it all the way today! It doesn't make sense. We want trials to resolve, to go away quickly. That's our natural nature. But God uses these times to ensure our faith and hope isn't the length of our trials, to the outcome that He gives us. It's because we love Him. That's what our faith is supposed to be based on, not on terms, not on conditions. So we're allowed to go through trials to build character because some refining only comes by being exposed to fire that shouldn't be there.

That's how patience can have its perfect work, making us complete and lacking nothing from a spiritual vantage point. So armed with this precious gift of hupomone, we can go on, right, with this new, with this mature perspective that is closer to God's perspective. Okay?

And I think we can all look around. We've seen people who've emerged from really, really hard trials with a much deeper faith. I know I've learned from things I've had to go through. It can more deeply help us know how to trust God and have the peace that passes all understanding, right? You can fit a lot of parts. Hupomone is a quality that makes people able to not merely suffer things but overcome them with an unswerving consistency. So James goes on, right, and he clarifies doing this makes us perfect. That we're just telios, mature or fit toward a given end. So it's by the way we meet every experience in life that we're either making ourselves fit or unfit for the tasks God sends us to do. It also makes us complete. Gradually, this unswerving consistency removes the imperfections from our character. It enables us to conquer old sins, to shed old blemishes, to gain new virtues until we become more and more like God and fit for what He wants us to be. And finally, it makes us lacking or deficient in nothing. If we meet our testing in the right way and develop this unswerving consistency day by day, we'll live more victorious. We'll reach nearer to the standard of Jesus Christ, the things that God wants us to do.

So it's commonly taught that trials bring maturity, but that's not the case. Instead, grit and perseverance in times of testing produces maturity. You could grow or fail, like just facing a trial. The outcome is not just because I went through it.

In troubled times, we must practice spiritual toughness. If you'll turn to Romans 5 verses 1-5, Romans 5 verses 1-5, and let's read an example of this being taught. Again, hupomena means that when we know what the Word of God says, we're not going to settle for anything less. We're not going to compromise. Do you respond to suffering or challenges in your life with joy or with bitterness? Romans 5 and verse 1, therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also have glory and tribulation, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, hupomena, and perseverance character and character hope, but hope that does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us. You catch faith, hope, love, and patience endurance all linked together again.

God's Holy Spirit gives us the strength and the power we need to patiently endure.

And we can ask God for it, and He will give it to us.

Let me share what some commentaries wrote on this word. Feijer says, hupomena is the characteristic of a man who is unswerving from his deliberate purpose in his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trial and suffering.

Barclay writes, hupomena does not mean the patience which sits down and accepts things, but the patience which masters them. It is the virtue which does not so much accept the experiences of life as conquers them. It is not some romantic thing which lends its wings to fly over the difficulty and the hardship or the hard places. It is a determination, unhurring and yet undelayed, which goes steadily on and refuses to be deflected. Obstacles do not daunt it, and discouragement or discouragements do not take its hope away.

And finally, Trench says, hupomena is that temper of spirit in which we accept God's dealing with us as good, and therefore without disputing or resisting.

Hopefully all of that's ringing with some of the things I've been cheering so far in the verses we've read. Turn now to James 5 verses 7 through 11.

James 5 verses 7 through 11. There's no way that any of us can develop toughness without trials.

What comes out of us in those times of pressure proves what's in us, and so sometimes we have to face those. And then either rely and focus on flesh or rely and focus on God's Spirit.

James 5 and verse 7. Therefore be patient, and this is the other word which think of long fuse hanging in there. Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient against that word long fuse. Establishing your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the judge is standing at the door. My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord as an example of suffering and patience. Indeed, we count them blessed who endure. They are blessed who hupomenae.

You have heard of the perseverance, the hupomenae of Job, and seen the end intended by the Lord, that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.

So you see the two words intermix there, but we've heard of the endurance, the hupomenae of Job. Right? Job's faith was strengthened when, even though he had questions, he still believed.

And the Lord, it says, blessed the latter days of Job's life more than all those that were before.

And similar to Job, there are moments in our life when we think God has forgotten us.

Their trials are not a sign of God's displeasure, but they're an opportunity to persevere in the Lord. If we cling to our faith, like Job did, he will bless us. He is compassionate and merciful, just like we read.

Trials are not meant to defeat us. They are designed to be defeated. They're not meant to make us weaker. They're intended to make us stronger. Therefore, we should not complain about them. We should rejoice in them. That's the concept of what we read in James. Not easy, though.

This pivots us to this key understanding that hupomenae teaches us perspective and gives us this courage to overcome, because a lot of the word is linked to courage, this courage to overcome. Perseverance relates to faith, hope, and love, because to have these, we must keep on keeping on. Another ancient Christian writer, from like the two to three hundreds, was talking on this word, and he called it, the queen of virtues, the fruit that never withers, a fortress that is never taken, and the triumphant ability to pass the breaking point, and not break, but always greet the unseen with cheer. Something we need God's help with to do, but it's an inspiring concept. Turn to 2 Peter 2 verses 11 through 13. 2 Peter 2 verses 11 through 13.

Unless we have patience, we can never learn many of the truths that God wants us to learn. So, is there an area of your life in which you're failing to persevere?

The key is to realize that, as a baptized member, you have already possessed the potential energy of hypomania because of Christ in you. 2 Timothy verse 11. This is a faithful saying, for if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we endure hypomania, we shall also reign with Him, another link to the kingdom. If we have the thorn in the flesh removed, but He came to see it as something that made Him more grateful to Christ, even though it wasn't removed. Or you can even see it in Christ's prayer, where three times He said, let this cup pass for Me, nevertheless not as I will, but as you will be done. So that tells us His desire in that very moment, Father's will for Him, but He prayed until His faith and His hypomania were strengthened in the process. He was always going to follow God's will, but He asked God to give Him that hypomania He needed for the moment. So we can feel those moments where we're like, I desire not to go through this. Christ felt that. 9. Someone once approached a gallant person who was undergoing a great sorrow and said, sorrow will sure call your life, doesn't it? And the gentleman responded, yes, and I proposed to choose the color. That's hypomania. That's saying, I will have the character that turns trial... Revelation 1 in verse 9. I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulations and kingdom and patience, hypomania of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos. Why was he there? For the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. See, the enemy, Satan, hate... John wasn't in prison at Patmos because he badmouthed the emperor. It wasn't because he hadn't been paying his taxes. It was simply because John said he would bow to no one else but Jesus, and he was following the word. With that as a perspective, I want you to go forward to Revelation 2 in verse 1, and let's look at the message to three of the churches that Jesus declared. And look at what Jesus highlighted about these churches. Revelation 2 in verse 1. To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, These things as he who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. I know your works, your labors, your hypomania, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil, and you have tested those who said they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars, and you have persevered and have hypomania, patience again, and have labored for my name's sake and have not become weary. So he's describing, he's rewarding or recognizing this Christian steadfastness. It's this courage and this courageous acceptance of everything that life can do to us in a way that transforms it into another step in our upward journey. That's what he's describing. And when we allow hypomania to live in us and to drive us, then we stand on the truth, which is what he was celebrating about those in Ephesus. Okay, now go forward to Revelation 2 and verse 19, and we'll look at what's written to Thyatira. Revelation 2 and verse 19, I know your works, love, service, faith, again, links some of these words we talked about, and your patience, who's poem it in? And as for your works, the last or more than the first. So it's this concept, just like silver becomes pure with fire, Christians can emerge finer and stronger from hard times, hard days. It's this, you know, think of an athlete, right? The athlete gets stronger muscles by having the muscles disciplined and strengthened. Turn next to Revelation 3 verse 10 to 11, and let's read what's written to Philadelphia.

Revelation 3 verses 10, Because you have kept my commandments to persevere, who culminate, that's a command, and because they kept that command, I also will keep you from the hour of trials, which shall come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth. Behold, I am coming quickly, hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. That's what we want, right? We want to be protected in the time of trial because they patiently endured. God said He would keep them from the hour of trial.

So God gives us all the power to be victorious, to endure, to bear up courageously under fire. We all have a chance for this victorious endurance, and when we begin to discover that we are in Christ, it also takes away the excuses we naturally, humanly use. Because we naturally use things like, I'm only human.

When we do that, we're showing our ignorance of what God has already placed within us, because we have the ability to persevere because Christ lives in us.

Perspective. Christ in us transforms us, just ordinary people, ordinary saints into people capable of extraordinary feats, like persevering when people around us say, just throw in the towel.

And the reason perseverance is not being worked out in many of our lives is our own hard-headedness. It's our own unwillingness to trust God, because when we can't, when we say, I can't, what we're really saying is, I won't.

Who are we relying on? Turn to Hebrews 12 verses 1 through 3 as a final verse. Hebrews 12 verses 1 through 3. Okay, so we started early on by reading just before the faith chapter. We're now reading just after the faith chapter.

And when you think of the faith chapter, realize again all of their faith and their examples connect deeply with ours, because they are going to receive their promise with us together. We're all in this together. Hebrews 12 and verse 1. Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight in the sins which so easily ensnare us, and let us run with endurance, who culminate the race that is set before us. And that's the final lesson. We must run with endurance to the end. It's our calling. It's what our calling is about. We're told to lay aside every weight, and realize that isn't talking about sin there, because it next mentions sin. So the reality is that there are things we do that weigh us down. Things that stop us from looking up for inspiration. And maybe you have something like that in your life right now, something you're wrapped up in a distraction that pulls you away from your higher calling. Next, it says, if there are sins that ensnare you, we must get rid of them too. The next verse then tells us we don't have to do it our own. We have that ability to look up. Verse 12. I'm sorry. Chapter 12, verse 2.

Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured, who culminate. The cross despised the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him who who pulmonary, who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your soul. So I hope you've learned through looking at this word that when you read the word patience or patience endurance, it's not talking about this grim resignation, this passive grin and barret attitude. That's not what we're being encouraged for in the Bible, but a triumphant facing of difficult circumstances. What is the hundred-fold increase God wants to make happen in and through you or me?

If we're living angry about this train wreck of the world that's going on around us and we're not producing fruit, we're missing the boat. We have work to do as we watch. We're to run the race and cast aside sin that will slow us down. And realize during this fall festival, which we're going to be going to, well, we just celebrated the beginning of it, we go forward, all of this is celebrating events that haven't come yet. That's unusual, right? Because we're used to Independence Day. We're used to celebrating past events that have happened. Do we have enough living faith and patient endurance to carry us to the ultimate fulfillment of the fall festivals? Sir Winston Churchill was invited back to his alma mater and helped Harrow School to address the students near the end of his life, the end of his public career. You can kind of picture the scene, right? This little five-foot-five bulldog of a man coming up and everybody being anxious for what he was going to say. He said, young gentlemen, never give up. Never give up. Never give up. Never give up. Never, never, never.

Anyone sat down. That's what's stressed by all the verses we've been reading, right?

Are you about to give up? Don't do it. Never give up. Never, never, never. This Christian life is not a sprint. It's a marathon, and over the years you've all seen people who, sadly, did not persevere in their Christian faith, who dropped by the wayside, who pomade describes endurance when circumstances are different. Mind it, of the late Mr. Faye, who spoke on whoop-a-monie as he...