YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT Part 5: PERSEVERANCE

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT Part 5: PERSEVERANCE

“Rhythm of Life” Series

JUST STAY PUT!

CONNECT Have you ever wanted to cut and run from something? Quit? Give up?

TENSION I have. There have been some key times in my life that I just gave up. Do you know what happened? Nothing. Every time I gave up, nothing happened. The things I wanted to happen, didn’t happen. They may not have happened anyway, but one thing is certain, when I quit all chance of my hopes being fulfilled was over.

SOLUTION All of us are tempted to quit and give up sometimes. I just want to encourage you today to never give up the fight!

INSTRUCTION 2 Peter 1:6 (NKJV) to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness,

Today I want to talk about perseverance. Many synonyms used in other translations: patience, steadfastness, endurance, temperance, passionate patience…

Greek: to remain, to tarry, to wait. It comes from a military root meaning to stay behind and guard the position.  As we grow in God, sometimes we just have to hunker down, stay put, and wait.  Jesus illustrated this in a parable found only in the Gospel of Mark.

Mark 4:26–29 (NKJV) And He said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

The basic lesson of this parable is that in the Kingdom of God the seed we sow will grow without our help into a great harvest. So, don’t give up. Just wait and watch it happen.

Galatians 6:9 (NKJV) And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

James 5:7–8 (NKJV) 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. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

APPLICATIONS

1.    Sow your seed. Seed is any act of obedience to God’s direction: prayer, faith, giving, ministry…

God gives us seed to sow. If we lack seed, there is a problem.

We hoarded it.  This parable says that the seed had to be scattered.

We ate it.  We used it on our own pleasures. 

We misused it. If we don’t sow, we can’t reap.

2.  Let the seed grow on its own as you go about your life.

Let me share with you a very profound truth: Don't dig up your seed!

If you dig up your seed, you can’t reap. What would you think if a farmer went out everyday and dug up his seed to see if it was growing? Now sometimes a farmer will dig up one or two to check for germination, but not the whole crop!

How do you dig up your seed?

         Impatience (going to Plan B).  

         Thinking I missed God.

         Not nurturing the soil.  The farmer went about his daily chores!

         Not recognizing the progression in growth: blade, head, grain.

         We don’t wait for the full fruit to come.

INSPIRATION The Bible is full of encouragement to stand fast and wait on God.

Psalms 27:13–14 (NKJV) I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait on the LORD; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!

Isaiah 40:28–31 (NKJV) Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

Habakkuk 2:3 (NKJV) For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

 Hebrews 10:35–39 (NKJV) Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: “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.” But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.

ILLUSTRATION

George Mallory and Mt. Everest in the 1920s…

INVITATION

What is the Everest you are facing?  
Caleb: "I want that mountain!"
What is the dream you have nurtured that has never come true?  What seeds are barren in your life?

God is here today to make that seed grow again, live again.  He can make that ember that is slowly dying in your heart to burst into flames again!  My experience in Alabama...

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT Part 4: SELF-CONTROL

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT Part 4: SELF-CONTROL

“Rhythm of Life” Series

ME  Do you ever struggle to keep your emotions and thoughts in check? I do. When the enemy wants to attack, he bombards me with worry, accusations, and woulda-coulda-shoulda….

WE  How many of you have had to deal with your emotions this past week since the shooting? Most people deal with what I call soul issues. My counseling sessions and discipleship conversations many times deal with rejection, fear, worry, and anger. People struggle with thoughts bombarding them all the time. The devil and his minions harass their self worth and self image constantly.

The next course in our eight-course feast speaks to this problem.

TEXT 2 Peter 1:5-8 (NKJV) But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

PRAYER

GOD  What is self-control? It is really soul control: Controlling your mind, your will, and your emotions. One author writes, “Self-control means mastering one’s emotions rather than being controlled by them.”

Your soul is the foundation of your future.

Proverbs 4:23 (NKJV) Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.

Proverbs 4:23 (NIV) Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

Proverbs 4:23 (NLT) Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.

Your thoughts… Your decisions… Your feelings…

All these flows out of your soul. It follows that we should work to keep our soul healthy. We have to learn to care for our soul: soul care...

Where did our soul come from?

The soul is a unique interaction between flesh and spirit, between material and immaterial, between seen and unseen.

Genesis 2:7 (NKJV) And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being (soul).

We are living souls! This is who we are. Think about it: When people talk about the number of passengers on an airline flight, how do they refer to them? Souls! In a tragedy, people who pass are often called souls. We eat soul food. We older folks grew up listening to soul music and watching “Soul Train” on the weekends!

We are a soul; we live in a body; we have a spirit. When man was created all three were operating at full capacity. When man fell, the spirit died, lost fellowship with God, and the soul became the dominant part of the personality. A healthy soul lives under the influence of the spirit. An unhealthy soul is a slave to the body.

Salvation restores life to the spirit. As we grow in the Lord the operation and proper balance of the spirit, soul, and body develops.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 (NKJV) Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Most Christians really want to live for Jesus.  They are just wounded to the point they have difficulty responding. Wounded hearts are all over the place, especially in the church.

How do I determine the state of my heart?

The thought test: As a man thinks in his heart...

The speech test: Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks...

The treasure test: Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also...

The love test: The purpose is love from a pure heart...

There are many heart issues, but I want to deal with three major ones.

The first is a hard heart. Now a hard heart can be one that just will not obey God. An example of this is the Egyptian Pharaoh who would not let the children of Israel leave Egypt. This can only be healed by repentance and obedience.

But there is another kind of hard heart. These are people who have been wounded so badly that they have hardened their heart toward anybody and anything out of self defense, including God! Their motto is “Hurt me once, shame on you; hurt me twice, shame on me.” Many abuse victims live right there.

This type of wounded heart might say something like this, “I would rather disobey God and throw myself on His mercy than to trust that person again!”

The second is a broken heart. This person has had all their hopes and dreams crushed by a person, a circumstance, or something out of their control. They have tried to make life work, but all for naught. Their response is to throw up their hands and quit.

The third is perhaps the most dangerous, a dull heart. This heart has no feelings whatsoever. Nothing moves them. They get no joy or pain out of anything that comes along in their life. After a while, despair sets in and the end is some type of self-destructive behavior.

YOU  So how do you get your soul healthy?

We may feel like the Psalm writer who said…

Psalm 142:4 (NKJV) Look on my right hand and see, for there is no one who acknowledges me; refuge has failed me; no one cares for my soul!

The Father has some good news for you today. He cares about your soul. He cares when you are hurting and harassed and hopeless.

Psalms 34:18 (NKJV) The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart and saves such as have a contrite spirit.

Psalms 51:17 (NKJV) The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart— These, O God, You will not despise.

Isaiah 57:15 (NKJV) For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

Matthew 12:20 (NKJV) A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench, till He sends forth justice to victory;

Whatever the condition or state of your heart, God want to heal it!

Psalms 147:3 (NKJV) He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

Luke 4:18-19 (NKJV) The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me… He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted…

WE  What steps can we take to be healed in our soul?

Are you tired of living with your soul all messed up? Your emotions out of control? Your mind hounded by thoughts and fears? An inability to trust God or people? There is a way out!

1.    Acknowledge your condition.

2.    Ask God to heal it.

3.    Act on His instructions.

INVITATION  “The Healer”